CHAPTER 12
"Hey, Amber!" Lance called. She glared at him as she walked by. She was still mad at everyone for what they were doing to her. "Good morning, sunshine." Chris mumbled sarcastically under his breath. She quickly hit him as she passed him by. "Geez, what his this? Hit Chris Week?" He said. "Ok, what did you do to her?" Justin asked, looking accusingly at Joey. "Nothing guys. I swear. She's just pissed off at having to be baby-sit. She is 20, after all." He answered, defensively. "Thank you, Joey. Now if only all of you guys could think like that," Amber's voice came from the back of the room. "Sorry, babe, but we've already packed and come this far. I'm afraid you're stuck with us." JC's voice came up from behind her. She pouted and sank in to one of the comfortable seats. Since she'd been up almost half the night, she fell asleep almost immediately.
"Whoa, were you guys doing anything last night that we should know about?" JC asked Joey, who rolled his eyes. By this time, they were in their seats, and the plane was taking off. "No, we didn't do anything. But she did have a dream about her accident, which kept us both up for half the night." At this everyone immediately perked up. "How was she?" JC asked, suddenly serious and concerned. "Well, she did take it very well, considering, and even though she managed to get to sleep, the dreams kept recurring. I don't think she'll get over it very soon, though." He added. "Is she ok with everything?" Chris asked anxiously. "She's only remembered bits and pieces of it so far, but she knows a lot of what happened that night." Joey said. "So, Joey, exactly how involved were you with Amber?" Justin questioned. "What are you talking about?" Joey replied. "All that I did was comfort her. That's all, and it's the truth." He finished. "Yeah, whatever." Lance replied. "Come on, Joey, admit it. You've liked her ever since you first saw her eyes open on that hospital bed." Chris finished. "Well, even if I did feel that way --WHICH I DON'T-- I still wouldn't have done anything different last night. She needed someone to be there for her, so that's exactly what I was to her. GOT IT?" They could tell by the tone of his voice that he needed time alone, so they cleared out, leaving Joey to fight off his emotions, and a sleeping Amber to fight off her dreams.
CHAPTER 13
"Amber, come on. Wake up. We're almost there." Chris said, gently shaking her awake. "What?" she said groggily. They had been flying for 7 hours, and she had been asleep for at least five of them. She was looking forward to seeing Jesse, even though she knew it would be just another person to make a fuss over her. "AMBER!! COME ON!! IF YOU DON'T GET UP NOW WE'RE LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!!" Justin's voice boomed in her ear, jolting her awake. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she grumbled, pulling herself out of the plane and into the limo. Suddenly what Justin said came back to her. "Hey," she said, eyes sparkling, "maybe I'll just go back to the plane, and you guys can do what Justin suggested." She grinned. "Ha, ha. Very funny. Get in the car." JC said, as he playfully punched her on the shoulder. As they headed towards Jesse's house, Amber told them everything she could. Everyone was especially impressed with her silver Mustang GT Jesse owned, and she described the house in as much detail as she could remember, because she added, she hadn't seen her in over a year. Joey, as usual looked out the window, and quietly stared through the tinted windows. Amber observed him out of the corner of her eye, and noted with disappointment that he was starting to become the old Joey again. The one who never said more than 2 words to her, and never seemed to care. At that moment, she wished with all of her heart that the sweet Joey would somehow find his way back.
"So, Amber, is there any way you can persuade Jesse, to uh, let us take the car for a spin?" Chris asked. "I think we might be able to work something out." She grinned. "Umm, Amber, exactly how far away are we from Jesse's house?" Lance asked, looking kind of green. "It should be around 5 minutes at the most-wait, scratch that-WE'RE HERE!!" She screamed, getting out of the car, and clearing the path for everyone else. Joey felt like he was in the direct path of a boulder. Amber couldn't be his, and in a few minutes he'd meet the person that was responsible for the misfortune. As they slowly got out of the car, everyone but Justin stayed back to make sure Lance was ok. He couldn't wait to get a glimpse of that Mustang. As everyone assisted Justin, he turned around to watch. Suddenly the door behind him opened, and he found himself face to face with the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen.
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