May 11th 2000

What’s crackin’, Diary?

I’m two days into tour and everything’s going great so far. On the first night the guys took a lot of us out to a large dinner and this fancy shmancy restaurant. These guys know how to make everyone feel welcome, I tell ya. Joey and Chris were practically glued by my side all night cracking jokes and trying to get me to feel more comfortable around them. It worked; I don’t jump in surprise when one of them talks to me now. I just flinch a little, but I’m working on it. I’ve been with them for two tour days but seven real days together and

We’re in Lexington, Kentucky today and I’m so stoked. Maybe I can get lucky and actually leave the arena and see the sights, but if Joey rips his pants again I’ll be stuck there forever. Oh well, I get five different types of eye candy. XD

Until next time,

Juliette ‘So-THIS-is-what-5-AM-looks-like’ Covington

“Joseph Anthony, you didn’t!” Juliette groaned, rubbing her temples. She had the discarded dark pants lying on her lap. She didn’t even need to ask where the tear was, she could see the gaping hole staring back at her. How he managed to rip a hole right down the seam on the seat of his pants was beyond her but somehow he managed to do it…for the second time.

Joey grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck as *NSYNC’s PA, Riley, stood by his side, smiling good-naturedly. “I’m sorry, Julie,” Joey apologized. “It’s just—“

“Joey’s got a big ol’ butt,” Justin interrupted him, walking into the ‘Toy Room’ and lightly kicked Joey’s butt on the way in. He then grinned and continued the joke by singing, “Joey got a big ole butt, I know I told you I'd be true. But Joey got a big ole butt so I'm leavin' you.”

Juliette chuckled and shook her head as Joey grabbed Justin in a head lock and spun hi around in a circle, giving him a noogie. And it wasn’t like she was agreeing with Justin’s song, she totally thought that Joey’s butt should be immortalized in stone.

“Nooooo! Not the curls! What’d they do to you, man?”

“Joey, put J down. We don’t want a bunch of teenies on our hands trying to kill us for messing up Justin’s Famous Fro,” Riley called, waving her hands as if that were going to calm them down. Despite the smile on her face and the twinkle in her eye her voice was stern.

Juliette was amazed when Joey immediately let Justin go. Riley was about five feet tall—if you’re being generous—and they could easily have picked her up and tossed her over their shoulder but they reacted as if she were six feet tall.

“So, can you fix it by tonight?” Riley asked, clasping her hands together and widening her eyes. Juliette grinned. Riley looked like a little Chihuahua sometimes.

“I can get it fixed in the next few minutes if you give me some peace,” Juliette replied, pulling her red hair back into a ponytail, the signature sign that she was about to get to work. “Don’t you have a sound check to do?”

“Jace seems to have gone missing,” Riley replied.

Juliette cocked her eyebrow. “I thought I saw him earlier.”

“He’s probably talking to Bobbie again,” Joey offered.

“She’s got him on such a short leash,” Justin agreed and the made a remarkably good imitation of a whip cracking in the air. Juliette stood mesmerized as Joey cracked up and Justin continued making the sounds. She watched his lips move—his perfect, full lips—and couldn’t fathom how the sound could come out of them. Nor his beatboxing sounds.

Then she subtly shook her head at the dirty thoughts entering her mind. I’m twenty-one! He’s nineteen! I’m practically robbing the fucking cradle! She put on a smile and said, “Go find JC and get him to soundcheck. I don’t want Johnny on my ass for something I’m not even responsible for, got it?”

“Yes ma’am!” Justin saluted and he and Joey left the room.

Juliette let out a long sigh and pushed her orange bangs out of her green eyes before crossing the room to the table that was set up in the back corner. It was far away enough so when she was working she wouldn’t get the urge to “accidentally” stick Chris with a needle if he crossed the line but close enough so she could see every smile light up on their faces, every small tug of hair, every nose wrinkle… everything.

Juliette, arguably, had the best view in the Toy Room.

“You’re smitten,” Riley stated.

“No I’m not.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right.”

“I haven’t gotten this much attention before. They’re making my head swell a bit.”

Riley shrugged. “You’re young and you’re new. Don’t worry; they’ll go back to normal soon.”

“All but Chris.”

Riley grinned. “You’ve done your research.”

Juliette shrugged. “I watch TV.”

“How intently?”

“Well, I’m not blind.”

“You knew Joey’s middle name.”

“So?”

“How many people know Joey’s middle name?”

“The entire female population probably.”

Riley clicked her tongue. “Don’t do it.”

Juliette threaded the needle and then placed her hands in her lap. “Don’t do what?” She questioned.

“You know what I’m talking about.” Juliette lifted her eyebrows. “Don’t fall for them. It’s bad news.”

“Riley, I may admire them—“

“Worship the ground they walk on.”

“—but I’m not going to go falling for one of them. Golden Rule: Don’t mix business with pleasure. And this”—she lifted the pants with the big hole in them—“is my business. I gotta make sure the boys look good.” Even if they don’t need much help in that area, God made them perfect. She stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and bit down on it as a smile formed on her lips. “Am I a fan? Yes, of their music, not for their bodies or whatever shallow reasons the teenies like ‘em for.”

“I can see drool come out of your mouth every time one of them looks at you, Julie.”

Juliette said calmly, “I have over active saliva glands.”

Riley laughed out loud at that one. “Julie—“

“Don’t make me stick you!” Juliette said in a warning tone.

“You crazy. Head-over-heels crazy.”

“Hey, I have a man.”

“Oh yeah, who?”

“George Clooney.”

“Does he know that yet?”

“Not yet, but he will.”

Juliette finished sewing the hole in record time and you could hardly tell there was one. Not that anyone in the audience would be able to see it anyway. She marched right into their soundcheck and showed the fixed hole to Joey. He was so excited that he jumped off of the stage and gave her a big hug. She almost died in his strong, muscular arms but made sure to keep her composure.

She couldn’t let them know how big of a fan she was. She didn’t want them to change her mind about their talents. After all, she did make every single costume (and doubles in case of those Chris accidents) for every single song in only three days of preparation. So she lost about a pint of blood out of her fingers and became Red Bull’s best friend? It was all worth it to be able to hear five angels sing every day.

She watched them carefully as they moved around stage, blocking out their movements, constantly adjusted their headmics until they were in the perfect position, sang every song until the note was perfect, and worked with their band on how to change up their songs a little bit.

Juliette had to admit she was taken aback at how much input they had. She didn’t live under a rock, she knew that they were respected in the business, but she didn’t expect this much. Hell, she was even shocked when she found out that JC wrote a few of the songs on the CD, including the title track which was her favorite. Her mind was still a little bit diluted and she figured that they were on a somewhat of a short leash with their management and with JIVE, after all they did have images to uphold.

Juliette slipped away as Joey and Lance started joking around with Chris on the moving sidewalks on the stage as JC talked to one of the Antunes about some music for the show. She moved through the maze of halls and corridors to try and find the hair and makeup area to see if Riley wanted to go somewhere for lunch.

Instead, once she opened the door, she found Justin’s nose practically pressed flat against the mirror as he tugged at his wild curls. His eyes were practically crossed as he tried looking at his hair in the mirror. Juliette knocked and he looked at her.

“Ooh, better watch that or you’ll get whiplash,” she commented, walking up behind him.

Justin cracked a smile. “I’m worth too much to get hurt.” He didn’t say it in a cocky way, but in a reluctant way. He sighed and stepped away from the mirror. “Skittles, can I ask you something?”

Juliette smiled. “Anything,  Poof.”

Justin stopped. “Poof?” He repeated. “That’s too prissy. If you’re going to diss my hair do it right and with conviction.”

Juliette didn’t know if he were joking or being serious. It was hard to tell with him sometimes. He had that way of telling a joke perfectly that he could sound like he was being completely serious and no one would know whether to laugh or not. “Oingo-Boingo,” she tried.

He looked to the ceiling and mouthed the words as if testing them out. “Hmm, a bit better, but too much cute, not enough malice.”

“I don’t know,” Juliette laughed, feeling a bit strange that they were having that conversation. “Poodle?”

“Huh, even the guys haven’t come up with that one,” he muttered, sounding awed.

“If not that, I think Little Sheep applies.” She rolled her eyes and changed the subject. “What were you going to ask?”

“Could you help me with this?” Justin waved his hand over his curly ‘fro. “You’re a girl”—thanks for noticing—“you know what to do with ahir, right?”

“Is it getting to hard to manage or something?” Juliette asked, walking around his head and lightly tugging on a curl here and there. Partially to get a gauge on it and partially to see how long the hair was once it unraveled the whole way. He nodded and his curls bounced in his face. “So…why don’t you just cut it?” She asked. Justin looked at her as if she had suggested he burned his mother’s arm. “Ok, sorry, bad idea. Well…” she hesitated and put her hands on her hips. “I have one solution…” she paused to run her fingers through his hair, grinning to herself at how much softer it felt than it looked, and it looked really soft, “but you’ll have to be open to it.”

May 11th 2000 part 2

I only have 3 things to say:

I love my job.

Cornrows rock and…

I. Love. Justin’s. Hair.

Until next time,

Juliette ‘Curls-Curls-Curls’ Covington