Chapter Six
"Justin! Don't you dare!" Pam yelled, from her perch
on his shoulder. "JUSTIN PUT ME DOWN!" she yelled just
before he threw her into the pool. She resurfaced and
caught her breath. Looking around the back yard she
saw Justin laughing where he stood beside the pool.
Coming out the door, carrying trays of bagels, orange
juice, and milk was Carla and Chris, followed closely
by Busta. Over at the basketball net was Joey and
Lance with Sarah, Jen, and Shannon watching. Sitting
on the deck in the chairs were Christina, Kelli, Andy,
JC, Chrissy, Trisha, and Rusty. Everyone had stopped
talking and was now looking at the pool laughing.
"Want help out?" Justin asked as he extended his hand
and Pam took it. He pulled her out of the pool with no
effort. "Now…are you ever going to tell me I won't
throw you in again?" he asked.
"No, I won't. But if you do it again you will go in
with me." Pam said smiling slyly.
"Come one let's get you dried off and out of those wet
clothes." Justin said as they walked to the house.
"Guys breakfast is served!" Carla yelled as she sat
the trays down. The basketball court empties quickly
as Joey and Lance ran to the deck, followed by Jen,
Shannon, and Sarah.
Lance collapsed into the closest lawn chair, "I won"
he said between breaths.
Joey ran onto the patio and sat in a rocker that was
free, his face red and out of breath. Jen, Shannon,
and Sarah grabbed some breakfast and sat down.
"Here you go!" Christina said as she handed Lance some
juice and a bagel. "So what did you win?" she asked as
Lance scooted over in the chair and she sat down
beside him.
"This!" he said as he leaned over and kissed her.
"Oh okay!" she replied as they kissed again, then
began to eat.
"So what's up today?" Justin asked as he and Pam
walked back out of the house.
"Well, what haven't we done this past few days that we
could do today?" Joey said finally breathing normally.
They all thought; there had been picnics, trips to the
mall, they had went to Disney World, and had went to
the movies. Everyone had spent a lot of time together
just relaxing. They had spent as much time together
during the day as possible. They usually met for
breakfast or shortly after and planed the day from
there. The day before they had been to Disney World
and Christina had invited her cousin, Jonathan to go
along. He was 20 and really enjoyed being with the
group and especially enjoyed Shannon's company. Their
day at Disney was long and didn't end until well after
midnight. But everyone was up and at Justin's the next
day for breakfast.
"Well, Lance and I are going to my aunt's for the next
couple days and we need to be leaving about 11 or so"
Christina said.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that" Chris said, "so what does
everyone say about the rest of us going to the beach
for the day?"
All that could be heard were a bunch of "yeah's" and
"Yes's".
"Well let's go get changed and ready. We'll leave the
same time as Lance and Christina" JC said. Everyone
stood up and went to change and grab stuff for the
beach, except for Lance, Christina, and Shannon.
"Shannon, why aren't you getting ready?" Lance asked.
"I was actually thinking about spending the day
relaxing here." She said.
"That wouldn't be very much fun."
"I'll be fine…" Shannon said.
"Why don't I give Jon a call and see if he wants to
join you all in a beach trip." Christina said as she
reached into Lance's pant's pocket and grabbed his
cell phone.
"You don't have to" Shannon said quietly.
"Hello!" Christina said into the phone. "Hey Aunt
Jane…. Yeah, we're still coming today…well I called to
talk to Jon for a second…Okay, I'll wait…Hey Jon…Well
I was wondering what you were doing today…Oh
nothing…Cool well Shannon's here and the groups going
to the beach and I was wondering if you would like to
join them…Yeah Lance and I are going to your mom and
dad's but the rest of them are going to the beach…You
would…Okay…. Well try to be here in an hour…Yeah at
Justin's….Well I need to get going and get
organized…Yeah talk to you later…Bye!" Christina
turned the phone off and handed it back to Lance. "All
set. He'll be here before you guys are ready to
leave."
"Thanks Chris!" Shannon said.
"Hey No problem. Now we need to get your bags out of
the truck and you need to get ready, and we need to
get ready to leave too."
"Okay, let's GO!" Shannon said walking into the house.
"Here let's take the trays into the house and wash the
dishes up for Justin." Christina said as she started
to stand up.
"Not so fast!"
"What?"
"Come here!" Lance said putting his arms around her
waist and pulling her back down. His grip tightened
slightly as he pulled her closer. Their lips met.
Their kiss deepened as they gazed lovingly into each
other's eyes.
"Well, what did I do to deserve that?" Christina asked
as Lance touched the side of her face lovingly and
swiped a piece of hair behind her ear. "I'll be sure
to do it more often if that's the reward."
"I just wanted to thank you for helping make Shannon
happy, and to be honest I just wanted a kiss."
"Oh well it wasn't a big deal. Shannon deserves to be
happy and if that means dating my cousin then so be
it. They are cute together. And as for the kiss you
can have one anytime you want one." Christina
responded as they leaned together for another kiss.
"We better get busy"
"Yeah I guess…do we HAVE to?"
"Yes we do. Come on" Christina said as she stood up
and they took the trays into the house.
Everyone finished getting ready and Shannon told them
Jon would be joining them. He arrived as they were
loading JC's Jeep, Justin's Mercedes and Chris' car.
At eleven everyone pulled out of the drive and went
their separate ways. Christina promised to call when
they got there and let them know they arrived safely
and then to see them all on Sunday night or Monday.
The ride to the beach was short and then the group
ran onto the sand. They played volleyball, tag, and
just relaxed on the sand and in the water. It was an
enjoyable day for them all and around 10 P.M. they all
left to go back to Justin's. A little after getting
back from the beach Jonathon said he needed to get
going before his mom started to worry about him and
asked if he could speak to Shannon for a second
outside.
"Shannon what are you doing on Sunday?" he asked
"Nothing that I know of. I know Lance and Christina
are coming back from your mom's, and that there is
suppose to be some sort of party for them but that
hasn't been decided yet. There might not be one if
Lance doesn't do what he is suppose to." Shannon said.
"Okay now I am confused. Explain this to me!"
"Oh nevermind I will later. So why did you want to
know?"
"Oh I wanted to invite you to lunch." Jonathon said
shyly "We're having a picnic in the yard, and I think
my dad is going to take everyone out of the boat after
that."
"Oh sounds like fun." Shannon said with a smile.
"Okay, pick you up around noon then." Jonathon said as
he gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. He
climbed into his car and drove home.
Meanwhile…Lance and Christina chatted as he drove to
her aunt's house.
"Well, when do you think Chrissy and JC will finally
get married? They already act like they are."
Christina said.
"Oh I say that in two years they will be happily
married!"
"Sounds about right! I think all the guys are happy
right now."
"Most of us are."
"What do you mean MOST?" Christina asked slightly
concerned.
"I didn't mean me. I am very happy. I meant I know JC,
Justin, Chris, and I are very happy. But I wonder what
is going on with Joey and Jen. They seem to argue a
little too much."
"HMM!"
"I don't know it's just a feeling I get that they
aren't as happy as they pretend to be." Lance said.
"Well I am sorry that they aren't happy, but I'm glad
you are."
"Yep, I am very very happy." Lance said.
A few minutes later they pulled into her aunt's
driveway. Getting a quick kiss they got out and got
their bags as her aunt came to the door. Christina and
Lance greeted her with hugs and they were hurried
inside.
Chapter Seven
