Falling Apart©
By
Meg Galganowicz
**The NSYNC tour schedule in 2001 is not the one
that the group follows in this story because it wouldn’t fit, sorry about
that.**
(Two Years Later in July of 2001)
Aly groaned as she waited in
the long line, shoving her auburn hair out of her face. All she wanted to do was buy a CD and a new
outfit on her trip to the local shopping center. She had to get back for a class at noon followed by a clinic
later in the afternoon and the line was killing her. “Is there something I’m missing here? You go up, pay, and leave.”
An argument ahead in line caught her attention.
“I can pay you back as soon
as we get home! Just loan me $30, come
on!”
“Is it my fault you left
that damn wallet of yours again?”
Aly shook her head, pushing
past everyone, including the pair who was arguing. A slightly relieved feeling calmed her when she noticed the
person at the counter was someone she knew.
“Hey Luke.”
“Aly, what’s up?”
“Could you just add mine to
theirs and I’ll cover all of it?”
The man who had forgotten
his wallet began to protest but she held up a hand. “I don’t mind. I’ve got
somewhere to be so this is doing us both a favor. Thanks Luke, I’ll see you Thursday.”
Luke nodded and handed them
both their bags before taking the next customer in line. Aly screamed softly when she felt the pair
following her out. “Something else I
can do for you two?”
“Do I know you?”
“Excuse me? I just paid for your CD’s and you’re trying
to pick me up.” She stopped and looked
at them in disbelief.
“No, seriously.”
“Well that’s great, but I am
going to be late for seen twelve teenagers that I am supposed to be teaching
how to dance. Have a good time with
your music.” She nodded goodbye and
turned away.
“Alison, your name is
Alison.”
She swivelled and walked
back to them, the frustration evident in her face. “Who are you? Is this some sick form of sexual
harassment?”
The second one, who hadn’t
been talking, chuckled, “He’s right, we do know you. At least we used to.”
“Great!”
“I can’t remember your last
name but your first name was definitely Alison, nickname was Aly.”
“Luke called me Aly so you
get no points for that one. And your
name would be?” she questioned uneasily, taking a step away. She studied them carefully to make sure that
she would be able to give a police officer a report later if she were attacked
for any reason.
“Tyler.”
“Well I’ve known a couple
Tyler’s, you’re in luck. And you would
be?” she continued, her gaze landing on the second man.
“Steve.”
“Do you come with last
names?”
“Chasez.”
“Fatone.”
Aly yelped, physically
jumping back as a hand flew up to her mouth.
“Tyler? My God boy you look
incredible!” she laughed.
He smiled warmly at
her. “Not so bad yourself. Can I get a hug?”
“Of course.” She quickly hugged him, then Steve. “How have y’all been? The guys have a release coming soon don’t
they?”
Oh yes, and they are just at
the beginning of the tour as well.”
She smiled fondly, “Always
busy.”
“Very true. Hey,” Steve broke in, “Can we get your
number? We’re in town for a few days.”
“Um, sure.” She rummaged through her bag to find
something to write with. Grabbing her
receipt from her CD bag, Aly jotted down her number quickly and glanced at her
watch. “Shit, I gotta go. Good to see you both!”
“Bye Aly!” They both called
after her retreating form before looking at each other.
“Oh this is so something to write home about!” Tyler
exclaimed.
“Don’t get too excited, Ty,
let’s tell the guys and then see what happens.”
“But my brother is finally a
free man again and now we bump into her.
It’s perfect!”
“For a guy you sure are
gettin’ all mushy on me.” They laughed
and headed back to the Timberlakes where everyone was partying for the
afternoon. There wasn’t a concert that
night, but three consecutively on the following nights. Everyone was enjoying the time off.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Yo Josh!”
JC looked up from his book
in the living room and glanced toward the door.
“What in the hell are you
doing in here?” his brother asked.
JC chuckled and held up the
book, “Catching up. It was too loud in
there for awhile.”
“You seriously need some
help. And I actually have the perfect
thing.”
“Why don’t I think that evil
grin is a good thing?” JC interrogated, standing up and walking toward
him. “You forgot your wallet and I know Steve wasn’t going to pay for you
again, so what happened? Get hauled off
to security office? Work?”
Tyler glared at JC for a
moment before dragging him toward the rest of the house where everyone else
was. “Fine, I’ll just tell someone
else. See ya!”
JC shook his head and
grabbed a drink from the table that was set up and wandered outside to find
someone to talk to. Tyler, meanwhile,
found Lance and was busy telling his story avidly.
“And you wouldn’t believe
who paid for my stuff!”
“No, I don’t think I
could. Does this story have a point?”
Lance asked Steve, who had joined his friends in conversation.
“Yes, a very important one, keep listening.”
Tyler continued, “Alison!”
Lance eyed him
curiously. “Alison? Can you be more specific?”
“Josh’s Alison!” Tyler
exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
Lance looked at Joey’s older
brother for confirmation and his jaw dropped in disbelief. “You’re kiddin’ me? Holy shit, that’s weird. Justin and I were just mentioning her a day
or two ago, now you two run into her.”
“She’s lookin’ hot man,”
Tyler added, “Her hair is a different color I think, but I only met her once
and have seen a few pictures.”
Steve nodded, “Yea, it’s
more brown than it used to be I think.”
“Whose hair is more brown?”
All three heads snapped to
the side, Lance turning in a half circle to the speaker. “Hey C, what’s up?”
“Brown hair? Honestly, you need some better conversation
topics.”
“No, this one’s fittin’ us
fine right now,”’ Steve cut in, a grin crossing his face that was similar to
Joey’s after he saw a gorgeous woman.
“You gonna tell me what
happened at the mall, Ty?” JC pushed.
“Alison.”
“Pardon?”
“Alison,” Lance repeated.
“Yes, I heard him. But that’s a person, not an answer to my
question.”
Steve laughed and wrapped an
arm around JC’s shoulders as he pulled a piece of paper out of his back
pocket. “I do believe you knew Ms.
Grey?”
JC froze. “Aly?”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Aly wiped her brow as she
strolled into the tennis pro shop at the club.
Since Jake was away for two weeks she was helping out in taking over
some of his lesson so that Riley and the other pros weren’t taking on more than
they should. Some of it was working
with high school age kids and she enjoyed their passion for the game. Other times, such as the clinics she was
about to instruct, she worked with the kids who were ages 5-8. A soft smile passed over her lips as she
pinched the back of her friend’s neck as she passed him.
“Hey!”
“You ready to work them this
afternoon?” she laughed.
“Of course. You okay?”
“Yea, why?”
He scrunched up his nose and
looked at her funny, “You look like someone jumped out of a cake and you aren’t
sure if you liked it.”
She sighed and pulled her
racquet out of her large bag. “You
could say that. I ran into Tyler and
Steve at the mall earlier.”
“Care to expand on that?”
“You know who they are,
Riley, don’t avoid it. Tyler Chasez and
Steve Fatone.”
“Oh no, not this again.”
She slammed the door to the
back room closed as she walked out, pointing a finger at him aggressively.
“Don’t even go there, Riley. You dug yourself into a hole last time I was
around them and I will not take crap
from you on this, ok?”
“But Al.”
“Don’t ‘Al’ me, you don’t
call me that. Be glad Jake isn’t here
or he’d kick your ass for some of your smartmouth comments recently.”
“Excuse me?” he asked,
moving forward to her. “There something
you have a problem with?”
Aly rolled her eyes at his
attempt to dominate her again and walked past him and out of the small shop
toward the courts. “How did I ever think you were a nice guy, Riley?”
she mumbled to herself.