Chapter 3

Tana was just finishing getting ready when she heard a knock at the door. "Chris," she yelled, "Will you get that?"

When Christine opened the door, was rather taken aback by what she saw. The young man her cousin was spending the evening with looked like some rock star reject.

"Hi," he said, stretching out his hand, "I'm Alex."

"Christine," she said, still dazed as she received his warm handshake.

"Is Tana here?" he asked, glancing around.

"She's curling her hair. Come on in." Alex came into the apartment and looked around.

He was flipping through the girls' eclectic CD collection when suddenly Tana was beside him. He gave her a hug and then took a look at her outfit. She had on black flared jazz pants that were being held up on her narrow hips with a red belt. Her top was a red tank top with this spaghetti straps. The top complimented her dark brown hair, which she had let hang down, landing just below her shoulders. The outfit was very, uh… figure flattering (LOL) and Alex had to continually remind himself not to stare.

"You ready?" Tana asked, not noticing Alex's gaping mouth.

"Wha...?" he said, recovering his wits, "I mean, yeah, let's go."

It wasn't until the Explorer was leaving the parking lot that Alex asked, "Who are we going to see?"

"NSYNC."

"I can't believe how loud it was in there!" Tana said as they left the venue after the show. "Those poor guys have to live with all that day in and day out. Can you imagine how annoying it'd be?"

"Uh," Alex stammered, "Yeah, I can. That'd be hard. You'd never have a private life. Free time would be few and far between. Nearly every waking moment would be spent with 12-year-old girls throwing themselves at you. You'd never know if someone really liked you or if they liked your job. Total hell."

"Yeah, but think of all the glamour," Tana pointed out. "All the travel; seeing new cities-"

"- and never having the time to enjoy them."

"Awards shows."

"Critics."

"Wow," Tana said, "You really know a lot about this stuff. Do you have a friend in the business?"

"You could say that."

They had reached Tana's building. Alex pulled the Explorer into a spot and turned the car off.

"Thank you, Alex," Tana said, reaching for the door handle.

"For what?"

"For showing me that guys sometimes want more than just a date. I had a great time." With that, she got out of the car and disappeared into the building.

If you only knew, Tana, Alex thought, If you only knew…