Julie stirred in her sleep. She opened her eyes and saw Justin staring at her. “Um…good morning.” She said as she sat up in bed. “Sleep well?”
“Yes, thank you. I had a wonderful nights sleep.” He said trying to start as much conversation as possible. It wasn’t working. She got up and went straight for the bathroom not saying another word to him. She reached the bathroom and sighed.
“Okay, so I am not being the easiest person to be around right now, Justin. We’ll be talking again once the week is over. I can’t let you leave without us being friends.” She said walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
Justin walked out of the room and put on a wife beater on the way out. He took a pair of his shoes and strapped them on and went outside for a jog. Julie came back and saw him leaving.
“Hey, mind if I go with?” She asked.
“Um…really? No one usually goes with, but yeah go ahead.” Justin said shocked.
“Okay let me get ready.” She went back into the room and changed into a pair of workout clothes and met Justin outside who was stretching out.
“Think you could keep up?’ He asked smiling.
“Try me.” Julie said starting off before Justin and hitting the trail.
“Hey…not fair!” Justin yelled catching up to her. Lance had walked into the living room and saw the two running together. He smiled in hope that the two would settle everything while out there. Shelley walked into the living room; Joey, Chris, and Audrey were right behind them. They all sat down and waited for Kristina and JC to get up.
“Where’s Justin and Julie? They haven’t killed each other have they?” Chris said.
“No, I just saw them go out for a run.” Lance said. Everyone nodded and just waited until Kristina and JC woke up to get breakfast ready. A half-hour passed and Justin and Julie came back from the little run, laughing.
“I take it both of you are okay?” Shelley asked. Justin and Julie looked at each other and didn’t say anything. They walked off into different rooms not saying anything to each other. “I guess not.” They came back and were all freshened up. JC and Kristina walked into the living room hand in hand. Everyone looked at them with confused looks on their faces.
“What’s wrong with this picture?” Audrey asked. She looked really worried with what she was seeing. Justin looked over to see what all the commotion was about and fought the urge to punch someone, namely someone named JC.
JC and Kristina looked at each other and their faces turned uncontrollably red.
“Um…well…” Kristina said unable to think of what to say.
“Yeah…uh…” JC said being just as speechless. JC walked out in his sweats and Kristina walked out of the room in her own sweats but with JC's shirt on her. Questions ran through everyone's minds.
“Kristina what is that on your sweats?” Audrey asked. She looked down and saw a bright orange stain on her white clothes.
“Oh!” She said remembering why she had JC’s shirt on. “We went into the kitchen to get a drink and the only thing I wanted was the Minute Maid soda so I got that. JC came in from the other side and scared me causing me to spill the drink on my shirt. He gave me his to go clean up but my bag was no where to be found so I slept in this.”
“NOTHING happened.” JC said walking into the living room. Kristina took off JC’s shirt to show everyone her stained T-shirt. Everyone burst into laughter and was soon hushed by the awkward stare Justin and Kristina were sharing. She put the shirt back on, without taking her eyes off of Justin.
So now we are having staring contests, Justin. What is it about you that I find so captivating?
Justin had his own thoughts running through his head.
I like that stained shirt...okay enough about that, I’m thinking like Julie. What’s happening between us, Kris? This isn’t right.
“Hello? Earth to Justin…Kristina?” Lance said waving his hand in front of Justin’s face.
“Uh…sorry.” He said coming back to reality. Kristina did the same and walked over to sit with JC.
“Breakfast is in the kitchen if anyone wants it.” Chris said.
“But?” Shelley said. “We all just woke up.” The girls were all confused.
“That’s the magic of staying here.” JC said. “We never know who cooks the food. It’s just always there at the same time each day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
“I see.” Kristina said nodding her head.
“What’s the smirk for?” Justin asked.
“Nothing. No smirk at all.”
“Right Kris.” Julie said sensing the sarcasm in her voice. They all went into the kitchen to find it packed with food. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, anything and everything was cooked for the nine of them.
“Oh...food, wonderful, yummy food.” Kristina said grabbing a plate and digging in. Everyone laughed and got themselves their food. They took the food and went outside to eat by the dock. “Wow it’s nice out. I mean it’s the middle of winter and we don’t have jackets on. I like it here. I could spend the whole week here with just you, JC and have the time of my life.” Kristina said mesmerized at her surroundings.
“I feel the same way.” JC said looking at Kristina. “We’ll have this whole time to ourselves, just you and me.” Kristina smiled and kissed his bruised cheek lightly. Justin caught onto his comment and almost choked. Kristina saw this and started laughing. Julie walked over and smacked his back causing Justin to swallow his food.
“Ouch!” Justin yelled.
“KRISTINA! I can’t believe you just laughed out loud.” Audrey said sternly. “That was rather rude.”
“I’m sorry, mom. I just found that funny that’s all. Something I would do.” Kristina said leaning back on JC. JC had finished his plate of food and gladly wrapped his arms around her. “Hey now, I’m trying to eat.”
“Yes, but I like being near you.” He said. Kristina got romantically hopeless and gave in to JC.
“You know. This isn’t going to work out between us.” She said. Justin looked up and almost smiled. “You are too good to me. I wouldn’t be able to get use to it.”
“Well you better, because I’m not letting you go.” He said. Kristina sighed as she ate more of her breakfast. Justin got a tad angrier but cooled off a bit so as not to ruin the moment for everyone. Breakfast ended an hour later. The guys went inside to put the dishes in the dishwasher. The girls went upstairs and soon came down jetting through the door. The guys came back from the kitchen to see the last of the girls running out. They followed them outside and saw them all jump into the lake, laughing and splashing each other. The guys headed upstairs and got on their swim trunks and met with the girls, each taking one on their shoulders. JC sat out because he was having a hard time trying to fight off the pain from his bruise. Audrey was on Chris’ shoulder, Julie on Lance’s, Shelley on Joey’s and Kristina sat on Justin’s shoulders. They all decided to play a game of chicken. Julie, being the uncoordinated one, was first to go into the water. Audrey was next to go. It was left with Shelley and Kristina. For some reason, those two wouldn’t give up, as if they were really arguing with each other through the game. But it was all in fun. The guys underneath them were having a hard enough time keeping them up. Shelley finally gave in, leaving Kristina as the winner. Kristina fell towards the water and hugged an exhausted Justin.
“We won!” Kristina said gleefully.
“Yeah, but now my shoulders are killing me.” He said rubbing them.
“Aw…here.” She led him up to the dock and had him lay down on the blankets lying there. She started to massage his shoulders as everyone else messed around in the water.
JC sat closely to them watching the with hawk eyes.
Why do I get the strange feeling that Justin hasn’t yet given up on Kristina. I mean, when does his shoulders ever hurt that easily? I can’t be...no I’m not even...Why should I be... jealous of Justin? No I’m not.
Kristina caught JC staring over at their direction and smiled at him.
I can’t wait until next month. Just think, only about a few more weeks and I’ll be 18. JC and I can finally be together. But why do I feel this way about Justin? Is it just sudden attraction? It can’t be. But this is the way I felt when I first became a better friend with JC. I can’t be having these feelings, these actions, towards Justin. It’s not right. I’m falling in love with JC every moment I’m with him. Everytime I’m with him, I re-live the first time we kissed. Everything about him makes me love him even more. He wrote a song for me. For me, Kristina. What kind of guy does that after four months of knowing you? There is no kind of guy like that.... JC comes by himself, no one’s like him. I can’t do this to him...
Justin was all smiles. He loved every minute of the massage. His thoughts were racing.
Is it because we are here at the lake? I mean so many “magical” things happen while we are here. Can this be one of them? Am I finally going to get Kristina? She makes me feel so complete. I know I can make her happier than JC would. I just know it. When we have our moments it replays in my mind all the time. I can’t think of someone who makes me feel like this. Whenever I’m with her I feel re-born, that I’m a new person and it’s all because of her. What I wouldn’t do for her, to just be able to caress her hair, and kiss her. To tell her I love her...
His thoughts were interrupted when JC picked up Kristina and threw her down to the lake with him. Justin quickly got up angrily and jumped into the lake after them. Kristina resurfaced and looked for JC.
“JOSHUA SCOTT CHASEZ! When I find you, you are SO dead!” She yelled out into the open.
Everyone gasped and laughed even harder. JC finally resurfaced and was met with a very angry Kristina.
“Hi babe.” He said treading water.
“Hello, love.” Kristina said sweetly. “I was looking for you…”
“Oh, were you?” He played along.
“Yes. I wanted to give you something.” She said with an evil smirk.
“Um...Kris, what’s the smirk for?” JC said, starting to swim backwards.
“Like I said...I don’t have a smirk.” She swam faster and took him down underwater. Everyone watched in shock as Kristina playfully beat him up. They two finally resurfaced and were out of breath.
“Thank you.” She whispered.
“For what?” JC asked confused.
“For taking me away from Justin. I was just getting this weird vibe and wasn’t liking it too much.”
“Oh.” JC said realizing that he has nothing to worry about. “Anytime. You’re my girl, don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.”
“My girl. I like the sound of that.” Kristina said kissing his forehead. They swam back to the others and they all just played around until a little after noon. They all got up and wrapped towels around themselves. The guys whistled as the four girls made their way to the cabin. They all blushed and ran into their rooms. The guys soon followed and hit the showers before the girls could. Justin lucked out on the four showers and waited in the living room until there was one available. Kristina walked in with her things ready to take her shower and sat down besides Justin.
“Have fun so far?” He asked.
“Oh, I’m having a blast. It’s great. I love it here. Not like you couldn’t tell already.” She said followed by a long sigh.
“I’m glad.” He said. He leaned down and placed his head on her lap. “I wonder what Chris has planned for us tomorrow? Let alone later tonight.”
“Well I don’t know. He knows he going to show us a good time and I could care less what he has plans just as long as it’s fun.” Kristina replied running her finger along the side of his face.
“Kris…”
“Yeah J?”
“I wanted to ask you something.” He said. He wanted to tell her how he felt about her but he wanted it to be special.
“Shoot. Ask away.”
“I wanted to know if anything between…” JC walked into the living room just at that moment. He had just gotten out of the shower and was dripping water everywhere. He had a towel around his waist, his hand keeping it from slipping, and another towel on his head.
“Justin, you can take the shower now. Better hurry before one of the girls gets it.” He said.
Kristina looked up and saw JC. Her jaw dropped quickly. She recovered herself and looked down at Justin, who was already looking up at her. A look of disappointment covered his face as he got up and went for a bathroom.
“If what, Justin?” Kristina asked him as he walked away.
“Nothing. I’ll try some other time.” He said walking into a bathroom. JC walked back towards the hallway and stopped when Kristina called for him.
“This isn’t too bright what you’re doing here.” She yelled towards the hallway.
“Doing what?” He said knowing exactly what was on her mind.
“This.” She said moving her hand in every direction trying to point out the towel. “Walking around in a towel...you look...” She stopped knowing what was next.
“I look what?” He asked smiling.
“Too good for words.” She smiled back. He walked away with a big cheesy grin on his face.
Oh my god. That boy is...wow! She thought. She cleared her head of any thoughts that came to mind when he walked in. Okay. I...am...wow that was nice.
Audrey came back into the living room and sat with Kristina. “Looks like you just saw a naked guy run by.” She joked.
Kristina turned her head quickly to face Audrey. “Oh you know it.”
“What? You did not just see a naked man!” She said, getting worried.
“Almost. If you count walking out of the shower with just a towel on.” Kristina said smiling.
“Who?”
“JC.” Was all she said, smiling. Audrey looked at her and threw a pillow at Kristina.
“Miss Ward, I do believe you have a dirty mind.”
“It’s not me. It’s all Julie’s fault.” She joked.
“What’s all my fault?” Julie asked as she walked in and sat on the floor facing them.
“It’s your fault my baby has such an awful mind.” Audrey said acting motherly.
“Yep, you know it!” Julie said giving Kristina a high-five. Shelley walked in and joined the three.
“What’s all the commotion?”
“Oh, I was giving Julie credit of giving my Kristina such a dirty mind.” Audrey explained.
“Alright Julie!” Shelley said.
“I know, I know, I’m good.” Julie said egotistically with a smirk.
“What led to this?” Shelley asked.
“I walked in here to give Kris some company. By the expression on her face it looked like someone had just streaked through the living room. I asked her about it and she said that it almost happened. JC walked in here with just a towel wrapped around his waist.”
Julie and Shelley’s jaws dropped. “What I would do to see that!” Shelley said.
“But you did. You all did.” Audrey said. “We all did just go swimming.”
“Yeah, but the situation I was in just before he came in was different and with steam coming from the bathroom, it just made the whole scenario...just wow.”
“Yeah. I would have to agree.” Julie said. “Even if you are talking about the king of twigs.”
“Hey!” Kristina said taking offense to that. “No, excuse me, did you not pay attention to his body. Oh my god. Julie...” She picked up a pillow and threw it at Julie. Julie grabbed it and threw it back. “Oh it’s on now.”
She grabbed another pillow and started attacking Julie. Julie ducked and Kristina hit Shelley instead. Shelley then grabbed her own pillow and started going for Julie and Kristina. Audrey watched as they fought and slowly backed away. Kristina saw this and told Julie and Shelley to go after her. The three ran after Audrey and starting hitting her with the pillows.
“STOP!” Audrey yelled. The girls obeyed and put the pillows down to their sides. Audrey walked calmly to the other side of the couch and grabbed the biggest pillow she could find and ran towards the three. They were yelling and laughing as the feathers from the pillows were coming out and flying everywhere.
“What in the world?” JC said. He walked out into the hallway and met up with Lance and Joey who had just finished their showers. The three walked out into the living room and saw the four attacking each other with the pillows. Joey quickly ran back to his room and grabbed his video camera. He started recording just as Chris came out of his room.
“What’s everyone standing here for?” He asked. Lance pointed to the living room and Chris smiled as he saw the girls acting like children. Justin came out ten minutes later and found the guys just standing around, still. Joey was still recording the whole fiasco.
He looked off into the living room and started laughing to himself. “Those girls are something, aren’t they?” He asked the guys.
“Yeah, they are a handful. But every moment with them is a memory we are all going to keep for a long time. You have to love those girls.” Lance said.
Everyone agreed as they continued to watch the guys. Julie looked up through the millions of feathers flying around and saw the guys standing there. She motioned with her head to look over towards the hallway and each girl did so slowly and smoothly. They inched their way towards the guys and started running towards them. Joey had to drop his camera to run from the girls. They finally caught up to the guys and pinned them to the floor hitting them with the pillows. The guys finally gave in and sat up to catch their breaths.
“You are all just psycho.” JC said.
The girls looked at each other and smiled. “We take that as a compliment.” Kristina said. “Psycho’s my middle name.”
“Actually it’s Rebecca.” Julie said teasingly.
“Shut up!” Kristina said throwing the pillow with all the strength she had left. Audrey got up and went for a bathroom. Each girl eventually did the same, leaving the guys to clean up their mess.
“Okay, whatever I said about the girls, I take back. They make too much of a mess.” Lance said. The other guys agreed and started to sweep up the fallen feathers. About forty-five minutes later, the girls were all finished and ready for whatever Chris had planned for the rest of that day. They all met up on the couch again, the guys were exhausted as were the girls. Chris offered to have everyone take a short nap so that they would be able to stay up later that night for what he wanted to do.
“I will never say no to that!” JC exclaimed. Kristina agreed and followed him into their room. Audrey and Chris soon followed. Joey picked up Shelley from the couch; she had beaten everyone and fell asleep on the couch. Justin and Julie waited a while and just sat in the living room in silence.
“Um...How about you? Aren’t you going to take that nap?” Julie said. “It might relax your hair.” She said smiling.
Justin caught on to her little joke. “Hah, very funny. No, actually I’m not as tired as I should be. I’ll be staying in here.”
Julie got up to walk to her room. She stopped in the hallway and turned back towards the living room. “You know what? As much as I love sleep, I’d rather keep you company.”
“Thanks. That’s nice of you.” He said scooting over so she could sit with him. They sat there, not saying a word to each other. “So...”
“Yeah.” She said. She looked around the room and saw Joey’s video camera lying on the floor. She walked over and picked it up, placing it by the television. She set it up so they could watch some of the footage on the tape. She put it on rewind and grabbed the remote and sat back down with Justin.
“You shouldn’t be doing that. Joey wouldn’t like that.” Justin teased.
“Oh hush, just sit there and let’s just watch the video, okay.”
“Yes ma’am.” Justin said saluting Julie. They sat as the tape started to play. The first part of the tape was from the Christmas party the nine of them had before leaving for Hawaii. They didn’t realize that Joey was rolling the video camera. They sat and watched how much they goofed around and how they were all just at peace with one another. Julie looked over and saw the sparkle in Justin’s eyes as he watched the movie. Justin saw her looking at him and turned his head. Julie immediately turned to face the t.v. Just then, the tape switched to footage of the guys in Hawaii. Julie smiled at Lance’s dumb antics. She laughed uncontrollably when the camera got a shot of Lance and Joey trying to pick up girls. Justin laughed along side with Julie and was laughing so hard he fell over and his head landed on Julie’s lap. Julie looked down and smiled. She put her hand on his shoulder and continued watching the tape. A few minutes later Julie looked down to see Justin sleeping peacefully. He woke up seconds later.
“What did I miss?” He asked.
“Nothing, nothing at all. You only fell asleep for a few minutes.” She said laughing at his cute self.
“Oh.” He said with a sigh of relief. It was good to hear her laugh at something he did or say. “I’m going to say this, so please just listen.” He sat up.
“Okay.” She stopped the tape and turned to face him.
“I don’t know where we stand, but I do know that this has to end. I know I messed up and I apologize for it... I just...”
Julie hushed him and gave him a hug. “Justin, I forgive you. I have for a while. I just didn’t have it in me to tell you. So I covered it up. It isn’t fun when I can’t make fun of you and not mean it. Not that I meant anything I said before. Friends?” She said extending her hand.
“Friends.” He said taking her hand and giving it a friendly shake. He pulled her in for another hug.
“It’s so nice to do that again, Fro boy.” She said.
“Yes, and it’s so great to hear you call me that...again.” He said lying her head back in her lap. Julie turned on the television sighed.
“Know what I just realized?”
“Hmm?” He said.
“I can’t yell at you anymore. Man! Now I have to have a real reason to yell at you. Ugh! Thanks Justin!” She complained.
“Anytime, Jewels, anytime.” Justin joked. He looked at his watch to find that is was almost 3:00 in the afternoon. “Wow, we’ve been here for a while. Should we wake them?”
“No, let them rest. We should keep this time to ourselves to catch up on the last couple of days.”
“Okay...hold on.” He said getting up and walking towards the kitchen. He came back into the living room with sodas and chips. “Right, let’s get talking.”
The two shared so much conversation about the past week. They realized how important they are in each other’s lives. Julie felt comfortable to tell Justin about her decision to go to college.
“You’re leaving?”
“Not until the next mid-session, which in next January. You’re not getting rid of my that easily.” She joked.
“Darn.” He said playing along. “Well whatever you decide about it I’m behind you 100%, you know that.”
“Yes, I know now. Please don’t say anything to the girls just yet. I don’t even know if I’ve been accepted to any of the colleges I’ve applied for, so keep it on the down low.” She said, she lay her head down on Justin’s lap
“Will do.” They stayed there and listened to the radio they had turned on in place of the television. Justin noticed Julie had gotten quiet. He looked at his watch again at it was now 5:30. He leaned down and saw Julie asleep. “You must have been asleep for a while.” He said to her. He kissed her forehead and laid his head back on the cushion. He soon fell into a deep slumber.
To Be Continued…