| "What am I doing? This isn�t going to work. There�s no way." JC mumbled softly to himself as he paced back and forth across the kitchen floor. He hated pacing. He hated when anyone paced. How was walking around the same place going to solve any problems? And yet, here he was. Pacing. Mandi was upstairs getting changed and doing her hair and makeup, and JC was downstairs, panicking. He never panicked. Ever. He was the calm, rational one. He kept everyone�s heads on when they were panicking. He didn�t know how to panic. Who was supposed to keep his head on? He cleared his throat loudly and yelled up to Mandi, trying to keep the quiver out of his voice. "Almost ready, baby?" Getting no answer, he assumed she was still in the bathroom and sighed, before grabbing the phone and quickly dialing Justin�s number. "I knew you�d be calling," came his friend�s voice. "How�d you know it was me?" "Caller ID, man. Duh." Justin smiled to himself. "So what�s up? You�re freaking out, right?" JC managed a smile. Justin knew him too well sometimes. "Yeah. What am I doing J? I don�t think I can do this anymore. She�s gonna hate me. I�m gonna screw up everything we have. I can�t do it alone." Justin had to bite his tongue to keep from saying "I told you so." "Well, you can�t back down now. Just do it... she could never hate you, you know that. I could come if you want me to... Britney�s here, we could double date. JC let out another long sigh and nodded. "Alright. We�re leaving like, now though. Just meet us there... God, I�m so nervous. OK. I can do this. I�ll see you there. Thanks man." He hung up and walked slowly up the stairs to their bedroom, knocking on the door lightly. Mandi looked up from her place in front of the mirror and smiled. "Hey, I�m ready, just let me get my coat." She dashed downstairs with JC behind her and grabbed her coat off of the back of a chair. "Are you ok, hun? You�re really quiet." JC chewed on his lip. Of course. Did he really think that she wouldn�t notice something was wrong? How was he going to get around telling her? "I�m OK, I�m just... a little bit preoccupied with something. I�ll tell you about it later. Let�s go though, we�re going to miss our reservations." With that, he walked out to the car with Mandi on his heels. They were actually early for their reservations, on account of JC�s nervous and over the speed limit driving. Much to his dismay, Robert was nowhere to be seen, even after they�d waited and pushed back their reservations fifteen minutes. JC knew he was worrying Mandi, just by his expression and the way his knee was bouncing up and down. Plus, Justin and Britney weren�t there yet, and he wanted someone who knew what was going on to be there. His eyes were trained on the door, and he almost jumped up out of his seat when Robert walked in, causing Mandi to give him a very confused and concerned look. "Sorry. I just... saw who I was waiting for. Robert!" He yelled to the man, who walked over to him. "Hey kid. Where�s my food." JC looked at Mandi, who was staring at her father with wide eyes and an open mouth. "I�m guessing from your expression that you know who this is..." JC swallowed hard. This did not look good. Robert looked at Mandi and sneered. "Well hello, daughter dearest. Wow, you haven�t gotten any prettier since I last saw you, have you?" He looked over at JC. "Can we eat now? And where�s my money, by the way?" Mandi turned her open-mouthed stare to JC, her eyes beginning to well up with angry and confused tears. JC gave her a nervous smile. "Uh... I can explain this. Um, see, sweetie, I really wanted you to see your father again, and, uh..." Mandi stood up and looked both of the men in the eye. "Someone had better start explaining what is going on before I flip out." Justin chose that moment to walk through the door with Britney at his side. Giving JC a worried look, he walked over to them and shook Robert�s hand. "So... I see you�ve all met. Bobby, this is my girlfriend, Britney." Britney gave him a big smile. "Nice to meet you! So, this is, like, a family reunion or something? How sweet!" Mandi�s gaze was now turned on Justin. "You knew about this? What the hell is going on? I want an explanation." JC took her hand and she pulled it away and glared at him. Justin widened his eyes. "Uh oh." "I can explain what I�m doing here, sweetheart," Robert spoke up. "This nice man of yours promised me a free meal and cash, just for seeing your ugly face again. Now, I�ve kept my part of the deal." He looked at JC. "But he has yet to keep his." Mandi looked at JC, and her expression nearly killed him. "Is that true?" At that moment, Lance and Whitney decided to show up, and they both gave JC a "sorry" look. JC threw his hands in the air. "Does the whole world know about this?!" Justin shrugged. "I called them. I thought they could help." Robert looked around at all of them. "What is this, a party? Look, JT, or whatever, I came here, I saw this... thing again. And now I want my money!" Justin looked at Mandi, expecting to see anger and hatred on her face. But what he saw instead was much worse. She had no expression. Her face was blank; she was just staring into space. There was no sparkle in her beautiful eyes. JC saw it to, and nearly cried himself. "Mandi... sweetie... I�m sorry. I just-" She looked up, but not at JC. "Lance, can you take me home please?" Britney leaned over and whispered in Justin�s ear. "I can�t believe she would hit on Lance with JC right there!" Lance nodded slowly and Whitney wrapped her arm around Mandi�s shoulders. "C�mon hun, let�s go home." Robert grinned widely. "You�re leaving? Good. I win!" JC grabbed Mandi�s wrist frantically. "Baby, please. I�ll take you home. Please. I�m sorry." The tears running down her face were ones of betrayal. "I just really don�t want to be with you right now. We�ll talk later." Her voice was shaky, but strong. She allowed Whitney to lead her gently out of the restaurant. Lance looked at JC and shrugged. "Sorry, man." JC nodded, and Lance walked out after the two girls. Pulling out his wallet, he flipped Robert a couple of 50s and glared at him. "There. Are you happy now?" There was that grin again. "Extremely. Now if you�ll excuse me, I�m missing wrestling." With that, he walked out of the restaurant, slamming the door behind him. JC was left sitting alone on a waiting bench with Justin trying to figure out something comforting to say, and Britney who was twirling her hair, and blowing gum bubbles. "Jace... I�m sorry, man. I don�t know what to tell you." JC ran a hand through his hair and looked up at his friend. "It�s ok. You were right. God. I�m such an idiot." Justin sat down next to him and gave him a friendly pat on the back. "You�re not an idiot. You�re just going to have to do some serious damage control." JC covered his face with his hands. "What am I supposed to do?" Justin looked over at Britney who was busy signing autographs and giggling with a few fans, then back over to JC. "You go home. You make sure she�s still there. And if she is, you lock the door and have it out. And if she isn�t... you get in the car and drive until you find her." "Oh God..." JC stood up. "I have to go. She has to still be there. She has to." Justin stood up as well. "I wouldn�t go just yet... she�s pissed, C. Give her some time to cool down a little bit." * * * Lance looked back at his girlfriend, who was attempting to comfort one of his best friends as she cried. "Um... you guys want me to put the radio on or anything?" Whitney gave him a look and shook her head. "Now is not the time for that, hun." Mandi sat up, wiped her eyes, and tried to calm herself down. "Ugh. I�m so stupid. He�s not worth crying over!" Whitney gave her a look as well. "I should hope he�s worth crying over, since you are marrying him." Mandi smiled a little, then grinned. "No, I meant my... Robert. Robert is not worth crying over. JC... that�s a different story." Lance looked back at them again and Whitney yelled at him playfully. "Would you keep your eyes on the road? She�s had a hard night; she doesn�t need to worry about you crashing into a telephone pole or anything." Mandi laughed. "Lance? Crash? Never! He�s way too perfect." Lance shook his head with a smile. "Hey, watch it. I don�t have to be driving you home, you know." Mandi leaned forward and hit the back of his head. "But you�re just such a good friend." Whitney watched the two with an amused smile. "You know, you would think you were his girlfriend, not me. Mands, just so you know, if you want to with us tonight you�re more than welcome to." Mandi nodded. " I know... thanks, but I really just want to be home... I need to talk to Josh anyways." Lance and Whitney looked at each other through the rearview mirror. They knew that this was going to be bad. She never called him Josh. * * * It was a little after midnight when JC got home to find Mandi sleeping restlessly on the couch and it almost broke his heart. He should be the one on the couch; he was the one that screwed up. He walked over to her and gently readjusted her covers, causing her to stir slightly and her eyelids to flutter. "Jace?" She sat up halfway. "Yeah, it�s... me." "Did you just get home?" She asked, while propping herself up on her elbows. "Yeah... like five minutes ago." "Oh." She twisted her ring slowly around her finger, while trying to think of something to say. JC took her hands in his, and she didn�t pull away this time. "I�m... sorry." Mandi sighed and stared at their joined hands. "I know you are." JC look down at their hands as well and thought about how beautiful their skin looked next to each other, while trying to think of a good apology. "It was so wrong for me to do that." Mandi looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, it was." "But I had good intentions!" She continued to twist her ring. Around and around and around. "I know you did, but Jace, I told you not to do it." JC reached up and pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I know. I just... I thought I knew..." "Knew what?" JC pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head, hoping it was OK for him to do that. "I thought your dad would really want to see you." Mandi looked up at him, but didn�t pull away. "If he wanted to see me... he would have found me. He never would have deserted me in the first place." He shook his head. "I just can�t believe a parent would desert their kid like that." She stared at her hands, where her focus stayed for a while. "It happens a lot." He kissed her forehead. "It�s not your fault." Mandi sighed and nodded slightly. "I guess." "It�s not at all. This was all my fault." Mandi looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah, it was, huh?" JC smiled down at her and felt like jumping for joy that everything was ok. She didn�t hate him. "What can I do to make it up to you?" She chewed on her bottom lip. "I don�t know." "Anything." "I don�t need you to do anything for me, I just..." She sighed, laid back down on the couch and covered her face with a pillow. "God, I didn�t want to see him." JC pulled the pillow away from her face. "I was so stupid." Mandi shook her head. "No you weren�t... well; yes you were, but..." She threw the pillow across the room and sat up. "I just wish you would listen to me. I mean, when I told you I didn�t want to see him, I didn�t secretly mean, please go behind my back and pay my drunk father to see me." He stroked her hair gently. "Well, I certainly know that now. I just can�t get over how stupid I was to think that this would make you happy. And I hope you can forgive me... eventually... sometime... preferably soon." Mandi leaned forward and kissed him softly, then pulled away and gave a slight smile. "I�m only forgiving you because I know you had good intentions... and I know you just wanted me to have a perfect family like you." JC nodded and rubbed her knee gently. "Because I love you. Very much. And I want you to always remember that. And I also want... to go to bed." "I know... you�re missing your beauty sleep," Mandi laughed and stood up before being scooped up off the floor and into JC�s arms, to be carried off to their next bedroom. * * * JC woke up the next morning at ten to the shrill ringing of the telephone. Stumbling across the room, he picked up the phone groggily. "�Lo?" "JT?" It was Robert, and JC was suddenly wide-awake. "Uh, yeah. It�s JC." �Whatever. Same thing. Now listen, when I was driving home from the restaurant, my truck broke down. And I want to money to fix it." JC furrowed his eyebrows. "Why the hell would I give you the money? Use the money I gave you last night." "Spent it on beer. And I want the money because if it wasn�t for you, I wouldn�t have gone to the restaurant and it wouldn�t have broken down." JC rolled his eyes. "That�s ridiculous. I�m not giving it to you." Robert sighed. This kid was dumber than he thought. Well, he was engaged to his daughter, he should have known. "If I don�t get the money... I won�t be able to go anywhere." "Well, Robert, that�s your problem, not mine." Robert practically growled into the phone. No, his truck wasn�t really broken down, but the kid didn�t need to know that. Besides, he needed the money for... something else that would be useful in ruining his daughter�s life. |