Eva walked into the Youth Center not knowing what to expect. She almost turned and left, but her curiosity got the best of her. She spotted him right away; he was sparring with another guy. He was an exact replica of her father… well their father. Tall, with a chiseled jaw line, warm brown eyes and straight brown hair that was pulled up into a ponytail, and athletic build. It was if she was staring into the past and seeing her father as a young man.
Eva sat down in a far corner to watch, she didn’t want to be noticed. She was confused on what to do, on one hand she wanted to run out and greet the brother she had never known, but she didn’t want to scare him off. She couldn’t very well just walk up to the boy and say ‘Hi, I’m your long lost sister.’ They only thing she was sure of was that he was her brother. As she watched she pulled out a folder and took out a picture of her brother plus a bio sheet of info she had collected on him.
‘Michael James Oliver, born on May 1st, 1976’. Eva paused in her reading, it was still strange to see a person with the same birth date as hers. She was still adjusting to the fact that not only did she have a brother, but a twin brother. Eva read on, ‘Adopted by James and Marta Oliver, in 1976. Reason for adoption: Parents did not want child.’ That’s the one thing that Eva didn’t get. Why would her parents give up one child and not the other? She couldn’t fathom her parents giving up a child of theirs. Some things just didn’t add up. She observed Mike some more; he was finished sparring and was sitting down with friends. ‘They all look so happy together, how could she mess that up?’
Instead of meeting her twin brother she just watched him and then watched them leave. Then, once again Eva was alone in the world. How she craved for her old family life. She remembered the times where her mom woke her up with Eva's special breakfast, the kind with silly shaped pancakes and such. Her father would give her piggy back rides anywhere and everywhere. She would give ANYTHING to have them back in her life again.
Her parents had died in a tragic plane crash when she was seventeen. There wasn’t a day that went by that she didn’t miss them. Eva needed to get away from her thoughts, so got up from her table and left the Youth Center. She climbed into her pearl colored jaguar and drove back to her hotel.
“Wow, she looks like a model.” Tim said.
“Yeah.” Mike said staring at the girl, he couldn’t quite place it but he knew her from somewhere. She felt familiar even though he knew he had met her before. Kerrie came running out of the Youth Center and tossed Mike out of his thoughts. But that girl didn’t leave his brain, the only thing he knew was that he had to meet that girl.
“Yea, another three million dollars for me.” It almost disgusted her how much money her company made, well her parent’s company that she now owned. She was basically the richest woman in the world and the loneliest. Eva suddenly was too wound to just sit there, so she decided to go for a drive. She was about to go out the door when her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey Angel what’s going on?” Her favorite male voice said over the phone.
“Josh!!” Eva exclaimed and sat down,
“That’s the kind of greeting I like to hear. How’s it going baby?” It was Eva’s best friend JC Chasez.
“Okay. How’s the tour going? How are the guys doing? Are you coming to California anytime soon?” She asked excitedly.
“Whoa, whoa one question at a time.” JC said laughing.
“Sorry honey, it’s just that I haven’t talk to you in such a long time, that I thought you forgot about me.” She pouted playfully,
“Forget about you? How could I ever do that? Your cookies are too good for me to forget about you.” JC joked.
“Jerk, if I didn’t miss you so much I would hang up on you right now.”
“I miss you too, Eva.” JC said gently.
“So what’s going on?” Eva asked.
“Not much, just the tour and such. We’re working on our new album. Most of the songs I wrote are on this album.”
“Really that’s so great! Do I get a sneak preview?”
“Sure, once we get more the tracks laid down I can send you a preliminary copy. You usually have the best advice about our albums.”
“Well, thank you, I do try. So how are the guys?”
“Doing great, they say hi by the way and they want you to send more cookies. They got a hold of my last batch that you sent me. I think I got like one of them.”
“Aw, poor baby. I think I could whip up a batch or two for you guys, but you shouldn’t eat too many of them or else they’ll be calling you guys ‘Fatsync’.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve earned it. I’ve been dancing my ass off so much that I could eat ten dozen of your cookies and not gain an ounce.”
“They got you working pretty hard huh?”
“Yeah, but it’s nothing that I’m not used to. It’s just we’re trying to learn some new choreography and you know me and dancing.”
“That you’ll work at it till you get it perfect?”
“Yeah something like that. So how’s the brother search going?”
“Okay, I guess. I found him.”
“That’s great, Eva. So is he cool and everything?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t met him yet, I only saw him. I didn’t have the courage to go up and talk to him.”
“Really? I’m sorry Angel.”
“It’s okay, I’ll get the courage some day. I’m just afraid that I’m going to turn his life upside down. I don’t even know if he wants to have a sister.”
“Trust me anybody would be crazy if they didn’t want to have you in their life.”
“Thanks Josh. I think I’m just going to let it go for a while and see how things play out.”
“So you’re staying in California?”
“Yeah, well it’s where my uncle wants to move the business. So it’s logical to start looking for a house.”
“Oh.” JC said quietly.
“What honey?”
“Nothing, It’s just that I was hoping that you would keep the business in Florida so that we could see each other more.”
“Oh, Josh, you’re on tour so much lately that it really doesn’t matter where I live. Plus I only live a plane ride away.”
“Yeah, I know, but in a perfect world.”
“I know, in a perfect world.” Eva repeated back softly. Someone talked to JC in the background.
“Okay I’ll be right there. Hey I have to go, talk to you later Angel.”
“Bye, Josh.” She hung up her phone and sighed. Eva missed her best friend more than anything now. They’re lives were so different now, he was a major pop star and she was the owner of a multi-billion dollar company. She missed the days when she could just run down the street to his house to play. They had been best friends since they were five when they met in kindergarten. They made sure that they were in every class together. Eva went to all of his performances and recorded all of the Mickey Mouse Club shows he was in.
She reminisced about his nickname for her, ‘Angel’. They were playing the big oak tree in Eva’s front yard and they had a race to see who could climb to the top the fastest. JC was a faster climber and was soon ahead of Eva, but slipped and lost his grip. He fell and Eva luckily caught him. He always called her Angel from then on because he believed that she was his guardian angel.
Their lives changed drastically after her parents died. JC went off to be part of Nsync and Eva had to move to England to live with her Uncle. They still kept in touch but lately it seemed that it was longer and longer between each phone call. But she couldn’t blame either of them, she was busy with finding her brother and he was busy with the tour and their new album coming out.
Eva decided to take that drive after all. It always helped her clear her head. It was like the wind wiped away all of her worries. She ran down and jumped in her jag. This was her favorite car by far. It was a present from her uncle on her sixteenth birthday. She put the top down and drove around North Village. She found a quaint neighborhood, it was like ‘leave it to beaver’ land, she laughed to herself. Then she saw it, the cutest house. It was perfect; she had to have it. It was on the curve of the street, it was a simple three-story colonial style house. It also happened to be for sale. She called up the realtor, who rushed out to show her the house. Eva loved it even more when she saw the inside of it. It had three bedrooms, a quaint kitchen, a huge basement, wonderful living areas and a great foyer. Eva bought it on the spot; she wanted to move in as soon as possible.