I pointed sternly at the guys. "You almost made me bust out laughing during the balcony scene."
Lance smiled. "I *told* you we'd come in disguise."
Chris was scratching the skin around the mustache. "This is getting itchy. And by the way, Ocean, you've totally changed my view on Shakespeare. You were that good."
"Can we take this stuff off? I don't think throngs of ecstatic teeny boppers are going to attack us here," Justing said,
JC nodded, ripping his mustache off and wincing. "Yeah. Lance talked us into wearing these to be funny."
Joey wrapped me in a huge hug that lifted my light frame off the ground. "You were great."
"Yeah, you really were," Lance said with a smile. Geez, that guy like to smile.
"Thanks, you guys. You do *not* know-" someone tapped me on the shoulder. I watched Rainbow's eyes widen then I turned around to see who was behind me.
I looked up into familiar chocolate brown eyes. "Eddie?" I choked out.
Eddie smiled and nodded. "Ocean, you were fantastic."
"Oh my gosh Eddie, thank you," I said, hugging him.
"Hey Rainbow," Eddie said when he caught glimpse of her.
Rainbow hugged Eddie too. "Eddie! Geez, I never thought we'd see you again!"
"That's what I thought too, but when I transferred here, someone told me that you guys were going here too," Eddie explained.
"Eddie, this is 'N Sync-Lance, JC, Justin, Joey and Chris. Guys, this is Eddie," I introduced them.
"Do you guys wanna come and chill out in our hotel?" Chris asked. "You too, Eddie."
"Sure," Rainbow, Eddie and I agreed.
Craig came over and kissed me on the lips, to which I pulled away immediately. "Ocean, you were great."
I smiled sheepishly. "Thanks, Craig. You were great too."
"So you wanna get something to eat?" Craig asked.
"Um actually, I was gonna go hang out with these guys," I replied. "Craig, this is Justin, Lance, JC, Joey, Chris and Eddie. And you already know Rainbow."
"Is this the Lance who sent the flowers?" Craig asked.
I nodded. "Mm-hm. And Lance, thank you so much for the flowers. That was really sweet of you."
"You're welcome," Lance said as I hugged him.
"Well, shall we get going?" JC asked, jangling his keys.
"JC, you've gotta be kidding me, man-we can't fit people in your car," Justin said.
"We can take my car too," Eddie offered. "Why don't Ocean, Lance and Justin come with me and the rest of you can all go with JC. We'll follow you."
"Sounds good, " Joey said.
Lance, Justin and I climbed into Eddie's car, which had that new car smell.
"When did you get a car, Eddie?" I asked as I buckled my seatbelt. "I remember in high school you never had a car. Always driving around with Tiffanie or Kelly."
"Yeah, I got sick of that. I got this car about a month ago," Eddie replied. "Everyone buckled up?"
"Of course. Wouldn't want us exiting the windows, now would we?" Justin said from the backseat.
"Eddie and Ocean up there would exit first-test the asphalt for us, okay guys?" Lance joked.
I turned around and stuck my tongue out at him. Lance replied to that by sticking his tongue out at me and laughing. I made another face at him and he made a face at me. We went on like that until we pulled into the parking lot of Domino's Pizza.
"What? This isn't where we're staying," Justin said as we got out of the car, looking confused.
"What's up with this guys?" Lance shouted at JC parked three cars away.
"We're hungry. Thought we'd get some pizza," Chris yelled.
We finally made it back to the hotelwith lots of pizza. Joey struggled to balance the pizzas in one hand and fish the room keys out of his pocket. The rest of us watched Joey with amusement.
"Hey! Don't just look at me and laugh!" Joey exclaimed. "Help me out here!"
"Okay, okay," Rainbow said, grabbing a couple pizza boxes while Eddie took the rest.
"Thanks you two. The rest of you are gonna get it when we get in the room," Joey threatened.
"Oh, you're scarin me Joe," Chris said sarcastically as we entered the room.
"Yummy yummy pizza," Rainbow said, setting the pizzas down on a table.
"Justin, grab her," Chris ordered, shutting the door.
Before I knew what was going on, someone grabbed me from behind and picked me up. "Damn, girl, you are *light.*" Justin said.
"What are you doing?" I shrieked, slapping Justin's strong arms and trying to pry his hands off.
"It's payback time, Osh," Joey said patiently as he approached me. "After this, you will be a better person indeed." And with that, he began to tickel me mercilessly, even when I struggled and kicked. Justin merely held me tighter and called Lance over to hold my legs which Lance obediently did with a devilish grin on his face. After awhile, Joey finally stopped and Justin and Lance let me go so we could eat the pizza before Chris, Rainbow, Eddie and JC ate it all.
"I'm thirsty," Justin said through a mouthful of cheese.
"Why don't O and I get us some drinks from the Coke machine in the lobby?" Lance offered, wiping his hands on a napkin. Everyone gave us money and their orders, so Lance and I left the room and made our way down to the lobby.
"I'm having a really great time tonight," Lance said. "None of us have been this relaxed in like, forever."
"Hey, same here. With rehearsal and classes and homework, I have no time to have fun anymore," I said. "And Rainbow...I haven't seen her laugh like this in awhile."
"I haven't seen JC act so happy and carefree in a long time either," Lance added.
"Funny how some things and some people just help you let go of everything," I said wistfully. "It sucks that you guys have to leave after tomorrow."
"Yeah," Lance agreed. "I love it here. It is so awesome-awesome beaches, awesome people." He looked at me when he said the last part and I blushed and looked away.
"Well, there are awesome people *leaving* here," I said softly.
"These awesome people should keep in touch, don't you think?" Lance suggested as we came to the soda machine.
"Yes they should," I agreed as I put money into the slot. "Okay, read me off what everyone wants."
Around two in the morning, the party began to wind down and people started yawning with droopy eyes.
"Well, we should be getting back to the campus, shouldn't we?" Rainbow said sleepily.
I nodded with a yawn. "Yeah, I've got an eight o'clock class tomorrow morning."
Eddie stood up. "I'll drive us back."
"We'll walkyou down," JC said and we all trekked out of the room talking softly with the occasional burst of laughter.
"Do you wanna do something tomorrow before I leave?" Lance asked quietly. |
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