About thirty minutes later Joey jumped onto the bus. While they had their nice little break he had decided to go get some food. “I am stuffed!” he grumbled as he stumbled past Chris and sat on the bench next to him. Chris was playing a game and Joey started to babble. “Are ya winning? How’s the birthday treatin’ ya? You know we‘re gonna party hard when we get up to DC right?”
“Yeah I know,” Chris replied and then set down the controller to the game. “Can hardly wait,” he teased. He really was excited, but he didn’t want to gloat about it. “Hey I got a call from Nikki. She said to tell ya hi.”
“Oh wow, how is she?”
“Seems to be doing a lot better than JC.”
“Dude, why don’t we all hate her? She messed up JC’s heart.”
“I have no clue Joey. I honestly don’t think that JC hates her either, so I see no need in trying to convince ourselves that she is bad. She messed up, but she admitted it and got out of the relationship before JC found out the wrong way. We have to give her that much at least.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Where is JC by the way? We gotta get outta her in like ten minutes.”
“Him and Lance had to get something. I dunno.”
“Oh,” he said and then went back to playing the game.
“Where is Justin?”
“Uh, in the back.”
“JUSTIN!!!!” Joey yelled.
Chris reached up and covered his ears. “Dude was that necessary?!”
“Got his attention didn’t it,” Joey replied as Justin made his way to them.
“Yeah,” Justin said. He knew that Joey didn’t know yet what had happened to his stuff because he seemed way too calm.
Just as Justin got out there and sat down, Lance and JC walked up the few steps onto the bus. JC carried a huge cake in his hands and Lance started to sing, “Happy Birthday to you,” and then the other three joined in. Chris’s face reddened right in front of everyone. He thanked them all for the great surprise. It honestly was one that he hadn’t expected.
“Well let’s chow down,” Justin said.
“I’m with you,” JC said. “Gonna have me some birthday cake then go to sleep the rest of the way there!”
“Well dang you guys. Scavengers you are! Let me make my wish first and blow out my candles before you try to devour my cake!” Chris closed his eyes and made his wish. Soon there after, all the guys took huge chunks of the cake and started to eat.
After everyone had finished eating and even gave Chris a couple of gifts they all decided that they would go get some rest before they got to DC that night. They had plans to go out with Chris that night so they wanted to be sure that they wouldn’t crash out before ten. Each of them headed back to their bunks and crawled into their beds.
Joey stood in front of his bunk and noticed that his suitcase was on top of his bed instead of under it like it usually was. He opened it and immediately his jaw dropped and then he started to yell. “Why the hell are all my underwear and socks PINK!!!!!!!”
December rolled around quite quickly and the guys still spent the majority of their time working. They hadn’t heard from Nikki since Chris’s birthday. Lance tried to call her a couple of time, but she was never around. JC on the other hand never tried to contact her. He missed her like crazy, but he couldn’t bring himself to forgive her for what she did to him. Not yet anyway.
The guys had the weekend off for once and each of them spent it with either their families, or at home relaxing. JC was one of the ones chilling at home. Christmas was two weeks away and he just wanted to have some time strictly to himself. He spent one evening in front of his keyboard in the room next to his at his house.
The next night JC trotted down his steps when he head the doorbell ring. JC opened the door and was stunned to see Rebecca. Rebecca was a girl that he had been dating before he and Nikki went out. “Wow, long time no see girl,” he said as he gave her a small, yet friendly hug.
“I was in town and thought I’d stop by. How are you?”
“I’m pretty good,” he answered.
“I didn’t interrupt you or anything did I?”
“Nah I wasn’t really doing anything important.”
“Cool, so can I come in?” she asked as she still stood in the doorway.
“Oh yeah, come on in,” JC said. “Can I take your coat?” he asked.
Rebecca turned slowly and allowed JC to slide the jacket off of her shoulders and down her arms. “Thanks,” she finally said.
“Uhm, would you like something to drink?” he asked.
“Water will be fine.”
“Okay,” he said and then went into the kitchen to get their drinks. He got into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. “Damn,” he mumbled softly. He peeked out of the small crack in the door to the kitchen and looked at Rebecca sitting on the couch. She was wearing a low cut white silk shirt and a pair of tight black leather pants. She had always been beautiful, but never like this. JC gulped and then grabbed the drinks and headed back into the room when Rebecca waited for him.
JC handed Rebecca her glass and then sat down next to her. “So how have you been? It’s been forever since we last talked.”
“I know! I’m been really good actually. I got signed as a Victoria Secret model so I start all that stuff soon. It’s been an exciting year. I went to France for a little while, and even spent some time in Hawaii. How are things with you?”
“Things are alright. We’ve been being kept rather busy, but it is great.”
“Are you still dating that chic Nikki?”
JC shook his head. “Nah, we broke up about three months ago I guess.”
“Oh I’m sorry JC.”
“Yeah, I am sometimes too. She cheated on me though, so it is a little easier to hate her for it.”
“Wow why would she do that?”
“You’d have to ask her, because I sure as heck don’t know.”
“She must not know what she is missing,” Rebecca said and then tossed her hand through her long blonde hair.
“I guess,” JC said and then ran his hands through his hand and sighed. She was so beautiful and he was so lonely. He was so angry with Nikki, yet he couldn’t get over her.
“How are the other guys?” she asked.
“They are good,” JC said blindly, as if he were in a trance.
“Are they dating anyone?”
“Justin is still with Jessica. Lance sees Faith every now and then. Chris is still with Taylor. Joey goes in spurts with Lisa and Molly.”
“And you?”
“Haven’t been with anyone since Nikki.”
“Why not?” she asked and took a sip of her water, and left a trace of water on her soft pink lips.
“I’m not sure,” he said short winded.
Rebecca scooted closer to him and said. “I missed you JC.”
JC licked his lips and said, “I missed you too.”
She slowly leaned in and placed her lips to his. JC ran his hand to the side of her face and cupped one cheek. He deepened the kiss as he pulled her closer to him and she parted their lips with her tongue. JC moaned into her mouth and then pulled back. “Becca I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”
“JC, what’s wrong? You’re a single man.”
“I.. I know. I just can’t. I think you should leave Becca.”
“JC,” Rebecca started to say.
“Really,” he said and then stood up and grabbed her coat. “I’m sorry.”
Rebecca sighed and stood up herself. She grabbed the jacket from JC and kissed him on the cheek. “Goodbye JC,” she said and then opened the door and left.
“Goodbye,” he said softly even though she was already gone.
The next day JC sighed as he put his feet up on the dashboard of Joey’s car. “Bro I cannot believe that I couldn’t do anything with Becca! What’s that all about?”
“You still love Nikki.”
“Joey, she cheated on me! Why do I still want her?!”
“Because y’all got extremely close, extremely fast!”
“It’s like there is some tie between us. Like something is gonna pull us back together. Ya know what I mean?”
“Yeah,” Joey said.
“Nah, this isn’t going to work. She cheated on me man. That’s just not what love is about. Obviously she didn’t care for me as much as I did for her.”
“C, you are hopeless. You say that you want her back, but when I agree then you say that you don’t want her. What do you want to hear?”
“What do I want to hear? What do I want to hear Joey?! I want to hear that this never happened. I want someone to tell me that it was all just a bad dream and that when I get home Nikki will have called and will want me to come over to her place for a movie. That’s what I want Joe,” JC said. He was losing his temper by now and really just didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Look Joey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spazz out on you like that. This is just all too much for me.”
“JC I’m sorry dude. I know that this is hard for you. She did cheat on you and it was wrong of her to do. I mean, we all just like her so much that we find it hard to hate her, and hard to believe that she did it. Maybe after you have cooled off enough you will be able to call her or something.”
“I don’t even know the number to where she is Joey.”
“I am sure that Lance does.”
“Yeah, well maybe when I figure out what it is that I want, I will call her.”
“Alright,” Joey said and continued to drive toward the studio.
A little while later, the guys were all sitting in the studio looking over some new material. JC walked over and sat next to Lance. “Lance?” he said.
“Hey C, what’s up?”
“I... uh... I was just wondering if you had talked to Nikki lately.”
Lance turned his body toward JC and said, “no, but I was actually gonna call her later on today. Why?”
JC stood up and said, “no reason,” then turned around and walked to the other side of the studio and grabbed a bottle of water.
Joey walked over and plopped himself next to Lance. “JC ask ya for Nikki’s number?”
Lance shook his head and said, “no. He just asked if I had talked to her lately.”
“Oh,” Joey said and then kind of turned away.
“What’s going on Joey? Does he want to call her or something?”
“Well, I don’t think that JC knows what it is that he really wants actually. He and Nikki were close ya know, and he feels this emptiness without her I guess. He is upset that she cheated on him, but I think all around he just wants things to try to get better. For them to fix things.”
“Well last time I talked to Nikki she told me that she did cheat on him, she slept with another man, she didn’t know who he was, and she was drunk.”
“Oh wow!” Joey said. “JC doesn’t know all that went down. I think that he has just like tried to make himself believe that she just kissed some guy or something. Are you sure that she slept with him?” Joey asked.
“Well I am pretty sure I guess. She didn’t just come out and say that she did, but when she said she was drunk I said ‘you didn’t?’ and she said that she did.”
“Man. I dunno what to say to JC then. I think this will send him over the edge. To know that she was drunk. He knows that she really doesn’t ever drink much.”
“I know. It all is too weird Joey. I don’t know if we should even bring it up. I haven’t mentioned it to anyone but you.”
“Well, I am not telling him.”
“Me either,” Lance said. Just then his phone rang.
“Hello?” Lance said as he answered the phone.
“Lance, it’s me.”
Lance looked at Joey with wide eyes and said, “hey Nikki. How are you?”
“I am good. I haven’t talked to you in awhile. I felt bad.”
“I was actually gonna call you today.”
“Really? What a coincidence,” she giggled.
“Yeah, I miss you girl.”
Just as Lance said that JC walked over. He assumed that he was talking to his girlfriend Brook. JC grabbed the phone and before Lance could say anything, JC was talking. “Brook, girlfriend you need to get down here and visit Lanceypoo. He is pathetic without you.”
Nikki’s heart skipped a beat. She didn’t know what to say. JC obviously thought that Lance was talking to his girlfriend. She just giggled a little so that she wouldn’t have to talk, “hehe.”
JC’s eyebrows turned inward and he said, “Brook?” then he looked at Lance and Lance was chewing on his bottom lip. JC knew that giggle wasn’t Brook. He knew that it was Nikki’s giggle. He would have known it anywhere. When no one answered on the other end JC said, “Nikki?”
Nikki gulped and said, “yeah.”
JC in return gulped and then said, “sorry. I thought Lance was talking to Brook.”
“It’s alright,” she said softly. She was in no way prepared to talk to JC, whether it be to tell him the truth or tell him a lie. “Uhm, how are you?” she asked.
“I’m ... I’m making out alright.”
“Good. Look JC,” she started to say but stopped when he spoke out.
“No Nikki. I really don’t want to talk about it right now. I thought I was ready to, but I guess I’m not. I just need to know that you are alright.”
Nikki wanted to cry right then and there. She wanted nothing more than to just throw herself into his arms again. Her eyes started to fill with tears as she said, “I’m fine JC.”
“That’s all I need to hear right now Nikki. Here’s Lance,” JC said and then handed the phone to Lance. JC’s fists were clenched together and his teeth were practically grinding into each other. “I gotta take a break guys. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Do you... Can I.... You want to talk?” Justin said as he walked up behind JC.
“Sure,” JC said and then he and Justin headed out the back door.
“Nikki, you still there?” Lance asked as he put the phone back to his ear.
“I’m here,” she said between a sniffle.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that he was gonna take the phone like that. Are you alright?”
Nikki looked down and said, “I’m fine Lance.”