The next few days everything settled into normal….as normal as *NSYNC could be, anyway. Schedules were packed, and the guys were always on the go. There were photo shoots, rehearsals, sound checks, concerts, interviews, press conferences, an MTV show…and much, much more. No one seemed to have any time to breathe, and although the guys were somewhat used to it….something still wasn’t right.
There was some concern at the fact that Grace hadn’t been there throughout most of the tour. They knew that she had a lot of work to do, but no more than Johnny, and he managed to be there at least half of the time, if not all. Another thing that was worrying them was the fact that little things were going wrong, and since Grace and Dave were MIA, there was no one there to fix them.
There seemed to be a sudden drop in crew members, people were quitting left and right. A few security guards that volunteered left, and then there was some mix up with every hotel reservation the guys made. Every time they showed up at a hotel, there were never enough rooms and some people, mainly guards and crew, had to stay on the busses. Something was up…and no one liked what was going on.
Jamie was still quiet. For the most part she stayed with Luke and Justin and only talked to the others when they started conversation. This was bothering the guys more than anything else, because she was their friend and they wanted to help.
Chris knew she would be in Justin’s room after sound check, because she always waited in there while he was gone. Justin would have preferred if Jamie was in his sights at all times, but Jamie said she didn’t want to be in the audience, because there were fans there, and she knew they would ask questions.
Chris had talked with JC, Lance and Joey a few times about the strange behavior from their band mate and Jamie. They noticed how Luke was always around Jamie now, and if he wasn’t there, Justin was. They also noticed how they seemed to have been left out of something important and that didn’t settle well with them. They were a group, and they should handle problems as a group, especially when one of their members could be in danger.
Chris had come up with a plan to try and get someone to talk. They had all decided that Luke was their best bet to start with, because he wouldn’t suspect anything and he didn’t know the ways of the guys yet. It was also decided that JC would be the one to talk to him, because Luke seemed to get star struck with Jace around, and he would probably give away information easily.
So after sound check, everyone was on there way to dinner, and the four conspirators were now on the move. JC waited until Luke was in line, filling his plate. He glanced at the others and got the nod from Chris, so he started toward the line and snuck in right next to Luke.
“Anything good?” JC had to try and contain his laughter as Luke visibly jumped.
“Ah…Uhm…yeah…” Luke stared wide eyed at JC and tried to swallow. “Yes, there’s some pretty good food tonight.”
JC nodded and put a few things on his plate. “So, what do you think of the tour so far? I know it’s almost over, but how do you think it’s going?” JC pretended to be asking an offhanded question, and he focused more on the food than on Luke, but Luke was giving all of his attention to JC.
“I think it’s great!” Luke noticed how cheesy he sounded so he cleared his throat and tried again. “I think you guys put on an amazing show. I could do without the screaming girls, but I’m enjoying the tour. How do you think you’re doing?”
“Me? Oh…I think it’s going as well as can be expected. Although, I’m a bit worried about all the strange happenings that have been going on.”
“Hmmm? Strange happenings?” Luke threw JC a puzzled look.
“Oh you know, security quitting, equipment missing, Jamie’s behavior, hotel rooms not getting booked…all that jazz.” He grabbed a few more things and started to follow Luke to a table. He threw in Jamie hoping that Luke would catch it…he did.
“What did you say about Jamie?” He sat down across from JC and waited as JC buttered his bread.
“Oh…she’s just been acting really strange lately…But I’m not surprised. I know that she’s having a tough time with her father’s death and all that happened in Orlando…”
“You know what happened in Orlando?” That’s wasn’t the response JC was looking for…but he would have to work with it.
“Well…Justin and I have known each other for a long time…we are like brothers.” It wasn’t a lie, he thought.
JC glanced over at Chris and the gang and gave the signal for help. He needed some reinforcements.
Chris came striding over and he plopped heavily at the table, making the cans of soda totter and settle back in place with a slight racket.
“Hey fellas…what’s up?” He stole some food off of JC’s plate and did the best he could to act normal. Well…Chris normal.
“Not much…Luke and I were just talking about how the tour was going, and how we thought Jamie was handling things.”
“We were?” Luke didn’t remember wanting to get into a deep conversation about his best friend, but JC gave him a hurt look and he decided to go along. “Oh yeah…that’s right. We were talking about how she’s doing…”
“I think she’s handling everything fairly well…considering.” Chris grabbed some more food, from Luke this time.
“Do all of you know what happened?” Luke questioned, a bit worried.
“We know what Justin told us….why? Don’t you know anything?”
This was the tricky part. JC and Chris needed to act like they knew what was going on, but they also needed Luke to tell them too. They waited patiently for Luke to answer their question. This would either make or break their plan. If this didn’t work they would have to go to Plan B…and that one wasn’t pretty.
“I don’t know much about what went on in Orlando to be honest. Jamie didn’t say much, and Justin said that he won’t talk until he’s found out a few more things. I was under the impression that he hadn’t talked to you all either…but I guess I was wrong.” He picked at the food on his plate with his fork, feeling hurt that he was the only one in the dark.
“You really don’t know?” Chris asked, baffled.
“No…you wouldn’t care to tell me, would you?”
“I’d love to tell you…except I don’t know either. None of us do…we were hoping you knew.” Luke’s head shot up and he stared at the two men in front of him.
“But I thought you said-” JC cut him off.
“I said we knew what Justin has told us…and that’s next to nothing.”
“So you were stringing me along!” He laughed. “You guys really are good…you had me going there. Jamie was right, you could be con artists!” they all laughed over that, but then things got serious again.
“So what are we going to do now?” Luke asked, suddenly apart of whatever it was they were planning.
“Well…our main plan was that you knew what was going on…but our back up plan isn’t too pretty.” Chris cleared his throat uncomfortably and shifted in his seat.
“We were planning on sitting the two of them down, separately and making them tell us what was going on.”
“How were you going to make them?” Luke was suddenly wary of this plan.
“Well…we haven’t figured that part out yet, because we were banking on you…but now we have to think of something.”
They all sat there for a few minutes, thinking hard. Joey and Lance joined them a few minutes later to help with the thinking process. They needed a fool proof plan, considering most of them were foolish and they didn’t want to mess it up.
But what exactly were they going to do? And was it going to work?
The group that now called themselves “Project Uncover” sat down and put their heads together. They came up with a few solutions, but they knew only one was really going to work….yet no one wanted to be the one to do it.
“I saw we draw straws.” Joey piped up as they sat in Chris’ hotel room. Supposedly, they were playing an intense match on the PS2, and they had controllers thrown around the room incase anyone were to venture in upon their secret meeting. Justin was out somewhere with Jamie, so now was the time to meet.
“I don’t see how that could hurt, and I mean…it is fair, right?” Lance glanced around the room and got a few shrugs from his co-conspirators. He stood and went to the mini bar and grabbed a few straws and cut a few of them, different lengths. He walked back over to the group and held out a fist of even straws. “Who wants to pick first?”
The group stared at his hand before Joey stood up and decided to go. “It was my idea, anyway.” So he slowly chose a straw and sighed when it was fairly long.
Chris was next, then JC, then Luke and then Lance grabbed a straw. The five of them held out their hands and Lance groaned. “Why me, Lord? I go to church when I can, and I pray, why me?” Everyone else was relieved that they didn’t have to do the dirty work, so they tried their best to consol the grieving Lance.
“Hey, Look at it this way man, we’ll finally get to know what’s going on.” Lance grimaced.
“Gee, thanks Joey…that makes this a whole hell of a lot easier.” He sat heavily on the hotel bed and stared at the phone. “It’s now or never, huh?” The rest of the group solemnly nodded their heads and Chris handed Lance the phone and a slip of paper.
“That’s the number, good luck man.”
Across town and completely oblivious to the conspiracy going on at the hotel, Justin and Jamie sat in a small diner and talked quietly over lunch.
“How are you holding up James?” Justin picked at a few French fries and watched as Jamie pushed her salad around on her plate.
“Not too bad. It’s strange, and I miss him…” She trailed off and Justin reached over to grab her hand.
“I know it’s hard sweetie, but we’ll get through this. I heard that Grace and Dave are going to be around the last two weeks of the tour, so I’m going to try and get some answers.” Jamie looked up at Justin with fearful eyes.
“Be careful Justin…that man is crazy.” She shuddered slightly, trying not to think about the things that he had done. “I don’t get it Justin.”
“Get what?”
“I don’t understand why he’s doing these things. I don’t understand why my father had to die in the hands of this bastard.” She picked at her food before pushing the plate aside.
“I don’t know what you want me to tell you James. I don’t know why he did any of this either, but I’m hoping that maybe all of this is a misunderstanding.” Jamie looked up at Justin with a skeptical glance.
“Jay, you know that this isn’t a misunderstanding. The guy’s a creep, that’s all there is to it.”
Justin watched Jamie and his heart reached out to her. She seemed so broken, and it seemed that she was only holding herself together for show. He hadn’t seen her cry in a while, but he knew she did…when no one was watching. She didn’t talk about her father much, this conversation being the first in a while. He was starting to get very worried, and he wasn’t sure what he needed to do.
He paid the bill and the two of them decided to take a walk before heading back to the hotel. There was a street that held some small boutiques and shops so they decided to look in those. They walked up and down that strip for about an hour, going into each shop. They didn’t buy too much, but there was one store that had some silver jewelry and Justin couldn’t resist buying Jamie a necklace. He lied and said it was for his mom, because Jamie wouldn’t have let him buy it for her. It was a small silver chain with a heart that was studded with four diamonds and a ruby.
Jamie had walked over to the jewelry case right away, and Justin couldn’t miss the way her eyes lit up when she saw the necklace.
“Yo J…I thought you bought your mom a necklace last week in L.A?” Andy smirked as he and Justin walked back to the car, Jamie a few paces ahead of them.
“I did…and this isn’t for my mom.”
“Ooh. You know she’s going to be mad at you for lying, and for buying it for her.” Justin’s eyes followed as Jamie strolled casually by the stores and he nodded.
“I know, but if I can put the happiness back in her eyes it will all be worth it.”
Andy laughed and patted Justin on the back. “You’re too poetic for your own good. You should put that in a song, Romeo.”
“Very funny.” He punched Andy in the arm, but his eyes stayed on Jamie.
He meant what he said. If he could see that sparkle in Jamie’s eyes again, he would buy her the world. He hated seeing her so sad, so far away from everyone around her. Everyone noticed, but no one spoke about it.
Justin wanted his James back. He wanted the girl that made jokes and laughed in spite of herself. He wanted to watch that smile grow across her face until she couldn’t hold the laughter back, and most of all he wanted to see life in her eyes. Justin wanted to see those blue eyes sparkle like they were made to do. This Jamie that was serious all the time wasn’t the one he fell in love with.
Justin wanted the love of his life back, and he was determined to get her, no matter what.
Monday. 2:30pm. 2 1/2 weeks before tour’s end.
The “Project Undercover” group had finally put their plan in action, after many minutes of Lance avoiding the phone call. Their hopes now rested on the capabilities of one person, and they were praying that this person was going to help in some way. They all knew that both Justin and Jamie would be upset with them for butting in like this, but enough was enough.
Their plan was this: Chris and Joey would be the diversion for Justin and James, in case they were hanging around the hotel. Lance and JC were driving to the airport to pick up their cohort. The plane was scheduled to land at 5pm, which was normally their dinner time, so they were going to need someone to cover for them, and who better than Joey and Chris….those two were the masters of taking the attention off of everything else.
For now, everyone had to act normal, or as normal as their nature allowed. Chris, Luke and Joey were supposedly having a PS2 battle, Lance was taking phone calls and JC was doing something constructive on his lap top.
Jamie and Justin had no idea that anything was going on, but it wasn’t because of the wonderful cover-up skills of the other five. No, they were in their own little world, and they hadn’t noticed the other people around them for a while.
Justin had secretly planned to take Jamie out for a romantic dinner and a night on the town. He wanted to take her mind off of things and try and put some of that sparkle back in her eyes. He had made reservations at this tiny place JC had brought him to once, making sure there would be privacy and good music throughout the night.
He also had a few other things up his sleeve, but they would be put into action later. Right now, he had to figure out a way to get Jamie into a nice dress without being suspicious.
“Hey James?” Jamie sat at the desk in the hotel room, writing a few things and paying some bills for her father’s funeral.
“Huh?” She glanced up at him, eyes hidden behind the glare off of her glasses.
“Well…I was thinking…” He started, not sure if his plan was going to work.
“That could be dangerous.” She laughed and got a dirty look from Justin. “Sorry J, you walked right into that one.”
“Whatever. Anyway, I was hoping you would do me a favor.” He sat down on the bed near her and she removed her glasses. “I really wanted to hit the strip mall they have downtown, but I know that Andy won’t take me if I ask. So I was hoping that you would ask for me…you know, say that you wanted to go shopping, because I know he would say yes to you.” He finished and looked at Jamie hopefully.
“Well, If I ask, that means that I’m going to have to go with you, doesn’t it?” Justin nodded his head and Jamie sighed. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do here Justin. I don’t know if I want to go out right now. Can’t you go another time? Or can’t you ask Andy yourself.”
“Last time I asked Andy he told me that he’d go shopping with me when hell froze over. I know he’ll say yes if you’re the one that wants to go.” He grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. “And you should really get out James, I’m worried about you.”
Jamie pulled her hand back and sighed again. She knew he was right, and she felt bad for making everyone worry. The past few weeks had been so crazy for her that she wasn’t sure which way was up anymore. She knew that she needed to stop worrying about things, and let go for a while…but the only time she felt sane was when she was doing something productive. She had thrown herself into the legal matters involved with her father’s funeral and the doctor’s bills, and she had started trying to find some night classes to take.
Jamie looked over at Justin and noted the pitiful look on his face. She laughed as he pouted and against her better judgment, she gave in.
“All right, all right. I’ll ask Andy…but we’re making this quick, ok?” Justin hugged her tightly and picked her up off of the ground.
“Thank you!! You are an angel, and you won’t regret this, I promise!” She laughed and lightly hit his shoulders.
“Put me down! You big oaf! Let’s hurry up and get this over with…shopping with you is like shopping with five of my grandmothers.” Justin shot Jamie a dirty look, but didn’t stop to say anything in case she changed her mind. He needed to get her going so they could make it to the restaurant on time.
