****
“Where have you two been?” Chris asked with a hint of teasing in his voice before taking a gulp of the soft drink he’d “borrowed” from JC’s refrigerator.
“JC was showing me his equipment,” Jen replied as the couple entered the dining room of the Florida home.
“I thought Johnny said we weren’t allowed to do that with his employees anymore,” Joey remarked, enticing a slap on the back of the head from Mel who was sitting right next to him at the table.
“Nice, I wish I would’ve known there was a chance of sudden showers,” JC said sarcastically as he wiped away the soda from his arms and shirt that had exploded from Chris’ mouth after Joey’s comment.
“His recording equipment, moron,” Jen said rolling her eyes as Joey rubbed his head.
“That actually hurt,” he frowned looking at the brunette to his left. “Why’d you hit me?”
“Because you said something stupid. That’s my new rule from now on. If you say or do anything stupid, you get punished physically,” Mel answered matter-of-factly as she arranged the collection of cell phones and pagers neatly in front of her. “Maybe that’ll prevent all this damn nonsense that always seems to go on in this incestuous little circle.”
The group’s initial laughter at Joey’s expense was muffled by the implications of the latter part of Mel’s statement. They were all concerned by the devastating argument Lance and Sam had earlier in the night and even more so of Sam’s sudden disappearance with Justin. The five of them had learned of the incident while they were at dinner. Lance showed up at the restaurant hoping to find Sam and repair the damage that had been done. The anguish on his face was painfully obvious however, when his friends informed him that she and Justin had never arrived at the planned outing. Leaving everyone to conclude that wherever the two of them were, they were together.
Their theories were confirmed a short while later as they all sat at JC’s watching a movie. Lance had phoned from Sam and Jen’s apartment to let them know that Sam hadn’t returned there and that her car was still in it’s parking space in the lot outside her building. He only managed to elevate Mel’s panic when he mentioned how bad the driving conditions had become in the time the bunch of friends had returned from dinner. The ring tones of a cell phone interrupted all of their thoughts.
Joey went to grab for the portable device, but his hand was quickly smacked away by Mel. “It’s my phone!” he protested.
“Hello?” she answered, her voice firm as she glared at him.
“Who is this?” the woman on the other end replied.
“Who is this?” Mel returned coolly. She rolled her brown eyes as the woman gave her name and once again asked whom she was speaking with. “This is Mel. And that’s really my name, I’m not going to change it a couple months later and tell you something different. Is there something I can do for you?” she asked with an even harder edge to her tone now.
“Um,” the other woman stammered. “Is Joey there? Can I talk to him please?”
“Sure, because you can do whatever you want and it’s perfectly okay with everyone,” Mel said, the words now overly sugarcoated as they flowed from her mouth. “Just a sec, I’ll get Joey for you.”
The dark haired man seized the phone from Mel’s outstretched hand and rose from the table as he greeted the caller. “Hey it’s me. Sorry to call so late…”
“It’s not that late. I wasn’t sleeping or anything. We’re all just hanging at JC’s. What’s up?” Joey asked disappearing into the kitchen as Mel grumbled something under her breath.
“Geez Mel, maybe you should mellow out a bit before you pop something,” Chris taunted. “HA! Mel, mellow…MEL-low. That’s funny!” he exclaimed.
The young woman stared blankly at him.
“Yo JC, you got any food in that kitchen?” Chris asked before making his escape, the younger man not far behind him.
“She is so comical sometimes,” JC chuckled once they were safely inside the other room. “And SO protective of the people she cares about. Speaking of which…” he said looking at Joey who was just finishing his telephone conversation.
“All right, I’ll see you then. Bye,” he said hanging up and facing the disapproving stares of his bandmates. “What?” Joey shrugged.
“Dude, you’re not really gonna start seeing her again are you? After everything that happened?” Chris questioned. Joey had now told everyone what had occurred in his past relationship. “Don’t you think it’d be better to just leave it alone? Let it die peacefully?”
“We’re just going to dinner. She heard I was home and wants to catch up. What’s the big deal?”
“What about Mel?” JC asked folding his arms across his chest.
“What about her?” Joey answered. “I’d invite her but something tells me I’d have to play referee all night.”
“Yeah, funny thing, current girlfriends don’t usually care for the old girlfriends much,” the blue-eyed man scoffed.
“What?” Joey said confused. “Mel and I aren’t dating.”
“Really?” Chris sounded surprised. “You two sure do spend an awful lot of time together.”
“Because we’re friends. She’s my conscience,” he grinned.
“That’s was quite an intimate dance that you and your conscience shared last week in New York,” JC snickered.
“That was nothing,” Joey said with a shake of his head. “Do you know what she’s majoring in?”
“No, but you obviously do,” Chris teased.
Joey rolled his eyes. “She’s a theatre and arts major at UCF. As far as her parents know it’s still English though,” he added, causing the other men to giggle at how he only seemed to prove their assumption of the nature of his relationship with the young woman. “That was just a performance for her.”
“Are you sure? She seems a little more invested than that to me. Especially after that way she reacted to that phone call,” JC pointed out.
“That’s just because she thinks she needs to protect everyone from everything,” Joey explained. “Look at the way she freaking out over this whole Lance/Sam/Justin thing. Where do you think they went anyway?” he wondered.
“I have no idea,” JC sighed. “But wherever they’re at I wouldn’t want to be driving Justin’s little toy car in this mess,” he said motioning towards the window where the booming thunder sounded and the lightening brightened the nighttime sky.
“How do you know they didn’t take Sam’s new present?” Joey countered.
“Because Lance told me it was still parked at her apartment when he called earlier,” JC reminded his friend.
“And what is up with that anyway?” Chris said loudly. “Buying her a Grand Cherokee? You know if she were really JUST his assistant and they weren’t doing the mattress dance she’d be driving a Geo Metro,” he kidded as he rummaged through the pantry.
“You’re probably right,” JC laughed as Chris emerged with a box of Twinkies and the three men rejoined the ladies in the dining room.
“If you’re done with that I’ll be needing it back,” Mel informed, snatching the cell phone from Joey’s hand and returning it to her collection.
“Could you tell me again why you’ve taken all of our communication devices hostage?” Chris asked.
“One more time, I’ll speak slowly and use little words so your tiny minds can understand,” she explained annoyed. “If Sami and Justin have just once ounce of brain matter left they will know to eventually call someone to let us know they’re not dead, because if they don’t, I know Samantha knows I’ll kill her. And when that phone call happens, I plan to be the one intercepting it.”
“That ought to be interesting,” Jen commented.
Mel sighed, slumping her head and resting it in the palm of her hands. “Can you have sex in Justin’s car?” she pondered out loud.
“With who?” Joey asked.
Mel lifted her head up and glared at him with narrowed eyes. “Hypothetically,” she hissed. “Is there room to …whatever?”
“Well,” he thought. “If Justin sat in the passenger seat and Sam…”
Mel groaned.
“You’re not helping,” Jen said cutting him off. “She’s not having sex with him. This is Sami we’re talking about,” she tried to reassure her friend. “Not to mention, I can’t really see Justin doing that to Lance either.”
JC was just about to agree when his home telephone rang.
“Touch that phone and you’re dead,” Mel warned as she grabbed for the nearby extension. “For the love of God, if you two know what’s good for you this better be one of the little runaways,” she answered.
“Who is this?” Justin asked on the other end.
“Justin?”
“Mel?” he said surprised as she heard Sam grumble something incoherent in the background. “Why are you answering JC’s phone?”
“Don’t worry about what I’m doing,” she snapped. “Where are you? What are you doing? Oh God, don’t answer that, I don’t think I want to know. Where’s Sami? What are you doing?” Mel fired rapidly.
“Uh, we’re in Port Charlotte,” Justin managed to reply, having only processed the first question she asked.
“What the hell are you doing in Port Charlotte!?” she shouted.
“Where’s Port Charlotte?” Joey asked. Mel held her hand up to silence him.
“You know where Port Charlotte is?” Justin sounded shocked.
“Yes. What the hell, you guys call yourself Floridians yet you don’t know any of the damn towns but the ones with concert venues. But I could give a rat’s ass about your lack of knowledge right now, put Sami on the phone,” she demanded.
Mel could hear her friend trying to refuse before finally giving in and reluctantly answering. “Hello,” Sam said softly.
“I heard that.”
“Heard what?”
“You trying to avoid talking to me,” Mel said, a twinge of hurt in her voice.
Sam sighed. “I’m sorry. I just don’t feel like talking to anyone right now.”
“Apparently Justin is the exception to that rule.” Sam was silent. “Listen Sami, you know I love you to death, but I swear I could kick the living shit out of you right about now,” Mel hollered through the phone. “And the little toddler too. What are you doing in Port Charlotte? Why aren’t either of you answering your cell phones? Why didn’t you call me after the fight with Lance?” she quizzed the young woman in the same manner she had Justin just minutes earlier. “I would’ve drove you to Port Charlotte, although I don’t know why you’d want to go there.”
“I left my phone back at the apartment and we just realized that Justin’s battery is dead. I couldn’t think to do anything after the fight but take off and Justin was already there. We didn’t plan to come to Port Charlotte. We just started driving and ended up here,” Sam explained. “And now the weather is too bad to come home.”
“What? Wait a minute, oh God, what are you saying?” Mel panicked. “Where exactly are you at in that damn town?”
“A hotel,” she answered quietly.
“A HOTEL!” Mel screamed. “Oh fuck, I think I’m having chest pains.” The others in the room sat around the dining tabling hanging on any new piece of information that they might absorb as witnesses to the conversation. The last fact had taken them all aback. “What hotel? I’m coming to get you,” Mel said sternly.
“Mel,” Sam exhaled. “You’re not driving in this shit.”
“You wanna bet?”
“No. My whole reason for leaving was to get away. I just need some time to think and be alone. I just wanted to call and let everyone know we’re okay. Can we please talk about all this tomorrow?” she pleaded.
Sam request fell on deaf hears as Mel continued. “Alone maybe, alone I can understand. Alone I can handle. But you and Justin alone in a hotel room is the LAST thing you need right now.”
“Actually, I think Justin is exactly what I need right now,” Sam said sharply before hanging up.
Mel pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it disbelieving before finally turning it off, a stunned look on her face.
“Now, there’s definitely enough room in a hotel room to have sex,” Joey reasoned, garnering a muffled laugh from Chris, who could always find the humor in any situation, and a disgusted look from JC and Jen. Mel just sat with a vacant expression before finally breaking everyone’s silence minutes later.
“Oh my God, they’re having sex and it’s all my fault.”
“How is it your fault?” Chris asked.
“I should’ve talk to Justin more. I knew there were more to his feelings than he was letting on. I should’ve warned Sami, I should’ve been there when they fought. I could’ve stopped it. I would’ve been there if YOU hadn’t insisted on driving tonight,” Mel spat at Joey. “I just should’ve done more.”
“Sorry,” he offered feebly as she started dialing a number on the cordless phone still in her hands.
“Who are you calling?” Jen asked.
“Lance.”
“For what? To tell him that Sam and Justin are sleeping together? I don’t think so,” JC asserted grabbing his phone from her grasp.
“Why not? It’s the truth,” Mel said throwing her hands up into the air before collapsing her upper body over the tabletop.
“You don’t know that for sure,” Jen reminded. “I’m sure they have separate rooms.”
“She was right there with him,” her friend recalled. “She’s gonna do him, if she hasn’t already. You didn’t hear the way she sounded. Somebody should really call Lance, to let him know she’s okay at the very least.”
“I will, you’re not exactly in the best frame of mind right now,” JC said stepping away from the table and dialing Lance’s cell phone number.
“That calmness never worked out for ya did it Mellow?” Chris cracked, coaxing the evil eye from not one, but two very displeased females. “Um Joey I think that movie you wanted to see is starting now.”
“What movie?” the other man replied.
“You know that one, with the people, and the story, the beginning, the middle, and the end.”
“Oh yeah, that one,” Joey laughed as they made their getaway to the safety of the living room.
“Sam?” Lance asked hopeful as he answered the ringing phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID displayed on the screen.
“No man, it’s JC. Where are you?”
“I’m at her apartment. Have you heard anything?”
“Uh, actually I have. I’m not so sure you’re gonna want to hear it though,” JC warned.
“I already know they’re together JC. She left with him. She hasn’t come back here and I know they’re not at his house either because I stopped by there earlier and no one was home and I’ve been calling and no one answers the phone. So where are they?”
“Well,” he started taking a breath. “Justin called here and then Mel insisted on talking to Sam. From what I could make of their conversation, after the fight you two had, she and Justin just started driving and somehow ended up in Port Charlotte. And now the weather is too bad to come home and…”
“I think I get the picture,” Lance cut him off abruptly.
“But at least they’re safe and out of the storm,” JC offered, hoping it would give his friend even the slightest bit of comfort. “I think Sam told Mel she just needed to be alone for awhile.”
“Alone with Justin,” Lance said vacantly.
“Are you gonna be all right?”
Lance didn’t answer, he didn’t really need to, JC knew what his response would be. “Will you just let me know if you hear anything else?”
“Of course. She loves you Lance, remember that,” he managed to get in before he heard Lance switch off the phone. JC sighed heavily as he walked back over to the table and replaced the phone on the nearby charger.
“How’s he doing?” Jen asked.
“Do you remember how he looked at the restaurant earlier?” Jen nodded yes. “He sounds about ten times worse.”
Mel whimpered. “I need a drink,” she said picking herself up off the table and heading for the kitchen, her sights set on the first bottle of alcohol she could find.
A little over an hour later she sat on the loveseat watching the credits of a really ignorant movie scroll across the screen. A glass and a half empty bottle of brandy in her hands. Chris was across the room in the chair yawning and stretching his arms into the air. Jen was curled up sleeping on one end of the couch as JC walked back into the room after leaving to use the restroom. He walked over to Mel to retrieve the liquor. She resisted at first but relented after the fatherly look he gave her.
“Some of that was already gone ya know. I didn’t drink all of it,” she clarified.
“I know but you’ve just been holding the bottle for the last half hour which leaves me to assume you’re done,” he said placing the bottle back in the cabinet in the kitchen and placing the glass in the sink.
“Isn’t she cute when she’s sleeping?” JC sighed happily after returning to the living room. He was leaning over the back of the sofa, staring down lovingly at a resting Jen.
“Aww man, I think I feel those Twinkies rising to the surface,” Chris grumbled as Mel rolled her eyes.
“Oh hey, where’s Joey?” she asked, JC’s openness about his feeling towards the sleeping woman helping her realize he was nowhere in the room.
“He’s sleeping in the spare bedroom. He crashed about forty-five minutes ago,” JC informed her. “Didn’t you see him get up and leave the room?”
“I guess not,” the tall brunette shrugged. “Well shit, he was my ride. Did he at least leave his keys out here? I need to get home.”
“You’re not driving anywhere,” Chris laughed.
“I told you I only had a little bit of that brandy,” she said adamantly as she stood up. It probably wasn’t helping her case that she stumbled slightly while doing so.
JC laughed this time. “Maybe not but I think he was referring more to the weather than your level of intoxication. It’s still pretty nasty out there.”
“Sleepover at JC’s!” Chris shouted excitedly.
“You guys can sleep in Brad and Alex’s rooms.”
“Who’s Brad and Alex?” Chris quipped.
“Riprock and AG,” Mel played along. “I don’t wanna sleep in a crazy Canadian’s room,” she whined. “Where are they at anyway? Won’t they be coming home and expecting to find their beds empty?”
“They’re in New York working. They won’t be home until after the weekend,” JC explained.
“And where will I sleep?” Jen asked with an innocent smile as she rolled on her back looking up into his crystal blue eyes.
He shrugged. “I thought I’d just leave you here on the couch,” JC teased playfully.
“Come on, one of you guys can take me home,” Mel reasoned. “It’s only rain, you pansy asses.”
“Will you hush?” Jen spoke up. “Do you really think it’d be wise to go home this late? Peggy wouldn’t have a coronary or anything if you walked in with alcohol on your breath after being dropped off by a strange man.”
“I guess you have a point there, but I could go to your place.”
“With Lance? I don’t think so,” Jen scoffed. “You’re stuck here. Just deal with it.”
“You do know that you’re extremely lucky that I’ve spent my energy quotient for the night right?” Mel asked her friend with raised eyebrow.
“Would I ever talk to you like that if didn’t?” she laughed turning her attention back to JC who still stood leaning above her. “Did I hear you say that Joey was sleeping?”
“Yes you did.”
“So that means that everyone here knows about us.”
“That would be correct,” he grinned.
“In that case,” she said grabbing his shoulders and pulling him over the back of the couch and on top of her. It didn’t take that much force, just as she had suspected, he went willingly. “Hi,” she smiled, her hazel eyes sparkling before they slowly closed as she kissed him. “That was different.”
“What was?” JC asked with a strange look on his face as he looked down at her, softly brushing a strand of hair away from her face.
“Kissing you in front of people,” she giggled.
“So I’m assuming you two plan on sleeping in JC’s room, but what about Joey?” Chris asked. “Isn’t that pretty risky to your undercover romance?”
“I’ll be up and gone for work before he even thinks about rolling out of bed,” Jen answered before JC kissed her again.
“Okay, I’ve been through enough already tonight. I really didn’t need to see that,” Mel complained as she walked out of the room. “It’s one thing knowing about the relationship, but it’s a completely different thing having to witness it firsthand,” she continued to mumble to herself.
“Well once you’ve caught them rolling around in a bunk, nothing else phases you,” Chris laughed following her down the hallway to the bedrooms.
****
“Mel?” Joey called out quietly as he knocked on the door.
“Yeah?”
“Are you sleeping?” he asked peeking his head inside the room.
“Well if I was, I wouldn’t be now,” she giggled sitting in the chair next to the bed.
“I had a hunch you wouldn’t be. I thought maybe you might need to talk.”
“Yeah right, you just wanted to get into my bed.”
“Well, technically it’s Brad’s bed, but something like that,” Joey winked as he sat on the edge of the bed across from her.
“AH!” Mel shrieked attempting to be offended before eventually giving in to more giggles. “So how did you know which room I was in?”
“I didn’t. I ran, and I mean literally ran, into Chris on my way to the bathroom and he told me that everybody was sleeping here. So after I took care of my business,” Mel crinkled her nose in disgust as he continued. “I went into Alex’s room and found Chris spooning with a pillow. Not a pretty sight,” he grimaced.
“Aww, he misses Dani when she’s away,” Mel laughed. “And yeah, after you skipped out on me, the rest of them wouldn’t let me leave. I couldn’t very well go to Peggy’s but still, they wouldn’t let me go to the apartment either.”
“Isn’t Lance there?”
“So? What’s your point?”
“Gee, I wonder,” he answered sarcastically. “So did Jen end up with the couch then?”
“Um, yeah,” Mel lied, once again covering up for her friend.
“Well I should go wake her and tell her she can have the spare room.”
“No!” she said quickly. “She’s already sleeping, she’ll be pissed off if you wake her. She’s got to get up early for work. Besides, why would you take the couch over a bed?”
“I wouldn’t. I was just thinking since I’ll be sleeping in here with you, there’s no sense in letting the bed in the other room go to waste,” he reasoned, a wide grin on his face.
“Who said you’d be sleeping in here?” Mel said folding her arms across her chest and tilting her head to the side.
Joey just laughed. “Come here,” he directed pulling her over to the bed with him. Although she’d never admit it, she did need to be comforted. She needed someone to hold her and to make her feel like everything would be okay. Joey knew it too, and he also knew she’d never ask for it, or accept it if he offered, so he didn’t bother to ask for permission as he slid under the covers with her, his arms wrapped securely around her body. “Just try and relax and get some rest,” he said as she nestled herself into his strong chest.
“Easy for you to say, you don’t have visions of Sami and Justin doing unspeakable things running through your head.”
“Says who?” he chuckled. “Seriously, this isn’t helping just a little?” Joey asked tightening his grip around her back.
“Maybe a smidgen,” Mel divulged. She’d never tell him that with this one simple gesture he’d made her feel worlds better.
“Good. Do you really think Sam would mess around on Lance?” Joey asked. “Especially with Justin after that whole mess that happened before. She’s so obviously in love with him. Lance I mean, not Justin,” he added just to clarify.
“I honestly don’t know,” Mel sighed. “I know that she loves Lance, but I also know that they had one hell of a bitter fight and when those two fight they know all the right buttons to push. So she leaves with Justin of all people, who although Lance never said for sure, I have a sinking suspicion that the fight was about. And now Sami and Justin are stranded in a fucking hotel room together. She’s pissed off at Lance, she adores Justin, and he wants her so badly but has gotten so good at denying it that he actually believes that he just wants to be her friend. Friend my ass, you don’t buy friends pieces of ice that could sink the Goddamn Titanic. And all of that mi amigo, is a recipe for disaster if I ever heard one.”
“Well, whatever happens or doesn’t happen, none of it is your fault. I promise you that.”
“Whatever,” she breathed, knowing full well Joey would only argue if she protested any more adamantly. “So how is the lying, manipulative, period skipper doing these days?” Mel asked, referring to the earlier phone call.
“Why do you dislike her so much?” he moaned.
“Do you really have to ask me that question?”
“Hey I wasn’t exactly the model partner in the relationship either,” he reminded.
“I don’t care. That’s different, I care about you. I don’t give a damn about her and once you’ve hurt someone I care about you’re on my shit list for life. Besides, no matter what you did to her, you never deserved what she put you through.”
“Well thank you for thinking so but I’ve let it go. You should be able to also,” he chuckled.
“You don’t know me as well as you obviously think you do,” Mel said poking him in the chest.
“Yes, I do. And it drives you nuts,” Joey taunted.
“It really does, bastard.”
“Hey!”
“What? I meant that in the nicest way possible,” she giggled.
“Oh well then I guess it’s okay,” he pouted.
“Damn straight,” Mel said sliding her hand up to pinch his cheek. “You know that promise you made me earlier?” she asked as she settled herself comfortably in his arms again, enjoying the lingering faint scent of his cologne.
“What about it?”
“I was just wondering what the legitimacy rate is with your promises these days,” she snickered.
“They’re definitely improving thanks to a newfound guidance I’ve discovered,” Joey replied, kissing her forehead lightly before closing his eyes. Not that he would care, Mel thought to herself, but if he asked, she would’ve given him anything at that moment.