| Back at the house J.C., Chris, and Joey were decorating the house. Justin had called them earlier and they were throwing Kayla a little get well party. The guys were pratically finished too. Justin pulled up to the drive way and Kayla and Lance and Ike got out while he put the car in the garage. Lance casually put his hand over Kayla's eyes and she screamed. "Just keep them closed. I'll lead you," Lance whispered into Kayla's ear and she shivered unconsiously. Lance took her hand and squeezed it. He smiled how she tensed up and got all scared. Lance lead her into the living room of the house and all was quiet. He took his hand away from her eyes and everyone shouted: "SURPRISE!!!!" Chapter 15 Kayla's eyes widened and she saw the sign on the wall. It read: "Get Well Kayla." She looked around the room and Justin, J.C., Chris, Lance, and Joey were staring at her. She felt like an idiot just standing there, but she was speechless. She looked at Lance and gently wrapped her arms around his neck. If she was feeling any better, she probably would have ran to him. "Thank you, thank you!!" She repeated over and over into Lance's shoulder. Kayla lifted her head and gave the rest of the guys hugs too. Lance, however, was very pleased that he got to go first. When Kayla was finished hugging everyone she sat down on the couch tired from the excitement. She leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes. "What the?!! Chris get off the couch your killing my head" Kayla screamed minutes after she closed her eyes. Chris was jumping up and down on the couch, being very annoying. "Well I just heard that we get to keep you for a whole 3 weeks!!! That and father Lance over there told me you weren't suposed to go to sleep for another 3 hours. What do you want to do??" Chis said very quickly. "Well Christopher, its your guys' house. You choose!! Just get off the couch or I'm gonna get Ike to attack" Kayla said as entusiastic as she could. She really felt like crap! J.C. walked into the living room with a bowl of popcorn and a bunch of videos. He had a huge smile on his face and so did everyone else. Lance walked in next and in his hand was a big box. He winked at Kayla and walked toward her. "What is up with all of you. You are keeping a secret from me and I want to know what it is now." Kayla stated firmly. "Weeelll, since you will be staying with us and you are supposed to be sick, may I add *supposed to be sick*, we decided, well Lance decided, that you deserved a present. So this is for you!" Joey said while laughing at the faces of a mad Kayla and an embarassed Lance. "What do you mean by supposed to be sick Joey-Joe? Are you saying I'm not? Well let me assure you that I am. If I stand up now, I will most likely fall over." Kayla said with a mischivious smile. "Well we don't want that to happen, so I believe you! This is from all of us." Joey said urging Kayla to hurry. Kayla smiled and started to tear off the balloon paper. The box was very plain. When Kayla opened the box, a big stuffed puppy dog greeted her. It had a pink collar and on it was the name *N SYNCA. Kayla was a little confused so she looked at all guys questionly. Justin smiled at the look in her eyes. He knew exactly what she was thinking. "No Kayla the tag is not spelled wrong. Lance had the ingravers spell it that way. Think about why we spell NSYNC the way we do and then think about why we would add a 'A'." Justin explained slowly to her. Kayla thought about it and couldn't come up with anything. Truthfully, she had no idea why they called themselves N SYNC. Britney was the fanatic, not her. "Guys, to tell you the truth I have no idea why you call yourselves N SYNC. I told ya'll before I really have never listened to your music. You tell me why!" Lance and J.C. smiled as Justin started to write down on paper what she should understand: justiN chriS JoeY LanceteN JC ?????A Kayla looked at the paper and read the six lines. She gasped when she silently read the last line. If what she was thinking was true, then......... "no it couldn't be. "justiN chriS joeY lanceteN jC kaylA?" Them adding her name to the band as like adding her to their circle of friends? I have to be reading into this too much. I have known for a matter of 4 days and thats it. This can't mean what it I think it does." Kayla thought, very confused, yet, very exstatic that it might just be a possibility. Kayla looked up at the 5 guys around her. She rose her eyebrows and each one of them smiled their award winning smiles. Kayla's eyes opened wide in shock that what she was contemplating was actually true!!! Before she knew it her eyes started to water and her throat started to burn. They actually were sincere about wanting her to be their friend. She looked down at the dog and ran her finger over the "A" on the tag. She was speechless. "Kayla? Are you okay?" Lance asked. He put his hand under her chin and lifted it up. A tear ran down her cheek and onto his finger. "Kayla , whats the matter? Why are you crying??" " I-I'm not crying,it's just-," Kayla said as another tear gave it away. "Come on now, we just wanted you to know that you are part of the family now." Joey said, trying to brighten the mood. Kayla's words got stuck in her throat when Joey said "part of the family" and they came out as a sob. She took a deep breath and began again: "It's just that I am so greatful for all that you have done for me and the dog tag thing just made my emotions go a litte crazy. I have never been a part of a big group of people that you can count on. I have Emilee and Sarah,my best friends, but thats it. My sisters are kind of in their own world and my parents think I can do everything on my own because I am pretty smart. I guess I just want to say thank you for this. None of you will ever know what this means to me." Kayla finished her little speech and another tear fell from her eyes. She sat up and looked at all the guys. They were all smiling at her. Her eyes then fell on Lance who was still kneeled in front of her. He stood up and held his hand out for Kayla to take. Kayla slowly stood up and looked at all the guys slowly. Lance didn't let go of her hand and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you Lance. For everything. I truly mean it" Kayla whispered into his ear as more tears fell. Lance held her away from him and gently wiped the tears away. He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. Kayla's eyes widened at the soft feel of his lips and she smiled. "Your welcome Kayla. You deserve it all and more. " Lance said to her as he walked away toward the kitchen. Kayla slowly walked over to the rest of the guys and she thanked each of them over and over. Everyone settled down on the couches and just talked. Kayla learned alot about the guys and how they were exactly like brothers. She was really glad to be apart of all of this and just watched as they interacted with each other. The problem was they would not let her just watch. "Hey I got an idea. Its only like 8:00 now so why don't we play a game." Joey said to everyone. Lance was sitting on the couch and Kayla was on the other end. Justin and Chris were on the other couch and J.C. and Joey were on the floor. They all made a little circle. "What kinda game are we talking about Joe? I really can'y play much. I just wanna go to sleep, but father Lance here won't let me!!" Kayla stated. She had been pouting since Lance had woken her up like twenty minutes ago. "Umm... how about truth or dare!!" J.C. and Justin said right after one another. Everyone agreed on it, but Kayla. The truth was, Kayla had never played the game in her entire life. She always backed out of the game, but she had a feeling that these 5 guys weren't gonna let her. "Umm... why don't we play something else...I really never liked this game." Kayla announced to everyone. She had to try to get out of the game! "Naw, Lets play!" Joey said hitting the couch with his fist like a little baby. They played the game for like 15 minutes when Kayla's time turn came up. Joey was asking the question. "Truth or Dare" "Umm... Truth!" Kayla chose hoping there wouldn't be much to tell them. "Um...well...Describe the last real kiss you were given, in detail girly!" Joey said while making fish faces at Kayla. " The last real kiss, as in *REAL*?" "DUH! YEAH" "Um, you see, I well, um, I have never, um, never been kissed like that before. I um, never had a boyfriend, so you got um, no details there, " Kayla said quietly while looking at her lap and picking invisible fuzz off her socks. She knew all the guys were looking at her, and she also knew her face had to be beet red. This was a very un-usual thing for a 17 year old girl. Kayla was far from proud of the fact she just revieled to these 5 guys. Every one was kinda quiet for a minute, so she looked up and then said, "Now I am finished with this game!" Lance could tell that she was embarassed so he went next and got Chris to run around the house with Joey's superman cape on. By the time it was 10:00 Kayla was halfway asleep and he knew she needed to get to bed. Lance moved over next to her on the couch and she looked up at him sleepily. "Come on Kayla, you should go to bed now. I'll show you where you and Ike can sleep." Lance whispered to her. Kayla said good night to everyone and thank you again to them all. Lange put his arm around her and helped her up the stairs. She was sleeping in the extra bedroom next to his. Lance knew the guys did that on purpose and had to smile at their "quick" thinking. "Um, you can change in the bathroom and I'll go in your room to make sure that everything is okay." When Kayla came out, she had a baby blue t-shirt and shorts set on. It had little halo's all over it and it said angel on the front of the shirt. She looked up at Lance and smiled. "Thank you so much for all of this. I don't think I can ever repay you and the guys, but I will always try." Kayla said to him as she got in to the bed. Lance didn't know what to say to that. She seemed so sincere, but sad at the same time. He was stunned at how she looked in those pajama's and just wanted to stare all night. But, that wasn't possible. When Kayla's head hit the pillow, she moaned at the feeling of a soft pillow to sleep on. Sleep, that was heaven and it was even more heaven because Lance was here to say good night to. The last time she was tucked in was like when she was 10 years old. It felt so good to have someone care for her. This was what she always wanted. She smiled up at him. "Lance, I want to thank you again for everything you have done for me. This and the dog and just being there for me. I have never had this in my life and I don't know how to express the graditude I have for the way you and guys have treated me. Thank you so much" Kayla said to him around another lump in her throat. She knew if she said more, she would cry so she stopped there and watched as Lance moved next to the bed to sit on the edge of it. While Lance was moving over to the side of the bed, Kayla's last words hit him like a ton of bricks. "....just being there for me. I have never had this in my life... don't know how to express the gratitiude.. way you treated me." All those words showed how unloved and uncared for she felt. She seemed like such a great girl, but so hurt and sad inside. Lance wanted to know what happend to her to do that, but he knew he would have to wait for her to open up to him. Lance woke up out of his little daze when Kayla's hand tentivly reached out for his hand. He looked down at her face and it was scrunched up in pain. "Kayla?!? Whats the matter??" Lance asked squeezing her hand a little more. Kayla had been watching Lance's expression while he was sitting there on the bed. The lump in her throat grew bigger, because Lance looked like he really cared. And as she held back the tears of gratitude, a pounding in her temples developed. She needed something to comfort her, and Lance was right there. Kayla knew it was a chance to take, but she needed someone right then and there. "Um, no.. well yeah. I just have a major head ache. Do you think you can get me an asprin that the doctor gave me?" "Yeah. Here you go. I'll go and get you some water. Be right back" When Lance came back, Kayla was snuggled into the blankets and her arms were around N SYNCA, the stuffed dog. Ike was laying on the floor asleep. She looked like she was asleep, so Lance stepped over Ike and tapped her arm. "Wha.. oh kay." Kayla said sleepily. She tried to sit up, but her face scrunched up again in pain. Lance put his arm around her back and helped her sit up. She drank the water and swallowed the pill. He slowly layed her back down on the bed and watched as she closed her eyes. Lance bent down and pulled the blanket over her shoulders and placed a light kiss on her forehead. She looked so vulnerable laying there. "Goodnight Kayla. Sweet dreams," Lance whispered to Kayla as he brushed his fingers lightly over her forehead and cheek. He started to walk out of the room when he heard a whisper. "Goodnight Lance. Thank you for caring" Lance shut the light off and walked out the door. He went down stairs and told the rest of the guys goodnight. Back in his room, he couldn't get Kayla's last words out of his head. "Thank you for caring." |