Chapter 9
At the concert that night
--------------
"
"
"Are you serious?" She
said totally shocked,
"Uh
huh!" JC nodded his head.
"This is unbelievable. OH this will be much better than sitting on a
couch watching the real world marathon and eating cheez-its."
"You better think that we are
better than that!" Joey put his hands on his hips.
"AHHH this is going to be so
much fun. You guys better acknowledge my presence up there. If you don't wave, well, you'll have hell to
pay."
"YES MA'AM!" The *Nsync members saluted her
"Now go out there and find
your seat. See ya
in about 10 minutes." Justin pointed to the door and gave her a quick kiss
on the cheek and ran off.
She made her way out into the huge
coliseum. Girls were everywhere
screaming. It was amazing. Meredith's eyes shined as she walked to her
seat. Her seat was front row center.
She was sitting by one of the
Miracle Networks kids and her sister.
She smiled at the girl who was probably no more than 10 and the little
girl smiled back.
"Are you an *Nsync fan?" The
little girl asked.
"Uh huh. I'm one of their biggest fans!" Meredith sat down in
her seat while the girl remained standing.
"My name is Kerri. This was my wish! I even got meet and greet passes!" The little
girl showed Meredith the pass hanging around her neck.
"Well I'm Meredith, and its really cool to meet you. What did you think of the guys
when you met them?"
"They are really, really
nice. They took a whole lot of pictures
with me and signed a lot of my stuff. I
even got their e-mail addresses. Their REAL ones."
"Wow. That's really
cool. So, who's your
favorite?" Meredith asked her.
"Hmm, I love them all. They are so nice. Chris was really funny. JC kept wanting to
talk to me. He would never shut up.
Lance was extremely nice. Joey
kept flirting with my sister..." Kerri pointed to a girl beside her that
looked about 20 and was really pretty.
"Figures, huh?" Meredith
asked the girl and they both started giggling. Then Kerri continued.
"But, I probably like Justin
the best. He was really nice to me. He is really cute too." The young girl smiled brightly sticking her
tongue out between her teeth. Meredith
laughed.
"Yup, the boy sure is a
cutie!" Meredith said dreamily.
"So, Mere, can I call you
Mere...?"
"Of course, everyone else
does."
"How did you get these good
of seats? Are you sick like
me?" This made Meredith's heart
sink at Kerri's innocence.
"Actually, I'm a good friend
of the guys. I'm their assistant."
"WOW THAT IS SOO COOL! Can I
have your autograph?"
"Umm, I don't know why you
would want it, but sure." Meredith
signed Kerri's Nsync T-shirt she had on.
"I like you Mere, you are
really nice." The girl looked at
her shoulder where Meredith had signed her name.
"You know what Kerri, I like
you too!" Meredith touched the girls nose and
they both began to laugh.
Then the lights went out and the
screams got deafening. Even though it was said to not stand on the seats,
Meredith picked up Kerri who was extremely small for her age, probably due to
her illness, and placed her on the chair.
The people behind them could see just fine.
Kerri and Meredith watched as the
guys came down from the stage tied up like marionettes. Meredith had seen the
show a million times. But
never had she been one of the fans.
She had never had a seat in the audience. It was 10 times better than backstage.
During the show each guy waved,
winked, or smiled in Meredith and Kerri's direction. And the two girls would
just make faces back.
During a part of "It Make's
me I'll", JC came over and shook their hands. Meredith pretended to faint and it made him
laugh and mess up his verse. But nobody
in the crowd, except Meredith seemed to notice.
During "God
must have spent..." Justin did his
normal thing of teasing the crowd by taking FOREVER to finish the song. Finally, he started walking towards them and
locked eyes with Meredith. Kerri nudged
her and whispered, "He is staring at you..."
"I know, Kerri. I know"
Meredith dreamily spoke. He then broke
Meredith's stare and looked at Kerri who jumped up and down in excitement.
Justin pointed to her and finished the song.
When he walked back he smiled and winked at Meredith. She was in heaven.
"Meredith, Mere..."
Kerri kept poking her trying to get her attention.
"Huh..." Meredith turned
towards the girl with a dazed look.
"Umm, I think Justin likes
you." Kerri said with her hands on her hips.
"Ya
think so? Hmm...Actually
I was thinking he had a little thing for you, K-dawg." Kerri smiled brightly and jumped up and down
and squealed.
It was the end of the show and the
guys had left the stage. The annoying
flash of lights and the name "Nsync" on the
screen, started to get on Meredith's nerves as it kept going and going and
going...
They had one more song to do, "Bye Bye Bye" But Meredith was in for a surprise.
The boys finally re-entered the
stage followed by all of the crew, staff, help, management, techs, ect. The whole N-crew was there. Chris started to speak.
"You guys, since this is our
last show, we had to give a shout out to all these people behind us."
Lance stepped in, "Everyone
from our Management to our band, security to hair stylist. These are the people behind the scenes."
JC spoke next, "Without them
there would be no *Nsync. We want to thank them for
making our "No strings attached" tour the BEST tour we have ever
had!"
Then was Joey's turn, "We
want to thank you guys for making *Nsync what it is
today. You guys give it up for the
N-crew!" The crowd went nuts and
Meredith laughed at her friends and colleagues shocked and embarrassed faces on
stage. Nobody was expecting this.
Justin quieted the crowd and
finally spoke, "We want to sing you guys a song that is one of my
favorites. This is just a way for us to say thank you for all the hard work you
do. This goes out to everyone who has
taken us to where we are today. Even for
those not on stage, like our sound and lighting crew,
our little G, and of course you, our fans."
The crowd went completely nuts but
Meredith stood silenced by those last words.
G...that was her. Finally the guys' accapella
came through the speakers and Meredith had to sit down. This was too much. They were singing
"More than a feeling..."
She closed her eyes and swayed in
her chair to JC's sweet voice
"I woke up this mornin and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my
day
Lost in myself in the familiar
song
Closed my eyes and I slipped away
Meredith stopped breathing as
Justin's verse began. She opened her eyes
and a tear fell down her face as she watched him sing
When I'm tired and I think I'm
cold
I hide in my music and forget the
day
Dream of a girl that I use to know
Close my eyes and she slipped away
More than a feeling…
Justin stole glances at Meredith
sitting down during the song. He thought
she might be sick or something, but then saw her smile and his heart melted
away into bliss. He thought to himself
-I deserve a cookie for picking
out this song. -
Once the song was done JC said,
"Let's give it up one more time for the N-crew.”
The crowd cheered once again and
the crew left the stage. Meredith sat there crying. They had never sounded so good before. She loved them all. Tomorrow was going to be a HARD day. But she kept thinking about the fact that she
would be back with them in a month or so.
Still, a month was a long time.
"Mere, why
are you crying?" Kerri asked her, curious like the little
child she was.
"Oh, its
nothing. That song always gets to me."
By now they were already well into
their "Bye, Bye, Bye" routine.
Before she knew it the lights were up and the crowd was gone. The "No Strings Attached" tour was
over.
The stage was already being torn
down. It was the last time that they
would tear down that stage. Kerri and
her sister had already left and told Meredith goodbye, and the custodians and
help were sweeping up the confetti.
Meredith was still planted in her seat. Finally Mike walked up to her.
"Good show huh?"
"I'm speechless, Mike. Utterly speechless."
She said staring at the stage being torn down.
"Come on G. Everyone is wondering where you are
backstage."
"Why?" Meredith stood up
and jumped over the railing and began walking with Mike.
"Well, there is that huge party remember. The ending of the tour thing. Everyone was just wondering
where their favorite little intern is."
"Oh yeah, sorry my mind is
still back in teenybopper land."
"I can tell." Mike
chuckled.
"Hey, and I'm not an intern anymore,
THANK YOU! I'm an assistant!" Meredith said kinda
hurt.
Mike just laughed and they entered
a huge room somewhere in the depths of the venue. There was loud music playing, food, a dance
floor, tables, and LOTS of people.
"Wow, these boys sure know
who to throw a party, eh?" Meredith held Mike's hand as he pushed their
way through people. Meredith followed Mike to a table with 6 chairs surrounded
by hoards of people. Who ever was there, EVERYONE wanted to talk to
"EXCUSE ME! COMING THROUGH! MOVE PLEASE!" Mike yelled at the people blocking his path.
Finally they had made their way to the table and Mike tapped Dre on the shoulder and he got up from the sixth seat at
the table. He had been saving it for
someone. People tried to sit down in the chair but Mike blocked them. He then
told the occupants of the table, "Special Delivery for *Nsync" He pulled Meredith, who's view was blocked by
the crowd, but still had Mike's hand and pushed her in front of him and sat her
in the only open chair at the table.
"MEREDITH!!" JC threw
his arms in the air
"G" Lance yelled
Chris screamed "MERE!"
Joey exclaimed
"M&M!"
"ANGEL!" Justin said
from beside her leaning over and kissing her temple.
"Uhh,
hi guys!" Meredith said sheepishly.
"Whatsup?" They
all started laughing at her nonchalant attitude. Soon everyone was engulfed in
small talk. The people that at one point
were suffocating them had dispersed and the guys were able to breathe.
Justin turned to Meredith and
spoke so only she could hear. "I saw you crying."
"Oh." She blushed.
"I-er
we, didn't mean for it to upset you."
“Oh it didn't. It's just that song and the way yall sing it makes my eyes water."
Justin nodded and smiled boyishly.
"Did you hear me give you a special shout out, little G?"
"Yes I did. Thank you." She smiled and gave in a sweet kiss on his
cheek, before returning to the other people at the table.
All of a sudden the Thong Song
came on and all five guys turned their grinning faces to the girl at their
table.
"NO!" Meredith put her
hands in front of her as to stop them.
"Come on!" JC yelled.
Joey whined "Puuuleeeease."
"Do it, do
it." Chris teased banging his fist on the table
"Yall
don't make her do it..." Lance tried but Justin smacked his head and
looked at Meredith.
"The booty is about to be
unleashed." Justin evilly grinned.
"No, the booty is not! I am
NOT unleashing it!"
"Fine then, I'll just unleash
it for you." Justin grabbed her out
of her seat and took her to the dance floor.
JC ran up to them. Lance sat at the table and his girlfriend, Leslie,
took a seat beside him.
"Looks like
they worked it out." She said
quietly in his ear.
"Yeah, I think they are
making progress." Lance looked at his girlfriend and stole a quick kiss
before striking up a conversation.
Chris had found Danielle, and had
started to dance with her and Joey was surrounded on the dance floor by about
10 girls.
Justin and JC were in the middle
of the dance floor sandwiching Meredith.
And she was enjoying every minute of it.
She was bumping and grinding with the two of them. She looked up a JC who was in front of her
and said, "Do you know how many girls would kill to be me, right
now." JC just smiled and continued
dancing. Justin put his hands on her
hips and brought her as close to him as possible. He whispered in her ear, "Do you know
how many guys would kill to be ME, right now." Meredith blushed and inhaled Justin's scent.
Justin grinded against her backside as JC flowed like snake in front of her.
The three were, well, dirty dancing. The
song ended and another started playing. It was disco music. JC, Justin and Meredith looked at each other
and broke out in the "Grease" dance that Meredith had taught them a
few weeks before.
The night continued on like this
into the early hours of the morning.
Everyone was partying and having a great time. They were trying to rid themselves of the
reality that tomorrow would bring: Meredith was going home.
----------
The next day. At the airport,
"So, we have the terminal
marked off. Only passengers and family
members are allowed there. I don't think
the press has gotten a hold of us yet, so that's a good thing. But to be safe we don't want you guys running
off. Stay right at the terminal until
she boards the plane and then we have to leave.
Got it?"
"Thanks,
Mike. We got it." Chris said.
"Please do not
scream..." Joey groaned.
"I told you not to drink that
much last night, Joe." Lance chuckled at his hungover
friend.
"Man this sucks." JC exhaled looking over to his younger friend
beside him.
Justin had on a baseball hat and
sunglasses. He stared out the window
focusing on nothing in particular. JC
nudged him.
"You going
to be OK?"
"No." Justin mumbled as
tear fell down his cheek. He didn't
move. He just let the tear fall. He didn't care who saw. JC sighed and tried to relax in his seat
knowing Justin didn't want to be bothered anymore.
In a matter of five minutes a
white van with tinted windows pulled up at the drop off area of the
Meredith wasn't asleep but stared
out her sunglasses at the planes landing and taking off on the runaway
outside. Beside her sat Johnny and his
wife Gina. Johnny was on his cell phone
as usual and Gina was patiently sitting.
"Uh huh...OK...great..."
Johnny said in the phone then shut it off.
"Well, they are here. Mike
said they just got done with security and are making their way here now. All right?"
Meredith didn't respond or move. She just sat there like a zombie. Sure she had partied most of the night and
hardly had any sleep. And even though
she hadn't had a sip to drink, somebody that didn't know her probably would
have sworn she was hung over.
"Hidey ho,
ranger Joe!" Chris said as the
group of men approached them.
"Hey Chris,
guys. Sleep well?" Johnny said
with a chuckle. Gina stood up and
greeted the guys. Meredith didn't
move.
"Hey M, What's shaken?"
Chris asked as he plopped down beside her.
When she didn't move he turned to the group and whispered, "I think
she is asleep."
Just as he said that Meredith
wrapped her arms around Chris's neck and held on to him for dear life. He was
startled at first. She just sighed
against him and he put his arms around her.
"Aww,
come on M. Don't get emotional on
me." She didn't respond she just held him tighter.
He whispered, "Come on g, get
up, some people are here to see you." He stood up and offered her his
hands. She took them and he pulled her
up. Chris put and arm around her
shoulders and they walked over the group a few feet away.
"Look who I found."
Chris stated.
"Hey girl,
how ya feeling this morning?" Lonnie asked sweetly.
"Like shit." She said in
a low voice.
Everyone glanced at each other; it
was odd to hear her use language like that. Johnny stepped forward and said,
"Meredith you'll need to board your plane soon. I'm pretty sure you want to have time to say
goodbye, so you might as well get started." He knew it wasn't what anyone
wanted to hear, but it had to be said.
Meredith stepped up to Mike and
just leaned on him. She placed her head on his massive chest and just leaned. Didn't even put her arms around him. But he did. He wrapped her in a hug and
rocked her back and forth.
"Bye girlie. I'm sure I'll
see your sweet face soon enough."
"Bye Mike." She sighed.
She then went up and hugged Gina,
Randy and Todd and said goodbye.
"Come ere booty..." Dre said. She wrapped her arms around him and said,
"You'll always be my sexual chocolate." With a weak smile she let go of him.
Next came
Joey.
"Joshpinnnneee"
she whined.
"Ahhh, nooooo, too loud." She laughed as he pulled her into a hug.
"I told you not to
drink." She said resting her head on his shoulder.
"Since when did I start listening
to you." He chided.
"Good point." She
managed a laugh and he squeezed her tighter.
"I'll miss you girl, you
better call me!"
"Oh I will. I will. I love
you Joey."
"I love you, too
sweetheart." He kissed her cheek and she let go.
Then there was Lance.
He sighed and hugged her.
"You can't leave, g. You just cant."
"I know Lance, I don't want
to. Hey, can I move in with you?" She joked.
"Fine with
me." He said almost serious.
"Bye g, I love ya."
"I know, I
love you too."
She let go of him and moved on to
Chris.
"It's about time you get out
of here. You were starting to get on my
nerves." Chris exclaimed. She put her hands on her hips and opened her
mouth as to say something but didn't and just tackled him in a hug.
"I love you Chris. I always
will."
"Love ya
girlie, you best to stay crazy and if you don't call me, I'm coming after
you."
Then there was Lonnie.
"Well, L-dawg.
It's been real."
"Yeah. You keep that
strength of yours, ya hear? Don't let anyone tell you that you aren't
worth something. You're a special girl
M." Lonnie pulled her into a bear hug and whispered in her ear.
"Even though, you and him aren't together, Justin is lucky to have you. We are all lucky to have you in ours lives
G."
"I'm lucky just to be here in
the presence with you guys. But I don't
want to have to start singing, 'she so lucky, she's a star...' so..." She
laughed with him, "I'll miss you, buddy. Love
you."
"I love you too M."
Next was JC.
"Hey C" She stepped up
to him. He didn't say anything but
engulfed her into a hug.
"Don't go. Please.
Say this is just a joke, a dream.
I'll wake up tomorrow and we will be back on the bus trying to get the
guys to watch Star Wars. Say it. I need to hear that." JC begged a few tears
escaping. HE didn't think it would be
this hard to let her go. But they had
been such good friends from the moment they met. It would be hard not seeing each other.
"Josh, I wish I could. But that's not the reality
anymore." She held on to him.
"I'm calling you like, tonight, once I get in the house. Hehe." She tried to laugh but this only made a tear
fall down her cheek. He wiped it away
and she whispered, "I love you Josh"
"I love you too."
Johnny stood there waiting his
turn.
"Whelp. Here we
are..." She sighed.
"Here we are." He
repeated softly. She closed the gap
between them and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Thank you Johnny. You gave
me an opportunity of a lifetime. This
has changed me, for the better. This has
caused me to grow up, a lot. I owe you
my life for what you have done."
"Girl, it was nothing. You
might not think your job was anything special, but you helped the guys out,
more than you realize. Sure, you did
everything that needed to be done, but you gave them the one thing they've
never had on the road before. And that
was someone to love. You gave them
something refreshing. You helped them
through the badtimes and you just made this tour a
lot better by being there for them. So
Thank YOU for doing this. And I'll see
you in a month." She pulled away
and winked at him.
She looked around..Where was he?
"Umm, where's
Justin?" She asked almost
frightened. She hadn't seen him come in.
Was he there? Everyone looked around surprised that he had disappeared. Finally,
Mike spotted him.
"There he is." He
pointed to a figure looking out the glass window. His arms were stretched above him and his
hands holding onto the large panes. He
leaned on his arms and just stared out through his sunglasses examining the plane
that would take his girl away from him.
Meredith walked slowly to the
figure by the window. She was about 5
feet away when he spoke.
"I've never been good with
goodbyes..."
He hadn't turned around or
anything and Meredith was surprised he knew she was there.
"This isn't goodbye Justin,
more like see ya later." Meredith tried to
lighten the mood but it didn't work. When he didn't move or speak for another
minute Meredith moved closer to him.
She came behind him and wrapped her
arms around his stomach, leaning her head against his back. He slowly turned in her arms and wrapped his
muscular ones around her petite body.
She rested her head on his shoulder and he leaned down and rested the
side of his face on the side of her head.
They stayed like that for about 5 minutes.
Finally, Justin lifted his head
and she did the same. He noticed her sunglasses were still on and he pulled
them above her eyes and rested them on her head, which was now free of the
baseball cap. When he did this the flood
broke and she started sobbing uncontrollably.
"Don't do that, Meredith,
please, don't cry." Justin pleaded as he held her tighter.
"I can't leave
you." She managed to get out.
Finally her sobbing stopped and she looked up at him.
"Will you take off YOUR
sunglasses for me?" She whispered,
"I want to look into your eyes."
For only going to be gone for a
month, they were acting as if they would never see each other again. But they were frightened. Ever since Meredith had met Nsync she had spent practically every waking hour with
them. This change would be hard.
Justin nodded at her request and
slowly pulled his sunglasses off. As he
did a tear fell from his eye and she leaned forward, stepped on her tiptoes,
and kissed it away. She looked into his
blue eyes as they bore into her brown ones.
They could see each other's pain. Each other's hurt. Each other's love. They could see each other's souls. The moment got intense so he cleared his
throat trying to break the stare.
"Uhh
I have something for you, but I don't want you to open it until you get on the
plane." He reached in his pocket
and handed her a small wrapped box and an envelope.
"Thank you, Justin. For being there, for giving me a chance, for loving me, but most of
all for saving me." She
looked down at the floor. "I...I...."
He knew what she was trying to say
and grinned. He pulled her into one final hug; "I love you too."
"You are my angel Justin,
always and forever. I love you. I love
you." He brought his face down
towards hers and kissed her forehead, then her temple. Moving to her cheek and
finally her lips. He lightly
brushed them against hers, and everyone looking would have thought of it as
just a friendly kiss. But to the two
that were actually kissing, it wasn't.
It meant so much more. He pulled away and smiled at her.
He clasped her hand and the walked
back to the area where everyone was waiting. Johnny spoke.
"Mere, you have to go. They
just called final boarding. We thought
we were going to have to go break you two apart."
"Oh, sorry, I didn't hear
it." She shyly smiled at Justin.
And he just squeezed her hand.
"Well, all. I guess this is it.
It's been.... It's been an adventure." She said to the group
nodding her head and smiling.
"That's for sure!"
Johnny exclaimed. Everyone managed quiet laughs.
"Group
hug?" Gina asked.
They all came together for a group
hug and Meredith tried to hold back her tears.
The group separated and Meredith
grabbed her carry on and started walking backwards towards the gate.
"See you guys, real
soon. I love you all. And GOD BLESS YOU,
EVERY ONE!" She smiled her genuine
smile and laughed as she quoted Charles Dickens. A single tear fell from her eyes and she
didn't bother wiping it away. The group
waved and called out good-byes as she handed her ticket to the fight attendant.
"I love you Meredith!"
Everyone turned slowly, and looked at Justin.
He didn't acknowledge them. He stared straight at her back. She had stopped abruptly at his comment. He didn't care who knew. He wanted the whole world to know. She turned around and smiled at him. He
returned the smile as she mouthed "I love you, too." She took a few
steps walking backwards and finally turned around and jogged down the tunnel
towards the plane.