Audrey, Shelley, and Kristina all looked at each other. They didn’t have anything to do now. “How about we all go back to my place and start getting plans ready for our little party New Year’s Eve?” Audrey said.
“Sounds great, let’s get out of here.” Shelley said picking up her things.
“Okay, I’ll be out there in a minute. I have to do something.” Kristina said heading for JC’s room. She left him a cute little note and left the room with her things.
Dear JC,
Can’t wait to see you next week. Hopefully we’ll have more similar moments like the one we had in the park in the near future. I’ll talk to you some time this week. Bye.
Love Always,
Kristina
~*~ Justin’s house, the next weekend. ~*~
JC awoke to the rays hitting his face. He stretched out and found himself hungry. He went downstairs to see everyone devouring food. He sat himself next to Justin and began eating.
“So is everyone ready for tonight’s party?” Joey asked.
“Yep pretty much.” Lance said with everyone agreeing. The party has been planned for weeks now and all the guys were excited.
“Do you think I’ll get a present from Shel?” Justin asked.
“What is that suppose to mean?” JC replied.
“Oh I don’t know, we’ve only been going out for a week.”
“My goodness Justin, chill out. If she wants to get you something she will.” Chris said throwing a piece of bacon at him.
Just then the phone rang. JC got up to answer it. “Hello?”
“Hey you, where’s Justin.” Shelley said.
“Oh he’s right here getting food thrown at him.”
Shelley laughed. “Well tell him I said Hi. We’re going to be there at around five, we’re bringing a friend with us, okay?”
“Justin, Shelley says hi. Yeah that’s cool. It’s only going to be the eight of us, well now nine, so yeah bring her along.”
“Okay thanks, we’ll see you in a few hours, bye.”
“Bye.” He hung up the phone and went back to everyone.
“Hey I’m going to go out and get some last minute things for the gals, I’ll be back in time for the party.” Lance said heading upstairs for his keys. He said bye to the guys and off he went.
~*~ Audrey’s House ~*~
Kristina and Shelley had spent last night at Audrey’s. They had all their Christmas shopping finished, well for the guys and themselves. All three of them were all so excited.
“I wonder where she is?” Kristina asked implying about their friend Julie.
“She called while you were in the shower and said she needed to buy something for the party tonight, so she’ll be a little late.” Audrey explained.
“Okay then.” Kristina said heading back to her business.
~*~ Orlando Mall ~*~
Lance headed to the last store on his list. He needed to find the perfect gift for the girls. He had on a disguise so no one would recognize him and it was working for the most part.
Julie pulled into the mall’s parking lot and headed straight for the store she needed to go to. On her way there she bumped into someone rather roughly.
“Oh I’m so sorry.” She said. “I am in a hurry and didn’t see you there.”
“Yeah whatever. Look, just step aside and let me go on my way.” The stranger said. “Little ignorant teenagers.”
“Well bah-humbug to you too!” Julie said angrily. “I swear heartless people living in society these days.” That just put her in the worst moods. She continued on feeling absolutely horrible. She reached the store and searched for her present.
“Gosh, if people weren’t in such a hurry to do things, I wouldn’t have to be so mean.” Lance said walking on. He stopped to look at the directory to find where he needed to go. “I’ve been going the wrong way this entire time?” He turned around and ended up in the same store Julie was in.
“There is it!” Julie exclaimed grabbing it. She walked to the cashier counter and bumped into Lance unknowingly. “Oh no, not you again.”
“I thought I told you to move. Must you really be in the way?” Lance said.
“Well, I’m done here, have the store to yourself you heartless, pathetic excuse for a man!” Julie yelled grabbing her newly brought present and vacating the store.
Her little comment made Lance more furious than ever, although, he felt a bit guilty for being so rude to her. He purchased his item and left for Justin’s house. He’s been known to drive a little reckless but today was one of those days when he just didn’t care and was just in extreme dislike to Julie.
~*~ Audrey’s Apartment ~*~
It’s been about two hours. They were all ready to leave; they were just waiting for Julie to get there. Just then her car pulls up to the street and she honks her car horn for the girls to come down. Audrey, Kristina, and Shelley all piled in and were off the Justin’s house. Julie was so mad at the guy at the mall that she was driving pretty fast. She didn’t even realize that Audrey, Kristina, and Shelley were riding in the car with her.
“Jewels, you need to slow down babe.” Audrey said.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that…” She started.
“What happened?” Kristina asked. “Something at the mall?”
“You can say that. I was in a hurry to make it to your house on time so I was rushing through the mall to the store I needed to go to. Well I accidentally hit this guy and he just lectured me and was being extremely rude. I hate him already and I don’t even know him. It just pisses me off that people are so rude. Then by my luck I bumped into him again at a store and he was being just a heartless as before.” She said letting her anger out of her.
“Wow that’s harsh. Well hey how bout this.” Shelley leaned over and put in NSYNC’s Home for Christmas c.d. She knew Julie loved NSYNC more than ever and it would calm her down. It worked and Julie remained calm. Julie pulled up to Justin’s house and parked behind JC’s jeep. She knew the girls knew NSYNC, this would be the first time she’d actually be meeting them. They vacated the car and unloaded all the presents.
“Hey the girls are here.” Joey yelled up the stairs.
“Okay.” They all said in unison.
Lance got home a few minutes earlier in the grumpiest mood the guys have seen. He explained his reason and the guys reacted kind of awkwardly. It wasn’t like Lance to be that rude but they understood his reasoning. He was stressed for time.
Justin ran down and opened the door. “Hey babe, how are you?” He said to Shelley.
“I’m doing good. Glad to see you.” She said kissing him.
Audrey, Kristina and Julie walked in and put their presents under the tree. They took their bags into their rooms ad went back downstairs. Lance and Julie still hadn’t seen each other yet. Chris went over to Audrey and gave her a hug. Jc looked over at Kristina who was still unpacking some presents under the tree. He walked over to her to help her out. They walked near the stairs and soon heard laughter from the others.
“What are you all laughing about?” Kristina said.
“Look up!” Joey and Audrey said.
Once the two looked up, they blushed uncontrollably. There was mistletoe hanging right above the staircase. Kristina and JC both looked at each other with so much embarrassment. To everyone’s surprise, including Kristina’s, JC leaned down and kissed Kristina’s cheek ever so lightly and delicately.
“Glad you all could make it.” He said. The two walked over and stood around the others. Lance made his way downstairs and stopped dead in his tracks. He recognized Julie in an instant and started to get furious. He couldn’t believe that the girl at the mall was their friend.
“Hello girls,” he said trying to keep his cool. “How are you all doing?”
Just as he spoke, Julie recognized his voice. She looked up from her seat and saw that it was Lance.
“Hi…” Julie said, her teeth grinding together. Of all people the stranger had to be, it was Lance.
She got up and headed out the door staring Lance down as she walked out. If looks could kill, Lance would be a goner. Lance headed the other direction towards the backyard. Everyone looked at each other stunned and didn’t realize till both were gone what had just happened.
“Do you think?” JC started.
“Yep, I do.” Kristina said. “I mean she loves NSYNC, Lance especially, I mean why would she do that the first time they see each other?”
Everyone agreed and sat in silence. Kristina decided to go out and talk to her. Justin went out to talk to Lance. The others got everything settled.
~*~ In the backyard ~*~
“Lance, yo man, calm down!” Justin yelled.
“I can’t believe… of all people… she HAD to be the one I’m despising the most.” Lance said trying to get some words out.
“Chill out. I’m sure you both had reasonable… well I don’t know what to say but would you at least come back inside. It’s freezing out here.”
“Fine, I’ll go back.” Lance said a bit calmer.
“Good, let’s go.” Justin said walking before Lance into the doorway. It had been almost an hour since Lance came back inside. Kristina and Julie were still outside. So they thought.
“Joey, what time it is?” JC asked.
“6:00. Why?”
“Well, Kristina and Julie have been outside for an hour. I’m just getting a little worried.”
“He’s right, maybe we should go check on them.” Audrey said.
“No, let them be. Even for a little while longer.” Shelley said. “It takes a while to calm Julie down without music especially. So just wait.”
Just then the door opened. Kristina walked in with an expressionless face. The only thing everyone could do was stare. JC got up and gave Kristina his seat. She had some type of package in her hands that she wouldn’t let go of. She looked up and saw everyone’s expressions and just about lost it. She got up to walk up to JC for comfort fell to her knees, her hands shaking. JC ran over pushing through the other six and dove in front of Kristina holding her close to him.
“Hunnie, what’s wrong? Tell me babe.” JC said insistently.
“She’s gone.” Kristina said.
“What?” Audrey and Shelley both said at the same time.
“She left, she’s gone, not here. How else can I say that? Her car is gone. All that’s left is this package. I opened it and found this.”
She re-opened the package and showed the group. Audrey and Shelley both gasped. The guys weren’t quite following. “Julie made this for you guys a while back and has been wanting to give it to you for a long time. I’m surprised it’s not broken.” Kristina explained.
In her hand were small statuettes of each guy. They were hand made and painted to resemble each trait so precisely.
“Julie worked sometimes day and night to get these to look this good. I can’t even start to believe what she’s thinking about you guys right now. Maybe not all five of you, just Lance in particular.” Shelley continued.
“Yeah, Shel’s right, we all have our fav NSYNC member…” Audrey began.
“…And let me guess, Lance was her fav?” Chris said holding Audrey closer. She nodded and looked over at the others.
Everyone sat in silence yet again. Lance looked at everyone and started to feel extremely guilty. “What are we waiting for? We need to go find her.” He said getting up. “I know I screwed up somehow, but we can’t just leave her out there all alone.”
Everyone agreed and headed to the cars.
~*~ Hours later, still driving around ~*~
“Where could she be?” Krisitna said.
“I’m not sure babe, but we’ll find her.” JC said.
The two cars had split up and were scanning the town for Julie who was still no where to be seen. Finally it clicked with Kristina and Shelley and yelled at Justin to drive to a certain spot. JC called the others and told them to meet up. Justin pulled up next to the curb and Kristina and Shelley both ran out as quickly as they could. They were lead to a beautiful, small park just at the edge of town. Julie’s car was parked on the opposite side.
“Remember when the four of us would come here and just vent.” Shelley said.
“Yeah,” Audrey said catching up with Kristina and Shelley.
“I don’t know why neither of us remembered this place.” Kristina said.
“Maybe since we don’t need to vent as much,” Audrey said.
They spotted Julie and gathered around her. The guys had stayed behind near the cars. Julie was huddled over a bench thinking quietly.
“Julie, babe, are you okay?” Audrey said motherly.
Julie looked up, her eyes all puffy and bloodshot. You could easily tell she was crying. “Yeah, I’m better now. I just needed to think things through, that’s all. I hope I didn’t ruin the party.”
“No you didn’t. We all care, we’re another family here. The four of us have to stick together. You almost gave me a heart attack Jewels.” Kristina said.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I never thought of Lance being that rude and heartless. I don’t think I can ever forgive him. But I’ll try and see things through.”
Her comment made the other three ease up a bit. “Everything will be just fine, you’ll see. If you can’t get along with Lance, then it’s okay. There’s still three others.” Shelley said.
Audrey and Kristina kept to themselves. The four walked over to the cars and settled what could be settled. Lance was the first to approach Julie. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a little time alone with you.” He said.
Julie looked towards the others and nodded her head. Chris and the guys along with Kristina, Audrey and Shelley piled into the other two cars and drove back to Justin’s. Lance and Julie remained at the park.
“So…” Julie said.
“Julie, look I’m…”
“Don’t say you’re sorry, because I know you are. I can see it in your eyes. I just need time to calm myself down and maybe we can be friends.” Julie said. She knew it inside her that she wanted to end this now but something else told her to wait a while longer. “We should be getting back.”
“Okay, but I want to…,” He said but before he could say anything else, Julie was already heading for her car.
How is it that someone I despised earlier in the day turned out to be the most caring person ever? She’s amazing. I screwed up and this is what I get. Hopefully she has the heart to forgive me soon.
Julie heard the first part of his sentence and wanted to turn around. She didn’t want to give in so quickly. Julie jumped into the car waiting for Lance to follow her.
I’m sorry Lance, but it has to be this way for a while. When I learn to trust you, we’ll see what may happen between us. As of right now, you’re nothing to me; soon that will change for the better.
To Be Continued…