A Treasure Worth Seeking
By: Shellie - shelliemg at gmail.com
Chapter 18"Are you sure you don’t want to go to my place?"
Lauren smiled against his lips and leaned back against the wall next to her front door. "Mmmm, I can’t. I have a meeting at 7am tomorrow morning. Maybe next time though."
He kissed her again, his tongue velvety soft and oh so talented in her mouth, his body thick and muscular and strong pressing into hers. Yes she wanted to go to his house. "Promise? Next time we’ll go back to my place?"
"Maybe… I’ll have to make sure someone can watch Caroline for me."
"Okay." His lips brushed hers lightly, "I’ll go then, but only cause next time I won’t have to" he smiled softly, and his lips brushed hers again.
"Good night, Mark."
"’Night, Lauren."
She was humming as she let herself in, locking the door behind her. She came up short when she found Shellie waiting in their living room with a guest. "Ami?"
"Girl! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for a freakin’ month."
She dropped her purse by the door and headed around the end of the sofa to hug her friend. "JC has my phone number."
"No he doesn’t. He only had your cell number in his cell phone and some one stole it. He hasn’t had it since like two weeks after you moved out here. It took a freaking act of God for me to find you."
"Is something wrong?"
"No. Something is wonderful!"
Lauren smiled as she dropped down beside Ami on the couch. "I have a feeling this has to do with Joe."
"We’re getting married! Ahhhhh!" Ami’s shoulder length hair bobbled back and forth as she squealed and Lauren couldn’t help but laugh.
"I don’t believe it! Not Joey Fatone. THE player, the ladies man."
"The one and same. He loves me. I’m in heaven."
Lauren laughed again. "Well congratulations. I think I’m in shock!"
Ami giggled and nodded her head, "I am too and it’s been almost 5 weeks since he asked me. I have been trying to find you ever since."
"Why?"
"I want you to be my Maid of Honor."
Lauren stared at her in shock. "Me? But…I…we’ve only known each other for a little while…I…me?"
"Yes, because it was well…it was with you and JC that Joey and I fell in love. Going back and forth between your houses, walking on the beach, just being with you guys and so…we are having a small little wedding there…at the beach and JC is going to be Joey’s Best Man and I want you to me by Maid of Honor."
"Oh…I don’t kno-"
"Now before you say no… I don’t know what happened between you and JC. Joey and I thought things were going wonderful then he came to Orlando without you and it was just weird but please…I want you to do this, we want you to do this for us. It’s not about JC, it’s about me and Joey and…just please don’t tell me no."
"Well...if you put it that way…"
Ami practically leapt in Lauren’s direction, throwing her arms around her neck, "Yay! Thank you so much! It’s going to be wonderful!"
Lauren hugged her back, genuinely happy for her friends. JC had told her that Joe was different with Ami than he’s been with the others in the past; she guessed he’d been right. But going back to the house and seeing him there… This would take some getting used to. "So when is it going to be?"
"Two months from now. The album comes out on Tuesday-"
"This Tuesday? Already? You’re kidding me?"
"Nope. And they are going out all over the place to promote it. In two months it will be a bit calmer. We are going for very small and intimate. My immediate family and his, you guys and one or two others and that’s it. We literally want to have it on the beach in between the two of your houses. Just a few white chairs, a preacher – Joey’s mother is freaking out because we aren’t having a traditional catholic wedding. She’s getting used to it slowly but boy, was that a mess. But this is what we want and that is what is important, ya know? Plus with him already having Brianna and all… She’s going to be our flower girl. It’s going to be perfect, Lauren, just perfect. Joey refuses to tell me where we are going for the honeymoon but we will be gone for two weeks. It’s just so exciting."
Lauren smiled at the girl, "I think you are going to kill over from the excitement."
"I always get like this when I think about it. I’m actually exhausted. I drove up here from Orlando. I’m dead tired. I still have to find a hotel."
"It’s late already, you aren’t staying in a hotel. Stay here with us. I have a meeting in the morning but I should be finished by 11 or so and we’ll spend the day catching up."
"Yay! I’m so glad you said yes."
"I’m so happy for you Ami."
Really… I am.
***
JC listened to the two lovers giggling and whispering in the kitchen and rolled his eyes, pressing the volume up button on Joe’s remote twice. Ami had just returned from some trip and apparently she’d been gone too long for Joey’s liking. He’d practically attacked her as soon as she’d walked through the door.
"She’s not bringing him with her, is she?"
Ami passed by JC on the couch, leaning down to plant a small kiss on his cheek. "Hiya, JC." She headed for the stairs as she answered Joe. "I’m thinking that really wouldn’t be the best idea, babe. But man, was he a hottie!"
"Come back here, I haven’t seen you in days!"
"I just wanna shower and change. I’ll be back down in 15 minutes!"
Joe grinned at JC, plopping down on the other end of the leather couch and attempting to snatch the remote from JC’s hand. He wasn’t quick enough. "Where has she been?"
One side of Joey’s mouth kicked up as he stared at the large television in front of them. "Savannah."
JC’s face fell and his heart picked up a few notches. "Wh- What’s in Savannah?"
"Ami’s Maid of Honor."
"Oh…"
Oh my God. JC sat unmoving, feeling Joe’s eyes on him as he waited for JC to respond. JC concentrated hard on keeping his face relaxed, his breathing easy even though his heart was beating ninety to nothing in his chest. He should have known. He did know. I mean of course they’d invite her to the wedding but he’d honestly expected her not to come. Because of him. But she was going to be Ami’s Maid of Honor? That meant she’d be standing right there across the aisle from him the whole ceremony.
Now I’ll have to apologize. The truth will sound like a lie, she’ll continue to hate me… He wanted to throw up. Instead he stared blankly at the tv until Ami returned.
"I missed you," she cooed as she climbed into Joe’s lap.
"Well, I guess I’ll head home. It looks like you two have some catching up to do," he said with a sarcastic grin.
"Caroline says hello and she misses you. Lauren too."
"Oh really? You’ve been with them?" he played dumb.
"Yes. I went to see her in Savannah to ask her to be in the wedding. She’s been staying with her editor Shellie. She sent you a message as well but I think I’ll save it until you piss me off." She shot him a saucy smile.
"Yeah, I bet she did."
"You can stay, JC. Joey’s not getting anyway. Not yet, at least. I’m too tired from driving."
"What?" Joey pouted.
JC dropped one hip onto the corner of their couch and decided to just jump in, head first. "How is she doing?"
"She’s okay. I think. Her book is about to come out and it looks like people are saying good things about it so that’s a plus. She’s almost finished with her second. She’s…she just started seeing this guy. They’ve only been out a few times but she seems to like him okay. He’s a hottie. Oh wow. And he really seems to like Caroline a lot."
The desire to vomit suddenly returned. "Well, that’s good I suppose."
"You suppose? You fucking blew her off, JC. Don’t act like you care if she has someone new."
"I did not blow her off."
"Are you sure…?"
JC felt his defenses rise. He’d beaten himself up about it enough already; he didn’t need someone else jumping down his throat about it. "I went to her house to ask her to come with me, didn’t I?"
"Did you ask her?"
"No."
"Why?
"Because I’m trying to spill my guts to her and tell her that I love her and I want her and Carrie to come with me and she’s not even paying attention to me. She’s all upset about her damn ex husband. I mean they are divorced for cripes sake. If she still wanted him then why did she leave him? Huh? Why did she go through all that shit with me and letting me love her and acting like she loved me too when she loved her husband all along? I just got angry and I left."
"Whoa, back up, what the fuck are you talking about, JC? What happened?"
He sighed heavily, leaning against the wall as he ran his fingers roughly through his hair. "I went to her house and she was upset, staring off into space. Carrie was crying and she wasn’t even paying attention to her. At first I was lame enough to think she was upset over me. Ha, was I wrong. So I ask her what is up and she’s like ‘My ex husband is married.’ And I’m like…so what? I mean they got a damn divorce. She’s the one that left him even but she’s all pissed cause he has a new wife and a child."
"Whoa, wait a minute. A child?"
"Yeah. Apparently he’d been screwing around with the girl before they got divorced and I understand that it sucks but they are divorced…"
"You’re a fucking moron, JC."
He turned to glare at Ami with a frown. "What the fuck? Why am I the moron?"
"Of course she’d be upset. So would you."
"No… if she left him then she doesn’t love him… or that’s what it should mean."
Ami closed her eyes for a moment before opening them to stare at him disdainfully. "Okay, let me see if I can explain it to you. Say…Justin quits the group."
"Okay, fine. Justin quits."
"And you all accept that. He’s done. He’s solo. Whatever. But then two weeks later you find out that he’s already got his album done. He’s been working on it for months behind your backs and lying about it. Would you be pissed?"
"Hell yes."
"But why should it matter, he quit the group already. He’s not a part of NSync."
"Because he lied to me. You don’t just do that. There is more to it than just being a part of the group. He’s my friend. He’d never do that."
"What if he did?"
"I’d be pissed."
"Well it’s the same damn thing. It doesn’t matter if they break up; he still cheated on her. All that time she was still loyal to him because he was her husband. It didn’t matter to her whether she loved him or not. He was her husband and with that position comes certain things. Trust being one of them. Faithfulness being the other. When you decide you don’t want to have that with someone then you tell them and you leave, you don’t just pretend like everything is fine and do it behind their back. When they got divorced he begged her to stay. He said he wanted to keep their family together because it wouldn’t be fair to Caroline when the whole time he’d already started another family with someone else? No. She wasn’t wrong to be upset. I hope she does bring Mark. Maybe you can take a look at how a real man treats a woman. Maybe you should step back and take a look at Joe."
"Yeah, Lord knows he’s the most faithful person I know."
Joey pushed Ami off of his lap and stood up, circling the end of the couch to get in JC’s face. "You tell me of one time since I started seeing Ami when I’ve been unfaithful. Do it." JC glared back silently and Joey continued. "You can’t. Know why…? Cause I haven’t been. I told everybody before when I get married I wanna do it right and with someone I love. That’s why I didn’t marry Kelly. I’ve never, never cheated on Ami. I love her and I have been completely faithful to her. I dare anyone to challenge that. I think you need to leave now before I get pissed off."
"I think you’re already pissed off."
"I think you’re right."
"Look, I wasn’t trying to imply that you were cheating on Ami, I just…"
"You’re just wrong and as usual you refuse to admit it. You fucked up with Lauren and you know it but instead of calling her and saying I fucked up, you just let it go and her with it. You’ve lost two of the people that I know you really cared about and you’ve regretted it ever since. That’s your mistake. I’m giving you the opportunity to fix that. If you choose not to then it’s your decision but don’t ever come in my house and imply that I’ve been unfaithful to my fiancée. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?"
"Yes."
"All of it?"
"Loud and clear."
"Good night, JC."
Their eyes held for a long moment, Joey’s still smoldering with anger with a bit of pity around the edges. JC’s were filled with regret.
He stepped around Joe and paused pressing his lips to Ami’s forehead for a brief moment. "I didn’t mean to disrespect you. I’ll see you later."
She nodded silently in response; her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
JC left, the wounds he thought had long since healed wide open and burning. His friends didn’t want to be around him, the woman he loved was seeing someone else and all of it…all of it was his own doing. Their album came out in two days and it was supposed to be a hit. Their first single was at number one. This should be the happiest time of his life. His closure, his time of moving on and there he stood, on Joey’s front lawn with tears of regret streaming down his face. Whoever said it’s lonely at the top had absolutely no idea.