HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?
By Sarah Wartman
PART THIRTY-ONE
"I don't know," I said as I stood up and walked over to his TV. I sat down on the floor and started going through his tapes. I was looking through a whole bunch of good movies and suddenly came upon one that made me start laughing hysterically.
"What?" Joey asked, standing up.
"What's....this?" I asked him between laughs. I held up a copy of 'Clueless'.
He smiled and shrugged. "So I went through an Alicia Silverstone phase. Sue me!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, we gotta watch this," I said standing up. I was pulling the tape out of it's jacket when the phone rang. I looked at Joey and we both smiled at the same time.
"It's mine!" we both screamed, running for the phone.
I lunged for the phone right before Joey got to it. "Ha!" I screamed as I held it to my ear. "Joseph Anthony Fatone, Jr.'s household. Whom may I ask is speaking?" I said, right as Joey pounced me, making me crash to the floor. He stradled me and started tickling me.
"Give me that phone!" he exclaimed.
"Get....off....of....me," I said between giggles. I finally let go of the phone and Joey grabbed it and got off of me.
"Hello?" he said, sitting down on the arm of the sofa.
I pulled up on my elbows and just watched Joey. He through me a 'Ha, I won' look. I just glarred back.
"Oh hey," he said. "Yeah, sure no problem. Yeah, I'll tell her. Bye!" he said and cradled the phone and looked at me.
"Well?" I asked.
"That was Pam. Apparently Justin and her have plans and thought you should stay here or at JC's tonight."
"You're kidding!" I said, standing up.
"Guess not," he said, wearing a huge grin.
"What about Sammie?" I said, standing in front of him.
"I don't know, SJ, I'm just telling you what she said."
I picked up the phone and called Pam. Obviously Justin was going to come over after Sammie went to bed. 'Those two don't waste any time,' I thought to myself. I told her about walking in on them, sort of, and she couldn't believe I walked right behind them and they didn't even notice.
"I'm sure you had a few other things to concentrate on," I told her and laughed.
I hung up the phone and got a strange feeling in my stomach. Maybe staying over at Joey's tonight wasn't such a good idea.
I picked up the phone and dialed JC's cell phone, in case he wasn't back yet. No answer. 'Where in the hell could he be?' I asked myself.
I looked over at Joey who was just watching me. "Looks like it's you and me kid," he said, grabbing me by the waist. I wasn't sure if this was a good idea, staying the night at Joey's. I don't think I can trust myself with him enough to stay the entire night over here....
PART THRITY-TWO
I made Joey and I some grilled cheese sandwiches and we watched 'Clueless'. And I was very proud of my ability to control myself. He didn't even try to kiss me which was pretty shocking. He just held me in his arms.
"What shall we do now?" I asked Joey as the credits started rolling. "It's only 7:30."
"Let's go clubbing!" Joey said, slapping his hands together.
"Clubbing?" I asked, a little hesitant. I loved dancing, but I wasn't sure if I wanted people to see my bruised face.
"Oh, come on SJ!" he said, pulling me off the sofa. "It's dark in there, no one will see your face," he said, obviously picking up on my uncertainity.
"Oh, all right," I finally agreed.
"Oh yeah! We're going to have so much fun, SJ, you'll see!" he said, kissing me on the cheek, all excited.
I laughed. "Man, you're easy to please," I said, picking my keys off of the coffee table.
"Where you going?"
"To get my stuff from Pam's, silly," I said, walking towards the door.
"You have to go now?" he asked as he followed me to the front door.
I turned around and smiled at him. "Yes, now. I want to change before we go out," I told him.
"Why? You look just fine."
I laughed. "Joe, I'm not going clubbing in overalls and a fishing hat."
"I happen to think you look cute in your overalls and hat," he told me and kissed me on the nose. He pulled back and said, "Well, I'm wearing this," point to his shirt.
"Not if I have anything to do with it," I said as I walked out the door.
"I'll miss you!" he yelled as I reached my car door.
"I know!" I yelled back as I unlocked my door. I got in and was about to pull away when I saw something stuck under my windshield.
"How weird," I whispered as I got out and lifted a white sheet of paper from between my wiper and glass.
I read the note and suddenly I couldn't breathe. "Oh shit...."
PART THIRTY-THREE
I scanned the streets for him and saw no one. I looked down and reread the note.
'Do you honestly think JC and Joey scare me? Hardly. I gave you almost two years of my life and if you think you and your foolish friends think I give up without a fight, you got another thing coming. Just remember, you can only hide for so long....'
I crumpled the note and threw it. I wasn't going to let him do this to me. And I sure as hell wasn't going to tell JC or Joey or anyone else, for that matter, about this. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself.
~*~*~*~
I shoved my things quickly into my bag. I heard a knock on my door. "Come in!" I yelled as I was getting my things out of the bathroom.
I saw Pam stick her head into the room. "You're not mad at me, are you?"
I stopped what I was doing and looked at her and smiled. "Of course not," I said and dumped the rest of my things into my duffel bag.
"You sure?"
I walked over to her and hugged her. More for my benefit than hers, I think. I pulled away and smiled at her her. "I better go. Joey and I are going clubbing."
Pam rose her eyebrows in suspicion. I giggled on my way past her and out of the house.
~*~*~*~
When I got to Joey's, I heard the shower running. I ran up the stairs and quickly threw my stuff in the spare bedroom and quickly went over to his.
I started going through his drawers and came across a great sweater vest. It was a beautiful light green with navy and white around the neck, arm and bottom edges. I found a plain white t-shirt, his khaki cargo pants and some Doc Marten's. I placed them neatly on his bed and smiled. I heard the shower turn off and I quickly ran to my room and closed the door.
I was putting cute little butterfly clips in my messy-up hairdo when I heard my cell phone ring. My breath got caught in my throat thinking of who it could be. I slowly walked over to my purse, as if in a daze. I found my phone and took a deep breath before answering it.
"Hello?"
PART THIRTY-FOUR
"Hey, SJ, what's up?"
"Joshua Scott! Where in the hell are you?"
"Over at my parent's, why?"
"I've been trying to find you all afternoon! Why don't you have your cell phone with you?"
"Sorry, my phone's in my Jeep, the battery died. My mom hasn't felt well all weekend and I came over here to help my dad out."
"Oh, JC, I'm sorry! Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she's sleeping now and I just finished playing poker with my dad and thought I'd see what you were up to."
"Well, I'm over at Joey's. We're going clubbing," I told him.
"Oh, sounds like fun."
"Yeah. You wanna come?"
"Oh, no," JC said. "I don't want to be a third wheel."
I laughed. "JC, you could never be a third wheel."
"I know. No thanks though. You have fun."
"Well, okay, if you're sure."
"Yeah, I'm sure. I better let you get ready. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay. Tell your mom I said get better."
"Will do. Bye."
"Bye!" I said and hung up my phone and sighed with relief that it wasn't Jared.
~*~*~*~
I was spraying some hair spray when I heard a knock on my door. "Come in," I said as I fixed a loose strand of hair. I turned to see my door open and Joey walk in. He was dressed in what I picked out and I smiled.
"I liked your choice," he said, sitting down on the bed.
"Thanks," I said, spraying some CKOne on.
He walked over next to me. "You ready?"
I turned to him and smiled. "Absolutely."
He held his hand out for me and I took it and stood up. He twirled me so he could look me up and down and I blushed. I leaned over and wrapped a bright blue shirt around my waist, incase I got cold.
"You look so beautiful," he told me.
"Oh, I do not," I said, picking up my purse. I was wearing a short, black skirt and a white tank top with the cobalt blue shirt tied around my waist.
"Do so," he said, taking my hand and kissing it.
We got to his car and he raced ahead of me to open my door. He bowed and I giggled. "Your chariot awaits, my lady."
I smiled as I slid into the front seat. "I'm gonna have fun tonight, no matter what!" I told myself.
PART THIRTY-FIVE
The line into the club wasn't as long as I thought it would be for a Saturday night. Joey slipped his arm around my waist and I smiled. I loved it when his arms were around me. I felt so safe.
The place was jumpin'. 'Breaking All the Rules' by She Moves was playing and I pulled Joey out onto the dance floor. I loved this song and Joey was such a good dancer.
'Hero' by Mariah Carey started and I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around to see Lance smiling at me.
"Lance!" I shrieked and hugged him. "What are you doing here?"
"Chris and I came. We dragged Justin along too, but he's gonna leave sometime soon to go to Pam's."
"Oh, where are they?" I asked him. He turned around and pointed to a small table in the corner where Justin and Chris were sitting. They waved at me and I waved back.
"So, mind if I have this dance?" he asked, looking at Joey instead of me.
Joey nodded. He kissed me on the cheek and walked over to where Chris and Justin were. "You two look so cute," Lance said as he slipped his hands around my waist.
I blushed. "You found any girls yet?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
"Nah, not really," he said, sounding kind of sad about it.
"That's too bad Lance. I'm sure there are tons of girls here that would die to be in my shoes right now."
He laughed. "Oh, SJ, you're too cute. I can see why Joey adores you so much."
"Oh Lance," I said, putting my head on his shoulder. "You're too sweet to stay single for long."
The dance ended and we walked over to where the guys were sitting. I slid into the booth next to Justin and gave him a huge, cheesey smile.
"What's you're problem?" Justin asked, returning my smile.
"Nothing," I said as a mental picture flashed through my mind of early this afternoon.
"What SJ?" he persisted.
I stood up and smiled at him. "I guess you'll never know Justin. Anyway, I'm going to the restroom. I'll be right back."
"Sarah!" Justin called.
"Fine," I said as I walked back to the table and leaned over. "That couch over at Pam's must be super comfortable," I whispered in his ear. I pulled back to see him turn a bright shade of red. I smiled at him and blew Joey a kiss before going to find the lady's room.
I put some lipstick on and readjusting my tank top. I took a deep breath and pulled the heavy door open. I was walking down the hall and back to the dance floor when I heard someone behind me. I stopped and turned around me to see who it was and just then I felt a pair of hands grab me from the side. I tried screaming, but he quickly covered my mouth. My whole body filled with panic as he pulled towards the back of the hall.
TO BE CONTINUED