Chapter Three

That night Harli and Claudia got dressed and headed out to the club. Harli wasn't sure what she was about to get into, going to a place named The Nekkid Squirrel of all things! Her cousin was always the creative one, sometimes a little too creative.

Aside from laughing to herself at the name of the club, she also had a huge smile on her face that had been there practically the entire day. Ever since Alex had left to be more exact. She could not get that boy out of her head. That smile, those eyes, that accent! Goodness that accent...She could listen to him talk all day!! The more she tried to tell herself not to get carried away, the harder it became not to.

"Well, we're here!" Claudia said happily as they pulled into the parking lot. Harli stared wide-eyed at the bright neon sign with a blinking squirrel that looked like it was dancing from side to side. "So...what do you think Harli?"

"Uh...it...its you all right Claudia." Harli finally managed to say. As they got closer, she could tell that it didn't really look that bad after all. She could hear the music playing inside and was surprised that it wasn't country. "I take it this isn't a honky tonk?" she asked laughing.

"Not quite. We kinda have a mixture, some country, some hip hop. Hey Rick." Claudia said to the bouncer as they walked inside. He smiled and winked at the two of them as they passed by. "...some *NSYNC." she said smiling.

"Oh great." Harli rolled her eyes. "So much for getting away from it all."

"Hey I like them too!" Claudia snapped back. "And I'm still mad at you for never introducing me to JC."

" JC's a great guy but trust me, you don't need to date a famous musician."

"Oh stop being so bitter about it." Claudia said nudging her. "Just because you had bad ending with Mr. Popstar doesn't mean they're all bad apples.."

"Maybe not, but its always good to be warned." Harli cleared her throat. "Changing the subject...where's Alex at?" she said while looking over near the bar. "Is he working tonight?"

"Yeah he's right up there."

Harli looked straight ahead and groaned when she saw Alex standing on stage behind the mic. "Oh. yay. He sings." she said unenthused. He would be a singer of all things. 

"Yeah I kinda forgot to mention that." Claudia said laughing. "So you wanna go get a drink now?"

"Now more than ever." Harli sighed as they made their way across the crowded dance floor to the bar.

"Kevin..." Claudia said smacking the bar with her hand. "Give this girl anything she wants. She's my cousin."

"Sure thing bosswoman." the bartender smiled. "What would you have bosswoman's cousin?."

"Oh just a Dr. Pepper thank you."

"HAR---Renee!!" Claudia yelled. "You can have anything you want and you get a freaking soft drink? You're embarrassing me!"

"Well...I ...I don't drink much Claudia you know that..."

"I KNOW! That's the whole point. Get her a rum and coke Kev."

"Claudia, I don't want to get drunk..." Harli protested as her cousin pretended not to hear.

"You'll be fine. One little drink isn't going to kill you." she said while pushing the glass toward her. "Bottoms up."

Harli reluctantly picked the drink up and took a tiny sip. As soon as the liquid hit her tongue she jerked the glass away. "Oh God that's nasty." she said slamming it back down.

"You'll get over the taste once you start feeling good." Claudia smiled.

"That's NOT going to make me feel good, that's going to make me puke!"

"Hello Ladies...whoa." Alex said as he walked up to them and saw Harli's disgusted face. "What did you give her?" He said, knowing Claudia all too well. 

"Its nasty gross rum and coke." Harli said while trying to hand it over to him. He grinned as he took the glass from her. Her eyes locked in his as she fell into a daze once again. She hated herself for doing that. She was never going to be able to relax around him if she didn't stop drooling over him like a star struck teenie.

"Hey I didn't buy that for him!" Claudia snapped, bringing Harli back to reality as Alex turned the glass up. "But, oh well, she's not going to drink it anyway." she sighed.  "I guess I'm gonna go see how we're doing tonight up front. Don't buy him anymore drinks." She instructed, pointing at Harli.

Harli rolled her eyes while watching Alex gulp down the last few drops. "Ick, that just does not taste good to me. How can you drink that?" 

"Its not the best thing to start someone out on. Your cousin should know better." he smiled again. 'Why don't you go take a seat love, I'll bring you something you'll like." he winked.

"Thank you. I'd appreciate that." she smiled back. She walked off to find the nearest table, her mind racing back and forth the entire time. It amazed her how much a person could actually think of someone after only knowing them a few hours. She couldn't get him out of her mind no matter how much she tried to. He was just so...mysterious and new. There were so many things she didn't know about him, but was oh so eager to find out. She couldn't help herself from getting caught up in all the excitement. Oh course, there was still that little twinge in the back of her mind that was still holding onto something else. And she knew she could never move forward if she didn't let it go.

Harli finally sat down and closed her eyes in a weak attempt to gather her thoughts. "Okay Harli. He's just a cute boy. A very very cute boy....with an English accent to die for...." she sighed and laid her head down on the table. "I have got to stop doing this. I just got out of a relationship. I can't get into something just yet..., I don't even know the guy!" the doubts cluttered her mind.  She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even hear him walking up behind her. 

"Sorry to interrupt your nap." he said while setting a huge glass of some red icy stuff in front of her. "I promise, that tastes better." He said as she eyed it nervously. "Its a Strawberry Daiquiri."

Reluctantly she took a drink. "Now that's more like it." she smiled. "Thank you for rescuing me. You're my hero!" 'I didn't just say that...' she thought to herself and closed her eyes.

"Well you're very welcome love." He said smiling. "So what brings you to Alabama? Just to visit your family?"

"That and just so that I could get away for awhile."

"Been having a hard time?"

"Um...Well I lost my job and a few months before that happened I broke up with my boyfriend so...I guess you could say that." She said, constantly reminding herself not to give away too much information.

"Too bad..." he said before taking a drink from his second rum and coke. "For the boyfriend."

Harli laughed. she was amazed that he actually seemed interested in her. He didn't know about her 'secret life'. To him she was just an ordinary girl. Then again, she thought, it could just be the alcohol.

"Well excuse my manners." he said standing up. "We've been sitting here all this time and I've not asked you to dance."

"Dance?"  she said looking up at him, pondering on what she should do. "Sure." she said while bravely standing up. "I'd love to dance with you Alex." she smiled and stepped out onto the floor with him. As soon as she took that first step, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She didn't have to be afraid of him. She was no longer afraid of what may happen later on. Right now she was the happiest she had been in a long time, now she was just going to let fate have its way. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder while Alex quietly sang along to the song playing on the jukebox.

The memories, the sunshine
Every new day brings
I know the sky is calling
Angel let me help you with your wings

When you’re soaring through the air
I’ll be your solid ground
Take every chance you dare
I’ll still be there
When you come back down

"You have a beautiful voice." Harli said looking up at him.

"Thank you. You have a beautiful face." He said grinning while she blushed and stared down at her feet.

"Must you be so darn charming." she said laughing.

"Why, is it getting to you?"

"It could be."

"Well in that case I'll just keep going love." He smiled evilly. Causing a stir of emotions to overtake her once again. Harli didn't know whether or not to smack him or throw him down across the bar.

She was leaning more toward the throwing down on the bar idea though. Especially if he kept calling her 'love' . 

"You're rotten. If I didn't know better I'd think you were Claudia's long lost twin." she said while noticing that the songs had changed and now a faster one was playing. "I guess you all don't play just country music here. That song's got a good beat."

"Yeah well, Claudia's a big *NSYNC fan you know."

"*NSYNC?" Harli said confused before listening closer to the singer's voice.

Little baby with the sun dress on
Looking so damn right you're wrong
Make me wanna write my own little song for you
The way the thing just wiggle in the air
Turn around and then you flip your hair
I could think of a couple positions for you
 

Noticing the voice right off the bat, Harli stopped dancing and backed away a bit. "Uh...You think we can go sit down Alex. I'm....kinda tired from driving all day." she said as she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Sure love, I'm sorry. I should've thought of that before dragging you out on the floor."

"Oh no, its okay. I loved dancing with you."

"I loved it too." he smiled back. "I better get back up front, the band will probably start playing after this song." he said walking away. "I'm glad you came tonight Renee, See you later?"

"Okay." she said nodding before taking her seat and covering her ears to block out Justin singing about his "provocative plans" for the night. "God Justin can't you leave me alone??"

"GOD Justin can't you leave me ALONE!" Joey yelled as Justin began tapping on his shoulder for the millionth time. "What do you want now?"

"To go home!" Justin said pointing at his watch while an uninterested Joey turned back to the girls he was dancing with. "Aren't you tired from getting up so early this morning?"

"Um..yes but I got up early to go party in Memphis. If I leave now I'll defeat my purpose for being here."

"You are so beyond drunk. Would you come on??" Justin said angrily while dragging him away from the girls. "We have plenty of time to go out and party. I wasn't planning on staying out tonight."

"You weren't planning on getting dissed all night." Joey said laughing as Justin shot him an angry look. "Hey! don't get all pissed at me! If you scored with that one chick we'd still be in there gettin our groove thang on."

Justin rolled his eyes at Joey's slurred ramblings as they walked out to the car. "I wasn't planning on scoring Joe."

"Yeah well, from the looks of it neither was she." Joey giggled.

"You wanna walk home Bubba?" Justin yelled. "Ok so I didn't get with some hot girl tonight? So what? There's plenty more out there."

"Yeah but not that many look just like Harli."

"That girl at the club didn't look like her."

"She so did too Justin! Long blond hair, skinny as a fence pole, Green eyes..."

"Harli's eyes are blue."

"Whatever." Joey mumbled. "She looked just like her. I say, just go find Harli."

"Joey for the millionth time. I called, she's not home, and PJ wouldn't tell me where she was." 

"Is this the same PJ that went through all that trouble to get you on Harli's TV show to get you two back together?"

"Yes, but that was different. We had a huge misunderstanding then." 

"And you don't have one now?" 

"No. We both understood that we didn't have time for each other." 

"Yet you're both on vacation right now. And well, Harli's pretty much on vacation indefinably until she finds something else to do. I still say you should try to get a hold of her. You're just not trying hard enough." 

"Maybe not but it goes both ways." Justin sighed. He knew he could try a little harder to get in touch with Harli if he really wanted to. But couldn't she do the same thing? As far as he knew she hadn't. He was beginning to wonder if she even cared anymore, or for that matter, if he did as well. Maybe she had already moved on, found someone else. Maybe it was time he did the same thing. 

And he would do that, if he could ever stop thinking about her. 

"Oh my god, Justin stop!!" Joey squealed and ducked. Suddenly the brakes squealed and the car came to a halting stop...just inches away from a cow that had strolled out from her field. 

After a few seconds, Justin finally caught his breath, while Joey ducked into the seat even farther and started mumbling something about 'mommy'. 

"GIT!" Justin yelled out the window. "Git on outta here! Move!!" The cow stared him down and grunted, refusing to move. 

"Is it gone yet?" 

"No...Joey." he sighed again. "I think we're going to have to get out." he said opening the car door. 

"Get out? For what reason??" 

"To...I don't know, run it out of the road or something, come out and help me." 

"No." He shook his head furiously.

"Joey! Its just a stupid cow!" The cow grunted again, taking the comment personally. "Sorry. Its just a cow. Anyway....just get out of the dang car!"

He finally made his way out of the car, eying the large animal while walking around the front. "Do they eat people?" 

"Only if you're wrapped in hay. Come on!" He replied, getting impatient. "Okay cow, come on." Justin said, his voice calming down more in attempt to ease the cow across the street. "That's it. Come on. Come to Justin." 

"It ain't movin." 

"Well maybe if you'd help."

"I ain't sweet talkin no cow."

"Wouldn't be any different than usual." Justin muttered. "Go try to push it Joey." 

"Do what now?" 

"Would you rather push it away from you or have it charging toward you?" 

Joey thought for a moment. "Maybe I should go push the cow." 

"Good idea." Justin replied sarcastically as Joey walked around to the back of the cow. 

"Do I have to put my hands...uh..." 

"Just DO something Joe---" The moment he said that, Joey did something all right. He pulled the cow's tail. Unfortunately, the cow could only see Justin as it's nemesis and after mooing loudly, it charged toward him. Sending Justin sprinting across the field. 

"Justin! I'll save you!" Joey yelled and began to get in the car to drive across the field. He started the motor, pulled onto the grass and...found himself facing a huge black bull. Squealing (himself and the tires.) He tried putting the car in reverse until he realized the car was now stuck.

"Let me IN!" Justin yelled, smacking the passenger window, causing Joey to scream again before unlocking the door. Jumping in the car he began yelling for Joey to put it in reverse. A few more seconds of spinning tires and slinging mud everywhere, the car bounced back on the road and the two sped off quickly.

"Justin?" Joey said after a few moments of silent driving.

"Yeah?"

"I think they knew I was planning on going cow tipping."

"Just drive Joey." He sighed while picking a piece of hay from his hair.

Harli yawned and stretched in her seat. She didn't realize she could get so tired just by sitting there. She had been watching Alex perform for the past half-hour or so, and enjoying every moment of it. Except for the hord of scantly clad girls screaming at the foot of the stage. "Must they all have fans that dress that way?" she thought to herself before yawning again. That was enough. As much as she wanted to stay there until closing and listen to him sing (or rather, watch him sing), her tired body had other plans. She knew Claudia couldn't leave so early, it was only around ten-thirty, so Harli decided to find her cousin and let her know she was calling a cab.

"You can't leave!" Claudia whined, just as Harli thought she would. "It's still early!"

"I'm tired!" Harli said blankly. "I drove all day..." she stopped to yawn again. "...long Claudia. I'm sorry. I'll come back tomorrow night..."

"Well, just go take a nap then. Will you stay if you can take a nap?"

Harli raised her eyebrow and stared around the noisy, crowded room. "A NAP? Here?"

"Upstairs! There's an apartment upstairs, with a bed."

"Fine. I'll go." she said as Claudia led the way. "But I can't promise you that I'll wake up anytime soon. When I'm out, i'm out."

"Yeah well if not I'll wake you up or something before I go." Claudia rambled as they walked inside the dark room. "The bed's in there." she didn't have to say anything else, Harli went straight to the bedroom, lay down, and was practically snoring before Claudia could get out the door.

"What happened to your cousin?" Kevin asked as she made her way back downstairs to the bar. 

Claudia jumped up on a barstool. "Taking a nap. She had a long drive this morning." 

"Oh really? Where's she from anyway, she looks familiar." 

"Uh...North Carolina." It wasn't a lie, she was originally from there. 

"Oh. well I guess I don't know her then." He said shrugging it off. "But she is really hot though." 

"Who's really hot?" Alex said approaching the bar. 

"Do you have radar or something?" Claudia asked as he sat down beside her. "Someone mentions a hot girl and your ears perk up like a greyhound." 

"Not just the ears love." 

Claudia's eyes widened. "Okay, Too much information!"

"And they call us perverted." he said turning to Kevin. 

"Yeah Claudia, get your mind out of the gutter." He joked. "Alex wasn't implying anything." he said sarcastically. "We were talking about her hot cousin by the way." 

"Oh. Where'd she run off to?" he asked. "I haven't seen her since we quit playing." 

"She was tired so I told her to go upstairs and take a nap." 

"She's sleeping upstairs? Right now? In my apartment?"  Alex asked. 

Claudia grinned evilly and tried to keep from laughing. "Ooops, I knew I forgot to tell her something." 

"You're almost as evil as I am love." Alex winked at her. "Don't think I'm not going to take advantage of this situation." 

"I know you would, that's why I did it." she said laughing. 

Meanwhile, down the road...

"Lance, honey I really don't know about this. I've gotten so used to Jakob's sleep schedule." Sabrina said yawning as she propped her head against the passenger side window. "I'll just stay out in the car while you and JC go."

"Oh you'll be fine." He assured her by patting her knee. "This is supposed to be our little vacation remember? We haven't been alone since Jake came along." 

"Technically you're not alone now." JC butted in from the back seat. "I told you I was going to be the third wheel on this trip." 

Sabrina bolted up and glared at him through the rear-view mirror. "Jace, you're not a third wheel. We asked you to come along. We hadn't seen you in forever, I missed you! So don't say that no more." she said pointing her finger at him. 

"She's gotten used to that discipline thing eh?" he said to Lance. 

"She's right. I asked you to come along JC because I needed all the support I could get at that conference." He sighed and tugged at the top button on his shirt collar. "I'm just glad its over." 

"Until next time." JC chimed in. 

"At least next time, *NSYNC will be the special guests and not just me." Lance sighed. "And its a few weeks away. I have plenty of time to worry about it." he laughed. 

"You did fine tonight and you'll all do great next time." Sabrina assured him. "That is, if the other's agree to come along." 

"I left J a message on his voicemail. He and Joey are probably still out living it up in Memphis." JC chuckled. "I'm sure they'll do it though. We need to do some things together to kill all these breakup rumors anyway." 

"Amen." Lance muttered in annoyance. 

"Hey lets go there!" 

Sabrina peered out the window. She hadn't been to many night clubs, and was a little leery about going, but her other two traveling companions suggested it. She didn't think it would be too horrid, until she saw the place that JC was acting all giddy about. 

"The...Nekkid Squirrel?" she said slowly. Confused...and scared at the same time. 

"Yeah, it looks cool!" JC said excitedly. "Do you see the dancing squirrel on the sign?" 

"Yeah....I see it." 

"Well let's get out and see what its all about." Lance said laughing, mostly at his wife. 

"It better not be a gay bar." Sabrina protested. 

"Oh that'd be hilarious." JC said laughing. 

"Laaaaance..." Sabrina said nervously. 

"Its not a gay bar Sabrina. It might sound like one..." he paused and stared at the sign once more. "But...I'm sure its not. I think." 

"Ok fine, but if it is, I'm telling everyone you two are together." She said while walking ahead of them. 

Claudia returned back downstairs and took a seat for awhile. She was talking to a few of the regulars when Amy, one of the waitresses, came running over to her. 

"I need to talk to you ." she whispered frantically. "Now." 

"Ookay." Claudia said slowly while getting up and following her. "Is something wrong?" she asked. 

"No." Amy whispered back before stopping in a quiet area. "He's here." 

"Who?" 

"Him!!" Amy said, implying as if Claudia just HAD to know exactly who she was talking about. "With his friend, and his friend's wife..." 

"Amy I hate twenty questions." she said getting annoyed. "Who's the guy, who's his friend and who's the freaking wife?" 

She got closer and whispered once again. "JC. Lance. and his wife Sabrina." 

Claudia's eyes grew wide. She did not just say that. "You're seeing things aren't you? TELL me you're seeing things Amy." 

"If I am, you are too." she said pointing in their direction. She was right. There they were. Standing in the crowd, watching Alex and the band play.

"Ok, I need...to go back upstairs..." she said nervously. This was insane. No one was supposed to know Harli was there. And here her best friend and two members of *NSYNC just randomly pop up out of nowhere?!?

"Go back upstairs??" Amy said in shock. She knew all too well of Claudia's obsession over JC, hence the reason why she ran over to her. "Are you crazy? He's right over there. Go talk to him! Why are you going upstairs?"

"Long story. I'll be right back." She said hurrying off. "Darn you Harli and you're stupid secrets." she mumbled as she made her way through the sea of people. This was her one chance of actually meeting JC and she may end up missing it. She was walking so fast and not paying any attention to her surroundings when suddenly she crashed into something...hard.

The wall? No. not just the wall. It seems there was something in between her and the wall. And that something was carrying a drink.  "Great..." she thought to herself, closing her eyes. "I'm really sorry about that. I'm the owner, I'll get you another drink."

"Oh you're fine, I just didn't see you flying toward me." 'It' said laughing. "But I'll take you up on the drink thing, only if I can buy you one as well?"

"Buy me one? I just told this guy I owned the place, who does this freak think he is?" She thought to herself before raising her eyes up to meet his face. "Oh."

"Well?" JC asked as the corners of his mouth crinkled into a smile. Claudia kept her dumbfounded expression for a few more seconds before responding. 

"Well...Sure!" she laughed nervously. "Sure. Of course you can buy me a drink. Why wouldn't I want you to? Okay, just follow me over here to the bar, of course you already know where it is, you spilled your drink on me..." He followed her and tried to make sense of her nervous ramblings as she zipped through the crowd at lighting speed. 

"Kevvvv...could you get this guy another drink?" 

The bartender stared at her shirt. "I guess I don't have to ask why this guy..." He said obviously knowing who JC was. " needs another one." 

"No. You don't." she said back sternly. 

"You always have a way with the gentlemen Claudia." he joked, handing JC another drink. 

"Don't make me fire you." 

"You can't fire me! I know too much." Kevin grinned, eyeing JC again. "And you KNOW I know too much ya know?" 

"I KNOW!" she yelled back, giving him the 'stare' until he took the hint and left.. 

JC shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "This is a really nice place you have here. Interesting name."  

"Thank you . It was just the first random thing to pop into my head." she said, praying she wasn't blushing, even though she knew she was. Here he was, at last! JC, her dream guy, sitting at her club, talking to her. And she didn't even need Harli to introduce them...

"Harli! I still need to go tell her!" 

"I hope you don't mind us coming here. So far we're not causing a big commotion, no one really seems to recognize us." JC said looking around for Lance and Sabrina. "Which is a really good thing at times. But if you think things are going to get out of  hand we can leave...since you're the owner and all..." 

"No no no!" she said quickly. "Stay. I'd love for you all to stay. Seriously, I don't think there's going to be a problem, I'm really the only *NSYNC fan around here..." 

"So you ARE a fan!" He said laughing.  

"...And I just let that slip." she said, her face turning red once again. "Look, just stay right here. I have to go and uh...do something. Okay? Stay here." 

"I'll be here, don't worry. Just go do your thing." 

"Thank you. Be right back. Stay there." she said running off once again. She was almost to the staircase, this time watching out for any other hot guys with drinks that she could run into, When suddenly..."Oooh...no." 

"Hey, is the restroom up this way?" Sabrina asked, standing at the foot of the stairs. 

"Yes. yes it is." Claudia said scratching her head. Now what was she going to do? She may run into Harli if she just goes wandering around upstairs. "Come on, I'll show you where its at." 

"Oh I'm sure I can find it, you looked like you were in a hurry..." 

"No, its okay." she yelled, running ahead of her. "Its the first door on the right." 

"Okay. Thank you." 

Breathing a sigh of relief, Claudia opened the apartment door where Harli was supposed to be sleeping. Closing it behind her, she quietly walked into the bedroom. "Harli? psst...Harli? Renee? Are you in here?" 

The bed was empty, the entire apartment was empty for that matter. "Now where could she be??" 

Sabrina walked through the small hallway that led to the bathroom stalls. One of the stalls was already occupied, so she went to the one directly beside it and closed the door. 

"Freak! I had to get the one without any toilet paper!" she mumbled to herself. As much as she hated to, she knocked on the wall to the next stall. 

"Umm...yes?" Harli replied, wondering what kind of weirdo went around knocking on stall doors. 

"Sorry to bother you  but this stall doesn't have any toilet paper, could you pass some under the wall for me please?" 

"Oh, sure  no problem." she said, rolling off some paper and handing it under. "Here ya go." 

"Thanks!" Sabrina said, taking the balled up paper from her. 

Harli stared at the other hand wide-eyed. "That ring! I've seen it before!" she thought to herself as the other person exited their stall. Of course she had seen it before, Lance had it specially made. There wasn't another ring in the world like it. But why was Sabrina in Alabama? And exactly who else was with her??

"Oh...My god." Harli slipped when she thought about the possibility of Justin being there. 

Sabrina stared back in the direction of that sudden outburst. "Are you okay?"  

"No. Not really." 

"Umm...okay..." She said wiping her hands off with a paper towel. "Do you need me to go get someone...or call someone for you?"

"No." Harli flushed the toilet and opened the stall door. "No Sabrina." she said quietly. "That's ok."