A while later Joey sent a text to the group.
Joey: Bus is leaving in 30 minutes. All you fine people better be ready to go with your party faces on and ready for a killer night!
Everyone ate a quick bite on their own while they were getting ready. The girls sent a couple of text messages to their friends about meeting up for the 2nd show tonight. They wanted to talk to the guys about the third show. They were all torn on if they should watch the show backstage or in the audience. So they figured if nothing else they would watch the second show with their friends. Five minutes early, the girls were waiting in the hall. The guys came out of their rooms all looking dressed to impress. The group made their way to the bus, the feeling among the 10 of them felt different today. Everyone was excited for the shows tonight, everyone was nervous about the feelings that they were feeling, everyone was hopeful for what the night brought.
They got on the bus in their now normal seats. Josh and Lex were still up front. They were facing each other talking about their days without each other. Lex mentioned that the girls were going to sit out in the audience with their friends for the second show. She then looked like she didn’t know how to put her words together and said, “We don’t know what we want to do for the third show. We are torn if we should be in the audience or backstage?” Josh whispered in her ear and said, “Babe, I want to see you on the front row when I come out and sing with all of my brothers for the first time in almost 20 years.” She smiled at him and kissed him not caring what anyone else was doing and said, “If that is where you want me, that is where I will be.” She then sent a text to the other girls and said “Ladies, we will be front row center for the third show. Per Josh. :)”
Liz looked at her phone and laughed. Justin looked at her and wanted to know what was so funny. She showed him the message from Lex and Justin pulled her closer to him and said, “I don’t know what C told her, but I want to be able to see you in total fangirl mode on the front row when all 5 of us come out. Seeing the four of you, maybe fiveif Michael joins you, when we walk out on stage might be one of the highlights of this week. He grabbed her hand and kissed the inside of her hand and then wrapped his arm so their hands laid on his chest.
They arrived at EPCOT and went to the pavilion. Once they got to the pavilion the girls took several pictures from the stage. Joey and Chris jumped in on several pictures. Then Michael took some pictures with Justin, Lance and JC with them. They did this very quickly so people didn't see them all on stage together. While they were backstage waiting for the first show they sat around chatting all together, in small groups and over each other. Kari, Melinda and Joe were there as well. It was a small reunion among all the *NSYNC guys and some of their original managment and friends.
The crowds started to pile in for the first show. Before the guys gathered for their pre-show rituals, Lance went up to Liz and Justin and said, “J, can I borrow my best friend for a minute? I promise to return her in one piece.” “Dude, of course. Just keep your hands to yourself.” Justin winked at them and then laughed as he walked out giving Lance and Liz a moment together. Lance pulled Liz into a big hug. He pulled back and looked at her, “I can’t explain what the four of you are doing to the five of us. I wish that I could put it in words the way I have seen my brothers come back to life this week. I wanted to tell you that before things got crazy tonight. Also, best friend, I have something that I want to tell you before we tell anyone else.” Lance whispered something in Liz’s ear and she gasped, began to cry and gave him the biggest hug. “My lips are sealed,” she promised. “Well you better not keep your lips sealed if Justin wants to use them.” Lance laughed, hugged her and they walked back to the group.
The guys huddled together to hackey, the girls took their pictures. Once they accomplished a hackey Joey and Chris grabbed the girls and took a group picture before the band went out on stage. Joey grabbed his phone and pulled up Instagram to make a new post. He made his post, and gave his phone back to Charlie to take pictures. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and gave her a sneaky little grin. As he walked away, her phone and several others started going off with a notification alert. He was on the stage welcoming everyone to the show tonight when he looked over at her and winked. She had a shocked look on her face.
As she was looking at her phone she saw "@realjoeyfatone has tagged you in a post," she just stared at him. Everyone else was looking at their phones to see what Joey posted. Joey's post was a couple of pictures. One of the girls with Chris and Joey, one of Joey and Chris, and one of Joey and Charlie with the caption of "Sad to see this last night of performances come to an end. This week has given me more than I could have ever dreamed. I can't wait to see what happens in the future. Hope to see you all at the shows tonight. You don't want to miss it, you never know what is going to happen. Wish y'all were here. -JF" The other 9 of them were tagged in the post. The comments started rolling in left and right. People speculating that Lance was there for the show. Someone said, OMG what if Justin and JC are there too. Several people liked the comment and several others commented they would never be there, others joined in the excitement of the possibilities. Charlie turned back to the group and everyone was talking a mile a minute about Joey's post. The guys thought it was perfect. Melinda walked over to the group and said, "Girls welcome to chaos! It's nice to have more women around." The group pulled in for a quick group hug before Chris ran on stage for his song.
The girls' phones started blowing up with text messages, friend requests, IG messages and so much more. Their friend group chat was full of messages like, "Have you been hanging out with Joey and Chris all week?" "Are the other guys here?" "Why have you guys been holding out on us?" Ry responded quickly and said, "We have had a great week, we will be able to share more later. We will see you guys for the 2nd show. We will be on the front row. See y'all in a bit." The girls were pleased with the response, but their friends were not. Lance, Michael, JC and Justin were sitting off to the side when the girls returned. Michael spoke first, "Do not accept all friend requests. People will start digging for stuff that isn't there. Either do one of two things, have a public and private account or lock that shit down and deal with it." The guys laughed and said, “Well that's about right.” Justin spoke and said, "We will make sure to give you all our private accounts. That is where we mainly communicate." They continued talking while the show wrapped up. The girls decided to ignore all the messages that were coming in faster than they ever imagined. Joey and Chris came off the stage, they ran to Charlie and Ry and picked them up and swung them around, Chris said, "That never gets old. Being on stage with any of you (looking at his brothers) reminds me why I am on this earth." The group started to break off into smaller groups as the crowd exited the pavilion. Joey pulled Charlie over to a seperate room backstage.
"Babe, was that post okay? I'm sorry I didn't ask you about it first." Charlie looked at him and said, "Joseph, that post was the sweetest. I knew what you were saying, talking right to me. I can't wait to see what happens next." He pulled her in his arms for a tight hug. He pulled back and ran his fingers through her hair and then put his hand behind her neck and brought her in for a kiss. Their first kiss was strong, exactly what she always imagined kissing Joey Fatone would be like. While they were lost in their kiss he moved them over to a chair in the corner, he sat down and pulled her in his lap. He pulled back and looked deep into her eyes, "Charlie, I feel this connection with you unlike any connection I have felt with anyone. Except for when the five of us sang together for the first time. I can't explain it, I don't know if you feel it as well, but I want to explore this and see what we can do as far as schedules and seeing each other." She looked back at him, cheeks flushed from their kisses and blushing from his words and said, "Words can't explain how much my life has changed this week. I think we would be stupid to not explore this. I am having a hard time remembering what life was like last week." He kissed her again and said, "We should get back to the group before they come looking for us.
They walked back to the main room with all their friends' eyes on them. No one said anything to them, but they could tell their feelings were growing for each other. The group hung out before the next show. Before the next show started and people were allowed to start coming into the seats, Lance put a hat on with his mask and glasses and walked away. He came back a few minutes later and nodded at the guys. He pulled Liz off to the side. “Best friend! I wanted to steal you away from your famous man before everything got crazy.” She laughed and blushed and said, “Best Friend, I think you are jumping way ahead here.” He hugged her and said, “If you could see the way he looks at you, you wouldn't be saying that. We aren’t here to discuss that, though.” “Well, Mr. Bass, what are we here to discuss?” “I wanted to let you know that you ladies have a reserved section upfront. I have reserved the first two rows by the stage for y’all and your friends. It is roped off. Michael will join you all for the last show, can’t give too much away too soon. So if you want to text your friends and have them come out to the center section you can go out there and get them with Melinda.” She jumped in his arms and gave him the biggest hug. While in his hug he whispered something to her. She gasped and gave him an even bigger hug! “You are too much Lance! You have done so much for us. Thank you so much!” When they made their way back to the group Liz grabbed her phone and sent a text message to their friends telling them where and when to meet her.
Before Liz went out to get their friends the group huddled together for another round of hackey. This time Lance’s foot was in the picture. They took a couple of group photos and the girls gave hugs to the guys and headed out to their seats. Liz went to go get their friends and bring them to where the girls were sitting. Their friends were so excited to talk to the girls; they asked so many questions, most of which the girls couldn’t answer yet. Ry did tell them, “We have hung out with Joey and Chris since Tuesday. And it has been amazing. We will be able to fill you in a little more later.” The music started and the crowd went crazy. Chris and Joey did several songs by themselves and together before they started their goodbyes for the night before the last song. As the music for the last song was starting, the girls' phones alerted them of a message. “@lancebass has tagged you on a post” is what their messages said. It was like everyone there saw the notification at the same time. It was the picture of Lance, Joey and Chris’ feet from their hackey before the show. The caption said, “Here weeee goooo!” That was it. Lance tagged everyone in the post. Their friends looked at them with their jaws dropped. “Has Lance been here the entire time?” one of their friends asked. The girls didn’t answer because they knew what was coming. As the music for “Tearin’ Up My Heart” became louder the crowd was going crazy. All of a sudden, from the right hand side of the stage, out walks Lance. “Hey fellas, mind if I join you for this song?” The crowd was off the charts excited! Joey and Chris looked at each other and Chris said, “I thought I was your only friend for this? Did you know he was here?” Joey shrugged his shoulders and said, “Isn’t he always around?” Everyone laughed and the three of them sang their hearts out. At the end of the song Joey thanked Lance for making a surprise appearance. They took their bows and said good night to the crowd.
