JC stood in the hallway.
Emma had been gone at least ten minutes, but he couldn’t move. It was like
his feet were glued to the floor.
He had lost her. He would get her back,
he told himself. It would just take some time.
JC knew how badly he had hurt Emma.
He really wasn’t sure why he slept with Sarah in the first place. She had
just been there while he was in his lonely state. But he could no longer
blame his loneliness than he could blame the stars.
There was no good excuse for cheating
on Emma. No excuse would be good enough.
Sarah came back out to the hallway.
She was dressed now, in a pair of jeans and dark blue sweater. “What’s wrong?”
JC moved away when Sarah tried to wrap
her arms around him. “I let you take advantage of me. How could I have been
so stupid? You should have stopped me!”
Sarah smiled. “That girl is not good
enough for you. You need someone strong and.…”
“Shut up! I love Emma and she loves
me, well she did until I made this huge mistake!” JC yelled. He toned down
his voice a little when he realized they were in a hotel hallway.
“No please Josh, don't go. Come on,
I could make you so happy.…”
“No,” JC growled, and walked away without
even once glancing back. He knew where he belonged. Now only if Emma would
let him back in.
They were waiting in JC’s hotel room,
waiting to hear the news. Lance and Chris had gone to Justin immediately,
telling him how Emma was here and how she was going to confront JC at the
hotel.
The three of them then had disrupted
Joey’s dance with two blondes. Though he had argued at first, Joey agreed
quickly when he had learned from Lance about what was going on.
Lance was busy contemplating the many
possibilities of what could be happening between JC and Emma this very moment.
Chris was staring at the blank TV screen,
he too wondering what was going on between the two.
Joey, however, was trying to stay up
beat about the whole thing. “I’m sure they’ll be fine,” he said reassuringly.
But the looks he got from his friends told him that they doubted that was
possible.
“If JC did anything with that girl
he left with,” Justin said, “then he’s in big trouble.”
There were a few loud sighs, before
the door slammed, catching Lance’s attention. He remembered closing the door.
Four pairs of eyes looked over at saw
JC, his eyes tear stained and he did not look happy. He looked pissed.
“JC?” Lance said quietly. “What's wrong?”
“Nothing,” JC replied with a snarl.
“Can’t you tell how happy I am right now?”
“JC,” Justin said.
JC just looked at the ground. He couldn’t
face his friends right now. “Did you guys know Emma was here?”
Lance and Chris looked at each other.
“We ran into her at the club, she was
looking for you. Did she find you?” Chris asked. He was afraid of the answer.
But JC’s face already told him the answer.
JC just nodded then hung his head.
“I slept with that girl.” He saw the guys look at him in shock. It was something
nobody ever thought JC would do. “I didn't mean to, it was a mistake. I just
missed Emma so much…”
“That's still no excuse,” Justin cut
in. “She came to surprise you.” He looked at JC. “Let me guess, she found
you in bed with this girl?”
“No.” JC hung his head again. “She
found me in bed and the girl told her the whole story with what happened.
Emma dumped me.”
“I don’t blame her, JC,” Joey said.
“I know, neither do I,” Lance put in.
JC sat on the bed and put his face
in his hands. He looked up to find his friends staring at him. He didn’t
blame them for being mad at him. He was mad at himself, too.
“What am I going to do?”
Justin sat beside him, trying his bed
to be comforting. “Let her go.”
JC shook his head. “No, I can't, I
love her. She will forgive me in time. Right guys?” He looked at them, but
they looked very uncertain.
“I don't know, but we don't know her
as well as you do,” Justin said.
At least that was better than him saying
that she probably would never forgive him.
JC looked back up at the guys. “Can
I just stay here for a while alone?”
Lance got up first. “Sure. Come on
guys, let's go out and get something to eat.”
The other three guys stood up and followed
Lance. After the guys were gone, JC laid on his bed and cried.
*****
“Have a nice flight,” the flight attendant
said handing Emma her boarding pass.
Emma smiled then walked into the gate
and got into the plane heading back home to New Mexico.
And as she looked out of the window,
she looked down at the landscape below and couldn’t help but wish that she
had never met JC.
She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
But the images of JC and Sarah together in bed was all that existed right
now inside her head.