Music was pounding through her body.  Her head nodded to the beat as she took a sip of her drink.  Samantha had come out tonight to get away from the pressure of work.  She needed a break from the guys she worked with.  She should have known that after bugging her to come along, her friends would ditch her-at a party, with the guys she worked with.  As soon as she was finished this drink, she planned on leaving.  If she was going to be alone, she might as well be somewhere she actually wanted to be and right now being curled up with a good book sounded heavenly.

Oh the irony!  Why was it that at the exact moment she lamented being alone, she saw him?  Samantha watched him scan the room and focus on her.  She groaned inwardly, but tried to keep her face from showing her disdain.  He was the one person she tried to avoid at all costs, and there he was, about to make her night worse.  There was no escape.  He gave his friends a cocky nod and made his way toward her.

As he swaggered, he lay on the sexy smile that made her wonder just how long he had practiced it in front of the mirror. 

"Hey, Gorgeous!"  Was she in some sort of alternate universe?  He was never nice to her.  His eyes slowly rose from her feet to her chest and lingered a moment before he met her eyes.

"Hi, Justin," she gave him a weak smile and tried not to roll her eyes.  "Some party."

He held out his hand, "You ready to hit the floor with the best dancer in the club?" 

Yeah, right.  Like she would actually dance with the guy who made her work days miserable.   "Oh!  Does JC know that you are trying to get him dance partners?" she asked sweetly.  She was couldn't help grinning as a look of confusion settled on his features.

He coughed.  "I'm sorry, did you just ask about JC?" he asked.

She shrugged, "Well, yeah.  You just asked me if I was ready to dance with him, you know, since he's the best dancer around."

 "What?  You know what?  Forget it.  There are plenty other hotties here."  He slunk away, no doubt to complain about the bitch who had dared to insult Justin Timberlake.

As soon as he was out of earshot, she let out a sputtering laugh.  Oh, that had been too easy and too much fun!  She might stay a little longer after all.

She caught the eye of Lance who was serving behind the bar.  He poured her another drink with a lazy grin.  "Nice moves, Sam.  I can't believe you shot him down so fast."

"Give me a break, Lance.  He started it.  Like I'd want to be one of his little groupies," she waved her hand in the direction of Justin and his horde of dancing women.

"Yeah, well, when he realizes who you are, he's going to totally kick himself."

"I'm pretty sure that Justin knows who I am by now.  He certainly takes pleasure in causing me trouble every day."

"Yeah, but," Lance hesitated, "Sam, you look really different tonight."

"Whatever," she shrugged the suggestion off.  "I've just got a little makeup on."

"And a dress," he added.  "Trust me; you don't look the same as you do everyday.  Normally when we see you, you look like a typical roadie.  Tonight, you look like a girl."

Apparently the *NSYNC boys were going to be annoying her one by one tonight.  "Lance, I'm going to assume that you weren't trying to tell me that I don't normally look like a girl and I'm going to leave so I don't have to listen to you try to get your foot out of your mouth."

She picked up her drink and made her way through the crowd.  She stopped to watch the dancing on the main floor.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lance talking to JC.  Great.  JC was looking her way.  Oh man, where could she hide?

"Hey, Chicky!"  She jumped when Chris put a hand on her wrist.  "Having fun?"

"Chris!  You scared the life right out of me!"  She gave him a soft punch to the shoulder.

"Aw, I'm sorry, Sam.  I didn't mean to," he gave her a hug.

"Yeah, I know.  If you had meant to scare me, you'd pull some prank on me like pretending to fall out of your harness just as I'm about to send you flying across the stadium."

"Look, I said I was sorry about that, didn't I?  I really thought something was loose."

He looked so contrite that she relented and gave him a smile.  "Yes, you did.  But it took days before I recovered from that one."

Chris put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze.  "I know.  Me too."  They laughed together, just two buds hangin' out.  Just the way it always was with Chris.  There was a reason that they were friends.  Maybe her night might still be salvaged.

"Hey Chris, Sammie, how's it going?"  Or not. She had forgotten about JC.

"Hey JC."  Chris nodded.  "Excuse me, Sam, I see a lady I've got to make a move on," he announced as he gave her a peck on the cheek and melted into the crowd.

"Yeah, whatever, goofball, have fun," she called after him, shaking her head at his craziness.

"So, Sammie, I hear Justin's been offering you a dance with me," JC grinned. 

"You hear from whom?" she asked.

"The trusty bartender," he shrugged toward Lance.

She nodded.  "Hmm, well, isn't that interesting?"

"So?" he looked at her expectantly.

"So what, JC?"  She wasn't about to make things easy for him.

"So, you wanna?"  He nodded his head toward the dance floor.

"Do I want to what?"  Did he think she was a mind reader?

"Dance, Sammie.  Do you want to dance?"

She looked at him like he was crazy.  "With you?"

"Uh, yeah, that was the idea," he grinned.

"Hold up, JC.  Are you asking me to dance because you actually want to dance with me or because Lance told you about the whole Justin thing or because Justin made an ass of himself or because you feel sorry for me?"

JC scratched his head.  "OK, now you've gone and confused me.  Is there a right answer?"

She laughed and shook her head, "No, probably not."

"So, are we going to stand around and talk all night, or are we going to get our groove on?"

She groaned, "JC, stop being silly and go get one of those hot chicks to dance with you."  She waved vaguely towards the large group of scantily clad girls surrounding Justin.

"Well, see, I thought I was asking a hot chick to dance with me."  He winked.           

"Oh, brother," she rolled her eyes, "Are your pickup lines always this corny?"

"Come on, Sam," he took her by the arm and pulled towards the dance floor.  "Please, dance with me?"  He gave her his best puppy dog eyes.

Sam heaved her shoulders up in a big sigh.  "I guess."

JC took her hand and led her to the dance floor.  A slow song was playing, so he drew her hand around his neck before putting his hands around her waist and bringing her closer to him.

"Geez, you're tall!"  Sam commented as she looked up at him.

"Nah, you're just short," he gave her a teasing grin and patted the top of her head which was just below his shoulder height.

"Hey buddy, you better be nice to me.  I'm the one who makes sure your harness is tight enough without being too tight.  If you're not careful, I'll make it so you're singing higher than Chris!"

JC laughed.  "Yes, mama, I'll play nice."  He looked down into her eyes.  "Sammie, you look really good tonight."

She pushed away from him a bit.  "Boy, you really did talk to Lance, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?"  It sure didn't take much to confuse JC.

She sighed.  "Your buddy Lance told me that tonight I look like a girl, not like a roadie.  When I left him, he was trying to get his foot out of his mouth."

JC shook his head with a chuckle.  "Well, Sammie, I have always thought you looked like a woman.  A very beautiful woman," he reached out and touched her cheek gently with the side of his hand.  "And no, Lance didn't tell me what to say.  I noticed how nice you look all on my own, the very first day I met you."

Sam laughed.  After all the strain she'd been going through with her job, this was finally the kind of break she needed.  She laughed until she had tears streaming down her face.  "Oh, JC, thank you so much!  You have no idea how much I needed that laugh.  Listen, thanks for the dance, but I'm going to head out now.  I'll see you tomorrow."  She turned to walk away.

"Wait!  Sam, I wasn't joking." 

"Of course, you weren't, JC."  She patronized him just a little.  "Look we'll talk tomorrow, OK?"

He reached for her wrist.  "Let me walk you out."

"No, I'm fine, JC." She shook her head.  "Stay and have fun."

"I don't think so.  If you don't let me walk you out, I'll just get Lonnie to do it."

She rolled her eyes, "Come on, JC.  I'm just going upstairs to my room.  It's not like I'm going out in some dark alley or something."

"Samantha," he used his ‘serious' voice.  "I'm trying to be a gentleman here.  I would feel a lot better if you would let me walk you to your door so that I know you made it safely."

She sighed.  "Fine, JC.  But just so you know, I can defend myself."

He laughed, "Yeah, I know you can.  I had bruises for a week that time you threw me."

"Hey, I am not apologizing for that again.  You should know better than to come up behind a woman and grab her shoulder."

"Me??  I called your name like six times and you didn't hear me!" he defended.

"Like that was my fault?  You know I have to wear ear protection during the concerts.  Plus I had my radio on waiting for my cues."

The elevator doors opened and they stepped on.  "Don't worry, I learned my lesson.  I always make sure you see me now, don't I?"

"Yeah, I trained you well," she smirked.

"I'm just waiting for the day when one of the other guys messes up and gets tossed across the arena."  JC giggled.

Sam laughed, "You are such a baby!  I did not throw you across the arena.  I merely flipped you over and protected myself."

"Baby, you had your foot over my throat!"

She nudged him in the side.  "That's right; it was over your throat, not on it.   Just be thankful it wasn't on your nuts!"

JC grimaced and pretended to cover his package to protect it.  "I'm thankful, mama, believe me, I am thankful!"

He reached over and grabbed Samantha's hand.  He was looking serious again.  "Sammie, what's been going on lately?  You don't seem happy.  Is the tour getting to you?  Is something wrong?"

The elevator doors opened and Sam was safe from answering his probing questions.

They walked down the hall side-by-side and paused in front of the door to her room.  She looked up at him and suddenly felt like she was a teenager on the tail end of a date.

JC dropped her hand and took her face in both his hands.  "Sammie, whatever is bothering you, just know that there are people here who care about you.  When you are ready to talk, you know where to find me."  Sam saw something in his eyes right then, but before she could recognize it, his lips were on hers, kissing her softly.  It was as if he was trying to ease her pain, lighten her burden. 

JC pulled away, took the key out of her hand and opened her door for her.  He held the door open and ushered her in.  Samantha was too stunned to do anything other than let him.  He stopped her long enough to put her key back in her hand and place a kiss on her forehead. 

"G'night," he whispered.

"Yeah."   She replied as the door closed.