Part Six
“What?” he groaned back.
“The alarm just went off.”
JC looked over at the clock and saw that it read six in the morning. “Man,” he rubbed his eyes. “Ok, I’m moving,” he said.
“You aren’t moving,” Mer stated.
“Sure I am.”
“JC get up,” she pushed him closer to the edge of the bed. “The guys are gonna be here soon and I don’t want them banging on my door waking me up.”
JC propped himself up enough so that he could look at Mercedes. He pulled the blanket down from over her face. “You aren’t getting up?”
“What do you think?” she asked and grabbed the blanket from him.
“Ah come on baby,” he whined.
“Forget it,” she said. “Go take a shower,” she moaned and then gave him a hard shove.
JC hit the floor and then leaned over the edge of the bed. “That wasn’t very nice,” he said.
“You’ll get over it.”
“That’s what you think,” he said and then got up off the floor and headed for the bathroom.
“No no,” Chris said right before Lance took the exit to JC’s house. “He’s at Mer’s house.”
“Damnit Chris, why didn’t you tell me this ten minutes ago when we passed her exit?”
Chris looked out the back window and shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Lance sighed and took the following exit so that he would be able to hit the highway back in the other direction so he could backtrack to Mercedes’s exit. “If we’re late to the airport it is your fault.”
“Whatever you say Mr. Perfect.”
“It is too early for this shit, so how about you both shut up,” Justin grumbled from the back seat. There was no comment from Joey only because he was already passed out on the other side of Justin.
JC walked out of the bathroom and looked down at Mer laying under the covers just as she was when he left the room. “Not fair,” he mumbled under his breath. JC wandered around the room finding different things that belonged to him. He had just enough stuff there to last him for the trip to New York.
JC looked at Mer once more and figured that he shouldn’t wake her. He grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a note to her. He said that he had left and didn’t want to wake her up. He told her that he would call her as soon as he got in and would let her know what their plans were while he was up there.
“Bye sweetheart,” he whispered near her face and then grabbed his bag and headed out of her room. Two steps at a time JC made his way downstairs. He jogged into the kitchen and grabbed him a small jug of Sunny D and a Poptart. JC’s left hand ran through his wet hair and then he headed for the front door. Just as he got there, he saw Lance driving up the driveway. “Good timing,” he said and then walked down the stones and toward the automobile parked in the driveway.
JC opened the side door and threw his bags in next to Justin. Justin groaned and threw them over the back seat. “There’s not room for the bags up here with us C.”
“Then I guess it’s good that you tossed it over the back eh?” he said sarcastically.
Joey peeked his eye open just enough to see JC getting in the spot next to him. “Hi,” he mumbled and then closed his eyes again.
“Morning to you too buddy,” JC said and then ran his hands through his hair again. “Okay so guys why are we flying out to New York on such short notice? Chris wasn’t much help to me last night.”
“Chris isn’t much help to anyone.”
“Shut up Justin,” Chris said in his own defense.
“Well Johnny got contacted and was asked if we could fly out for one of the Make-A-Wish things.”
“For the foundation?” JC asked.
“No, for the wishing well C,” Justin replied like a smart ass.
“So, some girl asking to meet us or something to that affect?”
“Yeah I guess you could say that,” Justin said and held his head down.
“She’s in the hospital C. Johnny said that she might not make it through tomorrow. She made the wish sometime the beginning of last week and the foundation has been busting ass to get her wish to come true before it’s too late.”
Joey opened his eyes again. “Ya know it floors me how a person’s last wish would have anything to do with us.”
“Really makes ya think doesn’t it?” Justin said.
“Yeah it does.”
“Well she deserves whatever she asks for. I just wish that she didn’t have to wish for it like this,” JC stated.
“I know what you mean man,” Lance said as he continued to drive.
Justin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Doing the Make-A-Wish things were always the hardest on him and JC. The others always took it hard, but it really choked up Justin and JC. The minute they stepped into a hospital it was like entering a different world. They only wanted to see happy faces, but a lot of the time they were met with sad ones.
The guys continued their drive to the airport in complete silence.
Lance pulled around to the area that they always part at and they were met by two of their body guards and Johnny. “Hey guys,” Johnny said when the guys opened the doors to the car.
“Hi,” they all said in unison.
“Thanks for jumping shit and getting things together so quickly. So everyone is aware of what the situation is correct?”
“Yeah pretty much. Well, just that we’re doing a wish for some girl that is in the hospital.”
Justin walked to the back and started grabbing bags out and tossing them on the ground till their rightful owner picked them up. “Have at it,” he said once they were all out.
Johnny opened the fax that he had gotten and prepared to read it to the guys. “Okay this is the fax that I got, so we are all on the same line here.” The guys were lined up against the vehicle and waited for Johnny to read. “Mr. Johnny Wright: This is Evelyn Cambridge from the stars association of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Elise Whitney has contacted me through the Plattsburgh Chapter in New York. Eight year old Clarissa Martin, of Essex NY, is currently in the hospital due to a deathly illness. She has confirmed a wish to meet the members of NSYNC. I am aware that they are an extremely hard group to connect with and normally our wishes go through concert form, but this time we are asking for more. Clarissa has been diagnosed with stomach cancer and has been fighting it for three months now. The doctors are giving her only a few days expectancy to live. Her last wish is to meet with the guys. Please see what you can arrange and get back to me. Sincerely, Evelyn Cambridge.”
“Wow,” JC said.
“Yeah really,” Chris then said.
The other three were silent for the time being.
“I thought we were going to be in the city.”
“No JC we won’t. We are actually flying right into Plattsburgh.”
“Does she know that we are coming?” Justin asked.
“When I talked with Evelyn she said that she only knows that they are trying to work it out. They didn’t want to give her a for sure yes in case you guys got tied up at the last minute.”
“Wow,” JC said again. It seemed to be the only other thing he could think of at the moment.
“Okay guys, well let’s go on and get in there. We’ve got a couple hours on the plane that we can talk and discuss what it is that we wish to do for her once we get there.”
“Right,” Joey said. “Let’s go,” he said and then led the group into the airport.
Mercedes tossed and turned for another thirty minutes before finally deciding that staying in bed just wasn’t going to work for her after all. She looked around the room and saw that JC had grabbed the odd things that he had laying around. “I guess he made it out okay,” she said to herself as she sat up in her bed. She had been fast asleep by the time he walked out the door.
“I wonder what they had to go to New York for,” she mumbled and her feet hit the floor. “I know who would know,” she said and grabbed the phone. She checked the clock once more just to make sure that she would be up. Mer called Amy’s office and waited for her to answer. “Jessica?” she said after hearing the long office introduction.
“Yes?”
“Hey girl it’s Mer.”
“Oh hey, I hardly recognized your voice. Are you sick?”
Mer cleared her morning throat, “No I just got out of bed.”
“Ahh, I got ya. So what’s up?” she asked and fidgeted with the pen that was on her desk.
“Eh just seeing how ya were and checking to see if you knew why the guys had to suddenly go up to New York.”
“I’m doing just fine and yeah I know why they had to go.”
Mer leaned back on the bed and sighed with a slight giggle. “So do you care to share that information with me?”
“Oh yeah,” she laughed. “I thought you were just asking if I knew cause you knew.” She shook her head, “Never mind. Yeah so, there is this little girl that is sick and in the hospital, so she got to make a wish through that foundation for ill children... meeting the guys was her wish.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah I know right.”
“I know that when JC got that call last night he had no idea why they had to go. Translations got all messed up between phone tag.”
“I figured it would,” Jessica laughed.
“Leave it to my wonderful Chris to go forgetting major details.”
“Exactly. Hey, by the way, do you know where JC left those papers for me?”
“Which ones?” Mer had no clue what she was talking about.
“They were some papers that he was gonna fill out for my work. Something for what he was gonna donate to a company that we are sponsoring.”
“Ohh, I know what you are talking about now. Well, at least I think I do. I saw them on the counter at his place the other day.”
“Were they filled out?”
“Yeah I am pretty sure that they were.”
“Well is there anyway that you can get them for me?”
“Uhm yeah I guess I could. I can call up JC and check with him if they are there and if I can go get them for ya.”
“That would rock if you could do that for me.”
“No problem girl,” Mer stated as she sat up.
“Great. Uh call me back once you find out if they are there and completed.”
“Sure thing Jess. Later.”
“Later,” Jessica replied back and then continued to her typing on the computer.
The guys all walked down the hallway with their hands in their pockets. Justin led up the group following the nurse who was taking them to Clarissa’s room. Clarissa was notified that she would get to meet the guys, so she had been spending all morning brushing the hair that she had managed to keep due to the fact that she wouldn’t do chemotherapy.
Justin turned toward Chris, who was standing behind him, and said, “You’re better at this than I am. Would you go in first?”
Chris nodded. It was always hard on him to see sick kids, but he was usually able to crack some joke that kept the whole group, including the kid, in good humor. “Just smile Justin,” he said and then stepped in front of him.
Mercedes pulled into JC’s driveway and parked her car. She sighed before getting out and then walked up the stone path to his doorway. He had left a key with her when he left that morning, so she had no problem getting into his place. She turned the key and put her purse down on the table near the door.
“Oh jeez Jace,” she said when she saw a pile of scattered music sheets all over the coffee table. Mer picked up JC’s house phone and dialed his cell number. The phone rang three times and then his voice mail clicked on. “Oh yeah,” she said right before it beeped. “Hey baby it’s me. I totally forgot that you were going to be in the hospital with your phone off. I talked to Amy and she filled me in. Anyway she needed those papers that you were filling out for the company they are sponsoring, so she wanted me to come over and get them. I’ll just snoop around until I find them. You don’t mind do you?” she giggled. “Ah no complaints from you I see,” she laughed again at her stupid humor. “Anywho I will talk to you soon. Good luck with today and call me to let me know how it goes. Byes,” she said and then hung up.
Mercedes walked into the kitchen and looked around the bar counter for the papers that she had seen there before. “Great,” she said when she didn’t see them anywhere in sight. “Leave it to you to go moving things around when they are needed to be found.”
With her hand in her hair, she walked out of the kitchen and back into the side room where JC kept a lot of his odds and ends. After looking around for a few minutes, she decided that they weren’t going to be found in that room. “Upstairs it is,” she said and began to trot up the steps.
Meanwhile, outside someone was pulling the car in right behind Mer’s. A pair of feet hit the floor and the car door slammed.
“So you must be the lovely Clarissa,” Chris said.
Clarissa just smiled.
“Aren’t you a looker,” he said again. “Well let me introduce myself.” Chris reached out to the little girl and put his hand into hers. “I’m Chris.”
“I’m Clarissa,” she managed to say between her the tight lips that were producing a huge smile.
“It’s nice to meet you,” he winked. “Hey, you wanna meet my friends?” he pointed at the other guys.
“Yeah,” she nodded.
“Guys,” Chris pulled them in closer.
“Hi Clarissa, I’m Joey.”
“I’m JC,” he nodded.
“I’m Lance.”
Justin looked down that the beautiful girl sitting up in her hospital bed. He smiled at her and said, “And I’m Justin.”
“Hi,” she giggled. “Thank you guys for coming to see me.” A tear fell from her left eye and water filled the right one.
Justin had to take a deep breath to keep himself from crying. “We’re glad that you wanted to see us,” he finally said.
“So hey. We get to stay for a little while. What do you want to do?” Chris asked.
Clarissa looked down. “I know you get this all the time,” she started to say. “Can you sing a song for me?”
“Of course we can,” JC said. “What do you want us to sing for you?”
“It doesn’t matter. I like all your songs.”
Lance smiled and knew exactly what JC was gonna end up suggesting.
Mercedes walked into JC’s room and stood in the door way. She looked around the room and then finally saw a pile of papers on the dresser on the other side of the room. She walked over there and sighed when she picked them up. “Well I guess it could have been a lot harder to find.” She flipped through the pages and made sure that JC had signed all the blanks that he was supposed to leave his signature on. “Looks good,” she said and then folded the papers back over.
Just as she was about to walk out she remembered that she had left her favorite tooth brush at JC’s and she wanted to bring it back home. She set the papers on JC’s bed and headed for JC’s bathroom.
Meanwhile, downstairs the front door was slowly being pushed open. Silent footsteps hit the floor and a body glided across the entry way. Looking around the room the person found the living room and tried to see if anything looked different. Pictures had been removed off of the mantle, but otherwise it all looked the same. “Hmm,” the person said. “I wonder who’s car that was outside.” Step by step a pair of feet made their way up the stairs.
“Ha,” Mer laughed as she grabbed her tooth brush. “Finally I can toss that yukky one at my house.” With the tooth brush still in hand, she grabbed the papers with her free hand. Mercedes sighed and headed for the door. She was suddenly stopped by a body standing right in front of her.
“You?”
“What do you mean me? What are YOU doing here?” Mer corrected.
“I have every right to be here.”
“The hell you do. How did you get in?” Mer glanced down the stairs. She knew she didn’t set the alarm, but she was positive that she locked the bolt on the door.
A key was held up in the air. Mer reached for it and the person snatched it back. “Mine, not yours.”
“I know JC changed his locks.”
“And I know where he got them changed at.”
“What do you want?” Mer finally said.
“Where is JC?”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Are you sleeping with him?”
“It’s none of your business what I’m doing. You did your share of things and you got what you deserved.”
“You’re just getting my leftovers.”
“You are such a bitch Bobbie,” Mer’s face cringed with anger.
Bobbie reached over and slapped Mercedes.
Mer took a few deep breaths and tried to hold back her urge to hit her back.
“Is little Mer Mer afraid?” Bobbie instigated.
“Bobbie I am not gonna argue with you. You and JC aren’t together anymore.”
“And it’s all your fault. You little tramp. You just had to go telling him so that you could get into his pants. I bet you were flat on your back the day he told you he and I spilt up.”
That drew the line. Mer shook her head and then swiped the back of her hand over Bobbie’s left cheek.
“You little...” Bobbie squealed and grabbed Mer by her hair.
A high shriek escaped Mer’s mouth as she darted for Bobbie’s hair in return. With one steady yank Bobbie’s head flew back. Mer dropped the papers and punched Bobbie right in the face. “I was sick of your shit when I first met you,” she screamed into Bobbie’s face.
Bobbie kicked as the two of them hit the floor. “Get off of me.”
Mer pinned Bobbie down. “I expect you to leave Bobbie. I don’t want to interfering with me and JC anymore. He obviously doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
Bobbie pushed Mer off. “Fine, but I hope you don’t think this is the last you’ll see of me.”
“I could only wish,” she stood as she watched Bobbie stomp down the stairs and exit through the front door.
“Oh my goodness what is that woman’s deal?” Mer said to herself as she descended the staircase. “I haven’t the slightest clue what JC saw in her in the first place,” she continued to mumble to herself.
Mer flipped through the papers again and then decided to go ahead and call Jessica back to let her know that she found them. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the seven digit number. “Hey girl,” Mercedes said again after the office introduction that Jessica was required to give.
“Hey Mer. Did you find it?”
“Yeah I did. I had to search the place, but I did find them.”
“Great. Hey, why do you sound all out of breath?”
“I just had a little run in with someone is all.”
“You what? With who?”
“Care to take a wild guess?”
“Uhm,” Jessica thought for a moment. “I have no idea.”
“Can’t guess. Okay, I’ll give ya three choices. The Lord, The Devil, or Bobbie.”
“Bobbie?!” Jessica exclaimed.
“Might as well be the devil,” Mer muttered under her breath just loud enough for Jessica to hear.
“What did she want? What did she say?”
“She had a few choice words to say. And a nice mark across her face after she said that I was probably flat on my back the minute that JC told me that the two of them split up.”
“You slapped her?”
“To say the least.”
“Oh my goodness girl!”
“Can you believe that she got a new copy of JC’s keys.”
“Didn’t he get them changed?” Jessica asked.
“Yup, and she said that she knew where he got them done. I guess that whoever did it thought that they were still together and Bobbie just told him that she had lost her copy.”
“I can’t believe you slapped her,” Jessica said still in awe.
“She’s lucky she was even able to walk out of the house Jess.”
“Jeez. Well you have every right to be mad at her.”
Mercedes sighed. “Hey do you want me to drop this stuff off the office or what?”
“Yeah that would totally help me out,” Jessica replied. “Thanks.”
“No problem. I’ll be over in a little bit and I can fill ya in on anything I might have missed.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see ya soon.”
“K, later girl,” Mer said and clicked off her phone. She headed for the door and shook her head. She turned her phone back on and dialed JC’s cell again. She knew she’d get the voice mail, but she just had to vent.
“Jace, hey it’s me again,” she said after the beep. “I had a little run in with your ex today. She just walked right up into your house! Anywho I just had to vent. I’m running those papers over to Jessica’s. Call me when you get out. Bye sweetie,” she said and hung up. Just as she approached her car she screamed, “You little whore!” Mer looked at the driver’s side door and noticed the key scratch all the way down the length of the car. Mer’s heart was beating faster and she knew that it was war.
Mercedes ran her fingers through her hair as she took in a deep breath. She pushed open the glass door and took off her sunglasses as she entered the building. “Just breathe Mercedes,” she said to herself as she walked down the hallway to the elevator. A guy turned the corner just when she did and pushed the button the elevator they were both standing in front of.
“Rough day?” the man asked.
A few delayed seconds later Mer turned to the man. “Excuse me?” she said as nice as she could.
“You seem upset,” he stated and directed his eyes to Mer’s fist which was crumbling a piece of paper as if it were to mean death.
“Ah,” she looked down and noticed how she appeared to others. “Yeah, today just isn’t my day.”
“I’m sorry to hear that Miss.”
“Not your fault.”
“I feel sorry for whose ever it is,” he said noticing the nail marks torn through the crumbled paper.
“Oh she will too. Very soon,” she said just as the elevator door beeped and then opened.
The two stepped inside, and as people always do when they get into an elevator, they both took opposite ends against the back wall. “Ah,” the man said and stepped up to the numbers. “What floor?”
“Oh, uh,” she had to think for a moment. “Four please.”
“Four it is,” he said and then pressed the number six for himself.
Mer was busy grinding her teeth as the man next to her just stood there looking at her. He wasn’t staring really, just kind of looking. “Uhm, did you need something?” Mer finally came right out and asked.
“I was just noticing something. You must be friends with Jessica on the fourth floor huh?”
“Yeah, how did ya guess?” Mer asked casually.
“I just noticed someone’s name on those papers you’re holding.”
Mer looked down and didn’t see Jessica’s name. “But her name isn’t on the first page that is open for the world to see,” Mer turned the papers in, not believing that she let herself leave the papers open.
“No it isn’t,” he shook his head. “But a Mr. Joshua Chasez is showing on that page.”
“Sir,” she started to say.
“I work with Jessica often Miss. I know that she dates Mr. Bass, so I assumed you were friends with her due to you bringing her paperwork with Lance’s friend’s name on it.”
Mer slowly shook her head. “I see. I’m sorry I almost...”
“No, it’s fine.” The elevator door stopped and opened. “This is you.”
Mer looked out and said, “Yes it is. Uhm, nice talking with you,” she said and then exited as if she had never talked to the man.
Mer walked down one more hallway that had about four turns in it and then approached Jessica’s office door. She knocked three times and then pushed the door open. “Jess?”
“Hey come on in Mer,” Jessica said with the phone held close to her left ear. She held up one finger and then pointed at the seat so to let Mercedes know to take a seat.
Mer drummed her fingers on the desk and waited until Jessica hung up the phone.
“Thanks so much for bringing those by.” Jessica reached over the table and grabbed the papers.
Mer sat with her leg crossed and her little finger in her mouth. She removed it after a second of thinking and said, “So you wanna guess what happened after I got off the phone with you?”
Jessica’s face crinkled up. “Do I really wanna know?” she asked as she thumbed through the papers that Mercedes had just brought.
“I went outside to get in my car and I slowly get to the car and as I look down, what do I see?”
Jessica shrugged.
“Scratches! The bitch keyed my car after she left the house!”
Jessica sat up in her chair. “You’re kidding me!”
“No, all the way down the length of the driver’s side. I knew she was heartless and a cheat, but come on.”
“Did you call the police or anything?”
Mer leaned back in the seat and sighed. “Nope. I don’t want to give her the satisfaction. I see it this way. I can either leave it alone or I can drag her into this whole situation even deeper. Deep as in deep enough that JC will want to get into it. I’d rather her have nothing to do with JC and I.”
“Yeah I guess that’s true as well.”
“What do YOU think I should do?”
Jessica shook her head. “Ya know, I guess I would do the same thing you have in mind. War with Bobbie is just as well if you just ignore her. She just wants the attention is all. She wants JC to talk to her again.”
“She can forget that one.”
“Well hey, I have a two hour break coming up in,” she looked at her watch, “ten minutes. Stick around and we can go out to lunch or something.”
“That sounds like a plan. I’m just gonna step out in the hallway to call the insurance company to check about getting my car buffed up. The scratches aren’t too deep for that I don’t think.”
“Ok, well how about I just meet you in the lobby then?”
Mer started to stand up. “That sounds like a plan to me. See ya in a few,” she said and then exited the office.