“C’mon Julie.”
“Coming,” Julie replied. The class was so boring. She was half asleep when the bell rang, declaring that it was finally time to go home. Kristina, or Kris to her friends, had to nudge Julie a bit to bring her back to reality.
“So what are we doing this weekend?” Kris asked trying to start conversation.
“Same as before,” Julie replied.
“Nothing?” Kristina asked.
“Yup.”
“We’ve been doing nothing for two or three weekends already! How can you stand not doing anything?” Kristina said closing the classroom door behind her.
“We’re not missing much,” She said as they walked down the hallways.
“We always have something to do! Oh well, whatever, we’d better hurry up and get going.” Kris told Julie starting to walk a bit faster. Julie started to pick up her pace in order to catch up to Kristina. They got in Kris’ car and headed to the mall to start work.
They both were eighteen-year-old seniors in high school and worked together at the Movie Theater in the mall. Kris turned on the radio and Julie began to remember the summer before…
*Flashback*
Julie walked out of the little shop by the pier and headed back to the hotel. She turned the corner and accidentally ran into someone, which caused her to drop her bag.
“Oh man, I’m sorry,” the voice said.
The person bent down and helped Julie pick up her things and put them back in the bag.
“Oh don’t worry about it. I’m fi…” She looked up and suddenly got lost in the eyes of the person kneeling on the floor across from her.
*End flashback*
“What? Huh?” Julie asked looking around.
“I said c’mon,” Kris told her, looking at her strangely. “What have you been daydreaming about now?”
“Daydreaming?”
“Yes, daydreaming. You’ve been doing it all day today.”
“I have?”
“Yeah Jewels, you have. Now lets go before we’re late for work.”
They got out of the car and headed into the mall. When they got to the theater they headed to the locker room in the back. As they changed into their uniforms, Julie’s thoughts once again wandered off.
*Flashback*
“Hi. I’m Randy.”
“Uh… Umm… I mean hi, I’m Julie.” She looked him over noticing his piercing blue eyes and absolutely gorgeous smile that would have any girl weak at the knees.
“Hi Julie. You’re new here aren’t you?”
“Yeah. This is my first time here. I’m on vacation with my friends. Do you live here or something?”
“Oh no,” He smiled, nearly making Julie’s heart skip a beat. “Well I come here often enough to, but no I don’t live here. But I vacation here every summer and anytime I have. Right now I have a few days off.
“Oh so you pretty much know your way around?”
“Yup. That’s how I knew you were new in town, I mean since I’ve never seen you here before. So where ya headed?”
“Back to my hotel.”
“Mind if I walk you?”
“Yes.”
“Oh,” His smile disappeared and he looked down at the ground. Julie giggled.
“Randy, I’m kidding. Of course you can walk me. In fact I’d like you to.”
Randy’s smile quickly returned. He put his hand on her back and led her down the street.
*End Flashback*
“I’d like two tickets please.”
“Excuse me?” Julie answered back realizing she was still at work.
“I said I’d like two tickets please.”
“Oh yeah. No problem.” She went all thought work the same way. She kept getting interrupted from her daydreams. She just couldn’t help remembering that summer. It had already been six months since their meeting, but every once in a while she couldn’t think of anything but him. This was the first time it had affected her at work.
*Flashback*
“Thanks for everything. This was a lot of fun, Randy.”
“No problem. I had a lot of fun, too.” He looked down as he said this and his voice started to trail off.
“What?” Julie asked him, concerned. They were sitting on the edge of the pier having an early dinner waiting for the sun to set. “Well nothing. It’s just…” His voice kept getting softer and softer the more he spoke.
“It’s just what?” Julie asked getting a little worried.
“It’s just that I like you…a lot… and I don’t wanna leave. I wanna stay here with you.”
“RANDY!”
“Please don’t call me that!”
“Whatever! Look, I’m only gonna be here for another week.”
“I know, I know. I just…Jewels, I have something to tell you.”
Now Julie was very worried. She didn’t know what to do. She jumped up and started to walk away.
“Jewels wait!” He got up and started after her. She stopped, not knowing what to do. He caught up with her and grabbed her hand. She turned around and looked into his eyes. He wasn’t sure what to do so he put his arms around her and have her a big hug. With his arms still around her, he whispered in her ear, “I need to leave tomorrow and I want you to come with me.”
“Where?” She whispered back.
“On the road.”
“On the road? Randy, what are you talking about?”
“My name isn’t Randy.” He said afraid of her reaction.
Julie pulled away from him not knowing whether or not she should run or stay and find out what was going on. “What do you mean your name isn’t Randy?" She said slowly.
“My name is Justin.” He said looking down. “I have to leave and go back on tour with the guys. You remember the guys I introduces you to a few days ago?”
“Yes I remember.”
“You know how you said we look a lot like NSYNC “Yeah,” Julie said wondering where he was going with this. She knew “Randy” looked exactly like Justin from NSYNC that the sight of the guys almost convinced her it was NSYNC she still was in shock to hear this.
“Well, we are NSYNC and we’re starting our tour in three days and I really want you to come with me.” He looked in Julie’s eyes to see tears welling up. He didn’t know whether to take this as a good sign or a bad one. Julie looked down and forced the words out of her mouth.
“I can’t.” She said, barely loud enough to be heard. Justin was crushed. He felt like crying but fought back the tears.
“Why?” He asked in a shaky voice.
“It’s just that my friends are here and I can’t leave them and parents will wonder and school starts and…” Julie made no sense whatsoever. “And Kris and travelling and work and…”
Justin just kissed Julie out of nowhere and interrupter her rambling. About a minute later Justin pulled away and walked off in a hurry, Julie opened her eyes in time to see him walk away.
“Justin.” She called softly. But he continued on his way. She walked back to the end of the pier and began to pick up the picnic basket and stuff when she came across a small envelope with her name on it. She pondered about it for a second and when her curiosity got the best of her, she opened it. Inside was a letter. She began to read:
Dear Julie
If you have found this letter then you have most likely said no to my request. I want to thank you for running into me by the little shop by the pier. Coming into my life was the best thing you could’ve ever done for me.
Although you didn’t come with me and won’t be by my side always, it doesn’t mean I’m letting you get away. We do have computers nowadays and I will be expecting a message from you or a phone call. I know you didn’t expect any of this to happen since we were just “friends” and I was just showing you the town. But after this past week, you are much more to me than just a friend. I’ll be seeing you again. That’s a promise.
Love always,
Justin
She was crying so hard, she couldn’t move. After about five minutes of this she finally calmed herself down enough to read the bottom of the page with Justin’ e-mail address and cell phone number. She promised herself she would e-mail him the second she got home from vacation. She didn’t think she had the energy to have to survive a phone call. Hearing his voice would be too much to handle knowing she couldn’t be with him.
She finished picking up her things and headed back to the hotel. After sitting on her bed for hours just staring at the ceiling, she decided she couldn’t take it anymore and dialed Justin’s number.
“Hello?” Someone asked after only two rings. The voice wasn’t Justin’s though.
“Hello? Umm…I was looking for Justin.”
“Hi Jewels. This is Lance. He’s been expecting your call. But being the retard he is, he left his phone here. He’s off at a photo shoot.”
“Oh ok.” She said.
“Well, he shouldn’t be long so if you don’t have anything to do we could just talk until he gets here.”
“Well, I don’t have anything to do.”
“Ok. So, how have you been?” The conversation was awkward at first, but the more they talked, the closer they got. They knew more about each other by the end of the conversation than her and Justin knew about each other. They talked for nearly an hour before saying their good-byes. Justin still hadn’t shown up yet.
“Well, Jewels I’m sorry Justin’s still not here yet, but I gotta go.”
“Okay, no problem.”
“Talk to you later, ok?”
“Okay. Bye.”
“Bye.
They hung up and Julie sat on her bed looking in the mirror on the dresses across the room of the small hotel. She was a bit confused at what just happened. She was so upset because she needed to talk to Justin but then she talked to Lance and she was happy. She felt like she could go all week without talking to Justin, she was so happy.
Over the next week, Julie enjoyed the sights and sound with Kris and the rest of the group. Over the span of the next few months, the guys’ tour kept them too busy for phone calls so Julie had to keep in touch through e-mail. She found it a bit odd that Lance and her exchanged more messages than her and Justin did, but Lance and here were becoming best friends and it was still romance with Justin so she didn’t pay much attention. Although, she got into a bit of an argument with Justin not too long ago before this day at work so she hadn’t heard from him since. She missed him so much.
**End Flashback**
“We’re home Jewels,” Kris said. Julie and Kris got out of the car and up to the second floor apartment they shared.
“Jewels, before you do anything, check you e-mail. I know you’ve been thinking about Justin all day.
“What? How’d you know?”
“You just get that “look” ya know.”
“No. What “look?”
“Oh please! Like you don’t know. Just check you messages, please.” Kristina instructed.
“Ok. Ok fine. I’ll ‘check my messages’,” Julie said mocking Kris.
She got on the computer and after logging in and scrolling down the screen she realized once again there wasn’t a message from Justin. Well that didn’t surprise her one bit. But what was surprising was the fact that not even Lance e-mailed her. The argument was between her and Justin, not her and Lance. She couldn’t imagine what Lance was mad at her for. Yet Lance hadn’t e-mailed her since the last time she exchanged messages with Justin. She started to cry. Kris walked in a caught her.
“Oh my goodness, Jewell, what’s wrong?”
“Lance…didn’t e-mail…why is he mad? I can’t believe…” She said.
“Whoa, Jewels, slow down. What? Did Justin e-mail you and not Lance?”
“No. Justin didn’t e-mail me. But we’ve been in a fight so I didn’t expect him to. But Lance hasn’t e-mailed me in so long and we’re not in a fight. It’s just upsetting cuz the two of us…”
“Are just as close of friends as we are?” Kristina said finishing her sentence.
“Yeah.” Julie said calming down.
“Jewels, don’t worry about it. I’m sure they’ve just been busy.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Julie turned off the computer and headed for the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower and go straight to bed early, ok Kris.”
“Yeah sure, but don’t you want dinner first?”
“Nah. I’ve lost my appetite.”
Julie woke up the next morning earlier than she usually did on Saturdays. She could hear Kris cooking breakfast in the kitchen.
Wait a minute! She thought. Kris? Cooking breakfast?
Kris and Julie usually ate cereal for breakfast. They were both too tired to cook in the mornings.
Maybe she’s planning on going somewhere and she’s excited. But she isn’t going anywhere!
Julie got up and got dressed and headed for the bathroom. She went through her usual routine of washing her face, brushing her teeth, and so on. She walked out of the bathroom and headed for the kitchen. But before she could get there, she had to pass through the living room. If Kris was in the kitchen, she couldn’t be in the living room. But someone was there. She walked in to find Lance, Justin and the guys sitting on the couch.
To Be Continued…