5 Months Later
5 Months Later
"Samanthaaaaaa!" Joey screamed, throwing the door open and running into the kitchen.
"Joeyyyyyy!" I echoed with a laugh as I turned away from the stove to face him.
"Guess what? Guess what?" he asked excitedly.
"What?"
"Come on, guess," he insisted.
"Um...let me think..." I said and turned around to continue cooking dinner, "You're having a baby?"
Joey smirked, "Be serious, guess."
"I'm bad at the guessing game. Just tell me."
"We got a record deal! We start recording in 2 weeks!" he cried.
"Really? Oh my God, that's great!" I said happily and gave him a hug.
"I can't believe this! I've waited so long for this," he said, sitting down on one of the stools at the counter.
"I know. Congrats." Joey spun around on the stool to face me, "Me and the guys are going out to celebrate. Call Lynn and Desiree and tell them to come, too."
"But I'm already cooking. I can't go out to eat."
He got up and walked over to me, pulling the spoon out of my hand, "You're brothers will eat it. Come with me, please?"
"Oh, all right." I sighed and turned off the burner.
I walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway to the stairs.
"I have to change first, though." I said.
"Move, move move! Go, go, go!" he cried, slapping me on the butt as I went upstairs.
I walked into my room and closed the door. I pulled a pair of khakis and a light blue tank top with butterflies out of the closet and started changing.
I was glad I was no longer obsessed with Joey. It was so much easier to talk to him now that I wasn't worried that I'd make a fool of myself. I found that it's much easier to be friends with him.
I finished getting dressed and sat down on the stool in front of my vanity table to do my hair and make up.
"Are you done yet, Sam?" Joey asked anxiously, banging on my door.
"Almost!" I yelled, glancing at the door and then looking back in the mirror.
"Well, hurry up!"
"All right, all right. I'm done." I said a few minutes later.
I got up and opened the door. Joey looked at me and smiled.
"You look nice," he said.
The compliment threw me off guard, he rarely ever did that.
"Thanks." I said a little confused.
"We should get going. The guys told us to meet them there at 7:00 and it's already 6:35."
"Where are we going?" I asked as we started walking down the stairs.
"Well, you know JC, he decided we're getting Chinese." Joey answered, a little annoyed since JC always got his way.
We walked into the kitchen and I picked up the phone, "Let me call Des and Lynn and tell them to meet us there."
I started dialing Lynn's number.
"Can you get me that pen and paper over there?" I asked as the phone rang.
Joey picked up the pad of paper and pen on the counter and handed it to me. I wrote a note to my mom telling her where I was going and stuck it on the refrigerator.
"Hello, Lynn?" I asked when someone picked up the phone.
"Hey." Lynn said.
"We're all going out for Chinese. Do you want to come?"
"Sure but why are we going?" she asked
"The guys have some big news."
"Oh, okay. I'll see you there."
"Bye." I said and hung up.
"Is Lynn coming?" Joey asked.
"Yep. Now I need to call Desiree." I said.
I dialed the number and told her where we were going. She said she would meet us there. I hung up the phone and turned to Joey.
"Shall we get going, my dear?" I asked in a funny voice.
He laughed and headed for the door. We went outside and I shut the door behind us. It was warm out with a breeze. It was kind of unusual for mid-July. Usually it would just be hot and sticky.
Joey and I went out so often that people thought we were dating. I wished we were, that is, I used to wish that. I looked up at him and smiled. At least we were friends.
He pulled the keys out of his pocket and we walked to his car.
"Madam," he joked, sweeping his arm toward the car door once he had unlocked it.
I laughed and climbed in. Joey slid in next to me. He slammed the door shut and started the engine.
"Do we have to pick up anyone?" I asked.
"Nope, JC's gonna get Justin and everyone else is all set," he answered.
"Oh, okay." I said as he pulled out of the driveway and headed for the restaurant.
A few minutes later we arrived. JC and Chris pulled up right after us. Joey turned off the car and we climbed out. Justin opened the door and ran over to me.
"Oh my God! I'm so excited! AAAAHHH!!!!" he cried happily as he jumped on my back.
"Really? I never would have figured that you were excited if you hadn't told me." I said, "Now please get off."
Justin got down and I smoothed my shirt. Chris opened his door and climbed out.
"Good job, Chris!" I called.
"On what? Opening the door?" he asked, kidding around.
"Yeah, that's it."
"Are we gonna stand out here all night or are we going in to eat?" Joey asked, pointing towards the door.
"Yeah! I'm hungry!" Justin added.
"Okay, let's go then." JC said as we walked to the door.
"Pretty soon, ALL these people are going to love us." Joey whispered to me.
"I know they will." I whispered back.
We got seated and opened our menus.
"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" Chris asked, shutting his menu.
"Speaking of 'others', here they are now." JC said.
I turned around to see Lynn, Lance, and Desiree walk in.
"Hey, Des." Justin said happily as she sat down next to him.
"Hi," she said, smiling.
"Okay, guys, what's the big news?" Lynn asked.
"I dunno, maybe we should make them wait." Lance said in a teasing voice as he reached for his menu.
"No!" Lynn and Des cried.
The guys laughed and tried to change the subject.
"Nah uh, I don't think so. Tell us, man." Des ordered.
"Not yet. After we eat." Joey said.
"Sam! Help me here!"
I tried not to laugh and shook my head, "I already know."
"Joey!" Justin cried.
He blushed, "Sorry, I was excited."
"If Samantha can know, so can we." Lynn said.
"All right. You win. We'll talk." JC said.
"You know that we've been sending demos out, right?" Lance began.
"Yep." Des said, nodding to let him know to go on.
"Well, this guy Johnny heard it and he likes us. He sent the tape to RCA and we got signed!" he said excitedly.
Lynn and Desiree screamed and gave the guys hugs, causing the whole restaurant to stop what they were doing and stare at us.
"But..." JC started to say, his face dropping.
"But what? Joey, you never told me about any 'but'. But what?" I asked worried.
"We're going to start recording in two and a half weeks...but, we're recording in Germany," he finished.
"Germany?" Lynn, Desiree, and I asked disappointed.
"Yeah, but it's a good opportunity." Justin offered.
No one said anything.
"See, this is why we wanted to wait." Chris said, trying to be funny.
I gave Chris a mean look, "Very funny."
"Come on, guys, let's just order." JC said.
We ordered, ate, and walked out to our cars an hour later. I saw Justin pull Desiree over to the side.
"Hold on, I wanna see what he's saying." I said and turned around.
"You just can't go up and ask him. Let's go." Joey said and pulled on my arm.
"She'll tell me."
"Fine," he said and walked to the car, "but hurry up."
Justin gave her a kiss on the cheek and left with Chris.
"Oh my God, guess what?" Des squealed, running over to me.
I smiled, knowing what he asked her. He had asked me before if she liked him and I said yes.
I knew to act clueless, "Um...what?"
"He asked me out! Oh my God, yes!" she cried.
"Cool. When?"
"Friday. You have to help me find something to wear. Uh oh, I don't have anything to wear! What am I gonna do?" she rambled.
"You can borrow some of my stuff, now calm down." I said as I put my hands on her shoulders.
She breathed in deeply, "Okay. I'm calm."
"Good. Now I gotta go before Joey leaves without me."
"All right. Bye."
I waved good-bye and walked towards the car.
"So?" Joey asked as I got in the car.
"Justin asked Desiree out." I replied.
"I hope she doesn't think this will end up a long term thing," he said and started driving home.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, we go to Europe in two and a half weeks, what's gonna happen when we leave?"
I realized what he was talking about, they couldn't have much of a relationship. Did that mean Joey and I would have a hard time staying friends?
"You better keep in touch." I said.
"What?" he asked, surprised.
I shook my head, I didn't mean to say that, "I know what you mean. They won't be able to date when he's in Europe. That means we'll have a hard keeping in touch, too."
"We've been friends for three years, don't worry about it," he assured me.
I nodded even though I doubted him. I had a bad feeling this friendship wasn't going to work out. Whether we stayed friends or not, Joey was doing what he always wanted to do. That was all that mattered...right?