As Lindsay and I made our way down the packed hall, I wondered who all of these screaming teens were here to see.
“Here are our seat,” Lindsay said over the screaming mob.
“Wow, these are great seats! Who are we here to see anyway?” I asked.
“You’ll see!”
The lights went out in the room and the crowd got even louder. “Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said, “on the first stop of their new tour…It’s *N SYNC!”
Did I just hear right…*N SYNC!! I was at an *N SYNC concert! I nearly had a heart attack.
Lindsay looked over at me, “Marie, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. How did you get such good tickets to this concert, it’s been sold out for weeks?”
“I have my ways.”
The guys came out on stage and it looked to me that Justin winked at Lindsay and she waved at him. They sang It’s Gonna Be Me, That’s when I’ll Stop Loving You, and Pop. Then the room got really quiet.
“It’s time to announce the two winners for the Backstage All Access Tour Around the World. The 2 winners are seats 21 and 22!” the announcer said
Lindsay screamed, “My gosh, that’s us Marie! We won…can you believe it?”
“Will the winners please come up to the stage?” the announcer continued. We made our way to the stage.
“Do you fine young ladies know what you have just won?” Justin asked
“No,” we both said.
“Well, you will spend 3 weeks with us as we travel the world on our tour. You will get to go to all of the clubs and have the time of your life!” Lance said.
“But there is one thing…we have to know what your names are.” Chris said.
“I’m Marie and this is Lindsay,” I said pointing to my best friend.
“Well, Lindsay and Marie, why don’t you go backstage to the Game Room and wait for us to finish and then we will come back to get to know you better.” J.C. said
The guys finished their concert with Bye, Bye, Bye and then they ran off stage to meet us in the Game Room.
“Gurl, did you see how Lance was looking at you?” Lindsay asked me.
“Well, what about you. Justin was all over you when you got up on stage.” I retorted.
“Whatever,” she said, “we are still the 2 luckiest girls in the world!”
Just then, the door opened. The guys came in the room and closed the door behind them.
“We would give you a hug, but we are all sweaty.” Joey said
“Marie wouldn’t mind Lance hugging, cuz she is totally in love with him.” Lindsay said giving me a playful punch.
“Oh really,” Lance said winking at me, “I think that a meeting could be arranged.”
“Well,” I said, “ Lindsay is really in love with Justin!”
“So what,” she said. She went up to him and gave him a kiss and walked back to the couch and sat down.
“I wasn’t expecting that!” Justin said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead
“Don’t you think that we should change out of these clothes?” J. C. asked. They all responded by nodding their heads.
The guys went into the bathroom and changed, one by one. When they came back, Lance sat next to me and Justin sat next to Lindsay. J.C., Joey and Chris sat in chairs around the room.
“So…tell us a little about yourselves.” J.C. said.
“Well, my name is Marie Johnson. I have 1 older sister and 1 older brother. I’m the baby of the family. I have a puppy named Poppy and a kitten named Snuggles. I’m 19 and a Virgo.” I said. Then I winked at Lance.
“My name is Lindsay Trinidad. I have 1 older sister and 1 older brother. I am the baby just like Marie. I have 2 dogs and 2 cats. I’m 19 and a Virgo, too.” She said.
“Wow, how did you guys meet?” Chris asked
“We lived in the same apartments for 15 years in California and have been best friends since.” Lindsay said, “That is until last June when I moved here to Florida.”
“Then I moved here to become a model, and we share the same apartment…again.” I said, “We just can’t seem to get rid of each other.”
“Wow, what an amazing story.” Lance said
“What do you ladies want to do now?” Chris asked.
“I don’t really care. But I would like to go get something to eat.” I said.
“Ok, lets go to McDonald’s.” Joey said.
“What about Denny’s, I could really go for some French toast.” I said
“I love French toast.” Lance said, “But I guess you already knew that.”
“Oh, she knows a lot about you.” Lindsay said.
We left out of the Game Room and headed for the Denny’s that was right across from the hotel that they were staying in.
“Are you sure that this isn’t too far for you to walk?” I asked.
“Nah, we could use the exercise.” Joey said, “Especially Chris.”
As we were walking to Denny’s, Justin and Lindsay were off in “La La Land” goofing off and looking like 2 kids. Chris and Joey were already there and told the waitress that 5 more people were coming. Justin and Lindsay arrived next with J.C. right behind them.
“Where are Marie and Lance?” Joey asked.
“They’re coming, they were right behind us as we crossed the street.” Justin said.
10 minutes later, we came. They got tired waiting for us to come so they ordered our food for us. Of course Lance and I got French Toast, but that’s what I wanted. I guess that Lance wanted the same thing too because he didn’t object to the food that was placed in front of him by the waitress. Everyone else got non-breakfast food.
“So what took you so long?” Lindsay asked.
“We got to talking and we found that we had a lot in common.” I said.
“We thought that you ditched us and went back to the hotel.” J.C. said
“Hey, there’s an idea!” Lance said grabbing and giving me a hug.
“Later, Honey.” I said and kissed him.
“Ohhhh, does someone have a boyfriend?” Lindsay said to me in her annoying singing voice.
“I don’t know…you tell me.” I retorted.
Everybody laughed. We ate our food and sat around talking. Justin and Lindsay left about 11:30 p.m. because they were “tired”. Lance and I were the last to leave at about 1:30 a.m. J.C., Joey and Chris left at 12:30 a.m.
As we were walking back to our hotel, Lance’s hand slowly found my hand and our fingers clasped together…it felt so perfect. We finally got to the hotel and we went to the front desk to get our room keys. I was in room 311 and Lance was in room 312. J.C. was in 313, Joey was in room 316, and Chris was in room 317. Lance and I went to our rooms and found out that our luggage was switched, so we just traded keys and went about our business. I was now in room 312 and Lance was in room 311.
Once I was settled in my room, I prepared to take a hot shower and think about all that has happened earlier in the day. I took a shower and put on my pajamas which were an oversized *N SYNC shirt and Mickey Mouse boxers. I was sitting open the bed, just about to write in my journal, when there was a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s Lance, can I come in?”
“Yeah, it’s open.” I said as I put my journal in my purse.
Lance was in his pajamas too. He had on a black “wife beater” top and Mickey Mouse boxers…just like mine.
“You have on my boxers,” we said at the same time. We laughed and he sat on the bed in front of me.
“So what’s up?” I asked
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said
“Why couldn’t my Lancie sleep?” I asked as I grabbed my Mickey Mouse, “come over here and tell me all about it.”
He moved over. “This might sound crazy but, while I was taking my shower, I was thinking about you.”
“That doesn’t sound crazy. I was thinking about you when I took out Mickey out of my suitcase.”
“Really, you thought of me when you took out Mickey. That is so sweet,” he said.
“Yup. I have loved Mickey Mouse ever since I was a little girl. Now I collect lots of Mickey Mouse things.”
“So what’s it like being the youngest?” he asked as he started to tickle my stomach.
“Stop…I am very ticklish,” I said through the laughter, “ I’ll tell you…only if you stop tickling me.”
He didn’t stop and my laughing got a little louder. He put his hand over my mouth and said, “Shhh, you’ll wake up the others.” He slowly moved his hand from away from my mouth.
“Now do you want the answer to that question?” I asked
“Yup.” He said.
“It’s ok being the youngest. There are so many years between my brother and sister and me.”
“How many years difference?”
“18 years between me and my brother and about 20 years between me and my sister.”
“Wow, you are the baby of the family.”
I turned my head to look at the clock and it had 3:30 a.m. his hand lightly touched the side of my face and I turned and his lips lightly touched mine. It wasn’t a quick kiss it lasted for a while. Then we slowly stopped.
“Did, the Earth just move, or was that just me?” Lance asked. We both laughed.
“Let’s see what on T.V.” I said. I got the remote and turned on the T.V. I don’t know how long we watched T.V., but I felt so warm and safe in his arms all while we were sleeping. At 4:30, the phone rang. I quickly picked it up so that I didn’t wake up Lance.
“Hello?”
“Good Morning, Marie. It’s J.C. Is Lance awake?”
“No, he still sleep,” I said, “How did you know that he was here?”
“You just told me,” he said and then laughed, “but seriously, I called his room and no one answered, so I figured that he would be with you. Just wake him up at 6:30 and we will meet in his room to leave at 7:30. Ok, I’ll let you go back to sleep.” He hung up the phone.
I then called the front desk and asked for a 6:25 a.m. wake up call to room 312. I hung up the phone and I turned over to go back to sleep. I saw Lance and he looked so peaceful lying there asleep. I leaned over and gave him a kiss, and then I laid my head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me like it was something that he did all the time. The sound of his heart beating lulled me back to sleep.
The wake up call came at 6:25. Lance and I both jumped up at the sound of the ring. We looked at each other and laughed that the phone ringing startled us.
“Time to get up.” I said.
“I never slept that peaceful in a long time.” He said
“Neither have I. We should do that more often,” I said with a smile on my face.
“Yeah we should. I’ll go take my shower and will be back over here for breakfast in 20 minutes.”
“Well, call J.C. and tell him that we are meeting in my room instead of your room.”
“Ok, I’ll see you in 20 minutes.” He gave me a kiss and left out the room.
I quickly called Lindsay and told her that Lance stayed the night in my room. She quickly changed the subject, like she was hiding the fact that Justin stayed the night with her. I’m not dumb, plus I could see how much they liked each other…even after only know him for a few hours. I know that she would never do anything that went against her morals…like having sex before marriage and other stuff.
“What are you going to wear?” she asked
“Probably pink and black. What color are you going to wear?”
“More than likely red and black. I’ll see you in your room in 30 minutes, I have to take a shower and get dressed. See you in a few.”
I took my shower, dried off, got dressed and started to paint my nails. Lance knocked on the door and came in. He was wearing Khaki colored pants and a white shirt. He looked hot!
“So what do you want for breakfast?” he asked
“I don’t care, but you should get enough for 10 people because you know how Chris and Joey eat.” I said jokingly.
Lance called room service and 10 minutes later the food came. Right after that, Joey, Chris, J.C., Justin and Lindsay came. I finished getting ready and the others ate.
“Hey…save me some food!” I yelled for the bathroom.
I finished the last of the fruit and grabbed 2 bottled waters and put them in my mini backpack. I pulled my Mickey Mouse sweater out of the suitcase and we all left for the Lobby of the hotel.
“What are we going to do today?” I asked
“We have a photo shoot at 9 and then a Rosie in Florida taping at 12. I forgot to tell you that you and Lindsay are going to be introducing the other guest as well as Rosie, is that fine with you?” J.C. said
Lindsay and I looked at each other and at the same time we said, “Of course it is.”
“After that we have a Charity dinner to go to at 7 p.m. and you 2 ladies are our dates.” Lance said, “so I choose Marie.”
“And I choose Lindsay.” Justin said
“What about the rest of us?” Chris asked
“I’m sure that you can find someone to go with.” Lindsay said
Justin laughed and gave Lindsay a kiss on the cheek. We got off the elevator and headed to the limousine that was waiting to take us to the photo shoot.
“Marie, we get to get all dressed up tonight. I know exactly what I’m wearing too.”
“I think know what you are talking about. It’s very sexy and revealing, but I’ll get to that later.” I said.
“Oh really,” Justin said, “I’d like to see that before tonight.”
“What does your dress look like?” Lance asked
“You’ll just have to wait and see.” I said, “It’s really sexy though.”
We got to limousine and then 30 minutes later we were at the studio.
It was so fun at the photo shoot. The guys were taking some funky pictures. They were in weird clothes and some off the wall things. Towards the end of the shoot, they dragged Lindsay and me into some the pictures.
“C’mon, Marie. You said that you wanted to be a model. So let’s see you strut your stuff.” Chris said.
“Please,” I said doing my best impression of a ‘Prima Donna’, “ I don’t have time for this. Maybe after the taping, Lindsay and I will show you our stuff.”
“I will…” she didn’t finish her sentence because she knew where my thinking was headed.
We had our own little ‘Lucy and Ethel’ moment and Lance caught on…“Lucy, you have some splanin’ to do…” everybody laughed.
We left the shoot and headed to Disney Studios for the taping of The Rosie O’Donnell Show. We got there at 10:50. The guys did a quick practice, and then we started taping at 11:50. After we were done taping we took a lot of pictures and got a tour of the set that they used. It was so much fun. We also got lots of Rosie things that she passes out to the audience. We finished at 1:50 p.m.
We still had 3 hours to kill and so as promised, Lindsay and I modeled for the guys. When we got to the hotel, my room was changed into a little fashion show. The guy sat on my bed and the chairs that were around the room. It took Lindsay and me about 15 minutes to get our clothes, but when we started, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.
The first thing that we modeled was our swimsuits. Lindsay wore a light blue tankini. I wore a red, white and blue tankini. There were whoops and whistles as we walked through the crowed room.
“So I take it that you like what we have on?” Lindsay asked.
“Damn straight!” Chris said.
“Eat your heart out, we’re taken.” I said, and we went back into the bathroom.
The second thing that we wore was basketball jersey and black cut off shorts otherwise known as daisy dukes. Lindsay wore Orlando Magic’s jersey and I wore a Mississippi Rebels jersey after the University of Mississippi Men’s Basketball Team. The third thing that we did was dress like men. We wore baggy pants and baggy shirts, and wore baseball caps backwards. We talked in deep voices. It was so hilarious.
“The next thing that we change into is going to take a while because it is what we are going to wear to the dinner. Plus, it is getting close top the time that we are supposed to leave.” I said
“We get the hint.” J.C. said, “We will be back here at 5:50”
The guys left and Lindsay and I got busy getting ready for our big night out. We took turns taking showers. I went first because I knew that Lindsay takes almost 1 hour just to shower, I on the other hand take only 20 minutes to shower and shave. While I was still in my robe, I took my dress out of the closet and hung it on the sliding patio door. I then did my hair and makeup and I was ready to put my dress on.
My dress is long, red; the back is open and has diamond-like straps. Lindsay came out of the shower and had me to do her hair while she did her makeup. Her dress is baby blue, long, strapless, and is open backed.
We are completely ready to leave at 5 p.m., but the guys are still getting ready. Lance called and said that he will be over in 20 minutes because he wants to take a picture of me. I don’t know why, but I say ok and then hang up the phone to clean the room a little bit.
Lance came in my room, we take our picture and then the rest of the guys come 10 minutes later. We are ready to leave, but the limousine won’t get to the hotel for another 10 minutes. As we are walking to the elevator, J.C. says, “Wow, you ladies look fabulous!”
“Thanks,” we say, “ this is just another excuse to buy a dress and get all pretty.”
When we get to the elevator, the first 2 are packed and so we had to wait for the third one to come.
“I wish I was that dress!” Chris says to Joey. They both laugh. I look at them and they stop laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Lance asks
“Only the fact that Chris wishes that he were either Marie or Lindsay’s dress.” J.C. says.
“Oh…is that all.” Lance says, “I wish that I was Marie’s…” he leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“Ha…shows how much you know, I’m not even wearing those. And that other thing is much smaller,” I told him and winked.
“Really …let me see.” Lance continued
“Not in public…” I said
“Well, look at Lindsay and Justin,”
“Get a room!!!” I told them. They stopped and Lindsay said, “Maybe later, but I’m starving.”
When we got the dinner, there were lots and lots of celebrities. Lindsay and I was star struck because all of the famous people that were loved to watch at the movies and on T.V. were there. Lance introduced me to Joe, Beverly Mitchell, and many others. Justin introduced Lindsay to Britney, Joe, and some others that I didn’t see. We sat a table closest to the front of the room. The hosts for the night were Rosie O’Donnell and Billy Crystal. It was so funny to see both of those comedians getting us to laugh while we were eating.
The food was very good. There was baked chicken with squeezed lemon and lime on it, mixed vegetables and for desert there was chocolate cake – my favorite. It was all very filling and I wasn’t able to finish all of my food. None of us were. We all got full fast, but when we say the deserts we had room for that. We left the dinner at 11 p.m. I was tired and I wanted to get some sleep because we did so much earlier in the day.
“We leave tomorrow at 7 p.m. to go to France, so get as much sleep as you can.” J.C. informed us.
“Ahhh, France…Paris…the city of love. So much can happen between 2 people in love.” Lance said looking at me with a smile on his face
“I know exactly what you mean,” Justin said and winked at Lindsay.
Lindsay looked at me and we both smiled. But it was more of sleepy smile because we got absolutely no sleep last night.
When we got back to the hotel, all I wanted to do was take a shower and go to sleep. I put on my PJ’s and got into bed.
“Marie, it’s Justin…can I come in?”
“Sure.” I said. I got up and opened the door. Justin walked in. He looked kind of worried about something, “What’s the matter?”
“I really like Lindsay and I wasn’t sure of how to tell her or if I should tell her. I need to know 2 things…does she have a boyfriend and how does she feel about me?”
“I have known Lindsay practically my entire life. You are just the type of guy that she is looking for. You’re funny, smart, and talented. If you treat her the right way, she’ll be yours forever. She has had a crush ever since she first saw you on a magazine cover and I haven’t heard the end of her talking about you since that day.”
“Thanks,” he said, “Oh yeah, I know that you like Lance…I can see it in the way you 2 look at each other, there is really something there. How do you feel about him?”
“I really like him, but I don’t know if he feels the same way about me. I want a relationship, but I also want to get me modeling career started too.”
“Well, I know that he likes you a lot too. Just give him time to come around to actually telling you. Ok, I’ll let you get some sleep. See you in the morning.”
After Justin left, I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to call and tell Lance that I loved him but I didn’t know how. I wanted to go to his room, but I figured that he was sleep. I still tried. I walked out of my room and there was Lance coming down the hall. We locked eyes and in that brief moment we knew how we felt for each other. He continued to walk my way. He stopped in front of me and we hugged and kissed. J.C. peaked out of his room to see why so many doors were opening and closing. He saw Lance and me hugging and said, “Finally you 2 did it…what took so long.” And he went back in his room.
Lance and I walked back into my room and closed the door behind us. Lindsay called and told me that Justin told her that he really liked her and that Lance really like me.
“I know,” I said, “He’s right here. I’ll see you in the morning. Good luck with Justin.”
“Good luck with Lance. See you in the morning.” She hung up the phone and we went to sleep.
With Lance sleeping next to me I felt very safe. I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I only hoped that he felt the same way. I had a really strong feeling that he loved me more than I could ever love anybody and that is what really scared me. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love him too, but there was something else. The way that he makes me feel is incredible. Right now, I feel the warmth from his body as he hugged me all the night. I never want this night to end.
The next day when I woke up, Lance was taking a shower and so I called Lindsay. The phone in her room rang 3 times and I was a little worried so I called Justin’s room…it was the same thing. I then called J.C.
“Morning, J.C. do you know where Justin and Lindsay are?”
“Good morning to you too. Yeah, they went to play basketball at the hotel gym. I saw you and Lance last night.”
“I know you are so nosy."
“Well, I heard a lot of doors opening and closing and I wanted to see what was going on.”
“Right…”
“It’s true. But anyways, congrats on finally pulling Lance out of his bad mood, he’s been that way for about 3 months. I see the way his eyes sparkle when you come in the room, when anybody mentions your name or whenever he is around you. Thanks for bringing Lance back.”
“Well, he’s made me happier too. I always had a bad habit of falling for the wrong guys. With Lance it is different…he makes me feel really special.”
“That’s good to hear. What are your plans for lunch? Maybe we could all meet up and get something together.”
“That’s fine. I have to take a shower and Lance and I are going to do some things so I will see you at lunch.” I hung up the phone just as Lance was coming out of the shower.
“Who was that Babe?”
“It was J.C. we are going to meet up for lunch around 12 today.”
“Did he call or did you call him?”
“I called him…I wanted to know where Lindsay and Justin were.”
“The shower’s free, if you want to take one.”
“Yes I am going to take a shower. Hand me that red top over there.” I said pointing to the top on the bed.
30 minutes later I got out of the shower and went to lie on the bed. Lance came back to the room.
“What do you want to do today?
“I was just going to go down to the pool and catch up on my reading.”
“Oh, then you wouldn’t want to go to the beach with a southern gentleman…would you?”
“James Lance Bass, are you asking me out on a date?”
“Yes, I am. So do you want to go to the beach with me?”
“Sure I will. I get to put my swimsuit to use now…even though I don’t like going into the salt water.”
“Well, we will just have to change that, won’t we?”
“Don’t even get any ideas…I will be so mad if you throw me in the water.”
“Ok I won’t. I’ll just everybody and tell them to meet back here at 12 for lunch.”
One hour later we left to go to the beach. While we were walking we were talking about what it was going to be like on tour with them. We talked about what made me decide to be a model.
“What I really wanted to do was to prove my parents wrong…that modeling isn’t a dead end job. I will always have my education to fall back on.”
“That’s true. It is always good to have something to fall back on when your plans don’t go the way that you expect them to go.”
“I was wondering…how do you feel about me?” I asked
“I really really like you and I want to have a relationship with you, but I am afraid that you will be giving up a lot to be with me.”
“I would give up everything just to be with you.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that to be nice to me?”
“No I really mean that. I will do whatever it takes for us to be together.” We walked along the beach and sat on some rock and watched the waves crash on the shore.
We left the beach at 11:30 and headed back to the hotel for lunch. When we got to my room, they had already ordered some food. They stayed in my room until 1 and then Justin and Lindsay went to his room to play Nintendo 64; J.C., Joey, and Chris went to their rooms to pack and get some sleep and Lance went to his room to pack and then he came back to my room and we watched Sweet November with Keanu Reeves – one of my many favorite male actors. We didn’t see the entire movie because we fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 3:30 when J.C. called to let us know that we had to leave at 4 to go to the airport to get our plane to France.
We were ready to leave at 3:50. “Can you believe that we are actually going to go to France?” Lindsay asked
“The shops in France are going to have to close early by the time we leave from there.” I said
“Oh no…we are bringing along 2 shopaholics with us…what are we going to do?” Lance said. I looked at him like I was hurt, “Oh honey, I’m just joking…you know that I love you n matter how much you shop.”
“I love you too!” we kissed.
“Oh look…the 2 love birds kissed and made up.” Justin said, “Lindsay, we should do what they are doing…you know the whole kissing thing.”
“We can do that the whole way to France, all while we are in France and any other place that we go.” she said.
After flying for a hell of a long time – somewhere close to 20 hours, we finally arrive in France. It’s 3 in the morning and we are all really tired. We make our way to the limousine that is waiting to take us to the hotel. We were only going to be able to get 3 hours of sleep because we had a packed day ahead of us.
At the hotel, they only had 5 room left, so Lance and I doubled up and Justin and Lindsay doubled up. Lindsay and Justin sharing a room together was going to be something else. I just knew that they were going to be up half the night playing around and hardly get sleep. When we got to the hotel and eventually to our rooms, Lindsay and Justin went right to sleep. They must have been really tired from the flight. I was too, but it was my first time in France and I wanted to make the most of it. I watched a little French T.V. – while Lance was discussing something with J.C. When he came back, I turned off the T.V. and we went to sleep.
At 6 a.m. the next day was the first time that I had seen or heard from Johnny since the night of the concert. Johnny is *N SYNC’s manager, and he was going around to all of our rooms making sure that we all got up.
“Rise and Shine Lance,” he said, “we have a full day ahead of us.”
“Morning to you too,” Lance said, “Marie wake up honey.”
“I’m awake. I’ve been up since 5 this morning.”
“Oh really,” Lance said, “Johnny, this is Marie, Marie this is Johnny our manager.”
“Nice to meet you.” We said at the same time and shook hands.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and wake up the others.”
“Don’t worry about Justin and Lindsay, that are up already.” I said.
“Ok, thanks. It was nice meeting you. I’ll see you later on this morning.” Johnny said and the he left.
“I’ll get room service while you take a shower,” Lance said, “what do you want to eat?”
“A muffin and some kind of juice.”
“Ok.”
I took my shower and got dressed. When I came out of the bathroom and Lance was asleep on the bed. I jumped on him and he flipped me over and pinned me under him.
“Ok, get up. You win, you can take your shower now.” I told him
“I’ll get up only if you give me a kiss.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll just stay right here.” And he started to put more pressure and me.
“Ok, ok I’ll give you a kiss, just get off of me.” I gave him a kiss; he got off and went to take his shower.
While Lance was taking his shower, I ate my breakfast. Just then, Lindsay came running in.
“I really have to remember to lock that door!” I said, “What are you doing in my room?”
“Justin is trying to wet me with a water gun. Let me hide here – under the bed.”
“Girl, you better go get dressed and tell Justin to come over here.”
“Fine – you are such a kill joy!”
Justin came over to my room. “Lindsay said that you wanted to see me.”
“Yeah. The best way to get Lindsay is when she least expects it. Ok? Now go take your shower and get ready so that we can leave.”
“Yes Mom…” Justin said
“What was that?”
“Nothing”
“That’s what I thought…”
Justin left the room and I sat in bed watching a French soap opera. They are even funnier in a foreign language than in English. Lance came out of the bathroom with just his towel on.
“Ahhh…my virgin eyes!! Put some clothes on!”
“Very funny…you know I look good!”
“That’s besides the point…I might get tempted to be bad.”
“You? Bad? That’s hard to believe.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked putting my hands on my hips.
“Have I told you how sexy you look when you are mad?”
“No, but you can tell me that any time of the day.”
At 8 am we all left from the hotel to go look at some shops. “Do we really have to be here? I really want to do something other than shopping.” Justin said.
“If you don’t want to be you don’t have to, but I have some shopping to do. Lance, what are you going to do before the sound check?”
“I wanted to spend some more time with you…if that is alright with you.”
The guys made whipping sounds and hand motions. “So, I want to spend time with my Lady…is there something wrong with that?”
“Lance, you really don’t have to stay with me. You can go with the guys, besides, I think that Lindsay is going with Justin.”
“Wait, Marie…are you going shopping?” Lindsay asked.
“Yes…why?”
“I want to buy a nice shirt for my ‘Justy’”
“Your ‘Justy’? Since when is Justin your ‘Justy’?”
“Since I said so!!”
“Ok, ok, fine with me.”
“Where are we going to meet you guys at?” Lindsay asked
“Back at the hotel at noon.” J.C. said
“Ok, see you guys then.” We said. We gave our “boyfriends” a kiss and then left them standing on the street corner.
We got back to the hotel at 10 am. We went up to our rooms to try on our clothes that we bought. I was very proud of myself because I only spent $200, Lindsay on the other hand spent close to $300.
“Hey Marie, can I come to your room to try on these things?” Lindsay asked me over the phone
“Sure, come on over.” I hung up the phone and started to pack some of my things.
Lindsay came over and we had a blast. We tried on all of our clothes and even each other’s clothes. We finally decided on black mini skirts and blue and red tops with rhinestones on them.
“I don’t know what are problem is,” Lindsay said as she put her shoes on, “Ever since we started hanging out with *N SYNC we have been wearing Lance and Justin’s favorite colors.”
“I know what you mean, maybe tonight we should wear bright colors – other than red and blue – to the concert.”
“That’s a good idea. When we have legs like ours, we have to show them off.”
At 11:30 Lance called me on my cell phone. “Hey Babe. Where are you and Lindsay?
“My hotel room. Why?
“I just wanted to know where to send the limo to pick you two up for lunch with Justin and me. Be in front of the hotel at noon. The limo will take you to the restaurant. We might be a little late, just wait for us.”
“Why aren’t the other guys going to be there?”
“They want to go back to the hotel and get some sleep.”
“Ok, see you then.” I said as I got done with Lance, “Lindsay, we have 30 minutes to get ready for lunch. A limo is going to pick us up at noon and take us to meet Justin and Lance. The other guys wanted to get some sleep so they aren’t going to have lunch with us.”
Lindsay went to her room and got ready. I packed some things and got ready. Lindsay came back to my room and we did our makeup and left for the front of the hotel. When we got to the front, there was a beautiful stretch limo waiting to take us. The driver told us the ride would be about 15 minutes. At 12:15 we arrived at the restaurant and the waitress seated us. The restaurant is a cozy little place with dim lighting. It was very romantic. Justin and Lance arrived shortly after we were seated.
We started talking about the rest of the trip and all of the things that had to be done. Justin mentioned that he wanted Lindsay and me to be in some pictures with them.
“That’s fine with us.” I said
“It pays $750 a day for 3 days.” Lance said, “We start tomorrow at 6 am with makeup, hair and clothes…you know the usual stuff.”
“We leave at the end of the week for Spain.” Justin said, “But before that we have a movie premiere to go to.”
We left the restaurant at 3 and we had to be at the concert venue for a sound check at 5. We got back to the hotel and Lindsay and I showed off the things that we bought. We gave Lance and Justin their gifts. I got Lance a silver chain with a cross on it and a green muscle shirt with a red cross in the middle of it. Lindsay got Justin the same type of shirt but black instead of green.
At 5 we left for the concert venue. The guys did their sound check and the concert. It was so much fun watching them do what they love most – performing.
We left the concert at 10 p.m. and everyone was really tired so we didn’t go out to eat, instead we just ordered room service and went to sleep. I got about 5 hours of sleep, but I wasn’t too tired. Lance probably got even less sleep than I did because he was on the phone talking to his mom back in the States for about an hour or two. It was 4 a.m. when I took my shower and 4:30 when I ate some fruit that was sent up to our room.
We left at 5:30 to take some of our own pictures in the park that was right in front of the hotel. Then we went to the studio to take our real pictures. When we got there photographers, makeup and hair people who took Lindsay and my things and sat us in chairs and got to work on us surrounded us. The other guys were busy doing their group pictures and goofing off. After working on our hair and makeup for about an hour, we were ready to join the guys. We did about 10 group pictures and then the 2 main photographers took Lance and me to one part of the studio and the other photographer took Lindsay and Justin to the other part.
“Act like you and Lance are completely in love,” the photographer said to us in a French accent.
“That isn’t going to be too much of a stretch,” Joey said from across the room.
“Oh shut up…your just jealous!” I said, “That you aren’t in this picture with me.”
“So can I help it if you’re hot!”
“Eat your heart out…I’m already taken.”
We took more group picture and then left the studio at 3 p.m. that was the most that I had worked in one day. I probably changed my clothes about 20 times and had my hair and makeup done over about 15 times. But it was all worth the $750. One day down 2 to go. We were all tired. We got the hotel at about 4 p.m. we went to our room and slept.
Lance woke me up at 7 p.m. to ask me if I wanted to go clubbin’ with the rest of them. He really wanted me to go so that Lindsay and Justin could go too. Lindsay wasn’t going to go if I didn’t go.
“Sure I’ll go, but only on one condition…”
“What’s that?”
“You only dance with me and lavish me with compliments.”
“I’d do that anytime just to be with you.”
We hugged and I went to take my shower and get ready. Lance told me that we were leaving at 8 p.m. Lance came back to the room and I had on a black pleather skirt with a red halter top with rhinestones that spelled out SEXY.
“That top is so true…you are sexy!”
“Thank you…you aren’t that bad looking yourself.” I said, “Are Lindsay and Justin ready?”
“Yes we are ready,” they said, “Can we go now – we’re ready to get our groove on.”
We had sooo much fun! We danced, drank – soda of course, did a little kissing – but that’s another story. We had an over all fun time. We were there for about 3 hours and J.C. got a call from the photographers telling us to come in one hour later. I was getting tired of dancing, and wanted to be alone with Lance so we left and went for a walk in the park under the stars.
We walked and held hands the entire time. We sat on a nearby bench and just looked at the stars. Lance turned my head to face him and he kissed me. It was a very passionate kiss. The entire time that we were together for those few hours in the park was very romantic.
“Awe, look at the 2 love birds on the bench.” Justin said to Lindsay
“I know they look so cute.”
“How did you know where to find us?” Lance asked
“Lindsay told me that she saw you 2 leave out of the club and we kinda followed you.”
“Don’t be mad at me Marie, I was worried that something was wrong, like you weren’t feeling well and I wanted to make sure.”
“I’m not mad at you, I would have probably done the same thing.”
Lindsay, Justin. Lance and I walked around the park some more and then we went back to the hotel to get some sleep because the next day we had a photo shoot and a concert to do. That night I had a lot of fun with Lance and I knew that he really liked me. Not just as a friend, but something more than that. Everytime I thought about him I got this warm fuzzy feeling inside. It is the best feeling in the world.
While we were on our way to the second day of the photo shoot, Lance asked me where I saw myself in 10 years.
“Wow, now you know that I said that I never really thought about where my life would be in 10 years, that would be a lie because every little girl dreams about how and who they want to live with and what they will be when they grow up. But anyway, I hope that I will have a great career as a model and maybe, if I play my cards right a family.”
“Such profound words coming from an aspiring model/actress.” Lindsay said.
“Oh shut up. Did I say anything about being an actress? NO I DIDN’T! You’re just jealous that I actually have goals set in my life and I’m not like you…looking for your next free meal!” and I ran off.
Everybody just stood there looking at each other and I knew that they have never seen Lindsay and I fight like that. But it wasn’t really a fight. I blew up a comment that she said way out of proportion, when I knew that she was just playing around.
“Guys, I’ll be right back. I have to go talk to Marie.”
“Are you sure that is such a good thing to do? I mean; she seemed pretty mad at you.” Justin said.
“I can handle this. Besides, we’ve been friends for 15 years and have had worse fights over little things and gotten over them just fine.” Lindsay ran ahead of everybody else and found me sitting on a bench crying. “Marie, are you ok?”
“Oh Lindsay, I am so sorry for what I just said to you. You know that I didn’t mean it…right?” I asked, searching her face for her response.
“Hun, I know that you didn’t mean it. But what was that all about? I mean, you that I was just joking, right?”
“Yeah, I know that you were joking. It’s just that when Lance asked me where I saw myself in 10 years, I really wanted to say with him, but I didn’t know how he would react. I was scared that he didn’t care for me the way that I cared for him.” Lindsay wiped a tear from my face.
“I’m sure that he does. But he probably just doesn’t know how to express it because he is just as scared to tell you as your were scared to tell him.
“She’s right Marie. I was scared to tell you that I truly do love you. I didn’t know how you felt about me.” We turned around and there was Lance and the other guys. Lindsay and I had been so engulfed in our conversation that we had no idea that they were behind us.
“I think that we should let them talk.” Lindsay said, “I’ll see you two at the studio.” She gave me a hug, “It’ll be ok, Marie,” and they left.
“So, exactly how much of the conversation did you hear?” I asked while wiping tears off of my face.
“I heard all of how you said that you cared for me.”
All that I could manage to get out was, “I see.”
“Remember that birthday card that you sent me with the picture in it?”
I was kind of amazed that he recognized me from it. “Yes, I remember that. I was so dumb to put that picture in it.”
“Well, if you hadn’t of done that then I wouldn’t have recognized you at the concert in Florida. The name sounded familiar, but when I looked at the picture, I remembered the card.”
“You mean to tell me that you carry that picture of me around with you?” I asked in amazement
“Yes, because I didn’t know that I would ever actually see you in person. I carry it right next to the picture of my family. When I got the card and the picture I told the other guys that I would find out who you were if it was the last thing that I did.” He took out his wallet and showed me the picture.
“Oh, I really have to get you another picture. That is from my prom when I was pretending that I Prom Queen. Actually, a lot of girls, other than the Prom court, had little tiaras on.”
“I think that it is a very nice picture of you.”
“Thanks.”
“Think that we should go to the photo shoot now? They might start to worry about us.”
“Ok.”
As we were getting up, I looked at Lance and it looked as if he was going to ask me something, but he didn’t. “It look as if you wanted to ask me something. Did you?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I did, but I want to wait until later, when we all go out to dinner tonight.”
“Ok.”
We left that little bench and headed for the studio. When we got there, everybody came up to us.
“Marie, are you alright?” Justin asked.
“Yeah, we were worried about you.” Chris and Joey said.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I kind of had a mini nervous breakdown, but I’m all right now. Thanks for asking.”
The other guys left Lindsay and me talking. They went to talk to the photographer about something.
“Hey Lance, did you tell Marie yet?” J.C. asked
“I wanted to wait until tonight. I think that it would be more romantic that way.”
“Lindsay, while Lance and I were talking, I got he weirdest feeling that he wanted to ask me something, but when I asked him if there was, he said that he wanted to wait until later.”
“Just give him time, he’ll come around and ask you whatever it was that he was going to ask.”
“You know what it is…don’t you?” I asked
“I can’t, I promised Lance that I wouldn’t say anything. Just wait until tonight, please…”
“Ok, if it is that important, I’ll wait.”
We finish the photo shoot and looked at the pictures from the shoot that we had yesterday. We picked out 7 of our favorite poses and then the rest were going to be put on file in the photographer’s office. We each got to take our second favorite picture and the photographer would make more prints of them and give it to us the next day. We left the studio at 3:30 and went back to the hotel to go swimming and get ready for dinner at 8 p.m.
When we got back to the hotel, I went to see if anybody was at the pool. When I got to the outdoor pool area, it was completely empty; I went to check the indoor pool next. That area was empty too. I wonder where everybody is, it is really hot out and both pools are empty. Oh well, more pool time for us. I went back to our floor to tell everybody that the pools were free and then I went to my room to get ready.
Chris and Joey went running down the hall and almost knocked me over as they rushed to get to the elevator and down to the pool first. Lindsay and Justin casually walked out of their room towards the elevator. I continued towards my room. On the way to my room, I passed J.C. and Lance who were talking.
“Don’t stop talking, I’m just going to put on my suit and go to the pool. You guys are going to the pool, right?”
“Yeah, we’ll be there in a few minutes.” J.C. said.
I went into my room, put on my swimsuit, grabbed my towel and portable CD player and headed to the elevator to go to the pool. I passed Lance as he was going to the room and again it looked like he was going to ask me something, but he didn’t. He just gave me a kiss and went into the room and changed his clothes.
When I got to the pool, everybody was already in. I decided to wait for Lance and so I sat on one of the chairs and listened to some music. Sometime later, Lance and J.C. came, but I didn’t see or hear them because my back was to the entrance and I had my music going. I set my CD player down to put on some sun block, and that’s when J.C. and Lance grabbed my legs and arms and threw me in the pool. J.C. then pushed Lance into the pool. J.C. didn’t notice that Lindsay had gotten out until she tried to push him in. He grabbed her and they both fell in the pool. Chris was in the deep end about to jump in. “CANNON BALL!!!!!!” he yelled. When he splashed in, water went everywhere. Most of it splashed onto the walkway and edge of the pool. We were all having a lot of fun.
I motioned for Lance to follow me out of the pool. We got our things and went back to the room. When we got to the room, we ate a late lunch at about 4 p.m. Then we watched some t.v. – You can never watch too much t.v. We got bored with watching T.V., so I suggested that we play Truth or Dare. I know that it is kids' game but it was the only way, without coming straight out and asking if Lance wanted to be my boyfriend.
“My turn…Truth or Dare?”
“Truth…” I said
“Is it true that you would be my girlfriend if I ask you?”
“That’s true”
“Well? Will you?”
“Lance, I can’t believe you finally decided to ask me…of course I will!”
“Really? Your not just saying to be nice so that you could break up with me later on?”
“Now why would I do that to you? I love you too much to hurt you like that.” I gave him a hug.
As we were hugging, Lindsay knocked on the door. “Marie, are you in there?”
“Yes, where else would I be?”
“Can we come in?”
“Who is we?” Lance asked
“Me, Justin, Chris, J.C. and Joey…”
“Sure.” Lance said opening the door
I had a big smile on my face and Lindsay knew that something was up. “Marie, can you help me with something in the bathroom?”
“Ok,” I said as I walked to her, “What do you want me to help you with?”
“Nothing, I just have to ask you a couple of things to ask you…”
“Ok…like…” I said hesitantly
“Did Lance ask you to be his girlfriend? And should I tell Justin that I will be his girlfriend?”
“Yes, and when did Justin ask you to be his girlfriend? And you should tell him yes.”
“That is great. Justin just asked me before we came up. I told him that I had to think about it, even though I knew that I would already say yes.”
“Don’t you think that you should go tell him your answer and not keep him on pins and needles?”
“Oh yeah!” she said running out of the bathroom, “Justin I have something to tell you…you can either hear it here in front of the guys or in private.”
“Is it good or bad?” Justin asked
“Very good…”
“Ok, then everybody can hear this…”
“Yes I’ll be your girlfriend”
“No way!! You have no idea how happy you just made me!”
“When do you ask her?” Joey said
“Right before we left the pool.”
“That’s so cool, congratulations are in order for Lindsay and Justin and Lance and Marie.” J.C. said
“Now we have to find a girlfriend!” Chris said to J.C. and Joey, “What are we going to do?
“I don’t know, but we better find one fast!” Joey said
“Don’t worry, I’m sure that you will find someone that is special to you.” I said and I gave them each a hug.
“I think that we should get ready for dinner,” Lindsay said, “It’s 6:45 and we have to leave by 7:30 for dinner.”
They left to get ready for dinner and Lance and I just sat and stared at each other for what seemed like a long time. Then he leaned over and kissed me and then he went to the bathroom to take his shower. 15 minutes later he came out of the bathroom and I went in to take my shower. When I came out of the bathroom, Lance was already dressed and waiting for me to come out of the bathroom.
Lance was wearing a black pleather jacket, black pants, and a white shirt with a burgundy button up shirt. I decided to wear a black skirt, and red spaghetti strap top.
“Here, wear this too.” Lance said and handed me a chain with a cross on it just like the one I gave him and a black pleather jacket like his, “what do you think of them?”
“I love them. I was looking at that same jacket in the window of the store that we passed the other day and I really wanted it.”
“I know, Lindsay told me.”
“Really, I’ll have to thank her when we leave for dinner.”
“Why don’t you thank her now?” lance said as he opened the door
“Lindsay…have I told you how glad I am that I have known you for almost 16 years? You are my best friend and I love. Thanks for everything and for being there for me.” I gave her a hug
“Marie, you know that I will always be there for you…no matter what. You can count on me for anything. You are more than my best friend…you are my sister!”
We started to cry and Joey said, “Ok enough of this sappy stuff, can we go eat? I’m starving!”
“Ok, let me just grab my purse and we can go.” I said and we were off.
“Do we have any idea where we were going for dinner?” Chris asked
“No, but it has to be someplace hip with a lot of people in their 20’s…someplace like a night club/bar. It has to be fun and has to play good music so that we can get our groove on too.” Justin said.
“And food, too! Don’t forget they have to serve some kind of food!” Joey said.
“And really HOTT chicks!” Chris chimed.
We got in the limo and J.C. asked the driver to take us to the hottest club in town.
“Ok, I’ll have you there in 20 minutes,” The driver in a thick French accent.
“Can you pick us up at 1 am?” J.C. asked
“No problem…Le Muse at 1 a.m. Have a good time.” The driver said as we got out of the limo.
There was a line to get into the club, but there were only 4 people in the line. We saw a sign that said the club opens at 8 p.m. and it was only 7:45 p.m. so we got in line and waited the 15 minutes. As we waited in line a man passed by and Lindsay asked him to take 7 pictures of us.
“7 pictures – are you crazy?” I asked
“Well, I don’t want to have to make a lot of copies when I get the film developed.” She said.
The man took our pictures. We thanked him and he left. At 8 the bouncer started to let people in and we were one of the first few people to be seated for dinner and we also got our food first because the waitress noticed that she was waiting on *N SYNC…she nearly dropped our drinks. It was very funny. We ate our food and decided that we would have to take turns staying at the table to watch our things. Lindsay and Justin said that they would stay first. Lance and I would come back 20 minutes later to change places with them. After that, J.C., Chris, and Joey would have to decide who would stay and for how long.
Like planned, Lance and I relieved Lindsay and Justin. They went running onto the dance floor. It was so hilarious. I don’t know how long we were in the booth, but J.C. and the others came and said that it was 1:15 a.m. – time for us to leave. We got our things and left out the club and got into the waiting limo.
We got back to the hotel at 1:35 and there was a mob of screaming girls. The guys signed autographs and took pictures. They didn’t get back to our floor until 2 a.m. I was in bed, but I wasn’t asleep yet because I wanted to wait up for Lance. When he came in the door he had a big stuffed teddy bear and I didn’t see him, so of course seeing a “floating” teddy bear scared me. I screamed and Lance dropped it.
“Oh, it you, I thought that I was seeing things.”
“I’m sorry, did I wake you honey?” Lance asked
“No, I was waiting up for you. Now that you are here I can get some sleep. Can you turn out the lights when you are done…I have to get my beauty sleep.”
“You don’t need any beauty sleep, you’re already very beautiful.”
“Thank you babe.” Lance turned out the light and we went to sleep.
At 4 a.m. I woke up and took my shower and put on a pair of jeans and a purple top. Then I woke up Lance and he took his shower and he put on the shirt that I bought him. I called to the other rooms to make sure that they were up so that we could leave on time. I pulled out my notebook and journal and began to write. I hadn’t written in it since we left Florida almost a week ago. I had a lot of writing to do. After I started some of the writing that I had to do, Lance and I watched some cartoons. Lindsay came running in the room along with the guys right behind her. “Marie there is something very important that you have to see! Turn to channel 5.”
I changed the channel and there was the one person that I did not want to see – my ex-boyfriend Mike. He was and still is probably the most abusive man that I know.
“What the hell is he doing in France?” I asked Lindsay as I turned up the T.V. and sat on the bed.
“Do you know him, Marie?” Lance asked
“He is my ex-boyfriend. We split on really bad terms.”
“Really, I’m sorry to hear that. When was the last time that you saw him?”
“About 1 year ago when he put me in the hospital.”
“What happened?” Lance asked as he sat next to me on the bed
“Well, we were together for about 3 years. The last year that we were together he started beating me. Each time he swore that he would never do it again, but he lied and I believed him. Then to prove that he was serious about changing his ways he proposed to me. Of course I turned him down because I knew that there was someone better in life for me. That’s when he beat me so bad that I was rushed to the hospital with a lot of internal injuries. I left him for good and I haven’t seen him until now on the t.v.”
“He didn’t go to jail for any of the stuff that he did to you?” Chris asked
“Yeah he did, but he was only in for a few weeks to a month at the most. Everytime that he went to jail, I would move, but he always seemed to find me and weasel his way back into my life. I thought that the last time that he was in that he would be getting out for a very long time, but I was wrong!” I said as I turned off the t.v.
“Well, I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise!” Lance told me and he hugged me.
“That’s good, because I am very happy with my life now. I have a wonderful boyfriend, great friends and I above all, my best friend is happy too.”
A few minutes later we left for our final shoot. We got to the studio to do the usual makeup, hair and clothes thing. The guys did a lot of pictures for an upcoming article about *N SYNC in France thing. They also did an interview for an entertainment show. After we were all finished we went back tot the hotel to get ready for the movie premiere that we were to attend later on in the day. When we got back to the hotel, the guys had to meet with Johnny to discuss their plans for the Spain part of their tour. I was staring out the window when Lindsay came in my room.
“Marie, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Marie Lanai Johnson, I know better than to take your word when you look the way that you do! So what’s buggin' you?”
“I just have a really bad feeling about tonight. Like something terribly bad is going to happen.”
“Does it have something to do with Lance?”
“Yeah, but it’s something else too. I just don’t know what, though.”
“Please don’t tell me it has to do with that jerk Mike!!”
“I don’t think so…No, I’m positive, it has nothing to do with Mike.”
“Have you eaten anything today?”
“Just a bagel at the photo shoot.”
“We need to get some food into you. You can just eat a little food here and there everyday. It will be alright if you gain a little weight.”
“I know that. I eat like a horse, and you know that! So don’t go giving me that ‘you need to eat more’ speech!”
“Ok, I won’t. But I’m just looking out for you.”
“I know, but I can take care of myself.”
Lindsay left out of her room to go get some food from the downstairs restaurant. Lance came in the room and I was lying on the bed falling asleep. “Marie, are you feeling alright?”
“I’m just kind of tired and I haven’t really eaten anything. Lindsay went down to the restaurant to get me some food.”
“Ok, it’s just that you don’t look to good. Do you feel up to coming with us tonight?”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I’ll be fine.”
“Ok,” he gave me a kiss, “I’m going to find out what time we are leaving tonight.”
“Ok, wake me up one hour before we have to leave.” I said. Lance was about to close the door, “Lance, I love you.”
“I love you too,” and he left out of the room. As he was walking down the hall he passed Lindsay getting off the elevator. “Hey Lindsay! Do you know what’s wrong with Marie? I’m really worried about her.”
“She has a bad feeling about tonight. I think that she feels that Mike is going to try to do something to her now that he’s in France and she’s here too.”
“Did she say that?”
“No, but I know her well enough and I can read her facial expression very well.”
“Should I be worried about this Mike guy? I mean how dangerous is he?” Lance asked with a worried look on his face.
“When you first meet Mike, he shows you the person that he wants you to believe that he is. Then once you get to know him, his real personality comes out and that’s when he gets dangerous. He never showed Marie any affection the three years that they were together. That is all she is looking for from you. Pay extra attention to her…NEVER take her for granted.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll never take her for granted. She is the best that has happened to me and I don’t want to loose her. Before I forget, we are leaving at 7:15, can you tell Marie?”
“Ok, I’ll tell her. See you later.”
A few minutes later Lindsay came in the room and she saw me sitting on the bed crying with the phone in my hand. She came running to me, “Marie what’s wrong? Who is that on the phone?”
“Lindsay…he knows that I’m here…in France…in this hotel room! I’m so scared…what am I going to do?”
“Hold on…who knows you’re here? Is it Mike? Does Mike know that you are here?”
“Yes, that was him on the phone. He said that he knows about Lance and that if he can’t have me then no one can; not even Lance! Then he hung up the phone.”
“You have to tell Lance…he has to know.”
“I can’t tell him, I wouldn’t even know where to start. Will you tell him for me? I want to take a hot shower and get ready. Oh, do you know what time we are leaving?”
“Ok, I’ll tell him. We are leaving at 7:15.”
“Lindsay, thanks again…for everything, you’re the best!”
“I know that you would do the same thing for me.” Lindsay left to go find Lance and tell him the news. I closed and locked the door. I went into the bathroom to take my shower and get ready to leave.
Lindsay found Lance and the others in J.C.’s room sitting around working on some things for their stay in Spain. “Lance, Marie wanted me to tell you something.”
“Is she alright?” he asked with a worried look on his face
“Well, in a way. She got a call from Mike about 10 minutes ago. He threatened you and her!”
“What exactly did he say?” Lance asked
“He said that he knows about your relationship with Marie and that if he can’t have her then no one can…not even you. Then he hung up the phone. That’s what she told me.”
“What the hell is this guy’s problem. He needs to be locked up big time!” Chris said.
“Does she still want to go to the movie premiere with us?” Lance asked
“Yeah, she said that she is not going to let this jerk ruin her last day in France.”
“Will Mike try anything at the premiere?”
With all of us around, I hope that he grows a brain and doesn’t try anything. Just in case, I think that you should try and beef up security for the rest of your tour until we are all safely back in the states.” Lindsay said
“We won’t let anything happen.” Lance said as he patted my shoulder, “We should get ready to leave. See you all in a few.” Lance left out of J.C.’s room.
Lance came back to our room and I was asleep on the bed. He walked over to the bed and sat next to me. He lightly touched my face and I opened my eyes.
“Well, I wouldn’t mind waking up to your face every morning.” I said with a smile on my face.
“It’s time to get ready. Are you sure that you want to go tonight? I mean, what if Mike tries anything?”
“He is NOT going to ruin my last night in France with you and that’s the end of that.” I said getting out of bed and walking to the closet. I took out my dress that I was going to wear to the premiere. “What do you think of this dress?” I said spinning around with a black dress held up to my body, “I had is specially made for tonight.”
“It’s beautiful. What are those little dots on the dress?”
“They are my initials and your initials in light green.”
“Really, I didn’t know that could be done to a dress. I know that you are going to look sooo sexy in that dress.”
“Thank you. So what are you wearing?” I asked as I put my dress back in the closet. When I turned around, Lance had a tear in his eye.
“What’s that matter Baby?” I asked as I went to sit next to him on the bed.
“Nothing…it’s just that I love you too much to ever let you go. I never want us to be apart.”
“Oh, Lance. We are never going to be apart. I promise you that. I love you too much to ever let you leave from out of my life.”
A few minutes later, the phone rang and Lance picked it up. While he was talking on the phone, I went to the bathroom to take my shower and at least start to get ready; as I came out of the bathroom Lance hung up the phone and starting packing his things.
“Oh, Marie. I didn’t see you standing there. That was J.C.; he said that the limousine was going to be here in 1 hour to pick us up. We won’t have time after the premiere to pack because our flight to Spain is at 2 am, so we have to pack now.”
“How is our luggage going to get to Spain?” I asked as I packed the rest of my things.
“Johnny and Charlene – his wife – are going to stay and make sure that all of our things get to Spain on time. They will meet us at the airport in Spain at 8 am.”
Lance packed the rest of his things and then hopped in the shower. While he was in the shower, Lindsay came over with her dress in a garment bag and laid it on the chair by the door and helped me pack the rest of my things. “What do you want me to do with Lance’s things?” Lindsay asked
“Just put them on the bed and I will get to them when I find my shoes.”
“It’s a good thing that we mailed a lot of the things that we bought back to Florida.” Lindsay said, “Here are your shoes. They were under Lance’s clothes on the bed.”
Lance came out of the bathroom and he was already dressed. “Hi Lindsay.” He said as he gave her a hug, “where is Justin?”
“He’s waiting for you in my room.”
“Ok, I’ll see you two later.” He said and gave me a kiss and walked out of the door.
“Ok, now that’s he’s gone we can get ready. Let me see the dress that you had made.” Lindsay said, “I’ll show you my dress.”
I took my garment bag and went into the bathroom to put it on. When I came out of the bathroom, Lindsay had her dress on too.
“Wow, your dress is sooo beautiful. What are those dots on it?” she asked
“They are my initial and Lance’s initials. Your dress is beautiful. Where did you find it?”
“I had it made by the wife of the photographer that took pictures of me and Justin. Where did you find your dress?”
“I had mine made too. The photographer that took the picture of me and Lance has a sister that makes dresses.”
Justin and Lance were standing in the doorway and we didn’t even see them because we were too busy putting on makeup and doing our hair.
“Just look at them…” Lance said, “Don’t they look so beautiful?”
“Yeah they do. You know that do this just for us right?” Justin said with a smile on his face.
“Yeah, I know and it is all worth it. They are so happy and look so nice. Think that we should knock on the door to let them know that we are here?”
“Yes that would be a good idea.” Justin said. They knocked on the door and we turned around.
“Oh hi guys. We are almost done. We just have to put on our shoes and finish our makeup.” Lindsay said.
“Oh it’s no hurry, we still have about 20 minutes before the limousine comes” Justin said.
The other guys came and sat around watching us get ready. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but isn’t there something that you can do besides watch us get ready?” I asked as I put in my earrings.
“Ok, we get the hint.” J.C. said, “we will be waiting in my room when you are ready to leave.”
They were about to walk out of the room when Lindsay looked at me and said, Ready to go?” I nodded my head, “Wait guys, we can go now. We are ready to leave.”
We walked out of the room and headed towards the elevator. We got on the elevator and headed to the lobby. Once we got to the Lobby, we saw all of the security and photographers and news people.
“Wow, how much security did you get?” Chris asked.
“I talked to our management team and they said that they would handle it. So they got however much they thought was necessary.” J.C. said
We made our way through the crowd and into the limousine. “I doubt that this Mike guy will be able to get within 10 ft of us without security stopping him.” Chris said
We got to the theater and the announcer said that they were going to be having some special guest appearances and the first one was just arriving. That’s when Justin and Lindsay got out of the car. Behind them were J.C., Chris, Joey, Lance and then I. Some reporters were asking Lance and Justin who the two women were that they had with them. Justin and Lance simply said, “Our girlfriends and we love them very much.” They continued walking on and didn’t look back.
Some other reporters were saying, “You heard it here first, Lance and Justin are no longer single. They have two very beautiful girlfriends and love them very much. But don’t fret all you Ladies out there that love *N SYNC…Joey, J.C., and Chris are still single and they are on the lookout for that special someone.”
The movie that we saw was Pearl Harbor. It was a very good movie. They added French subtitles but the movie it self was in English. After the movie we were invited to several parties but we had to decline because we had a flight to Spain to catch. In Spain, the guys did 3 concerts, 6 interviews and then we were off to England. In England they did 4 concerts, met the Royal Family and worked on their new album. The next and last stop was back to the good ol’ U.S.A. for some time to work on their next album and get some rest from traveling and performing for 3 weeks.
I called my modeling agency to let them know that I was back in Florida and they told me that CK Jeans want Lindsay and me to sign a 5-year contract with them. Naturally I called and told Lindsay.
“Hey Lindsay, how do you feel about modeling for CK Jeans for 5 years at $500,000 a year after taxes?”
“Are you kidding? CK Jeans want me to model for them? What about you?”
“We will both be modeling for them…they want both of us!”
“I’m there babe, just tell me when and where.”
“Monday we sign the contract and start the following Monday.”
“That is so tight! I can’t wait to tell Mom and Dad.”
“Tell my parents for me too, will you? I have something to do with Lance.”
“No problem. I’ll see you at Justin’s tonight for dinner.”
“Ok later.” We hung up the phone and went about our business.
Mike never did ruin my last day in France. It was like he dropped off the face of the earth…never to be seen or heard from again…I hope.
~~1 year later~~
Lance and I have been together for 1 year and this has been the best year of my life. Lindsay and Justin are still together and stronger than ever. It seems like the more that we are apart form our boyfriend, the stronger our love for each other grows. For Lance and my 13-month anniversary we spent a romantic night at his house. We danced, he cooked dinner and we held each other all night long. The next day we went over to Justin and Lindsay’s place to help them celebrate their 13-month anniversary.
“You know, I heard on the new that we are rumored to be getting married. Can you believe that?” I asked Lindsay while the guys were off playing with some new toy that they received as a promotional gift for a product that *N SYNC was going to advertise.
“I know; I heard the same thing too. When I told Justin about it he was as shocked as I was to hear the news. We had family calling for days asking if all 4 of us were planning a double wedding.”
“What did you tell them?”
“That we are madly in love with our boyfriends, but we are too busy to think about marriage…especially with us being only in our 20’s. We still have the rest of our lives ahead of us.”
The Monday after we signed our contracts, Lindsay and I celebrated with our friends and family. We also celebrated the start of *N SYNC’s new tour and album. Their tour would last about 3 months and for most of that time Lindsay I and would have to keep in contact with Lance and Justin though e-mails and telephone calls.
The day that Lindsay and I left for New York was the same day that the guys were leaving for California. I told them that if they had time to stop and visit my parents and say hi for me. Lindsay had Justin to give my dad a note that she didn’t what me to see, but I didn’t really think anything about it because my father was like a father to her since her dad left her when she was 4 years old.
We stayed in New York for 2 months and then we were off to London. We stayed in London for about 3 months. On the last night that we were in London I got a frantic call to my hotel room from my Mom. I remembered telling her to only call me at the hotel if it was an emergency.
“Marie, Marie,” she said through the sobs, “Your father had a really bad heart attack and the doctors don’t think that he will live much longer. I want you to come home as soon as you can.”
“Ok,” I said, “Lindsay and I will be on the next flight out to California, but we have to stop in New York first.”
“How did you know that your father was asking to see Lindsay too?”
“What are you talking about? Lindsay is as much a part of this family as Lance is. Dad was like a father to her. I’ll be home soon.” I hung up the phone and began packing. “Marie, why are you packing out things?”
“My dad had a really bad heart attack and mom want us home fast.”
“Oh, Marie I’m so sorry. Don’t we have to tell the people here that we have to leave?”
“I already did. We leave for the airport in 1 hour.”
When we got to the airport Lance and Justin was waiting for us. “Honey,” Lance said as he walked up to me, “I’m so sorry, but you dad just died 10 minutes ago.”
Lindsay and I both fell to the ground crying. “I didn’t even get a chance to tell him that I loved him.” I said through the crying.
“He held on as long as he could,” Justin told us as he helped Lindsay up from the ground.
We left the airport and went straight to the hospital. My mom, sister and sister-in-law was so out of it that doctors has to give them medication to clam them down. The next person that I saw was Mike. Lance was about to go to him to ask him to leave, when my brother told him, “You aren’t welcome here, please leave.”
“I don’t have to leave, this is a hospital and if you don’t get out of my face, you'll just be glad that there are doctors around!” Justin called hospital security and had him removed from the hospital before he got out of hand.
“Mom, I didn’t even get to say good by to him. Did dad say anything before he died?” I asked
“Yes, but it didn’t make too much sense. He told me to tell his 3 daughters that he was proud of them and that he loved them very much.”
“3 daughters? There is only me and Andrea – who is the third daughter?”
“I am.” Lindsay said placing her hand on my shoulder.
Ruby came up to us and told the whole story. Ruby is Lindsay’s mom and my Godmother. “When you and Richard were separated for a year in 1981 he met me and we had a relationship. 3 months before you got back together Lindsay was conceived.”
“How do you know that Richard was the father?”
“Well, when you guys moved to the apartment, I told him about Lindsay and he agreed to take a DNA test, which proved what I already knew…Richard was Lindsay’s biological father. When my husband found out, he left me to raise Albert, Tasha, and Lindsay by myself. Richard helped out as much as he could without me even asking.”
“But why didn’t you tell me?”
“Richard told me that he was going to tell you himself.”
3 days later we buried my father. That was also the day that I received a letter from Mike’s lawyer say that I was being named in a lawsuit along with my brother for having him forcibly removed from a hospital when he was there to visit his sick grandmother. It didn’t take long for the court to through the case out when the judge found out that he abused me while we were together, that he threatened my brother and to top it off, his grandmother had died 6 years before he was born. The judge threw him in court for something like fraud and he is eligible for parole in 50 years.
1 month later, my dad’s lawyer called the entire family together for a viewing of his will. Viewing? That’s right, my dad taped his will 3 months before he died. We found out that my dad was worth 3.4 million dollars. That money came from stocks and from the 4 restaurants that he owned and sold before he died. The money was to be split 5 ways between me, Lindsay, my mom, my other sister and brother.
After all was said and done. Lance and I had been together for almost 20 months. Justin and Lindsay had been together for about 20 months too. I know that this is a said thing, but with the death of my father, our entire family – including Lindsay’s mom, sister and brother – have grown closer. Lindsay and I are especially close. We went back to modeling and finished out our contracts with CK Jeans and Lindsay and I were looking forward to starting a new life in one big happy family.
One day when we where at Justin and Lindsay’s house having a Bar-B-Q, J.C. told us that he found the one person that made him happy. “She is the best thing that has happened to me…besides being in *N SYNC.”
“So you finally have a girlfriend, congratulations. Who is she?” I asked.
“Shelly,” he said
“Shelly?” we all asked in amazement
“Yes,” she said.
“Honey, I’m so happy for you.” Lindsay said
“That’s great. Now everybody has someone special in their life.” I said
“What? Joey and Chris have girlfriends too?” Lindsay said
“Yeah, remember those two ladies that they escorted to that awards show a couple of years ago? Well a few months after they got really serious and have been together ever since.” Lance said.
“What were their names again?” Justin asked
“Who are you talking about?” Chris asked as he came in with some potato salad and soda
“Justin was just being stupid…he remembers that Christina is your girlfriend.” I said
“Yup and he remembers that Judith is Joey’s girlfriend.” Lindsay said
“That’s right…Christina and Chris and Judith and Joey.” He said.
Christina and Judy are best friends of Lindsay’s and mine. We did a lot of modeling together and they helped us through the grief of having our father pass away. They were like sisters to us…after all you can never have too many sisters.
~~A couple of yeas later~~
On New Year’s Eve we all attended a party in Florida at a house on a secluded beach. All of our family and close friends were there. We were there to celebrate more than the start of a new year, but also the start of a new beginning…two families coming together as one and the start of a clothing line with the help of my best friend and sister Lindsay. The whole time that we at the party, Lance and Justin just kept to themselves, at the appointed time that Justin and Lance arranged with J.C., he brought us out on to the beach. J.C. then slipped back into the house and had everybody to go onto the deck to see the fireworks. They got more than a fireworks show that night. They saw Lance and Justin do something very remarkable. At the stroke of midnight Lance and Justin got down on one knee.
“Marie Lanai Johnson, would you do me the honor of being my wife?” Lance asked as he presented me with a sapphire and diamond ring.
“Lindsay Michelle Trinidad would you, too do me the honor of being my wife?” Justin asked as he presented her with a heart shaped diamond ring.
Lindsay and I looked at each other and then at our boyfriends, “Yes, of course we will!!” we both said
The fireworks went off as we kissed and everyone on the patio cheered. “Happy New Year everybody” J.C. said, “And congratulations to Lindsay, Justin, Lance and Marie.”
We went back to join the rest of our family on the deck. Family and friends were congratulating us as we made our way into the house to get something to drink. My mom came up to Lindsay and me with tears in her eyes, “Your father would be so proud of you 2. I am so proud of you two.” She gave us both a hug.
“I am too. I know that you father would want to be here to walk you down the aisle but would you settle for your brothers walking you?” Ruby asked
“Yes, why wouldn’t we want Albert and Richard to walk us down the aisle?” I asked
“I don’t know. I just thought that you would rather walk down by yourself than with them” she said
“Where are they at?” Lindsay asked, “We should ask them right now.”
“They are out on the deck talking to J.C. and Chris.” My mom said
Lindsay and I went back on the deck to find our brothers. We found them talking away with Lance, Justin, J.C., Chris and Joey.
“Hey Richie and Albert, Lindsay and I want to know if you will take the place of Dad and walk us down the aisle at our wedding?”
“If you really want us to, we will.” They said as they hugged us.
“Ok, it’s settled, you’ll walk us down the aisle on our wedding day. Thanks…you are the best brothers in the world.” Lindsay and I said.
It was getting late and the guys had to go to the studio early the next morning so we called it a night. We wished everyone a Happy New Year and left. We went to our cars and left. Lance and I went back to his place since it was closer to the studio and I stayed the night. Lindsay and Just already had their own place and so they just went home. J.C. was living with Shelly, Joey and Judy had their own house and Chris and Christina had their house. Lance and I were going to move in together later on in January.
~~A few weeks into 2005~~
“We have to start planning the wedding.” Ruby and my mom kept telling Lindsay and me, “Have you decided on a date?”
“Well, we want a double wedding and the best date for that is June 18th.” Lindsay said
“Do the grooms agreed to that date?” Ruby asked
“Yes, all 4 of us sat around throwing out dates and that was the one that we were all free on.”
“Ok, we have just enough time to get invitations made and sent out.” Mary (my mom) said.
“That’s already done.” I said
“What about the cake?” Ruby asked
“Being taken care of too.” Lindsay said.
“Well, what is there left for us to do?” they asked.
“Just be the mothers’ to 2 sisters and brides,” Richard said, as he came in the room with the copy of the menu for the reception, “What do you think of these foods?”
“They look fine to me,” I said passing the menus to Lindsay
“Me too. Did you show them to Lance and Justin?” Lindsay asked
“They are the ones who gave me the menus to give to you.” He said.
“Then they are fine with us.” We said, “Are you going to see then again today?”
“Yes,” he said
“Then can you tell Lance 1-177155-400?” I asked
“Sure, but what does that mean?”
“It means ‘I miss you’.” I said
Richard left and we continued working on our wedding dresses. I was in the process of attaching the straps to my dress when the phone rang and I picked it up.
+*+
Who do you think is on the other end of the phone? Will Marie get to go marry the man of her dreams - Lance? Or will something or someone get in the way?
+*+
Stay turned to see what happens next in # 17
“Did I just hear you right? Mike is going to try to do something to me or my family?” Lindsay, Ruby, and my mom came over to where I was.
“That’s correct Ma’am. We feel that he may try one of 2 things to get to you – possibly even both. The first thing that he might attempt is a jail break to get to you directly and the other is to hire someone to do his dirty work for him.”
“Well, you have to do something to stop him!” I yelled. By this time Lindsay was on her cell phone calling Justin to have him and Lance to get to my place fast.
“Ma’am, we also know that his lawyer contacted the Parole Board to get Mike out on parole and convince them that he is not a threat to anyone.”
“But Mike isn’t eligible for parole. What time is this meeting? I want to have my family and lawyers present.”
“The meeting is this Wednesday, 8 a.m. at the Miami-Dade Correctional Facility.” He said.
“Thank you for letting me know.”
“We will be in contact with you if anything else should arise.” Officer Dolan said
As I was hanging up the phone, Lance and the others walked into the family room.
“What’s going on?” Lance asked with a puzzled look on his face
“I just got a call from the jail where Mike is,” I said, “They believe that he may try to get at me or the rest of the family.”
“He’s in jail, he can’t” Lance said
“Well they also said that he may try to escape or hire someone to do it for him. His lawyer arranged a meeting with the Parole Board for Wednesday at 8 a.m.” Lindsay said
“I’m gonna call our lawyers so that they can be present at this hearing.” Lance said
“Thanks Baby, I really need all the support that I can get. I don’t want him to bother us anymore.” I said
Lance called our lawyers and Lindsay and I put our dresses away so that they wouldn’t get messed up. My mom went to the kitchen to make some sandwiches and ice tea. J.C., Chris and Joey went to play basketball in the backyard, Justin, my brother, Albert, and Ruby were discussing the other details of the wedding.
Lance got off of the phone and came upstairs to where Lindsay and I were. “I just got off of the phone with our lawyers. They are going to contact the parole board and give the information from out of the police reports and some others papers to make sure that Mike doesn’t get out of jail. He won’t be bothering us anymore.”
“But what if his lawyer gets past that and Mike is able to get out?” I asked half crying.
“We still have that permanent restraining order against him…he can’t be within 100 yards of you or anybody in the family.”
“There are sandwiches and ice tea on the patio…better come and get it if you want to eat,” my mom called up the stairs.
Lindsay, Lance and I nearly fell down the stairs trying to get to the patio before they were all gone. When we got to the patio, I just got some ice tea and went to sit by the pool. Lance came up behind me, “Is this spot taken?” he asked
“It is now…sit down Babe.”
“Is there something wrong? You look really sad.”
“I just think that we are under estimating Mike. He’s smarter than we make him out to be.” I said
“Honey, don’t worry about it. He isn’t going to get out…not now, ever. He isn’t going to ruin our life.”
“I know,” I said
“Can you believe that we are going to be getting married in less than 6 months?” Lance said as he tried to get my mind off of Mike
“I know. I can’t wait. Soon we will be one happy family…maybe even a couple of children too.” I said with a smile on my face, “You are going to be a great father.”
“You’re going to be a great mother.” He said.
We stayed by the pool talking about our future family that we didn’t even realize that the rest of the family had already gone back into the house. Lance and I decided to go for a stroll along the beach and then back to his place. I went inside and told my mom that I would see her tomorrow and that I was to stay with Lance.
“Have fun you 2.” She said as we walked out of the house.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” my brother said
“Too late,” Lance replied and he closed the door
We got to the beach and there were lots of bon fires going on. We walked along the shore of the ocean and the water lightly touched our feet. We walked for about 2 or 3 hours and then we went to get something to eat. We went back to his place and just cuddled by the fire all night. It was unusually cold for Florida in January so the fire was a good thing. Lance’s house isn’t that far from the beach so we could hear the waves crash up on the shore and the rocks. It was so romantic. We were together all night long. Our bodies heat passing one to another.
~~The next day ~~
The next day I woke up early to take a shower and get ready to go home to work on my wedding dress and to call the lady who was working on the cakes for me and Lindsay. Lance woke up 15 minutes after I did and made breakfast. When I got out of the shower Lance was sitting on the deck looking at the ocean.
“Good morning Lance,” I said as I gave him a hug from behind
“Morning Babe” he said as he kissed me, “Any more hot water left?”
“Yup, nice and hot…”
Lance got up and went into the bathroom to take his shower. I went and sat on the bed and turned on the TV to watch the news. “This just in…” the news anchor said, “Convict Mike Deloria escaped from the Miami-Dade Correctional Facility this morning at 2 a.m. Police say that even though this man is not armed, he should be considered very dangerous…” I turned off the TV before they finished and called my mom.
“Mom, we have to get to someplace safe. Mike escaped this morning from jail!”
“What?” she said
“Yeah, it’s all over the news. Turn on the TV and see.” She turned on the TV and dropped the phone when she saw Mikes face plastered over the screen.
“What are you going to do?” she asked
“Here’s an idea…we get the hell out of here!” I said
Lance came out of the shower; “I just heard the news tell your mom to have everybody meet here so that we can plan the next thing to do.”
“Mom, Lance said to have everybody meet here so that we can plan the next thing to do. Ok?”
“Yeah,” She said, “I’ll get right on it.” I hung up the phone.
A few minutes later the phone rang again. Lance picked it up…”Hello?”
“You sonova bitch, you aren’t going to get away with marring Marie…she’s mine.”
“That’s it, why don’t you tell me this in person...are you a coward?” Lance said
“Who is it, Lance?” I asked. He mouthed M-I-K-E to me.
“Meet me at Point Bluff at noon and then we will see who the coward is…” and the line went dead.
+*+
What is going to happen next? Will Lance and Mike go at it at Point Bluff or will good triumph over evil? Tell me what you think…
After Lance hung up the phone her was fuming. “He just doesn’t get it…Does he?”
“Honey calm down. He just trying to show you how stupid he is.”
10 minutes later there was a knock at the door. I went to let the rest of the family in. “What’s going on?” J.C. asked
“Oh nothing,” I said trying to lighten the already tense atmosphere, “Just a slight threat from that damn escaped convict…nothing big.”
“What…Mike escaped?” Joey asked
“Yeah, what planet have you been on for the last 4 hours?” Justin asked, “It’s been on all the news channels.”
“Well, I haven’t watched much t.v.” He said, “I’ve been kinda busy.” He winked at Judy.
“Slow your libido…we have a real problem here…” Lance said as he came out of the room, “I just got off the phone with the police. They want me, Marie and one other person to meet Mike at Point Bluff. They will have some under cover police…3 total, 2 joggers and one reading a newspaper somewhere. Justin, I was wondering if you will go with us?”
“Yeah, I’ll go. What do you want me to do?”
“Just watch out for Marie and make sure that he doesn’t have a clear path to her. Joey, I want you, J.C. and Chris to stay with the police and tell them our plans and one of you to keep in contact with Lindsay. Lindsay, take our moms, Judy and Christina to do something for about an hour and we will be in contact with you.”
“Ok, but I don’t understand why I can’t go.” Lindsay said
“Hon, I don’t want you there. I trust Lance with my life and he trusts Justin with his life…we’ll be fine. The police won’t anything happen to us…I promise.”
We left out the house at 11:30 to head to Point Bluff. As we were walking we saw the 2 joggers and the man reading a newspaper not far from where Mike was sitting. We continued walking and I grabbed Lances hand. I whispered in his ear, “I love you. Don’t do anything to get yourself killed.”
“I guess you are a coward!” Mike said when we got 100 yards in front of him, “You had to bring Marie and that punk to protect you.”
“Did you really think that I would come by myself, “Lance said, “I have to much at risk to loose my life.”
“Well I guess you were wrong about one thing...you are still going to loose your life!” he pulled out a gun and pointed it at Lance.
“Don’t Mike…don’t kill him! I love him. Why are you trying to hurt me like this?”
“Because I love you and we belong together!”
“If you love me so much then you would see that I love Lance…not you. We are over. Why can’t you just move on?”
“But we were meant to be together, and we ARE going to be together!” he said, “If I can’t have you then no one can.” He pointed the gun at me. Lance stepped in front of me and Justin tried to pull me away. “You can stand in front of her if you want. You are still going to die and then she will be with me.” Mike continued.
The under cover police started to move in when Mike pointed the gun at me. Mike saw people moving towards him and put the gun to his head. “Oh no! You are not going to take me back to that jail. I’ll kill myself before I go back to jail.”
“Mike, you don’t know what you are talking about,” I said, “Please, put the gun down and get some help.”
Marie, don’t try to convince him of anything that he doesn’t want to do. He isn’t going to hurt you anymore. Plus he doesn’t have the 3 things that I have….”
“Oh really, “Mike said putting his finger on the trigger, “What 3 things is that?”
“A caring and supportive family, ambition in life, and the most important thing…Marie”
“Marie, just answer me one thing,” Mike said, “Do you want me or Lance?” Mike said
“Mike, you already know the answer to that. Although you hold a very special place in my heart...r were my best friend, but when you hit me that first time, all of the feelings that I had for you disappeared. I love Lance and we are going to spend the rest of our life together. I’m sorry, that’s just the way it is going to be.”
“Ok, then I know what I have to do…” Mike pulled the trigger, I screamed and he fell to the ground.
Lance turned around to hug me. “It’s ok Marie. He won’t be able you hurt you or anybody else.” We walked back to where the other police were. Joey, J.C. and Chris were really happy to see us.
“Who was shot?” Chris asked
“Mike shot himself. I guess he saw that he wasn’t going to have Marie and so he ended his life.” Justin said
Chris got his cell phone out and called Christina. “Hey Chris, tell everyone that they are ok. Mike killed himself after Marie said that she didn’t want him. I love you too.” Chris put his cell phone away.
We left Point Bluff, never to return to that place again. We headed to back home to get away from all of the violence that we witnessed. Lindsay and the others met us at the house and we just sat in silence afraid of what to say. The silence was broken when Lindsay and I decided to give some important news…
+*+
What do you think the important news that Lindsay and Marie have to give is? The answers to come in the next part.
“Marie, I know this isn’t really a good time to tell this, but don’t you think that we should tell our soon to be husbands our little secrets” Lindsay asked
“Don’t say it…let me guess,” my brother said, “You two are coming out of the closet…you’re gay…or is it lesbian?” Everyone laughed
“No dip stick, we are not gay or lesbian! I really wanted to wait for a better time, but now is as good a time as any. I don’t want to go first.” I said.
“Ok, I’ll start… Justin remember New Years Eve when we got home and we were by the fire and we have a little too much to drink and did that other stuff?”
“How could I forget? That was the best night of my life!” Justin said
“Well, a few weeks later I was late and Marie went with me to get a test and it came out positive…I’m pregnant!!”
“No way…that’s unbelievable. Double wedding and double pregnancy!”
“What are you talking about?” Lance asked, “Marie’s not pregnant…are you?” he asked searching my face for an answer
“Well, yes I am…I have the sonogram pictures right here.” I reached in my purse and took them out, “It isn’t much now, but in a few months when I go back to the doctor it will be more noticeable.”
“When did this happen?” Lance asked
“New Years Eve when were in front of the fire.”
“Ewwww…I don’t wanna hear all the details…put a sock in it” Joey said.
“You guys did everything in reverse order…you’re supposed to get married THEN have children.” Ruby and my mom said
“Anyways,” I said rolling my eyes, “I’m due October 20th and Lindsay is due October around the same time.”
“That’s great…we’ll be just getting back from the tour and be here in time for the birth.” Lance said to Justin
“Speaking of births,” J.C. said, “Are you going to need some more Uncles for the new babies?”
“You can never have too many uncles.” I said
“Yeah, so who wants to be the first uncle to buy us baby furniture?” Lindsay asked with a smile on her face
“Don’t worry about it.” Joey said
“In a few months, you’ll have to climb over baby furniture just to get from the front door to the bedroom to the bathroom.” Chris said putting a chip in his mouth.
“Then you can be the one to make a path from one place to the next.” Lance said
“Why me?” Chris said
“I don’t know…I just think that it would be a nice gesture from the soon to be uncle.” He said
“I’ll do it, but I better get something in return for all of my hard work.” Chris said.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “How does Uncle Chris sound?”
“I guess that will do…for now” he said.
+*+March 2005: 2 months pregnant, 3 months before wedding+*+
“Hey honey. How are you feeling?” Lance asked me from the other side of the bathroom door.
“You tell me” I yelled, “I’ve been in here since I ate that applesauce 20 minutes ago.”
“Ok, just yell if you need anything” Lance said as he walked out of the bedroom, “by the way, Lindsay is here to see you.”
“Honey, are you going to be ok?” Lindsay asked
I opened the door for her to come into the bathroom. “I hate being sick…this is so horrible. I can’t even finish my dress and the wedding is in 3 months.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll finish it in time for the wedding…I promise.”
“So how come you aren’t getting sick?” I asked as I wiped my face off
“I don’t know. But I probably will be getting sick in a few months.”
“Lets not hope it’s on our wedding day.” I said laughing.
“Yeah that would be a sight. I‘d be right in the middle of my vows and I’d barf.” She said, “So, do you feel like gracing the rest of the family with your presence in the family room. We are all waiting for you.”
“I guess I can.” We walked out of the bathroom and the bedroom and down the hall to where everyone else was.
“There she is,” my mom said, “How’s my little Mommy doing?”
“I feel horrible. I haven’t stopped throwing up since this morning. Does the morning sickness ever go away?” I asked as I sat next to Lance on the sofa.
“Yeah, but it only gets worse.” Ruby said sewing the beads on Lindsay’s dress
“When is the next ultra sound?” Justin asked Lindsay
“We have one in a few weeks,” she said
“Man, we won’t be here. We have that taping in New York.”
“Well, we could always reschedule for next week.” I said
+*+The next week+*+
“Ok, you have the option of knowing whether it is a boy or girl…would you like to know?” The doctor asked
“Can we have a minute to talk about it?” Lance asked
“Sure, I just have to go and check on your sister and I will be back.” She left the room and we talked about it.
“So…do you want to know?” I asked Lance
“If you want to know, it’s fine with me.”
“Well we have to decide now because the doctor is on her way back.
“Ok, let’s find out.” Lance said
“Ok, have you decided on whether you want to know?”
“Yes we have.” We said at the same time.
“Ok, but first, Lindsay wanted me to tell you that she is having a _______________.”
“That’s great.” I said, “I know that she has always wanted her first child to be ____________”
“Ok, now you wanted to know the sex for your baby…it’s a ____________.”
+*+
What do you think that Lindsay and Marie are going to have?
“Wait just a minute,” Lance said, “Did you say that Lindsay and Justin are having a boy and Marie and I are having a girl?
“That’s right Mr. Bass. A boy for Mr. Timberlake and Ms. Trinidad and you and Ms. Johnson are to have a girl.” The doctor said
Honey, are you ok?” I asked, “Come on sit down before you fall down.”
+*+April 2005+*+
“I can’t believe that we finally finished our wedding dresses.” Lindsay said
“Yeah, I just that we made them big enough. I mean the wedding is in only 2 months. A lot can happen and we might blow up into big balloons.”
“Oh please Marie. You’re as small as can be, there ain’t no way that you are going to blow up…me on the other hand, I might just have to wear a big sheet for the wedding.”
“Oh, no…not at my wedding!” I said with a laugh
“It’s my wedding too! I can wear whatever I wanna wear. I think that I’ll go in my birthday suit!”
“Please Lindsay, you couldn’t even change in gym class at school so how do you possibly think that you are going to go nude at our wedding in front of our friends and family?”
“That’s true. I can always count on you to be the sensible one of the family.”
We put our dresses away and went to the living room to watch t.v.
“Where is everybody?” I asked
“I don’t know this is your house. I can’t believe that you misplaced our family.” Lindsay said laughing
“What ever. I’m hungry…wanna get something to eat?”
“Sure.” We went to the kitchen and got some carrots and ranch dressing and some soda and made our way to the patio to relax.
“SURPRIZE!” everyone shouted.
“Oh look at what you made me do…I dropped the ranch!” I said
“And now we have to go to the store and buy some more.” Lindsay said putting down our drinks on the table.
“Don’t worry about it.” My mom said, “Here, let me put this rattle pin on you.”
“Lindsay you have one too.” Ruby said
“Oh cool, a baby shower,” we said, “Lets open the gifts.”
“Wait,” my cousin Mona said, “You have to clear something up for us. We know that one of you is having a boy and the other is having a girl, but who is having what?”
“Well, I am having a girl and Lindsay is having a boy.”
“Now can we open our gifts?” Lindsay asked
“Go right ahead.” My mom said
The baby shower continued and it was sooo much fun, we ate, ate, gossiped, ate some more and then we opened the gifts. We had so much pampers that we wouldn’t have to worry about it for at least 2 or 3 months. We had all the baby furniture that we would ever need and so much clothes. We decided to do the baby room in Baby Mickey and Baby Minnie.
+*+
“We just got confirmation of 100 guest for the wedding and reception.” Lindsay said to Justin
“Is there going to be enough room at Johnny’s house for the reception?” I asked Lance
“Yes, his house is huge. If we run out of space, we can have tables set up on the beach under the tarps.” Lance said
“I can’t believe that 1 month from now we are going to be Mr. And Mrs. Bass and Mr. And Mrs. Timberlake.” Lindsay and I said to our fiancés
“I know, it is going to be so awesome…wait until you see what we have planned for the wedding.” Lance and Justin said.
+*+
What do you think Justin and Lance have planned for the wedding? And where do you think they are going to go on their honeymoon?
~~May 4th~~
With all that was going on, I completely that today was Lance’s birthday. I felt so bad that I decided that it was time to give him that painting that I had been working on for almost a year.
“Lance, I’m in the garage and I need some help getting something off of the top shelf.”
“Ok, I’ll be right there.” When he came into the garage the first thing that he saw was the painting of *N SYNC and their girlfriends. “I love the painting. Who did it?”
“I did silly.” I said, “the nights when I couldn’t sleep I came in here to work on it. It took me about a year to work on it but I finished last week.”
“I really like this gift…I don’t anything can top it.”
“Oh please. What about the gift of life from your mom? I think that is the best gift that you could have gotten.”
“Ok, I guess you’re right. The first gift is the gift of life from my mom, the second gift is *N SYNC, the third gift is you and the fourth gift is our baby that is on the way.”
He picked up the painting and we headed to the living room to hang it over the fireplace.
~~June 17th~~
Lindsay and I decided to put J.C. in charge of organizing the wedding from Johnny’s house. Albert and Richard helped him. Chris and Joey were in charge of getting the flowers and the food. Lance and Justin had their own special thing that they were planning.
“Sir, where do these tables go?” the moving man asked
“Over there next to the house, that is the head table where the wedding party sits.” J.C. said
Johnny came for his office to help with the set up. “You know that you don’t have to help, right? J.C. asked Johnny
“I know but I have to keep busy and I want to make sure that things are done the was Justin, Lindsay, Lance and Marie want.” Johnny said.
“The food arrives tonight at 10 p.m. Lance and Justin are staying here tonight. The ice sculptures and cakes arrive tomorrow at 8 a.m. Lindsay and Marie and the other people in the wedding party arrive tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.” Albert said.
“Is the surprise that Justin and Lance are presenting to Lindsay and Marie ready?” Richard asked
“The birds arrive tomorrow at 8 a.m. and we have worked on the song that we are to sing for the past 6 months.” J.C. said, “We have to pick up our tuxes in 2 hours and the rings are in the safe in Johnny’s room.”
“The photographer is coming at 8 a.m. to start taking pictures of part of the wedding party and a few of the guests that have been selected.” Johnny replied.
~~The Big Day~~
At 8 a.m. Lindsay and I were busy doing our hair and nails. At 10:00 a.m. we left my house and headed to Johnny’s. He let us in through the kitchen door and we went to the downstairs bedroom to get ready. The photographer came in to the room to take a few pictures and then he left.
At 12 p.m. we walked down the aisle with our brothers by our side. At 12:15 we said our vows and the priest pronounced us man and wife. At 12:30 Lance and Justin presented us with their gifts. They, along with J.C., Joey and Chris preformed a medley of This I Promise You and That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You. While they were singing, 1000 white doves were released and flew over our heads. They circled twice and flew out of sight over Johnny’s house.
“Aren’t you glad that we didn’t blow up into big balloons?” Lindsay asked
“Yes, and look at our sexy our husbands look.’ I commented
“Husbands, can you believe that we are finally married to the 2 most sexiest, talented, and caring men? I can’t believe that I am finally Mrs. Justin Randall Timberlake.” Lindsay said
“And I am Mrs. James Lance Bass.”
We watched them finish their song and then we began taking pictures. At 2 p.m. we made our way to the house to be seated for the start of the reception.
~~ 7 Hours Later~~
“We want to thank all of you for coming to our wedding,” Justin said
“We are so glad that you could be here to help us celebrate our love for each other.” Lance continued
“We hate to do this but if we don’t leave now, then we will miss our flight to Switzerland. We will be back in 7 days and tell you all about it when we return.” Lindsay and I said. We left for the airport in the limo.
***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***
The first night of the honeymoon, Lance and I had no idea what we wanted to do. We didn’t even know what Lindsay and Justin were doing, and we didn’t really care. We sat in front of the fireplace and a romantic dinner. As we were sitting in front of the fireplace, Lance began to sing to me.
“Have I told you lately, that I love you?
Have I told you how much I care?
You fill my heart with joy and gladness
Take away all my sadness
Ease my troubles…that’s what you do”
Then we kissed. Even though I was 5 months pregnant and gained about 15 pounds, he was still able to pick me up and carry me to the bed. I’ll stop with that night right there because it gets R rated and I want to keep this PG or PG 13 at the most.
The next morning, I woke up to the smell of eggs, ham, and fresh squeezed orange juice. Ok, we could have had some kind of authentic breakfast food, but Lance opted for something more American, not knowing how my stomach would react to the food. I sat up in bed and Lance was standing at the end of it with a single red rose and a teddy bear with a heart shaped pillow with the words I Love You on it. On the dresser behind him, there was a tape player, and in it was our song, “I’ll Stand By You” by The Pretenders. He pushed play on the recorder and slowly walked toward me. He helped me out of bed and we dance to the song. While we were dancing our baby began to move a lot. Lance and I were really close and she kicked really hard and Lance felt it.
“Wow, she has a powerful kick there,” Lance said
“Yeah, one day she might grow up to be the next Mia Hamm!” I said. We both laughed and sat at the table to eat.
From that day on, whenever we player “Ill Stand By You” by The Pretenders, the baby moved a lot, sort of like she was dancing to it.
Our honeymoon was almost over so we decided to call Lindsay and Justin’s room to see if they wanted to go sit seeing with us. They agreed and we left 1 hour later to take pictures and video some of the sites that we visited to show the rest of the family when we got back home.
We left Switzerland on the 25th of June because *N SYNC would have to start touring again. When we got to the airport in Florida, there wasn’t anyone there to pick us up. I called home to see if they had left or something, but no one was home. We got outside and Lance and Justin got one of those vans that are for large groups and had the driver take us home. Once home, Justin tipped the driver $50 and asked him not to tell anybody where we lived.
The bags were brought inside the house and left by the foot of the stairwell and we wondered the house looking for search of life. We got to the family room and opened the sliding door and the family yelled, “SURPRIZE!”
“What’s with all the yelling of surprise? You must want Lindsay and me to go into premature labor or something.”
“Oh, no we wouldn’t want that.” My mom said
“Besides, you have to tell us what Switzerland was like.” Ruby said
“Here, Lance and Justin made a video of all that we did on the 7 happy days away from all you annoying people.” I laughed, “And we even have gifts from everyone…chocolate and stuffed animals and some other things.” Lindsay and I passed out the gifts and Justin put the tape in. The tape was about 2 hours long and then there were lots and lots of pictures to be shown.
“Mom, is it alright if we all stay in one house when Lance and the guys leave for their tour on the 1st? I was thinking my place because it was closer to the hospital.”
“Sure I will,” My mom said, “Lindsay, and Ruby, are you going to be staying too?”
“Yup, we sure are,” they said, “ Justin doesn’t want me in the house by myself since I’d have to walk up too many stairs to get to my room.”
“Well, I’m just looking out for you. That’s my job, I’m your husband now and I have to take care of my family.”
“I know honey, that’s why I love you so much.” Lindsay said
“And I’m over here thinking that you married me for my good looks and money.” Justin said as he kissed her
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Shelly and Christina said.
“Well, we won’t be alone too much because Judy, Shelly and Christina will be over every single day that they might as well move in while you guys are away.” I said
“That’s not a bad idea,” Judy said, “What do you think, Shelly and Christina?”
“Fine with us.” They said
“Ok. Now you guys don’t have to worry about us being alone.” Lindsay said to the guys.
“Are the baby things moved to their right houses?” my mom asked Albert and Richie
“Yup, we finished the last of it a couple of days ago.” They said
“Really, so we don’t have to worry about moving things around after the babies are born?” Justin said
“That’s right, but you’ll probably want to put the crib and dressers the way you want. But the walls are painted light blue for the baby boy and light pink for the baby girl.” Albert said
“Wow, you really shouldn’t have gone through all the trouble. It could have been done later, after the baby was born.” Lance said, “But thank you so much.”
July 1st came and we all went to the airport to see them off and then we went back to my hose and watched all the chick flicks that we could order on HBO and ate everything that we could find that had chocolate in it. Lindsay and I didn’t eat too much because it started to upset our stomachs. The 2 and a half – 3 months went by fast, because the next thing we know, the guys were back from their tour and we were getting ready for the 2 new additions to the family.
The guys got home on September 28 at 6 am, 2 days a head of schedule. They had gifts for everyone. They even had little baby *N SYNC shirts made up that had everyone’s name on it. There were also pictures that were passed around and the most special thing was given to us, mainly for Shelly, Judy, and Christina, was the dedication on their new album that was put out after the tour. It said, “*N SYNC would like to dedicate this album their wives and those who helped them get this far in their career. We LOVE you all very much!”
“Wives, is that a typo?” Shelly asked J.C.
“No,” he said. Then J.C., Chris and Joey got down on one knee in front of their girlfriends and proposed.
“Shelly, will you marry me?” J.C. asked
“Christina, will you marry me?” Chris asked
“Judy, will you marry me?” Joey asked.
Of course they all said yes. We were all very excited and tired at the same time so we went back to sleep. Later on in the day, after we all got a good amount of sleep, everyone left and went back to their homes. In the days that followed, we got together to plan the individual weddings. Shelly and J.C wanted just family and close friends. Chris and Christina wanted lots of people but decided to go small and simple. Joey and Judy wanted a small wedding too. Judy, Shelly and Christina all agreed that they wanted Lindsay and I to be apart of the ceremony and that they wanted us to help them make their dresses. They would use the same catering company, and photographer that Lindsay and I used. They also decided to wait until the next year to get married…one wedding right after the other starting in January with Joey and Judy. Chris and Christina planned theirs for March and J.C. and Shelly planned theirs for September. I knew that next year was going to be a very hectic year.
~~October 8, 2005~~
At 10 am I was awakened by a telephone call from Justin, “Lindsay’s water just broke and we are on our way to the hospital.”
“Ok, we will be there in 10 minutes” I said, “See you there.” I hung up the phone and woke up Lance. He called everyone else and 30 minutes later, there were 12 people waiting in the waiting room.
“Honey,” Lindsay said through the contractions, “I just want you know that if I say anything mean, I don’t really mean. I am just in a lot of pain.”
“I know” Justin said, “I want you to know that I will never leave your side…no matter what!” he kissed her on the forehead just as the next, and last contraction came.
Lindsay was in labor for almost 17 hours. At 3 a.m. on October 9th, 2005, Joseph Randall Timberlake was born. He weighed 6 lbs. 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. He has curly light brown hair and crystal blue eyes. “Oh, Lindsay, he is so handsome. He has your mouth and Justin’s eyes.” Ruby said
“Who held him first?” Albert asked
“I did,” Justin said, “I was right next to the doctor and right after he came out of the birth canal, I cut the umbilical cord and he was placed in my arms.” Lindsay stayed in the hospital for 2 days after Joseph was born. On October 11th she left from the hospital.
~~17 days later~~
On October 28th at 3 p.m., I was putting some clothes away when I got a sharp pain in my stomach. I dismissed it because I though I poked my stomach on the side of the dresser. Then 15 minutes later I had another sharp pain. This time I knew that it was something because I was sitting on the sofa watching t.v. I was at home by myself and Lance and the other guys were about 1 hour away working and I didn’t want to bother them, so I called Shelly and she came and got me and drove me to the hospital. Christina called and let them know that we were at the hospital and they got there 20 minutes later.
“You must have been speeding.” Judy said
“I wasn’t driving” Joey said, “Lance was. He wanted to get here in time for the birth.”
“Well he just made it,” The nurse said, “we had to induce labor because she was 10 days past her due date and the doctor thought that the baby might be in danger if we were to let labor happen naturally.”
“Is Marie going to be alright?” Lindsay asked
“Yes, Mrs. Bass is doing just fine,” she said, “Mr. Bass is right next to her, and when I left the room he was singing to her.”
I had a long and hard labor. But from what I could remember, Lance was by my side the entire time. My labor lasted 10 hours and at 1:15 a.m. on October 29th, Joy Lily Bass was born. She weighed 5 lbs. 7ounces she was about 15 inches long. She had light skin and straight light brown hair, and she has hazel/green eyes. The first time she opened her eyes was when the doctor placed her in Lance’s arms right after she was born.
On October 31st, I left the hospital and when Lance I got home; we were welcomed by everyone in the family. Baby Joseph was asleep in his daddy’s arms and Ruby just couldn’t help but take like 60 million pictures. Ok, it really wasn’t that many pictures, but you get the point.
I sat in the rocking chair that Lance’s mom sent for the baby shower. We actually had 2 rocking chairs like that. One was upstairs in the Baby’s room and the other in the family room.
“Lance and I were talking on the way over,” I said when I got situated in the chair, “and we want all of you to be the Godparents of Joy, if you want to, that is.”
“What do you think, Shelly?” J.C. asked
“Yes, I’d love to.” She said
“So do we.” Chris and Christina said
“Don’t forget about us, we will too.” Joey said after Judy looked at him
“Ok, Father Dan, the priest that married us, said that he would perform the dedication when she is 2 weeks old.” Lance said
“Lance, can you hold her, I have to get something from one of my bags.” Lance took Joy from my arms and I got up out of the chair and he sat down.
I went to the overnight bag that I packed to go with me to the hospital and brought it back to the room. “One of the nurses took this picture and I just had to show you guy.” I took the picture out of the bag and showed it to them.
“What is the picture of Honey?” Lance asked. When I got the picture back I showed him. It was Lance holding Joy a few hours after she was born and he was asleep. They looked so peaceful together. I had 6 copies of that picture made. I gave one to my mom, one to Diane, one to Lance, one for the baby book; one framed and put on the dresser of Joy’s room and the last one I kept. We also go the pictures developed from when Lindsay and I were in the hospital. Lindsay gave everyone their picture of them holding Joseph and I gave everyone their picture of them holding Joy.
~~Two weeks later~~
Joy’s dedication was very pretty. She was given a gold cross and chain from her Aunts’ Shelly, Lindsay, Judy and Christina. She got a gold bracelet from her Uncles’ Chris, J.C., Justin, Joey, Albert, and Richard, Jr. Grandma Mary and Nana Ruby started a college fund in her name. Lance and I were just really happy to have our family around us.
A few weeks later, when Joseph was about 1 month old, Lindsay and Justin were in the process of planning Joseph’s dedication when something really terrible happened…
~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~
What do you think happened that was so terrible? Stay tuned to find out.
Everyone was over at Lindsay and Justin’s house. Joy and Joseph were asleep in the downstairs playroom and they guys were off working on their new CD. Us girls were in the kitchen gossiping and doing what women do.
“So Lindsay, you were telling us about Joseph’s dedication, when is it?” Shelly asked
“It’s in a couple of weeks. Justin and I want to take care of some other things first.” She said
“Is Father Dan going to perform the dedication?” I asked
“Yeah, that’s another reason why we are waiting and not having the ceremony sooner. Father Dan has some prior plans and he said that he would be free then.”
I got up from the bar stool and walked over to the sink. On the way there I passed the baby monitor and I turned it up. I heard Joy crying so I went to see what was wrong. When I got to the baby room, I saw that Joseph’s face was all blue. “Joseph!” I screamed, “Lindsay get in here fast!”
By the time Lindsay came to me I was already on the phone calling the paramedics and I Joseph in my hands. I handed the phone to Shelly and told her to tell me what the operator said to do. Lindsay was in such a mess that Christina had a hard time calming her down. They guys were just coming in the kitchen and saw that it was a mess.
“Where did they go?” Joey asked
“I don’t know…Shhh do you hear that?” Lance asked he walked over to the baby monitor and he heard Joy crying and Justin heard Lindsay crying and they were off to the baby room. When Lance came in the room he quickly picked up Joy and she stopped crying. 5 minutes later the paramedics were at the house and they finished the CPR. The color in his skin returned to normal and to this day we don’t know what happened.
“If you would have started CPR any later, then he wouldn’t have made it.” The paramedic said, “You saved his life.”
“I would have done the same thing to my own daughter.” I said, “He’s family so it was nothing.”
The paramedics left and we took our babies and went into the living room. We were all still in shock. “How did you know that something was wrong?” Justin said holding Joseph
“When I walked over to the sink I noticed that the monitor was low so I turned it up. It was just enough for me to hear Joy crying and I went to see what was wrong with her, when I got there I saw Joseph laying in the crib with a blue face. Everyone heard me scream and came to see what was wrong.”
“So really it was Joy who saved my baby – her cousin’s life.” Lindsay said.
~Two weeks later~
Everything was back to normal now. We had Joseph’s dedication as planned and now we were at my mom’s house getting ready for dinner.
“Thanksgiving is coming up next week.” My mom said, “What are everyone’s plans?”
“Lance, Joy and I are going to Mississippi for a few days.” I said
“We are staying here in Florida and some of my family is going to come for dinner,” Justin said
“J.C. and I are going to his parents for dinner.” Shelly said
“Chris and I are going to go to both of our family’s for Thanksgiving Dinner.” Christina said
“Joey, what are you and Judy going to do?” Ruby asked
“We haven’t really thought about it. Maybe we’ll do like Chris and Christina, and go to both of our parents’ for dinner.” Joey said
“Babe, remember, my parent are going on that cruise for Thanksgiving?” Judy said
“That’s right, so I guess we are going to my parents’ place for Thanksgiving.”
“Mom, what are you doing?” Lance asked
“I was going to go to Michigan for a few weeks and come back around the second week in December.” She said, “I have a lot of pictures to give out and other family member to see.”
After dinner at my Mom’s house we all left to go home and go to sleep. By the time Lance and I got home it was 10:30 p.m., but I still had cleaning to do. Lance took Joy and put her in the crib and came down to the kitchen to help me clean.
“Why don’t you leave that clean for tomorrow?” Lance suggested
I put the dishrag in the sink and grabbed the baby monitor and followed him up the stairs. I took a hot shower and put on my nightgown. Lance was already asleep in the bed when I got done. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold. We didn’t wake up until the phone rang at 5:30 in the morning. Lance answered the phone. “Good morning Johnny…I didn’t forget about the meeting…I was just about to take my shower and leave…ok see you in 30 minutes.” He hung up the phone and went to take his shower. He came out of the bathroom, gave me a kiss, “I will probably be home a little late tonight.” He walked down the hall and checked on Joy and then he left out to go to Johnny’s.
I woke up about 5 hours after Lance left. I walked to Joy’s room to finds her awake and looking at herself in her little mirror that is on the side of the crib.
“Good morning, Joy.” I said. When she heard me say her name she looked up at me. I picked her up and brought her back into my bathroom to give her a bath.
At about 10:30 a.m. I went downstairs and put Joy in her carrier and began to clean the kitchen. I had a lot to do before we were to leave on Saturday and I wanted to get has much of that stuff done today so that tomorrow I could just relax as much as possible.
My mom came over at noon to help me pack something’s for Jim, Diane and the rest of Lance’s family. She watched Joy when I went to pick up some dry cleaning and place orders for Christmas things. When I got home my mom had everything packed and she was playing with Joy on the living room floor.
“Hi, mom…I’m home.” I said as I came in the front door.
“Back so soon…I was hoping to spend some ore time with time with my Grandbaby.” My mom said
“Oh really?” I said, “Then you wouldn’t mind to much if I brought her over tonight around 10 so that Lance and I can have some together time?”
“No, I don’t mind at all.” She said, “Did you have something planned for tonight?”
“Yeah. Tonight is the 4 year anniversary of the day that we went public with our relationship.”
“Do you really think that he is going to remember?” my mom asked
“Yeah, he was the one to show me the magazine article a few weeks ago. That’s when we decided to celebrate tonight.”
“I remember...that was also the day that your Father and I found out too. Then the next day you brought him over and introduced him to the family.”
“Oh, before I forget…are you busy Saturday?”
“No, why?”
“That is the day that we leave for Mississippi and I don’t want to leave one of our cars at the airport or call a taxi, so can you take us?”
“Sure, what time is your flight?”
“It’s at noon, but we want to be there at 11 am. There is going to be a lot of people there so can you be here at 9:30 a.m. to give us time to get there and all situated?”
“Sure. Well, I’m going to get going because I have some errands to do. I’ll se later on tonight.” My mom handed Joy to me and gave me a hug and a kiss and left.
My mom left at 3 p.m. and then I called Lindsay to see if she was home and felt like doing some shopping. “Ok, I’ll be over in 30 minutes.” She said
We did a lot of shopping and had a late lunch. When I got home it was about 6 p.m. and I was just about to feed Joy when Lance called. “Hi honey. I can’t talk much because this was just a quick break that we had. I wanted to tell you that Judy and Joey invited everyone over for dinner tonight.”
“Ok, what time?”
“About 7:30/8 p.m. why? Do you have a hot date with someone?”
“Yes, I do.”
“With who?” Lance asked taking the phone out of my hand
“Wait, I thought that you said you just had a quick break?”
“I lied, I was really pulling up the driveway when I called you. So who is this guy that you have a hot date with?”
“My handsome husband, some wine and the Jacuzzi.” I said kissing him
“Oh really, maybe we should call Joey and tell him that we might have to take a rain check on dinner.”
“No, let’s wait until tonight. Mom said that she would watch Joy for the night and bring her over tomorrow.”
“Ok, I guess so.” He said with a disappointed look on his face, “So where is my baby at any way?”
“She’s in the swing by the patio door.” I said taking Lance’s things and walking towards his office to put them up.
“How’s my little baby doing? Did you and mommy have fun today?”
“Do you really expect her to answer you?” I asked Lance as I handed him his mail
“Not really, but I would be very surprised if she did answer me.”
“So how far did you guys get with the new CD?” I asked grabbing my jacket and cell phone
“We finished 3 tracks and started on the 4th one. We hope to finish the rest of them tomorrow so that we don’t have to worry about it over Thanksgiving. Are you ready to go?”
“I have to call mom and tell her to pick up Joy at Joey’s house at 9:30 p.m.”
“Ok, I’ll take Joy and go to the car.”
I called mom and told her. Then I grabbed Joy’s changing bag and left out the house to go to Joey and Judy’s house.
We got to Judy and Joey’s house at 7:10 and everyone was just sitting around talking. When we walked in the door, all of the guys came up to us.
“Where is she? I wanna see the little baby…” they all said.
“I don’t have her, Lance does. You have to fight him to see her though. He’s very protective of men looking at his baby girl.” I laughed and walked past them to put my things down. I went to talk to who ever wasn’t swarming around the two babies.
“That’s funny how all the guys are acting around the babies.” Lindsay said to me as I joined her, Shelly, Judy and Christina
“I know, they act as if they haven’t seem them in months or years.” Judy said, “I couldn’t even get Joey to help he cook or set up when he got home. I he did was talk about the babies and how he couldn’t wait to see them.
“I think it’s kinda cute the way Chris acts around Joy and Joseph…” Christina said with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Is someone itching to have children?” I said poking fun at her
“So what if I wanna have children. I think that Chris and I would be very good parents!”
“No one is saying that you wouldn’t be good…Oh never mind. Let’s just help Shelly set the table so that we can eat.” I said
“Hey, how long until the food is done?” Joey yelled
“Come and find out for yourself!” Judy said
“I think that it’s ready” Justin said
“It’s ready,” I said, “but you have to go wash you icky hands and then you can eat.” They all ran past us to get to the bathroom first. J.C gave Joseph to Lindsay and Chris gave Joy to me and they were off to wash their hands. A few minutes later they came back and sat down ready to eat.
“Joey, aren’t you forgetting something? We have the food but no drinks…can you please go get them?” Judy asked
“Ok, I’ll have back in a flash.” He said
When Lance came back he took Joy from me and sat down to give her a bottle. “Honey, where is Joy’s bottle?”
“Here it is.” I said handing it to him
“Thanks.”
Joey came back with 2 Diet Pepsis, 2 Diet Cokes, and 1 diet 7-UP; all of the guys wanted some special Kool-Aid that Joey made. “For dinner, we have spaghetti and meat balls, salad and garlic bread.” He said as he passed around the salad.
We ate all of the food and we made the guys clean up. Us girls went into the living room and watched them clean and just had fun relaxing. “Dinner was really good.” I said, “Thanks for the invite.”
“Oh, it was no problem. I was in the cooking mood and I told Joey to invite you guys over.” Judy said.
“I still can’t believe that he didn’t help you cook or set the table!” Shelly said
“I’ve learned to live with it. Sometimes I force him to and other times I know that he is really tired and so I don’t bug him about it.”
“I would have asked him to at least set the table...it would be the least that he could do because you have to cook for a lot of people.” I said, “But Lance isn’t like that…”
“We know…we know, he helps out around the house and cleans up after himself.” They all said
“Well, just is the same as Lance. I guess it has something to do with us being the mothers’ of their children. I think that J.C., Joey and Chris will change once you get married and have children.” Lindsay said.
“Someone’s cell is ringing…” Justin said. We all jumped up to see whose it was.
“It’s mine…” I said, “Hi mom…yeah we are done with dinner…ok, you’ll be here in a few minutes…see you then, bye. Lance, mom is on the way to pick up Joy.”
“Ok,” Lance said, “I guess we should get ready to go too.”
“Oh, leaving so soon? Why?” Judy asked
“Marie and I have a special night planned.” Lance said.
“Thinking of adding more members to you’re family???” Chris asked winking his eye at Lance
“Wouldn’t you like to know?!” I said.
“Yeah, we should leave too.” Justin said to Lindsay, “We have that… you know…thing to do tonight.”
“Right, don’t forget that we have to drop off Joseph at my mom’s.” Lindsay said as they walked out the door.
A few minutes later my mom came to pick up Joy and Lance and I left 10 minutes later. Everyone else stayed and talked longer.
When Lance and I got home it was 10 p.m. I put the wine in the refrigerator and Lance turned on the Jacuzzi. I was already in when Lance came outside. There was light background music playing.
“Our song…you remembered…I’m touched.” I said
“How could I forget?” Lance said getting in the Jacuzzi and handing me a glass of wine.
Everything that could go right that night went right. We had no distractions and it was just perfect.
~Thanksgiving Day~
“Here comes the turkey…” Jim said as he walked out of the kitchen with a large golden brown turkey on a silver platter.
“Wow, that looks beautiful” Diane said, “you men really out did yourselves this year!”
“For dinner,” Lance said, “we have turkey, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and homemade rolls. Ford…tell them what we are having for dessert…”
“Ok…for dessert, we have apple pie and peach cobbler and of course vanilla ice cream.”
“My favorite!” Stacy said
“Let’s skip dinner and go straight to dessert.” I laughed
“Oh no…we are going to eat all of this food and them we can have dessert!” Jim said
“Plus, we didn’t slave away in a hot kitchen since 5 this morning for that you could go straight to dessert!” Jim and Lance said
“Now you know how we feel!” Diane said
“Did you here about that big house in Jackson that’s up for sale?” Jim asked Lance
“Yeah, mom was telling me about it earlier today. I was thinking that Marie and I could go look at it tomorrow.”
“It’s a really nice house, and I really would like to have you guys closer to us.” Diane said
“I miss seeing my niece. This is the first time since she was born that we have seen her.” Stacy said. We finished dinner and then cleaned up. Lance and I took Joy for a walk so that she could fall asleep.
The next day we drove to Jackson to look at the house that was for sale. “Hi, I’m Mr. Donaldson, would you like to take a look around?”
“Sure.” Lance and I said
“So, what kind of house are you looking for?”
“Something not too big and not too small, a place that’s big enough for our daughter to have someplace to play.” I said
“Then this just could be the place for you…”
We were shown the kitchen, all 6 bedrooms and the backyard (which had a very large pool and nice Jacuzzi). “So what do you think of the house?” Mr. Donaldson asked
“I like it…let’s buy it Lance!” I said
“Are you sure? Don’t you want to see if there are any other houses for sale?”
“No, this is the house that I want!”
“Ok, Mr. Donaldson. It looks like you just sold this house. I will come back next week to finalize the papers.
~2 Months later~
January 2006 we moved to Mississippi. Joy is almost 4 months old and I am 2 months pregnant. We still have our house in Florida because I still want it. Plus we would need someplace to stay while visiting in Florida or doing business.
Joey and Judy got married on January 22nd. They had a blue and white wedding. They also had lots of flowers and a very beautiful balloon arch. They honeymooned in the U.S. side of the Niagara Falls. When they got back, we had 1 big birthday bash…one for Justin who was turning 25 and the other for Joey who was turning 29. In February we celebrated Shelly’s 28th birthday.
~March 2006~
On March 12th, Christina and Chris tied the knot. They had a burgundy and white wedding. They went to Australia for their honeymoon. When they got back, we had a party for Christina who was turning 33 on the 27th.
Joy and Joseph are now 6 months old and I am 4 months pregnant and hard at work on my maternity line for my clothing company. Lance and I decided to spend the rest of the year in Florida, but once they started touring I would spend at least 3 months in Mississippi. Lindsay is busy with her clothing line. Justin is busy working with Lindsay and taking care of his family. Joey and Judy are busy with whatever it is that they do when they have free time.
~May and June 2006~
On May 4th we celebrated Lance’s 27th birthday. *N SYNC did a lot of T.V. appearances and other public events throughout May and June. There were also about to release their 9th album. They worked really hard this past year and were able to do 2 really good albums in one year so that they could have even more songs to perform at their last concert tour next year.
Lance’s parents agreed to take Joy for the weekend of our 1-year anniversary. Justin asked his mom if she would watch Joseph for the weekend so that they could celebrate their anniversary. She agreed and we were all off to our separate places to celebrate 1 year of marriage.
The rest of June *N SYNC did more T.V. appearances and other public events to promote their two new albums and their upcoming tour. The first album that was released is called “An End to All the Lies” and the second album is called “New and Improved”. They are also going to update all the fans on what they have been doing since their last tour. They are going to do a kind of tell all on The View.
~August 2006~
On August 8th we celebrated J.C.’s 30th birthday. We had a lot of fun. Johnny actually threw him a surprise party and J.C. really didn’t see it coming. Here is how it happened…on his birthday, Johnny called him to his office sounding really pissed off and like he was in a lot of trouble. J.C. shows up at Johnny’s house and tells him that he needs to cut down on how much he is spending on his wedding or he’s going to run out of money really fast. They walk into Johnny’s office and when J.C opens the door, we all yell surprise. And the rest is history.
On August 13th at 7 p.m. Matthew James Bass was born in Orlando Florida. He weighed 7 lbs 7 ounces. He has brown hair and brown eyes, but is light skinned…very different than his sister, but that was to be expected because everyone in my family has dark skin.
Joy and Joseph are walking a lot…they aren’t very good, but they do manage to get into a lot of things. Joy loves eating spaghetti and Joseph loves cereal, like his daddy. The one thing that they have in common is that they love being with their daddies. Lance and Justin absolutely adore Joseph and Joy and spoil them to death. Then again, every one spoils Joy and Joseph.
On August 31st, we had a quiet 24th birthday dinner for Lindsay…that’s what she wanted, but then after dinner we all went out clubbin, To celebrate the right way.
~September 2006~
On September 3rd, 2006 Joshua Scott Chasez and Shelly Candice Monroe got married. They had a lavender and white wedding. There were lilacs and lilies all over; they honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico.
When they got back, I celebrated my 24th birthday by staying in bed and having my husband do whatever I needed done. That night we all went to club Mambo and had a really good time. Joy and Joseph are 11 months old. My mom moved to Michigan to be closer to her brothers and sisters. Ruby decided to stay in Florida with her new boyfriend. Richie and Andrea (my brother and sister) moved away and started their own families. Albert and Tasha (Lindsay’s brother and sister) moved to New York; started their own families and they are now working in the entertainment industry.
~October 2006~
Now that everyone is married and doing well, *N SYNC is still traveling nonstop to continue to promote their upcoming tour. We celebrated Chris’ 35th birthday and Joseph and Joy’s 1st birthday on Halloween with a Halloween/ Birthday Bash. All of our families came down for the celebration. Most of them decided to stay until the end of the year, but others only stayed for a couple of weeks to 1 month. With the ok of Justin and Lindsay we got Joseph and Joy a puppy and Lindsay and Justin got them a tricycle.
~December 2006~
Christmas time in our 2 houses was a total mess! Joy and Joesph always found the gifts that we wrapped for them and everything we took the toys away, they would cry and scream bloody murder, but they eventually got over it.
On Christmas Eve, Johnny threw a big Christmas Party. We also celebrated Judy’s birthday which was on December 18th…she turned 29. At the party, there was lots of food and toys to keep everyone entertained.
Both albums that *N SYNC released earlier in the year went double platinum. “After the Christmas Holiday we have to start the tour guys…” Johnny said
“What? Why so soon” Judy asked, “Joey won’t even be here for our one year anniversary.”
“You guys can come along if you want.” Johnny said
“We can’t miss 3 to 6 months of work?” Judy, Christina and Shelly said, “We will loose out on a lot of money.”
“How about if you just fly to where we are for the weekend of your anniversary?” He continued
“I think we can do that.” Shell said
“When will you guys be back?” Lindsay asked
“The end May/early June…but since it is our last tour we aren’t really that positive.” Lance said
“Will you guys still record?” Christina asked
“Of course we will.” Chris said
“But we won’t have any more tours for a while.” Justin added
“We will do a lot of T.V. appearances and other public events throughout the time that we are off, but nothing too major.
Early January of 2007, the guys left for the first part of their tour in Europe and the second part would be in the U.S. The rest of us tried to get on with life the best that we could. But we always knew that our husbands would be coming back…sooner than we thought because we knew that the 3 months would go by really fast, then they would be in the U.S. and then they would be done touring for sometime.
~20 Years Later~
**James Lance Bass & Marie Lanai Bass**
Lance and I have been married for 21 years and we have 5 children and 1 grandchild. Our children are: Joy (21), Matthew (20), Priscilla (17), James, Jr. (15), and Stephanie (5). Joy has a 2-month-old daughter named Marissa. For half the year we live in Mississippi and the other half of the year we live in Florida. I still have my clothing line and Lance has 3 production companies.
**Justin Randall Timberlake & Lindsay Michelle Timberlake**
Justin and Lindsay have also bee married for 21 years. They have 3 children and 2 grandchildren. Their children are: Joseph Randall (21), Shania (18), and Carina (15). Joseph is married and has twin boys named Micah and Joseph Randall, Jr. (3 months old). Joseph and Joy are best friends and talk to each other all of the time. Justin and Lindsay live in Tennessee. Justin is the owner of a major T.V. production company in Florida and Lindsay still has her clothing line, too.
**Joseph Anthony Fatone, Jr. & Judith Renell Fatone**
Joey and Judy have been married for 20 years. They have 3 children: Joseph Anthony III (20), and twin 13-year-old girls named Leandra and Jennifer. They live in New York and Joey owns his own restaurant Judy is the manager for a couple of very talented models that model for Lindsay and me.
**Christopher Allen Kirkpatrick & Christina Nova Kirkpatrick**
Chris and Christina have been married for 20 years. They have 3 children: Chris Jr, (20), Paul (18) and Melanie (16). They live in Florida and are hard at work on Chris’ clothing line…FuMan Skeeto.
**Joshua Scott Chasez & Shelly Candice Chasez**
J.C. and Shelly have been married for 20 years. They have 4 children: Alison (17), Kirsten (12), Joshua, Jr. (7) and Jakob (3). Half of the year they live in California and the other half they live in Florida. Shelly works in the television industry and J.C. manages some new musical groups.
Throughout the 28 + years that the guys have known each other and have been a group, they have put out about 12 albums – all of which have either gone platinum or double platinum. They have since retired form performing, but they are all still connected to the music industry in some way.
Throughout the 25 years that Lindsay and I have know the guys, better known as *N SYNC, our lives have never been the same. We are all one big happy family – a big family with 18 children and 3 grandchildren – but we love it and can’t complain. Never have I seen so many people in one place for a birthday party, Christmas dinner or 4th of July bar-b-que, than when we all get together. We love to hear the guys sing together because it brings back so many fond memories. I can always remember hearing Lance and Justin talk on the phone saying how the can still hear abed see the close to 50,000 fans packed in a stadium waving banners and posters that say “We LOVE *N SYNC!” or “Justin, will you marry me?” written on them.
Then that’s when I wake up and realize that it was all a dream. I turn on the lamp on my nightstand and look at the clock…3:30 a.m. I look at the calendar…June 18th, 2010. I turn out the light and lay back down.
“Honey, is everything all right?” The voice next to me asked
“Yeah, I’m fine.” And as I go back to sleep I realize that I AM married to the man of my dreams…Lance Bass…it our 5-year anniversary. Joy is 4 years old and Matthew is 3 years old.
So…it was all a dream… all a dream… all a dream…OR WAS IT???
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