Korell closed her eyes and mentally ran through her set list. Joey glanced into her dressing room. "Korell?" he asked softly.
"Trying to calm down. Leave me alone."
"Okay," he smiled and shut the door gently. He went down the hall and peered out the door towards the buses. He finally spotted a group of people emerge from between them being led by a security guard. He ran out to meet them. "Hey, thank you soo much for coming," he smiled at Korell's family.
"Thank you for bringing us out here. We didn't want to miss this, but… she never said she wanted us here. I’m Mark," a man held out his hand. "I'm her oldest brother," he rattled off a bunch of names and introduced everyone.
Joey laughed. "Give me a while to remember them. I'll have you guys led to your seats. They're front row. She doesn't know you’re here. She's in her dressing room and snapped at me, just a second ago."
"She's nervous," her mom said. "She'll be fine when she gets onstage."
"I hope so," he nodded and led them inside. He had an assistant take them to their seats while he waited outside Korell's dressing room.
Torence came out followed closely by Korell. She smiled at him nervously. He pulled her into a hug. "Relax. Just breath. This is the easiest thing you've ever done. Okay?"
She nodded and squeezed him. "You're gonna watch?"
"Of course I am," he kissed her cheek.
Justin and Chris came running down the hall. "Lance and Jace went to the sound tower. If you choke, they'll feed you your lyrics." Justin smiled.
She nodded. "I hope I don't need it."
"You won't." They both hugged her.
"I'm going out front so I can capture this moment on film. “Good luck," Torence squeezed her hand.
The three men led Korell to the stairs at the side of the stage. Joey smiled. "You'll be fine," he said.
She nodded and took a deep breath as a stagehand fitted her with a mic and her dancers gathered around her. "I'm ready."
Korell ran out on stage. “Hello Florida!!” She said. The crowd cheered. She smiled. She started her first song. ~~
“That was soooo amazing!!” Korell said when she ran off stage.
Joey ran over and pulled her into a hug. “You were amazing out there!”
“Thanks!!!” She pulled away and started jumping up and down.
Torence came tearing backstage. “Oh my God!!!!!” she screamed. She threw herself into a hug with Korell. “You were awesome!”
“Thanks,” Korell laughed. They started hopping up and down.
“Baby, did you see anyone special in the audience?” Joey asked.
“No, I didn’t look at the audience. I focused on the tower like you said.”
He nodded. “Okay, just wondering.”
Torence smiled at him. “I saw them,” she mouthed.
He nodded. “Come here,” he pulled Korell over to the wings where she could look out on the audience without being seen. “First row, stage left.”
She looked out. “Oh my... it’s my family!” He nodded with a grin. “How’d you get them here?”
He smiled. “They wanted to come, you just never told them you wanted them here.”
“I thought they could figure that much out,” she said. “How long have they been here?”
“Just since before the show,” he said. “You’ll see them tonight.”
She smiled. “Thank you sooo much! This is the best night of my life!” He smiled. “Can I go out there now? To see them, and to watch the show?”
“If you go change, and put on a hat and stuff.”
She nodded. She kissed his cheek. “Good luck tonight.”
He nodded. “Thanks. I gotta go get changed. See you after the show.” She nodded. “Jace, detach yourself from your girlfriend so we can go onstage.”
JC sighed. “I’m coming.”
“Not here you’re not.” JC glared at him. Joey laughed. “Come on loser.” They disappeared backstage.
JC pulled Torence with him into his room. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You were so hot out there tonight,” she said.
He smiled. “Why thank you. I thought the girls seemed to be screaming extra loud.”
“That was me,” she laughed.
He kissed her. “Then thanks for that too.”
She leaned back in his arms. “You were so sexy,” she said, trailing her finger down down his chest. She looked up into his eyes and licked her lips.
“Whoa,” he said. “Are you trying to tell me something?”
She leaned up and kissed him. She pulled back again and nodded. “I want to make out,” she said.
He laughed. “Well, that’s sorta obvious,” he said.
“I don’t wanna have sex,” she said.
“Alright,” he said. “We already took that off the table.”
She nodded. “But...I want to do more,” she said.
“More as in...?”
“All we do is kiss. Can’t we go further?”
“Of course we can. If you want to. And you’re sure that you want to.”
She nodded and grinned. “I want to explore,” she said.
“Explore what exactly?” he asked.
“Explore you,” she grinned. “I know you look good without a shirt, but I’d like to see the rest of your body.”
He looked at her. “You wanna see it all?” She nodded. “Then we have to set some ground rules.”
“Like what?” i painted jc's nails says: p> “You tell me how far that you feel comfortable going, and then we stop there, no matter what.” She nodded. “Alright, kissing,” he said.
“Definitly,” she nodded.
“Looking,” he said. She nodded again. “Touching?”
She nodded. “Exploring wise. But that’s it. You have to educate me about the male figure. It’s purely scientific.” i painted jc's nails says:
“Oh, that’s it huh?” he laughed.
“You first,” she said, pulling at his shirt.
“Okay,” he laughed. He pulled off his shirt.
“Those too,” she said pointing at his pants.
“You’re sure?” he said.
She nodded. “Learn me,” she said.
He shrugged and undid his pants. “Alright,” he said. “There ya go.” /
Joey carefully balanced the cups of coffee and bag of bagels that he had gotten after checking with Lance about the day's schedule. *NSYNC had been scheduled to have the day off originally and by a miracle, Korell had gotten the day off as well. One of her interviews had been canceled because the reporter was sick with the stomach flu. The other reporter wasn't able to fly out of Denver because of the high, dangerous winds. He hummed to himself as he thought of things he and Korell could do with their day off. He was excited to be with her for a whole day that neither of them had to work; they didn't even have a show that night. He managed to pull out the key card for Korell's room and open the door without dropping anything. He kicked the door closed, laughing when he heard the alarm clock going off. He set the bag and coffees down on the table and studied the lump in the middle of the bed that was ignoring the annoying screech. The lump sighed and squirmed to the head of the bed. A single hand emerged from under the blanket, groped for the alarm clock, pushing the snooze button, and disappeared again before the lump moved back to the middle of the bed.
He turned the clock off. "Korell."
The lump spoke. "G'way."
"I just went to see Lance about your schedule today." Joey took a bagel out of the bag and cut it while he waited for the lump to respond.
"Asleep."
"Your first interview was canceled. The reporter has the flu."
"Bad for them, good for me."
He smiled and started spreading cream cheese on it. "Your second one was also cancelled."
"Stop teasing."
"I'm not. She's stuck in Denver. So you have the day completely off."
"Good. I'm sleeping."
He smiled and carried the bagel and a cup of coffee over to the bed for the speaking lump. "I bought you breakfast and want to spend the day with you."
"Set it on the table. And you're welcome to join me. I'm tired. Touring is hard." She yawned audibly.
"Yes it is. And I was hoping we could be awake and do something. Want some coffee? It's chocolate raspberry."
She sat up and pushed a hand through the folds of blanket for the coffee. It disappeared the instant Joey handed it over. She sighed happily as Joey tugged the blankets off her head. She made a face. "This is good. Thank you."
"Welcome, bagel?"
"Mmmm, good," she smiled taking it from him.
"So what are we going to do today?"
"Sleep?" she asked hopefully.
"No Korell. Sometimes the only time we spend together is when we're asleep. I wanna spend the day with you when you're awake," he kissed her.
She shrugged. "We could… I dunno. Something."
He laughed. "How about we hit a mall for a while then get some lunch and go to a park to just hang out?"
"Sounds good," she smiled.
Torence woke up slowly the next morning. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw JC sleeping soundly beside her. She smiled gently, remembering the night before. A million thoughts began to run through her head. What if things were different? What if he expeted her to do that all the time, or even more? The warm fuzzy feeling she had woken up with suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a uncomfortable feeling of dread. She bit her lip and wiggled our of his arms. She pulled on a robe over her pjs and grabbed his key off the dresser. She ran out into the hall and down to Korell’s room. Joey pulled the door open when she knocked. “Morning,” he said happily.
“Is Korrell here?” she asked.
He nodded. “In bed refusing to move,” he smiled.
She nodded and walked over to the bed. “Kore, wake up, I need to talk to you.”
Korell uncovered a small part of her head. “What?”
Torence turned to Joey. “Can you leave?”
“What?” he asked.
“Why’s he gotta go?” Korrell asked.
“Cause I need to talk to you...” She glanced back at Joey. “...Just you.”
“Ohh,” Korrell nodded. “Give us ten minutes Joey, okay?”
He nodded and looked at Torence. “Are you okay? Did JC do something to you?”
“I’m fine,” she smiled faintly. “Just need to borrow Korrell for a couple of minutes.”
He nodded and hugged her quickly before heading to the door. When she looked at him, he shurgged. “You look like you could use a hug.
“Thanks,” she smiled. They watched him leave.
“So, what’s the big emergency?”
Torence sighed. “Last night I...JC and I...”
“Did you have sex with him?” Korrell broke in. “Tore..that’s...”
“NO!” Torence said. “We didn’t. I swear. But....we went farther than I’ve ever gone before. It was great...last night.”
“But not this morning?”
Torence sighed. “All these thoughts just came out of nowhere when I woke up this morning.”
“What kind of thoughts?” Korrell asked.
“Just like...what if things change? What if he expects me to do that all the time now? Or more? And do I want to do that again? Do I want to do more?”
“Take one worry at a time sweetie,” Korrell said. “JC loves you. You know that. And you love him, so nothing will change. And if it does, then it wasn’t meant to be.” Torence nodded slowly. “And JC is a great guy, as much as I hate to admit it. He won’t expect anything that you don’t want to give him. And the other two things, well, you’ll have to answer those yourself.”
Torence sighed. “I want to, I just feel so guilty or something.”
“There’s nothing to feel guilty about. It’s an expression of love. I know your views on on it, but as long as you really love him, you’re doing nothing wrong.”
