Lois took a deep breath, the air filling her lungs as she held it tight. Slowly, she let the air escape, easing away the tension in her shoulders.
It had been her first sigh of relief in over a month.
Finally, she felt free. Even though she still had a lot of problems, a lot plaguing her, the biggest and most stressful of her worries was over.
Brian finally knew the truth about the bet. Finally, he knew everything and she didn't have to lie to him anymore. And surprisingly, he wasn't mad at her.
Sure, he wasn't thrilled at the knowledge that everything he had experienced with her over the last few weeks had been based on a lie, but he was a remarkably forgiving person. Lois knew that there was no way she would ever be able to forgive anyone if they had done to her what she had to Brian. His ability to forgive, and actually be willing to help her and still be her friend in any way possible, made her feel lucky to even know him. It just made her love him even more. As a friend, that is.
Her love, the only person she really ever truly loved, was with someone else. She felt her heart drop every time she thought about it, so she made sure to keep her mind occupied. She knew she would have to face it sooner or later, but for right now, she had had enough drama. Having to come clean with Brian, and actually admit her feelings for Joey was enough for her for one day.
Pulling her car into her parking space in the lot of her apartment complex, she felt as if nothing was as it used to be.
She found it strange how a few words, a simple confession, could change your perspective on everything around you.
Everything was the same as it always had been, and yet it was different.
She only wondered how different things would get before all this was over.
Entering the elevator to head up to her floor, she felt exhausted.
After talking with Brian for hours, she had fallen asleep on his couch. When she woke up a few hours later, it was almost seven. She was still tired, but the sleep had been peaceful.
She found him in the chair across from her, watching her.
They had discussed everything during their conversation. How the bet got started, to the fact that it was the bet that made Lois realize her feelings. She felt a little silly for having it come to this sort of extreme to make her realize how she felt. Wasn't it only on TV or in corny fan fics that the NSync fans wrote that penned best friends falling in love with each other?
Guess not.
Because here she was. And there he was; with her.
She knew she couldn't very well be mad at Rae. This really had nothing to do with her. She was just as much of a pawn in this as Brian had been. It wasn't like she had stolen Joey from her, and Lois knew she had to right to blame her.
It was her doing, and her job to fix it.
How she was going to fix it, she had no idea.
Brian agreed, for the sake of Lois, to go along and pretend that they were dating. Since Lois told Joey that she was falling for Brian, it was the only logical thing to do just yet. Eventually, something would have to be worked out so that Lois could talk with Joey and tell him the truth, but for now this was the easiest thing to do to keep Lois from pulling her hair out.
Brian was going to come over to the apartment the next day, and they were going to sit down and figure it all out. Lois had had enough thinking for one day, and wanted nothing more than a long hot bath and a good sleep.
Opening the door to her apartment, she jumped at the sound of hysterical, snorting laughter.
Only one person laughed like that.
"Nikki," Lauren could be heard over the sound of the TV. "Shut the fuck up! You sound like a fog horn!"
This only caused Nikki to make an even louder honking noise, forcing the room into a fit of giggles.
As Lois entered the room, she found more people than she expected to find.
She figured Lauren would be home, and knowing her luck, Justin would be there ready to drive her to the brink of insanity, but that is not what she found.
Instead, she found Lauren, Nikki, Nicki, Valerie, Crystal, Kayla, Suzy, Kate, and Mel all gathered on the living room floor.
They were all in their pajamas, junk food scattered across the table in front of them and the floor around them.
The Fast and the Furious was playing on the TV, but no one was really watching.
"Lois!" Nicki yelled, hopping to her feet to rush across to Lois. "Where the fock have you been, focker?"
"Um, out." Lois said, still trying to get a grasp on the fact that she wasn't going to get her relaxing evening tonight. Damn it.
"Well, come on, we're having a girls night!" Nicki said, dragging Lois towards the group.
"Yeah, you should have seen the fuss Justin kicked up when we told him he couldn't stay." Crystal laughed as she painted Kaylas toenails. "We had to push him out and lock the door."
"He's such a brat," Lauren said as she entered the kitchen. "I swear, I don't know why I put up with him sometimes."
"Its because you like his tight little ass!" Crystal yelled to her.
"Oh, that's right." Lauren said, snapping her fingers in recollection. "I almost forgot." Pouring out a few glasses of some kind of red drink, Lauren gave Crystal a warning look. "Dont you be looking at my mans tight little ass, Maf!"
"Yeah," Mel interjected. "Its bad enough Nikki keeps grabbing my mans ass."
"Well, if he didn't have such a cute little rear, I would be able to help myself." Nikki shrugged.
"So, focker," Nicki sighed as she leaned back on the floor to look at Lois. "What's up with you?"
"Nothing." Lois shrugged as she slid to the floor.
"Whoa, you look not-so-Lois-y. Whats wrong?" Kate noticed, sliding across the floor on her butt to sit beside Lois.
"Nothing, really. Just a bad day." Lois dismissed.
"Butt shit." Lauren yelled. Placing the drinks on the table, she sat directly in front of Lois on the floor. Crossing her arms over her knees, she stared at her cousin intently. "I know you better than I know that Justin has a mole on his left butt cheek, so don't give me that bull that you are fine."
"Lala, its nothing." Lois said, giving Lauren a look that clearly showed she didn't want to talk about this right now. Lala, however, didn't feel like waiting.
"Tell me, or Ill tell everyone why I call you Bite." Lauren warned.
This got everyone attention. As much as they wanted to know what was bothering Lois, they also wanted to know about this whole Bite thing. Dilemmas, dilemmas.
Lois knew that she would have to tell Lauren eventually. Probably tomorrow when Brian came over. But she wasn't sure if she was ready to discuses this in front of all her friends. No one other than Lauren and Justin knew about the bet she had with Joey, and she wasn't sure she could handle the criticism that would surely come.
"Tell me." Lauren spoke up again, giving Lois a warning look.
Sighing loudly, Lois dropped her eyes to her fidgeting hands. "I, um," she said softly.
"I cant hear you!" Lauren yelled.
"I SAID!" Lois yelled back. "I, um," she paused, not knowing how to go about telling everyone this. She had only just come to grips with it all herself, and now she was expecting to make a public speech about it? Fuck, she hated her life sometimes. "I told Brian about the bet."
Lauren's eyes went wide, her mouth dropping open.
"What bet?" Suzy asked as she hopped into the chair above Lois head.
"Yeah, I didn't know you guys had another bet going." Mel called from across the room.
"Shhhh!" Lauren scolded. Looking back to Lois, she felt bad about ever forcing her to talk about this now. This wasn't the time or the place for this. "Lois, we can talk about this later if you want."
"No, its okay." Lois assured her. She knew that everyone would know eventually. It may as well come from her now. "Um," she directed her voice to the room. "Joey and I kinda made a bet about a month ago." She found herself fidgeting again, a tiny thread on her pants the victim of her nervous habit. "We, um, sorta bet each other that we could hook up with anyone."
Suzy laughed. "Oh lord, girl. Dont tell me you tried to tell Joey he isn't the shit. Thats enough to get him going any time!"
Lois didn't even laugh. She just continued. "We picked a person for each other to have to pursue. We had a time frame of one month that we had to date this person, and whoever was farthest along in their relationship was the winner. If at any time either of us had actual feelings for the person, the bet was to be called off."
Laurens eyes went wide again. She knew where this was going.
"Today, Joey called me over to his place, and he told me," Lois felt her voice crack, and her composure slip. "He told me that he wanted to call off the bet. He has feelings for Rae."
No one said a thing for a long while, everyone watching Lois closely.
Lauren was the only person who really knew what this was about. She knew why this was so hard on Lois. Even though everyone had their suspicious about Lois' feelings for Joey, Lauren had been the only one to know about the bet and watch those feelings show over the last few weeks.
"So, isn't that a good thing?" Nikki asked, her face confused. "I mean, doesn't that mean that he is happy."
Lois nodded her head slowly, her face scrunched into an unhappy little ball. "Yeah, it is a good thing in a way." she sniffed. "But,"
"But you love him." Crystal finished her sentence.
Lois looked up at her surprised, the entire room watching her.
No one said anything. everyone looked at Lois, while she looked at Crystal. Finally she spoke.
"What?"
Yup, that was the best she could say. She was a sad, sad woman.
"You are upset, because you know how that you love him." Crystal explained. Readjusting her position on the floor, she continued. "Listen to old Maffy," she smiled. "Just because you never admitted your feelings, doesn't mean that we didn't all know it a long time ago. Ive worked with you for years. Even before you knew Joey. And I know you well enough to know when your hiding something. Like that box of Gummy Bears under your desk." she grinned. "We all figured that one day you would realize what we all knew all along. Its just kinda sucky that it had to take this kind of thing to happen to make you realize."
"Now that you don't have you head up your ass anymore," Suzy interrupted. "Its too late."
Lois could only stare at her friends as they watched her with sad eyes.
They told her repeatedly that they knew she felt more for Joey that just your average run of the mill friendship, but for some reason she was stupid and never believed them. She just figured they were playing around, just trying to get a rise out of her. Which it usually did. Never in a million years did she think they truly believed their accusations. Because she never did for a minute.
Until now.
Lois turned to Lauren, as she felt her cousin take her hands.
"Listen," she said softly. "I am very, very proud of you for telling Brian the truth. He's a good guy, and he deserves to know."
Lois smiled. "He wasn't even mad." she laughed. "He said he was a little pissed at me, but that he wasn't willing to lose our friendship over it. He said he's going to help me any way he can."
Lauren smiled. She knew she liked Brian.
"He's even going to pretend to be my boyfriend." Lois added.
Laurens smile fell. What the hell did she say?
"What?"
Lois explained herself. "I kinda told Joey that I had feelings for Brian." she said sheepishly. "When he blurted out that he liked Rae, I panicked. I needed something to say so that he didn't realize my heart was breaking. So I just blurted out that I wanted to call off the bet too, because I liked Brian. Now, we have to actually act like we're together so Joey doesn't know I lied to him. At least until we figure out what to do."
"And Brians willing to do this?" Suzy asked, leaning forward.
"Yeah. He said he would help me in any way he could." Lois sighed.
"Wow," Suzy whispered. "Mind if I have him when you're done? I think I luff him."
Lois laughed. It was a weak, squeaky laugh, but still a laugh.
Lauren wrapped her arm around Lois' shoulders. "Listen, hon," she said. "We're going to figure this out. I promise You may have screwed yourself into a huge hole in the ground with your little focked up bet, but we're going to un-fock you. Mmkay?"
Lois nodded, returning Laurens hug.
Slowly. One by one. Lois felt more arms around her. The arms of each of her friends, coming around her to comfort and support her.
She thought they would be mad at her for what she had done. The cruel basis of this bet was enough to make her mad at herself. But here they were, comforting and supporting her when she thought she was going to be shunned and told off.
She knew right then more than ever, just how lucky she was to have these people in her life.
Now all she needed was the one person who could make her life complete.
