(The Next Day)
“Come on Chris, our reservation is at
seven-thirty.” Michelle stood at the
bottom of the stairs. It was almost
time for Johnny to call.
“I don’t have to get dressed up, do I?” He whined.
“No, just wear something that you’re comfortable
in.”
“I’m comfortable being naked,” he muttered and she
laughed.
“Maybe I’ll let you be naked later if you behave
yourself.”
Chris continued to mutter while he dressed and
Michelle anxiously glanced at the clock.
It surprised the hell out of her that Chris didn’t suspect anything, but
then it wasn’t his actual birthday.
When he came downstairs, he was wearing a loose pair of blue jeans and a
camouflage FuMan Skeeto shirt.
“I don’t know why we can’t just eat at home
tonight,” he grumbled and reached for his jacket. It wasn’t cold out, but it was raining. “Which car do you want to take?”
“The Cruiser is fine, I’ll go warm it up.”
“Ok, just give me a minute.” Chris told her and she
smiled secretly to herself.
Chris came out of the house five minutes later and
checked to make sure the door was locked before he joined Michelle in the car.
“Johnny called from the compound as I was walking
out the door. He wants us to stop by
before we go out.”
“For what?” Michelle asked. “You’re not working.”
“He said he won’t be around on Wednesday, so he
wants to give me my present early.
“Oh, that’s nice of him.” She smiled. “Your boss is almost as nice as mine.”
Chris laughed and reached over to place his hand on
her knee. He squeezed it light and the
remainder of the ride to the compound was spent in comfortable silence. Michelle parked out front when she arrived
and was thankful that everyone had remembered to park around back.
“Are you coming in with me?” He asked.
“Sure.”
Michelle killed the engine and unbuckled her
seatbelt. Chris was waiting for her in
front of the car and he took her hand into his when she reached him.
“He said he’s be in the Game room, apparently he’s
going to be entertaining down there later.”
Michelle felt her mouth twitch with amusement, but
she continued to play along. “You do
realize that we’re already late for our dinner reservations?”
“I know, I’ll make it quick.” He squeezed her hand and they went inside.
**********
“Ok, they’re here.” Johnny told the group in a quiet voice. “I’m going to turn most of the lights off to aid the surprise, so
hide wherever you think you can fit.”
Everyone scattered and chose hiding places behind
sofa’s, curtain’s and furniture.
Several hid behind the bar. It
was a fairly big group, so some places were a tight fit and the last person had
just managed to squeeze in when the door to the room opened.
“Hey Johnny, we…” Chris began but was interrupted.
“Surprise!” Everyone shouted and some people had
noisemakers. “Happy Birthday!”
Chris’ mouth dropped open in shock and he stared
around the room in amazement. He
started to smile and he turned to Michelle.
“I don’t know how you organized this without my
finding out, but thank you.” He gave her a tight hug and kissed her before he
left her side to mingle.
Michelle spotted Hannah and Stacy sitting on a
nearby sofa and walked over to join them.
She hugged both of them and sat down.
“Hannah, I had no idea you were coming… did Lance invite you?”
Hannah took a sip of her drink and nodded. “Ages ago.”
“Do you it hard being around Lance now that he’s
dating Laurie?” Stacy asked.
Hannah smiled to herself. “Not a bit.” She looked
around for a minute and then grinned.
“Hey Shelle?”
“Yeah?”
Hannah lowered her voice. “What’s the deal with Chris’ beard horns? How long is he going to let them get?”
“I like them, I think they’re cute. As for how long they’re going to get… only
Chris can answer that question.”
Michelle replied.
**********
Chris kept his eye on JC most of the evening. He seemed to be happy except when he was
looking in Lance and Laurie’s direction.
Chris decided that since it was his birthday party, that he wanted
everyone to be happy. He was going to
make JC tell the other guys that he had separated from Alexandria.
“JC.”
JC looked over at Chris. “Yeah?”
“C’mere a second.”
Chris waited while JC excused himself from the conversation he was
having with Denise, Joey and Johnny.
“You talking shop over there?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Dude, we’re on a break.” Chris rolled his
eyes. “Give it a rest.”
JC folded his arms across his chest and scrutinized
Chris. “I’m almost positive that’s not
the real reason you called me over here.”
“It’s not.
I think you should tell the guys that you gave Dria the boot. It’s good news, you’re happy that she’s
gone, so I think they need to know.
They need to know regardless.”
“I’ll get around to it.”
“Come on, you can do it now. We’ll grab one of the conference rooms.”
Chris told him and didn’t leave any room open for arguments.
JC left the games room while Chris rounded up the
other three members of the band. He
wandered down the hall until he found a room that wasn’t already occupied. Then he sat down and waited for his friends
to join him.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to share his news
with the others, he was just unsure of how Lance would react when he heard the
news. JC wanted Laurie back, but
because she was pregnant with Lance’s child, he thought it wasn’t likely to
happen.
JC looked up when the door opened and he watched as
Chris ushered everyone into the room.
Lance was unable to meet JC’s eyes as he slid into one of the chairs
furthest from him.
JC cleared his throat. “Look, I know you all have other things that you’d probably like
to be doing, including spending time with girlfriends that you haven’t seen in
a while, so I’ll make this quick. When
I got home after Lance and Joey’s premiere the other night I caught Alexandria
in bed with another man.”
There were several collective gasps and some
murmuring before JC continued. Chris
was the only one the information didn’t affect because he had heard it all
before.
“The baby… the baby isn’t mine. Alexandria was quite happy to tell me that
and I had her take a paternity test this week.
She was right… the baby isn’t mine.”
Justin started bouncing up and down in his seat.
Joey looked over at his youngest bandmate. “Before some of us decide to throw a party
and offer our congratulations… how do you feel about all this, C?”
“I feel… I’m happy that I’m no longer tied down to
Alexandria. She was making my life
miserable and I lost a lot because of her.
I lost things that I don’t know if I can get back.”
Lance lowered his head and his cheeks flushed with
guilt.
“I’m not going to miss Alexandria, but I won’t
lie. I had just gotten used to the idea
of becoming a father and now I have to switch gears, because it’s something
that isn’t going to happen.”
“But Alexandria is gone, right?” Justin was still
bouncing.
“Yes. I
kicked her out Tuesday night and spent the night in Chris’ guestroom.”
“You did?” Chris looked over at him.
“You were pretty sick,” JC laughed. “I’m not surprised that you don’t remember.”
“And you’re ok with Alexandria being gone?” Joey
asked. Justin’s excitement was
contagious.
“Very.” JC grinned just as Joey and Justin launched
their bodies at him and hugged him tightly.
“There’s just one problem.” JC said looking in Lance’s direction.
“What?” Lance asked. He knew the statement had been directed towards him.
When JC spoke, he spoke softly. “Now that I’m free to date Laurie, she isn’t
free to date me.”
Chris cleared his throat. “Come on guys, I think we’re going to leave JC and Lance to
talk. I need to go bug Michelle about
my birthday present anyway.
“Good idea.” Joey nodded and followed Chris and
Justin out the door. It locked behind
them, leaving JC and Lance alone.
**********
Not long after the guys had
left the games room, Michelle left Hannah and Stacy and walked around to say
hello to a few more people. Bev was
there and Michelle was dying to tell her that she was going to become a
grandmother again, but she knew she had to tell Chris first and it was going to
be hard enough waiting until Wednesday.
She looked around the room and found Laurie sitting in a corner by herself. Michelle assumed that she was waiting for
Lance to return.
“Hey,” she greeted. “How come you’re over here by your lonesome?”
“I’m waiting for Lance to get back from wherever he
went,” Laurie explained. “I would have
come over to talk with you guys, but it didn’t look like a conversation that
involved me.”
Michelle snorted.
“Oh please, we were just talking about Chris’ beard horns and what his
plans for them might possibly be.” She grinned. “Did Lance tell you why he had to abandon you?”
“No, he just said that JC wanted to talk to
everyone and that it was important. Do
you know what it’s about?”
“I don’t, but I know what I can hope it’s about.”
Michelle grinned.
“What?”
“Well JC…” A hand covered Michelle’s mouth from
behind and she felt her heart leap into her throat.
“It’s not your place to tell her,” Chris said
quietly. “JC will tell her when he’s
ready to.”
“Tell me what?” Laurie looked from Michelle to
Chris.
Chris and Michelle just looked at each other.
**********
“You said we need to talk.” JC crossed his arms in
front of his chest and leaned against the wall by the door. “So talk.”
“I need to tell you something,” Lance began.
“And I don’t want you to get angry, because we had very good reasons for
doing what we did.”
Lance watched as JC’s body visibly tensed, but when
he didn’t say anything, Lance continued.
“Laurie and I… we aren’t really dating. It was a plan I came up with after we found
out that she was pregnant. And I know
you’re going to ask why we bothered with lying about our relationship,” Lance
took a deep breath. “JC, the baby is
yours. You were still with Alexandria
at the time and we wanted to protect you.
Then I didn’t want people thinking badly of me if I were to leave Laurie
because everyone and their brother thinks the baby is my child.”
JC’s mouth was hanging open in shock. His brain was trying to digest the
information he had just been given. JC
found himself surprised that he continued to listen to Lance after he said,
‘The baby is yours’. He heard the
reasoning behind the lies, even if it didn’t register right away.
“Laurie is carrying my child.”
“Yes.”
“You aren’t dating her.”
“No.”
JC was silent for a moment. “I’m not done talking to you about this, but
right now I need to find her.”
JC left the room and let the door slam behind
him. He found that as he drew closer to
the games room that his anger and his questions grew. One question in particular stood out in his mind. Was Laurie ever going to tell him or did she
plan on keeping it a secret until after the baby was born?