~11~

AMAs
January 17th, 2000
3:45pm

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The day, in essence, hadn’t even started and the smallest things were making Lance jump and his heart race. To say that he was nervous and excited about the AMAs was an understatement. There were no words in the English language that could describe how he, how any of them, were feeling.

The car ride over to the hotel where they would be staying before and after the event was filled with silence partially due to nerves for those who were awake and because the others were getting as much sleep as they could.

Between now and whenever he woke up tomorrow, they were all going to be in a constant state of motion from dress rehearsals to interviews, to the actual performance, and the after party he already knew would be a rager that would go on into the night. His feet ached at the idea of it and he made a mental note to have a back up place to sleep in the very real chance Joey would want to bring someone back to the room with him.

“Joe, could you get that?” Lance asked from where he was lying face down on his mattress, trying to get some sleep that he could get before the big swarm of cameras and voices swirled his brain mixing into one giant ball of…fame.

The repeated squeaking of Joey jumping up and down on the bed across the hotel turned into a thud before his friend made his jolly way towards the hotel door, whistling happily. Normally, they’d all be booked into hotel suites for events of this caliber; however, they needed to be back into the swing of rehearsals the very next day.

Lance lifted the top of the two pillows underneath him and slammed the top one down onto his head. Through the pillows he heard the muffled click of the hotel door opening, a pleasant exchange, and then he felt two small hands wrap around his ankles, shaking his legs back and forth.

“Rise an’ shine, sleepy head,” a light, cheerful voice sang. “The guest of honor is here.” Lance rolled onto his back, pushing his pillow up off his face, giving a half smile of amusement.

“Hey, Jazz,” he greeted Jasmine who had her arms out towards him as if she jumped out a cake shouting “Ta da.” He lifted his arm and glanced at his watch. “I thought you’d be here earlier.” Jasmine lowered herself down onto the corner of his bed, lifting a hand to hook her blonde hair behind her ear.

“I kinda had the plane delayed taking off because I had so much stuff in my bag,” Jasmine explained, giving a sheepish grin. She lifted a hand before Lance could say anything. “It actually wasn’ shoes this time, but the curling iron, and the crimper, and the flat iron, and hair drier.”

“Hey, if it helps you look great for the red carpet, go with it,” Joey explained. Lance wordlessly lifted the pillow from his head and tossed it over to his friend, smacking him in the side of the head.

“Hey!”

“Y’all sure know how to put on a production ‘round here,” Jasmine said as her tinkling laugh faded. “I felt like I was a celebrity bein’ escorted in with security.” She gave him a bright smile. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

“You’re welcome,” Lance replied. “And thanks for coming.” He grasped the chain to the cross necklace around his neck and made sure it sat between the unbuttoned portion of his blue unbuttoned polo shirt. “Anna will be excited to know you’re here.”

Jasmine pouted, eyes twinkling in amusement. “You think you’d be more excited ta see me,” she said.

“Yeah, Lance, where are your manners?” Joey asked and Lance turned his head to see the smirk on his face. “You have a lovely lady sitting on your bed and you haven’t given her a hug yet, you bastard.”

“As charming as ever aren’t you, Joe,” Lance said, deadpan before sitting up, sliding to the end of his hotel bed to give Jasmine a hug.

“It wouldn’ be me if I passed up the chance to get a glimpse at your life,” Jasmine said with a smile as she pulled back from the hug. She then gently shoved Lance’s shoulder with the heel of her palm. “Besides, I couldn’ leave my girl hanging. Darren said he wanted to come, but had a big school project or somethin’ due this week.” Her lips curled up into a teasing smile. “She’s jus’ gonna have to settle with me.”

“Yeah, he told me yesterday that he couldn’ make it,” Lance replied, lifting a hand to rub at his burning eyes.

Despite how tired he felt, he could feel himself waking up. He’s heard a lot of people refer to it as a “Zombie Walk” and he couldn’t agree with them more. He could feel so tired and just want to crash anywhere he could find a place to lie down, and he’d most likely look that way at the end of the day, but at the same time the day was filled with so much energy, he felt like he could go on for hours after everything was over.

His eyes landed on the large box sitting on the wooden table that held the TV. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing at it.

“The other reason why the plane was delayed,” Jasmine replied as she got to her feet. “Care package from everyone back home.” Jasmine clapped her hands together as she made her way over towards it. “I even managed to get your Grandpa Jim and Grandma Bass to put in somethin’ for y'all for your big night. Joey, there’s stuff in here for the rest of y’all, too.”

Joey practically launched himself off of his bed, hurrying to her side to help her open the box, eyes wide, a grin of excitement stretched across his face. “Thanks, Jazz,” Lance said with a wide smile. “But, I don’t think we have time to open it now, we have to get going.”

“Of course we have time!” Joey said, shooting Lance an incredulous look as he started patting his pockets, looking for something sharp.

“Joe, we only have fifteen minutes left to eat dinner and get our hair and makeup done,” Lance protested as he twisted his arm to glance at his watch. Jasmine glanced over at him in amusement and Lance felt his face burn. It didn’t matter how used to the business he got, he hated the feel of makeup. He understood why it was used, but it felt like a layer of saran wrap was being put on his face.

“That’s still plenty of time,” Joey replied, waving his hand in the air. “Call the others.”

“And Ace too, tell her she’s got a whole bag of jelly beans in there,” Jasmine said with a grind and a twitch of her eyebrows. Lance paused for a brief moment before reaching for his phone in his pocket.

“There is, isn’t it?” he asked. Jasmine just gave a shrug of her shoulders before turning back towards the box Joey was struggling with.

“I’ve got ya covered,” Jasmine reassured him as she lifted her hands towards her ear lobe. Lance watched as she removed the earring from her ear before jamming the sharp metal end into the tape. A pop filled the air

Lance sighed, quickly punching in a number with his thumb before lifting the phone to his ear, listening to it ring. “Joe, we have to get going,” he said, starting to pace as he waited for an answer. “Everyone will be waiting in the lobby by now.”

“Chill, Sleeping Beauty,” Joey said as he pulled the tops to the cardboard box upwards. He immediately dug his hands inside, looking around until he let out an “Ah ha!” and lifted a navy blue bag with his name written in silver on it out of the box. “I still need to brush my teeth and stuff.”

“Just down drown yourself in cologne again,” Lance said with a sigh, rolling his eyes in Jasmine’s direction. She put a hand over her mouth, giggling. “We all still have to share a car with you.”

“What?”

“Not you,” Lance said into his phone, responding to Justin’s confused tone. “Hey, my friend from home, Jasmine, came and she brought us all a care package of candy and stuff. Come on up.”

“You had me at candy.” Lance could picture the wide smile that was for sure crossing the baby of the band’s face. “We’ll be up before you know it.”

“If Ace is with you, bring her up, too,” Lance quickly said into the phone, trying to talk over Justin relaying the message to everyone else. He could hear JC’s protests from the other end of the line. “She’s got a whole bag of jelly beans waiting for her.”

“Jelly beans? Really? Of all he candy out there--?”

“Just get up here,” Lance said before ending the call.

“Wow, Lance,” Jasmine commented, swinging her head to toss her hair over her shoulder, “you’re more talkative at home.”

“Ehh, today, this is the only time he doesn’t have to talk business all night long,” Joey explained, waving his hand in the air. Lance pressed his lips together and gave a nod of his head.

He received that comment a lot since he had left for Orlando. “Lance, why are you so quiet?”, “You’re not as talkative as you used to be”, and his personal favorite, “You’ve changed.” He couldn’t help but laugh at the last one. He hadn’t changed, he’d just been…careful about what he said and how he acted. Everybody knew who he was; he was part of a brand now and he had to upkeep the NSYNC name with as much professionalism as he could.

There was a rapid knock on the door and Jasmine quickly tip-toed across the floor—as well as she could with her thick heels—and flattened herself against the wall sectioning off the bathroom and open walking area at the front of the hotel room.

Joe quickly crossed the room to the door and pumped the handle, pulling the door open and stepping out of the way to make room for Justin and Chris who practically burst through the front door. JC followed behind them, mouth twisted to the side, one hand up to his neck, clasped around his infamous lion head necklace, sliding the charm back and forth on its chain.

“Lance, maybe you can help me out,” Annaleigh said, blowing out a huff of hair through her nose, her cheeks puffing up for a brief moment. She held her arms out by her sides. “This doesn’t look weird for the red carpet, does it? Like too laid back?”

She brushed a few loose strands of her hair behind her ears. They had kept her hair wavy, but braided two locks of her hair back behind her head to create a bit of a braided headband. Lance took the time to quickly look her over as she pushed the rolled up sleeves to her white jean jacket up past her elbows. A billowy green spaghetti strap tank top, a black shimmery skirt over a pair of jeans, and black heeled round toed shoes rounded out her look.

“You look great,” Lance replied, feeling a smile come to his face. Her nose wrinkled just slightly as an uncertainty crossed her face. “Really. You look beautiful.”

“And if it comes from Lance, you know he’s tellin’ the truth,” Jasmine commented as she stepped out from her hiding place, her arms crossed over her chest.

Annaleigh’s eyes popped open, after a bout of blinking rapidly, taking in the sight of her best friend. Her lips parted into a smile before she clasped her hands together, a gasp of shock and excitement slipping out of her mouth. “Jazzy!” Lance quickly lifted his hands, sticking his index fingers in his ears right before Jasmine let out a loud shriek, flapping her hands, and running in place before she pulled Annaleigh into a hug, squeezing her friend tightly. “What are you doing here?”

“Lance asked me to come down,” Jasmine replied, taking a step back from her friend, looking her up and down, giving a quick nod of approval before taking her friends hands, squeezing them tightly. “Joey told him that you were feelin’ homesick, so…” Her eyebrows shot up. “Girl, you look amazing.”

“Hey, we told you the same thing,” Justin said, turning away from the box, holding the green bag with his name on it.

“Yeah, but y’all were jus’ bein’ nice,” Jasmine said with an amused grin before sticking her tongue out at him. Justin shrugged before he ripped it open and put his hand inside before retrieving a small box of fruit loops. He shook it from side to side.

“I’d need 50 of these, or more, to fill me up,” he announced.

“Besides,“ Jasmine said, turning back to her friend, ignoring his comment.  “Have you seen what these fellas are wearing?” Lance frowned, looked down at his brown leather coat, blue polo, and dark pants. He reached his hand up to lightly touch the gelled spikes in his hair.

“What’s wrong with it?” he asked, exchanging confused looks with his friends..

“Nothing, darlin’ don’ worry,” Jasmine said, waving her hand in the air. “I’m just saying you’re really looking casual.” She let out another squeal, clapping her hands together. “I can’ wait for the show, this is so excitin’!”

“It won’t be exciting if we don’t get going,” Lance said, waving his hands, trying t usher everyone out of the rooms.

“Johnny and Wade are probably wondering where we are,” JC added, and Lance widened his eyes, motioning in his friend’s direction as if to say “See? He gets it!” Nevertheless, he peered curiously into the box. “And you know how much Johnny hates it when we’re late.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going,” Joey said before he bounded across the room in quick strides, closing the bathroom door behind him.

“Wait! I want my jelly beans,” Annaleigh said before slowly making her way towards the box in the corner of the room. She held her arms out to her sides, practically gripping JC’s bicep for support as she reached him, trying to walk carefully on her heels. “Settles a girl’s stomach, y’know. Jazz you’re amazin’.”

“Girl, tell me something I don’ know,” Jasmine replied, bending at the waist in a low bow before making her way towards the door on the very tips of her toes, waving her arms up and down.

“Those ballet classes are coming in handy I see,” Lance asked with a grin as he made sure he had everything before following her towards the door.

“It’s a great party trick, especially barefoot,” Jasmine replied with a bright smile as she opened the hotel room door before dramatically whisking herself out into the hallway. “Hurts like a thorn deep in your sole, though.”

Lance laughed quietly, following her. As soon as he stepped out into the hall, he could feel the nervousness sink in. This was it; in a few moments’ time they’d be on their way to the red carpet of the AMAs, and then they’d be walking the carpet, and then they’d be performing.

Rehearsals had been a bit rocky with marionettes malfunctioning, messed up dance steps, running behind schedules, people were trying to get quick interviews with them, the fans who were there for sound check distracted them.  The fans were getting a taste of what it was that they’d be putting out into the word. It was a little hard to believe that their “OMG, that was amazing” and “I loved it” were genuine and not just being said because they were in the same room as *NSYNC. He did feel bad to even think about ulterior motives for his fans, since he knew they wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for them, but he couldn’t help but wonder what exactly they thought about the song.

Those worries ran through his mind all the way to the lobby of the hotel. He hadn’t even realized he had moved from the corridor of the hotel room or even got into the elevator, he was that out of it. He only snapped to it when he felt a warm hand rest on his shoulder.

“You ok?” JC asked him, a curious look on his face. “You look a little pale.”

“Yeah.”His voice cracked, shooting his tone into a higher pitch—one he hadn’t heard in a long time. Feeling himself blush Lance cleared his throat, trying to regain control of his vocal chords. “Just starting to get a bit nervous.”

“Starting to?” JC asked, his lips twitching into a smile of amusement, his eyebrows lifting. He put a hand to his stomach, his fingers forming a fist, pressing into the skin. He rarely ever showed his nervousness on his face, but you could bet he’d give his tell-tale sign of his stomach being in knots. Lance shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, his knuckles striking the side of his phone and it started throbbing in pain; maybe it was life’s way of warning him against what he was thinking in that moment. “God, I’ve been nervous for days.”

“Well, I’m not going to lie to you,” Johnny spoke up, instantly catching everyone’s attention as their soft chatter died down, “this is a big deal and everybody’s treating it as such. But, I don’t want it to get to your head. We all know that no matter what, at every stage in your career, you have to prove yourself time and time again. As far as everyone else is concerned, nothing you’ve done before this has ever mattered, but it all matters—everything you’ve done in your career thus far has mattered.”

He pressed his hands together before setting them against his lips. He was silent for a long moment and Lance shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking around the lobby of the hotel. He could see fans milling around outside, talking excitedly. He lifted a hand in his direction and a couple screams hit the air. He laughed lightly as he watched other fans instinctively start screaming albeit looking confused as to why had caused that reaction to begin with.

“I know this all hasn’t been easy for you, but I have to commend you on your hard work and how well you’ve taken everything. I am proud of each and every one of you.” He looked over at Annaleigh and gave her a smile. “Even you and Gabe, Missy.”

Annaleigh’s features contorted into a look of confusion as her chewing slowed. She held a plastic bag of dark blue jellybeans in her hand; blueberry, her favorite flavor. A brief second later, the confusion cleared. “Missy, Mississippi, I get it,” she said with a half smile. She hiked an eyebrow before shifting her gaze over towards Wade. “Better than Boots.” Wade merely crossed his arms over his chest, his nose wrinkling just slightly.

Wade glanced back and forth between the two of them before he looked over at Joey who gave a shrug of his shoulders before focusing his attention back on his manager. “If there’s one thing you’ve all impressed me with time and time again it’s not only how seriously you take this, but how much fun you exhibit not only on stage, but in every aspect of your life,” he continued. “It’s been fun working with you, and I’m glad you all have this opportunity despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding it. You all should be proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

“And being on time,” Wade said, lifting his voice. Lance turned to see Gabriel step out of the elevator as the doors slid open. He paused for a moment, blinking rapidly with one eye before carefully rubbing it with the heel of his palm.

“Sorry,” he said, as he lifted his hand to run his fingers through his hair. He quickly glanced at his fingers before wiping them on his dark pants leg. “I missed my alarm.”

“As long as you’re here,” Johnny replied with a nod in his direction. Gabriel gave a smile of thanks. “These things never really start on time anyway.”

Johnny reached up and reached for the brim of his cap, using the heel of his hand to wipe at the line the hat made in his forehead. No matter where he went, you could find Johnny with his baseball hat on. Even on the red carpet. Lance had found it odd at first, but it was just who he was, like JC always wore his lion necklace, Joey was known for his love of superman, and Chris was known for his changing hairstyles.

“Nevertheless, we should get going,” Johnny said with a nod. “I’ll make sure the security team is ready and have them bring the cars around.”

Justin instantly took Johnny’s spot, a serious look on his face. One Lance was sure was going to give way into his usual hyperactive self the minute they got into the limo. “Alright, guys,” he said with a sigh.

“Achem,” Annaleigh loudly coughed before slapping at her chest. She then gave him a bright smile. “Sorry, choked on a jellybean.”

“And girls,” Justin corrected himself, giving her an even sweeter smile in reply, causing Jasmine to laugh. Annaleigh smiled back, pleased. “This is it. We’ve come a long way with this album; we’re finally getting able to do what we want to do. We’re finally getting to show it to the world.”

He held out his hands, one towards JC, the other towards Chris. “Lance, if you don’t mind,” Justin said to him.

“Uhhh,” Lance hesitated, looking over at JC who held his hand out towards him. He slid his hand into JC’s and felt his older friend curl his fingers around his hand, gently tightening his grip on Lance’s. JC silently peered at him with his blue eyes. His lips curled up into a small smile and Lance’s mouth suddenly went dry.

He felt a wave of heat rush over his body as his heart doubled the speed of its beating. He repeatedly licked his lips and cleared his throat. Annaleigh, who held onto his other hand, gave his hand a slight squeeze of encouragement before she took Gabriel’s hand. Wade and Jasmine joined the group, finishing off the circle. Lance shifted his gaze to the floor and cleared his throat again.

“Um, Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for all the support you’ve given us through this difficult time,” Lance said, his eyes falling shut. “Thank you for your daily strength and being there for us when we needed you and we ask you to please help us get through this exciting and scary moment in our lives. Amen.”

As everyone else in the car muttered an “Amen” Lance quickly pulled his hand out from JC’s grip, resting his hand on his knee. He tapped his finger nails on his jean clad knee before wiping his palm on his jeans, trying to rub away the tingling feeling in his hand.

“Come on, let’s go already,” Chris loudly declared as he made his way across the lobby.

“Anyone else’s stomach in knots?” Gabriel asked, a look of uncertainty suddenly crossed his face.

“Here,” Annaleigh said, holding her bag of jelly beans out towards him. “Might not help, but it’s always been comfort food for me.”

“Just don’t eat too many,” Lance warned him. “This one here ate too many one day before school  pictures.”

“I remember that,” Jasmine said with a bright smile, looping her arm through Annaleigh’s. “Tongue and teeth as blue as blueberry pie.”

“Called her Smurfette for a while,” Lance finished with a laugh. Annaleigh rolled her eyes. It was the bet reaction she could muster about it. He remembered all the days she’d come home insisting she hadn’t been crying about it. The best thing he could muster at the time, apart from a “It’ll blow over soon” was “It’s better than being called Half Pint.”

“Ooh, blueberry,” Gabriel said with a smile as he reached a hand into the bag, grabbing a handful. He tilted his head back and popped the sugary pieces into his mouth. “My favorite.”

“See!” Annaleigh said, leaning forward to lock eyes with Lance. “I told you it wasn’t just my ad an me that liked it.”

“Yeah,” Lance muttered, using his teeth to pull his bottom lip into his mouth. He felt his brow furrow as he lifted a hand to rub at his chin. “Funny that.”

“Gabe, this is my best friend, Jasmine,” Annaleigh said, using her free hand to motion between her childhood friend and her band mate. “Jasmine, this is Gabriel the guy I was tellin’ you about. He plays keyboard in the band. He’ll be walking the carpet with us.”

“Hi,” Jasmine said with a bright smile, practically sticking her hand in Gabriel’s face, a bright smile on his face. “Nice to meet ya; Annaleigh’s told me a lot about ya. Everyone calls me Jazzy.”

Gabriel blinked once, twice, three times before taking her hand, shaking it. “Gabe,” he replied after a moment of silence, a half smile coming to his face. “Hi. Hey.”

“Come on, let’s go,” Chris said, jumping onto JC’s back, practically knocking his unsuspecting friend over. “Giddy up.”

“Chris, if you leave footprints on my coat I swear…” JC left his threat trailing off as he knocked his friend off his back before he tugged at the collar of his gray leather coat. He looked at Gabriel and Annaleigh over his shoulder, using his thumb to indicate the fans outside the doors. “And this is just a small gathering of fans, it only gets bigger and better from here.”

“Woohoo, let’s do this!” Joey said, clapping his hands together, reaching up for the sunglasses that sat on his head. He tipped them down onto his nose and gave Annaleigh and Jasmine a smile. “Welcome to our world, ladies.”

“Just get outside, Joe,” Lance said with a small laugh, shoving at Joey’s shoulders, knocking him forward.

JC pushed through the revolving doors of the hotel and the cheers swelled in decibels. It instantly flooded Lance’s body, filling him with so much energy, he was sure he was starting to float. His lips pulled back into a smile, he angled his head back just slightly, and he felt himself burst with confidence.

“Wow, that’s a lot of people,” Jasmine said as she and Annaleigh followed the group outside. She gave Justin a smile of thanks as he offered her his hand to help her through the gap of the circular doorway and the slide of glass, stepping out into the hot sun.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Annaleigh muttered in reply. Lance could see the fear in her eyes and the uncertainty as she started to tug at her clothes.

“Don’t worry about it,” Wade said as he slid past them, lifting his hand in a wave towards the crowd. “Just have fun.”

“He’s right you know,” Lance agreed and Annaleigh turned her wide brown eyes towards him. “You used to do pageants, right?” Annaleigh slowly nodded her head, giving him a confused look. “Well, you’ve performed in front of hundreds of people, probably thousands during your whole pageant career. Just think of it as one giant pageant; you have this initial moment to present yourself, and then the talent portion, and then it’s all over.”

Lance watched as a spark seemed to flicker in her eyes before growing with intensity as each second passed. Before he knew it, his old friend stood in front of him. She straightened her posture, rolled her shoulders back, and lifted her chin, following the group to the limo.

She was learning quickly; to fake confidence even if she was the most nervous she had ever been. Or maybe she had mastered that years ago. It had helped him throughout his bad days in *NSYNC. He just hoped there’d be days soon where he didn’t have to fake anything.

6:30pm
The AMAs

Annaleigh had no idea what went on backstage at any awards show, but just like everything else, she was getting a crash course in them and soaked up as much information and experience as she could. All the while, trying to keep the contents of her stomach down long enough to even have the opportunity to try and learn.

Between learning about seat fillers, the pre-party when people find out ahead of time if they won to prepare a speech or at least to get an idea of what to say, when the award winners actually got back to their seats after accepting an award, the handlers, where all the awards were held backstage, where the award winners go after accepting their awards and on and on. It was so much more than she could ever learn in school but she still got the same result; she was sure her head would explode with all the information.

“This is so exciting,” Jasmine said as she performed a quick pirouette. “I can’t believe I’m actually here.” She reached out and pinched her arm, her nose wrinkling as she winced.

“You’re goin’ to be covered in bruises if you don’t stop that, Pumpkin,” Annaleigh said with a laugh as she adjusted the neck strap to her bass. “You’ve said that, oh, twenty times by now.”

“And it still hasn’t sunk in,” Jasmine said as she lifted her hands to brush her hair back from her face. “We’re actually at the AMAs, looking at all these people with our own eyes and not through a TV screen.” She lifted her hand and gave a finger wave to a sharp dressed man that walked past them, who nodded as he did so.

“Who was that?” Annaleigh asked.

“No idea,” Jasmine replied with a grin and a wink. “But, I bet he was someone important.”

Annaleigh laughed. “How do you always manage to find a way to make me completely forget what it is I’m worried about,” she asked her friend.

“Because over the years I’ve noticed that you tend to worry about every little thing that you have stuck to that bulletin board you call your brain,” Jasmine replied, wiggling her fingers towards Annaleigh’s head. Annaleigh made a face, batting her hands away. “And as your best friend, it’s my job to tug at that little piece of paper you call a memory until it rips free. If I have to wave at a couple of handsome men I don’t know, I will.”

She then looped her arm around her friend’s shoulders before using her free hand to pluck at a string on her bass. “Speaking of handsome men, maybe I should come out here, you’re surrounded by ‘em,” Jasmine said with a grin.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m serious,” Jasmine said, her eyebrows shooting up. “I mean, NSYNC are the hottest guys on the Earth. Well, Lance is cute, I mean I’ve known him for years so I don’t exactly think of him that way, y’know?” She then started counting off on her fingers. “But, JC, Joey, Chris, Justin—“

“Ehh, his curls don’t really do it for me,” Annaleigh said, interrupting Jasmine. But, she kept going as if she hadn’t been interrupted.

“Wade, Gabe,” she finished her list. “And that’s not even counting those who are interested in you.” She held up two fingers. “Which is two…Boots.” She bumped her hip against Annaleigh’s and winked.

“Even if I was interested—which I am not by the way—I couldn’t do anything,” Annaleigh said, pointing a warning finger in her friend’s face. “You know the rules I have to follow.” She paused for a moment. “Who’s the second?”

“Gabe.”

“Uh, no way,” Annaleigh said with a laugh of disbelief. “Here, I thought I was just me who was pain-ful-ly oblivious to guys liking me.” She hiked an eyebrow. “You didn’ see the way he looked at you? Gabe isn’t interested in me. Trust me.”

“Ok…but, what’s the point of even being in this band if you can’t take advantage of the nice view?” Jasmine asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Annaleigh let out a loud “Ha”, her eyes widening as it punctuated the silence that suddenly swept over backstage. Her face burned as various stage hands gave her odd looks. She cleared her throat and lowered her voice as Jasmine giggled. “I have a job to do, you know,” she reminded her friend.

“NSYNC on deck. Places people, let’s do a quick tech check. Are the marionettes functional?”

“Which you should be getting onstage for,” Jasmine said, poking her in the side. Her lips twitched as she snorted. “Boots.” Annaleigh gave her an annoyed looked as she started making her way across the backstage area to join the rest of the NSYNC band as they started making their way on stage behind the drop down curtain. “What? It’s cute. Better than Bookworm.” She tilted her head to the side. “Although, I can see why you weren’ complainin’ about that.”

“Ha, ha,” Annaleigh replied, reaching into her pocket for her phone. She tossed it over to her friend and Jasmine caught in her hands. “Dad says he’ll call right after.”

“And your mom?” Jasmine asked, sliding her friend’s phone into her pocket. “You think she’ll call?”

“Not really counting on it, to be honest with you,” Annaleigh replied with a sigh. Jasmine frowned and she shrugged. “Just saying. Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need it. You’ll ace it for sure.”

Annaleigh lifted her hand in a wave before heading on stage, allowing a stage hand to loop a portable microphone pack around her waist, hooking to her guitar, to amplify the sound without the need of actually being tethered to her instrument. She flexed her fingers and shook out her arms.

“You ready?” Billy asked with a smile as he carefully and quietly got behind his drum set. He removed his drum sticks from the back of his

“Ready to be sick,” Annaleigh replied, adjusting her guitar strap for the hundredth time. First it was too high, then it was too low, then it was too tight, then it was too loose. She pulled her jacket out of her armpits and smoothed her hand down her top.

“I second that,” Gabriel said as he adjusted some knobs and dials on his keyboard.

“It’ll all be over before you know it,” Billy said, spinning his drumsticks around his fingers. “Just follow the music. We’ve rehearsed this so many times, it’ll be like second nature and you won’t notice it.”

“It’s almost time, everybody,” Kevin explained as he made his way down the line of musicians, giving them a nod in greeting. “Justin will count us off, we’ll have five measures of silence and the new start with No Strings Attached and Justin will count us off again, and we’ll go into Bye Bye Bye.”

As soon as he settled behind his own keyboard, the swell of cheers in the audience died down and Annaleigh managed to catch a sliver of the spotlight shining on the host, Norm MacDonald—not that she had any idea who that was.

“Whether or not you know the names of all the members of our next performance, I can guarantee you that you will one day very soon. Justin, JC, Chris, Joey, and Lance have swept America by storm and have swept your daughters off their feet. Here to debut their newest single, Bye, Bye, Bye, it’s NSYNC.”

Justin’s low count—“one, two, three, four”—rumbled through the speakers backstage and Annaleigh started counting to herself. The familiar song, “I’ve Got No Strings” from Pinocchio masked the sound of applause and cheers before NSYNC’s trademark harmonies sang out “No Strings Attached.” The ground shook under Annaleigh’s feet as the pyro went off and she started playing.

10:30pm
AMAs After Party

Loud music pounded through Lance’s body, shaking and rocking every nerve in him. Flashing neon lights lit up the dark room packed with party goers. Despite the loss of the Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group AMA award to the Backstreet Boys, they had a great performance and a good reception to boot. That’s not to say it went off without a hitch; there were a few malfunctions with the marionettes and the back-up dancers’ harnesses, and, and, and.

And Wade had brought up each thing they had done wrong the minute they stepped off the stage, but just like the rest of them, he was excited with what they had accomplished. He was just as amped as the other boys and offered words of encouragement and excitement to the band as well, especially to Gabriel and Annaleigh who looked as if they couldn’t believe what they had just done.

And now they were all moving to the beat of the music as if performing was as natural as breathing to them. “Ok, what about that girl over there?” Joey asked from beside him, elbowing him in the side. “What do you think?”

Lance lifted his glass of soda to his mouth as he turned in his seat to look over at the girl that Joey was pointing to. He angled his head to the side as he took in the leggy blonde that shimmied along to the beat of the music, hands in her hair, eyes closed to the pack of guys ogling her as they danced around her, trying not to be too obvious with their staring.

“I think Kelly would kill you when she finds out,” Lance replied after swallowing.

“You mean ‘if’?” Joey asked and Lance shook his head.

“No, I don’t,” he simply replied with a slight purse of his lips. Joey let out a short laugh before turning back around to the bar, grasping his beer. He tilted his head back and tossed the drink into his mouth, swallowing it in one gulp. “You know I’m right.”

“Shut up,” Joey said deadpan before letting out a heavy sigh. “Ok then, let’s find one for you.”

Lance groaned. “Joe—“

“You’ve been sitting here all night, you haven’t taken up anyone’s offer to dance all night,” Joey said shoving his shoulder. “And trust me; you’ve had plenty of offers.”

“Just distracted, that’s all,” Lance replied, tapping his fingernails on the cup in his hand. He peered over the dance floor and watched for a moment as Annaleigh and Jasmine danced with Gabriel. “What do you know about him?”

Joey waved his hand to get the bartender’s attention before turning back towards his friend. “Who, Gabe?” he asked. “I don’t know much. Seems to be off by himself a lot even with the band. I mean, when he’s not with Firecracker. Why?” Lance nodded his head in the boy’s direction. Joey followed his gaze and chuckled.

“Wade’s the one you need to worry about, not him,” he said, gently hitting his friend on the shoulder. “I mean, come on. Boots? He’s really laying it on thick with her in case you haven’t noticed.”

“I’ve noticed,” Lance replied with a sigh. How did could anyone not notice? He had been around Wade enough to see the difference between when he likes a girl, and when he was strictly business. Luckily for him, he could have both at the same time, considering Annaleigh’s role with the band. But, they both had rules to follow. “I’m not too worried though. It’s just…I mean, I know Wade, but I don’t know a thing about Gabe. He seems familiar to me, though.”

“Come on, Lance,” Joey said, shoving his shoulder. Lance made a noise in the back of his throat as some of his soda sloshed out of his glass and onto his pants. “I know you an’ Anna have grown up together way back yonder in the countryside—“

“Clinton isn’t the country,” Lance interrupted his friend, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. “Although I do have to give you points for your Southern accent. Not bad.”

“Well, thank ya, darlin’,” Joey said, putting a hand over his heart, batting his eyelashes. Lance let out a laugh, shoving his shoulder in return. “I’m just saying, you and I both know Annaleigh can take care of herself. She knows Johnny’s dating rule, and she’s really getting a crash course with this music thing so even if she were allowed to do anything, I don’t think she’d have any time to.”

Lance sniffed. Joey was right of course. He knew Annaleigh, almost to a T; her work was important to her and she did have the tendency to really go for the gusto on some things. “Everything will be ok,” Joey concluded. “What we need to be focusing on is getting you a dance with that fine lady over there.”

Joey changed the subject, pointing across the dance floor to where a brunette was bobbing her head to the beat of the music, sitting by herself at a table. She twirled her hair around her finger with one hand, giving a finger wave in his direction with the other. Lance lifted his hand, waving in return and the girl’s smile widened as she bowed her head.

“Ah, see?” Joey asked, getting to his feet. He grabbed Lance’s arm, pulling him to his feet. “Go! You’ve been sitting around all night.” Lance stumbled as he was shoved forward. “Have fun.”

Lance wiped his palms off on his jeans, making his way through the dancing crowd towards the girl. He could tell immediately that she was looking for a good time in more ways than one. He’d just let her know flat out that it wasn’t going to be the case.

That’ll never be the case, he thought, putting a bright smile to his face as he reached the girl. “Hi.”

But, she knew her ears were a goner the minute she had stepped out of the car at the party. The music was playing so loudly, she could hear every distinct word in the song…from down the street! Or at least, that’s what it had seemed like to her. Nevertheless, she was ready to have a good time and knew that this after party was the real event of the night.

Everybody was excited for *NSYNC’s new album. Fans were screaming and yelling and crying the minute they had spotted the five boys as they pulled up outside of the venue, desperately wanting to express just how much they appreciated the group and what they meant to them. Celebrities came up to the boys all night to wish them well with their music and how good of a performance they had and she could only stand there in awe as she met the Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and Tm McGraw, and, and, and.

Marquee lights were tilting and angling, arching across the sky. Paparazzi and newscasters, and the press in general lined up lined up one walkway, shoving their microphones and cameras into the faces of people that happened to walk by.

This is really it, Annaleigh thought as she looked around at the crowded dance floor at the many people who were thriving on the high spirits of the night. Everything really changes from here on out. Her stomach started twisting in knots at the thought of it.

Thinking about home—and talking to her dad on the phone—normally brought comfort to her, but now? Would people treat her the same? Would they treat her differently? Did they see her as a celebrity or just Annaleigh?

 “Hey!” a loud voice shouted in her ear, making Annaleigh jump. She turned her head to see whoever it was, only to be blinded by a bright light mounted on top of Joey’s video camera.

“Joe, get that gosh darn camera outta my face,” Annaleigh said, turning her head away as she forcefully shoved her hand into the lens of the camera.

“Come on, just answer some questions,” Joey said with a half smile. Annaleigh squinted against the light and Joey’s smile faded slightly as he lowered the camera. “Everything ok?” She couldn’t quite hear the words, but watched his lips move to form them. He leaned closer. “Do you want to talk about something?”

Annaleigh twisted her mouth to the side before nodding her head. Joey tilted his head back before waving his hand, motioning for her to follow him. Annaleigh stepped away from the loud music, practically forcing people out of her way to get through the crowd, following Joey through a side door. She walked over to the dark staircase and walked up a couple of stairs before sitting down on the cold metal all sound once the door was closed.

Joey instantly turned around to face her as soon as the door shut. “Lance was just worried, but he was talking to someone so he wanted me to check on you,” he explained. “You don’t seem like you’re having that much fun.”

“I’m fine, Joey,” Annaleigh replied. It was his turn to give her a pointed look. She sighed. “This is still just weird for me. I don’t think I fit in here. You always knew you wanted to perform, I just thought I did because I thought it was a cool idea.”

“Come on, this is a momentous occasion,” Joey said, giving her a reassuring smile. “Of course you fit in. It was weird for us at first too, you know, but it’s just part of the business.”

“Well, maybe this business thing isn’t me. And, it’s not you either. Y’all just love to goof off and have fun,” Annaleigh said, planting her hands on her hips. “I like to curl up an’ read a book sometimes y’know? I like being at home watchin’ movies or jus’ sitting in the peace and quiet. It’s just what I’m used to.”

Joey slowly nodded his head. “I understand that, I do,” Joey said to her, glancing down at the camera in his hands. “But, it’s just one night.”

“And it’ll be another night after that, and another night after that,” Annaleigh reminded him.

“You don’t always have to go to these things,” Joey said with a small laugh. “And between you and me, I hate business side of things, but it won’t hurt to get to know how it’s all done, so you won’t be taken advantage of.”

Annaleigh opened and closed her mouth. “That…makes sense,” she replied.

“Relax and have some fun for…an hour,” Joey offered, lifting his eyes skyward for a moment. “If you’re still ready to go after that, it’s Super Joe to the rescue. Stick with me, kid, no one has more fun at parties than me.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Annaleigh replied, giving Joey a smile. “Ok, Joe, I trust ya.” Joey lifted the camera in his hands and tilted it back and forth, giving her a pleading smile. Annaleigh’s upper lip curled slightly.

“How am I going to film what life is like surrounding this tour, if our hot new bassist won’t let me film her?” he asked. He then lowered the camera and pouted. “Pllleeeaassee? I’ll be your best friend. Who needs Lance? He’s not as much fun as me.”

Annaleigh laughed, shaking her head back and forth. “You don’ know Lance like I do, Joe,” she replied. Joey let out a loud snort, arching an eyebrow in an “Oh yeah?” kind of way. Joey did spend more time with him in the past few years, but she was the one that had grown up with him.

“Just two minutes, I promise,” Joey said, lifting the camera for a second time. Annaleigh huffed but gave Joey a smile nevertheless. “Ok. Here we have our new bassist, Annaleigh Carr wearing a lovely black ensemble completed with her stylish cowboy boots.” She didn’t want to change her clothes just to go to another party, but Monica, Johanna, and Terri had insisted. Annaleigh looked down and pointed her foot before pushing her bangles up her wrists. “And that’s Annaleigh, one word. Rhymes with sauna. She’ll be quick to correct you. So, Annaleigh, what’s something you’re looking forward to with the upcoming tour?”

“Just seeing the fans’ reactions, I guess,” Annaleigh replied with a shrug of her shoulders, feeling her side ponytail gently brush her right shoulder. “All y’all have been workin’ really hard to show that you’re serious about your music and to show the fans what you can do now that you have full control both inside the studio an’ out. Not jus’ to show your fans, but to show all those that don’ think y’all should be taken seriously.”

“And are you nervous about the first show?” Joey asked.

“Not yet, it’s a long, long ways off, but I’m sure I will be,” Annaleigh replied, shrugging for a second time. “But, with all the pageants I’ve done, it’s taught me how to work well under pressure and to keep your composure.” She pointed a finger at him. “After the performance, though, don’t be surprised to find my head in a trash can.”

“Please, you’ll play as great as you look and you know it,” Joey said with a laugh as he lowered his camera. “That was good, thanks Ace.”

“Happy to oblige, Joe,” Annaleigh replied, twisting her mouth to the side, giving him a smile nevertheless. She then jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I’ll be there in a minute, I just want some time to make sure my ears stop ringing.”

“Sure thing,” Joey replied before making his way down the rest of the stairs before pulling the door open, the loud, thumping music appearing for a moment as he disappeared into the crowd.