July 14, 2002 (Orlando, Florida)

After spending the majority of her week trying to come up with a good way to tell Justin that she'd be joining him once again on tour the following week, Cathy couldn't help but become surprised when the younger man beat her to the punch right before she could do so. "I talked to Lance this morning and he said that your boss wants you to stay on tour with us till the end of it."

I guess Rebecca's not the only one who hasn't realized yet that I like to wait until the last minute to do things.

With that thought in mind, Cathy quickly replied: "Yeah, I was going to talk to you about that last night when you got back from the venue, but you looked like you were about to die from exhaustion, so I let you."

After chuckling slightly at the comment, Justin made a right turn onto the street that Cathy's apartment complex was on and then afterwards replied: "I really appreciate that....but is there any reason why he said he wanted you to stay on the tour?"

All right, Cathy, just remember what Lance told you to say and we're home free.

"He mentioned something about wanting to get a better grasp on the relationship between you and Kayla. And also, wanting to make sure that you can really handle touring and raising a child at the same time...but I think he's just being overly cautious as usual. So, you don't really have anything to worry about."

While taking her big white lie as the truth, Justin commented that it seemed like her and her boss had the same ideas in mind when it came to kids and that he--like Cathy--probably wanted to make sure that every abandoned child had a good family to go home to at the end of the day.

Not wanting to even think that her and her boss had the same beliefs in mind when it came to kids caused Cathy to inwardly reply, If you say so, before turning her attention towards the passenger side window; raising both eyebrows in surprise when she noticed her apartment building up ahead. "Oh my god!"

"What...? What's wrong?" Justin asked, while pulling up to the curb outside of her apartment.

When not getting anything but a disbelieving "I can't believe he actually did it" comment in response, Justin followed the older woman's gaze outside his car--and up four stories--to where someone had placed a big pink banner on top of their balcony, with the words: "Welcome home, Miss. Jones...Happy twenty-fourth birthday," painted on it.

"Well, someone in your family is a little festive....why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?"

After quickly unbuckling her seat-belt and commenting that no one in her family was--as Justin called it--festive, Cathy absentmindedly replied: "I don't really like to make a big deal about it.....while growing up, Robert and I felt lucky if our foster parents remembered our names, let alone our ages, so neither one of us really takes our birthdays into consideration. We both just see it as another day on God's green earth--unlike my brother's boyfriend Ryan who sees it as a day for us to step outside of our little small box and do something wild and crazy just for fun."

Even though Justin wanted to ask Cathy what her idea of wild and crazy was, the feeling of a set of eyes on him caused him to instead respond back with: "Is it just me or do you get the feeling that we're being watched?"

Figuring he was probably right, Cathy quickly turned her head towards her apartment's balcony window just in time to see her brother and his boyfriend quickly ducking down to the floor. "I guess that's there silent way of telling me it's time to come inside."

"Very discreet." Justin jokingly commented, before making his way outside of the car--getting Cathy's bags out of the trunk--and then afterwards asking: "Do you need any help making your way up the stairs?"

Knowing that Kayla--who was back at Justin's with Mike--was probably almost awake now and Robert and Ryan were probably just waiting for her to bring Justin upstairs--so they could interrogate him--caused Cathy to quickly respond back that she was fine. "But thanks for the offer."

"Don't mention it." Justin commented, before saying that he'd see her later and getting back into his car; afterwards speeding off just as quickly as he had sped up to the place.

One day that boy is going to get pulled over by a cop. And knowing with his luck....they'll probably just ask him for an autograph instead of his license and registration number.

With that being her last thought, Cathy playfully rolled her eyes and then swiftly made her way towards her apartment building.

After opening the main door and taking the elevator up four floors, she was only somewhat surprised when--after opening the door to her apartment--she was met with Ryan and Robert lying on the sofa couch; pretending like they hadn't been spying on her a couple of minutes before.

"Cat, you're home early! I thought your plane didn't get in until eleven."

I don't even know why they bother lying...they both know there worse than me at it.

With that thought in mind, Cathy playfully rolled her eyes at the two men in front of her and then afterwards replied: "Nice try Ry, but Justin and I both saw you two spying on us outside."

After waiting until Cathy had put her bags down on the floor beside the couch to give her a welcome home hug, Ryan shot her a playful glare while replying: "I'll have you know, we weren't spying! We were just trying to see if Mr. thrustin-Justin is as cute in person as he is on TV.....well, atleast that's my excuse. We both know that your brother was just being nosey as usual."

While slightly laughing at the comment and at the way her brother replied that he was not being nosey--while scooting over slightly so her and Ryan could both have some room to sit down on the couch--Cathy couldn't help but inwardly think to herself: It's so good to finally be home.

A thought which she somewhat reconsidered when Robert spoke up again.

"So, what...? Your little friend thought he was too good to help you upstairs with your bags?"

Knowing that would be one of the first things out of her brother's mouth when she got home caused Cathy to open her mouth to tell him that Justin had offered to help her with her bags, but she'd turned him down. But unfortunately before she could do so, Ryan cut in with: "Don't pay him any mind, he's just a little bit bitter because I wouldn't let him help me make your welcome home sign."

Not wanting anyone to think that that was the reason why he was--as Ryan called him--bitter, Robert quickly replied: "No, I'm relieved about that...I don't want anybody giving me credit for that thing out there." A statement which caused Cathy to slightly laugh, but then quickly sober up as Ryan hit her with a small glare. "Sorry!"

"As you should be..." Ryan quickly responded back, before taking a small sip out of the sprite can in front of him and then afterwards--as if nothing had happened--genuinely smiling while saying: "So...don't keep us waiting. How was your trip?"

You mean: before or after I got into a fist-fight with the spawn of Satan?

Knowing that would cause more than a bit of confusion--given the fact that she hadn't told Robert or Ryan about the Anna situation, yet--caused Cathy to quickly reply: "It was interesting, to say the least. I met a lot of really nice people and got to visit a couple of very interesting places---and the guys were more than accepting of the fact that I was there; which made my job a whole lot easier, if you know what I mean."

Understanding exactly what she meant caused Ryan to say just that and then afterwards continue with: "We're just glad you had fun!"

A comment which Robert surprisingly enough agreed with. "But now that you're back home, everything can finally go back to normal again."

Figures their had to be a second part to that statement....I just wonder what he's going to think when I tell him the news.

With that thought in mind, Cathy--figuring their was no better time than the present to tell them--let out a low sigh before reluctantly saying: "Actually since you brought it up...there's something that I wanted to talk to the both of you about."

"Uh-Oh!"

Any other day, Cathy probably would've laughed at Ryan's comment, but given the fact that her brother was now hitting her with a raised eyebrow, she figured this wouldn't be a good time to even try and crack a smile.

"All right...we're listening. What's going on?"

Knowing that both Ryan and Robert were now expecting the worse to come out of her mouth, Cathy--decided to not even bother beating around the bush--and quickly replied: "I'm going back on tour with them Wednesday."

"What?"

Figuring that would be Robert's first response, Cathy quickly continued on before the younger man could say something that they both knew he'd regret later on: "Wait, before you get mad, just let me explain..."

With that being said, Cathy swiftly started the story from the beginning.

She told them about how she went to Keith's office asking him if she could just join Justin on tour for the next two months instead of flying out to see him every two weeks; causing Keith to give her his permission and also her ending contract, in return. Then she told them about how, after waiting a while, she told one of her close friends on the tour--who took her to see Lance; who had fortunately enough taught himself how to read contracts after getting a bum deal in the beginning of the guy's career. And then she finished the story by telling them about how she had told Justin that Keith wanted her to stay on the tour longer; just so she could prolong the inevitable of her getting fired, and hopefully, build a good wrongful termination case against the bastard (who they all knew as Mr. Murphy).

After she was finished, a good fifteen minutes later, Cathy wasn't that surprised when the first comment out of Robert's mouth was:

"Why didn't you tell me any of this before..? I could've already found you a lawyer, gotten you a court date, and all of those little friends that you made out on the tour wouldn't have been any of the wiser."

Even though Cathy knew that he was right and that she should have told her brother sooner, she couldn't help but defend herself: "I was going to tell you after Keith gave me the contract, but then you kept going on and on about how I shouldn't take the job--and how it was only going to hurt me in the long run--that I decided I wanted to prove you wrong. And then, I wasn't really even sure if Keith had put anything in my contract that would cause this to happen, so I didn't want to get you all upset over nothing."

After taking a second to ask if Cathy was actually serious or not, Robert angrily stood up and replied: "For God's sake Cathy, how oblivious can you be...? Of course Keith was going to put a clause in your contract. You said so yourself that he's been trying for months to find a way to get you fired. So, what made you think that he wouldn't try and find a way for you not to be able to get another job in social services.....? That's just the kind of guy he is!"

Very true...I should've known better.

Interestingly enough, before Cathy could tell Robert that said thought, Robert quickly threw his hands up in the air and continued with: "But you know what..? I honestly don't even know why I bother telling you all of this because as you just said: you do things just to prove me wrong....so, you know what I'm going to do from now on? I'm just not going to say another word about this or any other little mess that you get yourself into. That way, you wont find a need to go out and do something stupid--just to prove me wrong--and I wont have to spend another five minutes of my life arguing with you--just so you can see how stupid you're being. That's exactly what I'm going do...I'm done!"

Without even bothering to wait and see if Cathy was going to say anything in return, Robert angrily made his way out of the living room and towards the back of the apartment; slamming the door to his room as soon as he got to it.

Well, that went a lot better then I expected it to.

Feeling a set of eyes on her, Cathy slowly met Ryan's worried filled gaze and then--after a brief second of wondering if she really wanted to know the answer to it--she outwardly asked if Robert hated her or not; a question which Ryan immediately shot down.

"Of course not, Cat. He loves you.....! He's just worried that you don't need him around anymore."

What?

Not expecting that answer to come out of the younger man's mouth caused Cathy to furrow her eyebrows in confusion, before quickly asking: "What do you mean he's worried that I don't need him around anymore?"

Knowing that he had probably said too much already, Ryan let out a small sigh before checking to see if the door to Robert's room was still closed. Then after seeing that it was, he continued with: "All right, don't tell him I told you this, but....for the last couple of months, Robert's been sort of feeling a little down in the dumps. He thinks that because of what happened to you last year, you are starting to become a totally different person now and you and him are growing miles and miles apart--and he doesn't know how to stop it."

Huh?

Noticing the look of confusion on Cathy's face, Ryan continued with: "It's kind of hard to explain, but from what I've gathered: up until a year ago--when you had the miscarriage--Robert and you basically told one another everything that was going on in each other's lives. But then after the whole Keith thing, you didn't really want to talk about it, so you threw yourself into your work; which Robert was okay with, at first. That is, until recently, when he discovered that you might be moving on with your life but still not including him into any of it....you get what I'm saying?"

I think so.. Cathy inwardly replied, before outwardly saying everything that Ryan had just told her and then afterwards summing it up with: "And the reason why he just yelled at me now is because I told two people--that I have only known for a couple months--something, not only important, but something that I hadn't even tried to tell him yet; which makes him feel like we're just growing that much further apart that much faster?"

Even though it wasn't really something to get excited over, Ryan couldn't help but quickly clasp his hands together while replying: "Exactly! Now, you just have to go and talk to him about it."

A feat which was probably going to be easier said than done.

How can I talk to him about this when I never even knew I was doing it to him.....? I can't believe he didn't say anything about it to me--but knowing me, I probably wouldn't even have listened if he had.

Noticing the far away expression on the older woman's face caused Ryan to quickly snap his fingers in the air; getting her attention.

"Sorry." Cathy replied, before standing up--with a somewhat guilty expression on her face--and quickly replying: "I think I'm going to go unpack."

Hopefully by the time I'm done, Robert will be out of his room and ready to listen to about two-hundred of my apologizes.

Knowing that this was probably a lot to take in right now, Ryan quickly nodded his head in understanding before quietly watching on as the woman in front of him quickly picked up her luggage off the floor and hesitantly made her way towards her room--stopping only for a half a second outside Robert's door before continuing down the hallway again.

Afterwards, Ryan turned his attention back to the magazine he had been reading before his boyfriend's sister had came in. And after turning back to the page he had been previously viewing, he outwardly retorted:

"I knew I should've listened to my mother when she said those Jones kids were crazy."

(Three p.m.)

After spending the rest of the morning unpacking two months worth of clothing and then repacking two months worth of clothing, Cathy finally gave into her stomach's plea of food and made her way towards the kitchen; where interestingly enough Robert was, at the moment, making himself a sandwich.

Why am I not that surprised to find him in here?

She had pretty much been holing herself up in her room ever since she'd dropped the bomb on her brother that she'd be going back on tour Wednesday. And the fact that as soon as she left her room, she ran into Robert, caused a small smirk to play across Cathy's face. I guess it's true what they say....God does work in mysterious ways.

With that thought in mind, Cathy reluctantly made her way further into the room; hesitantly taking a seat at the kitchen bar just as Robert outwardly questioned if she'd like him to make her a sandwich or not.

"Yes, please." Cathy hesitantly retorted, before letting out a small sigh and then slowly delivering the speech that she had made up--in her head--a half-n-hour ago. "Look, before it gets to the point where I'm spending the entire weekend walking on eggshells around you, I just want to apologize for not telling you earlier about what was going on with me, Keith, and the tour. I know that you, more than anyone else, should've been the first one I told about being fired, but I guess a part of me was kind of embarrassed and didn't really know how to tell you about it without being scared that you'd give me one of your infamous I told you so speeches in return....I'm sorry."

After pausing in his motions to stare at Cathy for a second, Robert outwardly wondered how long did it take his sister to come up with that apology. And after watching her throw him a confused stare while hearing her admit that it had taken her a good thirty minutes, Robert couldn't help but sarcastically comment that he could've came up with a better one in ten; causing Cathy to dramatically roll her eyes while jokingly calling her brother a "Jerk."

Waiting until after he had finished chuckling, Robert let out a small sigh before saying, in absolute seriousness: "I'm sorry that you had to apologize to me and that you felt you couldn't tell me what happened between you and Keith...though, I really don't know if I can blame you."

Huh?

"I mean....I know that I react strongly at times and that I'm known for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time--especially when you're concerned. But I do it because I care about you and I can't stand to see you get hurt over and over again by the same person. It just breaks my heart...but I want you to feel that you can be able tell me things without fearing that I'm going to make you sit through one of my infamous I told you speeches. So from now on, if you can try and let me in a little on what's going on with your life, I'll try and work harder on not being so judgmental in the future--even if that means that I'll have to sign up for kickboxing classes at the gym to let out my frustrations about you, deal?"

Even though she found herself laughing at that last part, Cathy wasn't that surprised when she felt tears coming to her eyes as she agreed with her little brother's terms. "You know, you always did know how to make me cry."

After slightly laughing at the comment and playfully pointing out that even though his apology only took him a brief two minutes to come up with, his still got more of a reaction than hers had, Robert passed Cathy one of his infamous bologna and cheese sandwiches; afterwards proclaiming: "That'll be two dollars and fifty cents, please."

"Checks in the mail." Cathy outwardly replied while going in for a bite, but unfortunately having to stop as someone began knocking on their apartment's door. "Expecting someone?"

"No...that's probably just Ryan. He went to the store and forgot his key again."

I go away for a couple of months and he has a key now...? Cathy opened her mouth to ask, but seeing the dont-you-dare look on Robert's face caused her to only laugh to herself while getting up from the bar and making her way towards the door.

At this rate, by the time I come back next month, all of my stuff will probably be sitting on the front lawn while all of Ryan's belongings will be laid out across the apartment's floor.

With this thought in mind, Cathy quickly opened the door to her apartment, ready to give Ryan a telling off, but interestingly enough before she had a chance to do so, she had to stop herself as she realized that it wasn't Ryan standing in front of her, but someone else much younger than her. "What are you doing here, Justin?"

"I, uh....just stopped by to drop something off for you."

After a second of waiting for him to show her what he was dropping off, Cathy--realizing why the younger man was nervously looking down both ends of the hallway, as if someone was following him--swiftly invited Justin in, before any of her neighbors could come out of their apartment and see him standing there. "Sorry about that...I forgot who you were for a second."

"It's okay." Justin replied in semi-amusement, while stepping inside the medium-sized apartment. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

Before Cathy could tell him that he hadn't, a familiar voice, from behind her, replied: "Only family bonding time," causing Cathy to dramatically roll her eyes while introducing Justin and Robert to one another. "Justin, this is my brother, Robert...Robert, meet Justin."

"Nice to meet you." The two men simultaneously responded back as they reluctantly shook hands with one another.

"So, Justin, what brings you around this neighborhood?"

Here we go again..

Even though Justin was nothing more than a client and somewhat of a friend to her, Cathy wasn't that surprised when Robert started giving the younger man the third degree. Her brother was known for doing it whenever a male would stop by looking for her.

You would think he was the older sibling in this relationship, not me.

"I just stopped by to drop this off for Cathy." Justin nervously replied, while looking at the older woman for some assistance. "It looks like JC and I were the only ones who weren't aware of the fact that it was your birthday today."

While reluctantly taking the pink bag that was in Justin's hand from him, Cathy slightly blushed while saying: "You guys didn't have to get me anything...I told you: I don't really like to make a big deal out of my birthday."

Figuring the faster he told Cathy why he was really there, the faster he could get out of her brother's line of vision caused Justin to quickly reply: "I know, but we were hoping you'd make an exception this year 'cause me, Rebecca and a couple of the guys want to treat you to an all expenses paid night of drinking, dancing, and clubbing at Roxy's night club."

All expenses paid...?

Even though that idea did sound tempting and she really didn't have any plans for the night--besides pretending not to notice when Robert and Ryan started cuddling on the sofa--Cathy couldn't help but say: "I don't know...I'm really not in the mood to go out tonight."

A statement which caused Justin to mockingly shrug while replying: "Okay, suit yourself. But Rebecca told me that if you didn't agree to come with us tonight, you'd officially be her new guinea pig come Wednesday morning, when she tries to come up with new hair styles for JC."

After wincing at the memory of the look on JC's face when he got his hair done the week before, Cathy quickly replied: "What time should I be ready?"

A question which caused Justin to slightly chuckle while replying: "I'll pick you up at ten."

That should give me enough time to eat, sleep, and shower. Cathy inwardly thought to herself before telling Justin that he had a deal and quickly showing him to the door so that he could finally get away from Robert's intimidating stare.

"All right, see you later, Cat."

"Not if I see you first, Justin." Cathy playfully replied back, before shutting the door between her and the younger man and turning back around; meeting her brother's emotion-void eyes. "What's wrong?"

Without even bothering to sugarcoat it, Robert nonchalantly replied: "I don't like him."

A comment which caused Cathy to dramatically roll her eyes, while playfully asking:

"And why am I not that surprised?"

(Later that Night)

Just as he had said, Cathy watched on from the curb outside as Justin pulled up in front of her apartment building at ten o'clock on the dot.

"Hey, you didn't have to meet me out here.....I would've came up."

While opening the passenger side door to Justin's somewhat new candy apple red Viper, Cathy quickly replied back that she figured that he would have. "But I also figured that you would rather meet me out here than have to go through another one of my brother's interrogations inside."

"You are correct." Justin half-jokingly responded back, before waiting until Cathy had closed the passenger side door next to her--and securely fastened her seat-belt--before putting his car back in drive and speeding down the road, towards the club; where they were scheduled to meet everyone else at in thirty-five minutes.

"So, did your brother give you a time that you had to be home tonight?" Justin half-jokingly asked after a couple of minutes of purely comfortable silence between the two of them.

Without even bothering to turn her attention away from the passenger side window, Cathy let a small smile grace her face as she sarcastically retorted: "No, but I'm pretty sure Kayla gave you one, smart-ass."

After chuckling slightly at the comment and reluctantly admitting that he had to atleast be back home by three-thirty to rid his manager of his baby-sitting duties, Justin flipped on his car's CD player; causing the smooth sounds of Brian McKnight to fill the car until they pulled up to the side entrance of Roxy a half-n-hour later.

It's going to take us forever and a day to get in there. Cathy inwardly thought to herself as she got out of the car and saw the huge line of people forming outside of the place. We probably wont even be able to make it inside until around midnight.

As if reading her thoughts, Justin waited until he had locked the doors of his car before quickly replying: "Don't worry, we're not taking that entrance. Mike's waiting for us in the back."

I guess that is what they mean by star treatment. Cathy inwardly thought to herself, before following Justin towards the back of the club; where, true to his word, Mike was waiting for them by the back door.

"Everyone here already?"

While opening the door to the club, Mike playfully retorted: "Everyone but you and the birthday girl." Causing Cathy to wonder exactly how many people knew it was her birthday.

Knowing Rebecca, she probably told everybody on the goddamn tour.

After letting out a small sigh and snapping herself out of her thoughts, Cathy figured she might as well make the most of the night and absentmindedly followed Justin through the back entrance of the club and then upstairs towards, what she guessed was, the V.I.P area.

As soon as she got there, Cathy was surprised to find herself in Rebecca's arms. "Hey, it's about time you got here! I thought I was going to have to dance by myself."

Knowing from previous conversations with Rebecca that she wasn't a big fan of night clubs and that she somewhat hated to dance caused Cathy to open her mouth to ask what had changed the woman's opinion on the fact. But before she could do so, the sight of Lance in the corner of the V.I.P room with his arms around, who she guessed, was his girlfriend Amber caused Cathy to instantly know what had happened.

I guess he forgot that he had a best friend tonight.

With that thought in mind, Cathy turned her attention towards Justin--who had also noticed the exchange--and playfully rolled her eyes at him as the younger man shouted the words: "Have fun!"

"Don't worry, we will!" Rebecca quickly responded back, before taking Cathy's hand in hers and dragging her back out of the V.I.P room and downstairs to the main dance floor; just as Happy by Ashanti started to play throughout the club's speaker-system.

"God, I hate this song." Rebecca commented before somewhat proving her previous words false by pulling Cathy closer to her and moving her hips to the beat.

Jealousy thy name is Becca. Cathy inwardly commented to herself while trying to keep up with Rebecca's determined hip movements; a feat that was much easier said than done she soon realized as another song came on and Rebecca moved, if possible, a little bit faster.

"Don't look now, but I think Justin's about to come over and join us." Rebecca stated four songs later--which in normal people time meant fifteen minutes later; causing Cathy to smile.

As soon as Justin joins us, I'll be able to slink away from the dancing machine and try and persuade Lance into sharing one dance with Rebecca so she can hopefully have somewhat of a good night tonight--or atleast act like herself, for a change.

Unfortunately though, a minute later, as Cathy turned around to see what was taking Justin so long to join them, a small frown had to cross her face as she noticed that Justin wasn't heading towards them anymore but was strangely enough in the middle of the dance floor, dancing with some miscellaneous leggy blonde.

Is that girl even allowed to be in here...? She looks like she's barely even a day over sixteen.

Noticing that Cathy was barely even moving right now caused Rebecca to follow the older woman's line of vision--towards where Cathy was staring at--and immediately forget that she was trying to make a certain Nsyncer jealous when she realized that it was Justin who the older woman was watching: Ha, I finally caught her.

Without even bothering to hide the smirk that was on her face, Rebecca nonchalantly replied: "Don't worry, that's just Becky, Kelly's younger sister. She sometimes watches Kayla for Justin when Kelly isn't able to."

"Oh." Cathy opened her mouth to respond back. But just as the word was about to slip past her lips, she realized what Rebecca had just said and turned her attention back towards the younger woman with a confused frown on her face. "What...? Why would I be worried?"

While dramatically rolling her eyes at the other woman's previous comment, Rebecca replied: "Come on, Cat..it's me Rebecca, you're talking to---the one who can read everyone's mind.....! It doesn't take a genius to realize that the word jealous is clearly written all over your forehead right now."

Jealous?

After taking a second to outwardly wonder if Rebecca had had too many Armoretto sours before she had arrived there, Cathy honestly responded back with: "Rebecca, I'm in no way, shape, or form jealous of that girl or any other girl that Justin chooses to date or dance with. That's his own business; which I'm not at all involved in."

But would you like to be involved in it? Rebecca silently wondered. But when remembering that Cathy was going through a lot right now and probably should take things slowly, she instead of asking that question, innocently responded back with: "If you say so."

A comment which Cathy quickly countered with:

"And I do."

Eleven PM

After another half-n-hour of keeping Rebecca company on the dance-floor, Cathy couldn't help but smile when a slow song came on; knowing that she could finally give her tired feet a couple minutes of rest. "I think I'm going to go back upstairs and get a bottle of water. You want one?"

Without even bothering to hide the small frown that was creeping across her face, Rebecca shouted--so she could be heard over the music--: "No, but I'll go with you...maybe JC will have finally stopped moping around long enough to come out here and dance with me!"

Remembering how upset JC had been earlier that morning when he was faced with the knowledge that he was now back in the same state as Anna, caused Cathy to inwardly tell herself that she highly doubted that. But before she could say that comment out loud, Rebecca was already making her way back towards the V.I.P area and someone was wrapping their arms around Cathy; stopping her from following.

What the hell..?

"You weren't going to leave before I got a chance to ask you to dance, were you?"

After taking a second to try and recognize the voice of the person who was behind her, Cathy relaxed a little as she realized who it was--and what that familiar smell was coming from him. "Your drunk."

"Not really. It was a two for one deal and I only had one shot...Chris just spilled the other one on me."

After slightly laughing at the comment, Cathy turned around so she was facing Justin and playfully rolled her eyes at the innocent grin that he had on his face: "You guys are crazy."

"I know! But you never answered my question: are you going to dance with me or not?"

Even though she had just spent an hour out on the dance floor with Rebecca and was more than ready to call it quits for the night, Cathy wasn't that surprised when she found herself asking: "Do I have a choice?" And rolling her eyes playfully when Justin said "No."

"Figures as much!" Cathy sarcastically responded back, before allowing Justin to drag her towards the middle of the dance-floor and pull her as close to him as he possibly could; without making either one of them the slightest bit uncomfortable in the process.

"Man, I haven't heard this song in a long time!"

After taking a second to figure out which song it was that was playing--and then outwardly agreeing that she hadn't heard it in awhile either--Cathy let herself somewhat relax in Justin's arms as she listened to the younger man softly sing along with the words.

I can let my life pass me by or I can get down and try...work it all out this lifetime, work it on out this time...I can let it all pass me by or I can get down and try, work it all out this lifetime, lifetime.

While listening to the next verse of the song, Cathy couldn't help but let out a little sigh as she inwardly told herself:I hope that's true, God. 'Cause I only have a couple of months to work this thing out..