Chapter 4

"Thank you for still doing this," Justin said as he watched Melissa pull on the blue shirt that designated her on his team. "You didn't have to; we would have found someone else."

Melissa sent the man a smile, stopping his words. "I know Justin. I wanted to. You know I love this charity. It's a good cause. I want to be a part of it. I can put my differences aside for a day. But thanks for switching my team."

"I have to admit I had an ulterior motive," Justin grinned as he tied a matching blue banana with studded beads around his head. "We have a much better chance winning with you than Kat."

"I'm gonna tell her you said that," Melissa teased. Kathy, or Kat as she was known as, was one of their public relations. She was small, barely clearing five foot two. Kat was quiet until she dealt with media members. She threw her hair up into a messy pony tail before securing her matching bandana.

"I'll deny it until my dying breath," Justin said. "She scares me."

Melissa laughed and helped the four kids assigned to the blue team with their t-shirts and very own matching bandanas.

Today was NSYNC's Charity for the Children. They spent the day doing fun events such as 3-legged races, obstacle courses, water balloon toss, more races geared more toward the kids than the adults before the games ended with tug-of-war. The whole day was capped off with a celebrity basketball game. Where the kids were able to not only see the guys from NSYNC play, but other musicians and athletes; even some TV personalities.

Melissa stared out over the field seeing the sea of colors indicating various teams mixed with the casual apparel of fans, audience, media and various others. Aside from her own blue shirt, there were whites, grays, blacks, yellows, reds, orange and some oddball shades off the primary color scheme. All staff members who were working the event wore bright neon green shirts making them stick out.

Her eyes caught the red shirts of the team she was supposed to be on. Joey's. It now housed Kat, who had switched places with Melissa at the instance of Justin. Their shirts were different than hers she noticed. Instead of the logo of the Charity for the Children on the front, it was on the back with the person's name on top like a jersey. When a child turned in her direction she caught the big ‘S' on the front of the shirt. The superman logo.

That was so like Joey - lover of anything Superman. She should have known. When they had been designing the shirts, Joey had kept his a secret not letting her see it because she was on the same team. He had wanted it to be a surprise to his team, including the children.

She drew her eyes away from Joey before her mind started going down a path it had no business going down. She saw Chris's team dressed in yellow shirts. She laughed seeing each member with a pair of goggles on their head, much like the goggles that Chris wore.

A waving hand in the crowd drew her attention and she grinned. Raising her hand high above her head she returned the wave. Her best friend since junior high and a lifeline since her break from Joey. Rachel Hunter. Rachel was wearing a green shirt designating her part of JC's team.

Melissa blew a kiss in her direction, watching as Rachel blew one in returned then turned her attention to one of the girls on her team. She watched as Rachel secured a bracelet onto the girl's wrist. From where she stood, the beads looked big enough to be a necklace, but Rachel twisted them until they fit the girl's wrist. Upon seeing that, Melissa scanned rest of the green team seeing each member housed beads on their wrists.

She scanned the immediate area for the final member of the group and grinned, spotting the orange shirts. On the back of the orange team's shirts, stood a big space shuttle. The front was made to look like the front of a flight suit with "patches" sewn on either side of the chest and sleeves. Lance's love for space was obvious to anyone who paid attention. One of the kids had a white space helmet on. She grinned at the prop.

"You ready to kick butt?" Justin's voice brought her back to her team. The kids smiled and shouted, ‘yes!' "Alright," he grinned as he led the team to over toward the starting area of the first event to kick the afternoon off.

"Go Kristy! Go Megan!" Melissa shouted as she watched the two girls on the blue team run down the field, arms wrapped around each other, a rope holding their ankles together. It was the second leg of the three-legged race. The boys from their team had already finished, allowing the girls to start. The first team to get all their members across the line first won.

Justin whistled by her side as he cheered his team on. "You ready?" He asked as the girls got close. His right ankle was tied to Mel's; his right arm around her back.

"This outta be good," Melissa laughed as she and Justin got ready. When they saw Kristy and Megan cross the finish line in a fit of giggles, they took off....stumbling.

"Come on Mel," Justin laughed tightening his arm around her back, holding her upright. "Work with me."

"I am!" Melissa laughed. "I can barely walk on a good day with two feet, let alone three!"

They worked out a system with Justin calling left-right-left. It made Melissa think of a military cadence. The children had finished and it was just the adults left. The kids lined up at the finish line yelling out their names.

"Faster with the left-right-left," Melissa said, "they are catching us! I'll be damned if I'm getting beat! Let's go Timberlake! Move that ass!" She used the hand around his back to smack his ass.

Justin yelped and faltered, throwing off their rhythm. Melissa shrieked as she felt them teeter, their balance out-of-whack. They stumbled trying to right themselves. But they were too far gone. They fell to the ground in a clutter of arms and legs.

They heard a mixed cry of protest and they rolled on the ground trying to stand back up. During the fall they wandered out of their lane and into the next lane. Unable to quickly move out of the way, they took down the green team of Rachel and JC knocking them off balance and bringing them to the ground.

"Cheaters!" Rachel yelled in protest her arms tangling with Justin's and Melissa's. Her legs were firmly twisted and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to stand back up, especially with her leg effectively tied to JC's.

"Jesus Christ, you weigh a ton!" Justin muttered facedown from the ground. "I think broke something."

"I'm gonna break something if you finish that comment," Rachel muttered sharply, pressing her elbow down into his back.

"Not you," Justin groaned. "Chasez."

"Bite me, J," JC snapped in good nature, the wide grin on his face showing he was teasing. "If you hadn't gone and tripped, then brought us down..."

"She slapped my ass!"

"Like you've never had that happen before." Melissa told them as they fumbled on the ground. Legs getting entwined with each others. The ropes didn't help. It would have been much easier getting up if she had two good legs.

Cheers rose from the children as the race ended. Rachel looked over to see the orange team celebrating. "I really hate you right now, Mel."

"You were eating our dust anyway," Melissa said. "If you were ahead of us, you wouldn't have tripped."

"If you'd have kept your hands to yourself," Rachel raised her eyebrow when Melissa stuck her tongue out at her. "Real mature."

"Thanks," Melissa grinned. "Now, get off me. I think I ruptured my spleen."

"It's unneeded anyway," JC said as he held Rachel to him and maneuvered them off the blue team, but they were still on the ground. "You're bleeding." He saw the thin trickle of blood down Rachel's chin and reached a hand out to cup her chin and inspect.

"I think I caught an elbow or something on the way down. Or a shoe," Rachel shrugged. She licked her lips tasted the blood from her split lip. "Who knew the three-legged race would be this dangerous?"

"Mel can hardly walk with two feet on a good day, I should have known."

"Hey!" Melissa sat up. In the tumbled with her body trying to go one way and Justin's the other, the rope had loosened. "We were doing fine! How did I know you'd be sensitive to a tap."

"Tap my ass,' Justin muttered as he moved to sit next to Melissa and quickly tightened the rope around their ankles again so they could finish the race.

"Yup," Melissa grinned. "I did tap your ass."

"You need help," Rachel laughed as she and JC managed to stand up together. They regained their balance and started walking toward the finish line. "See ya!'

"You ready?" Justin asked pulling Melissa to stand. He grinned seeing the happiness on her face. It was a much better look than the distant look she had at her apartment.

"Yup, let's go.'

"Keep your hands off my ass this time."

"Alright. But no promises."