Chapter One
Heather stumbled numbly through the front door of the apartment her and her roommate shared. It had been a long day at work, and all she really wanted to do was just relax. She discarded her purse and rain-soaked jacket by the door and walked into the kitchen, tiredly slumping into one of the three folding kitchen chairs.
Heather was a waitress at a diner two streets over. She didn't like it much, the customers were always rude to her and strange guys were constantly trying to take her out. If she didn't need the job so badly she swore up and down she would have quit after the first day. Today had been especially tough, seeing as there were so many people in town for the big *NSYNC concert.
The thought of *NSYNC being in town didn't help Heather's mood at all. Ever since her and Lance had a huge fight and went their separate ways, her life had seemed to have fallen into an endless cycle of depression. As much as she kept trying to tell herself she didn't miss him, after five years she still loved him just as much as she had before.
She never told anyone about it, not even her roommate, John. Sure he helped her out through some rough times, and he was a really sweet guy, but Heather just couldn't bring herself to let him in on her secret. Especially since he was constantly trying to get Heather to date him. She had heard about the girls Lance had been with, and it broke her heart every time. She wished she could just have a chance to talk to Lance, to see if he missed her, if he still loved her.
"Hey, tough day?" John asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"Yeah."
"Sorry. Blame it on the boyband, they're the ones bringing all the people into town."
"Yeah, I guess. How was your day?"
"Horrible. Those five morons are staying at the hotel, and lucky me I get assigned to their level. Can you believe that? They actually had to take over a whole floor of the hotel. And then there's all of those little kids running around, asking for their room numbers and shit. I was just about ready to actually give it to them..."
Heather lifted her head up half way through John's sentence. They are at his hotel? That ment Lance was just down the street from her. She thought up an excuse to be able to leave later on that night, and then waited until John was finished ranting about his day. When he was finished she told him that one of the girls at work had invited her out for a girls' night, and then excused herself to take a shower.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Yo Lance! Snap out of it, man."
"Huh?"
"You've been sitting there spacing out for the past half hour, I was starting to think you croaked or something," Justin said, sitting down in the chair next to Lance's.
"Sorry, I wasn't aware that I'm not allowed to be by myself anymore."
"Ouch, bite my head off. What's up with you? You've been a bitch the whole week."
"Don't call me that. And it's really none of your business Justin."
Justin shrugged in defeat and stood up, heading over to talk with Joey feeling slightly hurt. Lance looked up at his younger friend as he walked away and felt sorry he was being so short with him. He didn't do anything, after all.
He didn't know what was wrong with him. Why he couldn't get this one girl out of his mind. He hadn't seen her in five years, and their parting wasn't exactly a pleasant one, but for some reason he still found himself daydreaming about her. He couldn't stop himself from wondering how she was, if she had someone that loved her, if she even lived in Chicago anymore.
He had to admit, it was mostly his fault that they had split up. He hadn't paid as much attention to her as he should have, and he basically led her to believe he was cheating on her, which had caused the fight. He knew if he only had another chance he would try his best to make things right with her.
There wasn't much going on in the hotel. The *NSYNC concert wasn't until the next night, and the guys couldn't leave the hotel without getting mobbed by fans. The rest of *NSYNC were finding things to do to keep themselves from boredom, but Lance was nearly falling asleep on the couch, which is why he didn't noticed when Heather walked through the front doors.
Heather looked around and couldn't help but smile when she saw Chris and Justin wrestling. Justin had always been there to listen to her when she had a problem, and so was Chris. She turned her attention to a table by the wall, where Jc and Joey were writing. Jc lifted his head up to look at Chris and Justin and shook his head, but before he dropped his head again his eyes fell on Heather. She gave a small wave, and Jc smiled, kicking Joey under the table and motioning to Heather. Joey turned around and saw her, his face lighting up. He stood up and walked over to Heather, Jc right behind him.
"Heather! Wow, you look great..." Joey smiled warmly, pulling Heather into a hug, then let Jc do the same.
"Hey guys. Thanks Joey, you all look great, too. Except you don't look very italian anymore..."
"You want that? I could go back to that."
"Joe, take it easy." Jc said, shaking his head.
Heather looked around and saw Lance in a chair at the far end of the room. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was about to slide off the couch. She left Jc and Joey to their writing again and greeted Justin and Chris on her way over to Lance. Both men looked up in surprise, and watched as she stopped in front of Lance.
"Hi, Lance."
Lance opened one eye, and sat up in surprise when he saw Heather standing in front of him. His throat went dry and for a moment he couldn't get himself to talk. Finally he swallowed hard and forced out a small greeting, looking her over at the same time.
"I'm sorry. I woke you up, didn't I? I'll just go--"
"No!" Lance said a little too loudly, making everyone look in their direction.
"Okay, then... Mind if I sit?"
"Yeah, sure," Lance blushed, sitting up so Heather could sit down.
"So, you look like you're doing pretty well," Heather said.
"Yeah... So do you. I uh, didn't know you still lived around here."
"I do. I live down the street, actually."
"Really? That's cool."
"Yeah."
"So... how did you know we were at this hotel?"
"My roommate works here, he told me."
"I see. He didn't go spilling that to everyone, did he?"
"Why would he? He'd suffer more than you if everyone knew where you were," Heather frowned, feeling the need to defend her roommate.
"Take it easy, I was just asking. I didn't mean to offend you or your man or anything..."
"He's not my man. Just because you've dated every woman you come across doesn't mean I do the same."
"I didn't mean it that way. Did you just come here to argue with me? I would have thought you got it all out last time I saw you."
"No, I came to see how you were. Excuse me for trying."
Heather stood up without another word and walked out the door, fuming. Lance watched her go with a frown, shaking his head. He couldn't believe what had just happened. How, after a long time of missing her, could he have argued with her and let her walk out again.
"Smooth move, Bass."
"Shut up, Joey."
"No, really. Why did you have to say that? Never assume anything with a girl, they'll just get pissed off at you."
"Obviously. I blew it, I'm such an ass."
"Well, yes... but you do know where she lives, that's a start."
"Yeah, and what am I supposed to do, show up at her house and make a complete moron of myself again? Maybe I should just give up on her."
"No... but I'm sure you'll think of something, you're a smart guy," Joey said, then he walked away, leaving Lance to his thoughts.
If I'm so smart, why did I let her go in the first place? Lance thought to himself as he settled back down on the couch, where he spent the rest of the afternoon.
| Chapter One |
