(1 Week Later)
Siobhan rounded another corner and sighed heavily. She was tired and she just wanted to go to bed. She was had gotten pretty far in the past week, getting to know the guys better. She hadn’t gotten as far as she wanted, but she was getting there.
At that moment, she had been called to a meeting to discuss rules and regulations of relationships with guys, etc. Siobhan thought this meeting was a little late, but shrugged it off, not wanting to argue with anyone.
She reached the office she was looking for and knocked. She heard a muffled response, then opened the door and entered.
A well built man was sitting at a desk, looking over some papers. He paused from what he was doing and looked up to see Siobhan standing in the door way.
“Please have a seat,” he said, motioning at the chair in front of his desk.
Siobhan walked over and sat down, sitting on the edge of the seat.
The man looked up and smiled, “My name is Brian and I’ve been given the fun task to tell you rules and regulations for working here.”
Siobhan smiled shyly and nodded her head. “Siobhan Westing,” she said holding out her hand.
He took it with a small shake and focused his stare back at her. “Well Miss Westing, I’m here to explain you all the things you need to remember, especially when you go on tour with the gentlemen from *N SYNC.”
Siobhan leaned back in her seat and nodded her head.
“All right then,” Brian began. “Let’s make this as short as possible and begin.”
“JOOOEEEEEEEEYYYYYY!” a voice rang out, echoing off the studio halls.
Joey spun around and his face lit up as he saw who had called his name. Siobhan looked over to the doorway, where Joey was already running towards and found a petite girl standing there. Without the empty room giving her voice volume, she would probably gotten nowhere with getting Joey’s attention.
Joey reached the small girl and scooped her up into his arms, spinning her around. She squealed with laughter and hit his shoulder playfully.
“Put me down!” she squeaked.
Joey grinned and placed her on the ground carefully. “When’d you get here?” he asked.
“Last night, but I wanted to surprise you, so I didn’t call,” she replied, fixing her shirt.
Joey hugged her again and smiled broadly. “I missed you so much!”
Everyone was watching both of them, then they all turned to look at Darren.
“All right all right, I get it,” he said rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “BREAK!” he yelled out.
They grinned and made their way back to where Siobhan was sitting. Siobhan crossed her legs and adjusted the pen and pad of paper in her hand, staring at Joey and the small girl.
The girl was short with mousy brown hair. It was cut a good inch or so below her shoulders and she had a frail looking face. Her blue eyes sparkled with life and excitement, while touching Joey’s arm affectionately. She was definitely petit and looked like she could blow away if a breeze flowed through the almost empty room.
“Who is that?” Siobhan asked in a low tone.
All four guys turned around to look at Joey and his friend. Then back at Siobhan who was staring intently at the two of them.
“Don’t tell me your jealous,” Chris said, raising an eyebrow.
Siobhan snapped out of her gaze and looked back down at Chris, “No.”
Chris grinned, “Just checking.”
Siobhan nodded her head, “Doesn’t matter anyway, I just got the lecture about not being able to date any of you guys and how to act in public, blah blah blah.”
They all nodded their heads slowly.
“So you were smacked with the lecture huh?” Justin asked. He shook his head and clicked his tongue, “We thought for sure you’d get out of that since it’s been a week and no word about it from you.”
Siobhan looked down at Justin, “Unfortunately they assumed, better late than never.”
Justin smiled and chuckled.
“So who is this girl?” Siobhan asked, looking back over at Joey.
“Hm?” JC asked, breaking out of a train of thought.
Siobhan looked at him questioningly.
“Did you ask me something?” JC asked, confused.
Siobhan gave him another look of wonder and just smiled, “Who is that girl Joey is talking to...since none of you seem to be able to answer me,” she hinted, looking at the other guys.
They smiled sheepishly and blushed.
“That’s Joey’s best friend,” JC said casually, leaning back and supporting himself with his arms.
“They look like more than just friends,” Siobhan commented.
JC let out a small laugh. “That’s what we all think, but they don’t seem to see that.”
Siobhan raised and eyebrow and continued to study them. “How long have they been like this?”
“Freshman year of high school,” JC answered. “Best friends, went to prom together, the whole sha-bang.”
“Sha-bang?” Siobhan asked curiously.
JC blushed, “I’ve been hanging around J too long.”
Siobhan smiled. Her gaze fell back to Joey and the small girl, but she had to resist to write anything down in front of the guys. She would just have to find more out, then write down notes later, when no one was around.
Joey finally made his way over to the rest of them, who were comfortably lounging. He held the girl’s hand loosely and led her over to where everyone was sitting.
“Siobhan, I’d like you to meet my best friend in the whole world, Laura,” Joey said proudly, introducing the two girls.
Siobhan forced a genuine smiled and held out her hand, “Nice to meet you.”
Laura smiled brightly and took her hand in return, “You too.”
Joey plopped down on the floor and pulled on Laura’s arm gently, to motion for her to sit down beside him. She got the hint and sat down carefully, placing her purse on the floor first.
“So how long are you staying?” Joey asked Laura excitedly.
“About a week,” she replied with a shy smile. “I had to come to visit you this week. I wouldn’t have been able to see you otherwise because you go on tour and I have plans for the summer.”
Joey nodded his head and smiled, “Good thinking.”
Laura smiled and blushed.
Siobhan watched them closely and tried to determine the connection between the two people. Though the guys claimed Laura was Joey’s best friend, they also saw the fact that they were head over heels for each other. If Siobhan could find out more on this whole situation she would have her Joey part done, for the article. The fans would flip over him having a girlfriend.
Siobhan smiled sweetly and finally tuned herself back into the conversation going on between the rest of them.
Joey’s laughter rang out throughout the studio, “Do you remember that time when we had to do that couples act?”
Laura giggled happily, “Yeah yeah, when you had to dress up as Cher and I dressed up as Sonny?”
They both broke into hysterical laughter.
“Oh man, that’s YOU in those picture with Joey dressed up as a girl?” Chris asked with a grin.
Laura nodded her head, “And here I was worried that people would think I’m a bad looking guy, until we performed and Joey stole the spotlight away, being crowned the ugliest girl!”
Joey laughed even harder and fell backwards. “I wasn’t that bad...though I think my goatee made me look a little more manly than the average female.”
Everyone broke into laughter at that comment.
Siobhan giggled and sat, listening intently to their stories of high school. This girl was helping her out in more ways than one.
When everyone calmed back down and caught their breaths they heard Darren come walking back in.
“All right boys, break is over, let’s get back to work,” he said, clapping his hands.
All five guys groaned and Joey pouted. They got up reluctantly and Joey stood up, helping Laura up. She took his hand and stood up, dusting herself off.
“Are you going to stick around?” he asked her.
“If you want me to,” she replied.
Joey nodded his head and smiled, “Stay with Siobhan, she’ll keep you company.”
Laura smiled, “All right. Go out there before I get you in trouble.”
“Won’t be the first time,” Joey grinned.
Laura opened her mouth and gave an offended look, “Little ME!?”
Joey nodded and grinned, “Don’t try to deny it, I have proof!”
Laura giggled and pushed Joey gently, “Get out there.”
He flashed her a charming grin and gave her a wink, then turned back around and jogged over to the other guys.
Siobhan watched their movements together and continued to give no sort of reaction, acting as if it didn’t affect her at all. Deep down, she was jumping with excitement, she was going to get her story and she was getting off to a pretty damn good start.
JC watched Siobhan from across the room, unnoticed. He looked into the reflection of the mirror and studied her body language. She moved gracefully and smiled gently, giving off a warm glow around her. JC smiled to himself and snapped himself out of his daze to pay attention to what Darren was saying to him.
A few hours later Darren finally called it a day. JC wiped the sweat off his brow and took a deep breath. Today had been a harder workout than usual, Darren was trying to help them perfect all moves possible since tour time was coming up so rapidly.
JC jogged back over to the back of the dance studio to grab his things and take a sip of his bottled water. Laura had already left with Joey and the rest of the guys were wandering around doing their own things.
JC reached his bags and noticed Siobhan jotting down notes on her little notebook.
“I thought you told J you trusted your memory,” he said, stopping in front of her.
Siobhan almost jumped out of her seat. She looked up startled and blushed, “I usually do, but I thought maybe he was right, after all you guys aren’t the simplest guys to get to know.”
JC raised an eyebrow, “And what do you mean by that?” he asked curiously.
Siobhan paused a moment, “Let’s see...to put it in the nicest way possible...” she trailed off. JC stood and waited for her to continue. “You guys can be...a handful.”
JC broke into a smile, “You don’t know the half of it.”
Siobhan almost got chills again the way he said that last comment. He kept doing that, feeding her comments that made her shudder and wonder what he was talking about.
“Really?” she asked.
JC smiled again, this time adding more mystery to it. He nodded his head slowly and walked back to where his bag was laying on the floor.
Siobhan stood up and folded her chair up, leaning it against the wall where she found it. She walked over to JC and tapped her foot in front of him. JC looked up and smile innocently.
“Yes Miss Westing? Is there something you’d like?” he asked with a hint of slyness in his voice.
Siobhan took a deep breath and nodded her head. “I would like to know what all your comments mean.”
JC gave her an oblivious look, “Whatever do you mean Miss Westing?”
Siobhan narrowed her eyes, “Oh no you don’t Mr. Chasez, now you’ve gotten me curious, so now you HAVE to spill.”
JC smiled, “We’ll see.”
Siobhan’s mouth fell open slightly, “What? Mr. Chasez I don’t know what sort of game your playing and what joke your planning for me, but--”
JC stood up, finally having all his things together, landing face to face with her. He placed a finger over her mouth and hushed her.
“I’ll give you lessons,” he said softly.
Siobhan stared into his eyes and gave a confused look.
JC brought his finger away from her mouth and smiled, “Lesson number one Miss Westing, you MUST have patience, especially with five guys like us.” With that he turned around and started strolling towards the door.
“I think I hear a school bell ringing for me,” Siobhan said, walking after him.
JC stopped, then turned around and gave a questioned look.
“Well Professor Chasez, what’s the next lesson of the day?” she asked, catching up to him.
JC chuckled and shook his head, “One lesson a day Miss Westing, all good teachers know to only give one lesson a day.”
Siobhan shook her head, “Well I’m an advanced student, start teaching.”
JC laughed. “Well then we have to go to the classroom.”
Siobhan raised and eyebrow, “And where would that be?”
JC smiled mischievously and his eyes twinkled with enjoyment.
“I don’t know what your thinking Mr. Chasez, but--” Siobhan began.
“The classroom is the restaurant we’re going to go to lunch at,” JC cut in. “What were you thinking Miss Westing?” he asked innocently.
Siobhan blushed, “The same EXACT thing as you.”
JC laughed again, “I thought so.”
“Well professor I need a ride to class, would you care to help me out in this department?” Siobhan asked.
JC nodded his head slowly, “I think I could help you out, anything for my favorite pupil.”
Siobhan smiled, “Why thank you, have I ever told you your my favorite teacher?”
JC winked, “I bet I am. Meet me in the parking lot in fifteen minutes or class will run to Lucky China without you.”
After that comment, he walked out of the dance studio, whistling a tune casually. Siobhan was left standing in the middle of the room by herself, trying to determine why she had just said all of those things and how she had just landed herself a lunch date with JC.
“All right Professor, now what would lesson two be?” Siobhan asked, placing her napkin on her lap.
“We haven’t even ordered yet, relax,” he said calmly.
Siobhan picked up her menu and leaned back in her seat. “Hmph.”
JC chuckled, he was getting a kick out of the reaction he was causing with Siobhan. He liked causing her to wonder and keep coming to him for hints. He hadn’t planned on it, but he had somehow gotten her to go out to lunch with him. He was just having too much fun.
Siobhan peeked over at the menu at JC who was studying the writing intently. His strong facial structure seemed to twitch slightly. His square jaw was clenched together in thought and Siobhan found herself staring at his face closely. She caught herself before he caught her and she blushed, scolding herself. What was she doing? She needed information and that was the only reason she was here with him.
A Chinese waitress came up with a pen and pad, ready to take their order. She had long dark hair and it was pulled back, held somehow by two sticks. She had a red kimo on, tied around her waist with a cloth looking belt. She had sandals on with socks and she seemed like she was having a little trouble walking in her tightly wrapped kimo.
She bowed and smiled, “Can I take your order?”
JC ordered some tea to drink, then going straight into his food order. Siobhan peeked over her menu when she heard what he was ordering. JC looked over at her and raised his eyebrows. Siobhan broke her gaze and looked up at the small woman. She gave her order and handed the waitress her menu, then waited for the woman to leave before facing JC and speaking.
“How much do you eat?” she asked in slight shock.
“Chinese is good for you,” he replied with a shrug.
“I know it is, but still how much can you consume? Your a little too thin as it is in my opinion,” Siobhan said.
JC smiled, “I’m going to take that as a compliment or else I might actually be offended.”
Siobhan blushed, “I meant it in the nicest way possible.”
“I assumed so,” JC replied. JC leaned back in his seat and folded his hands, then placing them on his stomach comfortably.
“So can we get into lesson two yet?” Siobhan asked anxiously.
“My my, aren’t we a little anxious to learn?” JC asked, almost tauntingly.
Siobhan sighed, exasperated, “I’m starting to think you only lured me here to get to torture me and stay off the topic of you and your four best friends.”
JC shrugged nonchalantly, “Maybe, maybe not.”
Siobhan took a deep breath, “Your impossible you know that?”
JC smiled, “Why thank you Miss Westing.”
“You know it and you love that fact don’t you?” she asked.
JC didn’t respond, just continued smiling.
Siobhan was starting to get frustrated. “MR. CHASEZ, please help me out here and stop being so damn stubborn.”
“You have a lot of fire in your eyes,” he said suddenly.
Siobhan gave a confused look, “Excuse me?”
“Your eyes, they have a lot of fire in them, I like that.”
“Well I’m glad you do, but that has nothing to do with what we’re talking about.”
JC chuckled.
“What is so amusing?” she asked, getting confused.
“You,” he replied.
“Excuse me Mr. Chasez but--” she started.
“Stop calling me Mr. Chasez, your making me feel uncomfortable,” he cut in.
“Well your sure not acting like it,” Siobhan snapped back.
JC smiled, “Are we losing out temper?”
“No,” Siobhan said flatly.
“Are you forgetting lesson number one?” he asked.
Siobhan closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “If I didn’t know you any better, I would think that your PURPOSELY trying to get under my skin.”
JC continued to smiled smugly, “What makes you think that?”
“Who the hell ever said you were shy and serious?” Siobhan blurted out. “Your being the most cocky, sarcastic, out spoken--”
“Well at least now we’re getting somewhere,” he cut in.
Siobhan narrowed her eyebrows. “And confusing person I’ve ever met,” she finished.
JC let out a small laugh. “Very good, you’ve already learned more than one lesson in less than fifteen minutes.”
“Ok,” she sighed. “I give, what the HELL are you talking about?”
JC let another laugh and leaned back into the table. This time propping his elbows in the table and clasping his hands together, fixing his stare on Siobhan.
“You see Siobhan, you can’t assume that you can read biographies and talk to me, to try and figure out all my friend’s personalities. You think your taking the shortcuts, but in reality your just making your job harder for yourself.”
“I don’t quite follow,” Siobhan said, almost wearily.
JC took a deep breath. “You just found out I have a different side to me than the media says I have, didn’t you?”
Siobhan nodded her head and made a small grunt. “That’s for sure,” she muttered.
JC raised and eyebrow and decided to ignore her last comment. “You asked me for the other guys’ personality types, I can’t describe them to you, there are too many sides. If you’ve been paying close attention, you’d realize you already know a lot.”
Siobhan shook her head, “I still don’t get it.”
“You’d realize that you never listen to Justin when he gives you a suggestion like carrying around a notebook and taking notes,” JC said, leaning his head down, eyes still glued on Siobhan.
She gave a confused look.
“Tell me, when you got to know your best friend for the first time, did you take notes on his or her personalities?” he asked, picking his head back up.
Siobhan sat in thought and shook her head.
“Well then why would you need a notebook to get to know us?”
Siobhan opened her mouth to respond but was actually left speechless. She didn’t have a come back or a reason. Instead she shut her mouth and shrugged her shoulders.
“You were on the right track when you trusted your memory,” JC said. “You’ll learn that patience and a sense of humor will take you a LONG way with us.”
Siobhan didn’t respond.
“Also that no matter how many biographies and articles your read, you still aren’t getting to know us personally and that’s what you want right now, isn't it?”
Siobhan finally nodded her head.
“Well then, stop taking notes and open your eyes, stop TRYING to find our personalities, instead let them overwhelm you, just like we’re letting yours overwhelm us,” he said.
“Well,” Siobhan began. “I have to admit, no other biography or article I’ve read, and may I add I’ve read quite a few, has ever said how different you are out of the public eye. Key traits would be, sarcastic, cunning, cocky--”
“Let’s not flatter me TOO much,” JC cut in, giving Siobhan a look.
She sat there and JC waited for a reaction to everything he had just said. After a few minutes JC heard a muffled sound. A few moments after that he could heard a small giggled, it eventually turned into a pure, wholesome laugh.
JC smiled, relieved, “Now your getting the hang of it.”
Siobhan continued to laugh and for one brief moment felt thoroughly amused. He knew it, but not the way Siobhan viewed it, JC had just made her job ten times easier than she had been building it. With that thought and the thought of all the credit she was going to get for her article, she started to laugh.
“I’m telling you Mike, he just made my job SO much easier, who knows maybe I’ll be coming home by the end of this week,” Siobhan laughed into the phone.
She spun around in her chair, going back and forth in rhythmic pattern. She cracked her gum and waited for Mike’s response.
“Now don’t go jumping to conclusions here, you may have just figured out an easier way to get to know the guys and their personal lives, but it takes time to built up trust and they won’t tell you their sob stories after just a week of knowing them,” Mike said in a low tone.
Siobhan sighed in annoyance and rolled her eyes, “God Mike, is there ever a time your NOT Mr. Tight Ass and you actually smile for a small accomplishment that I’ve achieved?”
Mike sighed, “I’m not in the mood for your sarcasm Si, so don’t get smart with me today.”
“What are you going to do about it?” she asked challengingly.
“SI...” he warned in a stern tone.
Siobhan sighed, “All right Mike, I’ll stop.”
“Thank you,” he replied.
“Sure daddy,” she muttered.
“Don’t call me daddy, you know I hate that,” he said with a sigh.
“You hate a lot of things don’t you?” Siobhan shot back. She took a deep breath to compose herself and bit her lip. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“That’s all right,” Mike said in a calm tone.
He knew he had control over her, anyone could have control of Siobhan. She was the most childish adult he had ever met and that was the only reason he kept her around, plus the fact that she was the best damn writer he had encountered in his whole career. Siobhan was like a puppet and he was the puppeteer, sooner or later, when Siobhan was finished her job and he got all the credit for it, he would throw her out and find a new puppet to play with.
“So what have you found out so far?” he asked, smiling now.
“Joey has a possible girlfriend, Lance is a little weird, Justin is cocky with an inflated ego and JC is SO not what everyone thinks,” she said cracking her gum again.
“What about the other one, isn't here a fifth one?” Mike asked.
“Yeah,” Siobhan said, chewing noisily. “You know that’s really scary that you know there's five of them.”
Mike ignored her amusement, dripping off her comment. “It’s my job to know, but the only thing that sounds a good thing so far is Joey and his girlfriend.”
“Well she’s not his actual girlfriend--”
“What!?” Mike yelled out. “What do you mean?”
“I mean it’s his best friend who’s a girl, but everything thinks their head of over heels for each other and I even think so too--” she said, words tumbling over each other.
“I don’t give a damn what YOU think, I want the facts and I want them to be TRUE, no assumptions!” Mike snapped roughly.
Siobhan bit her lip and she felt like she shrank ten times smaller. “Mike...I-I-”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Mike cut in sharply. “Si, I put you on this assignment because I thought you could handle it, but it seems to me that your just goofing around and scraping the surface. Stop acting like a damn child and start doing your job, BEING A REPORTER!”
Siobhan’s eyes started to water with the intensity of Mike’s voice and the force he was using with her.
“I’m trying...” she tried.
“Don’t try, DO IT!”
“I’m sorry...” she said in a small voice.
Mike took a deep breath to compose himself, “Don’t be yourself over there Si, no one would like it and I can’t afford it.”
Siobhan nodded her head, then realized Mike couldn’t see her. “Ok Mike,” she replied softly. “I’m gonna start doing this the right way,” she promised. “I didn’t mean to make you so mad.”
Mike smiled, satisfied with her answer. “That’s what I like to hear,” he said. “Just do your job right, get the right information and I won’t get angry.”
Siobhan sighed tiredly, “All right Mike, I’m going to go now.”
“And do what?”
“Go hang out with the guys, see if I can start a friendship with them, everything you want me to,” she replied in a weak voice.
“Good girl Si,” he said with a smile. “Look Si, I believe in you, your dad didn’t, just trust me ok?”
Siobhan stiffened and she swallowed her tears, “Uh huh. I know Mike, you believe in me.”
“And still do,” he added.
“I know, I’ll call you later,” she said in a low tone.
“Better yet, call me when you have something,” he said. “I’ll call you if I need anything otherwise.”
“Ok,” she agreed willingly. “Bye.”
“And Si?”
“Yeah?”
“SPIT OUT THAT DAMN GUM!” he yelled into the phone, then hung up.
Siobhan flinched at his tone of voice. She stopped chewing and took her gum out of her mouth, tossing into the trash can. She placed the phone back on the receiver slowly and fought back all her tears.
She wasn’t sure why she put up with Mike, but she kept coming back to the only reason she could think of. He believed in her and her writing. Unlike her father, he took her under his wing like his own daughter and believed in her. She couldn’t let go of that faith that he put into her, she would be lost without it.
Mike slammed down the phone on Siobhan and leaned back in his chair. He smiled, satisfied. He liked it when he could control Siobhan and her attitude. The only way he could do that though was either yell or bring up her father. Sometimes he needed both to put her back in line.
He only had to put up with her for a little longer, then he could leave her right where he found her, out in the cold. He smiled evilly to himself and leaned back in his chair, loosening his tie around his neck.
“This is going to be a piece of cake,” he said out loud.
Siobhan composed herself and stood up. She went to go reach for her notebook and remembered what JC said. She pulled her arm back and fixed her skirt instead. She walked towards the door, making sure all of her notes for her article were hidden, in case anyone decided to waltz into her office without her knowing.
When she was sure all of her tracks were hidden she walked towards the door. He mind raced back to her lunch conversation with JC and she actually smiled. She was determined to do this job right and she was going to make Mike proud. If anything, she could please him that way, writing the best article she had ever written in her career. That’s all she wanted to do, make someone proud of her.
