Julianna's point of view

I groaned as my head began to throb. Damn hangover. It felt like even my hair was hurting.
"Nick, wake up," I pushed him. He rolled off of the bed and landed on the floor with a thud.
"Ow," he grumbled. He sat up on the floor and yawned, scratching his head at the same time. "Why are we in bed together?"
"Look at your missing clothes and take a wild guess," I retorted, wrapping my sheet tighter around my body.
Nick lifted the sheet that he had pulled down with him when he fell. "Fuck."
"Is precisely what we did," I said, getting up.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"This kinda proves it," I picked up a used condom off of the floor. "I think this belongs to you," I held it out to Nick.
He made a disgusted face and wrapped the sheet around his waist.
I dropped the condom back onto the floor. "I just want to know how two drunk people were smart enough to use a condom, but were also stupid enough to sleep with each other in the first place!" I exclaimed.
Nick shrugged and got up off the floor.
My eyes widened as realization dawned upon me. I turned away from Nick, my eyes stinging with tears.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked softly. I could hear the rustling of the sheet around his waist as he moved across the room.
"Nothing," I said, bitterness creeping into my voice. "Just my life is ruined, that's all."
"Why are you so upset?"
"You would be too if you lost your virginity to the wrong person, at the wrong time, and you were too drunk to even remember it!" I yelled.
I heard Nick gasp. "You're-you're-a virgin?"
"I was."
Silence.
I turned around to face Nick, surprised to find him only a couple of feet away from me.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
I sniffled and wiped away my tears. "You have nothing to be sorry for. We were drunk and we made a mistake," I told him.
A small smile crept onto Nick's face. "Does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?"
I sighed. "One problem at a time please."
Nick's face expression became serious. "How are we going to deal with this?" he asked.
I sat down on the bed and rubbed my face. "I don't know," I shook my head. I looked up at Nick. "I don't want things to get weird between us."
"Neither do it," he sat down next to me. "But you gotta admit that things will never be the same, even if we can't remember exactly what happened," he said.
All of a sudden I burst out laughing.
Nick raised an eyebrow. "Are you having a nervous breakdown?"
"I just find it hilarious that we were completely drunk but still used a fucking condom!"
Nick laughed softly. "We are definitely special kind of weirdos."
"Yeah," I agreed, my laughter subsiding. "I cannot believe we had sex."
Nick took a deep breath. "Neither can I."
I hesitated. "Maybe…maybe it's a good thing we don't remember anything. It might be easier to forget this way."
Nick nodded slowly. "I guess."
I looked at him and for the first time noticed that his hair was sticking out in every direction possible. I remembered that it was gelled the night before, no wonder it looked like a Picasso painting.
I stifled a laugh. Nick had no right to look cute at such a rotten hour of the morning in such a rotten situation.

Nick's point of view

I heard the distinct ringing of my cell phone. "Crap, where did I put it?" I muttered. I began looking around the room, careful to keep the sheet around my waist from falling.
"Try checking your pants," Julianna suggested.
"But where are my pants?"
"I think that's them," Julianna pointed at an article of clothing, slung over the closet door.
I looked at my pants, trying to figure out how they wound up there and why my underwear was on the outside of them.
"Forget it, I don't wanna know," I mumbled and reached inside the pocket. "Hello?"
"Hey Nicky," Brian's cheerful voice greeted me.
I winced. "Don't yell, some of us have hangovers," I told him.
Brian laughed. "Man, you were sooo drunk last night. Kept going on about you and Julianna pretending to be dating."
I let out a nervous laugh. "Did anyone take me seriously?"
Brian laughed harder. "Hell no! You were dancing on AJ's dining room table with your underwear on the outside of your pants and singing Britney Spears' 'I'm A Slave 4 U', stopping every once in a while to yell that you and Jul are just pretending. I gotta say, nice moves Frack. I had no idea you could shake your butt like Britney," Brian said.
That explained the underwear.
"Oh God," I groaned. "Did I really do that?"
"How could I possibly make that up?"
"Good point." I hit my head on Julianna's wall. So much for making people think I've matured. "I'm such a dumbass," I said to myself.
"It took you almost twenty-three years to figure that one out?" Brian chuckled. "Good thing you went home with Jul, otherwise who knows what you could've done."
"And you let me go home with her especially when you knew we were so drunk?" I exclaimed.
"Dude, she's your girlfriend, not some stranger," Brian stated.
Duh. I looked around the room. My brain had to be there somewhere. Maybe it was in my shoes, which were…hanging by their laces from Julianna's chandelier. Okay, now I definitely didn't want to remember what went on the night before.
"Hey Nick, hello?"
I snapped back to Brian's call. "Right, sorry, just spaced out for a minute. This damn hangover has me feeling like a moron."
"You are a moron 'cause you drank so much," Brian retorted.
"Must you state the obvious?" I sighed.
"As always."
"Bri, I'll talk to you later okay?"
"Sure, no problem, bye."
"Bye." I hung up and looked at Julianna.

Julianna's point of view

I sighed. "So now what?"
Nick shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. He made a face as his fingers got caught in his tangled, gel-filled blond locks.
"Well, we definitely shouldn't tell anyone this happened," I concluded.
Nick nodded in agreement. "Yeah, better to keep it between ourselves." He looked in the direction of my bathroom.
"Yes, you can use the shower," I told him.
Nick grinned and disappeared into the room.
I grabbed my bathrobe and exchanged it with the sheet I was still wearing. After grabbing some clean clothes, I headed to the downstairs bathroom. I was about to go into the shower, when the doorbell rang.
"Ugh, aren't people supposed to be sleeping through their hangovers now?" I grumbled, putting my robe back on and heading towards the door.
The person ran the doorbell three more times.
"I'm coming, I'm coming, don't have an aneurysm, sheesh," I muttered. I opened the door and found Jess on the other side.
"Hello," she greeted cheerfully. She went past me and sat down on my couch.
"Come on in, make yourself comfortable," I said to the now empty doorway. I then closed the door and went to he living room to glare at Jess.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"Do you know how early in the morning it is?" I asked.
"So? It's not like-" Jess's mouth dropped open as she stared at something behind me.
I turned around and found my own jaw making friends with the floor.
Nick was standing there, wearing only a towel, with his body glistening from the shower, and droplets of water dripping from his wet hair.
"I know I'm hot, but please stop staring," he smirked.
I was immediately snapped out of my dirty daydream and back into reality. I rolled my eyes. "What do you want Nick?"
"World peace and the break up of *NSYNC," he grinned. "But now I'll settle for a washing machine," he added.
"It's downstairs in the laundry room," I said, pointing to the basement door.
Nick nodded, shifting the heap of clothes in his arms. "Thanks."
Jess shook her head after Nick departed. "That boy is sex all wrapped up in a box with a pretty red bow on top," she commented.
"And the other ninety-nine percent of the time he's just a two year old trapped in a body of a twenty-two year old," I added laughing.
Jess nodded thoughtfully. "But I prefer AJ," she grinned.
"How are you guys doing?" I asked.
"Really well, he's so sweet." Jess had a dreamy look on her face. I wished I could have the same.

Nick's point of view

I stared at the washing machine.
I stared at it some more.
Why couldn't they make smart ones that would take your clothes from you, put in the detergent, wash and dry the clothes, and then fold and hand them back to you? Was that so much to ask for?
"What the hell is a fluff cycle?" I mumbled, looking at the various buttons.
"It's a cycle that fluffs," came Julianna's amused voice.
I jumped and my clothes flew all over the place. "You scared me!"
Julianna grimaced as she plucked off one of my socks that had landed on her head. "You know, talking to the washing machine won't make it work," she told me.
"What if I ask nicely?" I grinned.
Julianna laughed. "Yeah, sure blondie." She went over to the machine and hit a few buttons. There was a little melody and the lights started flashing. "Are you gonna gather your clothes from the floor?" she asked.
I quickly did so and handed them to her. She dumped everything in, poured in the detergent, and shut the lid. The swishing of the machine began a few seconds later.
"See? It's not hard," she smiled.
I rubbed the back of my neck. "For you."
"True."
"So where's Jess?" I asked, following Julianna upstairs.
"I pretty much kicked her out cause I need to take a shower and she kept talking and wouldn't let me," Julianna replied and headed towards the bathroom. "If the machine finishes before I come out, then just take your clothes cause it's a washer and dryer in one," she instructed.
I nodded.
"Make yourself at home," she said waving her hand and closed the door.
I turned around in a circle, slowly taking in my surroundings. I was standing in the small hallway between the kitchen and the living room. Now which one did I want to go to?
I grinned and headed over to the couch. Turning on the TV, I flipped through the channels until I found a basketball game on one of the ESPN channels. I placed my feet onto the small coffee table and relaxed.
The ringing of the phone ten minutes later turned my attention away from the TV, just as one of the players was about to make an amazing shot. I stared at the evil contraption, hoping the phone would shut up. Yeah, like that worked.
"Nick, please get the phone!" Julianna yelled from the shower.
I shrugged and grabbed it. "Hello?"
"I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong house," a familiar woman's voice said.
"Who were you calling?" I asked, twirling the cord around my finger out of boredom.
"Julianna, my daughter."
"Oh Mrs. Palmer, this is Nick Carter," I identified myself. I got up and headed over to the bathroom.
"Hello Nick, how are you?" she asked pleasantly.
"I'm fine and you?"
"I'm well, thank you."
"Julianna is in the shower, hold on a second," I said and placed my hand over the receiver. "Hey Jul! Your mom is on the phone, what should I tell her?" I yelled.
"Um, ask her if she needs to speak to me now or if it can wait," she replied.
"Okay." I turned my attention back to Mrs. Palmer, "Um, hi, it's Nick again, Julianna is asking if you have to speak to her now, like if it's important," I relayed the message.
"No, it's quite all right, just tell her to call me back when she can, okay?" Mrs. Palmer said.
I walked back to the living room. "Sure, no problem."
"Okay, have a good day Nick, and Happy New Year."
"Thank you, Happy New Year to you too and to Mr. Palmer and Annie," I said.
"Thank you, goodbye."
"Bye." I hung up the phone and plopped back onto the couch.

A HALF AN HOUR LATER
Julianna's point of view

"Sure, sounds good, see ya in about twenty minutes man," I walked into the living room just as Nick finished his conversation on the phone.
"Who was that?" I asked, drying my hair with a towel.
"My friend Brad. He's bored, so I said I'll hang out with him for a few hours," Nick replied. "Wanna join us?"
I shrugged. "Sure, nothing better to do anyway. Just let me go blow dry my hair."
Nick grinned. "Need me to reach the dryer again?"
I smacked his arm. "Very funny Carter."
"I know," Nick's grin got wider.
"I'll be back," I said and headed upstairs to my room. Once there, I grabbed my blow dryer and quickly began drying my hair. Ever since I had cut it, it was so much easier drying it. Before, it took me a good hour to fully dry my hair, now, it took no longer than ten minutes.
I bit my lip in concentration as I tried to maneuver a strand of my hair into the part that I had made on the side. As soon as I managed to get it in place, I quickly put on some hair spray and checked my reflection in the mirror.
"Not half bad," I commented grinning. I then heard the door slam downstairs. "Brad must be early," I said, looking at my watch.
I went downstairs and came just in time to overhear the end of Nick's conversation.
"She's a good friend of mine, you'll like her," he said and then turned when he heard me walk into the room.
"Jul, this is my friend Brad Connor. Brad, this is Julianna Palmer," he introduced us.
"It's nice to meet you," Brad said, extending his hand.
"It's nice to meet you two," I smiled, and smiled wider as a tingling sensation passed through me as soon as I shook Brad's hand.
I cocked my head to the side as I took a better look at Nick's friend. He was about an inch taller than Nick and had brown hair and startlingly blue eyes. His physique was muscular; noticeable even in the jeans and long sleeved shirt he was wearing.
Brad returned my smile and revealed perfect white teeth. My own smile got wider; life just became a lot more interesting.

chapter 15 chapter 17