“JC?” she asked.
“What?” he replied in a cold manner.
“About tonight, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you by dancing like that. I just got caught up in the moment and, and I don’t know I mean I was just dancing but I guess I got a little carried away. I’m sorry, well good-night.” the room was quiet for a few minutes, JC didn’t want to rush into accepting her apology.
“It’s ok babe, I just don’t wanna lose you, I love you.” JC said kissing her on the forehead.
“I love you too.” she said as she wrapped herself in his arms.
The next morning we were all feeling better and had forgotten about what happened the night before. There wasn’t anything we wanted to do so we figured we’d just spend the day in the living room talking and watching movies and stuff.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe that woman named her kid that!” I said as we watched Jerry Springer.
“Well can you think of something better?” Joey asked me.
“Definitely! Anything is better than Dino, I mean the woman named her kid after the dinosaur on the Flintstones, is that not messed up? I mean come on!”
“Well what would you name your kid smarty pants?” Chris asked.
“I already know this! For a girl I like Autumn Mackenzie and for a boy I like Christian Hunter, or Joshua Tristan.” I said totally getting into the subject.
“Woah Jen, planning on settling down sometime soon? Geesh most people don’t even know what the want to name their kids when they’re pregnant.” Chris said.
“Oh shut up, so I know what I wanna name my kids got a problem with that?”
“No, no problem, what if the guy you marry doesn’t like those names?” Chris asked.
I sat there silent, I never really thought about that. “Well...” I began to say.
“Well there isn’t a problem cause I love those names.” Lance said.
“So you two are going to get married?” Joey asked.
“Not anytime soon Joey, I’m on 16 for god sakes. Give me a good 5 or 6 years.”
“You’re almost 17 Jen.” Chris pointed out.
“What are you talking about? My birthday isn’t till June 29th.” I said.
“Yeah and today is the 23rd.” Justin told me.
“Oh my gosh you’re kidding me, I totally forgot about that. Well way to go me almost the big 1-7!!!”
“Ok how on the earth did we get talking about kids and marriage? We were watching Springer, we should be talking about backstabbing and cheating.” Chris joked.
“Well there isn’t any of that going on here now is there? Oh well let’s watch something else. There has to be something else on.” JC said as he began channel surfing.
Later on in the day I decided to take a hot bath because I had a headache that would not go away and I figured I could just lay in the bath, light some candles, and relax and just maybe it would go away. Meanwhile everyone else was downstairs.
“So here’s the plan Joey, JC, Justin, and Chris, you’re going to take Jen out for a few hours. Then Lance, Erica, and me are going to first go in Jen’s room and steel her address book and get the phone numbers of some of her friends and call them about this party we’re throwing her. Then we’re going to go out and get all the decorations and accessories we need. Got it?” Tiffany said as she explained the game plan for that night.
“Yeah we got it, but how are we going to explain why the 2 of you aren’t going?” Justin pointed out.
“hmm.. I didn’t think of them, just maybe tell her that she spends too much time around us and that you want to spend some time with her and just talk.” Tiffany said as she shrugged her shoulders.
“That might work, but you know Jen she’ll know something is up so just do it casually, and don’t say a word.” Lance said making sure this plan would go through.
“Ok, got it chief.” Chris replied.
I laid there in the warm, bubbly water nearly asleep when I heard a gentle knock on the bathroom door.
“Who is it?” I hollered
“It’s Justin.”
“Hold on a sec, I’ll be right there.” I grabbed my robe and opened the door.
“What’s up?” I asked as I dried my hair with a towel.
“We were wondering if you wanna go out with us tonight, just like hang around town and stuff, just the 5 of us.”
“The 5 of us?” I asked.
“Yeah, you, me, JC, Joey, and Chris.”
“What about Lance and Erica and Tiff?”
“Well I was thinking you’ve been around them a lot lately and we haven’t gotten to hang out as much as we use to and I thought it would be cool to just get out and do something like we use to.”
“Is it ok with the other 3?” I asked him.
“Yeah, they thought it would do some good to get rid of us.” he laughed.
“Ok then, what time?”
“How about 5:30”
I looked at the clock it was already 5:15 “How about 5:45? I can be ready by then”
“Sure, we’ll meet you downstairs.”
Promptly at 5:45 I was dressed and ready to go. I walked into the living room and kissed Lance good-bye and we all then piled into my car. Justin volunteered to drive so I took the passenger seat and we were off.
As soon as we were out the door Lance ran up to my room and into my desk where he grabbed my address book where I had all of my friends names and numbers. Erica got on one line and Tiffany got on another and they started calling people.
Our first stop was a new Chinese restaurant downtown. We ate and talked. The guys told me stories about some of the stuff they did on tour and the weird stuff Lance did, along with how they remember the first time I met them. We laughed, and we cried (from laughing so hard), it was great to hang out with the guys like old times. By the time we left it was getting dark but we decided the night was still young. So we drove off to the putt putt palace for a game.
“So did you get ahold of anyone?” Lance asked Erica and Tiffany.
“Yeah all together we’ve got 25 people coming.” Tiffany replied.
The 3 threw a list of major necessities together and headed off to the store.
“Is this going to take you all day to hit?” Joey asked Chris because Chris was busy aligning his shot for the past 2 minutes.
“Listen I’m a professional here, shut your trap and let me hit.”
After what seemed forever he took his shot, and what a surprise, it took him 3 shots to get it in the hole.
“Yeah professional my ass Chris.” Justin joked.
“Whatever, the wind was blowing too hard.” he complained.
“Ok whatever, who’s up next?” Justin asked.
“I’m guessing me.” I said as I stepped up and placed my pink ball on the ground, I assumed the position and lined up the hit.
“Here let me help you.” Joey said coming from behind me and wrapping his arms around mine. “On 3, 1...2...3” We hit the ball and followed it with our eyes, winding through the detailed pattern. I ran over to the other side and watched the ball come through the house and into the hole.
“Hole in one Joey” I said as I ran up to him and hugged him. “We rock.”
“Yeah we’re a good team, beat that one you guys.” Joey laughed.
After an hour at the putt putt palace we were finally done. Chris, the professional, had the highest score, so he lost, so much for him being number one. We loaded into my car one more time and drove around.
“So where to now?” Justin asked.
“Ice Cream” I yelled like a young child.
We drove to the ice cream shop 5 miles away and got some ice cream. We decided we would walk around the park, that was lighted only by the nearby street lamps. Once we were through we went back to the car, by this time it was 9:30 and I was getting tired. At 10:00 we arrived back at my house. I walked into the living room expecting to see Tiffany, Lance, and Erica there but there was no one there. I walked out back to see if they were sitting outside and I found Erica and Tiffany relaxing in the hot tub.
“Hey guys, we’re home.” I said as I approached them.
“Hi, so did you guys have fun?” Erica asked.
“Yeah we had a blast. We went to dinner and then played putt putt and then we got ice cream and came home, what about you guys?” I asked.
“We just hung around here the whole time. Not too much excitement happening here though.” Tiffany commented.
“Oh, well I’m getting tired, where’s Lance at?”
“He’s upstairs, he went up there like an hour ago or something.”
“Thanks, I’ll see you guys in the morning, night.”
I headed up the stairs and said good-night to the guys who already went to their rooms. Then I proceeded into my room. I walked into a dark room and decided not to turn the light on cause I didn’t want to wake him up if he was asleep. So I crept into my closet and got dressed and climbed into bed. As soon as I laid down Lance turned on his side and wrapped his arms around me.
“Hey babe, have fun?” he asked.
“Yeah a blast, but I missed my baby.” I said kissing him lightly.
“I missed ya too.” he said softly “What did you do?”
“well first off we went to dinner at this new Chinese restaurant and the guys were telling me some stories about the tour and some cute things you did. Then they were talking about the first day I met you guys. Gosh I remember that day so vividly.”
“Me too, the day I met the love of my life.”
“Yeah well I remember that day. You were too shy to talk to me at first. You were so cute then and you still are.”
“Ok drop the cute stuff, what else did you guys do?”
“We went and played putt putt. Chris was pretending to be all professional, but Joey and I blew him away. He helped me at each hole and we got like 10 hole in ones. Then we went and got ice cream and walked around the park then we came home.”
“Joey and you won? Well I never would’ve thought you 2 could win a game of putt putt, how many times did it take you to get the ball in the hole the first time you and me played? like 7?” he laughed.
“Funny, ha ha” I said as I lightly punched him in the arm. “For your information it was 4 times, and yeah it was only 4 then cause you helped me. So I’m not the best putt putt player, shoot me.”
“No that would make too much of a mess, anyways I was just joking.”
“Well so was I, well I’m pooped I’m going to sleep, night.” I shut my eyes and instantly fell asleep.
I woke up in the middle of the night with sweat dripping from me and severe stomach cramps along with a headache. I got out of the bed with a blanket and my pillow and headed down to the kitchen. Once I was in the kitchen I grabbed some Aspirin and a glass of water and took the pills. I felt too week to go back up the stairs so I laid down on the couch in the living room and fell asleep. The pills didn’t seem to work after 4 hours so I got up and got some more, but nothing helped, so I just laid there and attempted to sleep in pain.
The following morning I laid there and slept until Lance came down with the phone in hand.
“Here, it’s your mom.” he said.
“Hi mommy, how are you?” I said in a pain-filled voice.
“What’s wrong baby?” She asked me.
“I don’t know I woke up in the middle of the night sweating and I have a headache and my stomach hurts so bad and the medicine isn’t helping, I wish you were here mom.”
“Come on be a big girl, anyways I’m going to be coming home on Saturday night, just in time for your birthday.”
“That’s great mom, that’ll be a great birthday present.”
“So I guess I’ll see you about 10 o’clock Saturday night, ok? Oh and dad will be back next Monday cause he got caught away on business but he’ll be home after I get home.”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
“Well I’ve got to go, we’ve got to take your uncle to the doctor to get some stitches out so I’ll see you Saturday, Bye sweetie.”
“Bye mom” I said as I hung up.
“So when is your mom coming home?” Lance asked.
“Saturday night, I wish she was here now though cause she knows how to make me feel better when I feel like this.” I pouted.
“Oh it’s ok we’ll nurse you back to health before your mom gets home.”
“I sure hope so....” I said as I began to feel nauseous, I got up and ran to the bathroom.
Throughout that day and the following 2 days I spent my time either in bed or in the bathroom. I told everyone not to let me hold them back from having some fun, but they insisted to always have one person stay with me. They all took turns and tried to make me laugh and feel better and it did help sometimes but there were times the pain was too much and I just laid there and cried. This time while I was ill seemed beneficiary to them because they were able to take care of getting all the necessities for the party.
After 3 long days of pain and sickness I was feeling like my old self once again. It was Wednesday and it seemed like Saturday would never come I was so excited to see my mom as odd as that was to admit I missed her. I missed my dad also but my mom was always there for me while my dad on the other hand was always out of town on business.
The next days went by so slow, but I made the most of them. Thursday me, Erica and Tiff went on a mass shopping spree. Then on Friday I met up with Kristin and went to Beth’s funeral. Despite the negative reaction to her death at the dance, there were more than 100 people in attendance at her funeral. Everyone was crying and to make conditions worse it was raining and it gradually started to pour. After the funeral Kristin and I got into my car and headed back to my house where we changed into some dry clothes. Once we were dried off and in some more comfortable clothes we headed down the stairs and towards the front door.
“Just where do you think you are going missy.” Justin asked from the doorway.
“Me?” I asked stupidly. “I’m going out. Kristin and I are meeting some of our friends at the mall and we’re going to get something to eat then catch a movie.”
“Oh I see, are there going to be any guys there.” He asked, probing for information.
“Well some of my friends would happen to be guys so I’m gonna have to answer yes. What are you Justin an FBI agent or something?” I asked placing my hand upon my hip.
“Me? Nah, Just making sure your not cheating on Lance, can’t have you off screwing other guys, cause the only guy you should be screwing is Lance and you’re damn good at that aren’t ya.”
“Oh my god you are such an asshole Justin, screw you. You know I wouldn’t dream of cheating on him.” I yelled as I shut the door.
We walked out to my car and got in. I looked all around the car for my sunglasses because the afternoon sun was in my eyes.
“Do you see my glasses around here anywhere?” I asked Kristin.
“Wait I think they’re back there.” She said reaching behind the seat and pulling them out.
“Thanks.” I said as I started the car and began to back out of the driveway. We drove for about 5 minutes in silence till Kristin spoke up.
“So how long is everyone staying at your house?” Kristin asked.
“Umm Tiff and Erica are here about another 2 weeks as for the guys I’m not sure, my mom comes home tomorrow so I’ve gotta do some re-arranging with the sleeping situation obviously I can’t have Joey sleeping with my mom and dad now can I?” I laughed.
“No I don’t think your folks would relish the idea of having him in bed with them.” She said followed by a long pause. “So umm what was Justin saying about Lance and you?”
“What do you mean?” I asked
“When he was like saying about screwing other guys.”
“Oh that, he just doesn’t want me cheating on Lance, not like I ever would though. He was just playing around I guess.”
“No I don’t mean that.” she paused. “You fucked him Jen?”
“Well that’s a good way to put it. I go from screwing him to fucking him, can’t people just say sex anymore.” I said in an agitated manner. “Yes ok, I fucked him, I screwed him whatever you wanna call it, I am guilty as charged. You want details about my sex life?” I yelled.
“Jen, woah what the hell is your problem? Sorry I asked!” Kristin said quickly as she turned away from me.
“Hey Kris, I’m sorry to bite your head off, I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”
“Oh no sweat, we all get days like that.”
We arrived at the mall and went to center court where we met up with Jamie, Randy, Ashley, Josh, Mike, and to my surprise Ben. After we got a quick bite to eat we got in line and got our tickets for the movie. We all walked into the large, empty theater. Jamie and Randy sat in the back along with Ashley and Josh. I knew they weren’t going to be watching too much of the movie So I walked further down the isle and sat 5 rows from the front. Mike, Kristin, and Ben sat 3 rows back from me, I was glad to see Ben keeping his distance but at the same time I felt bad for avoiding him all the time.
I sat there, alone, staring at the silver screen. The theater gradually began to fill. The lights faded down low and the theater was dark and the movie began. Of course as with any movie we had to sit through at least 10 minutes of boring previews until the feature presentation started. Once the actual movie was underway Ben came up to and sat to the right of me.
“What do you want?” I asked him.
“Nothing, I just didn’t like watching you sit all alone.” he replied.
“Yeah, well I’m a big girl I can handle myself.” I said followed by a long pause, “But thanks for coming up Ben.” I said in a polite manner accompanied by a smile.
During the course of the movie Ben managed to get his arm around me and hold me close. I didn’t push away because all my guy friends did that to me and it was totally innocent. Ben also managed to put a few sly kisses on me also to which I didn’t resist.
Once the movie was over Ben walked out of the theater with his arm around my shoulders. Once Kristin saw Ben with his arm around me I saw her face drop.
“Jen come with me to the bathroom.” Kristin said so I followed her in. “Can I talk to you?”
“Yeah sure just give me a second I really need to go to the bathroom.” I came out of the stall and proceeded to wash my hands.
“What’s up with Ben having his arm around you like that Jen? I thought you said you wouldn’t think of cheating on Lance.”
“It’s innocent Kris, nothing is going on between us.”
“well from the way you two acted in there sure had me fooled.”
“Kris what are you talking about.”
“Do you not think we didn’t see him with his arm around you and him kissing you constantly?”
“Oh, you saw that? Well like I said it’s all innocent.”
“Well according to what Ben said to me about how he was going to make you his one day I don’t think his intentions are quite as innocent. You need to take charge because the way you’re acting is sending that boy some major mixed signals.”
After my hands were dry I checked my hair in the mirror. I sweeped the right side of my hair behind my shoulders.
“What did you guys want?” I asked as I wiped my eyes even more.
“What’s wrong Jen? Were you crying?” he asked me.
“Yeah but I’m fine now, I’m just upset about Beth.” I said in a quiet voice. Joey embraced me in a hug. “It’s ok, everything will be fine, I know it’s hard to lose a friend.” he said still hugging me as I began crying again.
“Jen where have you been? Don’t leave like that.” JC said as he came from behind, I stepped away from Joey and JC saw how upset I was and just simply hugged me that hug was also followed by a big group hug from Chris, Lance, Erica, and Tiffany . It made me feel better that my friends were there to help me through this difficult time.
“Can we finish this performance now Jen, I really wanted you to be here.” Lance asked me, I smiled and nodded and they ran on stage and the DJ stopped the music.
“Ok everyone this our last song so I want you all to grab that special someone in your life and join in for this dance.” Joey announced over the mic and they began to sing “God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You” I took a seat off to the side and watched then JC, Lance, and Justin walked off the stage. Lance walked over to me still singing and pulled me off the chair and lead me to the stage where we began dancing. There I was in front of the whole school dancing with the greatest guy in the world and they all knew it now. Justin and JC had also pulled Tiffany and Erica on stage and they were dancing too. Chris and Joey just moved to the front of the stage and sang to the audience. After the song was over Lance kissed me softly on the lips and led me off the stage as the DJ continued with a good quality selection of music.
An hour passed and you couldn’t tell that a tragedy had occurred at all. Everyone was dancing around, doing the funky chicken and the macarena. We were all dancing to Tiffany’s favorite song “Touch It”, of course Tiff was getting down with her bad self but she wasn’t alone Erica and I were getting pretty dirty ourselves. Lance and JC had gone outside for some fresh air not too long ago so we had no one to dance with, so we just danced around through the crowd. We bumped into two of the big jocks in my school, Corey and Ryan, we stopped dancing thinking they wouldn’t want to dance with us but to our surprise they started bumping and grinding with us. Corey and I kept our distance but Ryan and Erica was a whole different story. There hands were all over each other, you’d think you were watching an X-rated movie the way they were dancing. But it was all innocent fun.
After a short time of dancing with Corey, Lance spun me around and started dancing with me. I turned back and yelled to Corey, “Thanks for the dance.” he smiled and started dancing with some other girl.
“Well weren’t we getting a little into that dance?” Lance asked.
“You haven’t seen anything yet, besides you weren’t here.” I remarked. “Hey have you seen Erica over there?” I pointed over at her and moved closer to Lance as I tried to imitate Erica.
“Oh behave.” he replied. I looked over towards Erica again this time I stopped dancing. JC walked behind her and stepped between her and Ryan. He punched Ryan in the eye and through him on the ground. He then grabbed Erica and drug her outside to talk to her.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing in there? All of a sudden you’re a 2 cent whore? Is that what’s going on?” JC screamed.
“JC, lighten up god, I was just trying to have a little fun and dance, is there something so wrong with that?” Erica said with a sly smile.
“Yes there is something wrong with it. I walk in there and find my girlfriend all over some guy like a lap dancer, what am I suppose to think?”
“JC, Erica, I think we all need to go home, a lot has happened tonight. We all need to just go home and relax.” I said as Justin, Tiff, Chris, Joey, Lance and myself walked out the front door.
We all piled into the van and headed home. Once we were in the door everyone went to their rooms and got ready for bed. In Erica’s room JC was already in his boxers in the bed with the light out while Erica was changing in the bathroom. After she got ready for bed she came out of the bathroom and crawled into bed and laid there silently.