PART ONE

    Chris ran down the hall when he heard his cell phone ringing. All out of breath he answered the phone. “Hello,” he said.
    “Chris?” the voice on the other end said.
    Still panting, “I think so,” he said back.
    “Are you dying or something?”
    “Mer is this you?” he asked with a shocked voice.
    “Well at least you still remember my voice,” she chuckled.
    “Kind of hard to forget, even after uh, like six years. How did you get my cell number?”
    “I called your mom.”
    “Are you back from Germany?”
    “You think I would call your cell phone from Germany? I’m not that dumb sweetie.”
    “Well where are you?” he asked as he sat down on the couch in his house.
    “I’m in Orlando. At the airport actually.”
    Chris sat up straight. “What the heck are you doing there?”
    “I’ve got a couple interviews in Orlando.”
    “You all into that Law thing still?”
    “Got my degree, done a lot of side studies and worked a few cases. A couple firms said that they would love to see me.”
    “You mean my little Mer might be moving to Orlando?”
    “It’s a possibility,” she smiled. “Daddy is still in Pennsylvania, so I am heading up there in about a week so I can hang out with him before coming back here if I get the job.”
    “Wow,” Chris said.
    He was amazed at how far she had come in life since he had last seen her. She was only seventeen then, and he was in process of getting together with Nsync. Her mother had just died and both her and her father thought she would be better living in Germany with her aunt, whom was also her godmother. Her father was a busy business man and knew that he wouldn’t have been able to offer her the time that she needed.
    Chris had basically grown up with her and thought of her as a kid sister. He was excited to the fact that she might be around him more often. She wasn’t ever introduced to the rest of the guys, and though she knew who they were, she didn’t fully see how everything had changed. Inside Chris was the same person, but he led a totally new life. He tried to contact Mercedes when he and the guys were in Europe, but all of his attempts failed each time.
    “So do you think that maybe I could come stay with you for the week?”
    “Mer you know you can. I’ll get someone to bring me to the airport and meet you. Are you all ready? Like do you have all your luggage checked out and stuff?”
    “Yeah why?”
    “I can’t be hanging out in no crowded airport without security girl,” he laughed.
    She laughed back. “Who are you going to bring with you then?”
    “Probably JC. He’s got nothing better to do I’m sure.” He had no idea, but he knew for a fact that the other guys were busy.
    “Chris, isn’t he the cocky one?”
    “No way. What do you mean?”
    “The one with the huge hair?”
    “Yeah, it’s pretty high up there,” he laughed.
    “Something about him rubs me the wrong way.”
    “Well give him a chance. He’s cool. Promise.”
    “I’ll try,” she said back. “See you soon?”
    “Give me fifteen. See you soon sweetie.”
    “Thanks Chris,” she said and then hung up the pay phone and sat on the top of her suitcase to wait for Chris and JC.

    “What?” JC said as he opened the door to see Chris standing there.
    “Well, isn’t that a nice way to greet someone at your home.”
    “Chris?”
    “Yeah, that’s me. Duh.”
    “What are you here for?”
    “What is wrong with your face?” Chris laughed.
    “I was sleeping on it.”
    “What for?”
    “Uhm, maybe because we don’t have to work today and it is like nine in the morning.”
    Chris looked at his watch and said, “I guess it is,” and kind of chuckled. “Well get dressed.”
    “No way. It’s too early bro,” he whined back.
    “Fine, come meet a girl looking like dog ass.”
    “I don’t look that bad,” JC replied and ran his hands through his now kinky hair.
    “I dunno about that one man,” Chris joked back. He was half serious though.
    “Why do I got to meet some girl? Who is she? I have a girlfriend Chris.”
    “Yeah yeah. She’s a good friend of mine. She’s here for a week. I gotta pick her up at the airport like, soon.”
    “Do I have to go?”
    “Yes. I can’t go alone. If two of us end up missing from the group, they are more likely to quit then if it is just me. I’d just get replaced.”
    “You are so full of it,” JC said and started to mess with the hem of his shirt. “Give me a second,” he said and then turned and pulled his shirt over his head and headed up the stairs.
    “Thanks man,” Chris yelled through the door.
    “She better at least be cute. Make me drag my ass outta bed...” he mumbled to himself.
    Chris laughed to himself and said, “too bad she already doesn’t like you.” Chris was highly amused by that little tid bit of information. Everyone loved JC, so he found it funny that Mercedes didn’t, and she didn’t even know him yet.

    “Where the heck is she?” Chris said crankily as he looked at the terminals around him.
    “Did you ask which one she flew in to?”
    Chris stuck his finger in his mouth and shook his head.
    “Idiot,” JC yelled and hit Chris upside the head. “Do you even know what she looks like? You said you haven’t seen her in six years.”
    “Well.. uh...,” he stammered.
    “Chris! Damn man,” JC yelled again.
    “She had braces and short kinda puffy hair. Eyes and a nose and a mouth.”
    “Jeeze Mr. Smarty, you think so?” JC was a little on the cranky side since he had been dragged out of bed to go with Chris to meet some chic they weren’t having any luck finding.
    JC and Chris walked past each of the terminal and glanced over the crowd as best as they could. Each of them had on shades and a hat as their only way of disguise. “JC don’t kill me. I know she’s here.”
    “Well maybe if you were a little smarter and got more details,” he said and went to hit him in the head again.
    “Chris?” a woman’s voice said.
    Chris turned immediately and JC stood dead in his tracks. “Mer?”
    She threw her arms in the air and wrapped them around him.
    “I guess so,” he laughed. “Wow have you grown up,” he said as he gave her the once over. Her short puffy hair was now long, and had a soft wave to it. Her facial structure was that of a model, and her teeth weren’t covered with metal anymore.
    “You did too,” she smiled.
    JC kind of kicked Chris and then cleared his throat.
    “Oh, this is JC,” he said to Mercedes. “And JC, this is Mercedes.”
    “Mercedes eh?”
    “Yeah,” she said back with a quaint smile. “Nice to meet you.”
    “You too,” he said and extended an arm to shake her hand. "What were your parent's thinking when they named you after a car?" JC said sarcastically.
    "Ya know, I don’t know, but my name gets me about as much attention as this hug mop on your head that you like to call hair," Mercedes shot back as she flipped a chunk of JC's hair just above his eyes. The portion of hair she flipped was sticking out of the hat that he was wearing. His hair was getting so long that it stuck out on all sides.
    Chris couldn’t help but laugh. He bit his lip when JC turned to him with a smug look on his face. He cleared his throat and said, “uh, sorry.”
    JC couldn’t believe that she had the never to say that. ‘She has no right to make fun of my hair. It’s cool,’ he thought to himself.
    ‘I knew he’d be a jerk,’ she said to herself and gave him a dirty look.
    “Well let’s go before the two of you kill one another and bring all the attention to me and my sexy self.”
    “Still so sure of yourself too huh?” Mercedes laughed.
    “Someone has to be,” he smiled and then grabbed her bags and led the way to where he and JC had parked.
    Mercedes flipped her hair and caught up to Chris and walked side by side with him. JC just watched her in awe. He couldn’t believe how someone so pretty could be so, so, ‘bitchy.’ He shook his head at the thought and then followed behind the two of them.

    Chris put Mercedes’s bags in the back of his car and then slammed the trunk shut. JC headed for the front seat and then sighed and hopped over the seat and got in the back. As much as he wanted to make her sit in the back, he knew that she was a lady and deserved to sit in the front, even if she was mean. Mercedes turned in her seat and shot JC a fake smile. JC growled to himself. ‘Chris can’t actually think this chic is nice, can he?’ JC said aloud in his head.
    “So how have you been Mer?” Chris asked Mercedes.
    She straightened her fit body and smiled at Chris, this time a real smile. “Things have been great. I can’t wait to really get my career started.”
    “I’m so proud of all your accomplishments girl,” he smiled back. He was very proud of her in fact.
    “And so am I, of you that is. Look at you!” She brushed the side of his arm and a smile lit up her face. “You have a great career, so many fans, a great family, and great friends by your side.” Mercedes smirked as she looked back at JC and then looked straight ahead again.
    “Excuse me,” JC said. “Did I like spill something on your expensive outfit or something?”
    “What?” Chris said and turned back to see JC.
    “Keep your eyes on the road,” Mercedes snipped at him. “What are you talking about JC?”
    “You don’t even know me and I am getting these killer looks from you like you want to bash my head in. And I can’t say that you have said anything nice to me either?”
    “And you’ve said how many nice things to me?”
    “Would you two quit?” Chris said.
    Mercedes was leaned over the back of her seat glaring at JC.
    “If looks could kill,” JC began to say.
    “You would have been dead after the first remark you said to me,” Mercedes finished for him.
    “Oh,” he smiled, “so you are mad about the car comment.”
    “Get over yourself,” she said and turned back around.
    JC pulled himself forward on his seat and got right behind her. “I’m sorry your parents named you that,” he whispered. “It only asks people to comment about automobiles.”
    “You ass hole,” she said, turned around and slapped him.
    Chris burst out in laughter. “JC just got hit by a girl.”
    JC reached over and hit Chris in the head. “Shut your trap,” he said and then leaned back in the back seat and crossed his arms to pout.
    “Do you always treat girls like this?” she shot back to JC.
    “No, most girls aren’t so crude to people they just meet.
    “You asked for it.”
    “You did,” Chris said in Mercedes’s defense.
    “Butt out. I didn’t even want to come.”
    “Why did you then?”
    “Because Chris is my friend and he asked me to. If I’d known his long lost friend was so cruel I wouldn’t have agreed.”
    “You’ll get over it.”
    “How long are you here for again?” JC asked.
    Mercedes made a strange face and then answered with, “for a week. Why?”
    “Chris, I won’t be over at your place for a week then.”
    “Oh my God you two are like five year olds. JC I’ve never seen you like this.”
    “She brings out the worst in me.”
    “Mer, could you maybe try to be nice. JC isn’t used to girls not falling at his feet.”
    “Jesus Chris,” JC snapped back. “Stop here. I’ll walk home.”
    “C, I’m kidding man. Look, we’re almost to your place. Both of you just keep quiet.”
    “Fine by me,” Mercedes said.
    “Ditto that,” JC said and re-crossed his arms.
    “This is gonna be a long week,” Chris quietly mumbled and then turned down the road to JC’s place.

    “I’ll call you later okay,” Chris said as JC jumped over the seat to get out.
    “Sure.”
    “Thanks for coming with me.”
    “Yeah,” he said and started to walk off.
    “Nice meeting you,” Mercedes said in an extremely fake manner.
    “Go pierce your eyes into someone else’s skin,” JC snapped back and then continued to walk to his door.
    Mercedes turned to Chris and smiled. “What?” she said in an innocent tone.
    “What was that all about?” Chris asked as he pulled out of the driveway.
    “I told you something about him rubbed me the wrong way.”
    “Mer you didn’t even give him the chance to be nice to you.”
    “He started it Chris. You said so yourself.”
    “Yeah, but he was just kidding. All of us are like that.”
    “I don’t know Chris. He has a screw loose somewhere.”
    Chris couldn’t resist the small laugh he let out. “Well could you try to be nice? Please.”
    “I’ll try Chris, but I’m telling you, he’s no good for me.”
    “Well if you’re gonna be near me, you’ll get stuck near him sometimes too.”
    She sighed, “I know. I’ll try.”
    “Thanks. You can do it,” he laughed and then put his eyes back to the road and continued toward his place.
    ‘It’s not going to be an easy feat,’ she said to herself and then rested her arm on the side of the door and watched the grass as it passed by her.

    JC stood by his back door with his phone in his hand. “Hey,” he said when someone finally answered.
    “C?”
    “Yeah,” JC answered.
    “Why are you up?” Justin looked at his watch. “It’s early.”
    “Chris and his punk self woke me up and dragged me to the airport to pick up a friend of his.”
    “Chris has friends?” Justin joked.
    “Yeah, and she is the spawn on the devil.”
    “What? Who?”
    “Chris’s friend. She’s in town for a week doing some job interviews.”
    “Do I know her?”
    “Nah, he’s never mentioned her before. You don’t want to know her though.”
    “What’s wrong with her?”
    “She’s the devil!”
    “You mean she is like satanic and stuff? Gothic or whatever?”
    “Uh, no J. She’s freaking Lucifer as a chic.”
    “Is she hot?” Justin lapped in out of no where.
    “Justin I just told you she was Lucifer. How you gonna ask me if she is hot?”
    “Easy. Is she hot?”
    “Justin. She slapped me dude!”
    “She’s hot isn’t she?” he smiled.
    “Are you even listening to me?” JC snapped.
    “Did she like turn you down or something?”
    “Justin you are impossible.”
    “JC has a crush and she doesn’t want him,” he sang.
    “That’s it,” JC said and then hung up the phone.
    Justin looked at his phone when it started beeping the way it does when someone hangs up. He just shrugged and dialed JC’s number and waited for him to answer.
    “Are you gonna stop the bullshit?” JC asked.
    “Is she really the devil?”
    “Yes!”
    “Does she look as good as the devil chic in Bedazzled?”
    “JUSTIN?!”
    “Wow. She must be hot.”
    “Yes Justin she’s hot! Jesus. Are you happy? Will you be normal for a few minutes? Please?”
    “Okay. I just wanted to hear you say it,” Justin laughed. “Am I gonna meet her?”
    “If you’re brave enough.”
    “She can’t be that mean.”
    “She totally dissed on my hair. It was like the first thing she said to me.”
    “Finally someone doesn’t hide their true thoughts.”
    “Shut up baldy.”
    “No no, on the contrary JC, I have hair now,” he smiled on the other end.
    “This is just not my day.”
    “Why don’t you take a nap.”
    “I need to.”
    “Go rest. Have sweet dreams of Lucifer.”
    “Not funny Justin.”
    “Call me later dude, when you can breathe or whatever.”
    “Yeah, later J.”
    “Later,” Justin yelled and then hung up the phone and called up Bobbie. “Bobbie, hey. JC is having a rough day. I think you should go over there and keep him company. He’s having bad dreams about Lucifer.... uh huh... okay. Bye Bobbie.” Justin laughed and then threw his phone on the table and went back to eating his cereal.

    Bobbie got to JC’s place, having no clue what Justin really meant by his phone call, and knocked on the door. JC shuffled his feet across the rug in the living room and approached the door. He slowly opened it and was surprised to see his girlfriend standing in front of him. She leaned in and gave him a small kiss and then stepped in around him.
    “Uhm, hey,” he said. He was surprised that she was there. Bobbie was supposed to be heading back to LA that afternoon.
    “Hey baby. I just got a call from Justin.”
    JC tugged at his shirt and sighed. “You’re kidding.”
    “No, he said something about Lucifer. What is he talking about?”
    “You know Justin... he’s got a few screws loose.”
    “Well, on any account he said that you needed comforting. I don’t leave for another two hours so I thought I’d come see you.” Bobbie leaned toward him and wrapped her arms around him.
    “Baby, I’m not in a good mood,” he said and backed away from her.
    Bobbie made a smug face and stood back. “What crawled up your ass?” she asked rudely.
    “Bobbie I’m not in the mood,” JC sighed. “Chris woke me up and introduced me to his friend and we really just didn’t hit it off at all.”
    “Who is this friend of his?”
    “Just someone he grew up with.”
    “What’s his name?” she inquired.
    “It’s a girl and her name is Mercedes.”
    “Why did he introduce you to another girl?” she asked out of jealousy.
    JC flopped himself on the couch and sighed again. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with Bobbie and her ranting. “It’s his friend. He asked me to go with him to pick her up at the airport.”
    “Ah, and she upset you so much that you don’t want to be near me?” she tried to put words into JC’s mouth. “I don’t think she upset you at all."
    “Bobbie you weren’t there. You don’t know what happened okay.”
    “I don’t want to know what happened,” she scolded. “Look. I’m gonna head off. I should be at the airport early anyway.”
    “Sweetie let’s not part again on bad terms,” JC tried to say.
    “No, no. You’re in a rotten mood remember? I’ll just talk to you later.”
    “Bobbie,” JC started to say, but was cut off by the shutting of his door when Bobbie walked out of it.

    “Damn you Justin,” he murmured and then took a deep breath and picked up his phone.
    “I didn’t do it,” Justin answered the phone.
    “Why did you do that Justin? I told you I wasn’t really in the best of moods, or at least I thought you had picked up on that little bit of information.”
    “What are you talking about?” Justin said innocently.
    “Bobbie was just over here and she had one of her dang jealous tantrums. I really wasn’t wanting to deal with that.”
    “How was I supposed to know that she’s be jealous of the devil.”
    “Justin,” JC began.
    “I figured she’d make ya feel better, if you know what I mean.”
    “Well she didn’t,” he corrected Justin.
    “Sorry bro. Does this Lucifer chic really bug you that much?”
    “We just didn’t hit it off well to start with. Maybe things will lighten up later.”
    “I hope so.”
    “Me too.”
    “Well if they don’t then I guess you’ll just be miserable tomorrow.”
    “What are you talking about?” a confused JC asked.
    “Tomorrow. Joey’s place.”
    “Shit I totally forgot about that. Man, I bet Chris is gonna bring her too.”
    “I wouldn’t doubt that one. I mean I doubt that he’ll say that she can’t come to his friend’s party.”
    “Man. This sucks.”
    “Suck it up C. Be a man.”
    “Maybe I’ll call over there and ask him if she’s going.”
    “Whatever. Anywho, I gotta split.”
    “Yea. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
    “Later,” Justin said and then hung up the phone.

    A brief minute later JC dialed up Chris’s number. The phone rang twice and then Chris yelled from the back room of his house, “Mer get that! I’m fixing something.”
    “Okay,” she yelled back and then raced to the phone. “Hello,” Mercedes said when she answered the phone.
    JC knew that it was Mercedes that answered, but he didn’t want to start with the bashing immediately. “Hi, can I speak with Chris?”
    “Chris!” Mercedes yelled right into the phone. Chris had asked her to try to be nice, so since she couldn’t blatantly yell at JC or pick on him, she figured she would just scream into the phone.
    JC pulled the phone away from his ear. “Damn,” he cursed.
    “Mer, tell them to hang tight for a second. Talk to whoever it is,” Chris yelled back.
    “No way,” she screamed into the phone again.
    “Man,” JC said agitatedly.
    Chris assumed that that meant it was JC so he hurried up with what he was doing that then went and rescued the phone from Mercedes. “C?”
    “How did you ever guess?”
    “Lucky. Mer kinda gave it away with all the loud screams.”
    “I bet. I didn’t even say anything to her.”
    “You guys are terrible I swear.”
    “Yeah yeah. Hey, you didn’t forget about that thing at Joey’s tomorrow did you?”
    “Man, I guess I did. What time we supposed to be there?”
    “At three I think,” JC answered.
    “Hang on,” Chris said. “Mer, what are you doing tomorrow?”
    “I’ve got an interview tomorrow why?”
    “What time?”
    “Three-thirty. Why?”
    “Don’t tell her please!” JC yelled over the phone.
    Chris tried to ignore JC’s loud remark. “Joey is having some deal at his place, but it’s okay. He’ll meet you later.”
    JC sighed with relief when he realized that that meant she wasn’t going to be there. “Is she busy or something?” he tried to sound sympathetic.
    “Yeah, she has an interview.”
    “Oh, okay. Well I was just reminding you about it. I’ll see you tomorrow man.”
    “Okay, later C,” Chris said and hung up his phone.
    Mercedes tilted her head and tried to sound concerned. “Was JC worried that I might be there?”
    “Nah, no way. He was just checking that I remembered.”
    Mercedes sneered at the thought of JC not worrying that she would or wouldn’t be there. “Well my interview shouldn’t take long Chris. I’d love to really meet the other guys. Maybe you can tell me the addy and I will get a taxi to bring me there right after the interview.”
    “No, no bother. You take my car sweetie. I’ll take the motorcycle. I’ll leave you directions too.”
    Mercedes smiled at the thought of getting to spend more time with Chris and getting to meet his friends too, but then she wanted to vomit when the thought hit her that that also meant spending time with JC. She wanted to vomit ten times more at the thought of trying to be nice to him, as she told Chris she would. “Really you don’t have to.”
    “I probably would have taken the bike over there anyways. It's no problem I swear.”
    “Okay, thanks,” she said and gave Chris a hug. “I really am going to try to be nice to JC Chris. I don’t know what it is about him that bothers me.”
    “Maybe you really just like him,” he laughed.
    “Do you want me to hit you too?” she asked and balled up her fist.
    “No no,” he exclaimed and blocked his face.
    “I’m old enough to know how to flirt properly Chris. This is all acts of disgust. I hate his whole ‘holier than thou’ act. He isn’t King of the Jungle, and don’t think that I am going to fall to his feet when he walks by.”
    “Calm down tiger,” Chris laughed again. “Just give him a chance. He’s a real loser, but I promise, he’s cool.”
    “In your eyes.”
    “Mer, I wouldn’t steer you wrong would I?”
    “No, but Chris...,” she whined. “He irritates me.”
    “And have the two of you even tried to have a real conversation?”
    Mercedes just gave him a blank puppy dog look.
    “Didn’t think so. You didn’t give him enough time, and he didn’t offer it to you.”
    “I’ll try harder okay?” she offered. Chris nodded as a yes. “Well I’m gonna go get in my suit and hop in that nice pool you got out back.”
    “You do that,” he laughed. “I’ve got a few things I need to read over. I’ll be out there later,” he said and then headed back to the room he was in before JC called and interrupted him.
    Mercedes ran upstairs and got into her swimsuit and then stepped into the pool and embarked on some real relaxation time.

Part Two