The next morning, I was woken up by loud knocks on the door. Groggily, I covered my head under the sheets and turned to the side opposite the door. Going back to sleep last night was difficult granted that I fell asleep the whole day yesterday with Joey being the only other person in the room. I couldn’t believe how one would be able to sleep with their celebrity crush in the room. But I did it anyway.

The knocking got louder.

“Go away, Karyn.”

The knocking continued.

“Leave me alone, Karyn. I’m still mad at you for not telling me about Joey.”

Still, the knocking continued.

That’s it. I got up angrily and put on my robe and headed towards the door. I swung it open only to find Joey on the other side. My jaw dropped as I closed the front of my robe and yanked on the belt for good measure.

He was surprised also, probably because he wasn’t expecting to see that much of me. “Oh shit. I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t see much.” He apologized while covering his eyes with one of his hands.

“You could’ve at least responded when I called you Karyn twice. You can uncover your eyes now, I’ve covered up.” I rolled my eyes, a little annoyed.

He removed his hand to reveal his amazing brown eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t know what to say. Come on, there’s breakf—wooah!”

His gaze was focused behind me. I was confused at first until I realized what he was looking at. I slammed the door and locked it.

“Oh God!” I screamed. He saw my posters on the wall. This was the top of it, my embarrassment was through the roof.

I heard him laughing behind the door. “It’s okay, Jaz. It’s not like I’m unaware that my face is being sold in stores.”

I didn’t say anything.

“You know, it’s funny cause Karyn told me how much you were a fan but she neglected to tell me how insane you were.” He was still laughing.

Tears started to fall. I still didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say.

“Jaz? Jaz, come on. It’s honestly no big deal. You know I’m just joking.”

He tried to open the door but failed since I had locked it. He started to knock again. “Jaz, please open the door. I’m sorry.”

I wiped my tears as best as I could and opened the door. “You know how hard it is try and be cool when you’re being all Mr. *NSYNC star over here?”

He raised his hands to cradle my face and wiped the remaining tears off of my face. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

I still didn’t know what to say but his touch admittedly made me feel so much better.

“Hey Joey, it’s not even noon yet and you’ve already made a girl cry!” A voice from the end of the hallway announced.

The tall blonde walked over to us and stuck his tongue out at Joey while Joey did the same. Then he turned to meet and stuck his right hand out, “Hi, I’m L—“

“Lance.” I finished as I shook his hand.

He smiled and gave me a hug. He smelled of syrup and waffles. “I apologize for my friend’s behavior. But I guess it’s a good thing you’re crying because now it doesn’t make what he woke up so early to do seem all that weird anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, looking back at Joey.

He shrugged, pretending to not know what Lance was talking about.

“Come on, JC’s itching to leave.” Lance said, turning around to lead us to the kitchen.

“JC’s here too?” I whispered to Joey.

My jaw dropped at what I saw when we got to the kitchen. JC was setting down a bowl of fruit on the dining table that was covered in all sorts of food: Eggs, waffles, and sausages. After wiping off his hands, he turned to us and waved.

“Hey, I overheard a little of what was happening back there so I’m guessing I don’t need to introduce myself.” He grinned. He was a lot handsomer in person.

JC walked over to the couch where Karyn was sitting and put his arm around her as he kissed her forehead. Looks like they hit it off just fine.

“Hey, girl.” Karyn waved, smugly.

“What’s going on?” I asked, ignoring her greeting.

Lance stepped in, “Joey woke all of us up to get all this food and bring it over here. I’ve never seen him cook so much. I wish he’d do this for us.”

I looked at Joey and he shrugged again.

“Someone must really like you,” Karyn joked.

“Alright, guys. Don’t you all have to be somewhere?”

“We do, actually.” JC quickly stood up, pulling Karyn with him.

“Drop me off at the hotel first, I want to sleep.” Lance said walking over to the front door. “Have fun, kiddos. We’ll see you later.”

With that, I watched them file out the door leaving me to be alone with Joey again.

“Come here.” Joey called over from the dining table.

The food looked delicious. I licked my lips, eyeing each plate and trying to decide what to eat first. Joey made the decision for me as he pulled out the seat in front of the waffles. I took a seat and saw that the waffles were covered in cinnamon and whipped cream.

“You see all that cinnamon?” He pointed out.

“Yeah?”

“It’s supposed to be sand.”

“Sand?”

“Mhm, it’s a Sandy Eggo!” He exclaimed while doing jazz hands. “You know, since you’re from San Diego? Get it?”

I tried to hold in my laughter as I took a bite but I couldn’t help it. He was pleased to see that his stupid joke made me nearly choke on the waffle.

“So what’s the occasion for all this?” I asked after washing the food down with a glass of milk.

“No reason.”

I looked at him sternly, “You sure?”

“You told me you like to have this stuff for breakfast. That’s it.”

I decided to drop the interrogation knowing that he probably wasn’t going to tell me. Also because the food was so good I wanted to focus on eating it. “Thank you,” I managed to say in between bites.

“Are you excited for tonight?” he asked.

“Well, I was… but you’re here now so that takes away from the excitement.”

He smiled, “You were excited to see me?”

“Duh.”

“Why? You’ve got me all over your walls.” He teased.

Annoyed and embarrassed, I pick up an orange from the bowl of fruit JC had put on the table earlier and threw it at him.

“Ow! Okay, I’m sorry. No need to get all violent. Is this how you treat your God?” He got up and looked at me mischievously.

“Shut up!” I threw another fruit at him but this time he wasn’t going to just stand there and do nothing.

He picked up a banana and tossed it. Pretty soon, syrup, whipped cream, waffles, and all sorts of breakfast food and dessert was stuck in our hair, painted on the walls, and tattooed onto our clothes.

“Look at what you’ve done.” I frowned, noticing how big of a mess it was.

“Me? You threw first!” He licked a part of his finger that had strawberry syrup on it, making my center feel twirly. I bit my lip, looking away from him.

“Come on, let’s clean this up.”

We spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon scrubbing at stains on the walls and picking food off ourselves that we didn’t realize that it was almost time to head to their hotel for the party.

“Damn, I should shower.”

“Want me to come with?” He smirked.

Part of me wanted to say yes but I knew that wasn’t the way to start whatever it was that Joey and I may or may not get into. I didn’t want to take the chance. I looked at him and I could see some of the strawberry syrup that was barely noticeable in his already red hair.

“No, but I’ll be quick. You need to clean up too. But you don’t have any clothes.”

He raised an eyebrow as if I had said something funny. “It’s alright. It’s mostly just my shirt, my jeans are black anyway. I’ll change when we get back to the hotel.”

“Alright.” I started walking back to my room, thinking about his question to come with me. It wasn’t fair how he teased me like that.

I yanked my belt and let my robe open a little so that the sleeve would fall off my shoulder a bit. I heard a soft groan behind me so I knew that I got him back.

Back at my room, I picked out a nice blue blouse, black leggings, and black boots to wear for the party. It was just going to be us 5 so I figured that I didn’t have to wear something that implied that I wanted a guy to come up to me. Plus, I was going to be with Joey. He was the only guy that I wanted to look good for and I don’t think he really cares about what I wear.

I walked back out and into the bathroom, stopping momentarily to look at Joey who was concentrated on finishing up the cleaning in the kitchen.

In the shower, it suddenly occurred to me that the breakfast idea could have been Karyn’s. Leaving us alone yesterday was definitely one of her plans so this morning could have also been one, and she even got Lance and JC to help out. I was a little disappointed to think so because that meant that it wasn’t Joey who thought of it. It would’ve been a really nice gesture.

Joey was done cleaning by the time I had finished taking a shower and changing clothes. As soon as he saw me, he stood up and started whistling. “You look really good.”

I didn’t try to hide my happiness so I curtsied and thanked him. “Shower is free. I put a towel in there for you.”

He walked down the hallway and as I took a seat on the couch he yelled, “Damn, how many posters do you have in here?!”

“Out!” I groaned.

I heard the door shut and the shower start. The kitchen was spotless. He did a good job cleaning up the last few bits. Thinking about this morning made my heart skip a beat. Just a few days ago, I was too scared to talk to him while today, I was comfortable enough to be throwing food.

I couldn’t help but wonder about his flirting, though. I knew he was the one in the group who was supposed to be Flirty Spice but how could I tell if he was being for real? I knew that his kindness was genuine but in terms of emotional relaying, I wasn’t so sure.

“Man, it feels good to be clean.” He walked into the living room with only jeans on, rubbing his hair with the towel. His body was glistening with the remaining drops of water he had yet to wipe off.

I let out a soft moan, hoped to God that it was quiet enough, then quickly turned away when I saw that he started to wipe off his body. He took a seat next to me afterwards. The smell of my Peach Passion and Orange Citrus soap was radiating off of him. I had to force myself to not lean in and smell him more.

“Where’s your shirt?” I asked, staring straight ahead.

“I left it drying on the sink in the bathroom. I hope that’s cool with you.”

I could see him looking at me in my peripherals so it made me feel like the side of my body he was on was burning. “I’ll call a cab so we can get to the hotel.” I picked up the phone and asked for a cab to pick us up.

After getting off the phone, it was back to the quiet, awkward situation we’ve been having a lot of.

“Bunny slippers.” He blurted out.

“What?” I asked, suddenly looking at him. I regretted it soon enough because I couldn’t help but glance over his shirtless body.

“I wear bunny slippers when I’m relaxing by myself or with the guys.”

“Oh… kay? Why are you telling me this?”

“I want you to know that I’m not one of those celebrity guys who try to spend every minute of every day caring about how they look.”

“Huh. Why do you want me to know?”

“Your opinion’s important to me.” He expressed candidly.

Our eyes locked and it seemed like we didn’t say anything for a few minutes until he blurted out another piece of information, “I hate groupies.”

“Oh really?” I gave up not trying to look at him and took this as an opportunity to try and remember what he looked like shirtless.

“Yeah. I love my fans, of course. But I just hate when some girls just throw themselves at me. Yes, they’re pretty and all but I think it’s a turn off when they think I’ll sleep with anything that walks.” He shivered.

“That’s good to know,” I smiled.

Suddenly we heard a honk outside. It must’ve been the cab. As we walked out the door, I realized that this was going to be the second time I was going to be out in public with him and the first time that I was going to be partying with him.

A streak of nervousness shot right through me as we got into the cab.

*******

“Woah there, tiger. Where’s your shirt?” Lance and Karyn said in unison as we walked into the hotel suite.

My eyes widened as I saw that there was definitely more than just us 5 in the room. I didn’t know any of these people.

“It got a little messy back at the apartment.” Joey explained, winking at me.

“Ooh, naughty.” Karyn giggled.

“It’s not like that.” I said, brushing it off. “I thought it was just going to be us.”

“Johnny tried to surprise us. He said that we should be having fun and partying so here it is.” Lance groaned.

“Damn, how is it going to be fun if we’re going to spend the rest of the night trying to get acquainted with these people?” Joey frowned.

“Karyn, can I talk to you?” I said, pulling her to the side.

“What’s up?”

“I think I’ve forgiven you about not telling me about Joey. But I honestly don’t know where this is going between us.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve been telling him to do a few things. I’m sure you guys will kick it off tonight.”

“I don’t want things to get weird between us if it doesn’t work out.”

“Joey’s not one to break up friendships over spilled milk. It’ll be fine.”

Just then, JC came out of nowhere and kissed Karyn on the cheek. “Hey babe, let’s go get a drink.”

“See you, Jasmine.”

I turned around and saw Lance waving his arm, motioning for me to join him across the room. Squeezing my way through the dancing strangers, it took me a while to finally get to him.

“Care for a drink? It’s Sangria.” He offered.

“Thanks. Where’s Joey?”

“He’s in the bathroom, changing his clothes.”

I nodded and took a sip of my drink.

“He’s really fond of you. I’ve never seen him work so hard to make anyone breakfast before.” Lance laughed, also taking a sip of his Sangria.

“Can you be honest with me?”

Lance raised his eyebrows. “What’s up?”

I let out a deep breath, trying to figure out how to phrase my question. “Do you think he’s really into me or do you think he’s just being… Joey?”

Lance chuckled. “I haven’t seen you two enough to really answer that question.”

“But does he say anything about what he feels? Like this morning, when he got you guys to do all that stuff. Didn’t he say anything at all?”

He took another sip of his drink, put the glass down, and held my hands. “Joey’s not the type of guy to really tell us things like that. I think there’s still a lot you need to learn about him before you start freaking out about your status. Come on, you need to relax. Let’s dance.”

He led me towards the middle of the room and coerced me to dance with him. I wanted to ask more but I figured that Lance was going to avoid every question I had so I danced along with him. We danced to so many songs that I nearly fell a few times. Eventually, I became too tired to keep up with Lance that he had to follow me to the drinks to make sure I wasn’t going to pass out.

“You were pretty crazy back there.” Lance laughed.

“Thanks, you weren’t so bad yourself.” I managed to say while trying to catch my breath.

Lance poured me a drink. “I’ll bet Joey was getting jealous.”

Suddenly, I realized that I hadn’t seen Joey all night. “Where is he, actually?”

Lance and I searched the suite for a guy with flame-red hair but we couldn’t find him anywhere.

“That’s weird, I just saw him a while ago.” Lance said, still eyeing the crowd. “Wait, there!”

He pointed at Joey’s crimson locks but we couldn’t see what he was doing with all the people in the way. I thanked Lance and made my way through the crowd to Joey. As I came closer, I saw that Joey was leaning against the wall, a beer in one hand, and a brunette in another. She was leaning against him, she might as well should have been glued to him.

The tip of her finger traced the border of his facial hair while they spoke. Joey looked smug, repeatedly taking sips from his beer. The brunette was leaning in closer, barely listening to what he was saying. They were both laughing, enjoying each other’s company as I stood there, frozen, feeling sick to my stomach.

I didn’t want her so close to him. Scenarios played through my head where I would yank her off of him, telling her to fuck off, then I would take him outside and never let him go. I don’t know why I was feeling this way. Joey and I weren’t anything. We’re just friends. I barely met him two days ago so I had no right to feel this way while the girl had all the right in the world to be that close to him. Touching him in ways that I wish I could.

When I finally made up my mind to turn back and leave, the song changed to I Want You Back and the crowd went wild. Jumping up and down and shoving each other. I tried to make my way to the door but was taken aback by the wave of dancers. I lost my footing and stumbled backwards onto the floor and hit my head against the wall.

“Jasmine!” I heard Joey yell. “Are you alright?!”

He helped me up while the girl looked at me irritatingly. “I’m fine,” I said.

“Are you sure? I’ll go get some ice.”

I watched him run off to the fridge to grab some ice. I couldn't wait for him to come back, I wanted to go home. I was out the door before he could return. There was no way I could explain to him what I was feeling when I saw that girl on him and I was nowhere near ready to try and clarify it for him.