HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?
By Sarah Wartman
PART TWENTY-SIX
I read the note and looked up at Pam. "When did you get this?" I asked her.
"They came back by at nine to talk to you, but didn't have the heart to wake you up, so they decided to write you a note."
Justin pulled Pam down for another kiss and I reread my letter over again.
Dearest Sarah,
Hey babe! JC and I came by to talk to you, but you were still asleep. We came up to check on you but decided not to wake you. You are the cutest sleeper I've ever seen. =) Blushing yet? I want you to come over to my house sometime today, I have something to talk to you about, okay?
Luv ya!
Joey
P.S. - I'll call you sometime today - JC
I leaned back and smiled, trying to decided whether or not I was going to change before going over to Joey's. Joey had seen me a million times without make-up on and in my loungin' clothes, but I was wondering if I should put a little bit of make-up on, considering my bruise.
'He saw it earlier this morning, Sarah.' I told myself, and decided I was gonna go over there now, pj's and all.
I jumped up and grabbed my keys off of the coffee table.
"Where are you going?" Pam asked me.
"Over to Joey's, I'll be back a couple of hours or so. I'll probably go to JC's too," I told her, heading for the door.
"But Sarah, you're still in your pajamas!" she yelled at me.
I had reached the door and laughed, looking down at my clothes. "I don't care!" I yelled back before closing the door.
Pam laughed and turned towards Justin. "She's so crazy," Pam said and kissed Justin on the nose.
Justin laughed. "Yeah she sure is, but you gotta love her," he said.
"Yeah, she's great. I just hope she never has to see Jared again."
"From what JC and Joey told us this morning after they got back from his apartment, it doesn't look he's gonna be bothering her anymore," he said before pulling her down for a long, deep kiss.
"Where's Sammie?" Justin asked her after pulling away.
"She's staying at a friend's house. She won't be back until later on this afternoon," Pam said. She looked at him and saw a mishevious look in Justin's eyes. "Why?" she asked him.
"Just curious," he said and smiled. Pam stood up and pulled Justin up with her and led him to the sofa. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. "We have the house, alone, for hours," Pam whispered as she pulled him onto the couch with her.
PART TWENTY-SEVEN
I knocked quickly on Joey's door and opened it. "Joey!" I yelled. No response.
I walked through the house looking for him, in the living room, the kitchen, the game room, his bedroom. He was nowhere! I was standing in the kitchen, looked out the window and noticed something and smiled.
I opened the back door and slowly walked up to the trampoline. Joey had a small stereo blasting, his back to me, jumping on the trampoline. I walked up to the trampoline and just watched him. He was in his own world and didn't even notice me standing there, watching him.
I grinned. He was jumping pretty close to the edge I was standing by and I quickly lunged forward and grabbed his legs, causing him to crash on his stomach.
He turned around and saw me and moved over to the edge I was on. "How are you doing?" he asked me.
"Fine," I told him, smiling at him.
He leaned his head over the edge of the trampoline and laughed. "Sarah, did you just get out of bed? You're not wearing any shoes!"
I smiled at him. "I know! You know I hate wearing shoes," I told him. "Plus, Justin's over at Pam's and I felt they wanted some privacy," I said, climbing onto the trampoline and sitting next to him.
He kissed my cheek. "You do have the cutest feet around," he told me.
I looked at my feet and wiggled my toes and laughed. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked him.
"JC and I went over to Jared's this morning," he told me after a long pause.
I felt my stomach knot up inside. "What happened?" I whispered.
He relayed what happened to me. I didn't know what to feel. On one hand, my feelings for Joey were growing fast and I loved the fact that he wanted to protect me. On the other hand, I had been with Jared for a year and a half. Everything was moving so fast.
Joey must have seen my reaction on my face. "You're not mad at us, are you?"
I looked over at Joey and couldn't help but smile. He looked so sweet and caring. I leaned over and hugged him. "It's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me," I whispered in his ear.
"You know I'd do anything for you," Joey told me, standing up and then holding his hands out to help me up.
We jumped and goofed around for a while. We were really jumping high and somehow hit each other really hard. I fell and Joey fell on top of me. We were laughing hysterically, our faces inches apart. Our laughter subsided, but neither of us moved. Before I knew it, I felt Joey's lips on mine....
PART TWENTY-EIGHT
His kiss totally shocked me. I was surprised at first, but soon closed my eyes and my whole body went weak underneath him. My mind was wandering as his hands wandered. I was really enjoying this kiss, but suddenly I had flashes in my mind. Of Jared. His hateful eyes, his painful kick, hitting my head, his grabbing me and shaking me. My eyes popped open and I pushed Joey off of me.
I put my face in my hands and sighed. "I'm sorry Joe, it's just that"
"I know, SJ," Joey said.
I looked up at him and smiled. I leaned over and hugged him. "Just give me time," I whispered in his ear.
"I'd wait forever for you," he whispered back.
There was a long awkward pause between us. Suddenly Joey jumped to his feet. "I got an idea!" he exclaimed.
I giggled. "What?"
"Well, I can think of a certain Mercedes that might like a walk on a beach this afternoon."
I squealed and jumped into his arms. Mercedes was my black lab that JC was keeping for me. My parents moved about four hours from here this summer, but they couldn't take Mercedes and were going to have to sell her. Mercedes was my baby and JC knew how much she meant to me and offered to keep her. I hadn't spent much time with her lately and was excited at Joey's idea.
"I'll go get ready," I said as I jumped off of the trampoline. I turned towards Joey to see him smiling at me. "You wanna come?"
"Nah," he said, jumping off of the trampoline. "You go do whatever...girls...do," he said, waving his hands all over the place.
I laughed and kissed him on the cheek and ran towards the door. "I'll be back here in an hour!" I yelled as I raced into the house.
I ran to Pam's front door and rushed into the house. I stopped dead in my tracks in the living room. I couldn't see Justin or Pam, but I sure could hear them. They were having tons of fun on that sofa....
"Holy shit," I whispered and ran out the front door. I closed the door and leaned against it and laughed so hard I fell to the ground. What was I gonna do now? I needed to go past them to get to the stairs and up to my room.
I got up and walked around to the back door. I remembered that if I went in through that door, I could get to the stairs without having to go into the living room. I ran up to it and tried the door. Locked.
"Damn it," I said as I stomped my foot on the ground. What was I gonna do now?
PART TWENTY-NINE
I walked back around to the front of the house and went in. I closed the door and leaned against it, trying to figure out what I was going to do.
I walked quietly into the living room. I tip-toed behind the sofa while I covered my mouth with my hand as to not let any of my giggles be heard. I was almost through the living room and just sprinted the rest of the way to the stairs and up to my room.
I closed the door and sighed with relief. I gathered my stuff and headed into the bathroom.
I decided on wearing my jean overalls with a white tank top underneath and my Doc sandals. I braided my hair down the sides and put on some make-up, trying my hardest to cover up my gash. Unfornately, it hadn't faded any and my make-up wasn't covering it up very well. At least it hadn't gotten darker, I kept telling myself.
Since my make-up didn't do much good, I decided to wear my khaki fishing hat with a picture of scoobi doo on the front. It was my favorite hat, my only hat, I was a big scoobie doo fan.
I went back downstairs to see Justin and Pam asleep on the sofa. I smiled to myself and quickly went out front to my car.
I got to Joey's and ran inside without even knocking. I found him up in his room. He had his back to me, stereo blasting. Suddenly a BackStreet Boys song came on and he groaned. I smiled to myself. He took off his shirt and looked through his closet trying to find something to wear.
I walked up from behind him and put my hands over his eyes. He took my hands, pulled them down to his mouth and kissed them. I giggled and he turned around, still holding my hands.
"What if I were one of the guys?" I asked him.
"None of the guys ever smell this good," he said, tugging at my hands, pulling me towards him. He just stared at me, smiling. I smiled and kissed him quickly on the lips.
"Hurry up!" I whined. "I wanna see Mercedes!"
He turned back around. "I don't know what to wear!" he exclaimed.
I looked through his closet and found a light blue polo shirt and threw it at him. He put it on and just stood there, looking at me as I sat on his bed, looking at his cd's. I looked up at him and he quickly looked away, acting as if he were embarrassed or something.
"Let's go!" I shrieked, grabbing his hands and pulling him towards the front door.
PART THRITY
We walked over to JC's house and when we got there, we just went inside. JC was just sitting down on the sofa with a big bowl of macaroni and cheese and I plopped down right beside him and quickly took the bowl and his fork, right as he was bringing to his mouth.
I took a bite. "Damn, JC, this is good!" I exclaimed, taking another bite.
"Nice to see you too, SJ," he said, laughing at me. "Can I have my lunch back now?"
I giggled. "Sorry, I just forgot to eat lunch," I said, handing him back the bowl.
"I'll go get Mercedes's leash," Joey told me as he headed for the garage.
JC looked at me with a huge grin. "Joey and I are gonna go take Merc to the beach, you wanna come?"
"No, thanks, you two go," he said, smiling widely.
I laughed. "Oh don't start JC," I told him.
"I was right, wasn't I? You two make such a cute couple." JC said, smiling, obviously proud of himself for making that discovery.
"We aren't a couple," I told him.
"Yet," JC added and I couldn't help but smile.
"Joey told you we went to Jared's, didn't he?" JC said, taking another bite of his mac and cheese.
"Yeah," I said, looking down at my feet.
"You aren't mad?" he asked me.
"Nah," I said, looking at him. "It's kind of nice knowing I have a big brother who looks out for me."
"Five big brothers," JC said, correcting me and I laughed.
Joey walked back inside with a very excited Mercedes. I gave JC a hug and left him to eat his lunch.
We walked down to a private beach Joey knew of and was surprised to find it deserted. We let Mercedes run free as we just walked on the sand. I took off my sandals and rolled up the pants of my overalls and Joey did the same. He picked me up and started spinning me around. I screamed, terrified he was going to drop me into the water. We goofed around for a couple of hours down there, just walking and talking. We were heading back to JC's and Joey offered to give me a piggy-back ride. And everyone knows I never refuse one of those.
We got to JC's, but noticed his Jeep was gone. "Wonder where he went," I heard Joey mutter as he put me down. We walked around the back and opened the back door of the fence and let Mercedes inside. I put the leash on top of the picnic table and we left.
"So, what were Justin and Pam doing when you left?" Joey asked me as we walked back to his house.
I laughed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Joey looked at me and smiled. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah," I said and Joey laughed. He looked so darn adorable. 'Why hadn't I noticed how cute he was before?' I asked myself as I took Joey's hand and laced my fingers inbetween his.
We got to his house and were just sitting around, watching MTV. Joey looked over at me and smiled. "So, what shall we do?"
TO BE CONTINUED