I hope this chapter's good enough for ya'll. My creative patience has been running thin lately so hope I've been doing alright. R&R and let me know what's up! Enjoy.

Chapter 9: The Dance

Jack sat in the far right corner of the bottom floor of Medda's, surrounded by all the Manhattan boys. The all seemed to be having such a great time. He seemed to be the only one who was miserable. But then he noticed that Race and Spot were talking quietly, apart from everyone else. Their faces were full of worry and they continued to search the crowd for something.

"They'ah lookin' fa Liz. She prob'ly won't come," he thought to himself as he replayed the scene once more that'd been playing over and over again in his head since he'd return from her hometown. "I should prob'ly tell 'em so they'll stop worryin' about 'er. I don't even know if she'll come back at all." He stood and made his way to the two boys, who suddenly put smiles on their faces to cover their concern. "I doubt she's' comin'."

"Don't worry man. She'll show up. You know how goils ah. It takes 'em faevah to get ready for a thing like dis. Cheer up." Spot said, patting his friend on the back.

"No. She prob'ly won't show up. We got inta a... well not an argument. But we didn't part on pleasant terms."

"Yeah... but, that'll just make 'er wanta come even more. So she can straighten things out wid ya."

Jack took a look around the room before his eyes met something familiar. There in front of him stood a tall, tan, blond girl with intense green eyes. She was wearing a powder blue, halter dress that fell to the middle of her thigh. She was looking around the room as if she was searching for someone. Then she locked eyes with him, and it felt as if time stopped, and only the two were standing in the room. Jack slowly made his way through the crowd, coming closer to her. Now he was directly in front of her, but he couldn't speak. Her face was sad, and he could see tears forming in her fiery eyes. It wasn't until he got closer to her that he realized something different about her. She had a black right eye, faded by make-up, and a bruise on her left cheek. Her arms were covered with bruises and whelps, as was her back and legs. Tears then began to form in his eyes and he placed his hand on her face, where the bruise was on her left cheek, rubbing it softly. "How could I let this happen to you?" he said barely above a whisper.

"I love you Jack." I was about to cry as I was finally able to say those three amazing words that'd come so hard for me in the past.

Jack smiled sadly and then leaned down, kissing her lovingly. When he pulled away, I was crying.

"What happened?" he said, suddenly trying to be strong for me.

"It's over Jack. It's all over." I threw my arms around his neck and buried my face into the nape of his neck, crying heavily. I felt his arms wrap around my waist and hold me tight.

"What's over Liz? What happened? Where's Michael?"

I pulled away and looked deep into his eyes as he pushed my hair away from my face, shaking my head.

He said nothing. He simply held me close and allowed me to cry.

Once I'd calmed down, he took my hand and lead me to the corner of the room where the rest of the boys had been sitting, watching. Race and Spot were the first to receive me.

"Hey goily." Spot said softly, smiling as he hugged me tight.

"We missed ya round heah South. All of us." Race said, smiling twice as big and hugging me tightly as well.

It was obvious they'd been worried. The look of relief on their faces was unmistakable.

"I missed ya'll too." I smiled broadly and then grabbed Jack's hand as a familiar song played from the stage. "Come dance with me." I pulled him up from his chair and lead him onto the floor, attempting to temporarily forget everything that'd happened the past couple of days. I just wanted to dance. I could sort everything else out later, but for now I wanted to be happy.

Jack must've sensed that because he immediately lost his look of sadness and concern and replaced it with a smile, making sure I knew he was happy that I'd finally returned his feelings.

Once the song was over, he lead me back to our table, sitting down in his chair and pulling me into his lap, his arms wrapped around my waist.

Jack must've told Race what'd happened between the two of us, because Race had been looking over and smiling at us all night long during the times when his date wasn't occupying his time.

I turned to face Jack, saying, "You know I wanted to tell you I loved you that night don't you?"

"Yeah. I do. That's why I said what I did. I left because I figured you needed some time to think. I didn't think about how you might need me.."

"Don't," I said putting my finger to his lips to silence him. "Don't ruin it."

He smiled but silenced. I could tell there was so much he wanted to ask me, but he would wait until I decided it was time to talk about it.

I smiled and kissed him lovingly, deepening the kiss after a moment. But no more than that. For I could feel several of the boys eyes on us, laughing and teasing.

"Shut up. You just wish ya had such a great date." Jack said, smiling cockily.

I leaned down and kissed him sweetly. "I love you."

Hope ya'll liked this chapter. Don't worry, more will be revealed about her brother and everything that'd happened. Just keep your pants on. Lol well please R&R I know this chapter was shorter than usual but hope that's alright. Thanks!