< Chapter 26

Chapter 27

The party was at a medium size. Starting off with the ten of them, it had approximately doubled as friends of Kyle, Billy and Emily showed up after eight. Groups had formed in the kitchen, the living room and in various other ‘safe rooms’ that had been deemed acceptable to hang out in. The bedrooms, at least the ones of Kyle’s parents and siblings, had been rendered off limits.

"So," Britney asked Christina as they had snuck into the bathroom for some ‘girl time’ together.

"So what?" Christina asked. She couldn’t ever remember a time that she’d been happier and hadn’t been able to wipe the smile off of her face.

"I really like him. Do you think he likes me?" Britney knew that Christina understood exactly who she was talking about. Thankfully, Christina nodded.

"I do. He keeps looking at you, and I saw you two talking to each other earlier for like, half an hour or something."

Britney nodded and nearly swooned. "And he kept touching my arm and my hand. Like, he was trying to send me signals but I was so nervous I couldn’t do anything."

Christina giggled. "I so think he likes you. And don’t tell either of them I’m telling you this because they’ll kill me, but Kyle said that Billy wants to kiss you at midnight."

Britney’s face froze into an expression of shock before she and Christina both jumped up and down and were giggling. "Are you serious?"

"Pinkie swear," Christina said as she held out her hand. The two girls locked pinkies and giggled some more.

"He’s so hot," Britney gushed. "His dark hair and those eyes. He’s..."

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation, causing for both girls to shriek. Britney opened the door quickly. "You scared the crap out of us."

AJ grinned as he had one eyebrow raised. "I need to pee."

Christina snickered as she slipped out of the bathroom. When Britney moved to pass AJ he grabbed her arm lightly. "You might want to watch how loudly you speak, your whole conversation could be heard in the hall." He watched in amusement as Britney’s whole face flushed a deep red.

"Oh my god," she cried in embarrassment. AJ only shook his head and pulled her in for a hug.

"Don’t worry about it."

"How.."

AJ shrugged. "He’s in the basement, he didn’t hear anything. It’s just me up here."

Britney sighed in relief. "Oh thank god."

"And by the way," AJ said as she headed towards the stairs. When Britney turned around and he knew he had her attention he winked. "You’re right, he’s a total hottie." They shared a conspiratory grin as he closed the door and she headed down to the main floor.

"So, who am I gonna kiss at midnight?" Nick asked with a pout.

"I’m kissing AJ," Lance apologized.

"Josh," Christina added.

Britney shrugged as she kept her eye on Billy, who was watching her as well. He was talking to a few of his friends and every time their eyes met, they’d both smile and look away. "I’m hoping to kiss him," she said with a whisper.

It was as though everyone except him had someone to kiss and Nick couldn’t stop thinking about Kevin and Gretchen and how he wanted to be the blonde kissing Kevin at midnight. Justin’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

"You can kiss me since I’ve got no one to kiss either."

Nick looked at his best friend and then their other friends and shrugged. "Okay."

"Serious?" Justin said, clearly surprised.

"Nick nodded. "Yeah. Why not! Just no tongue."

Justin shuddered. "Totally." As much as he didn’t mind kissing Nick, kissing him with tongue would be too weird. They were too close, too good of friends and there was just something creepy about it.

"I want a kiss too!" Christina said with a smile.

"You just said you were kissing Josh," Nick argued.

"That’s at midnight, I still want my kiss! I’ll pencil you in for twelve-oh-five." She turned to Justin and nodded. "And you can have twelve-oh-seven."

"Then I get Justin at twelve-oh-five and Nick at twelve-oh-seven.," Britney chimed in. The boys rolled their eyes as the girls giggled. "We can swap."

"What about us?" Lance said, pretending to pout.

"Twelve-oh-nine and twelve-eleven respectively." Both girls said in unison through snorts of laughter.

"We’ll put you in a line and just go from boy to boy kissing you!"

"You will not be kissing everyone," Josh teased as he tugged on Christina’s ponytail. "Because if you are, then so am I!

Nick, Lance and Justin all opened their eyes wide and their mouths formed into giant grins. Christina and Britney couldn’t help smiling as well.

"Okay," Christina shrugged with a wink to the freshmen boys. "Did you want to go first, or second?"

Josh’s face turned a bright pink when he’d realized what he’d said and how everyone had interpreted it. He quickly shook his head and held up his hands. "That’s not what I meant!"

"But that’s what you said, and pretty much," Christina looked at everyone before looking back at Josh, "everyone here is thinking the same thing, so..."

Josh had been about to protest when he got an idea. "Okay, sure. I’ll start. I’ll make my way across the room." He had to control himself from laughing at the way Christina frowned. "I’ll start with Emily, then there’s Amy, I could do without kissing Jordan, but you said everyone..."

"But ..." Christina’s eyes were bugging out. She hadn’t thought about everyone else in the room and as Josh was looking at all of the other girls and guys, she felt her stomach drop. Finally, she narrowed her eyes and scowled at him. "Fine. You win. No kissing anyone."

"Anyone?" Josh grinned as he nuzzled his girlfriend’s neck. "I was hoping to kiss one girl."

Before Christina could respond, someone else did for her. "I don’t know Joshy, it’s been a while but I’m flying solo tonight so I guess we could. For old time’s sake."

The whole group turned around to see a girl with vibrant red hair, a tight black tee shirt and a mini skirt smiling prettily at them. None of them knew who she was, but judging from the way Josh was breathing too evenly, Christina guessed that she was Natalie. Josh’s ex girlfriend. She felt her stomach churn sickly and gave Britney a desperate look that thankfully, her best friend understood.

"Uh, Nat?" Josh said coolly. "What are you doing here?"

Natalie flashed her ex-boyfriend a sexy grin and tossed her hair from her face. "Just because WE aren’t together any longer, doesn’t mean that I’m not still friends with Kyle and Billy."

Everyone’s face in their circle turned ghostly white and they all looked at each other, no one sure of what to do. Josh, on the other hand, was looking at Kyle through slitted eyes. He couldn’t believe that Kyle would invite her to his party, especially knowing that he was going to be there with Christina. After the way Natalie had humiliated him so brutally, he had figured that they too had stopped talking to her. He guessed he was wrong. Kyle shook his head, but Josh had already looked away.

"I believe that you were actually asked not to come tonight," Billy said. He’d hoped to beat Natalie to the living room, but had gotten caught up by someone wanting to know where the washroom was. By the time he arrived, she had already made her presence known, clearly throwing Josh off guard. Looking at Christina, he could see that she was white as a ghost and looking uncomfortable. His heart went out to the freshman who had no idea what she was up against at that moment. It was well known through their circle of friends that once Natalie found out that Josh had moved on and was happy with his new girlfriend, she was suddenly interested in him again. Although she was still dating the guy she dumped Josh for, she found that she still did have time for him and was interested in stringing him along on the side. Billy couldn’t believe what a witch Natalie was and felt guilty for ever introducing the two of them.

"Actually, William," Natalie’s voice was so acidic that everyone in the room cringed. "I believe Kyle’s words were ‘It would be in my best interest not to come’. Well I don’t believe that Kyle knows what my best interests are and so I decided to make up my own mind." She moved gracefully across the room, stopping directly in front of where Josh and Christina were sitting on the couch, hands still firmly clasped together. "Awwww, look. Aren’t you the cutest thing." Natalie spoke as if she were talking to a child. "Does your mommy know you’re out at a party with boys?"

Christina narrowed her eyes but didn’t give her the satisfaction of answering. She felt Josh’s hand squeeze her own and she turned to look at her boyfriend, pleased to see the apologetic look in his eyes.

"Now, please move. Go play with your Barbies or something, I need to talk to Joshua about something."

"Natalie," Kyle spoke. "You’re not wanted here. You should leave."

A look of hurt crossed Natalie’s face, yet the whole room knew she was faking. "Now now Kyle. Why would you have told me about the party if you didn’t want me to be here?"

"He didn’t tell you about the party," Emily said through clenched teeth. She too flashed Kyle an angry look, adding to the glare that he was receiving from Josh. "He was telling other people, you happened to overhear."

"Well, he didn’t say I wasn’t invited. He said I shouldn’t come, it’s different. If he didn’t want me here, he might have just well said so. And since I’m already here, and have turned down other parties I’m going to stay."

"Fine, you stay." Josh said as he stood up. "I’ll leave."

Nick watched in horror as Josh stood up and stalked out of the room. He headed towards the stairs and as the room had gone silent, only the sound of his retreating footsteps could be heard.

"You’re not wanted here," Kyle sighed. He rubbed his eyes with his hands and wondered how things had gone from being so great, to this horrible turmoil.

Christina stood up and headed out of the room. She flashed her friends a sad look without saying a word.

Natalie pretended she couldn’t hear Kyle and stood up to grab a drink from the table. Everyone was looking back and forth uncomfortably, unsure of what to do next.

"And we thought that Brian’s party was going to be uncomfortable," Justin muttered as he too stood up and headed towards the kitchen. Now that the night was ruined, he really did wish he had have gone to Brian’s house. He’d have been ignored all night, but at least he’d have been able to watch Chris at the same time. Justin heard Nick snort and looked at him to see him nod his head in understanding.

"Seriously."

"I’m going to go get Josh," Billy said. The clock on the wall said it was just after ten. They had just about an hour and a half to get the party back under control and okay before midnight hit. Looking at Natalie who had made herself comfortable and was talking to a few of her classmates he wondered if it was going to be possible.

"Don’t let him leave," Kyle pleaded softly. Billy only shrugged.

"I’m not going to stop him if he wants to go. I don’t blame him."

Christina was in the bathroom trying to calm herself down. She’d gone to the bedroom that she and Josh were supposed to share that night only to find the door locked. When she knocked, he’d yelled that he just wanted to be left alone, and that was by everyone, including her. There was a knock on the door. She opened it to find Britney on the other side. She instantly started crying.

"He doesn’t want to see me," Christina sobbed as she clung onto her best friend. Britney only hugged her back and petted her hair comfortingly. "He ....she’s here and she’s ruined everything."

"Shhh, baby. It’s okay. He’s just upset."

Christina shook her head. "He told me he wanted to be alone. He didn’t want to see anyone, including me."

"Just give him time."


There was another knock on the door. Britney opened it to find Nick and Justin, both boys looking at her with sympathetic looks on their faces. She pulled them in quickly before shutting the door behind them. Christina was across the room and into Nick’s arms almost instantly.

"She’s a real bitch, huh?" Nick said as he held Christina tight. She was shaking in his arms and he hated seeing her so upset. Christina nodded while Britney rolled her eyes.

"Class A bitch."

"How could he ever go out with her?" Justin asked as he took a seat on the closed toilet lid. "She’s so ..."

"Beautiful," Christina moaned against Nick’s chest. "Beautiful and sexy. Did you see her? Her hair was perfect, gorgeous body."

"But a bitch," Britney agreed with Nick. Christina pulled away and held her arms out.

"How am I supposed to compete with that?"

Nick and Justin exchanged confused looks. "What do you mean?" Nick asked sincerely.

Britney and Christina both snorted. "How am I supposed to compete with her? She wants him back, he obviously wanted her if he went out with her. I’m not half as sexy as she is."

"She’s ugly," Justin said. When the two girls gasped at him he shrugged. "I’m serious. She’s ugly. I wouldn’t go out with her."

Britney shook her head, obviously annoyed. "Of course you wouldn’t. You like Chris. Kirkpatrick. A BOY!"

"What does he have to do with this?" Justin asked. He looked back and forth between Christina and Britney, who were glaring at him, to Nick who was just as confused as he was.

"Of course you wouldn’t go out with her, you like boys," Britney argued. She threw one of the decorative soaps on the counter at him which he caught with little effort.

"That doesn’t mean anything," Justin said confidently. "There are girls I’d go out with too."

Now the girls’ jaws were dropped open and Nick snickered. Justin had successfully stopped Christina’s crying and taken her mind off of the fact that Josh didn’t want to see her. He sat down on the floor, back against the door.

"Who?" Britney asked, genuinely curious.

Justin shrugged. "You." Britney’s jaw dropped again. Justin nodded. "Yeah, you."

"But ....but at the beginning of the year..."

Justin wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Oh, not you then. You were skanky then. Definitely was not interested then. You now." He turned to Christina. "You. I’d totally go out with you."

Briteny’s eyes were still open wide. "So ...you would? Now?"

"I WOULD. But I won’t." Justin gave her an apologetic smile. "I’m totally all about Chris right now and like I said, I would go out with you. I don’t want to."

Britney looked a cross between crestfallen and confused. "Should I be flattered?"

Justin smiled. "Yep. Totally." The girls looked at Nick who shrugged.

"I don’t even pretend to understand his mind."

"But I wouldn’t go out with her," Justin repeated. "She’s ugly. Inside and outside. He’s better off without her."

Conversation was cut short by someone knocking on the door. "Who is it?" Nick asked from the floor.

"Oh, sorry. I thought Christina was in here," Emily said through the door.

"I am."

There was silence. "Uhh, oh."

"We all are," Justin added with a snicker. There was more silence before Britney spoke.

"Nick, get your ass off the floor and open the door."

Nick followed the instructions and answered the door to find Emily looking at it in surprise. "Uhhh, everything okay?"

Nick nodded his head, "not at all!"

Emily’s facial expression didn’t change. She looked at Christina and her facial features softened.

"I think you should go talk to him. He thinks you hate him."

~*~*

Josh couldn’t believe she was there. And what was worse was the way she was talking to Christina. He had told her quite a bit about Natalie, but hadn’t really given her the whole picture. Figuring that their relationship was strong enough, and the fact that since he’d started dating her, he couldn't even remember what he’d seen in the other girl, he felt it safe to keep those two periods of his life apart. Now, after seeing the horror in Christina’s eyes, followed by the insecurity and the way she shied away from him, he realized just how potentially damaging Natalie’s presence at Kyle’s party was.

Which brought the whole question of why he hadn’t been warned that Natalie might be coming and why Kyle hadn’t told her she wasn’t invited. Josh was so hurt and confused and scared. He needed to leave. He’d gone upstairs to start packing but saw Christina’s purse and the small pillow she brought on the bed and threw himself down on it, burying his face in her pillow. It smelled like her shampoo and her perfume and he just wanted to get lost in it. When there had been a knock on the door he cringed at the thought of having to talk to someone.

"Go away, I want to be alone."

"Josh, it’s me." Christina’s voice was trembling and he pictured her ready to cry. He didn’t want to see anyone, and surprisingly, she was on that list. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, hating himself for hurting her, which he knew he was going to do.

"I just want to be alone. Please go."

"But?"

"Please Chrissy."


He was met with silence and figured she’d followed his wishes. His new year was sucking already, and it wasn’t even midnight. The next thing he heard was three very distinct voices screaming at each other, those of Emily, Kyle and Billy. That knowledge made Josh feel even worse and he finally let the tears fall. He was exhausted. The voices stopped and he vaguely heard a click, which he figured was Kyle unlocking the door to his bedroom. He expected someone to come in, but surprisingly no one did. Another ten minutes passed before he did hear the door open and the sound of soft foot steps. The person sat down on the bed and he felt a gentle hand on his back.

"You okay Josh?"

It was Emily and Josh was relieved, if it was anyone else he might have lost it again. He shook his head and almost instantly he felt her head on his shoulder. She relaxed against him, not saying anything.

"What...?" Josh started softly.

Emily pretended she didn’t hear his non question and started talking. "I was so upset they introduced you two, you know. I’ve never liked her. Might have been because she’s been after Kyle since the day she met him, despite knowing that we’ve been together forever. But they seemed to like her and so I didn’t say anything. In her defense, she had been really great in the beginning when we all first started hanging out together. It wasn’t until later that she started showing her true colours, and by then she was just part of the gang. But when you two hit it off, I warned him that it was going to end badly. He just said I was being stupid, that it was petty jealousy and that I should be happy she’d stopped following him around like a lost puppy."

Josh didn’t say anything, he just let Emily talk.

"But then she was different with you. You guys seemed happy.."

"We were happy."

"The whole time?"

Josh shook his head. "In the beginning." Emily nodded. "Then she started changing. Then she dumped me in front of everyone and it hurt so much. I haven’t seen her since. I didn’t think I’d get over her quickly, but as soon as I saw Christina, really saw her I realized that what I had with Nat was nothing compared to what I want with Christina."

"What happened?"

Josh took in a deep breath before exhaling. He shook his head, he didn’t want to answer that question.

"Josh? What happened down there?"

Josh felt tears rising to his eyes. He turned to face Emily who looked just as upset. She ran her fingers through his hair and nodded, "it’s okay."

"I.." Josh choked. "I... I saw her and ...missed her. I nearly forgot that Christina was sitting right there and ..."

Josh didn’t need to say more, Emily understood exactly what he was trying to say and what his conscience was fighting. She pulled him closer and let him cry.

"She’s so beautiful and so understanding and I told myself I wasn’t going to hurt her. I forbade myself from hurting her, and that’s just what I've done. Twice tonight. And I’m horrible because for that second, I was seriously thinking how good it would be to kiss Nat at midnight."

Emily stroked Josh’s back in what she had hoped was a comforting gesture. "It’s okay, because you did remember she was there. Right?"

Josh nodded.

"See?" Emily pressed her lips to Josh’s temple. "You need to talk to her. Before Natalie does."

"Okay."

"Do you want me to go get her?" Emily was already off of the bed. Whether or not he wanted her to, she was going to get Christina so she and Josh could talk.

"Yes. Please."

Christina walked out of the bathroom, down the hall towards the room she was sharing with Josh. Britney had asked if she needed company, but Christina shook her head. She needed to do this alone. Whatever was bothering Josh was between the two of them. And so after assuring them that she would be fine, she headed down the hall. Unfortunately, she was intercepted before she made it.

"So, have you slept with him yet?" Natalie stepped out from an empty room so that she was standing right in front of Christina, blocking her path.

Christina felt her cheeks flare up and turn a dark, embarrassing shade of red. "That’s none of your business."

"So the answer is no. Unless you’re a trampy slut who has to have sex with him to keep him." Natalie’s fangs were nearly visible and Christina felt rage rise up in her body. She glared at the older girl and refused to show how intimidated she was.

"It’s none of your business."

"Well, just a warning." Natalie said with a smile. "He’s pretty kinky. You have to be pretty open minded to keep him satisfied. That’s part of the reason I dumped him. He was really insatiable and I couldn’t give him everything that he wanted. He said that if I couldn’t satisfy him he would find someone else who could. Someone who was young and naive enough to do whatever he told them to. I guess he was right."

"Josh isn’t like that," Christina argued.

"I didn’t think so either. But then one day he changed. He went from sweet and understanding to someone I didn’t even know. Every single time we were alone he wanted to have sex, and even when I didn’t want to, he forced me to. Have fun."

And with that, Christina was alone in the hall, with nothing but Natalie’s words echoing in her mind.

"You don’t believe that, do you?" A voice said from the room that Natalie had just vacated. She looked inside and to her surprise, found Kyle sitting on the bed. She narrowed her eyes and his frown deepened.

"I don’t believe YOU!" She spat out angrily. She was so confused and angry and tired. She didn’t believe a word of what Natalie had said. It was obvious that the older girl was trying to scare her away and turn her against Josh, but she had left some pretty intense imagery in her mind and now she had visions of angry, forceful Josh in her head. She tried clear her mind but first she was plagued with questions of why Natalie was coming out of a bedroom that she’d been inside of with Kyle, who was one of Josh’s best friends and Emily’s boyfriend. "I thought ... I thought..."

"There’s a lot you don’t understand," Kyle said. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

"I thought you were going to go talk to Josh," Emily said from behind Christina, startling her.

"I was stopped by Natalie!" Christina said sadly.

"Don’t believe a word she says. She’ll tell you anything to come between the two of you."

Christina nodded. Her eyes flicked from Emily to Kyle before she looked down at her feet. She was shocked when she heard Emily talk to Kyle.

"So, did you talk to her?"

Kyle nodded. "Yeah. I told her that she wasn’t welcome around us anymore. That she was to leave immediately and that if she didn’t, that she would regret it."

Christina’s jaw dropped. She had automatically jumped to the wrong conclusion and both she and Kyle knew it. He didn’t say a word. "You weren’t..."

"No."

"I’m sorry."

"I told you, there’s a lot you don’t understand."

"How did she take it?" Emily asked as she wrapped her arms around Kyle. She knew it was hard for him to finally cut the cord with the red headed girl, but it was long overdue. They had drifted too far apart, their friendship had been tested too often and it was finally time to put it behind them and move on.

"She couldn’t believe I was picking him over her, that only four months overrode years and years of friendship, but I told her it was her doing."

Christina couldn’t hear the rest of Kyle’s recount, she was heading down to the door she’d been at earlier. She found it unlocked as instructed and went inside. Josh was laying face down on the bed, his breathing steady. Christina took a moment to just watch him before he moved. He lifted his head and their eyes met. Both of them stopped breathing for a moment.

"Hey," Christina said softly.

"Hey."

"Can I..." Christina approached the bed as Josh nodded. She sat down, not touching him.

"I’m sorry," Josh said.

At the same time, Christina said "I just ran into Natalie in the hall."

Josh’s face turned pale and he looked like he was going to be sick. "What... What did she say?"

Christina held her breath. She wasn’t sure if she should tell Josh everything that his ex-girlfriend had said. She’d decided in the hall that she wouldn’t, but now, looking into his eyes and seeing a fear there she knew she had to. She had to tell him everything so they could talk about it and move on. Closing her eyes, Christina took a deep breath and started. "She stopped me in the hall and said ...."

End Chapter 27


Chapter 28 >