Alissa and Danielle both left the office early to get ready and Alissa found herself checking her email to kill time while she waited to be picked up.

She opened a message from Carrie and then giggled as a picture came into view. The doorbell rang just as it finished loading.

"Come in, I'll just be a sec." Justin wandered in as she picked up the bottom of her dress so she didn't trip on it. "I just saw the cutest picture of you." Justin smiled; normally he would hate being called cute, but he knew in this case it pained Alissa as much to say it, as it did him to hear it. He strutted over to where she was standing.

"Oh ya? Which one?"

"You're so modest." He flashed that grin again, but didn't say anything as Alissa re-opened the file. She heard Justin groan and smack himself in the forehead as he saw the picture fill the screen.

"I was like, twelve, Alissa," he whined.

"I know, but you were so cute then. What happened?" She looked at him for a minute. "Actually you clean up real nice." She knew that made him feel a bit better by the grin that crept back onto his face as he looked at her.

"And I know why JC wanted to be the first person to see you tonight." Alissa flushed slightly, and adjusted the wrap that went with her sapphire blue floor length slip dress.

"So, what did you do?" Justin laughed.

"Beat him at a coin toss." She rolled her eyes, then she punched Justin in the arm.

"Stop ogling me, and let's go." She shut off the computer and walked out the door on Justin's arm.

When they reached the long, black limo, JC, Joey and Lance were all standing outside waiting, accompanied by Joey's date. Joey noticed them first, saying, "It's about time you guys got out here . . ." When he noticed Alissa, he gave a low wolf whistle, eliciting a shove from his date. JC had turned and smiling, extended his hand to Alissa.

"You look wonderful."

"You have wonderful taste in dresses."

"And women, but remember she's MY date tonight," Justin broke in. Alissa could feel a fourth pair of eyes giving unspoken approval of how she looked as she turned around.

"So, let's go," she said as calmly as she could before stepping gracefully into the limo.

Alissa chatted with Danielle during most of the limo ride, before realizing that they were one �date' short. Joey and his on-again, off-again girlfriend were snuggled comfortably across from her; her dates were strategically placed on either side of her, and Danielle and Chris were sitting across the side closest to JC. Lance sat quietly to the other side of Justin. Alissa debated with herself over whether or not to comment and decided she might as well ask. JC and Chris were in a deep conversation and Justin didn't seem to be paying any attention to anyone. She carefully leaned across him and tapped Lance's elbow.

He looked momentarily startled, and Alissa wondered whether she should have bothered disturbing him.

"Hi." He spoke so softly that Alissa barely heard him. She wasn't quite sure how to ask what she wanted to know, so she decided on the most direct route.

"No date?" His eyes clouded for a second and he looked at the floor of the limo while he shook his head.

"No," he said looking up slowly. "Long story." Alissa nodded and was going to leave it at that when Justin spoke.

"Not that long. His ex said she'd come, then ditched him last minute." Alissa was surprised at the harsh glare in Lance's normally soft green eyes. Alissa patted his hand comfortingly.

"Good, that means one more good-looking guy to escort me." Alissa quickly clamped her free hand over Justin's mouth as he began the now familiar whine, and was pleased with herself as Lance gave a half-smile.

Alissa felt an arm drape across her shoulder and sat back in her seat to smile at JC as the car came to a halt. "We're here," JC said softly, more to himself than anyone else in the car. Alissa felt the butterflies take flight in her stomach.

Lance got out of the car first, followed by Justin who held out his hand to assist her. Alissa was pleasantly surprised by how gentlemanly Justin was acting. She'd always had the impression that he was a little rough in the etiquette department, to say the least.

JC followed close behind them as they cut through the crowd in as direct a route as possible. Alissa had absolutely no concept of where they were heading; she had been instantly blinded by all the camera flashes as soon as she stepped out of the car. When her vision started to clear, she turned to JC.

"How do you do that every day? I think I've got permanent eye damage."

"You get used to it," JC said calmly, and Alissa rubbed at her eyes.

"Thank gawd I won't have to." She noticed that Joey and Chris had stopped in the crowd to talk to reporters and was grateful that Lance, JC and particularly Justin, hadn't decided to do the same. She would have been obligated to stay out there with them if they had, and she didn't think she wanted that experience.

When her vision returned to normal, Alissa scanned the crowded room taking note of the faces there, for the full report that she knew Carrie expected.

Several times Justin pulled her aside to meet people that they had worked with, and JC had taken off to talk with some people he'd been producing for. Alissa noticed Justin gazing across the room and tried to figure out who he was looking at. She didn't need to look very hard, because directly in view was none other than Miss Britney herself, hanging off the arm of some obviously older man.

"Justin? You okay?"

"Yup, fine," he said a little too convincingly. Alissa gave him a skeptical look and he shrugged.

"Why don't you just go say hi. Lance is here, I'm okay." Justin looked at her, and then at Lance and then moved quickly in Britney's direction.

Alissa and Lance chatted a little bit about the different people that they saw, until it was almost time for them to take their seats. Suddenly Lance noticed that Alissa was unusually silent. A tiny squeal, that only he could hear, escaped her as he tried to follow where she was looking.

He heard her mumble "ohmigawd," as Kevin Richardson walked in the double doors, Kristin close behind him. Then "ohmigawd, ohmigawd," as Brian and Leigh Anne and then Howie accompanied by PollyAnna, entered the room. "ohmigawd, OHMIGAWD," AJ and Amanda, followed by Nick. Lance looked at her suddenly as he heard her emit a tiny hiss and then realized Nick was followed by Mandy.

Lance took Alissa's arm. "Alissa, I know you're really attached to them, but it looks really bad for you to drool all over your dress." Alissa turned to him and blinked twice.

"Oh my lord. I'm so sorry. I always thought I'd be cooler than that." She was suddenly ashamed of herself, and afraid that she'd hurt Lance's feelings.

"It's okay. They are your Boys." He gave her a smile as JC and Justin joined them and they headed to their seats.

Alissa collapsed on her living room sofa after the limo dropped her off. She considered the option of going to bed, but knew she was still too wired for that. She glanced at the clock. It was too late to call Carrie, especially with the time difference. What was she going to do? She laid on the sofa for a little while, thinking about the night, and how the guys had indulged her celebrity fantasy for the evening.

They treated her like she was the famous one instead of them, and she had thoroughly enjoyed it. She had loved seeing them perform their latest single in the middle of the show, even though she'd been momentarily startled by the seat fillers who had come to take their seats while they were away. She had cheered when their name was announced as a nominee in a category and bit her lip from cheering when her Boys took home that same award. And she had thoroughly enjoyed herself.

After a while, she got up to change, so that she wouldn't totally ruin her dress, and was just collapsing back on the sofa when the phone rang.

"Who the hell would call me now?" She rolled herself to the other end of the sofa and grabbed the phone. "Yo"

"Um, Alissa?" Alissa didn't hold back her giggles at the confusion in JC's voice.

"Yup." She giggled some more.

"Whoa. Obviously I didn't need to worry about waking you up. You are hyper."

"You expect me to be calm? I just spent a night rubbing shoulders with celebrities." She heard JC laugh.

"You've been hanging out with us for days."

"But you don't count. I didn't like you guys to start with." Alissa realized how unflattering that sounded. "I mean, not that I didn't like you guys, but just not as much . . ." her voice trailed off as she realized she wasn't making it any better. She sighed.

"Hey, it's okay. We all know your Boys are first." Alissa heard the tinge of melancholy in that statement. "We were all kind of surprised you didn't freak out when they won."

"Hey, I couldn't have done that to you guys. You're real people to me now, they're just those famous guys who sing. They wouldn't have known the difference if I had cheered or not, but you would have, so I didn't." She paused noticing the silence on the other end of the line. "See, that's where you guys are ahead of my Boys. They're just fantasy still. You guys are real."

"I guess that's a good thing." Alissa laughed lightly.

"Yes, it's a good thing." Neither of them spoke for a minute and Alissa's eyes wandered around her apartment.

"JC?"

"Ya?" She wondered why he'd called if he wasn't going to talk.

"Did you call for something specific?" She heard him take a breath and then there was silence. Alissa was about to speak again when he finally did.

"I thought so, but maybe not."

"Oh?" Alissa was puzzled by his cryptic manner. He'd been up-front about everything so far. She listened as he sighed.

"I guess, I wanted to say how great it's been hanging with you the last couple days. And thanks for tonight, even if it wasn't exactly the way I expected." Alissa smiled to herself thinking how she should be saying that to him.

"Honestly JC, you've got it all backwards. I should be thanking you."

"I didn't do anything." Alissa was amused by the tone of his voice, relaying that he really didn't think he'd done anything out of the ordinary.

"Sure you did. You let me live the life of a celebrity for a day. And it was great. I will never forget it." She heard him sigh, and knew he was smiling.

"Alissa?"

"Uh hmm?"

"What are you doing tomorrow? I have to fly early the next day, and I thought maybe we could do something before I go." Alissa paused, wondering how to deal with this, and thinking about Carrie's advice. JC must have sensed her hesitation. "Justin's still around, and Joey, so maybe the group of us..." She noticed that he didn't mention Lance and wondered if he was already gone, or if JC just didn't want to mention him.

Suddenly Alissa succumbed to a huge yawn and JC laughed. "How about I call you tomorrow and we make plans then, when we're both awake?"

"That sounds like a good idea. Talk to you tomorrow, JC."

"Good night Alissa, sweet dreams."

Alissa hung up the phone and barely made it to her bed before she fell asleep.

JC hung up the phone in his hotel room and lay thinking about Alissa.

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