The next show was incredible as always especially after a night off but the screaming was getting to be a little much as someone standing in the crowd night after night.
Claire and Emily slid to the back of the venue, stepping outside for some air. They saw a small coffee shop with the open light on and wandered over.
They literally bumped into Lynn and Kari. “Well, hey ladies,” Lynn said looking over at them.
“Too loud?,” She said with a knowing look.
“A little bit,” Claire laughed.
“I need some coffee tonight,” Lynn gestured toward the coffee shop line, “since Diane left I have to lug all of the outfits to the bus myself and I need more strength than normal.”
“I can sometimes help,” Kari added, guiltily, “but now I’m off running more errands than normal.”
Emily looked at Claire, “Well we could help you…..if that’s okay.” She didn’t know the rules of the road.
Lynn's eyes went wide, “Actually, I’d love that….let me treat you to some coffee, you’re going to need it.”
Claire, Lynn, Kari and Emily sat down at the coffee shop and had a great conversation with Lynn about how she knew Justin was meant to be in show business because of his creativity and draw to the stage. That was why she always pushed him to do these different things from a young age, singing competitions, tv show auditions, whatever she saw. She seemed truly happy to be there, not really surprised by their success since she saw how hard they worked, their dedication to their craft and how they stayed so humble and true to themselves. Lynn also explained that Diane went back to the States to help her daughter get ready for her wedding in December.
“Oh, that makes sense, that’s exciting,” Emily replied.
“And um girls,” Lynn cleared her throat, which was beginning to sound like a warning, “I know how persuasive those boys can be, especially mine,” she bent her head toward Emily, eyes locking with hers, “don’t be afraid to say no to them every once in a while,” looking back toward Claire, “they don’t need to get everything they want. I don’t want them to be too spoiled.”
“You’re definitely right, Lynn!” Claire said and then the four of them broke out into a fit of laughter.
“Alright, follow me backstage, ladies!” The three of them got up and walked toward the back of the venue. Kari left to go run some odd errand, the entertainment business was weird, Emily was learning.
Emily immediately saw the eyes of the opening acts on her as they walked through the small backstage area, “So you must be Emily and Claire,” one of them said.
“Oh yeah, Emily, Claire, these are the Solid HarmoniE and Charisma,” Lynn said introducing them.
“Nice to meet you!” Claire managed to say weakly.
“I love your performances, so hype!” Emily complimented them not noticing the glares she and Claire were getting.
“Alright, well we gotta go, the last song is coming up and all…” Lynn said, ushering them toward the rack where all the clothes were.
Lynn showed them how she’d been putting the clothes into these huge suitcases or wardrobe boxes and then lugging them out the back to get loaded onto the band’s tour truck. While they were waiting for the last song to finish, Lynn turned to them and said, “Don’t worry about those Solid HarmoniE and Charisma girls, they’re just jealous.”
Emily was genuinely confused, jealous of what? “So, you’re saying it’s not a good idea to interview them for the piece? I feel like they could offer a good perspective…”
Lynn just shrugged. Claire whispered in Emily’s ear so low that Lynn couldn’t hear, “I’ll explain it to you later.”
Once they were finished, they heard the guys running off stage, Emily caught Justin’s eye as he ran past and he winked at her. Emily’s knees buckled. Shit, what was that?, she thought.
“All right, all done for tonight girls...but you’ll help the other nights too?” Lynn asked hopefully.
“Of course,” Claire said.
-----
Emily and Claire decided to walk back to the hotel since it wasn’t too cold and the hotel was relatively close.
Claire explained to Emily that the Charisma and Solid HarmoniE girls were probably a little jealous knowing that Justin liked her and Chris was into Claire. Chris told Claire Justin was nervous and was asking dating advice from Solid HarmoniE. They were always traveling on the road too.
“Oh god,” Emily said, “well there’s 3 other guys for them to choose if that’s really the route they want to go.” All of this and she wasn’t even completely sure of what was actually going on.
----
The next morning, bright and early at 6:30am, back on the bus, and this time they wouldn’t even be sleeping in the town they were performing in that night, just getting back on the darn bus, it actually was simpler than flying. Everyone seemed pretty excited about playing at the Libro Music Hall, which was actually in Vienna, Austria.
Justin motioned for Emily to sit next to him again, pleading with his puppy dog eyes, making the seat warm by circling his hand on the cushion.
“Okay fine, whatever you say,” She sighed feigning annoyance, “But I’m working and then I’m sleeping.”
“Works for me,” Justin shrugged as he slipped his headphones over his ears.
They had a 6 hour ride and she intended to get something done.
--
“Emily…..Emily…,” Justin was trying to wake her up by gently shaking her shoulder and whispering in her ear, “we need your passport.”
“Mmmmm ooohhh of course, ahh I fell asleep,” Emily said groggily reaching down to get her passport from her backpack.
“Thanks,” Justin said, grabbing it from her and combining it with his and running it to the front of the bus.
Justin chuckled when he got back to where they were sitting. Emily had already passed out again, clutching her notebook.
---
Another amazing show, helping Lynn with the clothes and back on the bus for another 6 hours back to Germany and finally a little time off.
Emily and Claire looked at each other. The clothes that ‘N SYNC wore on stage were starting to smell. How did they wash them? She saw they had two sets of each but did they take them to the laundromat?
As soon as Emily and Claire got on the bus and sat down, they were passed out for the entire bus ride.
