PART ONE
Chapter 1:
�Are you serious?� The woman asked, totally taken aback. Where had that just come from? Never in her life would she have expected her best friend JC�s band mate would ask her something like this. Chris Kirkpatrick just nodded, a sly grin playing upon his lips as he leaned against the wall. Chris had cornered her on her way to wardrobe, he had seemed nervous, sweat was even rolling down the sides of his face. At first she had assumed he�d been practicing of goofing around, but practice wasn�t for a bit and how serious he looked while practically ripping his hands off showed doubt on the other option. But that had soon faded as Chris took a deep breath and masked his nervousness and emotions with his jokester persona and flirtatiousness. She bit her lower lip a bit with uncertainty. This was insane. She wasn�t even sure she had understood him correctly, much less wasn�t even sure this was something she wanted to do � given that she�d heard him correctly. �I don�t know about this, Chris.� The woman quipped, her voice full of uncertainty. Chris sighed, losing his patience and getting annoyed. This wasn�t going according to his plan; hell he didn�t even have a plan. He just felt stupid coming to her, or anyone for that matter for something like this. Chris ran his fingers through his dark hair, killing the spikes. �This�ll work, I know it will. There�s no possibility of it blowing up in our faces, if we play our cards right, Tina.� He was timidly looking around as he spoke, as if someone may walk by or jump out a door at any moment and the jig would be up before it started. Kristina, who most called Tina, or something weird couldn�t seem to figure out why Chris had chosen her. In looks, well, true she wasn�t a Plain Jane, yet she was no super model. Models tended to be more of Chris� type, and also they hardly knew each other. They were just friends through JC, and they�d hang out sometimes as a group with the rest of the guys. They�d never spent any time one on one, or without the guys or at least JC. Basically, as far as Tina was concerned, they didn�t know each other. Period. Seeing that his reasoning hadn�t worked, Chris just looked at her in silence a few moments. His eyes began to irritate her, and the look on his face was somewhere between silent pleading and a coy expression of �Yeah, I know you�re gonna give in.� Finally, Tina just gave up and threw her arms in the air dramatically. �Fine! I�ll think this damned thing of yours over!� Chris smiled triumphantly, but also quiet amused by her actions. She was just about to walk away muttering when he suddenly stopped her and did the oddest yet the funniest thing Tina could ever imagine. With his hands on her shoulders, he did the fake French both cheek kiss greeting, then pretended to slap her across the face on both cheeks, stepped back doing a bit of an Irish jig, and turned to leave. Tina couldn�t help laughing, and in her moment of weakness, caught her off guard. He quickly kissed her on the cheek. �Alright, I�ll pick you up at six and we can discuss it over dinner, Tina.� She was about to object, but Chris had already run off around the corner. Tina sighed and shook her head in perplexity, before saying aloud as she stared at the empty bit of hall where Chris had just been. �I just don�t understand that man.� She chuckled again briefly, remembering his little antics, just to give her a quick peck. It made her feel like a little kid again, with the absolute childishness of it and him. She had a few things to take care of before the group was scheduled to finish sound check, which Chris would obviously be late for. When the realization came to mind, she had to laugh. Serves him right. She didn�t know why yet, but she already knew that no matter how serious Chris seemed about something the pranks were never that far off. Setting her mind back to her work, Tina started moving down the hall again. Then thinking she just might be able to get ahead of everything she broke into a run down the hall. Tina was rounding a corner; the only thought on her mind was getting to the design and wardrobe room. Then out of nowhere, she suddenly collided with someone or something. She was so startled, as she realized she�d crashed right into someone�s arms. But when she looked up at whom was embracing her, her heart slowed to normal seeing a face she would recognize anywhere. �Josh! Boy am I glad to see you!� Tina chirped and she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. JC was a bit shocked and let out a chuckle, as he eased his arms around her to return the hug. �What�s the matter, T? I just saw you a few hours ago?� He tried to laugh it off, but there was a pang of concern in her voice she couldn�t have missed. They knew each other inside out � in one sense. JC and Tina had been best friends, you could say, for a while so it was a given. Tina decided against telling him about the whole Chris thing until it was all cleared up. She smiled up at him and said with a pout, in an attempt at being funny. �I missed ya. Is that a crime now, Josh? I was locked in a room full of clothes while you got to frolic on stage with pretty girls.� JC burst out laughing. He was just about to correct her on what he had been doing and poke fun at her for �romancing� the clothes, when *N Sync�s manager came jogging down the hall toward them. His manager called out to them, �Hey! JC!� Tina and JC were still in each others arms, but let go of each other and stepped apart without realizing at the sound of Max�s voice. When Max reached them he seemed very annoyed. �Good, I found you. Have either of you seen the rest of the group? You all seem to be playing a game of Hide and Seek on me just to piss me off!� Tina laughed; Max was always too much of a hot head. He always thought people were plotting against him or did something special to evoke a particular emotion in him. He was a real nut. �Well, I caught JC for you. Oh, and you just miss, Chris. The damned lunatic proposed then ran that way laughing like a leprechaun and yelling that I would never get his lucky charms. I dunno, I don�t get it either.� Tina yarned, pointing in the direction Chris had gone. JC caught on to her joke, and couldn�t help laughing. But Max looked at her all boggle eyed, and whispered hoarsely. �Leprechaun, you say. Crafty little devils. Never do let you get your hands on their charms. They do it all to play with my mind, to make me think I�m crazy, you know?� Tina and JC just stared at him. JC cleared his throat, and that seemed to make Max snap out of it. Yet again surprising them both, when they thought things would go back to normal, Max grabbed JC�s arm and began to drag him in the direction Tina had indicated. �Let�s go, JC. Say buh-bye to you girlfriend.� JC cracked a stupid grin and yelled out. �Buh bye,<i> girlfriend</i>!� They both cracked up.
Chapter 2:
Tina wandered the halls of the arena, getting lost for the repeated time that day. Too much was on her mind now, everything from Chris and JC�s antics, to Chris� suggestion, to how crazy Max was getting, and feeling like she couldn�t talk to her best friend about the Chris thing. Her mind was so far gone she must have missed a turn or two, but then before she knew it she was coming up to the room she needed. Sure enough when she stood in front of the open door, there was Wardrobe in bold letters on the door. Tina walked in and grabbed the first outfit on the rack, which happened to be Justin�s main outfit for that night�s concert. She was behind schedule, and each time she looked at the long rack of clothes she needed to do alterations on, it gave her this sinking feeling in her stomach. She knew all too well that in order to get caught up and then maybe have a few minutes to herself to breath she�d have to just jump right in and not let anything distract her. Tina turned in her swivel stool throwing the outfit on her work bench and digging through her separated sewing kit for the right needle and the thread that was the right color and texture for part of Justin�s getup. Tina dove right on it, fixing the hem of one of Justin�s favorite performance shirts that had just been added to the rack for a mishap during the dress rehearsal on a new routine that morning. After two hours or measuring and stitching, her fingers were red and her right hand ached, but she was done...with everything. She threw the God forsaken needle across her worktable, shifted her swivel to lean against some boxes and flexed her sore hand. As soon as she began to relax, Max just blatantly strolled in as if he owned the department, said a few words then chucked a cordless phone at her. �You, phone call. Someone named Brice that sounds like a chick from the Valley on steroids.� Tina caught the phone and laughed as she brought it to her ear. �Hey, Mary. Ya shoulda warned me you moved to the Valley to take steroids and call yourself Brice. Haha.� Max lifted an eyebrow at her, deemed her insane and walked out. Tina�s friend Mary Vernon never liked to give her real name when she called Tina at a venue or hotel. Besides, not only had she never been comfortable with it, but also in the past year Mary had made a name for herself�in the modeling industry. Mary just giggled, as she paced her hotel room. Tina yawned and stated, �You could have called the cell, you know � it�s somewhere around here. Or even JC�s, he�s one that never leaves home without it. A lifeline or something.� Tina grinned as she poked fun at her best friend, and Mary found herself flat out laughing so hard she fell on her bed and started rolling around. �Well, I forgot. I�m a big time model now, and the fumes from the hair products kinda go to my head. Do you actually expect me to remember anything that doesn�t directly have to do with me, now that I�m so beautiful?� Mary couldn�t pull that off without laughing at herself. Tina was rollin� with laughter right along with her. Tina kinda envied her friend, being pretty enough to be a model and comfortable enough to joke about herself like that. Their conversation that turned out to be basically about nonsense as usual, and acting like giddy teenage girls for almost a hour, as Tina flipped through some outfit sketches she still needed to run by the guys. She glanced at her watch, when they had both simmered down from another laugh fest. �Dang, I�ve gotta get going, Mar. Work related obligations call. I�ll call you Saturday. Keep your phone ON this time, got it?� Upon getting Mary�s agreement, Tina clicked off the phone and headed out the door. The guys would have finished up practice by now and doing another quick sound check. Sure enough, when she arrived where the stage was set up they were running through a few songs. Tina jumped into a seat, front row center, and crossed her legs, deciding to enjoy the show. When the group noticed her grooving to their song, pretending to be the audience, they each gave her a quick wave. Tina smiled big as she sang along with �Bye Bye�; she just loved watching her friends perform. It didn�t take long for the guys to start fooling around and having Tina in fits of laughter from their silly, outright stupid and slightly perverted antics wedged into their dance routine. The song came to an end and they jumped off the stage just as Tina stood up and began clapping. The concert wasn�t for another two hours or so, and management had already given them the OK to go off and wander as long as they went unnoticed. The guys of *N Sync were surprisingly good at being in public places without being recognized, well usually anyway. But they still encountered their occasional mob scene. A conversation started up among the group which Tina wasn�t paying any attention to, as she zoned out. They stood in a circle chatting away while Tine �blissfully� zoned. A really random fact, that out of the group each guy called her by some weirdo nick name, and on the occasions when she zoned she could always tell who was talking to her. She was thinking how weird some of those names got sometimes, then her mind drifted to Chris� proposition. �He must have been dropped on his head a few too many times when he was a baby. That�s the only explanation for all this�well maybe it�s not the only explanation. He could just have a thing for me.� she thought. She must have been spaced out a little too long because she suddenly heard a voice say, �Hello? Earth to Krissy.� And a hand waved in front of her face. She snapped out of it, blinking a few times, looking a bit surprised. �Oh�uh�what, Lance?� Tina looked at Lance and he was smiling at her. He was the only person besides her mother that called her Krissy. �You looked a bit spacey there. I thought I�d help pull you back down, so you could put your feet back on solid ground.� She couldn�t help laughing a bit. Tina wracked her brain for a logical excuse without revealing anything that didn�t need to be known. She smiled at Lance. �I�ve just got a lot on my mind, Lance.� Tina stated briefly and snuck a glance at Chris. There was a sudden uneasy silence in the circle, as if the air around them had gone stale. Joey quickly broke the stillness with his goof ball ideas. �Hey, how �bout we all go clubbin�? I�m in the mood for some dancing with the ladies.� He informed with a heavy notion on the word �ladies� as he began to cha-cha a bit by himself. JC glared at his friend, yet spoke light heartedly. �You forgettin� again, Joe? Chris� got plans tonight, I have plans, Lance claims to be paining the town red tonight, and my bet is Kay�s gonna pull an all nighter.� JC finished, jokingly with a smile as he playfully elbow-jabbed Tina. She returned the favor with a playful punch in the arm. JC had a habit of going back and forth from calling her �T� and �Kay�, plus God knows what else. �Yeah, I, uh, have something planned.� Just then there was a crash from the stage and a yelp. It made Tina nearly jump a mile and out of habit grabbed onto JC�s hand for dear life. He winced slightly and hoped no one had noticed. Everyone looked toward the side of the stage to see Danny, Max�s blond long-haired hippie assistant, laying face down on the stage, hair over his eyes and face. Danny got up and called out to the group, �Something went all bogus, man. Your shindig�s been cancelerino.� Danny suddenly began to feel a breeze, only to realize that that back of his vintage jeans had gone. This was followed by a string of profanities and heated remarks that turned Danny�s face deep red from upset. Danny stalked off and that was enough for Justin and Joey. They ran out the doors before anyone could stop them. Note: In this chapter when Joey talks about �being in the mood for some dancing with the ladies� the heavy notion on the word �ladies� is in no way to insinuate that I was referring to Joey as being gay. I have to much respect for him, and will not write that until or if he announces something like that publicly. :P
Chapter 3:
The rest had stuck around and were soon informed by a couple of really nice stagehands what had happened. It turned out that there was an electrical problem with some of the stage equipment and that they shouldn�t be using it for now. Didn�t matter that it was over a couple thousand dollars worth of equipment, they needed to lay off for their own safety or wind up electrocuted. They shouldn�t have even done practice or sound check with it, but they had, unknowing of the danger they had put themselves in. Truth was, no one had ever thought much on the equipment, like the amps and microphones, or if everything was safe or not. *N Sync just flat out trusted. Well as everyone saw, Joey and Justin had vanished at the drop of a hat. The remainder of their little posse, JC, Lance, Tina, and Chris headed back to the hotel. On the ride over, Lance would not stop running his mouth about this hot girl he had met and would be going out with that evening. The others couldn�t help trying to hide their chuckles over how excited Lance was over a girl he had just met and didn�t know too much about. Tina and JC tended to share a hotel room, and this time was no different. The rest of *N Sync had gotten quite used to this fact and no longer teased the two or asked them insistent questions about what went on when the door closed. JC and Tina didn�t view each other in the way the guys would imply. JC sat around, lounging on the hotel bed, observing what he considered odd and nervous behavior for Tina. Changing multiply time, looking in the mirror a million times and asking his opinion every five minutes, as she appeared to be preparing to meet someone important or special. Or at least seemed very jumpy to be going somewhere. He was used to her being very calm and collected, even under extreme pressure. After about an hour had gone by with Tina acting in ways JC had never seen during their entire friendship, he piped up somewhat dryly. �What�s the occasion, Kay?� Tina had been in such a daze that the sound of his voice suddenly startled her, and made her stutter out a response. �Oh, I, uh, I�m ju-just goin� out, Jace.� She turned abruptly then in her sitting position on the bed, dropping the shoe she had been about to put on, then picked it up hoping he hadn�t noticed and wiggled her foot in. JC looked at her oddly, even though her back was to him. Just going out, huh? � Not lookin� like that! He pressed the issue, after not getting the information he had wanted. And asked what seemed perfectly obvious to him. �A date?� JC couldn�t help himself, it was as if he was absolutely compelled to inquire. Tina craned a bit to look over at him, �Yeah, I guess it is. What�s it to you, Casanova?� JC ignored her question and blatant insult that he was a diseased actor playboy. He shot another question of his own, not really caring, he know she didn�t mean it. As far as Tina was concerned JC was butting in too much, too soon. She would always gradually tell him what was going on before she went out and who and all that. She even cursed him by keeping him informed about her relationships and what was going on. JC did the same of course, and even Mary interjected every so often. Being too busy herself to have lengthy relationships that worked or even to tell JC and Tina gradually. It would up looking like a dump truck unloading when Mary finally would get around to updating the two. But that would be another story. Tina stood up from where she had been sitting on the bed, looking like she was about to embark on the psychopathic murder spree, starting with JC. �Yeah, you do. Now stop with the third degree, Dad!� JC stood up, hearing her say that. He faced her, and they were just about to start arguing when there was a knock at the door. Tina glanced at the clock, then her gaze returned to JC, and they locked eyes. JC could see the fire in her eyes as she spoke, yet wasn�t completely sure what sparked it. She didn�t normally have such an extremely short fuse, even when her monthly friend came to visit. �That�s him, NOW BACK OFF!� She was practically yelling. As Tina strode for the door she was breathing deeply trying to calm herself down.
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
