“Tell me why we’re here again?” young Justin Timberlake all but whined as the five boys climbed out of the rented Jeep Cherokee.

“Well, JC wanted to find his Hard Rock Café mystery girl, I’d like to see what Ethan been doing with his life, and we got you here,” Joey said throwing his arm around Justin’s shoulders, “Because we reminded you that the campus will be crawling with co-eds of all shapes and hair colors.”

Justin’s jaw dropped as a leggy red-head walked by. “Why didn’t we go to college, again?” he mumbled to JC.

“I’m beginning to wonder that, myself,” JC replied shaking his head as another young knockout crossed their path.

“Ok, focus,” Lance cut in. “Where the hell are we going, Joey?”

“You know, that theater,” Joey said shrugging.

“Still can’t remember the name, Joe?” Chris snickered. “I always thought Alzheimer’s would get me first,” he continued in mock condolence.

“Listen, grandpa,” Joe said shooting the older man a glare. “I know exactly where we are. This is Ruggles right here,” he said pointing to the large building in front of them. “We just ask someone around here where the theater is and we should be cool.”

“Did Joey just make sense?” Lance teased.

Did I miss the apocalypse? JC thought, reminded of his mystery-girl’s glib remark in the restaurant.

“I have my moments.” Joe smiled good-humoredly. With that he strode over to a pair of girls having a cigarette on the steps of Ruggles. “Excuse me, ladies. Do you think you could tell me where the theater is?” he spouted charmingly.

“Yeah sure,” one of the girls said, exhaling a puff of smoke. “Just go around the corner here and follow the path. You should spot is easy.”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Joe winked and turned back to his friends as the girls rolled their eyes, unimpressed. “Follow the leader, boys,” Joe said to his friends, who had caught the girls’ reaction to Joe’s “charm” and were desperately trying to suppress their laughter. “What?” Joe demanded, becoming self-conscious.

Chris wrapped his arm around Joe’s shoulder as they began to walk. “Joe, lets just say you should re-think your tactics if your trying to make the co-eds swoon.”

The others released their laughter as they made their way up the path as the girl directed. “Whatever,” Joey mumbled, shrugging off the remark. The group made their way up the walkway; eyes open looking for their destination.

“Dean Pierce Theater!” Joey exclaimed. “That’s it- see! Told y’all I knew what I was doing!”

“Ok, buddy, don’t be too proud of yourself, there,” JC kidded, slapping Joey on the back.

“Hey, I got us where we were going didn’t I?” Joe countered.

“That you did, Magellan,” Chris sighed, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Truly, you are a superior leader.”

“Shut up,” Joey laughed, slightly shoving Chris as they walked up the stairs.

“Can anyone tell me where the hell Kat and Erin are?” Ethan called out to the cast who were scattered about the theater waiting for rehearsal to start. A spattering of “No’s” and “Not a clue’s” came from around the orchestra seating.

“Kat had a game tonight,” Kevin called from his seat. “It should have been over by now, though.”

“Ok, guys! We’ll give ‘em ten minutes and then we’ll start!” Ethan called out as he leaped from the edge of the stage. He strode down the aisle toward the back of the theater. Just as he was about the pull open the lobby door, it swung ajar. “Whoa,” Ethan mumbled, stumbling backward to avoid being hit.

“Ethan! Hey, man, surprise,” Joe grinned taking his friend’s hand.

“Jesus Christ, Joe,” Ethan smirked back. “What the hell are you guys doing here, already?”

“We came to absorb a little culture,” Lance laughed shaking Ethan’s hand as well. “How is going, Ethan?”

“Not bad, not bad,” Ethan replied shaking everyone else’s hands. “And MTV tells me you boys are doing just fine.”

“Yeah well, what can I say?” Justin shrugged. “The girlies all love me and I make the rest of ‘em look good,” he continued eliciting groans from everyone and a slap upside the head from JC.

“Hey, watch the hair, man!” Justin griped.

“How could I miss it?” JC smirked.

“Well, I don’t think your going to find any culture here, boys,” Ethan started. “We’re just doing some acting exercises tonight, some improve and stuff. It just about the only thing Mien Director will let me handle on my own,” he laughed, peering through the small round windows or the lobby doors.

“We’re boring you, E?” Joe said swatting Ethan in the arm.

“Nah, I’m just waiting on a couple of cast members of the female persuasion,” Ethan said shaking his head. “Joe, do you remember Kat McBride?”

“The girl who lived across the hall from you when you moved to SoHo?” Joe asked thoughtfully. “I remember you talking about her but I think I only saw her once. Dark hair? Kinda scrawny?”

“That’s her but she’s all grown up now,” Ethan laughed thinking of how slight and lanky Kat used to be. “She’s a sophomore here now, and my Ophelia, and she’s late. Anyway, you guys can just take a seat back here and I’m gonna go get this party started.”

“See ya later,” Joe said as Ethan walked back up the aisle towards the stage.

“Cast on stage!” he called to the dozen or so bodies strewn throughout the room.

The five boys settled into their seats in back as the house lights went dim and the stage lights came on.

Less than thirty seconds later the lobby doors burst open revealing two very harried girls. The commotion they made caused the guys turn around. They caught nothing but a glimpse of the girls’ faces as they hurried down the aisle.

“Sorry Ethan!” the blond called out as the two jogged toward the stage.

“Kat, Erin!” Ethan called pleasantly from the stage. “How nice of you to grace us with your presence. I do hope we didn’t keep you from anything.”

“Overtime, Overtime,” the dark-haired one, presumably Kat, called back trying to catch her breath as she dumped her bag on a seat in the front row.

“Whatever, Kit-Kat, just get up here,” Ethan said resisting the urge to laugh.

“So, forceful, Ethan,” Kat smirked as she propped herself up onto the edge of the stage, not bothering with the stairs. “Did I strike a nerve? Is tardiness your pet peeve?” she continued, batting her eyelashes and grinning evilly.

“Only when its combined with chronic sarcasm and no remorse,” Ethan replied calmly as Kat skipped over to Erin, who had used the stairs.

In the back, JC squinted to make out the faces on stage. This Kat seemed to resemble the girl he’d met earlier today but he couldn’t see her face clearly enough to be sure. Her voice and the remarks that came out of it certainly sounded like the girl he’d met that day but he didn’t want to get his hopes up until he could see her face better. She’d had her back turned to him since she breezed through the doors and now that she faced him, she stood toward the back of the stage in the shadow of one of the curtains that framed it.

“Ok guys, tonight we’re not going to be running lines. I’m going to take you through some improvisational exercises. If you were in Becket last winter or Camelot last spring you know where this is heading. I know there are a few new faces here so I’m gonna have a few of the veterans get up here and show you what I’m talking about. Now if you’ve ever seen the show, Whose Line is it Anyway? you should recognize some of these skits.” Ethan’s speech has elicited some groans and a good chunk of rolling eyes. He stepped back to look at his cast, rubbing his hands together as if trying to make the decision he’d already made in the back of his mind.

“Ok, let’s see,” he sighed. “Lets get Kevin, Kat, Erin, David, and Kyle up here. C’mon, snap to it,” he coaxed as the five begrudgingly steped forward. “Alright, this exercise is called ‘the party’ and here’s how it works. Kevin, our trusty host, is going to go backstage and the rest of the gang here are going to be his party guests. Not just any party guests, though. Each of them is going to have a quirk, decided by the rest of the cast, that Kevin is going to have to try and guess by their behavior.” As Ethan explained, grins began to curl the lips of the rest of the cast as they realized that Kat, Erin, David, and Kyle’s collective fate lay in their hands. “Kat, front and center,” Ethan barked.

“Yes, sir,” Kat smirked with a mock salute.

JC could see her clearly as she stepped into the light of center stage. He heard a muffled “Whoa” come from Joey’s direction and knew he was seeing the same thing. JC stared slack-jawed at the girl whose magnetic presence filled the stage as it had filled the restaurant earlier that day. As JC stared intently at the dark-haired beauty the rest of the guys assumed that his hunch had been right and this was, in fact, the Hard Rock Café mystery woman.

“Hey, man, is that her?” questioned Justin with a half smile, nodding toward the girl on stage. JC’s only response was to lean forward in his seat and nod distractedly. “Well, the boy’s finally developed some taste,” Justin smirked eliciting a slight sideways glare from JC. Justin’s comment was loaded and everyone knew it. Jaclyn had rubbed him the wrong way from minute one. He had constantly warned JC about her and if there was one thing JC hated as much as being lied to, it was being told, “I told you so”.

Up on stage, the cast had decided the fate of Kevin’s “guests”. Kat’s quirk would be multiple personality disorder, Erin would be a pathological lier, David would be an overzealous televangelist, and poor Kyle would be transvestite diva. With Kyle’s assignment, the rest of the cast began to double over with laughter.

“Yeah, we’ll see how funny it is when you guys are up here and we’re deciding you’re terrible fates,” Kat stated devilishly with that familiar gleam in her eye.

“Ok, guests off to the side. Let’s bring out our host!” Ethan said climbing down off the stage and taking a seat in the front row.

Kevin sauntered out from backstage and waited for the arrival of his first guest.

“Knock, Knock,” Kat said, suppressing a giggle. Kevin walk across stage to open the invisible door. “Hi, I’m Kimmy!” Kat exclaimed with a little-girl voice, leaping into Kevin’s arms. “Carry me!” she sighed, majestically. The room erupted in laughter as Kat continued her little girl antics. “Did you know the a human head weighs eight pounds?” Kat grinned.

“No, I didn’t. That’s a good thing for say, a little girl trapped in a woman’s body to know,” Kevin said guessing at Kat’s quirk.

“Nope, keep going,” Ethan laughed.

“Knock, Knock,” Erin postured.

“Ok, Kimmy, I have to go get the door now,” Kevin said putting Kat on the floor.

“No fair!” Kat whined plopping down Indian style on the edge of the stage, an exaggerated pout on her face.

Kevin, again, opened the non-existent door. “Hi, there!” he smiled.

“Hi, I’m Erin. Sorry I’m late but I had to stop off and save some little children from an orphanage that had caught on fire,” Erin smiled sincerely, shaking Kevin’s hand.

“That’s quite alright. You must be a super hero or something, huh,” Kevin said striking out again.

“Nope!” Ethan shouted.

“No, silly, I’m not a super hero,” Erin continued. “But I did head-up the CIA for a few years before I became an acrobat.” Her face was deceptively serious.

“Well then, that’s interesting…” Kevin said scratching his head. Just then Kat poked him in the back. “Yes, Kimmy?”

“Kimmy? What the hell are you talking about,” Kat said frustrated, clearly having matured into quite the testy woman. “Never mind, look, I thought this was supposed to be a party. There’s no food, no music, and no furniture for that matter,” Kat motioned to the empty stage, “and as far as I can tell, blondie and me are your only guests. What kind of kinky crap are you trying to pull here?” Kat spouted, arms crossed.

“Well you certainly went from one end of the spectrum to the other, huh? Maybe you should get checked for multiple personality disorder.” The cast erupted into applause as Kevin guessed correctly.

“Take a seat Kat!” Ethan called, clapping.

“Fine, I’ll sit down, but that was a lame quirk… it was way too easy!” Kat said good-heartedly through her mock pout.

“Wow, she’s got a lot of spunk, there, JC,” Lance teased. “Sure you’ll be able to handle her?”

“She was really good,” JC said pointedly ignoring Lance’s comment. It was too early to think about “handling” anything. He was still in shock that he’d actually found her after such a random encounter. All he knew was that the situation was a little too coincidental not to play out. He was still hurting from his last heartbreak but Joey was right. It was time to get back into the swing of things. Even if they didn’t hit off or just became friends, maybe this experience would be what he needed to get out of his funk. The coincidence was just too intriguing. Maybe it was all meant to be. Jesus, Josh, you’re getting a tad bit ahead of yourself here. What if she didn’t see what I saw to begin with? What if all of this was just plain coincidence? Things like this must happen everyday. Talk to her first and then think about ‘meant to be’, JC chided himself.

The action had continued up on stage through JC’s introspection. Kevin had guessed Dave as soon as he began to reminisce about a personal conversation he had with “God’s son, Jesus” and Kyle didn’t get three words out of his mouth before he was made. Erin lasted the longest but as soon as she said something about having been the second gunman on the grassy knoll, she was shot down as well.

“Let’s hear it for the guinea pigs!” Ethan grinned, climbing to his feet as everyone clapped. “Ok, lets try this one with a some of our newbies and then we’ll move on to something else.”

The night flew by in a haze of ridiculous situations and hilarious spontaneous characters. After Kat had been knocked out in the first skit she was determined to make up for it. She had everyone clutching their stomachs in laughter during Ethan’s “Pure Improv” exercise. She was given a topic and she had to speak off the top of her head for as long as she could keep it up. Erin suggested “cheese” as her topic. “Gee, could you be a little more abstract, there, Er?” had been Kat’s response.

“C’mon, Kat, the challenge has been made,” Ethan quipped. “Since when do you duck a challenge?”

***“Fine. Ok, cheese,” Kat said thinking for a moment before starting her tirade. “I dunno, I’d say that my imagination… that stops me sometimes. ‘Cus when you’re a kid, imagination is fun and no one tries to stop it but when you get older, you all of a sudden use your imagination to keep you from doing things. At least for me, like I’ll wanna do something and I’ll just think ‘Oh what if?’… you know that thing?

“Let’s say, for instance, I’m out of cheese. Ok? And then I’ll think ‘Oh what if I go to the store and they’re out of cheese?’ I’d be like ‘How can you be out of cheese?’ and they’d be like ‘What do you mean how can we be out of cheese? You’re out of cheese… people run out of cheese!’ Then I’d be like ‘Yeah but you’re a store, you should have cheese stocked up in the back for people like me coming in looking for cheese.’

“And that’s when they call the manager over who thinks he so cool for being the manager, cus his picture is framed in the front of the store cus he’s the manager. And he’d be like ‘What seems to be the problem Ma’am’… which to me is so condescending, like ‘little lady’, And I’d be like ‘The Little Lady’s problem-’ and he’d be like ‘Who’s a little lady?’ and I’d be like ‘shut up and listen to me… you’re out of cheese and I want some.’ And he’s like ‘well how about some cottage cheese?’ … like he’s gonna negotiate the situation… he’s a diplomat ‘cus he’s the manager… you know? And I be like ‘I don’t want cottage cheese, I want cheddar cheese, sharp cheddar cheese is what I came in for… sharp cheddar cheese and cottage cheese are not the same thing… just cus it has the name cheese in the title doesn’t make it a cheese at all… it’d be like going into a musical instrument store and saying ‘I’d like to buy a trumpet and they’d say ‘Well we’re all out of trumpets but would you like a shoe horn?’ See that’s not the same thing, is it, Mr. Manager.’

“And he starts getting nervous and everything cus a crowd has formed and he starts feeling humiliated cus they’re all sitting around mumbling… ‘What’s going on?’… ‘I dunno, she wants some cheese…’ And so he just SLAPS me right across the face! And so that’s when Skip, the part time guy who works there, who hates the manager cus he thinks he so cool for being the manger and treats Skip like shit cus he’s just the part time guy… and Skip’s gonna quit in the fall and go back to school anyway… he doesn’t even need the money… he’s from a wealthy family… he’s just doing it for the experience cus he family wants him to work one summer.

“So anyway he takes the hose and goes to spray the manager right in the eye, but that’s when he’s leaning down to pick up the cottage cheese. So he misses him and gets this old woman who’s standing right behind him, and she’s there picking out an avocado, cus the older you get the less you eat and all she wants is the avocado. So she screams out ‘My eye! I’ve been sprayed in the eye with a produce hose!’

“And so that’s when her nephew, who’s visiting from Austin, Texas, who’s two aisles over picking out tortilla chips cus he’s thinking they’re gonna have some guacamole… little does he know its one avocado. And so he starts running, ‘I’ll help you Aunt So-and-so!’… And then when he’s running down the aisle he slips on the water from the produce hose… breaks his leg, breaks his arm, bruises two ribs, gets a stitch put in his cheekbone… just one… but still it’s a stitch… chaos breaks out and its all over the news ‘Mental Patient Demands Cheese: Causes Riot’ and I’m like ‘I didn’t even want the cheese!’.”***

The theater had erupted in applause and laughter as Kat attempted to catch her breath. She bowed dramatically, having won some of her dignity back from the “party” fiasco. “I’m here all week,” she kidded.

As 11:30 drew closer, Ethan decided to pack it in. “Ok, guys, we’re gonna stop here. I know I have something better to do and I’m sure you all do as well. So beat it!” he barked. “Good job everybody,” he added as everyone scattered.

“Kat, you continually amaze me! That was awesome. I can’t even find the words-”

“Kevin, I’m NOT going to Flannery’s!” Kat exclaimed before Kevin could get any further.

“Ok, Jeeze,” Kevin huffed. “See if I ever pay you an honest compliment again!”

“Pay me an honest compliment and maybe I’d go to Flannery’s.”

“Mean that?”

“I dunno. Maybe,” she shrugged. “But tonight I’m definitely not going anywhere.”

“Fine, fine.”

“Ok, what’s going on? Both you and Jordan, two people who have been known to carry on about something until they can’t remember what they were talking about in the first place, have been giving up way too easily, lately. Is there something I should know about?”

“No. Maybe we’re just getting tired of being shut down every time we open our mouths,” Kevin said, his demeanor light, but with an air of sincere bitterness.

“I’m sorry if I do that,” Kat said. “If I do I don’t realize it but I’ve a bit distracted lately. One of these nights, I promise I’ll stop into Flannery’s but I really can’t tonight. I have to be up in like five hours as it is.”

Kevin nodded and gave Kat a quick hug before Erin started yelling for her to hurry up.

“I’m coming!” she called back. “Later, Kev.”

“Bye, kiddo.”

“I told you he liked you!” Erin rasped as Kat joined her toward the back of the theater.

“Oh my God, Erin, he does not!” Kat said in such a way that made Erin know it was Kat’s final word on the subject. She’d been using that tone a lot lately.

“Whatever you say,” Erin admonished. She still thought Kevin was completely in love with her friend but she was willing to let Kat believe whatever she wanted to believe. Erin had seen what Gabriel’s death (and life for that matter) had done to Kat and so she was willing to cut Kat some slack when it came to her love life- or lack thereof. “You ready to go, Kat-Lady?”

“Yup,” Kat replied throwing her team bag over her shoulder. It was overflowing, every item in it in danger of falling out as she and Erin bounded towards the door.

“Not even going to say goodbye, Kat? I’m hurt,” Ethan sighed. He’d joined the guys at their seats promptly after dispersing with the cast.

“I was gonna say goodbye,” Kat said shifting her eyes around the room with exaggerated guilt. She dropped her bag to the ground and ran over to give Ethan a hug. In her haste she didn’t even glance at his companions.

JC’s heart caught in his throat as he saw Kat running towards them. He couldn’t take his eyes away from her and it seemed like his friends couldn’t take their eyes off him- waiting for some kind of reaction. Sensing this, he didn’t give them the satisfaction. It took all his energy not to give away the fact that his heartbeat was racing and he felt like he’d pass out from the anticipation.

He felt his body react to the roller coaster of emotions he went through; the low as she picked up her bag and turned to leave without ever glancing in his direction and then the high as Ethan jogged after her to bring her back and introduce her. What the hell is happening to me? I saw her for about five minutes today and now she’s have effects on me no one ever has before. He slipped and let his face contort for a moment to reveal some of what he was feeling. Lance immediately caught it and gave a reassuring pat on the back to his confused friend. “Don’t worry man. I’m sure Ethan will bring her back.” Lance said, chuckling under his breath so that only JC could hear.

“Wait up, there, little girl,” Ethan called as Kat turned to leave. He cut in front of her as she made he way to the door. Erin let out an exasperated sigh.

“I have some friends I want you to meet,” Ethan said, ignoring Erin’s non-verbal protest and pushing against Kat's shoulders so that she walked backward toward the guys.

“I have work to do Kat,” Erin sighed, irritated.

“You always have work, Erin,” Kat said over Ethan’s shoulder. “The dorm is a two minute walk from here. It’s not like getting back from the drama building. I’m sure you’ll be safe so you can go ahead if you want.”

“No, I’ll just wait,” Erin conceded leading back against the wall. “Who knows what can happen in 2 minutes?”

“And what am I gonna do? Protect you?”

“I dunno.”

“Oh, I get it! We’ll die together, right?”

“Fine, then. You’re right. I’m just gonna leave.”

“Ok, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Kat giggled as Ethan continued to walk her backward over to the guys. When she turned, she came face to face with the mysterious gray eyes she'd collided with that afternoon.

“Whoa,” she mumbled, almost inaudible. She appeared to have had the wind knocked out of her for a moment before she recovered. “If it isn’t the Good Samaritan of the Hard Rock Café,” she said, trying to appear less shaken then she was and failing miserably.

“Hey, you guys know each other?” Ethan asked, a bit taken back.

“Well I don’t think we ever caught each other’s names,” Kat started before JC could say the same.

“Yea, “ Joey piped in. “We ran into her and a friend at the Hard Rock and then some idiot literally ran into her and this big hunk of a knight in shining armor came to her rescue,” he continued patting JC on the shoulder.

“Well, let me formally introduce you then,” Ethan said digesting the information as Kat and JC tried desperately not to blush at how Joey put their encounter. “This is my friend Joey, who I think you may have met way back when… the SoHo days,” Ethan began with a chuckle.

“Oh, yeah. I think I remember the name but I don’t really remember ever meeting you other than this afternoon,” Kat said shaking Joe’s hand. “And my roommate certainly remembers, she wouldn’t shut up about it. I think she’s kicking herself right now because she keeps thinking of better ways she could have ‘bitched you out,’ I think is how she put it.”

“Well, I for one, am glad she didn’t get a chance,” Joe laughed. “I don’t think I could handle any more abuse. And I have a very high tolerance for abuse being with these guys. You can assure her that her icy stare said more than any words could’ve.”

“I’m sure that will comfort her,” Kat laughed.

“Anyway,” Ethan said interrupting the two. “This is Lance, Justin, Chris, and JC.” Kat shook hands and smiled sweetly as she was introduced to each of them. When she reached JC, she purposely tried not to look him in the eye, again failing miserably. As their hands touched, it was almost electric, causing her head to jerk up, involuntarily meeting the eyes that had started this whole mess. “JC, huh?” she said trying to mask the nervousness in her voice. “Nice to put a name to the face,” she continued.

Damn, I hope he doesn’t think I’ve been thinking about his face, now. She chided herself. But you have been. She stopped her internal commentary as soon as it started. If anything scared her it was when she argued with herself. It reminded her too much of how her mind used to function. Ambivalence had once protruded every cell of her body, pulling her in two directions at all times. Anything that even reminded her of that time in her life scared the hell out of her.

“Same here, Kat,” JC said sincerely, trying to hide the same feeling of electricity Kat was trying to hide.

On the outside they both kept up the appearances they were striving for. The handshake was no different than any of the others she’d engaged in second before. It was a simple coincidence and, of course, they were pleasantly surprised to have seen each other again. But it was nothing more.

On the inside, they were both screaming. The physical connection of the handshake had sent an electrical current searing throughout their bodies. Both of their hearts beat wildly at the contact while there pulses quickened and their brains were going into overdrive trying to process it all and find a logical explanation for what they were experiencing.

Without anyone ever knowing, they released hands, not lingering more than any of the others had. She backed up once again to Ethan’s side, gaining the physical but not emotional distance she wanted. As she backed up a thought struck her that pulled her, somewhat, out of the confusion she was experiencing. “Wait a second,” she said wagging her finger and the five boys. “I know you guys,” she said trying to get out the thought her brain hadn’t even completed yet. “You’re those, those… guys… help me out Ethan,” she said leaning her ear over toward her friend.

“Nsync,” he whispered, cupping his hand over is mouth so that the guys couldn’t see.

“Nsync!” she piped up with a pleased smile on her face as soon as the first syllable left Ethan’s lips.

The guys laughed but were also a bit relieved. Secretly, they’d all been wondering when or if she’d recognize them. Their egos, though somewhat bruised that she couldn’t remember their name, were still intact.

“Wow,” she continued. “Its really cool to meet you guys.”

“Well, since you couldn’t remember our name, I’ll assume you not a fan?” Justin said good-humoredly.

“Yes, 'fan' would be a strong word,” Kat began. “Oh but I certainly won’t make the effort to change the radio station, or anything,” she continued, regretting immediately the way it had sounded. “I mean-”

“Don’t worry about it,” JC laughed, cutting her off before she could apologize. “We will occasionally associate with those who don’t want to marry and/or worship us.” He eyes shone as his spoke, saying everything he was feeling while he desperately tried to hide any extreme emotion in his voice other than humor.

“Well, its nice to meet you, anyway,” Kat said smiling at everyone. “But unfortunately, I can’t stick around because my bed is calling and I have to up at 5:30.”

“5:30 in the morning?” Chris blurted out. “What the hell for?”

“I’m on the soccer team,” she explained motioning to her bag, which was growing heavier by the minute. “We have a ‘team run’ in the morning at six.”

“Oh yeah,” Ethan started, “How’d the game go tonight? Who was it against?”

“Harvard, and we won… so go us,” she said obviously faining her enthusiasm.

“That was a passionate, Kit-Kat,” Ethan chuckled.

“I’m just tired, I need my bed.”

“Well, that’s too bad cus we were gonna invite you to come paint the town with us but…”

“I’m sure it would have been pretty damn fun but I seriously need to get off my aching tootsies and get some sleep. I was nice meeting all of you and I hope you all get your groove on… get funky with your bad selves or whatever, tonight,” she chuckled

“Thanks, I think,” Lance, kidded.

JC watched as she smiled at everyone. As she kissed Ethan on the cheek he felt an unexplainable pang of jealously course through his body. Their eyes caught one another for a brief moment before she turned to leave. Her look seemed to acknowledge something between them that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. “Good night!” she called over her shoulder as her slipped through the door and out of his sight.

“So?” Ethan said tossing a nod at JC as the six guys started to leave.

“So what?” he responded innocently.

“You like her, huh?” Ethan clarified,

“I… uh… it’s a…” JC mumbled, not able to form a coherent thought.

“Is that you final answer?” Chris quipped.

“Knock it off,” JC said tossing an annoyed glare at Chris.

He pulled Ethan back to walk with him behind the rest so they could talk.

“I don’t know if I like her, “ JC started. “I just know I’d like to get to know her better, is all. I’m just thinking that all this has been very coincidental and I’d like to see where it goes.” He looked over hopefully at Ethan.

“Oh, no,” Ethan started. “You want my help?”

“Well her number would be helpful or at least an idea of how I can arrange to run into her again,” JC said, eyebrows raised.

“I dunno, JC, Kat’s been through a lot,” Ethan said as he stopped walking and watched the others pull further ahead. “She really had it tough and I know it seems like she’s got it together but this past year, especially, has been a real bitch for her. I don’t know if I could have pulled myself through half the shit she’s been through. And if something happens between you two and she ends up getting hurt again I don’t want to think I helped start it all.”

“Ethan, I can understand that your protective but if I could explain what’s been happening to me since I met her today, you’d understand that I can’t just let this go. This would haunt me forever… wondering ‘what if?’ I can’t promise that no one will get hurt but would you rather have her locked in a bubble where she can’t feel anything?”

“Ok,” Ethan sighed, “I’ll give you her number on two conditions.”

“Name ‘em.”

“You didn’t get it from me, even though I’m sure she’ll figure it out.”

“And two?”

“You let her take whatever you guys develop into at her pace. Like I said, she’s had it tough and she’s not going to be eager to open up anytime soon. Got it?”

“Yes,” JC agreed, his face the picture of perfect seriousness.

“Good, ‘cus that girl is very special to me and I would hate to have to kill you and ruin my buddy’s five part harmony.”

***NOTE: The area marked with the asterisks… AKA: Kat’s Cheese Speech… was taken from an Ellen Degenerous standup special called “The Beginning”. Its one of my favorite bits that she does so I just through it in there because I love it so much… other than that it really wasn’t necessary but its my story and I’ll through in whatever the hell I want!! Heehe… Anyway it’s pretty much an exact quote with a few emissions and changes. For example… Ellen ends it with “Lesbian Demands Cheese: Causes Riot,” and I couldn’t very well use that for Kat… so since Kat is a mental patient… Point A follows directly to Point B… get it? Ok… later…

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