"For what?" He asked, surprised by her gratefulness.
"You knew that I saw Justin," She said, smiling at him, "and you knew it would get ugly."
Danny laughed. "well, I've had a lot of practice. Mika doesn't exactly talk about her feelings unless you sense them and tell her you want to listen."
"Yeah," Taylor said, remembering that JC was also at the banquet. This made her look for Mikayla, wondering how she was taking it. Mikayla, however, seemed to be quite happy talking to Brian Littrell, who was waving his hands around as he told her a joke. "She doesn't seem too depressed that JC's here," She commented.
"Yeah," Danny replied, glancing at his sister. "She keeps on looking at him, though." And sure enough, Mikayla sneaked another peek at JC, who looked extremely miserable despite the smile he had plastered on his face.
"May I cut in?" A voice behind Taylor asked. Taylor knew immediately who the voice belonged to.
"I don’t think-"
"Sure." Danny grinned, cutting her off. He handed her hand to Justin and strode off the floor.
JC felt absolutely miserable. Here he was, talking to other music producers and writers, something he usually enjoyed doing, but he couldn’t keep his gaze long from a table that seated a certain young woman.
He caught her gaze again, and feeling frustrated, decided that it was time that he did something about it. He strode over to where she was, looking her straight in the eye. "Hello Littrell," He said politely, not even looking at Brian.
"Hey JC." Brian said, surprised at being called by his last name. "Whatever happened to being on a first-name basis?"
"Oh. Sorry." He apologized, glancing at Brian. "Mikayla, can we talk?"
"Why'd you ask me to dance?" Taylor asked angrily as Justin began dancing with her.
"I felt like it," He said cryptically, shrugging.
"Why don't you dance with your girlfriend over there," She suggested, tilting her head towards Britney, who was watching them enviously.
"Aww, man don't you start on me too," he moaned.
"What do you mean?" She asked, curious.
"Britney and I have never been together, and we won't ever be." He told her, his eyes conveying his truthfulness. "The truth is, Taylor, that the minute I found out you were here, I couldn't help but be happy. It's been horrible for me ever since I left." He admitted.
"Really?" Taylor had to struggle to keep her mouth from dropping open from shock. "Well, I - I've missed you." She confessed.
"I'm glad." He said grinning.
"Why, Mr. Timberlake, are you saying that you actually enjoy the fact that I was miserable while you were gone," She said, in mock horror.
"Yes indeedy, ma'am," Justin said, pulling her closer to him as the two kissed.
"Talk about what?" Mikayla asked, her tone seemed to be on the verge of being angry. "The fact that you left without even saying goodbye, or the fact that you haven't even tried to contact me since then?" Brian looked back and forth between them, and decided that this was his place to exit.
"Well, Mika," He interrupted. "I'd better go with the rest of the guys for tonight. It was nice meeting you, do you want to exchange numbers or something? I'd like to keep in touch."
"Sure." Mikayla answered, turning away from JC to motion to one of the waitresses. The waitress pulled out a business card. "Here," She handed it to Brian, "I'm usually here during the day, so just give me a call."
"Thanks. Bye!" He called, waving to her as he walked away.
"I see you and Littrell are a bit close." JC commented after Brian left.
Mikayla's eyes narrowed at him. "So? What do you care?" She hissed. The frustrations that had been submerged by her sadness had finally risen to the top. "You can't imagine how hurt I was when you left," Her voice shook. "You left, you didn't even call me to tell me you were leaving."
"I know," He answered, not being able to meet her gaze. "I'm sorry about that."
"So why do you come here to scare Brian away and yell at me, asking if we could talk?" She said angrily, "we could have talked weeks ago, Josh." She strode away, feeling tears starting to rise and her pride refused to allow Josh to see her cry. She walked quickly out into the actual gardens of the restaurant, not wanting to cause an enormous scene.
"Mikayla," She heard his voice behind her. "I didn't call because I was afraid you'd be angry. I have another reason, but I was too scared to even admit to it." Josh told her. She refused to face him.
"And what was that, Josh?"
"I - I love you Mika. I've loved you ever since the day we met nearly 6 years ago. I never even stopped loving you when you left. That's why I've always worn the pendant."
"And you think that's going to change anything?" She asked, nearly choking on tears.
"It might," he said softly, coming up behind her.
"What makes you think I love you back?" She asked, openly crying now.
"It's just a gut feeling," He replied. She turned to him.
"I didn't know if I'd ever see you again, I was going to tell you when you left," She told him.
His eyes saddened. "I’m so sorry about that Mika, and I promise to you I'll do everything I can to make it up to you."
"You'd better," She joked, pulling his head towards hers and kissing him as one of her hands delicately curled around the pendant that he wore around his neck.