It was the next morning and we were all back at the condo. We left the club the night before
around 2:00am and made our way back to Gainesville. Heather drove since Jen
was feeling a little too woozy. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the
clock, it was a little past noon. Damn, my head hurts, I thought. I sat
up and looked over to Heather's bed. It was neatly made up. Heather has
always been the morning person but I was the complete opposite. I got up and
went to peek into the others' rooms. Lindsey was the only one still asleep.
Joey must've brought her home pretty late, I thought. I jumped into the shower and got
dressed. I put on a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a white tank top and made
my way downstairs. I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a bowl of
Corn Pops. As I was eating my cereal I noticed a note on the
kitchen table. It read:
Hey Kae,
We all went up to the campus and get everything settled with our classes and
stuff. We didn't want to wake you guys so you can come up tomorrow. Tell
Linz that Joey called before we left and said for her to give him a call; his
number's on the fridge. We'll be back around 4:00. So we'll figure out what
to do tonight when we get home. Oh, and Shawn called for you, too. What's that all
about?! We have some talking to do when I get home. See ya later girlie!
Jen
I threw the note away and finished up my cereal. I sat by the phone, debating on whether or not to call Shawn. I picked up the phone and dialed the number.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Shawn, it's me."
"Kae, it's good to hear from ya."
"Same here, so you called me earlier?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to see how you were adjusting."
"Oh, it's great down here and the weather is so nice, not like Chicago."
"Well, I've been thinking about you a lot since you left."
I paused, not knowing what to say. "Um...thanks."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why didn't we ever get together, you know, officially?"
I was growing more uncomfortable by the minute. "Uh...I don't know, I never really thought about it." I lied. "Look, Shawn I have to go and...do laundry."
"Oh, okay." I could hear the disappointment in his voice. "I'll talk to you later, Kae."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."
I hung up the phone and sat on the couch just thinking about what had just happened. All of my emotions were screwed up. Did I still have a thing for Shawn? I thought about how much fun he was to be around, No, Heather's right, it's time for me to move on with my life in Florida. Just then Linz made her way downstairs and I could tell she must've came in way after we did.
"So how was your night?", I asked eager to find out what happened, "It must've been pretty good because Joey has already called you." With the mention of his name her face instantly lit up. "That good, huh?"
"Did he leave a number?", she asked not even hearing my question.
"Yeah it's on the fridge."
She ran into the kitchen and soon I could hear her talking and laughing. I heard her hang up the phone and then she ran out of the kitchen and jumped on the couch beside me.
"What are you so happy about?"
"Well, Joey said that he wants to take me out to dinner tonight and that he'll be here at 7:00!"
"So, what really happened between you two last night?" A big smile appeared on her face as she told me the story. "So he took you to a lake, then what?"
"I'm sure you know the rest, Kae!"
"Oh shit, are you serious?"
"Yeah!"
"Wow girl you sure know how to get em!"
"Well, didn't you get with Justin? It looked like you two really clicked back at the club."
I looked down at the floor. I hadn't even thought about Justin and then I remembered how great he was and how I blew it. "I think the others hit it off with the guys as well," I said trying to change the subject.
"Really? Then maybe we should all go to dinner together or something?"
"NO! I mean everyone else might have their own plans."
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind, I'll go call Joey back."
I cringed at the thought of having to face Justin again after what I said. He probably doesn't want to even hear my name again. I worried about it to the point that my headache came back. I laid down on the couch and closed my eyes. Why am I getting so worked up about this guy, I mean he was nice but not my type, I thought, trying to put everything whirling in my head in some kinda order, Yeah, so he was pretty damn fine and had a great personality, but I had only known him for a couple of hours, I am not going to fall for him, never. Content with my decision I sat up and turned on the TV.
"So Kae, are you in for tonight?", Linz yelled from the kitchen.
"Yeah, I guess." I'm not going to let the friction between me and this guy ruin having a great night out with my friends, I thought and smiled at my new found empowerment. A few hours past and I was sitting out by the lake behind out condo reading a magazine. I heard a car pull up and I heard the voices of my friends. I was getting ready to go back inside when Kit came running down to where I was laying on a blanket.
"Hey, girl"
"Hey, Kit. Did you guys get all your classes?"
"Yeah, we're all set. Are you and Linz going up tomorrow?"
"Yeah, we might as well get it out the way."
"Well, anyway, did Linz tell you about the plans for tonight?"
"Not in detail"
We started walking back toward the condo. "The guys are coming by to pick us up and we're going to this nice restaurant in Orlando."
"That sounds fine."
"It's almost 5:30 so we're going to get ready."
About an hour later we were all ready and were sitting in the living room waiting for the guys to get here. Everyone seemed to be more nervous now that last night. Even I had became nervous, but not for the same reason as everyone else. They had all become good friends with eachother and I was the only one who wasn't nervous and for a good reason. The doorbell rang and we were all surprised since they were 15 min early. Jen got up to answer the door as well stood up.
"Hey, guys," she said as the 5 gorgeous guys made their way inside.
JC hugged Jen and said, "Wow, you look great, you all do."
Since we didn't know what kinda restaurant it was we dressed casual yet dressy. Heather had on a knee length black skirt with a red tank and cami; Linz was wearing a little black dress; Jen had on a short black skirt with tube top and shrug; I had on a red strappy dress that fitted then flared; and Kit was wearing a fitted white dress with little slits on either side.
"You guys don't look half bad yourselves," Heather said poking Lance in the side.
They all had on black pants with shirts and black jackets over those. JC's shirt was white, Chris's yellow, Lance's gray, Joey's red, and Justin's baby blue.
"Well, we should get going," JC said grabbing Jen's hand.
When we got outside, a black stretch limo was waiting for us.
"Wow, I've never been in a limo before" Linz exclaimed.
"I'm glad you like it," Joey said wrapping his arm around her waist.
We all piled into the limo and through some flash of bad luck I was sitting next to Justin. Everyone was in deep conversation and I was mute. I stared at Justin while he talked to Chris. He looks so good tonight, I thought, wait a minute, Kae, get your hormones in check. After we had been in the limo for about 30 min I decided that it was time to say something. Justin, having finally noticed my stare, turned to me. My previous determination disappeared and I was left with that blank feeling again.
"What?" He said scrunching up his forehead.
I decided it's now or never.