Chapter 16: Flirting With Disaster…or Just Plain Flirting

Justin woke up one morning in October rubbing his eyes. Everything suddenly came flying back at him. On October 7th they had released “I Want You Back” as their first single and he had to admit it was his favorite track that they’ve recorded so far. They had performed the song at a couple of shows to see their audience’s reaction, and so far it was positive. Two days ago, on the 15th of October they found out that their single entered the German charts and they had gone to Switzerland for the day to appear on the show Coom. Now, the 17th, Justin was excited for three reasons: 1) It was Chris’ 25th birthday and they had managed to get his family to come and celebrate 2) ‘N Sync were going to be the opening act for DJ Bobo in Cologne, Germany, and 3) Trace was finally coming to visit.

“Hmmm, I wonder if Room Service can bring up some cereal,” he muttered to himself as he looked over the menu. He grinned when he saw it located under the breakfast section. He grabbed the phone and quickly dialed the extension number for Room Service. “Hi, I was wondering if you had any cereal you could bring up.” Justin asked the person on the other line. “You do? Great. Um, do you have any Captain Crunch cereal? Good. Now, if it’s not too much trouble could you put it in the biggest bowl you can find? Thanks so much! Room 712. Thank you. Danke schön!”

Justin glanced at the door when a knock sounded. He hung up the phone, rubbed his eyes again, and shuffled to the door quietly as to not wake up his mom. “What the heck? Trace, we weren’t supposed to pick you up for another three hours,” Justin said happily as he hugged his friend.

‘That Lou guy arranged for me to get here early,” Trace replied, coming into the room. “I mean, the guy picked me up in a Rolls-Royce. How fly is that?”

“It is pretty dope,” Justin replied.

“Ok, so what’s the day going to be like?”

“We open for DJ Bobo today so we’re going to spend part of the day practicing in the dance studio.” Justin ran a hand through his hair. “Then we’re going to celebrate Chris’ birthday. That’s about it. Oh, in between the rehearsal and the show we have time to hang out.”

“Sounds cool.” Trace nodded and looked around. “Where’s the Dancing Queen?”

“In here.” Justin pointed at the door connecting their rooms. “Robin, our vocal coach, used to room with her but she had to help some others back in Orlando.” Justin put a finger to his lips and pushed open the door. The two quietly crept into the room and over to Mack’s bed, which she and papers were occupying.

“1…2…3!” Trace counted. On three the two boys ran across the space of the room, jumped, and landed on her bed, earning a groan of pain from the girl.

“Get…off!” Mack growled without opening her eyes.

“Aww, not that aint the way to treat your best friend who flew this far out to see you,” Trace commented in his southern drawl.

Mack forced her eyes opened and smiled sleepily at him. “Mornin’.”

“Morning, Sleepy Head,” Justin chirped.

“Whoa, you’re up before me?” Mack asked in shock, rubbing her eyes. “And when’d he get here?” She added, glancing at Trace.

“A few minutes ago,” Justin replied. “Anyway, I have a bowl of cereal being brought up. Go change so we can eat and get to the studio.”

“Ok,” Mack said as she climbed over Justin to get out of the bed. “Tray, are you going to watch.”

Trace shrugged. “I have nothing better to do.” Mack flipped him off before going into the bathroom. A confused look crossed his features as he watched her move around the corner. “J, when did Little Mackie…change?” He questioned, following Justin back into his room.

“What do you mean?” Justin asked, picking up the large bowl of cereal that had been pulled into the room. “She hasn’t changed.”

“Besides the obvious,” Trace said with an eyeroll. “You can’t tell me y’all haven’t noticed.”

“Notice’ wha?” Justin asked with a full mouth, bits of cereal falling back into the bowl.

“She…she has hips now. And an ass and…boobies,” Trace finally got out with a bit of difficulty. Justin looked at him as if he were crazy. Before he could say anything the bathroom door opened and Lynn stepped out. “Ms. Lynn, it’s great to see you!” Trace said with a charming smile. “Did you do something different to your hair?”

“Aren’t you sweet? How are you Trace?” Lynn asked, pulling him into a hug which he eagerly returned.

“Glad to be out of Shelby for a bit,” he admitted. “The language I could do without, though.”

Lynn grinned as Mack came into the room. Trace glanced at her and flinched visibly, half because of the way her shirt hugged her body and half because of the sliver of abs that were shown as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

“Are the others awake?” She asked Justin.

He shook his head and swallowed. “Yes and now. Everyone but JC is awake.”

She rolled her eyes. “Be right back.” She checked if her key was in her pocket before leaving the room.

“Oh this’ll be good.” Justin put down the bowl. “C’mon, we have to check this out.” Trace and Justin followed Mack into Lance’s and JC’s room.

“Everyone’s up but him,” Lance said as he pulled his shoes on. Mack nodded and crouched by JC’s head.

“Jace, wake up sweetie,” Mack said softly as she stroked his hair. He didn’t move an inch so she grabbed the side of his mattress and pulled upwards. JC let out a cry of surprise before landing on the ground with a thud. “You have five minutes to change and get to the lobby,” she announced.

~*~*~*~

“Ok, so Justin and Joey will get on their backs with their knees up,” Mack explained as she paced a bit. “Then Chris and Lance will semi-sorta sit on your stomachs with their knees on your pelvic bones. They’ll pull the hems of their shirts down over Justin’s and Joey’s knees so you look like smaller versions of yourselves.” The four nodded. “C, you’ll just be on your knees imitating every arm or leg movement they do, ok?” he nodded. “Ok, do the dance all the way up to that part and I’ll show you the rest.”

They got into their positions and Mack sat down next to Trace on the couch before pushing a button on the remote, starting the music. Trace watched in amazement at how easily and flawlessly they seemed to make their dancing but he knew a lot of work went into it.

“You’re doing such an amazing job,” Trace said as he lightly patted Mack’s hand.

“Thanks. But they’re really doing all of the work,” Mack replied, never taking her eyes off of the dancing boys as she mentally scrutinized them.

“Are you sure you just turned fifteen?” Trace asked in suspicion. “Because you’re talking like you’re thirty.” She just shrugged and smiled a bit and that’s when Trace realized how much he really missed her. He missed her smile, her laugh, her attitude. Her. He had to admit he thought about her and Justin a lot, but his mind traveled to her the most.

“Ok guys, you can take a break,” Mack said to the panting, sweating boys. “You’ll blow the audience away tonight.”

“If Chris’s farts don’t do that first,” Joey said as he waved his hand in front of his face. Chris punched him in the shoulder. “So, Trace, is it?” Trace nodded. “I hear you’re the pain in our girl’s finely sculpted ass.”

“Joey,” Mack said in a warning tone and he smiled innocently.

Trace chuckled. “Yeah, I used to be pretty annoying.”

“’Pretty’?” Justin repeated. “You two were always at each other’s throats,” Justin said with an eye roll. “If I didn’t like either of you then you wouldn’t even be here.”

“So you want us to be happy that you’re arrogant?” Mack asked with a teasing smile.

Justin glanced at her with a mischievous look in his eye. Trace jumped in before they did something they would eventually regret. “Justin mentioned that you have a break in between this rehearsal and your show. I’d like to take a closer look of Germany. Anyone up for it?” He got mixed reactions from them. “What?”

“Well, lately we’ve been recognized from magazines and stuff and it’s hard to go somewhere without being…harassed,” JC replied. Trace couldn’t tell if he was bragging or not about the recognition but the strain in his voice alerted him that he was only telling the truth, bragging or not.

“You too?” Trace asked Mack, his eyes darkened slightly.

She scoffed. “No way, the fans don’t give a rat’s ass about me, which I have to say I’m relieved. Aint no way in this world I want to get any of my clothes ripped or torn.” She paused. “And J can’t go.”

“Why not?” Justin and Trace asked in unison.

“Because you all ready promised me and Lynn that you’d come with us to the hair salon, remember?”

Chris snorted as Justin glared. “You’re going to a hair salon? Are your nails that long?”

“No, he’s getting his curls bleached,” Mack replied. “Which I still don’t understand why.”

“Brown hair is so boring,” Justin replied. “No offense,” he quickly added to JC, Joey, and Chris.

“Ok, what about you guys?” Trace nodded towards Lance.

“Joey and I were going to go to a bar, actually,” Lance replied.

“Lance, you’re 17 you can’t drink beer yet,” JC pointed out.

“We know. We just want to see if we can get away with it,” Joey laughed as the two high-fived.

“And you two?” Trace asked Chris and JC.

“I was going to stick with Chris to make sure he stays out of trouble,” JC said as Chris huffed and mumbled something about where JC could stick his idea.

“Ok, I’ll just go with you guys,” Trace told Justin.

“We’ll meet you guys there later,” JC agreed.

~*~*~*~

“Are you ok?” Trace asked with a laugh.

“Shut up!” Justin snapped through clenched teeth.

“Careful you might mess up your perm.”

“Shut up you fu-“

“Justin Randall!” Lynn called from her seat, stopping her son from finishing his sentence.

“How’re you doing over here?” Trace asked, leaning over the sink to see Mack’s face.

“Good, unlike Whimperlake,” she replied. She, liked Justin, was getting her hair bleached but she was only getting strips of it bleached. On an act of impulse she decided to get blue streaks in her hair. Lynn tried to talk her out of it, saying that she might regret it later but Mack wouldn’t listen and Lynn gave in.

“Are you sure?” Trace pressed. “You don’t need me talking to you to take your mind off of the pain? Or hold your hand maybe?”

“Juan Trace Ayala, are you flirting with me?” Mack asked with a teasing grin.

Trace blushed. “Maybe, maybe not.” He turned towards the door when the rest of the guys walked in.

“What do you think of them?” Mack asked Trace. “And be honest because I care about your opinion.”

“I like ‘em,” Trace replied. “They’re kinda wild, even for you, but they take care of you so I can’t complain.”

“’Take care of me’?” She repeated, lifting her head so the woman doing her hair could wrap it up in a towel. Trace nodded. “Get this straight, Trace. I don’t need anyone taking care of me. I can take care of myself.”

“I get that, really I do,” he said as he picked up her hand. “It just puts my mind at rest knowing that they’re around to potentially take care of you.” He glanced down and quickly let go of her hand. “I worry about you, ya know? Since you left for Orlando three years ago. You’re not the same Little Girl that I teased and made fun of but…I worry that you’re growing up too fast and, I don’t know, you won’t have time for me anymore…or something.”

“Just because I don’t come running to you with my problems anymore,” she paused as the woman rubbed her bangs between the towel, “doesn’t mean I don’t need my T-Rex around.” Trace grinned at his childhood nickname.

Justin squinted across the salon as the woman dried his hair. Paying attention to his two friends kept his mind off of the slightly burning feeling on his scalp as the woman prepared to trim his hair.

“What’s wrong with you?” JC asked, sitting in the chair next to his now blond friend. “You look like a pit-bull.”

“There’s something weird about those two,” Justin replied, pointing. “I just…can’t put my finger on it. I mean, they don’t fight like they used to. They don’t tease each other like they used to. I just don’t get it.”

“It’s called growing up,” JC chuckled. “You know, it’s like how you turned into a freak when you started noticing girls.”

“I wasn’t a freak.”

JC laughed, “Sure, TrouserSnake.”

“Don’t call me that ever again!” Justin said in a warning tone. “Besides, growing up can’t be it. Mack’s already as mature as a chick can get and Trace won’t ever grow up.”

“Well, the only other explanation that makes sense to me is that one of their feelings have changed for the other,” JC suggested.

“What!?” JC blinked rapidly and rubbed his ears. “No, that can’t be it.”

“Why not? It’s becoming more and more common for friends to start dating. That’s how Nikki and I started.” JC shrugged. “I’m not saying it is, but if that is the case, don’t become your crazy overprotective self.”

“I don’t do that,” Justin denied.

“Yes you do,” Joey jumped in, looking up from his magazine. “You do it all of the time. You practically blow a blood vessel every time a guy just so happens to look her way.”

“I do not!”

“Yeah you do. You practically made me deaf when I suggested that they liked each other,” JC replied.

“Because they don’t and I’ll prove it.” Justin turned his attention across the shop. “Hey Trace! Mackie, come here!” He yelled.

“What am I, a dog?” Mack demanded once she was standing in front of Justin, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Do you like Trace?” Justin demanded

“Don’t do thiiiis,” JC said in a sing-song voice.

“Duh, I like Trace,” Mack replied, looking at Trace in confusion.

“Do you want to date him?”

“No!”

“Trace, do you want to date her?”

“Uh, no,” Trace replied.

“See? It’s all settled then.” With a wave of his hand he added, “You can go back to what you were doing.”

“Justin,” Lynn walked over to her sun, fluffing her curls with her fingers. “If anything were to happen between them you’d want to want to be a good friend to them, even if that means supporting them when you don’t think it’s right.”

“I won’t have to worry about it because they won’t get together,” Justin said firmly. “I’ll make sure of it if I have to.”

Justin spent the rest of the day before the show running around trying to keep Trace and Mack apart, which only made them think that something weird was going on with him. It got so bad that Justin ended up running late to get to their show.

“Where is he?” Chris demanded.

“If you don’t know then we don’t know,” Joey pointed out. “But I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

Just then the door to their dressing room burst open and Mack rushing in, panting, and carrying a large bag. “Sorry…I’m late,” she managed to get out.

“Where’s Baby J?” Chris asked.

“He and Trace are being lectured,” she replied. “They got into a fight.”

“Over what?” JC asked. She paused and gave him a pointed look. “Oh.”

“Yeah. So, I thought you guys would want to wear something different so I managed to get these.” She pulled a yellow jersey-like shirt out of the bag. It had the initials NY on the left side of the chest. “They’re the same but in different colors I got hats too if you want them. Lance, you’ll look good in the dark one, Chris you get yellow, and Joey you get orange. Jace, you can choose between the red and the blue, I didn’t know which one you’d want. The other will go to J.”

“Let J have the blue. It’s his favorite shade and he’ll have a fit if he doesn’t get it,” JC replied. She nodded and set Justin’s clothes down on the table. “Why are they fighting exactly?”

“Justin’s a paranoid lunatic, but that’s not really new,” she replied. “He’s been so freaked out about Trace and I hanging out ‘cause he thinks we’re going to start dating.”

“Do you like Trace like that?”

“No, but J won’t believe me when I tell him so.”

“He is jut fifteen after all.”

“Watch it. I just turned fifteen you know.”

“Yet you have the mature of a thirty-year-old on a good day. They’re boys, just let them fight it out of they need to.” He smiled and lightly flicked her forehead. “Now leave so we can change. He added, “Unless you like what you see.”

“Ha, don’t flatter yourself, Chasez. I’ve seen better.” Just then Justin came flying through the door.

“I know I’m late, I don’t need to hear it from you too,” Justin said as he quickly pulled off his shirt and pulled on the jersey-shirt. “What’s the setlist again?”

“Here We Go, I Thought She Knew, then the dance break, and you’ll end with I Want You Back,” Mack said from where she was tying Joey’s shoe as he fixed his hair.

“Oh, what about Chris’ cake?” Lance asked quietly as Chris put on the yellow hat.

“I got it taken care of,” Mack said with a wave of her hand. She stood and stretched a bit. “Get going and have fun,” she ordered, hugging them all.

“Yes ma’am!” Chris saluted. She ginned while the boys eagerly rushed out of the room.

Chuckling, she started picking up random articles of clothing off of the floor. Thinking a bit, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Trace’s number. “Hey, do you have the cake?”

“Mrs. Bass and I are returning with it right now, Little Lady,” Trace replied. “Be there in a bit.”

“Ok, bye Trace.” She hung up the phone.

“What’s your relationship with Trace?” Lou asked, coming into the room. Mack whirled around, eyes wide in fear, cursing herself from always getting herself into this situation with her back against the wall. Her eyes darted around the room as she gripped the discarded shirts in her hand. “Don’t you know it’s rude not to reply when someone asks you a question?”

“And don’t you know what you’re doing is against the law you sick pervert?” She asked in a slightly shaky voice.

“As much as you know that, if you tell anyone about us…” he passed and lightly ran his hand up and down her arm, “…then this dream that your little friend has will be over…and it’ll be your fault.”

In a split second she threw the clothes in his face and ran towards the door. He whirled around and closed a fist on her ponytail, yanking her back. She let out a cry of pain, her hands flying back to her head. Lou grabbed her by the elbows and pulled her against him. “Do you see what you do to me?” He muttered into her ear.

Something triggered in her and she suddenly found herself gasping for air as her eyes water. Lou shoved her away and she fell onto her hands and knees. “What’s wrong with you?” he demanded. She continued to make retching sounds as she gasped for air. He looked down at her before rushing out of the room.

“Oh my god.” Trace put the cake down onto a nearby table and rushed to her side. “Mack. Mackie, look at me,” Trace said as he held her face in his hands. “Take slow, deep breaths and tell me where your inhaler is.”

“Momma…Lynn,” she gasped.

“Ok. Stay here and keep taking deep breaths. I’ll go get it.” Trace rushed out of the room and ran down the halls, searching for Lynn. He finally found her and Mrs. Bass standing backstage, waiting anxiously. “Miss Lynn, I need Mack’s inhaler. It’s urgent.”

“Is she ok?” Lynn asked as she dug through her purse.

“Yeah, she’ll be fine.” As soon as the inhaler was in his palm he rushed back to the dressing room. “Here.” Trace knelt by her side and forced the inhaler past her lips, pressing down on the top, giving her her medicine. “It’ll be ok, sweetie,” he mumbled as he pulled her to him, hugging her and gently rocking her as she buried her face in his neck. “Everything will be ok.”

Trace looked up and locked eyes with Justin, who stood in the doorway. Trace held Justin’s faze as he visibly fumed. Trace opened his mouth to say something but Justin left before he could. Trace decided to wait before he went after him, Mack needed him more.