| Chapter Fourteen JC was sitting on the couch in the living area of his suite when he heard the first tentative knocks at the door. He jumped up as Lance walked through the room, munching on a piece of cheese. �Want me to get that?� he asked, his mouth full.JC sat back down slowly, thinking that maybe acting cool could be an advantage, after all, if Patty was dating Nick, she wouldn�t be too excited to see him. He nodded and Lance opened the door. �Hi,� Brian said with a smile. �Can we come in? Or are we too early?� �Nah, we�re here, except for Joey. C�mon in.� Lance stepped to the side as Brian walked in, followed by Nick, Howie, a girl, AJ and some other guy. The guy came up behind Brian and they stood, holding hands. JC noticed the girl and Howie were holding hands also. �I see we are the first ones here,� Nick said, glancing around the room. JC frowned. If Nick was such a good boyfriend, shouldn�t he have shown up with Patty? He thought. He didn�t say anything; he simply nodded. Brian slapped his forehead. �I�m so rude! Let me introduce you to my boyfriend, Angel. I hope you don�t mind that I brought him.� His blue eyes challenged JC, who simply smiled and shook Angel�s hand. �Nice to meet you, Angel,� JC said as he pumped the smaller man�s hand up and down. �Likewise,� Angel said with a grin. He let go of JC�s hand, and resumed holding Brian�s. �Oh yeah,� Howie said, laughing. �This is my girlfriend, Desiree.� JC shook the girl�s hand, who laughed and shook her honey colored hair back. JC smiled at all of them. There was a tense silence, then another knock at the door. JC practically ran to get it. He opened it with a huge grin, expecting to see a small brunette, but instead found himself looking into a tall blond guy�s eyes. There were four guys standing behind him. The one with dreadlocks waved. �Hi, I�m Ashley,� the blonde said, reaching out to shake JC�s hand. �Brian said you were partying tonight. I called Patty; she�s on her way.� Ashley smiled. JC opened the door wider and forced a smile. �Well, come on in.� All the guys stood around the living area, quietly, sipping at their beer and attempting to make small talk with each other. But it wasn�t working. O-Town was in one corner, Backstreet Boys were in another corner waiting for Kevin and his date, and *Nsync were standing somewhere in the middle of the room, waiting on Joey to show up with the sound system. About twenty minutes after Ashley and his funky bunch showed up, there was another knock on the door. JC sighed and went to answer it, hoping it was Patty. He looked down at the brunette. �Hi,� she grinned. JC broke into a wide smile. �Hey,� he said. Patty gasped when she saw his face again. She had almost forgotten how attractive he was and her heart immediately sped up at the sight of his smile. She was eyeing his square jaw, the nice lines of his nose, the way those eyes just sparkled�. She felt a poke in her back. She turned. Dawnovan was grinning. �Come on in,� JC said, noticing that Patty�s friend was getting a bit impatient standing out in the hallway. �Thanks,� Patty said with a smile, blushing a bit as she walked into JC�s suite. �Wow, this is a nice place,� she commented, looking around. JC beamed. �Thanks.� �Oh, damn, I�m such a dork. You know D, but this is my friend, Dawnovan Philips.� Patty pointed Dawnovan out. The two men shook hands. D was looking around, wondering if Chris or AJ were hanging out somewhere. �Hi, JC,� she said offhandedly as she scanned the area. �Everyone is in the living room. Shall we join them?� JC extended his arm. Nick was the first to notice their arrival. �Hey Patty,� he said, sidling up to her immediately. �Wow, you look� incredible.� Patty smiled, enjoying the attention the men in the room were giving her, D, and Dawn. �Oh, hey,� she said with a wink. �Thanks for the compliment. You look really good too. I like your hair. Oh my� is that? Ashley!� she laughed as Ashley leaned over and gave her a kiss on her cheek. Nick glared at Ashley. Who the hell was this guy now? He thought. And the one she walked in with? Nick began to wonder if maybe Patty had all these different boyfriends. She was beautiful and smart� Nick mumbled something about getting her a drink and walked out of the room. Lance walked up to JC, who was sitting on the sofa, watching with morbid amusement as Patty conversed animatedly with D, Dawnovan and Ashley but was ignoring Nick. �You still haven�t seen Justin?� Lance asked. JC nodded. �You said he took off with Patty, right? Go ask her.� Patty felt a light tap on her shoulder. �Yes?� she asked, her eyes wide. �Hey Lance. You scared me,� she said with a nervous laugh. Lance smiled crookedly, but it quickly faded into a look of worry. �I saw Justin leave with you around lunch time today. Have you seen him?� Patty laughed again. �Yeah. He wasn�t feeling well, so I took him to my house to rest. He�s supposed to be on his way.� D smiled. �He�s with our friend, Jade. I bet they �accidentally-on-purpose� got lost.� She winked and Lance relaxed. �Ah, okay. I�ll see you guys later.� Lance turned around and walked back to the table where all the food was laid out and ate another piece of cheese. �That was easy,� D muttered. �I wonder if he�s as easy,� Dawn said, checking Lance out as he walked to where Chris, Howie, Desiree, and Jacob were talking. D grinned. �Who knows? I�m going to go talk to AJ, since obviously Chris is content to just stand there and stare at me.� She smiled widely and winked. �See y�all later.� She walked to where AJ was standing alone. �Hi,� she told him. �Hi,� he said bashfully, looking at his shoes. There was another knock at the door. Chris opened it. �Hey man, it�s about time you showed up!� he admonished, but quickly changed his tone as he noticed the curly haired girl Justin was standing with. He raised an eyebrow and nodded approvingly. �And who is this vision?� Justin smiled proudly. �Hey. This is Jade; she�s Patty�s roomie.� �Hi,� Jade said shyly. �Aww, how cute!� Dawnovan said loudly. �They�re holding hands.� Patty laughed. �It happens.� She smiled at Jade and gave her a thumbs up. Patty laughed harder when she saw D making kissy faces at Jade. Jade attempted to ignore her and she and Justin went to mingle. There was another knock at the door. Chris scowled. �Damn it. Can�t they show up at the same time?� It was Kevin and Heather. There was another girl with them too. �Hi,� Kevin said, and waved at everyone in the room. �This is Heather and that�s her friend Rebecca. Heather and Rebecca, that�s everyone.� The girls waved. Everyone waved back. There was a brief moment of silence, then the whole room burst out in laughter. Nick went up to Rebecca. �Hi there,� he said. She pushed her long auburn hair behind one ear and gazed up at him with her piercing green eyes. �Hi.� Damn, Nick thought. I�m in love for the second time today. He shot Patty a grin, who smiled at him and waved, then looked at JC, who was talking to Dan and Erik. He saw her disappointed expression, and suddenly hoped that things happened between the two of them. The moment passed, and he started talking to Rebecca again. JC glanced around, staring at Patty for a moment longer than he meant to, and did a quick head count. �Joey�s still missing,� he thought aloud. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Justin and Jade went up to the table and opened a couple of beers as JC opened the door. Joey grinned. �I�m here.� He stepped to the side. �I brought the stereo too, along with a date.� Justin�s ears pricked up. A date? How the hell did Joey meet someone so fast? �Well, hello there!� JC said brightly as he shook the girl�s hand. Justin could hear Patty�s heels click clack as she walked toward the door. Justin froze when he heard Patty exclaim, �Elizabeth!� Chapter Fifteen HOME |