The ride to the airport was an adventure in itself.  As Jennifer drove, the guys sang along with the radio, making up their own versions of the songs.  Jennifer could not remember the last time she ever had so much fun.  With a glance in the rearview mirror, she noticed Kathy and Lance talking intently.  Somehow, they managed to get seats next to each other.  She grinned as JC looked over at her.  “Having fun?” he asked, happy to see her smile after what had happened that afternoon.

“You know I am,” she quickly looked over and grinned.

JC lowered his voice.  “Did you notice Kathy and Lance?”  Jennifer had told JC everything she knew in a hushed, hurried conversation before they left the house.

“Yeah, aren’t they cute together?”

“Definitely.  You think they’re going to get together?”

“Well, if they don’t do it themselves, I’ll do it for them!”

JC gave Jennifer a wary look.  “You’re not going to interfere, are you?”

Jennifer just smiled innocently in response.

“Jennifer,” JC warned.

“What?  They’ll get together eventually; I just want to help them along!  Can you blame me for wanting two of my friends to be happy?”

“Well,” JC began.

“Please don’t say anything, I really want them to work,” Jennifer begged.

JC sighed.  “Okay.  They’d be good for each other.”

“Thanks.”  Jennifer stopped at a red light, reached over to pull JC close, and kissed him.

Moans and groans came from the backseats.  “Oh, please.”  “Come on.”  “My eyes!  My eyes!  PDA!  PDA!”  Chris didn’t say anything; he threw something at JC’s head instead.

“What was that?” JC asked, looking around.

Jennifer glanced downward, saw the item in question, and burst out laughing.  “Oh, my goodness!”  She reached down, grabbed it quickly, stuffed it in her pocket, and started driving again.  “Chris,” she warned with a nasty look, “we’ll talk about this later.”

Chris flashed her a cheesy grin and continued talking with the guys.

JC looked at Jennifer questioningly.  “What was it?  Let me see it.”  Jennifer just looked back at him and shook her head.

The incident was forgotten for the moment because Justin and Chris had begun a heated debate over who was the funnier character on South Park – Kenny or Cartman.  Joey had the unfortunate luck of sitting between the two of them.

“No way, man,” Justin argued, “Kenny is a lot funnier than Cartman!”

“Wrong, dude,” Chris said.  “If Kenny was funny, they wouldn’t keep killing him off!  ‘Beefcake…BEEFCAKE!’”  He imitated Cartman’s voice perfectly.

“Ha! The only reason Cartman is funny is because he’s fat, and everyone makes fun of him!  Kenny is definitely funnier, right, Joey?”  Justin looked expectantly at his friend.

Hesitantly, Joey answered.  “Yeah, he’s funny.”  Justin grinned as Chris elbowed Joey.  “On the other hand,” Joey said, rubbing his arm where Chris hit him, “Cartman’s pretty funny, too.”  This time, Chris grinned as Justin shot Joey a dirty look.

Kathy laughed at the situation in front of her.  “Poor Joey, being stuck in the middle.”

“Huh?  Oh, yeah.”  Lance was just looking at Kathy, thinking of ways to get her to notice him.  Little did he know she did notice him, she just didn’t think she could look at him without blushing.

“So, who do you think is funniest on South Park?” Kathy asked, looking at Lance through the corner of her eye.

“Um, I like all of them.  They’re all pretty funny.”  Oh, my goodness, Lance thought to himself, I can’t believe I said something so lame.  She probably thinks I’m a dork.  “What about you?”

“Oh, I don’t really watch it that often, but Mr. Garrison’s pretty funny, with that Mr. Hat thing.”  ‘That Mr. Hat thing’?  Oh my gosh, Kathy groaned inwardly, I can’t believe I said that.  He probably thinks I’m totally clueless.

They remained quiet for a few minutes, not knowing what to say to the other.  Lance looked out the window as Kathy examined her nails.  Suddenly, Lance turned to look at her.  “Kathy?”

“Yes?”  She replied, looking back at him, hoping he would ask her out.

Feeling too embarrassed to ask her out so soon, he muttered, “Uh, nothing.”  Lance closed his eyes, feeling like he missed his opportunity.  Kathy looked out the opposite window, disappointed that nothing came out of that moment.  They remained quiet for the rest of the drive, only thinking about how each could get the other to make the first move.

The group finally reached the airport.  Jennifer pulled the van into a parking space and said, “Okay, everyone out!”  They piled out of the van and stretched.

“So, what’s Derrick’s flight number?” Joey asked.

“Oh, I’ve got it,” Kathy replied, digging into the pocket of her purse.  “Um, it’s somewhere here.”  She fumbled through the rest of her purse, looking for the information.  “Hmm…maybe it’s in my…” She dug her hands into both pockets of her jeans.  “Jen?  Did I tell you his flight stuff when I wrote it down?”

“Uh, let me think…hmm…no,” Jennifer moaned, digging through her own purse and pockets.

The guys started to laugh at the pair.  “You two are too much!” Justin teased.

“Shut up, little boy.”  Frustrated, Jennifer shot a warning glance at the young man.

“Oh!”  Kathy triumphantly held up an incredibly small piece of paper.  “It’s Delta Airlines, flight 587, arriving at 6:25 pm.”

Lance squinted at the paper.  “How did you manage to write on that?”

“Hey, I used what was there,” Kathy answered, shrugging her shoulders.

“Well, let’s go then,” JC suggested, offering his arm to Jennifer.

“Thank you, kind sir, I appreciate it.”  Smiling, she took his arm, and they walked off, leaving the others to follow.

**

Inside, they checked the schedule to find the number of the gate Derrick’s flight was to arrive at, and then proceeded to the Delta terminal.  They were about twenty minutes early, so they sat down to wait.

“Okay, y’all, Derrick will probably be hesitant to go out tonight, so can we hang out at home?” Kathy asked the group.

Everyone agreed.  “I think we’re all in the mood to spend a quiet night at home,” JC said.  He then leaned over to whisper in Jennifer’s ear.  “And we can have a nice, quiet first evening together.”  Jennifer beamed at him, and they kissed.

“Oh, Lord.  Is there any place you two won’t kiss?” Joey asked disgustedly.

JC and Jennifer looked into each other’s eyes.  “No,” they admitted simultaneously and kissed again.

Kathy, Justin, Lance, Joey, and Chris groaned loudly.  “We’re in a public place,” Justin reminded them.  “Can’t you two keep it in check for more than five minutes?  I mean, shoot, people might be watching!”

“No kidding,” Chris added.  “You two should get a room!”

Jennifer slowly turned her head to look at Chris.  “You obviously think we should,” she accused him.

Everyone looked at Jennifer questioningly.  “What are you talking about?” Lance asked her.

She looked back at JC.  “Do you remember when Chris threw something at you in the van?” she asked, reaching into her pocket and closing her fingers around the item that hit JC’s head earlier.

“Yeah,” he replied warily.

She took her closed fist out of her pocket.  She glanced at Chris, who was grinning wickedly.  She then looked around at the rest of the group.  “Do y’all want to see?” she asked them.

“Yeah,” they answered.

“Okay, I don’t want a lot of people to see, so can everyone come in a little closer?”

Everyone complied, except Chris, who stood over everyone, still grinning.  Jennifer opened her fist slowly, revealing what Chris had thrown at JC.  Kathy, Justin, Lance, and Joey began laughing loudly.  JC’s eyes widened in shock.

“WHAT?”  JC jumped up, staring coldly at Chris.  “Why did you throw that?”

“I figured you could use it later, when the rest of us go to sleep…and you and Jennifer…well, you know.”

“Hey, Chris,” Jennifer interjected before JC could say another word.  “The date on this condom is two years old…guess someone was hoping for a ‘lil sumpin sumpin’ for quite some time, eh?”  Chris blushed as everyone laughed.  “Where did you keep this?  In your wallet?”

“Shut up, Jen,” Chris muttered and sat down.  Jennifer just laughed, happy to have gotten back at Chris for the potentially embarrassing moment, at least for her and JC.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” a voice drifted out of a nearby loudspeaker.  “Flight 587 from New York has just arrived.  Passengers will be exiting the plane shortly.  Thank you.”

Jennifer, Kathy, and the guys stood, looking toward the door where Derrick would be exiting into the terminal.  JC stepped behind Jennifer and wrapped his arms around her.  She leaned back on him, and he planted a kiss on her hair.  Kathy noticed their intimate moment out of the corner of her eye.  How romantic, she thought.  I wish that could be Lance and me.  She sighed quietly and looked back toward the door.

“Hey, there he is!” Joey announced.  Everyone looked and saw Derrick coming through the door, looking tired.  Derrick saw the group waving at him and made his way to them.

“Hi, Derrick!”  “How are you, man?”  “How was New York?”  “You look tired…long day?”  “So how was the meeting?”  The group bombarded Derrick with greetings and questions.

“Nice to see y’all, too.”  Derrick smiled and took a deep breath.  “To answer your questions in order, I’m tired…New York was cool, but I didn’t get to see much…yes, I did have a long day…and the meeting was long and tedious.  We talked about ‘N Sync’s plans for the summer.”  With this comment, his smile disappeared.

“Well?”  JC, Justin, Lance, Joey, and Chris looked at Derrick expectantly.  “What happened?”

“There’s good news and bad news.”

“Well, let’s hear the bad news first,” JC said.

“Okay.”  Everyone sat to wait for Derrick’s news.  “The heads of Trans-Con want you guys to go on a six-month tour of Europe.”

Everyone began talking at once.  “Are you kidding me?”  “That’s insane!”  “But we just finished our U.S. tour!”  “I’m not leaving Jennifer, not this soon.”  JC embraced Jennifer as he made this last comment.  She laid her head on his shoulder, not wanting him to let go.

“Wait, wait,” Kathy, the voice of reason, broke through the other voices and asked, “what’s the good news, Derrick?”

“Well, I had to wheel and deal for this, but if you guys do a quick, six-week tour of the West Coast, from August first to September fifteenth, you can have the summer off until then,” Derrick told them, his grin coming back strong.

“YES!”  The group jumped up and enveloped Derrick in a huge group hug.

“We owe you big!” Joey stated happily.

“You’re the best!” Chris said.

“You da bomb, man!” Justin complimented.

“You definitely deserve an award for swinging that deal!” Lance declared.  Now I can spend the summer with Kathy, he thought, grinning to himself.

JC would have complimented Derrick, but he was too busy kissing Jennifer enthusiastically.  Jennifer smiled against his lips, then pulling away from JC momentarily, she murmured, “Thanks Derrick.”

Derrick looked over at the pair kissing.  “Hmm…have they been like this the entire time they’ve been together?”

“YES!”  Kathy, Justin, Lance, Joey, and Chris affirmed loudly.

“We can’t pry them apart at times,” Justin added.

“Ever think of turning a hose on them?” Derrick suggested.

Before anyone could answer, JC and Jennifer pulled away from each other and turned to the group.  “Don’t even think about it,” JC threatened, looking accusingly at Joey.

“What?  It was only a small water gun!” Joey defended himself.

“Sure, a small water gun with a lot of water!” Jennifer said.

“I’m sure it’s an amusing story,” Derrick interjected, “but I just want to spend a nice night relaxing with my friends.  Can we go?”

“Sure,” Kathy replied.

The group walked to the baggage claim area, got Derrick’s suitcase, and headed back to the van.  While walking through the airport, JC and Jennifer had been whispering to each other.  Everyone noticed this, and they thought something was going on.  JC and Jennifer had something planned.  Jennifer was going to pretend she was too tired to drive, therefore getting someone else to drive.  Then, she and JC were going to grab the backseat for themselves.

When they reached the van, Jennifer sighed loudly.  “I don’t think I want to drive now.  I’m kinda tired,” she said.

“That’s okay, Jen, I’ll drive,” Kathy volunteered, “but one thing.  Guys?”  It turned out Kathy, Justin, Lance, Joey, and Chris had something of their own planned.  They thought it was time Jennifer and JC should have been separated; even though they were happy Jennifer and JC were happy together, they didn’t think they could take much more of their public displays of affection.  So, Lance grabbed JC’s arm and hauled him into the backseat.  Derrick sat next to Lance, and Justin, Joey, and Chris piled into the middle bench seat.  Jennifer was then forced to sit in the front passenger seat.  Neither JC nor Jennifer were happy about this, but, after a while, they understood why the others did it.

They soon left the airport and were on the road home.  In the front seat, Jennifer turned to look back at JC, who had a wounded-puppy look on his face.  Jennifer blew him a kiss and then turned to Kathy.  “I can’t believe you did this!  I mean, I can understand why you would do it, but I still can’t believe you would do this.”

“Chill, Jen, I need to talk to you, and this was the best way for me to talk to you alone,” Kathy explained.

“You need to talk with me alone?  I don’t think that’s possible, not with eight people in a van,” Jennifer replied sarcastically.

“Come on, Jen…it’s about Lance,” Kathy admitted.

“Oh, really?”  Jennifer’s interest immediately rose.  “What about Lance?”

Kathy spoke quietly.  “I don’t think Lance likes me the way I like him.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, he seems…kinda…indifferent.”  Kathy shrugged her shoulders and kept her eyes on the road ahead of her.

“Indifferent?  Meaning what?”  Jennifer wanted to know.

“Well, he talks to me, but it doesn’t seem like he really wants to get to know me.  I think he’s just talking to me because I’m there.”

“Well, he is kinda shy, remember?”

“Yeah, but…”

“Just give him some time, Kathy,” Jennifer advised, “and keep talking to him.  The more you get to know each other, the better friends you’ll become.”

“But I don’t want to be just a friend.”

“Some of the closest couples start out as friends; look at JC and me.  We were friends before we got together, and look at us now.”

“Yeah, you guys can’t keep your hands off each other,” Kathy said.

“I mean besides that.  We tell each other everything, we know when the other is happy or sad, we can comfort each other, things like that.  Isn’t that what you want out of a relationship?”

“Well, yeah.”

“You want that with Lance, right?”

“Of course I do!  It’s Lance!”

“Well, then get to be friends first.  If nothing, you two will become really good friends.  You really have nothing to lose,” Jennifer reasoned.

“Hmm…maybe you’re right,” Kathy admitted.

“Only time will tell.”

**

Meanwhile, Lance had tapped JC’s arm, interrupting JC’s staring at Jennifer.  “Hey, JC…Earth to JC…come in, JC…”

JC slowly turned to look at Lance.  “You know, I’m gonna get y’all for this,” he threatened.

“Yeah, later,” Lance said distractedly.  “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Oh, yeah?”  JC temporarily forgot his anger.  “What’s that?”

“Well, I wanted to talk to you alone, but this is the best I can do for right now.”

“Alone?  Yeah, right,” JC replied sarcastically.  “Not with eight people in a van.”

“Come on, JC…it’s about Kathy,” Lance admitted.

“Oh, yeah?”  JC’s interest was piqued.  “What about Kathy?”

Lance spoke quietly.  “I don’t think Kathy likes me the way I like her.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, she seems…kinda…indifferent.”  Lance looked down at his hands, his fingers linked tightly.

“What do you mean by indifferent?”  JC wanted to know.

“Well, we talk, but not about anything in particular.  It doesn’t seem like she really wants to get to know me.  Sometimes I think she’s just talking to me because I’m there.”

“Well, she is kinda cautious about relationships, you know.  Jennifer mentioned something about a bad relationship she had a while back.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Just give her some time, Lance,” JC advised, “and keep talking to her.  The more you get to know each other, the better friends you’ll become.”

“What if I want to be more than friends?”

“Some of the closest couples start out as friends; look at Jennifer and me.  We were friends before we got together, and look at us now.”

“Yeah, you guys seem pretty happy,” Lance said.

“Well, sure.  We tell each other everything, we know when the other is happy or sad, we can comfort each other, things like that.  Isn’t that what you want out of a relationship?”

“Of course.”

“You want that with Kathy, right?”

“I couldn’t imagine it with anyone else!”

“Well, then get to be friends first.  If nothing, you’ll gain a friend.  You really have nothing to lose,” JC reasoned.

“Hmm…maybe you’re right,” Lance admitted.

“Only time will tell.”

Both Lance and Kathy were left alone to ponder their friends’ advice as they drove home.