I spent the day after the scene at the mall wallowing away in my pajamas. I had eaten a carton of cookies and cream ice cream while watching cartoons and old I Love Lucy episodes. I would have spent the entire day doing the same if it wasn't for Alex coming over to cheer me up.
"Lizzy, you look like death."
"Oh thanks."
"Honey, it's four in the afternoon, and you're still in your pj's."
"I know."
"Have you talked to Scott?"
"Not since yesterday. It was so horrible. He just wouldn't listen to me."
"Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Why is this happening to me?" I whined. "Why did he have to walk by at that exact moment?"
"I don't know, but it would have happened sooner or later. You said so yourself, you were going to break up with him."
"Yes, but it would have been calmer, and we would still be friends, but now he hates me. Everybody hates me."
"You know that's not true."
"It feels like it though."
"Come on, sweets. You need to get some fresh air. Let's go for a walk."
"Okay," I said reluctantly, dragging myself towards the stairs. "I'll go get dressed."
A few minutes later I had put some clean clothes on and pulled a comb through my hair. Alex and I walked up and down the streets of my neighborhood mostly in silence. Every now and then we would chat about our date that was coming up at the end of the week or our plans for the two weeks we were going to be spending in New York City.
"We also have to go to FAO Swartz. You gotta love big toy stores."
"Yeah," I smiled. "That would be..." I let my voice trail off as my eyes fell onto a dark green jeep.
"What?" Alex asked. She followed my gaze to Scott's car. In our two hours of walking we had managed to find our way to his street. I would have been okay if he wasn't in his car, his lips connected to some unfamiliar blonde's. "Oh, Elizabeth..."
"It's only been a day," I said quietly. "It's only been twenty-four hours." I felt a lump rise in my throat as I stared at my ex-boyfriend's exhibition. "How could he do this?"
"Come on. We'll just go the other way," Alex said, trying to lead me away.
As I stood there, my feet unwilling to move, Scott looked up and saw me. He flashed me a smile and shrugged before going back for more.
I pulled my UCF sweatshirt tightly around me as my emotions began to get the best of me. I turned and began running away as fast as my legs would allow.
Alex, however, had a different plan in mind. She marched up to Scott's car and swung the passenger's side door open. "Get out."
"Um, like, excuse me."
"Oh, I guess you didn't hear me. I said to get out. Move it, blondie." She pulled her out of the car before taking her seat. "Drive, Scott."
Knowing better than to disagree, he put his foot on the gas and sped away. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked.
"I should ask you the same thing. How much did you pay for that?"
"Missy? I didn't pay for her. She's just an old friend helping me deal with my grief."
"Damn it, Scott. You broke up with Elizabeth yesterday."
"Oh no. I didn't break up with her. She broke up with me," he said as his grip tightened around the wheel. "She's the one who wanted to end it."
"No she wasn't."
"You weren't there, Alex. You ran off with Nate. She was gonna end our relationship; I just decided she was probably right."
"You wouldn't let her talk, would you?" He drove silently. "You wouldn't let her explain."
"What is there to explain?"
"How brain dead can you be?"
"Listen, this is between Liz and me. She was my girlfriend, and I know how to read her. She has other interests. If she wants to go screw one of the `NSYNC fags, Heaven forbid I get in her way."
"Beware of the fucking green eyed monster, Scott."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"She told me you were jealous of the date, but I didn't think it would effect you like this. First of all, you know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the two of us. We have been given the chance to meet our favorite group. Imagine winning a trip to spend the day with Our Lady Peace. That's what it's like for us. Second, when she was talking about breaking up with you before she left, she was talking about before college. That's not for two months, and it wasn't going to be for the reasons you probably thought. You need to learn how to read your girlfriend a whole hell of a lot better."
"It was going to end no matter what. That's the point. It's over now. That's all there is to it. I saved myself a lot of heartache in the long run. Elizabeth and I are done with each other."
"Stop the car, Scott." He pulled up to the curb, ready for this conversation to be over. Alex climbed out quickly. "One of these days you're going to pull your head out of your ass and realize what you've done." With that, she slammed the door and stormed away. -
"Hurry up, Alex! We don't wanna miss our flight," I yelled, looking down at my watch.
"Just let me say bye to my mom!" she called down to me from upstairs. A moment later she appeared holding two huge bags.
"Holy Jesus! What did you pack?"
"Nothing really," she said as she reached the floor, dropping them with a thud. "I began with only the essentials. And then I figured this was me and you we were talking about, so we'll probably stay in half the time we're there out of sheer boredom. That's when I packed a bunch of quality reading material."
"Cheesy love stories?"
"Exactly."
"Okay," I laughed. "Now let's go to NYC, baby!"
On the way to the airport we had the windows of my truck rolled down and "I Want You Back" blaring for the speakers. When people stared at us for singing along at the top of our lungs we yelled over to them "We're meeting `NSYNC tomorrow!"
"Oh, Alex," I giggled as two little girls in a van next to us gave us the thumbs up sign. "Justin is so going to love you in that dress."
"I can see it now," she agreed. "He'll fall so head over heals in love with me that he'll whisk me off my feet, and we'll drive into the sun set in `da benz.'"
"That boy is so ghetto."
"No, he's beautiful," she sighed. "I'm sure Nate won't mind if anything were to happen either. After all, I am Justin's dream girl."
"Of course you are," I smiled to her. It was almost a tradition for the two of us. Whenever Alex got down, I would tell her that she was Justin's dream girl. Miraculously, her mood would improve.
"And when Lance sets his gorgeous green eyes on you, he'll completely forget that he's from Mississippi."
"Impossible."
"True, but I'm sure he'll be speechless."
"It would be nice," I said stiffly. "I'm so glad I finally found a dress."
"Yesterday."
"That's not my fault. I've been preoccupied lately."
"Thinkin' about..."
"Alex, don't." I turned the volume on the CD louder as we continued driving to the Detroit Metro Airport. I was determined to drown out all pestering thoughts of Scott. I was not going to let him ruin my vacation.
"Hurry up, you guys! We're gonna be late," JC called from the hallway of our hotel.
I closed my door behind me and joined him. "Look good?" I asked.
"Yeah, but your tie's a little crooked," he said, barely looking up from his watch. I began clawing at my neck, attempting to straighten it.
"Why do you care so much? I thought she had a boyfriend," a voice said from behind me.
"Justin, don't start," I begged. For the past week all he had done was bug me about Elizabeth. He even called me in Mississippi to remind me how much she `wanted me'- four times. Now that we had gotten to New York it had gotten twenty times worse.
"Chris! Joey! Come on!" JC yelled again, eyes still glued to his wrist. "We're going to be so late," he mumbled.
"I'm driving," Justin said, pulling his keys out proudly. "We won't be that late."
"Jay, we're in New York. You can't go 95 down the streets like you do at home."
"I know."
"We're ready now," Joey said as he and Chris came out of their rooms.
"Bout time," JC said under his breath. The five of us began walking to the elevator quickly.
"Wait," I stopped before getting in. "Who has Elizabeth's flowers?"
"I thought you had `em," Chris whined, staring at me.
"I gave them to you after we got back from the flower shop."
"Fine! I'll go get the flowers." He turned out of the open elevator and ran down the hallway.
"This is ridiculous," JC sighed. "They win a date with us, and we don't even have the decency to show up on time."
"Got `em," Chris said, handing me a bouquet of two dozen light purple roses and collapsing on the floor.
"All ready?" Justin asked, jingling his keys. We nodded. "Aight. Let's go take Lance to meet his sweet lady."
"Oh God," I prayed. "Please let this night go smoothly." -
When we arrived at the restaurant we were a half an hour late. We walked through the back entrance where a man in a suit was waiting patiently for us.
"We're so sorry for being late," I apologized. "So many things happened, and parking was insanity. Justin had insist..."
"Don't blame it all on me. I'm not the one who trusted Chris with the flowers."
I was about to reply when the man laughed. "It's okay. They've only been here for about ten minutes. I'll show you where they are." We were led down a hall to the doorway of a room. "Okay, the girls are waiting in there, and we'll all be around if you need anything. The Teen People photographer should be in shortly."
"Thanks."
We were left alone then. The five of us stood there staring at one another, unsure of what to do next.
"Lance, you go in first." Chris pushed me into the doorway where I stopped dead in my tracks as my eyes fell immediately to one of the girls. I could feel my heart beating faster as I took her in. There seemed to be a glow about her as she smiled and a twinkle in her eyes. She was beautiful. Immediately I knew it was Elizabeth.
"Go in already!" I stumbled into the room as I snapped out of my daze.
"Oh my God!" They jumped up from their seats. "We didn't notice you come in."
"It wasn't a spectacular entrance. Lance was blocking the door."
"I was..."
"Blocking the door," Justin finished. "Anyways, I'm Justin. It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," a short red head said, pushing herself in front of her friend. "I'm Alex, Elizabeth's guest."
"Hi," Justin said quietly, taking her hand and shaking it lightly.
"Hey, I have an idea," Joey said a moment later when the small room had fallen to silence. "How about we stop standing here, staring at each other, and let's eat. I'm starved!"
"You're always hungry," JC said.
"There's nothing wrong with that." The seven of us sat down around a round table that was adorned with a few large white candles and a vase containing red roses.
I looked across to see that Chris had given Elizabeth her flowers, and she was thanking him politely. She turned to find me looking at her and a shy smile came to her lips as she began to blush lightly. I was definitely going to enjoy this evening.