Three hours later, when it was time to get up, after Joey got ready for the day he decided to stop by Johnny’s room. "Johnny, can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"What is it?" Johnny asked not looking up from the papers he was rifling through.

"Do you know when Fantasia’s birthday is?" Joey asked.

Johnny looked at Joey confused and asked, "Why don’t you just ask her?"

"I want to surprise her." Joey replied.

Johnny got up and went over to the box that held all the files on *N Sync’s personnel. He pulled out Fantasia’s file and opened it. "Hmm…." Johnny said, "Well, if you have something in mind you better get busy. Her birthday is on June first."

"But that’s in four days!" Joey shrieked.

"That’s the date she gave me." Johnny said as he handed the folder to Joey. Joey flipped through the papers in the folder. There wasn’t much in there much in there that would help him, but then Joey noticed her home address.

"You flew her in all the way from Indiana?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, well Dale left us in a pretty tight bind. I had to do a national search. She was the only one willing to come at a moment’s notice." Johnny explained.

"Well, thanks for your help." Joey said handing the folder back Johnney.

Joey went downstairs to breakfast. He grabbed his food and took it back to the table where the other guys were sitting. As Joey sat down he had a huge grin on his face. He couldn’t wait to tell the guys what happened.

"What’s with you?" Justin asked. He had just started eating so he was still rather grumpy.

"I did it." Joey said still grinning.

"Did what?" asked Chris.

"I asked her out!" Joey replied almost squealing.

"Who?" JC asked.

Joey couldn’t believe that they didn’t remember, but it was still rather early. "Fantasia!" he replied.

"What!?!" the other four guys shrieked.

"When? Just now?" Lance asked.

"No, about four hours ago." Joey replied before he started to fill them in on his early morning visit to Fantasia’s room.

"So, did she explain to you about whatever it is that you saw?" Justin asked now fully awake.

"Yeah, she did." Joey replied.

"Well?" the other guys asked as they leaned forward.

"I can’t tell you." Joey said quietly. The other four guys nearly fell face first into their food. "But…" Joey continued, "I can tell you this" Joey told them the story of Fantasia’s boyfriend wallpapering the inside of his car. Soon the guys were howling with laughter.

Across the room their howls caused Fantasia to snap to attention. She was half eating her breakfast and half sound asleep. She had staid up way too long with Joey.

"Hey, Fantasia. Are you ok? You look exhausted." Jamie said sitting down across from her.

"Oh, hi Jamie." Fantasia said with a yawn, "Joey woke me up at 2 am because his leg was bothering him. Then we got to talking and he had me up until 4 am!"

"Geez, no wonder you’re so tired." Jamie replied.

"Well, the last half hour or so wasn’t so bad. I mean, he did ask me out." Fantasia said.

"What!?!" Jamie shrieked, "Are you serious? Why aren’t you flipping out? You’re the biggest *N Sync fan on this whole crew!"

"I guess it just hasn’t sunk in yet. It feels more like a dream than reality." Fantasia replied sleepily.

Just then Joey came over, sat down next to Fantasia and gave her a kiss on the check. "Good morning, Fantasia." he said happily.

"Morning, Joey." she mumbled sleepily. As she turned to look at him Joey was taken aback by how tired she looked.

"I kept you up way too late, didn’t I?" he asked.

Fantasia just nodded.

"I’m sorry." Joey said giving her a big hug. Fantasia just about fell asleep right there in Joey’s arms.

"Well, I think I’ll leave you two alone." Jamie said with a grin as she got up to leave.

"You know," Joey said, as he pulled away just a little bit, "we don’t have a concert or anything tonight. We have interviews all morning and an autograph signing this afternoon. Its not like we need to stretch for interviews, so why don’t you take the day off."

"Won’t you need me after the autograph signing is through?" Fantasia asked. "Maybe, but we won’t be back from that until about 6. Besides, I wouldn’t want you falling asleep on our date." Joey said with a smile.

"Our date?" Fantasia asked confused.

"Yeah, since we have the night off I was going to ask you if you wanted to come by my room so we can finish what we were talking about. I’d rather do that than take you out to some club where I spend more time signing autographs than paying attention to you. I want to know just as much about you as you know about me." Joey explained.

"Ok, what time?" Fantasia asked.

"About 7 p.m. or whenever you get done with our massages, if we need them." Joey replied. Fantasia nodded in agreement.

Joey sat with Fantasia until she finished eating. When she was done Joey walked her back to her room. "You didn’t have to walk me back." Fantasia said not really looking at him.

"It’s ok. I had to go back upstairs anyway. Besides, I don’t want you falling asleep in the elevator." Joey replied with a smirk.

As they got upstairs Fantasia said, "I better tell Johnny that I’m taking the day off."

"Don’t worry about that. I’ll talk to him. You just go back to bed." Joey said.

Fantasia was too tried to argue with him. After Joey walked Fantasia to her room and gave her a kiss he went back to his room. He grabbed a backpack and shoved a few things in it. It was going to be at least an hour’s drive to the interviews. He had to get started planning Fantasia’s birthday. After Joey left his room he headed for Johnny’s. Johnny was just heading out to round up the guys. Joey started to explain to him why Fantasia had the day off. When he got to the part about his leg bothering him last night Johnny cut in and asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I’m fine. Fantasia has those magic fingers that always makes me feel better." Joey said before continuing with his story.

Ten minutes later all the guys piled on the bus with Johnny. Joey sat down at the small kitchen table and opened up his backpack. He pulled out his laptop and a small stack of CDs. He was going to burn Fantasia a very special CD for her birthday. Something he knew that she didn’t have. Once the computer was working away, Joey pulled out his planner and a notebook. He opened his planner and flipped ahead to June first. Joey groaned when he saw how busy they were going to be that day. They had interviews all morning and into the early afternoon. Then they had rehearsal, the sound check, the concert, and a party after the concert and then they had to leave for the next city.

"Whatcha workin’ on?" Chris asked peering over Joey’s shoulder.

"Fantasia’s birthday is on June first, but we don’t have any free time that day." Joey explained.

Chris walked around and sat down across from Joey. "Well, we could always get up early, bust into her room and surprise her." he suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Let’s do that!" Justin said joining the conversation.

"No!" Joey said firmly, "She would hate that!"

"Let me see the schedule." Lance said trying to help. "Do we really need a rehearsal?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, why are we having rehearsal?" Chris asked.

"I’ll call Wade and see if we can cancel it. That would give us a good hour and a half for a party." Joey said pulling his cell phone out of his backpack.

Joey dialed the number and after a couple rings Wade picked up on the other end. "Hey, Wade. I was looking over our schedule and I noticed that we have a rehearsal on June first. What’s that for?" Joey asked.

"I put that in there in case you were still having problems with your leg." Wade explained, "But you seem to be doing fine. So if you need that time for public appearances or something we can cancel."

"No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just that that day is Fantasia’s birthday. This is the only thing we can cancel so we can have time for a party." Joey explained.

"Ahhh…." Wade said. He knew just as well as the other guys how Joey felt about Fantasia. "Ok, I’ll cancel the rehearsal on one condition." Wade said.

"What’s that?" Joey asked.

"You invite me to the party." replied Wade.

"Deal!" Joey said. Joey hung up the phone and filled the guys in on what Wade had said.

Now that the guys had a time slot they could start planning the surprise party. This was all fine with Joey, but he really wanted to do something with her that night, just the two of them. But there just didn’t seem to be any time. They were going to be on the bus all night.

"Hey, Joey." JC said snapping him out of his daydreams, "Why don’t you invite Fantasia to that party that we have to go to?" Joey thought about it for a second. He was about to say no when a thought occurred to him. If everybody hated Fantasia in high school then she’s probably didn’t get invited to many parties. What better way to make up for all those missed high school parties than with a party of A-list stars!

"That’s a great idea! JC you’re a genius!" Joey exclaimed.

"You know, if she goes to the party she’ll have to come on the bus with us to the next city." Lance pointed out.

"That’s ok. We’re taking both buses so it will be just you and me. I’m sure you’ll stay out of our way." Joey said to Lance.

"I’ll be asleep." Lance replied.

Joey started making notes of things he would need for their romantic night on the bus. Chris leaned across the table to see what Joey had come up with. "Ah, Joe. I know you want this to be romantic and all, but a dozen roses?"

"So?" Joey asked confused.

"And what is she supposed to do with them? Put them in her suitcase?" Chris pointed out.

"Crap." Joey grumbled. He hadn’t thought about that!

"Does anybody have any ideas for birthday presents?" JC asked changing the subject.

"You mean besides *N Sync stuff?" Chris asked with a smile.

"Well, I know she collects stuffed animals and Beanie Babies." Joey said.

"Well, it’s not like we don’t have any of those laying around." Justin said thinking of all the stuffed animals the fans give them.

"We could put them all in one big pile and just let her dive in." Chris suggested with a grin. "I’m afraid we’d never see her again." Joey said. The guys started laughing at the thought of little Fantasia lost in a giant pile of stuffed animals!

Back at the hotel Fantasia woke up a little after 11 am. She turned on the TV, but she wasn’t really paying attention to it. All she could think about was Joey’s early morning visit to her room. She still couldn’t believe that he wanted to go out with her! After about ten minutes Fantasia got out of bed and got her laptop. After it booted up she started typing. She had been keeping a journal of everything that happened since she got this job. She knew this was a once in a lifetime chance, especially since she was such a huge fan. She didn’t want to forget a single detail! About an hour later Fantasia’s cell started ringing. She was kind of hoping it was Joey, but it was Jamie.

"Hey, Fantasia. Did I wake you?" she asked.

"No, I was up" Fantasia replied still typing away on her laptop.

"Do you want to go out to lunch?" Jamie asked.

"Sure!" Fantasia replied eagerly. It wasn’t often that she turned down an invitation to go do something with someone. She didn’t get many of them.

Fifteen minutes later Fantasia and Jamie met in the hotel lobby. At lunch Jamie wanted all the details about Joey’s visit to Fantasia’s room. Fantasia wasn’t very eager to give up all the details. She didn’t want Jamie to know about her past. The one thing Fantasia really knew about her was that Jamie was very concerned about looks. Fantasia knew that if she found out about her trichotillomania she would hate her! Fantasia couldn’t risk that. As far as the crew went, Jamie was the only friend that Fantasia had made. She needed somebody to hang out with while Joey and the guys were busy.

"So did he kiss you?" Jamie asked.

Fantasia nodded and said, "Yeah, three times. And then again this morning when he walked me back to my room."

"So what are you going to wear on your date?" Jamie asked.

Fantasia just froze. She hadn’t even thought about that! Jamie noticed the panicked look on her face and said, "Don’t worry. After lunch we’ll hit the mall. I’ll help you find the perfect outfit."

"Thanks." Fantasia said with a sigh of relief.

At the mall Jamie asked, "So what are you hoping to get out of this date? I don’t want to pick out an outfit for you that’s going to make Joey totally horny if you’re not going to put out for him."

"It’s our first date!" Fantasia shrieked.

"Ok. Ok. I had to ask so I know what to look for." Jamie explained. Three hours later they had found the perfect outfit. Fantasia also bought herself a new Fuman Skeeto shirt. The shirt was maroon and on the front it said, "Take A Chance On Me" in big, white letters. She figured that maybe it would encourage some guy to take a chance and ask her out. After all, Joey was going to get bored with her sooner or later and move on to his next girl.



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