I woke up to the sound of laughter and music outside of my room. It had to be Joey and Karyn. I turned to my side and seriously considered staying in my room the whole day or at least until they left. Yesterday was still a little difficult for me to take in.

Meeting Joey AND finding out that he was old friends with Karyn really caught me off guard. I looked around my room at all the posters I had of him which now seemed so embarrassing. Hopefully, he’ll never have to come in my room and see all of it. Replaying all of yesterday’s events caused me to shudder at my own idiocy. I swore at myself as I tried to listen for their voices outside.

Karyn was her usual loud and obnoxious self while Joey was a little quieter but loud enough for me to clearly hear some of what he was saying. She made him laugh and I desperately wanted to go outside to see him smile again but I was too shy.

Things suddenly became quiet for a few moments so I thought they had left. Just as I was about to get out of bed, I heard a knocking at the door.

“Jasmine! Wake up, guess who’s here!” It was Karyn.

I didn’t say anything, hoping that she would go away.

“It’s Jooooey.” She said playfully.

“God, help me.” I mumbled to myself as I got up to slightly open the door.

She had a stupid look on her face then looked towards the kitchen where Joey was. His back was facing us, probably texting someone. She turned back to me, “When are you going to come out? Your hottie is standing right there.”

I motioned for her to keep her voice down. “Can you please shut up? At least TRY to make me look cool.”

“I’ll bet he’s used to it,” she laughed. “But seriously, he asked about you.”

My face lit up, “… he did?” I couldn’t help but smile a little. “What did he say?”

“He asked where you were. He just wants to get to know you better. Basically what he said last night.”

I thought about it for a while before replying, “I am a little hungry…”

“Then get your ass out here!” She said before walking back to the kitchen.

I closed the door then frantically searched for something to wear. He wants to get to know me… so should I wear my usual ensemble of just a shirt and sweats or do I try to make myself look pretty? I didn’t want to come off looking like I was trying too hard.

“Fuck it.” I mumbled as I threw on a plain black t-shirt and gray sweats. I decided to leave my hair down but I had to brush through it to make it look presentable. Satisfied with my appearance, I let out a deep breath before walking outside. When I got to the kitchen, Karyn and Joey were sitting at the dining table finishing up a conversation before Karyn noticed I was there.

“There she is!” Joey smiled at me and I felt my knees get weak.

I took the seat closest to me which was across from Karyn but next to Joey. “Good morning,” I managed to say while trying to avoid eye contact with him.

“I hope you’re fine with pizza for breakfast,” He said while opening the box at the center of the table. He proceeded to grab a paper plate and asked “Which slice do you want? I know Karyn doesn’t have any preferences but I wasn’t sure if you ate meat or whatever so I ordered a couple slices with pepperoni, a couple with veggies, and a couple of cheese only.”

I looked at Karyn and she winked at me. “Oh um… I’m the same. No preferences. But thank you for the thought. It’s alright, I can get a slice for myself. Thanks.” I nervously managed to get the plate from Joey and pick up a cheese slice since it was the closest.

He smiled, “Cool.”

As I was about to take a bite, Karyn stood up and casually announced “Well, I gotta go do some errands. I’ll see you two later.”

I put the pizza down and glared at her. “You’re leaving?”

“Yup, it’s cool. Joey knows.” She said as Joey looked at me and nodded.

“I didn’t…” I mumbled.

“Hey, don’t tell me you don’t wanna hang out with me,” Joey pouted, “I thought you were a fan.”

I immediately felt rude and apologized “Oh no, no. I’m sorry! I-I do wanna hang out with you. I-I just didn’t know she was leaving!”

“Th-that’s a-awesome,” He teased, “She’s not going to do any errands. She’s actually going to go do JC.”

“Shut up, Joe. Later!” Karyn yelled as she slammed the door.

Joey and I were alone. As much as I wanted to talk to him, I wished just as much that I had stayed in my room instead.

“So are you gonna eat?” Joey asked while nodding towards my untouched pizza.

I looked at him nervously and took a bite. He started to laugh and I knew it was because of me. I was starting to feel sick.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“You. You’re so nervous. Is there anything I can do to make you feel a little more comfortable?”

My mind raced towards something dirty and I stopped myself before saying it out loud. I swallowed my pizza and explained that it wasn’t everyday that I got to meet someone like him. I also reminded him that he was my favorite out of the group which made him smile again. God, I loved his smile.

“I gotta say I’m thankful that you’re not one of the crazy fans.” He said while bumping his fist to my shoulder.

“Oh, you have no idea.” I laughed. I was trying to get comfortable with him.

“So what do you usually eat for breakfast?” He asked.

“Waffles, eggs, sausages. The regular stuff. You?”

He put his hand on the pizza box, “If I could, I’d eat pizza for breakfast everyday. We usually have to rush out as soon as we wake up so I grab whatever’s around. Fruit, chips, energy bars.”

“That sucks.”

“I’ll tell ya.”

Things got quiet again. I wanted to kick myself for being so dull. I should be taking advantage of this time I had with him. Not every girl gets to spend time with their celebrity crush and here I was, barely saying anything to him.

He looked at me intensely. I couldn’t help but start to feel uncomfortable so I put some of my hair behind my ear. “So are you and Lance really best friends?”

“Yup. He’s a cool dude. It’s so easy to talk to him. I wanted to set him up with someone too since I was doing that for JC and Karyn but he insisted that I didn’t. Says he’d rather sleep all day.” He explained.

“Do you have any siblings?” He asked.

“Nope, just me.”

“Seriously? You’d think that after your parents saw how beautiful you turned out to be, they’d want to make more.” He winked as he took a sip of his drink.

My face started to heat up so I looked away from him. Holy shit, he just said I was beautiful. “How long are you planning to stay in Cali?” I tried to change the subject.

“Probably a few months. We just finished our show in Ft. Lauderdale so we’re gonna take a few months off. Did you get a chance to see that on pay-per view?”

“Yeah, that was such a great show! I loved your version of Celebration. Your voice is amazing.”

“Thank you, thank you.” He stood up and headed towards the fridge, “Hey do you want a beer? Sorry, I just realized you didn’t have anything to drink.”

I laughed, “Sure, thanks. You act like you live here.”

“I wouldn’t mind living here with you.” He winked as he handed me a bottle.

Geez, I can see why people call him Flirty Spice. I enjoyed his little advances though, it gave me a nice rush. He’s also been really sweet. I never imagined him to be this great.

“So what else do you want to know about me?” He asked.

I thought about his question for a little while but I ended up giving him a blank stare.

“Oh come on, there has to be something you want to ask. Not everything you read about me is true, you know.” He chuckled.

“Okay, uh… are you gay?” I teased.

He rolled his eyes. “No. That’d be bad news for you, right?”

Joey seemed to be really good at making me feel sheepish. He was smiling to himself now, probably proud of his response. I played along with him, “Oh, totally. If I was straight.”

He looked up at me, surprised. “You’re… lesbian?”

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Oh uh… no. Of course not.” He looked really uncomfortable. I enjoyed it because for the first time since I met him, he was on the receiving end of embarrassment.

“I’m just kidding, Joey. I’m straight.” I started to laugh.

He laughed, looking relieved. “Alright, let’s get back to trying to get to know each other. Boyfriend?”

“Nope.” I grabbed another slice of pizza. Pepperoni this time.

“Cool, cool.” He said, nodding.

“Girlfriend?”

“Nada.” He said, confidently.

“Good to know. How’d you meet Karyn?” I asked.

“Through a friend. This was way before *NSYNC. I thought she was really annoying at first. When she found out, she did everything she could to make me like her. Turns out she’s not that bad.” He took another sip of beer. “How did you two meet?”

“I responded to her spare room ad and well… here we are now.”

“Fair enough. Where are you from? Are you an LA local?”

“San Diego, actually. I came up here for um… a guy.”

He leaned in closer to me, seeming a little more interested. I could smell the alcohol on him. “A guy, huh? What happened?”

“Just like every aspiring musician, he moved here to start his career. He got lucky with an album… and girls. I haven’t seen him since.” This happened months ago but for some reason, I still felt a sharp pang in my chest as I was telling him.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“It’s okay, it was a while ago.”

He let out a sigh and walked towards the living room. I watched him as he sluggishly tried to sit on the couch, miss it, and land on the floor instead.

“Are you drunk already?” I laughed as I followed him.

He stayed laying on the floor as he looked at me. “No, I’m just too lazy to get up. It would be rude of me to become intoxicated during our first actual meeting.”

“We met yesterday, Joey.” I said as I took the liberty of laying on the couch.

“I know, but we didn’t talk much.” He said as he stared at the ceiling.

We were both quiet for a few moments. I took it as a chance to actually look at him. He was gorgeous. He was wearing a black button up long sleeve shirt. He left the first few unbuttoned so I could see traces of his chest when he moved. His beautiful eyes looked browner in person and his lips looked soft.

It was obvious he was a little buzzed, though. His cheeks were a little red too. I didn’t mind it.

“Why do you want to talk to me so badly?” I asked.

He continued to look at the ceiling as he laughed. “Not that badly.”

“Alright then, I guess I’ll just go back to my room.”

“I’m kidding!” He said, sitting up. When he realized I hadn’t moved from my spot, he laid back down on the floor. “I’ve been hanging out with the guys for so long. It’s just nice to talk to a girl who’s not ecstatic about being in the same room as me.”

Again, he had no idea how I was feeling.

“I was going to talk to Karyn but she’s obviously preoccupied with JC.”

“Oh so I’m just a rebound?” I smirked.

“No, you’re my new friend. Better than a rebound.” He continued to look at the ceiling.

He had an aggravated look on his face. Like he wanted to tell me something but was waiting for the right time to mention it.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I just realized that the last time I actually talked to a girl like this was with my ex. She ended up screwing me over, though.” He sat up to drink more of his beer then scooched over to the side of the couch and leaned against it.

His arm was barely touching me and I was too nervous to move.

“What did she do?”

“I found out that she would sleep with our friend, Theo, every time I was at rehearsal. Karyn was the one who told me about it.”

“Looks like we’re both out of luck in the relationship department.”

He smiled, “You sound like you think you’ll be alone forever.”

“I probably might.”

“I doubt that. You’re cute. Just get over your shyness and you’ll have guys lining up for you – if you don’t already, I mean.”

I smiled and bit my lip. He was doing it again.

He glanced over at my DVD collection near the wall. “Oh shit!” He screamed as he quickly crawled across the room. “You have Jurassic Park, let’s watch it!”

His excitement made him look a lot cuter than he already was.

“I’m going to pop it in.” He hastily turned on the TV and DVD player and started the movie. Then he sat back on the floor, leaning on the couch.

We watched the movie in silence. However, he was more involved with it than I was. A few minutes into the movie, I was looking at him again. Adoring all his features and letting our time together sink in. I never thought in a million years that I would be spending time like this with Joey Fatone. He even called me his friend.

Dr. Grant had just saved Tim from the tree when Joey turned to me. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I repeated.

“JC and Lance and I are having a small get together tomorrow night at the hotel. It was originally just going to be us 3 and Karyn. But I’d really love for you to come.” He said softly.

“Sure, Joey.” I smiled.

“Can I call you Jaz?”

I nodded.

“Nice.” The corner of his mouth curled up as he turned back to watch the movie.

*******

I woke up to a dark living room and no Joey. I sat up frantically and turned on the light. The pizza box was still on the table, right next to our beer bottles, and Jurassic Park wasn’t in its usual spot so I knew that all that hadn’t been a dream.

I walked over to the kitchen and noticed that there was a note near the pizza.

Hey beautiful, I didn’t want to wake you. I got a cab back to the hotel. Thanks for today. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Joey

I clutched the note in my hand as feelings of excitement welled up inside of me. I’ve always had a crush on him but that was before I met him. I liked him for his looks and his voice. Now I was starting to actually really like him.

I let out a sigh to calm myself down. He was flirty but I doubt that he actually has any feelings for me. I didn’t want to get too ahead of myself. It’s just a small get together. Nothing fancy.

No matter how much I tried to get rid of the feelings I had for him, I couldn’t help but think that maybe I did have a chance with him.