The entire walk to the tree was in complete silence, and we were a pretty sorry bunch too. Justin was incredibly aggravated that Drew had invited her self and that I didn’t stop her. I was sure that he wouldn’t understand the reasons for me doing so either. Drew was completely suspicious of Justin and me, which she had every right to be. And I was totally confused about everything that was happening and of all the thoughts and feelings that were swirling around inside of me. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful night out. It would have been extremely romantic if Drew wasn’t basically on top of Justin, making me feel even worse.
“So, uh, Lili,” Drew began, breaking the silence that had fallen between us, “what did you and Lance do when you got back?”
“He made me some tea, and we talked a bit. Then I fell asleep.”
“Yeah, in his lap,” mumbled Justin.
“What did you say?” I asked.
“Yeah, during Titanic,” he smiled. “How can you fall asleep during that one? I love that movie.”
“I’ve seen it so many times already. It gets kind of old.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“No.”
“And that’s why she likes Lance,” Drew said.
What did she just say? In front of Justin? I looked over at Justin who seemed like he was off on another planet. “What are you talking about, Drew?”
“That’s why you like Lance. I mean, a relationship between you and Justin would never last. You guys have nothing in common.”
“That’s not true. You would be surprised. We have a lot in common.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
“But that doesn’t matter cause you and Lance have tons in common.”
“Can I talk to you for a second over there?” I asked, pointing a few feet away from the tree.
“Sure.”
“Justin, we’ll be right back.”
“Huh?” He snapped out of his daze and looked at me.
“Be right back.”
“Oh, okay.” I grabbed Drew’s hand and pulled her away from him.
“Why do you keep bringing up Lance?” I hissed at her.
“What are you talking about?”
“‘That’s why you like Lance,’ ‘You and Lance have tons in common.’ Come on, it’s kind of uncomfortable to have you talk about how much I like Lance in front of Justin. Would you mind shutting up?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you,” I sighed.
“But only if you tell me something.”
“Anything.”
“Okay. What’s going on between you and Justin?”
Anything but that. What was I supposed to say? ‘Yeah, your future husband and me got this thing between us. I think he’s great. Blah… blah… blah…’ I don’t think so.
“Well?” she asked, staring at me. I was taking too long to answer.
“W-what makes you think that there’s anything going on between Justin and me?”
“Oh, just some little things, like how he helped you slam dunk with a ‘hurt’ arm, how you were sitting on his lap on the bus, and how you’ve been awfully jumpy today.”
Bingo, bingo, bingo. I was hoping it wasn’t that obvious. “Drew…”
“What’s going on between you two?” she said, a hurt tone in her voice.
“Absolutely nothing,” I lied, feeling ashamed as the words left my mouth. “You said it yourself, a relationship between Justin and me would never work. Besides, I could never do that to you.” I bit my tongue. Things were too deep already to tell Drew the truth, and she would absolutely flip. Granted Justin and I hadn’t done anything, but there was an attraction there that was hard to deny.
“Explain those mishaps to me then.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath. How was I going to pull this one off? “It’s all in your imagination. The slam dunk thing, he only had me up for a few seconds, and earlier we were all joking around about this one movie that was on, and that happened. It was so cheesy. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was silly. Then on the bus, I tripped over all the stuff on the floor…”
“What stuff?”
“You didn’t see it?” She shook her head. “Well, that was because you were a bit distracted if you know what I mean. I know that looked horrible, but don’t worry, nobody got hurt. And me being jumpy, well, who wouldn’t be a little jumpy? ‘N Sync is at my house. I think I have a right to be jumpy.” I pause and looked at her. “See, no need to worry.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “I’m sorry, Lil. I guess it was all in my head. For God’s sakes, you and Justin? Ha!”
“Yeah, it is pretty silly,” I sighed.
“That would never happen.”
“Never.”
“Not in a million years.”
“Not in a million and one either,” I mumbled. Bitterness was growing inside me that she didn’t think I could get a guy like Justin. Obviously it wasn’t that ridiculous if it was happening.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“I won’t talk about Lance anymore.”
“Kay.”
“Well, I’m going to head back to your house cause it’s so damn cold, you know. And I have nothing to worry about, so I can now.”
“Right.”
“Bye, Justin,” she smiled sweetly to him as she walked away. When she was out of sight, I walked back over to the tree where Justin was and sat down on the branch where we had put a blanket.
“How’d you get her to go away?” he asked, staring in the direction she had left.
“Magic.”
He pulled me into him, wrapping his warm arms around me. “Well, I’m glad you did.”
“Yeah, me too,” I sighed. “Now, what is it that you wanted to talk about?”
“First, I wanna say sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything.”
“Not true.”
“What did you do?”
“When we got back from playing ball, I was horrible, jealous, mean, angry…”
“Justin, what did you do?”
“I-I almost kicked the crap out of Lance because I thought he was, well, I thought you liked him and not me.”
I jumped up quickly. “You what?”
“I didn’t touch him. I was about to when the guys pulled me off of him, but just the thought that you didn’t like...” He let my voice trail off.
“What?”
“Just the thought that you didn’t like me and that all these feelings were one sided drove me crazy.”
“You were about to beat up your best friend because of me?”
“I feel like a moron now cause I know nothing’s going on, right?” He looked up at me quickly.
“No. I like you. A lot.” I took his hand. “Almost too much.”
“Too much? I didn’t know that was possible.”
“Trust me, it is.”
“Does that mean I’m forgiven?”
“I have a feeling that you would make it very hard for me not to forgive you, so of course I do. I mean, it may sound silly, but I have to deal with knowing that I finally met someone who’s... Well, I’m not going to see you for months and months. How do you expect me to deal with that?”
“Come with me!” he said, jumping up excitedly.
“What?”
“You have two weeks off from school. When we leave tomorrow, come with us. It would be so much fun.”
“But what about Christmas and New Years?”
“You could spend it with the guys and me.”
“Away from home?”
“Well, you said last night that your mom had to work, and your brother’s going to be at college.”
“You don’t think the guys would mind?”
“No way. They love you.”
“I’ve only known you guys for two days, not even.”
“But I want to get to know you even more. Lili, come on. Don’t you want to come?”
“Of course, but do you have room on the bus, and would I be imposing on your Christmas plans?”
“Why are you worrying so much? You can hang out with me for the next two weeks. Plus you’ll be able to see a concert now. I really want you to come.” He looked down at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes in the world. “Please, Lili.”
Spending two weeks with ‘N Sync? My mind was reeling. This would be my dream come true, but what would Drew think if I took off for two weeks via an invitation from Justin? She wouldn’t be too pleased. Unless…
“Okay.”
“Okay!”
“Wait, I will under two conditions.”
“Two?”
“Yeah.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard.”
“First, you have to make sure it is okay with all the guys.”
“No problem.”
“Second, Drew has to be able to come too.”
“What?!?”
“You must be crazy.”
“I didn’t think it was that far out there.”
“Justin, you want some girl that you’ve only known for, like, 24 hours to come on the road with us for two weeks.” It was almost midnight, and the five of us were sitting in our bunks waiting for sleep to fall upon us. Things were calm, so I guessed it would be a good time to propose Lili coming with us. So far their reaction was far from what I expected.
“Guys, come on, won’t you do this for me? I really, really like her. And it’s not like she’s just some psycho we picked up off the side of the road…”
“Just the gas station.”
“She’s let us live in her driveway for two nights. Besides, we have two extra bunks.”
“Why would she need two?” Joey asked.
“Drew would be coming.”
“Ah man!” they moaned.
“Justin, you don’t even like Drew,” Lance pointed out.
“I know, but…” How was I going to explain this? “Guys, please. How often do I ask you for favors? Never, right?” They nodded. “Well, I don’t want to say good bye to her yet. And I know it sounds crazy, but you guys all like her.”
“We see where you’re coming from on this whole Lili thing, but Drew?” JC said.
“That’s the only way I could get her to agree. That, and I had to make sure it was okay with all of you. Lance, you don’t mind?”
“No, go for it, man. She’s a great girl,” he said solemnly.
“Joey, we’ll have two females on the bus. I know you like that.”
“Oh God yes.”
“But Lili’s off limits.”
“That’s okay, man. Have you seen Drew. She is gorgeous.”
“It’s also illegal, Joey,” JC reminded him.
“I know.”
“Chris, more victims for practical jokes.”
“Fresh meat!” Three down one to go.
“JC?”
“I don’t know, man.”
“Come on.”
“It’s gonna be harder to say good bye in two weeks than it is now.”
“I know but…” I paused, trying to get my thoughts in order. “JC, I’ve know you the longest. Have I ever been like this before?”
“It’s true, I’ve never seen you this crazy over a girl this quick, but I’m still kind of weary.”
“Please.”
“Fine. It’s okay with me. Just don‘t let yourself get distracted, man, or you‘ll be hearing from Johnny.”
“Oh, thank you guys so much. I owe you all big time.”
“Go to sleep, Justin.” -
“You almost ready?” I asked Drew.
“One second,” she called down to me. I was waiting for her in her living room. The guys sent me to pick her up basically because nobody else wanted to, and Lili had to do something this morning. We were supposed to be leaving in a little over an hour, but at the rate she was moving, that was nearly impossible.
“Drew, we’re kinda on a schedule today.”
“I know,” she said, appearing at the top of the stairs. “I’m ready now.” She tossed two duffel bags down the stairs to my feet.
“Do you have everything?”
“Wait, one second. I have two more.”
“Two more?”
“Yeah, that’s not too much is it,” she paused, holding the bags.
“Um, well, do you have a sleeping bag and pillow for the bus?”
“That’s in the red one.” She pointed.
“That should be fine. We’ll find somewhere to put ‘em,” I sighed, avoiding an argument and wanting get on the road.
“Well, I have my back pack too, but I’m not going to throw it down cause it has books for school and Lili’s Christmas present.”
“Okay, whatever.”
“We can leave now.” She came down the stairs and handing me two bags.
“Don’t you wanna say good bye to your parents?”
“No, they’re both at work.”
“Do they know your leaving?”
“I told my mom’s secretary.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“You do know we will be gone for Christmas, don’t you?”
“That’s why I have Lili’s gift.”
“Do you want to leave a note?”
“No, Justin. It’s okay. They don’t care. Let’s just leave.” She pushed me out of the door.
“Sorry.” We climbed into Mrs. Stevenson’s van and started heading back to Lili’s. Unfortunately, there was tension in the air.
“So, uh, what did you get Lili for Christmas?” I asked.
“I’m not telling you,” she laughed.
“Why not?”
“You could tell her.”
“I’m very good at keeping secrets.”
“Okay, promise you won’t tell her?”
“Cross my heart.”
“I got her a journal.”
“A journal?”
“Yup.”
“Does she keep a journal?”
“Does she keep a journal? My God, does she keep a journal. She writes in it every night without fail. It’s crazy. And she’s a great writer also. She wants to be a journalist.”
“I know.”
“How do you know?”
“She told me the first night we were here.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It was me and her, and Lance for awhile. We stayed up till, like, five just talking. It was pretty cool.”
“H-how long was Lance there?” She looked at me curiously.
“Um, he went to bed around 2:15.”
“Oh.”
“Question?”
“Yeah?”
“Is it true that she hasn’t had a date in two months?”
“Yup, she’s really busy with the school newspaper.”
“That’s what she said.”
“Don’t tell me you asked her!”
“Well, she asked me first,” I defended myself.
“I can’t believe you asked her that.”
“What? It’s not that bad. We were sitting there in the snow…”
“Why were you in the snow?”
“We were all having that big snowball fight, and I captured her when she was making a snow angel, and she wouldn’t surrender…” The look on Drew’s face made it seem like Lili hadn’t told her friend any of this. There must have been a reason for it, so I didn’t want to be the one to give out any details. “It just came up.”
She didn’t say anything after that, and the uneasiness returned. Luckily, we had reached Lili’s house. I got out of the car almost as quickly as the day before. Hopefully, I didn’t insult Drew, but it was way too uncomfortable in there. I had to get out.
Lili was standing on her front porch with a suitcase on one side of her, a rolled up sleeping bag on the other. She was biting her lower lip and seemed extremely worried.
“Lili?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, stepping behind her. I began to rub her back. It was extremely tight, and I could feel the knots in her shoulders as I touched her.
“Nothing,” she said, taking a step forward away from me. “I’m just thinking.”
“Oh.” I let my hands drop to my side.
She turned around to look at me. “You want me to come, right?”
“You do remember me practically begging you to come, don’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Let me show you where you shall be sleeping.” When I reached out for her hand she quickly picked up her bags. I dropped my hand again and looked at her confused. I was expecting her to be happier that she was coming with me.
“Drew, come on. Let’s get our bunks,” she called over to her friend. Drew ran over to us.
“This is so cool,” she smiled. “Where are we going tonight?”
“Um, I really don’t remember. I’d have to check the schedule.”
“Oh.”
“But I’m glad somebody’s excited.”