Just Not Sure - Chapter 4

New Years' Eve

"Pearl Harbor!"

"Matrix!"

"I saw it a million times; too confusing."

"Save the Last Dance!"

"No!"

"Rush Hour?"

"I’m so not watching Pearl Harbor! That’s a chick flick!"

"American Pie!"

"Ok, Um that’s rated R."

"So?"

"Hello! Parents are in the next room!"

"Save the Last Dance!!!"

"NO!"

It was Sunday night, New Year’s Eve, and the guys had finally arrived. The adults had immediately settled in the kitchen for coffee and to prepare snacks for the upcoming midnight celebration. The younger kids (Courtney’s sister and cousins, Jesse’s brother and sister) escaped to the play room to watch TV and play video games. Contrary to the past two nights, the eight had decided to hang out as a group (after Greg complained of spending way too much time with Matt). They had agreed to watch a movie, but the only problem was finding one that everybody wanted to watch. Either "this movie’s a chick flick" or "that one’s too violent" or "it’s way boring."

"If you guys are going to be this loud, why don’t you go outside?" Mr. Taylor suggested to them, as their voices carried throughout the cabin.

"Why not?" Courtney grinned, gathering her jacket and shoes. Everyone else did the same, and within five minutes they found themselves standing on the deck shivering from the freezing temperatures.

"What now?" Matt asked, teeth chattering.

"Manhunt?" Jesse suggested. The sun had just set, and there was enough sunlight to see the ground.

"Perfect. But first, I suggest we separate those two." Kristin giggled, as she watched Jenna and Chris flirting, not even paying attention to the conversation going on around them. The other six turned around to watch them, and Jenna noticed the stares.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Chris, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into." Kristin laughed even harder at the blank stare Chris gave her. " Jenna has high expectations for her boyfriends. Think you can hold up to them?"

"I hope I can!" Everyone laughed and then returned to all seriousness.

"Ok, teams. Courtney, you’re with Jesse, Kristin’s with Frankie, I’m with Jenna, and Chris is with Greg." Matt said, dividing them into four teams. "We’ll wait for five minutes for you guys to hide or whatever, and then we’ll go after you."

*

"Don’t you think we’ve gone far enough?" Frankie asked, starting to get tired of walking. They had started right outside the Taylor’s cabin; it’s location in the Pennsylvania preservation made it so the whole community was isolated in forest. They had just walked straight into the wood, and had continued to do so for the past five minutes. "Do you even know where we are?"

"Stop worrying! It’s still light out; we can find our way back if they can’t find us." Kristin said, stopping suddenly after glancing at the sky. "Look at the sky" She gushed breathlessly. "It’s beautiful." It was beautiful, with an array of pinks, reds, and yellows. The sun had just disappeared beneath the horizon, and there was still a trace of the burning orange trailing behind it. The oranges faded into red, into pink, and finally blue. The moon was even out, peeking from behind the cold winter clouds. The two sat down on a nearby rock to look at it, completely forgetting about the game of manhunt.

"Kristin, you know I really enjoy spending time with you." Frankie said, saying a ‘here goes nothing’ to himself.

"Yeah, I do to." Kristin murmured, mesmerized by the sunset.

"Will you by my girlfriend?" He asked, and Kristin tore her eyes away from the sunset, grinning.

"I was wondering when you would ask. Yes." Kristin said. They slowly moved closer together, their lips touching in a simple kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure we’re not lost?"

It was now around nine, and the pinks and reds of the sunset had long disappeared, revealing a beautiful starlit sky. Frankie and Kristin had finally realized that Jenna and Matt never found them in the game of manhunt. They had set off to find the house again, and couldn’t remember the direction from which they’d come. "Yes! Oh my God! I think I might know my way around here, after all, I’ve been coming here with the Taylor’s for almost five years now. We are NOT lost." Kristin said frustrated, not wanting to face the fact that they really were lost.

"Well I swear we’ve seen this tree at least four times." Frankie tried to tell her. "C’mon. We have been walking around in circles for the past hour AT LEAST. Can’t we just sit down and rest for a couple of minutes? PLEASE?" Frankie gave her pleading eyes that made her want to melt.

"No. Not the eyes. Please! Anything but the eyes." Kristin laughed. "You know, you can’t take advantage of your girlfriend like this. The eyes are too dangerous to use unless you are desperate."

"Well I am desperate." Frankie said. "If we don’t rest, will you at least let me lead the way? I’m surely a better navigator than you."

"Fine! You lead the way. Just hurry up. My legs are killing me from last night. No, correction. My whole damn body hurts!" She whined, rubbing her knee while leaning against a gigantic rock.

"Aww. Poor Kristin is tired from snowboarding. Maybe I can give you a back massage when we get back. If we ever get back." Frankie said sarcastically, grinning slyly.

"Ooh. Looks like I hit the jackpot. Lead the way." And under Frankie’s excellent navigational skills (that’s supposed to be funny) they somehow found their way back to the cabin. It had taken only 5 seconds after they got in the door before Kristin collapsed on the couch. "What is wrong with you people? Don’t you start to worry after two of your dear friends have been missing for 3 hours?" Kristin yelled at no one in particular. As her and Frankie looked around the room, they realized that she was yelling at no one at all. "Where are they?"

"Right here." Jesse peeked his head into the room. "We’re all in the TV room. Where have you been?"

"ARGHH!" Kristin ran into the TV room frustrated, and sat down on couch.

"Ready for that massage?" Frankie asked.

"A massage?!? I could so go for one of those right now." Courtney groaned, and Jenna nodded her head vigorously along with her. They were both sprawled on the floor next to Chris and Jesse, who had sat down again after informing Kristin and Frankie of their whereabouts. "There are muscles I didn’t even know I had that hurt."

"Looks like we have a job to do, Jess." Chris said, rolling his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don’t know if I can do it." Jesse said to Frankie and Greg in the kitchen. They were getting chips for everyone else. The adults had retired to the living room long before, and the kids had fallen asleep in the master bedroom around eight thirty.

"What?"

"Ask her out."

"C’mon! I did it! You can, I know you want to." Frankie said.

"I don’t want anything to do with this." Greg said, waving his hands in the air after Jesse sent a look at him.

"God. She looks incredible tonight." Jesse said, grinning. The multiple hours the girls had spent getting ready had paid off. Courtney had found black dress pants, casual enough for their game of manhunt earlier in the evening, and a green sweater that matched her eyes perfectly. Jesse had almost dropped dead when he saw her. Chris and Frankie had had similar reactions. Jenna looked adorable in sparkly jeans and a brightly colored, long-sleeved shirt that matched the mood of the evening. Kristin had tried a sophisticated look, wearing a black skirt and a deep purple tank top, leaving her hair down. None of the girls had even had time for makeup; but the excitement of everything left them with flushed cheeks anyway.

"Well, better get back to the party. It’s almost midnight now, and our buddy Jesse here has a job to do." Greg grinned. "Hey since you guys are so lucky in love do you think you could maybe set me up with someone? Please?" He begged as they re-entered the room, just so that everyone heard him saying ‘please’.

"What are you asking for now? We already gave you a spot in Dream Street, and now we know what a mistake that was." Matt joked.

"Oh shut up. I wasn’t asking for anything" Greg said while his cheeks reddened, obviously not wanting to share with the girls his desperate attempts to get a girlfriend.

Jesse saw this as the perfect opportunity to get back at Greg for the countless times he had been embarrassed. "Greg just wanted us to set him up with someone. He needs a girl." He looked over at Greg, a sly grin playing on his face.

The girls exchanged knowing glances, and Courtney spoke up almost as a representative of the three friends. "We have a proposition for you. When we get back to New York, you guys take us out to dinner one Friday night. As our part of the deal, we will bring along with us a date for Greg. I know exactly the person, and she is PERFECT for you. Agreed?"

"Will I be able to bring Katy?"

"Yes, of course! You’ll all have dates." Jenna said matter of factly.

"Will we have to pay?" Chris asked.

"Chris!" The four others chorused.

"We’ll go dutch." Courtney said.

"Fine with me."

"OK"

"I’m in!"

"Dude, I can’t wait!"

"Yeah!"

"I guess your gonna be my date?" Jesse asked Courtney as she lay next to him, watching the preparations for the ball to drop on TV. Only five more minutes to go…

"Yeah, I guess. I mean if it’s okay with you." Courtney looked at Jesse.

"It’s fine by me. Listen, Courtney, I was wondering if you would go out with me."

"Jesse, we are going out. Friday night." Courtney was confused; so oblivious to what was going on.

"No, would you "go out" go out with me. You know, be my girlfriend." Jesse explained and Courtney winced, realizing her ---well--- blonde moment. She made sure to choose her words carefully after that.

Jesse watched Courtney as she tried to get her thoughts in order. He had clearly caught her off guard; she was totally nervous. He had come to notice things she did when she felt a certain way, like how she was tugging on her cross, which she always wore. "Well you do realize we barely know each other. And with you in Westchester and touring with Dream Street, we’d barely get to see each other. I mean maybe on weekends and…" Courtney was starting to go off in some tangent, but Jesse put his finger to her lip to shush her. They watched the television screen as all of Times Square began to count down---10…9…8…7…6…5… As the numbers got lower, the quieter the room got. 4…3…2…1! At the stroke of midnight, just as the ball dropped completely, everything else in the room seemed to fade away. All three couples locked lips, Courtney and Jesse’s kiss lasting the longest. As they broke away, Courtney smiled and said "Yes." She didn’t care that she wouldn’t be able to see him that much. He was sincere, and she knew they could call each other and talk online. Plus, since their parents were friends, they would have reason to get together. Courtney had never felt this way about anybody before, not even with Ryan.

"Woohoo! Go Courtney!" Jenna clapped her hands, and the two became aware that the whole room was watching them kiss, with the exception of Matt and Greg. Matt and Greg were both on their cell phones; Matt was talking to Katy and Greg was talking to one of his sisters.

"Finally! Now we just need someone for Greg. Who do you have planned, by the way?" Kristin asked curious at exactly what girl was "perfect" for Greg. Courtney grinned. "Amanda."

"HaHa! Is she ever!" Jenna grinned as she thought about their mutual friend, Amanda Myers. Although usually quiet, anyone who hung out with her was subject to sudden, high-energy outbursts.

They went back to the celebration, munching on chips and other snacks. *It was around four o’clock in the morning and the adults went into the television room to check on the friends, wondering about the deafening quiet. They had walked in to find all eight of them asleep on the couches; the TV was on, and there were empty bags of chips scattered all around. Courtney had her head on Jesse’s shoulder. Chris’ arm was around Jenna’s shoulder, and they were covered with a blanket. Kristin was in Frankie’s lap, her head leaning on his, and their hands were linked. Greg was in one corner of a couch and Matt was on the recliner. Everyone had smiles on their faces, dreaming of their loved ones and family.