JC stared up at the ceiling fan, lying flat on his back, his fingers of each hand interlocked, resting behind his head. He lay awake, alone in the darkness. He couldn’t sleep, he hadn’t been able to for a few days, which was odd because he was the NSYNC member who always had an absurd amount of energy, then crashed to no awake. He sighed.  They had gotten home from the club hours ago and when,  JC had headed straight for his bed. And had been lying there for almost 3hrs now, letting his mind wander.

He felt a tear stroll down his cheek, and he didn’t bother to wipe it away. He just let it fall.

 He squeezed his eyes shut as another tear fell from his eyes. God this hurt! How could the one woman he ever loved with everything he had , hurt him like she did? They had known each other since he was on the Mickey Mouse Club.

They fell in love or atleast JC had, and he had planned for the two of them to spend the rest of their lives together. He had gotten the ring, had arrangements at the fancy restaurant she loved so much, bought the roses and even convinced the head chef to make the special blueberry cheesecake she loved so much using her grandmother’s recipe. He had gone the whole nine yards. But that obviously wasn’t good enough for her. Here they were, the two of them, holding hands over the candle lit table, taking in the atmosphere.

 The waiter had just brought out the cheesecake, a special note JC had written on white cardboard was resting at the side of it. JC kept the ring box clenched in his fist resting on his thigh. She was all smiles, when the waiter left the plate in front of her. She opened and read the note first.                                         

Allie,

Thank you for 4 of the best years of my life. You are the reason I am able to get out of bed every morning and smile, you’re the reason  I am the happiest man in the world right now, you’re my everything, andI love you so much!

WILL YOU MARRY ME?

She looked up at JC, who was holding a box with a diamond wedding band resting between the cushions.

“Oh Jace” She she said breathlessly.

JC stared into her hazel eyes and saw something he had never seen in them before. Hesitancy.

Ignoring it, JC kept his gaze.

“Well?” he offered

“I don’t know Jace” she murmured, her eyes locked on the diamonds.

AND THAT’S WHEN THE SHIT HIT THE FAN

JC’s body went numb, he felt paralyzed by what he had just heard. He felt his throat close up, and his lungs refused to accept any oxygen.

“Wha- What? I just- Huh? Wait, what?” He felt tongue-tied.She reached for his hand but he pulled away.

“JC I-” she began but he cut her off.

“You don’t want to marry me?” JC choked out

“I’ve found someone else Jace” Allison said so quietly, it was practically a whisper.

JC felt like he needed to pass out but somehow he kept it together. He cleared his throat and rested the box on table.

“You tell me this now?” he said calmly, and Allison didn’t know whether or not he was talking to her or himself. “You’re telling me the past 4 years we spent together was just a waste? A lie?”

“I’m sorry JC.”

“How long has this been going on?” JC demanded“10 months” she said looking down into her lap

“I can’t believe you!” his voice still soft. “You led me on, for 10 months, letting me think you loved me for all that time”

“It wasn’t all my fault JC! When all this NSYNC shit started, I only got to see you a couple times a week! Not to mention when you went away to Germany for a whole year! I wasn’t going to wait around forever you know!”

Her words hit JC like a ton of bricks. He took the box from the table and shoved it into his pocket. By now, both he and Allison were on the verge of tears.

“I thought you supported what I was doing in this group” he said softly, almost to himself.  

“JC can we ju-” she started but he stopped her and got up from the table.

“Bye Allison. Have a nice life with whatever the fuck his name is. Stay. Away. From. Me.”

And those were his last words to her. She never called him, he didn’t e-mail her, nothing. She made it clear she had moved on. Hell, she had moved on 10months ago and apparently he had only been along for the ride!

By the time he got home that night, his friends were all waiting up for him in the living room, all 4 of them wearing happy faces, ready to congratulate him. But by the time they had seen the look on his face, they knew. They knew the JC using, money wasting, manipulative, little bitch had left her mark on his heart. The only way that they had found out what Allison did to JC was when the four of them had their ears pressed up against JC’s door while he was talking to his parents. If he hadn’t been so exhausted from all the crying the night it all went down, he would have probably done something he might have regretted in the future.

JC wiped his tears, turned over on his side and stared at the red numbers blinking on his clock. It read 4:33 AM. The one day he could get to sleep in, and he couldn’t fall asleep for all the tea in China!

He decided to go out into the living room and watch some TV until sleep could consume him. And it had, 1 hour later, in the middle of his Family Matters re-runs.

By the time JC got up, it was almost 1 in the afternoon. He woke to the sound of Justin’s voice screaming “Chris put me down!!” They were obviously playing by the pool. JC smiled a little and rubbed his eyes. He stepped out the sliding door and stood in the frame watching his friends play.

“Hey look who’s up” Joey yelled

JC smiled.

“How’re feeling C?” Lance asked. He sat on the white lawn chair a few feet away from JC.

“A little better actually” JC replied

“Any particular reason you’re actually acting sane today instead of wanting to scream at the whole world?”

“I just.. I don’t want to be sad anymore” JC said quietly. “I hate what Allison did to me. But I can’t let it affect me forever, you know?”

Lance nodded, then turned back to Justin, Chris and Joey who were playing in the pool and little kids in a sandbox.

“Hey guys!” he called out to them. “I win! Y’all owe me 45 bucks!”

“No way!!” Chris yelled! “You mean he’s normal again?!”

“Yep!” Lance replied happily.

“Hold up! You mean you guys were taking bets based on my misery?!”

“Yea, pretty much” Justin said as he came out of the pool.

“Damn, I was more than 5 weeks off” Chris said

.. And so the 4 NSYNC members continued for the next few moments.

JC tried to look offended but he didn’t pull it off. He knew his friends cared, and right now, friends were all he had. Instead he just turned to his friends and simply said “Thanks guys” before making his way back into the house and headed for his room.

He didn’t have anything to do for the next couple days, so he picked up his phone and created a message.

Hey, uh.. it’s Josh.

Remember me? From the club last night??

He waited patiently for the person to reply. He didn’t have to wait long though!

Hey Josh! What’s going on?

Nothing really. I’m free today. Wanna head out to the movies later?

The movies? LOL Sure why not,. What time?

JC chuckled. He felt like a teenager again, texting a girl he was too scared to talk to, to ask her out on a date.

How about in a couple hours? The multiplex a couple blocks away from Universal?

Sounds great! Meet ya there! See ya then ‘friend’

See you soon!

JC threw his phone down on the bed, grabbed his towel and made his way up to the bathroom.

“I hope Joey flushed this time” he murmured, chuckling to himself.

“Where are you going? I thought we were gonna have a gaming marathon today! You and me against Chris, Joey and Lance” Justin said leaning against JC’s bedroom door.

“Sorry bro. No can do today, I’m out” JC said looking at himself in the mirror, running his hands through his hair, multiple time trying to get a ‘look’ he was satisfied with.

“What’s taking you so long?” Lance and Chris asked walking up to Justin, then turning to stop, peering into JC’s room.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Chris asked

“He’s going out apparently” Justin explained

Chris let out a loud, sarcastic laugh. “HA! Out? As in you’re going out, by yourself?”

JC turned to look at them. “I’m with you guys 24/7. So what if I’m going out without you. And no, I won’t be by myself”

He turned to his dresser and picked up his wallet, keys, and cell phone.

“Well, if you’re not going with us, then who’re you going with? You don’t exactly know anyone here well enough to hang out alone with them” Lance said

“Hey!” JC said, slightly on the defensive side. “I do have other friends besides you guys”

Justin snorted.“I do! Remember my friend at the club I met last night”

“Wait the girl at the bar?” Lance questioned

JC nodded. ”I asked her to go see a movie with me”

“What are you?! 15?! You’re a grown man and you ask a chick out to the movies with you?!” Chris exclaimed

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with watching a movie”

“Dude you don’t even know her!”

“True, but I need some time away from you guys. And you just said it yourself, I need to make some more friends in this place”

“Fine” Chris said, allowing JC to move past them, leaving his room and making his way up to the door. “Enjoy your date!”

 “It’s not a date Chris!” JC called out before leaving the house.

JC sat on the bench outside the theater, head down, focusing on his current task. How to keep the ring from his key chain that held his keys to swirl around his finger for more than 25secs without it slipping off. He hadn’t had much success.

“Shit!” he muttered when the ring slipped off and landed at his feet.He was about to bend down to pick it up when a pair of tanned, slender and smooth waxed legs appeared in front of him. He watched as they bent at the knees and rose back up.

“I think these are yours Josh” a voice said, giggling

JC looked up and realized who it was and blushed.

“Thanks” he said, taking the jingling key chain. “Wow Liz you look great!” he was referring to the pinkish-yellowish sundress she wore that cut just above the knees. She added a small, short sleeved black jacket to the outfit and her hair was in a pony tail at the side, so it was over her left shoulder. Something about her was so cute!

“Thank you!” she smiled. “You decide what movie you wanna see yet?”

“Actually I waiting for you to decide, I didn’t want to pick something you wouldn’t like” JC smiled shyly

“Well c’mon! Let’s go see what this place has to offer” She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the lit up “Now Showing” board that was on display.

“Let’s see “ She said. “A Bug’s Life?”

JC chuckled. “I don’t like movies about jumbo, talking ants. What about Lethal Weapon?”

She scrunched up her nose. “Too much action”

“There is no such thing as too much action hunny” JC remarked.

Did he just,.. Never mind.

“Well what are we gonna do if we can’t decide on a movie?”

“Well it’s almost 5” JC said. “We can have a really late lunch or a really early dinner. It’ll give us the chance to know each other a little better. You know, so the next time I invite you to a movie I’ll know what you do and don’t like”

“Well..”

“My treat. C’mon we’re friends now. I like being able to hang out with my friends”

Liz smiled. “Okay sure. Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. You like Thai food?”

“Not really” Liz said. “Italian?”

“Not in the mood. How about Chinese?” JC asked

“Finally! Something we agree on!” Liz laughed.

“C’mon let’s go”

“So, what do you do?” JC asked.

They had gotten to a small Chinese restaurant and had finished placed their orders. Time for a little ‘getting to know you’ time.

“I do event planning. Weddings, parties, that sorta thing”

“Hey man that’s cool!”

“Thanks, I enjoy it. Pays the bills, you know?”

“Yea, I know.”

They both sipped on their cokes for a few moments.

“You know,” Liz started. “You never got around to telling me why you were so down at the club. We got time now. Talk”

“Oh that well, there’s nothing really to tell. Long story short, I proposed to my girlfriend on almost 4 years, she turned me down, turns out she was screwing some guy for almost a year, and my friends brought me out to cheer me up”

“Ouch” Liz murmured. “I’m sorry, how are you doing?”

JC sighed, but managed a smile. “I’m getting there. It’s not easy but, I can’t wallow in misery forever”

“Yea I know what you mean”

“You do?”

“Sorta”

“Wanna talk?”

Liz looked up. “Oh, no it was a long time ago”

“So what? A heartbreak is a heartbreak no matter the time difference. Either way, I know it hurts. So talk to me”

“Well, when I moved here, I met my first real boyfriend my freshman year of college. Man we were such love birds” Liz smiled at the memory.

“What happened to him?” JC asked gently

“He died”

JC froze. “Wh-What?”

She sighed. “A couple months after I graduated and me, my best friend Emma actually opened up our own business with some help from my dad. We all went out to celebrate one night, me, Em, my parents and I brought along Connor, my boyfriend. On our way up to the restaurant, a drunk came speeding past a red light and there you have it. He crashed us and we never made it to the restaurant.”

She took a deep breath.

 “My parents died on impact, and Connor died a few hours later at the hospital. I was still unconscious at the time, as was Emma, so I never go to see him. Last thing I remember from it all was the sound of a car tyre screeching and my dad yelling, and the next thing I knew, I woke up with a broken arm, neck brace, a cracked rib, no parents and no Connor. Emma woke up a few hours after me”

Tears had formed in her eyes by now, and the waitress, all perky and happy and shit decided to come serve them. Liz thanked her but JC’s eyes remained focused, sympathetically, on her eyes.

He completely ignored the food in front of him.

And he thought he had, had it bad? Well he did, but compared to this, he didn’t know what to say.

“Liz I had no idea. How long ago was it?” he asked softly

“About a year and a half ago. I had a full recovery, don’t worry. So did Em. After the whole accident, I moved in with her and well, we just kinda leaned on each other. We didn’t really have anyone else”

She noticed JC still staring at her, his eyes focused on hers. He just wanted to reach out and give her a hug. He had lost his appetite by now.

“C’mon Josh it’s fine now. Like you said, it’s still hard but you gotta deal with it, you know? C’mon, eat!” She grinned. “If you don’t have that chicken, I will!” she joked.

JC gave a smile and started on his food.

They spent the rest of their meal playing ‘What’s your favorite?”

Now knowing what they had learnt about each other, they were a lot more open and comfortable in each other’s presence.

**

 “Thanks for this Josh, paying and everything, was really nice of you” Liz said as they exited the food place.

“It was all my pleasure. Anything for a friend” JC grinned and Liz giggled.

“Well it was great. Also, um.. Thanks again for, you know, listening to about all the stuff that happened with me. It was nice to open up to someone.”

“It was the same for me Liz so, thank you.”

She smiled

“If you ever wanna talk, you know I’m here.” JC said

She went in to give him a hug. “Same here Josh”