Chapter 15

The ride to the beach was somewhat quiet.  Everyone was still half asleep.  The guys had been up late the night before goofing off in Justin’s hotel room.  Zoë, was the only one that was really fully awake, having gone to bed at a decent hour and getting a full, restful nights sleep.

When the Suburban came to a stop and Mike, opened the side door it startled Chris.  He’d been sound asleep, using Zoë’s shoulder as a pillow.

Zoë, chuckled to herself at the way Chris nearly jumped out of his skin, and then slowly climbed out of the vehicle and then proceeded to stretch in the middle of the nearly vacant parking lot.

Zoë, then climbed out followed by the rest of the guys.  As soon as they were out of the vehicle and the fresh ocean air hit them, the guys seemed to come to life.  Bouncing around the parking lot, suddenly full of energy.

They began joking and nagging at each other as they always did, and Zoë couldn’t help but laugh.  Here they were.  One minute sleeping or zombies, and the next they were bouncing off the walls.  Well, if there had been any.

Walking towards the beach with their security guys.  All dressed in swim trunks, carrying beach towels, ready for some beach fun.  Even the security guys had their swim trunks on which Zoë, found amusing.  She’d never seen Mike, Andre or any of the security team in so much as shorts, so this was a site to see.

Lance, caught up with Zoë and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.  He was practically jumping up and down as they walked, fully chipper.  “You got your swimsuit on under your clothes?”

“No, I’m wearing this.  I didn’t know we would be going to the beach, so didn’t pack one.”

“You can’t go swimming in jean shorts and a t-shirt!” Lance, told her.

“What are ya’ll talking about?” Justin, joined in.

“She’s wearing this swimming!” Lance, said pointing to Zoë’s outfit.

“Where’s your suit?” Justin, asked looking at her oddly.

“At home with all my other clothes.  Nobody told me to pack a suit.  How was I supposed to know.  And nobody mentioned it yesterday either, or I would have bought one while I was out.”

“Well, they got a little boutique right over there.  Go over there and buy one.  This is California.  They have swimsuit stores on the beach!” Lance, laughed.

“Yeah!  Get a thong!” Justin, said playfully winking at her.

“I don’t think so!” Zoë, laughed.

“Aw, why not?” Justin, pushed trying to get her going.

“Your such a pervert Justin Timberlake!” Zoë, said pushing him as she walked towards the boutique Lance had pointed out.

“But you love me for it!” he, hollered after her laughing while Lance just shook his head and laughed at Justin.

JC, walked up to his two friends to find out where Zoë was going.  Lance, explained Zoë didn’t have a suit, so she was going to go buy one at the boutique.  JC, nodded in understanding and they continued down to the beach.

Chris, and Joey were already in the water splashing around like little kids.  “It’s COLD!” Joey, yelled out.
 

Zoë, stood before the mirror in the dressing room inspecting the suit she’d chose.  She was not happy in the least.  They didn’t have any one piece swimsuits in her size.  Half the suits were so skimpy it would be virtually like wearing nothing at all.

She sighed.  “This is California” she, said as she continued to look herself over.

The suit looked good on her.  Showed off her trim body.  She was in good shape.  She exercised regularly.  But she wasn’t worried about that.  She wasn’t worried about what people would think about her body.  She was completely comfortable with her body.  She was worried with the fact that she’d never been in something so skimpy before around JC.  This was like parading around in front of him and his friends in her underwear or something.

“I should just put my shorts back on and go out there and tell them they didn’t have my size.” she, said starring at herself in the mirror.

She was just about to do that when a knock came on the dressing room door.  “Zo, are you about ready?  You’re missing out on all the fun!” she, heard Lance’s voice.

Zoë, rolled her eyes.  “So much for that idea.” she, muttered under her breath.

She took a deep breath, quickly stuffing her clothes in her bag, and then slowly opened the door hoping Lance was gone.  No such luck.  “I thought you got lost!” he, said smiling at her, as she peeked around the door.  “What are you doing?” he, asked.

“Nothing” she, said pulling the door open the rest of the way, and stepping out of the small dressing room.

“You ready?” he, asked starring at her like she’d lost her mind at the way she was acting.

“I just gotta pay for the suit.” Zoë, said walking past him, and over to the register.

Lance, stood back and waited on her as she paid for the suit.  He couldn’t help but look her over.  He was a man after all.  And here was a beautiful woman, wearing practically nothing in her little bikini.  “But this is Zoë!” he, told himself.  He shook away the thoughts running through his head as she turned and smiled at him shyly and then they left the boutique and headed down towards the beach.
 

JC, was leaning back on his elbows on the beach watching Joey, Chris and Justin jumping around the water acting a fool.  He and Trace had been sitting there watching them, and talking about the upcoming tour that was to start in March, when Justin broke into their conversation with a loud cat whistle.

JC, and Trace turned to see what Justin was whistling at and they seen Zoë and Lance walking towards them.  Zoë, in a barely there tropical colored bikini.

“Sweet Jesus!” Trace, said just loud enough for JC to hear him, and he turned and gave him a funny look before turning his attention back to Lance and Zoë.

“Found her!” Lance, said setting down on a beach towel spread out next to JC and Trace.

“You found me.  You knew where I was the whole time!  Shutup, Lance!” Zoë, laughed.

She stood there.  Not exactly sure what to do.  She noticed the look of surprise on JC’s face when he’d looked up and seen her walking towards them.  It kind of made her smile to herself, as it was a look of surprise, yet one of those DAMN-SHE-LOOKS-GOOD looks.

Zoë, was jerked from her thoughts when she felt herself being whipped off the ground and up over someone’s shoulder.  It didn’t take her long to figure out it was Joey.  And then she looked back at JC, Trace, and Lance that were cracking up watching the whole thing unfold.  And she could hear Chris and Justin in the background yelling for Joey to throw her into the water.

She was smacking Joey’s back yelling for him to put her down.  Screaming at the top of her lungs, at the same time trying not to laugh.  She should have expected this.  The next thing she knew she’s flying through the air, and quickly splashed down into the cold ocean waters.

Zoë, let out a high shriek as she surfaced at the temperature of the water.  “I’m gonna kill you Fatone!” she, yelled as she made her way towards him.

Joey, scrambled out of the water and ran down the beach to where Mike was walking.  He ran up behind him, trying to use him for cover as Zoë, caught up with him.  “Oh, no you don’t.” Mike, told him stepping back letting Zoë at him.

“You are not right, Mike!” Joey, told him trying to run away from Zoë, but she caught him and shoved him into the edge of the water.

Everyone erupted into laughter at the site.  Here was little Zoë, pushing big ass Joey down.  “That’s what you get, FATONE!” she, smirked and then trotted back down the beach away from him.

Their antics went on for a while.  JC, sat on the beach with Lance for a while before they joined the rest of them in the water.  Swimming around.  And splashing each other.  It was like they were all kids again.

JC, and Justin got into a “let’s see who can dunk Zoë the most” competition.  Each one taking turns grabbing her out of the water and tossing her back in as the others laughed.  Zoë, was having fun at first but quickly got annoyed at the fact that she seemed to be everyone’s target as she was the smallest.

When she surfaced from the last dunk JC had gotten in, she dunked under the water to swim past Justin and avoid the inevitable dunk he was to try to take next.  She surfaced near the shore, then made her way out of the water.

“Aw, where ya going, Zo?” Justin, hollered after her.

“To lay out!” she, hollered back and was met with a few disgruntled groans that quickly turned into laughs as they’d moved on to Chris as their new victim.

Zoë, spread her beach towel out on the sand and sat down.  She pulled her lotion out of her bag and rubbed a fair portion on her arms, legs, chest and stomach and then slipped her sunglasses on and laid back to work on her tan.  It was mid morning and the sun was pounding down on her.  She laid there for a few moments before she drifted off to sleep.

About an hour later she was awoken by someone shaking water on her.  She sat up quickly and seen JC chuckling as he shook his hair and let the water fall onto her.  “Stop, Josh!” she, scolded him, turning over to her stomach to work on her back.

“Didn’t you get enough sleep last night?” he, asked setting down beside her.

“I’m not trying to sleep.  I’m trying to work on my tan.”

“Then why were you sleeping?”

“Because I fell asleep, that’s why!”

JC, chuckled.  “Ok, grouchy ass!”

“Are you trying to annoy me?  Because you’re doing a good job!” she, smirked back at him.

“Then my work here is done!” he, said as he started to stand up.

“WAIT!” Zoë, said looking up at him.  “Since you’re here I might as well put you to work.  Would you mind rubbing some lotion on my back for me, please?” she, asked as she reached her arms behind her to untie the string on her bikini top.

“Sure I’ll rub some lotion on you, but why are you uniting your top?” JC, asked settling back down beside her.

“Because my dress has an open back and I don’t want any tan lines.”

“OK” he, said and then picked the bottle of lotion up and squeezed a small amount into his hands.

JC, starred at her bare back for a moment in thought before timidly reaching out to rub the lotion on her back.  Zoë, pulled her sun dried hair off to the side as he continued to rub the lotion onto her back and shoulders.  “Do you need it on your legs?” he, asked.

“Yeah, might as well.” Zoë, said back fully relaxed and caught up in the electricity that was shooting through her body as JC touched her, she didn’t want him to stop at that moment.

JC, squirted some more lotion into his hands and began rubbing it on her lower legs.  As he moved higher up her legs he started feeling a little uneasy about the way this (rubbing the lotion) felt so right to him.

Justin, came running up and startled JC from his thoughts.  “Giving Zo, a rub down, huh?” he, laughed.

JC, shot him a look of death, before speaking.  “Zoë, asked me to put some lotion on her, smartass!”

“I was just teasing!” Justin, retorted.  “Are you coming back in the water?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a sec.”   JC, finished rubbing the lotion on Zoë’s legs.  “There ya go.  I’m going back out now.” he, told her and then ran back out to the water, trying to escape from the overwhelming feelings that were welling up inside of him.

Once, he was gone Zoë exhaled the breath she’d been holding in since JC had started to move up her legs.  “What the hell is wrong with me?” she, thought to herself.  “This is Josh.  I should not be getting all excited over him touching me.  That’s just not right!”

Zoë, let out a long sigh, and then stretched out on the towel, hoping sleep would overtake her again so she could push aside the crazy thoughts and feelings that were beginning to overflow inside of her.
 

An hour and a half later they were all on their way back to the hotel.  The guys needed to get showered and changed so they could go to rehearsal.  While, Zoë needed to shower and change so she could make it to her appointment in the Hotel Beauty Salon to get her hair done.

Mike, drove them around to the side entrance of the hotel to hopefully avoid a big scene with the fans.  And they all rushed inside and off to their separate rooms.

On the guys way out, JC stopped by Zoë’s room to let her know they were leaving but they’d be back later.  He told her to be ready by no later than 6:30 because they would need to leave around that time to head over to the awards.  There was bound to be tons of traffic, plus they had to deal with the whole red carpet thing and all the paparazzi on their way in.  Zoë, agreed and the guys were off.

She lounged around her room watching TV, and thinking about several different things that had happened that day.  The way JC had looked at her when he’d seen her in her swimsuit.  The expression on his face.  And how it had made her feel when he was rubbing the suntan lotion on her back and legs.  She was trying desperately to make sense of all the feelings and emotions that were running through her.

Around 3:00 she gave up on making any sense of her feelings, and decided to head on down to the salon.  Maybe some beauty shop talk would take her mind off things.
 

Zoë, was pacing back and forth in her room when there was a knock on her door.  She was suddenly very nervous about her dress selection, and what the guys would think.  Or more importantly what JC would think.

She took one last look at herself in the mirror, before heading towards the door to answer it.  Inhaling a deep breath, and releasing it quickly she opened the door.  There stood the guys all decked out in their “Pop Star” clothes.  She kind of felt overdressed.  They weren’t wearing suits, as she had expected.  They each had their own look going on.  Justin’s of coarse being the most flashy.

“Wow, Zo you look really beautiful!” JC, said and the rest of the guys agreed.

“Thank you.” she, smiled graciously.

“OK, model the dress for us!” Justin, said.  “Do a lil’ spin.”

Zoë, laughed and did a little spin so the guys could take in the full effect of the dress.  It was a emerald green silky material.  The back was completely out, and cut very low to the base of her back.  There was a slit that came clear up to her thigh on the right side of the dress.  And the front was cut low to show ample cleavage and clung to her.

“You were right Trace, that dress is incredible.” Lance, commented.

“I told you!” he, laughed in return.