Chapter 2

Afternoon before the tour starts…

In a big outdoor, open area at Johnny's house a huge party was being held.  Johnny purposely had it in the afternoon so people could get sleep before the big day.  Two Huge tents were set up.  Catered food was being served under one.  Lounge chairs were scattered everywhere.  It was like the mother of all backyard barbecues.  Meredith had enjoyed herself at the party but was not the overly bubbly girl she usually was.  She had remained kind of quiet and to herself unless someone spoke to her.  Chris had managed to get her to sit down and have a talk with him.

"So, you guys got girlfriends?" 

"I thought you would already have all the dirt by now." Chris stated.

"Well I know that JC has been on a few dates with that one girl, what's her name? Cindy? Yeah, Cindy.  But he says its nothing serious, yet. I can tell he REALLY likes her though. He told me when he gets back from touring if she is still single they will probably start dating officially or something.  He had some logic behind it but I didn't really comprehend it."  Meredith chuckled.

"Yeah, JC gets kinda weird with that type of stuff.  But he always seems to know what he is doing."

"Well, anyway, I also know Joey is dating like a million girls, but who doesn't know that?"

"The million girls that think Joey is just theirs."  Chris and Meredith both laughed, then Joey walked by them with a plateful of food and smiled.  They immediately went silent until he was out of range and then busted out laughing again.

"Whew man, that was great.  What was so funny about that anyway?" Meredith asked.

"I have no clue."

"Well, back to the lecture at hand, hehe, Lance brought his girl tonight, right?  I haven't seen him yet but I thought I saw the back of him with his arm around a short girl.  I figured it was him and Leslie."

"Yeah, probably so.  He really likes her.  She's a nice girl.  Let's go find her and I'll introduce you."

"Hold up cowboy, I need to know about you.  Any girls in your back pocket I should know about?"

"I've been dating this gal name Danielle for about two years now..." He said with a country accent.

"WOW!!  Who is this girl??  And how does she put up with you?  I need to meet her and pin a medal to her.  She must be a warrior!!" Meredith joked.

Chris sighed and dreamily looked down at the grass.  "Yeah, she's something all right.  I wish she could be here but she had an interview for Fuman in New York like an hour ago.  She's flying home tonight though so we can be together before I leave..." 

"Awww, precious. HEHE.  That's really sweet Chris.  I've never seen you look like that.  You must really love her."

"Yeah, I do.  She's amazing.  You remind me of her.  She has your same sense of humor.  I hope you'll get to meet her sometime because you two would become best friends instantly, I'm sure."

"That would be great, Chris." Meredith looked at him and smiled.  He looked down at the ground one more time and then back up to Meredith.

"Mere, I'm really sorry about the way Justin's been treating you. I know it's not my job to apoligize for him but still. It's not that cool of him.  he has no right to prejudge you like that.  Hopefully, he's just having a rough days and being stupid. 

"It's cool." Meredith laughed playfully. "I only wish all the members of *Nsync could like me.  But I guess I'll have to settle with just 'sync'."

"Don't worry about Justin, if he wants to be like that, then it's his loss for not wanting to spend time with a great girl like you." Chris winked.

"Wait a minute, Joey what have you done with Chris??" Meredith asked looking around.

"I'm serious Meredith you are a great person..."

"You winked at me?  Said you were serious? OH no!! Joey and JC have taken over Chris's body, somebody call 911!!" 

"Shut up, squirt!"

"Hey, only special people can call me that"

"Aren't I special?" Chris whined

"OF course, my love! Well, anyway thanks for saying that, it means a lot.  And I'm glad we've worked things out.  I guess I'll just be as nice to Justin as I can and maybe he will be forced to be nice back."

"Speak of the devil..." Chris mumbled as they both watched Justin and a tall extremely beautiful girl with long straight blonde hair approach them. 

Meredith looked at the girl.  She was too much.  TOO Beautiful, Meredith thought.  She was perfect, and Meredith couldn't help but notice how well the girl's perfection complemented Justin's perfection.  Justin had on khakis and a light blue-green button up shirt that was unbuttoned to expose his white wife beater.  His curls were gelled perfectly and Meredith took notice of this because every other time she had seen him he had a hat on, besides the first day she met him when his hair was flying everywhere. 

Meredith looked at the girl again.  Her tight 3/4 length bright pink shirt left no curve to the imagination.  It's low V-neck showed off much cleavage and her short black silk skirt was a little too short Meredith believed.  Her feet were adorned with 2-inch white Candies and Meredith was shocked that the girl could actually walk in grass with them. Her hair was long, blonde and Meredith was sure that most of it must have been extensions, although she couldn't really tell.  Her make up was done very well and sparkly and her glossy pout seemed to be a weapon used to attack men. Her outfit was too much.  It looked as if the girl had just got back from a club but it was only 3:30pm in the afternoon.

Then she looked down at her own outfit.  A surge of jealousy and awkwardness flooded her brain.  Meredith sat there with Birkenstocks on her feet, bootleg olive pants, and a deep Maroon button down shirt much in the same style as the one Justin wore.  She wanted to look bold like the girl Justin had with him.  She didn't know why.  She had always been the one to not care about looks.  She was the queen of comfort.  But now she felt as if her earthy colors no make up, glasses and sloppy bun were a curse.

"Chris you remember Kimberly right?" Justin said.

Chris stood up and shook Kim's hand.  "Of course, good to see you Kim.  Keeping Justin in line??" 

The girl smiled broadly and looked at Justin, who in return smiled back down at her.  "As always, I keep my boy in line."

"Who you calling a boy, woman?" Justin asked her and then stole a quick kiss from her.

-So, he does have a girlfriend.  Just Perfect.  Why is this bothering you? It shouldn't.  DONT LET IT BOTHER YOU.  You cant afford for it to-

After a few moments of small talk Meredith realized she was still sitting down while the other three stood right by her and ignored her.  Meredith turned and looked around at the other people chatting, eating, ect.  She was looking for someone to talk to, a familiar face.  An escape from where she was.

"Oh Kim, have you met Meredith?"  Chris asked.

The girl politely said no and Meredith slowly turned her attention to the three standing there. She stood up and extended her hand.

"Hi, I'm Meredith Willis. What do they call me?  Oh yes, *Nsync intern, whatever that means. It's great to meet you."  Meredith tried her best to make this girl laugh and become friends.  Maybe if she could get through to her she could get through to Justin.

"I'm Kimberly Thompson, Justin's girlfriend. And it's great to meet you too."

Meredith, Kimberly, and Chris continued in small talk and Meredith found out that Kim was a model and had met Justin a party about a month before. 

Meredith felt guilty for thinking bad things about the sweet girl that stood there in front of her.  Justin felt guilty for thinking bad things about the sweet girl that stood in front of him. 

Justin remained quiet through their conversation and stared at Meredith intently.  She was not flashy like Kim.  She was not strikingly beautiful like Kim.  But she was interesting none the less.  A surge of guilt washed over himself as he took in the girl in front of him.  He had never had a reason to be cold to her.  But he found himself turning that way instantly whenever she would notice him.  But other than that, he just stared at her, mesmerized; not even realizing he was. 

During their conversation Justin would only break his stare whenever Kim would say his name or look up at him.  He liked Kimberly but it was nothing serious.  Both had decided it would be best that way, with their careers and all.

"Hey you guys, Johnny is starting the pre-tour speech.  We better head other there" JC clamped his hands on Meredith's shoulders causing her to jump. She turned around and glared at him.  In return, he pouted and she smiled at him.  They linked arms and Chris grabbed her other free arm and the three sauntered over the tent where Johnny was about to begin speaking.  Justin and Kim were right behind them.

Meredith sat down between Chris and JC but as soon as they sat down JC jumped up and ran over to a girl standing quietly outside, away from the tent.  He hugged her and kissed her briefly on the lips and walked her over to the tent.  He held her hand and mouthed "Cindy" to Meredith.  She smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.  Meredith watched as he brought the girl to the back of the tent in the last row of chairs and began talking and whispering in her ear.  Meredith smiled at the two and returned her attention to the front.  But as she turned something caught her eye.

Sitting beside her was Justin Timberlake.  Sure he had his arm around another girl, Kim, but he was sitting beside her.  And didn't seemed to look like he was about to explode with hate. 

-Oh my goodness, He actually doesn't mind me...that much. Maybe, well maybe not but this is a definite improvement!-

She glanced over at Chris who was tapping on her shoulder.

"Yes, darling?" Meredith dramatically said.

"Smuchims I have a package for you." Chris said in a lispy voice.

"Take one down pass it around 99 packets of paper now...." Meredith sang.

Soon Chris had joined her as Meredith held a stack of packets that had tour info in them waving them in the air.  They sang until '96 packets' were left.  But she soon stopped when she realized she would have to pass the packet...to Justin.

She took a packet for herself and placed it in her lap.  Then she handed the packets over to him.  But he was wrapped up in something Kim was saying so he didn't notice her.

"Here you go Justin," She said quietly but sweetly.

He slowly turned to her.  He looked shocked but managed to take the papers.

"Thanks" he said quietly, and grinned.

"Anytime, Anytime."  She smiled genuinely and turned her attention back to Chris and then Johnny as he began the speech.

-OH MY GOSH!!  HE just said something to me...something nice, and smiled.  Ah, this is a great day!-

Justin passed the papers on but every now and then glanced at Meredith.

-Dude, did you hear her say your name?  I gotta stop this.  I gotta stop these feelings now.  I have Kim.  I can't get hurt.  I cant. But look at her.  Just, look at her.  I should give her a chance.  But, I can't risk my self like that. SHUT UP.  It's not worth it.  She can't stand you anyway. And you can't stand her. Just forget it! -

---------------

Two weeks later…

Meredith loved every minute of her job.  She ran back and forth getting the guys whatever they needed.  She took their phone calls.  She even cleaned out their bus once; but that's only when Johnny begged her and said he would raise her pay.  The guys started calling her their "Genie in a Bottle" and whenever they would ask her for something she would nod her head and blink, and run off to get whatever they needed.  She loved hanging out with the guys.  They were all amazing people.  But there was still Justin...

Justin actually had warmed up to her some.  But she was no where near as close to him as she was everyone else.  He would ask her to do something and she would oblige but the smart comments and inside jokes weren't there like with everyone else.  Meredith was glad that Justin seemed not to hate her.  But still, it hurt to know he had closed himself off from her.  It was hard too.  All the guys would want to do something with Meredith and Justin would want to tag along but there was always something awkward between them.  Especially when they were left alone.  They had never had a conversation besides; "Will you do this?" "Sure" "Thanks" "No problem". 

But other than that, Meredith loved life.  She finally was at a place where she didn't have to explain her past.  She was actually happy.

"Mere, earth to Mere..." Lance waved a hand in front of her.

Meredith snapped her head towards him.  "Sorry Lance, daydreaming: it's a bad habit."

"No problem, wanna come to sound check?" 

"Umm, let me see if there is anything to be done.  I'll go ask Johnny and I'll be there in a minute." 

"All right g."

Meredith watched Lance walk out the door, and soon shot up and ran to the doorway calling after him.

"Hey Lance, why do you guys call me g?"

"It's short for Gorgeous"

"Oh puuulease.  Don't try to be a Joey.  One is enough."

"Seriously Meredith. It stands for Gorgeous.  Well, it also stands for Genie, but mainly gorgeous. I don't know who made it up.  But that's what it means."  Lance smiled and turned and jogged down the hall towards the stage area.

Meredith just stood there stunned.

-What? Who made it up?  It must be a joke.  No one has ever called me that before. Well no one but Dan...-

Meredith went into the room where she had been and closed the door.  She searched her backpack and pulled out a photo.  Two teens about 15 years old stood in the picture.  One was a fairly tall extremely handsome guy with dark hair and a tanned complexion.  He stood behind a short brown haired girl who was smiling broadly at the camera.  His arms were around her and her hands rested on his.  He was kissing her temple and had his eyes closed.  Meredith ran her fingers across the photo and sighed.  She closed her eyes trying to close off the flood forming in her eyes.  One small tear escaped and ran down her cheek and landed on the picture. 

Suddenly the door to the room opened and Johnny stuck his head in.  He saw Meredith sitting on her knees in the middle of the floor hunched over a photo.  He cleared his throat and said, "Mere you OK?  The guys were wandering if you were coming to sound check.  Lance said he had asked you about 30 minutes ago."

Meredith wiped away her cheek fiercely and jerked her head up.  "I'll be there in a minute."

Johnny nodded and went to leave; he took one last glance at her and walked away.

-I hope she can stick it together.  She needs to move on from him.  Gosh, it's got to be hard. -

Meredith had lost track of time completely.  She had sat there looking at a photo for 30 minutes.  She kissed the picture and carefully put it in the back pocket of her shorts.  She walked out of the room and headed down to sound check.  The guys stood on stage singing different songs and goofing off.  Joey noticed her and said something but she just nodded at him and grinned.  She never grinned.  She always gave a full smile. 

"Hey Lance, was Meredith OK when you talked to her last.  She seems down."  Joey asked.

"Seemed fine with me." Lance said.

"Let's cheer her up, we will sing her a song!"  JC jumped up like a little kid.

"Yeah..." Chris piped in.  "UP for it J?"

All the guys turned towards Justin.  He looked at the girl who had taken her seat 5th row, center.  He noticed her head titled down.  She looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole and just fade away.

"More than a feeling, acapella..."

"What?"  Lance asked surprised.

Justin turned annoyed and slowly said, "More than a feeling, acapella.  That's what we are going to sing."

"For Meredith?"  Joey asked with a hopeful smile.

Justin looked at the girl who was now had her arms resting on the chair in front of her and rested the side of her face on her hands.  Her eyes were focused on nothing.  Just stared off into space.

"For Meredith."  Justin whispered.

The guys noticed his change in voice.  They were stunned but went ahead anyway.

"Meredith, this is for you..." JC said into the microphone.

She looked up at him confused and he just smiled at her.

They began the song and Meredith listened intently.  No one had ever sang to her before.  She was stunned.  No one beside Dan had called her gorgeous and no one had ever sang to her, and she sat there with five guys singing only to her.  Finally she closed her eyes and just listened.  None of the guys knew this, they couldn't have, but More than a feeling was her one of her favorite songs.  She had never heard them sing it, and wasn't use to the slow and soft sound of it.  It was a change from Boston's take on the song, but now, she loved the song even more than before.  Finally the song ended and Meredith felt as if for the first time ever she was special.  It was a feeling taking away form her a long time ago.  Now she felt almost worthy of life.  Her eyes remained closed and her head bowed as five guys approached her.

"What did you think Mere?"  JC asked.

When she didn't answer or open her eyes or move for that matter Joey put a hand on her shoulder.

"G? You OK?"  Joey asked.

A laugh came from Meredith and a voice none of them had ever heard came from her lips.  One that was vulnerable, quiet, alone.

"That was one of my many favorite songs.  You guys just made it my one and only favorite."  She laughed again and whispered.  "I don't deserve yall."

Her eyes opened but her head remained bowed so none of the guys noticed this gesture.  "Thank you so much. That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."  She took the back of her hand and wiped her cheeks clean from the tears that had poured over.  The guys noticed this.  Joey, Chris, Lance and JC looked at one another in shock and sadness.  What was wrong with her?  Why was she moved to tears?  Did they really sing that well?  What do they say, now?

But Justin stood a few feet away from them and found himself staring at her again.  A smile appeared on his face.  He knew exactly what to say.

"That's one of my favorites, too." Justin quietly stated.

All five heads slowly turned toward him.  He shrugged and turned to walk away, but a hand grabbed his arm.  He looked down and there she stood.  Tear stained cheeks, trembling chin, and glassy eyes.  She was completely beautiful in his eyes.

"Thank you, Justin" She said with pain, happiness, sorrow, and hopefulness all in one.  Her small hands carefully wrapped around his stomach and made their way to his back.  She pressed herself against him and tightened her body around his.  This movement shocked him and so was everyone else in the large coliseum. 

There stood a girl who was on the verge of breaking down and she was hugging the one person in the building who had failed to gain her friendship.  He stood there with his arms by his side and she was about to pull away but he moved.

His muscular arms wrapped around her small body and his hands found her back and pressed her body against his.  He lowered his mouth to the side of her head and whispered, "Anytime, anytime."

Then he let go and turned and walked back to the stage to finish the sound check, afraid if he held her longer or caught her eyes, he would break.  Everyone was shocked and stood with their eyes wide and mouths open.  Except for two.  One of them contently walked to the stage and the other smiled broadly and walked out of the coliseum area. 

Meredith looked up towards the ceiling and thought, -YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!  THANK YOU, GOD! -

-----------

1 1/2 weeks later

They were now in Charlotte. They had 1 day until the concert in Charlotte, then a one-day break and concert in Greensboro, a 3-day break and a concert in Raleigh.  Nsync had never had so many concerts in NC before, but Meredith was happy that she would get the chance to show the guys around her home. 

Thing were great for Meredith.  Her and Justin were finally but slowly starting a friendship.  The guys had even asked her to switch buses.  She was reluctant at first but after a lot of bribing she now had a bunk on Nysnc's bus. 

Her title had changed too.  No longer was she an intern but an assistant.  She no longer did things for Johnny.  She did things for *Nsync.  In the beginning she had helped Johnny with papers and such, but during the tour the guys found a need for someone to do the small little things they didn't have time for.  Having a spot on the bus made it a lot easier for Meredith to do these little things. And she was happy with her position.

It was her birthday.  No one knew, well she had told Joey that first day she met them, but she didn't expect anyone to remember.  It wasn't a big deal to her.  Yeah she was finally 18, but she didn't feel she should tell the world it was her birthday.  If they knew they knew, if not, she shouldn't brag.

Little did she know that while she was in the shower two figures had broke into her hotel room and rummaged through her clothes.

Meredith stepped out of the shower and dried herself off.  She wrapped a towel around her and twisted her hair in another one.  As she opened the door, articles of clothing were thrown at her. 

A familiar voice commanded her, "Put this on, you have 30 minutes to be outside the door of your hotel room, in this outfit, ready to go.  NO QUESTIONS ASKED!"

She looked at a mean faced Chris and a laughing Joey.

"Nice towel."  Joey said flirtatiously.

"But..."

"Zippit...NO QUESTIONS ASKED."  Chris yelled at her.

The two men stomped out of her room and called after her. "30 minutes!!"

So, in 30 minutes Meredith opened her hotel room, ready and dressed in the chosen outfit and closed the door.  As soon as the door clicked shut a piece of cloth covered her eyes.

"Hey, what's going on..." She asked annoyed.

"Remember g, no questions asked..." Joey's voice quieted her.

Two hands guided her to the elevator and finally into some sort of car.

The two men looked at her and smiled at one another.  Joey mouthed, "WOW! She's so hot!  This is going to be great."

Chris smiled and nodded at the blind folded girl who sat quietly with her arms crossed her chest and her lip curled up in annoyance.  But Joey was right.  She looked amazing.  She had on velvet black boots, tight black bootleg jeans and tight yellow v-neck short sleeved shirt.  Her hair was blown dry straight.  She had her contacts in for a change.  Though covered by the blindfold she had on a dark pink eye shadow that accented her eyes and made them sparkle. Her lips were glossed over.  She was beautiful.  She looked a lot different from the normal 'mere' or 'G' they usually saw. 

Finally the car stopped and a pair of hands led her out of the car.  She heard Chris and Joey's names being screamed and through the blindfold she saw flashes of light.

-Where am I? OK, I'm in club attire, so I'm guessing that's where we are. -

Soon she heard pumping music.  But a few moments later the hands that were leading her disappeared from her touch and the music stopped.  Silence fell across her and occasionally she would hear a cough, sneeze, cleared throat, amongst whispers. 

Finally the blindfolded was lifted.

She saw everyone.  Everyone she cared about.  Everyone on the tour.  Her family was there.  She saw a banner that said "Happy Birthday Mere" and another one that said, "Watch out she's legal."  She was in a club.  She was so stunned that she had blocked out the sound of everyone shouting "Surprise"

After a few moments of silence her voice came back to her and she smirked cause she knew exactly what to say.

"You guys, I'm not supposed to be here.  I'm not 18 yet.  My Birthday is JULY 2nd, not June 2nd."  She shrugged and turned to leave.

Everyone glanced at each other in shock and embarrassment.

"JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!"  Meredith yelled.

The party was awesome.  Meredith danced with everyone, even Justin a few times.  She had the best time.  But it was now 2 am and Johnny begged for everyone to go back to the hotel and get some sleep. 

Meredith, JC, Justin, and Kimberly (who had came to the party) all went to the top floor of the hotel and JC told her this was her last present of the night.  The top floor of the hotels was where Nsync stayed.  It was of course the most expensive and nicest hotel rooms. Everyone else stayed on lower floors. 

JC lead her over to the corner room inserted a key and led her inside.  "Tonight you will be living in luxury.  This is the 'presidential suite' as they call it.  It's the nicest room of the hotel.  Nicer than ours!!  Enjoy your free room service and other...stuff."

Meredith looked around the exquisite room.  She was shocked.  She glanced at JC, who was smiling and admiring the room, then turned her gaze to Kim and Justin.

"All for me?" 

"Yup, all for you g.  I overheard you telling your mom on the phone that you wanted a night just to have for yourself.  Well you got you a luxury room for two nights.  You have tonight, all tomorrow and tomorrow night off.  Do whatever you want.  Happy Birthday girl" Justin said.  He kissed her forehead and he and Kim walked back to his room.

Meredith just stared after him.  His lips were so soft and warm.  And even though the gesture probably meant nothing.  Kim was right there.  Still, she lost all feeling in her body except for the place on her forehead where his lips had been.  She had NEVER had that feeling before in her life.

"Happy Birthday Meredith!" Kim called to her.  And that broke her thought.

"Thanks for coming Kim and tell Justin that the corn rows aren't workin'" She told her, as Justin stuck out his tongue.

"Believe me, I already have!"

JC then hugged her and said the same things and left her to this huge room to herself.  She was overwhelmed.

----------

She had the day off, so after a full nights rest she got up and went downstairs.  She was just going to take a walk of the nice, familiar, downtown of Charlotte but as she past the front desk a voice stopped her.

"Ma'am? Are you Meredith Willis?" the man behind the counter asked.

"Yes?"

"Well, I have been instructed to inform you that your limo is waiting for you out front and wherever you need or want to go, the limo is at your disposal."

"Umm, thanks."

Meredith walked out the front desk and starred at the black stretch limo parked in front of her.  A Man in a black suit and white gloves stood by the door.

She then saw the huge tour bus waiting behind it.  She also noticed the normal group of fans weren't scattered around the entrance.  But sometimes they WERE able to hide the fact they were in town.  Though it rarely happen.

"Cool, huh?"  A familiar voice asked.

"Its amazing, Justin.  Thank you guys so much!!"

"Who said we had anything to do with it?"  HE looked at her and winked.

"But I gots to jet!!  I'm sooo late.  Have a fun day off, and after the concert tonight, umm, all us guys are crashing your phat pad. Later" Justin ran into the tour bus and it hurried off.

Meredith walked to the man by the limo.

"Where to miss?" He asked.

She looked at her watch it said 11:41am. "Hmm, do you know where the 'Open kitchen' is?"

"Sure thang, ma'am."

In 15 minutes Meredith was at a table by herself doing the crossword out of the paper and waiting on her Italian food.  This was one of her favorite restaurants and her mouth watered at the food that would shortly be in front of her.

Her food came and she began eating it.  But her eye caught someone.  Walking in, holding hands was Kim and a man. A man that was Not Justin.  They sat down in a dark corner and Meredith watched them, while trying to stay hidden.  They looked like they were on a date but she couldn't tell.

Then Meredith's suspicion was proven. Kim leaned over the table and kissed the guy full on the lips. She moved from her side of the table and sat down beside the guy.  He consumed her in a hug and his mouth met hers.  This was no friendly kiss.