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Chapter 2: And Everything That Makes You Wonder
“Erika, I’m serious! Try to calm down,” Mary shouted into the phone. She was holding it at arm’s length, but could still hear Erika’s screams clear as day. “Erika!”
“Sorry, this is just a lot to handle.” Erika took a breath. “Is the phone back by your ear?”
“Yeah, you promise not to scream anymore? There’s only so much my eardrums can take.”
“I promise, I promise.” Erika nodded and asked, “So you think you like Lance?”
Mary shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe. Why? What’s wrong with Lance?”
“Oh, nothing. I just never figured him for your type.”
“What’s this? I have a type now?”
“Well, I guess I just assumed you would go for someone more like Nick.”
“Why? Because we broke up?”
“Well there’s that, but I mean, almost every guy you’ve dated has been like him.”
Mary sat down on the end of her bed and looked around the room. “I don’t know. I think Lance is cute, but it might just be he reminds me of Nick.”
“You never know. Don’t take my word for it. I’m crazy,” Erika said with a laugh. “So when are you guys coming to Orlando?”
“You don’t know? I figured you’d have duplicates of your concert ticket by now.”
Erika rolled her eyes. “So I’m a little obsessed. I was wondering if you were coming the week before and leaving after the concert or coming for the concert and then staying for the rest of the week.”
“Well, we have a free day between the Atlanta and Orlando shows.”
“A day? Do you think that’ll be enough for me?”
“Jeez, Er! They’re doing two shows in Ft. Lauderdale right after Orlando, so maybe after sound check on the first day we can hang out with you. And the second day if they even do a sound check it won’t take as long, so we can hang out then too.”
“Ft. Lauderdale? That’s a three hour drive!”
“Well, come with us after the Orlando show and then stay with us for a few days. Hey! Maybe you could stay for the Tampa shows too!”
“How would I get home?”
“Um...Get someone to pick you up from Tampa? It’s only an hour from Orlando and then an hour back.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Mary looked around the room again. “You know, these are some pampered guys. I’m just looking at my hotel room and I can only imagine what theirs are like.”
“You should go to Lance’s, check it out.”
“What are you suggesting?” Mary asked. She started laughing and said, “I can’t anyway. They’re off doing a sound check or something.”
“And you’re at the hotel? Mary!”
“What?”
“You’re at the hotel when you could be watching a bunch of hot guys getting sweaty?”
Mary made a face. “As appealing as that sounds, I figured I’d walk around. You know, be a tourist or something. It’s you, after all, who’s a freak about the guys.”
“You call them the guys? Are they nice?”
Mary braced herself for another scream or two, but sighed in relief when none came. “They’re all really nice, yeah. And don’t go nuts when I try to introduce you to them.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior, I swear. Hey, I gotta go to work. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Wait a sec, does Jenny really come in and visit Nick when you guys are working?”
Erika rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and she’s so annoying. Like, you think I’m bad?”
Mary laughed and said, “Okay, thanks Er. Bye.”
-----
“I can’t believe I’m backstage at an *NSYNC concert! Like, oh my god!” Mary waved her arms around and let out a few unenthusiastic screams.
Lance shook his head and put his arm around her shoulders. “You know, those girls out there would be killing people to be where you are.”
“So full of yourself,” Mary replied. She smiled at the dimly lit area they were standing in, thankful that Lance couldn’t see her blushing.
Lance laughed, shaking his head again. “Hey, I’m not in denial.” He took his arm away and with a grin, went off down the hallway.
Mary sighed. “I can’t believe I like Lance,” she said quietly. She turned to walk down the other end of the hallway when she saw Chris standing there. “Holy shit!”
Chris started laughing. “What? Did I scare you?”
“Oh my god Chris!” She smacked his arm and started laughing herself. “You should stomp or something so someone knows when you’re coming.”
“So did I hear right?” Chris asked, slinging his arm around her waist as they walked down the hallway.
“Hear what?”
“Seems you, uh, have a little crush on my boy Lance.”
Mary’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Oh come on, I heard you say it.”
Mary opened her mouth to say something, but all she could do was shake her head.
“So you like Lance, huh?”
“Well jeez, Chris! Announce it to the world, why don’t you?”
Chris smiled. “So you do?”
“I don’t know. I think he just...reminds me a lot of my ex.”
He shrugged. “Too bad.”
“Why?”
“I think he has a thing for you.”
“What? Did he say that?”
“I don’t know...”
“Chris, don’t make me beat you down.” Mary stopped walking. “Did he tell you that? Because I’m not even sure if I like him like him.”
“Well, he said he thinks you’re cute,” Chris admitted. “But I can’t say I blame him because you’re a peach.” He pinched her cheek and started laughing.
“Shut up.” Mary rolled her eyes, but couldn’t keep herself from smiling. “Where are you taking me?” she asked, after they had started walking again.
“Dressing room.”
“Eew! Why?”
“So I can get dressed?”
“Well why am I going?”
“You’re my escort, duh.” Chris shook his head. “Honestly, Mary.” They stopped in front of the dressing room door and he called, “If you’re naked, cover it up cause I’ve got a lady coming in!” He looked at Mary and said, “Don’t worry, no one’s really naked in there.”
Mary snorted and opened the door, following Chris into the room.
“Oh, hey Mary,” JC said, buttoning his shirt.
Mary gave him a small wave. “Hey Jace, Joey, Justin.” She leaned against the wall and said, “This is a little...weird. Are you guys okay with me being in here while you’re getting dressed? I mean, I’m not looking or anything, but”“
“Mar,” Joey started, putting his hand on her shoulder. “It is totally okay for you to be here. I mean, personally, I don’t mind”“
“Jesus, Joe, lay off her,” Justin cut in. He started laughing and said, “Hey, I call it like I see it and the girl’s not interested.”
“Yeah, from what I hear, she likes”“
“Shut up, Chris!” Mary laughed and said, “As fun as it is in here, I think I’ll feel less awkward in the hall...or my seat. You know, either works, so I’ll check you guys later.” She shook her head and left the room. “That was...interesting.”
“Hey Mar, wait a sec.”
Mary turned to see Justin leaving the dressing room. “Escorting me backstage?” She extended a hand and he took it before they started walking. “What’s up?”
“I just wanted to say thanks for...being nice to me.”
“Okay?”
“Well, I mean, you ask how I’m doing even if you probably don’t care. It’s just nice that you do.”
“I care,” Mary said. “I’m pretty okay most of the time.”
“Yeah, and I’m sorry about your boyfriend,” Justin said. “His loss, right?”
“Don’t I know it,” Mary replied. They stopped at the bottom of the steps that led backstage and she turned to him. Dropping his hand, she asked, “Did you want something else?”
Justin stared at her for a second before shaking his head. “No, that’s it. I have to go get my hair done.” He waved and started off down the hall.
“That’s not even the way to hair and makeup,” she thought. She shrugged and went up the steps.
-----
“Guys, that was pretty kick ass for an *NSYNC show,” Mary said on the bus ride back to the hotel.
“Oh please, you love us,” Chris replied, stretching his legs across her lap.
She made a face and the guys started laughing. “Eew, you’re all sweaty.” She pushed his legs off and said, “So are you guys excited to meet Erika in...eleven days?”
“That’s when we’re in Orlando?” JC asked.
“Yeah, day before the show, remember?” Mary shrugged and said, “I just wanted to introduce you to Erika so if you could spend like, five minutes meeting her than you’d all be amazing, and I’d love you guys forever.”
“Well in that case...” Joey laughed. “Uh, yeah, no problem.”
“Yeah, I was thinking she could just come with us until we leave Tampa.”
“Did you run that by Johnny?” Lance asked.
Mary nodded.
Justin looked at her. “He’s okay with that?”
“What can I say? Powers of persuasion.”
-----
The group arrived in Orlando the afternoon after their show in Atlanta, sleeping pretty much the entire bus ride there.
“Hey, if we hurry we can ditch security!” Chris exclaimed, running out into the parking lot.
The rest of the group just watched him as they walked to their cars.
After asking for a ride since her car was the only one not in the parking lot, Mary said, “I just wanna go home, swim, eat, watch TV, hit the mall. Oh, how I’ve missed the mall.”
“You have a pool?” Joey asked, hopping into the backseat of Justin’s car.
“Yeah.” Mary sat down next to him. “Do you have eight or something?”
JC and Justin started laughing.
“Yeah right,” JC said. “Joey’s too lazy for a pool.”
“I’ve got one,” Justin said, starting the car.
“Olympic-sized?” Mary asked with a laugh. She noticed Lance and Chris in the next car and her smile fell.
“Hey, are you okay?” Joey looked over at her.
“Uh, yeah.” Mary smiled again.
“So you want me to just drop you off at your house?” Justin asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.
“Um...well, what are you guys doing?”
“Well Justin’s going to see his mom and cry about Britney,” Joey said. He laughed and leaned against the window. “Probably nothing until you wanna go see Erika.”
“Then yeah, take me home,” Mary told Justin. She managed to give him directions over the music and they were soon in front of her house. “You’ll remember where this is so you can come get me later?” she asked, bending down so she was eye-level with Justin.
“Yeah,” he replied. “And if I don’t, I’m sure Joey will.”
Mary laughed and with a wave to the three of them, she went inside. Once she shut the door, she called Erika.
“Mar, make this quick, I’m working.”
“Did you forget what day it is?”
“Oh my god! You’re in Orlando!” Erika tried to contain herself and said, “I should just leave work right now.”
Mary smiled and said, “Don’t do that. We’re coming to the mall in a few hours.”
“You’re making me wait? You’re horrible!” Erika shook her head and said, “Just watch out. Jenny might come in today to see Nicky.”
“You know, I call him that.”
“Well, it’s really irritating when she does it.” She said something in the background before coming back to the phone. “Okay, I really have to go. Boss man’s lurking.”
“Right, see you later.” Mary hung up the phone and set it on the coffee table. She went up to her room to get changed, coming back down in her bathing suit, towel in hand.
Hearing a knock at the door, she answered it to find Joey and Justin standing there. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Well, I wanted to go swimming,” Joey said. “If that’s okay, I mean.”
“Yeah, you could’ve just gotten out of the car when I did. Save Justin the trip.” Mary shut the door after they walked in. “And I thought you were going to see your mom, J.”
Justin shrugged. “Figured I’d just go with Joey.”
“Are you sure that’s okay? I don’t want your mom hating me or anything.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ll go home after we meet Erika.”
Mary nodded and started walking to the sliding doors that led to the backyard. “That’s probably better. You’ll need to get away after that. She’s insane.” After setting her towel down on one of the deck chairs, she asked, “Do you guys have bathing suits?”
“Yeah, but we need to get changed,” Joey said. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Oh right.” Mary laughed and led them back inside. “I forgot you guys have never been here.” She pointed down a small hallway. “There’s a door right there and that would be the bathroom. Okay, J, upstairs.”
Justin followed her up the steps and down the hall.
“Okay, here you go,” she said, opening one of the doors. “I’ll be outside when you’re done.” She shut the door after he’d gone in and went back out, grabbing the radio as she did.
Joey and Justin walked out a few minutes later to find Mary skimming the pool.
“It’s fine if you go in. I’m almost done,” Mary told them.
Joey shrugged. “That’s enough for me.” He ran from the deck and jumped into the pool.
Mary started laughing, stepping out of the way so she didn’t get splashed. “You’re lucky you didn’t jump into the shallow end,” she said after he came up. She looked over at Justin who was about to dip his foot in the water. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“What?” Justin stopped before he touched the water.
Mary set the skimmer down and walked over to him. Hands on her hips, she said, “You’re seeing how cold the pool is? That’s such a girl thing to do.”
Joey got onto the diving board and jumped in again.
“I don’t want to get in if it’s really cold.”
“Why? Shrinkage?”
Joey started laughing. “You’re great, Mar.” He looked at Justin and said, “Seriously, the water’s fine. Just jump in.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Justin said.
“Be a man!” Mary suddenly pushed him so that he lost his balance and fell into the pool, only after he grabbed Mary’s arm to take her with him. After they came to the surface she said, “See? Water’s perfect.”
-----
“I gotta say I’m not looking forward to this,” Mary said, after she sat in the passenger’s seat of Justin’s car.
“Why’s that?” Joey asked, stretching out in the backseat.
Mary shrugged. “Erika works with my ex.” She laughed and said, “I work there too. That’s gonna be interesting when the tour’s over.”
“Oh that’s right, you’re single,” Joey said.
Justin shook his head and glanced at Mary. “Do you just not wanna go then?”
“Nah, I’ll be mature. Besides, I promised Erika and if I make her wait until tomorrow to meet you guys, I don’t think I’ll live to see tomorrow.” She leaned back in her seat and asked, “So are JC, Lance, and Chris going to meet us there?”
“Yeah, I called Lance before we left,” Joey told her. “So is your friend single?”
“Joey, stop being such a slut,” Mary said. She turned to look at him and laughed. “You’re lucky you’re my friend or else I totally wouldn’t hang around you.”
“That’s what I keep saying,” Justin said.
Joey rolled his eyes and smiled. “Don’t worry, Mar. I won’t make a move on you.”
Mary snorted and flipped on the radio, not noticing Justin’s face turning a slight shade of pink.
When they reached the mall, JC, Chris, and Lance were standing at Chris’s car, waiting for them.
Mary looked at Lance for a second before getting out of the car. “He does kinda look like Nick,” she thought shutting the door. “Heart’s not beating abnormally fast either. Guess I’m over that one.” She frowned slightly as she led the five to Hot Topic.
Sighing with relief, she approached the counter”Erika the only one behind it. “Erika my love!” Mary exclaimed, stepping behind the counter to give her a hug. “I believe you’ve been waiting all day to meet these losers so here they are.”
After the guys introduced themselves and went off in separate directions, Erika said, “Holy crap, Mary. I’m dying here.”
Mary laughed and leaned on the countertop. “I’m just glad the store’s almost empty so you don’t squeal at a customer or something.”
“Oh shut up, I wouldn’t do that.” Erika thought for a second. “Okay, maybe I would.” She leaned a little closer and asked, “So what’s up with you and Lance?”
“Oh, pfft.” Mary waved her hand in the air, as though to dismiss the idea of her and Lance. “I’m done crushing. I thought about it some more and he really does just remind me of Nick so I figured I only like him as a friend.”
Erika nudged her. “Good, cause he’s cute.”
Mary shook her head. “You’re too much. So, uh, where’s Nick? I thought he was working today.”
“He’s on break. Which, by the way, he’s already done a million times this past hour alone. I haven’t even gotten to take mine.”
“He’s an ass. Oh, can you believe they wanted me to work today? I was like, ‘Uh, no thanks?’”
“Figures. They need to start hiring some more people instead of relying on us all the time. I mean, I’m not looking to work here for the rest of my life, you know?”
“Yeah, seriously.” Mary looked up and said, “Shit, Nick’s back. I’m gonna, uh, be somewhere else.” She walked away from the counter and hid behind a rack of clothes before Nick saw her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she glanced at the counter and thought, “I don’t know how I’m getting out of here without him seeing me.”
She noticed a girl she could only assume was Jenny”she’d changed quite a bit in high school”traipsing into the store, and felt a nasty taste in her mouth.
She saw Justin standing in a corner of the store, looking at a few things and rushed over to him.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah, fine.” She thought for a bit and asked, “Feel like going elsewhere? You know, somewhere that’s not here?”
Justin looked behind her at the counter and said, “Wow, he looks a lot like Lance. Is that Nick?”
“Oh...yeah.” Mary motioned to the exit. “So, you know, somewhere else?”
“Oh sure, no problem.” Justin started walking toward the exit, Mary close by.
She was pressing the side of her face into his arm, trying not to be seen.
They were almost to the exit when they heard, “Mary?”
Mary stopped and said, “Shit, I should’ve kept going.” She turned around to see Nick and Jenny staring at her, and Erika making faces behind their backs. She almost laughed when she said to Justin, “Knew I couldn’t get out of here. I guess I’ll go talk to him.”
“Well, you could just turn around and keep going, but that’d be pretty stupid.”
She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Wish me luck,” she said, before walking over to the counter.
“Who’s that?” Nick asked when she stopped walking. He pointed to Justin, who was still standing near the exit. “Your new boyfriend?”
Mary rolled her eyes. “He’s a friend,” she said, surprised her hands weren’t shaking. She glanced at Jenny. “I haven’t been sleeping around.”
“Yet.” Nick raised an eyebrow. “You really think you’re so much better than me?”
“She is,” Erika cut in, noticing the look on Mary’s face.
“You’re a dick,” Mary added. She crossed her arms and asked, “So did you want something or did you just say my name because you felt like it?”
“Look, I just wanted to say...” Nick paused for a second before looking at her again. “Get over it. So I cheated on you. Big deal. I mean, you’ve got your little blond boy over there like he’s not some rebound thing. You’re”“
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Mary said. “But he’d be a hell of a lot better than you. It’s not like you set the bar very high.” She turned to walk away, only to turn back when Nick said, “You don’t do so well yourself.”
Mary looked at him. “I cheated on you one time and I told you about it. That gives you the right to go off with her every time you’re not with me? If that’s your philosophy, you could’ve saved yourself the trouble and dumped me a year and a half ago.”
Before Nick could say anything else, Mary left the store, pulling Justin with her.
“He’s such an asshole!” she shouted, when they had walked a little.
“What’d he say?” Justin asked, looking down at her hand, which was wrapped around his.
Mary shook her head. “God, I don’t know. He’s trying to make it so I’m the bad guy too. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I cheated on him and that was stupid, but I told him about it and I never thought he’d stay with me. He said we could work it out.” She snorted. “Yeah, while we’re working it out, he’s with Jenny Harris. I’m such an idiot.”
“Hey.” Justin stopped her and they sat down on a bench. “Look, he was probably just trying to upset you. What he did was a lot worse.” He glanced at her hand, still in his, and cleared his throat. “Don’t let it get to you.”
Mary laughed. “Did we switch roles or something? I’m upset and you’re being nice?” She pulled her hand away and wiped her eyes. “I think I’ll be okay.” She put her hands in her lap. “You know, I wanted to break up with Nick long before he dumped me. I saw him kissing Jenny, but I kept saying it was okay because I’d cheated on him. I confronted him, he said it was a one-time thing, she was coming onto him.” Mary paused and sighed. “I’m over him, I guess, but it’s just hard to see them officially together.”
“Yeah, I’m sure I’ll freak when I see Britney with someone. Well I mean, someone else.”
“Why’d you guys break up?” Mary asked.
“She cheated, she lied.” He shrugged. “By the time we ended, it was like the novelty wore off. She was almost a different person. So was I, I guess.”
Mary started laughing suddenly. “God, this is depressing.”
Justin smiled and said, “Well, I wasn’t gonna sit here happy when you’re crying.”
“You wanna hear something funny?” After he nodded, she said, “For the past few weeks, I’ve had a crush on Lance.”
Justin shook his head. “Are you serious?”
“What? I can’t like a guy like Lance?” Mary smiled. “Erika said he’s not my type, since I apparently have one.”
“Oh yeah, Joey’s being the same way. He wants me to go out and meet ‘my kind of girl’ even though we have almost no time to do that.” He shrugged. “So what ended this crush?”
“Nick. Well, the fact that he reminded me of Nick.”
“I doubt Lance is like Nick.”
“He looks like him, though.” She looked down at the ground. “Chris thinks I’m in love with him or something.”
“You told Chris?”
“He overheard me talking about it. I’m so worried he’ll tell Lance something and then Lance’ll either try to ask me out or try to let me down gently. It’ll be awkward both ways, so I’d rather Lance didn’t know.”
Justin glanced at her. “Chris’ll drop it eventually.”
“Yeah, when I start dating someone else.” Mary almost laughed as she said, “With my luck that’ll be never.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll meet someone.”
She looked at him for a second before saying, “Try giving that advice to yourself and see if it makes you feel any better.” She held onto his hand again and leaned back. “I need someone different, you know?”
Justin”his eyes on her the whole time”said, “Yeah, I know.”
-----
“I can’t wait for this sound check to be over,” Mary said as she and Erika sat a few rows back from the stage. “You wouldn’t think it’d take this long.”
Erika yawned. “Seriously, and I’ve only been through two of them.”
“It was so stupid to do another at the second Ft. Lauderdale show,” Mary stated, crossing her arms over her chest. “But I just wanna get out of here and go to the beach. I haven’t been to Tampa in a long time.”
“Same here. I think the last time I was here was with you about a year or two ago.”
Mary nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Ben T. Davis Beach is about...fifteen, twenty minutes from here, I think.”
“I wanna go to Busch Gardens,” Erika said with a laugh. “I bet Johnny would love that one.”
Mary looked down at her cell phone and then back at Erika. “Maybe we could go to the aquarium. It’s only a quarter to ten. We could hit the beach, then go to the aquarium. The guys don’t have to be here until three-thirty, anyway.”
“Sounds good. Especially the beach, because, hello hot half-naked guys.”
Mary laughed. “Try not to drool all over the place.”
-----
“Ocean, here I come!” Chris exclaimed, running toward the water.
Erika stared at him, an eyebrow raised. “Is he okay?”
“You’ve caught him in one of his saner moments,” Joey said, patting her on the shoulder. He shook his head and went in the direction that Chris had, Lance and Erika close behind him.
JC and Justin started walking, but stopped when Mary wasn’t with them.
“Are you coming?” Justin asked.
“No, you go ahead. I think I’ll just sit here for a little bit.” Mary sat down on her towel, leaning back on her hands.
JC kept walking and Justin took a seat beside Mary.
“You might get bored sitting by yourself,” he said.
She nodded. “Probably.” Scratching the side of her nose she asked, “So why are you here?”
“Are you trying to say I’m boring?”
“Well now that you mention it...” She laughed and sat up, crossing her legs. She ran her fingers through the sand and said, “I don’t feel hot enough to go in the water.”
“You’re definitely hot enough. It’s gotta be ninety, at least. You have to be sweating in this humidity.”
Mary eyed him for a second before standing up. “Okay then, let’s go swimming.”
-----
Around one-thirty, everyone was about ready to meet up in front of the aquarium, the only exception being Mary, who wanted to see the turtles.
Justin in tow, she wandered around, trying to remember where the turtles were. “I haven’t been here in so long,” she said. “But whenever I come to Tampa I have to see the turtles. It’s a tradition of mine and my dad’s, I guess.”
“Is your dad away too?”
“Why?”
“Well, only because you’re on the tour since there’s no one at your house.”
“Oh.” Mary shook her head. “My dad left a long time ago, but that’s a story for another day. Right now, I’m looking at my favorite things in this place.” She stopped and smiled at the giant sea turtles swimming around. “I don’t know why, but I love them.” The light bouncing off the water danced around her face.
Suddenly, Justin leaned down and kissed her. Unsure as to what he was doing”but at the same time not caring”he let his hands fall to her waist and almost smiled when he felt hers cupped around his face.
Mary pulled away. Her hands still on his face, she laughed and said, “I think I’ve been waiting for that all day.”
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