A short time later, the girls pulled into the driveway of a two-story brick house. Viera's eyes wandered over it's enormous windows, beautiful landscape yard, and flowing vines that seemed to be growing right up the sides of the home.
She didn't say much to Holly on the ride over there. She was trying to digest all the information she could about what the girls had told her about her boyfriend… 'JC, was it?' she asked herself.
She knew he was in a band, but the name was never given to her. She knew what he looked like since she had a few pictures of the two of them together. But what struck her odd was that all the pictures the girls had shown her with him, they were wearing the same clothes. It appeared to her that they were all taken at the same time. She wondered why she didn't have any other pictures of them.
She would soon find out.
The girls exited Holly's car and although Viera's legs were killing her and she felt mentally and physically exhausted, she pushed herself to the front door. The more information she had at that moment, the closer she felt to getting her memory back. All she needed was a little push and she was determined to find someone to give it to her. Maybe this JC guy would be the one to help.
Holly knocked loudly on the door while Viera took a deep breath. Within seconds, she would be face-to-face with someone whom she was supposed to be very close with. Her nerves were working overtime and she thought she might pass out but before she could ask Holly for a minute to calm down, the door opened.
Viera peered at the man who answered the door. It wasn't the same guy whom she was pictured with. She wondered what was going on. She assumed he lived here alone but was soon told otherwise.
"Viera, I'd like you to meet one of JC's friends and bandmates. This is Joey Fatone." Holly said as she pushed Viera closer to the stranger.
He gave Holly a smug look but softened when he realized who Viera was. "Nice to meet you." He said as he took her hand to shake.
Viera was taken back by that. "Um, I don't mean to be rude but if I was going out with your friend, then haven't you and I already met?"
Holly raised an eyebrow to Joey and he coughed to gain his composure back. "Oh, um I'm sorry about that. It's just that I know you have amnesia and I didn't want to just grab you and give you a hug like I use to do. I didn't want to make you feel awkward." He said as he stared Holly down. He did NOT like her and hated what she was making them all do.
"Oh, well, I have to say that I would have felt even more awkward if you had hugged me, so thanks I guess." She said as she let go of Joey's hand. "Is, um JC here?" She asked as she tried to peek around him to see inside this wonderful house.
"Yeah, JC's inside. Come on in." He replied as he reached out and took a hold of Viera's arm and led her into the house. He left Holly by the door to escort herself in.
He heard her 'umph' but didn't turn around to help her out. The door slammed shut a moment later and Joey cringed at the sound. He turned his head to smile innocently at Viera who was unsure of what was going to happen. "Don't worry. JC won't do anything to push you until you remember…and you will remember EVERYTHING someday." He said as the last part was directed towards Holly.
She rushed up to the pair and slapped him on the back. When he turned around, his eyes were on fire but she just shot back. "Well, we don't want to push her to remember right now, do we?" She said through her clinched teeth.
Joey merely nodded and continued his course into the living room with Viera on his arm.
She could hear talking from around the corner and knew it was now or never. She had to face the man who had probably known everything about her and more. She stopped Joey right outside the door and closed her eyes to mentally prepare herself for what was on the other side.
Joey patted her arm and told her it would be okay. She smiled at his friendly gesture and agreed to be led into the room.
As the three made their way inside the large room, Viera immediately recognized two familiar faces among the crowd of five. Brooke was situated on the couch between two very handsome young men. Viera noticed one of them had tiny ringlets that adorned his head. She smiled to herself, wondering if they were soft or crunchy. She tired to contain her chuckle but it quickly dissipated when she noticed the only other person in the room whom she had seen before.
'JC.' She said to herself.
She was right. The man with the amazing blue eyes and incredible face that she had studied for the past 10 days was now approaching her and she shook with fright. He was beyond beautiful to her in a picture but was stunning in person. She felt a tug at her heart. She couldn't believe he was hers.
"Hi." She said as he walked up to her, took her arm away from Joey and held her hand in his own.
"Hi." He mimicked. He had NO idea what to say at that point.
But Brooke did.
"Hey girl, come on in. We were just talking about ordering a pizza. Do you want some?"
Viera kept a close eye on JC but was able to look over his shoulder for a quick glance at Brooke. "Um, I'm not really that hungry, but go ahead." She said as she returned her eyes to the man in front of her. She couldn't shake the feeling that they had indeed known each other – which was good - but the feeling wasn't one of love or even friendship but more of an acquaintance. She shook it off thinking it was just from her memory being gone.
"Ahem."
Viera and JC turned around and saw three smiling friends waiting patiently for acknowledgement.
"Oh, sorry guys." JC started as he led Viera over to the front of the couches to introduce everyone else. "Viera, I'd like you to meet…again…Justin…"
The ringlets.
"Chris…"
Warm smile.
"Lance…"
He looks pained to see me, I wonder why?
"And you met Joey…"
Viera glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him. Puppy dog eyes.
"Nice to meet you all…well I guess I knew you but…well now I don't and…" She started but was getting frustrated. Nothing had clicked yet.
JC tightened his hold on her hand and smiled at her when she responded by clasping her other hand on their already adjoining ones. She strangely felt comfortable around him although she had only met him a moment ago.
"Hey, don't worry about it. We are all here for you and won't push so you just let us know what we can do to help." JC said as winked at Viera.
She blushed a little then looked around the room to see the somewhat smiling faces of the others. They seemed sincere but there was something about the way their faces where forced to smile that got to Viera. She would ask JC later about that.
After a few minutes of deafening silence, Brooke stood from her spot between Lance and Justin, walked over to Viera, gave her a tap on the shoulder and motioned her to follow her and Holly out of the room.
Viera gave JC a quick glance and let go of his hand before walking out with the girls.
When they were gone – "Man, that was weird." Joey said as he let out a breath of air before settling down in a chair.
Justin concurred. "Yeah, why the hell did we agree to do this?" He asked as he slumped into the couch, taking up the spot that Brooke had vacated.
"Justin, you know why." Chris said, giving JC a disgusted look.
"Chris, I don't need to be reminded again of what I did. I will have to remember that night every time I look at Viera so I don't need you guys to keep at me, okay?" JC said as he felt defeated. He was in some SERIOUS trouble and no one could help him out.
"Listen, we all agreed to this and we can't back out on it. You know what would happen if the press found out that JC…"
"Man, don't say it." JC started as he came over and put a hand on Joey's mouth. He turned to the entrance of the living room to see if the girls were back yet. "You know Viera has no idea what happened and I'm not about to fill her in right now."
Joey gave him a nod that told him he wouldn't say another word. The others agreed and JC removed his hand from Joey's mouth.
"But did you see the hurt and pain in her eyes?" Lance said, trying not to bring up WHY it was there.
He heard a round of 'yeah' from the others as they all simultaneously put their hands up to their heads and rubbed their temples. This was truly a nightmare with NO relief in sight.