“So, now that the excitement of the holidays is over, what’s next?” Claudia asked Jacob as they strolled down the busy New York street.

        “I don’t know. Whatever we want I suppose.”

        It was bitter cold, and Claudia began to wonder why she had suggested walking to dinner. “Mmm,” she said thinking. “Let’s do something romantic,” she suggested giddily.

        “Oh yeah? Like what?”

        She pondered that for a moment, then frowned and responded with something off-topic. “I wish it wasn’t winter anymore. Now that Christmas is over, there’s nothing to look forward to except warm weather.” She had said it because she wanted picnics, hikes in the woods, beaches and sunsets…in this cold weather it was difficult to do any of that.

        “Yeah. All this snow and cold. It gets old after a while,” he agreed. “But your birthday is coming up,” he reminded her. “That’s something to look forward to. What do you want?”

        “It’s still three weeks away.”

        “And you’re trying to tell me you haven’t been considering birthday gifts? Come on, I know you better than that.”

        She stopped suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk. Jacob stopped also when he realized she was no longer in step with him and he turned around to face her.

        “You know what I want? What I really, truly want?” she asked him looking into his eyes. “You.”

        He flushed, slightly confused by her words. “Was that meant in a sexual way?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her, suggestively.

        “No!” she cried, hitting his chest playfully. She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked into his eyes. “For one night, I want you only. Not the businessman Jacob, my boyfriend Jacob. No cell phones, no paperwork, no meetings…just you, me and a candlelit dinner.”

        “Well, I suppose we could arrange that,” he agreed, removing her arms from around his waist.

        She frowned as he continued walking. She hated that he was so embarrassed by public displays of affection. He always had been, and it was something that she would never get used to.

        “Here we are,” Jacob said, holding the door to the restaurant open for her.

        It was warm inside and she was thankful for that. Soft music flowed throughout the room, comforting Claudia immediately. It wasn’t a fancy restaurant like Jacob was used to; it was a casual setting, which pleased Claudia. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable in all those fancy, uptight places.

        Jacob looked around with his lips pressed together. “Kind of small and…what’s the word I’m looking for? Dull I suppose.”

        She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Just because this isn’t a five star restaurant doesn’t mean that the food still isn’t great. This place was recommended to me by---”

        Claudia stopped short when she realized that Josh had been the one to recommend it…last night actually. And she didn’t like the idea of bringing him up in front of Jacob.

        “By Nicole, actually.”

        “And we all know she has great taste,” Jacob muttered audibly.

        Claudia smiled at the waitress, who lead them to a table. “I think it's…cozy,” Claudia decided as she sat down in her chair across from Jacob. She continued looking around at the paintings on the wall and stopped short when she noticed Chris, Justin, Lance, Josh and Joe sitting a few tables over.

        “Oh my goodness, Josh, hi!” Claudia cried, before she could stop herself.

        Josh’s head turned sharply at the sound of his name. His face relaxed into a smile when he saw that it was Claudia.

        “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jacob mumbled when he saw the five men.

        “Hey Claudia,” Justin called. “Why don’t you come join us? We’ll put two tables together!” he suggested.

        Claudia stood up and was about to approach the table when suddenly she remembered Jacob. “Is that okay with you? We don’t have to if---”

        “I suppose I don’t really have a choice now, do I?”

        “Oh come on Jacob, we always sit with your friends when we run into them and you don’t even ask me.”

        “I think it would be interesting to chat with the pop stars anyway.”

        Moments later, they were seated and settled, looking over their menus.

        “Oh,” Claudia realized. “Everyone, this is Jacob. Jacob this is Justin, Lance, Chris, Joe and, you remember Josh.”

        “Yes, yes I do. Nice to meet you all. I can’t believe it. Here I am, sitting with the one and only pop sensations of NSYNC. What brings you boys back together? Didn’t you break up a few years ago?”

        Hesitancy filled the air. “Well, we all flew in to visit JC for the holidays,” Justin answered ignoring his comment.

        “Aw, isn’t that sweet. A Christmas reunion.” No one missed the mockery in his tone. “So how’s life after the fame? Does anyone have any solo albums coming out soon?”

        None of them knew what to say. It was clear that he was subtly mocking them, and making comments that he knew were intrusive.

        “It’s so funny running into you here,” Joe said to Claudia to change the subject.

        “I know! Well, when- Nicole, recommended this place I was interested in seeing what it was like.” Claudia quickly hid her face behind her menu, wondering how she would steer clear of mentioning any previous encounters with Josh in front of Jacob.

        “What do you think you’ll order, honey?” Claudia said to Jacob.

        He studied the menu with a frown. “I don’t know, it’s been so long since I’ve been to a place like this, I think it will take me a few minutes.”

        When the waitress came to take their orders, Jacob, of course, chose the most expensive item on the menu. He ranted for several minutes, explaining exactly what he wanted and exactly how he wanted it.

        He wanted a lemon slice with his drink, his ice cubed, not crushed, and only three cubes or else his drink would get too watery. The dressing must be on the side, he made sure his water was filtered, not tap, his meat must be cooked a certain way and he wanted linguini noodles, not angel hair.

        “Is that all, sir?” the waitress asked, obviously annoyed by his demands.

        “Yes, just one more thing. Lose the attitude or I’ll have to speak with your manager.”

        The girl’s mouth fell open with surprise. She went to say something but instead said nothing, turned on her heel and huffed away.

        Claudia was very embarrassed by his behavior, but rather than saying anything, she sat with her hands in her lap and concentrated on changing the subject.

        “So, what did you guys do today?” Claudia asked, sipping her water.

        “Well, first we went out to brunch,” Josh began. “Then we did some window shopping, we of course had to go see the sights and we played a whole lot of basketball.”

        “Yeah, and we whooped your butt!” Justin cried, slapping Joe’s hand in a high five from across the table.

        “Basketball? In this weather?”

        “We’ll play no matter what the weather,” Chris told her. “It’s a tradition of ours.”

        Jacob pushed his chair away from the table.
 
        “Where are you going?” Claudia asked him.

        “I’m going to go wash my hands. There is something grimy on the table and it’s getting all over my fingers,” he explained. And with that he left the table.

        Claudia turned back to the guys and smiled, once again feeling embarrassed. Jacob was coming off as a completely uptight, snotty jerk. His attitude was really beginning to get to her.

        “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go to the ladies room.”

        “I don’t like that guy,” Justin spoke up as soon as Claudia was out of earshot.

        “Yeah, me neither,” Lance agreed. “There’s just something about him that gives me the creeps.”

        “Maybe its that mocking tone he uses, or the way he acts like he’s too good for us,” Joe added.

        “He’s so different from Claudia, I would never imagine her with someone like him,” Chris commented.

        “JC, why don’t you do something about that?” Justin asked.

        Josh looked up from his dinner roll with surprise. “What are you talking about?” Josh asked, confused as to what Justin meant.

        “Claudia is a beautiful girl. And from what we’ve seen between you two, I think there are a few sparks flying.”

        “Yeah, JC, why don’t you ride in on your white horse and save the princess in despair?” Chris joshed.

        “Don’t you mean the maiden in distress?” Lance asked.

        “Either way. Come on JC, we all know you want her.”

        “I do not!” Josh objected. “She’s just a good friend and she’s clearly very taken.”

        “I don’t know…I wouldn’t say that just yet,” Joe said slowly, his eyes focused on something in the distance.

        Everyone stopped and turned to follow Joe’s gaze. Their eyes landed on Jacob in the front of the restaurant, talking with two young, attractive women. They were obviously flirting. It was shown in Jacob’s charming smile and the way the two women blushed at his words and giggled at his jokes.

        Claudia saw it too. She stopped in front of the ladies room to watch Jacob out of the corner of her eye. She watched the way the blond girl constantly touched the necklace that hung low on her neck falling into her cleavage. She watched Jacob's charismatic, flirtatious smile, a smile that Claudia hadn’t seen in ages.

        “What brings you to New York?” she heard him ask.

        He knows these tramps?

        The way the girls flaunted their figures and flipped their hair made Claudia want to hurl, but seeing the way Jacob responded to it only made her feel sicker. Batting their eyelashes and licking their lips…and Jacob was clearly very comfortable with their behavior…way too comfortable.

        This was more than simple flirting. It was clear that these three knew each other…very well. Her face burned red as she watched Jacob pick up the girl’s hand to kiss the back of it, looking into her eyes all the while.

        She furiously pushed open the door to the ladies room, and walked into an empty stall, locking the door behind her.

        “Where did Claudia go?” Jacob asked when he returned to the table.

        “To the ladies room. Speaking of ladies…who were those girls you were talking to?” Chris demanded.

        “Chris!” Justin exclaimed, kicking him under the table.

        “Not that I believe it’s any of your business but they were some girls I went to high school with,” Jacob answered smoothly.

        “Some very friendly friends I see,” Chris continued.

        “Excuse me?”

        “Why don’t we invite them over and introduce them to Claudia? You know, your girlfriend Claudia.”

        Justin was about to kick Chris again, but stopped when he noticed Jacob’s eyes widen with fear and flash with anger.

        Those simple actions spoke volumes louder than any words could have. “You wouldn’t dare,” Jacob growled in a low voice.

        “Oh you don’t know me buddy. I wouldn’t dare me if I were you. Ladies! Hey ladies! Over here!” Chris yelled across the restaurant, waving.

        Several heads turned to Chris as Lance desperately put his hand over Chris’s mouth to quiet him. But it was too late, the girls had already seen him, along with the rest of the restaurant.

        “You don’t know me either, buddy, so stay out of my business!” Jacob seethed.

        A moment later, Claudia returned to the table, looking distracted and distraught. Not even a moment later, the two women Jacob had been talking to approached the table.

        “Excuse me,” the blonde said. “But are you guys who we think you are?”

        “And are you what we think you are?” Chris asked. Justin kicked him under the table.

        “Now that I see you guys up close, I know it’s really you! Can we have your autographs?”

        The guys smiled as they watched Jacob squirm and struggle to hide his face from the two girls behind him.

        “I never thought I’d see you guys together again, this is so cool!”

        “Better yet, ladies, why don’t you join us?” Chris offered, his eyes glowing with mischief.

        “Chris…”

        The two girls’ faces lit up and they turned to one another in disbelief. “Really? Do you mean it? I can’t believe we’re going to eat dinner with NSYNC!”
 
        “Actually, ladies, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Josh interjected.

        Their faces fell at his words.

        “I think it would be rather interesting,” Chris said, eyeing Jacob.

        “It would be best if you two just returned to your table.”

        “Can we at least have some autographs?”

        Claudia kept her eyes on Jacob the whole time. Although he was trying to be nonchalant, she could see him literally squirming in his seat. He kept his head lowered and refused to make eye contact with anyone; especially with the women behind him. Luckily for him, they were so star struck, they didn’t even notice him sitting there.

        A sick feeling grew in her stomach. It couldn’t be true. It wasn’t true. Not Jacob, not her. He wouldn’t do a thing like that. Not after all this time together. He was just flirting. Casual, meaningless, flirting. So what if he knew them, that didn’t mean anything, right?

        It took a few moments, but eventually, the atmosphere returned to normal--- for the most part. The guys continued chattering, but both Claudia and Jacob were rather quiet.

        Jacob tried to act as if nothing had happened, but clearly something had. He knew those women and something said he didn’t just know them from high school, he knew them much better than that. The way his eyes widened with fear when Chris suggested they meet Claudia, and the way he hid his face as they stood behind him, said a lot.

        Claudia picked at her food, unable to eat most of it. After what she had witnessed, she didn’t have much of an appetite. She tried to pay attention to the conversations that went on around her, but her heart just wasn't in it. She couldn’t get the image of Jacob and that woman out of her head. As much as she tried, it kept replaying in her head in slow motion.

        “You didn’t eat very much, Claude,” Lance commented, noticing her full plate. It barely looked like she had taken two bites.

        “These meals are so big…if I ate half of it, it still wouldn’t look like I touched it,” she said, faking a smile. “Besides, I guess I’m just not as hungry as I thought I was.”

        A moment later, Claudia asked the waitress for their bill. In only a moment, Jacob placed his money on the table and stood to put on his jacket.

        “Well, it was nice meeting you all,” Jacob said politely.

        “I’ll meet you outside,” Claudia told him.

        When his back was turned, she looked at the money he had left and pulled a few more dollars from her purse.

        “He always leaves a bad tip,” she said with an uneasy laugh.

        “It was nice to have met you Claudia,” Lance told her sincerely.

        “Maybe we’ll see you again sometime,” Justin added with a smile.

        She smiled and nodded. “You guys have fun. I’ll see you later Josh.” She gave them a little wave before heading for the door.

        “Why did you do that earlier, JC?” Justin questioned.

        “Do what earlier?” he asked, shoving a fork full of food in his mouth.

        “We totally had Jacob cornered,” Chris chimed in. “If you hadn’t asked those girls to leave, he would have been caught for sure.”

        “I know that!”

        “So why’d you let him get away with it?” Joe wanted to know.

        “I just couldn’t watch that happen to Claudia. I didn’t want her to be embarrassed in front of all of you, I mean, can you imagine how humiliating it would be to discover your boyfriend was cheating on you in front of a group of people you just met?”

        The guys nodded in agreement.

        “We don’t even know for sure if he’s cheating on her. We’re just assuming.”

        “Yeah, but I think we all know that our assumptions are probably correct,” Justin reasoned.

        “Even so…I’m staying out of it. It’s not my place.”


        Outside, a light snow began to fall. Claudia hugged her coat tighter to her chest as she walked along next to Jacob.

        Streetlights lit up the nighttime street, causing the snow to glisten as it fell. Christmas lights and decorations embellished the light posts and large windows of stores that they passed. It was a beautiful sight, only Claudia was too distracted to notice it.

        “Well, they were pretty nice,” Jacob spoke up.

        “You weren’t very nice to them. You embarrassed me tonight, Jacob,” Claudia said in a firm voice. A voice she rarely used with anyone, especially Jacob.

        “I did? How did I do that?”

        “You deliberately mocked them, they all picked up on it. And the way you complained about everything on your plate and stuck your nose up in the air all night was a rude way of displaying the fact that you thought you were too good for them.”

        She was shocked that the words were coming out of her mouth. She never stood up to Jacob, but tonight was different. Tonight he had embarrassed her in front of Josh and his best friends and that was enough to push her over the edge.

        “I wasn’t mocking them,” he denied. “And how can I help it if my glass was dirty and my meal didn’t come as I ordered it? I’m not passive like you, I argue to get what I want. I don’t let people walk all over me.”

        Her face flushed at his words. “So you just walk all over people like me, is that it? Just because I’m not rude and bossy to try to get my way?”

        “That isn’t it at all, Claudia. You twisted my words around.”

        “Why couldn’t you just admit that you were a jerk tonight and apologize for making a fool out of me?” she demanded, anger rising in her voice.

        “Where is this coming from? I’ve never seen you act like this before.”

        “Don’t change the subject, Jacob!”

        She stopped walking to look at him. She was breathing heavily, boiling over with anger, although she tried to keep herself calm. Her heart was pounding as it always did when she was faced with confrontation.

        “Who were those women there tonight, Jacob?” she demanded.

        He hesitated. “Oh now who’s the one changing the subject?” he retorted.

        “Answer me! Who were they?”

        “You mean those crazed NSYNC fans? How should I know?” he scoffed with a shrug as he continued walking.

        She hurried to catch up with him and grabbed his arm to turn him around so that he was facing her. “Don’t lie to me.”

        “I’m not lying! They were star struck teenyboppers. Anyone could have told you that.”

        “I saw you talking to them, after you left the table. Flirting with them is more like it.”

        “They were acquaintances from high school. I passed by them and they stopped me to chat. Is it such a crime to catch up with old friends?”

        “If that’s the way you ‘catch up’ with old friends then yes, it is.”

        He continued looking at her, his face expressionless. He had never seen this spunk or attitude out of her before and he didn’t know how to respond to it.

        “I think you’re overreacting about all this. You’re making this out to be much more than it really is!”

        “Overreacting!” she cried. She sighed loudly, not knowing what to do or say next. “I know what I saw, Jacob. If you won’t admit to it, then fine, but I’m not going to sit here and listen to this.”

        Taking quick, long strides, she brushed past him and hurried down the busy street without looking back.

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