A few minutes later, Jenna heard the curtain open. She locked eyes with Kelly, who was wide eyed and jittery.

“You’d think YOU just had a seizure,” Jenna laughed. 

“I… on the way to see you… I saw, almost ran into…”

Yup, I know who she saw…

“Your dream boat was here, Jenna!”

“You’re going to need to clarify…”

“JC from *NSYNC was here!”

“Ok, hang on.  I was a Justin girl, still am…”

“You love all the guys, you can’t deny you thought he was hot even back then.”

“I mean, I have eyes,” Jenna laughed. “He was too old for me then, he was 23 when I was 16…”

“He’s still older than you, but that doesn’t make a difference.  Did you get to see him?  I wonder why he was here… You don’t think something happened to Jen, or God forbid, Justin??”

“I’m sure it was nothing.  I don't think this hospital is in any of their insurance networks.  Shit, I don’t even have medical coverage right now, how am I gonna pay for this?”

“Being unemployed, you might qualify for Medi-Cal.  Just let them know you need to apply.”

“I hope I’m approved quickly, I’m running out of my meds.”

“The generic isn’t that expensive, I can help cover that.”

“Kelly, I’m gonna have to move out. Even with Unemployment, I won’t have enough for rent…”

“We’ll figure things out,” Kelly said.

Jenna knew she’d have to call JC at some point, the question was why and for what.

“So what happened? We talked on the phone about you coming home, and then an hour later I get a call saying you’re here…”

“I was so stressed about everything that not even listening to *NSYNC was helping me feel better. Next thing I know, I’m here.  Someone saw my accident, called 911 and checked on me, made sure I was ok. They left a few minutes before you got here.”

“Please tell me it was a handsome guy, you need to get laid…”

“Pretty sure he has a girlfriend,” Jenna replied. 

“You talked to him?  Was he cute??”

“Yes, very hot.  The kind that would definitely already be with someone else.  Definitely not someone like me.”

“You’re beautiful, Jenna.  You need to own it.”

“I’m a redhead, there’s still plenty of people that have a fear of us, for some reason. Even Apple hasn’t added emojis for people with red hair yet… I should know, I signed the petition to have them add one.”

“I signed that too, you went on about it for a couple days…”

“Either way, I’m not his type.  Unemployed without a car isn’t a good look, either.”

“You talked to him, right? Thanked him?”

“Yeah. He gave me his number if I needed anything…”

“Like a date?” Kelly smiled. 

“Like a ride to an interview…. His girlfriend called before he left. I could tell by the ringtone.  Nothing is ever going to happen.”

“Maybe that’s your problem, in the interviews.  You have great answers but are so nervous you don’t come across as confident.  You’ve been single for way too long, maybe a date or two would get your confidence going…”

“Yeah, cuz that’s the answer to all my problems.  Find a man so I won’t need to work and shit.  You’re sounding like my grandmother, rest her soul.”

“Not meaning it like that, though if he’s rich, why not?  Be his trophy wife.”

“You know I’d still teach, at least sub.  I do it because I love it, not because of the money.  Though right now, having money would be nice…”

Her phone vibrated on the stand.  SHe looked at it, a soft smile spreading across her face.

Hopefully you’re in good hands.  Seriously, if you need ANYTHING, let me know.  Are they keeping you overnight?

“Ooh, what’s got you suddenly smiling?”

“Just him, the guy.  Checking up on me.”

“I’d say his girlfriend is gonna be an ex soon enough…”

“Doubtful, she’s beautiful, like… gorgeous…”

“You saw a picture?”

“Yeah,” she lied.  There was no way Kelly would react normally to JC Chasez being her guardian angel.  Maybe she’d find out eventually, but right now, she’d be freaking out, asking him for all kinds of things just because he offered.

She pressed the call button, waiting for a nurse to come by.  “Do you need something?”

“Can you see if they’re keeping me overnight or not?  I’d like to go home if I can…”

“Sure, let me have the doctor talk to you.”  The nurse went off, Jenna curious on how long it would take.  She was sure it had already been a couple hours since the accident, her interview had been before lunch time.  She looked at her phone, seeing it was almost 6.

“Kelly, you really waited this long to come see me? You weren’t freaking out or anything?”

“I mean, I was a little but I thought maybe you needed a little space before coming home and decompressing with me.  Then once I heard from the hospital I headed over.”

Her ER doctor came to her bed. “You were looking for me?”

“Am I staying for observation, or will I be getting discharged?”

“You’re doing better now, have a ride home, though I admittedly thought your boyfriend would be doing that particular task…”

“Boyfriend?” Kelly wondered, Jenna giving her a look.

“I see no reason to keep you overnight. We’ll start on discharge paperwork and get you on your way, Ms. Pollard…”

Kelly waited until the doctor walked around a corner, looking back at Jenna. “Care to explain?”

“The nurse up in the waiting room of the ER said he was my boyfriend so they’d let him in to see me. It’s not like it’s the 90s anymore and you can just waltz right into a hospital room, especially in an ER post COVID… This isn’t While You Were Sleeping. I know I’m no Sandra Bullock…”

“But is he your Bill Pullman?”

“It’s not gonna happen, Kelly…”

“He pretended to be your boyfriend to check on you.  This SCREAMS romance…”

“It really doesn’t.  He was just a nice guy that wanted to make sure I was ok.  Just a random Good Samaritan…”

She looked at her phone.  I’m being discharged as we speak.  It might be a bit, but I won’t be at the hospital tonight.  That’s a relief.

You want dinner?  I can order something for you…

Wouldn’t I need to give you my address?

Smart one, you are.  It would help so they aren’t just driving around, yeah…  What do you like?

We were supposed to do pizza and wine when I got back, before everything.  I won’t be having wine for a while, just in case, but pizza sounds good still…  There’s the Koreantown Pizza place near us.

Ok, we are going there sometime, that sounds AMAZING!

Jenna smiled as she saw his latest text.  The idea of having pizza with JC Chasez was a little hard to believe, but it made her smile.

“Good Samaritan?” Kelly asked.

“Yeah.  He wants to get us dinner.”

“Oooh, Pepperoni Pizza Company?  The usual?”

Jenna nodded.  Pepperoni Pizza Company, a No Pepperoni and a Sausage and Fennel.  Address is 3540 WIlshire Blvd, Apartment 3C.

No pepperoni pizza?  You mean, cheese?

I’m just telling you what’s on their menu, but yes.

You got it.

Pun intended? She smiled, quite sure he had done that unintentionally.

What?  Oh.  Haha.  No, not intended.  Just let me know when you’re leaving and I’ll place the order.

It’ll be a while, as much as they need the room, they can still take a while with paperwork.

On cue, a nurse came over with her discharge papers, going over her next steps of care.  All things that she knew, things she had been doing, reminding her that she’s not allowed to drive for at least 3 months.

So, they just gave me my papers, but it’ll still take a bit to get home.Maybe wait another 20-30 minutes to get home, settle in a bit.  You don’t have to do this, JC…

It’s the least I can do, you’ve had a terrible day.

I must say, being saved by JC Chasez made it a hell of a lot better.  I owe you in ways I know I can never repay.  

You owe me nothing beyond taking care of yourself.  Get home and enjoy the pizza later.

Jenna put her phone down, Kelly having a look on her face.  “Awfully long text chat for someone you don’t stand a chance with.”

“Just giving him the update that I am discharged and to give us time to get home before he orders the pizza.  Nothing more than that.”

“You forget I know your PIN to unlock your phone, I can look at your texts while you’re asleep tonight.”

“And now you just talked your way into me changing my PIN so that won’t happen.”

“Ok, I’ve made that joke before and you’ve just laughed it off.  You really don’t want me to see what you’re texting this guy.  Something is up and you’re keeping it from me.  Oh god, you weren’t saved by one of my exes, were you?”

Jenna laughed.  “Definitely not one of your exes.  If so, you’ve been holding out on me…”

“Seriously, though, you don’t want me to see who it is, what you’re saying to each other?”

“Because you’ll make it this big thing, and get these ideas in your head…”

“This guy could have left you on the side of the road, Jenna…”

“I ended up in a 7Eleven parking lot, someone eventually would have called 911…”

“Or left you thinking you were a drunk or homeless person…”

“That crashed my car into a light pole?”

“Stranger things have happened, this IS LA, for crying out loud.  I’m still curious why JC was here, but I know you didn’t see him.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because you would have ripped out the IVs, jumped out of bed, and ran down the hallway just for a glimpse of that man.”

“I told you, I’m a Justin girl,” Jenna laughed.

“But he’s the unicorn.  If JC is somewhere, you are lucky to be in his presence.”

“Even with IVs and bruises on me?”

“He’d still look at you and tell you how beautiful you look.”

“See, that shit right there is why I’m not telling you about who I’m texting.  Romanticizing it when the guy saw the accident, did what he could, and made sure I was ok after.  That’s it, the end.”

She wished JC had done even half of what Kelly had suggested.  To hear him call her beautiful would have been too much.  It was enough he rescued her, saving her life, then holding her hand, listening to her.  But she knew it was out of concern, not anything romantic.  He had Jen, and she was no competition for a woman like that.  Sexy, important, driven, everything she felt she wasn’t.