“Hey he’s home! How was your night man?” Joey asked not looking up from the game he and Lance were playing.

JC had left Liz’s house around a half hour ago, but it took a while to get home because of the fact he just sat out in his car for 10mins reviewing what had just happened. He was still a little in a wonder.

“It was, uh.. fine” JC managed to get out, taking a seat next to Justin who was flipping through a comic book on the couch.

“You okay man?” Justin asked, noticing JC’s unusual behavior. “Did something happen over there?”

“Well um.. sorta, I think”

“What’d you do?” Lance asked pausing the game to look over at JC

“You didn’t start sobbing to her about your relationship problems did you?” Chris asked walking into the room with eating from a bag of potato chips. All five friends were now gathered together.

“No. It’s not that”

“Then what was it?” Joey asked

“We kissed” JC said softly

Chris started choking on his snack while the rest of them looked at him with wide eyes.

“Wait, wait, wait. Come again?” Justin said

“Who kissed who?” Lance asked eagerly

“Wait you kissed Emma and Liz?!” Joey said excitedly. “Man, you’re an animal now”

Chris was still choking

“Don’t kill yourself there buddy” JC said looking at Chris and then looked at his friends.

“I kissed her”

“How?!” Chris asked, recovering.

“I don’t know!” JC said, standing up and pacing, running his hands through his hair. “Emma wasn’t there so it was just us. We were watching Titanic, and the room was a little dark and she was falling asleep , so I said I should go. I bent down to put on my shoes and somehow we bumped heads. I just remember I ended up kissing her. And well, Emma walked in on us and I just left” He stopped pacing and sat back down. “She has amazing eyes” he said softly.

The four friends exchanged uneasy glances.

“You’re falling for her, aren’t you C?” Justin said

“Wait, what?!” JC said. “No I’m not. It was just, a ‘caught up in the moment’ thing. It didn’t mean anything. A meaningless kiss. Yea that’s what it was”

“Are you sure that’s all it was to her? A meaningless kiss?” Lance spoke up, causing all their minds to wander.

“Well yea. I mean, it was, wasn’t it?”

His friends didn’t look convinced.

“You kissed her C” Joey said. “There’s got to be a reason you did that”

“Plus, you just said to yourself that she has amazing eyes” Lance pointed out.

“You’re falling” Justin said

“And you’re falling hard” Chris finished.

JC groaned and covered his face with the pillow that was behind him. “She’s my friend!”

“Yea.. For now” Justin chuckled.

“Wake up and smell reality JC” Chris teased. “You like her.”

Liz lay in her bed, looking up at the white ceiling. Tossing and turning, not being able to get JC out of her freakin mind. A half hour ago, she was having trouble keeping her eyelids from falling, and now, she had trouble just staying still. She couldn’t get past the feeling she remembered of JC’s warm lips, softly pressing against hers.

“Snap out of it!” She told herself.

 They were friends. Good friends, a kiss didn’t mean anything, Maybe he was just going to kiss her on the cheek as a goodbye kiss and-

Oh, who was she kidding? She enjoyed it. He leaned in for the kiss and she didn’t pull away. She couldn’t deny the millions of bolts of electricity that shot through her when they made contact. She couldn’t run away from the fact that every time his name popped up in her mind, her heart started beating at an irregular pace.

She groaned and turned on her side, burying her face in her pillow and yelled into it, her voice muffled. “What is going on with me?!”

“You just got bitten by the Josh Chasez love bug sweetheart, or should I say you just played tonsil hockey with the Josh Chasez love bug?” Emma said, appearing in the doorway with a smirk.

Liz raised her head out of her pillow and sat up on the bed, cross-legged and frowned. “We’re friends though”

“Yea that’s what they all say” Emma replied taking a seat next to her on the bed. “Lizzie you like him don’t you?”

“He’s nice and we get along well and-”

“Just answer the question!”

Liz sighed. “I don’t know the answer to that question Em. I haven’t been able to even look at another guy in a romantic way since Connor. And even if I did like him, he wouldn’t feel the same way. That kiss was just.. I don’t know what that was but-”

“Just call him Lizzie. Talk about it, or things are gonna get weird. You guys say you’re just friends, but I for one can see the attraction. But it’s not my life.” She said getting up. “Just clear the air and call him. If all you want is friendship, get the kiss out of the way”

Liz knew Emma was right. She didn’t want things to become weird all of a sudden between her and JC. “Fine I’ll call him” Liz mumbled

“Good girl” Emma said leaving.

Liz sighed as she picked up the phone and dialed JC’s number reluctantly.

She almost chickened out after she heard the first ring, but before she could hang up, she heard his voice.

“Hello?” pause “Hellloo?” JC kept saying

Liz cleared her throat. “Hey, it’s uh, me”

“Lizzie, hey! Look, um, I was gonna call but I didn’t know if I should. Look, that kiss, I just, I don’t know-”

“Yea that’s what I wanted to talk about too”

“Yea, I just, I don’t know what came over me. Maybe it was the romantic setting of the movie or we were both a little tired, but, I’m sorry for making this weird between us.” He sighed.

Liz could just picture him running his hands nervously through his hair, making her smile a little.

JC continued. “I just don’t want it to affect our friendship or anything. Us being a couple-”

Liz froze. “Wait, who said anything about being a couple Josh?”

JC realized he had said ‘couple’.  “Oh um, I uh”

“Do we even like each other like that Josh?” she asked softly

“I don’t know Lizzie” he sighed. “I don’t know if it’s because of my break up I’m acting weird. It probably is, and I’m sorry for saying ‘couple’, I have no idea where that came from”

Liz softly  giggled nervously. “You need to breathe Josh. How about we just forget the kiss happened, and go about our usual lives.”

JC relaxed. “Yea, that’s good. Friends right?”

“You know it” Liz said, smiling to herself. “Have a good night Josh”

“Sweet dreams Liz”

And they hung up.

“Well, that’s taken care of” Liz thought

Although they had supposedly clarified things between them, Liz couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed the kiss didn’t mean anything, and she didn’t know how to make sense of the feeling. She and JC were obviously better off being friends. A relationship would just complicate things more, so she decided to push away her feelings toward him, actually considering she had feelings for him.

If only she knew he felt the same...

“L & E Planning Productions, how can I help you?” She answered, while sifting through the papers in the manila folders in front of her”

The person on the other line cleared his throat. “Ahem, yes, I uh would like to know if you’ve ever planned an album release party before?”

Liz’s eyes bulged open and a grin spread across her face. “Josh!” she almost yelled, happily

He chuckled. “Lizzie!” he mocked, causing her to laugh. They both sounded like a couple of teenagers. “Watcha doing?”

“I’m at work smarts, you called the office phone.” She giggled

“Oh yea, right”

 “What’s going on? What’s this about an abum release party?”

JC got excited all over again. “Guess what band is releasing their debut album for the first time in the US on April 24th of this year?” he said excitedly

Liz gasped. “The Backstreet Boys?!” she asked, holding in a laugh

“Mood killer” JC grumbled, joking

Liz laughed. “Josh, I’m sooo psyched for you guys!!” she squealed. “So the full album’s done? When do I get to hear it?”

“Yea, it’s pretty much done. You get to hear it, when it’s released for the rest of America to hear”

“Nice to know I’m special” she said sarcastically

“Anyways, our final session is tomorrow, just to make sure the tracks are smooth or whatever. Me and the guys are gonna be hanging out at our place after, soo..” he said, with anticipation

“What time Joshua?” she said laughing

“So you’re coming! Great! It’s at 4… Chris is probably gonna make a barbeque and we’ll chill around the pool, just hang out. Hey, bring Emma too, if you like!”

Liz sighed, with a smile. “Pool huh? In the mid April? Yea sure, count us in! Need me to bring anything special?” she asked

“Just yourself, and well, a change of clothes or whatever you need. It’s just gonna be the five of us, plus you and Emma.”

“Well, isn’t any of your family coming? Friends from around here?”

“Nah, we wanted to fly in some of ‘em from back home, but they said they’d rather come out when the album is actually out, plus it’s a little past the beginning of the year, so they’re busy. And the only friends we have here right now, are our management crew, and well, Lou and Johnny, but they won’t be there”

“Well alright then Chasez, you got yourself two more guests on your hands!”

“Awesome! Hey uh, Lizzie?”

“Yea?”

“It was really good talking to you again, I mean we talk over email all the time but it’s nice to hear a familiar voice”

“You too Josh. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Tomorrow it is! You know how to get to our place?”

“Email me the directions”

“Okay cool. See you tomorrow Lizzie”

“Man this is soo cool!!” Justin screamed, jumping up and down, holding the clear case.

Their album was finally done and was ready to hit stores in just a couple of weeks, but the members of NSYNC already had their special copies in their hands to see how it was gonna look in stores.

“I can’t believe my face is on the cover of an actual record” JC said softly, staring at the case in awe.

“This is for real?” Lance said, sounding more like a statement than a question.

“It’s real boys. Congratulations! If people here respond to it, you’re looking at you’re first official tour” Johnny said, coming up behind JC and Lance, putting each of his hands on one of their shoulders.

“A tour?!” Chris and Justin yelled, at the same time

“Man, so this is what it feels like when all the sacrifices you’ve made finally pays off” Joey remarked

“Guess so” Johnny said. “So you guys happy with it?”

“Hell yea!” they said altogether

Johnny chuckled. “Good, you worked hard. Now, go home and chill out while you can. Once the record comes out, you’re gonna be doing heavy promotion trying to get noticed.”

“Why can’t we start heavy promoting now?” Chris questioned

“Well, you’re pretty popular in Europe guys, but in America, the most we can really do right now is get your song on the radio, which by the way, I’m working on” He winked. “And I got a couple interviews arranged for you guys but nothing major yet. We’re still working it out. But Disney booked the Backstreet Boys for a special so we’re making some calls to see if they’ll take a chance on you, and we have a good shot with JC and J’s connections”

“Man if we do a special on the Disney channel, do you know how huge that’ll be? Millions of people watch Disney, we could get a lot more fans”

“Hey you’re not completely invisible here guys, you got a pretty solid fan base” Johnny reminded them, but the boys’ excitement lessened. “Hey what are you still doing here? Get out and go home! Chill out for a while!” he chuckled, ushering them out of the studio office.

“Hey uh, Johnny” JC stopped him. “Do you have any of the extra records back there?”

“Yea we got a few more, but I wouldn’t advise you to give them to anyone C. The album isn’t even supposed to be out yet, it could get leaked”

“Yea I know, I know. But this is for a real good friend of mine, I wanna surprise her with it”

“Okay C, but only since you trust her. I’ll be back in a sec” he said turning back to go into the office.

JC smiled, thankful. “Thanks Johnny! I owe you one!”

“I think this is the one” Emma said, pulling into the driveway of the very large, but flat house.”

“Yea this is it alright. It’s got the NSYNC flame on the mailbox” Liz giggled

Before they could even ring the doorbell, the door flew open, Chris standing in the frame.

“Hey Chris!” Liz exclaimed!

“Lizzie!” he said pulling her in for a brief hug, then going in to hug Emma. “I saw you guys pull up. Glad you guys could come over. We need some sanity around here” He said stepping to the side, allowing the two friends entry then shutting the door.

“Where’re the guys?” Emma questioned

“Out by the pool. Lance is helping Joey set up the grill, and Justin and JC are probably playing b-ball out on the court.” He explained.

“I’m gonna go get JC and Justin” Liz said, giving Chris the pie. “We made this for you guys, old recipe I had.”

“This is great! Now I don’t have to worry about Joey eating out all the food. I’ll have to hide this one” he then turned back to Emma. “C’mon Em, let’s go out back by the pool.”

“Sure thing Chris” she said smiling.

Liz giggled watching Chris try to be a gentleman, linking arms with Emma while they both disappeared past the corner and into the kitchen leading to the backyard.

She went back out front and circled half the house until she was standing on smooth black ground, and he could hear the familiar voices.

“He shoots, and he scores! Another one for Justin!” Justin said happily, catching the ball as it fell through the nets, then dribbling it between his legs while JC tried to steal it. Neither of them noticed she was there yet, so she decided to make an appearance.

“I’m getting a rematch Timberlake” JC said, trying to steal the ball, Justin still dribbling. He did a trick and turned around, fake passing the ball and then turned back to run past JC to score another basket. He had barely ran past 3feet when a figure ran past him, grabbing the ball from his hands and jumping to shoot for the basket.

“She shoots, and she scores!” Liz said proudly catching the ball as it fell. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her air and balanced the ball between her arm and her hip. “Hey guys” she flashed them a smile.

Justin was stunned, as was JC, but a smile replaced their expressions.

“Lizzie!” JC said happily, running to hug her.

Liz dropped the ball and went in for the hug. So what if he was covered in sweat and smelled of it too, she was just happy to see him in person again.

“It’s so great to see you!” JC said, hugging her tightly, slightly lifting her off the ground.

“You too Josh!” she said, still hugging him.

“Hey, I want a hug too you know!” Justin said, trying to sound annoyed

Liz laughed and hugged him around the waist. “Nice to see ya J”

“You too Liz. Damn, you kick butt at basketball!”

“I played for fun all through high school and some college” Liz said proudly

“Awesome! You’re my newest opponent. Come play with me!” Justin urged her, bouncing the ball.

She laughed but before she could accept his offer, Joey appeared, calling out to them. “We got the grill started! Time to get this party started!” He did a funny little dance when saying the last sentence, causing JC, Justin and Liz to burst out laughing.

“C’mon let’s go. I need a dip in the pool now anyways.” JC said walking beside Liz.

“Careful I don’t throw you in the pool” Liz warned them both

“Not if I throw you in first!” Justin said running off, leaving behind JC and Liz

Laughing, she and JC kept walking. “Thanks for inviting me over Josh, I’m already having alot of fun. I don’t see how you guys are ever bored around each other”

“We aren’t” JC laughed

They approached the backyard, and could already smell the smoke coming from the grill Joey was working on a few feet away from the circled, 7ft deep pool, whose waters glistened in the light of the afternoon sun. Justin and Chris were already in, urging Emma, who was having a conversation with Lance, sitting on one of the white lawn chairs they had, to come in.

She unconsciously smiled to herself, absorbing the picture perfect setting.

“You alright?” JC asked with a light laugh

Snapping out of her daze, she realized she had been smiling like a fool, physically for no apparent reason. “Oh, yea” she said, smiling at him.

“C’mon” he said, tugging on her arm.

“Lance!” she said walking up to him, and high-fiving him, he pulling her in for a hug. When they let go, she called out to Joey, who was angrily muttering to himself, trying put the steaks on the grill.

“Hey Joe!” she called out, waving

He broke into a smile. “Hey Lizzie!”

“You okay there?”

“Yea I’m oka- Shit!” he burned himself. “C, some help over here please!” he called out to JC.

“Coming Joe” he called out to his friend. He then turned to Liz and Emma. “Hey , you guys could go change inside, so we could go in the pool. The bathroom is down the hall, 2nd door on the left. My room’s the 5th door on the right, if you wanna keep your stuff in there.”

“Yea, okay.” Emma said getting up. “Let’s go Liz”

“Okay, yea. Then we can help out Chris in there” she said nodding to the pool, where Chris who looked like he was drowning Justin, whose head was being scrubbed by Chris’ hands. Chris let go and Justin started heaving for oxygen.

“Well, there goes another technique we can’t use to get the bleach outta your hair”

“Was the aim of that technique ‘try to kill me?!’” Justin yelled

The friends giggled.

“We’ll be back” be back Liz said giggling, taking Emma with her into the house.

“JC!” Joey yelled out

“C’mon, let’s go help Joey” Lance said patting JC’s back, the two of them walking over quickly to Joey and the smoking grill.

“Jeez Joe,” JC said, looking down at the burnt, overcooked pieces of meat on the grill.

“This is why Joey eats the steaks! Not make them” Lance said.

“Just go throw these out” JC said, placing the meat on a plate of foil.

“And let me and JC handle this. By the time you’re done practicing your grilling skills on this thing, we’ll have no more food” Lance

“Whatever!” Joey said taking the plate and grumbling as he walked away. “I never do nothing!” he said

JC and Lance rolled their eyes as Joey went to throw away the food.

“So,” Lance said, placing another piece of meat to cook. “Enjoying yourself so far?” he said winking

“She just got here 10mins ago!” JC said, exasperated.

Lance laughed.

“Just cook your fancy meat” JC mumbled.

Joey returned, and he and JC chatted while watching Lance, who was trying to show them how simple it was to cook a simple piece of meat, but they ignored him, engaging in their own conversation. That is, until they heard Justin’s voice.

“Hey Liz! Think you coul-” he stopped himself. “Woah” he and Chris stood up in the pool, staring.

JC, Joey and Lance turned to look at what had suddenly drawn the boys’ attention, and what had stopped Justin mid-sentence.

All of their eyes looked like bulged out of their heads. Walking out of the house, past the see through sliding door, came two long legged brunettes, both in bikinis. The one who came out second, especially caught JC’s eye.

 She wore a dark, blue bikini top that lifted her B-cup breasts, tied around the neck and around her mid back, which contrasted perfectly with her light but perfectly tanned skin. She wore a matching bottom piece, but could only be seen since the strings at the sides that were poking out from the very short, dark denim jean shorts she wore. Her perfectly toned body showed off her tight stomach, and toned arms and legs. This girl stayed in shape! She had fairly wide hips, which made her sexy curve visible and wore her shoulder length hair down. She flashed Justin an innocent smile.

Emma wore basically the same, but with a fuchsia pink bikini, with no shorts. She had her short hair up in a messy, but attractive clip, and was just as toned as Liz, but in a smaller frame.

“Woah” Joey said.  JC was still staring.

“Hey Jace, you dropped something”

“What?” he whispered, never once taking his eyes away from the beauty in front of him.

“Your jaw!”

JC’s gaze remained focus but was quickly came out of his shocked state when he suddenly felt a burning sensation on his palm.

“What the…” he realized his arms had dropped to his side, and his right palm was resting on top of the fired grill. “Ahh! Shit!!!!” he yelled, grabbing everyone’s attention.

Liz ran up to him, Chris and Justin exchanging dirty looks, and staring after her. Their attention kept shifting, they didn’t know whether to stare at Liz’s behind, or Emma’s front.

“You okay Josh?” she asked with concern

“Yea, fine.” He muttered, blowing on his hand. “Just got um, got distracted.”

Lance and Joey stifled their laughs, but failed, so they tried to cover them up with coughs. Another fail. JC glared at them.

Liz took JC’s hurt hand, and blew on it, sending shivers up and down his spine. He felt himself get a little hard.

“Thanks” JC said

“C’mon. Let’s go in the pool, the water’ll cool off the burn.” She led him away from the grill and next to the edge of the pool. “C’mon, take your shirt off”

JC did as he was told, and lifted his sleeveless basketball shirt over his head and let it fall to the floor. Liz could swear she felt her knees get a little weak, when she saw his exposed torso. Her eyes travelled from the sweat that glistened off his broad shoulders, past his muscled, tanned arms, and down the trail of hair, formed between his abs and disappearing under his pants.

“Nice” Liz said under her breath, not expecting JC to hear her.

“You too” he winked. He watched as a rose color formed at her jaw, and spread behind her ears, and over her cheek bones.

Emma had already joined Justin and Chris, and was killing herself with friendly laughter as the two friends competed against each other, hitting her with lame pick-up lines.

“Was that an earthquake or did u just rock my world?”

“I hope there's a fireman around, cause you're smokin'!”

“I hope you know CPR, because you take my breath away.”

And so they went, to Emma’s amusement. JC and Lizzie laughed as they both sat down on the steps under the water. Liz reach up to tie her hair, but JC brought her arm back down. “No, it looks great down”

There was that rose color again.

“Uhh, c’mon, let’s take a dip” she said standing, stepping down deeper into the water.

JC smiled and stepped up. He ran around the pool and jumped in the middle, his excess water from the jump splashing Liz.

“Hey!”she laughed, when he came up for air, his face and hair soaked. “I’ll get you back you know!”

“Oh yea, how?” he asked

Liz pinched her nose and disappeared under the water. JC stood in confusion, that is, until he sharply inhaled before he felt something drag him down from underneath. Now they were both under the deep water, they laughing silently at each other. Then Liz felt JC’s arms wrap around her waist, bringing her in for an underwater hug. When they both surfaced, the first thing they’re eyes laid it’s sight on was the sparkle in the other’s eyes. JC’s hands were still around her, and as his fingers slowly dragged against her skin to part ways, the familiar feeling they both had that night they kissed rushed back into both their systems. It was electric.. It was scary..