BROTHERLY LOVE
By Sarah Wartman
PART ELEVEN
“Boy am I glad I didn’t take you home,” I heard Chris say. “Mom would have killed us both.”
I flushed the toilet and just sat down on the tile floor. “Does she know where I’m at?”
“I called her last night and said we were so tired we were just gonna crash at Justin’s.”
“Thanks Chris,” I whispered, feeling dead from the night before. “Is Justin’s mom here?”
“Yeah, she’s in bed. She’s cool with it, she knew it was your birthday. But, what was up with you last night?” Chris asked, pulling lose strands of hair away from my face.
“What do you mean?”
“You were awfully close with JC.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him, struggling to stand so I could go back to bed. “I’ve always been close with JC and Justin.”
“I meant,” he started and then shook his head. “Never mind. Drink a glass of water and go back to bed.”
I did as he said and crawled back into bed besides a snoring JC and fell right back to sleep.
~*~*~*~
“Hey doll face, how you feeling?” Justin asked me as I descended the stairs. He was laying on the sofa, watching a basketball game. “Nice outfit.”
I looked down at the flannel pants and t-shirt I had found in his closet. “Sorry, I needed something to wear, you don’t mind do you?”
“Nah, it’s cool,” he said, turning his attention back to the game. He stood up and screamed at a ref for making a bad call then turned back to me. “Feeling pretty shitty this morning?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, sitting down next to him. “Where is everyone?”
“JC is in the shower, Joey and Lance are at their respective homes and Chris is talking to mom in the kitchen.”
“Is your mom cool about this? I feel really bad,” I told him.
“Yeah, she’s cool. You know how she is Belle,” he said, nudging my arm lightly.
“Yeah,” I mumbled and pulled my legs up to my chest. “Justy, can I ask you a question?”
“What?” he asked, his eyes glued to the television.
“Was I acting weird last night?”
“You were drunk Belle. Weird is an understatement.”
“No, I mean with JC,” I whispered.
He looked over at me with questioning eyes. “What do you mean, weird with JC?”
“Chris said something this morning while I was making friendly with your toilet.”
“Ummm, no, I don’t know what Chris is talking about. You and JC talked a lot and hung out most of the night, but that’s not anything out of the ordinary. He knows we’re really close,” Justin said.
“Yeah, I know, but he said I was acting weird with JC. I just don’t get it.”
Justin shrugged. “It’s Chris. Who knows what he was thinking. He probably thought JC was making moves on you or something. You know how he’s kind of overprotective about you and stuff.”
“Hmmm…” I mumbled. “That’s weird. Wonder why Chris would think that.”
PART TWELVE
“You sure you don’t mind being the DD?” I asked Zack as we drove to JC’s house the next weekend.
“Of course not Belle, you know that,” he answered as he parked in front of JC’s house. One of Zack’s cousins was killed in a drunk driving accident the year before, and since then he had quit drinking all together. But he never made me feel bad about it and insisted he drive me everywhere I went, for which I was grateful.
We walked into JC’s house to find lots of people there. It was a happenin’ party and the music was blaring. Lance spotted me and waved. I waved back and continued searching through the crowd.
Suddenly, JC and I spotted each other at the same time. He had on green khaki shorts and a white t-shirt with a navy bucket hat on his head. It was pretty obvious he was already smashed. He screamed my name at the top of his lungs and sprinted towards me. He grabbed me and pushed me against the wall, hugging me tightly. He kissed me on the cheek, slobbering all over it.
“I was wondering when you were gonna get here,” he yelled over the music.
“Sorry,” I yelled back, wiping off my cheek. “You know it takes me a long time to get ready.”
“Don’t I know it. Your two dogs are in the refrigerator.”
“Ah, thanks Joshua,” I told him, walking towards the kitchen.
“You’re welcome. I don’t understand why you like those anyway,” he said, gulping down his beer.
“Cause plain old beer is nasty,” I told him.
“Oh, you’re such a girl,” he slurred.
I laughed loudly. “And proud of it!”
A couple people walked past us and said hello to JC. I smiled when JC pointed to me and said, “this is Isabelle. Chris’s sister.” I had been introduced as that for as long as I could remember. I began to think my name meant nothing unless it had that tag attached to the end of it.
~*~*~*~
“We’re out of beer,” I heard Chris yell from JC’s kitchen later that night. A lot of the people had left the party already, so it wasn’t as loud. I was sitting on Justin’s lap at a cardboard table, learning how to play ‘presidents and assholes’.
“Are you serious?” JC yelled back.
“As a heartache,” Chris said, coming back from the kitchen. “But there are a few two dogs left,” he said, smiling at me.
“Anybody touches those, they die,” I said and giggled.
“You laugh at everything when you’re drunk,” Joey told me as we continued to play the game.
“I do not!”
“Yes you do,” Justin and JC both said.
“Is that a bad thing?” I asked them and started to pout.
“Guys, what are we gonna do about the beer?” Chris interjected, taking a seat next to Joey.
“Zack could drive us to a convenience store,” I said. I looked at Zack and said, “that’s okay, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said, standing up.
“Shot gun!” I yelled and giggled.
“See!” JC said, standing up. “I wanna come.”
“Me too,” Justin volunteered.
“Okies then,” I said, grabbing both their hands. “Let’s go already!”
PART THIRTEEN
We walked into the closest convenience store and I acted sober the best I could, trying not to laugh at everything. JC grabbed some beer and brought it to the front desk. I grabbed a cosmo at the last minute and placed it on top of the boxes of Budweiser.
“Cosmo?” JC asked me. “Isn’t that a bit old for you?”
“Oh, shut up, I’ll pay you back,” I told him.
~*~*~*~
We got back to JC’s and I made my way back to the cardboard table and sat down to read my magazine. I found a quiz and got up from the table and located a pen on JC’s kitchen counter. The quiz was titled, ‘How to know if your man is “The One”’. How gay, I thought, but decided to try it anyway. I had to spell out my full name and his full name and put numbers with corresponding letters then add them. First, I tried it with Bryan’s name. It pretty much concluded that he wasn’t the one for me. Gee, that was hard to guess.
“Whatcha doing?” JC asked, plunking down next to me.
“A quiz, how to know if your man is the one,” I read to him.
“Oh, do me, do me!” he squealed and I looked up at him with a weird look.
“Excuse me?”
“Do me! Do my name!”
“Oh, okay,” I mumbled and shook out the few bad thoughts that had crept into my head. I spelt out his name and added all the numbers. I read the response out loud to him. It said the relationship was a long-standing one, but a bit of jealousy might challenge it.
“Jealousy? That definitely would be you,” he told me.
“Me? Uh, no, you would be the jealous one.”
“No way! You would be!”
“I’m not a jealous person!” I yelled at him.
“What are you two fighting about?” Justin asked, walking up behind me.
“Nothing, a stupid quiz we took,” I answered.
“Oh, I use my name!”
I did and laughed at the results. I cleared my throat and read it out loud.
“Okay, here’s what it says: This relationship is far from being a match made in heaven. Your boyband boy is fading faster than all that bleach he uses. Here’s a suggestion, drop that loser and find a man with real talent. Our recommendation? The fabulous Nick Carter.” I looked up and smiled at JC.
“It does not!” Justin yelled.
JC and I both started laughing. Justin wrapped his big arms around my neck and yelled, “I’d kill ya if I didn’t love ya so much.”
“So, when are you guys leaving again?” I asked as Justin let go of my neck and stood beside me.
“Tomorrow,” Justin answered.
“Seriously?”
“Yep. We barely got to come see you on your birthday,” JC said.
“I’m gonna go get a beer. Want one Belle?” Justin asked me.
“Yeah.”
“You know,” JC said once Justin was gone. “I could always pack you in my suitcase and take you with me.”
“Right. I think a few people would miss me.”
“Like who?”
I scoffed. “Like my mom.”
“And I won’t miss you?”
“Oh, whatever JC,” I mumbled.
“I do! I miss you everyday I don’t see you!” JC exclaimed, taking a gulp from his beer bottle.
“Right.”
“I promise! I take it you don’t miss me then?”
“Of course I do,” I answered, playing right along with him.
“You’re just saying that cause I said it first,” JC said.
“Whatever you say Josh,” I added as Justin approached us with my beer.
PART FOURTEEN
August came and it was soon time to go to school. I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to start all over, no one knowing exactly what my last name meant. Thankfully, Zack was coming with me and we decided to take a vocal class together, which was a lot of fun. I didn’t get to see the guys much, since they were busy with their new tour and I was busy with classes.
“You are coming home for Thanksgiving Chris, aren’t you?” I asked him over the phone in the beginning of November.
“Actually, yeah, I am. We have almost a whole week off.”
“Oh good. I miss you something terrible, believe it or not,” I told him.
“You better. We all miss you too,” he said and I laughed. “What? Don’t you believe me?”
“No comment,” I answered, grinning.
“Here, let them prove it,” Chris said and I heard some talking in the background.
“Hey Isabelle. How is my favorite co-ed doing?” Justin asked me.
“Good, actually. When are you coming to party with me Justin? Like the good ole days.”
“College parties….the one thing I wish I wasn’t missing out on.”
“Yeah Justy, you can’t even imagine,” I told him, grinning.
“That’s settled. I’m quitting ‘N SYNC so I can come to college with you.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Okay, well, I’m gonna go. I think there is someone else who wants to say hi.”
“Hey Bella,” I heard someone whisper and I smiled.
“Hello Joshua.”
“You aren’t getting into too much trouble without me, are you?”
“You know me JC. It’s not any fun getting into trouble without you.”
He laughed. “Yeah, well, I bet I need to come down and protect you from those crazy frat boys. I bet they’re just lining up to get a little bit of Belle action.”
“Hardly,” I told him.
"Like you would tell me if they were. The more reason for me to protect you.”
“Okay Chris,” I said, grinning, and he laughed.
“I’m not that bad, am I?” he asked.
“No, it’s impossible to be as bad as Chris is.”
“Come on Isabelle. He only has good intentions,” JC reminded me.
I sighed. “So, am I gonna see you over Thanksgiving?” I asked him as I layed down on my bed.
“Of course. Actually, there’s something I want to show you. I’ll give you a call sometime.”
“You better. Tell the others I said hello.”
“Will do. You take care and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do?”
“That’s a short list, JC.”
“Funny.”
“Bye Josh.”
“Bye Isabelle.”
PART FIFTEEN
I opened the front door to be greeted by a nearly empty house. I had driven four hours to get here and my mother didn’t even want to greet me at the front door.
“Mom?” I yelled.
“In the kitchen dear,” I heard her yell and I sauntered into the kitchen.
“Hey mom,” I said, standing in the doorway. I hadn’t been back since I had left in August. I was waiting for her to jump up and throw her arms around me. Tell me how much I’ve changed and how much she missed me.
“Hello Isabelle,” she answered, not even looking up from the papers she was going through. “You haven’t heard from Chris, have you?”
“I just got home mother,” I said harshly.
“Okay, I’ve just been going through some paper work and I have some questions for him,” she told me, as if it was important for me to know that. She looked up and smiled at me. “You have clean sheets on your bed. Try to keep your room picked up while you’re home dear.”
“Okay mom.” My heart fell. This kind of behavior shouldn’t shock me anymore, but it did. It hurt terribly. I ran from the kitchen and up to my room. I layed down on my bed, but before I could start crying, my cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey Belle. Where are you?”
“Hey Justin. I just got home,” I told him, sitting up.
“I didn’t know if you would be home or not. Feel like some company? My mom won’t be home until tomorrow cause of some business and I’m bored.”
“Yeah, sure, come on over.”
~*~*~*~
“I brought movies,” Justin sang as he walked into my room. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he saw the look on my face.
“Nothing,” I said, moving over so Justin could sit by me on my bed.
“Liar,” he said, sitting down next to me.
I sighed. “Okay. No offense. But I’m really starting to hate the whole ‘N SYNC thing.”
“You hate us?”
“No, I don’t hate any of you. It’s just….my mom thinks the world revolves around you guys. Around my brother.”
“But doesn’t it?” Justin teased.
“No, I’m being serious Justin. And I hate being hassled all the time and….I don’t know. It’s probably totally wrong for me to feel this way,” I told him, looking down at my feet.
Justin hugged me tightly. “Of course not Belle. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault Justin. But anyway, let’s change the subject. What movies did you bring.”
“Friday and a couple other funny ones,” he told me grinning.
“There’s a shock,” I muttered under my breath.
~*~*~*~
“So, tell me more about college,” Justin asked me.
“What do you want to know?"
“Okay. Don’t lie to me. How many boyfriends do you have?”
I laughed. “None Justin.”
“You sure?”
Shaking my head I said, “last time I checked I was single, yeah.”
“Good.”
“Good?” I asked him and he grinned. “Why do you say that?”
“I have my reasons.”
“You do, huh?” I could tell he was hiding something from me. He always got a twinkle in his eyes, a twinkle of mischief. But for some reason, my thoughts diverted somewhere else.
"So, have you talked to JC yet?” I asked him.
TO BE CONTINUED