Carrie arrived the day before the guys got in to California so that she and Alissa could catch up. Alissa had stocked up on all their favorite junk food in preparation for one of their all night chat sessions. Carrie was beyond hyper when Alissa picked her up at the airport, and her enthusiasm soon rubbed off on Alissa.

"Are you excited to see me, or to see a certain someone else tomorrow?" Carrie glared playfully.

"Oh, please. Like you're not excited to see La-ance." Alissa rolled her eyes, and they headed to her apartment, where Carrie was stunned to see what was hanging on the hall wall. "Aaw, �Liss. You are warming up to them. They've even got a place on your wall now." Alissa laughed, thinking how obvious it was that she was warming up to them considering how much time she spent on them.

"Nah, I haven't Care. I just put up that poster to make you feel more comfortable." She glanced at the two posters down the wall. "Besides it makes for an easy comparison to prove why I love my Boys the best."

"You're such a freak."

The girls got Carrie settled and went out for dinner before plopping themselves in front of the television with all the junk food and their favorite movies. They giggled and chatted for hours, always avoiding the questions each of them wanted to ask, until finally Alissa just blurted it out.

"Okay, so give it up," Carrie looked up confused.

"What?"

"You and JC, what's up?" A sappy smile spread across Carrie's face and Alissa laughed. "You are SO sad. Obviously things are going well."

"Uh hmm, I don't think it could be better, except that he's on tour." Alissa nodded, she'd thought about that long distance relationship thing, even though officially she had no relationship to worry about. Alissa didn't want to put too much pressure on the phone calls and their friendship.

"Alissa?" She snapped back to reality when Carrie snapped her fingers to get her attention. "Where'd you go?"

"Oh, nowhere." She heaved a melancholy sigh, and Carrie nodded.

"I know that sigh, what's on your mind, �Liss? If it's Lance, just say it. I already get all the dirt from JC anyway." Alissa turned to glare at Carrie.

"Dirt? What dirt? There's nothing to tell."

"Besides the fact that you're on the phone for hours EVERY night, and you didn't even tell me ANYTHING. I'm supposed to be your best friend." Carrie pouted, and Alissa knew that it wasn't all just for effect. A small part of Carrie was actually hurt by her omission.

"Sorry, Care. I didn't say anything because there's nothing to say. We're just good friends. Really." Carrie still looked at her expectantly.

"And?"

"And I guess I found out this week if there's anything else. I'm not sure what I want anyway." Carrie reached out to hug Alissa and Alissa felt better after finally putting what she was thinking into words.

"You know Alissa, you worry too much. " She pulled back from the hug and looked at Alissa. "So, how's Justin going to take this you and Lance thing?" Carrie smirked at Alissa, until Alissa hit her on the arm.

"You knew too! Dammit, why don't you people tell me these things?" Carrie laughed.

"It's so obvious, �Liss. The way he pouts when you ignore him, the way he's always trying to get your attention. It's so cute. JC says he always talks about you." Alissa rolled her eyes.

"Oh well, he's got Miss Brit-nay!" Alissa stuck out her chest and did an imitation of Britney making Carrie giggle.

"No, no, no, you need the music." Carrie stuck in the Drive me Crazy soundtrack and Alissa proceeded to imitate Britney's moves in the video. Both girls were nearly hysterical and they laughed until their sides hurt. It had been way too long since they'd had a girl's night and they had time to make up for. They giggled, chatted and swapped stories until early morning when both of them collapsed and fell asleep in Alissa's living room.

Carrie groaned and looked at the clock when she heard the doorbell. "�Liss, there's somebody at the door." Alissa muttered something but didn't look like she was moving. "Alissa!" Carrie whined when the bell rang again; Alissa finally stirred.

"I'm coming dammit. Only a moron would come to my door at 7am." She grumbled as she swung the door open. "Ohmigawd, LANCE!" She instinctively hugged him, and then stepped back. "What are you going here?" She reached to tame her hair, that she knew must be sticking up in all directions.

"We flew in early this morning." He paused, "I guess we should have called." Alissa looked down at her Backstreet t-shirt and plaid pyjama pants and shrugged.

"As long as you're not running away screaming, it's all good." Lance smiled.

"If you'd seen Chris in the morning as many times as we have, you'd know what scarey really is." Alissa laughed.

"Ya, that would be scarey." She was about to shut the door behind Lance when she heard the other voice.

"Hey, what am I over here?" JC suddenly called attention to the fact that he had been standing in the hall too.

"You're just JC, remember?" She blinked innocently, and then moved out of the way when she heard Carrie coming toward the door.

"Okay, what's the hold up?" Carrie suddenly looked up and shrieked, before running to the door. "JC!" Alissa looked at Lance and shook her head.

"Kids." She started walking to the living room when Lance stopped her again.

"Wait." Alissa raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, what now?" Lance looked at her.

"One more." He leaned closer to her. "He just kept whining." Alissa laughed and Lance shrugged apologetically before Justin bounded into the room.

"Lance, that was cruel." Alissa looked between Justin and Lance and was surprised to see Lance smirking at Justin.

"Hey, you're the cute one. Thought you'd be used to it by now." Alissa giggled, getting the idea of what had happened. Justin turned to look at her and she tried to make a straight face.

"Don't laugh, they ambushed me."

"They ambushed you?"

"Ya, they got in the elevator, pushed me out and then yelled, �Look, it's Justin Timberlake.'" Alissa couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. "It's not funny �Liss."

"Sure it is, Just," she gasped out between bouts of giggles. "I would have loved to see your face." Carrie watched the look on Justin's face and then motioned to Alissa.

"See? It's cute." Justin scowled and looked from Carrie to Alissa.

"What?" Carrie walked past and patted Justin on the head.

"Just never you mind your pretty little head, Q-tip." He continued to scowl as JC followed Carrie into the other room, silently laughing. Alissa tried to hold in the giggles again.

"Aaw, poor Justin." She put her arm on his shoulder. "So what exactly are you doing at my place at 7am?" She looked from Justin to Lance while they walked into the other room.

"He's here because he wouldn't stop whining unless he got to come along." Lance looked at Justin and started to protest.

"I wasn't whining." He looked at JC, who didn't say anything to help him. "What? I'm not allowed to see �Liss now?" Alissa saw the glare that Justin shot at Lance and decided to step in.

"Hey guys, there's enough of me for everybody." She heard Carrie giggle, and glared at her. "Oh shut up, you know what I mean."

"Oh, sure. You just keep your hands off JC." Alissa shook her head. "I know how you think."

"Oh, don't even GO there, Carrie. I learned everything I know from you. Besides I already had my chance." Alissa paused for a second. "Hey Care, we did it again." Carrie giggled and looked at JC before she nodded at Alissa.

"ohmigawd, you're right. Especially . . ." Alissa and Carrie giggled as they looked between JC and Lance. Alissa giggled harder hearing Justin whine.

"C'mon. What's so funny?" Alissa and Carrie exchanged the �do we tell them?' look. Alissa sighed, as Carrie started to explain.

"In high school, I always ended up going out with the guys that Alissa turned down, and she went out with the guys that I really liked. That's the short version." Carrie stopped, waiting for the guys reactions.

"This happened a lot?" JC looked stunned as he asked the question. It had taken him a minute to realize that he fit into the pattern. Alissa was concerned by the total lack of response from Lance.

"Not a lot. Twice, I think. Ryan, and Matt were the two you went out with, right Care?" Carrie nodded. "And you liked Dave and Mike right?" Again she nodded. "That's pretty much it."

"That's freaky, man." Alissa turned a suspicious eye to Justin. "So, does that mean, you and Lance got a thing going?" Still Alissa noticed Lance said nothing. Alissa didn't want to confirm or deny anything, so she decided to disrupt the conversation before it went any further.

"Enough thinking for you Timberlake, it might damage your image." He looked confused.

"My image?"

"Ya, y'know. Pretty face, no brains . . ." Carrie immediately took her opportunity.

"You just admitted Justin is CUTE! HA! GOT YA!" Alissa rolled her eyes, and put up her hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay. So, he's cute. Still doesn't mean he's as cute as Nicky. Or Brian." She giggled as she heard a collective groan when she mentioned their names, and heard Carrie complain.

"Oh, Alissa. You are hopeless."

The guys had a press conference that afternoon and Carrie and Alissa were asked repeatedly to go along, but since they hadn't slept all night, they decided they'd rather stay at Alissa's, nap and watch the conference like normal people, before meeting up with the guys later on.

Being in PR, Alissa was always overly critical of the way people acted and reacted during press conferences, and it drove Carrie insane. Carrie reacted like every other fan, oohing and aahing over the cute things that they said, and giggling madly whenever somebody did something funny. She paid careful attention to every detail and filed all the information away in her brain in case it came in handy one day.

Alissa watched as Chris played with a pen during one question, and JC fidgeted during another, all the time giving them instructions on proper behavior even though she knew they couldn't hear her. She became silent as she listened to Joey reply, again, to the comment about beating Backstreet's sales record.

"They really ought to slap a muzzle on Joey during these things." Carrie turned in shock.

"ALISSA!"

"What? He just makes them all look bad. How stupid does it sound for him to say that he feels sorry for Backstreet, when all they did was break a sales record because they have a fan base. Backstreet is just as likely to break it back when they put out their next album. It's just dumb." Carrie looked thoughtful.

"I suppose you're right. But Lance fixed it, didn't he?"

"Ya, but Joey was stupid to say it in the first place. Didn't anybody teach him how to speak in public? Geez." Carrie shook her head.

"�Liss, can't you just take the PR rep hat off for a little bit, and listen to the guys?" Alissa was about to answer when something Lance was saying caught her attention. She froze paying attention only to what was on the television.

"It's really important to have somebody you can talk to, who doesn't see us as *NSync. Somebody who doesn't have any preconceived idea about us. Those people are very important, to all of us." Alissa watched as he smiled straight into the camera. She heard Carrie gasp.

"�Liss, you realize he's talking about you? Even though he didn't say your name, he meant you!" Alissa shook her head slightly.

"How do you know that? He didn't say anything about anybody specifically." Carrie grabbed Alissa by the shoulders and shook her.

"How can you not know that's what he meant. Ohmigawd, Liss." She paused. "Hey, how come JC didn't say anything about me?" Alissa couldn't help but laugh at Carrie, and she gave her a playful shove.

"Oh sure, wreck my moment." Carrie pretended to pout, and Alissa rolled her eyes. "You can stop the Justin pout anytime. It doesn't work for him, it won't work for you."

The press conference ended just after that, and the girls got ready to meet the guys at the hotel. They were headed straight to the elevator when Alissa heard her name.

"Alissa!" She turned toward the voice, and stopped, looking at Justin blankly for a minute before realizing who it was. He motioned for her to stay quiet as recognition crossed her face. "Don't say anything, nobody noticed so far."

"Ohhh, what exactly are you doing?" She looked at what he was wearing, wondering how anyone could consider it a disguise. She was quite sure that even she would have been able to tell who he was, even before she knew him.

"I needed to talk to you." So far, Carrie hadn't said anything and Alissa turned to her.

"Care, can you tell Lance I'll be a couple minutes?" Alissa saw the look of warning in Carrie's face. Alissa nodded at her to say that she understood Carrie's concern, and Carrie smiled.

"Sure." The elevator door opened and Carrie got off. "See ya in a few, �Liss. Bye Justin." The doors slid shut and Alissa turned to Justin.

"Okay, Just. What's up?" He played with the edge of the hat that he had been wearing to hide his face, that he now held in his hands.

"Wait," The elevator stopped and they got off, Justin leading Alissa to his room. He didn't say anything until he shut the door. "I didn't tell you the whole story about me and Britney." Alissa's eyebrows wrinkled together as her face showed her confusion.

"Okay. . . " She wasn't sure that he really wanted to tell her anything now, and she didn't really see why it was that important. She did notice how he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"She dumped me." Alissa was still confused; she didn't quite know why he'd decided to tell her.

"I'm sorry, Just."

"She said I talk too much about you. And since we never see each other, she said that was it. She's jealous I think, because I saw and talked to you more than her." He laughed nervously to fill the silence, as Alissa tried to figure out what to say. She wasn't sure what reaction he expected from her. Before she said anything, Justin went on. "She got upset the day I got your phone number, because she couldn't get through on my cell, and she never let me explain anything." Alissa sighed, wondering what to say.

"So, you're saying that she dumped you because she thinks you have a thing for me?" Alissa took a deep breath as Justin laughed nervously again.

"Ya, I guess that's it. Stupid huh?" Alissa touched his arm.

"Justin, don't be upset or anything, but everybody has been warning me that you've got a crush. So, you're not exactly subtle." She saw Justin's face fall and felt horrible, even as Justin tried to deny it.

"Nah, I don't. You're just really cool, and . . ." Justin's voice trailed off, and he looked away as Alissa looked at him.

"Aaw, Just, it's cool. I'm flattered, really. You're a sweetie. You're like my little brother and I love you." She pushed a curl away from his forehead while she waited for him to say something. "Okay?" She saw him nod, before she gave him a hug. "Now, what do we do about Britney?" Justin still hadn't looked at her again. "She's gonna have to pay for hurting my brother, you know that right?" Alissa smiled, seeing Justin's face brighten a bit. "What about . . . " Alissa had to give herself strength to even suggest what she was thinking, because she knew how much willpower it would take to deal with. "What about if you invite Britney to hang with us, then she'll see for herself that I'm not trying to steal you away from her." She stopped herself from adding anything about her and Lance, knowing the affect it would have on the situation.

Justin nodded slowly. "It's a good idea, if she were around." Alissa was somewhat relieved, knowing that it meant a partial reprieve from meeting Britney.

"Whenever, darlin'. Just let me know. I'm here for you." She looked quickly at her watch. "So are we okay?"

"Ya." Alissa wondered how long it would take him to go back to his normal self around her. She got up slowly and headed to the door. "Hey, �Liss?" She turned to face him. "Can we keep this between us? I kinda don't want everybody knowing." Alissa smiled and made the motion of zipping her lips, before turning and heading out the door.

Alissa stopped just outside Lance's door to think about what she could, and couldn't tell him about her chat with Justin. She knew he was going to ask but she didn't know how she could answer. She raised her hand to knock, when the door swung open. She took a surprised step backwards, "Hello."

"Hey. All done with Justin?" Alissa nodded, thinking that if she said anything, she might be inclined to say too much. "So what's up with him?" Alissa looked at him.

"Oh, uh. He. . . he wanted some more advice. On Britney." She waited to see if Lance was going to ask anything more, and when he didn't she spoke. "So, what are we doing?" She watched him shrug.

"We were supposed to go with JC and Carrie, but they didn't want to wait, so we'll just meet them later, with everybody else." Alissa smiled.

"You do realize they're probably happy that I was late?" Lance laughed quietly and nodded.

"Ya, I thought that. Didn't want to make any assumptions about Carrie though. She did have the good taste to choose me as her favorite." He gave Alissa a cocky grin.

"You know that you've lost that title now, right? She dumped you, right after she met JC." Lance clutched a hand over his heart.

"You mean just because they're together she dumped me? I'm heartbroken." Alissa giggled.

"You're weird."

"Look who's talking Backstreet Girl."

"That's low. You leave my Boys out of this. Or I might just have to kick your ass." Lance waved his hands in peace.

"Okay, okay, no more cuts on your Boys." Alissa glared, and grabbed his arm.

"Let's go, before I feel the need to start making Nstink jokes." They left the room and headed down in the elevator.

Just as they were leaving the hotel Alissa heard her name. She turned hesitantly, not knowing who would be calling her, and noticed Justin trying to catch up to them.

"Want to call a little more attention to yourself Justin? There might be a few fans in California who haven't realized you're here yet." Lance gave Justin a disapproving look as a small crowd of girls gathered behind Justin.

"Ssh, Justin. Watch it." She saw Justin glare at Lance before turning to sign the pictures being thrust at him. Lance quickly stepped up to the group and signed a few autographs, but it was clear most of them were more interested in Justin.

"Sorry, �Liss," he said as he signed a couple more and then gestured to the group that he was done. Most of the tiny mob dispersed leaving only a few hopefuls waiting for anything further Justin might be willing to give them. "Where ya goin'?" Alissa caught Lance's eye and knew instantly what he was thinking. She tried to keep her voice low, and her answer vague, because of the fans still milling around.

"Going to eat, then meeting everyone else later."

"Cool, can I come with you?" Part of Alissa wanted to say no, but she knew she couldn't. Not after their talk earlier. She looked apologetically at Lance, before turning to Justin.

"Sure, Justin." Suddenly she got an idea. "Wait, shouldn't you call Brit?" Justin looked at her.

"Already tried. She wasn't there. I'll try again later." She could tell Lance wasn't impressed with Justin joining them, and she knew the day wasn't going to turn out the way she had wanted it to either. Instinctively, she grabbed Lance before she spoke. Justin noticed the movement and then looked away. "So, let's go."

Alissa realized as they were repeatedly stopped by fans, that this was the first time she'd been on the inside of the frenzy. She was asked repeatedly which one of them she was dating, and how long she'd known them, and how she'd met them. She didn't know how they dealt with all the questions all the time; it was giving her a headache. Although surprisingly everyone was quite nice to her. She'd half expected to be sworn at, and spit on after reading the stories about what happened to the Backstreet girlfriends.

Justin seemed to enjoy all the attention, always preening and smiling, and flirting with the girls surrounding him. She wasn't really surprised, considering how much he seemed to love being the center of attention. Lance was much quieter with the attention he showed each fan, but still each one felt like he was paying attention only to her.

Alissa stayed to the back of one particular group, observing everything when one girl stepped up beside her.

"Hi." Alissa looked down at the girl, who couldn't be more than 10 or 11.

"Hello. How are you?" The little girl smiled.

"I'm great! I just touched Justin." The girl looked at the hand that she must have touched him with. "Are you with them?" Alissa nodded. "Are you a girlfriend?" Alissa smiled.

"No. I'm just a friend." The girl looked disappointed, and Alissa was puzzled.

"Oh. You're very pretty." Alissa flushed slightly, and was about to thank the girl, when she spoke again. "You should go out with Lance." Alissa tipped her head as she thought.

"Why not Justin?" The little girl giggled.

"Because I'm going to marry Justin." Alissa giggled along with her.

"Well, then I should introduce myself. I'm Alissa. What's your name?"

"Marnie. Can I have your autograph?" Alissa shrugged, she didn't know why the girl would want her autograph, but she signed the little book held out to her. She noticed the group starting to disperse and Lance and Justin walked towards her.

"It was nice to meet you Marnie. Good luck on the wedding." Marnie giggled again, and waved as she ran off to catch up with her friends.

Alissa told Lance and Justin about Marnie's plans for marriage, giggling at the face Justin made. "Oh, come on Justin, she was cute."

"She's ten, Alissa. Besides, do you know how many little girls plan to marry me?"

"Conceited much, Just?"

"I'm just sayin'." Alissa waved her hand at him.

"Ya, ya, you're just saying that all the teenies want you. I know, I know." Alissa could hear Lance laughing at the exchange between her and Justin. She turned to face him. "What are you laughing at? You got lots of little teenies after you too, boy." Lance nodded.

"Well, ya. But not as many as he's got." Alissa looked at Lance sympathetically, and patted his shoulder.

"That's not necessarily something to be proud of. You just admitted he's got more fans than you." Alissa could see Justin start to strut out of the corner of her eye, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, Timberlake. ENOUGH already. You complain about your fans being babies, then you strut �cause you got more of them." Alissa sighed. "MEN!" She quickly shook her head. "Wait. Let me rephrase that. BOYS!"

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