~12~

Annaleigh barely had any time to get her wits together when they tensed at the sound of footsteps behind her.

“So…you’re a pageant girl,” Wade commented, his lips twitching just slightly as Annaleigh whirled round to look up at him. He arched an eyebrow just slightly, an amused look on his face. “That explains a lot.”

“Are you stalking me or something?” Annaleigh asked with a frown. Wade rolled his eyes before crossing his arms over his chest.

“More like coming back from the bathroom,” he said with a snort. He dropped his arms back down to his sides. “But, you haven’t answered my question.”

It was more of a statement than a question, but she wasn’t going to correct him on it. Not on that subject anyway. She wasn’t in the mood for talking, that’s all she had done since she got up that morning. “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 and rolled his head on his neck 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. I wasn’t eavesdropping by the way. Or rather, I wasn’t trying to.”

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. 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 a while, might as well let him know a little bit about her.

“Pageants were somethin’ my mom and I did together,” she replied after a moment of silence. Wade slowly nodded his head. “After she left, I didn’t do another one, although Lance’s mom offered to do ‘em with me. Just wouldn’t be the same.”

“Sorry about your mom,” Wade replied, lowering himself to sit down on the step behind her. “That sucks.”

“Yeah.” Annaleigh stretched her legs out across the step, pulling down the hem of her skirt as she did so. “I mean they’re not really broken up--she jus kinda left--but she doesn’t seem to want to be in the same room with him and he kind of doesn’t either, but he still calls her and tries to talk to her—I don’t know. They haven’ been in the same room together for forever—barely even talk on the phone—it’s weird.”

Wade stared at her for a moment before running a hand over his face, cupping his chin with his hand. She gave an apologetic look at the waterfall of words that came out of her mouth. She had gotten better at staying on one topic in conversations but at times she could jump from topic to topic and add in little anecdotes in one breath. Especially when she was stressed out.

“If it helps, my parents aren’t together, either,” Wade commented and she blinked in surprise. “I haven’t seen him in years; it’s just my mom, my 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. Even more with JC, Justin, Chris, and Joey.” Annaleigh’s lips twitched slightly. “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 just been me, my mom, and my dad. Now it’s jus’ my dad and me and I don’t even know where she is. It’s like she doesn’ want me to know where she is, or she doesn’t care…or she doesn’t 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 just sayin’ that to 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’t 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 said with a roll of her eyes. “I can hold my own with boys; you haven’t seen me four-wheeling.” 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 having 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 as she reached out her hand to tug at a lock of his two-toned hair. She then pulled open the stairwell door, rejoining the party.

..

.

Up. Down. Up. Down.

Her eyes parted slightly before she opened them fully, instantly regretting it as a sharp pain seared her eyes, shooting into her temples, causing them to pound and throb in time with her heart beat. The curtains that faced her slowly lifted and fell along with the moving pillow. She let out a sigh, closing her eyes, willing herself to fall back asleep, the throbbing pain slowly ebbing away. Then it hit her:

Pillows. Don’t. Move.

Blinking in confusion against the harsh light she slowly became aware of her body. She was warm, she felt blankets around her. One hand pressed into the mattress under her stomach, the other on something hard, yet soft. One foot slowly dragged back and forth across the mattress, the other tucked underneath her, her knee pressing into a bundle of cloth. She dragged her palm down across her “pillow”, trying to figure out what it was that she was lying on. The pads of her fingers grazed over ridges and bumps until they stopped at…something elastic?

Annaleigh suddenly jumped, eyes widening, a groan escaping her mouth as the bright light practically seared her corneas, as a hand tightly clamped around her wrist. She felt a thumb slowly slide back and forth from the palm of her hand to her wrist. A sigh reached her ears and she felt her pillow move.

“You don’t want to do that.” Wade’s sleepy, gravelly voice reached her ears.

Annaleigh shot her head up, nearly colliding with Wade’s chin as he peered down at her with dark eyes, before proceeding to wipe the sleep from his eyes. She scrambled away from him, trying to put space between herself and the…half naked guy in her…not bed. She slipped over the side of the bed and hit the ground in a heap, pulling the blankets with her.

“Owww.” Pressure seemed to squeeze in around her brain. Annaleigh curled her body, putting her head between her knees, squeezing them together to relieve some of the pressure. “Aspirin.” She squeezed her eyes shut as her world seemed to tilt. She thought she’d fall to the floor, and keep falling just by the movement of lifting her hand to her head.

“That hangover would be worse if you didn’t drink all my water like it was going out of style,” Wade commented with a chuckle. Annaleigh could feel his hand on the blankets, before it slid off her head, dropping onto her shoulders. She shifted under the weight of the blankets and smacked her lips together, realizing that her mouth was dry. “I guess you need some more.”

Annaleigh looked up, peering over at Wade through squinted eyes as he rolled onto his side, reaching towards the night stand for a half empty bottle of water. Her lips twitched as she watched the ripple of his abdominal muscles as they moved underneath the bare skin of his stomach. “Here.” He rolled fully onto his stomach, pressing his mouth into the crook of his arm, handing her the bottle of water.

“Thanks.” Annaleigh took it and unscrewed the top before tilting her head back, gulping down the room temperature liquid. Water spilled down the side of her mouth as she greedily gulped each mouthful. She was stalling. How to even ask? Never in her life did she think she would get herself in situations she only saw in movies and on TV. Her stomach churned and tightened with that worry.

Wade blinked, peering over at her before setting his chin on top of his arm. “Nothing happened,” Wade said as if reading her mind, keeping his dark eyes trained on her. “You know, apart from you trying to grab my junk.”

Annaleigh spat out some water as she started to cough. “I…beg….your pardon,” she said in between hacking coughs into her fist. She put a hand over her chest. “I was not tryin’ to—“ She used air quotes with one hand, “ ‘grab your junk’ .”

“Whatever you say,” Wade replied with a hike of his eyebrow, his lips curling upwards into a boyish smile. He let out a sigh through his nose as he moved into a seated position. “Do you even remember what happened last night?”

“Uuhhhhhohmystars,” Annaleigh groaned, running a hand over her face as she thought. “The AMAs after party, lots of dancin’, and…a drink or two.” She remembered going to the bar a couple of times to calm down some of her nerves.

In Hollywood, if you were associated with a big name, or were a “plus one” to a big name, no one ever checked your ID. Who’d want to be the one to ruin a celebrity’s party? Besides, she knew how to hold her beer. Or beers as the case may be. Kind of. After plenty of trial and error.

But cocktails were a different story.

“If you call five Dirty Southern Belles—which are really alcoholic by the way—a drink or two,” Wade replied with a loud snort.  He swung his legs over the side of the bed and faced her. “You kept saying that you didn’t want Lance to see you drunk so your friend Jasmine and I got you into a cab to take you back to the hotel. You insisted that she stay because you didn’t want to ruin her fun. I sure as hell was not leaving you buy yourself and I didn’t think you’d make it to your room so I brought you here. I gave you a change of clothes, you changed yourself—“

Annaleigh looked down and realized that she was wearing an over sized grey Nike t-shirt with a dark blue swoosh, and running shorts. She adjusted the collar, frowning.

“—you threw up a couple of times and when I went to go sleep in the bathtub, you insisted on me staying with you,” Wade explained before putting his hands up defensively. “After a while you fell asleep and here we are. We just slept. I promise.” He lifted his index and middle finger in the air. “Scout’s honor.”

Annaleigh hiked an eyebrow, letting out a higher pitched, single laugh. “I doubt you were a boy scout, Blondie,” she commented.

“You’re right, Boots, I wasn’t,” Wade replied, deadpan. “I was spending too much of my time traveling and dancing.” He then got to his feet and, after adjusting the waistband to his jeans, pulling them up over his boxers, he made his way towards the bathroom. “I have some Advil for your headache. If you didn’t drink so much water, your hangover would be worse, trust me.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” she commented, but she already knew that nothing would be worse than her very first hangover. Not only did she feel like she was dying, but lying on a creek bed with the smells of the water and rotting vegetation didn’t help much either. In this moment, she’d prefer to be back in that spot than in a hotel room with Wade Robson. “I’ve gotta get back to my room. Where are my clothes?”

“In here.”

Annaleigh got to her feet, repeatedly adjusting the too many sizes too big clothes as she made her way to the bathroom. As she stepped onto the cool tile, a bottle of Advil was flying towards her head. She caught it in her hands, shooting Wade an annoyed look before curling her fingers around it before quickly realizing that the shower water was running, enveloping the room in a warm mist and causing a tidal wave of heat to rush up into her cheeks.

Annaleigh’s eyes slammed shut and she let out a loud gasp, turning away from the shower. “Oh my stars, I am so sorry,” she cried, her voice echoing around the tiles. The pills in the Advil bottle shook against the plastic container as her hands flew up to cover her face. She groaned when the bottle slammed into her cheek bone.

“I’m behind a shower curtain, Boots, it’s fine,” Wade called back with a chuckle followed by a loud splash of water. “Besides, I’m sure it’s not something you haven’t seen before.”

“I beg your pardon!” Annaleigh snapped. She grit her teeth as another flash of heat shot up her body. He wasn’t exactly wrong, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Your clothes are on the toilet.”

Annaleigh let out a huff of air, her shoulders slumping before stomping over to the toilet, grabbing her clothes off of the closed lid. She pulled the bathroom door shut behind her and unlocked the front door, slipping out into the hall. Brushing her hair out of her face, she barely took a step when she saw a familiar figure round the corner and she quickly darted back into Wade’s hotel room, practically slamming the door behind her.

“Wade.” She quickly slipped back into the bathroom and Wade poked his head around the shower curtain. “We have a problem.”

“Yeah, you’re letting the cold air in,” Wade replied, lifting his eyebrows.

Annaleigh lowered her eyelids into an annoyed look. “Johnny’s coming.”

Wade pressed his lips together for a moment before parting them, a popping sound hitting the air. “Hand me that towel.” Annaleigh bundled her clothes up under her arm before reaching for the fluffy white towel on the towel rack on the wall. She quickly removed it and threw it towards his outstretched hand.

Wade disappeared back behind the shower curtain and a moment later the water turned off and he pushed back the shower curtain, stepping over the side of the tub with water droplets sliding down his torso as a knocking sound was heard on the door.

“This shouldn’t take long to deal with,” he muttered as he neared the door, making sure the towel was secure.

“Bless your heart” Annaleigh made a clicking sound with her tongue before shaking her head back and forth. “I doubt you can use your looks and charm to talk your way out of somethin’ like this.”

“You got any better ideas?” Wade asked, his eyebrows hiking before he lifted his hand to run his fingers through his wet hair. Annaleigh didn’t answer. He took a couple steps towards the door before he stopped and turned back to face her, an amused look on his face. “So you have been checking me out.”

“Oh my stars,” Annaleigh muttered, throwing her hand into the air.

Wade chuckled, his bare feet slapped against the bathroom tiles before he reached the door, pumping the handle, pulling it open. “Hey, Johnny. S’up?”

Annaleigh stepped up behind the bathroom door, pressing her ear to the crack to listen in. “Just coming to remind you we have to be checked out by noon.” Johnny’s deep timbre reached Annaleigh’s ear. She turned her head to peer through the crack between the hinges and saw the African American man let out a sigh through his nose, cross his arms over his chest before glancing down at the carpeted floor. He cleared his throat before looking up at the choreographer. “We had a great performance last night, but now we have the tour to look forward to. We’ll be down in Florida before you know it.”

“I’ve already got ideas brewing,” Wade replied, a confident air suddenly surrounding him. “I’m just going to take a quick shower and then I’ll be packed and checking out.” Johnny gave a slight nod of his head before his eyes shifted in Annaleigh’s direction. Her eyes widened and she quickly flattened herself against the wall.

Oh my stars, did he see me? Did I hit the wall too hard? I didn’ gasp too loud or anythin’ did I? Annaleigh’s heart pounded in her chest. She clasped her hands over her heart hoping that it’d muffle the sound of it beating way too hard and way too loud.

“Ok, well, I’m going to make sure everybody else gets checked out on time,” Johnny said with a sigh through his nose. “And get my wallet ready for any damages.”

Wade let out a laugh. “Yeah, not a bad idea,” he agreed. The door closed with a click before a soft thud sounded and Annaleigh poked her head out around the door to see the choreographer with his forehead against the door. “That was close.”

“No kiddin’,” Annaleigh replied, deadpan. She clutched her clothes and shoes to her chest and brushed past him. “I have to get up to my room before Johnny gets there or else I’m in some real trouble. He’s going to give down the country if he actually saw me.” She reached behind her for the door handle and opened it, checking to see that the coast was clear before stepping out into the hall.

“So, this was fun,” Wade commented, leaning in the door way.

“Aww, hush.” Annaleigh stuck her nose in the air, heading towards the elevators. She made it a few steps before stopping when she heard a high pitched whistle behind her. Annaleigh pressed her lips together before turning around to march back to Wade’s door grabbing her bra as he swung it back and forth from his index finger. Face burning, she muttered a “thanks” and a “shut up” at his chuckle.

January  27th, 2000
NSYNC House

As soon as Bye, Bye, Bye was released, a new surge of fame hit *NSYNC harder than any wave that crashed over them before. They had truly made it in America. People knew who they were; knew their names, and knew that they were the real deal. Their video debuted number one on TRL for god’s sake! It was still so surreal for Lance to hear their new single being requested so often on the radio, and each time he heard the familiar chords start, his heart started beating in his chest.

After months, it was like everybody was finally getting the chance to see the real NSYNC.

Lance was surprised that anybody in the house managed to get a good night’s sleep from all of the excitement the night before. 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 days. As they worked and rehearsed and sat through meeting after meeting it was nice to have a couple days to rest, and relax. It was the best time to mentally prepare not only himself but Annaleigh on 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 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, and he loved being with his brothers day in and day out. He loved all of 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. However, as some people say, “It comes with the territory.”

“Man, I’m freaking out, dude,” Justin said as he twisted the chair he was lounging in back and forth with the foot that was planted on the plush carpet. They were all sitting in the living room of the NSYNC house waiting for Johnny and Wade to arrive for another one of their meetings. Johnny had pretty much made it a point that no one could see the reviews and the general consensus of their new song being released. It was one of the many things being discussed at the meeting.

Johnny never called a meeting just to chit chat. When he wanted to talk, he wanted to talk. At times it was almost like being reprimanded by a parent; you wondered when it would ever end. He was the type of person that you’d call up to talk about the weather and he’d still be talking about it fifteen minutes later. That’s not to say when it came to anything important the boys never sat and listened through the whole conversation. When Johnny knew what he was talking about, he knew what he was talking about and they had no reason to doubt him.

“I have to know what people think.” Justin 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 across from Lance, eyes closed. Whether or not he was trying to sleep, Lance knew that JC would never fully be able to manage that.

“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 the older boys 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’all knock it off?” Annaleigh asked, barely looking up from the notebook she had in her lap. Her hand went shooting back and forth across the paper as she quickly wrote. 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 days, apart from rehearsal and singing lessons with JC, 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…change.

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—when she wasn’t second guessing herself about how what she was wearing looked on her, but she was getting better at it, especially with all of Jasmine’s compliments.

 It was great to have two of his best friends from home with him, especially when they fit in so well with Justin, JC, Chris, and Joey. It felt like having home and work meshing so well with him at one time. It helped him feel calm despite knowing all the stress related events that were going to be shooting at them rapid fire. It was still a bit strange, nevertheless, to have Annaleigh around with him and to be in the position where he has to teach the ins and outs of the business to her. But, who better than a member of one of the hottest music acts in America?

Despite everything Annaleigh’s had shoved into her schedule, 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. She also didn’t hesitate to tell them when they were being stupid.

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. He didn’t think that notion would ever leave her. It was a part of who she was.

“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 pinch the pointed end of her cowboy boots. A sigh slipped past her lips as she adjusted her foot position inside them.

“Hear, hear,” Jasmine said as she flipped the page of the magazine in her lap, using her free hand to twist the end of her hair poking out from her ponytail. She was seated on the floor at the table in the center of the room

“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.

“And Annaleigh gets to share the experience with us,” Justin said, giving her an over the top smile, which she conveniently missed as she slumped lower against the couch, hiding her face behind her notebook.

“What fun,” she said, deadpan. She then looked over at Jasmine. “You find anything yet?”

“We’re not supposed to be looking for reviews,” JC mumbled. “Johnny said.”

“You may not be allowed to, hon, but no one said I’m not allowed,” Jasmine replied, flipping another page. She then gasped loudly, slapping the spine of the magazine down on to the table with a loud thwack. “Here we go!”

She cleared her throat before she started to read. “The wait for *NSYNC’s new album is just about impossible to sit through now more than ever. At the AMAs the hot boy band released their newest song, Bye Bye Bye—not only a love song but a tongue in cheek jab at their former manager. 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, Jazz.”

“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 group 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. From what—admittedly little—details the boys have given; they described this album to be their own take on mainstream music with their own dance, club, and R&B mix to it. And that was evident in this new song.”

“You’ll be listening to this song over and over again, blasting it as loud as your car speakers will allow. With their marionette-like dance steps and catchy bumps in their music, mirrored with the song’s fist pumps, their shows will be one you’ll want to see when they inevitably go on tour. Might as well go stand in line to pick up your tickets. What’s more they’ve added two new members to their live band: Gabriel Henderson and Lance’s childhood friend, Annaleigh Carr. They’ve seemed to fit in well and we can’t wait to see this new journey they all take—showing off their growing musical chops. Good luck, boys.”

“That’s not bad,” Lance mused, rubbing his chin, slowly nodding his head as he let the words sink in.

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 and he pushed himself up into a seated position. Eyes narrowed, eyebrows waggled, fingers twitched before the five boys swung their hands upwards, reaching their index fingers towards their nose as a shout of, “Nose goes” hit the air.

“What just happened?” Jasmine asked, eyes wide in shock, hands in the air as if she were expecting to separate two fighting boys.

“You’ll get used to it pretty quickly,” Annaleigh said with a roll of her eyes. “And the arguments that come from it.” She set her pen in her notebook and closed it, setting it aside before getting to her feet. “Trust me, it’s just easier to go an’ get the door yourself.”

“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, coughed, and wheezed as he did so.

“Hurry it up, Gramps,” Lance shouted, reaching for one of the couch pillows, throwing it at Chris’s back. Chris 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’m comin’, I’m comin’,” Annaleigh called as she made her way towards the door.

Lance looked up in time to see the front door open and Johnny and Wade stepped inside. “Morning.” Johnny gave them a weird look before he shook his head, chuckling.

“Do I even want to know?” he asked. He didn’t give anyone the chance to answer before he clapped his hands together, the loud popping sound startling everybody. “We’ve got a lot to cover today. 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 answered Johnny’s question, as the manager and choreographer made their way into the living room, dropping onto the open spaces available for them to sit at

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

“Easy for you to say, you jus’ teach them the dance moves and hope and pray that things go well while on stage,” Annaleigh said, swinging her hand back to hit his knee with the back of her hand. Wade merely shrugged, giving her a smile as he nudged her shoulder with the side of his leg..

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” 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.

Especially when he was asked by her dad to do so. Nevertheless, Lance made a mental note to keep an eye on things.

“Congratulations on the Bye Bye Bye video being number 1 on TRL,” Johnny said as he clapped his hands together, leading the group into applause. He then shifted his gaze over towards Annaleigh. “And congrats to you and Gabe on your first performance with the band. You both did a great job.”

“I thank ya kindly,” Annaleigh said with a warm smile.

“I asked for Gabe to join us this morning, so he’d get a sense of how these meetings discussing the tour and things looking forward turn out, but he had a previous engagement today,” Johnny explained as he set the bag that Lance had just noticed he was carrying, on to the floor.

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. Chris put his hands up defensively, grinning from ear to ear. 

“Well, we should start going over the song list for the tour,” Johnny spoke up, loudly clearing his throat. He reached into his bag and removed the pen and notepad. He ripped off the top sheet of paper, resting it on his leg before clicking the top of the pen. “Finished songs from your new album; 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 her chipping fingernail polish.

“I really hope y’all are talkin’ about 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 instantly replied, chewing on his thumbnail, “whenever we have time. 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?” Jasmine asked, speaking up,  giving her friend a confused look. Annaleigh widened her eyes in Jasmines direction. “What?!”

“Oh, about twenty thousand people,” Annaleigh replied. “Singin’ in front a people I know isn’t 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 as an excited jolt shot through his body. The next day they were going into the studio with TLC’s own Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez for her to add some of her rapping skills to their song.  “It’s not completed yet, but still.” He snapped his fingers. “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.” He rubbed his hands together, an evil smile coming to his face. “Just wait until I show you what else I have in mind.”

“What about ballads?” Justin asked.

“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 finished his sentence, 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, as you’re spending the next two months promoting Bye, Bye, Bye and your album, and we need to get a head start on the stage design 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 Missy.”

Joey twisted 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,” he whined before folding his hands on his stomach.

“We’re already scheduling trips to Canada, the UK, and seeing when we can get visits on Rosie O’Donnell, The View, Good Morning America and other shows like that,” Johnny said as he tapped his pen against the side of his head. A collective groan went around the group.

Lance stretched his arms over his head, suddenly feeling very tired. 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 in itself.

“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 practically sung the words, “I’m going ho-o-me” as Jasmine clapped her hands in excitement. 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.

“On another note, and this is not how I wanted to bring this up,” Johnny said as a serious look crossed his face. He shifted his gaze over to Annaleigh and he pressed his lips together. “It seems that many have gotten the impression that you’re in the band either because of your dad or because of your past with Lance.”

Lance could feel himself deflate just as much as he could see Annaleigh physically do the same. It was what he was worried about the most. It was something they had all discussed when her name had come up for suggestions on who they’d audition for the band. The music business was a fickle bunch and the fans could easily jump on any girl that they could be seen with. On the one hand, he wasn’t too surprised her foray into the band was being questioned but on the other, it sucked that it had to happen to her.

“It’s why I didn’t want any of you to look at anything in the press,” Johnny explained as he reached into his bag to retrieve a stack of printed out and copied articles. “I didn’t want you to see anything before we could come up with a response.”

“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 as he leaned forward to start flipping through the papers. He stopped and looked up, widening his eyes when he noticed everybody was staring at him. He seemed to curl up in on himself as he stuck out his bottom lip, sitting back in his seat. “It was just a joke.” He talked quietly as if he was being reprimanded for trying to eat a cookie before dinner.

He then lifted his hand and adjusted the hat on his head before he started sifting through the pages. “Seriously though, Annaleigh, don’t pay any attention to it,” he said, a serious look coming to his face. “People will write what they want to write just to get some extra money. They talked for a while about JC and I saying that one of us got in just because we knew the other.”

“Which is true,” JC said, putting a hand in the air and Justin gave a nod. “Don’t get us wrong. I mean, with the five of us, we all knew each other in a way, except for Lance. I called my vocal coach to ask him if he knew any bass players.”

“And Lance was called by Bob Westbrook, yeah,” Annaleigh said with a nod of her head. “I remember when Lance got that call.” Her eyebrows lifted. “Miss Diane was crazy for saying ‘no’ at first.”

“So, in a way, it’s true, you can get ahead by people you know,” JC continued. His eyes were squinted, and he slowly rubbed his hands together. “It happens in all walks of life, but it’s criticized more in this business because it’s…in a way, a quick jump forward.”

“People don’t think you’ve put in the hard work to be where you are,” Johnny added and JC snapped his fingers, pointing in his manager’s direction. “Especially with this band.”

“Think of it this way, at least it’s one of the nicer things anyone could say,” Chris added, a hopeful lift to his tone. He lifted his shoulders to his ears in a shrug.

“It stems from jealousy,” Joey added. “They’re jealous that you’re in this position and they’re not. But what’s important is that your talent and your passion to learn is what made us all decide to hire you.” Her gave her a charming smile. “It’s just a bonus you’re a good cook.” A small ripple of laughter went around the room. Annaleigh’s lips pulled back in the corner in a half smile.

“Don’t worry about it, Ace, really,” Lance said, running a hand over face. “You know you deserve to be here and we know you deserve to be here.” He slid off the couch and sat down next to his friend, looping his arm around Annaleigh, pulling her to his chest in a hug. “What’s more, we want you here.”

“Thanks, Poofu,” Annaleigh said, squeezing him back around the stomach.

 “Alright, well you all have rehearsals to get to,” Johnny said with a sigh, clapping his hands together before pointing both of his index fingers at Annaleigh, “and I’d like to discuss with you how we’re going to respond to this.”

“Do I have to?” Annaleigh asked and Lance felt her squeeze him tighter.

“I’m not going to lie,” Johnny said, twisting his mouth to the side, “this may be the first of…however many public statements you might have to make while you’re part of the band.” He lifted a hand and scratched at the side of his jaw. “Honestly, it’s better that it’s under these circumstances than something else. Something worse.”

Lance swallowed thickly, running his fingers through his hair.