Lance walked slowly toward the barns, in the direction he had seen Emmi flee. He had to make sure that she was OK, and apologize for Justin’s atrocious behavior. He quietly pushed open the door to the barn and stepped in. It smelled of horses, feed, and hay— like childhood. He pet the horses, Constellation and Constitution, but continued making his way to the hayloft, where he could see Emmi’s feet dangling. Lance stood at the base of the ladder and called up.

“Mind if I join you up there?”

Emmi had heard him come in, and as much as she wanted to be left alone, she didn’t want to take out her frustrations on Lance. He had been the only helpful one of the bunch. “Sure, if you want.”

Lance climbed the old, semi-rotted ladder carefully, and plopped himself down next to Emmi. Neither of them spoke for quite some time, just looked up at the stars through the hole in the roof.

“It really is beautiful out here,” Lance said, trying to lighten the tension and brake the silence.

“Yeah, well, your friend Justin doesn’t seem to think so. In fact, none of the guys seem to think so.” Emmi finally broke her gaze from the starry night and glanced at him. She was surprised to see Lance looking directly at her.

“That’s not your fault Emmi. Really, the guys are going through some stuff that’s pretty difficult. They will come around, I promise.” His green eyes shone in the semi-darkness.

“What kind of stuff?” she asked hesitantly.

“Well, lets see now. Chris is basically a newlywed; he got married just about a year ago to this great woman, Terri. She is coming out to join us later, but he feels like he is always leaving her behind because we are always on the go. Terri deals with it; she has her own career, but you can tell that it is hard for the both of them. They usually keep in touch over the phone, but…”

Emmi sighed. “Your management restricted your phone calls, I get it. It must be difficult to be in a relationship with one of you.”

“Yeah, I guess. The ones that are trying are really up for the challenge though. Let’s see, who else. Oh, yeah, JC…JC is engaged, so it’s pretty much the same situation as with Chris. The only difference is, JC’s fiancée, Nicole has a 5 year old daughter who JC loves more than life. It is really hard for him to be away so much, because he made a vow to them that he would be a good father to Adrienne.”

“That’s sweet. I guess I can forgive those two, but keep going.” Emmi smiled for the first time since dinner.

“Joey is just not used to being complacent. He has always been on the go, he is always happy, and he always has energy. I guess he was just not made for the country. But, if I know Joe, he will find something that captures his attention, and he will be fine for the rest of the summer.” Lance thought for a second and grinned. “It will most likely be your sister.”

It was Emmi’s turn to laugh. “He would have better luck with Constellation. Anna isn’t the dating type. She is the true love, one-in-a-million, God-intended-mate kind of girl. She is really into church and all that. Well, we both are, but sometimes I slip up. I am gonna get reamed for cursing before.”

Lance was mesmerized by her gentle voice. “Joey can be awfully persistent.”

“Anna is awfully stubborn.”

“This is gonna be one long summer,” Lance sighed.

“Yep. OK, so you told me about JC, Joey and Chris, so I guess you were saving the worst for last.” Emmi looked at her hands, trying not to be angry or biased while Lance was explaining why Justin was so rude earlier.

“It might take a while to explain Justin, but here goes. Have you heard of the band Asylum Star?” Lance began.

“Yeah, I think so. They sing that song ‘Paranoid’ right?”

“That’s them. Well, Justin and Symone, the brunette singer, had been dating for about 5 months, and everyone could tell how in love they were. They had started dating before Symone became famous, and they kept it hush-hush for the longest time. But, one day, about 2 months ago, they broke up at one of our shows and it wasn’t pretty.” Lance sighed deeply, remembering the day that Justin’s heart had been broken.

**Flashback**

Justin sat in the break room backstage, his arm draped across Joanne’s shoulders. Over the course of the tour, the two had become inseparable. Jo was a nice looking girl with wavy blonde hair and brown eyes, and she was really sweet. Justin had become a friend to her because she didn’t know anyone when she first joined the ‘No Strings Tour’ and Justin needed a female to vent his feelings about Symone to. He was so in love with her, and it hurt that their schedules conflicted so greatly. He missed being able to sit and talk to her, or wrap his arms around her or have her beat his butt at basketball. Jo told him time and time again that Symone loved him, and when they did have time together, it would make it that much more special.

Jo looked up from the paper she was reading. “Hey Just, did you know the Blink show is in town tonight?”

His head shot up. “Symone is in town?” His face was shocked; she hadn’t mentioned that she would be in Chicago.

“Don’t sound too thrilled there Timberlake.” Symone’s voice came through the door. Justin looked up at her, emotions that he couldn’t express displayed in his eyes. But, there was something different in hers. They were rimmed with red, and the deep brown was shooting anger. She did not look happy to be here.

“Sym, what’s wrong?” Justin asked, getting up from the sofa and striding toward her.

She refused to look him in the eye. Instead, she averted her gaze to Joanna. “Do you mind leaving us alone for a second? I promise you can have him all to yourself when I’m done.”

Jo nodded and gave her friend a sympathetic look before folding her newspaper and leaving the door, closing the door quietly behind her. That was all the incentive Symone needed.

“How could you?” Symone asked quietly, anger evident.

“How could I what Baby?”

“Don’t give me that Timberlake! Don’t ‘Baby’ me! I am not stupid; I can see what is going on. How could you cheat on me? I thought you loved me!” Her voice got louder with every sentence.

Justin was shocked. ‘I cheated on her?’ “Sym, calm down. Please, I have no clue what you are talking about.”

“I am talking about her, Justin. The little blonde that just walked out of here. I must admit, you picked a real winner, she can read and everything.” Her voice dripped of sarcasm. Symone had heard from the guys, and from Terri, about Justin’s new little friend. She heard her in the background whenever she talked to him on the phone, and yet, he never mentioned Jo to her. Every guy she ever dated had hurt Symone, and it looked like this one would end just like the others. Only, with Justin, she would never get her heart back.

Justin was enraged at the accusation. “Don’t talk about Joanna like that Sym, you don’t even know her.”

“Well, seems you’ve gotten to know her enough for the both of us!”

“You have no idea what you are talking about. I didn’t cheat on you, and I would never cheat on you! I love you, and you are just being irrational.”

“I’M being irrational? Justin, you spend every waking moment with this girl and yet, you have never told me anything about her. I got all of the information I have from Terri and your friends. Now, why is that? You have something to hide, that’s why!” Symone had tears streaming down her face, and was wiping them away furiously with her sweatshirt sleeve.

Although what she was saying was true, Justin knew that his motives with Jo were not what Symone was making them out to be. She was jumping to conclusions, and he was not too thrilled with the situation that her mind had come up with. “What do you want from me Sym? I talk to her, ABOUT YOU, that’s all. She is there for me when you can’t be! I need someone who can be with me, and Jo is the only one here. She doesn’t care about my fame, or any of this bullshit, she just listens to me!”

“Oh, so now I’m in this for your fame Justin? I’m USING you, is that it? My God…have fun with her Timberlake, hope she sticks around for the long haul.” And with that, Symone stormed out of the room, taking Justin’s heart with her.

**End flashback**

“Wow, that must’ve been hard for him,” Emmi said, still looking at her hands.

“I don’t think he’s ever gotten over it. And the worst part is he decided he was going to try to make it up to her, but then we had to leave and come here. He thinks that if he waits too long, he will lose her.” Lance looked up at the stars again. “He doesn’t realize that she will be his forever.”

“How can you be so sure?” Emmi asked.

“If you ever see them together, you will understand what I mean. They are so…alive when they are near each other. Even that day, when they were fighting, love was seeping out of the room, you could smell it, taste it, it was that strong.” He paused, and glanced at the girl beside him. “That’s the kind of love I want. Even if it kills me.”

Emmi nodded. “Me too.”

Anna quietly shut the trap door and then her closet door. The person knocked again.

“Yes?” Anna opened the door and look up at the boy in front of her.

“I just wanted to see if you were okay.” JC said, almost shyly.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Anna was just about to shut the door when J blocked it with his foot.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

Anna sighed. “I guess.” She held open the door, then shut it after he entered. Anna sat Indian style in the middle of her bed and stared coolly at JC who sat in a nearby chair. “So?” she asked.

“Well, I guess I wanted to apologize, or something. We were acting like brats out there. I guess we’re not used to this yet. We miss a lot of things. I had to leave my fiancée home for three months. I miss her, already. JC smiled to himself, thinking about Nicole.

Anna’s face relaxed into a smile. “Really? That’s so sweet. What’s her name?”

“Nicole Hill. We met a little over a year ago, but I feel like I’ve known her and Adrienne, her daughter, forever.” He smiled, losing his eyes. He could still see Nicole, tears in her eyes, mirroring the one’s in Adrienne’s, as JC drove away.

Anna felt her eyes opening wide with surprise, but managed to hide it. Nicole Hill was one of Anna’s best on-line friends! She knew that Nic was engaged to a boy named Josh...Anna let it all sink in. She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it. If she said she knew Nicole, he would want to know why, and she would have to tell him about the computer. And that would be bad. Anna simply smiled.

“That’s great, I’m glad you found someone you love so much. Is anyone else, besides you and Chris with someone?” she asked, politely, expecting to hear of Joey’s many women.

“Nope. Justin and Lance both just recently ended relationships, and Joey never really has anyone serious.” JC said.

Well, duh, Anna thought to herself. “So, why can’t you’re fiancée come out and visit you, when, Terri, I think her name is comes?” Anna asked, trying to make it sound like an innocent question.

“Well, she has Adrienne, and she doesn’t want to leave her for a long period of time, plus she just started a new job and can’t really take time off.” JC shrugged. He didn’t say anything about Adrienne being sick, so Anna guessed he didn’t know yet.

“Well, at least you can call her once a week, right?” Anna said, smiling. JC’s face reddened.

“Well...not exactly. My family, yes, every week. My other call right now is to the studio. I have to keep up to date on some things right now, but I will call Nicole soon, I know that.” Anna frowned to herself. If he doesn’t call Nic, she’s really going to be hurt. Anna knew how much Nic loved JC, but still, knew she couldn’t say anything to him.

“Well, now that I’ve said what I have to say, I should be going. Oh, before I forget, where’s the closest church?” JC asked, as he was about out the door. Anna smiled warmly at him.

“Good question. There’s a small church not far away. I go every Sunday. Would you like to join me?” she asked.

“Definitely, so will the other guys.” JC confirmed.

“Great, I usually go to 9 am service, unless I know I’ll have a busy Sunday, then I go Saturday afternoon.” Anna said, walking with JC into the common room. Chris and Joey were talking, but stopped when they saw Anna.

“Hi Anna.” Chris smiled, and Joey nodded at her.

“Hi Chris.” Anna smiled brightly at him. “Well, if you boys don’t need anything else, I’m going to be getting to bed now. Goodnight Chris, JC.” Anna turned and walked back into her room.

“She really doesn’t like me, does she?” Joey asked, making a face.

“Gee, what was your first clue, the fact that she completely ignored you?” Chris asked sarcastically.

“Oh, shut up. There is something up with that girl, and I am going to find out what before this summer is over.” Joey vowed. JC and Chris just rolled their eyes and nodded.

“Whatever Joey. You’re only interested in her because she’s not interested in you. You’re just in it for the chase, buddy. Just drop it, and let her hate you. You’re only going to make matters worse, going after her.” JC suggested, as he headed into their room.

“JC’s right, man.” Chris went into the room also, leaving Joey with his thoughts.

“I’m going to find out why she hates me if it kills me,” he said to himself, before following JC and Chris.