| Chapter 5 Everything seemed to go back to normal after that. Mandi often woke up having bad dreams, and that killed JC. He shouldn�t be the one causing her nightmares; he should be the one comforting her after they were over. It seemed like everyone was pairing up with someone. It was like just thinking about JC and Mandi�s wedding got everyone�s romantic side into gear. Lance and Whitney were closer than ever. Justin and Britney were inseparable until she was forced to leave on a cross-country promotion tour for her new movie. Joey, Kelly, and Brianna were as tight as a family could be, and even Chris was beginning to pick up the pieces left from his recent breakup and move on. Of course, Mandi was ecstatic that she had a hand in bringing everyone together. She loved seeing people in love as much as she loved being in love. Although JC was happy for all his friends, he couldn�t help feeling a little jealous. Now that everyone was happy in their own relationships, they weren�t so interested in his. Immature? Maybe. But it did make him feel better knowing that thousands of girls across the world were still interested. It was just that fact, however, that Mandi was not exactly fond of. It wasn�t easy, to say the least, being the object of so many young girls� hatred. The websites and hate mail added up after awhile. People would stop her on the street to harass her, and when she defended herself, she got a reputation for being "bitchy." Pretty soon, JC was even getting stopped by fans and being questioned as to why on earth he was marrying someone like "that blonde girl." Even he was beginning to get fed up with it, and it took a hell of a lot to aggravate JC Chasez. When the controversy spread so far that even Britney was getting asked about it and MTV wanted to run a news piece on it, it all got to be way too much. Mandi was actually afraid to go anywhere alone, but when she was seen with a bodyguard, people said that she thought she was a star and that she didn�t deserve that kind of security. Nothing she did was right, and everything she said was turned against her. More and more hate websites were popping up every day. "I can�t stand this!" Mandi yelled as she stormed into the house after work. Joey and Justin looked up from their place on her couch and stared at her. "Bad day, Mands?" Justin smirked. She threw her purse down. "This is not funny! I�m gonna lose my job, do you understand that? And where the hell is JC and why are you two on my couch?!" Joey looked at Justin and raised his eyebrows. "And people think she�s a bitch why?" he laughed. Mandi stood glaring at them, hands on her thin hips, blue eyes blazing. Justin stood up and placed his hands on top of her shoulders gently. "Calm down. What�s going on?" She pushed his hands away and took his seat next to Joey on the couch. "The store has been losing business because of me. They�re going to fire me if I don�t do something." The two men looked around the room while trying to think of something comforting to say. "I don�t know what to say," Joey spoke up. Justin patted him on the back while rolling his eyes. "Nice, Joe." Joey shrugged. "I try." Justin pushed Joey away and sat down next to Mandi. "Okay, let�s think about this. The store is losing business because of you... but it�s not like you�re doing anything intentional. They can�t fire you, can they? It�s not like you�re purposely scaring away customers." Mandi sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. "I can be fired for hurting the store in any way, intentional or not." Justin stood up suddenly, causing Mandi�s head to fall back on the couch. "Well that�s just crap! They can�t do that to you. It�s not fair!" Mandi looked up at him for a minute, wondering why she had thought that he would understand. "Where�s JC?" "He went to the studio for a little bit. MTV kept calling about that story and he wanted to get away from it," Joey spoke up from his place on the floor. Mandi looked thoughtful. "They�re still calling?" Just then, the phone rang, and Justin grinned. "I think that�s your answer." Mandi leaned forward and picked up the phone that was resting on the coffee table. "Hello?" The voice on the other end sounded very laid back and calm. "Hi, is this Mandi Kavanore?" "Affirmative," Mandi said, then giggled. She sounded like one of those Star Wars nerds. "This is Dave Sirulnik, head honcho here at MTV. I spoke with your fiance earlier." "Yes, I know." "Uh, I realize that you haven�t exactly been thrilled about our offer, but if you would just give me a minute to explain what we�re thinking of for the piece, I think you�ll be able to make a better and more informed decision." Mandi took a deep breath. "Okay. Explain it to me." The voice paused, obviously surprised that she was showing a slight bit of interest. "Well, basically, we want to show the world who you really are. We want to present you in the best light possible. We would like to interview you and possibly JC as well. We just want to give everyone more information about the girl who they all seem to hate. They don�t really know you, and we want them to get to know you before they decide to hate you." Mandi listened intently. It didn�t seem like such a bad idea. Just give a little interview. That�s no big deal, right? It might be a good idea, just so people can see what I�m really like. She took a deep breath. "Okay. I�ll do it." Dave sounded shocked. "Really? That�s great. I�ll have to set up a schedule and time for you to come down and do the interview. Can I get back to you in a few days when we figure everything out?" "Sure. You have my number, obviously. I�ll talk to JC and see if he can make time. Thanks for doing this." And with that, she hung up, and turned around to face the open-mouthed stares of Justin Timberlake and Joey Fatone. "What?" Justin stood up. "Are you crazy? No, seriously, are you insane?" Mandi rolled her eyes. "No, I�m not insane. I think this is a good thing, J. Why not?" "Why not? Because... just because." Joey patted Justin on the back and grinned. "Nice, J." Standing up, Mandi pushed past them and walked into the kitchen. "JC�s not gonna like this!" Justin yelled out to her. "JC doesn�t make my decisions," she yelled back. Justin groaned and flopped back down on the couch. "Girls," he muttered. "Think they know everything." "They do, J," Joey said sadly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It had turned out that Justin was right about one thing: JC wasn�t too thrilled about the MTV idea. He didn�t really want Mandi to broadcast anything about their relationship on MTV. He thought that, being inexperienced with interviewers, she might slip and say something she shouldn�t. "If you�re so worried about it, why don�t you come?" It was a Saturday afternoon and JC was expressing his concerns to Mandi, who wasn�t exactly taking it well. "I don�t have time. You know that." "Well then, trust me not to screw this up. I can handle it. It�s not even that big of a deal. And even if I do slip up, they can always edit it out. It�s not like this is going to be broadcast live." JC shook his head, knowing that she had won this one. "Fine. Whatever. I trust you." Mandi smiled, kissed him, grabbed her keys, and walked out to her car. This was it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Robert looked around his messy apartment and groaned. It smelled bad. Very bad. It wasn�t like he particularly enjoyed living this way; he was just way too lazy to do anything about it. Checking his watch, he realized that time was running out. The store would be closed soon. Grabbing a ratty overcoat and his wallet, he calmly walked out, locking the door behind him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Okay, we�re almost ready for you, Mandi. Don�t be nervous, you�re going to be great." "I�m not nervous," Mandi smiled at the young lady in front of her who was hooking her up to a whole bunch of wires. The lady took her hand and led her over to a big lounge chair, where she sat down and made herself comfortable. "This is Suchin," she said, gesturing to the woman sitting in the chair opposite Mandi. "She�s going to be doing your interview." Mandi and Suchin shook hands before hearing the director call for them to take their places. "Roll cameras... action!" The camera was centered on Suchin�s face. "Hi, I�m Suchin Pak with MTV News." JC settled back into his chair in the living room, watching as Mandi�s segment was being aired for the first time. "*NSYNC heartthrob JC Chasez has been busy lately, but not with entertaining. He�s been busy making wedding plans. Although his fianc�e, Mandi, has been getting a whole lot of negative reactions from young *NSYNC fans, we decided to go straight to the source itself to find out the real deal on the wedding." The camera panned over to show Suchin and Mandi shaking hands, and then cut to a different part of the interview. "What do you think it is about you that girls dislike so much?" Mandi was chewing on her lip thoughtfully, and JC had to smile when he saw that. "Honestly, I think it�s just because of my relationship with JC... I think that the fans think I stole their man or something." Suchin smiled. "But really, you�ve been with JC since before any of his fame started." Mandi nodded. "We�ve been together for, like, nine years." The clip cut to another segment of the interview. "What is the most hurtful or untrue thing you�ve heard about yourself?" Mandi leaned forward slightly. "Probably when people say that I�m just using JC, that�s what hurts the most. You know, when they say that I just want his money or fame, that�s hard to hear. Because, you know, I really love him." The camera cut back to Suchin. "Mandi wouldn�t reveal any details about the wedding, but she did say that it would take place sometime this summer. That is the news for now, for more on this and other stories, check out MTV.com. And stay tuned for more news at 10 to the hour, right here on MTV." MTV News. You hear it... first. JC sighed and stretched his arms above his head. That wasn�t bad. That wasn�t bad at all. They didn�t really give a whole lot of information about Mandi, but at least people would have some idea of what she�s like now. He could only hope that more people would see how sweet she was in the interview and stop their hating. His thoughts were interrupted by the front door opening and Justin walking in. "Wassup, homie C!" JC rolled his eyes. "Geez, J. Try knocking next time." Justin sat down on a recliner across from JC. "So, did you see it? It was good, right?" "Yeah, it was good." Justin frowned. "What�s wrong? You sound like your dog just died." JC shook his head. "Nothing�s wrong. I just hope that this is going to make things better and not worse for Mandi." Justin shrugged. "I don�t see how it could make things worse. But I wish they had shown more of the interview. Maybe they will on, like, TRL News or something." "Maybe, J. So why are you here anyways?" Standing up, Justin walked into the kitchen and started rummaging through the cabinets. "Just, you know, to hang with my best friend." "So in other words, Britney�s gone and you have nothing better to do than hang out with me." "Yeah, that�s about right," Justin grinned. JC laughed. "Thanks. Nice to know I�m loved." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Robert walked into the store and looked around. There were so many of them. He walked up to the clerk and showed him the wad of money he had in his pocket. "Get me the best I can get with this much." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It wasn�t until a little after seven that night that Mandi got home from work. She walked into the kitchen to find JC sitting at the table with a bowl of untouched macaroni and cheese beside him, bent over a piece of paper, writing away furiously. "New song?" JC looked up, startled, causing his pencil to slip across the paper. Mandi giggled and put a hand over her mouth. "Sorry." She walked over to the stove and filled a bowl of noodles for herself, before sitting down across from JC. "So, what�s new?" "Not much. This is a new song, though. Wanna read it?" She nodded, and he handed her the sheet of paper. She looked over it once, then looked up at him and smiled. "Will you sing it for me?" JC grinned and took the paper back from her. "Certainly, ma�am." He cleared his throat and then his smooth voice filled the air around them. "So many times I thought I held it in my hands But just like grains of sand Love slipped through my fingers So many nights I asked the Lord above Please make me lucky enough To find a love that lingers." Mandi closed her eyes and let the words and his beautiful voice carry her away like it always seemed to do. "Something keeps telling me That you could be My answered prayer You must be Heaven sent I swear, cause Something happens when you look at me I forget to speak Something happens when you kiss my mouth My knees get so weak Could it be true, this is what God Has meant for me Cause baby, I can�t believe That something like you Could happen to me." Mandi kept her eyes closed until every last strain of his voice had drifted away. "That was... beautiful. How come I can�t sing like that? Not fair." JC smiled, and even blushed a little bit. "Well, thank you. I�m stuck on a second verse, though. Wanna help me?" She scooted over to the chair next to him and read over the lyrics again. "Well, I�m no songwriter. But I think I have a poem that might go with this." She dashed upstairs to their room and came back down with her journal in hand. Sitting back down, she flipped through it until she found the page she was looking for. JC took it and read out loud. "And in your eyes, I can feel your fire burn. All your secrets, I will learn, even if it takes me forever. With you by my side, I can do anything, and I don�t care what tomorrow brings, as long as we�re still together... You know what? That just might work." "Really?" she smiled. "I thought it sucked." "Nothing you do could ever suck." He hummed softly to himself, trying to figure out the right way to turn Mandi�s poetry into music. Looking down at the journal, he started reading again. "My heart keeps telling me that you could be my meant to be. I know it more and more each time we touch." He looked up at her with bright eyes. "This is perfect, baby." She smiled. "Really?" He leaned forward and kissed her. "Really. It�s beautiful. And it goes perfectly." It took them three and a half-hours, but they finished the song. Something magical Something spiritual Something stronger than the two of us alone Something physical Something undeniable Nothing like anything That I�ve ever known, cause Something happens when you look at me I forget to speak Something happens when you kiss my mouth My knees get so weak Could it be true, this is what God Has meant for me Cause baby, I can�t believe That something like you could happen to me Can�t believe that you happened to me JC grinned at her with sparkling eyes. This song now meant more to him than any other. They had done it together. "Thank you," he said, "for coming into my world." |