Chapter 25: I See Gold in Your Future

January 31st 1997

“Will you get that smile off of your face? It is seriously creeping me out.”

Justin stuck his tongue out at Chris and stretched his arms above his head, purposely waving his hands in Chris’s face. Chris leaned from side to side, trying to move away from the fingers that was obstructing his vision as Justin cackled evilly. Joey grinned and took the opportunity to move his race car across the finish line as Chris’s car swerved.

“Ha! In your face!” Joey cheered, throwing his arms into the air.

“No fair! Curly was obstructing my vision,” Chris protested. “You could get a ticket for that.”

“You can’t be mad at me. It’s my birthday,” Justin said as he yanked the controller from Chris’s hands. Chris muttered something about lame excuses under his breath as Justin took his turn battling Joey. Chris grinned and slowly slid his hands in front of Justin’s face, obstructing his view such as Justin did a few minutes before. Next to Chris, Mack chuckled but didn’t shift her attention from the planner that was lying out in front of her, tapping a pen against her chin. JC and Lance were lying down on the other bed watching Justin and Joey play the game quietly.

It was the first time in a while that their morning was free and they were spending it the way they wanted: doing nothing. Later in the afternoon they had an interview to do on BMG’s website and would probably perform one of their songs (the latter was still undecided). Either way their day was free and that’s the way they liked it.

“Are you sure that we only have the interview today?” JC asked, tilting his head a bit. “It feels weird having nothing to do.”

“Yes, JC, for the tenth time, the only thing you have scheduled today is an interview for BMG,” Mack replied, pulling the cap off of a highlighter and highlighted something. She tapped her chin a again before switching the highlighter with a pen. She was gathering every shred of patience she had inside of her and was preparing them for the ride of their lives.

In the next few weeks, after watching one or two shows Lynn was going to go back to work which meant that would leave Mack all alone with a bunch of boys that could easily grate and grind at her nerves. It was going to be more of a challenge for her than for them. She was the one who had to make sure she was somewhat pleasant or else they wouldn’t be able to work together at all. And the last thing she wanted was for them to be out of focus because of her.

She closed her planner with a snap, rolled off of the bed (rolling over Chris in the process) and walked towards the door once her feet reached the floor. She left the room—remembering to move the little door stop handle over so she could get back into the room easily—humming to herself as she looked at the notes that she had scribbled into her planner.

“Hey Little Lady, do you have a second?’ Johnny asked, sticking his head out of a door. She looked up at him and nodded, walking into the room. She hovered by the door and raised her eyebrows when she saw the large dark skinned men sitting around the room. They each looked up when she walked in. “Mack this is Randy Jones, Todd Dukes, Eric Burrows, Michael Greaves, Lonnie Jones, Wesley Long, and Andre Persons. They’ve been hired as ‘N Sync’s body guards.”

“Bodyguards?” She repeated. “They need bodyguards now?”

“Yes. Their fanbase has grown rapidly once their single came out,” Johnny replied. “It was the same as when the Backstreet Boys started. Soon a lot of fans showed up wherever they were and tried to get to them and get their things signed or just to touch them. They slow us down, especially if we’re in a rush to get somewhere. They even jump in front of cars. We’re using the bodyguards not only for the safety of the boys but for the safety of the fans.”

“Wait, there are seven guys and five of them. These guys are big, I’m sure they’re only going to need one bodyguard per person.” The bodyguards chuckled at how blunt she was being.

“Two of them are for you,” Johnny replied.

“Huh?”

“If you haven’t noticed you’re tiny. You’re 5’2” and pretty small. These girls are going to eventually put two and two together and realize that you’re their friends, especially since you go out with them all of the time. They’re going to want to know every single thing about you and they’re going to want to go through you to get to them. That’s why there are more bodyguards here, we want you safe as well and I’m sure the boys agree with me.”

“Ok, now you’re scaring me,” she muttered causing the bodyguards to laugh.

“Could you go get the boys for me?”

“Sure.”

Mack went right back out of the room and back to the boys’ room. She pushed open the door only to be met with a pillow to her face. Why do I always get hit in the face? She scrunched up her nose a bit as the guys stopped and stared at her. “Johnny wants to talk to you guys.”

“About what?” Justin asked.

“I can’t read the guy’s mind. Go and figure it out, lazy ass!”

“God, fine!”

They jumped down from the beds they were having their pillow fight on and left the room. Mack quickly closed her planner and tossed it on a bed. Then she opened the closet and pulled out saran wrap (why it was in the closet she still didn’t understand). She quickly pulled out sheets and taped them to the open door.

“What’re you doing?” Lynn asked with a smile as she came into the room from the connecting one next door.

“Playing a trick,” she replied, quickly applying more tape and inspecting it to make sure the saran wrap was pulled tight. “Now sit back and act like nothing’s wrong.” Mack jumped onto the bed and started to change the channel as she tried to hide her smile. It only got bigger when she heard their voices getting louder and louder. “Justin! Hurry! You have to see this!” Mack called, jumping off the bed, grabbing Joey’s video camera and turning it on.

The sound of pounding footsteps filled the hall and got louder and louder as he got closer. Justin appeared in the doorway and he turned to go into the room. He was moving fast enough that when he smacked into the saran wrap and stumbled backwards and fell into the other wall. Mack cracked up as well as the others who pointed and laughed but Justin just sat there, stunned.

Joey reached out his hand and laughed harder as he took down the saran wrap that covered the doorway and stepped into the room. “Did you get that on tape?” He asked. Mack was laughing so hard that the only thing she could do was nod. “Awesome!” He held out his hand and they high fived. “Being around Chris has definitely rubbed off on you.”

“I’ve taught you well,” Chris said in a fake crying voice as he hugged her.

“How could you do this to me on my birthday?” Justin asked, sticking out his bottom lip.

“’Cause you do stuff to me when it’s not my birthday,” she replied, finally being able to stop laughing. Her face was still really red, through. “Besides my limbic system made me do it.” Lance and Mack looked at each other and cracked up.

“Your what?” Justin asked in confusion.

“I’ll explain later,” she said with a wave of her hand. “So what’d Johnny want?”

“He wanted to introduce us to our new bodyguards. Then he was telling us how we’re going to get to the interview and what we should wear.”

“Do they still want you to match?”

“Mhm.”

“Ok, Lynn and I will come up with something.” She looked at her watch and gave Joey his camera back. “See you later, boys.”

“Where are you headed?” Joey asked.

“I want to play with Oreo and Little J for a bit.”

“Want some company?”

“Sure.”

“Do you guys really think we need bodyguards while we’re here?” Chris asked flopping down on the bed and holding his chin in his hands. He wasn’t looking at the TV scree, he was looking past it at the wall, a faraway look was in his eyes. “That’s kinda weird.”

“Johnny says to expect Beatlemania with our fame,” Lance replied. His voice was laced with some hesitance though, as if he didn’t believe it himself. He still couldn’t believe that something like that was actually happening to them. He kept thinking that everything that was happening to them was a long dream that he couldn’t wake up from. The others stayed quiet letting it all sink in. “That’s kinda freaky,” he finally spoke up. “I mean, the Beatles were huge.”

“Johnny says the Backstreet Boys were the same way,” JC spoke up.

“I hate how Johnny always talks about them,” Justin muttered.

“Can you blame him? He’s their manager too.”

“I wish he was only ours.”

“You can wish for that when you blow out the candles on your cake,” Chris commented dryly. “Get over it, whiny-ass.”

Justin didn’t even retaliate like he normally would. He just rolled off of the bed and went over to the door that connected the room to his and his mothers’. Lynn was going through her purse, probably making sure she had enough money to go out shopping later. Lynn always ended up shopping for them if they needed to wear matching clothes (something Justin still didn’t understand but he thought it was funny at the same time). She looked up when Justin dropped down on his bed and let out a slow breath.

“Is everything ok, sweetie?” Lynn asked.

“Everything’s fine,” Justin replied honestly. “I’m just gearing up for the interview. I’m trying to imagine responses to questions that they could possibly ask.” He tilted his head. “Shopping again?”

She nodded. “The funny thing is you guys are going to go home with more clothes than you came here with.” She smiled and Justin chuckled. “I know I say this a lot but I’m really proud of you, honey.”

“I know, Momma,” Justin replied, smiling. “I know.” Lynn walked over to him and placed a kiss on his forehead. “Momma, when you go could you put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door? I want to get some rest before the interview.”

“Ok sweetie.”

Justin watched as she bustled around the room for a few more minutes before leaving and closing the door behind her with a click. He closed his eyes, let out a slow breath, and let his mind wander. He was finally sixteen. He smiled to himself. That meant he could drive and do other things that sixteen-year-olds could do. Like…drive a date somewhere or…drive anywhere they wanted. Basically he wanted to freedom to be able to go anywhere whenever he wanted to. He just needed a car…

He rolled over onto his stomach and hugged a pillow to his chest. Sixteen-years-old and he was all ready living one of his dreams: to become a successful respectful recording artist. And the fact that he was doing it with his four best friends was a bonus. No. not best friends, brothers. He didn’t think he’d be able to do it alone, he wouldn’t do it alone. Being ‘N Sync and having their support was the only way he knew how to live now. If they were ever taken away from him for any reason at all…he didn’t know how he’d be able to live.

He grabbed the phone by his bed and dialed Trace’s number. As soon as Trace picked up he bid his friend a happy birthday at such high volumes that Justin had to jerk the phone away from his ear. Chuckling Justin thanked him and then they talked about what was going on on either ends.  Trace said something about two of their old friends getting together and then he mentioned something about Veronica Finn wanting to get into singing and Justin’s heart soared.

Justin never told anyone but he had been dating Veronica (Huckleberry Finn to him) for a bit. Trace had set the two up and they instantly had formed a bond. They started dating a few weeks after they met and they were still going on strong. He called her late at night so the others wouldn’t disturb them or make fun of them. He always knew that Veronica had a great singing voice and always said she should peruse music (so they could have something else in common) but she never went for it. Now that she was he was really excited for her.

He talked to Trace for a few more minutes, managed to get Veronica on the phone and talked to her a bit, and then hung up. He stayed awake thinking a bit and fell asleep because the next thing he knew he was being woken by his mom shaking his shoulder.

“Wake up, honey, you have to get changed so we can go,” she said as she held out a plastic bag. He took it and went into the bathroom. He pulled out a pair of black pants and a shimmery, silver silk shirt. He quickly showered, changed into the clothes, and was brushing his hair when Chris yelled through the door about him taking forever staring in the mirror. Justin just shook his head and set his brush down on the counter and opened the door.

“Finally!” Chris sighed, shaking his head as he tired a bandana around his forehead. “Geeze, what do you do in there?” He paused. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

“Get yer mind out of the gutter,” Mack muttered, rolling her eyes. Chris just smiled innocently. She shoved him and he stumbled a bit but caught his balance. “What’s with that smile?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at the grin that was on Justin’s face.

“Huckleberry is pursuing singing as a career,” he replied, following everyone out of the room.

“Yay.” Mack tired to sound enthusiastic but it failed although Justin didn’t notice.

“This is so cool. Now we can talk about music. Not that we couldn’t before but now…” She tuned him out as he went on and on about is beloved Veronica. She tried to like Veronica, honestly she did, but something about the Finn girl irked her but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Veronica was really nice and pretty, in a way, but she just didn’t like her and she didn’t like them together. Of course she would never say that to their faces, she didn’t know how she would even if she tried.

As they walked down the street in the chilly January air, flagged on all sides by their bodyguards, the noticed that Justin had a bounce in his step. Chris chuckled and started calling him out on it wondering what it was that had gotten him so happy. Justin just said that it was because he was happy about it being his birthday.

“Yeah, right, that can’t be it,” Chris said as he rubbed his red nose.

“No, really, I’m just happy that it’s finally my birthday,” Justin replied.

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Bounce.” Chris said it in a dismissive tone but he continued to stare at the back of Justin’s head as if he’d be able to read the young boy’s mind.

“Will you stop staring at me like that?” Justin asked without turning around.

“Tell me the truth and I will.”

“Stop looking at me you freak.”

“Tell me the truth, then.”

“Leave me alone!”

“If you leave me you’re going to spoil a dream we shared…” Joey sang under his breath. JC smiled and joined in on singing the song, shoving his cold hands into the pockets of his jeans. He and Joey started bouncing a bit as they walked as if the song was playing out loud. Lance smiled and joined in on their singing. Chris stopped in the middle of his and Justin’s argument to correct Lance, JC, and Joey about the song lyrics before singing himself. Justin, not wanting to be left out, sang along with them as Lynn and Mack smiled and shook their heads.

“Please don’t go. PLEASE DON’T GO!” Chris sang, well, screamed at the top of his lungs so he could be heard over the others.

“YOU’RE THE ONLY ANGEL I KNOW!” Justin practically yelled in Mack’s ear, slinging an arm across her shoulders. She was getting ready to grab his arm and throw it off of her yelling something at him but the sparkle in his eye stopped her. Ah, hell it’s his birthday. Might as well let him enjoy it, she told herself, smiling a bit as she jabbed him in the side with her fingers. He squirmed away from her as she reached out and tried to tickle him. “Aaah, stop!” he laughed as the others kept singing.

“You were sent from heaven above to love me forever!” Mack joined in. The guys grinned and had a little celebration in her joining in on their antics. She jumped onto Justin’s back and he hooked his arms under her legs. She slid her arms around his warm neck and rested her chin on her arms. “Do you feel any older?”

“Not really,” he admitted. “I feel the same. I guess it just hasn’t hit me yet.”

“Don’t sweat it, I still feel like I’m thirteen.”

“That’s ‘cause you act like you’re thirteen.”

“Hey.” She lightly flicked his ear and he smiled. “You’re mean,” she mumbled into his neck.

“I’d rather be the only one who’s mean to you. I don’t want anyone else hurting you,” he replied.

“Thanks.” She paused. “I love you, just wanted you to know.”

“I know.” He smiled. “I love you, too.”

“Race you there!” Chris suddenly yelled, shattering the peace of their world.

“Go! Go! Go!” Mack laughed, pointing after Chris. Justin laughed as well and ran after Chris, ignoring the shouts of the bodyguards from behind them. Their laughter filled the otherwise still, cold air.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Justin tapped his feet against the ground as he waited for the room to be set up and filled with some fans. The interview was going to be filmed, maybe even put on TV, and they wanted some of ‘N Sync’s best fans to be in the audience supporting them.

He swallowed and suddenly noticed how dry his voice was. Why was he so nervous? It was just an interview like usual, just with a more intimate setting. But something inside of him was buzzing. He only felt that buzz whenever something really good was going to happen to him but what was it?

He blinked when a flash went off in his face. He looked up and locked his eyes with his small reflection. Mack grinned as she lowered her camera. “Sorry, it was a good shot that I couldn’t pass up. Did I blind ya?”

He shook his head. “I’m ok; you just scared me a little.” He nodded his head towards the camera. “Following in your dad’s footsteps?”

“You could say that,” she replied. “I just get a little bored so I figured I’d take pictures of everything so we could make, like, an ‘N Sync scrapbook every year. I know it’s kinda dorky but–”

“I think it’s a good idea, BabyGirl,” he interrupted her. “All of your ideas are good ones. Well, not all of them but…”

She playfully swatted him on the head. “You’re the one who puts those ideas in my head, you know.”

“Me?” He widened his eyes innocently. “I do no such thing.”

“Yeah yeah, keep lyin’ Timberlake.”

“C’mon Jusitn, it’s time to go,” Lance said as he stuck his head around the corner.

“Have fun!” Mack chirped.

“Wait a second.” Justin grabbed her wrist and looked at her. “You’re up to something. Spill it, what do you know?”

“I know nothing,” she replied.

“Well, that’s true.” Justin let go of her wrist and ducked out of her swinging arm. “See ya,” he called over his shoulder before following the boys down the hall towards the sounds of screams and cheers. Justin kept his hand wrapped around his mic, licking his lips and slowing his suddenly racing heart. The next thing he knew he had stepped onto the stage, bright lights hitting his face, cameras moving into a ready position, screams reaching his ears. Everything made  a genuine smile form on his face. This was what he lived for.

For the next hour, which felt like an eternity for the boys (in a good way) they sang, danced, and answered questions. They even took time to sign things for the fans that were screaming during the interview. All the while Lynn and Mack were videotaping and taking many pictures. The man giving the interview waved his hands a bit to get the audience to quiet down before he spoke.

“Now, ladies and gentleman, congratulations to JC. Chris. Justin. Joey. And Lance. ‘N Sync.” The guys waved and bowed as the audience cheered again. Mack grinned when she saw the question marks in their eyes as the man started talking in German before switching over to English. “Today we are here to congratulate the boys on their success.” The boys looked at each other as Johnny took the stage and took the microphone from the man.

“Their single was released a few months ago but it was because of you, the fans, that they have done well so far,” Johnny said with a smile never taking his eyes off of the boys. “Because of you fans I have the privilege to announce to you, ‘N Sync, that your debut Single “I Want You Back” has reached Gold certification. Congratulations guys.” Their eyes widened as a few fans walked onstage and presented them each with a plaque that held their Gold record and the audience applauded for their success.

Justin grinned as he looked at his Gold plaque. He knew today would be a good day and it’s gotten better. He would be able to celebrate his birthday with his best friends in the entire world and their single went Gold! He didn’t know what to do but smile. He didn’t even remember what he said when a mic was passed to him to thank everyone for getting them the Gold. He was sure that he wasn’t making any sense he was so delirious with jubilation.

JC was staring at the Gold plaque as well but there was no facial expression on his face whatsoever. Is this a dream? Is this really happening right now? He felt a pinch on his elbow and saw Chris grinning at him. JC smiled as well. This is real. We did it! We actually did it! That’s one step towards our ultimate goal and we’ve reached this one. We can do anything now. JC leaned forward a bit and waited until Mack looked up from his camera and nodded at her. She nodded back, handed her camera to Lynn, and pushed her way through the crowd.

“Ladies and gentleman I want to thank you all again for helping us achieve such a wonderful feat. It’s because of you, the fans, that we were able to reach Gold so thank you once again,” JC said into his microphone. “Now, today is a special day because we got Gold. Not only that, but today happens to be Justin’s sixteenth birthday.” Chris and Joey took turns slapping Justin’s arms and ruffling his hair as he smiled and blushed. Chris moved out of the way so Mack could come on stage and present the red, thin, circular cake to Justin, the candles on top were standing tall and bright.

“Make a wish!” She said as she held onto the cake.

Justin tapped his chin as the people in the audience cheered. He leaned forward, sucked in a breath so his cheeks bulged, and blew it all out. He raised his arms into the air in triumph before leaning forward and taking a bite out of his cake. “Mmm, that’s good,” he said as he wiped a bit of chocolate off of his chin. “Thank you so much. I can honestly say that this is my best birthday ever. Now, I want you all to know that now that I’m sixteen I’m going to take every advantage of being sixteen to drive as much as I can when I can.” He turned to Lynn. “And yes, Momma, I’m going to drive fast, I’m letting you know that now.” He smiled innocently as everyone else laughed. “Also, if you fans ever see a really fast car coming up behind you, don’t panic. Just move over and I’ll go around you.”

“C’mon, man! Finish the speech all ready!” Joey said as he nudged Justin in the side and he laughed.

“Ok, ok. Thank you once again, I love you all.” Justin kissed his fingertips and waved to the audience who burst into more applause.

“Now, who wants to sing Happy Birthday to Justin?” Mack asked, taking his microphone from him. “Me”s and a few “Hell yeah”s were heard over the noise. “Ok, we’ll sing but this Happy Birthday song is a little bit different. We figured that Justin deserved a different version of the song and we’ve been working really hard on this for the past couple of days so we hope you enjoy it, J. You just have to stand over there.” She gently pushed him to the other side of the stage as Lance and Joey joined her.

“Wait, you’re going to sing?” He asked her.

“Yup. But only for you.” She looked at the other guys nodded and started snapping to count them in. “One…two…one, tow, a one two three four.” They brought their mics to their mouths and began to sing.

“Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday just for you. Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday…”

Justin’s cheeks started to hurt from how much he was smiling. He looked down at his red cake and suddenly it started to change shaped. It swirled and shifted as if going down the drain. He blinked and felt two tears roll down his cheeks.

Tears of happiness.

I have the best friends in the entire world.