Chapter 27
Her eyes stayed in focus with hers the whole time. She could see a plea in them.
"I'd have to think about that, Justin...", she said steadily and when she saw his face drop she continued,
"YES!" A huge grin overtook the pleading eyes and he leaned over to kiss her. "Thank you" She grinned. "No, thank you!" When they arrived home, the house looked dark and empty. She opened the door and 20 people jumped out from nowhere yelling, "SURPRISE!" Skye screamed and covered her face with her hand in embarrasment. Through the crowd, Michael came running toward her and grabbed a hold of her leg yelling, "Mommy! Mommy!" She picked him up and kissed him on the forehead. "Hey sweetie! Mommy & Daddy missed you!" Meghan gestured toward Justin, who grinned and nodded. Meg returned the expression. She walked up to Skye and said, "Happy Birthday, Skye. I got you something. With JC's help." Skye's eyebrows raised and she started to say "Oh Meg you shouldn't ha--" Meg interuppted by yelling, "Come on out!" From the shadows emerged Ben Affleck. Skye nearly screamed. "Oh My God! That's Ben Affleck! Ahh! I love him!", she grinned. "Thank you Meghan!" "I'm not done yet. Guys, come on out!" Next came Mike Lieberthal from the Philadelphia Phillies, Skye's favorite baseball player & John LeClair of the Philadelphia Flyers, her favorite hockey player. Skye was in shock. "And last, but certainly not least, these guys were the hardest to get, but we got them anyway, say hi to...Hanson!" Skye's eyes got wide and she covered her mouth to keep from flipping out. Hanson was her favorite band of all-time, besides *NSYNC, and she watched in awe as they harmonized their rendition of the Happy Birthday song. When the finished, Skye ran over to them and gave them a hug & a kiss. "Thank you!" "No problem!", they said in unison. Then she turned to Meghan and grinned, "Meg, you're too much! Leave it to you and I have the best birthday of my life." "Hey no problem, but you should really be thanking JC...he's the one with the connections." She found him in the kitchen, chugging a beer. "Enjoying that, JC?" He looked over towards the door in surprise. "Haha, hey Skye. Happy Birthday!" She laughed. "Thanks! How did you get all those stars to come?" "I got Mike Lieberthal through Justin's uncle and John LeClair from there...Hanson, I had to do some begging to Mercury Records, and Ben Affleck I just called up. But I've been wondering, what's with all the Philadelphia teams? Shouldn't you be a Flordia fan?" "Haha. I grew up in Philadelphia. I love it there, so I've always been a big Flyers and Phillies fan." "Right. Cool.", he answered, taking a last swig of his beer before tossing the bottle into the can. "Well, thank you!" He nodded, licking his lips. The party continued smoothly and Justin announced Skye & his' engagement, which was followed by cheering and applause. People started to leave around midnight, and Meg started to clean up. Around 9:30, when the party was still in full-swing, Justin had retreated upstairs to put Michael to sleep and was now doing the dishes. JC practically fell down the stairs, staggered into the den where Meg was and flopped onto the couch. "Hey babe!" Meghan glanced over at him and did a double-take. "JC, have you been drinking?" "What? Haha...", he burped. "Uh, no..." She shook her head and smacked him hard on the side of his skull. "You're loaded JC." He burped again and said in a slurred speech, "Babe, the only thing I'm loaded on is you." "What the HELL is wrong with you JC!? There is nothing nutritional in beer. And of all places you get drunk at Skye's party! Sometimes, you're such an ass!" Burping and rubbing his eyes he mumbled, "No way honey, there is 1.3 grams of protein in every bottle of Budweiser beer. I got a lot of protein out of that...protein is good for you, babe. And", burp, "who says I'm drunk? I never get drunk. I'm perfectly fine...", JC trailed off and fell off the couch, toppling to the floor, moaning. "JC! How many god damn bottles of beer did you have!?!" "Uh...6...no...I think like, maybe 10...yeah, I had 10." "10 BEERS! JC, GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE NOW!", Meghann yelled, secretly taking his car keys out of his pocket. "Damn, this already happened with Skye.", she thought. JC lay motionless on the floor and so Meghan grabbed him by the shirt, which smelt of alchohol, dragged him outside to the porch and slammed the door in his face. He woke up 5 minutes later, shivering. His head was spinning, heart pounding and when he stood up he almost fell over. "What the fuck?" He knocked on the door and got no answer. He staggered down the street, rocking back and forth from dizziness. He was only at the neighbor's house when he stumbled into a prickly bush. "Aww shit!", he yelled in pain, speech still slurred. Without thinking, he tumbled onto the middle of the street. An Explorer driving a few miles over the speed limit noticed him a few minutes too late, honked the horn and slammed the brakes, which only made the tires skid and swerve. JC, thinking the car was honking to say hello, waved and stuttered, "Yo man!!" The headlights blinded him and the last thing you heard was a painful scream. _________________________________________________________ Meghan sunk down at the back of the front door and broke down in tears as soon as she slammed it in JC's face. She thought of opening it up again to let him in but went against the urge. "No. He needs to know that I won't tolerate him drinking. 10 beers!? Amazing.", she had thought to herself. Soon, Skye emerged from the kitchen to where Meg was crying. "What's wrong?", she asked. When Meghan looked up, she did yet another double-take. "Skye! What are you drinking??" It was a beer. "Is that a beer?" "Yeah...why?" "WHY?! YOU'RE UNDER-AGE!" "Aw Meg, it's my birthday. Don't start with me." "Oh no. Honey, you don't even understand.", she chuckled. "Don't YOU start with ME. I just went through this with JC, who's drunk as a dog.", she finished and grabbed the can out of Skye's hand. Skye didn't protest this time. She was too happy about her and Justin. "Where is JC anyway?" Without saying anything, she opened the door and pointed. Skye shrugged. "What? There's nothing there." Meg's head spunaround and her eyes became frozen with fear. "Oh my God, Skye! He's so drunk! He's gonna get killed! Skye, I can't loose him!!" Meg was panicking. She screamed "JC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" out the door, but got no response. Skye tried to comfort her, "He's probably just walking around, he'll be fine...", she trailed off when she heard Justin calling her. "Skye? Meghan? Come here! Quick!" They both ran upstairs to where Justin was folding laundry while watching the news. "Um, is JC still here?" "No, he was out on the porch and now he's gone! And he's gonna get killed because he's so drunk! It's all my fault!!", Meg cried. Justin pointed to the screen. "You're right, but it's not your fault." Meghan screamed and started to shake uncontrollably. Justin drove Meg to the hospital while Skye stayed home with the baby. As said on the news, JC had been hit by a car. _____________________________________________________ Days passed and 2 days after the accident, JC had since returned sober and was talking to Meg, still lying in the hospital bed. "Meghan, I'm sorry. This accident made me realize how stupid it was to drink. I almost lost my life...twice in a row. Once, when you kicked me put, I thought I had lost you, and I can't afford to loose you. I love you too much. And twice, when the car hit me. Don't think it's your fault, it's not. It's mine. I hope you'll forgive me. I love you.", he apologized taking her hand. She nodded and kissed his forehead. "I forgive you." (Luckily, the accident was minor and had only cost JC the sprain of his arm and horrendous scratches throughout his body.) He left the hospital that night. Chapter 28: TWO YEARS LATER "Meghan, we have a complex.", Skye said to her sister late at night on March 29. "And what would that be?" They were talking about Skye's wedding. Planning was running behind and the big day was approaching them fast. It was set to take place on April 4. "Since dad and granddaddy are both dead, who's gonna be the lucky man to give me away?" Meg's eyebrows raised and answered, "Good question. What's JC doin'?" "best man" "Oh. lance...no not Lance...How about Chris? He's one of Justin's best friends." Skye smiled. "Great idea. I'll call him tomorrow." Chris picked up the phone after the 2nd ring. "Chris here." "Hey Chris, what's up man?" "Hey Skye. Nothing much. What about you? Big day's coming up." Skye laughed. "Yes it is and I need your help!" "My help!? Moi?" "Yep." "Ok...whadda ya need babe?" "Well...ok since your one of Justin's best friends--" Chris cut her off, "ONE of Justin's best friends? I AM Justin's ONLY friend!!", he laughed. Skye grinned, "you are too much." "I know. Ok, so what were u sayin'?" "Right...ok well since you ARE justin's best friend, and you're nearly 10 years my senior...plus my dad & grandaddy both died...could you be the lucky man to give me away?" Chris chuckled, "Why of course my dear daughter. I'd be honored!" "Thank you soooo K.P.!!!!" "K.P.???" She shrugged. "It's short for Kirkpatrick. I thought it was cute." "Quite." "Hey, by the way, have you seen Justin? I can't find him." "Yea, the lucky groom is over my house. In fact, he's standing right here gettin' suspicious of what we're talking about, which by the way, he has got noo clue about what we're saying. Do you want to talk to him?" "Sure." Chris handed the telephone to Justin. "Hey darlin'!" "Hey. Where'd you dissapear to so fast this mornin'?" "I had to pick up my suit and stuff and stopped by to pick up Joey to go grab some donuts at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and then ended up back here at Chris' for lunch." "Cool. Did you set everything straight for the ushers and flower girl?" "Yea, we got Joey and Lance for ushers and Chris' little sister Taylor for flower girl. Aw, she's gonna be so cute!! JC's the best man." "Okay. Chris is gonna act as my dad to give me away. Meg's the matron of honor and I'm gonna call my cousin Stacy to join Kirsten as a 2nd bridesmaid." "Cool." "Ok, well I'm gonna call Stac. Talk to you later!" "K. I'll be home in half an hour." "Tell Chris I said thanks and I'll see him later! Bye doll." "Cya." She fell back on her bed and sighed. She began to think how much her life would change and how much it had already changed. Her stomach flipped with nervousness until she finally dialed Stacy's number. "Hello?" "Hey Stac, it's Skye." "Oh hey! How are you?" "Great...a little nervous..." "About what?" Skye told her everything about the proposal and even about the "Lisa" incident. "Aww! That's so sweet!" "Yeah I know. So anyway, I ned another bridesmaid along wi--" She was cut short by the doorbell. "Oops, doorbell, Lemme go get that." She bounced down the steps, cordless still in hand, and swung open the door. "Hey Lance! Wassup?" "Nothing. Just stoppin' by to help with the arrangements." "Aw that's so nic--" She was interrupted again by Michael's cries for her. Talking to Stacy, she said, "The toddler needs me. Be right back. Here's Lance." Skye handed the phone to Lance and smirked, "Talk to my cuz, Stacy? She's single and favors you!" Lance laughed as Skye ran upstairs to Mike, who had been watching a movie and gotten scared. He was 4 years old. When she got back downstairs, complete with Mike in her arms, she noticed Lance fumbling with a hacki sac. That tended to mean he was nervous. "Lance! What do you think of her?" He grinned and nodded his head. "Can I talk to her please?", she asked. He held up a finger and 10 minutes later handed the phone back. Stacy was on the other line laughing. "Oh my God Skye! I love that guy!" "I think he likes you too!", she grinned. "No way! Really? That's awesome!" "Yep. Anyway, as I originally called to ask, would you be interested in being the bridesmaid?" "Definitely! I hear Lance is an usher so that way I could meet him!" "Yep." "Since the wedding is only in 6 days, do you want me to come down there tomorrow? I can catch a plane." "6 days...", Skye thought...Aloud she said, "Yea, that'd be great!" "Awesome! See ya in a few days! Tell Lance I love him!" "Will do. Bye." After she hung up she turned to Lance, "So you like her? She says she loves you." He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. She's nice." Skye smiled. "This could go somewhere...", she thought. After the 3 hours of planning Skye, Lance, and Justin put into the day, they took Michael and joined Joey and Chris at Joey's house to relax.
LiNKS
HoME
PART 8
E-MAiL ALLY ( the author)
