“1,2,3 o’clock, 4 o’clock rock. 5,6,7 o’clock, 8 o’clock rock, 9, 10, 11 o’clock, 12 o’clock rock we’re gonna rock, around, the clock tonight.” NSYNC sang in the small 13 by 15 room. Well actually, it was only four of them, Joey wasn’t currently present. Even without their 5th, those boys had beautiful harmony. Somewhere around “rock, rock, rock ‘till broad daylight”, someone had messed up and now they were all laughing, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. I was supposed to hold off on applying their make up until further notice. Hum, this was funny, I had four people but one was missing, the most important one, Christian. I saw only Chris, JC, Lance and Justin, one of whom shouldn’t be here.
“Am I assigned to all of you guys?” I interjected.
They looked around and nodded. “Yeah, that’s what Steve said.”
Steve? I had totally forgotten about him. “Steve,” I repeated.
I walked out the door into the hall, leaving 4/5 of NSYNC still rocking around the clock. I poked my head into Regina’s room to see if Steve was there. He wasn’t but Christian was. My body froze for a moment to see him laughing an joking around while I was so torn up inside but as soon a he noticed me I made sure to depart with as much haste as possible. “Hey!” I heard him call from behind me. His trot turned to a jog then slowed to a walk while he started questing me. “Why are you still here?” Were the first words to erupt form his lips. Not exactly the first words I wanted to hear.
“NSYNC offered me a job with them here. Which also means I’ll be with you,” I said and gazed into his delicious blue eyes. The slight tint of gold that always seemed to shine though his irises never ceased to turn me on. “They told my dad, they told Hollywood Records. We’re stuck together.”
To my dismay, Christian pouted. “Why?” he asked of me.
“Why did you run to my dad? You told on me, I still can’t believe that.”
“It was a mistake. I honestly didn’t mean to get you in trouble okay? I didn’t mean to get to recalled.”
“Then why are you so upset that I’m not leaving?” I took his hands in mine. “Babe, we’ve been together for two years now and … I love you and I know you love me. Don’t you even want to work this out?”
Christian’s shoulders dropped and he began to relax. “Of course I want to. Every moment I feel like calling you and telling you I’m sorry and making things all better between us.”
“So what’s been stopping you?”
“I have nothing to be sorry for. You were the one who messed up.”
“I know. I’m the problem. I was wrong and I’m sorry.”
“I know but…” he sighed, “I don’t know anymore. This tour is going to be the hardest thing to get through now that you’re still here. Do you know how much it’s going to hurt to see you and Chris talking and having fun when I’m sitting here all alone?”
“You don’t have to sit all alone. I don’t want to be with Chris, I want to be with you.”
“Abby!” Steve’s voice boomed. “There you are.” Christian hastily removed his hands from mine and sprinted back to Regina’s room. I frowned as I watched him do so. “Abby, we are so glad to have you back.” I smiled weakly as he hugged me.
“It’s great to be back.”
Steve looked at his watch. “ I know you’re in a hurry, so I’ll keep this fast and simple. Low lights, less make-up. JC’s got patches of dry skin…”
“No…I think that’s Chris.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, well, doesn’t matter right?”
“Actually it does. Who told you to come tell me all this stuff?”
Steve’s professional aura faded a bit and he took off his useless sunglasses. “Okay no one did but I just wanted to see you. I’d heard that you were back but I had to do some stuff back home. I missed you Abby, why didn’t you stay in touch?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know I just…I wanted to leave everything behind.”
“Well didn’t you miss me? Even a little bit?”
I smiled and held my fingers up but left some space between them. “Just a little.”
Steve smiled and hugged me again. “You’re not still hung up over….are you?” I shook my head. “Good girl. Well, are you really in a relationship with…” I shook my hand from side to side. “Oh…things not working out.” I shrugged again. “You don’t wanna talk about it.”
“No.”
“Well, okay then. How about we catch up later okay?” I nodded slightly. “Hey, hang in there okay? And by the way, Joey told me that you wanted to work right along Christian but he didn’t request to work with you and we would have put him with you anyway if Chris hadn’t requested you.”
“What?”
“You requested to work with Christian.”
“Right.”
“Chris requested to work with you.”
“Okay.”
“Christian didn’t request to work with you. But since you didn’t NOT request Chris, his request kind of overrides your request. Get it?”
“But that’s not fair. My request doesn’t mean anything?”
“It’s only strong if you request Christian and he requests you back. Since Christian and Chris are the artists…it’s more important to serve their needs. Sorry Love but that’s just the way it is.”
“Goddamn that Joey. He said I’d be able to work with Christian.”
“Sorry hun. You’d better get to work, the concert starts in a few.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I was NOT!” Lance said and I told him to close his eyes. JC and Justin burst into laughter.
“You always do that,” Justin said a few seconds later.
“Fine! Let’s just try again.”
Lance began, “Sunday, Monday, Happy Day.” Justin entered, “Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Day.” JC and Chris entered, “Thursday, Friday, Happy Day. Saturday, what a day, Rocking all week with you…”
“If we rock for much longer I’m gonna throw up,” I cut in. “What’s with all the ‘rocking’ songs? Rock from 1 to 12, Rocking from Monday to Saturday...”
“And on the Sabbath day we rest,” Justin said and flashed his notorious smile. I shook my head and called JC over to take a seat. Justin’s grin faded to a simple smile. “Abby, can I ask you a question?”
Oh Jesus, here it comes. What could this possibly be? “Sure,” I said jovially.
“I want you to answer this honestly.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Why did you decide to sign back on with us?”
I froze for a moment. “Well…” I began.
“Honestly.”
“Joey asked me if I wanted a job. I didn’t want to go back to England so I said yes.”
“Why didn’t you want to go back? I remember you saying how much you love it there and that you would never move back here.”
“Well I’m not MOVING..”
“Yeah but it doesn’t make sense,” Lance added.
JC pulled me down until I could whisper into my ear without being heard by anyone else. “Did you stay for Chris?”
The truth was. I wasn’t sure anymore. A part of me knew I was staying for Christian but another part wanted to spend my days with Chris.
“Sort of,” I whispered back. I glanced at Chris who was in the corner of the room doing something or the other. “Chris,” I said and pointed to the chair that JC had since vacated.
“Oh!” he said and flipped his phone closed. He smiled as he approached. “I have a special gift for you,” he said into my ear before taking a seat.
“Chris…” I said cautiously.
“No, it’s gonna be great, trust me.”
Was this really great or was this another prank? I really had no grounds to suspect them of wrongdoing since nothing had happened as of yet. As of yet. I reminded myself. ‘Yet’ could happen anytime.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful except for one incident where Chris and Christian literally ran into each other. My prayers were answered and nothing foul erupted from it but even still, the tension had resurfaced though I didn’t think about it much. I was too busy trying to ready myself for Chris’s surprise. What could it be?
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