October 1st, 1995

Orlando, Florida

“Hi,” Lance said, giving a wave of his hand before sliding them into his pants pockets. “So…you’ve been in the band for a while, then?”

“Chris has been in it the longest,” Justin replied, jerking his thumb towards Chris. He then reached over and smacked the basketball out from underneath Chris’s arm. He bounced it a few times before he spun the ball on his finger. “He made the group. He was close to getting into the Backstreet Boys.”

“Wow,” Lance said. He wasn’t sure who the Backstreet Boys were; something about the same sounded very familiar to him, but to have missed out on one boy band and then start another was pretty impressive. He must be really good, then.

“That’s how I first met Lou, anyway,” Chris said with a shrug. He watched as Justin turned to take a shot at the basket. It bounced off the backboard and into the net. Justin grinned, punching the air with his fists. “He formed the Backstreet Boys and now he’s doing the same with us. Well, actually, he said he’d make another group for me as long as I found the members. Joey, Joey Fatone, and I both worked at Universal and we hung out a couple of times. Lou found Justin through some tapes. He was on the Mickey Mouse Club, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Lance replied, looking over at Justin. Justin gave a half smile before jogging after the basketball that rolled across the gravel driveway. “So, it’s you and Justin, and Joey-“

“And JC,” Justin replied, jogging back over to them, bouncing the basketball at his feet. He started sliding his legs back and forth, bouncing the basketball between them. “He was on MMC with me, too.” He then held the ball between his hands and slapped the side of it with his right hand. “We’ve been waitin’ for ya, dude.”

“But, no pressure,” Chris added, shoving Justin’s shoulder. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Joey and JC.” He waved for Lance to follow him and he couldn’t help but feel relieved. It really was more hot and humid in Orlando, then in Clinton. He didn’t think he could’ve ever been prepared for it. As he followed Chris into the house, he let out a sigh of relief as a blast of cold air hit his face. “Hey, Joey!”

“WHAT?”

Lance heard a shout in reply. Chris suddenly changed directions, nearly causing Lance to walk right into him. Lance tried to look at everything around him, trying to see where each hall went, what each picture on the walls entailed, what the overall layout of the house was. He didn’t know if this would be the last time he’d be able to see everything. He wanted to remember it for the rest of his life.

“Lance is here!” Chris shouted back.

“Ah, fresh meat!”

Lance blinked, taken aback by the response. He looked over at Chris, who laughed lightly, rolling his eyes, before he rounded another corner and they were in the kitchen. A boy, who Lance could assume was Joey Fatone, was standing at the island, smoothing a glob of mayonnaise on a slice of sandwich bread.

“Hey,” Joey said with a tip of his head in Lance’s direction. “I’m Joey Fatone.”

“Lance,” Lance replied, nodding in reply.

“Yeah, I know,” Joey said with a half smile. “You’re our saving grace, dude.”He and Chris laughed. “Dude, this guy had just signed onto the band before deciding that this wasn’t he wanted to do.”

“His loss,” Chris said with a shrug before clapping Lance on the back. Lance coughed, startled at the sudden hit to his back. He cleared his throat as Justin came into the room. He slipped past Chris and Lance and hurried by Joey, grabbing a handful of grapes off of Joey’s plate.

“Hey!” Joey cried, swatting at Justin’s curly head as he rushed by him.

“What?” Justin asked around a mouthful of grapes. He tried to smile, his cheeks puffed up, and managed a tight lipped smile. Some grape juice dribbled down his chin and he started to laugh, trying to chew at the same time before wiping at his mouth with the back of his arm. He breathed in and out of his nose as he chewed. “I’m hungry.”

“So’m I,” Joey muttered, reaching for one of the last few grapes on his plate.

“You’re always hungry,” Chris said with a shake of his head.

“Actually, I’m Italian, asshole,” Joey replied. He tried to keep a straight face, but as Justin let out a loud bark of laughter, after swallowing his mouthful of grapes, he pressed his lips together, trying to stop himself from smiling. He only lost it when Chris started to laugh, too. Lance felt a smile come to his face as he watched the three of them laughing together.

“Hey, what’s going on in here?” Lance turned to see a tall boy with dark hair and dark eyes, looking rather tired, make his way into the kitchen, running his hand through his hair.

“Hey, C,” Justin said with a greeting before he gave a teasing smile, “we’re celebrating that you’re actually up earlier than you need to be.” That earned another laugh from Joey and Chris. “Why so cranky?”

“Hard not to be when you’re all in here acting like a bunch of monkeys,” ‘C’ replied, running a hand over his face.

“Ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh, ahh,” Chris screeched, pretending to scratch at his sides and head, jumping from foot to foot, acting like a monkey. Lance felt himself giving a loud laugh at Chris’s antics, instantly catching JC’s attention.

“C, this is Lance,” Joey said, using the knife in his hand to point at Lance. “Lance, that’s JC Chasez.”

“Nice to meet you,” JC said, offering his hand towards Lance. Lance put his hand into JC’s larger one, and returned his enthusiastic hand shake. “It’s nice to have you here.”

“Thank you,” Lance replied, “it’s nice to meet all of you.” He looked around at the four boys as JC moved to take a seat at the one of the stools surrounding the island. Chris and Justin went to sit around the island as well. Lance hovered behind them, watching the four of them interact, trying to mentally put himself into the group.

Hold on, Lance, you’re not in the group yet, Lance reminded himself and he raked his fingers through his hair before he started to chew on his bottom lip. You still have to sing. Lance hummed to himself as quietly as her could, keeping his song, the melody, and the lyrics fresh in his mind. Don’t get too comfortable, you could still be going home.

He watched as Chris, Justin, and JC started picking off of Joey’s plate, as he tried to swat their hands away so he could eat. He watched as it quickly turned into a game between them, all laughing as Joey tied to slap at their hands as if it was an arcade game.

Their laughter mixed in with each other and Lance could see just how close they were with each other, despite how short a time they were all together. He could only hope that if he were accepted into the group, they’d accept him just as easily.

“So, how long have you been singing for?” Joey asked after his laughter died down after giving Chris a loud smack on the top of his hand. Chris was laughing, waving his stinging hand in the air as JC and Justin loudly, “Ohhhh-ed” before they laughed as well, hunched over the countertop.

“Um, since I was a kid, I guess,” Lance replied, blinking, realizing that Joey was talking to him. “I used to put on shows with my sister, Stacey.”

“Is she hot?” Chris suddenly asked. He seemed to cower in his spot when Joey, Chris, and Justin all shouted in unison, “Chris!” His eyes widened slightly before he grinned. “It was just a question.”

Lance stopped for a brief moment to think about it. He didn’t think he had ever called any girl “hot”. Words like, “beautiful”, “pretty”, and “cute” came to mind and were easily on the tip of his tongue when put in the position to compliment a girl, but never “hot”. That wasn’t to say he hadn’t ever heard anyone else ever refer to a girl as that way. He just had never been entirely comfortable with it.

“I’ve been singing for a while,” Lance continued, ignoring Chris’s question. “I was a part of Showstoppers and Attaché back home, so I’ve had some touring experience, too.” He prepared himself for more questions about girls, and was slightly surprised when they didn’t come.

“Where is home for you?” JC asked, turning to face Lance.

“Clinton, Mississippi,” Lance replied.

“We’ve got another Southern boy, eh?” Chris asked, punching Justin on the arm. He then threw his hands into the air. “Praise the lord!”

“Shut up,” Justin said, punching Chris back. He then turned in his seat and gave Lance a warm smile, one of which he returned. That gave him some comfort, it wasn’t exactly someone who came from his home, but to have someone else who would have, potentially a similar upbringing as him gave him some comfort.

A pang of homesickness suddenly hit him straight in the middle of his chest. He let out a sigh through his nose as he slid his hands into his pockets. I wonder what they’re doing right now, he thought to himself as he thought about his friends and his family. A part of him wished that he was at home, but he knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that they were all supporting him.

He was happy to have his mom with him, but he also wished his dad and Stacey could be there, too. But, with both of their jobs (his dad working in the hospital lab and Stacey having had to prepare to get back to school soon) it would’ve been hard for them to drop everything to travel with him.

“Oh, guys, we’ve got to get going,” JC said as he looked at his watch before clapping his hands together. “Robin’s waiting for us.” He then grabbed Justin’s shirt collar, stopping him from rushing off. “And I know how eager you are to get back to basketball, but try not to goof off so much in the studio this time.”

“Come on, C,” Justin said in almost a whine. He twisted back and forth to try and free himself from JC’s grasp. “You’re so serious all the time, recording should be fun.”

“I do have fun recording,” JC said as he released Justin who hurried off. Chris followed after him, and Joey was right behind him, quickly finishing up his sandwich. JC turned towards Lance, putting a hand on his shoulder, ushering him out of the room. “Robin Wiley’s our vocal coach, you’ll like her. She’s really good at what she does. From what we’ve heard about you from Bob, she’s really excited to be working with you, to see how you sound with the rest of us.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait,” Lance said.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” JC said as he removed his hand from Lance’s shoulder, peering over at him. “Bob’s said good things about you. If he personally suggested you, then you must be great. Just take a deep breath and relax. That’s all that matters.” He then crossed his arms over his chest. “We know you may be nervous; we just want you to do your best, Lance.”

“Thanks,” Lance replied. He then took in a deep breath of air before slowly letting it out through his nose. He did this a couple more times before following JC through a door, leading into a recording studio. This is it, Lance. You’re finally here.

“You must be Lance.” Lance turned when he heard a female voice and saw a woman with wavy brown hair sitting at a piano. Justin, Joey, and Chris were all standing around the piano. JC gave Lance a smile before joining the four boys. “I’m Robin; Robin Wiley.”

“Robin is a singer, song writer, and arranger,” Lou said as he walked into the room with Lynn and Diane. Diane gave Lance a small wave and he smiled at her. “She was the vocal coach on MMC, and has also been working with the boys.”

“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” Lance said as he took her hand, giving it a firm shake.

“’Ma’am’,” Robin repeated, turning to look at the boys around the piano. “See, here’s someone with some respect.” She gave them a teasing smile before looking back over at Lance. “It’s a breath of fresh air, really.”

“You know we love you, Rob,” Joey said, throwing a wink her way. Robin rolled her eyes, but she had a smile on her face.

“Well, Lance, we’ll just go through some warm ups, and then we’ll let you sing,” Robin said with a warm smile, clapping her fingers together. “Justin, let’s start with you.”

“Sure thing,” Justin replied with a bright smile, rapping his knuckles on the piano.

Joey, Chris, and JC moved to take a seat on the couch at the side of the room. Lance followed  the boys over to the couch and sat down in the last spot, dodging the elbows from the other boys as they all tried to fight for their own personal space on the couch. They all stopped what they were doing as soon as Robin started playing chords on the piano.

Lance listened as each of the boys took their turns warming up. Joey took the time to explain to Lance, their different vocal ranges each of the boys had and they were all impressive. Justin had a two-octave alto ranger, something at 14 years old seemed unfathomable to Lance. Joey was a baritone, being the closest in range to his own bass range, JC was a midrange tenor, and could hit four octaves. But, the most impressive was Chris. He was a countertenor, but you would never have known he naturally sang that high just by listening to him talk.

“Alright, Lance, your turn.”

Just breathe, Lance. You’ve done this hundreds of times, Lance thought to himself as he and Chris traded places. Chris clapped him on the shoulder as he passed the older man. Lance gave a brief smile before standing up beside the piano. He briefly glanced over at his mom and watched as he exchanged smiles with Lynn.

“Alright, just take a deep breath,” Robin said giving Lance an encouraging smile. “Here we go.” Lance moved through the vocal runs, warming up his voice and vocal chords for his audition. As he sang the last note of the scale, Robin gave a slight nod of her head. “Good. You were on the verge of being a little pitchy when we got to the end of your vocal range, but that was good.”

“What song do you have prepared for us, Lance?” Lou asked, shifting in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I have Old Man River prepared, sir,” Lance replied. Lou’s eyebrows shot up, his lips twitching into a brief smile before waving his hand in the air.

“You may start whenever you’re ready,” he replied.

Lance nodded his head, briefly closing his eyes, letting out a breath of air. He then opened his mouth and started to sing. “Ol' man river, dat ol' man river, he mus'know sumpin', but don't say nuthin',” Lance sang in a slow, and steady voice. He watched as JC’s eyes widen slightly. Justin’s eyebrows shot up, and both Chris and Joey shared smiles. “He jes'keeps rollin', he keeps on rollin' along.”

Lance continued through the song, closing his eyes, allowing his emotions to move through his body, kicking out his nerves. It was his four minutes to shine, to show JC, Justin, Joey, and Chris what it was tha he had to offer them and that he wasn’t wasting their time or his own. It was his four minutes to show his mom that this was what he knew he was meant to be doing with his life.

As he held out the last note, he couldn’t help but smile. Robin’s face was a look of shock and excitement. She stared at him for a moment before shuffling around all the papers that sat on top of the piano, before looking at the cluttered book shelf sitting near her. “That was great, Lance,” Robin said as she continued to search . ”JC, Justin, Chris, Joey, if you could stand by Lance for me please. I want to try something with all of you.”

“She sounds excited,” Joey whispered into Lance’s ear as he moved to stand to his left, JC on his right. “Great job, dude. That was awesome.”

“Thanks,” Lance replied, giving Joey a smile.

“Ah ha!” Robin said with a smile as she found what she was looking for. She handed the boys their own copies of what Lance could see was sheet music. “I want you all to sing this. We’ll run some harmonies to get a feel for each other’s voices, but I’ve had this arrangement for this band for a while, I was just waiting for that perfect voice to put it all together.” She stopped to give Lance a wide smile, her eyes sparkling. “And I think we’ve got it.”

“The Star Spangled Banner,” Chris said, reading the song title out loud.

Lance looked down at his part in his hands and saw that he wasn’t really doing anything vocally challenging with his part. He was relieved about that nevertheless. He had sang the national anthem dozens of times before, and was always comfortable with his part, so it was nice to know he was singing something he already knew.

Robin sat back down on the piano bench before leading the boys through warm ups before having them sing through the national anthem. Lance tried hard to focus on his own part of the song, but he could feel goosebumps raise on his arms as he heard his voice mix in with the other boys. Stares to the pages in their hands turned into smiles at each other as they sang.

When they got to the last note, Lance looked over at his mom and saw that she had tears in her eyes. Lynn patted her hand as she reached up a hand to brush the tears from her eyes. Diane then reached into her purse and retrieved a tissue, wiping at her eyes before she gave what Lance could assume was bruise-inducing clapping.

“Wow,” Lou said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I think we’ve found our bass singer,” Robin said as she dropped her hands into her lap.

“Holy shit, dude,” Chris said, grasping onto Lance’s shoulders, shaking him. “I didn’t know you could sing like that.”

“Welcome to the group, Lance,” JC said, offering his hand.

“Don’t jinx it, man,” Chris said, playfully shoving JC. “He hasn’t even signed the contract yet.”

“Lou would be crazy to let him go,” Justin said with a shake of his head. “He’s as good as in.” He also offered his hand to Lance. “Great job.”

“Thanks,” Lance said. His cheeks were starting to ache with all of his smiling. As soon as he was able to get a break, he moved over to his mom and gave her a tight hug. “How was it?”

“Wonderful, dear, just wonderful,” Diane replied, taking Lance’s face in her hands before she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Oh, I wish your father could be here to see this. He’ll be so proud of you.” She then clasped her hands in front of her mouth.”Oh, honey, it was just wonderful.”

“Why are you crying, mom?” Lance asked, reaching out a hand to brush away the tears in the corner of her eye.

“I’m happy for you, Lance,” Diane replied.”My baby’s going on to bigger and better things.” She sniffed. “I just know that you won’t be coming home for a while, that’s all.”

“Aw, mom.” Lance gave his mom a kiss on the cheek.

“This calls for a celebration,” Lou said getting to his feet. “I’d like to invite you all out for dinner tonight, on me of course, in honor of Lance Bass joining *NSYNC.” Lance made a face at what he presumed to be the band’s name. He looked over at Joey, who mouthed ‘I’ll explain later’ and gave a brief nod of his head. “I’ll give you all plenty of time to freshen up as well as to allow Lance and his mom some time to rest.”

“Thank you, Mr. Pearlman,” Diane replied, dabbing at her eyes before taking Lynn’s hand, gently squeezing it. “And thank you, Ms. Harless.”

“Please, call me Lynn,” Lynn replied with a warm smile, “and it was my pleasure. I’ll see you later, dear.”

Lance gently took his moms hand, looping it through his arm, placing his hand on top of hers before leading her out of the room. “So, what do you think, mom?” he asked.

“I think it’s a good thing I brought you out here,” Diane replied, sniffing. “You really looked like you found your place up there, sweetie.” She gently squeezed his arm. “So, what are the boys like? Do you think you’ll fit in?”

“Well, Chris is pretty laid back and easy going,” Lance said, thinking back to when he first met the boys, “he seemed to want to have me feel comfortable around everybody as soon as I got here. Justin seems to be really cool, and he knows he is. Hard to imagine he’s this young and so talented. Joey is really outgoing and friendly, and JC seems to be the serious type.” He was silent for a moment. “Yeah, mom, I think I’ll fit in.”

“Good,” Diane replied with a smile.”Once we get back to the hotel we can call home and tell them the good news.”

 October 3rd, 1995

Clinton, Mississippi

Annaleigh stared up at the clock as it slowly ticked down the seconds until the school day was over. She felt a poke in her side and turned towards Jasmine who was sitting at the desk beside her. Jasmine lifted her notebook to show her drawing of their science teacher as he droned on and on and on about whatever it was they were covering in Biology. There was a cartoon bubble over it that had the words, “Blah, blah, blah” written in it.

The picture made the teacher looked more like a walrus, which wasn’t too far off from his physical stature. With his large, bushy mustache that hung off the sides of his mouth, and being on the more round side, “Walrus” was one of the nicer names Mr. Kline was called by the students.

Annaleigh laughed as quietly as she could, turning back towards the front of the room. She, and the rest of her classmates, groaned when Mr. Kline’s chalk squeaked across the blackboard as he scrawled down their notes. She felt another prod in her side, seconds later, and turned her head to see Jasmine holding up her notebook, pointing at a spot with her pen. Annaleigh squinted, at the notebook before reached for her glasses, which were folded at the corner of her desk. She reached for it and unfolded the arms, sliding them onto her nose.

What do you think Lance is doing right now?

Annaleigh reached for her pen and quickly scribbled on her notebook with her slanted writing. She then held it up for Jasmine to see.

Dunno. Haven’t heard from him in a couple days.

She chalked it up to him being so busy. It wasn’t hard to find a good time to call what with Orlando only being an hour ahead of them. She could only assume that he had done well if he was still in Orlando, but the other side of her could imagine that if he hadn’t gotten into the group, he would at least spend some time in Orlando as a bit of a vacation.

Jasmine gave a half smile and a shrug before facing the front of the room. Annaleigh did the same before drawing a line over her notebook before she started taking down the notes. She finished just as the bell rang and she gave a small sigh of relief as she started to pack up her things.

“You want to come over?” Annaleigh asked Jasmine as she gathered her books to shove into her backpack. “Soccer was cancelled today.”

“Can’t; I have dance,” Jasmine replied with a shake of her head. She slid her arms into her backpack and gathered her hair up into her hands to remove it from the space between her backpack and her back. “What about this weekend? We can go see Babe, it’s still in theaters.”

“I’ve dyin’ to see that,” Annaleigh said as she joined the line of students making their way out of the classroom. Mr. Kline was standing at the door, passing out their recent tests. “Depends on my grade, though.” She nodded towards the front of the room. “Mom and dad say if I bring home another bad grade from Mr. Kline, then I’m grounded for the rest of my life. Or so they say, they’ve been threatenin’ me with that ever since I broke mom’s vase when we decided ta play golf in the house.”

“Who decided to play golf in the house?” Jasmine asked with a scoff, her eyebrows shooting up.

“Alright, alright, so it wasn’ one of my bright ideas,” Annaleigh replied with a roll of my eyes, leaning up against the desk behind her. “It wasn’ as bad as my super hero phase, though, you have to admit.” She then rubbed at her left wrist. “I wouldnt have fallen out of that tree if you hadn’ gone to get my mom. Her shoutin’ is what startled me.”

“Hey, I was tryna to stop you from breakin’ your neck,” Jasmine said with a bark of laughter, shoving her shoulder. “You woulda missed that mattress, you know you woulda. Thinkin’ you were Wonder Woman and all. That was so stupid.”

“Yeah, I know that now,” Annaleigh replied with a roll of her eyes. She gave Mr. Kline a brief smile as she got to the door. He handed her and Jasmine their tests face down. Jasmine grasped Annaleigh’s arm, pulling her out into the hallway. “The fate of my life depends on this.”

“Do you really think your parents are going to ground you?” Jasmine asked.

“It’s, basically, the only thing the two of them have been able to agree upon lately,” Annaleigh replied before trading her test with Jasmine’s. “On three, ok?”

“One,” Jasmine counted.

“Two,” Annaleigh said.

“Three,” the two of them said together as they flipped over their tests. Annaleigh looked into the top right hand corner and saw a big, bold 92 in the corner. “A-minus, good job.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Jasmine said, giving a couple curtsies. “And, you, Ms. Carr got a…C.”Annaleigh twisted her mouth to the side, scrunching up half of her face as she took the test paper back from her. She immediately spotted the 75 in the corner. “It’s not failin’.”

“That’s true,” Annaleigh replied, dropping her test papers down by her side before the two of them headed towards their lockers. “I don’t know how my parents will see it, though.”

“Are they still fightin’?” Jasmine asked.

“Yeahhh,” Annaleigh replied with more of a sigh as they edged their way through their classmates to their lockers. “It’s really been comin’ to a head with this music thing. I’m sorry I even brought it up in the first place.”

“No one can deny that going to Orlando woulda been a great opportunity for you,” Jasmine said, flipping her hair around to her other shoulder as she reached for the lock on her door. “So, you think this music thing is the root of their arguments?” Annaleigh nodded, making a humming sound in the back of her throat. “I don’t know…to have your parents have that big a reaction…”

“They’re not getting’ a divorce,” Annaleigh said with an edge to her tone as she shoved her books into her backpack.

“That wasn’t what I was going to ask,” Jasmine replied. “You said that your dad used to have a music career in some way. I mean, back then it was all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll-“

“You think he cheated?” Annaleigh asked.

“I don’t know what to think” Jasmine replied. Annaleigh was quiet for a long moment.

“Neither do I,” she admitted after a moment, wrinkling her nose. “But, I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” She slammed her locker door shut and slid the lock into the slot, closing it with a click.

“You need a ride home?” Jasmine asked, using her elbow to close her door.

“Nope, I’m walkin’ it,” Annaleigh replied with a shake of her head. “Besides, I need some time to think up an explanation for this.” She waved her test in the air before folding it, reaching for the zipper of her backpack. “Or an excuse, whichever word you think is best here.” Clinton was a safe city; safe enough that people barely ever locked the doors to their homes, and it was normal to have kids walking to and from places without having to worry.

“You sure?” Jasmine asked, looping her arm through Annaleigh’s, as the two of them headed towards the parking lot. “You know Darren won’t have a problem with it.” She gave her friend a knowing smile and Annaleigh rolled her eyes, feeling herself blush.

“I know,” Annaleigh replied with a half smile. “I have no problem walkin’, it’s fine, I promise you.” The longer I can stay out of the house, the better.

“Shoot, you say that now,” Jasmine said with a shake of her head as she clicked her tongue. She pushed open the doors and the two of them headed down the concrete stairs. She lifted her hand in a wave towards her brother, who was sitting in his truck, honking the horn. “Whatever, go hog wild.”

“I will, thank you, kindly,” Annaleigh replied, with a cheeky grin. “Hey, I want to ask you somethin’.”

“Shoot,” Jasmine replied, lifting her hand to shield her face from the sun.

“Does it bother you that I hang out with Lance and your brother most of the time?” Annaleigh asked, squinting her eyes to see through the glare of the sun.

“No,” Jasmine replied, shaking her head back and forth. “I have dance all the time, anyway." Annaleigh gave a brief nod of her head and then Jasmine grinned from ear to ear. "Besides, then you can marry Darren and then we can be sisters.” She shrugged before grinning from ear to ear. “Y'all will get married one day, I jus' know it. Besides, I need someone to tell embarrassin’ stories to.”

“I’m happy to serve,” Annaleigh said with a bow before she gave Jasmine a hug. “I’ll ring you later.” She gave a wave before heading down the sidewalk. She adjusted her backpack in her hands before she started off in the direction of her home.  She lifted her hand in a wave as Darren drove his truck past her.

She kicked at a rock as she came to the corner, and looked up and down the street before, looking both ways, continuing on home. She hummed to herself as she made her way home, stopping by The Center, an old school soda shop that all of the teens hung out at on the weekends. She bought herself a glass bottle of soda and happily drank out of it, allowing the carbonation to burn her throat as she made her way home.

She had gotten halfway up her driveway when she heard a car honk behind her and turned to see Darren pulling in behind her. “Hey,” he called as he put the car in park, “get in.”

“I jus’ got home,” Annaleigh replied, giving him an odd look before making her way over to the truck, resting her arms on the side of the car. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see how you were doin’,” Darren replied. “I just dropped Jazzy off at dance class and then swung ‘round to get you.”

“Get me for what?” Annaleigh asked.

“Get in the car,” Darren replied.

“And what do you mean, ‘I wanted to see how you were doin’?” Annaleigh asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Did Lance ask you to keep an eye on me while he was gone?”

“Yes,” Darren replied after a moment as he pretended to think. She blinked in surprise; not at Darren’s quick admission, but at Lance’s request. The two of them could get along well enough, but they spent a lot of their time arguing and tearing each other down as well. He reached out a hand and tapped the bridge of her glasses. “Now, get in Bookworm.”

“I’m not in the mood for names, D,” Annaleigh said with a sigh, popping out her hip, giving him a pointed look.

“Sorry,” he replied. “Come on, I want to show you something.”

“You’re not goin’ to push me into a mud puddle are you?” she asked, giving him a weary look. Darren chuckled. “It wouldn’ be the first time.”

When she was 11, and Darren and Lance were both 13, she had, as usual, tagged along with them when they had gone out to go fishing. Lance didn’t have a problem with her around, but Darren wanted to have some “guy time” as he had so eloquently put it, because they had “manly” things to discuss, of which she instantly reminded him that he was “only 13.”

He had stopped arguing with her at that point, later on telling her that he had to show her something. Which ended up being that he had led her through the woods to push her into a mud puddle. She had cried of course, and promptly “told on him” to Lance…right after she threw a handful of mud at him.

“Wouldn’ be the second, neither,” Darren replied with a grin and Annaleigh rolled her eyes. “You comin’ or not?” He put his hand in the air. “Promise I won’t push you and it has absolutely nothing to do with mud. You’ll like it.” He then stuck out his bottom lip into a pout. “Please? It’s not going to take long.”

Ugh, why does he have to be so cute? She thought to herself, feeling herself starting to smile.”Alright, fine,” Annaleigh said, throwing her hand into the air.”Let me just put my stuff inside and leave mom and dad a note.”

“I’ll be waiting right here,” Darren replied.

Annaleigh gave a nod of her head before heading up the path to the front door. She reached for her keys in her backpack, unlocked the front door. As soon as she was inside, she dropped her backpack to the ground and headed into the kitchen, reaching for the pad and pen beside the phone. She quickly write a note to her parents before heading back out the front door, locking it behind her before getting into Darren’s car.

“Have you heard from Lance?” she asked him as he backed out of the driveway.

“Mayyybe,” Darren replied.

“You have,” Annaleigh said as more of a statement then a question. “I know you have. You only say ‘maybe’ like that when the answer is ‘yes’.” She then slapped him on the arm. “Well?”

“Ow, don’t hit the driver!” Darren said, shooting a look over at him. He then gave her a smile. “He got in.”

Annaleigh allowed a smile to come to her face. “Now this is something I wanted to know two days ago,” she said, trying to sound annoyed. She couldn’t help but keep the smile on her face. “Oh my stars, I can’t believe it. “He really got in?”

“Yeah,” Darren replied. “His dad found out after it happened, and he was supposed to relay the information, but you know how busy he gets.”

“True,” Annaleigh replied with a nod of her head. “So, where are we going?”

“You can’t just trust me, can you?” Darren asked with a chuckled as he shook his head. “Or have I ruined all of that over the years?”

“Of course I trust you, D,” Annaleigh replied, her tone dropping as quickly as she dropped her gaze to her lap. Just tell him. She sucked in a deep breath of air. “In fact, I actually…” She trailed off and he peered curiously over at her before putting his gaze back onto the road. “I actually can tolerate you a lot more than I used to, which is saying something considering how annoying you can be.” Darren let out a loud bark of laughter while Annaleigh let out a breath of air, making a face. Stupid, Ace. That was stupid. Why couldn’t you just tell him?

“You’re not too bad yourself, Ace,” Darren said as his laughter subsided. Annaleigh gave a brief smile at the compliment, feeling herself blush for a second time that day.

“Thanks,” she said quietly, smiling shyly. She then looked up as he pulled off the road and onto a dirt road, slowly driving his truck over the dusty, rocky road. “Why are we going to the fire tower?” She then put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, that was another question.”

“It’s ok,” Darren replied, removing his hand from the steering wheel to gently punch her shoulder. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t ask so many questions.” He drove the car out of the tunnel of trees and into a clearing, coming up to the Fire Tower. A part from The Center and “The Back of 80”, the Fire Tower was another place where Clinton teenagers liked to hang out on the weekends. He parked the car and motioned for her to get out.

Annaleigh reached for her buckle and popped her seatbelt free, before climbing out of the car. She slammed the door shut behind her and, adjusting her shirt, followed him over the ground, stepping over empty beer cans, beer bottles, and burned out cigarette butts. She followed him over to the base of the tower and stepped underneath, her eyes instantly falling towards the fire pit where pieces of burned wood sat.

“Check this out,” Darren said, walking over to one of the legs that held up the fire pit. Annaleigh stepped closer and looked at to where he was pointing where DD + JB + AC Friends Forever were written in shaky handwriting on the beam with a pen. “Remember when we wrote this?”

“Yeah, it was just after you boys made Seven Card Stud,” Annaleigh replied, “right after you decided you wanted to try and make it as a touring group.”

“And you were upset because you thought it’d all go to our heads and we’d forget you,” Darren said, running his hand over the letters. “Kind of like now.” Annaleigh gave a nod of her head as it clicked with her.

“So that’s why you brought me out here,” she said before giving him a teasing smile, “and here I thought you just wanted to spend some time with me.” She put a hand up into the air. “Not that I blame you, I mean, I’m that awesome. And-”

“And don’t your forget it,” Darren said in a high pitched voice, mocking her. He then reached out a hand and flicked at her nose. “Like I could forget that, you say it often enough.” He then put his arm around her shoulder, using his hand to mess up her hair, ignoring her cries of protest. “And, it’s true, anyway. So, are you feeling better?”

“Dork,” Annaleigh said, pushing Darren away from her to fix her hair. “I’m smiling aren’t I?” Not that I don’t always smile when you’re around.

“What?” Darren asked, tilting his head slightly. “You look like you want to say something.” Annaleigh just shook her head. “Alright, then, let’s get you back home.” Annaleigh then grabbed his wrist, stopping him from moving. She then put her hand on his shoulder and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “What was that for?”

“Just…thanks,” Annaleigh replied.

“You’re welcome.”