“Hello ladies. JC! They’re here!” Lance announced as they came through the door.

“Hey,” JC called softly, coming into the room with Chris.

“Hi,” Malinda brightened. Laurel looked knowingly up at her mother, then back at the guys.

“Hello!” she chirped.

“Hello yourself. Laurel, right?” Chris shook Laurel’s hand. “And Malinda? Nice to meet you.” He took Laurel with Lance off in search of Joey and Justin.

“You bought stuff already?” JC nodded at the bag dangling from Malinda’s wrist. “We could’ve hooked you up.”

“Yeah, well, we saved the money so we could get all the goodies,” she shrugged, then silently berated herself. Why don’t you just tell him you’re poor while you’re at it? You’re not scraping the barrel.

“Well, what did you get?”

“Two shirts, a glow stick, and a couple pictures.”

“I see,” JC said absently. Mentally he was adding up the price of what she had purchased. Those shirts weren’t what you’d call inexpensive, and those pictures were a rip-off and a half. In all, she had to have spent at least a hundred some dollars, and she probably didn’t have that kind of money to waste. That’s why he had wanted to surprise them with free souvenirs.

“I may be a single mom, JC, but I do work for the things I want. I don’t want nor need handouts, and I don’t like people thinking that I do,” the young woman standing in front of him huffed.

Taken aback, JC rushed to apologize. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend—“

“No, I’m sorry. I know you just wanted to do something nice. It’s just that… there’s such a stigma attached, you know? I hate it. I look like a slut because I had a baby so young, then my closest friends are men, and so many people look at Laurel and me and see how we have things, and they think I’m doing something for those guys in return for them to take care of us. When in reality, I’m out there busting my ass, everyday, working two jobs, so that my daughter doesn’t have to know what it’s like to not have anything.”

“Well, I’m still sorry. Two jobs? Well, I know about the bookstore. What else do you do?” JC took her hand and led her to another room.

“Well, by day I work there, I’m one of the owners, and by night… I’m a… bartender,” Malinda chose her words carefully, revealing few details about her careers.

“Who else do you own the store with?”

“Two of my friends.”

“And bartending?”

“Has its moments. I usually end up dancing, though. I love to dance. It’s what keeps me in shape. Which is why, I’d imagine, how you guys all stay in shape. Do you even require energy anymore to do a show? Or are you so used to it that it’s not even a workout?”

“You never get used to it. It’s the biggest thrill. It’s like… sex. That’s right, performing on stage has replaced performing in bed in my life. Sad, I know, but what can I do?” JC shrugged.

“I wouldn’t know,” Malinda ignored the questioning look JC shot her way and asked, “Where did everyone go?”

“When in doubt, they’re probably in the game room,” JC opened a door to confirm what he had just spoken. Lance, Joe, and Justin were crowded around Chris and Laurel, who were playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater on the PlayStation2.

“How are you beating me if you don’t even know how to play this?” Chris was hollering.

“I just press a lot of buttons. They’re called tricks, Chris. They get you points.”

The banter going on between the oldest and the youngest persons in the room had the other three rolling with laughter, and JC and Malinda joined in.

“Chris, you been playin’ this game for months, and you’re getting beat by a rookie!” Justin hooted.

“Okay shut up.”

Eventually Laurel figured out that it was possible to make the two players collide, and she did this on every opportunity that she could, occasionally making her skater follow Chris’s all over the skate park. On one maneuver, she jumped into the air, landing on Chris’s man.

“Haha, you’re seeing stars now, ain’t you, Chris?”

“Speaking of seeing stars,” Joe leaned back and put his arms behind his head, "who’s ready for an Nsync concert tonight?”

“This cocky little bastard is Joe,” JC introduced him to Malinda, “and this is Justin. But you already knew all that. This is Malinda.”

Hello’s were said all around again, and Joe asked again. “Seriously, are you girls looking forward to the show?”

“Are you kidding me? We’ve been counting down the days since we ordered our tickets!” Laurel proclaimed. “I even tried to figure it out in hours.”

“What songs do you want to hear the most?”

“I don’t even know. I have no idea what to expect from you guys. I mean, those All Access things that you had on MTV before kind of killed things. And when they’re on you can’t just not watch it. So the first two shows, we had a little taste of what was gonna happen, but last year was totally off the charts. And so this year… I can only imagine.”

“Oh, so this is your fourth show, you’ve been to them all?” Justin said. “Tell me, what was your favorite thing about the others?”

“I liked that time travel thing back from the first tour,” Malinda said. A brief overview had been given on each the 60’s, the 70’s, the 80’s, and the 90’s, and after each, the guys had come out á là a group from that decade and sang one of that group’s more popular songs. “Although I was surprised when you sang your own song for the 90’s. I was expecting New Kids on the Block. In my head I was already hearing those first few beats of The Right Stuff and then out you come with I Want You Back. At least, I think that’s what you did. Maybe it was Here We Go.”

“Wow. Oldies. Any other old favorites you’re hoping to hear?” Chris asked.

“Well, God Must Have Spent, of course.”

“Tearing Up My Heart! I love that song!” Laurel cried.

“You know what I think would be really cool?” Malinda said thoughtfully. “If you busted out unreleased stuff, or things from soundtracks. I love those songs from On The Line, especially Fallen. Ooh, that’s on gets me every time. Sometimes I put it on repeat, to use to get myself to sleep.”

“Well,” JC fumbled around in his pocket, eventually giving up and finding a pen and ripping a piece of newspaper off a nearby table. “If you ever want to hear that song, or anything else, here’s the first place you should check,” he told her as he scribbled on the paper.

“What’s this?” Malinda examined the numbers displayed in front of her.

“Exactly what it looks like. That’s where you need to go, anytime, day or night. There will be any song, or anything else you want to hear. Always,” he said it so gently, gazing deep into Malinda’s eyes, that for a few blissful moments, they were both lost in their own reality, completely unaware of life around them.

Unaware, that is, until Justin couldn’t take the silence and gave his friend a hard shove.

“What the hell?” JC mumbled, trying to maintain dignity as his stance of leaning against the couch was thrown off and he stumbled sideways.

Justin only shrugged innocently, causing a miniature ripple of laughter among the group. “Come on, Laurel, you wanna see how they had to rig this place up for us?” he asked.

“Yeah. Momma said you guys cut it close this year, ‘cause two weeks earlier you would’ve hit hockey season.”

“So we heard. You have a lot of events here. Something about the Buffalo way of life, you’re not a true Buffalonian unless you go to the Arena at least once a month, or something like that,” Lance said.

“Yeah, except in my case it’s like once every three days, for almost every hockey game. It’s disturbing. I’m still trying to figure out why I have to pay to park here. I should be allowed in the players’ lot.”

“…And then we fell in the pond anyway,” Laurel, who could talk your ear off once you got her started, concluded once of her many adventures to Justin

“But you still made it to the party?”

“Yeah, except we were soaked. Kacey’s mom had to bring out some of Kacey’s clothes for us. So then for my birthday, Kacey bought me this giant raincoat."

Justin laughed. “When is your birthday?”

“January 30.”

“No way, that’s right before mine.”

“And just after Joey’s.”

“Yeah. We should have a big bash for the three of us next year.”

“If we’re still talking to you then.”

“Laurel, between you and me, I don’t think getting together will be too much of a problem. I almost guarantee that with JC and your mom, we’ll know each other for a long time.”

“Oh I know,” she looked thoughtful. “I think Momma really likes JC. I’ve never seen her that way before, so… silly looking. Not even with my dad.”

Report-to-JC radar went off in Justin’s head at the mention of Laurel’s father. “Do you see your father a lot?”

“Nah, only a few times. Momma wasn’t… nice to him. Neither was he. They weren’t being mean or anything, but they weren’t nice to each other. I don’t think they wanted to be in the same room for more than a minute at a time.”

“So they don’t talk often?”

“Oh, no.”

“Hmm. And does your mom ever tell you about him? Or have you ever heard her telling someone else things about him?” Justin pressed gently.

“Not really. All I know is that they were a couple in high school, then I was born, and they broke up.”

“So you were born when they were in high school?”

“Yep.”

“And did your mother finish high school? What about college?”

“She graduated from high school, but she hasn’t been to college. She wants to though.”

When the pair came across a bench around the backstage area that was mostly three connected hallways, Justin sat down, thinking to himself. Laurel continued to look round, making sense of her surroundings.

“Hey, I know where we are!” she suddenly burst out. “The locker rooms are right over there. Rhett and Curtis brought us back here before.”

“Who?”

“Two of the guys on the Sabres. They’re Momma’s friends.”

“Oh, are they like, dating?”

“Yeah right. Curtis just got married. Momma says his wife’s a… word that begins with ‘b’. And Rhett, I think he likes Momma a little, and I think she likes him too, but they’ll never admit it. I don’t think they go out on like, dates.”

“Does she go out on any dates?”

“Not really,” Laurel said again. “The last time she went out with this man she met at work, and they were going out on a second date, but when he came over to get Momma, she introduced him to me, and he said he had to get something out of his car, that he’d be right back, and he left, never did come back.”

“He just left? Walked right out and didn’t look back?” Justin asked in total disbelief. He remembered JC saying that may have happened, but he couldn’t believe a man would have the gall to just walk out on a woman like that.

Laurel nodded in complete seriousness. “Almost ran down the stairs. Momma was mad.”

“I’ll bet she was. That’s really terrible. Sometimes men are real jerks. You gotta be careful when you get older.”

Eyes rolling, Laurel groaned, “That’s what Momma tells me all the time.”

“Well, she’s right. And obviously she knows. But if any jerky boys try to mess with you, you just tell them to watch out, or Uncle Justin’s coming after them.”

“Uncle Justin?”

“Yeah, ‘cause by then, your mom and JC will be married, and then I’ll be Uncle Justin.”

“Yeah, they probably will. I thought I was gonna bust out laughing when he gave her whatever it was. They were just staring at each other like idiots.”

Justin hooted. “I know! That’s why I had to push him over. I had to do something!”

And so, in random bouts of laughter, Justin and Laurel discussed (made fun of) JC and Malinda’s obvious attraction to each other.

After Justin returned Laurel to Malinda with a wink, leaving them to go off and find their seats, the men of Nsync had a few moments to themselves. Following a short reflection and prayer, Justin pulled JC aside.

“Hey. I found out some interesting things about your woman.”

“She’s not my woman, Justin.”

“Yeah, but you wish she was,” Justin watched the corners of JC’s mouth turn up.

“So? What oh-so-interesting information are you full of?” JC sighed.

“Well, it turns out, she’s on good terms with a few of hockey players here. One is married, so there’s nothing there, but Laurel thinks that there might a two-way crush with the other, but they’ve never gone out or anything like that.”

“Whoop-de-do.”

“Don’t get too excited, I’m not done yet. She has had a few dates recently. One of them never got past the door. He saw Laurel and checked out.”

JC gasped. “He just left?”

Nodding solemnly, Justin confirmed, “Yep, Walked right out. Not a word, not an explanation, not even a look back. Nada.”

“Wow.”

“Also, Laurel has seen her dad a few times. And he and Malinda weren’t civil to each other.”

“Were they cold, argumentative? Or were they silent treatment-like?”

“I’m not sure. Laurel said they weren’t nice, but they weren’t mean. She didn’t really elaborate any further than that, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

JC leaned against a wall, thoughtful. “Y’know, I hope she doesn’t think I’m one of those guys.”

“What guys?”

“The see-Laurel-and-run guys.”

“I doubt she thinks that. I mean, you invited her back here. You haven’t run yet. What did you give her earlier?”

“My cell phone number.”

“Your cell phone? Wow. See, that’s your personal number. You’re not running, JC. Besides, I have this feeling that she’s built up a defense system and doesn’t let men get too close to her, she doesn’t let them in. Something about the way she looked at you,” Justin clapped his friend on the shoulder, “you’re in, buddy.”

“I hope so. It occurred to me right after they left here that I have no way of getting in touch with her after we leave. It’s all in Malinda’s hands now. She’s got my number, I hope she uses it,” JC closed his eyes. “Soon.”