“Has anyone seen JC this morning?” Justin asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Is JC even here?” Lance asked from the table, looking up from his bowl of cereal.

Joey nodded. “Yea, he’s here, but I haven’t seen him. I got up to go to the bathroom around three this morning and I heard some weird noises coming from his room.” He shrugged. “Sounded like he was either crying or watching porn or something.”

“So he gets mad when we stay out late but when he does it, it’s no fucking problem?” Chris scowled.

Lance chuckled. “He’s probably just taking some time to cool down from his fight with Liz yesterday. He’ll be fine.”

“What are you eating?” Justin asked, suddenly serious.

Lance looked at him. “What’d you mean? I’m eating cereal.”

Justin frowned. “But, but… That’s Captain Crunch. My Captain Crunch!”

The guys rolled their eyes.

“Justin don’t be a big baby, it’s just a bowl of cereal.”

“And it’s in my bowl!” Justin exclaimed looking at the blue bowl with ‘Justin’s Cereal’ embedded around the curve.

Lance shrugged. “Joey didn’t do the dishes.”

Justin scowled and grabbed the Captain Crunch box and another bowl from the sink after running some water on it.

“Eating my cereal.” the blonde baby muttered, pouring some milk into the bowl.

His three other friends erupted into laughter, amused at how Justin reacted to Lance eating his cereal.

“Anyway...” Chris started, biting into his apple. “Who wants to go pounce on JC?  I mean, he probably has a hangover and his head probably hurts like hell so he can’t fight back. Anyone?”

“Chris, stop. That’s just mean.” Joey remarked.

“I bet I know someone who’d like to pounce on him.” Lance said, rising from his chair and looked out the window above the sink across the room to see a Silver Toyota pull up.

“Who is that?” Chris asked, following Lance’s gaze.

“It’s Liz and Emma.” Lance confirmed, seeing the two brunettes get out of the car. “What’re they doing here? It’s ten o’clock in the morning.”

Justin shrugged, getting up from his seat and walking over to the front door, opening it before they could even get to the porch.

“Hey Justin,” Liz said, a smile on her face as she greeted the curly haired teen.

“Hi,” Justin replied brightly. “What’re you guys doing here?”

“I uh, wanted to talk to Josh.” she replied, hesitating for a moment before answering.

“And I had nothing to do so I brought you guys mini donuts.” Emma put in, holding up a small box.

Justin grinned. “Then you can come right in.” he said, stepping aside to allow entrance.

“Hi guys!” Liz greeted the three other NSYNC members as they entered the kitchen.

“Morning.” they replied, waving.

“I smell sugar.” Chris stated, a mischievous smile on his face.

Emma laughed, walking over to the table and taking the seat between Chris and Joey. She placed the box on the table and opened it, revealing the pastries. “Sugar for breakfast,” she said with a smile. “Enjoy.”

Chris cheered, as he and Joey pulled out two chocolate covered bite sized donuts, both giving her a kiss on each side of her cheeks.

“Just what you guys need, more sugar” Lance chuckled, rolling his eyes.

Justin turned to Liz. “JC’s still in his room, we haven’t seen him for the morning actually.”

Liz fought a smile, a little part of her actually happy that JC was probably moping around his room thinking of her.

“Congratulations on the job thing though,” Justin added in. “That’s really cool.”

“Thanks Justin.” she said, hugging him. “Well, what time do you think he’s going to get up? I just want to talk to him one more time before I put in my decision.”

Justin shrugged. “I don’t know. The guy could sleep through a hurricane if there was one and he’s probably still hung over from last night.”

Liz frowned. “He went out last night?”

“Yea, we all did. But don’t worry though Lizzie. He was just upset over the fight you guys had plus the suit we’ve been dealing with, he just probably needed to get away from everything.”

Liz nodded. “I understand, don’t worry. I just, I wanted to apologize. All we did yesterday was practically scream at each other, and I just… You know I love him and I can’t leave on terms like this, if I chose to leave anyways…”

“It never ceases to amaze me how JC got a girl like you.” he winked.

She laughed. “Aw, thanks Curly.”

Justin rolled his eyes. “If you want, you know where his room is. Just go in and see if you can wake him up. He needs to get his ass out of bed anyways. Everyone’s already awake.”

She nodded. “Yea, alright”.

She took a breath and thanked Justin before turning around and making her way toward JC’s bedroom.

**

“Fuck,” he muttered, the sunlight shining through the blinds almost blinding him. He tried to get up, but his head felt like it weighed 150lbs by itself and his body ached. He tried turning on his side and stretching out his arm but he felt something warm. Something, soft but warm… and squishy, sort of. He groaned, refusing to open his eyes fearing that the light would blind him again, but he soon heard the sound of giggles, feeling a finger swirl around on his forearm.

“Sleepyhead…” she cooed into his ear.

First, he was convinced he was dreaming. That is, until the events of the night before came flooding back into his mind. His eyes immediately opened, him nearly jumping out from under the covers recognizing the face and the naked body beside him.

“Finally, I’ve been waiting for you to get up for almost ten minutes.” she grinned looking around the room. “You know, this room hasn’t changed.”

He pulled away, struggling to get off the bed, stumbling when he planted his foot on the ground.

“Good God.” he mumbled, pulling on the pants that had been thrown on the ground next to the lace bra and black panties the night before.

He turned to look at her, taking in the sight. She smirked at him, lying in a position that sent chills up his spine.

“Allison?” he whispered, the pain in his head increasing.

“Nice to see you again JC.” she winked. “How’ve you been?”

“Cut the fucking small talk,” he snapped. “What’re you doing here?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Uh, as I recall, you came on to me last night at the club, remember? I know you recognized me JC, but you were so drunk you couldn’t even say my name until we were about to do it. Missed me huh?”

He scowled. “Missed you, Allison?! After putting me through complete hell you think I’ve missed you?”

She smiled, rolling over to his side of the bed. “Jace, that was almost a year ago. Aren’t you over it?”

“I am not having this conversation with you right now” he stated, going to his drawer and pulling out a pair of boxers and a t shirt. “Put some fucking clothes on.” he said, throwing the clothing at her.

“Did we even use a condom?” he asked her, looking into his wastebasket.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I was riding you so hard I didn’t notice if you slipped one on. You got better Chasez.” She said with a smile, nodding toward his crotch.

He scowled. “I am an ass!” he almost yelled to himself, running his hands through his hair. “I can’t believe we did that last night.”

She shrugged, slipping into the boxers. “I liked it. You did too you know.” she winked with a smirk. “Even if we were drunk.”

He wanted to take a gun and shoot himself in the head at that point.

“Allison, I have a girlfriend. One who I love so, so much and last night was me being a complete dumbass.”

She rolled her eyes. “So what if you have a girlfriend? I know what happened last night was fate. What went down between you and me before is history.”

He looked at her incredulously. “You and me? Fate? Ha!” he laughed sarcastically. “Look, I love my girlfriend! She sure as hell surpasses the way you ever loved me! And yea, what happened between you and I is history, and history is exactly where it’ll stay!”

She rolled her eyes, getting off the bed.

“I knew there was a reason I left you,” she retorted. “You’re a fucking bore!”

He fumed. “I can’t believe I sank to your level, sleeping with someone else when I have a perfectly good, loyal and happy person in my life.” He muttered. “Allison, I’m taking my part of the responsibility for what we did last night, but I swear to God, if you ever bring this up or tell anyone about this, you’re going to regret it.”

“Whatever JC.” she seethed.

 He grabbed his wallet, and took out a twenty dollar bill, slapping it in her palm. “For gas money”. he told her. “Go back to wherever you live now but don’t ever come around me again. Ever! I’m sorry we did what we did. Biggest mistake of my fucking life.”

“You know, your girlfriend will never be as good as me Chasez.” she smirked.

He growled, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to the door. “You need to get out.” he said through gritted teeth, pulling open the door. What stood behind the wood stunned him.

--Liz held her hand up, going to knock on the door before it flew open in front of her. The sight she saw brought on a pain that numbed her body, her heart, every nerve in her system. For a second she couldn’t move, feeling her throat close up, not being able to take in any oxygen. She froze in place, before reality slammed into her.

“Oh my God,” JC gasped, his eyes widening. “Lizzie…”

The pain in his head moved down to his chest when he saw her.

Her eyes welled with tears as she studied a shirtless JC, holding the hand of a 5”9 long haired brunette wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and his t shirt. The woman held a pair of heels in one hand along with a bra and women’s underwear while her other hand was in JC’s grasp. This woman however, had a face that triggered a light to go off in her head. JC had shown her a couple pictures of his ex before. No, this couldn’t be. This was her!? This was Allison!?

“Lizzie, I just-” JC started.

“Fuck you Josh.” she remarked, her voice barely audible. She couldn’t get the volume above a whisper, the pain clouded her mind.

“Lizzie we-”

A tear trickled down her cheek as she broke out in a speed walk up the corridor, leaving him standing with Allison in the door frame.

Ignoring the pain in her chest and ignoring the tears that blurred her vision, she entered the kitchen and grabbed Emma’s purse that held the car keys off the counter.

“Lizzie wait!” a voice shouted.

“Go to hell Josh!” She turned to Emma who still sat at the table. “Let’s go!”

The guys were stunned by her sudden outburst, as was Emma.

“Lizzie what’s going-” Justin started before realizing two more people had joined them in the kitchen.

“Oh my God,” Chris blurted out recognizing the person. “Her!? What the fuck is she doing here!?”

Emma gasped, realizing the situation. JC stood there, breathing heavily. “Lizzie!” he called out to her, seeing her standing there holding the car keys.

“Don’t you ever fucking try getting to me again JC Chasez!” she barked at him, the tears streaming down her cheeks.

He flinched a little at her tone, plus she rarely ever referred to him using his initials.

The guys were still frozen in place by what was going on.

“I can’t believe I believed you when you said you loved me!” she cried. “You’re the worst, fucking, lying, disgusting, cheating jackass on the face of this Earth!” she spat.

The place went silent, JC staring at her with his mouth opened but no sound came out.

“I hate you.” she whispered, shaking her head before running out through the door.

“Drama queen isn’t she?” Allison remarked, rolling her eyes.

Emma felt her blood boil, staring at the two people. The veins in her head becoming more and more visible.

JC gulped, looking over to her. “Emma I-“

She shook her head. “Forget it. I can’t believe you, you know that. She made it seem like you were so different from most guys, like you had a chance with her. Fuck, she came over here to tell you she didn’t want to take the god damn job just because you were angry with her and so she finds you in bed with some other girl the first time you guys have a fight?!”

JC felt dizzy. “What?” he asked softly. “She didn’t take the job?”

“Oh, I hope she does now!” Emma walked up to him, glaring into his eyes.

“Stay. Away .From .Her” she said through clenched teeth. “And you can keep your grip on Barbie over here because she’s the only thing you’ll be holding from now on.” she said to him, noticing that their hands were still intertwined. JC immediately pulled away.

“Emma if you could just let me-”

He was cut short when he felt her palm across his face. “Save it for a girl who’d waste her time on you, ‘cause it sure as hell isn’t going to be Liz. Not anymore.”

And with that, she stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

“If it makes you feel better, neither of them was really that pretty.” Allison shrugged.

JC felt all his patience leave him but he remained calm, too frozen to fight back in any verbal way.

“Just get out of here Allison.” he said softly, looking down. “Just… just go.”

She sighed and shook her head before walking away from him.

“Bye JC.” she winked, leaving the room.

He felt a tight knot form in his stomach, and the glares he was getting from his band mates were enough to burn holes through the side of his head.

“You did not just do what we think you did Joshua Scott” Chris said calmly, his fists clenching an unclenching.

JC took a breath before collapsing into a chair, his forearms crossed and his forehead rested on them.

“Oh God” he said softly, trying to calmly come to terms with himself. “Oh God”

“What the fuck is wrong with you JC?!” Justin exploded, causing the rest of them to jump.

“Ah!” JC said, covering his ears as he lifted his head. “Hey quiet down would you? My head is fucking pounding.”

“You’re going to get a fucking pounding if you don’t talk to us right now!”Chris retorted.

“What’d you do last night JC?” Lance asked.

JC groaned. “I’m not sure.” he said, shaking his head.

“Oh, you’re going to have to do better than that.” Joey said.

JC sighed, closing his eyes, then reopened them.

“Alright,” he started. “When you guys left last night, I had another drink. I was practically drunk at that point anyways. I ended up eyeing this chick so I went up to her. I didn’t think anything would become of it… I just wanted to get ‘some’. She spun around and I was already in, if you know what I mean. By the time I recognized who she was, it was like some sort of spell. Almost like I was out of control. Like my emotions and, and hormones were in control of my body instead.”

“That explains the noises you heard last night Joe.” Lance said. “It was JC and Allison’s midnight sex-capade.”

JC groaned. “Oh God, we were that loud?”

“I only heard ‘cause I came outside to use the bathroom, but I just thought you were crying or watching porn or something.” Joey shrugged.

“He was the porn.” Lance stated, fighting a laugh.

JC started breathing heavily again. “Good grief, I have to call Liz.” he said almost in a panic.

“JC stop!” Chris said, pushing him back down on the chair. “Man, she isn’t even going to want to talk to you right now. She fucking hates you, and quite frankly, we’re getting there too.”

“I have to apologize to her Chris!” JC yelled. “She’s my girlfriend!”

“She was your girlfriend JC.” Lance informed him softly.

“I made a mistake I get it. A big mistake, I know. But, I love her man. I need to talk to her.”

“Not today JC,” Joey shook his head. “Not today.”

JC frowned, a strange feeling forming in the pit of his stomach. He started feeling dizzy again, the taste of the alcohol from last night arising on his tongue.

“Shit!” he mumbled, getting up and running to the bathroom, slamming the door.

“Hangover,” Justin muttered.

“Damn right,” Chris stated. “We want to hang him and he and Liz are over.”

“Hangover,” Joey and Lance nodded.

“Lizzie, breathe! You’re going to give yourself an anxiety attack!” Emma said, trying to calm down her friend who was in sobs. More than she was the night before.

“I-I can’t b-believe he did t-this” Liz sobbed, her pillow getting soaked again. She was having a hard time catching her breath.

“Oh Lizzie,” Emma said comfortingly, brushing some of the hair out of her face. “Josh is a fucking dumb, cheating, liar. You’re too good for him, you always have been. He’s an idiot for doing what he did!”

Liz shook her head in amazement. “We argue for the first time and he goes out and fucks his ex girlfriend?! What guy does that?!” she questioned between sobs.

“Assholes,” Emma muttered. JC was going to pay for hurting Liz the way he did!

Liz sniffled. “I don’t take a job because he’s mad at me, and when I go over to tell him I’d rather put him before myself this is what I get?! This is what I get for falling in love again!?”

Emma didn’t know what to say this time but give her friend an apologetic look and curl up on the bed beside her and be the only shoulder she had to cry on at that point in time. The one person she had allowed herself to emotionally get attached to had just ripped out her heart and stomped on it right in front of her. She had caught him red-handed, and there was no use in him even trying to deny it.

“I’m sorry Lizzie,” Emma said softly, hugging her friend. “You can do soo much better than Josh, I promise you.”

She shook her head. “Call Lana,” she said, the tears stopping long enough for her to finish her sentence. “Tell her I’ll take the job.”

Emma looked down at her, a twinkle in her eye. “You’re taking the job? You’ll go to New York?”

Liz sniffled and nodded as she sat up, her face red and her eyes puffy from the weeping.

“I’m not going to sit around like some dumbass for him. Not anymore, I’m done with this shit I’m done with him. I’m going to New York.” She said as she pushed back the strands of hair the tears had stuck to her face. “And I’m leaving tonight.”

***

“JC, where the fuck are you going? It’s eleven o’clock at night.” Chris said, watching as the blue eyed member wordlessly walked past them, sticking his keys and cell phone into his wallet. “We have a press conference tomorrow.”

“So what?” JC asked with his head down. “I’ll be back eventually.”

After spending half the day in the bathroom throwing up and the other half lying in bed recovering from the hangover, JC was tired of letting the hours go by and he hadn’t spoken to Liz after that morning.

“Just tell us where you’re going JC.” Lance spoke up from the couch, eyeing his friend.

“I’m just going out for a while!” JC said loudly. “It’s no fucking big deal!”

“Oh yes it is.” Justin nodded, coming to the scene with Joey who held a pack of tortilla chips in his hand. “It is a big deal ‘cause it’s our business to make sure that you don’t go out and do something stupid again.”

JC sighed. “I want to see her.” He said softly. “I can’t take this anymore! I don’t care if she’s mad! I don’t care if she slaps me, screams at me, cries in front of me, or swears the living day lights out of me! I just need to talk to her. I need to see her!”

His friends looked at one another uneasily.

“JC, you’ve done enough damage.” Joey reminded him. “She caught you doing the dirty with the dirty herself! Don’t you think you owe it to her to leave her alone for awhile?”

JC frowned, running his hands through his hair.

“I don’t want her to think that I don’t love her by trying not to get to her after all of this. I just want to see her, that’s all. If I don’t, then I think I’m going to lose my mind thinking about her. I just want to apologize to her guys. I love her, more than anything in this world right now. I can’t let her slip away from me just like that. I just can’t.”

He sighed, his hands trembling as he approached the door in the darkness of the night. He swallowed the lump formed in his throat, and rang the doorbell twice. He knew that he should have chosen an earlier hour to go over there but either way, it was Saturday night and he knew neither girl would be sleeping just yet.

He rang the bell a third time, this time hearing faint footsteps from on the inside. A few seconds later, the door swung open and he almost felt the need to chicken out and run down the driveway, into his car and back home but it was too late. He froze on the spot so either way he wasn’t able to move for a moment or two.

Emma’s facial expression was cold, her green eyes glaring into his blue ones.

“Leave. Now.” She commanded softly through gritted teeth.

He sighed. “Em, if you could just let me-”

“Save it Josh! I told you to stay away from her, didn’t I? And yet you come over here in the middle on the night. Well guess what, she doesn’t want you back, okay? So get off the property because either way, you’re not going to see her. Why can’t you just leave her alone!?”

He looked down, fighting back tears. “Emma please.” He whispered. “Just let me talk to her.”

She folded her arms. “No!”

He was on the verge of begging at that point. “If I can’t see her, and she won’t talk to me, can you at least give her a message for me?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Why should I?”

“Because I still love her Emma.”

Her expression softened slightly, but she kept her ground. “If you loved her she wouldn’t have caught you sexing with your ex girlfriend Joshua. I mean, what kind of low lying ass of a guy does that?”

He didn’t know how to answer the question, and quite frankly, he didn’t think she wanted him to.

“Just get out of here Josh. Get over her, go back to your music and back to that chick you were holding hands with. Liz is too good for you, and she isn’t going to take you back.”

“If I could only apologize to her…” he pleaded, his voice soft.

“She isn’t here anyways.” Emma muttered.

JC frowned. “Where’d she go? Did she go out to a club or something?”

She glared at him. “She isn’t you, you know.” She snapped. “She doesn’t go looking for a ‘good time’ when she’s having problems with someone.”

“Just answer the question please.”

She looked at him. “She took the job.”

His felt his heart momentarily stop. “You mean she’s-”

“She left for New York two hours ago.  She wasn’t going to wait around for any guy to tell her what to do anymore JC, she’s done with you.”

JC was stunned.

“Go home Josh.” Emma said, stepping back and putting her hand on the door handle to close it. “She’s better off without you.”

..And with that, she closed the door. She didn’t slam it nor did she didn’t give him a final glare. She just closed it gently, and JC could hear her latch the lock from the inside. He just stood there on the porch, the eerie silence around him deafening. Turning around, he didn’t know how he did it without collapsing from the pain but he made it back into his car. Sitting there behind the steering wheel, he realized the consequences of his actions. He messed up, and he messed up big. And now, the one person he had never meant to hurt wasn’t even willing to give him the time of her day to apologize…

She was through…