“It’s time.”

“What?”

“It’s time.”

“What are you talking about?”

Reese arched an eyebrow at them with a naughty glint. “Where’s the hat?”

“Oh!” Tiffany’s eyes lit up. “It’s at the booth…”

She rushed off into the crowd, Sarah rolling her eyes at her retreating back. “Really? I hate that hat.”

“The hat rules.”

“Every time I put that hat on, crazy shit happens!”

“Exactly why it rules. It’s your birthday, you have to.”

“It won’t go with my outfit!”

Now it was Reese’s turn to roll her eyes. “It’s a top hat; it doesn’t go with any damn outfit. So what?”

“It’s my birthday, why are you making me?” Sarah whined.

It was true that it wouldn’t go with her outfit – a blue tunic dress – but it was the hat’s cosmic effect she feared. It never failed. They went out for somebody’s birthday, had a few drinks and some fun, and then somehow the hat infected everybody with the spirit of madness. Wackiness began the moment the hat came out. Nights involving the hat wound up in stronger hangovers.

“It’s tradition. You have to. And if you won’t do it for you, do it for me.”

“Why for you?”

“I had a really terrible day. Seeing you in that hat will lift my spirits! You want to lift my spirits, don’t you? Why wouldn’t you do that for me?”

“You are so full of shit.”

Yet even as she said so Sarah was accepting the proffered hat from Tiffany and jamming it resentfully on her head. Emotional blackmail was the pits. “What now?”

Tiffany grinned. “Time for some shots.”

**

“Thanks.” Justin accepted the bottle and took a sip. “Do you see them?”

“Nah, place is packed,” Trace said. “We’ll find ‘em eventually.”

The place was more packed than Justin’s security team would normally allow. It took a lot of protesting that it was a private party before they relented. They wouldn’t have given in if this was any old night in a club with normal punters. It struck him now how few of Sarah’s wider circle he was acquainted with. Looking around the room, he recognised only a few as people she worked with. That was purely because once upon a time Reese worked there too. He’d attended some work functions (not many, because it soon became clear that his presence drew the wrong kind of attention to her).

Everybody was obviously having a good time. Trace and Justin were required at a business dinner for their label so missed the first portion of the evening, but arrived just as everybody had a good buzz on. Alcohol was flowing, the music was loud, and there was a loud hum of chatter even above the speakers. They’d left Justin’s security on guard outside with the club’s VIP room security and ventured over to the bar to start catching up. The night was still young, it was Saturday, and they were both in the mood to shake off the day.

Leaning against the bar, Trace took a swig of his drink. His eyes still scanned the room. “So now we’re away from the suits, what did you really think?”

Justin’s lips twisted sideways. “I don’t think they really get what the brand’s about.”

“Me too,” he responded. “It was good stuff but too formal.”

“So it’s a no?”

“Agreed.” The next morning he’d call to turn them down. “Though if nothing else, that’s three weeks back for your schedule.”

“Ha.” Part of the proposal involved Justin travelling around launching the new range. He wasn’t disappointed. “Sorry not sorry. Think I’d prefer to stay put a while.”

“Oh? That mean Vancouver’s out too?”

“Undecided.”

“You’d better hurry up, man. They won’t hang on much longer for you.”

“I know, I know.”

His long fingers reached under his beanie and scratched at his hair. He might have to ditch it in a minute; it felt warm in the packed bar. Though it was a smart place they both kept it as casual as they dared in jeans and shirts. Possibly the superstar status helped Justin (therefore Trace by association) get away with it.

“What’s the hang up?”

“Don’t know if I want to be away that long. I’d prefer something shooting closer to home, but it is the best script I currently got. I don’t know.”

That wasn’t a dilemma he could shed much light on, so he merely shrugged. “Maybe that’s your gut saying no?”

“Maybe. I’m not in a very decisive mood right now I guess.”

“Well hey, it’s Saturday night. Who needs to decide anything other than their next drink?”

Justin clinked the neck of his beer bottle against Trace’s in a toast. “Amen, brother.”

Loud whooping rose above the noise of the crowd. Both men turned to see the commotion, letting out amused grunts simultaneously. Sarah was in the famed birthday top hat and standing on top of a table with Shauna and Tiffany. It was obvious that she wasn’t there willingly. Sandwiched between them, she grimaced while they danced and tried to cajole her into the same. Reese was the one hollering as she snapped photos.

“Told you we’d find ‘em.” Trace said drily.

“Well at least Reese looks happier,” Justin commented.

Breaking into a smile, he watched as she clambered onto the table to snap a group selfie. They had to hurry as the bouncer was already coming over to order them all down. He wasn’t sure how she managed it in the precarious looking heels, but on the bright side at least she was wearing pants. Tiffany was in a mini skirt and in danger of showing off more than intended.

“Happier?”

“Didn’t she tell you?”

“Haven’t talked to her since this morning.”

“Somehow the agencies got hold of the wedding photos.”

“What?” He was confused. “How were there any photos to get hold of?”

“They had photographers while they were getting ready,” Justin told him. “It was some dumb story about how I’ve been chasing after her and it was me made her back out on the day. She was pissed, texted me about it all through lunch.”

“Really?” Shoving a hand in his pocket, a pensive frown crossed Trace’s face – he really had thought she was getting past it. Certainly since he’d advised her to let it go he hadn’t heard anything else on the topic. “When did she start reading those damn sites? She knows better.”

“Oh she doesn’t give a shit about the story,” he said. “It was the pictures. Just the fact they got them was enough, but apparently in every one of ‘em she looked like she had an appointment with the firing squad.”

“Apparently?”

“I haven’t seen them, taking her word for it.” The temptation was there, but in his current state of mind viewing pictures of her in a veil wasn’t smart. “But I think seeing the evidence stirred things again. Though…” He gestured in her direction with his free hand. “Seems like she’s not dwelling on it this time.”

“That’s an improvement. Let’s follow suit.”

“Agreed,” Justin said. Although he’d brought it up, he was more than a little sick of that stupid wedding. One way or another it had been dominating his life far too long. Maybe that was another reason to say yes to Vancouver. “Think I’m gonna look for Ben.”

He set off into the crowd, Trace close on his heels.

**

“I mean, I just don’t get it.” Shauna gestured along the bench at the quartet. “Look at us! We’re some seriously sexy bitches.”

“I would’ve gone with seriously drunk, but okay.” Tiffany smirked before taking another drag of her cigarette.

Sarah’s designated hour in the hat was done. Hi-jinks ensued but everybody made it out alive. Sarah had needed to smoke to calm her ‘damn nerves’ (as she put it). It was a bit of a wild ride. Neither Reese nor Shauna smoked but they’d followed them onto the patio to keep them company. At that stage fresh air was no bad thing. They were all over heated. Shauna’s eyeliner was making tell tale moves under her eyes. Reese was so dishevelled that Ben had (charmingly) told her that she ought to seek a mirror (she hadn’t). Tiffany was the only one who still looked presentable.

“Speak for yourselves,” Reese said. “Some of us were smart enough to turn down the tequila.”

An extended break for water instead of more shots left her in better shape than the rest. Even so, she’d thrown herself so wholeheartedly into the mischief that she looked as bad as any of them. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so carefree. She loved it. Any shadow of her earlier upset was gone.

It wasn’t all plain sailing. She’d barely seen her boys. When she did it was the uncomfortable experience of watching as a stranger flirted with Justin. The feeling was bizarre, even though they were long since broken up. He was doing nothing wrong; this was always going to happen eventually. She was as prepared as she’d ever be but it was still alien. There were always women willing to try their luck but it had been many years since there was any possibility of them getting anywhere. She was so unused to it that it was more like seeing him in one of his movies than real life.

It wasn’t a problem but it was weird. For a little while it left her in a funny mood – a mood which was fixed by requesting some 80s classics and making Sarah dance with her.

“Whatever.” Shauna was unhappy with the interruption. “I’m saying, for seventy five percent of us to still be single something’s wrong with the male species.”

“Nope,” Reese said, “it’s not the male species that are weird for avoiding us. It’s Ben for being suckered in.”

“What?” Shauna protested. “Hell no!”

“Didn’t you see the public spectacle we just made of ourselves? Face it babe, we may be sexy bitches but we’re crazy bitches. Drake ought to thank me for dumping him and saving his ass.”

The initial reaction of the other three was awkwardness. That soon dissipated when they saw the way their friend began to crack up. It wasn’t false or embarrassed. It wasn’t caustic or making a joke as a defence mechanism. Reese was cackling out loud and her whole body was folding over with it. Her head hit Sarah’s arm and she was in hysterics. It was infectious.

“Oh my God…” Tiffany struggled to breathe. She already had a stitch.

“It was when I sent my damn shoe flying across the room…” Shauna’s eyes squeezed shut, as if closing them would make it all a dream.

“No,” Reese replied, clutching at her arm. “It was when she managed to tip that entire drink in Trace’s lap and just said ‘you look like you peed yourself’ as if she wasn’t the reason.”

“Do you realise how many people I work with are here?” Sarah shrieked, hiding her face in her hands. “I am never living this down!”

“Hey, I’m sure not all of them saw.” Tiffany stroked her arm. “Maybe one or two were in the bathroom?”

That set off the giggling again, and that was how Justin found them. He’d also stepped outside for some air. The sight amused him greatly. They were all curled up against each other, clutching each other’s hands or arms and practically crying. The hysterics were starting to die down and they were trying to regain control, but every so often it still came out. Shauna’s eye make up was everywhere, Reese’s hair was a wild mess of curls and Sarah’s face was still in her hands.

“Having fun, ladies?”

“Worst party ever,” Shauna replied.

“If I get fired for this on Monday, can I be one of your back up dancers?” Sarah asked.

Justin folded his arms, looked along the row and shook his head. “Having seen your skills I’m going to have to say thanks but no thanks.”

“Actually that’s a good idea, let’s go dance again!” She remained undeterred.

Tiffany and Shauna jumped up with her, but when she reached out a hand to Reese she shook her head.

“I need to recover, y’all go. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Y’all. Y’all! She’s so country,” Shauna giggled, stumbling sideways into Sarah.

The Tennessee two rolled their eyes at that comment but the others were already scurrying back inside. Justin made a tutting sound with his tongue before sliding onto the bench next to his friend.

“I see you’ve had a good time.”

“Damn straight.” There was a toothy smile on her face, and he was heartened to see it. “You?”

“More sedate than yours, I think.” He came outside intending to smoke, but instead he folded his arms and slumped back comfortably. The cool air was pleasant after the heat of the crowd. “But yeah, just been talking to some people. Sarah’s friends are nice.”

Reese refrained from asking about anyone in particular. It would only make him uncomfortable and was none of her business anyway. “So I barely even said hello to you yet, how was your day? How was your business thing?”

“Went okay but I think we’ll pass. I’m more leaning to this script I think.”

“The hockey team one?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, cool.”

Reese crossed one leg over the other, turning her body towards him. Her eyes darted over the long frame lazily stretched out in front of her. In dark jeans, a white t-shirt and blue shirt, he was a little scruffy but looking good. The shirt played up his eye colour. As he talked she watched his jaw – there was too much stubble, he needed to shave.

“When would you film?”

“Four weeks’ time, up in Vancouver.”

“Vancouver?” This was news. He’d mentioned the movie but not the location. “How long?”

“Three months.”

“Oh. Wow.”

She was silent while she pondered that idea. Three months was actually quite tame by his standards. When he went on tour he was typically away for a year, on and off. Long absences were a staple of their friendship since he first joined the Mickey Mouse Club. She barely remembered a time when that wasn’t the case. Even so, the thought dampened her high. Justin had been right when he predicted how fast their friendship would recover once they finally called truce. She was back to the place where separation was a heavy notion. That was unwelcome, coming just when she’d started feeling lighter lately.

“Sounds cool. You definitely decided?”

“Hmm…” He twisted his hand from side to side.  “I could go either way.”

She tried not to look too visibly cheered. “Well I wish I had anything to tell you but… same shit different day. And I think you already witnessed every funny story I have about tonight.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled, looking at her with a wry glint. “You ladies know tonight has completely destroyed all claims that Harmony was the one who got you into all the trouble, right?”

She shrugged. “Like you believed it anyway.”

“Nah, I know you too well. You were always the one getting everyone else in hot water and somehow coming out smelling of roses.”

Reese knew what he was referring to – namely high school – but even so it stung. It was too close to some of the self-flagellation she’d been doing too much of.

“Well damn, do you have to make me sound so evil?” She joked. “Ouch!”

Justin tipped his head back, closing his eyes in chagrin. Why was his foot always so determined to relocate to his mouth? “After all these years, it’s amazing you still let me talk.”

“Eh, I always know what you mean.”

Bringing his gaze back down to his folded arms, he nodded. His eyes skated sideways, flickering over her. The girl had clearly partied with all her might. Even if he hadn’t witnessed it he would have known. The hair neatly curled for the outing was now big and wild. The smoky eyes were smudged, her lipstick almost completely gone – doubtless the pink marks were against a few dirty glasses on their table. Even so, the shine of enjoyment was in her eyes and she looked good. The form fitting khaki boiler suit and gold heels would have been strange on anybody else but she pulled it off somehow. She looked more like herself than she had for months.

 “That you do.”

“Funny to think, huh?”

“How’d you mean?”

“It’s been a really long time. And a lot of crazy shit,” she added.

He looked at her with a quizzical purse of his lips. “Not following you.”

“Just that we’re still here and I still know what you mean. And… you know what, I don’t even make sense to me any more. Maybe I should cool it for the next few rounds.”

Her giggle was oddly melodic. It always amused him how melodic her laugh was, given that in general she had zero melody. Of the pair he’d received all the musical talent. You could at least credit her with a little rhythm but she wasn’t much of a dancer either.

He reached out and rubbed her arm. “You always make sense to me, you lil’ lush.”

“Ha.” Her hand came to rest on top of his. “Maybe this is the booze making me mushy, but I’m really glad we still have that. Let’s not lose it again, okay?”

“Pssh.” She’d made him as wistful as she had gratified by that statement. “It was… just a… brief hiatus.”

“No *NSYNC fan could ever trust your idea of a hiatus, Timberlake.”

Her joke about Drake earlier wasn’t a diversionary tactic. This one undoubtedly was. She got too deep for her own comfort there – she blamed the alcohol – and she didn’t want to take that any further. Trouble was she’d lost too many close people lately, in various ways, and thus far he was the only one she’d recovered. Justin was too important to let slip again.

Possibly she wouldn’t be so insecure about it in this moment if it hadn’t been for her little upset earlier in the day. It was an unwanted reminder of how badly she could get things wrong and what a soap opera she’d been living in. Even when you cut the tabloid embellishment out the truth sounded bad enough.

Still, she was having too much fun to make herself melancholy. The disaster was eventually averted and they’d fixed things. There was no need to worry about it any more.

Justin took his hand back so he could loop his arm around her shoulders. Immediately she nestled in under it, her own arm snaking around his waist to return the hug. His lips pressed against the crown of her head, and remained there in her hair as he talked.

“I know you had a lot of upheaval lately Reese but it’s alright. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Except maybe Vancouver.” There was another anxious zinger.

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

When in doubt, abruptly changing the subject was a good fallback. “Is it weird that suddenly I have no energy left?”

Justin glanced at his watch. “No, it’s nearly quarter past one already and you’ve been going hard peanut. You’re probably due a crash.”

“That late? Might find Trace and see if he wants to go home.”

“Then I’m about to drop Trace in it because he already went home.”

“What?” She complained. “Didn’t think I’d want to share the cab?”

“He figured you were in until the bitter end and you’d go with the girls. If you need an escort though I’m planning on cutting out anyway.”

“Would you mind?” She asked gratefully. “They’re not calling it a night any time soon.”

“Randy’s bringing the car round in about five minutes and I’d feel better than putting you in a cab by yourself. Don’t worry, I’ll take you home.”

“Thanks. You’re a good friend, JT.”

Looking down at the dark curls and the way she was huddled around his body, Justin stifled a sigh. A great friend wasn’t exactly what he wanted to be, but he supposed he had to take what he could get - even if that was merely being the safe ride home.