"Joey! Come on! We're gonna be late!" Danielle cried, from where she sat on his bed.
Joey was in the bathroom getting ready to leave.
"Late?" Joey asked, pulling a baggy black shirt over his head as he entered the room. "Zuma Beach is opened until 2 a.m. It's 10. We have plenty of time."
"Yeah, but it's not up to us if we get to stay until two. If my father realizes I'm not home, and pages me, I have to go, or he'll realize I'm with you."
Joey ran his hands through his hair. "All right, then, let's go."
Danielle hopped off the bed, grabbed Joey's hand, and led him downstairs.
"Bye, Mom!" Joey called.
"Bye, Phyllis!" Danielle cried.
Over the past month, Danielle and Mrs. Fatone had become good friends, and she adored Danielle.
Mrs. Fatone walked into the hallway. "What time will you two be home?"
"Probably three."
"All right. Have fun." Mrs. Fatone gave them both a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks." Danielle said.
"Oh! Wait!" Mrs. Fatone called from the front porch, when they were just about to climb into Joey's car. "Danielle, are you coming to the family dinner tomorrow night?"
Danielle glanced at Joey and grinned. "I would love to."
"Great!"
"Bye!"
Danielle and Joey climbed into the car and took off.
About fifteen minutes later they pulled into Zuma's parking lot, paid the admission fee, and went in to party.
They were dancing to the latest club mix, when Joey began squinting at something across the room.
"What are you looking at?" Danielle asked.
"Is that Chris and JC?" he asked, his brow wrinkling. "*Together*?"
Danielle stopped dancing, and turned around. "Who?"
Joey took her hand. "Come on. Let's go say hi."
They made their way through the crowd to the bar where Chris and JC were standing together."
"Hey, Chris." he turned to JC. "Hey J!"
"Hey Joe! What's going on, man?" Chris cried.
"Nothin. Guys, this is my girl, Danielle Fountaine. Dani, this is JC Chasez, and Chris Kirkpatrick." her introduced them.
"Hi," Danielle shouted over the music, smiling.
"Wait a minute," JC said. "You two know eachother?"
"Yeah. I used to work at Universal with Chris."
"And how do you two know eachother?" Chris asked.
"Joey went to school with one of the guys who was on MMC with me." JC answered.
"Now, what about you two?" Joey asked. "What are you two doing together?"
"Oh man, you are not gonna believe this." Chris began. "We started a music group!"
"Really? Cool!"
"Yeah," JC said. "We;re looking for a couple more members. Know anyone?"
"Well. . . " Joey trailed off, thinking. "Me!"
"For real?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, sure. I would love to!"
"Baby," Danielle said, wrapping her arms around his bicep. "I just got a page from my dad."
"All right." he turned back to the guys. "If you need a tenor in your group, give me a call, ok?"
"Absolutely." JC answered.
"See ya!"
"So, that's when you first heard about your group?" Destiny asked.
Joey nodded. "Yep. All because your mother wanted to go clubbin."
"Well, what happened next?"
"You really want to know?"
"Yes!"
"All right. . the next night was the family dinner. . . "