Chapter 6:

Fall 1997

Everyone, who was anyone, at Millington High School was over at the student body president, Oliver Gaylord’s house celebrating the football team’s win over the cross town rivals.

Justin was in back home for the weekend from being in Europe with *NSYNC, and was hoping to spend some time with his two best friends, but as soon as the football game was over, Annie seemed to have disappeared.

He was looking around the house for her, when a blonde girl handed him a red Solo cup.

"You know Justin, we’ve missed you around here," the blonde said trying her best to flirt with him.

"I missed you guys too Charlotte," Justin said while looking around and not even paying attention to Charlotte.

"You know I’m now the head cheerleader. Maybe, I can show you some moves later."

"Hmmm- sounds good," Justin downed his beer, and walked away from Charlotte.

As he weaved through the crowded house, he found Trace, who was making out in the corner with some random girl.

"Trace, have you seen Annie?"

Trace just ignored his friend waving him off.

"Trace!" Justin yelled again over the bass of the music. Annoyed, he rolled his eyes and quickly turned around. But, if he were making out with some random girl in the corner, he would have probably ignored everyone around him also.

As he turned around, he bumped into a girl about 5 feet tall.

"Sorry, Sadie."

"It’s okay, who are you looking for?" the girl asked.

"Just Annie, have you seen her?" Justin was hoping Sadie would know where Annie was, as she’s been a friend of theirs since 2nd grade and Annie’s closest girl-friend, so hopefully she would have an answer for him.

"Um, she mentioned something about Steve Jensen and her going down to the lake or something."

"Perfect! Thanks Sadie!" Justin said hugging Sadie, heading back to Trace to grab the keys to his truck.

"Trace- give me your keys," Justin said holding out his hand. This time the girl was sucking on Trace’s neck.

"Huh? What?" Trace asked in his drunken state.

"GIVE ME YOUR KEYS," Justin said keeping his hand out.

"Why?"

"I just have an errand I have to run. I’ll be back shortly," Justin said just as Trace handed over his keys with his usual eye roll.

As Justin was making his way down to the lake, where all the teenagers went to hook up, Annie and Steve Jensen, the senior star quarterback, were starting to get pretty heavy as the windows were starting to fog up.

Then Annie started to feel Steven’s hand go up her shirt.

"Woah, there Steve, flag on the play," Annie said removing Steven’s hand.

"Oh, come on Annie, what’s the matter?"

"Uh, your hand, that’s the matter"

"But, I thought you liked it Annie," Steve said going back and kissing her, while moving his hand up Annie’s shirt and to her bra.

While Steve was trying to get into Annie’s pants, Annie was digging around for her keys, and her eyes got wide when she found what she was looking for. Next thing Steve knew, his eyes were severely burning.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Steve screamed rubbing his eyes.

"When I say No! I mean No!" Annie screamed getting out of the car and slamming the door.

"You’re a fucking prude Sullivan!"

"Yeah well go fuck yourself," Annie screamed through the tears, turning to start walking home.

As Justin was driving on the dirt road to the lake, he noticed someone walking in the opposite direction. After realizing who it was, he did a U-turn and slowed down next to the person.

The person looked over and rolled their eyes when they noticed who was driving the car.

"Justin- go away."

"Annie- what happened? Why are you walking from the lake in the dark?"

"I don’t want to talk about it. Just go back to the party," Annie whined wiping the tears from her cheek.

"I’m not going to leave you to walk back in the dark. Now get in the car and tell me what happened."

Annie stopped in her tracks. "I’m not getting in the car and I don’t want to talk about it! How hard is that to understand?"

Annie walked away from the car, but Justin was still driving slowly next to her.

"Fine, I get that you don’t want to talk, but I’m not going to let you walk home in the dark. I’ll just drive slowly next to you."

"Whatever," Annie mumbled as she continued to walk home with Justin next to her.

---

"Annie! Annie- your new client meeting started about 5 minutes ago," Brandon, one of co-workers said shaking Annie awake from her short nap on her desk. It’s already been one hell of a morning, and now she has a stupid meeting to go to.

"Ugh- thanks Brandon," she mumbled grabbing her notebook and pen, following Brandon out of her office.

She entered the conference room not knowing who the new clients were, and not even paying attention.

"So nice of you to join us Annie," her boss said as she took a seat.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s been a really weird, odd morning- so I’m sorry," she said looking down at her notebook.

"Well since no introductions need to be made, let’s get started."

"What do you…" Annie asked wondering why no introductions needed to be made, then looking across from her and saw Justin and Jessica sitting there.

"Oh…"

"Rise and Shine Annie," Justin smirked as Annie just glared at him.

"What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Kentucky or Ohio or something?"

"We’re leaving this afternoon since the shows aren’t till tomorrow, but Jess and I are here because we have some news and were hoping you could help us…"

"Okay," Annie dragged out.

"We’re moving to Franklin and want you to plan the house."

"You know this really isn’t news, since you have property next to Trace," Annie pointed out.

"True…"

"So what are you wanting, bedrooms, baths, living space wise? Possible completion date?"

About an hour and a half later, the beginning details of the house planning stages were started, and as Jessica and Justin were leaving the office, Justin took Annie into a hug.

"Thank you Annie Bananie for doing this. You’re the only person, I know who has the talent to get it right.

"You’re welcome Justy and thank you," Annie said hugging him tight, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. She then pulled away, "You know if Jess ever wants to talk and get lunch or anything- she has my number, she could call or text."

"I know- I just think she’s just moody, cause we just found out that she’s pregnant"

"Ahhh yay, that's awesome!" Annie gushed, as that’s the only thing that came to mind. "Well you guys better get going or you’re going to be late, and I’ll just text you later."

"Sounds good! Love you Annie!" Justin said hugging her again.

"Love you too," Annie smiled before breaking the hug.

"Alright bye," Justin smiled, waving as he walked out the door.

"Bye," Annie waved back before turning to head back to her office, only to run straight into Brandon.

"You still like him don’t you?" Brandon smiled.

Annie rolled her eyes, "I’m not talking about it Brandon," walking past him and back into her office.

She fell on to her couch. Who the hell was she kidding? Of course she still liked him, and she didn’t know what to do.

As she lay on her couch, a text from Molly came through.

"Spin tonight?"

"Yes- please" Annie responded.

"Good- cause you and I need to talk"

"Yeah I know. "

As the day dragged on, Annie knew she needed to get out of town for the weekend, especially if she was designing Justin and Jessica’s house, that required multiple pages of request Jessica required to be part of the plans. She picked up her phone and dialed the number of the person she knew that would have a couch for her to sleep.

"What up Chicken Butt?" the voice on the other end greeted Annie.

"Is your couch available for the weekend?"

"Why?"

"Cause I need to get out of Nashville for the weekend."

"Why? Is the Brad and Justin drama causing you to go insane?"

"How did you…."

"Jamie"

"Dammit- can’t keep his fucking mouth shut. So do you have a couch for me or not Connor?"

"You know I’ll always have a couch for you, you never have to ask."

"I know, but I just wanted to make sure, and then I can work somewhat on this latest project. So I’ll probably take tomorrow and Monday off, and head over tomorrow morning."

"Sounds good- call me before you leave."

"I will- thanks Connor! I love yooooouuu"

"I love you too! Anything for my Chicken Butt."

"Bye Connor"

"Bye Annie"

As Annie hung up her phone, she had a sigh of relief, she couldn’t wait to leave town now, and in the spur of that moment she knew she needed to skip spin class and get out of town now.

She sent a quick text to Molly, letting her know she was not going to class tonight, and quickly got her work things in order so things would be okay while she was gone for the weekend. Her boss would understand since this would be sort of a working weekend anyway, since Justin and Jessica wanted a basic plan done by Monday, for a follow up meeting on Tuesday.

She also decided that her phone should be turned off all weekend, this is a good time to unplug. If anyone wanted to get a hold of her, they could call Connor or her family’s hardware store.

She set her voicemail and email away message with the phone number to the hardware store and to the house landline, so that in emergency situations they can get a hold of her. She then did the same for any incoming text messages. After that was done, she packed up her stuff and headed to her boss’ office.

"Hey Richard- I’m going to head out for an early weekend back in Millington. So I won’t be available by phone or email, just need to unplug after this week, and thought it would be a good chance to get started on this project."

"Totally understandable Annie, go enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you Tuesday for that meeting."

"Of course, which is going to be a teleconference right?"

"Yep- just email the plans to Justin and Jessica and we’ll go from there."

"Sound good," Annie smiled. "Thanks Richard- have a good weekend."

She then quickly texted Connor- "Change of plans, going home to grab stuff and then leaving Nashville - see you later *tongue out emoji*

Annie also sent a quick text to Scott, saying that she was heading back home for the weekend, and she would call him later.

Around 4 hours later, Annie pulled up to her childhood home, well now it was her oldest brothers house, but it’s been in the family since the early 20th century. Sure it was small, and only had 3 bedrooms (well 4 if you count the office/den) and 1 bathroom, but she loved it. She loved the idea that it came from a Sears type catalog and only cost $1,000 at the time, which today it would be around $23,000. This is the house that made Annie want to go into architecture. This was home.

She smiled, grabbed her stuff, and headed up the stairs to the front door, and instead of knocking, she just walked right in, because why not?

"Hello! Anyone home?" she shouted throwing her stuff on the couch.

That’s when her sister-in-law, Carly, poked her head out from the kitchen with the phone attached to her ear. She smiled and waved at Annie, who made her way into the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table watching Carly.

"If you see her behavior change in the next 8-12 hours, then give me a call back Mrs. Johnson, but right now we’re in the early stages okay… yeah sounds good… you have a good night Mrs. Johnson… I will… okay… bye Mrs. Johnson," Carly rolled her eyes as she placed the phone back on the hook.

"Hi Annie."

"Hi Carly… so what’s up with Mrs. Johnson"

"Oh her swine is acting up and started labor, but she has another 24 hours before anything major happens," Carly said as she sat down at the table. "So what’s up with you?"

"Just needed to get our of Nashville for the weekend, that’s all," Annie shrugged, she didn’t want to get into details just yet about the last few days, even though Carly probably already knows what went on.

"So this has nothing to do with Brad or Justin?" Carly smirked.

Annie started to bang her head on the table, "Jamie and Connor need to keep their stupid mouths shut sometimes."

"It’ll be okay," Carly laughed.

Annie gave Carly the ‘please shut up’ look

"I’m sorry Annie"

"It’s okay- so where is everyone?"

"Well Connor and Clare are at Finn’s basketball game and your dad went to the Grizzlies game because Justin is letting his dad use his box tonight, so he went along.

"So he won’t be back until late."

"I think so, or they’re staying Downtown, I don’t remember what he said, but we are having Spaghetti for dinner."

"Sounds good"

"So how’s work going?"

"It’s going, just finished a project and now starting a new project, so it’s just non-stop like usual"

"This new project- is it for anyone famous?"

Thankfully for Annie, the front door opened and her niece and nephew came running in with Annie’s oldest brother, Connor, behind them.

"Auntie Annie! Auntie Annie!" 3-year-old Clare shouted running towards the kitchen.

"Hi Clare!" Annie smiled as Clare climbed on to her lap. "And how are you?"

"Good!"

"Clare- go wash up for dinner," Connor said.

Clare sighed climbing down from Annie’s lap. "Alright, I guess"

"I’m here all weekend, so I’m not going anywhere just yet," Annie smiled.

Clare perked up, and then ran up to the bathroom to wash up.

"So how was the drive?" Connor asked.

Annie shrugged. "Same old, Same old, oh I need your phone so I can call Scott, since I told him I could call when I got here."

"Why can’t you use your own phone?"

"Because I turned it off for the weekend, kind of unplugging for the weekend"

"Is this a way to avoid Justin?"

"Can I just use your phone?"

"Yeah," Connor replied nudging Carly, who just rolled her eyes at him. 

"Thanks," Annie mumbled grabbing the phone off the wall.

"Hi… yeah I’m calling from our old house number… drive was fine, nothing exciting… so if you need me just call the house or the hardware store… and I’ll talk to you later… okay… love you too… bye!" Annie hung up just as Finn and Clare headed into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen table.

Annie took a spot next to Clare, just as Carly brought over the spaghetti to the table, and took a seat herself. They all said grace, and then dug in to the food.

After eating dinner, Finn and Clare got ready for bed as Connor prepped the couch for Annie.

"Thanks for letting me stay for the weekend," Annie smiled from a nearby chair.

"Of course, plus I think if I didn’t, Dad would kick me out," Connor laughed turning to his sister. "But really, whatever is going between you, Justin, and Brad, it’s going to work it’s self out."

"Thanks"

"You’re my baby sister, so I could kick their butts, well maybe not Justin’s, the world might kill me in rebuttal."

Annie laughed, "Yeah, but that’ll be one hell of a way to go."

"Alright you’re all set."

"Thank You,"

"No problem," Connor said kissing the top of Annie’s head. "Good night"

"Night," Annie stood up, grabbed her stuff and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

In the middle of the night, Annie couldn’t fall asleep, she kept tossing and turning, so she just decided to start Justin and Jessica’s house plan outline. She finished one part of the house, when she heard pitter patter of little feet coming down the stairs. She looked behind her and saw Clare coming with her stuffed Shamu in one hand and her blankey dragging behind her.

"Hey little one, what are you doing up this late?"

"Finn snores," Clare stated climbing onto the hide-a-bed Annie was on. "I don’t like sharing a room with him."

"I’m sorry. Hey you want to help me with my project?" Annie smiled as a light bulb went off in her head.

Clare just nodded in excitement as she cuddled up to Annie.

"Alright then, what should this room be used for?" Annie asked drawing a room.

"Shamu!"

"Sound good, this will be Shamu’s room, and what about this one?"

"That could be my room! I don’t want to share my room with Finn anymore. Did you have to share your room?"

"No, I was on the lucky side, but your daddy had to share a room with Uncle Jamie, Uncle Liam, AND Uncle Mark."

"Wow!"

"Yeah, Wow!"

Annie and Clare continued to work on Justin’s "home" plans. Annie couldn’t wait to show him and Jessica what her and Clare came up with, but she also did have a vision of what she really wanted to create.

Soon both Annie and Clare zonked out with all of Annie’s work around them.

When Connor went to go check on Clare, he discovered that she wasn’t in her bed, so heading downstairs he found her cuddled up to Annie. As he was picking up Clare to take her back to her own bed, he noticed the new project Annie was working on, and knew right then, why she needed to get away from Nashville for the weekend.