Wrong Number - by wyldangyl@yahoo.com RATED: PG-13 - Entertainment - http://maxpages.com/nsyncandjcfic/Wrong

Chapter 1
It was such a beautiful day, but Tallia didn’t take notice. She was sitting on the edge of the duck pond, watching the ducks swim around, trying to figure out where her life was headed. Her boyfriend of 2 ½ years had just broken up with her, and strangely enough, she wasn’t really all that upset about it. She was actually kind of relieved.
She just figured this was the best thing for both of them. She had thought when she met him, he was ‘the one.’ There had been so much fire and passion when it all started. Then came the jealousy, the physical and verbal abuse, the possessiveness and the distrust. She hadn’t ever given him cause to not trust her. She had never cheated on him, and she had never really flirted with other guys. The male friends she had, had, were now long gone. Her wonderful boyfriend had chased them away. She had been an idiot to pick a guy over her friends, but she had thought that she was in love. Love, what was that anyway? Now, she was alone and she wanted it that way. She was going to do all of the things she had wanted to while she was with ‘what’s his name.’ She got up from the bench, feeling lighter and happier. Starting today, she was going to live!!
When Tallia got home, she checked the messages on her answering machine. beep ‘Hey Girlie, this is Kiera, give me a call when ya get home!! Love ya!’ beep ‘Tallia, this is Mike. Please call me, I’ve been thinking about us.’ Tallia pushed the erase button.
beep ‘Hi, Marlene, this is Josh, could you give me a call? It’s important. I’m at 555-3469. Talk to you later!’ Tallia listened to the message again. She didn’t know who Marlene was, but it sounded like the guy really wanted to talk to her. She wondered if she should call the number and tell the guy he had the wrong number. She couldn’t get that voice out of her head. It sounded so sexy!! She knew she shouldn’t call, but she couldn’t just let the guy wait for someone to call, when they hadn’t gotten the message. She picked up her phone and dialed the number. On the third ring, she heard a sleepy voice, “Hello?”
“Hi, you don’t know me, but...,” before Tallia could finish, she heard the man on the other end of the line say: “I don’t know how you got my number, and I don’t care. I’m a regular person just like everyone else, so could you and your little friends to stop calling me?”
click, all Tallia heard was the dial tone. ‘How rude,’ thought Tallia.
She was just trying to be nice, and she gets yelled at, then the guy hangs up on her. She knew she shouldn’t call back, but she was pissed off. She pushed redial. “Listen lady, I told you to stop calling....”
“You listen! I was trying to be nice by calling to tell you that you had called the wrong number today. I wasn’t expecting to get yelled at and hung up on! I don’t even know you, other than that your name is Josh, and right now, I’m really glad I don’t know you!!” Tallia slammed down the phone.
On the other end of the line, Josh felt like a first class heel. He was just tired, and he had just gotten to sleep when the phone rang.
Assuming that it was just another fan who had managed to get his phone number, he was rude. He was never like that, he didn’t know what had gotten into him. He got up from his bed and walked to the living room, where his caller ID was. It read Tallia Preston 555-7694.
He dialed the number and waited for an answer. “Hello?” he could hear the irritation and exhaustion in her voice.
“Hi, uh, this is...” he started only to be interrupted.
“I know who this is, what do you want? Did you call to yell at me some more and then hang up on me?”
“No, I called to apologize. I’m really sorry about yelling at you and hanging up on you. I thought you were someone else. I also haven’t had any sleep. I know that’s no excuse, but it’s all I have to offer....”
“Can you hold on a minute, I have another call,” Tallia clicked over to the other call. “Hello?”
“Hi, Tal, hun,” she heard the honeyed voice on the other end of the line say.
“What do you want, Mike.?”
“I want you.”
“Well, that’s not gonna happen again. You don’t trust me and I’ve never given you a reason not to!! But it’s okay when you go out and fuck anything in a skirt!!” Tallia could feel the tears of frustration building up. “So, why don’t you go and find one of them and leave me alone!” Tallia clicked the flash button. In a shaky voice, she said, “Sorry about that.”
Josh heard the shakiness in her voice and asked, “Is there something wrong?”
“Oh, nothing, everything, life. Take your pick.”
“I know it’s none of my business, but if you wanna
talk about it,
I can listen.”
“You’re a stranger, why would I tell my problems to a stranger?” Tallia heard her call waiting beep again, but ignored it. She wanted someone to talk to, but how could she just pour her heart out to a stranger? She didn’t feel like she could talk to her friends, because they had told her that Mike was bad news from the beginning. She didn’t want to hear them say, ‘I told you so.’
“Sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone you don’t know.
Noooowww, lettt’s seeeee, vwhat eees zeee problem?” she heard him say in a bad accent, and in spite of herself, she laughed. Her call waiting beeped again.
“I can’t talk now, he keeps calling me and my call waiting keeps beeping,” she said.
“Well, how about we talk over dinner, and I can make amends for yelling at you earlier?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know you. I think I’ll just turn off the ringer and watch a movie. Thanks, though,” Tallia said.
“Well, if you ever want to talk, you can call here. I guess you have my number,” he said. “I promise not to yell at you the next time,” Tallia could hear the smile in his voice.
“Thanks, Josh. I’ll remember that. Maybe I’ll talk to you later.
Bye,” she said.
“Bye Tallia,” Josh said, hanging up the phone. He looked at his caller ID and wrote down her name and number. He put it on his fridge and wondered if she would call him.
* * * * *
Tallia turned off the ringer on her phone and decided to listen to some music. She put in her Jordan Knight cd. It always seemed to help her escape her troubles. She laid down on the couch and thought about Josh. He seemed like a nice enough guy, she just wasn’t ready to meet any people yet, especially guys. It was nice of him to offer to listen to her problems. She knew it would be a while before she trusted guys again, after the job Mike had done on her. He was such a dick!!
Every time she thought about him she got more and more pissed! She told herself to stop and just relax. She kept telling herself she was too good for him.
She needed to think about something else. She thought about all of the things she wanted to do. She wanted to meet Mr. Right and settle down, but that was in the distant future. She wanted to start her own business. She wanted to travel all over the United States. There were so many things she wanted to do. It was a good thing it didn’t hurt to dream.
She didn’t feel like sitting around her apartment anymore, so she grabbed her keys and headed for the door. She got in her jeep, started it and turned on the stereo. She didn’t know where she was headed, but she didn’t really care. She decided she would head to Kiera’s.
When she arrived at Kiera’s, she walked up to the door. Kiera was lucky, she lived in a big house with only one roommate. She had been after Tallia to move in with her, but Tallia wanted to live by herself after living with Mike for so long. Tallia knocked on Kiera’s door.
“Hey, what’s up, Lia? Come on in,” Kiera said.
“Hi,” Tallia said.
“So, what’s up?”
“Not much. The Asshole has started calling me
again.”
“Oh, no. What does he want?”
“He wants us to get back together,” Tallia said, as
she flopped
down onto Kiera’s couch.
“You’re not actually thinking of getting back together with him are you?”
“No! I’m not completely nuts!! I came over here to get away from him. I think I’m gonna have to change my phone number.”
“Good, I’m glad you finally got away from him. I couldn’t stand to see how he treated you! You deserve so much better than him!! I do think you should change your phone number, though.”
* * * * *
Chapter 2
two weeks later....
Tallia walked into her apartment and checked her messages.
She hadn’t gotten any calls from Mike since she had changed her phone number. Good sign, it was probably driving him nuts! Only her close friends had her number now. She thought about Josh. He didn’t have her phone number, but he really wasn’t a friend. She debated on whether to call him or not. She picked up the phone, then she set it back down. She picked it up again and took it into the living room with her. She dialed his number.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Josh. This is Tallia, you know, I called you
about 2 weeks ago and you yelled at me?” she said, smiling.
“Yeah, hi! I tried calling you, but all I got was a message saying your phone number was no longer in service.” Tallia felt warm at the thought that he had tried to call her.
“I had to change it, because my ex kept calling me. He wouldn’t get the hint to leave me alone, so I finally changed it. Only my close friends have it.”
“I have it now, too,” he said.
“Huh? Oh yeah, caller id.”
“So, what are you up to?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t even know why I called you. I guess I just wanted to talk.”
“Cool,” Josh said. Tallia and Josh talked for a while, then Tallia looked at the clock and couldn’t believe her eyes when she seen how much time had passed.
“Oh, wow! I can’t believe we’ve talked this long!!”
“How long?” Josh asked.
“Over an hour,” Tallia replied.
“Really? It doesn’t seem like it! Do you need to
go?”
“No, I’ve just never met a guy who I could talk to so easily, especially on the phone,” Tallia said.
“Well, I like talking to you, and since you don’t want to meet, talking on the phone will have to do,” Josh said.
“It’s not that we can’t ever meet. I mean, I don’t know you, you could be some psycho. No offense. And you don’t know me, I could be a complete psycho!! We both could be,” Tallia said, with a laugh.
“I can assure you, that I’m a gentleman. I would like to meet you, but I won’t push it,” he said.
“Maybe we can meet some day.” beep, beep “Can you hold on a sec? I have another call.”
“Sure.” Tallia clicked over to the other call.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Lia. Whatcha doin’?”
“Hey Kiera. I’m on the other line with Josh.”
“Josh? Who’s Josh?”
“A wrong number.”
“You’re talking to a guy who called the wrong number?
Why?”
“He’s nice. This is the second time I’ve talked to him. I can’t explain it now. I’ll call you when I get off the phone with him, k?”
“But Lia.....”
“Gotta go, I’ll call you in a little while,” Tallia
said, and clicked
over to Josh.
“I’m back.”
“Hey, so, what’s up?”
“Oh, that was my friend, Kiera. She was just callin’ to chat.
She thinks I’m crazy.”
“Why does she think that?”
“Because I’m talking to you.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“Nothing, she just thinks I’m crazy for talking to a
wrong
number,” Tallia said.
“Oh, do you think so?”
“Not anymore.”
“I’m glad I called the wrong number that day. It’s nice to talk to someone, oh, I don’t know...different. Most people want something from me.”
“Well, all I want is to talk, so you’re in luck!!”
Tallia said.
“This could be the start of a beautiful friendship!”
Josh said.
“I agree!” They talked for a little while longer, then said goodbye after Tallia made sure Josh had her new number.
Tallia dialed Kiera’s number. “Hello?” “Hey Kiera.”
“Hey. What are you doing? Who is Josh?”
“Nothing and a guy. Now before I tell you about
Josh, no third
degree from you, okay?”
“I guess, so, just know that I’m listening under protest!” Kiera said. Tallia could hear the smile in her voice.
“Okay, about two weeks ago, I had a message on my answering machine from a guy named Josh. He was trying to call someone named Marlene, and it sounded like he really needed to talk to her, so I called him back to tell him he had called the wrong number. When he answered, I told him he didn’t know me, and then he started yelling at me and hung up on me. Well, I got pissed and called back. Long story short, he apologized for yelling, thinking that I was someone else, and we started talking, and he seemed really nice. I haven’t talked to him since, until today. We talked for about an hour and a half. He’s really a nice guy.”
“Lia, you’re not gonna do something like meet him are you?”
“No,” Tallia said.
“Good.”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“Not yet? Lia...”
“No third degree, Kiera,” Tallia reminded her friend.
“Besides,
I have no plans to meet him in the near future. We
just like to talk. It’s a mutual thing.”
“Ok. Just be careful!? By the way, Davette, Suzi, Kristina and I are going out, do you want to come? That’s what I called to ask you earlier.”
“What time were you gonna go out?”
“Oh, around 9:30 or 10:00.”
“It’s 7:30 now?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure, it’ll give me chance to get out of the house.
I’ll meet you at your house around 9:00, k?”
“Sure, I’ll see you then, bye.”
“Bye.”

Chapter 3
Tallia pulled up to Kiera’s house and got out of the
jeep. Kiera
must have been watching for her, because she opened up
the door
before Tallia had a chance to knock.
“Hey, are you ready? Davette, Suzi, and Kristina are
going to
meet us at ‘The Electra.’ Shall we go?” Kiera asked.
“Yup. Do you want to drive or do you want me to?”
“I don’t care.”
“I’ll drive then,” Tallia offered.

At the club....
“There they are!” shouted Kiera. They made their way
over to
the girls’ table.
“Hey Ladies! What’s up?” Tallia asked.
“Hey Lia and Kiera,” the three girls replied in
unison. They all
spent the next hour talking and laughing. It felt
good to be having fun
with her friends again. Tallia got up to get another
round of drink,
three screw drivers and two lemonades, since Tallia
and Davette were
driving tonight. When she got back to the table,
Suzi, Kristina and
Kiera were out dancing.
“I see the others are out dancing, why didn’t you
go?”
“I thought I would wait here for you, and besides,
there were
only three guys,” Davette said, with a rueful smile.
“Oh. Well, it looks like someone is headed in your
direction
now,” Tallia said, nodding her head towards the good
looking guy
headed to their table.
“Hi Ladies. I was wondering if one of you would care
to
dance?” he asked, looking directly at Davette.
“Why don’t you go and dance. I’ll save the table,”
Tallia said.
Davette gave her friend an appreciative look and stood
up. Tallia
watched her friend head for the dance floor. She
really wasn’t looking
to meet anyone tonight. She just wanted to have fun
with her friends.
She was happy to be with them tonight. She was
closest to Kiera, who
had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor which Tallia
loved. Suzi was the
energetic and outgoing one in the group. Davette was
absolutely crazy
and she was known to her friends as The Deevah.
Kristina was the
sporty, hyper one. She never could sit still for very
long. Tallia was
the shy one of the group. That only lasted as long as
the first
conversation, because once she got to know people, she
was very open.
They had been friends since Tallia had moved here six
years ago. They
had the perfect balance of levelheadedness and
craziness. There was
never a dull moment in the group.
A short while later, her friends returned to the
table with their
dance partners. They introduced themselves, as
Tallia’s friends made
room for them at the table. Tallia introduced herself
as Lia, and then
made small talk for a little while, getting to know
the guys.
“We have a friend who would be perfect for you. He’s
around
here somewhere,” said the one named Joey.
“I’m not really looking to meet anyone tonight. I
just got out
of a bad relationship,” Tallia said. “But thanks.”
“He’s really nice,” Joey said.
“I don’t think so. Besides I’m kind of interested in
someone
else,” she said. She didn’t know why she had said
that. There wasn’t
anyone else, was there?
“Oh, ok, if your sure.”
“I’m sure. I’m gonna go to the ladies room,” Tallia
said, and
excused herself. She walked to the ladies room. When
she got there,
she touched up her makeup and thought about what she
had said to
Joey. Was she interested in someone? Could she be
interested in Josh?
Naw, she had never even met him. But, he was so nice,
easy to talk to
and he was funny. She loved that he could make her
laugh. She gave
herself one last look in the mirror and headed back to
the table.
Kiera leaned over and whispered to her, “You just
missed their
friend, JC. He was cute!!”
“No matchmaking, I’m not interested,” Tallia
whispered back.
“Would you like to dance, Lia?” Lance asked her.
Tallia
glanced at Davette, who she knew was interested in
Lance. Davette
nodded her approval.
“Sure,” she said and walked to the dance floor with
him.
“So, Lia....”
“So, Lance...what do you want to know about Davette?”
“Am I that transparent?” Lance said, with a bashful
look.
“Not really, you just really seem to like Davette.
She’s really
nice. We’ve known each other for about six years.”
Lance and Tallia
continued to dance and talk about Davette. By the end
of the dance,
Tallia was sure that Lance was hooked.
After the song was over, Tallia and Lance headed back
to the
table. Tallia winked at Davette, who gave her a huge
smile. Joey
excused himself from the table to go and find JC. He
found him on the
other side of the dance floor with another one of
their friends.
“Hey JC. What’s up? Why aren’t you dancing?”
“I’m not interested in dancing with anyone here. I
think I’m
gonna head home.”
“Why don’t you come and meet Suzi’s friend? She’s
really nice
and she’s pretty.”
“Naw, I’m not interested. I’ve kind of met someone.”
“Really, where is she?”
“She’s not here. I can’t explain it. I’ll tell you
about it later.
Go back and have fun. I’m gonna go home and catch up
on some
sleep.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Later.” Joey made his way back to the table and
told his
friends that JC had gone home. Tallia’s friends
looked disappointed,
but Tallia looked relieved.
“I think I’m gonna go home, too,” Tallia said.
“Come on, Lia, it’s early!!” Kiera said.
“It’s not early. It’s one in the morning. Davette,
will you make
sure Kiera gets home safely?” Tallia said, smiling.
“Sure,” Davette replied.
“You girls call me tomorrow and we’ll get together.
See ya!”
A chorus of goodbyes followed.
When Tallia got in her jeep, she was relieved to be
outside. She
had fun with her friends tonight, but she didn’t want
to be pushed into
another relationship just yet. Besides there was Josh
to consider. She
didn’t know how he felt, but she was content being
single for the time
being. When she got home, she crawled into bed and
drifted off
thinking of Josh.

CONTINUE

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