March 21st 2000

New York City, New York

7:30am

As soon as Bye, Bye, Bye was released, a new surge of fame hit *NSYNC harder than any wave that crashed over them. The video was number one on TRL, they performed on various TV shows including Rosie O’Donnell, Saturday Night Live, various shows in the UK—all to pre-recorded tracks or other musicians that had learned their songs for the purpose of not having to travel their band members to each city so as to give them more time to rehearse and get things locked away as plans for the tour really started to get going--Grammys, MTV shows, Good Morning America, a performance at Regional District 13 School in Durham, Connecticut, and much more all leading up to this one event:

The release of *NSYNC’s album, No Strings Attached.

Lance was surprised that anybody in the house managed to get a good night’s sleep from all of the excitement. Or rather, a part of him was surprised; another part of him was downright exhausted from all of the work they had been taking part in non-stop for the past couple of months. As they traveled across the country and across “the pond” for functions, they all did have a couple days here and there to go home, rest, and relax.

Being at home for a while really brought a sense of calm and relaxation to Lance. Not only that, but he was able to share that downtime with one of his best friends and be able to mentally prepare her  for how things were going to go in regards to preparing for the tour. If she thought she was doing a lot of work before, the last two months before tour were an absolute nightmare.

But, she seemed to be prepared for it, if not excited. He could see she had her dad’s sense of adventure in that regard. He did up and leave his home to try and bring success to his band, after all. Here she was, wanting to do the same thing. Lance understood her dad’s reservations of letting her follow in his footsteps, and he had to wonder if he was doing the right thing as her best friend to let her continue on knowing what was breaking her family apart—or rather, what broke her family apart—and acting like it was the greatest thing in the world.

Not that it wasn’t. He loved his fans, he loved making music, he loved performing, he loved being with his brothers day in and day out, he loved all o it. But it came at a price; he wouldn’t wish for anyone to have their privacy gradually taken away from them--or even ripped away from them. As some people say, “It comes with the territory.”

“Man, I’m freaking out, dude,” Justin said as he twisted the couch he was lounging in back and forth with the foot that was planted on the plush carpet. They were all in the vast living room space of the penthouse they were living in, in New York.“I have to know what people think.” He brought his hands to his chest and started popping his knuckles. “This is intense.”

“Not as much as my desire to shut you up permanently,” JC commented in a dull tone. He was lying on his side on the couch, eyes closed. Whether or not he was trying to sleep, Lance knew that JC would never fully be able to manage that. Despite the fact he was the first to even get to sleep as they arrived in New York late that night.

“Aww, C, you love me and you know it,” Justin said as he paused in cracking his knuckles to give JC a sweet smile, whether he saw it or not.

“I’m with him, I’d love you more if you stopped talking,” Joey commented before he launched himself from the floor, jumping on top of the youngest member of the group. Justin curled himself into a bowl, throwing up his hands to ward off Joey’s fake punches.

“Would y’alll knock it off?” Annaleigh asked, barely looking up from the newspaper in her hand. She had her back against the couch Lance was sitting on, one smooth leg crossed over the other. She reached up a hand to brush her wavier dark brown locks, now streaked with caramel highlights, out of her face.

For her the past couple of months were all about her identity: the Southern girl, who also happened to be Lance’s best friend, who was the new bass player in the *NSYNC band. People wanted interviews with her, wanted to take pictures of her--and with her if they had recognized her—and even asked him questions about their friendship. Her outfits had slowly started to…differ.

Not so much that he didn’t recognize his friend anymore, but, a noticeable “Hollywood” change as he liked to think of it. Hell, he and Justin had their hair—painfully—bleached blonde for a couple of years to fit in the mold of what image was marketable in Sweden. That’s not to say he didn’t think it was a nice change, and didn’t bring a sense of confidence to her that he had waited to see her grow into over the years.

Needless to say, it didn’t change her “Mother Hen” like behavior and he was glad it didn’t. Arguably, it was for partially selfish reasons as the boys had someone around who didn’t mind doing the groceries, preparing meals, or doing their laundry. It also brought a sense of calm and allowed the feeling of home to be with them no matter wherever they went as she really cared for their well being and lent a listening ear whenever they were having problems or were frustrated about something.

It was also just something she grew up knowing; back in Clinton you were taught how to run a family if you ultimately chose to be a stay at home mom; if not, you were still secure in knowing that your household would be run well.

“Shoot, I think y’all have been stayin’ round each other for too long,” Annaleigh commented, shaking her head back and forth before reaching down to tug on the end of her cowboy boots.

“It’ll be worse when we’re on tour,” Chris commented, from the opposite end of the couch Lance was sitting on. He was throwing a football repeatedly into the air. They were all waiting for Johnny to come and join them to deliver the news of the day as well as to start the first of many, many tour meetings. “So, what do the newspapers say?”

Annaleigh cleared her throat as she shook out the newspaper. “The wait for *NSYNC’s new album is now over. Today, their most anticipated album, No Strings Attached, is released. Now the whole world can say, ‘Bye, Bye, Bye’ to Lou Pearlman, and say ‘Hi, Hi, Hi’ to the new *NSYNC.”

“God, that is so lame,” Chris groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Sadly, that might be the best pun they can come up with,” Lance commented, lifting a hand to rub at his tired eyes, knocking the curst out of the corners. “Keep going, Ace.”

“After a drawn out legal battle where Lou Pearlman had been keeping the money that *NSYNC rightfully worked themselves to the bone for, the five members—Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, and Lance Bass—won the fight to keep their band name as well as get the money they rightfully deserve. How much is unknown as the matter was settled quietly. Also with this legal win, they changed record labels and have now officially release their first album under the Jive Records label.

“Jive Records has female powerhouse, Britney Spears. Having previously appeared together on The New MMC, it was only a matter of time before the two music acts would be together…in the musical sense I assure you. With both of the biggest acts in the music industry on the rise, Jive did well to add *NSYNC to their label. The boys have described this album to be their own take on mainstream music with their own dance, club, and R&B mix to it. Might as well go stand in line to pick up your own copy now; before you know it, you’ll be listening to the songs over and over again as your daughter blasts it through the walls of your home—if they haven’t been blasting the single-CD like I have. Good luck, boys.”

“That’s not bad,” Lance mused.

“Except for no mention of our tour or anything,” JC commented, sitting up. His eyes were still closed as he stretched his arms over his head.

“Naw, it mentions the tour, JC,” Annaleigh commented, closing the newspaper. Lance hiked an eyebrow was he watched her purse her lips. “All that stuff was ‘in other news’.”

“Let me see that,” he said, snatching the newspaper out of her hands. Annaleigh made a loud noise of protest before driving her elbow into side of his knee. He quickly glanced over the newspaper front, looking for the location of the article before flipping it open to it. His eyes darted around the news print until he found it. He let out a loud laugh. “Oh, I see how it is; Ace is big news and we’re just the side act. Some of the same quotes from past interviews, another dating rumor, blah, blah, blah, nothing new.”

“Well, I declare, Miss Carr, seems to me like you’re gettin’ popular,” Justin said in his best falsetto in the best Southern accent he could muster, causing the five boys to start laughing. “I’m just kidding. Don’t pay any attention to it; at least it’s one of the nicer ones.”

He froze when he heard a series of knocks at the door. Lance tensed as electricity crackled through all of them. JC’s eyes popped open as he dropped his arms down into his lap. Eyes narrowed, eyebrows waggled, fingers twitched before their arms swung upwards towards their nose as a shout of, “Nose goes” hit the air.

“Chris you’re last,” JC announced, pointing his finger in Chris’s direction. Chris let out an exaggerated groan as he got to his feet.

“Did you hear that?” he asked, putting a hand to his back. “My knees popping, my joints protesting; I don’t think I can make it to the door, but I’ll try.” Lance hiked an eyebrow, watching as Chris slowly shuffled towards the door, sliding his feet along the ground, refusing to bend his knees. He hacked and coughed as he did so, wheezing.

“Hurry it up, Gramps,” Lance shouted, reaching for one of the couch pillows, throwing it at Chris’s back. He let out a loud gasp, clutching at his heart before dropping down to the ground, face first. Lance jumped up, and pressed his knee into Chris’s back. “We need an oxygen mask, stat! Someone call 9-1-1!” All the times Lance had spent at the hospital with his dad, he always thought of himself as the type of person who would be calm in an emergency situation, whether it be as a joke or in real life.

“Yeah, you better call 9-1-1, because you’ll need one when I’m through with you,” Chris cried, kicking his legs and flailing his arms, trying to reach Lance to do bodily harm.

The knocking came again, longer, harder.

“I’ll get it,” JC said with a sigh, getting to his feet. He scratched the back of his head as he made his way over towards the door. He pumped the handle and pulled the door open, stepping aside to let Johnny and Wade into the room. “Morning.”

They looked just as tired as the rest of them felt. “Morning,” Johnny replied, practically chirping the word despite his exhaustion. He clapped his hands together, the loud popping sound startling everybody. “Big day, big day, big day. How’re you all feeling? Lance, get off Chris.” He rolled his eyes when a series of snorts and muffled giggles hit the air. “You know what I mean.”

“Tired,” Annaleigh replied, as Johnny and Wade made their way into the living room, dropping onto the couches that Chris and Lance had abandoned.

“You’ll get used to it,” Wade commented.

“Easy for you ta say, you jus’ teach them the dance moves and hope and pray that things go well while on stage,” Annaleigh shot back with a brief eye roll. Wade merely shrugged, giving a smile.

As Lance settled back to sit on his heels, he looked back and forth between the two of them with Joey’s words, “Wade’s the one you need to worry about, not him. I mean, come on? Flowers? Sweet comments? He’s really laying it on thick with her in case you haven’t noticed” ringing in his ears.

From what he could see, they didn’t spend a lot of time together and anytime they had interacted, it was strictly professional. And when it wasn’t—when he seemed to get nowhere with her except for annoying her—he wasn’t worried about it. It was like Joey said, she could take care of herself. But, that was a hard role to give up or to slowly release; she had been following him around for years, doing what he wanted to do, and he took it upon himself to look out for her; even more so now that she was being thrust into the spotlight.

“Your album has finally been released, congratulations,” Johnny said as he clapped his hands together, leading the group into applause. He then shifted his gaze over towards Annaleigh. “This album was to be released last year, but with the court case and everything…” He trailed off, taking in a deep breath of air.

Chris took that time to roll onto his back and swing out his arm, back handing Lance’s side. “Ouch!” Lance shouted before he curled his fingers into a fist, punching Chris back.

“Hey, don’t fist me!” Chris said and Lance froze.

His whole body locked up and he stared down at his band mate. It was one stupid comment, much like they always did, all five of them, but this one just hit him differently. His mouth went dry, and he seemed to have lifted himself out of his body for a brief moment. He could see the laughter on Chris’s face at his own comment, see the looks of amusement and annoyance on JC, Justin, and Joey’s face, and he could see the uncertainty and fear in his own before he was back.

“That ain’t funny,” Lance said lowering his arm. Glowering, he shoved Chris’s shoulder, rolling away from him.

“Uh oh, you said ‘ain’t’,” Chris pointed out with a grin. He sat up and started prodding Lance’s cheek with his index finger. “Are you getting mad? I’ve heard Southerners have a wicked temper let’s see it.”

“Aww, leave ‘im be, Christopher,” Annaleigh called over to him.  

“Well, we should start going over the song list for the tour,” Johnny spoke up, loudly clearing his throat. He reached towards the table that sat next to his side of the couch and removed the pen and notepad—which they had previously used for ordering room service. He ripped off the top sheet of paper, resting it on his leg before clicking the top of the pen. “No Strings Attached and Bye Bye Bye for sure, but what are your thoughts? Do you want to start with Bye Bye Bye?”

“I don’t think we should do Bye Bye Bye, because people don’t like it anymore,” Justin said quietly, his twitching lips giving away his joke, causing everyone else in the room to start laughing. He lifted his head and twirled the stud earring in his left ear a couple of times before adjusting the beanie that covered his curly hair.

“I think we should do Music of My Heart,” Joey said as his laughter died down, tugging on the brim of his ever present Superman hat. “You know, because we have someone who can sing Gloria’s part.” Lance followed Joey’s gaze over towards Annaleigh who was suddenly engrossed with what the weather would be like that day.

“I really hope y’all ’re talkin’ ‘bout Chris’s falsetto and not me,” she said after she made a clicking sound with her tongue.

“Haven’t you been getting voice lessons from JC?” Johnny asked her.

“Yes,” JC replied, chewing on his thumbnail, “ever since she came out to audition. She’s really been improving.”

“There’s an idea,” Wade commented, snapping his fingers. “Everybody at this point knows she’s Lance’s friend—“

“Heyyy,” Justin said in a whining tone. “She’s our friend, too.” He stuck out his bottom lip in a pout.

“No way,” Annaleigh replied in a firm stone, waving her hand in the air. “It ain’t gonna happen.”

“You sing at church all the time, what’s the difference?” Lance asked, shifting his sitting position, giving his friend a confused.

“Oh, about twenty thousand people,” Annaleigh replied. “Singin’ on front a people I know isn’ a problem.” She shivered. “In front of a whole lotta people I don’ know give me the shivers somethin’ bad. No way.”

“You’re already playing the bass for us, how could it be any different?” Chris asked, his eyebrows knitting together.

“If she doesn’t want to do it, she doesn’t want to do it,” JC said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Don’t force it on her.” He blinked his eyes a couple of times. “It Makes Me Ill.”

“Space Cowboy,” Lance added. “And It’s Gonna Be Me since it’ll be our second single.”

“Keep in mind that you all need to take some time to rest during this tour,” Wade commented, lifting his hands up in the air. “You don’t want to be dancing and moving around the stage the whole time. Might I suggest ballads?”

“You just don’t want to tire your young self out having to make up all of those fancy shmancy dance moves,” Chris said, waving his hand in the air.

“If you want to go running back and forth across the stage, be my guest,” Wade replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “But, my name’s going on your choreography. You think I want a bunch of screaming girls chasing after me--?”

“Yes,” Joey interrupted him, earning a high five from Justin.

“Angry that you guys collapsed on stage?” Wade continued, giving Joey a look of amusement.

“Any other songs?” Johnny asked, pointedly tapping his pen against the notepad.

“I Thought She Knew,” JC replied, resting his elbows on his knees, rubbing his hands together. “God Must Have Spent, and This I Promise You.”

 On and on they went back and forth over songs they wanted to perform, and start on the song order as well. They only managed to agree on starting with No Strings Attached and ending with Bye Bye Bye—maybe as an encore if they had a lot of songs to get through.

“Ok, we’ve also received word on the locations of the first leg of the tour,” Johnny said as he removed his cell phone from his pocket. “The whole tour will kick off on May 9th which gives you less than two months to have all the choreography and music done, and to stage and work through wardrobe and everything.” A serious look crossed his face. “It’ll be a real time crunch, boys—“ Annaleigh loudly cleared her throat. Johnny blinked, taken aback just slightly, before a smile came to his face, “and for you as well, Little Miss. Especially after everything you have to do the rest of this month.”

“That’s only 10 days,” Joey commented, twisting the cap around on his head so the brim was pacing backwards. “Can’t we just…relax? I’m already tired just thinking about it.”

“Today, you have an appearance on TRL; a Virgin Megastore signing; and a special broadcast in Wal-Mart. Then we’re flying you out to Canada tomorrow for an interview on MuchMusic and a press conference at HMV Toronto, we’ll have you announce the first leg of the tour on the 24th of May,” Johnny instantly replied, keeping his eyes on Joey as if looking to see what his reaction was going to be. “Your episode of Rosie O’Donnell and All That will be airing on the 25th, the same day tickets go on sale, the 26th you have your Oscars performance, the 28th you’ll be on The View, and the 29th you’ll be on Good Morning America.”

“Then it’s crunch time,” Wade said, rubbing his hands together. “You’ll only have a month to learn all these moves to the new songs.” Lance let out a loud groan as he stretched his arms over his head.

It was something he was used to doing, but at the same time, just thinking about how much was crammed into one day would make even the most energetic person the world, dreading what was to come at times. There were many moments where they all wondered how there were enough hours in a day to get things done. Running off of four hours of sleep, sometimes even less was a feat.

“Where’re we starting the tour, Johnny?” JC asked.

Johnny’s lips twitched into a brief smile “Biloxi, Mississippi,” he replied. Lance instantly bloomed into a smile and Annaleigh punched the air with her fists. Biloxi was only about an hour north of Clinton which meant, that gave them a couple of days at home before the tour kicked off. He could already feel the soft mattress in his bed.

He was going to need it after the night they were going to have.

The Village Underground

Manhattan, New York

10:45pm

Annaleigh turned her head away from the pounding music, giving her some reprieve from the notes, melodic tones, and pulsing beats from drilling into her skull. She loved *NSYNC’s music, yes, but did she want it pounded into her ears at 20,000 decibels? No.

But, she knew her ears were a goner the minute she had stepped out of the car at the party. The music was playing so loudly, she could hear every distinct word in the song. Or at least, that’s what it had seemed like to her. Nevertheless, she was ready to have a good time and knew that this album release party was going to be the party of the year.

Everybody was excited for *NSYNC’s new album. Fans were screaming and yelling and crying the minute they had spotted the five boys as they pulled up outside of the venue, desperately wanting to express just how much they appreciated the group and what they meant to them.

Marquee lights were tilting and angling, arching across the sky. Giant mannequins of *NSYNC’s likeness stood outside the double doors leading into the building. Paparazzi and newscasters, and the press in general lined up lined up one walkway, shoving their microphones and cameras into the faces of people that happened to walk by.

This is really it, Annaleigh thought as she looked around at the crowded dance floor at the many people who were thriving on the high spirits of the night. Everything really changes from here on out. Her stomach started twisting in knots at the thought of it.

Being at home normally brought comfort to her, but she hadn’t set foot back on Clinton soil since she had left Mississippi. Would people treat her the same? Would they treat her differently? Did they see her as a celebrity or just Annaleigh?

A wave of guilt crashed over her as she spotted Lance across the room, shouting something in Luther Vandross’ ear. She wasn’t sure how people had treated Lance when he had gotten home because she didn’t want anything to do with him. It wasn’t a fair thing for her to do at all; he didn’t understand what was going on back home and she didn’t understand what was going on overseas. He was keeping the hardships from her to keep her idea of how fun touring could be alive, and she kept the sad details from him so he wouldn’t feel like he was letting her down.

“Hey!” a loud voice shouted in her ear, making Annaleigh jump. She turned her head to see whoever it was, only to be blinded by a bright light mounted on top of Joey’s video camera.

“Joe-Joe, get that gosh darn camera outta my face,” Annaleigh said, turning her head away as she forcefully shoved her hand into the lens of the camera. She stepped away from the loud music, making her way down into the small stairwell sealing off practically all sound once the door was closed. “I already told you, I don’ wanna be videotaped.”

“You also said you wanted to come to our release party, but you’re not really partaking in the festivities,” Joey pointed out. “Figured you’d want to show off your dance moves, you say you like dancing so much.” Annaleigh gave him a pointed look. “Ok, Lance was just worried, but he was talking to someone so he wanted me to check on you.”

“I’m fine, Joey,” Annaleigh replied. It was his turn to give her a pointed look. “This is still just weird for me. I don’t fit in here.”

“Come on, this is a momentous occasion,” Joey said, giving her a reassuring smile. “Of course you fit in. It was weird for us at first too, you know, but it’s just part of the business.”

“Y’all just love to goof off and have fun,” Annaleigh said, planting her hands on her hips. “I like to curl up an’ read a book sometimes y’know? I like bein’ at home watchin’ movies or jus’ sittin’ in the peace an’ quiet. It’s jus’ what I’m used to.”

Joey slowly nodded his head. “I understand that, I do,” Joey said to her, glancing down at the camera in his hands. “But, it’s just one night. Relax and have some fun for…an hour. If you’re still ready to go after that, it’s Super Joe to the rescue. Stick with me, kid, no one has more fun at parties than me.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Annaleigh replied, giving Joey a smile. “Ok, Joe, I trust ya.” Joey lifted the camera in his hands and tilted it back and forth, giving her a pleading smile. Annaleigh’s upper lip curled slightly.

“How am I going to film what life is like surrounding this tour, if our hot new bassist won’t let me film her?” he asked. He then lowered the camera and pouted. “Pllleeeaassee? I’ll be your best friend. Who needs Lance? He’s not as much fun as me.”

Annaleigh laughed, shaking her head back and forth. “You don’ know Lance like I do, Joe,” she replied. Joey let out a loud snort, arching an eyebrow in an ‘Oh yeah’ kind of way? Joey did spend more time with him in the past few years, but she was the one that had grown up with him. “He’s always thrown the best Halloween parties an’ stuff, and he’ll drop everything to talk to you ‘bout that’s goin’ on in your life, and he’s always there for you…” she trailed off feeling her shoulders slump just slightly, “no matter what. You also can never get him to shut up whenever he’s really excited about something.”

“Really?” Joey asked, blinking in surprise. Annaleigh gave him an odd look, nodding her head as if silently asking what other Lance Bass’ he knew of. Joey shrugged his shoulders. “He’s always been quiet with us, kinda shy you know? Doesn’t say a lot unless he has to or if he’s really letting himself have fun with stuff.”

Annaleigh pressed her lips together, but didn’t say anything. She had noticed that about Lance, and had found it pretty odd, but just chalked it up to him being so tired from his hectic schedule. She sure as hell knew she was tired. The most she ever had to do to get prepared in a day was getting up early to go over routines, getting hair, nails, and make up done and double and triple checking that everything was packed in the car before partaking in pageants. That’s not to say she didn’t know Lance to not be the type that could be shy, but he was never as quiet as he was when he was out of Clinton.

“Just two minutes, I promise,” Joey said, lifting the camera for a second time. Annaleigh huffed but gave Joey a smile nevertheless. “Ok. Here we have our new bassist, Annaleigh Carr wearing a lovely black ensemble completed with her stylish cowboy boots.” Annaleigh looked down and pointed her foot before pushing her bangles up her wrists. “What’s something you’re looking forward to with the first show of the NSA Tour?”

“Just seeing the fans’ reactions, I guess,” Annaleigh replied with a shrug of her shoulders, feeling her side ponytail gently brush her right shoulder. “All y’all have been workin’ really hard to show that you’re serious about your music and to show the fans what you can do now that you have full control both inside  the studio an’ out. Not jus’ to show yer fans, but to show all those that don’ think y’all should be taken seriously.”

“And are you nervous about the first show?” Joey asked.

“Not yet, but I’m sure I will be,” Annaleigh replied, shrugging for a second time. “But, with all the pageants I’ve done, it’s taught me how to work well under pressure and to keep your composure.” She pointed a finger at him. “After the performance, though, don’t be surprised to find my head in a trash can.”

“Please, you’ll play as great as you look and you know it,” Joey said with a laugh as he lowered his camera. “That was good, thanks Ace.”

“Happy to oblige, Joe,” Annaleigh replied, twisting her mouth to the side, giving him a smile nevertheless. She then jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll be there in a minute, I have ta get my purse.”

“Sure thing,” Joey replied before making his way down the rest of the stairs before pulling the door open, the loud, thumping music appearing for a moment as he disappeared into the crowd.

“Looking for this?” Annaleigh turned, blinking in surprise as her black clutch purse hit her chest. She lifted her eyes towards Wade as he made his way down the stairs. “Didn’t want you leaving it out, just in case. You never know when some fans can sneak in and try and take stuff to sell.”

“Thanks,” Annaleigh replied, tucking her purse under her arm.

“So…you’re a pageant girl,” Wade commented, his lips twitching just slightly. He arched an eyebrow just slightly, an amused look on his face. “That explains a lot.”

“Ex-pageant girl, thank you,” Annaleigh replied. “You’re looking at the reigning Glass Slipper Ultimate Grand Supreme.”

“Your majesty,” Wade replied, giving an exaggerated bow. Annaleigh rolled her eyes as he took another step towards her. “So why’d you stop doing pageants?” He shrugged his shoulders before adjusting the black blazer he wore over his Blink-182 t-shirt. “You made it pretty clear you’re not a part of them anymore.”

Annaleigh opened her mouth, before letting out a sigh, peering over at him. She crossed one leg over the other, leaning back against the railing of the stairwell. She scrutinized him, wondering if there was an ulterior motive towards his question. He had kept things professional between the two of them after she had said she wasn’t interested in him and he was just asking her a simple question. It was something people had asked her every time she mentioned that she didn’t partake in pageants anymore, but she was pretty vague with her answer, stating that she had just lost interest. She was going to be around him for months at a time, might as well let him know a little bit about her.

“Pageants were sometin’ my mom an’ I did together,” she replied after a moment of silence. Wade slowly nodded his head. “After she left, I didn’ do another one, although Lance’s mom, Miss Diane, offered to do ‘em with me. Jus’ wouldn’ be the same.”

“Sorry ‘bout your mom,” Wade replied, lowering himself to sit down on the landing between the two sets of stairs. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” Annaleigh replied, sitting down as well, stretching her legs out across the step, pulling down the hem of her skirt, crossing one leg over the other. “She and dad are goin’ to the show in Biloxi; they said this mornin’ when I called ‘em.”

“You don’t seem too happy about it,” Wade pointed out, fixing the cuff of his jeans. He leaned closer towards her, resting his arms on his legs.

“Don’ know what ta think ta be honest with ya,” Annaleigh replied, shaking her head from side to side. “I want them ta get back together so bad; they’re perfect for each other. Since she left, all I wanted was for ‘em ta get back together. I mean they’re not really broken up--she jus kinda left--but they don’ ever wanna be ‘round each other or anythin’--I don’ know--now I’m a bit worried. They haven’ been in the same room together for forever—barely even talk on tha phone—it’s weird.”

Wade stared at her for a moment before running a hand over his face, cupping his chin with his hand. “If it helps, my parents aren’t together, either,” he commented. “I haven’t seen him in years; it’s just my mom, sister, and me.”

“At least you have a sister,” Annaleigh said with a sigh, pulling the hem of her dress lower, silently cursing not only Johanna and Terry, but Chris and Joey for convincing her to wear a dress that short. Not only had she been uncomfortable in it all night, but she was freaking cold.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you have a sister, and…” Wade trailed off, closing one eye as he thought, counting off on his fingers. “Two brothers.” Annaleigh gave him a confused look. “Unless you don’t count, what was her name?” He snapped his fingers. “Oh!  Jasmine, or Lance and that guy Darren.” Annaleigh’s lips twitched slightly. “Although with how you two girls were dancing at the AMAs, I’m sure no guy would consider the two of you to be sisters.”

Annaleigh shoved his knee as his lips pulled back into a smile, his beard stretching over his chin. “You were watching us?” she asked him. She felt herself blush.

“Me and a whole bunch of other single guys,” Wade commented and Annaleigh shoved his knee again and he put his hands up defensively. “You can’t blame us. So, you see my point? You have a bigger family then you think.”

“And I’m grateful for it, but I don’t have the family I want,” Annaleigh replied. “It’s always jus’ been me, my mom, and my dad. Now it’s jus’ my dad and me and I don’ even know where she is. It’s like she doesn’ want me ta know where she is, or she doesn’ care…or she doesn’ want me anymore.”

“Or this is just between your parents and has nothing to do with you,” Wade said with a shrug of his shoulders. “It sucks, but the problem is with them, not with you. They need to figure things out in their own time.” Annaleigh made a humming sound in the back of her throat. “But you have to work with what you’ve got and you’ve got talent as a musician.”

“Shoot, you’re jus’ sayin’ that ta butter me up,” Annaleigh commented, with a half smile.

“Maybe,” Wade agreed with a boyish smile, causing Annaleigh to laugh. Her laughter echoed around the stair well. He hiked an eyebrow. “But, you know I’m right.”

“Maybe,” Annaleigh replied in the same tone of voice and this time Wade chuckled. “I haven’ told a lot of people about my mom. Thanks for listening.”

“Sure,” Wade said with a smile. “We better get going or ‘Super Joe’ might think I’ve kidnapped you.”

Annaleigh snorted. “Shoot, like I’d be a damsel in distress,” she commented, shifting her eyebrows upwards. “I can hold my own with boys; you ain’t seen me four-wheelin’.” She then gave Wade a sweet smile, exaggeratingly flipping her hair over her shoulder making her way down the stairs. “You city boys know nothin’ ‘bout havin’ fun.”

“I thought it was blondes that had more fun,” Wade commented, clicking his tongue. Annaleigh’s gaze shifted up towards his bleached blonde hair.

“You wouldn’t know much about that, would you?” she asked him, her smile getting a bit bigger. She then pulled open the stairwell door, rejoining the party.