So Long Ago
By Brittany
- One -
"So how are you?" JC asked.
"Good. So how bout you? How's the tour going?" Brittany stretched from her seat on her living room
couch.
"Good and good. So you ya miss me?"JC joked.
"Nope. It's nice not to have you around. No one to
bother me. No one to ask me 20 million questions when
I get back from a date. No one to tickle me or make
fun of me. So nope. I don't miss you one bit. I think
i'm happier now that you're gone." Brittany said going
along with JC's joke.
"Oh. You did not just say that! That was like a major
diss. So uh...you've been dating guys behind my back.
heh. Well I just won't tolerate that. So tell me what
are these other guys like?" JC pretended to be hurt
and upset.
"Guy," I corrected. "And he's amazing! I just can't describe him.
He's a million times better than you." Brittany said
with a wide grin.
"I'm hurt. But no, seriously, who's this guy? Tell me a
little bit about him." JC said as he gave her his full
attention.
"Ok, well he has a great sense of humore, captain of
my colleges football team. He has green eyes, dirty
blondish hair, tall, really cute, smart, fun, funny,
nice, and so many other things." Brittany sighed out
of happiness.
"So he's a jock? never thought you'd go for that kind
of guy. So are you just dating or are you his
girlfriend?" JC questioned
"Yes he's a jock. But what's wrong with that? But i'm
his girlfriend. JC don't ask i'll just tell you. It's
been about 6 weeks since we started going out." She
answered his unasked question.
"I was not going to ask you that question." JC
protested.
"Sure you weren't." Brittany rolled her eyes at how
lame he could be.
"So what are you doing right now?" JC asked after a
moment of silence.
"Nothing. Just watching TV, bored out of my mind. So
when are you coming home? Cause seriously I do miss my
best friend." Brittany confessed.
"Aw, you miss me? How sweet. But ah... I don't know
when i'm going to be home. The tour's almost over and
we have a 3 day break starting today. So I have 2 days
left and then we go back. Play a few dates and I come
home." JC rambled.
"Cool. Can't wait, but until then I have Mike. He said
he might stop by tonight after his game which is over
in about." Brittany paused to look at the clock and
saw that it was 8:00p.m. "In about an hour."
"How come you're not at his game? I mean come on. He's
the captain and all." JC asked .
"Well, I didn't feel liek going tonight and I hate
football. SO I told him I didn't feel good." Brittany
explained .
"So you lied to him? and I thought you were an honest
person." JC teased .
"Well if I told him I didn't want to go he would be
mad at me and believe me you don't want to see him
when he's mad."
"What do you mean?" JC asked
"Well just that when he's mad at someone he gets
really mad and it's worse ir it's you he's mad at."
Brittany said softly .
JC immediatly became alarmed "Has he hit you?"
Brittany sighed "No, but sometimes I wonder if he was
mad enough if he would."
"Ok, as long as he hasn't hit you. Cause if he does
i'll go after him. Ok, so lets get off that subject.
Your birthday is in a few days. What do you want?"
"Well let's see. I want to see you. Not gonna happen.
I saw this adorable...Hold on someone's at my door."
Brittany walked over to her front door and was
surprised to see JC standing there smiling.
She hung up the phone and jumped into his awaiting
arms. She was totally surprised to see JC since
whenever they had a few days off he never came home
because he would always want to catch up on his sleep
and was usually far away that by the time he got there
he would have to leave.
She hugged JC tightly as did he. It had been 3 months
since they'd last seen each other because they were
both so busy. JC pulled away first and looked down at
her smiling face. It warmed his heart to know that he
was the reason it was there. He loved to see her
smile. It lit up her entire face when she did smile.
"So..."JC began "What else did you want for your
birthday?"
"Well I have you now so that's it. But if ya still
wanna get me something I saw tis adorable black lab
that's about 6 weeks old at the pet store yesterday.
She could keep me company while you're gone. But i
don't care about the dog because I got what I wanted
the most!" Brittany led JC into her living and they
both sat on th couch.
"Well i wasn't going to be here for your actual
birthday and I didn't want to come a while after so I
showed up now for your birthday." JC smiled at her .
"Thank you so much for coming out here. You have no
idea how much this means to me. This is the best
present ever! Thank you." Brittany crawled over to JC
and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
An hour later they were playfully arguing over which
football team was better. The Miami Dolphins or
Washington Redskins.
JC grinned evilly as he walked over to where Brittany
was sitting on the couch. Her eyes widened when she
realised what he was about to do. She frantically
shook her head no and tried to get up but before she
could JC lunged at her and began tickling her. After a few minutes of tickling her JC finally gave into her protests and stopped. She was now laying completely flat on the couch with JC hovering over her. They smiled widely at one another as they tried
to catch there breath but never took there eyes away
from each other. Neither one of them heard the front
door open or see the man who had just walked in.
"You little slut!" Mike screamed as he saw the
position JC and Brittany were in. He stormed over to
them and forcefully yanked Brittany out from
underneath JC. "You lied to me, told me you were sick
and couldn't go to my game when all you that really
was happening was you were sleeping with another guy.
I thought you were a virgin!! You were 'waiting for
the right one before you slept with someone' You
little whore."
JC felt his anger rise. Who the hell did Mike think he
was talking to her like that? JC didn't know that
Brittany was still a virgin but he gained some more
respect for her on her decision. He wished he had done
that. But if he were Mike he would wait for a girl.
Especially someone like Brittany. She was everything
he ever wanted in a girl. JC saw red as he saw Mike
punch her in the face. What the hell? "You asshole.
How dare you hit her!" Then he hit Mike.
Brittany stumbled backwards with tears in her eyes
after Mike had punched her in the face. He had hit her
so hard she could barely see straight. She heard JC
scream at Mike and then lunge for him before
everything went black.
- Two -
Brittany slowly opened her eyes or at least her right
eye. She couldn't open her left one. She slowly looked
around the room and noticed she was in her house in
her bedroom. At first she didn't know why until the
images of what happened came back to her. She
remembered JC sreaming at Mike and then going after
him and then everything went black. She frantically
searched the room for him and it was then that she
noticed he was sleeping on the bed next to her. She
smiled softly but frowned when she noticed his swollen
lip and a few cuts and bruises on his face. She
lightly touched one of his bruises but stopped when he
stirred. She softly called his name to wake him up
"JC."
JC moaned sorfly as he inched closer to her and
wrapped his arms around her waist.
She laughed quietly to herself. He always was a cute
sleeper "JC" Brittany said louder this time as she
pushed his shoulder. "JC, wake up."
JC finally slowly opened his eyes and sat up when he
noticed that Brittany was awake. "Hey. How long have
you been awake?"
"Only a few minutes. You know you're a cute sleeper."
Brittany laughed as he grinned
JC's grin faded away as he reached his hand out to
touch her swollen eye. He could feel his anger
building up in him again "Are you ok? Does it hurt?"
Brittany sighed "I'm fine. It doesn't really hurt that
much. Are you ok?"
JC nodded "Yeah I'm fine. The guys and Johnny are
probably going to kill me though. I'm definatley not
looking forward to Becky's reaction. She's going to
complain about how much work and makeup it's going to
take to cover up the bruises. Although my lip I don't
think she can do anything about that."
Brittany smiled sadly "If it weren't for me none of
this would've happened. If I had just gone to the game
everything would've been fine. Or even if i'd just
told him I didn't want to go. I'm sorry he hit you."
JC shook his head "It's not your fault. You didn't hit
yourself now did you? He hit you and I hit him. I also
got hit in return. It's my fault I got hit back, but I
wasn't just going to stand there after he hit you."
Brittany sighed "Well I better call him to apologize.
I mean it is my fault. I made him mad at me. Like he
said last time. If I didn't..."
She was cut off by JC's angry voice "You mean he's hit
you before? How come you didn't tell me?! Especially
after I asked you!!"
"Well nothing like this has happened before. I mean
one time he shoved me into a wall because he was drunk
and I was trying to get him to stay here so he
wouldn;t drive home drunk and the other time he
dragged me out of his car and left me on the side of
the road because I told him I didn't feel like going
clubbing. That left a bruise on my arm. You asked me
if he had hit me. I said no because until last night
he had never actually hit me." Brittany explained
softly.
JC sighed as he hugged her to him. He kissed her
temple softly and whispered in her ear " It's ok. I
have to leave tomorrow morning, i'm going to call and
get an extra ticket for you. I want you to pack enough
clothes for a month."
"JC!" Brittany looked up at him "I can't go! I have
stuff to do around here. I can't just take off on such
short notice for a month. Besides what about my eye?
FAns will think one of you hit me. Mainly you because
they know you're my best friend!"
"You're going and it's final! I'm not going to leave
you here in case Mike comes back. I want to know
you're safe. We'll see what Becky can do about your
eye and my face. I'm sure she can cover it up." JC
told her sternly.
- Three -
Brittany sighed. Ever since they were toddlers he
always had to protect her from things. He always knew
what was best for her. "Fine, i'll go, but I don't
want my eye to get covered up. And before you
interrupt me it's so that when Mike turns on the TV he
can see what he did to me. When I look in the mirror
i'll see what he did to me so I won't go back to him.
I'll see what men have done to me. I don't want to
hide it and pretend it never happened. Because it did
and I need to see the proof so I know it's true. No
matter how painful it may be."
JC hugged tighter "But what will you say if fans or
reporters ask you what happened?"
"I'll tell them the truth. Maybe in some way I can
help other kids or people who are abused. Be a role
model." Brittany sighed as she listened to JC's heart
beat.
"Well then I won't cover up my bruises or anything. If
you're going to tell everyone what happened and the
truth you might as well tell the whole truth."
"You don't have to do that, but if you want to thats
fine with me." Brittany finally pulled away from JC.
"Alright. So what do you want to do for the rest of
the day?" JC asked as he got up to go to the bathroom.
Brittany waited until he came out and then she went
in. "How about we just stay in and watch some movies.
It'll be kinda like old times again." She suggested
JC laughed "Ok, but we're only 25. Well you almost. So
you can't start talking about the old times yet! We're
still young!"
Brittany smirked "Well i'm just thinking about how
simple and easy life used to be. How happy I used to
be. I mean I never had a care in the world or any
responsibilities. I dind't have any fears. Life was
good. Up until I turned 18 and I entered the real
world. Those are what I mean by the old times."
JC nodded in agreement "I know what you mean. Those
were the days. So anyways what movies do you want to
watch?"
Brittany shrugged her shoulders as JC flipped through
the channels "What ever you want to see is fine by
me." Brittany looked at JC's evil grin before she
finished what she was saying "but NO war movies,
horror movies, or action movies Chasez, unless I approve!"
JC rolled his eyes as Brittany got up to get them some
drinks and snacks. She came back with 2 beers for JC,
2 wine coolers for herself, soda for both of them,
popcorn, and chips n dip. JC opened a beer while he
watched Brittany look for something. He smiled as she
stood there staring off in space before she began
looking for whatever it was again. "What are you
looking for?"
Brittany sighed in frustration "I'm looking for the TV
guide."
JC picked up the TV guide that was next to him and
held it up "You mean this?"
"There it is!" Brittany exclaimed as she curled up in
a ball next to JC and rested her head on his chest as
she began looking through the TV guide.
JC put his arm around her to pull her closer as if she
wasn't close enough already. His heart broke when she
flinched away and tensed under his touch. "It's ok
Brit. It's only me JC. I'm not going to hurt you." JC
said softly while silently cursing at Mike. He had
done a number on her and it made JC slightly mad.
"I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't hurt me. Just a
natural reflex I guess." Was all she said as she
continued looking through the TV guide. "OH! FEAR
starring Mark Wahlberg is on at 5. So that's in 3
hours. We have to watch that! So until then lets watch
something else." Brittany suggested
JC groaned at the mention of Mark. She had always
thought he was hott and had to watch any movie he was
in. When they were 15 she made him go to one of his
concerts. He had watched how happy she seemed to be
especially when he had no shirt on. Which was most of
the time. JC remembered watching Mark and secretly
wishing that someday it would be him up there.
Around 10 p.m. they decided to get ready to go to bed.
They had watched Billy Madison, FEAR, and Gladiator.
All of which Brittany had picked. JC had to admit
though that FEAR was a good movie as were the other 2.
"Goodnight JC" Brittany said as she crawled into the
bed followed by JC.
"Goodnight Brit" JC wrapped his arms around her and
rested his head next to hers. He silently screamed
when she once again flinched away and tensed up under
his touch. If he ever saw Mike again he was going to
get the beating of a lifetime.
- Four -
Brittany gripped JC's hand once they were buckled into
their seats on the plane. JC turned to her as he felt
the pain shoot through his hand and arm, as he tried
to pry her fingers off his hand or at least loosen her
grip before she broke his hand.
Brittany looked up at him with her eyes wide and
filled with fear. She looked as though she was going
to cry any minute. "JC, tell me again why I had to go
back with you. You know i'm terrified of flying yet
you still made me come!"
JC sighed. She never liked getting on planes. That's
why when he was on tour she never came out to visit
him unless he was close by and within driving
distance. He never really understood why though. He
noticed that the swelling in her eye had finally gone
down. His lip was still swollen and cut. The bruises
on his face were very noticable. "Because I wouldn't
have been able to leave you there with the possibility
of Mike coming back and hurting you. Just close your
eyes and relax."
"Relax!" Brittany hissed "Are you crazy?! I can't
realx! Don't tell me it's ok because it's not! I have
my reasons for not relaxing!"
JC looked at her amused. By now they were getting
ready to taxi out and her grip was beginning to get
tighter on his hand. "Ok really? Do tell what your
reasons are."
Brittany looked down at her lap. He was going to be
mad at her for keeping something from him for so long,
but at least he couldn't walk away. He was stuck on a
plane. "Well know how when I was 2 we moved in next
door to you?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw him
nod as he stared at her. "Well, that's because they
were my adopted parents and newly weds. Before you get
mad I only found out when I was 18. As I was packing
my stuff I decided to take a break and go up to the
attic. I was going through boxes and I found a picture
of me, an older boy, and 2 adults. I was confused and
then I found the adoption papers. I kept the picture."
Brittany began to choke up as JC started to rub her
back. She once again flinched away and tensed under
his touch, but soon relaxed. JC was screaming as loud
as he could in his head. Brittany became more upset
because the one person who loved her that was still
alive she was hurting unintentionally. She began to
talk again as JC continued to rub her back. "So
anyways that night I asked my parents about the
picture and papers. At first they wouldn't tell me,
but after I pleaded with them they did. It turns out
that those were my biological parents, me, and my
older brother. My parents were coming home from a
vacation when their plane went down and crashed.
Obviously they didn't survive."
Brittany was still looking at her lap afraid to look
up and see the anger in JC's eyes. If she had looked
up she would've seen compasion and concern. Not pity
or anger. "What about your brother?" He asked softly
"Well, he was adopted by a different family. I don't
remember him, my parents, or anything. I was only 2
and I didn't understand what was going on." Brittany
didn't bother to wipe the tears rolling down her
cheeks away.
"I'm so sorry to hear that. Do you know anything about
your brother?" JC asked. He now understood why she was
so afraid of planes. He would be too if that happened
to him.
Brittany nodded. "Yeah. His name is Chris. He was 7
when that happened so he should be around 30 now.
Christopher Allan. Out last name used to be Smith. I
don't know where he is or anything. Because like I
said someone else adopted him. He had dark brown eyes,
while I have lighter brown eyes and dark brown hair
like yours. See." Brittany rummaged through her carry
on bag and dug out an old and very worn picture.
JC took the picture and looked at it. The girl was
defiantley her and the boy looked like someone he
knew. But who? "Why didn't you tell me all this
sooner? Why did you keep it from me? Did you not want
to tell me or something?"
Brittany shook her head. "No. It's not that. I have
always wanted to tell you, but I could never find the
right time. Plus I didn't even know how to tell you.
Just right now seemed like a good time to tell you."
JC sighed and lightly kissed her temple as he still
held onto the picture with one hand and held onto
Brittany with his other hand.
Brittany looked up to see JC's crystal blue eyes
staring at her. "So now you know why i'm so scared of
planes. I don't want to die like my parents."
JC nodded. "I'm sorry all this happened to you, but
sweetie you should've told me sooner. You know you can
tell me anything. Don't worry though. You're not going
to die or get hurt. I won't allow it."
PASSENGERS PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS. PUT YOUR
SEAT UPRIGHT. TURN OFF ALL WALKMANS, DISCMANS, CELL
PHONES, LAPTOPS, AND ALL ELECTRONIC DEVICES WHILE WE
LIFT OFF. PLEASE REMAIN SEATED.
Brittany buried her head in JC's shoulder as she
whimpered softly. He rested his head on hers as he
whispered comforting words to her.
Soon they were in the air and were allowed to
unbuckle. Brittany's grip loosened a little bit on
JC's hand as she eventually sat up.
JC looked at the picture in his hand one last time
before he gave it back to her. Those eyes. The smile.
The face. He reconized the boy. What was his name
again? Christopher Allan? JC's eyes widened as he
figured out who it was he reconized. He shook his head
to get the thought out of his mind. It was impossible.
It couldn't be him. Could it?
- Five -
Brittany stretched as she walked down the terminal
trying to get to the waiting area of the airport. She
had slept for a while and eventually woke up to see JC
reading a book she had loved as a kid. It was called
"The Giver." She smiled and then went through her bag
to find another book for herself to read. She found
another book she had loved ever since she was a kid.
It was called "That Was Then, This is Now," to read
for the rest of the flight.
When the plane started to go down so it could land she
had once again grabbed JC's hand. He just smiled at
her and squeezed her hand.
Brittany decided to have a little fun with JC as they
were walking down the terminal. JC had given his
backpack to Lonnie since he had a tendency to
accidentally leave his backpack in the airport
whenever they got off the plane. Brittany walked up to
Lonnie and asked him to hold her backpack. He looked
at her questionally as he saw her put her finger to
her lips. He noticed the all too familiar evil glint
in her eyes as she snuck up behind JC. He laughed
quietly to himself as he figured out what she was
about to do. He laughed harder along with everyone
else in the terminal as she made her move.
Brittany jumped on JC's back and wrapped her arms
around his neck "OMG! You're JC Chasez! I love you! I
want to have all your kids! I already got the clothes
and names picked out! Can I have your autograph?"
Brittany barely got the last part out because she was
laughing so hard.
JC nearly fell over when she jumped on his back and
almost had a heart attack when she said that stuff. At
first he thought it was a fan but quickly realized it
was only Brittany. He also realized that she was
starting to lose her hold on his neck and was about to
fall off his back so he put his hands under her legs
to help support her.
Brittany had stopped laughing and was now resting her
chin on his shoulder.
"Can I ask you why you're on my back? And why i'm
carring you?" JC looked at her out of the corner of
his eye. He smiled at how tired she looked. She didn't
look 24. She still looked like a teenager which
surprised him because even with all the stress in her
life, she didn't look a day over 18.
"I dunno. I just didn't want to walk anymore. My legs
feel like jello. You don't have to carry me if you
don't want to. I'll get down." Brittany sighed and
started to remove one of her arms from around his
neck.
JC let go of one of her legs and grabbed her arm with
that hand. "No, you don't have to get down. I'll carry
you. I was just wondering why I was carrying you.
That's all."
They were now in the waiting area searching for
someone they reconized in the huge crowd of people.
Brittany screamed as someone pulled her off JC's back
and covered her eyes. JC spun around quickly ready to
hurt who ever it was if they had hurt her.
The person turned her around to face them and then
gave her a big hug. Brittany tensed up and tried to
back away from the person.
Brittany looked up at her 'kidnapper' who had a huge
smile on their face. She sighed when she reconized the
person and hugged them back before she slapped their
arm. "Joseph Anthony Fatone Jr! That was NOT funny.
You scared the crap out of me!"
Joey rubbed his arm. "Geez. Ya didn't have to hit me.
That hurt. Besides I couldn't resist. You looked a
little TOO comfortable where you were."
JC sighed in relief when he saw Joey. "Jesus Joey!
Next time could you warn us? If ya didn't have a good
hold on her you might have dropped her and hurt her."
"Sorry. Somebody's a little touchy today." Joey didn't
notice Brittany's eye because she had sunglasses on.
He didn't notice the bruises on JC's face because
Brittany had put cover up on his face that morning so
no one would notice. They didn't want what happened to
get out before they could talk to the guys and Johnny.
Joey however did notice JC's swollen lip. "Dude what
happened to your lip?"
Jc shook his head. "I'll tell you later. I just need
to get everyone together in a room including Johnny
and all the girls so we only have to explain this once
to you guys."
"We? What do you mean by we?" Joey asked as they
pulled up at the hotel.
"Nothing. You'll find out soon enough like everyone
else." 'Literally EVERYONE else' JC added to himself
ad heh got out of the car and got his bags while
Brittany got hers.
They went in the back way of the hotel to avoid fans.
JC looked at Brittany. He noticed how quiet she had
been the whole day and that was unusual, because she
usually was really happy, hyper, and talked ALOT. He
put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer
to him. She tensed up a bit but quickly relaxed. JC
kissed her head as they stood in the elevator. "What's
the matter?"
"Nothing." Brittany looked up at him and gave him a
weak smile to reassure him that she was fine. "I just
want to tell everyone righ tnow to get it off my chest
and stuff."
"I understand." JC nodded as he let them into the room
they'd be sharing. Normally she would share one with
one of the other girls or have her own room, but JC
wanted to make sure nothing would happen to her. "I'll
call everyone now and tell them to meet us in Joey's
room in 5 minutes. Ok?"
"Yep." Brittany replied as she flopped onto her bed
which was across from JC's.
5 minutes later JC and Brittany showed up in Joey's
room wearing hats and sunglasses. Justin, Joey, Lance,
Chris, Lindsay, lance's girlfriend, Lilly, Justin's girlfriend, Kate, Chris's girlfriend, Trixie, Joey's
girlfriend, Becky, their make-up artist and Lance's best friend, Norchelli, Justin's lil
sis, Julianne, Chris's lil sis, and Johnny were all in Joey's room.
"JC what's this all about?" Norchelli asked the
question that was on everyone's mind.
"Well, we have something we need to show you and tell
you." JC looked from one person to another.
"So tell us and show us." Becky said
"Ok, we'll be right back so we can show you. Then
we'll tell you." JC said as he turned and followed
Brittany into the bathroom. They cleaned all the cover
up off their faces so you could now see all the cuts
and bruises.
They left there hats and sunglasses in the bathroom,
before they stepped out into the room. "This is what
we have to show you." JC and Brittany stepped out from
behind the bathroom door.
Everyone's faces showed confussion until they looked
at their faces. A collective gasp could be heard as
everyone stared at the two in shock and horror.