****
“UGH! What did I do with my sunglasses?” Rachel asked, tapping her hand impatiently on the countertop in the kitchen. “They were right here like two minutes ago. Have you seen them?” she muttered, glancing around the spotless kitchen, but still not finding what she was looking for.
Joey turned away from the sink where he stood, rinsing out his breakfast dishes and smiled over at the pretty blonde. Shutting off the water, he moved towards her and kissed her forehead gently, then spoke with a twinkle in his chocolate eyes. “You mean these sunglasses?” he asked, tapping the shades that were propped on top of her golden hair.
Smiling sheepishly, she placed a hand on his broad chest and gave him a gentle shove. “I knew that’s where they were…” she trailed off, feeling rather stupid.
Joey just grinned a reply as the buzzer in the apartment interrupted the couple. Walking over to it, he pressed the button and the morning doorman’s voice filtered through the spacious loft. “Miss Bishop, your driver is here.”
Hitting the talk button, Joey spoke, “Thanks John, tell Brad we’ll be right down.”
“Alright Mr. Fatone, I’ll do that.”
“Thank you.” The tall Italian then turned back to his girlfriend, who was now standing in the middle of the living room, surrounded with suitcases and mumbling to herself.
“I don’t think you packed enough stuff for three weeks there Rachie.” Joey stated sarcastically, surveying the amount of baggage they had between the two of them for the lengthy trip to Florida.
****
Yanking impatiently on a huge garment bag that seemed to be intent on continuing down the conveyer belt, Rachel sighed in frustration as she shot a look over her shoulder at her travel companion. Joey stood not far from the baggage claim area, chatting amiably with a tan, slender woman with a shiny crop of hair the color of ebony. Her blue eyes flashing, Rachel managed to haul the large piece of luggage off of the moving belt with one last punch of effort on her part. Just as she lay it down over the already enormous pile of suitcases, she spotted yet another one of their bags drifting past her. “Shit.” she muttered under her breath, not noticing the young man nearby, watching her with interest.
“Ahem…” the man cleared his throat as he approached her, hoping to get her attention.
Looking up, Rachel smiled sheepishly as she wrestled with the suitcase gripped in her slender hands. “I’m sorry, am I in your way?” she asked, gesturing towards the stack of bags that was blocking a large section in front of the conveyer belt.
“What?” he answered, slightly confused as he followed her motion with his eyes. Realizing she was talking about her bulk of luggage, he laughed slightly and shook his head. “Oh, no…you’re fine. I…well, I feel kind of stupid approaching you but I had to ask…” he trailed off.
Rachel tossed her head back in enticing laughter, her eyes losing the fire they held just moments before and sparkling brightly as she finished his question for him. “Let me guess. You’ve seen me somewhere, you’re not sure…but you were just wondering if I was Rachel from the Hot Zone on MTV.” she inquired, raising an eyebrow as a slow smile spread across his face. “Was I close?”
“Actually I was going to ask if you were Rachel from Eternity…I used to be a big fan of you guys.” he chuckled, “Anyways, my name is Jeff. Can I give you a hand with that?” he asked politely, gesturing towards the suitcase.
“Nice to meet you Jeff, and actually yes…I could use a little help.” Rachel returned with a broad smile, pausing only to shoot a pointed look in Joey’s direction. He stood, oblivious, as he continued to converse animatedly with the tiny raven haired woman.
Ten minutes later, Rachel leaned against the stack of luggage, her compact silver phone against her ear as her nails tapped impatiently on the plastic handle atop one of the bags. Joey wandered aimlessly over to her, a silly grin plastered on his very Italian features. Reaching her and noticing her stressed expression, he moved behind her to gently massage her shoulders with his strong hands. Feeling her tense up at his touch, he glanced at her questioningly as she snapped her phone shut and whirled around to face him.
“Hey babe, thanks for waiting so patiently. Are we ready to go now?” Joey asked, oblivious to the way her baby blues turned to steel in an instant.
Rachel just grimaced, not wanting to make a scene, and held in her temper as best she could. “Yeah, I’m ready…no thanks to you.” she managed to get out through clenched teeth.
If Joey was slightly taken aback at Rachel’s flash of temper, he didn’t show it as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed quickly. The couple didn’t speak as they moved the luggage with the help of a cart towards the pick-up area, where they waited briefly for their driver to arrive.
****
“Justin? Jordan?” a distinctly southern male voice rang through the voluminous Orlando home. A head full of blondish brown spikes peered into the empty entryway and then nudged the door open and entered, his young wife not far behind him.
“Are you sure we’re on time Lance? I feel weird just barging into their home, even if ya’ll are friends.” the fair haired woman drawled, shifting the bottle of champagne she held from one hand to the other.
Glancing down at his watch, Lance nodded his head. Catching Meredith by the elbow, he pulled her gently through the hallway and into the kitchen where he gestured towards the backyard, which was littered with people. “See…they’d never have heard us. Just set that down in here and we’ll go outside.” he stated, gesturing towards the bottle she still clutched.
Meredith smiled nervously, placing the expensive champagne down on the immaculate countertop before grasping her husband’s hand and following him to the patio door. Stepping out into the yard, Meredith glanced around with inquisitive eyes as she took it all in. The lush lawn sprawled out over what seemed like acres of land. Framing the plush carpet of grass was a large body of water, the surface sparkling like diamonds as it captured the light of the setting sun. A dock rested casually against the bank, several jet ski’s bobbing in the water from where they sat tethered to the wooden posts.
Her gaze drifted to the right of the lake, drawn to the flurry of motion on the basketball court and nearby swing set. Chris was chasing a squealing Zachary across the paved court as Jordan shouted out from the swing she was perched in. Justin stood behind Jordan, pushing her gently as she swung lazily back and forth. Mo, JC, and April were conversing animatedly as they lounged in comfortable lawn chairs that rested near the large picnic tables that were heaped with food.
Lance and Meredith made their way down the short flight of stairs leading off of the patio, and began wandering across the lawn towards the heart of the party. Noticing more guests had arrived, Jordan hopped off the swing to greet them.
Reaching the couple, Jordan smiled brilliantly at them. “Lance…Meredith, how are you guys? How was your flight?” she greeted, embracing them both before the they all began walking over to the others.
“It was good, thanks. We’re just fine, how are ya’ll doin?” Lance inquired pleasantly.
“We’re great…Zach is being a handful today but I suppose part of that has to do with the fact that Chris has been here since noon, winding him up a bit.” Jordan chuckled, gesturing towards the dock where Chris now held Zach in his arms, pretending he was preparing to toss him into the cool water.
“Oh, Jordan…we brought some champagne, but I set it on the counter indoors. I hope that’s okay.” Meredith drawled out shyly.
Jordan grabbed Meredith’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Oh that’s fine! We’ll have some of it later, it’ll go perfect with dessert I’m sure.” she replied warmly.
Meredith smiled, but before she could speak again, a loud voice pierced the thick Florida air.
“GO TO HELL!”
Jordan whirled around as she heard her sister’s shout and what sounded very much like a car door slamming.
The party fell silent as everyone glanced warily at each other. Justin moved to head around the front of the house but Jordan reached out a hand to stop him as he brushed past her. “Just leave them be…” she murmured, shaking her head slightly as she heard her sister’s strained voice cut through the air once more, followed by a frustrated shout as Joey replied to her complaints.
****
“You are a pig.” Rachel stated bluntly, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder as she heaved a giant suitcase towards the front door of the Timberlake home. Joey stood in the driveway amidst a huge pile of luggage, a confused and slightly angry look on his normally serene features.
“She’s a FRIEND. I didn’t know that I had to ask permission to talk to people while we’re here.” Joey retorted.
Rachel sighed deeply in frustration and turned toward her significant other. “Don’t EVEN start that with me Joseph.” she began. “I never said you couldn’t talk to her. If you would have listened to a single word I said on the way over here, you would realize that.”
“Well it’s kind of hard to listen properly when I’m half deaf cuz you’re screaming in my ear.” Joey stated dryly.
“All I said was it was pretty pathetic that some complete stranger had to help me with this ungodly amount of luggage, while my boyfriend is off talking to some….friend…” she stated, rolling her eyes as she finished.
“Well I didn’t want to be rude. What did you want me to do, just ignore her?”
Rachel threw down the luggage she clutched and her blue eyes flashed with anger. “I don’t expect you to ignore your…your…friends while we’re here.” she spat out, her eyes narrowing as her hands rested defiantly on her hips. “But I don’t appreciate being ignored EITHER. Don’t you get it? You were so busy flirting with what’s her name that you were completely and utterly oblivious to the fact that I was struggling with your 300 pound suitcase!”
“Is that the entire point of this argument? The fact that I didn’t help you with the luggage?” Joey inquired impatiently as he stared back at his girlfriend.
Rachel blew her hair out of her face. “I don’t know.” she said, turning back towards the house. After taking several steps, she turned back around. “No. I do know. It’s not. It’s not the point at all. The point is that you can’t keep your attention focused on me…your girlfriend…for more than five minutes when another female is strutting around. And not even JUST your girlfriend, a casual fling, a semi serious dating situation…we’re talking, your six years and counting woman who is getting particularly impatient with you right now. What are we doing Joseph? Going no where, that’s what we’re doing…” she muttered, shaking her head and opening the front door, leaving Joey staring after her in bewilderment.