Time After Time

Christmas Eve, 1998.

Rachel blew into her hands and rubbed them together as she wandered around window shopping in Washington, D.C. She had grown up in the neighbouring suburb of Bowie, but was hanging out in the city for a while, poking around for some last minute Christmas presents.
She took her gloves off and picked a basket out of the pile by the front door of the supermarket, walking into the candy aisle to peruse the selection for any ideas. Then she saw him.

JC was in town on business. His group, *NSYNC, had been chosen to perform a few Christmas songs for an event at the White House. He had snuck out of the hotel parking garage that day and was puttering around his old neighbourhood. He had noticed the girl in the purple overcoat walk into the aisle, but didn't acknowledge her at first.

He gazed back over at her to see her smile and give a little wave.

She walked over to him. "Josh, hey. Do you remember me?"

His head reeled back in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"You know, Rachel? We went to the same middle school, we took 8th grade biology together, third period. I was the nerdy one who dissected and photographed a cabbage for the science fair."

"Oh, yeah. Casey told me about that. I must have been down in Florida when that happened. Didn't you win or something?"

"Some kid made a robot out of Legos and won. I literally flipped one of trestle tables."

"Oh my God, yes! I remember that! You were really fucking pissed about that."

"That's the thing about middle school science, there's this huge grey area between the actual sciences and engineering and technology. Do you want to go get something to drink? Like coffee or something?"

"So, I finished my degree at Georgetown, and I've been studying orchids in Peru for the last 18 months." They sat facing each other at a little table in the outer rim of the Starbucks. They had been spending the last half hour or so catching up, talking about what they had been doing since middle school.

"I kind of did the MMC during my high school years, but after the MMC ended, I kinda kicked around Nashville and L.A. for a bit before returning to Orlando when *NSYNC formed. We're actually in town to perform for the president and such."

"You guys just released a Christmas album or something, right?"

"Yeah..." He trailed off, watching as she stirred cocoa into the foam of her cappuccino.

"You don't remember, do you?" She lightly tapped her spoon on the rim of her cup.

"What?"

"We went out for a while before you got the MMC. You were my first kiss."

He smiled as he leaned against his hand. "Yeah, winter formal 1989. You wore that cute little blue dress."

"It was the last slow dance of the night. I think Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" was playing. They turned the lights down and the disco ball was reflecting those little glimmers of light around the gym. You lightly brushed your lips against mine and I was on my way to becoming a woman."

"I'm pretty sure tongue was involved."

She giggled, inching her finger and thumb together. "Just a little bit."

Christmas Eve, 1999.

Rachel heard a knock on the front door of her apartment. She stood up, jostling her blonde hair as she went to answer the door. She and JC had started dating after Christmas, and she had taken a job at the University of Maryland working as a professor's aid in the marine biology department. She moved into a little one room studio apartment in D.C. and was finally starting to feel at home.

That is, when she was home. Every weekend or so, she made the hassle of flying into whichever city *NSYNC was currently performing in. She would silently slip into either into his hotel room or onto the tour bus unnoticed and would wait for JC to finish the show. Even though she loved him, she'll was starting to find it hard to constantly be travelling during the only time she had off, especially for the incredibly short time she was able to spend with him alone.

She sighed as she opened the door, expecting a delivery man or something. She came face to face with a large bundle of a dozen or so red balloons.

"Delivery for Mabel."

She corrected him, "It's Rachel."

"I'm sorry." JC pulled down the balloons. "I'm a little flustered because I'm seeing my girlfriend for the first time in four weeks." He let go of the bundle and pulled her in for a kiss. "Happy Anniversary."

"I can't do this anymore," she whispered as their lips parted.

"What...Why?" He dragged the balloons into her tiny studio apartment.

"I just...I don't know." She followed him, sitting gently onto the edge of her bed. "I don't get butterflies any longer when you're around. I used to get into such a tizzy when I saw you; now it's just a sense of dread. Dread of having to travel wherever you are just to spend a few measly hours with you, dread of having to share you with the other guys and your fans, dread that I can't even go to the mall with you without someone walking up and asking for an autograph."

He let go of the balloons as they slowly floated up to the ceiling. "Do you have a problem with who I am?"

"Frankly, yes."

He stood silently for a moment, jaw angled as he tried to find a way to hurt her as much as she had hurt him. With as much control he could muster, he slowly opened her cutlery drawer, taking out a single fork. He slowly pulled a single balloon down from the ceiling, instantly popping it. "FUCK YOU!"

"JC..."

"NO!" He popped a second balloon. "FUCK YOU!" -POP- "FUCK YOUR BULLSHIT ALIEN EXPERIMENTS!" -POP- "FUCK THE FACT THAT YOU NEVER SUCK COCK!" -POP- "FUCK THE FACT THAT I PUT MY CAREER ON THE LINE JUST TO DATE YOU!" -POP- "FUCK THE FACT THAT I DUMPED NIKKI TO BE WITH YOU!" -POP- "FUCK THE FACT THAT I WAS CHASTISED" -POP- "BY BOTH MY LABEL AND MY MANAGEMENT" -POP- "ONE OF WHICH IS A FUCKING PEDOPHILE WHO SMELLS LIKE RANCID CHICKEN SOUP" -POP- "WHO FUCKING ROBBED ME!" -POP- "AND A HOLLY JOLLY MERRY FUCK YOU FOR THE FACT THAT I FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU AND LET YOU BREAK MY HEART!" He popped the final balloon, reaching into his jacket pocket. "HERE'S YOUR FUCKING ANNIVERSARY PRESENT!" He threw a small object into the wall, shattering it instantly into a puddle of glitter, water and glass. "IT USED TO BE A FUCKING SNOW GLOBE!" He violently opened the door of the apartment, turning to say one final thing, "I hope you rot in fucking hell-"

"JC..."

"No, no more. I hope you're happy, you flower fucking cunt." He slammed the door, walking off into a life separate from hers.

New Year's Eve, 2003.

‘Sergeant Meyers was AWOL, literally. He had left his position in the Allied trenches on the France-Belgium border and started the trek west back to Oise. Through the bitter winter of 1916, he stumbled through the hills and long country roads trying his best to avoid both Allied and German troops, as both could prove fatal. But he simply refused to let her go.

Amelia, a baker's daughter with golden hair had caught his eye last summer during a casual stroll through her town in a rare day away from the front. He saw her walking over a bridge by a small stream following by a field of lavender. He followed her home to her father's bakery, staying the night after he had stuffed himself with stew and fresh bread, at least bread fresher than what was available to him as a soldier. Quietly that night, he was awoken by her crawling onto the bed left out for him of old blankets on the floor of the storehouse. She straddled him and, undoing the buttons on his fatigues as she bit her lip, made a man out of him.

She spoke of romance, having a sweetheart away at war whilst she waited for him to return to marry her. But as they exchanged contact information, they promised to wait until the war was over. Unfortunately, after only five months, she could not wait any longer. Her heart becoming heavy with pining as he never returned to her, though he was only-'

Rachel groaned as she checked the notes scribbled onto the tatty composition book by her computer. She made the New Year's resolution that she would finally start the romance novel she had always wanted to write, despite her complete ineptness at writing as an art form. She checked the clock: it was only 8:26pm. She sighed and decided to attend Lila's New Year's party.

Rachel had moved down to Miami after taking work for the Florida Marine Parks Service to study a parasitic algae ravishing the surrounding Everglades. Lila was a bikini model she happened to meet one day at yoga. They became fast friends and inseparable. Rachel spotted her friend in a neon pink mini dress talking to a scruffy man in his late twenties.

"RACHEL!" Lila called out, dragging her friend along. "Rachel, this is Mike. I met him when went up to Orlando for Halloween. He says his buddies and he always come down to Miami for New Year's."

"Hi." Mike gave off a gentle wave. "Nice to meet you!"

"I don't want to be set up. How many times do I need to tell you that?"

"Oh, no, he's mine." Lila giggled as Mike kissed her cheek.

Rachel sat by the mass that was Lila and Mike violently making out beside her. Mike apparently knew one of the celebrities in the VIP section and managed to get the two of them behind the velvet rope.

Rachel tried as hard as she could to make small talk with the bleach blonde hotel heiress, Mercedes Wynette, hoovering up a line of cocaine beside her.

"Um...I work for the Florida Marine Parks Service."

"Cool," - sniff - "what do you do there?"

"I study algae."

"What?"

"I'm a botanist. I study the green stuff that sometimes grows on water."

"Why on earth would you want to do that?"

"I love flowers; I've always loved flowers."

"Then become a florist."

"Not in that way. I've always been interested in how plants grown and what makes them tick, well metaphorically. Very few plants actually tick."

"Whatever." Mercedes pulled Rachel to her feet. "Let's dance."

Mercedes dragged her onto the dance floor, swaying her hips as she kept reassuring Rachel to let her hair down and just have some fun.

"Just close your eyes and feel the music."

Rachel tried her hardest to let go, at least just a little bit. She shut her eyes and lightly started to find her groove in the music. She turned around as she danced on the spot, becoming a little more and more swept away by the rhythm. She reached out above her head, smiling as she opened her eyes. Then she saw him.

He was almost unrecognisable with his beard and shoulder length curls, but once she saw his piercing blue eyes, she knew instantly that it was JC. Suddenly, millions of moments from their time as lovers flashed through her head. The quiet little breakfasts, the lying around whispering sweet nothings to each other as bare as the lord made them, the hours upon hours of lovemaking. She bit her lip as she remembered his touch. She was not expecting the small smile he made when he saw her do so.

She tried as hard as she could to calmly turn away from him, making it seem like she hadn't noticed him. She awkwardly stepped to and fro as she waited for him make his way through the crowd like a shark gliding through the ocean. She gasped in shock when she finally felt his hand on her back.

"Hey, fancy seeing you here," he whispered into her ear.

"Yeah," she said with a hint of sarcasm. "Long time, no see."

"You know...I don't think I've ever seen you dance like that."

She shuddered as he ran his hand down her abdomen, pressing his hard on into the curve of her ass. "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

He chuckled. "Never change." He held her hand. "I want to show you something."

JC led Rachel out onto the balcony of his hotel suite. "You should come out here; the ocean's really pretty at night from up here."

She dropped her shoes by the balcony door. "Oh, wow." She looked over the sea, watching the moon ripple in the waves.

He lightly kissed the curve of her ear. "Do you remember us?"

"A little, yeah."

"Did you really fall out of love with me?"

"Everything was just going 1000 miles per second. I wasn't used to all of that stuff and I never was able to catch up." She intertwined her fingers with his. "Did you really dump Nikki to be with me?"

"Nah, we were already over by the time you came along. I just said it because I wanted to hurt you. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I broke your heart."

He pressed his lips to hers, feeling her body tense up.

"Can I ask you a favour?" she whispered.

"What?"

"Make love to me again, just once."

He bit his lip as he smiled, before deeply kissing her as she pulled his long-sleeved shirt up to reveal his chest.

"Holy shit..." she whispered.

"What?"

She ran her fingers over the lines of his six pack. "I never thought this would happen again."

"Have you been pining for me?"

"Sometimes..." She moaned as he kissed her again. "I can't seem to forget you."

He lifted her into his arms. "Good. I can't either."

Rachel watched as a orange line started to come over the horizon. "Hey," she whispered as JC started to stir.

"Hey."

"The sun's starting to come up."

He turned his head right, trying not to upset her lying on his chest. "I guess so."

"What happened last night?"

"I think we got a little too drunk last night, came back here, talked a little about missing each other, then brought you in here to...um..."

She giggled. "I thought so."

He slowly ran his fingers through her hair. "Can you stay with me awhile?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Yeah."

"For how long?" She softly pressed her lips to his.

"As long as you want."