Prologue

(Friday, May 25, 2001)

JC and his girlfriend Bobbie’s two year anniversary was coming up in a couple days and the guys had been so busy with all of their promoting and traveling he hadn’t had the time to get her anything yet.  So he and the guys made a trip to the local mall plaza just off of Sunset Ave. to do some shopping in the few hours they had free that day.

Only once JC got there he couldn’t decide what to get Bobbie.  They’d been together for two years and he considered their relationship to be pretty serious.  He really cared about her, but he bought her stuff all the time.  She literally had almost everything so trying to find something now that would be special was hard for him.  And of coarse the guys were growing very impatient with his indecisiveness.

“How much longer are we gonna be here?” Chris, whined.

“Dude, I gotta find Bobbie’s gift.  It’s our anniversary in a couple days and I can’t decide what to get her.  Just chill.” JC said,  as he continued to walk along the array of shops in the outdoor plaza they were in.

“I agree with Chris.  It’s time to go.  We’ve been here forever!” Justin joined in.

“J, I never thought I’d EVER hear you say you were sick of shopping!” Lance laughed.

“Yeah, are you feeling alright man?” Joey questioned.

“Look, normally I love to shop, and ya’ll know that.  But for crying out loud we’ve been walking around this place for hours and C still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.  He hasn’t even bought one thing!  I’m ready to go.  Besides, we’ve got that radio interview in a couple hours.  And I’d really like to eat before we go!” Justin defended.

“FINE!” JC said, shaking his head in frustration.  “We’ll go.  I’ll just come back later by myself.  But since we’re here we might as well go to the food court and get something to eat.”

“I’ll second that.  I’m hungry too!” Joey said.

So all the guys agreed and proceeded to head on towards the food court area.  They were walking along talking.  Mostly Justin and Chris complaining about how they’d been there for at least two hours and JC hadn’t bought anything at all.

Lance of coarse made it a point to defend JC by pointing out just how much Justin and Chris had managed to buy in the time they WERE there, which of coarse started a bickering match amongst the five men.

They were all consumed in their petty argument.  “Bickering like a bunch of females!” Dre, one of their security guys said to another and they shared a chuckle.

“We heard that!” the five men said together, each giving Dre a dirty look.

“Hey what can I say?  The truth hurts?” he smirked back at that guys.

“Whatever!” Justin grumbled, continuing down the walkway that would lead them to the food court.

As they were nearing the food court, the guys were interrupted from their conversations by the sound of a woman’s screams.  “Stop him!  Somebody stop him!”

The guys looked up to see some guy running directly towards them not paying any attention to where he was running, as he was too busy looking back at the girl that was chasing him.  He ran right smack into JC, who’d been walking in front of the other guys trying to block out all of their bickering.  “Oaf” JC gasped at the impact, as both of the men fell to the ground.

Mike one of the bodyguards immediately grabbed a hold of the man that had run into JC and pulled him to his feet.  “Why don’t you watch where you’re going man?!”

“Don’t let him go!  Please don’t let him go!  He stole my purse!” the girl yelled as she approached the group of men.

“Dude, you ok?” Justin asked, as he helped JC to his feet.

“I’m fine!” he answered while dusting himself off.

“THANK YOU!” the girl said breathlessly as she ran up to the group that had managed to stop and restrain the man that had stolen her purse.  She then walked directly up to the guy struggling to get free from Mike’s grip, and punched him square in the gut.  “I’ll take that!” she said, grabbing her purse from his hands.

The guy’s knees buckled under the pain from the punch to his abdomen and began to fall to the ground.  Mike wasn’t about to hold him up so he let go of the guy’s shirt and watched rather amused, as the man collapsed.

“That must be some right hook you got there!” he laughed, looking to the girl that was now sorting through her purse to make sure all of her belongings were still inside.

“Huh?  Oh…yeah I guess!” she laughed, slightly still trying to catch her breath.

“Are you ok, Miss?” JC asked, looking the girl over.   He was the first to say anything.  All the other guys still stood in shock at the scene that had just unfolded before them.

She turned her attention to JC who was starring at her with a mixed expression of concern and amusement.  “Yes, I’m fine.  Just a lil’ out of breath I’ve been chasing him through this whole friggin’ mall.  Thanks for stopping him.  Everyone else just stood by and watched.  They didn‘t even bother to try to help.”

“I can’t believe you just walked up and punched him like that!” Justin said still starring at her in shock.

“Well, he deserved it.  He stole my friggin’ purse, and made me chase his sorry ass through this whole damn mall.  He’s lucky I’m so out of breath or I woulda done a whole hell of a lot more than just punch him!”

With that Chris burst into laughter.  The whole thing was just too much for him to handle.  He’d never seen anything like it before.  And to hear this girl ranting, well that was the last straw, he just couldn’t help it any longer.

“I’m glad you find this so amusing!” she said, giving Chris a rather annoyed look.

“NO!  Sorry, it’s not that.  It’s just I’ve never seen a girl just walk up and punch someone like that before.  Your purse being stolen isn’t funny.  I’m sorry I shouldn’t be laughing, but I really couldn’t help myself.” he said trying to calm himself.

“Ignore him!  He’s not right in the head.” Lance smiled warmly at her.

“If you say so.” she said, raising an eyebrow and glancing from Lance to Chris and back to Lance.

“You sure you’re ok?  He didn’t hurt you or anything did he?” JC asked.

“Dude, I think she can pretty much handle herself!” Justin chuckled, thinking of the blow she’d just delivered to the man still laying on the ground doubled over in front of them.

“Your friend's right.  I’m fine.  He just ran by and yanked my purse out of my hand.  No harm done to me.  Especially, since I got my purse back.  I just got paid and if he’d of gotten away then I’d be completely broke.  So thanks again for stopping him.” she said.

“Well, we didn’t really do anything.  He pretty much ran into us.” JC said.

“Actually, he ran into you, C.  So you’re the hero here!  Your hard, masculine body stopped him.” Joey laughed.

JC shot Joey a funny look as if to tell him to shut up.

The girl grinned at Joey and then at JC.  “Well, then I thank your body!” she smirked.

“I’m sure his body says your welcome!” Joey continued.

JC rolled his eyes at Joey’s comments and turned his attention back to the girl.  “He’s not right in the head either, so ignore him too!  My names JC and you're welcome!” he said extending his hand to her.

“Thanks JC.  And the name’s Abby.” she smiled, shaking his hand.

Justin cleared his throat to gain some of the attention.  “And I’m Justin.” h, gave her one of his award winning smiles and extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Justin.” she smiled.

“Well, hell since we’re doing introductions my name is Chris.” he said stepping forward and offering his hand.  “And this is Lance and that’s Joey!” he said, pointing to the other guys who then held out their hands to say hello.

“Oh and that’s Mike, Dre, Lonnie, Frank and Rob.” Chris continued pointing to each of their bodyguards who all gave her a little wave.

Abby waved back and said “Hi” to them, before glancing at her watch.  “Shit, I gotta go.  Thanks again for stopping him and it was nice to meet all of you.” she said as she began to rush off away from them.

“Wait!” Mike called out to her.  She turned to look at him.  “What do you want me to do with him?” he asked, pointing to the guy still laying on the ground.

“Let him go.  I don’t care.  I don’t have time to mess around with calling the cops or anything like that.  I got my purse back and everything’s still in it so that’s all I care about at this point.”

“You sure?  I mean he robbed you!” JC said, looking at her oddly.

“Yeah, I’m sure.  I got my purse back and a lil’ vindication.  So I’m good.  Thanks again!” Abby smiled and gave them a little wave before she turned and walked off leaving the five men and their security team standing there.

“You heard the lady.  Get out of here!” Mike said, nudging the guy with his foot to get up.

“Maybe you’ll think twice before robbing some other woman.  You never know when they’re gonna turn around and kick your ass!”  Chris chuckled as the guy scrambled to his feet and fled from the group of men.

The others laughed as they watched the guy run off down the hall.  The guy had to be totally embarrassed that he’d been punched breathless by a girl in front of a group of men.  They all individually hoped that it would teach him a lesson and he wouldn’t try that again any time soon, if ever.

Once, the guys all regained their composure they continued on their merry way to the food court, no longer bickering at each other about their shopping day.  It had been made worth it just to see the Abby chic punch the low life.
 
 
 
 

Chapter 1

(Saturday, May 26, 2001)

“I’m so glad we all decided to go out tonight!  I needed this!” Justin smiled as he and his friends made their way into the VIP section of the club they had just entered moments earlier.

“Yeah, I think we all did.” JC agreed, wrapping his arm once again around his girlfriend Bobbie’s waist as they reached the top of the stairs.

“I can never get enough of a party!” Joey joined in, bouncing around happily to the loud music that was playing through the club.

“So we’re all happy we’re here.  GREAT!  But let’s find a table already!” Chris complained as he made his way through the room to find a table large enough for their group.

They located a table off in the far corner and took their seats.  It was after 11:00PM, so the club was pretty busy already.  There were tons of people down on the lower level dancing and having a good time, as well as quite a few filling the VIP area.

The guys sat talking amongst themselves about all the stuff they’d done that week, and all the things they had scheduled to do over the weeks to follow.  They were just finishing up their third album and were making all of the promotional rounds before they were to head out on tour in a couple months.  So needless to say their lives had been rather hectic lately and finding any spare time for some plain old fun had been scarce.

“I swear!  Are we gonna get any service here or what?” Bobbie complained as they had been sitting there for a few minutes and a waitress had yet to come take their orders.

The other guys all shot JC a look.  They weren’t impressed with Bobbie’s attitude.  She was always so rude and impatient.  The place was obviously busy and they’d only been there for a couple minutes but yet she expected someone to be there the moment they sat down.  She expected more from the guys status than the guys expected themselves.

“I’ll go get our drinks, what do you want babe?” JC asked, trying to put a stop to the situation before it could go any further.  He knew his friends didn’t really care for Bobbie.  In fact there had been a chorus of groans when he had announced that she was going out with them that night.

“You know what I like baby.  Just get me my usual.” she smiled sweetly at him.

JC smiled back at her and then excused himself from the table followed by Joey.  They made their way over to the bar setup across the room from their table to get drinks for the group.

When they arrived, the bar was rather crowded so they had to stand around for a moment until a spot cleared out so they could get up to the bar to place their orders.

The female bartender at the other end of the bar caught Joey’s attention.  She looked oddly familiar to him, but since she was at the other end waiting on some other customers he couldn’t be sure of who she was or where he knew her from.  But she sure did look familiar to him.

The minute she started to make her way in their direction stepping past the male bartender, he recognized her.  It was the girl from the Mall the day before.  Joey turned to JC who was starring off at the crowd behind them not really paying attention.  “Hey C, look who it is!” he said, nudging him and then pointing towards her.  “It’s the girl from the mall.”

JC looked over to the girl Joey was pointing out.  “Well, what do you know?” he said.

“What’s her name?  Andy?  Candy?” Joey questioned aloud trying to remember the girls name.

“Abby.  Her name is Abby.” JC answered.

“Oh yeah, that’s right.  Abby!” Joey agreed.

Abby walked up to the guys and asked, “What’ll it be?” not even looking up at them.

“Well, Abby…..I’ll have three Bud Lights and a Coke or Pepsi.  Whatever you have.”  Joey said smiling at her.

At the mention of her name Abby looked up at the two men.  Her eyes narrowed for a moment trying to remember where she knew them from but it didn’t take long for recognition to hit.  “Well, if it’s not my heroes from the mall.” she smiled.

“Small world, huh.” JC smiled at her.

“Sure is.” she smiled back, grabbing Joey’s beers and soda, and then slid them over to him and then looked to JC.  “And what can I get you?”

“Um…I’ll take a Corona and a Tom Collins.” he smiled appreciatively at her.

“Comin’ up!” she said cheerily as she slid JC his beer and then went to make the Tom Collins he ordered.

“So you work here, huh?  We come here pretty often.  Are you new?  Never seen you here before.” JC questioned as she walked back up and handed him his mixed drink.

“Oh no.  I’ve worked here for well over a year now.  It’s just usually I work the bar down in the lower level.  We’re short staffed tonight, so they got me up here helping Kurt out.” she said, poiting back over her shoulder towards the other bartender.

“No wonder we’ve never seen you before then.  We’re always up here in VIP.” Joey said, not really thinking about how what he said sounded.

Abby shot him a funny look and just smirked.

Joey caught the look and immediately tried to rephrase what he said.  “I mean…we…I mean.  Dammit.  I didn’t mean for it to sound the way it came out.  I wasn’t trying to sound all stuck up or anything.” he blushed, feeling rather stupid at the moment.

“No worries.  I figured when I seen you guys at the mall you had to be somebody important, or else you wouldn’t of had all those big burly men with you!” she laughed.

“OH….cool!” Joey muttered, not really sure what else to say.

Abby just smiled at Joey.  “Well, it was nice seeing you guys again, but I gotta get back to work.  No time to chat.  Have a good evening.” she said, moving off to serve some other patrons at the bar.

“WAIT, Abby?” JC called after her.

“Huh?” she turned back to him.

“How much do we owe you for the drinks?” he asked.

“This rounds on me.  I owe you guys for yesterday!  Have fun!” she smiled before walking off.

JC and Joey watched her walk to the other end of the bar to wait on some other customers and then grabbed their drinks and headed back to their table.

“What took so damn long?  Do they not have anyone working here?” Bobbie asked as JC and Joey sat down handing everyone their drinks.

“They’re short staffed tonight, babe.” JC said, offering some form of an explanation.

“Well, maybe they should hire some more people so they wouldn’t have that problem.” Bobbie continued to complain.

“So……” Joey started, trying to change the subject.  He didn’t want to sit and listen to Bobbie’s mouth anymore than any of the other guys wanted to.  “Guess who me and C saw at the bar!  You’ll never guess!”

“Who?” Lance asked generally curious.

“Abby!” Joey grinned.

“Abby who?” Chris asked, rather confused.  He didn’t know any Abby.

“The girl from the mall yesterday.” JC answered.

“The chic with the purse?” Justin asked.

“Yeah.  She’s a bartender here.” Joey answered.  “She gave us our drinks free as a thank you for yesterday.”

“Well, if she gave them to you for free, why didn’t you try to get me a beer instead of a friggin’ soda?” Justin complained.

“J, man you know you’re not old enough to drink yet.  If we’d of got you a beer and you got busted not only would we be in trouble but so would she.  So drink your soda and be a good little boy!” JC teased.

Justin gave JC a dirty look and mumbled a few obscenities under his breath at him.  He hated being the youngest one and not being able to drink when he went out with his friends.  Not that it was all that important.  But he just hated the fact that he had to sit at the table with everyone else drinking and all he could get was a soda.

Bobbie was curious at the mention of this girl Abby.  JC hadn’t mentioned anything to her about a girl with a purse at the mall.  She immediately became jealous.  If he hadn’t mentioned her there was probably a reason.  She set her eyes on the bar to seek out who this “Abby” was.  But when her eyes fixed on the female bartender, she immediately relaxed.  She saw no threat there!  At least not a threat of the girl stealing her man from her.

Abby was a very plain Jane.  She was an average height, heavy set girl.  Not real big, but defiantly not skinny either.  She had long brown hair that was pulled up with a clip.  “No need to be worried about her.”  Bobbie thought relieved.
 

The group spent the rest of the evening talking amongst themselves and then dividing up to go mingle in the crowd and get some dancing in.  Lance, and Chris said hello to Abby when they made their way to the bar to get more drinks.  And then Justin later stopped by after exiting the dance floor to get a glass of water to quench the thirst he’d worked up.

As the club was closing up there were few people left in the VIP area.  The guys were waiting on the lower level of the club to clear out before they tried to leave.  The less people they had to fight to get out the better.  They had their security team with them.  But it just made it easier on everyone to do things this way rather than try to leave along with the large groups of people that were leaving below.

They were all sitting at their table waiting on Dre to come let them know when it was clear to leave when Justin noticed Abby clearing glasses and bottles off some nearby tables.

“Hey Abby.  Come here for a sec!” Justin hollered to her.

She looked up from what she was doing and glanced over at Justin as he motioned for her to come over.  So she sat down her bust tub and headed over to the table they were all sitting at.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Aw, nothing just wanted to say hi again.” Justin smiled.

“You called me over here to say hi?” she questioned, somewhat annoyed.

“He’s just trying to butter you up!  He thinks if he gets on your good side you’ll give him a beer.” Joey chuckled.

“Oh, so that’s it.” she smiled at Justin.

“Hey you can’t blame a guy for trying.” Justin said shrugging.

“Well if you wanted a beer why didn’t you just ask?” she said back.

“Cause he’s not old enough to have a beer.” JC answered.

“Oh, so you’re not 21?” she asked unknowingly.

“You mean you don’t know how old he is?” Bobbie asked in disbelief.

Abby gave her an odd look.  “No.  Why would I know how old he is?”

“Do you even know who these guys are?  Come on don’t try to play that.” Bobbie snapped.

Abby was taken aback by Bobbie’s tone.  Who did this girl think she was talking to her like that?  How was she supposed to know how old the guys were?  “No, actually I don’t know who they are.  I mean sure they introduced themselves to me.  But we only met yesterday.  And obviously they’re someone important enough to be up here in VIP, but other than that.  NO.  I don’t know who they are!”  she snapped back with an equally bitchy tone.

“Is this girl for real?” Bobbie asked the group of guys, and then turned her attention back to Abby.  “They’re Nsync.  Only the hottest group out there these days.  How could you possibly NOT know who they are?  You obviously don’t get out very much!”

JC couldn’t believe the way Bobbie was talking to Abby.  She hadn’t done or said anything to her to deserve that sort of treatment.  She’d been nothing but nice and considerate to the guys.  He was rather comforted with the fact that she didn’t know who they were.  That meant they were somewhat normal in her eyes, which is what the guys liked more than anything.  They didn’t like to be introduced as Nsync.  That’s not who they were individually.  Yet, here was Bobbie doing that again.  Making a huge deal out of who they were and what their status was.

“Baby, that’s really not important.  And I’m sure Abby gets out plenty.  Not everyone listens to our music and knows who we are.” JC said, giving Abby an apologetic smile.

“Yeah, so shut it already!” Justin added.  He was sick of her mouth.  He’d had to listen to it all night.  And now she was making fools out of them by showing her ass to a complete stranger just because she didn’t know who they were.

Abby smirked at Justin’s remark.  He took the words right out of her mouth.  If she didn’t need her job so much she would have told the girl to shut it herself.  Although, she would have used a few more creative words to tell her.

“Justin, you still want that beer?” she smiled at him.

Justin’s eyes shot up.  “Huh?”

“I said you still want that beer?  One can’t hurt anything.  And I’m not gonna tell if you don’t tell.” she smiled.

“Sure!” he said, scrambling up from the table.

“Come on then.  I’ll get you whatever you want.” Abby said smiling at him and then sending Bobbie a cold glare before walking off towards the bar with Justin.

“You better watch your mouth Bobbie.  It’s gonna get you in some real trouble.  That girl punched a guy yesterday in the mall and knocked him off his feet.  You keep running your mouth like that and you might be her next victim.” Joey smirked before getting up and walking off towards the bar.

Lance and Chris started laughing at Joey’s comment and immediately got up to join their other two friends at the bar after Bobbie shot them death looks.

“Are you just gonna let them talk to me like that?” Bobbie demanded, starring at JC.

“Well, they do kind of have a point.  You were really rude to her for no reason.  And you know how we HATE to have our fame thrown out there like that.  You know that’s not what we’re about and the guys get REALLY annoyed with you when you do that all the time.”

“Whatever!” Bobbie retorted.

JC sighed and turned his attention to his four friends standing over at the bar talking and laughing with Abby.  At that moment he envied his friends.  He would have given anything to be over there with them laughing and having a good time rather than sitting there with Bobbie, while she was having yet another one of her little temper tantrums.  It was moments like this that made him really question their relationship.
 

About fifteen minutes later Dre informed the guys it was clear for them to leave.  So they all said goodbye to Abby and then headed out ahead of JC and Bobbie.  Their key purpose in life anymore seemed to be to avoid Bobbie at all cost.

JC bringing up the rear gave Abby another apologetic smile and a wave goodbye as he followed Bobbie and the guys down the stairs to leave.

Abby stood watching JC’s retreating back until he was no longer in view.  “What’s a nice guy like that, doing with a bitch like her?” she questioned aloud.

“What’s that?” Kurt asked, standing off to her right wiping down the counter of the bar.

Abby looked over to Kurt.  She hadn’t realized she’d said that out loud.  “Nothing.”
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 2

( Monday, June 4th, 2001 )

“This is it.” Lonnie said from the front of the van the guys were riding in.

They all peered out the windows to look over the large warehouse that their photo shoot was to take place in that morning.

Yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, JC mumbled something about not wanting to have his picture taken that early in the morning.

Lonnie simply chuckled at the guys.  They were all like walking zombies.  Well, all of them but for Joey.  He was very wide awake and bouncing around the van like a small child on a sugar high.

“Damn, Joey calm down.  It’s too early for you to be so giddy!” Justin grumbled, followed by a chorus of “yeah’s”.

“You guys are a bunch of grouches!” Joey responded as he bounced out of his seat once the van came to a stop and flung the side door open jumping out into the early morning sunlight.  “It’s gonna be a beautiful day.” he said smiling back at the guys who all shot him a dirty look.  Joey just laughed at his friends and continued bouncing around as he waited on them to exit the van.

Chris climbed out of the van last and looked over at Joey.  “If I didn’t know better I’d think you were all giddy because your gonna get to see her again today.”

“Nah, that’s not it man.  I’m just in a good mood today.  You know the camera loves me!” Joey smiled.

“See her?  Her who?” JC asked yawning again.

“Abby.” Joey smiled.

“Abby?  From the mall and the club a couple weeks ago?” JC asked thoroughly confused.

“You mean Joe didn’t tell you?” Chris asked.

“Tell me what?” JC asked.

“Yeah, is Abby gonna be here or something?” Lance asked.

“Oh, yeah we seen her this weekend again when we went to the club Saturday night.” Justin said jumping into the conversation.

“No, Joe didn’t mention that.  She’s gonna be here?” JC said looking from Justin, to Joey, to Chris awaiting an answer.

“Yeah, she’s a Photography Major at UCLA.  Or at least she was.  She graduated last year and now she’s doing an internship with the studio that’s doing our photo shoot today.  So she’s supposed to be around here somewhere.”  Joey answered as the group made their way into the warehouse.

JC only nodded in response.  He was still half asleep and forming full sentences was just too much trouble that early in the morning.

“So you guys must have really talked to her Saturday night then?” Lance continued curious to find out what had happened.  He and JC had decided to stay in that evening.  They’d done a bunch of promotional stuff earlier that day and were too tired to go out.  But of coarse that didn’t stop the other three from going.

“It was so funny!” Chris began.  “J, here wanted so badly for her to be our bartender.  You know because he gets “special treatment” from her since that one night we were there.  So he went and talked to the manager and got him to send her upstairs to VIP to virtually wait on only us.”

“Justin.” JC and Lance chorused together in a non-approval tone.

“Hey, if Bobbie can throw our status around, why can’t I?  It was for the better of mankind.” he smirked.

“More like the better of Justin kind.” Joey chuckled.  “He was so plastered after like four beers that Abby, cut him off and then we had to sit and listen to him whine the rest of the evening.”

“I wasn’t plastered!  I told her I didn’t want anymore!” Justin defended.

“Sure, riiiight!” Joey smirked.

“We’ll, just have to ask Abby about that today when we see her wont we!” Chris added.

“Whatever!” Justin grumbled and walked off once they were inside.

“So are you like interested in her or something?” JC asked finally joining the conversation again.

“No way!” Joey shook his head.

“Why not?  She seemed nice.” Lance asked.

“Hello, where have you been for the last few years?  I’m with Kelly remember.  We just had a baby not too long ago!  What are you thinking?” Joey glared at his friends disappointedly.

“Well, it never stopped you before!” JC added with a smile.

“Dude, flirting and hooking up are two VERY different things!” Joey said.

“Kelly, was with us!” Chris added.

“Ah Ha, so the truth comes out!” Lance laughed.

“Even if Kelly wasn’t with us, it’s not like that.  Abby, isn’t my type.  She’s the kind of girl you just hang with.  She’s hilarious and has this attitude.  I just like listening to her talk.  She cracks me up!  You never know what‘s gonna come out of her mouth.” Joey defended.

“Oh so she’s a female version of you?” JC chuckled.

“If you wanna look at it that way, I guess you can.  She’s a fun girl.  I’m a fun guy.  So yeah I guess you could say she’s a female version of me.” Joey beamed.

“Man, you’re so full of yourself!” Lance laughed.  “Someone needs to deflate your head.  You’re turning into Justin!”

“I HEARD THAT!” Justin yelled walking back up.

Lance, only gave him a look as if to say ‘hey it’s the truth’.

“So why isn’t she your type then?  If she’s so great?” JC asked as the guys were ushered into a room full of clothing.

“She’s just not.  I don’t see her like that.  What’s the big deal?  It’s not like she’s the first girl to not be my type!” Joey, said defensively.  He didn’t see what the big deal was.   They acted like he came on to every female on the planet.  “Well, ok maybe I do come on to a lot of chics but it’s just playing around.” he thought.

“Whatever you say man.” JC chuckled now more awake.

“Hey Abby’s a cool girl.  I gotta agree with Joey!  She’s funny and spunky and doesn’t take anybodies shit.  She about got in a fight with some dude Saturday night.  She got all up in his face and everything.   Mike, had to pull her back, she was ready to tear ol’ boy a new asshole.” Justin said remembering the events of Saturday night.

“Why?  What happened?” Lance asked.

“She went to the bar to go get Chris and Joey another drink and on her way back the guy stopped her.  He was all bitching her out because she was waiting on us but not him.  Going on and on about who he was or something.  Some big time business guy from one of the major corporations around the area or something.  And he called her a bitch.  And she went off.  Sat the drinks down on the table nearest to her and got all up in the guys face.  Mike, got up because he seen the guy clenching his fists and he thought he was gonna hit her or something.  But Abby never backed down.  Not even for a second.  And you know she’s rather short.  The guy stood a good foot over her.  It was funny!  Mike, had to literally drag her away from the man.” Justin laughed.

“Sounds like we missed a lot Saturday night.” JC said looking through the racks of clothes.

“Yeah we had a good time.  But that’s what you and Lance get for being lazy asses!” Chris added with a smile.

JC shot him an un-amused look and continued looking through the racks of clothing.

“Well, regardless she’s cool.  She actually sat and talked to us a lot.  Her and Kelly really hit it off.  They seem to have a lot in common.  That’s how we found out she’d be here today.  Her and Kelly were talking about her internship, and when she said the name of the company Kelly was all like “That’s who’s doing your guy’s photo shoot on Monday.”  So that got us on a whole other topic.  And we just hung out the rest of the night talking and stuff when she wasn’t getting drinks and all that jazz for us.”

“So is she the one that’s gonna be doing the photo shoot?” Lance asked his business sense kicking in.

“I don’t think so.  She’s just helping out with lighting and reloading the cameras I believe is what she said.  This is a big account for the company and they look at her as an armature so they wont let her take part in the actual photographing portion.  She was rather annoyed by that.” Chris said.

“That sucks.  It would be nice to have someone we actually know behind the camera, rather than some stranger.” JC said taking a seat on one of the sofas that were located in the room.

“Yeah” the other’s agreed.

The guys conversation switched from Abby over to what else they had scheduled for the day after their photo shoot and they all made themselves comfy on the sofas waiting on further instructions as to what they were to do.
 

A couple hours later the guys were all dolled up in their wardrobe and makeup and getting ready for their photo shoot.  They made their way back out into the main room where the backdrops and all the lighting were setup.

Justin spotted Abby off to the side of the room loading film into a few cameras and decided since they hadn’t been given any directions on what to do other than to stand there he was gonna go talk to her.

“Yo Abbs!” he yelled as he made his way over to her.

Abby looked up and smiled at the friendly face headed her way.

“Abbs?” JC questioned Chris who was standing next to him.

“It’s Justin’s nickname for her.  It came about after that last beer we told you about earlier.” Chris chuckled.  “She’s his new best friend.  Can’t ya tell?” he, added pointing over to where Justin had pulled Abby up from her seat and wrapped her in a friendly bear hug.

“I see!” JC laughed.

“The boy’s like a dog or something.  Except all she had to do was give him a beer and now he’s her friend for life!” Joey laughed.
 

“So what are you doing?  They got you loading cameras!  That sucks!” Justin said letting Abby out of his hug.

“Yeah.  Tons of fun, huh!” Abby said sarcastically.

“Do you want me to say something.  You know I got pull.  I can prolly get them to let you take a few shots.” Justin offered.

“NO!  It’s fine, Justin.  I’m here to learn.  Not take the photos.  But thanks anyway.” she smiled.

“Well, if you change your mind just let me know!”  he smiled.

“I don’t think that’ll be happening.  But thanks.” Abby said as she went back to loading the remaining cameras.

“Ok…just thought I’d offer.” Justin said as he stood watching her load the cameras.
 

The other guys walked up to Justin and Abby and said hello.  They were just beginning to make small talk with her when they were called away to begin their photo shoot.

Abby stood off to the side watching the whole photo shoot.  Fulfilling her duties of switching the lighting and reloading the cameras when directed to.  She was rather amused with the guys antics.  They were anything but serious and when requested to be serious they would then fall into bouts of laughter just trying to hold a straight face.

She noticed Greg the photographer was growing somewhat annoyed with the guys.  He wanted serious shots.  But all he was getting were some rather candid shots.  But Abby loved it.  This was obviously the guys in their normal banter.  And she had always preferred natural shots over the fake stand this direction and smile ones.  You were just able to capture so much more with natural shots.  You could capture the persons personality and mood.  You could capture the actual person, rather than what the person was pretending to be.

“ABBY!” Greg yelled.

Startled from her thoughts, she looked over to Greg who gave her an angry expression.  “You wanna snap out of it and fix that lighting for me!  And reload those two cameras!  I’m not gonna bring you to anymore shoots with me if you can’t keep up.  This is no time to get all star struck!” he, snapped.

Abby looked at him in contempt.  She was about to let him have it but then decided to bite her tongue and do as he asked.  “Sure.  Sorry.” she, said making her way over to the lighting to change it up for Greg, and then grabbed the two cameras off the floor to reload them.

The guys just looked at each other.  It upset them a bit to hear this guy yell at her like she was nobody.  And to flat out try and embarrass her in front of the guys by saying what he had just ticked them off even more.  “Who does he think he is?” Joey said only loud enough for his friends to hear him.

“He’s a real ass!” Chris added.

“Let’s just get this over with guys.  The quicker the better.” Lance, said trying to be the voice of reason.

So they went back to the deed at hand once Greg let them know he was ready again.

Throughout the remaining portion of the photo shoot, Greg continued to yell at Abby over little things.  She didn’t have the lighting right and would make her move it to where it had already been set before.  It seemed to the guys that he was just giving her a hard time.

After they were finished the guys wasted no time getting away from the man.  It was all Chris could do to not say anything the whole time.  He was never one to sit back and watch people be treated like scum because they were on the lower end of the corporate level so to speak.  Just because Abby was an intern didn’t mean she deserved any less respect.  And this guy was showing her absolutely none.

JC picked up on the expression on her face.  She looked rather aggravated with Greg.  Ready to strangle him to be more exact.  But yet throughout the whole thing she bit her tongue and didn’t say a word to him, other than to mutter an ok, sure, or sorry to something he’d said to her.

He found her professionalism to be outstanding considering what she’d gone through that day.  And he knew from meeting her in the mall, and club.  And from what the guys had told him about her little confrontation that Saturday night that she wasn’t one to hold back.  Yet, she did.  And that showed great restraint in his view.
 

As the guys were making their way out to the van that had brought them that morning, they noticed Abby loading some equipment up in a van parked off to the side of the building.

Joey made his way over to her to check and make sure she was ok after the hell she had been put through.  “Hey, Abby you ok?” he asked as he walked up to her.

She looked up at Joey, still with a rather aggravated look on her face but then smiled when she seen him.  “Yeah I’m fine.  Greg, is just a major asshole.  Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” she, said.

“He was more than an asshole!” Justin said as he and the other guys walked up.

“Yeah, well that’s life.  If I didn’t need this internship so bad I would have told his ass off.  But I do need it, so I didn’t.  Which just irks me even more.”

“Well, I thought you showed great restraint in there.  That says a lot about your professionalism.” JC smiled.

Abby looked up and met JC’s sincere blue eyes.  “Thanks.  That means a lot.” she smiled.

“Hey it’s the truth.  It’s obvious normally you probably just would have punched him.  But you didn’t.  So that’s good!” JC laughed joined by the rest.

“Now I would have paid money to see that.  So you let me know when your gonna do it.  And I’ll buy a ring side seat!” Justin laughed.

“He keeps that shit up and you’ll be getting a call sooner than you think.  It gets worse every time we go out on a shoot.  It’s like his soul mission in life is to embarrass me and piss me off.  He’s gonna get it one of these days.  And it’s coming fast I can feel it.” she said throwing a bag into the back of the van.

“Guys we gotta go!” Lonnie yelled from across the lot.

“Well, we gotta go.” Lance said.  “It was nice seeing you again Abby.”

“Yeah you too!” she smiled.

As the guys said their goodbyes and turned to walk away, Joey stopped and turned around walking backwards.  “Hey Abby, did Kelly call you yesterday?  Did she let you know that we‘re gonna come?”

“Yeah, I talked to her last night.  She said you’d be there.”

“Cool, just wanted to make sure.  I almost forgot!  I’ll see you Thursday then!”

“OK…see ya then!” she, waved as Joey climbed into the van and then the guys drove off.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 3

“Thursday?  What’s going on Thursday?” JC asked curiously.

“Oh Kelly wants to have some photographs of Brianna taken.  And when she found out that Abby was a photographer she asked her about it.  So we’re going over to Abby’s Thursday morning to have a look at her portfolio and maybe even go ahead and have the photos done that day.” Joey answered.

“Kelly, must really trust her if she’s willing to allow her to take pictures of Brianna.” JC said.

“Yeah, like I said they really hit it off.  Kelly, wants to give her the chance since she’s new at all this.  She also just really wants to see Abby’s portfolio.  Kelly, is a closet photography freak.”
 

(Thursday, June 7, 2001)

Joey and Kelly took Brianna to Abby’s house to see her portfolio.  After reviewing it Kelly was positive she wanted Abby to do the portraits of their baby girl, and since Abby didn’t have to be at the club until later that afternoon she went ahead and set everything up to take the photos.

What was supposed to be only photos of Brianna soon turned into a full fledge family shoot.  Abby, took solo shots of Brianna and then took shots of her with her mom and then her with her dad and then of them all together.

Abby fell in love with the baby girl.  She was so beautiful and the camera loved her as well.  She was the happiest baby, Abby had ever seen.  And so very photogenic.

After the shoot was over the adults sat around talking for a little while before Joey had to get back to the office for a meeting with the guys and Abby had to get to work.  So they all said their goodbyes and went their separate ways agreeing that Joey would stop by the next time he was in town which would be in a couple weeks to pick up the photographs.  They didn’t want to take the chance of mailing them and someone getting a hold of them and leaking them to the press.
 

( Saturday, June 16, 2001 )

“Hey C, can we make a quick stop on the way to the studio?  I promised Kelly I’d stop by Abby’s today and pick up the photos she took of us.  It’s not far out of the way.  She actually lives pretty close to you.” Joey asked as he and JC made their way out to JC’s car.

“Sure, we got time.  Does she know you’re coming?”

“I’ll call her now and let her know.  I talked to her yesterday she doesn’t have to be at work until later today so she should be home.” Joey said pulling his phone out of his pocket after climbing into JC’s car and then dialing Abby’s number.

JC started his car and put it in reverse and backed out of his driveway and into the road while listening to Joey’s side of the conversation.

“Hey girl what ya up to?…..Oh that sounds like fun……yeah I know that sucks…..well hey me and JC are on our way to the studio and I promised Kelly I’d stop and pick those photos up while I was in town.  Is it ok if we stop by now to get them?…….Maybe ten minutes, C doesn’t live to far from you……yeah we’re leaving his house now……ok…..ok….yeah we’ll be there in a few….ok…see ya in a few….yeah…..bye.”

“Got the all clear?” JC asked.

“Yup….let’s go!  I can’t wait to see how the photos turned out.  She showed us her portfolio while we were there that day.  She’s done some really great work.  She’s got a great eye.  Her photos are all so natural and candid.  So I’m excited to see how ours turned out.” Joey smiled.

“Well, tell me what way to go.” JC said.

Joey directed JC to Abby’s place.  He was right she only lived about ten minutes from JC which really wasn’t that far away.  It wouldn’t take that long to get there if it wasn’t for all the stupid traffic lights.  And of coarse the guys got stopped by nearly every one.

Once, they pulled up to her house, the guys jumped out and made their way up to her front door.  Joey, rang the doorbell and the guys stood patiently waiting on her to answer.  So they were somewhat surprised when a tall well built blonde man answered the door.

Both JC and Joey stood frozen for a moment.  JC thought for a moment they had the wrong house.  Maybe Joey had it mixed up with one of the other houses on the street.  They did all kind of look alike in a way.

Joey gave a quick look at the numbers on the house to make sure he had the right house before asking.  “Is Abby here?” he said somewhat hesitantly.

“Oh sure.  You must be Joey and JC.  She said you was coming by.  My name’s Mark.” he said extending his hand.

The guys said hello and shook his hand, and then Mark lead them into the house.  JC shot Joey a questioning look as if to ask who this guy was, but Joey only returned it with a shrug of the shoulders indicating he had no clue.

“Abby, sweetie your friends are here!” Mark hollered up the staircase and then turned to the two men.  “Just have a seat she’ll be down in a sec.” he, said before walking off into another room.

JC took a seat on the sofa and looked around to the room they were in.  It had large portraits on the wall of the ocean and several other scenic shots.  “Did Abby do those do you know?” he asked Joey nodding up to the portraits on the wall.

“Yeah, she did all these.” Joey said motioning around the room to all the various framed portraits on the walls.

“Wow, she is really good.  She could make some serious money with this stuff.” JC said eyeing all of the portraits on the walls.

“Yeah, I told her she didn’t need that stupid internship job.  That she should just start her own company and get right at it and start making some money.  She’s been taking pictures since she was a little girl.  She’s so passionate about it.  I’ve never seen someone’s eyes light up the way hers does when she talks about her work……”

Joey was interrupted from going any further into detail to tell JC about the things they’d talked about the day he and Kelly had been there when Abby came down the stairs.  “Sorry to keep you waiting.  I was on a call.” she, said entering the room.

“No problem.  We were just admiring your work.” JC smiled.

“Oh thanks.  You like it, huh?” she asked proudly.

“Yeah, it’s really good.  I agree with Joe.  You should defiantly skip the whole internship thing and start your own business.  You could make some serious money with prints like these.” JC said confidently.

“Well, thanks for the suggestion. I’ll defiantly have to consider it some more.  Especially, if they keep sending me out with Greg‘s punk ass!” she smiled at JC and then turned her attention to Joey.  “I really think you’re gonna love these photos.  They turned out so good.” she beamed pulling out all the photos she’d taken of  Joey, Kelly and Brianna.

Abby lead Joey and JC into the kitchen area so she could lay all the photos out on the table so he could see them all.  Joey was extremely pleased with the photographs.  They’d all turned out wonderfully.  The simplicity of the photographs was incredible.  But it was the simplicity of them that made them so wonderful.  They were so natural.  “These are great!  Kelly’s going to love them!” Joey beamed.

“Good, I’m glad!” Abby said as she gathered all of the photos back up and put them into a large envelope.  “The negatives are in here too.  So you don’t have to worry about any other prints being made off them.  Although, if it’s ok with you I did make extra copies for my portfolio of these two shots here.” she, said holding up her two favorite shots.

One was of Brianna alone, and the other was of Joey, Kelly, and Brianna together.  Both Joey and Kelly were starring at their daughter with looks of joy on their faces.

“That’s fine.  And I’m sure Kelly would be fine with it as well.” Joey said.

“Great, thanks.  I really appreciate it.  I just had to keep a photo of that angel of yours.  She’s the sweetest lil’ girl I’ve ever met.  And SO photogenic.  Any time you want her photos done, please let me know.  She’s just to sweet!  The camera loves her!”  Abby beamed whole heartedly.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you’ll be hearing from Kelly again to do more.  Especially, when she sees these!” Joey, said holding up the envelope in his hand.

“They were really good, photos!” JC added.  He’d been silent pretty much throughout the whole conversation.  He just stood back and looked over all of the photographs.  He too agreed they were all wonderfully shot.

So natural.  They weren’t your typical shots, like you’d get if you went into a studio like Sears or something like that.  These were just photos of the family together.  And all the love and emotion that showed through the photos was what was so captivating.

Abby smiled a thank you to JC and was about to say something when Mark walked into the room.  “I’m on my way out sweetie!  I’ll see you later tonight when you get home.  Don’t forget we got that thing tomorrow morning at Tommy’s house.” he, said as he walked over and kissed Abby on her check.

“Ok, I’ll see you later.  Have fun with the guys!” she winked.

“You know it!” he, laughed.  “Hey it was nice meeting you two.” he said to Joey and JC and then exited the room with a wave.

Joey looked over at Abby and raised an eyebrow.  “Sweetie, huh?” he smirked at her.

Abby rolled her eyes at Joey.  She knew exactly what he was implying with his little gesture.  But for some reason she didn’t feel the need to correct him at the moment.  She was standing in her kitchen with two fifths of Nsync.  Not only were they famous celebrities but they were extremely hot celebrities.  “Especially, JC!”  she thought.

She’d been attracted to him from the moment she’d met him in the mall several weeks back.  But she knew that no one like him or any of the other guys for that matter would ever look at her that way.  So it made her feel a little less self conscious for them to THINK she had a significant other.

Besides, not only was she NOT JC’s type.  But he also had a very pretty girlfriend.  She was a major bitch, but non the less she was very pretty.  And Abby knew beyond a reasonable doubt that she was no where near being in the same league as Bobbie.  So it was just easier to pretend her life was as perfect as theirs.

“You didn’t answer him!” JC pointed out when Abby didn’t respond to Joey’s antics.

“Well, what do you want me to say?” she asked.

“Well, is he your boyfriend?  I don’t see any rings on your finger so I’m assuming he’s not your husband.  Besides you’re way too young to be married.  So I’m guessing boyfriend.” JC said.

Abby glanced down at her hand.  He was very observant.  He must have put some thought into that.  But why would he even care?  Oh well what does it matter?  How was she gonna answer this question?  She didn’t want to lie.  But technically Mark was her friend and he was a boy, well a man.  “Yeah, he’s my boyfriend.” she finally answered.

“Why didn’t you mention him before?  Where was he that day me and Kelly were here?” Joey asked curiously.

“Oh he was out of town that week.  Mark, works for a major advertising company in LA so he’s out of town a lot on business.  And as for why I never mentioned him.  Well, I guess I just didn’t think it was all that important.” she said.

The three of them talked for a little while longer before Joey and JC had to leave to get over to the studio.  On their way out Joey stopped to invite her to a cookout Justin was having at his and Britney’s place the following Friday night.

“It’s like our last little bash thing before we have to head out on tour the following week.  Justin, wanted me to invite you.  I almost forgot.” Joey said as he stood in Abby’s doorway.

“Well, I usually have to work but I’ll see what I can do.  Maybe I can stop by for an hour or so.” she smiled.

“Cool.  Well, then we’ll see you there.  I’ll call you later to give you the address and all that stuff.  We really gotta get going.” Joey said making his way down the walkway to the driveway.

“OK.  Talk to you later.  Tell Kelly I said hello and please give Bri a kiss for me!” Abby called after him.

“Will do!” Joey yelled back.

“Nice seeing you again, Abby!  Take it easy.  Maybe I’ll see you at Justin’s next week.” JC called to her as he opened his car door.

“Yeah, nice seeing you too JC.  You guys have fun!  Bye!”  Abby waved before shutting her door and retreating into her house.
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 4

( Friday, June 22, 2001 / Justin's Houe )

“Why are you dragging me here again?” Mark asked as Abby pulled him up the long driveway that led up to Justin’s house.

“Because, I told you.  They think you’re my boyfriend.  And I couldn’t come to something like this all by myself.” Abby sighed.

“Why did you tell them I was your boyfriend, again?” Mark smirked.

He was having way too much fun torturing Abby with all of this.  He knew very well why she’d done it.  He’d known Abby for many years.  And he knew how self conscious she was.  So he understood why when the guys had assumed he was her boyfriend, she didn’t correct them.  She wanted to fit in.  She wanted them to think she was capable of having a man.

Mark, hated the fact that Abby was so self conscious.  She was a pretty girl, but she let her whole body image cloud all thoughts of being pretty and wanted by the opposite sex.  So if he could help her out by pretending to be her boyfriend he would do it.  But of coarse he had to give her a hard time about it.  That was the fun in the whole thing for him.

“Just stop asking so many questions and play along.  Besides you owe me!  So just stuff a sock in it and go with the flow!” Abby said as they neared the house.

“No problem honey buns.” Mark smirked.

‘Don’t you dare call me….” Abby started to scold Mark when the front door flew open and Justin came walking out.

“Abbs, your here!  I’m so glad you could make it.” Justin said hugging her and then motioning for them to enter.

“Well, we can only stay for an hour or so.  I gotta work tonight.” Abby smiled.

“Well, at least you’re here.  That’s all that matters.” Justin said and then turned his attention to Mark.  “You must be Mark, I’m Justin.” he said extending his hand.

“Yes, I’m Mark.  Nice to meet you Justin.” he said shaking Justin’s hand.

“Well, follow me you two.  The party is out back.” Justin said leading them through the house and out to the backyard.

Shortly after Abby appeared in the backyard she was greeted by Chris, Joey and Lance who all came over to say hello.  Kelly was with Joey and Chris had his girlfriend Dani with him.  So everyone that hadn’t already met and been introduced was introduced.

Mark started playing up the boyfriend roll, by introducing himself as Abby’s boyfriend.  She was already regretting bringing him because he was having way too much fun with this little act, at her expense.  Calling her pet names.  Anything he could do to make her blush.  She was ready to strangle him.  And she knew he was doing it on purpose.

Abby noticed JC across the back lawn with Bobbie, so she didn’t bother to go say hello.  She couldn’t stand that girl.