Chapter 2- Regrets

            You know, it's great to be rich. Everything comes easy to you. I don't have a job, I dropped out of college, but my life is still better than most other people. Shit, I have a nice penthouse estate in Maryland, I have all the best clothes, I have all the best jewelry. All it took was my credit card, which my dad paid for me. It pays coming from a multi-million dollar family. It really does.

            Since JC's barbeque doesn't start till five, I have the whole morning and most of the afternoon to go shopping, get a manicure, pedicure, facial, and get my hair and makeup done. I wanted to look stunning. And I will.

            So, armed with my purse and my credit card, I ventured out to the mall. I needed a cute little dress. Something that will make me stand out from the crowd. Something to blow JC away. Why, I must've hit twenty stores before I went into Prada and saw THE dress.

            It was a black, short dress. It had a low V-neck, but not so low that you were seeing too much. Nope, it was one of those dresses that displayed a tasteful amount of cleavage. JC will be floored. I looked at the price tag- $2000. Not to bad. I've gotten more expensive dresses before. I took out my credit card, and just like that, I had the perfect outfit.

            ~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~

            Damn, I'm already thirty minutes late. I had no idea my hair and makeup would take two fucking hours. I looked at myself in the rearview mirror. At least I looked good, I smiled. It's not so bad being late I guess, I mean I'd rather look perfect than like a piece of shit.

            I climbed out of my BMW and looked at the huge mansion before me. Damn JC is so rich. I could hear the music blaring, and the laughter, and the crisp scent of barbeque filled my nose. I looked in my mirror, and drew a slow breath. Ok Brooke... This is your chance to show JC what he really deserves. I put the mirror back in my purse, and made my way up his long, gravel driveway.

            I could feel that all eyes were on me. All the guys were checking me out; even the one's with girlfriends. In the corner of my eye, I even saw one girl hit her boyfriend because he was just gawking at me. Perfect. I could feel all the other girl's jealousy. Not my fault I look hotter than them. I know they would gossip behind my back later. I don't care. I never really am friends with any other girls. Truth was, boys make better friends. I mean they may get mad, but they get over it. Girls will hold grudges, stab you behind your back, and talk about you. I don't need to deal with that shit in my life.  A lot of  them hated me, especially Christina, since Jason and her used to go out, until I started talking to him, and he forgot all about her. I don't blame him.  It's not my fault if he thought I was prettier than her. Shit, there's nothing special about her, if you think about it. . She has plain, flat blonde hair, and a set of cold grey eyes. She kinda looked like a rabbit for some reason. She always tried so hard, she tried to be attractive to every man in sight, I don't know why, I mean she already had another boyfriend, Charlie.

            My eyes searched the crowd for JC, even while I made small talk with some other guys. Where the hell is JC? Or that bitch Melody? I tried to not to make it obvious I was looking for him, as I peered down the hall.

            Then, for some reason, all the laughter that had once filled the room, stopped, as one man made his way across the room. I guess he wasn't well liked, but damn, he was staring at me as if he could see beneath my clothes. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties. He was pretty tall, and pretty built, if I would say so myself.  My eye caught his, and he smiled, showing flawless teeth. His face was somewhat boyish, and his eyes were an intense shade of blue. There was a cool carelessness in his face, and a sarcastic humor in his smile, and when he smiled at me, I had to catch my breath. He had little curls on the top of his head, but they looked soft, like I could run my fingers through-

Wait. I like JC. Not him.

            I turned away from him, and someone called, "Justin! Justin Timberlake! Come here!"

            That's why he looked so damn familiar.  He was one of those guys in *NSYNC with JC. I never really ever paid attention to any of the other guys. Then I remembered; this guy is the one who broke up *NSYNC. Bastard. JC was heartbroken for days. I felt the anger in my body rise- how could I be attracted to him? Damn cocky bastard.

            I made my way across the yard, and I heard a shy voice call my name. Aw, it was Charlie Miller, Christina's boyfriend. He wasn't actually that bad looking. He had short brown hair, and eyes that were such a gentle brown. A faint blush was creeping in his face as I turned around; it was so cute how he was so shy. I have never given him much thought before, and I gave him my best sunshiney smile.

            "Why! Charlie Miller! You look smokin' hot tonight!" I amused him.

            Charlie looked so excited, and took my hands into his. Woah. Hold up. I slid my hands away from his, and made it look like I was sweeping my hair away from my face. I guess he wasn't used to having girls talk to him. Damn, I guess he was pretty nervous, and couldn't think of anything to say. That's so sweet.

            "Now you wait here, Charlie, I'm gonna go get some barbeque, and don't go off flirting with any other girls now, ‘cause I'm mighty jealous," I smiled, this was too easy.

            "Oh I won't," he finally managed to breathe.

            As I pushed my way through the crowd, I bumped into someone. I looked up, and it was him, Justin Timberlake. I guess he heard my conversation with Charlie, because he grinned up at me maliciously as if he were saying "I know you're little games."  Damn, I hate that conceited look on his face. With the way he was looking at me, it felt like he was raping me with his eyes. He freaked the bejesus out of me.

            ~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~

            You know, most girls only sit with one guy at this one table. Not me though, I separated myself from them, and got my own table, and was surrounded by like ten guys. Every ten minutes or so, I got sneering looks from at least one of the girls, I responded by showing them my flashiest smile. I kill people with my ‘kindness'.

            My eyes dropped to my plate, and I nibbled on a rib. Even if I had all of these guys' attention, I still felt miserable. For some reason, my plan I conducted last night was not working. I attracted all of these other guys, but not JC.

            JC didn't even attempt to join my table, in fact, I haven't even uttered a word to him all night. Sure he said hi to me when I came in, but that bitch Melody was wrapped around his waist. I don't even know what he saw in Melody. She had a patch of frizzy brown hair, and two large brown eyes. She had a timid and plain. One word to some her up- simple. Not pretty, not ugly. Just... simple.  When they greeted me, she smiled at me, and even told me how pretty my dress was. That's why I hate her I guess... ‘cause I wanted her to be a complete and utter bitch, but no, she's a sweetheart.

She makes me wanna puke.

            All night, JC did nothing but sit and talk to her, and every five minutes he seemed to have a smile that I have came to worship over the years. What's worse is that he made Melody's eyes twinkle in a way that almost made her pretty.

Almost.

            I tried to keep my eyes off them, I really did. But it irked me that JC wasn't even paying the slightest bit of attention to me, he only looked at Melody, and Melody only.

It makes me sick.

            Charlie was planted on my right, to Jason and Alex's disagreement. Oh well. Charlie wouldn't even meet Christina's gaze, and lord, she looked like she was gonna cry any minute now. Poor girl. Didn't know what hit her.

            My eyes wondered off to find Melody again, and JC was playing with her hair. I felt like at that moment, I could claw Melody's eyes out, and take pleasure doing it. My eyes then fixed themselves on Justin. I could tell he had been watching me, and when I looked at him, you know what he did? He laughed. That fucking bastard laughed! I had the feeling he knew what was going on; that I liked JC, and he was taking fucking pleasure out of watching. Bastard. I want to claw out his eyes, too.

            ~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~

            Hell yes! Melody left JC... It's about fucking time, and thank god, I don't see  Justin anywhere. Now's my time.

            I tapped JC on the shoulder. "JC, you mind if we talk for a minute?" I asked.

            He looked at me, "Sure... about what?"

            I shook my head. "Not here... can we go inside?"

            "Yeah... sure." He looked a little bewildered.

            I took him inside, into his empty living room.

            "What is it?" he whispered.

            I froze, I looked up into his deep blue eyes, and caught my breath.

            "What is it, Brooke? A secret?" he repeated.

            My tongue felt huge, my stomach was churning. "Um... yeah I guess you could call it a secret."

            He looked at me, confused, and I continued. "I- I love you JC." It felt so good to let it out. I looked at him, and to my dismay, he looked a little sick.

            "You don't love me, Brooke."

            "Oh... But I do JC! I do! Do you love me, too?" I trembled.

            "Don't say these things Brooke. You don't mean  it."

            "I do JC! Ever... Ever since we were kids... Don't... Don't you want to marry me?" I whispered.

            "I'm marrying Melody, Brooke." He replied, his face hard.

            My mind drew a blank. I was not expecting this.

            "I was going to announce it tonight, we are going to get married real soon." His hard expression, softened. "I should have told you, but I thought you knew already. Hell, I thought everyone knew. I didn't know-you felt- You've had so many boyfriends. I thought Jason and you..." He stopped

            "I love you, JC." I whimpered.

            "No you don't." he argued.

            "I know I do."

            "Brooke, let's face it. We are two different people. I couldn't give you all of me. You would come to hate me, from the books I read, to my music-"

            "Do you love her?" I asked bluntly.

            "Melody? Yes. Yes I do love her. We share so much in common Brooke... things that you wouldn't understand."

            I thought of Melody, and rage took over my body. I began to scream and yell.

            "Why didn't you fucking say anything?! All these years we've been friends?  You know what? You're... You're a fucking pussy. You're afraid to marry someone like me. Yeah afraid! You just want someone you could control, someone who will say yes to your every whim! You FUCKING PUSSY!" I screamed.

            "Don't say those things Brooke... you don't mean them." He replied calmly.

            "I do mean them!" I lied... I knew that this was part of the heartbreak.  My pride was broken, and that is something I'm not familiar with, and  I don't work well when I don't get what I want.  I sprang to my feet , hands clenched, and yelled some more.

            "I'll hate you forever, until I die! You lowdown fucking piece of trash! Burn in hell!"

            "Brooke... please." He pleaded.

            I don't know what happened but all the anger raised in my body, and I slapped him across the face, with every inch of strength I had left in my body, and then he left. Just like that.

I felt so mad... I picked up one of the vases on his counter  and threw it across the room at the wall.

            "This... is too fucking much." A voice said from the sofa.

            I might've just had a fucking heart attack right then and there. I thought I was by myself. I caught hold of the counter, and I felt my knees start to buckle, as Justin fucking Timberlake rose up from the couch.

            "Geez, it's bad enough to have a nap disturbed by all this yelling, but damn, should I have my life endangered, too?"