Chapter 21

Later that day JC, was fast at work planning out his big date for, Zoë.  He was going to the extreme for this.  As Joey had said, she deserved it.  He was going to make this a night she would never forget in a million years.  He was going to show her just how much she meant to him.  How much she’d meant to him over the years.  How special she was.  How all of her love and support over the years had made him the man he was today.  The man that was hopelessly in love with her.

He had a few ideas for what he was going to do.  He defiantly wanted to take her out for a romantic dinner.  But he wanted it to be somewhere quiet, yet at the same time beautiful.  Somewhere with not a lot of people, so they could be somewhat alone on their special evening.

He wanted their first date to be the most romantic date she’d ever experienced.  He wanted her to forget about all the crappy dates she’d been on in the past.  All those stupid guys she’d dated, and he had in turn ended up hearing about over the phone, or through a letter or email.  And at times had serenaded her over the phone, because of a broken heart.  He wanted to show her that she deserved the very best.  And that, that’s exactly what she would get from him.  The very best.

While thinking back on all the times they’d talked about the crazy, crappy dates she’d been on, he got an idea.  “That’s PERFECT!” he, said aloud.

He grabbed his cell phone from the table and immediately called Joey and the rest of the guys to enlist their help.  Because, if he was going to pull this off, he would have to call a few other people too.  He needed to recruit their help in this.  This date was going to be so big, and if he wanted to pull if off without having to wait forever for it to happen, he needed help.
 

Zoë, woke up later that evening to pure silence, and it was already dark outside.  She looked around to her alarm clock to find out exactly what time it was.  8:38 the red lights of the clock glowed.

“I cannot believe I slept that long!” she, said to herself as she climbed out of the bed.

She, crossed her room and headed out her door and into the hallway.  She walked over to JC’s room and peeked inside to see if he was possibly already in bed, although she doubted it.  And of coarse when she looked in, his room was dark and empty.  So she turned around and headed downstairs.

When she entered the TV room, she found JC sitting on the sofa, watching the TV.  “Hey, what are you watching?” she, asked as she sat down on the other end of the sofa.

“Just these silly reports and interviews from the AMA’s they’re still playing.” he, laughed and then turned to look at her.  “You feeling better?”

“Actually, yeah.  A lot better!” she, smiled.

“I ordered Chinese earlier.  I didn’t want to wake you, so I just put yours in the fridge.  I can go heat it up for you if you want.” he, offered.

“That’s ok.  I can do it myself.” she, smiled.

“I know you can do it yourself, but I’m trying to be sweet here.” he, gave her a cheesy smile.

“You don’t have to try, Josh.  You are sweet.  You’re like the sweetest guy I know!” Zoë, laughed as she got up off the sofa to go into the kitchen, but JC jumped up and grabbed her.

“You sit!  I’ll get your dinner for you.” he, said and then gently pushed her back down to the sofa.

“Fine.  Wait on me hand and foot.  But when you spoil me and I expect this, I don’t want to hear any complaints in the future.” she, laughed.

“Who says I’d be complaining?” he, smirked and then disappeared into the kitchen to warm up her dinner.

JC, reappeared a few minutes later carrying a tray with a plate of steaming beef broccoli and rice, and a can of Mountain Dew, which he knew to be her favorite.  It always had been.  He sat the tray down in front of her on the coffee table and smiled.  “Your dinner my lady.”

Zoë, laughed and rolled her eyes.  She could get used to this.  “Why thank you kind sir.”

She scooted down on the floor to sit closer to the coffee table so she could eat her food, while JC sat back down on the sofa and began flipping through the channels.

When Zoë, was done eating she got up to take her dirty dishes into the kitchen, but JC jumped up and grabbed the tray from her and hurried off with it.  He wasn’t gone very long.  Only long enough to take the tray into the kitchen and set it on the counter and then he returned to the living room.

When he did, Zoë was sitting on the sofa.  “You’re really spoiling me here!” she, said as he sat down next to her smiling.

“That was kind of the point.” he, said.

Zoë, smiled back at his smiling face that was starring at her.  “Ok, what gives.  Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Do I have to have a reason to be nice?” he, defended.  “Aren’t I always nice?”

“JOSH!” she, hissed.

“Ok…Ok…I’m buttering you up so that when I ask you out on our date you wont say no.” he, smirked.

Zoë, smiled.  “What makes you think I would say no?”

“So then is that a yes?” he, asked.

“You didn’t ask me yet!” she, laughed.

“Oh, so you’re really going to make me ask?  Fine!” he, sighed sarcastically.  “Zoë, will you go out with me on a date?”

“I don’t know!” she, teased.

“ZOE!” he, hissed.

She giggled.  “Yes, I would love to go out with you on a date, Josh.”

“GREAT!” he, smiled.

“So when and where is this date going to take place?” she, asked inquisitively.

“Tomorrow night!  And you’ll have to wait and see.” he, smiled.

“I can’t wait.” she, beamed.

“Me either.” he, smiled back pulling her into a hug.

They spent the rest of the evening setting on the sofa watching TV.  JC, with his arms wrapped around her.  While Zoë, rested her head on his chest, and her arms wrapped around him.

That night JC headed to bed fairly early, telling Zoë that he had to get up early the next morning to meet the guys for a meeting over at the Jive offices.

Zoë, who wasn’t quite ready for bed yet after sleeping the whole day away decided to stay up and watch some TV, but after a few hours ended up falling asleep on the sofa while watching reruns of Beverly Hills 90210.
 

The next morning when JC, got up to head out he came downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee and wandered into the living room to watch a bit of news before leaving.  But when he walked in he saw Zoë, sleeping soundly on the sofa, while the TV was still playing.

He smiled to himself.  She looked so peaceful, and beautiful just laying there like that.  He couldn’t wait until later that night when he’d pick her up for their big date.  She was going to totally die when he seen everything he had in store for her.  Speaking of which he glanced at his watch and seen that he was running a little late so he rushed his cup of coffee back into the kitchen and poured it down the sink.

But before rushing out the door he picked up a quilt that had been draped over the recliner and spread it out over her.  He leaned down and kissed her softly on the top of her head, and then rushed out the door to meet with the guys.

Yeah, he had a meeting that morning, but it wasn’t for what he’d told her it was for.  They had to go over his plans for the evening.  He wanted to make sure everything went off without a catch.
 

When Zoë, woke up that afternoon she smiled when she noticed the quilt draped over her.  Obviously, JC had done that.  She surely hadn’t.  She got up from the sofa and folded the quilt back up and put it back in it’s place, and then proceeded on to the kitchen to make herself something to eat.  She was starving.  How on earth she had sleep practically the whole day before, and then still managed to sleep until 1:30 in the afternoon the next day, she would never understand.

As her day went on she was completely bored.  She didn’t have anything to do.  Nowhere to go.  And she found herself growing more and more anxious about her upcoming date with JC.  And once she started thinking about that she realized he’d never told her what time to be ready, or what to wear.  So she took that as a good enough excuse as any to call him to find out.  She really just wanted to hear his voice.

She grabbed the phone and dialed his number.  It rang several times before it finally went to voice mail.  She signed as she listened to his message about how he couldn’t answer the phone and to leave a message and he would call whoever back.  And then when it beeped she left her message.

“Josh, it’s me.  I was sitting here thinking and I realized that you never told me what time to be ready.  And you never told me what to wear.  So when you get the chance call me back and let me know, ok!  Thanks, bye!” she, said and then hung up.

She laid the phone down on the coffee table and then stood up.  “OK, now what do I do?” she, asked herself looking around the room.

Being completely bored she decided to clean.  The house was already pretty immaculate but she would clean anyways.  Besides, she had nothing better to do at the moment.  So she proceeded to wash up what dishes were in the kitchen, and then went on to clean the windows.

Once, she was done with the windows she moved on to vacuuming the carpet.  She was so lost in thoughts of the upcoming night, and the loud noise of the vacuum that she almost didn’t hear the phone ringing.  Actually, she only heard it after the answering machine picked up.

So she turned the vacuum off, and rushed to the phone and snatched it off it’s cradle.  “HELLO?” she, answered breathlessly.

“ZOE?  Are you ok?” JC’s, voice came through the phone, full of concern at the way she’d answered the phone.

“Yes, I’m fine.  I was vacuuming and didn’t hear the phone at first, and then I had to run to catch it.  Just lost my breath I guess.”

“OH, ok.  You had me worried there for a minute.” he, said.

“You worry TOO much!  Did you get my message?”

“Yeah, that’s why I was calling.  I didn’t even realize I forgot all those important details last night, so I’m glad you remembered and called me.”

“Yeah, me too.” she, smiled into the phone.

“So you should be ready by 7:00.  And wear something nice.  Maybe even wear what you wore to the AMA’s the other night.  No wait!  DEFINATLY wear what you wore to the AMA’s the other night.” he, smiling at the thought of seeing her in that dress again.

“That fancy?  Are you sure, because I don’t want to be over dressed again.” she, laughed at the thought.

“No, I’m positive it will be perfect.” he, said reassuringly.

“Well, then you better not be wearing jeans this time!” she, scolded him.

“I promise I wont be wearing jeans.  The place we’re going is a little more upscale than that.”

“Ohhh…is that a hint?” she, got excited.

“NO, it’s a fact.  So just be ready at 7:00 and I’ll be there to pick you up.”

“WAIT!  You’re not coming back here before then?” she, asked disappointedly.

“No, I can’t.  We’re really busy here in this meeting that’s still going on.  And then I promised Justin I’d go over to his mom’s house with him after we’re done here.  So I’ll probably just get ready there.  I packed a bag with me this morning on the chance I wouldn’t make it home in time to get ready.  Don’t worry it’ll all work out.” he, told her.

“OK, if you say so.” she, said not the least bit sure that it would.

“Zoë, I mean it.  It’ll work you.  Now I gotta run, but I’ll see you tonight.  And I cannot WAIT to see you in that dress!  Love ya, bye!” he, said quickly and then hung up before she had the chance to say anything at all.

Zoë, placed the phone back on it’s cradle and just smiled to herself.  He’s acting really strange she, thought.  “Wonder what he’s got up his sleeve?”

She then glanced at her watch and realized it was only 3:30 in the afternoon.  She decided to keep cleaning to help pass the rest of the time, until she needed to stop and start getting ready.  She quickly realized that wasn’t going to be too easy considering she’d virtually already done all the cleaning she could do to a house that was already clean.
 

A couple hours later, after doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms, Zoë realized it was time to start getting ready.  She put away all of the cleaning supplies she had drug out and headed up to her room to hop into a well needed shower.

Once, she was out of the shower she proceeded to brush her teeth, and blow dry her hair and then added lots of big bouncy curls to it with her hot curlers.  When she had the curls she wanted she pulled the sides of her hair back with sparkling little barrettes, and left a couple tendrils of curls hanging to frame her face.

She then moved on to her makeup.  Deciding less is more, she went with a natural look.  Applying a neutral eye shadow, with light mascara.  Just enough to outline her eyes.  And then applied a little blush, along with a little bit of lipstick.

Once, she was done with all of that she decided it was time to get dressed.  So she got her beautiful dress out of it’s travel bag and slipped it on.  And then scurried around the room trying to remember where she’d put her shoes that went with it.  When she found them, she slipped them on her feet and proceeded to add a little bit of jewelry.  Just a simple pair of small gold hoops on her ears, and a gold necklace with a diamond pendant on it that belonged to her mother.

She was now finished.  She looked herself over in the mirror, deciding she looked better tonight than she did the evening of the AMA’s.  And she’d done her hair and makeup herself.  Or maybe it was just that she was happier tonight.  Looking forward to tonight more than she had the other night.  She decided she didn’t care what the case was.  All that was important was that she felt good, and she thought she looked just as incredible.

Glancing at the time, she saw that it was 6:45.  JC, should be getting there any time now, so she  grabbed her small purse off the bed, and headed downstairs to await his arrival.  Her heart was in her stomach.  And somehow or another a bunch of butterflies had made their way there too.  She was incredibly nervous.

No sooner did she hit the bottom step, when the doorbell rang.  Confused, and not having any idea who would be there she walked straight ahead from the steps and slowly opened the door to answer it.  But, her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she seen him standing there.