“Whoever is rubbing their leg against my thigh would you please stop,“ Lance asked nicely.
Chris giggled and Justin slapped the table. “Can’t you tell which direction it’s coming from?” Justin asked while JC and Chris tried to retain their laughter.
“No, that’s why it’s freaking me out.”
Oh GOD! Why had Christian left me here with these LOSERS?! Grown men and they couldn’t stop playing footsie underneath the table. It was a shame to think that these guys were multimillionaires and had so much influence on the people who listen to their music. If NSYNC said jump, the fans would ask how high. If they said kill your mothers, the fans would ask, if they should use a knife or a gun. It’s sad to think of. Very sad. I shifted in my seat and looked in the direction Christian had been heading in before he disappeared.
“Why so uptight?” JC asked and rubbed my shoulder. I looked at his hand in silence and he sheepishly removed it. “Abby. If you’re still mad about before…”
Again with the “before”!
“..that was years ago. It was dumb. We were dumb, come on. You’ve got a new life now it can’t possibly still bother you.”
I glared at him in a mix of anger and confusion. “I think all of the hair gel has finally gotten to your brain. It can’t possibly still bother me? I live in London, JC. If it didn’t bother me I would’ve moved back.”
“I thought you just stayed because…I mean, Christian lives in London right? I figured you wanted to stay with your boyfriend.”
This is when Chris decided to open his big mouth. “Speaking of which, where is he? He left a good half hour ago didn’t he? And look at your food. It’s almost cold you’ve been waiting for him so long.”
“Fuck off!” I shouted, startling the topical fish in the aquarium beside us. “And what the hell are you trying to get at? Christian loves me, okay? You don’t even know what love is. You don’t even know how to love you heartless piece of shit.”
“Hey don’t talk to Chris like that. You know the way he feels about you and you’re still yelling at him? Who’s the heartless one now Abby?” Justin said with narrowed eyes.
I looked at Chris again. “Oh this was something you decided to share with them after all I see? Yeah, came a few years too late, Asshole. Where the hell is Christian!”
Justin smirked. “He won’t be back for a while Abigail. As a matter of fact he said to go ahead and leave without him. He told me to tell you he loves you but he’s sorry, he won’t be back until early tomorrow morning.”
I had no idea whether Justin was bluffing or not. I’d been in the bathroom when Christian decided to leave so anything could be possible.
“You’re lying,” I said to test my waters.
“Oh really?” Justin said and handed me his cell phone. “Go ‘head, call him up.”
I looked around at their nonchalance. “What did you do? What did you send him to do?”
“Nothing really,” JC said, “I mean, we need to use the facilities during the daytime so the only REAL time that’s free is, well. At night. We share with them during the day but all of BBMAK’s alone time happens now.
“So you’re saying that you work alone, just NSYNC during…”
“The morning.”
“And with BBMAK…during the day?”
“Yes and all afternoon. The only real time they have is from about 10pm to 4 am. Then they can sleep and then it starts over but don’t worry, when the tour starts it’ll be a little better.”
I felt like I wanted to scream. They were doing this on purpose so I’d be forced to spend time with Chris. Well it wasn’t going to work. I’d stay in my hotel room all day if that’s what it took. But I needed to find out what they were planning, what they had said “just might work” and make sure it didn’t.
“You gonna eat your shrimp?” Lance asked.
“No,” I answered coldly. I poked one with my finger. It was just as cold.
He reached his fork over into my plate but I stopped it with my own. I looked at him up and down first. He looked nice tonight, I had to admit. They all did sorta. Everything except for JC’s hair which was in dire need of a blowdryer.
“Are you going to let me have one or aren’t you?” Lance asked.
I lifted my fork and let him eat from my plate. What was the use of fighting with them now? It took up too much energy and no matter what I never seemed to win. For the next twenty minutes I sat there without a word just thinking about how pissed I was about Regina and Joey. How could she do that to me, especially when she’d witnessed first hand what they’d done? Then I got to thinking about the whole tabloid thing. That was exceptionally weird.
“Abby,” I heard JC said and patted my hand. I pulled it away out of habit. He looked hurt.
“Sorry,” I said and looked down toward my lap. “What?”
“Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it, you know?”
I was but this whole Joey thing was too much. “Why does Joey get British tabloids?” I asked instantly. No one answered right away. “He DOES get British tabloids right?”
Lance scrunched his forehead in thought. “I think I’ve seen them sometimes but I didn’t know he got them on a regular basis. If he does then they’re probably not for him because I don’t even see him reading them.”
“No, they’re for Regina.” I whispered.
“Oh. So you heard,” JC said sympathetically. “I’m sorry. Well I’m sure you don’t still like Joey anyway right?”
“If by ‘like’ you mean ‘hate’....”
“Hate’s a strong word Abby,” Chris said.
“Yeah. That’s why I used it.”
The table was silent for another minute or so. Finally, Justin’s face lit up. “Well, I think I might know someone who’ll change your mind just a little bit. How about we take off tomorrow and take you someplace really fun.”
“No.”
JC tilted his head to the side. “Come oooon, you know you want to.”
“I really don’t.”
They smiled. “Just make sure to dress comfortably and be prepared to have a blast okay?”
I looked around the table at all of the smiling faces and narrowed my eyes. “This had better not be a joke.”
“It’s not,” Chris said and looked me in my eyes, “I promise.”
Of all the things I’d heard in those three weeks, ‘I promise’ had not been one of them. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and let myself look forward to tomorrow as we pushed in our chairs and left the restaurant, I just hoped I wouldn’t regret this.
Story Tags: Be the first to add a tag to this story
