Alex found herself on stage forty minutes later. The stadium
was huge and she couldn’t imagine that it would be completely filled up with
people later that day. There were a number of fans already there for the soundcheck.
The guys were putting on their mikes, while the band was setting up in the
back.
She was sitting down on a stool waiting for one of the stage
electricians to set up her mike. She perused the crowd. She had barely glanced
at them when she first got on, but now she noticed that most of them were women
– quite a few of them actually.
Suddenly a roar came up as JC and Justin got up on stage.
Chris soon came bounding on, with Joey and Lance following closely behind.
She glanced over at JC and Justin who were almost
identically dressed in jean jackets and jeans. Although Justin looked good with
his buzzed hair and tight jeans, she couldn’t take her eyes off of JC. The sun
reflected off the golden highlights in his brown hair and even though she was a
distance away, she could see that his eyes were shining.
He turned and smiled at her – well at the band. She loved
his smile. It lit up his whole face and made him even more beautiful than he
already was. She blinked and mentally shook her head. What was up with her? She
sighed, as she realized what she was thinking. She had to stop doing
that…thinking of him like that.
She turned her head and caught Cole gesturing to her and
mouthing for her to “pay attention”. Linda Stewart, the co-ordinator of the event,
had just explained to the audience what would happen and now the guys were
doing their opening dialogue. She and the rest of the band would start just as
soon as they were done. She tapped her hands against the top of her new guitar.
She wasn’t worried because the sound check wasn’t going to last long.
Juice counted down with his sticks and the band entered the
beginning of This I Promise You. After the song, which the guys sang
beautifully, the guys ran down the catwalk and started spraying silly string at
the audience. The audience obviously appreciated it, Alex noted, as they
screamed and waved at the guys.
It wasn’t until halfway through the question period that
Alex realized that she was enjoying it as much as the audience was. In fact,
she felt herself grinning broadly at the antics of the guys and as she looked
around at the band she could she that they were enjoying it too.
Before no time it was over and the guys were leaving the
stage. Alex sighed as she and the band left the stage. The real show would be
in a few hours and she hoped that she was ready for it.
…
Chaos.
That’s what the backstage of the concert was, Alex thought
as she made her way around.
She stumbled, as a technician bumped into her. “Watch where
you’re going kid!” He grumbled as he continued on his way. Alex resisted the
urge to stick out her tongue at him and instead tried to find the band’s
dressing room, where she had been sent to ten minutes before.
Finally, she found it at the end of one of the corridors.
She walked in and found the band getting dressed for the show. Cole saw her
first. “Alex! Where have you been? You should have been in here fifteen minutes
ago!” He pointed to the clothing rack at the side of the room. “Your outfit is
on there. Get changed!”
Alex looked at the clothing rack suspiciously. The clothing
behind her name consisted of a pair of dark denim jeans accompanied by a
leather studded belt and two tops. A dark blue poplin shirt and a light tan
button up shirt. Ok, it wasn’t too bad. At least there weren’t any tank tops or
shorts.
She took the jeans and the tan shirt off the rack and turned
around to look for a bathroom inside the dressing room so that she could
change. After glancing around she knew that there wasn’t a bathroom in the room
and looking back at the men she realized that they had all changed out there.
Well, there wasn’t any way she was going to be changing with
them. She had to find a bathroom somewhere.
She walked towards the door, clothing in hand and was about
to leave when Leo called to her.
“Alex? Where are you going?”
She turned around finding Cole and Leo looking at her, the
other guys were too busy finishing their preparation to pay attention.
“To change.”
“And you can’t do that here because?” Cole asked, looking
baffled.
“Umm…I’d rather not say.”
Leo’s face lit up in understanding. “Oh. Does this have to
do with what happened this afternoon with Jamie?”
“Uh. Yeah. Yeah, that!” She grabbed onto Leo’s excuse and
hurried out the door.
She heard Cole say something behind her but she left the
room in too much of a hurry to hear him. She walked further down the end of the
corridor and found a bathroom. She walked in and saw that she was all alone.
She went into a stall, took off her shirt and pants, and
hung them on the hook on the door. Suddenly a door opened and she could hear
the footsteps of the person who had just walked in. Oh dammit!
“Alex?” The voice called.
She pulled the jeans on before the person could see her legs
– her legs would have been a pretty big giveaway if anyone had seen them. They
were far from masculine.
“Alex? Are you in here?” The person moved in front of her
door.
“Yeah. One minute!” She said as she struggled to button up the
shirt quickly. Finally done she exited the stall to see Leo leaning on the door
of the stall beside hers.
He grinned at her. “I just wanted to tell you that we’re
going on in a few minutes, so you should hurry.”
Leo gave Alex a once over and his grin broadened. “You look
really good.” He straightened the collar on her shirt and then made his way to
one of her buttons.
She jerked back. “What are you doing?”
“Your buttons are buttoned up wrong.” He pointed to the
buttons.
She looked down at her shirt and noticed that the bottom
buttons had been done wrong. She would fix it as soon as she got out of the
bathroom. Leo was creeping her out.
She walked purposefully out of the room with Leo following
closely behind.
Once outside she started re-doing the last couple buttons on
her shirt and as she finished she saw JC looking at her and Leo speculatively.
What is his deal? She wondered as she noticed the
annoyed look on his face. She looked back and realized that he had seen Leo and
her exiting the bathroom. Leo was walking very closely behind her almost
uncomfortably so, and she was buttoning up her shirt. It all looked wrong.
She was about to rush over and tell him that it wasn’t the
way it looked but he turned away before she could say anything. She would just
have to clear it up later.
They walked down the corridor and was about to go meet the
other band members when she realized that she had left her clothes inside the
bathroom.
She turned around and was about to go back when Leo stopped
her. “Where are you going?”
“I left my clothes in the bathroom. I have to get them.”
He shook his head. “You don’t have time. Cole wants to go
through a brief run-through before we go on. I’ll ask someone to get your
clothes.”
Alex reluctantly nodded and they headed to find the rest of
the band.
“Finally!” Cole announced when he saw them.
He began his overview and was just finishing up when the
guys from Nsync came in and they all formed a circle.
“We’re going to pray now,” Leo whispered to her when he saw
her puzzled expression.
Alex nodded and looked up to see JC looking at them again,
but he glanced quickly away when he noticed her gaze. Leo caught her hand in
his as Justin started the prayer. Once it was done, they patted each other on
the back and wished each other good luck.
“We go on soon. Just as soon as the opening act finishes.”
Leo told her.
Alex hadn’t even noticed that there was an opening act. She
could hear someone singing and realized that it must be the opening act.
Alex propped herself on a wall and watched the guys
surreptitiously. They were all dressed in graffiti type clothing that was kind
of interesting. They were being prepped before they went on.
Alex turned her head and noticed that the opening act had
finished and was walking off stage. She turned to see who it was and noticed
that the person was a girl. She was petite with blond hair and outfitted in
leather pants and a sparkly halter-top. She was carrying a guitar by her side.
Alex didn’t like her.
She didn’t have any reason to dislike the girl but she did.
“That’s Vella, the opening act.” Leo appeared beside Alex.
She looked up and raised a brow. “Oh?”
“Yep. She’s JC’s girlfriend.”
JC’s girlfriend?
She watched Vella go over to JC and wrap her arms around him
from behind. Startled, he turned around but when he saw who it was he grinned
broadly and kissed her on the lips.
JC’s girlfriend.
It shouldn’t have hurt.
But it did.