"What truth?" the 24 year old asked slowly. He didn't like the sound of where things were going. JC was usually very hyper but sometimes he got quiet, thoughtful, and it took him awhile to say what he was thinking outloud. Usually the guys would wait but this had gone on for two, two years, and Joey decided they had to push him this time.
"Oh, come on, man," he groaned. "I know you like Andrea; we can all see it. C'mon, why won't you tell her you got feelings for her?" he asked completely serious. Yes, shocker! Joey Fatone had serious moments; it wasn't all games with him. A brief image of him being a big teddy bear came to JC's mind.
After thinking and knowing his friend wouldn't give up, he sighed. "Joe, I - I just don't know how."
"Come out and tell her. Simple."
"No, it's not that simple. Dude, we work together, it would look bad both on her image and ours. She's a sweet girl and doesn't need that rep."
"Andrea's a big girl, C. I think she can hold her own." Joey narrowed his eyes. "Why are you holding back, Jace?" he asked gently, all joking aside.
JC blew out a breath and ran his hands through his hair; breifly noticed he needed a cut. "I've known her since she was 11. It's too weird."
"Yeah and walking around being uncomfortable around her isn't weird?"
"Ugh, I have feelings for her, I just - 'm 'fr'id..." he mumbled.
"What was that? Couldn't hear you through your hands." His friend pulled his arms down, staring straight at him.
"I'm afraid ok?!"
"Of Andy? Jace, she ain't gonna hurt you."
"How do you know, huh? How do you know that with our stubborn personalities we'll butt heads, get in an argument and say stuff. Stuff we don't mean but by then it'll be too late 'cause she'll have walked out the door. We'll lose our choreographer and one of the best friends we've known." He looked down and whispered. "I'll lose one of the best girls I've ever known."
Joey patted JC's shoulder. "Look, I know how it is. Kelly and I have our share of fights. Heck, Baby J is moping around 'cause he misses Alison. I can't imagine if we worked together. But you and Andrea are strong, you'll make it work; just TELL HER."
"Will you help me?" JC asked shyly.
"Of course but I don't know how I can," Joey replied.
"I all ready have a plan," JC said as he smiled a bit. "I just have to make sure you're around in case she tries to kill me if something backfires."
"She won't kill you," Joey said, rolling his eyes. "Kiss you, maybe, but not kill." His grin was contagious 'cause JC started smiling.
LATER THAT NIGHT
"Guys, c'mon already!" JC said as he let out a breath. "How does it always take you guys this long to get ready?"
"Because we need to make sure we're looking good," Justin replied, shouting from their dressing room. "Something you don't need to worry about." JC made a face. "I saw that!" he called in a teasing tone.
JC rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath, grabbing a scooter that was in the corner of the room. He randomly navigated the halls wondering how he seemed to be the focused one when it came to show time. Any other time it was Lance that was making sure they were focused and doing what they needed to do, after all he was the self proclaimed businessman of the group. Sure, JC was the 'Dad' of the group but he knew when to have fun. SO why is it whenever he wanted them to do something they wouldn't listen?
"Penny for your thoughts." JC put his foot on the ground to stop himself so fast that he practically did a split on the ground. His heart soared when he heard the familiar laugh that always made him smile. He turned around and a smile came to his face. "You forgetting something?" She asked with a teasing smile, holding out his hat. Silently he took it from her. "I'm real," she added as if being able to read his thoughts.
"I know, I just can't believe you're here," he said, smiling a little. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I had a choreography gig," she replied, shrugging. "If you actually called you'd know that."
"Sorry about that," he mumbled. "I meant to, really, it's just the schedule-"
"I know, I'm just giving you a hard time."
He smiled and opened his mouth but was cut off by Joey. "Heyyy, we didn't know you were coming!" He exclaimed happily, pulling her into a hug. "What're you doing here?" He didn't even let her finish. "Oh, that choreography thing right?" She nodded. "How'd that go?"
"Pretty good. The kids are eager to learn, which is awesome," she replied, shoving her hands into her pockets. "But that's not really why I'm here. I can get Ali to get to the house tomorrow, that way Just won't know and he'll be surprised when you guys get there. So she can use the three days to get comfortable."
"Ok, do you need help with anything else?" Joey asked.
"Nah, I got it covered. The shopping's been done so you don't have to worry about Chris or Justin starving. The beds have been made and the house'll be warm and toasty by the time you come around. Everything should be fine. Oh, and they have this diner thing in town that J likes to go to so he should be in a super good mood the entire time." She beamed and JC's knees went weak.
"Cool." Joey grinned. "Ok, I'll get the others so you two can talk and catch up." He winked and JC and quickly went back down the hall to get to the dressing room.
"Talk?" Andrea repeated, looking at JC. "What'd he mean by that? Is something wrong?"
"Huh? Uh - I don't know. Joey's just being his uh crazy self. You know him; he's lost a few marbles," JC chuckled nervously. Andrea looked at him curiously. "Well, there was something I wanted to tell you. Something that's been on my mind for awhile. And uh I -"
He was once again interuppted in his confession by none other than...Chris. Yup good ol' "Grampa" to ruin the moment. JC's mouth snapped shut as Chris began rambling. Again. "Ok, peoples, let's get a move on. Time for Hacky-ing and then showtime!!!!!"
"Who let him into the sugar again?" JC asked sullenly.
Justin and Lance snickered. "Sorry, Jace, I tried to stop him," Joey whispered and clapped his friend on the back.
"Gee, thanks," he grumbled.
"Cheer up, Josh, we got a show to do!!" Justin crowed as he ran down the hall before promptly stealing the scooter.
"Someone give him sugar too? I thought he was being all mopey and missin' his girl?" Andrea asked. She eyed the curly boy; she'd known him for years but these moods of his still stumped her.
"Shhh!" Chris hissed. "Don't remind him. It took forever to cheer him up."
"It's ok, I'm still a bit bummed; our schedule can be bad. But I'm happy we get time off soon, and with our families!"
"You didn't tell him did you?" the choreographer whispered to Lance as they walked to the stage.
"Nah we didn't. He's as clueless as ever," deep baritone voice laughing at his own joke. "He just knows we're off for Christmas."
"Good. Have a good show, Albino." Andrea then turned to JC. "You wanted to say something?"
"Uh - I'll tell you later," he covered as the crewmen called him.
EVEN LATER THAT NIGHT --- The *NSYNC No Strings Attached tour did perfect that night; the boys announcing that they'd be on break for a few weeks before resuming the leg. Justin nearly bounced to his bunk, pulling out his cell to make a call he'd wanted to for a loooong while.
"Hey, Ali! It's Just, I know it's late but I just had to ask you something. I -" He was speaking so fast he almost missed the beep.
"Hi, this is Alison. Can't get to my phone but hit me with a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"
Her soft voice, what usually had him smiling, now made his face fall. The excitement and adrenaline suddenly faded from his body; leaving him so fast he didn't know what happened. "Hey uh it's me. Just hoping to catch ya but I guess you're asleep. Sorry. Ahem, I'll uh talk to you next time. Bye hun."
"Aww, Baby Justy is saaaad," Chris chirped walking past Justin's bunk. Justin pulled back his curtain and glared at the man. "Don't give me that sad excuse of a glare. You put yourself into this situation so you can't really be mad at anyone but yourself." Justin opened his mouth. "No excuses, little man. You did this to yourself so do us all a favor and stop whining and moaning and tell the damn girl how you feel! You haven't had problems with that before."
"But Ali's different," Justin argued. "I don't want to scare her or hurt her in any way and if I tell her that I like her and she doesn't like me back...that'll hurt me."
"Oh my god!" Chris practically yelled. He grabbed Justin's arm, yanked him out of the bunk, and dragged him down the small hall to the back lounge where everyone else was sitting. He threw the taller boy onto the couch, closed and locked the door behind them so it was only those five in the room.
"What's going on?" Lance asked, looking up from the book he was reading.
"Guys, tell him what he needs to hear about Alison," Chris ordered. "He is driving me insane!"
Lance and Joey exchanged looks before closing their books and putting up their game controllers. JC just sunk in his seat. "Justin, Ali is like the perfect girl for you. You treat her with respect, like a massive load of it. You always drop eveything for her and make sure she's comfortable. If we go to the park or wherever you always walk with her so she won't fall behind. You do that because you love her," Lance said, putting massive amounts of duh on the word love.
"Bounce, why won't you let yourself be happy?" Joey asked him. Justin lifted his head and stared at him as if he grew a second head. "You always do this when you like a girl. You find every fault she has or you think of ways that your relationship won't work before it even leaves the ground. That's why you're always alone. That's why you're never happy. It doesn't help that the press keep saying you're dating someone just 'cause you're walking them across the street." He finally noticed that JC was practically sitting on the floor by how much he had been slouching. "You and Jace are the same way. You're afraid when really you don't need to be. Take it form me, I was afraid to ask Kelly out at first but after she said yes I wasn't afraid of anything at all. Whatever happened between us happens and I'm really happy, as happy as I can be. Like, if Nsync was over tomorrow I'd be happy 'cause I still had Kelly. You guys need someone like that." Justin and JC stayed silent. "We should get to the airport early tomorrow. We'll fly into LAX and then take a plane from there to Canada."
---------------
JC and Justin were fairly quiet the next morning. Only answering if they had to. They kept up appearances as they went through the airport - *NSYNC was snuck in of course and if fans or press caught on, there was a backup plan to distract them and allow the boys to travel undetected. The other three members didn't mind the silence as Joey had given them a good amount to think over. They really did need to get there act together but how? JC had tried to tell Andrea but once it was interrupted he lost courage and hadn't mentioned it again that night. Andrea had left with the excuse she had a gig; but she was really going to get Alison.
When they reached LAX the guys were very surprised to see Johnny Wright waiting for them. "Johnny? What are you doing here?" Lance asked surprised.
"Well, I hate to do this but I need to borrow Justin for two days," he answered and watched all their faces go from shock to sadness.
"But, J, we're supposed to be off. Our families are coming!" the curly haired boy cried out. He wasn't going to see his family after all? It was bad enough he couldn't be with the girl he cared about but now he'd miss his parents and brothers AGAIN?!
"I know, just calm down. The producers for your movie Model Behavior want you to do a photo shoot with Maggie. It'll be quick and then you'll be on a private jet and in Canada before Christmas. I promise you'll be there no later than Christmas Eve."
Justin looked crushed. He had really been looking forward to this trip. But in the end he sighed; knowing his manager's hands were tied because this was a separate project and not NSYNC related.
"Sorry, Curly," JC apologized.
"Yeah, Baby J have fun," the others chimed. He gave them a half-hearted smile and followed Johnny.
----------------------
SOMEWHERE IN OAKLAND --- "So, are you ok?" Andrea asked Alison Leanne. They hadn't seen each other in a few months so this gave them time to catch up.
"Yeah, just a little jet legged." It was her first flight and was pretty rough on her. "I like it here though, it's really nice." They were sitting in Harry's, a dinner in the small country town. It reminded her of home. "How'd you find it?"
"A place as small as this? It's not hard to find things when you're not looking for it." Andrea chuckled and stirred her straw in her apple cider. Ali couldn't help but find it funny that they were in a coffee shop and she was drinking cider. Andrea was always quirkily like that. She didn't like coffee or hot chocolate, her foods couldn't touch, and little things like that were simple to her but weird to others. "So how're you doing?"
"I all ready told you I'm jet lagged," the blue-eyed girl answered in confusion.
"There's something else on that mind," Andrea continued. "I don't only have eyes that are 'windows to the soul'," she finger quoted "but they can help me read people and I can read you like a book. What's goin' on?"
"I've...been thinking about the guys lately," she admitted.
"Any one in particular?" the dancer tried to hide her smile.
Alison smiled a bit. "Justin." Andrea sat back; she didn't expect her to come right out and say it. "I can't explain it, though. It's like...I'm bored even when I'm doing my favorite things but as soon as Justin helps or sees what I'm doing...it's more fun. I like being around him, I find myself smiling when I know I'm going to see him soon. I don't understand this feeling."
"I do, it's called being in love."
This made her blink, mouth slightly open in shock. "Huh?"
"You're in love," Andrea replied simply. "You're showing all of the signs and you basically said it yourself just in a lot more words." She shrugged. "You just gotta say it outright."
"I'm not in love with him," she replied stubbornly. Taking a purposeful sip of hot cocoa.
"So you say, but that's not how you feel."
"Hmm, whatever you say. Besides it doesn't matter. He could have any girl if he set his mind to it. He's sweet, talented, good-looking guy -"
"Who you're in love with," Andrea pressed.
Alison ignored her, continuing on. "And he's had his fair-share of girls. Not saying he's a dog, not even close, but girls are drawn to him -"
"LIKE YOU."
"He's young, like us. He'll find the one he wants soon."
"And you don't think that's you?" her friend asked gently.
"No. Way no. I'm not his type and besides we're too good of friends, it'd be weird."
"But you just said it yourself!" Andrea exclaimed. "When the guys are around you two practically are joined at the hip. You tease each other, you listen to each other. You're one of the few people who can get him out of his moods, he does stuff for you. Makes sure you're comfortable in every situation. How do you guys not see what it is?"
Feeling uncomfortable Alison steered into a different topic. "Ya know, I could say the same for you and C."
"What?" Andrea deadpanned.
"If I'm so blind then so are you. JC's quiet, yeah, but his eyes light up when he sees you."
"We work together, he's a performer, dancing is his thing. Of course he gets happy."
"Yeah suuuure. He's sweet on you." She rolled her eyes.
"Enough of this gooey stuff, let's figure out what to do on our vacation."
"I thought we were relaxing during Christmas?" Ali asked as they left; her falling half-step behind from her awkward gait.
"Hmm, yeah but we have plans so we need to get as much girl time in as we can," Andrea replied mysteriously.
Author's Chapter Notes:
thanks andy for helping.
Story Tags: Be the first to add a tag to this story
