Moment

January 26th, 2007

“Connor and Erica are coming, is that okay?” Callie asked as her, Nina, Alex, and Jack walked down to Alex’s car.

Jack stiffened at the mention of meeting her older brother before nodding, “Yeah that’s cool.”

“You’re nervous!” she teased.

Alex barked a laugh before Nina slapped him in the chest with the back of her hand, “You should be too.”

“Wha’?”

“Nina’s basically his younger sister too,” Callie pointed out.

“Oh fuck,” Alex mumbled before both girls laughed.

“Hey, don’t worry, kay?” Callie told Jack as she squeezed his hand.

Jack nodded before sliding into the backseat with Callie.

“Hey, trust me,” Callie whispered before poking Jack in the side.

“Why are you always poking me?” he whined.

“It’s fun,” she replied poking him again.

Jack pouted before grabbing her hand and playing with her fingers.

“Jaaaaaaaaaack,” she pouted. “Connor’s great. He’ll love you guys, I promise.”

Jack nodded again before poking Callie.

“Hey! I poke, you get poked, not the other—hey! Stop poking me, Jack!” Callie giggled as he started tickling her.

“Get a room,” Nina said from the front.

Alex chuckled and kissed Nina on the lips at the stop sign.

“Yeah, we’re the ones that…need…Jaaaack…to get…a…room, Jack!” Callie mocked as she tried to curl in a ball in the back seat.

“Gladly,” Alex said with a smirk before turning down a street.

Jack and Callie glanced at each other and rolled their eyes before laughing.

“So is the dynamic duo going to sing together?” Callie asked curiously looking between Jack and Alex.

“Hell yeah, we always sing together,” Alex called form the front as he turned into the parking lot of the restaurant hosting a karaoke night.

“Rian and Zack are here,” Jack pointed out Rian’s car nearby in the parking lot.

“Connor’s here,” Callie said looking up from her phone typing back a response. She looked around the parking lot and saw his white jeep park a couple rows away.

“Calm down,” Nina laughed as both Jack and Alex tensed.

“C’mon it’s party time! We gonna get drunk and sing a long!” Callie said in a deep voice, throwing her hands in the air and dancing around in a circle.

Jack and Alex both cracked smiles, pleasing the brunette.

“Connor!” Callie screamed as she waved for him to come over.

“So that’s the brother?” Rian asked walking up with Kara, Zack, and his date Marissa.

“Mhm,” Nina answered.

“He-hey Callie,” the six foot male said hugging the younger Shaw.

“You must be Jack,” the blonde standing next to the siblings greeted him with a smile.

He nodded before Callie returned to his side, squeezing his hand.

“Hey man,” Connor greeted him with a handshake and smile. “Connor,” he informed.

“Jack,” Jack replied before standing back and introducing everyone else.

“Alex,” Connor nodded to the lead singer.

“Well c’mon I want to sing!” Callie said breaking the awkward silence and pulling Jack forward into the restaurant.

Twenty minutes later they were crowded a long table along with Taylor, Elle, and their respective dates. They ordered drinks and food and were now deciding who was singing first.

“Dynamic duo, go go go!” Callie voted.

“Ha no, I’m so not drunk enough to do that yet,” Alex disagreed.

“I agree, no fucking way,” Jack chimed in.

“C’mon Jack, sing for us; I think it’d be a great ice breaker,” Connor encouraged from two seats away.

Jack gulped. Fuck, he thought to himself before nodding. “Al-alright, c’mon bro let’s do this.”

He grabbed Alex, who tripped getting out of his seat and dragged him over to the bar. “Order something strong, because we’re going up there and singing and doing a damn good job.”

Alex rolled his eyes before ordering several shots. He passed half of them to Jack and they downed each one before Alex said, “Okay let’s go.”

They walked up to the stage feeling slightly tipsy before starting “Bye, bye, bye,” by *NSYNC. As they both sang, Jack watched Connor and Callie whispering to each other as they watched. Callie nodded to the stage and Connor nodded with a smile.

Although he was worried as to what Connor would have to say about him as well as about them dating, Jack shrugged it off while he and Alex continued to make asses of themselves in front of both friends and strangers. Here and there, they threw in some of the patented *NSYNC dance moves to the song which got them a couple of laughs and cheers.

Finally, the song was over and the two boys took over exaggerated bows.

"Your turn love muffin," Jack said, massaging Callie's shoulders. She looked at Nina before downing the rest of her Long Island Iced Tea and followed her friend on stage. Jack took Callie's seat next to Connor and waited for the inquisition to start.

Callie and Nina had roped Taylor and Elle into their act and the four girls began a rendition of the Spice Girls Wannabe.

"I've gotta give you credit dude," Connor said to Jack, "I haven't seen her this happy in a long time."

Jack's jaw nearly dropped at the lack of probing questions from Callie's older brother.

"Thanks, she's pretty great herself. Did she ever tell you how we met?"

Connor shook his head no while taking a sip of beer and Jack launched into the fateful tale. The story eventually had him cracking up.

"That's typical Callie," Connor noted as the girls danced to the end of the song. "But I gotta warn you, if you hurt her, you'll be answering to me."

Jack gulped and thankfully, the conversation ended there as Callie came back to rescue him.

“Connor’s turn!” Callie announced kicking her brother out of his seat and sitting next to Jack, snuggling into his side.

“Oh, not right now,” he pointed to the stage where a group of Asian boys were already starting into a Backstreet Boys song.

Everyone at the table busted out in laughter as the group, that sounded very near William Hung from the third season of American Idol, as they drunkenly danced and sang along to the boy band.

After a few more random groups, a few turns from the rest of the group at the table, Connor and Callie ran up onto the stage singing “Freebird.”

“They’re really quite the pair,” Kara noted.

Everyone at the table nodded.

“He’s her best friend, you know?” Nina pointed out. “I mean besides me.”

The table nodded and laughed as the siblings belted out the last few notes amid the cheering crowd.

Callie sat down on Jack’s lap when they returned and kissed him lightly on the lips before joining in on the conversation about movies out in theaters.

After a few more go’s with the singing, including a very entertaining rendition of “My Heart Will Go On,” from Callie and Jack, the group split the bill and headed out into the cool January air.

“It was great meeting all of you,” Erica spoke up smiling warmly at the group.

Everyone nodded and mumbled in agreement.

After handing over keys to the sober one from each vehicle, the group split leaving Jack, Callie, and Connor behind for one last goodbye.

“See you next weekend,” Callie said hugging Connor tightly.

He nodded before turning to Jack. “Great meeting you man. Take care of her, okay? She’s a handful,” he teased earning a joking glare from the female.

Jack nodded before they “bro-hugged” and split off to their respective vehicles.

“Told you!” Callie yelled poking Jack in the side after they climbed in the back seat.

Jack chuckled and nodded.

“He liked you too Alex,” Callie informed the nineteen year old sitting in the passenger seat.

“Sweet,” he mumbled sleepily.

“Awh, I think Alex needs to go to bed when he gets home,” Nina cooed taking his hand. “You guys can sleep over if you want,” she said glancing back in the rearview mirror.

Everyone replied with sleepy agreements as Callie curled into Jack.

He smiled down at her kissing her on the forehead before resting his head on hers and closing his eyes for the rest of the ride back to the girls' apartment.