| "What are you talking about? Are you crazy? Listen to me, you cannot ship 5,000 fur coats to Puerto Rico. Trust me on this one! No, Miranda I don�t care what Steve thinks. You send those coats, and you are fired. Do you understand me?!" Mandi Kavanore slammed down her office phone and ran a tired hand through her ponytail. This had been one hell of a day. She wanted to go home to be with her fiance... it was just her luck that as soon as he got a couple weeks off, she would have to work overtime. The buzzer on her intercom rang and she pressed the talk button with a sigh. "What?" "Uh, Miss Kavanore? There�s a Christopher Kirkpatrick here asking to see you," came the voice of her secretary, Monique. Mandi rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "OK, send him up." What did Chris want now? He was always picking on her for something or other, but she had no idea why he would come by her office. Chris was, without a doubt, one of the most fun people she knew. He was one of her closest friends, and she loved him to death. They always had a good time together. They had a similar sense of humor, but he knew that she didn�t like to be bothered when she was working. She jumped when the door burst open. "Hey, Mandalanda-ding-dong!" Chris yelled. Mandi looked at him and laughed. He was all decked out in a floppy blue fisherman�s hat, a black shirt that said "Tell Your Mom I Said Hi," flannel pajama bottoms, and Bert and Ernie slippers. "Wow, Chris, you�re looking pretty sexy today. Ooh baby. I might just have to get rid of- what�s his name? Oh yeah, JC, and go for this fine piece of work standing in front of me." Chris started doing a mock strip tease and singing "I�m too sexy for my slippers," before tossing himself into the chair in front of Mandi�s desk. "I have a problem Mands. A big problem that only the assistant buyer of Bloomingdale�s could solve for me." Mandi grinned. "Then I guess I�m your girl. What can I do for you?" Chris stood up and spun around slowly in a circle. "As you may have noticed, I had a little trouble getting dressed this morning. And so now I come to you. With my future of fashion resting in your hands." Mandi�s eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "What do you want, Chris?" He sat back down and grinned at her. "I want to be fitted for a tuxedo. One that I�m going to wear in four months for a wedding. A wedding of some close friends of mine, let�s just call them... Amanda and Joshua." Mandi had to smile when she heard that. He made it too easy. "Are you sure you want to get fitted now? I mean, the wedding is four months away. With the rate you�ve been going, I think you might gain a few pounds by then. And what about the shrinking thing? I mean, you are getting pretty old. And by the way, my name is not Amanda." If she had one pet peeve, one thing that she absolutely hated, it was people calling her Amanda. It irked her to no end. Her name was Mandi. It said Mandi on her birth certificate, that was what she had always been called, and that was what she liked. Amanda was too serious, too dull. It didn�t fit her at all. She had never been the serious one. Even though she�d experienced some pretty serious things, she kept her light sense of humor and positive outlook, which was what made her so easy to get along with. She was just an all around good person; it was as simple as that. She was much respected, especially by the people who knew what she had been through as a child and an adolescent. It was amazing to them that she turned out as well as she did despite the crazy life she had. Growing up without a mother and an alcoholic father, Mandi had learned the meaning of independence the hard way. Her mother had worked in fashion, just the same as Mandi did now. Pauline was her name. She loved what she did, until she got fired. She killed herself a week later. Mandi was four years old. After that, everything seemed to go in a downward spiral. Her father became less and less concerned with his daughter, and more and more concerned with his alcohol. He became violent and abusive, and it only seemed to get worse. Mandi was only 11 years old, but she turned to her journal or even designing outfits when she needed an escape. The fact that they were living in an apartment in New York City didn�t help the situation any, so Mandi was thrilled when her father got a new job. When she was 13, they packed up their few belongings and moved south to Orlando, Florida. It was here that she met 16 year old JC Chasez. They were next door neighbors, and they had hit it off instantly. He was making a living as a cast member on the Disney Channel�s New Mickey Mouse Club, and she would watch him every week. Then she would meet up with him and tell him what she liked and didn�t like about the show. He very quickly became a loyal and trusting friend who she relied on completely. It wasn�t easy for her to make friends in such a new place, and JC introduced her to just about everyone he knew. One of those people was his friend and co-Mouse Club star, Justin Timberlake. Justin was 13 when Mandi was 15. He managed to work his way into her heart in a way that no one else ever had. She didn�t mean in a romantic way, but more in a little brother kind of way. She felt like his protector, his overseer. She loved just talking and laughing with him, and she couldn�t be more proud of the wonderful young man he had become. These two men were her everything for the next few years. Her relationship with JC grew and developed, and they came to love and depend greatly on each other. When Mandi turned 18 and her father kicked her out of the house, JC was the one who held her, and comforted her, and even put a roof over her head. He was beginning to come together with his group of friends, including Justin and Chris, as well as Joey Fatone and Lance Bass. They were in the process of releasing their first album, and he wanted her around to voice her opinions. Mandi graduated high school and went to college on a four-year scholarship. She ended up in a job that she loved- she was the assistant buyer of Bloomingdale�s, the same business that her mother had been in before she passed away. And now, here she was. Engaged to a man that she loved with all of her heart, doing what she loved to do, and hanging out with the most popular group of guys in the world. "Oh, c�mon Manda, I know you can do better than that," came Chris�s voice. Mandi snapped out of her trance and looked at Chris. One of the most popular guys in the world was sitting in front of her desk wearing Bert and Ernie slippers. She grinned. If only the teenies could see him now. "Look, Chris, I don�t know if I can help you here. I�m the assistant buyer. I decide what we sell, I don�t do fittings." Chris looked extremely upset. "But I wanted to tell JC that you dressed me and see how long it took him to blow my head off." Mandi laughed and shook her head. He was so pathetic sometimes. "You can tell him that I dressed you. He doesn�t need to know that I really didn�t." He didn�t look happy with the idea. "But I wanted you to really dress me. That was going to be half the fun." Mandi shrugged. "Maybe next time, old man. Now get out of here, I have a lot of work to do." She smiled at him, stood up, and walked him to the door. Chris sighed. "Fine. But Manda, you�re missing out on being able to put your hands on this fine body." He stuck out his tongue and rubbed his hands over his chest. Mandi laughed, rolled her eyes, and shut the door in his face. Getting back to work was not an easy task after that. She wanted to be with her friends, with her fiance, with the people she loved, and she was so grateful for the distraction the ringing phone provided a few minutes later. "Mandi Kavanore." "I miss you." Mandi�s entire face seemed to light up when she heard the voice on the other end. "I miss you too." He sounded bored, tired, a little annoyed that she couldn�t be there with him. "When are you getting off?" Mandi stood up and walked over to her window, staring out at the endless mass of cars and people and buildings. She twisted a lock of hair around her finger and sighed into the phone. "I�m not sure. Debbie might need me to stay late again tonight." JC�s face turned into a pout. He hated when she worked late. "But you worked overtime last night. I�ve hardly gotten to see you since I got back, and I�m leaving soon." He knew it was unfair to complain to her. It was his job that kept them apart all the time, but he just couldn�t help it. "I know Jace. I�m sorry, but there�s nothing I can do about it. She�s already pissed at me for taking time off last week to see you... I have to get back on her good side." He smiled when he heard how worried she sounded. She was too cute. "If you come home, I�ll let you get on my good side." He could practically see her blushing face and embarrassed smile from here. He loved when he made her blush. She looked so adorable when her cheeks turned pink and she tried to hide it. "I�m already on your good side. Listen Jace, I�ll be home as soon as I possibly can, ok? I�ll do my best. I promise." He pouted some more, even though there was no one there to feel bad for him. "OK. Fine. I just miss you." He wished she would quit her job sometimes. He didn�t really see why she needed it. He could support her and ten other families if he needed to. "I know. I miss you too. But I have to go Hun, I�m getting a beep. I�ll be home in a little bit. I love you." She hung up. "I love you- " he said, then realized she wasn�t on the line and hung up with a sigh. "This sucks man!" He yelled to no one in particular. He was being selfish, he knew, but he felt like he had to be now. They were getting married in four months and they hardly ever saw each other. They were both too busy with work. He knew that if he had a "normal" job that things would be different, but he also knew that she supported him while he was off traveling around the world. Another thing he knew was that if she ever asked him to quit music, he knew he would. He would do anything for her. He knew that she was proud of him. She told him so all the time. She had been there from the days that he and his friends would sing a Capella in his garage, and she had never doubted him once in all that time. And he had been there from the days that she would design outfits on the back of her napkins... in fact, she still did that. It was incredible to him that they both got exactly where they wanted to go. He wondered often if they would have made it without each other. Sometimes he even wondered how they made it with each other. How they stayed together for so long. How they�d managed to come so far as a couple. He still had photographs of the two of them in their young teens, at MMC cast parties, birthday parties, or just chilling out with their friends. He had two pictures that he carried with him everywhere, and that meant everything in the world to him. The first was a picture of a 13-year-old Mandi and himself at 16, the first year she had moved there. They were at the annual carnival on their first official date. His arm was wrapped around her waist, and she was carrying a huge stuffed purple dinosaur that he won for her in one hand, a huge stick of cotton candy in the other. They were both grinning, and they both had blue teeth as a result of the cotton candy. He remembered that his father had taken this picture when he came to pick them up. JC hadn�t had his license yet. The second picture he carried was again taken at the carnival, only 9 years later. It showed a 22 year old Mandi and himself at 25. They had actually gone back to the carnival with a few friends to celebrate their engagement. His arm was wrapped around her waist, and this time she was holding a huge stuffed teddy bear that he won for her. The blue teeth were gone, but they both had ice cream cones. In fact, the next picture from that night was the one of a laughing Mandi shoving her ice cream cone into his shocked face. He remembered her expression of pure happiness that remained on her face the entire night, and he knew that his own expression probably mirrored hers. It just made him so happy to see her happy. Seeing her smiling face, and knowing that he caused that smile to be there was one of the best feelings he had ever experienced. He wondered if she was thinking about him right now like he was thinking about her. He hated so much that she had to work. It seemed like there was a conspiracy against them, every time he got some time off, she would be on call or would have to work overtime. He wanted to be with her right now, to run his hands through her hair and get lost in her deep blue eyes. JC knew that Mandi would be there if she could. He knew she hated being away from him, and that just made it harder. He didn�t want her to have any pain or hurt in her world. She had already experienced too much of it and all he wanted for her was to have a happy and stress-free life. But he was only human. He couldn�t control her emotions. He couldn�t stop her from thinking about what happened, even though he wished he could erase every last trace of the memories from her mind. JC was snapped out of his thoughts by the doorbell ringing. He got up from his position on the couch and looked at his watch. It was only 4:30... he didn�t know who would be here now. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he walked slowly over to the front door, and opened it to find Justin standing there. He was staring at the ground twirling his keys around his index finger. "Hey J... what�s up? Come on in." JC had the weird feeling that something was bothering his young friend. His eyes didn�t have the normal confident sparkle to them, but he assumed it was only because he had to leave his girlfriend, Britney Spears, over in Europe to promote her album. He always went through a depressed phase when he had to leave her. Justin walked inside the house and sat on the couch where JC was just seconds ago. "What�s up, man?" he asked, turning the TV on and flipping the channel to ESPN Classic. "I love this game!" JC rolled his eyes and grabbed a couple of Pepsis from the fridge. "Are you here just to watch old basketball games? Because couldn�t you do that at home?" He sat down on a recliner and kicked his feet up, while Justin put on a mock hurt face. "You don�t love me? I know you do!" JC laughed. He wouldn�t go so far as to say he loved Justin, but he did care for him, like a little brother. He had met Justin when the kid was only 13 years old. He was part of the new cast for the Mickey Mouse Club, and he and JC had connected on a level that neither of them thought possible. They could go out to a club and have a good time, be goofy and stupid and just laugh together for hours on end, they could take their girlfriends bowling on a double date and have a friendly competition, or they could sit quietly and have an actual conversation. Mandi always teased him, saying that Justin and JC were worse than herself and some of her girlfriends. He almost felt responsible for Justin. He was the baby of the group, and everyone looked out for him because of that. He got special treatment, and JC always worried that it would get to his head one of these days. It was almost a shock that he actually remained the exact same person through everything. And he wasn�t just saying that, either. It might have just been that Justin knew there were plenty of people around to keep his butt in check if he started getting cocky. "C? Hello, are you in there?" Justin was waving his hand in front of JC�s face, snapping his fingers and snapping him back to reality. JC was a little confused as to why he kept slipping into these little daydreams in the first place. "Yeah, I�m in there. What were you saying?" Justin have him a weird, what�s going on with you look. "Nothing important. So how�s Taco?" Taco was Justin�s nickname for Mandi; she in turn called him Popstar. "She�s fine... working late, again," JC sighed. Justin had to bite his lip to keep from laughing out loud. Here was JC, who had just been away for 3 months overseas working non-stop, and he was complaining that Mandi worked too much. Sometimes Justin thought that JC took his fiance for granted... he didn�t think he realized how much she actually gave up for him. She had always been willing to give up anything for him, and Justin thought that maybe JC had come to expect that from her too much. He wasn�t saying that JC didn�t love her, because he knew he did. That was obvious every time you saw the two of them together. It was just one of his little theories... that maybe JC just didn�t appreciate enough everything Mandi did for him. Then he would look at them from a different point of view, and he would see just how perfect they were together. They were one of those couples that made everyone wish they had someone special as well. They were the people that everyone would go to for relationship advice, because they seemed to know everything there was to know. Justin could remember many long talks with his friend about this subject. JC had always been someone who Justin knew he could talk to, without having to worry about anyone else finding out. Except maybe Mandi, but he guessed that was understandable. JC told Mandi absolutely everything, and vice versa. He always told Justin that when you were getting married, you weren�t supposed to have secrets from each other. That made sense to Justin. Mandi and JC made sense to him. They were like security, something you could always count on to be there. Even if you didn�t need them, or weren�t really sure why they were there, they were always there, and that�s how you knew that everything would be fine. It was when they weren�t there that things got ugly. |