Chapter Six

I woke up the next morning with a start at the sound of car horns. I pulled myself up out of bed and looked down to the street below, seeing the traffic jam although it was only a little after seven. I wrapped my arms around myself as I turned to head back to the bed, seeing JC’s eyes snap shut as he acted like he was still sleeping. While our friends had gone out to see movies and went dancing the night before, JC and I had spent his night off inside. I hadn’t been to New York before, but not that I was complaining about not having gone out. I curled back up next to his lean body as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“You snore.”

I rolled over so I could face him. “I do not!”

“Wanna bet?” He opened his eyes and looked at me, his eyes moving slowly across every line of my face.

“No, because you can’t prove it.”

He smiled at me as he leaned over to lay a kiss on my forehead. “But that’s okay if you snore because you’re so damned cute.”

I sighed as I tried to get up, but his arms prevented that endeavor. “Maybe so, but I could totally use some work this morning.”

“No, you’re perfect just the way you are,” he mumbled, tightening his grip. I looked down at myself, seeing his white t-shirt that I had thrown on the night before over my light blue boy cut panties.

“And you need help,” I replied as I tried wiggling from his grasp once more. I sat up on the bed as a prelude to actually standing, groaning a bit as a hard piece of plastic came in contact with the bottom of my foot. “What the hell is this?” I mumbled as I leaned over, picking up the plastic key card.

“What was that? What did you say?” JC asked as he sat up behind me. “What’s that?” He looked down at the card in my hand.

“It’s...” I looked at the room number. “The card for mine and Kelly’s room.” I smiled a bit as my gaze floated over to the door as I jumped up. JC’s arms grabbed me around the waist though and pulled me back to the bed.

“Nope. You ain’t going no where.” He tightened his grip.

I sighed as I clasped my hand over his and tried pulling it away from me. “Come on JC. Let me up.”

Reluctantly, he loosened his grip so I could stand and watched as I pulled a pair of sweatpants on for my trek across the hall to get clothes and shower items. I padded quietly across the room and across the short hall to the door that I should have been locked behind the previous night. I slid the card into the slot and when the green light flashed, slowly pushed it open. I found the room extremely dark, for the curtains had been pulled. I slowly walked into the room finding Lance still sitting in the chair from the night before, hunched over, his head resting on top of his folded arms, snoring softly. I smiled as I noticed he still had the ink pen locked between his fingers. My eyes searched the room for Kelly, seeing her curled up on the bed, clutching a pillow to her chest.

I tiptoed to the bag that had been thrown against one wall and picked it up. As I turned to leave the room, I banged my toe against the bottom of the dresser. “Ow! Damn it!” I cried softly as I bit my lip. I clamped my hand over my mouth at the outburst and glanced back to see the two had not even stirred. I hobbled to the door and back across the hall and into JC’s room once more.

As I dropped my bag on the bed that was still made, I heard JC suddenly start singing from the bathroom, where the shower was running. I knew that he had a tendency to sing in the shower, but I was not prepared at all for what I actually heard. “City lights, streets of gold, look out my window to the world below, moves so fast and it feels so cold. And I’m all alone, don’t let me die, I’m losing my mind, baby just give me a sign...” I smiled as I leaned against the doorjam to the bathroom, listening to the smooth voice. And then it happened. “AND NOW THAT YOUR GONE, I JUST WANNA BE WITH YOU!” JC belted out. My mouth dropped. It sounded terrible. Loud and off key. And he continued. “AND I CAN’T GO ON, I WANNA BE WITH YOU! WANNA BE WITH YOU...” He paused for second as I peeked around the door to see the outline of his body through the curtain. He continued singing, this time, sounding as the song should have. “I can’t sleep, I’m up all night. Through these tears I try to smile. I know the touch of your hand, can save my life. Don’t let me down, come to me now, I got to be with you somehow...” And there just seemed to be something about the chorus. “AND NOW THAT YOUR GONE, I JUST WANNA BE WITH YOU! AND I CAN’T GO ON, I WANNA BE WITH YOU! WANNA BE WITH YOU...”

I cringed as I backed away from the bathroom and tiptoed back to the door, which I opened and then, forcefully shut, so he’d hear it. “Briley?” He called out.

I poked my head around the door and smiled at him looking around the curtain.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t suppose I could convince you to join me, could I?” He pushed his lower lip out in a pout.

“JC, I don’t think so.”

“But why not?” He asked. “It’s not like it’s something I haven’t seen before.”

I gave him a slightly offended look. “Well, now I definitely know I’m not.”

“Briley...” He suddenly smiled at me. “I’ll sing for you.” Normally, this would have been one of my weaknesses, and technically, it still was, but after what I had just heard, I was having my doubts over whether I wanted him to sing to me now after all, especially in the shower. I just shrugged and quickly shed my clothing before stepping behind the curtain and into the steaming stream of water that fell from the shower head. I refused to look at him, keeping my eyes on the ceiling. “What’s wrong?” He asked, wrapping his arms around me.

“I just... uh... never uh...” I stammered.

“What?” He asked softly.

“I never actually LOOKED,” I explained, a blush creeping quickly over my cheeks.

JC snorted with a laugh that he tried to contain. “Oh gosh Briley... stop!” He exclaimed with a laugh. “You would have seen sooner or later anyway.”

“I know,” I said with a sigh, getting used to the situation as I leaned back against his chest.

JC softly began to sing into my ear. “Could I hold you for a lifetime? Could I look into your eyes? Could I have this night to share this night together? Could I hold you close beside me? Could I hold you for all time? Could I could I have this kiss forever?”

I shivered softly as he let his lips travel over my neck. My eyes drifted closed as thoughts of Kyle invaded my mind. My eyes flew open again as I took a step away from JC and turned to face him. “JC, do you think it’s possible to actually love someone you never see?”

“Briley, what are you talking about?” He asked, shaking the water dropplets out of his hair.

“Why are we doing this? Why do we take up so much time and energy trying to make this work?”

“Are you breaking up with me?” JC asked softly, lowering his eyes to the wet tile of the shower.

“No! Hell no, JC. I just want to know if it’s worth it. I mean...” I sighed, covering my eyes with my hand. “I don’t know what I mean.”

“Look at me Briley.” I lifted my eyes to his darker blue ones. “It’s worth it. I love you Briley... if this wasn’t right, we wouldn’t even care about making the effort. You know that.”

I sighed. “I know, I know... I guess I’m just worried because you seem to be around less and less... I’m not scared of you finding someone else, but it seems like we’re just naturally drifting apart.” I did trust JC, so I knew he wouldn’t cheat on me, so all this boiled down to was the fact that I didn’t trust myself not to see him... and was worried that I might find someone else. When in fact, I thought I already had. I stepped away from him and stepped over the side of the bathtub, grabbing a towel from the shelf above the toilet. As I left the room, I heard JC calling after me.

No sooner had I sat down on one of the chairs, than JC appeared in front of me, securing a towel around his waist. “Briley, where is this coming from? I thought you were happy for us... I thought you thought we deserved all these opportunities that were coming our way. I thought you wanted me to succeed.” He took a deep breath.

“JC, I do... I just wish we could be together more often, that’s all.”

“Well, if that’s it...” he took a step toward me, pulled me to my feet, and enveloped me in his arms, kissing the very top of my head. “I can always ask Johnny to make a new position for you and then, we can always be together.”

“JC, I have school. Archetects generally find a degree an asset.”

“Correspondance. It’s TCU for crying out loud. They give correspondance to Chris Klein, they’ll give it to you.”

I sighed and pulled away from. “What are you doing to me?” I exclaimed. His reference to actor Chris Klein killed me. That showed that he listened to me and remembered what I had to say. When I had first been accepted at TCU, I thought it was cool that Chris attended class there as well. I blinked back the tears that threatened to fall and took a deep breath. “You know what JC? Just forget I mentioned anything, okay. Just don’t worry about it.”

“Briley, you’ve opened something now that is probably going to make some big changes, but I can’t talk about it now. Tonight is something that we’ve been working for for as long as we’ve been a group, and I’m not going to go out there and be worried about the fact that you possibly don’t love me as much as I love you.” JC turned and grabbed a bag from the bed and stalked back into the bathroom, closing the door grimly behind him.

I sank back down into the chair and sighed, rubbing my eyes with my hand. “What the hell am I doing?” I mumbled to myself as I stood again, grabbing the bag that I had just retrieved from my original hotel room, as well as the key. I marched over to the door and swung it open, only to find a tall blonde standing in front of me, about to knock. I just raised my eyebrows at him as if to ask what he was doing.

“Hey... uh... Briley, right?” He asked, extending his hand, then, looking me up and down and seeing I was still in a towel, he slowly lowered it.

“Yeah... can I help you?” I asked softly.

“Probably. I’m Wade... Robson,” he quickly added. I nodded. I knew the name, I had just never been formally introduced. “Anyway, do you know where I can find JC? I called his phone and didn’t get an answer, and...”

“He’s in there,” I replied, shoving the door open wider and waiting for Wade to enter. “Feel free to stick around,” I added as I continued my journey through the door. It swung shut behind me, leaving Wade in the room.

I quickly tiptoed across the hall, slid the key into the slot and pushed the door open. I tossed my bag down in the small entry way and prepared to go wake Kelly and Lance up. As I passed the open doorway of the bathroom, I glanced up only to have my eyes meet a set of light green ones. “Oh my god!” I exclaimed, spinning around, covering my eyes.

“Briley!?” Lance exclaimed as I heard a zipper quickly being raised. “What are you doing here? I thought you were getting ready in JC’s room!”

I realized I was still standing with my back to the bathroom door, where I could just imagine Lance leaning against the doorjam, staring at my back. I quickly scooted sideways over to the nearest bed and sat down, still staring at the floor. “I was, and then, we started arguing, and I asked one simple question, and he freaked, and then, I came over here and saw you...” I motioned with my hands to indicated what I had seen that I hadn’t wanted to.

Lance crossed over and sat down next to me. “Okay, Briley, calm down. What now?”

I took a deep breath. “Okay... I asked JC something that had been on my mind and he freaked out... and we argued.”

“What did you ask?”

“If it was worth it.”

Lance sighed, and rubbed his jaw for a moment. “Briley, you know you shouldn’t have done that. Take JC’s stress level on a normal day and ampilify that about a hundred times, and you get how he is this week.” A quick knock sounded on the door and Lance rose to answer it. Right before he pulled it open, he turned and winked at me. “Do me a favor and don’t tell Kelly exactly what it was you saw a few minutes ago.”

A blush covered my cheeks as I nodded. “Yeah, no problem.”

I heard the door squeak as Lance opened it and I once more heard Wade’s voice. “Hey man.” The door shut and the two progressed into the room. Wade’s eyeline landed on me and he opened and closed his mouth several times before finally speaking. “I’m not even gonna ask.” I pulled the towel tighter around my body. Wade shrugged and continued. “Anyway, I’m calling an emergency meeting over breakfast. Meet downstairs in the conference room in a half hour, okay?”

“Is everything okay?” Lance questioned.

“Yeah, it’s great in fact. I just... got an awesome, awesome idea and I want to share it with you guys.”

“About...?”

“What? You think you’re so special that you get the dirt before the rest of the group? No. I’m not saying a word until we’re all together. Now finish getting ready so I don’t burst from not telling you what I’m thinking.” Wade spun on his heel and left the room.

Lance retreated into the bathroom, and while there, I hurried and got dressed myself. About twenty minutes later, Lance entered the room again, looking much more alive than he had just a few minutes earlier. “Hey, have you seen Kelly this morning?”

“Not really. I came in here while you two were still asleep to get my stuff, and then, when I walked in just now, she was gone.”

Lance nodded slowly. “Eh, she probably went down to the conference room to eat already.” He sat down and pulled his shoes on before standing and turning back to me, who was ready to go. “What do you say we head on down there?”

“Sounds great. I’m starving!” I exclaimed as Lance and I walked to the conference room in silence. Once we had arrived, we saw a few members of the crew here and there, eating plates full of breakfast food. A quick glance around told me that Justin, Kelly, and JC had still not yet arrived. Not being one to worry, I just followed Lance to the buffet table and loaded up my own plate with fruit to nibble on while I listened to Wade talk. Speaking of, he was already seated at the head of a table, downing cup after cup of coffee, a huge plate set in front of him.

About fifteen minutes later, after JC arrived, Wade broke the quiet hum of the different conversations going on in the room. “Okay, let’s get this started,” Wade began speaking as he took a huge bite out of a bagel.

“Wait... Justin’s not here,” Lance pointed out. “And neither is Kelly.”

“Lance, with all due respect, I think Justin’s the only one we need to worry about not being here,” Wade mumbled, looking around the room before speaking. “Oh forget it, we can fill him in later, we don’t have time to waste.” He shuffled through some papers. “Okay... we got several great songs for the new CD already, and JC, I’m assuming you have more?” I looked up across the table to where JC was sitting.

“Yeah, I’ve got some great ideas that I think you’ll like and be able to work with.”

“Great. As for the two verses that you gave me a few months ago, Justin and I pulled some lyrics together and I think both will be great anthems for the new CD and new tour. So, here’s what I’m thinking... remember when Chris first used the term ‘dirty pop’ to describe your new sound when ‘Bye Bye Bye’ came out?”

“How can we forget?” Joey asked. “Teeny’s started using that term as if they were in on some type of inner loop or language or something.”

“Exactly. This new CD is taking ‘N Sync to a whole new level. It’s going to be completely different from anything that these 13 year olds would be expecting from ‘N Sync. It’s going to be complete dirty pop. High energy, a minimum of slow pop bubblegum songs, state of the art dance music.”

“Wade, where are you going with this exactly?” JC asked, stretching his arms over his head with a gigantic yawn.

“We’re taking the fans on a journey unlike one ever before with this new tour and CD. What you guys are going to be doing is not going to be just pop anymore. So, here’s what I’m thinking- PopOdyssey.” I glanced around the table seeing a bunch of blank stares. “I lost you all, didn’t I?” No one answered, just stared at him with the same blank expressions. “Okay, here. Pop is defined as being music popular with the general public. An odyssey is a series of travels and adventures. Two things that have nothing to do with each other. But, when combined, you get PopOdyssey- an adventurous journey towards popularity, beginning as just a dream, and ending in reality.”

No one spoke for a few more moments, until Lance broke the silence. “I really like that.”

“That... is good stuff,” Chris put in.

“So... we’re good for planning the new tour around this theme?” Wade questioned.

“Absolutely,” JC stood up. “Wade, you’re a genius. We’d be idiots to have anyone else direct the tour.” Everyone else stood and began to leave the room then.

“And, I was also thinking-” Wade continued, but no one listened, just noisely left the room to finish preparing for the day. “- that I’ll just discuss it further with you later.” I turned and met Wade’s eyes and gave him a smile and shrug as I hurried after the other four.

I yawned slightly and leaned against the van next to JC. “You do realize the world is going to end if we can’t find Justin right? Millions of teeny’s lives are going to end... their world is going to come crashing down if we can’t find Justin.”

“Yes, true, but then JC would have his wish and finally be the frontman. Ya know, since he’s SO jealous of Justin and since Justin has been holding him back for so long,” Joe Mulvhill, their road manager, stated as he leaned against the van.

JC just stared over at him before looking at his watch. “If we don’t leave, we’re not going to make it there in time.”

Joe responded by looking down at his watch as well and nodding. “Yeah. Let’s go ahead and leave, and we’ll send Lonnie out to look for Justin and Kelly. If he finds them, we’ll have him drive them over to Z100. If he doesn’t find them... he’s going to wish he were dead once we DO find them. And if he’s not dead already, I’ll kill him.” He paused before looking at all of us who were standing silent looking at him. “Now. Come on. Get in the van. Now.” The four band members, three bodygaurds, the van driver, Joe, and myself all piled into the large van and we were driven to the radio station.

Upon our arrival, the four guys were immediately herded to a studio where a lone DJ sat. When he saw them standing at the door, he motioned them into the room. They all took seats around the small circular table and microphones and awaited instructions from the DJ. “And now, from Miss Britney, it’s ‘Lucky.’” He turned down the music as the intro began and looked at the group that was still sitting and awaiting instructions, except for Chris, who had already picked up his headphones and placed them on his head, the wrong way, so that one of the earpieces sat on his forehead. I stood outside the studio and watched the five men talk until the DJ looked up and noticed me watching. He looked around and spoke, and then, I supposed one of them had answered, when he motioned me into the room as well. I opened the door and as it swung shut behind me, the DJ stood.

“Hey! I’m Paul Bryant,” he said as he extended his hand to me. “I’m going to be doing an on air interview with them... would you care to stay in here and listen?” My eyes scanned the row until they met JC’s, silently asking if he minded. He nodded slightly.

“I’d love to,” I responded, taking a seat in one of the chairs that was in a corner of the room.

The group of five made small talk for a few more minutes until the song that was playing ended. “You just heard Creed’s ‘Higher.’ In a few minutes, we’re going to give you some ‘N Sync, Blink182, and Madonna. First though, I have some very special guests in the studio here with me... guys?”

“Hey, I’m Chris!”

“I’m Joey...”

“I’m JC...”

“And I’m Lance...”

“And we’re SYNC,” they said in unison into the microphones.

Paul chuckled a bit. “SYNC, huh? Tell me, where’s that lone N at? You know, I’m probably going to get tons of hate mail now because Justin isn’t with you. Where is he?”

“He’s... sick,” JC stammered. “He wasn’t feeling too great earlier today, so he decided to stay in bed and rest before the show tonight. You know, we have to perform our best this evening.”

“That’s right... live show for HBO from Madison. How did you all weasel your way into getting a break like that?”

“Well, we didn’t. You see, they wanted to book the Backstreet Boys, but they backed out like, yesterday, so the promoters called us...” Chris began.

“And maybe we were called five months ago to do it because HBO wanted to put some pop out there for their viewers,” Lance finished for Chris.

“I see, I see,” Paul agreed, understanding. “We’re going to take a break now, but when we come back, we’re going to have the guys answering some of your e-mails.” The station went to an advertisement then, and the DJ turned to me. “So, who’s this young lady?”

“My girlfriend,” JC quickly put in before anyone else gave their two cents. “Briley.”

“So, Briley... tell me, how do you deal with the times you are with them? Isn’t it practically a testosterone overload for you?”

I giggled a little. “Oh yeah. Come on, they fart and burp just like any boys you went to school with. You would not believe some of the sounds that come out of this five!”

Paul began to laugh with Joey right behind him. JC turned to Joey in disgust and spoke. “Joey! Did you have to do that? And while we are in an enclosed room?”

“What?” Joey asked innocently.

“Oh come on Joey!” Lance exclaimed, his face wrinkling as well. “You were the only one to laugh at what Briley said. You can’t tell me that you didn’t do that!”

The DJ motioned to the four guys and began talking. “And we’re back with ‘N Sync who are going to answer some of your e-mails.” He picked up a piece of paper. “This is from Heather. ‘Hey ‘N Sync! I was just wondering who does your laundry when you are on the road.’” Paul turned to them. “So, who does it?”

The four looked at each other. “We don’t. We wear the same pair of underwear for the entire tour,” Joey answered with a sly smile.

“We actually have a wardrobe person who does our on stage costuming and her assistant is who does it if we are in dire need of something clean. However, Lance’s girlfriend, Kelly, usually volunteers when she comes on the road with us because she thinks we stink,” JC answered.

“Actually,” Lance corrected. “She does MY laundry. The rest of you just sort of charm her into doing yours as well.” Lance gave the DJ a smile.

“The next e-mail is from Molly and she wants to know if Chris belongs to the Busta Rhymes fan club,” Paul read.

Chris began laughing. “I do, actually. I joined it a LONG time ago though, like, when he was just getting started. And for proof when people ask me that question...” Chris reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet and opened it to produce a Busta Rhymes fan club card.

“I’m not even going to touch that one.” The DJ began reading the next e-mail. “And this is from Aaron. He wants to know if you Lance, really are engaged, because...” the DJ began to laugh, unable to stop. He just passed the paper across the table to JC who finished reading it.

“Lance, he wants to know if you really are engaged because if so, it would be really disappointing.”

Lance’s mouth dropped for a split second before he composed himself. He cleared his throat. “Actually, Aaron... yes, it is true. I am engaged to Kelly and we have been since February. Sorry man.” Joey and Chris’ laughter had turned full fledged as well as JC was doing his best to keep his chuckle to a minimum.

“Next up is SmashMouth, Jennifer Lopez, and Mandy Moore. And stay tuned for more of your questions answered by ‘N Sync!” A SmashMouth song began to play and the DJ turned the music down. “Dude, forget Kelly, I think Aaron’s a winner!” He gave Lance a thumbs up.

“Whatever,” Lance said, clearly not amused.

They sat around and talked between questions and soon, finished the interview and were set free from the confines of the room. The second that we left the station, Joey jumped up, whooping with joy. I looked over at JC and raised an eyebrow. “He always does this as soon as interviews are over. I can’t figure it out. That cat needs some help.”

“As a matter of fact,” Joey began as we approached the van that he was standing next to. “I do it as stress reliever. You all have your outlets, that just happens to be mine.”

“Oh, so those girls that you consistantly have in your room aren’t part of your relieving stress? Good God, I thought you had a good reason for that,” Lance sarcastically said as the five of us climbed into the van.

“Lance, just shut the hell up,” Joey mumbled as he slouched down in the seat.

The driver started the van and as we were driving away, Lance leaned up to talk to Joe. “Hey, man, you heard from Timberlake yet?”

“Not a word,” Joe replied. “And no, I haven’t heard from Kelly either.”

Lance leaned back in the seat before pulling out his phone. He quickly dialed a number. “Oh, thank God,” he spoke into the phone. “Kelly, where are you?... Is Justin with you?... They did?... Listen, as soon as we get back to the hotel, we’ll straighten all this out. Just sit tight, and we’ll be there soon.” Lance closed his phone before looking around at all of us.

“Is Justin with her?” Joe asked, twisting in his seat to see Lance.

“Oh yeah, and you are never going to believe what happened.”

“What is it?” Chris asked, looking away from the window.

“Let’s just say, for now, that Justin actually had a good reason this time for being MIA.”

The van pulled into the hotel parking lot and the five of us literally jumped out of the van and ran up to the rented rooms. Sitting calmly in my and Kelly’s room were her and Justin, watching TV as if them being missing for the majority of a day was a natural occurance. The five of us, including Joe, filed into the room and looked from Justin to Kelly. Joe was practically shooting darts at Justin with his eyes.

Justin sat up and sighed. “Listen Joe, I know what you’re going to say, but believe me when I say that this time, it really wasn’t my fault. I am so sorry, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I swear. I tried to get out of it, but I couldn’t.”

“What was it Justin? What was more important than your job today?” Joe asked, trying to control a rapidly rising temper.

“Should you tell it, or should I?” Justin asked, looking over at Kelly.

Kelly nodded at him. “I’ll do it.”

“Kelly, what are you doing?”

“Don’t ask. Just don’t.”

“I already did.”

“Fine, then don’t make me answer.”

Justin shrugged. “Okay...” he said slowly. “Anyway, I was thinking about running off and grabbing some breakfast. What do you say?”

“I say you can go. It’s fine with me.” I started to close the door, but Justin’s foot stopped it.

“Wanna go?”

“I wanna go back to bed, that’s where I wanna go.”

“Come on Kelly,” Justin said, pouting his lower lip out. “Come with me. Please?” I felt my resistance start to cave. “Besides, you know there won’t be anything left as soon as Joey wakes up.”

“Justin, I hate you sometimes, I really do,” I mumbled as I crawled out the door and slowly tried to stand up as the door swung shut behind me. I yawned as I slowly followed Justin down the hall and to the elevator. He pushed the button as I took one step closer to him so I could rest my head on his arm. I let my eyes drift closed. A second later, I was knocked off balance as the elevator dinged and Justin practically sprinted forward.

I followed him without a word and leaned on the wall as he pushed the appropriate button for the lobby. “So, what do you have the taste for?”

“Bed, I wanna go back to bed,” I mumbled with a slight whine invading my voice.

“I’m thinking bacon, eggs, toast...” Justin closed his eyes and licked his lips a bit as he conjured up his dream breakfast.

“Justin, why did you have to drag me out of bed so that you could go eat?”

“Because-” The elevator jerked to a stop before the lights went out and the emergency lights in each corner illuminated us.

“Justin, what the hell did you do to it?!” I exclaimed crossing the elevator in a few small strides and pushing the lobby button again. “You broke it! That’s what you did!” I stepped back and immediately punched him in the arm.

“Ow! I didn’t do anything to it!” Justin said, as he gingerly rubbed his arm where I had connected with my fist. “Why’d you hit me?”

“Because you broke it!” I stomped my foot in indignation. “Oh man, and I haven’t went pee this morning! Timberlake, if my bladder explodes, it’s your fault!” I whined and slid down the wall of the elevator until I was sitting with my knees pulled up to my chest.

“Kelly, your bladder is NOT going to explode,” he said as he crossed the elevator and sat next to me.

“You never know.” I scooted away from him.

“Kelly, stop.”

“What?” I exclaimed. “What am I doing? I was doing just fine in bed until you got the bright idea to go get some breakfast and drag me along. I was doing just fine until you broke the damn elevator. I was doing just fine-”

“Kelly, cut it out!” Justin raised his voice above mine. I glared at him out of the corner of my eye. Justin sighed and reached over, pulling open the little door with the emergency phone inside. He pushed a number and then, waited. “Hey, listen, here’s the deal. My best friend and I are trapped inside of an elevator between the-” he looked up at the lighted numbers. “- I think it’s the eighth and ninth floors.” He waited a moment. “Justin Timberlake.” His mouth dropped. “Yes, I understand the phone is for emergencies. What? Is being trapped in an elevator that could eventually break from the cables and plunge us to our death not enough of an emergency for you?” I whimpered slightly from my corner as I hugged my knees tighter. It hadn’t occured to me what could possibly happen if we weren’t saved soon. “No, I don’t think you were born yesterday. I swear, I’m Justin Timberlake and-” He sighed. “If I die here today, I’m coming back to haunt you.” Justin then slammed the phone down and turned to me. “I don’t think we’re being rescued anytime soon.”

“Now that’s a shocker,” I mumbled as I yawned, leaning my head back. I was tired, I was hungry, I had to use the bathroom, and now, I was scared. “I want out.”

“What is it Kelly? Do you think this topped my “To Do” list today? I don’t think so.” We sat in silence for about ten minutes before I spoke.

“I want to go home.”

“Kelly, we’ll be out sooner or later. Then you can just go relax in the room or on the bus, and-”

“No, Justin. I want to go HOME.”

He narrowed his eyes in sympathy. “Are you and Lance okay?”

“We’re fine. I’m just tired. I want to go home. I don’t see how you guys can do this day in and day out for months on end. It’s only been a couple of weeks and I’m already dead.”

“But, you and Lance are okay? Happy?”

“We’re fine. I promise.”

“The wedding still on?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “What is this? Interrogate Kelly day?”

Justin shrugged. “I just want to make sure you are happy, that’s all. I love you, you’re my best friend Kelly.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” I wearily rubbed my eyes. I leaned over until I rested my head on his shoulder and took a deep, shakey sigh.

“So, what are we going to do until we get rescued?”

“I was thinking something along the lines of sleeping.”

“No, you’re going to talk to me.” I opened my eyes and tried my best to glare at him.

“I don’t want to.”

He leaned up a bit, throwing me off balance as he took a small steno notebook from his back pocket. “Will you listen to something for me and tell me if you like it?”

“What is it?” I questioned as he flipped open the notebook.

“I wrote a poem for Alex... and I think it might be too sappy... I just want a girls opinion before I actually send it to her.”

“Okay... go for it. You know I’ll be brutally honest.”

Justin cleared his throat and began to read. “So many times, I thought I held it my hands. But just like grains of sand, love slipped through my fingers. So many nights, I asked the Lord above, please make me lucky in love, to find a love that lingers. Something keeps telling me that you could be my answered prayer, you must be heaven sent I swear. Girl in your eyes, I feel your fire burn, all your secrets I will learn, even if it takes forever. With you by my side, I can do anything, I don’t care what tomorrow brings, as long as we’re together. My heart is telling me that you could be my meant to be. I know it more each time we touch. Something magical, something spiritual, something stronger than the two of us alone.”

“God Justin, that’s beautiful. Forget Lance, I want you.” I laughed a little in joking.

“So, it’s not too sappy? Do I need more to it?”

“I think it sounds pretty good... I mean, knowing you, you’ll still end up adding something to the end of it, regardless of what I say.”

“You know what? I got an idea. Tell me something...” He paused for effect. “How do you feel about Lance?”

“I love him,” I quickly answered.

“No, I mean, how do you feel? There has to be something that expresses that love that you’ve never told him.”

I sighed. “Well... you do know he’s the first guy I’ve ever dated or anything, right?” Justin nodded. “Before that, I doubted whether or not I would even get married, and now, here I am planning a wedding that you know every magazine and entertainment show will be clambering to get into. Not only did I doubt that I would get married, but I doubted about whether or not I would ever actually find someone who treats me as great as he does. I guess what I mean is that I’m so surprised that someone like him could happen to me. I don’t even feel worthy of everything he gives me sometimes.”

Justin nodded slowly, biting on the corner of his bottom lip. “So, when he looks at you and kisses you, there’s just something there that completely makes you melt and your knees go weak?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Justin chewed on the end of the pen. “You know what? I think you just helped me write a song.” He began writing.

“I did?” I perked up and sat up straight, trying to see over his shoulder. Justin held the notebook to his chest, not letting me see what he was writing and adding to the paper. “But I thought you said it was a poem.”

“Well, it WAS a poem, but with what you just said, I think it would work ten times better as a song.”

I opened my mouth to reply when the small emergency phone jangled to life. I lunged over Justin and picked it up. “Yes?”

“Hello ma’am. I was just curious as to whether or not you are having a problem with this elevator. We received a call earlier from a young man claiming that he was stuck between floors and we decided to check on that when we noticed that this particular elevator hasn’t been making it’s usual runs. Are you, indeed, stuck between floors?”

“Yes, actually, we are. I just want to say right now that your management team will be getting a strongly worded letter from me about the way you brushed off our call as a prank.”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry about that, but, just so you know, I am the manager.”

“Fine, then this hotel’s headquarters will be getting the letter. You know what? We can discuss this later. And if you wouldn’t mind, get us out of here, NOW.” I put the phone down and looked over at Justin as the elevator jerked into motion.

“Damn, I should have had you call in the first place.”

“You think?” I raised an eyebrow at him as the doors slowly came open and the two of us stepped out to be surrounded by hotel staff.

“Mr. Timberlake, we are so sorry about this misunderstanding,” a man, who I assumed as the manager, said as he stepped forward.

“Forget it,” Justin said, putting up a hand and stepping through the group. “You can take it up with my management. For now, my friend and I would just like some breakfast and to not be bothered.” Justin put his hand on the small of my back and lead me away from the group. I turned my head as I heard a girl mumbling something about arrogant celebrities.

I rolled my eyes at her comment. “Let’s stick her in an elevator with a full bladder and see if she’s in such a good mood.” A bathroom across the lobby caught my eye. “Speaking of...” I pulled away from Justin and practically sprinted across the lobby to the bathroom. A few moments later, I joined Justin in the breakfast room where he had loaded up on all his dream breakfast foods. I fixed myself up the small bit I knew I would eat and sat down across from him.

I looked around the empty room. “Where is everyone? You would have thought that someone else would have been awake by now.”

Justin looked at me, his eyes widening as he looked up at a clock on a wall. “Damn it!” He exclaimed, smacking his fist on the table. I just raised an eyebrow in question. “We had a radio interview!”

“Justin, chill. It’s not like you intentionally didn’t show up.”

“I know, but if I know Joe like I think I do, I’m still going to wish I were dead once he hears this story.”

Justin and I talked a bit more as we finished our breakfast and went back up to the room that Briley and I were sharing. As soon as the door closed, my cell phone came to life. I answered it with a tired hello.

“Oh, thank God,” Lance said into the phone.

“I take it you were worried?”

Lance ignored my question. “Kelly, where are you?”

“I’m in Briley and I’s room.”

“Is Justin with you?”

“Yeah. We had a slight problem with being stuck in an elevator this morning. They just rescued us.”

“They did?”

“Yeah. They ignored the first emergency call Justin made. He’s pretty pissed about it.”

“You think? They shouldn’t have ignored the damn call!” Justin exclaimed from the floor.

“Listen, as soon as we get back to the hotel, we’ll straighten all this out. Just sit tight and we’ll be there soon,” Lance reassured.

“See you then.” I flipped the phone shut and stretched out on the bed to just wait until the others arrived.

“Well, I am going to go take a nap. Briley, care to join me?” JC stood and held out his hand to me.

I took his hand and let him lead me to the door. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”

Seven