Jennifer stirred in bed, lightly disturbed by a quiet rustle in her bedroom.  She sleepily remembered opening the window the night before, so she thought the rustling was caused by a light breeze from outside.  First, she heard paper shuffling.

The wind, she thought.

Then she heard a “shh,” but she rationalized that by thinking it was the breeze picking up and vibrating the window screen.  Drifting back into sleep, she heard yet another noise.

“Hmm…”

Jennifer frowned in her sleep.  Humming? she thought.  I must be dreaming.  With that, she rolled onto her side, hugging her pillow.  Then, soft singing began.

“I lie awake, I drive myself crazy, drive myself crazy, thinking of you…”

Great, Jennifer thought while squeezing her pillow tighter.  I miss him so much, I can hear him singing to me in my dreams.  I’m pathetic.

“Made a mistake, when I let you go, baby, I drive myself crazy, wanting you the way that I do…”

Jennifer rolled onto her back and sighed deeply.  The song reminded her of her boyfriend, JC Chasez; it was playing the first time they met.  He had left a few months earlier to tour with ‘N Sync, the group he was a part of.  Even though they talked on the phone every night, she still missed having him with her.  Jennifer unconsciously raised her open hand.  She felt another hand take hers, although she still believed this was all a dream.

Jennifer sighed again, deeply.  “I miss you, JC,” she murmured.

“I miss you, too, Jennifer.”

Hearing this, Jennifer frowned slightly.  Usually, when she spoke while dreaming, and she always knew when she was dreaming, no one answered her, or they never gave her a simple reply like that.  Slowly, she opened her eyes and tried to focus on her surroundings.  She glanced up quickly to see JC, or who she thought was JC in her dream, sitting next to her on her bed.

“JC?  Is that you?  Am I dreaming?” Jennifer asked.

JC leaned down and gently kissed Jennifer’s lips.  She sighed and lifted her hands to run her fingers through his soft brown hair.  Slowly, almost unwillingly, they pulled apart.  Jennifer awoke fully and rubbed her eyes to see JC clearly.  Words began tumbling out of her mouth.

“You’re here!  Oh my gosh!  What are you doing here?  When did you get here?  I can’t believe you’re really here!  I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’ve missed you!  Where are the rest of the guys?  How are they?  How long will you be here?  Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?  How was the tour?  Where are you staying while you’re here?  How…” JC stopped Jennifer’s rambling with a soft kiss.

“Any more questions?” JC asked after they pulled apart.

“Um, just one,” Jennifer replied with a dreamy look in her eyes.  “Well, maybe two.”

JC grinned.  “Okay, shoot.”

Jennifer touched her lips and quietly asked, “How did you get so good at shutting me up?”

JC’s laugh rang out.  “Don’t you remember all the practice we did before?” he replied.  Jennifer smiled.  “And your second question is?”

“Oh, yeah…how did you manage to get in here?  Kathy left for class a while ago.”  Kathy was Jennifer’s roommate and close friend.

“Oh, we got here just as she was leaving.  She wanted to stay and talk, but…”

“But she had that midterm,” Jennifer finished for him.

“Yeah.  We wished her luck, and she said she’d see us later, after class…which reminds me, don’t you have classes today?” JC asked.

“Well, I usually have a psychology class in the morning, but it’s cancelled today.  I’m also supposed to work, but I can’t really miss that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that.  Kathy told us you had to work today, so I called in for you and asked if someone could cover your shift.  I told them you were expecting someone today, and they understood completely,” JC explained with a huge grin.

“Well, you’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” Jennifer smiled back.  “Since I have the day off now,” she paused to link fingers with JC, “how should I spend my day?”

JC raised one eyebrow, staring at her, then grinned slyly.  “Well, I have one idea,” he said, making Jennifer give one of her own grins.  He pulled her towards him and began kissing her deeply.  She sighed softly, making him pull her even closer.  Suddenly, they heard a pounding on the bedroom door.  Four voices carried through the wood, allowing Jennifer and JC to hear the guys’ comments.

“Yo, what are y’all doing in there?” cried Justin Timberlake.

“Come on, JC, stop putting the moves on her!  She’s already your girlfriend!” Joey Fatone yelled.

“We want to see Jen, too!  You’re not the only one who hasn’t seen her in forever!” Lance Bass said.

“JC, you said you were just going to wake her up!  If you’re waking her up the way I think you want to wake her up, you better be protected!” Chris Kirkpatrick lectured loudly.

At the last statement, JC blushed deeply as Jennifer laughed good-naturedly.  “I’m awake,” she yelled to the guys on the other side of the door, “so y’all don’t have to yell.”  She rolled her eyes at JC.  As he laughed, she swung her legs out of bed and started to walk towards the door.

JC quickly stopped her by grabbing her hand and pulling her back in front of him.  “I love you, you know.”

Jennifer smiled and placed a hand on his cheek.  “I never get tired of hearing you say that.”  She leaned down and kissed him gently before going to the door.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” Jennifer opened the door, bowing to the four guys standing outside.  “I sincerely hope I haven’t kept you waiting.”

“Oh, no,” said Lance.

“We don’t mind waiting,” Justin replied.

“Okay then, since you don’t mind…” Jennifer pretended to close the door in their faces.

“Hey!” Justin pushed the door back open.  “I didn’t mean we wanted to wait longer,” he said with a sheepish look on his face.

“I know,” Jennifer interrupted, laughing, “I just love teasing you, little boy.”

“Who are you calling ‘little boy’, big mouth?”  Both Justin and Jennifer were laughing at this point.  He gave her a big bear hug as she kissed his cheek.  After Justin released her, Joey immediately swept Jennifer into a tight hug.

“Wow,” Jennifer breathed after Joey set her down, “next to JC’s, that was the most enthusiastic hello I’ve ever received!”  JC blushed again as the rest of the guys laughed.  Jennifer kissed Joey on the cheek and moved on to Lance.

“Nice to see you again, Lance.”  Jennifer hugged him and kissed his cheek in welcome.

Lance just grinned.  “It’s good to be back.  Now will you teach me how to dance to Garth Brooks?”  Jennifer knew how to dance country-western style, and Lance, along with the others, had been pleasantly surprised to see how good she was.  He had asked her afterwards if she would teach him how to dance that way, and she had agreed that she would when he returned from their tour.

Jennifer laughed.  “Okay.  We’ll start you with something easy.  How about a fairly up-tempo cha-cha with a change to a fast waltz, then back to the cha-cha?”

“Uh, yeah.” Lance gave her a confused look.

Jennifer laughed again and said, “We’ll work on it.”  Lance continued into her room, and she looked over at Chris.  “Hey, freak,” she said with a grin and gave him a hug.

“Hold on,” Chris pulled away and took a long look at Jennifer’s face.

“What?”

“Just checking.”

Jennifer sighed loudly.  “Checking for what?”

“Checking for that special glow.”

“Special glow?  What are you talking about?”

“You know, when a man and a woman share something special…”

JC blushed once again as his friends began making fun of him.  “Ooh, JC, wanna get between the sheets!”  “JC getting a ‘lil sumpin sumpin,’ eh?”  “Gee, JC, I never knew you were good at the horizontal Lambada!”  “Two words for you, JC…GIDDY UP!”  Jennifer walked over to JC as she joined in the laughter.

“Oh, honey, don’t get uptight, they’re just jealous because they’re not getting any,” Jennifer joked.

JC burst out laughing.  “Yeah, that’s the truth!”  As the laughter in the room died down, JC stood up and kissed Jennifer.

“EW!” the other guys teased.

“Shut up,” JC scolded them, his eyes never leaving Jennifer’s.  “I’m truly lucky to have this lady.”  Jennifer beamed up at him, and they kissed again.

“Not to interrupt this touching moment,” Chris interjected, “but are we going to have to leave the room?”

“Yeah, do you two want to be alone again?” Justin whined.

Jennifer turned her face slowly to look at Justin.  “Be quiet, little boy…don’t make me hurt you,” she threatened.

“Yeah, right, like you could hurt someone who’s almost an entire foot taller than you,” Justin challenged.

“Don’t push me, little boy,” Jennifer retorted.  “A well-placed knee can do wonders.”  With this, Justin cringed while JC, Lance, Joey, and Chris laughed.

“Yo, you know I was just playing, right?”  No answer.  “Jen?”  Still no answer.  “Right?” Justin asked pleadingly.

“Like I said, don’t push me.  So, are you guys hungry or anything?  I can fix you breakfast or…” Jennifer checked the wall clock, “lunch…”

Joey answered as they started filing out of the bedroom.  “We can go out so you don’t have to cook.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay.  Actually, Kathy usually gets back from class just before lunch, so let’s wait until she gets here.  If she can come, then we’ll decide.”

Just as Jennifer spoke those words, Kathy rushed into the house, despite being tired from her class.  Jennifer heard the door slam and walked into the living room.

“Let me guess,” Jennifer started.  “Midterm didn’t go well?”

“Girl, let’s not go there right now.  I just want to forget about it.”

“Oh, I’m sure you did just fine.”

“Well, you didn’t see the exam!”

Jennifer grinned.  Kathy always griped about her midterms, but then when she got them back, she found out she did well.

“So, what’d you think of your ‘surprise visitor’?”  Kathy asked with a smile.

“Scared me half to death at first, but it was awesome!”  Jennifer dropped onto the couch next to Kathy.  “They’re in the kitchen now, looking for snacks.  It’s a good thing we had gone shopping yesterday.”

“No kidding!” Kathy agreed.  “Five grown men who are hungry?  Don’t stand in front of the refrigerator!”  Both girls laughed as the guys walked in from the kitchen.  Kathy was immediately bombarded with hugs, greetings, and questions.

“Hey, Kathy!”  “How ya been?”  “How did your midterm go?”  “Was it hard?”  “I’m sure you did just fine on your exam.”  Kathy stood to receive hugs and kisses on her cheeks from the guys.

“It’s nice to see y’all, too,” Kathy said.  She then turned to Jennifer and asked, “So, do we have plans for lunch yet?”

“Well,” Jennifer began, “I can either cook, which I don’t mind, or we could go out, right, guys?”  She looked around and saw five male heads nodding.

“Oh, we definitely have to go out,” Kathy said.  “The doctor who pumped my stomach last time was a hottie, but…” As she trailed off, everyone began laughing at Jennifer.

“Oh, very funny, Kathy.”

“I thought so.”

“Stop it.”  Everyone laughed harder.  “Okay, what do I have to do to make y’all stop laughing?”

“Well…” Suddenly, everyone started throwing out suggestions.  “Give me a new car!”  “How about some new clothes?”  “I could use a housekeeper…”  “I know what you could give JC to make him stop laughing!”  Chris made this last comment.  JC leaned over and playfully, but firmly, punched Chris’s shoulder.

“OW!”  Chris cried out.  “Jen, would you please control your boyfriend?  He’s getting violent!”

The laughter continued as Jennifer made her way over to JC and sat in his lap.  “He wouldn’t get violent if you wouldn’t make comments like that last one,” she explained.

“Whatever.  I had an opening, and I took it!”  Everyone began talking as the phone rang.  Kathy stood to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Kathy, it’s Derrick.”

Kathy shushed everyone so she could hear him better.  “Hi, Derrick!  Where are you now?”

“I’m about to leave my hotel in New York.”

“Oh, yeah, you had that meeting up there, didn’t you?” Kathy remembered Derrick talking about going up to New York for a meeting for Trans-Con, where he was an intern.

“Who is it?” Jennifer whispered to Kathy.

“It’s Derrick,” Kathy mouthed.  “So when will you get back?” she asked him.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe later on this evening.  I’m supposed to leave right after the meeting ends.”

“You want us to pick you up?”

“If you don’t mind…”

“Sure, it’s no problem,” Kathy offered.  A movement caught her eye.  Everyone was signaling her to hurry up because they were all getting hungry.  “Derrick, sorry I have to cut you off, but JC and the guys are here, and we haven’t eaten lunch yet.”

“Are you going out?  I hope so, because I know you don’t want Jennifer to cook again!”

Kathy burst out laughing.  “We are definitely going out!”  Kathy turned to Jennifer.  “He said not to let you cook.”

“Great,” Jennifer muttered.  “Now I get made fun of over the phone.”  JC kissed her temple to make her feel better.  She leaned her head on his shoulder and waited for Kathy to finish the phone call.

“Well, Kathy, I’ll let you guys go.  Tell everyone I said hi, and I’ll see them soon,” Derrick ended.

“Okay, see you tonight!”  After exchanging some details about when to meet him at the airport, Kathy and Derrick hung up, and she turned to the rest of the people in the room.  “That was Derrick.”

“You mean your friend, Derrick, who works at Trans-Con?” Lance asked.

“Yeah,” Kathy answered.  “So anyway, he was about to go to his meeting, and since he’s coming back after the meeting ends, he asked if we could pick him up at the airport.”

“Sure.  What time?”  Jennifer wanted to know.

“About 6:30.”

“Well, we can pick him up, then have a late dinner,” Justin suggested.

“That’ll work,” Jennifer thought out loud.

Kathy turned to pick up her backpack and jacket.  “Okay, let me just drop these things upstairs and then we can go.”  As she walked away, everyone else got up from various places around the living room.

“Let’s wait for her outside,” Joey suggested.  “It’s actually pretty nice today!”

Joey, Justin, Lance, and Chris walked out the front door into the sunshine.  Jennifer was about to get up and follow them, but JC held her still in his lap.  “We’ll be there in a minute,” he yelled to the others.

“Okay.”

JC held Jennifer close, nuzzling her ear.  “I’ve missed you so much.  I can’t believe how long we were apart.”

Jennifer turned to look directly into JC’s eyes.  “We’re together now, aren’t we?” she declared with a smile on her lips.

JC slid his hand to cup the back of her neck.  “Yeah.”  They leaned towards each other slowly, then kissed.  Jennifer’s arms wound their way over JC’s shoulders, and her fingers linked behind his head.  His arm worked its way around her waist.  They sat there, kissing each other, as Kathy came back downstairs.  She sighed at the scene she saw before her in the living room.

“How romantic,” she breathed.  Neither JC nor Jennifer heard her, so she walked outside to hang out with Justin, Lance, Chris, and Joey.

“Hey,” she said, sitting down on the grass with them.

“Where’s Jen and JC?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, they were right behind us,” Lance added.

“Oh, they’re having a moment for themselves,” Kathy told them.

“Well, we’re hungry!  Can’t they take their moment later?” Joey complained.

“Come on, guys, give them a break.  They haven’t seen each other in so long.  Let’s give them a couple of minutes,” Chris said.  Everyone looked at him in surprise.  “What?  So I have a sensitive side.”

“Thanks, Chris.  So now explain why you were making all those remarks earlier.”  Kathy and the guys turned to the voice at the doorway.  JC and Jennifer had been standing there, listening to the conversation outside.  JC waited for Chris’s answer.

“Hey, I’m the crazy one, right?  I have a reputation to protect!”

Jennifer grinned.  “He’s right, JC.  Heaven forbid he show everyone how sensitive he is.”

Chris looked embarrassed.  “Can we go eat now?” he pleaded.

“Sure,” Jennifer answered.  “Kathy, do you mind driving?”

“No problem.  JC will obviously ride with you, and Joey, you go with them and keep an eye on them.”  Kathy smiled innocently as Jennifer shot her a look.  “Justin, Lance, and Chris can ride with me.”

“Where are we going?” asked JC.

Everyone thought for a moment before Jennifer spoke up.  “Well, what do y’all want?”

“Pizza!”  “Pasta!”  “Chicken!”  Before everyone got out of hand, Kathy interrupted.

“Why don’t we go to the new place downtown?  It’s a buffet thing, so everyone can get what they want.”  They agreed and piled into the cars.  Jennifer and Kathy talked quickly before they got in themselves.

“Should I just follow you?” Jennifer asked.

“Sure.”

“Oh, by the way, thanks for that little remark you made earlier.  I don’t need someone to keep an eye on us, thank you.”

“Sure you don’t,” Kathy replied with a smirk.  “I saw you two on the couch inside.”

“You what?”

“Oh, don’t get upset, I came downstairs and had to pass the living room to get outside.  JC’s a great guy.”

“Thanks.”

“Will you ladies please stop talking so we can go?” Justin had rolled down his window and yelled to the pair.

“Chill, little boy,” Jennifer teased.  “Gee, someone gets cranky if they’re not fed on time.”  Jennifer and Kathy laughed as they got in their cars and drove off.