Kathy, Justin, Lance, and Chris were sitting in the restaurant, waiting for the others.  The four had gotten there ten minutes earlier.

Kathy looked out the window, searching for Jennifer’s car.  “I wonder where they are,” she thought aloud.  “I could have sworn they were right behind us.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Lance sympathized.

“Hey, look!” Justin exclaimed, pointing.  “There they are!”

From inside, the four watched as Jennifer, JC, and Joey got out of her car.  Joey had a big smile on his face, while the other two, whose clothes seemed a little damp to the others, looked disgusted with him.

“I wonder what happened,” said Justin.

Jennifer walked quickly to their table, ready to apologize for being late, but Kathy cut her off by asking, “What the hell happened to you?  I thought you were right behind me!”

“We were behind you,” Jennifer began, then threw a murderous glance at Joey, who sent back a devilish grin, “until we stopped at a red light.  Remember?  The one you were able to get through?”

“Yeah, well?”  Everyone waited for an explanation.

“Well, Joey…” Jennifer began, but then Joey jumped in.

“I was chillin’ in the backseat, since JC had to sit in front, and then we stopped at the light.  Now, I was watching for the light to turn green, but then I saw Jen and JC leaning towards each other, like they were going to kiss each other or something.  So, since y’all told me to keep an eye on them, I took out my little water gun from my pocket and shot ‘em.  You know, to cool them off.”  At this point, everyone was laughing except for Jennifer and JC, who still looked upset.

“Now my car seats are all wet,” Jennifer complained.

“Well, if the two of you had held on to your hormones for a little while, this wouldn’t have happened!” Joey exclaimed.

“I was just going to kiss her cheek, not jump her!” JC stated.

“Well, how was I supposed to know?” Joey asked.

“Give me some credit, Joey!  I would never jump her, period!  And if I did that kind of thing, which I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t do it while she was driving a freakin’ car!” JC argued, raising his voice.  Hearing him, a few nearby diners turned to check out the uproar.  JC immediately quieted down, looking embarrassed.

“Honey, it’s okay,” Jennifer comforted JC.  “Joey was doing what everyone asked him to do.”  She shot a dirty look at the four sitting at the table.  “It’s over now.  By the way, Joey, you’re going to have to dry the seats in the car so they don’t smell.  Consider it an apology to me for ruining one of my good shirts.”

“Sorry, Jen,” Joey apologized, head hanging low.

“It’s okay, just promise me you’ll ride in the other car on the way home.”

Joey grinned.  He knew he would be forgiven.  “So, are we ready to eat?”

“Yes!” Justin cried.  “You guys took forever!  I thought I would never get to eat!”

“Well, thanks for being a gentleman and waiting so patiently,” Jennifer replied sarcastically.

They all walked to the buffet.  Jennifer and Kathy, who were light eaters, came back to the table first.  Taking advantage of their solitude, Kathy nudged Jennifer and whispered, “Hey, I need to ask you something.”

“Oh, yeah?  What’s that?”

“I need to ask you about Lance.”

“Ask me what about him?” Jennifer was watching the large amounts of food the guys were piling on their plates.  “Goodness, how can they eat so much?”

“Jen, will you please listen?”

“Oh, sorry.  You wanted to ask about Lance?”

“Yeah, I wanted to know…” Kathy trailed off as the guys returned to the table.

“So, what were you talking about?” JC asked as he took a seat next to Jennifer.

“Oh, nothing.”  Jennifer leaned in for a kiss.

“Please, can’t you two stop for more than one minute?  We’re trying to eat here!” Justin implored.

“Shut up,” Jennifer and JC said simultaneously.  Light laughter flowed as everyone began to eat.

Kathy paused to look at everyone around the table.  Joey and Chris were telling each other stupid jokes, trying to top each other.  Oh, brother, she groaned inwardly.  And to think, they’re both in their twenties.  She continued looking around the table.  Jennifer and JC were feeding each other little tidbits of food and gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes.  Kathy sighed quietly.  I wish I could have something like that, she thought.  Her eyes then fell on Lance.  I wish I could have something like that with him.

Jennifer looked over at Kathy, noticing the direction of Kathy’s gaze.  Watching her for a little bit, Jennifer wondered if Kathy knew how long she had been looking at Lance.  Jennifer nudged her friend.  “Kathy?” she asked quietly.

“Huh?  Oh.  Yeah?”

“Hey, come with me to the bathroom.  I need to dry my shirt a little more.”  I also want to ask you about Lance, Jennifer thought to herself.

“Okay.”

They walked into the bathroom.  As soon as the door shut, Jennifer turned to Kathy and asked, “Okay, I know you wanted to ask me something earlier about Lance, and I noticed just now that you were watching him pretty intensely.  What’s up?”

“You noticed something other than JC?” Kathy said sarcastically.

“Come on, Kathy, what were you going to ask me earlier?  It has to have something to do with the way you were looking at Lance out there.”

“Okay, here’s the deal.  I guess…well, lately…I’ve been thinking about Lance in a…different way,” Kathy began hesitantly.

“Go on.” Jennifer watched her intently.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I find Lance attractive now,” Kathy admitted, looking down.

“But before…well, you never mentioned anything about him before.”  Confused, Jennifer tried to sort everything out.

“I know.”  Kathy exhaled loudly.  “But in one of their videos, you know, ‘Tearin’ Up My Heart’, he had this smile,” she explained dreamily, “and you know how I am about a really cute smile.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jennifer smiled at her friend.  She knew exactly what Kathy was talking about.  “So what did you want to ask me earlier?  It sounds like you’ve got things figured out, more or less.”

“Well, maybe a couple of things.  One, do you know if he has…anyone in his life now?  Two, do you think he could think of me the way I think of him?”

“Well, from what JC and I have talked about, Lance hasn’t been interested in anything but the group lately,” Jennifer paused when Kathy raised her head, “and I don’t see why he wouldn’t think of you the way you think of him.  Granted, I don’t know for sure, but I could ask him…”

“NO!” Kathy cried out, then remembered where she was.  “I mean, no, please don’t ask him.  I want to figure out how I really feel about him first.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Then promise me you’ll talk to me first before you do anything?”

“You know I will.  You’re my connection to the group.  Well, you’re my connection to JC, who’s your connection to the group,” Kathy caught herself rambling and grinned sheepishly.  “You know what I mean.”

“Sure.”  Jennifer grinned back.  “Come on, the guys might be wondering what happened to us.”  Exchanging smiles, the pair walked back to the table.  They returned to find the guys still eating.

“Oh, my goodness!  We were gone for how long, and y’all are still eating?”  Jennifer asked incredulously.

“We’re almost done, right, guys?” JC asked the others.  They nodded, mouths full.  Both Jennifer and Kathy shook their heads, wondering how they could pack it away.  They sat down, not wanting to watch five guys stuff their faces.  Ten minutes later, all seven of them were having dessert.

“So, what should we do after this?” Jennifer asked.

“Oh, man, let’s just hang out.  I’m in the mood to watch a couple of movies and take a nap before we pick up Derrick at the airport,” Joey said.

“Should we just go back to the house?” Kathy suggested.

“Yeah, we can do stuff back there.  Peace and quiet, no screaming fans,” Lance said.

“No kidding,” Justin agreed.

“I thought you liked all the screaming fans,” Jennifer teased.

“They’re okay, but night after night…” he trailed off.  “It gets tiring.”

“Yeah, as if Chris isn’t enough to handle already,” JC joked.

“Hey!  I resemble that remark!” Chris said, grinning widely.  “At least I’m not like those teenyboppers who scream for Justin to take his clothes off!”

“They do not!” Justin argued as everyone laughed and stood to leave.  Jennifer and Kathy went to pay the bill.  They then left the restaurant and stood outside, figuring out who rode with whom.

“Okay,” Kathy began.  “JC is obviously riding with Jen, and Joey is now banned from her car.”

“Actually,” Lance interrupted, “I need to talk to Jen about something.”  He turned to Jennifer.  “Is it okay if I ride with you?”

“It depends.  Empty your pockets.”

“Why?”

“I’m checking for firearms, water or otherwise.  Empty your pockets.”

Lance laughed lightly as he complied.  Jennifer noticed Kathy’s smile at Lance’s laugh.

“Okay, you’re clean.”

“I should be, I took a shower this morning.”

“Oh, great, your jokes are almost as bad as Chris’s.”  Jennifer slanted a grin at Chris as the others laughed.

“Hey!” Chris interjected.

“You have to admit, your jokes are bad at times,” JC said, chuckling.

“So anyway, sure, Lance, you can ride with me.  Kathy, I’ll follow you again.  Let’s go.”  Kathy looked at Jennifer as they got in their cars, and Jennifer shrugged.

As they turned from the parking lot onto the main street, Jennifer glanced in her rearview mirror.  “So, Lance, what’s up?”

“Well, first, both you and JC have to promise you won’t say anything about this.”

“I promise,” Jennifer said.  “JC?”

“I promise I won’t say anything, Lance, as long as you let me kiss my girlfriend at red lights.”

“Deal.”

JC grinned at Jennifer.  She smiled back.  “Okay, so what’s the deal?  Got a problem?  Need some help?  The doctor is in,” she said jokingly.

Lance took a deep breath.  “It’s about Kathy.”

“What about Kathy?”

“Um…” Lance hesitated.

“Just say it, man, it’s just us,” JC prompted.

“Is Kathy…uh…seeing someone?” Lance asked.

Jennifer smiled slightly before answering.  “Seeing someone meaning what?” she prodded.

“You know, seeing someone.”

“Hmm,” Jennifer paused, pretending to think about it in order to get Lance to reveal more.  “May I ask why you’re interested in knowing something like that?”

Lance blushed.  “Oh, it’s…uh…well…” he stuttered.

“Lance?” JC looked back to see if his friend was okay.  “Spill it, man.”

Lance took another deep breath and decided to just let it all out.  “I think I’m attracted to her.”

Jennifer raised an eyebrow in the rearview mirror as she slowed the car to a stop.  “How do you know…” She was interrupted by JC pulling her face close and kissing her.

“Red light,” he said with a grin.  She placed a hand on his cheek and beamed at him.

“Uh,” Lance struggled to keep a straight face.  “Jen?  The light’s green now.”

“Oh.  Thanks.”

“So, can I continue?” Lance asked with a small grin.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Thanks.  So anyway, I think I’m attracted to her.”

“How do you know?” JC asked.

“Well, I mean, at first we were just friends, right?  But now, when I saw her today for the first time in a while, I just thought, ‘Wow, she looks good.’  I mean, I had never thought about her like that before, but now,” Lance paused to gather his thoughts, “now, I don’t know, I find her attractive.  I want to learn about her.  I want to know how things are going for her.  I just want to be around her.”

“Well, maybe you should try talking to her.  Get to know her better.”  Jennifer had to fight to not give her secret away.

“Really?  You think so?”

“Of course.  I mean, if anything, you two will get to be really good friends, and then maybe later on, something will come out of it.  Seriously, what have you got to lose?”

“You know, Jen, you’re right.  Why didn’t I think of that before?” Lance wondered aloud.

“Because if you did, there would be no reason for me to be here,” Jennifer answered.

“Yeah, there would,” JC interjected, “what about me?”

“Just kidding, sweetie.”  Jennifer reached over to squeeze JC’s hand.  “So, Lance, I think you should just talk to her.  Maybe when we get home, you can spend a little time together, maybe hang out in the backyard and talk for a while.”

“Yeah, maybe I will,” Lance replied absentmindedly.  He stared out the window, thinking about what he would say to Kathy.

JC looked back at Lance, then glanced at Jennifer’s profile.  “You know something, don’t you?” he asked quietly, so Lance wouldn’t hear.

“We’ll talk when we get home,” Jennifer answered mysteriously.  JC gave her one last look, then shook his head.  They sat in silence the rest of the way home.