In Your Footstep
Part 2
Chris was one of my best friends so I wanted to start
there. Surly he would tell me something. “Man,” I said.
“No, if you really want to find out you should just ask her.”
Chris said. We were on our tour bus so there was no way for him to get
away from me. “Chris come on you and her have clicked. I just
want to know more about her.” I wined. “Then get to know
her yourself. She is super easy to get along with.” Chris explained.
“So what I just go up to her and say, hey I think I’d like
to be your friend?” I asked. “Yeah, pretty much.”
Chris said.
He got up and patted me on the back. “Why the sudden interest
in Abbey any way?” He asked, giving me an intrigued looked. “She
seems like an amazing girl and I want to know more.” I explained.
I think Chris knew I was up to something, we had been friend too long
for me to be able to fool him. “Whatever.” Chris huffed
and then headed for the back of the bus.
I worked hard the last few weeks and got to know Abbey pretty well.
The tour ended before I really had a chance to put my plan into action.
The tour had been a success and the small town band was becoming more
popular than I think they had expected.
We decided to throw a party to celebrate the close of our tour. Everyone
involved in the tour was invited to join us at a hot night club downtown
in the last city we had been scheduled to play at, of course that meant
Abbey, Scott, Danny and Roxy. It was nice to relax and just hang out
with for once. I had a few drinks in me, we all did, I wasn’t
prone to drinking and I wasn’t drunk. I got brave and grabbed
Abbey by the hand and pulled her into the dance floor.
She laughed and leaned against me. I won’t lie, I was attracted
to her. But even while we were dancing that night I got the feeling
her eyes were on some one else. I knew at that moment I could not have
her for myself and that wasn’t something I was used too. I was
cocky, I admit it. “You’re dancing with the hottest guy
in music, and I get the feeling you don’t care.” I told
her. She smiled and looked at me. “You can’t put anything
past you, Mr. Timberlake.” She said sweetly.
“I’ve been told I am a very intelligent man.” I replied.
“People really shouldn’t lie to you like that.” She
joked. We both laughed. “I have to say I’m going to miss
you guys.” I said. “What about me are you going to miss
me?” She asked tilting her head to one side. “Yeah, you,
Scott, all of you guys.” I explained. “What about that time
I stole your boxers, or the time I coated you bed sheets with flour?”
She laughed. “I’ll miss you, you kept things interesting
to say the least. I will get you back for all that stuff, by the way.”
I said pointing my finger at her.
I finally let her go back to her friends, as I returned to the guys.
“You go dude. Abbey is such a hottie.” Joey said smiling
at me as I joined him at the bar. I looked at Chris and then turned
back to my drunk friend. “No Joey, it’s not like that. We’re
just friends.” I explained. “I wish all my friends looked
like that.” Joey said taking a drink. Joey was defiantly the party
animal of the group, but he made for an interesting drunk.
I happened to glance across the room to where Abbey and them were. It
was at that moment that I realized who her crush was. It was the simple
way she behaved around him. It was there in her eyes when she looked
at him, as if her whole world revolved around him. I knew who it was
with out ever having been told. We were all there but no one seemed
to notice but me, maybe because I was the only one looking. I knew now
why she didn’t want any one to know.
It wasn’t long before she came over to the bar, where I was standing,
to get a refill on her drink. “Abbey.” I said realizing
we were alone at the bar. “What’s on your mind? You look
deep in thought, and that isn’t right when you’re at a party.”
She explained, her green eyes shining in the dark club. She leaned on
the bar to talk to me. “I was just watching you over there, and
I couldn’t help but notice something.” I said. “Really?”
Abbey asked intrigued.
“You’re in love with him aren’t you?” I asked
watching her eyes for a reaction. She looked up at me shocked. “In
love with who?” She snapped. “You know who.” I said
not wanting any one to over hear me. “Chris told me you were asking
him a bunch of questions.” Abbey said, she was clearly trying
to change the topic. “What did he say?” I asked worried.
“Take it easy, he just said you bother him about it.” She
replied.
“You do love him, I can tell by the way you look at him.”
I said looking past her at him. “What are you taking about?”
She asked still not wanting to admit it. “I saw you don’t
deny it.” I said smiling at her. “Okay, so what do I do?
If I tell him it could ruin everything.” She asked finally giving
in. I could tell by the way she was looking at me, she wanted my advice,
and for once I didn’t know what to say. It was the first time
I had seen her be serious about something, it was almost scary. I with
drew and looked at my glass. I didn’t know what to tell her. There
was silence between us for a few minutes. She got her drink and was
about to leave.
I grabbed her arm. “I wish I knew what you should do. I guess
you should just do what feels right to you, when it feels right.”
I said adding the last part at the last minute. I some how knew she
wasn’t ready now. She smiled and nodded. “Thanks Justin
you’re a really good friend.” She added then rejoined her
friends.
“You look like you’re confused.” Chris said coming
up behind me. “I’m not of once, but I think I just screwed
Lance.” I said finally feeling the affects of the alcohol. “What
ever floats your boat, just don’t let the press hear you say that.”
Chris said looking at me funny. I playfully smacked him. “You
are a sick old man.” I snapped. He just looked at me and laughed
like he always did. “I’m just glad it was Lance and not
me.” He added as I walked away.
I spent a few days thinking about the whole situation and what I would
do if I was in her place. But I don’t think I would ever want
to be. After that the group took off, with the release of a music video
they had officially arrived at stardom. It wasn’t easy being famous,
but of course it has it’s perks.
Scott called me a few months later complaining about how crazy the fans
were. “This is what you signed up for, when you wanted to be a
famous guitarist.” I explained. “I just didn’t think
it was going to be this bad, this fast.” He replied laughing as
if the whole thing was funny, it was sad to tell you the truth. I didn’t
need him to tell me about crazy fans, I had been doing this too long
to be surprised by anything he said.
“Seriously how are you guys?” I asked. “We’re
great. I was calling to see if you wanted to do a cameo on the album?”
Scott asked. “Tell him he has too.” Abbey said in the back
ground. “Tell Abbey I would love too.” I laughed. I heard
Scott laugh and then a loud thud. “You guys okay?” I asked
a little worried. “I’m fine, Abbey fell off the couch.”
Scott replied trying not to laugh. I could hear Abbey in the background
wining. “It was great talking to you guys, but I got to go. I’ll
see you at the People’s Choice awards right?” I asked knowing
that had they been nominated. “Yeah, it’s a date dude.”
Scott said, I could tell he was teasing Abbey.
“Wouldn’t the tabloids love that one.” I said. “Forget
the tabloids there would be a lot of disappointed young ladies.”
I heard Abbey say. “Like who?” Scott asked jokingly. “Like
me.” Abbey wined. “You would?” Scott asked. “Yeah,
Justin’s way too hot for you.” Abbey laughed. “Bye
guys.” I said. I waited for them to say bye, then hung up.
I was so happy for them at this point. It was a few weeks later, after
the People's Choice Awards, when I joined them in the studio to help
with their new album. Lance was happy to have me do it, I was the kind
of mega celebrity they needed to sell records. As I approached the sound
booth I was greeted by a familiar sound, it was their laughter. It was
almost like music, full of passion and rhythm. They were good people,
I could only hope fame wouldn’t change that.
When I walked in Scott had Danny in a head lock. Danny was yelling something
about messing up his perfectly styled dirty blond hair, and Roxy and
Abbey were just laughing at them. Abbey was the first to notice me.
“With all your money you can’t afford a razor?” She
asked. I ran my hand over my cheek. Since we weren’t doing anything
and all the award shows were over, I hadn’t felt the need to clean
up.
“Take it easy on him Abbey, the man is a sex icon.” Scott
said. I smiled, “Yeah, what he said.” I joked. “It’s
so nice of you to do this.” Roxy said. “I’m happy
to help.” I replied. “You have to be really busy lately,
what are you guys up to?” Danny asked. “Nsync? The same
stuff you are, trying to make a new album and maybe plan a summer tour.”
I replied. “A summer tour, we should do one.” Abbey said
after thinking about it. “Lance, mentioned maybe we could to a
tour together, you know one with two headliners.” I explained.
“Lance hasn’t said anything about it to us, but that would
be great. Are you sure you can handle another tour with us?” Abbey
asked. “I think I have about got you figured out. You won’t
get me with any of your pranks this time.” I said feeling confident.
“Oh, I’ll get you. You watch me.” Abbey said with
an evil grin. “I’m ready for you. Shouldn’t we get
to work?” I asked. “Yeah, you’re probably really busy.”
Roxy said. “You have no idea.” I said taking my place inside
the booth. Abbey and I had written the song back when we were on tour
so I knew what I was doing.
The song sounded great when we were done. I was proud of it and I know
they had to be as well. After the album dropped we shot a video for
our song. I of course stared in it, after all we were getting ready
to release a CD too and we could use the publicity.
Lance worked it out so we could tour with the guys again, this time
taking them over seas with us too. It was going to be an awesome tour.
I couldn’t wait to get started. We worked on the tour separately
and then brought it all together a month before the first show.
We had rented an old venue so we could practice and plan it all out
on the stage. This was going to be a big tour for them, it was nothing
out of the ordinary for us. I knew Abbey was there when I got hit with
a water balloon. “Abbey I’m going to kill you.” I
yelled turning to see her and Chris just smiling at me. “As if
she wasn’t bad enough, why do you encourage her?” I asked
him. “Don’t blame Chris, I thought you looked hot. I just
wanted to cool you off a bit.” Abbey said.
She ran over to me and I wrapped my arm around her as we started to
walk to the dressing room where the others were waiting. “So you
think I’m hot?” I asked jokingly. “Yeah, me and half
of America.” Abbey laughed. As we walked into the dressing room
I let go of her.
“So how are you guys handling everything?” Lance asked.
He hadn’t seen them in awhile, we had been keeping him pretty
busy with Nsync. “It’s different.” Scott said. “Just
wait now your getting to the point where your personal lives are no
longer personal.” JC said, speaking from experience. “I
think we can handle it.” Danny said. “Don’t be so
sure.” Joey replied. “It will be hard, I’m sure, but
we’ll make it.” Scott said feeling very sure about it.
“Before I forget I want you to meet some one.” Abbey said.
She left and then came right back with another young lady. “This
is Ann, she is a good friend of mine. Lance said we might want to get
a personal assistant and Ann is it.” Abbey said. I watched the
girl for a minute, she seemed nervous. Aside from her friends she had
probably never been around famous people before.
“Hi, Ann, I’m Justin.” I said shaking her hand to
try to ease some of the tension. She smiled sweetly. “It’s
nice to meet you.” Ann replied blushing slightly from my touch.
“I personally think a personal assistant is a great idea. I am
glad you found some one you can trust.” JC said getting up. “I’m
JC.” He added shaking her hand.
Ann seemed nice, but then again I hadn’t meet too many of Abbey
friends who weren’t. Ann wasn’t like Abbey at all though.
Ann was quite and shy, maybe that’s why their friendship worked,
Abbey did all of the talking for her and I think she liked that.
“Ann is our best friend form high school. We know she’ll
do a great job.” Scott explained. I smiled to myself, the two
girls standing side by side contrasted each other dramatically. Abbey
had on blue track pants and a white tanks top, which dropped low enough
to show off some of her perfectly formed breast. I’m guessing
Lance had a bigger influence on her than she thought. Ann on the other
hand, wore nice pair of jeans and a simple baby doll tee, that said
Old Navy.
Then there was Roxy, that girl had the biggest natural rack I had even
seen. It was hard for her not to show them off. I wasn’t about
to tell her that, it would have been rude. She knew they were there
though and I think Lance did too. But it’s not my place to say.
Maybe I should have told you that in the beginning, but I didn’t
want you to think that I was looking at her like that, it was just so
hard to miss them.
Ann was a simple girl, I could tell. She was cute alright, but conservative.
It made you wander what she was hiding under all that. I like to analyze
people based on their appearance, but JC when I looked over at him was
defiantly checking her out. I didn’t think anything about it though,
JC was a lady’s man, it was the only other thing he was good at
besides singing and sleeping.
I smiled and then smack his arm. He looked at me and I shook my head,
that last thing I wanted was for him to go and mess around with Abbey
and Scott’s best friend. He just smiled back at me and raised
his eyebrows. “So, you guys ready to do this?” I asked not
even wanting to know what my friend was thinking at this point. With
my comment we got back to work.
