Lance’s frustration was the fact that he just couldn’t figure out whether he should assume the relationship between Julie and Justin was over, or if he should just wait it out. He wanted so badly to take her in his arms and just hold her. Seeing her hurting this way was killing him inside. But he couldn’t be there for her. Not even as a friend. She needed to think and he could see that. Julie was completely stressed out. Her life was a disaster. She had found the perfect guy. Someone who she cared so much about. Someone she could see herself growing old with. She didn’t want to admit it, but deep down she knew the two of them were meant to be. But there’s someone else in her life. How could she tell him how she felt?
Kris and JC were both thinking the same thing all week and didn’t know it. They both knew that they liked the other but neither was sure on how to act on it. Until Friday afternoon that is.
It was the end of a chilly school day. Julie and Kris were heading for Julie’s car.
“Man! Next week it’s my turn to drive!” Kris complained.
“Yeah, so?”
“So, it’s cold! I like being the warm passenger.”
“Haha,” Julie replied, “Too bad for you”
“Gee, thanks”
They both started to laugh. Their laughing came to a stop when they saw who was standing before them.
“I think I’ll leave you two alone,” Julie told Kris.
He walked up to Kristina and gave a small smile. “Hi”
“Hi,” Kris replied, blushing.
“Hope you don’t mind me doing this. I was thinking about you and I just decided to drive down here and see you”
“You were thinking about me?”
“Yeah,” he said, nervously running his fingers through his hair, “Well, um, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a ride or something”
“Um, OK sure,” Kristina agreed. She turned to the direction of Julie and mouthed the words “I’m going with him.” Julie nodded and waved and soon Kristina was gone. Julie started her car when out of nowhere someone tapped on her window.
“Ahhh!” she jumped.
She rolled down the window with one hand while the other was on her heart. The noise has startled her. “Hey! Sorry if I scared you”
“JC!! What are you doing here?”
“Where’s Kris?”
“Oh, she just left with-” Julie decided not to finish her sentence after seeing the disappointment on JC’s face.
“Did you drive Justin’s car here?” she tried changing the subject.
“No”
“Then how did you get here?”
“I walked”
“Walked? Are you crazy?! JC it’s freezing out!! Why did you walk across town in this weather?”
“I wanted to come see Kristina. I was gonna take her out for a late lunch or something since I knew you two took a day off from work today”
“You walked in the cold all the way over here just to see Kristina?”
“Yeah”
“That’s so sweet”
“Well, she’s worth it”
Julie suddenly felt awful. If only they would have waited another minute, JC would have caught Kris before she left with... “Julie, I don’t mean to be rude, but can I get in your car? It’s kinda cold”
“Yeah sure, get in. C’mon I’ll drive you home”
“Cool,” JC said, walking around the car to the passenger side. Julie headed for the apartment dreading conversation with JC.
“Wow, the heater feels good,” JC attempted at making conversation.
“Uh-Huh”
“Julie?”
“Uh-Huh”
“Are you listening to me?”
“Uh-Huh”
“Kristina’s pregnant”
Julie slammed on her brakes nearly causing a huge accident. “WHAT?!?!”
JC started to laugh. “What’s so funny?!? “Nothing,” JC gasped, trying to catch his breathe, “Julie, I was kidding!! I was just trying to get your attention. You should probably decide whether to drive or pull over before the cars behind you start getting aggressive”
Julie scrambled to pull over. “Get out”
“What?” JC asked.
“I said get out”
Julie got out of the car and opened the passenger door. JC sat there with a confused look on his face. “Do you want me to hit you sitting down or do you want to get out of the car first?”
“Uh...um...uh...” Julie playfully hit him in the arm.
“Don’t ever do that to me again you maniac!!”
“OK OK I’m sorry,” JC rubbed his arm.
“Look, JC, I need to tell you something that’s really important-”
“Justin,” JC interrupted.
“What?”
“It’s about Justin”
“What is?”
“What you’re about to tell me. It’s about Justin, right?”
“Well, no it’s not”
“Lance then?”
“No!!” Julie yelled, frustrated, “JC, would you just listen?!?!”
“Sorry”
“Ugh,” Julie stood up, “Never mind”
“What? Julie what?”
“Nothing”
“Julie, seems you need someone to talk to. I’m all ears, c’mon, talk to me. It IS about Lance isn’t it?”
“It’s cold. I wanna go home”
Julie started the car and they both drove home in silence. They headed up the stairs to the apartment. “Look, Jewels, I was serious when I said I was all ears. I’m here if you need to talk”
“Thanks. I’ll talk to Kristina when she gets back if that makes you feel better”
“OK. Where did she go, anyway?” The door flew open and Chris stood before them.
“Justin!!!! You’re girlfriend-slash-chick-who-is-mad-at-you-cuz-you-were-a-jerk is here!!!”
“Thanks Chris,” Julie rolled her eyes as she walked past him.
“You’re welcome,” he replied happily.
“Hi everyone!” Julie called once inside.
“Hi,” the group replied.
“Where’s Kris?” Lance asked.
“I’m right here,” Chris raised his hand as if he was in school.
“Not you pea brain, Kristina”
“I knew that”
“I have to talk to you,” Julie said to Lance. She took his hand and led him down the hall until they were out of earshot from the rest of the group.
“Jewels, look, I need to know what’s going on with this whole Justin thing cuz-”
“Lance, forget about that right now, OK? There’s something more important that I need to talk to you about”
“How you feel about me isn’t important?”
“No. That’s not what I meant”
Julie covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry,” Lance whispered, stroking her hair, “ It’s just so hard seeing you this way...and I can’t help you or hug you or anything like that because I don’t know what’s up with Justin. You have to tell me how you feel”
“I know...,” Julie said, fighting back tears, “I know. I just need more time to think. Right now I’m worried about something else”
“What? What is it?”
“Kristina”
“Kristina?”
“Yes, Kristina. Something happened today that I don’t know what to do about”
“Does it have to do with why she’s not here right now?”
“Yeah. See, ever since sophomore year she’s had this crush on this guy, Nick. Today after school, he picked her up and I don’t know where she went with him. JC showed up after she left so he didn’t see her with him, but he’s gonna find out eventually and I know he’ll be crushed”
“Holy cow!! Does she still like him?”
“As far as I know. But he graduated last year and she hasn’t mentioned him much since the last time she saw him which was about a month and a half ago”
“Wow. Do you think she would get romantically involved with him? I thought she liked JC”
“So did I. I guess I’m just over reacting. I know Kristina and she wouldn’t do anything drastic”
The phone rang and Julie quickly ran to the living room to pick it up. “Hello?”
“Julie, it’s me”
“Kris!!! Where are you?”
“Ummm...you don’t wanna know”
“You’re somewhere with Nick aren’t you?”
“Yeah OK so we were kinda driving around and we kinda parked somewhere and he kinda kissed me and then he kinda sorta asked me out”
“What about JC?”
“Don’t worry I’ll explain everything when I get back from Nick’s tomorrow”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m spending the night at Nick’s apartment. I’ll be back tomorrow”
“Kris, what are you thinking?”
“I don’t know. I’ll just see you tomorrow OK? And please don’t tell JC about this just in case it doesn’t work out between me and Nick, alright?”
“Alright. Don’t do anything you’ll regret”
“I know. See you tomorrow. Bye”
“Bye”
Julie hung up the phone and sighed. “Julie, we really REALLY need to talk,” Justin said, standing behind her.
“We sure do,” Julie shook her head, “C’mon Justin. You too Lance” Julie lead them both down the hall just like she had done with Lance before.
“OK, before we get into a discussion of us, there’s something you should know...”
She began to explain the entire Kristina situation including the phone call. “Well, like Kris said, don’t tell JC. Man, I can’t believe she did that!!” Justin said, thinking out loud.
“I know,” Julie replied, “I just don’t know what else to do”
“Well, I don’t know what to tell ya except don’t tell Chris and Joey. They’ll be the first to tell JC,” Lance walked away leaving Justin and Julie alone. Justin looked at Julie and she noticed the expression on his face. It was as if he wanted to say something but the words just weren’t coming out. Finally, after a long lull of silence, they walked back out to the living room. They found Lance sitting on the couch trying to calm JC down. JC was crying so hard he could barely speak.
“Lance, what happened?” Julie asked.
“It was an accident. I’m sorry,” Lance replied with a worried look.
“You told him?!?!” Justin asked, raising his voice. Lance nodded.
“You bonehead!! My goodness!! What are you stupid or something?!?! You are such a moron! Do you have even the slightest hint of a sensitive bone in your body?! I told you not to tell him! Look at him! Do you like seeing him this way?! I can’t believe you!! You sissy mama’s boy!!” Julie screamed.
“Stop it!!” JC jumped up. He grabbed Kris’ keys hanging on their hook on the wall. Above it was a small wooden sign that JC had bought her the day before with the words ‘Home Sweet Home’ inscribed on it. JC shook his head at the sign and sighed. He walked out the door and started down the stairs to Kris’ car.
“JC, where are you going?” Julie called to him from the top of the staircase.
“To bring Kristina home!!” Julie smiled to herself and started to walk back inside until she heard Justin’s voice and stopped. She stood and eavesdropped on the conversation.
“...Julie is not mad at you, man. She’s just frustrated”
“No. She can’t stand me. She hates me. Did you hear what she said? I have to have done something to make her angry for her to have said those things to me. Justin, we were best friends, her and me. Kiss her once and boom, now she hates me”
“She doesn’t hate y- Wait. Did you say ‘kiss’?”
“Yeah,” Lance replied not realizing what he was saying. He looked up at Justin anticipating his reaction. Oh shoot! He’s gonna kill me!
“When...did you...kiss her?” Justin tried to keep calm.
“OK OK I’ll come clean alright? Look, Julie means more to me than just a friend. That night that you two had a fight, I was thinking about her and couldn’t sleep. I was pacing in the hall and heard her crying. I was comforting her when I couldn’t take it anymore and I kissed her. There, now you know! I am SO sorry Justin. I didn’t mean to hurt you or her. It’s just that I...” he paused and took a breath, “I love her”
Justin’s jaw dropped. “And now she hates my guts,” Lance plopped down on the couch trying with all his might to not let Justin see his tears.
“Julie, why are you crying?” Joey asked, oblivious to the whole situation. He and Chris had been watching television nearly half asleep. They didn’t even hear Julie when she had yelled at Lance.
“Oh, nothing,” Julie replied, suddenly realizing Joey and Chris were sitting there. Julie wiped away her tears, trying to compose herself. She walked into the living room where Justin and Lance were. She went into the kitchen to get a soda, trying to act as normal as possible. She knew it couldn’t have been working much because she could see Justin and Lance staring at her out of the corner of her eye. “What?” she finally asked.
“Did Joey just ask you why you were crying?”
“No. I think it was just the TV or something”
“Are you sure?”
“Justin, I’m sure. I think I would know if I was crying or not”
“You were listening to our conversation weren’t you?” Justin asked worriedly.
“No, why? You guys were talking? And you still have all of your limbs?” Julie joked.
“That’s not funny”
“Yeah it is. Justin, you should probably call JC and let him know where Kristina is or he’ll be driving all over town for hours”
“OK. I have to have a word with him anyway. He’s crazy to take off like that”
“You mean you wouldn’t do the same for me?”
“Of course I would. I’d do anything for you”
“Well, what’s wrong with JC going after Kristina?”
“She’s not his girlfriend,” Justin said without thinking.
“Well, I’m not quite sure I’m yours at this point,” Julie snapped.
“Ugh,” Justin grabbed his phone and began dialing, “Women”
*****
JC had been driving around looking for anyone who knew Nick. He finally got a call that helped him out. “JC, it’s Justin,” JC heard on the other line, “Dude, you gotta come home. You can’t drive around town like a lunatic looking for Kristina. I mean, look at all those other girls you’ve crushed on before. Where has it gotten you? You know that it won’t work out between you two. Now come home”
“No,” JC shot back, “I’m not coming home until I find her. She’s not like the others. She’s not the same. There’s just something about her. She makes me feel different. I have to get her back”
“She wasn’t yours to begin with!! Man, get that through you’re head!!”
“Justin, are you gonna tell me where she is or not?”
“Manhattan and Main,” he sighed, “It’s downtown. It’s the white building on the left with the green trimming”
“You’re welcome JC!!” JC heard Julie yell in the background.
“Thanks Jewels,” he laughed.
“He said thanks!” Justin told Julie.
“Thanks man, I appreciate it”
“You’re welcome. Go get her pal!”
“You got it!” JC cheerfully replied, “You don’t gotta tell me twice. Talk to ya later”
JC hung up and found the road leading downtown. He stopped at a small shop and bought a single white rose, Kristina’s favorite, and hurried to Nick’s place. “Oh great! What apartment is it?” He looked around hoping to find some sort of clue. The directory caught his eye. He went down the list of names to find out that there were two people with the first initial “N” “Apartment 54 and 61. Well, at least they’re close together” JC stood between the two apartments and softly sang to himself After a minute or so JC took a deep breath and sang as loud as he could. “Can this be true? Tell me can this be real? How can I put into words what I feel?...” He nearly halfway through the second verse when the window of apartment 54 opened. Nick stuck his head out the window and yelled at JC in a confused tone.
“Excuse me. Do you need something?”
“I’m looking for Kristina”
Kris rushed to the window pushing Nick aside to see outside. “JC?!”
“Kristina!!”
“Oh my God!! What are you doing here?!”
“Stealing you”
“Stealing me from who?”
“From Nick. I want you to be mine” JC finished singing the song and by the end of it both Kristina and JC were in tears. Kristina suddenly disappeared from the window. “Kristina!! Kris, where’d you go?!?!” JC yelled frantically. Kristina appeared at the stairs and ran to JC. He handed her the rose and smiled from ear to ear. Kristina smiled back and kissed JC unexpectedly. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. JC pulled away and looked up at Nick. “Sorry Nick!” he yelled.
Completely stunned and unable to say anything, Nick waved back solemnly as Kris and JC jumped into the car and sped away.
To Be Continued…