Julianna’s point of view

“Can you please at least try to remember your lines?” whined Nick.
“Well excuuuse me,” I retorted. “I don’t seem to remember you being perfect.”
“I didn’t say I was, but at least I don’t forget every other line!” exclaimed Nick.
I rolled my eyes. So big deal, I forgot a few lines, I did have a lot on my mind. Why was it again that we couldn’t go a half an hour without nearly biting each other’s heads off? Oh yeah, that’s right, one of us was Nick Mr. Know-It-All Carter. I remembered what Lance told me about not fighting with Nick and figured that this was as good time as any to try it.
“I’m not gonna fight with you, let’s just do this scene,” I said calmly
Nick opened his mouth to say something, then he looked shocked, like he just got what I said, then thought better of saying it, and closed his mouth. He then mumbled something.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Fine,” he said through clenched teeth.
Well what do you know? Lance’s advice worked. That guy was a miracle worker.
For the rest of the day, Nick and I managed to remain civil to one another. Never thought it would happen right?
As I got into my car to go home, I let out a huge breath of relief that I didn’t realize I was holding. Only two more days and I would never have to see the blond jerk again.
I heard the muffled ringing of my cell phone from my purse and dug it out.
“Hello?” I said turning the phone on.
“Hi,” I heard Lance’s voice.
I immediately smiled. “What’s up?”
“Nothing, just calling to ask how the remainder of your day was,” replied Lance and I could hear a note of concern in his voice.
“It was actually sorta normal,” I said. “And I have you to thank for it.”
“I take it my advice worked?”
I laughed. “Did it ever! You practically saved Nick’s life because one more fight, and I was ready to throw him out of the closest window.”
“I don’t remember any windows on your set,” said Lance thoughtfully, but I could hear a teasing note in his tone.
“Okay, so I was gonna throw him outside and let his adoring fans tear him to pieces,” I said smirking. “Now that I think about it, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea…” I trailed off for emphasis.
Lance laughed. “That would’ve been horrible, and trust me, I’m speaking from experience here.”
“You’ve had a run in with Nick’s adoring fans?” I asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible even though I knew perfectly well that I was twisting his words around. But so what? It was fun.
“Very funny.” Lance let out a chuckle. “So what are you doing now?”
“I was about to drive home but then a certain phone call interrupted me…” I trailed off and began laughing.
“I see, so do you have any plans for this evening?” asked Lance.
“Hmm, well, I was going to go home and try to dig up some dirt on Nick on the Internet, so that I could embarrass him with it tomorrow, but that can wait. What did you have in mind?”
“Well, I was thinking that since you don’t have plans, and I don’t have plans, we could not have plans together,” replied Lance.
“Right…wait…what?” I asked realizing that what he said made absolutely no sense. It made so little sense; the sense it made was negative.
Lance laughed once again. “Would you like to go to a movie and get some dinner afterwards?”
“Okay, now see, that made sense, you should’ve started with that. But you went and got me all confused and now my brain doesn’t know what it’s thinking…who are you again?” I joked.
“Good question, when I find out, I’ll tell you,” Lance joked back.
See, this is why I liked this guy. We could joke around about absolutely nothing and still enjoy talking to each other.
“But seriously, a movie and dinner sounds great,” I told him.
I could practically hear his smile over the phone. “Great! So how about I pick you up at eight thirty?” he asked.
I looked at my watch. It showed seven thirty. “Okay, that’s fine, see you then,” I agreed.
“Okay, bye bye bye,” said Lance laughing loudly.
“That was a cheap joke and you know it,” I stated, but couldn’t hold back a giggle.
“Yeah, but it was so perfect for the moment.”
“Okay, I gotta get home and get ready for our date.”
“Alright, I’ll let you go. I’ll see you in an hour.”
“Okay, bye.” I hung up the phone and put it on the passenger seat next to me. I then pulled out of the parking lot with a huge smile on my face.

Nick’s point of view

Okay, so how was I supposed to pull my brilliant prank on Julianna?
I looked around my hotel room and realized that doing that was pointless, I didn’t have the one thing I needed in my room: a computer.
A knock sounded at my door.
“Hey Bone,” I said opening the door and finding AJ there.
“Hey Nicky,” he greeted and breezed past me into my room.
“How many times do I have to remind you not to call me Nicky?” I asked glaring at him and closed the door.
AJ grinned. “How ever many you want, not like I listen to you anyway.”
I rolled my eyes and sat down. “Do you know where I can find a computer?”
“In a store Nick,” said AJ slowly, giving me a weird look.
I hit him with my pillow. “No you idiot, I meant so that I can use it now. Like, does anyone around here have one?”
“Oh, well, I think Bri might’ve brought his laptop with him, why?”
“Cause I need to look up something on the Net,” I replied and got up.
“And where are you going?” asked AJ.
“To Bri’s room,” I replied and walked out of the room. Yeah, I knew that AJ was still in there, but he was a big boy, he knew how to find his way out of a room…hopefully.
I got to Brian’s room and knocked repeatedly. No answer.
I let out a sigh of frustration and went back to my own room. To my surprise, AJ was still there. He was sitting on the couch, watching TV, and eating my chips.
“Comfy?” I asked sarcastically.
AJ nodded grinning, totally missing my sarcasm, or ignoring it, probably the latter.
“Bri wasn’t in his room,” I told him and took a seat too.
“I know,” said AJ not taking his eyes off the TV.
I turned to look at him. “So why didn’t you tell me when I went to his room?” I exclaimed.
AJ shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”
“You’re dead!” I yelled and pulled the chips out of his hands. I then looked at the bag and back at AJ, oh well, as long as I was here…I then dumped the chips over AJ’s head, and believe me, there were a lot of them cause the bag was nearly full.
“Hey!” he yelled jumping up and trying to brush the chips off of himself.
I grinned triumphantly. That felt good. “You deserved it,” I told him.
“I just took a shower!” exclaimed AJ.
“And? Your point is? It’s not like I dumped soda all over you. But if you want to hang around a little longer, I might get to that,” I said.
“My point is that now I have chips in my hair and all over me. I have to go take another shower!”
“Okay, have fun buddy,” I said and grinned widely.
“I am so gonna get you for this,” warned AJ.
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” I said ignoring the threat. The guys always warned me that they were gonna get me for my pranks, but for some reason, they never did. Not that I minded.
AJ threw one more glare in my direction and then left the room.

Julianna’s point of view

Why did my house have to be so big?
“Dammit!” I yelled as I hit my foot on my coffee table. Who put it there anyway? Oh yeah, I did.
Where were my keys?
I ran all over my house trying to find them and got nothing! I looked in every purse I own and still nothing!
Lance was due at my house in fifteen minutes and unless I found my keys, we wouldn’t be going anywhere that night.
Then my doorbell rang.
“Oh no!” I groaned as I ran to answer it. I just had to find a guy who was so punctual he was early didn’t I?
“Did I just hear you yell ‘oh no’?” asked Lance grinning when I opened the door.
“Um…yeah,” I admitted sheepishly. “I just can’t find my keys and you’re fifteen minutes early and I thought I could use that time to try to find my keys,” I blurted out.
“Okay, so how about I make your life a lot easier?” suggested Lance.
“How?”
Lance held up my keys. “Like this,” he said simply.
I took my keys from his hand. “Where did you find them?”
“They were in your front door,” replied Lance. “You know, you really shouldn’t do that. A lot of crazy people out there who could take the keys and go inside,” he said softly.
“I know,” I said sighing. “It’s just been a crazy, long day.”
“Come here,” said Lance and held out his arms. I stepped into his warm embrace for a much needed hug.
“Thanks, I needed that,” I said gratefully.
“Anytime,” he said smiling at me. “Do you still want to go out, or you wanna stay in?” he asked.
I thought about it. “Out, I definitely want to go out.”
“Okay, are you ready?”
“Yeah.” I checked to make sure I had my wallet, phone, and of course, keys, and then walked out of my house with Lance.

A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER

“Nice movie, I needed a good laugh,” I commented as we walked out of the theater.
“It was a horror movie!” exclaimed Lance laughing.
I shrugged. “Well, I thought it was funny.”
“You’re the first girl I’ve met who thought a horror movie was funny,” said Lance laughing harder.
“Are you Julianna Palmer?” I heard a girl’s voice.
I looked around and saw a girl of about sixteen standing to my left.
“Yes I am,” I replied smiling. I loved meeting fans.
The girl turned to look at Lance. “And aren’t you Lance from *NSYNC?” she asked.
“Yep,” said Lance also smiling.
The girl turned back to look at me. “How could you do this to Nick?” she exclaimed suddenly.
I was taken aback. “Excuse me?”
“You’re cheating on Nick aren’t you?” she yelled.
Was this girl nuts or just plain stupid? “I’m not dating Nick,” I told her.
“Yes you are! I saw the picture of you and him dancing!”
“We were set up on a blind date that went wrong, I don’t even like Nick!” I exclaimed.
“I know you two are dating and now you’re cheating on him with him!” yelled the girl and pointed at Lance, who looked very confused.
“Look, for the last time, I am not dating Nick,” I said angrily.
“How could you do this to my Nicky?” she said.
Her Nicky? Oookay, that was new. “Okay, I don’t know who you are but I do know that I am not dating Nick and never was, so please let me go on with my date,” I told her.
“So you admit it! You’re on a date with another guy while Nick is probably in his hotel room all alone!”
Oh my God, did this girl not have the ability to hear and interpret people’s words?
“Listen, we are on a date, but she is not dating Nick Carter,” said Lance trying to calm the girl down. It didn’t work. She kept going on and on about me cheating on her precious Nicky. A large crowd was beginning to gather around us. Unfortunately for Lance and me, half the girls in the crowd were Backstreet Boys fans.
I don’t think I ever heard so much profanity screamed by so many people at the same time as I did then.
Lance and I were trying to get out of the crowd but it wasn’t working. They were everywhere and the amount of people just seemed to be growing. The movie theater security guards were trying to get through the crowd but no one let them. They were helplessly stuck outside the mob.
“What are we going to do?” I yelled to Lance over the screaming voices of the fans.
“Try to call our own security team I guess!” he yelled back and pointed at his phone. I nodded and took out my cell. I quickly dialed Sean’s number. He was the head of my security and also one of my bodyguards. I saw Lance talking to someone on the phone.
“Sean!” I yelled into the phone.
“Jul! What’s going on?” he asked.
“Lance and I are stuck in the middle of a huge mob! We can’t get out!”
“Damn, where are you?”
“We’re at the United Artists Theater on Broadway and 4th Avenue!”
“I’ll be right there, stay calm,” he advised and then hung up. I closed my phone and quickly shoved it into my bag before it could be knocked out of my hands.
“Did you reach anyone?” asked Lance after he was done with his phone call.
I nodded. “My bodyguard, he said he’ll be here soon,” I told him. I then looked around at the sea of faces in front of me. The crowd seemed to have grown twice in size while I was talking to Sean.
I was starting to feel afraid.
Lance squeezed my hand tightly to comfort me, but I could see fear in his eyes too.
I then felt someone push me. I tried to grab on to anything to prevent myself from falling, but was unsuccessful. I fell into the crowd of people. Then everything went black.

A FEW HOURS LATER
Nick’s point of view

“Nick, turn on the TV!” exclaimed Brian rushing into my hotel room.
“Why?” I asked.
“Just do it!” he ordered. I did as he said and flipped the channels until I found one that was showing the news.
“…Palmer and Lance Bass from *NSYNC were mobbed today at the movies. The incident started when a girl, who was a Backstreet Boys fan, accused Julianna of cheating on Nick Carter. Julianna told her that she was not going out with Nick but the fan didn’t listen. The crowd grew as more and more fans joined the group and soon the situation was out of control. The crowd grew to about one hundred and fifty people and Julianna and Lance were trapped in the middle, unable to get out. They both managed to phone their bodyguards but that didn’t help. By the time the bodyguards arrived, Julianna and Lance had been knocked off their feet by the crowd and were being trampled. By the time security, both theater and Julianna and Lance’s personal guards, got to them, they were both injured and unconscious. They were airlifted to the nearest hospital where they remain in unknown condition,” said the anchorwoman.
I stared at the TV. How did everything get so out of control? Julianna and I didn’t even talk about how to handle the National Enquirer issue on the set that day because we were too busy yelling at each other. If we had talked about it, maybe none of this would’ve ever happened.
“This is bad,” I said turning to Brian.
He nodded. “I know.”
“Do you know which hospital they’re in?” I asked.
“Yeah, come on, all of us are going there now,” he said and threw my jacket to me. I quickly put it on and followed him downstairs where I saw Kevin, AJ, and Howie waiting. Their face expressions were grim.
We got into the limo without saying anything.
When we arrived at the hospital, I saw that there were at least two hundred people outside. Most were fans, but a lot were reporters.
The five of us were quickly ushered into the hospital with the protection of our bodyguards that were in the limo with us.
We were told that both Lance and Julianna were in the Intensive Care Unit and that we should wait in the waiting room until they were able to have visitors. We went into the room and saw that Justin, Joey, Chris, and JC were already there.
“What are you guys doing here?” asked JC when he saw us.
“Julianna’s our friend. We heard what happened on the news and came here right away,” explained Kevin. “Do they know anything yet?” he asked.
JC shook his head. “They keep telling us to wait.”
I sat down in a chair and kept silent. I felt responsible for the entire thing. Yeah, I knew that it wasn’t my fault, but I still felt guilty. The entire thing started because of me and that made me responsible. We should’ve held a conference or something as soon as the Enquirer came out. But Julianna and I were too busy fighting and now she and Lance were in the hospital.
“Friends of Julianna Palmer and Lance Bass?” asked a doctor coming into the waiting room.
All nine of us stood up immediately.
“How are they?” asked Justin.
“Well, Mr. Bass has a concussion, a sprained wrist, and a couple of bruised ribs. He will need some time to heal, but he’ll be fine,” said the doctor.
“And Julianna?” asked AJ.
“Ms. Palmer also has a concussion, although hers is more serious, and the has a broken rib and two bruised ribs. She also has a nasty cut on her leg which she needed to get ten stitches for.”
I felt sick. Literally.
They were both really hurt.
“Ms. Palmer will also recover just fine, but we need her to wake up first. She is still unconscious,” continued the doctor.
“Is Lance conscious?” asked JC.
The doctor nodded. “Yes he is, you can go and see him if you want,” he told JC. The four members of *NSYNC got up and went to see their friend. The five of us were left in the waiting room.
“Why are Julianna’s injuries more serious than Lance’s?” asked Brian.
“Well, it seems that Ms. Palmer was pushed first and therefore fell first and took the worst fall,” explained the doctor. “She fell headfirst into the crowd and struck the floor hard, which is the reason for her concussion.”
There goes that sick feeling again. Good thing I was in a hospital right? Yeah sure.
“Where’s my daughter?” demanded a woman rushing into the waiting room. She was followed by a man leading a little girl by the hand. I guessed that they were Julianna’s family.
“Are you the family of Julianna Palmer?” asked the doctor turning to them.
“Yes we are, I’m her father James Palmer, this is my wife Adriana Palmer, and this is our other daughter Annie Palmer. Now can you please tell us what happened?” pleaded Julianna’s father.
“Your daughter was mobbed along with another man in the movies today,” said the doctor. I listened as he told them what happened and watched Julianna’s parents get paler and paler. Her little sister started to cry.
“Is she going to be okay?” asked Mrs. Palmer softly.
“She will be, when she wakes up,” replied the doctor.
“Will she wake up?” asked Mr. Palmer.
“She should, there’s a seventy percent chance that she will.”
“Oh my God,” said Mrs. Palmer covering her mouth with her hand and sliding down into a chair.
“Mommy, those are the Backstreet Boys,” I heard the little girl say. I turned to look at her, and saw her tugging on her mother’s sleeve and pointing at the five of us, who had remained silent throughout the parents’ conversation with the doctor.
“What honey?” asked Mrs. Palmer.
“They’re the Backstreet Boys,” said the girl sniffling and pointed at us once again. Her mother followed to where the girl was pointing and her eyes focused on us.
“You came to see Julianna too?” she asked addressing us.
We all nodded. “Yes, we have become friends with her and are very concerned,” said Kevin.
“How long have you been waiting here?” asked Mr. Palmer.
“Not long, maybe twenty minutes,” replied AJ.
At that moment, JC, Joey, Chris, and Justin came back into the waiting room after having seen Lance.
The Palmer’s looked curiously at them.
“I’m JC, this is Joey, Justin, and that’s Chris,” said JC introducing them. “Our friend Lance was hurt in the mob along with your daughter,” he explained.
“How is your friend?” asked Annie in a small voice.
Justin looked at her and smiled. “He’s going to be fine. Are you Julianna’s sister?” he asked.
Annie nodded. “My name is Annie,” she said sticking out her hand.
Justin shook it. “It’s nice to meet you Annie,” he said.
“You too Justin. It’s so cool, the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC in one room,” she commented looking at the nine of us.
“Yeah, I only wish it was under better circumstances,” commented Howie softly.
“Mrs. Palmer, Mr. Palmer, you can go see your daughter if you want. She’s not awake yet, but you should talk to her, she will probably hear you,” said the doctor. Julianna’s parents nodded, told Annie to stay in the waiting room, and then silently followed the doctor to Julianna’s room.

THE NEXT EVENING
Julianna’s point of view

It hurt. Everything hurt. It hurt to move, it hurt to think, and it hurt like hell to breathe.
I opened my eyes and a piercing pain shot through my skull because of the bright light in the room. I groaned and immediately closed my eyes.
“Honey?” I heard my father’s soft voice.
“Too…bright,” I managed to whisper. My throat was scratchy and raw.
“James, turn down the light,” I heard my mom say. A few seconds later I opened my eyes again and was relieved to see that the room was not as bright.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“You’re in the hospital,” said my mom gently stroking my head. “Do you remember anything?”
“Movies…Lance…people…falling,” I said trying to sort out the details in my confused mind. I didn’t really remember much except for those things.
“That’s right. You were at the movies with Lance and then a large crowd of people gathered and you and him were trampled,” said my father.
“Lance?” I asked.
“He’s fine. He’s in the same hospital as you and he’s awake and aware of his surroundings and of what happened,” replied my mom.
“Good,” I whispered. I was starting to feel sleepy again. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep once again.

chapter 7 chapter 9