Chapter Eight

“Oh my god, you should have heard these two kids last night.” Chris said laughing as we all sat around in his room waiting for their manager to call to tell them where to go today. “They must have had a great time.”

“Well they interrupted my sleep about three times with their loud sex.” He said laughing again. Justin and I glanced nervously at each other.

Just play it cool, he obviously doesn’t know it was you and Justin. I thought to myself.

All the other guys started laughing too as Chris did an imitation of the girl. Of me. Jesus Christ. I didn’t know how the hell I was going to get through the day like this. Oh well, nothing you can do about in now, right? Right.

“Sure.” I said calmly as we got up and walked out into the hall. My heart was pounding. I thought for sure that he was going to tell me that he knew what Justin and I did last night.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner next time we have a night off, just you and me? I know we haven’t really spent much time alone since you came on the road with us, and that was really the whole point. So, what do you say?”

My heart slowed to a normal pace and I almost let out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, that would be great.”

His face lit up into a smile and he said, “Good. Well, we better go back in before we’re missed.”

We went back into the room to see Justin with a bottle of hair gel demanding that he be allowed to do Chris’s hair.

“Chris, I’m great with hair!” Justin exclaimed in an imitation of a gay guy.

“Hey! Don’t talk about my hair!” Justin said as he looked over at me. He got a smile on his face and looked down at the bottle in his hands. “Hey, Kayleigh . . .” he said slowly.

“Ha, that’s a funny one but you’re not coming within five feet of my hair.” I said laughing.

“I am, you guys all hate me.” Justin tried for a pathetic voice but it didn’t really work. He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

“Yeah, well anyway, Johnny just called, we have to go to this beach about 20 miles from here, so we better get moving.” Lance said as he came back into the room.

I had been felling queasy for the past few days. I kept getting sick and I had really weird mood swings. I just brushed it off as a small virus I may have picked up. But anyway, it was about two weeks later when the guys finally got a night off and Joey and I got to go out to dinner. We had a great time just talking and laughing, remembering old times when we were young and stupid. We both had some alcohol in our system by the end of the night. Not enough to say we were drunk, but enough to say that we weren’t exactly sober either. It turned out to be a great night until we got back to the hotel. That’s when the disaster hit.

I don’t know how it happened. About half an hour after Kayleigh and I got back we started talking about when I left her. I still don’t know how we got to talking about that but we were both tense talking about it, but we knew we had to talk. If we didn’t we’d probably keep running into it, and we wouldn’t be able to have a normal friendship. We were both getting kind of frustrated with each other during the conversation and I know that should have set off warning bells in my head, but it didn’t and it lead to the worst fight I’d ever had with her.

“Joe, I’ve been needing to tell you this for a few weeks now, but I haven’t had the guts to just tell you. So that’s what I’m doing now. Remember the night we went out to that club and I got really drunk and told you a lot of things?”

I nodded looking into her eyes. I pretty much knew where she was going with this.

“Well, all of it was true. I still can’t stop thinking about you and I can’t seem to move past it.”

“Yeah, um the truth is, I never stopped thinking about you either. For awhile I even doubted if I had done the right thing in leaving.”

She seemed to be extremely startled by this revelation and once the shock wore off it turned into slight anger.

“Well then why the hell did you leave in the first place. That’s the only thing I couldn’t figure out. So please, enlighten me.”

Now it was my turn to start getting angry. I was surprised that she was being so harsh on me.

“Because I didn’t want to rush into anything. We were still really young and I didn’t know where you wanted to go with the relationship. I got scared, alright?” I said angrily.

“So you just pack up and leave? You could have confronted me about it! If you were so scared, why did you ask me to move to Florida with you? Huh, Joe? God, you were just gone. Do you have any idea what that did to me?”

I slammed my hand on the table and said, “God dammit Kayleigh, I’m here right now aren’t I? Why did you even think I asked you on this trip? So we could nicely reconcile what happened and be friends?”

“You mean, you still want to be with me?” She said very quietly, eyes on the floor.

I didn’t reply. I just lifted her chin up and kissed her. After a second we pulled back and looked at each other. I could see the tears shining in her eyes, and that threw me over the edge. We both went to kiss each other at the same time and before I knew it we were standing up headed toward the bed, still kissing. By the time her shirt was off, and she was grappling with the buttons on mine, we heard a knock on the door.

“Kayleigh, are ya in there? Can you let me in, I forgot my keys?” We heard Justin say.

I looked at her and realized what I was doing. I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t get back in this relationship. “Oh, god, what the hell am I doing?’ I said looking at her.

She quickly grabbed her shirt from the door and pulled it over her head, walking toward the door. She opened it and Justin said, “Geez, what took you so long?”

“Nothing, um, I have to go I’m really tired. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Joey was avoiding me. I had to talk to him about what happened the other night. To say the least I was pissed. Finally I cornered him as he was walking out of his door. All the other guys were in Chris’s room playing Nintendo, so I knew we’d have some privacy. As he was coming out of the door, I pushed him back in and said “We need to talk.”

“What the hell is your problem?” I cut in. “You tell me that you still think about me and you want to be more than friend, and them you just change you mind and wonder what the hell you’re doing?” I said angrily

“Listen, I can’t do this again. I’m sorry I said otherwise, I just cant.”

“So you’re telling me the other night was a way to test and see if you really wanted me back?”

“Kayleigh,” he started angrily. “The other night meant absolutely nothing to me. Got it!?” After he said that he looked mildly shocked.

“Hang on –” He reached out and grabbed my arm as I started toward the door. I turned and slapped him and pulled my arm free.

“Don’t fucking touch me Joe. I hate you. Don’t ever talk to me again. I’m done, I can’t deal with your games anymore.”

He followed me into my room trying to get me to say something. I grabbed my suitcase and started toward the door.

“Yes, I’m leaving.” I said and slammed the door. When I got out of the hotel I hailed a cab, and went to the airport and bought a ticket back home.

Well, Amy was right, I thought as I sat on the plane waiting for takeoff. Now won’t she be surprised when I get back home.

“Kayleigh, what are you doing back home?” Amy jumped up and said as I walked through the door. I hurried past her and went into the bathroom where I got sick for the second time that day.

I walked back into the living room and sat in a chair across from where Amy was sitting. “God I feel horrible. I’ve been getting sick for the last few days, and I’ve been getting these mood swings . . . ugh.”

Her smile got even wider and she said, “Hey, you remember what I’m majoring in right?”

“Yes, Amy you want to deliver . . . babies.” I said at last when I finally figured out what she was getting at. “I’m not pregnant Amy. No way.”

“No!” I said immediately. Oh god, wait. “I mean, well yeah, but we used protection.”

“Only one way to know for sure.” She said and walked into her room. When she returned she had a pregnancy test in her hand. She held it out to me. "Here.”

I took it reluctantly and headed into the bathroom. Ten minutes I came back out and said. “I want a re-test.”

“Oh my god, do you know who the father is?” She said sitting down next to me, not even trying to conceal her smile.

“No, I often go out and sleep with strangers. Of course I know who it is. I only had sex with one guy.”

“Oh my god! Justin Timberlake the pop star knocked you up?” She said rising to her feet.