“Hi!” Nick said cheerfully.

I only had a second to gape at him when I saw the look in his eye. Oh shit. That thought barely even crossed my mind before he surged forward, wrapping his arms beneath my butt, lifted me off the ground, and spun me around. “Nick! Stop!” I laughed as I lightly hit him on the back before grabbing his shoulder to keep myself from getting dizzy. “Nick, put me down!” I ordered, still laughing. He finally put my on the ground and I punched him hard on the arm. “You know I hate it when you do that.”

“All the more reason to do it,” he responded.

I rolled my eyes. “What’re you doing here? When’d you get here?”

“My plane landed about two hours ago. I wanted to surprise you and I think it’s a safe bet that I did. You should’ve seen the look on your face,” he said, laughing.

“You still didn’t answer the ‘what’re you doing here?’ question,” I pointed out.

“Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to see my favorite dancer. It gets boring talking to you over the phone so, here I am.”

This guy was making no sense at all even though he was speaking logically, in a sense. I shook my head, trying to find another question to ask. “But what about your family? Wouldn’t you want to spend time with them?”

“I would if I wasn’t about to start a tour, remember?” he lifted his eyebrows. The tour, right. Their latest CD had been released back in August and now they were doing a tour as promotion. I remember when he told me, he was super upset about the fact that he couldn’t be with his family during Christmas or New Year’s.

“Right, tour, right,” I said nodding.

“Anyway, I don’t have to get to California until Sunday, and since today’s only Thursday I figured I’d come and visit my favorite Canadian.”

I studied his face and crossed my arms over my chest. “Let me guess, the others aren’t going to be in California until Sunday and you didn’t want to be there alone.”

He looked around me. “Maybe,” he admitted.

“Hey sweetie, who’s at the door?” Dad yelled from the living room.

“No one,” I yelled back.

Nick slapped his hand to his chest. “Ouch,” he muttered.

I lightly punched him on the arm and laughed. “Shut up, ya baby. That didn’t hurt.”

“How would you know? You’re never on the receiving side of one of your punches,” he replied, rubbing his arm as he looked around. “I’m assuming I came at a bad time.”

“What makes you say that?” He motioned to the many cars that were sitting on the driveway’s hill. “Oh, yeah Lance’s sister got married here today.”

“Oh, congrats to them. So I did come at a bad time. I knew I should’ve called ahead, you’re probably busy with wedding and Christmas stuff to spend time with me,” he said sadly, looking at the ground and kicking his feet. I couldn’t help but laugh at his attempt to make me feel guilty. He was the one who decided to surprise me, not the other way around; he should’ve known that I’d be busy. But still, I couldn’t stay mad at him when he was making that face.

“It’s not a bad time, most of the people who belong to those cars are going back to the states tomorrow morning so they can spend Christmas with their families.” Oops, bad choice of words. I hated seeing that hurt look in his eyes. “It’s when the rest of the guys’ families come in that it’ll be a bad time. And, trust me; you wouldn’t want to see me stressed.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Honey if no one’s at the door why are you still standing there?” Dad called. I knew that tone in his voice, he knew what was up. If I could I would’ve flipped him off but with the eagle eyes of my Mamaw I knew that would be a bad idea.

“Uhm, I’m going to the store,” I called, grabbing my jacket and my scarf off of the hook. “I need more stuff for dinner.”

“Ok, just don’t forget your keys and your phone.”

“I won’t.” I pulled my beanie down over my head and stepped out onto the porch.

“Take someone with you,” Dad added.

I made a face. He so knew. I waited to see which of the guys, or girls, would come and join me but no one moved. Dad finally cleared his throat and Chris jumped up, running upstairs. He disappeared briefly before coming back down with a large coat and gloves. Closing the door behind us I welcomed the sting of the cold Canadian air on my cheeks.

“So this was the ‘nobody’ you were talking to,” Chris said with a grin. “Good to see you again. Your group’s record came out, right? Congrats.”

“Thanks,” Nick said with an appreciative nod. “And you’re heading back to the states once the new year rolls around, right?” Chris nodded, bending over to scoop up some snow in his hands. “Good luck.”

“I make my own luck,” Chris replied simply, rolling the snow in his hands into a ball.

“If you hit me with that–“ I warned.

“Relax, this isn’t for you.” He had a sort of sadistic smile on his face. I swore I could see little devil horns growing out of his head as we walked down the street. “This has a certain quiet boy’s name on it.”

“Lance or JC?” I questioned.

Chris paused and shrugged. “Either one will work.” I laughed but it was swallowed by the wind that was aimed towards us. I blinked and immediately felt the tears fall down my cheeks from the cold air but I welcomed it. I missed the extreme temperatures that Canada brought. It made me feel alive.

“Where are we going?” Nick yelled over the wind.

“Grocery store,” I yelled back. “I need more food for dinner.” He nodded and pulled the hood of his coat tighter over his face. I bit my lip. Should I invite him to dinner? He did come all the way out here. But the dinner’s for the people at the wedding–“Why don’t you stay for dinner? We have enough to go around.” Way to not listen to my brain.

“I don’t want to impose.”

“You wouldn’t be imposing, I actually invited you.”

“Yeah, what’s up with JC not even mentioning that his girlfriend was coming?” Chris spoke up. I turned to look at him and did a double take. His arms were full of snowballs and he seemed to have a hard time carrying them all. He would curse whenever one fell out of his arms and landed on the ground, smashing into pieces. “I mean, we let you know ahead of time when we invited our girlfriends.”

“Search me, it must’ve slipped JC’s mind,” I replied, clenching my fists at the thought. I don’t know why it bothered me so much but it did. I was so annoyed the dull pain in my side acted up again. It’s been there for a couple of days, I chalked it down to wedding planning stress and making sure everything was ready for everybody. My body acted funny under different kinds of stress. When it came to stress from school work I would get sick. When it came to stress from dancing I wouldn’t be able to sleep for hours on end. I’m just weird like that.

“Finally!” Chris sighed once we got into the grocery store. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a cart. “Hey, can I ride in the basket? Please? Please please please?” Chris begged, jumping up and down in excitement.

“Fine! Fine, get in,” I sighed.

“Yaay!” he cheered, jumping into the basket. I struggled to push the car, with the added weight it was so much harder (obviously). “C’mon, push harder!”

“I would if you didn’t weigh like a ton of bricks!” I grunted, finally able to push the cart a few inches before it moved easier. I looked over at Nick about to ask him a question when I saw the pout on his face. “What?”I laughed.

He slumped as if all of the energy in his body left him. “I don’t want to shop.”

I shook my head. “Men. I told you I needed some more food.”

Nick shrugged. “I thought you were lying just to get out of the house to see me.”

I fought the urge to laugh. He was acting like such a little kid right now. “Well, we’re here now. Might as well get over it.” He groaned. I grabbed his arm and pulled him behind me. “Come on, stop being such a man.”

“I am a man, in case you haven’t noticed.”

I felt my lips twitch. “I’ve noticed.”

Twenty minutes later I found myself rubbing my temples as I tried not to go off on Chris. Stupidly I let him get some ice cream for dessert but now he was having trouble figuring out which flavor, brand, and price to choose from. His face was pressed against the window that separated him from the ice cream. I’m surprised it didn’t melt under his hot breath. I rested my arms against the handle of the cart, trying not to move too much. The pain in my side intensified a bit as well as my annoyance.

“Chris!” I finally cried out. “Pick something!”

“I don’t know which one to choose,” he responded. “This one’s Chocolate but this one’s Chocolate-y.”

“What’s the difference?” I all but growled.

“The ‘y’,” Nick pointed out with a teasing smile.

“Stuff it.” I tried to hide the smile that was on my face but he caught it. I tore my gaze away from him and stomped over to the freezer. “We can get both, ok? Anything that’ll make you hurry up!” I grabbed the two ice creams and turned around. I lifted my eyebrow at the sight of Nick signing some autographs for a few girls. One of them, a blond, had said something to him and he blushed. I shook my head and threw the two containers of ice cream into the cart.

“Hey! You almost hit my happy place,” Chris commented, moving some of the food around him. “Do you not want me to have kids?”

“Sorry,” I muttered, grabbing the cart handle and struggled to turn it around.

“I can push if it’s too heavy,” Nick said from behind me.

“I got it,” I replied through clenched teeth.

“No, really, you’re going to strain something if you keep trying to move the cart.” I ignored him and felt my feet sliding against the floor a little. I stopped altogether when he rested his hand on top of mine. “You’ve done a lot all ready, let me do this.” I didn’t respond, I just stared at his hand. It was considerably bigger than mine (well, I’m not that big) and warm. Really warm. I blinked and looked up when Chris cleared his throat and felt heat rise up my neck as I snatched my hand away and let him push. “Stop looking at me like that,” I hissed.

“You fascinate me lately,” he said, shrugging. He waited until Nick was out of earshot before continuing. “I mean, when I first met you you were only fourteen. A cute little fourteen-year-old with a big mouth, a big ego, and big dreams. Now, only two years later, you turn red when a boy touches your hand. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s wrong with you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” I responded, shaking my head.

“Oh yes there is, but it’s not a bad thing,” he said with a big smile. He kinda looked like a jack-o-lantern, his smile was so big. All you’d have to do was stick a candle on his tongue and paint his face Oompa Loompa orange and we’d be there. “You, my dear, have a crush.”

I actually laughed out loud. “Your funny, Chris. That was one of your better jokes.” I shook my head.

“I’m not joking. Mackenzie, I have a bunch of sisters, remember? I know when one of them is crushing on a boy and you, little missy, are displaying all the signs of a crush,” Chris replied.

“Don’t call me little missy again,” I said as I rubbed my side, lightly putting pressure on the spot where the pain was coming from. It helped a bit but as soon as I moved my hand it got worse and I grabbed my side. I took a deep breath in through my nose and let it out slowly through my mouth. Geeze, I really need to relax.

“Don’t change the subject,” Chris said in a warning tone.

“What’re you going to do? Lecture me to death?” I asked sarcastically. “Anyway, you’re more twisted than a twizzler in a tornado if you think I have a crush on him.” Yes, my southern accent was included. Nowadays it seems that I have a blend of both my Canadian and Southern accent and depending on my mood or where I am one overpowers the other. Weird, eh?

“I’m not the one in denial, which, by the way, is the first stage of a crush.”

I clenched my hands into fists resisting the urge to punch him in the face to get him to shut up. I was under enough stress all ready, I didn’t need this. What I needed was to get back to the house and finish dinner before the reception and before Mamaw interrogated all of my friends. Gosh, I wish this stomach ache would go away. I was about to say something to him when I felt pain exploding in my side. I made a grunting noise and grabbed onto the area near my hip.

This was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. It felt like my insides were burning a hole through my abdomen and was throbbing in time with my heart beat. Tears fell down my cheeks from the pain as I struggled to get a breath in. the pain was so intense I stopped breathing for a second. Through my blurry eyes I could see the concerned look on Chris’s face.

“Mack? Are you ok?” he asked in alarm, jumping out of the cart, spilling some items onto the ground as I fell to my knees. He grabbed onto my shoulders. “Mack? Mack, what’s wrong?”

“It…it hurts,” I managed to gasp as I fell to the ground in fetal position, my arms holding my stomach. “Owwww, Chris, it hurts so bad!”

“What? What hurts?” Chris demanded. I motioned towards my stomach and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus on anything else but the pain. “Your stomach? Your stomach hurts?” I managed to nod. “How much?” Honestly, what kind of fucking stupid question was that? I’m on the ground in freaking fetal position and he asks how bad? Men.

“Chris? What’s going on? What happened?” Nick’s voice. He sounds so concerned…

“I don’t know, she just complained about her stomach hurting and fell over. It hurts bad enough that she can’t talk well.” No shit. “She’s running a fever. I think…I think its appendicitis. Call 911, quick!” Whoa, when’d it get so hot in here? Oh man, it sounds like I’m under water, I can barely hear them. What’s happening to me? What’s going on? I want my Daddy! I want Justin! Someone help me!

“Come on, pick up!” Nick muttered, pacing, biting his thumb nail. He let out a growl of frustration and jabbed the end call button before dialing another number. He started pacing around the waiting area as doctors and nurses moved around him. “Oh, AJ, finally,” he said breathlessly.

“What’s going on, Nicky? Did some fans find your house again?” AJ asked with a laugh in his voice.

Nick made a face. Because of the fans finding out where he lived he and his ad ended up having to build a fence around their property to keep them out. He didn’t understand why their devotion was so big that they needed to know where he lived. He was flattered by the attention but they were just regular guys, not some Gods. “No. I’m in Canada, actually.”

“Canada, why?”

“Um, it was a stop over to California?” Nick tried,

AJ laughed a mocking laugh. “Yeah right, Nicky, you went to see Dancer, or who you affectionately call Dimples, am I right?” he didn’t give Nick time to answer. “Of course I am because you loooove her.”

“I don’t love her,” Nick snapped. He was tired of AJ getting on his case. They were just friends; he could be friends with a girl couldn’t he? There was no law against it.

“But you like her.”

“No, I don’t. I mean, she’s someone to talk to,” Nick muttered, running a hand through his hair.

“Good, because you know if you fall for her it’ll mess everything up and I’ve worked too hard for you to mess this up for us, Nicky Boy,” AJ growled into Nick’s ear. Nick swallowed the lump in his throat and let out a shaky breath. “And you know the consequences if any of this get out, right?”

“Yeah.” Nick’s voice came out shaky. He hated the power that AJ had over him but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. “I…AJ, why are you doing this? Frick and Kevin are fine with ‘N Sync being around. Howie’s even gotten over it. You’re the only one still pissed. Why?”

AJ stayed silent on his end until he finally spoke. “Listen, Nicky, stay the fuck out of my business! I can do what I want when I want and I want you to win Dancer over and don’t put any strings in the way, got it?”

Nick squeezed his eyes shut. “I…I don’t want to do this for you anymore, AJ. I don’t.”

“Fine. I can just get Lou over there, I’m sure he’d love to hear that you’re wasting your time before tour shoving food into your mouth and getting fatter.”

Nick frowned and lightly placed a hand on his stomach. He couldn’t deny that he was starting to plump up in the middle. “I’m not getting fat,” he sighed.

“Lou would see it my way,” AJ said in a taunting voice.

“If you hate ‘N Sync being our rivals and all why aren’t you doing anything about Mack, huh? She’s the one joining our label, you know.”

“Oh, I know, but she’s not competition,” AJ replied slowly as if talking to a kindergartener. “Remember, Nick, get this done or I’ll talk to Lou and I know you wouldn’t want that.” He laughed. “Actually, I heard he was on his way to Canada right now to check on her.”

Nick’s breath got caught in his throat as his palms started to sweat. “Wh…what?”

“You heard me. I wonder how he’ll react seeing you there. Good luck explaining yourself.” AJ laughed before hanging up. Nick stared at his phone in horror and swallowed hard. “Oh shit,” he muttered.

I wrinkled my nose at the odd medicine-y smell that reached my nose. Last I checked the grocery store smelled more like fabric softener, at least that’s what the aisle I was in smelled like. I blinked and slowly opened my eyes. Through the blurs I saw random colored lights floating around. What the hell? Aliens? I blinked again and lifted my head a bit, letting out a breath when I saw that it was Christmas lights hung around the room. I tried to sit up but let out a grunt of pain in my abdomen. Oh yeah, it felt like my insides exploded before. I must be at the hospital, I recognize that smell. But why am I here? I grabbed the little remote on my bed and pushed a button. The pain wasn’t that bad as the bed moved up so I could see. There were bodies around the room. The Christmas lights weren’t that bright but they were bright enough that I could see.

I turned my head to my left and saw JC sleeping in a chair. He’s going to feel that when he wakes up. He was half in the chair half on the floor; a book was open, pages down, on his chest. I leaned over a bit to see what it was. Chicken Soup for the Soul, my favorite. I scanned the rest of the room and saw Lance sleeping with his phone in his hand, Joey and Kelly were sharing a cot, Chris was sleeping with his back resting up against the wall with Danielle’s head in his lap, and Mom and Dad were sleeping on another cot. I searched for Mike, my mom’s boyfriend, but didn’t see him. Maybe he felt uncomfortable or something, I reasoned. Turning my head to the right I saw Rachael sleeping sideways in her chair, a blanket covering her.

I looked down when I felt pressure on my hand and smiled. Justin was sleeping in the chair next to me, he was leaning forward so his head rested on the side of my bed and he held my right hand in both of his hands. His fingers twitched slightly in his sleep before relaxing.

I looked down and that’s when I noticed the IV sticking in the back of my hand covered in tape. I looked around and saw the machines I was hooked up to and the little clamp that was on my finger. Suddenly everything, everyone felt close, too close. All of a sudden, I felt a tremendous wave of fear for no reason at all. My heart was pounding, my chest hurt, and it was getting harder to breathe.

“Get…get it out!” I muttered, yanking my hand out of Justin’s grip and started scratching at the IV in the back of my other hand. “Get it out! Get this thing outta me! Get it out! Get it out!” I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe; I gotta get out of here! “Get me out! Get me out!”

Shuffling, groans, and yawns filled the air along with a thud and a curse before a light flickered on. Justin sat up and rubbed his eyes and I shoved my hand in his face. “Get it out, please! Get it out of me!” I managed to get out of my mouth as I tried to get my breath. My throat was closing, my chest hurt so badly. Oh my god, was I having a heart attack?

“You gotta calm down,” Justin said over the sound of the beeping machine by my head and my loud gasps of air. He grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eye. “Mackie, you have to calm down. Ok? You’re fine. Take deep breaths.” I tried to take a breath in but it came out as a weird sucking sound. “Come on, you can do it, just take a deep breath and then let it out slowly. There you go, now do it again. Good.”

Suddenly the crushing weight on my chest went away and my breathing went back to normal. I glanced at the door when it opened and a doctor walked in.

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” he said with a kind smile as he walked over to me side. Justin backed out of his way and I kept an eye on him. “You have a wonderful support system,” he commented, looking around the room as the others slowly woke up. “My names Dr. Cartwright. Do you know why you’re here?”

I shook my head. “I remember…being in the grocery store and my stomach hurting. That’s it.” I shrugged.

“Well, your stomach hurting was actually appendicitis,” he replied. I lifted my eyebrows. “The pain you were feeling was bacteria coming through the dying wall of your appendix. We took a look at it to make sure if we had to take it out via a small hole or a large open area and we found that it had ruptured.”

That didn’t sound good. “Meaning?” I questioned.

“You actually had been walking around with a ruptured appendix for a couple of days from the look of it.” He actually smiled. “You must have a very high pain tolerance if you could walk around with a ruptured appendix.”

“That doesn’t explain why it feels like all of my energy has sucked out of me with a vacuum,” I mumbled.

“Yes, well, your body is weak from fighting the infection you acquired. You’re fine now. For the next couple of days take it easy. I’m going to prescribe some antibiotics for you to fight off any traces of the infection that are left. Don’t do anything strenuous for the next couple of weeks, if you feel any pain at all take some painkillers, but no more than two at one time and no more than six in one day. Try not to do much that stretches your stomach muscles, it’ll run a risk of your stitches ripping open.”

“Then…I can’t dance.” It all came rushing at me at once. “And…and I can’t play soccer. And I can’t do gymnastics. And I can’t rollerblade. And I can’t–”

“Let’s just focus on what you can do, sweetie,” Charlotte interrupted me.

“How long have I been here?” I questioned.

“About four hours,” Joey responded from where he was sitting. “The surgery went by pretty fast; it’s just that the anesthesia hadn’t worn off until a few minutes ago.”

“But…but the reception dinner? I didn’t get everything done! Awww, man that means the reception’s gonna be pushed back and everything.”

“Don’t worry, Mamaw took care of it. We flew Lynn in to help us out,” Philippe said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I leaned back against the bed and stared hard at the wall. “I can’t do anything,” I muttered. “I just have to sit around and do nothing?” Charlotte nodded. “I can’t sit around and do nothing! I have to do something!”

“The doctor said you have to take it slow for a bit, until you get your strength back,” JC said. “If that means we have to tie you down to your bed, you’re going to follow his rules.”

I sighed. “Can I go now? I want to go home. I want to see Little J and Oreo.”

“As soon as we talk to the doctor you’re cleared to go. In the meantime you can get changed.”

The guys instantly got up, gave me hugs, and left the room. “Oooh, I hate this.”

“Cheer up, Mackers, now you get to boss the boys around,” Rachael commented.

I grinned at the thought as a nurse came in and took the IV out of my hand. Once I was cleared I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I tried to stand but fell backwards onto the bed in a rush of dizziness. “It’s going to take me a bit to get used to that,” I commented as Kelley and Danielle raced to my side and helped me stand. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Kelley said as she held onto my arm as I reached down to grab my bag of clothes that was left by the bed. “Hey, close the blinds and Danni, guard the door. She’s not going to be able to make it to the bathroom. Rachael swiftly closed the blinds as Danielle closed the door and leaned against it. I said thanks again and quickly changed into my street clothes.

“So where’s JC’s new Barbie doll?” Rachael asked casually.

“Back at the house I’m guessing,” Kelley said as she helped me keep my balance.

“By how much she’s attached to his hip I’m surprised she’s not here.”

“Well, she doesn’t know Mack so…” Danielle pointed out. She paused. “You have a point though.”

“What? She’s clingy or something?” I questioned.

“As clingy as an octopus,” Rachael said dryly. “I’ve never seen anyone that attached before. It’s disgusting. How JC deals with it is beyond me.”

“Hey, if he cares for her that’s all that matters,” Kelley pointed out. Rachael shook her head. “Speaking of, that Nick guy’s in the waiting room.”

“How come he didn’t come in here and wait like you guys?” I questioned, somewhat hurt.

“He said he needed to call someone. I guess he doesn’t feel comfortable around us or something,” Danielle. “I wonder why.”

“Probably because your boyfriend is all over the place all the time,” I responded. She lifted her eyebrows. “It’s not a bad thing; he’s just…in your face a lot. He’s a big kid, how about that? He’s a big kid. Don’t kill me,” I said to her glare. She chuckled and shook her head.

“You just got surgery, I’ll let it slide.”

“Ok, if all of you guys are going to be walking on egg shells around me I’m going to make these next couple of days hell for all of you, Christmas or no Christmas,” I wanted them.

“I’d love to see that, too bad we have to go back home,” Kelley pouted.

“Yeah, I wonder why you’re leaving me with a bunch of idiots,” I muttered. Kelley and Danielle lifted their eyebrows at me. “Whom… I love!” I added.

“Nice save,” Rachael said sarcastically.

“Shut up.”

Kelley stood by my side and helped walk me to the door. Now I know why Joey loves her so much, she’s so selfless. Really she doesn’t know me but she’s willing to take her time to help me out. Joey picked a great woman. Chris did too, Danni’s pretty funny and she knows how to deal with Chris so he has that going for him.

We finally made it to the waiting area of the hospital and I collapsed into a chair out of exhaustion. I don’t know how I was going to get up the stairs to my house if I could barely walk down a freakin’ hallway.

“Hey,” Nick said softly as he walked over to me, his hands shoved into his pockets. “Are you ok?”

“As ok as someone can be after getting their appendix ripped out,” I replied. “Doctor’s say I can’t dance or do anything strenuous for a while. Translated, I can’t do anything for a few days.”

“You’re going to go stir crazy without being able to do anything,” he commented.

“Yeah, well…” I muttered, shrugging, turning away from him.

“Um, I was really worried,” he said, sitting down in the seat next to me. I turned to him and he nodded. “I didn’t know if you had a disease that you were dying from or something.”

“I might as well be dead. Not being able to dance is killing me,” I said with a sigh.

“I wouldn’t want you dead?”

“You’d miss me?”

“I’d miss having someone to talk to, yeah.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” I pointed out. His cheeks tinged red and he was about to say something when Mom came back, announcing that we could leave. She has bad timing sometimes. As I stood I noticed Dad rubbing his arm a bit.

“Did you hit your arm?” I asked him as he came to my side, helping me stand.

“No, I had to get some blood drawn,” he replied.

“Oh? Why?”

“Haven’t had a check up in a while. That’s all.”

I would’ve believed him if he looked at me while saying that.