"Has anyone seen my silver tank top?"
"I need that lipstick, why is it in your bag?"
"Where's my brush?"
Ali sat in the living room of her old house, watching her friends run around like crazy, trying to stuff everything they needed into less than eight suitcases and duffel bags each. Which was nearly impossible. She had already packed fo her trip two days before, for the two weeks she was spending with Hallie and 'N Sync, and also for the rest of the BSB tour. She decided not to tell Kevin until he was already out and on the road; besides, it was only two weeks. What could happen in two weeks?
"Ali, I wish you were coming with us," Jamie said, trying to find her purple brush.
Ali shrugged her shoulders and felt the guilt set in. Why had she agreed to this?
"Yeah, we're gonna miss you!" Lily squealed, trying to close her suitcase by sitting on it.
"Yeah, well, you know college life," Ali muttered, feeling extremely guilty about not telling anyone the truth. Right away, anyway.
"Yeah, it can be hell at times," Cathy said, dragging her duffel bag into the room and putting it by the door for when the guys came to pick them up.
"You know, I don't see why you guys didn't pack sooner, I'm already packed," Ali said, standing up to help Jamie with her suitcases.
"Yeah, and you only have a duffel bag and a suitcase. How you travel so lightly is beyond me," Jamie grunted as she pulled the suitcase to the door, almost breaking it's handle. "And why Hallie isn't coming with us is also beyond me. She never gave us a reason, she just wanted to stay in New York with Carson. Urgh, and this whole thing with her and Brian is gonna affect the way he is onstage, I know it."
Ali hung her head. "Umm, you guys, I really wanna be here to say goodbye, but I really can't, I gotta study for those exams," she said quickly. "And I'm not really being too much of a help, just watching you guys run around. So, I better get a move on. Have fun you guys, I gotta get going," Ali said, hugging each of her friends.
"That was strange," Jamie commented after Ali peeled out of the driveway in her Tracker. "She's never been so uptight like this before. There's something going on with her, and I know it."
~*~*~
"Hello?" Justin answered Hallie's cell phone. She had left to go over some last minute dances and she instructed Justin to answer the phone if it rang, but not to break it.
"Hello, is Hallie around?" Ali asked, wondering which member of 'N Sync had stolen Hallie's cell phone.
"Uh, yeah, but she's practicing a dance in the studio," Justin said, glancing through the windows to the New York dance studio. "Who's this?"
"This is Ali-"
"HEY, I know you, you're that girl that's engaged to Kevin Richardson," Justin cut her off with, suddenly placing a voice with a name and a face he had seen on TV, at a Press Conferance. In his opinion, the girl standing next to Kevin was entirely too young to get married, she looked not much older than his eighteen years. "Ali McLean, right?"
"Yeah, that's me," Ali replied, momentarily resting her cell phone on her shoulder as she turned the corner of Vine and First streets. "And I take it you're a member of 'N Sync, right?"
"Yeah, I'm Justin. So, if I can ask and not sound too rude, what does Kevin think of you touring with us?"
Ali bit her lip. "Well, he, uhh, kinda doesn't know. Yet," she added quickly.
Justin snickered. Now THAT was the way to start a marriage, with a Little White Lie. Perfect. This was gonna be a fun two weeks. "Yet?"
"I'm gonna tell him the day before I leave," Ali explained. "That way, I figure he can't do much about it. Do you have any problems with this, I know you already find it amusing that I'm lying to my fiancee`, don't think I didn't hear that laugh."
Justin grinned. "You know me too well. Nah, I don't have any problems with it, I can keep a secret. And I take it you're keeping Hallie's too, since she didn't mention anything about Brian in front of me yet."
"Correct," she replied with a grin. "Best friends think alike, what can I say?"
"I guess so. You know, this is so weird, I'm talking to you for five minutes, and I feel like I've known you all my life."
"You took the words out of my mouth." Ali smiled. Justin and herself seemed to be on the same wavelength and mindset, and that was a scary thought. I knew I was gonna find myself a friend while I was on tour with 'N Sync, she thought. What I didn't know was that it was gonna be with the eighteen year-old Cute One in the group. What're the odds?