Fantasia quickly settled into the daily routine of her new job. She had only been with the guys for just under a week. It was May 4th, Lance’s birthday. Fantasia really wanted to do something; she just didn’t know how to go about it. It’s not like she hung out with the guys. The only time she really saw them was when she was doing her job. She had already picked up a small present for him. But how to get it to him…. She had heard the guys talking about going out to dinner for Lance’s birthday, but she knew they’d never invite her. Fantasia decided to put it in a gift bag and hang it on the handle of his hotel room door. She purposely put the card she’d bought in the bottom so he’d have to look at the gift first. She didn’t want him to know who it was from right away.

Just minutes after Fantasia had hung it on his door, Lance returned to his room. He had forgotten his cell phone. Lance looked at the bag confused. He knew it wasn’t from any of the guys and the crew never bought them gifts. He assumed a fan had somehow sneaked past security and had left it there. Lance took the bag into his room. Even though he knew the guys were waiting, his curiosity got the better of him. He set the bag down on his bed and carefully took out the gift. Lance unwrapped the tissue paper to reveal a framed picture of the cast of Clue, Lance’s favorite movie. And it was autographed by a few of the actors! Lance just stood there completely stunned.

Just then there was at knock at the door which he had left open. He turned around to see Joey standing in the doorway. "Dude, what’s taking you so long?" Then he noticed Lance was holding something and saw the gift bag and tissue paper on the bed. "What’d ya get?" he asked walking over to his best friend. Still speechless, Lance handed him the picture. Joey was almost as shocked as Lance. He knew what a gift like that would mean to his friend.

"So, who’s it from?" he asked handing the picture back.

"I have no idea." Lance replied.

Now Joey was curious. He picked up the gift bag and started inspecting it. When he turned the bag upside down to look at the bottom the card fell out and landed on the bed. Lance laid down the picture and picked up the card. He took the card out of its envelope. The front of the card had Taz on it. Joey let out a snort of laughter. Lance slowly opened the card to reveal the name of the gift giver.

"Fantasia!" both guys shrieked.

"Why would she get me a present?" Lance asked confused.

Just then Joey had a thought. "Well, you know, if she’s as big of a fan as she says she is do you really think she’d forget your birthday?"

"Good point." Lance replied.

Later that day, Lance ran into Fantasia in the hall by the vending machines. Without any warning he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug and said, "Thank you."

"For what?" Fantasia asked confused.

"For the Clue picture."

"Oh, that." she replied as if it was no big deal. But it was a big deal to Lance. He wanted to invite her to come to dinner with him and the guys, but he was a little afraid that she would take it the wrong way.

"Fantasia, the guys and I were going to go out tonight for my birthday."

"I know." she said.

Lance looked at her stunned for a second, wondering how she knew that. "I was wondering if you’d like to come, too. Not like a date or anything. Just… I’d just like you to come to my party."

Fantasia smiled at him. He was so cute when he was babbling. "I didn’t think you meant a date. That kinda stuff only happens in fan fics. And as far as if I want to go, do you even have to ask?"

Lance smiled, knew that was a yes. "Cool! Meet us downstairs at 7:30."

Fantasia went back to her room and started screaming and bouncing around. She never let the guys see her act like a fan.

At a quarter after seven Fantasia went downstairs to the lobby. Joey and Chris were already there waiting on the other guys. "Hey, Fantasia! What are you doing here?" Chris asked.

"Lance invited me."

"He did?" Joey asked surprised.

Chris leaned back in his chair and said, "Justin isn’t going to like this."

"Why?" Fantasia asked, worried that Justin didn’t like her.

"He wanted to bring Jamie, but Lance said no dates," Joey explained.

Fantasia just nodded. She knew that there was nothing Justin like more than parading Jamie around like she was some kind of trophy.

"Well, Lance invited me so Justin’s just going to have to deal with it."

"I’m gonna have to deal with what?" Justin asked after hearing only the second half of Fantasia’s statement.

"Fantasia’s coming too!" Joey piped up.

"What!?!" Justin shrieked, "I thought Lance said no dates?"

"It’s not a date!" Lance said coming up behind Justin and smacking him in the back of the head.

"How come she gets to go, but Jamie can’t?" Justin asked whining.

Chris groaned and sunk down in his chair. When Justin started whining he didn’t quit for at least half an hour. That’s not how the guys wanted to start their night off.

"Well, when Jamie gives me a gift as thoughtful, meaningful and totally cool as the one Fantasia gave me, I’ll consider it." Lance said.

Justin stared at Lance for a couple seconds before continuing to protest. Fantasia rolled her eyes. She had had enough of this. "Justin! It’s Lance’s birthday and his party. He can invite whoever he wants to. When it’s your birthday you can invite whoever you want."

"You’re just saying that cuz he picked you." Justin shot back.

"No, I’m not." she replied firmly, "I never expected Lance to invite me. But he did. And I’m not going to turn down his generous invitation just because you’re acting like a spoiled brat." All four guys just froze and starred at Fantasia. Nobody ever talked to Justin like that! For a second, Fantasia thought she might have taken it a step too far with the "spoiled brat" comment.

Justin opened his mouth like he was going to continue to protest, but said nothing. Chris leaned towards Joey and whispered, "How’d she do that?" Joey just shrugged. He had no idea, but he was thoroughly impressed.

Just then JC came downstairs. "You guys ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, let’s get going." Lance replied. As they walked out to the awaiting limo Chris filled JC in on what had just happened. Joey was cracking jokes trying to cheer up Justin. Lance walked next to Fantasia. He wanted to apologize to her for Justin’s behavior.

"Don’t worry about it." Fantasia replied, "Just consider this your warning. If any of you try to get a big head with me, I’ll knock you down to size."

Lance just burst out laughing. He didn’t doubt that one bit.

As they climbed into the limo Chris asked, "So, Lance, what’s this totally awesome present that Fantasia got you?" Lance spent the whole limo ride talking about the picture and how much he loved it. Halfway there, Chris was starting to regret asking the question.

At the restaurant Fantasia was seated between Lance and Joey. After they ordered their drinks Joey asked Fantasia, "So, are you coming to any of our concerts?"

"Of course." she replied.

"Which ones?" asked Lance.

"All of them."

The guys looked at her stunned. "Can you afford that?" JC asked. The guys knew all too well how much their tickets could go for.

"Well, yeah, considering I’m not paying for it."

"How’d you do that?" Chris asked.

"Well, it was when Johnny and I were working out the details of my contract. The low-ball offer he made me for my salary was more than double what my old job paid. I didn’t need more money so I asked for a guaranteed seat at every concert. And it had to be at least a decent seat. I didn’t want to be sitting all the way at the top where I couldn’t tell Chris apart from Justin. Johnny got me a seat in the VIP section. And because I was willing to come on such short notice and I wasn’t asking for a lot, he also gave me a bonus $100 a week to spend on merchandise at the shows."

"Wow!" Joey gasped.

About half an hour later Justin excused himself to go to the bathroom. As soon as he was out of earshot Chris turned to Fantasia and said, "Ok, spill it. How’d you do it?"

"Do what?" she asked confused.

"Back at the hotel. How’d you get Justin to quit acting like a whiny baby?" Fantasia shrugged her shoulders.

"I don’t know. I just told him what I thought he needed to hear. I get the feeling that boy doesn’t hear the word ‘no’ nearly enough. And I don’t tolerate anybody that cares more about their reputation then their friends."

"And if we get a big head with you, you’ll knock us down to size." Lance said repeating her words for earlier.

"Exactly." she replied. "The only thing I can think of is that he remember that I was a fan. And fans talk to each other… a lot. I’m sure he doesn’t want his little temper tantrum all over the Internet."

"Would you do that?" JC asked sounding a little scared.

"Not this time. But if he doesn’t learn his lesson and quick, I might. I don’t want to, but I’m going to break him of this ego trip if it’s the last thing I do."

"Hey, Fantasia. The next time you wanna tell Justin off can you wait until I get there?" JC asked.

"Well, if you didn’t spend so much time on your hair you could’ve been there." The rest of the guys burst out laughing at Fantasia’s crack on JC.

Just then Justin returned and asked, "What’s so funny?"

"Oh, Joey just told us a new joke." JC said, not wanting to repeat what Fantasia had said about his hair.

"Joey’s jokes aren’t that funny." Justin said as he sat back down in his chair.

"Yeah, they are." Fantasia replied. Joey just looked at her with this big, goofy grin on his face. She pointed her finger at him and said, "Don’t let that go to your head."

After another hour they were half way through the meal and the guys were well on their way to being drunk. This wasn’t exactly what Fantasia had been expecting, but it was a little amusing. Joey made a comment that Fantasia couldn’t even comprehend. Chris must have understood it though because he was laughing so hard that he fell off his chair. When he didn’t get up, Fantasia leaned around to make sure he was ok. Chris was lying on the floor still laughing. She just sighed and shook her head. She was just glad none of the guys were driving.

The next morning Fantasia was walking down the hall when Chris came out of his room. He was rubbing his shoulder with one hand and holding his head with the other. "Party too hard last night?" she asked causing Chris to jump a little.

"Naw, the headache I can deal with. But for some reason my shoulder is killing me."

Fantasia smiled and shook her head. "That’s probably from when you fell off your chair."

"I did?" he asked confused.

Fantasia just nodded.

Chris looked at her and asked, "How come you’re ok?"

"It’s kinda hard to get drunk on Coke." She replied with a smirk.

"Smartass." he muttered. "You know, if you didn’t already have a killer headache I’d smack you for that."

"So, can you help me?" he asked.

"That what you pay me for, isn’t it?" she replied. She started to take Chris down to the physical therapy room when Justin came out of his room. He looked worse than Chris did.

"Fantasia, can I get a massage?"

"Chris asked first. You’re going to have to wait your turn." she replied.

Chris was expecting him to protest and make a big fuss, but he didn’t.

Justin just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his room. "We’re going to have to keep you around." Chris said with a smirk.

"Fine by me." Fantasia replied.