Chapter 2
Afternoon before the tour starts…
In a big outdoor, open area at
Johnny's house a huge party was being held.
Johnny purposely had it in the afternoon so people could get sleep
before the big day. Two Huge tents were
set up. Catered food was being served under one. Lounge
chairs were scattered everywhere. It was
like the mother of all backyard barbecues.
Meredith had enjoyed herself at the party but was not the overly bubbly
girl she usually was. She had remained kind
of quiet and to herself unless someone spoke to her. Chris had managed to get her to sit down and
have a talk with him.
"So, you guys got
girlfriends?"
"I thought you would already
have all the dirt by now." Chris stated.
"Well I know that JC has been
on a few dates with that one girl, what's her name? Cindy? Yeah,
Cindy. But he says its nothing serious, yet. I can tell he REALLY likes her
though. He told me when he gets back from touring if she is still single they
will probably start dating officially or something. He had some logic behind it but I didn't
really comprehend it." Meredith
chuckled.
"Yeah, JC gets kinda weird
with that type of stuff. But he always seems
to know what he is doing."
"Well, anyway, I also know
Joey is dating like a million girls, but who doesn't know that?"
"The million girls that think
Joey is just theirs." Chris and Meredith both laughed, then Joey
walked by them with a plateful of food and smiled. They immediately went silent until he was out
of range and then busted out laughing again.
"Whew man, that was
great. What was so funny about that
anyway?" Meredith asked.
"I have no clue."
"Well, back to the lecture at
hand, hehe, Lance brought his girl tonight, right? I haven't seen him yet but I thought I saw
the back of him with his arm around a short girl. I figured it was him and Leslie."
"Yeah,
probably so. He really likes her. She's a nice girl. Let's go find her and I'll introduce
you."
"Hold up cowboy, I need to
know about you. Any girls in your back
pocket I should know about?"
"I've been dating this gal
name Danielle for about two years now..." He said with a country accent.
"WOW!! Who is this girl?? And how does she put up with you? I need to meet her and pin a medal to her. She must be a warrior!!" Meredith joked.
Chris sighed and dreamily looked
down at the grass. "Yeah, she's
something all right. I wish she could be
here but she had an interview for Fuman in
"Awww,
precious. HEHE. That's really sweet Chris. I've never seen you look like that. You must really love her."
"Yeah, I do. She's amazing. You remind me of her. She has your same sense of humor. I hope you'll get to meet her sometime
because you two would become best friends instantly, I'm sure."
"That would be great, Chris."
Meredith looked at him and smiled. He
looked down at the ground one more time and then back up to Meredith.
"Mere, I'm really sorry about
the way Justin's been treating you. I know it's not my job to apoligize for him but still. It's not that cool of him. he has no
right to prejudge you like that. Hopefully, he's just having a rough days and being stupid.
"It's cool." Meredith laughed
playfully. "I only wish all the members of *Nsync could like me. But I guess I'll have to settle with just
'sync'."
"Don't worry about Justin, if he wants to be like that, then it's his loss for
not wanting to spend time with a great girl like you." Chris winked.
"Wait a minute, Joey what
have you done with Chris??" Meredith asked looking around.
"I'm serious Meredith you are
a great person..."
"You winked at me? Said you were serious? OH no!! Joey and JC
have taken over Chris's body, somebody call 911!!"
"Shut up, squirt!"
"Hey, only special people can
call me that"
"Aren't I special?"
Chris whined
"OF course,
my love! Well, anyway thanks for saying
that, it means a lot. And I'm glad we've
worked things out. I guess I'll just be
as nice to Justin as I can and maybe he will be forced to be nice back."
"Speak of the devil..."
Chris mumbled as they both watched Justin and a tall extremely beautiful girl
with long straight blonde hair approach them.
Meredith looked at the girl. She was too much. TOO Beautiful, Meredith thought. She was perfect, and Meredith couldn't help
but notice how well the girl's perfection complemented Justin's
perfection. Justin had on khakis and a
light blue-green button up shirt that was unbuttoned to expose his white wife
beater. His curls were gelled perfectly
and Meredith took notice of this because every other time she had seen him he had
a hat on, besides the first day she met him when his hair was flying
everywhere.
Meredith looked at the girl
again. Her tight 3/4 length bright pink
shirt left no curve to the imagination. It's low V-neck showed off much cleavage and her short black
silk skirt was a little too short Meredith believed. Her feet were adorned with 2-inch white
Candies and Meredith was shocked that the girl could actually walk in grass
with them. Her hair was long, blonde and Meredith was sure that most of it must
have been extensions, although she couldn't really tell. Her make up was done very well and sparkly
and her glossy pout seemed to be a weapon used to attack men. Her outfit was
too much. It looked as if the girl had
just got back from a club but it was only
Then she looked down at her own
outfit. A surge of jealousy and
awkwardness flooded her brain. Meredith
sat there with Birkenstocks on her feet, bootleg olive pants, and a deep Maroon
button down shirt much in the same style as the one Justin wore. She wanted to look bold like the girl Justin
had with him. She didn't know why. She had always been the one to not care about
looks. She was the queen of
comfort. But now she felt as if her
earthy colors no make up, glasses and sloppy bun were a curse.
"Chris you remember Kimberly
right?" Justin said.
Chris stood up and shook Kim's
hand. "Of course,
good to see you Kim. Keeping
Justin in line??"
The girl smiled broadly and looked
at Justin, who in return smiled back down at her. "As always, I keep my boy in line."
"Who you
calling a boy, woman?" Justin
asked her and then stole a quick kiss from her.
-So, he does have a
girlfriend. Just
Perfect. Why is this bothering
you? It shouldn't. DONT LET IT BOTHER
YOU. You cant
afford for it to-
After a few moments of small talk
Meredith realized she was still sitting down while the other three stood right
by her and ignored her. Meredith turned
and looked around at the other people chatting, eating, ect. She was looking for someone to talk to, a
familiar face. An escape from where she
was.
"Oh Kim, have you met
Meredith?" Chris asked.
The girl politely said no and
Meredith slowly turned her attention to the three standing there. She stood up
and extended her hand.
"Hi, I'm Meredith Willis.
What do they call me? Oh yes, *Nsync
intern, whatever that means. It's great to meet you." Meredith tried her best to make this girl
laugh and become friends. Maybe if she
could get through to her she could get through to Justin.
"I'm Kimberly Thompson,
Justin's girlfriend. And it's great to meet you too."
Meredith, Kimberly, and Chris
continued in small talk and Meredith found out that Kim was a model and had met
Justin a party about a month before.
Meredith felt guilty for thinking
bad things about the sweet girl that stood there in front of her. Justin felt guilty for thinking bad things
about the sweet girl that stood in front of him.
Justin remained quiet through
their conversation and stared at Meredith intently. She was not flashy like Kim. She was not strikingly beautiful like
Kim. But she was interesting none the
less. A surge of guilt washed over himself as he took in the girl in front of him. He had never had a reason to be cold to
her. But he found himself turning that
way instantly whenever she would notice him.
But other than that, he just stared at her, mesmerized; not even
realizing he was.
During their conversation Justin
would only break his stare whenever Kim would say his name or look up at him. He liked Kimberly but it was nothing
serious. Both had decided it would be
best that way, with their careers and all.
"Hey you guys, Johnny is
starting the pre-tour speech. We better
head other there" JC clamped his hands on Meredith's shoulders causing her
to jump. She turned around and glared at him.
In return, he pouted and she smiled at him. They linked arms and Chris grabbed her other
free arm and the three sauntered over the tent where Johnny was about to begin
speaking. Justin and Kim were right
behind them.
Meredith sat down between Chris
and JC but as soon as they sat down JC jumped up and ran over to a girl
standing quietly outside, away from the tent.
He hugged her and kissed her briefly on the lips and walked her over to
the tent. He held her hand and mouthed
"Cindy" to Meredith. She
smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. Meredith watched as he brought the girl to
the back of the tent in the last row of chairs and began talking and whispering
in her ear. Meredith smiled at the two
and returned her attention to the front.
But as she turned something caught her eye.
Sitting beside her was Justin
Timberlake. Sure he had his arm around
another girl, Kim, but he was sitting beside her. And didn't seemed to look like he was about
to explode with hate.
-Oh my goodness, He actually
doesn't mind me...that much. Maybe, well maybe not but this is a definite
improvement!-
She glanced over at Chris who was
tapping on her shoulder.
"Yes,
darling?" Meredith dramatically
said.
"Smuchims I have a package
for you." Chris said in a lispy voice.
"Take one down pass it around
99 packets of paper now...." Meredith sang.
Soon Chris had joined her as
Meredith held a stack of packets that had tour info in them waving them in the
air. They sang until '96 packets' were
left. But she soon stopped when she
realized she would have to pass the packet...to Justin.
She took a packet for herself and
placed it in her lap. Then she handed
the packets over to him. But he was
wrapped up in something Kim was saying so he didn't notice her.
"Here you go Justin,"
She said quietly but sweetly.
He slowly turned to her. He looked shocked but managed to take the
papers.
"Thanks" he said
quietly, and grinned.
"Anytime,
Anytime." She smiled genuinely and turned her attention
back to Chris and then Johnny as he began the speech.
-OH MY GOSH!! HE just said something to me...something
nice, and smiled. Ah, this is a great
day!-
Justin passed the papers on but
every now and then glanced at Meredith.
-Dude, did you hear her say your
name? I gotta stop this. I gotta stop these feelings now. I have Kim.
I can't get hurt. I cant. But look at her.
Just, look at her. I should give
her a chance. But, I can't risk my self
like that. SHUT UP. It's not worth
it. She can't stand you anyway. And you
can't stand her. Just forget it! -
---------------
Two weeks later…
Meredith loved every minute of her
job. She ran back and forth getting the
guys whatever they needed. She took
their phone calls. She even cleaned out
their bus once; but that's only when Johnny begged her and said he would raise
her pay. The guys started calling her
their "Genie in a Bottle" and whenever they would ask her for
something she would nod her head and blink, and run off to get whatever they
needed. She loved hanging out with the
guys. They were all amazing people. But there was still Justin...
Justin actually had warmed up to
her some. But she was no where near as
close to him as she was everyone else.
He would ask her to do something and she would oblige but the smart
comments and inside jokes weren't there like with everyone else. Meredith was glad that Justin seemed not to
hate her. But still, it hurt to know he
had closed himself off from her. It was
hard too. All the guys would want to do
something with Meredith and Justin would want to tag along but there was always
something awkward between them. Especially when they were left alone. They had never had a conversation besides;
"Will you do this?" "Sure" "Thanks" "No
problem".
But other than that, Meredith
loved life. She finally was at a place
where she didn't have to explain her past.
She was actually happy.
"Mere, earth to Mere..."
Lance waved a hand in front of her.
Meredith snapped her head towards
him. "Sorry Lance, daydreaming:
it's a bad habit."
"No problem, wanna come to
sound check?"
"Umm, let me see if there is
anything to be done. I'll go ask Johnny
and I'll be there in a minute."
"All right g."
Meredith watched Lance walk out
the door, and soon shot up and ran to the doorway calling after him.
"Hey Lance,
why do you guys call me g?"
"It's short for
Gorgeous"
"Oh
puuulease. Don't try to be a Joey. One is enough."
"Seriously
Meredith. It stands for Gorgeous. Well, it also stands for Genie, but mainly
gorgeous. I don't know who made it up.
But that's what it means."
Lance smiled and turned and jogged down the hall towards the stage area.
Meredith just stood there stunned.
-What? Who made it up? It must be a joke. No one has ever called me that before. Well
no one but Dan...-
Meredith went into the room where
she had been and closed the door. She
searched her backpack and pulled out a photo.
Two teens about 15 years old stood in the picture. One was a fairly tall extremely handsome guy
with dark hair and a tanned complexion.
He stood behind a short brown haired girl who was smiling broadly at the
camera. His arms were around her and her
hands rested on his. He was kissing her
temple and had his eyes closed. Meredith
ran her fingers across the photo and sighed.
She closed her eyes trying to close off the flood forming in her
eyes. One small tear escaped and ran
down her cheek and landed on the picture.
Suddenly the door to the room
opened and Johnny stuck his head in. He
saw Meredith sitting on her knees in the middle of the floor hunched over a
photo. He cleared his throat and said,
"Mere you OK? The guys were
wandering if you were coming to sound check.
Lance said he had asked you about 30 minutes ago."
Meredith wiped away her cheek
fiercely and jerked her head up.
"I'll be there in a minute."
Johnny nodded and went to leave;
he took one last glance at her and walked away.
-I hope she can stick it
together. She needs to move on from
him. Gosh, it's got to be hard. -
Meredith had lost track of time
completely. She had sat there looking at
a photo for 30 minutes. She kissed the
picture and carefully put it in the back pocket of her shorts. She walked out of the room and headed down to
sound check. The guys stood on stage
singing different songs and goofing off.
Joey noticed her and said something but she just nodded at him and
grinned. She never grinned. She always gave a full smile.
"Hey Lance, was Meredith OK
when you talked to her last. She seems
down." Joey asked.
"Seemed
fine with me." Lance said.
"Let's cheer her up, we will
sing her a song!" JC jumped up like
a little kid.
"Yeah..." Chris piped
in. "UP for it
J?"
All the guys turned towards
Justin. He looked at the girl who had
taken her seat 5th row, center. He
noticed her head titled down. She looked
like she wanted to crawl in a hole and just fade away.
"More than a feeling, acapella..."
"What?" Lance asked surprised.
Justin turned annoyed and slowly
said, "More than a feeling, acapella.
That's what we are going to sing."
"For
Meredith?" Joey asked with a hopeful smile.
Justin looked at the girl who was
now had her arms resting on the chair in front of her and rested the side of
her face on her hands. Her eyes were
focused on nothing. Just
stared off into space.
"For
Meredith." Justin whispered.
The guys noticed his change in
voice. They were stunned but went ahead
anyway.
"Meredith, this is for
you..." JC said into the microphone.
She looked up at him confused and
he just smiled at her.
They began the song and Meredith
listened intently. No one had ever sang to her before.
She was stunned. No one beside
Dan had called her gorgeous and no one had ever sang
to her, and she sat there with five guys singing only to her. Finally she closed her eyes and just
listened. None of the guys knew this,
they couldn't have, but More than a feeling was her one of her favorite
songs. She had never heard them sing it,
and wasn't use to the slow and soft sound of it. It was a change from
"What did you think
Mere?" JC asked.
When she didn't answer or open her
eyes or move for that matter Joey put a hand on her shoulder.
"G? You OK?" Joey asked.
A laugh came from Meredith and a
voice none of them had ever heard came from her lips. One that was vulnerable, quiet, alone.
"That was one of my many
favorite songs. You guys just made it my
one and only favorite." She laughed
again and whispered. "I don't
deserve yall."
Her eyes opened but her head
remained bowed so none of the guys noticed this gesture. "Thank you so much. That was the most
beautiful thing I've ever heard."
She took the back of her hand and wiped her cheeks clean from the tears
that had poured over.
The guys noticed this. Joey,
Chris, Lance and JC looked at one another in shock and sadness. What was wrong with her? Why was she moved to tears? Did they really sing that well? What do they say, now?
But Justin stood a few feet away
from them and found himself staring at her again. A smile appeared on his face. He knew exactly what to say.
"That's one of my favorites,
too." Justin quietly stated.
All five heads slowly turned
toward him. He shrugged and turned to
walk away, but a hand grabbed his arm.
He looked down and there she stood.
Tear stained cheeks, trembling chin, and glassy eyes. She was completely beautiful in his eyes.
"Thank you, Justin" She
said with pain, happiness, sorrow, and hopefulness all in one. Her small hands carefully wrapped around his
stomach and made their way to his back.
She pressed herself against him and tightened her body around his. This movement shocked him and so was everyone
else in the large coliseum.
There stood a girl who was on the
verge of breaking down and she was hugging the one person in the building who
had failed to gain her friendship. He
stood there with his arms by his side and she was about to pull away but he
moved.
His muscular arms wrapped around
her small body and his hands found her back and pressed her body against
his. He lowered his mouth to the side of
her head and whispered, "Anytime, anytime."
Then he let go and turned and
walked back to the stage to finish the sound check, afraid if he held her
longer or caught her eyes, he would break.
Everyone was shocked and stood with their eyes wide and mouths open. Except for two. One of them contently walked to the stage and
the other smiled broadly and walked out of the coliseum area.
Meredith looked up towards the
ceiling and thought, -YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
THANK YOU, GOD! -
-----------
1 1/2 weeks later
They were now in
Thing were great for
Meredith. Her
and Justin were finally but slowly starting a friendship. The guys had even asked her to switch
buses. She was reluctant at first but
after a lot of bribing she now had a bunk on Nysnc's bus.
Her title had changed too. No longer was she an intern but an
assistant. She no longer did things for
Johnny. She did things for *Nsync. In the beginning she had helped Johnny with
papers and such, but during the tour the guys found a need for someone to do
the small little things they didn't have time for. Having a spot on the bus made it a lot easier
for Meredith to do these little things. And she was happy with her position.
It was her birthday. No one knew, well she had told Joey that
first day she met them, but she didn't expect anyone to remember. It wasn't a big deal to her. Yeah she was finally 18, but she didn't feel
she should tell the world it was her birthday.
If they knew they knew, if not, she shouldn't brag.
Little did she know that while she
was in the shower two figures had broke into her hotel room and rummaged
through her clothes.
Meredith stepped out of the shower
and dried herself off. She wrapped a
towel around her and twisted her hair in another one. As she opened the door, articles of clothing
were thrown at her.
A familiar voice commanded her,
"Put this on, you have 30 minutes to be outside the door of your hotel
room, in this outfit, ready to go. NO
QUESTIONS ASKED!"
She looked at a mean faced Chris
and a laughing Joey.
"Nice towel." Joey said flirtatiously.
"But..."
"Zippit...NO QUESTIONS
ASKED." Chris yelled at her.
The two men stomped out of her
room and called after her. "30 minutes!!"
So, in 30 minutes Meredith opened
her hotel room, ready and dressed in the chosen outfit and closed the
door. As soon as the door clicked shut a
piece of cloth covered her eyes.
"Hey, what's going on..." She asked annoyed.
"Remember g, no questions
asked..." Joey's voice quieted her.
Two hands guided her to the
elevator and finally into some sort of car.
The two men looked at her and
smiled at one another. Joey mouthed,
"WOW! She's so hot! This is going
to be great."
Chris smiled and nodded at the
blind folded girl who sat quietly with her arms crossed her chest and her lip
curled up in annoyance. But Joey was
right. She looked amazing. She had on velvet black boots, tight black
bootleg jeans and tight yellow v-neck short sleeved shirt. Her hair was blown dry straight. She had her contacts in for a change. Though covered by the blindfold she had on a
dark pink eye shadow that accented her eyes and made them sparkle. Her lips
were glossed over. She was beautiful. She looked a lot different from the normal
'mere' or 'G' they usually saw.
Finally the car stopped and a pair
of hands led her out of the car. She
heard Chris and Joey's names being screamed and through the blindfold she saw
flashes of light.
-Where am I? OK, I'm in club
attire, so I'm guessing that's where we are. -
Soon she heard pumping music. But a few moments later the hands that were
leading her disappeared from her touch and the music stopped. Silence fell across her and occasionally she
would hear a cough, sneeze, cleared throat, amongst whispers.
Finally the blindfolded was
lifted.
She saw everyone. Everyone she cared about. Everyone on the tour. Her family was there. She saw a banner that said "Happy
Birthday Mere" and another one that said, "Watch out she's
legal." She was in a club. She was so stunned that she had blocked out
the sound of everyone shouting "Surprise"
After a few moments of silence her
voice came back to her and she smirked cause she knew
exactly what to say.
"You guys, I'm not supposed
to be here. I'm not 18 yet. My Birthday is JULY 2nd, not June
2nd." She shrugged and turned to
leave.
Everyone glanced at each other in
shock and embarrassment.
"JUST
KIDDING!!!!!!!!" Meredith yelled.
The party was awesome. Meredith danced with everyone, even Justin a
few times. She had the best time. But it was now
Meredith, JC, Justin, and Kimberly
(who had came to the party) all went to the top floor of the hotel and JC told
her this was her last present of the night.
The top floor of the hotels was where Nsync stayed. It was of course the most expensive and
nicest hotel rooms. Everyone else stayed on lower floors.
JC lead her over to the corner
room inserted a key and led her inside.
"Tonight you will be living in luxury. This is the 'presidential suite' as they call
it. It's the nicest room of the
hotel. Nicer than ours!! Enjoy your free room service and
other...stuff."
Meredith looked around the
exquisite room. She was shocked. She glanced at JC, who was smiling and
admiring the room, then turned her gaze to Kim and Justin.
"All for
me?"
"Yup, all
for you g. I overheard you telling your mom on the phone
that you wanted a night just to have for yourself. Well you got you a luxury room for two
nights. You have tonight, all tomorrow
and tomorrow night off. Do whatever you
want. Happy Birthday girl" Justin
said. He kissed her forehead and he and
Kim walked back to his room.
Meredith just stared after
him. His lips were so soft and
warm. And even though
the gesture probably meant nothing.
Kim was right there. Still, she
lost all feeling in her body except for the place on her forehead where his
lips had been. She had NEVER had that
feeling before in her life.
"Happy
Birthday Meredith!" Kim called to
her. And that broke her thought.
"Thanks for coming Kim and
tell Justin that the corn rows aren't workin'" She told her, as Justin
stuck out his tongue.
"Believe me, I already
have!"
JC then hugged her and said the
same things and left her to this huge room to herself. She was overwhelmed.
----------
She had the day off, so after a
full nights rest she got up and went downstairs. She was just going to take a walk of the
nice, familiar, downtown of
"Ma'am? Are you Meredith Willis?" the man behind the counter
asked.
"Yes?"
"Well, I have been instructed
to inform you that your limo is waiting for you out front and wherever you need
or want to go, the limo is at your disposal."
"Umm, thanks."
Meredith walked out the front desk
and starred at the black stretch limo parked in front of her. A Man in a black suit and white gloves stood
by the door.
She then saw the huge tour bus
waiting behind it. She also noticed the
normal group of fans weren't scattered around the entrance. But sometimes they WERE able to hide the fact
they were in town. Though
it rarely happen.
"Cool, huh?" A familiar voice asked.
"Its
amazing, Justin. Thank you guys so much!!"
"Who said we had anything to
do with it?" HE looked at her and
winked.
"But I gots
to jet!! I'm sooo late. Have a fun day off, and after the concert
tonight, umm, all us guys are crashing your phat pad.
Later" Justin ran into the tour bus and it hurried off.
Meredith walked to the man by the
limo.
"Where to
miss?" He asked.
She looked at her watch it said
"Sure thang, ma'am."
In 15 minutes Meredith was at a
table by herself doing the crossword out of the paper and waiting on her
Italian food. This was one of her
favorite restaurants and her mouth watered at the food that would shortly be in
front of her.
Her food came and she began eating
it. But her eye caught someone. Walking in, holding hands was Kim and a man. A man that was Not Justin.
They sat down in a dark corner and Meredith watched them, while trying
to stay hidden. They looked like they were
on a date but she couldn't tell.
Then Meredith's suspicion was
proven. Kim leaned over the table and kissed the guy full on the lips. She
moved from her side of the table and sat down beside the guy. He consumed her in a hug and his mouth met
hers. This was no friendly kiss.
-Oh my gosh,
what do I do? I have to tell him. He's not going to believe me. -