| Joey rolled over in his tangled bed of sheets with a groan. The phone was shrieking at him in annoyment. The clock on the night stand read 8:05 AM. �Why do all my mornings have to start off with a phone ringing in my ears??� Joey grumbled out loud to no one in particular. �Wake up sunshine! Breakfast is being served in the downstairs conference room. You have an hour and a half before the vans pull out.� Joey grunted in reply to the voice on the other end of the phone and placed it on the receiver. Forcing himself out of bed, Joey sluggishly stumbled into the bathroom for a shower. 10 minutes later, he emerged from a cloud of steam, feeling much more refreshed. He looked in the mirror at his unshaven face and sleepy eyes. He really needed to learn not to go clubbing so late on nights he had to work the next morning. Sighing tiredly, Joey slipped his hotel key in the back pocket of his jeans, and smashed an old baseball cap over his wet hair. Meeting up with his security guard Eric, he stepped onto the elevator descending down. Eric chuckled at the sight of him. �You need a curfew boy.� Joey grinned and closed his eyes while leaning his head back up against the elevator wall, �What I need, is a nice strong cup of hot coffee, and about 12 more hours of sleep�. The door to the elevator opened to a side hallway by the lobby. The pair walked silently down the hall past a few doors, then stopped at one that read �Private: executive room�. Eric opened the door for them to enter. The private meeting room had been transformed into a breakfast buffet for all the Nsync members and any crew members that traveled with them. Sitting at the large table already started on breakfast was Justin, J.C., Lance, and Lance�s girlfriend Aimee. �Great,� Joey thought with sarcasm, �Just what I need, another Cassidy!� Aimee and Cassidy have the knack for usually teaming up on him for a �pick-on-Joey� Day. How Lance put up with it, he didn�t know. Scanning the table, he had to fight the urge to laugh at his friends. He wasn�t the only one that needed sleep. Justin was propped up by his fist molding into his cheek, while leaning over a bowl of cereal. He looked like he could fall over onto the ground at any time. JC looked a bit more put together, but just as tired. He had his reading glasses on to read the newspaper in his hands. Joey strolled over to the table full of food and filled his plate to the brim. Juggling the food and hot cup of coffee in his hands, he pulled up a chair next to JC. �Mornin� ladies,� Joey greeted the quiet table. Justin glared at him over his bowl of cereal. Aimee laughed and teased Justin, �careful Justin, wouldn�t want that face to stick.� Justin continued his death glare, then went back to his breakfast. Joey had to hold in the laughter, Justin was so anal in the morning. How his mother put up with him for so long, he didn�t know. �Damn curly, is that your food crawling slowly from your seething face? Calm down buddy.� Joey ducked as a fork was chucked at him. He raised his eyebrows in challenge, �Well, I know who didn�t get any last night.� Lance choked on his food at the remark. �Chew first honey, then swallow,� Aimee patted Lance�s back, rolling her eyes. What am I going to do, there�s no way they wont suspect something, maybe they already do? I look too much like shit for them to not know something. JC probably told them, they tell each other everything. They�ll all look at me like a freak and ask me to leave the tour. Maybe that�s best. I can�t go in there like this. My head�s pounding, my body aches, and I feel sick to my stomach. I need something really strong to drink. I think I may have half a bottle left in my room. I�ll feel so much better if I have some, and everything will be fine. No one will notice a thing. If I go back to my room now, it�ll take but 5, 10 minutes tops. Yes! Brilliant plan Cassidy! No problem. I�ll just go back on up the elevators, straight down the hall��.. �Cassidy? Wake up girl!� Eric snapped his fingers in front of Cassidy�s eyes. She blinked and looked around in a dazed expression. �Huh?� her head hurt worse than any hang over she�s ever had. �What�s up? You okay? You look kinda sick, maybe I should take you up to your room so you can lie down some more, okay?� Cassidy continued to blink in confusion, �I, I, I, uh�� I---� it dawned on her that moment why Eric looked so worried. She�d done it again. She�d been doing it more often lately. Panicking. Going too deep into her mind. Sometimes it happened in her sleep, other times it engulfed her like a smoke cloud out of nowhere, leaving her completely helpless, and defenseless. It lasted only moments, but she hated it all the same. It squeezed the breath out of her sometimes. Like it had just a minute ago. �Oh, no, no thanks Eric. I, uh, I�m just going to get something to eat really quick. Thanks though�.� Cassidy looked around the large man for an escape. �You�re sure?� Eric looked doubtful, but stepped aside when Cassidy forced a smile and nodded. No one noticed Cassidy at first when she walked in the room, everyone that is except Joey. �Hey-whoa! Cassidy! Someone didn�t get much sleep did they? What club did you go to, cause I�m going there next time!� Cassidy roughly tossed a muffin on her plate and growled, �one where boy band�s aren�t welcome.� This seemed to pull Justin out of his foul mood, as he laughed obnoxiously loud with food spitting out of his mouth, and pointed at Joey for annoyment, �OUCH! And you guys think I�m bad in the mornings! Someone�s definitely on P.M.S.! You know, they have drugs for that now!� J.C. seemed to snap to attention at Justin�s comment as he failed to hold onto his cup of orange juice that spilled all over his paper. �Sorry,� he mumbled in nervousness as he fumbled to clean up the mess. �Dude, shut up Justin, like you have room to talk! Atleast she HAS an excuse, what�s yours?� Lance spoke up while throwing a grape into Justin�s unruly hair. Cassidy stood dazed for a moment, but then came to the table and set her plate down to help JC clean up his mess. After throwing the orange juice soaked towels away, Cassidy sat down to finally eat her breakfast. �So, really Cass, where were you all night? You disappeared right after we got the hotel,� Joey asked curiously. �Just out,� she answered quickly in attempt to drop the subject. Joey just rolled his eyes. �Yeah I know you went out. Where out? Must have been some place, Eric said he didn�t see you come in until like 4 this morning!� �Just out! To a club! Jesus, what�s the deal? Are my night�s suddenly the topic of conversation around here?� Cassidy raised her voice above all others. Joey raised his hands in defense, �Gosh, sorry, I�ll leave you alone.� Joey caught Justin�s eyes and mouthed, �P.M.S.!� They both giggled in response. JC raised his eyes to meet Cassidy�s across the table, holding each other�s gaze for a moment. His eyes pleaded with hers for a split second, then he broke the gaze in nervousness. An hour later, everyone had piled into the vans and were taken straight to the arena for a full day of press and performance. The guys had interviews and radio station calls to make for the beginning hours of the day, while Cassidy and other crew members rushed to finish last minute errands and setups. A late lunch was rewarded with a free evening till performance time, something frequently uncommon. Cassidy was excited for a nice relaxing lunch time all to herself. Well� almost to herself anyways. Chris grinned mischeviously when he spotted Cassidy all by herself at a table in the back of the room. �Cassie, luv, I�m ready for you to measure me up now! Eh! Eh?� he wiggled his eyebrows playfully. �Chris, if you weren�t so damn adorable, I�d slap you upside the head right now,� Cassidy leisurely ate her sandwich quietly then paused for a moment, �hell, why waste the opportunity?� Chris ducked her flying palm, and caught it between his hands. �Where�s the love sweetheart?� he kissed her hand with more eyebrow action. �I lost it when I started washing your underwear,� Cassidy jerked her hand back from Chris to finish eating. Chris sulked back across the room as the other came in for lunch. �No respect around here, no respect at all,� he grumbled all the way through the food table. �Oh poor Christopher�who�d want to wash your underwear anyways? Brown stains and crap. Sick, I�m getting the shivers,� Justin cringed at his own thoughts. �Can it curly, wasn�t it your bunk I found a small stringy thing hidden under your blankets, or other words known as a g-string?� Justin blushed the deepest color of red, then stiffened up with a glare, �You wanna go old man?� Chris puffed his chest out in a manly order, �I could take you with both hands tied behind my back, blindfolded! Young-in..� Justin attacked Chris before he could breathe another word, and had him wrestled to the ground till Joey pulled Justin up by his waist. �Ha! Look who took who POPS! You�re just lucky he pulled me off in time before I got in some serious as-� �I could have taken you BOTH down by myself.� Joey scuffed his nails on his shirt arrogantly. Justin and Chris raised their eyebrows in surprise, then both pounced Joey at the same time. All the while, JC was eating some chips and skimming his notebook, Lance and Aimee stayed quiet in a secluded corner acknowledging no one, and Cassidy watched in amusement at the 4 year olds wrestling on the floor. Sighing, Cassidy threw her left over lunch in the trash, and excused herself from the room. Quietly, she snuck into the main dressing room where she could be by herself. Sitting down in a chair and propping her legs up, she rubbed her throbbing forehead in order to comfort herself. Only a few more days Cass. She looked up when she heard the door open. JC walked in and shut the door behind him. �May I.. come in?� he asked nervously. Cassidy only stared at him in silence. Not knowing what to do, JC decided to remain standing. �What do you want?� she whispered while continuing to try and rub her headache away. �I wont tell anyone,� he promised. Cassidy stopped her movement to look at him in surprise. �I don�t believe you,� she stated simply. �Cassidy, it�s not my place to tell other people your problems, that�s your job.� She glared at his remark, �You can�t even begin to comprehend my problems. What makes you think you could explain them to others?� JC closed his eyes and sighed deeply. She always had to be complicated about things. He sat down in a chair across from her. �Listen, I�m just trying to help you. You�re right, I don�t know what�s going on in your life, I hardly know anything about you to be honest! But I do know, that I�m your friend, and I care about you a lot. I also know, you have a lot of other friends outside this room that care about you as well, and one in particular that would give his life for you. Don�t you think atleast he deserves the chance to help you?� Cassidy�s eyes began to water when she thought of what Joey would do if she told him everything that was going on in her life. She couldn�t stand to see the disappointment that would reflect in his eyes. He would always look at her differently. May think of her as unworthy of his friendship any longer. The thought of rejection from the one person that meant the world to her was more than she could bear. �No,� she whispered with a choked up voice. She looked up at JC and shook her head with tears in her eyes, �No,� she repeated again. |
| Some Things Never Change- Secrets |
| 5 |
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| Chapter 4 |
| Chapter 6 |