nine

Chapter Nine

(A couple of weeks later)

Andy sat down and rebuckled her seatbelt with a sigh. She glanced over at the little boy asleep in the seat beside her and smiled.

'That's the reason why you're here, Andy. Just remember�you're doing this for Jon.'

She sometimes didn't know how she got herself into situations like this. Just a couple of weeks ago she had been working a steady job at a daycare. She had been comfortable with her life and generally happy.

And now?

Now she was giving up that sense of security that she had coveted for so long. She was flying halfway across the country so that this little boy could be with his brother.

This normally wouldn't be such a bad thing except for one minor detail. Jon's brother. He, well�he didn't much enjoy her. He'd made that perfectly clear in the hospital when Jon had broken his arm. God, she was glad that Jon was okay. She'd been feeling guilty every time she saw the cast on his arm and sometimes thought that maybe Justin had had a right to yell at her that night, but either way, she still wasn't all that fond of him.

So Andy wasn't exactly looking forward to spending two weeks in close quarters with Justin, to say the least. Even if he was one-fifth of NSYNC. And the feeling would probably be mutual, except she was pretty sure that he didn't know that she was the one bringing Jon out. Lynn had probably just told him that she'd hired a dependable girl from the daycare to accompany Jon.

She smiled to herself. That was one of the few perks to this whole thing. She was prepared for this, and he wouldn't even see it coming.

Another one of the perks would be seeing NSYNC perform. She'd been listening to NSYNC's music for quite awhile, and she still couldn't get over the shock that Jon's brother was the Justin of NSYNC. When Lynn had told her that Andy would be taking Jon to meet up with the NSYNC tour, she'd nearly fallen off her chair.

But it really added up. She'd known that Justin was originally from Tennessee, and when she met him at the hospital, she had thought he looked oddly familiar. Plus, there was Jenny telling her that Jon's brother sang Bye Bye Bye, which, at the time, she had assumed meant he sang it to her and Jon.

She still couldn't believe that she hadn't figured it all out sooner.

She was pulled from her thoughts when the pilot's voice came over the loudspeaker, announcing that they would be landing shortly. She gently shook Jon awake and checked his seatbelt and her own.

Moments later, the plane had landed. Andy gathered their things, and headed for the exit, arms full with several bags and a not quite awake Jon.

He woke up soon though. As soon as he caught sight of Justin, he wriggled his way out of Andy's arms and ran towards his brother at full speed.

Justin was so caught up in Jon that he didn't notice her at first. Justin was so good with Jon, and she could tell he loved his little brother more than anything in the world. She had to give him that much.

Justin's bodyguard came over to her then and introduced himself, offering to take some of the bags off her hands. She thanked him, smiling.

When she looked back towards Jon and Justin, she had to force the smile a little. She noticed a familiar glare in Justin's eyes but walked over towards them anyway.

"Hi Justin," she said in a monotone voice.

He grunted, still scowling, picked up his brother and turned abruptly away from her. This earned him a shove from a certain bodyguard.

"Nice to see you too, Little Miss Sunshine," she replied, following behind them.

She could tell, even from several yards behind him, that he was restraining himself from chewing her out right there and causing a scene. Her guess was that this newfound restraint was for the benefit of both Jon and the general Justin-worshipping public.

They all got into a van and headed for the venue where NSYNC would be performing that night. The ride there was filled with Jon's chatter and very little else.

When they reached the venue, they pulled up along side a series of buses. Jon went running up the stairs of the bus that Justin had pointed out to him, in search of the other guys.

And as soon as Jon was out of sight, Justin turned to face her for the first time. He walked towards her slowly until his face was mere inches from her own. And then the dam broke.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing here?"

She inwardly winced at the sheer volume of his voice, but was determined not to show weakness.

"Your mother asked me to take care of Jon. And that is what I'm doing here. I'm here for Jon."

"Yeah sure. Whatever excuse will work to get close to us..."

She cut him off right there. She did not use people. "Maybe if you pulled your head out of your ass for two seconds, you would see that the world doesn't revolve around you." She took a deep breath, before adding, "Like I said before, I'm here for Jon. And only Jon. Now kindly get out of my face, you egotistical bastard."

He scowled at her once more and turned to leave, calling over his shoulder, "Watch yourself, little girl. Just watch it."

She smirked as she called back. "Little girl? I'm older than you!"

Justin quickly huffed off towards the stairs to the bus Jon had entered several minutes ago, but was unable to evade the taunting of a man leaning against the bus, who she assumed to be another member of NSYNC.

"She sure told you where to stick it, didn't she?"

Justin glared at him as he walked by. "Shut it, Chris."

Andy looked over and saw Justin climbing the stairs to the bus. She shook her head slightly and leaned back against the side of the bus.

Chris came over, still grinning like the Cheshire Cat, to introduce himself.

"Andy, right? I'm Chris."

She couldn't help but smile back at him. "Yep, I'm Andy. It's nice to meet you Chris."

"Back atcha. I have a feeling I'm going to like you, Ky."

She looked puzzled. "Ky?"

"Yep. As in Cheyenne peppa. Cause you're spicy."

She laughed and shook her head. "If you say so�"

"I do." Something evidently caught his eye then because� "Whoa! Gotta run!" was all he said before darting across the parking lot and out of sight.

She looked after him bemusedly. "That man has way too much energy."

"Tell me about it." A voice spoke up from behind her. She turned to see who it was and found herself face to face with yet another person that she didn't know. He was leaning against the bus and smiling brightly.

"I see you've met Chris. He's on a sugar high that never goes away. You get used to it after awhile�Anyway, I'm JC. And you're Andy, right?"

"Yep, that's me. Nice to meet you, JC."

He smiled, but then, noticing her bags in a heap on the ground, shook his head and frowned to himself. "Justin hasn't been much of a host, I see�would you like me to show you to your bus?'

"That would be great actually." She reached for her bags, but he waved her away, picking them up for her and heading toward a second bus.

"This is an all female bus. A couple of hair and makeup people are on this bus, plus a wardrobe assistant, and one of our opening acts, Riley. You'll like her; she's really sweet. Oh and I think Melissa will be staying on this bus too when she comes to visit in few days�"

"Melissa?"

He shook his head at his own stupidity, as he climbed the steps to the bus. "Okay, so I'm stupid. Like you would know who she is�Melissa's my girlfriend."

"Oh, that's cool. You must be excited that she's coming to visit."

"Yeah, I can't wait. I haven't seen her for a couple of weeks."

JC paused in front of an empty bunk. "So. This is your home sweet home while you're on tour with us. It's more comfortable than you think, and after awhile, you'll have a hard time sleeping anywhere else."

She looked a little skeptical, so he shrugged and added, "You'll see. The bus really rocks you to sleep."

"I'll trust you on that one for now."

He smiled and pointed out a few shelves and drawers where she could store her things. She was getting settled in, when another man she didn't know came barreling up the stairs, calling, "C, you in here?"

"Yeah, Joe. Back by the bunks."

Joey appeared a few seconds later, smiling brightly, and, after seeing Andy, raised an eyebrow questioningly to JC.

"Joe, this is Andy. She brought Jon up here for a few weeks. Andy, this is Joey Fatone."

"Nice to meet you, Joey."

"The pleasure's all mine," he said smoothly, as he looked her over appreciatively.

JC smacked him upside the head playfully, seeing the look on his face. Joey pretended to rub his head in pain.

"Did you want something, Joe?"

Joey seemed to snap back to reality at this. "Oh, right. We need to go to soundcheck. Like now. Or Johnny will freak. Plus, Wade wanted to go over something, and we really don't really want to piss off the tag team of mayhem, do we Jace?"

"Point taken."

Joey turned to Andy and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Talk to you later, Andy."

She laughed. "Definitely."

Just then, Chris bounded up the stairs. "Oh hey, Ky. Guys? You ready?"

They nodded, so he turned back to Andy. "Wish we could stay and party, but we have to go to soundcheck. Damn the man!"

Andy took his cue and said. "Save the empire!"

He looked at her happily. "I knew I was going to like you, Ky. Any fan of Empire Records is a friend of mine."

She laughed and high-fived him. JC pushed both Joey and Chris towards the stairs, and then turned back to her.

"We'll take the midget with us so you can get settled in. If you need anything, just let me know�" He paused, remembering to give her the all access pass that he'd gotten for her earlier. "You'll need this. That little pass means you can go just about anywhere you want around here. Without it, you're pretty much not going to get within fifty feet of us."

"Thanks a lot JC. Seriously. I would still be standing in the parking lot if you hadn't come along."

He blushed a little. "It was really no problem. If you feel like checking out the arena or whatever, just have someone point you towards the stage. I guess that's it. I'll talk to you later."

He waved, before disappearing down the steps.

Andy looked around the seemingly deserted bus and decided to lay down and relax for awhile. But just as she was getting comfortable, she heard a series of thumps that sounded like they were coming from the back of the bus, followed by a muffled scream.

She got up and looked around. "What the hell was that?"

Andy headed in the direction that the noise had come from to see if whoever was back there needed help with something.