It was a little after six thirty when the guests started arriving. Justin and I were putting the finishing touches on the food that I had brought from my house when the doorbell rang. I ran from the kitchen to the living room as Lance and Kelly sat down on the couch. I looked out the window and noticed Ashley’s mom’s car. If Ashley was here, that meant that Tina was also here. I stopped with my hand on the doorknob. ‘What the heck would they say when they found out that ‘N Sync is here? Sure, Diana didn’t freak, at least, not about them actually being here, but she was the most low key of any of my friends. The others... well...’ I thought. The knock came again, more insistent this time.
“Hey Alex, you gonna get that?” JC asked, as he came to stand next to me. I guessed he was on his way out to his car for something, because he held his key in his hand.
“Yeah,” I said absently, pulling the door open. “Hey guys!”
“Excuse me,” JC said, pushing the screen door open and walking past the two girls. They stopped on their way in the house. Slowly, Ashley and Tina turned to each other, then to me, mouths open, eyes wide.
“That... was JC Chasez,” Tina whispered.
“Yeah,” I replied, as if it was no big deal.
“What is he doing here?” Ashley asked.
“Well...”
“Hey! You two remember me, right?” Justin asked, coming into the small front entryway and slinging an arm around my shoulders.
“Your... your...” Ashley stuttered.
“Yeah, I am,” Justin said with a laugh. “Damn Alex! Are you just going to make them stand out there all night?”
“No,” I mumbled. “Hey Jared!” My friend Jared had just arrived, a large group of my friends not far behind. “Come on in,” I said, holding the door open for everyone. I shut the door and followed them into the living room. Most of the girls were completely star struck at seeing them there, but I could tell they were trying to act cool about it. I went and leaned against a door frame. I noticed that Tina, the most observant of my friends, had sat down next to Kelly on the couch. I watched as Tina and Kelly talked for a few minutes, then, Tina’s eyes landed on Kelly’s hand, which was holding securely onto Lance’s hand. Her eyes got wide and she jumped up, running over to me.
“Alex, what’s the deal with Lance and Kelly?” She asked, sounding slightly panicked.
“Nothing... except...”
“Except...” She prompted.
“They’re a couple.”
“Since when? He didn’t mention her in Houston!”
“That’s because of Diana. Basically, it’s just a long screwed up story.”
“But, Diana knows now, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And Kelly’s still alive?”
“Obviously.”
“Wow...” Tina mumbled, surprised. The room was quiet, with the exception of the hum of everyone’s voices as they carried on their own conversations until JC and Justin’s voices broke through the room with “Tearin’ Up My Heart.” Kelly had started the cd player and someone had stuck that cd in. It was obvious that her or Lance hadn’t done it, because the two of them looked surprised. It didn’t matter much though, because Chris, Joey, and JC ran out to the middle of the floor and started doing their choreography for the song. I sat and watched them for a bit and at the chorus, Kelly grabbed Lance’s hands and made him dance also. Soon, a majority of the people in the room had started dancing.... the funny part was that they were all doing the same things... at the same times... more people knew the choreography than what admitted they did.
After several fast paced songs, Kelly put in a slow song, actually, an old eighties love song called “Almost Paradise” from the old movie “Footloose.” Lance and Kelly immediately paired up and began to dance. Justin pulled me out to the middle of the floor and encircled my waist with his arms. I looked around, and noticed the other three members pulling my friends out to dance. Slowly, the other guests began to pair off also.
The cd player immediately went to “A Little More Time On You” after that. Kelly lifted her head from Lance’s chest and looked around, her eyes searching for someone. Finally, her gaze landed on Diana, and she looked up at Lance and said something. He gave her a weird look, but Kelly just stepped away from him and pushed him in Diana’s direction. I watched as Lance slowly crossed the room to where Diana had sat down after she danced with JC. I watched as Lance said something to her. Diana looked surprised, but I read her lips when she answered. She said, ‘um... okay...’ Diana stood, and Lance lead her out to the floor to where they could dance. I looked in the opposite direction to where Kelly stood, a little smile on her face. I watched as JC crossed the room to her and asked her to dance. She agreed and the two walked together to an empty space.
After the song ended, no one bothered to turn any more music on. Tina ran into the kitchen and returned with an empty two liter. “Hey! Who’s up for a game of Spin The Bottle?” She yelled.
She was answered with a few positive responses and a few negative responses. However, everyone gathered in a circle. “Alex, why don’t you go first? After all, your the party host,” Justin suggested.
I reached out and spun the bottle, hoping that it would land on Justin. It spun around once... twice... three times. It started to slow down as it spun past Justin and stopped. I heard a few people begin to laugh, and I looked up. My eyes went to the bottle and then, to who I had to kiss.
Chris. I had to kiss Chris. I began to blush as he stood up and said, “Bring it on baby!”
Everyone began to laugh harder. “Well, come on Chris, let’s get this over with...” I mumbled.
He moved to the center of the circle, closed his eyes, and puckered up. I leaned towards him a bit before I saw something move. I looked over and Kelly was holding the dog, petting it behind the ears. I motioned for her to give him to me, so she stood and handed the dog over. “Alex... what are you waiting for?” Chris asked.
“Okay, Chris, ready?” I held the dog up as he nodded. I inched the dog closer to Chris’ lips, and as soon as he was close enough, the dog began to lick Chris.
“Eww... Justin, your girlfriend is a sloppy kisser,” Chris complained.
“Excuse me?” I exclaimed. Chris opened his eyes and saw me holding the dog up.
“EWWWW!!!” Chris yelled, turning and running from the room. Everyone laughed as the game continued. Eventually, I did get to kiss Justin... on his spin that is. But so did Diana. By the end of the game, I was convinced that Kelly had rigged the bottle somehow. Why? She landed on Lance on her turn. And she was the ONLY one to land on Lance.
After the game had gone on for around forty five minutes, JC suddenly looked around. “Hey guys?” Everyone looked up at him. “Where’d Chris go?”
It was then that we looked around, noticing that Chris had not yet returned. We were preparing to split up into groups to look for him when a car in the driveway honked it’s horn. “It’s my mom,” Jared announced, and the few people that had arrived with him ran out the door, Jared following close behind. Pretty soon, everyone else’s parents arrived, leaving only myself, Kelly, and the guys in my grandparents house. Kelly plopped down on the couch. She looked exhausted. “Y’all go find him. I’m too tired.”
I got ready to reply, but Joey suddenly yelled. “Hey! I found him! I found him!!” We all looked at each other and ran in the direction that Joey had yelled from. Once in a back tv room, we found Chris laying on the floor watching old reruns of ‘The Brady Bunch’ while Joey sat on his back. JC was stretched out on a couch, almost asleep.
I heard a car in the driveway, and I went to the front door. My grandparents were home. They walked inside and my grandma gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before asking, “So, have a nice party?”
“Yeah, it was fun.”
Grandpa gave me an odd look. “Where are your friends?”
“In the back tv room.”
“Oh... okay... good night. You and Kelly make sure you go home tonight!”
“We will grandpa,” I said as they retreated to their room.
I went back to the tv room. “Alex, JC’s asleep.... can we just stay here?”
“Yeah, why not?” I asked. “I planned on all of you doing that anyway.”
“That’s good,” Joey mumbled, almost asleep himself in a recliner.
Five minutes later, grandpa stuck his head back in the room. “Alex, you and Kelly need to head back now, okay?”
“Okay grandpa, will do...” I answered sadly.
“How about I walk you back?” Justin asked.
“You will?” I asked, trying to sound surprised.
“Yeah,” he sheepishly answered.
Kelly and Lance followed the two of us to the door and into the night. We walked the short distance over to the trailer where my mom and I lived and we got comfortable around the porch.
“I’m glad that we’re finally together,” I whispered to Justin.
“Me too,” he said back. He smiled.
“What?” I asked.
“Check them out.”
I looked over at Lance and Kelly who were in their own little world. “Aren’t they cute?”
“Yeah, I guess... if you pay attention to that sort of thing...”
“Well, they are both space cadets anyway, so it works...”
“I suppose,” Justin mumbled. We stood there for I don’t know how long before he leaned in closer towards me for a kiss, but a shout from the dark stopped us. Lance and Kelly were actually in the middle of one when they were interrupted. The person shouted again, and the next thing any of us new, a figure came running at us from the dark.
