Do you ever wonder why?
This music gets you high
It takes you on a ride
Feel it when your body starts to rock
And baby you can’t stop
“Stop. Stop!” Wade yelled. “JC what’s up with you today? You’re never off step.”
“Sorry man, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” JC used as an excuse.
“Why don’t you guys take a five minute break,” Wade told them. JC grabbed a towel and sat down on the edge of the stage. Lance and Justin sat down on each side of JC.
Madelyn had left two days earlier because of the guys’ rehearsals for the last weeks of the tour. Justin had already begun to miss her. And he complained about it constantly, “Guys, I miss Madelyn.”
“Don’t worry J, we have two New York shows in a week. You’ll see her then,” Lance told him.
“JC what’s wrong with you?” Justin asked. JC shrugged. “There must be something up with you cause, you’ve never had a day as bad as this.”
“I don’t know. I’ll be back, tell Wade to start without me or wait five more minutes,” JC got up and started walking backstage.
He walked into a dressing room that was the guys’ before show area where they had all their “toys.” JC grabbed his cell phone off the table and he sat down on the couch. When he started to dial a number, his phone rang. He jumped unexpectedly and answered, “Hello?”
“Hey!” Abbey spoke from the other line.
JC smiled at Abbey’s voice. His mood became more relaxed and he spoke like he has been having a perfect day, “I just was about to call you. What’s up?”
“Nothing. I’m on my lunch break. Are you at rehearsals?”
“Yeah,” JC said disgustingly.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. I’m out of it today. I guess I’m just stressed about the tour ending and other stuff too,” JC paused, “Plus I haven’t talked to you since you left.”
“Sorry, I called Maddie when I got home, then fell asleep. I had to catch up with work and I got preoccupied with everything and I forgot to call you.”
“It’s just never happened before and I thought you were avoiding me or something.”
“Avoiding you? For what reason?”
“What happened before you left the airport.”
“Oh no. JC that was the most wonderful thing ever. You made my day so perfect. I’ll never forget it,” Abbey explained.
JC and Abbey sat in silence on both ends of the phone. Both knew that the other was thinking about the kiss before Abbey left to fly home. On JC’s side of the line the door opened and JC jumped as it swung open.
“Hey, JC we need you back at rehearsals. Can you wrap it up there?” Wade asked politely. Wade knew that JC was talking to Abbey only because the expression on his face. Otherwise he would have yelled at JC to hurry it up.
JC nodded and Wade closed the door walking back to the stage. “I’m glad I didn’t ruin anything. I was afraid you would hate me or you wouldn’t speak to me again. But I had to take that chance.”
“And I am thankful that you took that chance. That kiss was the best thing that happened to me that day. My whole day was turned completely upside down and you brought it all back,” Abbey told him realizing she had hinted that something bad had happened.
“Did something happen?”
“What.. no.”
“You scared me there for a second. I thought something horrible happened.”
“No,” Abbey said covering for her mistake by mentioning something.
“I was thinking that Nick showed up and swept you away from me,” JC laughed.
Abbey shook her head thinking to herself, If you only knew.
“Abbey, I’m sorry to end the conversation so soon but I need to get back to rehearsals. I’ll leave a message on your voice mail tonight, okay?”
“Alright, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Abbey responded.
“Bye sweetie!” JC hung up.
As Abbey hung up her cell phone, she grabbed her garbage from her lunch and threw it away. Her lunch break was almost over and she wanted to get back to her office to try to finish up early. When she walked into her office and sat down at her desk she tossed her cell phone in her purse. It didn’t land inside her purse, and knocked it over on the ground. Her things from inside the purse scattered on the floor. She leaned down to pick them up when she came across a black box. Inside was the ring that Nick offered her. It was beautiful but Abbey tried to ignore that fact.
Nick had purposely left the ring on the table for Abbey to find in case she reconsidered anything. Abbey hadn’t changed her mind about denying him, but she still hadn’t mentioned a word of the proposal to Madelyn. All Madelyn knew was that he came over and she got her bag back from him.
Abbey didn’t think Madelyn needed to know about the proposal, at least not yet anyway. That’s why Abbey had the ring in her purse, so Madelyn wouldn’t find it and suspect anything. Abbey would rather tell one of the guys before she told Madelyn what really happened only because Madelyn knew where to find him.
Abbey sat back in her chair, setting her purse on the desk, but she didn’t put the ring back in it. She had set the box on her desk closed. Every once and awhile she would open it and admire its beauty. She did this many times through out the day.
That night, Abbey got off work an hour later than her normal schedule because she had become so preoccupied with the ring. Before she left her office, Abbey couldn’t decide if she should take the ring with her or lock it in her desk. She finally chose to keep it with her so nothing would happen to it. She locked her office door and left with her laptop bag hung over her shoulder. She walked to the parking garage when she saw someone leaning against her car. Abbey knew exactly who it was, “What do you want?”
Before the show in Washington, D.C.
“Are you gonna be ok at the show JC?” Lance asked.
“Yeah, I’m gonna be fine. I’m pumped and ready for it,” JC replied.
All the guys were sitting together in their pre-show lounge area, where JC had been sitting earlier that day talking to Abbey on the phone. “Did you talk to Abbey yet?” Justin asked.
“Yes, she called me just when I was about to call her. I think something’s wrong though. She hasn’t called for a week and when she talked to me, it sounded like she was thinking about something else,” JC explained.
“Did she say anything about the airport?” Joey asked leaning forward to somehow get more details about what happened.
“Yes, she told me that it was the best thing that happened to her that day. She still sounded caught up in something else though. I don’t know what is up but I am going to figure it out. She’s never been like this before so that definitely means something is up,” JC said with determination.
Back in the parking garage at Abbey’s work
“Did you think about it at all?” Nick asked.
“Yes, but do you honestly think I’m going to be with you for the rest of my life? Nick, you need to get it through your head that I’m never going to marry you. Why would I put myself through the pain?”
Nick didn’t answer. At first he stayed leaning against her car, then he walked forward directly in front of her and gave her a dirty look.
“Take this,” Abbey said, “I don’t need it.” She looked into her purse to get out the black ring box. When she lifted her head back up Nick was leaning towards her. Abbey stepped back, but Nick proceeded until Abbey was against the back of his truck.
He grabbed her arms and kissed her, but while he was Abbey didn’t know what to do. She thought to herself about continuing the kiss to make sure that her love was gone. She knew it wasn’t right to continue it any longer, so she tried to push him away. Nick backed away from Abbey and stared at her.
Abbey didn’t say anything to Nick. She just stared back at him then walked to her car door, got in and pulled out of the parking lot. When she looked in the rearview mirror, she saw Nick still standing where he was after kissing her. Abbey pulled out onto the street as tears formed in her eyes.
Driving away from the parking garage she constantly checked her mirrors to make sure no one was following her in a truck that looked like Nick’s. Tears rolled down her cheeks, when she picked up her cell phone and gripped it in her right hand and handled the steering with her left. She dialed her apartment and cleared her throat.
“Hey Maddie it’s me.”
“Hey,” Madelyn answered.
“I’m gonna be home in about an hour or two I need to do a couple of things before I come home. I’ll see you then.” She hung up before Madelyn could ask where she was going.
She turned her voice mail on so all incoming calls would go directly to it, but she still gripped the phone in her hand anticipating a ring to indicate a message had been left. Abbey wanted to talk to JC so badly but she knew that she couldn’t call him because he had a show tonight.
Abbey drove out of the city and into the suburbs outside of New York City, and then further into the small towns scattered with few houses. Abbey drove around those small towns for about an hour and thought about the kiss she had with Nick and the kiss with JC. Although she was crying it was out of happiness, a few of her tears were out of sorrow. When Nick kissed Abbey she didn’t feel a thing compared to what she felt when JC kissed her but she still knew Nick was completely gone from her heart.
While driving back home after clearing up all her thoughts and letting out her feelings, she heard *NSYNC’s song “Something Like You” on the radio. The radio station that she was listening too specialized in playing songs that weren’t released off an album to promote the radio station and artists for that weekend.
Abbey’s eyes began to well up with tears again as she turned up the volume. That song described every feeling Abbey felt towards JC. From that moment on Abbey knew she had to try to stop pushing JC away. She drove along humming to the song and near the end of the song she cleared her eyes.
“That was ‘Something Like You’ by NSYNC off their latest album, Celebrity. And for all of you who don’t already know, those five guys owning the charts and airwaves will be rocking it out at Madison Square Garden here in New York City this Friday and Saturday! Next up is..”
Abbey turned down the volume and sighed a breath of relief as she drove back into the city listening to the radio DJ trail on about the next song.
After the show in DC on the bus
“Great show guys!” Johnny, their manager, told them while driving back to the hotel.
“Thanks!” all of the guys answered back.
“Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news, what do you want first?”
“Bad news,” Joey answered for everyone.
“Well, the bad news is that our show in Boston tomorrow night got cancelled. The night we were going to perform was double booked by accident. It wasn’t our fault and I didn’t think you guys would mind so I told them a date at the end of the tour to reschedule it. So we will do those two shows a day after the last shows in New York,” Johnny explained.
All of the guys nodded waiting to hear the good news from Johnny. “Because of this mishap, we will be going to New York City right away which means you have two extra days off. Mind you we have the Morning Show to do Friday but other than that and the days of the shows you have all the time you want.”
Justin jumped up on the couch and started bouncing on it chanting, “I get to see Madelyn! I get to see Madelyn!”
Johnny shook his head, “Is this ok with you guys?” everyone nodded. “If you forget something just call me but I will also leave a schedule here for you.”
The bus suddenly stopped and Justin flew to the ground. He got up and sneered at their driver, “That wasn’t very funny!”
The bus door opened and Mike walked on. “Hey Johnny, you can get out of this mad house now, I’ll take care of the punks.” Johnny walked off the bus and the door shut behind him. “What’s up with Justin?”
“He’s just excited about going to New York early, so he can see Madelyn,” Chris explained looking at Justin jumping up and down on the couch again.
“Well you guys need to go in the hotel and get all your stuff because we are going to drive to New York City right away so you guys have more time than usual. I'm sure Johnny has already told you though, so hurry it up and get your stuff,” Mike told them. “Come on Justin stop acting like an idiot and you will be another minute closer to seeing Madelyn! Lets go!”
Justin jumped off the couch and ran behind the other guys being led by the other security guards inside the hotel to get their things. There were already at least a hundred people waiting outside the hotel to get a glimpse of the guys and more were coming, therefore the guys needed to move quickly.
About ten minutes later one at a time, Justin, Lance, Chris, Joey and then JC, all came out of the hotel with a security guard jogging next to them towards the buses. Once everyone was on the driver pulled away, driving to New York City.
The next morning on the tour bus
Lance flopped on the ground getting out of his bunk where he fell asleep the night before. He looked around to see that Justin’s bunk curtain was still open and his bed was made. Lance looked at his watch and read that it was eight in the morning.
The bus was stopped but everyone was still on. Lance walked out into the main part of bus and found Justin sprawled on the couch. “Hey J, we’re in the city now. Justin? Hello? I think we can go inside the hotel.”
Justin rolled over stretching his body, “What’s going on?”
“We are in New York City.”
“Let me sleep man.. sleep.. Madelyn..” Justin grumbled falling back asleep.
JC walked out from the bunk area with his hand moving around in front of him. “Who’s there?” he asked with his eyes shut hitting something with his hand.
Lance grabbed JC’s hand, “It’s just me.” Justin groaned switching his position on the couch, “And J.”
“I see,” JC said as he sat down at the table. “Are we allowed to go in real beds yet?”
“I think so. Lets go find out,” Lance replied as he and JC walked off the bus into the hotel. Surprisingly enough there weren’t any screaming fans hanging around the hotel. The hotel where the guys were booked to stay was located right outside city limits and it had a beautiful city view from the top floors.
Both Lance and JC were directed towards the elevator as soon as an employee noticed them. The man working the front desk told them where to go and gave them their keys at the elevator. Lance and JC just took one key for themselves to crash in a room.
The elevator door opened and JC and Lance got on and hit the button for the top floor. Both were leaning against the wall because they had to wait to get to the top floor to get to their rooms. The elevator stopped and Lance looked at the number.
“Floor seven, twenty-three more to go,” he told JC who’s head was bobbing up and down. Two people got on and Lance leaned his head down so they wouldn’t notice them. It was an old couple, so they had nothing to really worry about, but they both still had to be cautious since no bodyguards were with them.
The elevator immediately went to the second floor, since it was closer than the thirtieth floor. The couple got off and the elevator rode all the way to the top floor without stopping. The doors opened and JC and Lance got off. They turned down a hallway and Chris and Mike, their bodyguard came down the hallway towards them.
“Morning guys,” Mike, their bodyguard and good friend, said. JC and Lance both groaned back and Chris nodded his head to them. “Going to your room? Got your bags?” he paused, “Is Justin and Joey still on the bus?”
“Dude, Mike, just let us go to our room so we can sleep!” JC said.
“Back off their Mr. Cranky Pants! I was trying to make small talk,” Mike sighed and walked past the guys.
“Sorry,” JC apologized as Chris followed Mike. JC and Lance then opened their door and JC set down his cell phone on the nightstand next to his bed.
“Must you bring your cell phone everywhere?” Lance questioned JC.
“Yes, I must,” JC explained as he sat down and took off his shoes so he could lie down on the bed. Lance sat down on his bed and did the same as JC explained more. “I have to keep it with me in case there is an emergency and I need to call someone.”
“Yeah, an urge to call Abbey is more like it!”
“Shut up! You’re turning into Mike!” JC said as he got under the covers.
“Whatever you want to think. We all know your little schemes and plans!” Lance joked.
Later that morning at Abbey and Madelyn’s apartment
Madelyn turned her alarm off and got up to get ready to go running. While she was getting changed she heard a cell phone ring. She walked over to her purse and held it up to her ear. The ringing wasn’t coming from her phone inside her purse.
“Oh no!” Madelyn said to herself as she opened the door to Abbey’s room. Madelyn looked at Abbey’s bed and Abbey was still in bed. She was suppose to be at work and it was almost eleven o’clock.
“Abbey! Get up! Abbey! Hey! It’s almost eleven! You slept in! Way in! Get up!” Madelyn yelled as she was jumping on the bed and rocking Abbey back and forth trying to wake her.
Abbey sat up and gleamed at Madelyn, “Don’t worry, I called in sick. Now please, let me go back to sleep.” She flopped back down on her pillow face down.
“Well your phone was ringing and I just figured you overslept and work was calling because you never leave without your phone.”
“What? My phone was ringing? Do you know who it was?” Abbey asked.
“No, I just ran to wake you up. Do you want me to see who it was?”
“Could you? Or just get it for me?” Abbey asked politely.
“Sure,” Madelyn answered, “You are almost like JC when you sleep. I was literally creating an earthquake and you wouldn’t wake up. Then you gave me the ever famous JC ‘Let me sleep’ bit,” Madelyn laughed.
Abbey laid her head on the pillow listening to Madelyn explain to her how she was just like JC. A smile broke across her face just with the mention of JC’s name.
Madelyn handed Abbey her phone, “Who was it?”
“I don’t know, I still have to look,” Abbey said as she pushed a couple of buttons to see the missed calls.
“Was it JC?” Madelyn inquired.
Abbey squinted to make sure she was reading the right information. It was the correct date and time, unfortunately it was Nick’s phone number.
“Was it him?” Madelyn asked again.
Abbey tossed her phone out of her hands across the hardwood floor in her room. It landed and face down and cracked the plastic piece over the face of the phone. “Dammit! Why doesn’t he just leave me alone!”
“Wait, what’s going on?”
“Nick,” Abbey explained,” he’s being himself as usual.”
“Start explaining,” Madelyn told Abbey as she sat down on the side of Abbey’s bed.
Abbey began from the day on the airplane when she got the letter from Nick and explained everything to Madelyn.
JC and Lance were woken up by fists pounding on their door and voices yelling, “Come on guys, wake up! Let us in! You have the cool room!”
Lance rolled over, “Should we let them in?”
“If we don’t they won’t stop,” JC answered from under his pillow.
“True,” Lance said as he got up to open the door. When he opened it Chris and Justin ran inside.
“Where’s your other accomplice?” JC asked as Chris ripped open the curtains unveiling the bright sunlight.
“Mike and Joey locked us out of their room.” Justin answered. “So we decided to welcome this beautiful morning to you! What up?”
“Nothing,” Lance answered while JC shielded his eyes from the sunlight.
“Do you guys want to surprise the girls today?” Chris asked.
Justin grinned as he pulled out his cell phone, “Lets find out where Maddie is since we know Abbey is already at work. Therefore we could pick her up on her lunch break after we get Maddie,” he explained deceiving a plan.
“Since you seem to be in shock,” Abbey began as Madelyn sat stunned on the end of Abbey’s bed, “I’ll be right back.” Abbey got up and walked to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. While she was brushing her teeth a cell phone began ringing again. Abbey stepped out of the bathroom and yelled to Madelyn, “If it’s mine and it’s Nick break the damn thing.”
Madelyn broke out of her shock and yelled back, “Don’t worry it’s mine. Plus you won’t have to worry about Nick anymore after I’m done with that idiot.” Madelyn grabbed her phone and clicked the talk button without looking to see who was calling.
“Good,” Abbey told her.
“Hello?” Madelyn spoke.
“Hey sweetheart it’s me,” Justin said.
“Justy! Wow, I wasn’t expecting a call from you until you guys got in! How are you?”
“Good. What are you up to?”
“Nothing.. Abbey just got up and we are probably gonna go get lunch soon.”
“Oh is she off work today?” Justin inquired.
“No, she called in sick.”
“I see..” Justin paused for a second to rethink his plan. “What do you plan on getting for lunch?”
“I don’t know, we haven’t decided yet.”
“Hmm..” he paused again, “I know what you guys should get. You have to order in from that awesome sandwich shop. Just for me! And you have to order the Justin special for yourself!”
“That actually sounds appetizing knowing how much junk you get on your sandwich,” Madelyn joked as Justin motioned to the guys telling them to start getting ready.
About twenty minutes later at Madelyn’s and Abbey’s apartment
“Alright, I will talk to you soon! I can’t wait to see you! Only two more days!” Madelyn said.
“I know! I can’t wait any longer either, I love you sweetheart!” Justin told her.
“Bye Justy! I love you!”
“Love you too!” Madelyn hung up her phone.
“Abbey?” Madelyn yelled into the bathroom.
“Yeah?” Abbey answered from the shower.
“I’m gonna order in from the sandwich shop downtown, do you want your usual?”
“Yeah, but get extra pickles. Make sure you clarify that so they know I want a lot.”
“Ok,” Madelyn answered as she walked over to the couch and sat down. She picked up the apartment phone line and dialed the sandwich shop’s phone number.
Abbey heard Madelyn give the order over the phone as she got out of the shower. Madelyn knocked on the door of the bathroom after she hung up the phone. Abbey opened the door wearing her bath robe as Madelyn leaned against the door way, “They said it will be forty minutes cause all their delivery boys just left so they have to wait until they get back. And they told me they would make sure they would put lots of pickles in your order.”
“Well, I’m gonna get dressed and stuff and then after the food comes we should go out shopping.”
“Yes! I haven’t been shopping in about five million years!”
Abbey shut the door and turned on the hair dryer and began drying her hair. Madelyn walked over to the couch and laid down.
About forty minutes later
“Maddie, the delivery boy is here,” Abbey yelled from her bedroom. “Can you get the door Maddie?” Madelyn didn’t answer Abbey. “Ok, I guess I will get it,” Abbey said to herself as she got up from her computer. “Man this delivery boy won’t stop knocking.. what the hell is wrong with him?”
Abbey opened the door and she saw the delivery boy wearing the sandwich shop shirt but he had no food with him. Abbey looked at his arm and noticed it was broken. “Miss, could you help me? I left your bags downstairs. There were a lot of bags so I was wondering if you could help me bring them back up.”
“Sure,” Abbey answered as she flipped out the lock to block the door from latching shut. She followed the delivery boy on to the elevator. He looked to be only a few years younger than Abbey and it reminded Abbey of how much she has changed since she was his age. He pushed the button for the elevator to open and Abbey was staring at the ground comparing herself then to now in her mind.
When the doors opened she looked up to walk into the elevator but she was surprised to see that standing inside was Justin, Lance, Chris, Joey, Mike, and JC right in front of everyone. Abbey leaped forward into JC’s arms.
“Oh my gosh! What are you guys doing here?” She let go of JC and walked out of the elevator with all of them. They all stopped before the door and Abbey hugged each of them one by one.
“Well, you guys call me if you plan on being in public or do anything crazy, I’ll be somewhere in the city. You make sure they call me Abbey,” Mike told them as he got back on the elevator.
“Ok, I will,” she answered. “Hey, Madelyn is sleeping so be quiet and then I’ll wake her up when to tell her the food is in the kitchen and you guys go hide in their, ok?”
“Alright,” they all answered. Abbey pushed open the door and all five guys crept into the kitchen with the food without making a sound.
Abbey walked over to the couch and leaned over Madelyn. “Madelyn, the food is here.”
“Huh?” Madelyn asked coming out a daze.
“The food is in the kitchen. And they gave me a lot of extra pickles. Some really big ones..” Abbey giggled and walked into the kitchen.
“I’ll be there in a second,” Madelyn told her as she sat up on the couch. She got up from the couch and rubbed her eyes as she approached the swinging door to the kitchen. When Madelyn pushed the door she pushed it a little too hard and she heard it hit someone’s head.
“Owww!” Came from the other side of the kitchen.
Madelyn’s hand covered her mouth to keep from laughing. “I’m sorry Abbey, I didn’t know you were so close to the door,” she said as she opened the door carefully this time. When she pushed it open to look for Abbey she saw Chris in a ball on the ground holding his head. “Chris? Lance? Joey? JC?” she paused, “Justin!”
