PART ONE
Introduction
Lance sat in the waiting room, as one of his best friends was experiencing one of the worst weekends of his life. Just as Lance was about to get up to get a drink his friend Justin walked in with Vickie.
“I brought her as soon as I found her.” Justin told Lance as Vickie sat on the chair with her hands over her eyes.
“JC is still in with the doctor right now.”
“Any new news? Vickie is freaking out here,” Justin said as he looked towards Vickie.
Before Lance had the chance to say anything a frantic girl came running in the room.
“Oh my God, how is she? Joey called me and I got here as fast as I could. Oh Vickie, are you ok?” Melissa walked over to Vickie and cried with her. She glanced over at Lance and could see the pain in his eyes.
“Everything is going to be OK… you’ll see.” Melissa said this with so much hope.
Just then JC walked in and sat down. He had been in with the doctor for almost twenty minutes. He looked around the waiting room and everyone stared at him intently, and waited for him to speak.
“The doctors say that she is going to be OK. She got hit pretty hard and for awhile she might not remember things. She looks pretty good, but still isn’t responding.” JC walked up to Melissa and Vickie. “Missy, Vickie, she is gonna be ok, just stay cool, alright?”
“We’re staying as calm as we can JC. It’s not your best friend in there laying on a hospital bed with IV’s in her arms and not knowing what is going on.” Vickie was not taking this easy, so she totally snapped. She had known Cierra for so long, and couldn’t imagine what she would do if she didn’t pull out of this ok. JC looked at her with fear in his eyes, he was hurting too, and it was obvious. “JC, I’m sorry, I know that this is hard on you too. I have no right to tell you that you don’t know how painful this is. You’ve become really close with Cierra, and I know that you are hurting too.”
“I know Vic… I am hur..”
“JC, I think you should come in here.” The doctor had just walked out and called for JC. As JC got up the doctor whispered something into his ear, and JC took off running.
“Hey, Doc, what’s going on, is something wrong?” Justin was concerned at the dart take off that JC took as he heard the words that the doctor told him.
“No, everything is fine. Cierra just woke up…”
JC sat next to the bed and grabbed Cierra’s hand… he looked at her with tears in his eyes and thanked the Lord that he brought Cierra back to him. When Justin’s hand brushed Cierra’s, she looked towards him, and asked where she was.
“Cierra, hun, you’re in the hospital, you were in…” JC got cut off when Cierra heard where she was.
“I’m in the hospital?”
“Yes, you…”
“Who are you? Why are you here with me?” Cierra seemed so confused. She really had no clue who this guy sitting next to her, trying to comfort her, was.
“…Do you know who you are?”
“I’m… Cierra… I remember that I was walking down the street with… I dunno who I was with… then I … I can’t remember.” Cierra was looking around the room as she was trying to tell JC what happened.
“Cierra, I’m JC… I’m your boyfriend. Don’t you remember me? You were walking with me.” JC’s heart seemed to almost tear at the thought of the having the girl that he loved, not knowing who he was.
“I’m sorry… I don’t. Maybe if I had some time.”
JC wanted to cry. Why couldn’t she remember him… they just spent the last six months of their lives together… Sure there were complications, but everyone had them. He told Cierra that he needed some air and that he would be back soon. He also told her that there were some other people that wanted to see her. JC started to walk out of the room, but before he hit the door he was stopped by a faint cry.
“Uhm… JC, I think I…”
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:SIX MONTHS EARLIER:
“Finally it’s summer! Vic, Miss, Anna, what do you want to do first?” Cierra definitely knew what she wanted to do, but she thought she would be generous and let the other girls pick first.
“I want to hit the mall.”
“To shop.”
“What are you talking about, I want to find some guys!” Anna always liked the mall, Missy likes to think that she is gonna buy something, but hardly ever does. Vickie on the other hand, she just wanted to look at all the guys!
Cierra got to do what she wanted to do in the first place. “Let’s go to the mall!”
The four girls all gathered into the car and headed to the mall. The mall was about 15 min from them so while they were in the car, they busted out with some music.
“… I wanna throw my pager out the window…” …. Bzzupss (channel change) “… the back of your neck, to make you listen to me…” …. Bzzupss “…It’s gonna gonna gonna, it’s gonna be me…” Cierra and Vickie looked at each other and then they said, “TURN UP THE MUSIC!” Melissa and Anna were in the front seats so they turned it up and everyone sang to their hearts content. The car was shaking because the girls were bouncin’ around so much.
“I can’t believe that we actually know them. I mean, how cool is it that we met them, and hit it off so well. And Cierra, wow, you really hit it off with Justin. I bet you two hook up!” Melissa was quite sure of herself whenever she had something to say. “I saw the look in his eyes when he was talking to you.”
“Nah, you guys. I am not going to lie, he is a total babe, and he is SO sweet to me… but let’s get real, he could have any girl that he wanted. Why would he want me? Besides, Anna, don’t you like him?”
“Cierra, I think he is hot, but I would never want to like, make you feel that you shouldn’t get with him just because I think he is cute. I don’t own him, and if he likes you, I really want you to go for it.” Anna use to dream of the day that she would meet THE JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, so Cierra felt a little weird making the moves on him. Cierra was never the type to go for a guy that her friend liked. She didn’t think that friends should do that to each other. But she really did have an attraction to Justin and she didn’t want to back down on the chance of getting with him. There was only one set back though; she also was attracted to JC. JC is a little older than she is, but she still liked the way that he made her feel… at total ease.
“Well, thanks Anna. Who knows, maybe something will happen.”
The girls pulled up into the mall and Cierra headed straight for Abercrombie and Fitch; that was her all time favorite store. She could spend an hour in there and then still go back before it was time to leave! Cierra found a shirt that she wanted right off the bat, and Vickie found a shirt that she wanted too.
After they were done there they went to American Eagle because that is where Missy liked to shop. As they were walking into the store Cierra’s cell phone started ringing. She took it out of her purse and saw that the caller ID was reading it as a block call, and a roaming one for that matter.
“I wonder who could be calling me.”
“Well dork, answer it, maybe it’s Justin.” Cierra had given her number to the guys because Justin asked if he could call her sometime. Because Cierra knew that she was hardly ever home, she gave him the cell number also. Anna stood next to her as she answered the incoming call…
“Hello…”
“Hey…” A man’s voice says.
“Hey, who is this?”
“You mean to tell me that you don’t recognize my voice?”
Cierra shot Anna this look of confusion and she covered the mouthpiece of the phone and whispered to Anna that it sounded just like JC.
“Hello? Ci, are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. JC?”
“I’m glad you remembered me.”
“Yeah Jace, like I could forget you.” Cierra was being extremely sarcastic!
“What’s he saying, what’s he saying?” Anna was dying to know if it was JC and what he was calling Cierra for. Cierra reached over and gently pushed Anna trying to get her to shut up, then Cierra nodded at Anna to let her know that it was JC. Just then Victoria and Melissa came up to them and asked what was going on. While Anna tried to tell them what was going on, Cierra started to walk around as she was talking to JC.
“Hey look, sorry to call you like long distance, I’ll pay for it, but we’re coming back to your area pretty soon and we were wondering if you and your friends wanted to hook up with us.” JC sounded so sexy on the phone. Cierra was still trying to get it through her head that she was talking to him.
“Yeah, I think that would be really cool.” She was looking at shirts while she was talking to him… “So did Justin give you my number or what?” (Thoughts inside her head… Wow, this is a cute shirt, I’m gonna have to get it.) So she started to walk towards the checkout counter.
“Yeah, he’s the one that told me to call you. He’s kinda busy right now, but he wanted to let ya know that we would be around soon. We’ll be staying at the downtown Omni, and we’ll call you again when we get in.”
“Sure JC, it sounds like a good idea. I will await y’alls phone call. I am sure that my friends are going to be happy to hear that you all are coming here again. I will talk to you soon ok? Tell the rest of the guys that I said hi. And tell Justin thanks for thinking about me.” Cierra was almost disappointed to hear that JC didn’t call her on his own free will, maybe he wasn’t attracted to her the way that she was to him.
“Will do. Take care.” JC hung up.
Cierra found her friends and told them what the deal was. They all were excited to hear the news, and for some reason Vickie seems like she was gonna blow her lid.
“Oh my God, are you serious, they are gonna come back? And you were just talking to JC?” Vickie was practically hyperventilating.
“Calm down girl, what is your problem?” Melissa started to walk out of the store and tried to calm down her friend.
“You guys know how hot JC is. I have always had this hidden crush on him.” Victoria’s words hit Cierra like a ton of bricks. What is this? The two guys that she liked, are guys that her best friends liked too. Her luck will be that Missy will have this undying love for Lance too, since that would definitely be Cierra’s next choice in them.
“Yeah, well girl I know what you mean. Lance is such a hottie, and that deep voice drives me wild!” There it is; Missy’s comment took Cierra in and threw her down. What is she to do? Well, there is probably at least a week before the guys come into town, so maybe by then she will know what to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cierra was sitting in her room listening to some music and looking at a magazine when her phone rang. She leaned over the bed and picked it up.
“Hello.”
“Hey girl what you up to?”
“Oh hey Missy! Not too much, just catching up on this month’s Seventeen. You?”
“I am so bored. I was just checking my mail online and decided to see what was up with you. Do you want to do something today? Anna called me this morning; her and Vickie are going out of town for the weekend. They wanted to go to some party that Vickie found out about.”
“Why didn’t they invite us?” Just then her cell phone started ringing. “Oh, hey girl, hold on, my cell is ringing.” Cierra looked at the caller ID and once again saw that the caller had a block on it. Before she picked up the cell she told Missy that she would call her back.
“Hello.”
“Hey there beautiful.”
“Uhm, hey… Justin?”
“Yeah, it’s me. We’re at the hotel. Do you want to come over?”
“Yeah, I’d love to. Do you think that I could bring Melissa? We’re kinda bumming together this weekend.”
“Sure, bring her! When you get to the desk, tell them your name, and they’ll send you right up. I’ve already told them that I was expecting a visitor. I’ll call again to tell them there will be two.”
“Alright, well we’ll be there within the hour. K?”
“Alright, I will see you soon.” Justin hung up the phone and turned to Lance. “Dude, she’s bringing Melissa with her.”
“Are you serious?” Lance thought that Missy was a total cutie and wanted to get to know her better.
“Yeah, they’ll be here in about an hour. They must not be dressed or something. Ha ha.”
As soon as she hung up with Justin, Cierra ran to the bathroom and grabed a razor. She stuck her foot in the sink, got her legs all wet and started to shave. She reached over and grabbed the phone and frantically dialed Missy’s number. Missy picked up the phone after the second ring.
“Oh my God, girl that was Justin.”
“CiCi, is that you? Calm down, what’s going on?”
“He wants us to meet him at the hotel. It looks like Anna and Vickie are gonna miss out on some fun!”
“WOW, we get to go to the hotel and hang out with them, just you and me?”
“Yeah girl, so hurry up and get ready. My mom has to use my car cuz the other one is in the shop… We totally blew the battery when we left the lights on, so can you pick me up?”
“Ha ha, yeah, I will pick you up in thirty minutes ok?”
“Sounds good. Hey, be cute, Lance will probably be there too! Ha ha. Bye!” Cierra hung up the phone and finished with her legs, brushed her teeth, and then worked on her make-up. She could hardly believe that she was going to go spend the afternoon with Justin and the rest of the guys. She had spent the last week trying to sort through her thoughts. She still liked JC, but she didn’t think that anything would happen between them, so she decided to back off of it. If something does happen, then it does… but for now she was gonna go for Justin. At least he seemed interested in her.
Cierra was looking in the mirror working on the finishing touches of her hair and make-up when the doorbell rang. She dropped the brush and ran to the door.
“MOM I GOT IT!” She opened the door to see her friend Missy. Missy had on the cutest shirt that tied up around her neck and a cute pair of shorts on to match. In almost a whispering voice she said, “Girl, I can’t believe we are about to do this. I told my mom that we were gonna go window shop or something. She’d flip if she knew we were going to go hang out at a hotel with the guys.”
“Ok, I got ya. Go get your purse, we got to hit the road it is going to take us like fifteen minutes to get to the hotel, the traffic is bad.”
The girls both walked into Cierra’s room and looked once more in the mirror. Cierra grabbed her bottle of Abercrombie and Fitch perfume and sprayed herself, then asked Missy if she wanted some. Finally, they were off…
“MOM, I am leaving.” Her voice got more quite as she neared the room that her mother was in. “Mom, we’re gonna go, call me if you need me. I dunno when we’ll be back… We might go out later tonight too. But I’ll call and tell you the plans.”
Cierra’s mother looked at the girls and then agreed. She told them to be careful and to have fun. The girls got into the car and drove off. When they finally made it to the Omni, they walked in and saw a mob of fans sitting in the lobby. They must have all found out that NSYNC was doing a clip from their new movie in the area. Melissa walked up to the front desk and rang the bell. A young man, clean cut and very cute came to the desk.
“Yes ladies, can I help you?”
“Hi, I’m Cierra and this is Melissa, Justin told us to come to you when we got here.”
The desk clerk looked threw some papers and then said, “Yes, here you are. Follow me please.” He walked them to the back hallway where the elevators are, and he slid his card thru the slot and the elevator doors opened. He hit the floor button and says, “When you get up there take the first left and go down the hall. Justin will be in the fourth room on the right side.”
“Thanks,” the girls said at the same time. They rode up the elevator and did as the clerk told them to. When they got to the hallway they could hear a lot of noise. They started to walk down it and stopped at the third door on the right… they stood and listened for a minute. They could hear Chris in there arguing about who just won that level and saying that the game didn’t cheat. Then they walked to the fourth door and knocked. They both kind of turned around to try to focus in on what Chris was yelling about now, and the door opened. Missy turned around first, and then Cierra. Their jaws almost hit the floor when Justin answered the door in a black tank top and some khaki shorts.
“Hey ladies, I’m glad you could make it. You didn’t have any problems getting up here did you?” Justin said as he gave each girl the look over.
“No, no problem at all.” Melissa grabbed the side of Cierra’s arm. Lance had just walked up behind Justin and was asking who was at the door.
“Oh, welcomed by two beautiful women. Justin, where are your manors, ask them in.”
The girls followed the guys back into the room and sat at the edge of the bed. Lance reached over and shut off the TV, and Justin turned on the music, really low. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The music was just a regular music station and Justin had it on a low volume rate. He was hoping that they would all get to talk to each other, and get to know one another better. The hotel room was large, one of the suite rooms. There was a large bed in there and a huge bathroom. Each guy had their own room but Lance spent the majority of his free time in Justin’s room. They are closer in age so they tend to be interested in more of the same things. And of course, Lance knew that Cierra’s friend Melissa would be with her that day, so he had to chill with Justin.
In the meantime JC was in his room taking a nap, and Chris and Joey were playing video games. JC seemed to always be tired, who knows though, maybe he wass really just in his room on the Internet, and just told everyone that he was tired and needed some sleep.
“What do you mean I cheated? You cannot cheat on this game; it’s like, not possible. Joey, just face it, I BEAT YOU!” Chris was winning the game that he and Joey were playing and it was driving Joey crazy.
“Yeah, well I will win the next level,” Joey said, as he was so sure that he would win eventually.
JC sat on his bed with the laptop on his lap. He stared intently at the words being typed to him. He couldn’t believe that every time he signed on, he got hit with Ims like there was going to be no tomorrow. Sure, he enjoyed talking to people, but not psychos! After blocking several Ims, accepting a few, and checking his email, he closed up the laptop. He walked around the room and then went back to the bed and decided to lie down for awhile.
Cierra and Melissa looked in the mirror. Only minutes after they sat on Justin’s bed they looked at each other and asked to be excused for a moment. While the two girls were in the bathroom, Justin and Lance were talking.
“Dude, she is so pretty, and seems so nice too.” Lance had this look on his face like one that Justin had never seen. “Her blonde hair and blue eyes could melt any guys heart.”
“I know what you mean man, she is a real cutie. But come on dude, what do you think of Cierra?” Justin wanted reassurance that he wasn’t the only one that saw the beauty within Cierra. “Did you see the smile that she flashed us when she walked in the room?”
“Yes, she is a beautiful girl Justin. You’ve done well. Don’t mess this one up. She seems like her heart would break easy. I know that she knows that you are a ladies man, but every girls thinks they will be different.” Lance knew the way that Justin worked.
“Lance, honestly, have I ever acted the way that I have these last few weeks before. I mean, I never have called up the girl I JUST met, and told her I was coming back to town and wanted to chill with her. It’s not me. I’ve never done it. But I see something different in her. It’s like…”Justin stopped when he heard a giggle from the bathroom. With smooth moves and being very quite, Justin and Lance moved to the bathroom door to hear what the girls were giggling about.
“CiCi, girl he is soooooo hot!” Melissa sat on the sink top while Cierra sat on the edge of the Jacuzzi. “How am I supposed to act normal knowing that I am looking into the eyes of this beautiful man? I don’t see him as just some big star, but Ci, he is so hot and has been really nice so far. Am I a total idiot for believing that I might have a chance with him?” Melissa didn’t want to get her hopes up. She had been in relationships before, and also had her heart broken before. For awhile she pretty much had given up hope of finding a guy that would make her happy. Then Lance came into the picture though, and raised her peak of interest.
“Missy, he is totally for you. You should go for it. What do you think of Justin and I? Did you see him? WOW, I was gonna fall when I saw him. Those baby blues of his are just to hard to handle.”
“Like I told you before Ci, I think you two are gonna hook up.” Missy turned to look into the mirror. Justin and Lance were still standing outside the door listening to every word they said. They were so happy to hear that they felt the same way about them.
“Okay Melissa, we should go back out there before the guys start wondering what we’re doing in here. Ha ha!”
Justin hauled butt to the bed to sit down. Lance turned quickly and almost fell, but he managed to make it to the chair before the girls made it out of the bathroom and saw them. The girls exited the bathroom and saw the look in the guy’s eyes and knew that something was up. They just weren’t sure what it was yet. The evening was young, so they knew they would find out eventually.
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"Well, did you guys have a nice talk while we were in the restroom?" Cierra knew that they guys were talking about them when they were in the bathroom, and that's why they had that look on their face like something was up. Justin and Lance both looked at each other then to Cierra and Melissa.
"Sure did. Did you?" Lance smiled as he looked at Melissa. He saw absolute beauty in her, and now he knew that she felt the same way about him.
Melissa gave him a smile back and said, "yeah, we had an interesting conversation."
Justin was still sitting on his bed when Cierra came over and sat next to him. His eyes followed up her leg as she slid it onto the bed and then bent it up. Justin wanted so much just to touch her skin. It looked so soft. Cierra turned her head a little and noticed that Justin was looking at her bent leg, so feeling a little worried that something might be wrong, she lowered her leg so that it was flush with the bed. Lance on the other hand was sitting in the chair next to the bed as Melissa remained standing. She was leaning up against the wall with one arm almost behind her, supporting her back.
"Missy, do you want to come over here and sit down? I can move Justin's stuff out of this chair for you." Lance started to pick up the bag that was taking up all the room in the chair placed right next to Lance. Melissa gave him a nod and then walked over and sat down in the chair.
"So girls, is there anything around here that we can do? Like, go somewhere and have fun. Kind of act like kids, ya know?" Justin didn't like just sitting there, having to look at Cierra all comfortable on his bed, and knowing that he couldn't do a thing to her.
"WOW, Ci, we can like go to Putt-Putt. It shouldn't be very busy right now." Missy totally loved going to that place. She was quite addicted to the go-carts.
Cierra looked at the guys and then said, "Well, how does that sound to you guys?"
"Sounds just peachy to me," Justin said as he started to stand up. He reached for Cierra's hand to help pull her up. When their hands touched, this look came into their eyes, then they both let go of one another's hands quickly.
Lance and Melissa both stood up next and Lance got this look of confusion on his face, as if he lost something. "Hey you guys, I gotta change this shirt. Can you wait just a second for me?"
"Sure Lance, hurry up!" Justin said to hurry, but really he was having no problem just standing there next to Cierra smelling her sweet fragrance.
Lance opened the middle door. The suite rooms had a door which you can walk thru that would lead you right into the next room. As Lance walked into his room he pulled his shirt over his head. Melissa's eyes opened wide at the site of his godly chest. The muscles in his arms were so sexy. Lance bent over to pick up the shirt, which he had just dropped. He then picked a shirt off the bed and pulled it over his head as he started to walk towards the room that Melissa was still waiting for him in. Justin and Cierra had just walked out the door and were waiting in the hallway.
"Thanks for waiting," Lance said as he looks deep into Missy's blue eyes.
"No problem Lance," Melissa said as she practically melted at his feet.
As they all reached the elevator Cierra remembered that she left her purse in the hotel room. So Justin gave her the key and said that they would wait for her at the elevator. Cierra rushed back to the room, opened the door and walked inside. She did a quick look over and then remembered that she left it in the bathroom. When she walked back out she was surprised to be greeted by JC. Before she was given the chance to say anything, JC was putting his hand around the small of her back and pulling her in for a kiss. Their lips meet and then Cierra backed away. She looked at JC with great confusion and before she said anything, he ran out of the room.
Cierra was in total shock. What just happened there? Did she just kiss JC Chasez? She walked out of the room and started to walk back towards the elevator when a hand grabbed the side of her arm. She turned and saw JC.
"I'm sorry Ci, I didn't mean to. You're just so… and I… I'm sorry." JC stuttered and truly looked like he was sorry for making the moves on Cierra. "Just act like this never happened."
Cierra was speechless. She nodded to him then he went back into his room. She stood there for a minute trying to recollect herself before going back to Justin, Lance, and Melissa. Finally she made her way back to the group at the elevator. They were all giggling about something.
"Ci, did you find your purse?" Justin's words broke the trance that Cierra was in.
With a huge smile on her face, "Yeah, right here," she said holding her purse high in the air. Though she looked completely with it on the outside, her insides were stilling playing catch up with her.
Part Two
