Abby emerged from the guestroom of Carl’s apartment at around eight the next morning. She’d managed to escape discussing how exactly she’d ended up living with JC by pleading exhaustion. It hadn’t been a lie. As soon as she’d put her head on the pillow she’d been out.

As she’d expected Carl was waiting for her in the small kitchen.

"Hey Babe," Carl said as he pushed a cup of coffee towards her. "You were tired. I thought you were just bluffing to escape telling me about your roommate."

Abby nodded. "I didn’t get very much sleep two nights ago. None, actually."

Carl nodded in sympathy. "But now I know you want to tell me everything."

Abby sighed. "Where do you want me to begin?"

"How did you end up living with JC Chasez?"

"You remember when I was here about two months ago?" Abby asked.

Carl nodded.

"Well, I didn’t really have enough money to come."

Carl blinked once. "Abby, babe, you shouldn’t have come. I told you that you didn’t have to."

"You needed me Carl. I had to come."

"I know that money’s been tight. If you didn’t have enough money, you shouldn’t have…"

"It doesn’t matter now Carl," Abby said. "It’s done with. Besides, that’s the reason I was living with Josh."

"Okay, now you’ve piqued my interest." Carl said leaning forward. "How did you even meet him anyway?"

"Well, about a week after I got back from here I was in the bar and he came in…

JC woke up to a bright light shining through his window. He hadn’t remembered to close his blinds the night before. He’d been looking out the window down at the street remembering the night when Abby had had to walk him home. Then he’d collapsed on his bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

He slowly pushed himself off the bed and went to his closet. He found his favorite flannel shirt and a pair of broken in jeans. They were his lounging clothes that he wore when he was writing. Management wouldn’t let him take them on tour because he couldn’t afford to be photographed in them.

Right now he didn’t care.

He put the clothes on and looked in the mirror. His hair was sticking out in all odd directions and his face was covered with stubble. Though he ran a comb quickly through his hair he didn’t want to waste time shaving. He had to be back in Chicago by that night and for all he knew every moment could count.

He headed out the front door of the apartment only stopping to grab his wallet and a pair of sunglasses.

The walk to the bar was shorter than he’d remembered. Probably because he and Abby had always meandered home, enjoying the cooler air. The place that had once looked so familiar seemed to be a completely different world. The room was still dark and smoky, but it seemed to look dingier. The wooden bar didn’t have the same gleam that it had once had. The smiling face was missing from behind the bar. The laugh wasn’t echoing throughout the room.

JC felt his muscles tense as he saw the tall man behind the bar. He restrained his temper and walked calmly toward the bar.

"Hello Brad," JC said civilly.

Brad just turned an eye toward JC and grunted. "She’s not here."

"I know she’s not," JC said. "I’m here to find out where she is."

Brad shrugged. "She walked through yesterday."

"I don’t care about that," JC nearly growled. "I want to know where she was going."

"How should I know?" Brad asked. "She’s not my girlfriend."

"And whose fault is that?" JC asked. His voice was growing louder, drawing the attention of the three patrons in the building.

Brad just glared at JC.

"You aren’t trying to say it’s mine are you?" JC asked.

Brad shrugged.

JC slammed his fists down on the bar top. "Brad she wanted you. How could you possibly let her go? Do you even realize how special she is?"

"You’re one to talk," Brad said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" JC asked leaning towards the other man.

"You know very well," Brad said. "You say she wanted me, but have you ever looked at her face when she’s talking to you? Do you know that all we talked about was you?"

"Well all we talked about was you," JC shot out. "She doesn’t want me Brad. She wants you."

"That’s not what I’m seeing," Brad said. "I like her so much and I can’t have her while you’re still around. Not when it’s so obvious to me that she wants you."

"Well you can’t have her at all now," JC said. "You’re sure you have no clue where she went?"

Brad shook his head.

JC sighed and pushed himself away from the bar. "I think you need to think long and hard about Abby. We’re never going to be anything more than friends. I hope that we are still friends. Am I worth giving up something so wonderful?"

Brad just studied JC before turning back towards the wall of bottles. Suddenly he looked over his shoulder.

"She might’ve told Tony. His office is back there."

JC looked at the back of the room. There was a door that blended into the wall. He walked towards it, praying more than he ever had in his life. He knocked on the door— three short raps.

"What?" a gruff voice came from inside.

JC put his hand on the knob and pushed. "Tony?"

The big man looked up from his place behind the desk. "Who are you?"

"My name is Josh Chasez," JC said. "I was looking for one of your employees. An Abby Monroe?"

"She’s gone," Tony said.

"I know she’s gone," JC said as he stepped into the office. "I’m trying to find her."

"Good luck," Tony said. "She said something about New York."

JC closed his eyes and sighed. There was no way he was ever going to find her in New York.

"She didn’t leave an address or number or anything, did she?"

Tony shook his head. "Just quit yesterday. No warning, no nuthin’."

JC nodded. "Thank you."

Tony turned back to his paperwork and JC showed himself out of the office.

JC had just finished packing up his bag when his cell-phone rang.

"Abby?" he asked eagerly as he flipped it open.

"No," a female voice said slowly. "It’s me Josh."

"What do you want?" JC asked. "Haven’t you done enough already?"

"Josh, I’m trying to fix things," Tammy said quietly. "Just watch Entertainment Tonight this evening okay?"

"Why? So you can tell more lies about us?" JC asked. "How could you Tammy? I mean I understand you have some personal vendetta against me, but why’d you have to bring Abby and Brad into it?"

"You won’t believe me if I say I didn’t know anything about it until Henry called me would you."

JC was silent.

"Honestly Josh, I knew nothing. It was all him."

"Him?" JC asked. "You mean the other guy."

"Yeah," Tammy said. Her voice was defeated. "We broke up."

"Why?" JC said sarcastically. "It seems like you were a match made in heaven."

Tammy sighed. "Because of you," she said. "I lied when I said I didn’t love you Josh. I did. I do. I just didn’t know it."

"And that’s supposed to make everything better?" JC asked. "You broke my heart Tammy. You crushed it into smithereens. It’s only been recently that I’ve stopped hurting for a few minutes at a time."

"I’m so sorry Josh."

"Sorry isn’t going to make this better Tammy."

"Listen Josh, I’m trying to make things better. Just watch ET tonight, okay?"

JC sighed. "Okay."

"Bye Josh. And I guess I really mean goodbye."

"Bye," JC said. He closed the phone. Tears were pricking his eyes, but strangely he felt a sense of closure that he hadn’t felt before.

Entertainment Tonight was on at six. So much for heading to the airport. He would be on the plane at that point. It was going to be a long night.

Abby was curled up on the couch. A magazine was in her lap and the TV was playing in front of her. Carl had gone to work about noon. She’d been left to her own devices.

Carl had offered her a place to stay for as long as she wanted it, but she was left with a decision. She could move to New York permanently or she could keep running. At the moment she didn’t know what she wanted to do. She figured she could think about it the next day. She just had to get away from Orlando.

Her eyes traveled to the TV. She’d seen a picture of ‘N SYNC out of the corner of her eye. Her hand was moving towards the remote so that she could change the channel, but something stayed her hand. The host began talking toward the camera.

"Long considered to be one of the entertainment world’s most eligible bachelors, JC Chasez of ‘N SYNC got more than he bargained for in the relationship department according to a supermarket tabloids front page story this past week."

"Tammy Butler, an aspiring model rumored to be JC’s girlfriend was kind enough to speak to us and give us the ‘real’ story."

Abby cringed. That was all she needed. Another ‘real’ story.

"It is true that JC and I dated for about six months," Tammy said into the camera. "I can’t speak for the other involved parties in this story but I know that everything else in the story about me is completely false."

Tammy smiled briefly for the camera. "The truth of the story is that I was using JC. I broke up with him before we were supposed to move in together. He didn’t leave me for another girl and he didn’t break my heart as the story claimed. If Josh has found happiness with this other girl more power to him. I hope that she can bring him a happiness I never could."

The host was back on the screen. "In a statement issued by ‘N SYNC’s public relations manager Cassie Phelps the speculation that JC was romantically involved with his roommate Abby Monroe is just that, speculation."

"Ms. Monroe works at this bar in an unidentified area of Orlando. She was rumored to be dating a fellow bartender. ET was unable to confirm or deny these rumors."

"The other involved parties were unavailable for comment."

Abby stared at the TV screen. Tammy had gone on record as being the bad one, well not bad, but not the ‘angel’. She’d made the story untrue. If she had gone on the record and JC had gone on the record, maybe it would all be okay. Maybe.

JC turned off the TV. Tammy had helped to deny the story. She’d had no reason to. She’d looked like the angel. Denying the story could do nothing but hurt her. That was more like the Tammy he’d once loved. It was easy for him to say that he didn’t love her anymore. It wasn’t that he wasn’t letting himself. He didn’t.

The phone on the couch beside him rang. It was probably one of the guys wondering where he was. He was going to have to meet them in the next city.

"Hello?" he said as he flipped it open.

"Josh?" Abby asked hesitantly.

"Abby?" JC said excitedly. "Where are you?"

"I’m staying with Carl," Abby said slowly. "I’m sorry I ran out on you."

"It’s okay," JC said. "I understand that you’re scared. Just please let me help you through this."

"Okay," Abby said quietly.

"So will you come back?" JC asked. "The apartment’s really empty without you."

"You’re there?" Abby asked. "What are you doing in Orlando? You’re supposed to be in Chicago."

"I came back to stop you," JC said. "I couldn’t let you just walk out of my life."

"Oh," Abby said. Her voice was still hesitant. "You didn’t have to leave your tour."

"You left Abby. Was I just supposed to sit there and let it happen?"

"I told you I was probably going to come back didn’t I?" Abby said.

"And I said that probably wasn’t working for me." JC stood up. "Please come back down here Abby."

"I can’t," Abby said. "I can’t be around Brad. I can’t have him reject me every day."

JC laughed slightly.

"It’s not funny," Abby said.

"I, um, well, I sort of chewed him out today," JC said. He could tell he was blushing.

"You what?" Abby said. Her voice wasn’t hesitant anymore.

"I asked him if he knew what a good thing he was giving up."

"You didn’t," Abby said.

"Yeah, I did," JC said. "That reminds me, I should probably call Cassie and tell her to beware of that story surfacing."

"Josh," Abby said. "I can take care of myself."

"I know you can," JC said. "It just sort of happened."

Abby sighed. "It’s okay. It’s not like I’ll ever be seeing him again."

"He was stupid to let you go Absters," JC said.

"Thanks," Abby said. "Are you doing okay? I sort of got wrapped up there in myself for awhile."

"With good reason," JC said. "I’m fine. I actually am. Tammy called me this afternoon."

"She didn’t!" Abby said. "The nerve… Are you sure you’re okay? She didn’t rub salt on the wound did she?"

"No, actually she was just calling to tell me to watch Entertainment Tonight," JC said. "She denied everything."

"I know," Abby said. "That’s why I called."

JC laughed. "Well I guess I have one more thing to thank her for."

Abby laughed a little bit. "Well, I’m sure you need to get back on tour."

"Yeah," JC said. "I think management’s going to be pretty annoyed at me."

This time Abby did laugh. "You want me to leak the tales of your drunken exploits? I bet that would make them even more annoyed."

"Um, no," JC said. "You aren’t going to disappear on me again are you?"

"No," Abby said. "I was stupid to think I could cut myself off from you completely. I just had to pretend to distance myself from the whole story."

JC felt a small stab of pain in his heart, but he ignored it. He understood where she was coming from.

Abby continued talking though. "I can’t not talk to you anymore Josh. You’ve become too important to me."

"Yeah," JC said. "Me too." Other words were echoing through his head though. Three words specifically. He couldn’t say them though. Not now, probably not ever.

"Listen, I’ll talk to you later, okay?" Abby said.

"Yeah," JC said. "Later. Call me tomorrow okay?"

"I will," Abby said. "I promise."

"Good," JC said. "Bye."

"Bye."

They hung up the phones together.

"I love you," JC said quietly to the closed phone. He meant it in the ‘just friends’ way, of course, but he hoped the girl sitting in New York knew what he was feeling without him actually having to say the words.

JC picked up his bags and headed for the door. Damn, the guys were going to be pissed.