Chapter Twelve
That Saturday night, Julie said goodbye to her father and step mother as she carried her backpack full of clothes out to her car. Her stomach was aching with anticipation. Part of her wished that JC would come running over to her and force her to get back in the house. She looked back to the porch and gave him a half-hearted smile before climbing into her car.
Abbi came hopping out of the house, latching herself onto her father’s leg, looking up at him with a grin. He looked down at her with an affectionate smile before turning his gaze back to his daughter as she backed out of the driveway. He let out a soft sigh and shook his head. Something definitely was not right.
“Didn’t think we were ever gonna get rid of her!” Abbi commented with a laugh as she gazed up at her parents. Things had been very stressful around the house for the last week or so, with the fight Abbi had at school, and with the way Julie had been acting.
JC looked over to his wife. She looked positively exhausted, herself. He knew that all the stress and drama that had been going on had really gotten to her, and it wasn’t good for her at all. They needed to have a nice evening to unwind.
“What do you say to forgoing the healthy food tonight, and going out for pizza or something?” He suggested, smiling at his wife. She looked up at him, a smile on her face. Even though she really didn’t like eating out, especially since she had two children in the house, she wasn’t going to argue with him. She was not in the mood for cooking.
“I think we can definitely go out. I’m not in the mood to cook at all,” she told him with a smile, before looking down at Abbi. “What do you think, honey?”
“Mom! It’s pizza! You don’t have to ask me twice!”
~*~
Pulling up in front of Joey’s house, Julie was surprised to see there were no cars in the driveway. However, when she walked into the house, it was obvious that the lack of cars had been very misleading, indeed.
There were about seven girls already scattered around the living room. Brianna looked up and grinned over at Julie.
“Thought you chickened out! Get in here!”
“Where are all the cars?”
“I had everyone park down the street. You know dad’s going to have one of those idiots ride by to check on us,” Brianna explained, a mischievous gleam in her eye. With a weak laugh, Julie set her stuff down and then stepped into the living room, taking a seat on the couch.
“You know everyone, right?” Although Julie had seen the girls around school before, she wasn’t familiar with them, but she didn’t want Brianna to know that.
“Yeah,” she said, giving everyone a nice smile.
“Is your dad REALLY JC Chasez?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Oh Gosh, my mom used to be so in love with him!” One of the girls gushed. “Do you think maybe I could get his autograph and a picture sometime?”
With a small smile, Julie nodded.
“Sure, I’m sure we can work something out,” she offered sweetly. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all!
~*~
“Abbi, put your seatbelt on,” JC reminded his daughter as she attempted to stretch out on the back seat. They’d just finished their dinner, and had made plans to ride around for awhile before returning home.
“Ugh, daddy! I want to lay down! My belly hurts!” She whined. JC rolled his eyes. They went through this every time they ate out. Looking into the rearview mirror, he was hard pressed not to smile. Abbi was sitting in the back seat, her arms crossed over her chest, her lip stuck out in a pout. Her belly was full and round, her shirt riding up just a little. She looked pathetic and miserable.
“If your belly hurts so bad, maybe we should just go home and skip the ice cream?” Her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly.
“I jus’ need to digest first!” She said, scowling at him. Jen laughed as she turned her seat to look back at her daughter.
“You sure? I mean, daddy and I are pretty full, and I think we could all do without ice cream.”
“No mommy! I want ice cream!” She whined. Winking at her playfully, Jen turned back around and yawned sleepily. This night had been wonderful. Even with the slight grumpy attitude coming from her daughter, it had been a peaceful night, one that she was in need of.
~*~
“Alright. So, everyone’s here… finally,” she said, looking over at Julie with a smirk. “It’s time for some fun.” Brianna stood from her place on the floor and left the room, returning minutes later with two very large bottles in hand.
Apparently, she was the only one who had no idea what was in those bottles, but she wasn’t going to announce it to the world. She’d been there for a half an hour already, and had felt completely out of place. It felt so wrong being there. The conversations that she’d heard had been enough to scar her for life!
“Julie, can you run into the kitchen and grab a couple glasses?” Brianna asked, knowing that Julie was the only one who’d been in the house enough to know where the cups were kept. With a nod, she pushed herself up and headed into the kitchen. Once she was alone, she leaned back against the counter, her heart pounding in her chest. This felt so incredibly wrong. She grabbed a couple glasses and returned to the living room.
Brianna had already uncapped the bottles and the strong stench of alcohol reached Julie’s nose. What in the world had she gotten herself into?
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