Joey turned off the radio just as the interview ended. He lay back on his bed and sighed deeply. He had tried all day to figure out what to do. So far he had come up with nothing. He thought about just explaining the situation, but knew that would only cause more drama. Of course it couldn't be any worse than what would happen if she found out at the concert. He decided to take his chances and tell her beforehand. He hoped he could explain and she would understand.
He knew the next day they were working on a song Justin had written. Justin said they inspired it and he just wanted to hear how it would sound. He would tell her after they were done recording. He thought that maybe he should call her to attempt to make up for leaving like he had earlier.
Becca walked into Coretta's room and found her seated in front of the computer. She had waited all day for her friend to tell her what was going on. Once she knew Coretta wasn't going to tell her, she knew she was just going to have to come right out and ask her.
"What's your deal today? Besides the interview, you've hardly said a word."
"Why would anything be wrong? I just don't feel like talking."
"That right there means something is wrong. You spent part of your day with Joey, and not a word. Something's definitely up."
She knew Becca wasn't going to let up. The more she tried to avoid things, the more Becca would be in her face about them. That's what she loved about her friend, always making her face her obstacles. Just as she was about to give in, the phone rang. Becca reached over to the side of her friend's bed and answered it.
Coretta turned back to the computer where she entered a chat room for NSYNC fans, so she could see what new rumors were going around. She had always found this to be somewhat entertaining. It was especially entertaining now that she had come to know the guys on a personal level. Becca disappeared down the hall with the phone once she discovered who was on the other end.
"Joey you have exactly ten seconds to tell me what you did."
"Becca what the hell are you talking about?"
"Obviously something went on today. I can't quite figure out what, but I haven't seen her this quiet in a long time. Did you tell her about Angela or something?"
"What do you know about Angela?"
"Everything. The guys told me last night."
"Does she know too?"
"Not yet, but I suggest you handle that soon."
"I'm gonna tell her tomorrow."
"You better, I'd hate to have to beat you down, but that doesn't mean I won't do it."
Joey laughed, "Down Xena, you don't have anything to worry about."
"Alright. Well, I'll bet you didn't really call to talk to me."
"I got love for you and all, but no I really didn't."
Becca returned to Coretta's room where she found her friend hunched over the desk laughing. "What is so funny? Let a girl in on the joke. Oh goodness, you're in a chat room again."
"One interview and already they're attacking us for having a connection to NSYNC. If they only knew. Some people are claiming to have met us. This is too funny."
"Well, if I may drag you away from there, your boy toy is on the phone."
Knowing it was Joey, she decided to have a little fun. "Is that Jordan again?? He's fine and all, but damn he needs to stop sweatin' me."
Becca just shook her head as she handed the phone to her friend.
"Hello"
"If I didn't know you were such a smartass, I might actually be offended."
"I gave Darrin my number to give Jordan, and ever since then, he's just been calling and calling. You know how it is." she joked
"I'm making a note right now, to keep you away from him on Saturday."
"Saturday? You mean he'll be there??" She couldn't hide her excitement even if she had tried.
"I know Chris invited him. Joe McIntyre too, so you can get your New Kids fix all night."
"All night?? Sounds good to me. Don't be mad when you all become non existent for the night."
"It's all good, I heard Janet might make an appearance, so I'll be pretty busy myself."
"Oh no, see it doesn't work that way. You just get to sit around and wait your turn. Only I get to play the single and ready to mingle game."
"That doesn't seem fair."
"Welcome to my world, nothing is fair unless it benefits me."
*****************
The morning started out early, as that was becoming the routine it seemed. The girls split up, Becca went to dance with JC and Darrin, while Coretta went to record Justin's song. She took her spot in the booth and listened to the music while she read over the lyrics.
She was somewhat surprised, but very impressed with what she read. She knew Justin had a great passion for music, but she never knew he could write anything like the lyrics that were in her hand. After hearing the song a few more times, she did her vocals.
She was surprised at how quickly she felt the vibe of the song. Judging by the looks she received from the people in the booth, so were they. When she finished, she entered the room where Justin and Joey sat with a couple of the engineers. At first no one spoke. Finally she couldn't take it anymore.
"Would someone please say something? Anything?"
Justin simply gave her a hug. He knew she was the voice for the song, after all, it was for her. Watching his two friends struggle to find the balance they needed to maintain a relationship, he had written the song for them. Something told him only they could sing it the way it needed to be sung. So far he found he was at least half-right.
Joey prepared to do his part, and Coretta sat beside Justin. She loved seeing everything that went into making a recording. Justin showed her what the different buttons and knobs did on the panel while he readied the track to record Joey. She watched him sing and was mesmerized. She had heard him sing before, but nothing like what she was hearing at that moment.
"He's good, huh?"
She jumped at the sound of Justin's voice. "He's incredible."
"You know he said the same thing about you, but I think he meant more than the voice."
Now she was embarrassed. She looked down at the floor. "He said that about me?"
"Yes he did. I think you two are good for each other. Actually we all think so."
"You just sit around discussing us or something?"
"We had a lot of time to talk during all those dinners you two skipped out on. You are different than the other girls he's dated."
She immediately shot him a 'don't go there look' "No, that's not what I meant at all. It's totally not a black/white thing. I didn't even notice...well of course I noticed, but it's not like...." Justin struggled to find the right words. "You know any help here would be great."
She laughed at Justin's discomfort. "I know what you mean Justin, don't worry about it. I'll admit that's one reason I've fought this thing a little from the beginning. As if being together and in the spotlight isn't hard enough, when you add the color issue, it makes things much worse."
Justin could see how serious the conversation was about to get and he knew she needed to be talking to Joey and not him. "Look if you two want this to work, all that shouldn't matter. Some people will accept it, others won't. That's just how it is. You both have to be willing to overlook all the close-minded people out there and do whatever makes you happy."
Joey tried to focus on the music while he watched Justin and Coretta. They seemed to be in deep conversation. About what, he could only wonder. He made a mental note to ask later. He also tried to think of the best way to approach the subject of Angela. He knew he had to tell her before Saturday, and the sooner, the better. He would tell Angela that no matter what she tried to do, it was over. He sang the last few notes of the song and hopped off the stool and went back to where he had been earlier. The two stopped talking and looked at him. Coretta excused herself to go practice her dancing.
"Justin what was that about?"
"Nothin man, but you both need to have a talk."
"What do you mean? We talk."
"Trust me you need to sit down and really talk. Your girl is a little confused, and you need to be straight with her on some others issues anyway."
"I know I do, I'm hoping there's some time today for us to get away for a little while."
"Don't go too far, you know we still have 5 more songs to somehow get done in the next 3 weeks."
"I just meant my office, we won't even be leaving the building."
Becca came in ready to work on her part for the next song that was being recorded. "I can't believe it's 10 already. I've been here for three hours and this is the first time I've seen either of you. By the way, Chris wants us to meet for lunch in a few hours to go over some new plans."
*****************
Everyone sat around in one of the conference rooms waiting for Chris and Mike's arrival. Dani went over the different wardrobe ideas she, along with other FuManSkeeto designers had come up with. They agreed on the outfit for the performance of "You Had Your Chance" and decided to go shopping for the other dresses and outfits that would be worn throughout the evening.
"Just so you know," Coretta interrupted "I will not be wearing a dress. You can pick pretty much whatever outfit you want, but a dress will not be an option."
Becca groaned and put her head on the table. She knew this was going to be a problem. As long as she had known Coretta, she'd only seen her in a dress twice. Dani was insistent on the dress thing.
"It's only for one night, it won't kill you."
"It might kill me, you never know. Wearing pantyhose all night is almost a guarantee to suck the life out of me. I hate dresses, I would rather wear nothing than put on a dress."
Joey started to speak, but was stopped by Justin and JC's hands over his mouth.
"Dude, don't even say it."
"Say what? What makes you think I was going to say something bad?"
"Um, let's see, your mouth was open?"
Just then Chris came in with Mike following behind him. Chris only stayed for short times due to the fact he had to be sure his other artists were ready as well.
"I wanted to come in a talk to you for a minute. You probably won't see much of me until Saturday night. You two are set to arrive with JC and Justin. You will be opening and closing the show. In between, I'm sure there'll be media wanting to talk to you. Mike will handle that part. I'll try to check in, otherwise, see you Saturday."
Mike spoke next, "The next thing we have planned is getting the album done. We have to go through and pick the final songs from what you've recorded the last month or so. After that, we'll start looking to get you out on a tour. We've also hired your security team, and we'll begin auditioning dancers early next week. After talking to Darrin, we decided two guys would be sufficient for now."
"What do we need security for? No one even knows who we are. All they've heard are the voices."
"Trust me, after Saturday, you will need security."
"You mentioned dancers, now I know Darrin is good at what he does and all, but do we get to sit in on this little audition process too?" Coretta asked hopefully
Mike just shook his head, and laughed. She never ceased to amaze him. "Yes you will be there, we have to see how well the guys dance and interact personally with both of you. They have to be able to get along well with both of you, chemistry is important."
Mike discussed a few other things he had talked with Donna about. Such as the video shoot, and getting the girls a tour bus since most likely they would be touring soon. Finally everyone went back to his or her various tasks. Coretta was headed to practice with JC, when Joey grabbed her hand and pulled her in the opposite direction.
"Joey what are you doing? You know I've got to practice, there's less than a week to get everything just right."
"I've watched you two do that dance so many times it's not even funny. You could do it in your sleep. A few minutes won't hurt anything."
"Tell that to JC."
"I will as soon as we get back."
"Where are you taking me?"
"To my office, we need to talk."
"That doesn't sound good. Is something wrong?"
"I hope not."
Neither said a word as they sat on the couch. Coretta looked around remembering the last time she had been in that room. Angela and Joey were together. Not wanting to dwell on that memory, she finally turned to Joey.
"You drag me down here, then say nothing. What's up with that?"
"I'm searching for the right words."
"Oh Lord, whatever it is just say it."
"Alright then, Angela is my date Saturday night."
"Not exactly what I wanted to hear. You're saying not only is she going to be there, but also she'll be there with you? This is too much to deal with right now."
"Don't get mad, I'm only taking her because of her father. If I don't she'll tell her father to take his money out of Chris' company."
"That little....that girl has done nothing but irritate me since I met her. I wish she would just go away. After people see all the talent Chris has found, he won't even need her father. Once that happens, I think she and I are going to have a few words."
"It's a little late now, you should have done that before. There's no way you could get away with doing that now."
"What do you mean?"
"You are in the public eye now, pretty much anything you say or do is fair game for anyone. You don't want to have rumors and things started already. I wasn't going to tell you about Angela, I figured you would be pissed."
"I am, but I really would have been pissed to find out later. By the way, how did you plan on playing that off on Saturday?"
Joey glanced around the room nervously, "I was sort of hoping maybe you would be so busy you wouldn't have noticed."
"Believe me, I would've noticed. Besides, she would have made it a point to be noticed by everyone, especially me. So that's it, Saturday and she's gone? I can deal, I think."
He let out a sigh of relief. He thought things were going to be a lot harder than they were. "Saturday, and that's it. I promise. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, Justin mentioned there was something we needed to talk about, so what's up?"
"I think we've talked enough, I don't feel much like talking any more. I think I'll go take a walk or something. I'll see you later."
*****************
"You didn't talk to him did you?" Justin asked. They had been outside on the court for a short time, but he could tell something was wrong.
"What makes you say that?"
"It all comes out in your game. You miss your shot when something is bothering you. You haven't made one yet."
"Since you asked, no I didn't talk to him about that. He told me about his date with Angela, and I was done talking."
"Are you okay with that whole thing?"
"Totally." she lied
"I'll take that as a no, unless you really were aiming for the spot furthest away from the basket."
"I can't think about it now. I've got too many other things to concentrate on right now. I can't be bothered with her."
"Good point. We should be getting back to work. I want to put the finishing touches on the stuff you and Joey recorded today. Who knows, maybe that song will get released."
"Maybe. I guess one never knows what might happen."
The days leading up to the concert were a blur. There was so much to be done in the few days that were left. The girls were putting in their longest days yet, sometimes only leaving to shower and change.
By Thursday, the album was almost finished and the choreography was flawless. Friday was spent at the House of Blues doing sound checks, and just making sure everything was in order for the show the following night. It was after 10pm before the whole show was run through. It of course took longer since all the artists were there to practice. Once it was finally finished Lance and Chris thanked everyone for the hard work and dedication. They assured everyone the show would be a success.
"Now for you two, we have something special planned." Lance said as he turned to the girls who were now lying across some chairs at the side of the room.
"If this something special requires movement, count me out. I'm too tired to do anything." Coretta called from her makeshift bed.
"Yes, it requires movement, but it'll be fun, I promise. Joey came up with the idea himself."
"Lance we're trying to pursuade them, not scare them," Chris added, "It is a cool idea, and you need this, we all do. We've been working like crazy lately."
Becca got up from he spot, pulling her friend up with her. Chris was right, they did need a break. In the few months they had been back in Orlando, they had yet to go really anywhere outside the grocery store, the studio, or hanging with the guys.
"So where is this wonderful place?"
This is where Joey stepped in. "We'd tell you, but then we'd have to kill you. I don't think that would do much for our careers." At that point JC and Lance blindfolded both girls. Neither was too happy about it. Coretta spoke the words Becca had been thinking.
"I'm sure my foot in your ass won't do much for your career either, but that's exactly what's about to happen if you don't take these blindfolds off."
"I highly doubt that since you can't see us." Joey laughed
"You just wait, you'll get yours. Since y'all have thought have everything, explain how we'll be getting there since I can't see to drive."
"That's not that different from how you normally drive." Chris joked
"Chris don't make me hurt you."
"Go for it. Justin will be driving your car though."
"Justin?!?!?! He drives worse than I do."
"First of all, no one drives worse than you do, except maybe Joey. Boy are you two a dangerous combination. Remind me not to be on the road when you guys are out together. Anyway, I still have your keys from earlier, so you don't have much choice."
"Can we just get this over with?" Becca asked impatiently
The girls rode separately, Chris, Justin, Coretta and JC in one car, and Becca, Lance, Joey and Dani in the other. As they walked out to the cars, Coretta stopped and yelled, "Dani, I know you're over here somewhere. You're just gonna let them do us like this?"
"For real" Becca added "You're supposed to be looking out for us."
"Sorry, I was sworn to secrecy on this one." Dani laughed
"Justin you crash my car, I'm gonna have to kill you."
"If I crash your car, I'll end up killing us all. I should probably stop driving 90 then, huh?" he joked
Chris had to reach across the backseat to keep her from reaching up to grab Justin. "J, just drive the car please."
Once they reached their destination, they led the girls into the building. They took off the blindfolds, and the girls found themselves in front of a store. They both looked around and began laughing. The guys were right, this was exactly what they needed. The perfect stress relieving place, a toy store
*****************
"Are you serious? A toy store??" Coretta asked
"Yep." Chris said grinning. "What better place can you think of? Do you know how long it took for us to come up with this idea?"
"Us??" Joey interrupted "You mean me. Taking them out was your idea, but the toy store was all me."
"Why am I not surprised?" Becca said laughing
"So what's the deal? We have the run of the store?"
"Yeah that's pretty much it. For the next three hours, you can do..." Chris stopped talking as he was hit in the forehead by a suction dart. The others tried to keep straight faces as he looked up at Coretta who was hanging over the shelves from the next aisle with the dart gun.
"Oops, sorry. It just got away from me there." She said laughing. Soon the whole group was on the floor practically in tears from laughing so hard.
"Oh y'all find this funny? I fail to see the humor in it." Chris said in mock anger while he pulled the dart from his head with a pop. This only caused everyone to laugh harder.
"Now you started something girl!" He grabbed a toy gun that shot Ping-Pong balls off the shelf and chased after her.
"Wait a minute, that's not fair Chris, those things hurt!" Coretta said while laughing and running through the aisles.
"Too bad, you should have thought of that before!!" he yelled as he shot Ping-Pong balls through the air. While they ran around the store, the others went to find different things to do.
*****************
"Are you nervous?" Joey asked Becca. The two had found an air hockey table and had settled in for a game.
"About what, tomorrow? Right now, not at all, but ask me as the show gets closer, I'm sure I'll have a totally different answer."
"You shouldn't be nervous, you've got a lot of people that will be there supporting you. Is Kat still coming?"
"No, she called the other day and said she won't be able to make it. Not to change the subject or anything, but what's the deal with you and Coretta."
"Doesn't she tell you?" Joey was a little uncomfortable talking about her, since he had not yet figured out himself what was going on.
"She does for the most part, but now I'm asking you."
"We are just hanging out now, nothing serious. No big deal, why what did she say?"
"Nothing, forget it. You should be talking to her about this anyway."
"Something must be going on, she's talked to you and Justin about whatever her deal is. Why is it she can't tell me?"
"I don't know about all that. Where did everyone else go?" she wondered out loud.
Just then, Dani and Coretta ran by laughing hysterically, both with two cans in their hands. A few seconds later, they were followed by a Silly String covered Lance and JC. Following those two were Justin and Chris with cameras. Becca and Joey took a look at the group then back to each other, and took off to the join the chase. When they caught up, Lance and JC had the two girls cornered.
"Alright you two, just hand over the cans, and no one gets hurt."
"Are you kidding?? If we handed them over, we wouldn't be able to do this." They proceeded to spray everyone, emptying the cans. Once everyone settled down, they looked to see what they could do next.
*****************
Of course Joey went to check out the Superman stuff. He was excited to see an entire aisle devoted to Superman. As he looked at the figurines, he thought he felt something hit his cheek. He looked from one end of the aisle to the other, but saw nothing. He picked up the latest Superman comic book and began reading. A few moments later a stream of water hit him. To his left he could hear the laughter. He followed the sound to the end of the aisle where Chris jumped out with a giant Super Soaker water gun in hand.
"Tag! You're it!" He yelled as he chased Joey down the aisle emptying the Super Soaker in the process.
"Chris what game of tag have you ever played where the rules include water guns?" Joey asked while trying to shield himself from the steady stream of water.
"The one we just made up." Chris laughed as the neared the end of the aisle and he ran out of water.
"Those rules suck. Ha! Looks like you ran out of water."
"In our game we don't run out, it's like a tag team thing."
"Chris you have been working too hard. Look around buddy, it's just us."
Chris grinned evilly. "Don't be so sure about that. You're little girlfriend is quite the prankster. Now I know I'm gonna like having them around."
"Not that she is my girlfriend, or anything, but what does Coretta have to do with this stupid game of yours?"
"Just this." Coretta said stepping into the aisle Super Soaker in hand. She emptied the gun in one steady shot, not even giving him a chance to react. "I'm glad you cleared up that whole girlfriend thing. Otherwise I might have actually felt bad about that. I think we're ready for round two, Chris."
"You know I didn't mean it the way it came out."
"You said it, so you must have meant it."
"Do we have to get into this now? We're all chillin and having a good time."
"As far as I'm concerned we really don't have to get into it ever."
The next commotion was Dani, Becca and Justin, Lance and JC coming down the aisle on giant bouncing balls. Chris immediately began his commentary of the "race."
"Coming down the stretch, it's Chasez in the lead, with Becca at a close second. Dani not too far behind in third, and Bass and Timberlake pulling up from the back."
Lance was laughing so hard, he bounced himself right off the ball.
"Oooh, looks like we lost Bass, that's definitely going to hurt his standings in the finals next week. Timberlake is gaining on Dani, determined not to lose to a girl again. He bumps Dani, oh and she's down. Now it's down to Timberlake, Becca and Chasez, who will it be? Timberlake pulls up to bump Becca, but she's too fast for him and he lags behind. No need for Timberlake to interfere, Becca has hit a puddle and is spinning out of control. Looks like Chasez wins!!" JC jumped up and down while waving to an imaginary crowd.
Becca had in fact hit the water left from Chris and Coretta's previous game. The group laughed as she went one way, and the ball bounced another. She looked at her friend and could tell she was just dying to say something sarcastic. "Go ahead, I know you want to. Whatever is it just say it."
"Thank you!! You don't know what it was doing to me to be quiet. I never thought I'd be able to use this, but in this situation, it seems appropriate. In the famous words of your favorite and mine, Jordan Knight, is your butt okay?"
*****************
"You're not getting all serious on me are you?"
Joey and Coretta managed to sneak away from the group following the bouncing ball incident. They were sitting inside a big display tent in the back of the store. Up to that point they had been laughing and joking as usual.
"I'm not even going to ask you where that just came from." She knew it was about to lead into the conversation she had successfully avoided the last month. As much as she dreaded it, she knew it was time to clear the air.
"I was just thinking about your reaction to my saying you weren't my girlfriend."
"Oh that."
"Yeah that. I mean you are a girl and you are my friend, so technically speaking the girlfriend title would apply."
"Joey would you get to the point please. I'm sure before too long, our presence will be missed, and I want to talk about this with no interruptions."
****************
"Geez, how did those two manage to get away?"
"Wherever they are, leave them alone." Justin commanded "Hopefully they're finally taking the time to talk things through."
"Amen to that. What do you guys think about it?"
At first no one said anything, they hadn't given the situation much thought. Joey constantly had new girlfriends, so they never took time to really think anything of them. This time was different, although she wasn't actually a girlfriend per se, Coretta was someone they could tell already had a profound effect on their flirtatious friend. JC answered first choosing his words carefully.
"Honestly I think they are good for each other. For every bit as wild as Joey is, she's serious. They bring out that other side in each other. They'll both take something from this encounter, however long it may last."
"That was a very diplomatic answer JC. Not quite what I was looking for though." Becca decided to cut to the chase. She had to ask an important question about the most obvious aspect of the relationship. "The interracial thing doesn't bother any of you?"
"What are you getting at?" Justin immediately became defensive. "Are you asking if we're prejudice?? Becca, I thought you knew us better than that."
"Justin chill. I know that's not what she meant, but you have to admit that is going to be a problem for them along the way." Lance said
"What are you talking about?" Chris asked as if he had just joined the conversation.
"Okay Chris." Becca spoke slowly "In case you haven't noticed, Coretta is black."
"She's what?!?! Oh my God!!! You've got to be kidding! Does her family know?? I can't believe she never told me. Well this changes everything." He said sarcastically.
"Chris, are you making fun of me?"
"Well, you act like this is some big news or something. It was kind of obvious when we met. Who cares? None of us do, and anyone that does, probably doesn't matter anyway."
"That's good to know. I don't think either of them have really thought about what problems this might cause along the way."
"Whatever they decide we have to support them." Dani added.
"Hey look!" Becca yelled. "It's a whole display of Joey!" she laughed referring to the shelf of Rockin' Elmo's dolls that at one time matched the color of Joey's hair perfectly. She proceeded to turn each and every doll on. They all began to play "Old Time Rock n Roll" at various intervals. The four guys grinned mischievously as the same idea set in their heads.
*****************
"Like I was saying, I hope you're not getting all serious on me. I know we always have a good time and everything, but I don't do well with that exclusive dating thing. I mean, I know we have a good time together and everything. You're really a great person, but..." Joey fumbled over his words.
"You mentioned the good time together thing twice, you're babbling, and this sounds a lot like a breakup speech to me."
Joey blushed slightly with embarrassment. "Well, it was the best I could come up with to fit this situation."
"If the next thing that comes out of your mouth is 'it's not you, it's me' I'm leaving."
Joey laughed nervously, "Well, I better move on to plan b."
"I can't believe you were going to give me that line of crap. Do you know many times I've heard that speech??"
Joey looked at her eyebrows raised. "Not too many I hope, that's not a good sign you know."
Coretta stopped to think about what she had just said and started to laugh. "Most of my friends back home are guys, so I've heard that little speech given dozens of times, but typically it's only given to someone the guys are actually dating. Now that we're talking about it, I have gotten 'the speech' before. Only once that I can remember. From Mike, a long time ago.:
Joey's mouth dropped in shock. "Mike?!? As in you manager Mike?? I never would have guessed, although it explains a lot."
"Yeah well, I was young and stupid. I even wrote a song for him."
Joey cracked up, "You wrote him a song?? That was kind of silly."
"Shut up, it was a good song, but silly strangely enough describes it very well. I think it scared him, and that's when he decided we shouldn't date anymore. What do you mean it explains a lot?"
"I don't think I've ever seen two people that could argue as much as you two. Except maybe you and Justin. Maybe there's a problem there."
"What type of problem?? We just have personality conflicts."
"Yeah sure you do, and the conflict all seems to be in this general area." Joey said moving his arms in a circular sweeping motion toward Coretta.
"Believe me you haven't seen anything. We used to be so much worse, ask Becca. That's when I decided I should think long and hard before seriously dating anyone in this business again."
"We're dating, sort of. Granted we've never really been out anywhere, and when we are together, it's usually at the studio..." Joey trailed off trying to remember how any of this supported his point.
"Dating? Is that what you call this? Think about it, we've never even been out alone together really. In the few months that we've been doing whatever this is we're doing, the only time we've been on our own is right now. A big tent in a back of a toy store in the middle of the night. I haven't done this for a while, but I'm pretty sure this isn't the typical dating ritual."
"No" he laughed "This isn't what a normal date with me would be like."
"So what would a date with you be like?"
"We would have to go out, I'm not one for staying in, at least not at first. Maybe we'd go to a club or a party. Dance the night away.
"Hmm, sounds like that might be somewhat fun."
"Might be? We are definitely going out sometime soon." He said moving closer to her.
"Are you asking me out, Mr. Fatone?" she asked scooting a little closer
"That depends, what would you say if I was asking?" Joey moved closer still
"I don't know, that depends on how the date would end." Their faces were now only inches apart.
"Being the gentleman I am, I would of course walk you to your door."
"And then..?" They were so close now it was as if they shared the same breath.
"And then..."
There was a loud crash and a yelp followed by loud laughing. Coretta moved from her spot to see what happened while Joey covered his face with his hands and sighed in frustration.
"I swear one of these days, I'll be able to kiss that girl with nothing to stop me." He crawled out of the tent to see what all the commotion was about. He turned to his left to see a pile of Blue's Clues dogs on the floor. He heard muffled laughter coming from somewhere at the bottom of the pile.
Coretta and Joey looked at each other in confusion while everyone else was consumed with laughter.
"I think we missed something here. Lance do I even want to know why you are under this pile of dogs?"
Lance pulled himself out from under the stuffed animals. "We were playing with the Elmo dolls and we had this great idea to reenact that scene from "Risky Business." You know where Tom Cruise runs around in his socks and boxers? Well, let's just say I misjudged how far I would slide. I tried to stop myself but toppled over the display in the process."
"Well, on that note, we should probably be going. I think our time here is up. There's a lot to do before this place will be ready for customers in the morning." JC said surveying the damage they had done in the last three hours.
