I got out of bed and walked over to the window, gazing out to see the beautiful scenery. We are somewhere in Indiana, near Richmond, I think. I slowly made my way over to my suitcase and I pulled out my clothes for today. I patiently sat on the bed, waiting for Chris to get out of the bathroom. A few minutes later, he submerged and walked straight past me. He looked mad about something, but I couldn’t tell.
I walked into the bathroom and quickly got into the shower. As I was finishing up, I heard the door slam. I took off the water and stepped out of the tub. I wrapped a towel around me and peered out. Chris was nowhere to be seen and so was his suitcase. I hastily pulled my hair up and got dressed. I walked out of the bathroom and threw all my things into my suitcase. I put on my shoes and walked past the bed to the door. The note lying there was completely oblivious to me.
I ran down the hall and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Chris standing by the front desk. Chris approached me and asked, “What took you so long? Do you have the keys?”
“Um...yeah,” I said and pulled the key from my pocket. He walked over to the front desk and returned the keys. I silently walked with Chris to my car. His mood seemed to have totally changed since I last talk to him, which was only a half an hour ago.
**************************************
A few hours later, the rest of *NSYNC were unpatiently waiting for Chris to show up for sound check.
“Where the hell is he?” Justin said.
“Do you think we should try his cell phone again?” Lance asked, concerned for his friend.
“Why? We’ve already tried it how many times?”
“Eighteen, including the call this morning,” Michelle said.
“Did you talk to him?” JC asked, just finding out about Justin calling Chris this morning, “did you know he wasn’t going to show up.”
“Yes, I did talk to him, but him not showing up wasn’t in our conversation.”
“Well, what was in your ‘conversation?’” Joey asked.
“Private stuff.”
“Oh, you can’t share it with the group now,” JC said.
“I don’t have to share it with the group. It’s between Chris and I.”
“Fine Justin,” JC said and walked out of the room, with Lance and Joey following.
“Why didn’t you just tell them?” Michelle asked, “it’s not like its that big of a deal.”
“Michelle, stay out of it.”
“Whatever,” she said and also walked out of the room.
“Great,” Justin said to himself, “Chris, I hope you’re happy. You told me to keep this a secret, but I don’t know how long I can.”
*********************************************
Chris and I stopped at Denny’s for lunch. I walked into the bathroom and washed my hands. “You know,” some woman said as she came closer to me, “you broke that poor guy’s heart.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re that Jen girl, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I saw you on TV and what you did to Austin was unfair.”
“How do you know anything. Its not like you’ve lived my life. Things weren’t all that perfect.”
“How so?”
“They just weren’t. Anyway, it’s none of your business about my personal life.”
“Well, I hope you know, you’re so called, ‘personal life’ is splashed all across magazines everywhere.”
“Seriously?” I asked, not sure if I should believe her.
“Yeah and I’m a reporter from the New York Times, do you have anything to say.”
“Um,” I said and took a step back, “no, not really.” I walked out of the bathroom and sat down next to Chris.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’m not very hungry, I’m just going to sit in the car.” As I walked toward the car, I got an idea. I walked into the gas station and headed straight for the magazines. I gasped at the site in front of me. The reporter was right. Our little journey has made front-page news.
I grabbed a few and quickly paid for them. I sat in the car and read each one. They made me out to be some heartbreaker, which I guess in a way was true. Maybe I shouldn’t have said yes to Austin, then maybe I wouldn’t be in this mess. I looked up and saw Chris walking toward the car.
As he got into the car, he said, “I got you something to eat.”
I remained silent and just looked at him. I handed him all the magazines I had. “What’s this?” he asked, but then realization hit him, “what the hell?”
“Chris, there was a reporter in the restaurant.”
“But, why are they doing this. This is none of their business.”
“I know. That’s what I said to her.”
“Well, let’s just get out of here,” he said and put the car into drive.
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Nine
Index
Home
