After her birthday, Fantasia and Joey were joined at the hip. She moved her stuff into Joey’s room and went everywhere the guys did… interviews, autograph signings, photo shoots, TV appearances, everywhere. She wasn’t always allowed in though. On those occasions she just staid on the bus, there was plenty for her to do.

On this particular day the guys had a photo shoot and she wasn’t allowed in. Fantasia sat down in the front lounge of the bus and pulled out her laptop to check her email. She was on several of those *Nsync mailing lists so she could chat with other fans. The past couple days the topic had been about the "mystery girl" that was always with Joey. "Does anybody know who that girl is? She can’t be Joey’s girlfriend, she’s only like 15!" one girl asked.

"Well, I heard that she’s the physical therapist for the tour and that she just turned 23." Fantasia replied.

As she was typing Joey climbed onto the bus and peered over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

"You ‘heard’?" he asked confused just as Fantasia hit the send button. She jumped a little and gave Joey a dirty look for sneaking up on her.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked surprised.

"They’re doing solo pictures of Justin so the rest of us get a break." he explained, "Don’t they know you’re the one they’re talking about?"

Fantasia shook her head. "You haven’t told them?" he asked shocked as he sat down next to her. The little booth was really only made to fit one person on each side. But Fantasia was so small there was still enough room for Joey too… well most of him.

"They’d never believe me." she replied.

Just then Fantasia got a reply to her email. "There is no way that girl is 23!"

"See!" Fantasia said, pointing at the computer screen, "They don’t even believe that ‘the girl’ is 23. There is no way they would believe it was me."

Just then another email came in. It was from a different girl and she said, "Fantasia, it’s a little hard to believe that the mystery girl is 23, but you’re usually right about these things. I’ll take your word for it, but you gotta tell me where you get your info."

"Now’s your chance." Joey said with a grin. "Ok, but if I get kicked out of the group for lying, I’m blaming you." she said. Joey wasn’t sure if she was joking or not, but he smiled and said, "Ok." Fantasia took a deep breath and started typing. "I know all of this because I am the mystery girl." It didn’t take more than a minute before emails started flooding her inbox. Nobody believed her! To Fantasia it was like the whole world was laughing at her.

"See? I told you they wouldn’t believe me." she said to Joey.

He gave her a hug and a kiss before asking, "Can I send an email?"

"Go ahead." Fantasia said, pushing the laptop over to him. As Joey started to type, Fantasia leaned over and read the message. She couldn’t believe what he was typing!

Hello *Nsync Fans!

This is Joey Fatone. I just want to let you know that Fantasia

Is not lying. She really is our physical therapist and my

girlfriend. Please be nice to her. Thanks for all your support.

Joey

Soon more emails started pouring in. Now they weren’t just laughing at her, they were calling her names. Most of them were accusing her of making this up just to get attention. One girl wrote, "Come on, Fantasia! You’re not fooling anybody. We know you wrote that. Why are you doing this? Are you that desperate for attention?"

Fantasia just held her head in her hands. Joey felt horrible. Why couldn’t he just leave things alone? He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. He could tell that she was upset, but she didn’t seem to blame him. "If there was only some way to send them a picture of us." he said thinking aloud. With out saying a word Fantasia reached into her backpack and pulled out her digital camera. "Perfect!" Joey exclaimed, giving her a big hug.

He jumped out of his seat and darted over to the door of the bus. He was looking for anybody that could take their picture. "CHRIS!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"WHAT?" Chris screamed back.

"Get over here! We need your help!" Joey screamed. A minute later Chris climbed onto the bus and asked, "What’s up?"

"Take our picture." Joey said, handing him the camera.

"That’s your big emergency?" he asked confused. Joey sat back down next to Fantasia and explained to Chris what was going on.

"Ok, it’s your funeral." Chris shrugged. He took several pictures of Joey and Fantasia snuggled together and even one of them kissing.

After Chris left, Fantasia downloaded the pictures onto her laptop and they picked out three pictures to send. "Are you sure you want to send that one?" Fantasia asked when Joey picked out the one of them kissing.

"Sure, I want them to see just how much I love you." he replied with a grin.

Fantasia sat there a little stunned. That was the first time that he had used the "L" word! Without even thinking about it she threw her arms around him and whispered, "I love you, Joey."

After about a minute they pulled apart. Fantasia attached the pictures to an email and typed, "Here are some pics of me & Joey that Chris just took less than 5 minutes ago. Is this enough proof for you?" She sent the email and soon got more replies. They still didn’t believe her! One reply said, "That doesn’t prove anything! You don’t have any proof that that’s you in the picture. You can’t even prove that the girl is 23! All it proves is that Joey is a total pervert!"

Fantasia looked over at Joey a little worried. She had no clue how he was going to react. He just burst out laughing. Another email came in and this girl said, "I agree! A guy his age kissing a 15 year old like that is just sick!"

Now Joey was howling with laughter. Fantasia looked at him like he was crazy. "What about this do you find so funny?"

"It’s hilarious how off they are." he replied, still laughing.

Before they could think of anything else to try, Fantasia got a private email from the list owner, Vickie.

Fantasia,

You’ve never caused any problems before in the group. And lately

you’ve had a lot of good info on the guys. So far it’s all been true.

If this is also true, then have Joey call me. My number is (313) 555-

6873. If I don’t hear from him within 72 hours I will be forced to

remove you from the list. I’m sorry.

Vickie

Without even stopping to think about it, Joey pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number. After a couple rings, Vickie picked up on the other end and Joey introduced himself. Vickie started screaming so loud that Joey had to hold the phone away from his ear!

"How old is she?" he whispered to Fantasia.

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "About 45." Joey’s eyes grew really big. He’d never met a fan that old that screamed like a teenager.

When Vickie calmed down Joey explained to her how Fantasia got the job and how he fell in love with her. He finished by saying, "I was the one that convinced her to tell the group about her job. I’ve been sitting here reading all the girls’ responses. I know all this is hard to believe, but I do not appreciate the way they have been treating my girlfriend."

Fantasia sat there completely stunned. Very rarely did anybody ever stand up for her like that! Joey continued to talk to Vickie. He was willing to answer whatever questions he had to. He’d do anything to prove Fantasia was telling the truth.

Meanwhile, Fantasia sat there deleting all the hate mail out of her inbox. Now they weren’t just insulting Fantasia, Joey was getting hate mail too! She wanted to get rid of them before he saw them.

After about fifteen minutes Joey handed the phone to Fantasia. "She wants to talk to you."

She took the phone and said, "Hello."

"Why didn’t you tell us any of this before?" Vickie asked.

"Because I knew you wouldn’t believe me." she replied.

"Well, this sure explains how you know so much about the guys." Vickie said with a laugh. The two talked for another ten minutes. After they got off the phone, Vickie sent a message out to the group confirming everything that Fantasia had been saying. Now everyone believed her.

Her inbox was now full of questions about the guys. Joey was having fun reading the emails and helping Fantasia answer the questions. Then one girl sent in a question that caught their attention. It said, "Ok, Fantasia! I gotta know. How big is Joey’s package?" Fantasia looked over at him. She knew he wouldn’t want to answer that one! Joey’s face was bright red.

"Can we just delete that one?" he asked in a small voice.

"I got a better idea." Fantasia said with an evil grin. She hit reply and started typing, "Are you SURE you want to ask me that? I mean, Joey is sitting here right next to me reading every email that comes in."

A minute later the girl emailed back saying, "OMG!!! I am SO sorry, Joey! I didn’t know you were there! Can you forgive me?" Joey just started laughing.

About twenty minutes later, JC climbed onto the bus and said, "Come on, Joey. It’s your turn."

"Can’t somebody else go? I’m busy." he asked.

"Everybody else has went." Lance said sticking his head in the door.

"Ok." Joey sighed, standing up.

"Hey, Fantasia! Can we talk to the fans too?" Chris asked.

"Uh, ok." she said, surprised that he would ask that.

As Joey went in for his solo pictures, JC, Lance, Chris and Justin climbed onto the bus to talk to some fans. Fantasia sent out a quick message to the group. "Ok, guys. Joey had to leave, but the rest of the guys are here and wanting to talk to you. Anybody got any questions for them?"

Once again Fantasia’s inbox was flooded with emails. She read the questions aloud and the guys told her what to type. The guys spent the next hour talking with the fans and laughing at the occasional inappropriate question. After Joey was done, the photo shoot was over and it was time to leave for the next city.