Chapter 6

"I can't believe I agreed to this outfit," Jaelyn said as she pulled at the too-short skirt of her outfit.  Somehow Justin had convinced her to go along with idea of dressing up as Hugh Hefner and a Playboy bunny...a minor lapse of judgment that she wished hadn't have happened.  Now she was standing in the restroom of her apartment with Amanda adjusting the outfit and fixing her make-up.

"I think you look cute," Amanda said as she applied eyeliner to her friend's light brown eyelids. 

"I look like a hooker," Jaelyn stated plainly.

"I thought that was the point, and you don't look like a hooker...well sorta; but a hooker with great style," Amanda said with a smile.

"Not helping," Jaelyn replied shaking her head and tugging at the skirt of her dress once again.  She twirled around once in the mirror and checked herself once more.  She had to admit that she did look pretty good.  Once she'd gotten the ‘Ike and Tina' idea out of Justin's head she and Amanda hit up the local costume shop and decided with this theme instead.

"And now all we need are these," Amanda said, grabbing the black and white bunny ears from the dresser and placing them atop of her best friend's curly crown, "...there, now your look is complete."

Jaelyn smiled and hugged her friend.

"Thanks girl."  She didn't have to say anything else.  She knew that Amanda would know that the ‘thank you' wasn't just for helping her get dressed, but understanding what she was going through and not judging her.  Jaelyn was having mixed emotions about the night; on one hand she was excited about going out with Justin and his fraternity brothers, but on the other hand she couldn't help but wonder what tonight actually was.  She was Justin's date to his fraternity's date party.  She was officially going on a date with a guy who wasn't her boyfriend.  They were just going as friends, but both of them knew that that was just a guise to make them feel better about the situation...or at least her.

"Penny for your thoughts," Amanda said, bringing her friend back to reality, "You're thinking about backing out of this aren't you," Amanda said, reading Jaelyn's expression.

"Or at least telling Daniel; I just feel so guilty."

"But you're going as friends, right?  So as long as you don't cross the line you should be fine.  And besides, it'll be fun!" Amanda said, grinning.  Jaelyn had conveniently forgotten to tell her friend about the kiss...well kisses.  Suddenly there was a knock at the front door and both women looked at each other.

"And he's on time too," Amanda commented.  Both ladies opened the door and saw Justin standing there with two long-stemmed red roses in his hands.

"Good evening ladies, these are for you," he said, handing each of them a flower.

"A true gentleman indeed," Amanda said, inhaling the wonderful scent of her rose.

"Thank you," Jaelyn said with a grin.

"You're welcome; and by the way you look amazing.  I'm gonna have the most beautiful date tonight, hands down."  It was comments like this that pulled at Jaelyn's heart strings.  How could she be faithful to Daniel with Justin laying his charm and kindness on her like this...not to mention the fact that he looked absolutely delectable in his Hugh Hefner get-up.  She didn't know a guy could look so good in a burgundy robe and PJ pants.  He also shaved his head and the buzz cut with along with those studs he had in his ears made him ooze sex appeal.

"Last chance to back out; no hard feelings," Justin said, bring her out of the trance-like state she was in.

"No, I'm fine," she replied with a slight smile, "We can go."

"Alright, well your carriage awaits you then," he said, offering his arm to her. 

"Have fun!" Amanda called out to the two of them and Jaelyn smiled and waved at her as she and Justin made their way out to his F-150.

~*~

"So how did you two meet?" 

Jaelyn looked up from her plate and smiled at Callie, the girlfriend of Justin's frat brother, Jeff.

"Do you wanna tell the story or should I?" Justin said with a slight chuckle.

"You tell it; you tell it better than I do," Jaelyn replied, looking up at him sweetly.  The two weren't even dating and were already acting like an old married couple.  Jaelyn placed a hand on his firm bicep and laughed along with Jeff and Callie as Justin told the story of how the two of them met.

"Aww, that's adorable!" Callie said once Justin finished speaking, "I swear it's like you two have been together forever," she said with a wide grin.

"Oh, we're not dating," Jaelyn interjected.

"Yeah, we're just friends," Justin said, his mood slightly soured.

"Really?  Well you two should totally hook up!  You'd probably be the next Ms. SAE, Jaelyn."  Jaelyn chuckled nervously at Callie's comment.  It was things like that that had her skeptical about coming tonight.  She was already beginning to doubt her relationship with Daniel and here were all of Justin's fraternity brothers and their girlfriends and dates encouraging them to move forward with their relationship.  Justin just grinned and threw an arm around Jaelyn.

"I don't think she can handle all of this Callie; I'm too much of a man for her," he said jokingly.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Oh, is Timberlake about to get his ass handed to him by another girl?" Trace exclaimed, joining the conversation.

"Can it Ayala.  And you're on, Jaelyn."

"Ok Mr. Macho Man.  Let's see how much of a man you really are."  She got up and walked over to the karaoke booth and signed them up for a song.

"What did you pick?"

"What?  Too chicken to sing a song I pick, Timberlake?" Jaelyn asked with a cocky tone.

"Not at all, let's go."  All of a sudden ‘You're the one that I want' from the move ‘Grease' started playing.  Jaelyn began singing John Travolta's part.

I got chills!  They're multiplying!

And I'm losing control

Before long the entire room had joined in.  She and Justin ended the song with a graceful bow and headed back to their seats.

"I'm sorry man, but I'm gonna have to say that Jaelyn won that one," Trace said as the pair sat down.

"Thanks, I'm happy that I can always count on a brother to have my back," Justin replied sarcastically.  Callie, Jeff and Jaelyn couldn't help but laugh at the friends as they went back and forth.  Jaelyn smiled and relaxed in the comfortability of the situation.  She could definitely get used to this whole environment, hanging out with Justin and his fraternity brothers and their significant others.  Jaelyn mentally questioned her relationship with Daniel once again.  It wasn't like Justin was her first male friend; in fact when she was younger she got along better with guys than with the girls.  It wasn't until college that she started socializing with girls who weren't in her core group of best friends.  Speaking of her besties, Jaelyn needed to call them; she made a mental note and picked up her drink.  She didn't even notice that Justin was no longer at the table until she saw him back on the stage, this time solo.  She raised an eyebrow, confused with what was going on.

"This one's for you Jaelyn," he said before Al Green's ‘Let's Stay Together'.

I-I'm so in love with you.

Whatever you want to do is alright with me.

Jaelyn's jaw dropped, she didn't know he could sing!  They were just playing around earlier when they were singing ‘Grease', but this boy was really talented.

‘Cause you make me feel so brand new

And I want to spend my life with you.

Justin took the wireless mic off its stand and began advancing towards his date.  He didn't know whether this newfound courage was coming from the alcoholic beverages he'd consumed earlier or if he just felt that now was the time to take their relationship to the next level.  Sure he was fine with just being friends with her, at first but the more they hang out, the more he gets to know her, the more he wants to know her.

So baby let's, let's stay together.

Loving you whether, whether times are good, bad, happy or sad.

Once again the room was singing along and cheering.  Justin took Jaelyn's hand in his and brought her to her feet.  The two of them danced while he serenaded her and the rest of the people in the room.  Trace whooped and hollered, exclaiming that they no longer needed to hire entertainment for their events, that Justin had that covered.  The song ended shortly after and applause exploded from the crowd.  Justin bowed slightly and spun Jaelyn around and kissed her squarely on the lips.  That merited more cheering from the room.

"Looks like we're even."

~*~

Jaelyn unlocked the front door and she and Justin stumbled into her apartment laughing.

"I can't believe you made me sing a Backstreet Boys song...I can't stand those guys."

"Well excuse me; I happen to have been a big BSB fan coming up darling," she replied with a grin.  The two of them had had a bit to drink and even though they weren't drunk they were feeling good. 

"Wow, I can't believe you just admitted that to me," he said with a laugh.

"Neither can I," she said laughing along with him, "Do you want something to drink?  Have a seat," she said, motioning towards the couch.

"Naw, I'm fine...wait, on second thought can I get some water, please?"

"Sure, I'll be right back."  Jaelyn turned on the lights in the living room before making her way towards the kitchen for their beverages.  Justin looked around the room rose to his feet to go look at the extensive DVD collection when Jaelyn came back in the room.

"Here you go," she said, handing him a plastic tumbler of ice water. 

"Thank you.  That's quite a collection of movies you have," he said, approaching the wooded case.

"Thanks, half of those aren't even mine," she said before thinking.  She forgot that she hadn't told him about Daniel and here they were in the apartment that she shared with Daniel and she expected him not to notice anything...genius move.

"So you just borrow movies from friends and never give them back?  Remind me never to loan you any of mine," he said with a slight laugh.  Jaelyn chuckled nervously. 

"I was going to get around to that," she said with a smile.  Jaelyn silently thanked God that she and Daniel hadn't gotten around to putting up pictures of themselves in the living room...that would've been way harder to explain than the movies.

"Wow, I definitely thought you'd have more chick flicks than this.  I've never met a girl who owned this many guy movies." 

Little did he know.

Jaelyn laughed nervously again, thinking that she had to get him out of there soon, or else she'd have a whole lot more to explain than a collection of DVDs. 

"So I would offer to give you a tour of the place, but I really have to get to bed...I have to get up early for a study group breakfast," she lied.

"Oh ok, well I don't want to keep you," Justin replied, kissing her cheek sweetly.

The first time we ever got a chance to be alone we knew,
That it was wrong to do,
I guess that's why I was drawn to you,
The 2nd time leads to the 3rd, the 5th, the 7th time,
I feel so alive, it won't last but it's alright,
Fleeting joy and fading ecstasy, here it goes again, oh,
Sneaking fruit from the forbidden tree, sweet taste of sin

He slowly pulled away and his eyes captured hers, silently asking for approval for another kiss.  Jaelyn felt her reserve fading fast and before she knew it she had his face in her hands and was pulling his lips towards hers. 

And I'm doing it again;
Yes, I'm doing it again,
Oh, I'm doing it again,
I said it would end but here it goes again

...and here we go again.

Song credits: You're the One that I want - Olivia Newton John & John Travolta, Let's Stay Together - Al Green, Again - John Legend