Chapter 1

TAYLOR:
It all started early one September morning, on the day of my sixteenth birthday. We were having a party that afternoon, and I had woken up at seven because my mother and I were going shopping for my dress that morning. I quickly showered and slipped into my new pair of Seven jeans and a hot pink t-shirt. I pulled my long, wavy auburn hair into a ponytail and checked my appearance in the mirror. Under-eye circles, yuck. I grabbed my makeup bag and in a few minutes was much more satisfied with the way my reflection appeared.

"Are you ready yet?" My mother yelled from downstairs.

"Coming!" I yelled back. I grabbed my cell phone and my purse and ran downstairs to meet my mother by the front door.

"We only have two hours to shop for your outfit, because I need to meet the designer at the restaurant at 10."

"It's fine mom. I'm sure I'll be able to find something nice within that time frame."

"Thanks for understanding, honey. I just have to be there because I'm not entirely sure that the designer understood everything I said when we met last week. All the decorations need to be perfect and I won't stand for anything less."

"I'm sure they'll be great." I said. Then it happened.

After first I had no idea what had happened. All I knew was that SOMETHING had happened. Then it came again. A flash of a vision, the feeling of someone's lips on mine, their hand touching my cheek softly. Just a quick flash of feeling as if I were in a different place, kissing someone passionately. Then just as soon as it started, it was over.

"Are you okay, honey?" My mother asked.

"Yes." I said, still a bit distraught. "I'm fine. I just got a bit distracted."

Mom glanced at her watch. "Goodness, it's already eight. We'd really better be going."

I nodded and followed her out the door.

LANCE:
I woke up, startled awake from my sleep by a vivid dream. It was so real I could've sworn it was truly happening. It was only a short thing, a little five second vision, and somehow I knew it wasn't a normal dream. It'd been as if I was kissing someone, and it had felt so REAL. I could almost still feel the other person's lips on my own.

I got up from the couch and trudged to the kitchen. The clock on the wall informed me that it was already 8:00. "Damn." I muttered to myself. I had to get going. I was due at Johnny's in fifteen minutes. I headed back to the living room and searched the room for the phone. I finally found it under one of the sofa cushions. I frowned remembering how it'd ended up there. I pressed the speed dial for Johnny's number and listened to the ringing tone. "Hello?" Johnny answered.

"Hey, Johnny, it's Lance. Look, I overslept so I'll be about a half hour late."

Johnny sighed. "What happened, man? It's not like you to be the late one."

"I don't really want to talk about it." I said, remembering once again the night before.

"All right. Well I'll see you soon, try to hurry, the other guys are already here."

"I'll be there as soon as possible."

I put the phone down and went to get ready. 45 minutes later I arrived at the compound, our manager's little part of heaven. It was a really great place, a game room, a pool, a basketball court, a bowling lane. The perfect place to kick back and get away from the hectic parts of life, but whenever I was there it was usually for work. This was the place where we prepared for our tours.

I walked into the living room and Johnny was sitting there with the other guys. They were waiting for me, obviously.

"Sorry I'm late." I mumbled, taking a seat next to Joey.

"Mr. Perfect was late." Chris said, shaking his head. "I can't believe it."

"Shut up." I said, rubbing my temples, a bad headache was coming on.

"Enough small talk." Johnny said, starting the meeting. "We've got lots to do and we're already behind."

I'm usually on top of everything whenever we have a meeting, especially one as important as this one, where we were discussing budget details for our upcoming tour, but this time it was different. I was totally detached, my mind on what had happened the night before.

Johnny was droning on about stage costs when it happened again. It was stronger this time. It lasted longer and it was even more convincing. I honestly believed that I was no longer sitting in Johnny's living room. I was standing in a different room, my armas around the same person who had kissed me earlier. She looked up at me and I saw her clearly. She had gorgeous hazel eyes, freckles dotting her nose and cheeks, and gorgeous hair. Auburn waves falling down past her shoulders, a flowered clip holding it out of her eyes. Then she was gone, and I was back in Johnny's living room.

"Are you with us at all today?" Johnny asked.

"Yes, sorry. I just..." I shook my head, trying to think clearly.

Johnny sighed. "We'll pick this meeting back up at two." He said, dismissing us.

TAYLOR:
I was admiring my reflection in a low cut, pale blue party dress when it happened yet again. It wasn't just a flash of a vision and a feeling, though. It was more of an actual moment of being with this other person. He had his arms around me and I looked up at him. He had short blond hair and stunning green eyes. He moved in closer, as if to kiss me, but then it ended. I was back in the changing room, standing on a royal blue carpet and seeing my reflection in the three mirrors surrounding me.

"How does it fit?" My mom asked from outside the door.

"I don't like it." I sighed. The skirt was too short and the color just didn't suit me. "Bring me something pink." I said.

I heard my mother sigh. She desperately wanted me to wear blue, because that's what color she had worn at her Sweet Sixteen. Her mother had worn blue also. My mother was all about tradition. She'd been handing me blue dresses for the past hour, but blue just wasn't a color that suited me.

"Please." I pleaded. "I don't look good in blue."

"Okay sweetie. I guess pink will be fine." I could tell from her tone that she wasn't really happy, but that she was going to try her hardest to keep ME happy.

I sat on the chair in the dressing room and my mind wandered back to the visions. No, they weren't visions... They were more. I had no idea what they'd be called, but they were definitely way beyond 'vision'. All the sensations were there. It was like I'd actually been transported to a different location.

Then there was the guy. Who was that guy? He was ridiculously gorgeous, and he'd seemed so sweet. Not that the few moments were really enough to judge that.

My mother returned with six pink dresses and I tried them all on. The last one was the perfect fit. It was pale pink, knee length, and it had a gorgeous v-shaped neckline that was bordered with intricate silver embroidery.

"This is the dress." I announced, finally emerging from the dressing room. I twirled around, showing off the dress to my mother.

"It's gorgeous." She agreed. She ushered me back into the dressing room. "If you hurry and change we can stop somewhere to get a nice breakfast. We're ahead of schedule now."

"All right." I said, closing the dressing room door. I quickly changed and left the dressing room. I handed the dress to my mother. "I'm going to go see if there's anything interesting at the magazine stand I saw outside, okay?"

"Sure." My mom said. "I'll just pay and be out in a moment."

I surveyed the many magazines on the racks at the newstand. I picked up copies of Glamour and Vogue and was about to turn away when something caught my eye. On the bottom rack was a copy of YM magazine, and on the cover were five guys. I bent down and picked up the magazine, staring at it intensely. The fifth guy, all the way to the right, was what had caught my eye. Short blond hair, stunning green eyes, he was the guy. I couldn't believe I hadn't recognized him earlier. He was one fifth of the extremely popular boy band, NSYNC. Now, I could argue that I didn't really listen to that type of music, but still. It's not like I'd never seen NSYNC before. I mean, you couldn't watch an award show anymore without seeing them perform, or accept an award, or SOMETHING. I would've definitely recognized Justin Timberlake at least. I guess this guy was just more in the background. I decided to buy the issue of YM in addition to Glamour and Vogue.