I shouldn't have been nervous. I mean, it wasn't like JC was in any mortal peril, I had saved him from that. So, sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office, I shouldn't have been nervous.
"Hey," Joey said softly, putting a hand on my knee, which was moving up and down due to the tapping of my foot, "It's going to be okay. This is just a check, and then they're going to schedule the surgery. You need to stop worrying."
Ha. That was easy for Joey to say, he could always just take his mind away into "Joey's Land of Girls". And at that moment, I was sure it was Courtney that was inhabiting those thoughts. I mean, Joey's jaw literally dropped when she came out with her clipboard and called JC's name. I'd never seen him so smitten before.
"So, that doctor is just hot man." See what I mean? I laughed and said, "Potential girlfriend material?" I asked. "Hell no! She's a doctor, she knows shit. Then there's me, mind full of dance moves and pop lyrics."
I just laughed again. "At least try, you never know how life's going to turn out in the long run."
Well, in my case I did, but Joey didn't know that, did he? JC came out of the patient area, and I stood up immediately. "How'd it go?" I asked. "Okay, I guess. She got me surgery in two weeks, on the thirty-first, which is-"
"Justin's birthday," I finished for him. He nodded. "And I got these," he said, handing me two slips of paper-- prescriptions. "Is that it? She doesn't need to talk to me or Joey?" JC shook his head, and Joey whispered a heated "Damn!"
*
There really wasn't anything else too interesting to do that day, and JC, having taken both pills he had been prescribed, was asleep on the bed. All I was doing was flipping through the channels, and there was nothing good on, so I turned off the TV. I shifted into a comfortable position, with JC still in my arms. Soon, I too was asleep.
It's weird, to sleep with JC next to you. It's almost like you can feel him with you, even in the state of unconsciousness. That feeling had never happened to me before. Not with the girl I had lost my virginity too, not with Shannon Hatch, my first "true love", not with all the girls since *NSync, not with Danielle, no one. It was new to me, and I knew that it meant that the feelings inside of me were running deeper than anything I'd ever felt for anyone.
It was love, and I fully understood it in that moment.
*
I didn't expect the shrill sound of the doorbell to sound out through the house a week later. The guys were all out, Justin and Chris grocery shopping, and Joey with JC at his checkup. I wanted to go, but Joey had insisted. More like pleaded with his eyes, just so he could go and check out Courtney some more. In all honesty, I hoped it worked out for them, they were good for each other.
I wiped my hands with the dishtowel as I walked to the front door. Since I was the only one with nothing left to do, the guys decided that I would make dinner. Hence the dirty hands.
I opened the door and froze where I stood. The towel fell out of my hands, but I didn't even notice. I was in shock.
Because standing in front of me were JC's parents.
"Hello Lance," Karen said, and the kindness in her voice shocked me, but then I remembered I wasn't JC, she didn't have to be cruel.
"Hello," I managed to get out.
"Well, are you going to stand there with that expression on your face, or are you going to let us in boy?" Roy asked, his voice booming and so official sounding.
"Oh, of course, come in," I said, grabbing the towel off the floor and opening the door, stepping back to let them in.
"Well, you boys sure keep this place clean. Let me guess, you have housekeeper," Karen said as she and Roy followed me back into the kitchen. "Nope, surprisingly enough, we keep it clean. Then again, we're not here much, but now that JC's sick..." I trailed off, realizing what I was saying and who I was saying it to. Then I figured that JC's parents were here because of that, because they had heard the JC was sick.
"So, where is everyone?" Roy asked, and I knew he was just trying to get off the subject of JC.
"Chris and Justin are at the store. JC and Joey are at the doctor's office, JC's there for a check-up," I told them.
"So... um, how is my son?" Karen asked, putting one hand behind her head, looking away and scratching her neck. "He's fine," I said.
"So what exactly is wrong with him?" Roy questioned, and his gaze was so intense. Now I knew where JC got it from, the only difference was that JC's was loving. Roy's was just unnerving.
"Uh... I think it's really better if talk to Josh when he gets back, it's really not my place-"
"He's my son, and we have a right to know," Roy said, with that voice of his, and I had no idea why the guy intimidated me so much. He just did, and truthfully, I was scared of him.
"I agree, but it's not my place," I told him, sounding braver and more confidant than I felt. Roy looked like he was about to say something more, but Karen placed her hand on his arm and he was silent. "Are you cooking in here, Lance?" she asked. "Yeah," I replied. "I'm the one that got stuck with cooking duty tonight."
"Well, we'll let you finish up. We're just going to be in the living room, all right?" I smiled and nodded, watching them leave. I turned back to the chicken I was making, and wished that pouring the sauce over it wasn't the only thing left I had to do, because I didn't want to go sit with JC's parents and be scrutinized under the gaze of his father.
*
I glanced at my watch for what seemed like the fiftieth time that minute. I had been sitting in the living room with Karen and Roy for twenty minutes, waiting for the guys to get home, and I thought that if I had to sit there in the awkward, tension-filled silence any longer I was going to scream.
I was just about to excuse myself when I heard the door open. "Yo Lance! Whatever you made smells great, where is it?" I heard the footsteps of Joey going over to the kitchen, and I predicted that he was probably picking at the chicken. I heard Chris and Justin come in, the rustle of bags against their legs as they carried them in. Another set of footsteps told me that the last person was JC. "Hey Lance, who's car is in the driveway?"
They all came into the living room at the same time, and JC's question was answered when his parents stood up and faced them.
"Hello boys," Karen said.
I knew my kick from Fate had arrived.
*
