The breeze from the open windows felt good against the skin of her face as they sped down the highway. The convoy of transferred trucks had been lost behind, but Rick claimed he knew the way, so she relaxed, sipped on her Big Gulp cup full of Sunkist and threw back a few Skittles. She sighed and took in a deep breath, getting the whiff of burning tobacco coming from the seat next to her.

She took another "big gulp" out of the huge bendable red straw and pointed to the radio with her cup-filled hand. "Ya know this is a great band."

Rick coughed a little and said, "I know. And Shirley Manson is hot."

"Have you ever seen them in concert?"

"Twice. She was so hot." He said with a raspy laugh.

She laughed and it made her choke on her drink a little. "Ok, who is NOT hot to you?"

"Martha Stewart."

"Oh god." She rolled her gray eyes

"You think she's sexy or something?" Rick turned to her a little and smiled; she just rolled her eyes some more.

"Oh yeah, obsessive complusiveness turns me on."

It was silent for a while and they listened to another Garbage song on the CD she had popped in earlier. Rick flicked his cigarette butt out the window and rolled up his window with the manual lever to block some of the cold air from entering the van. She liked the air, but rolled the window up halfway, too. Right as she was eating her favorite skittle, yellow, he spoke.

"So what do you think of the guys so far?" She stopped with the skittle at her lips.

She had met a lot of guys in the past week, but she had a feeling of who he was asking about. "Which guys?" and she popped the skittle in her mouth.

"Ya know…Joey and them."

Joey was probably the "guy" that was closest to Rick. But Kristen had her questions about him. She had questions about all the guys but Joey...there was just something about him that didn't sit with her well. But she really hadn't spent enough time with any of them to make that assumption. "Oh, they're ok."

"Just ok?" Rick asked.

"JC's the nicest." She said quietly.

He didn't seem satisfied with her answer and pressed for more. "And..."

She took a big breath and let it out saying, "Lance is nice too, but asks too many questions. Chris is...I really like Chris, but I feel shy around him. Joey, is...ok I guess. Does he really have a kid?"

"Yeah, Brianna is a baby doll." She waited a while and thought if she should ask what she wanted to. But she figured she was asking Rick, so it didn't really matter if it was right or wrong.

"Does Joey get to see her a lot?"

"Not as much as he likes, but Kelly and Bri come on tour for a little bit."

"Kelly's his wife I presume"

"Girlfriend." Her eyebrows raised a bit. She was one to prejudge people and she didn't think it was wrong to have a child out of wedlock, but for some reason, in this case, it got under her skin. She had a pretty good reason why but wasn't about to bring that up now.

"oh."

"You left out Justin."

She shot Rick a look out of the corner of her eyes. "He's a skitzo."

"WHAT?!" He half-laugh/ half-yelled.

She turned in her seat and defended her case. "He is! One minute he is yelling at me wondering where he's basketball is, or where I put his damn NBA all star game and assuming I've lost it and then the next he's asking me if I wanna play!"

"He's dealing with a break up. Give the boy some slack."

"I try to avoid him." She chewed on her straw.

"You avoid all of them. You need to loosen up. They might be big stars or something but they piss just like I do."

She pretended to gag. "Ok, a visual wasn't needed."

"Seriously, don't be so shy around them. Just be like you are around me. You're cool as shit Krissy, but around them you're like a little zombie." She knew she acted different around them, but she didn't know them. She was shy around people she had just met, it was just the way she worked. She thought Rick would know that by now.

"Whatever"

A very quiet, yet cocky voice came from beside her, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you had a crush on them."

"EW GROSS!! They are old like you!!"

He laughed and said, "Justin's only a year older than you."

"But he's the skitzo. I like sane people." He reached over and pinched her side. She slapped at him, making her arms look like a dog paddling in water.

"I bet you just love him. I bet inside you are like 'Justin Justin oh my god I love you I love you, take me now please please'." She sunk down in her seat as he laughed and turned up the music.

She grumbled, "Grow up" before rolling her eyes and turning her head to look out the window at the clear night sky above them. She stared at the stars until her eyes got droopy, and then she moved the lever that tilted the back of her seat to try to get some sleep.

-----

Few days later, around lunchtime.

Her shoulder leaned against the doorway to the room she was peering in. She yawned and glanced around, checked off an item on her list, looked up, checked off another and continued the routine. She jumped when someone pinched the small porting of skin that was exposed between her two layers of black and white tanks (black underneath) and her gray, 2 sizes too big pants that were about to fall off her hips.

"Hey lil Kristen. Have you seen my whoopie cushion?" She closed her eyes and prayed to God they would stop scaring her like that. All of the guys, no, make that EVERYONE on the tour had this thing for tapping her shoulder or touching her arm or pinching her side and making her jump. She had never been a touchy-feely type of person; definitely not around people she had known for a couple of weeks.

"Uh, no." She turned, forced a smile and turned back to the room to check off the toys.

They had arrived there about 4 hours earlier, set up everything and now she was checking off things so she could go grab lunch. He slid his body beside hers and he looked around the toy room as if he was inspecting how well she did. That pissed her off.

"Well isn't it your job to handle the toys?"

She caught his stare, raised an eyebrow and with a bitchy attitude said, "I've checked off the list a few times now, a whoopie cushion isn't on the list. If its your personal thing, we don't mess with it."

For a moment there was a faint look of shock that came from him. He looked at her almost like he was proud, then he smiled and sighed. "Damn. I bet Joey has it. Well anyway, thanks."

He brushed passed her and she mumbled a "Welcome" before turning back to her work.

And just when she was ready to get back to checking off everything so she could finally satisfy her hunger, he called out to her. "Oh and Justin was looking for you earlier."

She craned her neck and saw him walking away, not even looking at her. "Why"?"

"Something about his weights." And then he turned down a hallway and disappeared.

Kristen's eyes shut in despair and she sagged against the doorframe. She was about to get yelled at and that was the last thing she needed to deal with at that moment. She was tired, hungry, had a headache and was pretty sure her period was just around the corner. In other words, she wasn't one to mess with. "Great."

The folder she had in her hand snapped shut, she placed it on the table beside the door and turned smoothly on her heel.

She wandered through the back stage area, the back lot and had no luck in finding him. People said they saw him out shooting hoops; he wasn't there. People said they saw him goofing around with the crew and Anthony near the stage; he wasn't there. Someone said they saw him at the Food Service area; big surprise...he wasn't there. But her stomach was. When her tummy started growling at the smell of the French fries and burgers that they always had and that she always ate, she knew...finding the skitz was a lost cause. She started to walk to the start of the line to get her plate when Chris ran past her shouting, "Found him yet?"

She glared at him as he turned and started running backwards. "No." Her voice was a grumble.

He chuckled and said, "He's in 'our' room." She didn't feel sorry for the little elf when he ran into someone. It wasn't just anyone. It was Clara. Clara: the bitch, as she had come to find out. The girl was constantly pmsing, maybe it was because she was part of the PR team, and the PR people were always dealing with...everyone. But this girl was like a rabid dog that went crazy if you walked pass her five feet of personal space. So she didn't feel sorry for him at all. That's what he gets for making her search the whole damn place, she thought And now she was on her way to precious Timbertoes.

The whole hunger thing had been pushed to the back of her mind as she weaved her way to the "Nsync room." Outside the doorway was the infamous neon green sign that said "If you are not a member of Nsync...blah blah blah." She thought it was cocky of them. Just get in a room and lock it, was her idea. You didn't need a damn sign that excluded everyone else from you. Still, she didn't wanna get fired; so she knocked. There wasn't an answer and she was getting frustrated. Maybe this was just a practical joke. It would be so like Chris just to make up something like this to piss her off. Or at least Rick had warned her that this type of thing was "so like Chris." She looked around her. No one was in the hallway, well no one was looking her way, so she turned the knob and peeked in, just for her curiosity's sake.

She found whom she was looking for. But also found a lot other stuff. Weird stuff. The room was dimly lit with two couches and some weird looking puffy chair. There was a food table, surprise surprise. There were candles everywhere, but none of them were lit. She couldn't wait for the day when the front page would read "Nsync sets Madison Square on Fire: Literally." That would be a lawsuit for Court TV to deal with.

But nonetheless, her bundle of joy was buried in the couch, eyes closed, bobbing his head to some beat that was coming out of the headphones, that were as big as his head, covering his ears. He looked funny with the huge black headband-connecting part arched over his forehead. His lips rapped along with the song, which she could hear clearly from across the room and his ankles were crossed; his feet tapping the beat into the air. She didn't know the song because she wasn't a rap fan, but she knew one thing: When he was 50, he'd be deaf. But she liked her music loud too, so she wouldn't hold that against him.

She padded across the room after letting the door click shut behind her and stood, hovering above him, right beside the couch. Her eyes peered down at him, but her long hair got in her way so she hooked it behind her ears. She thought about what she could do his head-bopping, lip-singing, barefoot-tapping body to scare the living day lights out of him. She figured flicking his big toe would work. She hoped that wasn't anything too sexual to do. She didn't particularly find bare feet sexy, especially his, but it was skin to skin contact...and could be considered flirt- She was thinking way too hard about this.

She reached over and just as she was about to send her middle finger flying against his toe she jumped up in fright. Two arms had reached up and grabbed those bare sides of hers. She yelped higher than she knew she could and jumped back across the room and stared at him wide eyed as he laughed that annoying laugh and slid the headphones off his ears; the bass and rapping filling the room.

"Woman what are you doin in here?" He said, the room echoing with that chuckle.

"Lookin for your scrony ass. Jesus, next time just shoot me and get it over with." She barked at him. This whole bitchy vibe was going well for her, right down to the dog-like characteristics. She wanted to smile.

"Why are you looking for me?" Her mouth dropped a little.

"Chris said you need me about your weights."

He nodded slowly. "Oh yeah, well I was taking a nap so why don't we talk about it later." She knew the yawn he threw in there was fake and she wasn't about to take that shit from him.

"Listen Moody Boy I'm not gonna take that. I just spent a good 30 minutes searching for your lazy ass and no one knew where you were. I'm starving, all I've had to eat today was a kit kat...not a package of.. A KIT KAT that Lonnie gave me." Her stomach growled loud enough for him to hear over the noise of his music and she looked at him glaring and kept on talking. "I haven't finished my work and I have to before I eat because unlike some famous teen pop dude I have things to do this afternoon."

He interrupted her. "Hey I have-"

Now she interrupted him, louder than she was before. "AND I WAS TOLD....you were LOOKING for me. So here I come thinking, oh Justin is looking for me, oh its about his weights, oh I better hurry up, thinking I'm in trouble and I come in here and you're pretending you're Puff Daddy all high and mighty. I don't think so. You wanna talk about your weights? WELL LETS TALK!!"

He was staring at her and she could feel her blood pumping. It was like an adrenaline rush. Everything that had ticked her off that day, she had suppressed and now he was gonna get everything she was feeling inside. Maybe it wasn't fair, but to hell with what was fair. He wasn't fair.

He slowly pushed himself up on his side, holding all his weight on one of his arm that was bent underneath him. "Ok first of all I was listening to Ludicrous not P. Diddy, second of all, chill, third of all, ill buy you some midol-" She lunged for him.

"Oh you are dead." She was three feet from him when his arms and his legs were thrown in-between him, maintaining distance.

"And FORTH! HEY number four, back off Betsy!" Her hands parked themselves on her hips and she glared.

"It's Kristen."

He put his legs down, sat up on the couch and extended his hand. "Hi Kristen how are you today?"

She slapped his hand away and then put her hand back on her hip, her eyes so narrowed she almost looked oriental. Too bad her hair wasn't black. "What's number four Skitzy."

His head cocked to the side and he squinted his eyes much like her. His headphones were dangling around his neck like an incomplete gaudy necklace. The music was still pounding and she stared at the headphones thinking that if they did make a necklace like that he would probably own one because he was annoying and a necklace like that would have to be annoying, also. "Skitzy? That's a new one. What's that for?"

"You're a schizophrenic." She said with a shrug of her shoulder, pretending that this was common knowledge.

His blue eyes widened, his mouth dropped a bit and she almost wanted to go over there and pet him and go "Aww, he's so cute." But then she remembered that he was annoying. "You're calling ME...ok I'm not gonna go there. Fourthly....would you care to join me for lunch?"

And that's when she snapped. YES she wanted to eat. YES she wanted lunch. But with him!? Hell no. He was the one that was keeping her from her precious meal, so she wouldn't dare satisfy his presence at lunch. "NO I WOULD NOT! Let's talk about your weights! I have SHIT to do."

The side of his mouth was pulled tight and he nodded sympathetically. "Shit eh? That sounds like fun."

She stomped. She groaned. She balled her fist. She threw a fit. She didn't care how immature she looked, sounded - was; she was allowed to. she had to put up with his God-awful self so she was entitled to a "fit." She was sure it was in that long-ass contract she signed a month ago. "UGH!! I hate you."

"Love you too smuchims." He sighed and looked at her lovingly. Of course it was just an act, and it pissed her off more than she wanted it to. He was purposefully pushing her buttons, she had spent less than an hour with Justin in her whole entire life and he already knew what buttons to push. She didn't know she was that easy to read. Last time she checked, she wasn't that easy to read. She was shy, quiet, occasionally funny...occasionally bitchy. But nothing about her stood out. What pleasure was he getting from making her see red?

"Oh and Kristen darlin?" He voice was more sugary than her damn skittles she was addicted too. She turned, posed at the door with her hand on the knob ready to escape the fire pit of Hades. He had already assumed his previous position: laid back on the couch, ankles crossed. His hands were moving the headphones back over his ears, his biceps straining against the tight navy blue abercrombie and fitch T-shirt he was wearing. "have you learned how to read?"

She rolled her eyes to stop from looking at his arms, making herself believe that it was the brand of T-shirt that she hated and not the she felt from looking at his arms. "OF course dip shit!"

He closed his eyes, the phones over his ears now, the band part over his forehead. A weird since of deja vu came over her and she was almost certain that the whole button-pushing fiasco was gonna replay. "Well next time read the signs before entering a room, you don't wanna cause anymore trouble now do you?"

He opened his eyes and broke out into a smile. She was breathing so heavily she could feel her shoulders move. She couldn't remember being that "stark-raving-mad" at someone for the longest time. She knew she shouldn't test her luck and insult her "boss" but he didn't hire her and at this point she didn't give a damn. She said the first thing- no shouted the first thing that entered her head. "ASSHOLE! A-Double S-H-O-L-E!"

And to make matters worse he fisted his hands with his arms in the air and in a "mock-cheerleader voice" yelled, "Goooo TEAM! YAY!" And then proceeded to make a sound like a crowd cheering.

She slammed the door and stomped down the hallway, blind with her anger. She marched all the way to the huge food service room, biting her bottom lip so hard she almost drew blood. She was pissed as hell and as she struggled with the tongs to pick up the damn fries she realized she wasn't really mad at Justin at all.

In that hour time that she had been around him she knew that he was playful. He joked. He smiled. He flirted. He was your regular 21 year old guy. She was mad at herself and there was only one reason why. She could still feel his warm, large hands squeezing her sides. She could still picture his bright smile and mischievous eyes looking at her. She could still hear his laughter echoing in her ears. And that made her so mad.

It had been a long time since a guy had looked at her the way he did, in fact she couldn't really remember a guy ever looking at her like that. She was pretty plain and she was also pretty sure that Justin acted like that with all the girls. He had just broken up with Miss Opps I Did It Again and she had seen him a few times at a distance around Melinda and Erin and Amiee and some of the other tour girls. Hell even Clara got his flirty attention at times.

What the fuck was wrong with her? She had paid ATTENTION to him when he was around other girls? She had paid ATTENTION to him at all?! She was right. He was Lucifer. He was the devil, tempting and torturing and smiling that innocent smile that only meant one thing: trouble.