HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?
By Sarah Wartman
PART SIX
Pam jumped off of her sofa. “Of course I want to meet them,” she shrieked.
I laughed. “Dang girl, you’re acting like a ten year old….”
She smirked. “Very funny Sarah.”
“Okay, well, let’s see. I’ll ask them to go out to lunch with me tomorrow, how does that sound? You can bring Sammie too, it’ll be fun!”
“Oh my gosh,” Pam shrieked. “I can’t wait! Sammie will be so excited!”
“Okay, well, I gotta go do some homework. I’ll call you tomorrow morning about when and where, sound good?” I said, picking up my backpack.
“Absolutely!” Pam said.
~*~*~*~
I called JC after finishing my homework at about eleven o’clock, I wanted to get it all done so I could spend Sunday with the guys. I knew it was pretty late and would probably be waking up JC, but oh well!
“Hello?”
“Hello Joshua,” I said, in a seductive voice.
He laughed, “Hey SJ.”
“How did you know it was me?” I whined.
“Too easy,” he said. “What’s up?”
“Well, I wanted to know if you and the guys wanted to go out to eat lunch with me tomorrow. Remember Pam? Well, her seven year old daughter, Sammie, is a huge fan of yours and thought it would be nice to see if they wanted to come too.”
“Umm….sure, I guess. I’ll call the guys tomorrow morning and drag their butts out of bed.”
“Cool,” I said. “So, where is everyone?”
“I just laid down for bed. Justin, Lance and Joey went clubbing and I think Chris had a date.”
“Awww, how cute!” We made plans for tomorrow and hung up.
The next morning, I called Pam and told her the plan. She was so excited and it made me laugh.
~*~*~*~
I hung up my phone. It was eleven o’clock and I had just got finished having another screaming match with Jared. I picked up my backpack and closed the door to my dorm room. I jumped in the front of JC’s Jeep. I turned around to see Chris and Lance in the backseat and said hi to them.
We got to the restaurant and slid into a large, round booth in the back. Joey and Justin showed up right as we were sitting down and Joey slid in next to me.
“Hey you,” he said, kissing me on the cheek.
“Hey,” I said, smiling at him.
“So, who is that we’re meeting again?” Lance asked me.
“My friend Pam and her little girl, Sammie. Sammie is such a big fan of yours, I thought this would make her day.” I looked up and noticed something had caught Justin’s attention at the front door.
“Who’s that?” Justin whispered.
I looked towards the front door to see what he was looking at and I smiled.
PART SEVEN
“Oh, that’s Pam and Sammie….”
I waved them over to our table. Joey got up so I could get out, right as Sammie ran into my arms and hugged me.
“Hey there,” I told her, pulling away from her. I squatted down, to get to her eye level. “I want you to meet my friends. That’s Justin, Lance, Chris, JC and Joey,” I told her.
“Duh, Sarah, I knew that,” she said, starring at Lance, her favorite, and I smiled. By that time all of the guys had gotten out of the booth to give Sammie a hug.
“And who’s this?” Justin asked me, looking at Pam.
“Oh, sorry,” I said, standing up. “Guys, this is Pam. Pam, this is the guys,” I told her, smiling. All the guys shook her hands, except Justin, he gave her a hug. I thought that was kind of weird, but didn’t think much of it.
Lunch was a blast. Sammie was having so much fun and I was so happy that she got to meet them. We were laughing and joking around when my cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey, where are you? I’ve been trying to find you,” Jared said.
“Oh, I’m just having some lunch,” I said, looking at JC. He mouthed ‘Jared?’ and I nodded.
“With who?”
“Why does that matter?” I asked him.
“You’re with them, huh?”
“Yeah, so?”
“God, all you do is spend time with them,” he told me.
“I would spend time with you, but you’re too busy with your friends to give me second! And you knew getting into this a year ago that they’re my good friends! Give me a break!”
“Yeah, whatever, call me when you get back.”
“I won’t be getting back until late. We’re going to go watch a movie and hang out,” I told him.
He said a few curse words and hung up on me. I put my phone back in my backpack and looked up to see everyone silent, starring at me.
“Sorry,” I whispered, looking down at the table. JC grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed it.
After lunch, the guys and I went back to JC’s house to hang out and watch TV. We did invite Pam and Sammie to come along, but Pam had the night shift at work tonight and they couldn’t come.
Justin and I were watching JC and Lance play PlayStation while Joey and Chris raided JC’s refrigerator.
“So, you and Pam are pretty good friends?” Justin whispered in my ear.
I looked at him and smiled. “Yeah, why?”
He sat back and smiled. “Oh, nothing.”
“Oh, come on Justin, I know that smile. What is it?”
PART EIGHT
“Nothing,” he said, sitting there, grinning at me.
“You have a thing for her, don’t you?” I asked him. He didn’t answer, just sat there with a smug grin on his face and I smiled.
I stayed at JC’s house until about ten, then I decided to go back to my dorm room. JC walked me out to my car.
“Jared told me to call him,” I told him, unlocking my door.
“Are you going to?”
“Should I?” I asked him.
“I don’t know, SJ. You do whatever is good for you.”
I turned around and looked at him. “None of this is good for me.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“Because I care for him,” I told him, getting into my car.
“Yeah, I know. Call me,” he said, shutting my door.
~*~*~*~
It was 10:30 and I was staring at my phone, deciding whether or not to call him. I decided to get it over with, if I didn’t, then he would call me and just yell.
“Hello?” Jared’s roommate, Paul, answered.
“Hey Paul, is Jared there?”
“Nope, he went out.”
I sighed in relief. “Tell him I called, okay?”
“Will do.”
I placed the phone down, sighed and closed my eyes, thankful that I wouldn’t be fighting with him tonight. All the arguing was starting to wear me out….
A couple days later I entered my dorm room after finishing my classes as my phone started ringing.
“Hello?” I asked after running to my phone.
“Hey, Sarah, what’s up?”
“Hey Justin, not much, you?” I said as I put my backpack on the floor.
“Well, I was just thinking.”
I laughed, interrupting him. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did ya?”
“Funny Sarah. No, really, what are you doing this weekend?”
“I think Jared and I are doing something Saturday. But Sunday, I’m free, why?”
“How are things going with Jared anyway?”
I sat down on my bed and sighed. “A little bit better, I’m just glad we’re not fighting right now.”
“How long is that gonna last?”
“Got me. Anyways, why? What do you wanna do this weekend?”
“Well, I had this great idea. Why don’t you call Pam and Sammie and all of us can go to the beach or something. You think they’d like that idea?”
I smiled to myself. “I think they’d love it.”
PART NINE
"Well," I said, getting out of Jared's car and walking towards my dorm. "It's getting late." We had spent all Saturday together, shopping, going to a movie and just hanging out. We didn't have one single arguement all day, it was probably the best day I'd ever had with him.
We stopped over at the side of the building. Jared laced his hands into mine and stood right in front of me. "I had so much fun today," he told me, kissing my nose.
"Me too," I said, planting a quick kiss on his lips. I pulled away and smiled at him.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked me.
I cleared my throat and looked at the ground. I really didn't want to ruin this perfect day with a fight. "I'm going to the beach with JC and the guys. And Pam and Sammie."
"Oh, sounds like fun."
My head shot up like a bullet. "Huh? You're okay with that?"
"Well," he said, looking down at my hands, playing with them. "I've been doing some thinking lately. I've been acting like a jerk about them and you've never given me a reason to not trust you, so I'll try to stop acting so jealous."
I smiled and gave him a big hug. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me," I told him and kissed his neck.
He laughed. "I know their friendship means a lot to you."
I pulled away and looked at him. "Yeah, but our relationship means a lot to me too..." I said before planting a kiss on his lips.
I finally pulled away and smiled at him. "I better go inside. I'll call you tomorrow," I told him, planted a quick kiss on his lips and started walking towards the doors.
"Sarah!" he yelled as I was walking away. "I love you!"
I smiled and turned around and ran back into his arms and gave him a big hug and a deep kiss. I pulled away, inches from his face. "I love you too."
~*~*~*~
I drove in front of Pam's house and honked my horn. Immediately, Pam and Sammie ran out of the house and towards my car. Sammie hoped in the back, talking non-stop and Pam sat up next to me.
"So, where we going?" Pam asked me.
"It's kind of a private beach the guys go to. They met the guy who owns it and he lets them use it so they won't be swamped with fans."
"Cool," Pam said.
I pulled up next to JC's Jeep and we got out. We walked over to where the guys were laying some beach towels down on the ground. I went over to JC to tell him about my wonderful day with Jared.
As I was giving him a hug, I heard him whisper to me, "SJ, what's up with those two?"
I pulled away and turned around to see what he was talking about....
PART TEN
JC and I just stood there and watched Justin and Pam share a close, long hug and sit down next to each other.
"What's with those two?" JC asked me again.
I shrugged. "I have no idea," I said as I put my backpack on the ground and layed out a beach towel next to JC.
"JC, I had the most amazing day yesterday," I told him, sitting down next to him.
"Oh yeah, forgot about the day with Jared. I take it went well?" he asked me, handing me his sun screen.
"It was amazing JC. We didn't fight, not once. Even when I told him about coming here today. He said he's going to try to stop being so jealous," I told him, rubbing the lotion on his back. I finished and handed him the bottle so he could do the same for me.
"That's great, Sarah. I mean, that's really awesome, I love seeing you happy," he told me as he finished rubbing the lotion into my back. I pulled out a V.C. Andrews book to read and JC layed back and closed his eyes. I looked to my right to see Justin and Pam were still talking. I looked out to see Lance, Chris, Joey and Sammie playing in the water and I smiled.
I was really getting to my book when it was suddenly taken from me and I looked up to see Joey standing over me, dripping wet.
"What do you think you're doing?" I asked him.
He didn't answer me, instead he leaned down and scooped me to his arms and I screamed.
"Joseph Fatone, you put me down this instant," I screamed as he started running towards the water. I looked over his shoulder to see JC stand up and I screamed for him. He just stood there, laughing at me, along with Justin and Pam.
He ran into the water and suddenly stopped and looked at me. I could tell what he was thinking. "Do it and die!" I told him. He smiled at me and tossed me into the water.
I came up and screamed as I smoothed my hair back. "Joey, you're so dead!" I yelled as I ran back towards my towel where he had planted his wet body, getting it all wet.
I reached my towel and glared at him. JC threw me a smile and ran off into the water to join Lance and Chris having some sort of a cute fight over Sammie.
"You have three seconds to get off of my towel and run as fast as you can." I told him. He smiled and slowly got off of my towel and sat on JC's.
I sat down and he started talking to me, but I found my discman and soon drowned out his mumbling. He kept tapping on it, making my disc skip and I finally threw my headphones off.
I looked over at him with a look of annoyance in my eyes. He threw me his puppy dog face, the one he knew I couldn't resist and I smiled.
"Don't be mad..." he told me.
I sighed, and smiled at him, knowing I could never resist the "Fatone Charm".
We sat and visited for a while. He was being a real flirt today, more than normal I though. After talking for a while, Joey slowly leaned into me....
TO BE CONTINUED