Chapter Nine
“So how are you feeling, Rachy? Better at least?” Gaby questioned, trying to balance her phone between her shoulder and ear and apply her make-up at the same time.
“Not so much, no. I pretty much feel like shit,” her friend replied bitterly. It was the night before the girls’ senior prom and Rachael wasn’t going. She’d been planning to go with her boyfriend of four months, his name was Adam, but he’d broken up with her two days earlier for another girl. Normally she would have just gone to the prom alone merely to prove that she didn’t need a boy to have fun, but Adam and the girl were going to be there and she wasn’t feeling particularly empowered, so she’d decided to sit around her house eating ice cream and watching Jim Carrey movies all night.
“Please tell me you haven’t been sitting around moping all day,” Hollie chimed in. The friends were making use of their 3-way calling feature as they often did.
“No, not all day. My mom forced me to go to my hair appointment even though I’m not actually going to the dance. She thought it would make me feel better, but it actually just made me want to hurl. I hate getting my hair done.”
“I bet it looks really good though,” Gaby encouraged.
“Yeah, I look hot. I’m sure the ice cream and Jim Carrey will appreciate it.”
Hollie sighed. “Rach, why don’t you just come? You can hang out with me and Gaby and we’ll have a lot of fun. Show Adam that you are over him and he can just go screw himself.”
“Yeah, Rach, come!” Gaby agreed.
Rachael shook her head firmly despite the fact that the other two girls couldn’t see her. “If I thought I could pull it off without crying then I would definitely go, but I don’t.”
“Aw, Rach…” Gaby trailed off mournfully. She was a very empathetic person and it was hard for her to watch one of her best friends go through something like this. It almost made her feel guilty for being so excited to be going to the prom with Trace.
“Well at least promise me you’ll do something fun,” Hollie ordered. “And maybe while I’m at the dance I’ll find a way to castrate the little bastard in honor of you, okay?”
Rachael laughed for the first time that day. “Nah, at least wait until I have the heart to participate in the castration.”
“Rachael, you have a visitor!” Katie Jacques voice came from the living room.
“I’ve gotta go, guys,” Rachael informed her friends. “Have fun tonight and please don’t worry about me.”
“We’ll have fun, but we’ll still worry about you,” Gaby replied.
“Yeah, don’t try to stop us,” Hollie concurred.
“Fine, fine. Bye, guys.”
“Bye, Rach,” they chorused and Rachael hung up the phone, dashing out of her room and down the stairs into the living room. Her mouth dropped when she saw the visitor her mother had referred to. It was Justin, dressed in a tuxedo and holding a single rose.
“Hey, Rach,” he greeted her with a grin. “How’s it going?”
Rachael stared at him. “What are you doing here? I thought you were recording in New York. And why in God’s name are you wearing a tuxedo?” she added incredulously.
“I was in New York, but I’m here now. And what are you doing dressed like that?” he inquired, gesturing to her jeans and t-shirt and conveniently ignoring her own question about his attire. “You can’t go to the prom in jeans and a t-shirt.”
“I’m not going to the prom.”
Justin snorted. “Like hell you aren’t. I didn’t fly all the way down here and put on this stupid penguin suit just to have you tell me you aren’t going to the prom.”
Rachael was just gaping at him in disbelief. “But I-you…wait, what?”
Her friend rolled his eyes in amusement. “Try to keep up, Rachael. You called me last night crying about how your boyfriend, whom I’ve always hated by the way, dumped you for another girl and you weren’t going to the prom because you couldn’t handle it. I am now standing here in a tuxedo, there is a limo waiting for us outside, and you are going to go upstairs and change, because you and I are going to the prom and you are going to have fun if it kills you. Maybe we’ll castrate the moron while we’re there. Stop staring at me like that and go put on your dress!”
“Justin, I can’t believe you came all the way from New York just for this! It really isn’t that important.”
“It is important to me that you have a good time and not let some loser who can’t even fathom your beauty ruin it for you, okay? Now go get dressed already. We’re gonna be late.”
“You think I’m beautiful?”
“GO!”
***
“Oh, Rach, this is so exciting!” Laura squealed. “Do you know how long I have been waiting for this to happen?”
“Unfortunately I do,” Rachael replied with a sigh as she finished applying her mascara and sat down to put on her shoes.
“Me too,” Brian grumbled from where he was laying on Rachael’s bed studying. “She wouldn’t stop talking about it for months. ‘Brian, don’t you think Rachael and Lance would be cute together?’ ‘Brian, how long do you think it’ll be before Lance asks Rachael out?’ ‘Brian, don’t you think Lance has a crush on Rachael?’”
His girlfriend stuck her tongue in his general direction. “Hush.”
“He has a point, Laur,” Rachael chuckled, standing up and surveying herself in the mirror before turning around to face her two comrades. “Okay, how do I look?” she questioned, biting down on her lip nervously. She was wearing a form-fitting black top with only one long sleeve along with a simple pair of dark blue jeans and her knee-high black heeled boots, accessorized with a diamond cross necklace and a pair of diamond studs in her ears. Laura grinned.
“You look hot. I’d do you. Brian, wouldn’t you do her?”
Brian looked up from his studies and glanced at his girlfriend, then at his dance partner, then back at his girlfriend. “There is no good answer to that question,” he decided before returning to his book.
Rachael laughed before glancing at her watch. “Oh, God, he’s going to be here any minute,” she said, suddenly feeling very jittery.
Laura was still beaming at her. “You’ll have fun, don’t worry about it. Where are you guys going?”
“Just to a movie and then out for coffee. I shouldn’t be nervous, but God, I really am,” she groaned, sitting down next to Brian, who absentmindedly patted her on the shoulder. As if on cue, the doorbell rang and Rachael jumped.
“Calm down. You’ll be fine,” Laura assured her and then rushed to answer the door.
***
Britney’s laughter filled Justin’s unusually large living room as she covered her face in embarrassment. “Oh, Lordy, I can’t believe you even kept those pictures, Justin!” she exclaimed through her laughter.
“Well, you know I needed to have some blackmail material around, just in case,” Justin replied with a smile. The two had spent the evening in Justin’s home, munching on pizza and reminiscing about all the times they’d had together both before they were a couple and while they were a couple. At the moment, they were looking through old picture albums of their Mickey Mouse Club days and laughing at their clothes and hairstyles. They were currently discussing a particularly horrid picture of Britney making what she, at age 11, had thought was a “sexy face.” Mostly she just looked like she was about to throw up.
“I guess I’ll just have to stay on your good side then,” she joked.
“If you know what’s good for you,” Justin replied with a wink. The two just smiled at each other for a minute before Justin closed the photo album and stood up to put it away.
Justin had forgotten how much fun Britney was. Most people saw her as this bigger than life sex goddess, but inside she was really the same girl he’d known all those years ago. She was sweet and funny and easy to talk to, not to mention beautiful. He was suddenly remembering everything he’d loved about her and all the good times they’d had together and it was a bit overwhelming. He sat back down next to her on the couch, letting out a long sigh. “Those were good times,” he commented.
Britney nodded, a small smile still on her face. “Yeah, they were,” she agreed softly. They were both silent for a minute before Britney spoke again. “Justin, I really missed this. I really missed you.”
Justin nodded, looking into her brown eyes and smiling. “Me too. I don’t think I really realized how much until just now.”
Britney bit her lip nervously before venturing further. “You know, I’ve been thinking about you and me a lot lately. All the things we did right, all the things we did wrong and I just wanted to say I’m really sorry about the way things went down last year. I was really dumb about the whole thing with you and Rachael. I-I don’t know why I was so jealous, but I wish I hadn’t let it take over my decision making the way I did. I wish I hadn’t let you go,” she admitted in a whisper. She’d broken eye contact with him, but Justin was still staring at her intently.
“It’s okay, Brit, really. I totally understand where you were coming from and I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing if I’d been in your position.”
“Justin?” Britney ventured in a smaller voice than he’d ever heard from her before.
“Yeah?”
She lifted her eyes back up to meet his. “Can I kiss you?”
***
Rachael stood in the hallway outside of her apartment, her loud sigh being the only sound filling the awkward silence between herself and Lance. Their date was at an end and it hadn’t gone nearly as well as she had hoped. They were both obviously nervous and the entire car ride to the movie theatre had been unbearable. Neither one spoke, not because they didn’t want to, but because they couldn’t seem to think of anything to say. It was odd the way one’s ability to converse with a member of the opposite sex could change so drastically in less than a week, especially considering that they were not engaging in any activity other than what they normally did, the only thing that had changed was what they called it.
Once at the theatre, they’d chosen the most boring movie Rachael had ever seen in her life. She couldn’t even remember the name of it, that’s how terrible it had been. She’d lost interest even before the title had appeared on the screen. It was some horrible action movie that she knew Lance hadn’t enjoyed either, and she really didn’t know why he’d chosen it in the first place. Lance had spent the entire movie trying to decide whether or not to try and make a move on Rachael, physically speaking. It was always something that had been hard for him, but it was even worse when he was with someone he liked as much as he liked Rachael. Halfway through the film, he’d finally gotten up the courage to rest his hand on top of hers and she hadn’t pulled away, but she’d frequently fingered the ring on her finger, which he knew was a purity ring her father had given to her a couple of years before he’d passed away. He didn’t know why, but for some reason that made him very uncomfortable.
Then had come the coffee shop. Oh, how they both wished they could block the coffee shop experience from their minds. There was once again that unbearable silence where neither of them seemed to be able to think of anything to say, despite the fact that they had hung out on numerous occasions before and never had a problem with this before. Then Lance, in his nervous state, had managed to dump an entire grande latte on Rachael, who’d spent about twenty minutes in the bathroom trying to repair the damage. When she came back, she found that he’d been swarmed by fans, despite the fact that they had a bodyguard with them. By this time they both decided it was time to put an end to their misery and head home.
“Rachael, I’m really sorry this went so terribly,” Lance apologized as they arrived at her front door. “It’s the like the fates were against us.”
Rachael waved a hand dismissively, feeling bad that he felt bad. She really did like him and it wasn’t entirely his fault they’d had a wretched evening. It was sort of a first date requirement. “Oh, don’t worry about it Lancey. Maybe we’ll have more luck another time.”
He looked at her hopefully. “You mean you’d actually go out with me again?” he questioned incredulously. “After this disaster?”
Rachael laughed. “Like I said, don’t worry about it,” she replied, somewhat avoiding the question. She wasn’t exactly sure of what her answer was. They both gazed at each other for a moment. If he was going to kiss her, this was the time to do it. “Well, um…it was fun. Sort of.”
Lance grimaced. “Yeah.” Another long pause. Oh just go for it he told himself silently and began leaning down closer to her lips. He was maybe half an inch away when her cell phone rang shrilly.
“Shit,” Rachael muttered in embarrassment, searching through her bag for the phone. “Sorry, Lance. Hello?”
“Rach? Hey, it’s me. I need to talk to you immediately,” Justin’s voice greeted her.
“J, I’m kind of busy right now, can it wait?” Rachael replied anxiously.
“No, I’m telling you, it’s really important.”
“Well I am busy, so it will have to wait.”
“But, Rach-wait,” he cut himself off suddenly. “Are you on a date?”
“Yes. Now, I have to go.”
“For real? Who with? Do I know him?”
“Justin, I really can’t talk right now,” she groaned.
“Come on, just tell me who it is!”
“Later. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”
“Rach! Tell me!”
“Bye, Justin,” she told him pointedly before pushing the end button and tossing the phone back into her bag. She turned back to her date, biting her lip and apologizing again. “Sorry about that. I thought I had it turned off.”
“That’s okay,” Lance replied, slightly disappointed that his chance had been so rudely interrupted, but too nervous to try again.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you later then,” Rachael said when it became clear that Lance wasn’t going to attempt to make his move again.
“Yeah, definitely. Have a good night, Rach.”
“You too, Lancey. Goodnight.” She watched him walk away before retreating into her apartment and letting out a long sigh of relief that it was over. Taking her boots off, she settled down on the couch and dialed Justin’s number.
“Rachael?” he answered earnestly.
“Yeah, it’s me, dork,” she replied, looking over a note that Laura had left for her on the coffee table. It said that she and Brian had gone out for dinner and hopefully they’d be back before Rachael, but if not she shouldn’t wait up.
“Who were you with?” he demanded instantly.
Rachael sighed, tucking her feet underneath herself. “I thought you had something really important to tell me.”
“I do, but I want to know about your date first. I didn’t know you were dating again.”
“I wasn’t until tonight.”
“So, who’s the lucky man who changed your mind?”
“Not telling until you tell me your important information.”
“You first.”
“No, you first.”
“No, you.”
“You!”
“Nope.”
“Fine. I hate you. It was Lance. I went on a date with Lance.”
“I knew it!” Justin exclaimed, although despite his victorious tone, he was feeling somewhat disappointed. Somehow he felt he would have been okay with her going out with pretty much anyone other than Lance. Not that he really cared who she went out with, of course. Why should he care who she went out with? He didn’t care who she went out with. “So, how’d it go? Did you have fun?”
“Yeah,” Rachael lied.
“Did you…do stuff?”
“ ’Do stuff?’” she snorted in response. “Come on, Justin I’m not you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you’re a whore, and I’m not.”
“Whatever, you slut.”
“Bastard.”
“Bitch.”
“Asshole.”
“Skank.”
“Jerk.”
“Idiot.”
“Loser.”
“Moron.”
“Man.”
“Ho.”
“Pig. Wait, I just said that one.”
“Oh, you’re so funny,” Justin said sarcastically.
“I know, it’s a gift. Try not to be jealous,” Rachael sighed.
“I will do my best.”
“You know, I think we’re the only people I know over the age of 12 who still have insult contests.”
“That’s because we’re awesome.”
“You make so much sense sometimes, I just want to hug you.”
“I know, I know.”
“All right, so spill,” Rachael ordered, leaning back on the arm of the couch and stretching her legs out. “What’s this big important thing you need to talk to me about?”
“Well,” Justin began, suddenly feeling hesitant. “Britney came over tonight.”
Rachael frowned. “Why?”
“We ran into each other down at Millennium the other day and she wanted to hang out and catch up so I invited her over and that’s what we did. Hang out and catch up.”
“Uh huh,” Rachael replied, biting down on her lip and thinking that she was not entirely sure she liked where this was going. “And?”
“And it was really great. It was just like old times, I could talk to her just like I used to and I had fun being with her just like I used to and it was like nothing had changed.”
“And?” Rachael prompted again, suspecting that there was more to this, though she was definitely feeling like she didn’t want to continue the conversation.
“She kissed me,” Justin blurted out. “And I kissed her back and…God, this is confusing.” Because when I kissed her, I saw you, he failed to add.
Rachael felt a lump forming in her throat as she was overcome with an emotion that she was having trouble identifying. Was it jealousy? No, it couldn’t be jealousy. Why should she be jealous? She definitely wasn’t jealous. “Oh,” she squeaked. “Well, do you still have feelings for her?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think I did, but seeing her again and being with her again and-and kissing her again, I just…don’t know.”
Rachael nodded, feeling slightly dazed. When she’d picked up the phone to call him, this was not at all the conversation she’d expected to be having. “Are you going to see her again? Like on a date?”
“Yeah, next week. It’s kind of hard to fit it in between both of our rehearsals, but we found a time. Do you think I’m being stupid? I mean, she dumped me once, who says she won’t again?”
“Well, Justin, it isn’t as though you’re swearing your life away to her. It’s just a date.”
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. So you don’t think I’m being dumb? I mean, you think it’s an okay idea?”
“I think you should do what makes you happy,” Rachael told him, trying to be the supportive best friend she knew he’d be for her. “Will this make you happy?”
“Maybe.”
“Then go for it.”
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