Chapter 4
“Are you guys coming or not?” Cari called back to the guys when she and the other two girls reached the ramp to the ship. The guys were coming, but taking their time because they were carrying all the bags.
“Excited much?” JC asked laughing. “Besides, if you were carrying all of this you would be slow too.”
“Speaking of carrying a lot of stuff,” Justin started, “baby, just how long do you think we are going to be gone? You have enough bags for all of us!” Keeley turned and stared at him in disbelief.
“Just what are you trying to say? And besides I only have two bags. Heck Monica has three!”
Lance knew that Monica had never been able to pack light and this was not an exception. He began to laugh. “Three bags is light for Monica.”
“Hey now Sonic, don’t make me push you overboard before we even leave the dock,” Monica replied calmly.
“Uh oh!” was the reply from all the guys excluding Lance. Lance knew he was getting himself in trouble from her calling him Sonic. During the last tour Lance had dyed his hair blue. Monica did not know about it at first, but his band-mates could not wait to tell her. They all called her one night to tell her what was going on. Monica did not believe them at first, until she saw some pictures on the Internet. She freaked out, but decided not to say anything about it, except to begin to call him Sonic the Hedgehog. That is what she thought he looked like…blue spikes all over his head. Lance hated it and soon the blue hair dye was gone. She told him that she was glad that the dye had not seeped into his brain. Now whenever he was in trouble with her she called him Sonic. Unless she was really mad and then it was James.
Lance decided it was time for him to butt out. When Justin saw Lance was not going to add anything he decided to continue, “Well now we know Monica’s excuse, what is yours?” Justin had an evil grin on his face. He loved messing with people, especially Keeley.
“Look Fro-Boy, unlike you I’m not going to run around naked and give old women heart attacks. Besides I want to look nice when us girls go dancing and try to pick up some hotties,” Keeley said with a sly look on her face. She knew what Justin was doing and she loved playing back. Justin tried to protest by Keeley stopped him before he had a chance.
“Do you want to end up overboard before Lance?”
“Um…no,” was all he could say.
“Then hush,” she exhorted smiling and then kissed him on the cheek. She turned around to find Cari and Monica, but discovered that Cari was gone. Upon closer inspection JC, Chris, and Joey were gone too. “Hey were did they go?”
“Well they all got tired of waiting and went and got on the ship without us,” Lance said. “I would have been on there already too but someone feared that Justin might not make it on the boat alive,” he finished, nodding towards Monica.
“Awe, Monica I didn’t know you cared,” Justin laughed.
“Don’t let it go to your head Juju.”
“Geesh, you people are all insane. Come on Mon, let’s go get our cruise on!” Keeley said and then linked her arm in Monica’s and they continued up to the ship.
Once there they checked in and got their keys and headed up to their rooms. All of their rooms were on the twelfth floor.
Justin slid his key into the lock and opened the door. He let out a low whistle as he looked around their suite. “Dayum! Keeley, get in here woman, you’ve gotta see this!” Keeley peered around into the room from the doorway while she continued to chat with Monica in the hall. She stopped talking in mid-sentence and her jaw dropped open. “Hello, earth to Keeley, girl what are you looking at?” Monica asked as Keeley continued to stare in the room. Monica looked over Keeley’s shoulder and peered into the room with her. “Dang, our room better be this nice,” she said. The suites were very spacious with everything they could possibly need for a comfortable stay. The living area had a large black leather sofa with recliners at each end. A big screen TV sat opposite the couches, and was equipped with a play station, DVD player and sound system. The kitchenette was stocked with snacks and drinks of all sorts. In the middle of the bedroom a king-size poster bed stood with a navy velvet comforter and satin sheets. Towards the sliding glass door that led out to their balcony was a sitting area outfitted with two large leather sitting chairs. Even from inside the room they could see the view off of their balcony. It was an unobstructed view of the ocean. The water was a serene blue, and the sky was cloudless. It was perfect. They all ventured into the bathroom and were amazed at the size of the marble bathtub. It looked as if it could fit at least 3 people comfortably.
“Forget the pool, we can go swimming right here,” Justin said as he looked wide-eyed at the tub.
“No thanks, there’s no sun in here, I need to tan my white self,” Keeley responded.
“Yeah, but I’m here, plus in here you don’t need a swim suit,” Justin said with a sly grin.
“Go for it, have fun,” Keeley said as she and Monica went across the hall to Cari’s room.
When the girls entered Cari’s room they found that it was identical to Justin and Keeley’s except the color schemes were different. Cari’s room was done in rich reds.
“Hey you guys, you wanna explore?” Cari asked as she looked up from her unpacking.
“Heck ya,” Monica replied, “I want to check out the pools and the clubs.”
“Me too, let’s check this place out,” Keeley added. The girls started walking away, then without warning Monica stopped dead in her tracks.
“Wait!” Cari and Keeley stopped and turned to look at her in confusion. “I didn’t even go and look at my room! Geesh I am a moron.”
“You said it, I didn’t.”
“Funny, Keeley, funny!” Monica said as she turned around to go and look at her and Lances' room. When she walked in she saw it was pretty much the same at Keeleys' and Caris', except this room was done in dark greens. Lance was leaning over the bed unpacking the suitcases.
“Dayum! Forget the ocean…who needs it when you have a view like that!” Monica said referring to Lance. Lance who did not hear the three girls come in jumped when Monica started talking and then blushed bright red when he realized what she was talking about. She went over to him stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his and hugged him tight.
“So I take it that you like it?” Lance chortled.
“Like it? I love it! It's beautiful.” Lance looked over her shoulder and asked the other two girls how they liked it. Both agreed with Monica about it being beautiful.
“We were going to look around when Monica realized she hadn’t seen her room and it doesn’t look like we are going anytime soon from the looks of it.” Cari teased referring to Monica still hugging Lance. She finally let go and turned around and gave Cari an evil grin.
“If you had something as fine as this to hug on to, you would understand and not want to leave either,” she turned around and kissed him on the nose. He was blushing furiously again.
“Should we leave you two alone?” Keeley asked with a sly smile on her face. She really had been with Justin too long. He was starting to rub off on her.
“If you want to…I don’t have a problem with it,” Monica laughed.
“Me either…in fact I think it is a good idea!” Lance said from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist He kissed her neck a few times before resting his head on her right shoulder.
“I don’t think so,” Cari said and walked over and grabbed Monica’s hand and starting dragging her towards the door. Keeley was close behind. “Keeley and I are going to explore the ship and Monica is coming…even if she doesn’t know it yet.” Cari called out over her shoulder as they were entering the hall.
“Cari, you are a party pooper! You just wait until I get her back! By the time I get done with her she will be too tired to even move!” Lance laughed.
“In your dreams boy.” Cari shook her head.
“Bye baby!” Monica called back to Lance. Lance just shook his head and laughed. When the three of those girls got together the world needed to watch out…they were dangerous when they put their minds together.
“So where to first?” Keeley said with gleam in her eyes. She was so excited she could hardly contain herself.
“Well I think we were on the way to check out the clubs,” Cari answered.
“Don’t forget about the pool. Keeley, Lord knows you are going to need to know where it is if Justin decides to swim naked in the bathtub,” Monica said joking.
“That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing…” Keeley trailed off and got that familiar evil grin on her face.
“Geesh, Keeley…Mony was right. You have been around Justin to long.”
“What?” a shocked Keeley asked. Monica just looked at her innocently.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about. Honest.”
“Riiight and I don’t know anything about you ending up over overboard with Lance & Justin,” Keeley replied.
“That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing…”Monica came back, getting that same evil grin on her face.
“Oh dear Lord, now both of your minds are in the gutter. Would you two get over it? We are here,” Cari announced. Keeley and Monica were surprised to discover they were in deed in front of one of the many clubs. They read on the plaque outside the door that it was a jazz club. Cari hit her cheek and sighed. “If the two of you value our friendship at all you won’t tell JC this club is here!” Monica and Keeley exchanged looks. They both knew why she was begging them for this favor. If JC found out there was a jazz club onboard they might not see him again for the rest of the cruise. However, Monica and Keeley both decided to be mischievous and mess with Cari’s mind. Monica carried on her innocent routine. “Why, Cari! Are you asking us to lie to our dear friend JC?”
“Yeah I don’t think we can do that. That would just be wrong. In fact I think we should call him right now and let him know where we are. We have been gone for awhile. I'm sure he wonders where you are. And we can use the jazz club as a reference point,” Keeley said with a serious tone.
“Good idea Keeley. Here, you can use my cell phone,” Monica said and unclipped her cell phone from her belt.
“First of all if you call him, I will…I will…I don’t know what I will do! But you will be sorry. And second, why in the world are you carrying your cell phone around? We are on vacation. The only people in the world you need to be worrying about right now are on the ship. Mainly a certain blonde you so lovingly refer to as Sonic.”
“Force of habit I guess. Besides I haven’t been in my room for more than two minutes thanks to a certain brunette and her conspiring friend,” Monica said, first pointing to Keeley and then to the light brown headed Cari.
“You know you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Cari came back.
“Besides I don’t ever get to see you. You have all week to spend with Lance. Now let’s go finish exploring,” Keeley said and the three continued to walk on. They discovered several other clubs while on that deck, including an 80’s club, a country line dancing club, and a huge ballroom. They decided that one night they were going to get dressed up and convince the guys to take them ballroom dancing. Time soon slipped on the girls and they realized the boat was about to leave the dock. The three went back to find their guys and to go up on the main deck. On TV they had always seen people on the main deck throwing streamers off and the side and waving goodbye to everyone. Since this was their first cruise they did not want to miss it.
Once on the main deck they received streamers and confetti. They looked out on the dock and there were a ton of people there to see them off.
“Wow, I feel like I am on the Titanic,” Joey said as he was throwing confetti.
“Oh don’t say that Joe, we don’t want to end up like the Titanic,” JC said giving Joey a stern look.
“OK, if icebergs is one of your major concerns while we are on this ship, then you are under more stress then you thought you were,” Lance said rolling his eyes. “We are heading out into the tropics…think about it.”
“I didn’t say anything about icebergs did I Lansten? I was meaning I don't want to sink…no matter what happens.”
“Guys, guys,” Cari tried to intervene. She seemed to be the only one paying the three any attention. Keeley, Monica, Justin, and Chris were discussing what to do first after the boat was completely out of dock. After Keeley shot Justin down for a naked swim in the tub again, he and Chris decided to go and play basketball. Monica and Keeley decided to go down to the pool and get some sun. “Why don't you not jinx us all by talking about the ship sinking huh? JC, why I put up with you and your friends is beyond me.”
“Because you wouldn’t be able to live without me or them. Who else would send you on a wild goose chase through Orlando and jump up and down on your friends bed to get her involved?”
“Riiight, and this is a good thing how?” Cari laughed. JC just ignored her. Lance walked over to where Monica, Keeley, Justin, and Chris were standing a few feet away. He put his arm around his girlfriends' waist and smiled at her when she turned to see who was touching her. She returned his smile and then began looking around at all the people. Everyone seemed to be really excited about leaving port. Almost all the people were trying to stand at the rail to wave and throw streamers or confetti.
Out of the corner of her eye Monica noticed three men sitting at a table talking. They looked totally engrossed in conversation. All were rather large, burly looking men and looked like they were alone on the ship. No one else seemed to be paying them any attention or waiting for them to get up.
She stared at them for a few more seconds when one of them looked in her direction. Monica realized she had been caught staring. Turning a fierce shade of red she stiffened and quickly turned her head back around. Noticing her rigid stance, Lance asked her if everything was Ok. She assured him she was fine. A few minutes later she glanced back over at the table again. The three men were gone.
'Monica, why are you even worried about them?' she thought to herself.
Soon the ship was out of port and heading to sea. Keeley went to tell Cari that she and Monica were going to the pool and asked her to come along. Monica told the other two girls that Lance and the guys were going to go explore the ship and would meet them at the pool later. The three girls started to leave when Cari realized what Monica had said.
“We can’t let JC explore…he might find that jazz club!” Cari said with an exasperated look in her eyes.
“Um…Monica get Lance’s attention. We need to tell him what's going on. I would tell Justin, but he and Chris are going to play basketball and besides he would blab!” Keeley said as she thought of ways to help her friend out. Monica turned and walked back over to the group of guys.
“Uh, Lance can I talk to you for a minute?” Lance gave her a curious look.
“Sure, but I thought you were going to the pool. Is everything Ok?”
“Yes, just come here. I have to tell you something.”
“Ok…” Lance was led over to where Cari and Keeley were standing.
“Lance, you have to keep JC away from the 10th floor at all costs,” Cari started just as soon as Lance was in hearing distance.
“What?” Lance asked, confused. Monica explained to Lance their discovery of the jazz club. “Ahhh, I understand. But what am I supposed to tell him when I refuse to let him on that floor?”
“I don’t care! Make up some stupid excuse. Just keep him away from it!” Cari said frantically. Lance just laughed and nodded his head before returning to where Joey and JC were standing.
The girls headed to their rooms to change into their bathing suits. Cari of course put on her new red Roxy bikini. It was a simple design, no patterns, but it looked great on her. Monica put on a blue Hawaiian flower print bikini. Keeley wore a black bikini with a sports top that said "Rock Star" across the chest in glittery silver writing. They grabbed their beach towels, sunscreen, and room keys as they left to go down to the pool.
When they got to the pool they were surprised at the number of people there. “I guess everyone had the same idea we had,” Monica said as she observed the area.
“Guess so…hey look, there are three chairs next to each other,” Keeley discovered as she took in her surroundings. The three made a bee line for the chairs and spread out their things. Monica pulled her sunglasses out of her bag before sitting down and looked around as she began to apply suntan lotion to her legs. Keeley and Cari both sat down to apply their suntan lotion also.
“Hey Keeley, is that the infamous bottle of sunscreen?” Monica pointed, laughing.
“Yes, this would be it," Keeley replied, shaking her head. "I swear, I honestly thought Justin had lost it when he gave this to me!” Just as Keeley finished applying the sunscreen she felt a light tap on her shoulder.
She turned to face a woman about in her 30’s wearing a purple and blue one piece.
“Could I borrow some of that sunscreen? I forgot mine in the room and I don’t want to end up a tomato!” the woman said.
“No problem,” Keeley replied as she handed the woman the bottle.
As the woman was applying the sunscreen she looked up and smiled. “By the way, I’m Trish. I’d shake your hand, but it’s covered with lotion,” the woman chuckled.
“Nice to meet ya. I’m Keeley and this is Monica, and that’s Cari,” she said as she pointed out her friends.
“Isn’t it gorgeous out here!" Trish exclaimed as she handed Keeley back her bottle of lotion. "I’ve been waiting for this trip for weeks. My sister and I are taking a little break from life. This trip is going to be wonderful.”
“Our boyfriends surprised us with this trip,” Monica replied as she sat up in her chair.
“Yeah, they knew we were stressed and we all needed a break,” Cari joined in.
“Nice boyfriends! I left my husband and kids at home, this is strictly a girls vacation.” Trish said with a smile. She looked up and saw her sister walking towards her carrying two fruity looking drinks. She sat down in the vacant seat next to Trish and looked over at the three girls she was talking to.
“Wow, you waste no time making new friends do ya! I’m Tam, Trisha’s sister,” she said as she extended her hand to each of the girls.
“That’s Keeley, Monica, and Cari. They’re on vacation with their boyfriends,” Trisha offered.
“Yeah, we’re here with our men, and two of their friends. Ooh, those drinks look good. What are they?” Keeley asked.
“I got a strawberry daiquiri, and this is a pina colada for Trish.”
“I want one!” Monica cried out. Everyone looked at her and burst out laughing. “What? I’m thirsty, and those look great! Besides I want one of the little umbrellas that come in them.”
“Ok, let's go get some drinks. It was nice meeting you two. Hopefully we’ll see you two later,” Cari said as they all stood up to gather their things. They said their good-byes and after they got their drinks they headed back to their rooms to freshen up and see what time they were going to dinner.
The girls were just getting to their rooms when they heard the guys coming around the corner.
“You guys, we are soo going to the Jazz club tonight!” JC said as he rounded the corner.
“Um, sure JC, whatever,” Justin replied as he rolled his eyes. He looked up and spotted Keeley and the girls standing there in their bathing suits. He let out a low whistle. “Well, what do we have here boys?” he asked as he slowly walked up to Keeley and looked her up and down. “Hey there sexy, how’d you like to meet up later tonight? I’m here with my girl, but she doesn’t have to know.”
Keeley put her arms around his waist and pressed up against him and moved her face towards his until they were nose to nose. “Maybe we could take a walk in the moonlight, and then maybe come back to my place for some wine and maybe a bubble bath,” she whispered. Justin licked his lips as he pulled her closer. “Too bad my boyfriend would kick your ass if he found out,” she said with a grin as she pulled out of his arms and ran into her room.
“Denied!” Chris shouted as he looked on at Justin’s astonished face.
Justin looked at Chris calmly, and simply said, “One…two…three.” Chris took off running down the hall towards his room with Justin hot on his heels. He grabbed for the back of Chris’ shirt. He screamed when his hand only came in contact with the door as it slammed shut. They could all hear Chris laughing on the other side as Justin stood there holding his hand in pain.
“Chris, you are one short dead man!” Justin called through the door. He turned and walked back to his room.
Cari followed Monica and Lance as the rest of them went to their rooms.
“What happened to NOT telling JC about the jazz club?” Cari said as she tapped her foot angrily on the floor. She stood there with her arms crossed, glaring at Lance as she waited for her answer.
“He already knew about it, he read it in the cruise guide. Sorry Cari, I tried,” Lance replied as he shook his head.
“Damn, now we’re gonna be there every night,” Cari whined.
“Not necessarily, you could do some serious persuading in that suit Cari,” Lance said as he looked her up and down.
“Watch it buddy,” Monica said as she jabbed Lance in the ribs with her elbow. Lance winced in pain. He wrapped his arms around Monica and gave her a hug. “You know I only have eyes for you.”
“You better! But you do have a point. Cari, you should go have a chat with JC right now about the whole club thing. I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting him to see things your way,” Monica said. “Now go!” Monica turned to Lance and started tickling his stomach fiercely. Lance squirmed all over trying to get free, and took off to the bedroom. Cari sighed and shook her head as she turned to go work her magic on JC.
A couple hours later the group all gathered in Cari and JC’s room to decide on their plans for the evening. Since they had all had a chance to explore the ship a bit, they each had an idea of what they wanted to do their first night on board. Lance reached over to the side table in the living room to get the cruise guide. He scanned it before setting it in his lap and looking around the room at everyone.
“Well, we can choose between four dining rooms for dinner, and 8 clubs for dancing,” Lance said. “There’s an Italian Bistro, a southwest style grill, a Thai restaurant, and the French restaurant. What sounds good to you guys?”
“French,” JC said.
“Italian,” Joey added.
“Thai,” Cari said.
“Southwest,” Keeley said. She looked around the room and cracked up. She, along with everyone else knew that they weren’t going to agree on a restaurant anytime soon.
“Why don’t we all go to the Italian restaurant tonight, and tomorrow we can each go where ever we want. I want us all to spend the first night together,” Monica stated. She looked around the room to see how her idea was taken. She was pleased to see everyone slowly nodding his or her head.
“Sounds good to me. Now what club should we hit tonight?” Justin asked. Lance pulled out the cruise guide again and peered down at their list of options.
“Ok, we’ve got an 80’s club and a jazz club,” Lance said as he glanced sideways at JC. JC looked over at Cari who in return gave him a seductive smile.
“I’m ok with anything,” JC said. Cari reached over and took his hand in hers.
“We also have a country line-dancing club, ballroom, Karaoke club, Top 40 dance mix, 70’s club, and a techno-room. Any suggestions?” Lance asked.
“I think we should hit the 80’s club tonight. That sounds cool,” Keeley said and waited for a response from the group.
“Yeah, I can bust out my moon-walk,” Justin said as he strutted across the living room. The group laughed at his antics and agreed that they would check out the 80’s club and take it from there.
The group went their separate ways to get ready for dinner. They met back up in the hall an hour later and headed down to the Italian Bistro on the 10th floor deck. As they walked along the deck they passed the Jazz Club. JC let out a sigh as he gazed into the window like a child in a candy store. Cari leaned in closer and put her arm around him. She rested her head against his shoulder. He leaned in and kissed her forehead as they continued past the club. Once at the dining room the hostess led them to their table and handed them their menus. After a couple minutes they all decided on their meals and placed their orders.
During the meal the group talked about their plans for the upcoming week. Clubs, midnight buffets, and lots and lots of sun.
“Lord knows four of the people at this table need all the sun they can get,” JC quipped.
“Gosh, did you come up with that observation all by yourself, Captain of the Obvious?” Keeley came back. The entire group erupted in fits of laughter.
After dinner they decided to go back to their rooms to rest for a little while. It was only nine o’clock, so they figured that they would have plenty of time to party later.
“Why don’t we all meet in our room around eleven,” Justin suggested to the group as they entered the hallway. Everyone agreed. Justin unlocked the door to his and Keeley’s room. Then he reached over and wrapped his arms around Keeleys' waist and walked backward, dragging Keeley into the room.
“Come here woman,” Justin had a sly grin on his face. “We have two hours to swim naked in the bathtub.”
“Oh really?” Keeley giggled as the door slammed shut.
“Well, wonder what they are going to do?” Chris cracked. The remainder of the group burst out laughing before each heading to their respective rooms.
JC and Cari decided to go ahead and start getting ready to go to the club. He was never the type to be late so he wanted to give himself plenty of time. Cari on the other hand, needed an early start because she usually took awhile to get ready. She needed time to fuss over her outfit, then her hair, and makeup. It was a long process.
Joey and Chris both decided to go and look for women on the ship. They had already looked the ship over from top to bottom, but they decided they might have missed some fine single woman the first time around. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Lance and Monica were just happy to finally be in the same room together. “You know the only time I have seen you all day is for about five minutes when you came to check out the room, when we came back here to get ready for dinner, during dinner and now,” Lance said as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
“And what are you going to do to make up for it?” Monica wrapped her arms around his neck.
“This.” He leaned in and gave her a slow, soft kiss.
“Well, maybe I should stay gone more often,” Monica said quietly when he pulled away. He chuckled and his bright green eyes danced in his laughter.
“Funny. Let’s go out on the balcony for a little while. It looks so pretty out there.”
He was right. The moonlight covered the crystal blue water making it look almost white. The water was very calm and the night was peaceful. “Oh! I almost forgot something.” Lance left and ran back inside. He flipped on the stereo and returned with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. Soon slow, romantic music filled the air. He took Monica in his arms and they danced under the stars as they held each other closely. They soon lost all concept of time.
Everyone began to gather in Justin and Keeleys' room around eleven. Joey and Chris were lounging on the sofa, just back from lady hunting. JC and Cari were running on time, no thanks to Cari who swore she could have used more time. Everyone was there, everyone but Keeley, Monica and Lance. Upon closer inspection everyone realized a hair dryer could be heard in the background.
“Oh dear God, please tell me that she isn’t blow drying her hair!” Chris said laughing. Justin turned bright red.
“Um…yeah. She, um, just got out of the shower.”
“Sure she did Curly.” Joey had a sly grin on his face.
“Hey where is Monica and Lance?” Cari asked when she realized it was now fifteen after eleven.
“Well if they were taking lessons from Keeley and Curly here, I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure it out. I would be more than glad to go and drag them down here though,” Chris laughed.
“Dear Lord.” JC shook his head. “Cari and I will go and get them.” With that JC and Cari turned and walked from the room. At the same moment Keeley emerged from the bathroom. Even through the door JC and Cari could hear Joey and Chris ragging on Keeley and Justin.
JC knocked on their friends' door, but no one answered. He knocked again…still no answer.
“Try the doorknob,” Cari suggested.
“Do you really think we should?”
“Do you want them to go with us tonight?” JC sighed and tried the doorknob. It was unlocked. The two let themselves in and called out to Monica and Lance. Again they received no answer. Cari walked around the room finding no one when movement caught her eye. She quietly called JC over. Monica and Lance were still out on the balcony dancing closely.
“Awe, they are so cute together,” Cari said, smiling. JC nodded.
“Go and turn the stereo off. Maybe then they'll realize we're here.” Cari walked over the stereo and cut the music short. The confused dancers turned and peered into their room. As they stepped into the living room to figure out what had happened to the music they were shocked to find Cari and JC standing in their room.
“Um…we tried knocking, but I guess you couldn’t hear us over the music.” Cari said meekly.
“Ah,” Lance nodded his head in understanding, but still had a confused look on his face. JC noticed his band-mate’s confusion.
“We came to find out if you two were still going with us to the club tonight.”
“Of course we are. Why would you think any different?” Monica questioned.
“Well it is almost eleven thirty, that’s why.” JC explained. Monica quickly looked down at her watch and giggled.
“So it is. Gosh, time slipped by on us. Give me two minutes to touch up my makeup and then I'll be ready.” JC and Cari both nodded their approval and the group sans Monica walked into the living room. A couple of minutes later Monica emerged. “Let’s go get our clubbing on!” Monica exclaimed as she walked into the living room. She walked over and slipped her hand into Lance’s and the group made their way back to Justin and Keeley’s room. Once there they found a blushing Keeley and Justin sitting on the sofa. Chris and Joey were standing in front of them leaning against each other for support. They were laughing so hard that both were having trouble breathing.
“What is going on?” Lance quietly asked JC.
“Let’s just say Keeley was blow drying her hair when Cari and I left.” Cari had to stifle a giggle. She saw the look on Keeley’s face. She was not a happy camper right now. Lance tried to quietly close the door, but all four in the living room heard him.
“Well look who it is, Joe!” Chris said gasping for breath. “You know I would love to know where the two of you have been…” he trailed off.
They all entered the smoke filled club and gazed around at the scenery and the crowd as an old Michael Jackson song blared from the speakers. Justin grabbed Keeley’s hand and twirled her around as they danced toward the dance floor.
“Come on girl, we’re gonna get our groove on,” he yelled to her above the music. Keeley laughed as she followed him.
Chris and Joey made a beeline straight for the floor to find their first dance partners of the night. Joey made his way over to a short blond who was dancing with her friends. Chris sauntered over and took the hand of her redhead friend and lead her to the center of the dance area.
JC turned around to put his hands on Cari’s hips as he danced backwards towards the crowd. Monica and Lance were the last to find their way to the dance floor. They were too busy whispering and giggling with each other. They danced a few songs and decided to take a seat in a nearby booth. Before long Cari and JC joined them. The two couples watched the crowd dance and pointed out various people’s outfits or dancing skills.
“Oh my gosh, look at that guy over there, he’s doing the running man!” Monica said as she covered her mouth with her hand trying not to laugh. They followed where she was looking and saw a scrawny white guy wearing tight blue jeans trying to bust a move. The crowd had moved away from him, so he was standing alone in the middle of a circle.
Justin and Keeley noticed the crowd was forming another circle around a guy who was trying very hard to look cool.
“What do you say we show him what it’s all about?” Justin said as he pulled Keeley towards the circle.
“You read my mind baby!” she replied with a grin as they made their way into the circle with the crazy guy. They each bust out their best 80’s moves, each trying to outdo the other. The crowd started to cheer them on as the circle got larger.
“Hey guys, check it out. It’s J and Kee,” Cari said as she pointed towards the floor.
“Damn, look at ‘em go!” JC said as he watched his friends.
As the song ended Justin and Keeley made their way over to the table and joined their friends. They slid into the booth and looked around the table with grins on their faces.
“Way to go man, that was awesome!” Lance said as he gave Justin a high five.
“Yeah, that was fun! Man I’m dying of thirst,” Keeley said.
“Me too, you want to go get something to drink?” Monica asked.
“Definitely.” The two girls made their way out of the booth, towards the bar. Monica, not paying attention to where she was walking bumped into someone. As she looked up she started to apologize.
“Oh I'm so sor… Oh my!” Her eyes trailed up from the person’s feet, up their chest until she was staring into the face of one of the men she’d seen on the dock when they were departing. The man nodded and walked quickly away.
“Keeley, that’s one of the guys I told you about,” Monica said as she tugged on Keeley’s arm trying to get her to look.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“You know, the creepy guys,” Monica said urgently.
“Don’t worry about it Mon, we’re here to have fun,” Keeley said as she tried to reassure her friend that everything was fine.
“You’re right, I'm just being silly.” They ordered their drinks at the bar and made their way back to the booth. They noticed Chris and Joey had joined them, minus their dancing friends.
“Hey Joe, where’s your woman?” Keeley asked with a grin.
“Oh, she had to leave,” Joey said with a shrug.
“How about you Chris?” Monica asked as she looked around for Chris’ new friend.
“She left too,” he said glumly. He looked up and gave Monica and Keeley his ‘I just lost my puppy’ look.
“Aww, poor Chris. What are you gonna do?” Keeley asked as she sat next to him and threw her arm around his shoulders.
“Hey you guys, how’s it going?” They all looked up to see the two women they had met at the pool earlier.
“Tam and Trish, right?” Monica asked, trying to remember their names.
“You got it,” Trish replied. “Mind if we join you?”
“Sure, have a seat,” Cari replied. As they sat down Cari introduced them to the group.
“We just got here, but that crowd looks a little, um, interesting,” Trisha said as she pointed to the guy still trying to do the running man. “I don’t think I want to dance with that.”
“Do you guys want to dance?” Joey asked as Chris looked up hopefully.
“Sure guys, lets get our groove on,” Trish replied as they scooted out of the booth and headed towards the dance floor.
As Tam and Chris started making their way to the floor they got caught up in making fun of Trish and Joey. “What do they think they’re doing?”
“I have no idea, oh wait, that’s one of Joey’s signature moves,” Chris replied as he grinned. “Ok, next he’s gonna start grinding with her and spin her around. Yep, there he goes!”
“Dang, he’s predictable,” Tam said as she tried to imitate Trish.
“No, wait, you forgot to do that dip thing,” Chris added as he joined her in imitating the couple. Joey and Trish noticed the commotion coming from Chris and Tam, but they just shook their heads and kept on dancing.
A couple hours later the crowd had thinned out and they all decided to call it a night. Tam and Trish said their good-byes and made their way back to their room.
“Those girls are pretty cool,” Chris said as they all walked back to their floor.
“Yeah, Trish can really dance!” Joey said as he started to grind with a pole, imitating their moves from earlier. They all erupted with laughter as they watched Joey’s antics.
“Joey looks like he’s enjoying that a little too much,” Lance said as he grabbed Joey’s arm trying to pull him away from his new dance partner.
“What? I was just showing you my skills!” Joey exclaimed as he was pulled down the hallway.
“Man, my grandma’s got more skills than you!” Justin said as he ducked to hide behind Monica.
“Justin, what are you doing, I’m not going to protect your scrawny butt!”
“Hey, watch who you’re calling scrawny, Snow White!” Keeley exclaimed as she pulled Justin towards her.
“You better watch what you say, or my woman will beat you down,” Justin exclaimed with a nod.
“You better watch it buddy, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch,” Keeley replied as she gave him a look.
“Aww baby, you know I love you!” he said as he tried to cuddle up next to her. Keeley just smiled as she let him pull her closer.
They all arrived on their floor and made it to their doors.
“Well you guys, we’ll see ya in the morning. I’m exhausted.” Monica said as she gave a slight wave and retreated to her room.
“Yeah, I’m ready to hit the sack too,” JC said as he grabbed Cari around the waist and pulled her into the room with a sly grin. They could hear a faint goodbye come from the room before JC closed the door.
Chris and Joey decided to go back down to the club to see if the blond and the redhead went back.
Keeley and Justin walked in their room and curled up on the bed to watch some TV.
“Kee, what do you want to watch,” Justin asked as he turned to face her.
“Oh baby look, do you remember the first time we saw this together?” Keeley asked as she reviewed the pay-per-view selection.
“Yeah, our first date. Let’s watch it,” he replied as she snuggled into him. The two settled in as they began to watch “Sleepless in Seattle”. Halfway through the movie Justin looked over at Keeley to find that she was sleeping soundly against his chest. He smiled as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. He reached over and turned out the light.