Chapter 3 – A Little Push

New York – A month later

Adeline grimaced as she carried the heavy box from one side of the living room to the other and sat it down on the couch. She ripped the tape off the box and opened the flaps, revealing a mess of balled-up brown paper protecting breakables from her old living room.

She and Lance had managed to get all their boxes moved in the past few days since they had arrived from California, but his job at the radio station had taken him away for the afternoon, leaving her alone. Not wanting her to undertake a daunting job alone, Joey and Chris had kindly offered to come help her, especially with the heaviest boxes.

“Need help, Addy?” Joey asked, poised and ready.

“I think I got this Joe,” she said, then turned and pointed to a stack of boxes that Lance had piled near the kitchen. “But that box on top of that pile is full of my Nana's old dishes and stuff and it's really heavy. Do you think you can carry that into the kitchen and put it on the counter for me?”

“Sure thing.”

He walked over to the pile and grabbing the top box, he groaned as he lifted the box into his arms with one swift move.

“I love a big, strong man,” Addy said with a smile and a playful look towards him, which made him smile.

“Do I have to prove my sexual prowess to you too, Ad?” Chris said. He lifted his arm up in a strong-man flex. “Anything he can do, I can do better.”

“Hey,” Joey exclaimed, looking back at him while walking towards the kitchen with the box.

“Sorry boys, Lance is the only guy who does it for me,” she said. “No need to fight; you'll both lose.”

“Build us up just to tear us down,” Chris said, shaking his head and leaning down to lift a box.

She shook her head and chuckled and continued to unpack the box in front of her. Out of all the rest of the guys, Chris and Joey were definitely her best friends. She had been nervous to meet the other three men back in October of last year, when they had been invited to go to Florida for Chris's 40th birthday party. She had only ever spent time around Joey, because it was rare that all five of them ever got together as a group anymore. She had heard that since they had disbanded, there had been grievances and tension between them.

If that were the case, none of them showed it once they arrived at the party. Lance had immediately smiled when he saw his bandmates, slapping their hands and bumping fists as he would old friends. He had introduced her to them as his fiancee, as if he was proud of it – which shouldn't have surprised her, but being public about their relationship was something she had still been getting used to at the time.

“Fiancee,” Justin had said. “I didn't even know you were getting married! I thought those were just rumors.”

“That's because you don't pay any attention,” Chris had told him. “If it doesn't have 'Justin Timberlake' written all over it, it flies straight over your head.”

“Oh yeah?” Justin had replied. “Everything flies straight over your head, 'cause you're so short, Tricky!”

“You think that's funny?” Chris had asked.

When Justin nodded assuredly, Chris had dove after him, first grabbing his arm then wrapping another around Justin's neck in a headlock. It had made Addy uncomfortable and she was about to move between the two of them to break apart the fight until Lance had stopped her.

“They're just messing around with each other,” he said while laughing. “They fight like this all the time.”

“My money's on Chris this time,” JC said. “He looks like he's been working out those biceps.”

Justin had caved when he could barely breathe, both from Chris's grip on his head and from laughing. They had a truce over a drink and a toast to Chris for his birthday, and from then she had realized exactly how close Lance was to these four – and she had bonded with them that night too. She had danced with all of them through the night and they treated her like she had been a part of the group forever, not an outsider. It was a crazy, wild night, and she could say that she had never had so much fun partying and was looking forward to more of it.

Since then, they had met with JC for dinner in LA a few times, and Chris had recently moved from Florida to New York for a change of scenery, so she was seeing them a lot more often. Justin was busy doing movies and playing around in the studio with new music, but she had a feeling that she would eventually see a lot more of him. From the camaraderie she had experienced, she had a feeling that she would see more of all of them eventually.

“Where's this one go, Addy?” Chris asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. She looked up and he was standing next to her, holding another box.

“Looks like the bedroom,” she responded, thinking it was full of her clothes. “You can set it on Lance's dresser.”

“Is it your underwear?” Chris asked. “Is it naughty things? Can I take a peek?”

She swatted his hand away when he tried to pop open a flap on the box enough to take a peek through, and he smiled.

“Oh Christopher,” she said with a sigh and a smile as he walked towards her bedroom.

Joey walked up to her as Chris had disappeared through the hallway.

“You know he's going to look anyway, don't you?” he asked.

“Let him,” she said with a smile. “I figured he would – and that's why I put a pair of Lance's boxers on top.”

Joey laughed as he grabbed another box to move it to another room and she went back to unpacking her own box.

“Oh, gross,” they heard coming muffled from the hallway a few seconds later.

After only a couple of hours of unpacking and reorganizing without a break, Addy felt she couldn't go on anymore and told both boys they could go home. Joey grabbed his car keys without an argument, but as she was walking to the door and saying her goodbyes to him, Addy noticed that Chris was hanging around the living room aimlessly.

“You're not going home, Chris?” she asked as she walked back.

“I don't know,” he said with a shrug, wandering around with his hands in his pockets. “There's nothing to do there. I was wondering if...well, if you wouldn't mind me hanging out here for a bit.”

“Well...sure,” she said, admittedly slightly confused. “Mi casa es su casa, I suppose. Or, Lance's casa, technically.”

Chris didn't smile or nod, or make any acknowledgment that he had even heard her.

“You want a beer or something?” she asked, wandering towards the kitchen.

“Lance's beer es...um...oh hell, forget it,” he said, following her. “I'd love a beer, Addy.”

She chuckled as she opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer for him and a juice for herself.

“Everything okay with you, Chris?” she asked as she handed him the beer and sat down next to him at the kitchen table. “You look like you have something bothering you.”

“Nothing really,” he said. “Just...women suck, Addy.”

“Present company excluded, I hope,” she said with a laugh.

He popped the cap off his bottle, causing a slight whoosh of pressure.

“You don't suck, but you're dating Lance,” he said. “Lucky ass Lance, snapping up the one woman in New York who is decent.”

“What's wrong, Chris?” Addy asked, more sympathetically.

“I'm forty years old and hopelessly single,” he said. “Every woman that I date is only interested in my money or my fame.”

“What about that one girl you went out with?” she asked. “What was her name? Bri something?”

“Bridget,” he finished. “Yeah, let's talk about Bridget for a minute – first of all, for the first twenty minutes, she couldn't stop talking about how she was so amazed that she was on a date with the Chris Kirkpatrick.”

“That's not so bad, is it?”

“Then for the next hour she couldn't stop talking at all,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her. “I thought she was going to choke on her dinner because she couldn't take a breath.”

“I'm sorry, Chris,” she said, grinning through her wincing. “I assume the rest of the night didn't go any better?”

“It ended before it started,” he said with a sigh. “What's wrong with me, Ad?”

“Why do you think something's wrong with you?” she asked. “You had one or two bad dates – that's not your fault.”

“It's not just one or two bad dates – it's twenty years of bad dates. Twenty years of bad relationships. I'm tired of these women using me, or acting like I'm something special because I'm Chris from NSYNC, oh my god,” he said, slightly mocking a teenage fan. “I want one of them to see past that, see me for who I really am.” He paused to take a drink of his beer, sighing as it slid down his throat. “Jesus, I sound like JC now.”

She chuckled.

“I don't know – it seems like the other guys have had an easier time with women, you know? Joey married Kelly, his high school sweetheart. Justin had Britney...”

“Yeah, because that ended so well for him, didn't it?” she asked.

“Well, that's a good point,” he said. “But still. Look at you and Lance.”

“That was luck,” she said. “Lance wasn't looking for me, I sort of...fell into his lap.”

“I'd make a joke, but that'd be rude since I'm in your house,” he said, the slightest of smiles on his face. “I'm not in the mood anyway.”

She smiled, and reached out to rub his arm.

“You'll find someone great, Chris,” she said. “I promise. It takes time. For all you know, she's right around the corner.”

“Yeah,” he said, then paused to take another swig from his bottle. “You know what I need to do?”

“What's that?”

“Take a page from Lance's book and hire a hot assistant,” he said, and she laughed.

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After a nice talk that lasted a few minutes and finishing his beer, Chris excused himself to go home. She had rested a few more minutes while contemplating Chris's dating troubles, and after she had finished her juice she had gained her energy back and decided to work on a few more boxes.

She finished unpacking a whole box of glass and porcelain in the kitchen and tore down the box, throwing the flat piece on the floor on top of the pile of others in the living room. She decided to move to another room for a change of scenery, and walked into the bedroom where there were still a few things left to unpack.

Even though it was daylight, she turned on the light out of habit. She grabbed the first box she saw and lifted it up to the bed, pulling the tape off it and opening the flaps. It was a box of photo albums and picture frames they had acquired while they were in Los Angeles.

She took a moment to look through each of the albums before she put them aside. She thought it was amazing the amount of pictures they had acquired in only a year. Lance was big on taking photos, whether it was with a camera or his phone – they had even more in each of their phones. She had managed to print most of them and fill up one album to give him last November for their one-year anniversary. Even since then, they had taken enough to start filling up another.

The first picture frame she took out of the box and unwrapped from its bubble packing made her smile. With her divorce and his new job at the radio station, they didn't have a lot of time to get away while they were living in Los Angeles. The one week they had the opportunity to take a break, he had convinced her to run off to Hawaii for a week.

She didn't care if he had forced her to take the photos, or if she had felt uncomfortable in her bikini that she thought showed off way too much, or if he had insisted on taking a hundred goofy photos before he finally took one serious picture; that one picture was her favorite. It always would be.

“Excuse me?”

Adeline was so lost in the happy memories that the photo brought back she hadn't even noticed that someone had walked up to her bedroom doorway. She jumped and the picture frame flew out of her hand and fell to the floor.

“I'm so sorry!” the woman in the doorway said, laughing slightly. “I didn't mean to scare you, I just...well, I'm your neighbor. You know, from across the hall?”

The woman looked at Adeline and paused.

“Well anyway,” she continued, “I walked out of my apartment and saw that your door was open a crack. I didn't know if you were gone or you left it open and you didn't know. I didn't want anybody to come into your house without you knowing. But then I guess that's exactly what I did, so...yeah.”

“Oh,” Adeline said, catching her breath as her heart started beating again. “Lance probably didn't close the door hard enough and it came unlatched again.”

She walked past the strange woman into their living room and back to the entryway. She wasn't shocked to find that the woman was right; the door was open a crack, as if the mechanism didn't catch when it was closed.

She shut the door and made sure it was latched as the woman came around the corner holding the picture frame she had dropped.

“Is this him?” she asked as she looked at the picture. “Is this Lance?”

“Yeah, that's him,” Adeline answered. “The man who knows the door doesn't latch well anymore and yet, he still can't seem to remember to close it hard enough.”

She chuckled. “Your husband?”

“My fiance,” Adeline answered.

“Eh, close enough,” the woman answered, handing her the picture frame. Then she held her hand out to Adeline. “I'm Melissa.”

“Adeline.” She shook Melissa's hand. “You can call me Addy.”

“It's nice to meet you,” Melissa said with a smile. “Did you guys just move in? I saw you come in a week or two ago, moving in boxes. It was strange, I had a lot more boxes when I moved in. If this all came in with you when you moved, you're damn good at packing.”

“Not even close,” Adeline said with a chuckle. “We've lived here for a while.”

“Really? I moved in a couple months ago but I haven't seen you around.”

“Oh, we've lived here a while but we've been living in Los Angeles for a year. On...business.”

She smiled at her barely-known guest and walked over to the bookshelf, placing the frame upright next to all the books she had unpacked, displaying it proudly.

“What work does Lance do?”

Adeline was surprised. It wasn't everyday that she came across someone who didn't know who Lance was. She wondered if her neighbor was simply pretending to be polite, because that wasn't unusual.

“He's an entertainer,” Adeline responded. “Actually, we both work in the entertainment industry. I'm his fiance and his assistant. Both are equally difficult jobs.”

Melissa laughed. “Men, am I right?”

“Would you like to sit down for some coffee, Melissa?”

“Oh, I don't want to disturb you in the middle of your unpacking,” she responded.

“Please,” Adeline said. “I beg of you to disturb me. I could use another break.”

“Well, in that case, call me Mel – and I'd love to,” Melissa said with a smile.

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“I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner,” Melissa said, looking through the photo albums Adeline had unpacked. “Honestly, Addy – you must think I'm so dense.”

“Actually,” Adeline said, “it's kind of refreshing to find someone who doesn't recognize us right off the bat. I feel so exposed because of the divorce. I'm a behind-the-scenes person so I'm not used to it.”

“I don't have the time to pay attention to that kind of stuff,” Melissa said. Then she smiled. “Okay, that's a complete lie. I'm a TMZ junkie. I knew you right away. I didn't want to be uncouth.”

Adeline laughed. “I had a feeling.”

“I'm a dork. I know it and I own it – most of the time anyway.”

They had been talking for over an hour on the living room couch, and they had already gone through a full pot of coffee and many topics of conversation. She normally didn't welcome strangers into their house, but she had loved the opportunity to get to know Melissa.

She was a thirty year old transplant to New York from Arkansas. She had moved a few months ago, looking for a change after an unhappy relationship. She had been an accountant in her previous life, but now that she was starting a new life, she was going back to culinary school for a career change.

“He's cute,” Melissa said, looking at a picture of Lance.

“Should I worry?” Adeline said.

“Not my type, sweetheart. I'm into darker, scruffier and more meat on the bones,” Melissa said. “Does he have any friends that fit that description?”

“Actually, he sort of does,” Adeline said, thinking of Chris immediately. “But...I don't know if you could handle him.”

“Should I worry now?”

“Probably,” Adeline said with a chuckle.

Melissa turned the page in the album and fixated on another picture of Adeline and Lance, a different picture from their trip to Hawaii.

“Was he the reason you decided to divorce your husband?”

Adeline was a bit shocked at the question.

“He wasn't the only reason,” she responded.

Melissa smiled, but didn't look up at Adeline. “But from the looks of it, he was great motivation. He looks like a sweet guy.”

Addy was about to respond, but she heard the door open.

“Oh Addy,” he yelled, announcing his arrival. “Daddy's home...”

“Looks can be deceiving,” Addy said, looking at Mel.

Both women heard him throw his bag on the floor and step through the living room, yelling the entire time, assuming she was home alone.

“Time to get n--”

As he stepped into the kitchen, they both turned to look at him, grinning.

“Uh – hi?” he said as he looked at Melissa.

“Lance, meet our new neighbor – Melissa,” Addy said, smiling. “Melissa, meet my fiance, Lance – first impressions aren't his strong suit, trust me.”

“Addy, what'd I tell you about bringing in strays?” he said, walking toward the women.

“Oh, so he's a smartass,” Melissa said, looking at Adeline.

“Lance!” Adeline scolded. “I'm sorry, Mel. He doesn't mean that. He likes being a jackass.”

Both women looked up at Lance, who only smiled.

“She tells me I have no manners whatsoever.”

“You need to be leashed,” Adeline said to him.

“Sounds good to me,” he said.

He reached down and grabbed Adeline's hand, pulling her up to him. Melissa watched him embrace her, and both of them smile when he kissed her. The first impression she gave him might not have been so great, but Mel could see that despite the ribbing they gave each other, they cared for each other. He held her to his body with one hand when he turned back to Melissa.

“I apologize Melissa,” he said finally, and held out his hand. “It's nice to meet you.”

“It's nice to meet you too, Lance,” she said back, shaking his hand. “I'm sorry I took you by surprise.”

“It's all good,” he said. “I see you and Addy have become friends.”

“I invited her to the engagement party next month,” Addy said with a smile. “Oh, and...”

Her voice lingered, and she smiled slyly as she turned to Lance and brought her lips up to his ear and covered her mouth with her hand, whispering something in his ear. He only raised an eyebrow and when she was done, he turned to look at her.

“Addy, no.”

“Are you going to try and stop me?” she said with a mischievous smile.

He sighed and released her from his arm. “Marriage is going to be fun, I have to keep telling myself that,” he said as he walked toward the fridge to grab a beer.

“I have a feeling I'm missing something,” Melissa said, looking at Addy, who was still smiling. “But I'd better get going, I had to make a run to the store over an hour ago.”

“You'll stop by again for coffee or something, right?” Addy asked, following Melissa into the living room.

Lance leaned against the counter quietly while the two women flitted into the living room, chatting about what he didn't know, while he slowly took drinks out of his bottle and shook his head. After a few minutes he heard the door close and Addy came flowing back in only seconds later, looking excited.

“They're perfect for each other!” she exclaimed immediately.

“Oh Addy,” he said, shaking his head again. “Taking notes from Stephanie, are we?”

“This is different,” Adeline said, grabbing the two coffee mugs from the table to put them in the sink. “I was married and you were...well, you. Chris and Melissa are both single and nice people.”

“I'll ignore the fact that you basically called me an asshole...again,” he said. “Did you ever think that maybe Chris doesn't want to be set up with some girl he doesn't know?”

“You didn't have the conversation with Chris that I did this afternoon. He's lonely, Lance. I think we should do a double date.”

He immediately groaned.

“We're due for a date anyway. Call him,” she insisted.

“I don't want to double date with Chris,” he said with a whine, setting his bottle on the counter next to him. “He eats all the appetizers, he talks during movies...and he kind of smells.”

She shook her head; even when they weren't in the same room together, they still ribbed each other.

“We're going. I don't see why you're being stubborn about this. Chris might have a good time. I'm not making him go, but I want you to ask him, as his friend.” She knew what would make Lance cave, and she used it to her full advantage. She stuck out her bottom lip and batted her eyes at him once she'd sauntered over to him, using her toe to rub up his ankle. “Please ask.”

“God,” he said, rolling his eyes when he saw her giving him that look. “You could cause World War 3 with that damn look if you wanted to. Fine...” He sighed, trying to pretend to be annoyed. “I'll ask, but I'm not promising a miracle. This is Chris Kirkpatrick we're talking about.”

“Yes, the same guy who stuck food in your ears and nose when you slept on the tour bus, and still collects Dr. Seuss memorabilia.” She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. “I think they'll be cute together.”

“There you go again,” Lance said as she tried to look innocent. “Let things happen like they will, Addy.”

“Sometimes you have to give fate a little push,” she pointed out to him, reaching up to straighten his tie and give him a smile.