"Ok, can I have the number? And do you have an address?" I asked politely.
She gave me the number and address and I hung up.
"Well guys, she said she didn't have a listing for Paul Chastis, but there is one for Paul Chasez. It's pretty close, right? Do you think that could be him?" I asked.
"Yeah, it won't hurt checking!" Sarah said. "But lets go home and unpack and go to sleep! We have all summer and I'm tired!" she said.
We got close to Sarah's apartment that she shared with her friend Kristi, but Kristi was out of town visiting her family and friends for 2 weeks.
"Tara, you can take Kristi's room, she won't mind, Melanie, you can have the pullout couch, and Jessie, you can sleep on the couch in my room. Sound good?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah," we all agreed.
We got to the apartment complex, grabbed our luggage, and got out of the car. Sarah led the way to the door and opened it for us. We were all dead tired because of the long plane ride and the excitement of the day so we all just decided to get in our pajamas and fall asleep. I went into Sarah's room to change and when I came out, everyone was in the the kitchen crowded around something.
"What are you doing?" I tiredly asked as I walked toward them.
"It's your birthday, silly!! You need a birthday cake!" Sarah said as they all looked up at me and I looked at the vanilla cake with chocolate icing that said, "Happy 18th Jessie! We love ya!"
"Aaaawww, you guys, you didn't have to do that!" I said.
"Yeah we did, you would have pouted all day tomorrow if we didn't!" Tara said as they all started laughing.
"No I wouldn't...well, you're right, I probably would!" I said laughing. Melanie turned out the lights as the candles were being lit and everything turned pitch black.
"Girl, turn on the light! I'm gonna set the kitchen on fire because I can't see anything!" Sarah said as Tara reached over for the light. Sarah lit them, the lights turned off again and there was a chorus of "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Jessie, Happy birthday to you!"
I closed my eyes to make my wish, and blew out all 19 candles. The lights turned on again as Mel said, "I'm hungry girl! Hurry and cut the cake!" I cut it and gave everyone a piece when Tara asked Sarah where my present was.
"Well, I...um...sorta sent it to you at home! This was before you called and I didn't know you were coming here!" she said as we all started laughing.
Tara spoke up, "Oh, Jess, your mom gave me a present for you to open, I totally forgot. It's in my bag, let me go get it!" she said starting to get up as I stopped her.
"It's ok, I don't want it right now."
"Why?" Sarah asked.
"Because, I don't know...I'll just open it later. I don't fell like opening a present from her," I said emphasizing the word 'her'.
"Ok," everyone said.
We finished eating and decided it was time to go to bed. We all said good-night and I walked to Sarah's room. As Sarah and I were getting my bed ready Sarah asked me if there was something wrong. I started to say there wasn't, but figured it was no use, she always knew when I was lying. Sarah knew everything about me, and could tell when things were wrong.
"Yeah, there is. I'm just a little unsure about this whole 'meeting my dad' thing. I know I've been waiting so long to meet him, but I'm just a little skeptical. What if he shuts the door on me? Or doesn't know who I am? Or won't talk or tell me anything?" I asked and kept thinking of questions.
"Jess, stop thinking 'what-if's'. You know I can't always answer your questions. You just have to take those chances. You know you'll regret it if you don't," she said straight-forwardly. That was just like Sarah, to always hit me with the truth.
"Yeah, you're right. I guess I'm just kind of scared. Scared that it won't work out for the better. That I won't like what I find out," I said.
"Jessie, go to sleep, and get these thoughts out of your head. If you don't just do it, you'll keep not doing it. You'll be old and gray and never find out the truth. You'll keep asking yourself these questions and never know the answers," she said as I realized she was right.
"Yeah, you're right. I've come this far, I dragged everyone here, I found out all the information, but the hardest part is going to be actually meeting him," I said.
"So, tomorrow do you want to find him?" Sarah asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Good! Now get some sleep! We have a big day tomorrow!" she said.
By the next morning I already had butterflies in my stomach. I woke up at about 8:00, and I realized everyone else was already up as I walked out of the room and to the kitchen.
"Hey guys," I said walking over to grab a bowl for cereal.
"Hey!" everyone said.
"So, when are we going to go?" Tara asked.
"Soon -- I'm getting anxious!" Melanie said.
"You're getting anxious, how do you think I feel?" I asked as we all started laughing. "Let's go after breakfast since it might take us a while to find the house," I said. Everyone agreed and we all ate breakfast quickly.
About 10:30 I couldn't take it anymore. "Guys -- let's go!" I said after we all showered and got dressed.
We all went out to get in Sarah's car and tried to find the neighborhood. After about 25 minutes we figured it out -- but couldn't seem to find the house.
"Read it one more time," Sarah said as I rolled my eyes. I had already told her the address 6 times.
"6832 Ocean Drive," I told her.
After 5 more minutes of driving around we found it. "Here we go!" Sarah said.
"Jess, are you nervous?" Tara asked as we got out of the car.
"Well, yeah. I mean, I'm going to meet my dad," I said.
We looked at the house. It was very pretty. Not too big, but not too small. It was all brick and had 2 cars parked on the driveway. We walked up to the front door as Sarah, Melanie and Tara looked at me, waiting for me to ring it. I just stared at it. Just 1 ring and I would meet my dad. The man who I had been waiting 18 years to meet. I finally took a deep breath and pressed it. We hear footsteps coming up to the door. A man answered the door, he looked to be about 45, and looked just like the man in the picture.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"Um....yeah...are you Paul Chasez?" I asked.
"Yes, I am," he said.
We heard a voice from in the house shout, "Dad, is that Justin?"
The man said, "No, it isn't." He turned back to us. "Are you a friend of JC's?" he asked looking at the 4 girls standing at the door.
"Well, no, I'm...well...I'm your daughter," I said.
His eyes widened as I said that. "Jessica?"
"Yeah, that's me," I said breathing a sigh of relief -- at least he knew who I was.
"Oh my God, well...um...well come in," he said nervously.
"Dad, I see Joey's car out front -- I'll see you at the party tonight," a man said, but we still couldn't see him.
"Bye, son," Paul said.
'Oh my God, son? Does that mean I have a brother?' I was asking myself.
We walked into the house and saw a large living room right in front of us with all white furnature and a beautiful grand piano. To our left was a dining room, and to the right was a winding staircase going upstairs. He led us tio the living room as I sat on the couch. Melanie, Tara, and Sarah were still standing when I motioned for them to come sit down.
No one really talked for a couple minutes, until he spoke up. "So, why did you come to Florida?"
"Well, I came to....to find...to find you," I told him.
"Really? And who are your friends?" he asked.
"Oh, um this is Sarah who lives here in Orlando, and this is Tara and Melanie who live at home with me," I said answering his question.
"Well, it's nice to meet you girls. So, um...I think we need to talk," he said nervously.
The whole room seemed to be filled with tension and I felt like I wanted to cry. I felt like a little girl meeting a stranger.
"Yeah, we do. Could you start from the beginning?" I asked him.
"Of course. Well. 2 months after you were born I came back down here to Florida. See, your mother and I went to court to decide who would keep you. And since we weren't married and weren't going to get married, I came back to Florida to take care of my son. He was 2 at the time and his mom and I had just divorced. I wrote you every year and sent you presents for your birthday and Christmas, did you ever get them?" he asked.
I was taking this all in at once, asking myself why my mom didn't just tell me this. When he said he sent me letters and things my head shot up and I was storming mad at my mom.
"No, I don't think my mother ever gave them to me," I told him.
"Oh," he said. "Well, you turned 18 yesterday, happy birthday," he said trying to lighten up the situation.
"Thanks," I said.
"So, tell me about things. Where are you going to college? How is your mom? What were you like when you were younger?" he started as he kept asking more and more questions.
I answered them and we realized we had been talking for over an hour and none of my friends had spoken up.
"Girls, Jessica, follow me," he said standing up and leading us through the kitchen and to the family room I guessed.
On the wall there were pictures, posters, plaques, a ton of things, all saying 'N Sync on them. He led us to one poster and pointed to a brown haired guy with very blue eyes who looked to be about 20.
"That would be your brother," he said. I felt my mouth open and my jaw drop to the ground. My brother was in all these pictures? "His name is JC, and he's in a singing group with his 4 best friends. They're huge over in Europe, all those gold records are theirs," he said pointing to a spot on the wall.
Melanie, Sarah, Tara and I all looked around the room in amazment. 'His parents must be his biggest fans' I said to myself.
Melanie nudged me and pointed to one of the blonde's in the picture.
"Jessie, that's Lance!" she said excitedly.
I looked at her curiously and said, "No, that can't be him." But I looked at the picture closer and realized it was. "Oh my God, Mel, it is him!" I said to her.
Paul looked at me and said, "You know Lance?"
"Yeah, we met him on the plane. And in the record store..." I started looking at Melanie and Tara, "Oh my gosh, Tara, you were right! He was on the cover of that CD!" I said as Paul and Sarah looked at us like we were crazy but they shrugged it off.
"Well, do you girls want to come to a party tonight? It's at Justin's," he started as he pointed to the tall one with blond curly hair, "Mom's house. It's celebrating *N SYNC's release of their album in the states. And they're premierring on the Disney Concert special tonight. I'm sure they'd love to have you, and we can catch up more," Paul said.
We looked at each other and since we didn't have anything else to do, we agreed we would go. Paul gave us directions to Mrs. Harless' house and we decided we better go.
"Thanks so much, we'll see you tonight," I said.
He pulled me in for a hug and said, "I'm so glad to see you Jessica."
"I'm glad to see you too," I said as we said goodbye and walked out of the house.
