The club was loud, the music beating as people danced and others sat around and drank. Melissa rubbed her eyes and sighed. She'd forgotten her glasses case at the hotel and was suffering for it. The group had went to eat and then decided to go out clubbing. She'd wanted to bow out, but Travis had practically begged her. Actually begged wasn't the right word, telling her that everyone else was going and that he wanted to spend time with her while they were in New York City was right, making her to feel guilty. Now Travis was at a table with some of the guys from the setup crew while she was at a booth away from the music. Melissa ordered a Coke and looked through her purse and got out her bottle of Aleve, praying that it would work.

Joey held up his drink and weaved between people. He'd quit drinking almost an hour ago and barely had a buzz. His brow furrowed when he spotted Melissa, her hand over her face as she sat at the table. “What's wrong?” he almost yelled, sitting down across from her. Joey watched as she winced, looking at him.

“My damn glasses are at the hotel and Sir Drinks A Lot isn't ready to go yet,” she said loudly over the music, nodding to where Travis was. “If I take my contacts out, I can't see and my head is about to split wide open.” Melissa looked Joey over and noted he looked tired. “You look worn out yourself, Fatone.”

“I wouldn't bitch if I had went to bed about two hours ago,” he confessed, taking a drink of his Dr Pepper. “Let's get out of here. Our significant others can fend for themselves. I lost Kristen to Britney's dancers anyway and Travis seems to be having a good time.” Something about the way Travis left Melissa by herself irked Joey, but that didn't come out of his mouth. He looked back at Melissa, watching her take out her contacts. “How many fingers am I holding up?” he asked with a chuckle as she pursed her lips.

“Jerk,” Melissa said with a smile as she saw his fingers switch, blurry. “It's between three and four. Three and a half.” She put her contact case up and got up and waited for Joey. Lacing her fingers through his, Melissa tried not to sigh at the feeling. She couldn't see anything far away. Reading anything unless it was close up was out of the question. “Take us home, Joey.”

“As you wish,” Joey told her, unwinding his fingers from hers to put an arm around her and get them through the crowd. He wasn't going to bother telling his girlfriend or Travis they were leaving, but he did catch Lance's eye and motion that he was out. The air was still warm at almost two A.M as they stepped out the door in the back.

A taxi was waiting, not particularly for them, but for a customer in general and the two of them slid in. “Where to?” the driver asked them after they shut the door.

“Waldorf-Astoria Hotel,” Joey said, sighing and laying his head back on the seat, closing his eyes. “You're going with me tomorrow right?” he asked, smiling when Melissa leaned on him and sighed.

“What are we doing tomorrow?” she asked him softly, listening to the noise of New York City.

“Shopping, dinner, comic book store not in that order,” Joey replied, his fingers finding Melissa's and winding through them. “I don't care if Travis wants you, you're with me. Kristen is on a plane in the morning.”

Melissa snorted at his tone, poking Joey's side making him open his eyes and look at her. “I hope you're never that happy when I leave,” she told him, her heart flip flopping when he shook his head.

“I'll always miss you when you leave. Unless of course you've been pissy for a week and then I'm glad you leave for at least the first hour,” Joey told her, laughing when he heard her gasp.

Melissa glared at him, pursing her lips together. “You know that hat from the video shoot you lost? And your light blue Superman shirt? I know where they are...”

Joey sat up a little and looked at her, shaking his head and pulling Melissa to him in a hug. “Oh Melly...” he half sang, messing up her hair then leaned down to where his mouth was next to her ear, “I knew you had those four months ago,” he whispered, grinning widely at her surprised look. “And my other favorite Superman necklace.”

Melissa rolled her eyes at him, sitting sideways in the seat on his lap. She wondered if she should say anything; deciding it was time to tell Joey what she'd neglected to tell Travis. “You know Travis doesn't know that you are at our place most of the time. I mean, you have your own toothbrush in my bathroom. And sleep clothes...regular clothes...” her voice trailed off. Melissa realized that her face and Joey's were only a few inches apart and he was staring at her.

Joey watched his best friend swallow quickly as she got nervous. “You worry way to much. I mean, you aren't gonna change the locks on me are you?” His brown eyes met her green ones and he smiled at her shaking her head. “It's not like we're at your place making out or something.”

Melissa was thanking God the taxi stopped right then, letting her almost face plant as she tried to scramble off Joey's lap and out of the vehicle. She caught herself from falling, goosebumps breaking out when Joey grabbed her from tripping over her feet.

“You okay there, bambina?” Joey asked, concerned that she'd all but lept out of the car. He noticed that her mouth tightened and she nodded, not looking at him. “Talk to me, Mel,” he said as they went through the back straight to the elevators. “You've been acting weird all day, ever since we were on the bus...”

“I've not been weird. I've just been...thinking.” Melissa hoped he'd buy her lie as they got on the elevator and he pressed the button. Shoe sizes, recipes, stupid jokes were running through her mind as she tried not to think about kissing Joey.

Joey could tell when he was purposely being ignored. It aggravated him and he was tired of playing these games. Kristen had done it enough the past week and he wasn't going to start with her. He found the all stop button and hit it, the elevator stopping. “Don't start this, Melissa Nicole,” he warned, crossing his arms. “I'm too tired to listen to you jerk my chain and you're eating your bottom lip,” Joey watched her cower a little and look down. “Talk.”

Melissa knew she was in deep trouble when her middle name came into play from Joey. If she didn't talk it would escalate into a fight. Besides little disagreements, they'd only fought a couple times she could remember, and neither time was anything she cared to relive. “I...was...thinking about..kissing you,” she finally finished, looking at him. “Iwasjustwonderingifyoulikedit,” she said so fast she wasn't sure if she even said it right, blushing.

That wasn't what Joey was expecting to hear, much less what he'd been thinking about. Of course he'd thought about them kissing, trying to shuffle it to the back of his mind. He blinked a few times, a sly smile coming to his face. “Did I like it?” he asked her, surprised she would ask. Joey closed the space between them, his arms going around her. “Did you like it?”

For a moment, Melissa forgot to breathe as she nodded slowly, then stopped. A frown came to her face and she reached up and played with the back of Joey's hair. “I shouldn't have liked it,” she said quietly, trying suppress her fears. She didn't want to hurt her best friend, or be hurt by him. “I mean, we..we're not together, and..” she licked her lips, shaking her head more, scared of what might happen.

Joey caught Melissa's head with one of his hands. “And what, Mel? You're my best friend..you're my buddy's sister?” He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and ignored it, studying her face. God knew he wanted to kiss her again, to be the man he and the rest of the guys sang about. That thought stopped though when he saw the panic in her eyes. He wasn't going to force himself on her. Joey leaned in and barely touched his lips to hers. “I won't kiss you again, a'ight?” he told her, holding her close, her ear pressed against his chest. “Not til you ask me.”

Melissa closed her eyes and listened to the familiar thump of Joey's heartbeat and nodded, trying not to cry. “Turn the elevator back on. I want my glasses,” she said softly, letting him go when it got to their floor. “You gonna come over and watch tv or something?” she asked him, digging for her key card to her room, praying things between them would go back to normal.

“Sure. Gimme ten minutes, bambina.” Joey watched her nod and ran a hand over his face when her door finally shut. He turned to find Justin standing at his door, the door open and a huge smile plastered on his face. “What?” he said, sighing.

“I just wanna know when the wedding is, dawg. Or when we should expect Mel to hatch a little mini you,” he joked, laughing harder when Joey gave him a double dose of flying the bird.

“Friends,” he ground out, going to his door next to Justin's. “We're with other people, Justin. Not happening with me and her.”

“Too fucking bad,” Justin said, glancing at Melissa's door. “Least one of us poor saps could be happy. I mean like “over the rainbow every day's coming up roses” bullshit. When she leaves in a few weeks, you'll be wishing you'd have stolen her away from that dipshit.”

Joey rolled his eyes at Justin, opening his door. “Go screw your girlfriend, Timberlake and leave me alone. I'm tired and all I want is to go change clothes and watch some tv.”

“Not in your room, dawg.”

“So the hell what? Are you my mother?” Joey said, going into his room, letting the door shut between him and Justin. Joey pulled his shirt off and then undid his pants after kicking off his shoes. “Fuck,” he ground out as his phone vibrated again. He tossed it on the nightstand, watching Kristen's name flash on caller ID. He grabbed a pair of shorts out of his bag and a t-shirt, putting them on and grabbing the keycard.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

“Where in the hell is he?” Kristen hissed, looking at her phone again as Joey's voicemail came on. She was inebriated and upset that her boyfriend left her at the club without so much as a goodbye. The thing that made her the most mad was that Melissa was no where to be found either. “I am so going to give him a piece of my mind,” she said out loud to nobody in particular as the group she was with left the club. It was close to three and she had no intention of being left out of whatever was going on, enjoying the attention she got from being with this group. “You know they're together right?” she drawled out to Travis when she bumped into him, smiling at him and batting her eyes.

Travis just shrugged, feeling a good buzz. “They're usually together. They aren' doin' nothing ya know,” he replied as they walked down the street to another club.

“They kissed earlier today,” Kristen took the surprised look on his face as an opportunity to keep talking. “I think they both liked it. I told her to stay the hell away from Joey.”

Travis didn't say anything, looking Kristen over. He'd all but begged his girlfriend to have sex and she wouldn't but she'd go kiss Joey. That pissed him off, especially since he'd talked to the guys that were there from NSYNC and no one had mentioned anything. Travis sat down at the bar and ordered another Corona, his mind thinking as much as it could with alcohol running through it.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

“I'm in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in a King size bed and the only thing you can find to watch is Star Wars? You suck, Fatone,” Melissa said, yawning. She was laying with her head on Joey's shoulder, trying not to fall asleep.

“It's either this or Jeepers Creepers,” he teased. Joey knew she hated that movie and it scared her. “Go to sleep if you're tired.”

“You go to sleep. Turn the tv off,” she mumbled, her eyes closed, scooting closer to him, one of her hands finding his hair. “You staying?” the question Melissa posed turned out like a sigh.

Joey shifted to where he could grab the remote, turning the television off. It made the room dark and he sighed deeply. He thought about telling her yes, but knew that wouldn't be good for either of them. “You know Kristen would be pissed right? And Travis wouldn't be happy,” he reminded her, watching her roll over to look at him.

“So we tell them both to piss off,” Melissa told him sleepily.

Joey sat down on the end of the bed, patting Melissa's leg under the covers. “It would be nice to do that, Mel, but you know I'm not that type of guy. I mean if you make me mad, yeah....but I like Kristen. She's a good girl. Let's not get carried away with one kiss.”

That doused any kind of feeling Melissa had, making her sit up and stare at Joey. “Well I hope you and Kristen are very happy together. Don't worry about me ever bothering to want to kiss you again,” she said quickly, her voice shaking a bit. “I won't ever ask you to kiss me, Joey, so just forget what I said in the elevator.”

“Melly...” Joey began, but stopped, throwing up his hands. “I give up, ya know that? I'm sick of this crap between us. You'll always be my friend, but I have a girlfriend and I don't want to sneak around acting like there's something going on between us. I was just acting that way so you wouldn't be hurt.”

The light came on and Melissa all but shoved Joey off the end of the bed. “Get out of my room! All of this acting so I wouldn't get hurt?” she shouted, getting off the bed to get in his face, her finger jabbing his chest. Melissa didn't bother to wipe away the tears that came. “I thought you were one of my best friends! What was I going to get hurt about? That you had a girlfriend or because I wasn't dating you? Get over yourself, Joey. ”

Joey's nose got close enough to touch Melissa's. “You've pouted, and bitched. And moaned. I thought that maybe if I gave you a little more attention that you might decide to act decent.” Joey growled when Melissa's hand met the side of his face, hauling her up to him. “Is this where we're at now?” he hissed, tightening the hold on her wrist, watching her wince. “I'll tell you exactly how I feel about you if that's what you want.” He watched Melissa nod and he smirked.

Melissa's wrist hurt and she wanted to get away from Joey. The more she twisted, the tighter his hold got. “Just tell me,” she finally said, feeling the back of her legs hit the bed. She was shocked when Joey kissed her, his lips firmly planted on hers, his fingers dug into the back of her head and hair. She tried to get a breath and move, but Joey was having none of it. It wasn't a kiss like on the bus and it killed her when she realized what he was doing.

Joey's mind had snapped. He was trying to give her the most unfeeling kiss he could, but his body was trying to do otherwise. His lungs were protesting that he needed oxygen so he broke off the kiss, glaring at her. “Our second, and last kiss. We're done. You don't have to worry about me being over for Travis to find out about. Just pack my stuff up and drop it off at my place,” he told her, turning and heading for the door. He paused, his hand on the doorknob. “Leave the key too.”

“You know what, Fatone? Fuck you.”

“Fuck you too, Bass. Not that it ever does a guy any good...so the rumor goes,” Joey knew he'd crossed the line when he heard her sob. He left her room and stood there a few minutes outside the door, unable to move. Five years had just came and went in the span of fifteen minutes. All because he was running away from his real feelings.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Travis sat at the table in the hotel with his girlfriend, watching her push around the food on her plate. “So'd you have fun last night?” he finally asked, watching her nod. “Kristen told me what happened on the bus...between you and Joey.”

Melissa dropped her fork and looked at Travis. She'd spent the rest of the night crying, not caring that she looked like hell that morning. “So what? Me and Joey...aren't friends anymore.”

Travis sat there a minute, soaking in the news. Something big must have happened. He scooted out his chair a little and pulled his girlfriend to him. “I'm sorry, Mel. Do you want to talk about it?” Travis wasn't surprised she shook her head no, but was surprised when she leaned in and kissed him.

“Thanks, Trav,” she said softly after breaking off the kiss. “I did have plans...” her eyes tracked Joey over by the check out counter, carrying one of Kristen's bags and then went back to him. “I don't know what I wanted to do today.” Her mind was still numb, trying to figure out what exactly went wrong the night before.

“How about you go get some sleep and then we'll go do something fun. Go to Central Park or something,” he suggested, smiling when she nodded yes. In his mind, Travis had won the war, because if Joey wasn't there to be a distraction, Melissa would focus on him.

*^*^*^*^

Joey's eye twitched, his mood had not improved after leaving Melissa's room. Kristen had come back drunk and he'd had to babysit her. The only thing he told himself that helped was that he and Melissa could function without each other. He'd been fine without her his whole life before NSYNC, and he could be that way again. He carried Kristen's bags, intending to go with her to the airport, but not get out. Even with Mo coming as security, he wasn't going to get stuck there.

Kristen ran her arm through the crook of his elbow and smiled, walking out with him to their waiting taxi. “I'm so glad I could come stay with you guys for a week. I had a lot of fun,” she told Joey as they got in. Mo got up front with the driver and she frowned, wishing it just could have been them.

“I did too, baby,” Joey told her, looking her over and giving her a smile. Even though she'd been drunk this morning, she still looked hot. “Maybe you can come stay another time. There's the American Music Awards coming up in September if you wanted to go, be my date. It's one where we dress up really nice.” Joey saw her eyes light up at the thought of being with him for that. His heart hurt, but he was going to fill that void with something better than what he had. Or so he hoped.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Lance knocked on his sister's door once again, waiting for her to answer. When she did he came in and saw that her bags were packed and sitting on her bed, still open. “You going on a vacation we don't know about?” he asked, sitting down in one of the chairs by the table. When she didn't speak, he got up. “Talk to me, sis.”

“There's nothing to talk about. I'm ready to go home...I thought I wanted to stay but I need to go back and get my classes straightened out. Or find a job..something,” Melissa told him quickly, folding up a shirt before pulling it back out. It was one she'd kept from when Joey was at their place, one that she slept in. She handed it to Lance. “Give that back to Joey.”

“What, are you two not speaking anymore?” Lance asked, surprised at the look of pain his question brought.

“Something like that. We just decided that it was better if we drew a boundary where our friendship was. Apparently Joey was afraid I would be too hurt if he told me he was in love with Kristen. Who cares.”

Lance wasn't sure how much his sister cared, but he took her bags down to the hotel lobby anyway, giving her a long hug. “Have fun today. Call me when you get home,” he said, feeling her squeeze him hard. “Love you, Mel.”

“Love you too. Break a leg tomorrow night.” With that, Melissa took one more look around the hotel and walked outside to meet Travis. She prayed that the numb feeling would go away once she got back to Florida. It was another couple of months before the tour ended. Surely her heart would be fixed by then.