Chapter 24:  Prince Justin in a Can

     Val was just returning from dropping off the tray, when she found Kelly waiting for Justin in the living room.
     “Hey Kel, what time is Justin . . .oh my sweet lord Jesus, why are you dressed for battle?”
     “Justin has to babysit for his brothers and friends tonight.  If his little brothers are anything like him, then I want to be ready” Kelly responded calmly.
     “He’s taking you babysitting?  That’s your ‘special bonding time.’  What a gentleman!  Actually, babysitting might not be such a bad idea considering your behavior at the club the other night.”
     “What do you mean?” asked Kelly as she adjusted her Xena-like metal support bra.
     “You know exactly what I mean.  I saw what you did . . .so did the papers and the entire American public!” scolded Val.
     “All we did was dance . . .”
     “Yeah, with malicious intent!” Val began to laugh now.  “Can I at least suggest loosing the prehistoric porn star look for something more along the lines of Kristy Thomas in the Babysitters Club.  Jeans, t-shirt, umpire’s vest . . .”
     “Fine,” Kelly sighed.  “But only in I can borrow your Rollerblading pads.  I’m telling you, if that boy pisses me off tonight, as soon as his back is turned . . .BAM!”
     “Well at least you’ll have brought protection.” Val smirked.
     “What is THAT supposed to mean?  There will be no need for protection.  He’ll be the one on his back.”
     “That’s what I’m afraid of.  Don’t feel bad.  I’d be in trouble myself.  He certainly is an incredibly attractive boy.  Shame he’s younger than me ‘cause you know how I only like older men.”
     “We’re not talking about you!” Kelly pouted.
     “Now look, just because you’ve got to spend time with Justin doesn’t mean that you have to start talking and acting like him too.  Not everything is about you.”
     “It will be tonight,” added Kelly as she took yet another opportunity to mouth off.
     Suddenly the doorbell rang.
     “Quick, go change.” Val ordered as she pushed Kelly back up the stairs.  “I’ll take care of him until you’re ready.”
     Kelly took off at a slow jog (the Xena-wear was slowing her down) as Val walked slowly to the door laughing at how stupid Kelly looked.  She opened the door and was faced with Justin dressed in the male equivalent of what Kelly was changing out of.
     “What did you do, steal that outfit from Brian when they are moving?” was Val’s greeting.
     “Huh?”
     “The Conan-the-Barbarian battle gear, Einstein.  I’m not sure who you are protecting yourself from, but I have a little tip for ya.  Kelly’s acrylic nails make a great can opener.  Those things can cut through that tin suit of yours like a hot knife through butter.”
     Justin giggled nervously as Val began to rummage through the small set of drawers found in the foyer.  She pulled out some scrap paper and a pen.  Handing them to Justin she gave him his instructions.
     “It’s 8:30 now.  Lord knows when the other girls are getting home, so I will drive Kelly over to your mother’s house in about a half-hour.  That will give you enough time to change and make sure that you have time to hide all the sharp objects in the house. . .and I don’t mean from your brothers.”
     Justin scribbled his mother’s address down and handed it to Val.
     “Yo, thanks for your help, Val.  I can’t understand why Chris would say that you are an indignant and self-righteous basket case.  Seems like your head is screwed on tight to me.”
     “That’s very sweet of you Justin, thanks . . .” said Val VERY dryly.  “I’ll see you in a half-hour.”

Chapter 25:  Kelly Kicks Butt or the Terrible Timberlake Trio

     Kelly had taken forever changing out of the Xena wear, but Val had finally gotten her out the door and into the car and the two were headed down the road toward Justin’s Mom’s house bopping along to the sounds of the eighties, recently recovered at a used CD store not far from the studio (but that’s another story and let’s keep this chapter moving, thanks).  Val started off at the top of her patented baby/boy-sitting checklist.
     “Do you have your flame thrower, nun-chucks, flame-resistant ropes, baseball bat, millennium hip-hop party CD, list of emergency pizza delivery numbers, copy of your favorite bedtime story (you know like CLUE), basketball pump, pokémon pokédex (just in case), and a copy of the Mighty Ducks?” Val asked.
     “Yup, and I even packed an extra pair of sneakers, aren’t you proud?” Kelly beamed.
     “You’re all grown up…I’m just so proud, you’ll never know.” Val wiped a single tear from the corner of her eye.
     “Sorry to interrupt your moment of melodrama Val, but did we just miss our turn off?  Nope, I’m mistaken, that’s it just beyond the mansion on the left.
     “Well, I must say that it is rather convenient that Justin’s brothers are visiting this weekend . . .and that they are staying with Lynn…”  Val dropped Kelly off at the Harless house right on time.
     “Are you sure this is the right place?”  Kelly asked as she hopped out of the passenger’s seat.
     “Well, this is the address Justin gave me…and that M-class in the driveway seems like as dead give-away to me.  Why do you ask?”
     “I don’t know.  Something just doesn’t seem right…it’s too quiet.”  Kelly shuddered as she peered toward the front door, now more cautiously.
     “I’m sure everything will be fine, you’re just a spaz.  Here take my cell phone.  Call if anything goes wrong.”
 As Val drove off, Kelly felt her stomach twist.  Her gut was telling her that something was awry in the house.  Mustering up her courage, she made her way to the front door.  After finding that the doorbell was not functioning, she knocked on the door.  To Kelly’s absolute horror, the slight force of her gentle knocking had been enough to push the door fully open.  Kelly allowed her curiosity to get the best of her and she stuck her head inside.
     “Justin?” she called.  “It’s me…Kelly.”
     No answer.
     Kelly swallowed some of her fear and stepped into the foyer.  The rest of the house was dark excepting the strategically lit front rooms.  The house, which had seemed so warm and inviting from outside, became a maze of shadows and darkness as Kelly moved into the back of the house.  She stood in the foyer for awhile trying to decide whether to  a) look for Justin  b) wait outside in case they went for a walk or ice cream or something safe like that or  c) run like hell out of the house and call Val to pick her butt up.  Kelly was about to start dialing when she heard eerie childlike laughter coming from behind a door to her left.
 This door too was slightly ajar, leading her to believe that there were two if not three Timber-tikes involved in the less than inviting welcome.  If Justin was behind this, heads were going to roll.  Kelly dropped her enormous bag in the hall and quietly moved towards the voices.  She found stairs behind the door and stealthily moved down them to a fully finished basement/game room, being careful to stick to the shadows to keep the element of surprise in her favor.  As she rounded the corner, she was met by a sight that would strike fear into the heart of any baby-sitter.   A pitiful looking Justin sat in a chair with his arms bound behind his back, his sneakers tied together, the boys had managed to gag their brother as well.  They made their mistake in the last part of the torture taking the whole thing too far.  As Kelly entered the room, a CD of live Britney performances began to play loudly in the background.  While Kelly had found the binding and gagging of Justin rather endearing, something about live Britney music just made her snap.  She grabbed the nearest “weapon” and started firing.  The basement was a virtual nerf arsenal, which in this instance served Kelly nicely as all the weapons were stored behind her.  Before any of the three Timberlakes knew what had hit them, Justin was untied and the two mini-clones were sitting as their older brother had been just moments before, minus the gags.
     “Wow, she’s good!” one of the little Justin clones commented to his brothers.
     “You’d better believe it, why do you think I brought her along?  If she can whip me into shape, I figured she’d be able to handle the two of you with my help.”  Justin tried to cover for the fact that a girl had just done in seconds what he had been trying to do for years.
     “All of you, listen up.  Now under normal circumstances, I’m all for torturing Justin, but Britney live, now that’s just cruel,”  Kelly had her hands planted firmly on her hips.
     The young boys hung their heads in shame.  This Kelly girl was just too good for them.  For the first time in their lives, they realized that they were defeated.  As the young boys bid a fond farewell to their glory days, Justin was starting to look at Kelly in a whole new light.
     “So Justin, what do you think we should do with these rugrats?” asked Kelly.
     “Kelly, I had no idea that you were so good with a semi-automatic Nerf grenade launcher.  I really misjudged you . . .” Justin tried to change the subject and get on her good side.
     “Well, you’re not so bad yourself Justin.  The way you were gnawing at those ropes, I’m sure that you would have gotten out eventually if I hadn’t shown up.”
     “You really think so?” Justin asked with one of his killer smiles spread across his face.
     “Yeah, I do.  And you know what?  I’m sick of playing this whole sexual tension game.  It might be good for Val and Chris, but we are both ‘single and ready to mingle’ so to speak.  Let’s dump the boys in front of The Mighty Ducks and have a nice talk.”
     Justin picked up the tied up boys, chairs and all, and started up the stairs.  He dumped them in the family room as Kelly placed the video into the VCR.  As the video began to play, Justin took Kelly’s hand and led her into the kitchen.
     “I find that ice cream is the perfect food to accompany long conversations,” said Justin as he pulled a few pints of Ben & Jerry’s out of the freezer.
     Kelly eyed the ice cream hungrily.
     “Justin,” she said.  “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship . . .”

  Chapter 26:  The Fat Man Quacks at Midnight.

     As Kelly’s adventure with the Timberlake family was just getting interesting Val was speeding along in her Rav4 thinking about how she was going to get Lance’s chick and the other girls together.  It finally occurred to her that she not only had no idea what the girl looked like, but also hadn’t a clue as to the girl’s name…men, when are they going to start remembering important details?!?  When Val finally came out of the deep fog remnants of her latest brain storm, she saw that subconsciously, she had maneuvered her way into the grounds of O-Town central using the short cut the guys had shown them before the hostility came to its full potential.  Val was surprised to see Lou and several burly men hoisting burlap sacks from one of the studio buildings into a large armored vehicle.
     “I knew he was kinky and dirty, but why hire the nastiest guys possible to help smuggle cash?  Hold on a second, smuggling cash?  I mean why else do something this shady.  That explains why Justin keeps wearing that same jean jacket.  He doesn’t have enough money to buy a thousand of them because Lou has been stealing money from them.  Just like he did from BSB . . .!”
     Now Val was not the kind of girl who jumped to conclusions.  He felt that everyone should have a fair shake even if Lou Perlman was money hungry, blood sucking, zombie of an old man.  She figured that her best bet was to go home and call one of the guys.  As long as Chris didn’t answer the phone, she figured that everything would be okay.
     Five minutes later, Val found herself dialing the guys’ number on the kitchen phone.  “Please don’t let Chris pick up,” she thought.  “Please don’t let Chris pick up. . .”
     “You’ve reached *NSYNC’s home base and take-out service.  My name is Chris and I’ll be your server tonight.  How may I help you?”
     “Hi, Chris.  It’s Val.  May I speak to Lance please?”
     “Would you like fries with that?”
     “Chris, I’m going to be honest with you.  I don’t have the energy to spar with you tonight; so go ahead and take all the free shots you want.  All I want to do is talk to Lance.”
     “Don’t you think that you’ve done enough to that poor boy?  Besides, in case you haven’t noticed, all the other guys are out with your friends tonight.  If I remember correctly, you and I were a part of the plan as well.  What were you planning on telling Lou if you hung out with Lance all weekend and ignored his demands?  I’m not getting into trouble because you are too afraid to hang out with me.”
     “But you said that you wanted me to go out with you and Eva tomorrow . . .not just you alone.  I didn’t think that you wanted to hang out with just me!”
     “Yeah well moving on, Lance isn’t here.  He went out to get stuff for Kathy tomorrow morning.  Believe it or not, Lance has better things to do than cater to your needs.”
     Chris paused and waited for Val to come back with one of her usual smart-ass comments, but all he heard was silence on the other end.  Since he doesn’t always know when to stop, Chris decided to push her some more –
     “I’ll let you off easy on this one.  I’ll tell Lou that you were abducted by aliens, and that’s why we never bonded.  Or would you prefer that I tell him that you just plain ole’ couldn’t hack it?!”
     Once again, Chris was not answered with a snappy comeback.  Instead, he could hear shaky sobs on the other end.
     “I’m sure that whatever you say will be fine, Chris.  You’ve always had a great way with words,” Val spat out quickly before gently hanging up.
     Chris realized that he might have been a little harsh on Val, she had said she wasn’t up to sparing.  He decided to give Val a call back.
     Val picked up the phone, praying that Lance had returned and Chris had passed on the message.  “Yeah, you’ve got Val.  Go.”
     “Val?  I’m sorry are you okay I’m sorr…”
     CLICK!  “I can’t believe he’d call me back!”
     Chris realized that it wasn’t just that he’d pissed Val off, but he had hurt her feelings too.  Realizing that calling would get him nowhere now that he had crossed the line.  He left a quick note in case someone got back early, grabbed a few supplies, (peace offerings if you will) and took off for the girls’ house.
     Val was moping on the swing by the front door when Chris showed up carrying a bag and with a meek smile on his face.  “I figured you wouldn’t answer the phone again, so I decided to bring over some peace offerings.”
     Val didn’t answer.  She wasn’t really mad, just hurt.
     “I couldn’t decide what to bring and I didn’t know what you’d like, so here you go…” Chris placed a smaller bag at Val’s feet.  “Go ahead, it won’t bite.”
     She pulled out a set of keys as well as a leather bound black book.  She looked at Chris questioningly.
     “Well, the keys are to Justin’s Benz, and the little black book belongs to Joey.”  When he didn’t get the grin he was looking for or even a response, he decided it was time to bring out the big guns.  “You leave me no choice but to fight with fire.”  From the larger bag Val saw the wrinkled up face of a pug.
     “Awww, its Busta!”  Val reached for the puppy.  “You like me, don’t ya boy?  How could such a nice guy like you get mixed up with a bad man like Chris?”
     “She speaks!  I was beginning to think that you really did hate me this time.  I admit that I get carried away on occasion, but . . .”
     “Why do you go out of your way to give me such a hard time?” Val asked point blank.  She had put Busta down by this point and was watching him scamper around the yard.  Val had no interest in looking at Chris right now because she knew that one look at him would make her give in WAY too easily.
     Chris wasn’t too comfortable himself.  Even in the dim porch light, he could see that Val’s eyes were puffy from crying.  He knew that it was his fault.  Worst of all, he couldn’t think of a way to answer her question.
     “I’ve been thinking about you a lot more than I would like to . . .trying to figure you out I guess,” Val began when she realized that Chris couldn’t respond.  “If you were annoyed by the way I acted when I first met you, I guess that I could understand that.  I was so embarrassed that I acted like a teenie around you.  But I figured that you were used to that sort of thing and that you would have given me a chance.  I realize that I said a few things that I shouldn’t have at the club, but you really took me off guard when you accused me of being responsible for Lance and Valerie’s break-up.”
     Chris sighed and sat next to Val on the swing.  How could he tell her why he did what he did when he wasn’t sure of it himself?
 
  Chapter 27: Reconciliation?

     As Chris sat down, Val turned to face him.  As difficult as it would be for her to look at him, she knew that she had to force an answer out of him.  As luck would have it, Chris felt an odd tug inside when he looked directly into her brown eyes.  He knew that she deserved an explanation.
     “I felt threatened,” Chris tried.  “You girls were moving in on our turf and we had just gotten rid of BSB.”
     “Why single me out?  We’ve only known each other a few days, how could you have gotten so against me in such a short time?” Val had started crying again.  He had treated her badly and yet she still cared so much about what he thought of her.
     “I’m not against you.  Val, please don’t let me get you so upset.  I didn’t mean to do this.  I don’t know why I accused you for the break-up, but I do know that I was wrong.”
     “Do you really mean that?”
     “I don’t say things that I don’t mean.” And with that Chris reached out to give Val friendly hug.  The embrace was short, and Chris was rather surprised at his reluctance to let go.
     “Does this mean that we are friends now?” Val asked finally smiling.
     “Sure does,” Chris answered, happy to finally be out of the hot water.  “So, what time should I pick you up tomorrow?”
     “Whatever time that’s good for you and Eva should be fine.” (yeah right, like Val EVER gets up before noon . . .)
     “Who ever said that Eva was coming?  I can hang out with my friends on my own.  She might be my girlfriend, but she is not my chaperone.  I am a very trustworthy guy.”
     “What a shame . . .” Val thought to herself.
     “How does 10 sound?  We can take our time because famous and soon to be famous people like us don’t have to wait on line for Roller Coasters.  Just don’t eat too much breakfast.  I promise that you do not want to have to see it again later.”
     “Sounds good to me.”
     “Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Chris as he gave Val a quick pat on the head before he grabbed his things (puppy included) and headed back to his own house.
     Once Chris was out of earshot, Val gave herself a quick warning.
     “Val, he has a girlfriend.  The two of us will only be friends.”
     Val went inside to make sure that the room for Lance’s friend was ready.  It was then that she realized that Chris had said that Lance was picking things up for Kathy.  That must be his friend’s name.  At least now she could let the others know that Lance’s friend had a name.  She also realized that she hadn’t said anything to Chris about Lou and the questionable activities she had viewed earlier in the evening.  Since the two were now on better than speaking terms, she decided to give Chris a call (she was back off the proverbial Emotional Roller Coaster).
     “Hey, *N Sync’s pleasure palace, full service fun.  I’m Chris and I’ll be working you over this evening.”
     “I’ll take a personal song with a side of cheese…  Hey Chris, its Val.  I realized that I never told you why I was calling to talk with Lance.”
     “No problem.  I’ll let him know you called.  I promise, unless you want to tell me.”
     “Well, its that I saw something questionable in O-Town.  I wanted to talk with at least one of you guys before confronting Lou with what I saw.  Besides, I want to actually record my album before he fires us.”
     “Well, let’s not worry about it tonight and we’ll talk tomorrow on the way to Islands of Adventure.  I can’t wait.  We’ll ride the dueling dragons, the incredible hulk, Dudley Doo Right, the Popeye raft…Don’t forget to wear a bathing suit and board shorts if you’ve got em’ if not I can lend you some or we can steal a pair of one of the guys for you.”  Chris had gone off on a tangent, like a little boy planning his day at the amusement park for optimum pleasure.  “Oh, and you’ll love the Spider Man ride too.  And we can play in the playground and have a water fight.  It will be great.  I’m bringing Lennie with us too, don’t worry he’s lots of fun.  So, I’ll see you tomorrow at 10.”
     Val wasn’t entirely sure who Lennie was, but she sure wasn’t going to ask now.  “Sure Chris, I’ll meet you at your place at about 9:45.  See you then.”
     When Val got to the guy’s house the next morning, she was met by the biggest, toughest looking guy she had seen in a long time.  “Hi…I’m here to see Chris, sir.”  Val switched into her meek mode and had trouble getting that much out.
     “Oh, you must be Val.  I’m Lennie.  I’ll be playing the part of your bodyguard today.”  The giant broke into a wide and friendly grin.  “Chris is almost out of bed, I think.  I can go make sure.”
     Val paused for a moment to think about why Chris was insisting on having a bodyguard with them.  Joey had taken Carlee out without one; she wondered what made Chris and her so different.  She eventually decided to let it go and go bother Chris instead.
     “Please, let me…”  Val followed Lennie up to Chris’s room and once they realized that Chris was a) alone  b) decently clothed (ie. boxers and a beater) and c) fast asleep Val went for a running jump and landed on the bed just next to the sleeping Chris.  Since Chris got this treatment from one or another of the guys on a regular basis, he thought nothing of rolling over to pin what he took to be Justin or Joey to the bed.  With Val’s squeal, he realized his mistake, turned bright red, and remembered that he was supposed to be ready to go to the park.
     “Sorry Val, I thought you were one of the guys. . . ” he stammered as he looked down at her . . . trying to fight back any dirty thoughts he might get about a cute girl being pinned underneath him.
     “It’s okay Chris, now I have a story to tell my future children. ‘Kids, let your old mom tell you about the time she was straddled by a famous pop star,’” Val put on a funny voice and did her best to squirm out of Chris’ grasp before he had a chance to pull out the fuzzy handcuffs.
    “Give me ten minutes and we’ll get going.”
     “Get your butt moving!  Val’s my girl today and I’m ready to go!” Lennie reached over and started to shake the still groggy Chris.
     “Get off… if you let me go, I can get ready faster.”
     “Fine, but if you’re not downstairs in ten minutes, I’m letting Lennie jump on you this time.”  Val laughed at Chris as he fumbled out of bed and into his bathroom.  “I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
     All three had a great time on all the rides.  Val only put her foot down when Chris and Lennie tried to get her on the free-fall ride.  Other than that they spent an amazing afternoon on Roller Coaster and water ride after water ride.  By the end they were sopping wet and happy.  The more time Chris and Val spent together, the less Val could understand why they had fought and the more Chris realized the reason that he had pushed her away.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like Val, but much contrary.  The problem was that there were some obstacles in the way.  He had to keep in mind that he still had Eva to contend with, but more importantly, did Val like him the way he liked her?  He realized that he had jumped on her about dancing with Lance because he was jealous.  There was no way that he could tell her that without looking like a complete idiot.  In order to prevent this topic coming up at all during their first day of friendship, Chris and Val spent the entire ride back discussing ways to either confront Lou or start an investigation without stirring up huge media frenzy.  They finally decided to keep it on the down low for now and to keep an eye out for more strange behavior.