"So Mike, explain to us again, why you had to come and ruin our vacation?? I hope you know I'm only practicing for 2 hours today, no more. We already missed a day of hanging out and doing nothing."
"I have to meet with the executives you sang for plus I want to be there for today's audition which is soon, so go get ready, and we'll talk about the practice schedule later." Little did they know, Mike had already made plans for them to spend most of the day practicing. People may want to see them again, and he wanted them to be on top of their game. A few hours later they entered a large, red brick building.
"Dang, how did you find this place? We're all in the middle of nowhere. No signs on the place, nothing but glass and bricks."
Rebecca agreed, "For real. How do you know this is the place? Someone could be inside waiting to kill us. No one would ever know."
Mike just looked at the girls. "I highly doubt anything like that would happen, but in the event that it does, I'll be sure to give your families love."
"Love?? Man, if we get killed so do you."
"No, sorry, not this guy. I love you both like sisters, albeit sisters I never wanted, but sisters nonetheless. In spite of that, I'll be running like hell at the first sign of trouble, and hope that you're both behind me."
"Thanks Mike." Coretta said sarcastically "Glad to see you're worth every bit of that fifteen percent."
"Not fifteen percent until you get signed and make some money off album sales and merchandising. So let's get in there and become one step close to all our dreams.
Nervous, the girls followed Mike into the room. The room resembled the others they had spent most of the previous day in. The only real difference was the large mirror that stretched from the floor to the ceiling and ran the length of the wall. There were three men and two women seated around a long table. One by one they introduced themselves. Mike spoke next.
"Nice to meet you all, I'm Mike, manager for these ladies that stand before you. This is Rebecca and Coretta, also known as Diversity."
Just as Chris was hanging up the phone, JC walked in. "Hey man, are they here yet?"
"Yeah, I just got the call, they are getting ready to start now, pull up a chair."
Chris turned around while at the same time pushing a button on a small remote control. A wall behind him slid away to reveal a window where they could see into the practice room without being seen. JC smiled at the thought of Chris' reaction once he realized whom he was seeing and hearing. The girls began with their backs to the mirror. Soon the music started and they began the high-energy routine. Chris' eyes grew wide as he discovered the identities of the group he was so eager to sign.
"You mean to tell me I had lunch with these girls and never knew it was the group that I was looking for?"
"Yep"
"And you didn't tell me?"
"Nope. Although I didn't know until you played that demo yesterday. I recognized Coretta's voice from the club the other night."
"They'll of course need some work, but I definitely want them for FuManSkeeto. I need some female artists. I like the way this ballad sounds. I want to see if they really feel the words or are just singing them."
"Well it's settled, I've got to sign them, and sign them now." JC laughed as Chris left the office and entered the practice room.
"Okay, I've heard enough, I want you!!"
Rebecca and Coretta stopped in the middle of the song and slowly turned around to face Chris standing at the door with a smile on his face. Coretta not wanting to show her shock, recovered quickly with a joke.
"You want me?? Why Chris, we hardly know each other, and I doubt your girlfriend would approve."
Rebecca smacked Coretta in the back of her head. "Not like that you dork. I think he wants to sign us to his production company." she rambled on. "Where the heck did you come from anyway? Mike, why didn't you tell us we were going to be singing for Chris Kirkpatrick? Oh my, I think I need to sit down."
JC walked in next. "You two were great, I knew you could sing from the other night, but I had no idea both of you could. You sound good together. Am I looking at the newest artists for FuManSkeeto?"
"So wait, you heard us too? Geez, who else is here? Any more members of NSYNC hiding out around here?" Coretta began looking behind the curtains, under the table and opening doors. "I think I need to sit too."
"No, it was just Chris and I, we watched from the office." JC pointed toward the mirror. "It's a two-way mirror, we saw you, but you couldn't see us."
"Well, I'm glad I didn't know you were watching, I was nervous enough already."
"That's why we had it put in, We want to make things as comfortable as possible for people. Chris motioned to Mike, "Why don't we go back to my office to discuss the deal. I know you're waiting to hear from the record execs, but I have an idea about that too. JC why don't you show them the rest of our building."
"Your building?, You mean you guys own the whole place?"
"Since we're all doing things outside of NSYNC, we bought a building that was large enough to house all of our businesses. This floor has practice rooms, recording studios and our offices. Free Lance is upstairs, the two downstairs floors have pianos and more practice rooms, and eventually Justin, Joey and I will fill the rest up with our stuff."
"Dang, you weren't lying when you said you guys still spend time together off the road. That's a pretty cool set up."
"After we split from TransCon, we needed a place to work, so that's how the idea came about. We've got everything we need under one roof. We're just down the hall from each other, so we can still get different opinions on our ideas."
"I guess I should call Kat and Charetta to tell them the good news. They should be up by now." Coretta pulled out her cell phone and dialed the hotel number.
"What up?"
"I know you're not Kat, and you definitely aren't my sister, so who the hell are you, and why are you answering the damn phone??"
"Such language from such a pretty lady."
"Since I'm in a good mood, I'll be nice and ask again, who is this?"
"Spend the night singing with me, and then you don't know who I am? I'm hurt."
"Oh Joey, it's you. A couple more seconds, and I was on my way over there to open a can of whoop-ass on someone."
"Are you always so vicious? I kinda like it." Joey added
"Calm down JelloBoy. Mind telling me what you're doing in our hotel suite. More importantly, what are you doing answering the phone?"
"JelloBoy?? I know there must be a story behind that, and I do expect to be told sometime in the near future. I'm waiting for the girls, we're going to hang out with Justin, maybe play some basketball or something."
"Basketball with Justin, that should be interesting. Let him know one of these days I plan on stepping all over his game. I didn't appreciate that comment he made on MTV about you playing ball like a girl."
"Finally somebody to defend me."
"It's not about you. I've seen you play, you don't even have a little game. I resent that he could compare you to females. I've got mad skills."
"Well, thanks for nothing then."
"No prob. Just tell my sister we'll be back soon and we've got good news. We will be celebrating tonight."
"Sounds good, are we invited? I'd like to see what you're like before the alcohol sets in."
"Sure you all are invited, although I think you'll be seeing more of us than you want soon enough."
"The girls are ready to go, I'll give them the message. Talk to you soon."
"Alright, later."
Coretta turned back to JC and Rebecca, "Kat and Charetta are leaving with Joey to meet up with Justin, so we'll see them later."
*****************
"They've been in there for over 3 hours, what could possibly be taking so long."
"What if Chris changed his mind?? Maybe Mike is trying to convince him he made the right choice."
JC walked over to where Rebecca was sitting and put his arm around her. "These things take time, Mike is looking out for your best interest right now. Would you really want a decision that could quite possibly effect the rest of your lives to be made in a matter of minutes?"
"When you put it that way, I suppose not."
Mike, Chris and the rest of his staff returned to the practice room. All seemed happy with the progress that had been made. Chris walked toward the girls with his arms outstretched.
"I want to personally welcome FuManSkeeto's newest, and first female group." He gave each girl a hug.
"You mean that's it?"
"We still need you both to sign some contracts, which I'll give you a chance to look over first, but other than that, yep, that's it."
The room was silent as the news started to sink in and the girls knew they were on their way to realizing their dreams.
"Excuse us for a minute."
They left the room and walked down the hall. A second later they were screaming, laughing, jumping up and down and crying.
"Did you hear that?"
"We get to do what we've always wanted to do."
"I'm so excited, I think I'm gonna wet my pants!!"
Rebecca stopped and looked at Coretta. "Sounds like a personal problem to me, but we should be getting back now." They straightened their clothes and hair, they wanted to appear calm when they entered the room.
No one said anything as they walked in, Chris leaned over and said in a loud whisper, "Don't worry, when we got signed, I think Justin DID wet his pants." The whole room began to laugh.
*****************
"Hey Joey, who was on the phone?"
"It was your sister, I think she wants me."
"Uh yeah, sure Joey, but really what did she want?"
"I already told you, she wants me, but she did mention something about good news and celebrating."
"Trust me Joey, you do not want to get involved with my sister, then again you definitely aren't what she needs right now anyway. I wonder what we're celebrating, I bet they got a deal."
"Involved?? You guys are only here for a week, how involved could we get, not to mention the fact that I have a girlfriend. What do you mean I'm not what she needs? How could any female resist the Fatone love?"
"Fatone love?? I don't even want to know. Anyway, my sister hasn't even dated anyone since Cameron....." Her voice trailed off as she looked out the window and thought of her nephew.
"Who's Cameron, an ex? What did he do to her?"
"Actually he was her son. He was killed in a car accident almost a year ago when he was visiting his father. Coretta didn't want to send him to visit, but everyone pushed and pushed, and finally she agreed. Two days later he was gone."
Charetta paused and took a deep breath, it was the first time in quite a while she had talked about her nephew. She remembered his bright eyes, chubby cheeks, and his infectious giggle. "My sister blames herself for not listening to her heart, and not keeping Cameron with her. She's been pretty withdrawn since then, usually only opening up when it comes to her music. We had to practically drag her on this trip."
Joey reached across and patted Charetta's leg as she stared out the window trying to hold back the tears. "I'm sorry to hear that, it sounds awful. I don't know what I would do without my nephew, he's a great kid."
Charetta wiped away the few tears that escaped. "That's okay, you didn't know. If my sister seems a little standoffish at times, that's why. She is getting better though."
"I'm tired of all this depressing talk." Katherine spoke up from the back. "This is our vacation damn it, and I don't intend to be all sad and mopey."
They pulled into Justin’s driveway and walked up to the front door. Kat pulled Charetta back a little. "Girl, we are at Justin's house! Standing in his driveway. Justin Timberlake!! I can't believe I'm about to be all up in his house. What do I do??"
Since she hadn't seen him open the door, Justin snuck up behind Katherine. He put his finger to his lips as Charetta noticed him. He leaned down and spoke quietly into Kat's ear. "How about you come in and we'll take it from there."
"You really need to stop doing that to me."
"What, and miss the expression on your face? Never."
When they walked in the house, Joey was ending what seemed to be an unpleasant conversation.
"Cheating, with who? I've been with you 24/7 for the last month." They could see the pained expression on Joey's face.
"Now because I want to spend some time with my boys, I'm cheating? I can't believe you. This jealousy game is getting old real fast. Why don't you call me when you can be sensible." Joey clicked off his phone. "That girl, I swear! Sometimes I think she's lost her mind."
"What little mind she had to begin with." Justin muttered.
"J, I know you guys don't like her much, but she makes me happy....most of the time, or at least she used to."
"Joey," Kat started, "How do I put this? I know I don't know you, but damn if that's happy, I'd hate to see you pissed." Joey let out a loud sigh.
"Things weren't always like this, we used to have a really good time, but in the last few months she's gotten really possessive."
"I don't mean to be rude Joey, but save it for Oprah. I already told you people this was my graduation present and we're all going to enjoy it whether you like it or not."
Justin laughed, "Graduation huh? What are you planning to do next, college?"
"I'll be going to UCF, so I'll be back in Orlando in a couple of months."
"A couple of months? I'll have to remember that."
"You do that. Where's your family?"
"My dad's away on business somewhere, and my mom is on the road doing promo stuff with Innosense. She'll be back next week I think. Too bad you two couldn't meet her."
"It is too bad, from what I've heard, she's really nice."
"She's the best."
Charetta noticed the pool table in the corner of the room. "Let's play some pool. Kat and I against you two." Justin and Joey agreed.
"Okay, but don't get mad when y'all lose."
"Justin, I know you're used to winning at everything, but it's about to change, that's on the real."
"Oh, you think you got it like that?'
"I don't think, I know."
"Lordy, can we play, or do you need some time alone?"
"We can go upstairs or something." Joey offered. Katherine and Justin blushed.
"Man, just shut up and break."
A few games later Katherine's phone began to ring. "Joey can you answer that for me? The phone is in my jacket pocket on the chair behind you."
"Yep, no problem." Joey grabbed the phone and answered. "What up?"
"Why is it no matter who I call today, your voice is always the one on the other end, yet I'm never calling you?"
"What's up girl? Aren't you happy to hear my voice?"
"Yeah thrilled. Where's Kat?"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were being sarcastic."
"And you would be right, where's Kat?"
"She's right here, did you want to talk to her?"
"Yeah that's kind of where I was headed with the whole 'where's Kat' line of questioning."
"So then you're saying you want to talk to Kat?" Joey was driving her crazy, and loving every minute.
"No, I just called in hope that you would be the one to answer the phone and finally fulfill all my remaining teenybopper dreams."
"There's that sarcasm thing again. We're going to have to work on that. I'll let you talk to Kat now."
"Thank you, bye Joey."
"Bye beautiful."
Coretta laughed and rolled her eyes. "Does he ever quit?" she thought as she waited for Katherine to come to the phone.
"Someone needs to put him and his hormones on lockdown."
"He's not that bad, we've all been having a really good time actually."
"Where exactly are you? We're about to leave the studio and we want you two to meet us back at the hotel because we're going out tonight."
"We're at Justin's. Charetta and I just got done kicking their asses in pool."
"Chris and JC are on their way over there, so we could just follow them. It will be easier to make plans if we're all together."
Katherine smiled at the thought of another evening with Justin. This vacation was turning out better than she had ever imagined.
"See you in a little while then."
"Later."
Kat turned back to the others. "That was Coretta, she and Becca are on their way over with Chris and JC."
*****************
"Kat and my sister are at Justin's with Joey."
"You two can follow JC and I over there, that way no one has to bring the girls all the way back to the hotel."
"Good thinking Chris, even though I already told them that."
"Let's go then. I hope you can keep up. I drive a little fast."
Rebecca laughed. "You haven't seen her drive, the word fast doesn't really apply. Death defying, warp speed, and Oh my Lord how fast are we going? Now those are phrases that better suit her driving."
"Hey I get us where we need to go don't I?"
"You parked in the front right? We're in back, we'll meet you."
"I hate to break up the festivities," Mike said as they walked out, "but, I don't want you two out all night. We still have work to do and important things to discuss."
"Can't we just enjoy our vacation? We know there's plenty of things that still need to be done, but if this thing really takes off, this might be our last chance to just hang out and do nothing."
"Fine but next week it's back to work as usual, you'll probably be working twice as hard."
"Mike just go back to the hotel, you're really putting a damper on the mood. We'll be sure to check in everyday, but we don't want to hear from you about business until next week."
Mike got into his rental car and drove back to the hotel so he could fax the contracts to the girls' lawyer and call the president of the new label Chris had talked about, a woman named Donna Wright. Chris and JC pulled up next to Coretta's car and a moment later they were off. The girls sat silent in the car before looking at each and screaming.
"Can you believe this?!?"
"In a matter of three days we've met NSYNC and signed a production deal. Can this week possibly get any better?"
"I don't know girl, but even if it doesn't how can we not be ecstatic about what has already happened?"
"Dang!" Coretta and Rebecca had just pulled up behind Chris and JC's cars in Justin's driveway. "Would you look at this boy's house! This is nice, I can't wait to see the inside." The girls looked up to see JC and Chris there to open the car doors for them.
"Wow, not only are they international singing sensations, but they've got manners too." The guys laughed.
"Mama always said use good manners in the presence of ladies." Chris said.
"Thank you Forrest, can we go in now?" They entered the house to hear Charetta and Justin arguing.
"No!! You should have played that queen before!"
"Girl what are you talking about? I got the queen, plus all the hearts, I shot the moon. That's 26 points for you, and if my addition is correct, you now have 57 points, and you lose."
"You know that's wrong, you should have played that spade before."
"Could you both yell a little louder?? I'm not sure the neighbors in Miami could quite hear you."
Charetta and Justin turned to see the 4 people they hadn't realized had even entered the house.
"Justin here seems to think since he can't beat me playing the normal way, he could cheat just the same."
"Don't be mad that I beat you in a game you claimed to be the best at."
"You told him you were the best?? I'll remember that at Christmas time when the whole family is around. Justin I want you to remember those words though when I beat your ass in basketball."
"You don't want to step on the court with me. Unless you want to be a cheerleader."
"It's on now. You and me tomorrow."
"Why not today, I got nothin' but time."
"Really you don't, we're going out tonight. Plus I have to hit the mall to get some new basketball gear, I didn't bring anything with me."
"New gear is not gonna help, but whatever works for you."
"No worries. I'll even give you the advantage of playing in your own backyard. Just remember, as much as you've been shown playing, I know your strengths and weaknesses. I've seen your crossover, your jump shot and everything else on TV."
"Yeah, yeah, we'll just see tomorrow." Justin said trying to remain confident, although he wasn't quite so sure anymore. As the group went into the next room, JC stopped Justin.
"That was a lot of talk. Are sure you can beat her?"
"Please, I'll beat her, just like I do the rest of you guys. She's a girl, it might be easier. You sound like you don't have faith in me. I got this man." Justin went into the other room.
"If only you knew Justin, if only you knew." JC shook his head and went to join the others.
"Looks like everyone is here. Wait where's Lance?"
"I think he's got a date or something tonight. He'll be around tomorrow I guess."
"I can't wait that long and I'm pretty sure Rebecca and Coretta can't either, so I'll just tell you now. I've signed the group Diversity to FuManSkeeto."
Charetta and Kat jumped up and ran to hug the girls. Joey and Justin sat wondering what was so exciting about the news.
"Chris, that means what to us?"
"Oh that's right, you weren't there today. Rebecca and Coretta happen to make up the group Diversity."
"I didn't know they sang for real. Congratulations ladies."
"Don't congratulate us, we haven't done anything yet."
"You've made it further than a lot of people do."
"True and this is why we're celebrating. I don't know if I'm in the mood to chill, or be out clubbin'."
"I think we should eat first, preferably Chinese." JC suggested.
"We knew you would say that, but it does sound pretty good."
Everyone agreed to dinner and possibly hitting a club depending on the mood. The guys decided they would meet the girls at the hotel in a couple of hours.
"Don't be taking forever either, I know how you women are."
"Justin, you don't know anything about women, furthermore, you need to be working on that 'fro right about now so you aren't the late one."
"Woman, don't be talkin' 'bout the hair, I don't want to have to hurt you."
"You call me woman again, and believe me, I won't be the one hurt."
*****************
"CORETTA!!"
"What?? Dang, I'm ready this time so stop the yellin'."
Three heads leaned out and looked down the hall, and sure enough there was Coretta sitting on the couch waiting for the others.
"Just wanted to be sure, since they should be here any minute."
Kat was the first one done, so she went to join Coretta.
"Since we've got a little time, I want to talk to you." Kat sat down next to her friend.
"Oh Lord, sounds serious, hold up let me get my serious face on." Coretta turned away from Kat then turned back trying to look totally serious. She could only hold it for a few seconds before cracking up. "Okay I'll stop, for real though, what's up?"
"Would it kill you to be nice?"
"Nice to who? I'm nice to you guys, well not always Charetta, but that's a sister thing. I've been nice to Mike even though he made us work, which turned out to be a good thing. I've been nice to Lance and Chris, who's my new boss of sorts, still can't believe that one, and I've been nice to JC."
"Did you notice you left 2 people out of that little group?"
Coretta feigned innocence. "Who??"
"Umm, let's see here...who could it have been? I got it, how about the other two members of NSYNC??"
"Oh yeah, Hormones R Us, and King of the World, how could I forget?"
"See that's what I'm talking about. I realize you never liked Justin much, although I don't see how since you had never met him. Now that you have, how can you not like him? His hair, those eyes, that smile. Whoa, and those lips, girl did you see his lips? Can't forget those arms...."
"Kat let me know when you come back from the Land of all things Justin."
"Huh? Oh sorry, where was I?"
"I'm not sure, a very scary place though I think."
"It's all good, very good. Anyway, my point was, you could be a little nicer to him and to Joey."
Coretta had heard enough. "Look, I'm being as nice as I can right now. I didn't want to come on this damn trip in the first place. I was perfectly happy at home in my own misery!" Coretta got up and went to her room.
"That went well." Kat spoke to a now empty room.
Justin, Joey and JC, arrived a short time later. Kat opened the door. "Hey guys come in."
"Sorry we're late, but Justin here was having a hair crisis."
"Can I help it if perfection takes time?"
Rebecca and Charetta came out of their rooms next. "Hey, I thought I heard you guys out here. Are we ready to go?"
"Wait, where's Coretta?"
"Women! See, I knew what I was talking about."
"Actually, your royal lateness, I'm right here and ready to go."
"What happened to Chris?"
"He was in the middle of a situation with his girlfriend, but will try and meet us later."
"Are you sure you three can deal with us?"
"Woman, we deal with a lot more girls than you on a nightly basis."
"Look here little boy, I don't want to have to tell you again about calling me woman."
Joey trying to stop another argument, put his arm around Coretta and spoke. "I'm here, any trouble, I got you covered."
"Great, just great." Coretta gave Kat a 'see what I mean' look and headed out the door.
The guys didn't need disguises since this particular restaurant wasn't exactly popular with teenage girls. Being the well-mannered men they are, JC, Justin and Joey went to pull out the chairs for the girls.
"Thank you, but I'm capable of pulling out my own chair." Coretta told Joey before sitting down.
Joey just shrugged, "Suit yourself."
Coretta looked intently at the menu purposely avoiding the glares of her friends. A moment later Chris arrived and Coretta was thankful to have the attention drawn away from her. Dinner went smoothly mixed with laughter and general conversation, until it turned to talk of the basketball, and the challenge the next day.
