Sabrina Victor stepped out of her Tribeca apartment and immediately hailed a cab. She was going to be late for Aria’s last dance recital of the school year. She couldn’t help it. She’d been asked to step in to choreograph for a dance workshop on the Upper East Side, which was a good half hour subway ride and when it was pouring down rain in Manhattan, it slowed down everything or so it seemed.
The cab slowed and Sabrina hopped in the back, quickly telling the driver to head to The Dalton School, texted her daughter to tell her she was running fifteen minutes late, and then sat back and took a deep breath. She’d been trying to forget the text she’d received earlier from her ex-husband.
Hey Sabi! Call me later. Big news. Tinsley and I are getting married and want Aria to be in the wedding. Need to give you details.
She had cringed upon reading it. Nobody but JC had ever called her “Sabi” and that was only because it was his nickname for her. It started before they’d even started dating, when she was just the choreographer for this little-known Orlando-based boy band that eventually became *NSYNC.
Tinsley. Sabrina couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She’d thought it was bad enough when JC had married Kelsey, but that was only because he’d cheated on Sabrina with her. It had only been in the last two years that Sabrina could stand being in the same room with her and that was because Aria’s little brother, Beckett-JC’s son with Kelsey-had begged to see his big sister as much as possible.
And now JC was getting married for a third time to Tinsley Shackelford, known only as Kendall Jenner’s best friend and a former member of Taylor Swift’s “squad.” She was 25 and supposedly had met JC during one of his Labor Day weekends in the Hamptons. Sabrina had done research on her and found out her father was a brain surgeon in Atlanta and her mother was a former Miss Georgia and now volunteered at a children’s hospital. Tinsley went to the University of Georgia and majored in Fashion Design. How she got to be Kendall Jenner’s best friend and met Taylor Swift was still a mystery. As far as Sabrina knew, Tinsley was famous for nothing.
Except now she’d be famous for marrying JC Chasez.
Sabrina had to go to the wedding, she knew that. Or at least take Aria down to Savannah where the ceremony was being held. She had to smirk at that because Kelsey’s hometown was Savannah and she knew Beckett was going to be just as much a part of the ceremony as Aria. JC wasn’t faithful at all in his marriages, but he was a good father and loved his kids.
She would call him after the recital. Right now, she was just hoping she’d get there in time to see Aria’s first dance.
The Dalton School was one of the top schools in Manhattan. When Aria had started school in New York, there’d been no question as to where she would get her education. While Sabrina had lobbied for a charter school or a school that didn’t cost half of her salary, JC had assured her he’d take care of it. He wanted their daughter to get a good education and Dalton had plenty of extra-curricular programs for Aria to dabble in.
Dance had just been a fluke. Neither Sabrina or JC had forced her into it, but it hadn’t surprised them that Aria had flourished and become one of the top dancers both at Dalton and her dance school. She got it honestly.
Her phone buzzed and Sabrina saw it was her agent, Deb, so she immediately picked up.
“Hey. You interested in choreographing for Fifth Harmony’s next video?” Deb asked and Sabrina could tell she was eating something as usual because she was smacking right into Sabrina’s ear.
“Sure. What are the details?” Sabrina reached into her bag and pulled out her agenda.
“Next Saturday. It’s a dance studio out in Jersey City. And Sabrina, they asked for you specifically.” Deb was trying to make this sound like a big deal. It wasn’t that Sabrina was arrogant, but she’d done plenty of music videos for bigger pop stars than Fifth Harmony. Just last summer Justin Bieber had asked her to work with him on his tour. But for some reason, Deb always made it sound like she didn’t know how big she really was. Sabrina knew.
She’d been choreographing since she was eighteen and Janet Jackson had been in the audience of the Boston City Ballet and saw her solo piece. After that, she’d been approached right after the show to audition for Janet’s Velvet Ropetour as a backup dancer. A month later she was on a plane headed to the Netherlands.
It was when *NSYNC had joined the tour that they approached her to be their choreographer for their upcoming tour. JC had told her later it was when he’d watched her dancing to “If” on stage that he wanted her for their tour choreographer. Tina Landon, who’d been the head choreographer for Janet’s tour had told Sabrina personally, “Go! They’re gonna be huge in a few months. This is a great gig for you.”
And that’s when she met JC Chasez and everything changed. It started innocently enough – late night talks at the hotel bar where he’d buy her alcohol because she was still nineteen and not old enough to drink. Then a few weeks later she went with him to an after-party and followed him back to his hotel room. They’d only made out for a few minutes before Justin walked in on them and, embarrassed, Sabrina ducked out of the room.
Weeks later, they went on a “date” to a Waffle House in Charlotte after a concert. They stayed up until almost five and nearly missed the bus to the next city. Sabrina had stayed on his bus that day and their first time was an uncomfortable fuck in his bunk bed. From then on, they were never separated for long.
She found out she was pregnant May of 1999. Not wanting to risk anything, she and JC married quickly and quietly at a courthouse outside of Milwaukee. A month later it was announced that they were having a baby and the tabloids and media went crazy. Aria Marie was born on January 5th, 2000.
They lived in a house in Orlando and were insanely happy until the summer of 2001 when JC appeared on an ABC sitcom with a new up and coming actress named Kelsey Morrissey.
Sabrina looked up and saw the cab driver had pulled up to the entrance of The Dalton School. She thanked him, gave him an oversized tip, and stepped out of the cab. She felt doleful inside as she always did when her thoughts took her back to those three years she’d had with JC and Aria. She brushed her feelings aside and plastered a fake smile on her face as she greeted other parents who were also running late for the recital.
