Chapter 5 – Powers of Persuasion

“Miss Addy!”

Addy looked up from the envelopes of bills and junk mail she was sifting through while standing in front of their mailbox to see Carlos, the evening security guard, walking toward her.

“Carlos!” she exclaimed, smiling. “I haven't seen you for a few days. Where have you been?”

“Days off, Miss Addy,” Carlos said with a smile. “Would you know what those are, since you never seem to take one?”

“I guess not,” she said, laughing. “How are you?”

The older gentleman reached out to embrace her in a gentle hug. Carlos had been working security for the complex for about a year and a half. He had been hired shortly after she had moved to New York to work for Lance, and they had quickly become friends of a sort. After Lance's apartment had been broken into previously, he had been extra watchful over her.

She appreciated that he took his job seriously. She felt much safer knowing he knew about the break-in and he cared about her enough to keep his eye out for her – even though Lance joked that he might have a slight crush on her, and she thought he might be right.

“I'm good,” he said, patting her on her upper back a couple of times before releasing her. “How is Mr. Bass?”

“You can call him Lance, Carlos,” she said with a giggle. “He's busy, but he's good.”

“I try to listen to his show on my shift. It seems like he enjoys it.”

“He does,” she said. “He missed music. He's not making it anymore, but he's having fun now that he's doing something related to music.”

“He has a radio voice,” Carlos said with a nod. “Sounds good on him. Sounds like he was born for it.”

“Well, I don't know about the born for it part, but he does have that radio voice.”

He smiled. “Well, I better get back to my shift. I'll be here all night if you need me. Tell Mr. Bass--”

She narrowed her eyes at him briefly.

“--Lance, sorry – that I said hello.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “I'll do that Carlos, thank you.”

She stuffed their mail into her tote bag as Carlos gave her a quick departing nod, and she turned to take the few steps toward the elevator. With her head down, she didn't even notice that she was walking directly into someone else's path, and slammed into someone's arm full of reusable grocery bags.

Both women groaned as they connected and they both watched two bags fall to the ground, spilling out a few of their contents.

“Addy!” Melissa said, looking up and connecting eyes with her.

“I'm so sorry Mel!” Addy said, looking up at her. “I didn't even see you there.”

“It's okay,” Mel said with a laugh, looking at her friend's wide eyes. “I wasn't exactly watching where I was going either.”

They both bent down to pick up the bags, Mel setting her other bags next to her. Addy picked up a fresh loaf of French bread, a block of Parmesan cheese, and a head of lettuce and put them back into the bag closest to her.

“Are you having someone over for dinner tonight?” she asked Mel, watching her pick up a bag of spaghetti noodles and a produce bag of tomatoes.

“Oh this? No,” Mel said. “This is just a few groceries and the ingredients for one of my first assignments for class.”

Addy smiled to herself, thankful that at least Mel didn't have any immediate plans to have any new suitors over for dinner.

“All this food for one person, that's such a shame. You should have a date over.”

Mel guffawed. “No. I'm doing fine on my own right now – I'll be lucky if I don't give myself food poisoning, much less someone else.”

Adeline raised her eyebrows, chuckling.

“Would you like to come up for coffee?” Mel asked. She put the last spilled grocery item back in the bag and blew a stray strand of hair out of her eyes as she looked up. “Surely I can make coffee safely – although, I can't guarantee it.”

“Sure,” Addy said with a laugh. “Let me help you carry these up.”

Twenty minutes later, the two women had reached Mel's apartment and finished putting the groceries away. Addy had sat down on the couch to relax, Mel following shortly after with two mugs in her hands.

“You look tired.”

Addy looked up as she sat a cup of coffee on the table in front of her.

“I can get my own coffee, you know – I'm not completely helpless,” she said as she picked up the cup and took a drink of it. “But thanks, and yes I am.”

Addy leaned back on the couch pillows and gave her friend a small smile.

“I feel like I could sleep for a few days and not care that I'm not doing whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing,” she said. “What have you been up to?”

Melissa hadn't seen Addy in a little over a week, both girls busy coming and going.

“Working,” she said, frowning and sighing. “And school. I signed up for some summer culinary classes. It should be interesting to say the least. I can cook a decent meal, but I'm from the South. We don't have quite the finesse that New York chefs have. We have fried potatoes, cornbread, and beans. That's not exactly Top Chef material.”

Addy chuckled and shifted on the couch, pulling one leg up so she could sit and face the other woman a little better.

“Lance would love that,” she said. “Don't tell him you can cook or he'll want to come over every night for dinner. I can manage so we don't starve, but I'm a little out-of-practice on doing this whole 'housewife' thing.”

“I don't miss that,” Melissa said with a slight smile, running her finger around the rim of her mug.

“It's not that I mind it. Actually, it's not that different from when I was only his assistant.” She paused, and her facial expression changed. “Come to think of it, it's not different at all, except for the fact that I'm sleeping with him now.”

“But weren't you sleeping with him before too?” Melissa asked, chuckling.

“Hey, I waited a month,” Addy said defensively, to which Mel laughed.

“I just don't miss taking care of someone except for myself,” she said. “Especially someone who doesn't always appreciate you for what you do for them.”

“Yeah, that's sort of how my ex-husband was,” Addy said. She pulled a throw pillow out from underneath her and hugged it to her body. “Nobody did anything as perfectly as he did – or so he thought. He was particular about things; but I suppose part of that was influenced by fame and money. When you can afford to buy the best, you can afford to be picky.”

“And you're complaining about that?”

“Money really can't buy happiness,” Adeline said. “I'd have been just as unhappy in a two-bedroom apartment with Marc working at McDonald's. Look at how I live now – in a one-bedroom apartment that I have no idea how I'm going to manage to fit all the crap I brought over from Los Angeles into.”

“Have you managed to get unpacked yet?”

“Close, but not quite,” Addy answered. “The engagement party is in about three weeks, all the guys are coming in for it, there's a lot of Lance's other friends coming – we need that living room totally cleared out and cleaned for it. Unless we move some of the boxes to my old apartment for a while, I have no idea how I'm going to do it as tired as I am. I better get some energy soon.”

“Well, that's why God created the wonderful thing known as the coffee bean,” Mel said with a smile, holding up her mug before taking a sip.

Addy chuckled. “Well then I'll need an IV drip for the next three weeks.”

Mel didn't speak. Addy took a drink of her own coffee and glanced briefly around the living room, this being the first time she had seen her friend's apartment.

“Speaking of cleared out apartments,” she said, taking in the surroundings. The layout was basically the same as Lance's, turned around the opposite way of course. His apartment was furnished by now, part of it by him when he was single and as Addy had come to live with him she had added a few things. He had a full bookshelf, pictures and art on the wall and among other flat surfaces, a full living room set, and decorations like houseplants and knick-knacks filling in other spaces that needed a little something extra.

Mel's apartment, on the other hand, felt a lot more empty – almost like Addy's old apartment when she had first moved in. She had a few furniture items, an old CRT television set, and a single houseplant. No picture frames or art adorned the walls, and there was no sign that Mel had put her personal touch on the room.

“Is this some kind of feng shui or something?” Addy asked, looking around the empty walls.

“I just...don't like a lot of clutter,” Melissa said. She felt her cheeks start to blush with embarrassment. “Which is good, I suppose, since I moved here with so little stuff.”

“It's nice,” Addy said, trying to recover. “No clutter is good, obviously if that's a problem I need to catch it from you. It's a shock though – no pictures, no books, no scrapbooks or photo albums. It's almost like there's no sign of life in here.”

“When you move looking to start a new life, you don't usually bring pictures,” Mel said with a shrug. “When you have a past you'd rather forget, you don't bring along any memories to help you remember.”

Adeline looked away from the walls to stare at her friend. She knew all too well about running from your past. It was exactly what she was doing when she had moved to New York, albeit with more personal belongings. The way she ran from the past was evident though – by the fact that she hated opening certain photo albums, or running across certain memories while unpacking her items, or stayed away from triggering items, such as baby clothes and strollers.

“What are you running from, Mel?” she asked softly.

“I'm not running,” Mel responded matter-of-factly. “I walked away calmly, avoiding bringing most of my stuff in the process. And I don't want to talk about it, if that's okay.”

“Of course,” Addy said sympathetically, silently scolding herself for not minding her own business. “I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have asked.”

“It's okay,” Mel said, her face softening as she chuckled. “I didn't want it to come out sounding mean or anything. I'd just prefer not to talk about it is all.”

The tension in the room had lifted after a couple of minutes which led to them having a long conversation. Before Addy knew it, she had looked at the clock to see that it was almost seven at night and she had a long empty mug of coffee.

“I better go, Lance will be home in a few minutes and I should start dinner, maybe try to do a bit more unpacking,” she said. She lifted herself up off the couch, grabbing her tote bag next to the couch in the process. “Listen, I wanted to ask you...”

Mel lifted her head up attentively as she gathered up both mugs to take them to the kitchen.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you two things,” Addy continued. “First – do you think you would cater the hors d'oeuvres for the engagement party? I know you're just starting out in culinary school but Lance would love a little southern cooking, and we can pay you good money to do it. I'd rather pay a friend than some second-rate pastry chef whose idea of good hors d'oeuvres is pigs in a blanket.”

Mel laughed. “I think I can manage that.”

“We'd really appreciate it. Second--” Addy hesitated, thinking briefly of her friend who had looked so lost not so long ago when talking about her obviously difficult past. “--Lance and I were wondering if you'd be interested in going to dinner with us and a friend of his. Chris, actually. Chris Kirkpatrick.”

Mel's eyes widened and she almost dropped the mugs to the floor.

“Chris Kirkpatrick – you mean the Chris Kirkpatrick, from NSYNC?” she asked.

“That's the one,” Addy said with a giggle. “Unless Lance was in some other 90's boy band that I don't know of. The Chris Kirkpatrick.”

“You mean, like a...a date?” Mel said, stuttering.

“Sort of,” Addy said, unsure of herself. “A double date, anyway. Chris is single and kind of down on the dating scene right now. I think it could do him good to go out with a nice woman like yourself. No pressure – if nothing sparks between you two, maybe it would give both of you a little bit of a confidence boost in the dating department, knowing that there are still decent people out there.”

“I don't know Addy,” Mel said, shrugging uncertainly as she walked the mugs quickly to the kitchen. “I mean, it was enough of a challenge trying to keep my cool when Lance was right in front of me. The only thing that saved me was that I never really found him my 'type'.”

“Chris is an amazing guy. He's funny, and goofy, and sweet; a big teddy bear type with tattoos and a goatee. He's everything that fans saw in him, and he's like Lance – when you really get to know him, he doesn't act like a celebrity at all.”

“But he is a celebrity,” Mel responded. “You're engaged to a celebrity, you hang out with them all the time, you're used to this. I just live across from them and try not to hyperventilate when I see Lance step out into the hallway and embarrass myself asking for an autograph.”

“I'm sure I could use my powers of persuasion to get the boys to sign a picture for you, if you went out on the date,” Addy said, smiling. “If those don't work, I'll use my powers of force, threat, and manipulation.”

“Why in the world would a celebrity like Chris want to date me?” Mel asked. “Plain Jane, blue collar, culinary failure me?”

“Because you're normal. They want that; they need that. They don't want to date anybody in the business because that makes things too complicated. Egos get in the way, media makes things difficult, and on top of all that, they never get to see each other because they're always so busy. I'm a classic example – look at how the media played a role in my divorce. And I'm in the business but since I work for Lance, he gets to see me a lot.”

“I just don't have a good feeling about it,” Mel said, scrunching her face up in uncertainty.

“You're a little nervous, that's all,” Addy said. “Just give it a chance. I'm sure you won't regret it. Besides, if it doesn't work out, you'll be able to tell all your friends that you went out on a date with two members of NSYNC, and it will be the truth. Who else gets to tell that story?”

“You're the entirety of my friends really, so that's not a selling point,” Melissa said with a laugh, then she sighed. “But fine, I'll go. I'll give it a chance.”

Addy squealed lightly in delight and jumped up to grab Mel in a hug, who only smiled.

“I'll need a Xanax and a heart rate monitor to get through it without a heart attack though.”

“Hey, I have one of those bases covered,” Addy said, giggling. “I've got the Xanax. I'm so glad you agreed to go.”

“If this is a disaster, I'm holding you personally responsible,” Mel said, giving her friend a light squeeze.

“Just remember, I'm a personal assistant, not a professional matchmaker. And I don't even play one on TV.”

Both women shared a laugh between them before Addy said her final goodbyes and left Mel in the apartment alone. She walked the quick few steps across the hall and pulled out her keys, only to find after giving the knob a slight twist that the door was already unlocked.

She walked in immediately, setting her bag down by the door with a confused look on her face. With a few more steps into the apartment, she was relieved and at the same time worried to see Lance laying on the couch with his eyes closed, a bag of frozen vegetables held to his forehead.

“What's wrong?” she asked, resisting the urge to chuckle at the sight of him with the mixed vegetables against his face.

“I came home sick,” he managed. “I can't keep anything down and I have a fever. I think I have the flu. I came home to die, Addy.”

She smiled.

“I doubt that,” she said, walking to him. She moved the half-thawed bag from his head and placed her hand on his forehead. It was cold from the bag, but past that she could feel the heat on his skin.

“You're burning up,” she said, wiping the smile from her face. “Have you taken anything?”

“No, I made it this far. I thought it would be more comfortable to die on the couch.”

She rolled her eyes. “Men and colds – you guys sneeze and you think you should start planning a funeral.” She grabbed his arm gently and started lifting him. “Come on. If you really are going to die, I'd rather not have a body on my couch when I bring my new boyfriend over.”

“Give the man who replaces me my best wishes,” he muttered before standing and wrapping his arm around her waist as she rolled her eyes.