AN: Yup, new chapter, yay for me! ;)  Been fighting writer's block believe it or not.  Nasty 
thing that.  Encouragement, suggestions, etc, are most welcome at 
inspiredthoughts@hotmail.com ...  Hope this one turned out aright.



********************** Nightmare of a Lifetime: Chapter Five *******************


The first episode of "The Tour of a Lifetime: *NSYNC" featured Nicole's introduction to the 
group, her first concert experience, and three days of road fun spent being shuttled between 
the boy's buses.  

And a lot of cussing.

It broke "The Osbourne's" record with ratings and overnight Nicole Perry went from being one of 
MTV's most obscure VJ's to a celebrity.  She was less than thrilled.

****************************************************************************************

"And then, get this Kell, they asked for an autograph!  Oh stop laughing brat.  This is weird 
for me, okay...  I know I have hate sites.  Yeah I'm fine with it.  Maybe I should say that 
I'm a lesbian and throw the teenies off my scent so to speak.  Yeah, Frankie would just love 
that.  Nah, we're okay I think.  He's still ignoring me.  Same old, same old.  Chris!  Dammit, 
get off me!!"  

Kelly Osbourne laughed as she heard her friend's cell phone drop and a scuffle ensue before a 
decidedly masculine voice came over the line.  "Hello?"  

"I take this is Chris Kirkpatrick?"  

"Yessum."  

Kelly stifled giggles.  "Umm, where's Perry?"  

"I'm sitting on her."

Kelly lost it.  

Chris held the phone away from his ear and scrunched up his nose.  "I think your so called best 
friend is laughing at you," he said sweetly to the small woman who was currently pinned beneath 
him.  Nicole Perry glared up at him.  

"You are so dead Chris."  

He put the phone back to his ear when the hysterical laughter died down.  "You are so dead when 
she gets free," wheezed a nearly incoherent Kelly Osbourne.  

Chris shrugged.  "Then I guess I better not get up.  I wouldn't want to die prematurely."  

"What are you gonna do, sit on her until you get to the next city?"

He grinned hugely.  "Something like that."  Chris clicked the phone off and slipped it into his 
pocket before reaching down to pat Nicole Perry's spiked head.  "Good kitty."

The bathroom door opened as Bill came out, camera in tow.  He stopped, blinked, and stared at 
the grown pop star sitting on the stomach of his small boss.  "Dammit, I told you two not to do 
anything funny until I came out!"  

Chris grinned cheekily as Nicole squirmed beneath him.  "You are SO dead," she threatened.  
"Dead, burned, crucified, spitted, roasted, wrapped in sushi..." 

"Basted in a light tartar sauce?" he asked innocently.  Bill snorted as Perry screamed an 
obscenity at the laughing band member and tried unsuccessfully to get free.  It was going to be 
a VERY long bus ride.

****************************************************************************************

"So what do you think of our newest guest?" Justin asked as he, Joey, JC and Lance stood around 
the bus stop outside the convenience store they had stopped at somewhere in the desolation 
between Texas and New Mexico.  Four buses filled the cramped parking lot and the drivers were 
inside. 

Joey shrugged as he opened a recently bought coke and took a long drink.  "I think we need the 
show.  Pop died and we have to resurrect it.  We aren't all ghetto enough to make it with rap 
duets."  

Justin glared but the harmless insults rolled off him.  JC laughed at them though and shrugged 
as well.  "I think she has a lot of integrity.  And balls.  Have to admire a woman with balls."  

Joey spit his soda out and it was Lance's turn to laugh.  Justin poked him in the ribs, hard.  
"What about you Poofu?"  

Lance smiled serenely.  "I like her."  

Justin swore roundly.  "You would."  

Lance hit him, harder.  "You wouldn't."  

"Where the hell is Chris's damn bus?"  JC pointed to the bus that pulled ponderously into the 
parking lot as Joey asked.  

"There."  

Joey glared at his band mate.  "Thank you Captain Obvious."  

JC started to retaliate but didn't have a chance as Chris's bus completely stopped.  The doors 
were flung open, and a very panicked Chris Kirkpatrick came flying out as fast as his 
vertically challenged legs could carry him.  

Seconds later a screaming slip of a woman followed wielding what looked suspiciously like a 
broom.  Bill the camera man followed at a more sedate pace, filming and laughing all the time.  

The four pop stars watched for a long minute before Justin turned to them.  "We're drawing 
straws from now on cause she's not getting on my damn bus unless I can help it."  

****************************************************************************************

After drawing straws, and pulling Perry off of a very contrite and somewhat bruised Chris, she 
ended up moving her bag, and Bill, to JC's bus.  It was decided, as standard procedure, to 
rotate her, and camera, between buses on the tour so that she could get the "full access" that 
MTV was so rabid for without totally infringing on any of the guy's privacy.  

It was decided, despite her vehement protests, that she didn't get any privacy.  

So far Perry had spent two days on Joey's bus, two on Lance's, and three on Chris's.  JC's was 
nicer than any of theirs though.  "This is a pimpin' bus JC," Nicole said with a low whistle as 
she stepped on and threw her duffel casually on a seat by the front.  

He watched, somewhat bemused, as she began to root through his pantry before nosing her way 
back towards his entertainment room where he kept movies, games, and a hell of a lot of musical 
equipment.  "Thanks I think.  I put up some extra money for mine.  I figured if we're going to 
be spending so much damn time on them it should be like home, right?  You know," he continued, 
somewhat speculative as she made her way back towards the front, "that's the first positive 
thing I've heard you say in the two weeks I've known you, especially this last week on the 
road."  

Nicole blinked and stared at him for a long moment and he held his breath until she broke out 
into a wide grin.  "I like you JC, you're blunt about shit that you need to be blunt about, ya
know?  I have been excessively bitchy but," she shrugged with rail thin shoulders, "I'm sure 
you've had moods of extreme bastardness so, think of it as karma."

"Yeah."  He watched with softened eyes as she returned to the small kitchen and continued on 
her search for god knows what.  "This has sucked beyond the whole 'eww *NSYNC' aspect for you, 
hasn't it?"  

Nicole Perry's back went rigid and she swallowed, fighting thoughts of the little brother she 
had left behind and an adopted family she probably wouldn't get to see.  She glanced at him over 
her shoulder, eyes dark.  "You gay Chasez?"  

He started to bristle but relaxed as a force of will.  "No I'm not."  

She snorted.  "Then you're not allowed to be perceptive and care about other people's 
feelings."  

A frigid smile touched his lips at her heavy handed emotional defense tactics.  "Nice 
stereotyping there."  

Nicole laughed.  "So says the pop star to the goth."  She turned and held out a jar of peanut 
butter.  "Got any bread?"

****************************************************************************************

JC Chasez watched somewhat dubiously as she ate her peanut butter and bread sandwich from his 
perch in the seat across from hers at the dining "room" table.  "You sure you don't want any 
jelly or honey or something?"  

Perry licked excess peanut butter from her fingers.  "Nope.  Just peanut butter and bread.  I'm 
eccentric."  

He swallowed a chuckle.  "I hate to break it to you Perry but that makes you quirky.  The nose 
ring, spiked hair and tattoos make you eccentric."  

She waved his statement away.  "Nah, they make me just like every other angst ridden youth.  
I'm a majority in a minority I guess.  Now, a third nipple might set me apart..."  

JC spluttered before succumbing to laughter.  "More like a freak of nature."  

"But a unique freak dear pop star, a unique freak."   

****************************************************************************************

Soft spoken but blunt Joshua Chasez had liked Nicole Perry before he spent he day with her.  He 
liked her even more after a very enjoyable afternoon of trading mild insults and listening to
music.  They were both fans of Depeche Mode, as unlikely as that thread of commonality was.  

He even managed to ignore the camera for most of day.  

It was when they got to the hotel that the day's real fireworks started.