(~) Chapter 1 (~)
“Wh-wha...LANCE! What are you doing here?!? I mean...I’m happy that you’re here, but I’m confused...and wh...”
Lance silenced her promptly with an warm, amazing kiss as he put his arms tightly around her.
Amy shook her head in amazement and pulled away as he placed, in her arms, the dozen roses he had been carrying. “Wow...now I remember why you astounded me so much...”
Lance smiled shyly and took the matchbook out of her hand. “Here’s how ya do it, Ames...” He picked up a few pieces of nearby newspaper, crumpled them up into loose balls, and placed them on top of the log. Within minutes, there was a huge fire blazing in front of them.
“Thanks...what would I do without ya, huh?” Amy grinned and squeezed his arm.
“Well, for starters, you’d be pretty darn cold...”
“That was corny, Hun...VERY corny.” With a smile, she headed towards the kitchen and returned with a large vase. She put the beautiful flowers in the crystal glass and placed them in the middle of the table. Lance grabbed her hand and led her over to the couch in front of the fireplace.
“I missed you so much, Lance...” She started.
“I missed you, too...but please, let’s just sit. We’ll have plenty of time to talk.” He sighed. “I’ll explain later...all I want right now is to hold you.”
He leaned back against the arm of the couch and pulled her up next to him. Amy put her head on his chest, right under his chin - she could hear his heart beating clearly. He held her so tightly; she was a perfect fit for his body - like she was made to be there and only there. He wrapped his one arm completely around her waist and held tightly onto her hand with the other. The two just sat in silence, listening only to each other’s breathing, watching only the rekindled longing in each other’s eyes, and feeling only the warmth of the blazing fire and the love coming from their hearts.
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Amy wasn’t the only one who was getting a visit. Jen was sitting in her parent’s house, gathering the last of her stuff to move to her dorm about 20 minutes away. She hated the thought of going back to school, but she WAS anxious for a little time away from her parents and her little brother, Doug. They had been driving her crazy! She picked up her socks and stuffed them into a HUGE duffel bag. Just then, she heard a knock at her door.
“What do you want?” She hissed. She had just had a HUGE fight with her mom, and she figured it was her.
Instead of a female’s voice, a sexy male voice came from beyond her ‘NSync covered door. “Well, if THAT’S what you think of me...”
Jen immediately dropped the stack of bras she had been holding, ran to the door, and flung it open to reveal exactly who it was she thought the voice belonged to.
Justin Randall Timberlake stood in front of her, looking as fine as ever. He was wearing his trademark Adidas pants in the flattering color of baby blue, a white long-sleeved T-shirt, and a UNC baseball cap. He reached out his arms to her and Jen jumped into them lovingly.
“Justin! AAAHHH!! I’m SO happy to see you!!!”
“Me, too, Babe...Me, too.” He sounded almost sad.
Jen’s face crinkled in confusion. “J...what’s the matter? Is there something wrong?”
“Umm...well, yeah, kinda...” He turned away.
“What, Justin? What is it?” Jen touched his shoulder lightly.
Without even turning around, he replied with a sigh, “Well, if you really want to know, which I’m sure you do...me and the guys have been having some problems lately. I think we’re breaking up...”
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(~) Part 2 (~)
“Hello?”
Amy nearly fell off the couch as she awoke with a start. She had forgotten that Lance was back and she was surprised to find herself lying on the couch next to him. He stirred, but luckily, she didn’t wake him. They must have both fallen asleep at the same time, because she didn’t remember anything from the night before.
“Crap!” She mumbled quietly as she stumbled over Lance and ran to the door. She had completely forgotten about her shopping date with an old family friend who lived in the area. Before reaching the door, she stopped dead in her tracks and almost screamed. What looked like a huge black spider started moving from beneath a blanket on the floor. She nearly jumped out of her skin and DID scream this time as a face emerged, attached to this spider, from beneath the blanket.
“Wh...what? Amy? You all right?!?” Lance comically fell off the couch with a loud thud and the groggy person attached to the spider screamed as well.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THERE?!? What is this MADNESS?!?” Amy’s friend impatiently screamed from the outside above all the chaos she was hearing.
“CHRIS!!! What the...? Where’d you come from?!?” Amy started cracking up.<[>
Lance giggled as he face-planted forward again after a vain attempt to get up - he found his feet tangled in the blanket he had had on top of him.
“I’m sorry Amy...” He laughed from the floor as he fought the fierce attacking power of the powder blue throw. “I let him in last night after you had already fallen asleep!!”
Chris let his heart-rate return to normal before speaking meekly. “Hi, Ames...”
“Hey, Chris! I’m so sorry I scared you like that! YOU scared ME!! It’s so awesome to see you!”
The mysterious voice continued from outside. “ENOUGH OF THE FRIGGIN’ HAPPY REUNIONS HERE! WOULD YOU LET ME IN ALREADY, PLEASE?!?”
“Meggers...I’m so sorry! I’m coming!!!”
“Meggers?” Both Lance and Chris looked at each other questioningly.
“Yeah...Guys, this is one of my oldest friends, Megan. We’ve known each other as long as I can remember. She’s a friend of the family.”
A pretty, young girl, who looked to be about 22 or 23 walked in the front door. She had layered, curly blond hair, and sparkling blue eyes. She was a great deal shorter than Amy - probably about 5’5” or 5’6”. She was wearing a cute little Gap T-shirt and a pair of khaki chinos.
“Hey! I’m Megan. Holy...you’re Chris Kirkpatrick! You're Chris Kirkpatrick!! You’re in that band wit’ Amy’s man aren’t you?!?” Megan bounced up and down excitedly.
Chris hadn’t completely woken up yet, but his foggy vision cleared at the attractive sight in front of him. “Yeah, I am, actually. Nice to meet you!”
“You too...wow, this is so cool!” She hadn’t really followed their music, but she remembered Amy showing her a picture of the five boys after Lance had left. She had giggled when she saw the eldest one’s array of dreadlocks. “Who’s THAT nut-case?” She asked as she jumped around Amy’s room and popped a few more of her favorite candy, Fuzzy Peaches, into her mouth. She remembered Amy saying that he was actually a really nice guy...just a little off the walls sometimes, but still sweet and sensitive - her personality exactly.
She snapped out of this flashback and turned towards Amy. “Girlie, you need a brush! Hurry up...we were supposed to go shopping, remember? You take a shower...I’ll run home - I just realized I left my Abercrombie coupon at home. I’ll be back by the time you’re done.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry! I fell asleep on the couch, and I never set an alarm. I was preoccupied...” She looked at Lance with a sideways smile and then back at Meg. “I’ll shower...give me a few minutes. Wait, though. Lance and Chris...what are you guys gonna do?”
“Come with us! I don’t mind...Amy?” Megan liked the idea of getting to know the one known often as Psycho-Spice. She loved finding guys with similar personalities to her own.
“Yeah, that’s cool! You two wanna come with us?”
Lance and Chris both shrugged. “Sure, why not...just don’t drag us through the bra and panties section...” Chris said with a wink.
“I won’t...I promise!!” Megan squeezed Chris’s arm and returned the wink. She was likin’ this ‘nut-case’ already.
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(~) Part 3 (~)
Stunned, Jen stood and stared at Justin for a good couple of minutes before she could even bring herself to speak. Finally, she shook her head and stumbled out: “J...Justin!! Wha...You’re BREAKING UP?!?” She shrieked the last part like they weren’t real words.
He sighed heavily. “Well, no...not officially. We’re just having...we’re just having some problems...”
“Wh...WHY?!? I thought you guys got along so well!!” Jen’s face was bright red; she had Justin by the shoulders and was shaking him madly.
“We do...well, we did...”
“Baby, what happened then? You guys simply CAN’T break up! The world NEEDS you!!” She felt a few hot tears starting in her eyes.
Justin laughed a little and muttered a loud ‘Hmph.’ “A lot happened, Jen - too much to get into, as a matter of fact. I really can’t pin-point it to any ONE single event. We just got annoyed with each other. And it’s not like it just happened, either. It’s been going on for quite a while, actually...stupid stuff - JC got mad ‘cause Chris snores too much; Joey got mad cause he said JC’s too boring and all he wants to do is sleep; I got mad ‘cause Joey always eats my food; Lance got mad ‘cause Joey takes all his attention; Chris got mad ‘cause...Damn, I don’t even know why Kirkpatrick got mad! I mean...it’s all so dumb - but it’s all been pent up for ages, and one night, we all freaked and started going off on each other. The bottom line is, we kinda chose sides - which I know is NOT a good thing - but that’s how it happened. It’s me, Lance, and Chris and then JC and Joey.” He sighed again and plopped down onto Jen’s bed.
“Wow, J...I’m SO sorry. I can’t believe this...” She sat down on the bed next to him and started massaging his shoulders.
He scrunched up his shoulders tightly and then released them with a pained breath. “Yeah, well...me neither.”
She felt a huge knot in his shoulder blades. “Baby...you’re so tense! I bet you’ve been worried sick over this!”
“Yeah...tell me bout it. Mmmm, keep doing that, Jen...wow...”
She kissed the top of his head and sent a chill up down his spine. “Can I do that, too?”
“Mmm-hmmm...”
She kissed the back of his neck this time. “And that?”
“Mmmmmm-hmmmmm...”
She reached around him and rubbed her hands over his chest. “And what about that?”
“MMMMM-HMMMMM...”
She reached over and flicked off her light...and we’ll just leave it at that.
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‘Giggle, giggle’...“He...Hel?
Joey hung his head and sighed. “Hey, Caroline...”
“Joey! How are you?
“I, uh...I’m in the hotel we stayed in back in May...”
“Yeah?!? How come?”
Joey didn’t want to get into the whole story, so he decided to make something up on the spot. “Well, we’re kinda on a break, I guess, and I...”
“
Joey flopped his forehead down onto the table with a loud thud. It killed him to see his girl so happy with another guy. Usually, he could just move on. Not this one, though. Caroline was so...
“...Joe? You there?”
He shook himself out of his daze. “Yeah, sorry...”
“What were you saying again?”
“Noth...nothing, Caroline. It wasn’t important or anything. I guess I’ll just see ya around...”
“Yeah! We’ll chill sometime...”
He knew she was just quieting him. “Yeah, sure, whatever...bye...”
“BYE!!” Caroline responded cheerfully. Joey didn’t hang up the phone right away, and, obviously, neither did Caroline. The last thing he heard before pressing receiver, was Caroline squealing with delight as this Aaron guy did some God-forsaken act on her.
He cupped his head in his hands as a single tear rolled down the tip of his nose and landed on a picture he had with him ALWAYS - the only picture of him and Caroline ever taken.
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(~) Part 4 (~)
It was close to 5:00 by the time Amy, Lance, Megan, and Chris had returned from their little shopping excursion. Nothing had really been accomplished (as any of you who have EVER tried to shop with guys know...), but the four had a great time wandering up and down the wings of Menlo Park Mall. Megan and Chris walked ahead most of the day, telling senseless and indiscernible stories, blabbering insane and random words at complete strangers, playing hide and seek between the numerous directories and signs in the middle of the walkways...you name it - they did it. Holding hands the entire time, Lance and Amy just followed behind, occasionally giggling at their crazy friends or raising their eyebrows and smirking.
One experience in particular stood out in their mind as being especially funny:
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As they passed the local, so-called ‘useless crap’ shop, Amy leaned over and whispered in Lance’s ear: “Looks like Meg’s finally found a match for her crazy personality!!”
Lance just nodded his head and smiled. Noticing the HUGE goofy grin on his dred-locked friend’s face, he added quietly, “Yeah...I think this is really good for him. He’s been so down since Maureen left.”
The two couldn’t help but burst out laughing as Chris entered the store and started skipping around with a little red fire-hat on his head (mind you - this was a CHILD’S hat...then again, remember who we’re dealing with!) and squeaking the mini-foghorn he had just found.
Megan found a giant hamburger hat, put that on, and ran with him, shaking the mini-maracas with silver streamers she had picked off the shelf. The two then decided that they were characters in the movie ‘Mission Impossible’, and they started singing the theme song and hiding from each other around the display cases.
“Woooo, Man...I think it’s time to ditch these two!” Lance pulled Amy by the arm and they snuck out of the store inconspicuously. Just when they thought that they had avoided the loonies, they heard a mini-stampede coming up behind them.
“LAAANNNNSSSSTTTTEEEENNNNNN!!!!!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!!!”
“DAMN!...they found us...” Amy said with a giggle.
“Wait up, you silly-gooses!!” Chris and Megan raced (LITERALLY raced) down the walkway, dodging people left and right, stumbling over their own feet and each other, until, huffing and sweating, they caught up to Lance and Amy.
“Lordie...you guys are whack-o...whoa!!” Amy laughed and wiped a bead of perspiration off the tip of Meg’s nose.
“Yep! This is a chick after my own heart!” Chris flashed Megan a huge smile, but then she pouted childishly.
“Hey! Watch who you’re calling a chick?!?”
He giggled like a two year-old. “I’m just playin’ witcha!” Chris said, putting his arm playfully around her shoulders.
Funny thing is, he kept his arm there for a second more than he REALLY had to, and as far as Amy and Lance could see, the look in his soft brown eyes said he really DIDN’T want to take it away at all.
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After sitting around Amy’s for about a half an hour, Megan left to have dinner with her family and Chris and Lance decided to go to the park to play a little one-on-one.
“Sure you don’t want to come, Ames?” Lance asked for the millionth time as he headed towards the door.
“Naw...I’m tired. I told my old roomie from college that I’d call her tonight, anyway.”
“Alrighty!” He kissed her on her forehead and the two boys left. It was still troubling Lance immensely how he was gonna break the news about the group’s problems. He figured that he’d just wait till they were alone. Pushing these thoughts out of his mind, he started chasing Chris, after ‘the crazy one’ decided it would be funny to bounce the basketball off the back of Lance’s head. The two guys raced each other to the park, laughing and jeering, both aware that they were with one of the only two friends they had in the group at that time.
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(~) Part 5 (~)
“Hello?”
“Shell!! It’s Amy!”
“Hey! What’s up, Kid?”
“Nada...Hey, you wanna get somethin’ to eat with me?”
“Yeah, sure! Where ya headed?”
“I was kinda hopin’ you’d go for some Chinese...I know this really good buffet place.”
“Sounds great...I LOVE Chinese!”
“Alrighty...I’ll pick you up in a few?”
“Yeah, see ya!”
Amy picked up her purse and keys and ran out to her Honda. She started blasting her all-time favorite car song, ‘Love Shack’ and sped out of the parking lot to get Michelle, her old roommate from college.
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“JC!!! Why do you have to be like that all the time?!?”
“Like WHAT?!?” The exasperated boy asked.
Kristin shook her head. “You are SO possessive! We’re NOT together anymore...You know that!”
JC sighed. “I know, I know...” He DID know, and he was OK with that...wasn’t he?
“I was so happy to see you again after so long...but you gotta ruin it EVERYTIME by bringing up the past! Please, I just wanna be single for a while...”
“I’m sorry...I’m happy to see you, too.” He walked up to her and gave her a friendly hug.
Kristin sighed again, but then laughed lightly and shook JC by the shoulders. “JC...JC...Geez!! We gotta find a way to just be friends and not argue all the time!”
“You’re right, Kris. You know I’ll always care for you, no matter what kind of ‘care’ it is...”
“Ditto, Sweets.” Kristin glanced at her watch. “I hate to sound rude, but I REALLY have to leave now. I’m meeting my parents for dinner at some restaurant in North Jersey.”
“All right...I’ll catch ya later...”
With a huge sigh, he walked out Kristin’s front door and slowly got into his Jeep. He felt his stomach grumble and started heading down the main street of Somerville.
A huge sign for an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet caught his eye. He quickly found a spot and walked into the ‘East Star Buffet’.
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Michelle stared at the HUGE display of food in front of her. “WOW! I have never seen so much food in all my life!”
Amy shook her head and laughed as she plopped a dumpling on her plate. Michelle wandered over to the soup bar just as JC strolled inside and headed over to the soup bar himself. He approached the other side of the display and started spooning some wantons into a bowl. He looked up quickly at the pretty girl across the bar from him. She was petite, around 5’4”, and she had beautiful dark hair and eyes. He smiled politely at Michelle, and she blushed and returned the smile. She continued to stare, mesmerized by the most beautiful male specimen she had ever seen. He was perfect in all aspects; she couldn’t take her eyes off of him - and she nearly burnt her hand ladling the hot broth into her bowl.
JC laughed lightly and handed her a napkin from a near-by table. “You OK?”
Michelle couldn’t even say a word - she only nodded in response. She continued to stare into JC’s unbelievable blue eyes. He laughed lightly again and walked back to his seat, bowl of wanton soup in hand.
Only then did she finally find her voice. She ran up to Amy and followed her to their seats on the other side of the room from JC.
“Amy!” She whispered not-too-quietly and VERY excitedly.
“What are you all huffy about, Girlie?!?”
Michelle’s eyes were the size of silver dollars. “Only the most gorgeous boy I have EVER seen!”
Amy perked up. “Where?” She asked.
“Right THERE!” Michelle nearly YELLED she was so ecstatic, and she pointed to where JC was sitting.
Obviously, she was a little TOO loud, because JC looked up from his soup.
“HEY!!!” He screamed across the room with a huge smile on his face. “AMES!! How ARE you?!?”
Michelle tugged on Amy’s top like a two year-old. “You KNOW him?!?”
Amy smiled at her and then beckoned JC to come sit with the two girls. Michelle immediately flushed bright red and hung her head.
“JC! Ahhhh!!! This is so cool!” She stood up and gave him a huge hug.
“Yeah! Hey, who’s the pretty lady I seem to have met before?” He smiled at Michelle and gave her a little wink.
“I...I’m...Michelle,” she whispered almost inaudibly.
“Nice to meet you!” He flashed another to-die-for smile, and this time, she finally felt a little more comfortable.
“Sit down, sit down!” Amy patted the table.
JC took a seat next to Michelle and he and Amy started chatting briefly.
“So, how’s the band been? I really didn’t get a chance to talk to Lance about you guys...”
“Band? What band?” Michelle finally found her real voice.
JC looked at her a little funny and then laughed heartily. “I, uh, I guess you don’t know who I am...”
Michelle looked confused. “...uh...SHOULD I?”
“Maybe! I’m JC...JC Chasez?...from ‘NSync?...is this ringing a bell at all?” He said with a chuckle.
“OH, MY LORD!...I KNEW I knew you from somewhere! Amy’s shown me pictures and I know some of your music! AHH! Oh, my...sorry...” She trailed off.
“Naw, don’t be. Life on the road is so crazy, sometimes even I forget who I am...”
Michelle giggled and then turned her attention shyly on her soup.
JC sighed before answering Amy’s question. He started on the whole story, basically telling the same one Justin gave Jen. Amy was tremendously disappointed to hear this news. She listened intently as JC spilled his heart out. Michelle listened as well, interested highly in the life of this beautiful creature. Even though he was addressing Amy, every now and then, JC glanced over at Michelle and gave her a grin or a touch that was enough to make ANYone melt, especially Michelle Garcia.
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Onto the next five chapters...
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