Justin practically bounced in his seat from the leftover energy that still drummed through him from rehearsal. Choreography practice had ended about a half hour ago, and it was now going on eight thirty while they waited for Lynn to finish preparing for their usual late dinner.

Long, late practices had become routine, and Justin was surprised that his four band mates sat listlessly in front of the TV as if they’d practiced several hours more than usual. The energy seemed to have been drained from their bodies, which was understandable considering how hard they’d been working. Justin knew he should be feeling the effects of it too, but for whatever reason he wasn’t. He had to do something to get rid of this excess energy because he couldn’t sit still any longer.

“I can’t watch this,” Justin moaned as he shifted from the chair was sitting in.

Chris let his lazy gaze move from the TV to Justin briefly before returning to the sports highlights that newscasters on ESPN were recapping. “No one’s forcing you,” he mumbled.

Justin ignored him and leaned forward to grasp JC’s forearm that was resting on the end of the couch. “Come play basketball with me, C.”

“It’s too dark. You won’t be able to see,” JC pointed out, meeting Justin’s gaze.

“The court has lights,” Justin replied and shook JC’s arm. “Please, JC. Just a quick game before dinner.”

JC sighed softly. “I’m tired, J.”

“C’mon. Just one game,” Justin pleaded.

“Justin, leave him alone,” Lynn called from the kitchen in front of the sink where she was straining spaghetti noodles.

“But I need to do something,” Justin protested.

Lynn glanced over at him. “You can set the table. Dinner’s about ready anyway.”

Justin sighed, but let go of JC’s arm and rose from the chair. He walked into the kitchen and pulled out a stack of plates from a cupboard near the stove. In the middle of laying the silverware next to each plate, Lou entered the room.

The sight of him surprised Justin slightly. He’d forgotten that Lou was there. Lou had followed them home from practice, but had gotten a phone call almost as soon as he walked through the door. So he’d disappeared into another part of the house while the rest of them had settled themselves in the living room as Lynn started dinner.

“You boys did good today,” Lou said to Justin, stopping just inside the doorway. He glanced at the stove. “I see you’re about ready to eat, so I’m going to head home and do the same.”

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Lynn asked as she set a bowl of salad in the center of the table.

“I don’t want to impose,” Lou said.

Lynn waved him off. “We have more than plenty.”

“Well, in that case, how can I refuse?” Lou replied and took a seat towards the end of table.

“Mom,” Justin hissed under his breath as he stepped closer so he was right next to her. “Why’d you do that?”

“He’s the one making all this happen for you. It wouldn’t hurt to be nice and get to know him, would it?”

“I guess not,” Justin muttered. He had nothing against Lou. In fact, Justin liked him. It seemed like Lou knew what he was doing and seemed to really believe in what they could do. But Lou had been around since they’d finished up their vocals earlier that morning and had spent most of the evening at the warehouse where they practiced. So Justin was more than ready for some downtime with the other guys. They’d worked hard and deserved some time to relax without having to worry about behaving in front of Lou.

“Dinner’s ready!” Lynn called into the living room.

A minute later Chris, Joey, Lance, and JC entered and gathered around the table. Justin sat down next to his mom and watched as JC paused briefly before taking the only seat left at the table across from Lou. There were no words exchanged as the seven of them piled food onto their plates.

“I was just telling Justin that you boys did good today,” Lou said after he took a rather large bite of pasta.

There was a scatter of thank yous from around the table.

Lou nodded and continued, “The choreography for We Can Work It Out still needs a little work, but your vocals sound pretty good.”

Lance’s head bowed slightly. Joey, who was sitting next to him, nudged him gently and offered him a small smile before saying, “We’ll get the steps.”

“Oh, I have no doubt,” Lou replied, smiling at him. “You’ve all made good progress for only having started a few days ago.”

“Well, it’s easy when we’re doing such a good song,” Chris said.

Justin nodded. “It was all JC could talk about for the first day.”

“Is that right?” Lou asked, looking over at JC.

“Yeah.” JC shrugged, looking down at his plate as he twirled the long noodles around his fork. “It’s The Beatles. I mean, what’s not to like?”

“So what’s next?” Justin asked after he took the few seconds of silence to drink some water. “After the demo, I mean.”

“Well, I’m going to give the demo to a few record companies, and one of them will pick you up. Then we’ll negotiate contracts to get you into the studio so you can start recording an album,” Lou explained.

“You really think we’ll get signed?” Chris asked with a mix of hope and skepticism.

“You boys are talented. There’s no mistaking that,” Lou said. “As long as you continue to work hard, I don’t see why you won’t get a record deal.”

The five members of NSYNC exchanged smiles, and Lynn said, “And anyone who doesn’t jump at the chance to sign you shouldn’t be in the music business.”

Lou opened his mouth to add something when pager began to beep. He excused himself before rising from the table and walking into the living room to use the cordless phone in there. Silence fell over the table again as the rest of them continued to fill up on spaghetti and salad.

“We should go out tonight,” Chris said.

Justin swallowed the food in his mouth as he nodded enthusiastically. “We should go to the arcade.” He leaned forward to look past Chris at JC, who was seated at the other end of the table. “What was the name of that place where you thought you beat me at Asteroids?”

“Silver Circle,” JC said.

Justin frowned. Sure he’d wanted to know the name of the place, but he’d expected to get into a playful argument with JC first. It was an old argument that they’d had many times before, and every time JC would insist that he actually beat Justin at the one arcade game they both spent so much time trying to win.

But not this time and Justin wondered if something was wrong. The thought lasted for only a second before he dismissed it. JC had said earlier that he was tired, which would explain why he didn’t want to play along like he normally would.

“I was actually thinking of something else.” Chris looked across the table at Joey. “Something better than an arcade in a roller rink.”

Justin’s expression darkened. He hated when they went to a club without him. It wasn’t fair that they excluded him like that, which was why he always tried to suggest things that they could do together. And most of the time they would go along with it. But it didn’t look like it was going to happen tonight.

“Hey, you know I’m in. We haven’t been to a club in ages,” Joey said. He looked to his left. “You should come with us, C.”

“No, he shouldn’t. He’s tired and wants to stay in with us,” Justin replied confidently.

“Now, Justin, you can’t force him to agree,” Lynn spoke up.

“I don’t have to. He doesn’t want to go clubbing,” Justin said.

JC hesitated before he said, “Actually, it’s been a while since I’ve gone out.”

Justin stared at JC in disbelief. He couldn’t believe JC was going out with Joey and Chris instead of staying in with him. The past few days had been crazy; they’d been going nonstop ever since Lance had joined. All Justin wanted was to hang out with JC.

Sure, they’d hung out earlier with the video games and swimming. But that was different because they hadn’t been able to really relax since they were just small breaks between rehearsals. And Justin was hurt that JC chose to go clubbing, especially knowing how he felt about being left behind. As his best friend, JC should’ve wanted to hang out with him.

“But you’re tired!” Justin protested, trying to convince JC to stay.

“Well, now I’m not,” JC said.

Joey brought his right hand down on JC’s shoulder to clap it good-naturedly. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

“But—”

“JC’s made his decision, Justin, and you have to respect that,” Lynn interrupted Justin’s objection.

Justin huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. Me and Lance will have fun without you.”

Lou returned, but Justin didn’t bother to straighten from his slouched position. He hadn’t really expected to change JC’s mind, but he’d hoped. Not for the first time, Justin wished he was older. It was juvenile, but he was tired of being treated like a kid.

Glancing at JC, he could see that his older friend still looked tired and kind of distracted. There was more to the reason why JC wanted to go clubbing, but Justin knew it would be pointless to ask. JC would just avoid his question because he wasn’t able to lie very well. He’d probably say that just he needed to relax, which Justin understood. Things had been stressful lately.

So with that in mind, Justin finished up his dinner. But he swore to himself that if JC didn’t seem better when they returned, then he’d say something. After all, it was his duty as best friend to make sure nothing was wrong.

Lance watched as Matthew Broderick danced along to “Twist and Shout” on a German float that his character, Ferris Bueller, had jumped on. There had been nothing on TV, so Justin had suggested it. It seemed kind of mellow for Justin, especially after his idea to go out had been spoiled. But Lance wasn’t going to complain because he’d originally wanted to spend these few quiet hours to himself before going to bed.

Justin had other plans though. Without a word, he reached for the remote and turned off the TV with the press of a button. “We should do something.”

“Like what?” Lance asked, not bothering to point out that they had been until Justin had shut off the movie.

“Something fun,” Justin said.

Lance didn’t say anything, but nodded. He had expected this because of what Justin had said at dinner. The guys had left a couple hours ago, and so far they hadn’t done anything spectacular like Justin had hinted earlier. Part of Lance was worried to find out what exactly Justin would do for fun.

He’d even voiced his worry to Joey who’d just laughed and said that Justin wouldn’t do anything too crazy. After all, Lynn was there and she wouldn’t let him get away with much. But that had done little to ease Lance’s trepidation about hanging out with Justin. And that feeling returned now that Justin was bored.

“We should prank call people,” Justin said after a few seconds.

“What?” Lance replied, staring at him in surprise. Somehow that’d been the last thing he’d been expecting. It almost sounded kind of tame for Justin.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never done it before.” Lance shook his head as he watched Justin move from one end of the couch to the other where the phone was sitting on the end table. He picked up the cordless phone and the phone book that sat on the bottom shelf before sitting down in the chair. “Well, it’s a lot of fun.”

“That’s kind of mean though, don’t you think? Bothering people this late?”

Justin glanced up at Lance briefly before returning his attention to the off-white pages. “If people are in bed at ten-thirty on a Friday night, then they’re losers.”

Justin rifled through the dog-eared pages of the phone book before he randomly stopped and started to dial someone’s number. Lance sighed and sat back on the couch. He figured there was no point in arguing with Justin because he’d probably just do it anyway. So Lance watched as Justin waited for a couple seconds before speaking into the receiver.

“Yeah. Can I get a large pizza with everything on it? Oh, and those cheesy bread stick things you have?” There was a slight pause before Justin said with feigned innocence, “This is Papa John’s, isn’t it?”

Lance couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped his lips. He’d almost expected Justin to do that corny refrigerator joke, but this was so much more creative. But if this was what Justin would do with every phone call, then he probably wouldn’t get bored with it as quickly as Lance had originally thought.

“Why do you refuse to serve me? Yeah, well, you can tell me I have the wrong number all you want. You still lost a customer, and I was a damn good one too,” Justin said before hanging up.

Lance shook his head even as he laughed slightly. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“It’s fun.” Justin held out the phone to him. “Here. You try it.”

“No thanks,” Lance declined.

Justin shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

As Justin punched in another set of numbers, Lance wondered just how often he did this. Justin spouted off a story to whoever he’d called this time about how he was from some kind of institution and was calling to conduct a survey. If they would just give him a minute of their time. All of it said in a voice that just oozed confidence.

Lance was amazed at just how comfortable Justin was with talking to people that he’d never met before. And then be able to come up with story on the spot as soon as the person answered. That was something Lance would never be able to do.

He’d been so nervous when meeting the guys that he’d felt like he was going to puke. Even at that point, Justin immediately started talking to him a mile a minute, not at all seeming to care that they’d just met seconds before. Lance wished he could have the confidence that Justin had and be able to talk to people so easily.

“Would you eat poop if someone paid you a million dollars?” Lance’s attention swiveled back to Justin who was grinning. No doubt at the expense of the person on the other end. “I already told you. This is a behavioral survey. We want to know the kind of things people do and would do.”

Lance had expected the person to hang up on Justin after that, but was surprised when Justin asked his next question. “What’s your favorite sex position?”

And that time the person hung up because Justin pulled the phone away from his ear and disconnected it with a shrug. He’d had his fun with that person, so now he was moving onto the next one. Justin smiled deviously before he picked up the phone again.

Lance inwardly groaned, wondering what Justin was going to do this time. He got his answer when seconds later Justin lowered his voice and asked, “Is Emily there? This is her boyfriend.”

There was more to this. Justin wouldn’t randomly call some girl’s house looking for her. And if he did, there would be no real reason to lower his voice. The next thing Justin said gave away just what he was doing.

“She never mentioned having a husband. Why do you think that is?”

Lance’s eyes widened. There was no doubt what Justin was up to now, and Lance knew he had to get him to hang up. The prank phone calls had been amusing before. But now it was down right cruel. Messing with a married couple.

“Justin! Give me the phone,” Lance demanded as he stood up from the couch and reached out for it.

Justin shot him an annoyed look and covered a hand over the receiver to say, “You had your chance earlier. Let me finish.”

Lance shook his head and reached for the phone again, but Justin stepped away from him and tried to continue to talk to the husband. As Lance stepped closer, he could hear the guy yelling at Justin. Once he was within reach, Lance grabbed the phone out of Justin’s hand and hung up.

Justin glared at him. “What did you do that for?”

“That was mean,” Lance said.

“Lighten up, Lance. It was a joke,” Justin replied.

Before anything else could be said the phone in Lance’s hand began to ring. The two of them exchanged nervous looks, knowing it had to be the guy Justin had been talking to. It was too late for anyone else to call.

“He must’ve star sixty-nined you,” Lance said.

“Well, aren’t you going to answer it?” Justin asked.

Lance shook his head. “I wasn’t the one who told him I was sleeping with his wife.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t the one who hung up on him,” Justin countered.

“Just answer it before your mom does,” Lance said, holding out the phone.

Justin sighed, but accepted the phone. This time he talked with a false Spanish accent as he tried to deny that he’d been the one to call just minutes before. Lance would’ve laughed if it wasn’t so unnerving. Justin must’ve really pissed this guy off for him to call back and continue his tirade.

Then suddenly a voice asked, “Who are you talking to?”

Both of them turned to see Lynn standing in the doorway. Justin immediately dropped his accent and covered the end of the phone before he said, “Trace.”

“Well, wrap it up. It’s getting late,” Lynn replied before she turned and left.

Once she was gone, Justin reinforced the accent and continued to insist that the guy had the wrong number. After another minute, he hung up the phone and rested it back in its cradle with a sigh.

“I don’t think he believed me,” Justin said.

“I wouldn’t have either,” Lance replied. “It’s a little suspicious when the same number has two completely different people.”

“Well, he wouldn’t have even called if you hadn’t hung up on him,” Justin pointed out.

Lance just sighed. It was pointless to argue with Justin, and it didn’t really matter anyway. There would be no more prank calls tonight. That was for sure.

Without a word, they settled themselves back on the couch and finished the last ten minutes of the movie. The credits just started to roll when they heard the front door open and Joey, Chris, and JC walked into the living room.

JC took the remaining seat on the couch next to Justin, who glanced at the clock on the VCR and saw that it was just after midnight. “You’re back early,” Justin said.

“It was a bust,” Joey said.

“You’re just saying that because you didn’t hook up with anyone,” Chris replied, laughing.

“Yeah, but it was just getting interesting when we left. That blonde wanted me to do jello shots off—”

“It doesn’t matter,” JC said, interrupting Joey as he spared a quick look at Justin and Lance. “You couldn’t have done it because you’re underage.”

“So what did you guys do?” Chris asked.

“I prank called people,” Justin said.

Chris laughed and held up his right hand for Justin to slap. “Alright!”

“I tried to get Lance to do it, but he didn’t want to.” Justin looked over at Lance. “He’s a good boy.”

“Shut up,” Lance said, trying to look serious. But he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. For the first time since he’d arrived, he actually felt like part of the group. Things could only get better from here.

“Geez, Joey. What were you trying to do? A poor imitation of me?”

JC held back the annoyed sigh he wanted to release at the teasing Chris directed towards Joey. They had stopped three other times already and hadn’t even made it all the way through the song yet. And JC’s patience was already running thin.

It wasn’t the mistakes that bothered him as much as their constant need to screw around every time they stopped. He just wanted to get through the song at least once. The demo was quickly approaching, and they needed to be prepared.

Joey reached up and gently shoved Chris, who was leaning against the arm of the couch. He cleared his throat. “I had something in my throat.”

“What? Air?” Justin asked from the other end of the couch beside Joey. Both Chris and Justin laughed at Joey's expense.

“Besides,” Joey said, ignoring them, “I wouldn’t want to be like Chris.”

“Why? What’s wrong with me?”

Joey smirked at Chris. “Do you really want a list? Because we might be here all day.”

There was a collective uproar of laughter from the group, even JC managed to crack a smile as Chris protested loudly. It was nine o’clock in the morning, but you never would’ve guessed it by their rambunctious behavior. They were all tired, but trying to shake it off by having some fun. But the fun could only last so long.

“OK, guys. Time to focus,” Robin said, pulling their attention back to her. She looked over at Joey before she hit a key on the piano that was just inside the door in the opposite corner. “That’s where your pitch is supposed to be. OK?”

Joey nodded and the five of them looked down at the sheet music they held. Robin counted them off before JC started to sing with the other four harmonizing with him. That time they managed to make it through the song without any mistakes.

“That was good, guys. Now let’s try it without the sheet music,” Robin instructed.

The sound of paper fluttering could be heard as the five of them simultaneously tossed the sheets of music onto the floor. That was all Robin needed to know they were ready. She counted them off once again, and JC sang the beginning.

Everything went smoothly until Chris’s part. He’d started off good, but then adlibbed the rest of the words to his part. His voice hadn’t wavered at all through the mess up, and by the end of it, they were all laughing.

“Nice reference to McDonald’s there, Chris,” Joey said, still laughing.

“I was trying not to be too obvious,” Chris replied, grinning.

“But McDonald’s is the only one known for their ‘special sauce’,” Lance pointed out from the wall he was leaning against across from the couch.

“We should eat there for lunch,” Justin said. “Give the old man what he wants.”

“Hey!” Chris protested. “I’m not that old. JC’s older than me.”

JC frowned. “No, I’m not.”

“Well, you act like it,” Chris said.

“Yeah, well, at least he’s not suffering from memory loss,” Justin retorted with a smile before JC could even dismiss it.

Chris shook his head. “Oh, it’s on.”

“Alright, boys. You can finish this later. Right now, let’s get back to the song.” Robin glanced at Chris. “Let’s take it from the top. And no more confessions of love to McDonald’s.”

They started again, and that time the song was perfect. Everyone had the correct pitch and came in exactly where they were supposed to. And there were no forgotten lyrics. They’d just reached the last part of the song where they harmonized together when Lou walked in.

“That was good, boys,” Lou praised once the last note had been sung. JC’s heart skipped a beat because he hadn’t seen Lou come in since his back was to the door.

Like the night before at the dinner table, thank yous were heard all around.

“You mind if I stay and listen for a bit?” Lou asked. He smiled when no one objected. At least verbally.

JC didn’t want him there. It was a horrible thing to think, especially since Lou was financing them, but he couldn’t help it. Everything seemed awkward and uncomfortable when Lou was around. And Lou asking to stay just added to it.

Every time Lou would come to watch them, he would always ask if he could stay. As if any of them would say no. But the way that he was continuously so polite unsettled JC. It was nice to be polite and ask, but once Lou got the OK the first time, he shouldn’t have asked anymore.

“You want to run through that again for me?”

Robin nodded. “Sure thing, Lou.” She turned her attention to the five of them. “One…two…three…”

JC opened his mouth as his voice box vibrated to fill the room with his singing. He wasn’t even aware that Lou had stepped up behind him until a large hand was placed onto his shoulder. The hand felt heavy against his shoulder, and the feel of it made JC’s skin crawl.

But that was nothing compared to what Lou did next.

JC was nearly finished with the first verse and the others had just started to harmonize with him when Lou placed his other hand in the small of his back. It startled JC so much that he jumped and immediately stopped singing. That drew his friends’ attention to him, forcing Lou to remove his hands.

“Dude, what the hell?” Chris asked.

“Sorry,” JC apologized. “I uh…I felt something fall on me. I think it was a spider.”

At that, they all looked up at the ceiling fan that he was standing under. JC was sure it looked pretty comical, but he couldn’t laugh even if he wanted to. He was too freaked out by what’d just happened.

Finally, Chris shook his head and said, “You’re such a girl.”

JC didn’t say anything, but moved from where he’d been standing to sit down on a small chair that was in the corner of the room by the couch. He wanted to put as much distance between him and Lou as possible. His body shuddered as he remembered Lou’s hands on him. The one on his back lower than what would be considered appropriate and just an inch from touching his butt.

That was the first time Lou had touched JC like that, but JC had a bad a feeling that it wouldn’t be the last. Sure, there was a possibility that Lou hadn’t been aware how low his hand was. But coupling that with the way he’d looked at JC yesterday, there was no doubt that it’d been done intentionally.

The whole thing unsettled JC, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He didn’t think he’d be able to just forget that it happened, but he didn’t exactly want to tell anyone either. It was embarrassing.

“JC!”

JC’s attention snapped to Justin who was staring at him with a frown. “You OK?” Justin asked.

“Yeah,” JC lied. “Sorry. I just zoned out there for a second.”

“You ready to start again?” Robin asked.

JC nodded and did what was expected of him. He was going to keep this to himself. For now anyway. Nothing had really happened yet, and maybe it would stay that way. But as he glanced up and caught Lou staring at him, JC couldn’t help but think that maybe that was just wishful thinking.