CHAPTER 9
Rebecca was very surprised to hear someone calling her name. She looked up to see who it was and immediately saw JC's smiling face running towards her.
"Wait!" JC yelled again as he approached her. When he was standing directly in front of her he asked, "Are you going home?"
Rebecca smiled and said, "No, I'm just going to pick up my mom. She was on her way to the grocery store and her car broke down."
"Oh, well that's good." JC was relieved that she wasn't leaving. He knew that he was going to have to leave soon because of business and that Rebecca would be going home soon as well. "Well, can I go with you?"
"To pick up my mom?" She laughed slightly. "If you really want to. It's not going to be much fun though."
"Well, why don't we take my car? I'm sure you'd rather just rest anyways."
"Are you sure? You're not tired from your concert last night or anything, are you?" Rebecca said remembering JC's plans from the night before.
"Nah, I'm good."
JC took Rebecca's hand and led her over to his jeep. He opened the passenger side door for Rebecca. As she was getting in, JC said, "Let's just consider it our first date and then maybe we'll have more fun." He winked at Rebecca before closing the door and walking around to the driver's side of the car. Rebecca couldn't stop grinning.
As JC got into the car he asked, "So, where do I have to go to find your mom?"
Rebecca should him the map that she had drawn. "Right here," she said pointing to a specific spot.
"Great map," JC said sarcastically.
"Hey, don't make fun of me. You know I'm terrible with directions. You're lucky it looks this good."
JC chuckled. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm driving."
Rebecca rolled her eyes at JC. "Hey, I'm kidding," JC said. He reached over and took Rebecca's hand. "I think you're a very cool person." JC cleared his throat. "And, I like you. I like you a lot. I want to spend a lot of time with you." He squeezed her hand a little. "The only thing that bothers me is that it seems as though you don't want to spend time with me. Almost as if you're scared of me or something." JC pulled up to a traffic light that had just turned to red and turned worried eyes to Rebecca. "Did I do something to you? Did I make you uncomfortable in any way? Was it the whole 'true love' thing? Whatever it was, I'm sorry. I'm totally 100 perce…"
"JC, please be quiet." Rebecca cut in on JC's questioning. "I have something to tell you."
JC nodded as he pressed on the gas pedal.
"Well, my problem is not you. My problem is an old boyfriend whose name is Donny. I don't want to go into detail about what happened, but he tried to do something to me against my will." Rebecca bit her bottom lip to keep it from shaking. "I didn't let him do anything to me. I hit him and then left, but ever since then I've been totally scared of guys. You're actually the first guy who I've opened up to like this since Donny. I guess that's why I freaked that morning in front of the hotel. I'm so sorry. I should have told you before."
"No, I feel bad now." JC stared straight ahead at the rode as he talked. "I feel like I forced you into this. I'm the one who kept forcing you to kiss me. It all started the first night we met in the movie theaters. I forced you to kiss me then and I forced you again later and then again later…oh my gosh, I feel terrible." JC's voice started to drop a little. He honestly felt like this was his fault.
"First of all, no guy forces me to do anything. I've already proven myself on that. Second of all, where do you get off saying that this whole situation is your fault? We have only one person to blame and that's Donny, wherever he is right now." Rebecca's tone was strong and powerful as she spoke those words to JC.
JC sat there for a minute longer before he realized that he had just passed the street that Rebecca had told him to turn onto. "Ugh…we got so wrapped in our conversation that I missed the street. I'm going to have to turn around. Sorry about that."
"That's ok, I understand." Rebecca was actually grateful that JC came along so that she could tell him what had been bothering her.
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"Thank You so much!" Mrs. Tyler said these words over and over to both JC and Rebecca. "I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't for you."
"Mom, just calm down. You could have called a towing service to come and tow the car away. They would have taken you with the car."
"Oh, well this is nicer." Mrs. Tyler looked up at JC and said, "Are you Justin Timberlake?"
JC smiled and said, "No, Justin is my band partner."
"Oh, well someone had said something earlier about going sightseeing with Justin Timberlake. Sorry, I don't keep up with the new fashions and music and stuff like that."
"That's ok, my name is JC." JC gently took Mrs. Tyler's hand and kissed her knuckles. "I'm very glad to meet you. I've heard so much about you."
"Thank you, I'm sorry to say that my daughter doesn't like to talk about stuff like this with me so I really haven't much about you." Mrs. Tyler smiled slightly.
Rebecca jumped in and said, "Well, let's get going home."
"Good idea," JC said while helping Mrs. Tyler into the backseat of the jeep.
When they got back to the hotel, JC dropped them off in the front and walked them both to the hotel lobby doors. He then said, "Goodbye" and drove off.
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