Chapter One:
"Fo’ Sheezy!?" Justin exclaimed as he say Christina Aguilera walked into the office. "Missy Chrissy is gonna do the tour with us??!!"
"Uh-huh" Christina smiled "Is that okay?"
"Hell yeah is that okay!!" JC almost yelled and pounced from his place on the couch and on top of Christina.
"Okay, Jace? You’re cutting off my air supply." Christina somehow managed to choke out.
"Oh" JC blushed and quickly sat up "But this is sooo cool!" He smiled as he pulled her into a hug again.
"Okay, I know it’s great that Christina’s touring with y’all, but get out! You have your album photo shoots! ALL of you, including Christina " Johnny informed them as his head poked in the door.
"Do we have to??" Joey whined from his upside-down position on the couch.
"Yes you do"
"Seriously HAVE to??" he whined again
"Joey. Yes. Get. It. Through. Your. Thick. Head." Lance frowned, getting a little aggravated.
"Okay." Joey whimpered and bowed his head in sarcastic surrender.
Justin fealt jealousy hit him, and he frowned at the sight of JC and his 'Chrissy' hugging on the floor. He hadnt seen her in about two years, and she didnt have that "Genie In A Bottle" thing about her anymore. she'd gotten a few more piercing. Her nose, lip, and her belly-button.
JC looked sideways at Justin and smiled at the look on Justin's face. He's sooo jealous of me right now. why wouldn't he be though? he laughed to himself. She's gorgeous now.
*~*~*~*~*~*
The first day of the Celebrity/Stripped tour was upon them before they knew it. They sat on the tour bus listening to Chris and Joey play a noisy video game.
"HA! I WON! ME! ME! ME! ME! I WINNED!!" Chris shouted as he bounced up and down on his ass.
"DID NOT! Christina! Who won??" Joey argued.
"Nick Carter." Christina sighed, not looking up from her book.
"UGH! you speak of the forbidden name! Be GONE from this large, moving, wheel drawn carriage!" Chris yelled, sounding like a war captain ordering his troops in battle.
"NUH-UH! SHE GOES I GO DAWG!" Justin argued, throwing himself in front of Christina's feet.
"Shut up you wannabe ghetto." Lance sighed from his new position beside Joey.
"I ain't no wannabe dawg! I be down wit it!!" Justin defended and stormed up to the back of the bus.
"Was he like that last time I saw him?" Christina asked, looking away from her book.
"No. He's been hanging out with his Ghetto friends, so now he thinks he is one. It's turned his brain to shit."Chris sighed as he shook his head.
Chapter Two:
Soon the tour was up and running and you’d think that Justin and JC wouldn’t find time to think about Christina, but somehow they made time for it. It didn’t really help sharing a tour bus with her either. But they certainly didn’t mind.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Yo, Chrissy! Wait for me!" Justin called from outside his door in the hall. He quickly locked it and ran toward the elevator to jump in with Christina.
"Hey." She smiled and pressed the button, indicating that she was headed downstairs to the lobby.
"Christina…uh…I know this is kinda forward and stuff, but cha wanna catch a movie tonight?"
"How is that forward Mr. Timber-dork?" she teased
"I mean…like on a date Ms fine Ass-uilera."
"Oh. Sure." She replied uncomfortably, not really interested in Justin ‘that’ way. They rode the rest of the way down in silence.
~*~*~*~*~About Three Weeks Later~*~*~*~*~*~
"Come in" Christina called from somewhere inside her hotel room. "Hey JC"
"Hey."
"Whatcha doing?"
"I felt like having a sane conversation with somebody. You’re the most sane person on tour, that I know of."
"Lance is kinda sane" she laughed, while JC just stared with that cute ‘what are you on?’ expression his face.
"I heard you and Justin are…uh…together. Yeah?"
"Casually I guess. No huge commitment. Marriage isn't exactly what we have on our minds." JC felt a wave of jealousy hit him. Couldn’t Justin stay away from the one woman I wanna be with for once? He asked himself and Christina fumbled with the chain of her necklace. "Oh, Jace. Could you help me out here? The chain’s all tangled at the back."
"Sure." He quickly walked behind her, and tried to untangle the thin necklace.
Once he had it all perfect again, he softly ran his fingers down her back, causing her to shiver. He then leaned down and softly kissed her shoulder, trying desperately to rid Justin from his thoughts. Half expecting her to, JC was a little shocked when Christina didn’t pull away. Instead she turned around and properly kissed him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist as she pushed him closer to the bed.
"What about Justin?" JC asked cautiously as he pulled away, breathless.
"If you don’t mind…he never has to know…"
"Good." He smiled and pulled her closer to kiss her again. What Justin doesn’t know can’t hurt him, he told himself
Chapter Three:
JC and Christina had written letters to each other to keep Justin from noticing anything. They would occasionally sneak into each other’s rooms in the early morning, but they had decided that their little secret was no kind of commitment. No real emotion. Just passion and lust. It wasn’t much to build a relationship on, but it wasn’t a relationship. It was just a sexual thing that they had going on behind Justin’s back. Sometimes JC would lay in bed and feel guilty. And so he should have, he was sleeping with his best friend’s girl. He would tell himself over and over again that what Justin didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. Most of the time it didn’t work, but the few times that it did, he was with Christina, and his passion for her was all he needed to push those guilty thoughts out of his head.
He stood watching her from the audience at the sound check. She was singing
Get Mine; Get yours, and the words reminded her of the fling she had with JC. Especially the line: We have a physical thing. We make love, but don’t fall in love. We spend time, just enough for you to get yours, and I get mine. No strings attached. I want your body; not your heart.
She finished the song and then swapped microphones and started Can’t Hold Us Down.
"Guys! You have an AOL live chat in 40 minutes, and it’s on the other side of the city, so we have to go." Les told them as he poked his head in the door.
"Okay. Bye Babe!!" Justin called up at his girlfriend. She smiled as he stomach flip-flopped with guilt and nervousness.
"Bye!" the four other guys chorused and followed Les out the door.
The ride to the AOL chat was almost silent. Justin listened to his music through his headphones, Joey was playing a quick round of Solitaire with Lance, Chris played a game on his phone and JC stared out the window. The guilt he felt whenever he was around Justin was close to unbearable. His heart and mind screamed at him to stop this fling with Christina maybe even tell Justin. But the ‘guy’ part of him said "So what? It’s good sex. Keep going". It was driving him insane and he couldn’t stop thinking about how he would feel if the ‘triangle’ between himself, Justin and Christina were reversed. He knew he’d be furious with Justin, almost hate him, but it was something about what Christina did to him every time she was around that let his mind float away into some other place while he was with Christina. You’ve really done it this time, Chasez. He told himself.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Are you serious? He DID that to you?!" Ali laughed into the phone. "Can I rent him on the weekends?"
"Shut up Ali. And yes he did. But I don’t know what to do" Christina sighed.
"About what?"
"About what. Are you demented? About the Justin/JC thing."
"Oh, I don’t know. From what you tell me, JC’s waaay better than Justin is. Oh, and more satisfying in bed…"
"Ali! How am I gonna get outta this?"
"Just breakup with Justin and go with JC."
"It’s not that simple! If I breakup with Justin, then I couldn’t go out with JC because…ugh, because"
"Because why?"
"Because that’s the rules! You can't date you’re ex boyfriend’s best friend. EVER. That’s just rules."
Ali had to laugh at her best friend. "Chrissy, come on. You’re breaking the number one rules in the book. You’re CHEATING. WITH your boyfriends best friend. That’s worse than dating him after you breakup. Hello? Where IS your head girl?" realization hit Christina. This was just one big mess. True, Justin was sweet, caring, sensitive, and had all the same interests as her, but something sexual was missing. And that empty something was something only JC could fill. But what was it? Maybe it was the fact that he knew how to turn her on without even trying? That sexy pouty lip that he bit down on slightly when she kissed him in all the right places? She doubted she’d ever know, because it had to stop.
"Ali, I gotta go." She said, suddenly snapping out of her trance.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The knock on her door came earlier than expected that night. Only 11:30, usually it was around 2 am. She wrapped her bathrobe around her naked body and answered the door. As expected, JC stood there, fidgeting with his hands.
"Hey, you’re early."
"Yeah, Justin went out clubbing about 30 minutes ago."
"I know, he told me."
"Uh…yeah…"
"Wanna come in?"
"Thanks" They waited until they were both fully inside and the door was locked before they stepped closer and began to kiss and undress each other in a predictable rush. Again, the thoughts of Justin leaving their minds, the two made love twice before they heard a knock at the door.
"Chrissy? It’s Me, Justin…are you awake?"
"Holy Shit!" Christina whispered. JC’s mind was rushing with decisions and options. "Uh…under the bed?"
"No, there isn't any room."
"Bathroom?"
"No, he’ll go in there! Connecting Door?"
"That’s Lance’s room. He’ll find out!"
"Chrissy?" Justin called through the door again.
"Just a second Justin." She called back in a tired voice. She then changed the tone in her voice, again to a whisper "Okay, get dressed, then walk out the door. You can say you were in her talking to me."
"Okay." They both leaped out of bed and frantically dressed again.
When JC opened the door, Justin was more than surprised.
"JC? What were you doing in there?"
"Talking, I fell asleep, so Christina had to push me around for a while in case you thought something was up." He reluctantly lied.
"And nothing is?"
"Justin, come on man."
"‘Come on man’ what? Tell me what’s going on."
"Dude, nothing’s going on. Why would there be?"
"You’re right. I’m sorry. You’re my buddy; you wouldn’t do that to me. Right?"
"Right" JC lied again and nodded. He then yawned and wiped his eyes "I’m tired, I’ll see you later."
"That was close" Christina mumbled as he walked down the hallway.
Chapter Four:
As Christina walked into the main part of her hotel room with her bathrobe in her hand, she saw a small beige parchment envelope slide under her door. As she picked it up, she saw it had the hotel logo and Christina scrawled untidily across the front, unmistakably JC's handwriting.
Christina,
He thinks something's up. He was giving me the 3rd degree last night after I walked out of your room. We need to be more careful. I don't know how, but we just need to be.
JC
She folded the short letter after reading it. She thought for a second and took a piece of hotel paper to reply.
JC,
She sighed. What could she write? There weren't any questions for her to answer, and she had no ideas as to how the should be more careful. She let her thoughts drift to what Justin would say if he'd read all the letters that had been sent through JC and Christina. Her guilty conscience was catching up with her. How would she feel if the situation were reversed? She'd be devastated, heartbroken. She'd hate Justin. Christina blinked a few times before finally deciding what to write.
I don't think I can do this anymore JC. Toying with his emotions, keeping too many secrets, I can't handle it. I care about you JC; you're a great person. But I can't, there's no words to express what I need to say. I don't want to let your friendship go, but how can we get over this? Are we going to tell Justin eventually? Or not at all? I know you might say that this hardly seems fair, but what about your best friend? He's been there for you through everything, and look what you've turned around and done to him. I'm sorry JC.
Christina
She walked out of her room quickly and slipped the letter under what she knew what JC's door, and quickly went back to her room to finish trying to relax. She again picked up her bathrobe, and then walked back over to her bag to find her bubble bath, candles and scented lotions she'd picked up in various cities. She set them down around the bath and turned the hot water on. Tying up her hair in a big clip, she found a book of matches, lit the candles and was testing the water with her foot, she decided it was perfect enough to drown her worries, at least for a short while.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
JC had to read the letter through a few times before he realised he wasn't dreaming or making it up. What was he doing to Justin? Justin had been his friend for almost 8 years now, and here he was sleeping with his girlfriend. Christina was at least thinking straighter than he had been the whole time. He didn't want to lose Christina's friendship, her trust, or even just the ability to call and say 'hi' without everything being uncomfortable, but he knew that that was an impossibility now. He'd thought about telling her that this had to end a couple of times, but he'd go over to her room with his speech all perfect in his head and then she'd make his thoughts rush away with just her eyes.
"Sprinkles!" he heard Justin call his nickname through the door as he banged on it. "It is Cookie man!"
"I know who it is. Go away." JC called back as he searched for all the other letters he hidden. "In with my underwear" he muttered to himself as he remembered.
"C'mon dog! Lemme IN!" JC gave in and answered his door.
"What?" he answered moodily.
"Catch!" Justin shot at him as he threw a hackey sack in his friend's face.
"Thank you." JC sighed and rolled his eyes.
"What's wrong dog?"
"Tired."
"Well, duh, but what else?"
"Girl trouble I guess."
"Dog, you don't got not girl to have trouble with" Justin laughed. The realization of what he'd said hit JC. Fuck, I shouldn't have said that.
"Uh, I know. I want to be with this girl, but, uh, she, uh, has, a...um...boyfriend."
"Then forget it dog, she's off the market."
"Yeah, but she has this boyfriend, but she doesn't really want to be in the relationship." JC explained almost in 3rd person.
"Well then it's up to her to break up with the guy before you and her start dating."
"But, I uh, I'm friends with the guy."
"Who is he?" Shit Chasez. JC thought to himself. Think fast.
"Oh, uh, um..T-Tony."
"ADRIANA!? YOU CAN'T LIKE ADRIANA! HER BOYFRIEND IS YOUR BEST FRIEND!"
"I know Justin."
"That's like you wanting to be with Christina! Damn JC! Forget about her! There is no way in hell I'd let you be with Adriana or any of your friend's girlfriends, even if they weren't our girlfriends anymore! No!" Justin yelled as stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Chapter Five:
After Justin stormed back into his room, and tried to calm down from his little hissy fit, he settled in for a movie, trying to take his mind off what JC had told him. He flicked through the available movies, and had just decided on 8 Mile, when he heard a knock at the door.
"Justin? It's me. Open up" Justin rolled his eyes and opened the door. Without saying 'hi', he walked back to his bed and flopped down on it again.
"What's up, man? You're all pouty"
"Joey, how would you feel, if JC just told you that he wanted to date Adriana?"
"Adriana? Tony's Adriana? Tony Lucca's Adriana?"
"Yes."
"He wants to date Adriana? That's gross. I mean, sure she's pretty, but it'd be like him wanting to be with Christina. He couldn't, even if they broke up; he could never date her because she's Tony's ex. Ew."
"I know."
"So is that what your tantrum was about 3 minutes ago, huh?"
"You heard?"
"I heard yelling, I couldn't make out the words through the walls."
"Yeah," Justin sighed, "It was."
"Anyways. Watcha watchin?"
"8 Mile. I haven't seen it yet."
"Ooh, man, neither have I, but I heard you see Eminem's ass in it."
"EEW dog! I'ma change it now!" Justin frowned with a disgusted look on his face and flicked back to the movie menu. "We be watchin' American Pie."
"I loooooooove this movie."
"Me too."
"But, dude, you see Jason Bigg's ass in it too."
"Yeah, but he has his...uh 'thing' in a pie, so it's funny."
"Whatever" they sat leaning on their elbows and the foot of the bed and watched the classic teen movie of the year, forgetting about earlier.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Christina got out of the bath, she was shocked to see JC sitting on the edge of her bed, waiting patiently.
"JC! What are you doing here!?"
"I have to talk to you."
"Couldn't you have at least called before you came? How'd you get in?"
"Uh, Lance's room connects to yours, my room connects to Lance's."
"I locked my door!"
"Nope, it was unlocked."
"Fine. Okay. Whatever. What do you need to talk about?" she asked, pulling her bathrobe tighter.
"The letter"
"I'm serious Jace. I can't do this anymore."
"I know, and I thought about what you wrote, and I can't do it either."
"So you came to your senses?"
"Hey, this wasn't all me." JC snapped, immediately jumping to defencive "It's not like I forced you into anything!"
"I know that JC, but at least I had the decency to break it off before it got too out of hand!"
"It never should have started in the first place!"
"You kissed me first! Remember!!??"
"I kissed your shoulder! You kissed me properly! If anything, this whole fling started because of you!"
"Don't you even try blaming this on me! I'm not the only one who did anything wrong here JC!" Christina spat, furious.
"You keep saying that! I KNOW you aren't the only person who went behind Justin's back! I KNOW all of this! So why do you keep telling me!?"
"Because you keep accusing me of everything!"
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are!" They sounded juvenile, arguing like that. The noise reached Justin's room, where he and Joey both heard muffled yelling, but could make out that they voices were JC and Christina. Justin decided to investigate the yelling between his best friend and his girlfriend, leaving Joey in the room alone.
Chapter Six:
"It's not my fault if you wanted to go cheat on Justin! Damn Christina! You could have said no at any time! But now you're blaming it on me! You can't do that!"
"I damn well can because you never should have made a move on me in the first place!" Christina screeched back.
"You should have never hooked up with Justin if you didn't want to be with him!"
"That's not the point!"
"That's part of it! You shouldn't start to date somebody if you have no intention of being a good girlfriend and being faithful!"
"You haven't exactly been the best friend either!"
"YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW THAT!? I LAY IN BED AND FEEL GUILTY EVERY NIGHT! GOD CHRISTINA! I KNOW! I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW! I CAN'T LIVE WITH MYSELF KNOWING WHAT I'VE DONE! SO FUCK YOU!"
"Excuse me?"
"Fuck you for making feel like this. Fuck you for letting this go on as far as it has. Fuck You."
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" JC spun around to see Justin standing in the doorway.
"Justin..." All of them were speechless.
"I heard all of it. How could either of you do this to me?! What have I done to deserve this?? I have always been the best friend ever to you JC, look how you repay me. Christina, if you never wanted to be with me, then why did you say yes to a date with me?" He paused to let the two people infront of him speak, when they didn't, he continued. "Yeah, I'm confused. Why did this happen to me? I haven't done anything to deserve this!" his tone changed from scarily calm to furious in a matter of milli-seconds. "I HAVEN'T! YOU BOTH KNOW I'VE GONE THROUGH THIS BEFORE, AND HERE YOU GO! DOING IT TO ME AGAIN! YOU BOTH SAW HOW I WAS THE FIRST TIME, ESPECIALLY YOU JC! GOD DAMN!" he finished, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Justin wait!" Christina called out to him down the hallway. She chased him to his room and caught the door as he tried to slam it. "Will you just listen?"
"I heard as much as I need to know. JC decided that his hormones were more important than his best friend was. That's it. That's all I need to know."
"No it isn't! You don't know the whole story!"
"Christina. I don't want to know the rest of the story. I want this tour to end so I never have to see either one of you again. Ever!"
"Justin! It's not his fault! I swear it's all mine! You can't punish the band for my mistake! Or the fans!"
"Yes. Yes I can. I can't be anywhere near him, or you. Get out."
"Not until you listen to me!"
"GET THE OUT! NOW!" his voice scared the hell out of her. She'd never seen him this angry.
"Listen to me. I won't leave. Not until you totally understand the situation. Please Justin."
"Fine. If it'll get you out sooner, fine." She was going to keep this band together, even if it meant even more lying. It was worth it. He sat down on one of the hotel chairs and motioned his hand for her to do the same. She began to tell him how JC had only kissed her shoulder, in a sort of friendly way, and she kissed him properly, and that everything had been her fault. Even though that was only half-true.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
JC sat down in his room and sighed. He knew Justin well enough to know that he'd wanna be left alone. How could he have done this? Justin was one of his best friends ever. He was like a brother to him. But if Nsync was like a small group of brothers, then JC should have been disowned from the family. Justin would think so and as soon as the news spread to Lance, Chris and Joey, it was almost certain that they would agree. He'd backed himself into a corner and it wasn’t easy to get out of. It was probably the most difficult corner anybody could be backed into. Sleeping with your best friend's girlfriend was most likely the ultimate 'best friend rule book' no-no.
"If the situation were reversed, I'd forgive Justin." JC told himself aloud. "That's the biggest lie you've ever told Chasez, even bigger than the one that just came out into the open."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Justin carefully listened to what she had to say. It did sound like most of it had been her fault, but he knew that she was covering up for JC so that he wouldn't end the band. He knew that if he was in her shoes he'd be doing the same thing.
"So Justin you can't quit the band. It wasn't his fault it was all me. Understand?"
"Christina, I see your point, very clearly. But I also see that you're covering up for JC. I know I'd be doing the same thing if I were you, but with you its just lie after lie after lie. That's what got you into this pile of shit to begin with. Do you really wanna get into anymore?" when she didn't answer, he sighed and opened his door. "I want to be alone." It was an understandable request for the ordeal he'd been through in the last half hour. She stood from her chair, and silently walked out of the room, not before looking up at him with honestly sorry eyes. He just nodded at the look and opened the door wider.
He was hurting, but not nearly as much as when he came home to find Ashley on top of some guy in his bed. He'd loved her more than anything, and he was glad he hadn't fallen too quickly for Christina. He knew one day, with a lot of internal argument, debate, thought and time, he'd be able to forgive JC and Christina.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 3 Months Later*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"'Ello?" JC yawned into the phone.
"Jace, it's Justin," JC nearly fell off the couch at the sound of Justin's voice. This was the first time he'd heard from him since the end of the tour.
"Justin! Hey!"
"Listen, I was wonderin’, do you wanna, uhh, catch up sometime soon?"
"Seriously?"
"Yeah"
"Sure man! When?"
"Um, today? I'm super busy this week."
"Sure thing. When today?"
"Well, I'm driving right now, and I'm on your side of town. Now?"
"Right on. I'll see you in a few"
"Coo. Lay'a"
"What?"
"Ugh, see you soon"
"Bye."
JC began to clean up a little around the house, and before 10 minutes had past, there was the sound of rhythmic knocking of "It's Gonna Be Me" on his door.
JC let Justin in and the two began to talk. They didn't say a word about the last hurdle in their friendship, but JC found out that Justin had met Amy Mellen, a music writer/producer/choreographer, who Justin was planning on asking her to marry him tonight. He found out a day later that she'd said yes, and with things patched up between the two friends, JC was going to be one of the 5 groomsmen at his best friends December 2003 wedding.
Later in the month Justin made up with Christina, and she was definitely invited to the wedding.
Six months before Justin's wedding JC had hooked up with Kelly Clarkson, and the couple were now expecting a son that was due to be born around JC's 27th birthday. They married 3 months after Justin and Amy, and are currently working on an album together. Kelly often laughed at how protective JC was when she was working late into the night on songs, and how he would insist on her coming to bed until he'd have to grab her waist and throw her over his shoulder to get her to get his way.
Christina began dating Jack Mulherin, an old friend of one of her dancers. They plan to marry this February, but neither of them is quite ready for children yet.
Both JC and Christina never spoke about what happened between them. Justin, JC and Christina all made a pact at Justin and Amy's wedding. What happens on the road stays on the road. Always.
*~* The End *~*
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