Tiffanie sat on her bed and began digging in her suitcase, looking for a shirt to wear. She finally located a baby blue spaghetti strap shirt.
"Justin'll like this," she thought smiling.
As she pulled the shirt from the suitcase a picture fell face down onto the floor. She leaned over and picked it up. She looked at it and her heart skipped a beat. It was a snapshot of her and Devan at Daphne's birthday party. Devan was behind her with his arms tightly around her waist. They were both all smiles and having the time of their lives.
Tiffanie took a deep breath and got herself together. She placed the picture on her nightstand. That picture was of a much happier time between her and Devan. But that period of time was over and would never be back again.
The phone rang and she picked it up.
"Hello?" she said.
"Hey, baby," said Justin.
"Hi, sweetie," smiled Tiffanie.
"You miss me yet?" asked Justin.
"Yeah... I was actually getting something done," she teased.
"Ha-ha... anyway, I was wondering what colors you're wearing. We've been matching for this long... why stop now?"
Tiffanie laughed.
"Well, if you must know, I was trying to please you, so I'm wearing baby blue," she replied.
"Aww, babe... you're too good to me," said Justin genuinely pleased. "I promise I'll wear purple for you one day."
They both laughed.
"No, that's okay, really," said Tiffanie. "Baby blue is one of my favorite colors anyway. Anyways, I'm wearing baby blue and white."
"Okay... I can work with that," replied Justin.
"Alright, see ya in a few minutes," said Tiffanie.
"Bye, babe."
"Bye, sweetie."
Tiffanie hung up the phone and smiled as she pulled her white cutoff flood pants from her suitcase and headed to the bathroom.
A knock came on Tiffanie's door as she began taking the steam rollers from her hair. She stopped for a moment.
"Who is it?" she yelled as she slightly opened the bathroom door.
"It's me," replied Justin.
"Oh, come in... the door's unlocked," said Tiffanie as she closed the bathroom door and continued unrolling her hair.
Justin entered her room and looked around.
"Where are you?" he asked.
"I'm in the bathroom. I'll be out in a minute!" she answered, "just make yourself comfortable."
Justin walked over to her bed and sat on the edge. He looked at the line of framed pictured arranged on her nightstand. He smiled at the one of her and Daphne in a 'Best Friends Forever' frame. He'd heard so much about Daphne in the last three weeks that he felt like he knew her. Then he noticed an unframed snapshot lying near the telephone. It was the one of Tiffanie and Devan. He picked it up and began studying it.
"That's Devan with me in that picture," said Tiffanie.
Justin looked up guiltily. Tiffanie had come out of the bathroom and was now standing across the room watching him. She was wearing the baby blue spaghetti strap shirt and white flood pants she'd chosen earlier with white flip flops. Her hair was now curly and pulled from her face by white daisy barrettes. Since they were going to an amusement park she'd decided against makeup and simply went with lipgloss.
She walked over to the bed and Justin pulled her onto his lap. They looked at the picture together.
"That was at Daphne's surprise party," she reminisced.
"Looks like fun," Justin said as he put the picture back on her nightstand.
Noticing the sadness in her eyes, Justin put his arms around her and changed the subject.
"You look incredible," he complemented.
"Thanks... you look great, too," she replied.
Justin was wearing a baby blue sleeveless shirt with white shorts and a white bandana. Just then a knock came on the door.
"Are you two clothed?" said a voice that was undoubtedly that of Chris.
Justin and Tiffanie laughed.
"Yes, we're decent," said Justin.
"Come in," added Tiffanie.
Chris, JC, Joey, and Lance entered the room and burst into a chorus of "Aww...".
"Anyway," said Justin quickly, "we're ready so let's go. They stood up and Justin grabbed Tiffanie's hand.
"Relax, Justin," said Lance noticing the way he'd immediately grabbed her hand, "I don't think she's gonna run away."
Justin smiled, but didn't let go of her hand. He'd been looking for someone like her for too long to let her go now.
"Well, I promised Dani that I'd pick her up at two, so we'd better get going," said Chris checking his watch.
"Yeah, my date is supposed to meet us in the lobby in a few minutes," said Joey.
"Well, who's riding with who?" asked Justin.
"Joey, his date, and JC are riding with me," replied Lance.
"Like I said, I've just gotta pick up Dani," added Chris.
"How about Tiff rides with us and Justin rides with Chris and Dani?" JC joked.
Chris laughed hysterically.
"Like that would ever happen!" siad Joey laughing.
"Justin separated from Tiffanie for more than five minutes?! Unheard of!" exclaimed Chris.
Justin smiled and pulled his car keys from his pocket with his free hand.
"We'll see you guys there," he said.
Lance handed two VIP passes to Tiffanie as they all left her room.
"Y'all just have to show these to the people at the gate," he explained as they got on the elevator, "you don't have to wear them, but just keep them with you."
The elevator reached the lobby and they all got off. Joey walked over to a tall blonde who was sitting by the check-in desk.
Justin rolled his eyes and led Tiffanie out the lobby doors. She laughed once they were outside.
"Does Joey have a 'thing' for blondes or something?" she asked as they neared Justin's car.
"Yeah," said Justin as he opened the passenger's door for her, "the same 'thing' he has for brunettes and redheads... basically any female."
Justin and Tiffanie stood near the entrance to the park, waiting for the others to show up. Within the next ten minutes, Lance, JC, Chris, Dani, Joey, and his date all drifted in.
"I think we should split up and meet back here at about six to decide what we're gonna do for dinner," suggested Joey.
"Good idea," said Tiffanie.
"Sounds cool to me," agreed Justin.
"Go ahead," said Lance looking expectantly at Justin.
"Go ahead and do what?" asked Justin confused.
"Go ahead and hold her hand," answered Chris, automatically knowing what Lance was getting at.
"You know you were going to!" added JC.
"I'm surprised he isn't already," said Lance.
"Yeah!" said Chris looking at Justin. "You'd better hurry up... you're five minutes behind, dude!"
They all burst into laughter. Justin slightly blushed, but even as he did, he slowly laced his fingers through Tiffanie's.
"See!" exclaimed Chris pointing at them and causing more laughter.
"You guys.. don't give him such a hard time," said Dani smiling at Justin and Tiffanie.
"Yeah," agreed Melinda, Joey's date. "I think they're cute."
"In fact, I think maybe you could learn a little from Justin," teased Dani poking Chris in the side.
"Like what?" asked Chris sarcastically. "How to be literally superglued to another human being?"
They all laughed.
"No, really," said Dani seriously. "You should've been taking notes these past few weeks. Have you noticed the way his face lights up when this girl enters the room? Or the way his eyes glow with interest whenever she speaks? Or the absolutely adoring way he looks at her? It's obvious that the boy is in love."
"In love?" thought Tiffanie to herself and glanced up at Justin.
"Nah... Justin couldn't be in love with me," she reassured herself.
By now, Justin had turned a considerably deep shade of red and had become quite fidgety. The fact was that he actually was in love with Tiffanie. He just hadn't found the right way to tell her yet. Dani had him totally figured out and was completely blowing his cover.
"Well, anyway, we'll meet back here at six," concluded Chris, "but first... we must ALL ride the bumper cars."
Everyone agreed and they headed to the bumper cars.
They quickly went through the barley existent line and walked out onto the track to pick cars. Justin, who's hand was still entwined with Tiffanie's, spotted a baby blue car, but instead lead Tiffanie to a deep purple one.
"Don't you want to drive the baby blue one?" Tiffanie asked, obviously confused.
"Nah," Justin replied, "we'll take purple... after all, you wore baby blue for me."
"No, really," insisted Tiffanie, "if you really want to, you can drive the baby blue one... I want you to be happy."
"I want you to be happy, too!" argued Justin.
Tiffanie laughed.
"Do you realize that we're arguing over making each other happy?" she asked.
They both laughed.
"Look," Tiffanie said, "why don't you take the baby blue car and I'll take the purple?"
"But... I wanna be with you," said Justin as he slid his arm around her waist.
Tiffanie looked up into Justin's eyes. He really did look upset about the idea of not being with her for five minutes. No one had ever cared about her so much. She put her hand on his chest, leaned in, and softly kissed his lips.
"Would you two get a room?!" yelled Chris from the lime green car he and Dani were getting into.
"Yeah, but everytime we do, you guys bust in on us!" Justin shot back causing laughter.
"Come on," Tiffanie said, dragging Justin to the baby blue car.
"But, babe..." Justin began to protest.
"Shhh," said Tiffanie putting her finger on his lips.
She buckled up in the passenger's seat and looked up at Justin.
"Come on, hunny... it's not a big deal!" Tiffanie smiled.
Justin reluctantly sat down in the driver's seat. Before he could do it himself, Tiffanie reached over and buckled his seatbelt. He smiled at her and just as he was leaning over to kiss her, Joey and his date slammed into them.
"This is NOT make out mountain!" laughed Joey. "Furthermore, there are no backseats and oh, yeah... they started the engines."
Justin laughed as he floored it and crashed into JC, who turned around and laughed when he saw them.
"You mean you two unlocked your lips for three seconds?!" JC asked astonished.
"Ha ha... very funny," replied Justin. "Don't hate 'cause you ain't got a date!"
About five minutes later Tiffanie and Justin walked out of the bumper car ride hand in hand.
"So what do you wanna do now, babe?" asked Justin.
"Well, I'm kinda thirsty... can we get some lemonade here?" Tiffanie asked gesturing to a small lemonade stand surrounded by tables with umbrellas.
"Sure," replied Justin. He led her to a table and pulled out a chair for her.
"I'll be right back," said Justin.
In a few minutes he returned with an icy glass of lemonade.
"Thank you so much, sweetie," said Tiffanie as Justin sat down across from her. "Didn't you want any?"
"Nah, I'm fine," he replied.
Justin gazed lovingly at Tiffanie as she sipped her lemonade. He was so in love. It pained him to think of the fact that in three weeks she would be returning to Alabama. And possibly even returning to... Devan. He couldn't let that happen.
Just then Tiffanie looked up from her lemonade and caught Justin's loving gaze. She smiled nervously at him.
"What?" she asked referring to his stare.
"It's just incredible how much I-," Justin paused. The words "I love you" had almost escaped.
"...am going to miss you when this dance school is over," he finished. He sighed. At least he hadn't lied. He would miss her terribly.
"Aww..." replied Tiffanie, "I'm going to miss you a lot, too."
They both looked depressed for a second.
"But hey," said Justin brightening the mood, "let's enjoy the time we have together."
Tiffanie smiled as Justin stood. She got up, they joined hands, and headed to the roller coasters.
Justin sat alone in his room, staring at the framed picture of Tiffanie and him on his dresser. The picture had been taken at the 'Tunnel Of Love' two weeks earlier at the amusement park.
"I love you so much," he told the picture.
"If only I could find a way to tell her that," he muttered as he gazed out the window.
Just then the phone rang.
"Hello?" answered Justin.
"Hey! Whatcha doin'?" asked Tiffanie.
"Nothin'... thinkin' bout you," replied Justin honestly.
Aww... well, me and Tess, you remember my friend from dance class, right?"
"Well, we're going to the mall tonight and since the malls are pretty deserted around here on Sunday evenings, I just wondered if you and any of the guys wanna try to get through the mall without being recognized."
"Sure," replied Justin.
"Great... oh, yeah-- I'm wearing black and dark denim," said Tiffanie.
Justin laughed.
"Okay, babe... I'll be over in a bout fifteen minutes," he answered.
Justin knocked on Tiffanie's door precisely 15 minutes later wearing a black T-shirt, dark denim jeans, jacket, and hat. Dark sunglasses hid his deep blue eyes and the dark denim bucket hat atop his head was pulled down far, as to hid his curly coif.
Tiffanie opened the door with a one shoulder black tank top decorated with siver rhinestones, dark denim jeans, and black platform sandals. Her dark hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail.
"Wow," she said taking a look at Justin's undercover get-up. "If I didn't know it was you, I'd never guess!"
Justin smiled.
"Good," he replied, "that's the idea. You look great."
"Thanks... you do too," she smiled. "Although... I must say that I miss looking into those gorgeous eyes."
Tiffanie slid Justin's glasses down far enough to catch a glimpse of his eyes as she softly kissed him.
Justin took the sunglasses completely off and put them into his back pocket. He then slid his arms around her and they began to kiss in the middle of the hallway.
"Would you two knock it off?!" exclaimed Tess, pushing them apart.
"Hi, Tess," Justin smiled as he put his sunglasses back on and they all headed to the elevator.
"Are any of the guys coming tonight?" asked Tiffanie.
"Lance is," answered Justin, "he's meeting us in the lobby."
"Ooh... did you hear that, Tess?" teased Tiffanie. She knew that Tess had a slight crush on Lance.
Tess blushed, but remained silent.
"Hey... I'm not supposed to leak this insider info, but Lance has mentioned you a lot, Tess," said Justin. "He thinks you're pretty. I think he likes you."
"Really?!" asked Tess, her baby blue eyes brightening.
Justin nodded as the elevator doors opened to the lobby.
Tess began nervously smoothing her past-waist length thick golden hair down.
"How does my hair look?" she asked Tiffanie nervously.
"Perfect.. as usual," smiled Tiffanie as she pulled her off the elevator.
"What about my outfit?" continued Tess. She was dressed identically to Tiffanie, except for the fact that her shirt and sandals were pink instead of black.
"You look great, now come on!" exclaimed Tiffanie dragging her over to Lance.
"Lance, you remember Tess from dance class, right?" introduced Justin.
"Of course... I never forget a gorgeous face," replied Lance smiling.
Tess blushed speechlessly until Tiffanie elbowed her in the side.
"Hi," Tess managed to say in a barely audible voice.
"Would you care to be my date for the evening?" Lance finally said.
"Wow-- I mean, sure.. I'd love to," stammered Tess nervously.
"We're taking my car, correct?" asked Lance as he pulled on a baseball cap.
Justin nodded and slid his arm around Tiffanie's waist.
"Let's go," said Tiffanie.
Lance pulled his 4RUNNER into a space not too far from the main entrance.
"So, what's the plan?" asked Lance.
"Well," began Tiffanie, "me and Tess wanna look around together for maybe an hour, then maybe we could all meet up somewhere and split up again- you know.. me and Justin, you and Tess."
"Sounds cool to me," said Lance.
Justin nodded in agreement.
They all got out of the car and headed towards the main entrance.
"Well, see y'all in about an hour at the fountain," said Lance, once they reached the doors.
"Okay, bye," replied Tess.
Then they both turned attention to the direction of their two friends who seemed to be having a hard time saying good-bye.
Justin held both of Tiffanie's hands in his as they gazed dreamily into each other's eyes.
"Oh, no... I've seen that look before," groaned Lance.
"Yeah, I have too," said Tess. "If we don't get them apart now, we'll never even make it inside the mall!"
Lance grabbed Justin's arm and Tess pulled Tiffanie by her waist until they finally separated the two.
"You and Justin are so meant for one another," commented Tess as she and Tiffanie looked through clothes at The Gap.
"You really think so?" asked Tiffanie as she examined a lavender sleeveless shirt.
"So much that it's pathetic!" answered Tess. "Evertime you two get around each other you both get this glazed over dreamy look in your eyes."
Tiffanie looked up and smiled for a moment as she thought of Justin.
"That's the look!" exclaimed Tess, pointing at her. Tiffanie threw the shirt at Tess and laughed.
"Come on, let's go to the jewelry store," said Tiffanie changing the subject.
"Why do you always do that?" asked Tess quietly as they headed for Friedman's.
"What?" asked Tiffanie confused.
"Change the subject when I mention how serious you and Justin seem to be getting," answered Tess.
"Do I?" asked Tiffanie looking at rings through the glass case.
"Yes!" answered Tess getting annoyed.
"Hey, that's a gorgeous ring, don't you think?" commented Tiffanie pointing at a promise ring with her birthstone in it.
"Yeah... it is pretty," said Tess allowing Tiffanie to veer her away from the subject for a moment.
"Excuse me," said Tiffanie to a sales lady, "Can I try this ring on?"
Once the lady removed the ring from the locked glass case, Tiffanie slid it onto her finger. Perfect fit.
"It's so pretty," she gasped. "And so expensive," she added noticing the price tag.
"But it is gorgeous," added Tess as they both stood there in awe. The ring band was platinum with a baby blue gem- aquamarine, Tiffanie's birthstone- in the shape of a heart with small diamond wings on each side of the heart.
After a few minutes of staring at the ring, Tess snapped back into reality.
"But for real, Tiff... about you and Justin..... you're falling in love, aren't you?" Tess asked softly.
"Huh? Love? Of course not," mumbled Tiffanie, trying to hide her true feelings.
"Why not? It's obvious that he loves you. He's been watching you through that window over there since we got in here," replied Tess.
Tiffanie looked up, surprised to see him. He smiled at her. She smiled and waved at him.
"See how delighted you were to see him- don't tell me you're not in love!" Tess exclaimed.
Tiffanie remained silent as she shook her head.
"You are and I don't know why you keep denying it!" argued Tess.
Finally, not being able to hold it in any longer, Tiffanie burst into a rage of anger.
"Maybe because I'm scared! Maybe because I've never felt this way before! Maybe because I don't want to end up hurt like I did the last time I even came close to feeling this way about someone!" yelled Tiffanie as tears began to overflow.
She pulled off her dream ring and slammed it on the counter. She then fled out of the store. Justin, who was still standing right outside, stopped her.
"Hey babe... what's wrong?" he asked, noticing her tears. He immediately wrapped her in his arms.
"Stop! Just stop it!" she yelled, pushing him off of her.
"What?" asked Justin, obviously hurt.
"Everything!" she screamed. "Stop holding me! Stop caring about me! Stop making me fall in love with you!"
With that said, she ran out the doors of the mall into the now dark and rainy night. Justin watched speechlessly. He felt every grain of his being had just been torn to peices. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he dropped down onto the bench outside the jewelry store.
Tess emerged from the jewelry store looking for Tiffanie, but instead found Justin trying to fight back tears. It wasn't working.
"Justin!" exclaimed Tess rushing to his side.
"I-I don't know what I did... she yelled all this stuff at me about... about making her love me... then she just... she just left," stammered Justin. His chin slightly quivered as he looked sadly at the door which she'd just stormed out of.
Tess smiled and gently rubbed Justin's shoulder.
"Hun, she didn't mean any of whatever she just told you... trust me," assured Tess.
Justin looked at Tess with hopeful eyes as she began to explain what was going on.
CHAPTERS 19-21 WILL BE UP SOON!!! Be sure to check back. Thanks for all the support!!!
Luv & Hugs~ Tiff :)
