On the road again... Tour life rocks! Well, no it doesn't. Sometimes it does, but not tonight. Everyone was so pumped. Not just us either, the energy in the whole stadium was the highest to date. Gahhhh... Now, we all can't even go dancing or partying after a night like that because we have to take the buses to the next city, which includes us. Bummer. I'm way too amped to go to sleep. At least they gave us time to shower or this bus would be so rank right now. I could call Lia I guess.
Oops. 'I mention her too often' - according to JC and Lance. Well, Joey said something about it too. Chris only mentioned it once, but I was ragging on him at the time so I think he said it just because. The guys all think that I like her like her, but seriously, that's not true. I do not like her like that. You don't believe me, I'm sure, but I'm serious. We've been talking on the phone a lot, and she's great company. She's not a guy (definitely, definitely not), and it's nice having a female confidant for once. That's it.
So, anyway, there's nothing to do on the bus at 1 AM. That's why I thought I could call her. End of story.
Trace might be coming out soon. I asked him to take care of somethings for me back in L.A. before he came out with us. He's kind of my unoffical/offical personal assistant, meaning he's my friend, but I give him money to do the shit I can't. Whatever. He doesn't care and then we can hang out so it works out ok. I wish he could work with my stupid publicist and media personnel so they would stop all this crap about Britney. Britney hasn't said anything to the papers, but she is going about her business like usual so now they think she cheated on me. It's great I'm not the bad guy and all, but they could give her a rest. I feel kinda bad about it all. We've only talked once since that night. I'm not sure what she's feeling anymore - not mad per say, but annoyed with me. That's fine.
Man, I want to go out and have some fun right now. I'm sitting on this cramped couch area in the back of the bus with Chris and Joey (who are playing xbox until they get tired) and Chris has already told me to stop moving around because it's messing with his game play. When I have energy, I want to go DO something. Now, I can't sit still.
Maybe I will go call Lia...
"Justin, did you and mystery girl have a digital getdown over there?"
Justin rolled his eyes at Joey as he put away his cell phone. He had just been talking innocently in the chair by the window of the toy room. "Shut your trap."
Joey put his hands up in defense. "Whhhooooaaaa feisty."
JC looked over at the two of them. "Joey, leave the lovebirds alone."
Justin gave him a look. "Not you too."
JC laughed. "Well, I suppose you never see each other so it can't be a relationship because you would have flown out to see her at some point in the last 3 months or vice versa, and you haven't. But it's nice having something to pick on you about again. I mean, you don't have the fro anymore so now we have something to pick up the slack with."
Justin groaned as Joey and JC laughed some more. "Whatever. Would it be better if I had you all meet her so then you can all see why I think she's so cool? She said she doesn't have shows for like a week sometime soon. Then, maybe all of this ragging will end."
"Did I just hear that JT's woman is coming to see us?"
All the guys turned to look at Chris and Lance entering the toy room. Justin threw up his arms before collapsing on the couch. "I can't win. Chris, for the last time, she is not my woman."
Chris looked at Joey with a pretend microphone in his hand. "Let's ask our round of questions to the board. Joey, does the girl in question have a boyfriend in New York City?"
Joey immediately joined in, leaning into Chris' handheld mike. "What is NO?"
Chris nodded in all seriousness. "Is that your final answer?"
"Why yes, it is. How'd you know?" Joey acted surprised.
Chris shrugged. "It's my show. Now, on to question 2. JC, does Justin have a girlfriend hidden on the tourbus?"
JC laughed. "He better not. Gross."
Chris nodded in the affirmative. "I agree. Question 3, Lance, is the girl in question quote unquote 'hot,' according to Justin's tastes?"
Lance pretended to think about that one. "Well, I seem to recall Justin stating that he met quote unquote 'one hell of a fine ass girl in N.Y.C.' which seems to indicate she is without a doubt Justin hot.
Chris gave Lance a high five for that answer. "Final question. Justin, who do you talk with on your cell phone, more than your mother, who is a girl - a very pretty girl we have all heard - and who seems to like talking to you for some odd reason?"
Justin was pouting. "I. Hate. You. All."
The guys laughed. JC sat down next to Justin as all the guys began doing their usual pre-show rituals. "You know, J, maybe if you did bring her out here, you might understand your feelings better. Just a thought."
JC patted him on the shoulder before leaving. Justin rolled the kinks out of his neck. Maybe it was time to see her again. Maybe then the guys would lay off.
"Mom, where's my stupid belt?"
"It's right behind you. I can't believe I got you here so late today. Never again, never again. I promise you that."
Lia just sighed and kept going through her vocal warm up as she was running around getting dressed, grabbing props, fiinding her make-up, and having someone fix her hair. This was definitely not a good time. That's when she heard it - her stupid cell phone. She groaned. "Mom, will you get that? Tell them I will talk to them in the next century, unless it's the people from Chicago's movie production or the people from Broadway."
Lia watched her mom answer the phone, but her thoughts were far, far away. She had to get ready. She had to put on a good performance tonight, she had a HUGE audition tomorrow morning at 8 AM sharp, and then tomorrow afternoon, she was being shipped off for the next week to do the one week shoot for the movie version of Chicago. She had done all the practices, but now it was time for the shoot. However, after that - AFTER all of that - she finally had a week off. If her audition went well tomorrow, she may end up leaving the cast of Les Miserables. It had been a long 4 months of shows, she still loved the character and the case, but she hadn't been sure she was going to continue with the National Tour Cast since the beginning - hence the process of auditioning for new shows.
Her mom was looking pretty all-knowing over there while she was on the phone. Lia eyed her and was confused. It couldn't have been anyone that important or she, herself, would be talking to them. Then why... All of a sudden, it hit her: Justin.
Lia's eyes popped open, not because of the horrendous pulling of her hair, but because of the weird thought of her mom talking to Justin. She hadn't really told her mom about how much she had been talking to Justin. Sort of, but not really. She knew her mom knew about some guy she'd been talking to, but even though she had told her it was just friends, she had that look in her eye, similar to the one she was sporting now. Now, she might even be on the phone with him. How embarassing. It was just a friend thing, but still. Her mom and her social life were supposed to be separate.
"What a sweet boy there Lia. Why didn't you tell me about him?"
Lia groaned inwardly. So it had been him on the phone. Dammit. She winced as her hair got yanked. It was partially her fault; she was putting on her shoes, and she did move her head away. "Mom, it's nothing. Justin and I are just friends."
Her mom had that look again. "A boy who knows when to call you - when you are usually ready, but haven't hit the stage yet - has been talking to you a lot."
Lia rolled her eyes. "Mooooommmm. Stop it."
She raised her hands in defense. "I like him though. He was very nice. I didn't say anything bad."
"Uh huh." Lia was going to kill herself for asking this question, because in her mom's mind, she was going to think she liked him, but still, she had a right to know. He did call her. "So, what did he want?"
Hee mom's eyes sparkled. "I thought you'd never ask. He wanted to wish you good luck tomorrow since he wasn't going to be able to call as it was going to be a late night for them. He said them, but I think he meant him."
Lia shook her head (again to the dismay of her hairdresser). "No, he meant them. They must have a show tonight. That was nice of him though. I wasn't sure he remembered or not."
"A show? Does he do Broadway too?"
Here's what she knew was coming: the questions about the boy on the phone beacause her mom just has to know everything sometimes, especially because I haven't dated anyone since the stupid asshole 7 months ago. "No, he's a singer in a group mom."
"A group?"
Lia looked to the sky, wishing for an escape. She really did not want to talk about this right now. There were too many things on her mind, and boys were not supposed to be one of them. Her escape finally came when Clarice came rushing in. "We need you out there NOW Lia!"
Lia ran out of the room with haste to spare, calling back "Love you mom!"
She came around the corner and got miked up. She sighed. "Thanks Clarice."
Clarice looked surprised. "For what?"
"For saving me from my nosy mother."
OK. I haven't made use of this in a while, but now I have a dilemma. It's nearing 6:30 AM, and I'm so nervous for this audition (I haven't slept much at all, and now there's 1 hour, 34 minutes, and 46 seconds to go, 45, 44, 43...) but then I see that I have a message on my cell phone. He must've tried to call me again late last night. I don't know why he would call me again because he said that he was going to be busy (at least that's what I had inferred from my nosy mom). So I listen to it now to waste time and all of my nervous energy. He sounded tired, but he said he had wanted to talk to me about something and to call him back. Weird, huh? For once, I couldn't really read what he was thinking when he was talking. It was almost nervous... He's never nervous when he talks with me. I know it sounds crazy, but if he didn't want to talk to me anymore, it would be weird. I kind of have grown to like talking with him. he's funny, slightly charming, slightly eqotistical, but not in a bad way. Whatever. He's my friend, right?
So now the question is do I call him now as this is the only time I will have until tonight (which would mean waking him up) or do I wait all day and night worrying over what he wants to say to me? Why the hell am I worrying anyway? It's not like we're dating.
Sheesh. Not cool, not cool. Why couldn't I have waited until after this audition to have this dilemma floating through my head. I'm going to try and squeeze in a call to him at the airport. He'll probably be busy, but now I have to know what's going on. He doesn't get enough sleep as it is so I refuse to wake him up. Ugh.
Think about the audition, think about the AUDITION!
So she called me back and I asked her. I asked her to come and see me for her week off.
It was weird. She seemed like a humongous mix of emotions on the phone. I couldn't really discern them all. There was happy, giddy, nervous, spacey, busy, etc. She said she would love to come down, which is going to be awesome. I asked her about her audition, but she said she may have to do another one and either way, she wouldn't know until next week. She thought it went well. She also said she would be busy for the next week and it would be next to impossible to talk. I don't know why, but that was depressing. She's like my news to the world outside of the NSYNC bubble I'm living in.
I wonder what I could do with her when she flies out to Chicago to meet us next week. I'm going to make sure we get to do some fun stuff. It would suck if she flies all the way out here and all we get to do is play xbox on the tourbus.
I told the guys about an hour ago. They actually didn't have much of a reaction, like they expected me to be saying that she was coming at some point. She's not my girlfriend or anything, but it seemed natural to them. The only change I've noticed about them now is that they've been asking me more questions about her, probably so they can talk with her when she comes out here.
I'm excited. It should be one hell of a week. If not, I'll make sure she has one hell of a week even if we have to sit in a hotel room with room service and the over-priced movie rentals.
