“Hey man, can I talk to you for a second?”

Justin gulped. JC was standing by his bunk, looking down at him, waiting for Justin’s response. He knew the day would come. It usually never took JC this long to ask him what was bothering him but he knew it was going to come sooner or later. He just wished it was later. He still hadn’t prepared an excuse why he was acting funny and he didn’t know who to actually tell them about leaving the group for a bit.

“Sure,” Justin finally replied, rolling out of his bed. JC backed up a bit so Justin had some room before leading him to the back lounge. Justin gulped again. They usually only went back there when they wanted privacy either talking to someone one-on-one or on the phone. That meant that something was really on JC’s mind. “What’s up?” He asked, hovering by the closed door.

“You can sit down you know,” JC said with a small smile, running his hand through his wild hair. Justin still didn’t know why JC decided on growing out his hair and adding highlights to it. It was such…a girly move. JC said he needed a change but it was still pretty drastic, even for him.

Justin slowly sat down, never taking his eyes off of JC. JC was a hard one to crack, he was an expert at keeping a poker face, no one seemed to know what he was thinking or feeling most times. He never wore his heart on his sleeve.

“What’s up?” Justin repeated.

“I just wanted to know what was going on,” JC replied, leaning back in his seat.

“What do you mean?” Justin asked, lifting his eyebrows.

JC merely smiled. “How long have I known you, J?”

“Umm…nine years, give or take,” Justin replied, looking at the ceiling as if that held his answer. “Why?”

“Don’t you think in the nine years that I’ve known you I’d be able to tell when you’re lying to me?” JC asked evenly, studying Justin’s face. Justin stiffened slightly. Relax, stay calm. JC hasn’t said anything yet so don’t freak out.

“What do you mean? I’m not lying about anything.”

JC crossed his arms over his chest. “Yet every time one of us asks you if you’re ok or how you’re feeling you keep spitting out that you’re ‘fine’ or you’re ‘tired’ when really you have the most energy out of all of us, even compared to Chris.” He paused. “That and you have a very slight eye twitch when you lie.”

“I do not!” Justin denied.

“There it is again,” JC said as he pointed. “Do yourself a favor and stop lying to me. I’ve been able to tell when you’ve kept something from me since day one and I can still do it now and I won’t hesitate to get it out of Trace.”

“How? You don’t know Trace’s weakness,” Justin said with a smug smile.

“Oh I’ll figure it out. If I kill him along the way so be it.” He shrugged.

Justin laughed. “You’re so cruel, man.” He let out a long sigh and rubbed his hands over his buzzed head. It still felt odd not being able to run his fingers through his curls. Sure, at first he hated them because he constantly got teased and Trace always called him a poodle which was why he hated it in the first place, but then it grew on him…literally. It grew so much that it became an entity of its own and then he cut it. “I’m just…tired,” Justin replied honestly.

“Sleep can help that. Trust me, I’d know,” JC joked.

“Yeah you would, King of the Mattress,” Justin laughed as JC winked. “No I mean…tired of touring non-stop. Not getting a break. Not being able to see my family. Not being able to just sit down and relax and do something I want to do.” He let out another long breath. “I just…want a break,” he finally admitted the words he’s always wanted to say. It was close to what he really wanted to tell them but right now it was better to deal JC a soft blow. “I just want to be able to sleep and watch the game and play basketball, man. I just want…I want my old life back for a bit.”

“That’s all that’s been bothering you?” JC asked, squinting.

Justin shifted under JC’s gaze. JC had a way of staring that always freaked Justin out, even when he was younger. He had a particular way of staring hard at someone’s face with his blue eyes that would scare little rabbits when he wanted to get something out of them.

“Yeah, C,” Justin said getting up, pacing. “I mean, think about it. Ever since we started *NSYNC we’ve never had a real break. A few days off here, sure. A few weeks off for holidays, sure. But we’ve never been off for an extended period of time. We’ve never been off long enough for me to feel like I have my head on straight or get it out of its haze. Don’t you feel that way? Ever?”

JC nodded. “I have for a while.”

“And I could see it on your face,” Justin agreed. “So why don’t we just…take a break? After this tour is over, we all just…take a break. No *NSYNC, no music, no nothing. We just go home for, like, six months or something, and do something else.” Behind his back Justin crossed his fingers. Maybe this will be easy…

“Hmm.” JC tapped his chin. “That actually sounds like a good idea. Tell you what; we’ll bring it up during our band meeting, ok?” He patted Justin on the arm and stood.

“Was that all you wanted?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, that was it,” JC replied. “Justin, you’re an amazing dancer and a great singer but you’re bad at hiding something from us.”

“Duly noted,” Justin replied.

The smile slid from JC’s face almost instantly as soon as the door to the back lounge closed and he walked to the front of the bus where the rest of the guys were sitting around Lance’s laptop looking at something. Chris and Joey were snickering like little kids and JC was a little afraid of what they were looking at.

“How’d it go?” Lance asked, looking up.

“The kid still won’t crack,” JC replied. “I don’t know why he keeps lying to my face. I know something’s bothering him.”

“But what if there isn’t anything?” Lance questioned.

JC grunted. “When Justin’s involved it’s not nothing.”