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PART II

"Anybody want to go skinny dipping with me?" Marquez asked, pransing around the pool, practically drunk.

"I think your friend drank too much beer," Lance said worriedly, turning his head and gazed at Jenin.

"I guess so. And she is not my friend," Jenin pointed out, disgusted at the thought of Marquez being her friend.

"Lance baby, do you want to go swim with me?" Marquez sat on his lap, and started caressing his cheek with her hand. Lance automatically stood up, his face beat red.

Jenin rolled her eyes at how silly Marquez was behaving. She cared more or less about what she does, but she managed to continue her insightful conversation with Chris and Joey.

Marquez looked angry and pouted her lips like a baby. "Fine then. Joey will go with me. Right, Joey?"

"Ah, I don't think so. Maybe tomorrow when you're sober." Joey seemed uninterested in her unlike in the beginning.

"Tscha!" She said, practically tripping over a chair. She walked over to Chris and put her arms around him.

"I think you need to go home and get some sleep," Chris said, prying Marquez's arms off of him.

Marquez howled with laughter. "Okee, I'll just get my keys then and drive home."

"Ah, you didn't drive. Mia did, remember?" Jenin implied.

Chris burst out laughing, and so did everybody else. Marquez glared at him drunkily, and eventually thrust herself on him, both flying into the pool.

"Damn, this girl is such a pain in the ass when she's drunk and when especially when she's not drunk!" Chris cried trying to pull himself out of the pool, but Marquez repeatedly pulled him down, howling with laughter.

"What's going on here?" Mia asked, suddenly appearing. Jc appeared behind her.

"Well, as it appears, Marquez is acting like a pathetic loser which isn't such a shocker. She pushed herself and Chris in the pool," Jenin managed to say, her head buried in Lance's chest, and her back heaving with laughter.

"Help!" Chris screamed hysterically as Marquez repeatedly pulled him down in the water.

Everybody watched with amusement and couldn't stop laughing. When the guys realized that if they didn't help Chris anytime soon, they'd be murdered in their sleep, Lance and Jc helped pull out Marquez out of the pool. She screamed in protest, kicking and throwing punches in the air. Chris angrily wrapped himself in a towel and shivered like crazy.

Joey grabbed a hold of Marquez as she tried to torment Chris once more. Chris cautiously moved away from her as far as he could.

"I'm gonna go in and see if I can find anything dry," Chris scolded at Marquez. In response, Marquez threw her head back, laughing.

"Marquez, this is the last time I'm bringing you here," Mia warned. "Stop it, okay?"

"Well, it will be for your last time too if you don't go up there and talk to Justin, cuz you obviously abandoned him practically the whole night," Marquez said a matter of factly.

"Oh gosh." Mia panicked, rushing inside the house. She peeked inside Justin's room seeing the light on. No one was in sight. Then she spotted someone's back outside the window.

"Hey Justin." She climbed out the window and sat cross-legged beside him.

"Hey," Justin muttered.

"How come you're not down there with everybody else? It's your party after all."

"Well, it's not much of a party as I thought it would be. My own best friend practically eloped with my other friend."

Mia chuckled at the thought. " I didn't elope with him. See, I'm here. And I even brought you you're favorite icecream." She handed it to him with a spoon. Mia and Justin usually gave each other their fave ice-cream whenever the other was feeling down about something. It was like an age old tradition between the two.

Justin began to eat the icecream. "Gee, this was thoughtful of you."

"Are you gonna tell me what's up or are you gonna sit here and torture the both of us the whole night?"

"Who said about torturing you?"

"Come on Justin. What's wrong?"

Justin shrugged. "Nothing. What could possibly be wrong with me?" He forced a laugh.

"Just because you're an 'N Syncer, whom teenage girls drool over, and a talented singer, doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with you. Did I do something wrong? Okay, I admit I was wrong to "abandon" you tonight. I'm sorry. So, tell me. Maybe I can help."

"Nah. You wouldn't understand."

"What? I wouldn't understand? This coming from a the same guy who always calls me late late at night to discuss his latest "breakheart" or "crush" or "problem"?"

Justin glanced at her with sadness written all over his face. He couldn't decide whether to tell her how he felt right in that moment. But he felt apprehensive because he knew that she probably liked Jc. Although he was jealous, he couldn't find it in his heart to hold it against his two best friends. He desperately wanted to burst out with all the mix emotions he felt inside, but he didn't know how to. What would Mia say? Would she laugh? Would she say, "Sorry, I've already fallen for Jc." How should he start explaining? Most of all, he wasn't sure if he just felt infatuated with Mia, or if he was really in love with her. It felt all so new to him. He had never fallen in love before, so how could he possibly know if what he felt was real or just a pigment of his imagination? And he certainly hadn't felt more than friendship love towards his best friend before.

"I'm just tired." He squeezed her hand and forced a half smile. "Thanks."

THE NEXT DAY.......

"Oh god! I can't believe I acted that way last night!" Marquez grumbled, burying her face under a pillow. "I could never face them again, especially Chris. He probably hates me now."

"Jc called this morning while you were half conscious on my bed, and he told me that Chris caught a cold. I even heard Chris cursing your name in the background," Mia said, giggling.

"Gosh. I have to call him and apologize, and to the other guys. Oh wait a minute! Jc called you?!" Marquez's eyes widened.

"Yeah so?"

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

Mia tried to act casual, but she couldn't stop grinning.

"I can't believe you! And you didn't tell me that it was him you liked all along."

"Well, I wasn't exactly sure 'til last night."

"Ooh, last night," Marquez teased. "What exactly happened last night?"

"Umm, we sort of kissed-------"

"You guys "sort of" kissed? You say that as if it was nothing."

"Marquez, I don't want to sound like an over excited fool. I mean, I don't even know what's gonna happen between us. Probably nothing since he's always off touring all over the world."

"Tscha! He called you this morning didn't he? It must mean something. Something big. Some kind of wonderful!"

"Gee, what a genius you are," Mia said sarcastically.

"Of course. Are you guys gonna get together sometime or what? If you do, you should ask him what you guys are."

"What? Isn't it a little too early to be asking ? Geeze, I don't want to scare him off. It may work for you, but I don't think it will for me."

"I guess. It never hurts to try, though." Marquez was silent for a moment then she asked," What about Justin?"

"What about Justin?"

" I don't know. Seriously, I think he really likes you. I can tell--------"

Mia sighed annoyingly. "Girl, don't go there. He does not like me-----not in that way. We're friends, and that's as far as it will go. Now, get over it."

"You should have seen him last night. He had those puppy sad eyes, and all I wanted to do was pet him and say it's okay."

"Whatever. He was probably just bored with your bickering," Mia joked, chuckling.

"Well, it could be possible. I mean, don't you know that every male and female who are friends tend to get together eventually? It's something that happens all the time. Take Joey and Dawson for example, or Felicity and Noel. They got together. See, the opposite sex always have strong chemistry, which makes it almost too impossible to avoid crossing the friendship line."

"Ugh! Your brain is poisoned with too much t.v. drama."

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NOTE: I'm gonna briefly explain what happens next because I don't want to take forever writing this story. So anyway, Mia and Jc end up seeing each other. Then Justin starts to be nasty towards Jc, and Jc eventually finds out that Justin has feelings for Mia. Jc contemplates what he was going to do. He really doesn't want to ruin his friendship with Justin, and he didn't want to stop seeing Mia either. There's more tension between the guys because of Justin and Jc. So Jc felt guilty, and he chose to break it off with Mia to save his friendship with Justin even though he really liked Mia. Justin doesn't know the reason for Jc's and Mia's breakup, and neither does Mia. She's hurt and depressed over the break up. Justin tries to comfort and cheer her up.