"What happened, man?" Joey asked a frowning Justin.
"I don't know. I
was on my way over there and all of a sudden, she jumps up and starts dancing
with Jeff."
"Jeff? 98 Degrees Jeff? You're so much cuter than him!"
"Please don't say things like that in public," Chris wailed. "It's bad
enough that Lance used to look like Ellen."
"Hey!"
"Dude, zip
it. We gotta figure out how to get Justin with Maddie."
"No, we don't,"
Justin interjected. "If she doesn't like me, she doesn't like me."
"Aw,
man, fuck that, we saw the way she was looking at you," Joey said with a scowl
on his face.
"Yeah, she was looking like she wanted to dip you
butt-naked in honey and lick it off…SLOWLY."
"Ew, thanks for the visual,
Chris." JC said.
"No prob Bob!"
"Guys, if anything is gonna
happen between me and her, it's going to happen because we both wanted it to,
not because y'all done interfered in any kind of way, OK?" Justin told them
sternly, then stalked off to find a stiff drink.
"Well, I don't like his
plan," Joey pouted, "I think we need a new one."
"I agree. Any ideas?"
"Hold her down and show her pictures of Justin naked until she agrees to
go out with him?" Chris suggested.
"OK, that's probably illegal and I
don't even wanna know what you're doing with naked pictures of Justin," JC said
as he took a step away from his group mate.
"I don't have any pictures
of Justin naked, I figured we could just take em, duh!"
"Whatever. Any
GOOD ideas?"
"The one thing I do know is that I'm gonna go get her away
from Jeff," Joey said and began to search the dance floor for them.
"I
hear that. Jeff is nice and all, but that's Justin's woman!" Lance said.
"Look, look!" Chris tapped Joey on the shoulder and pointed to a spot
towards the left of the very crowded dance floor. "There they are!"
"All
right, troops, let's go get her."
"Y'all go. Me and Lance will go
distract Justin so he doesn't see what we're up to," JC suggested.
"Good
idea. Let's meet back here at 0800 hours."
"Chris, that's eight o'clock
in the morning, you dumbass," Lance said.
"Oh…well, half an hour then."
The four determined men split up to accomplish their missions.
Joey and Chris walked up behind Maddie as she was dancing with Jeff.
"Guess who?" Chris put his hands over her eyes.
"Geez, not that
I had any makeup on or anything, Chris."
"Hey, how'd you know it was
me?" Chris exclaimed as he placed himself between her and Jeff.
"Well,
only one person at this party is crazy and weird enough to do something as lame
as that and think it's cool. Oh, and Jeff said, 'Hey, here comes Chris and
Joey.'." Maddie laughed.
"You think I'm a loser, don't you?" Chris
pouted.
"Oh, no sweetie, I just LOVE you!" Maddie said, pinching his
cheek.
"So, Jeff, you don't mind if we steal Maddie away for a spell, do
you?" Joey said.
"Uh, no, man, it's whatever. Talk to you later?" he
asked Maddie.
She smiled at him. She watched him walk away for a few
seconds.
"Enjoying the view?" Chris said dryly.
"Uh huh," Maddie
said with a wink. "So, what's up?"
Joey and Chris looked at each other.
They'd just wanted to get her away from Timmons, they hadn't planned on having
to actually talk.
"So…uh…when you going on tour?" Joey asked.
Madison flashed him a look. "I don't know yet. We're still sort of
scouting around."
"You should come on tour with us," Chris said.
"Oh hell yeah, that'd be so off da hook!"
"No way in hell,"
Maddie said firmly.
"What?"
"Why?"
"Man, I get compared
to Britney Spears enough as it is. Being on your tour would not help things at
all."
Chris and Joey looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"You are NOTHING like Britney Spears," Chris said.
"And we mean
that in a good way," Joey added.
"Whatever. I'm going to get a drink,"
Maddie said and turned to walk away.
"Wait, we'll go with you."
"So…you seeing anybody right now?" Joey said as he fell in step with
her.
"No. Why, you asking?"
"I have a girlfriend."
Madison stopped in her tracks. "You're kidding, right? The Joey Fatone,
the Flirt, the Playboy, the Pimp, has a girlfriend?"
Joey gave her a
goofy smile. "Yeah."
"Stop the world, I want to get off."
"What
the hell?" Chris laughed.
"Sorry. Inside joke. I'm just so shocked. Hoey
has a gal."
"Why is that so shocking and what the hell did you just call
me?"
Madison just laughed as she took a seat at the bar. She was having
trouble getting up into the seat, seeing as it was so high and she was so short.
With some very careful maneuvering, she was able to take her seat. Joey and
Chris just stood back and watched the show. The dress Maddie was wearing, though
floor-length, had a wide V in the front so with just about every move she made
they were given a very tantalizing glimpse of cleavage.
"Like what you
see, guys?" Maddie said.
Joey and Chris grinned at her. "Yup," they said
in unison.
"Oh, hey," Chris said in a voice that was totally fake,
proving that the boy couldn't act his way out of a soap box, "there's Justin.
Justin!"
Maddie leaned closer to Joey. "Why do I feel like I've been set
up?"
"Because you have. C'mon, give the kid a chance. He really likes
you."
"That's not my fault," Maddie said petulantly. "I should kick your
ass for this."
"But you won't cause you love me, now smile," Joey said,
looking over Maddie's shoulder as Justin.
She straightened up and turned
to face him.
"Hi," he said nervously.
"Hi."
"So…having a
good time?"
"Actually I am."
"That's good. Can I get you a
drink?"
"The drinks are free, Justin."
Justin had to keep
himself from visibly reacting. He loved the way she said his name. He was
actually having trouble believing that he was talking to her in the first place.
He sent up a quick prayer of thanks for his meddling friends, who had slipped
away as soon as he'd opened his mouth to speak.
"Yeah, I know…so what do
you want?"
"I got it, thanks, though," Maddie said and motioned for the
bartender.
Justin took a seat and just looked at her. He didn't
understand what it was that drew him to her. Sure, she was beautiful but he'd
seen a lifetime's worth of beautiful girls and none of them had affected him the
way she had.
"So, what are you doing after this?" Justin asked.
She turned, drink in hand, "Going home, FINALLY. It's been way to long.
I bet my brothers won't even recognize me."
"I know what you mean,"
Justin smiled, glad they had some common ground. "Every time I go home, I have
to check the address to make sure I have the right house."
Madison
laughed. "Geez, I hope I never get as bad as that!"
Justin smiled. He
was enchanted by her laugh. He made the mistake of looking into her eyes. The
smile fell from his face as they stared at each other. Justin's cheeks slowly
reddened as some very naughty thoughts began to run through his mind.
"You're from Texas, right?" he said, grasping at the first thing that
came to his mind that wasn't going to get him slapped.
"Yeah, Houston. I
hated it when I was there every day but now I miss it more than anything."
He spied someone over her shoulder and his heart filled with dread.
"Shit."
“What?” Maddie turned around to see who he was looking at. “Oh
my God.”