“That show was amazing!”
“I thought you were going to pass out when J.C. licked the stage during Digital Get Down. Especially since he looked at you while he did it.” Jake teased Kristen.
“I thought so, too. Are you sure I’m still breathing? I think I died and went to heaven when he did that.”
“What about Justin during ‘God Must Have Spent’ when they floated into the audience? I think he was singing to me.”
“Uh huh. Sure he was.” Kristen laughed.
That’s when someone from security came to usher them backstage. Now they were nervous. What would they say when they came face to face with *NSYNC? This was their dream, but now that it was coming true they weren’t sure how to react.
Chris was the first to see them. “Ho-ly shit.” He said glancing between J.C. and Jake. “There really are two of you. And you look exactly alike.”
“Duh, Chris. Identical twins usually do.” Joey smirked.
“You’ll have to excuse him. He was dropped on his head as a child and has never recovered.” Lance chimed in. “They both were. Did you enjoy the show?”
“Yes.” They answered in unison.
“What was your favorite part?” asked J.C.
“Digital Get Down,” blushed Kristen.
“This I Promise You,” answered Jake.
“We can sing it a cappella for you if you want,” offered Justin.
“Really?” Jake’s face lit up.
“Sure. And anything else you want. ‘For The Girl Who Has Everything’ and ‘Tearin’ Up My Heart’, maybe?” teased Lance.
They both blushed in embarrassment.
“Speaking of which, Justin and I have something for you.”
J.C. handed Kristen her sign autographed with his signature. Justin did the same with Jake.
“Thank you.”
“Do you mind autographing our copies of No Strings Attached and Home For Christmas?”
“Sure.”
“And these posters and tour books?”
“You came prepared huh?”
“We didn’t know if we’d get this chance again. Honestly, we weren’t sure we’d be able to sneak all of this stuff in.”
“How much other stuff do you have?”
“Not much,” answered Jake. “Mom and dad made us pick just a few things so you wouldn’t be here all night autographing everything we own. No pun intended.”
“And yet you just made two.” Laughed Joey.
“I didn’t mean to!”
“Don’t worry, J.C. does it all the time. We’re used to it.” Chris replied. “I guess you have that in common.”
“Yeah, I guess we do,” Jake and J.C. answered together.
“Well, that didn’t take long.”
J.C. looked in the direction the voice came from, directly behind Jake, who turned to introduce his parents.
“These are my parents, Liz and Ron Matthews.”
“It’s nice to meet you. These are my parents, Roy and Karen, my brother Tyler and my sister Heather.”
Everyone exchanged pleasantries before Jake asked, “Do I call you J.C. or Josh now? You signed your letter Josh.”
“I’m Josh to my family and you’re family so you can call me that, unless it makes you uncomfortable or you’d rather still call me J.C.”
“Ok. Um before I forget, I have something for you. When we were in Orlando, Kristen and I went to eat at the Hard Rock Café there. Our waitress thought I was you and let me keep the menu. I thought you’d want to have it.”
J.C. laughed and smiled. “You were really milking it for all it was worth huh? No you can have it. She gave it to you.”
“I wasn’t trying to. Neither of us saw it then. I tried to give it back, but she insisted.”
“Like the fan outside the courthouse?” J.C. questioned. “I ran into her and she told me I was an imposter.”
“See! I told you that could happen!” Kristen screamed.
“I didn’t mean – I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t want to disappoint her, either. Then Kristen pointed out how upset I would have been if that had been a Justin imposter, but by then it was too late.”
“I think you mentioned that in your contest entry. It all started to come to me when I saw her. I was hoping you weren’t trying to take advantage. I’m glad you weren’t.”
“After what you guys have been through? I wouldn’t do that to you. That was one of the reasons I was reluctant to reach out to you or enter the contest. I didn’t want to invade your privacy.”
“I appreciate that. That was one of the reasons I took my time contacting you. Then when you entered the contest, I didn’t want it to seem like nepotism if we chose you, but I got vetoed by the guys.”
Jake looked towards Justin, Chris, Joey, and Lance. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. After Johnny showed us your pictures and read your letter, J.C.’s vote didn’t matter.” Answered Chris.
“I have a question: How did you get my posters on your ceiling?” Justin laughed.
“On a ladder, very carefully. Thankfully, I didn’t fall.”
“Trust us, he’s not worth all that trouble,” Joey answered.
“He is to me.”
J.C. looked at Kristen. “You’re awfully quiet over there. Are you okay?”
“I’m not sure. I’m standing between my best friend and his long lost identical twin, who’s also my celebrity crush. I’m trying to wrap my brain around it.”
“I guess that can feel kind of weird huh?”
“You have no idea. We’re like brother and sister. I definitely don’t see you that way, but now that we know you’re his brother, where does that leave me?”
“As my best friend and Josh’s future wife. Remember how upset you were that he didn’t tell you he was adopted?”
“Jake!”
“What? That’s what you said.”
“You didn’t have to tell him that!”
“This is why I took those pictures of your room! I can’t believe . . .”
“Okay. Okay. As entertaining as this is, I didn’t mean to start World War III.” J.C. looked at Jake’s parents. “Are they always like this?”
“Yes.”
He looked back at Jake. “And you said you didn’t have any siblings.”
“Do we?” Jake asked him.
“Two sisters, Emily and Amanda.”
“How old are they? Have you met them?”
“Emily is 17 and Amanda is 15. No, I haven’t met them, only Kathleen. She said that they bought multiple copies of No Strings Attached like you and Kristen did.”
“What’s she like?”
“She’s nice. I only met her once, but we’ve talked on the phone a few times. She called the day we beat the Backstreet Boys sales record to congratulate me. That’s how I found you.”
“Why didn’t she come look for me?”
“I don’t know, but she does want to meet you now, if you’re open to it.”
“How do you know?”
“She told me during one of our conversations. I can go with you if you want me to.”
“In the middle of a tour?”
“In Orlando. She lives there like I do. Plus, I promised Emily and Amanda I’d introduce them to Chris and Joey.”
“Wait. So none of your siblings like you?” Kristen was incredulous.
“Nope. I know you don’t see me as a brother, but at least I’m somebody’s favorite. Let’s hold off on the wedding, though, okay?” he smiled.
“Okay.”
“Seriously, though. Thanks for everything you’ve done for Jake. Even if we were a match, I don’t think I could have done what you did, even if I wanted to.”
“Not as terrified as you are of needles. They would have had to put you in a straight jacket and hold you down.”
“Or give me anesthesia to knock me out.”
“Probably all three.”
“Probably.”
Everyone laughed, but it didn’t take long for JC to get serious again. “You’re okay now, right Jake?”
“Yep. I have a clean bill of health.”
“Good, Kristen and I were kidding, but if I absolutely had to. . .”
“I wouldn’t let you do that. Those needles are large and they hurt like hell. If you couldn’t get an *NSYNC tattoo, donating your bone marrow to me is out of the question. I appreciate the gesture, though.”
“Um, I hate to break up this family reunion, but we have to leave now if we’re going to make it to our next show on time tomorrow.” Johnny interjected.
“Can we take pictures first?” Jake asked.
“Ok, but make it quick.”
First *NSYNC took pictures with them separately and together, then Kristen with J.C., Justin with Jake, J.C. with Jake and finally one with all the members of the Chasez/Matthews families.
When *NSYNC got on the tour bus, JC was on cloud nine, both from the show and the meet and greet.
“Thanks for vetoing me on this guys.”
“You’re welcome. We knew you’d feel better once you got a chance to meet each other. It was almost like destiny brought you together. We couldn’t let this opportunity pass you by.”
“I just wish we’d had more time to talk. There was so much else I wanted to say.”
“I’m sure that goes both ways,” answered Chris. “Maybe you can invite them to the concert in Orlando, too.”
“Yeah. I just don’t want things to be too awkward between Jake and Kathleen, or any of our families, really. There was a lot that wasn’t said tonight.”
“You’ve gotten this far. I’m sure you’ll be okay,” Lance tried to reassure him.
“I hope so.”
“I can’t believe we met *NSYNC!” Kristen squealed on the way back home.
“Me either!” Jake echoed her sentiment.
“I can’t believe they signed all of our stuff.”
“They’re so nice and down to earth.”
“And they’re easy to talk to, even about the things that were hard to talk about.”
“Speaking of which, Josh’s parents invited all of us to their show in Orlando.”
Liz Matthews’ voice carried from the front seat.
“We decided to take them up on the offer. We know it will be hard for you Jake, but we have questions for Kathleen, just like you do, and we know you want to spend more time with Josh and meet your sisters.”
Jake was stunned. That was the last thing he was expecting.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. We could see how much this meant to you both during the show and afterwards. The ease with which they welcomed all of us just showed how respectful they are of everyone’s feelings. We were surprised when Josh opened the invitation to the show for us, especially because we knew that the last thing you’d want was to attend a concert with your parents.”
“It was fun. Sorry we ignored you for most of it.”
“It didn’t surprise us when you did. Besides, it gave us a chance to get acquainted with his family.”
Jake was grateful for that. He was grateful for all of this.
