Chapter 8
"I AM NOT GAY!" Chris screeched for the tenth time. Joey walked out of the house because of the yelling.
"What in God's name is this all about?" Joey demanded. "I was watching Dukes of Hazard!" He saw the murderous look on Chris' face. "Aw, you guys weren't telling him he was gay again were you?" Every female eyebrow around rose.
"Again?" Ali whispered to D.
"She started it," chorused Lance, and JC, pointing at D.
"What?" D demanded. "I sure as hell did not! You did," she told JC.
"No, you're the one who said he was in denial, and was agreeing with Rae that Nate was hot." Rae blushed red again, and Nate looked at her and smiled.
"Okay, okay, I'll ask Chris. Chris?" Chris looked up at him and growled. "Okay, Ali. She won't lie to me," he said with a smug smile. She shot him a look that said 'I wouldn't be so sure.' The smugness left his face.
"JC started it," Ali told him. JC had a stricken look on his face.
"She lies!" JC exclaimed. "You don't believe her."
"Now JC, why would she lie to me?" Joey asked.
"Because the accused is her friend!" JC exclaimed, almost sounding like a lawyer. ALMOST.
"Your point?" Joey asked.
"Hey, Joe?" Lance whispered. "I wasn't here really, and I just found out from Meagan, that JC really did start it." Joey smiled at Lance.
"Thank you for coming forward, Lance," Joey told him. JC made a shocked sound.
"Traitor," JC breathed. He turned to Joey, a pleading look in his eyes. "Don't you see?" JC begged. "He, has been wrapped around Meagan's little finger, and will tell you whatever she tells him to tell you." Meagan got a smug look on her face from this. "And of course, she is-"
"Ya, ya, ya, the accused's friend. JC, face it. You're out numbered. It's, so far, three to one. Just give it up."
"Justin will testify for me," JC exclaimed.
"Justin wasn't even here," Britney pointed out.
"Well, if you are going to lie for your friend, I am sure as hell going to get one who will lie for me," he told her.
"Speaking of which, where is the lyin' bastard?" Lance asked.
"Last I saw of him, he was 'looking around' with Jen," Ali reminded.
"Well, let's just go find them," Joey suggested. He took Ali's hand and began to lead her around back. The rest of the group followed, except for Chris, who was still pissed in the pool. Nate stayed close to Rae, D raising her eyebrows suggestively at the two, making them both blush.
"Where the hell you guys goin?" Chris called. No one answered. "Hey, you can't just leave me here!" Chris insisted. Again, no one answered. He gave up.
Everybody walked around back, quiet as possible. They didn't have far to look. They quickly came upon Justin and Jen, sitting on a bench in D's back yard in a lip lock. The girls giggled quietly and the guys snickered. They watched, not saying a word as not to disturb the, ahem, occupied couple, when D suddenly saw something not to her liking.
"Aww," D exclaimed, disgusted. "I saw a tongue!!" She suddenly became wide-eyed, as everyone, including Jen and Justin, (although rather embarrassed) turned to stare at her, and she realized exactly how loud she'd said that. She quickly turned and ran back to the front, diving into the pool.
"What's with you?" Chris asked, confused at her sudden appearance.
"Nothing," D squeaked. She cleared her throat and repeated herself in her normal voice. To D's relief, no one followed her back. She was a little embarrassed right now, and didn't want to be reminded of it. She dove under the cool water, trying to cool off her flaming face. Chris looked at her, suspicious, but didn't say anything.
"So, umm," Chris began, trying to get a convo running. They stared at each other, not knowing what to say. (this is where in my friend K's stories we would start making out passionately, unfortunately, this ain't K's story. Sorry K)
Justin and Jen stared back at the crowd of friends that were currently staring at them.
"What?" Justin demanded, very embarrassed. "It's not like we were naked or anything."
"Might as well have been," someone commented. The girls giggled and the guys snickered.
"Ya, well laugh all you want," Justin exclaimed.
"Okay, we will," Britney called. Suddenly, as if on cue, all of the girls began laughing, obviously faking it. A few slapped their knees for effect.
"Hey," Justin exclaimed.
"Well, you did tell us to laugh," Rae pointed out. Nate nodded beside her in agreement.
"You asked for it," Ali said.
"You got it," Meagan finished. He glowered at the girls.
"Jen, why aren't you saying anything?" JC inquired.
"JC, leave her alone," Britney ordered.
"Hey, how come you get to pick on Justin, but I can't pick on Jen?" JC demanded.
"Because Justin can defend himself!" Britney told him.
"Do you make it a regular thing to 'pick' on women, Mr. Chasez?" Ali asked him.
"Wha?" JC asked, not used to having two women come at him like this at once, and yet, he could handle a crowed of screaming fans.
"She said..." Rae said, joining in angrily. 'Okay, maybe three,' JC thought to himself.
"Ya, JC," Lance put in. JC looked at his friend, confused.
"Lance? Not you too, man," JC whined. Lance shrugged and looked over at Meagan, who was frowning in his direction. The girls comments began to pound down on JC as Lance and Joey could do nothing but stand by and watch. No one noticed Justin and Jen stand from the bench and sneak around front to the pool.
Chapter 9
Jen saw Chris and D staring at each other in the pool first.
"What the hell are you two doing?" she demanded, looking from D to Chris.
"Staring contest," they said in unison, circling each other in the deep end. Jen looked at them weird.
"Okay," she said. "Umm, Justin, let's go somewhere else, okay?" Justin looked confused at his friend and nodded. Jen took his arm and led him away from the staring contest.
"You blinked!" D shouted, jumping up and down, well as much as one can in the deep end of the pool. "I won!"
"I did not blink!" Chris shouted back. "I had water in my eye."
"You still blinked," D told him.
"Okay, go again," he said. D breathed in and pretended to think.
"Naw, I won," D told him, blinking her eyes rapidly.
"Come on, just one more," Chris begged.
"No!" D told him. "I had a hard enough time doing that one!"
"One more!" Chris insisted. She shook her head.
"Pain in the ass," he muttered under his breath.
"Back at ya," D told him. She began to swim around, not knowing what else to do. Finally, she gave in. "Okay, one more," she told him, swimming up to him.
Meagan looked around at the yelling crowed around her, ready to kill someone.
"Would you guys shut up already!!" Meagan screamed. They turned and looked at her, confused. "Why are you yelling anyway? Do you even remember?" The yelling match had taken on so many different subjects, no one was on the original anymore. Everybody thought for a minute, then shrugged. "Very good," she yelled. She grabbed Lance by the arm and pulled him away.
"Where you going?" Ali asked, a bit concerned.
"Away from here," Meagan told her. "Let's go," she told Lance. He shrugged and followed.
"Now see what you've started?" Britney said to JC.
"I've started? How'd I start that?" he asked. He smiled at Ali, Rae, Nate, and Joey before saying, "excuse us." He took Britney by the arm and led her away.
"I'm boiling," Joey said. "Let's go sit in front of the air conditioner."
"There's a pool in the front," Ali told him.
"Ya, but I don't wanna get wet," he told her, scrunching his face. Ali caved.
"Okay," she said, although reluctantly. "Let's go." They left, leaving Ali's brother and Rae alone. Rae looked up at him.
"Hi," he said nervously.
"Hi," she returned.
"Are you okay?" Lance asked Meagan, once they had sat down under a shaded tree. Meagan nodded, taking a deep breath.
"Just got a little tired of the fighting is all," she told him.
"Understandable. I've been through it a million times. It's usually Justin telling Chris to quit being so immature," Lance told her with a grin. Meagan laughed a bit. "Sounds funny, doesn't it?" Lance asked. Meagan nodded.
"Sounds like it should be the other way around."
"I really like you," Lance told her suddenly. "I'm really glad we stopped."
"I'm really glad you were hallucinating," Meagan told him with a smile.
"Meagan, can I ask you something?" Lance asked, not looking into her eyes.
"Mmmhmmm?" Meagan answered.
"Can I kiss you?" he asked, red flooding his face. Meagan laughed, then caught his eyes.
"Don't have to ask me twice," she told him, leaning in toward him.
"I'm cold," Joey complained.
"You should be," Ali said with a laugh. "Your lips are turning blue." Her teeth began to chatter.
"So are yours," Joey told her, his teeth beginning to do the same.
"Maybe we should g-go back out s-side," she suggested.
Joey shook his head rapidly before answering. "N-no, let's stay in here where w-we're alone," he said with a suggestive smile.
"B-b-but we'll b-be pops-s-s-sicles," she pointed out.
"W-we c-could keep each other w-w-w-w-warm." He laughed at the amount of time it took him to get the sentence out.
"An-n-nd how do you s-s-s-suppose we d-do that?" Ali inquired with a smile. Joey leaned forward and placed his lips against hers, quickly warming them both up as promised.
"What are we doing?" Justin asked Jen.
"Just taking a little walk," Jen informed him. They had been walking down the street Randi lived on for the past five, ten minutes. "Do you want to go back?" she asked.
"Do you think Chris and D are still doing that weird staring contest thing?" Justin asked hesitantly. Jen shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe," she told him. Justin got a stricken look on his face.
"No, I'm fine," he told her.
"What's wrong with them having a staring contest?" Jen asked.
"I don't know, it just weirds me out," he said with a shrug. "You thought it was weird or something too," Justin added. "You're the one that wanted to leave. Why?" It was Jen's turn to shrug.
"I don't know. D never does staring contests tho," Jen said. She got a weird look on her face. "Like, never." She shook her head, shaking it free of the confusion. "But if you don't want to walk, then what DO you want to do?" A wicked smile came across Justin's lips.
"I want to do what we were doing before," he said, taking her in his arms.
"Justin," Jen exclaimed with a smile. "The neighbours..."
"Fuck the neighbours," Justin said, leaning in and kissing her neck.
"Britney, don't be mad!" JC pleaded. "I didn't mean it how it sounded. I just didn't think it was fair that you could sit there and pick away at Justin, and Jen was getting none of the blame," JC tried to explain. They had figured out what the original topic of the fight had been.
"Ya, well... so what?" Britney exclaimed, suddenly speechless. "I don't care how you meant it to sound, it didn't sound that way! And who was laying blame in the first place, hmm?" Both stopped to contemplate this, because neither was really sure.
"Ya, well... Justin was having to explain himself and Jen was just sitting there!!" JC said. They both stopped again and tried to remember.
"This is getting us nowhere," Britney finally said, crossing her arms.
"Aww, that's just because you are losing," he told her.
"I am not losing," she insisted.
"You are too," he told her.
"Am not!"
"Are too!!" He grabbed her around the waist and kissed her before she could say anymore.
Chapter ten
"So," Rae began. "Why do you never leave your house?"
"I was waiting for you to ask me that," Nate commented with a smile.
"Well?" Rae asked. Nate took a deep breath before continuing.
"Umm, about two years back, my fiancee died." Rae was shocked.
"I'm so sorry," she exclaimed. A giant smile spread across his face.
"I'm kidding. I'm sorry," he said, trying not to laugh. "That was really mean."
"It was,"Rae said with a frown. "And it wasn't funny either." Nate bowed his head, still trying not to laugh. "So?" Rae repeated.
"I don't know. Just no reason to leave, I guess," he said with a shrug.
"What about friends?" Rae questioned. He shrugged again.
"My family are my friends, and D comes to visit sometimes. She and Ali forced me out to a mall once. Does that count for anything?" Rae shook her head with a smile. "I have one other friend, but she likes coming over to our house. She practically lives there." Rae felt a streak of something like jealousy run through her.
"Why doesn't she ever go home?" Rae inquired.
"Angel's parents don't care if she goes home or not. Actually, they'd rather her not come home." All the laughter in his face had gone. Rae felt kinda sorry for the girl.
"Is she at your house now? Why didn't you bring her along?" Rae asked. He seemed a bit happier now.
"She's at her grandmother's house," Nate told her. "Her grandmother loves her so much, and takes really good care of her. Her grandmother is really nice."
"Why did you come?" Rae asked suddenly.
"Why? What do you mean? I had to bring Ali's stuff," he reminded.
"Well, you could have let your parents bring it, or just let her use one of D's towels. She's done it before."
"I like D. She's really interesting, and she's funny. I didn't mind leaving to come to her house. Actually, I've been here before; once again, D forced me here. It was last month at a party."
"I was there, I didn't see you," Rae said. He smiled a bit.
"I don't think anybody did. I've gotten pretty good at finding hiding places. I saw you though."
"Really? Why didn't you say hi or something?" Rae asked. "I would have talked to you. I consider myself a people person," she said with a smirk.
"I tried, D tried to get me too, telling me that you would like me, but I didn't believe her. Actually, you're the reason I came out today," he admitted.
"Really?" she said, a bit shocked. He nodded. "Well, I do."
"Do what?" he questioned.
"Like you." She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Slowly, he tilted his head so his lips were touching hers.
Chris was desperate. D was really holding her own in this game, and he really REALLY needed to blink. He couldn't move his eyes from her, and he couldn't think of a way to cheat. He had to just stare into her brown eyes and try his damnedest not to blink. But the more he tried not to blink, the more he had to, and the more he had to, the more desperate he became. The more desperate he became, the more he wanted to blink. He tried just concentrating on her pretty brown eyes. They seemed not even to focus on him really. His eyes were getting really dry now. It was driving him up the wall. Suddenly, he came up with an idea that was sure to get her to blink first. It was ingenious, it was perfect, it was also a surefire way to get himself killed, but at least he would be able to close his eyes then. He suddenly grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to him, kissing her hard on the lips. Her eyes widened, then clenched shut as she tried desperately to pull away. He was about to pull away himself, shouting that she had blinked, just as she had when he had blinked, when he decided that he liked this too much. He eased the kiss a bit, watching her face the whole time. He felt the fight leave her body little by little, until it felt like she had given in. He smirked to himself, and felt her smile too. Suddenly, he felt her hands on his arms and her feet on his stomach and he was being shoved under the water.
"Son of a bitch," she muttered to herself as she got out of the water. She began to dry off and go inside.
Chapter eleven
"Randi!!" Chris called. She didn't turn around, she just walked into the house. "Shit," he muttered to himself. He thought he'd had her. Oh well. Nothing much he could do about it now. No use crying over spilt milk. Keserahsrah, whatever will be, will be. What's done is done. The past is the past. Life goes on. "Ahh, fuck it," he swore, and got out of the pool to follow her.
In the house, Joey and Ali were...well, let's just say...no, we can't say that....that either....HEEEEELLLLL NO! That definitely can't be said. Well, okay, I'm kidding. I'm the narrator, I can do that kinda shit. They had moved to the couch and were making out heavily. D walked thru the living room, and looked at them. She raised and eye brow, but said nothing to disturb them. She continued walking. Chris raced in the house on D's heels.
"D, wait," he pleaded. He skidded to a stop and stared at Joey and Ali on the couch. "People, people. This is someone's house! That is just disgusting. Come on." Ali and Joey looked up at him, shocked and embarrassed. "Just messin," he told them, a gigantic smile on his face. "Continue." Joey looked at him with a murderous glare.
"Don't mind him," Ali said, guiding his eyes back to her. "He's only playing with you." Joey smiled again, and met her lips with his. D on the other hand, had heard and was trying desperately not to show she'd thought it was funny. She heard Chris call her name again, and picked up the pace. She walked into another room. She saw a flash of movement and suddenly, Britney and JC had a foot of space in between them. Britney was hurriedly fixing her hair. D just smirked. Chris walked up behind her.
"Hmm, what have you two been doing?" Chris asked. D huffed, and walked out of the room.
"Girl troubles, Chris?" JC asked. Chris sneered and continued after D. After about ten minutes of following her, he gave up. He sat down on the bench in the back yard. He looked over and saw Nate and Rae goin at it. He rolled his eyes and stood. They looked up as they felt his weight leave the bench, then turned back to what they were doing. He heard a splash in the pool. 'Maybe she got back in the pool,' he thought to himself. He raced around the front and discovered that Meagan and Lance were the ones in the pool.
"Hey, Chris, come on in!" Meagan called to him. "It's really nice in here."
"Ya, Chris, hop in," Lance added. Chris made a reluctant face.
"I--I have some business to take care of," Chris told them, backing away.
"Business to take care of?" Meagan repeated, suspicious. Chris nodded.
"Okay, be on your way," Lance said, confused. Chris nodded again and left the pool area.
"Business to take care of," Meagan mumbled, shaking her head. "Hey, Jen," Meagan called, suddenly spotting her friend. Jen waved, and drug Justin back over to pool. She dove in, still holding Justin's hand, who fell in, inhaling water. He surfaced, sputtering and coughing.
"Oh, did I forget to let go?" Jen joked.
"That was not funny," he told her.
"I guess I'll just have to try harder next time," she said with a sigh. Meagan and Lance laughed at the expression of frustration on Justin's face. Jen looked scared and began to swim away rapidly.
"Oh, no you don't," he called, swimming after her. He finally caught up with her, dunking her head under water. She surfaces, and glared at him.
"That's it," she growled, her voice sounding like Satan had taken over her body. She began flinging water at him furiously, only making him laugh.
"Is that the best you can do?" he asked, just standing there and taking it. Suddenly, he began firing water back at her.
"Hey you're hitting us," Meagan complained.
"Well, then you shouldn't be standing in the way, should you?" Justin exclaimed. Meagan began splashing him in response. Soon, it was boys against girls.
"Hey, hey, hey!" came a voice, temporarily stopping the feud. They turned to see JC shaking a finger at them. "You know the rules, no splashing." They ganged up and all began splashing him. Britney ran up behind an pushed him in before jumping in herself. "Britney!" he exclaimed, shocked that she would do such a thing.
"Shut up," she told him with a smile, before splashing him in the face. He splashed her back, and the war began again.
"Duck and cover!!" Joey screamed, doing a cannonball into the pool, hitting everyone with the wave it created, even Ali who was standing at the edge.
"I was dry!" Ali yelled at him. Joey smiled at her charmingly.
"I'm sorry, baby," he responded.
"Ya, I'll bet," she said, diving in to get him. Rae and Nate came around the corner, smiling.
"What's going on over here?" Rae asked.
"Splash war!" Ali announced, pommeling the guys with water along with her friends.
"Wanna join?" Justin asked, splashing her purposely. She screamed as the cold water hit her mid-drift.
"Oh, HELL ya," she exclaimed. "I am gonna beat your ass!" She jumped in, splashing Justin from the back.
"Cheater!" Justin yelled, laughing. He turned and began splashing her back.
"Hey," Nate shouted. "Quit beating up on my girlfriend."
"From over here," came a voice from behind Nate, "it looks like she's beating up on him." Nate turned around, not positive who it was. Of course, it was D. She smiled sweetly at him before putting her hands on his chest and sent him sprawling backward into the pool. She jumped in behind him and helped her team beat the guys in the splashing war.
Chapter twelve
"Randi, Randi," Chris called. 'Where the hell is that girl?' he wondered. All he wanted to do was apologize, at least that was what he was going to tell her. He wandered back toward the pool. It was silent, although he heard splashing. He looked in, wondering what was going on. "Um, have you guys seen Randi?" he inquired to the full pool.
"No," JC replied in a high voice, smirking. Justin cleared his throat and put on a serious face.
"Haven't seen her," Justin told him seriously before cracking a smile. Chris looked around, suspicious of what was going on. The girls were huddled in a corner in the shallow end giggling, or trying to stop themselves from doing it. All of the guys just smiled up at him, trying to look innocent. There was a sudden burst of laughter from everyone. He looked at them, confused.
"So, you haven't seen Randi then?" he questioned. They all shook their heads. All of the sudden, the water in the deep end of the pool was rushing up at him. He flailed his arms, trying to stop himself from falling. It didn't work and before he realized it, he was underwater. He came up to the sound of laughter. He looked up at the deck to see Randi smiling at him. He glared at her. Chris got out of the pool and began to run after her.
"No running on the deck!" JC called.
"Bite me!" Chris responded, still chasing D and rapidly catching up to her. He finally caught her half a minute later and wrapped his arms around her middle, trapping her arms in the process, and lifting her off her feet.
"What are you doing?" she screeched.
"Getting you back," he responded. He thought of whether he would be able to throw her in, but decided on just jumping in himself. She screamed as she and Chris entered the water.
"You're not funny," she told Chris when they resurfaced. He let go of her and put a hand to his ear.
"Shit, you yelled right in my ear." She looked at him guiltily.
"Sorry," she apologized. She swam away, over to her friends, not knowing what else to say.
"Hmm, what was that all about?" Britney asked. D looked at her confused.
"Ya, D," Jen added with a bit of a giggle.
"What are you two talking about?" D asked.
"Oh, come on, D," Meagan scolded. "You know what we're talking about."
"You could cut the tension between you two with a knife," Rae told her with a grin.
"What aren't you telling us?" Ali asked.
"I'm not not telling you anything," D informed her.
"Ya, and Justin didn't ask me out," Jen said sarcastically.
"Justin asked you out?" Rae, Ali and Meagan asked her. She nodded enthusiastically. The three got quickly into the conversation of how and when, but Britney was in the middle of a stare down with D, and was quickly winning. Randi cowered under Britney's glare. Finally, she looked at the bottom of the pool in defeat.
"You cannot tell ANYONE else though," she made Britney promise. Britney nodded, just happy that she'd gotten what she'd wanted. D sighed and leaned toward Britney's ear, telling her about Chris kissing her, exactly.
"He WHAT?" Britney demanded. Chris looked over at them when Britney yelled. A look of terror over took his face when he realized just why she had yelled. Britney wore a none too happy expression.
"Uh oh," Chris mumbled. Justin and JC looked at him.
"What is it you're not telling me?" JC asked.
"Us," corrected Justin.
"Sorry, us," JC repeated, rolling his eyes.
"What's up?" Joey asked.
"Chris is withholding information," Justin informed.
"Ohh, really?" Joey asked, interested.
"You do know what we do to those who keep secrets from us, right, Chris?" Lance asked.
"Guys, come on, no," Chris pleaded.
"Just tell us and it won't happen," Justin told him simply.
"Ya, Chris it's no big deal," JC added.
"We're your friends," Lance said.
"We won't tell, Chris." (Joey)
"Guys, please, no don't do it!" Chris shouted.
"Get 'im!" Justin yelled. All of the guys piled on top of Chris, dunking him.
Chapter thirteen
"Don't drown him!" D screeched, pulling them off of Chris. She pulled him up from under the water. The guys looked at her quizzically. "I am NOT getting sued because you sonsabitches think it's funny to hold your friend's head underwater!" Chris stood gasping.
"Aw, D, I didn't know you cared," he managed jokingly. She sneered at him, giving him an 'I don't' look.
"Don't ever, EVER do that again," D ordered, turning to swim into the deep end of he pool. Her friends followed her, all but Britney.
"What the hell was that?" Ali asked with a smile. D didn't respond. She just tried to swim away from them but they wouldn't let her. D looked at Rae. All the girl could do was shrug.
Britney, on the other hand, was taking matters into her own hands regarding Chris. She waled over to him, a smile stretched across her face.
"Chris, could I talk to you, privately?" she inquired. Chris looked at her, still bent over and trying to catch his breath.
"Could you give me a minute?" She wrapped her hands around a few of his dreads and began walking away with them. "Ow, shit. I'll take that as a no," he said, following his hair. "Did you have to do that?" he asked once they'd stopped and she'd let go of his hair.
"Chris, right about now," Britney told him, crossing her arms, "you are SO lucky I grabbed you by the hair on you head." Chris cringed, knowing full well what she meant.
"Well?" Meagan asked D, following her to the next corner of the pool. "What WAS that about?"
"Don't you think you over reacted just a bit?" Jen inquired.
"No," D told her seriously.
"Guys, let's just leave her alone," Rae said, looking worriedly at her friend. The others ignored her.
"D, it was just a joke," Meagan told her.
"Ya, Meagan. It was goddammed hilarious. I can't stop F*#@in laughing," D said coldly.
"D, calm down," Ali exclaimed. "It was a joke."
"Is that what they would have told the cops when he drown?" D inquired. "Gee, sorry officer. We were just joking around. We had no idea that submerging his head under water for an extended period of time would kill him!" She rolled her eyes.
"Guys, come on," Rae tried again.
"D, you're taking this way too seriously," Jen told her softly, trying to calm her. "You're over reacting."
"Guys, please," Rae begged, trying to get between D and the rest. "It's not worth it."
"Ya, they wouldn't have let him drown," Meagan told D. Suddenly, it was like the air had stopped around them with those words. Rae swam away toward Nate, knowing there was nothing she could say anymore.
"What's going on over there?" Nate asked. Rachel just turned into his arms and hugged him like the world was about to explode, only it wasn't her world that was exploding.
"Nothing," she whispered.
