“Dude, get a watch, you’ve been asking me this for the past hour!” Joey said. “It’s 8:30.”
“I have a watch, it’s just been broken for the past month or so.” JC said.
Once arriving from the park, the guys have been anxious to give out the gifts to the girls. The girls felt the same. “All right everyone, let’s all give each other our presents,” Chris said. Everyone agreed and sat on the couches.
About half an hour later everyone had his or her presents. Being as immature as they were, Joey and Chris opened theirs first. Joey only had one present, from the girls. He opened it and was speechless. It was a Superman memorabilia that was hard to find. “Thanks you guys!” he said.
“That’s right you better appreciate that! It took us a long time to find that little thing!” Audrey said.
In the background, NSYNC’S Home for Christmas c.d. was playing. JC pulled Kristina aside and gave her a small package. “Open this later when everyone’s asleep.”
“I will,” She said. JC began to walk back when Kristina grabbed his arm. “Wait. This one’s for you. You can open that later also.” JC smiled and they both walked back to the group.
“Kris! Kris! Look at what they got us,” Shelley said squealing like a little girl.
Kristina looked down at Shelley and saw what was in her hand. There were season passes for the two of them to all the theme parks in Orlando. “Oh my god! Umm…” Kristina was speechless.
“We’re guessing you liked our present?” Chris said.
“Yep!” They said in unison.
“Well we didn’t exactly know what the two of you wanted. Since you’re still teenagers we thought that this would be a way to keep you occupied if the five of us aren’t here for you to bug,” Justin said.
“Oh so I’m just here to bug you?” Shelley said.
“Of course you are, but in such a cute way,” Justin said kissing her forehead.
“Aud, what did the guys get you?” Kristina said.
“Umm… well…” Audrey said. She was just as speechless as Kristina and Shelley were earlier. Chris and the guys loved her expression.
“Well, what is it?” Julie asked impatiently. Audrey’s silence was starting to get to Kristina and Shelley also.
“C’mon Aud!” Kristina said. The guys were just eating this up and laughing hysterically. After a few more moments, Audrey finally began to speak.
“It’s a plane ticket,” she said softly.
“A plane ticket?” Julie asked puzzled.
“It’s a plane ticket to Hawaii,” Chris said to Audrey. “I want you to come with us…with me.”
There was a long pause. No one knew what to say or how to react. Finally Audrey got up and signaled for Chris to follow her. They went upstairs and as soon as the door closed behind them, everybody started talking at once. The subject of Audrey going to Hawaii was definitely something that needed to be discussed.
While everyone was talking about Chris’ gift, Julie sat quiet. She was sitting in the corner of the couch, her eyes roaming the room. JC and Kris were on her right and Justin and Shelley to her left on the floor. Joey was on the floor by Kristina’s feet. Lance was sitting on the floor on the other side of the room. Her eyes stopped when she got to Lance. She thought about what had happened earlier that day. He looked so sad sitting there by himself. Then almost as if he felt her gaze, Lance looked up at Julie. They stared each other’s in the eyes for a few seconds, Julie’s mind being full of thoughts.
Lance, why did we have to meet in the mall like that? This could’ve been so much different between us. We could’ve been great friends, and I could’ve thought more of you than just a piece of meat taking up space. Oh please, don’t look at me like that. You’ll just make me feel bad.
Lance looked down at the floor. He also had thoughts of his own.
Man, she hates me. I know she does. I can see it in the way she looks at me. What can I do to make it better, Julie? What can I do?
Julie couldn’t control herself. Before she knew it, she was walking towards Lance. She couldn’t believe what she was doing. Julie! No! What are you doing? She told herself, her heart beating a hundred miles an hour. Julie! Think about what you’re doing! If you give in, he’ll win. You can’t let him win. Not this time. Julie, stop it now! But she couldn’t stop herself. Nobody noticed the two of them since they were still too busy discussing Chris and Audrey.
Julie sat down next to Lance and put her hand on him. He looked at the hand resting on his. It was obvious it didn’t belong to on of the guys and he knew it wasn’t Kristina or Shelley’s.
“Julie?” He said softly. He looked up from the floor.
“Lance. I just want you to know that I don’t hate you. I can see the guilt on your face when you look at me. So please don’t feel bad.”
Lance smiled with a sigh of relief. “So we’re friends now?” He asked hopefully.
“Uh…” She was speechless. Her mind was racing with thoughts. Luckily for her she didn’t have to answer his question, Chris and Audrey had walked back into the room. Julie quickly went back to her place on the couch. Everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to the two.
“Are you going Aud?” Kristina asked eagerly awaiting the answer. Audrey nodded her head.
“Yup. She’s going!” Chris said happily. Audrey, for some reason, didn’t seem as happy as Chris did. Kristina noticed this right away.
“Aud, can you help me with something?” Kristina asked pulling Audrey into the kitchen. She didn’t want it that obvious as to why she wanted to talk to Audrey. Once they were in the kitchen, Kristina began talking first.
“Aud, are you sure you want to go to Hawaii?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
Kristina gave her a look as if saying, “Don’t lie to me.”
“Are you sure?” She asked again.
Audrey was quiet for a minute. Suddenly, she burst into tears.
“Aud, please don’t cry. What happened? What’s the matter?” Kristina said trying to get some answer out of her.
“I don’t want to go to Hawaii. I mean, I do, but I don’t. Does that make any sense?”
“Uh, no it doesn’t. Aud, what do you mean?” Kristina said getting more confused.
“Well, I mean, I love Chris and all. He’s great. But I think we might be going to fast with this. I mean, Hawaii? We’ve only known each other for a couple months.”
“Then why are you going?”
“Because…I don’t know.” Audrey jumped up and sat on the other counter. “He just looked so sad and upset. I couldn’t stand to see him unhappy. You saw how happy he was when I told him I’d go. I wouldn’t trade that for the world.”
Kristina smiled. “What?” Audrey asked. “Why are you smiling?”
“No reason,” Kristina said. “Aud, just go to Hawaii and have fun okay?” Now, give me a smile.” Audrey just looked at her. “Aud, you’re going to Hawaii! Now smile.” Audrey smiled slowly.
“I just hope Chris doesn’t find out that the only reason I’m going is out of guilt.” She jumped off the counter and they both headed back to the living room. But as soon as they got to the kitchen door, they stopped. Standing there with a shocked look on his face was Lance.
“How much did you hear?” Audrey asked getting worried.
“Enough.” He replied walking towards the snacks. The girls followed him back into the kitchen.
“Lance, I’m not kidding. I need to know how much you heard.” Lance continued preparing the various snacks for the party, ignoring Audrey.
“Lance, c’mon.” Kristina said attempting to get something out of him. “Hey, wait a minute. Why were you eavesdropping in the first place?”
Lance stopped. He hesitated for a moment and then turned around and faced the girls. “You think I was eavesdropping? I was just coming in here to get some food. It’s not my fault if you were talking about things you didn’t want heard.”
“Yeah right. Like it was just a complete accident.” Kristina accused. Lance got angry with this. He grabbed a bowl of chips and walked out in a hurry.
“Kris wait.” Audrey said. “I realized another reason why I didn’t want to go.”
Kristina began to feel worried again. It was hard enough to convince her that she should go in the first place and now she comes up with a totally new reason. “What is it now, Aud?”
“Well when we were arguing with Lance it hit me. I’m not going because of sympathy and guilt…”
“Aud, tell me!” Kristina said afraid of her answer.
“…I’m hesitant because I’m scared.”
“What? What do you mean you’re scared?”
“I’m afraid of what might happen over there. You know I don’t have the greatest luck with guys and I’m doing so well with Chris that it’s scaring me. I don’t know what to do.”
“Aud, I understand why you’re scared. But I think Chris cares enough about you to not do anything dumb. You can trust him I know that. Jc tells me all the time how often he talks about you. He won’t hurt you, Aud, I promise.”
“Thanks, Kris. I love you so much, ya know that.”
“Yep. I know.” She said with a big smile on her face. They gave each other a hug and left for the living room.
The evening continued with more exchanging of gifts. Pretty soon there was only one package left. It was Julie’s gift to the guys. It was already unwrapped and everyone knew what it was but the guys were still hesitant to open it. Finally, Joey, being the closest to the tree, reached for the box.
“This one is from Jewels.” He announces, as if they didn’t know already. He opened the box and pulled out the figurine of himself. He handed the bow to Jc who did the same. Once the last statuette was taken, the all thanked Julie trying to be as polite as possible.
Julie couldn’t help but laugh. She was tearing up and laughing uncontrollably. Shelley, Kristina, and Audrey were doing the same.
“What’s so funny?” Justin asked staring at Shelley in confusion.
“Umm…well…” Shelley said.
“Well, what?” JC said.
Julie and Audrey were laughing so hard they couldn’t speak. Kristina calmed herself down a bit and began to explain why the four of them were laughing. She looked up and saw all their confused expressions and couldn’t keep a straight face. “Okay, the reason…” She started.
“Kris, please just say it.” JC said.
“Okay, okay. While we were at the park, the four of us were talking and Julie asked about her present so we told her. Audrey came up with the idea to have Julie pretend you all never saw the gift. We all went with it and it worked. You should have seen the looks on all your faces. It was priceless.”
Julie, Shelley, and Audrey all stopped laughing and looked at the guys. Slowly, each guy grabbed a bowl of chips and any of the other foods that were sitting on the table. The girls cautiously looked at each other and made a fast dash towards the kitchen. The guys went chasing after them throwing chips, cookies, and candy towards the four. After about ten minutes the house was a complete mess. The nine of them were laughing and talking about useless things.
“Well, we should all hit the sack.” Joey said.
“Yeah, I guess we should get to bed.” Lance said standing up. “Who’s sleeping where?”
“I’m sleeping in my bed!” All the guys said together. The girls just laughed.
“Kris and Shel can have my room like before. I got the den, the bed in there is comfy.” JC said.
“Okay, in that case, Aud, you have my room again.” Chris said. “Joey’s out of the picture. He won’t share his room. Plus no one would be able to sleep anyway.”
Everyone laughed. Joey became offended but realized he was right.
“Justin and I are bunking together.” Lance said.
That left Julie. “Okay and lastly, Julie, you will be bunking with me.” Audrey said. Julie nodded her head. “Trust me hun, you don’t want to bunk with Joey. So you’re with me.”
“Okay, fine with me.” Julie said following Audrey to the room.
“Umm…Chris? Where does that put you?” Kristina asked.
“Oh, know what? I don’t know!” He said scratching his head. “I’ll be on the couch or something.”
“Dude, have my parents room. They won’t mind.” Justin said.
“Oh yeah.” Chris said laughing. They all headed upstairs, JC to the den.
Once in the den, he got dressed into his sweats and wifebeater. He went to hang up his slacks when he realized Kristina’s present was in the pocket. He took it out and sat on the bed. “I wonder what she got me.” He said aloud.
“I was thinking the same thing about your present.” Kristina said at the doorway.
“Oh hey. Come in.” He said. Kristina walked in and sat herself down across from JC on the bed. “I guess since we’re both here we should open these.”
“Yeah, we should. You go first.” She offered. JC nodded his head and proceeded to open the box. Inside the box was a small picture frame. The picture was of the two of them at Audrey’s apartment that Justin took while the three of them were there the first night they met.
JC was speechless. He didn’t know what to say.
I remember this night. It was when Kris opened up to us and told her about her past. The more I knew about her, the closer I felt. That was a pretty special moment for the two of us.
“Do you like it?” Kristina asked.
“Yes of course.” He said. “This day meant a lot to me and now when I look at this it’ll remind me of it. Thank you.” He leaned forward and gave her a hug.
“You’re welcome.” She said returning the hug.
“Well open your gift now.” He said putting the picture on the dresses next to the bed.
“Okay.” She began opening the box and became as speechless as JC was earlier. Inside her box was a silver necklace. The pendant had the Chinese symbols for love and soul. “JC…I don’t know what to say.”
“Say nothing. Just put it on.” He said turning her around to put it on. “What do you think?”
“It’s beautiful, but do I really deserve such a nice gift?” she said.
“Yes you do and so much more. Kris, don’t doubt yourself. You have so much potential to do so many things. I saw this in the jewelry mart and had to give it to you. It symbolizes what I feel for you.” He immediately got quiet. “Did I just say that out loud?”
Kristina looked at him. His face was turning bright red. “Yes you did.”
“I’m sorry, you weren’t suppose to hear that part.” He said getting up.
“You know what JC.” She said. “I’m actually glad you did.”
JC turned around. He didn’t quite understand what Kristina meant. Kristina got up and took his hands in hers. She stood taller and kissed him sweetly. She pulled away and looked into his blue eyes. “Thank you.”
“You are very welcome.” He said still coming back to reality from the kiss.
“I should be getting back upstairs. Good night.”
“Night.” He said walking her to the stairs. She realized they were standing under the mistletoe and went to kiss JC again. This caught him off guard. She broke the kiss and started walking up the stairs. JC stared in awe as she entered his room. As soon as the door closed behind her a big smile came to his face. Upstairs, Kristina leaned against the door and slid down. A smile began showing on her face as well. She got up and walked to her bed. Shelley was already asleep. She tucked herself in and fell asleep.
Two more months, JC, and we won’t have to hide these feelings anymore.
To Br continued…