Kristi was staring at herself in the mirror; she was so nervous. Why had she bought such a bold dress? Who was she kidding? She couldn’t pull this off.
”Kate, what was I thinking?” Kristi was getting herself worked up. “I can’t pull this off!”
Kate walked out of the bathroom in a purple dress that looked like a wrap. “Of course you can! You look gorgeous!” Kate smiled at her. “You’ll be fine!” Kate had a feeling Kristi wasn’t unsure about her dress, but more about the whole evening.
”Then why are there butterflies in my stomach? They’re flying around, trying to make me throw up…”
There was a knock on the door and JC and Justin came into the room (they got ready together). JC’s jaw dropped when he saw Kristi. He had seen the dress before, but he didn’t remember it looking that good. He was speechless. Justin, however, was not. “Kate, you look amazing.”
“Thanks sweetie.” She kissed him, and then said to Kristi and JC, “We’ll meet you downstairs.” Hoping they had heard her, Justin and Kate left.
“Wow…” was all JC could manage. Kristi was thinking the same thing; JC was wearing black slacks, a black button-down shirt with black shoes. He had a tie that matched Kristi’s dress, a black coat, and sunglasses.
Looking to break the silence, Kristi said “It’s a good thing you don’t have dandruff!” JC smiled. “You left some scruff…” Kristi ran a finger down JC’s cheek, giving him the shivers.
“Yeah…you like it?” Kristi smiled and kissed his cheek. JC thought he’d attempt to convey to Kristi how incredible she looked. “Kris, you look…amazing…”
“Thanks Jayce, you don’t look that bad yourself!”
JC wrapped his arms around Kristi’s waist, pulling her close. Careful not to mess up her hair, he started kissing her. He wouldn’t have minded if they never made it out of the hotel room. He knew that wasn’t an option, though.
“Kris, we should go.”
“You talk like making out was my idea!” He grabbed her hand, gave it a reassuring squeeze, and they headed towards the door.
Kristi didn’t remember the limo ride at all. She was too nervous; she spent the whole ride clinging to JC’s hand.
When the limo stopped, Kristi felt like she was going to throw up. Kate gave her a reassuring smile before she and Justin got out. JC pecked her on the cheek and said, “You’ll be awesome…don’t worry…” And before Kristi knew it, JC was pulling her out of the limo.
There was no other word for what Kristi saw other than glamorous. The red carpet looked like it was made of red velvet; everyone was dressed up like the President was coming. Kristi laughed to herself, some of the people tonight were probably more important than the President. There were lights all over, cameras, reporters, other celebrities. Kristi felt a bit overwhelmed. She would have been lost with out JC’s hand guiding her.
“There’s Vince, he’s the guy from People.” JC pointed out a reporter who somehow looked classier than the rest.
“Hi Vince!” JC shook his hand. “This is my girlfriend Kristi.”
“Nice to meet you Kristi.” Vince shook her hand.
“JC, we have to do an interview!” Lance called over his shoulder.
JC rolled his eyes, and said, “I’ll be right back, ok?” He ran off towards the other guys, leaving Vince and Kristi.
Kristi was still nervous, even though it was her idea. “What do we need to do?”
“Nothing painful, I promise.” Vince gave her a smile. “Just pose for a few pictures, maybe a few ‘candid shots’, and then I’ll just ask you a few questions to get some quotes, and that’s it.”
“Will there be an article on just us?”
“No,” Kristi looked relieved. “I’m writing an article about the VMA’s, and what I’ll do is say something about the guys bringing their girlfriends, have a picture or two of Kate and Justin, you and JC, then maybe put some quotes from you guys in. This way, you’re officially out there, but it’s not like the article is about your love life.”
Kristi had to smile. It seemed so simple. She was going to enjoy the night; if this didn’t take the weight off of her shoulders, then nothing would.
A minute later, JC was jogging back over to Kristi and Vince. “Ready?” He asked Kristi. She nodded.
“Why don’t we start with pictures?”
JC and Kristi posed for several pictures that you would see on the cover of People. When Vince asked for candid shots, Kristi was confused.
“Just pretend the camera’s not here.” Kristi shrugged and just followed JC’s lead. They kissed, he whispered something in her ear, and she fixed his tie, little things like that.
“Good, now I just need some quotes.” He turned to JC. “What’s it like sharing this experience with Kristi?”
JC took Kristi’s hand and said, “Incredible…she sees how hard we work on tour, and now this is like seeing the reward. It’s a fun and exciting night, and I get to share it with the woman I love.”
Vince tried hard not to smile. “And Kristi, what’s it like being here?”
“Awesome…it’s a lot of fun. I’m really excited for the performance, and just want to enjoy the night. I’m glad I can be here with Jayce.”
There were a few more questions, and then JC and Kristi thanked Vince and made their way inside. JC said hi to various people while the two made their way to their seats.
“Way to introduce me to people!” Kristi joked.
“I only want to introduce you to worthwhile people.” JC smiled. “Some celebrities are more fun to be around…the ones who don’t get caught up in it all…those are the ones worth meeting.”
“Got it.” She kissed him and then took her seat.
The award show was great; the guys won almost every category they were up for an award in. *NSYNC was the last group to perform, and they were up for the last award: Viewer’s Choice. Kristi was more nervous than all of the guys put together, for the whole night. JC laughed at her; Kristi’s heart lightened when they won their first award.
The performance really got the crowd going; they loved the song and dancing. Kristi didn’t think anyone made a mistake, and JC didn’t fall off of the stage!
Crowded in a group backstage, the guys and dancers listened to Rachel Leigh Cook and Puff Daddy read the nominees.
Kristi was squeezing JC’s hand incredibly hard; by the way she was acting all night, you would think that she was nominated for all of those awards. Justin was jumping up and down, trying to contain his nerves. Chris and Lance were pacing, while Joey was mumbling to himself.
“And the winner is…” Puff Daddy began, letting Rachel finish with, “*NSYNC!”
The group exploded backstage. JC kissed Kristi quickly before running on stage; everyone was hugging, and then remembering they had to go accept the award, followed JC onto stage.
Michelle ran up to Kristi and gave her a huge hug. “Are you excited?”
Kristi gave her a sarcastic answer, “No, not at all.” And then broke into a smile. They turned towards the stage to listen to the acceptance speech.
“Thank you guys!” Joey began. “This means so much to us!”
Lance continued. “You guys were the ones to vote, so thank you. Your love and appreciation are worth 10 moon men.”
“You guys rock!” Chris added.
“Thank you again. This is the moon man we’ll be fighting over!” JC said, smiling. “And now, for a repeat from last year’s ceremony…”
Justin started to sing: “We gotta a moon man, we gotta moon man!”
They followed Puff Daddy and Rachel off stage, still smiling and waving to the crowd. As soon as JC was out of sight of the audience, he rushed over to Kristi, dipped her like they were dancing, and said, “I love you.” He didn’t even wait for her response before kissing her. He was in heaven; he had an amazing girlfriend and they had won the Viewer’s Choice award. Of course, it doesn’t really matter if you win awards or not, but if you’re going to win one award, then it might as well be the award fans vote for.
*NSYNC attended an after-party hosted by Nelly. Teasing JC, Kristi asked, “Can I meet Nelly, or is he not good enough?”
“I think he meets the standard.”
At the door, they said good-bye to the others, as everyone was doing their own thing. The award show was over, and so were the interviews and pictures.
It took them a while to find Nelly, but on the way, JC introduced Kristi to Brittany Spears, Puff Daddy, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce Knowels, Carson Daily, and Mike Myers.
“It was nice to meet you Mike!” Kristi called after Mike Myers. JC was still determined to find Nelly, no matter how distracted Kristi became with all of the celebrities.
“I see him!” JC led the way, with Kristi in tow.
“Nelly!” JC called to him, hoping to catch his attention before he could disappear again.
“C, my man!” Nelly greeted them and gave JC a manly hug. He then spotted Kristi. “And who would this lovely lady be?” Kristi blushed at the compliment.
“This is Kristi, tour dance captain, and, more importantly, my girlfriend.”
Kristi stuck out her hand to shake Nelly’s, but was surprised when he kissed it. “It’s nice to meet you!”
“So how come you never auditioned for my tour?” Kristi laughed.
“I don’t know…it might be the gold teeth…I don’t really like gold teeth.” She smiled.
“Good thing you don’t have fake teeth, C.” Nelly said to JC. “So did you”“
Nelly was cut off by Kate Summers running over. “Kristi, you have to come with me…now!”
“What?”
“Hi Kate!” Nelly said.
“Hey Nelly, nice party!” She turned back to Kristi. “Now!”
“Ok…see you guys later…nice meeting you!” Kristi was dragged away by Kate, still completely confused.
“Dayum…” Nelly whistled under his breath. “She’s fine.”
JC shook his head; he knew he’d be getting comments like that all night. He didn’t really mind as long as they were just that”comments.
“So you still want to do that remix with us?”
“What?” Nelly’s mind was still on Kristi. JC laughed. “Yeah, definitely.”
Kate had pulled Kristi towards the bathroom of the club. “Everyone is staring at you!” Kate said, excited.
“What?” Kate must have been imaging things; there were tons of celebrities here, why would anyone give her a second look?
“Every guy in this room wishes he was with you or was JC, and every girl wishes she looked like you!”
Kristi smiled, but was still confused. “Ok…am I supposed to do something?”
“Live it up, girl! Have fun! Don’t spend the whole night making nice to celebrities! You can do that when you’re wrinkly.” Kristi smiled again, but this was forced. Again, someone had mentioned the far away future.
Kristi took Kate’s advice and spent the rest of the night dancing with JC, and anyone else who asked, on the dance floor. She had quite a line; Carson Daly, Nelly, the *NSYNC guys, Puff Daddy, Nick Carter, and others were all part of her night. Despite all of these celebrities flattering her, she had the most fun while she was with JC. They connected on so many levels; everyone could see it.
On the way back to the hotel, Kristi was dozing off on JC’s shoulder. She had had a little too much to drink, but she wasn’t complaining. She probably would tomorrow, however, on the plane home. Fortunately, they had the rest of the day off.
“Jayce?” JC was surprised; he thought she was sleeping.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry I was so worried about tonight. I just wanted to fit in and for everyone to like me!”
JC knew she was drunk, but she was so cute anyways. “You fit in, and everyone loved you!”
“Yeah, especially the guys!” She giggled. “But don’t tell JC, cuz he might get jealous…me dancing with all of those guys, ok Jayce?”
JC had to laugh; she thought Jayce and JC were two different people. “I won’t tell, I promise.”
“Thanks!” After a moment of silence, Kristi asked, “Jayce, will you sleep with me tonight?”
JC was confused, as they slept in the same bed every night. “I always do…we sleep in the same bed!”
“No!” Kristi shook her head violently; it took her a minute to recover. “Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep with me!” JC was glad they had taken a cab back to the hotel; this would be a very embarrassing conversation to have in front of other people, even if it was the guys.
“Well, your drunk, and I’m a gentleman…gentlemen don’t sleep with women when they’re drunk…”
“You and your stupid morals…but we sleep together a lot! It’s not like you’d be raping me or anything…” Kristi started giggling. “Rape…that’s a funny word!”
JC, on the other hand, was not amused. He still remembered the conversation after Wade’s attack that Kristi had admitted she was worried he might have raped her if someone had not found them. JC was not going to associate himself with that word, even if Kristi had mentioned it while she was drunk.
“Not tonight Kris, ok?” He added. “We can go up to the room and watch some TV while we fall asleep…how does that sound?”
“Fine!” Kristi sounded like she was 5. “But, if you want some later, you lost your”“ Kristi stopped and took a breath. She started breathing heavily and told JC, “I don’t feel so well.”
JC chuckle. “Maybe you shouldn’t have had that shot contest with Nelly…he can hold his liquor…” Kristi had a very low tolerance, and he assumed that wasn’t the first drinks she had had.
Up in the room, JC helped Kristi change into her pajamas while she kept giggling, helped her into bed, and then got her a cold towel to put on her neck. He kissed her forehead. “Good night honey.”
“I love you Jayce.”
“I love you too.” What made JC even happier than telling the woman he loved that he loved her was that she had said it first.
JC stripped down into his boxers and crawled into bed next to Kristi. He wrapped his arms around her so she could snuggle closer. JC was incredibly happy at the moment.
“Can you shut the shades? It’s so bright out!” Just as JC thought, Kristi had a hang-over. She slowly sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She was pale and had puffy eyes. “Ow, my head...at least I can remember what happened last night…”
JC had to laugh. “Yeah, can you remember only lasting five shots with Nelly?”
Kristi got out of bed tentatively. “I only lasted five shots?” JC nodded. “Does anyone remember that?”
He laughed again. “I don’t think so. But if they make fun of you, say you’re a lady…you have a low tolerance!”
”Big words, Jayce, big words…” although none of the words JC had used were that big.
There was a knock on the door. “10 minutes ‘til we have to be downstairs!” Justin called through the door. He was on his way to say good bye to Kate. He, Joey, Madi, and Chris were already in the lobby waiting for the others when JC and Kristi came down.
She didn’t even bother to change out of her pajamas to fly home. They had a private plane, though, so it didn’t really matter.
On the plane, Kristi felt worse. From experience, most of the guys knew hang-overs and flying do not mix. “Jayce,” Kristi said as she tried to get comfortable. “Don’t ever let me drink again.”
“You’ll be singing a different tune later, Kris.” JC assured her.
“How come you don’t have a hang-over? We had the same amount to drink last night!”
JC didn’t think it would be nice to point out that he was male, bigger, and weighed more than her, all obvious reasons as to why he could tolerate more alcohol. So he simply said, “I have a high tolerance.”
Kristi crawled straight into bed when they got back to the house. JC sat with her while they watched Austin Powers. Kristi had let him choose the movie, as she would probably be sleeping; she did, however, rule out any action movie as they were really loud.
JC was half way through the second Austin Powers movie when the phone rang. JC practically fell out of bed trying to answer it before the sound could wake Kristi up.
“Hello?” He asked as he walked out of the bedroom, closing the door.
“Hey man,” it was Lance. “How’s Kristi doing?”
“She’s sleeping and hasn’t thrown up yet, so we’re good.”
“Do you even know what she drank last night?”
“No, but Nelly drinks some crazy stuff, so I’m guessing that’s what did it.”
“Makes sense.” Lance paused, wondering how to tell JC what he was about to. “C, listen, I have to tell you something…you may want to sit down…”
JC made his way to the kitchen and sat down while Lance told him about what Wade had told him. “…And I could tell that he is really crazy about her. The thing that bothered me is”“
“He tracked you down in the middle of the night?” JC asked, amazed at Wade’s audacity.
“No, I’ll listen to anyone who needs to talk…even if he’s an asshole. No, it was that he didn’t sound sorry about everything he had done. He didn’t sound proud; but he didn’t seem to think he did anything wrong.”
“What happened to the Wade we used to know? I liked that Wade…”
“I know…C, he’s not himself. I just wanted to let you know what he told me, put you on look out.”
“I’m always on look out when that idiot’s concerned.”
“I know…”
“Thanks for calling me Lance…I really appreciate it.”
“Jayce?” Kristi called from upstairs.
“My lady beckons. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
JC decided on his way upstairs that he wasn’t going to tell Kristi what Lance had told him. She didn’t need to know; Kristi was dealing with enough.
“How are you feeling honey?” JC asked her when he entered the room.
“Better, thanks…who was that?”
“Lance…he just was checking in to see how you were feeling.”
“Oh, that’s sweet!”
“Is there anything I can get you?”
Kristi smiled and asked as sweetly as she could. “Would you make me some French toast?”
“Only because I love you…”
“I love you too!” She shouted at his back.
The last week of the tour break was filled with rehearsals, costume meetings, press conferences, interviews, and photo shoots.
Vince’s article had appeared in People at the end of the week. Justin brought it to work.
“Guys,” he threw the magazine to JC. “You might want to check this out!”
JC skimmed through the magazine until he found Vince’s article. He sat down on the couch with Kristi next to him and began to read.
…Among the big winners of the night was *NSYNC. Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, and JC Chasez were all there with serious girlfriends; Timberlake and actress Kate Summers have been dating for 5 months while Kirkpatrick and Madi Ross announced their engagement earlier in the week. Chasez and his girlfriend, Kristi Goslen, have been dating for three months. Goslen is also the 2001 Pop Odyssey Tour dance captain. When asked if Chasez receives any special treatment because of their relationship, ¬¬¬¬¬Goslen laughed and said, “No, only the good dancers get special treatment.”
All three *NSYNC-ers are officially taken, sorry girls. Timberlake said of Summers, “I’m in love man, and there’s no better feeling…when I’m around her, I feel like I want to recite Shakespeare and jump around screaming.” Kirkpatrick said, “It’s a great feeling to know I’m going to spend the rest of my life with Madi; she’s the best thing to ever happen to me. I would not be anything without her…she’s the one thing that kept me going through the long days when we first started out.”
For pictures of the couples, see the next page. Love must be contagious, as Chasez and Goslen are just the latest of a swarm of serious relationships popping up. When asked about sharing the touring and award show experience with his girlfriend, Chasez answered, “It’s a fun and exciting night, and I get to share it with the woman I love.”
Other big winners that night include Backstreet Boys, Brittany Spears and Outkast…
JC flipped to the next page to see the first of several full of pictures. There was one whole page devoted to the *NSYNC couples. There were pictures of Justin and Kate laughing, posing for the camera, and whispering to each other. Chris and Madi were holding hands, posing, and Chris was doing a weird dance to make Madi laugh. The pictures of JC and Kristi were nothing unexpected; they were posing, Kristi fixing JC’s tie, and the two of them kissing.
“What do you think?” JC asked her. He thought it was classy.
“A lot better than the TRL thing…” Kristi smiled at JC. “It was nice…nothing over the top…it makes us look so cute!”
“We are cute!” JC said. He kissed her then got up to talk to Justin and Chris.
Kristi relaxed into the couch; it was out. The world knew”not that they hadn’t before”but now people knew the real thing; this relationship is serious. Kristi wasn’t some girl JC picked up in a hotel elevator; they were in love.
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