Chapter
5: I Just Wanna Be With You.
Clare moped about her office wondering
what had happened between JC and the woman he’d been with when she left
the club the night before. She tried to snap out of her thoughts as she
sat behind her desk and looked at the screen on her laptop. She still had
those schedules to finish and Lou Pearlman, the executive director, and
Johnny Wright, the executive producer for the group, wanted a copy faxed
through to them by that evening. She tried hard to concentrate but she
was fighting a losing battle, thoughts of JC with that woman wouldn’t go
away.
You've got to get these schedules
done, she shouted to herself hoping it would shake her from her thoughts.
She rubbed her eyes; they were stinging because she hadn't had much sleep.
She just kept thinking about JC.
Clare was startled by Libby
as she walked into the office, "Jeez, you look as bad as I feel!" she said
as her friend wondered over to the couch and flopped down onto it, lying
to face her.
"Well if you feel as bad as
you look, you should not 've come into work today!" Libby responded with
a smile.
"You're surprisingly cheerful
today!"
"Yeah, well after no sleep
at all last night and a good hard look in the mirror this morning, I realised
life's too short to dwell on the past." She replied with a smile.
~~~~~*~~~~~
As they sat listening to the 'N
Sync album that they often listened to whenever the guys weren't around,
because they didn't want them to actually know they listened to their music,
they were startled by a familiar voice coming from the doorway, "Hi honey,
I'm back!"
Clare looked up and saw the
face of her friend, "Jamie!" she said with a smile as she got up and walked
over to embrace the woman she'd been separated from for the last two months,
"How was Canada?"
Jamie was 'N Syncs tour manager,
she'd started working for them around the same time as Clare so the two
of them had stuck together, to strengthen their defence against the boys
practical jokes and wind-ups, making them good friends. Her family lived
in Canada and she'd gone over to visit them on a vacation.
"Cold and busy! I spent more
time working than I did having any fun!" Jamie responded with a smile as
she sat next to Libby on the couch. Her long dark hair was tied back off
her face and her dark eyes shined with the glow of her smile.
"I hear that," Clare said
as she sat back behind her desk, "This 'win a date with 'N Sync competition'
is so much hassle, I'm beginning to wish we hadn't thought of it!"
"I'm still trying to sort
out the tour, it's a nightmare! Then I walk into my office to find a pile
of paperwork to do and to top it all off, I've had to bring my delinquent
cousin back with me… does hell know no bounds?!"
There was a short silence.
"So come on then, I've been
gone for two months, fill me in on what's been going on!" Jamie said nudging
Libby.
"Well Dan and I broke up."
Libby said.
"Oh yeah, and when did this
happen?"
"Last night."
"And Justin almost got in
a fight with him… but Chris stopped it." Clare explained.
"Chris stopped it! Now that
surprises me, I know how much Chris loves a macho trip!" Jamie said playfully,
"I was hoping you were going to tell me that Chris had the greatest pleasure
of hitting him."
"Now Jamie, that's not a good
image for our boys. You don't want them to get into trouble by encouraging
it, do you?"
Jamie smirked, "So where is
everyone today?"
"By 'everyone' you mean, the
guys?" Libby asked sarcastically.
"They're down in the dance
studio doing rehearsals for the tour." Clare said answering her question
as she turned her attention back to the laptop in front of her.
"How are thing's with you
and Curly, Sniper?" Jamie continued trying to catch up on the thing's she'd
missed.
"Hey! Only Justin gets away
with calling me that!" Libby said playfully as she nudged the elder woman.
"Oh, and I wonder why that
is?" she said raising her eyebrows in Clare's direction.
"It's because," Clare said
before going into Phoebe mode, "he's her lobster!"
The girls were all big Friends
freaks and often sat watching the videos they'd collected on their days
off or just when they were in the mood.
"And how are thing's between
you and JC?"
"Oh, not good!" Libby responded
as she shot a look to Clare.
"He was with some woman at
the club last night!" Clare added.
"Ooh! Ouch!"
~~~~~*~~~~~
'N Sync were in the dance studio
with their choreographer working on some new routines for songs they hadn't
performed live before.
"Come on Justin, I need your
full concentration on this." Sara Ward shouted at him as he rolled around
on the floor laughing.
Sara had graduated from dance
school a little over a year ago and had walked straight into a job with
'N Sync. She was only 18 but she knew the kinda moves that they were after
and she the minute she met them that her new job was going to be a lot
of fun. 'N Sync were easy to work with, they were capable of a lot more
than some bands and if they didn't feel comfortable with a routine she'd
worked out, they'd tell her and all six of them would work on it, until
they did.
They were working on a routine
to 'You Got It'. The guys had given her a move they wanted to add to the
routine she'd already worked out, which they were happy with, so she was
desperately to fit it in.
"Chris, show me the move again."
she requested. She wanted to get it right this time so they could start
practising.
As Sara stood watching Chris
with deep concentration, her blue eyes never leaving him as he moved, Justin
and Joey bounced the basketball around that they'd took along to rehearsals.
"Okay, I've got it," Sara
said clapping her hands to gain the attention of everyone, "If we start
with…" she said beginning the routine, "…move onto… then go into your bit
for the chorus…"
The guys watched Sara run
through the moves with her dark tied up swaying to and fro. She wore Reebok
bottoms and a short sports top. She was very athletic and they liked to
watch her move, she went through the routine with such grace.
"Okay… everyone happy?" Sara
asked as she stopped moving and rested her hands on her hips waiting for
their opinion.
"Yeah, looks good." JC agreed.
"Of course it does, it's my
work." She replied with a smile as she walked over and picked up her towel
before drying her neckline with it. "Okay, let's try it with the music…"
she said throwing the towel back down on the chair.
Sara made her way over to
the stereo placed in the wall and started the track they were rehearsing.
As the music filled the room
Sara stood behind the group watching them as they all went through the
routine, the guys watching themselves in the mirrored wall before them.
~~~~~*~~~~~
As Clare, Libby and Jamie walked
into the dance room where everyone was rehearsing the music from 'Riddle'
hit them. They made their way over to the chairs the other side of the
room and sat down to watch the group run through the routine they had finalised
for the song.
As the song finished Sara
made her way over to where the girls sat.
"These guy's will be the death
of me." She said as she picked up her towel.
"They'll be the death of us
all!" Clare said with a smile.
All the girls had become good
friends, they often went out clubbing together when they had the time and
occasionally had sleepovers, like they had when they were teenagers in
high school, talking about men, music and work, all topic's which generally
linked to the same thing - 'N Sync.
Once the guys had perfected
the routines for 'You Got It', 'Riddle' and 'Giddy Up' they decided it
was time to eat. All except Clare and Libby, they had to work late reading
through applications for the competition.
Chapter
6: Set Back.
Back
