Summary: Shy, professional, and intelligent are all things Vivian Aldridge is. Spontaneous, care-free, and humorous she is not, which is something you have to be when you're the assistant public relations agent for pop supergroup *NSYNC. Vivian has learned to shut the world away and do her job to the fullest extent not taking anytime for herself or to let people in. She is a machine and its up to her worst enemy to bring her out of her shell.
Rating: PG-13
Categories: Long Stories
Characters: Group, Justin Timberlake
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Warnings: adult language, sexual situations, violence/death
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 04/20/06
Updated: 05/16/06
Unbreakable by westernway
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Author's Notes: Melinda quickly scanned the thick portfolio, taking everything in with a professional gaze before looking up to catch the eye of the young woman sitting across from her. She looked dead tired but still had a smile on her face and was watching Melinda intently with dark brown eyes. The poor thing had taken the red eye from New York down to Orlando to personally interview for the position and she managed to be punctual, polite, and extremely intelligent – qualities that Melinda admired.
“You certainly are qualified. Graduated two years early, top five percent of your class, who referred you?” Melinda questioned as she placed the portfolio on her desk and waited for the girl’s reply.
The young woman cleared her throat and adjusted the spectacles back up the bridge of her nose, “Doctor Raymond Charles. He told me he was one of your professors at your old university.”
Melinda beamed, “I noticed he wrote one of your recommendations. He thinks very highly of you, that means you’re good,” she pointed out and she watched the girl look down in her lap, apparently embarrassed.
“I just work really hard Miss Bell,” she responded with a reserved tone.
“Vivian if you’re going to be working with me, then I suggest you start calling me Melinda,” she countered watching the girl’s reactions carefully. Melinda watched as the first real smile crossed over the Vivian Aldridge’s features and she returned the smile as she passed the portfolio across the desk.
“Do you really mean it? I mean offering me the job?” she asked a mixture of excitement and surprise overcoming her petite features.
Melinda nodded, “I just have one more question to ask you, what kind of music do you listen to?”
“This sounds so embarrassing but,” Vivian began and Melinda’s face fell. The last thing she needed was a bumbling assistant who wanted the job so she could gawk at one of the biggest musical acts in the planet, “I’m completely obsessed with show tunes and classical music. It’s all I listen to.”
Melinda smiled and she let out a breath of relief that she had been holding in, “Don’t worry about it, you wouldn’t believe how refreshing it is to hear that coming from someone your age. But anyway, welcome to the team Vivian. Let me show you around the complex and then you can meet the people you’ll be working with,” she added as she got up from her seat and shook Vivian’s hand.
The young woman leapt to her feet and returned the handshake, Melinda taking in her prim and proper attire. She was wearing a grey business suit, her dark brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Square glasses framed her brown eyes and she seemed to be a forty-year-old CEO trapped in a twenty year old body. It was a sight to see, as the majority of the people Melinda had seen for the position had been too old, too young, or too starry eyed about working so closely with celebrities.
Melinda left her office, Vivian walking alongside her taking in her surroundings. Melinda was sure that if Vivian had a clipboard, she would have been taking notes about everything coming out of Melinda’s mouth. She was so serious but she knew that after she spent a few weeks with the band members it would change.
“You’ll be spending most of your time working with the band and making sure they get to all their meet points. They just released an album about a month ago, broke all kinds of records so now we’re getting ready to tour. So until then it’s a bunch of promotion and rehearsing for the summer tour; I’ll spare you the rest of the technicalities. Let me introduce you to the guys.”
“Alright,” Vivian said meekly as she followed Melinda through the winding halls of the compound. To say she was nervous was an understatement. Vivian could feel her stomach doing somersaults a thousand times a second. What made Melinda pick her over the myriad of candidates who had more experience than her? Was she really prepared to take over this account and make it work? By the way Melinda was talking about this group it seemed like they were huge in their musical genre and one wrong move on her part would completely destroy the balance that had been meticulously created.
Just relax and take it easy. You have a job to do.
“Here we are. Just don’t be alarmed when you first meet them, they can be a bit…well a bit rambunctious,” Melinda explained as they came up to a plain door at the end of the corridor. Vivian looked at Melinda with a quizzical gaze before she pushed open the door and walked inside.
The first thing Vivian noticed was that they had entered some sort of game room. The wall to her immediate left housed a slew of arcade games, most of them on and whirring and blinking in the process. The wall directly opposite of Vivian housed a kitchenette a table and some chairs positioned next to it. A couch was in the center of the room and two men were sitting on it, watching the television with rapt attention that was hanging on the wall right next to Vivian. They seemed to be playing a video game of some sort and they were so intrigued by its happenings that they didn’t even realize the women’s presence in the room.
Another man with dark hair that was accented with red coloring and a goatee was busy eating a pizza and playing a game of pool on the table that was directly behind the couch. Last were the two men sitting at the table next to the kitchenette. A blonde was busy talking on his cell phone while checking some things out on a laptop while the other man was busy pouring over a notebook, his pen scratching against the rough surface of the paper.
“Hey guys,” Melinda said announcing their arrival.
“CHICKEN!” Vivian watched as a blur made its way from the couch to the two women, embracing Melinda and knocking Vivian against the wall. She pressed herself against the surface hoping it would quickly eat her up. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and she chanced a look over at Melinda who was trying desperately to get the clinging figure off of her.
“Chris, you retard would you get off of me?” Melinda groaned, “You nearly killed me. Take a break guys, there’s someone I want you all to meet.”
Vivian watched as the men slowly stopped what they were doing. The blonde said a quick goodbye on the phone before closing his laptop, the man sitting next to him had closed his notebook and was heading over towards Vivian. The man with red hair gulped down the rest of his pizza and stopped his game of pool. Only one member stayed where he was, completely enraptured with the game he was playing.
“Justin, come over here,” Notebook Man said as he rolled his eyes in the direction of the curly haired youth.
“I’m almost done with this game. Championship round!” he exalted as he stood up, his fingers pressing the buttons on the controller with lightening speed.
“Seriously J, cut it out, Chicken has something to say.” Vivian watched as the young man dubbed Justin rolled his eyes and pressed the pause button before heading over to the group that was accumulating around Vivian.
“Glad you could join us Justin,” Melinda said with a smile, “As you know I’ve been trying to find an assistant to help me out with the summer tour and all the promotional mumbo-jumbo that goes with it. I’d like you all to meet Vivian Aldridge,” she stated with a smirk as she turned towards Vivian. The twenty-year old smiled and gave a sheepish wave towards the group of men.
“Hey Viv! I’m Chris, I’m the funny one,” said the man who had attacked Melinda earlier. He bounded forward and shook her hand vigorously, his smile infectious. Vivian smiled back and nodded her head.
“He’s also insane, but we love him for it anyway. Joey,” the one with the goatee said as he shook her hand with a smile. He moved over towards Chris and gave him a smack upside the head, smiling the whole way.
“Lance Bass,” the blonde said with a slow, southern drawl. Vivian smiled and shook his hand before she was finally introduced to JC and finally…
“Justin Timberlake,” the curly haired boy said as he shot out his hand in her direction. Vivian looked down and saw that it was glistening with a layer of sweat. Guess he was playing that game rather hard, Vivian thought to herself, and he wants me to shake his hand?
Instead of shaking his hand, Vivian gave a small nod in his direction and gave him, what she hoped was a warm smile. He seemed affronted that she would turn down his handshake and he wiped his hands on his shorts before turning around and going back to his video game, the sounds of screaming fans and sports announcers filling up the room.
“So where do you come from Vivian?” JC questioned once the awkward stretch of videogame noises surpassed.
“Colombia University,” she said quietly as she readjusted her glasses.
“Graduate school?” he countered and Vivian shook her head before Melinda interjected.
“Our Vivian here just graduated with a bachelor’s degree and she’s only twenty,” she added as she put an arm around Vivian’s shoulder.
“Wow you must be really smart! What are you doing with a bunch of losers like us?” Chris interjected and Vivian blushed before she looked away from the group of people.
“I’m not that smart, I just work really hard,” she explained softly, “And you can rest assured that I’m going to take this job and do my absolute best,” she added with a firm nod. Whenever she talked about her work she seemed to become a lot more confident, “One hundred and ten percent.”
“Awesome! Welcome to the family Vivian, it’s a pleasure to have you on board. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other,” JC said before he gave her a final handshake and went back to his work. Vivian smiled at his retreating back before she turned towards the other three members.
“Don’t be a stranger now! I want to see a lot more of you around here we’ll have some fun!” Chris said before he pulled her up into a huge hug. Vivian stiffened as he hugged her wondering why he had the audacity to touch her like that when they had only known each other for barely five minutes.
He let go of her and she cleared her throat as she adjusted her suit. Chris had walked back towards his couch and was now watching Justin play his game.
“Don’t mind Chris, he’s a bit eccentric and we love him for that,” Lance said with a smile before he clapped Joey on the back, the pair watching Vivian with interest.
“Well, we’ll just take you out to your car…” Melinda began but a loud belch coming over from the couch cut her off. Vivian gave an audible gasp as she peered over Joey’s shoulder and saw Justin patting his stomach looking rather pleased with himself. Chris was giving him a high five and they were both laugh.
“Oh my…” Vivian began before she went for her purse to pull out a breath mint, she suddenly felt so dirty. She looked down and saw that her purse was nowhere to be seen. “Oh dear, I seemed to have forgotten my purse in your office Melinda. Do you mind if I go get it?”
“Not at all, I’ll wait right here. You remember the way back?” Vivian nodded and Melinda ushered her out the door before turning back to the guys who were all watching her intently, “So what did you guys think?”
“Quiet,” Joey, commented at once, “Really quiet.”
“She looked older than you Chicken, and you’re pretty old,” Chris commented with a laugh as Melinda took a swipe at him.
“You’ll get there one day Kirkpatrick,” Melinda joked, “and I’ll be chasing after you with my walker.” The group laughed before Melinda continued, “But really I think she’ll be a great asset. She’s not caught up in the whole celebrity or glamorous life and she’s ready to work. I think I’m sending her up to New York with you guys next week to test her out. TRL should be a total cakewalk for her.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea Mel?” Lance asked as he looked past her and focused on the door Vivian had just walked out of.
“She’s more than capable. She’ll spend this week getting to know you and the rest of the crew. She noticed the skeptical looks of the band members and Melinda rolled her eyes, “Would I hire a complete spaz? Just relax you guys she’s fine.”
“Can we pluck the Chicken if she's wrong?” Joey said as he wagged his eyebrows.
“Tars, feathers, the works,” Melinda added before the door opened up again. Vivian entered the room, keeping her eyes on Melinda as she held up her purse smiling in victory.
“Found it,” she explained smiling warmly.
“Great, well we’ve got to get going boys, lots to talk about,” Melinda explained with a smile as she ushered Vivian towards the door.
There was a chorus of goodbyes as the two women left the band members to their own devices. As soon as the door closed shut Justin put down his controller and rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t like her. Did you see how she didn’t shake my hand? Completely blew me off,” he complained, “Didn’t even give me a chance to properly introduce myself.”
“Your hands were pretty sweaty, maybe she didn’t want Pop Star Cooties,” Chris remarked as he took Justin’s controller and took over the game.
“Whatever, she just better not mess up or she’ll have me breathing down her neck,” Justin mumbled as he watched Chris play.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
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