"Hey Chris, I heard you lost some money last night playing pool against Christy."
"Yes, I did," Chris sighed. "Me, Justin, Kevin, Brian, JC, and Joey all lost money last night. She's good."
"Yes Christy is the pool shark. She's probably too much for some of you guys and your mega egos!" Candice commented. Chris cast a look in her direction as Candice just smirked.
"Oh come on, you know we don't have egos... most of the time. Anyways, Christy definatly isn't the type of chi.. girl that takes any shit from people."
"Now you are learning something! No, Christy isn't at all that type. It's very recent though. I think it's mostly because of her and her boyfriend's--well ex's--breakup. She's been so moody, and a lot more sarcastic and cynical than she used to be." Suddenly Candice clasped her hand to her mouth. Chris searched her face with his eyes, not quite understanding. "I wasn't supposed to say so much. I guess I'm getting kinda fond of all you guys." Chris gave a reassuring smile in her direction.
"Don't sweat it, Candice. It won't leave the room. I'm not telling anyone. In fact, I'll try to forget it, but you know for a fact that I care about all of you guys to much just to do that. Nope, we have to fix this Candice." They again exchanged smiles that lasted longer than expected by both.
"Thanks Chris." He nodded in acknowledgement then sauntered off to the kitchen, leaving Candice with her thoughts. Oh gosh, he has to be such a sweet guy. No, NO! I can't like him. I want to concentrate on my Howie. She wandered into the kitchen feeling more reassured about her feelings. As she walked in she didn't find Chris but instead Justin chowing down on some Apple Jacks.
"Morning Curly!" Candice said cheerfully.
"Mornin'." Justin grunted through a mouthful of cereal.
"What kind of cereal do we have?"
"OH I dunno... Apple Jacks, Froot Loops, Lucky Charms, Reece's Peanut Butter Puffs, Oreo O's," Justin said as he shoved another spoonful into his mouth.
"Aren't we healthy!" Candice said sarcastically. "No Coco Puffs?" she asked hopefully. Justin shook his head. "Great! Okay if I have some of those?" She pointed to the Apple Jacks. Justin nodded.
"Sure, knock yourself out," he said through the Apple Jacks. Candice wondered why Julie wastes her time crushing on a rude person like him. As she passed him she whacked him playfully on the shoulder, causing him to spill some cereal onto the floor. Stifiling laughter, Candice said, "You're cleaning that up too!" He bent to clean and Candice thought, That's why! She was standing there with a smirk of pure satisfaction on her face until Justin was done.
"What?" he asked, noticing the smug look on her face.
"Oh... nothin', Justy, nothin' at all."
Justin rolled his eyes as he resumed his eating. Wanting to break the silence, Candice asked, "So, what are the other guys up to?"
"Chris is watching Happy Gilmore, JC and Joey are still asleep--I think Lance is too--, Brian and Nick are upstairs playing a video game, AJ's playing with his dogs, and Kevin and Howie are swimming." That was the most that Candice had heard him say all morning.
"Excuse me Justin, I'm going to go take care of something," Candice said. She got up and walked out, abandoning the Apple Jacks.
Justin slid the bowl over to himself. "Oh good," he said. "That leaves more for me."
*********
AJ was sitting outside the door of Christy's bedroom. He had been waiting for her to wake up for 45 minutes. She sure is a heavy sleeper, he thought as he stroked Panda. The dog wriggled from his grasp and walked into the partially opened door.
"Shit!" Now he would have to go in and get the dog. AJ quietly opened the door and walked in, studying the decor. "She's got good taste," he muttered, examining the leopard print wall and blankets. "Panda? Come to Daddy."
AJ looked on the bed. There was Christy, lying on her back, peacefully asleep... and Panda standing on her stomach.
Oh boy, AJ thought. Why'd he have to go and do that? "Stay right there," he instructed the dog. He slowly climbed on the bed and crawled up to get the dog. He wrapped his hands around the dog's body and picked it up. "Gotcha."
Just then Christy's eyes fluttered open. At the sight of the sunglasses-wearing man on her bed, she screamed. "What the hell are you doing in here?!" she yelled.
"The-the-I was just getting the dog out!" AJ stammered.
Christy kicked him in the side. "Get out!" she screamed.
AJ jumped up and ran to the door. By that time, Christy had gotten out of bed, grabbed a pair of her sandals, and had flung them at his head. She chased him into the hallway, throwing whatever she could get her hands on at him.
"Damn woman, what's your prob-oww!" AJ whined. Christy had hit him with a sneaker in the back of his head.
"Serves you right, freak," she muttered, heading back to her room.
*********
Julie was flipping through the channels on the TV in her room, trying to find something to watch. When she saw that Poltergest was on USA, she put the remote down. "Cool," she said, sitting down on the bed.
There was a light knock at the door. "Come in," she yelled, focusing on the movie.
Justin walked in. "Hi," he said. "I was just wondering what you wanted for lunch."
"Oh.... anything," Julie said, dazed.
"Hey, what're you watching?"
"Poltergiest. It's one of my favorite movies."
"Cool. This movie's pretty awesome. We've got all these horror movies downstairs on DVD-Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Psycho, Halloween.... you want to watch them with me?" Justin asked.
"Do... I?" Julie asked, her eyes growing wide. "I...."
"Are you scared?" Justin asked teasingly.
"No. Sure, I'll watch them with you."
"Cool." He got up and headed for the door. "I'll see you at seven, then?"
Julie smiled. "Oh-okay!" As soon as he left, she got on the bed and began jumping up and down with excitement.
*********
At seven sharp, Julie was in the living room, sitting on the couch. A few seconds later, Justin came in, holding various amounts of snacks and sodas. "Whoa," Julie said. "Let me help you." She took the bowl of popcorn and the sodas from him and placed them on the coffeetable.
"Oh, here," Justin said. He placed a box of doughnuts in Julie's lap. "I heard you liked doughnuts-am I right?"
"Right? Dude! I love doughnuts! Thanks!"
"Which movie do you want to see first?"
"Umm, let's see.... try Psycho."
"Okay." Justin got up, found the DVD, and placed it into the player. "Comfortable?" he asked Julie when he went back to the couch.
"Yeah."
The movie began, and Julie couldn't have been happier. I've got doughnuts, Justin, a movie..... this is sweet, she thought.
Just then someone upstairs yelled, "Aw, DAMN!" Julie jumped, surprised.
What was that? Justin thought.
"Chris, that was the fifth time in a row I beat you!" Joey said.
"If you would let me have more chances to shoot I might be able to win!" Chris yelled back.
Justin rolled his eyes. "Hold on a minute," he said to Julie.
"Okay."
He headed upstairs and walked into the pool room, where Joey and Chris were still yelling at each other. "Hey!" Justin said. "Do you guys think about the fact that some people are trying to watch a movie?"
Joey and Chris gave Justin blank stares. "Oh. We're sorry dude," Chris said.
"Ya think you could keep it down a little? Please guys, I want to watch a couple of movies with Julie, okay?"
Joey slapped Justin on the back. "Okay Curly. Have fun!"
Justin quickly made his way downstairs, grumbling as he went. When he came into the living room Julie asked, "What was going on?"
"Oh, Chris and Joey were fighting over pool. You know, stupid stuff." He picked up the remote control and pressed play. Once again their attention was on the screen. Justin allowed his arm to go around Julie's shoulders and he gently pulled her a little closer.
Julie's breathing grew faster and her pulse rose. Ohmigod, he's got his arm around me. Don't hypervenalate. Don't hypervenalate. Don't....
"AJ, if you don't leave me alone, I'm going to break every bone in your scrawny little body!" Christy yelled from the kitchen.
Justin took his arm off of Julie's shoulder. "Damn!" he moaned. "Could y'all please keep it down!"
"NO!" Christy and AJ yelled at the same time.
"Look, you skinny freak, will you get it through your thick skull!" Christy yelled. "I am not going to tell you about Jake! I'm not going to stand you hitting on me, flirting with me, and putting the moves on me! God! Why won't you take a hint, Toothpick?"
AJ was taken aghast. "Who-what-why.... you didn't just call me a toothpick!"
Christy snickered. "Yes, I did." She headed upstairs, thinking, God, that man is driving me insane!
"You have no right to call me that! I do NOT look like a toothpick!"
"When was the last time you looked in the mirror? Hey Dorough, where are you goin'?"
"To the pool. Where else can I go on this island?"
"Wait just a minute." She headed to her room and quickly changed into her bathing suit. She grabbed a towel out of the hall closet and barreled downstairs. "Hey, wait up, ya Irish Puerto Rican!" she yelled after Howie, who then froze in place.
"Wait, what did you just call me?" he asked, turning to face her.
"You heard me." Christy could hear AJ coming down the stairs. "Now GO!" She opened the door and bolted outside, slamming the sliding door behind her. AJ, oblivous to this, ran into the door and knocked himself out.
Justin and Julie didn't even bat an eye. "Well, at least it's quiet," Justin said. Yeah, quiet, and we've missed half the movie. He wrapped his arm back around Julie's shoulder and turned to face her. Just as he was getting ready to kiss her, he heard the sound of someone playing piano. Loudly.
"Who's that?" Julie asked.
"Probably JC," Justin said through clenched teeth. "Excuse me." He got up and walked through the library and into the piano room, where JC was pounding out some horrible rendition of a Beetoven symphony. "Do you think you could stop playing that damn music?!" Justin shouted at him. "I am trying to watch a movie...."
"Chill, Justin!" JC stopped playing the piano. "Just chill, alright? No need to go crazy."
Justin sighed. "Thank you," he said, giving JC a pat on the back. He quickly returned to Julie, who was intensly focused on the movie. "Hey," he said.
"Huh? Oh, hey."
He sat down, hoping that this time there would be no interruptions. "What part is it?"
"I dunno."
"I could put in another...."
"YES! I BEAT YOU!"
"Please! You cheated, Brian!"
Justin stood up, clearly frustrated. "I'm sorry, Julie, but this isn't gonna work out. Can we try it some other night?"
"Sure."
Justin sighed. He wearily headed upstairs, and froze for a second in the hallway, then yelled, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE! CAN'T YOU BE QUIET FOR A FEW HOURS?!"
"Dude, could you keep it down?" Nick asked.
"This is the worst night of my life," Justin muttered as he walked into his room, and slammed the door.