Chapter 1

Was it a random number just to make me go away? I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at it. I think I have it memorized my now.

Who would’ve thought this one little piece of paper could torture someone for seven days straight. It’s been a week since that night. Wow. I wonder if Evelyn is really expecting me to call.  

I mean, it’s just a number. But what if it does happen to be fake…even though I don’t want it to be…well, I’ll just go on with my life.

“Uh, Lance?”

But what happens if she does pick up? What do I say?      

“Excuse me, Lance?”

Damn. Why am I being so paranoid? Just call the girl.

“Earth to James Lance Bass.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jerked back to reality. Shit. I’m still at my Happy Place meeting. Wendy looked down at me from her standing position.

“You ok? You were spaced out for a good fifteen minutes.”

I rubbed my hands over my face. I wasn’t in the mood to be here.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired. That’s all.” I put on a tired grin.

“Why don’t you go back to the hotel? I’ll give you a heads up on whatever else happens tomorrow. You’ve been running non stop these last couple of days and you deserve some rest.”

I shook my head.

“No. It’s ok. I’ll stay.” I grabbed my pen and started writing some things down that I had been meaning to before.  

Before I knew it, Wendy grabbed my pen, through it across the table, and spun my chair to face the door.

“Popstar, superstar, I don’t care what you are. I’m commanding you to go back to that hotel and get some sleep.” Wendy smiled at me, knowing she was going to get her way.

I put my arms up in retreat.

“Alright. Alright. You win. I’m going.”

“You better.”

I grabbed my stuff and headed towards to the door.

“You suck.” I stuck my tongue out at Wendy.  

“I know. Now get outta here.”

Before I knew it, I was out the door, into the elevator, walking out of the building, and soon hailing for a cab.

As soon as I opened my hotel door, I immediately jumped into the shower and let the hot water drown my exhaustion away.  

Now that I was fully relaxed, and felt a 100 times better than I did an hour ago, I plopped down on the bed and bent over to where my suitcases were and looked for Evelyn’s number.  

The piece of paper, folded and crumpled, now lay in my palm. My cell was sitting on the table beside the bed. I grabbed the phone and started pushing the buttons. I checked the order once. Twice. 3 times before I finally pushed the call button.

Holding my breath, I listened.

1 ring.  

2 rings.  

3 rings.

4 rings.

Maybe I should hang up.

“Hello?”

I froze. My mind went blank.

“Hello? Anyone there?”

Just say something you dork.

“Hi…Evelyn?”

“Yes, this is she.”

“Hey. It’s…it’s Lance.” Did I just forget my own name? Smart. Real smart. Why don’t you just forget how to speak?

“Well hi there! How are you?”

“I’m good. How was your first week at school?”

“It went ok. Nothing special. Just learning the basics. No good stuff yet.” I could hear her laugh and I visibly relaxed.

“Don’t worry. You’ll learn something interesting before you know it.”

”I’m hoping those days will come a little faster…anyways, enough about me. You in town?”

Damn.

“No, I’m in New York . I should be back in the next couple of days though.”  

“Oh cool. I’ve always wanted to go there. We should meet up when you get back. Then we can get to know each other a little better. I figured reading up on all those teen magazines wouldn’t be as good as talking to the one and only.”  

Yup. I knew a smart ass remark had to come out sooner or later.  

“Sure. I’d love to.” I could feel that stupid grin coming back once again.  

“Awesome. Anyways, I better get going. I have an exam tomorrow so I should study my notes.”  

“Alright. Good luck. I’m sure you don’t need it though. Nice talking with you.”

“Ditto…oh, and Lance?”

I was just about to close the phone shut when I heard her just in time.

“Yeah?”

“I’m uh…I’m glad you called.”

My grin turned into a genuine smile. Something that hasn’t been on my face since the night we first met.

After that, I called her every night. Night time seemed to be perfect to have conversations. Evelyn was done with her classes and I would be in my hotel resting up for the next day. For the past three days we would just talk about anything and everything.

I finally landed back in L.A. just as I had promised. It felt nice to be back here again. It felt even nicer that tonight I would finally meet up with Evelyn once again.

I grabbed my suitcases and headed towards my car that I had left in the airport parking lot.

About a half an hour later, I drove into my drive way and pulled out my keys. Opening the door, I threw my stuff on the floor and plopped down on the couch. It was still pretty early, and I didn’t know if Evelyn was in class or not.

Oh well, it’s worth a try. If not I’ll leave a message.

My fingers pushed the numbers that I had already begun to memorize into my phone and pressed call.

1 ring.

2 rings.

“Hey space boy.”

“Brat.” I have a feeling that was going to be my new nick name.

“What’s up?”

“You don’t have class?”

“Nope. Mine are in the afternoon.”

“Oh ok. So umm…is everything still on for tonight.” Please say yes. Please say yes.

“Nah, I have an even hotter date tonight. I bumped into your band mate Justin. He promised he was gonna rock my body if I dropped you…”

Two could play this game.

“Well then, I guess I might as well call my back-up Hollywood hottie. Halle Berry has been looking mighty fine lately.”  

“I have a feeling we’re gonna get along great. So where should we meeting each other?”  

“How about I keep up that southern charm I have and pick you up?”

“Good. Wouldn’t want you to lose that. Anyways, there’s this great café I go to all the time. We could go there if you like.”

“Anywhere’s fine with me.”

“Ok. That’s settled. My last class is at four thirty . Let’s see…I need time to shower, get ready…how about six or seven you pick me up?”

“I’ll make it easier. I will pick you up a six thirty .”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll be waiting Romeo.”

6 o’clock came by pretty fast. I kept myself busy so I wouldn’t have to keep looking at the time. I did some little errands here and there, took a shower, called some people, and didn’t even think about the subject of work.  

As I walked out of the house and locked the door, I looked at what I chose to wear. Some jeans, my favorite black t-shirt, and some cologne that I had bought last week.

I continued my journey to the car when something caught my eye. Something not out of the ordinary. Was this some kind of sign? Maybe Evelyn did bring some luck of the Irish upon me. I pulled up the 4-leaf clover and smiled. She’d get a kick out of this. How it got there, I would never know.  

By 6:25 I had arrived at her house. I was surprised at how well I remembered how to get here. After all…it was really dark and we were…a little on the drunk side. Heh.  

Now that it was actually light, I gazed at the house. It seemed like a nice cozy little home. The gentle color of white with the grey roof made it seem like a place anyone would like. Trees surrounded the property as well as different flowers whose names I could never remember. I looked at the drive way and noticed a car. Not just any car. An older blue Mustang convertible. That looked like a sweet car to ride around in.

By the time I finished looking around, I was already in front of the door. I looked for a door bell. With no luck in finding one I did the next best thing. I knocked.

As I waited I heard a muffled “coming” and some soft footsteps. Soon, I could see a green eye peeking through the peep hole. I smiled.

When the door opened, there stood Evelyn who had a smile just as big as mine. She wore a jean skirt and a flowered tank top. The top part of her bright red hair was pulled back, making her look even more beautiful.

My one hand with the 4-leaf clover was still behind my back. Just as I was about to show it to her and say something, she continued our conversation from earlier today.

“Romeo. Oh Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

Not being known for every really paying attention to Shakespeare, I said the only phrase I remembered from that scene.

“It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”

I handed her my green treasure that I had found and Evelyn’s mouth literally dropped. She took it from me and almost knocked me over hugging me. I didn’t know it was going to be that much of an effect on her. No matter, as her arms circled around me I couldn’t help but do the same. I’ll ask her what the big deal was later.

“It’s nice seeing you again.” I lightly rubbed her back.

“Ditto.” I could tell she liked using that word. I smelled her perfume. Or was it body spray? Whatever it was, she smelled amazing.  

We broke apart and I held out my arm and she linked hers through mine. But there was something I had to ask her.  

“Is this going to be a friendly outing or an actual date?”

She looked at me calmly and with a quick smirk that I began to know all to well she replied, “Well, I guess we’ll find out later won’t we?”

I had a feeling this was going to be an interesting night.

Chapter 2