January 10th, 2000

"In your room, in your guitar case, next to the juice, yes, you did," Lance answered her questions.

His head slowly shifting back and forth as he watched Annaleigh rush around the *NSYNC house, from the kitchen to her room, half dressed, a phone to her ear, talking a mile a minute. He had given up trying to calm her down. He wasn’t surprised she was freaking out as today was her first official day as part of the *NSYNC band.

After signing Johnny’s contract, and various (long) phone calls home, the guys took Annaleigh out to celebrate her induction to the *NSYNC family. They had gone to a couple clubs, dancing and having a good time; blowing off some steam and excitement before the hard work really began.

“It’s almost like watching a tennis match,” Joey commented from Lance’s left with a short laugh.

“Williams sisters?” Chris asked, from Lance’s right.

“Mmmhmmmm,” Joey replied, slowly nodding his head, a smile coming to his face. “Look, I think she’s actually wearing a hole in the floor.” A wicked grin came to his face. “I don’t know if this is better or worse than when Just is on the phone with Britney.”

“Definitely better,” Chris replied. “Justin’s idea of cooking is making cereal, and he can’t do that and talk on the phone at the same time.” Chris slapped his hands down onto the table and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, breathing back through his nose. “Mmmmmm.”

“And I think those are homemade biscuits, too,” Joey said with a smile. “I think I’m in love.”

“Does the name Kelly mean anything to you?” Lance asked, briefly closing his eyes. Joey’s eyes suddenly widened as a look of horror crossed his face.

“I was supposed to call her last night,” he gasped.

 He jumped to his feet, moving to hurry out of the room, practically colliding with Annaleigh as she rounded the corner, now fully dressed, and running a brush through her hair. He pulled the phone out of her hand, and jabbed his thumb into the button to end the call before his thumbs started to fly over the buttons as he dialed his girlfriend’s number.

“Bye, dad?” Annaleigh said as more of a question, staring at the empty space in her hand before looking back over at Joey, who tapped his foot on the ground as he waited to see if she was going to answer. She then planted her hand on her hip, arching an eyebrow, as she looked up at him. “Thanks, Joe.”

“Yep,” Joey replied, popping his ‘p’ giving her a bright smile.

“Miss Diane and Mister James say ‘hi’,” Annaleigh said with a brief shake of her head in Joey’s direction, before turning to face Lance. “And so does my dad, and D and—here are the tongs!”

“How’d they take the news?” Lance asked.

“Happy as can be—breakfast is almost ready,” Annaleigh replied, clicking the tongs together. “Only, now I’m really startin’ to wonder if I really want ta do this—someone go wake up Justin and JC.”

“Does the fact that you signed a contract mean anything to you?” Chris asked, letting out a mock gasp of shock and offense. He started jabbing at the table with his finger. “You have agreed that you’ll stick around, help us make music for our fans and more importantly…feed us.”

“Chris!” Lance said loudly.

“What?” Chris asked, his eyes widening. “She knows I think she’s a good cook. And aren’t southern women taught how to make food and stuff?”

“Well…yeah,” Lance slowly replied. Chris gave him a smug look. “But, that doesn’t mean you can just expect her to do that stuff for you.”

“Considerin’ it’s either that or his whinin’ it won’ be that big a deal,” Annaleigh said with a short laugh before turning back towards the stove, grabbing tongs to start plating the pieces of bacon that was cooking. “And I’ve said already that I don’ mind. ‘Sides, it’s not like your cookin’s that much better than his, I bet—don’t even think about it.”

Annaleigh clicked the tongs menacingly in Joey’s direction as he reached his hand out towards the bowl of hash browns. Joey’s eyes widened as he pulled his hand back, practically cradling against his chest. “You didn’ even say grace yet.”

Lance made a noise in the back of his throat. She did have a point. He was taught by his mom when he was growing up, and there were some instances where he made dinner for his family whenever his parents were running late from work but when he was out on the road, touring, and travelling, they ate out a lot. And in some cases, they ate very little as they were so busy touring nonstop.

There wasn’t any time for him to really hone in on his skills. That was part of the reason why his mom had joined them in Germany. Not only was he homesick and called her to come out with him, but the minute she had seen how overworked, exhausted, and skinny they were, she knew she had to step in and help Lynn make sure that Lou had their best interest at heart.  

Ha, Lance thought to himself. Best interest my foot.

“Were you able to get in contact with your mom?” Chris asked. “Tell her the good news?”

“Left a message,” Annaleigh replied with a shrug as she turned to set the plate of bacon down onto the kitchen table before retrieving the tray of biscuits, bowl of hash browns, bowl of scrambled eggs and a pitcher of juice. “That's the best I could do-Could someone go get Justin and JC?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll get them,” Lance said as he pushed his chair back to get to his feet. He stretched his arms over his head. “And would you stop worrying? You’re doing that double conversation thing, again.”

“Sorry,” Annaleigh apologized as she started to pass out plates. Chris instantly grabbed his loading it up with food.

Lance made his way through the halls of the Compound, first stopping at Justin’s door, rapping on it with his knuckles. “Hey, Just,” he called. There was a moment before he got a muffled, “Yeah” in response. Lance grasped the door handle and twisted it, pushing the door open. He stopped short as he spotted not only Justin, but Britney Spears shuffling around the room, grabbing clothes off the floor. “Oh! Sorry!”

“Its fine,” Justin said as he pulled a t-shirt over his head. “Nothing happened.”

“I-I,” Lance stammered, blinking repeatedly. “I…never said…” He cleared his throat, feeling his face grow warm. “Sorry. I'm sorry.” He lifted his hand in a small wave. “Hi, Britney.”

“Hi, Lance,” Britney replied with a half smile, her cheeks a light pink. She gathered her clothes in her arms and brushed past him, heading towards the bathroom.

“What’s up?” Justin asked, then reaching for a pair of jeans.

“Huh?” Lance asked, shifting his gaze over to Justin as his friend slid his legs into his jeans before he started jumping up and down, pulling his jeans up over his waist. “O-oh, uh…breakfast is ready. Annaleigh has it on the table.” Lance dug his toe into the carpet.

Calm down, Lance, you know how serious Brit and Justin are. This is no big deal. But, he wasn’t embarrassed, that wasn’t what was bothering him. He was uncomfortable, and…curious? But, about what? He had seen his friends go out on dates, what was it that he didn’t understand?

“I’ll let her know to put out another plate for her if she wants to stay,” Lance continued, scratching at the back of his neck.

“Cool, thanks,” Justin replied, stretching his arms over his head, moving to stand up on his tip toes. “Was there anything else you needed?”

“Nah, man,” Lance replied, shaking his head. “Just need to get C up.”

“Good luck with that,” Justin said with a snort. Lance chuckled in agreement before allowing his lips to curl up into a half smile.

“S’funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you two,” Lance said, angling his head to the side, indicating the spot Britney was standing just moments before. Justin briefly closed his eyes before letting out a short laugh before lifting his hand, giving him the finger.

Lance chuckled before turning away from the door, heading towards JC’s room, but Britney’s voice stopped him. “JC’s in the shower,” she called and Lance spun around to face her.

“Thanks,” Lance replied before sliding around her to bang hi fist on the door. “C, get out. Its breakfast time and Brit needs to use the bathroom.”

“Alright, alright, hold on.”

Seconds later, steam and hot air billowed out of the bathroom as JC made his way out of the room, a towel wrapped around his waist, brushing his teeth, white foam coating his lips. “Go on in,” he managed to get out around his toothbrush, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

“You’re a real gentleman, JC,” Britney said with a brief roll of her eyes. All the same, she gave him a bright smile before making her way into the bathroom, kicking the door shut behind her.

 JC chuckled, resuming brushing his teeth.”You said breakfast was ready?” He blinked, swiping his tongue around his mouth to gather the foam from his toothpaste. “What?” JC looked down at his chest. “Did I drip?”

Lance shifted his gaze up to JC’s face, feeling his eyes widen, feeling his heart speed up at the idea of being caught. He briefly shook his head, sucking in a breath of air. He swallowed thickly. “No,” he managed to get out, trying to speak as normally as he could. “You’re…fine.”

“Cool,” JC replied, sticking his toothbrush back into his mouth. “I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Sssure,” Lance slowly replied. He felt his eyebrows knit together and he let out a shaky breath of air, trying to steady his breathing. What…was that? Lance put a hand to his head, blinking rapidly, his mind swirling. He followed the pungent smell of onions back to the kitchen, a part of him glad to see that there was still food left on the table.

“All this food I made and you still jus’ want to eat cereal?” Annaleigh asked, shaking her head back and forth as she watched Justin dig the wooden spoon in his hand into the large mixing bowl filled with fruity pebbles.

“Just watch, he’ll eat that, too,” Lance replied, moving to sit in hi abandoned seat. “You get an extra plate for Britney?”

“Justin already let me know in between his fifth mouthful of pebbles,” she replied and Justin gave a shrug of his shoulders, before giving her a pointed look. “And I promise I won’t freak out again. I already embarrassed myself enough the first time.” Justin gave a bright smile. “Anyway, the more the merrier; I’m still getting’ used to makin’ big meals so the more of y’all that take seconds, go right ahead. You’ll probably be eatin’ leftovers for a long time.”

“If it’s anything like this, I won’t have a problem with it,” Joey said, his right cheek puffing out from where he stored his food to allow himself to talk.

“Great,” JC said with a loud yawn as he made his way into the kitchen, rubbing at his eyes. “We can explain that to Wade when he works your fat ass into the ground.” He dropped down into the empty seat next to Annaleigh before starting to load his plate with food.”This smells really good.”

“More food, more energy, Skinny Minnie,” Joey said with a shrug of his shoulders, rubbing his hand over his red and brown hair. He then elbowed Lance in the side. “You ok? You’re really quiet this morning.”

“Just tired, that’s all,” Lance replied, stabbing his eggs with his fork. “Barely got any sleep last night.”

“You’re not the only one,” Chris said in a sing-song voice, smiling in Justin’s direction. “Or have you fallen back into your nightly—“

“Or daily,” Joey interrupted him.

“Exercise routine?” Chris finished, giving Justin a toothy smile.

“Y’all are worse than a bunch of girls,” Justin said with a roll of his eyes. He looked over at Annaleigh, giving her an apologetic look and she lifted her hand in the air as she gulped down some juice, showing that it didn’t bother her. “Nothing happened, alright? Brit just slept over.”

“Right,” Joey agreed.

“Would you tell them?” Justin asked Lance, indicating everybody at the table. “She’s just on a break from working on her new album, like us. She was in town, I invited her over, and that’s all. We were just catching up.”

“If that’s what you kids are calling it these days,” Chris said, contorting his voice to make him sound older. He squinted his eyes, pretending to peer over glasses, and made groaning sounds at ever slight movement. “You kids and your slang.”

“Moldy Oldie,” Justin muttered. “Tell ‘em, Lance; nothing happened.”

“What?” Lance asked, blinking, snapping to attention.

He shook his head back and forth, trying to focus on what it was that they were saying. But, he couldn’t…for whatever reason. He briefly glanced over at Britney as she joined everybody at the table. He shifted in his seat, giving her a smile of greeting. Britney smiled back, albeit a little embarrassingly.

“Oh yeah, nothing happened,” Lance replied.

“Are sure you're ok?” JC asked. His fork was halfway to his mouth. His eyebrows wrinkled together as a look of concern crossed his face. “You’re kind of…out of it this morning.” He then set down his fork and passed Britney the pitcher of juice.

“Thank you,” Britney chirped.

“No, I’m fine…just a lot on my mind,” Lance replied with a shrug of his shoulders. JC’s eyes narrowed slightly and Lance dropped his gaze to his lap for a moment before lifting his head, looking at him. What is going on? I can’t be…nervous around JC. I mean…he’s JC. “Studio work and dancing and all.”

“Relax,” JC said, waving his hand in the air, giving Lance a bright smile. “We’re all getting back into the swing of things; it’ll take a little bit to get used to everything.” He then winked in Lance’s direction. Lance pressed his lips together, fighting back the smile that was working its way onto his face. “Trust me; you’ve worked your ass off during all of this and it shows. You’re a great performer; you just need to believe that you are.”

“Thanks,” Lance replied, feeling his face grow hot.

He bowed his head for a moment before reaching for his glass of juice, quickly gulping it down, hoping that the cool temperature of the beverage would cool him down. And hopefully give him brain freeze bad enough to get the thought of JC winking at him out of his head.

“So, I don’t know when you’ll be done,” Lance said, shifting his gaze to Annaleigh, “but text when you are and we can wait for you or have the driver come pick you up.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Annaleigh replied.

“You’ll do great, just don’t be Anal-Lee again,” Lance said to her with a half smile. He watched as she rolled her brwn eyes as the other boys exchanged looks of amusement. “Just remember that it’s your first day; you have a lot of days ahead of you to get things down as perfectly as you want it to be.” 

Annaleigh reached out her hand, holding her pinky out towards him. “Just as long as you promise not to be so worried ‘bout your dancin’, Bass-Hole."

"Deal," Lance replied, hooking his pinky with hers. He smiled as they shook thier hands up and down three times.

"JC’s right," she added. "You’ve come miles since your start.” Lance felt the muscles in his face want to contort into making a face, and tried his hardest to look passice. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Lance replied with a shake of his head. He gave her another bright smile. "Just glad you're here."

“Uh, are you A.C.?” Annaleigh stepped farther into the rehearsal space at Jive Records, giving the boy that held a keyboard under his arm, a confused look. He brushed his dark hair from his eyes with his shoulder as he stood up straight. “Are you? The new bass player?”

“You mean Ace?” Annaleigh asked, her eyebrows shooting up.

“Yeah, that sounds right,” the boy replied, giving a half smile, a dimple appearing in his cheek. “Sorry, I’m not great with names.”

“That’s ok,” Annaleigh replied, offering her hand towards him. “I’m Annaleigh Carr; my friends call me Ace sometimes.”

“Cool, I’m Mika Hamilton,” he said, managing to offer Annaleigh his hand, and shake it. “It’s short for Michelangelo, but…I don’t know anyone that calls me that.” She continued to give him a confused look. “Something came up with their old player, um…Dave, I think. So…here I am.”

“Yeah, I’m replacin’ someone too,” Annaleigh replied. “Obviously.” She lifted her hands in the air.

“You’re late,” Johnny's familiar voice reached her ears and Annaleigh cringed as she turned towards him. “But, now that both of you are here, I can introduce you to everybody.”

Johnny swung his arm out to indicate the other three men in the room. “Ok, first we have Kevin Antunes,” Johnny explained. The African American man nodded his head, giving a two-fingered salute.”He is not only the keyboardist, but he’s also the musical director. All credit goes to this main man, here. You’ll report to him each day and let him know if you’re going to be late, if you have to miss rehearsal—which I hope you don’t—what have you. He knows his stuff.”

“And this over here is Billy Ashbaugh; the drummer.” He motioned towards Annaleigh. “You two will be the backbone of the *NSYNC band, the driving force. It’s really important that you two keep things steady, and keep everyone on the beat.”

“Yes, sir,” Annaleigh replied, nodding her head. She felt Lance prod her in the back. “I mean, Johnny. Sorry.”

“On guitar, we have Ruben Ruiz. We also have some saxophones and trumpeters as part of the group. We have guitarists and keyboard players doubled for lead and rhythmic players.” Johnny nodded towards Mika. “You’ll be backing Kevin in this group, so you two will be working close together as well. And everybody, this is Annaleigh Carr who will be playing bass, and Michael—“

“Mika,” Mika interrupted Johnny, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Mika Hamilton.”

“My apologies,” Johnny replied, clasping his hands together. “Alright, we’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ll leave you all to it.” Johnny smiled, rubbing his hands together before making his way out of the room.

“Fingerpick,” Annaleigh replied. “Why?”

“Because you barely have any calluses,” Billy replied. “Your fingers are going to burn. I’d suggest using a pick every once in a while, until you think you’re ready to go through ten…maybe thirteen songs. You’d be playing an upwards of two…maybe three hours judging on intermission. I mean, the boys get some breaks for wardrobe changes and everything, but we still have to entertain the crowd.”

“Three hours?” Annaleigh asked, feeling her eyes pop open.

“Have you ever been to a concert?” Billy asked.

“Well, yeah,” Annaleigh replied, nodding her head. “Reba McEntire and Trace Adkins. It didn’ feel like gosh darn three hours when I was there.”

“That’s the point; shows are supposed to make you forget everything else. But, don’t worry, if you’re anything like your dad, you’ll work it out no problem,” Billy said as he showed her over to where she could plug her bass into an amp. There was already a chord sitting on top of the box. Annaleigh made a noise in the back of her throat. “What?”

“Guess I jus’ didn’ realize how…big he was,” Annaleigh replied, slowly setting her bass to the floor, unzipping it. “An’ his band, I mean.” I can’t believe I never knew about him and Oathkeeper. We tell each other everything. He loves music as much as I do; so what was it that made him try and keep me away from it? She looked over at Billy and saw the look of surprise on his face. “It’s surprisin’ I know.”

“Wait…” Billy said quietly. “You don’t think you got in just because of your dad, do you?”

Annaleigh blinked, taken aback. “Not until now, I wasn’t,” she replied, tossing her guitar case aside, reaching for the chord on the amp.

“You got in because of your talent,” Billy said to her.

“Uh-huh,” Annaleigh replied with a nod of her head. “I know.” She plugged one end of the chord into her bass and the other into the amp, flicking it on. A low hum filled the air before she adjusted the knobs of the amp, setting them to the levels perfect for her before testing the sound by plucking a string. She then turned to face him, sitting down on top of the amp, giving him a smile. “This is all jus’ happenin’ so fast. I mean, I’ve always wanted an opportunity like this, but I never thought what I’d do if I got it.”

“Well, answer me this…why did you want to try out in the first place?” Billy asked, lifting his foot to rest it beside her on the amp. “Why is this important to you?”

Because I wanted to get as far away from home drama as possible, Annaleigh thought to herself before giving an odd twitch of her head. Now that I’m here…I just want to be sure dad’s ok. With the money, we’d be better off…so what’s the real reason? And mom and dad aren’t even around to fight with each other. Why’d you want to leave home so badly?

She already knew the answer to that: for a while, all she wanted to know was what had gone wrong with their relationship, if it was her fault, or something they had done. Now that they weren’t together and now that she was older…she knew the bomb would drop eventually. And whatever it was, whatever was so bad that it split them up, she didn’t think she really was ready to know.

“Because I want ta see what this is all about,” Annaleigh replied, waving her hand in the air. “Seems like a pretty big adventure. If you knew me as a kid, you’d know that that’s what I always wanted ta do; go on adventures.” Billy twisted his mouth to the side in an amused smile. “An’ I had Lance there for each one. Things were pretty rocky with us for a short while, mainly ‘cause of me but he’s always been there. I jus’ want ta show him that I support him and I’ll—“ She wiggled the guitar in her hands, “—back him up when he needs someone.”

Billy chuckled, reaching up his hand to run his fingers through his bleached blonde hair. “I see,” he commented, slowly nodding his head. “Everybody needs a support system and that’s what we are to the boys. I think you’ll fit in well.”

“I thank ya kindly,” Annaleigh replied with a smile and a nod of her head. She then looked over in Mika’s direction, where he was talking with Kevin as he set up his keyboard. “What do you know ‘bout Mika?”

“Not much,” Billy replied with a shake of his head. “Just know that he’s covering on such short notice.” He gave a shrug. “Good enough to get in; like you.”

“Are we going to get a chance to play at all, today?” Ruben asked with a short laugh, playing a quick succession of notes on his guitar. “I’m ready to go.”

“Alright, alright,” Kevin said, waving his hand in the air. “First, I’d like to welcome you two to the *NSYNC band. We’re excited that you’ll be working with us, and putting together a good show for the boys. We’ll be working closely with Wade and the boys, as well as their music producers to get an idea of the songs, and how we’ll be performing them. It’ll be a lot of hard work as it gets closer to the album release date, but for now, we’ll just be working on their older songs.”

“We all know the older songs well, but Mika and Annaleigh, just work through them as best as you can,” Kevin explained.

He crossed the room to his pile of bags and pulled out two, thick binders. Annaleigh took it in her hand, blinking in surprise when she felt how heavy it actually was. She started flipping through the pages: I Want You Back, I Drive Myself Crazy, I Thought She Knew, Here We Go, and on and on. And there’d be more songs as soon as the album was finished.

“Here’s your sheet music. Eventually, we’d like you to be off the books as best as possible, but even then, sometimes we need to read off our music since we have so many changes to things. We like to have fun, we like to have fun when we’re performing, but don’t come in here without practicing, because I’ll know. It’s not just hurting yourself, it’s hurting everybody here, because then, we’ll be spending too much time catching everybody up. Just practice and ask for help if you need it. That’s all I ask.”

Shoot, you’re also askin’ for an arm and a leg, Annaleigh thought to herself, continue flipping through the pages.

“Alright, we’ll start with…I Want You Back,” Kevin said as he reached into his bag for a second time, producing a large CD case. Annaleigh looked around the room, spotting the stereo system she hadn’t noticed was there before. “Let’s bring some energy into this place.” He loudly clapped his hands together. Annaleigh flipped through the pages to find the song, “We’ll listen to it first; mime along to the song to get a feel for it.”

Moments later, Justin’s familiar vocals filled the gray room.

You're all I ever wanted
You're all I ever needed, yeah
So tell me what you do now
Cause (I, I, I, I, I,) I want you back

It's hard to say I'm sorry
It's hard to make the things I did undone
A lesson I've learned too well, for sure
So don't hang up the phone now
I'm trying to figure out just what to do
I'm going crazy without you

You're all I ever wanted
You're all I ever needed, yeah
So tell me what to do now
When I want you back

“Good job, kid,” Billy said, thumping Annaleigh’s shoulder with his fist, his drumsticks smacking the back of her head. “You’ve got natural talent like I said.” He took his drumsticks in both hands and played a quick roll on her arm. “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” Annaleigh laughed as she started to pack up her stuff. She let out a sigh, suddenly realizing how tired she was. She reached into her pocket for her phone and pressed a button on the side to check to see what time it was. “Wow, I didn’ know it had gotten that late.” She quickly sent a text to Lance before putting her phone back into her pocket.

“Better get used to it,” Mika commented, with a short laugh as he shook out a cover. “Help me with this?” Annaleigh nodded her head, setting her bass up against the amp. “You did a great job today.”

“Thanks,” Annaleigh replied, reaching for the other end of the cover. She lifted it off the floor and moved it to cover the keyboard. “You’re not bringin’ this home with ya?”

“After lugging it all the way over here? Fat chance,” Mika replied, rolling his hazel eyes. He lifted his hand and scratched at the back of his head, closing one eye. Annaleigh felt herself smile as she watched him. “What?”

“Nothing,” Annaleigh replied with a shrug, trying to hold back her smile. “It’s…my dad kinda does the same thin’…that’s all.” She felt her face heat up as the words came out of her mouth. “Guess I miss home more than I thought.”

“Where are you from?” Mika asked. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she peered over at him. “Just curious.”

“Mississippi,” Annaleigh replied, turning back towards her guitar, pulling the amp chord out of the end.

“Well, that explains your accent,” Mike commented and Annaleigh snorted.

“Clinton ta be more precise,” she explained. “Lance and I are old friends, known him since I was about seven. He was like the brother I never had; helpful, annoyin’, but I could always trust ‘im.”

“Oh, you’re an only child?” Mika asked, his eyebrows shooting up. “So’m I.” His mouth twitched. “After my dad pretty much ran out on my mom even before I was born; it’s basically just been the two of us.”

Annaleigh paused in packing up her stuff, blinking rapidly. That sounds familiar, she thought to herself, darting out her tongue to lick at her suddenly dry lips. “That sucks,” she commented, wrapping the cord around her hand before setting it on top of the amp. “I know tha feelin’; my mom’s not ‘round much as of late.”

“Oh…I’m sorry,” Mika said from behind her.

“Thank ya,” Annaleigh replied, keeping her gaze on her task at hand; putting her bass guitar in its case. “It’s hard sometimes, but we’re getting’ through it. Same with you and your mom, I s’pose?” She then hauled her case onto her shoulder, turning around to face him. Her eyes suddenly popped open and put a hand over her mouth. “Oh my stars, I didn’ mean that—well, I guess I did—don’ answer if ya don’ wan to—but, I’m kinda curious—jus’ ignore me—or answer—I don’ know why I asked. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Mika replied with a small laugh, putting his hands up defensively. “People always said I’m easy to talk to. That’s not a loaded question or anything; it’s fine.” Annaleigh got to her feet, reaching for her thick binder of music, sliding it, as well as she could, into the side pocket of her case. She could instantly feel the weight difference on her back as she made her way towards the door, letting out a yawn. Mika fell into step beside her. “Yeah, things were pretty rough for a few years, but it’s ok. It’s fine; I mean you get it.”

“Yeah, that’s…true…” Annaleigh trailed off, stopping just outside of the door. Wade leaned against the opposite wall, spinning a single rose in his hands.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Mika said, skirting around her. Annaleigh nodded her head as she gave Wade a confused look.

“What are you doin’?” she asked.

“You said that where you come from you usually get flowers or something,” Wade said, pushing himself off of the wall he was leaning against. Annaleigh’s jaw dropped just slightly, her eyebrows lowering. He held the flower out towards her. “Here.”

“Thanks…I guess,” Annaleigh replied, reaching out her hand to take the floor. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, turning to look at the room she had just left. Ruben and Kevin were cleaning up the room. “You…do know I’m in the band.”

“That’s what the flower Is for,” Wade replied with a nod of his head.

Yeah, right, Annaleigh thought to herself, hiking an eyebrow.

Wade slid his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and gave Annaleigh a wide smile. “Congratulations. I heard your audition recording; it was pretty sick,” he commented.

“Mmhmmm,” Annaleigh replied with a roll of her eyes, brushing past him, making her way towards the exit of the building. She let out a heavy sigh when she heard Wade’s footsteps hurrying behind her. “M’not interested and Johnny specifically said in the rules, that—“

“I know the rules,” Wade replied, lifting his hands defensively. “I’m not trying anything. I just figure since we’ll be working together, we should at least get to know each other. I mean, we’re going to be around each other for a while, it makes sense, don’t you think?” Annaleigh squinted down at the rose in her hand before peering up at him, hiking an eyebrow. “And here I thought Southerners were supposed to be friendly people.”

Annaleigh opened and closed her mouth for a moment before putting her hand in the air, speeding up her pace. Wade sped up as well, putting a hand on her shoulder. “That was a joke,” he said with a half smile. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”

“So, how much did James tell ya ‘bout me?” Annaleigh asked, crossing her arms over her chest, the rose passing below her nose. She quickly took a sniff, holding back a smile as she did so.

“James, huh?” Wade asked, his eyebrows shooting up. “Lance must be in trouble. He didn’t tell me a lot, but then again, I didn’t ask a lot.”

“That’s surprisin’,” Annaleigh replied, deadpan. They made it to the front doors and she pushed it open, a blast of warm, humid, Orlando air hitting her in the face. Calm down, Ace, he’s just curious about you. You’re new and you have to work together…it wouldn’t hurt to get to know him. You said you weren’t interested and he’s ok with it. “Ok, so you know enough ‘bout me from James, tell me somethin’ ‘bout you.”

“Ah, so you are getting interested,” Wade said as an amused smile came to his face, crossing his arms over his chest. Annaleigh turned to face him. He lifted a hand to scratch at his chin. “That’s good. I’m making some progress.”

Annaleigh blinked, staring blankly at Wade for a moment before letting out a bark of laughter, shaking her head. She clicked her tongue. “Bless your heart,” she said to him, adjusting her case. “You haven’ answered my question.”

She moved to step by him and he stopped her, grabbing her arm. A little too hard. Annaleigh glanced down at his hand before looking up at him. Wade gave a small, apologetic smile, loosening his grip just slightly.

“Ok,” he said, shifting his gaze towards the sky, a thoughtful look crossing his face. He closed one eye before his face cleared and he gave her a smile. “I’m a hard worker.”

“Given your line of business, I’m not surprised,” Annaleigh commented. They turned to look out over the parking lot when they heard a series of car honks. “That’s my ride.”

“Well, I won’t waste any more of your time tonight,” Wade said, gently squeezing Annaleigh’s arm. She swore if he had enough nerve, he probably would’ve kissed the back of her hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow and I’m looking forward to working with you.”

He threw a wink in her direction, giving her arm another squeeze before making his way past her, adjusting the strap to his dance bag. Annaleigh watched him for a moment before making her way over to the *NSYNC car.

“Boy’s too big for his britches,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Nevertheless, she made sure she didn’t crush the rose as she slid it into the pocket of her bass guitar.

“What was that?” Joey all but shouted from the car window as she neared.

“Ya got me,” Annaleigh replied with a twitch of her eyebrow.