Tammy stared at the blinking light on the answering machine. Slowly she reached forward and pressed the large gray play button.

"Hey Tam, it’s me, Josh. I was just calling cause you didn’t call me back and I was worried. Please Tammy, talk to me. I know something’s wrong. I want to help. I should be back around four tonight. You know the number. Please call."

Tammy stared at the phone as if it were going to bite her. She didn’t like Josh like that, really. She didn’t want him. She had the man that wanted her.

Josh was taking it hard though and it was tearing Tammy up to know that she was the one who was doing that to him.

Slowly she reached for the phone, knowing that he wouldn’t be there. She flipped her purse open and found the number of the apartment she’d almost moved into. She dialed it slowly, her throat constricting with every digital beep the phone emitted. It rang four times.

"Hi! You’ve reached Josh. I’m sorry I’m not here right now, but leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can."

Tammy listened to the electronic beep. She opened her mouth to speak and then hung up the phone before she did.

Tears came to her eyes. A lot more than just one.

"You think you should start to put on a disguise before coming in here Mr. Chasez?" Abby said as she slid onto a barstool beside JC. "The tabloids might begin to think you’re an alcoholic."

"I don’t think the tabloids are that up to date on my life," JC said. "Besides it might be good to wreck my angel father figure image that I’ve got goin’ here."

Abby shrugged. "So where are we going for lunch?"

"There’s this little sandwich place that I know of about a twelve minute drive away," JC said.

Abby raised an eyebrow. "Twelve minutes?"

"Hey, it’s my favorite place," JC protested. "I had to know how far away it was."

Abby laughed and turned towards the doorway. "Well, as soon as Brad gets here we can take off."

"Sounds good," JC said. "I’m getting hungry."

Abby didn’t respond.

JC turned to look at what she was looking at. Her eyes were fixed on the man walking through the door. JC eyed the tall man and smiled at Abby’s slack-jawed expression. He was an Abercrombie and Fitch poster boy. JC leaned in towards Abby’s right ear.

"Is that Brad?" he whispered.

Abby jumped on her seat before whirling around to glare at JC.

"Yes," she said. "That is Brad." She was about to turn around to continue staring, but she was interrupted by an easy laugh.

"Did I hear my name?" Brad was standing right behind Abby.

"Yeah," Abby said, miraculously finding her voice. "I was just telling Josh here that you were always late."

Brad nodded, a fake pout on his face. "Like you should talk Absters." He stuck his hand out toward JC. "Hi, I’m Brad."

JC smiled and gripped the bronzed hand in front of him. "Josh. Abby has been telling me so much about you."

Abby stood up quickly startling the two men. She glared at JC before turning a smile on Brad. "Josh and I were just going out to lunch. We should probably get going." Her voice was hard, leaving no room for JC to question her decision.

Abby stared at JC’s eyes as he pulled the excessive number of tomatoes off of his sandwich. They were narrowed in concentration. There was something about them that just called out to her. They had a glint of life in them, but mainly what she saw was pain. Pain and hurt.

"You want to talk about it? Abby asked as she took a large bite of her sandwich.

JC looked up at her. His eyes lost the pain for a second as they clouded in confusion, however the hurt returned as he realized what she’d asked.

"Not really," JC said. "We didn’t come here to talk about me. We came to thank you for taking care of us delinquent ‘N SYNCers."

"And I’ve told you it’s not a problem," Abby said after she’d swallowed. "Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it JC? It might do you good to tell someone who’s not involved."

JC shook his head. "But we can talk about you!" His eyes took on a sparkle she hadn’t seen before.

"What about me?" Abby asked.

"What’s up with you and Brad?" JC asked. There was a smile playing on the corner of his lips.

Abby felt her face flush. She knew she was bright red.

"Nothing is up with me and Brad," she said. "We’re just friends."

JC nodded, an eyebrow raised. "Uh-huh."

"Really," Abby said. She got a playful yet defiant look on her face. "That’s all we are."

"That’s why you stared at him like he was gods gift to your world for however long he was in the bar today?" JC leaned forward. "Come on. You can tell me."

Abby sighed. "Okay, so I have an itsy-bitsy little crush on him." She held up her forefinger and her thumb to show just how small the crush was.

"So is it going to work out between you two?" JC asked.

Abby shook her head. "God, you’re worse than my ex. No. It’s not going to work out. He has a girlfriend. They’re celebrating their two-week anniversary on Thursday night. I’m opening for him Friday morning."

JC laughed shortly. "Two week anniversary? I thought Tammy and I were bad." He immediately sobered up.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked.

"We celebrated everything. The anniversaries from the day we met. The anniversary of our first date. The anniversary of well, you know…" JC trailed off. "Oh well. My bank account will be a lot fuller."

Abby tried to smile but grimaced at the same time. JC caught her look.

"What?" he asked.

"I wish I had that problem," Abby said finally. "I wish my bank account would be a lot fuller." She didn’t know why she was telling JC this. He was a complete stranger, not to mention an international celebrity. "I’m having a hard time making rent for last month. I think I’m going to have to move."

"Have you found a place yet?" JC asked.

Abby shook her head, suddenly not hungry. "Nope. I don’t know what I’m going to do. There aren’t very many cheap apartments near the bar."

JC nodded, concern very evident on his face. He decided to change the subject.

"What do you mean I’m worse than your ex?"

Abby smiled sadly. There was a tear in the corner of her eye but she blinked it away.

"You’re going to wonder what sort of person you brought out to lunch," she said.

JC stared at her waiting for her to continue.

"You really want to know?" Abby asked.

JC nodded.

"I have a knack for attracting the wrong sort of men," Abby said. "Either they’re bastards who can’t remain faithful or they’re gay."

JC had a surprised look on his face.

"Maybe that’s why I go for the bastards," Abby continued thoughtfully. "Because I know they’re at least attracted to me."

"You’re very attractive," JC said before he could stop himself. "Any guy can see that."

"Not the guys I want to see it though," Abby said, emphasizing the word ‘want.’

"So tell me about you ex," JC continued. He was very curious about this girl in front of him.

"His name was Carl," Abby said. "He was the gay one. He’s my best friend. We were together for a year."

Again JC looked surprised. "That’s a long time." It was twice as long as himself and Tammy.

"Yeah," Abby agreed. "It is. I’ve never had a relationship last that long before or since."

"So what happened?" JC asked.

"He told me he was gay," Abby said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No," JC said. "How did he tell you? What happened to make him tell you?"

Abby rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling.

"He met someone. The guy wasn’t even that cute," she laughed. "But Carl fell hard. I guess he went to a bar one night and this guy was there and they just started talking. Carl ended up kissing him, but he didn’t do anything."

Abby took a long drink of her coke, remember that night. "He didn’t tell me what had happened that night. He came home, really angry. He barely talked to me, slept all the way on the other side of the bed. About a week later he told me."

"That’s gotta be hard," JC said sympathetically. He couldn’t even imagine if Tammy had told him she’d met someone else.

"Yeah," Abby agreed quietly. "It was. But I got over it. I realized that he was way too good a friend to give up, even if he did totally screw me over."

"That’s very mature of you," JC said. "I don’t think I could do that."

"It’s totally worth it now," Abby said, a smile forming on her face. "He’s by far my best friend. There’s no one better to talk about guys with or go shopping. I love him to death. Just not in that way anymore."

"Couldn’t you stay with him for a little bit, until you found a place?" JC asked.

The smile slid off Abby’s face. "He’s the reason I can’t make rent. He’s in New York. He followed that guy out there. They were together for about two and a half years. Turns out the bastard had been cheating on him for over half that time. Carl needed me and so I went. I just didn’t really have the money. Carl doesn’t know that and never will."

JC’s admiration for Abby grew in that moment. He looked at her face. She was looking at the table, stirring her coke.

Suddenly she looked up at him, a glint in her eye. "Okay, I’ve spilled. Now it’s your turn. It can’t be worse than that."

JC shrugged his shoulders. "What do you want me to say?"

"How’d you guys meet?" Abby asked. "I’m a girl. I like to know details."

JC sighed.  "We met on Rosie. You know that awards show behind the scene thing we did?"

Abby nodded her head. "I watched."

JC blushed slightly.

"Hey," Abby said. "I’m a fan. What do you expect?"

JC shook his head. "She was there, sort of hanging around. I saw her and it was like there was no one else in the room." He got a soft smile on his face. "I walked up to her, sort of under the pretense of getting a random stars view on the pre-awards stuff."

Abby felt a grin curl her cheeks.

JC laughed and shook his head. "I know, how much more corny can you get?"

"Not much," Abby laughed.

"Well anyway," JC continued. "We talked for a few minutes, but then I had to go talk to someone else with the rest of the guys. We kept running into each other for the rest of the night. It was sort of weird actually. Sort of like someone was throwing us together. I ended up getting her number and the rest is history."

Abby raised an eyebrow at JC’s last few sentences. She knew as a girl that rarely were people randomly thrown together. She nodded.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

JC nodded. "I’ve called her twice. I’m worried about her," he said. "Something’s not right."

Abby sighed. "Has she called you back?"

"No," JC said. "Not yet."

"Are you going to give up?" Abby asked.

JC shook his head. "Have you ever had one of those relationships that you know was meant to happen? That you know you were meant to be together?"

"No," Abby said, shaking her head from side to side. Her hair was slipping out from behind her ears.

"I’m meant to be with Tammy. She’s the one for me. I just need her to see that."

Abby cringed mentally. She didn’t like Tammy and she hadn’t even met her. She looked down at the table, her eyes catching the time on her watch.

"I’ve got to go," she said quickly.

JC looked concerned. "What? Why?"

"I need to go look at apartments. I have about a week before I’ve got to be out of mine. I need to find one soon."

JC looked at his watch. He had nothing else to do for the rest of the day.

"You want company?" he asked

Abby looked surprised. "You want to come apartment looking?"

"Sure!" JC replied enthusiastically. The last thing he wanted to do was go sit in his apartment alone. It reminded him too much of Tammy. He leaned forward, whispering in a confidential manner. "I’ll let you in on a little secret. I like looking at houses. I like thinking about who lived there and how their personality rubbed off on the house."

Abby looked at JC, a confused look on her face. "Okay," she said slowly. She recovered. "I’d love to have company though. You sure you have time?"

JC nodded. "We’re on vacation. What else am I going to do besides sit in my apartment thinking about Tammy?"

Abby nodded. "Okay. Let’s book it," she said.

Justin pounded on the white washed door, mentally preparing himself for the world of pea green within.

"Come on Jace," he yelled. "Open up."

There was no answer.

"JC!" he yelled pounding even louder. "Come on bro, open the door."

Finally he heard movement within the room. He stepped back from the door smiling. The door swung open to reveal a disheveled Lance.

"Hey Justin," Lance said tiredly, his eyes half lidded.

"Scoop? Bro? Whatcha doin’ here?" Justin asked. He walked into the apartment to see Joey sitting up on the couch rubbing his eyes and head at the same time.

"I don’t know," Lance said yawning. "I just woke up here."

"Were yuh drunk?" Justin asked, a playful frown on his lips.

"I wasn’t going to be," Lance said weakly defending himself. "I was gonna be the one to take care of Joey and JC. We went to this bar and then we started drinking something orange and then we woke up here." Lance’s words were slow and deliberate as if he was trying to process them in his brain.

"Where’s JC?" Justin asked.

All three men looked toward the open bedroom door and saw a neatly made bed.

"He was here," Joey said. "I remember him lying me down. Him and that chick."

Justin looked surprised. "There wa a chick here?"

"Yeah," Lance said. "Some girl from the bar. The bar tender."

Justin got a smile on his face. "Abby?"

Joey and Lance looked at each other. Slowly they nodded.

"She was fly dude," Joey said.

"Ah like Abby," Justin said. He looked at the two men in the room. "Should we just hang here until JC gets back?"

Joey nodded, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "What else would we do?"

"There’s absolutely nothing out there," Abby said with a sigh as they walked down the now familiar hall towards JC’s apartment.

JC nodded. There looking at apartments had been singularly uninspiring.

"What am I going to do JC?" Abby asked stopping in the middle of the hall.

JC was speaking almost before he knew what he was saying. "You could move in with me."

Abby looked at him, shock apparent in her face. "What?"

JC felt his heart pounding in his chest. What had he just done? "You need a place to live, I’d prefer a roommate. I like you a lot Abby. I think it would be fun."

"You hardly know me," Abby said. She was trying to contain the elation she felt. How often did a superstar ask you to live with them?

"I like what I know," JC said. "Besides, I’m only here for about two months out of the year. It’d be like your own place and only paying half the rent."

Abby nodded. That would be in her price range.

"And I would like to have someone here since I’m going to be gone so much. Tammy would have been here, but…" JC trailed off.

"Okay," Abby said.

JC smiled. "Really?"

Abby nodded. "Thank you Josh. I really don’t know how to thank you. You probably just saved my ass."

"It’ll be a lot of fun Absters," he said a slight gleam in his eye.

Abby burst out laughing at the nickname. "Only Brad calls me that," she said.

"Not any more," JC said. He began walking down the hall towards his door.

Abby followed close behind and watched as he pushed the key into the door. He turned it and pushed the door open. She heard the voices before she saw the three men sprawled on JC’s floor playing play station.

"Wassup bro?" Justin called as JC walked in.

"What are y’all doin’ here?" JC asked as he set his keys on the counter.

"Jus chillin’" Joey said. "Waitin’ for you to get back from wherever you were."

The guys hadn’t noticed Abby yet.

JC shook his head before turning to smile at her. He turned back to the rest of the guys. "Hey you guys," he said.

"Yeah," they all answered not looking at JC.

"You remember Abby, right?"

All three heads turned towards the pair in the doorway.

"Hey Abby," Justin said, a shit eating grin on his face.

"Hey Justin, Lance, Joey," Abby said.

"How’s it goin’?" Joey asked.

"Good," Abby said.

Justin looked back and forth between his best friend and the shorter girl.

"Were you out gettin’ plastered again bro?" he asked JC.

JC shook his head, a smile beginning to form on his lips. "Nope. Abby and I went out to lunch."

Lance looked down at his watch. "Josh, its 4:30."

"Josh was helping me look at apartments," Abby said. "I was looking for a new place to live."

Justin nodded. "That’s coo. You say was. Didja find one?"

JC felt the grin expand on his face. "Yeah actually she did."

Justin was looking at the tall man, trying to figure out what he was up to. JC didn’t act this way.

"That’s great," Lance said enthusiastically. "Is it near by?"

Abby nodded and blushed slightly. "Yeah, actually it is."

Justin continued studying the pair in front of him. Something was severely not right.

"Good," he said. "I hope we be seein’ ya ‘round den."

JC finally couldn’t contain the smile on his face. He began laughing. "You’ll be seeing a lot of her. A whole lot."

Justin couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer. "Okay. Wat de deal."

"Guys," JC said putting an arm around Abby’s shoulder. "Abby is my new roommate."

Chapter 4 *coming soon*

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