The trio met up with the rest of the group a few hours later, and Carrie immediately pulled Alissa away from everyone else.

"What's up with the puppy-dog-tag-a-long?" Alissa rolled her eyes, and then sighed.

"I know. Kinda wrecked the whole plan of the day. But I couldn't tell him to go away. Did you hear why Britney dumped him?" Carrie nodded.

"JC said something about conflicting careers and images or something, why?" Alissa shook her head.

"Nuh uh. She was jealous." Carrie looked confused.

"Of what? Little Justin got some fling on the side?" Alissa shook her head, pausing because she didn't want to explain.

"Me. She figured he had a thing for me, and dumped him because of it." Alissa glared at Carrie as the other girl started to laugh.

"You've got to be kidding me." Alissa's shoulders slumped and Carrie immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, �Liss. But you're SO with Lance, and it's so obvious it's just a crush for Justin. I didn't mean anything."

"I know, but you're not helping. And I'm not �with Lance'." Carrie took a deep breath.

"Alissa. Stop feeling guilty. You can't control Justin's hormones, especially when he can't. It's a crush. Give it a rest and let it go away. Don't feel bad about it. For now, go spend time with your hunny." Alissa looked at her oddly.

"He's not my hunny." Carrie gave her an exasperated look.

"He might be, if you could ditch the tag-a-long. And if either one of you would make a move. Gawd, you're frustrating." Alissa hit Carrie on the arm.

"Just because . . . " Alissa's voice trailed off as she looked over where the guys were sitting. "Never mind." Carrie looked at her carefully.

"Y'all okay now?" Alissa nodded.

"Fine."

"Good, JC's gonna think I ditched him." Alissa rolled her eyes.

"Likely. You two are like surgically attached." Alissa reached up to hold the back of her head after her friend cuffed her lightly. "Ow!"

The group stuck together for a while, before it slowly began to disperse. Joey and Justin both hit the dance floor, and JC and Carrie disappeared shortly after, leaving Alissa and Lance. Justin had periodically been dragging Alissa to the dance floor with him, but finally Alissa and Lance were left alone. Neither of them said anything for a little bit, until Lance motioned for Alissa to follow him. She started to question him, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him out the door into the night air, before turning to face her.

"Hi." Alissa looked at him strangely and almost laughed.

"Hi." She looked back in the direction they'd just come from. "What exactly was that?"

"That was our escape." Alissa tilted her head, thinking.

"I'm sorry about Justin tagging along. I just couldn't tell him to go away. Not after I talked to him this afternoon, and I didn't want him to feel like I don't want him around, even if I really didn't." Alissa spoke really quickly, knowing she didn't really need to explain herself, but feeling like she should. Lance stopped her, before she could ramble further.

"It's okay. I've spent a lot of time around Justin. A couple more hours is nothing . . . " Alissa smiled.

"It's nothing but disappointing when you didn't expect him to be around." She said it almost like a question, even though she knew what his answer would be.

"Ya. That's it." They started walking as they talked, not really heading anywhere specific. Alissa was surprised, after this afternoon, how few people took any notice of them.

They talked easily, as if they'd always known each other, and Alissa suddenly had the urge to ask him everything, about everything. Something stopped her from asking about them, though. She was too comfortable with things the way they were, and she knew from past experience that being anything but friends could ruin it. As they walked, she had a stronger and stronger urge to lean on him, put her arm around him, even just hold his hand. But she didn't.

All these things floated in her head, until suddenly she looked at a building nearby. "Uh, Lance?" She saw him blink, realizing he'd been lost in his own thought too, and then she continued. "That's my place."

They walked the rest of the way there and then rode the elevator to her floor. When they got to the door, Alissa suddenly felt strangely shy. "Are you going to come in?" Lance nodded and shrugged at the same time, and Alissa felt better. "It's not like you haven't been here before."

She used her key to open the door, and then stopped dead in the hallway, making Lance bump into her.

"Ohmigawd, CARRIE! In MY apartment?!" Carrie and JC jumped up from the sofa, each showing their discomfort at being caught indisposed. Alissa could hear Lance trying to hold back his laughter behind her as they quickly sorted out a few missing pieces of clothing.

"Alissa, c'mon. It's not a big deal."

"Carrie, he has a flippin' hotel room. It had to be on MY sofa?" Alissa heard Carrie giggle.

"More action than it's seen in a while, I bet." Alissa rolled her eyes, knowing that she couldn't stay mad at her friend.

"You just keep your smart mouth shut, young lady. And you, " she pointed an accusing finger at JC, "You have corrupted my best friend." Carrie and Alissa both burst into giggles at the look on JC's face as he tried to defend himself. "Kidding, JC. She was TOTALLY corrupt LONG before you ever showed up. She probably corrupted you. You used to seem so sweet." Carrie threw a mock glare at Alissa and laughed again, grabbing JC's arm.

"C'mon. We got a hotel room to move to." She stuck out her tongue at Alissa as they walked by.

"Ew, put that back in your mouth. I don't know where it's been." Carrie wrinkled her nose.

"You are hopeless." Alissa grinned.

"Goodbye Carrie. Bye JC." She heard the door shut, and turned to Lance. "And you, laughing. What's that about?" Lance shrugged innocently, but his amusement was plain on his face.

"It was funny." Alissa smiled.

"It was, wasn't it?" She walked into her living room, knowing Lance was behind her. "Would you like to sit down?" They both looked at the sofa, still disheveled from JC and Carrie's departure, and then laughing, they both rushed to sit on the loveseat.

Alissa absently picked up the remote control beside her and flipped through the channels. "Ooh, I love this movie." She looked at Lance for his approval before putting down the remote. She felt his arm rest lightly across the back of the seat near her, and she turned unconsciously so that it landed comfortably on her shoulders.

Alissa opened her eyes and blinked, not moving. She could feel the steady rise and fall of Lance's chest beneath her head and realized his arm was still wrapped around her the way it had been during the movie. She stayed as still as possible determined not to lose the comfort that she felt in that moment. It was dark in the apartment except for the flickering of the television, and Alissa stared into the darkness until she felt the rhythm of Lance's breathing change. She moved her head so she could see his face.

"You're awake?" she asked quietly, seeing his eyes in the dim light.

"Didn't want to wake you up." Alissa started to get up, so that he could move. "Alissa?" She stopped.

"Uh hmm?" She felt his arm tightening around her, pulling her closer to him, until she could feel his breath on her face, and then his lips on hers. The kisses seemed to last forever and be over in mere seconds, both at the same time, while they expressed to each other what they hadn't dared say out loud.

Alissa awoke again, this time staring directly into Lance's green eyes, as he kneeled on the floor beside her. Alissa rubbed her hand sleepily across her eyes. She mumbled something that sounded kind of like "morning," and sat up.

"Morning." Alissa's eyes searched his face, wondering if she had dreamed the night before. "I didn't want to wake you, but Carrie's here to get her stuff and we have to go soon." She could hear Carrie moving around at the other end of the hallway as he looked questioningly at her, "You're coming with us, right?" Alissa smiled at the look on his face.

"I got the week off from work, what else am I gonna do?" She surprised herself by leaning forward to kiss him before getting up and heading to her room to pack a few things. She was on her way to take a quick shower when Carrie stopped her in the hallway.

"Okay, I saw that. I'm guessing everything's settled now, huh?" Alissa nodded. "Good, we don't have time right now, but I want details later." Carrie hugged Alissa, and then both girls hurried off to finish getting ready for the week of travel.

Carrie waited for Alissa to finish packing and getting ready, then the two girls and Lance headed to the hotel where they were supposed to hook up with everyone else. Alissa groaned when she realized how early it still was, having not looked at the clock before they left.

Justin was the only one missing when they boarded the bus, and Lance gave Alissa a quick tour of it before they settled into the seats at the front. Not long after Justin moped onto the bus, although nobody but Alissa seemed to pay any attention to him. He threw his bag onto an empty seat and then flopped down beside it, starting blankly out the window.

Alissa's attention went back to the magazine she had been reading for a few minutes until she heard him heave a sigh. Lance, who she'd been sitting beside looked at her questioningly until she nodded toward Justin letting him know where she was going.

She moved Justin's stuff and sat down beside him, leaning one arm on his shoulder, so that she could speak quietly enough so that they wouldn't be overheard.

"Hey, Justin, wanna talk?" Hesitantly, he shook his head, and continued staring out the window. Alissa sat back in the seat, studying her fingernails. She had a feeling that he wanted to talk, it was just going to be in his own time.

Her mind started to wander into daydreams about the Backstreet Boys when Justin's voice made her jump.

"You ever been dumped, �Liss?" She looked at him strangely.

"Of course I have. Although I don't think I felt as strongly for any of them as you do for Brit."

"You think she's right? About the career thing?" Alissa shook her head.

"You're both talented. If you use your talent and you're smart, who you're dating can't be THAT important. You just can't do anything stupid. And you have to be particularly careful because you've got a lot of little girls out there with dreams of marriage. No matter how unrealistic that is." She heard him sigh again.

"That's the worst part. It's great, knowing you've got all these girls after you, but sometimes you have to think about them before yourself, and it interferes with life." Alissa nodded, knowing she couldn't possibly understand. She did have more insight into it now than she had a few months ago though.

"Just, sometimes you just have to take advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves. That's the best advice I've got." She waited a few minutes, as they both sat silently, before broaching the question that was in her mind. "Justin? Can I ask you a question for curiosity sake?" He shrugged, and turned so he was facing her.

"Sure."

"What are Britney's best qualities? The impression I get from tv and stuff is a spoiled, princess." Justin took so long to answer that Alissa was afraid he was either compiling a list, or he couldn't think of anything. Either way, she didn't wait. "Okay, never mind. I'm just glad that you see them. Maybe one day I will."

"Oh Ali-I-issa." Carrie sing-songed from somewhere behind them. "I need to talk to you." Alissa raised her eyebrows and sighed.

"Here we go, gossip-queen is on the scent." She looked Justin straight in the eye. "You okay?" He nodded. "Smile a little, she'll come around. IT's a woman's prerogative to be difficult." She was relieved to see him smile, and she patted his shoulder as she got up and turned to find Carrie, who immediately dragged her to the back of the bus away from everyone else.

"Holy Carrie, you'd think we were on a top secret mission or something." She looked around the empty little room. "How'd you manage to get the guys out of here. The TV and everything is back here." Carrie shrugged.

"A little convincing and bribery. Nothing special. Now, spill."

"What?" Carrie glared at her.

"Start with Lance. We'll get to the tag-a-long later." Alissa sat down and looked out the window, trying to annoy Carrie by making her wait. Amazingly, she didn't say a word until Alissa turned to face her. "Enough with the stalling." A grin spread on Alissa's face.

"Not much to say Care. More than just friends, but where we're headed, I still don't know. I'm just happy to be along for the ride, so far anyway." Carrie smiled at her friend.

"FINALLY, something, or should I say someone, makes my girl happy. IT's been a long time." Alissa nodded slightly, her tendency to worry about the future taking over her thoughts. She wondered how she'd react if or when she and Lance parted ways, and she still had to see him on TV all the time. She shook her head to dislodge the unpleasant ideas as Carrie spoke again.

"Now, you should be happy. Why are you letting Justin bring you down?" Alissa had figured Carrie would understand the relationship she had with Justin, since they knew each other so well. Alissa had always wanted a family like Carrie's, younger siblings and all. Now, she had Justin who was like a little brother to her, and Carrie didn't understand.

"I can't be all happy while he's depressed, Care. That would be . . ."

"Normal, Alissa. You can't coddle and baby him because you never had a real younger brother. Be happy and make him deal with it." Alissa nodded, knowing she wasn't going to convince Carrie and Carrie wouldn't be able to change her mind either. "Don't you just nod at me, Alissa. I'm serious. I never pretend not to be happy for Connor. IF I'm happy and he's not, he's got to deal with it. He's my brother and I love him, but you can't wreck your life because his is screwed up. Know what I'm saying?"

"Leave it alone, Carrie. I'm happy, I'm just concerned for him." Carrie knew Alissa had ended the conversation and said nothing more as she walked back to where JC was.

Alissa noticed Justin had stuff spread all over, and was holding a CD in his hand, which he held out to her. He had it turned so she couldn't see the label. "Just listen to it." Alissa gave him an exasperated look as she pulled out her discman and put the cd in it, then sat down beside Lance.

She saw Justin watching her as she put on her headphones and pressed play. Wrinkling her nose, she groaned as she heard, "Oops. . . I did it again" begin. She looked at Justin.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me?" She was being melodramatic on purpose, trying to make him laugh. He shrugged, giving her only a half-smile. "You realize that even if I like the CD, it doesn't mean I'm going to like her, right?"

"Just listen. You didn't like us originally either." Realizing she couldn't argue, Alissa settled in closer to Lance, partly leaning on him and picked up a new magazine from her pile. She flipped casually through the pages, aware that Justin was periodically looking at her, checking for her reaction to Britney's cd.

Part way through she found herself tapping her feet to the beat of one particularly catchy song, and she glanced up to meet Justin's eyes. She nodded slightly and shrugged, as close to admitting that she liked that CD as she was willing to come. His eyes showed his satisfaction with her reaction, as he turned away, a small smile on his face.

The cd was ending as Alissa read an article about the guys of *NSync and their beginning. Suddenly she twisted around to face Lance. "Hey, what's the deal with your name?" He looked at her, thoroughly confused, and Alissa giggled. "Sorry. Just in here," she gestured to the magazine, "it says your name is one thing in the story of the group name, and then in your bio it says something else. So what's up with that?" Lance sighed, clearly having explained this many times before, and fiddled with the pen in his hand while he spoke.

"Justin's mom made up the group name before I joined, and the other guy's name ended in N, so Justin started calling me Lansten, that way the group name still worked." He shrugged, "No big deal. Just a lot of unnecessary explaining."

"So your name is actually . . ."

"James Lance." Alissa looked at him.

"Really?"

"You want proof?" Alissa smiled at the cute frustrated look on his face.

"Nah, I'll just ask your mom next time she calls." He raised his eyebrows to look at her, but didn't react the way Alissa had expected him to. "So, can I call you James?"

"Why?"

"Why not?" He shrugged, looking at her strangely.

"You can call me whatever you want, just don't expect me to answer." Alissa playfully punched him on the arm.

"Aw, you're no fun." She pretended to pout, and Lance put one arm around her.

"So what's your whole name, �Liss?" Justin startled Alissa from across the bus.

"Well, Justin . . ., " she flipped quickly to his bio page in the magazine, "Randall Timberlake, my full name is Alissa Marine Evelyn Maxwell." Alissa was quite proud of her name. It was one of the few things her parents had done right.

"Where'd you get something goofy like Marine? Sounds like the place you dock boats." Alissa glared for a minute at Chris, as he joined them, until Danielle reached over to hit him. Alissa smiled her thanks to Danielle before speaking.

"Actually, that's what it's from. My father's favorite thing was boating. And Evelyn was my grandmother's name. She died just before I was born." She heard Carrie yawn, and knowing how many times Carrie had heard the story, she couldn't blame her. "Thank you for your interest, Carrietta." Carrie glared at her.

"Oh great, so now we start with that? Thanks Alissa." Alissa smirked at her.

"Just because you have the same name as the chick in the Stephen King book is no reason to be bitter, Care. IT could be worse, we could use your MIDDLE name." Carrie's face froze.

"You wouldn't." Alissa smirked again.

"Try me."

"You wouldn't. Tell me you wouldn't." Alissa nearly laughed at the interest she could see on the guys' faces. Particularly JC. Alissa raised her eyebrows in a silent challenge to Carrie. "Okay fine. You win. My name is Carrietta Elvira. Everybody happy?! I have a HORRIBLE name." Alissa could tell Justin and Chris were fighting not to laugh out right, and JC looked stunned.

"Elvira?" Carrie looked at JC to see if he was mocking her or not before answering.

"Yes, Elvira. My birthday's Hallowe'en so I guess they figured they had to go with the theme or something. I don't know. They never explained it." Her eyebrows wrinkled as she thought. "Besides who are you to pick on me. You use INITIALS for gawd's sake." JC looked momentarily surprised.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He looked at Carrie and then around at everybody else. Alissa decided to speak up.

"I've got only one thing to say. You say your name is JC Chasez, right? But technically the C stands for Chasez so why do you need a last name? I mean, HELLO. At least AJ stands for his first and middle name." JC looked pointedly at Alissa.

"Do you plan on comparing us to them ALL the time? About everything?" Alissa's forehead wrinkled in thought momentarily.

"No, not all the time. But occasionally I have to let my Backstreet Pride shine through. IT's a hazard of being around me. It doesn't mean I don't luv ya JC." Alissa smiled sweetly at him. "Kay?" JC shook his head and rolled his eyes, holding back a smile.

"Sure ya do."

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