“I thought you had a plan?  When the hell are you going of put this plan of your into action?” Brandi snapped, after cornering Katy in the kitchen sometime later.  Katy eyed her for a little bit before responding.

            “What are you talking about I never have a plan, just a general idea and who said that I haven’t already started something?  Now just go snuggle with your rock star while you can and don’t worry about it.  It will all be over soon but just for the record, I think you are wrong about Chris.” Katy explained, fixing Joey yet another drink.  Since Mandy’s little show the confused singer had been throwing them back pretty hard, at this rate he wasn’t going to last much longer.

            Brandi flashed a series of emotions across her face before settling on one, anger.  She grabbed her drink and stormed out of the kitchen back toward Chris.  Katy just smirked, Brandi wasn’t mad at her, she was just stressed.  They all were under a lot of stress, what had they been thinking when they planned this whole thing.  There was no way that it could end well.  But the conversation had gotten her thinking more about her plan.  Katy watched Justin carefully from the kitchen and he was joking with Lance waiting for her to return. 

            After handing Joey his drink and offering Justin a fresh drink as well, Katy watched Joey out of the corner of her eye.  She ignored the glare from Justin when she didn’t take a seat by him; instead she slipped away to the bathroom.  Katy waited for the sound of the toilet flushing to subside then just as the door was about to open Katy pushed her way inside taking Mandy with her.

            “Jesus Christ! Katy what the hell are you doing?” Mandy snapped.  She continued to glare at her friend as waited for an answer.  Katy was only slightly concerned about all the glares she was getting as of late.  She could feel her popularity among the house gusts faded and didn’t expect it to pick up again anytime soon. 

            “I am doing you a favor this time.  I think you need to talk to Joey and you need to do it soon rather than later, or you’ll never get the chance.” Katy quickly explained.  There was sternness to her voice that Mandy wasn’t used to.

            “Why? What do you mean never get the chance?” Mandy questioned as if Joey was dying or something.

            “I drugged them and judging by how much he has had to drink he will probably pass out soon.  Plus if you could kind of get him away from the others before he passes out that would be a bonus.”  Katy said pressed herself firmly against the bathroom door so that no one else could join them.  Mandy looked at her like she was retarded.  “What it wasn’t like I could drug them all at once, it took time.  Some are going to pass out before others.  I just don’t want any of them to catch on to what is happening and freak out.  Plus Joey was hurt by what you did, we all saw that.  Don’t leave here with any regrets.  You have to tell Joey how you really feel about him.”

            Mandy made a series of strange noises and she sorted out all of the information that she had just been given.  She knew she needed to separate Joey from the others, but did it really matter what she said, he was probably too drunk to remember anything she was about to tell him.  She giggled a little as she thought about that, she could easily make something up to tell Joey, something stupid or crazy, which is exactly what she knew Katy would have done.  But she felt Joey should know the truth even if he wouldn’t remember it.

“I thought you didn’t believe in regret?” Mandy asked.

“I don’t but you do.” Katy simply stated. Her arms neatly folded across her body.  Katy wasn’t dumb she knew they girls were going to have regrets about leaving here like this, but if some of that suffering could be taken away then she should at least try.

            “Why can’t you pull Joey away from them?  If the lush passes out they will just blame it on the booze until a pattern starts to form.” Mandy asked.

            “Because, I think I am going to have to get Justin out of there.  He is already showing signs too and I just can’t get both of them without setting off alarms.  Why on earth would I want to have a conversation with Joey?” Katy teased.  Mandy groaned again and then nodded, allowing Katy to slip back out of the bathroom giving her a minute to compose herself again.

            Mandy glared at herself in the mirror, why had she agreed to do this in the first place?  What made her think that going along with anything Katy and Brandi had planned was a good idea.  She thought back to that day, it had been awhile since they had all seen each other; the absence of the bond they shared had left Mandy felling a little empty.  She quickly smacked herself in the fore head, a little harder than she had intended, but it had just hit her.  She would do anything for those girls and they would do anything for her.  Their friendship was special but also dangerous.  The final part of this plan may be the hardest for them to pull off but probably the best thing for all of them.

            The living room was fairly quiet and Katy slipped back into her place beside Justin.  She wanted to make sure Mandy came for Joey before pulling Justin aside.  But she had no more sat down than JC started in on wanting to see the video again.  Katy groaned inside her head, why were the guys so eager to see a video that they hadn’t even wanted to make until half way through filming it.  She was in the process of formulating the reason she was about to give him when Justin spoke up.

            “Before we watch it can I talk to you for a minute?” Justin asked. He blinked a few times, trying to wrap his foggy brain around what he had originally wanted to say to her.  He glanced at the drink in his hand, maybe he should have taken it easy, at least until after they had talked.  Katy had a deer in headlight look on her face and she wasn’t even trying to hide it.  There was no way that this was happening; something was actually going in her favor?

 “Please baby can we go downstairs there is something I need to tell you.” Justin begged trying to act as serious as he could.  Katy quickly nodded; she had the feeling all night that Justin was dying to talk to her about something.  Katy was torn, she wanted to make sure Mandy took care of Joey but this opportunity was too good to pass up and stalling might look suspicious. 

            “If Justin is stealing Katy then I need to borrow Joey.  Then we can watch her award winning music video.” Mandy chimed in.  Joey looked up at her, a little shocked that she was asking to speak to him.  Mandy smiled and took Joey by the hand.  She playfully led him back outside to the place they had been sitting earlier. 

            The rain had stopped now and the step was only slightly damp as Mandy sat down on it.  There was a thud as Joey fell down on the step beside her, it wasn’t clear if he had just lost his balance in the process of taking a seat or he simple didn’t care about injuring himself.  She took a deep breath before turning to Joey. 

            His eyes were dark and heavy with the excessive booze that he had consumed.  There was just a hint of sadness to them as well.  Mandy felt her heart sink, god she wanted to tell him how she really felt about him but he was too far gone.

            “Joey, I thought we had talked about this.  We are just friend, right?” Mandy questioned, the words seemed to just flow from her mouth without even thinking about it.  Joey let his eyes fall from her face to his hands, which were resting in his lap. 

            “We are friends; at least I think we are.  It’s just…” Joey ran one hand through his hair and struggled to find the right word or words to complete his sentence, but his mind was cloudy, He questioned himself about how much he had to drink that night, it hadn’t seemed like a lot but he had lost count.  “I think I like you as more than a friend.  But I know that I shouldn’t and there are things that I need to take care of back home first.  Please don’t think less of me…” Joey begged.  He watched her shiver slightly in the cool air and then he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him so that his body heat could warm her.  She leaned against him and sighed heavily. 

            She turned to say something to him but without giving her a chance to protest or move away from him, Joey pressed his lips against hers, pressing her firmly against him so that she couldn’t pull away from him.  He needed this; he just couldn’t leave here without knowing what it felt like to kiss her.  Mandy gasped into his mouth in shock, she hadn’t expected the drunk to move so quickly. 

            Mandy couldn’t stop herself from kissing him back.  She knew in her heart it was wrong but maybe Katy was right, she couldn’t leave here not knowing what it felt like to kiss Joey Fatone, the man on the posters that used to adorn her walls.  Truth be told it was everything she had thought it would be, accept of course the part where he tasted like beer and was minutes away from passing out.  If she was going to hell then she might as well enjoy the ride, she ran her tongue along his bottom lip, moaning softly to him.  He had to comply with her demands he was too drunk to think logically any more.

            They made out for a few minutes before Mandy felt his grip on her loosen.   She knew that it was the drugs Katy had slipped him; they were taking their full affect any minute.  She pulled back and looked him in the eye.  He look so innocent, his big down eye begging her for forgiveness or acceptance, she couldn’t be sure which.  She put one hand on his cheek and he placed his hand on top of it.  Her skin was cool against his flushed face but it felt good.  Joey closed his eyes for a minute and just moaned softly.

            “Joey… I love you.  Always have and always will.”Mandy said softly.  Joey snapped to attention as if he had heard her wrong.  His heart rate increased at the realization that he hadn’t.  But the increased blood only pushed the drugs and alcohol further into his system.  He started to say something but it just came out as a jumbled mess and then his eyes rolled a few times before closing completely. 

            Mandy watching in horror as the man of her dreams passed out and fell backwards into a nearby bush.  She scratched her head and thought for a minute.  There was no way she could pull him out on her own and she couldn’t go for help without tipping off the others so for now Joey would just have to stay where he was.  There wasn’t anything wrong with him, if anything she felt sorry for the poor shrub that was crumbling under his weight.  The thought made her laugh as she set there on the step.  She didn’t want to return too soon, and she was still processing what had just happened to her.  Mandy was sure that some day she would look back on all this and laugh about it, but that wasn’t today.  Today it hurt and made her feel sad and confused.

Katy playfully pushed Justin into the sofa that was in the basement.  He sat there smiling up at her with his legs spread open; getting him alone had been the easy part, entertaining him long enough for the drugs to kick in was going to be tricky.  No doubt he would want to talk about his feels and their plans for the future.  Katy rolled her eyes just thinking about it. 

“What was that for?” Justin asked.

“What was what for?” Katy questioned, playfully straddling his lap.

“You just rolled your eyes at me.” Justin pointed out.  Katy groaned to herself, of course he had seen that.  He latched on to her hand and held them in place.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want her to touch him, but he couldn’t let her distract him from the reason he had asked her down there. 

“Never mind, you got me all to yourself now, so what did you want?”  Katy asked lowering herself onto his lap.  She playfully tossed her hair aside and grinned at him which caused Justin to groan in frustration, this wasn’t going to be easy for him.

“Baby, stop that.  I just wanted to have a serious conversation with you before you got distracted by the video and the others.

“What’s wrong?” Katy asked trying to free her hands.  His blue eyes glared at her for the first time and she leaned away from him a bit.  “What did I do this time?” She questioned.

“We need to talk about us and our plans.  I assume that we will be leaving here soon.” Justin explained.

“You’re drunk.  Are you sure you want to have this conversation right now? I just think we should have some fun and save the serious stuff for a time when we are both in the right frame of mind.” Katy explained.  Justin let his head fall back against the sofa, the room did feel like it was spinning and he was really tired right now for some reason.  “Just relax my love. 

Tomorrow morning when you wake up everything will be clearer to you and everything will fall back into place.  We can get out of here and move on with our lives.” Katy added.  She was impressed with how the even the truth could sound like fiction. 

“Okay, your right babe.  I am sorry I guess I had more to drink than I thought.  But promise me that we will talk tomorrow?” Justin begged, forcing her to look him in the eyes.  Katy just nodded; he could talk about anything that he wanted to tomorrow; it just wasn’t going to be with her.  He let his head fall back again and gently rubbed the bridge of his nose, hoping to wake himself up a little bit.  “So if we aren’t talking then what are we doing?” He asked, flashing her that million dollar smile of his.

Katy just returned the smiled and moved around on his lap a little.  She moved around just enough to make him moan though his eyes were still shut.  She knew it wouldn’t be long until he passed out so she was just teasing him to buy time and not to raise suspicions.  Katy slowly crawled down his body lowering herself to the floor.  His hand found its way to the back of her head where he held it her hair in place so that it was out of her face.  But Katy had no more than undone the zipper on his jeans when his hand fell limp at his side.

She rested her arm on his knee and just looked up at her the sleeping pop star, waiting to see if he was really out or if it was just a false alarm.  But several minute passed and the man didn’t stir from his sleep.  Katy didn’t move either, she was looking up at the guys of her dreams, and he had it all, money, fame and good looks.   And for whatever reason he wanted to share all that with her.  Either he was stupid or she was, and for the first time in her life Katy was leaning more toward the latter. 

After doing some quick math in her head, trying to figure out when the last 3 guys would be going down for the count base on the time she had given them the drug and the amount each of them had to drink.  She sat by Justin on the sofa and ran her fingers through his hair.  She couldn’t return too soon or they would wonder what had happened and where Justin was.