The first thing they had to do was tape a short interview for a television show. Briley, Alex, and myself were standing behind the camera’s quietly talking. We began listening to the interview when the infamous girlfriend question was asked.
“So guys... how are those love lives? Are you all still single and ready to mingle?” The interviewer asked, with a smile.
“I am,” Joey answered right away.
“My wife and two kids don’t appreciate that question,” Chris said, grinning wickedly. JC, Lance, and Justin didn’t say anything.
“Lance? What about you?” The interviewer asked.
“I have a girlfriend,” He answered.
“How long have you two been together?”
“It will be a year in December.”
“She must be great to put up with your hectic schedule and life.”
“Yeah.”
“What about you Justin?” The interviewer asked.
“What about me?” Justin hadn’t been paying attention.
“It seems that Lance has found a great girl, what about you?”
“Oh... I knew that... yeah, I got a girl. Her name’s Tiffany.” Lance, JC, Joey, and Chris all looked at him confused. Alex glanced at me and we began to laugh. It was sort of an inside joke between her and Justin. It had something to do with the concert in Houston that Alex and some of her friends had attended. Let’s just say that Justin didn’t make sure Alex was Alex before he kissed her the first time they were together.
“And that’s a wrap!” The director yelled.
The five guys walked to us as people began to pack up equipment. Lance slipped his hand into mine as Justin put an arm around Alex. I noticed that as JC went to stand next to Briley, the six sets of eyes left were boring holes into the two. Alex opened her mouth to say something when Johnny Wright came up to us.
“You guys hungry?”
“Yeah,” All five answered.
“Would you please stop?!” I yelled.
All eyes flicked to Lance. “I didn’t do a thing! I swear, I didn’t!”
“No, it wasn’t you... it’s just that you five always answer in unison! And I can’t count the number of times it is actually harmonized! I can’t take it anymore!” I yelled dramatically.
“Okay, we’ll try to stop,” Joey said, taking a few steps away from me.
“Thank you!” I yelled.
“Kelly? You can stop yelling now,” Justin said.
“I’m sorry!” I yelled.
“You are an odd child,” Alex said.
“All right...” Johnny slowly said. “There’s a restaurant here that has a special section reserved for you guys. Let’s get the bodyguards and go.”
On the way out, we ‘picked up’ four body guards. Justin still had his arm around Alex and Lance was still holding my hand. “Justin, Lance, can I talk to you two for a second? Hey Mike, hang on,” Johnny said. Lance and Justin stopped walking to let Johnny catch up and Mike (a bodyguard) to walk back to us. “I know that you mention Alex and Kelly in interviews, but maybe they shouldn’t be seen in public with you guys yet.”
“That’s a good idea... there are alot of fans out there,” Justin said.
“Yeah,” Lance mumbled. He kissed my forehead. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay... no problem,” I replied.
Justin just gave Alex a small squeeze before he, Lance, and Mike walked off in pursuit of food.
“Girls, I’m sorry,” Johnny began to say.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “It’s all part of their job.”
Johnny looked amazed. “Wow... you two are so much more calm and agreeable than girls in the past have been.”
I noticed Alex still looked a tad bit bitter about the situation, so I continued to talk. “Well, I knew before I got involved with Lance that it meant giving up privacy and that I would have to share him with the world, so I can’t complain,” I paused. “Do fans really take it that hard when these guys get girlfriends?”
The three of us walked out into the sunlight. “Yeah, they do. It’s mostly the younger fans though. But, it’s basically just a celebrity crush thing. Also, some fans can get really vicious around ‘significant others.’ Alot of our rules are to protect girls like you.”
“Well, we appreciate it, but dangit...” Alex started to say, but stopped when I put my hand over her mouth.
“Alex, we’ll live. Chill.”
“Hey gals!... and Johnny,” Briley called out as she began to walk next to us.
“Hi Briley,” I answered. “Where were you?”
“I was walking with the guys, but then, Lance and Justin told me where you two were, so I stopped and waited for you.”
“Oh,” I answered.
“So, Briley... what exactly are you to 'N Sync?” Johnny asked.
“Right now, just friends. But...”
“But?” Johnny repeated.
“I have a date with JC tomorrow.”
“Oh, so your going to steal another one of my boys, aren’t you?” Johnny asked.
“I haven’t stole anyone yet!”
“Well, Kelly stole Lance, Alex stole Justin... your going to steal JC, right?”
“If I possibly can...” Briley replied with a slight smile.
“Hey Johnny? The restaurant is kinda full. How are we going to get in?” I asked.
“I had them reserve a table for you three also,” Johnny answered. “Pardon me, excuse me, coming through, thank you,” Johnny said as we pushed our way through the crowded doorway. He led us to a table that was relatively close to Justin, Lance, JC, Chris, and Joey.
The waiter approached and took our orders, then left. I looked at the table, trying to figure out what kind of mischief I could stir up with the items in front of me. I picked up a straw and took the paper off. I tore the paper in half, rolling half of it into a small, hard ball, just a bit smaller than the straw, and then, placed it at the end of the straw.
“Hey Alex, move your head.” She moved to the right slightly. I brought the straw to my mouth, took careful aim, and blew on the straw. The paper flew out at a fast speed and hit Justin in the back of the head. Lance caught my gaze and began to laugh. Briley, Alex, and I just began to talk, ignoring them, as if we had nothing to do with it, as Justin turned to see who had hit him. As he turned back around, I ‘reloaded’ and once again hit Justin. Us girls just repeated the process of ignoring them, the three facing us- Lance, Chris, and JC- were trying not to laugh each time we did this.
Around the fifth time I did this, Justin spun around. “Okay, what’s the deal?”
Briley, Alex, and myself couldn’t control our laughter this time. “Oh.. everything is so clear now,” Justin sarcastically replied when he saw us laughing. As he turned around again, I got ready to reload the straw.
“Girl, leave him alone,” Alex said, trying to defend Justin.
“Um, no,” I said.
Alex reached across the table and took the straw away from me. “Leave my man alone.”
I just laughed at her. I reached across the table and took Briley’s straw. “Kelly, what is your problem?” I shrugged. “Don’t tell me your going to try to hit Justin again.” I just reloaded the straw. “No, I am not moving!” She held out her arms to block Justin. I aimed for Alex’s forehead. “No! What do you think your doing?” I took a deep breath of air and prepared to fire. Alex squealed and ducked. I sent the paper flying just as Justin turned around to see what Alex was hollering about. I hit him right between the eyes.
“Ow!” Justin yelped.
Alex sat up and looked at Justin. “Kelly! What did you do that for?”
“Well, you moved,” I said.
“Gee thanks. I feel loved,” Alex said. Then she whispered. “I’m going to go protect my man form you, you little straw murderer!” Alex proceed to hop up and wlak over to Justin. Alex leaned over and whispered something in Justin’s ear. He looked up at her and nodded, then told Joey something. He nodded, cupped his hands around his mouth to tell JC something. He nodded, proceeded to tell Chris, who told Lance.
All the did was stare at me, so I started a conversation with Briley. All of a sudden, I was bombarded with paper balls. I looked up at Alex who shrugged and innocently smiled. Justin was laughing hysterically, as well as the rest of the group.
All of the food arrived then, so we ate, then left. Alex, Briley and myself got back with the five as we exited the restaurant. Lance took my hand and Justin eased his hand into Alex’s back pocket.
“Hey, you guys wanna hear a story?” Alex asked.
“No,” Chris answered.
“Too bad. Your gonna listen anyway!” Chris groaned. “One of my friends said she was going to one of your concerts, and she said that if she ever got close enough, she would stick a one hundred dollar bill down Justin’s pants.” Everyone began to laugh. “AND she said that she wouldn’t mind if her hand slipped.”
“That’s nuts,” I said, not realizing the irony of my words.
Justin stopped laughing. “Kelly, what did you just say?”
I stopped walking. “All I said was that’s...” I stopped talking and I began to laugh, in fact, I had to sit down because I was laughing too hard to stand up. Justin’s face turned bright red. Alex looked up at Justin’s face and began to crack up. Justin stood as still as a statue, his face a deep shade of red. Chris made a face, a look of disgust coming over him, portraying absolute disgust. JC and Briley were leaning on each other for support because they were laughing so hard. Joey was laughing, but he kept saying, “You weird people! Ewww! You weird people!” Lance was also laughing as much as the rest of us, and in the process, leaned over and asked if I was okay, stumbling over the words from laughter.
Justin stood, completely straight faced and said as calmly as possible, “I’ve just been violated.”
Everyone’s gaze went to Alex. “I didn’t do it! I didn’t touch the boy!”
“Guy,” Justin corrected.
“You knew what I meant, babe,” Alex told him, kissing his cheek.
“Yeah,” Justin replied.
“How about we go ride the Tower of Terror?” Joey suddenly suggested, trying to get the conversation away from Justin.
We agreed and walked in that direction. No sooner had we gotten in line than Chris yelled, “That’s nuts!” This sent us into hysterics once again. Alex leaned against Justin, who joined in on the laughter this time, but he was shooting daggers at Chris with his eyes.
It wasn’t long before we were in the building that was decorated like a hotel. We continued until we were in a small room where we would hear the ‘Twilight Zone’ story about the attraction. After being assured that ‘history never repeats itself,’ we were lead through the hotel, to the basement where the elevator shafts were located. We were quickly loaded in, with Justin, Alex, Briley, and JC on the front row, left side. Joey, Chris, Lance, and I were in the front in the center.
“Have a pleasant death,” the attendant said in an eerie voice as she closed the door.
We were soon lifted up six stories, the doors opened, and.... Chris screamed. “Man, what’s your problem?” JC asked.
“I thought we were gonna fall,” Chris explained as more of the legend was portrayed in front of us.
The doors once again shut as we were lifted up another seven stories. We were pushed out into a room and we continued until we stopped in front of a black wall. The black opened to blue sky... if you looked up. However, if you looked down, you were overlooking the entire park. We were suspended for about ten seconds when the elevator fell. As we fell the thirteen stories in 2.5 seconds, I screamed.
Not only did I scream, but my seven companions were also screaming, Chris more than anyone. After the process of being and dropped was again repeated, we eased to a stop and the doors in front of us opened.
“Everyone alive?” An attendant yelled.
“Yeah!” Everyone cheered.
“NO!!” Chris screamed.
The attendant pushed a button and all the lap restraints lifted. As we exited the building, we all talked and joked. Once outside, we stood discussing where to go next when I began listening to the conversation of two women beside me.
“But Bobby Jean! I got to find me a husband!” One of the women wailed.
“I’ll help you Sue Ellen,” Bobby Jean replied, pushing her way past me. As if on cue, she began to inspect the five members of 'N Sync. First came Chris. “How about him?” She pointed.
“No. Daddy would have a fit over that hair,” Sue Ellen replied.
Next was Joey. “What about this one?”
“Daddy says not to marry someone who wears more jewelry than I do.”
“Oh. What about this one?” Bobby Jean motioned to Lance.
“Yeah! He could work!” Sue Ellen grabbed his arm. “He’s cute and the right height! Will you show me your muscles?”
Lance didn’t say anything, so I took a step forward from my spot beside him, where I had been quietly holding his hand to say, “Honey, if you want this one, you’ll have to go through me first.”
Sue Ellen sighed. “Figures. He has to be taken!” Then, she moved on to JC. “Will you marry me?”
“Umm... that’s against my religion,” He quickly answered.
Sue Ellen shrugged. On to Justin. “Your too tall.”
“Five guys, and only one was perfect,” Bobby Jean muttered.
“What am I gonna do now?” Sue Ellen whined.
“What about him?” Bobby Jean pointed and the two ran off to continue their quest.
“That was interesting,” I said, the others agreeing. “So, how about the Great Movie Ride?”
It wasn’t far from the Tower of Terror, and soon, we had walked around the stage being set up for that evenings performance, so that we were in front of the Chinese Theater.
“Hey Kelly,” Briley said. I looked down, saw I was standing on Mickey Mouse’s autograph, and I knew what she was going to say.
“Briley, you start over there, I’ll start on the other side, yell if you find it,” I instructed as the two of us began to search for the two squares of cement that we promised each other back in 1998 that we would get our pictures taken by.
For five minutes, we looked. Then, Briley yelled, “Kelly! I found it!”
I ran over to her. “What now?”
“Picture!”
I handed my camera to Lance as Briley and I stood on opposite sides. “Hey Alex! Get in here with us!” Alex ran into the picture and stood next to Briley. “Let’s put our hands in the prints!” I exclaimed. So, the three of us leaned down and placed our hands in the appropriate hand prints. Mine in Lance’s, Alex in Justin’s, and Briley in JC’s... that’s right. It was 'N Sync’s own spot on MGM’s Walk Of Fame.
Lance took a picture. “We should get on with all of us,” he suggested. Justin yelled for a roadie who was working on the stage. When he came over to us, myself, Briley, Alex, JC, Lance, Justin, Chris, and Joey all laid down on the ground in a circle with our heads by the squares of cement. After the picture, we all entered the Chinese Theater. We went through the line and got loaded into the huge cars that would take us on the special experience through the movies.
“Hey JC!” Chris loudly whispered.
“What?” JC answered.
“It’s dark in here... maybe we should split the couples up!”
“Hey!” Lance whispered. “Kelly and I can keep from kissing if we wanted to!”
“Lance... be quiet! They’ll make us!” I insisted as the ride began to move to take us on our magical journey.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Joey mumbled.
“That isn’t necessary,” Lance replied, sliding an arm around me.
“Leave them alone,” Justin said, as we slowly went past the Mary Poppins set-up. Nobody said anything else until we went through Aliens. I scooted closer to Lance and he tightened his grip around me.
“Save me!” Chris yelled, grabbing my hand.
“Chris, no offense, but stay away from me,” I slowly said, as I pulled my hand from his grasp and scooted even closer to Lance.
“I see how you are!” Chris wailed.
“Chris, would you shut up?” Joey asked.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Chris grumbled.
This was the last time any of us talked before the ride ended. As we walked back out into the sunshine, JC brought something to everyone’s attention.
“Hey you guys remember that question and answer thing we were supposed to do this afternoon?”
“Yeah. What about it?” Justin answered.
“Well, we’re late for it,” JC replied.
We all turned and began to run through the park to the Beauty and the Beast theater. Five minutes later, we found ourselves behind it, standing in front of an upset Johnny Wright. He didn’t say anything... just tapped his watch.
“Listen Johnny, we’re sorry,” Lance said, trying to smooth things over.
“Guys, it isn’t me you’ll have to worry about... it’s all those irate fans out there,” Johnny replied.
“We really are sorry. We just lost track of time,” JC told him.
“Save it. Just get out there and do your jobs. There are seats reserved down front for the girls... they are right in front of your families.”
As Johnny got them ready to go out on stage, Alex, Briley, and myself walked around and entered the through the front of the open air theater. We quickly found our seats and sat down. When a hand landed on my shoulder, I jumped.
“Calm down,” I heard Lance’s mom say.
I turned. “You scared me!”
She laughed. “Sorry. How’s your ankle?”
“Much better. Thanks!” I smiled as Justin’s voice came through the speakers.
“Your all I ever wanted... your all I ever needed... so tell me what to do now...” All the others joined in and as the music started, they ran out on stage. Th three of us jumped to our feet and cheered. When Justin asked everyone to sing along, I think the three of us sang louder than anyone else.
When the song ended, Johnny came out onstage. “Hey everyone! I’m Johhny Wright, and I manage 'N Sync. These guys are going to introduce themselves and then, they are going to answer some of your questions. Guys?” Johnny walked offstage.
“Hey everyone! I’m Justin and I’m the baby of the group.” He paused. “North Carolina rules!” Some people cheered.
“Hey! I’m Joey. We’re happy to be here, and we can’t wait to get to know all of you.” This got a cheer.
“I’m Lance. I’m twenty years old and I want to say hi to a special someone that’s in the audience right now.” Lance caught my eye and gave me what I called ‘my special smile’ and a wink. I blushed a bright pink.
“My name is JC. How y’all doin’?” Everyone yelled. “Yeah! That’s what I like to hear!”
“I’m Chris. I’m the oldest of all of us. I’m proud of my hair.”
Johnny began to talk again. “Now that you know them, let’s get these guys to answer some of your questions. What’s your name?” A girl stood beside him and began to talk into the microphone.
“My name is Rachel and I’m 14. My question is for Justin and Lance. Is it true that you two have girlfriends?”
“Yeah,” Justin answered. “Her name is Alex and I love her alot.”
“Same here,” Lance said. “Except, her name’s Kelly. Right now, I have the special privilege of having her here with me.”
“Dang...” The girl muttered as several audience members responded with an “Awww...”
The only other question I really remembered came towards the end.
“My name is Michelle and I’m 18. Tell me Justin... how does it feel being the most wanted member of *N Sync?”
“Well,” Justin began to say. “Me and these guys, we’re a team. I may be popular, which I like, but none of us are more important than the others.”
“You know what I think about that answer?” JC asked Justin.
“What?” Justin asked.
“It’s nuts,” JC responded, causing the five of them to begin laughing, as well as us three girls. It took awhile for us to calm down, especially when Chris fell off of his stool.
Shortly after, the session ended. After signing a few autographs, it was time to get ready for the concert.
