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 Short Story: Kisses of Love
 Writer: Tami
 A Venus Fanfiction Crew Production
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    "Mom, I'm going over to Josh's house. He's home from touring!" Annie yelled into the kitchen.

    "Okay, just be careful driving home, if it gets too late for you to come home, just spend the night." Her mom told her.

    Annie and Josh were best friends since they were little. But he had moved to Orlando when he was 15 to pursue his acting and singing career. They had stayed friends though, best friends. When JC was on tour, he would call her constantly. He even bought her a cell phone, and a pager, so they could always keep in contact no matter where they were. When JC was still on the MMC, during summers, Annie would spend them in Orlando, and she occasionally went on tour with him. She was a beautiful atheletic girl. She stood at about 5'5 with blond hair down to her shoulders. She could style it anyway, and it always looked cute. She had pretty china doll blue eyes, and she could play softball, volleyball, and basketball like no other. She had beaten Justin so many times in basketball, he refused to play with her anymore.

    Annie knew she would be over JC's too late, so she packed a bag and jumped into her brand new blue S-10 truck. It only took about 10 minutes to get to his house. When she pulled up, she started honking her horn, signaling the fact that she was there. She was in such a hurry to see him, that she tried jumping out of the truck with her seat belt still on. She sighed with frusteration in her voice before jumping out of the truck. She looked up to see JC opening up the front door, and taking a step out.

    "JOSH!!!!" She screamed with happiness, running towards the porch.

   "Annie!!!" He yelled jumping over the rail that was connected to his porch. They hadn't seen each other in months, and they were both excited. He ran over to her and swept her up in his arms, as he twirled her around she squealed with happiness. When he set her back down, her held her at arms length, looking at her. "I can't believe how much has changed in the past couple of months." He leaned his forehead against hers, before grabbing her hands and pulling her into the house. "C'mon! We've got lots to catch up on!"

    LATER THAT NIGHT:

All day long, they did stuff they used to do when they were kids. They went swimming in JC's pool, they went to the movies, and they went to the park for a picnic.
    "Are you spending the night?" He asked her tiredly, laying on the floor.

    "Hmmhmm. My mom said if it got too late, to just spend the night. Like i would have it any other way." She answered laughing from her position on the couch. She always used to spend the night over JC's house, when she was little. Things still hadn't changed.

    "Wanna do me a favor?" He asked her.

    "No. Do I ever want to do you a favor?" She asked him laughing.

    "Yes, you do. Come down here and give me a back rub. You wore me out, little girl." He told her, knowing she'd take the bait. She hated to be called a little girl.

    "Little girl? Who you calling little?" She asked annoyed, getting off the couch to give him a back rub. She sat down on his butt, to rub his back. She soon got bored of it, though. Noticing, he was almost asleep, it was too hard for her to resist. She reached down to his sides, and started tickling him. He jumped, throwing her off his back. He pounced on her, and starting tickling her.

    "Stop, Josh! Stop, I'm going to pee! You better stop!" She yelled, screaming and laughing.

    "Nope! Paybacks are a bitch, little girl. You should know that." he answered her, knowing it would get her annoyed again. She squirmed underneath him, and pulled out one of his arms from underneath him, so he landed on top of her fully.

    "Oh my gosh. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, are you okay, Annie? I'm so sorry." He told her worriedly. He didn't know if he hurt her or not. He didn't know what to do, his hands were rested on her stomach.

    "I'm okay Josh. I'm okay." She answered him, loving the feel of his hands on her. She pulled him back down to where he was laying before. "I'm okay." She repeated to him. He was laying directly on top of her now, and he wrapped one of his hands around her middle back. The other hand he had on the ground, balancing his weight, so he wasn't totally crushing her. He was looking into her eyes, and what he saw took his breath away. He saw the girl he was in love with. He leaned in instinctively, to kiss her. She held her breath waiting for the moment, and closed her eyes. She could feel his breath on her, and leaned up to meet his lips with her.

    "What are you guys doing?" Heather, JC's sister, asked, interrupting them.

    They both looked up startled. "No--no--nothing, we were just wrestling around." JC stammered.

    "Riiigghhht." Heather said, walking into the kitchen. They both scrabbled up off the floor.

    "What just happened? We almost...We almost." Annie said flustered. She wanted that kiss to happen more than anything else.

    "Let's just go to bed, okay?" He answered wearily. They climbed the stairs to his bedroom, Annie leading.

"Where do you want me to sleep?" She asked.

    "In the bed, with me. Like always." He answered her, sitting on the bed. She wasn't sure if that was a good idea, seeing as what just happened downstairs. He saw the hesitation on her face, and he pulled her to him, positioning her between his knees. "C'mon Annie. This is how we always sleep."

    "Your right, I'm sorry." She answered, running her hand through his hair. She totally lost her control when she was this close to him. She pulled away and put on a pair of his sweatpants. She kept her tshirt on. He was already wearing sweatpants on, and he pulled off his shirt. He could never sleep with a shirt on. He scooted over to make more room for her. He threw his arm around her and pulled her close, facing him, she buried her face into his shoulder, and breathed in deeply. His smell was intoxicating, and it always made her relaxed. They were laying in the position they always layed in. It was her favorite way to fall asleep. There was only one thing left to do.

"Josh, sing." She instructed. He softly started singing "This I promise you" to her. She pulled away from his shoulder, and looked into his eyes. There was that feeling again. The feeling of losing control. She was in love with him, she felt it in her soul when she looked at him.

    His words faded away softly when he was done, and they continued to look each other in the eyes.

    "Annie..." He said, trailing off. He came in closer to her touching his forehead to hers. She closed her eyes in anticipation, and she knew it was going to happen this time. She gently touched her lips to his as they met in a soft kiss. It was a brief one, but it still seemed and felt so right to them. They both opened their eyes, and looked at each other for a brief moment until she just buried her head in his shoulder again. He wrapped his arms around her, and gently rubbed her back. He sighed in happiness, and shortly after they both fell asleep. The next morning, the woke up entangled together. Annie rolled over, and she was laying to close to the edge of the bed and fell off, taking JC with her. As they both hit the floor, they were jilted awake, and they started laughing together.

    "Hey Anne." JC called to her later that morning. He was in the bathroom getting ready, and she was in his room getting dressed.

    "Yeah." She answered back.

    "Next week, I'm going back to Orlando, do you want to come with? It'll be for a couple of weeks?" He asked her.

    "Umm...I'll have to ask first, but ya know I would love to." She answered excitedly. She wanted to go back so bad. Maybe, they would get together, like she wished.

    "Josh, I think we need to talk." She told him walking into the bathroom. she stopped talking though, when she saw he was in nothing but boxers. She couldn't help but stare.

    He noticed it right away, and got a big grin on his face. "What? ya like what you see?" He asked laughing. She got an evil grin on her face as she answered him.

"Oh yeah." She said mischievolously. She walked over to the bathroom door, and closed it.

    "What are you doing?" he asked nervously.

    "Oh, nothing." She answered, walking to him. "Did I ever tell you, how fine and sexy you really are Joshua?" She asked him cornering him against a wall. She knew exactley what she was doing. She leaned into him, and kissed his neck slowly, she slowly led her kisses up his jaw line, and stopped just as she reached his lips. She pulled back and looked at him.

    "Nope, you never did." He answered nervously.

    "I knew I never did. I just couldn't remember why. Now I remembered. It's cuz you flaunt it." She laughed evily as she walked out of the bathroom.

    "Oh, c'mon! You can't just start something like that and walk away." He called to her.

    "Watch me." She answered back to him, laughing. She walked back to his room, and he followed after her.

    "Please, just a kiss..one kiss." He pleaded, pulling her against him.

    "Nope. Your pathetic JC." She answered laughing, pulling away. "I'm going to go home and ask my mom if I can go. I'll give you a call later." She told him.

    He walked her out to her car, and as she opened the door, she shut it, and turned around towards him. "Josh." she said, pulling him towards her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and said, "About that kiss." And she gently kissed him on the cheek. "Better things come to people when they wait, and when they talk about what happened." She said, as she climbed into her truck and drove off.

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ONE WEEK LATER:

"Oh, I love this place Josh!" Annie exclaimed as she stepped off the plane in Orlando. "I'm glad I came. We finally get to spend more time together." She told him, dropping a hint.

    "I hope so." JC answered her avoiding the hint. She had been wanting to talk about the kiss for the past week. He didn't want to talk about it, he was scared. He didn't understand what was going on, and he didn't know what she wanted. He wanted to be more than friends with her, but he wasn't sure what she wanted. He was worried that their friendship would be gone, and he was worried that he had lost that trust she had in him. She trusted him with everything, and he was worried that he had violated that trust.

    "Annie!" Justin yelled rushing forward to her. He grabbed in her a big bear hug. She took turns hugging all the guys and gave them all kisses.

"Let's go home Annie" Justin said, grabbing ahold of her hand and dragging her to the exit. JC lived with Justin when he wasn't at his parents house.

    LATER THAT NIGHT:

"Whatcha wanna do tonight Anniebella?" Justin asked Annie.

    "Nothing with you homefry. Annie and I are doing something alone tonight." JC answered for Anne.

    "Wow! behave yourselves now." Justin teased, leaving the room.

    "What are we doing tonigh, Josh?" Annie asked as he got up and sat next to her.

    "We are staying here tonight. I wanna talk about us." Josh said, wrapping his hand around hers. He knew he had to talk to her sometime about their relationship. He knew what he was going to say, but he was scared. He was going to wait untill everyone left though. He didn't want to fight when there were people there.

    Ten minutes later everyone left, and JC knew it was time for them to talk. He walked into the kitchen where Annie was making herself a drink. "Let's talk." He said pulling her into the living room. "That kiss the other night, no i take that back. The past couple of days have been a bit different between us. That kiss the other night, i think it may have been a mistake. We're both so excited that we're together again, and I think we let the moment take us away. We're better off as friends anne. You know it, and I know it. We'll ruin everything we have." JC finished.

    "What? Your saying that you felt nothing when we kissed? You feel nothing for me? You don't want anything to happen between us?" Annie asked JC
incredously.

    "No. I didn't feel anything when we kissed. And, I love you like a friend, but nothing more. I don't feel those special feelings toward you Anne. I never did." He told her lying.

    "Your a liar Joshua! A liar! I don't believe a word you say. I see it in your eyes. Your scared shitless, and it's pathetic." Anne yelled before leaving the room.

    THE NEXT DAY:

Annie got up in the morning to go jogging. She always jogged when she wanted to clear her head. That was something she really needed to do too. She left a note on the table letting Justin and his mom know what she was doing.

    JC saw the note before Justin or Lynn did though. Ten minutes later, JC decided he needed to go to the park.

    After she was done with her run, she sat on a bench and just watched the people, envious. She wanted to be like the couples walking hand in hand along the path, and she wanted to be the couple rowing side by side in the boat. She wanted to be the couple lying on the blanket kissing. She wanted to be one half of that couple, and she wanted the other half to be JC.

    JC sat on a bench and just watched the people, envious. He wanted to be like the couples walking hand in hand along the path, and he wanted to be the couple rowing side by side in the boat. He wanted to be the couple lying on the blanket kissing. He wanted to be one half of that couple, and he wanted the other half to be Anne. He wondered if she was thinking the same thing.

    When Anne got home, JC was sitting at the table, eating. She decided that she couldn't ignore him. It would be too hard not being his friend anymore, she loved him too much.

    "Hey Josh. What are your plans for tonight? I thought maybe we could rent some movies, and pig out on popcorn, since it is a Thursday night. What do you think?" Anne asked in a friendly voice. "Hey Justin." She greeted him as he walked in the room.

    "I can't." JC answered her. "I have a date tonight."

    Anne felt like her heart had been stabbed. She looked at Justin, he had his mouth hanging open. He couldn't believe JC was going on a date. He knew he loved Anne, all the guys did.

    "Your what?" Anne questioned. "Josh, we always watch movies together on Thursday's. It's a tradition." She paused, when she didn't get any reaction from him, and then continued angerily. "It makes me angry how your acting, JC. Your so scared. I've never seen you like this before, your so scared of what's directly in front of you. Love is staring you right in the face. Look at me! I'm staring you right in the face. And, your going to turn around and run from it like the little boy that you are. Have fun on your date. I hope everything works out for you." She finished as she turned around and walked upstairs.

    JC let his head fall into his hands and just groaned. He kept screwing everything up. Justin walked over to him and smacked him in the back of his head. "What the hell is the matter with you, you idiot?" He yelled at him.

    "Back off Justin. This is not the best time. I will kill you, don't doubt me either, as God as my witness, I will kill you. I don't know why i'm doing this. I'm scared. I love her so much, and i'm scared that it'll all be taken away from me. Everything is perfect between us, and i don't want to screw it up."

    "Man, you won't screw anything up. At the rate your going now, though, you will. She's right, ya know. Your scared and your acting like a scared little boy. Your never like this JC." He told him, before leaving the room.

    LATER THAT NIGHT:

Annie was up in her room, listening to music, and writing a postcard to her mom and dad, when she heard a bunch of noise coming from downstairs. She heard a female giggle too.

    "Oh great. What is Justin up to now, and who did Joey bring over to visit?" She wondered out loud before going downstairs. What she saw was not something she was prepared to see. All of the guys were there, and JC was too, with a girl that was wearing practically nothing and hanging all over him.

    "Hey Anne. What's going on?" JC slurred to her. It was obvious that he had too much to drink. "Well, guys I'm leaving, don't wait up." The girl and JC both giggled and left the room.

    When Justin turned around to look at Anne he was not expecting the look on her face. "Anne, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's gotten into him. He's
being reckless, because he's scared. We all know it. Everything will work out fine. He loves you, you know? He's just scared to admit it."

    Anne couldn't say anything, because she knew if she did, she would just start crying. Chris must've known this, because he walked over and and wrapped her in his arms, and just held her. She refused to let JC make her cry. After a few minutes, she let go of Chris and stood on her tip toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. She smiled sadly at the rest of the guys and went up to her room.

    The next morning, there was a note on her dresser from Lance telling her to meet him at the park the next night at 8:00. She called him, wanting to know what was going on, but he just told her it was secret, and to just be there.

    At 8:00, she was waiting on the park bench for Lance when JC walked up. "JC! What are you doing here? Where is bambi or whatever her name was?" She asked sadly.

    "Oh that. Yeah, I didn't make it past the car door. I dropped her off, and just drove around for awhile. I sobered up real quick when I saw you and how sad I made you. I've been stupid. Incredibly stupid. I'm so sorry. I was trying to think of ways on how I could make it up to you, and I decided that these words that were running though my head were just dying to be put into a song. When I wrote the song, I just stared at the words in shock. I realized that every line I wrote, applied to you and my feelings for you. Would you mind if I sung it?" He asked her.

    "No, not at all." She replied shocked. He had set this meeting up, and he was apologizing to her. There were so many butterflies in her stomach, they were turning into bats. JC pulled out his guitar, and started to sing softly to her. He thought of her and how she made him feel, and the words just tumbled out so easily.

"Every time our eyes meet
This feeling inside me
Is almost more than I can take
Baby when you touch me
I can feel how much you love me
And it just blows me away
I've never been this close to anyone or anything
I can hear your thoughts
I can see your dreams

I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you, it just keeps getting better
I wanna spend the rest of my life with you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby I'm amazed by you

The smell of your skin
The taste of your kiss
The way you whisper in the dark
Your hair all around me, baby you surround me
You touch everyplace in my heart
Oh, it feels like the first time every time
I wanna spent the whole night in your eyes

I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you, it just keeps getting better
I wanna spend the rest of my life with you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby I'm amazed by you

Every little thing that you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I wanna spend the rest of my life with you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Oh, every little thing that you do
Baby I'm amazed by you"

    After he was through, it was all Anne could do from jumping up and hugging and kissing him untill she couldn't anymore, but she wanted to know
if he would say what she wanted him to say.

    "I love you Annie. I'm sorry I hurt you so bad, but I was just so scared. I was scared that you would be taken away from me, and I didn't want that to happen. Then I think of you, and every word in that song says my feelings for you. When we sleep together, I love the feeling of you so close by me, and the smell of you, the feel of you. Everytime you look me in my eyes, it feels like it's the first time. I see us together for the rest of our lives. I see us in the past, the present and the future. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. The things that get me, are the little things that you do. Like when you giggle and laugh, it reminds me of a bubble gun on a summer day. Don't ask me why, but you do. And when you blink and sometimes your bangs move too, cuz they're in your eyes. And when you brush your hair out of your eyes, and the way you shyly look at me out of the corner of your eye. Like now. How tiny your hands are, how tiny you are, and how you seem to fit in my arms just right. I love you Anne, I'm amazed by you." He finished shyly, but with love in his voice.

    She jumped up off the bench, and pulled JC into her arms. She just wrapped her arms around him. She couldn't let go. She loved him too much. She pulled away, and looked him right in the eyes. She softly touched his face, and cried.

    "Why are you crying?" JC asked worriedly.

    "Just because, you make me so happy, and I love you too." She sobbed falling into his arms again. They held each other for a little while longer, before JC pulled away and softly kissed her.

    "Let's go home." He told her, as they walked hand in hand back to Justin's home.

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