Chapter Ten

January

"That was the sickest movie I have ever seen!" Michelle complained as she and Lance entered his house. It was their four-month anniversary that day. It was twelve in the morning, and they were both exhausted. They had spent the day together, first at the beach, then paint balling, then a movie, and now they were at his house.

Lance's parents were out of town for the weekend, but he wasn't the type of person to hold a crazy party without adults around. Lance took off her jacket and folded it. Then he put it down on the couch. "It was pure gore," he said with a grin as he watched her disgusted look on her face.

"I am never going to see it again!" she told him as she plopped onto the couch. "Lansten, you have to warn me about these movies. I thought it wouldn't be that gross, but there were guts every five seconds."

"Okay," Lance said with a laugh. "It was gross, and I admit that I didn't like seeing blood and guts every five seconds, but the story line was good."

"Oh, the story line was excellent," agreed Michelle, titling her head back. Lance sat down next to her. "But the gore has go to go!"

She leaned back on his shoulder as he kissed her forehead gently. "So, beautiful, what do you want to do now? You want me to take you home?"

"And have nightmares?" she said jokingly, giving him puppy eyes. She grabbed onto his shoulder. "I don't think so, babe."

Lance chuckled and started to tackle her. "Well, what if I were the killer in the movie?" he taunted, tickling her. Michelle broke free and giggled, running up the stairs. "That's not possible," she shouted as she ran up the stairs, "because the killer is Ethan Hawke!"

She screamed as Lance pounced off the couch and chased after her. She ran into his room, and shut the door behind her. Before she could lock it, Lance's strength pushed the door open. "Got ya!" he shouted evilly as she backed away. He closed the door behind him.

"Stop it!" she said through laughs. "You're freaking me out!"

He gave her a mischievous grin and his arms grabbed her and held her tight. As Michelle struggled to break free, they fell onto his bed together, laughing hysterically.

"Lance, you are so silly sometimes," Michelle told him as he nibbled on her earlobe. "Stop it, I am going to have only one ear pretty soon!"

Then she kissed him and he wrapped his arms around her. Michelle giggled, delighted, as she and Lance kissed passionately. He started stroking Michelle's hair and stopped kissing her. "Michelle," he asked her, his tone serious. "I need to ask you something."

"Okay, what is it?" asked Michelle, smiling at him and touching his cheek. "Are you going to ask me if you can have permission to kill me?" She stuck out her tongue at him playfully.

"No," he said, grinning. He sat up, looking at her directly. "Michelle, we've been together for four months now," he told her as he held her hands in his. "We need to be honest with each other, Michelle."

"O-okay," stammered Michelle, fazed. "What are you getting at?"

"I am talking about our relationship," Lance said to her, meaning it. "Are you ready to go further?"

"You mean…have sex?" She gulped as she thought about it.

He nodded, slightly embarrassed. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about."

She looked away, not knowing what to say. Yes, she loved Lance with all her heart, and he treated her wonderful. But was she really ready to give up her virginity to Lance?

"I want you to know that I'm not forcing you," he replied, smiling tenderly. "If you don't want to, we don't have to. I would never do anything that you didn't want us to do. I respect your decision."

Michelle squeezed his hands. She knew Lance respected her and loved her. "Do you really want to do this?" she asked him. "Tell me the truth. Do you think we are ready to do this?"

"I think we are," he responded, looking into her eyes. "I know we have been together for only four months, but we love each other a lot. I know that this is a big step in our relationship. I can't give you back your virginity."

Michelle smirked at the last part. "Well, of course you can't," she said with a laugh as Lance tucked her hair behind her ear. "I've thought about his before," she confided to him. "And I really wanted to wait until marriage."

"Then we'll wait!" Lance insisted. "I don't want to rush you, Shelle."

"No, I'm fine with the whole thing now," she told him convincingly. "I…I guess…I guess we're ready to do it."

"You guess?"

"Okay. I know."

"You're still worried, aren't you?" Lance inquired. "We can just forgot this whole thing," he told her as he kissed her lips. They fell onto his bed again with their hands all over each other. Lance's body was on top of Michelle's.

"You know what?" Michelle told Lance as he kissed her neck. "I'm ready to do this," she whispered, as their lips touched again. "Let's do it now."

"Okay," Lance replied as he started unzipping the back of her dress.

Jana and Justin sat on Justin's couch in the living room watching romantic comedies. Justin laughed as one of the actresses remarked something. "Justin, that wasn't even funny!" complained Jana as she shook her head.

"I know," said Justin. "I wasn't laughing at her line, I was laughing because she looked stupid," explained Justin sheepishly.

"I swear, you laugh at the stupidest things, Justin!" protested Jana as she whacked him playfully on the side of the head. Justin grabbed her into a bear hug. He looked at his watch. It was twelve-oh-seven. He felt like doing something crazy. Maybe I could prank call Lance…thought Justin evilly. Nah, that's stupid. Well, he did want to do something crazy! He had fallen in love with Gina, and was falling out of love with Jana. He and Gina seemed to have a closer bond. They could talk to each other about everything, and they did.

He and Gina had a long distance relationship, and Gina flew down to California secretly sometimes to see Justin. Justin felt guilty. He had never done this to a girl before to hurt her. Maybe he and Gina would break things off. He knew Gina didn't approve of their secret relationship either, but they both knew that they wanted to be with each other.

You shouldn't be even thinking about her. You're with your girlfriend! Justin scolded himself as Jana pulled his neck down for a kiss. "Mmm," Jana murmured. "I love you, Justin."

"I love you more," Justin teased, kissing her back. They both giggled. As the movie continued, Jana fell asleep in Justin's arms. Justin had fallen asleep also.

When he woke up, he found that the movie was already finished, and it was past two o'clock. He gently shook Jana. She murmured something incoherent. "Gina," Justin said. Then he realized it. "Jana," he said, gulping. He was grateful that she wasn't fully awake yet.

Jana opened her eyes. "Huh?" she asked him. "What time is it?"

"I think I should bring you home," Justin told her. He picked her up and carried her to his room, as she was still half-asleep. "It's really late, and we both fell asleep and missed the movie."

"Oh, I don't want to go home!" Jana pouted. "Why can't I just stay here?"

"Do you have a key to your house?"

"Yes."

"Okay, we'll sneak you into your house in the morning, okay? And my parents probably think that I already brought you home."

"What are you going to do then?" asked Jana. "I can't stay here for the night."

"Yes you can," Justin responded. "We'll just have to do it secretly." He turned off the TV and the VCR and placed Jana down on his bed. Jana pulled the sheets over.

"Good night, Justin," she said to him as he slipped into bed with her. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and the faced the opposite ways before going to sleep.

"Good night," said Justin. "We will have to leave early in the morning."

"Okay, wake me up," said Jana, falling asleep completely.

Michelle opened her eyes. She was welcomed by the darkness in Lance's room. Moonlight shone through his window. She lifted her head to check the time. It was three o'clock. She rested her head back on the pillow sleepily. Then her eyes widened her she gasped. She had forgotten everything that had happened.

Michelle felt Lance's arm around her waist and the bedsheets over them both. Oh my God, what happened? Why did I just have sex with Lance? she asked herself. She ran her hand down his bare stomach, trying to feel secure about the situation. That didn't help. She felt worried and scared. She felt Lance pull her closer to him, and she snuggled up against him.

"Lance?" she whispered to him in the dark.

"Yeah?" He had just woken up, and he rolled over, kissing her. Michelle smiled after but told him to stop. "I'm scared," she confessed. "I just got myself into a huge mess."

"No, you didn't," said Lance, meaning it. "We love each other. What we did is all out of love." He embraced her and she felt secure for a moment.

"Yes," Michelle replied, "but…but…I feel guilty…"

"I'm sorry," said Lance. "This is all my fault, isn't it?"

"No," Michelle answered. "I'm just not feeling well, that's all." She touched his face lightly. "I love you," she said sweetly, gazing into his deep green eyes.

"I love you more," Lance said teasingly as he pulled her towards him for another kiss. They kissed for what seemed like eternity. "We're always going to stay together, no matter what, okay?"

Michelle giggled and nodded. "I think I feel much better about it now," she replied. "Thank you so much." She fell asleep in Lance's arms again, hugging him close to her.

JC held the door open for Marie and Stacie. "Thank you," they both replied. JC, Joey, Chris, and their girlfriends were at the movie theater. Joey and Chris had their dates, but JC felt left out.

"I'm gonna buy some popcorn," JC said unenthusiastically as he went to stand in line.

"Hey, will you get us popcorn and drinks?" Chris asked JC as he handed him the money. JC nodded. "Thanks." Chris disappeared into the theater with Stacie.

"And what would you like?" JC asked sarcastically to Joey, who was too busy to notice. JC groaned. He was in a really bad mood. He hadn't spoken to Jana for four months, and he hadn't been able to reach her. Ever since their kiss together, Jana hadn't spoken to him either. JC knew she was confused.

"Um, nothing," Joey said with a chuckle as he held Marie close to him. He started walking towards the theater. "We're going to go inside, 'kay?"

"Okay." JC was left alone, standing in line. Oh, this is great. I am stuck by myself, dateless again! he thought miserably. He hated being without a date.

"Sir, anything to drink?" the lady behind the counter asked him.

He grabbed some popcorn and told the lady to get him three cokes. After he had paid for everything, he headed towards the theater. The previews had already begun. He couldn't find the four of them in the dark. "Okay…" he muttered.

He found a seat in the back area, right next to a couple that was making out. He couldn't help but glance at them. "Justin? Gina!" he said in shock as they the kissed.

Gina gasped. "JC! What are you doing here?" she hissed, sitting up. She smoothed out her hair. "You're not supposed to be here!"

"What are you doing here!" JC argued, just as surprised. "You never told us that you were in California! I can't actually believe that you're here. And what are you doing with Justin!"

JC looked at Justin, who was humiliated. "Aren't you going out with Jana?" he said angrily, sitting down. "You guys have some explaining to do."

"JC, do me a huge favor and please do not tell Jana!" Justin begged desperately. "You can't tell her."

"There's always the option of blackmail," said JC, narrowing his eyes. "So tell me what's going on between you both."

"Um…" said Gina, searching for the right words. "Well, to start things off, this isn't the first time we've done this. JC, I've been secretly flying down here to see Justin," confessed Gina. She looked down.

"You're seeing each other?" JC spat out. "What the hell?"

Justin spoke up. "JC…you can't tell Jana," he pleaded. "I know this is wrong, but please don't tell her."

JC ignored Justin. "Where are you staying?" he asked Gina.

"At the Hilton," responded Gina nervously.

"Anything else you wanna add about your relationship?" JC inquired, looking at them both. "I think I should know the whole truth."

"That's basically it," Gina replied. She gave JC a pleading look. "Oh, JC! Justin will get into so much trouble if you say anything! You just can't!"

"You guys are disgusting," JC retorted. "I can't believe you, Justin. First you accuse me of stealing Jana away, and now you're making out with my cousin."

Justin was about to say something. Well, you cheated on Jana too! he thought. Justin knew how much trouble he was in. Jana just couldn't find out. She would be hurt, for the second time. He hated himself for doing this. He had to break up with Jana. He didn't want to cheat on her anymore.

"Let's go," said Gina as she stood up. Justin stood up and they started walking. "Please, JC," she whispered as she hugged him.

JC was stiff. "Fine," he muttered. "But tell your boyfriend that if I see him with Jana again, I'll beat the shit out of him."

Gina gave him a scared look and pulled Justin away from JC. The disappeared out of the theater. JC felt even more anger that night. He was going to tell Jana. "Oh, yeah, definitely," he told himself. "I'm telling Jana the next time I see her," he promised himself. He was starting to loathe his neighbor.