Chapter Two: The Loves and Revenge of Lisa
(flashback)
JC was stunned when Lisa Williams joined the group of friends on the beach one evening to simply hangout. Something about the girl drew him beyond her being the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Lisa was bright, friendly and not giggly like most other girls her age. He guessed it could be called sophistication. That made her sound snobby — and she was hardly a snob if she kept company with the surfing crowd. She just seemed older somehow. JC had seen Lisa around with her friends before, but she had never come down to the beach until that night.
“Don’t set your sights on that one,” JC’s friend Tony warned, seeing JC watch Lisa’s every move.
JC merely looked at him.
“I’m telling you, dude, don’t bother. Check out her ring finger.”
JC was disheartened to see a small diamond on her left hand.
“I hear he is some older guy who goes to a fancy college somewhere. You like older girls and she acts older.”
JC smiled sadly. “Dude, you just broke my heart and I didn’t have to say a word.”
Tony shrugged. “I know the way you think. Lisa is off limits.”
Despite Tony’s warnings, JC didn’t give up hope. Lisa started joining the group more often. She never flirted. She never hooked-up. She seemed to be there for the companionship of people her own age. Maybe the older boy friend wasn’t cutting it.
“Hey, Lisa.” JC sat on the sand beside her as a bunch of them gathered around a small bonfire.
“Hello, JC.”
Her smile made his knees weak. He was heartily glad he was sitting down. “Having fun?”
“I don’t know that this qualifies as fun exactly, but I am having a good time.”
“Cool.”
Lisa grasped for a subject. “So what are your plans now? For the future, I mean.”
“I-um-I’ve joined a music group.”
“So music is going to be your career?”
”Yeah, I pretty much live and breathe it.”
Lisa managed to draw the shy young man out. It wasn’t long before they would wander away from the rest for walks on the beach. JC shared his hopes and dreams with her. She never mocked him or told him he was crazy. She was always positive and encouraging.
JC discovered Lisa had been the daughter of well-to-do parents. They had been killed in a boating mishap when she had been fifteen. Having no close relatives, she had come to live with her father’s best friend and business partner and his family. The man had a son who was six years older than Lisa. Despite the age differences, the young man had become smitten with her and when he was home from college they were inseparable. More recently, they’d become engaged at Christmas. Lisa rarely spoke of her fiancé and only in the vaguest terms. JC wondered about their true relationship.
After more than a month of private conversations, JC began taking Lisa’s hand as they walked. Later he ventured an arm around her shoulders so occasionally their bodies would brush together. Next his arm would settle at her waist, pulling her to his side. He was keenly aware of her softness yielding to the more angular plains of his body. With each tentative step, Lisa made no objection or comment.
After two months, he halted her one night and turned her to face him. He lifted her chin in his hand and kissed her softly. Once again, she didn’t pull away. In fact, her eyes were closed and small smile tipped up her lips at the corners. Encouraged, he pressed his lips to hers once more. She leaned into him as she opened to him. Tunneling his hands into her hair, he kissed her fully and hungrily.
Lisa was well aware what she was allowing JC to do was wrong, but it felt so wonderful. He was so passionate, so unrestrained. Despite her affection for Greg, she realized he always held back, treating her like a fragile doll. He’d never been swept away in the moment or lost control. Putting her arms around JC’s neck, she pressed against his lean body, feeling him grow aroused. Greg had never… “JC!” she gasped, tearing her mouth from his.
“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry, Lisa! I—I …”
She put her fingers to his lips to halt his words. “Don’t be sorry. I wanted you to do it.”
Taking her hand, he kissed her fingertips, her palm, and the sensitive flesh of her inner wrist. “Lisa… please…you don’t want that other guy, do you? I mean, how can you? How can you kiss me like that if you love him?”
With a sob, Lisa jerked away and ran back towards their friends.
“Lisa!”
JC followed her at a more leisurely pace, needing time to calm his body and emotions. Arriving at the fire, he looked for Lisa.
“She’s gone, dude,” Tony told him, knowing whom JC sought. “She lit outa here like her shorts were on fire. What did you do, Jace?”
“Nothing she didn’t want,” JC replied glumly.
“Sometimes girls don’t know they don’t want it till they get it.”
It was several weeks before JC saw Lisa again — and when he did, she was with a broad-shouldered man with sandy hair. As the couple strolled the walkways of Disney World, the guy looked at Lisa like she was a cherished princess. It had to be that Greg guy…Unwisely JC approached them.
“Hey, Lisa!” JC called as he drew close.
Lisa’s dark eyes flashed in fear before a pleasant smile settled on her lips. “Hello, JC.”
“Haven’t seen you around lately.”
She smiled worshipfully up at the man and hugged his arm. “Greg has been home on holiday.”
The man extended a hand to JC with a friendly smile. “I’m Greg Castle.”
“My fiancé,” Lisa added unnecessarily.
“JC Chasez. Lisa and I hang with the same friends some times.”
“Good. Good. So she does get out when I’m not around. I was worried about that.”
”Greg is going to study at Oxford for a year,” Lisa said proudly.
“So…JC, I suppose since I don’t know her other friends, I have to ask you to look after my princess while I’m gone.”
Both teenagers turned surprised eyes to Greg. He’d just handed Lisa over to the care of the one boy who could snatch her from him!
“Greg…” Lisa had been about to launch a protest.
JC was quick to cut her off. “Sure, dude. I won’t let her sit at home alone.”
With such an open invitation, Lisa feared what could happen in Greg’s absence. She wasn’t strong where JC was concerned. “Why is it I can’t come with you?” she asked Greg.
He flicked a teasing finger at the tip of her nose. “For the same reason I went away to college,” Greg joked. “I can’t concentrate on my studies with you around.”
“Oh, Greg…” Lisa blushed prettily.
“And you have school to finish yourself.” Greg slapped JC on the back in a friendly gesture. “Nice to have met you, JC. But I’ve only got a couple of days left with my princess before I leave, so if you’ll excuse us…”
As the couple walked away, JC felt sick in the pit of his stomach as his emotions battled. Greg Castle seemed to be a nice guy and his affection for Lisa genuine. Even knowing that, he remembered how Lisa had returned his hot kisses. One year. How could the guy leave Lisa for a whole year? He knew he wouldn’t be able to live without her if she loved him. She’d have to be with him. He thought of the group he had joined with his friends. When they took off, he’d want Lisa beside him every step of the way.
“Greg…” Lisa quickly stepped into Greg’s room without knocking before someone spotted her. She’d hoped to catch him off guard, to convince him to let her accompany him overseas — even if it took seduction. Thing was she didn’t have a clue on how to seduce him. So far all of her take me signals hadn’t worked. She’d purchased her naughty teddy in hopes of succeeding that night.
Shirtless, Greg stood next to his bed, securing the drawstrings on his pajama pants. “You didn’t knock,” he told her unnecessarily, embarrassed to be caught bare-chested by her. His eyes fell on the skimpy red thing she wore. He was clearly shocked. “Lisa?”
Approaching him, she slid her hands up his warm, solid chest until they clasped at the back of his neck. Rising on tiptoe, she urged his head down. She put her mouth to his.
All he could do is react. His big hands settled on her hips as he drew her against him. For the first time, he allowed himself the pleasure of fully kissing Lisa, his tongue tasting her mouth, feeling her sweet body against him as he drank in her eager response. “Lisa…Lisa…” His lips cruised down her throat as his hands swept up to cup her breasts. “Sweetheart…”
Blood sang in her veins. “Yes…please, Greg,” she whispered, “make love to me.”
Her words brought him to his senses. Putting her from him, he drug gulps of air into his lungs to rein in his runway desire. What had he been doing? This was his precious Lisa…
Lisa was frustrated and hurt. “Why did you stop?”
“Why? Why? Lisa, we aren’t married.”
“That isn’t necessary—”
“It is for me. We agreed, remember? We’d get married once I had my education.”
“You added another year to the wait,” she accused.
“The time will fly by. You’ll see.”
“What I see is man who doesn’t want me!” she sobbed.
“That’s not true! I almost couldn’t stop.”
”But you did. If you loved me, you’d make love to me; you’d take me with you.”
“I can’t do that. I explained this, sweetheart.”
“Never mind.” She twisted off her engagement ring and tossed it him.
Instinctively, his hand snatched the ring from the air. “Lisa—”
She spun away, fleeing the room in tears.
"Lisa!” he called after her.
A dry-eyed, solemn Lisa rode in the backseat next to Greg on the way to the airport in stony silence. His parents in the front seat seemed oblivious to the tension between the young people. All Greg’s attempts to take Lisa’s hand had been rebuffed. Greg damned himself for an old fashioned, romantic fool. He had always believed he was respecting Lisa’s youth when he held his desires at bay. He hadn’t known she saw it as rejection. He should have taken her to bed the previous night. He would have to suffer months of torture, reliving her passionate response, the feel of her silk-covered body straining against him. In spite of her declaration of the contrary, he was not made of stone. It was too late to fix his mistake now; he’d have to wait for the next holiday.
JC was shocked when Lisa joined the group of friends next. Her engagement ring was missing and she flirted shamelessly with nearly every guy. He pulled her aside to take her down the beach for privacy. As they walked, her arm went around his waist; her hand crept beneath his loose shirt to caress his ribs.
Grabbing her hand away, he demanded, “What’s the matter with you?”
She held her left hand before his face. “No ring.”
“Why no ring?” The man he’d met wouldn’t let Lisa go easily.
Her lovely face crumpled into sorrow. “He didn’t want me,” she whispered brokenly.
“Not want you?” JC was incredulous. “How could any guy not want you?”
His passionate question was a balm for her damaged feminine ego. She put her arms around his neck. “Do you want me, JC?”
“Hell yeah! You know I do!”
“Show me,” she commanded huskily. Lisa was swept into a hot storm of youthful desire. One hungry kiss led to another. Somehow she was on her back in the sand. JC weighed her down with the press of his hard body as his hands caressed and fondled her through her shirt and shorts. His unvarnished eagerness thrilled her. “Yes, please…” she whispered as one hand ventured beneath her shirt. “Yes, JC.”
JC pulled his head back and stared down at her. Please what? “Lisa?”
“Do you have protection?” she asked baldly.
“Um-yeah-sure. A couple.”
“Do you want me?”
Was she saying that he…that they… “I’ve never wanted anyone more.”
Spearing her fingers into his hair, she brought his head back down. “Then I’m yours.”
“No.”
Horrified, she went stiff. “No?”
Laughing, JC rolled to his feet, pulling her stiffened body with him. “Not no I won’t love you. No, not here.” Boldly, he slid his hand between her thighs. “Wouldn’t want to get sand here,” he teased, making her smile once more. “I got a blanket in my car and a less open place to use it.” Kissing her hard, he lead her towards the place he’d left his car.
As JC had warned, the first time wasn’t that good, but the second time was wonderful. And it only seemed to get better as the two grew emotionally closer. For Lisa what had begun as revenge became a sweet, passionate love with a boy who loved her wildly. For JC Lisa was the only girl in his universe. His life narrowed to loving Lisa and working with the group. She never complained about the times music consumed him as long as he came back unable to resist her.
The painful blow came after JC insisted she marry him. *NSYNC was going to Europe – and he was told he couldn’t take Lisa. He had expected tears and harsh word of recrimination. Instead Lisa held him close, wished the group well, and said she’d wait for his triumphant return. Promising to keep in touch, they parted, certain their love could survive the separation.
JC never heard from Lisa.
Lisa never heard from JC.
Then Greg returned to rescue Lisa.