“No that was to me dimwit, he was passing it to me,” Joey argued.
“Ummm ... actually I was trying to shoot the ball,” Lance mentioned.
JC and Chris couldn’t help but laugh at Lance and his team. “Yo, can we play some more ball,” JC said. “All this fighting isn’t going to get your team to win.”
Chris went over to get his water bottle when he saw a figure standing behind the tree. He walked over to see who it was. Kristina stepped into the light with a big smile on her face. “Hey Chris,” she said.
“Kristina??? What are you doing here?” a puzzled Chris asked. “Are you here by yourself??? Or is Aud with ya?”
“Whoa whoa whoa, too many questions!!!!” Kristina said. “Yes, Audrey’s here, we wanted to ....” Just then the other four ran up to Chris.
“Hey,” they all said.
“Hi guys,” Kristina said. “Well Chris as I was saying, we got home from Disney World at 7:15 or so, and we saw your note on the door. Well after we read it, we went inside Aud’s house. That’s where we saw all the flowers, balloons, and notes. We read the big card on the table and were literally in tears after reading it. We stared at each other for a couple seconds and it’s like we read each other’s mind. Next thing we know we’re going around town looking for you guys to thank you for everything.”
“Yup, she’s right,” Audrey said walking up to Krisitna and the rest of the guys, “We wanted to say thanks for just caring so much about us. I mean we’ve only known each other for a week, right? Yeah well, we couldn’t wait til after tomorrow so we left the house.”
The guys just stood there. Not a word came out after Kristina and Audrey were finished talking. JC broke the moment of silence speaking for all of them. “Kristina, Audrey, we do care, for the both of you. It’s a surprise to us too that we’ve all gotten so close in such a little time period, but I guess there is a reason for everything. We didn’t want to disturb you guys while at Disney World, so we didn’t call your cell anymore. We passed by your house with all the flowers and balloons and you weren’t home then so we got stood there for a while, thinking we’d come back in a little while, but we got an important page and so we had to think fast. Chris got the spare key and we scattered the things we brought and left little notes. We left at 6:30 and after we completed the important issue we had to do, we hit the park to play some ball instead of crashing at Justin’s mom’s house.”
“That’s the whole story, I guess you can say,” Justin said. “That’s nice of you two to come out here. Since you’re here, wanna play some ball?” Audrey hadn’t played basketball since high school. Kristina on the other hand ran and grabbed the ball from Justin. Justin started to chase after her. He underestimated her basketball talent and stopped where he was. “Go ahead, shoot,” Justin taunted.
“Ummm ... Justin you don’t want to say that to her,” Audrey said a little worried, not about Kristina, but for Justin’s sake.
“No, no, Audrey, stay quiet. I know what you’re getting at,” Lance said.
“Ok Justin, ya want me to shoot, I’ll shoot.” Kristina said.
She stood at the three point spot getting ready. Justin stood there with a cocky grin on his face. “Any day now Kris,” Justin said. “ While I’m still 18.” That had just made Kristina quieter. She eyed the hoop and let the ball fly. The ball went in with the greatest of ease.
“Swish, nothing but net,” Kristina said. “So how bout that game?”
Everyone but Justin was laughing. He walked over to Kristina and said. “Oh so now you’re the big B-ball player.”
“Nope, I just play for my school that’s all. Varsity I think that’s what they call that level.”
“Well good job,” Justin said and gave her a hug.
“Ummm ... gross, you’re all sweaty!” Kristina said throwing him a towel from the bench. “Here babe, use this or you’ll scare of all your little fan crazed lunatics.” They all sat on the benches for a while talking about everything. After abot ten minutes, they began playing again.
“Alrite, since Kris is the hot shot Varsity b-ball player, she and I will be on opposite teams,” Justin said sarcastically. “Let’s see, well let’s pick them .... Kris and I will be captains.”
“Ok sounds good,” Kristina said.
The rest of them stood in a line to be picked by the two. “Okay, I got Joey,” Justin said.
“JC,” Kristina said.
“Audrey.”
“Chris.”
“Ok then that leave us with Lance,” Justin said.
“So ok, three on four, fine with me,” Kristina said.
“Great, let’s get it on,” Joey said.
With that said, the game began. Throughout the game, the score was tied. Obviously because they each had good people on each team, Justin and Kristina. Towards the middle of the game, Lance called it quits. He sensed something happening between some of the others and wanted to observe from a far. Once he sat down at the bench at began watching the game, he saw the closeness of Chris and Audrey. Every time Audrey had the ball Chris would be the one covering her, vice versa. Lance looked onwards toward JC and Kristina. There was more than teamwork there, that’s for sure. Hugs galore with those two. It’s like they need more of each other to win. Ha, it’s working.... His train of thought left him when he saw something else happening between Kristina and Justin. Whoa whoa whoa, Justin isn’t ... nah he can’t be, cuz I swear JC is. Ummm ..... what is this madness???? Does the other one know??? Does Kris even know that two guys might be crushing on her? Justin’s maybe crushing more since they’re closer in age, but then again JC’s the one to wait til she gets older to. Then again would Kris be the one to break JC’s fear of loving again??? Ok I’m thinking ahead of myself. But look at them, Justin’s never been this worked up about a little basketball game. It’s just not a game to him, it’s .... I don’t know, something more? Well whatever it is, has got his attention and won’t leave. “Earth to Lance, Earth to Lance,” Audrey said. “The game’s over with, your team won.”
“What?? Oh sorry I was just thinking about something.”
“Ok, well we are all going to my place for some ice cream, if you’d stop thinking for a moment and get in a car, we can leave,” she said tiredly.
“Yeah, ok let’s go,” Lance said.
They all piled into their cars and made their way to Audrey’s apartment. “Aud, chick, that game was too much fun!” Kristina said. “Haha, we beat you guys, that just makes my day a whole lot better”
“I’m glad you had fun,” she said quietly.
“Aud, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, it’s 10:30 p.m., and the court hearing is getting nearer. I’m just a little scared that’s all,” Aud said. “Just don’t let that get to you anymore than it is to me, okay?”
“Yea Hsure,” Kristina said looking out the window.
Fifteen minutes later they arrived and went upstairs to her apartment. “Thanks for having us over this late,” Joey said.
“It’s no problem,” Audrey said trying to hold back all her emotions about tomorrow’s hearing.
Kristina on the other hand, wasn’t as strong as Audrey. As much as she loved being there, she needed out of the room. Just the thought that her life was about to change tomorrow was unbearable. Kristina got up from the couch and started for the door.
“Kristina, where ya going babe?” Audrey asked.
“Ummmm, I’m not sure really, I just need to think else where.” She said trying to hold back her forthcoming tears.
“Ok, don’t stay out too long.” Justin watched her walk into the hallway, he followed her to the door and saw that Kristina was going up to the roof. He decided to follow her in a little while.
“What do you think is wrong with Kris?” JC asked. “She was perfectly fine at the park and once we got here, she was too quiet.”
“I think I know why,” Audrey said. “I brought up the hearing in the car and I’m supposing she had blocked it out of her mind during the game. She’s not as strong as I am.”
“Wow, that must be tough for a sixteen year old, especially Kris.” Joey said, “By the way, has anyone seen Justin?” The five looked around but couldn’t find him. Justin had sneaked out when Audrey began speaking. He wanted to make sure Kristina was okay.
~*~ On the Roof ~*~
Kristina was sitting on a ledge thinking to herself about tomorrow. She had so many different emotions, both good and bad. Little did she know her thinking aloud was heard by Justin. “Tomorrow’s the court hearing. Geez, what happened to this past week?? I mean, ok if the judge favor’s Audrey, I’ll be living with her like I’ve always wanted. If the judge favors my foster parents, I live with them for the rest of my life out in Washington. I can’t move to Washington, that’s way over on the other side of the country, too far from Audrey, my friends, and ...... the guys. Audrey’s the mother I never had growing up. She’s always been there for me, through thick and thin. Being thrown from house to house, with the parents not caring one little bit, was hard for me. I could always turn to Audrey to give me the love my parents, any of them, never gave me or tried to give me. She the only living person I know loves me. I want that in my life and living with my foster parents would just ruin me. They’ll find something to use against me so they could get the money from the court to take care of me. I don’t want to leave my friends old and new. They are the greatest, the understand me and my background and respect me for me. I’m surprised JC, Justin, and the other guys care so much. I must be really lucky to have met them. Audrey too, they may not know it but they made a big impact on the relationship between the two of us. We’ve gotten a lot closer, all this believing the have about tomorrow’s made us act more and more like a family. I should be grateful to them to tell ya the truth.”
Justin saw the tears coming down Kristina’s face and stepped out from where he was. “Is this seat taken?” he asked. “It’s beautiful out here don’t ya think.”
“Justin, what are you doing here and how much did you hear?” she asked hoping he didn’t hear much.
“To tell you the truth, I heard everything. I followed you out here a couple seconds after you left. I wanted to make sure you were okay and by the looks of it, you’re not,” Justin said wrapping his jacket over her.
“Thanks, I’m okay now. I just need time to think,” Kristina said.
Justin didn’t believe her for one second. He took her chin in his hand and looked her in the eyes. “Look at me and TELL me nothing is wrong.” She could see the concern in his eyes and by the tone of his voice. She couldn’t hold it back anymore. She wrapped her arms around him and cried. They sat like that for ten minutes. Justin caressing her hair and telling her over and over that tomorrow would happen for the best. He noticed that she got kind of quiet, he looked down to find her sleeping peacefully on him. He carried her back to Audrey’s apartment.
~*~ Back at the apartment ~*~
“Where are they? It’s been 15 minutes,” a worried Audrey asked.
“I’m sure they are fine,” Chris said walking towards the window. There was a knock at the door. JC went to answer it. There was Justin holding Kristina.
“Hey man, you’re back what happened?” JC asked.
“I’ll explain in a minute. Aud, can you get her into bed?”
“Yeah come with me,” Audrey said directing Justin into Kristina’s room. He set her on her bed and went out of the room.
“So what happened?” Joey asked.
“Nothing really, she went up to the roof to think. I guess about tomorrow. I got up there just in time to hear everything. I saw that she was crying so I came out from where I was. She asked how much I heard and I told her everything. She said she was fine but I didn’t believe her.” Justin said seeing the concern now in the others, “I made her look at me straight in the eyes and tell me she was okay. She did but then started crying into my shirt. Well about ten minuets later or something, I wasn’t counting, I realized she got a little quiet. She had fallen asleep. So I carried her back here and that’s all that happened.”
“She’s really taking this hard, huh?” JC said.
“Yeah I guess. I told her that everything’s going to be okay. I don’t know if she heard me though,” Justin noted.
Audrey had heard the whole thing and was standing right outside Kristina’s door with a blank look on her face. Chris noticed her there and walked over to her. “You okay?” he asked. Audrey looked up at him and nodded. “We should get going. You two have a big day tomorrow. We’ll call you as soon as we find out it’s over, ok?” Chris said.
“Okay, thanks. That would be nice.” Audrey said.
She led the guys to the door. Before she shut the door she spoke up. “Hey guys, thanks for everything. I mean just being good friends and all. You’ve changed it all for us, Kris and I, the way we look at life. I don’t know how to exactly say this in words. I’m just very grateful to you guys,” Audrey said awaiting their response.
“Aud, we’re just glad to see you and Kristina happy. That’s all we’re going for. You’ve been great friends towards us so we too can be grateful to you,” JC said.
“Yeah c’mon. It’s not everyday we meet people who impact our lives like the two of you have. This is one of the best breaks we’ve had in a long time and I can speak for all of us when I say that’s we’re glad Chris crashed into your car,” Joey said.
Audrey had to laugh at Joey’s little comment as did the rest of the guys. “So don’t worry about it,” Lance said. “Kristina told JC and Justin about it, they told us, and so now we’re involved whether you like it or not. It’s just like Jack and Rose in Titanic ...”
“Yup, ‘You jump, I jump’ ...” Justin said being proud of himself.
“Thank you Justin. I was just about to say that,” Lance noted. “But he’s right so keep that in mind.”
“I will promise. The hearing’s at 10:00 so hopefully it will be over by noon.” she said.
“Ok then 12 noon it is. We’ll call you sometime then,” Chris said.
Audrey closed the door behind her and started for the table to clean up a bit before going to bed. As she was picking up bowls and napkins and such, she found Chris’ pager lying on the table. “He must have forgotten this. I’ll just give it to him tomorrow after the hearing,” she said aloud. She tidied up a little more then went to her room to get some sleep. After washing herself up she went straight to bed. A couple minutes later she heard a noise coming from the other room. She got up and went to see what it was. It was Chris’ pager. “Who could be paging him this late at nite?” she thought. Audrey went to pick up the pager and turn it off. She hit the wrong button and read the page, it read:
Goodnight Audrey – Chris
She smiled and brought the pager with her to her room. She sat on her bed and thought about the guys and their kindness. Just then another page came in, this one read:
I’ll see you in my dreams, sleep tight – Chris
Audrey sighed and went to sleep thinking about Chris. She had an overwhelming feeling in her. She drifted off slowly, smiling.
To Be Continued…