“I’ve thought about it for a while Lance and I’ve come to a decision,” Ashleigh told her friend.
“Really?” Lance exclaimed hopefully. “Well?”
“I’ve decided that you need to stop pressuring me about this Lance. You’re one of my best friends and I don’t want this to ruin our friendship, but you’re forcing me to pull away every time you push the God issue,” she let out a sigh of relief. She’d said it. She finally told him her feelings.
“Oh,” was his reply. She could hear the disappointment in his voice.
“I appreciate your concern for me, but I just need you to be here for me, that’s all.”
Lance sat silently at the kitchen table as he absorbed what she’d just told him. He certainly didn’t want to lose her as a friend, she was very important to him. “Fine,” he finally spoke after a minute of silence. He decided not to discuss the issue with her anymore. If she wouldn’t pray herself, he’d pray for her.
“Hello?” the very groggy voice answered the phone.
“Ashleigh? I am sooo sorry! I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“Lance?” she asked as she attempted to lift her head off her pillow high enough to look at her clock. She was so tired that her head immediately flopped back down on her pillow. “What time is it?” she inquired as she failed to find out on her own.
“It’s 12:15 there. I was hoping you would be up by now. We are on our way back to rehearsals. You know how Wade is. We might never make it out alive! I just wanted to call and check on you.”
“Aw, that’s sweet Lancie,” she replied before yawning.
“How you feeling?” Lance asked, concern evident in his voice.
“I’m doing as well as I can be I guess. I am really really tired. The medicine they gave me for the nausea isn’t working so well. Other than that I am great,” she tried to joke.
“Ash, don’t let your spirits get down so quick. You will make it through this. I promise.”
“I know, but since this is only day one of this round of chemo I am really not looking forward to the rest of the week.” Lance could hear the fear and sadness in her voice.
“Just hang in there and stay strong! You are a fighter, I know you are. You’ll make it through this round of chemo just like you did before and you will be back getting yourself in trouble in no time!” he chuckled.
“Lancie, you had better be glad that I am too tired to come through the phone and hurt you. You just wait until next time I see you,” she giggled.
“Promises, promises! Well I guess I better get going, we’re gonna be starting in just a few minutes. By the way you want to come hurt Wade? I would love to go home and take a nap right now!”
“Nah, just consider it a preview of what is to come later from me!”
“Oh Lord. Maybe I should just skip the country now!” His comment caused Ashleigh to burst out laughing. It was good to hear her happy.
“Bye Lance.”
“Bye Ashleigh,” he spoke and then brought his cell phone from his ear and pressed the end button. He was about to put the phone away when he thought of one more call he needed to make. He quickly dialed information.
“What state, please?” the operator asked when she answered the phone.
“Mississippi.”
“What city, please?”
“Clinton.”
“What listing, please?”
“Flowers By Kaye.”
Ashleigh had finally dozed off to sleep when a firm rap on the door awaked her. “Damn,” she cursed as she drug herself off the sofa to find out who had pulled her from dreamland.
“Who is it?” she hollered through the door as she leaned up and put her eye next to the peephole.
“Delivery for Ashleigh Reynolds,” was the reply she received. Her view through the door confirmed the words when she saw a man in a delivery uniform holding a clipboard.
“Just a sec,” she called back as she unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door.
“Delivery for Ashleigh Reynolds,” the man said once more.
“I’m Ashleigh Reynolds,” she told him with a tired smile.
“Sign here please,” the man said as he thrust his clipboard into her hands. He reached forward with a pen and made a little x where he wanted her signature before handing her the pen as well. She scrawled her name where he asked and handed the clipboard back with a questioning look on her face.
“What is my delivery? I didn’t order anything,” She told him. She looked over his shoulder at his van hoping to get a clue as to what kind of delivery it was, but the van was plain white with no back windows.
“Hold on one second miss, I’ll be right back.” The man turned around and quickly walked back to his van and threw the back doors open. He disappeared behind the door for a moment and re-appeared carrying two large bouquets of flowers. One was made of about two dozen roses of various colors. The other bouquet was mixed with daisies and dahlias.
Ashleigh’s eyes widened as the man walked past her into her living room and set both bouquets down on the coffee table. “Thanks,” she called after him as he walked down to his van. A moment later he was headed back up her walkway with a dozen balloons. Her jaw dropped as he walked past her again. She was filled with amazement when yet again he came back to her front door carrying a large white teddy bear holding a sign that said, “Get Well Soon!” This time he handed the bear to Ashleigh as well as a card.
“That’s the last of it Miss Reynolds. You have a wonderful day, ya hear!” He flashed her a smile and turned around before she had a chance to reply. Not that she had anything to say. She was still in shock at all the stuff that was just brought into her house.
‘Who could’ve done this?’ she thought to herself. She walked into her living room and over to the couch. She set the bear down and took a seat herself next to it. She flipped the cream envelope she held over in her hands. On the front was simply printed, “Ashleigh.” She slid her finger under the edge and sliced it open and pulled out the card. The front had a picture of a mountain with a field of red and purple flowers in front of it. There was not writing on the front of it so she opened it. Inside was someone’s handwriting she didn’t recognize. ‘Strange,’ she thought to herself and began to read the card.
Ash,
I wish that I could there with you. I would be there if I could. Just remember I will be thinking about you. Stay strong, keep yourself busy. It will be over soon!
Love ya girl,
Lance AKA Lancie
A huge smile formed on Ashleigh face as she finished reading the card. Lance had always know what to do to cheer her up, today wasn’t an exception. ‘I should call him and thank him,’ she thought. She glanced down at her watch and realized that he would still be in practice more than likely. ‘I’ll call him later tonight. Right now, I am gonna get back to my nap.’ She laid back down on the couch, resting her head on the lap of her new bear and fell asleep with a smile on her face.
“Boy, I have been trying to get you for days! Are you never at home?”
“I told you Wade was harsh. We aren’t done until he gets bored with us. In one of the rare instances that I actually saw Monica and she was awake, she told me that you have been trying to call. This is the first chance I have had to sit down and call you! Believe me, I haven’t forgotten about you,” Lance chuckled as he replied. He walked over to the couch and stretched his sore muscles before lying down. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, but he had just gotten out of bed not long ago. The group had had another late night of practice, and his muscles were still tired and sore.
“Well I wanted to thank you for all the stuff you sent me. That was really sweet of you.”
“Well I knew how down you were, I just wanted to try to cheer you up. I hate it when you are sad. How are you doing anyway?”
“I am doing much better. This round of chemo is finally over. I am just taking it slow and trying to recover. I will be fine in a couple of days,” Ashleigh said and smiled. She was so relieved it was over. She refused to let herself think about the next round yet.
“That’s great news Ash!” Lance exclaimed. The two stayed on the phone for awhile. They discussed practices, the upcoming concert, the happenings of Clinton, Mississippi and anything else that came to mind.
The three weeks of rehearsals were finally over. Lance kept in touch with Ashleigh as much as possible over the phone. The last free weekend the group had before the tour started provided the perfect opportunity for Lance and Monica to plan a trip to fly out to see Ashleigh. Monica insisted that she go with Lance to make sure that he behaved himself. She knew how badly he wanted to keep pressing the religion issue and she knew how detrimental that topic of conversion could be to Lance and Ashleigh’s friendship. She wanted to spend some time with Lance, with his hectic schedule, they didn’t get to see much of each other. Monica hadn’t gotten to see Ashleigh since she had come to Florida to visit, so she was looking forward to the visit. Lance’s parents were happy to get to see their son so much in the past couple of months. They just wished that he were coming home for different, and happier reasons. They knew how hard Ashleigh’s sickness was on Lance, and how much it tore him up that he couldn’t stay there with her all the time.
Lance was just finishing up packing his bag for the trip when he heard the phone ring.
"Mon could you get that?" Lance shouted through the house. When the phone rang two more times he decided she must not be around. He walked around the bed and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" He said into the phone.
"Hey Lance, bad news," he heard his manager say.
'Oh no,' Lance thought. "What's wrong?" Lance asked, his concern apparent in his voice.
"Nothing too terrible," Johnny chuckled. "I just wanted to let you know that there are a few last minute rehearsals scheduled this weekend."
"Crap," Lance said under his breath.
"What was that?" Johnny asked.
"Oh nothing," Lance replied, full of disappointment.
"So I'll see you tomorrow at 9. We just want you guys to run through the program a few more times to polish it up."
"Sure, see ya," Lance mumbled before he clicked the phone off and tossed it on the bed. He sat down next to it and cradled his face in his hands. He took a deep breath through is nose and sighed. He was totally bummed. He was so excited he was finally getting to go check up on Ashleigh in person. Not to mention get to see his family before his life was turned upside down from the tour.
He heard the front door slam and a moment later Monica called up the stairs.
"Up here," Lance called back half-heartedly.
"Hey!" She exclaimed slightly out of breath. "I had to run to Keeley's to give her a bridal magazine I picked up at the store."
"Oh, that's cool," he replied quietly. He raked his fingers through his hair and turned to look at her. He gave her the best smile he could muster.
"Babe, what's wrong?" Monica asked with concern when she saw her husband's face. It looked like someone had just run over his puppy. She moved around the bed and sat down next to him and put her hand on his knee.
"We have more rehearsals," he told her as he stared down at the floor.
"Oh," Monica said with relief. Her mind had immediately thought the worst when she saw him looking so upset.
“Mon, you don't get it. We have to cancel the trip. We have absolutely no time before the tour starts to go anywhere." He looked up at her and she saw his eyes glisten with tears. She knew that it was tearing him up to not be able to go see Ashleigh.
"I'm so sorry Lance!" She exclaimed as she leaned over and embraced him with a hug. As she felt her husband cling to her she began to formulate her plan.
The day had finally arrived. The moment they’d been working so hard, pouring all their hearts and souls into was finally here. Their tour was finally going to get kicked off.
Lance and the guys had headed to the venue in Jacksonville, Florida the day before to do some interviews and some promos for the concert.
They’d spent most of the day hanging out at the stadium while the crew finished setting up the stage and the sound system.
Lance was walking down the hall when he heard a laugh behind him. A moment later he felt a swift smack on the back of his head. When he looked up he saw Chris whizzing away on his razor scooter.
“Paybacks are a bitch!” Lance called after the older man.
“Only if you can catch me!” Chris called over his shoulder gleefully.
Lance just smiled and shook his head as his friend disappeared around the corner. A second later he heard more scooters closing in fast behind him. He decided to slip into a dressing room to try and avoid getting smacked three more times by the rest of his friends.
He walked over and threw himself down on the plush crimson sofa. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. A moment later a familiar voice answered on the other line.
“Hey babe, when do you think you’ll get here?” He asked his wife.
“Kee and I have a few more things to take care of here and then we’ll be on our way. We should be there by 4:00,” Monica told him.
“Alright babe, drive safe. I miss you,” he told her before he clicked off his phone.
He situated himself better on the couch to make himself more comfortable. He closed his eyes and rolled onto his side. A few minutes later he drifted to sleep, catching up on some dearly missed Z’s.
“That man is such a worrywart!” Monica laughed as she hung up the phone. Keeley laughed and shook her head.
“Always has been,” Ashleigh laughed. Monica knew how upset Lance had been about not getting to go visit Ashleigh, so she and Keeley had come up with a plan. If Lance couldn’t go to Ashleigh, they would bring Ashleigh to him. Monica couldn’t wait to see the look on her husband’s face when he saw Ashleigh out in the crowd at the concert that night.
Convincing Ashleigh’s mom to let her come was no easy task. Katherine was determined that Ashleigh was never going any farther from home than Jackson, where her doctor’s office was located, ever again.
“Please Mrs. Reynolds? It would mean so much to Lance. He really wants to see her again.”
“I don’t think so Monica. It is just too dangerous.”
“We will take care of her, I promise. We won’t let her get too cold, we won’t let her get to hot. We can take her backstage to one of the dressing rooms if she gets too tired or starts to feel bad or anything.”
“I just don’t know Monica. Let me talk to her father and I will get back and touch with you.”
“Ok,” Monica sighed in defeat, before hanging up the phone. She went outside and lay in a lounge chair by the pool. The blonde placed the cordless phone on a table beside her. ‘Might as well get some sun while I wait for an answer. Don’t want to scare the teenies with my white legs,’ she thought to herself. Less than 30 minutes later the phone rang. She answered it expecting the worse news.
“Hello?”
“Monica, it’s Mrs. Reynolds. Ashleigh’s father and I have talked about the concert and decided that it would be ok for her to come. That and she has been begging and threatened to never speak to us again,” Katherine chuckled.
“That’s wonderful news! I mean…not the part about her never speaking to you again, but…you know what I mean…her getting to come to the concert.” Monica replied stumbling over her words. She was in such shock that even she couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.
Ashleigh, Keeley, and Monica began to furiously make plans for Ashleigh to fly to Orlando, which was not easy on such notice. They had accomplished the task and the three were in the living room, getting together last minute things together so that they could leave.
Two and a half-hours later the three women pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. They decided to stop there first to get freshened up and change for the concert. After getting a little hassle from the desk attendant they finally got their keys and made their way up the elevator.
As they stepped onto their floor a huge muscular man sitting in a chair greeted them.
“Hello ladies!” He greeted them with a smile.
“Hey Mike, how’s it going?” Keeley said as she slapped him a high five.
“Your rooms are right down the hall. Monica, yours is the second one on the left, and Keeley, yours is the first one on the right.”
“Thanks!” Monica exclaimed as the three walked down the hall and all entered Monica’s room.
About an hour later they were all set to head to the venue. They piled into Lance’s 4-Runner. The girls were planning on joining the guys on the tour as soon as this concert was over. They had arranged for someone to drive Lance’s car back to Orlando so it wouldn’t sit at the venue for months.
“Look there it is,” Keeley exclaimed as she pointed between the two front seats towards the stadium.
“Wow, that’s huge!” Ashleigh said in awe. She couldn’t believe that her friend Lance would be performing there in just a couple hours, it all seemed so unreal.
As they neared Alltel Stadium they could see the massive crowd of fans surrounding the building. There were people of all ages decked out in their Nsync gear.
“How in the world are we supposed to get to the guys through this?” Ashleigh asked.
“That’s the easy part. There’s a special parking lot we get to go to. There shouldn’t be too many fans around there. The hard part is going to be hiding you until the show starts!” Monica replied as she maneuvered the SUV around the stadium to the lot she was talking about.
They were stopped by security at the gate of the lot, but were let in easily once they showed their passes. After a bit of searching they found the best spot they could and parked.
“OK you guys, hold on a sec,” Keeley told her friends as she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone.
“Hey babe, we’re here.”
“Did you get Ashleigh?” Justin asked in a hushed voice as his eyes darted back and forth.
“Yeah, Ashleigh’s with us and everything is all set. We just need for you to find a room we can hang in, somewhere Lance wouldn’t find us. Then you need to keep him busy while we sneak her in.”
“No problem, I’ve already got a space all set up for you. Johnny agreed to let you guys hang in his office.”
Justin gave his fiancé the directions to the office and promised to keep Lance nice and busy for the next 15 minutes or so. They said their good-byes and the girls took off for the door, slipping their passes around their necks in the process.
Once they were in the venue Monica and Ashleigh stayed by the door while Keeley went to make sure the coast was clear. She saw Justin standing down the hall. He turned and caught a glimpse of her and gave her a wink and a nod. A moment later he fell to his knees howling in pain. Keeley saw Lance and Joey run up to see what had happened. She tried hard not to laugh when she saw the guys helping Justin down the hall in the opposite direction. She quickly made her way back to her two friends and showed them where they could hang out.
“Yes, it feels much better now thanks,” Justin told his friends. The other members of Nsync had surrounded Justin, concern evident on all their faces.
“You’re going to be able to do the show right?” JC asked.
“Yeah, it’s no big deal. I just tripped and banged my knee. It’s fine guys, I promise,” Justin smiled to show them he was OK.
“Alright, just take it easy before the show starts,” Lance told him as he turned around to walk away.
“Ooowww!” Justin screamed when he saw Lance walking toward where the girls were. Lance turned around and rushed back to Justin’s side.
“Man, you don’t sound OK to me!” He exclaimed.
“Could you just stay here with me for a while?” Justin asked, giving them a very pathetic face.
“Sure man, whatever you need,” they all nodded in agreement. Justin couldn’t help but let an evil grin spread across his face, luckily none of his bandmates saw. A few minutes later Lonnie and House walked into the room.
“Time for the sound check party you guys,” Lonnie informed them.
“By the way guys, we found these two lovely ladies wandering the halls. They claim to belong to two of you,” House grinned before moving from the doorway and letting Monica & Keeley into the room.
“Nope, never seen them before in my life,” Chris laughed.
“Aw, you aren’t nice,” Monica pouted.
“Well if no one else wants to claim them, I want to claim the brunette as my own,” Justin told them before jumping up and going over to Keeley and swinging her around.
“I'll claim the blonde!” JC exclaimed and began to stand up. Lance's hand quickly met with his chest and pushed him back onto the couch.
“Like hell you will,” Lance told him before he walked over and kissed his wife. He then wrapped his arm around her waist.
“Justin?”
“Hmm?” he asked as he set Keeley down and turned around to look at his bandmate.
“I thought your knee was hurting,” Joey pointed out. Monica began to bite her lip and gave Justin and Keeley a worried look.
“Oh! Um…it’s fine now. Just had to get off of it for a few minutes,” he told his friend with a grin. Joey accepted the answer, but Lance looked at the younger man like he was insane.
“Seriously you guys, it time to start,” Lonnie said again. Everyone in room began to follow Lonnie and House out. About half way down the hall Justin announced that he had to go to the bathroom before they went out. He turned around and began to walk back down the hall.
“Thanks for sharing baldy,” House called after him.
“Hurry up! Don’t make me send Mike in to drag your scrawy white ass out onto the field…with or without your pants on!”
“Nightmares! Nightmares!” Chris cried out and covered his eyes as if trying to rid his mind of the mental image. Just as soon as the rest of the group was out of sight, Justin made a beeline for Johnny’s office. The TV was on, but he didn’t see Ashleigh.
“Ash?” he called out when he walked in the room. Suddenly the chair behind the desk spun around and Justin came face to face with the girl.
“You called?” Ashleigh laughed before getting up and walking over to Justin.
“Great to see you again girl,” he told her before pulling her into a hug. “How ya feeling?”
“I’m bored. I have to sit here all by myself while y’all go do the sound check thingy,” Ashleigh informed him and the poked her bottom lip out and gave him her best sad eyes attempting to pout.
“Oh no, that look won’t work on me. Who do you think perfected that look? Besides it would ruin the surprise!”
“Fine,” Ashleigh said and plopped back down in the chair. “Then go hurry up with your sound check! I am ready to see you five dance around on stage like the fools you are!” she told him with a huge smile on her face.
“You are asking for it chic.”
“JUSTIN!” Mike screamed, his voice ringing out through the halls.
“Uh oh! Gotta go!” Justin said before making a mad dash for the door. Ashleigh giggled before turning her attention back to the TV.
Justin ran into Mike, literally, when he walked out into the hall.
“How’s she doing?” Mike asked as he looked him over, and then motioned for him to follow him.
“She’s bored. She said for us to hurry up with this.”
“Smooth move with the knee earlier. Lance is still trying to figure out how you recovered so quickly.”
“Hey, it worked didn’t it?” Justin laughed. A few minutes later the guys were getting ready to go on stage. The screams from the crowd were surprising loud for the small number of people in the crowd. Keeley and Monica decided not to try to fight the crowd to get in front of the stage and hung back on the side some. Some of the fans noticed them and were screaming and waving. They politely smiled and waved back. The two were soon forgotten when the five men they fans were there to see walked onto the stage.
The sound check went off without a hitch. It was actually perfect, they were able to get their vocal warm up out of the way by singing a couple songs and they got to meet some of their fans.
A half-hour later the guys said their final good byes and ran off the stage. They needed to go to hair, wardrobe and makeup. When the guys were safely in the wardrobe room Justin told them he’d forgotten something at the sound check and raced out of the room. He ran down the hall and came to a stop at Johnny’s office door. He knocked and a moment later he heard someone call, “Who is it?”
“It’s Justin,” he told them. A second later the door opened a few inches and a hand flew out, grabbed him and yanked him into the room. Startled he looked up to find himself pressed against his fiancé.
“Baby now is not the time,” he said with an evil grin on his face.
“Oh you hush!” She exclaimed as she pushed him playfully.
Remembering there were other people in the room Justin shifted his attention to the other two women standing in the room. “I just wanted to let you guys know that we are all in wardrobe and they are letting fans in for the concert. Now would be a good time for you guys to go take your seats if you want to see the opening acts.”
“Hell yeah I want to see them! Anything is better than sitting in this room for two more hours!” Ashleigh exclaimed right away. Everyone looked at her and burst out laughing.
“Well I guess that settles it then. Mike will show you to your seats. And ladies, try to be a little inconspicuous while you’re out there. I don’t want to hear about any fights with the teenies.” He looked right at Keeley when he spoke those last words.
“What?!” She exclaimed dumbfounded. She looked to her friends for help but all she saw was Monica trying to stifle a grin. “Whatever!” She exclaimed and threw up her arms in exasperation.
A half-hour later the three women were seated in the front row waiting for the show to start. The lights dimmed in the stadium and the crowd roared. The opening acts did a great job and before they knew it the last opener was finishing up.
The house lights were brought up and the crowd began to filter out a bit. Forty-five excruciating minutes later the lights once again dimmed and the black curtain hiding the set fell to the floor. The five men of Nsync were revealed and began to sing their latest single “Pop.”
Half way into their first song Lance scanned the front row. His eyes fell on his wife and he gave her a smile and a nod. His eyes continued down the row and he saw Keeley dancing to the music. He gave her a little wink when he walked past. Lance froze in place when he saw the person sitting next to Keeley. There was Ashleigh, beaming up at him. Lance was still frozen in place when the rest of the group began to move to the right. JC bumped into him as he was doing his dance moves. He turned and gave a glare to his bandmate as he moved around him.
Once Lance finally got a hold of himself and over the original shock of seeing his best friend in the audience, he was able to focus and continue on with the concert, though he was barely able to contain his excitement.