PART SIXTEEN
I layed back and closed my eyes, knowing I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. I had way too much on my mind.
I was almost alseep when there was a knock on my door and I sat up. "Come in," I said.
My door opened and there stood Joey in the doorway. He didn't say anything, just came into my room and closed my door. I pulled my legs to my chest as he sat down on the edge of my bed.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
"JC called me. Your eyes," he said, looking at me with a sad expression on his face.
"What about them?"
"They're so swollen and red," he said, bringing his hand to my face. I flinched at his touch and he quickly took his hand away.
I looked away from him as more tears stung my eyes. I've never cried so much in my life as I had this day. "What do you want Joey?"
"I wanted to explain what you saw," he said softly.
"You don't need to explain anything," I told him, looking out my window.
"It's not what you think, Sarah. That was my cousin. She came in from out of town."
I quickly looked at him. I wanted to believe him so badly. "Your cousin?" I asked.
"Yes, my cousin Ashley. I hadn't seen her in a long time. She came down to tell me she's getting married." he told me.
"That's wonderful," I whispered. I looked down and started playing with the bedspread.
"I would have told you all that if you hadn't of run off so fast. I wanted you to meet her."
I looked at him, unsure of what to say. "You wanted me to meet her?"
"Yeah, I did. She's staying in my guest bedroom tonight. I told her all about you and she wants to meet you."
I sighed. "I'll go over there tomorrow, if you really want me too."
Joey smiled. "Of course I want you too."
~*~*~*~
I rang the doorbell and waited. I had gone back to the dorm room this morning to clean myself up. My eyes were so baggy and swollen not even make-up could cover it up.
Joey answered the door and smiled. "Good, she's just about to leave," he said. I walked in and into the living room where she was watching the news. She turned around and smiled at me when I walked into the room.
"So, this is Sarah," she said, standing up and offering me her hand. I smiled at her and shook it.
"Nice to meet you," I said softly.
"Oh, Joey, she's so cute! She'd be perfect!" she shrieked after letting go of my hand.
I looked at Joey, confused. "Perfect for what?" I asked him.
"To be his date for my wedding!" Ashley said. Just then I felt Joey grab my hand and squeeze it.
PART SEVENTEEN
I wasn't expecting that and quickly pulled my hand away. "I don't know, I'll have to ask Jared."
"Who's Jared?" Ashley asked us.
"Her boyfriend," Joey muttered before walking away from me and sitting on a chair.
"Oh!" Ashley said, looking back at me, unsure of what to say.
"Well, I think I'm gonna go over and talk to him anyways," I said, walking towards the front door. "I'll call you and tell you what he says," I told Joey. "It was nice to meet you, Ashley," I said before leaving.
~*~*~*~
I knocked on his door and Paul answered. "Hey, Sarah," he said, letting me into their apartment.
"Hey, where's Jared? He should be out of class by now."
"Don't know, should be back anytime," Paul said walking back into his room, leaving me alone in the living room.
I sighed and sat down on their sofa and turned on the TV. A couple minutes later, I heard the front door close and saw Jared walk into the living room. He froze when he saw me sitting on the couch. "What are you doing here?" he asked me.
I stood up. "Nothing, just wanted to see you, is that okay?"
Jared shrugged. "Guess so," he said, throwing his backpack on the floor.
"Actually, I have something to ask you," I told him.
Jared sighed loudly. "Is this about the guys, Sarah?"
I took a deep breath. "Yeah."
"God, Sarah, what now?"
"Well, one of them asked me to go to a wedding with them and I wanted to know if it was okay."
I saw anger grow in his eyes. "Who, Joey?"
The look on his face scared me. I had never seen him like this before. "No, JC." I barely whispered, afraid of what would happen if I told him the truth.
He looked at me a long time, trying to decide if I was telling him the truth. "JC?"
I nodded and looked at the floor.
"Bullshit," he yelled and I looked at him to see his eyes glarring at me.
"What's the big deal? It's just a wedding!"
"Exactly my point!" he screamed, throwing his hands everywhere. "It's a date with another guy!"
"But not in that way!" I pleaded. "He's my friend!"
"No, you can't go!" he yelled.
I looked at him with anger in my eyes. "How dare you! Where do you get off thinking you can tell me what I can and can't do!" My outburst had shocked me, not to mention Jared.
I've never seen so much anger in his eyes as I had at that moment. I turned my back to him to go sit on the sofa. Suddenly, I felt this sharp pain in my side and I fell and soon everything around me went black.
PART EIGHTEEN
I opened my eyes to see Paul sitting on the floor beside me. He must have picked me up and put me on the sofa. I sat up, quickly, and my head started throbbing.
"Sarah, what happened?" Paul asked me.
"I fell," I told him, getting up and walking into the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I gasped. I had a huge black and dark purple gash right above my right eye.
Suddenly Paul was in the doorway. "Did Jared do this to you?"
I took a deep breath and turned to face Paul. "No, he didn't. I just tripped over my own two feet and must have landed on the coffee table, that's all," I told him, turning back to the mirror to examine my forehead more closely.
"Where is he then?"
I sighed. "Paul, I don't know. He must have gone to go get me some help or something."
"But I was in the next room."
I looked at him and rolled my eyes and pushed my way past him. I found my car keys and headed for the door. "Paul, I don't know, okay? I'll talk to you later." I said before leaving.
~*~*~*~
I was standing in front of my mirror in my dorm room. 'Thank goodness my roommate is still in class' I thought as I lifted my shirt up to look at my back. I had a huge bruise on the left side of my back where Jared must have kicked me. I touched it and jumped, not knowing how sensitive it was. Tears swelled in my eyes and I carefully pulled my shirt down.
I turned around and looked at my face. Now, to add to my puffy, red eyes, was a huge gash. "How am I gonna hide this?" I asked myself. I looked in my closet and found a hat that covered it perfectly. It kind of hurt, having something rest on it, but it was worth it. I don't know why I wanted to defend Jared, but I did, he'd gotten me pretty scared now.
~*~*~*~
I drove into JC's driveway just as JC was getting out of his Jeep. "Hey, SJ, what's up?" he asked me, giving me a hug.
"Not much," I told him. "Where were you?"
"We all had a meeting with Lou and Johnny. We're leaving in a month for our next tour."
"Oh, Josh," I said. "Don't tell me that, I don't even want to think about it."
He laughed and playfully hit me on the side of my head. It wasn't on my gash, but close enough and I cried out in pain.
"Oh, Sarah, what did I do?"
"Nothing, sorry...." I said, walking past him and towards his house. He grabbed my arm and spun me around.
"What is it? You never wear hats."
"I just felt like it today," I said, trying to break free from his grip. Not soon enough. JC reached up and took my hat off of my head and gasped. I've never seen JC's eyes get as big as they did just then.
"SJ, what's happened?"
PART NINETEEN
"Nothing," I said quickly, snatching my hat away from JC's grasp. I quickly put it back on my head, flinching as I adjusted it. "I was dancing around my dorm room to the radio and tripped over my backpack and hit my head on the bed post. I'm so clumsy."
He said nothing, just looked at me with questioning eyes. I pleaded him with mine to believe me. I didn't know if he did or not, he just nodded.
"Whatever you say, Sarah," he told me before walking into his house. I gave a sigh of relief and followed him.
I picked up JC's phone and dialed Pam's number. JC was taking a shower. He had said something about catching a movie. I didn't want to go back to my dorm room, in fear Jared might show up, so I was quick to jump at the suggestion.
"Hello?"
"Hey Pam, what's up?"
"Nothing, what about you?" she asked me.
"Well, I was just curious if maybe I could stay the night at your house. You do, after all, have to tell me all about you and Justin."
"Sure, you know you're always welcome at my house."
"Well, JC and I were thinking, maybe all us could go to a movie tonight."
"Sounds good, but I think Sammie's gonna stay the night at a friend's house."
"Oh, well, we're just gonna have to go again when she can come too. How is she?"
"She's doing pretty good. She's got a cute little boy chasing after her."
"Oh, that's so cute Pam! But I guess it's good that she won't be there tonight, so you can go into DETAILS about you and Justin."
Pam laughed. "You betcha girl!"
"Okay, cool. I'll talk to JC about it and we'll come pick you up around 7:30. Sound good?"
"Sounds wonderful."
~*~*~*~
Joey had decided on 'Cruel Intentions.' I sat in between JC and Joey, while Pam sat on the end with Justin with Lance and Chris in the middle.
We all walked out of the movie talking and laughing. I happened to look over to my left to see Jared flirting with a girl and my stomach jumped into my throat. I moved to the other side of JC, hoping he wouldn't see me. Suddenly I heard my name being called and my feet froze. I looked up at JC and slowly turned around to face Jared, staring at me.
"Hey girl," he said, giving me a tight hug, purposely holding me where my bruise was and I let out a small cry, but luckily, no one but Jared heard it. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
PART TWENTY
I gave Joey, JC and the rest of the group a fake smile. "Yeah," I said, as Jared grabbed my hand and gently pulled me around the corner and out of sight. The second we were hidden, he let go of my hand and grabbed my arms, hard, and started shaking me.
"You bitch!" he said. His grip tightened on my arms and I yelped, causing him to tighten his grip even more. "Shut up! What the hell are you doing? I thought I made it perfectly clear, you aren't supposed to see them anymore!"
"I thought you just meant the wedding!" I cried.
Someone passed us and Jared quickly let go of me. My arms hurt badly, and I started to rub them. "Let that be your warning," he whispered and walked off.
I had to regain my composure before walking over to the Jeep that was waiting for me. I hated lying to everyone, but I was scared of what would happen if I didn't.
I slipped in, next to Joey. "What was that all about?" he asked me.
I looked up at him and smiled. "Not much, just wanted to tell me I could go to the wedding with you."
~*~*~*~
"So," I said, plopping down on the sofa next to Pam. "Spill it."
Pam's grin grew. "Spill what?"
"Hello! About you and Justin."
"Oh, that," she said, looking away from my gaze, smiling. "Well, we're getting kind of close, I guess you could say."
"Kind of close? Hello, he kissed you at the beach and you two were watching movies the other night."
"Okay, really close. He's a great guy and I like him a lot!"
"Pam, how come you never told me all this? I didn't know you went for younger men," I told her, smiling devilishly at her.
She blushed. "Neither did I. But there's just something about him. And Sammie loves him, which makes it even better. I'm really happy."
I leaned over and hugged her tightly. I was thankful she didn't get anywhere near my bruise. I pulled away and smiled at her. "So, how far have you two gotten?"
She laughed. "Sarah!"
"What?" I asked her, smiling widely. "It's a fair question, you two are my really good friends and I just wanna know if you two have 'done the deed', that's all!"
She laughed and playfully hit my arm. I flinched at her touch and she noticed. "I'm sorry, Sarah, did that hurt? I didn't think I hit you that hard."
"No, it's fine," I said, rubbing my arm. Little did I know, rubbing it with short sleeves on was a mistake, because Pam caught a quick glance at my bruised arm. I had no idea it was bruised, I didn't think Jared's grip was THAT tight, but I guess I was wrong.
"Sarah! Your arm!" Pam cried.
TO BE CONTINUED