Jenna looked down at her watch for what seemed like the thousandth time. Johnny had noticed this and it was beginning to irritate him. “How much longer?” he asked, letting out a sigh.
Jenna blushed and glanced at her watch again. “I’m gonna leave in about 20 minutes or so.” She began typing again on the four-line memo she had been working on for an hour.
“You know, there is a clock on the computer. You don’t have to stop working to look at your watch.” Johnny grinned at her, knowing he was embarrassing her.
“I know. I’m sorry.” Jenna clicked her mouse. “See, I’m done now. You have your memo.” She crumpled up then threw away the scratch paper Johnny had written it originally on.
Johnny opened the file that was sent to him and after reading and being satisfied said, “Why don’t you go ahead and go. You can bug the people at the airport with your clock watching.” Jenna jumped out of her seat, grabbed her purse, and thanked Johnny while she hugged him. He knew she needed this time off to be with her friends and didn’t mind letting her leave early. He thought, 'This girl had gotten us organized and she is two weeks ahead with work. I don’t mind giving her this week off to enjoy her company.'
Jenna practically ran to her car. Robin, Melissa and Lane would be in Orlando any minute and she couldn’t wait to see her friends. She walked into the airport and saw that the flight was right on time. She sat down in the hard plastic chairs and fidgeted while she waited. Jenna stared at the gate. She didn’t want to miss when her friends walked in. Her intent stare was broken when she heard a familiar voice.
“Jenna? Hey! What are you doing here?”
Jenna looked up to see Kelly walking towards her. “Hi!” The girls hugged each other. “I’m picking up my friends. They are in for the week. What are you doing here?” Jenna picked up Brianna.
“I remember you telling me that. Well, I’m here because my parents are coming in for a few days. They hate missing Brianna grow up, so they decided to visit for a while.” Kelly grabbed for Brianna, “Let’s go get grandma and grandpa. Have fun with your friends Jenna. Let’s have you all over for dinner on Thursday. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds good. I’ll tell the girls.” Jenna kissed Brianna on the forehead then waved as Kelly walked away. When she turned her attention back to the gate, she saw the first people exiting the plane she had been waiting for. Barely a handful of people had exited when she saw her friends. Melissa was the first to see Jenna and ran up to hug her. The other girls were right behind her. After they said their hellos, they went to the luggage carousel to get everyone’s bags then they all piled into Jenna’s car for the ride from the airport to Jenna’s house. When they got there, they got their stuff from the trunk.
“This is a great house, Jenn.” Robin said as she scanned the front yard, looking at the beautiful flowers. “How can you afford this?”
Jenna put her keys in the front door to unlock it. “Johnny pays me really well. But, it’s not that big. It’s about the same size as my parents.”
“Yeah,” Lane said as she walked in the door, ”but your parents make really good money.” Everyone agreed. “Where do we put our stuff?”
Jenna pointed towards the guest bedroom. “Two of you are in there and the other can sleep on the couch or with me. You guys pick.” The three girls discussed their options and after a few rounds of rock/paper/scissors they decided that Lane and Melissa would stay in the guest bedroom and Robin would stay in Jenna’s room, closest to the bathroom since she still had morning sickness and a small bladder. Once everyone got settled, the girls congregated in the living room. “I don’t have any plans for today. I thought we could just catch up. I’ll cook tonight since we are going out tomorrow. How’s that sound?”
“Fine.” Lane answered for everyone. “Jenna, why do you have an autographed picture of JC and Justin in your living room?”
Jenna laughed and reached for the picture. “Well, I had a house warming party my first weekend here and some of the guys got me gag gifts. The frame is from Britney, though.”
Robin took the picture from Jenna to look at it. “Well, you said you see the guys all the time. Tell us about them.”
“What do you want to know?”
Melissa threw a pillow at Jenna. “Everything! We want all the little dirty details.”
“Well,” Jenna began. “Let’s see. Who to start with?”
“Justin!” Melissa said as she looked at the picture.
“Okay, Justin. He’s really nice and tall. He’s still a little bitter about the whole break up with Britney.”
“Who dumped who?” Lane asked.
“He’s never said. I don’t even know if the guys know officially. I assume her since he’s still so unhappy and she never comes around. I kinda feel bad for him. He’s a great guy, though. We work out twice a week together. On Tuesday’s and Friday’s. He’s my weight partner.”
“So are ya’ll getting together tomorrow?” Melissa asked as she kicked her shoes off and pulled her feet up on the couch.
“No, I’m taking this week of. I’m all yours.”
“What about JC?” Robin asked.
“Well, he’s really quiet, but has these moments of pure energy. He’s almost unpredictable. He’s a great songwriter and has the longest fingers you’ll ever see. And, Lane you’ll kill me, but I’ve caught myself calling him Josh.
“Is he as tiny as he seems?” Robin asked as she placed the pillow Melissa threw at Jenna behind her back.
“Well, you guys know I’m not a big girl. I wear like a 6. That boy is smaller than me. It makes me sick. But he eats like a pig though, so I guess it’s all high metabolism.”
“What about Chris?” Lane blushed realizing she was a little too excited to hear the answer.
Jenna let out a sigh. “Christopher. Man that guy is nuts. He is just a bundle of sarcasm. Yet that’s part of his charm. He’s my big brother, I swear and I’ll sell him to you for a quarter.” The girls all laughed. “No, he’s really great. He goes from keeping me constantly laughing to calling almost every night we don’t see each other to ask me how my day went. He’s a great guy.”
“In your emails, you are always talking about Kelly and Joey. What are they like?” Melissa asked.
“Kelly’s my sanity. Without you three, I have no female interaction. Kelly’s my best friend down here. She’ll never replace ya’ll but I’m glad I have her. Ya’ll need to see Brianna. She’s the cutest little girl. Looks just like her daddy. Makes me want to have kids.”
“No time soon, I hope.” Robin looked warningly at Jenna.
“No, no!”
“Good!”
Jenna smiled at Robin. “Joey’s really a good guy and a great dad. There are times that I think I’m their charity case, since I’m over there all the time, but I just try not to think about it.”
“And Lance?” Lane smiled at Jenna.
“Lance,” Jenna took a deep breath. “That boy confuses me. We spend a lot of time together and I swear there are times that I think there could be something between us, but he never takes the next step.”
“Well, why don’t you?” Melissa asked.
“Honestly, I don’t want to and then him tell me that I was imagining all this. That it was all just friendly gestures. So I’m just going to let him make the next move. Plus, he’s Lance Bass. I can’t make a move on him.”
“What has he done that makes you think he might be interested?” Lane asked.
“Well, he calls all the time just to talk. He’ll send me emails to just say hi. He’s always holding my hand or kissing my forehead. I haven’t shopped alone since I moved to this town. He picks me up to do stuff. He leaves notes on my car and leaves the cutest messages on my answering machine. What else do you want to know? I’ve got a million more.”
Lane’s jaw hit the floor. “Well, I’d think he liked me too if he did all that for me.”
“Yeah,” Melissa agreed. “I’d say any day now he should be knocking on your door to ask you out.”
“I hope.” Jenna sighed. Just then she heard a knock at the door.
“See,” Robin laughed. “There he is.”
“Shut up!” Jenna scolded her friends as she looked out the peephole. “What that hell?” She mumbled as she opened the front door. “What are ya’ll doing here?”
“Well, it’s nice to see you too.” Justin joked. He looked over Jenna’s shoulder to the living room full of girls. “We thought you might like some company tonight.”
Jenna shook her head. “I already have company.”
“Well then, a few more people shouldn’t be a problem.” Justin leaned in to kiss Jenna’s cheek then walk in her front door.
Jenna stepped aside ushering everyone in. She knew that there was no way the guys were going to leave until they meet her friends. She let out a sigh as she shut the door behind Lance. “Ya’ll couldn’t wait one day?”
Lance smiled then hugged Jenna. “Joey did. Of course he’s with ‘family.’ Plus, two single girls sitting in your house. You know those three want their shot at them as soon as possible.”
Jenna raised her eyebrows. “Don’t you mean three single girls and you four guys?” Lance flashed one of his winning smiles at Jenna then walked her into the living room that was now crawling with people.
Melissa looked up at Jenna as she entered the room followed by Lance. “You didn’t tell us that everyone was coming over tonight.”
Jenna smiled trying to hide her annoyance. “Well, I didn’t know that they were coming. But since everyone is here, I guess I’ll do the introductions. Girls this is Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick, Justin Timberlake, and JC Chasez. Joey’s at home with the in-laws.” Jenna sat back down next to Robin. “Guys this is Robin Fisher, Melissa Owens, and Lane Jackson.”
“Which one’s the reporter?” Chris asked.
Lane smiled and raised her hand. “That would be me.”
“Hey, you should let Jenna see that tape of your big school report.” Robin said, hoping to evoke some embarrassment from Lane.
“Oh, I don’t know…”
“Come on. Jenna doesn’t get to see the Texas news anymore.” Melissa prodded. “Go get the tape.”
“Maybe later.”
“Please!” a chorus of guys begged.
“It looks like the masses have spoken. Go get the tape Lane.” Jenna smiled as she watched her friend get more embarrassed. Reluctantly, Lane went into the guest bedroom and got the much-requested tape. She handed it to Jenna, but her eyes begged that she not put it in the VCR. “This is going to be interesting.”
Lane plopped down on the couch. “Now ya’ll need to realize that this is my first time on air and it’s not a hard hitting story or anything.”
“I’m sure it’s great.” Jenna said as she hit play on the remote and got comfortable next to Lance. The group watched the three-minute report on school attendance during finals week. Lane was dressed in her most professional looking outfit and tried to make the news report as interesting as she could. When it was over, the room was silent. Jenna could tell Lane wasn’t happy with the report and tried her best to make her feel better. “That was really, um, good. I never realized how many of us skipped that last week.” Lane gave Jenna a weak smile. “You did a good job and think, it can only get better from here.”
Lane let out a soft laugh. “It’s so cheesy!” Everyone did their best to disagree.
Chris, wanting to lighten the mood, stood up in the middle of the living room and grabbed one of Jenna’s remotes to use as a microphone. “This is Lane Jackson from KLMNOP, Channel Eleventy Six with breaking news. Students don’t like going to school. More at ten.”
“Chris!” Jenna scolded, although with the laughter in the room, including Lane’s, she couldn’t contain her own.
“What? I just thought it would be fun to do my best impersonation of Lane ‘No Action’ Jackson over here. It’s not everyday we get to meet a star news reporter.” Chris held his hand up to Lane to get a high five.
“Hey, what can I say? I have the best fans ever.” She high-fived Chris as the group erupted in laughter.
The rest of the night the group got to know each other better and swapped embarrassing Jenna stories. The next day Jenna showed her friend around Orlando. She took them up to the compound to meet Johnny. They had lunch at Jenna’s favorite deli then went back to the house to start getting ready for their night out with the guys.
“What all do you have planned for tonight?” Melissa asked.
“Well, we are going to meet the guys and Kelly at Livingston Street Café. It’s their favorite place to eat here in town. Italian. Then we are going to go to Diamonds. It’s a karaoke bar I found one weekend. I figured since we hadn’t got to do anything like that in a while that Diamonds would be fun.” Jenna answered.
“Do the guys know you’re taking them to a karaoke bar? I didn’t think singers would like something like that.” Robin questioned.
“Well,” Jenna grinned mischievously, “Kelly knows and she’d been helping me convince them it’s just a new club here in town. We think they would love it, but not go willingly.”
“You two are sneaky, you know.” Melissa shook her head at her friend.
Jenna just smiled bigger. “Yeah, I know.” She then looked down at her watch. “Damn, girls we’ve got like twenty minutes before we have to leave.” The girls all scurried to their rooms to finish getting ready.
They were late to the restaurant, but it wasn’t that obvious since JC and Chris hadn’t gotten there yet either. Kelly had gotten her parents to baby-sit Brianna so that she and Joey wouldn’t have to leave early. The crew of ten enjoyed their dinner together. The girls were amazed that no one came up to the guys to ask for autographs or anything. Jenna explained that the only time anyone in Orlando made notice of the guys was when they had been out of town for a while or had a new album coming out. Any other time, they were just normal guys.
The group then drove to Diamonds. The guys still had no clue it was a karaoke bar until they opened the door and heard a drunk guy with a British accent singing Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi.
Justin glared at Jenna. “I know this isn’t…”
“It is dude.” JC said looking nervously around the room. “Are you crazy Jenna?”
Jenna linked arms with Lance and Kelly. “Let’s get a table.” Turning to her friend and ignoring JC’s question, “This is going to be a blast.”
The group found two tables in the corner that had enough seats. Lane grabbed one of the karaoke books and Melissa grabbed a handful of request slips and pencils. The five girls looked through the book and wrote down songs they’d like to do. As Kelly scanned a page to see if there were any songs that interested her, her eyes lit up. She leaned over to whisper something to Jenna then grabbed a request slip. She scribbled down a song, number, and names. She then jumped up and turned in all the slips that had been written on.
After thirty minutes and two songs by Jenna and Lane the guys began to relax and even order some drinks. The MC got up on the stage with a slip of paper in his hands. “Let’s give another round of applause for Mitch. You did a good job man! Up next we have five guys singing Everybody by the Backstreet Boys. Where are Christopher, James, Josh, Joe and Randall?”
Joey grabbed Kelly’s arm. “Shit, that’s not us is it?”
Kelly just smiled. “The crowd is waiting guys.”
“Hell no! We can’t go up there.” Justin looked almost terrified.
Jenna took the drink out of Lance’s hand. “Please guys. It’ll be fun. I promise.”
Jenna then leaned into Lance and whispered something to him. He just let out a sigh then stood up. “Come on guys. Let’s get this over with.” The guys grumbled, but followed Lance’s lead.
Robin looked at Jenna questionably. “What did you say to Lance to get him to go?”
Jenna sat back in her seat, took a sip of Lance’s Jack and Coke then nodded to the guys getting situated with the mics. “Let’s just say I’ve got some dirt on him.”
“You’re bad.” Robin shook her head. Just then the song started and the girls watched the guys sing and dance to a Backstreet song. When the song was over, they sat back down with the girls and were laughing. “We told you that that would be fun.”
“Don’t worry. We’re getting you back.” JC grabbed the karaoke book to find the most embarrassing song he could.
The girls spent the rest of the week enjoying their time together. They had dinner with Kelly, Joey, Brianna, and Kelly’s parents on Thursday as planned. On Saturday, Jenna took her friends to the airport to send them back home. “I’m gonna miss you guys.”
“When do you think you might be home?” Lane asked.
“Not until Thanksgiving. Maybe even as late as Christmas.”
“Keep us posted until then.” Robin said as she hugged Jenna. “About everything. Work. Lance. Everything.”
“I will and you keep me posted on the baby.” Robin nodded as she hugged Jenna again. The girls all said their goodbyes then Lane, Robin, and Melissa got onto their plane to head back to Plano.
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