"Joey?"

"Hey, Joe, wake up!"

Something soft hit Joey in the face. With a disgruntled moan, he opened his bleary eyes to find Justin and Chris standing beside him, both armed with cream-colored throw pillows. Holding out a hand in weak self-defense as he struggled to sit up, Joey muttered, "Okay, okay, hold your fire. I'm up."

"It's about time, Sleeping Beauty," Chris said, tossing his pillow to the other end of the sofa. "And I thought JC was the heavy-duty sleeper around here!"

With both feet resting on the floor, Joey ran both hands up and down his face several times, feeling the rough bristle of his beard. "What time is it?"

Justin announced, "It's time for us to patter on downstairs to meet with the rest of the gang. Remember our little date?"

"What little date?" Joey looked up ever so slightly from his hands.

"Our little date at the country club," said Chris, as if a dimwit should have known that.

"The one we've all been discussing and making plans for all week," added Justin in the same condescending tone.

"Oh, right," said Joey as it slowly dawned on him.

"And we were just about to leave without you, too," Justin said. "We'd have been halfway there by now had JC not made us come back here to retrieve you."

"Good thing you already got your shoes on," Chris noted. "So come on, Joe, get your lazy rear in gear."

"But I haven't had breakfast yet," Joey protested.

As if the words were a cue, Chris fished out a small bottle of juice from one of the big pockets of his khaki shorts while Justin produced two unwrapped granola bars. "Got you covered," Justin said, holding up the bars like a set of pistols.

With a slight face, Joey only said, "Thanks." He started to stand up, and then immediately sank back to the couch as a wave of dizziness washed over him.

Chris and Justin's eyes widened at the sight. "Whoa, hey, man," said Chris, reaching out a hand toward him, "you okay?"

"What's the matter?" Justin asked.

Joey closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before answering. "Nothing. Just got a little dizzy, that's all." When he tried his feet again, he hadn't taken three steps when he staggered; he might have had a bad fall if the other two guys weren't there to catch him. Chris and Justin both staggered a bit themselves under the unexpected weight.

"Hey—watch it!" Justin exclaimed.

"Sorry." Joey felt his face flush, and he focused his gaze on the light gray carpet as his friends helped to steady him.

"What was that all about?" Chris asked, knitting his brows. "Are you sure you're okay, Joe?"

"Do you think you should go with us after all?" Justin asked, sounding worried as well. "Do you think you're better off staying here?"

"Yes, and no," said Joey, his voice low but resolute. He braced his back and brushed his fingers through his stiff brown hair before snatching the food and drink out of their hands. "This is our first free weekend since God knows when, and I'm going to enjoy every last bit of it, and I'm not going to let a little stupid dizzy spell stop me."

Chris and Justin regarded him with expressions of equal concern, but asked no further questions. Not that it would have done any good, anyway; JC was always saying that Joey would claim to be fine even if he belonged in a hospital. So they just followed Joey out the door, though they made sure to stay close as they made their way down the three full flights to where the others were waiting.

Even with Joey's oversleeping and the need to stop for gas about twenty minutes into the trip, they made it to their destination in good time. As they pulled into the parking lot, they could tell straight off that other people had this place in mind for their weekend as well. It took almost five full minutes just to find an available parking slot, and even after they'd stepped through the front doors, they practically had to join arms to stay together.

"Boy, what a zoo," JC remarked as he craned his neck in his observance of the crowd.

"I'd say it's a zoo and a circus rolled into one," said Lance.

"We're sure lucky we managed to get in this place," said Chris.

"We're lucky even to fit in this place," Justin complained as he felt three or four people jostle him.

Joey said nothing. Under normal circumstances, he would be as hyped up as anyone else to be here, but right now, all he wanted was to get to some place where he could lie down and take it easy. Even though he had been sleeping a great deal lately—more so than usual, for that matter—he felt as if he'd hardly slept at all. He stayed quiet until he and his group had made their way, almost by brute force, to the pool.

Fortunately, there was still plenty of space in the Olympic-sized pool when they got there, since half of the people in the area appeared more interested in soaking up sun than water. Chris gave a whoop as he removed his dark sunglasses, kicked off his sandals, shucked his T-shirt, and took off at full speed. "Last one to the water is a gutless guppy!" he called over his shoulder.

Lance and Justin readily tagged after him, while JC decided to consult the snack bar first. "Can I grab anything for you while I'm at it, Joe?" he asked.

"No, thanks," said Joey as he spread his towel over the warm pavement and settled down. "I think I'll just catch a few rays…maybe a few Zs, too." He said this last part so softly that he wasn't sure JC had heard him.

"Suit yourself," JC said, and walked away.

Joey stripped off his own shirt, rolled up his sneakers in it, and used the bundle for a pillow as he stretched out on his back. He closed his eyes and sighed, savoring the sun's warmth as he would a hot bath after a long, grueling day. His mind began to float away, and soon the splashing from the pool, the music playing over the loudspeakers, and the basic chatter and laughter from the surrounding public faded into the sweet silence of sleep.

He wasn't sure how long he had slept when he woke to the feel of something cold and wet dripping onto his face and chest. When he opened his eyes, it was to find Chris hovering over him. The soaking wet man looked incredulous.

"Don't tell me you took another nap, Joe!"

"Mmm?" Though Chris's shadow shielded him from the glare of the sun, Joey shut his eyes and put a hand over them. "Ugh…boy…guess I did doze off again, didn't I?"

"Again?" said Justin's disbelieving voice.

"Sheez, man," Lance's voice chimed in, "when it comes to winding down and taking it easy, you take the cake."

"Sorry," said Joey, with a genuine touch of chagrin. "I must've been more tired than I thought."

"You've sure been sleeping an awful lot lately, dude." Joey knew from the direction of Chris's voice and the absence of dripping that Chris had settled beside him on the towel. "Even JC appears more lively than you these days."

Removing his hand and tilting his head a bit toward Chris, Joey said with a wry smile, "Guess my age is starting to show, huh?"

Chris's brown eyes narrowed and his lower lip jutted in a scowl. "Dude, I resent that! If you think you're old, what does that suggest about me? I'm the oldest, remember?"

Lance and Justin, who sat together on Joey's other side, both laughed and Lance said heartily, "You guys aren't old. Not that old, anyway."

"Not yet," Justin added, somewhat forebodingly.

Joey changed the subject. "Looks like you three had quite a swim."

"I'll say," said Chris as he groped for another, smaller towel and dabbed his face and neck. "The water's awesome, man; you don't know what you've been missing!"

Justin agreed vigorously. "Cool enough to be refreshing, and clear enough to see all the way to the bottom, even at the deepest end."

"And clean as a whistle, too," Lance added, reaching for his own towel, "for a public pool."

"Then again," Justin said, "this isn't just any public pool. I think they use more than just chlorine to keep it clean."

"I think you'd better stop right there, J," said Chris, eyeing the youngest man warily. "Sometimes your imagination is best left to your imagination."

Joey smiled and closed his eyes once more, but then Chris spoke to him in an odd tone.

"Joey! Where'd that big bruise come from?"