Chapter 31: The One With the Necklace Part 2

February 28th, 1997

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Lynn asked as she gently stroked Mack’s hair.

“I don’t have a choice now do I?” She muttered, standing at the side of the stage, a microphone gripped tightly in her hand. Her legs still felt weak from throwing up and her nerves were bouncing around everywhere. She had called Nick earlier and he calmed her down for a while but as the time got closer her nerves flared up once more. She talked to the guys about what to do and they convinced her to open for them, going to Johnny with help on the music part. Everything was set up for her, the only thing she needed to do now was sing and sing well. “I just sing for thirty minutes and then cringe at the guys on the sidelines like I always do. No big.”

“You’re one selfless person. Are you sure you’re not thirty-six?” Lynn laughed.

Mack smiled slightly. “I get that question a lot believe it or not.”

“Oh I believe it.” Lynn pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight. “I know you may not believe it, but your parents are very proud of you. Very proud and I am too.” She pulled away and wiped her eyes. “The boys are proud of you as well, even if they don’t admit it. Always remember that.”

“I know Momma Lynn.”

“You ready to become a star?” Justin asked, rubbing his hands together.

“I’m ready to throw up,” Mack replied.

“You’ll be awesome and I’m not just saying that because I have a biased opinion.” Justin’s smile faded slightly. “Hey, where’s your necklace?”

Mack’s hand immediately flew to her neck, lightly touching the bare skin as she instantly thought of a cover. “Oh no! Oh no!” She cried turning around on the spot. “It’s not here. Oh no, I lost it!”

“I’m sure it’s just in your bag. You can get it after the show.”

“No, I need it now. It’s like…my good luck charm. I need it now!”

Justin tilted his head, looking past her. “Looks like you gotta go out now.”

"No! No, I gotta find it or JC will kill me. I don't want him mad at me, please help me find it!" Mack begged near tears.

“We’ll look while you sing, ok?” Justin gave her a quick hug. “Sing pretty,” he ordered as Johnny announced her. She gave him another hug, let out a breath, and marched onto stage to the polite cheers of the crowd. She looked up and felt like she had run into a brick wall. There were a lot of people staring back at her. She glanced at Justin and Lynn who stood by the side of the stage who nodded at her. She nodded back and then signaled to the band that started playing. She bobbed her head to the beat, smiling at the sound of one of her songs that had come to life. She gripped her microphone a bit tighter, raised it to her mouth, and started singing her song.

Tell me where our time went

And if it was time well spent

Just don't let me fall asleep

Feeling empty again

Cuz I fear I might break

And I fear I can't take it

Tonight i'll lie awake

Feeling empty…

Mack felt alive on the stage as she moved around, rocked out, and head banged to her songs. She didn’t know how good it would feel to get her songs to come alive but the feeling was awesome! She didn’t want it to go away. The crowd was reacting pretty well for an unknown; they were jumping along with her and cheering loud even though they hadn’t heard the songs before. They reacted really well to her covers, especially her cover of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer”. During some of her more up paced songs she even managed to throw in some flips and spins she learned over the years which really god the crowd pumping.

All too soon her set was over. She bowed, waved to the crowd, and practically bounced off stage, smiling from ear to ear. Lynn scooped her into a giant hug that turned into a group hug when the boys joined in, saying that she was going to be the next rock star of the world.

“Yeah yeah, my moment’s over, this is about you guys. Go, have fun, do your thang,” she said shooing them onto the stage. She sighed as she watched the crowd’s reaction to the guys bounding and jumping onto the stage before launching into their song. She had convinced Johnny to let them perform with a live band the day before their tour so they could get used to the changes. They adapted pretty easily and the heat didn’t seem to be bothering them. They actually brought water guns on stage to get the crowd wet so they wouldn’t be overheated, it was packed the body heat must’ve been unbearable.

And then it happened. They were performing their second to last song on the set list, TUMH, and they were doing a slide in the beginning. That’s when Justin’s hand slipped beneath him. There was a puddle of water on the stage or something. He slipped and landed on his hand but he quickly got back up like nothing happened however Mack and Lynn both noticed, after that, he held his mic in his left hand only.

“He overdid it again,” Mack sighed, shaking her head.

“It’s Justin, he always over does it,” Lynn replied.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

“You guys are more like twins than I thought,” JC laughed over his take out container of Chinese food. He shifted his position on the bed slightly and sat Indian style. Next to him Justin was struggling to hold onto his chopsticks with his bulky blue cast. “I mean first Mack breaks her wrist and needs a cast and now you break your thumb and you need a cast. What’s next, you both need your tonsils out?”

“Mine are all ready out,” Mack replied, shaking her head. “He still has his. He doesn’t have his appendix but I do.”

“When do you get your cast off anyway?” Lance asked, tilting his head back to look at her, his gray Taz t-shirt wrinkled slightly.

“Four weeks,” Justin and Mack replied in unison.

“You two have been together too long,” Joey commented from the floor. They had all gathered into JC’s and Justin’s room to have dinner together. They didn’t want to leave the cool room so they ordered in. It was Joey’s idea to have a sleepover of sorts so they were all in their pajamas watching TV.

“It took her long enough to finally realize we’re boys,” Justin commented.

Mack sucked noodles into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Your jaw practically hit the ground today,” he replied. “Admit it; you were admiring how hot we are.”

“Please, there’s barely anything there to admire,” she said, turning her attention back to her food.

“Uh-huh, your stuttering was very convincing that you didn’t care,” Joey joined in on the heckling.’

“I lost my train of thought!” She defended herself.

“We have that affect on girls don’t worry, this just proves you’re human.” Joey patted her knee sympathetically.

“Shut up,” she groaned although a smile was on her face.

“So, now that we know about your, um, little change, which one of us would you date?” Chris asked.

“You have a girlfriend, stupid.”

“It’s a hypothetical question, idiot.”

“None of ya. You’re too weird and you can’t handle all of this,” Mack said as she pointed a finger at herself.

Their laughter was cut when there was a knock on the door. Justin jumped up, almost tripping over his baggy pajama pants, and rushed to the door. “Hey Momma, are we being too loud?’ He asked, moving out of the way to let her in.

“No, I just want to tell you all goodnight,” she replied, kissing his cheek. Once she turned away he made a face and rubbed his cheek rapidly, making sure she left no lipstick. Chris pointed and laughed but it was silenced when she bent over and kissed his cheek. Justin smirked as she went around the room, kissing all of them on the cheek.

“Do you want us to save you anything?’ Justin asked, motioning towards the food.

“No, I don’t like eating this late, you know that,” Lynn replied, playfully swatting his arm. “Oh, Mackenzie, Johnny wants to speak with you.”

“What’d I do?” She asked.

“I’m sure it’s nothing wrong.” Lynn gave her a smile.

Mack nodded and put down her food. “If this is gone when I get back you’ll have a bigger gap in that mouth of yers,” she warned JC who grabbed a pillow and lightly hit her ass on her way out.

"Hey wait," JC stopped her. "Where's your necklace?'

"Um, I lost it somewhere," she said looking down. "I'm sorry I should've been more careful. The chain was loose and I guess it fell off. I'll pay for a new one, I promise."

"It's just a necklace," JC said with a small shake of his head. "Don't worry about it."

"If you're sure..."

"I am."

"Ok, thanks." She closed the door behind her and walked over to Johnny. “What’s up?” She asked.

“I just wanted to say you did an amazing job today on such short notice,” he replied, smiling. “You really have a voice in that small body of yours. Have you ever considered singing professionally?”

“I can’t say that I didn’t see this coming,” Mack admitted. “Justin’s been pushing me to do it. I’ll bet that’s partially how you got the idea in the first place.” Johnny nodded. “I don’t know, it’s kinda sudden and singing’s not really my thing. I’m a dancer and I prefer to be behind the scenes.”

“But you have a gift and we wouldn’t want it to go to waste,” Johnny pressed.

“Answer me this, would you make me go down the pop route?” Mack questioned. Johnny hesitated. “Then no deal. I don’t do pop, it’s not me.”

“At least think about it before you make a decision? We can talk it over with your mother and father if you want. Just…don’t close the door right now.”

Mack sighed. “Fine.”

“Thanks, Little Lady.” Johnny’s smile returned. He turned to leave but stopped. “I almost forgot, this is for you.” He pulled a CD case out of his pocket and handed it over to her.

“What’s this?” She asked, looking at it. Johnny just winked and went back to his room. Mack opened the lid of the case and smiled.

Hey, I heard you were having bad couple of days. I thought this would cheer you up. It’s a mixed CD of dance songs. Dance to your heart’s content, Dimples. =)

~Nick