“Thank you.” She said wrapping her arms more. “I wouldn’t have wanted last night to be any different.”
“Your welcome.” He said kissing her forehead. They got up and were greeted by Chris and Audrey.
“Good morning you two.” Audrey said. Kristina came and sat on her lap, acting like a daughter. Audrey embraced Kristina.
“Where is everyone else?” Justin asked.
“In the kitchen getting breakfast ready for them.” Chris said.
“Oh, well Kris and I came in kinda late last night and we just sort of crashed on the floor for the night.”
“What do you mean?” Audrey asked confused.
“Oh, they didn’t tell you what happened?” Kristina said looking over at Justin.
“Tell us what?” She asked back. Just then the others walked in with plates of food. They saw Kristina and Justin up and walked back into the kitchen. Chris and Audrey looked at each other with so much confusion.
“Well, how about we get ready, Justin.” Kristina said hesitantly.
“Yeah, okay.” He said avoiding Audrey’s questions.
“No, wait.” Audrey said. When she saw that the two weren’t going to explain she let them go. “Justin, you’re clothes are in Kris’ room.”
“Okay, thanks.” He said grabbing his clothes and jumping into one of the showers. The others came out of the kitchen.
“What was that all about?” Chris asked the first person he saw coming from the kitchen.
“What?” Joey asked, stuffing his face with more food. Chris gave up and asked the next person.
“What happened last night?” He demanded. JC looked up from his plate pleading with Chris to drop it for now. Chris saw this and backed down. Shelley and JC were rather silent and didn’t talk about Justin or Kristina for the remainder of their breakfast.
Justin came back with Kristina. The two coincidentally wore baby blue and jeans. “Oh you two look cute.” Audrey said.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I still don’t understand why Justin had to be wearing baby blue!” Kristina said getting embarrassed. The majority of her clothes were at Justin’s this was the only clean shirt she could find. JC and Shelley looked up at Justin and Kristina and walked out of the room.
“If they don’t explain to me what’s been happening, I swear someone’s head is going to be ripped off!” Audrey whispered to Chris. He nodded his head and got up to sit with the others.
At around 11:00am, everyone was starting to get the rooms fixated. Lance and Julie drove over to her house to get the rest of her things. Joey fell asleep on the couch and was totally useless, not that it really surprised anyone. JC and Shelley kept their distance from Justin and Kristina. Audrey was getting sick and tired of this and had them all stuffed into the master bedroom when Lance and Julie had gotten back. Chris woke up Joey and walked into the room a few minutes later.
“Okay, no one is leaving this room until Chris and I find out what’s been happening?” No one spoke and was soon interrupted by Chris.
“So you don’t want to say anything, fine. We’ll be here all day if we have to.” He said.
“But, the lake.” Joey said.
“You! Hush! Just go back to sleep or something!” Chris said getting irritated.
“Look, I don’t want to get into it and I’m pretty sure JC, Justin and Kristina don’t want to either.” Shelley said.
“Tough luck! You are telling me everything!” Audrey yelled. She went to the door and barricaded it with a chair. She had Joey sit comfortably in it so no one would leave.
“Okay. Justin and I aren’t together anymore.” Shelley said making eye contact with Justin. He nodded his head in assurance that it was okay to tell the others.
“What?” Audrey and Chris both said.
“We broke it off after the movies.” Justin added, seeming rather calm. We just don’t have the same feelings anymore. The time apart in Hawaii really changed us.”
“We talked for a long time about it and realized that the spark between us was gone. The kiss we thought was special, the one at Disney World, was just an impulse and it didn’t mean a thing.” Shelley said. To everyone’s surprise she wasn’t crying. She was rather calm.
“And you’re okay with this?” Audrey asked.
“Yeah.” Shelley and Justin both said. “We talked it over and realized a lot of things about each other that we couldn’t really get over so we both ended it.” Justin added.
“Okay, one down. What’s up with you and Kristina?” Chris asked JC.
“I’m not really sure. Ask her.” JC said looking at Kristina and trying to find some type of reassurance in her expressions.
“Kris?” Audrey asked sincerely.
“Audrey.” She said mimicking her.
“Talk…please.”
“Okay. We were at the club and I noticed that Justin was taking the whole break up pretty badly, so was Shelley. JC and I decided to talk to the other and settle some things so we can have a fun night. I walked over to Justin and started talking to him. JC went over to talk to Shelley and I guess something was said that made him angry. Next thing I know, JC is coming up to Justin and accusing him of stealing me away from him. That being the reason Shelley and Justin broke up because he had feelings for me. I asked her about it and Shelley completely understood and was happy for Justin. She told me that Justin told her about those feelings and it got out of hand after that.”
Everyone was silent. Audrey and Chris started to wonder if they really wanted to know all of this. JC walked over to Kristina who was already in tears. She pushed him aside and walked across the room.
“I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I remember yelling at JC for making false accusations and telling me to stay away from Justin and I…Well, the next horrible thing I remember is slapping JC across the face, where his bruise was, only because he was accusing me of such things. Then I yelled at Shelley for telling me all of this and confusing me even more. I was just so mad at the two of them and everything was just so terrible. My life this past several months since we’ve all met have been the best and the absolute worst. I couldn’t take it anymore. Justin took me out of the club and we drove around all morning. We talked about everything, about our lives, anything to pass the time. He assured me that everything between JC and I was going to be fixed. He was being the best friend I want him to be. Best Friends. That’s all we are. We spent the rest of the morning at the park sitting on the benches. We came home at around 5:30 and fell asleep on the floor where you found us.”
Justin felt his whole world ceasing to exist. He lost a great girlfriend for his feelings and he found himself telling Kristina that things between her and JC would be okay. But the question was, why?
“Um…Okay then.” Audrey said. “I see where this is going.” Chris woke up Joey and told him to wait outside. During the whole conversation, Julie reached over for Lance’s hand. Chris asked them to stay with Joey. They nodded their heads and left for the living room. Having nine people in the same room was too much.
JC spoke up. “Kristina, I’m sorry I said those things to you. I never meant any of it and you know that. I did deserve being slapped so I won’t say much about that. I was scared of losing you to another guy and of all guys, one of my best friends, Justin. I went through this with Cory but that wasn’t such a big deal since you ended it and I… ”
“JC, look. I need time to think. Justin made me realize a lot of things earlier this morning at the park and I need to make sure he’s right. You know how I feel about you so you don’t have to worry. I’m really sorry I did hit you, it was just sudden impulse. If you do care about me, you’ll understand.” Kristina said walking over and taking his hand in hers. She placed a hand on his cheek caressing it softly as to not hurt him. They looked into each other’s eyes. A tear fell from JC’s eyes. She wiped it away delicately. It crushed Kristina to see him like this again. But she knew she was going to be with JC and wasn’t worried for a bit.
I love you, JC. I don’t even know why I told you I needed time to think. I guess I just needed to give us some breathing room, to let us calm down for a bit. You are the one I want to be with…but…I just…
Shelley walked over to Justin. “I’m sorry I told JC those things. I was so confused about the two of us and of what had happened, that words just came out. I want you to be happy and if it’s not with me then so be it. Just know that I will always be here for you, whether we are back together or not.”
“Thank you…” He said hugging her. “…For still being my friend.”
“Anytime. There has to be someone else other than Julie that can make fun of you.” She said kissing his cheek. That comment had lightened up the mood a bit. Shelley walked out of the room to join the others.
“And you, Justin, I can’t stop you from having feelings for me, whether you do or not, but I know that you will always be my best friend. You’re the only guy who’s been there for me through so much. I can’t thank you enough. Remember what we talked about and I know you’ll reach your decision about your feelings.”
“I know. Kris, I understand if you will never have the feelings for me that you show with JC and I’m cool with that. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up.” He said with a smile. “No, I’m just kidding. I’ve lost again! Last night made me realize a lot too and if being your best friend is all I’m going to be…then I’ll be there for you every step of the way.
“Thank you.” She said kissing him.
“Will you help me with something first?” He asked.
“Anything.” Kristina said.
“Help me get Shelley back before the week is over. I messed up badly and can’t lose her.” Kristina nodded her head. Justin walked away and started thinking to himself.
Kristina, you are the light of my day. You made me realize that I lost someone really great because of my feelings for you. I wasn’t thinking from the start. I have to win Shelley back some how. But…still…I can’t…
“Justin, look. I’m sorry that I acted the way I did last night. Are we cool now?” JC asked interrupting his thought.
“Yeah, we are man.” Justin said hugging JC. “I’m just glad I wasn’t the one being smacked!” They laughed and both looked at Kristina. “We’re sorry for putting you through all of this.”
“It’s okay.” She hugged them both and then Audrey and Chris.
“You guys are too much, you know that.” Kristina said staring at Chris and Audrey, who had big smiles on their faces now that everything was pretty much settled.
“Yeah, but it’s for your own good.” Chris said acting fatherly. The six in the room all walked out into the living room. Justin realized that he and Julie still weren’t talking and if this was going to be their last week as an entire group, he needed to fix things. He didn’t want to rush into it too fast so he waited.
“I love when everything happens when you’re not there.” Audrey exclaimed, her voice ringing throughout the house.
“Yes, geez.” Chris said playing along. Everyone laughed. They went back to work a couple minutes later and at around 3:00, the apartment was finished. The guys plopped in the couch, exhausted. Each girl came over and sat on someone’s lap. Kristina on Justin’s, Audrey on Chris’s lap, Julie sitting on Lance’s, and Shelley on JC’s lap. Joey, poor Joey, was left all alone, on the recliner.
“I swear, I’m the only one without a chick.” He complained. Kristina got up from Justin’s lap and sat with Joey.
“I’m sorry baby. You’ve been left out a lot lately haven’t you.” She said in a childish tone.
“Yes I have.” He said. “But now that you’re here, Justin’s the loner. Big surprise!”
Everyone had to laugh, even Julie, who was a little steamed at him. Justin shot a look at Joey. “Hey now… none of that, Justin! You’ll hurt his self-esteem.” Kristina said smiling.
They sat around for another half-hour talking about the next couple of weeks. There were plenty of birthdays coming around the corner and they wanted to plan everything early.
“So you aren’t going to be home for either of your birthdays?” Shelley asked.
“Nope. We have tapings to do and more preparation for the tour. We’ll be far from Orlando. Too bad we couldn’t take you all.” Lance said. “It wouldn’t really be fair to just take Audrey and Julie. Besides, we don’t want you two missing school and we would rather have the four of you there.”
“You’ll be in California right?” Kristina asked.
“Yeah, then we’ll be with MTV again doing the TRL Superbowl thing. So we’ll be busy. Then I think we are going back to California for the remainder of the month and just watching Superbowl there.” Justin said.
Everyone got quiet. It’s their first time spending birthdays with each other. They met a little before Chris’ birthday and didn’t know each other too well. It was really difficult to figure out a way to work this whole situation out.
“Well I saw we forget about this and just focus on the time we have this last couple of days. Plus, Chris you promised us you’d take us to the lake.” Kristina said.
“Okay, gather up some things and we’re out.” Chris said. The girls got up and into their rooms. The guys had things over at the lake already so they didn’t have to travel all the way back to Justin’s to get clothes. About twenty minutes later, the girls had come down and were greets by the five guys. They walked out to the cars and took their seats and followed Chris as he led them to the lake.
Forty-five long minutes later, the group had made it to the very private, secluded cabin. The sun was just setting and it shined over the beautiful lake. Kristina walked out of the JC's car and stared into the sunlight. Never in her life has she seen such a spectacular site. She dropped her bag on the floor causing JC to dive after it before it hit the floor. Everyone watched as Kristina walked towards the little dock. They smiled knowing this was just what she needed. Kristina began to walk back towards the others. She stopped and quickly turned around and leaped into the lake causing everyone to be in shock. Kristina floated around savoring the freedom she was feeling. She sighed heavily and the water flowed through her body. Everyone smiled again.
"Thanks, Chris. She's finally let all her stress go." Audrey said kissing him.
"That's good to hear." He said. Everyone agreed and started to walk inside the cabin. Justin offered to stay outside until she came back in. He walked out towards the end of the dock and sat on the edge.
"Hey." Kristina said.
"Hi yourself." He said smiling at her. She dove under the water and was underneath for a rather long time. "Kristina? Um...where are you?" He started to get nervous as he stood up and still didn't see her. "Kris, answer me. Kris!"
Kristina had swam to the side and quietly climbed up the ladder. She could hear him yelling for her. Kristina ran up and pushed Justin off the dock sending him head first into the water. She then jumped in after him. He surfaced and turned around to see her smiling at him. A very devilish smile came to his face. She saw this and tried to swim away. She wasn't fast enough and he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards him, leaving no space in between them. Kristina could feel his heavy breathing run down her neck making her shiver. She looked up into his eyes and saw them staring right back at her deeply. She pulled away uncomfortable in their position leaving Justin hanging. He sighed. Soon he heard laughter coming from Kristina.
"What's so funny?" He asked clueless.
"Your hair. It's just a big...well I don' t know what to call it anymore. It doesn’t look like hair. More like a big wet mop!" She said trying to hide more of her laughter as she sat herself up on the dock looking down on Justin.
"Heh, very funny, Kris. You don't look to bad yourself, sitting there soaked in water and...." He suddenly got quiet after realizing the remark he just made.
"Um...thanks. I guess." She said getting embarrassed. She helped him get out of the water. He sat down next to her trying to keep her warm, even though he was just as wet as she was. They watched the sunset together, in each other’s arms, with no worry in the world, except the remark Justin had made. Ten minutes later, the two went inside and were greeted by fourteen curious eyes.
"Do we want to know?" Joey asked.
"Heh, Kris pushed me into the water and we just swam around a bit and then watched the beautiful sunset together. It was fun." He said with a big smile. Audrey pointed to the fireplace and the two sat down on the carpet. JC same back from the room and threw the two some dry clothes to wear. He sat down on the carpet they were just sitting on. They excused themselves and went into the empty rooms. Fifteen minutes later, Kristina came out to find everyone staring at her again.
"What?" She asked still walking into the room.
"It took you fifteen minutes to get dressing into sweats and a T-shirt?" Lance asked.
"Oh, no, not really, I was brushing out my hair and..." Kristina stopped suddenly when she saw the figure sitting by the fireplace.
"Kris? You going to finish?" Shelley said.
"What? Oh yeah, Um..." She said, becoming speechless at the sight she was seeing. "I...uh...took a short shower to get the lake water off of me."
"Oh, well okay then." Lance said.
Kristina sat down on her little carpet space still bewildered at what her eyes were transmitting to her head.
Oh...wow. She thought. Sitting beside her near the fireplace was something she never thought she’d see.
“Kris? You okay?”
“What?” She said clicking back to reality. “Yeah, I am Justin. Sorry bout that.”
“Oh it’s nothing.” He said. “You just looked spaced out.” He leaned back and lay on his back with his arms tucked behind his head. He had taken off his shirt and just had a wifebeater on when he came in from the lake experience. She had come back from her shower to see his shirt completely off and him just lying there in a pair of sweats. Everyone had gone on their own business, talking about anything they could think of. Kristina found herself staring at Justin and seeing, literally, a whole new side of him. Aside the whole fiasco with his mixed feelings, and breaking up with Shelley, he seemed pretty relaxed and confident in himself.
“Justin, aren’t you just a tad bit cold” She asked wrapping a blanket around her.
“No, actually the fire is keeping me warm. I think that’s what it’s suppose to do, Kris.” He said with so much sarcasm.
“Oh shut up!” She said throwing a pillow towards him. He dodged the pillow and buried Kristina in it. She was screaming for help but no one did anything. They just watched in amusement that the two were getting along so well knowing the circumstances. Justin finally let up and laid back down grabbing Kristina and letting her lay down with him. She snuggled up to him closely smelling his ever-fading scent of cologne. Without thinking, she wrapped her arm across his stomach and turned her back away from everyone, her stomach facing the floor. They were comfortable, too comfortable for JC, who was watching their every move. As he watched he thought to himself and wondered if Justin had really let go of his feelings. The more Justin acted ‘friendly’ the more worried JC got. He pushed his thoughts aside, when Kristina got up from Justin’s grasp and walked over to JC ‘s spot on the carpet. She sat in his lap causing him to fall over, bringing her down with him. The two laughed as they fixed their seating position and sat near the fire.
“I’m having too much fun already.” She said whispering in his ear.
“Me too. I’m glad you’re back to normal again.” He stopped and caught his little slip. “Not that you’re strange. I like strange. I mean...”
“I know what you mean.” Kristina said kissing his cheek. He smiled. “What’s going to happen once we get back to school?”
“I’m not sure babe.” JC said. “We have a lot of promotion to do and that will take us out of town for the majority of the month. So, with that said, we are undecided on what will happen.”
Kristina sighed as she watched the fire flickering away. JC leaned down and started humming a song to her.
“What’s that?” She asked, the song was unfamiliar to her.
“It’s a new song. It’s called That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You. It’s a great song. It’s for the new album. You’ll love it.” JC said realizing that the title means so much more to him.
Kristina smiled at the sound of the song title. JC continued humming to her as they watched the fire. Kristina reached up and started to caress his ever-present bruise. JC winced at the touch but soon sighed in relief. It was still covering the right side of his face and it would be there for a long period of time. Justin looked up on the couch and saw Julie and Lance in deep conversation. He got up and walked over to them.
“Mind if I join in?” He asked. Julie looked up at him with disgust. Lance nudged her hand and pleaded with his eyes for her to be calm and giving.
“Yes, I suppose, Justin.” Julie said ever so carefully. Justin took the empty seat next to her.
“So what are you all talking about?” He asked.
“You actually.” Julie said harshly.
“Oh.” Justin said, thinking that it must have been something awful.
“We were debating about whether we should chop off all your hair now...or give you until the end of this week.” She said with an evil look in her eye.
“Oh no. You are not touching this.” He said covering his hair with his hands. Lance laughed.
“No. We aren’t going to cut it. We are just simply going to chain saw it all off.” He said laughing even harder. Everyone in the room turned to see what they were talking about and the first thing they saw was Justin protecting his hair.
“Again...should we ask?” Joey said.
“Julie and I are planning on cutting Justin’s hair... well butchering Justin’s hair.” He said.
“NO!” Kristina said running towards Justin.
“Thank you Kristina.” Justin said thinking she was defending him.
“Don’t butcher his hair. Be gentle, to tame it down and few feet...then weed-whack it off!” She said. Justin’s jaw dropped to the floor.
“KRISTINA!” He said, grabbing his heart too greater the effect. “No. My best friend...turns on me.”
Everyone had to laugh at his poor acting job. “Heh. That’ s my girl!” JC said extending his arms so she could slip back in them. She sat down with him and gave Justin a cute little smirk.
“Funny, real funny.” Justin said. Everyone returned to his or her own conversations. “Okay so you’re not talking about my hair. Then what were you talking about? Looked interesting from where I was sitting.”
“Oh, well, yeah I would have to say it was interesting. We were just talking about my...” Julie got quiet. Lance remembered what they were talking about and hushed also.
“About your what? Uh…Julie? We kind of can’t have a conversation without a topic. I need something I can relate to.” Justin said.
“No forget it.” Julie said remembering that Justin yelled at her. “You know what. Why are you talking to me? I thought you never wanted to talk to me again.” Her voice raised quite a bit. Again everyone turned his or her heads towards Justin and Julie.
“I...uh...” He began.
“That’s what I thought.” Julie said walking into the room she was given. “You’ll never change!” She slammed the door shut and wondered why she did that.
Justin looked at everyone and walked out front. He walked straight to the edge of the dock and sat down. Kristina followed him out there and sat with him wrapping the blanket she had brought out around the two.
“This seems very Dawson’s Creek-ish.” She said hearing a faint laugh from Justin. “I mean look at us. We’re in front of a lake and… no wait they have a creek, still it’s water. Two best friends, one has a problem, the other one is there to listen...all we need is a Pacey...well no that would be JC. A Jen, nope...we have Shelley. Andie...nope, that’s Julie. Aud’s the older sister...always forget her name. Chris would be her estranged husband. And Joey...well Joey’s...okay, no one at this moment. And Lance...oh what’s that other character’s name…Andie’s brother, he fits in right there.”
Justin was laughing a lot more this time. “I can’t believe you have that much time to think about something useless like that.”
“Useless? I think not!” Kristina said. “I just…”She felt his arm slip behind her back and being pulled in closer to Justin. It felt rather awkward but she didn’t do much of it.
“Just what?” Justin asked.
“Oh nothing. Forget it.” She said. They talked for a while about what they were going to do about his situation with Julie and soon walked back inside to join the others. The sleeping arrangements were already made and were soon met with disappointing faces.
“No! This is not happening.” Julie screamed. Luckily no one was near enough outside the cabin to hear her. “I am not bunking with Justin! Please someone switch with me.”
She looked around the room pleading. Kristina was not complaining since she was set up with JC. Shelley was more comfortable with Lance. Chris was not arguing about sharing a room with Chris. And Joey... well no one wanted to bunk with Joey cased closed. They all had one thing on their mind and that was to get these two to be civil with each other.
“Sorry, Julie. But no one’s willing to switch. You are going to have to bunk with Justin.” Audrey said following Chris into their room. Kristina walked into the kitchen to get ice for JC’s cheek. Everyone else headed to their rooms leaving Justin and Julie out in the living room. She looked at Justin who was already staring at her direction.
“Couch?” Justin said.
“Please.” Julie said.
“Okay.” He grabbed a blanket and a couple pillows and made himself a bed on the couch. Julie walked into her room and saw that there was only one bed, a rather large one too. She got into bed and slid under the covers. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, she got up and walked into the living room. She tapped Justin on his shoulder and to her surprise was still up. She motioned him to follow her in the room. He got the hint and made himself comfortable on the far side of the bed. They soon fell asleep knowing that they have reached a small compromise.
We’re getting there.
They both thought and drifted off to sleep.
To Be Continued…