“Jace, slow down!” Joey yelled to his friend, running in front of them.

“Where’s Lonnie?” JC asked, stopping momentarily to look around.

“On the bus, which is this way” Justin said, pointing to his left. “Now c’mon!”

“Is Liz with him?” JC questioned.

“Wait, Liz is here?!” Lance asked.

JC nodded.

“We need to get you guys on the bus now” Johnny said to them anxiously. He knew there were always fans who found their way around the stage and near the NSYNC bus trying to get to the guys, so he and the body guards tried to always ensure that NSYNC was on the bus and out of the area first thing when they stepped off the stage.

With the adrenaline still piercing through his body, JC ran to the large vehicle, almost colliding with Lonnie by the door.

“In there” he nodded toward the door with a knowing smile

JC stepped in, breathing hard, looking around for his girlfriend. He frowned, trying to catch his breath when he saw no one. He stepped further in, hearing the rest of his band mates running toward the bus on the outside.

“Lizzie?” he asked softly, almost to himself.

“Looking for me?” a voice asked from behind

He turned around, his body reacting to the voice almost as a reflex action.

She giggled, seeing the look on his face. “Surprise?”

He grinned and picked her up in a hug. She wrapped her hands around his sweaty neck and laughed.

“You came!” he exclaimed putting her down.

She shrugged. “Thought it was the right thing to do. I didn’t want to miss your first big performance”

He grinned and pulled her in for another tight squeeze.

“Thank you” he told her softly

She smiled then pulled away when she heard Justin, Chris, followed by Lance then Joey burst onto the bus. They were all talking at the same time, trying to catch their breath.

“You guys were great!” she complimented them, going over to the other members to give them each a hug.

“When’d you get here?” Chris asked

“In the middle of Here We Go” she informed them with a smile.

They then felt the bus move forward unexpectedly causing them to almost lose their balance from where they were standing.

“Woah” Liz said, falling on to the built in table seating next to her.

“You get used to it” Lance shrugged.

“How’d you get here?” JC asked, sliding in to sit next to her, his shirt now off. He just had on a white vest, which didn’t do much good seeing that it too was drenched in sweat. The other guys as well had started taking off their shirts and collapsing onto the various seats around the bus. Well, except for Chris who just lay down on the floor and spread out.

“I realized I needed to be here supporting you”

“Emma convinced you, didn’t she” he assumed

She sighed, but nodded. “And I’m glad she did”

He smiled and kissed her. “Me too”

She smiled, but he pulled away. “You do realize you’re going to be on this bus for the next forty-five minutes” he pointed out

She nodded slowly. “I was going to end up riding with you anyways. My assistant texted me saying she needed to get back to Emma, so Lonnie said he could get me on the bus. Turns out leaving two interns with the boss could get out of hand. I think they forgot that the bride was vegetarian but they had ordered chicken as the main course and the groom-”

JC laughed and stopped her rambling by swallowing her words using his tongue. “I’m just glad you got here” he said, his voice almost husky.

“Jace, you wanna go first or…?” Justin asked, holding a towel

“I’ll go last” JC replied, then turned back to Liz.

“Last for what?” she asked

“Since we’ll be circling the area for a while trying to get away from the crazy fans we have before we get back close to home, it gives us time to cool off and take a shower so that by the time we get back to the house, we can just crash”

She smiled. “You sure got energy”

He shrugged. “The crowd keeps us going”

“So you were glad to see me in the crowd?” she asked teasingly

“I loved seeing you in the crowd” he said, then realized he had said ‘loved’. “I uh, I’m glad you were there”

She blushed. “Me too”

He sighed softly in slight relief that she hadn’t noticed what he had said. He just took advantage of the moment and leaned in for another kiss.

“Get off her already!” Chris yelled out from the floor, watching the couple

Liz giggled.

“Aww, are you feeling lonely Chris?” JC asked in a mocking voice

Chris rolled his eyes.

“I’ll make you feel less lonely Chris” Joey said happily, going to sit down on his face on the floor but Chris pushed him and scrambled to his feet.

“Get your butt off me you old poodle man” the oldest member muttered

The guys including Liz erupted in laughter.

“I could see how living with you guys on a bus could be fun” Liz said, trying to catch hers elf.

JC chuckled.

“Maybe one day you’ll find out what it’s like” he said with a smile

 “Lizzie!” the voice blasted through the speakers in her phone

She pulled the phone away from her ear and cringed.

“Joshua it’s one in the morning” she whined, looking at the digital clock on her bedside table.

“Sorry baby”

She sighed. “What’d you want?”

He chuckled. “Lizzie we did it. Record sales went up!” he informed her softly, the excitement bursting in his voice.

She suddenly became more awake.

“Wait, what?”

“We’re #2 on the charts as of today!” he said, trying not to shout

She burst into a smile. “Oh, babe that’s amazing! Congratulations!”

“Thanks Lizzie” he said quietly. “I can’t believe we did it”

“I’m so proud of you guys”

He smiled to himself. “There’s more”

“Wait, when did you find all this out?”

“A couple hours ago”

“And you call me one o’clock in the morning to tell me?!”

“Would you have rather being the last one I called?”

“I’m the first?” she asked softly

“I called you as soon as I was able to get access to my phone. We’ve been in Lou’s office all night!”

She smiled to herself and giggled. “What’s the news Josh?”

“Oh yea” he said, getting excited again. “I think I’ll tell you later instead and let you get your sleep”

“I’m fully awake now Chasez” she said as she sat up and laughed lightly. “Now what’s the good news?”

He chuckled. “We’re going on tour!” he blurted out

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Seriously?”

“Yes!” he cried out happily. “For 6 months starting in a few weeks”

Liz felt her stomach do a flop. Six months, him on the road, not being able to see him. The idea didn’t sound too appealing to her.

She swallowed and nodded to herself. “That’s amazing Jace” she said softly.

“Ah, I know! Man, I can’t wait to get on the road! I mean we have to……”

Liz wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying at that point. It was finally starting to hit her that this is what life was going to be like as long she and JC was in a relationship. His career came first. She was second. As much as she knew he enjoyed being with her, the idea of not seeing each other for the upcoming six months seemed to hit her much harder than it hit him. And she wasn’t sure if that was such a good thing.

“You alright this morning?” Emma asked her friend, taking a seat at their breakfast table with an apple in hand.

“Yea, just fine” Liz mumbled, looking down at her plate while she used her fork to play around with her eggs.

“Did you not sleep or something or did you just wake up cranky?”

“I’m tired”

“So it’s the ‘no sleep’ thing?”

Liz sighed. “What’s with all the questions?”

“Well you’re not telling me why you’re acting all weird so I have to ask”

 “They’re going on tour” she mumbled

“Wait, who’s going on- Wait, NSYNC?!”

Liz nodded, keeping her head down

Emma broke into an excited grin. “Seriously?! When?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

She sighed resting down the fork. “In a few weeks. Josh called me this morning”

“Aren’t you happy for him Lizzie?” Emma asked softly

“Of course I am, it’s just that…” her voice trailed off. “I’m never going to see him Em”

“Sure you will” her friend said, pushing her arm. “A little less, but you knew what you were getting into when you guys became a couple”

Liz nodded. “I mean, he’s all excited and I want to be happy for him, but… I don’t know”

“Maybe you should just-”

Their conversation was interrupted when JC appeared in the door way, knocking on the fridge next to it to notify them of his presence.

“Josh!” Emma said, taken aback. “How’d you get in here?”

“The front door was unlocked so I let myself in, if that’s okay” he responded. He held up two paper bags. “I brought donuts though” he smiled.

Liz turned to her friend. “You forgot to lock the door last night didn’t you?”

“I’ll be in the car” Emma mumbled, getting up and grabbing her purse. “Thanks Josh!” she said happily as she took one of the bags from him as she bounced past him on her way out.

“Morning to you too Em” he responded and then turned to Liz who was now alone at the table.

“Morning babe” he said, going over to her and giving her a kiss on the cheek before taking a seat beside her.

“Hey” she said, still looking down at her plate. “What’d you doing here?”

“I wanted to go talk to Johnny about a few things so I thought that I may as well see if you were still home”

“Thanks, but I’ve got to get to work” she said, getting up and walked over to the sink.

He remained seated. “Are you okay?” he asked

“Yea, why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know, you just seem… Different”

She shrugged. “I’m fine”

He got up and walked over to where she stood washing the few dishes and leaned against the counter.

“Then why are you all not ‘Lizzie-ish’?”

“I said I’m fine Josh” she said softly

“I know you’re lying, so you may as well tell me what I did now or you’re going to be late for work”

She sighed and turned off the tap. “It’s not what you did...It’s more of what you’re going to do”

He frowned. “What’re you talking about?”

“It’s just… Your career, and the tour and the record and your schedule… I just feel like I’m never going to be able to see you anymore. When you called me this morning, I wanted to be happy for you, and I am, but I started thinking about how we’re never going to see each other and I don’t know… It brought me down”

“Babe, of course we’ll see each other” he said softly

She looked up at him. “For six months while you’re on the road Josh?”

He sighed. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy, I’m just saying we’ll figure it out to make things work”

She didn’t look convinced.

“Lizzie, I promise you… I’ll find a way to make things work. I know it won’t be easy but you just got to have some patience with me. I like you, a lot Lizzie. I’m not just going to leave us hanging like that when I leave.”

“You promise?”

“Pinky promise” he smiled

“You know promises never last forever right?”

“Would you just quit saying that?!”

She gave a small smile and sighed. “Okay” she nodded. “I’m sorry”

He smiled and placed his hands around her waist. “Don’t worry about the tour right now okay? Just focus on what we got, right now. And right now, I’m thinking we got something pretty great”

She smiled. “Yea, me too”

“So you’re okay now?”

She nodded.

“Alright, then I better leave. You got work”

“What’d you doing today?”

He shrugged. “We got a couple interviews and then rehearsals start in a couple days for the tour. I needed to talk to Johnny about the schedule today”

“Where’re you guys going to be travelling?”

“It’s a nationwide 34 city tour”

“Well, look who’s gotten all famous”

He chuckled. “And look who’s late for work. C’mon” he said taking her hand and leading her out the kitchen.

“Waaiit” she said, her voice lingering over the vowel sounds of the word.

“What?”

“You’re going to leave me without a kiss?” she teased

He laughed and pulled her in for a quick peck. “Better?”

“Thank you” she said, giving him a hug

“I’ll talk to you later, alright? Johnny’s probably wondering what’s taking me so long”

She nodded. “I’ll see you soon. Have a good day, alright”

“You too” She left the house and made sure to lock the door while they stood out on the porch.

“Later babe” he said, kissing her on the cheek.

“Bye” she said softly with a smile.

He waved to Emma before going back to his car and driving off, honking the horn a couple times just to get her attention to let her know he was going.

“Are you okay now?” Emma asked her friend with a smile as she got in the car.

“He just has this way of making me feel like everything’s okay” Liz noted, smiling.

Emma laughed. “That smile on your face is seriously ridiculous. You look like a kid who just woke up to a mountain of candy on Christmas morning!”

Liz shrugged, the smile plastered across her face refusing to go away. “He does that to me”

“You’ll figure out something when he goes on tour” Emma assured her friend. “You guys are too great together not to”

“Boy, I hope so”