One weekend at the start of spring, Allyson and JC began going to one of the local farmer’s markets. JC never went out of his way to disguise himself, but he always made sure to have a hat on so as to not draw attention to himself or Allyson.

They were collecting their basket of new potatoes, grapefruit, kiwis and lemons when they saw a flash off to the side. JC looked up from under his hat to see a lone paparazzo looking at the screen and moving the camera back up to his eye.

“Come on,” JC said quickly as Allyson was looking at a batch of avocados. “Pick the one you like best, and let’s get these and head out.”

“What’s the matter?” Allyson asked, hearing the frustration, annoyance and seriousness of his tone. She had noticed the flash, but not the implications of it.

“You’re about to be in Us Weekly,” he said looking at her with a clenched jaw.

“Oh,” she said as it sank in. “I like these.”

“Good, let’s check out and get out of here,” JC said as they headed to the exit.

Once they were in JC’s Jeep, Allyson looked over at JC, whose jaw was still set and questioned why it would be a bad thing to be seen in a tabloid.

“It’s not that I want to keep this a secret. Far from it,” he looked over and smiled. “I want to scream it from the rooftops! But I want to do it on our terms, not because a tabloid ran a horrible picture of us at a farmer’s market.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“If you’re OK with it, I’m going to call the magazine myself. Tell the story ourselves.”

“Oh wow, OK. You can do that?” she asked with a giggle.

“If it means they beat the tabloid, yes.”

“Well then let’s do it. What do you need me to do?”

“You’re staying at my place tonight right?”

“Mhmm.”

“OK, I’ll call today and ask them to be at my place tomorrow before that photographer’s pictures can even make the rounds. Us Weekly will be on the stands Thursday, and People comes out on Wednesday and can put it online.”

“Wait, People?”

“Yeah, is that OK?”

“That’s a lot to take in,” she said, looking ahead through the windshield. “I guess it never hit me that this could lead to me being in People fucking magazine.”

“I won’t do it if you’re not comfortable with it. And I’ll understand if you don’t want the exposure of this. I’ll hate it, but I’ll understand.”

“No, no. God no!” she said, hearing how he was going to the extreme. “Not at all. I just need to wrap my head around it. I’m excited to be public with you. I’ve just never had a relationship where I needed to be ‘public’ about it.”

“Welcome to LA,” he laughed.

He called People and arranged for them to be at his house at 2 the next afternoon. Luckily he had straightened up everything before the monthly cleaning service made the place shine Friday.

Allyson fixed her hair and makeup and smoothed out her true blue top she had paired with dark wash jeans.

“You look perfect,” he said as he stepped out of the bathroom to see her doing final looks in the full-length mirror.

“You think?”

“You’re perfect,” he said, grabbing her waist and pulling her into him. “Are you sure about this?”

“I am,” she said with a smile.

“Let’s go.”

Half an hour later, the reporter and photographer buzzed JC’s gate. He led them through the entryway into the open living room with white, gray and natural colored furniture and walls that made the room bright, even on gray days.

“Thank you for calling us,” the reporter said.

“Well, as I told your editor, a member of the paparazzi got a photo of us at the farmer’s market, and I know he’ll try to shop it around and sell it with God knows what kind of spin on it, so we thought we’d get in front of it with a celebrity magazine that still has some integrity.”

“We appreciate that,” the veteran reporter said with a smile. “Would you prefer to do photos first?”

JC looked at Allyson and saw a brief moment of panic in her eyes. He subtly nodded his head to let her know he got her. “Could we give you some quick background first. This is old hat for me, but all new for Allie.”

“Of course. Tell me about how you two met.”

They looked at each other and laughed as they recounted the story.

“My coworker, Shannon, even told me that if nothing came of it, at least I had a story. I didn’t realize the story it would become,” she said, as she looked over and smiled at JC as he squeezed her hand.

“She has been there by my side as a friend and then one day something just changed and we saw each other in a different way,” he said with a reassuring glance to let her know he would not go deeper into what led to that change. “It’s one of those things that it happened so organically that I can’t imagine life any other way. She has brought so much joy and inspiration to my life. She had the courage to go back to school, earn her MBA and pursue a marketing career here in California. I’m just so proud of what she’s accomplished and to have someone like her by my side.”

“So you live here in LA now?” the reporter asked.

“No, I’m in the San Diego area, but it is nice to be on the same coast finally after three years of a bicoastal relationship as friends and then as partners.”

“I bet that was difficult,” the reporter continued.

“Not as much as you would think. We made it work,” Allyson said.

“I think it helped us develop our friendship so it could ultimately lead to what we have now, not realizing it was leading to this,” JC said.

Allyson was feeling much more relaxed being able to talk about JC and their relationship, and so they went straight into the photoshoot.

“I want you two to sit like you normally sit on a typical afternoon.

Without a second of doubt, JC sat in his spot on the couch as Allyson sat next to him, her legs curled up to her side as she laid against him, her head on his shoulder.

“That’s beautiful,” the photographer said as he started shooting.

“Can we get a photo of you outside?” he looked to the front door.

“We spend more time on the balcony,” JC smiled. It wasn’t a lie, but he also just did not want the front of his house on display for anyone to see.

They stood together on the balcony, looking over at the photographer, looking over the city of Los Angeles from his Hollywood Hills home.

“Well, this has been lovely,” the reporter said as she wrapped up her questions. “So, off the record, what does the future hold for you two?”

JC and Allyson looked at each other and smiled. “We don’t know,” JC said with a comforted smile, “and that’s beautiful. We’re just enjoying life together. The future will be what it is.”

Allyson had told her family and friends about the magazine so they wouldn’t be blindsided; however, she hoped no one would harass them for information.

The next day, JC got an email to approve the photos selected. He did, and it was online Tuesday and on newsstands the next day, their story printed over three pages inside with two photos of them – one on the couch and one on the balcony.

“Running into love: Go inside JC Chasez’s budding romance,” Allyson said, reading the headline.

“Well, how does it feel to be in your first magazine?” JC asked as they flipped through the pages together. Allyson had driven up to LA so they could see the finished product together.

“Really weird,” she said with a laugh. “Does it ever get normal?”

“Not really, but it is nice to be in there for something so special as us, and to tell our story in our own words instead of letting other people create the narrative.” He leaned across the table and kissed her gently on the lips.

The next day at work, word had spread quickly. “Allyson! What? Josh is JC? From *NSYNC,” her coworkers took turns asking in shock.

She looked down embarrassed and chuckled. “Yeah. I didn’t want to bring attention to it. I wanted y’all to like me for me and the work I did, not because I was dating JC.”

“Well, we do like you for you and for the work you do, but now we want you to bring your man to the zoo picnic next month,” her immediate supervisor said with a smile.

She nodded. “I know he wants to meet everyone I work with, so I will pass along the invitation.”

“Good. And congratulations, Allyson. I loved your story.”

“Thanks, Gretchen,” Allyson smiled, grateful they were not upset with the piece or that she had not mentioned the zoo by name.

The overwhelmingly positive response to the piece meant JC and Allyson could enjoy a public life, unafraid to be seen together.

Their routine continued, uninterrupted for the most part, with JC traveling to San Diego – including for a visit to the zoo picnic – and Allyson venturing up to LA every other weekend with few exceptions.

Eventually, they knew they would need to be in the same city, if not the same house, but for now it worked for them and would continue for the next couple years.