“Hello.”
“May I speak to Sophie?”
“This is her.”
“Hey, Sophie. It’s Chris.”
“Who?” I was still half-asleep.
“Chris Kirkpatrick.”
“Oh hi. Sorry, I’m still half-asleep.”
“It’s ok. Sorry to wake you up, I just need to talk to you.”
“Ok. Shoot. I’m awake now.”
“What happened that night at the concert? You left really early and Brooke told me you were upset about something but she wouldn’t tell me what.”
“Chris, just forget about it. I was tired, I just wanted to get home.”
“Sophie, I think you’re a great girl and I want to be your friend but you have to trust me. I’m not going to tell anyone. I’ve just been worried about you and this is the first chance I’ve had to call you.”
“Where did you get my phone number anyway?”
“I don’t reveal my sources. Now tell me what happened.”
“Fine. Justin made me go talk to JC. Then him and Brooke left me alone with JC. We were talking and everything was going fine when he said it.”
“Said what?”
“He said ‘Sophie, I want you to know you’re a great girl but nothing will ever happen between us.’ That’s what he said. Chris, all I wanted was to be his friend. I never expected anything more.” I was just about in tears again.
“Sophie, I’m sorry he said that. I don’t know why he said it but I’m sorry and you can bet I’m going to ask him why he hurt you like this.”
“Chris, no. Just leave it alone. It will only make things worse if you talk to him.”
“Sophie you deserve to know why he said that.”
“Chris, I think I’d rather not know. Now promise me you won’t say anything to him.” There was a long silence. “Chris please!”
“Ok, I won’t say anything.”
“Promise me.”
“Ok. I promise you. I won’t say anything to JC.”
“Thanks. And thanks for being a great friend.”
“You’re welcome. Always know I will be here for you if you need me.”
“Thanks Chris. Same here.”
“Thanks.” We chatted for about an hour when I heard someone yelling in the background.
“Chris would you please get off the phone. We’re late.” It was JC. I would know that voice anywhere.
“Well sounds like you have to go. Hope I didn’t get you into any trouble.”
“No you didn’t. He’s just been in a really bad mood for about a week now. He needs to sleep more I think.” We both started laughing. I could hear JC yelling some more. “Well I gotta go. I’ll call ya later ok.”
“Ok. Bye. And thanks again.”
“You’re welcome. Bye.” I hung up and went back to sleep.
Every couple days of one of the guys would call and talk for as long as they could. I went for week without hearing from one of them, when one day I was home alone again and there was a knock at the door. I was shocked when I opened the door to find Chris there.
“What are you doing here?”
“We were close so I decided to come see you. Now give me a hug.” I did what I was told.
“It’s good to see you. Come in.” I moved to the side so he could come in. “So did you come alone?”
“Yeah. Justin wanted to come but I told him it would be too suspicious if both of us were gone. Plus I told him I would bring you back with me.”
“Don’t tell me you snuck out.”
“You could say that. We can’t go anywhere without JC knowing and he’s always in a bad mood anymore and I didn’t want to deal with that so I just left.”
I didn’t want to talk about JC so I changed the subject. “What is this about me coming back with you?”
“Well we are going to be staying in Allentown for a week and I was wondering if you would come up and stay in the hotel with us. I want to get to know you better and most the other guys do to.”
“Chris, I don’t know about that. I don’t know if my Mom will let me, and I know one guy that doesn’t want to get to know me better and I’m not sure I want to get to know him either.”
“We’ll keep you away from him. I promise. It would me so much to the other guys and me. Please!”
“Ok. Let me call my Mom and ask.” To my surprise she said yes right away. I got packed and we left.
“Chris, this is crazy.”
“It’ll be fun. I promise.”
“It’s not that. It’s just that I don’t want to have to avoid JC. I actually want to be friends with him. But after what he assumed about me I don’t think that will be possible.”
“Maybe he’ll come to his senses.”
“Does he know I’m going to be staying with you guys?”
“Nope.”
“Well this should be interesting.” We made small talk all the way back to the hotel.
As we parked the car in the hotel parking lot I started to get nervous. “Chris, this was a mistake. I can’t do this. I can’t see him after what he said to me.” I started crying.
Chris hugged me. “Sophie, you can do this. Just hold your head high and ignore him. Everything will work out you’ll see.”
I guess Justin saw us pull in because just then he came running out of the hotel. He saw me crying and said, “What’s wrong?” Chris just gave him a look. “Oh, that.”
“What? You know?” I asked shocked.
“Yeah, Chris told me.”
“Chris, you promised you wouldn’t tell.”
“I promised I wouldn’t tell JC not the other guys. Don’t worry no one has or will say anything to him.”
“Sophie, everything will be ok. Just ignore him.”
“Why is everyone telling me that.”
“Because that’s what we all do when he gets into his moods,” Justin said. We all started laughing.
“Well let’s get this over with,” I said summoning up all my courage. We walked into the hotel and towards the guys’ suite. I was told I would have one of the rooms to myself. “I hope I’m not putting any inconvenience on you guys.”
“Not at all. We’re happy you’re here,” Chris said. We walked into the suite. Lance and Joey were playing a video game and JC was not in the room. “Guys look whose here.” Both guys looked up. Then they both jumped up and hugged me.
“Gosh, I didn’t know I made such a lasting impression.”
“You did,” Lance said.
“It’s great to see you again,” Joey said.
“Well it’s great to see all you guys again too.” Just then JC walked into the room. God, he’s even cuter than the last time I saw him. Again I summoned up my courage and said, “Hi, JC.” Justin and Chris gave me shocked stares.
JC stood staring at me for a second then mumbled, “Hi.”
“What happened to ignoring him?” Chris whispered to me.
“Well I didn’t want to be rude the first day here,” I whispered back. We both started laughing.
“Hey, what’s so funny over there?” Justin asked. He hated being left out.
“Nothing,” me and Chris said together.
“What are we going to do now?” Joey asked.
“Well if someone will point me to my room, I’m going to take a nap. It’s been a pretty long morning.”
Chris showed me to my room and said, “Rest up because we’re going out and partying tonight.” I just smiled at him and laid down on the bed.
After about 30 minutes I guess the guys thought I was asleep because I heard them talking about me. “What is she doing here?” JC asked.
“She’s a friend of mine and she’s staying with me for the week. You got a problem with that?” Chris said.
“She’s a friend of mine too,” Justin said.
“And of mine,” Lance said.
“Mine too,” Joey said.
“Looks like she’s a friend of everyone here but me,” JC said.
I heard Chris mumble something but I couldn’t make it out. “What was that?” JC asked.
“Why would you expect her to be your friend after what you did to her?” Chris yelled.
“Chris, quiet you’ll wake her up,” I heard Justin say. I heard footsteps coming towards my door so I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. I heard the door open and shut. Then I heard Justin say, “She’s still asleep.”
“What do you mean what I did to her? I didn’t do anything to her.” JC said. I snorted. How could he think he didn’t do anything to me? He hurt me. His words hurt.
“Come on JC. We all know what you said to her. You had no right to say that. And how could you think that what you said wouldn’t hurt her. Of course it hurt her. How would you feel if someone said that to you?” Justin asked.
“How do you guys know about that?” JC asked.
“She told me. I am her friend.” Chris said.
“And Chris told the rest of us. JC that was a jerky think to say,” Lance said.
“Why? I let her know how things were going to be before she started getting ideas in her head. Justin, you saw her room, and you’re the one that said she had a crush on me in the first place.”
“I was kidding. I didn’t actually think she liked you. God, JC, talk about being full of yourself.”
“If you really know, all she wanted was to be your friend. Now you’ve gone and ruined that chance. And believe me, she is a great person and you’re an idiot to hurt her like that,” Chris said. Then I heard a door open and shut so I guess he walked out of the room.
I decided I didn’t want to hear anymore of this so I got up and walked out into the living area of the suite. I looked at all the guys then I grabbed my purse and walked out of the suite and the hotel. I had to think and get out of there. I walked down to the beach I had seen when we were going to the hotel. It was a beautiful beach and it wasn’t very crowded so I thought it would be a perfect place to think. I sat down on the sand and looked out over the ocean.
I had been sitting there thinking for two hours. I decided it was probably time to go back before anyone got worried. I still hadn’t figured anything out, but I had to go back. When I got to the door of the suite, I heard Justin trying to calm Chris down. “Chris, I’m sure she’s fine. She probably heard us talking and had to go think. She’ll be back soon. I’m sure of it.”
“Justin, I’m worried. I promised her everything would be ok, and now it’s not. I have to go look for her.” Suddenly the door jerked open and there stood Chris. He hugged me and said, “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick.”
“Thanks for the concern, Chris, but you sound like my mother,” I said laughing.
“Well I guess I do have some feminine qualities,” he said making everyone laugh. I noticed JC wasn’t in the room.
“Guys, where is JC? I need to talk to him?” No one said anything. “If I’m going to have any fun this week I need to get this resolved now.”
“Ok. I’ll tell you as long as you promise to forget about it and have fun after you talk to him,” Chris said.
“I promise. Now tell me.”
“He’s in his room. Over there,” he said pointing.
“Thanks. I’ll be out in a little bit. And please don’t eavesdrop.”
“We won’t, don’t worry,” Justin said.
I knocked lightly on the door. “Come in,” JC said. I walked in and he looked up. “What do you want?” he asked rudely.
“Well I think we need to talk.”
“About what?”
“About what happened and what was said that night.”
“Everything I said and did still stands as how I feel today.”
“Ok. Fine. If you want to be a jerk, I’ll just take the guys advice and just ignore you.”
JC looked at me sharply. “What? You’re going to ignore me? You can’t ignore me for a whole week.”
“Well I can tell you want absolutely nothing to do with me and I don’t go were I’m not wanted. And just watch me.” With that I walked out. My knees were weak and I fell to the floor as soon as I got the door shut. Chris came running over and picked me up. He put me on the couch.
“What’s wrong? What did he say? What did you say?” Chris asked concerned.
“I told him off. He was being a jerk so I told him I was going to take your advice and ignore him. That seemed to piss him off. He said I couldn’t ignore him for a week. I told him to watch me. God, it feels so good to stand up to him. I didn’t think I was going to be able to but I did. I am so proud of myself.”
“You go girl! We’re all proud of you too,” Joey said.
“So are we going to go out or what?” I asked.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Joey said.
“Let me tell, JC, then we’ll go,” Lance said. Lance walked into his room. We could all hear their conversation. “JC, we’re going to go out, probably to a club or something. We’ll be back late don’t wait up.”
“Well can I go with you are am I not invited?”
“Well we’re going out in Sophie’s honor so it would probably be best if you didn’t go.” I couldn’t believe Lance said that.
“Well I’d like to go so I’m going to go.”
“Whatever man.” A minute later out walked Lance with JC following close behind.
We went to a club. Joey left the group immediately, looking for a girl. Chris and I started dancing. Justin, Lance, and JC went to find a table.
“I’m sorry about what happened this afternoon. I know you heard what we were saying while you were in your room. JC is being a big jerk and none of use can quite figure out why. But I mean every word I said.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it, Chris. You’re a great guy and a great friend. I want to thank you for being there for and defending me. I also want you to know if you ever need anyone to talk to or stand behind you I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, Sophie. I appreciate it.” We continued talking until the song was over. I had felt eyes on me the whole time I was dancing with Chris. I turned and looked at the table where the guys were sitting and I saw two pairs of eyes on me. Both Justin and JC had been looking at me. “Let’s head back to the table,” Chris said leading me through the dancers. I sat down next to Justin. I smiled at him and Lance and ignored JC.
Then “My Angel” by Monica came on and Justin asked, “Sophie may I have this dance?”
“Sure.” We got up and walked out to the middle of the dance floor. He put one of his hands on the small of my back and took one of my hands in his other hand. I put my other hand on his shoulder. We didn’t talk; we just stared into each other’s eyes. I could feel this electricity between us. It was amazing. In the middle of the song I took my hand out of his and put both my arms around his neck and laid my head on his shoulder. I felt his arms slip around my waist and pull me close. I was in heaven. The song ended too quickly and we hand to part. We stood there looking into each other’s eyes.
Finally Justin said, “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“Yeah,” I said my voice barley above a whisper. He led me out of the club to the alley behind the club. He took both my hands in his and caressed them with his thumbs. We looked into each other’s eyes for what seemed like forever. Finally I pulled my eyes away and asked, “What did you want to talk about?”
“Us,” he said. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but I feel something between us and I think you can feel it to.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I defiantly feel something between us.”
“Then I think we need to do something about it.”
“What do you want to do?”
“This,” he said. He let go of my hands and cupped my face with his hands. He leaned closer and closer to me until our lips were touching. I put my hands around his waist and pulled him close to me. He caressed my check with his hand. Finally we pulled our lips apart. He put his arms around my waist.
“That was wonderful,” I said.
“I was thinking the same thing.” We kissed again. We continued kissing until we heard someone clear their throat. We both looked up. It was Lance.
“We were wondering where you guys were,” he said.
“We’ll be in in a minute,” Justin said. With that Lance left.
Justin just stood staring at me. “Shouldn’t we be going back?” I asked.
“Yeah probably. I was just realizing I could stand here and stare at you all night.”
“Well that would make me uncomfortable so why don’t we go back into the club.” Justin let go of my waist and grabbed my hand. We walked back into the club. The only people who were at the table were Chris and JC.
When we sat down Chris said, “Justin, can we talk?”
“Yeah sure.” He looked at me. I gave begged him with my eyes not to leave me alone here with JC. “I’ll be right back,” he said. Him and Chris left and I was alone with JC.
“You’re doing a pretty good job ignoring me,” JC said. I didn’t say anything. “Ok, can we call a truce?” When I didn’t say anything he started to get mad. “Will you please talk to me!”
Just then Lance walked up to the table. “Lance will you dance with me please?” I said.
“Sure.”
“And to you,” I said to JC. “The answer to you’re question is no.” Then I walked off with Lance.
“What was that all about?” Lance asked.
“Oh, nothing. JC asked me if we could call a truce and if I would talk to him. I told him no.”
“I said it before and I’ll say it again, you go girl.”
I started laughing. “Thanks Lance. I’m starting to think I should lighten up on him at least a little bit. I feel kinda bad.”
“Well do what ever you want to, but if I was you I would make him sweat it out and apologize first. But that’s only my opinion.”
“Well thanks. That sounds like a good idea. It will probably never happen because he’s too stubborn to apologize but I think it’s what I’ll do.”
“Glad I could help.”
“Well thanks.”
“You’re welcome."
"I know you want to ask so I’m just going to say it. Yes there is something going on between me and Justin.”
“I kinda figured that after what I saw in the ally.”
“I don’t know how to explain it. There’s just this connection between us.”
“Well I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.” When the song ended we went back to the table. Justin and Chris were there but JC was gone.
“Where’d JC go,” I asked.
“He left. He seemed really pissed off,” Chris said.
I looked at Lance and smiled. “I guess I pissed him off.”
“What? What happened?” Chris asked concerned.
“Well after you guys left he said I was doing a good job ignoring him. Then he asked if we could call a truce and then when I didn’t answer he yelled at me to talk to him. Then I went off and danced with Lance and told him the answer to his question was no.”
“You go girl!” Chris said.
“Well I’m waiting for an apology. I know I may be waiting for a long time, but I’m not talking to him till I get one. Hey can we go? I’m getting tired.”
“Sure, let’s find Joey and then we’ll go,” Justin said taking her hand. Chris stared at them holding hands. We found Joey and headed back to the hotel. When we got there we found JC asleep on the couch, a notebook and pen in his lap. Justin picked up the notebook and read it.
“I think this is for you,” he said and handed to me.
Dear Sophie,
I want to tell you some things but I’m to chicken to do this to your face so I’m just going to write it in this letter. I’m sorry for what I said. I know I was being egotistical and a really big jerk. I guess what Justin said to me about your room and you having a crush on me really got to me. You’re a great girl and I know I’m an idiot for messing up any chance we have to be friends. I know you probably can’t but I was wondering if you could find it anywhere in your heart to forgive me.
Hopefully your friend,
JC
“What does it say?” Chris asked.
“It’s an apology,” I said staring at it. I grabbed the pen and took the notebook and pen to the table and started writing.
Dear JC,
That was a sweet letter. And yes I forgive you. I’ve been ready to forgive you for a while now; you were just too stubborn to apologize. Yes we can be friends.
Your friend,
Sophie
Then I took the notebook and pen and laid it back on his lap.
“What did you write?” Chris asked.
“Just know that we’ll be friends in the morning when he reads this.”
“That’s good. I’m glad you he came to his senses."
“Well I’m going to bed,” Chris said.
“Me too,” Joey said. They walked to their room and shut the door.
“Well I’m going to leave you two alone,” Lance said. I mouthed “thanks” to him.
“I guess that leaves us,” Justin said. I put my finger over his lips as JC stirred on the couch. I pointed to my bedroom door, took his hand and led him there. I closed the door once we were both in. “Are you sure you want me in here?”
“Yes. I trust you and plus we need some private time.” Justin smiled. He walked up to me and put his arms around my waist and just stared at me. “There you go just staring at me again.”
“I’m sorry. You’re just so beautiful I can’t help it.” I smiled and ran my hand through his curly hair. He let out a small groan.
“You like that huh?” He nodded his head. “Well see how you like this.” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him softly at first. Then I opened my mouth inviting his tongue in. I moaned with pleasure when he did. Finally I pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” Justin asked concerned.
“As much as I love this I’m so tired and we have a long day tomorrow.”
Justin groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
“Why don’t you sleep in here with me tonight. That way no one has to sleep on the floor or couch.” Justin just looked at me. “I trust you. You shouldn’t worry so much. When a girl asks you to sleep with her you shouldn’t turn her down,” I said joking.
“Believe me I wasn’t planning on it. Just let me go change into my pajamas.”
“Ok, but hurry back.”
“I will.” He kissed me before he left. I changed into my pajamas, a bra strap tee and taz boxers. About 5 minutes later Justin came back in his pajamas, a wife beater and boxers. I just stared at him. “Well don’t I feel like a piece of meat.”
I went up and hugged him. “Sorry, it’s just that you look so damn good. I could just taste ya,” I said laughing. Justin laughed then leaned down and kissed me sweetly. I ran my fingers through his curly blonde hair. I heard him moan slightly.
Again I pulled away. “Babe, you’ve got to quit doing that,” he said whining.
“I know but I really need sleep. We’ll finish this tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah. I was going to ask the wonderful lady if she would escort me to dinner tomorrow.”
“The wonderful lady would love to escort the wonderful guy to dinner.”
“Great. Now lets get some sleep.”
“Sounds good.” I went and climbed in bed. Justin climbed in but stayed as far away from me as possible. “Justin Randall Timberlake, get your butt over here closer to me.”
“I’m sorry. I just don’t want to offend you. The last girl I dated said I move to fast.”
“Well, honey don’t worry. If you move to fast I’ll tell you. Ok?”
“Ok.” He slid over and wrapped his arms around me. It felt wonderful to have his arms around me. I fell asleep soon after that.
To Be Continued…