Jen turned the water off and sighed as she grabbed a towel for her hair. She grabbed another and wrapped it around her body then stepped out of the shower, feeling more relaxed. She smiled at her memories of childhood; things were a lot easier back then.
She walked into Justin’s room and pulled out a pair of basketball shorts and made her way over to the guest room, which was right next to his. Jen quickly changed into the shorts and a tank top and sat on the edge of the bed, toweling off her hair. She sat up and water droplets went flying all across the room. She looked at herself in the mirror hanging on the wall in front of her.
Her eyes looked dead, and she could still see remnants of bags under her eyes. Overall, she looked exhausted. After blinking a few times, she grabbed a rubber band out of her bag and threw her hair up into a messy bun; she did not want to take the time to dry it or mess with it, and she didn’t care what she looked like either, Justin had pretty much seen every one of her moods and ‘looks’.
All of a sudden, she heard voices downstairs.
Who would the boy invite over now? Typical, I bet he is going to throw some kind of party…so much for relaxing
She pulled out her makeup bag and decided to try to hide her bags and to try to liven herself up. Besides, if she looked better, she might feel better. She looked one more time at her clothes and decided that she looked fine in them, no need to change out of the comfy shorts because she didn’t look bad. A few minutes later she started to make her way down the stairs, plastering a fake smile on her face to greet the guests.
“So I’m like, ‘grab the cheese puffs dude!’ and Joey’s like, ‘no way, cheese doodles man!’ and basically that’s what took us so freakin’ long to get here, JOEY!” Chris explained to Justin while standing up in front of the couch reenacting the scene. He then looked up towards the stairs and smiled.
“Jenko! Come here girl, and wipe that fake smile off your face and be HAPPY to see us!” he yelled. Jen stood in shock as JC and Lance stood up off the floor, and Justin and Joey turned their heads so they could see her.
“Hi…guys…what are you doing here?” she asked, and then looked at Justin. He smiled innocently and shrugged his shoulders. She could see right through him and knew he called when she was in the shower. She looked to the ground and noticed sleeping bags and pillows.
“Well, we decided we would come hang out, chill, dance, party…whatever works,” JC answered.
“Slumber party too then? Who brought the makeup?” she asked and placed her hands on her hips.
“See! I saaaaaid makeup!” Lance replied and threw his hands in the air. Jen giggled and rolled her eyes, making her way over to the guys. She slid onto the couch next to Justin and rested her head on his shoulder as he automatically slid his arm around her shoulders.
“Man Justin, here I thought you had invited people over for a party and I was about to get mad.”
“What are we, chopped liver or something?”
“No, but its not like I need to throw on a prom dress when you guys stop in Joe.”
“Prom dress? Raaaar girl. You can model it for us…is it a backless one? Those are nice, or maybe a-OW!”
“Easy on the hormones Joey,” Justin laughed as he smacked his friend in the side.
“You guys didn’t have to come you know, I would understand if you didn’t,” she mumbled under her breath.
“We wanted to,” JC said and grabbed her hand. “Besides, you think we were going to let Justin have you all to himself? Yeah right!”
“Thanks guys love you too.”
“Whatever Curly man, you need to share that one! C’mere J!” Chris said as he grabbed Jen and threw her over his shoulder.
“Chris! What are you doing!” she yelled, laughing a bit. The guys looked at each other and smiled as Chris ran around the room with Jen over his shoulder, commenting about how he could toss her into the pool at any time he wanted to.
They don’t seem TOO upset with me, it seems as if everything is almost normal. They are going to be gone tomorrow though; this could just be pity…I can’t get too relaxed.
“Throw me in the pool and sing higher than you have ever sung before.”
“Aww damn, Chris you better put her down! Girl gonna beat ya senseless!”
“JC you are next boy…so you need to zip it,” Jen said, still bouncing up and down on Chris’ shoulder. Chris set her down on the recliner and stuck his tongue out at her then galloped around the room.
“Man, I am freakin’ hungry…I could go for some food,” Lance announced. Everyone looked at him and Justin looked at the rest of the guys.
“Pizza?”
“yeah!”
“No way Joey, I don’t want pizza.”
“Tough JC, its not your house!”
“Its not yours either dumbass.”
“It’s my house baby, and I’m the master. I say pizza.”
Jen sat back and watched her friends bicker over their food and smiled lovingly at them. No matter how hard she tried to distance herself from them, she couldn’t get them out of her heart. She had known them too long and had been through too much to get rid of them in one fell swoop.
“Jen? Yo JJ, are you still with us?”
“Sup?” she replied, shaking her head and staring directly into Justin’s face.
He cocked his head and looked at her funny before tearing his gaze from her and began to speak. “What do you think about ice cream?”
“Mmm, I’ll go get it!” she said, jumping off the chair. All of a sudden she felt like everyone was staring at her and analyzing her and she wanted to get away from their critical eyes.
“Let’s all go!” JC said excitedly.
“Not a good idea…you know the teenies will be out in full force trying to catch a glimpse of your sexy boy band asses before you head outta the lovely state.”
“You think I have a sexy ass? Jenko, I never knew.”
“There’s only one ass that she thinks is sexy in this group baybay,” Justin smirked, puffing his chest out.
“Hell yeah,” Jen started, “break me off a piece of JC, that fine brotha!”
JC smirked and made his way slowly over to Jen, winking at her and then laughing at Justin.
“So tell me Jace…” she whispered. He leaned in and smiled.
“Hmm?”
“What kinda ice cream do you want?” she asked and pulled away, raising her eyebrows expecting an answer. The guys cracked up and JC rolled his eyes and shoved Justin onto the couch.
“Mint chocolate chip, smartass.”
“Everyone else?” the guys put their orders in and Jen nodded as she wrote it down. They all handed her some money and watched her climb into Lynn’s car and pull outta the driveway.
“How do you think she’s doing?” Chris asked as they turned from the window.
“Better, she looks more lively,” Joey answered, raising his eyebrows.
“I agree, and she’s joking around with us too,” Lance added.
“So far, everything is going well, lets make sure it stays that way eh?” Justin said and the rest of the guys nodded in agreement.
“Man these guys eat too much…I feel like a freakin’ mother of five or something,” Jen mumbled to herself as she wandered around the grocery store, picking up odds and ends that they had requested. She headed to grab razors and shaving cream for Joey when she passed the magazine aisle of the store.
She cocked her head and her eye cover of YM with the guys on it. She laughed and picked it up, glancing at the picture and their ridiculous poses. Her mind wandered to her friends sitting in Justin’s living room, most likely cussing her out for taking so long with the food and other necessities. Jen put the magazine down and began to stand up when she noticed the National Enquirer staring her in the face. She sighed and looked away from it and back down at her list, moving out of the aisle quickly.
She grabbed the razors and shaving cream and headed to the ice cream, her mind beginning to wander once again.
~Flashback~
(continued…)
“Well I do…but if it means giving up our friendship, I just cant.”
“Justin stop talking like that-“
“Jen I’m serious,” he interrupted.
“How can you stick me with that kind of decision? You are SO passionate about this, I cannot and I will not hold you back. It’ll like, be the downfall of our friendship. You would hate me for not pushing you, and you would hate me because you would never know if you could have made it big.”
“JJ, but-“
“No ‘buts’ Stin,” she smiled at him wide and genuinely. “You should go for it totally, and I will back you 100%. As long as you don’t forget about me and drop me when you are this huge superstar gracing magazines like New Kids On The Block did…mmm, just like Joey McIntyre…”
“Really? You think I will?” he asked hopefully. She rolled her eyes and sighed, shaking her head.
“Oh my Gosh Justy please. You will NEVER be as hot as Joey Joe. That was just supposed to boost the ego a little bit and lighten the mood. You’ll always be the snot-nosed punk that’s my best bud, got me?” she declared and punched his arm while she stood up.
“Whatever, you just wait till all those girls are drooling all over me and the guys…you’ll wish you could get a piece of THIS bod,” he shot back while he also stood and stuck his non-existent chest out while flexing his tiny arms.
“What bod? Now JC’s bod…mmm, that’s a WHOLE other story…”
~End Flashback~
Jen chuckled as she now stood in the check out line, loading the belt up with all of the guys’ requests as she remembered that fateful day. She sobered a bit as the recent controversy once again fought its way to the front of her mind. With the commotion going on while checking out, Jen did not notice the two younger girls back at the magazine section behind her, examining the National Enquirer.
“Can you believe this chick? I mean, I knew they were friends, every Justin fan knows about JEN,” the girl said in a disgusted tone. Her friend nodded and rolled her eyes.
“Seriously, I bet she wants in on his fame-she’s a slut.”
“WHAT does he see in her? She’s NOT pretty…” The girl then looked up and could not believe her eyes as she noticed Jen standing literally 15 feet away from her. Her friend noticed her gaze and gasped.
“Oh my GOD, no WAY!” she exclaimed.
“She’s HERE, in Orlando?” the first girl questioned, like she could not believe it was happening.
“Visiting Justin before tour-she should be home!”
“That JEN that’s DATING JUSTIN is a BITCH,” she announced loudly, which caused several people to turn around and look at the two, including Jen.
Jen’s jaw dropped as she noticed the two girls staring at her looking like they wanted to kill her. She turned around quickly and closed her eyes, not wanting or needing the confrontation she knew was about to occur. The two stared at her and pointed at her and continued to talk.
“Nice outfit, were you trying to be manly? Justin doesn’t like that you know,” the first one commented.
“All that food for you Jen? Not a good idea, you could afford to lose a few pounds,” the second added. They started to walk towards her and Jen remained calm standing in line as people went about their business but noticeably interested in the scene that was taking place.
“We were talking to YOU! Are you deaf?” one of the girls asked rudely. Jen decided it was time to say what she had to say to them.
“Honestly, look at yourselves. Do you think the guys LIKE fans like you? Being rude to their friends? Is this how your parents brought you up? I sure hope not,” she answered as she grabbed the change from the checker and headed out of the store with her head held high, turning her back on the two girls as they continued to make fun of her.
Jen opened the garage door and parked the car inside as she tried to calm herself down before seeing the guys. She knew once she heard or saw them that she was going to lose it, and she didn’t want it to happen. She had stalled on the way home, taking the longer way back with the windows down and the radio cranked up, trying to block the confrontation that had just occurred out of her head.
She walked into the house and heard the guys laughing and yelling, and from what she could hear it sounded like Lance and Justin were playing Nintendo. Their squeals and laughter made her wish that she could go back in time to when everything was normal and not so out of whack, and it made her really think about her decisions. She took a deep breath and walked into the living room to join them.
“Here’s the ice cream and other stuff you all wanted,” she said quietly. They all immediately stopped what they were doing and turned around confused at her tone of voice. The Jen they were looking at was the exact opposite of the Jen that had left them about an hour ago.
They watched as she struggled with her emotions, her eyes wandering every which way across the room as she fought to act nonchalant. Her front was beginning to crumble, and that is when she made the mistake of meeting Justin’s concerned gaze. His eyes locked on to hers, and her eyes widened as her hand flew to her mouth.
“Excuse me,” she whispered in a barely there voice and bolted up the stairs with a cry escaping her lips.
“What the HELL happened?” JC asked as he looked at his friends, shock written all over them.
