March

Orlando, Florida

The steady pounding of her feet matched the beat of the song she was listening to.

Thirty-two year old, Orlando native, Kristen Miller, closed her eyes and focused on the music streaming through the ear buds she was wearing as she pushed her feet to keep running. 

So, so what
I'm still a rock star,
I got my rock moves,
And I don't need you,
And guess what,
I'm having more fun,
And now that were done,
I'm gonna show you tonight,
I'm alright,
I'm just fine,
And you're a tool,
So, so what,
I am a rock star,
I got my rock moves,
And I don't want you tonight.

No, no, no, no
I don't want you tonight,
You weren't there,
I'm gonna show you tonight,
I'm alright,
I'm just fine,
And you're a tool,
So, so what,
I am a rock star,
I got my rock moves,
And I don't want you tonight!

The words echoed the thoughts running through her head as Kristen fought not to think about him.  She didn't want to even think his name, or about his blue eyes, or the fact that she had wasted five years of her life with him.  She didn't need him, she told herself.  She was better off without him and she was going to show him he hadn't won.   He may have hurt her--broken her heart and wounded her pride-but she was determined to have the last laugh.

As the last notes of the song faded away, she took the ear buds out of her ears-shoving them into her pocket--and slowed to a walk as she attempted to cool down.  She grabbed the white hand towel slung over one of the arms of the exercise machine.  Wiping the towel over her face, she looked around at the other gym members who were crazy enough to be up at this early hour, torturing themselves.  Her eyes met those of the girl a few treadmills away and Kristen nodded a hello.  Normally she was one who preferred to run outside--enjoying the sights and sounds around her--but it had been raining the last couple days and she had been forced to make better use of her gym membership. 

She turned her attention to the bank of television screens set up on the wall in front of her as she continued walking--the local morning news playing.  She watched as the weather report came on and felt her spirits lift a little at the forecasted sunshine.  If she could get through today, the rain was supposed to let up and they'd be back to enjoying the beautiful, sunny weather that Florida was famous for.

Finally, the timer she had set on the treadmill beeped and the machine came to a stop.  She reached for her bottle of water and, unscrewing the top, took a healthy swallow of the cool liquid--feeling it slide down her throat.  She took another drink then replaced the cap on the bottle.  Wiping her sleeve across her forehead and stepped off the treadmill.  She did a few leg stretches then, grabbing her water bottle, Kristen took another sip and began walking towards the door.  Her pocket suddenly vibrated and she reached in, retrieving her I-phone, and read the text she had received.

Michael's already in a mood today.  Make sure you're not late to the meeting this morning.

"Great." Kristen muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes.  She looked at the time and swore as she hurried towards the exit.  She wasn't sure she was going to make it in time.  She still had to shower and get ready before making her way across town to work.  She prayed for no traffic as she made her way through the parking lot and got into her black Jeep Wrangler.  As she backed out of her spot and pulled out of the parking lot, Kristen flipped on the radio--the sounds of the DJ's talking filling the interior of her car.  She reached out, intent on changing the station--not really in the mood to listen to them rambling on about celebrity news and gossip this morning--until a specific name caught her attention and made her perk up slightly.  Kristen listened to the show as she continued driving towards her apartment complex--the wipers moving rhythmically back and forth as the rain beat against the windshield.  She reached over and turned the radio up slightly over the noise from the rain.  

"For those just tuning in, we have our old friend Chris Kirkpatrick in the studio with us today." Johnny stated.

"Careful who you're calling old, man." Chris joked, making everyone in the studio laugh.  "It must have been a slow news day for you guys to call me in to come down." He teased.

"Maybe we just missed seeing you."Jayde replied. "You used to come in all the time, now we hardly ever see you."

Kristen couldn't help but roll her eyes at the woman's flirtatious tone and comment as she looked over her shoulder and changed lanes. 

"Okay, so you just got done doing the reunion tour with N SYNC." Johnny said.  "What are you going to do now that it's over?"

"I'm going to Disneyland!" Chris exclaimed excitedly.

Again everyone laughed.  "Seriously man," Johnny continued.  "The album you guys put out last year was great!  Are you going to be releasing another one?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Chris replied.  "You know, we had fun getting back together and we gave our fans one last album and tour like we always promised we would, but I think we're officially done now.  Everyone's doing their own thing now."

"Don't say that!" Jayde chimed in.  "Are you guys really done?"

"Yeah, you know, JC and Justin have both gotten married and JC just had a kid--"

"That's right." Johnny interrupted him.  "Didn't you report on that last month?" He asked Jayde.

"Yep." Jayde replied.  "Just a couple weeks ago actually, right?" She asked Chris.

"Yeah." Chris agreed.  "Everyone's growing up so fast!" Chris commented with an exaggerated sniff and a quiver in his voice as if he were about to start crying.

"Any chance you're going to be following them and getting married yourself?" Johnny asked.

"Hell no!" Chris exclaimed forcefully then laughed.  "I mean, they're all happy and everything and the girls are terrific and I love ‘em.  I'm happy for Justin and JC-they've both found the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with--and Joey too, for that matter...hmmm..." he paused.  "Is it a coincidence that all the J's are married?" He mused with a chuckle.

"I'm sure there's some hidden meaning there." Jayde agreed with a laugh.  "We should get an astrologer or something in here to tell us what that means."

"Anyway," Chris continued with a chuckle.  "They're happy, they're doing their thing but...that's not for me.  Marriage isn't my cross to bear." He teased.

"Alright." Johnny said.  "So the group is over, you're not getting married or having any kids--"

"You're making my life sound so depressing!" Chris interrupted him with a laugh.  "I'm going to die old, fat and alone.  Is that what you're saying?"

"I'm not saying it." Johnny defended.  "You are!"  They both laughed.  "Are you dating anyone right now?"

"Nope."Chris answered without hesitation.

"Are you interested in anyone?  Anyone got your eye at the moment?" Jayde prodded.

"At the moment?" Chris asked.  "No."  He chuckled.  "Are you kidding me?  There are too many good lookin' girls here in Orlando to tie myself down to just one and I just don't ever see myself settling down with one girl, you know?"

 "You've still got your foundation, right?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah." Chris replied.  "We're doing stuff all the time for the foundation and I've been doing some other charity work around town as well.  I'm actually doing a golf tournament next week for the Give Hope Foundation." He continued.  "It's a tournament I've done before."

"At one point you were working on putting together another group," Jayde commented.  "Is that still a possibility?"

Kristen pulled her Jeep into the parking lot of the apartment complex she lived in, but stayed in the car, listening to the radio--strangely intrigued and wanting to hear the rest of this interview.  She sat in the Jeep, the rain falling against the metal top of the covered parking structure she was under and listened to the voices coming through the radio. 

She had grown up amidst the hype of "Boyband Central" that was Orlando in the late 90's and early part of the new millennium.  Though she had been a little older than the majority of the fans at the time, she had still been caught up in the phenomenon that was N SYNC.  She had bought the CD's, and had gone to one of their concerts, but once they had faded from the music scene so had her devotion to them.  Sitting here, though, listening to Chris talk and laugh with the DJ's Kristen smiled as she thought back on those days. 

Justin had always been the cute one that all the girls went crazy for, with JC running a close second but Chris had been the one she had found herself attracted to the most.  There was just something about his smooth, clear voice and his incredible brown eyes that had drawn her in.  She remembered his goofy and crazy antics--his love for life and sense of adventure--and had always wanted to meet him, wondering if he would be as fun to hang out with as he appeared.  Somehow, she knew it would be near impossible to be bored while in the company of the one and only Chris Kirkpatrick and suddenly Kristen wanted to meet him--to see if her theory was correct.

"Anything's possible at this point, man." Chris replied.  "I'm always messing around in the studio and I've worked with a few other artists in the past, producing." He paused for a moment.  "I guess I'm just waiting to see what's going to happen next.  I'm not closing any doors and I'm open for whatever comes my way."

"Sounds good, man." Johnny said.  "If you ever want a job hosting a radio show, let me know.  Alright, Chris is going to be in the studio with us all morning.  Up next..."

Kristen jumped and let out a startled gasp as her phone began vibrating in the cup holder she'd put it in earlier.  She picked it up and looked at the text message she'd received then swore under her breath as she quickly got out of the Jeep and hurried up the stairs to her second floor apartment.

She was going to be late and Michael wasn't going to be happy about it.

~*~

"Thank you for joining us, Ms. Miller." Michael Davenport, Senior Public Relations Director for the Florida Children's Hospital, remarked dryly as Kristen slipped into the meeting that was currently underway an hour later. 

"Sorry." Kristen apologized as she quickly took a seat next to her friend and co-worker Amie Kerrington.  "Traffic." She replied.

"Like I was saying..." Michael picked right back up where he had left off and Kristen tuned him out as she reached for one of the bagels sitting on the tray in the center of the conference table. 

"Thanks for the text this morning." She breathed to Amie as she sat back in her seat, picking at the cranberry bagel.  She put a piece in her mouth and began chewing.

"A lot of good it did sending it to you," Amie remarked quietly from the corner of her mouth.  "You were still ten minutes late."

"That's better than it would have been without it." Kristen replied with a smile as she flipped open her notebook and began jotting down notes as Michael continued to drone on about policy reminders and proper name tag etiquette.  Amie glanced over at Kristen and rolled her eyes at one point and Kristen had to bite back the laugh that wanted to escape at the look on the other girl's face. 

Being a part of the public relations team at the hospital had its perks--being able to be the liaison between the community and the hospital, helping to brainstorm and organize fundraising projects, and being able to spend time with the kids who were staying there--but these bi-weekly staff meetings definitely weren't one of them.  More often than not, they were a waste of time and Kristen could list half a dozen things she could be doing right now that would be a bigger benefit to the hospital instead of being in this meeting.

"Now, I'm going to turn the rest of the time over to Michelle for some brainstorming and strategizing." Michael remarked and Kristen watched as he sat down, his extensive girth encased in an obnoxious sweater that was straight out of a Cosby Show episode.  Bill would be proud.  Kristen thought with a quiet chuckle.  Her eyes then turned to Michelle--the petite blonde who was old enough to be her mother and who had been a part of the fundraising and special events staff here at the hospital for the last twenty years. 

"Alight guys, like Michael said, it's time for a little brainstorming." Michelle began, setting a large pad of paper up on the easel in the corner of the room.  "I want us to come up with some really unique and spectacular ideas for some events for the coming year so let's put our heads together and come up with some ideas that will really energize people and make them want to participate and donate.  What do you have?"  She stood ready, black sharpie in hand, to write down any and all ideas they could come up with.

"A golf tournament." Kristen replied.

"We do that every year." Mark, the guy sitting to Kristen's left stated. 

"What about a celebrity golf tournament?" Amie asked.

"Like that's never been done before." Came the sarcastic comment from down at the end of the table.  Amie leaned forward and gave a death glare to Paul, the intern who had dared open his mouth to disagree with her.

"Uh-uh." Michelle shook her head.  "We're brainstorming, remember?  Which means any and all ideas can be put on the table and nobody can say anything negative about them." She said as she wrote down the words "celebrity golf tournament" on the pad of paper.

"What about a different kind of celebrity ball game?" Kristen supplied.  "Like baseball or basketball?" 

"Ooh, I like that idea." Michelle smiled as she wrote it down.  "What else?"

They spent the next twenty minutes throwing out ideas on everything from a carnival to celebrity cook-off challenge.  "Somehow, it always comes back to celebrities." Kristen muttered under her breath.

"Of course." Amie replied leaning towards her.  "Don't you know?  They're the only ones who can afford to donate their time and talent and the ones that will make regular people pull out their checkbooks for a chance to see." She grinned.  "How else do you expect Molly Housewife to donate unless you can get Justin Timberlake to hit a few golf balls out on the course?"

"You forget, he also did a benefit concert that night." Kristen remarked.  "Which was a big draw for fans."

"There's an idea." Amie smiled then turned back to the group.  "How about a benefit concert?" She put the idea out on the table.  "We contact some of the musicians who live in the area and see if they'd be willing to put on a benefit show."

"Who?" Kyle, the newest member of their staff asked with a derisive laugh.  "Former, washed-up boyband members?" He rolled his eyes.  "Who would pay to see them perform?"

"Uh, how about all the thousands of fans who went to their reunion tour last year?" Kristen remarked, glaring at Kyle from across the table--not sure why she felt the need to protect a couple of guys she'd never met and had no personal interest in. 

"Benefit concert." Michelle said, speaking the words as she added them to the list they had been making.  She snapped the top back on the marker she had been using and looked at the list for a moment then turned and faced the group.  "I think we were able to come up with some really good ideas today." She smiled.  "Amie, I want you and Kristen to run with this benefit concert idea.  See what you can come up with for our next meeting in two weeks."

"Awesome!" Amie exclaimed.  She and Kristen smiled at each other. 

"Kyle," Michelle said, continuing to hand out assignments.  "I want you and Mark to work on some sort of ball game idea and I'll be looking to what we can do for some sort of community carnival for next fall." She sat down then and Michael stood again--dismissing them. 

"Want to go with me down to the cafeteria?" Amie asked as the girls left the conference room. 

"I'm not hungry." Kristen replied. 

"I didn't ask if you were hungry." Amie stated with a chuckle.  "I asked if you wanted to go down with me."

Kristen smiled.  "Okay.  Let me stop by my desk first to set this down," she lifted the notebook in her hand. "Then I'll go down with you."

~*~

"So, how are you?" Amie asked as she leaned back against the counter, waiting for the coffee she had ordered to be prepared-her blue eyes regarding Kristen intently.

"I'm fine." Kristen nodded, forcing a smile.

Kris..." Amie drawled, clearly seeing through her ruse.

"Don't." Kristen said, shaking her head once as she looked at her friend.  The girls' eyes met for a moment, a tense silence falling between them as Kristen silently begged her friend not to bring it up.  She was trying to forget about what had happened and move past it.  It didn't help that everyone she knew kept asking how she was and if there was anything they could do for her.  "I'm fine." She insisted. 

Amie narrowed her eyes slightly, unconvinced, then sighed in resignation.  "You're going to have to talk about it at some point." She said.  She turned around as the girl that was working the registers reappeared with her cup of coffee.  She paid and turned back to face Kristen.

"Someday." Kristen nodded in agreement.  "But not today."

"Fine." Amie said as the girls began walking back towards their offices.  "So, if you're not going to talk about Ke..." she trailed off at the sharp glare that Kristen threw her way.  "That." She finished.  "Then let's talk about this whole benefit concert idea." She said with an excited grin.  "What kind of connections do we have from past events with people in the music business?  Which musicians would bring in the biggest crowds?"

"That is a good question." Kristen mused.  "All the big names I can think of are almost too big, you know?  I mean, why would they want to come to Orlando to do a benefit concert for our hospital when they can do something for the hospital where they live." She sighed.

"Okay...so, we go with my idea from earlier and contact musicians who already live here." Amie stated.

"The only ones I know off the top of my head are the ones that Kyle's going to laugh at us for bringing up." Kristen replied.

"I don't give a flying flip about Kyle right now." Amie stated making Kristen laugh.  "Those ‘former, washed-up boyband members' as he referred to them, are frikin' hot!" She exclaimed, again making Kristen laugh. "The fact that they're mostly all married now with kids makes them even hotter.  And they can sing and they're great performers.  Let's see if we can get them on board with this."

Kristen smiled.  "One of them was on the radio this morning." She said as the girls walked into the back administration area of the hospital and down the hall to their offices.  

"Which one?"

"Chris Kirkpatrick." Kristen replied.

"He's always around town supporting some charity or another.  Think he'd be willing to be part of a benefit concert?" Amie questioned.

"I don't know." Kristen shrugged.  "I'll text him and ask." She teased with a chuckle.

"Brat." Amie replied under her breath.

"He's got his own foundation that deals with kids." Kristen continued with a smile.  "Maybe we can do something that would benefit both him and us." She offered. 

Amie nodded.  "I like the way you think, Miller.  Okay, let's see what kind of contacts we have and what favors and strings we can pull and regroup for lunch?  Want to go to Firehouse?" Amie asked.  "About eleven-thirty?"

"Sounds like a plan." Kristen grinned.

"Awesome!" Amie replied.  "Betcha I can pull more strings than you can." She challenged.

"In your dreams, Herrington." Kristen laughed.  "You're goin' down!"

~*~

Chris pulled his sunglasses down from where they had been resting on the bill of the black ball cap he'd been wearing and slipped them over his eyes.  He stood for a moment outside the radio studio then, pulling up the bagging cargo shorts he was wearing, he walked across the parking lot towards his car. It had been fun being back in the studio again with Johnny and Jayde.  Before the reunion tour last year he had been a regular on their show-usually coming in on Friday's to put in his two cents on whatever the hot topics were.  He liked to talk, and everyone seemed to like hearing the stories he had to tell and the comments he made.  He pulled his cell phone from his pocket as it vibrated and read the text as he opened the door to his Escalade--surprised to see it was from JC.  Though it was mid-morning in Orlando, it was still pretty early in LA.  JC was never one to call or text before noon in whatever time zone he was in.

Don't ever have kids.

Chris laughed as he slid behind the wheel and put the key in the ignition. 

Not planning on it.

Chris sent the reply then pulled out of his parking spot.  His phone vibrated again as he exited the station's parking lot and began driving through downtown Orlando. 

Three am feedings, and a baby who won't go to sleep unless you're holding her are worse than any tour schedule we ever had.

Chris chuckled as he read JC's text.  "Come on, Big Daddy." He muttered under his breath--using the nickname JC had been given years ago.  "Suck it up."  He typed the words coming from his mouth and sent them to his friend and band-mate as he sat, stopped at a red light. 

Don't ever have kids.

Chris laughed as JC repeated his earlier text.  He replied, telling JC to give Rachel a hug for him then looked up at the traffic light that was still red.  "This is the longest damn light in the history of long lights!" He exclaimed, though he was all alone in the car and nobody was around to hear his complaint.  Definitely a sign you've been alone too long. He thought with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head at his talking to himself.  He hadn't had people over in a while.  Maybe it was time to put the call out and see who was up for a party tonight.  The light finally changed and he drove forward--only to be stopped by the next red light. 

He groaned as he shifted in his seat--putting his right hand up on the steering wheel as he leaned his left arm on the door-and looked out his window.  A black Wrangler pulled up beside him and he suddenly found his attention drawn to the occupant of the Jeep.  The woman was tapping her hands against the steering wheel-her curly brown hair moving along with her head and body to the beat of whatever song she was listening to.  Chris found his lips turning up in a smile as he observed her.  She was cute and he liked the fact that she wasn't afraid to let loose and have fun--singing and dancing in her car and not paying any attention to who may be watching her.  Suddenly her lips began moving as she began to sing along and he wondered what she was listening to. The light changed though, and he watched as she pulled out ahead of him and turned down the next street.  He had half a mind to follow her--to ask her what she had been listening to that had put her in such a good mood.  He shook his head at the thought, dismissing it as quickly as it had come and continued driving straight. 

Definitely been alone too long.  He thought.  When he found himself wanting to stalk beautiful strangers it was time to let loose and get a little crazy.  Either that or I need to get laid.  He mused with a chuckle as he flipped on the radio.  Probably both. He mused as he picked up his phone again.  Both could be solved easily enough.  All he had to do was send a few texts, make a few calls, and he'd be set to go. 

I've got a feeling...

Chris couldn't help the chuckle that came as the Black Eye Peas' song started playing.  He reached over, turning the volume up higher and began singing along.

I've got a feeling

That tonight's gonna to be a good night

That tonight's gonna be a good, good night...