“Do I have to run this, Tony? It’s a good twenty minutes away!” Amy asked her boss miserably.
“YES, you DO,” Tony replied. “It’s to a concert venue...it can’t be that bad. Now stop your bitchin’ and GO - you’re almost done with me anyway!!! Maybe you’ll meet someone famous.”
“Ooo, goody...” She replied dryly. Reaching over to the counter, she picked up the three pizzas and headed off to venue. Her ‘perfect day’ was getting better and better by the minute.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Amy reached the venue after about a half hour of wretched driving. The traffic heading into the venue was horrendous...obviously someone HUGE was here.
She parked the ‘company car’ (also known as INSTANT embarrassment on wheels - you can only feel SO cool when there’s a giant Italian guy holding a pizza on your roof and a huhe sign that says ‘Honk if you like pizza...Honk TWICE if you love *Papa Tony’s Pizza*!!’ on you bumper...)
Grabbing the pizzas (luckily, they were in a hot bag, or they’d be cold mush by now...), she made her way to the back entrance Tony had directed her to. A large menacing man greeted her with an oh-so-comforting snarl.
“What do you want, Missy?” He said with no change in expression.
Amy couldn’t contain her cynicism. She was NOT usually like this, but after a day like she just had, she was surprised she hadn’t taken a gun to someone’s head yet. “What the HELL does it LOOK like I want, MISTER...”
“Jesus, girl!! What crawled up YOUR ass and died? I was just kiddin’ with you...Sheesh!” He flashed her a smile. “They’re expecting you...Go down the long hallway and knock on the second door on the left.”
She returned a smile - it was the most pained and fake thing she had ever produced...but it WAS a smile - her first since the day before. She whisked past him with her head bowed and made her way down the hallway. There was an occasional person walking in and out of a few doors, but she didn’t recognize anyone yet. She arrived at the second door on the left and knocked gingerly.
After a few minutes, an averaged-height Italian man with a shaved head came to the door. He shut it quickly behind him so she couldn’t get a look inside as to who his companions were.
“How’d you get in here?!? And WHAT do you want?!?” He said angrily.
“Good Lord! What is WRONG with you people?!? Do you need it in writing?!? I am a pizza girl...P-I-Z-Z-A...PIZZA!! People call...I deliver. Get it?” She said, putting her hand on her hips.
“Who let you in? There were NO pizzas ordered here - you have to leave!! Do you realize where you are? Do you realize who’s in this room?!?”
“For Christ’s SAKE!! Now we’re playing 20 FRIGGIN’ QUESTIONS?!? OK, first question...a big black dude with a gray shirt on. Second question...yes, I DO...I’m not an idiot - the Ridgewood Falls Amphitheater. Third question...I have NO idea - ELVIS could be here for all I care. I just wanna deliver my pizzas and get the hell out of here. Now PLEASE...we got a call asking for THREE pizzas...TWO plain and ONE pepperoni. Ask around...SOMEone ordered PIZZAS!!!” She was losing what little patience she had left.
Just then, a muted voice came from beyond the door. “Yo...Steve? Is our pizza here yet?!? I’m HUNGRY!!!” The voice sounded SO familiar, but in Amy’s depressed/angry/frustrated haze, she couldn’t place it.
The man, apparently named Steve, hung his head. “I’m so, so sorry. Forgive me...they didn’t tell me they ordered anything...”
Amy looked at him kind of funny. All of a sudden, it hit her. As her heart sped up to warp-speed, she realized she was staring face-to-face with Steve Fatone...none other than the cute brother of the one and only JOEY Fatone of ‘NSync. Her favorite group EVER was at her local venue and she was bringing them pizza - AND she was SO pathetically despondent that she didn’t even realize it. She had tried to get tickets to see this concert, but they had sold out in minutes.
“Omigod...you’re Steve Fatone...” She said after she finally found her voice. “And that was Christopher Kirpatrick’s voice that I just heard. I’m delivering pizza to ‘NSync. This is too much...I can’t take it. I’m crackin’ up. Here, just take ‘em.” With an air of disbelief, she mechanically shoved the pizzas at Steve and started to walk away.
“Wait...don’t you want to hand it to them yourself? Wouldn’t that be a little more fun?” He asked with a mischievous sound to his voice.
Amy stopped and turned around. “Uh, yeah, Bud...I look SO hot, now...” She said sarcastically. He looked down and smiled at what she was pointing to. She was wearing fire-engine red pants with an obnoxious blue racing stripe up the side (complimented by numerous flour splotches and gunky dough chunks). The shirt was even better - it was that same day-glo blue with red horizontal stripes across it, and in big letters, across her chest, was “Papa Tony’s Pizza” in FLUORESCENT yellow. To top it all off, she had a matching yellow hat on, with a cloth pizza a good nine inches across slapped right on the peak of its cheap, poor excuse for a cap. And you thought the CAR was bad...
Steve was stifling a giggle. “Well, why not? What do you have to lose?” He asked.
She sighed heavily. “Yeah, I guess...Here goes the most mortifying moment in my entire life.” She followed him as he opened the door. There standing in front of her was none other than the five guys of ‘NSync. They were in the middle of a heated five-person racing game on PlayStaion, but they looked up when the door opened.
“PIZZA!!” JC screamed. “I’m starved! Hey, I’m JC...nice to meet you...” He said, extending his hand to Amy.
“I’m Amy...” She said, barely audibly. She looked back and realized Steve had left her alone with the five guys - he was nowhere in sight.
“Nice to meet you...” The five responded as they all shook her hand.
Lance stared hard at her. “Sweetie, you OK? You look like you’re gonna cry!”
His beautiful face was only inches from her’s - she felt his warm breath on her cheeks and smelled the faint aroma of a faded, but nevertheless delicious, cologne. He had been her favorite from the very beginning, and to be that close to him was like a dream come true...she only wished she could have been enjoying it more.
“Yeah...yeah, I’m fine! Fine...” She trailed off. She cursed herself as a hot tear escaped her hazel eyes.
“Uh...wanna vent?” Lance asked squeezing her arm. “You don’t seem like everything’s OK. Somehow I don’t think that was a giddy ‘I just met ‘NSync and peed my pants and I’m gonna go back to my 12-year old teenybopper friends and yell and scream and make them jealous’ tear. That was more like a ‘I just had the day from HELL and all I wanna do is cry’ tear.”
“Definitely option ‘B’...” She said as she controlled herself again. “I really don’t think you wanna hear my sob story, though...BELIEVE me...”
“Believe ME...we do...” Joey spoke up. “Let it rip, Amy. You’ll feel better. We ain’t got anything better to do for the next two hours until wardrobe kidnaps up...” The other four nodded in agreement.
Amy sighed slowly, but then started at a good 90 mph clip. “Fine, here goes: I decided this morning that I’d make breakfast for my boyfriend. I went over to his house, let myself in, and started cooking while he was still upstairs. WELL, I guess he didn’t know I was there...NOR did he expect me...’cause just as I was putting the batter on the French Toast, he walked down the stairs, completely naked, holding the hand of my EX-friend...who was ALSO naked. THEN, I had to go right to work, so I didn’t even have time to mourn. I got to work, spilled a ten pound vat of dough all over the floor, took an hour to clean that up, and then got fired. My boss, who must be Hitler reincarnated, said that he was paying too many people and we were all idiots anyway, so he was letting me go. So, NOW...I have NO boyfriend, one LESS friend, and NO job. The boyfriend and the friend I can get over...but I NEED the money. My dad just got laid off last week, so I hafta help out!! THEN, on my way over here, I was almost KILLED by three girls in a Neon who had so many ‘NSync posters on their car that they probably couldn’t even see me. THEN, I get here, get bitched out by Steve, and then find out I’m delivering pizza to my five favorite guys in the whole world who I’ve dreamed about meeting for as long as I can remember...and now I finally get the chance, and I look like something out of a bad 80’s movie.” At this point she had started getting teary again. “And worst of all...I just made you poor, poor guys listen to me. I’m so sorry. I haven’t even gotten a chance to cry yet...I’m gonna go do that in my car. Here, just enjoy your pizzas...I got the bill. And have a great show...” She said as she broke down into a fit of exasperated sobs.
She attempted to make it to the door in a hurry, but as she cleared her eyes to look for the knob, she realized Lance was standing with his body right in front of it, blocking her in. “You aren’t going ANYwhere, Miss Amy. I am SO sorry about all this...here, come here...” He said, leading her over to the couch. “Would a hug help?” He asked putting his arms securely around her. She didn’t even have to speak for him to know the answer. The hug turned into a ten minute ordeal as Amy sobbed into his increasingly soggy chest; he rocked her gently and occasionally smoothed her hair or rubbed her heaving back. It was exactly what she needed...and she thanked God that Lance was there to give it to her at that moment.
After her sobs cleared to sniffles, she picked up her head and gave a SINCERE smile to Lance and his companions. “Thank you...SO...much.”
“You’re so welcome! We kinda have another surprise for you. Here...have a ticket...” Justin reached over to a coffee table and picked up a floor ticket. “It’s not really a valid seat, it just means that you’ll get to stand in FRONT of the barricade with the security and a bunch of other girls...I hope you enjoy the show!”
Her eyes lit up. “Thank you SO...” She trailed off as she realized what she was wearing. “Uh, I don’t think I want to be in public...I don’t look so good right about now...”
“Well, we can change that!! While you were crying, I got up and talked to our make-up artist. She’s about your size...and she said she’d let you borrow some clothes. AND, she’ll do your hair and make-up for you if you want.” Chris produced a satisfied grin.
“Omigod...this is...TOO much...”
Lance silenced her by putting his finger over her lips. “Shhh...you deserve it, Sweetheart. Just go with Gina...she’ll make everything perfect...” A pretty young girl popped her head in the door and ushered Amy down the hall to get ‘prettied up’.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After about an hour, Amy returned - she entered the room shyly. The five guys stopped dead in their tracks...she looked phenomenal. Her make-up was perfect - accentuating her features, but not too much. Her long blond hair was in a half twist in the back - the part that was up had beautiful ringlets in it and the rest was straight and silky. She was wearing a pair of curve-hugging black pants and a simple lavender tank with baby-blue and white flowers.
“W-whoa...AMY!” They couldn’t believe that the puffy, dough covered girl had turned into this lovely young woman. The six had brief small talk conversations for the next forty-five minutes until Gina reappeared. “I need to steal you guys...show’s startin’ soon!” She said with a smile.
There were hugs all around, thank yous galore, a few autographs, pictures with an instant camera, and a few sad good-byes as Amy headed out the door. She simply could not BELIEVE what had just happened to her as she FLOATED out to the floor to find her spot.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The concert was more than she could have hoped for. She never stopped moving the whole time and she was hoarse by the second song from singing so much.
They looked at her and smiled often...she always returned the biggest grin she could. That grin was DOUBLY huge every time Lance acknowledged her...THAT was enought to make her heart race.
The concert came to a close WAY too quickly, but at least Amy had it on film. They had given her a few more instant cameras to use for memories. As ‘NSync took their finally bow, they all looked down at Amy and blew her a kiss. With a smile, she mouthed ‘Thank you...’ and returned the kiss. ‘You’re welcome’ was the appropriate response, and that is what she got. They waved one last time as they disappeared behind the stage.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Amy returned to her car after fighting all the teenyboppers in front of her. She got in the ‘Pizza Mobile’ and sighed happily. Even the ‘4-Wheeled Geek Transporter’ (yet another loving nickname) could get her down now. She reached into her purse to pull out her lip gloss when her hand brushed an envelope that she knew hadn’t been there before. There were three folded up notes in it. She opened the one marked #1...
~*~*~
Dear Amy -
We’re not letting you go without your payment, silly.
Hope you enjoyed the show.
Love,
Lance, Joey, Justin, JC, and Chris
~*~*~
There were two folded up twenty’s inside the note. “Awww...how sweet!” Amy said out loud.
She moved onto the next one - #2.
~*~*~
Dear Amy -
While I can’t make any guarantees about helping you on the BOYfriend issue...I CAN help you on the FRIEND issue. You really touched me with your kindness and passion. Keep in touch, I’m begging you. And who knows...the boyfriend part could come later! *wink*
Love,
Lance
~*~*~
There was a small sheet with an email address and two phone numbers on it. Amy felt her heart race as she read the words Lance had written with his OWN hands. She could not believe it - she pinched herself several times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Finally, she opened the next one - #3.
~*~*~
Dear Amy -
I know its never fun to accept charity, because you feel like you’re a burden on people. Trust me, I was a struggling musician once. But, when I said that you touched me, those words weren’t strong enough. You moved me to the point of crying with you...you didn’t know it, but I did. Take this and pamper yourself a little. Get something for your folks. Have fun. You are a strong and wonderful girl...and you deserve everything here. I know money can’t buy love or satisfaction, but it always helps. Take care, and I’ll hope and pray that you will soon find true happiness. I’ll never forget you...
Love always and forever,
Lance
~*~*~
Amy nearly died when she saw what fell out of THIS package. A smile crept over her face as HAPPY tears began. “I’ll never forget YOU.” She said out loud. “Thank you...” She held in her hands a personal check directly from the account of James Lance Bass with ‘smile more often - you’re so much prettier when you’re happy’ written in the memo space - in the amount of $10,000.
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