Clare, Libby and Jamie made their way across the restaurant towards the table where Lisa, Sara and Jenny were seated waiting for them. Clare was grateful that Lisa had their drinks ready, and she took a large gulp of her vodka and coke before slumping into one of the free chairs.

"That bad, huh?” Lisa asked her with a chuckle.

"You’re okay,” Libby replied as she took her own seat and smiled at Lisa. "Your man is more than happy to declare his feelings for you.”

Lisa smiled proudly and took a sip of her drink. At the same time, Jamie announced that she was going to find the ladies room and Clare quickly stood up to go with her. Once they were out of earshot, Sara, Lisa and Jenny asked Libby what had caused Clare to become so upset. Hoping that she'd have time to explain before her friend returned, Libby leaned forward in her chair and ran through the meet and greet in a hushed voice.

"So who is this Rachel kid?” Sara asked at the end of Libby’s explanation. 

"She’s Alyson’s sister,” Libby answered her.

"Which would help if we knew who Alyson was,” Lisa replied sarcastically.

"Alyson is JC’s ex. The one who made it into the papers,” Libby said, raising an eyebrow and looking pointedly at Lisa. None of the women believed that the story could've ended up in the papers without someone having tipped off a journalist. 

Lisa pulled a face and began to twirl her glass around in her hand so that the ice cubes clunked together. "Oh," she said, glumly.

"But, of course, she didn’t speak to the papers,” Clare said as she re–joined her friends at the table. Lisa smiled up at her sympathetically.

There were a few moments of silence as the girls perused the restaurant menus before a waiter joined them to take their order. Once they were alone, conversation struck up again.

"So does anyone know who our Chris has a thing for?” Libby asked with a chuckle as she met Clare's eyes across the table and smirked. Like Clare, she, too, had suspicions that it was Jamie that Chris was interested in.

"What!” Sara gasped as she heard the news for the first time. She spent so much time around the men of the group that she missed out on lots of girl–talk. A lot of the things that the women discussed took her completely by surprise.

"I think it’s our Jamie,” Clare said, flashing a smile at the accused.

"Yeah right,” Jamie replied sarcastically. "I’m sure if he had a thing for anyone it would be me. I mean, I am obviously the most likely candidate. What man wouldn’t be interested in me? I’m such a catch! Look at me, I am a workaholic, I have absolutely no spare time outside of my job. I have terrible taste in clothes and I have a snarky attitude that puts people’s backs up. I can see why he’d be interested in me!”

"Ahh...” Sara said with a fond smile as she reached out to squeeze Jamie’s shoulder. "But we love our Jam.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

Once the members of *NSYNC had finished their meet and greet and left the private room, they began their search for the Clare, Libby and the rest of the women. They'd been expecting to find them somewhere in the restaurant, but due to the building being so crowded it took them a few minutes of walking around before they spotted them.

The reason they'd been so hard to find became clear to them at once—they were partly hidden from view by seven tall men, who had gathered around the table, and from the looks of things, were busy chatting up the young women.

Only Joey felt no twinge of jealousy as he watched the girls chat and flirt with the men surrounding them. Both he and Lisa had an entirely faithful and trusting relationship and he knew better than to let jealousy get a grip of him. Strutting towards the table confidently, Joey leaned past one of the men to plant a kiss on his girlfriend’s lips. Lisa, who was pleased and slightly relieved to see her boyfriend join their table, flashed him a broad smile.

"Who’s this?” Chris asked moodily as he joined Joey at the table and eyeballed one of the strangers. Clare frowned up at him as she noticed the irritation in his voice.

"This is Scott, Nick, Luke, Mark, James, Jon and Chad,” Clare said as she introduced each of the men in turn to the members of *NSYNC. Chris refused to shake any of their hands but the other men weren’t quite so rude.

James noted the way that JC was glaring at him from behind Clare’s seat and turned to her with a regretful smile. "I guess we’d better make a move...” None of the girls had noticed, but each member of *NSYNC had moved to ‘claim’ one of the seated girls. It was something that the newcomers hadn't failed to notice.

"You don’t have to rush off,” Libby said, offering Chad a sweet smile as she playfully twirled a strand of her hair around between her fingers. She was all too aware that Justin was standing beside her—she was always aware when he was near—and she hoped that her action would irritate him enough to do something about it.

"Nah, it’s probably for the best,” Chad replied as he stood up and smiled down at Libby. He didn't want to get in the middle of something, and although he liked Libby's smile and fair eyes, she wasn't really his type. As soon as he was up and out of the chair, Justin slipped past him and claimed his place next to Libby.

"Don't let us keep you," Lance said, flashing a fake smile at Jon, who had been sitting with Jenny. Feeling increasingly pushed out, the seven men parted ways with a few pleasantries towards the girls and none towards the men. Clare let out a quiet sigh of relief as she watched them go. Initially she'd enjoyed the attention, but if she'd been honest with herself, she'd have much preferred to have had an evening alone with her girlfriends.

"Thanks for comin' ya’ll, bye!" Chris called in a parting gesture once the men were out of earshot.

"Yeah," Justin said, joining in. "Don't bother comin' back!"

Libby, Clare, Jamie and Sara narrowed their eyes at Justin, and then at Chris.

"Hey!" Sara objected in mock annoyance. "We were being chatted up. You didn't have to scare them away like that!"

"You don’t need attention from losers like that!” Chris told her matter–of–factly.

"And how do you know they were losers?” Clare asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Before Chris or any of the others could respond, Lisa interrupted, glancing up at Joey. "Is it over? Can we go now?”

Lisa and Joey had made arrangements to have their own private dinner after the meet and greet. They were also planning to spend the rest of the evening watching the sunset from the beach. With Lisa busy studying for her degree, and Joey's schedule becoming increasingly busier as the days wound down until their overseas tour, they'd learnt to savour any time that they could find to be together.

"Yes," Joey said simply as he pulled her to her feet and slung his arm gently across her shoulder. "We can go now. Later, guys."

"Bye," Clare called as she watched the pair of them head towards the exit, a fond smile crossing her face.

"Right! Enough of this. What say you to a girly sleepover night?" Sara asked Clare brightly with a twinkle in her eyes. Clare looked at her in surprise but quickly broke into a matching grin of her own.

"I thought we were going to do something as a group?" Clare asked her.

"We can. These guys don't need us to entertain them." Sara said, meeting JC's eyes before twisting in her seat to look at Jenny. "What say you, girls?" Sara asked, addressing the rest of the girls around the table.

"Sounds good to me," Libby said, causing a disappointed frown to appear fleetingly across Justin's brow. He'd been looking forward to spending time hanging out with the girls after the meet and greet. Although he'd never admit it out loud, he liked the girls' company and always had a good time with them.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan," Jamie added with a smile of her own.

"Oh, come on girls!” Chris complained with a whine. "The night is still young! Why don’t we all invade Joey and Lisa’s date instead?” He asked with glee, rubbing his hands together mischievously.

Clare—who was already half out of her seat gathering her handbag from where she had placed it on the back of her chair—playfully slapped him around the back of the head. "Because Christopher, they are the only ones in love around here and they want some time to be alone together. Got it?”

"Give him a break, Clare. Love is the last thing on his mind,” Libby teased with a snigger, turning to Chris. "Never mind, maybe one day someone will teach you the meaning of romance. If you’re lucky, Lucky!”

"I know romance!" Chris defended himself as he rubbed the sore patch at the base of his head from where Clare had slapped him. "I've been there, done that, got the license!"

"Then you should be aware that the lovebirds would rather be alone right now!" Jamie told him.

"But it's only eight thirty!” He complained. "I want to do something!"

"Then go jump off a bridge!" Clare teased.

"Speaking of him having been there and done that…” Libby said with a laugh, causing the group to break into laughter at Chris’ expense.

"Excuse me? I’ll have you know I have always been this handsome sex god that you see before you!”

"Oh, you poor baby!” Clare chuckled. "You’re delusional as well as ugly!”

"So what are we going to do?” Justin asked loudly through the laughter of his friends. He’d had enough of hearing the girls rip into Chris and wanted to change the subject back to the original question.

"I don’t know about you,” Clare said as she began to walk towards the exit, closely followed by the rest of the group. "But I am going home. This is my first official night off for a week and I am going to take full advantage of it! You're welcome to join me, ladies.”

"Deal!” JC and Justin cheered at the same time. "Everyone back to Clare’s!” They rushed forward towards the exit before Clare had a chance to realise what they'd said. She glanced in a panic at Libby who was shaking her head at the departure of the two men.

"I did say ladies, didn't I?" She said dryly as she watched them go. "Tell me I said ladies..."

"I heard it," Libby said with a chuckle. "I'm guessing they didn't."

~~~~~*~~~~~

Clare pulled up outside her and Libby’s apartment around half an hour later. As the group of girls piled out of the car and waited by the front door for Libby or Clare to let them inside, they were startled by a chorus of whoops and hollers from behind them. A bright set of headlights temporarily illuminated the group as Justin manoeuvred his baby blue Mercedes convertible into the space next to Clare's jeep.

"Oh, God," Clare groaned aloud as she watched the members of *NSYNC—minus Joey—tumble out of the car, their faces lit up with smug grins. "I thought we'd lost them on the freeway."

"I guess not..." Libby said as she watched the men make their way along the path that led from the parking spaces to their front door. As she reached back into her bag she finally grasped at her front door key, which had somehow worked its way to the very bottom of her bag, and she held it high for the other girls to see.

"So much for a girls' night," Sara added as she narrowed her eyes at the approaching men before turning back to watch Libby unlock the door.

"Just what I want," Clare said, just loud enough for the men to hear, "I get to spend my time off with the guys I spend all day with. Yippee!"

As Libby swung the door open the group made their way inside, with Chris making a beeline for the kitchen in search of food.

"You cannot be hungry!" Sara chided him as she spotted him sneakily opening the fridge door before closing it again in dissatisfaction—it was almost empty. "You guys ate at the restaurant."

"That was hours ago," Chris told her as he turned his attention to the kitchen cupboards above the stove.

"God forbid Mr. Kirkpatrick has to go without food for a few hours!" Jamie shouted sarcastically to him as she found herself a seat on the couch in the next room.

Clare threw her head back and laughed. "Chris and Joey are like two peas in a pod; if one isn't eating the other is."

"Are they as bad on the road?" Libby asked Jamie as Justin came over to join her on the two–seater couch that she had already claimed as her own.

He nudged her stretched out legs with his knee and waited for her to make space for him to sit down. Libby shuffled her body to the side and waited as he sat before stretching her legs out across his lap once he was settled. Clare and Jamie shared a look as they watched the pair get comfortable, completely oblivious to how their easy companionship appeared to the others.

"We can pretty much run out of food in a day," Jamie replied, answering Libby's question. "You think they're bad now... imagine how much worse they are after performing each night."

Libby turned to Justin and playfully shook her head. He raised his eyebrows at her before breaking out into a grin.

Not too long after, Chris returned from his visit to the kitchen and made his way over to where Clare was sitting. Without giving her a chance to object, he turned around and sat purposefully onto her lap. The group burst into raucous laughter at the expression on her face.

"Ger–off!” she told him with a red face, shoving him away with her arms so that he tumbled forward onto the floor. "Surely you lot can find something better to do than bother us tonight?”

"But you so clearly enjoy our company," Chris said as he got to his feet and made himself comfortable on the arm of the couch next to where Jamie was seated. "It would be wrong to deny you the privilege of spending time with us."

"I'm sure we'd manage," Libby chuckled as she met his eyes. "I think we should have left y'all with the fans. It would have been funny to see you try to get yourselves out of that one."

At her use of the word 'y'all' Clare smirked. Libby had no idea how funny it sounded in her English accent. Both of them had picked up certain phrases and expressions since coming to the States, but 'y'all' was a southern expression and Libby could have only picked it up from two people—Lance, or Justin.

"Ha ha!" Chris quipped as he playfully narrowed his eyes at Libby. "Hey, do you think I could maybe get a drink here? I mean, what kind of host are you?"

Libby narrowed her eyes back. "The kind who didn't invite you over! Besides, you clearly know your way around our kitchen. Get your own drink."

"I’ll get the drinks,” Lance offered as he stood and made his way into the kitchen, followed shortly after by Jenny.

Seeing them go, Clare called out, "There’s milk, OJ, coffee... Err, Pepsi! Oh, and I bought a few bottles of wine yesterday. You can open those too, if you like."

"Wine it is!" Chris shouted to Lance, who mumbled something back which the group didn't quite hear.

"Pepsi for me, please,” Libby shouted loud enough for Jenny and Lance to hear.

"Oohh... that's right! Strictly Pepsi for the under twenty–ones,” Chris sniggered as he winked at Libby.

Libby narrowed her eyes once again as he continued to laugh at her. "I wouldn’t drink that poison even if I was over twenty–one,” she retorted.

"Keep telling yourself that, Lib," he said.

It didn't take long for the group to settle in the living room and soon there was an assortment of glasses and bottles scattered on the wooden coffee table, along with a few bumper bags of crisps and popcorn, which Lance and Jenny had found in the kitchen.

Everyone who couldn't find a space to sit on the couches and easy chair made themselves comfortable on the floor. Only Justin, who was one of the lucky few who had a seat on a couch, seemed to be uncomfortable.

"Justin the foot rest!" Jamie remarked with a laugh as she noticed him shuffling around in his seat for the umpteenth time. In his desire to be close to Libby, he’d forgone the option to be comfortable. He would never admit it out loud, but he considered it a sacrifice worth making. He flashed Jamie a sarcastic smile but said nothing.

"So who’s up for a game?” Jamie asked after taking a sip from her glass of wine. She glanced around at her friends, a mischievous grin on her face.

"What kinda game were you thinking?” JC asked her as he leant back against the couch to support his back.

"Can’t you guess?” Jamie asked him with a twinkle in her eye.

"If you’re thinking Truth or Dare then I don't know...” Lance said a cringe visible on his face. He knew what Jamie was up to, and realised that she would probably use the opportunity to assault each of them with embarrassing questions about their love life.

"Truth or Dare? I haven’t played that in years,” Jenny said with a giggle.

"There must be lots of truths to come out then,” JC said as he offered her a friendly smile.

Clare shot Libby a pointed look from across the room and watched as the younger woman raised her eyebrows in response. Libby knew exactly what Clare was thinking.

Usually Clare avoided playing Truth or Dare at all costs as she hated revealing personal information about herself, particularly in front of a crowd. Fortunately, on the odd occasion when the group had decided to play, Clare had either been working or already tucked up in bed for the night. So far she'd always managed to have an excuse to get out of it. Until now.

"Don’t we already know enough about each other?” Libby asked, hoping that her question wouldn’t reveal how uncomfortable she felt about playing Truth or Dare. Especially with Justin sitting so close to her.

"Spoil sport,” Justin chuckled, nudging her with his socked foot.

"Come on, Lib, It’ll be a laugh. Besides, Jenny wants to play. Don’t you, Jenny?” Chris asked, turning to look at Jenny and flashing her an encouraging smile.

Jenny looked from Chris to Libby and then back again. Feeling unsure how to answer and feeling torn between possibly upsetting her friend or having to say no to Chris, she nodded tentatively. "I guess it could be fun."

"Then it’s agreed,” Chris announced, sitting upright and rubbing his hands together in glee. "I shall begin.”

He glanced around the room as he decided on whom to choose as his first victim. After a few seconds his eyes settled on Libby, who was deliberately avoiding his eyes by playing with a loose strand on the sleeve of her hoodie top, trying her best to be inconspicuous.

"Libby,” Chris announced, bringing an immediate groan from Libby. "Truth or dare?”

"Eurgh, do I have to?” She complained with a sigh.

"You have to,” Justin added helpfully and laughed as she shot him a warning glare.

"In that case... truth.”

"Hmm… Okay. If you had to date anyone in this room, who would it be?

Libby’s face immediately flushed with colour and Clare shot her a sympathetic smile. Chris certainly hadn't made it easy on her and she wondered how her friend would recover from her embarrassment.

"Great. All the men in the world and I have to choose from you guys!” Libby said, trying to put off having to give an answer for as long as possible.

"Just answer the question, Lib,” Chris said with a big smirk on his face.

"Fine. Probably Justin,” She answered, her palms sweating and her whole body burning with embarrassment. She narrowed her eyes at Chris, knowing how much he was enjoying humiliating her. She'd get him back, she told herself. He'll be sorry...

For the first time she was aware how close Justin was to her and she wished that she could remove her legs from his lap without it being obvious. She dared to peek at him from the corner of her eyes and noticed that he was blushing himself. It sent a shot of panic through her as she wondered if he'd been made uncomfortable by her admission.

"Come on,” Clare said, trying to lighten the conversation.

"It’s not like she had a huge choice. Pineapple head, pretty boy, Jordan Knight or curly locks… um, hard choice!” Clare gave Libby a reassuring smile and then sat forward with a devilish look on her face as she turned to Chris.

"Okay, my turn. Chris, truth or dare?”

"A dare from Clare,” Chris contemplated. "Truth it is.”

Clare grinned. She had him just where she wanted him. "The woman you mentioned at the meet and greet earlier... is she in this room?”

Clare sneakily glanced over at Jamie who caught her eye and glared back at her accusingly. Chris, however, didn't hesitate to answer the question.

"Yes," he said, "but you do know it’s not you, right?”

"Damn, I had my fingers crossed and everything,” Clare replied with a smile. Of course she hadn't been expecting him to say that it was her. She knew that he'd been referring to Jamie...

"Okay, my turn! My turn!” Lance chanted enthusiastically causing everyone in the room to burst out laughing at him.

"Calm down!" Sara told him with a chuckle, "You’ll give yourself a hernia!”

"Justin!” Lance said loudly as he turned to the youngster. "Truth or dare?”

"Dare," Justin answered quickly but soon regretted it when he saw the evil grin that crossed Lance's face. "No, wait! I choose truth."

"Make up your mind,” JC told him as he rolled his eyes impatiently.

"Truth," Justin told Lance. "Definitely truth.”

Lance paused to contemplate his question whilst the rest of the group waited. "Who is your idea woman?" He asked eventually. "And I don’t mean the usual Tyra Banks line. Someone who's not famous.”

"Hmm...” Justin said as he stroked his chin whilst pretending to give the question much thought, "My ideal woman...” He paused once again for dramatic emphasis which seemed to irritate JC even further. He let out a groan of annoyance.

Realising that his audience’s patience was waning, Justin quickly said, "She’s gotta be tall, but not as tall as me. Have stunning eyes... oh! And a great body...”

Clare let out a groan and couldn't help but roll her eyes at his clichéd answer. He was describing a fantasy, and not a very flattering one at that. There was no mention of personality traits or any intellectual qualities that his ideal partner should possess.

Catching her reaction, the grin slipped slightly from Justin's face and when he spoke his voice was serious. "Really all I want is someone who makes me laugh, likes some of the same things that I do and loves me for me..." He trailed off suddenly as if he realised that he may have revealed too much. "That’s it, I guess,” he finished awkwardly.

Clare gawped at the youngster as the reality of his words sunk in. Her eyes inadvertently turned to Libby, who was once again fiddling with the sleeve of her hoodie. How is she not reacting to this? Clare thought as her eyes widened in surprise. Justin has basically just described her, and she's acting as though she hasn't noticed?

Feeling as though she were being watched, Clare turned her head and met Jamie's eyes. She too had a similarly surprised expression on her face. Clare smirked and watched as Jamie nodded her head in Libby's direction before rolling her eyes in amusement. It appeared that Clare wasn't the only person who'd thought of Libby after hearing Justin's description of his perfect woman. 

Recovering his composure, Justin was determined to continue on with the game before someone challenged him on his answer. He knew that if he gave either Clare or Chris an opportunity to quiz him then they'd take it with open arms.

"Truth or dare, Giddy?" He asked Clare with a smile.

Noticing that the theme of the evening's game seemed to be revealing dark secrets about people’s romantic feelings, Clare realised that picking 'truth' would be a big mistake.

Despite what she considered to be her best efforts, it appeared that most of the group had suspicions about her feelings for JC. There was no doubt in her mind that if she provided an opportunity then Justin would ask her about it.

"Dare,” she sighed unenthusiastically, but then added as an afterthought, "but kissing anyone in this room is definitely out of the question. Unless it’s Libby.”

"I knew you two had something going on,” JC joked from where he sat on the floor by Clare's feet. He twisted his neck around to grin up at her playfully. Clare grinned back.

"Okay, I've got something” Justin said, which immediately brought Clare’s attention away from JC. "You have to go down the street and ask the first guy you meet to marry you.”

Clare narrowed her eyes at him and let out a low groan. It wasn't an especially awful dare, but it was embarrassing. She rose to her feet and gave Justin a small curtsy of obedience before turning and leaving the room.

Once the group heard the front door close behind her, Chris turned to Justin with a look of frustration on his face and said, "Is that all you could come up with? I'd have made her streak across the beach!"

"You’ve been single too long,” JC muttered with a laugh.

As they waited for Clare's inevitable return, the group broke off into conversations amongst themselves to make the passing of time seem quicker. They didn't have to wait long.

Not five minutes later, the front door opened once again and Clare entered the living room, hand in hand with a tall, blonde, attractive man who couldn't be more than around twenty–five, or twenty–six years old. He waved politely at the group of friends and grinned down affectionately at Clare.

"Jason!” Sara shrieked as she recognised her elder brother. She jumped to her feet and rushed across the room to envelope him in her arms.

"It's all agreed," Clare quipped as she released Jason's hand and returned to her seat on the couch. "We're to be married next week!" She informed her friends with a laugh.

"What are you doing here?" Sara asked her brother as she pulled back from the hug to look into his face. His arrival had taken her completely by surprise and she was genuinely shocked, and thrilled, to see him. "I had no idea you were going to visit."

Jason smiled at his sister and began to explain, "I'd just finished my last modelling job and had some free time owed me, so I decided on the spur of the moment to come and surprise you. So... surprise!"

Sara laughed at the spontaneity of it all. "But why here? How did you know where I was?"

"I tried your apartment first," he said, "but you weren't there. So I decided to try the one person who probably would know where you were—Clare," he glanced over at Clare and grinned. "Only she surprised me!"

"He wasn’t expecting to find me wandering the streets looking for a husband!" Clare quipped as she narrowed her eyes at Justin. It was, after all, his idea.

"I take it someone set Clare up?" Jason asked the group with a knowing smile. He'd spent enough time around the members of *NSYNC, and Sara's friends, to understand how the group dynamic worked.

"Nah, she's that desperate now," Chris snorted in amusement until Jamie and Libby both shot daggers at him with their eyes, effectively silencing him.

"Truth or dare,” Libby went on to explain from her spot on the couch. She offered Jason a friendly smile when he met her eyes.

"Ah!” He nodded in understanding and turned back to Sara once again. He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows gleefully. "Then I guess I arrived just in time!”

~~~~~*~~~~~