MONDAY - 10/14

I woke up at 7 the next morning. One, I couldn't sleep anymore due to nerves. And two, I didn't know what to expect on my first day. I didn't know if I'd get any emails to start or what - I was just on edge & didn't think I should be sleeping. I got out of bed slowly to avoid waking JC. I brushed my teeth & put on a hoodie before heading downstairs. I got some coffee brewing & made a bowl of cereal for breakfast. In between bites, I set up my laptop on the kitchen island - my makeshift desk since I didn't want to intrude on JC's office space.

As I finished my cereal, my email notification went off. Nearly choking on the last bite, i eagerly went to check my inbox. It was from Melinda. 

Good morning Gianne, 

We will be announcing the residency this Wednesday, 10/16, on Jimmy Fallon. The guys will be doing a guest spot & small acapella bit to announce the news. 

Your first task! Show them what you got girl! 

See you Wednesday! 

Your flight itinerary is attached. 

Melinda 

My jaw was on the floor. It's happening! An *NSYNC reunion was finally happening. Me, promoting on their social accounts was happening.

I started brainstorming & writing notes down. I know basically all I had to do was mention tuning into jimmy fallon on Wednesday - but I needed to not make it boring, plain, or generic. JC finally made his way downstairs 45 minutes later. He leaned down to kiss me on the cheek, peering over my shoulder. 

JC : good morning

Gianne: good morning. Made some coffee if you want some

JC : thank you. (eyeing my scattered notes) I see they put you to work already

Gianne: (exhaling) yea… 

He walks over to pour himself a cup of coffee. 

Gianne: good job keeping fallon on the DL

JC: (smirking) wasn’t trying to keep it from you. just didnt want you stressing the whole weekend while we met your family….. even though you were already on edge with that. 

Gianne: (smiling) well thank you…. that was sweet of you. and you’re probably right, i would have been all over the place

JC: yes! you would have… 

Gianne: do ya'll know what you're performing for fallon yet? 

JC: we're debating between this i promise you or doin something up tempo with a remixed version of I want you back & tearing up my heart. we’re flying out tomorrow to do run through’s. hopefully that’ll be enough .. 

JC could see the excitement in my eyes. I was never good at hiding my emotions. 

Gianne: i’m sure it will. it’ll all come back to you guys once you start messing with it …. like coachella 

JC: lets hope so . . . 

JC grabbed a banana and walked by me to kiss me on the head. 

JC: gonna work a bit with the guys online to work out the melody. see what we wanna do. 

Gianne: ok. let me know if you or the guys have any thoughts on what you want the teaser to look like. i have something in mind but wanna see if you guys have anything in mind first 

JC: got it

A few hours had passed and it was definitely past lunchtime with the way my stomach was growling. I made some chicken salad and avocado turkey sandwiches - didn’t know which JC would be in the mood for. He hadn’t come down at all, so I thought i’d sneak up to see how the guys’ progress was coming along & to bring him some food. As I approached the door to JC’s studio/office, i could hear them all harmonizing & tried to keep my cool when I heard what song they were practicing. I waited to appear at the door until they finished their run-through. I then knocked on the door frame. JC looked at me and then motioned to come in. I walked in and stood next to JC, making me visible on the facetime screen. 

Gianne: hey guys… 

I placed the plate on the side table as the guys greeted me in a combination of hellos.

Lance: how’s the teaser coming along?

Gianne: good… i actually have an idea & would like to run it by you guys, if thats ok? 

Justin: go for it! 

I explained my idea to the guys and they were all for it. JC  wrapped his arm around my legs & patted my thigh which expressed his approval. 

Gianne: awesome! send it to me when ya’ll are done! 

I said goodbye to the guys, kissed jc, and headed back downstairs to eat. I knew they would probably be doing a few more tweaks to the song before they called it a day. I ate some salad and half a sandwich before i continued working. About an hour later, the guys sent over what I had asked them to work on. I opened each file and I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. I started editing the files, which I was gonna spread out in 5 different posts as a countdown to wednesday. Each member would have their respective post and I would coordinate the NSYNC post to align with each guy - and of course, i planned it to go in *NSYNC order. As soon as I finished with justin’s file, i sent him his post. 

ok, you’re first up. post whenever you get the chance today & i’ll immediately follow on the nsync account.

My nerves were starting to build. I had notification alerts set up for all the guys accounts. But really who was I kidding? I'd be checking it constantly in case the notifications werent coming through. Would this project come out the way i imagined? Would it build up enough suspense and talk for Wednesday's show? 

When I finished all the guys' edits, I started looking through my flight itinerary. We were flying out tomorrow morning at 4am. I would definitely have to post on the plane to coincide with chris'. 

JC came down around 3pm and checked up on me. 

JC : (leaning on the counter next to me) how's it going? everything set? 

Gianne: for the most part……. Did ya'll finalize the song? 

JC : yea, run throughs most of tomorrow & one final time during dress rehearsal before we do it live. 

Gianne: I can't wait! 

My phone suddenly went off with a text notification. It was Justin. 

Awesome! Got it! 

Will post within the next 30 minutes 

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. 

JC noticed and walked up behind me to massage my shoulders. 

JC : can you show me what you've done? Or do I have to wait in suspense like everyone else? 

Gianne : gosh, I hope this plays out well

JC : I'm sure it's amazing

I pull up the videos I edited for the posts on my laptop, and play them in the order they'll be posted. 

JC : baby, that's amazing! This will definitely build up hype for Wednesday 

Gianne : really? You're not just saying that? 

JC : of course not! 

He kisses my head and continues rubbing my shoulders. JC knew I was anticipating justin's post & left me to work. He started preparing an early dinner for us since we had to be in bed early for our flight the following morning. I had already prepped the tweet for Twitter on my laptop. As soon as the notification went off that justin had posted, I hit send. I shared Justin's post onto *NSYNC's IG stories. 

Gianne : here goes nothing 

JC rushed over & sat next to me to support me & keep me calm. I navigated to justin's IG to follow up & check everything was OK. There it was. The first post of my first project. It started off as a black square with no sound. Then the first line of the gone chorus hauntingly appears. 

i've been sitting here 

After it disappears off screen, Justin's voice states over a black screen yet again.

[You asked for it]

The video then ended with the tonight show logo with Wednesday's date below it.

I watched the video all the way through before I even realized the many comments & likes that the video already had. 

Likes & views were growing by the second. Comments included OMG! It's happening, Please tell me this is a reunion announcement, take my money, Total VMA vibes!, crying emoji's, etc.

I navigated back to NSYNC's twitter and it was nearly identical to justin's comment section. 

Gianne : ok… So far so good

JC : see… you had nothing to worry about

JC gives me a kiss before returning to our dinner prep. I sent chris' edit to him to prep for tomorrow. 

Chris, post anytime tmw morning. 

Sure thing! 8am est ok? 

Sounds great! 

I gathered up my laptop & other belongings by the stairs to make sure I didn't forget to pack it in my carry on. After dinner, we headed upstairs and packed our bags for New York. While packing, the email notification on my phone went off. 

Gianne, 

Here's the itinerary of appearances the guys will be on while in New York. 

10/17

Thurs am - GMA

10/18

Fri am - the today show

      - radio spot on Z100

Gianne: soooo I noticed there wasn't a return flight yet…. So how many days should I be packing for? 

JC : (grinning) to be safe, til Sunday 

I made a surprised face since the itinerary was only til Friday. Would appearances happen on the fly? Or was JC planning something? 

Gianne: til Sunday? ….. Mmmk

I knew it would be chilly already on the east coast so I mainly packed pants & long sleeved outfits. I did include a dressy outfit in case they decided to do something for Chris, since his birthday fell in between all these promos or if there happened to be an impromptu event. Hey! Better prepared than sorry. We finished packing & headed to bed.