Julianna’s point of view

I walked into the huge room where the party was being held and looked around. Celebrities, celebrities, and more celebrities. Crowded right?
“Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m actually here!” squealed Jess next to me.
“I know what you mean,” I said nodding.
“You do realize that no one is going to recognize you right?” asked Jess laughing.
I shrugged. “Oh well.” What Jess meant was that no one was going to recognize me because of my new hairstyle. I cut my waist length hair. It was now only barely reaching my shoulders. But I had to admit that it looked so wonderful. I always had long hair and couldn’t believe how great short hair looked on me.
“Julianna?” asked Carson Daly coming up to me.
“Hey Carson,” I replied smiling at him.
“Wow, you look so different with short hair, but it looks great on you,” he complemented.
“Thanks, by the way, this is my friend Jessica. Jess, this is Carson Daly, although I don’t think that you needed an intro,” I said laughing. Jess was at that moment gaping at Carson. And I mean literally gaping, mouth open and everything.
“H-h-hi,” she managed to stutter.
“Hi,” said Carson smiling.
“She’s so talkative right?” I said laughing once again. Jess shot me a death stare and then turned to look back at Carson. Before that day, she had only seen him on TV.
“Enjoying the party?” asked Carson turning to me.
“Well, we just got here but it seems to be pretty good,” I replied looking around.
“Great, so I’ll catch up with you later,” said Carson, smiled again, and then walked away.
“Now I can die happy,” said Jess with a sigh.
“Funny Jess,” I said smirking.
“Well, how cool is this? We’re at a post VMA party with all these celebrities!” she said gesturing around with her arm.
“I know, I know,” I said also looking around the room.
“Oh, I just spotted someone I’m dying to meet, do you mind if I step away for a few minutes?” asked Jess with a pleading look in her eyes.
“Sure, go ahead,” I told her.
“Thanks, you’re the best,” said Jess, and after giving me a brief hug, she ran off.
I stood for a few moments just letting everything sink in. I then smiled happily and went over to the buffet table to get some food. After I ate and spoke to a few people I already knew, I looked around for Jess but didn’t see her anywhere. I figured she probably found someone else she was dying to meet, if not a whole hundred of someone else’s.
“Hi, would you like to dance?” asked a guy coming up to me. I looked at him and he seemed familiar. He was fairly tall with blond hair and light eyes.
“Sure,” I said following him to the dance floor. “So what’s your name?” I asked as we began to dance.
The guy looked at me a little strangely. “Lance,” he finally said.
“Nice to meet you, I’m-“ I started to introduce myself.
“Julianna, I know,” he said smiling.
“Oh, right,” I said blushing slightly; still not used to having people I don’t know, know me. “So um, are you here with a friend of yours who was at the VMA’s or something?” I asked.
Lance proceeded to look at me strangely again. “Uh, no, my friends and I were at the VMA’s,” he replied.
Duh! I gave myself a mental slap. Of course this guy had to be famous; his face did seem familiar. And I had just managed to make a total fool out of myself by not knowing who he was.
“I’m really sorry, it’s just that I’m new to this whole celebrity business and I’m really bad with names and usually can’t remember who’s who,” I apologized.
“It’s okay, it’s actually refreshing to have someone not know my name for a change,” said Lance with a laugh. “I’m in a music group, ever heard of *NSYNC?” he asked.
“Yeah, aren’t you guys like the archrivals of the Backstreet Boys?” I asked, remembering something about hearing that.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that, we’re just all in the same line of work,” said Lance.
I nodded in understanding. We danced to a few more songs and then went to the buffet table to get a drink. As I took a cup and poured some Pepsi into it, I turned around to say something to Lance, when someone slammed into me and my Pepsi spilled all over my pale blue dress.
“Ahh!” I exclaimed and turned to glare at the person who slammed into me. I found myself looking into the crystal clear blue eyes of none other that Nick Carter. “You!” I yelled. “Can you be more clumsy?” I added.
“Well, you should watch where you’re going!” Nick yelled back.
“I was standing!” I yelled.
“Then you should watch where you’re standing!”
“You know, you have some nerve. First you slam into me and then you have the nerve of saying that it’s all my fault? This was a five hundred dollar dress that you just ruined!”
“Big deal, you can afford it!”
“You are such an asshole!” I yelled and stomped away from Nick.
Lance caught up with me and handed me a few napkins. “You okay?” he asked.
I nodded and took the napkins gratefully. “Thanks, I don’t think these will help, but thanks anyway,” I told him.
“No problem,” he said smiling. “So, do you know that guy?” he asked.
“Unfortunately,” I muttered rubbing at the huge stain on my dress.
“Unfortunately?” echoed Lance.
“I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting him and I’m going to have the even more unfortunate pleasure of working with him this week,” I mumbled.
“You know, you’ve got to be the only girl I know who actually doesn’t like Nick Carter,” said Lance laughing.
“I don’t just not like him, I hate him,” I said and stopped rubbing the stain on my dress. It was useless.
“Wow,” commented Lance. At that point, Jess rushed up to us.
“Jul, are you okay? I heard yelling,” she said and then saw the stain on my dress. “How did that happen?” she asked.
“Someone crashed into me, and I’ll give you one guess as to who it was,” I said angrily. “But here’s a clue, he’s tall, blond, and his name rhymes with dick!”
Jess nodded. “Enough said.” She then looked over at Lance who was standing quietly and looking at both of us. “Hi, I’m Jessica,” she said extending her hand.
“Hi, I’m-“ began Lance but Jess didn’t let him finish.
“Lance Bass, I know,” she said smiling.
“Of course, not everyone is as clueless as your friend over here,” he said laughing and nodded towards me.
I laughed. “Okay, so I’m a tiny bit clueless, so sue me, on the other hand, don’t, my mom’s a very good lawyer,” I said. I looked at my ruined dress in disapproval. “As much as I hate to do this, I have to go home,” I said disappointingly. “I can’t keep walking around in this dress,” I added.
“You’re right,” agreed Jess.
“I’m sorry Jess, I know you were really looking forward to this,” I apologized.
“It’s okay, I got to meet a whole bunch of people and I even have a date tomorrow night,” she said excitedly.
I smiled in relief. “Great, you can tell me about it later,” I said and then turned to Lance. “Thanks for the dances and for the napkins,” I told him.
He smiled. “My pleasure,” he said. “Sorry about your dress,” he added.
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” I said and then sighed. “Okay, let’s go and find my limo,” I told Jess.
We said bye to Lance and then walked out of the room, downstairs, and outside.
“So tell me about this guy,” I said to Jess as soon as we were in the limo.
“Okay, his name is Alex, he’s absolutely gorgeous and totally hot!” gushed Jess. “I cannot believe I have a date with him tomorrow! Only, there’s one other thing...” said Jess trailing off.
Uh oh, I knew that she was going to ask me for something.
“You see, one of his friends just got his heart broken by this girl he’s been dating for like ever and he really needs cheering up. So I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind doubling with us, please?” asked Jess making puppy eyes at me and sticking out her lower lip like a two year old.
I considered this. I didn’t have any plans for tomorrow night and it did mean a lot to Jess that this guy asked her out. “Okay, I’ll do it,” I told her.
“Thank you thank you thank you!” exclaimed Jess.
“You’re welcome, but you owe me,” I warned her laughing.
“Okay,” said Jess happily. I had a feeling that nothing was going to ruin her good mood then, so we both settled more comfortably into the seats as the limo was making its way through Manhattan traffic.

THE NEXT MORNING

I yawned and rolled over in my bed happily. I had the day off and was going to enjoy it. I planned on doing absolutely nothing for the entire day. In fact, I was contemplating just simply not getting out of bed. It was then that my phone rang. So much for not getting out of bed. My cordless phone was all the way on my dresser. I groaned and then got up to answer it.
“Hello?” I said.
“Um, Julianna?” said a familiar voice.
“Yes, who’s this?” I asked.
“This is Lance, from yesterday?” he reminded me.
I smiled. I liked him. “Yeah, of course, hi,” I said. “Wait a minute, how did you get my number?”
“Well, see, my people called your people, and your people told my people, who in turn told me, your phone number,” replied Lance. It took me a few seconds to process what he just said. “I’m sorry, that didn’t make sense did it?” asked Lance because of my silence.
“No, it did, just took me a while to get it, I’m like half asleep,” I said laughing.
“Did I wake you up? Cause if I did, feel free to hang up on me and go back to sleep,” said Lance with a laugh.
“Well, as tempting as that is, I think I won’t hang up…for now,” I said slyly.
“That’s a relief,” said Lance exhaling loudly on purpose. “So, I wanted to ask if you would like to go to dinner with me tonight,” he said.
“I would love to, but I promised my friend I would come with her and her date, but how about tomorrow night?” I asked.
“Tomorrow night is fine,” agreed Lance.
“Great, let me give you my address,” I said. I quickly told him my address and we agreed to set the date for 8 o’clock the following night. We spoke for a few more minutes and then hung up.
I climbed back into bed and smiled satisfactorily. Tomorrow was definitely going to be a good day.

Jess’s point of view

I opened the door and saw Alex standing there looking more gorgeous than ever in black pants and a gray shirt.
“Hey,” he said handing me a white rose.
“Hi, thank you,” I said taking the flower. “Um, where’s your friend?” I asked looking around.
“He forgot something in the limo, he’ll be here in a few seconds,” replied Alex. “By the way, you look beautiful,” he complemented and I felt my cheeks go red. Yes, those three hours that I spent getting ready were definitely worth it.
Surely enough, Alex’s friend did show up in a matter of seconds, but as soon as I saw him, I knew I had a big problem on my hands.
“Oh no,” I groaned looking at Alex’s friend. This date just went from wonderful to rotten.
“Is something wrong?” asked Alex in confusion.
“You might say that,” I said. Or you might say that this is the beginning of world war three, I added silently. “Um, Jul! Get over here!” I yelled out to Julianna who was in my living room watching the ending of some movie she just had to see.
“I’m coming!” called out Julianna and then appeared in the hallway. “You know, that movie was really-” she trailed off and stopped walking as soon as she saw who was in the doorway. “No way!” she yelled. “I cannot believe this!”
“You??” exclaimed Alex’s friend.
“Jess! Why did you tell me that his name was Alex?” she asked pointing at my date.
“Um, cause it is,” I said.
“No, his name is AJ!” she exclaimed.
“AJ actually stands for Alexander James, and Alex is short for Alexander,” explained AJ. “It’s nice having someone call me Alex,” he added smiling at me. I blushed slightly and then turned to Julianna.
“I am so sorry, I had no idea that he was the friend Alex was referring to,” I said pointing at; you know you guessed it, Nick.
“There is absolutely no way that I am going anywhere with him,” said Julianna glaring at Nick.
“Oh believe me, the feeling is mutual,” retorted Nick.
“Okay, that’s it!” exclaimed AJ. “You two are going to get along,” he ordered pointing at Julianna and Nick. “Now, you can both either come with us and enjoy a nice night out, or you can stay here, together, and wait for us to come back. Because whether you like it or not, Nick, I’m your ride home, and while I’m sure Julianna can go home, Jess wouldn’t want Nick to stay at her house by himself.”
Julianna and Nick stood and glared at each other. If looks really could kill, they would both be beyond dead.
“Fine, I’ll go,” said Nick through clenched teeth.
“Fine,” said Julianna angrily.
“Good, then let’s go,” said AJ and held out his arm for me. I took it and we walked outside with Nick and Julianna following us, but keeping their distance from one another. We all got into the limo the guys came in and were off to have dinner in one of the best restaurants in New York City.

Julianna’s point of view

I sat at the table pretending to be very fascinated by the tablecloth. I was fully aware of Nick sitting next to me doing the same thing.
“…like?” I caught the end of something AJ had said. I stared at him blankly. Nick didn’t even look up. Jerk.
“Huh?” I said.
“I asked what you would like to order,” repeated AJ.
“Oh, um,” I stammered. I hadn’t even looked at the menu yet. I was too busy hating being on the same planet as Nick.
“Okay, Nick what about you?” asked Jess looking at Nick. He continued to stare at the tablecloth. “Hello? Earth to Nick?” Nick didn’t respond. AJ then lightly slapped the top of Nick’s head.
“Hey!” protested Nick immediately looking at AJ. “What did you that for?” he asked.
“Because you were off flying somewhere in space,” replied AJ. “Now what do you want to order?” he asked.
Nick looked expressionlessly at AJ and then picked up his menu. After we had all ordered, Nick and I went back to our staring contest with the tablecloth.
The food came and I looked at my fettuccini alfredo unenthusiastically. Losing appetite here. I knew that the food was good but I couldn’t help but not be hungry. So, in order to make it at least look like I was eating, I began pushing it around my plate like a five year old that doesn’t like the food in front of her.
“Jul? You okay?” asked Jess looking at me.
“Yeah, why?” I said.
“Um, you’re pushing your food around your plate like you used to do when we were little,” replied Jess. Like I said, five year old.
“Just lost my appetite that’s all,” I said slightly pushing the plate away from me. At that moment, the band began to play a slow song.
“Would you like to dance?” asked AJ turning to Jess.
“I’d love to, but I’ve got a better idea,” said Jess and then turned to Nick. “You wanna dance? I can see you need cheering up just like Jul does,” she said to him. Nick looked surprised, then glanced at AJ, who nodded his head in approval, and then accepted Jess’s offer.
“I guess that leaves you and me, come on,” said AJ getting up and extending his hand to me. I took it and followed him onto the dance floor.
We gently swayed to the slow music and I found my thoughts drifting to Lance. I was thinking about the date the following night and didn’t realize that AJ was saying something.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked.
AJ laughed. “I asked why you hate Nick so much,” he replied. “You two are actually very much alike,” he added. No way, that was something I would never ever in a million years believe.
“Seriously doubt it,” I muttered.
“No really, you are,” insisted AJ. “If you two would just get over your little differences of opinion when you guys met, then you’d see what everyone else does,” he added.
“Sorry AJ, but I can’t agree with you on that one,” I said shaking my head.
“Okay, fine, but here’s an idea,” said AJ and spun me around. I then found myself facing Nick, who looked just as surprised as I felt.
“What the-” he began to say and then realized what was going on, as did I. AJ and Jess switched partners and that left Nick and me standing in the middle of the dance floor facing each other and not moving.
“Dance,” ordered Jess. I began to walk away but AJ quickly grabbed my arm and pushed me towards Nick. I shot AJ a dirty look and he just pointed at Nick and mouthed the word ‘dance’. I was stuck, as was Nick. He looked at me, shrugged, and then held out his arms. I uncomfortably stepped closer to him and awkwardly placed my hands on his shoulders, while keeping my arms almost straight so that I was in no other way touching him.
After a few minutes of silent dancing, Nick stumbled slightly but then regained his balance.
“You know, you’re a bad dancer,” I told him. It was the truth; I fully believed it.
“In case you didn’t know, dancing is a huge part of my life, I can’t be a bad dancer,” informed me Nick.
“Yeah, choreographed dancing,” I pointed out. “Do you see your choreographer here? I don’t think so. That’s why you suck. You can only dance the way someone teaches you to, when it comes to just regular dancing with no rehearsals, you suck.”
“You’re not exactly a dancing queen yourself,” retorted Nick.
“At least I can dance,” I said angrily.
“Whatever,” said Nick.
“Jerk,” I muttered.
“Oh really? Am I? Then why are you still dancing with me?” exclaimed Nick.
“Good point, this date is over!” I announced and stomped away from him. I walked up to Jess and AJ. “I’m going home, I’m gonna call my driver, I’m really sorry for ruining your date guys, but please, enjoy the rest of it,” I told them. They tried to convince me to stay but it was pointless. I had made up my mind to go.

Jess’s point of view

“Well, that was an interesting night,” I commented getting into the limo.
“That’s one way of putting it,” said AJ getting in behind me.
Nick simply grunted as he got in, and then closed the door behind him. He was forced to stay after Julianna had left because AJ was his ride back to the hotel.
“You know, your friend is such a selfish, conceited bi-” he began to say but I immediately clamped my hand over his mouth.
“Don’t you dare say that word when referring to my best friend,” I warned him. Nick rolled his eyes but remained silent.
“And besides Nick, you’re very much to blame here. If you’d been a little nicer to Julianna when you two first met, right now you’d probably be friends instead of bickering enemies,” pointed out AJ.
Nick grunted again and turned to stare out the window.
I sighed in frustration and leaned back against the seat. Well, this was not the way I had imagined my date with AJ going, but at least Nick and Julianna hadn’t killed each other, and for that, we should’ve all been thankful for.

chapter 4 chapter 6