“Have fun at school. We’ll all be at home waiting for you.”
“Yeah, okay. Bye Chris.” Shelley said walking away to meet up with friends.
“Bye, Chris. See you.” She kissed his cheek and caught up with Shelley. Chris smiled and drove back to the apartment.
“So what’s everyone’s plans for today?” Audrey asked Chris as he walked in.
“I’m not sure. I’m pretty sure though that we have today to ourselves. Let’s just wait till Lance and Julie get over here.”
“Oh they aren’t coming here. They vowed to spend today together, just the two of them.”
“Oh, okay then. We’ll I’m pretty sure the guys have something to do. I can just stay here with you.”
“I’d like that. But I have to go to work. Sorry babe.”
“Work? You actually go to work?”
She laughed. “Yes, I go to work. Remember the 9-5 job I have. I have to go back, I haven’t been paid in the longest time and I don’t think Shelley and Julie’s jobs can handle the bills when they come in. Besides, you four need rest, so stay here if you’d like.”
“Okay.” He shrugged his shoulders and walked into the living room.
“Chris, don’t give me that. You know I have to work. That’s what makes me human. I haven’t been to work in the longest time. I only went to work for about a week since Christmas and after the hospital stay I haven’t been back. I have to earn my keep.”
“Okay, go to work. We’ll be fine here at home.”
“Thank you. I wonder why I love you so much.” She said kissing his forehead as she walked into her room to get showered and dressed.
About a half-hour later she walked out in her work suit. Chris turned around and smiled. “I’ve never seen you in a business type suit before. I like!” He said.
“Well, you’ll be seeing it often because I don’t think I’m going to be taking a break from work for a long time. I have a lot of hours to make up.”
“Well, don’t work yourself too much.”
“I know thanks for caring. Um…if those boys ever get up, tell them food’s in the kitchen and I guess that’s all. I’ll be back at around 5:30. The girls know what to do when they get home, so don’t worry about them…Like I said, stay as long as you want and…”
“Audrey, Audrey, slow down! Don’t get yourself all worked up. You sound like a mother.”
“Well…okay I’m sorry. It’s just that…”
Chris stopped her with his finger, walked over to the door, opened it and pointed his finger out the door. “Okay, okay. I’m leaving.” She kissed him and made her way to her car. Chris sighed and made his way back to the couch. He got restless just sitting there so he decided to see what Lance and Julie were up to today.
**At Lance’s**
The phone was ringing and ringing throughout the house. No one seemed to be up at this hour. Lance and Julie were both half-asleep trying to get the ringing out of their ears.
“Julie…get that,” He said groggily.
“It’s your house, you pick it up.” She said rolling over to her side to get more comfortable. Lance was at the foot of the bed, sprawled out against the width of the bed. He rolled off hitting the floor and made his way to the phone right next to Julie.
“Hello?” He said rubbing his eyes to try and wake up.
“Lance, it’s Chris. Did I wake ya?”
“No Chris you didn’t! Yes you did! We were sleeping and the ringing was unbearable. What do ya want?” He asked.
“Nothing, just wanted to know what your plans were for today, that’s all.”
“Oh, I’m taking Julie out to lunch and then I’m going out to the lake and teaching her how to jet-ski.”
“But isn’t it a bit cold for that?”
“Not really. It’s one of these warm days; we’ll be fine. I’ll take her home later tonight.” Lance said, hoping Chris would let him go back to sleep.
“Okay man. We’ll be here if you need anything. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye Chris.”
“Later.” He said hanging up. He looked at Julie who was fast asleep and then looked over at the spot where he fell asleep earlier. He groaned and went back to his spot hitting the bed hard. This caused Julie to stir in her sleep and wake up. She sat up and looked at Lance at the foot of the bed. She smiled and kicked him so he fell off. He sat up and looked at her with an evil look on his face.
“What was that for?”
“Oh, well since it’s okay for you to make the bed shake and wake me up it’s not okay for me to kick you off the bed.” She joked.
“Fine, whatever. Want breakfast?”
“You have to ask?” She said. They made their way to the kitchen and started pulling out the foods they wanted to eat. They sat around eating until about 10:30 and started to get ready for the day Lance had planned for the two of them. About an hour later they were all ready.
“Well, I have a few errands to run before we go to lunch. Mind if I do those before?” Julie asked.
“Yeah, that’s fine. It’ll give me a reason to pry into your life.”
“Gee, that’s comforting.” She laughed as they walked out of his house and into his car.
Julie sat in the car awaiting Lance’s questions about her life. She gave him directions on where to go and she ran her errands and was finished at around noon. She got back into the car after her very last errand was taken care of and smiled.
“What’s that for?” He asked inquisitively.
“Nothing, for once I got something finished when it’s suppose to, I’m just proud of lil old me that’s all.” She said with a smirk.
“Okay then. So decided on a college yet? Or are you set on a California college?”
“And the questions begin…” She said. He laughed and pulled out of the parking lot. “Well, I’m thinking of going to the Performing Arts College in New York. I got accepted to a college over there also and I think that’s what I want to do with my life.”
“Oh… well that’s great. I’m glad you’ve made some type of decision.” He said. “Any plans on hooking up over there?”
“Getting more personal I see,” She said. “No, not right now. I need a feel for the city before doing anything drastic to my love life.”
“I see…well how’s your feel of this city?” He said bluntly.
“Good actually.” She said smiling. She watched as they pulled up to a small building. It looked rather familiar to her but she couldn’t quite get the grasp of where he took her.
“Welcome to the *NSYNC compound.” He said. “Lunch is over this way.” He walked her over to a small picnic setting under a few trees.
“Aw…Lance this is…nice.” She said sitting down. They sat around talking and eating for a few hours until his cell phone interrupted them. “Oh just let it ring.”
“I just think I might do that,” He said sticking the phone deep into the knapsack.
“So what else you have planned for this post Valentine’s celebration?”
“Well I want to teach you something.” He said with a grin.
“Teach me…what?” She said cautiously.
“I’m going to at tempt to teach you how to jet ski.”
“You’re going to WHAT?” She said shocked.
“You heard me right the first time. It’s going to be fun. I remember the first time I learned. C’mon Julie, live a little.”
“Oh, all right.” She gave in to Lance and was dragged into the compound to get the wet suits. About a half-hour later they were both ready.
**Back at Audrey’s**
“Justin would you get that?” Chris, Joey and JC yelled from the living room.
“Fine, fine.” He said making his way over to the phone. “Hello?”
“Hi, Justin!”
“Kris?” Justin asked puzzled. This caught JC’s attention and he ran towards Justin. “No! I don’t think so! You stay away!”
“Justin, what are you talking about?” She asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing. They all yelled at me to get the phone because they were all too lazy to get up off the couch and answer it. JC found out it was you and now he wants the phone. But he to wait. Where’s Shelley?”
“Oh…ok. Um…she would be in class. I’m the TA in this class so I sneaked my way onto the phone.”
“I see. No teacher then?”
“Nope. Just me and thirty freshmen.”
“Fun.” He said. “Shouldn’t you two be coming home soon?”
“Yep. In about a half-hour. Will you all still be there?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then. Well, we don’t have a ride home so we might be a little late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Chris drove us to school…oh crap! I have to go…teacher’s coming.”
“Uh…okay. Bye.”
“See ya soon.” She hung up right before the teacher came into the room. Justin came back into the living room followed by JC, who was yelling at him.
“Why didn’t you let me talk to her?” He asked.
“Because you didn’t answer the phone. Besides she didn’t say she wanted to talk to you so there!”
“Ugh! You’re such a prick you know that.”
“Whatever, hey, you guys want to get the girls from school? Chris took them to school so they have no means of getting back here.”
“Oh that’s right.” Chris said. “Well, let’s go get them. Just stick on a hat or something and we’ll just try and blend. So Justin, that means that you’ll have to wear a few hats to hide that fro of yours.”
“Shut up!” They all got ready and went downstairs to the car. They took Kristina’s new car and drove off.
**At the lake**
After about a hundred attempts to get Julie to ride the Jet Ski, Lance gave up. She’d fall into the water countless times and wouldn’t get make it to the 50-foot mark on the lake.
“I told you this wasn’t going to work.” Julie said climbing the ladder to the dock. Lance was sprawled out on the dock exhausted.
“I tried to believe that you would learn. I give up.” He said breathing heavily. He had been riding along side Julie constantly helping Julie up and back onto the unit.
“I’m sorry Lance. I tried to warn you. But you didn’t listen. Again NO ONE listened to little old me!” She laughed and lied down next to Lance soaking in the sun’s rays. He turned on his side and placed one his arms across the small of Julie’s stomach.
“Uh…Lance?”
“Mmhmm…” He said falling asleep.
“…Nevermind.” She said smiling, closing her eyes and then slowly dozing off.
**At the Girl’s school**
“Kristina! I thought you said you called them!” Shelley yelled.
“I did. It just slipped my mind. I thought I mentioned something about not having a ride but the teacher came in and I couldn’t say much else.” Kristina said pacing back and forth watching her peers as they walked out of school. Shelley walked over to Kristina to stop her from pacing around. She sat her down with a group of their other friends also waiting for rides.
“So Kris, what’s the name of your guy?” A friend asked.
“Huh, how’d you know?” She asked.
“Oh, that would be my fault.” Shelley said raising her hand. Kristina shot a look towards Shelley and tried to smile.
“Oh, his…name?” Kristina hesitated to say anything. “Well…I’d rather not…” She stopped when she saw her car pulling up to the front of the school. “WHAT IS MY CAR DOING HERE?” She looked closely at who was driving and smiled. Shelley also looked over and her eyes sparkled.
“That’s your car?” Another person asked.
“Yep, got it for my birthday.” She said looking at the white Eddie Bauer FORD Explorer turning the last corner.
“Nice.” They all said. JC stepped out of the passenger side decked out in his well-dressed disguise. He leaned against the car and smiled. Kristina eyed him carefully. Shelley made her way into the car and climbed into the back seat with Justin and Joey. Chris got out and tossed the keys to JC and slipped in the back with the others. “That’s your boyfriend?” Someone asked. “He’s…wow!”
“Yes, he is…” Kristina said softly. She turned around, waved to her friends, grabbed her things and ran towards JC. He opened his arms and she ran into them wrapping her arms around him. “Hi.” She said looking up.
“Hey yourself.” They looked at each other sincerely and smiled. “Sorry we had to take your car. It’s the only one no one would really recognize.”
“It’s okay. Just make sure Chris drives that carefully or he’s dead.”
“Well, actually you’re driving it home.” He said knowing she’s wanted to drive her car since she got the keys the night before.
“YES!” She said grabbing the keys from him. She was about to head to the driver’s side when she stopped and turned around to JC. He was about to open his door when she stopped him. She looked at him through his sunglasses and kissed him. She pulled away and smiled. Before she could move to go back he pulled her into another more passionate kiss. Kristina could hear her friends cheering in the background. She turned around and smiled at them and headed to the driver’s side. She got into the car and noticed everyone strapping their seatbelts tight around their bodies.
“Oh, guys! I’m not going to drive like a lunatic. Not with this car.” She said as she put the car in drive. They made it home safely and in one piece. Kristina smiled as she got out of the car and made her way towards the apartment. “See, that wasn’t that bad.” She said pressing the button for the elevator. She looked over too see them all shaking their heads. “Oh, c’mon, I drove a lot better than I usually do.”
“C’mon guys, give her credit. She’s right. She did drive us here in one piece.” JC said.
“Oh all right,” Justin said. “Next time, I’m driving.”
“Not with my car, you’re not.” She said as the elevator doors opened. They laughed as the elevator took them to their floor. They got out and walked into the apartment. Kristina and Shelley hit the couch hard and sighed.
“School is so hard now. I mean with finals and everything, this is too much.” Kristina complained.
“Here, here!” Shelley agreed. They kicked off their shoes and leaned back onto the couch savoring the feelin of just being comfortable. “Well just think, a few more months, we’ll be graduating and no more school until college.”
“Thank god!” They shared a tired laugh and got up a few minutes later and headed for their rooms.
“Where are the two of you going?” Chris asked.
“Homework calls!” Kristina said. “That’s the joy of school…homework.” They walked into their rooms and were in there for the next couple of hours. They guys tired desperately to get the girls out everyone once and a while to do something and take their minds off of school but the girls insisted of finishing up what they had to do. The guys gave in and sat down on the couch.
Julie woke up and looked over to see Lance gathering up their things. She looked around and noticed that they were inside the compound. “How did I get in here?” She asked.
“I carried you in here. I woke up a half-hour after we both fell asleep out on the dock and I carried you in here.” He said walking back outside to load up the car. She noticed that he had already taken a shower and was waiting for her to get up.
“Oh, um…thanks I guess.” She said. She sat up on the couch and yawned.
“There are some dry clothes for you on the table if you want to take a shower or something.”
“Yeah, thanks.” She took the clothes and took a quick shower and met back with Lance twenty minutes later. “I had fun today. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He said sitting on the stool by the counter. There was a brief silence between them. They looked at each other intently until Julie couldn’t take it anymore.
“Would you STOP doing that?”
“Doing what?” He said knowing exactly what she was talking about.
“That!” She said pointing at the way he was sitting on the stool. “Why can’t you just sit on the stool properly and not have your leg sprawled out like that!” Lance sat halfway on the stool with his left leg propped on the small bar and his right leg set on the floor. It was one of Julie’s pet peeves and he was just doing it to annoy her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just…I’m so used to sitting like this.” He said with a genuine smile.
“And…WHAT’S with the shirt? Stripes? Lance, PLEASE tell me you have something else to wear!”
“Nope I don’t have another shirt…” He said telling a little white lie. He walked over to one of the bags still in the house and pushed it under the table. Julie saw this and walked over seeing a couple other shirts in the bag. She looked at him and glared.
“Oh my GOD! You are just doing this to piss me off! Well, it’s working!” She yelled.
“And it’s these little things that you know you love SO much about me.” He said sarcastically. “C’mon Julie, tell me you won’t miss yelling at me for doing stupid things?”
She caught onto his little scheme. He was purposely trying to tick her off for good reason to make her stay in Orlando. “Lance, that’s sweet and all, but PLEASE change your shirt! I know you’re trying to make me change my mind and have me stay here, it’s working really well. But you know I want to live my own life on my own without having people telling me what to do. You know that. I just…”
He stood up and walked over to her, taking her into his arms for a hug. He kissed her forehead and sighed. “It doesn’t hurt to try, does it?”
“No, but I’m glad you’re going all out to try and make me stay.” She said kissing his cheek. She turned around and looked at him. “Will you go and change, please!” She walked away and sat down on the couch staring at the mirror in front of her.
“Okay,” He said. He was about to leave for another room but stopped and decided to change right there. He lifted up his shirt and threw it down on the floor. Julie watched intently through the mirror. She tried not to look but it was all too tempting. She noticed his defined self and nearly passed out when he came by and sat next to her. He sat back on the couch and propped one of his arms behind her on the cushions. Julie tried keeping her focus on other things in the room but her sight kept falling on the reflection of them in the mirror. He reached down on the table for his glass of water, slowly and deliberately. His arm grazed her leg, which caused him to knock the drink onto himself, the water dripping down slowly.
"Lance!" she gasped, looking away.
"What?" he asked. She slowly turned her head back in his direction.
"Oh, geez, did you want me to change my pants too?" Lance started to unbuckle his belt.
"Lance, NO!" She shrieked, covering her eyes and walking away.
Lance started to crack up. He stepped towards Julie removing her hand from her eyes. She looked to see Lance's pants still on. She playfully punched him in the arm.
"That's not funny! Lance, don't you EVER do that to me again!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Come here" He took a step towards Julie, motioning for her to hug him.
"Uh-uh," Julie shook her head. She put her hand on his chest to keep him from hugging her. Lance stopped and looked at Julie's hand. It was then that she realized that he was still without a shirt.
He noticed the way she tried not to look but had to. She looked up at him when she saw that he was looking at something else, but she wasn't able to look away in time so when he looked back down, he caught her glare. He smiled at her and she smiled back. She shyly lowered her eyes to the floor. Lance smiled to himself and moved her hand from his chest. She looked up at him again to see what he was doing. He closed his eyes and started leaning in towards her. She closed her eyes and knew what was coming. The kiss started of soft but slowly got more and more passionate. Lance started kissing her more and more.
"Lance," she breathed heavily between kisses, "Give me a reason to stay"
Lance opened his eyes and pulled away quickly. He looked at her intently as he thought about her leaving. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and rubbed her cheek. He kissed her once again as he slowly brought them over to the couch. Julie lied down slowly bringing Lance down with her, kissing him as passionately as she could. His hands roamed to the top of her button down shirt and slowly undid each of them, still kissing Julie. She ran her hands through the short strands of hair at the nape of his neck. Lance’s kisses slowly ventured downward towards her neck and back towards her lips. Julie ran her fingers down Lance’s bare back and sighed as he kissed her again.
He looked down at her and what started as just a look in the eye, became a long gaze. He brought even closer to her to him as he started to…
BBRRRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG! The sound of the telephone caused them to stop and pull away. Lance looked at Julie with helpless eyes as he answered the phone. Julie sat up and realized then what was happening.
“Hello?”
“Lance? There you are!” JC said into the phone. “Whatcha doing man? It’s almost six.”
“I’m making use of my time with Julie.” He said smiling. He looked over at Julie who was also smiling at his comment. “Where are ya?”
“Still at Aud’s. We’re just chilling waiting for our girls to get home.” He said trying to fight off Justin, who was trying to get to the remote control.
“I see. Well if that’s all, I’ll be hanging up now.”
“Aw man, all right. Catch ya later!” JC yelled into the phone. Lance hung up and sighed.
“What was that all about?” Julie asked, she was a little disappointed, for once, about the interruption.
“Oh it was nothing. They were just being dumb, that’s all.”
“Typical.” Julie said. They sat on the couch silent, not looking at each other. The moment was ruined all thanks to a phone call. Lance looked down and saw that he still didn’t have a shirt on. He got up to change. Julie sighed as she sank into the couch. She watched him in the mirror. His arms looked defined as he pulled a wife beater over himself. Lance saw her looking through the mirror and a small smile came upon his face. Julie brought her face to her hands and tried to compose herself as he came back with a wife beater on and a dark blue button down shirt over it. She smiled, slowly. “Now, let’s… go back… home. It’s… almost six and I… miss the girls.” Her words came out slowly and hesitantly.
“Okay, let’s go.” He laughed, sheepishly. He took the last of the things and was soon off to the apartment. On the ride there, Lance still made an effort at Julie by showing off his POOR driving skills. He kept fidgeting with the radio and looking for things in the glove compartment, anything to get Julie yelling again.
“Lance!”
“What?”
“WATCH THE ROAD. I don’t want to DIE!” She said trying to keep as calm as possible.
“I am…nothing’s going to happen.” He said smiling. She saw him smile and she just had to laugh at herself. “What’s so funny?”
“You are. You’re the greatest you know. I mean, you’re still trying to make me stay in Orlando and go to college here. I told you, GIVE UP. I’ll decide when the time comes. Don’t worry.” She said. “But I love you for trying.”
He smiled and kissed the back of her hand. “I love ya too Julie, even after the insults, abusive yelling, everything, I still love ya!”
“You know I’m not me without the abusiveness.” She said laughing. They both got silent once again, thinking about what had happened at the compound and thinking if it was the right thing to do. It wasn’t brought up again in the car for obvious reasons. They pulled up to the parking garage and parked next to Kristina’s car. They made their way upstairs and were greeted by five fresh faces. “Hey guys!”
“Hey you two. Have fun today?” Kristina asked from the kitchen. She came out with drinks in her hand, handed them to whoever wanted them and sat with JC.
“Oh, lots!” Julie said, looking over at Lance who was already looking towards her direction. She began to describe their day to everyone and they listened and laughed when she started talking about the Jet Ski experience. She purposely skipped her little adventure with Lance and the water, and practically everything that happened after it. It was only for her and Lance to know. From where they were all situated they couldn’t see the front door opening. Audrey walked in and smiled at the sight she saw in front of her. Everyone was at ease, no one was fighting, and love bloomed through the group. It was truly a sight to see. It was…a very warm welcome.
She sighed to herself and smiled.
Home never looked this good…
To Be Continued…