Well, it was a really, umm . . . interesting experience, seeing the Backstreet Boys cross-dress. It was even more weirder that we were the ones who cross-dressed them. Even that little adventure couldn't prepare us for what came later than night. I knew competition was fierce between my friends and anyone who tried to come between us, but I never actually thought it would happen! It wasn't a game, it wasn't a dare, it was a challenge.
You see, at this point, the guys were all back in our regular clothes. They were sitting comfortably in their pants and shirts (without make-up on). We were sitting inside because it was getting really buggy out. I was sitting on the floor again with Brian, who had his arm around me. Maribeth was leaning up against AJ, who were both sitting on the floor next to me and Brian. Rachel was sitting with Nick on the steps, Kevin and Joanne were comfortable at one end of the couch with Jamie and Howie at the other end.
We'd pretty much given up on truth-or-dare. I mean, the girls did have to do their share of stunts and everyone had had to confess their "startling" truths, but it got boring, so we were really just talking. Someone might occasionally come up with an question that everyone would have to answer, but other than that, it was general conversation.
Right now, Kevin was in the middle of telling us how they all became a group.
"Then I called Brian's school because I was too impatient to wait for him to come home," he explained.
"It was really weird," Brian said. "I've never gotten a call in school like that before. My first thought was that something was wrong with my family or something."
Just then, there was a knock on the boat. I excused myself and went up to see who it was. I froze. I stood as still as a statue. It was Chris Kirkpatrick (you know, from N'Sync). But, you have to realize something. I've known Chris ever since we were little. We've been good friends for years.
Now, I haven't seen him for a long time, and seeing him standing outside my boat was an incredible surprise. After a few seconds or staring, I climbed off the boat and jumped into his arms. We hugged briefly, then I pulled away and just looked at him.
"Oh, my god!" I exclaimed, happy to see him. "What are you doing here? I haven't seen you for . . . a really long time."
"Well, I missed the boat, so I had to come down," he explained. "I just thought I'd come over to see if you were here. So, how are you doing?"
"Great," I said. "Actually, I have a few friends down with me," I said, turning back the to boat to yell down for the girls. "Hey, girls! Come up here for a second!"
The girls all came out of the boat talking. When they saw Chris, they squealed with excitement and got off the boat to take their turn for a hug. We were all pretty much talking at once, when someone cleared their throat loudly enough for everyone to hear. We all turned to the boat, where the Backstreet Boys were all standing there with their arms folded over their chests. They did not look happy.
"Uh oh," Rachel whispers in my ear.
Joanne came up next to me. "This doesn't look good."
I looked over at Chris to see what his reaction had been. He looked fine. He was just looking at everyone with a calm expression on his face. Hopefully, that is a good sign.
"Hi guys!" I said as cheerfully as I could. "This is . . ."
Nick cut me off. "We know who he is," he said sharply. "My question is, what's he doing here?"
I immediately took offense. "He," I said, "has a boat down here. We've been all been friends since we were little."
Maribeth immediately came and stood next to me. She knew that if I got defensive, there had to be a good reason for it. That's what I like about Maribeth. She's always there when I need her. Right now was probably a good time for her to be at my side, because Jamie and Joanne had just climbed onto the boat and sat down next to where the guys were standing. You see, the five of us have an understanding. A situation like this has happened before, where two groups of our friends didn't get along. We split up, find out why, relay the messages to one another, and fix the problem before it gets worse. Let's just say it's a habit.
Then I noticed Rachel. She was standing in the middle of the dock. It was obvious that she didn't know which side to go to (that's the thing about having a group of five. there's always democracy, but someone always gets put in the spotlight). She knew that right now, I was pissed because the Backstreet Boys were being so resentful towards Chris, which made everyone else's decision a little harder. After looking back and forth for a few moments, she walked over and stood next to Maribeth. From the looks on every one's faces (besides Chris), it looked like it was going to be an all-out war!
I started to say something, but Chris put a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't," he said softly. "It's not worth it."
I stood still for a moment, looking at the crowd on my boat. They all stood looking at Chris with venomous looks . Brian turned his head slightly to look at me and his eyes softened. (Not exactly the classic first date, huh?). I knew he wanted me to side with him, but I couldn't. My heart ached as I shook my head almost imperceptibly. Then I looked at the whole group, my heart turning cold.
"No," I said. "It's not worth it." I turned and walked down the dock. Chris came up next to me and put his arm around my shoulder, squeezing it slightly to show his appreciation, then let it fall to his side. Maribeth and Rachel followed us off the dock and came up next to us as soon as we were on land. After a few moments of walking in silence, we stopped.
"So," I said, "where do you guys want to go?"
"Well," Chris said, a smirk forming on his face, "the rest of the guys are back on my boat. I was supposed to get you guys and bring you back. We were gonna watch a movie."
"You brought my baby down?" I squealed in excitement. Just so you know, I did not give birth the any of the N'Sync members. I call Justin Timberlake my baby for three reasons. One, he has baby-blue eyes; two, he always used to talk like a baby (I usually had to hit him upside the head to snap him out of it); and three, ever since we could talk, we've been calling each other different variations of "babe" and "baby" (I know it's weird, but, hey, it's fun!).
"Yep," Chris said. "He's really excited about seeing you again." Then he turned to Rachel and Maribeth. "JC and Joey are pretty excited, too," he said, winking at them. They laughed and gave him a playful shove.
We walked down the road until we reached "C" dock. We walked up the dock, almost to the middle, until we reached Chris's boat, Little Miss. He had inherited the boat from his parents when they had died in a car accident, along with his sister. The boat is 46 feet, but I'm not sure what kind of boat it is. It has a fly-bridge and a back that is enclosed with walls but has huge windows on all sides. There's a master bedroom in the back, and salon when you go down he steps, and three other rooms in the front, two doubles and a single. There's a kitchen with a little dinning area, too.
I walked onto the boat first, followed by Rachel, Maribeth, then Chris. I let everyone else enter the in the boat before I did. I stopped and sat on the steps.
"Hello?" Chris called.
I saw a hand peek out from one of the rooms in the front and wave at us. I shook my head and giggled. Idiots!
"Guess who's here?" I asked the hand. It disappeared for a moment and out popped Joey and JC. They saw Rachel and Maribeth and came running. JC hugged Rachel while Joey hugged Maribeth (JC and Rachel and Joey and Maribeth had been set up by Chris. Strangely enough, the relationship had ended great they've been pretty much best friends ever since.)
There was a loud thud and a shout, then Lance came out of another front room, rubbing the back of his head.
"Man, Chris!" he said in pain. "Next time warn us that the ceiling is low." He looked around, finally noticing the three of us. "Hey, guys! Long time, no see."
"Hey," we all said in unison
"I warned you last time, Lance" Chris said.
Lance stood there for a moment, pondering the thought, then shrugged and turned around to face the front rooms.
"Justin!" he shouted. "Someone's here for you!"
"Who?" Came Justin's voice from one of the rooms
"Who do ya think?" I called, still sitting on the steps.
"Babe!" he yelled excitedly. As I got up from the steps, he came running out of the room, straight at me. He scooped me up in a bear hug. I laughed as he practically flung me around the room. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him back as everyone laughed and ducked so I wouldn't accidentally kick them.
"It's good to see you, too," I said. He looked as excited as a puppy! Now, I know he might be happy to see me, but he was definitely on something. I gave him a quizzical glance, then turned to the rest of the group, putting my hands on my hips.
"Okay," I said to the guys. "Which one of you gave him the sugar?"
"Not me!" Chris, Lance, and Joey said in unison, holding up their hands in innocence. I turned on JC.
"And you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We wanted to go for a run this morning," he explained, shifting uncomfortably in the line-of-fire. "He wanted something to wake up, so I gave him half a cup of coffee."
"Coffee!" We all groaned in unison.
"You know how he gets on caffeine," Joey lectured.
JC looked at Justin, then back at me. "Whoops!" he said. "My bad."
I looked at him for another minute. Everyone was silent, until Justin picked me up and swung me around in circle. This boy is definitely nuts! Everyone (including me) cracked up.
"Don't worry about it," I told JC, prying Justin's hands off my waist. "I don't mind him this way," I said, suddenly turning a mix of emotions. "I would have liked to be able to talk to him about something, though."
"You can talk to me," he said, suddenly turning "sane" when he noticed that I was upset. "Do you want to go for a walk?"
"Yeah," I said, looking at everyone else, "if it's okay with you guys."
"It's fine," Maribeth said. She and Rachel stepped forward and gave me a quick hug.
"Yeah," Rachel said. "We know how much you just walked away from."
"Thanks guys," I said. Chris put a hand on my shoulder to show his sympathy. I looked from Lance, to Joey, to JC, and then to Justin, seeing the same look of confusion on all their faces. Rachel, Maribeth, Chris, and I looked at each other.
"We'll explain," we said in unison. I grabbed Justin's hand and dragged him out of the boat.