Julianna's point of view

"Yeah, I'll be able to go home the day after tomorrow," I told Tom over the phone.
"That's great," said Tom and I could hear the relief in his voice.
"So I'll be back at work on Monday," I told him cheerfully.
"Jul, isn't that a little too soon?" he asked.
"No, we have to finish filming, otherwise the episode won't be ready to air next week," I replied.
"Are you sure?" he asked concerned.
"I'm positive, I'll see you on Monday bright and early."
"Okay, but there are not a lot of things left to do. The only scenes that are left are the ones between you and Nick because the rest of the group were able to come for a few hours these past couple of days to finish their scenes. I believe they have to leave New York tomorrow."
"Oh, okay then, so I'll definitely see you on Monday cause I'm sure Nick probably needs to leave too."
"Wait, you're thinking about what he needs to do? How hard did you hit your head again?"
"Very funny Tom, Nick and I talked and we decided to be civil to one another so that the rest of the filming goes smoothly," I said laughing slightly.
"That's great! I won't get a huge headache from the two of you on Monday."
Okay, we weren't as bad as Tom was making us out to be. Or wait, were we?
"Once again, very funny, I'll see you on Monday."
"Okay, feel better Jul."
"Thanks, bye."
"Bye."
I hung up the phone and leaned back in my bed. I so did not want to be stuck in the stinking hospital until Sunday. Lance was being released tomorrow morning and he said that he would stop by today. I looked at the clock on the wall; it showed eight thirty in the evening.
I was bored. Being in the hospital definitely wasn't fun.
A knock sounded on my door.
"Come in," I said, hoping that it was Lance. I was surprised to see Justin.
"Hey," he said coming in and closing the door after him.
"Hi," I said slowly, not understanding why he was there.
"You want to know why I'm here don't you?" he asked grinning.
I nodded. Duh.
"Lance asked me to give you this," said Justin and took out a paper from his pocket. I took it and opened it.
"This is a letter from him, but why didn't he just come here himself and talk to me?" I asked looking at Justin.
He shrugged. "I don't know, I don't know the content of the letter. All I know is that I had to give it to you."
I bit my lower lip, something I always did when I was confused. "Thanks for bringing it," I told Justin.
He grinned again. "No problem, feel better," he said.
"I'll try," I said smiling.
Justin gave a little wave and then left.
I looked at the letter in my hand.
I couldn't imagine what it was that Lance couldn't say to me in person.
I opened it and began reading. It said:

Dear Julianna,
I know I know, you're probably wondering right now why I just didn't talk to you in person about this. See how well I know you already? :o) Well, the reason is that I had a lot of stuff to say and I wasn't sure I'd be able to remember them all if I was talking to you in person. I figured that a letter would be perfect because I would be able to tell you everything without getting anything mixed up and without leaving anything out. Okay, here goes. Unfortunately (don't you hate sentences that start like this?), the guys and me have to go on tour soon. How soon you ask? In one week. I hate that because I like you so much and I don't want to end our relationship. But I do know that having a long distance relationship is very hard and especially because this one would be very long since our tour will last about three months. I would ask you in a heartbeat to come on tour with me but I know that you have your show to do. But if we can't be a couple, can we at least stay friends? I know I know, all guys say that when they break up with someone but I REALLY mean it. I want to do the whole phone-call-and-e-mail thing. I don't want to lose you as a friend because you are such a wonderful person. I guess this is all that I had to say. I'm sorry if I hurt you, I didn't want to, I really didn't. Oh yeah, one more thing, look up.
Lance
Look up? What was he talking about?
I put down the letter and then looked in the doorway. The door was open and Lance was standing there, no longer in his hospital gown.
"Are you mad?" he asked softly.
I shook my head. I wasn't mad at him; I was upset though. I really liked him, but I guess that's what I get for getting involved with a guy in the music industry.
Lance walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He then came up to my bed and sat down on a chair near it.
"Did you get released already?" I asked him.
He nodded. "Yeah, I felt much better so the doctor saw no reason to hold me here for another day. Jul…I'm sorry."
"Lance, it's okay, I mean, I should've expected this. It's obvious that you weren't gonna be in New York forever, I guess I just kinda forgot about that fact," I said quietly.
"I don't want to leave and I don't want to end our relationship," he said taking my hand in his.
"Me either. You know, it's hard to believe that I've only known you for about a week, seems like so much longer," I said looking into his eyes.
"I know what you mean," he said and reached out with his hand and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.

MONDAY MORNING

I woke up and silently congratulated myself on waking up before my alarm clock went off. I then noticed that my room was awfully bright for six o'clock in the morning. I looked at the time.
"SHIT!" I yelled and tried to jump out of bed. Keyword there being tried. I didn't realize that my covers were tangled up in my legs and so in my attempt to jump out of bed, I got tangled up even more and stumbled onto the floor, taking the covers and my pillow, which I tried to grab onto for support, with me.
"SHIT!" I yelled again and untangled myself. I jumped onto my feet and ran, literally, into the shower.
Wondering why I was running around like a crazy person? That's because it was almost seven o'clock. I had forgotten to turn on my alarm clock the previous night and I'm usually out of my house at seven, not in the shower.
I should've known that this day was going to be crap.
After taking a five-minute shower and hastily getting dressed in the first pair of jeans and t-shirt I saw, I ran out of my house and jumped into my car. I turned the key in the ignition and nothing happened.
"No!" I exclaimed when I saw that my car was indeed, out of gas. Now I had to call the show and ask them to send a limo for me, or I would have to call a cab. I decided to go for the cab. No sense in dragging my driver all the way here cause I was such a moron and forgot to stop for gas the day before when I got home from the hospital.
I arrived on the set a half an hour later, and forty minutes late. I saw Nick standing by the craft service table drinking some water.
"Hey," I said.
Nick turned and gave me a small grin. "Hey, welcome back."
"Thanks, I'm sorry I'm late…again," I apologized sheepishly.
"That's okay. See, I knew you were gonna be late so I came a half an hour late myself, and so did Tom and the rest of the cast and crew," said Nick laughing.
I laughed too. "Are you serious?"
Nick nodded. "Yep, totally. So are you ready to shoot scene five?" he asked looking at me.
Yep, this day was definitely gonna be horrible. "Scene five?" I asked, my face paling at my words. Shit. "I thought we were shooting scene six."
"Nope, five," said Nick shaking his head.
"I learned the lines for six," I groaned. Great, just great.
"That can't be good," stated Nick.
I sighed. "Tell me about it."
"By the way, nice shirt," he commented grinning.
"What?" I asked shrugging. I was wearing a normal, white t-shirt…I looked down…with a huge picture of *NSYNC on it. I rolled my eyes. "Lance gave me this shirt a few days ago," I told him.
"Do you have our shirt too?" he asked, still grinning.
"No," I retorted.
Nick grinned again. I wanted to wipe that grin off of his face soo much. "No smart ass comeback?"
"No," I repeated. Strange how I couldn't come up with anything better than no. Maybe my brain took a vacation that day and forgot to tell me about it.
"Can you say anything else besides no?" asked Nick.
"No." There, how do ya like that?
He was getting frustrated, I could see, I was trying to hold back my smile.
Nick threw his arms up in defeat. "I give up!" he exclaimed and went to his trailer.
I smiled slightly watching his retreating figure. That was fun.

THREE DAYS LATER

"Okay, what was so important that you had to drag me out of my comfy bed and down to your office at five thirty in the morning?" I asked grumpily plopping down into one of the chairs in my manager's office.
"Trust me Jul, as soon as you hear what I have to say, you'll love me," said Sabrina Katz.
"Highly doubt it," I mumbled. It really was way too early to be up. I didn't even have to be on the set for like another two hours and there was Sabrina, calling me at five in the morning, making me get out of bed, and making me drive down to her office cause apparently she couldn't tell me whatever it was that she needed to say on the phone.
"How do you feel about doing another movie?" asked Sabrina, her green eyes sparkling with excitement.
How could this woman be even awake at this time? I swear, five should not have an a.m. attached to it, it was just wrong, it really…my brain finally processed what she just said. "Movie? When? What movie? Where?" I exclaimed. Suddenly, I was so much more awake.
Sabrina laughed. "I told you you'd love me once you heard," she said smugly.
"Don't plan a wedding yet," I told her. "Now what movie are we talking about?"
"Okay, it's called 'Only If', it will be shot in Florida, and it basically revolves around five characters. The main character, Britney, being you, assuming you take this role, has a crush on a friend of hers, Sebastian, but he doesn't know it. Then there are two more girls, who are both friends of yours, one of whom is Sebastian's girlfriend, and then there's another guy who is your boyfriend," explained Sabrina.
"Huh?" How did she understand that? I was already confused.
"You'll understand once you read the script. It's actually quite an interesting plot with lots of twists in it," said Sabrina. "So what do you say? Are you up for it?"
"What about my show?"
"I've spoken to Tom about this already, and he said that they're due to run reruns of the show soon anyway, so you'll be free to leave. Also, he said that you shot enough new episodes to keep the show going even after they stop the reruns. So?"
I thought about it. Doing a movie sounded great. "Does this mean I'd have to move to Florida?" I asked.
"Only while you're shooting the movie. I mean, I highly doubt you'd want to fly from New York to Florida and back every single day," she reasoned.
She was right, I knew that, but moving to Florida? A place where I knew no one? "Do you need an answer now?" I asked.
"Yeah, they've already cast the other characters, yours is the only one that's left. I need an answer Jul, what's it gonna be?"

A WEEK LATER

I threw in another shirt into my suitcase and slammed it shut. Okay, that makes suitcase number five. I looked around my room to see if I had forgotten anything. I sighed and slumped down on my bed. Doing a movie sounded like so much fun and I really wanted to do it, but moving to Florida? That was the part that bothered me. I had already rented a small house about ten minutes away from the set and I had bought new furniture for it, but I still had to pack up my own stuff and go there. I didn't want to leave.
Whitie came over and rubbed herself against my legs.
I picked up the kitten. "I'm gonna miss you so much," I said and she meowed softly.
Maybe she could tell that I was leaving.
I had to drop her off at my parents' house in less than an hour. And after that, I was gonna get on a plane and go to Florida.
I looked at my wristwatch. It showed seven thirty in the morning. I yawned because I hadn't slept the night before since I was worried about the move. I sighed and got up. Might as well get this over with. I carried Whitie downstairs and put her in her travel cage and softly clicked the door shut. She looked at me and then made herself comfortable on the soft floor. I then went back upstairs and carried my last suitcase down and set it near the others. Jess was supposed to be there any minute to help me load stuff into her car, cause she was driving me to my parents' house and then to the airport.
I heard the doorbell and went to answer it.
"Hey, are you ready?" asked Jess smiling.
"I guess," I said glumly.
Jess's face expression became serious. "I'm gonna really miss you," she said.
"I'm gonna miss you too," I said nodding. "I wish you didn't have school, then at least I would have my best friend with me in Florida," I added.
"Yeah," agreed Jess.
Not knowing what else to say, we carried my suitcases to her car and drove to my parents' house. We stopped in the driveway and I reluctantly got out of the car.
"Julianna!" Annie came running out of the house and into my arms, nearly knocking me over in the process.
"Hey," I said smiling and hugging her tightly.
"How long are you gonna be gone?" she asked, her eyes filling up with sadness.
"A while," I told her. "But I'll call you every chance I get, okay?" I suggested.
Annie nodded. "Sure, but I'm gonna miss you sooo much!" she exclaimed.
"I'm gonna miss you too," I said and felt my voice crack slightly. I couldn't take much more of this. Annie and me went inside the house, where I saw my mom and dad sitting in the living room.
"Hi honey," said my mom getting up to give me a hug. I held back tears as I hugged her back.
"How are you?" asked my dad also hugging me.
"I'm okay," I said quietly.
"It's not nice to lie to your parents," scolded my mom gently.
I sighed. What else did she want me to say? That I was two seconds away from running back into Jess's car and demanding she take me home? Yeah right, like I was gonna tell my parents that, or anyone for that matter. "Mom, Dad, I'll be okay, really I will be. I'll get used to Florida, I'll make new friends and everything will be fine," I told them. At least that's what I hoped would happen.

chapter 9 chapter 11