CHAPTER 11
:::Miranda’s POV:::
That night I lie awake in bed thinking. I tried listening to "Sailing" and that didn’t help. My head was filled with the vision of Lance trying to kiss me. I wanted that kiss and most of all I wanted him. I wanted him to hold me in his arms and say that I was his. If only it were true…I soon came out of my fantasy world from a knock on the door. I wiped away the tears that had formed in my eyes. "Come in." I whispered. It was JC. He came and sat on the edge of my bed.
"Are you okay Miranda?" I just nodded. "You were quite distant today. Did something happen that I don’t know about?"
"Oh JC." I sobbed. "I’m sorry."
"What?!? What are you sorry for? What happened?"
"It’s Lance…"
"What about him?"
"He tried to kiss me today. I didn’t let him, but I definitely wanted him to. My heart and my mind are in two different worlds."
"It’s okay." JC soothed. "Maybe you’re just not ready."
"But JC, I like Lance a lot. Why is this happening? Something good is finally starting to happen and I’m not letting it."
"Miranda. Just stop. Why don’t you take it slow with Lance. First start out with a "friendly" date and go from there."
"Why are you always right?"
"I’m not, I just seem to add my two cents when needed." He joked. "Want me to send Lance up?"
"Sure JC. Thanks a lot."
"No problem babe." He said leaving her room quietly. Lance appeared only minutes later.
"Hey." he whispered. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah. I think we should talk."
"I think you’re right."
"Well, um, about today. I know I probably pissed you off…" she paused.
"No, you didn’t. Not at all. Why would you think that?" he questioned.
"I dunno, I just thought that."
"Well, I wasn’t and I’m not now."
"I’m glad."
"Okay, Miranda…obviously you can see I like you. And not just in a friendly way."
"I had an idea." She gave him a half smile.
"I’m just getting these vibes that you don’t like me like that so I just wanted to tell you that I’m going to back off."
"Lance, it’s nothing like that. I do have feelings for you. It’s just I don’t think I’m ready for a boyfriend right now. And I really don’t know when I will be ready. JC told me to take things slow and that’s what I was planning on doing. But I can’t hold you up. You should like somebody who knows what they want and when they want it and I don’t so that’s why I’m telling you to forget about me."
"No!"
"What?!?"
"I’m not going to forget about you Miranda. I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait forever but you can’t push me away. You came here so that we could help you get away from all your problems with your dad and you wouldn’t have to push anyone away anymore. We are all here for you and you need to realize that."
"I do realize. I do, it’s just…I guess it just doesn’t feel real."
"It should, but you’re practically falling asleep so I’m gonna leave. Sleep tight, Miranda." He kissed her head softly and walked out of the room.
:::Downstairs:::
"Did you talk to her?" Justin asked.
"Yeah," Lance sighed, as he plopped himself down on the couch.
"And?" JC pried.
"And she practically told me to stop having feelings for her."
"Why would she say that?" Chris questioned.
"Because, she said that she doesn’t know what she wants right now and she doesn’t want me to wait for her to decide."
"Wow!" Joey stated. "What did you say."
"I told her I would wait forever."
"Ewww, this is going to get mushy! Stop right there!" Chris spat. "New subject."
Without a word Justin turned on the TV. "Everything is News at this hour."
"So, just watch it! It’s better then sitting in silence." JC exclaimed.
They all sat intently watching the news not saying a word to each other. "Hello everyone, I’m sure as most of you have heard, two children have been reported missing from the New Jersey area." Then a picture of Miranda and Austin was flashed on the screen. They guys looked at one another in horror. They watched the end of the segment before speaking.
"What the f*** are we going to do now?" JC asked.
"I know it’s not safe for her but I think we have to send her back. We could be charged with kidnapping…right?" Joey replied.
"Not quite, Joey. What if we call CPS? They can do something." Justin answered.
"She doesn’t have a mark on her anymore. What are we going to do? Push her in front of a car so she gets some bruises? We have to think of something!"
"Wait I got it!" JC shouted. He ran in the other room and came back with an envelope containing pictures. "Remember when Miranda got here the other day?"
They all nodded and he continued, "Well we have pictures of her with the bruise on her face."
"That’s right! Aren’t we smart!" Chris said gleefully.
"For now I think we should go to bed and sleep on it. In the morning when Miranda wakes up we will talk about what we are going to do. Agreed?" They all nodded and headed off to bed.
They all nodded and headed off to bed.
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