~~~~~*~~~~~

"This is so much more boring than I thought it would be," Libby complained as she sat on the end of Lisa's bed and watched as she tried to find something to wear.

The guys, plus Jamie and Sara, had left the hotel hours ago to attend more interviews and start their sound check for that evening's show, but as the group were scheduled to remain in the same area for several nights—and they were all fed up of killing time on the bus—the other women had remained behind at the hotel.

"So much for 'spendin' time together,'" Libby quipped sarcastically as she remembered the words Justin had so sweetly said to her on the flight over.

Lisa glanced over her shoulder at Libby and flashed a sympathetic smile. "I know it's boring," she said, "but it’s still much better than being left at home."

"I guess," Libby muttered as she folded her legs beneath her.

"How are things with you and Curly anyway, Lib?" Lisa asked, causing Libby to smile at the mention of Justin’s nickname and automatically begin to blush.

"Fine," she said shyly and Lisa once again looked up from her suitcase to smirk at her.

"Only fine?" she said. "Oh dear!"

"Shut up!" Libby giggled, reaching behind her to grab a pillow from the head of Lisa's bed to toss across the room. It missed.

"What about you? You been feeling any better?"

Lisa pulled a face and began to zip up her case having chosen a pair of jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt to wear. "Not too bad,” she said. “I had this sickness bug for a while but that seems to have gone now. I guess it was some kind of virus?”

"Sickness?"

"Yeah. Every morning."

Libby looked pointedly at Lisa as her words sunk in. "Er… Lis? You're not pregnant, are you?"

“No!” Lisa exclaimed, turning around to face Libby with a shocked expression on her face.

"Okay, sorry!" Libby said as she defensively raised her hands in front of her face while giggling at Lisa’s reaction. "It's just you said that you were sick in the mornings. I just put two and two together."

"And came up with eleven thousand!"

Libby laughed, and they fell into a comfortable silence as Lisa dressed. "You know, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world—"

"I am not pregnant!"

"—JC's having a baby. Ooh! They could grow up as best friends!" A sentimental smile crept over Libby’s face as she pictured Lisa and Joey with a baby.

Lisa stared at Libby for a moment as her brow furrowed into a frown. Before speaking she crossed the room and shut the door so that their conversation couldn’t be overheard.

"Libs, JC's not having a baby.”

"I thought Alyson was pregnant?"

"She is pregnant,” Lisa said, stalling slightly before delivering the news. “It's not JC's."

"What?" Libby gasped in shock.

"He found out not long after they became engaged. It seems that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, so to speak. He broke off the engagement, and he hasn't been in touch with her since. That's what he's been trying to tell Clare."

Libby's eyes left Lisa’s face, and she found herself staring at the pattern on the bedcover as she tried to absorb the news. She could hardly believe it.

"Who else knows?" she asked after a while.

"Everyone except you and Clare, apparently."

"Justin?"

"He must've known, but he probably couldn't say anything. You know how close he and JC are."

Libby nodded, knowing that Lisa was probably right. Justin wasn't a gossip and he wouldn't have betrayed his friend’s confidence just because she was his girlfriend. He wasn’t like that. 

"I can't believe it,” Libby said, letting out a deep sigh. “Poor JC.”

"Don't let Clare here you say that…"

"But we have to tell her! She needs to know."

"We've all tried!" Lisa said defensively. “I even spoke to her about it yesterday on the bus, but I’m not sure if it did any good. She just won't listen, Libs. To JC or any of us. She thinks we’re trying to justify his actions, which of course we aren't, but he's not one-hundred per cent to blame either."

"She's stubborn," Libby agreed with a nod of her head.

"She sure is. But fortunately so is he."

“But the way Clare’s been avoiding him she might never find out.”

Lisa let out a huff. “I agree, which is why I told her that she has to at least hear him out. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Do you think she will?”

“You tell me, it’s Clare.”

Libby pulled a face, still mulling over Lisa’s revelation. “She’s still pretty upset about it all. I think she feels betrayed.”

“I don’t get it myself. I mean, yeah, I’d have been upset that he’d moved onto someone else, but why is she so angry? He didn’t cheat on her…”

Libby met Lisa’s eyes, her face serious. She’d had this discussion with Justin, and so she already had her answer prepared. “In a way he did. He was practically her best friend, Lis—“

“I thought you were Clare’s best friend,” Lisa chuckled.

Libby allowed Lisa a small smile. “Yes. But I was… previously engaged, remember?” Lisa nodded, the laughter extinguishing slightly from her eyes. “JC was—no offence—the person Clare needed the most at probably the most difficult time, and he wasn’t there. Not to mention he chose that time to tell her that he was moving on. That’s kinda harsh.”

“But he knows he made a mistake. He’d been kicking himself ever since he worked it out. If she’d only let him explain what happened and how bad he feels. This could be all over tomorrow.”

“Hmm…” Libby mumbled, not completely convinced. “I dunno… I think it’d take a bit more than that…”

Lisa smiled, and playfully rolled her eyes. “Thank God I haven’t had to go through this with Joey. Our days of drama are well in the past.”

Libby smirked. “You sure he hasn’t got any skeletons buried in the closet?”

“No,” Lisa chuckled. “I’m pretty sure I know everything there is to know about that man. Despite what he likes to think, he’s not that interesting!”

~~~~~*~~~~~

"Clare?" Libby asked as she peered her head around the doorway of their room. She found Clare once again sitting cross legged on her bed tapping away at her laptop keyboard.

"Hmm…?" Clare mumbled as she momentarily glanced away from the screen to meet Libby’s eyes.

"Do you want to do something tonight? Go out somewhere I mean?"

Clare paused to consider the question. "What were you thinking of doing?"

"I'm not sure. Go to a bar? It's been so long since we've been back that I thought it could be fun to revisit some old haunts. Lisa wants to come, too."

“I thought we were supposed to be going to the show tonight?”

Libby shrugged. “There’s plenty of time for that. We’ll only be in Birmingham for a few nights.”

Clare smirked and raised an eyebrow. “And Justin doesn’t mind you missing his opening night?”

“I’m sure he’ll survive,” Libby quipped. “Besides, there’ll be plenty of other opportunities for that. How many chances do we get to have a girls’ night?”

“Hmm… I guess it could be fun to go out somewhere—”

“Yay!”

“—and I’m sure the fact that you can legally drink over here has nothing to do with it!”

Libby grinned, but refused to deny anything. “Great. I’ll go tell Lis.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

As the guys played their traditional game of hacky sack backstage, they could hear the screams and cheers from the fans as they awaited their arrival on stage.

"They seem pretty eager tonight," Jamie said to Chris as she watched him balance the hacky on the side of his right sneaker. His concentration momentarily lapsed, and the hacky slipped off his foot and onto the floor causing the other four men to groan loudly.

"Chris!"

As he reached forward to pick up the hacky an apologetic smirk lit up Chris’ face, and he glanced up through his lashes to meet his band mates’ eyes. "Sorry… tell Jamie off for distracting me."

"Now we gotta start again," Justin complained loudly as he shot a glare at Jamie. "Come on girls, keep your distance!"

Jamie exchanged an amused look with Sara and the two of them sniggered at the serious look on Justin's face. He took the game way too seriously, and had been in a bad mood since finding out that Lisa, Clare and Libby were going drinking instead of attending the show.

"We are sorry,” Sara said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You should be," Justin told her sternly, his eyes never leaving Chris's foot. Because of this he completely missed the face that Sara pulled at him. "Now, Chris, concentrate!"

The members of *NSYNC managed to finish their game without any further interruptions and not long after they huddled together as a group to pray. It was the second to last thing they did before putting on their space helmets—to complete their space suits—and heading onto the stage.

The heavy intro music began to play, and even Jamie felt herself welling up with excitement as the roar of the crowd intensified.

"What did they say?" Sara asked Jamie as the guys reached their hands forward into a circle and chanted something unintelligible.

"I dunno," Jamie replied as she shrugged at Sara. “*NSYNC?”

~~~~~*~~~~~

The music started to 'Here We Go' and the members of *NSYNC appeared on stage to the delighted screams of their fans. The pumping music of the track filled the arena, and each member ripped of their spacesuit and burst into the routine for the opening song.

"Here we go, one more time

Everybody's feeling fine

Here we go now

Yes, yes, yes, here we go

*NSYNC has got the flow

Bounce your head to the beat

We've got everything you need

Here we go now

Yes, yes, yes, here we go

*NSYNC has got the flow…”

~~~~~*~~~~~

Libby and Clare's hysterical laughter filled the corridor as they attempted—unsuccessfully—to get their plastic key card into their hotel room door. Crying with laughter, Libby tripped over her own feet and sent herself crashing into Clare as the older woman shoved the card again and again into the machine.

"What’s wrong with keys?" Clare giggled as she glared at the plastic card in her hand. By now Lisa—who hadn’t had as much to drink—was most likely asleep in bed. At this rate, it’d be morning before Clare and Libby even managed to unlock their door.

"Do you need some help?" A familiar voice asked from behind them, and both Clare and Libby jumped at the unexpected noise. Libby clutched a hand to her chest and fell about laughing once again once she recognised JC and Justin. It wasn’t too long before Clare joined her.

Justin shared an amused glance with JC as they watched Libby and Clare fall about with laughter.

"I think someone's had a bit too much to drink," Justin said as Libby's legs buckled from underneath her. He jumped forward and reached his arms out to catch her before she landed on the floor. Libby gasped in between giggles, trying to catch her breath. "Isn't she a bit young?" Justin asked JC.

"Eigh… eight... eightee—" Libby struggled to explain between giggles, her inability to speak only making her laugh harder.

"She’s eighteen," Clare explained as Justin looked to JC for an explanation.

"I think they're trying to say that you can be eighteen to drink over here," JC said with a wry smile as Clare closed her eyes and leant against the door frame. The alcohol and the late night were starting to catch up with her.  

"Right," Justin said as he pulled Libby to her feet and held her somewhat steady as he reached out with his spare hand to take the key card from Clare. Libby soon started to slip however, and he quickly tossed the card at JC as he gripped onto her.

"It's broken or something," Clare said to JC as he prepared to open the door. He swiped the card through the machine, waited for the scanner to register the bar code and gave the door a hefty shove as the green light began to flash.

"You're right," he remarked sarcastically, "it's definitely broken."

Clare noticed his smug smirk and tried not to smile. It was pretty funny when she thought about it. She mumbled a thank you under her breath before attempting to walk into the room in a relatively straight line.

"You had a good time tonight then?" Justin asked Libby as he helped her into the room with one arm wrapped tightly around her waist. She giggled and tried to coordinate her feet so that she didn’t keep bumping against him.

"Yes, now bye," Clare said shortly as she threw herself face down onto her bed.

Justin exchanged a look with JC as Libby slipped out from under his arm and joined Clare on the bed. Something triggered them off, and they both started giggling again. 

“Come on,” JC said as he gestured with his hand at the open door. “Let’s leave ‘em.”

“We can’t leave them like this,” Justin said, horrified. “They can barely walk…”

“They’re fine, man.”

Justin turned back to Libby and pouted slightly. The opening night of his new tour and she was bladdered before he had a chance to tell her how it went. It wasn’t the way he’d been expecting the night to end, and he was pretty disappointed. He’d really been looking forward to telling her all about the show.

“Come on,” JC repeated. “You’re not going to get much sense out of either of them tonight.”

Reluctantly, Justin allowed JC to pull him out the door. With any luck Libby would be back to her normal self in the morning.

~~~~~*~~~~~

JC opened the door of his and Justin's room early the next morning at the sound of faint knocking. He instantly smiled as a grumpy looking Libby appeared before him—still dressed in her pyjamas—a pinched look on her face which he put down to being caused by a nasty hangover.

JC chuckled, and held the door open for her to come in. "That's a happy face,” he remarked with a grin.

Libby glanced up with narrowed eyes. She really wasn't in the mood. "Bite me,” she muttered. “Where's my J?"

JC nodded in the direction of Justin's bed where the young man was sleeping. He had one arm flung out to one side, the other across his eyes and his mouth hanging open. It was clear that he was fast asleep and probably would be for some time.  

Libby padded her way across the room without another word.

Not wanting to invade their privacy but having nowhere else to go, JC switched on the television, turned the volume to a reasonable level and lounged on his bed, keeping his eyes fixed on the screen.

"Wha…?” Justin gasped as he woke suddenly to find Libby climbing into bed beside him. She pulled the covers up to her shoulders and snuggled close to his chest before shutting her eyes. “What’s wrong?” He asked, automatically assuming that there was something wrong. 

“Headache,” Libby mumbled against his plain white t-shirt.

“Hangover more like,” JC sniggered from across the room before remembering that he was supposed to be pretending not to hear. He met Justin’s eyes long enough for the younger man to glare at him.

“You did drink quite a bit last night…” Justin reminded her as he reached out an arm and rubbed her back soothingly. “You should probably make sure you drink loads of water today.”

Libby kept her eyes closed. “That’s not it,” she said, “I’ve had a migraine for days.”

Once again JC’s eyes flicked over to meet Justin’s, and he unsuccessfully tried to keep the accusing look off his face. Justin’s eyes narrowed minutely before he turned his attention back to Libby.

JC had sat firmly in the anti–Libby coming on tour camp, and he’d been adamant that despite his friends’ attempts to talk him round—or rather, down—he was right all along. He thought that Libby was too weak for it to be safe for her to travel with them. Touring was exhausting at the best of times, but her vulnerability would not only be a concern for the group, but also a distraction.

Not to mention that it was a crazy idea for someone who’d been as unwell as she had. She’d recently been in a coma for goodness sakes! And he couldn’t understand why everyone seemed to have forgotten this.

As expected, JC’s opinions hadn’t been well received by Justin, who’d first tried to persuade, then argue, and finally sulk until he came around—which he had refused to. They were now at an impasse, and both of them had avoided raising the subject for fear of starting another argument. Until now.

JC’s face said it all. I. Told. You. So.

“Why haven’t you said anything?” Justin asked Libby as he deliberately ignored meeting JC’s eyes. He really didn’t want to hear it.

Libby gave a little shrug. “I didn’t want to worry you,” she said. “I’ve been taking tonnes of Tylenol, but it just doesn’t seem to be helping anymore.”

"Should you have gone drinking?" JC asked, unable to stop himself. Yes it sounded accusing, but someone had to say it, and he knew that Justin sure as hell wouldn’t.

“I didn’t plan to have that many,” she said, “but then these guys kept buying us drinks and I just lost track of how many I’d had.”

Justin tensed and his hand froze on her back. “What guys?” he asked as his expression hardened.

"Two guys came over and started chatting to us. They stayed for a while and kept buying us rounds. They were talking to Clare, and there were so many empty glasses on the table that after a while I forgot which ones were mine. I meant to stop after two—”

"What do you mean ‘chatting’?" JC interrupted suddenly. “Were they chatting her up?”

This time Justin didn’t hold back at all and he shot daggers at his band mate. That was so not the point and he knew it. This wasn’t about him and his issues with Clare, it was more serious than that.

“Kind of,” Libby said, “one of them did kind of ask her out on a date.” She opened her eyes at just the right time to see Justin glower over at JC. This time his anger wasn’t aimed entirely at his friend.

“Are you mad?” Libby asked Justin as she realised that she probably hadn’t painted a very good image of the night before. It hadn’t been like that, not really, but she was in too much pain to explain further.

They’d know that nothing had gone on, she told herself. It’d been a standard night out with the girls—they’d chatted about the men in their lives, had a few drinks, been flattered by the attention but had been quick to point out that everyone but Clare had boyfriends, and generally had a good time letting their hair down. It was what they did every time they had a girly night out, and the men had never had any issues with it before.

Justin chewed his inside lip to stop himself from saying something that he’d likely regret. Yes, he was annoyed. He’d hated the idea of the women going out drinking alone to begin with, let alone to find out that they’d been bothered by some dudes out on the pull. He’d pushed his insecurities and concerns aside at the time as he hadn’t wanted to be that guy, but now he’d begun to realise that he should’ve listened to his gut instinct more closely.

Someone should have gone with them, or at least convinced them to wait until after the show when they could all have gone out as a group. What had he been thinking letting Libby go drinking with only Clare and Lisa for protection? Libby was gorgeous; of course she’d draw attention. He should’ve been there…

He’d waited too long to say something and Libby’s worried eyes searched his face. “J? Are you mad at me?”

“No,” he said, his voice not quite convincing her. “I’m not mad, but I wish you’d have let someone go with you.”

“You mean chaperone us?”

Justin let out a sigh. “No, I don’t mean a chaperone. I mean, it ain’t right three women going drinking by themselves in a strange city. You should’ve had someone go with you to make sure you were safe.”

JC nodded emphatically.

“We were safe,” Libby replied, realising that her chances of snuggling back to sleep in his arms were nearly zero. She should’ve just stayed in her own bed. “Nothing happened, J. Honest. We had a few drinks, chatted and danced for a bit and then they left us alone.”

Justin’s brow furrowed again. Danced? Some dude had had his arms around his girlfriend?

"I thought you said Clare was asked out on a date?" JC asked bitterly, the jealousy evident in his voice. Libby cringed, not only at the regret she felt for having opened her mouth in the first place but also at the way her headache intensified at the sound of his raised voice. She sat upright and pressed a clammy hand to her forehead.

Justin watched her face carefully and let out a huff before shuffling past her to get out of bed. She watched him warily as he padded barefoot into the bathroom, ran the sink faucet and returned with a glass of cold water. He held it out to her and refused to move until she’d swallowed a mouthful.

“Um, yes,” she said as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked at Justin with wide eyes. She could tell by his face that he was a lot more annoyed than he was prepared to admit. She began to wonder whether her chance to let her hair down had really been worth it. Not if he was going to keep looking at her like that.

“I wish you’d told me about these headaches,” he said as he crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “Maybe we should get you to a doctor?” He glanced at JC for advice, but the older man wasn’t even listening. His mind was completely absorbed with thoughts of Clare and her date.

“No, I’ll just take some more Tylenol,” Libby said, receiving another huff from Justin in response.

“Or you could just go to the doctor.”

“Or I could just take some more Tylenol.”

“Or you could just go to the doctor.”

“Or you could just lay off!”

“Stop!” JC shouted causing Libby to wince once again. She took another mouthful of water in the hopes that Justin was right and it would help to make her feel better. He nodded encouragingly when he saw that she was drinking. 

“What?” Justin snapped at JC as he removed the empty glass from Libby’s hand and returned to the bathroom to refill it for her.

JC narrowed his eyes at Justin’s tone but kept his eyes fixed on Libby. “You gotta tell me about this date…”

~~~~~*~~~~~

Lance opened the door of his room to find Sara smiling back at him cheerfully. She'd already had her breakfast and had decided to round up the members of the group on Jamie's behalf. Lance gave her a wave and invited her inside while gesturing silently at the cell phone that was attached to his ear. She hadn’t noticed that he was on the phone.

Sara hesitated in the doorway, wary of disturbing him while he was on the phone. She knew that Lance was a pretty private person, and she didn’t want it to seem like she was eavesdropping in on his conversation.

"Could you please tell her I called?" he said before hanging up abruptly and turning back to Sara with a tense smile on his face.

"You ready for practice?" Sara asked him brightly, hoping that it’d be enough to lighten the mood in the room. She could tell that something was bothering him, but she didn’t think it appropriate to ask. Out of all the members of the group, Lance was the one she knew the least well.

"Sure am," Lance said before grabbing his jacket from the bottom of the bed. “Let’s go.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

"What's the plan for today?" Clare asked Justin as he appeared in her doorway to let her know that Libby was hiding out in his room.

"The usual... interviews, photo–shoots. Oh, and Sara requested a last minute rehearsal.”

Clare glanced up from rifling through her suitcase for her phone charger and raised an eyebrow. “Uh–oh, who screwed up?”

There was only one reason why Sara would call a rehearsal one day into a new tour; and that would be because one of the members had snitched on another. The most likely candidate? JC.

"Me and Lance," Justin replied. "We missed a few steps during 'Giddy Up', so Mr. Perfectionist wants to go over them until we get it right."

"Fun," Clare quipped dryly. She could only guess how frustrating it must be to work with someone who was never satisfied until everything was perfect. Although she couldn’t really judge—she was just as bad.

“Me and Libby have plans to go shopping today,” she told him.

“If you can drag her out of my bed. She snuck in this morning and hasn’t left yet.”

“Yeah, she's not been sleeping that great. She mentioned something about going to find you."

“She’s like Goldilocks,” he chuckled as Clare resumed her search. He watched her casually for several minutes before letting his body rest against the doorframe. Things had been left pretty awkwardly between him and Libby, and it was still on his mind. JC had completely taken over the conversation with his questions about Clare and her date, and so he hadn’t had a chance to really get to the bottom of what had happened the night before.

Yes, he was jealous, but it was more than that. He didn’t like the thought of Libby drinking too much, and her mentions of constant headaches had worried him. He meant to talk to Clare about it at some point and now seemed as good a time as any. Sure, Sara would be annoyed that he was late for rehearsal, but she’d just have to bear with him. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate anyway until he’d gotten to the bottom of things.

“She told me about last night,” he said, the seriousness returning to his face. “Seems she might’ve had a bit too much to drink.” Not might’ve. Did.

Clare met his eyes, her expression unreadable. “What’s your point?”

“If she keeps getting these headaches all the time then she shouldn’t be drinking, right?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“I’m just saying,” he said, being careful to keep his voice steady. He didn’t want to start a fight over this, and he knew that he and Clare were like gunpowder and flame when it came to Libby. One wrong word and there’d be an explosion. “I didn’t know about the headaches before. If I had I would’ve tried to talk her out of it.”

Clare let out a sigh. “No,” she said. “She’s been keeping them quiet.”

“Is it serious?”

“I don’t know. She refuses to talk about it, and when I bring it up she just blows me off by saying she’ll take some Tylenol.”

“That’s what she said to me,” Justin said. Clare nodded—it was just as she suspected.

“I suggested she go to see a doctor.”

Clare let out a snort of amusement and grinned at him. “How did that go?”

Justin flashed a wry smile. “Not well.”

“I bet. She’s as stubborn as a mule sometimes.”

Justin nodded in agreement. He’d always considered himself to be pretty strong willed, but he was nothing compared to Libby. And Clare was on another level completely if she and JC were anything to go by.

“She seems pretty sick this morning,” he said, the concern showing on his face. “I’ve told her to drink loads of water...”

Clare smiled fondly. He was such a worrier sometimes, but it was endearing to see his concern for Libby. It reminded Clare how deeply he felt for her friend. “I’ll take her out for lunch,” she said. “Make sure she eats something.”

“Thanks. We’ve got plans for dinner, so if you can keep an eye on her today…”

Clare sniggered. “You know, she’d hate overhearing this conversation right now. She already thinks we babysit her too much.”

Justin attempted a smirk but a slight frown remained on his face. “If last night is anything to go by then she needs more babysitting. Accepting drinks from strange men…” his voice trailed off as he shook his head sternly. “God…”

Clare rolled her eyes and chuckled. “You make it sound way worse than it was. It was a few drinks which we purchased from the bar and they paid for. Besides, they were more interested in me and Lisa than Libs.”

“Yeah, I heard about that.”

“Well then,” Clare said as a blush crossed her cheeks. He knew? And if so, who else had Libby told? “You can stop freaking out.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

"Okay, what's going on with you today?" Sara called to JC as he once again tripped over his feet. "Yesterday it was Justin and Lance and now you. Is something going on that I don't know about?"

"I think his mind is preoccupied," Justin said as JC shrugged at Sara and said nothing. He stared down at his feet and scuffed the toe of his trainer on the floor as Sara frowned at him in concern.  

Sara turned to Justin and raised an eyebrow. “Explain?”

“Giddy’s goin’ on a date tonight.”

Sara blinked and put her hands on her hips. “You have to be kidding.”

“It’s true,” Joey said from across the room. “Lis told me.”

Sara huffed. “I meant you have to be kidding that this is what’s stopping you from getting my choreography right. Come on, guys, this is serious! You wanna screw up on stage in front of ten thousand people? Can you not just focus for half an hour?”

Everyone except JC began to speak at once, each trying to justify the reasons behind their struggle with the steps but Sara didn’t want to hear it. She held her hands up in front of her as her aching brain screamed out for silence.

“Stop!” she shouted to be heard over them. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s take a break and meet back here in half an hour, agreed?” She glanced at her wrist watch and made a note of the time.

Each of the men nodded in agreement, except JC who was still lost in thought. Ever since Libby had mentioned Clare's date earlier that morning he'd been unable to think of anything else. And although he still hadn’t been able to get through to her, he’d convinced himself that it was only a matter of time. The very thought of her moving on without him had frightened him; it just wasn’t something he’d considered.

If she was doing this just to get back at him, to hurt him, then it was petty… but successful. He was jealous and growing worse by the hour.

Despite what Clare suspected, he hadn’t gone out of his way to hurt her. She’d been his best friend, and he’d never have done anything to deliberately upset her or cause her pain. Life had taken him on a detour that neither of them had expected; but he was back on the right path now and yet it seemed she’d completely closed off. Written him off, even. Was she really so over it that she was ready to start dating other men? She’d moved on and yet she still couldn’t even speak or look at him?

It made him feel sick. He couldn't bear the thought of her being with another man, even if it was only to have dinner and drinks. He was the one she should be dressing up to go out for the evening with. She should be wanting to spend time with him, not a stranger.

"Come on, man," Chris said gently as he placed a hand on JC's shoulder, bringing him back from his inner turmoil. "It's only one date."

"Is it?" JC asked him sullenly.

"Of course," Chris said with a good-natured laugh. "She’s only gonna be in Birmingham for a few nights and then we move on to London. And that’s ignoring the fact that she lives in the US now."

"And if she decides to move back here?"

"Why would she do that?" Chris asked. "She hated it over here, remember? That’s why she decided to move in the first place. She made that decision long before she met you and me. Do you really think she’d make a huge decision like that just because you two have fallen out? Come on!”

"She quit her job because of me," JC told him matter-of-factly, staring Chris down.

The smile tightened on Chris’ face and became more of a smirk. “Oh, yeah.” He’d forgotten about that.

~~~~~*~~~~~

JC burst into Clare and Libby's room just as Clare was getting herself ready in the bathroom for her date. She was startled to hear the door be thrown open so suddenly and she clutched a hand over her heart as she tried to recover from the shock.

Libby was having dinner with Justin in the restaurant downstairs and so Clare hadn't been expecting anyone to interrupt her. "What the hell?" she exclaimed in an alarmed voice as she stuck her head through the open doorway to glare at him. "Jeez, you scared me."

JC flicked the lock on the door before turning around to face her with a stony expression on his face. "We need to talk," He said firmly and Clare felt a twinge of panic in her stomach at the expression on his face.

He’s gonna try to explain again. And this time he’s not gonna let anyone interrupt. The tension built in her stomach until she almost wanted to laugh out loud. He was so stubborn that it was almost funny. Almost.

Clare narrowed her eyes and stomped forcefully towards the doorway. She reached a hand past his elbow to unlock the door.

“Don’t,” he told her as he reached out to place a hand over hers to stop her. “We have to talk about this Clare. No arguments.”  

No arguments, she thought with a snigger. As if.

“And we need the door locked for that?” She asked raising a questioning eyebrow but allowing him to push her hand away.

The door remained locked.

“I’m not letting you walk out again, throw me out or risk having someone come in and interrupt. Whether you like it or not, you’re going to listen until I’m finished. Understood?”

Clare stared at his serious blue eyes with her mouth open slightly and her eyes wide. She’d always loved it when he took charge, but now she didn’t know how to react. She couldn’t let him just bulldoze over her, but at the same time she was slightly relived that he was taking a stand. Deep in her heart she was just ready for it all to be over, even if it meant it would be the final death throe of their friendship.

She sucked in a deep breath and prayed that she’d be able to maintain her composure. Either way she couldn’t stay here, close enough that she could smell his familiar cologne. It was safer in the bathroom where she had some distance.

“You can talk,” she said before heading back across the room into the en–suite. “But I have a date to prepare for, so you’d better make it quick.”

JC let out an angry huff but refused to let her rile him. This was his chance, and he had to make it count.

"This whole situation with you not talking to me is totally unjustified," he said.

“Oh, it is, is it?” Clare kept her eyes fixed on her reflection in the mirror and leaned forward to make it easier to apply her mascara. She was determined not to look at him at all costs. His deep, piercing stare was already burnt into her memory.

“Yes.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

"How long do you think Clare will continue to shut JC out?" Chris asked his girlfriend as they lay together on Jamie’s bed watching a movie on cable TV. Jamie pondered the question for a moment before turning to meet his eyes. She smiled sadly and reached out to take his hand in hers.

“I dunno. Part of me is surprised it’s gone on this long, but then Clare's never had her heart broken before."

"What do you mean?"

Jamie smirked and rolled her eyes. “Exactly what it sounds like—JC broke her heart. I wouldn't blame her if she never spoke to him again." Her eyes flicked back to the TV, but Chris’ remained on her face as he absorbed her words.

"What? Why?"

"Come on, Chris. You know the answer to that. He led her on and then dumped her for another woman. And a slutty woman who treated him like crap at that. That's not very flattering for Clare."

"But they were never a couple!" he exclaimed, feeling the need to defend his friend. He didn’t understand why all the women seemed to keep forgetting this fact.

“But they nearly were,” she said. “He kissed her and then got back with his ex. How is she supposed to react? How would you have reacted?"

"He only got back with her because she told him she was pregnant."

"And he couldn't have been with Clare and still support the child?" Jamie asked, her voice taking on an accusing tone. She shrugged her shoulders in a way that said ‘there ya go’ causing Chris’ temper to flare. It irked him the way she acted as though she had all the answers.   

"That's one of my brothers you're talkin' about," he reminded her sharply.

Jamie met his eyes and raised an eyebrow at his tone. Were they really going to argue about this again? If he hadn’t wanted to hear her answer then he shouldn’t have raised the subject. She dropped his hand and sat upright.

"He's my friend, too," she reminded him with a frown. "You asked me, I'm answering."

"I didn't ask you to 'dis the guy!" Chris told her as he, too, sat upright.

"So naturally you'd expect me to agree with everything you say? You’d like that, would you?"

"Of course not, you know I love you for having your own mind. I just assumed that you'd see it from JC's perspective."

"And not from one of my best friend’s? I know what Clare's been through and how horrible it is. I'd support her no matter what happens between them."

"Well, JC talks to me. I know how much he's suffering, too."

They both sat there feeling resentful, staring at each other through narrowed eyes before realising that they’d reached an impasse.

Chris was first to break the awkward atmosphere, and he reached across to pull Jamie comically into his arms. She tried to maintain the moody expression on her face, but couldn't fight her laughter when he smirked at her and tickled her around the ribs to make her laugh. It never failed to break her bad mood.

"I am so glad that it's not us," he said as he reached forward to place a kiss on her lips.

Jamie smiled against his mouth. “Me too.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

JC stuffed his hands deep into his jean pockets and let out a sigh. He only had one chance to say what he needed to say, and as Clare was already only half listening—or so he thought—he knew that he had to be quick and precise.  

"Look, I've obviously prepared this massive speech to say, but seeing as you're barely listening to me, I'm just going to say what needs to be said however it comes out."

Clare said nothing, but risked a glance at him in the mirror as she put down her mascara and swapped it for eyeliner. She discreetly sucked in a breath and bit down hard on her tongue to prepare herself for whatever it was that he’d been desperate to tell her. She could feel her heart hammering away in her chest and the adrenaline surge through her veins.

Deep breaths, deep breaths. Keep calm…

"Me and Alyson are not together. We're not engaged, and she's not having my baby."

Silence.

Clare lifted the eyeliner to her lids and continued applying her makeup as though she hadn't heard him. Fortunately, he was far enough away that he couldn’t see that her hand was trembling, or that the line she was drawing was wobbly.

"Did you hear me?" he asked, stunned by her silence. He’d expected a reaction of some sort. Good or bad, but not this. Not… nothing.

"Yes. I heard you."

"And?"

"And what?"

JC's eyes bugged out of his head. There was no way that the Clare he knew would react to this news in such a dismissive way. Throw something at him? Yes. Scream and shout? Yes. Say nothing? No.

"Don't you have anything to say?" he asked her, his eyes desperately wide. He took a step forward to shorten the distance between them. Maybe she was just in shock?

Clare slowly put down the eyeliner and reached forward to brace her arms on the enamel sink. She sucked in a few calming breaths before turning her head to look at him. Her eyes were piercing and held a fire that JC hadn’t been expecting. He’d hoped that she’d be relieved by his news and, hopefully, happy. He hadn’t expected her to be even angrier than before, but that was the reaction he received. Her eyes shot fiery thunder bolts straight through him.

"Let me get this straight...” she said in a trembling voice, “you think that after four months of misery you can tell me that you’re no longer an item with your ex, and I'm supposed to just fall right back into your arms?"

JC stood there, stunned. "I made a mistake," he spluttered.

“A mistake,” she repeated with a bitter laugh. “I’ve never needed you more than during those months, JC, and you were gone. You were with her. I nearly lost my best friend. I needed you, and you didn’t care.”

“Of course I cared!”

“But you weren’t there. You dropped me for someone who could offer you a better time. You dismissed our two year friendship for a piece of ass, and you wonder why I’m hurt; why I’m angry, and why I can’t even look at you.”

"She told me she was pregnant!"

"Which she was?"

JC paused, and cringed as he admitted the words out loud. “It wasn’t mine.”

Again, Clare laughed bitterly. It wasn’t funny, in fact it made her want to cry, but somehow her tear ducts seemed to have been rewired to make her laugh instead of cry.

"So you'd have rather been with a deceiving, cheater of an ex-girlfriend than someone who actually loved you—albeit stupidly?"

"Clare, you knew I loved you… I told you I loved you."

"Which I presume you think will somehow make me feel better? You loved me, but not enough to be committed to me even before we were together. You still went off and had your fun, then decided to 'do the right thing' and tell me that you’d been seeing someone else—sorry, sleeping with someone else. If I remember rightly, you even let her be the one to tell me that you were engaged. Wow, that’s real considerate of you, JC.”

JC grimaced at Clare’s words. He couldn’t deny that everything she’d said was completely on target. She continued to stare him down, somehow finding the strength to tell him everything that she’d been holding in for so long.

"Don't get me wrong,” she said, “I'm glad to hear that you've finally seen the light. But I'm afraid that if you were expecting some big reunion between us then you're going to be disappointed."

JC dropped his eyes to the floor and let out a big sigh as his shoulders sagged. He felt completely drained. Despite trying again and again to get her to listen to him, he hadn’t really given much consideration to how she might react when he did. That had clearly been a mistake. He felt empty inside.

He realised that there was nothing left to say. Not tonight anyway. Hearing his actions replayed to him had sent a chill through his heart and he felt thoroughly ashamed of his actions. Was it too late? Would she ever be able to forgive him? He’d come a long way tonight, but clearly there was still a long way to go. He only hoped that he had the strength to get them there. 

~~~~~*~~~~~