*~*~* April 28, 2001 *~*~*

"He did WHAT!?!" Chris shrieked. It was two weeks before *Nsync’s Pop Odyssey tour was to start and their masseur and physical therapist, Dale, had just quit.

"How are we going to find somebody on such short notice?" Lance asked.

"And who’s going to fix my back?" Justin whined.

"We’re working on that right now," their manager, Johnny, said trying to calm the guys down.

"Besides, you guys have rehearsal," their choreographer, Wade, interrupted. The guys followed Wade to the rehearsal hall and Johnny went back to work. Twelve hours later the five exhausted guys drug themselves out of the rehearsal hall. They were all ready to go home, but Johnny stopped them.

"Great news guys! We found you a new physical therapist. And even better, she starts first thing in the morning."

"She?" Joey asked with a grin.

"Yes, Joey. It’s a she, but don’t get any ideas. I don’t want you hitting on her as soon as you meet her. Understand?" Johnny replied.

"Ok." Joey replied glumly.

The next morning the guys arrived at the studio. When they walked in they saw Wade talking to a strange girl. The girl was about four foot eleven with long brown hair down to her waist and bright green eyes.

"Do you think that’s her?" Justin whispered.

"It can’t be! She can’t be more than fourteen or fifteen," JC replied.

Just then Wade and the mystery girl walked over. "Guys, I’d like you to meet Fantasia," Wade said.

"I didn’t know our new masseur was going to bring her little sister," Justin said.

"Justin Randall Timberlake! If you don’t watch it I’m not going to fix your back." Fantasia said.

Justin stood there dumbfounded while the rest of the guys almost died laughing. "You can’t be our new masseur. You’re just a kid!" Justin said.

"Oh, really? I thought I was older than you were, Baby," Fantasia said using Justin’s nickname.

"And just how old are you?" Justin asked.

"Twenty-two." Fantasia replied. Justin and everyone else looked at her stunned and in disbelief. Fantasia just cracked up laughing. "Hey, go ahead and fire me if you want, but you’re not going to find anybody else that specializes in chronic back pain AND neck pain from stress and jetlag... especially on such short notice," Fantasia said looking back and forth between Justin and Chris.

"You know that?" Chris asked shocked.

"Of course! Do you think I’m going to come to a job like this unprepared? Besides, that’s not all I know. I’m not just your masseur, I’m also a fan. One of those little FBI agent fans that knows every little thing about each and every one of you," Fantasia said. The guys looked at her almost terrified. "What?" Fantasia asked in her most innocent voice, "I’m just a fan."

"A psycho one," Chris said under his breath.

"I heard that, Christopher!" Fantasia said. Joey and Justin couldn’t help laughing a little. "Ok, let’s get started. Who wants to be first to get their shot?" Fantasia asked. With that last word JC took off running down the hall, screaming his head off. "JC! Come back! I was just kidding!" Fantasia called after him.

When he didn’t return she went after him. Just as she left Johnny came up to the four remaining guys and asked, "So, how do you like her?"

"She’s psycho!" Justin replied.

"She’s worse than Chris." Lance said.

"Hey!" Chris whined.

Meanwhile, Fantasia went after JC. She found him under a table covered by a long tablecloth. Silently she sneaked up behind him then, "BOO!"

JC screamed, hit his head on the bottom of the table, scrambled out and was about to take off running, but Fantasia tackled him. JC kept struggling so Fantasia sat down on his back. "Let me go! Let me go! I don’t wanna shot!" JC whined.

"OK, you don’t have to get a shot." Fantasia said soothingly.

JC looked at her stunned. "Why?" he asked

"Have you ever got a shot from your masseur before?" she asked.

JC shook his head "no" still confused.

Fantasia leaned down towards his face and whispered, "It was a joke."

"But why?" JC whined.

Fantasia got up off of him, took him by the arm and said "Come on the other guys need to hear this too."

When they returned to the group JC asked, "Why’d you do that?", whining a little.

"I wanted to prove a point. I can either be your best friend or your worst nightmare. Besides I’ve always wanted to see JC freak out over a shot," Fantasia said with a grin. By now JC was standing behind Chris and Joey for protection.

Just then a strange girl walked into the room and over to Justin. "Jamie! What are you doing here?" Justin asked.

"Can’t I surprise my boyfriend?" Jamie asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Of course," Justin replied wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her. Chris, who was standing next to them, grabbed his throat and started making gagging, choking noises. Fantasia stood there looking the new girl over. Jamie was a little taller than her, about 5’3". She had short blond hair and hazel eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, Justin saw Chris goofing off. Without letting go of Jamie, Justin smacked Chris in the back of the head.

"Oww!" Chris whined. Fantasia and the other guys burst out laughing and for the first time Jamie noticed Fantasia and looked at her confused.

When everyone had calmed down Joey said, "Jamie, I’d like you to meet our new masseur, Fantasia."

Jamie let out a sigh of relief. "For a second there I thought Justin might be cheating on me." she said jokingly. Justin opened his mouth to say something cute, but before he could Fantasia burst out laughing.

"Me and Justin? I don’t think so!" Fantasia laughed.

"Why not?" Justin whined. Jamie slapped him playfully to remind him she was still there.

"Oh, I don’t know.... Maybe because I hate basketball!" Fantasia said answering Justin’s question.

Justin was about to protest, but Wade interrupted, " Are you guys ready to get to work?"

"Yes!" JC shouted, eager to get away from Fantasia.

"Ok, Fantasia, why don’t you help the guys stretch while I finish getting ready," Wade said.

"Ok, who wants to go first?" Fantasia asked rubbing her hands together.

"Not me!" Justin, Joey, Chris and Lance said together as they pushed JC forward. Fantasia took JC by the arm and started to pull him into the Physical Therapy room. JC looked back at the guys with a pleading ‘help me’ look on his face. The guys just smiled and waved.

When Fantasia finished with JC she went out to get the next guy and found Justin and Jamie sitting on the couch making out. Fantasia smiled to herself and went over to Justin. She took a hold of his ear and drug him into the room.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Watch the earrings!" Justin whined. When Fantasia finished with Justin, he went back to making out with Jamie while Fantasia worked on the other guys.

While the guys were rehearsing Fantasia and Jamie hung out, "Did you really have to steal Justin away from me while we were making out?" Jamie asked.

"Hey, I was just doing my job." Fantasia replied.

"So was I!" Jamie said. The two girls looked at each other and started laughing.

"I bet you’re going to miss Justin while he’s on tour," Fantasia commented.

"No, not really," Jamie said. Fantasia looked at her confused. "Because I’m going too," Jamie finished.

"How’d you get them to let you tag along?" Fantasia asked, knowing that isn’t something the guys normally did.

"They had to let me come. I’m one of the backup dancers," Jamie explained.

Fantasia quickly settled into the daily routine of her new job. She had only been with the guys for just under a week. It was May 4th, Lance’s birthday. Fantasia really wanted to do something; she just didn’t know how to go about it. It’s not like she hung out with the guys. The only time she really saw them was when she was doing her job. She had already picked up a small present for him. But how to get it to him…. She had heard the guys talking about going out to dinner for Lance’s birthday, but she knew they’d never invite her. Fantasia decided to put it in a gift bag and hang it on the handle of his hotel room door. She purposely put the card she’d bought in the bottom so he’d have to look at the gift first. She didn’t want him to know who it was from right away.

Just minutes after Fantasia had hung it on his door, Lance returned to his room. He had forgotten his cell phone. Lance looked at the bag confused. He knew it wasn’t from any of the guys and the crew never bought them gifts. He assumed a fan had somehow sneaked past security and had left it there. Lance took the bag into his room. Even though he knew the guys were waiting, his curiosity got the better of him. He set the bag down on his bed and carefully took out the gift. Lance unwrapped the tissue paper to reveal a framed picture of the cast of Clue, Lance’s favorite movie. And it was autographed by a few of the actors! Lance just stood there completely stunned.

Just then there was at knock at the door which he had left open. He turned around to see Joey standing in the doorway. "Dude, what’s taking you so long?" Then he noticed Lance was holding something and saw the gift bag and tissue paper on the bed. "What’d ya get?" he asked walking over to his best friend. Still speechless, Lance handed him the picture. Joey was almost as shocked as Lance. He knew what a gift like that would mean to his friend.

"So, who’s it from?" he asked handing the picture back.

"I have no idea." Lance replied.

Now Joey was curious. He picked up the gift bag and started inspecting it. When he turned the bag upside down to look at the bottom the card fell out and landed on the bed. Lance laid down the picture and picked up the card. He took the card out of its envelope. The front of the card had Taz on it. Joey let out a snort of laughter. Lance slowly opened the card to reveal the name of the gift giver.

"Fantasia!" both guys shrieked.

"Why would she get me a present?" Lance asked confused.

Just then Joey had a thought. "Well, you know, if she’s as big of a fan as she says she is do you really think she’d forget your birthday?"

"Good point." Lance replied.

Later that day, Lance ran into Fantasia in the hall by the vending machines. Without any warning he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug and said, "Thank you."

"For what?" Fantasia asked confused.

"For the Clue picture."

"Oh, that." she replied as if it was no big deal. But it was a big deal to Lance. He wanted to invite her to come to dinner with him and the guys, but he was a little afraid that she would take it the wrong way.

"Fantasia, the guys and I were going to go out tonight for my birthday."

"I know." she said.

Lance looked at her stunned for a second, wondering how she knew that. "I was wondering if you’d like to come, too. Not like a date or anything. Just… I’d just like you to come to my party."

Fantasia smiled at him. He was so cute when he was babbling. "I didn’t think you meant a date. That kinda stuff only happens in fan fics. And as far as if I want to go, do you even have to ask?"

Lance smiled, knew that was a yes. "Cool! Meet us downstairs at 7:30."

Fantasia went back to her room and started screaming and bouncing around. She never let the guys see her act like a fan.

At a quarter after seven Fantasia went downstairs to the lobby. Joey and Chris were already there waiting on the other guys. "Hey, Fantasia! What are you doing here?" Chris asked.

"Lance invited me."

"He did?" Joey asked surprised.

Chris leaned back in his chair and said, "Justin isn’t going to like this."

"Why?" Fantasia asked, worried that Justin didn’t like her.

"He wanted to bring Jamie, but Lance said no dates," Joey explained.

Fantasia just nodded. She knew that there was nothing Justin like more than parading Jamie around like she was some kind of trophy.

"Well, Lance invited me so Justin’s just going to have to deal with it."

"I’m gonna have to deal with what?" Justin asked after hearing only the second half of Fantasia’s statement.

"Fantasia’s coming too!" Joey piped up.

"What!?!" Justin shrieked, "I thought Lance said no dates?"

"It’s not a date!" Lance said coming up behind Justin and smacking him in the back of the head.

"How come she gets to go, but Jamie can’t?" Justin asked whining.

Chris groaned and sunk down in his chair. When Justin started whining he didn’t quit for at least half an hour. That’s not how the guys wanted to start their night off.

"Well, when Jamie gives me a gift as thoughtful, meaningful and totally cool as the one Fantasia gave me, I’ll consider it." Lance said.

Justin stared at Lance for a couple seconds before continuing to protest. Fantasia rolled her eyes. She had had enough of this. "Justin! It’s Lance’s birthday and his party. He can invite whoever he wants to. When it’s your birthday you can invite whoever you want."

"You’re just saying that cuz he picked you." Justin shot back.

"No, I’m not." she replied firmly, "I never expected Lance to invite me. But he did. And I’m not going to turn down his generous invitation just because you’re acting like a spoiled brat." All four guys just froze and starred at Fantasia. Nobody ever talked to Justin like that! For a second, Fantasia thought she might have taken it a step too far with the "spoiled brat" comment.

Justin opened his mouth like he was going to continue to protest, but said nothing. Chris leaned towards Joey and whispered, "How’d she do that?" Joey just shrugged. He had no idea, but he was thoroughly impressed.

Just then JC came downstairs. "You guys ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, let’s get going." Lance replied. As they walked out to the awaiting limo Chris filled JC in on what had just happened. Joey was cracking jokes trying to cheer up Justin. Lance walked next to Fantasia. He wanted to apologize to her for Justin’s behavior.

"Don’t worry about it." Fantasia replied, "Just consider this your warning. If any of you try to get a big head with me, I’ll knock you down to size."

Lance just burst out laughing. He didn’t doubt that one bit.

As they climbed into the limo Chris asked, "So, Lance, what’s this totally awesome present that Fantasia got you?" Lance spent the whole limo ride talking about the picture and how much he loved it. Halfway there, Chris was starting to regret asking the question.

At the restaurant Fantasia was seated between Lance and Joey. After they ordered their drinks Joey asked Fantasia, "So, are you coming to any of our concerts?"

"Of course." she replied.

"Which ones?" asked Lance.

"All of them."

The guys looked at her stunned. "Can you afford that?" JC asked. The guys knew all too well how much their tickets could go for.

"Well, yeah, considering I’m not paying for it."

"How’d you do that?" Chris asked.

"Well, it was when Johnny and I were working out the details of my contract. The low-ball offer he made me for my salary was more than double what my old job paid. I didn’t need more money so I asked for a guaranteed seat at every concert. And it had to be at least a decent seat. I didn’t want to be sitting all the way at the top where I couldn’t tell Chris apart from Justin. Johnny got me a seat in the VIP section. And because I was willing to come on such short notice and I wasn’t asking for a lot, he also gave me a bonus $100 a week to spend on merchandise at the shows."

"Wow!" Joey gasped.

About half an hour later Justin excused himself to go to the bathroom. As soon as he was out of earshot Chris turned to Fantasia and said, "Ok, spill it. How’d you do it?"

"Do what?" she asked confused.

"Back at the hotel. How’d you get Justin to quit acting like a whiny baby?" Fantasia shrugged her shoulders.

"I don’t know. I just told him what I thought he needed to hear. I get the feeling that boy doesn’t hear the word ‘no’ nearly enough. And I don’t tolerate anybody that cares more about their reputation then their friends."

"And if we get a big head with you, you’ll knock us down to size." Lance said repeating her words for earlier.

"Exactly." she replied. "The only thing I can think of is that he remember that I was a fan. And fans talk to each other… a lot. I’m sure he doesn’t want his little temper tantrum all over the Internet."

"Would you do that?" JC asked sounding a little scared.

"Not this time. But if he doesn’t learn his lesson and quick, I might. I don’t want to, but I’m going to break him of this ego trip if it’s the last thing I do."

"Hey, Fantasia. The next time you wanna tell Justin off can you wait until I get there?" JC asked.

"Well, if you didn’t spend so much time on your hair you could’ve been there." The rest of the guys burst out laughing at Fantasia’s crack on JC.

Just then Justin returned and asked, "What’s so funny?"

"Oh, Joey just told us a new joke." JC said, not wanting to repeat what Fantasia had said about his hair.

"Joey’s jokes aren’t that funny." Justin said as he sat back down in his chair.

"Yeah, they are." Fantasia replied. Joey just looked at her with this big, goofy grin on his face. She pointed her finger at him and said, "Don’t let that go to your head."

After another hour they were half way through the meal and the guys were well on their way to being drunk. This wasn’t exactly what Fantasia had been expecting, but it was a little amusing. Joey made a comment that Fantasia couldn’t even comprehend. Chris must have understood it though because he was laughing so hard that he fell off his chair. When he didn’t get up, Fantasia leaned around to make sure he was ok. Chris was lying on the floor still laughing. She just sighed and shook her head. She was just glad none of the guys were driving.

The next morning Fantasia was walking down the hall when Chris came out of his room. He was rubbing his shoulder with one hand and holding his head with the other. "Party too hard last night?" she asked causing Chris to jump a little.

"Naw, the headache I can deal with. But for some reason my shoulder is killing me."

Fantasia smiled and shook her head. "That’s probably from when you fell off your chair."

"I did?" he asked confused.

Fantasia just nodded.

Chris looked at her and asked, "How come you’re ok?"

"It’s kinda hard to get drunk on Coke." She replied with a smirk.

"Smartass." he muttered. "You know, if you didn’t already have a killer headache I’d smack you for that."

"So, can you help me?" he asked.

"That what you pay me for, isn’t it?" she replied. She started to take Chris down to the physical therapy room when Justin came out of his room. He looked worse than Chris did.

"Fantasia, can I get a massage?"

"Chris asked first. You’re going to have to wait your turn." she replied.

Chris was expecting him to protest and make a big fuss, but he didn’t.

Justin just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his room. "We’re going to have to keep you around." Chris said with a smirk.

"Fine by me." Fantasia replied.

About three days later the guys were rehearsing "The Game is Over". They were working on the opening because the trap doors weren’t working quite right. This particular day Fantasia and Jamie decided to watch the guys rehearse. When it was Joey’s turn to pop up, something went terribly wrong. The trap door misfired and Joey’s leg got caught between the floor and the trap door. Lance was the first one to reach him, but Fantasia was close behind. Lance was holding Joey’s leg closed to stop the bleeding.

"Quit it! That hurts!" Joey whined.

"Do you want to bleed to death?" Fantasia asked.

"No!" Joey groaned.

"Then quit whining." she replied. Soon the paramedics arrived and took Joey to the hospital. Everyone else followed close behind in their cars.

At the hospital Joey was in with the doctors while everyone else was in the waiting room. Jamie was curled up on Justin’s lap. Fantasia was sitting next to them with her knees pulled up to her chest. Chris was pacing around the room. Lance sat in a chair holding his head in his hands. JC was sitting on the floor staring off into space. Johnny was on the phone with Joey’s parents and Wade was sitting in a chair fiddling with his pager. About an hour later the doctor came out.

"Your friend is very lucky. The fat in his leg kept it from breaking, but he has a very large deep wound. We had to use staples to close it up.", he explained.

"Can we see him?" Lance asked.

"Not just yet, we’ll let you know when you can." The doctor replied leaving.

A few minutes later the doctor left. Lance was the first to break the silence. "Guys, what are we going to do about tomorrow?"

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"Tomorrow we start shooting the music video for ‘Pop,’" Lance replied. Remembering this all the guys started grumbling and cussing under their breath. As the guys were trying to figure out what they were going to do, Wade noticed Fantasia staring at him.

"What?" Wade asked.

"Oh nothing. I just saw you out of the corner of my eye and for a second I thought you were Joey. Don’t mind me. I’m just crazy." Fantasia said.

"I could’ve told you that!" Chris, who was now sitting next to Fantasia, said with a grin. Fantasia reached over and smacked Chris in the back of his head.

"No, she’s right!", JC said returning to Fantasia’s original statement. The four guys got up and walked over to Wade. They started pulling at his hair, pinching his face and examining his features.

"Hey stop! Quit it! That hurts!" Wade whined smacking at their hands. Fantasia and Jamie couldn’t help laughing.

"It just might work." Justin said.

"Yeah, we can hide him in the back behind JC’s hair." Chris joked. JC gave his friend a playful shove. Chris lost his balance and fell on his butt.

"Wait a second. Joey has a mustache and beard." Lance commented.

"And our little 12-year-old Wade can only grow peach fuzz." Chris joked, starting to get up, but Wade gently kicked him back down.

Just then a nurse came over, "Ah, *N Sync?"

"Yes?" the four guys replied standing up.

"You may go see Joey now. He’s in room 269." she said. Everyone followed the nurse down the hall to Joey’s room.

"I wonder if Joey picked the room number." Chris whispered to Justin as they followed the nurse. Justin just laughed. They entered the room to find Joey watching a rerun of Baywatch while he was on the phone with his mom, trying to convince her that he was going to be fine.

"How ya feelin’, dude?" Chris asked as Joey hung up the phone.

"Better. You want to see it?" Joey replied. Joey peeled back the bandages so everyone could see the two staples that was now holding his leg closed. After all the general "Ewwws!", Joey was the first to bring up the subject of the next day.

"So what are we going to do about tomorrow? I can’t even walk. There is no way I can dance.", Joey said.

"Well, Fantasia came up with the idea of using Wade.", Lance said.

"I DID NOT!!!" Fantasia screamed, "It was JC’s idea!!!"

Everybody looked at Fantasia like she was psycho. "Ok, JC came up with the idea." Lance said confused.

"Well, who ever came up it, it’s a good idea." Joey said looking back and forth between JC and Fantasia. They started discussing how they were going to change Wade into Joey. Ten minutes later the doctor came in, checked Joey over and released him.

The next day Joey was going to stay at the hotel and rest while the rest of the guys filmed "Pop". After Fantasia helped the guys stretch she found Johnny. "Do you think the guys really need me here today?" Fantasia asked.

"Probably not. Why? Do you have other plans?" Johnny asked.

"No, not really. I just have this strange feeling that I need to be back at the hotel with Joey. I can’t really explain it." Fantasia said.

"It’s fine with me. I’ll call you if anything comes up." he replied.

When Fantasia got to the hotel, the MTV crew was just leaving. She found Joey sitting on the bed, playing with his new camera, filming himself making funny faces. Fantasia could tell he was already bored. "Careful. Your face might get stuck like that." Fantasia said startling Joey.

"Fantasia! What are you doing here?" Joey asked surprised.

"It’s nice to see you, too, Joey." Fantasia replied as she sat down next to him.

"What I mean is why aren’t you at the set with the guys?" Joey explained.

"They didn’t need me and I thought you could use some company." Fantasia said.

Joey just smiled. After they had been talking for a while Joey asked, "So how much do you really know about us?"

"Let me put it this way. When you guys win an award, like at the VMA’s, and you start thanking people you work with. I basically know who you’re talking about." Fantasia said.

"Wow! What else do you know?" Joey asked amazed.

"I know how you mud bombed yourself." Fantasia replied.

"Huh?" Joey asked confused.

Fantasia smiled a proceeded to tell Joey a story he knew all too well, a story of when Joey was a kid and still living in Brooklyn. Little Joey was playing outside in the front yard, catapulting mud bombs across the street. His mom came outside and told him, "Quit that! You’re going to get hurt." She went back inside. Little Joey just rolled his eyes and grumbled, "Whatever." He went back to his mud bombs, but soon one misfired. The mud bomb hit little Joey in the face. He got mud in his nose, ears, mouth and gums. Poor little Joey went crying to his mommy. When Fantasia finished telling the story Joey was cracking up laughing.

"How’d you find out about that?" Joey asked still laughing.

"From you." Fantasia replied.

"Huh?" Joey asked confused.

"Yeah, I read an interview where you were talking about it." Fantasia explained.

"Is there anything you don’t know?" Joey asked.

"Sure, but its things that are best left up to the imagination." Fantasia said with a grin. Joey just looked at her wide-eyed.

The next day Joey’s leg was feeling better so he went to the studio to do his part of the video. Joey hobbled on to the set and was soon greeted by Justin. However, Chris was more interested in Joey’s motorized wheel chair. He was driving it around trying to run over everybody. He thought he would take it for a spin around the set, but he couldn’t get the wheels over the step and he crashed.

While the other guys spent most of their free time goofing off, running around and chasing each other, Joey hung out with all the extras… a lot of pretty girls! He wanted to flirt with them, but most of them were asleep. Soon Fantasia came over to sit with him. After a few minutes of talking Joey asked, "Fantasia, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." she replied with a grin.

"I mean a real question." Joey said.

"Ok, sure." she replied.

"Why didn’t you want to take credit for the idea of using Wade to replace me?" Joey asked.

"Because it wasn’t my idea." she replied.

"But Lance said…." Joey said starting to protest.

"I know what happened! I was there." Fantasia cut in.

"I’m not trying to make you mad. I’m just trying to understand why you didn’t want to take credit for such a good idea." Joey said trying to calm her down.

"That’s just it! You liked the idea so it can’t be mine! Nobody ever likes my ideas!" Fantasia screamed before storming off. By now everyone was staring at them. Joey just sat there completely confused.

"Dude, what’d you do?" Chris asked coming over.

"I don’t know." Joey said shaking his head.

As the guys got back to the hotel Justin asked Joey, "Do you think Fantasia is still mad at you?"

"I hope not." Joey sighed "I’m really starting to like her."

"Then why don’t you ask her out? It’s not like you to wait on these things." Justin said.

Joey just shrugged and replied, "What if she turns me down?"

Justin just stared at his friend in shock and asked, "Are you in love with her or something?" Joey just shrugged and climbed on to the elevator leaving Justin completely baffled.

The next morning Joey decided to stop by Fantasia’s room to see if she was still mad… and maybe ask her out. Joey knocked on her door, but there was no answer. He could hear music playing so he could tell she was in there. It sounded like she was listening to "Ready To Fall" from the On The Line soundtrack. He knocked again, this time a little louder. Still no answer. Joey decided to try the door. It was unlocked.

"Fantasia." Joey called as he slowly entered the room. Fantasia wasn’t in the room, but the bathroom door was closed. Before Joey could even turn to leave, the bathroom door opened and Fantasia came out. When she came out Joey got the shock of his life! And not because she was naked. She was dressed, but all the long, brown hair was gone! She was almost completely bald. Some spots on her head had hair, but others were bald. The longest hair on her head couldn’t have been more than three inches long!

Fantasia took one look at Joey, screamed, ran back into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Now Joey was even more baffled than ever. Just then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. There was a pile of long, brown hair laying on the dresser next to her CD player. It was a wig! Joey turned down the music and went over to the bathroom door.

"Fantasia?" he asked.

"Don’t you know how to knock?" she screamed.

"I’m sorry, I did. You had your music too loud." Joey said.

"What do you want?", Fantasia asked.

"I was wondering if you were still mad at me." Joey said.

"Well, I wasn’t when I woke up, but I’m pretty pissed now." Fantasia said. Joey smiled a little at her comment. "Now if you don’t mind," Fantasia continued, "GET OUT OF MY ROOM! And don’t even THINK of saying anything to anybody about what you saw! Unless you want your dirty underwear to show up on ebay!"

With that Joey bolted out of Fantasia’s room as fast as he could with a bum leg. In his haste to get out of her room and back to his own Joey ran right into Lance. "Joey! What do you think you’re doing? You can’t run on that leg of yours!" Lance exclaimed. Joey didn’t say anything as Lance helped him back to his room. As Joey flopped down on his bed, Chris, Justin and JC came into the room.

"What in the world is going on?" asked JC.

"We could hear Fantasia screaming at you all the way down the hall!" Chris said.

"I think I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see." Joey said as he laid on the bed with his hands over his eyes.

"What!?!" JC, Justin, Lance and Chris asked all at once.

"I’m not even sure what I saw. Plus Fantasia said if I told anybody she would put my dirty underwear up on ebay!" Joey said. Justin and Chris tried to stifle a laugh while JC and Lance just stood there looking worried.

"You saw her naked, didn’t you?" Chris asked

"What? No!" Joey shrieked.

"Sure! Anything you say, Joe." Chris said.

All day Joey tried to catch up with Fantasia, but it was no use. The only time she came anywhere near him was during physical therapy… and that’s only because she had to. Normally Joey loves going to physical therapy because he likes talking to Fantasia. But today she wouldn’t say a single word to him. At lunch that day Jamie sat down with Fantasia.

"Fantasia, is everything all right? I heard you screaming at Joey this morning. What happened?" she asked.

"Oh, the idiot came into my room without knocking." Fantasia replied.

"Really?" Jamie asked surprised. Fantasia just nodded. "Did he see something he wasn’t supposed to?" Jamie asked.

Fantasia just nodded again. "Wow, no wonder you’re so mad at him." Jamie replied.

That night back at the hotel Joey was finally able to corner Fantasia in the elevator. "Come on, Fantasia. Won’t you please talk to me?" Joey begged. Fantasia just stood there staring at the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. The only sound she made was a low growling sound. Joey sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Fantasia, I’m sorry I came into your room. I haven’t told anybody what I saw. I can’t. I don’t even know what I saw. I mean, I don’t understand…." Joey said trailing off. Just then the elevator doors opened and Fantasia took off running before even had a chance to stop her. Joey stepped out of the elevator and sighed. He was beginning to wonder if Fantasia would ever speak to him again.

"Don’t worry, everything is going to be ok." Lance said trying to comfort his friend, "Why don’t you give her a few days to cool off. We’re leaving for the tour tomorrow. Maybe she’ll forget about this whole thing."

"Yeah, ok. Thanks." Joey said forcing a smile.

After a few days Fantasia slowly started speaking to him again and Joey didn’t go anywhere near her room. Then one night almost two weeks into the tour, Joey’s leg was really bothering him and he just couldn’t sleep. He picked up his cell phone and called Fantasia. Down the hall Fantasia woke up to he cell phone ringing. She turned on the light next to her bed and winced at the bright light. She grabbed her cell phone and checked the caller id.

"What is it, Joey?" she asked answering her phone.

"I’m sorry to bother you, Fantasia. It’s just that my leg is really sore and I can’t sleep." Joey said.

"Oh, ok. I’ll be right there." Fantasia said relieved that it was work related and he wasn’t calling just to chat at 2 am!

"Actually," Joey continued, "I was wondering if I could come to your room? It might help if I walk on it a little. Plus that way you don’t have to get dressed."

"Fine." Fantasia said, too tired to argue. Fantasia got out of bed and put her wig back on. She pulled her long hair back into a ponytail so it wouldn’t be in her way. Just then there was a soft knock at her door.

As she opened the door for Joey she noticed he couldn’t stop staring at her nightgown. It wasn’t skimpy or see through. Fantasia is small enough that she can still wear kids’ clothes. Her nightgown had *N Sync on it! Fantasia looked down at herself to see what he was looking at. She had completely forgotten that she had decided to wear her *N Sync nightgown that night. Joey just stood there grinning.

"Shut up." Fantasia grumbled as she let him into the room.

"No, I like it. It looks good on you." Joey said smiling at her. Fantasia didn’t say anything. He had a feeling she wasn’t used to being woken up at 2 am. "You sure have a lot of stuffed animals." Joey said looking at the eight or ten animals that were scattered across the bed.

"Yeah, I sort of collect them." Fantasia said pushing them out of the way.

"Sort of like JC and his Hard Rock Café menus?" Joey asked as he laid down on the bed.

"More like you and Superman." Fantasia said as she started working on Joey’s leg.

"Really?" he replied.

"Let me put it this way… I left home with two animals." Fantasia said.

"You’ve bought that many already!?!" Joey asked surprised.

"Yeah." she said shrugging.

"How many do you have?" he asked.

Fantasia just shrugged and said, "I’ve never counted them. I would have to guess somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000."

"Two thousand stuffed animals!" Joey shrieked.

"Well, that includes my beanie baby collection." Fantasia said.

"You like beanie babies? You know, Lance collects them, too." Joey said.

"Duh!" Fantasia quickly replied. Joey just started laughing.

Fantasia and Joey continued talking while she worked on his leg. He really wanted to ask her about her hair, but he didn’t want to make her mad… again. When there was a break in the conversation, Joey took a deep breath and said, " You know Fantasia, I wish you would at least explain to me why you wear a wig." Joey could feel her grip tightening on his leg, He could tell she was not happy at all with the direction the conversation was taking. "It’s not like I’m going to tell anybody." Joey continued, "I mean if you’re sick…."

"I’m NOT sick!" Fantasia barked, interrupting Joey. "It’s not cancer. It’s not aids. And I’m NOT dying!" she said starting to scream.

"It’s not?" Joey asked, now completely confused. "Then what is it?" he asked as he rolled over on to his back so he was facing her.

"Why would I tell you? As soon as you find out, you’ll run and tell the other guys. And then I’ll get fired!" Fantasia screamed.

"What are you talking about?" Joey asked sitting up, "I’m not going to tell anybody. Even if I did, you wouldn’t get fired. If we fired you over something like this you could sue us for wrongful termination. Besides, why would we fire the best physical therapist we’ve ever had?"

Fantasia just started laughing. Joey could tell that she didn’t believe him. "Now I know you’re lying! There is no way I’m the best physical therapist you’ve ever had! I’ve been out of college less than a year. I didn’t graduate at the top of my class. I have almost no references." Fantasia said.

"And that’s why Johnney wanted to keep looking." Joey cut in, "He wanted to find somebody with more experience and who wasn’t a crazy fan. But after spending less than a week with you, we told Johnny no. We had our new physical therapist." He explained smiling at her. Fantasia was speechless!

Joey took her hand and pulled her closer to him. She sat down on the edge of the bed and he moved closer to her. "Won’t you please tell me?" Joey asked in a soothing voice.

Fantasia still didn’t want to tell him, but there was just something about the look in his eyes that made her feel safe. Completely against her better judgment, she took a deep breath and said, "Ok." Joey smiled and waited for her to continue. "It’s trichotillomania." Fantasia said. (That’s pronounced trick-a-till-a-mania)

"Trick-a-what?" he asked confused.

"Trichotillomania." she repeated slowly, "It’s an OCD…."

"What’s an OCD?" Joey asked interrupting her.

Fantasia sighed and started over, "It’s an obsessive compulsive disorder where I pull out my hair."

Joey was completely shocked. "Doesn’t that hurt?" he asked.

"I’m used to it." she replied.

"How long have you been doing it?" Joey asked.

"Since I was eight." Fantasia replied.

"Eight years old!" he shrieked.

Fantasia just nodded.

"Have you been wearing a wig for that long?" Joey asked.

"No, I didn't get my first wig until just before I started my sophomore year of high school. Before that I had gym class to worry about."

Joey nodded, he could see where that would not be a good combination. "So you went to school… um…." he trailed off, as he was unsure of how to finish his question.

"Bald?" Fantasia asked, finishing for him, "Yeah, I did."

"Didn't you get picked on?" Joey asked.

Fantasia let out a small snort of laughter. "I wasn't picked on, I was harassed! I started pulling out my hair in third grade. By the time I was in fourth grade all I wanted to do was die."

"Couldn't anybody help you?" he asked shocked. "They didn't know what to do." she replied, "At that time we didn't even know that it was an OCD. My teachers thought I was just doing it to get attention. When I was in fifth grade my parents took me to the biggest children's hospital in the state. They didn't know what to do with me! Not even they knew why I was doing this. It wasn't until later that year that a family friend found a magazine article about trichotillomania."

"Did you have many friends?" Joey asked.

"Oh, please! The kids were convinced that I had Aids. They thought that if they got anywhere near me they would die! If they would happen to touch me they would start freaking out. Anybody that was nice to me became just as hated as I was. Of course this was the same time that most of my family decided that I was 'too old' for hugs. My mom is about the only one in my family that has shown any sort of affection to me since I was eight."

Joey just threw his arms around her and hugged her tight. He didn't know what to say to make her feel better. He was starting to understand why she was so defensive and why she didn't want anybody to know. She had spent most of her life being hated and rejected over something she had no control over! Fantasia just sat there completely stunned as Joey held her tight.

When he pulled away a little he said, "You know, I didn't get a very good look at you before. Can I see?" Fantasia just shrugged and pulled off her wig. Joey ran his hand over her short, thin hair. "It's not that bad." he said with a smile. Fantasia just looked at him like he was insane.

"Fantasia, I have a small confession to make." Joey said.

"What is it?" she asked confused.

"Well, when I came into your room that day, I had something else that I wanted to ask you." he said.

"What?" Fantasia asked curiously.

Joey took a deep breath and asked, "Would you like to go out with me?"

"Do you think that's funny?" Fantasia screamed jumping up, "I know you like your practical jokes, but that's NOT funny!"

"What are you talking about? It's not a joke." Joey said even more confused than ever.

"Oh, so you thought you'd ask out the poor, little bald girl because you feel sorry for her. That’s even worse!" Fantasia screamed.

"NO!" Joey shrieked standing up, "That's not it! I wanted to ask you out before I even knew you wore a wig! I like you!"

Fantasia stood there completely frozen. She couldn't speak. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. She almost couldn't breath! "Fantasia? Are you all right?" Joey asked. "You look like you've never had a guy ask you out before." He said trying to make her smile.

Fantasia slowly shook her head a couple times before she found her voice. "I haven't…." she replied, "Or at least not anybody that wanted to go out with me."

Joey couldn't believe what he was hearing! Without even really thinking about it, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

After a couple minutes they broke apart. Joey sat back down on the bed and pulled Fantasia on to his lap. "What do you mean not anybody that wanted to go out with you?" he asked.

Fantasia sighed and started to explain, "When I was a junior in high school I had this friend named Bree. She was one of those friends that's really a horrible friend, but you just don't realize it at the time. She always had to have her way. She called one of her ex-boyfriends and forced him to ask me out. The only reason she did this was so she could go around bragging that she got me my first boyfriend!"

At this point, Joey's mouth dropped open. "That's horrible!" he gasped.

"And he wasn't even a good boyfriend." Fantasia continued, "We had nothing in common so we had nothing to talk about. He was cheating on me from day one. So, of course, he was also lying to me. Plus he was the biggest idiot! While we were going out he wallpapered the dashboard of his car!" Joey burst out laughing. "And it didn't even look good. He didn't glue it on. He put it on with scotch tape!" Fantasia said.

Joey just started laughing harder. "What'd the paper look like?" he asked.

"It was pink with flowers." she replied. Joey just started howling with laughter.

When he calmed down Joey asked, "Couldn't your 'friend' find a better guy?"

"That's just it. She didn't even try! She picked this guy because his name was Kevin." Fantasia explained.

"So?" Joey asked confused.

"When I was in high school there was another guy named Kevin that I had a HUGE crush on. But the Kevin I liked just wanted to be friends. He even told me, repeatedly, that he wanted to adopt me as his little sister. Every time he said that I just wanted to strangle the poor guy." She explained.

"Oww!" Joey said cringing. "So how long did you and Kevin go out?" he asked going back to the original Kevin.

"Three and a half weeks." Fantasia replied.

"Really?" Joey asked surprised. "Yeah, at the time it felt rather short, but now when I think about it I’m surprised that he put up with me for that long. " she said.

"But he was cute, right?" Joey asked grinning.

Fantasia just burst out laughing. "Picture an ugly, white version of Lonnie." She said referring to one of the guys’ bodyguards, "Only he had a buzz cut and thick glasses." Joey made a face like he was going to be sick.

Suddenly, Joey remembered something. "You know, you never answered my question." He said with a smile, "Will you go out with me?"

Fantasia smiled and said, "Yes."

Joey smiled back and pulled her into another kiss. When they broke apart a few minutes later, Joey noticed the clock out of the corner of his eye. It was now 4 am! "Oh, crap! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you up this long." Joey said.

"It’s ok." she said smiling.

"Well, we better get some more sleep." he said. Fantasia slid off his lap and Joey stood up to leave. She walked with him to the door, but before he left Joey stopped to give her one more kiss. He really didn’t want to leave, but he was sure Fantasia wasn’t ready to have him sleep over. Joey was just about to walk out the door when he stopped. "Fantasia, can I tell the guys about your boyfriend wallpapering the inside of his car?" Joey asked, "That was hilarious!"

"You’re not going to tell them that he’s the only boyfriend that I’ve had, are you?" she asked in reply.

"No, of course not." Joey said.

Fantasia thought for a second and said, "Ok, as long as that’s the only thing you tell them. Tell them anything else and…."

"Yeah, I know. You’ll put my underwear up on ebay." Joey cut in grinning.

"Your dirty underwear." Fantasia corrected him with a grin. Joey gave her one more, quick kiss and left for his own room. Neither of them got much more sleep that night.

Three hours later, when it was time to get up, after Joey got ready for the day he decided to stop by Johnny’s room. "Johnny, can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"What is it?" Johnny asked not looking up from the papers he was rifling through.

"Do you know when Fantasia’s birthday is?" Joey asked.

Johnny looked at Joey confused and asked, "Why don’t you just ask her?"

"I want to surprise her." Joey replied.

Johnny got up and went over to the box that held all the files on *N Sync’s personnel. He pulled out Fantasia’s file and opened it. "Hmm…." Johnny said, "Well, if you have something in mind you better get busy. Her birthday is on June first."

"But that’s in four days!" Joey shrieked.

"That’s the date she gave me." Johnny said as he handed the folder to Joey. Joey flipped through the papers in the folder. There wasn’t much in there much in there that would help him, but then Joey noticed her home address.

"You flew her in all the way from Indiana?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, well Dale left us in a pretty tight bind. I had to do a national search. She was the only one willing to come at a moment’s notice." Johnny explained.

"Well, thanks for your help." Joey said handing the folder back Johnney.

Joey went downstairs to breakfast. He grabbed his food and took it back to the table where the other guys were sitting. As Joey sat down he had a huge grin on his face. He couldn’t wait to tell the guys what happened.

"What’s with you?" Justin asked. He had just started eating so he was still rather grumpy.

"I did it." Joey said still grinning.

"Did what?" asked Chris.

"I asked her out!" Joey replied almost squealing.

"Who?" JC asked.

Joey couldn’t believe that they didn’t remember, but it was still rather early. "Fantasia!" he replied.

"What!?!" the other four guys shrieked.

"When? Just now?" Lance asked.

"No, about four hours ago." Joey replied before he started to fill them in on his early morning visit to Fantasia’s room.

"So, did she explain to you about whatever it is that you saw?" Justin asked now fully awake.

"Yeah, she did." Joey replied.

"Well?" the other guys asked as they leaned forward.

"I can’t tell you." Joey said quietly. The other four guys nearly fell face first into their food. "But…" Joey continued, "I can tell you this" Joey told them the story of Fantasia’s boyfriend wallpapering the inside of his car. Soon the guys were howling with laughter.

Across the room their howls caused Fantasia to snap to attention. She was half eating her breakfast and half sound asleep. She had staid up way too long with Joey.

"Hey, Fantasia. Are you ok? You look exhausted." Jamie said sitting down across from her.

"Oh, hi Jamie." Fantasia said with a yawn, "Joey woke me up at 2 am because his leg was bothering him. Then we got to talking and he had me up until 4 am!"

"Geez, no wonder you’re so tired." Jamie replied.

"Well, the last half hour or so wasn’t so bad. I mean, he did ask me out." Fantasia said.

"What!?!" Jamie shrieked, "Are you serious? Why aren’t you flipping out? You’re the biggest *N Sync fan on this whole crew!"

"I guess it just hasn’t sunk in yet. It feels more like a dream than reality." Fantasia replied sleepily.

Just then Joey came over, sat down next to Fantasia and gave her a kiss on the check. "Good morning, Fantasia." he said happily.

"Morning, Joey." she mumbled sleepily. As she turned to look at him Joey was taken aback by how tired she looked.

"I kept you up way too late, didn’t I?" he asked.

Fantasia just nodded.

"I’m sorry." Joey said giving her a big hug. Fantasia just about fell asleep right there in Joey’s arms.

"Well, I think I’ll leave you two alone." Jamie said with a grin as she got up to leave.

"You know," Joey said, as he pulled away just a little bit, "we don’t have a concert or anything tonight. We have interviews all morning and an autograph signing this afternoon. Its not like we need to stretch for interviews, so why don’t you take the day off."

"Won’t you need me after the autograph signing is through?" Fantasia asked. "Maybe, but we won’t be back from that until about 6. Besides, I wouldn’t want you falling asleep on our date." Joey said with a smile.

"Our date?" Fantasia asked confused.

"Yeah, since we have the night off I was going to ask you if you wanted to come by my room so we can finish what we were talking about. I’d rather do that than take you out to some club where I spend more time signing autographs than paying attention to you. I want to know just as much about you as you know about me." Joey explained.

"Ok, what time?" Fantasia asked.

"About 7 p.m. or whenever you get done with our massages, if we need them." Joey replied. Fantasia nodded in agreement.

Joey sat with Fantasia until she finished eating. When she was done Joey walked her back to her room. "You didn’t have to walk me back." Fantasia said not really looking at him.

"It’s ok. I had to go back upstairs anyway. Besides, I don’t want you falling asleep in the elevator." Joey replied with a smirk.

As they got upstairs Fantasia said, "I better tell Johnny that I’m taking the day off."

"Don’t worry about that. I’ll talk to him. You just go back to bed." Joey said.

Fantasia was too tried to argue with him. After Joey walked Fantasia to her room and gave her a kiss he went back to his room. He grabbed a backpack and shoved a few things in it. It was going to be at least an hour’s drive to the interviews. He had to get started planning Fantasia’s birthday. After Joey left his room he headed for Johnny’s. Johnny was just heading out to round up the guys. Joey started to explain to him why Fantasia had the day off. When he got to the part about his leg bothering him last night Johnny cut in and asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I’m fine. Fantasia has those magic fingers that always makes me feel better." Joey said before continuing with his story.

Ten minutes later all the guys piled on the bus with Johnny. Joey sat down at the small kitchen table and opened up his backpack. He pulled out his laptop and a small stack of CDs. He was going to burn Fantasia a very special CD for her birthday. Something he knew that she didn’t have. Once the computer was working away, Joey pulled out his planner and a notebook. He opened his planner and flipped ahead to June first. Joey groaned when he saw how busy they were going to be that day. They had interviews all morning and into the early afternoon. Then they had rehearsal, the sound check, the concert, and a party after the concert and then they had to leave for the next city.

"Whatcha workin’ on?" Chris asked peering over Joey’s shoulder.

"Fantasia’s birthday is on June first, but we don’t have any free time that day." Joey explained.

Chris walked around and sat down across from Joey. "Well, we could always get up early, bust into her room and surprise her." he suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Let’s do that!" Justin said joining the conversation.

"No!" Joey said firmly, "She would hate that!"

"Let me see the schedule." Lance said trying to help. "Do we really need a rehearsal?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, why are we having rehearsal?" Chris asked.

"I’ll call Wade and see if we can cancel it. That would give us a good hour and a half for a party." Joey said pulling his cell phone out of his backpack.

Joey dialed the number and after a couple rings Wade picked up on the other end. "Hey, Wade. I was looking over our schedule and I noticed that we have a rehearsal on June first. What’s that for?" Joey asked.

"I put that in there in case you were still having problems with your leg." Wade explained, "But you seem to be doing fine. So if you need that time for public appearances or something we can cancel."

"No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just that that day is Fantasia’s birthday. This is the only thing we can cancel so we can have time for a party." Joey explained.

"Ahhh…." Wade said. He knew just as well as the other guys how Joey felt about Fantasia. "Ok, I’ll cancel the rehearsal on one condition." Wade said.

"What’s that?" Joey asked.

"You invite me to the party." replied Wade.

"Deal!" Joey said. Joey hung up the phone and filled the guys in on what Wade had said.

Now that the guys had a time slot they could start planning the surprise party. This was all fine with Joey, but he really wanted to do something with her that night, just the two of them. But there just didn’t seem to be any time. They were going to be on the bus all night.

"Hey, Joey." JC said snapping him out of his daydreams, "Why don’t you invite Fantasia to that party that we have to go to?" Joey thought about it for a second. He was about to say no when a thought occurred to him. If everybody hated Fantasia in high school then she’s probably didn’t get invited to many parties. What better way to make up for all those missed high school parties than with a party of A-list stars!

"That’s a great idea! JC you’re a genius!" Joey exclaimed.

"You know, if she goes to the party she’ll have to come on the bus with us to the next city." Lance pointed out.

"That’s ok. We’re taking both buses so it will be just you and me. I’m sure you’ll stay out of our way." Joey said to Lance.

"I’ll be asleep." Lance replied.

Joey started making notes of things he would need for their romantic night on the bus. Chris leaned across the table to see what Joey had come up with. "Ah, Joe. I know you want this to be romantic and all, but a dozen roses?"

"So?" Joey asked confused.

"And what is she supposed to do with them? Put them in her suitcase?" Chris pointed out.

"Crap." Joey grumbled. He hadn’t thought about that!

"Does anybody have any ideas for birthday presents?" JC asked changing the subject.

"You mean besides *N Sync stuff?" Chris asked with a smile.

"Well, I know she collects stuffed animals and Beanie Babies." Joey said.

"Well, it’s not like we don’t have any of those laying around." Justin said thinking of all the stuffed animals the fans give them.

"We could put them all in one big pile and just let her dive in." Chris suggested with a grin. "I’m afraid we’d never see her again." Joey said. The guys started laughing at the thought of little Fantasia lost in a giant pile of stuffed animals!

Back at the hotel Fantasia woke up a little after 11 am. She turned on the TV, but she wasn’t really paying attention to it. All she could think about was Joey’s early morning visit to her room. She still couldn’t believe that he wanted to go out with her! After about ten minutes Fantasia got out of bed and got her laptop. After it booted up she started typing. She had been keeping a journal of everything that happened since she got this job. She knew this was a once in a lifetime chance, especially since she was such a huge fan. She didn’t want to forget a single detail! About an hour later Fantasia’s cell started ringing. She was kind of hoping it was Joey, but it was Jamie.

"Hey, Fantasia. Did I wake you?" she asked.

"No, I was up" Fantasia replied still typing away on her laptop.

"Do you want to go out to lunch?" Jamie asked.

"Sure!" Fantasia replied eagerly. It wasn’t often that she turned down an invitation to go do something with someone. She didn’t get many of them.

Fifteen minutes later Fantasia and Jamie met in the hotel lobby. At lunch Jamie wanted all the details about Joey’s visit to Fantasia’s room. Fantasia wasn’t very eager to give up all the details. She didn’t want Jamie to know about her past. The one thing Fantasia really knew about her was that Jamie was very concerned about looks. Fantasia knew that if she found out about her trichotillomania she would hate her! Fantasia couldn’t risk that. As far as the crew went, Jamie was the only friend that Fantasia had made. She needed somebody to hang out with while Joey and the guys were busy.

"So did he kiss you?" Jamie asked.

Fantasia nodded and said, "Yeah, three times. And then again this morning when he walked me back to my room."

"So what are you going to wear on your date?" Jamie asked.

Fantasia just froze. She hadn’t even thought about that! Jamie noticed the panicked look on her face and said, "Don’t worry. After lunch we’ll hit the mall. I’ll help you find the perfect outfit."

"Thanks." Fantasia said with a sigh of relief.

At the mall Jamie asked, "So what are you hoping to get out of this date? I don’t want to pick out an outfit for you that’s going to make Joey totally horny if you’re not going to put out for him."

"It’s our first date!" Fantasia shrieked.

"Ok. Ok. I had to ask so I know what to look for." Jamie explained. Three hours later they had found the perfect outfit. Fantasia also bought herself a new Fuman Skeeto shirt. The shirt was maroon and on the front it said, "Take A Chance On Me" in big, white letters. She figured that maybe it would encourage some guy to take a chance and ask her out. After all, Joey was going to get bored with her sooner or later and move on to his next girl.

When they got back to the hotel Fantasia went back to her room and back to typing on her laptop. About a quarter after 6 p.m. she could hear that the guys were back from their autograph signing. But they were being unusually noisy. Fantasia stepped out into the hall to find the guys arguing over who would get a massage from Fantasia first.

"I want her first!" JC said.

"No, I want her first!" Lance said.

"I had to sign the most autographs." Justin whined.

"But my neck hurts." Chris whined.

Fantasia was a little stunned. Maybe Joey was right. Maybe they did think she was the best physical therapist they ever had! Fantasia walked over to the guys smiling a little. "Well, I guess if you are able to fight over me then you don’t really need your massages all that badly. You can just wait until tomorrow." she said turning to leave.

"Wait!" all five guys screamed after her. Fantasia turned back around and she had the biggest grin on her face.

"Did you really think I was going to leave?" she asked. The guys stood there for a second, unsure of what to say.

"I get her first!" Justin cried. That just started the fight all over again.

Fantasia sighed and shook her head. "Ok! Ok!" she said interrupting the guys, "If you’re going to fight over me then I’m going to decide who goes first."

"That’s not fair! You’ll pick Joey and then the rest of us will never see you." Chris cried.

"What in the world would make you think I’d pick Joey first? That would be playing favorites and you know I don’t do that. Now go to your rooms and rest. I’ll get to each of you as soon as I can."

JC, Justin, Chris and Lance all headed for their rooms, but Joey hung back for a second. "Why don’t you save me for last?" he suggested.

"I was planning on it." Fantasia replied with a smirk.

Fantasia decided to visit Justin first and then Chris because they have the most problems. Then she went to see Lance and JC. As soon as she finished with JC, Fantasia dashed back to her room. She changed into her new outfit and got ready for her date. Fantasia left for Joey’s room ready to work. It’s just when she gets done that she didn’t know what to expect.

Fantasia reached Joey’s room and nervously knocked on the door. Joey let her in and when the door was closed, her pulled her into his arms and kissed her. When they broke apart Fantasia was speechless. She certainly wasn’t expecting that!

"I decided that I didn’t need my massage. I just want to go on my date with you." Joey said as if he was reading her mind. Fantasia just smiled. She really didn’t know what to say or do now. "You look amazing!" Joey said as he took her hand and led her over to the bed. There he already had dinner set up. Fantasia looked at the odd combination of food.

"Pizza and champagne?" she asked.

"Yeah, I know." Joey sighed, "I didn’t have a lot of time to plan this. Plus I wasn’t sure what you would like. I’m sorry. I’ll take you out someplace nice really soon."

"Joey, it’s OK." Fantasia said interrupting his ramblings, "No, actually, it’s perfect. It’s more than anybody else has done for me. Plus, I’d rather do this than go to some fancy restaurant where the whole menu is in French and I wind up ordering cow’s brains." Joey just burst out laughing.

They sat down on the bed to eat and soon Fantasia was once again telling Joey about her life. "Have you ever met anybody else with trich… ah… tricho…." Joey asked attempting to pronounce the name of her OCD.

"Trichotillomania." Fantasia said helping him, "You can call it trich for short."

Joey just nodded.

"Yeah, I’ve met a few people. The first person I met was another girl my age when I started middle school." Fantasia said.

"I bet you two became best friends." Joey commented.

Fantasia scoffed and said, "Please! She was a stuck-up, prepy cheerleader. She didn’t want to have anything to do with me!"

"Well, how come she got to be one of the popular girls and you didn’t?" Joey asked confused.

"Because she only pulled out her hair in one small spot and covered the spot up with the rest of her hair. Nobody even knew." Fantasia explained.

"Well, that’s not fair." Joey said.

"Since when is middle school fair?" she replied.

"Good point." He said laughing a little.

"Now who was the second person?" Fantasia asked herself, "Oh, right. It was the woman that sold me my first wig. She also wore a wig because of her trich. I only met her the one time. The third person was Sally. I met her my sophomore year of high school. She was a freshman and we had study hall together. It didn’t take long before I noticed her pulling her hair out, too. She didn’t do it very much so I was the only one who noticed. After I explained to her what it was she refused to talk about it. We were friends for three years and she only brought it up once."

"Why wouldn’t she talk about it?" Joey asked confused.

"I wish I knew." Fantasia replied.

"Was there anybody else?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, one more. About seven or eight years after I started pulling my hair out, a woman at my church confessed to me and my mom that she also has trich. This woman has known me my whole life. She knew when I started pulling. She knew we didn't understand what I was doing." Fantasia said.

"Why'd it take her so long to say anything?" Joey asked.

"That's what I'd like to know." Fantasia replied, "But it get worse. The woman had a daughter the same age as me. The daughter, Stacy, knew about her mom's trich and she knew about my trich, but she still wouldn't be friends with me."

"That's awful!" Joey said.

"Well, she was another stuck-up, prepy cheerleader. She would rather stand back and feel sorry for me than actually be friends with me and risk ruining her reputation." Fantasia said.

Twenty minutes later the pizza was gone. As Joey cleared away the box and other trash he asked, "What are some of the things those mean kids did to you?"

"Why would you want to know that?" Fantasia asked confused.

"Well, I don't want to buy you something and wind up pissing you off because somebody used something like it to play a practical joke on you." He explained.

Fantasia was quite surprised. "Actually, that could very easily happen. Although, nobody's ever cared enough to ask me that before. They always tell me that I just need to get over it. And it's not that simple." she said.

Joey sat back down next to her, pulled her into his arms and asked, "So what should I avoid?"

"Well, the number one thing is never, ever, ever buy me red carnations." Fantasia said.

"The flower? Why?" Joey asked confused.

Fantasia sighed and started to explain, "When I was in seventh grade, for Valentine's Day you could buy your boyfriend or girlfriend a single red carnation for about $3.00. I got two of them! As soon as I saw the names of the boys that sent them I knew it was nothing but a cruel joke. My parents were sure I had a secret admirer, but I knew that wasn't possible."

At this point Fantasia couldn't even look at Joey anymore. Joey just hugged her tight. That had to be the cruelest practical joke that he had ever heard of! "What about another color carnation, like pink?" he asked still holding her close.

"I guess that would be ok, as long as they are mixed with something else." she replied.

"Is there anything else I should avoid?" Joey asked.

Fantasia nodded and said, "Even though I collect Beanie Babies, there is one that will never be in my collection."

"Which one?" Joey asked, not sure what this had to do with the kids making fun of her.

"Baldy the Bald Eagle. Two of the more popular names for me were Baldy and Bald Eagle." she explained.

"Well, I don't blame you. I wouldn't want it either." Joey said with a smile. Fantasia just smiled back at him. She was just happy that he was being so understanding.

Joey held her tight and kissed her. As they laid there making out Joey's hands started to roam. As his hands moved farther down her body and over her perfectly round ass he could feel her body tense up under his hands. Joey realized that she wasn't used to having a guy touch her like that and decided to back off a little. He moved his hands back up her body and just held her tight. After another minute or so, Joey reached up and pulled her wig off. Startled, Fantasia pulled back slightly and looked at him confused. Before she had a chance to say anything Joey said, "I like you better this way." Fantasia's eyes softened and she dove back in for another kiss.

When they broke apart about half an hour later Joey asked, "Is there anything that you wanted to ask me?" Fantasia thought for a second before a wicked looking grin started to spread across her face. The look on her face was making Joey a little nervous, wondering what she was going to ask.

After what seemed like forever to Joey, Fantasia finally asked, "How many He-Man action figures did you have as a kid?"

Joey just about fell over from shock. That was not what he was expecting! "I don't know… about thirty or forty. How'd you even know that I played with He-Man?" Joey replied.

"I read about it somewhere, but now I can't think where." she replied.

"And why would you want to know something like that?" Joey asked still confused.

"Because He-Man is only the coolest cartoon from the '80s." Fantasia explained.

"You like He-Man?" Joey asked shocked.

"What kid from the '80s doesn't like He-Man?" she replied.

Joey just smiled and asked, "So, who's your favorite character?"

"Orko and Cringer." Fantasia replied, "What about you?"

Joey slowly said, "I liked… ah… ah… I can't remember." They both just started laughing. Joey was still trying to think who his favorite character was. "This is going to drive me nuts! I'm going to call my mom. She'll know." he said grabbing his cell phone off the nightstand. "Hey, mom. Who was my favorite He-Man character?" Joey asked once she picked up on the other end.

"Don't you remember?" his mom asked a little surprised, "It was Ram-Man. You carried that action figure wherever you went."

"Oh, right!" he said as the memories started to come back to him.

"Oh, Joey, that reminds me." his mom, Phyllis, continued, "I was doing a little cleaning the other day and I found a She-ra figure that's still in the package."

"She-ra? Isn't that He-Man's sister?" he asked.

"Yes." both Fantasia and Phyllis replied.

Joey could tell by the look on her face that Fantasia liked She-ra, too. He filled her in on what his mom just told him. Fantasia's eyes grew bigger than he had ever seen them before.

"Which one?" she asked.

Joey relayed the question to his mom. "Let's see… I have it right here. I was going to ask you if you had any ideas what to do with it." Phyllis said, "Ah, here it is. Her name is Spinnerella?"

"Spinnerella?" Joey asked thinking the name was rather strange. At this point Fantasia's eyes nearly popped out of her head! She pounced on Joey, knocking him flat on his back. Joey just laid there completely stunned as Fantasia grabbed the phone out of his hand and screamed, "You have a mint on card Spinnerella! She's worth over $1,000!"

"WHAT!?!" Joey and Phyllis shrieked. At this point Fantasia realized that she had Joey pinned to the bed and moved off of him.

"Are you sure about this?" Phyllis asked Fantasia.

"It really depends on what kind of condition it's in, but yeah. If it's at least in descent shape then you could get $1,000 easy!" she said.

"So I'm guessing that you don't have this one." Phyllis replied.

"I've never even seen one!" Fantasia said, "Well, I've seen pictures of her, but I've never seen one in person. You should really put it up on ebay. I'd buy it from you, but I don't have that kind of money."

After a few more minutes of talking, Fantasia handed the phone back to Joey. He said good-bye to his mom and went back to his date with Fantasia. She curled up in his arms and they went back to talking about anything and everything. Only stopping every now and then to make out some more. Several hours later, at about 1:30 am, Joey was talking when he happened to look down at Fantasia. She had fallen asleep in his arms. Joey just smiled and kissed her on the top of her head. She looked so peaceful and happy that he didn't want to disturb her. Joey took off her shoes and tucked her into bed. Then he went to get himself ready for bed. As he climbed into bed next to Fantasia, Joey couldn't help thinking I hope she doesn't kill me in the morning. As he laid down next to her, he pulled Fantasia into his arms and held her tight. "Goodnight, Fantasia. I love you." He whispered and kissed her on top of her head.

The next morning Fantasia woke up to Joey smiling back at her. Fantasia sat bolt upright in bed. For a split second she didn't remember where she was or what she was doing there. "Why didn't you wake me up?" she asked.

"I didn't want to disturb you." he replied, "Didn't you sleep well?"

"It's not that. I slept great. It's just that…." Fantasia said trailing off.

"Just what?" Joey asked sitting up, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"It's just that… well, first of all I wasn't expecting to stay here all night. And second… you just gave me everything I've ever wanted."

"Huh?" Joey asked confused. Normally he would assume that something like that would mean because he was Joey Fatone of *Nsync, but there was something in her voice that was telling him there was more to it then that.

"I really don't know how to explain it." Fantasia continued, "I don't know why, but ever since I was little, I've always gotten really lonely at night. When I was little I wanted to go sleep with my parents, but I couldn't. I knew my dad would just yell at me. Then as I got older I wanted a guy, but that just was never an option for me. Why do you think I like stuffed animals so much?"

Joey was speechless. Not knowing what to say he just pulled her onto his lap, held her tight and kissed her. When they broke apart about ten minutes later Joey said, "You can come stay in my room whenever you want. I'll gladly be your teddy bear."

Now Fantasia didn't know what to say. She just curled up on his lap and rested her head against his chest. They just sat there holding each other. After a few minutes they decided they better get up and get ready for the day. As Fantasia moved off his lap she finally noticed Joey's pajamas and grinned. His pajama pants had little Superman symbols all over them and he was wearing his "Super Joey" T-shirt.

"What, you can wear a *Nsync nightgown, but I can't wear Superman pajamas?" Joey asked with a grin.

"I didn't say a word." Fantasia replied still grinning. She thought he looked adorable!

Fantasia went back to her room, changed her clothes and went down to breakfast. Just as she sat down to eat Jamie plopped down in the seat across from her. "Well?" she asked eagerly.

"Well, what?" Fantasia asked.

"How was your date?" Jamie asked getting more excited.

Fantasia started to fill Jamie in on her date last night, or at least the parts she was allowed to know. "And I guess we stayed up too late again, because I fell asleep in his room." Fantasia said finishing her story.

"And he let you stay there?" Jamie asked in shock.

"He held me in his arms all night long." Fantasia replied in a dreamy voice. "

Wow!" is all Jamie could say.

"And then," Fantasia continued, "last night I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that Joey told me that he loved me!"

"Are you serious?" Jamie asked.

Fantasia nodded and asked, "Do you think it's possible? Do you think he could really be in love with me?" "I don't know." Jamie replied, "But from what Justin told me, he's pretty crazy for you."

Over the next three days Fantasia and Joey spent all their free time together. Then on June first Fantasia got up and went downstairs to breakfast like it was any other day. She had decided that she wasn't going to say anything to the guys about it being her birthday. Just being on tour with them was enough of a birthday present for her. Just as she started to eat Chris ran up behind her and jumped on her back. Fantasia jumped out of her skin and screamed, "Chris! What do you think you're doing?"

"Well, we got like a million things to do today and I didn't know if I'd get to see you before the concert. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish you a great, big happy birthday." he explained giving her a hug.

"How'd you know it was my birthday?" Fantasia asked confused.

"A little birdie told me." Chris replied with a smirk before running off so she couldn't question him further. Fantasia just sat there completely baffled. She hadn't told anybody when her birthday was.

The morning went rather slow for Fantasia. She tried working on her journal, but she couldn’t stop wondering how Chris knew it was her birthday. Then at about 1:30 there was a knock at her door. When she opened the door she was surprised to see Joey standing there. He just grabbed her hand and said, "Come on. We gotta go."

"Go where?" Fantasia asked as he pulled her out of her room and down the hall towards the elevator.

"We’re having an emergency meeting downstairs and we need you there." Joey explained.

"Why?" she asked. The guys never needed her at their meetings. This day was just getting more and more confusing.

"I’ll explain when we get down there." Joey said.

"Aren’t you supposed to be in rehearsal?" Fantasia asked.

"It got canceled. This meeting is way more important." Joey said.

When they got downstairs Joey led her to a small conference room.

When he opened the door the other four guys jumped up and screamed, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Fantasia stood there completely stunned! Joey took her hand and led her into the room. As she looked around she noticed that Wade and Jamie were there also.

Once Fantasia had composed herself she asked, "How’d you even know?" Everybody in the room simply pointed at Joey. Fantasia looked at him surprised and confused. Joey just stood there looking sheepish. "How did you know?" she asked Joey.

"What? You’re the only one that’s allowed to be a little FBI agent?" he replied with a grin. Fantasia gave him an annoyed look that told him she wanted an answer. "I asked Johnny. He had it in your file." Joey explained.

"You read my file?" she asked raising one eyebrow.

"If you’re mad, it was all his idea!" Chris blurted out, pointing at Joey.

"Thanks." Joey said sarcastically. Then he had a thought. "Hey, Chris! Maybe I should tell her what you wanted to do for her birthday." Chris got a slightly nervous look on his face.

"What?" Fantasia asked getting very curious. Joey told her about Chris’s idea to get up early and break into her room. Fantasia’s eyes grew wide. "Oh, you are so lucky that Joey stopped you. If you did that, you would be dead." She said in a warning tone.

"Ok, enough talk. Let’s get this party started!" Justin said.

"Open my present first!" Chris said shoving the package in her face. When Fantasia opened the box and saw what was inside she froze. It was two stuffed animals, one of Fuman Skeeto and one of Baby Fu!

"I’ve been looking for these everywhere! Where did y… nevermind." Fantasia said. She was so excited that she forgot for a second that he owned the company.

"What? Don’t you think I notice when you wear Fuman Skeeto?" Chris asked gesturing at her shirt. The shirt she was wearing that day had the Fuman Skeeto logo inside the Superman symbol. Fantasia thanked Chris and moved on to the next package. She opened her present from Lance to find it was a box full of Beanie Babies. Sitting right on top was the one beanie that she hated! Fantasia picked up the beanie of the Bald Eagle. Joey could see the fire starting to burn in her eyes. He had forgot to warn the guys! Before Joey even had a chance to react, the fire died out. Fantasia simply tossed the beanie back to Lance and said, "You can keep this one."

"Oh, you already have this one?" Lance asked.

"No, I just hate that beanie. It will never be in my collection." she replied.

"Why?" Lance asked confused.

"Hey, Fantasia. Open my present next." Joey said cutting in so she didn't have to answer Lance's question. Fantasia smiled a "Thank you" at Joey as she took the package. There were two items in Joey's box and they were each wrapped in tissue paper. Fantasia unwrapped the smaller of the two items first. It was the CD that Joey had burned for her and Fantasia couldn't believe what it was. It was an advanced copy of Celebrity!

"Oh, wow!" she gasped.

"Open the other one." Joey said eagerly. Fantasia laid the CD aside and started to unwrap the other item. As she pulled away the tissue paper her hands began to tremble. The bright pink packaging was all too familiar to her. It was the She-ra figure, Spinnerella!

"Joey, I thought I told you to put this up on ebay!" Fantasia said.

"Why would I want to put it up on ebay and sell it to some stranger when I can give it to you?" he replied.

"But what about the money?" she protested.

"I don't care about that." he replied.

"Well, I know you don't need it, but what about your parents? Your mom is the one that found her and $1,000 is a lot of money." Fantasia said continuing her protest.

"What!?!" everybody shrieked. "Dude, what'd you get her?" Chris asked. Joey filled everyone in on his mom finding the She-ra figure while cleaning. Fantasia just stood there starring at the treasure in her hands. She couldn't even believe that she was holding a Spinnerella! Let alone the fact that she got it for her birthday! When Joey finished his story everyone crowded around to see the $1,000 toy.

"Let me see it." Justin said reaching for the toy.

Fantasia smacked his hand away and said, "No touchy!" She held it up so everyone could get a good look at it, but didn’t let them touch it.

"And your mom just let you give it to her?" JC asked Joey in disbelief.

"Yeah." Joey replied nodding.

When everyone was done looking at the figure, Fantasia wrapped it back up in the tissue paper and laid it in the bottom of the box. Then she started packing Beanie Babies around it to protect it. She had most of the beanies already, but she was planning on keeping them anyway. Suddenly one beanie made her do a double take. Fantasia gently picked up the little, brown camel and asked, "Lance, are you sure you want to get rid of Humphrey?"

Lance shrugged and said, "I have three more at home."

"You’re not up on your secondary market values, are you?" Fantasia asked.

"No, why? Is he worth something?" Lance asked a little confused.

"If you consider $1,500 something, then yeah." she replied.

"What!?!" everybody shrieked again. "Are you serious?" Joey asked.

Fantasia nodded and said, "I’ve been wanting this beanie for about five years, but I knew I could never afford it." Fantasia wrapped the tissue paper from her CD around Humphrey and gently placed him in the box with Spinnerella.

Once Fantasia had opened all her presents, everyone sat down to eat cake and ice cream. As they started to eat Justin asked, "So, Fantasia, what’s your favorite *Nsync song?"

"Now, what kind of fan would I be if I only had one favorite song?" she replied.

"Ok, what sort of songs do you like?" JC asked trying to get an answer to Justin’s question.

Fantasia shrugged and said, "It depends on my mood. It could be anything from Something Like You to The Lion Sleeps Tonight." The guys about choked on their cake when she mentioned the second song.

"You like that song?" Lance asked.

"Of course! I bought the For The Girl Who Has Everything single just for it. Chris’s high voice is just perfect for that song." Chris looked up from his cake and ice cream. He wasn’t sure if he was flattered or offended. The guys all looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They knew they were all thinking the same thing. Without any warning they just started singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Fantasia was completely surprised.

When the guys finished signing Fantasia said, "I didn’t mean you had to sing to me, but thank you. I’ve got the CD and the music video, but I’ve always wanted to hear you sing it live."

"You have the music video, too?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, I bought it off the internet. It’s not one of your best videos, but I like it." Fantasia replied.

"What is you favorite *Nsync music video?" Wade asked hoping it was something that he choreographed.

"I Drive Myself Crazy." she replied.

"Really?" the guys asked surprised.

Fantasia just smiled and said, "How could anybody not love a video five adorable guys in silk pajamas? Especially one particular adorable guy in his Superman pajamas." Fantasia didn’t really look at the guys as she said this because she didn’t know how they were going to react. The guys just looked at each other, surprised that she would say that. She never talks like that.

"You know," Chris piped up, "Joey wears those Superman pajamas every night!"

"I do not!" Joey cried.

"Now, Chris, you know that’s not true." Fantasia said calmly.

"How would you know?" Justin asked. She could tell that the other guys were unaware of the fact that she had already seen Joey in his pajamas.

"I have my sources." she replied. Joey slipped his hand under the table and placed it on Fantasia’s leg.

When the party was over the guys each gave Fantasia a hug and went to get ready for the sound check. Joey helped Fantasia carry all of her birthday presents up to her room. After they set them down on her bed, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. When they broke apart a few minutes later Joey asked, "Are you having a happy birthday?"

"This has been the best birthday that I've ever had" Fantasia replied as she rested her head against Joey's chest.

"And it’s not over yet." he replied.

"What do you mean?" Fantasia asked confused, "You have to go get ready for the sound check and the concert. Then after that we have to leave for the next city. You won’t see me again until tomorrow."

"Actually, we also have a party to go to after the concert." Joey said.

"So? The crew isn’t allowed to go to those parties." Fantasia said still not understanding what he was saying.

"The crew isn’t allowed to go, but I’m allowed to take my girlfriend." Joey explained with a hopeful grin. Fantasia’s mouth dropped open as she finally realized what Joey was saying. "So, won’t you be my girlfriend?" he asked still grinning. All Fantasia could do was nod. Joey picked her up in his arms and kissed her. Soon his tongue was asking for permission to enter her mouth. She gladly let him in. They hadn’t been at it nearly long enough when someone started banging on the door.

"Come on, Joey! I know you’re in there!" JC screamed, "You can get laid some other time! We have to go!"

Fantasia and Joey snickered at JC’s comment. Fantasia was quickly learning that Joey was the flirt of the group, but JC was the horny pig. "You better get going." Fantasia said. Joey gave her one more quick, but deep kiss before leaving. When he was gone Fantasia flopped down on the bed. She couldn’t believe everything that had happened that day. She thought her birthday was going to be great just being on tour with the guys. But a surprise party from *Nsync! How could anyone possibly top that?

Downstairs, as Joey climbed on to the bus with the guys he asked, "Hey, guys. Do you think we could add a little something to the show tonight?"

"Let me guess, something else for Fantasia?" Lance asked.

"Yeah." Joey said sheepishly.

"Dude, save something for the honeymoon!" Chris joked. Joey just rolled his eyes. If the guys only knew about her past they’d understand why he was doing all of this.

"So what’s your idea?" JC asked.

Joey explained his plan and asked, "Do you think we can pull it off?"

"I think it’ll work, but we better rehearse it a few times." Justin said. The guys decided to lock themselves in their dressing room to rehearse.

A couple hours later, after Fantasia helped the guys stretch and get ready for the show, she went to find her seat in the VIP section. Just as she was settling in, Todd, one of the bodyguards came over to her and said, "I’ve been instructed to seat you somewhere else tonight." He led her to a front row seat on the left-hand side of the stage.

"Let me guess, this was Joey’s idea?" she asked.

"I’m not at liberty to say." Todd replied with a wink and a smile.

Meanwhile, backstage, Lance cornered Joey and asked, "Do you have any idea why Fantasia wouldn’t take that one beanie?"

"Yeah." Joey said slowly.

"Well?" Lance asked. Joey let out a deep sigh. "Let me guess, you can’t tell me." Lance said.

Joey just shook his head and said, "I wish I could."

"Well, I don’t want to do anything to make her mad." Lance continued.

"Then don’t bring it up! And don’t get her that beanie… actually I’d stay away from Bald Eagles all together." Joey said.

"Why? Was she attacked by one or something?" Lance asked a little worried.

"No, not really. It’s just a sore spot for her." Joey said.

"Why?" Lance asked confused. Joey could tell that Lance was worried about her.

"If I could tell you that I would." Joey replied.

"You know, Joe, you can tell us. We won’t tell her you said anything." Justin said joining the conversation.

"No, I can’t." Joey said firmly, "Fantasia’s had enough people in her life betray her. I’m NOT going to be one of them!" The guys could tell that they weren’t going to get anything out of Joey and decided to drop the subject.

About an hour later the opening acts were done and it was time for the concert to begin. As the show started, the fan in her came out and Fantasia started screaming her head off. As the guys started to fly out over the audience Joey went right over her head. Instinctively, Fantasia reached up to touch Joey’s hand. For a brief split second their fingertips touched. Joey was just glad that she was having such a good time. About midway through the show the guys started reading letters from the fans. JC read the first letter and then the guys sang Something Like You. After the song was over Joey started to read the next letter. Fantasia could not believe her ears. It was a letter that she had wrote to the guys two years ago!

As Joey finished reading the letter he said, "This letter is especially special to us because this fan is now our physical therapist. And today is her 23rd birthday! Happy birthday, Fantasia! We love you! This song is for you." As Joey said this he couldn’t take his eyes off Fantasia. When the guys started to sing she couldn’t control herself anymore. They were singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight just for her!

When the concert was nearly over Fantasia dashed back stage to meet the guys. Joey scooped her up in his arms and kissed her. He was dripping with sweat, but she didn’t care.

"Come on! We gotta go." JC said pulling on Joey’s arm. He put Fantasia down, grabbed her hand and they raced off towards the bus. They went back to the hotel. The guys only had forty-five minutes to shower, change their clothes, pack their bags and get to the party.

When everybody was ready, Fantasia, Jamie and the guys hopped into the limo and left for the party. When they got there Joey helped Fantasia out of the limo. That didn’t surprise her. Famous people are always getting helped out of limos like they are incapable of doing it themselves. What did surprise her was that Joey didn’t let go of her hand, not even when he paused to pose for some pictures. He did have to temporarily let go to go to sign some autographs. Fantasia wasn’t sure if she should wait for Joey or go on inside. It wasn’t like any of them were there to see her. She glanced over at Jamie to see what she was doing. Jamie was just standing next to Justin waiting patiently. Just then Joey finished signing autographs. He took Fantasia’s hand and they went inside.

Fantasia couldn’t believe how many celebrities were there! Most of them she wasn’t a fan of, but it was still amazing. She was going to try her best to remain calm. There were also a lot of reporters there. Some of them had been at the *Nsync concert. All they wanted to talk about was the guys’ tribute to Fantasia. *Nsync had never done anything like that before. The press wanted to know why her, why now.

"We’ll let Joey handle this one. He knows her better than any of us." Justin said.

"Thanks." replied Joey in a sarcastic tone. The other guys scattered themselves throughout the party, leaving Joey and Fantasia to handle the press.

"So is Fantasia here tonight?" one reporter asked as he looked around the room.

"You’re looking at her." Joey replied. The press just started snapping pictures like crazy. Fantasia thought she was going to go blind from all the flash bulbs going off.

"But I thought you said she was 23?" another reporter asked confused. Fantasia just started giggling. She always found it amusing when people mistook her for being younger than she really was.

"I am 23." she said, "But don’t worry about it. Everybody makes that mistake. Even Joey and the other guys." Joey just smiled sheepishly.

Once they were able to get away from the press, Fantasia followed Joey around the party as he mingled and talked business. Fantasia was still looking around to see who she could see. After about twenty minutes Fantasia was walking next to Joey when she stopped dead in her tracks. "What is it?" he asked a little concerned.

"Is that 98*?" she asked in a hushed tone. Joey just grinned and asked,

"Do ya wanna meet them?" Fantasia just nodded. As they started walking over towards 98*, Joey asked, "So how much do you know about them?"

"Let me put it this way. I love their music, but I can never remember who’s who." she said sheepishly.

Joey let out a small snort of laughter. "Don’t worry, I won’t tell them." Joey said slipping his arm around her waist.

"I do know that they put themselves together. They’re not some fabrication of a record company just to make money. I hate those bands." Fantasia said. Joey just smiled. He was glad to know that she wasn’t into those fake groups.

As they reached the group of guys Nick asked, "Hey, Joey! Is that Fantasia?"

"It sure is." Joey replied. The four guys of 98* introduced themselves to Fantasia and shook her hand. It was going to take every ounce of her strength to remain calm. Joey and Fantasia stood there chatting with 98*.

After about ten minutes another guy joined the group. He was tall with shaggy blonde hair. Fantasia started making small yelping, squeaking noises and her eyes were nearly bugging out of her head. "Do you know him, Fantasia?" Jeff asked.

"That’s only Trey Parker!" she exclaimed, trying not to scream.

"That’s not the guy that created South Park." Joey said confused. Everybody else just burst out laughing. "What?" Joey asked whining a little.

"Wrong Trey Parker." Fantasia replied still giggling.

"Don’t worry, I get that all the time." Trey said trying to console an embarrassed Joey.

"This Trey Parker is better known as Kid Blink, the newsie." Fantasia explained.

Trey just laughed. "It’s been a long time since anybody called me by that name. So I’m guessing you’re a Newsies fan."

"I love that movie!" Fantasia exclaimed.

"What’s a newsie?" Joey asked confused.

"Don’t tell me you’ve never seen the movie Newsies." she said.

Joey slowly shook his head and said, "I’ve never even heard of it."

"You’re in the music business, you love musicals, you’re a New York native and you’ve never seen Newsies?" she asked shocked.

"So? What does that have to do with the movie?" Joey asked even more confused.

Fantasia rolled her eyes and started to explain, "Newsies is about the newsboys’ strike in 1899. It takes place in New York City and Brooklyn. It’s a musical made by Disney and it has some of the best choreography I’ve ever seen!"

"Oh…." Joey said finally understanding.

"So, what’s your favorite dance number?" Trey asked Fantasia.

"Well, my favorite dance number is Seize the Day reprise, but my favorite song is The King of New York." She replied.

"And I guess I’m your favorite newsie." Trey said with a confident smile.

"Well, you’re in the top four." she replied, "You and Racetrack are tied at number three. Mush is number two and Spot Conlon is number one." Fantasia and Trey spent the next hour talking about Newsies and Trey’s new group, E.Y.C. All too soon it was time for Fantasia, Jamie and the guys to leave.

The group left through the back door and climbed on to their awaiting buses. Fantasia and Joey climbed on to the bus that they were sharing with Lance. Lance was already climbing into his bunk to go to sleep. Joey led Fantasia to the back lounge. The small room was decorated with dozens of electric candles. There was a black satin comforter spread out on the floor with two matching pillows. It wasn’t much, but Fantasia thought it was perfect. Joey once again pulled her into his arms and whispered, "Happy birthday." The two of them curled up on the blanket.

When Joey was sure Lance was sound asleep he asked Fantasia, "Why didn’t you get mad at Lance for getting you that one Beanie Baby?"

Fantasia paused to listen for the gentle sounds of Lance snoring down the hall. "I realized that if I got mad at him I would have to explain everything. And not just to him, but everyone that was there. I wasn’t about to do that."

"You know, I meant to warn Lance about that Beanie." Joey said, starting to apologize.

"It’s ok." Fantasia said, "I’ll consider this his warning. If he does it again he’s really going to get it."

"Let me guess, his underwear will turn up on Ebay." Joey said with a smirk.

"No, nothing that drastic. I’d probably just post an embarrassing picture of him all over the internet." she replied with an evil grin. Joey just started laughing.

As they laid there holding each other, Joey had something else he wanted to ask Fantasia. He just wasn’t sure how to go about it. "Can I ask you something?"

Fantasia looked at him a little confused and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess."

Joey thought about his question for a few seconds, not really sure how to word it. "Why…. What makes you think you don’t have any good ideas?"

"I never said that. I said nobody ever likes my ideas." she replied. Joey nodded his head.

"Ok…. Why?" Fantasia shrugged her shoulders again. "I wish I knew. The kids I went to school with thought that because I was bald, I was stupid. When I made the honor roll, they erased my name off the list. When I suggested something, like during a group project, they acted like it was the stupidest thing they ever heard. If the idea would’ve come from somebody else, it would’ve been ok. I remember this one time when I was in 4th grade. The class was broke up into groups of six and each group was given a math problem to do. In my group, I came up with one answer and everybody else came up with another answer. I knew I was right, but I just couldn’t convince them. I tried to show them how I did it, but they wouldn’t even look at it. Finally, the teacher heard us arguing and came over to investigate. She looked over our papers and announced that mine was right."

Joey burst out laughing. "I bet that felt good." he said between chuckles.

Fantasia nodded. "Yeah, it did. I’ll never forget the looks on their faces. Unfortunately, it didn’t change what they thought of me. They still thought my ideas were stupid."

"You know that’s not true, right?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." she replied, but she didn’t sound like it. Joey took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him.

"Fantasia, you are the one who noticed that Wade looked like me." Joey said referring to the Pop music video, "You saved our butts that day! I don’t know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t suggested that."

Fantasia didn’t know what to say. She threw her arms around Joey and buried her face in his chest. Joey held her tight and kissed the top of her head. They continued to lie there talking, but before long both fell asleep in each other’s arms.

After her birthday, Fantasia and Joey were joined at the hip. She moved her stuff into Joey’s room and went everywhere the guys did… interviews, autograph signings, photo shoots, TV appearances, everywhere. She wasn’t always allowed in though. On those occasions she just staid on the bus, there was plenty for her to do.

On this particular day the guys had a photo shoot and she wasn’t allowed in. Fantasia sat down in the front lounge of the bus and pulled out her laptop to check her email. She was on several of those *Nsync mailing lists so she could chat with other fans. The past couple days the topic had been about the "mystery girl" that was always with Joey. "Does anybody know who that girl is? She can’t be Joey’s girlfriend, she’s only like 15!" one girl asked.

"Well, I heard that she’s the physical therapist for the tour and that she just turned 23." Fantasia replied.

As she was typing Joey climbed onto the bus and peered over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

"You ‘heard’?" he asked confused just as Fantasia hit the send button. She jumped a little and gave Joey a dirty look for sneaking up on her.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked surprised.

"They’re doing solo pictures of Justin so the rest of us get a break." he explained, "Don’t they know you’re the one they’re talking about?"

Fantasia shook her head. "You haven’t told them?" he asked shocked as he sat down next to her. The little booth was really only made to fit one person on each side. But Fantasia was so small there was still enough room for Joey too… well most of him.

"They’d never believe me." she replied.

Just then Fantasia got a reply to her email. "There is no way that girl is 23!"

"See!" Fantasia said, pointing at the computer screen, "They don’t even believe that ‘the girl’ is 23. There is no way they would believe it was me."

Just then another email came in. It was from a different girl and she said, "Fantasia, it’s a little hard to believe that the mystery girl is 23, but you’re usually right about these things. I’ll take your word for it, but you gotta tell me where you get your info."

"Now’s your chance." Joey said with a grin. "Ok, but if I get kicked out of the group for lying, I’m blaming you." she said. Joey wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but he smiled and said, "Ok." Fantasia took a deep breath and started typing. "I know all of this because I am the mystery girl." It didn’t take more than a minute before emails started flooding her inbox. Nobody believed her! To Fantasia it was like the whole world was laughing at her.

"See? I told you they wouldn’t believe me." she said to Joey.

He gave her a hug and a kiss before asking, "Can I send an email?"

"Go ahead." Fantasia said, pushing the laptop over to him. As Joey started to type, Fantasia leaned over and read the message. She couldn’t believe what he was typing!

Hello *Nsync Fans!

This is Joey Fatone. I just want to let you know that Fantasia

Is not lying. She really is our physical therapist and my

girlfriend. Please be nice to her. Thanks for all your support.

Joey

Soon more emails started pouring in. Now they weren’t just laughing at her, they were calling her names. Most of them were accusing her of making this up just to get attention. One girl wrote, "Come on, Fantasia! You’re not fooling anybody. We know you wrote that. Why are you doing this? Are you that desperate for attention?"

Fantasia just held her head in her hands. Joey felt horrible. Why couldn’t he just leave things alone? He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He could tell that she was upset, but she didn’t seem to blame him. "If there was only some way to send them a picture of us." he said thinking aloud. With out saying a word Fantasia reached into her backpack and pulled out her digital camera. "Perfect!" Joey exclaimed, giving her a big hug.

He jumped out of his seat and darted over to the door of the bus. He was looking for anybody that could take their picture. "CHRIS!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WHAT?" Chris screamed back.

"Get over here! We need your help!" Joey screamed. A minute later Chris climbed onto the bus and asked, "What’s up?"

"Take our picture." Joey said, handing him the camera.

"That’s your big emergency?" he asked confused. Joey sat back down next to Fantasia and explained to Chris what was going on.

"Ok, it’s your funeral." Chris shrugged. He took several pictures of Joey and Fantasia snuggled together and even one of them kissing.

After Chris left, Fantasia downloaded the pictures onto her laptop and they picked out three pictures to send. "Are you sure you want to send that one?" Fantasia asked when Joey picked out the one of them kissing.

"Sure, I want them to see just how much I love you." he replied with a grin.

Fantasia sat there a little stunned. That was the first time that he had used the "L" word! Without even thinking about it she threw her arms around him and whispered, "I love you, Joey."

After about a minute they pulled apart. Fantasia attached the pictures to an email and typed, "Here are some pics of me & Joey that Chris just took less than 5 minutes ago. Is this enough proof for you?" She sent the email and soon got more replies. They still didn’t believe her! One reply said, "That doesn’t prove anything! You don’t have any proof that that’s you in the picture. You can’t even prove that the girl is 23! All it proves is that Joey is a total pervert!"

Fantasia looked over at Joey a little worried. She had no clue how he was going to react. He just burst out laughing. Another email came in and this girl said, "I agree! A guy his age kissing a 15 year old like that is just sick!"

Now Joey was howling with laughter. Fantasia looked at him like he was crazy. "What about this do you find so funny?"

"It’s hilarious how off they are." he replied, still laughing.

Before they could think of anything else to try, Fantasia got a private email from the list owner, Vickie.

Fantasia,

You’ve never caused any problems before in the group. And lately

you’ve had a lot of good info on the guys. So far it’s all been true.

If this is also true, then have Joey call me. My number is (313) 555-

6873. If I don’t hear from him within 72 hours I will be forced to

remove you from the list. I’m sorry.

Vickie

Without even stopping to think about it, Joey pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number. After a couple rings, Vickie picked up on the other end and Joey introduced himself. Vickie started screaming so loud that Joey had to hold the phone away from his ear!

"How old is she?" he whispered to Fantasia.

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "About 45." Joey’s eyes grew really big. He’d never met a fan that old that screamed like a teenager.

When Vickie calmed down Joey explained to her how Fantasia got the job and how he fell in love with her. He finished by saying, "I was the one that convinced her to tell the group about her job. I’ve been sitting here reading all the girls’ responses. I know all this is hard to believe, but I do not appreciate the way they have been treating my girlfriend."

Fantasia sat there completely stunned. Very rarely did anybody ever stand up for her like that! Joey continued to talk to Vickie. He was willing to answer whatever questions he had to. He’d do anything to prove Fantasia was telling the truth.

Meanwhile, Fantasia sat there deleting all the hate mail out of her inbox. Now they weren’t just insulting Fantasia, Joey was getting hate mail too! She wanted to get rid of them before he saw them.

After about fifteen minutes Joey handed the phone to Fantasia. "She wants to talk to you."

She took the phone and said, "Hello."

"Why didn’t you tell us any of this before?" Vickie asked.

"Because I knew you wouldn’t believe me." she replied.

"Well, this sure explains how you know so much about the guys." Vickie said with a laugh. The two talked for another ten minutes. After they got off the phone, Vickie sent a message out to the group confirming everything that Fantasia had been saying. Now everyone believed her.

Her inbox was now full of questions about the guys. Joey was having fun reading the emails and helping Fantasia answer the questions. Then one girl sent in a question that caught their attention. It said, "Ok, Fantasia! I gotta know. How big is Joey’s package?" Fantasia looked over at him. She knew he wouldn’t want to answer that one! Joey’s face was bright red.

"Can we just delete that one?" he asked in a small voice.

"I got a better idea." Fantasia said with an evil grin. She hit reply and started typing, "Are you SURE you want to ask me that? I mean, Joey is sitting here right next to me reading every email that comes in."

A minute later the girl emailed back saying, "OMG!!! I am SO sorry, Joey! I didn’t know you were there! Can you forgive me?" Joey just started laughing.

About twenty minutes later, JC climbed onto the bus and said, "Come on, Joey. It’s your turn."

"Can’t somebody else go? I’m busy." he asked.

"Everybody else has went." Lance said sticking his head in the door.

"Ok." Joey sighed, standing up.

"Hey, Fantasia! Can we talk to the fans too?" Chris asked.

"Uh, ok." she said, surprised that he would ask that.

As Joey went in for his solo pictures, JC, Lance, Chris and Justin climbed onto the bus to talk to some fans. Fantasia sent out a quick message to the group. "Ok, guys. Joey had to leave, but the rest of the guys are here and wanting to talk to you. Anybody got any questions for them?"

Once again Fantasia’s inbox was flooded with emails. She read the questions aloud and the guys told her what to type. The guys spent the next hour talking with the fans and laughing at the occasional inappropriate question. After Joey was done, the photo shoot was over and it was time to leave for the next city.

While traveling to the next city, JC, Chris, Joey and Fantasia went to the back lounge to watch TV. An hour later JC was passed out on one couch, Chris was sound asleep on the floor and Joey was just falling asleep next to Fantasia on the other couch. Fantasia grinned to herself. Now was her chance! She had an idea for a particle joke to play on Chris.

Fantasia reached into her backpack and pulled out a bottle of hot pink nail polish. She sat down on the floor next to Chris’s head. He was lying on his stomach with his hands flat on the floor. Fantasia carefully started to paint his fingernails. When she was about half way done with his second hand, Joey woke up.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"What? You’re the only ones allowed to play a particle joke?" she replied with an evil grin.

Joey just smiled at her and said, "You know, he’s going to kill you."

"Who says he’s going to find out it’s me?"

When Fantasia finished painting Chris’s nails she put the nail polish away and pulled out her camera. After taking a few pictures of Chris and his pretty nails, she put her camera away and sat back down next to Joey.

"How long will it take for that to dry?" he asked.

"About ten minutes."

Joey couldn’t wait to see the look on Chris’s face!

To pass the time Joey pulled Fantasia into his arms and they started making out. After about twenty minutes, Justin wandered back to the lounge to see what the guys were doing.

"Are you two at it again?" he asked when he saw Joey and Fantasia.

"You’re just jealous that Jamie isn’t here." Joey replied.

Justin just grumbled something under his breath and turned to leave. But on his way out he tripped over Chris’s foot. Sleepily, Chris looked behind him to see who had disturbed him. He grumbled something about Justin and his big feet before getting up. As he was pushing himself up off the floor, Chris looked down at his hands and let out a blood-curtailing scream.

JC, who was still asleep on the other couch, jumped awake and fell onto the floor.

"JUSTIN!!!" Chris screamed, "What’d you do to my hands?"

"I didn’t do anything!" he whined as he returned to the back of the bus with Lance close behind.

"Then how’d my fingernails get PINK!?!" Chris squealed. The other guys burst out laughing. Fantasia just sat there looking totally innocent.

"I didn’t do it. I haven’t been back here." Lance said.

"Don’t look at me. I was asleep." JC said.

"And I was… uh… busy with Fantasia." Joey said.

"Yeah, and I really did not need to see that." Justin said confirming Joey’s story.

"But then who was it? The only other people on the bus are the driver and…." Chris said trailing off and looking at Fantasia.

"What?" she asked in her most innocent voice.

"You did this?" he asked shocked.

"Do you really think I could do something like that?" she asked innocently.

"Yes!" JC replied. The other guys looked over at him confused. "Oh, come on! Don’t you remember how she freaked me out about getting a shot the day we met her?" JC explained, "She would totally do this!"

Chris looked back at Fantasia. She just sat there with an evil grin on her face. "Why?" Chris whined.

"I thought you guys liked practical jokes." she replied.

The other guys once again burst out laughing. "Ok, now how do I get it off?" Chris asked.

"The fastest way is nail polish remover." Fantasia said.

"Well, let me borrow some!" he said impatiently.

"I don’t have any. I always just let it wear off." she replied.

"How long does that take?"

"Not long. About two weeks." she replied.

"Two weeks!" Chris shirked.

"You’ll just have to wait till we stop somewhere." she said.

Chris groaned and went to his bunk to sulk. The other guys complemented Fantasia on her prank and went about their business. Soon Fantasia and Joey were alone in the back room. They curled up on the couch to watch TV, but it didn’t take long before they were making out again.

When they stopped for supper, Chris climbed off the bus and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. He was wondering how he was going to eat without anybody seeing his hands. Just then he noticed that the bus with Jamie and the other backup dancers had also stopped to eat. The five girls were just climbing off the bus so Chris ran over to them.

"Do any of you have any nail polish remover?" he asked sounding a little frantic.

"Why?" Jamie asked completely confused. With an embarrassed look on his face, Chris took his hands out of his pockets so they could see his pretty pink nails. The girls started giggling.

"It’s a good color on you." one of the girls said.

"No, it’s not!" Chris shirked, only making the girls laugh harder.

"Which of the guys did this to you?" another girl asked.

"None of them. It was Fantasia." he replied.

"Really?" the girls asked surprised.

"Yes! Now can you help me or not?" he asked getting a little impatient.

"I have some." said one of the other girls. Chris followed the girl onto the bus while everyone else went in to eat.

After about three weeks, Chris decided it was time to get back at Fantasia. He didn’t want to do it right away because he knew she would be expecting it. Today the guys had some interviews really early in the morning. Fantasia had been up late with Joey the night before, so she had fallen asleep in a chair. Now was Chris’s chance! He knew Fantasia was sensitive about her hair. She didn’t like anybody touching it. His plan was to tease her hair and make it big and poofy.

Chris crept up beside her and pulled a brush out of his pocket. He started to tease her hair, but after a couple strokes he got the surprise of his life. The brush got a little tangled in her hair and as he was trying to get it out all her hair came off her head! Fantasia woke up to find Chris standing there with the brush in one hand, her wig in the other and a very startled look on his face. Joey walked into the room just in time to see Fantasia scream, grab her wig out of Chris’s hand and dash into the bathroom.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing!?!" Joey yelled at Chris.

"I was just… I… I…." he stammered.

Joey groaned and said, "You stay here! And don’t even think of telling anyone about what you saw!"

Then he ran into the bathroom to check on Fantasia. Chris flopped down in the chair that Fantasia had been sitting in and tried to sort out in his mind what just happened.

"Fantasia?" Joey asked as he entered the bathroom. He found her curled up on the love seat crying. Joey sat down next to her, took her in his arms and pulled her onto his lap. "What happened out there?" he asked gently.

"Chris pulled my wig off while I was sleeping." she said between sobs, "Why would he do that? Does he hate me that much? And how’d he even know?"

Joey didn’t know what was going on, but he was sure there had to be a reasonable explanation. He thought about the look on Chris’s face and said, "I don’t know what he was doing, but I don’t think he knew."

"What does it matter? He knows now and now he hates me." Fantasia said, her face buried in his chest. Joey knew she could be rather irrational when it came to people finding out her secret. But he also knew Chris wasn’t like that.

"He doesn’t hate you." he said soothingly as he rubbed her back.

"How could he not? Didn’t you see the look on his face? He was horrified!" she cried.

Joey sighed and said, "I’ll talk to him and see what’s going on. But, you know, maybe it’s time you told them."

Fantasia’s head shot up. "Oh, so you want all of them to hate me?"

"They’re not going to hate you! Besides, if any of them say or do anything to hurt you, I’ll beat the crap out of them." he said.

This made her smile a little. "Really?"

"Yes, of course. I love you, Fantasia. And I’m not going to let anybody hurt you ever again. I promise." Joey said stroking the side of her face. Fantasia threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

"I love you, Joey."

After a minute she pulled back a little. Joey rested his forehead against hers. They just sat there for a minute staring into each other’s eyes. Fantasia had never felt so completely loved as she did at that moment. She pulled Joey into a hot, fiery kiss.

When they broke apart, Fantasia rested her head on Joey’s shoulder. He held her in his strong arms and asked, "So, will you tell them?" Fantasia just sighed deeply. "Please? Just trust me on this."

Fantasia loved Joey, but trust was a different issue. It wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t anything he did. She just had trouble trusting people in general still. She wanted to trust him…. But that’s easier said than done.

Fantasia sighed again and said, "I’ll think about it."

Joey smiled at her, that was good enough for right now. "Well, I better talk to Chris and find out what he was thinking." he said.

"Do we ever know what he’s thinking?" she asked as she moved off his lap.

Joey laughed and said, "Not often."

"Just make sure you don’t tell him anything." she said. Joey smiled and assured her he wouldn’t with a kiss. "But…" Fantasia continued, "Feel free to tell him I have pictures of his pretty pink nails."

Joey grinned and said, "Ok." Before leaving to talk to Chris.

Joey left the bathroom and went over to sit down next to Chris. "So, do you mind telling me what you think you were doing?"

Chris sighed and explained how he was trying to play a joke on her. "I had no idea that it wasn’t real!" he said.

"I didn’t think you did." Joey replied.

"Is she alright?" Chris asked. Joey could tell he was concerned about her.

"She’s pretty upset." he replied.

"No, I know that." Chris said, "What I meant was, is she sick?"

"Oh, no. It’s nothing like that." Joey said quickly.

"So, I’m guessing this is her big secret?" Chris asked. Joey just nodded. "And you still can’t tell me anything, can you?"

"I’m trying to talk her into telling you guys." Joey said, "But she did want me to tell you that she has pictures of you with pink fingernails. Unless you want those pictures all over the Internet, you better not say anything about what you saw."

Chris got a rather nervous look on his face. "Would she really do that?"

Joey shrugged and said, "I don’t know. Do you really want to risk it?"

Just then JC ran into the room. "There you guys are! They’re ready for the next interview."

When the interviews were over the guys and Fantasia headed back to the hotel. As Joey and Fantasia got on the bus, Chris asked, "Fantasia, can I talk to you?"

"NO!" she said firmly. She couldn’t face Chris right now. Not just yet anyway. She and Joey went back to the back room and she slammed the door shut. JC, Justin and Lance all looked at Chris.

"I’m guessing your prank didn’t go as planned?" Justin asked. Chris just shook his head and slumped down in a seat at the table.

Back in the back room, Joey explained to Fantasia how Chris was trying to play practical joke on her. She groaned and said, "I should smack him in the head."

Joey smiled and held her tight. She rested her head on his shoulder. "So have you thought about telling the guys?"

Fantasia sighed and asked, "I don’t suppose Chris is going to leave me alone until he finds out?"

"Probably not." he replied, "He’s pretty worried about you. And you know, we have two hours free before we have to leave for the sound check. Plenty of time to explain everything."

Fantasia bit her bottom lip and thought about it really hard. She knew she needed to learn to trust Joey. Finally, she sighed and said, "Ok." Joey smiled and held her tight.

When they arrived at the hotel, the other guys followed Fantasia and Joey upstairs. They were all asking questions a mile a minute. Once they reached their floor Joey said, "We’ll explain everything, but not out here." He and Fantasia led them into the hotel room they were sharing.

The couple sat in the middle of the king size bed and the rest of the guys sat around the room. Joey started by telling the other guys about Chris’s idea of a practical joke. "But things didn’t go quite as planned and Chris got a rather big surprise."

"What?" Justin asked, eager to know what was going on.

Fantasia simply reached up and pulled her wig off. The guys’ mouths dropped open with shock. Fantasia couldn’t even look at the guys. She just sat there waiting for them to burst out laughing.

After about a minute Justin asked, "How long do you have?"

Chris reached over and smacked Justin in the back of the head. "She’s not dying, you idiot!" he said, "It’s trichotillomania, right?"

Fantasia looked at Chris completely shocked. "Ok, how the hell did you know that?" She looked over at Joey with an evil glare.

"Don’t look at me! I didn’t say a thing." he said holding his hands up.

"It wasn’t Joey." Chris said coming to his friend’s defense, "I took a lot of psychology classes in college."

"Duh." Fantasia replied.

Chris still couldn’t get over how much she knew about the guys. He just shook his head and continued with what he was saying. "One class I took I spent almost a whole semester just studying OCDs. At the end of the semester I had to pick an OCD and write a paper on it. I picked trichotillomania because I thought it was interesting and I knew nobody else would pick it. I’ve always wanted to meet someone that had it."

Fantasia was completely shocked.

"Would somebody mind explaining what you’re talking about?" JC asked.

Before Fantasia could even open her mouth, Chris started explaining trichotillomania and OCDs to the other guys. He looked over at her every once in a while just to make sure he was getting everything right.

When he was done Fantasia said, "Wow, Chris. You were right."

"I know…. About what?" he asked.

"You really are the smartest one in the group." she replied.

"Hey!" Justin whined.

"What are you whining about? You thought she was dying!" Chris said to Justin.

"Chris knows more about trichotillomania than all the doctors I’ve ever had combined." Fantasia explained.

Now that the guys understood what it was they had a million more questions for Fantasia. Most of them were the same questions that Joey had asked.

"Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?" Lance asked.

"Because, most people, once they find out they don’t want to have anything to do with me." she explained. The guys just looked at each other and nodded. They all got up and surrounded Fantasia in a big group hug.

Fantasia and the guys spent the rest of the two hours talking about her past. The guys couldn’t believe how horrible people had treated her over something she had no control over. They also started to understand why she hadn’t told them. Before the guys left they each gave Fantasia big hug.

When they were gone, Joey pulled her into his arms and held her tight. "See? I told you they wouldn’t hate you." he said with a smile.

After a minute, Joey went to get ready for the sound check and Fantasia changed into her concert outfit. She was covered in everything *Nsync, from her *Nsync hat and *Nsync shirt down to her *Nsync shoes. When she was ready she laid down on the bed and turned on the TV. Fantasia was lying on her stomach with her head at the foot of the bed. She found an old rerun of Friends and stopped to watch it.

It was the episode where Phoebe finds out that she gets to name one of her brother’s triplets. She’s trying to decide whether to name it Chandler or Joey. Chandler and Joey are each trying to convince her to name the baby after them. In the middle of the argument Chandler tells Joey, "Name one famous Joey!"

Without even thinking, Fantasia screamed at the TV, "Joey Fatone!"

Joey stuck his head out of the bathroom and asked, "What?"

Fantasia froze. She could not believe she just did that with Joey in the room! How humiliating. Thinking quickly and keeping her eyes on the TV, she simply said, "Oh, sorry. I was talking to Chandler. He can’t name one famous guy named Joey. Every time this episode is on I try to suggest you, but he never listens to me."

Joey just grinned. He was so flattered that he didn’t know what to say. He came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a pair of tight, black jeans. Joey went over to his girlfriend, hugged her tight and said, "I love you."

Fantasia looked at him a little surprised, mainly because he was half-naked. Damn, he looked good! But she just smiled and said, "I love you, too."

Later, after the sound check, the guys were waiting on their turn for their massages and getting ready for the concert. After Chris was ready he went out back by the buses to think. He was still thinking about everything that Fantasia had told them. It certainly explained a lot of things, but the way people treated her was just wrong!

Soon Justin came out and said, "There you are! What are you doing out here?"

Chris was leaning against the bus. He shrugged and said, "Just thinking."

"About what?" Justin asked, leaning up against the bus next to Chris.

"Just everything that Fantasia told us." he replied.

Justin looked at him confused. "I thought you were ok with it."

"I am ok with it! What I’m not ok with is how everybody else has treated her!" Chris said starting to scream.

"Come on. You know what it’s like at that age. We all got picked on and we all picked on somebody else." Justin said trying to calm Chris down.

"Not to the point where they were suicidal by the time they were ten!" Chris screamed.

"And what do you plan on doing about it?" Justin asked getting a little worried.

Chris growled and said, "I don’t know. I just want to…." With that he whipped around and punched the bus with his left fist, HARD! "Ah, FUCK!" Chris screamed out in pain.

"Dude, are you ok?" Justin asked.

"No, I think I broke it." he replied, wincing in pain.

Just then Joey came out and asked, "What’s going on out here?"

"Chris got into a fight with the bus and the bus won." Justin replied.

"Huh?" Joey asked confused. Justin explained to Joey what was going on and why Chris punched the bus. Joey was rather surprised, but he couldn’t wait to tell Fantasia. "Ok, let’s get you inside." he said to Chris.

Justin helped Chris to the paramedics that they kept on hand just in case while Joey went to get Fantasia.

Fantasia was giving Lance his massage. Joey stuck his head in the room with his hand over his eyes and asked, "Ah, Fantasia, can we borrow you for a few minutes?"

She couldn’t help smiling at how silly he looked. "Can’t it wait? I’m a little busy." she replied a little confused. The guys never interrupted her while she was working.

"Not really. Chris has gotten himself into a little situation." he replied.

"Is everything alright?" Lance asked concerned.

"Chris just broke his hand, that’s all." Joey replied.

"What!?!" Lance and Fantasia shrieked. Fantasia dashed out of the room and Joey was close behind her.

"I’ll be out in a second." Lance called after them.

Joey caught Fantasia before she reached Chris and explained to her how and why he broke his hand. Fantasia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Nobody had ever been that upset about how she was treated before! Joey gave her a quick, but tight hug before they continued on their way.

When they reached the paramedics station they were putting a splint on Chris’s arm. Justin was just finishing telling Johnny what happened. Just then JC came running over with Lance close behind.

"What’s going on?" JC asked.

"Where have you been?" Joey asked.

"I was doing my hair." he replied whining a little. Justin explained what happened, again, to JC and Lance.

"Can you dance in that thing?" Lance asked.

"I’ll have to." Chris replied.

Before the show started, Fantasia went to talk to Chris. "I heard why you decided to pick a fight with the bus." Chris looked over at her surprised. "Did you really think you’d win?" she asked with a smirk.

He knew she was trying to get him to smile, but the pain meds hadn’t kicked in yet and he just wasn’t in a joking mood. Fantasia knew it had to be bad if he didn’t feel like joking. Chris sighed, but didn’t say anything. He felt pretty stupid for letting his temper get the better of him. Fantasia had never known Chris to be this quite. It wasn’t like him at all.

"Then again," she said, "I’d understand if the tour bus was secretly a broken down time machine and you were trying to fix it. But I would think there would be more to fixing a time machine than just punching it."

Chris couldn’t help letting out a smirk at that one as he absentmindedly picked at the bandages under the splint. Fantasia said his name and he looked up at her.

"You want to help me, right?" she asked. Chris just nodded. "Well, this doesn’t help." she said gesturing to his arm, "It just makes more work for me and a lot of pain for you."

"I know." he sighed, looking back down at his arm.

Fantasia smiled at him and said, "But there is something you can do." Chris looked back up at her, his eyes filled with hope. "It’s very simple, but also very important." she said.

"What is it?" he asked getting anxious. Chris would do anything to help Fantasia.

"Be my friend." she replied.

"But I thought I already was?" he asked a little confused.

Fantasia nodded and said, "And that’s all I need."

Chris smiled, wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. "I can handle that."

There was the Chris that Fantasia knew and loved. When they pulled apart, Fantasia pointed her finger at him and said, "Just no more picking fights with tour buses, ok?"

"Ok." Chris said with a grin.

All throughout the show everybody kept a close eye on Chris. Whenever they did a costume change the paramedics were there to check on his hand and adjust the splint. As soon as the concert was over Johnny took Chris to the hospital and the rest of the guys went back to the hotel.

Joey and Fantasia went back to their room and soon they were lying on the bed making out. After a while Joey’s hands started to slowly move up her shirt. He hadn’t done this before, but she sure didn’t seem to mind. All he wanted to do was to touch her breasts and show her how good he could make her feel. Just as he was about to touch them, there was a knock at the door.

Joey growled in frustration and asked, "WHAT!?!"

"We’re bored! Can we talk to Fantasia some more?" Justin asked whining a little. Joey and Fantasia looked at each other, both annoyed at the other guys.

"They’re not going to go away, are they?" she asked.

"No." he replied with a sigh.

Fantasia sighed and said, "Well, you might as well let them in." Joey gave her one more kiss before getting up to let the guys in.

Fantasia and the guys spent the next couple hours talking while they waited for Chris and Johnny to get back. As they talked more about Fantasia’s OCD Lance asked, "So does this have anything to do with why you didn’t want that one beanie on your birthday?"

She nodded and told him about the names that the other kids called her. The guys could understand why she wouldn’t want the beanie.

When Chris and Johnny returned everybody piled on to the buses and they left for the next city. Once they got on to the bus, Joey and Fantasia climbed into their bunk and went back to making out. It didn’t take long before his hands started to move back up her shirt. This time he was finally able to reach her breasts and started playing with them.

They weren’t huge, but they weren’t tiny either. Joey thought that they were just perfect. The only thing was that he wished he could see them, but it was too dark. They laid there making out for another twenty minutes before curling up and going to sleep.

A couple days later, Fantasia was on the bus with the guys. They were on their way to an interview and an autograph signing. On the way there Chris’s neck was bothering him so Fantasia gave him a massage.

When she was finished Chris stood up, stretched and said, "Thanks, Fantasia. You’re the coolest!"

"Cooler than Ultraman?" she asked. All five guys stopped dead in their tracks and stared at her. "Because, you know, you did say on TV that Ultraman was the coolest. So which is it? Me or Ultraman?" Fantasia continued in a mock serious tone.

Chris blinked a few times. He was still stunned that she even knew that! "Well, uh, Ultraman has a lot of cool powers, but you got those magic fingers that always make me feel better." Chris replied with a goofy grin. Fantasia just smiled at him.

"How’d you even know that?" JC asked.

"I have a video tape of some of the TV appearances you did in Japan after No Strings Attached was released. I even have the show where Chris got to meet his hero." she explained.

"Hey, Fantasia. I just thought of something. If you’re such a big fan, why haven’t you asked us for our autographs or anything?" Justin asked.

"Because when Johnny hired me he told me that if I asked you guys for even one autograph he’d fire me on the spot." she explained. The guys all looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I’m sure he just said that because he didn’t want you bothering us while we were working." Lance said.

"No, I asked about that." she said, "I’m not allowed to ask even when you have free time. I’m supposed to leave you alone so you can rest."

Once again the guys started howling with laughter.

"Would you want our autographs?" JC asked.

"Well, duh! But I’m not going to risk losing the best job I’ve ever had over an autograph. So I’m not asking." she said, but her eyes were begging them to offer.

Suddenly Chris threw his arms up in the air and screamed, "*Nsync huddle!"

The five guys huddled together and started whispering. Every once in a while Chris’s head would pop up and he would grin at Fantasia. She couldn’t help giggling a little at how silly they looked.

When they broke apart Chris said, "After the concert tonight how about we give you a private autograph signing. We’ll sign anything you want."

"You would do that?" Fantasia asked in disbelief.

"Sure!" all five guys replied.

"But what about Johnny?" she asked still worried about her job.

"We won’t invite him." Joey said with a grin.

"But if he does find out and tries to fire you, come tell us. We’ll take care of it." Justin said.

"You’re the best physical therapist we’ve ever had. We’re not going to let anybody fire you." Lance said.

All five guys surrounded her in a big hug. For the first time in her life Fantasia felt completely accepted in a group and she knew everybody loved her. It was the perfect moment until Chris made a noise that sounded like he farted.

"CHRIS!" Fantasia and the other four guys screamed at once before dissolving in a fit of laughter.

That night, as soon as the concert was over, Fantasia raced back to the hotel room that she shared with Joey. She started pulling all her *Nsync stuff she had with her out of her bags. Just as she was finishing spreading everything out on the bed, there was a knock at the door.

"Fantasia, are you ready?" Joey asked.

"Come on in guys!" she replied.

The five guys walked into the room laughing and joking, but when they saw Fantasia they froze. Fantasia was sitting in the center of the king-size bed and the whole bed was covered with *Nsync stuff! When she noticed the rather panicked looks on their faces she said, "Oh, relax. I’m not going to make you sign every single thing here. Your hands would fall off before you even got half way through."

JC was the first to recover his voice. "So, uh, where do we even begin?"

"Well, first of all I have one thing that’s just for you." she said to JC. Fantasia handed him a CD case.

JC took it from her and shrieked, "You actually have this!?!"

"Of course! What kind of fan would I be if I didn’t?" she replied.

"What is it? Let me see!" Chris asked rushing over and trying to take the CD from JC.

"No!" he said not letting go of the CD. Chris and JC were now playing tug of war with the CD case. Chris could now see that it was the Mickey Mouse Club CD that JC sang on!

"But I wanna listen to it!" Chris whined.

"No!" JC screamed.

As they continued to fight over the CD case, Fantasia just smiled. She picked up her CD book that held all her *Nsync CDs, took out the first CD, put it in the CD player and hit play. As the music started to fill the room, JC and Chris stopped fighting over the CD case and froze. The CD that Fantasia had put in was the Mickey Mouse Club CD!

"If you would’ve bothered to check, you would’ve noticed that the CD wasn’t even in there." she said calmly. Chris and JC just stared at her while the other guys burst out laughing. Chris finally let go of the CD case so JC could sign it.

When he finished he handed it back to Fantasia and asked, "Do you have anymore embarrassing items?"

"Just one more, for you and Justin." she replied. Fantasia picked up a white T-shirt and unfolded it. It was a Mickey Mouse Club T-shirt! Justin and JC groaned a little before signing the shirt.

The guys made themselves comfortable while Fantasia started pulling out items for them to sign. She picked up a very thick binder with several folders in it. This was the binder where she kept all the pin-ups and posters that she had collected from magazines over the years. She started pulling out two or three of her favorites for each guy. Then she switched binders and started pulling out group pictures of the guys.

After Justin signed his couple solo pictures he picked up one of the group posters to look at it. It was of all five of the guys standing in a swimming pool. The picture was dated 1997!

"Can we just burn this one?" he asked.

"No!" Fantasia shrieked, "That’s one of my favorites! You need to do more like that."

"No!" all five guys replied firmly.

"Why not?" she asked, very curious.

"Because we didn’t want to do that one." Lance explained.

"Please?" she asked, batting her eyes and trying to look cute.

"Ok!" Joey said. With that the other four guys tackled him.

"No! We’re not doing it!" JC screamed.

"Guys! Don’t kill him! I was just kidding." Fantasia said. The guys all stopped and stared at her. "Since when do you do what I tell you?" she asked confused. The guys started laughing and went back to signing her posters.

Chris picked up a poster with several smaller pictures on it. All the pictures were of the guys goofing off at the beach. There was no date on the poster, but the pictures were from around the same time as the other poster.

"Man! This is worse than the pool picture." he said.

"What? Let me see!" Justin said leaning over. Chris opened the poster up and laid it on the bed so all the guys could see it.

"So, which one’s your favorite?" Lance asked Fantasia.

"Hmm…. I’m not sure. I guess it’s kind of a tie between that one and this one." she replied pointing to two different pictures.

The first picture was of Joey wrestling an inflatable alligator. Joey just grinned happily. The second one was of Lance and Chris in an outdoor shower. In the picture Lance was spitting water in Chris’s face.

"How could you like that one?" Chris asked.

"Cause it’s funny and I have a feeling that you probably deserved it." Fantasia replied with a smirk.

"I did not." Chris pouted.

"Yeah, ya did." Lance shot back playfully. Fantasia looked over at Lance. She could not wait to hear this! "You stuck a sand crab down the back of my shirt!" Lance reminded Chris.

"Oh, yeah…. That was so funny!" he said with a snort of laughter.

"No, it wasn’t! That thing bit me where the sun don’t shine."

Fantasia just sat there grinning as she watched the two guys bicker over something that happened four or five years ago. After a couple minutes Joey interrupted by saying, "That was five years ago! Can we move on?"

Fantasia passed out the TV Guides where each guy got their own cover, the Rolling Stones where they each had their own cover and a few other small items. As she passed out the Rolling Stones, JC asked, "Hey, where’s mine?"

"I was never able to find yours. I looked everywhere! I can’t even find one online." she explained sadly. Fantasia felt like this was the one dark spot on her collection. How could she not have the whole set? The guys could tell that she felt bad about not having it.

Without saying a word, JC jumped up and ran out of the room. Fantasia and the other guys looked at each other rather confused. When he returned JC had a copy of the Rolling Stones with him on the cover. "I knew I brought this for a reason." he said a he signed the cover and handed it to Fantasia.

"But I can’t take your copy." she protested.

"Don’t worry about it. I got half a dozen more at home." he shrugged.

"Why on Earth do you have so many?" Justin asked confused.

"Because everybody in my family bought me a copy." he explained.

After the guys finished signing Fantasia’s stuff they offered to help her pack it back into her bags. But she insisted that they get to bed. Chris hung back until JC had left, then he turned to Fantasia and asked, "Can I borrow that Mickey Mouse Club CD?"

She giggled and said, "Sure."

Fantasia retrieved the CD for him and he gave her a hug before leaving for his own room.

Once the guys were gone Joey helped Fantasia put her stuff away. As they did this, a small plastic box fell out of one of her bags. Joey picked it up and opened the flap that was held closed by Velcro. Inside the box was a deck for the Pokemon trading card game.

"You play Pokemon?" he asked shocked.

"Yeah." she replied. She was waiting to see how Joey was going to react.

"So do I!" he exclaimed, happy that he finally found something Fantasia didn't know.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed back. Joey’s face fell a bit.

"Ok, how’d you know that?"

"Well, I didn’t know for sure. It was more an educated guess." she explained, "It was just one little thing that tipped me off. Let me show you."

Fantasia opened the thick binder that she had been trying to cram back into her bag. She found the folder with a lot of smaller pictures and dug around until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a small picture of all five guys. In it Joey was wearing a red and white baseball hat with a green symbol on it. It was a replica of the hat that the main character wears on the Pokemon cartoon series.

Joey looked at the picture and said, "Damn it! I thought I’d finally found something you didn’t know."

Fantasia just smiled and said, "I’m going to take a wild guess and say Chris plays too."

"And Lance." Joey mumbled.

"Really!" she replied with a big grin.

"So are you any good?" he asked putting her deck back in her bag.

"I’m alright." she shrugged.

"So when do I get to battle you?" he asked wrapping his arms around her.

"How about tomorrow? In the morning you guys have that photo shoot. It’s going to be about a 45-minute drive. Plus you’ll have lots of free time while they do solo pictures."

Joey smiled and shook his head. Fantasia was beginning to know their schedule better than Lance. "Deal." he said before giving her a kiss.

The next morning Joey and Fantasia climbed on to the bus and sat down at the small kitchen table. They took out their Pokemon decks and damage counters and started to set up to play. Just as they started the game, Chris came into the room to get a Mountain Dew out of the refrigerator.

"Isn’t it a little early for soda?" Fantasia asked without taking her eyes off the game.

"Nope." Chris replied taking a big gulp of his favorite drink. "What are you two doing anyway?" he asked walking over. He looked down at the cards neatly laid out on the table. "You play Pokemon!"

"Duh!" she replied trying to ignore Chris.

"Can I battle you next?" he asked bouncing around.

"Only if you can sit still." she said gesturing at his soda bottle. Chris put his drink away and went to find his Pokemon deck.

Twenty minutes later Joey was down to one Pikachu with no energy while Fantasia had six Pokemon; most of them fully powered up. Her active Pokemon being a Rocket’s Mewtwo with four energy cards on it.

"I thought you said you weren’t very good at this?" Joey asked.

"I’m not… not compared to the other players at my league back home."

Joey’s eyes narrowed and he groaned. He looked through the cards in his hand for the fifth time. There was nothing in there that could help him. He decided to go with a less conventional tactic. He slipped off his sandal and started gently running his foot up and down Fantasia’s leg.

"You can try and distract me all you want, it’s not going to help you." she said without even looking up at him.

Joey sighed and slipped his sandal back on. He slapped the cards in his hand down on the table and said, "Go. I can’t do anything."

Fantasia drew her card, put an energy on one of her benched Pokemon, and played a couple trainer cards. She knew she didn’t need to do these things. She could knock out Joey’s Pikachu with one hit and win the game. She just wanted to tease him a bit.

"Would you just kill me already!" he said getting a little annoyed. Fantasia finally used her attack and won the game.

Chris had been watching them play and started teasing Joey about getting beat by a girl. Joey collected his cards so Chris could battle Fantasia.

"She’s not as easy as she looks." he said getting up.

"That’s cause your deck sucks." Chris said plopping down in the seat across from Fantasia.

They shuffled their decks and set up their cards. Chris started with a Charmander, a fire type Pokemon, and no other Pokemon on the bench. Fantasia started with her favorite Pokemon, Lapras, a water type. Two turns later Fantasia had put out Chris’s fire and won the game!

"What!?! That’s not fair! I want a rematch!" he shrieked.

"No, it’s my turn." Lance said nudging Chris to get up.

Chris gathered up his cards and moved out of the way. Lance sat down and Chris patted him on the shoulder saying, "Good luck, man."

"I think I can take her." he replied with a confident smile.

"You sure about that?" she asked just as confident.

Joey stood there a little surprised. He’d never seen Fantasia have so much confidence in her abilities before. It may be just a game to the guys, but to her it was much more than that.

Lance wasn’t as easy as Joey or Chris though. He had an electric and psychic type deck. Fantasia’s water and psychic deck was weak to both of those. She was a little nervous, but she didn’t let it show. Lance quickly evolved his Pikachu into Raichu and got him loaded up with energy.

At first Fantasia was only able to find water Pokemon, like Lapras and Magikarp. They were the ones that were weak to Raichu’s electric attacks. She wasn’t even able to find her Gyarados so she could evolve her Magikarp. Fantasia was just about to give up hope of winning when she drew her Rocket’s Mewtwo. In the end her league training paid off and Fantasia was victorious!

As she shuffled her cards, Fantasia looked at the guys and asked, "Do you want me to help you with your decks?"

"Sure." Joey replied. He’d do anything to help boost her confidence.

"Ok, let me see what other cards you have." The three guys just sort of looked at each other. "You do have other cards, right?" she asked.

"I have some." Lance said getting up.

When he returned a minute later he had a small stack of about twenty cards. "That’s it?" she asked shocked.

"Well, after we made our decks, we donated the rest of the cards to charity." Chris explained. Fantasia slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand and sighed in frustration.

"That’s a nice thing to do, but what if you need to change your deck?"

Once again the guys kind of looked at each other.

"We didn’t think we’d need to." Joey replied.

She sighed again and shook her head. "Ok, let me see what you got."

Lance handed her the small stack of cards. Fantasia looked through them, but didn’t see anything too special.

She set the cards down on the table and said, "Ok, during your lunch break we’re going shopping."

The three guys looked at her stunned. Fantasia had never even asked for a shopping trip, let alone demanded one. "It’s not for me, it’s for you." she said, "You want to have a chance at beating me, don’t you?"

"Yeah…." Lance said, wanting to know where she was going with this.

"Well, then you need better decks. And I can’t help you with your decks until you have more cards." she explained.

"Ok, but you’re not touching my deck until I get a rematch." Chris said pointing his finger at Fantasia.

Just then the bus turned into the parking lot of the studio where the photo shoot was being held.

"That’s fine." she said, "We’ll have plenty of time while they’re taking pictures of Justin."

The guys couldn’t help snickering at that. They always did seem to want more pictures of Justin than anybody else.

As the guys went to work, Fantasia sat down at a table and opened her laptop. She started searching the Internet for card shops in their area that carried Pokemon cards. She found five different shops. After finding their phone numbers, she called each one. She wanted to know which expansion sets they had in stock and how much they would cost.

After a couple hours the group pictures were finished. For the solo pictures they started with Lance. Chris was the first one to come over to where Fantasia was sitting. "Can I get my rematch now?"

"Sure." she replied pushing her laptop aside.

As he sat down Chris rubbed at the ten pounds of make up that had been applied to his face and grumbled, "I hate photo shoots."

"I don’t blame you." Fantasia replied not looking up from shuffling her deck.

He looked at her a little confused as he got out his cards. "What do ya mean?"

She shrugged and said, "You hate wearing all that make up, right?"

Chris’s mouth dropped open a bit before he shrieked, "Stop that!"

"Stop what?" she asked innocently.

"Knowing every damn little thing about us!"

Fantasia couldn’t help laughing. "Oh, yeah, Chris. You’re the only guy in the world that hates wearing make up." she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Like I said, I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want to wear all that make up either." Now Chris looked at her even more confused. "Don’t give me that look. Just cause I’m a girl doesn’t mean I like wearing the goop."

As they set up their cards, Joey sat down next to Fantasia and kissed her on the cheek.

"Dude, did you know your girl hates make up?" Chris asked Joey.

Honestly, Joey hadn’t noticed one way or the other, but he didn’t want to tell Fantasia that. Instead he said, "So? I think she’s perfect just the way she is."

Fantasia looked over at him and said, "You didn’t even notice, did you?"

Joey hung his head and sighed. He looked back up at her, smiled and said, "I can’t get anything past you, can I?"

"Nope." she said patting the side of his face and giving him a quick kiss.

"Are we going to battle or what?" Chris asked. Fantasia turned all her attention back to him and their game of Pokemon.

Chris got off to a much better start. The game lasted much longer this time. Joey watched every move Fantasia made very closely. He wanted to learn to play as well as she did. Chris was able to get out his Charizard, but in the end his fire deck was no match for Fantasia’s water Pokemon.

"I want a rematch!" Chris demanded.

She smiled and agreed.

After loosing three more games in a row, Chris said, "I wanna battle Joey now."

Fantasia giggled and said, "Ok."

She and Joey switched places. A few turns into the game, Joey wasn’t sure how to go about his next move. Fantasia looked at the cards in his hand and whispered something in his ear. Joey followed her instructions and was able to knock out Chris’s Pokemon.

"Hey, no fair! That’s cheating!" Chris whined.

"Ok, you’re right." Fantasia said. She got up and walked around the table to see what Chris had. After looking at his cards she whispered some instructions in his ear.

"I can do that?" he asked shocked. Fantasia nodded and Chris did as he was told. By doing that he was able to knock out Joey’s only Pokemon and win the game.

"Some girlfriend you are." Joey grumbled as Fantasia walked back around the table. When she reached him she smacked him playfully. "I’m just kidding. You know I love you." he said wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her tight.

Without saying a word, Fantasia took his face in her hands and kissed him. Joey pulled her onto his lap and held her close as they kissed. Chris groaned and said, "I guess we’re done playing Pokemon."

After the photo shoot, the guys went back to the hotel to scrub off the make up before going out to lunch. Fantasia gave the list of card shops to Joey and he talked to their driver. It turned out that one of the card shops was right across the street from where they were having lunch! After they got to the restaurant they all ordered their food. Then Fantasia, Joey, Chris and Lance went over to the card shop.

Luckily, the shop didn’t have any other customers at the moment. Each of the guys bought a full box of Pokemon booster packs and a theme deck. Fantasia made sure that they each got a different expansion set. That way they would have a wider variety of cards to work with. Fantasia bought herself a theme deck, a few booster packs and a new pack of plastic card sleeves.

While they were in the small shop Fantasia asked the guys, "So why don’t Justin and JC play?"

"Justin thinks he’s ‘too old’ to play a ‘kid’s game’." Chris replied mockingly. Fantasia groaned and shook her head.

"We tried to teach JC, but he just didn’t get it." Lance explained.

"I guess I’ll have to try." she said.

"Good luck." Joey scoffed.

"Hey, I teach kids to play all the time at my league. I think I can handle JC." she replied. The group paid for their items and went back across the street.

As they sat back down at the table, Justin asked, "Where’d y’all go?"

"Just over to the card shop." Chris replied. Their food wasn’t there yet so he was already opening his booster box. Justin looked over at Fantasia to see her opening one of her booster packs.

"Not you too." he groaned. She just rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to get into it with Justin in public.

Fantasia was sitting between Joey and JC. As she opened her booster packs JC leaned over to look at them. "Get anything good?"

"Yeah, a couple things. That’s going in my deck." she replied pointing at a trainer card.

"I wish I could play." JC sighed.

"You want me to teach you?" she asked.

"The guys already tried." he replied.

"Yeah, I know. But I think I’m a little better at the game then they are." she said with a grin.

"Hey!" Chris whined.

Fantasia looked at him and asked, "How many times do I have to kick your butt before you admit that I know what I’m doing?" The rest of the guys burst out laughing.

Joey and Lance decided to start opening their boxes too. Joey let Fantasia open some of his packs. Fifteen minutes later the table was covered in Pokemon cards and foil wrappers! Their waitress arrived with both her arms loaded down with plates. She stared down at the table for a few seconds, wondering what she was supposed to do with all this food. The guys quickly cleared their stuff out of the way. During lunch Fantasia found out what type of decks each of the guys like to use and some of their favorite Pokemon. Information that she would need when building their decks.

After lunch the guys had some interviews to go to. Fantasia staid on the bus so she could work on the guys’ Pokemon decks. She took the cards to the back room, put her advanced copy of Celebrity in the stereo and sat down on the floor. Soon the floor was cover in Pokemon cards. She worked on Chris’s fire deck first. He still wanted a Charizard deck, but she added some other colorless Pokemon that would stand up to water attacks. Lance’s deck needed the least amount of work. It was pretty good as it was.

Joey, on the other hand, needed a whole new deck. The deck he had made contained electric, grass, fighting and psychic Pokemon. Decks with more than two types rarely work. Fantasia built him a strong grass deck with some colorless Pokemon that he could use against Chris’s fire Pokemon. Then she got to work on JC’s deck. Since he was having trouble understanding the game, she made him a simple yet effective fighting deck.

Just as she finished the decks, the guys came back from their interviews. Joey and Lance went to the back to see how Fantasia was doing. When they saw her sitting on the floor surrounded by cards they just stared at her.

"What?" she asked confused, "This is how I work."

"How many decks did you get done?" asked Lance as he tried to maneuver his way over to the couch.

"All of them." she replied as she started picking up the extra cards. The two guys looked at her a little surprised.

Fantasia gave Lance and Joey their decks so they could look over them. As soon as there was enough space, Joey sat down on the floor with his girl. As she finished picking up the remainder of the cards, Chris came into the room and asked, "Hey, Fantasia. Did you finish my deck?"

"Yup." she replied tossing it to him.

"Did you make yourself a new deck?" Lance asked, noticing the fourth deck.

"No, that’s for JC."

"Ya really think you can teach him?" Chris asked still sounding unsure.

"Yeah…." she replied sounding very confident. Lance and Chris thanked Fantasia and left to go try out their new decks.

Joey wrapped his arms around her and asked, "Why can’t you be this confident all the time?"

She just shrugged her shoulders. Honestly, she had no idea why she had so much confidence when it came to Pokemon.

After all their public appearances were done for the day, the guys went back to the hotel to relax. Justin met up with Jamie and they went out for the evening. Lance and Chris ended up in Joey and Fantasia’s room and the four of them were playing Pokemon.

Fantasia and Joey were sitting on the bed playing a game. Lance and Chris were stretched out on the floor having their own battle. Fantasia was just about to knock out Joey’s Pokemon and claim her last prize card when Chris and Lance started arguing over their game. She got up and went over to see what the problem was. Chris explained what he was trying to do.

"But he can’t do that, right?" Lance asked.

"Actually, he can. That’s why I put the card in his deck." Fantasia showed the card to Lance and explained how it worked with Chris’s deck. Once they were both satisfied, Fantasia got up to go back to Joey.

As she was walking back to the bed there was a knock at the door. She groaned a bit and went to answer it. It was JC.

"Hey, Fantasia. Are you still willing to teach me to play Pokemon?"

"Sure." she replied letting him in, "Just let me finish kicking Joey’s butt."

"Hey!" Joey whined.

"You’re getting better." she told him encouragingly, "You did knock out one of my Pokemon. Besides you’re still getting use to your new deck. Just give it some time."

JC watched as Fantasia finished her game with Joey. Joey picked up his deck and moved out of the way so JC could sit down. Fantasia got out the deck that she had made for JC. Joey staid on the bed so he could watch Fantasia. He wanted to know what they did wrong when they tried to teach JC to play.

Fantasia started by showing him the different types of cards and explaining how they worked. She showed him how to set up the cards before starting a game. Then she explained the steps each player takes during their turn and how to attack.

"That’s it?" JC asked surprised, "You guys made it seem a lot harder than that!"

Just then Chris and Lance finished their game and came over to watch.

"Do you want to try playing a game?" Fantasia asked JC.

"Sure, why not." he replied.

"Ok, you battle Lance and I’ll help you." she said.

"Me?" Lance asked surprised.

"Yeah, half your deck is weak to JC’s. It’s the best match for him to learn with." she explained. Lance shrugged his shoulders.

Fantasia moved so she was sitting next to JC and Lance sat down on the bed across from him. Joey and Chris went back to the floor to play their own game. Fantasia walked JC through the steps of the game. She made sure he followed the rules, but let him decide what he wanted to do. She only gave him advice when he asked for it. After a couple games JC was really starting to get the hang of it. Fantasia and the guys staid up until almost two in the morning playing Pokemon.

Two days later, as soon as the concert was over, the guys had to catch a plane to the next city. They had a live TV appearance first thing in the morning. They raced to the airport only to find that their flight had been delayed for at least two hours! Since there were no other flights they could take the airline gave them a private lounge where they could rest and not be bothered by fans. The guys stretched out on the floor. They were still too wired to sleep, but too tired to move. Joey laid down on his back and put his jacket under his head. Fantasia laid down next to him and rested her head on his chest. The other guys barely even noticed because across the room Justin and Jamie were curled up in a ball like two kittens.

After about an hour the guys finally fell asleep, but Fantasia was still wide awake. She’d been wanting to play a prank on JC and now was her chance! She double-checked to make sure he was asleep before slipping out of Joey’s arms. Fantasia got a small bag out of her backpack and sat down by JC’s head. She started putting his long, shaggy hair into little tiny braids. At the end of each braid she tied a little pink bow.

Fifteen minutes later Joey woke up and realized that Fantasia wasn’t next to him anymore, which was really strange. He looked around the room and saw her sitting next to JC’s head. He went over to her and sat down. When he saw what she was doing he let out a snort of laughter.

"You know he’s going to kill you, right?"

Fantasia shrugged and said, "I know, but I’ve been planning this for years."

"Huh?" Joey asked confused.

"My original plan was to put Chris’s dreads in pigtails and tie them off with big, pink bows" Joey let out another snort of laughter. "But then he had to go and cut them off." she finished.

"You wanted to do WHAT to my hair!?!" Chris asked joining the conversation.

"I thought it would be cute." Fantasia replied innocently.

"Man, am I glad that I cut my hair." Chris said running his fingers through his spiky brown and red hair.

"I’m not!" Fantasia said not looking up from her work.

"Don’t tell me you liked my dreads." Chris said sitting down with them.

"I loved them!" she replied, "Sure, I understand why you did it, but when I first found out that you had cut them off I was devastated. Then later I realized that if you hadn’t cut your hair, there would be no Fuman Skeeto."

Fantasia glanced over at Chris and Joey only to find them sitting there just starring at her. They weren’t sure what to make of that. Fantasia giggled a little before returning to her work.

When she finished Chris asked, "Can I wake him up?"

"Hang on, I want to get some pictures first." she said taking out her camera. After she took several pictures she gave Chris the go ahead.

Chris looked around the room at thought about how he wanted to do this. That’s when he noticed a decorative arrangement sitting in the corner. It was a vase with dried flowers and feathers in it. Chris walked over to it and pulled out a long, skinny feather. He returned to where JC was sleeping on the floor and started tickling his ear.

JC swatted at the feather, but didn’t wake up. Chris waited a few seconds then started tickling JC’s jaw line. JC once again tried to brush away the irritant, but still did not wake up. Chris sighed in frustration before giving it one more try. This time he tried tickling JC’s nose. JC twitched his nose and sneezed before finally waking up. He looked up at Chris who was standing there grinning. JC yanked the feather out of his hand before mumbling, "Go away, Chris." and rolling over to go back to sleep.

When he laid his head back down he felt something odd in his hair. JC gingerly touch his head then jumped to his feet and dashed over to the decorative mirror that was hanging on the wall. When he saw his reflection he screamed, "CHRIS! I’m gonna KILL you!" and started chasing his band mate around the room. If anybody had still been asleep, they sure weren’t now.

"It wasn’t me! I swear!" Chris said running from JC and hiding behind their bodyguard, Wes.

"Then who was it?" JC shrieked. Just as he said that JC caught sight of Fantasia cracking up laughing. "YOU!" JC screamed pointing at Fantasia and starting to chase after her.

"Uh-oh." Fantasia said diving behind Joey for protection.

"I told you he was going to kill you." Joey said with a smirk.

"I can see that." she replied.

"Let me at her!" JC said trying to get past Joey.

"Dude, you don’t have to kill her. It was just a joke." Joey said.

"Yeah, I thought you knew how to take a joke." Fantasia added. "Not one like this!" JC screamed.

"Well, if you relax and sit down I’ll take them out." she said.

Fantasia sat down in a chair and JC sat down on the floor in front of her. Just as she was finishing taking out JC’s dreads, Johnny came into the room.

"Great news guys! The plane is in and they’re almost ready to start loading us on." Then he noticed Fantasia brushing JC’s hair. "I don’t even want to know what you two have been up to." Johnny said before leaving the room. He was used to the guys’ antics, but this was just bizarre!

One day, almost a week later, the guys had interviews in the morning that was being done at the hotel. Fantasia wasn’t allowed in so she staid up in the room she was sharing with Joey. When the guys finished they had about two hours free before they had to get ready for sound check. Joey went up to his room to see what Fantasia was up to.

When he walked into the room he could hear that she was listening to Up Against the Wall. The song was just ending and it started over again. Joey couldn’t help thinking that she must really like that song. Fantasia was lying on the bed on her stomach and reading something on her laptop.

He was about to say something to her when her hips started to squirm. Joey’s curiosity got the better of him. He slipped up behind her and peered over her shoulder. He chose a line at random and it read, "I moaned as he slid two fingers inside and began rubbing my clit with his thumb."

"What are you reading!?!" Joey shrieked. Fantasia screamed and jumped nearly two feet in the air.

"Don’t do that!" she shrieked slamming her laptop shut.

"I’m sorry, but what was that?" Joey asked still in total shock.

"It’s just a little *Nsync fan fiction." she replied trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"That’s a fan fiction!?! But it’s porn!" Joey shrieked.

"It’s not porn! It’s a visual." Fantasia replied.

"A wha?" he asked sitting down on the bed next to her.

"A visual, or vizzy for short. It’s a type of fan fiction. It’s a short story that’s very… um… graphic." she explained.

"I’ll say! Can I read it?" he asked excitedly.

"I got a better one for you to read." she said opening her laptop back up.

Fantasia got out of the vizzy that she was reading and opened another one on the same website. She passed the laptop over to Joey. He read the title, Interrupted Love, and asked, "What’s so special about this story?"

"I thought you’d want to read it because you know the author." she replied. Just then Joey noticed the email address that you use to send the author feedback.

"You wrote this?" he asked shocked. Fantasia just nodded.

Joey laid down on his stomach to read the vizzy. Fantasia laid back down on her stomach next to him. He could tell that she was a little nervous about having him read her story. As he started to read, Joey ran his fingers through her natural short hair. As the story grew more intense his hand slowly started to move down her back and over her perfectly shaped ass. Joey couldn’t believe how hard her story was making him. It wasn’t even about him, it was about Lance!

Slowly, he slipped his hand in between her legs. His fingers creeping up the leg of her shorts. As Joey’s fingers reached her center he noticed that she was already soaking wet. He pushed the wet fabric of her underwear aside and ran his fingertips over her wet folds. He slipped one finger inside of her, but suddenly it occurred to him what he was doing and whom he was doing it to. The last thing he wanted to do was to make her feel like she had to do something she wasn’t ready for. He started to pull out of her, but when he looked over at her she looked perfectly happy. Joey just smiled and moved back inside. He could tell that this was exactly the kind of attention that she needed.

Joey went back to reading the story as he started pumping his finger in and out of her. About midway through the story Joey burst out laughing.

"What?" Fantasia asked lifting her head a little.

"You know, Chris would really do that." he replied pointing to a section of her story.

"I know, that’s the scary part." she said. Joey finished the story howling with laughter.

"That poor girl." he said as he closed her laptop and pushed it aside. Joey removed his hand from Fantasia’s shorts and pulled her into his arms. All he wanted to do was show her just how much he loved her.

As they started making out Fantasia could feel just how much her story had affected Joey. She couldn’t believe that her vizzy could make him so hard! She had never had that kind of effect on a guy before. It didn’t take long before Joey’s hands were moving up her shirt. He reached behind her and with one swift move he unhooked her bra. Joey pulled off both her shirt and her bra at the same time and sat back to admire her.

"You’re beautiful!" he gasped.

Fantasia just laid there completely shocked. Joey was still getting used to her surprised reactions. "Don’t tell me nobody’s ever told you how beautiful you are."

She slowly shook her head "no". He sighed a little before ripping off his own shirt and diving in for another kiss.

Joey trailed his kisses down her neck, over her chest and to her breast. He took one into his mouth and started kissing and sucking on it. After giving the other one equal treatment he started trailing kisses down over her stomach. When he got as far south as he could go Joey sat back so he could peel off her shorts and underwear. He was just about to pull them off when he suddenly stopped and looked up at Fantasia.

"You know, we don’t have to…." he said trailing off. He was afraid he was pushing her into something that she wasn’t ready for. Fantasia sat up, grabbed Joey’s face and pulled him into an electrifying kiss.

When she pulled away several seconds later she looked at him with a rather annoyed look and said, "I’ve been reading vizzies for the past three hours. What do you think I want?" Joey just grinned and pounced on her.

Fantasia’s hands immediately went to his pants. She was dying to know what was inside! She undid his Superman belt buckle and Joey wiggled out of his jeans. She could now see his hardness aching to be freed from the confinements of his boxer briefs. Joey yanked off Fantasia’s shorts and underwear at the same time. He ripped off his own underwear and moved back on top of her. They just laid there making out and enjoying being naked together.

After a few minutes Joey asked, "Are you ready?"

Fantasia just nodded. Joey positioned himself between her legs and ever so slowly started to move inside of her. Fantasia winced and Joey kissed her to make up for the pain he was causing her. As he slowly moved deeper inside of her, he started kissing down her neck. Fantasia loved the way Joey’s facial hair scraped against her neck. When he was just far enough inside of her, he stopped and held her close as she adjusted to his size.

When she was ready Joey started slowly moving in and out of her. For the first couple minutes it was still painful for Fantasia. Soon the pain started to subside and it was just uncomfortable. Joey continued kissing her all over to make her feel better. After a few more minutes Fantasia was really starting to enjoy it. But Joey couldn’t hold out any longer and he exploded inside of her. Fantasia groaned a little, partly out of pleasure and partly out of frustration.

When it was over Joey rested over her and grinned. "You were right."

"About what?" Fantasia asked confused.

"You really are warm and cozy. And I never want to leave." he replied referring to a line in her vizzy.

Fantasia looked up at him shocked for a second, then grinned. "Stay as long as you like."

She wrapped her arms around Joey’s neck and he kissed her. Joey finally pulled out of Fantasia and laid down on the bed next to her. He never expected her to have a dirty side, but he absolutely loved it!

Joey turned to Fantasia and asked, "Can I read the story you were reading?"

"Sure." she replied rolling over to retrieve her laptop.

As she rolled over Joey couldn’t help checking out her ass. When she turned back over he had this goofy grin on his face. Fantasia smiled playfully at him. She knew what he had been looking at. She laid on her stomach and opened her laptop. Fantasia brought up her favorite website for vizzies, nsyncpleasure.com. She went to the page with all the stories about Joey.

As Fantasia was scrolling through the long list of vizzies Joey stopped her, "Wait! What’s that one?" He was pointing to a story titled "Joey’s Jell-O"

"Oh, you don’t want to read that one." Fantasia said, "Sure you get your pool full of Jell-O and about half a dozen naked girls, but all the girls are prostitutes. You paid them to fulfill your fantasy."

"That’s not my fantasy at all!" Joey shrieked, "All I want is a pool full of Jell-O to share with the girl I love." He slipped his arm around Fantasia and started nibbling on her neck.

Fantasia found the vizzy that she was looking for. "Here it is." She opened the story and passed the laptop over to Joey. The vizzy was titled "Getting Wet" and right away Joey got the double meaning.

As he started to read he kept his arm wrapped around Fantasia and she snuggled up against him. It didn’t take long before Joey was laughing his ass off. When he finished reading Joey turned to Fantasia and said, "That was really funny, but the end was a little disappointing. She didn’t put enough details in."

"I know!" Fantasia agreed.

Joey smiled and asked, "Got anymore recommendations?"

"Of course! Do you mind reading another Lance story?"

"Not at all." He replied kissing her on the shoulder. Fantasia took her laptop back and pulled up a story titled "A New Pair of Pants". She passed the laptop back to Joey and said, "This is my favorite vizzy."

She rested her head on his shoulder so she could read it too. Soon Joey started howling with laughter. "That’s exactly what Chris would say!" he said pointing at a line in the story.

"That’s my favorite part." Fantasia replied.

As the story grew more intense, Joey’s hand began to wander back down to her hot, wet center. Fantasia draped her leg across the back of Joey’s legs so he could have better access to her dripping wet core. Joey traced his fingertip over her wet slit before plunging a finger inside of her. As he started to pump his finger in and out of her, Fantasia started kissing and nibbling on his neck.

When Joey finished the story he pushed the laptop aside, rolled onto his back and pulled Fantasia onto his chest. She could feel just how badly he needed her as his rock hard cock pressed against her. Fantasia couldn’t wait any longer. She started kissing him all over as she positioned herself over him. They both groaned as their bodies reconnected. Fantasia didn’t care how bad it hurt. She needed Joey completely inside of her.

Once he was all the way in Fantasia started to grind her hips into his. Joey let out a moan from deep within his throat. He couldn’t believe how good she was making him feel. Fantasia was a little surprised herself. She wasn’t expecting it to work that well! She ground into him a little more before she started moving up and down on him. Fantasia also started kissing and touching him all over. Being a masseur she knew all the right places to drive him wild! "Ah, shit! You’re going to make my head explode!" he groaned.

"Which one?" she asked with a smirk.

"Both." he replied with a small laugh.

Every time Fantasia came down on him, Joey lifted his hips to meet hers. Just the way he moved with her felt so good that she never wanted to stop. Fantasia started kissing him up his neck and behind his ear. She was determined to give him a hickey, something she had never done before. But the spot she chose was Joey’s sweet spot. All the sensations were too much for him to take. He exploded inside of her causing Fantasia to hit her peak. When their bodies stopped trembling she laid down on Joey’s chest, but kept him deep inside of her. Joey wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

"I love you." he whispered.

"I love you, too." Fantasia said kissing him again.

She laid her head down on his chest. Joey was about to fall asleep when Fantasia noticed what time it was. "Ah, Joey. Shouldn’t you get ready for the sound check?"

Joey looked over at the clock and groaned. "I don’t wanna get up." he whined. Fantasia smiled at how cute he was being.

"I don’t either, but if Justin doesn’t get his massage we’ll never hear the end of it." she said. Fantasia started to slide off of Joey, but he grabbed her hips and pulled her back.

"Just a couple more minutes?" he pleaded. Fantasia just smiled and snuggled against his chest.

After a couple minutes they both got up. Joey went into the bathroom to take a shower, but reappeared a few seconds later with an evil grin on his face. "Would you care to join me?" he asked.

Fantasia bounded across the bed and jumped into his awaiting arms. They stumbled into the bathroom and Joey shut the door. He turned on the shower and they stood there making out while the water warmed up.

Soon they climbed in the shower. Joey held Fantasia close with her back against his chest and started washing her. He started with her breasts and slowly worked his way down. Fantasia could feel him growing harder the farther south he moved. When he reached her hot, wet center he started rubbing her clit with the washcloth. Fantasia moaned as she leaned back into his arms. She reached behind her back and started stroking his long, thick shaft. Joey kissed her down her neck as he started rubbing her faster.

When Fantasia couldn’t take it anymore she turned around, wrapped her arms around Joey’s neck and kissed him. Joey dropped the washcloth and slipped his hand in between her legs to make sure she was as ready as he was. Joey grabbed her ass and lifted her up onto his hips. He braced her up against the shower wall and slammed into her. Fantasia locked her legs around his waist and held him tight. Joey kissed her neck as he banged into her. Fantasia moaned at how good it felt. She started kissing his neck and nibbling on his ear as he pounded into her harder. It didn’t take much longer before he shot his load into her. Joey pulled out of her and gently set her down.

They both leaned against the shower wall to catch their breath. As they finished washing each other and getting ready for the sound check, Joey couldn’t keep his hands off of her. He was happy to know that he was now free to explore her body in a whole new way.

When Joey met the guys downstairs he had the biggest, goofiest grin on his face. The guys knew that grin all too well. It was his "I just got laid" grin.

"What’s with you?" Chris asked as they climbed onto the bus.

"Fantasia’s amazing!" Joey replied. The guys just groaned and rolled their eyes.

"But what’s so special about this time?" JC asked confused, "Fantasia’s been in your room every night for the past month and a half!" Joey just grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, I get it!" Chris piped up, "This is the first time you actually did it!"

Joey looked at Chris surprised while the other guys looked at Joey confused. Joey had never waited this long to be with a girl he liked before.

"What would give you an idea like that?" Justin asked.

"Well, think about it." Chris continued, "If she was hated as much as she thinks she was, then she probably didn’t go out on many dates in high school. And if she hasn’t had many dates she’s not going to want to jump into bed with a guy right away. No matter how big of a fan she is." The guys just looked at Joey, waiting for him to confirm Chris’s theory.

Joey wasn’t sure what to say. Or what Fantasia would want him to say. Should he admit that Chris was right and tell the guys the truth? Or should he just blame it on the vizzies? He was getting a little tired of tip toeing around the truth.

"Well? Am I right or am I right?" Chris asked getting impatient.

"You know, Chris, you’re not always right." Joey said, "But this time you are."

"Ha! I knew it!" Chris gloated.

"Wait a minute! This still doesn’t make any sense." Justin said, "If she’s never done it before, how can she be so good?"

"Well, she’s a masseur and a physical therapist." Lance pointed out; "She’s trained to know what buttons to push. She’s even pushed a few of mine." The guys looked at Lance stunned. He never joined in on these conversations!

"What is my girl doing pushing your buttons?" Joey asked sternly.

"It was while she was giving me a massage." Lance explained, "It’s not like she meant to do it."

"That still doesn’t seem like it would be enough." Justin said not completely satisfied with Lance’s explanation. The guys once again turned to Joey.

"Well, she did do a little research." Joey said.

"Huh?" JC asked.

"It would be easier if I just showed you." Joey replied.

"NO!!!!!" the other four guys screamed.

"Oh, relax! It’s not like we video taped it." Joey said. He grabbed his laptop and brought up nsyncpleasure.com. He found Fantasia’s story, "Interrupted Love", and turned the computer so the guys could read it.

"Oh, my…." Lance gasped.

"Well, I wasn’t expecting that!" Chris said.

"Hey, I’ve read this story!" JC said. The guys looked at him surprised.

"Where?" Joey asked.

"On the internet somewhere. I don’t remember." he replied.

"Wait a minute! Isn’t that Fantasia’s email address?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, you’re right! Did she write this?" Justin asked. Joey just grinned and nodded.

"Are you serious? This is really good!" JC said.

Lance wasn’t paying any attention to the guys; he was completely engrossed in the story.

"I can’t believe that Fantasia writes porn!" Justin said as he read over Lance’s shoulder.

"It’s not porn!" Joey shrieked, "It’s a visual."

"What’s a visual?" Chris asked.

After Joey finished explaining what a visual was as best as he could, Lance burst out laughing. "Chris would do that!" he said.

"What? What would I do?" Chris asked. Lance pointed out the part he was talking about. Soon all the guys were cracking up. "You’re right! I would do that." Chris said.

After the sound check, Joey couldn’t wait to get his massage so he could tell Fantasia how much the guys loved her story. Joey was just lucky it was his turn to go first. As soon as Fantasia came into the room Joey started babbling about how much the guys liked her story.

"Wait a second! You did what?" she asked interrupting him.

"I showed the guys your story." he said.

"Joey!" she shrieked.

"What?" he asked confused, "It’s really good! And they all liked it." Fantasia started pacing back and forth and mumbling to herself.

"Why are you so upset? You have it up on the internet for all the world to read." Joey asked still confused.

"Yeah, but the internet is more or less anonymous. Out of the people that actually know me, you’re only the second person to read my story." she explained.

"Who was the first?" he asked sitting up.

"A girl I went to college with. Let’s just say her response was less than positive."

"She make fun of you?" Joey guessed. Fantasia just nodded.

"And if my parents ever found out…." she sighed, "I don’t know what they would do…. It wouldn’t be good…. Once my dad found a fan fic that I had saved off the internet. It was rated R and he flipped out! He made me delete it before I could even read it. He said if anybody found it on our computer we would get in trouble."

"For what?" Joey asked.

Fantasia shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea. But the story I wrote is WAY past being R rated. You have to remember, my parents think it’s still 1955. I’m not supposed to know what goes where until I’m married!"

Joey let out a snort of laughter. "I think you know more than that." he said with a wicked grin. Fantasia couldn’t help smiling a little bit. "And which of the guys do you think is going to tell your parents?" he asked.

"Well, none of them… but if they start showing it to everyone who knows who it will get back to. Besides, that’s not the only problem. Once people read my story they never look at me the same way again." she explained.

"Is that necessarily a bad thing?" Joey took her hands in his and said, "I love you, Fantasia. But now that I’ve read your story I love you even more." Fantasia’s knees finally gave out and her lips crashed into his.

When they broke apart Fantasia said, "You’re not the one I was really worried about."

"Then who? Lance?"

Fantasia shrugged and said, "That’s not exactly his thing."

"I didn’t think so either, but he loved it!" Joey said. Fantasia just stared at him. "I know. I was surprised, too. Chris even agreed that his little part is something he would do." he continued.

Suddenly someone started banging on the door.

"Joey, would you shut up and let Fantasia get back to work!" Chris shouted.

Fantasia and Joey looked at each other as they remembered where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. "Quit listening at the door! We’ll be done in a little while." she shouted at Chris. Joey laid back down and Fantasia quickly got back to work.

Once Fantasia had finished with all the guys she went to hang out with them in their dressing room. When she walked in she was surprised to find all the guys playing with their laptops. They were all looking at nsyncpleasure.com! Fantasia wandered around to see what vizzies they were reading.

She peered over Lance’s shoulder to find him reading a story titled "Babysitting Gone Bad".

"Oh, you’re not going to like that one." Fantasia said sitting down on the arm of the couch.

"Why?" he asked looking at her confused.

"You’ll see." she replied.

Soon Lance screamed, "Gross!"

"What?" Joey asked.

"This one has me at 22 with a girl that’s 16!" The guys started laughing their heads off.

Lance turned to Fantasia and asked, "Who’s she supposed to be babysitting anyway?"

"I have no idea." she replied, "Why don’t you try reading the one titled "A New Pair of Pants". You’ll like that one much better."

Fantasia moved on to see which vizzy Chris was reading. As she peeked over he was just opening one titled "And it Began in the Green Room".

"NO! Not that one!" Fantasia screamed, slamming his laptop shut and nearly closing it on his fingers. All the guys looked at her like she had lost her mind! "That’s not a vizzy! That’s slash!" she explained.

"Ok…. What’s slash?" Chris asked still confused.

"Slash is just like a visual, only instead of it being you and some hot girl it’s you and some hot GUY!"

"WHAT!?!" all the guys screamed.

"In most cases you’re paired up with one of the other guys." she continued, "But in this case it’s you and Chester from Linkin’ Park."

Chris wrinkled up his face in disgust and said, "Ok, you pick one." He turned his laptop towards her and Fantasia brought up one titled "Bus Ride". "After that read ‘Digital Get Down’." she said before moving on to check on JC.

She found him about midway through a vizzy called "100 Ways". "I’ve always wondered how you would really react to being kidnapped by three girls." Fantasia said.

"Well, I don’t think I would be that calm at first." JC replied, "But it doesn’t sound too bad." Justin and Jamie were lying on the floor reading vizzies together so Fantasia decided to leave them alone.

She went over and sat down on the other couch next to Joey. She couldn’t help noticing that he was reading the one titled "Joey’s Jell-O."

"Why are you reading that one? I told you it wasn’t any good." Fantasia asked.

"I wanted to see just how bad it was. And it’s pretty bad!" he explained. She just smiled and snuggled up against him.

After the concert, Fantasia was heading backstage to meet the guys when she overheard two older fans talking.

"Did you see how horny all the guys were?" the first girl asked the second girl.

"Yeah! What do you think they were doing backstage? They weren’t like that during sound check." the second girl replied.

"I don’t know. Maybe Joey made them watch porn." the first girl suggested. Fantasia rolled her eyes.

"Or maybe they were reading some vizzies on the internet." said the second girl.

"Naw, they got better thing to do than sit around reading fan fics about themselves." the first girl replied.

Fantasia wanted to stick around and listen to the rest of the conversation, but the guys were waiting for her. "What took you so long?" Joey asked when she got backstage.

Fantasia couldn’t help noticing that all the guys were staring at her. She knew the guys needed to know about this, but she didn’t want to just blurt it out. She turned to Joey and said, "I’ll tell you later."

Joey just shrugged and they all climbed onto the bus.

Once they were on their way to the next city and they were alone, Fantasia told Joey what she overheard the two fans talking about. Joey’s face turned bright red! "They noticed that?" he squeaked.

Fantasia smiled and said, "There are fans that that’s the first thing they look for."

"Do you?" he asked.

"I used to." she said sheepishly. He grinned and held her close. "You just might want to lay off the vizzies before a concert or public appearance." Fantasia added, "If it’s just one or two of you, only certain fans will notice. But when it’s all of you, it kinda stands out."

She stopped short at her poor choice of words. Joey couldn’t help laughing a little. "I’ll make sure to tell the guys that." he said.

"So what movie are we going to watch tonight?" Joey asked. Fantasia had nearly forgotten about their after concert ritual. It was her turn to pick the movie. She jumped up and grabbed the video that she had stashed on the bus a few hours earlier.

"You won’t fall asleep during this one." she said with a grin. Joey had fallen asleep during a few of her movies, but she didn’t really mind.

"What is it?" he asked as she put the tape in.

"It’s an anime called Midnight Panther." she replied.

The show was about three girls. They were performers by day and assassins by night. The girls singing group was called The Pussycats. And when they went on their assassin missions, they made love to the guys before they killed them! This was not what Joey was expecting!

It didn’t take long before Joey really started to get into it. As they laid there on the couch, he slipped his hand into her shorts. He found his way into her underwear and started rubbing her clit. He wanted to give her a massage that she’d never forget! Fantasia was loving the effect that her video was having on Joey.

The video was actually two episodes of a TV series so it was only 45 minutes long. Joey moved his hand deeper in and started massaging her soaking wet pussy. While they watched the show, Joey kept moving back and forth between her clit and pussy. Fantasia could feel his hardness pressing against her backside, just begging to be freed from its prison.

As soon as the show was over, Fantasia turned the TV off and rolled over in his arms to face him. "So what’d you think?" she asked seductively.

"I loved it!" he replied kissing her and trailing his hands up her shirt.

They started making out and striping each other’s clothes off. In their attempts to wiggle out of their clothes, they rolled right off the couch! Joey landed right on top of Fantasia.

"I’m sorry." he said as he started to move off of her. Fantasia grabbed his shirt, pulled him back down and kissed him. She loved the feeling of Joey’s body wrapped around hers.

It didn’t take long for them to finish wiggling out of their clothes. Fantasia could now see just how badly Joey needed her. He moved in between her legs and crawled inside of her. They both moaned at how good it felt. Fantasia wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer.

As they started to rock back and forth, Joey kissed her up and down her neck. He just loved how soft her skin was. Fantasia nibbled on his ear and licked the sensitive spot behind it. This caused Joey to thrust into her harder and faster. Soon he couldn’t hold back any longer. He exploded inside of her.

Joey rolled off of her and Fantasia laid her head on his chest. After a minute or so she asked, "So what did you think of the video?"

"That was great! Do you have anymore?" he asked.

"No, those are the only two episodes they released. I’ve seen some mangas on the Internet, but I haven’t bought any of them yet." she replied.

"I’ll buy ‘em." Joey offered.

"No, that’s ok. I was planning on ordering them after the tour’s over."

Joey didn’t say anything more. He just laid there holding her close and stroking her natural hair.

As he did this he realized something. "Hey, your hair’s getting longer!" he said happily.

Fantasia shrugged and said, "Yeah, it does that sometimes. It comes and goes. It depends on what’s going on in my life and what time of year it is. I mean, it’s a proven fact that people with trich pull more during November and February… even if my gym teacher thought I was lying."

"What?" Joey asked shocked and confused.

"When I was a freshman in high school, my hair in the back was long enough to touch my shoulders. But then November rolled around and I pulled it all out. One day my gym teacher pulled me aside to ask me why I pulled out my long hair. I explained to her how people with trich pull more during November and February. She told me to quit lying and tell her the truth. I had to make something up just to satisfy her." Fantasia explained.

"That’s horrible!" Joey exclaimed. Fantasia just nodded in agreement.

After a couple minutes he was about to ask her if she was ready for another round, but she was sound asleep. Joey just smiled and kissed her on the forehead. Maybe it was for the best. She was probably rather sore. He reached up and grabbed his Superman blanket off the other couch and wrapped it around them. Soon Joey was asleep too.

They arrived in the next city a few hours later. The guys drug themselves up to their hotel rooms and went back to bed. They had the whole day off because the next three days were going to be spent promoting the release of Celebrity.

After a few more hours of sleep, Fantasia woke up to Joey smiling at her. She snuggled closer to him and he kissed her. "So do you want to go to the mall today?" he asked.

Fantasia looked at him like he was insane. "Do you really want to spend your day off being chased by a mob of psycho fans?" she asked.

"Well… no." Joey replied.

"Then why do you want to go?" she asked still confused.

"Well, I assume you want to go to the premiere party for Celebrity tomorrow night."

"Yeah…." Fantasia replied still not getting it.

"And did you bring anything to wear to a premiere?" he asked. Fantasia thought for a few seconds before a rather panicked look spread across her face. "So do you want to go to the mall?" he repeated with a small smirk.

"Yes!" she shrieked jumping out of bed. Joey couldn’t help laughing a little as he got up. After they showered together and got dressed they left for the mall.

Once they got there Joey asked, "So what kind of outfit do you want?"

"I’m not even sure what would be appropriate." Fantasia admitted sheepishly.

Joey smiled and said, "Well, it’s not formal like the Grammy’s or anything. As long as it’s nice you can wear whatever you want."

"Would Fuman Skeeto be nice enough?" she asked.

Joey smiled and shook his head. "That would be just fine. I’m sure that’s what Chris will be wearing." The pair headed straight for Nordstroms.

They started looking through the racks and tables of Fuman Skeeto clothes. Soon Fantasia found a pair of jeans that she loved. They were trimmed with gold studs down the outsides of the legs and along the front pockets. On the backside the studs spelled out Fuman Skeeto.

"Oh, wow! Those are cool!" Joey commented.

Then Fantasia read the price tag, "$65.00!"

"I’ll buy them for you." he offered.

"No, that’s ok. I can pay for them." she said.

"But I want to." he said whining a little.

Fantasia started to protest again, but Joey snatched the pants out of her hands and headed for the checkout. "Joey!" Fantasia said grabbing his arm, "Let me at least try them on first. Sometimes with Fuman Skeeto even the extra small is too big on me."

"Really?" he asked surprised.

She nodded and said, "I have this one pair of blue Fuball shorts. They’re an extra small, but I can’t get them to stay up."

"Is that really a bad thing?" Joey asked with an evil grin. Fantasia smacked him playfully. "You know, you should talk to Chris about it." he said in a more serious tone, "Maybe there’s something he can do about it."

"Something I can do about what?" Chris asked walking over to them, "What’s the matter, Joe? Having trouble satisfying your woman and you need my expert advise?"

"No!" Joey shrieked. Fantasia just rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Joey asked.

"I had a meeting with Nordstroms. But seriously, what’s this big problem that you can’t handle?"

"It has nothing to do with me. It’s a Fuman problem." Joey said.

"What’s the problem?" Chris asked in a goofy, mock business like tone. Fantasia once again explained the problem with her shorts.

"Um… ok…but I still don’t see what the problem is." Chris said. Fantasia smacked him, but not quite as playfully as she did Joey. "Oww! I’m kidding! I’m kidding!" Chris whined.

"Seriously, is there anything you can do?" Fantasia asked.

"I think I know what the problem is, but I’ve got to call Dani to make sure." he said taking his cell phone out of his pocket.

While Chris talked to his partner in crime, Fantasia went to try the pants on. When she returned a few minutes later Chris was just hanging up his phone. As she rejoined the guys wearing the pants their mouths dropped open.

"What?" she asked confused.

The guys couldn’t believe how hot she looked! The jeans were snug enough in the right places to show off her curves. But were loose enough in others so she didn’t feel like she was being squeezed to death.

"Wow! You look hot in those!" Chris exclaimed.

Fantasia just stared at him completely shocked. Joey hadn’t even told her that she was hot. She had no clue on how to respond so she changed the subject.

"What did Dani say about the shorts?"

"Huh? Oh, that." Chris said snapping out of his daze, "It was what I thought. Several shipments got screwed up. The extra smalls were labeled mediums and the mediums were labeled extra small. Dani’s working on finding a pair that really are extra small."

As they talked Joey circled around Fantasia, admiring the view and running his hands over her hips. When Chris and Fantasia finished talking the store manager came over and stole him away. She had a few more questions for him.

Fantasia turned to Joey, who was standing there staring at her with his mouth hanging open. "So are these ok for the premiere?" she asked. He just nodded eagerly. "Joey, you’re drooling."

He mumbled a "Sorry." as he wiped his mouth. Fantasia smiled sweetly at him. She liked having a guy that thought that she was hot enough to drool over.

"Well, I’m going to change out of these and then we can look for a shirt."

"Do you need any help?" he asked with an evil grin.

"Joey!" she giggled as she retreated to the dressing room.

While Joey was waiting for her Chris returned. "She changing?" Chris asked. Joey nodded his head. "And why aren’t you holding her purse?" Chris asked.

Joey shot him a confused look and said, "She didn’t ask me to."

Chris turned around and picked up a white Fuman Skeeto T-shirt. It had maroon lettering on it that read "Love is when he holds your purse while you shop." Joey groaned and rolled his eyes as Fantasia came up beside him. She read the shirt and started laughing.

"That’s cute!"

The trio started looking for a shirt to match her jeans. Chris suggested several tops but none of them were Fuman Skeeto and they were all skimpier than Fantasia cared for. "Don’t you want me to buy Fuman Skeeto?" she asked Chris.

"Sure, I do!" he exclaimed.

"Then why do you keep showing me clothes that aren’t Fu?" she asked.

Chris shrugged and said, "I thought you’d look hot in them."

"Uh-huh." she said in a disbelieving tone before turning back to the racks of clothes. Joey and Chris kind of shrugged at each other before continuing with the search.

After a few minutes, Fantasia picked up a white tank top and looked at it rather confused. The only thing that was on it was a red lobster. "Chris, what’s with the lobster?" she asked turning to face him and holding up the shirt.

"It’s a lobster tank." he explained with a smirk. Fantasia looked at the shirt again for a couple seconds then burst out laughing.

"That’s hilarious! I’m going to have to get this one." she said. But the tank top didn’t match her jeans so they kept looking.

Soon Joey held up a shirt and asked, "How about this one?" The shirt was a black baby doll shirt with the Japanese-style Fu logo on it in gold.

"That’s perfect!" she exclaimed.

On the way to the checkout Chris asked, "Do you want to get some new shoes, too?"

Fantasia glanced down at her *Nsync tennis shoes then asked, "What’s wrong with my shoes?" Joey and Chris wrinkled up their faces, trying to figure out how to tell her that they weren’t really appropriate. Fantasia took the hint and sighed. "I guess so, but not here. I’ve never spent more than $20 on a pair of shoes and I’d like to keep it that way. Besides, I don’t think they’d have anything in my size anyway."

"What size do you wear?" asked Chris.

"A size 3 in kids’." she replied.

"Damn! I thought I had small feet." Chris exclaimed.

After Joey paid for the jeans and Fantasia paid for her two shirts, the three of them left to find a shoe store. They stopped at the mall directory to see what shoe stores there were.

"Let’s just go to Pay-Less. It’s not that far." Fantasia said.

"Or there’s a shoe store right there." Chris said pointing to a very expensive looking store.

"Guys!" Fantasia said starting to protest, but it was too late. They were already dashing towards the store. She just rolled her eyes and followed them into the store. Fantasia figured that she’d just look around a little.

When she caught up with the guys they were both holding up a pair of shoes in each hand. Surprisingly enough, they were all in her size. She decided to humor the guys and try them on. Fantasia fell in love with a pair of little black boots that Chris had picked out. That is until she turned them over and saw the price.

"$150!!!"

"I’ll buy ‘em." Chris and Joey said in unison. The two guys looked at each other.

"I picked them out." Chris argued.

"She’s my girlfriend." Joey argued back.

Fantasia interrupted the guys by saying, "No! Just forget it. They’re too expensive."

She put her own shoes back on, grabbed her bags and walked out of the store. Chris and Joey looked at each other confused before they jumped up and ran after her.

Before Joey had a chance to ask what was wrong Fantasia stated bluntly, "I’m going to Pay-Less where the shoes are affordable."

Joey followed Fantasia to Pay-Less. Chris decided to go into nearby video games store and leave the two lovebirds alone.

On the way to Pay-Less, Joey kept begging Fantasia to tell him why she wouldn’t let him buy the boots. As they reached the store Fantasia finally gave in. She explained how she didn’t want to turn into the girl from their song "Celebrity". Joey nearly burst out laughing.

"I don’t think you have to worry about that. Those girls want everything in sight. You haven’t asked for anything."

"Exactly!" Fantasia replied, "I’m a shopaholic. If I get started I don’t know if I could stop."

They discussed the subject some more while Fantasia tried on shoes. She found another pair of little black boots that she liked. They weren’t as nice as the other pair, but they were on sale for $15.

"Are you sure you don’t want those other boots?" Joey asked.

"I’m sure." she replied nodding her head.

"Well, can I at least buy these for you?" he asked.

"I think I can afford $15." she said.

"Please?" he whined, "I wuv you."

Fantasia looked up at his big, brown puppy dog eyes and she just couldn’t say no. "Ok."

"Yay!" Joey cheered hugging her.

After he paid for her boots, Joey and Fantasia went looking for Chris. He was no longer in the video games store. While they were searching, Fantasia suddenly stopped and said, "Wait, I want to go in here."

The store she was pointing to was Hot Topic, a Goth clothing store.

"Why do you want to go in there?" Joey asked confused. But Fantasia didn’t even hear him. She was already inside the store.

Joey quickly found her and saw why she wanted to go in there. They had He-Man T-shirts! Fantasia had already picked up a black shirt with Orko on it. She was now looking at a white shirt with a picture of He-Man holding up his sword. Underneath it had those famous words, "I have the power!"

Just then a sales girl dressed in Goth motif approached them and asked, "Is there anything I can hel- * yelp *. Ah, shit! You’re Joey Fatone!"

Joey wasn’t sure if she meant that as a good thing or a bad thing. Before either he or Fantasia could say anything the sales girl started babbling about how much she loved *Nsync. When she finally stopped to catch her breath, Fantasia and Joey stared at her a little stunned.

"I’m sorry. I know I’m not your typical fan. But I also never thought you’d come in here. Where is my head? My name’s Kat." she said extending her hand.

Joey shook her hand and said, "It’s nice to meet you."

Suddenly Kat remembered something. "Hey, Joey! We just got some new Superman stuff in. You’ve gotta see it! I was thinking about you while I was putting it out."

She grabbed his arm and pulled him across the store. Fantasia couldn’t help laughing a little.

Fifteen minutes later Joey returned to Fantasia’s side with an armload of Superman clothes and merchandise. She looked at him with raised eyebrows. He shrugged and said, "I guess you’re not the only shopaholic."

Fantasia smiled and shook her head. "I hope you can get all that in you suitcase."

Joey looked down at the pile of clothes in his arms and thought about it. "Ah, I’ll make ‘em fit."

Fantasia had a feeling that she would be sitting on his suitcase while he tried to latch it.

"So how many He-Man shirts do you want me to buy you?" Joey asked.

"Joey! Don’t you think you’ve bought me enough today?" she asked. Joey just gave her another sad puppy dog face. Fantasia sighed and said, "Ok, fine. But you’ve got to let me buy something."

"Why?" he asked whining a little.

"Because the last time I was in a Hot Topic I filled up my frequent buyer card so I get 15% off my next purchase." she explained.

"Actually," Kat said interrupting, "if you want me to I can put the discount on Joey’s items."

"Really?" Fantasia asked.

"Sure. I’d do anything for Joey." Kat replied winking at him. "Just don’t tell my boss." she added in a hushed tone.

"Are there anymore shirts that you want?" Joey asked Fantasia.

"No, I don’t think so." she replied.

"You mean you don’t want that She-ra shirt?" he asked pointing to a shirt that she had somehow overlooked.

"Sure! Why not?" she replied finding one in her size and adding it to the pile. Joey also decided to get an Orko shirt for himself. After Kat rang up all their new clothes, the grand total made Fantasia cringe.

"Relax. It was mostly my Superman stuff." Joey said slipping his arm around her waist.

When they got back to the hotel Joey and Fantasia dropped their bags and collapsed onto the bed.

About an hour later Joey asked, "So what do you want to do on our night off?"

"Well, I was thinking, you haven’t been out to a club in at least a month." Fantasia said. Joey looked at her shocked. She had never suggested going to a club before. She just wasn’t the party girl type.

"You want to go clubbing?" he asked.

"You went to the mall with me and risked getting mobbed by crazy fans." she said.

"Ok, if that’s what you want to do." he said still confused.

They got up to change into their clubbing clothes. Joey put on a pair of tight, black jeans and one of his new Superman shirts. Fantasia dressed in a short, denim Fuman Skeeto mini skirt with orange sparkles on it, an orange tank top and a small jean jacket. She was just zipping up her knee high, black leather boots with a three-inch heel when Joey saw her. He couldn’t believe she had an outfit that hot! Joey walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. "You know, we don’t have to go out tonight."

Fantasia turned to him, smiled and said, "You deserve a night out. Besides do you really think I’m going to take the time to get all dressed up and then not go anywhere?" Joey knew there was no point in arguing with her.

At the club they found a booth in the VIP section to snuggle up in. Joey couldn’t stop telling Fantasia how hot she looked. He knew that she wasn’t much of a dancer so he was waiting for them to play a slow song. While they waited Fantasia ordered a strawberry daiquiri and Joey ordered a beer. He was surprised that she would order something with alcohol in it. He’d never seen her drink before. But then again, he’d never seen her in a skirt before either. "When I was about 14 my mom bought me one and I really liked it." she explained referring to the icy drink.

"Your mom bought you an alcoholic drink when you were 14!?!" Joey shrieked.

"Who said anything about alcohol." she replied with a grin. Joey just burst out laughing.

When they were nearly done with their drinks they finally played a slow song. It just happened to be "Ready to Fall" from the "On The Line" soundtrack. Joey grabbed Fantasia by the hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor. He held her tight as they swayed to the music. When the song ended and a new, faster song started Joey moved to go back towards their booth, but Fantasia grabbed his arm. She pulled him back towards her and started grinding into him. The three inch heels on her boots made her ass just the right height to fit into his crotch. Joey just stood there stunned for a second, but quickly got into it. Fantasia lifted her arms and slipped them around his neck. He ran his hands down her body, over her breasts and down to her hips. He used one hand to hold her tightly against his body while the other started to make it’s way up her incredibly short skirt. He started massaging the inside of her thigh. Fantasia dragged her nails over the back of his neck causing him to growl in her ear. Joey started nibbling on her neck as his hand moved farther up her skirt. He couldn’t believe how wet she was already. He loved how her ass fit into his crotch. The way she moved against him felt so good that he never wanted to stop. As his hand moved even farther up her skirt he found her clit and started rubbing it. After a few minutes Fantasia’s legs started to quiver as a mini orgasm washed over her body.

Twenty minutes later Fantasia had Joey pinned to the wall. Joey leaned against the wall trying to catch his breath. He put his hands on her ass and held her tightly.

"You’re her!" he gasped, "You’re Shorty!" referring to the girl in their song "Up Against the Wall".

Fantasia laughed a little and leaned against his chest. "Can we go back to the hotel now?"

Joey asked impatiently. "Sure." she replied with a grin. She could feel just how badly he needed her.

When they reached the hotel they raced towards the elevator. Once the doors were shut Joey pinned Fantasia to the back wall. As they stood there making out he lifted her up and pushed his crotch into hers. Fantasia couldn’t believe how hard he was. All too soon the elevator stopped and the doors opened. "Can’t you wait till you get to your room!" JC shrieked.

"No!" Joey replied. He grabbed Fantasia’s hand and they ran down the hall to their room.

When they got inside they fell onto the bed kissing and groping each other. Joey started moving his hands up her skirt. Suddenly he jumped off the bed. "I got an idea." he said grabbing something red out of his suitcase and dashing into the bathroom. While he was in there Fantasia unzipped her boots, peeled off her socks, took off her wig and jean jacket and as a final touch removed her underwear from under her skirt. Just as she finished Joey came out of the bathroom. He was wearing nothing but a pair of Superman boxers and a red Superman cape! His hardness was clearly standing at full attention. He struck a Superman pose and Fantasia burst out laughing. He just looked so cute!

Just then the connecting door to the next room opened and a sleepy Lance stuck his head in the room. Joey snapped his cape around himself and his face turned as red as his cape! But it was too late, Lance had already seen more than he cared to. Fantasia and Joey were surprised to even see Lance. He had flown back to Florida for the day to visit a friend. He wasn’t supposed to be back until late that night. Lance just groaned and said, "I don’t even wanna know! Just keep it down, I’m trying to sleep. It’s bad enough that I have to listen to Justin and Jamie fighting on the other side."

"They’re fighting?" Fantasia asked confused.

Lance nodded and said, "I decided it would be safer to interrupt you two."

She nodded in agreement. Joey held his cape tightly around himself and said, "You could’ve called."

Lance got a strange look on his face for a second, then sighed and said, "I’m so tired I didn’t even think about that." Fantasia looked at Lance a little worried. She couldn’t help wondering what happened in Florida. Lance turned to leave, but stopped and looked at Joey. "Don’t let Chris catch you in that get up. You’ll never hear the end of it." he said with a smirk before leaving.

When Lance was gone Fantasia and Joey looked at each other and burst out laughing. Joey grabbed the corners of his cape and "flew" on to the bed. He pinned Fantasia down and as his hands moved up her skirt he realized what was no longer there. He grinned at her and she grinned back. Joey started kissing her neck as he tried to free her from the rest of her clothing. They rolled around as they removed each other’s clothes. Fantasia pinned him down so his head was hanging off the edge of the bed and yanked his boxers off.

"Can I at least get my head up on the bed?" he asked.

"Nope." she replied kissing his chest. She straddled his body and slid herself down on his rock hard dick. Joey now understood why his head was hanging off the bed. The blood rushing to both his head and his crotch at the same time just made everything that much more intense. He groaned at how good she was making him feel.

As Fantasia started a slow, steady rhythm, Joey ran his hands all over her body. Fantasia leaned forward and kissed her way up his chest. When she reached his neck she stiffened her tongue and ran it over his Adam’s Apple. After a few strokes she started sucking on his neck. Soon Joey couldn’t take it anymore. He flipped her over on to her back and started slamming into her. Fantasia wrapped her legs around his hips. She could feel her abdomen start to swell. Joey moaned a little as her walls tightened around him. He knew that she was close. He was going to rub her clit to help her along, but as soon as he touched it her body exploded with white-hot heat. This sent Joey over the edge. Her walls clamped down on him and milked him dry.

The both collapsed on the bed. Joey wrapped his arms around Fantasia and held her tight. "You’re amazing." he whispered before they both fell asleep.

The next morning Joey and Fantasia went downstairs for breakfast. After getting her food Fantasia saw Jamie sitting by herself, stabbing her pancakes with her fork. Fantasia went to sit with Jamie while Joey went to sit with the guys.

Joey sat down at the table with the other guys. "Where’s Fantasia?" Chris asked with his mouth full of food.

Joey looked at Chris disgusted before saying, "She’s sitting with Jamie. She wanted to talk to her about something."

"Probably you." Chris replied. As Chris continued to pick on Joey, Justin didn’t even look up from his bowl of cereal.

Meanwhile, across the room, Fantasia sat down across from Jamie. "Are you ok?" Fantasia asked.

"Justin’s an asshole." Jamie replied stabbing at her pancakes even harder.

"What’d he do?" Fantasia asked.

"Well, yesterday was my birthday." Jamie started.

"It was?" Fantasia asked, "Happy slightly belated birthday." Jamie smiled a tiny bit. "What did you two do?" Fantasia asked.

"Nothing." Jamie replied stabbing at her pancakes again.

"Nothing?" Fantasia asked confused, "He had the whole day off yesterday."

"The asshole forgot." Jamie replied. She laid down her fork and pushed her plate away. She really didn’t feel like eating anything.

"He forgot!" Fantasia shrieked. She jumped out of her chair and stalked over to the table where the guys were sitting. All the guys looked up except for Justin. Joey knew that look on her face. Before he had a chance to ask her what was wrong, Fantasia smacked Justin in the back of the head so hard that he nearly did a face plant in his cereal!

"What the FUCK was that for?" Justin screamed as he rubbed the back of his head. The other four guys just stared at her with their mouths hanging open.

Fantasia turned to Lance and Joey and asked, "Do you want to know what he and Jamie were fighting about last night?" Joey and Lance glanced at each other. Fantasia didn’t wait for them to respond. She turned back towards Justin and said, "He forgot her BIRTHDAY!"

"What! How could you forget?" Chris asked Justin. Fantasia turned on her heel and stalked back to the table where Jamie was sitting. The guys immediately started badgering Justin about how he could forget his girlfriend’s birthday.

As Fantasia sat back down across from Jamie she noticed the stunned look on her face. "What?" Fantasia asked, "You just gotta know how to handle him."

"Thanks," Jamie said, "but I think I’m going to break up with him."

"Over one missed birthday?" Fantasia asked confused.

Jamie shook her head and said, "There’s more to it than that. I don’t think he loves me anymore. When he has time off he only wants to hang out with the guys. When I ask if I can tag along to a photo shoot or interview, he says Johnny wouldn’t allow it. I point out that you go all the time. He says it’s because you’re their masseur and they need you."

Fantasia got a confused look on her face. "No, I go because Joey wants me there."

"See what I mean?" Jamie replied. Fantasia sighed and looked over at Justin.

Meanwhile, at the guys’ table, Justin was sick of the rest of the guys nagging him. "I didn’t FORGET!" he screamed.

"Then why dose she think you forgot?" Lance asked.

Justin sighed and said, "Because I wrote it down in the wrong spot on my calendar. I thought it was next week, not yesterday. She didn’t say anything about it until late last night. I tried to explain this to her, but she wouldn’t listen to me."

"Did you even get her anything?" JC asked.

Justin nodded. "I ordered her a custom made diamond bracelet, but it won’t be here for at least a few more days. I told her I ordered her something, but she didn’t believe me. She accused me of lying to cover my own ass."

"Why didn’t you show her the receipt?" Chris asked. He knew that Justin would have to have a receipt for an item like that.

"I couldn’t find it." Justin sighed, "I’ve been so busy planning the perfect day that I haven’t been spending as much time with her."

Justin got up from the table and walked over to where Jamie and Fantasia were sitting. He wanted to try to talk to Jamie. She hadn’t said a word to him all morning. As Justin approached the table, Fantasia decided to leave them alone and excused herself. She went back over to where the rest of the guys were sitting and sat down next to Joey. Jamie still refused to listen to anything Justin had to say. As they watched them fight, Joey told Fantasia what Justin had said.

Just as he finished Jamie slapped Justin across the face and screamed, "It’s OVER! I never want to see you again!" She stormed off and Justin slumped down in a chair. Now Fantasia felt bad for smacking Justin before getting his side of the story. She was just about to go after Jamie when Johnny came over to tell the guys it was time to leave. Fantasia didn’t feel like she had any right to be giving out relationship advice anyway. After all, she really didn’t have any experience.

Later that morning Fantasia was on the bus with the guys. They were on their way to one of their countless interviews. Fantasia was standing by the tiny kitchen talking to Lance. Chris was behind her digging around in his bunk for something. Suddenly a pillow came flying out and hit Fantasia in the back. She picked up the pillow and couldn’t help smiling a little. It was a black, square pillow with Steelers football helmets all over it. She could tell that it had been lovingly made and hand quilted.

"That’s my Steelers pillow that a fan made for me." Chris said, "I really need to email her and thank her. It’s the best pillow I’ve ever had! I’ve got her name in here somewhere." He opened up his planner and started looking through the front pocket. After shifting through business cards, receipts and various scraps of paper he finally found what he was looking for. "Ah! Here it is. Her name is…." Suddenly Chris froze and stared at the piece of paper.

"What!?! What is it?" Lance asked eagerly.

"You?…. It was you?" Chris asked staring hard at Fantasia.

She grinned at him. "I’m just glad to know that you got it," she said handing the pillow back to him.

"Wait a second! That means you’re the one who gave me that plush Baby Taz!" Lance exclaimed. The next thing she knew, Fantasia was sandwiched in between the two guys in a hug.

"What’d you trying to do? Squeeze my girl to death?" Joey asked coming into the room. He had been in the back of the bus playing video games with JC. Chris and Lance let go of Fantasia and they both started talking at once. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! One at a time!" Joey said. Chris and Lance took turns telling him what they just discovered. "That was you?" Joey asked shocked. Fantasia just nodded. He burst out laughing and said, "I should’ve known."

The guys even had an interview to do while they had lunch. The fancy restaurant gave them a private room in the back.

"What magazine is this?" Chris asked as they walked into the room.

"Who knows." JC groaned.

"I believe its Rolling Stone." Lance replied.

As the guys were getting settled a very attractive female reporter with long, red hair entered the room. "Hello, I’m Marisa." The guys all stood to greet her. While Marisa got out her paperwork, Fantasia and the guys ordered their lunch.

"Before we begin," Marisa said a few minutes later, "I was wondering if Fantasia would mind answering a few questions." Fantasia was stunned! Magazines never interviewed the girlfriend. Unsure of what to do she glanced over at the guys. They were just as stunned as she was.

"Ah…ok…sure." Fantasia replied.

"Great!" Marisa exclaimed, "To save time I went ahead and typed up the questions. You can just fill it out while I interview the guys." She handed Fantasia a two-page packet. "Its just some basic questions like where you’re from, what you like, how you met Joey, that sort of stuff." Fantasia just nodded as she took the packet.

After about ten minutes the food arrived. Fantasia ate her lunch, filled out the questionnaire and listened in on the guys’ interview all at the same time. The first five questions were typical stuff: name, birthday, hometown, hobbies and pets. Questions six and seven are where it started to get interesting: "How’d you meet Joey?" and "Is he a good kisser?" But question eight is where things got a little strange: "Ok, be honest! How big is Joey’s meat?" Fantasia was completely appalled, but she knew exactly what to say. "Just the right size." From there on the questions got more and more disturbing. As Fantasia flipped to the second page she took a drink of her soda, which was a mistake. When she read the final question she nearly did a spit take! "What is Joey’s favorite trick that you perform in bed?"

Joey looked over at Fantasia concerned. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Not really." she replied, handing him the list of questions, "Start with number seven."

As he skimmed the questions, Joey’s ever-present grin disappeared. He was so completely stunned that he didn’t even hear Marisa ask him a question. After she said his name a couple times and didn’t get a response, Chris tried his own method. "Hey, Phat One! Wake up!"

Joey finally looked up. "Huh?"

"This nice lady here was trying to ask you a question, but you were so rudely ignoring her." Chris explained.

"Huh? Oh…ah…sorry. Could you please repeat the question?" Joey asked as he slipped the list of questions to a confused Lance.

Lance started to skim through the questions. It didn’t take long before JC got curious and peered over his shoulder. They soon figured out what Joey wanted them to see. "You can’t ask that!" JC screamed jumping out of his chair.

"I’m sorry? I’m not allowed to ask if Joey’s brother was filming this tour?" Marisa asked innocently.

"Not that! This!" JC screamed, holding up the questionnaire.

"What is it?" Chris asked.

"Let me see!" Justin said. They both jumped out of their chairs and took the packet from JC. It didn’t take long before they started screaming at Marisa too.

"What in the world is going on over here?" Johnny asked coming over. He had been having a meeting of his own at a nearby table. Justin handed him the list of questions while Lance explained to him what had happened. "This is outrageous!" Johnny screamed, "I’m calling your boss and our lawyer right now!"

Just as he was about to dial the number on his cell phone the door opened and a tall, slightly older woman with short, dark blonde hair came in. "I’m sorry that I’m so late. There was a huge accident on the freeway. I was stuck in traffic for almost three hours! I hope my assistant, Joan, kept you company."

"Assistant!" everybody screamed. The guys crowded around her, asking questions so fast that she couldn’t understand a word they were saying. "Guys! Guys!" Johnny said, "Let me handle this. You go finish your lunch." Reluctantly, the guys returned to the table.

Johnny turned to the new woman. "Joan is your assistant? So you must be Marisa."

"Yes! Now do you mind explaining what’s going on?" she asked.

"Well, Joan gave Joey’s girlfriend this questionnaire to fill out."

"Joan! You never, EVER interview the girlfriend. You know that!"

"I’m afraid that it gets worse." Johnny said handing the list of questions to Marisa.

When she finished reading them Marisa turned to Joan and said, "I need to speak with you in the hallway NOW!" Joan reluctantly followed Marisa out into the hallway. As soon as they were out the door, Chris and Justin jumped up out of their chairs and pressed their ears to the door. Even if you didn’t have your ear up to the door you could still hear Marisa screaming at Joan. The last thing they heard was her screaming, "When we get back to the office you are so fucking fired!"

Joey wrapped his arms around Fantasia and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Me?" she replied shocked, "I was going to ask you the same thing. You’re the one all the questions were about!"

Joey smiled at her. "I’ll be ok as long as I have you."

Just then Marisa and Joan came back into the room. Marisa ordered Joan to sit in a chair in the corner and be quiet before approaching Johnny. "I am terribly sorry about all this. Joan isn’t even authorized to conduct interviews. We’ve never had anything like this happen before."

"Neither have we." he replied.

"Actually," she continued, "come to think of it… I’ve never even done an interview where the girlfriend was present."

"It’s a little new for us too. I just can’t seem to tear them apart for two minutes."

Marisa couldn’t help laughing a little. "I’m just not sure what to do next." she said, "I need to call my boss and see what he thinks." Johnny just nodded as she pulled out her cell phone. While Marisa was on the phone she wandered over to the table to look at Joan’s notes from the interview. She was surprised to find that Joan had followed her questions to the letter. After a few more minutes she went back over to Johnny. "He wants to talk to you."

Johnny took the phone from her. "Hello…. Yes, this is he." After about ten minutes he hung up the phone and gave it back to Marisa.

"So what are we doing?" Lance asked.

"Were going to finish the interview. Marisa is going to pick up where Joan left off." Johnny replied.

"But won’t that make us late for our next interview?" JC pointed out.

Johnny nodded and said, "I’ll have to call them and tell them that we’re running late." Everybody sat back down around the table. It only took Marisa about fifteen minutes to finish the interview.

While Marisa finished up with the guys, Johnny carefully read over Joan’s questionnaire and Fantasia’s answers. As the guys were just finishing the interview he approached Fantasia. "I noticed that you put an answer down for number eight."

"Oh, yeah. Well, that was before I saw how… ah… disturbing the rest of the questions were." she explained.

"I understand. It’s just that your answer…. Well, it was very clever. And I bet it made Joey feel good, too! How’d you come up with that?"

Fantasia shrugged and said, "It just sorta came to me."

"What? What’s so clever?" Chris asked dashing over. He hadn’t looked at Fantasia’s answers when he had read the questions. Before Johnny could even react Chris had snatched the paper right out of his hand. It only took a few seconds before Chris burst out laughing, attracting the attention of the other guys. Soon they were all laughing and making jokes about Joey. Joey just smiled sheepishly.

"Ok, guys." Johnny said, "We have to get going. We’re running late as it is." After everybody was on the bus, Johnny gathered everybody together for a quick meeting. "I was wondering what you guys wanted to do about Joan."

"You mean, like, sue her?" JC asked.

"That’s one option." Johnny replied.

"I don’t think that’s necessary." Lance said.

"Yeah, as long as she gets fired." Justin agreed.

"And nothing gets leaked to the press." Chris added.

"Joey, what do you think?" Johnny asked.

"Making sure she’s fired sounds good, but what if she tries to sue us?"

"You mean like the girl that tried to claim that Justin verbally assaulted her when she said she liked JC better?" Fantasia commented. The guys were used to her blurting out oddball facts about *Nsync, but Johnny wasn’t. He just stared at her rather stunned. "Or the parents that thought it was your fault when their daughter committed suicide while she was listening to ‘Bye Bye Bye’."

"Ah, yeah. Something like those cases." Johnny said. "But even if Joan would try to sue us, she wouldn’t have much of a case. Marisa let me hang on to the questionnaire and I’m supposed to call her boss back tomorrow." The guys agreed to just let Johnny handle it.

Justin sighed and slumped down in his seat. He couldn’t wait until the interviews were over. He just wanted to get back to the hotel so he could talk to Jamie.

After the guys finished all their interviews they went back to the hotel. They needed to get ready for the premiere party. As soon as the elevator doors opened on their floor, Justin took off running down the hall. He unlocked the door to the room he was sharing with Jamie and ran inside. He ran back out only a few seconds later. She wasn’t there.

Justin ran down the hall to another room where two of the other backup dancers were staying and started banging on their door. When they opened the door Justin asked frantically, "Is Jamie in there?"

The two girls looked at each other confused before one replied, "No, we thought she was with you." Justin just growled and took off running again. He skidded to a stop in front of the other two backup dancers’ room and repeated the process. He got the same reply there too.

Fantasia and the rest of the guys could only stand there and watch helplessly. Justin tried their make up artist and hairdresser with no luck. He was just about to start banging on their wardrobe manger’s door when Johnny stopped him. "Justin. She’s not in there." He handed Justin a piece of paper and said, "This was left on my desk."

It was Jamie’s letter of resignation. Justin crumpled the paper up and threw it on the floor. He stalked back to his room and slammed the door shut. Fantasia started to go after him, but Joey put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Let him go."
 
Joey and Fantasia went into their room and collapsed on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Joey was still thinking about Joan’s questionnaire. After a couple minutes of talking he asked, "Did you answer all the questions on Joan’s thing truthfully?"
 
Fantasia looked at him confused. "Yeah…. Why?"

"Even the part about me being… ‘just the right size’?" he asked bashfully.

Fantasia smiled sweetly at him. "Of course. Why?" She was curious as to why Joey was acting so self-conscious. It wasn’t like him at all.

"Well, it’s just that… well… uh." Joey sighed, "I’ve never told the guys this. If they ever found out, I’d never hear the end of it." Fantasia just nodded. Joey sighed again. "I once had a girl break up with me because I wasn’t big enough for her."
 
"What!?!" Fantasia shrieked, "That’s just wrong! You’re absolutely perfect just the way you are." Joey smiled and hugged her tight. "Didn’t she… enjoy it?" Fantasia asked, curious to why the girl would say that.

"Well, actually, we never did anything." he replied, looking down at the bed and tracing the pattern on the bedspread with his finger. "She just took one look at me and started laughing."
 
Fantasia’s mouth dropped open in shock. She couldn’t believe that somebody would do that to Joey. "I have no idea why she would do that, but I have a couple theories. Either she had been a little too… active and got herself stretched out too much. Or she’s a fan of Robin Williams."
 
Joey’s head shot up. "What the hell dose Robin Williams have to do with… me?"

Fantasia couldn’t help smiling at his reaction. "Robin Williams has been telling women for like the past twenty years that the best birth control is to just point and laugh."

Joey groaned. He did not find that funny. "If she didn’t want to do it, why didn’t she just tell me? She didn’t have to traumatize me!"

"True, but I’m not saying that’s what she did. It’s just a theory. Either way, does it really matter now?" Fantasia was finding that the more Joey loved her, the less her demons from her past haunted her. She wanted to do the same for him. Joey just shrugged. She could tell that he needed a little more convincing. She rolled him onto his back and kissed him hard. When they broke apart, Fantasia looked down at him and said, "I love you just the way you are."

Joey smiled back and said, "I love you, too," before pulling her into another kiss. Fantasia wasn’t just his girlfriend anymore. She really was the girl of his dreams.
 
As they laid there making out, Fantasia ran her hand down his chest and over his crotch. She wanted to show him just how perfect she thought he was. Joey moaned at her touch. Just as she started undoing his jeans, there was a knock at the door. "I seriously hope you two are getting ready for the party and not doing anything else." JC said. Joey and Fantasia both groaned in frustration. They knew that he was right. Just as they got up off the bed JC hollered, "I mean it! Don’t make me come in there and see something I don’t want to see." Then they heard Lance’s voice, "Would you leave them alone! They’ve had a rough enough day as it is."
 
"Remind me to thank Lance." Joey said.

"Remind me to strangle JC," Fantasia replied. Suddenly she stopped and an evil grin slowly spread across her face.

"What?" Joey asked a little nervous.

"JC’s most likely going to pick up a girl at the party, right?"

"Yeah…. Why?"

"Then I’ve got an idea of how to get back at him. But we’re going to need the other guys’ help." Fantasia explained her plan. When she finished Joey just stared at her with his mouth hanging open. "Well?" she asked.

"It’s brilliant! No wonder I love you so much. You’re a genius!" he said hugging her. "Do you think the other guys’ will go for it?"

"Oh, definitely."
 
They got ready for the party. When Joey came out of the bathroom, Fantasia was just about ready. He still couldn’t believe how hot she looked in that outfit. Joey walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and started nibbling on her neck. "Do we have to go?" he asked whining a little.

Fantasia looked over her shoulder at him confused. "You don’t want to go?"

Joey shook his head and said, "I just want to stay here with you."

Fantasia smiled and said, "Why don’t you try asking the guys that question and see what kind of response you get."

Joey sighed. He knew their response would not be a positive one. "Well, we still have twenty minutes." he said as he unzipped her pants and slipped his hand inside. Fantasia leaned back against his chest and let his fingers work their magic on her.

Joey was just about to lay her down on the bed when there was a knock at the door. "JC! Go away!" they both screamed.

"No, it’s me. Chris." the voice from the other side of the door said.

"Go away!" Joey screamed again.

"But I gotta talk to Fantasia." he whined.

"You know, if his neck is bothering him, he’s going to be whining about it all night." Fantasia whispered. Joey groaned and removed his hand from her pants. She zipped up her pants and went to let Chris in.
 
Chris came into the room carrying a brown, paper bag. "Hey, Fantasia. Your shorts came in."

"Already?" she asked surprised. It was only yesterday that she had told Chris about her Fuball shorts being too big for her. She went over to her suitcase to get the pair that didn’t fit. The pair that Chris had brought was considerably smaller.

After they swapped shorts Chris said, "And I have one more thing for you." He pulled a black, leather belt out of the bag and handed it to her. It had a large silver buckle with the Fuman Skeeto logo in rhinestones. Fantasia gasped.

"I thought you’d want to wear it to the party tonight." he said.

"Yeah. Sure. Thanks!" she replied still stunned; "What do I owe you for it?"

"Don’t worry about it. It’s a factory sample. It’s not even going to make it into production."

"Why not?"

"Too difficult and expensive to make."

Fantasia wrapped the belt around her waist. It was too wide to fit through the belt loops on her new jeans. Even buckling it in the last hole, the belt still hung down on her hips. Joey and Chris couldn’t help snickering. "Maybe I can get some more holes put in it." Chris offered.

"No, that’s ok. I like it just the way it is. I don’t need a belt with these pants anyway."
 
Joey was just about to push Chris out the door when Fantasia said, "Shouldn’t we let him in on our little plan?"

"What? What plan? Are you planning a prank? I wanna be in on it!" Chris squealed.

Fantasia started to explain why she wanted to play a prank on JC. "Yeah, I know. Everybody on the whole floor heard him! So what’s the plan?"

Fantasia explained her idea. An evil grin spread across Chris’s face. "I know exactly what I’m going to do! We gotta get Justin and Lance in on this too!" Chris dashed out the door. Less than a minute later he returned with a half shaven Lance in one hand and Justin with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth in the other.

"What’s the big emergency that psycho here had to drag us out of our rooms?" Lance asked rather annoyed.

"Tell ‘em! Tell ‘em! Tell ‘em!" Chris squealed jumping up and down. Fantasia started to explain her plan once again. She barely got a full sentence out before Chris got over excited and explained the rest. "Well, are you in?" he asked when he finished.

Justin and Lance looked at each other and said, "We’re in."

Joey was finally able to push all the guys out the door. He was just about to tackle Fantasia when Johnny started banging on the door. "Come on, guys. It’s time to go. The limo’s waiting."

Joey groaned and banged his head against the wall. "We’ll figure out something." They both took one more quick look in the mirror and headed out the door.
 
When Justin came out of his room, Fantasia noticed that he was in a much better mood. She knew that she should apologize for smacking him, but she didn’t want to upset him again. He needed to be in a good mood for the party. She’d find a way to make it up to him.
 
They soon arrived at the club where the premier party was being held. As Fantasia climbed out of the limo all the photographers snapping pictures blinded her. Joey noticed how stunned she was and whispered, "You’ll get used to it." The guys stopped to sign autographs and pose for a few pictures before heading inside.
 
Fantasia followed the guys around while they made small talk with various people. Soon another guy came running up and jumped on Joey’s back. Fantasia immediately recognized him as Joey’s brother, Steve.

"Would you get off of me!" Joey said pushing his older brother off.

"So where’s this girl that you can’t stop talking about?"

Fantasia looked over at Joey and he grinned sheepishly. "She’s right here." he replied wrapping his arm around her waist.

Steve looked at Fantasia for a second then said, "No, seriously. Where is she?"

"This is her." Joey said holding Fantasia tight.

"So this is the girl that you bought that $1,000 doll for?" Steve asked in disbelief.

"You what?" Fantasia asked turning to face Joey with a stern look and her arms crossed. She knew that Steve had to be referring to the She-ra action figure that Joey had given her for her birthday. Joey had implied that his mom had given it to him, not sold it to him.

"Well… I… ah…it’s just that… well, you see my parents wanted to go on a cruise… for their anniversary. But they were short like $1,000. I’d been trying to give them the money for almost a month, but they wouldn’t take it. Then you said that the She-ra figure was worth that much… so I bought it. That way mom and dad got to go on their cruise and you got your action figure. Everybody I love was happy."

Fantasia’s expression softened. How could she possibly stay mad at him for that? "And you didn’t tell me this because…?"

"I didn’t think you’d take her if I did." he replied slipping his arms around her waist. Fantasia hugged him to let him know that she wasn’t mad.
 
She glanced over Joey’s shoulder and saw Chris coming towards them. He had two young girls hanging off of him; the smallest wrapped around his leg. And two more older girls following close behind. Fantasia burst out laughing. "What?" Joey asked rubbing his ear. She just pointed at Chris. Joey and Steve started laughing too. "I see your fan club found you." Joey said.

"Yeah, and all at once too." he replied as he tried to pry his sisters off of himself. Fantasia continued to walk around with Joey. After about twenty minutes he could tell that this wasn’t what she was expecting.

"If you’re board why don’t you go walk around." Joey said with a smile.

"Ok." she replied nodding. He gave her a quick kiss. As she turned to leave Joey couldn’t resist giving her ass a squeeze. Fantasia looked back over her shoulder and smiled. The look in her eyes told Joey just how badly she wanted him. He was just about to run after her when somebody smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked rubbing the back of his head.

"Lance was talking to you. Did you even hear a word he said?" Chris explained.

Joey hadn’t even noticed that Lance had joined the group. "Huh? Oh, sorry. What were you saying?"

"Oh, hello Mrs. Fatone." she replied moving over so she could sit down.

"Please, call me Phyllis." she said sitting down next to Fantasia. "So Joey tells me that you’re a fan."

Fantasia smiled at the comment. "Fan is putting it mildly."

"That’s what he said." It didn’t take long before they started talking about Joey’s childhood. Phyllis took out a small stack of Joey’s baby pictures out of her purse. As they were looking through them Lance’s mom, Diane walked by.

"Hi, Phyllis. Oh, are those of Joey?"
 
Half an hour later Fantasia was sitting in the booth with Phyllis Fatone, Diane Bass, Lynn Harliss, Beverly Eustice and Karen Chasez. The table was covered with all the guys’ baby pictures. Fantasia was having a great time listening to all the stories about the guys as kids. Then Fantasia remembered something.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I got a couple pictures that I want to show you." she said as she took them out of her purse. She handed Beverly the picture she took of Chris with his fingernails painted pink. Then she gave Karen the picture of JC with his hair braided and tied off with pink bows. Both women burst out laughing. They past the photos around to the rest of the group so the others mothers could see.

"Did you do this?" Beverly asked still laughing.

"Yeah. I’ve always known that if I was lucky enough to be around the guys long term like this, I would have to have some pranks planned."

"Were they upset?" Lynn asked.

"Somewhat. JC chased me around the airport a little. But Chris seemed more impressed than upset. Although, I didn’t completely think his prank through. I forgot to get some nail polish remover. He had to borrow some from one of the backup dancers." By now all five women were howling with laughter.
 
Just then all five guys happen to walk past. They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw all their baby pictures on the table.

"MOM!" all five guys screamed, horrified.

"Oh, hi boys." Phyllis replied.

"Ma! You promised!" Joey wailed.

"I believe I promised not to bring any naked baby pictures." Phyllis replied. She turned to Fantasia and asked, "Fantasia, have you seen any naked baby pictures?"

"Nope…. Well, at least not any of Joey." she replied with a wicked grin.

"MOM!" the other four guys shrieked.

Fantasia couldn’t help laughing. "Relax, I only saw one naked baby picture."

"Who?" Chris asked. It would be just like his mom to do something like this.

"I’m not saying." Fantasia replied with a devilish grin.

"Ooo! You’re evil." Beverly whispered to her.
 
The mothers decided that they had embarrassed the boys enough and started to pick up the pictures. While Fantasia helped sort out the pictures, Beverly and Karen tried to give her back the pictures she had took of Chris and JC. "No, those are for you to keep. I can make as many copies as I want."

"Well, then do you want to pick out a picture of Chris?" Beverly asked.

"Ok, sure."

“MOM!" Chris screamed. All the mothers decided to let Fantasia pick out one picture of each of the guys. As she was looking through them, Fantasia held the pictures so the guys couldn’t see which ones she picked. When she finished picking out her five she slipped them into her purse. As the women started to get up, JC and Chris went over to their moms to find out what pictures Fantasia had given them. Fantasia went over to Joey. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. When JC and Chris saw the pictures they looked at Fantasia and groaned.

"Hey, at least I didn’t put them up on the internet." she replied.
 
Around an hour later, Fantasia was walking around looking for Joey. She saw Justin sitting in a booth, nursing a beer and talking to his mom. It was clear that they were talking about Jamie. Joey had told her while they were getting ready for the party that Justin would handle Jamie leaving in his own way. He said it was best to just leave Justin alone about it. Fantasia was just glad that Justin was talking to somebody about it. Chris was in the middle of the dance floor dancing with two girls at once. Lance was sitting in another booth making out with a blonde. She was sitting on his lap and he had his hand up her skirt. Fantasia smiled a bit. He sure wasn’t acting like a southern gentleman tonight! JC was over by the bar signing a couple autographs and posing for pictures.
 
Fantasia spotted Joey sitting at a table slumped down a bit. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Getting tired?"

"A little. Can we go back to the hotel yet?" he asked whining a little.

Fantasia smiled at him. "I don’t think so, but I got an idea." She glanced around to make sure nobody was really watching them before whispering in his ear, "Wait thirty seconds then follow me." As Fantasia started to leave Joey glanced to see which direction she was going. He painstakingly waited the thirty seconds. When he got up every muscle in his body wanted to run, but he knew he couldn’t draw attention to himself.
 
Joey followed Fantasia across the room, watched her go past an EMPLOYEES ONLY sign and duck down a hallway. By the time he entered the hallway, Fantasia had disappeared. He walked part way down the hall and stopped. "Now where could she be?" he wondered aloud. He didn’t even notice the door to the storage closet that he was standing next to was open a crack. Suddenly the door flew open, a hand shot out and pulled him inside.
 
Once inside the dimly lit closet, Joey could see that it was Fantasia. She already had her pants off and was ready to pounce on him. Joey was still a little stunned, but he wasn’t going to waste any time. He grabbed her in his arms, pinned her to the wall and kissed her. Fantasia immediately started working on his pants. As he kissed her, Joey’s hands started to wander down to her hips. As soon as he was free from his pants, they ripped off each other’s underwear.
 
Joey grabbed her ass, lifted her off the floor and slammed into her. Fantasia leaned back against the wall and hung on to his shoulders. Joey groaned at how good she felt. He loved being inside of her. He started a steady pace, but was soon banging into her at full speed. He’d been waiting for this all day and he knew he wouldn’t last long. Before he was even ready, Joey exploded inside of her. When it was over they held each other and leaned against the wall. It hadn’t been quite enough for Fantasia, but she didn’t mind. She hadn’t done this for herself. She had done it for Joey. She knew it couldn’t be perfect every time.
 
"Can we stay here like this forever?" Joey asked kissing her neck.

"I don’t mind, but sooner or later somebody is going to come looking for us. Would you rather go back out there on your own or have somebody with a camera find us in here?"

Joey got a nervous look on his face for a second, but relaxed and said, "It’s my party and I’ll fuck my girlfriend if I want to."

"I don’t think that’s exactly how it goes." Fantasia giggled. However, Joey knew that she was right. They definitely did not need a picture like that turning up. "Besides," Fantasia continued, "we need to make sure JC picks up a girl."

Joey grinned as he thought about Fantasia’s plan. "Can we stay here just a little longer?" he asked. Fantasia nodded and he kissed her. Joey rested his head against the wall next to her and held her tight.
 
After a couple minutes he set her down and they started to get dressed. Joey was just pulling up his pants when he heard someone out in the hallway. "Joey!…. Where ya at?…. Come out, come out wherever you are!…. Ali Ali oxen free!" It was Chris!

Fantasia opened her mouth to say something, but Joey put his hand over her mouth and motioned for her to be quiet. Fantasia gave him a very confused look. Joey listened for Chris for a second then whispered in her ear, "I’d rather have a reporter with a camera find us than Chris."

Still confused, Fantasia mouthed the question, "Why?"

Joey once again listened for Chris before replying, "With a reporter it would be in the news for a week or two. Chris, on the other hand, would never let us live it down." Fantasia got a slightly panicked look on her face.
 
They finished getting dressed and Joey waited until Chris was at the other end of the hallway. He gave Fantasia one more deep, passionate kiss and whispered, "Thank you. I needed that." Fantasia smiled and told him to get going before Chris caught them.
 
Joey slipped out into the hallway, walked about ten feet, then said, "Hey, Chris!" Chris turned around and Joey asked, "Whatcha doing back here?"

"I was looking for you." he replied walking over to his friend.

"Well, here I am."

Chris looked around a bit and asked, "Where’s Fantasia?"

"I dunno." Joey fibbed. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure which door he had come out of.

"So you two weren’t back here having your own little party?" Chris asked with a smirk.

"No! Don’t be ridiculous. Fantasia wouldn’t go for something like that." Joey replied, this time telling an out-right lie. "Did JC find a girl to hook up with?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"See for yourself." Chris replied as they exited the hallway. JC was out in the middle of the dance floor grinding with a smokin’ hot red head.

"WOW! She’s hot!" Joey exclaimed, practically drooling. Suddenly he froze, turned to Chris and said, "Don’t tell Fantasia I said that."

"Why would I do a dumb thing like that? I don’t want to see you get killed." They both burst out laughing and rejoined the party.
 
As they walked off together Fantasia stepped out of the shadows. She’d heard Joey’s little comment and had nearly smacked him in the head for it. But he seemed to realize his mistake so she decided to let it go… this time.