Chapter 17

“AW SHIT!  My bad!  I wasn’t watchin’ where I was goin’.” Emenim, said to her.

Zoë, just looked at him for a brief moment, before regaining her composure.  “Nah, it’s ok.  I wasn’t paying attention either.  Sorry, bout that.” she, muttered embarrassed to death.  “I didn’t get any of my drink on you did I?” she, searched his overly large white T-shirt for any sings of her pink drink.

Emenim, looked down at his clothing.  “No, I’m straight.  But it looks like you got a lot on yourself.” he, chuckled a bit.  And then turned to one of his boys to gesture for something.  The guy grabbed some napkins that were laying on a table next to table JC, and Justin were sitting.  Watching this whole thing unfold.

The guy handed Emenim the napkins and he knelt down and started to wipe Zoë’s pants off.  But when she jumped back a bit, he looked up at her and smirk a something evil grin.  “Maybe you should do this.” he, said standing back up and handing her the napkins.

“Thanks” she, said taking the napkins and began scrubbing forcefully on her jeans trying to soak up all of the drink.

Looking back up, she caught the stares of her friends from their table.  The place she’d been intending to go, before smacking right into Emenim of all people. She looked back over to him.  “I think that does it.  Thanks for the napkins.” she, said giving her best smile.

“Hey it was my fault.  I should have been watchin’ where I was going.”

“Really, it’s ok!” Zoë, smiled not sure what to do.  He was really good looking.  And he had beautiful blue eyes.  But she was there with Nsync.  And he had known beef with them.  At least you’d think so through his music anyways.

“What’s your name?” he, asked.

“Zoë” she, answered still smiling.

“Well Zoë, I’m Em” he, started but she cut him off with a bit of a laugh.

“Emenim.  Yeah, I know who you are.”

“Well, hey let me at least buy you another drink, Zoë.” he, said grinning at her.

She caught the un-approving look on JC’s face out of the corner of her eye.  She could tell, he was not happy about her talking to him.  “Sure, I’d appreciate that!” she, said.  “Two can play this game.” she, thought to herself shooting a quick smile over to her friends.  But mainly at, JC.

“Let’s go get you that drink then!” he, laughed reaching out and placing his hand on the base of her back and leading her towards a table where a bunch of other people were sitting.
 

“She does realize that we don’t exactly get along with him, doesn’t she?” Britney, asked the group at the table.

“I’m not sure.” JC, muttered as he sat watching Zoë across the room at a table with Emenim and all his boys.

“Zoë’s not into all that stuff ya’ll she doesn’t know.  But I’ll got get her if you want me to.” Trace, offered.

“Nah, man.  Don’t go over there.  It’ll just start some shit.  He probably doesn’t even realize she’s with us.” Justin, told his friend.

“Well, not to be rude or intrude on the conversation here, but I haven’t seen her with any of you all night long.” Emmanuelle, pointed out.  “Who is she anyways?”

“That’s JC’s date to the AMA’s.” Trace, told her.

“Your date?” she, questioned JC.

“That’s Zoë.  They’ve been best friends since they were kids.” Justin, answered for JC seeing the building rage in his eyes as he starred across the room, not looking away from Zoë for more than a brief moment.  He was now totally oblivious to the fact that Emmanuelle was even sitting there next to him.
 

Zoë, was laughing hysterically at one of the guys sitting at the table with them.  He was going on and on about how some fan had approached Emenim in the restroom one day when they were out, wanting an autograph.

A couple hours must have passed since she’d joined them.  They were all really friendly and courteous.  Completely different than she’d of expected.  Emenim, always came across as this hard ass.  Always getting into trouble and everything.  But he was really a nice guy.  And funny as all get out too.  She hadn’t stopped laughing since she’d sat down with them.

Zoë, had completely forgotten about being upset with, JC for not paying any attention to her that night.  The group had a little laugh when they realized she was the girl that was on JC’s arm at the AMA’s in the green dress.  They teased her a bit about hanging with the guys, but it was all in good fun.  They didn’t mean anything by it.  Emenim, had actually admitted to her that he did like some of their music, and that the guys were really good dancers.
She was having a really good time.  She’d had a few drinks and had a nice little buzz going on.  It wasn’t like her to drink so much, but they were all drinking.  And they were all laughing.  And she was having a good time so she figured, what the heck.

A short while later one of the guys at the table was going on about another crazy fan encounter, when he suddenly stopped talking looking up behind Zoe.  Everyone turned around to see what he was looking at and seen JC standing right behind Zoë, as well as the rest of the crew of Nsync behind him.

“Oh hey, JC.” Zoë, said nonchalantly.

“Hey” he, said back his eyes darting back and forth from Zoë, to Emenim who was sitting in the chair next to her.  He could feel Emenim’s eyes sizing him up.  Or so he thought.  “We’re heading back to the hotel.  You ready to go?”

Zoë’s, smile turned into a frown.  “Already?  This early?  I’m having a good time!”

“Well, we got an early flight tomorrow.” he, said.

“Z, if ya don’t wanna go we can give ya lift back to your hotel later.” Emenim, offered.

JC’s, anger rose.  “Did he just call her, Z?  What the hell!  She better not even think about staying here with them.  Without us here!” he, thought to himself.

Zoë, looked up at JC.  She could tell by the expression on his face that he wanted her to go with them.  He was giving her one of those looks as if to say ‘DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT’ as she pondered her decision.  She then noticed that Emmanuelle was among the guys, and Britney.

Suddenly, the anger and jealousy she’d had earlier that night for JC ditching her for that girl came back.  And she decided this was her chance to get even with him.  Let him know how it feels like to be dogged, so to speak.

She looked over at Emenim, and the rest of the guys who were all looking at her waiting on her decision.  “You wouldn’t mind?” she, asked.

“Naw, girl we don’t mind.” Emenim, answered followed by one of the other guys saying “Stay and party with us.”

“Then I’ll stay!” she, shot all the guys and girls at the table a smile, and then looked back up at JC.  “I’m gonna stay here.  But I’ll be there later.  Don’t wait up.”

Chris, who’d been annoyed by the fact that Zoë was hanging out with Emenim and his crew since he’d seen her at the table with them earlier, decided to step in.  He’d be damned if he was gonna leave Zoë with them.

“REALLY, Zo!  We got an early flight tomorrow, you should go with us!” he, told her in a somewhat stern voice.

Emenim, turned and glanced over at Chris giving him this mean ass look.  “We’re probably not gonna be here much longer.  It’s alright dude.  We’ll make sure she gets back to the hotel ok.”

“I can sleep on the plane tomorrow if I need too.  It’ll be fine!  I’m having fun and I’m not ready to leave.  Ya’ll go.  I’ll see you in the morning!” Zoë, smiled at Chris.

JC, turned to Chris and the rest of the guys.  “Let’s just go.  Zoë’s, a BIG girl, she can take care of HERSELF.” he, said not even trying to hide the sarcasm and annoyance in his voice.

Justin, gave JC a questioning look to see if he was serious.  And he got his answer when JC briskly walked away in anger.  “See ya later, Zo.” he, told her as he followed.

The rest of the guys said goodbye to her and Britney waved as they all walked off to leave following JC.
 

Around 3:30 in the morning Zoë came stumbling into the hotel lobby, escorted by Emenim and a couple of his boys.  They were all pretty drunk, and making a lot of noise joking around and laughing.

Mike, looked up from the paper he’d been reading.  JC, had asked him to wait up to make sure Zoë got in ok, and to come let him know once she’d gotten there.

“Zoë!” Mike, called to her, as he made his way over to where her and the guys were.

Zoë, looked over at the person calling her name and seen Mike walking towards them.  She groaned.  “Waiting up on ME?” she, asked as he stepped up to her.

“That’s my job.” he, told her giving her a look over.  She was drunk.  Her eyes were all squinty and he heard the slur in her voice when she’d spoken to him.

“Nooooo!” she, drawled out.  “Your job is to look after Nsync.  I’m not Nsync.  I’m ZOE!” she, laughed.

“Yeah, and your drunk too!” Mike, laughed.

Zoë, gave him an innocent look.  “I’m not drunk.  I’m not a drink!” she, laughed joined by the guys still standing with her.

“OK, whatever you say.” Mike, said putting his hand out to lead her to the elevators.

Zoë, stumbled a bit as she went to walk, and looked up to Mike who raised his eyebrow, as if to say ‘Oh really?’.  She smiled at him.  “Ok, maybe just a wittle bit!” she, giggled.

“Girl, let’s get you up to your room.” he, laughed at her.  He’d never seen her drunk before.  She was too cute and funny.

“Hold up!” Emenim, said.  “We promised her boy band friends we’d make sure she got back to her hotel ok.  We should walk her to her room.”

Mike, looked over Emenim and his friends.  It was obvious they were drunk too, and just trying to be difficult.  “Thanks man.  But I think I can handle it from here.  Besides, the floor they’re staying on is closed off.  Only the guys and their guests are allowed up on that floor.  Sorry!”

“Well, Z here is a guest.  And we’re her guests.  So that shouldn’t be a problem.” Emenim, challenged.

Zoë, laughed.  “He’s got a point!”

“Zoë, you need to go to bed. You gotta get up in a couple hours to catch your plane.  And I’m tired.  I’ve been sitting down here waiting on you for two hours.  Now let’s get you to your room.”  Mike, told her leading her towards the elevators.

“They just wanna walk me to my room!  They’re not coming in!  What’s the big fucking deal?” she, mumbled in frustration.

“FINE!” Mike, sighed.  “They can walk you to your room.  I don’t care at this point, I just want to go to bed!” he, grumbled.

Zoë, smiled.  She got her way.  She was so giddy from all the alcohol she’d consumed.  She turned to see that Emenim and the guys had been following them all along.  “Ya’ll were gonna come anyways, huh.” she, laughed.

“Well, we’re staying here too!” one, of the guys answered.

Mike, rolled his eyes.  “Should have known.” he, thought to himself.

They five of them loaded onto the elevator, and headed up to the tenth floor.  Mike, stood watching the other four in annoyance.  He was tired, and wanted to go to sleep.  Yet these four seemed to be wide awake and were joking and laughing again about something that he didn’t seem to find the least bit funny.

When the elevator door opened on the tenth floor their laughter poured out of the elevator and into the halls.  Frank, one of the other bodyguards that had got the lucky job of playing hall security that night, stepped in front of the door to block whoever was going to get off.  Then he seen Mike, and backed up nodding at him.

Zoë, went to follow Mike out of the elevator and stumbled almost falling to the ground but Emenim grabbed her by her arm and wrapped his arm around her waist as they all exploded into laughter again.  “Ya’ll are gonna have to keep it down!” Mike, warned them.  “The guys are sleeping.”

“Sorry, man!” one, of the guys said trying to control his laughter.

“Just walk her to her room, and get it over with.” Mike, told them growing more annoyed by the minute.

“Where’s your room?” Emenim, asked still half laughing.

Zoë, busted up laughing again.  She stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked at all the doors.  “I don’t remember which one is mine!”

The guys started laughing again with her, shaking their heads. “You’re a trip!  Do you got your key card?” Emenim, asked her.

“Yeah, it’s in my back pocket.” Zoë, slurred as she reached into her back pocket and pulled it out.  She handed the card to him, and he looked it over to get her room number, and then started leading her down the hall to her room.

Once, there he slid the card through, and opened the door.  “Here ya go Z.”

“Thanks you guys!  I had fun.  Ya’ll aren’t as mean as you look!” she, laughed.

The guys laughed at her remark.  “Yeah, well you aren’t as nice as you look!” Emenim, told her still laughing.

Joey, whose room was right across the hall from Zoe’s heard the noise in the hallway and got up to investigate it.  He opened his door and found Zoë standing in her doorway, looking VERY drunk and Emenim with two friends in the hallway laughing and talking to her.

“Zoë, are you drunk?” Joey, asked starring at her.

Everyone turned to see Joey, standing in his doorway his hair stinking up in all different directions, still half asleep.  They all burst into laughter.  Zoë, couldn’t even answer Joey she was laughing to hard.

“OK…OK…guys it’s time to go.  You’ve officially managed to start waking people up.” Mike, said walking down to where they were to escort the guys back to the elevator.

“We’re going!” Emenim, told him.  He turned to Zoë.  “Nite Z girl.  We’ll catch ya round!” he, smiled and leaned in to give her a hug.

The others followed saying goodnight to Zoë, and giving her a hug and then turned to walk off down the hallway.  But not before making a remark to Joey.  “Nice hair Joe!”, and they started laughing again and then proceeded to walk on down to the elevators, Mike right behind them.

Zoë, stood laughing in the doorway, as she watched them disappear into the elevator.  Then she turned her attention back to Joey, who was still standing there giving Zoë an annoyed look.  “WHAT?” she, giggled.  She couldn’t get over his crazy hair.  For some reason she found it terribly funny.

“You’re drunk!” Joey, answered matter of factly, shaking his head.

“So what if I am?” she, slurred back.

Joey, couldn’t help but laugh at that.  She was wasted.  “Just go to bed, Zoë.  We gotta get up in a couple hours!” he, told her half laughing.

“OK…nighty night Joey Woey.” Zoë, giggled as she shut her door.

Joey, rolled his eyes at her in amusement and then shut his door and went back to bed.