Chapter Forty-Two

Laurie waited as patiently as she could for JC and Alexandria to leave and then she walked back to the table she was sharing with the others. Joey still hadn’t returned, though Lance and Hannah had decided to take a breather and sit down.

“I’m probably leaving in about half an hour if that’s ok with everyone else.” She fiddled nervously with a napkin.

“Sure, you can catch a ride back with us. Lance and I are probably leaving around then.” Hannah mentioned.

(Half an hour later)

“This party is getting old,” Justin commented and looked around the room. “I think Stacy and I are going to head back to the hotel as well.”

“You’re leaving us alone with Joey?” Chris raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think so. Let’s tell him that we’re all leaving and he’s welcome to join us if he wants.”

Lance was the one who was volunteered to go over and talk to Joey. Joey declined the offer, telling Lance that he wasn’t ready and that he would just call a cab when he felt like it.

“He’s not coming,” Lance announced as he approached the table. “But everyone else here is leaving?”

“Yeah, I’m not really that tired though, so I was thinking of hitting a club.” Justin said.

“Why don’t you wait and see how you feel when you get back?” Stacy suggested and rubbed the back of Justin’s neck.

“Why?” Justin smiled suggestively at her. “Do you have something else in mind?”

“I might,” she winked and sashayed to the front door with Justin on her heels.

“I guess that’s our cue to leave,” Lance grinned and offered his hand to Hannah. “Shall we?”

(Back at the hotel)

“Good luck,” Michelle and Stacy hugged Laurie. They were giddy with anticipation. “You go and get your man and we’ll start planning your wedding.”

Lance looked at them. “That’s jumping the gun a bit, don’t you think?”

“Oh come on Lance,” Stacy grinned. “It’s the final hour, what could possibly go wrong?”

He smiled in spite of himself. “Yeah I guess you’re right.” He hugged Laurie. He whispered, “Go get him.”

Laurie gave them all a shaky smile before she turned to go to her room. The group watched as she took a deep, calming breath as she opened the door and disappeared into the darkness.

“Party in my room!” Chris yelled. Michelle shushed him.

“There are people trying to sleep.” She reminded him.

“Not on this floor,” Chris grinned. He looked at Justin, Lance, Stacy and Hannah and said, “You guys in?”

“Nah,” Lance declined. “I think Hannah and I are just going to go back to our room and watch a movie or something.”

“I bet it’s the ‘or something’,” Justin said to Chris in a stage whisper as he nudged him.

“You guys are sharing a room?” Michelle asked.

“Kind of,” Lance shrugged. “Johnny got us one of the two bedroom suites.” He glared at Chris and Justin who did their best to look innocent. “So you two can get your mind out of the gutter.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Hannah chuckled softly, earning dirty looks from Chris and Justin.

“We’ll see you guys in the morning at breakfast.” Lance told them and walked down to his room with Hannah.

Justin and Stacy followed Chris and Michelle into their room and the guys immediately dove for playstation and wrestled over the controllers.

Stacy glanced over at Michelle who was putting some things away. “Remind me again why we put up with them?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it out.” Michelle said wryly.

(Forty-five minutes later)

“Honey, can you pass me another soda?”

“Chris, you’ve drank five of them since we got back. The answer is no.”

“I’m glad you’re sleeping with him tonight,” Justin commented. “If he sleeps at all with all that sugar in his system.”

Michelle looked in the bucket. “We’re out of ice, I’m just going to run out and get some.”

“We’ll be here,” Chris waved her away with his hand. He was busy concentrating on his game.

“I’m so loved,” she muttered as she grabbed the empty ice bucket and her keycard before she headed out the door.

**********

JC sat in the dark in Laurie’s room; his head reeling from the conversation he had just ended with Alexandria. He couldn’t believe her reason for wanting to go first – but he had seen the proof.

His head was buried in his hands and his elbows were resting on his knees when he heard the door click open. Through the shadows, he saw Laurie’s figure enter the room. She turned on the light switch located beside the door and artificial light flooded the room.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully. “I missed you.”

Without saying a word, JC stood up and purposefully crossed the room to where Laurie was standing. He pulled her into his arms and held her as tightly as he could – as if it would be the last time he would get to hold her. They stayed like that for what seemed like ages until JC finally pulled back a little. His hands left the sanctity of her waist and moved up to her face so they were cradling it.

He moved so his mouth brushed gently against her own and it was the most tender kiss Laurie thought she had ever experienced.

“I love you so damn much,” he choked.

She looked at him with a look of concern and brought a hand up to his face so she could caress his cheek. “I love you too.”

JC said nothing else and kissed her again.

It was Laurie’s turn to pull away but as she did it, she took JC’s hand and led him over to the sofa where they proceeded to sit down.

“Josh,” she rubbed his hand gently with her thumb. “Sweetie, tell me what happened.” JC remained silent and Laurie drew back just a little. Apprehension was spreading throughout her body. “Please Josh… you’re scaring me.”

JC rubbed his face with his free hand before he reached down and held both of Laurie’s hands within his.

“You know,” Laurie tried to joke. “I somehow thought you’d be happier once your conversation with Alexandria was over.”

“She um…” he swallowed hard and lowered his voice as if someone were listening. “She told me something that I don’t quite know how to handle.”

“What did she tell you?” Laurie felt a hot flash of panic run through her. “She didn’t… refuse… did she?”

He looked down. “I never got that far.”

“What do you mean?” She pulled back a little further. “I thought you were going to ask…”

“I was,” he looked at her and his eyes began to fill with tears. He couldn’t control them no matter how hard he tried. “I had every intention of telling her that I wanted her out of my life, that was my plan.” He paused and tried to take a deep breath. “But she said she had something to tell me and that she wanted to go first. And what she told me… just threw me for a loop.”

Laurie felt her heart jump into her throat but managed to hang onto her outward calm. “What did she tell you?”

JC looked at Laurie with huge sad eyes and whispered, “She’s pregnant.”

Laurie felt dizzy as her lungs felt like they ceased operating and she sat back in utter shock, unable to do anything but stare at him.

“I wish to God it was you instead of her,” he told her in a choked voice with tears streaming down his face.

“A-Are you sure?”

“She showed me the test she took today.” He looked at her stricken face. “I’m so sorry Laurie.”

***Flashback to an hour earlier***

“You’re… pregnant?” JC couldn’t take his eyes from the home pregnancy test that Alexandria had just produced. This changed everything.

Alexandria threw her arms around his neck. “Isn’t it wonderful? There’s a little piece of you and I growing inside me!”

“Yeah,” he said flatly and hugged her back, hoping she didn’t notice his lack of enthusiasm. He was thankful that she couldn’t see his expression when he said, “Yeah, it’s great.”

***End Flashback***

JC removed his hands from the warmth of Laurie’s grasp and buried his face in his hands. “What the hell am I going to do?”

“I think… I think there’s only one thing you can do.” Laurie’s eyes filled with tears.

“What do you mean?” He asked. “You’re not suggesting…”

“I am.” She bit back a sob. “I don’t want to be the one to come between you and your son or daughter. This is your child… an important part of you. Josh…”

“Please don’t say it.” He shook his head frantically.

“I don’t think we can be together anymore,” she whispered. “Maybe… maybe this is God’s way of telling us that we’re not meant to be together. We were given a second chance and it didn’t work out.”

“We can make it work…”

“We can’t,” Laurie told him sadly. “It’s not just us anymore. If we keep sneaking around and Alexandria finds out, she’ll make sure you’ll never see your child.”

“But I don’t want her to be the mother of my child. I want it to be you that’s carrying my child.”

“I wish it could be me too, but it didn’t work out that way. Josh, believe me when I say that this is the only thing that would ever come between us.”

“No, Laurie…”

“Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be. This isn’t something I want to do, but it’s the way it has to be.”

JC opened his mouth to argue again and she interrupted him.

“Listen… if we were to get caught… there wouldn’t really be any ramifications for me. I’ve already said goodbye to Craig. But if we get caught… there’s a very real possibility that you would lose your child and then you would start resenting me.”

“I could never resent you Laur… for any reason.”

She rested her hand on his knee. “But you would. Sooner or later, you would. Alexandria is going to be the mother of your child; maybe you two can eventually work things out. And you can’t do that if I’m in the picture.”

“You can’t do this,” he told her in a hoarse voice.

“I’m doing this because I love you so much. Your unborn child needs you more than I do.” She lowered her head. “You should probably go back to your own room now. Alexandria will be wondering where you are.”

JC suddenly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. She didn’t fight it. “How am I supposed to do this? I can’t even begin to imagine my life without you in it.”

Laurie stood up and guided JC to the door. She opened it and he stood on the threshold between her room and the hallway. He took a shallow breath when she placed her palm flat over his heart.

“I’m never going to stop loving you.” She told him earnestly.

“Please give me another chance.” He begged. His heart was breaking.

“I’m sorry Josh, I can’t. Please trust me when I say it’s better this way.”

Laurie closed the door before she could change her mind, leaving the love of her life with a broken heart on the other side of it. She couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her face.

**********

Michelle came out of her room to get the ice and happened to look down the hallway in time to see JC standing outside Laurie’s room with his head resting against the door. It was almost a full minute before he turned away with his hands in his pockets; his head down and his shoulders slumped.

She watched with interest as he knocked on Lance’s door and waited until he was admitted entrance before she made her move.

**********

“It’s over,” JC barely managed to say as he walked into Lance’s room.

“Finally,” Lance breathed a sigh of relief. He was very happy for his friend. “Ok, then shouldn’t you be in Laurie’s room celebrating?”

JC’s eyes filled with tears again. “Laurie and I are over.”

Lance did a double take. “What?” He looked over at Hannah. “That wasn’t supposed to happen… was it? Did I miss something here?”

“Sit down… I need to tell you guys something.”

**********

Michelle knocked on Laurie’s door and waited for her to answer. She knocked a few more times and when there was still no answer, she walked down to the elevators to talk to Lonnie.

“I need the master keycard.”

“You do, huh?”

“I need to get in to Laurie’s room. She’s not answering her door.”

“You’re not authorized to hold the master keycard.”

Michelle let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t want to hold it, I just want to use it.” The elevator dinged and an unsteady Joey stepped off with the support of Dre. “Joey, tell Lonnie to let me use the master keycard.”

“Let her use it Lonnie,” Joey giggled.

Lonnie rolled his eyes and reluctantly handed over the keycard. She ran back to Laurie’s room and unlocked the door.

What she found when she entered the room shocked her. Laurie was curled up in a tight ball on the bed sobbing.

“Oh my God,” Michelle ran over to the bed. “Laurie, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” She continued to sob.

“Laur…” She said gently. “You have a puddle forming beneath you and you expect me to believe that? Come on… talk to me.”

“I can’t.” She shook her head and buried it deeper into the standard bedspread that all hotels seemed to use.

“Is there anything I can do?”

Laurie shook her head again.

“Is it JC?”

Laurie nodded.

“Did he talk to Alexandria?”

Laurie nodded again.

“I guess things didn’t go well.”

Laurie shook her head. “JC and I are over.”

Michelle felt her eyes widen. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Laurie shook her head.

“Ok listen, umm… you know I’m here if you need to talk. Chris and I are right down the hall.”

Laurie nodded again. “I know.”

**********

Michelle was so angry that she went back to her room without filling the ice bucket. Right now she wanted to slam it down on JC’s head. She almost broke her keycard when she jammed it into the slot to unlock the door. She stormed into the room in unabashed fury. Chris jumped back and held his hands up.

“I didn’t do it, I swear!”

“I’m going to KILL JC!” Her eyes flashed with anger.

Stacy, Justin and Chris exchanged a confused glance. “Umm… ok. Why?” This was from Justin.

“I just saw him leave Laurie’s room and go to Lance’s. So I got the master keycard from Lonnie and went into to her room because she wouldn’t open the door.”

“Umm… how did you convince Lonnie to give you the master keycard?” Chris asked skeptically.

“Joey told him to give it to me.”

“Is that all?” Justin looked at Chris in amazement. “Damn, if I knew Joey had that kind of power over Lonnie…”

“Will you guys knock it off?” Stacy glared at them. “Shelle, back up a minute. Why do you want to kill JC?”

“He broke up with Laurie. She’s in her room; she was trying not to cry in front of me. Although when I got there, all I found was a big ball of Laurie sobbing on the bed.”

Justin dropped his controller in surprise. Chris stared with his mouth hanging open.

Stacy looked alarmed. “That’s not right. Is she ok?”

“I don’t know.” Michelle pushed her hands through her hair. “She was still crying when I left.”

“Wasn’t JC supposed to break up with Alexandria?” Justin asked.

“Yes.”

Chris and Justin exchanged another confused look. “Umm…”

“I’m going to Lance’s room to kill JC!” She exclaimed and ran for the door. Three pairs of hands stopped her.

“You’re not going without us.” Chris’ grip was the strongest. “We kind of need JC for this little group thing we have going and I know what you’re like when your temper flares.”

Michelle managed to shrug out of everyone’s grip except Chris’. He was adamant that he wasn’t letting her go.

“Chris…” She said in a warning tone.

“Nope, it’s not gonna happen babygirl. I’m not letting you loose on JC.”

“Yet.” Justin interjected.

“Justin!” Stacy admonished. “Let’s just go to Lance’s room together. Ok?”

The four of them walked silently down the hall and stood outside of Lance’s door while Michelle dug the master keycard out of her pocket. What they found when the door opened was not at all what they expected.

Lance was sitting on the sofa with an arm wrapped around a sobbing JC’s shoulders and Hannah was positioned on the other side of him. Chris moved his arms from Michelle’s upper arms to her shoulders and gave them a light squeeze.

“I don’t think JC broke up with her sweetheart.” He whispered in her ear.

“How did you guys get in here?” Lance looked up in shock.

“Master keycard,” Justin explained and surveyed the scene before him. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Do you want me to tell them?” Lance asked JC quietly and JC nodded. “Hannah, can you take JC to my room so he can rest for a bit?”

Hannah nodded and helped JC to his feet. Once they were gone and the door was closed, Lance turned to his friends.

“Lance…?” Stacy began.

“There’s no easy way to say this…”

“JC’s dying!” Chris blurted out and Justin smacked him upside the head.

“No, JC isn’t dying.” Lance laughed a little and immediately got serious again. “Alexandria is pregnant.”

“Oh Lord,” Stacy brought her hand to her forehead and Justin’s arms went around her.

“She’s… what?” Michelle’s mouth dropped open.

“She… what… how…” Chris stuttered.

“Chris if you have to ask how, then you shouldn’t be having sex.” Lance scolded.

Chris scowled.

“Anyway,” Lance started pacing around the carpet. “When JC told Laurie… she told him it would be best for everyone if they didn’t see each other anymore.”

Michelle gasped. “Laurie’s the one who broke it off?” She looked around. “But I thought… I didn’t think…”

“Laurie’s right.” Lance told them. “As much as I want to see JC happy – which he obviously isn’t as long as he’s with Alexandria – his child needs to come first.”

“I’m umm… I need to go check on Laurie.” Michelle said quietly and turned to the door. Chris stopped her once again.

“I think she just needs to be alone right now.” Chris said softly. “You can check on her in the morning.”

“But Chris…”

He shook his head firmly. “It’s late and we all need to digest this information before we talk to JC or Laurie to see how they’re feeling. Emotions are high and Laurie doesn’t need you freaking out right now.”

“But I wouldn’t…”

Chris looked at her doubtfully.

“Ok.” She agreed.

“Good.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. “Let’s go to bed.”

They said goodnight to Justin, Stacy and Lance and left.

“Wow… what a night.” Justin looked at Stacy. “Maybe we should go to bed too.”

“I think so.” Stacy nodded and kissed Lance’s cheek. “Night Lance.”

“Night guys.”

Lance walked them to the door and made sure it was locked after they left. He shook his head and pondered the situation JC was in. He wasn’t sure what he would do if it were him… and he wasn’t sure he wanted to experience it to find out.

Chapter Forty-Three