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“That kicked ass!” Lisa
yelled, as she and Toria applauded as Nsync left the stage. Toria nodded
enthusiastically in response. It had been amazing. She was a little shocked
on how good it was. These guys were talented individuals and somehow
it was hard to believe that she had just been joking with them only a few
days ago. Now she felt even worse that she wasn’t going to see them again. She grimaced as a
piercing pain went through her head. She turned to Lisa. “Do you have any
pills? I feel a bad headache coming on.” Lisa looked concerned.
“No, I don’t. I didn’t bring any. We should leave now then.” Lisa knew how
bad her headaches got. Toria could only be grateful that it had only started
after the concert had finished. She closed her eyes as her head began to
pound. She needed to get home before it got worse. She opened her eyes only
to catch the eye of a big burly man. He signalled her to go over to him. She
poked Lisa, drawing her friend’s attention to the man. “Uh, that guy is telling
us to come over. Should we be creeped?” Lisa’s eyes widened.
“That’s Lonnie. One of their bodyguards. I wonder what he wants.” Toria shrugged. “Well I
don’t think we should question it and just go over. The sooner, the better. I
need to get home before I feel worse.” Lonnie walked over to
them as they left their row. “You two.” he said brusquely. They gave each other
sideway glances before they looked at him and nodded. “The guys said they knew
you two and wanted to see you backstage. If you’re interested you can come
with me.” Lisa and Toria took the
information in. Lisa turned to Toria in excitement. “Backstage with the guys.
We have to go.” When she saw the pained expression on Toria’s face, she
stopped. “Oh but you’re not feeling well enough for that. We should go home.” Toria bit her lip, seeing
the disappointment on her friends face. “No. No, let’s go. I’ll be fine.”
Seeing that Lisa was going to argue, Toria turned to Lonnie. “We are
definitely interested,” she said finally. He nodded and moved
around the stage and led them into the backstage area. They climbed a
stairway and walked down a narrow hall. There were several girls back there.
Toria grimaced at the disturbingly low cut tops, tiny skirts and the amazing
amount of excess skin being displayed in that one area. Was this a concert or
a street corner? Lonnie moved through the
girls and finally stopped in front of a door. He knocked on the door three
times before opening it. They walked into a
slightly crowded large sized room. There were chairs scattered around the
room and platters of food on a table at the side. On the other side was a
dressing area. Lisa and Toria looked at each other speculatively as Lonnie walked
away from them and headed towards the guys who were hanging around the
dressing area. At this point Toria’s
head was throbbing. As much as she wanted to be here, to see the guys, to see
Justin, she knew she couldn’t stay here much longer, she would only feel
worse. She propped herself on
one of the walls as Joey came over to them. “Hey guys! We saw you in the
audience. We’re glad you’re here.” He said it all to Lisa, leaving Toria to
think that this might have all been a ploy by Joey to get with Lisa. Toria
smiled slightly. If that were true, it would be great. Lisa really liked him. “You guys were amazing!”
Lisa gushed. “Thanks!” Joey smiled.
“The last show of the tour always seems the most energized, especially when
it’s you know, where we started.” They continued to talk
but Toria couldn’t get into the conversation. Her head was killing her. She
grasped her head as the piercing pain became more pronounced. She looked up
at Lisa and said softly, “Lisa, I can’t stay.” Lisa looked at her in
concern. “Is it getting worse?” Lisa wrapped her arms
around Toria. “Well let’s got then.” Toria shook Lisa away.
“No. You stay here. I’ll get a cab.” “No fucking way!” “Lisa don’t argue with
me. I want you to stay here.” “I’m not leaving you
alone, when you’re sick.” Joey looked at both of
them. “Is there a problem?” Lisa turned to him,
“Toria is feeling ill. We have to leave.” “Lisa! I mean it. Stay
here!” Lisa looked like she was
going to continue arguing when Joey stopped her. “What if I got someone to
give you a lift home?” He said softly to Toria. Toria smiled at him.
“That would be great, but only if you can find someone who wouldn’t mind.” “Where do you live?” He
asked. “Not far from here, it’s
about a 20 minute drive…” She gave him the directions and he nodded. Lisa looked disgruntled,
as Joey walked away. “Lisa, listen to me. I
want you to stay, because I don’t want us both to miss this. Stay! Have fun
and let me know what happened. I’m serious.” Lisa sighed. “Are you
sure?” Toria smiled softly. “Yes.”
She closed her eyes, trying to dim the pain. “I found you a ride,”
Joey said. Toria opened her eyes to
see Justin standing in front of her, a serious look on his face. “Are you
ready?” He asked. Toria was so at loss for words
that she could only nod in response. He took her arm and led her to the door.
Lisa grinned at her and
made a phone sign with her hand. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow,” she
mouthed. Toria only had a second to process it before Justin led her outside of
the room, going through the backdoor. After walking through few
deserted hallways, Justin opened up a door that led to a small parking lot
way on the other side of the building. Toria looked around in bemusement and
was a little amazed that they had gotten away from the fans unnoticed. Seeing the expression on
her face, Justin spoke for the first time since he asked if she was ready.
“We learn certain things about each venue we’re playing at; things like
secret hallways and backdoors.” He smiled. He pointed to an
understated black car. “Your chariot awaits,” he said good naturedly, seeming
to have left the seriousness from before. She quirked a smile at
him. “What? No Lexus? No Mercedes? I’m shocked!” He laughed. “We usually
travel in the tour bus when we’re touring and going to venues,” he explained
as the made their way to the car. “This belongs to a band member.” She was about to respond
when an intense wave of pain hit her. She leaned back on the side of the car
and closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt a warm
hand on her forehead. She opened her eyes to see Justin looking at her, worry
etched on his face. “I should get you home before this gets worse.” He unlocked the passenger
door and eased her into the seat. He was about to put her seatbelt on when she
stopped him. “I can do that,” she said quietly touched by his concern. “Thank
you Justin! For doing this. Especially since you’ll be missing some of the
party.” He waved off her thanks.
“I don’t mind. The party won’t really get started for another hour anyway and
I’ll be back by then.” He closed her door, walked over to the drivers seat
and got in the car. Toria closed her eyes as
he backed out of the space and entered the road. They drove in complete
silence for a while when suddenly Justin spoke. “I’ve been thinking about
you,” he said softly. Her eyes flew open and
fell on his face. He was looking intently at the road in front of him, his
face tense and very serious. For a second she was
positive that she had imagined the words until he spoke again his eyes still
fixed on the road before them. “When I saw you in the store and then at the
video shoot, I kept thinking I’d seen you before. It bothered me. I couldn’t
figure out why I felt I knew you and it was driving me insane. There was this
image that kept niggling in my head. And then I realized it was the eyes.
Your eyes.” He stopped and glanced over at her. She was completely
floored; she didn’t know what to make of anything he was saying. Silence fell
over them once again, as she mulled over the words. Minutes later she
realized that the car had stopped moving. She looked around and realized that
they were in front of her house. She turned to him.
“Justin I—“ He stopped her. “Please
let me finish. I’d only seen eyes like that on one other person. A girl with
the same name as you.” He rubbed his eyes. “A girl that today, I got an
e-mail from thanking me for sending her tickets for front row seats at the
concert. Concert seats that you were sitting in tonight, Toria.” Toria’s heart stopped. If
she had been an unintelligent girl the implications might have gone right
over her head, but she knew instantly what he was saying. Everything clicked.
Thoughts jumbled in her head. Justin. Justin was. Him. From the hospital. The
accident. The flowers. The e-mail. It was Justin. She looked at him, wide
eyed and incredulous. His blue eyes were
intensely fixed on her face. He watched the play of emotions go across her
face and if there had been any doubt before, now he was positive that she was
the girl. Victoria from the car accident. Now looking at her, he wondered why
he hadn’t realized it before. She had the same arches and curves in her face,
the same mouth, and the same eyes… “So it was you,” she
whispered. “At the hospital. You sent me the flowers and the tickets.” He nodded even though he
knew she wasn’t really talking to him, just speaking her thoughts aloud. He
wanted to say more to her. Tell her how much she had affected him that night.
How much he had wanted to hug her and ask her if she was ok. But the only
words that spilled from his tongue was a quiet, “I’m sorry, Victoria!” She shook her head.
“Don’t be. You were as innocent as I was. It wasn’t your fault. And I’m fine.
Everything’s ok.” He let his head fall back
on the seat and was strangely relieved at her words. “I’m just sorry it
happened to you at all.” They sat in an awkward
silence, both at loss for words but neither wanting to leave the other just
yet. Suddenly Toria laughed.
“We aren’t the quickest people, are we? I mean, now that I think about, it
was kind of obvious.” Justin thought about it
for a moment before he also chuckled. They looked at each
other, amusement still on their faces. “So, how are you
feeling?” He asked her. “Hmmm?” “Your headache. How is
it? Toria blinked at him. “Better!”
In fact, it had completely cleared. It reminded her of why he had driven her
home in the first place and that he still had a party to attend. She unhooked her seatbelt
and opened the door. She smiled and got out of the car before he could even
unbuckle his own seatbelt. “Thank you, Justin! For everything.” She closed the door and
ran to her house before he could even reply. As she watched him drive
away, Toria wondered if she’d ever see him again. She hoped so. |