Getting It Back

Getting It Back 3

This story is fiction and not intended to imply anything about the true sexuality of any of the artists mentioned in the story.

Author: Angel

Getting it Back

Chapter 3: Joey Knows All

or

Chapter 3: Good Friend Joey

Britney and JC soon arrived at Fargo's, a one-of-a-kind pizza restaurant where all the servers were dressed up as old time Victorian ladies and gentlemen, and they flashed the order numbers on a giant mirror. Britney still hadn't managed to figure out how they did it, and she'd been coming here for three years. Still though, it never failed to amuse her.

Joey had already picked out a booth for them when they got there, and, as it turned out, had already ordered too.

"How did you know what we would want?" JC asked, a little surprised. After all, both he and Britney were picky eaters, and it usually took them at least twenty minutes to decide at any given meal.

Joey shrugged.

He pointed at Britney. "You like pepperoni with no sauce." He said, and then turned towards JC. "And you like olives with that ricotta stuff instead of sauce." Joey smiled when he saw them exchange startled glances.

"I like them both," He continued. "With any kind of sauce. So I got us a medium pizza, half pepperoni with no sauce, half olives with ricotta, and extra cheese over the entire thing." Joey summed up, rather proud of himself.

The two looked at each other, impressed. "Damn." JC said, laughing.

"All right, so you know our pizza topping preferences, but what about drinks?" Britney asked slyly, sure Joey hadn't thought that far.

"Easy. JC, I got you a club soda with a lime in it, because I know you don't like the caffeine or the sugar that regular soda has."

JC turned his mouth down at the corners, wondering how Joey knew all that; he didn't think he had ever said it aloud.

"And you, Brit, I got you a Pepsi." He smirked as he said it and Britney blanched; after a entire year of being Pepsi's spokesperson she could barely stand to even look at a can of the stuff, let alone actually drink one.

"Just kidding." Joey laughed upon seeing her face. "Actually I ordered you a Fresca, cus I know you like that."

Both JC and Britney stood by the booth, a little too stunned to move.

"All right, well now that you two are here to hold down the fort, I'm gunna go use the bathroom real quick." Joey decided, scooting out of the booth and gently nudging the other two so that they would sit down.

He turned back after about two steps. "By the way, I got you both salad bar." He pointed at the two plates already sitting on the table and then smirked, laughing.

Both were silent a moment.

"How did he....?" JC trailed off, staring at Joey's retreating back.

"I have no idea." Britney replied, as stunned as the brunette. "I never thought that Joey would notice things like that no matter how long we all knew each other! I mean, the first dozen or so times we met he thought my name was like Brigit or something."

"Brigit?" JC crinkled up his nose, obviously he was not fond of the name. "But I know what you mean; he never ever notices when I streak my hair." JC eyes got wide, as if this was something that Joey should exclaim over.

"Uh, well did you really expect him to J?" Britney raised one eyebrow, a bit reproving.

After all, Joey not being oblivious to their preferred pizza toppings was practically a miracle. But noticing JC's oft streaked hair? That was a bit much to hope for.

"I guess not. But none of the guys do, and it's like GRR sometimes." JC pouted a bit and shook his hair in front of his face so that he could look at it, as if reassuring himself that the blonde streaks were still there.

Britney laughed. "That's cus they are big ol' dumb boys JC! Duh!" She smiled. "Besides, I always notice."

JC smiled prettily and leaned across to kiss her lightly on one cheek. "That's why I like you so much." He laughed, and grabbed their salad plates. "C'mon, lets go get some food, I'm starving."

Britney followed after the brunette, though she wasn't overly excited about the salad; privately, she didn't even acknowledge salad as a real food. The only reason she ordered the salad bar at all was because she knew it would make her mother proud. Britney was a good girl at heart.

The two both heaped greens onto their plate and then moved on to the real veggies, each selecting olive, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

JC was trying to stab some carrots onto his plate without much success when he noticed the man across the room.

"Hey, hey Brit, look at that guy." He gestured subtly with the plastic tomato tongs that he still held.

"Oh hot damn, he's pretty fine." She agreed, scoping him out. The man in question was waiting in line to order his pizza, and looked to be around 25, with short, spiked blonde hair. Not only that, but his chest and arms filled out his tight white tank top nicely.

They both liked blonde men, especially the ones with muscles.

"Maybe I should go talk to him." JC said nervously, eyeing the guy in question.

"What??? You shouldn't go talk to him, I should!" Britney exclaimed, surprised. She thought JC had been pointing the man out for her benefit.

"You? I don't think so hun, that guy is gay." JC said it knowingly.

"Oh he so is not!" Britney protested.

"How would you know, you don't have any kind of sense about it!" JC waved the plastic tongs he was using in her face.

"Oh like you have such an advanced radar yourself! I mean hello, it took you forever to get with Lance cus you couldn't decide if he was bi or not!" Britney was the only one in the entire world who could bring that up and get away with it. After all, she had been the one to finally point it out to the brunette.

"Shut up! I thought he was in the beginning, when he was all small and girly and stuff, but I wasn't crushing on him then, so it didn't matter! And then he got like a deep voice, and short hair, and a really nice chest and super arm muscles and stuff and like, got all manly, then I couldn't tell!" JC shivered, the thought of masculine, muscled Lance still did that to him.

Britney hated to point out the fault in JC's explanation, but she felt she had to. After all, she liked the guy too.

"JC, hun, you know I love you to death, but you just described like that exact guy." She said, gesturing to the man's hair, chest, and arms.

"Yeah, so?" JC obviously didn't see her point.

"So, if you couldn't tell about Lance because of those characteristics, how can you tell about that guy?" Britney smiled sweetly while she said it.

Sometimes Britney could be infuriating.

"Oh. Well, I don't know, I just can!" JC argued as they walked back to the table.

Britney laughed. "You're so wrong." JC seemed about to respond when Britney laid a hand on his arms, shushing him. "Be quiet a minute, knockers there will help us figure it out."

JC and Britney watched as an extremely voluptuous woman walked past their guy, only to be completely ignored by the menu-viewing man.

"Ahah! See, I told you he was-"

JC was cut off by Britney's held-up hand.

"Wait for it." She said, sure of what would to happen next. Slowly the man turned around, watching the woman's curvaceous figure as she walked away.

"I knew it!" She crowed and turned to JC, smirking. "See, he's not gay, he's just as ass man." Britney sounded both smug and delighted. After all, she had quite the toned bottom herself.

"That doesn't mean anything! He could have just been looking to see what brand of jeans she`s wearing!" He exclaimed, but Britney gave him a withering look.

"JC, he isn't you." She quipped.

JC stuck out his tongue at her, not amused. "Well maybe he's just bi." He reasoned, trying to save his cause.

"No one's actually bi for real J." Britney tossed her hair back across a shoulder.

"What?! How can you say that, lots of people are bi!" The two began arguing over that, as well as the sexual orientation of the hot man who was now ordering his pizza.

When Joey came back from the bathroom and heard them quarreling he rolled his eyes. It was just like the two of them to be bickering with each other as if they were brother and sister.

"Guys, what the hell are you arguing over?"

"Joey, look at that guy over there, is he gay, straight, or bi?" Britney asked without looking up, just pointing in the direction that the guy had been standing.

"Umm, what guy?" Joey replied, turning, but finding no one.

"That one!" JC said exasperatedly, swiveling around. The man in question, however, couldn't be found anywhere, by either of them.

Suddenly Britney spotted him, heading towards the door.

"Hey, look!" She exclaimed, pointing. JC did, and was shocked at what he saw. There the man was, one hand around the waist of a petite brunette man, and the other in knocker's back pocket.

"I guess we were both right." Britney said to JC, her eyes wide.

"Jeez, what sluts." JC mumbled, and they both laughed, knowing they might have done the same had the man decided to ask.

********

Ten minutes later their order number shined on the mirror and Joey hopped up to grab their pizza.

"Hey Brit." JC said thoughtfully, an idea dawning on him.

"Yeah?" Britney replied absently, still distracted by thoughts of the hot man and knockers.

"Joey's been a pretty good friend lately, don't you think?" JC asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"Well yeah, but he's always been a good friend." Britney replied, still not really paying any attention.

"I know, but what I mean is, he's kinda crafty, right?" JC said, moving his hands around in a gesture that to him described craftiness. It looked rather odd, to say the least.

Britney stifled her giggles.

"I suppose so." She shrugged though, wondering what JC's point was.

"So do you think that maybe we should tell him about our plan?" He asked eagerly.

Britney was a bit shocked for a moment, but began warming to the idea immediately.

"I don't know, do you think he would help us?"

"I bet so. I mean, he knows that Wade really doesn't like us and all, and if we told him about the gym thing, I bet we could get him on our side super fast."

Britney had to consider quickly, because Joey was already approaching the table with their pizza.

"Ok yeah, let's do it." She agreed.

"All righty, I'm back, and I bring food!" Joey exclaimed happily, setting the pizza down on the table and passing out plates.

"Yay!" JC exclaimed, clapping his hands. Britney wasn't sure whether he was more excited by the pizza or the prospect of telling Joey. She shrugged, it really didn't matter.

They didn't start into Joey right away, each of them consuming a slice of the pizza first.

"Mmm Joey this is delicious, I love you so much!" Britney sighed happily as she chowed down on her second piece.

Britney had always been very attached to food.

Soon though, she set it down, sensing that now was the time to inform Joey of their little idea.

"Joey," She asked sweetly. "How much do you love us?" JC had scooted over in the booth so that they were seated next to each other, and both shined their brightest smiles at the older man.

Joey looked around, cautious. He could tell they wanted something.

"I love you both quite a bit. Why, what do you want?"

JC began to pout. "Must we always want something?" He asked plaintively.

"Only when you are alone or with someone." Joey retorted, snorting.

JC and Britney looked each other, trying to piece together what the convoluted sentence meant. After a moment the light came into JC's eyes and he opened his mouth, sighing.

"Ahh, I get it now."

"Uh, you do?" Britney asked, still utterly confused.

"Yeah, see, we are always alone or with someone, so he's saying that we do always want something." JC explained.

"Well, that certainly isn't very nice." Britney said huffily, glaring.

"Very true though." Joey replied, trying not to laugh to hard.

It was now Britney's turn to stick out her tongue.

"Whatever, shut up, we're not gunna tell you the plan now anyway." She crossed her arms at first, but then, realizing that she needed one of those hands to eat pizza with, quickly uncrossed them.

"Wait, the plan?" Joey asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Yes, the plan." JC said the words rather dramatically, and Britney smiled at the brunette around a mouthful of pizza.

"Ok, c'mon, let me in on it."

"Nuhuh, you lost your chance." Britney smirked and tossed her hair back over her shoulder haughtily.

Joey looked around, and realized that Britney had just devoured the last slice of pizza, and that JC looked pretty bummed about it.

"Tell you what, how about I go get you two some more pizza, and then when I get back, you'll tell me." The plan sounded excellent to Joey, who was still rather hungry himself.

JC and Britney exchanged a glance, nodding at each other.

"Ok, deal." Britney spit on her palm and held out her hand.

JC cringed, he always hated it when Britney sealed a promise this way. Joey, however, didn't flinch, only spit in his own palm and shook hands with the blonde.

"All right, well I'll be right back." He launched up out of the seat and went to order more pizza, post-haste.

"Brit, are you sure it's really a good idea to tell him?" JC whispered quietly, now a little nervous, for all that it had been his suggestion in the first place.

"Of course it is. Don't worry, he'll be on our side for sure." Britney replied with the utmost confidence.

"Ok." JC smiled happily, reassured. "Do you want to go get more salad?" He asked innocently, and Britney cringed.

The last thing she wanted was more disgusting lettuce to get in the way of the pizza she planned on eating. She passed him her barely touched bowl.

"Here, just have mine."

JC looked at her oddly for a moment, but then shrugged, digging in.

When Joey came back to the table Britney began to explain to him what their plot was all about, and why it had to happen the way they said it would.

At first he seemed skeptical. "Wade doesn't really seem like that kind of guy." He commented softly when she described their choreographer as a "spiteful, guiltless, bloodsucking roach of a man."

Britney didn't let that get her down, despite JC's obvious case of nerves over the entire matter. She was never one to give up without a fight.

By the end, after she had told Joey of the exhaustive workouts, cruel punishments, and what Wade had tried to pull on them at the gym earlier that day, Joey was not only a believer, but he was on their side as well.

"Ok, so, what do you two need me to do?"

Britney smiled, that's what she'd been hoping to hear.

**********

It was midnight before any of them got to their separate houses, and Britney fell into bed with thoughts of how to incorporate Joey into their revenge still running through her mind.

It was 6 a.m. when she got the call from management.

"Uhh, hello?" She asked groggily, the phone pressed into her ear after the second ring.

"Damn." She muttered, realizing she still had to push the `talk' button.

"Hello?" Britney tried again, and this time got better results.

"Ms. Spears?" There was a perky voice on the other end of the line. Far too perky a voice for 6 in the morning.

"Anna?" Britney thought she recognized the voice, though she couldn't be sure.

"Yes, this is Anna."

Britney sensed the woman's smile through the phone.

"Sorry to wake you up so early, but Mr. Shah asked me to call and let you know that your practice with Wade Robson has been canceled for the day."

"It has!?" Britney was immediately alert, and she sat up in bed, wrapping the gauzy white sheet around her naked body.

"Yes. Mr. Robson is unavailable today due to personal reasons." She sounded like an automaton, and Britney guessed correctly that she didn't know anything else.

Britney quickly thanked the woman and said goodbye, hanging up as she leaped out of bed. She dropped the sheet as soon as she stood up, and padded into her master bathroom.

"Damn girl, you are one fine piece of meat." She commented aloud to herself, reviewing her curves in the mirror. This was something JC had taught her to do as a way to feel better about herself in the weeks after Justin had dumped her. She said something similar to herself every morning, and when she slept over at JC's, as she frequently did, they said it to each other, and surprisingly enough, it actually helped.

She snapped on the shower and stepped in while the water was still frigidly cold. It was her morning ritual; it washed away the sleep (and the sex, on nights when there was some) and made her feel refreshed, clean, and utterly pure.

Soon the shower water was warm, and she quickly washed and conditioned her hair, exfoliated her always-dry legs, and used some moisturizer on her knees and elbows right after she had stopped the water. She applied some to her face as well, stepping out of the bathroom.

It was then that she saw what she had missed last night: the message button was blinking on her answering machine. She had three new messages.

The first was left yesterday, the machine informed her. It was from Wade, and she could barely understand him for all the noise in the background.

"Britney!" He screamed, obviously battling with someone else. "I know you did this bitch! I'll get you, you stupid cunt! Hey, get your filthy hands off my car you jackass!!" It looked like he might continue, but Britney laughed and hit the delete button.

The next message was from JC, left while she had been in the shower, asking her if she was awake yet and where she was, and had she heard that practice was canceled for the day? Did she want to get together maybe? Britney skipped it over after the first few seconds, deciding to get dressed and drive over to JC's.

The final message was from Joey, saying that JC had called asking if she was with him, and why in the world would she be at his house? Hoping she would remember to call JC back soon, and did she and JC want to come over for dinner tonight? Britney made a mental note to talk about it to JC and then give him a ring back.

After that, Britney quickly pulled on casual clothes, consisting of a thong, hipsters, flip-flops, and a tight, cotton-candy pink t-shirt.

She jogged out the door, hopped into her car, gunned the gas before it was all the way on, and pulled out of her driveway at an entirely unacceptable speed.

Britney loved it when the wheels squealed.

*********

JC couldn't help it, he needed to smile.

Actually, he needed to scream as absolutely loud as he could in pure excitement!

Rehearsal had been cancled for the day! There was no practice, no weight lifting, no ball bouncing, no cursed endurance training! He was free, free, free!

JC had called Britney right after he had gotten the message from Tom's assistant, completely stunned and overjoyed that their little plan had gotten such results already. He hadn't gotten a hold of Britney, but had left a message instead. He knew she would turn up sooner or later regardless of whether they talked or not.

Wade hadn't missed a single day of rehearsal since he had become their head choreographer three years ago. This absence for `personal reasons' was nothing short of a miracle, and JC counted it as one.

Today was going to be a great day!

Suddenly, JC ditched all his thoughts.

He decided to go back to smiling and screaming.

********

Britney zipped her small silver car onto the free-way on-ramp, cutting off about five cars off.

"Sorry!" She yelled loudly, hoping they could hear her. She hadn't meant to cut them off, it had just happened because she was distracted. Britney wasn't always the best driver.

She didn't even really need to take the free-way to get to JC's house, it actually took longer than just following the main road, but she loved it, because she could go 70 miles per hour, and not have to worry about her wet hair for more than about two minutes before it had dried out completely.

Britney rummaged around in the passenger-side glove compartment, searching for her phone.

"Woops, sorry again!" She yelled as she swerved into another lane, right in front of one of the same cars she had beat to the on-ramp. "I really didn't mean it!" She screamed, and was answered by the irate driver, though in language that was much less polite. Finally she grabbed hold of the phone and managed to enter in the right number after several failed tries. She really needed to learn to use her speed dial.

"Hi, yes, Tom please." She said curtly. "Thanks."

"Tommy, hi!" She paused for a moment to let him respond. "Well yes I'm fine thanks, but I got a message this morning that Wade was unavailable for rehearsal, and I was just wondering what it's all about?" She asked innocently, as if she really had no idea.

"No, you're kidding!?!?" She did her best to sound shocked as their manager listed all the troubles that had befallen Wade yesterday. "Oh no, what happened? Who did it??" Britney had just been informed of the state that the gym was found in, and pretended surprise.

"It was him??? And he did it intentionally, really? Wow, I never would have suspected that kind of thing from him, though I guess he has been pretty angry lately." Britney pretended solemnity as Tom blithely blamed the entire fiasco on their choreographer, but silently smirked.

"Oh, well ok then. Oh no, don't worry about it, if he's still not up to it tomorrow the guys and I can hold off another day. No, don't be silly! Don't even spare it a thought hun, we'll be just fine until you can find someone else or kick that Wade boy back into shape! Ok, great! Well I'll see you Tommy, kisses! Bye!" She hung up the phone, making sure the connection was completely dead before she began to laugh hysterically.

She couldn't wait to tell JC the good news.

**********

JC was singing in the shower. Loudly. He loved to sing in the shower, especially when no one was around to hear him. He didn't need the radio to accompany him, let alone to cover him up. He knew all the songs by heart anyway.

"He met Marmalade down in old Moulin Rouge, struttin' her stuff on the street! She said, hello, hey Jo, you wanna give it a go? Oh! uh huh! Giuchie giuchie ya ya dada, giuchie giuchie, ya ya here, Mocha Chocalata ya ya, Creole lady Marmalade!" He sang out loudly as he shampooed his hair. Suddenly, he wondered if the neighbors could hear him.

He sang louder, just to see.

**********

Britney pulled up in front of the brunette's house ten minutes later, and had the courtesy to knock on the door, something she usually didn't bother with.

"JC, JC!" She called out, and looked through the window when he didn't answer.

Britney peered over the fence to see if he was in the back, but bit her lip when she didn't see him there, and did so with more vehemence when he continued to not answer the door.

"All right fine, well whatever."

**********

"Voulez vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? Voulez vous coucher avec moi?" JC was really getting into it now, oblivious to his surroundings as he used his toothbrush for a microphone, letting the water run carelessly over him. "Hey, hey, hey! Touch of her skin feeling silky smooth, color of cafe au lait, alright. Made the, savage beast inside roar until he cried, more, more, more!" JC went at it for all he was worth, but suddenly, his wasn't the only voice in the large bathroom.

"Now he's back home doin' 9 to 5, sleepin' the grey flannel life! But when he turns off to sleep memories creep, more, more, more!"

JC whipped back the shower curtain, looking out into the fog filled bathroom.

There was Britney, sitting pretty on the marble counter, doubled over in laughter.

"Brit! What the hell are you doing here!?" He exclaimed, more startled by the fact that she had gotten into the bathroom itself without him realizing than that she was actually there.

"You weren't answering the door, so I just walked in, and I could hear you all the way from downstairs! You were really belting it J!" She cracked up again, and JC clutched at the shower curtain, despite the fact that it was only Britney, who he had just showered with yesterday.

"Go get me a towel!" He barked loudly, and she hopped up off the counter, still laughing, and tossed him the pink towel that was folded in the bathroom's small linen closet.

He wrapped it around his waist and stepped out.

Her mind still on his off-key singing, Britney broke into a new gale of laughter.

"Oh shut up!" JC growled, trying to whip Britney with the towel, but not being very successful. He did, however, manage to expose his hard-on in the process. Unfortunately for him, Britney wasn't one to miss these things.

"Oh, happy to see me? Or just excited at being caught?" She asked mischievously, and made a move toward JC, who jumped back hastily.

"It's just morning wood." He growled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take care of it." He said, moving towards the toilet. When Britney didn't budge from her lenient stance against the door jamb however, he turned around, hands on hips.

"Do you mind???" He asked haughtily.

Britney shrugged. "Not at all." She said, smirking and holding her ground.

"BRITNEY!!!!!" He screamed loud enough that she was sure everyone for three blocks in any direction could hear him.

"All right all right!" She laughed and exited the bathroom. "Sourpuss." She muttered, smiling as she closed the door.

"I heard that!"

********

When JC had finished he exited the bathroom and stalked haughtily to his closet, even though they both knew he wasn't really that irritated. Britney smiled, JC just liked to be dramatic sometimes.

"So how did you get in anyway? I thought I locked the door!" He called out, combing through his closet full of clothes.

"Well, you gave me a copy of your house key, like, a year ago!" Britney replied.

"I did?" He asked, sticking his head out of the closet. She held up the key-chain that it was fastened to. "Oh, well so I did, good for me." He said absently, tugging a tight blue t-shirt over his head.

"So, I have great news for you!" She trilled excitedly as he struggled with his jeans.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, twirling his bangs around a finger as he tried to curl them just slightly. It never worked, but he always did it anyway. Britney wished he would either give it up, or just agree to use her curling iron.

It was something they had discussed before. She knew he would never do either.

"Yeah! But I think we should definitely discuss it over some lunch." She said, rubbing her stomach, which had begun to growl.

"Uhh, Brit, it's only 7:30." JC said, pointing at the digital clock on his bedside table.

Britney looked over, and realized he was right. Usually she wasn't even up for another half hour, and only then because that was how much time she needed to shower and scramble into rehearsal before 8:30. Most days, lunch was the first meal she had time to eat.

"Well hot damn, so it is! Let's get ourselves some breakfast then!" She shouted, excited by the prospect.

JC laughed, and slipped an arm around Britney's waist to keep her from dashing out the door without him.

Sometimes Britney could be a little too enthusiastic.

**********

That's it for the third chapter! It took a few more days than I planned, but I had to disconnect the computer for a bit cus I was painting my room! It's still not done, grrr. But anyway, I hope you all liked it, and thanks for the emails, especially Scott! You can email me some more too if you'd like :) It's AngelAshling@Hotmail.com! Thanks,

-Angel

By the way, sorry about the two titles, but I can't decide, and I really have to send this in right this second! I'll think on it later and switch it around!