A Mended Heart by Tami
For Jayla

"Jayla..." Lance sobbed into the phone.

    "Lance, what's wrong?" Jayla asked worriedly into the phone. "What happened?"

    "She cheated on me. She told me right after I told her I loved her. after all that time of holding back from telling her, she answers me with I cheated on you. And then followed by I don't love you." He told her.

    "Oh no, oh lance, I'm so sorry. I wish I could be there with you right now, I'm  sorry." She told him with tears filling her eyes. she never could stand it when guys cried, especially her best friend.

    "That's what I'm calling for. I need my best friend with me right now, plus I miss you. will you come and stay with me for at least a week?" Lance asked her.

    "Yes, of course I'll come and stay with you. I miss you too." She told him excitedly.

    They hung up with lance telling her he'd call her back with all the arrangements.

    They had been best friends since Lance moved next door to her in Orlando. He had met her on the first day. he was moving some stuff in to his house, and she came out to get her mail, and asked of she could help. they had a great time together, and they had stayed close friends ever since. she was the first girl he had sung for in Florida, and when he started doing his hair differently, she was the one who styled it and dyed it. she helped him pick out new clothes, and she had been there with him through everything. through the record deals, the lawsuits, the girlfriends, the managers, the times he called her crying because he was so exhausted, he could barely see straight, she stayed with him when he was in the hospital for those days he was sick. He was her best friend, and she was his best friend.

    Lance got off the phone and sighed. He didn't know how he was going to get through this, but he knew somehow Jayla was going to help him. he picked up a picture of her standing underneath an apple tree, and she was blowing a kiss at him. She was beautiful. She stood at about his height: 5 ft 7, with wavy black/brown hair that fell just a little past her shoulders, and her eyes were blue green, just like the ocean. He could stare into them forever. she was the ultimate friend, she was sweet, kind and she was always there for him. she was so passionate about life, and about their friendship. There was nothing she wouldn't do for him, and the same went for him. when her jerk of a boyfriend dumped her two weeks before her junior prom, he flew home and took her. When she bombed her ACT test scores, he spent all day on the phone with her, and flew home the next day to help her prepare for the next test. When her grandma died, he was there for her every step of the way. He was there with her when she saw Europe for the first time. that was always her dream to see the Eiffel tower, and he was there with her at the top. She meant the world to him.  

*TWO DAYS LATER*

    "I wish they would let them come out already. Jeez, i haven't seen her in like four months. I'm dyin' over here." Lance exlaimed. to say he was eager to see her, was an understatement.
    Finally the passengers began unloading the plane. He caught a glimpse of her hair, and started to walk forward.
    "Whoa! lance, just wait until she sees you buddy. If you run up to her now, you're going to push people out of the way, and they may get a bit..angry." Justin told him.
       "Okay, okay." He answered impatiently.
    Finally, Jayla came into view.   
    "Jamie!" Jayla squealed.
    She was the only one who ever called him that. It was her nickname for him. She started to walk faster to him, and in the process she dropped her carry on bag, so justin walked over and picked it up for her. once lance saw her, he started walking towards her too, and when he reached her, he picked her up in the biggest hug, he'd ever given her. They just held each other in eachother arms for a few minutes. it was definitly the sweetest reunion they had shared in a while. when they pulled away from each other, she had tears in her eyes.
    "Hey Justin!" Jayla said happily, and walked over and gave him a hug.
    "Hey hey Jay!" Justin greeted her the same way he did everytime he first saw her.
    "Let's go back to the hotel please before we get spotted." Justin said taking charge.
    Once they got settled in and Jayla saw all of the guys, Lance and her started to decide what they were going to do. They decided to go out to lunch, back to the arena for the concert, and then instead of going out clubbing with everyone else, they were just going to stay at the hotel.
    "The concert was awesome lance! the best part by far was when Justin and Chris ran into each other, its about time it's happened. it seems like every show I see they almost run into each other. That was the best show in I've seen yet, I think. I love Bye Bye Bye. Its great! I love this I promise you too!" Jayla babbled on. She was hyper from the concert.
    Lance just smiled at her, "thanks Jay Jay. I had fun doing it."
    "That's it lance. You are going to be happy. C'mon Jamie, you know your excited to have me here. let's have some..FUN!" Jayla shouted with giddiness. She pulled him up on the bed and they started jumping on it, like they did when they found out that *N Sync had gotten the record deal. They fell back to the bed in exhaustion.
    "I don't understand what is wrong with me. Am i really that ugly or horrible? How can she cheat on me? She didnt just cheat on me, she cheated on my heart. She cheated herself to- out of her commitment, out of her own love. I could never and would never do that to somebody else or myself. It's selfish of somebody and it was selfish of her. She ruined the first time I ever said those words to somebody for the first time." Lance finished with tears in his eyes.
    "Lance, there is nothing wrong with you. Do you know how many girls would love to date you? I take that back, do you know how many girls want you period!? She was selfish to cheat on you, and she was dumb. She had the greatest thing in her life, and she lost it. Please don't let this girl ruin your love for somebody else. Dont let her stop trusting love just because she is stupid, and another thing, you've said those words to somebody else before. there was this girl who was very special to you, and you had to leave her to go on tour, and you hugged her, and gave her a kissand told her for the first time ever that you loved her." she finished with tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe Lance had forgotten that time, it was so special to her, and he had forgotten it.
    Lance looked up and gasped, "Oh God. I'm so sorry. How could I have forgotten? I'm so sorry jayla, I..."   
    He was cut off by Jayla. "It's okay, Lance. Never mind. I guess I was wrong when I thought it was important. I'll leave you alone now, I'm going to bed." She got up to leave the room...

Part Two

"No! Jayla, do not leave, please? I'm sorry." Lance yelled after her. Lance had forgotten in his feeling sorry for himself, but just for a brief moment. He felt so bad after saying what he said. He didn't know what to do. All he could do was just apologize. Jayla turned around and saw Lance holding his head in his hands. He looked so sad and pitiful, she had to forgive him.
    "It's okay, Jamie, really." She told him, and walked back towards his bed, sighing. "You always manage to make me forgive you. It's really not fair."
    He laughed and pulled her into his lap. He was sitting indian style, so she was facing him, with her legs wrapped around his lower torso. He burried his head in her neck, and just sat there for a few minutes. Before she knew what happened, he started to cry. All she could do was sigh, and just wrap her arms around him.
    "Lance, really, you need to stop this. I understand that you loved her, but Hello! look what you have. It's right in front of you. you have millions of fans that adore you, that would probably lick the ground you walk on. You have an amazing, supportive family, you have Justin, JC, Joey and Chris. You have me, your best friend in the entire world, remember?" She told him with exasperation in her voice.
    "Your right, I'm sorry. I can't help it though, I feel horrible for some reason. I'm sorry this trip is probably going to be horrible for you. I'm not going to be too happy." He told her sadly.
    "Hey hey hey! Look at me Lance." Jayla commanded bringing Lance's face up with her finger. "I am with you, whether your sad, mad, happy or whatever,
thats all that matters. I am with you. That's all that matters, I am with you. You are my Jamie. I will always love you, and be happy with you no matter what." She finished.
    "Will you stay with me tongiht? Just sleep with me." He started laughing when he saw the look on her face. "Not like that, you goofball! Just close your eyes, dream, sleep. You know that kinda thing?"
    "Yes, baby. I will sleep with you." She told him, laying down beside him.
    He wrapped one arm around her waist, and pulled her close instinctively. The other arm he played with her hair. She had entertwined her fingers with his, and was listening to his soft deep voice singing her to sleep. Soon, she fell asleep.
    "I love you Jayla, so much." Lance told her whispering. He knew she couldn't hear him though.
    He was wrong though, Jayla did hear him. Her breath caught in her throat, as she heard those words. Did she want to hear those words, or not? She did, and she knew it, she had been ignoring her heart since they first met, and it became so clear to her now. The way he smiled, the way he laughed, the way he looked when he talked about music or sang it. the way he held her when she cried. The way he joked around, and made her laugh at a drop of a hat. She saw how stong he was, emotionally and physically. She loved his spiky blond hair, and his voice prooved that angels on earth really do exist, when he whispered, talked, sang, shouted. He was the inspiration she saw in her life. She saw his honest spirit, and when she peered into those entancing green eyes, she saw all of that. She couldn't just ignore those words, she had to say something back.
    "Lance." She said rolling over so she faced him. "Lance, do you mean those words? In a romantic way, I mean, or in a friend way?"
    She was too late though, he had already drifted off to sleep.
    She rolled over and softly cried herself to sleep.
 

Part Three

THE NEXT MORNING:

    "Wake up, sleepy sweetie." Lance said softly to Jayla.
    She rolled over and groaned. "Get away from me. I'm tired, and you kept me up all night with your snoring."
    "What?! I don't snore! what are you talking about? If you want to hear snoring, go sleep with Joey for a night!" Lance exclaimed to her.

    "Oh really? And why were you sleeping with Joey? I don't think I like the sound of that." Jayle retorted back, with an eyebrow raised.

    "Oh shut up! I meant when we all had to share a room in the beginning." Lance replied back with exasperation in his voice.

    "Sure, sure. That's what they all say." Before he could respond back, she jumped off the bed and said, "Let's go wake up the fellas!"

    Together Lance and Jayla busted into Justin's room screaming. They both jumped on his bed and started screaming, "GET UP GET UP!!!! TORNADO TORNADO!!!" Then they started twisting all of his sheets around him. This of course woke him up, and they all started to wrestle and that led to a pillow fight, which brought the other three into the room.

    "Ya know, Justin. I don't see why everybody says you're in a bad mood when you first wake up. It's not even really true." Jayla told Justin incredously.

    "Never believe everything you read Jay Jay. You of all people should know that." Justin told her getting up.

    They all decided to go eat breakfast, and then come back and relax in their rooms, then go to the meet and greet, sound check and then the concert. Afterwards, they were just going to dinner, and then they were going to go back to the hotel for a quiet night. The next day, they were going to be on the bus all day.

    AFTER THE CONCERT: 

    JUSTIN!!!! Get off of me, you fool! God!" Jayla screamed at Justin. He had jumped on her back for a piggy back ride. He was really hyper from the concert.

    "Fine! Be that way then!" He yelled laughing at her. He ran up to Joey and jumped on his back, of course Joey wasn't going to have that. He bent over and flipped Justin off of his back. Justin landed upside down on some mats laying in the floor.

    They were all standing around Justin laughing and tickling him and messing up his hair.

    They all looked up when they heard a timid "Lance".

    They all gasped, except for Jayla, she let an "Oh, shit." come out of her mouth.

    He started to walk over to her, but Jayla stopped him. "No, Jamie. Don't do this. She cheated on you, remember. She is in love with another guy. Remember you crying over her, remember? She probably wants you back, just because the other guy dumped her because he realized how filthy she is. Lance, please?" She asked him, with desperation in her voice.

    "No, Jayla! I have to talk to her, and see what she wants. What if she wants to change her ways? What if she realized how much she loves me? what if
she wants me back? you don't know what your talking about. Mind your own business. Okay? for once, just don't act like my best friend right now, okay? He told her, looking at her.

    She just walked away. He couldn't even look at her, he was looking at her. The one who made him cry, the one who cheated on him. how could he talk to her like that? how could he ask her to not be his best friend right now? She couldn't take this, and not say anything to the bitch. She walked over to lance, and looked him square in the eye, and then walked over to her.

    "Listen to me. I don't know what your doing here, and i don't want to know. I'm telling you this right now, if you hurt him, i will hunt you down like the dog that you are, and i will chop off your fingertips." Jayla told her with anger and hatred in her voice. She didn't want to say the things she wanted to say, so she said something that really wasn't that evil, but she wasn't a mean person.

    She turned mean though, when the girl started laughing at her.

    "Do you think i'm joking, hooker? Try me. I love him, and you are not going to hurt him just because you want some more fun with him. Do you understand me?" Jayla said with real pure hatred in her voice. The girl started to back away, so Jayla grabbed ahold of her arm. All of the guys mouths fell open. They had never seen Jayla get so angry before.

    "Jayla! Stop it!" Lance shouted at her. He walked over to the girl and pulled her into a hug. "Let's go talk okay? guys I'll meet you back at the hotel. Jay, go with the guys, okay." he said with a stern look on his face.

    They left, and Jayla's chin started to tremble. Justin was the first to walk up to her, and he pulled her into a hug. She buried her head into him, and he just held her against his chest, while she cried, and he stroked her hair. He didn't say anything, he just held her. After a few minutes, the other guys walked up to them and surrounded them, they all held her in a big group hug. they all broke apart, and Justin wiped away her tears. "C'mon Blue Jay. Let's go eat, huh?" He asked her with care and love in his voice. He and Jayla had always been close, but a sister and brother close. The other guys were close with her too, but not as close as her and Justin. They would talk on the phone for hours sometimes, while the other guys would just talk to her for about a half hour. they never went more than a week without talking to her. they loved her like another sister. She was a part of their group.

    "yeah, let's go get some food. Afterwards can we walk around the city and just shop at the little shops. Go to a park and stuff?" Jayla asked. All the shops would be open, because they did an afternoon concert.

    "Sure jayla, we can do anything you want okay?" Chris said to her.

    They all walked out of the venue. Justin and JC in front and Chris and Joey behind with Jayla, they had linked arms with her. They knew she loved this.

    They were there for her, when nobody else was. She knew this would be her last night with them, and she wanted to be happy with them. She wasn't supposed to be leaving for another couple of weeks, but she wasn't going to stay with Lance, she couldn't. Not after the things he said to her.  

Part Four

    "Hey Jay, do you wanna talk about what happened earlier tonight?" JC asked Jayla that night in her hotel room.

    "I guess so." She replied to him, sitting up on her bed.

    "Why did you get so mad back there Jayla? I know you care for Lance and all, but that was anger i've never seen before. it shocked and suprised me. All of us. It was awesome though! we were cracking up inside. we all wanted to laugh so bad, but we didn't want to piss Lance off. It was hilarious. We all can't stand that girl. even when her and lance were going out, all she did was jerk him around." JC said to her with a proud grin on his face. He was happy Jay stood up for herself and Lance. Sometimes she was too passive.

He was too though, and he admired her for standing up to the girl that way.

    Jayla smiled sadly, and started to sniffle. "Oh, Jaysa don't cry, sweetie." JC said referring to her with his nickname for her. "What's wrong?"

    "Josh, I love him. So much. I've loved him since I first met him, but it just took me this long to figure it out." She started to cry even harder. "What am I going to do? i'm such an idiot!" She said angerily.

    He gently held her hand. "Don't worry Jayla, we'll help you." She laid her head down on his lap and just cried for a bit. "C'mon JC! I'm not going to be sad tonight, it's my last night here, and i'm not going to be sad. Don't look at me like that, i'm leaving tomorow. Lance has never treated me that way before, and i'm not going to stand for it now."

    They walked over to Chris' room where all of the other guys were. They sat down to watch some video Jayla had, and she wanted all of them to see it. They all started laughing, when they realized what it was. It was a video she had mixed together for them. It followed their careers and personal lives through the years. They started cracking up when they showed scenes from the MMC, and they laughed even harder when they saw JC dancing. Then the scene switched to her and Lance joking around in his kitchen, and it showed her dancing with Joey, and laughing at him when he got slapped for grabbing some girls butt. it showed Chris playing a joke on her, and her pouting. Then it showed him walking up to her with flowers and him wearing a puppy dog face. It showed her and Justin talking sitting next to each other, and it showed her and JC goofing around and him scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder. It showed them leaving for their first tour and her crying. It showed Lance hugging her and then kissing her, and then finally him mouthing the words I love you. Her face for him. The screen went black, and then it showed clips of them performing and on different shows.The whole entire movie went on for about an hour with scenes like that. The last two scenes was Britney Spears talking to Justin, and when she walked away, him making a disgusted face. The last scene was all of them in a group hug. Throughout the movie the same song played over and over again. It was "I will remember you" by sarah McLachlan.

    "Jay Jay!! That was awesome!! How did you do that?" Justin exclaimed.

    "I did a lot of it, and Steve helped me too." She told him smiling. "Youall get a copy. I didn't even know about some of the scenes that were in there. Especially, the scene with Lance, saying goodbye. He can't see this you guys. He'll see how i feel for him. It's written all over my face, in the movie." She finished sadly.
    After talking for a couple of more minutes, she went back to her room.    

THE NEXT MORNING:

She hadn't seen Lance since the other day at the venue. She climbed on to the tour bus, and walked back to the lounge area. Justin was lying on the couch curled up.

    "Justin! What's wrong? What happened?" She exclaimed, walking over to him.

   "Jay, I don't feel so good. I feel sick." He told her weakly.

    "Here, sit up for a bit." She ordered him. She went into the small bathroom, and got him some medicine and a cold washclothe. She gave him the medicine and sat on the floor next to him. She place the washclothe on his forehead and stroked his cheek. She kissed his nose, and said to him, "Don't worry, Jus. I'll take care of you." Soon after Justin fell asleep. She layed her head down on his chest and fell asleep also.

    Not long after Lance walked into the room. When he saw the scene, he quickly backed up and walked into the kitchen area where the other guys were.     "What the hell is going on in there?!" He questioned, pointing into the lounge area.

    "Justin is sick, Lance. Jayla is taking care of him. We were instructed to not go in there. She said Justin needs peace and quiet. Are we jealous Lance?" Chris asked laughing.

    "Shut the hell up Chris. You don't know what you're talking about." he said angerily and stormed off into his bunk.

    THE NEXT DAY: 

  Justin was well enough to perform at the concert the next night, but Jayla had caught what he had, but it was worse for her. She was under a lot of stress, because she hadn't spoken to Lance since the other night, and she was worried about their relationship, friend wise and romantic wise. Justin had convinced her to stay with them, untill she had to leave two weeks later. She wasn't admitting that she was sick though. She didn't want the other guys to worry over her. She went to the concert, feeling very sick and very weak. She took her seat in the front row, and instead of standing like she normally did, she sat down. When the guys came out onto the stage, Lance noticed right away, something was wrong. He walked over to the side of the stage, "Jay, whats wrong?" he asked her.

    "Lance, I don't feel so good. I think i'm going to faint." She told him weakly. He jumped off the stage and caught her in his arms just before she fainted.

Part Five

"Wakey Wakey." Jayla heard directly above her. She woke up and saw Chris' smiling face right above her.

    "Chris. What the hell are you doing? And what are you doing here? shouldn't you be on stage?" Jayla asked him confused.

    "Hello, Jay! Look around you, we're all here." Chris told her.

    Jayla sat up slowly and saw Justin, JC, and Joey around her. She was scared, for some reason. She wanted to see Lance and she couldn't see him.

    "Lance! Lance!" She exclaimed anxiously.

   "He's not here, Jayla." JC told her sadly.

    "What? What do you mean, he's not here. well, go get him. i need him!" She shouted angrily.

    "He's gone with her. They cancelled the concert tonight, cuz you fainted, and there is no way we're performing without you there, we'd be worried sick, and not only that we had some technical difficulties with the stage, and the microphones. Your at a hosital by the way. You can go home shortly, we didn't know what was wrong so we took you to a hospital. You have what Justin had, the 24 hour flu bug, and you didn't take anything for it, and you were dehydrated." JC told her, he was standing next to her holding her hand, and talking calmly to her.

     "He's with her?!" She yelled, not paying attention to the rest of the things JC had told her, she knew what was wrong with her from the beginning. "No, JC. I want him here. How could he just leave me like that, he knows how much I hate hospitals." She started to sob. "JC, please do something, I'm so scared." She didn't know what she was scared of though, she knew it was partially the hospital, and the other half was losing Lance.

    JC climbed in the bed with her, and wrapped her in his arms, he just held her while she sobbed. "He's not here Jay, cuz he thought you wouldn't want him here. That's why. He was so torn between what to do, so he went with her instead, he didn't want to upset you by being here. But, it looks like he's already done that huh?"

    She nodded her head sleepily. "Please, take me home Josh, to the hotel or wherever. Just get me the hell outta here."

    Jayla sat up when she heard a door open and close. "Who's there? Who's in my room?" She asked worriedly. She was back in her hotel room. JC had carried her into the hotel, because she had fallen asleep on the way back, and they didn't want to wake her up.

    "What do you mean, your room? This is my room." A deep voice told her. She recognized the voice right away, it was Lance. He flipped on a light and walked over to her.

    "Damn those guys! they put me in Lance' room on purpose!" Jayla thought to herself.

    "Shouldn't you be with her?" Jayla asked Lance with disgust in her voice.

    "I was with her, but now i'm not. It was getting late, so I came back to the room. I'm sorry i wasn't there for you earlier. I didn't think you'd want me there..." Lance broke off, when he saw how angry Jayla was getting.

    "Yeah, right Lance! You don't have to apologize, it's obvious who you care for more. If you want to throw away a best friendship over a two dollar whore, go ahead!" She screamed at him.

    "Woah! Where the hell is this coming from? Why are you so angry, and don't ever call her that! Have I ever called any of your boyfriends names like that? No. So show me the respect, and don't do it!" He finished yelling.

    "Lance, don't tell me what to do! I can say and do whatever i please. Just like you can. You chose to go out with her tonight, instead of staying with me. you went back to her after you knew she cheated on you, so now i'm choosing to tell you how i feel about her and this relationship, I HATE IT! It's stupid of you, where are your values Lance? The ones where you said, you could never go back out with someone who cheated on your love. Where are those, huh?" She asked him, angerily.

    "Jay, don't pull this crap on me. C'mon..you know how i feel about her." Lance said desperately.

    "What about me, Jamie?" desperation seeping through in her voice. "Why did you call me first and tell me about your breakup? Why did you beg me to come and stay with you? Why did you have me sleep with you that night? Why did you jump off the stage when you saw i was in trouble? Why did you get so jealous about me and Justin?"

    When she saw she wasn't going to get any response from him, she spoke. "I think it's time for me to go home now." She said to him looking him directly in the eye.

    "Weah, me too." he told her looking away.

    She brushed past him, before he could see her start to cry. When she left the room, Lance dropped to the floor in sobs. "Oh God! what did i just do? I just told my best friend, the girl that i was in love with to leave. Why did i do that?" He screamed to himself in his mind. He didn't know what to do.

Part Six

    "JC! JC, I need your help, man!" Lance yelled running into JC's room.

    "Jesus, Lance what's going on?" JC asked with worry in his voice.

    "Jayla is leaving tomorow, she said 'maybe it's time for me to go home', and i told her yes. God! i told her to go home, JC what am i going to do? I can't let her go home. i love her. Help me JC!" Lance shouted shaking JC by the shoulders, causing him to fall out of his chair.

    "Lance! Get ahold of yourself! Damn! Why don't you just walk over to her room, and talk to her, tell her your feelings. It's only oh about 4 in the morning. She's not even asleep, i can guarentee that, she's probably crying her eyes out, over how stupid you've been." JC told him vehemently.

    "Excuse me?" Lance asked irritabely.

    "Lance you have been the biggest jack ass. If you haven't seen how much she loves you, how she looks at you, then you're about as sharp as a box of marbles. She loves you too man. Let me ask you this, when did you realize you loved her?" JC asked him incredously.

    "I'll explain later." Lance shouted over his shoulder running out of the room.

    He knocked on Jayla's door, and when she wouldn't answer it, he let himself in with the key.

    "Jayla, what are you doing?" He asked her.

    "I'm packing, you idiot, what does it look like?" She snapped at him. "My plane leaves at 10 am. I'll be gone before any of you wake up. At least that's what I thought, untill you showed up. Leave Lance, just leave. You've said enough, I don't need you here to make me feel any worse."

    "Jayla, stop. Jayla, stop!" He yelled at her to stop packing and to listen to him. She didn't stop, she just ignored him, and continued packing. He walked over to her, and pulled the clothes out of her hand, and grabbed her by her arms. "Listen to me, please, Jay. I am begging you." He pleaded with her.

    "No! I don't want to listen anymore! I don't want to talk, i don't want to hear, i don't want you to touch me, i don't want to be here anymore! Just....leave...me....ALONE!!!!!!!!!!" She ended in a sob filled scream. "No! Don't touch me, don't touch me!" She screamed at him again, when Lance tried hugging her. But, she couldn't fight him anymore, and she collapsed in his arms, sobbs racking her body.

    "Jamie...God..." She couldn't even say anything, because she was crying so hard. He couldn't hold it in anymore, seeing her this upset tore him apart, and he started to cry too. She pulled herself out of his arms, when she heard him crying. 

   "Just stop! You have no reason to be crying! Why are you crying? Your not the one who got hurt, you weren't told to forget about me, to stop being a best friend for once, you weren't left alone in a hospital, in someplace, the one place, you hate. you weren't left alone terrified. you weren't left alone for a day and a half with 4 guys, and the one guy you trully wanted to be there, was out with some girl who doesn't love him anymore. Lance, look at me, look at what's right in front of you. Love! I'm right here, loving you with everything I have, and you don't even see it." She couldn't stand to be there anymore, and she ran out of the room in tears. Lance sat in the floor, stunned. He wanted to run after her so bad, but his legs couldn't move.

    Jayla didn't know who was staying in which room, but she just ran straight across the hallway, and banged on the door. "Let me in! Please, hurry!" She cried.
    The door flew open, and Justin stuck his tousled head out the door. "Jay Jay, what is wrong?" He asked her taking her into his arms.

    "Please, can I stay with you tonight?" She asked him pleadingly.

    "Yes, of course you can. What happened?" He questioned her, but then stopped when he saw the look on her face. "Okay, we don't have to talk, we'll just sleep." He held her hand as they walked to the bed. He climbed in next to her, and just held her in his arms. Ocassionally she would let a sob out, and he couldn't do anything but just wipe the tears away.

Part Seven:

"Get up Justin! Get up!" Jayla yelled at Justin. She could barely open her eyes to see, they were almost swollen shut from crying so much. "What time is it, Justin? I can't see."

    "Oops, Jay Jay, i really hate to tell you this, but it's 9:30, there is no way you'd make your flight. We overslept." He told her secretely happy. He wanted to see Lance and her get together so bad.

    "Damnit, Justin. I see that we overslept, thanks though for the information. I'll store it in my YOUR A JACK ASS data base." She shouted.

    "Hey, hey. Don't you get mad at me, just because you want to go home. It's not my fault, well it kinda is, cuz i didnt set the alarm, but i want you and lance to hook up, sue me for not setting it." He ended laughing, pulling her into a hug.

    "Your such a jerk!" She said laughing. "Okay, not really. Where are you going?" She asked him, as he got up and changed in the bathroom.

    "I'm going to the store around the corner to get you some cucumbers." He told her, as he came out of the bathroom with eye drops and a cold washclothe.   

"Why?" she asked him suspiouscly.   

"My momma told me that when a girls' eyes get like this, they need cucumbers, i figured you knew why. Don't laugh at me. Here, let me put these eyedrops in your eyes, and keep this washclothe over them." He told her giving her directions.

    She stopped laughing at him, and opened her eyes. "Thankyou Dr. Feelgood." She started laughing again, when he swatted her hand away from his butt.

    "Hey! No hands on experiments. Why are you so damn happy all of a sudden?" He asked her.

    "I don't know. I had this dream last night, I don't remember what it was about, but all I know is it was good. It gave me hope, I woke up feeling like everything was going to be okay." She told him happily.

    "Go to sleep JayJay." He told her laughing, as he pushed her back down to the bed.

    About 15 minutes later, he came in the room and place the cucumbers on her eyes, as she instructed him.

    "I'm going to breakfast, do you wanna come?" He asked her.

    "Nah, I'm going to skip breakfast, I'll just eat something later. Hey, Jus? Thankyou for everything." She told him tiredly.

    "Your welcome, like you even have to thank me." He told her with care in his voice.

    She pulled him in for a kiss just as Lance walked in the room. He caught them in mid-kiss.

    "What the hell?!" He yelled, startling them both.

    "Lance, come here. We need to talk. Justin, I'll see you later, k? Thanks again." Jayla said, taking charge of the situation. She waited untill Justin left the room. "Come here Jamie, let me explain something to you about me and Justin. That was not a kiss kiss, it was a brother and sister kiss, you just happened to walk in, in the middle of it. I don't feel that way for him, I never will. I was thanking him for being there for me last night, and these past couple of days, so i kissed him, the way you kiss Stacey, okay?" she explained to him patiently.

    He nodded his head, and sat down to talk to her.

    "JayJay, now it's my turn to explain some things to you. The other night when I went with her to dinner, I made a big mistake, probably the biggest mistake of my life. The minute we sat down together, she started telling me how she wanted to be friends and then she started asking me all these questions about the group and you and me, and future record deals, it was weird, so I finally asked her what was going on. She explained to me, that this newspaper had given her a lot of money to find dirt on me, so I told her that Justin was an alien, and Joey's hair dye had effected his mind, and that JC was going back to the MMC, and I was not really from the south, i was from Japan. I told her that Chris was actually 75 years old. Then she actually asked me to introduce her to Nick Carter. What an airhead! So I politely told her where to go, and if she ever laughed at you again, I would personally see to it, that she never flips her hair over her shoulder again. What was I thinking? I'm so sorry Jay, so sorry. These past few days, I realized that i was in love with someone else, and I made some pretty bad decisions about
that someone else. I'm going to leave for a few minutes to apologize to her, and i'll come back and we'll continue talking okay?" He asked her after he was finished.
    She was so speechless that he was actually telling her he was in love with somebody else, all she could do was nod her head. Lance left the room and exactly two minutes later, she heard a knock at the door. She got up to answer it, and saw Lance on his knees.

    "Lance what are you doing?" She asked, looking down at him.

    "Jayla, please let me talk first. See, I met this beautiful girl a very long time ago, and I fell in love with her immidiately, only I didn't realize it untill recentely. She amazes me everyday, I can stare into her beautiful blue green eyes all day, and when i hold her in my arms, i never want to let go. She inspires me everyday of my life, and she knows me inside and out. She is my other half, my soul. without her i can not breathe. I made some pretty bad mistakes these past couple of days, and I have no explanations for why I did it, all i can do is tell her 'i love her' and that 'i'm sorry.' so, I'm here to say..." Lance took her hand in his. "i'm so so sorry for everything I did to hurt you in the past couple of days, and that I love you Jayla, so much. so much." he repeated.

    "Woohoo!!!" Jayla shouted!

    "I take that as you forgive me?" He asked her laughing.

    "Oh yeah! JC, Justin, Chris, and Joey! You can come out of that room your hiding in, and watch the rest. don't deny it, I see a sliver of Joey's red hair." She instructed laughing.

    "What else is there to watch?" Lance asked her.

    "Oh just this." She told him pulling him off the ground. "I love you Jamie everyday." She told him, pulling him close to her.

    "I like where this is going." Chris said to the others.

    "Chris!" everyone yelled, he was ruining the moment.

    "Chris, Go eat soap and chocolate ice cream!" joey yelled smacking him in the forehead. JC snorted on his coffee, from laughing so hard.

    Jayla and Lance just shook their heads, as they met in a kiss. Lance had one hand resting softly on the side of her face, and the other wrapped around her back. She had her hands behind his head, playing with his soft hair. After a few minutes, they broke apart, both breathless.

    "Wow." Jayla whispered.

    "That's what I'm screamin!" Lance said laughing.

    She knew that everything would be okay when she woke up. Lance and her would be together forever, she knew, he knew it, and the rest of the guys knew it too.