The alarm went off at 9am and the girls hopped outta bed. Ashlee ran over to Jen and gave her this huge hug and belted out, "Happy 19th birthday Jennifer!"
Jen playfully pushed her roommate away from her and said, "UGH Ashlee! You KNOW I hate that!"
"Ya, I know, but I had to do it sweets!" Ashlee pulled the blinds open. "Aww J, it looks like a beautiful day…lets get a cleaned up and outta here!"
So, the girls hopped in the shower and got dressed. They went down to the cafeteria in the dorm and had some French toast sticks and orange juice, then it was back to the dorm room. They walked in and Jen plopped down on the futon and started fanning herself with her hand.
"Jeez, Florida is A LOT hotter than Chicago is…" she said. She looked around the room and then up to the ceiling at the NSYNC poster and smiled. Then she looked over at Ashlee who in the meantime had wandered to her computer and was checking e-mail.
"Aiight Ash, lets go swimming!" she said and jumped off the futon. "No! Lets go tanning! Let's lay out on the hill across the street!" Jen was already rifling through her drawers looking for her favorite swimsuit. Ashlee looked over at her and just laughed.
"J, I swear, you are the only girl I know who would complain about the heat and then wanna go lay out in it! I guess we can, I mean, it IS your birthday…and I wanna work on my tan anyways," Ashlee replied and logged off her computer. She too went searching for her favorite two-piece. Fifteen minutes later the girls were changed and equipped with all the essentials; their towels, Pepsi, tanning oil, and a stereo with their favorite CD's. They walked across the street and found their spot…near the bottom right by the street, "so we can check out hotties in their cars," Ashlee had reasoned. The girls laid out their towels and turned on the stereo.
"What CD first J?" Ashlee asked.
"Hows about TLC…their one of my faves and I love the new CD!" Jen said. Ashlee threw in the CD and "No Scrubs" began to blast through the speakers.
"Ahhhh…this is the life," Jen started, "we got sun, we got tunes. We are only missing one thing here," she looked towards Ashlee and they both nodded and said, "GUYS!" and then they started cracking up. They rolled onto their stomachs and were watching the street. Car after car would pass and the girls would wave or stand up and smile, resulting in catcalls and people honking their horns. Well, they had slipped in the NSYNC CD and had settled down a bit, both closing their eyes and just letting the sun soak into their bodies. Of course, they were singing along, and they would take their favorite guys verse respectively, and would fill in the others just randomly. They were out in the sun for two hours and decided that enough was enough, so they packed up and headed inside. They each threw on a pair of board shorts. Ashlee was wearing an orange two piece bathing suit and had on black shorts with orange stitching, she had her turtle shell sunglasses on, and her hair was in a low ponytail. Jen was wearing a powder blue two piece that had white along the edges, and her board shorts were white with two blue racing stripes on each side of her leg. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun and she was wearing her silver shades.
"Girl, that sun was HOT! Thank God we have air conditioning in here!" Ashlee said putting the stereo back on its stand. She then turned around to face her friend who was criticizing herself in the mirror.
"Jen? Did you even hear me?" she asked.
"What's up Ash?" Jen questioned turning around away from the mirror.
"Nothin'. No worries. So, mail check?" she replied, wiggling her eyebrows.
"OH! Yeah! Oh My God! I cannot believe I forgot! Lets jet yo!" she said excitedly and grabbed Ashlee's arm and rushed to the elevator. They got down to the mailroom and much to Jen's dismay, there was nothing in her box.
"Ashhhh! There's nothing here! Not even a card from my friends' back home! Nothing!" she said, pouting. "I mean, I am nineteen years old and not that its a joyous moment but I didn't forget MY friends birthdays!" she walked dejectedly towards the elevator. Ashlee raced up to her and hugged her.
"Jeeeeeeen! Be happy! When we get back upstairs I'll give ya the gift I got for you…now, its nothing big or anything, but its from me!" Ashlee said, smiling and trying to get her bud outta the down mood. Jen smiled kinda sadly and looked at her.
"You didn't have to Ash. But thanks a bunch!" and she smiled genuinely. The girls hopped the elevator back up to their room and Ashlee went into her closet and pulled out a gift all wrapped in baby blue paper. "Aww, its baby blue! How did you know it was my fave color?" Jen said sarcastically.
"HAHAHAHA Jen! Jeez, you don't wear it all the time, it isn't the color of your sheets and you're car isn't blue…OK, not baby blue but you wish it was!" she replied laughingly. Jen shot her a look, but was smiling none the less. Jen tore into the wrapping paper, her eyes large and curious. She smiled as she realized what she got…it was a framed poster of Justin.
"Lordy Ashlee! This is so sweet of you! I love this picture, the Christmas album pics are pretty much my favorite, I like the way Justin's hair is!" she said, then she covered her mouth in shock.
"Hahahaha! Jen! You just admitted it! You like him!" Ashlee accused.
"Oh fine. He's cute and all and I bet he is a super great guy, a good friend, confidante, and a total sweetheart. But give it up Ash, I am NOT stuck on him like a teenybopper!" Jen finished, finalizing it.
"OH fine, THIS TIME I will give it up! So where ya gonna put that gorgeous picture?" Ashlee changed the subject.
"Hmmm, right up there by my bed," Jen said, pointing to the spot. "But not right now. First what we are gonna do is put on the CD and rock out hard-core. Ya know what? The girls that live next door to us are either gonna love or hate NSYNC by the end of the year!" she laughed and placed the framed picture on the futon. Meanwhile Ashlee put the CD in. The girls moved their chairs and their shoes and other random things outta the way and cleared the floor for dancing.
"Hey Ash, put it on random, so we could just be spontaneous and jam to the first sounds we hear!" Jen said excitedly. She always got pumped when they were on. The girls stood in the middle of the room, waiting for the first song to come on. "I Just Wanna Be With You" started and Jen smiled broadly.
"Hehe, SCORE! This is like, one of my favorite songs," and she started to dance, getting into the music and belting the lyrics. Ashlee just laughed and soon got into it herself.
"Jen, this is too much fun!" she said, doing the choreographed dancing, singing along. She stopped, knowing that Jen's favorite verse was coming up. Jen had her back to the door and smiled broadly. Ashlee backed away and gave her the floor, and Jen started.
"I wanna drown in your love, lead me to your water," she sang, grinning like a fool. The girls were so into the music they didn't notice the figure standing in the doorway smiling.
"Let it flow, just let it flow ba…"
"JUSTIN!" Ashlee added in, knowing that Jen would never say it. Jen just shot her a look, but didn't say anything because she was in the middle of singing. The figure at the door's eyes widened, and a look of shock crossed his face. He shook it off and motioned for the others to join him. There were now a total of five. Still unnoticed, they were enjoying every moment of the performance.
"My love is insane, pleasure and pain…its part of life, so live it up baby..." Jen continued. "Now if your scared of love…" she started, and doing the choreographed dance, started to turn. She got halfway and was facing the door. She stopped abruptly and her jaw dropped when she saw who was standing there. Ashlee looked at the door and was speechless. Then the five figures smiled and the first one stepped forward and continued singing the song.
"Don't, don't be afraid. Cuz girl I'm scared too, but I gotta have you….gonna love you day and night, yes I'll treat you riiiight!" he finished the song and smiled, staring into Jen's shocked brown eyes. He then pulled her into a hug.
"Happy birthday JJ".
