Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
The Light is Fading
by Krissy

chapter one

“I can’t believe you just did that! That was an illegal move!” Chris Krikpatrick hollered at his friend, Joey Fatone.

“Hey, if it was an illegal move, the game wouldn’t have let me do it!” Joey argued.

“Settle down you two, it’s just a video game!” Rebecca laughed at her boyfriend’s reaction to Joey’s move on the video game.

“Hey, it’s not ‘just a video game’ when there’s money on the line,” Chris grumbled.

“Oh, exactly how much money is being bet on this game?” Rebecca inquired.

“Only a small amount that we like to call fifty bucks,” Joey answered with a chuckle.

Rebecca glanced at the two, unsure whether she heard correctly. “Fifty dollars over a video game?”

“Hey, don’t act so surprised. You should know by now that those two will bet on anything,” J.C. Chasez piped in. “Especially Chris.”

Chris turned away to look at J.C. at the sound of his name. “What?”

“Oh yeah!” Joey jumped up. “I won! Yes! Ha, ha!”

Chris swiftly turned back around. “You what?”

“I won, see?” Joey pointed at the score on the screen. “You owe me approximately fifty big ones!”

“I do not! That wasn’t fair! I wasn’t watching!” Chris disagreed.

“Exactly, so it is fair ’cause you decided to turn away while we were playing,” Joey rationalized.

Chris made a sour face as he dug through his pockets for his wallet. He grabbed a wad of bills and reluctantly held them out to Joey.

“I told you, I always win!” Joey said as he gleefully added the sum of the bills.

“Remind me to never, ever take Chris to Vegas with me,” Rebecca said as she turned to J.C.

“Too late, he’s already been there a couple of times,” J.C. responded.

“Well, he’s not going again, not while I’m around,” Rebecca assured them all.

Lance, his girlfriend, Katelyn, Justin’s girlfriend, Monique trampled into the room.

“Hey guys!” Monique greeted with a smile.

“What’s the rush?” J.C. asked with curiosity. He thought that they’d all gone shopping with Justin and his little sister, Aurora.

“We were racing Justin and Rory back here,” Lance confessed. “They haven’t got here yet, have they?”

“Nope, I guess you won,” Rebecca answered.

“I highly doubt that Justin has left the mall yet,” Monique sighed. “I can’t believe we left poor Aurora with him. We’re so cruel.”

“We made it!” Aurora burst into the room with two large handfuls of bag handles. “I can’t believe it! We got out of the mall!”

“Hey Aurora, happy to be back?” asked Katelyn.

“Am I ever!” Aurora threw the shopping bags onto the couch in between Joey and Chris. She cocked her head to the side as she watched them with curiosity. The two were glaring at each other, unmoving.

“So, where’s Justin?” Monique inquired.

“Oh, he’s just getting the rest of his bags,” sixteen-year-old Aurora informed her. “What are they doing?”

“Staring contest. Winner gets ten bucks,” Chris announced in a monotonous voice.

Katelyn glanced at Rebecca, who returned her gaze.

“Please tell me that you are never, ever going to take that man to Vegas.” Katelyn motioned to Chris.

“I’ve already made that decision,” Rebecca told her. “And he’s never going while I’m around.”

Katelyn smothered a small laugh that was trying to bubble its way out of her mouth.

“Everybody be happy! Justin’s here!” a now twenty-three-year-old Justin Timberlake called out as he threw his many shopping bags onto the floor.

Monique smiled.

“What, did nobody hear what I just said?” Justin asked sarcastically when nobody responded.

Monique gave him a playful slap on the arm. “We’re all happy, don’t worry.”

“Yes!” Chris sprung up from the couch.

“Woo-hoo! Two people are happy to see me!” Justin joked.

“Aw man! I cannot believe I just did that!” Joey shook his head in defeat.

“I won! I won!” Chris hollered.

“Maybe taking him to Vegas isn’t such a bad idea,” commented Katelyn.

“Are you kidding? He just lost fifty bucks right before you got here!” Rebecca groaned. “And he’s still betting on stupid things like video games and staring contests! I mean, a video game, okay, I get that, but fifty bucks? That’s crazy! And a staring contest, for crying out loud. A staring contest?

“It’s okay, Monique has the big-spender over there that just bought the entire mall.”

“Hey! I did not buy the entire mall!” Justin argued.

“Yeah, only ninety percent of it. My feet are killing me!” Aurora sighed as she slumped down into a reclining chair.

“I dunno,” Lance looked all the shopping bags over. “Maybe somewhere more in the ninety-nine point nine percent range…”

Justin made a face. He didn’t think he’d bought that much stuff. Then he looked around at all the bags and his face flushed a bit.

“Well, okay, so I like shopping,” Justin admitted. “Who cares?”

“Your wallet, for one,” J.C. teased.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind shopping with you!” Monique reminded Justin.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Justin smiled at her, just loving her for the fact that she didn’t mind it when he brought her shopping…and when he bought “the whole mall.”

“So, I guess it’s off to rehearsals now,” J.C. said, glancing at his watch. “Don’t wanna be late!”

“Can we come?” Katelyn asked Lance sweetly.

“Of course!” Lance told her with delight. He absolutely loved it when she wanted to go places with him. She was such a relief to have at the dance rehearsals.

Joey stood up quickly and remembered that his girlfriend, Marclay, was supposed to meet him at the rehearsal to watch.

“Let’s go then!” he urged.

The nine of them piled into separate vehicles. Justin opened up the passenger side door for Monique and closed it after she got in. He went around to the other side of the Mercedes Benz to find Aurora standing in front of the driver’s seat door.

“Can I drive?” she pleaded.

“Well…” Justin laid a protective hand on his car’s hood. He didn’t like the idea of his little sister driving it with only her learner’s license. He knew she’d be getting her actual license in a matter of weeks, but he didn’t want her or Monique—or his car—getting hurt.

Justin pondered the thought for a few moments. “ I guess you could drive when we go home, but I’d like to drive to the rehearsal.”

Aurora’s eyes lit up. She really didn’t think that he’d let her drive his precious Benz at all! But then, she should have known that Justin would let her. She had him wrapped around her pinky finger.

“Okay!” Aurora agreed as she hopped into the back seat of the car.

The vehicles all drove in the same direction in one long line to the rehearsal building. Joey’s eyes immediately fluttered around the parking lot as they searched out Marclay.

“Hey Joey!” a feminine voice called out.

Joey whipped around and a wide grin quickly spread across his face when he found Marclay jogging over to him. He quickly filled the distance between them and scooped her up in his arms for a big hug.

“Whoa, I was only out of town for two days, Joey!”

Marclay laughed as she hugged him back.

“It was two days too many!” Joey assured her. “Come on in, we’re gonna start rehearsals soon!”

Marclay agreed and followed the big gang of people into the building.

The guys all went into the change rooms and came out in sweatpants and tee shirts, ready to get warmed up, stretched out and begin rehearsal. The backup dancers were already out on the gym floor learning their parts of the dance as the choreographers walked them through it.

“We’ll be ready for you guys in about an hour, I think,” Lisa, one of the two choreographers called over to the *N Sync members as they made their way into the gym.

“Are one of the other gyms open?” Lance asked. The two choreographers, Lisa and Patricia, looked around at the dancers for an answer.

“Uh, I think so,” a gray-eyed, chestnut-haired dancer replied a bit shyly. “Nobody was using the one across the hall when I got here.”

“Thanks, Sheena. I guess we’ll be there then.” Chris motioned for the other guys to follow him. He bumped into Aurora on his way out.

“Are you gonna come join us, Rory?” Chris asked her.

She thought for a moment. “I’ve been in your faces all afternoon, I’ll bug somebody else,” she said cheerfully. “All the people in that gym love me!”

“I don’t really think the choreographers would want to teach the dances all over again just because you’re in there, Rory,” Justin told his little sister.

“Are you saying that we don’t wanna have Aurora joining us again, Justin?” Patricia inquired as she leaned against the doorframe.

“Well I don’t think—”

“Nonsense!” Lisa cut Justin off as she left the gym, the dancers filing out of the humungous tiled room for their break. “Aurora simply loves to dance with us! I think she’s just like her big brother.”

“Ha! I told you they love me!” Aurora beamed.

“Well maybe—”

“You told her we don’t love her anymore?” Patricia asked with some sarcasm. “Shame on you, Mr. Timberlake!”

“Okay, okay, alright already!” Justin held up his hands in surrender. “She can dance with you!”

Aurora smiled. “Justin, I need your car keys, my clothes are in the trunk!”

“Wha—? Why the—How—?” Justin stared at her. “Ack! Never mind! I’ll go get my keys.”

“She gets it from you, Justin!” J.C. laughed. “You spoil her too much!”

“Hey, nothing’s too good for my girls!” Justin announced as he wrapped an arm around Monique’s shoulders.

“You know I’d love to, but I can’t go into that change room with you to get your keys,” Monique informed Justin when he began to bring her to the men’s change room with him.

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Justin blushed and he went into the change room and came back out a few moments later with his car keys, which he handed to Aurora with a “don’t you dare drive my car away” and a smile.

Aurora grinned wickedly. “Don’t worry, I won’t…”

“Or else it’ll be the last time you drive it. I’ll never let you step foot into that car again.”

“Just make sure you don’t leave a mess in there if you get something to eat,” Monique told her.

“Wha—? When did I ever give anybody permission to eat in my car?” Justin gasped.

“See? You spoil all your women too much!” J.C. told him with a chuckle.

“That’s right! Nothing’s too good for his girls!” Monique grinned as she watched a look of confusion and annoyance wash over Justin’s face.

“Don’t worry, I won’t drive your car, but don’t forget that you promised I could drive us home!” Aurora told him, then quickly bolted out into the parking lot to get her gym change.

“She’s got you wrapped around her finger, doesn’t she?” Monique asked Justin with a warm smile.

“Only sometimes…yeah, okay, she does,” Justin admitted.

“I think it’s cute,” she told him. “I bet it’s always been that way.”

“Trust me, it has,” Lance assured Monique. “I swear that if the guy was in kindergarten when she was born, he’d take her to school in his backpack for show and tell, then he’d take all the toys away from the rest of the kids, just to entertain her!”

“Would not!” Justin argued. “Well, probably not in my backpack unless Mom wouldn’t let me take her,” he finished thoughtfully.

Everyone had to laugh at that, it was impossible not to. The five guys and four girls trotted into the gym and Lisa and Patricia called the girls back from their break.

chapter two


in-progress stories

feedback

main page