Their lips parted, and their faces were a mere 4cm away from each other. They stared into each other’s eyes, almost as if their faces were glass and they were looking straight through. JC placed his hand flat across the side of her face, and pulled her in, kissing her softly on the opposite cheek.
“W-What’re we doing Josh?” she asked shakily.
“I don’t know” he whispered into her ear. “But it feels right”
He pulled away and they both took a small step back, eyes still locked on the others’, trying to make sense of the situation. Liz felt her knees go weak, and she had to put her hands flat on the counter behind her, to maintain balance.
She stared into his deep blue eyes, and the outline of the lips that had just worked its magic on her.
“God, I can’t do this” she said to herself, looking down. She then glanced back up at him and broke out in a speed walk. “I gotta go”
JC was stunned. He started following her. “Lizzie, wait!”
She didn’t stop, and they ended up in the living room. “Where’re you going? You live half a mile away from here” he pointed out, when he saw her get her back from the loveseat.
“I’ll walk” she mumbled, not making eye contact.
“What about dinner?”
“I’m not hungry anymore” She headed for the door, but JC got a hold of her arm and stopped her.
“Let me go” she said
“Not until you tell me what’s going on all of a sudden”
“Nothing, I just.. Josh let me go, please” her voice suddenly soft
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
She looked him dead in the face. “I am not your baby” she said through gritted teeth.
His grip loosened, and she pulled away, but her feet remained planted on the floor.
“It was just a kiss” he said quietly, looking past her. “So what?”
She felt her face soften. She was confused. What was wrong with her? A couple minutes ago, her fantasy had become her reality, and now, here she was trying to run away from the guy.
“Josh, we can’t do this. We just can’t”
“Don’t tell me that you didn’t feel it Liz”
“Feel what?” she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. She knew damn well what he was referring to.
“This” he said, going in for the landing, but he was quickly taken aback when her palm made contact with his cheek.
“What the- Hey!”
“I-I’m sorry. Look Josh, I can’t.. I have to go” she sped past him
He turned around, rubbing the side of his face. “Lizzie what’d I-”
His sentence was cut short by the slam of the door.
“What the fuck just happened?” JC muttered to himself, staring at the door.
She walked through the door, closing it softly behind her. She leaned back against it and shut her eyes, breathing heavily.
“God what is wrong with me?” she asked herself out loud.
“Lizzie?” Emma appeared. “What’re you doing here? Didn’t I just drop you off like, over a half hour ago?”
Liz opened her eyes quickly in surprise. “Em! Don’t you have a date?”
Emma shrugged. “He cancelled at the last minute when I drove off.”
“Oh”
“You didn’t answer my question. Why aren’t you over at Josh’s?”
Liz sighed and walked towards the living room, collapsing on the couch. Emma joined her.
“I’m falling Emma”
“For Josh?”
She nodded, frowning. “Tonight, he just.. Well, we kissed. Again!”
Liz gasped and pulled her legs up to position herself cross legged on the couch, facing Liz. “What happened?” she asked eagerly
“We got caught up in the moment. But I couldn’t resist him”
“Wait, you kissed him?!”
“Yes” Liz groaned.
“Wait, how the hell did you get here”
“I panicked and walked over here?” Liz said
Emma gave an exasperated sigh and grabbed her friend by the shoulders and shook her.
“What is wrong with you?! Why’d you leave?!”
“Em, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever felt in my life”
“The kiss, or the walk over here?” she chuckled
“The kiss! God, I don’t even know if I’m gonna be able to face him again”
“You are making way too big a deal outta this”
“I walked out on him after he pleaded for me to stay and talk!”
“You got problems girl”
“You’re not getting it Em! That kiss… It was… Different”
“Different as in… You haven’t had something like it in a long time?”
Liz shook her head slowly.
“Not even with Connor?” Emma questioned, her eyes widening.
Liz looked up at her with soft eyes, and shook her head slowly. “Not even with Connor”
The next evening
“C’mon Lizzie, pick up!” JC said, talking to himself, pacing his room.
He hadn’t tried to call her the night before, fearing that she would tell him off. He had spent the rest of the night, lying on his bed, thinking. He hadn’t even bothered to eat the Chinese he had bought for them the night before.
He hadn’t done anything all day so far, except sleep in and try calling her. Her cell phone was turned off, and he wasn’t getting her on the office line. All he kept getting was the busy signal.
“Shit!” he said, annoyed, flopping down on his back, flat on his bed.
He heard a knock on the door and lifted his head.
“What’d you want Justin?” he asked, resting his head back on the mattress
“What’re you doing in here? We keep hearing you talk to yourself, it’s getting creepy”
“Sorry. It’s just, I’ve been trying to call Liz and she isn’t picking up”
“Is she ignoring you?” Justin inquired
“Probably” JC mumbled. “We kissed again last night, except, this time… It was, wow”
“So what’s the problem man?” Justin asked happily.
“The problem is that she walked out after I tried to get her to talk to me. We didn’t even eat!”
“Dude you got a serious problem with the ladies. They all seem to walk out on you.”
JC threw the pillow beside at Justin, who caught it and threw it back.
“Look man, we have our first record coming out in about 9 days. We don’t have much time left to go out and party.”
“What’re you saying?”
“I’m saying that you need to give Liz a rest, and go party with your friends”
“I’m falling for her Justin.” JC said sitting up. “I can’t get her outta my head”
“Jace, you gotta think of all this from her perspective. Maybe she doesn’t feel the way you do”
“Oh, she does. I’ll bet my ass on that one. I don’t know what her problem is though! She keeps saying she ‘can’t’”
“Then maybe she only wants to stay friends with you JC!”
JC sighed. “Maybe”
“Give it a rest man. Y’all are cute together but if it’s not meant to be, then don’t worry about it. Enjoy being single for now! Liz great, I like her. But just leave her alone for now, and come party with your friends tonight!”
JC looked up at Justin puzzled. “Didn’t you guys just go out and party last night? We have a record coming out, we should be, you know, preparing ourselves and stuff. Relaxing and taking it easy”
Justin stared at JC, his fists clenched. “I don’t know why we keep you in this band. You’re a freakin’ joy kill!”
JC chuckled. “You need my vocal chords, and besides, SYNC sounds a lot better than NSYN.”
“My vocals are just fine compared to yours, thank you very much” Justin mumbled.
JC laughed, knowing he was pushing Justin’s buttons. This was one of the things he liked about Justin being like his younger brother, he could pick on him.
“I know J, I’m just teasing” JC smiled
Justin growled. “We leave at 8:45. Make sure your ass is ready”
“Fine, I’ll go” JC said, before falling back on the mattress. “Need to get my mind off things anyways” he thought to himself.
9:00pm
“Did you have to make me come tonight?” Liz whined, unbuckling the seat belt.
“Yes! It’s not like we have any major events to plan these days, and our employees got everything else covered. You need to get your mind off of Josh and his lips anyways” Emma stated.
“You party way too much” Liz mumbled
“Please” Emma scoffed. “You need people like me in your life” she said, fixing her lipstick in the rearview mirror of the car.
“How long are we staying?”
“Long enough to score a couple numbers, shot a few drinks and leave our mark on the dance floor”
“I’m leaving your ass here within the hour”
“That’s what you think. Now give your hair a flip and let’s go in”
Sighing, she did as she was told and gave her breasts a quick lift in the strapless bra under the skin tight dress she wore. She stepped out of the car and the two of them breezed past the door man and the line of people waiting to get in.
The club was pumping, not as much people as there were on the weekend, but it was still a decent crowd. They stood at the entrance, gaining a couple whistles from guys that passed them. Emma beamed, while Liz just gave a smile.
“I need a drink” Emma declared, taking her friend’s hand and leading them over to the bar. “I’ll treat tonight, what’d you want?”
“Black Russian” Liz said
“Two of those please” Emma informed the bartender in front of them.
They were waiting for their drinks, taking in the music blasting from the speakers when someone approached them. Tall, muscular, tanned, and blonde hair.
“Surfer dude” Liz thought to herself“Hey sweet thang” the man greeted Lizzie
“Hi” Liz replied uneasily
“Mind if I buy you a drink?”
“That’s already been taken care of, thank you” she said politely
“Well how about a dance?” the guy urged on
“Yea Lizzie, a dance” Emma agreed
“Oh um, I don’t know”
“My name is Andy, and I’d like to dance with you”
“Oh hi Andy. I’m Liz, and-”
“And she’d love to dance with you” Emma said for her
Liz sent her a ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!’ sort of look, which was returned by her mouthing the words “He’s cute”
“He’s drunk!” she mouthed back
They guy took Liz’s arm and led her out to the dance floor, Liz, reluctant and helpless.
*****
“Ahh” JC hissed, feeling the alcohol burn his throat
He had been there for 15 minutes and had just finished his 2nd drink. He rested the glass on the table next to him and he got up, peering over the railings of the upstairs part of the club. The whole dance floor was in his view.
“Having fun Jace?” Lance asked, coming up from behind him. “Jeez, a couple more of those and you’re stoned” he said, looking at the empty glasses.
JC shrugged, and turned back to his view. “Where’re the other guys?”
“Well let’s see shall we” Lance said, joining JC by the railing. “There’s Joey” he said, sticking out his hand over the railing and pointing to the far left of the dance floor “with the Spanish chick on his left and the hot brunette on his right”
JC chuckled, watching his friend.
“Then there’s Justin with the blonde babe over there” Lance shifted his arm, to point to the other side.
“Umm, there’s Chris over by the DJ turntable.”
Lance unconsciously recognized another face, who he didn’t realize he pointed out until he saw JC’s eyes almost bulge out of his head.
“Oh! Then there’s Lizzie there in the middle with-wait what the?!” Lance exclaimed
JC’s eyes widened, and almost fell over the railing, leaning over pretty far, gaping at the couple in the middle of the floor.
“Jace!” Lance said pulling him back. “Watch it, you’re gonna fall”
“What is she doing here?!” JC asked no one in particular, still looking over.
“She likes clubbing?” Lance offered. He of course, had no input on what JC was feeling earlier when he spoke to Justin.
“I gotta get down there” JC said, pulling away from the railing, turning around to get to the steps but Lance stopped him.
“C, what are you doing?! She’s dancing with her date, or boyfriend, or who ever that guy is”
JC’s heart sank. “Boyfriend?” he thought to himself silently. “Is that why she freaked when they had kissed?”
JC turned back to the railing.
“Are you okay?” Lance asked his friend
“She’s with someone?” JC questioned
“Probably. Sorry dude” Lance said, patting JC’s shoulder
“But, she doesn’t look like she’s having fun now” JC said, his eyebrows crinkling in confusion.
Lance looked to where JC was referring to.
Liz wasn’t dancing like she was a second ago, right now, she just looked like she was trying to get away from the guy, who started using his hands to ‘dance’, if you know what I mean.
“Do you think something’s wrong?” Lance asked
“I don’t know who that guy is, but I’m gonna find out” JC said, turning to go down the flight of steps. This time, Lance didn’t stop him.
***
Liz started getting uncomfortable. This guy was seriously freaking her out! One second, they were dancing fine, she was going along with it, planning to escape when the song ended. Now, halfway through the song, Mr. Blondie here decided to become Mr. Handsy.
“Hey!” Liz said, spinning around to face him, when she felt his hands go lower than she liked on her behind.
“What’s the matter baby? You don’t like how I move?” he smirked
“You’re disgusting!” Liz spat, and turned to make her escape early, but his hand held on tightly to her wrist.
“Where you going so soon sweet thang?” he asked, bringing her hand up to his mouth, kissing it.
“Let me go!” Liz said, struggling to get out of his grip.
“Not until I get some action” he said, strongly
Liz started to panic, she had no idea who this guy was, or what kind of ‘action’ he was referring to. Emma was nowhere in sight. She was on her own.
“Let me feel those lips baby” he said pulling her toward him.
Liz’s instincts were telling her scream but she felt powerless.
Before he could make contact with her body, a voice spoke up beside them.
“The only thing you’re gonna be feeling is my fist breaking that pudgy nose of yours if you don’t let her go” JC snarled, his fists clenched.
The guy stared at JC incredulously. “Why don’t you just mind your own business buddy?”
“She is my business. Now I’m warning you, take your hands off her, or I swear with everything holy in my body I will take you” Steam was practically coming out of JC’s ears.
The guy looked at him, not even flinching. He then looked back at Liz, and studied her, looking up and down.
“This ho ain’t worth it anyways” he said, letting go of her hand. “You can-” he was cut off when JC’s fist made contact with his jaw in a right hook.
Mr. Hansy stumbled backward, almost knocking down a couple people who were unaware of what was going on.
“I warned you” JC said, his fists still clenched. He turned to look at Liz, who was frozen in place.
“C’mon” JC said, taking her hand, and leading her off the dance floor. She was too lost for words to object, so she just gulped and nodded.
He led her out to the back door of the club, and they ended up in the deserted parking lot. It was just the two of them. The sound of the music inside the club could be heard faintly.
“You okay?” JC asked, his heart beating faster than usual. He used the palm of his hand to rub the knuckles n the hand he used to punch the guy.
“Shit!” he muttered to himself
“Is your h-hand okay?” she asked shakily.
He looked up at her. “Answer my question. My hand’s okay”
He studied her face for a second or two. She was a little pale.
“I’m okay” she replied quietly
“Good”
There was a brief silence between them.
“Alright well, you’re welcome” he told her, starting to walk back to the door.
“Josh wait…” she didn’t know what to say.
He stopped and turned around. “What?”
She walked up to where he was standing, and wrapped her arms around his abdomen, resting her forehead on his chest.
He hugged back, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“I’m sorry” she said softly into his chest. “And thank you”
“What happened yesterday? One second you’re kissing me, the next you slap me, the next you refuse to talk to me?”
Liz squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry”
“And I accept your apology but you didn’t answer my question”
She pulled away her head, looking up at him. Their arms remained around the other.
“I got scared” she said, praying that her voice wouldn’t break.
His face expressed hurt, and he gave her a questioning look.
“I felt it too” she said
JC sighed. Now he understood why she reacted the way she did. She had felt it.
“I’m sorry for leaving… And, not picking up when you called. I just didn’t know what to say to you”
“You should have said, exactly what you’re saying right now”
She smiled softly. “I know”
“I like you Lizzie” JC said, truthfully.
“I know” she said looking down.
“What’d we do then?"
