Chapter Fourteen
(Wednesday, December 31st - New Year’s Eve)
Justin closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he surveyed his living room, full of his friends and their girlfriends, all well on their way to being drunk. He wasn’t so innocent himself - he could feel that the five Crown and Cokes he had consumed were working on dulling his senses - but he had forgotten how annoying his friends could get when they were drunk. Lance had been on the couch all evening with Marki, they had started with small kisses, but now that several hours had gone by, they were heavily making out. JC had disappeared with Amber somewhere - Justin only hoped it wasn’t his own bedroom. Chris and Bridget had practically been undressing each other with their eyes all evening, while Shannon and Joey were snuggled up together in an armchair, their heads together as they whispered and giggled. Justin looked longingly across the room at Meaghan, who was nursing her cranberry and vodka, her blue eyes troubled. Something was bothering her and he wasn’t quite sure what it was, but not from trying. Every time he tried to get her to open up to him she would shut down, insisting it was nothing.
“Hey guys! It’s almost midnight!” Chris jumped up and down, his energy knowing no bounds.
The group looked at the clock and turned up the volume on the television as Dick Clark began the final countdown. “10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1! Happy New Year!” Everyone cried out, and each sought out their significant other to have their first kiss of the New Year. Joey and Shannon kissed passionately, and Justin then tugged on Shannon’s arm, and pulled her into a hug.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” Justin whispered in her ear.
“I’m happy to do it,” Shannon smiled, hugging him close. She was a bit surprised when Justin pulled her into a more private corner of the room, a serious look on his face.
“Can I ask you something?” Justin asked.
“Anything - what’s the matter, J?” Shannon had never seen Justin look this upset.
“Did … is … is Meaghan mad at me for something?” Justin blurted out and chewed on his lip thoughtfully.
I don’t know … did something happen?” Shannon wondered. “I thought you two were great.”
“It’s not that something happened … it’s just that she’s been really distant the last few days. It’s nothing I can put my finger on, but just this weird feeling I’ve been getting.” Justin sighed.
“I’m sure everything is fine, Just. We’ve been working really hard on finishing up the costumes for the tour; she’s probably just tired. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.” Shannon touched his cheek and he hugged her tightly.
“Thank you, Shannon. You’ve been such a great friend to me.” Justin smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
“Well, thank you!” Shannon laughed at the unexpected gesture.
Meaghan looked around the room for Justin as the countdown to the New Year ended. Although she had her suspicions and she wasn’t too happy about his closeness with Shannon, she had decided to try and give them both the benefit of the doubt. She had discussed the phone call between them with Amber, who reminded Meaghan about the surprise she knew Justin was planning. So Meaghan waited for the surprise, thinking it would happen at Christmas. Although Justin gave her a gorgeous platinum necklace set with a solitaire diamond and many other gifts, there was no big surprise. Again, Amber reminded her that New Year’s was right around the corner. So she waited, and thus far no surprise had happened. Meaghan’s eyes scanned the darkened room for her boyfriend, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw Justin in a dark corner, his arms around Shannon as he kissed her on the neck.
“Oh, fuck this shit,” Meaghan seethed, and stomped off to the kitchen to make another drink - a strong one.
Bridget wondered where Chris had gone; he had left her side earlier to get another drink, and had never returned. She sighed and got up from the couch, deciding it was time to find him and go to bed. Stumbling a little, she looked at her watch and realized it was nearing 2 a.m. Bridget wandered into the kitchen where Joey and JC were seeing how quickly they could down shots of Jagermeister.
“Hey, have you guys seen Chris?” Bridget asked patiently, as they were both quite drunk.
“Uh … who’s Chris?” Joey giggled.
“Chris … he’s the short, funny one!” JC hiccupped, laughing. “’Member? He’s crrrraaaaaaaazzy!”
“Oh yeah! Chris!” Joey snickered, pouring himself another shot.
“Come on, guys! Try to be sober for a few minutes!” Bridget snapped, frustrated. “Where did Chris go?”
“Okay … um … oh yeah! Chris took Shannon upstairs ‘cuz she had too much alcohol,” Joey said seriously.
“Okay, thanks!” Bridget walked away, muttering under her breath, “Shannon had too much alcohol?”
Bridget made her way upstairs, cautiously opening the first bedroom door she came to - only to see her boyfriend sleeping peacefully - with Shannon in his arms. The jealousy she had been feeling for months all came to a head, as she walked down the hallway, all Bridget could see was red. I can’t believe him! Or her … who does she think she is …
Seething, Bridget noticed a dim light at the end of the hall and went toward it. Justin stood looking out the balcony doors, wearing only his black dress pants, no shirt. God, he’s gorgeous, Bridget thought, reflecting that it was a shame she had gone for Chris instead of Justin. She could see the well-defined muscles of his back in the half-light, and her hand reached out to touch his flesh, her sudden intake of air made him turn around quickly, his blue eyes clouded with the effects of too much alcohol.
“Meaghan! There you are … I’ve been wondering where you went, baby.” Justin moved towards Bridget, who made no effort to correct him. He took her in his arms and kissed her deeply.
********
It was now well past 4 a.m., and it seemed that everyone had gone to bed or passed out. Meaghan had tried to drown her sorrows in vodka, but she just couldn’t seem to get herself into enough of a drunken stupor to ease the pain. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of Justin. She loved him so much, it was hard to believe that it had happened in such a short amount of time, but somewhere in the past two months she had fallen in love with Justin Timberlake. She found it hard to believe that he and Shannon were cheating on Joey and her with each other.
Maybe you were seeing things that weren’t there, a tiny voice in her head answered her unspoken question. Had she been seeing things that weren’t there? Was everything that she had seen or heard between Justin and Shannon innocent? Amber had said Justin was planning a big surprise, who else would Justin turn to for help than Shannon - her best friend and roommate.
“I’m so stupid!” Meaghan muttered to herself, getting up to find Justin. She passed the living room where the remnants of the party lay scattered about; Joey snoring on one couch, JC sprawled out on the other.
“Joey,” Meaghan nudged him awake. “Where’s Shannon?”
“Huh? Wha …?” Joey slowly came to life, raising sleepy hazel eyes to Meaghan.
“Where’s Shannon … and why aren’t you with her?” Meaghan questioned.
“She’s asleep in one of the bedrooms, I think she had too much to drink. Chris was in there talking to her, and I guess I just fell asleep here. What’s wrong?” Joey looked worried; he saw the tearstains on her face.
“I’m just an idiot, and I need to find Justin and Shannon … which room is Shannon in?” Meaghan asked.
“Uh … I think she’s in the one at the top of the stairs,” Joey replied and yawned loudly.
“Thanks, Joe. Go back to sleep.” Meaghan smiled, and headed for the stairs. She opened the first bedroom door when no one answered her knock, surprised to see Shannon asleep on the bed, curled up in Chris’s arms. Meaghan knew Chris had a thing for Shannon, the whole group knew it … except for Shannon, who was always oblivious to guys liking her. Meaghan was sure that Shannon had simply fallen asleep after drinking too much - and she was equally sure that Chris had decided to take advantage of the situation. Closing the door quietly behind her, Meaghan headed down the hall towards Justin’s bedroom.
