A/N: This is one of my favorite stories that I wrote about….3 years ago? It’s been awhile! So please forgive anything that might be out of date. It is in dire need of repair, so I am gradually editing it before I post it, but I am not re-writing it! So please be patient and enjoy. Thanks for reading!
Their screams were like ricocheted bullets and scratched chalkboards and could be heard ringing throughout the hotel lobby. The shuffling of their feet created dark, rubber skid marks on the expensive European-imported marble floors. The slightest movement from behind two tall floor plants in the corner near the exit would create another outburst. Ducking for cover in back of the plants, a pair of prey awaited the chance to escape.
“One would think I’d get tired one day of risking my life every time I step into public, but girls screaming my name just never gets old!” Chris Kirkpatrick checked his watch and stared longingly at the glass doors to his left. His companion fidgeted nervously at his side. Their mission: to make it to the tour bus that was waiting outside, alive.
JC Chasez adjusted his baseball cap and tucked the small curls near his ears inside the hat. “The others?”
"They're already on the bus."
JC’s eyes darted to the left, and out of the glass lobby doors he saw a massive black and gold thing begin to smoothly pull out of the lobby driveway. "That bus?" He grabbed Chris' shoulder and pointed to the moving bus.
"No!” Chris screamed a whisper. He puffed his chest in bravery and looked at JC. "We're men! Let's catch that bus!" JC said a silent prayer as Chris dragged him from behind the plants and they ran towards the exit, immediately spotted by the enemy.
"JC! Marry me!" A tiny girl shrieked as they charged towards the two pop superstars. JC and Chris reeled out of the hotel and hauled ass, about twenty girls hot on their heels. The bus wasn’t moving fast, but it was getting ready to leave the parking lot.
Justin Timberlake enjoyed silence. Touring was definitely the craziest part of his career, so any quiet moments were treasured. Occasionally, he did certain things that ensured quiet time. He stretched his legs on the booth and grinned. “Hey, Joe? Where’s Chris?”
"Don’t know, don’t care." Joey Fatone emerged from behind the black, velvet curtain that separated the dining area from the bunk beds. “Actually, I do care. He owes me…”
"Ten bucks,” Lance Bass sighed from the booth in front of Justin. He set the Playstation 2 controller down and squinted at Joey. “Like you need it.”
“It’s not the ten bucks,” Joey grabbed the idle controller and purposely lost Lance’s race car game. “It’s the principle.” Lance snatched his controller back and turned away.
“Asshole.”
Justin drowned out Lance and Joey and shifted his position to peer out the window. What he saw both bewildered and amused him. “I found Chris.”
"Help!" JC practically broke into a fit of tears as he and Chris banged the side of their tour bus and tried desperately to catch up to the bus door. Screaming girls drowned out the yells of him and his band mate as the bus accelerated. He stared up at the dark-tinted windows and couldn’t help but wonder if anyone could see them running.
Justin, Joey and Lance pressed their faces against the window and wondered if JC and Chris could see them. Their laughter was interrupted when the female on the bus appeared behind them.
“Justin, you son of a gun. Did you guys set Chris’ alarm clock ahead again?” Mary Finn, ‘NSYNC’s personal assistant demanded. She didn’t even have to wait two seconds before the three men in front of her howled with more laugther. “Newman! Stop the bus! We’ve got two strays!” She joined the guys as they stared out the window and couldn’t help but snicker at the sight of two grown men with tears in their eyes.
"Remind me to kick Justin in the balls if we make it alive,” Chris muttered to JC as the tour bus came to an abrupt halt. The doors swooshed open quickly and revealed their annoyed bus driver, Newman. "Hello, Newman!” Chris bounced up the small stair way to enter the bus.
“Chris, help me!” JC was in a clear state of panic. Not waiting for an answer from Newman, Chris turned to help his friend into the bus. “Upsey daisy, JC.” They locked hands and fell back on top of each other in plain sight for everyone in the dining area to see.
The bus continued to drive, and the three men and woman standing over JC and Chris continued to laugh. Chris flipped on his back and tried to regain normal breathing. He couldn’t speak, so he let his middle finger do the talking.
“Yeah, yeah, so funny,” JC mocked the crowd with haste. “Next time you have to play a prank on Chris, make sure I’m not sharing an alarm clock with him, Justin.”
“No, it’s funnier this way,” the young one caused everyone to laugh again.
"I hope everyone’s having a great time, but I’ve got a schedule to follow!" Newman hollered.
"Sorry, Newman! Full speed ahead!” Mary regained professional composure and the reality that her and the guys were already an hour behind schedule quickly ceased her fun.
"Every damn time we're at a hotel, these girls surround the bus like flies to a jelly sandwich!" Newman continued to complain as the unrelenting screams of teenage girls faded away while the bus lurched forward.
It was impossible for Mary to keep a leash on the five men who were now causing a ruckus behind her. Unfortunately, that was probably the biggest part of her job. Hired at six years ago at the ripe age of 20 for more like an apprenticeship of the personal assistant world, Mary had grown on the guys and they grew on her. As actual assistants and more managers came and went, Mary and the guys did a lot of growing together and had become more like a family. A dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless. All five of the guys treated Mary like the “little sis” and she didn’t mind it, but over the years, one of those platonic relationships took the shape of another type of relationship. For her, at least. He, like most guys, was clueless. And Mary wanted more than anything to profess what has become the strongest love she’d ever felt to him, but that of course was preposterous. Her job was important to her, all she had, and she couldn’t risk all of it for a pair of hazy, blue eyes and creamy, smooth skin. Or dark, silky curls, sexy smile and angelic singing voice…her thoughts were interrupted by a string of curses let out by Justin as Chris tackled him to the floor of the bus.
She put a hand to her forehead in frustration when Joey sat on top of Chris, who was performing some kind of wrestling move on Justin’s body. “Guys!” She clapped her hands together. “Stop! No broken bones, please! Lance, a little help?” she pleaded to no response when he, too joined the ‘NSYNC pile. When Justin’s face changed colors, she gave up and stepped over the men, heading for the back of the bus to call the band manager Johnny Wright, who was probably shitting bricks by now. She could hear him now: I wish you’d stop clowning around and make the guys get somewhere on time, Mary. I hope you aren’t having too much fun with the guys, Mary, they have jobs to do. Mary, I need you to be on time. Mary, you are responsible for those boys! Her Johnny-train of thoughts were also interrupted when she pulled back the heavy black curtain that lead into the bunk area and accidentally bumped into JC's lean body.
"Oh, sorry," JC placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to get by in the small space they were stuck in.
"Yeah, no problem...I don't need my ribs," Mary mumbled as JC rubbed his body against hers. Inhaling deeply, she suddenly forgot why she was going to the back of the bus. She watched him as he offered two playful kicks to Justin’s ribs before heading to the bus' “kitchen” and raided the refrigerator. He found bottled water and thirstily consumed the liquid out of a plastic bottle. She studied his Adam's apple as it bobbed up and down, reacting to his subtle sucking motions, and she unconsciously licked her lips.
"Mary, report to space shuttle immediately,” Chris cracked, finally through with the death match.
It was only when JC stopped drinking, rubbed the back of his hand against his damp mouth, and caught onto Mary's stare when she returned to reality.
"Hmm? What?” Mary narrowed her eyes at Chris. JC shrugged his shoulders and tossed the empty bottle into the trash can.
“Have you talked to Johnny? I want to let him know that I’ve decided to move for the notion that Justin be replaced. There are plenty of blonde, blue-eyed idiots that can carry a half-way decent tune in this country, am I right?”
"I'm gonna go call Janelle," JC announced, completely ignoring Chris’ statement.
"Boo...hisss!" Joey and Justin clawed into the air while Chris blew a rasberry.
Unphased, JC made his way towards the back of the bus. "See ya later, Mary," he rubbed the top of Mary's head, and disappeared into the bunks. His touch sent her into another frenzy. She really needed to grow up.
"MARY!"
She snapped out of her small daydream from the sound of Justin's whine.
"MARY! Tell Joey to quit eating my freakin' chips!"
"Joey, quit eating Justin's freakin’ chips."
“Well, excuse me. And I’d buy my own if Chris would pay me the money”“ Joey was interrupted when Lance stuffed a ten dollar bill from his own wallet into his mouth.
"Mary, come play a game of poker with us," Justin motioned with his arm to sit next to him.
"I'd love to, but..." Mary hesitated. "Wait, I mean I don't want to. Hah." She stuck her tongue out as Chris let out a hearty laugh. Just then, her phone rang. “Here’s Johnny. Gotta go get yelled at for being late, again. Thanks, guys.” She rolled her eyes and walked to the back of the bus, ignoring the chuckles from her four friends. The phone rang some more as she continued on her quest to her the back area where she slept during the long tour nights. She had to walk through the bunk area and she happened to hear JC’s soft murmurs. The bottom one on the left held him, she knew, because the curtain was closed and he preferred to sleep there. Something about karma…whatever. Sighing, she made it to the back and answered Johnny’s angry phone call.
"So..." JC bit the inside of his lip and tried to make conversation between him and his girlfriend of two years. "Janelle, are you there?"
"Yes," she snapped her gum in reply. She had loud music playing in the back ground, and JC suspected she was having a get together at their house in L.A. Well, it was his house, he paid for everything, but he liked to think of everything he owned as their’s.
On the other end, he could hear music and people chatting away; ingredients to another house party Janelle constantly threw when he was away. "Are you having fun?" JC asked her.
"Yeah," Janelle replied shortly once again. "I invited a few friends over. No biggie."
"That's cool, babe," JC nodded his head, even if he were alone in his bunk.
"JC!" Janelle shrieked suddenly. "Stop calling me babe! It reminds me of that stupid pig!"
"Sorry.”
Janelle sighed. "I'm sorry, Jace. I didn't mean to yell at you."
"Don’t sweat it.”
"Okay, anyway, where are you right now?" Janelle continued to snap her gum.
"Oh, well we're leaving Tallahassee," JC informed her. "We're about to head over to Atlanta."
"Oh," Janelle faked her interest. "I'm tired, so I'm going to go ahead and get some rest."
"Okay, sweetie," JC cooed, ready to hang up his cell phone. "You have a nice night."
"You, too, bye," Janelle prompted.
"Goodnight...wait," JC was stirred by the continuance of the loud music in Janelle's back ground. "What about your guests?"
"Sweet dreams," Janelle hung up.
"I love you," JC started. "Janelle?" He groaned in disappointment when his cell phone read that the call had already ended. He reached behind his head to switch off the small lamp that rested in the corner of the bunk, and suddenly felt alone. He knew that Janelle didn't have the best personality, great morals, or good money management, but she was an overall good person, right? He thought of her long, blonde hair that touched the middle of her back in silky waves, and her dazzling green eyes that could be spotted in the middle of a crowded room. Then he laid back and smiled, knowing he was a lucky guy. Then those damn insecurities came rushing back and hit him like a brick. Not like he could get anyone better, anyway. He hated feeling sorry for himself, but years of failed relationships and even more years of girls just using him for his celebrity status rendered him unconfident. Janelle had really been there for him, even during his lows, and that counted for something, right? After much trouble, he slipped into a fitful sleep.
“Okay. God damnit, okay, Johnny!” Mary quietly grunted into her cell phone, not wanting to cause a scene. She really felt like socking Johnny in the stomach sometimes, especially when he blamed her for just about everything that went wrong when it came to ‘NSYNC, but she had him and him alone to thank for her job. He kept her around, mostly because the guys were fond of her and have vowed to slowly drive any other personal assistant nuts if Mary were replaced, so she recognized that. Plus, she’d never volunteer to quit her job. She loved it! The pay wasn’t the greatest, but the travel, the VIP status, the résumé she’d made for herself, the guys…JC.
“Just get here, Mary. Honestly, it’s like they order you around when it’s supposed to be the other way around!” Johnny was fuming.
“Hey, no one orders anyone around here,” Mary defended herself. “You know how Justin gets. He caused JC and Chris to be late and now we’re on the road, don’t worry!”
“Yeah, I know how Justin gets, and I count on you to make sure he doesn’t do these things. If that means you have to take roll every night when they check into hotels and personally check all five of their alarm clocks before they go to sleep, then that’s what I’m paying you for!” Before Mary could reply, her cell phone went dead. He had hung up on her again, of course. She really loved her job. Really. Collapsing into a leather desk chair she had received from the guys as a gift for being the best "Personal Assistant of the World”, she spun around twice and switched on her desk lamp. Across from her desk, she looked out the window and took note of the sky that rolled by as the bus drove along the interstate. She puckered her lips, and began to think of JC again. His hearty laugh, his chiseled good looks, the way his nose crinkled with every note he belted when he sang, his charm...his girlfriend.
"Shit," she smiled in spite of the thought of Janelle. She had been in love with JC since the day they met, yet she had managed to keep her feelings at bay because he was never without a girlfriend by his side. Strangely, Janelle was kept around the longest. Mary didn’t like her, plain and simple. She thought of her as a gold-digging, attention-grabbing whore. And she knew that was unfair to say such horrible things about Janelle, but she felt that she could make JC so much happier. Sounds like some sort of cliché, romance novel, but she sighed and realized it wasn’t a novel, but her life. Then a funny thought surfaced: How come it was so easy to hide her pain of seeing JC with his girlfriend, yet so hard to manage 'NSYNC? “Because my feelings take a backseat to my career.” Saying this aloud triggered something inside. She was 26 years-old now. A woman! She was entitled to be happy. Grabbing a pen from the cup on her desk, she licked her thumb and index finger and grabbed a fresh sheet of printing paper next to her lap top. Ever the professional, she wrote down her thoughts and formed a plan. Writing furiously, she knew today was the last day she’d hide her feelings. It was time to take charge, and she knew just what to do.
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