One more week. Just one. We'd be heading back to Orlando. Break for two weeks and then start touring on our own.

I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. Nothing. I was furious at Justin for what he did but I desperately wanted to hear his voice. I was dying inside.

Lance called every once and a while to check on me. Dorothy talked constantly on the phone with Jc. Justin called everyday, but I refused his calls. He wrote numerous amount of emails and letters. I didn't answer any of them.

Until one day I just gave in. I missed hearing his voice. Before I made sure to never pick up the phone. I left it up to Dorothy,Sara, and Ashley to answer it. Today I sat by the phone patiently awaiting his call.

~Ring~Ring~

I jumped. I rested my hand on the receiver yelling at myself to stop shaking.

~Ring~Ring~

I picked it up. " H-Hello?"

" Jen?"

"Justin." I said breathlessly. It was silent for a minute.

" I-It's good to hear your voice," I choked out.

" Jen, I'm terribly sorry for hurting you. I never meant for it to happen. She was just there. But it's killing me inside knowing I hurt you. And I wouldn't be disappointed if you don't forgive me. I don't deserve your forgiveness after what I've done."

I sighed. " It is SO good to hear your voice."

" It's good to hear your voice."

" Justin, I think that we should start over."

" Start over?"

" Yes. From the beginning. As friends."

" Okay." There was a pause.

" Jen?"

" Mm?"

" Do you hate me?"

" No Justin. I-l love you." I gasped. Did I just say that? It was silent on the other end. I continued. "I will always love you. But for now, we are friends."

" Right. Friends." I could tell he was smiling on the other end.

" I gotta go. I'll talk to you later."

" I love you, too." He said.

" Friends Justin. Friends."

" Right. Bye."

" Bye." I hung up the phone proud of myself. I did the right thing. Although my feelings for Justin will never change, I think starting over as friends will do some good.

I got up and walked into my room, grateful.

At The Airport

(Homecoming)

I broke off into a run. Justin was running towards me. I realized what I was doing. We're friends. Only friends. For now. I stopped in my tracks. Justin stopped a few feet away from me. " Hey," I said out of breath. He held out his arms. " Friends hug." I smiled and ran into his arms. It felt so good. We clung to each other for a minute before letting go. Turning around, I found nobody had noticed our encounter. Dorothy was too busy hugging Jc to death. Sara and Ashley were getting their bags along with Joey and Chris helping them. I looked around for Lance. Then I felt hands over my eyes. " Guess who?"

" Um....." I turned around. " Hey." I said thowing my arms around him. " Thanks for calling every once in awhile. That meant alot." I gave him a peck on the cheek. He smiled.

A surge of jealous shot through Justin, as he watched his ex-girlfriend kiss his best friend.

Letting go of Lance, I picked up my bag. I turned and smiled at Justin. He forced a smile back. We walked up to where the others were. " Ready to go?" I asked. " Yep," Ashley said slipping here sunglasses on. With help from the guys, we carried our luggage outside and into the waiting car.

" So, now that we have 2 whole weeks off, what do you wanna do first?" I asked everyone. " Relax." Sara suggested.

" Any one wanna go to a movie?"

" I'll go with you." Lance said. I smiled. " Any one else?" Justin shot Lance a dirty look. " Okay then." After getting to the hotel, Lance agreed that he would be back in an hour to pick me up.

We got our room keys and went up to our rooms. I shared with Dorothy.

I threw my bag on one of the beds. " So...Dorothy. Whats up with you and Jc?" I asked casually. " What do you mean?"

" Oh don't play dumb with me. Come on. And don't give me that " were just friends" crap."

" Fine. Yes, we are an "item". If you wanna know."

" What are you guys going to do today?"

" Well, it's our first time seeing each other in 3 months. We are going to go out for lunch, and then maybe a LONG walk on the beach."

" Fun." I said. Opening one of my bags, I picked out thin-strapped olive green dress. Searching even deeper, I brought out my black sandals. I retreated to the bathroom to change.

" Hey Jen?"

" Yeah?"

" What was with you and Justin?"

" What do you mean?" I asked through the bathroom door.

" I though you two were just friends?"

" We are. Why?"

" What was up with that hug?"

" Friends hug," I said repeating what Justin had said to me.

" Yes friends hug. But not like that."

" What do you mean? I didn't think you would notice. I mean you we're all over Jc." I said stepping out of the bathroom. I pillow whizzed passed my head. I jumped. " Hey! That almost hit me." I stuffed my clothes in my bag. " Duh! It was supposed to." I picked up my pillow and threw it at her, hitting her right in the back of the head. " Hey!" I just laughed. " So, what are you going to wear?" I asked her. " Oh yeah. Can I borrow your light blue dress with the sheer cover over it?"

" Yeah. Let me get it." I walked over to the closet that I had hung all my dresses up in. Grabbing it, I handed it to her. " Here."

" Thanks," she said entering the bathroom.

There was a knock on the door. I ran to open it. " Hey Jc."

Dorothy exited the bathroom. Jc gave her a hug. " Hey," he said softly. " Ready to go?" he asked. Dorothy nodded. " Yeah." Dorothy grabbed her purse. " Have fun!" I shouted as they left.

I went back into the bathroom and did my hair and retouched my make-up. Satisfied, slinging my purse over my shoulder I left.

I slipped my sunglasses on as I walked outside. I spotted Lance pulling up to the side. " Hey," I said waving. He smiled. Justin and Joey hopped out of the back. " Hey guys. Are you coming too?" I asked smiling. " No, we're going to chill with Sara and Ashley." Justin replied. My smile faded. " That's good. Have fun." I forced out. I turned to Lance. " Ready to go?" he nodded. I got in the passenger side. Justin and Joey walked into the hotel. Lance started the car. " You okay?" he asked. I nodded. " Yeah. I'm fine."

Changing the subject, " What movie do you want to see?" I asked. He shrugged. "Do you really want to go see a movie?" I asked. " Cause I'm really not in the mood anymore. But if you still want to go we can."

" If you don't want to go that's fine. Where else do you want to go?" I smiled. " How about the mall?" He sighed. " Okay."

" I don't really have anything to shop for." I told him as we entered the mall. " No. Wait. I do. We have a charity ball in three days."

" Yeah. We're going to that, too." Maybe Justin will ask me, I thought to myself. " Justin will probably ask you." I looked at him amazed. " How did you know that's what I was thinking?" Lance just smiled. I laughed.

We walked around until I saw it. The perfect dress. I put a hand on Lance's shoulder. "What?" He followed my gaze. He smiled. " Come on. " He said taking my hand and pulling into the store. He stopped a sales clerk and asked if I could try the dress on. After getting it down, I walked into a dressing room and slipped into it. It was SO perfect. It was a white strapless. With butterflies attached everywhere. There was a small train with a loop to where on my finger so I didn't trip over it. I opened the door. " Wow!" Lance said. I smiled. I quickly glanced at the price tag. $350. I gasped. Obviously very expensive. Before I changed my mind, I quickly changed out the dress and used the credit card my parents had given me to buy it. " My parents are going to flip when they get the bill for this. But it's like the prom dress I never had."

I had gone to prom. I had a really nice dress, too. But not as nice as this.

After putting it in a slip cover, we left.

I couldn't wait to show it to Sara and Ashley. I practically ran all the way to our room. I threw open the door. " Hey Ashley, Sara. Come look what I got. I ran in my room and laid it on the bed. I didn't want anyone else to see it. Ashley followed me into my room. " Where's Sara?"

" She and Joey went to get stuff to eat." Justin and Ashley we're alone together? What? Wait a second! Parnoid am I? She's my best friend and would never do that. Plus Justin and I are just friends. Even though I still have strong feelings for him. Anywayz...

" Look what I got." I showed Ashley the dress. " Wow! It's gorgeous."

" Yeah I know. And pricey. "

" How much?"

" $350." She let out a whistle. " Thats' okay though. I wouldn't have changed my mind." I just stared at the dress. " Oh yeah. I got it to wear to the charity ball on Friday." I hung the dress up in the closet. "Um...Jen? About the ball, um...would you mind...I mean what I'm trying to say is...."

" What?" I turned around to face her.

" Um...Justin asked me to go with him to the ball"

" But I won't go with him if you don't want me too." she finished quickly. I left my face expressionless. " No. I don't mind." I said with a forced smile. " Are you sure? I really don't have to go with him?"

" No. Really. It's okay." I gave her hug. " Thanks Jen. I know how much he means to you." With that she turned and left the room.

How can he be taking her? What about me? So what if we are JUST friends. He knows how I feel. Why did he ask Ashley?

I walked out in the front room to find everybody eating. Joey and Sara had come back with Chinese food. " Jen, you hungry? We got your favorite." Sara asked. "No thanks." She looked at me suprisingly. " What's wrong?" I smiled. " You know me too well." I opened the door. " Where you going?" Lance asked me. Anywhere but here, I wanted to say but didn't. " Out." I said while shutting the door.

I took the elevator down to the first floor. I went into the back of the hotel restuarant and plopped myself down in one of the plush booths. I was mad. I felt like hitting something or someone. I shouldn't be mad. We're just friends. And Ashley is my best friend. I'm fine. Jeez, why did I get so mad? Because I love him thats why. I would shout from the rooftops. But not now. We need to work on our friendship. Gaining back the trust that I use to know. All in time. It'll come back.

While in the middle of my thoughts, some one sat down across from me. " Hey," he whispered. " Hey." I stared down at my hands.. " He didn't ask me."

" What?"

" Justin asked Ashley to the ball on Friday. Not me. I just didn't expect to be this mad about. I know I told him we're friends for now. Somehow I wished he would have asked me. I don't know. Maybe he's just respecting what I said. Or...."

" Jen?"

" What?" I asked looking up. Instead of green eyes I was staring back into blue. "Justin! I didn't know it was you." I started to get up. He put his hand on my arm. "Please stay." I sat back down and stared back down at my hands. Embarassed that I had just confessed all my feelings to who I though was Lance. " I'm sorry Jen. I was just....I guess jealous of Lance. It seemed you wanted to spend more time with him then me. So I asked Ashley to the ball thinking that Lance would have already asked you." I looked up at him. " I have to admit that I was mad when you'd rather hang with Ashley and Sara then me. I think we should just hang some more." He smiled. " I'd like that."