Sasha opened the door and slammed it shut. She ran up the stairs and fell down on her bed.

***

Lance jumped at the sound of the slammed door. A few minutes later it opened again.

"Have you seen Sasha?" Joey asked Lance, walking into the room.

"I haven't seen her," Lance said. "But I did hear someone run in the house and slam the door then run upstairs. It could have been her."

Joey groaned. "That was her. I better go talk to her." He rushed out of the room and ran upstairs.

"Sasha, I'm sorry," he said immediately, opening the door.

Sasha stood up and shook her head. "No, you aren't."

***

Lance glanced at his watch and decided to go visit Eryn. He grabbed his jacket just as the front door opened.

"Where are you going?" Justin asked, kicking off his shoes.

"To the hospital," Lance answered.

"You can't," JC said. "The nurses sent us home and said that Eryn can't have any more visitors."

"That's so stupid," Lance protested.

"Well, that's how it is," Chris said. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Lance said with a sigh. "I'm going for a walk. See you all later." He opened the door and stepped into the cold air.

***

"Sit down, please, Sasha," Joey said.

"I'm sick of hearing you bitch me out," Sasha said stubbornly.

"I'm not bitching you out!" He exclaimed. His voice grew soft. "I just don't know why you won't open up to me. Why are you bottling up everything inside?"

Sasha forced a smile. "Joey, I'm not."

"You know what?" Joey said. "Forget it."

"Forget what?" Sasha asked him.

"Forget me trying to reach you... forget... us," Joey said.

"Us?" Sasha cried. "US? Just forget us, like that."

"Come on, Sash. What are you doing with me? I thought a relationship... a relationship like ours could have trust. You won't even tell me anything. Eryn is your best friend and you aren't even acting concerned."

"I was too acting concerned," Sasha answered.

"You sound like you are seven instead of seventeen," Joey said. "You were concerned for like, a day."

Sasha stood infront of him, unable to meet his eyes. "Do you really want to forget about us?"

Joey stayed silent.

"Because I don't think that I can handle this. I can't handle my best friend dying, and my boyfriend not staying with me," Sasha said. "It's too much, Joe."

Joey stood infront of her, not moving.

"I mean, I love her so much," Sasha said, trying to swallow the lump forming in her throat. "And you... you're everything to me."

Joey stayed unmoving.

"I'm sorry if I've been acting like this, but my best friend Joey... she's going to die, and I am left with nothing," Sasha said. Finally tears spilled over her eyes and trailed down her cheeks. "I don't know what to do."

Joey sat on the bed and she sat beside him. He cradled her in his arms while she cried.

Minutes later, he whispered in her ear. "I love you."

***

Lance opened the door to the diner, and shook the few flakes of snow from his sleeves. He sat down at the bar and took off his gloves.

"Can I help you?" a brunette asked him, her back to the bar.

"Not yet," he said. "In a few minutes."

"Sure," she said, turning around. "Oh, my God..." the glass she was holding fell to the ground and shattered. "Oh, shit, Dave's going to kill me!" She bent down and started picking up the pieces.

Lance walked around the side of the bar and started to help her pick up the broken glass. She threw the pieces in the garbage and swept the rest in the corner with a growing collection of dust.

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"Did my glorious looks make you drop the glass?" he asked her with a grin.

"Actually, I thought you were someone," she said.

"Who?" he asked.

"You probably don't know them... a group called N Sync, you look like one of the members," she said.

"Which one?" Lance said with a sly smile.

"Um, Lance," she answered, her face growing red. "Okay, let's stop, this is embarrassing."

"Okay," he said. "What's your name?"

"Jenn Shelley," she answered. "What's yours?" She reached for his hand to shake it.

"Lance Bass," he replied.

She dropped his hand. "No, really."

"Seriously," he said, pulling out his driver's license.

"This is crazy," she said, shaking her head. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm staying with some friends," he said.

"Are the other guys here too?" she asked.

He nodded. "Our friend is in the hospital, in a coma. We're staying until she pulls through."

"A girl I work with is in the hospital too," Jenn replied. "I'm not sure what happened. She's really sweet too, I hope she comes back to work. Eryn's great."

"Eryn?" Lance asked. "Is her last name Tucker?"

"No idea," Jenn said. "We only worked for about two weeks, and then she went on vacation."

Lance sighed. "That's her."

"She's in a coma?" Jenn asked. "What happened?"

"Surfing... it's a long story and I don't want to get into it," Lance replied.

"I understand," Jenn said. "So what would you like to have?"

"Just a beer or something, I don't care," Lance said.

Jenn set down a Molson Canadian in front of Lance and leaned on the bar. "So, do you have a girlfriend?"

Lance shook his head and took a sip of the beer.

Jenn smiled. "Want to do something later?"

"I don't think so," Lance said. "Today's not good, I need to go home and figure things out..."

"Okay," Jenn said. "My shift end's in about an hour and I'm working tomorrow for nine in the morning to midnight. Maybe we can do something after? Get to know each other and stuff? Come on, Lance. You're a star... it's my only chance to have a famous friend."

Lance smiled. "Okay, you got me. I'll come in here tomorrow night at around eleven. Get ready to go dancing or something, okay?"

"Great," she smiled.

Lance set down his empty beer bottle and gave her some money. "Keep the change and I will see you tomorrow." He smiled and walked out of the diner.

End of Chapter Eighty Seven