JC stared at the Leo necklace that was around his neck. He lightly traced the lion’s head that was engraved in the white piece in black ink, a small smile on his lips. Ordinarily he would’ve politely accepted a gift such as this and then put it in a safe place to keep until he lost it. He always did that with gifts he received from family that he was too shy to say anything about. But this Leo necklace had a special place in his heart.

No, it wasn’t from his mother, his aunt, or his cousin. Actually, it wasn’t from anyone in his family at all. He thought back to the day he received the locket and a distant look filled his eyes. He had turned seventeen and everyone on set had thrown him a big party after the day was over. It was filled with the normal party games such as Pin the Tail on the Donkey––in this case Pin the Ears on the Mouse––and the breaking of a lion shaped piñata. It was accompanied by a cast and family game of Kickball and then a picnic provided by his mother.

He was pleasantly surprised by all of the gifts he received but the best one was the very same Leo necklace he was wearing. It was given to him by his current band mate, Justin and his best friend Mack. She wasn’t on the show but everyone treated her like she was because she was Justin’s friend and she visited a lot.

“It’s a Leo, because that’s the astrological sign you were born under,” Mack had explained, her blue eyes shining.

“And because you’re the bravest person we’ve ever met,” Justin agreed, a big smile on his face.

JC was so touched that he never took his necklace off after that day. It was the most thoughtful gift he’s ever received. He’s always known that Justin looked up to him, heck, the curly haired boy followed him around set every day unless one of them was doing their sketch. The fact that Justin thought of him as brave was what made him hold onto necklace. Really, JC was constantly scared but covered it well. That’s why he was the perfectionist of *Nsync, that’s why he kept himself up for hours going over their rehearsals; because he didn’t want Justin’s idea of JC being brave to disappear.

“Hey, Beaverface, phone’s been ringing for the past five minutes!” Heather said as she barged into his room, holding the phone out to him, her free hand on her hip.

“Thanks,” JC said as he took the phone, ignoring her insult. She sat down on the end of his bed and watched him as he looked at the Caller ID before bring the phone to his ear. “Hey man, how’s it going?” He greeted the person on the other end.

“I’ve finally been more relaxed than I have since the CD’s been released,” Lance replied. “Over one million in one day? I still can’t believe it. It’s like a dream. I have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure that its real.”

“I know the feelin’ man,” JC sighed, a smile on his face.

“I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”

“Nah, man. Just sitting here thinking. What’s up?”

“Johnny called. He’s planning on getting another tour set up. He wants us back in Orlando so we can make a set list; think of a stage, stuff like that. He’s aiming on having the tour start in early May.”

“Two months!?” JC gasped. They worked hard almost year ‘round. They finally had a few weeks of relaxation only to be thrust back into JC’s world, as the other boys liked to call it. He had to admit that his vacation didn’t really feel like one. He spent a majority of the time working, true, but not *Nsync work.

It was girlfriend work. He’s been fighting with his girlfriend, Bobbie Thomas, over the phone for days and it was starting to tire him out. He didn’t know why he kept going back to her. Actually, that’s a lie. He kept going back because she was a really good fuck and he hasn’t gotten any in a while. She was using him for his money and he was using her for sex, in his opinion it was a good deal.

“I know, I felt the same way, but we can do it. I know we can,” Lance calmly continued. “So, we all have to be in Orlando tomorrow. Johnny arranged it so we’re staying at this compound together.”

“Five of us under one roof? Just like old times,” JC laughed.

Lance’s bass laugh was heard on the other end. “Yeah, we have to deal with Justin and Chris bickering like an old married couple.”

“I can’t say I missed that.” JC sighed. “All right man. I’ll be on the earliest flight possible tomorrow. Are you all ready there?”

“Yeah, you’re the only one who isn’t.”

“Good, now you can pick me up at the airport ‘cause I have no clue in hell where I’m going.”

“Will do man. Enjoy your day.”

“You too, bye.”

“What’s up?” Heather asked as JC hung up the phone.

“I have to go to Orlando tomorrow,” he replied, running a hand over his spiked hair. “Tour preparation. Johnny wants the tour to start in May.”

“May!?” She repeated. “Joshie, that’s only two months away.”

“I know. That’s why we’re going to have to really work the next two months so if I don’t return a call right away then that’s your reason why.” He crossed the room and pulled his suitcase out of his closet, dragging it over to his dresser. He then opened his drawers, scooped up some clothes, and dropped them into his suitcase.

“No! Joshua Chasez, you stop right there!” Heather cried out, jumping off of the bed. “You can’t just drop your clothes into a suitcase like that. It won’t close. Move over and let a girl do this.” He held up his hands and backed away as she dumped his clothes onto the floor and proceed to pick up a shirt, fold it, and put it into the suitcase.

Grinning to himself, he left the room and went down the stairs. His brother, Tyler, was sitting on the couch, watching a football game on TV. JC called a greeting to him which Tyler replied with a grunt. JC moved into the kitchen where his parents were sipping coffee and reading the newspaper.

“Morning,” JC greeted them before kissing Karen’s cheek.

“You’re awake early,” Karen noted, watching JC pour himself a cup of coffee. He looked up at her. “You’re usually not awake before twelve and it’s ten.” She frowned. “Are you sick? Let me feel your forehead.”

“I’m fine, Mom, really,” JC laughed, putting the coffee pot back on the heating plate. He took a large sip of coffee before putting the mug down and crossing his arms over his chest. “Lance just called. I have to go back to Orlando. Tour planning is starting because Johnny wants the tour to start in May.” Both Karen and Roy shot looks at him and he shrugged. “I know, I was shocked too. I have to leave tomorrow to make it to Orlando on time.”

“Do you need any help packing?” Roy asked.

JC chuckled. “No, I have Heather doing it for me.” Roy started laughing and Karen playfully swatted his arm. “It’s not my fault she’s such a perfectionist.”

“I wonder where she got it from,” Roy commented sarcastically. JC shot him a look and took another sip from his mug. He then grabbed his keys off of the counter and headed towards the front door. “Where are you going, son?”

“Going for a drive. I’m going to need my last few moments of peace and quiet,” he replied before closing the front door behind him. “God knows I’m going to get an earful from Bobbie,” he muttered once the door was closed.

~*~*~*~

JC stretched his arms over his head and let out a big yawn. He had barley gotten any sleep before the pilot’s voice woke him up telling him that they were about to touch down in Florida. He spent a majority of the three hour flight whispering harsh words into his phone. He hadn’t started their argument that time; Bobbie tugged at his nerves when she started accusing him of not putting in enough effort to see her.

JC eventually hung up on her and put his phone on vibrate so he could properly ignore her calls and look forward to being with the guys again. He really needed to be around some testosterone for a while and be able to do something stupid without having to be yelled at for it.

He chuckled at the thought all ready knowing that he’d easily be proven wrong. With Mack hanging around it wouldn’t be possible for him to go a day without being yelled at for something. Not that he didn’t like her around––they could carry on a decent conversation on one of her good days––it’s that he didn’t known when it was her good day so he had to approach her with caution.

“We are about to begin our ascent. Please fasten your seatbelts and thank you for choosing to fly American Airlines.”

JC looked out the window and smiled at the familiar feeling that washed over him when he landed back in Maryland. He was home. He could fall back into the normal routine of dancing, singing, writing, and being called a spoils-sport by the other guys. He actually missed being called names and being made fun of. He missed not getting a joke until five minutes after it was delivered. He missed being around his brothers.

He thanked the stewardess with a smile and got off the plane recharged with energy. Whistling, he made his way to the baggage claim, stopping a couple of times to sign autographs for a few fans. He made sure to keep a smile on his face despite wanting to just head on over to the compound so he could feel right at home.

“Try a disguise next time.” JC grinned at Lance as he lifted his carryon bag onto his back. He stepped over to his friend and gave him a hug. “How was your flight?” Lance asked as the two made their way to baggage claim.

“Stressful,” JC replied.

“Don’t tell me, you had a lot of work to do?”

“You’re one to talk!” JC laughed. “Mr. Business Man. You’re on your phone more than anyone I know.”

“Touché.” Lance waited for JC to grab his suitcase from baggage claim and walked him out of the airport. JC pulled a hat out of his suitcase and pulled it low over his head so they wouldn’t get stopped to sign any more autographs. Not that he didn’t want to sign autographs for the fans, he just really wanted to see his friends. Even being away for a few weeks took its toll on him.

The car ride to the compound was quiet except for the music coming out of the radio which was currently on the Radio Disney station. JC didn’t even question it, he just smiled at the familiar scenery that flashed by them.

JC practically jumped out of the car when Lance pulled into the driveway of the compound. He stood by the passenger door, leaning against the roof of the car as he took in the sight. The front yard was filled with bright green grass and it had a small pond to the left of it along with a large tree casting shade over the house.

“The backyard is better,” Lance said as if reading his mind while he removed his sunglasses. “A basketball court and a pool, like always, but the pool has this cool waterfall effect and it has a swim-up juice bar.”

“To make us even lazier. Johnny knows us so well,” JC joked. Lance chuckled and opened the trunk of the car and pulled out JC’s suitcase. JC grabbed it and followed Lance through the front door of the compound.

“C! YOU’RE FINALLY HERE!” Chris’ voice reached JC’s ears before he was knocked over by the found of Chris’ tackle. “Man, what took you so long? This place is awesome, isn’t it? Can you believe we’re going on tour in two short months?”

“Breathe, Chris!” Lance shouted, pulling Chris away from JC so he could get to his feet. “He just got here; let him chill for a bit.” He grasped JC’s elbow and pulled him to his feet before leading him into the large kitchen.

“Where are–?”

“Joey’s with Kelly and Justin and Mack are in the backyard playing basketball to see who has to unpack the other’s stuff,” Lance explained as if it were the most normal thing in the world. JC wasn’t really shocked about them resorting to basketball to solve an argument; they’ve done weirder things before. “Want a smoothie? It’s freshly made.”

“Sure, sounds good.” JC sat down on a stool at the island as Lance poured him a glass of the pink liquid. He felt his pocket vibrate and checked his phone. He sighed and put it down on the counter and held his chin up with his hands as he watched Lance stick a little umbrella in his drink and slide the glass to him.

“You aren’t going to answer that?” Lance questioned.

“Nope,” JC replied before taking a large sip of the smoothie. He licked away his strawberry mustache and chewed the strawberry chunk.

“Are you and Bobbie fighting again?”

“You’re still dating that bitch?” Justin demanded, coming into the kitchen via the sliding glass door. A basketball was in his hands and his forehead was shining with sweat. He poured the rest of the smoothie into another glass and drained it. “Salve yourself the trouble and break up with her all ready.”

JC tapped his fingers on the island countertop. “It’s complicated,” he replied, shrugging.

“Why are you still with her?” Justin demanded before letting out a loud burp.

JC shrugged again. “I can get laid now.”

“And she steals your money so you’re basically paying her to sleep with you,” Justin said as a grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I get it now, you’re dating a whore.”

“Whatever man,” JC said as he shook his head. He pulled another strawberry chunk out of his smoothie glass and started chewing it. “Where’s Mack?”

“Aww, did you miss me Josh?” JC turned around at the laughter-filled voice and almost choked on his strawberry at what he saw. It’s amazing how much Mack seemed to grow up in the past few weeks. She was standing behind the guys; hands on her hips, her eyes were locked on the now empty blender. Her jet black hair as pulled back into a ponytail but her bangs fell into her eyes. Her bangs were now dyed blue so they matched her eyes. JC couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over her. Her flat stomach was exposed because she was wearing only a sports bra and shorts. Her slightly sculpted abs was put on display, her pants low on her hips. JC lifted his eyes to her face to see that cute annoyed look that he loved. “God, you finished the smoothie all ready? And you didn’t bother leaving me any?”

“You can make more,” Justin pointed out. “Can you make a peach flavored one this time? I’m sure JC won’t choke on that one.”

“Haha,” JC muttered with an eyeroll. “How was Memphis?” As Justin launched into a story about Trace and a mechanical bull he kept his eyes on the eighteen-year-old as she moved around the kitchen, getting the ingredients for the smoothie. ‘She still has that perfect ass.’ JC absentmindedly licked his lips as he watched Mack bending over to get the peaches out of the bottom drawer of the refrigerator.

Just like that, JC knew working with her would be hard on him. He knew he would not be able to concentrate on any dance combination with her hypnotizing body. It’s amazing how he had everything he ever wanted in his grasp, except for her. She’s the only thing he wouldn’t be able to get.

But JC loved a challenge, and with Bobbie hanging around, a challenge it will be.

 

“Bottom line is we gotta start talking about what the set list is going to be,” Johnny opened their meeting in the living room later that day. It was a challenge in itself to get them all there and to sit in the living room and stay quiet when they really just wanted to explore the house. “Are we going to open the show with Bye Bye Bye?”

 

“No Strings Attached,” Lance suggested.

 

“I don’t think we should do Bye Bye Bye anymore ‘cause nobody likes it,” Justin said with a straight face. He broke into a smile when the other guys started laughing.

 

“Ok. What else are we doing?” Johnny asked scribbling down a few suggestions on a piece of paper.

 

“Drive Myself Crazy,” JC spoke up. They shouted out a few more songs, some that was met with approval by everyone and some that were shot down as soon as they were brought up.

 

“Ok, this is what we have.” Johnny cleared his throat and began reading off the list. “It Makes Me Ill, Space Cowboy, No Strings Attached, It’s Gonna Be Me, Promise, I Thought She Knew, Tearin’ Up My Heart, I Want You Back, Drive Myself Crazy, God Must Have Spent, Digital Get Down.”

 

“Do you know how tired you’re going to be after the show?” Mack spoke up from the arm rest of the couch she was sitting on. Much to JC’s disappointment she had put a shirt as soon as Johnny came over.

 

“I’m tired listening to the set-list,” JC joked causing the others to laugh.

 

Mack rubbed her face as Johnny lightly slapped her knee with his piece of paper. “The goal is to have choreography down for the six new songs in two weeks. Do you think you can handle it?”

 

“I was just thinking about that, to be honest,” she replied, looking up at him. “I’ll try but they can’t blame me if I want to kill them one day.” Justin hit her other knee and she responded by lightly hitting his shoulder. “A little help would be nice, though,” she added.

 

“I do know someone who might be good.” Johnny reached into his briefcase that was on the floor and pulled out a large black and white photo before handing it over to her. “His name is Wade, he choreographed for Britney. He’s really good.”

 

“How old is this kid?” Mack demanded studying the picture for a few seconds before turning it around so the other guys could see. JC couldn’t hide the smirk that came onto his face. The guy in the picture did seem pretty young with his hairless face and big eyes. “Really? He looks twelve!” She sounded offended. JC couldn’t blame her; it was as if Johnny was saying that a younger choreographer would be better for them.

 

“His information is on the back,” Johnny pointed out.

 

JC grabbed the picture out of her hands and turned it around. “He’s about a year younger than you. A year and a day actually.”

 

“Are you sure? He doesn’t even look like he hit puberty yet.”

 

He chuckled and continued reading the back. His eyes widened and he practically shouted, “He danced for Michael Jackson!?”

 

A chorus of “what?” and “no way” filled the air as the picture was passed around the group. Mack huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, grumbling something about him being a show-off. “I can hire him but it’s ultimately up to you all,” Johnny said as he looked around.

 

“I think we should,” Justin replied. “I like his resume. I mean, how many people can say that they’ve dance with Michael Jackson when they were young?” The other boys agreed. “What do you think? You’re going to be working with him the most out of any of us. Do you want us to hire him?” He asked, looking up at Mack.

 

She shrugged. “Do whatever you want. Just know if he steps into my territory he’s going to regret it.”

 

“You’re not that intimidating. What’re you going to do, huff at him?” JC questioned, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. She cut her eyes at him and stuck out her tongue. “Don’t stick it out unless you plan on using it, Honey.”

 

He expected her to get offended, shoot back a French curse word, or glare at him and stomp away, so he was shocked when she evenly replied, “When and where?” His nether regions twitched as soon as the words left her mouth. She had a smirk on her face as she waited for his response. The whole room got quiet as the boys waited for his response as well. Johnny decided to ignore it by leaving the room with his cell phone glued to his ear. He’s learned the hard way just to ignore their antics instead of trying to stop it.

 

JC swallowed and held her gaze. “Here and now,” he challenged, smiling on the inside. ‘She won’t do anything. She’s a coward.’ Even though he told himself this he had also had doubts. It was known that she loved a challenge and never backed down from one, unless it would potentially harm her at that moment or in the future.

 

“Whooo, it’s getting’ hot in here!” Chris shouted a large smile on his face.

 

“Its gettin’ hot in here (so hot), so take off all your clothes,” Chris and Joey sang in unison, high fiving.

 

“If you’re that horny go and fuck with your girlfriend and leave Mack alone,” Justin spoke up, glaring at his friend. JC merely shrugged and tried to look innocent. “Now you have a suitcase to unpack,” he added, extending his arm so he shoved Mack off of the arm of the couch. With a yelp she landed on the ground and he burst out laughing.

 

“You’re a fucking asshole,” she growled.

 

“Yes, but you love this asshole,” he replied with a suggestive grin. Her face was blank for a few seconds before a stunned look crossed her features which caused Justin to laugh again. “Wow, you’re almost as slow as C today, and that’s sayin’ something.”

 

“I’ve only been here for about four hours and you’re all ready ragging on me?” JC asked in shock.

 

Justin merely shrugged. “I’m bored; we don’t really get to work until tomorrow.” He turned his attention to Mack who was still scowling at him. “You, upstairs, unpack.”

 

“Yes master.” With a roll of her eyes she stalked out of the room to start unpacking. Oh how JC wished that sarcastic statement was sent his way.

 

“What?” Justin questioned when he noticed everyone’s eyes were on him. “Why’re you looking at me like that?”

 

“You were being kind of mean to her,” Lance replied.

 

“How?”

 

“Making her unpack for you.”

 

“She lost a bet, she’ll get over it.”

 

“She’ll get even, that’s what she’ll do,” Joey replied and Lance nodded in agreement. Justin’s eyes slowly widened as the words sunk in. He jumped over the back of the couch and tore out of the room. JC chuckled but stopped abruptly when he saw the accusing look in his friends’ eyes. He sucked in his breath. ‘Here it comes.’ “So Lance tells me that you’ve hit a snag in your relationship with Bobbie,” Joey started.

 

JC’s eyes narrowed. Why the hell would he bring Bobbie up? “Kinda,” he replied slowly, trying to probe their brains with his eyes but he got nothing in return. “We’re just in a little fight, that’s all.”

 

“Over what?” Chris asked. Now JC was sure that something was up. Chris never cared about his personal life, nor has he ever questioned his personal life. JC searched their eyes again but one more he found nothing.

 

“Distance,” JC replied. Chris opened his mouth again but JC cut him off. “What do you really want to know?”

 

“What makes you think we want to know something?” Lance asked, raising his eyebrows.

 

“You just confirmed it. You neither confirmed nor denied that you wanted to know something, you responded with a question,” JC pointed out. “And Chris wants to know about my personal life? Please. The day Chris wants to know what I do is the day Chris finally grows.” He smirked as Chris glared at him. “Now what do you really want to know? I don’t have anything to hide, ask away.”

 

“Do you like Mack?” Lance finally asked.

 

‘Except that.’ “No,” JC replied. “I mean yes. Well, what form of the word like? The normal kind or the high school kind?”

 

“High school kind.”

 

‘Yes.’ “No.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

‘No.’ “Yes.” He frowned. “Why the sudden accusations?”

 

“It’s not sudden,” Joey spoke up. “We’ve wanted to know for a while. You’ve been acting different around her lately. Since we started working on NSA.”

 

“Acting different? How?” JC asked, even though he all ready knew how and he started sweating bullets. He thought he had kept his love for her on the DL, kept his actions the same so the others wouldn’t think that his feelings towards her had changed in the slightest, which is why he kept picking fights with her.

 

“It’s just…the way you look at her…it’s different,” Chris replied. “You haven’t looked at any other girl like the way you look at her.”

 

“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” JC denied as he stood and stretched. “But if you don’t mind I’m going to get some sleep.”

 

“Now? Why?” Lance asked.

 

“’Cause Joey’s probably going to drag us to a club later tonight,” he replied, glancing at Joey who nodded. “Later.”

 

“Later,” the guys chorused.

 

Once JC was climbing the stairs he let out a sigh of relief. That was close. They were onto him but they didn’t know everything. If any of them found out his secret feelings for her then everything would be ruined, most importantly his friendship with Justin.

 

Justin made it clear since day one that he didn’t want any of the guys to be with her in the sexual form of the sense.  That also meant they were her big brothers, the ones that had to protect her from every potential slime ball that looked her way. JC took that job a little too far and ended up falling for her, wanting to always be with her and be the only one to protect her. He couldn’t tell Justin that, Justin was the most protective of her. It’s just as well seeing as they grew up together, something that JC found a bit unfair sometimes, yet he relishes in the fact that he’s known her longer than the rest of the guys and he could say that he grew up with her.

 

“Get offa me, you molester!”

 

“Not until you say it!”

 

JC paused in the doorway and looked into Justin’s room. Justin was straddling Mack, legs on either side of her waist. Her shirt had risen up slightly and he was using the opportunity to tickle her exposed skin while she squirmed and tried to get away from him, laughing all the while. His eyes stayed glued to her exposed skin, watching as her stomach rose and fell with each laugh.

 

JC forced himself to turn away and sped walked to his room, closing the door behind him and letting out a frustrated growl. “This…is…driving…me…crazy!” he shouted into space before flopping onto his bed and burying his face into his pillows. “God! Why did she have to be so damn hot?” He sighed heavily and forced himself to push every thought from his head, relax, and drift off to sleep.

 

He hadn’t fully reached dream land when he heard his bedroom door creak open. “Whoever it is, you better have a fucking good reason for barging in here,” he grumbled without opening his eyes.

 

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll make an exception for me.”

 

JC shot up to an upright position and almost smashed his head against hers. Mack calmly sat at the end of his bed, a small smile on her lips. “Uh…what’s up?” He asked struggling to keep his eyes from drifting away from her face.

 

“Just wanted to see how you’re doin’. We haven’t talked much while you were on break.” She got a slightly offended look on her face. “How come you talked to the other guys but not to me?”

 

“Uh…” JC’s mind went blank. He couldn’t tell her the real reason. That Bobbie had forbidden him to talk to her. Not wanting to get into another fight with her he stupidly agreed and hadn’t contacted her at all. “I was busy.”

 

“Bullshit,” she immediately fired back. “Unless this has something to do with Princess Bobbie,” she added with a scowl. “God, you know you’re so whipped by her that you don’t even realize it.”

 

“I’m not whipped,” JC denied, trying to stay mad, but he was finding it hard when he had to look at the cute way her nose scrunched up when she scowled.

 

“Really? Who’s the one who skips out on after parties? Who’s the one who doesn’t go to movies with us anymore? Who’s the one who won’t play football in the park with the guys anymore? Who’s the one who constantly ignores me? And for what? Just to make Princess Bobbie happy,” she shot back.

 

As the words sunk in a smirk slowly formed its way onto his face, making the scowl fall from hers and was replaced with an expression of confusion. “Sounds to me like you’re jealous.”

 

“Me? Jealous?” Mack laughed harshly as JC raised his eyebrows. “I don’t do green, Joshua.”

 

“Yet right now you resemble the Jolly Green Giant…only shorter and jealous.”

 

Mack grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him forward until their noses were practically touching. “I. Am. Not. Jealous.”

 

“Really? So you’re fine with the thought of me being with her?” JC questioned, prying her hands off of his shirt but holding onto her wrists as he looked her in the eye. “You’re fine knowing that I kiss her with so much passion that I feel like my heart’s going to explode?” He smirked on the inside when he saw the corner of her mouth twitch but she held his gaze. “You’re fine knowing that our hot, sweaty bodies, sliding against each other–”

 

“Stop it!” She cried, trying to cover her ears with her hands but JC held onto her wrists tight. He pulled her towards him so her hands were resting on his chest and his mouth was by her ear. She squirmed and tried to get out of his grasp but he held on tight.

 

“You can’t stand imagining me with another girl? It’s eating you up inside, isn’t it?” He muttered into her ear, his hot breath tickling her. “You hate imagining our bodies moving together, writhing with pleasure? You wish it were you, don’t you?”

 

“No,” she hissed.

 

“Yes you do,” JC replied, lowering his voice. “You hate knowing that it’s not you that I’m with.” He lightly brushed his lips against her ear, causing her to shiver. Her fingers curled against his chest and lightly gripped his t-shirt. “What are you going to do about it, Honey?” She curled her fingers into fists and pulled at his shirt as she turned her head so their lips collided. JC let go of her wrists and grabbed her face, forcing his tongue into her mouth as he closed his eyes and relished in the kiss. He could feel his heart hammering against his ribcage as their tongues battled for dominance. He groaned into her mouth when he felt one of her hands squeeze the bulge in his jeans. “Don’t worry, Honey, we’ll get to that soon,” he muttered against her lips. He was about to kiss her again when he heard a loud knock on his door.

 

The next thing he knew he was waking up with his face in his pillows. He lifted his head and rubbed his eyes as the knock sounded again. “Jace? You in there?” Joey’s muffled voice came through the other side of the door.

 

‘Oh, come on! There’s no way in hell that could’ve been a dream!’ JC groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Come in,” he called in a hoarse voice.

 

Joey opened the door and poked his head into the room. “Hey man, we’re getting ready to go to a club. You still in?”

 

JC nodded. “Yeah, I could really use a drink right now. Just give me a few minutes.” Joey nodded and closed the door. JC’s eyes drifted over to the phone on his bedside table. ‘I could really use a drink and a good fuck right now.’ He grabbed the phone and quickly dialed a number, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up. “Hey, you in the mood to go clubbing?”

JC tapped his fingers on the arm rest of the couch as he glanced back at the clock for the fifth time that minute. He knew as soon as he made that call that he was making a mistake. He couldn’t do anything about it now.

“What’re we waiting for? Come on! I need to get on the dance floor!” Joey whined from the chair across the room.

“We’re waiting for JC’s friend,” Lance replied.

“Why can’t they just meet us there?”

‘Way to make me feel guiltier, Joe.’ JC merely chuckled at Joey’s childishness.

“Chill, Joe. I’m sure the club will still be filled with hot chicks,” Chris said with an eye roll. “You shouldn’t even be this into it anyway. You have Kelly, remember?”

“Kelly knows what I’m up to. She knows it’s just for fun.” Joey stuck his tongue out at Chris and Chris responded with the same gesture. “Anyway, it’s not like I’m cheating on her.”

“Oh yeah? What’s your definition of cheating?” Lance questioned, joining the conversation with curiosity on his voice.

“Easy, fucking another girl when you’re all ready committed with someone else,” Joey replied.

“What about kissing?”

“That too.”

“What if it’s only in your mind?” JC spoke up, instantly earning everyone’s attention. “What if you’re committed to one person and you’re with them. In the moment you end up thinking about someone else. Is that cheating?” Silence fell over the group as they sat and thought about the situation. “It’s just a question, don’t blow a blood vessel,” he said with a laugh. He practically had to force himself to laugh because he knew in the next few minutes the only thing he’d want to do is pull his hair out.

“Hey guys. If it’s all right with you we’re going to meet up with Wade at the club,” Justin said as he came into the room, tying a bandana over his curly hair. “He said he’d rather meet us when we’re more comfortable first.”

“That’s all right with me if we could actually leave,” Joey said as he gazed pointedly at JC who sunk in his seat.

The doorbell rang and JC jumped up to get the door. He was at least three paces away from the door when Mack seemed to come out of nowhere and beat him to it. Before he could even utter a sound she twisted the knob and opened the door.

“Oh. Hi Bobbie,” Mack said with a forced smile directed towards the brunette on the porch.

“Hi,” she replied in a dismissive tone, pushing past her and walking straight up to JC. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard, pressing her body against his. “I missed you, baby. Let’s not fight anymore, ok?” She whispered, lightly trailing her finger down his lips.

“Let’s not make me gag anymore, ok?” Mack mocked Bobbie with an overly sweet innocent smile. Bobbie glared and let her eyes size Mack up.

“You know, if you had natural hair, shaved every once in a while, wore cute clothes, and acted your gender you’d probably have a girlfriend,” Bobbie told her with an ‘innocent’ smile.

“And if you got rid of those implants you call real, get rid of your Botox, and deflate that ass, you’d probably look normal!” Mack shot back, the fake smile never leaving her face as she gripped the doorknob so hard her knuckles turned white.

“Joshua,” Bobbie whined, looking up at JC.

“Joshua,” Mack mimicked before dropping her smile and rolling her eyes. “What are you, five?”

“No, that’s your IQ.”

“Where’d you get that one? Out of your butt? I’m surprised anything else fits in there with your head being permanently shoved up it.”

JC stared, helplessly, as the two girls slowly got closer and closer to each other until they were almost nose to nose. Well, as close as they could get with Bobbie practically towering over her. On one side JC didn’t want to have to deal with them trying to rip each other’s hair out. On the other the thought of them fighting was hot and it turned him on so he didn’t do anything.

“Yeah? Well–” Bobbie started.

“Careful now, don't let your brains go to your head!” Mack interrupted.

“Enough, you two,” Lance said as he came into the foyer. “If you can’t have a civilized conversation then I’d appreciate it if you two didn’t speak to each other at all.”

“My pleasure.”

“Anyway, if you’re ready to go we need to designate who’s going with whom in what car.” Almost as soon as the words left his mouth Bobbie latched herself onto JC’s arm. He forced himself to smile at her while in his mind he was saying ‘Don’t leave me with this clingy psycho!’

“I can take two more people in my Jeep,” JC spoke up.

“Joshua, don’t you want to be together? Alone?” Bobbie asked with wide eyes. JC laughed nervously as he fought the urge to pry her off of his arm.

“To save the bloodshed we’ll take the van,” Lance concluded. “We have to get Justin’s shoe from Little J.” Just then the white Maltese trotted into the foyer, Justin’s mentioned shoe in his mouth. His tail was wagging happily as he looked up at the group with big blue eyes.

“Bad dog! Drop it!” Mack dropped to her knees and grabbed onto the shoe. Little J, thinking that she was playing, tried to pull the shoe out of her grasp. “Drop it! Let go of J’s shoe! Now!” Little J held on tighter and jerked his head this way and that to try and keep the shoe in his jaw. “Little J! Mettez la chaussure vers le bas maintenant!” Little J looked up at her with his big eyes and dropped the shoe. He hesitantly walked over to her and lightly licked the back of her hand. She smiled and scratched behind his ears. “Good boy. J, we got your shoe!”

Justin rushed into the foyer and grabbed the shoe off of the floor before sliding it onto his feet. “All right. Now we can go to the club.”

“About time!” Joey shouted before darting out the front door.

 

~*~*~*~

 

The pounding bass beats of the loud music in the club matched the headache that JC got as soon as he stepped foot in the club with Bobbie on his arm. She had dragged him onto the dance floor and forced him to dance with her. Not that he could really complain about grinding against her, he really needed to relieve his ache. It’s that she wouldn’t let him go anywhere without having to know where he was going or without having an excuse to go with him.

He was finally able to shake her when she had to go to the restroom to ‘freshen-up’. He ordered a drink from the bar and surveyed the crowd from his stool. He had taken a sip from his beer when a sight made him spit it back out. ‘What the hell?’ His eyes stayed glued on Justin and Mack who were––to JC’s shock––grinding on the dance floor.

JC didn’t know whether or not he should be angry or confused. Justin always said that he thought of her as a sister, that he’s known her for too long to think of her as anything else. Justin also said that they were good friends and that was it. Something about the way his so-called best friend was holding her, moving with her, and smiling at her made him sick to his stomach and want to punch his so-called best friend in the face.

Suddenly hands blocked his vision. He didn’t even need to guess to know who it was. He pulled Bobbie’s hands away and looked up at her smiling face. “Joshua, what’s with the stony face?” She asked, sitting on the stool opposite him. He just shrugged and a sly grin formed on her face. “I can take care of that,” she declared, grabbing his hand and pulling him off of his stool.

He sighed and allowed her to pull him through the moving crowd, closer to the dark secluded area of the club. As she pulled him away from the moving bodies he couldn’t help but compare how she held his hand to the rare moments that Mack held it: Bobbie’s were always cold and stiff. Mack’s were always warm and soft…and a perfect fit.

As Bobbie pushed him back against the wall and dropped to her knees JC’s thoughts went back to the question he had asked the other guys. It had seemed innocent but he really wanted an answer. He didn’t want to be labeled as a cheater, that wasn’t who he was. When they weren’t fighting she was very sweet and was fun to be with but…she wasn’t her.

 

~*~*~*~

 

“C’mon. Just one more dance,” Justin begged as he held onto her hands. His eyes were dancing happily and a smile was on his face.

“Dance all you want, but my feet are killing me,” Mack had to shout so she could be heard. “I’m going to get something to drink.”

He nodded and went in search for another dance partner as she moved her way through the crowd to get to the bar. She sat down and let out a breath, trying to ignore how her throbbing feet seemed to throb in time with the bass beats.

“Can I buy you something?” An annoyed look instantly flashed across her features. Not that she wasn’t flattered when she got hit on, but the people who offer to buy her something were usually older perverts and she didn’t have any energy to waste on them. She whirled around on her seat; ready to mouth off to whoever it was who spoke to her when her voice faltered. “You were dancing a lot; I noticed when you came in. You look thirsty,” he continued.

“I am,” she replied, nodding. She blinked and blinked again. It was as if the picture had come to life.

“I think I’ve seen you somewhere before,” he continued waving down the person behind the counter. “This might sound weird, but were you around backstage before the VMA’s last year?”

“Yes, I was with some friends,” she replied. Suddenly it clicked in her mind. “Wait. Wade?” He raised his eyebrows. “Now I know why the name sounds familiar. You choreographed Britney’s and *Nsync’s show for the VMAs.” She finally noticed the slightly confused look on his face. “I’m Mack Desrosiers, friend to Justin Timberlake and *Nsync’s choreographer.”

“Ohh, that’s right. That’s why you look familiar,” Wade said with a smile as he held out his hand. She accepted it and shook it. “Johnny’s been talking about you quite a bit,” he continued, a small smile on his face.

“Like what?” She asked, squinting.

“Just that I shouldn’t cross your path, unless I want my ass kicked,” he replied with a shrug. A sly smile came onto his face. “Although, I don’t see how that’s a threat.”

Mack struggled to find a comeback, after all she was the Queen of Comebacks, but any good one escaped her. She thanked God when JC came over and dropped down on a stool on her other side. “Where have you been?” She asked him.

“Nowhere,” he replied, his voice slightly hoarse.

She squinted and studied his face for any signs of lipstick marks but his face was clean. The only thing that was strange was that his eyes were dilated; it was kind of dark in the club but not dark enough for his eyes to dilate. ‘Unless…’ She turned in her seat and searched the crowd, her eyes finally rested on Bobbie who was coming out of the bathroom, absentmindedly running a finger around the edge of her mouth, as if searching for a lipstick stain. ‘Gag me!’ She fought down the urge to puke and turned back to Wade. “You remember JC?” She asked, pointing at him.

He nodded. “Nice to see you again, man.” JC looked at him in confusion. “We met last year, VMA rehearsals.”

“Oh.” JC paused for a few seconds. “Oh. You’re the same guy?”

“Apparently,” Wade replied with a smile before checking his watch. “I gotta split; it was nice seeing you guys again. I can’t wait to work with you tomorrow.” His sentence was for both of them but it seemed to be directed towards her. With a small wave he turned and made his way towards the exit.

The feeling of nausea must be contagious because JC suddenly wanted to gag. ‘Who does he think he is, openly flirting with her like that?’ He shook his head and downed the beer that was in the shot glass in front of him.

“Whoa, Jace, you better pace yourself. Don’t forget you’re the one who’s driving,” Mack commented, eyeing him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and an electric shock surge through his body. “Give me the keys.” She held out her free hand and wiggled her fingers. He sighed in defeat and pulled out his keys, slapping them into her palm, making sure to ‘accidentally’ brush her fingers as he pulled his hand away. “Come find me when you’re ready to go and take it easy on those.”

“Yes Mom.” He watched her––more like her ass––move through the crowd before she disappeared. He then waved the bartender over to fill his shot glass again. “I’ll just keep going until this feeling goes away,” he convinced himself, taking another shot.

“C’mon Jace. Can you make it to the couch?” Justin asked, trying to support his friend’s weight. It was hard seeing as JC was so wasted he could barely stay on his feet. If Justin wasn’t there JC would probably be glued to the floor.

 

“Do you think he’ll regain his senses long enough to give me his credit card like he promised?” Bobbie demanded, following them. “I really need it. I’m going to New York this weekend.”

 

“Will you shut up for once?” Justin snapped without looking at her as he continued his struggles to get JC to the couch. “God, the damn world doesn’t revolve around you! JC’s wasted and you don’t even care.”

 

Bobbie rolled her eyes. “I care. I just learned to let him deal with this on his own. He’s too much of a hassle when he’s drunk.”

 

“If you cared you’d take care of him instead of jetting off to New York,” Joey shot back, coming into the compound behind her. He held JC’s shoes at arm’s length. Even though they were in a plastic Ziploc bag and a plastic grocery bag the smell of puke was still able to waft out.

 

“Whatever.” Bobbie dismissed him with a wave of her hand, turned, and stalked out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her.

 

“Good riddance,” Chris muttered from the stairs. “God, how does JC deal with her? She’s nothing but a thieving whore.”

 

“Sssh!” Lance hissed, bring his finger to his lips and pointing at JC who was tossing and turning on the couch, emitting whines such as a five-year-old would make. “Can you go make him some coffee?” He asked Mack who was leaning against the doorway that separated the living room from the kitchen. She nodded and went to do as she was told. “Guys, I’m worried about him,” Lance announced, dropping his voice.

 

“Why? So he drank a little too much,” Justin shrugged.

 

“Yes, but this is JC we’re talking about. JC hardly ever lets a full glass of beer past his lips. Now he’s wasted and can’t hold anything in,” Lance replied. “It’s not like him at all.”

 

“Well there’s only one person to blame,” Chris said as he looked over at the shut front door. No one said anything so Chris felt the need to continue. “You don’t think JC is doing this to himself, do you? That’s not like him at all. He hasn’t been the same since he and Bobzilla started dating and breaking up and dating and breaking up and dating. He’s not as responsible as he used to be and that’s exhibit A.”

 

“We can’t really do much about it,” Joey pointed out. “JC’s as stubborn as a mule. He’s the only one who can stop this behavior. If we talk to him about it, it’ll just make him even worse.”

 

“Unless he’s acting like this to tell himself that nothing’s wrong,” Lance pointed out. “Then we’ll have to do something, talking some sense into him.” He paused. “I…” He let his voice trail off.

 

“What is it?” Justin asked.

 

“I don’t want JC to end up making some bad decisions if we don’t do anything.”

 

“So we’ll just watch him,” Justin replied. “We won’t interfere but we’ll keep an eye on him to make sure nothing happens.

 

JC suddenly started laughing hysterically.  They all turned to see him sitting upright on the couch. He had rolled up his pants so his knees were exposed. A grin was on his face as he knocked his knees together. “Hey guys!” He shouted, even though they weren’t that far away from him. “My knees look like boobs!” He stopped in mid laugh and widened his eyes. “Mack, show me your boobs!”

 

“Only in your dreams, Chasez,” she commented, coming back into the living room with a mug of coffee in her hand.

 

“How do you know what I dream about?” He asked. He let out a loud gasp and widened his eyes. “Are you psychic? Can you read my mind? What am I thinking right now?”

 

“That if you don’t shut up I’m going to hit you with this mug,” she replied, setting it down on the coffee table in front of him. “Drink that. It’ll help you feel better.”

 

“Wait a minute, coffee doesn’t help you get sober faster,” Joey spoke up.

 

“I know. But if makes you more alert and aware of what you’re doing,” Lance explained. “This way, JC would probably realize what he did wrong faster than he would if we left him alone.” He stifled a yawn and looked at his watch. “Man, it’s that late all ready?” He mumbled to himself. “Ok guys, we should hit the sack. We’re going to be up early tomorrow.”

 

“But Daaad, it’s not a school night,” Chris said in a childish tone as he elbowed Justin and the two started chuckling. Lance blushed and shook his head. Chris and Justin referred to Lance as Daddy Jr., whenever JC wasn’t around to act like a dad towards them it was a given that Lance would pick up the slack.

 

“Guys,” Lance said in a warning tone.

 

“Yeah. Yeah. See you in the morning,” Justin said with a wave of his hand and a yawn. “Oh,wait. One of us should stay up and help Jace to bed, just in case.”

 

“Ok. We should–” Mack started.

 

“Nose goes!” Chris yelled and quickly stuck his finger on his nose. Lance, Joey, and Justin quickly followed suit as Mack groaned. “Have fun, Little One!” he chirped before running up the stairs to get to his room.

 

“I’ll set your alarm clock for you, ok?” Justin said as he moved over to where she was sitting on the floor and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “My door’s always open if you need anything. Don’t hesitate to wake me.”

 

“All right. ‘Night guys.” She grumbled under her breath and rubbed a hand over her face, trying to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes. She turned around and was instantly met with JC’s piercing blue eyes, studying her. “What?” She demanded, somewhat harshly. No one could blame her, though. He was the one who decided to invite his girlfriend, without telling anyone, and she spent the night insulting her. And JC had thrown up on her shoes as well as his own and that wasn’t going to fly with her.

 

“Why do you hate me?” His question was so blunt it startled her. He tilted his head slightly, never taking his eyes off of her face.

 

“I don’t hate you,” she mumbled in response.

 

He took a large sip of his coffee and nodded, putting the mug back down on the table. “Yes you do. Does it have to do with me dating Bobbie? Or her insults? I’ll talk to her about it. You don’t deserve the insults, you know? You are pretty, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She’s the one who isn’t really pretty. Well, she is, but not in a natural way, which is a shame.”

 

Mack chuckled and shook her head. They were right when they said that being drunk brings out the truth and in JC’s case the ‘truth’ was like a verbal waterfall. She then got an idea. “So why are you dating her then?” She asked which she hoped was in a casual tone.

 

JC stayed silent for a few seconds before replying, “I’m trying to get over someone else. She can’t see how perfect we are for each other. Why wait? She’ll realize it eventually.”

 

“That’s not really fair.”

 

“To whom? To me or to her.”

 

“Both.”

 

“Life aint fair, Honey.” He took another sip from his mug. “Let me ask you something, how would you feel if you liked someone and they were completely oblivious to it?” His gaze was so intense that she had to turn away from him. “You can’t tell me that you’d sit around and do nothing.”

 

“Whatever happened to telling people when you care about them?” She questioned, looking at the floor as if it was suddenly interesting to her.

 

“People grew up and became smart and stopped believing in fairy tales,” JC replied somewhat bitterly. Mack sighed and stood. “Where are you going? Aren’t you supposed to be taking care of me?” He pouted.

 

“You’re negative energy is making me want to throw myself at a wall. I’m going to sleep,” she replied, turning around so she could leave the room.

 

“No!” He jumped up from the couch and grabbed her elbow and the top of her arm. “You’re supposed to take care of me!” he uttered and gave her arm a hard tug.

 

She suddenly dropped to her knees, screaming in pain and clutching her right arm with her left hand. JC dropped her arm as if he had been burned and backed away from her. The thunder of footsteps were heard and the rest of the boys rushed into the room, surveying the damage.

 

“Mack? Mack, look at me. What’s wrong? What happened?” Justin asked, lifting her chin. JC flinched when he saw a tear roll down her cheek. He wanted to brush the tear away and make everything better for her, but knew he couldn’t. After all, he was the one who hurt her. “What’s happened to your arm?”

 

Mack glanced back at JC. He bit his lip and lowered his head. He sucked in a breath. “I–”

 

“I had moved to sit on the coffee table so JC and I could be at eye level when we talked. I, stupidly, decided to jump off it and landed on my arm,” Mack said quickly, wincing in pain as the seconds passed. “Owww, J, it really hurts.”

 

“Let me see,” Lance said as he knelt by Justin and looked at her arm. He whistled. “It might me dislocated. Come on, we’re going to the hospital.” He looped his arm around her waist for extra support as they shuffled out the front door, her sniffling and stifling sobs the entire way.

 

“I’ll go with them. Someone will have to tell her parents,” Justin said. “You guys want to come?”

 

“JC should stay here considering the circumstances,” Joey replied, looking at the mentioned man who stared at the ground. “I’ll stay too. Chris can go. Just call us once you hear something.” Justin nodded before he and Chris ran out the front door. Joey closed the door behind them and turned to face JC.

 

“It’s my fault,” JC mumbled.

 

“It was an accident. It’s not your fault,” Joey replied with a small smile. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. It’s probably just a bruise or something. Don’t blame yourself. You should get some sleep. I’ll bring you some water and aspiring, you’re going to need it.”

 

JC nodded and slowly made his way to his room. He flopped down onto his bed and bit his lip, stopping the urge to yell at himself. He broke the one promise that he had made years ago, that he wouldn’t hurt her. Ever.

 

What was worse was that he was drunk too. He couldn’t control himself. He needed to be around her, he felt alive when she was around. He was close to admitting his feelings for her, not that she would have believed him in his state, and he ruined it. He hated himself for hurting her and for making such a stupid decision.

 

“Are you ok man?” Joey asked, setting the glass of water and aspirin tablets onto his bedside table.

 

“Yeah, it’s been a long night,” JC replied.

 

“Get some sleep. You’ll need your energy tomorrow if you’re not too hungover.”

 

JC nodded and tried to settle into sleep but he couldn’t get her scream out of his head. Every time he heard it another part of his heart shattered. To think that he was the reason for her pain kept him from sleeping.

 

He could only hope that tomorrow would be a better day.

Justin wasn’t the only one who noticed how JC and Mack were avoiding each other, but he was the only one who was willing to do something about it. Ever since Mack got back from the doctor late last night JC’s been staying out of her way and Mack just ignored him.

‘There must be something we can do. They can’t stay mad at each other forever,’ Justin mused as he leaned over to touch his toes. He and the rest of the guys were in the dance studio that was rented out and were stretching while they waited for Mack and Wade to arrive. He didn’t expect to do much; they never fully danced a routine until the second day. The first day was usually planning out what order the set list going to go in, warm up a bit with a few of their old songs, and then think of ideas for their new ones.

“Coffee’s here,” Mack said as she came into the dance studio. Her right arm was in a sling and her free hand has holding onto the tray of to-go coffee cups. JC winced noticeably as he leaned over to touch his toes. “Flat White,” she said as she held the cup out to Lance. “Carajillo for Joey.” She gave him his cup. “White Chocolate Mocha.” She gave Chris his. “Caramel Frappuccino.” Justin accepted his with a smile. “And…Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino.”

JC didn’t look at her as he accepted his drink and took a sip. He then set the cup down, brought one leg over the other, and stretched in the opposite direction so his back was to her. Justin frowned and tried to think of something he could do.

“Mack, should we do partner stretches now?” He called across the room to her. She looked up from loading the boombox with CDs and nodded. “Be my partner?” he asked with what he hoped was a super sweet smile, the one that she couldn’t say no to. She nodded and walked over to where he was. As soon as she sat down he pressed his feet flat against hers, and held his hand out. She grasped it with her good hand and leaned back as he leaned forward. He lifted his head enough so he was looking at her and asked in a whisper, “Why aren’t you talking to C?”

“I don’t know if you haven’t noticed, but he dislocated my shoulder,” she replied.

“It was an accident.”

“He was drunk, that was no accident.”

“You know people can’t control themselves when they’re drunk.”

“It’s a lame excuse though. He could at least have the decency to apologize.”

“What if he’s afraid that you won’t accept his apology?”

“That’s his fault, not mine.”

Justin sighed and tired to think of another plan. When Mack had her mind set it was hard to change it and, obviously, she wasn’t going to get out of her sour mood until JC apologized. Currently, though, JC was afraid of her which amused and concerned Justin as the same time. JC’s been acting weird around her but his current attitude took the cake. He couldn’t put his finger on it. JC could usually stand up to her glares, insults, sarcasm, and name-calling but now it was as if he took every biting word that came out of her mouth personally.

Just as Justin was going to open his mouth to ask JC a question the door flew open again and Wade walked in, a backpack slung over his shoulder. “Hey guys,” he greeted them cheerfully, seemingly oblivious to the awkward rays that were radiating off of half of the people in the room.

“Hi Wade.” Justin and Mack were the only ones who replied to his greeting. JC just glanced at Wade before looking back out the window and Lance, Chris, and Joey merely nodded at him.

Wade’s smile dropped slightly as he looked around the room. “Did someone die?” He asked looking around the room.

“Nah, we’re just really tired this morning,” Justin replied, getting to his feet. “What we usually do on the first day of rehearsal we finalize the set list so we know what order the show is going to be in and we brush up on some of our old songs that we haven’t performed in a bit and then we start thinking about what we want to do for the new songs.”

“Sounds good to me,” Wade nodded and set his bag down. “What do you have so far?”

“Here.” Mack gave him the list of songs as the others crowded around the two dances in a semi-circle. “These songs have all ready been choreographed. It’s these songs that we need to choreograph in the next two weeks,” she said, pointing to each one.

JC sat quietly, listening to everyone talk and nodded every now and then, giving his opinion when it felt right. Usually he was the one speaking the most, worried about where to stick in a slower paced song so they could rest a bit or which songs would be better to perform back to back. This time he kept his mouth shut in case he exploded.

He was fuming inside. Not because he didn’t get the amount of sleep he wish he had, but because Wade was pushing his buttons without really doing anything. It was mainly the fact that he and Mack seemed to get along so fast, probably only because of the fact that they’re dancers, but still. It took JC months of knowing her to get her to let her guard down around him and yet here comes Dance Boy and they’re acting like best friends.

“C!” JC blinked and looked up at Justin who was standing over him with a half smile on his face. He looked around and saw that the room was deserted besides those two. “You were in Josh Land again, I guess. What’s on your mind this time?”

JC hesitated as he slowly got to his feet. Should he tell Justin about his predicament? He’s never kept anything from Justin before but he didn’t want to wreck their friendship either. Justin was very protective of Mack and he knew if he made one small mistake their friendship would be over in an instant. “I was thinking about my relationship with Bobbie,” JC said slowly as he walked over to his bag and picked it up, slinging it over his shoulder.

“What about it?” Justin asked, pulling his bandana off of his head and running a hand through his curls.

“I love being with Bobbie. She’s nice and sweet and can be a very carrying person. Yet, there are times when she gets on my nerves and all she does is insult you guys,” JC continued. “And…um…I met this girl. She’s loud and outgoing and speaks her mind but I like that about her. She doesn’t let anyone push her over and she can be very caring and sweet and she puts others before herself and I’m having trouble…” he let his voice trail of hoping to God that Justin didn’t figure out that he was talking about Justin’s best friend.

“That’s an easy one, pick the new girl,” Justin replied. “I know you may think that it’s only because I hate Bobbie, but that’s not it at all. You said so yourself that she gets on your nerves and she makes fun of us and anyone you date would have to eventually deal with us. If Bobbie can’t do it, she’s not worth it. Plus, she’s spending your money as if there’s an endless supply. Dump her ass and move onto the new girl.”

JC couldn’t stop the smile that came onto his face. Justin practically gave him his blessing, not that Justin really knew who he was talking about, but it was close enough, right?

You drive me crazy

You drive me crazy

You drive me crazy

You drive me crazy

I'm feeling weak
I cannot sleep
My head is burning
I feel cold down to my feet
I wanna yell
somebody help
Is there a cure
For what I got
Somebody tell me

JC woke the next day with a headache worse than the day before, and he wasn’t even drunk that time. He didn’t know if it was because he spent the night pondering on how to break up with Bobbie officially or if it was because she talked his ear off all night because some chick stole a pair of boots from underneath her nose.

“Who gives a fuck?” JC really wanted to ask. “They’re just shoes.” But he knew better than to get her madder after a shopping ‘crisis’ as she calls it. His friends were lucky that they got out of the snoozefest by seeing a movie and whatever else they did. It didn’t matter to her, she used the time to not-so-subtly let JC know that she wanted to use as much of that time as possible, which was why he was now staring at her as she slept peacefully next to him and tried to think of a way to get her to leave before the others woke up.

He rubbed his eyes and rolled over to look at the clock. 7:25. He still had about an hour before they had to head on over to the studio to work on a few more dances before they were put on a few days break ‘cause Justin had to fly to New York to be on the Live with Regis and Kathy Lee show to promote his movie. They’d be joining him the next day and be in New York for the rest of the week for CD promotion. Finding time to dance between all of the promo would be hard so the time would be used to let Wade’s and Mack’s creative juices flow.

Rubbing his eyes, swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for his boxers and pajama pants. Once he had pulled them on he checked if he woke up Bobbie before moving as quietly as possible out of the room. He pulled the door shut behind him, twisting the knob so he wouldn’t wake her up when it clicked.

He jumped about three feet in the air when he felt a finger poke him in the side. He whirled around and was sure his heart was about to beat its way out of his chest, and not because he got scared out of his wits. But because she was standing in front of him in a simple white tank and blue and black plaid lounge pants, her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

I need your lovin' face
Need your sweet embrace
'cus you are my only medicine

“What’re you sneaking around for?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. “You act like you’ve seen a ghost.”

‘That’d be the least of my worries.’ JC’s eyes shifted back and forth between his door and her face. “Uhh…”

“Wait, I know what is it,” she said as her eyes narrowed a little bit.

“You do?” JC gulped.

“Yeah…you’re hiding a puppy, right? Even after Johnny said no.” A smile formed on her face as her eyes sparkled with hope. JC gulped again and forced himself not to react but her eyes were so beautiful.

“Um, no. No puppy.” JC laughed nervously.

“Riiiight,” Mack replied, not entirely convinced. “Whatever. Put a shirt on and get ready. Since you’re all ready awake I figured you’d help me with breakfast.”

“Me? Why me?” He questioned, stalling for time as he racked his brain to try and think of a solution.

Mack made a scoffing sound as she lifted her arm which was still in its sling. “Last I checked you owe me.”

“Ok, Honey, I’ll be there in a few,” he replied.

“Good.” Mack nodded and moved down the hall. She stopped at the end, turned and said, “Don’t call me honey.”

He nodded, twisted the knob to his door and backed inside. He closed the door and jumped again, this time when he felt Bobbie’s arms wrap around his waist.

You drive me crazy
Why are you messing with my mind
You drive me crazy
Why are you telling all these lies
You drive me crazy
Stop doing all these things to me
You drive me crazy
'cus all I want is to be free

“What’re you doing?” JC asked, prying her hands off of him and rushing over to his dresser, pulling a drawer open so fast that it was pulled out the entire way and landed on the floor with a thud. He had barely noticed that she was wearing one of his t-shirts over her boy shorts.

“Surprising you,” she replied with a coy smile. “You don’t have to be at the dance studio for another hour, right?” She asked, walking over to her, draping her arms around his neck and resting her chin on his shoulder as he knelt by his drawer. “Want to do something…fun?” She asked seductively, lightly blowing on his ear. He felt a shiver roll down his spine as he twitched his head slightly, as if a fly were buzzing by his ear.

“I can’t,” he replied, moving away from her and pulling a shirt on. He quickly moved to the closet and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts. Bobbie sat on the bed and watched him move around getting his clothes on. “I got drafted into making breakfast.”

“Let someone else do it,” she pleaded, tilting her head so her brown hair cascaded over her right shoulder and she gave what she hoped was a sexy smile. “Please?”

“I can’t,” JC repeated, sliding a belt through his pants loops and securing them.

“Joshua, do you not want to be with me anymore?” She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

“No, it’s not that. It’s–”

“So be with me.” She was border-line whining now and her voice was only giving him another headache.

“Bobbie…” JC sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Oh, I get it.” Bobbie suddenly glared.

“Get what?”

“This has to do with that…that girl.”

JC rolled his eyes. “She has a name and I don’t appreciate you insulting someone I work with.”

Bobbie’s mouth fell open. “You’re defending her?” She hissed.

“Yes, because she can’t defend herself,” JC replied, opening his door.

“I think you should take that back!”

“And I think you should leave,” JC countered, leaving the room himself. He followed the sound of sizzling grease into the kitchen where Mack was scurrying around trying to get it ready. “Ok, I’ll take my punishment now,” JC said in a light tone as he forced a smile.

You're on my mind
I'm so uptight
I feel sensation
in my head down to my spine
Goin' insane
can't stand the pain
is my condition permanent
somebody tell me
I need your lovin' face
I need your sweet embrace
'cus you are my only medicine

“Good. I need you to crack some eggs and put it in that bowl and then I need you to check on the–shit!” She dropped a frying pan onto the stove and raced over to the toaster where smoke was billowing out of it. She forced the lever up and two blackened pieces of toast popped out. She managed to grab one piece before it hit the ground, only to throw it and scream in pain as it burned her fingers.

“Man, put some water on it,” JC said, rushing over to her. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her over to the sink, turning on the faucet with his free hand and sticking her hand under the water. She hissed at the sting but otherwise stayed silent.

“JC, you can let go now,” she mumbled after a few minutes. He blinked and looked down at her before looking at her hand. He mumbled an apology and let go. “’S all right,” she mumbled, reaching for the paper towel rack to dry her hand. JC reached for it at the same time and their hands brushed each other’s.

You drive me crazy
Why are you messing with my mind
You drive me crazy
Why are you telling all these lies
You drive me crazy
Stop doing all these things to me
You drive me crazy
'cus all I want is to be free

“Sorry.” JC quickly pulled his hand away and allowed her to rip a sheet of paper towel off of the roll herself. He turned his head away so she wouldn’t see him blush. ‘Damn her and her soft hands. So soft…I wonder what it would feel like if she..God! Stop, JC, stop!’

“JC, what’re you staring at?” He blinked and noticed that he was indeed staring at her, but he couldn’t help it. She was too beautiful and he was slowly finding it hard to resist her charms and her natural beauty.

He wanted to hold her delightfully pale face in his hands, staring into her shining blue eyes. He wanted t run his fingers through her silky black tresses. He wanted to kiss her small, soft lips so bad, but he knew he couldn’t.

And that killed him.

24/7 you are on my mind
I'm goin' crazy
You are the cure and you know
but you don't care
Girl you're driving me insane

“Is there something on my face?” She asked, reaching for the toaster to look at her reflection.

JC grabbed her wrist and smiled at the confused look on her face. “There’s nothing on your face. You’re perfect.” ‘Perfect indeed.’ Her lips twitched in the corner. He could tell that she was trying to stay mad at him for hurting her but he also knew his charm was having an effect on her. He licked his lips slowly as he looked into her eyes, two pools of blue that he got lost in every time. His heart hammered against his chest so hard he was surprised she couldn’t hear it.

His eyes trailed down to her plump pink lips. He had to kiss them, had to know what they tasted like. He licked his lips again, slowly leaning forward. She didn’t budge, just watched him carefully as he got closer. “JC–”

“Ssssh,” he muttered, cupping her face with his hands. “Don’t fight it, Honey.” ‘God, so close, and she’s not even fighting me. Maybe…maybe she wants this…’ The thought alone made him regret wearing basketball shorts. He could feel her shaky breath on his lips.

Can say what you want to
Do what you want to
As long as you love me girl
I won't front you
You're the sweetest thang
Lemme be your man
lemme hold your hand
or let me be your friend
Meanwhile, I'll set da house up on a hill
Girl as you know its all about da dollar bill
Girl I'll treat you like a queen, like a lady
Check out ya code
You drive me crazy

“Hey C. Come here for a second!” Lance’s voice broke JC of his trace. He took a slow breath in through his nose and exhaled as he backed away and dropped his hands from her face. He couldn’t look at her as he sped walked out of the kitchen. ‘He better have a damn good explanation for this!’

“What?” JC practically barked once he met up with Lance in the hallway.

“Justin called. He wanted to let us know that he has the hotel reservations figured out as well as flight times and our itinerary,” he replied.

JC stared at him, resisting the urge to punch him in the face for ruining his big moment. “Is that it?” JC asked through clenched teeth.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Lance replied before sniffing the air. “Is breakfast ready?”

“I don’t know. You can check. I’ll wake Joey and Chris.”

“Ok.”

You're always on my mind (always on my mind)
I need you all the time
so come and get with me
'cus darlin' you're the one I need (your the one I need)
someone to hold me tight
'cus I can't sleep at night (I can't sleep at night)
You are my fantasy
Girl you drive me crazy

'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! I was so damn close!’ JC thought angrily as he went back into his room, slamming the door shut behind him. “Blocked by Lance of all people! Justin I expected, but Lance? Arrrgh!” He picked up a pillow and threw it across the room. It lightly hit the wall and fell harmlessly to the ground. It was then he noticed the note sitting on his bedside table. He let out a frustrated sigh and picked it up.

Joshua,

I went to New York. Once you check in tomorrow come to my room, 257. Don’t leave me waiting.

~XOXO Bobbie

JC crumpled the letter in his fist and turned to throw it away when he spotted another piece of paper on the ground. It looked as if it had been unfolded and refolded many times. He picked it up and scanned it, his eyes widening by the second. It was his credit card bill, and it was his outrageous one yet.

“That’s it. That’s the final straw. I gotta cut that girl off for good!”

You drive me crazy
Why are you messing with my mind
You drive me crazy
Why are you telling all these lies
You drive me crazy
Stop doing all these things to me
You drive me crazy
'cus all I want is to be free

“You commin’ C?” Joey asked, poking his head into JC’s room. “Whoa. What’s the matter?” he asked, noticing JC’s clenched jaw and the light shade of red his face took. He merely held out the piece of paper to Joey who quickly scanned it and whistled. “You’re just going to let her get away with this?”

“No way, man. She’s going to pay,” JC replied. “She’s going to pay it in full.”

“About time you realized what a thieving whore she was,” Joey said as he held the piece of paper out to JC who snatched it and squeezed it in his fist once more. “C’mon, breakfast smells good and if we don’t hurry Chris will eat it all.”

JC, reluctantly, followed Joey back out of his room, down the hall, and into the dining room where breakfast was set on the table. JC took his normal seat, next to Lance, across from Joey, and didn’t hesitate to dig in.

After all, he need as much energy as he could possibly get to act out on the thoughts of revenge that swam through his head.

Crazy
Why are you messin' with my mind
Crazy
why are you tellin all these lies
Crazy
You drive me crazy
Crazy
'Cus all I want is to be free
Crazy

Bobbie hummed as she gathered her belongings and waited for the plane to touch down. She tapped her fingers against her purse and watched as people around the plane followed landing procedures. She smiled at the lady across the aisle that was bounding a giggling baby on her lap.

That’s what she really wanted, a family. She wanted to have her own children and live in the Hollywood Hills in a big house that would echo the laughter of her children. The house would be surrounded by a white picket fence to keep the paparazzi out, after she married JC she would be sure that they would swarm the place.

She sighed. She wondered how long it would take for JC to propose to her. They were practically living together, minus the fact that he was currently living with the guys and the nameless girl at the compound. He lets her use his credit cards all the time and never asks for money in return. He’s been nothing but sweet to her and she could easily see herself marrying him. She’d finally get the fame and respect that she’s wanted and deserved. She hated being talked about at the after parties, she hated being scrutinized at awards shows for what she was wearing. So what if her dress was revealing? She felt sexy and that was all that mattered, right? Besides, it never bothered JC so it shouldn’t bother her.

“Ugh, why do people have to walk so damn slow? I have places to be,” she muttered under her breath as she slowly shuffled to the front of the plane. “My feet are killing me!” She looked around trying to find the reason for the holdup. “If JC were here we wouldn’t have to wait,” she grumbled.

She finally got off of the plane and walked towards the baggage claim area. She spotted her suitcases and grabbed them, ignoring the scream of pain that came out of a stranger’s mouth when she dropped the suitcase on his foot.

She left the airport and entered the car that was waiting for her. As soon as the driver closed her door she cranked up the heat whipped out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey Joshua. I made it. I’m going to the hotel now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She pressed END and dialed another number, spinning her finger in her hair as she waited for the person on the other line to answer. “Hey baby,” she cooed once the person on the other line picked up.

“Hello to you, gorgeous. Are you here yet?”

“I ‘m leaving the airport as we speak. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she replied, coyly.

“I can’t wait that long, baby,” he groaned.

“It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.” She smiled.

“Mmmm, baby you better hurry.”

“Keep it in your pants until I get there. Then we can have some fun.” She added a naughty giggle for effect before turning off her phone. She locked eyes with the driver and sneered. “Take me to the Four Seasons Hotel,” she barked. He nodded and merged into New York traffic. She spent the car ride re-applying lipstick, mascara, and eye shadow. Only when she deemed herself presentable did she enjoy the sights.

Once she arrived she pulled her bags out of the car. The driver fake coughed to get her attention and raised his eyebrows. She scowled as she dug into her purse and pulled out her wallet. She slapped a five dollar bill into his palm before striding inside, almost knocking the doorman over in the process.

“Hi. Do you have a room under Bobbie Thomas?” She asked once she stepped up to the check-in counter.

“Yes. You are in room 257. Here’s your key. I hope you enjoy your stay. If you have any compliments or complaints please feel free to fill out the customer survey,” the woman behind the counter said with a pleasant smile.

“Could you tell me what room Jeremy William is in?” She asked.

“Let me see…ah yes, he’s in room 431.”

“Thank you.”

Bobbie put her suitcases on a nearby gold luggage cart and told the bellboy to take it up to her room. He nodded and dragged it away as she walked towards the closest bathroom. She checked her hair and her clothes in the mirror. She quickly swiped another coat of lipstick onto her lips before leaving and going to the elevator.

She rode up to the fourth floor, humming as she tapped her foot. The ding of the elevator sounded and the doors slid open. Bobbie walked quickly down the hallway, her heels thudding lightly against the carpet. She reached room 431, ran her hands over her hair, and knocked on the door.

It swung open and she was grabbed by the wrist and yanked inside. As soon as the door clicked shut behind her she was slammed against it, a hard body pressing against hers. Lips attacked her neck as she ran her fingers through his hair, moaning and pressing against his body.

“What took you so long?” He asked, his breath hot against her neck. He grinded his hips against hers, earning another moan from her. He held her arms above her head with one hand and slid the other up her shirt, grabbing her right breast.

“Incompetent people,” Bobbie whispered breathlessly, pleasure shooting through her body as heat collected in her crotch. “Oh god,” she whispered when he nipped at her earlobe. “Are you sure we won’t get caught?”

He lifted her and carried her bridal style over to the large bed. He dropped her down on the bed and crawled on top of her, capturing her lips in a hunger filled kiss. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closing and rubbing against his erection through his pants, causing him to gasp in pleasure. “We won’t,” he mumbled, pulling back slightly to speak. “They won’t be here until tomorrow.”

“Mmmm, Wade, I have a proposition for you.” She kissed him again before pulling back and lifting the hem of his shirt. He grabbed it and pulled it over his head, throwing the shirt across the room.

“What is it?” He asked, tugging at her blouse. Buttons popped off and flew across the room. Bobbie sat up and allowed him to pull the blouse off of her and unclasp her bra. His mouth instantly attached to her right nipple, biting and sucking. She gasped and arched her back in pleasure, rubbing against his covered aching cock as he pinched and twisted her left nipple.

“Joshua doesn’t know what he wants…fuck!” She threw her head back, eyes sliding shut and her mouth fell open in a silent scream. “I need you to, God, I need you to help convince him to be with me.”

“Mhm,” he mumbled against her chest. She huffed and rolled over so he was below her. He tried to sit up but she placed a hand on his muscular chest and shoved him back down, a lust filled smile on her face. She grabbed his black belt and quickly undid them before reaching for the button. He watched her, eyes dark with lust, and licked his lips as she slid down the zipper with her teeth. “Oh god, baby,” he whispered when her nails lightly brushed his thigh.

She pulled off his jeans and boxers, revealing his thick cock that stood at attention. She grinned at him before wrapping a hand around his shaft. He let out a soft groan and dropped his head back against the pillows as she slowly brought her hand up his length. “Are you listening?” She purred, leaning forward to lightly blow in his ear.

“Yes!” He hissed resisting the urge to buck his hips into her hand.

“Are you sure?” She questioned, giving his balls a squeeze.

“God, yes!” Pre-cum slid out of the tip of his cock and slowly slid down the head. Bobbie leaned forward and lightly licked the trail, earning a moan of pleasure from him and a hand reached up and slid through her hair.

“I need you to distract Joshua,” she continued, picking up the pace and moving her hand on his cock a little faster. He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut.

“H…how?” He managed to get out through clenched teeth.

“I need you to seduce their little friend,” Bobbie replied, rubbing her hand against the head of his cock which was now an angry purple as he tried to hold back from cumming. “Get as close to her as you can. Seduce her and then brag about it. Joshua will think that she’s a slut and then they’ll fire her for mixing business with pleasure then he’ll come back to me and stay with me, like it’s supposed to be.”

“What makes you think…ah…that I won’t get fired either?” he groaned, his eyes rolling in his head at the waves of pleasure that was surging through him. She merely smiled and licked the top of his cock. He gripped the sheets in both hands, letting out a loud groan when she lowered her head, taking more of him into her mouth. He started thrusting into her mouth, groaning at the feeling of her tongue moving around his member. He bucked his hips faster and faster as she sucked him harder. “Oh god…I’m gonna…” he felt his balls tighten and was close to release when she pulled her mouth away from him. He stared at her in shock as she smiled.

“You won’t get fired,” she replied. “I’m the one who suggested you to Johnny. Johnny thinks you’re perfect for the guys and he wouldn’t want to turn on them.”

“What do I have to do exactly?” he asked, chest heaving. “Seduce her or take advantage of her?”

“Whichever one you can get to the fastest. If she falls for you then it will work out better. If she resists, well, you get a virgin out of it and I get my man. What do you say?” She squeezed the bottom of his cock and he groaned.

“A virgin?” He repeated.

“Yes. She’s a prude, there’s no way she even let her so called best friend see her boobs.”

He licked his lips, thinking of being able to pound her tight hole, getting her to scream his name. “Deal,” he replied. “Please.” He bucked his hips into her hand. “Please, I gotta…”

Bobbie giggled and lowered her head again, taking him into her mouth. She sucked him hard and ran her hands up and down his cock as he held her head down and shoved himself down her throat. He let out a cry of pleasure and shot his load down her throat. She pulled away from him, licking her lips and swallowed as he looked at her with half lidded eyes.

He forced her onto her back and pulled her skirt and thong down her soft legs, keeping his eyes on her crotch. She blushed under his gaze. He lifted her legs onto his shoulders and ran a finger along her slit, smiling when she shivered. He inserted a finger into his depths, pulled it out halfway, and pushed it back in. She bit a knuckle on her finger to keep from screaming in pleasure as he pumped his finger inside her. It was soon replaced by two fingers. He curled them slightly, managing to rub her g-spot. She thrashed her head from side to side and arched her back off of the bed, moaning and writhing in pleasure.

“Plese…I need you,” she whispered as he pulled his fingers out.

“Please what?” He asked, positioning himself at her entrance.

“Please fuck me!” He obliged and slammed himself into her. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, and threw her head back screaming in pleasure. His head swam with pleasure as he felt his cock move through the slick confines of her pussy. “Oh god,” she whimpered.

Pants, whines, and moans filled the air as the two moved together to reach their peak. She dragged her fingernails down his back which made him drive into her faster and harder. She sat up a bit to nip at his Adam’s apple, causing him to gasp in pleasure. She could feel a warm tingling sensation start in her stomach and spread to her pussy. “Fuck. I’m so close. I’m gonna…I’m gonna…” She bit into his shoulder as her pussy muscles clamped onto his dick. He groaned as he shot his load into her depths.

He slowly pulled out of her, kissing her lightly as he struggled to catch his breath. “Remind me again…what I’m getting out of this deal?”

“You’re helping me…get my man. Once I get him you’ll get a virgin, I’ll make sure you get your resume to the best clients, and you’ll still get to be with me. Joshua’s job makes him leave a lot so we can’t get caught,” she replied, trailing a finger down his cheek before kissing it. “Now, I need to get to my room just in case Joshua calls. See you tomorrow.”

He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Tonight,” he replied.

She giggled and squeezed his hand in return. She took her time gathering all of her clothes and slipping them back on. She blew him a kiss and sashayed out of the room. She went back to the elevator and rode it down to her floor, smiling all the way. With a little time and a lot of patience on her part JC would be as good as hers.

 

~*~*~

 

Justin let out a yawn as he rode the elevator down to the bottom floor. A concierge had told him that the hotel had a great restaurant a few feet away from the lobby that he should check out while he was there. Being his usual hungry self he agreed to check it out.

Once the doors opened the smell of chicken, potatoes, cinnamon, and some other mouth water smell reached his nose. He inhaled deeply and smiled, following the smell to the restaurant. A man behind a podium looked at him before motioning him to follow with a flick of the head. Justin followed him to a single table and held out a menu before stating, “I’ll be back to take your drink order.”

“Man, this place is tiiiiight,” Justin mumbled as he looked around the room. He whipped out his phone and pressed 2 on speed dial. “Hey girl! This hotel is so cool! I wish you could come today to check it out with me.”

“Don’t rub it in, Timbs. Not that I don’t like having time to think up new choreography, but it’s hard to do it when you’re not here to shield me from Chris’s stupidity!” Justin laughed when he heard her yell something in French. “I’m so glad I’m not sharing a room with him this time. Do you know who I am sharing with by any chance?”

“Yeah, they stuck you with Jace,” Justin replied. “Before you bite my head off Mike and Lonnie knew that you would need your sleep and Jace is the best person to room with to get that sleep.” He looked up when the waiter came back and pointed to the picture of a Sprite with a lemon. The waiter nodded and walked away, probably back to the kitchen.

“Yeah, that does make sense I’ll admit,” she sighed. “Did you go to the show yet?”

“Not yet. I’m getting breakfast at the hotel’s cool restaurant and then I’m going.” He accepted his drink with a smile and a nod directed towards the waiter and motioned that he would need a few more minutes to decide what he wanted to eat. He sucked on the straw that was in his drink as he looked around the rest of the restaurant. His eyes widened and he spat out his drink, coughing a bit.

“J, you ok?”

“Not really,” he replied, wiping his mouth. “You’ll never believe what I just saw!”

“What? What is it?”

Justin dropped his voice. “Is C anywhere near you?”

“Yeah. I’m stuck between him and Joey on the couch. Chris thought it would be a good idea to squish us all on here so I can’t really move.”

“Even if you wanted to?” Justin asked with a small smile as he kept his eyes on the spectacle before him.

“You’re not funny. Will you tell me what you saw?”

“Yeah, tomorrow. I can’t risk the others hearing. I’ll call you after the show, ok? And please promise you won’t kill any of them. I kinda need them for the MTV show tomorrow.”

“Yeah yeah. See you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Justin turned off the phone and chuckled to himself as he shook his head. “Got you, bitch.”

 

~*~*~

‘I get to share a room with her? Suh-weet!’ JC struggled to keep a neutral expression on his face although on the inside he was jumping for joy. They had flown into New York early that day so they could make it on MTV in the afternoon. They had just arrived at the Four Seasons hotel where Justin met them with a big smile on his face. They had just gotten their room assignments and he found out that he was chosen to room with Mack based solely on the fact that she needed her sleep and they knew that JC wouldn’t wake her up because he’d be knocked out himself.

“What time do we have to leave to get to the MTV studio?” Lance asked.

“Not until about 3:15 so you have the rest of the morning and part of the day to do whatever you want,” Johnny replied. “If you want to go to a store or something take at least one bodyguard with you and let me know that you’re leaving and immediately find me when you come back, ok? That’s it, you can go to your rooms now.”

“JC she’ll meet you there, we have to talk,” Justin said as he grabbed Mack’s hand and dragged her away from them. Once they were out of ear shot she spoke.

“What was it you were trying to tell me?” She asked.

“You’re not going to believe this in a million years, a billion years, a tril–” She slapped her hand over his mouth and gave him a ‘just-tell-me’ glare. “Bobbie and Wade!” he blurted out once she removed her hand.

“Eh?” She asked, not fully understanding.

“Bobbie and Wade. Here. Together. I saw them at the restaurant. They were kissing.” Mack’s eyes slowly widened. “I know!”

“Why would he kiss something as…disgustingly fake as her?” She asked, her features twisting so she was making a face.

“Mack! She’s cheating on JC!” He said as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her.

“Let me guess, because I’m sharing a room with him you want me to tell him, right?”

“Thanks for volunteering!” he chirped before kissing her cheek. “You’re the best! Tell me how he takes it.” He ran off before she could even stop him.

She growled before slinging her bag over her shoulder, making sure not to jostle her injured arm. She reached over to pick up the handle of her suitcase. “I got it,” JC said as he lifted it easily. He blinked and a look of concern crossed his features. “Are you ok?” He asked, reaching out to her.

“Uh, yeah,” she replied, ducking under his arm and chuckling a bit. “Let’s just…go to the room, ok?”

“Sure, ok.” Mack let out a breath as she followed JC into the elevator. She jabbed a button with her elbow and tapped her foot impatiently as the elevator took them to their floor. “Are you sure you’re ok? You seem kinda…tense,” he said as he rested a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it away and nodded. “If you’re sure.”

The doors finally opened and JC led the way to their room. Mack bit her thumbnail as JC used his key to open the door. “So, um, the problem is we only have one bed,” JC said as he pointed when they moved further into the room. ‘There’s no way in hell that’s a problem.’ “But I found a solution,” he continued quickly. “You can sleep under the covers and I’ll sleep on top. I don’t get cold easily so it should be fine.”

“As long as you don’t roll in your sleep,” Mack replied somewhat dryly.

“I don’t. I don’t snore either if you’re worried about that,” he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth in his shoes. “Umm, is there anything you do in your sleep?”

“Justin claims I have a cuddling problem,” Mack replied, squinting a bit. The thought alone gave JC a hard on and he was glad he decided to change from his basketball shorts to pants in case something like that happened. “Another thing, if the bathroom door’s closed, knock.”

“Same goes for you.”

“Ok. Otherwise I think we’ll be fine staying in a room together.”

“Right.” JC clicked his tongue. “Well, I’m going to go find Bobbie.” He spun on his heel and started towards the door.

“What? Why?” Mack practically shrieked, running past him and stopping in his way. “Why do you want to go see Princess?” She scoffed to cover up the levels of panic that was starting to rise in her. “What, you two can’t go a day without seeing each other? Are you sure you’re not whipped?”

JC stayed silent and merely raised an eyebrow, which thoroughly confused her. Usually he would go off on a tangent listing all the examples of how he wasn’t whipped but he didn’t say anything. He parted his lips and shot back, “Are you sure you’re not jealous?”

She hated the way he was looking at her. A smirk slowly formed on his face as he walked closer to her. She backed away from him as much as she could until she felt the doorknob digging into her back. “I-I’m not jealous,” she mumbled. ‘You just can’t find out that Bobbie’s cheating on you, not yet.’

“Really?” JC asked, his voice hinting that he clearly wasn’t convinced. “For someone who isn’t jealous you sure do spend quite a bit of your time making fun of her, insulting her, and telling me many reasons why I shouldn’t date her at all.” He was so close to her now that she could feel his breath on her face. “So tell me…”–he moved his mouth by her ear–“what’s the real reason why you don’t want me to see Bobbie?”

‘Don’t tell him, Mack. Don’t tell him! Make something up!’ “Um…I-I…” she stammered, feeling heat rise into her cheeks as he stepped closer, his body pressing against hers. Her eyes widened slightly and her breath came out shaky when she felt how thick he was through his jeans against her hip.

“You…what?” He whispered.

“I…want you to myself.”

“WHAT!?” Lance, Chris, and Joey shouted so loud that Justin had to cover his ears with his hands.

“Geeze, guys, it’s not that unbelievable,” Justin mumbled, rubbing his ears.

“Tell us everything you saw, Timberlake,” Joey demanded.

“Every last detail,” Chris added.

“Ok. I went down to the restaurant and stopped in front of that podium thing that the waiters stand behind. Then he tilted his head and told me to follow him so I did. It took about…thirty steps, maybe thirty five. Then–”

“J, just tell us what you saw!” Lance interrupted.

“OK! OK! I was on the phone with Mack, right? She was asking if I had gone to the Regis show yet and I told her that I hadn’t. Then, I look up and see Bobbie sucking face with Wade!” Justin said as he jumped onto his bed and jumped up and down for emphasis. “Wade! Of all people!”

“That’s not possible,” Joey said as he shook his head.

“Yeah, Wade said that he was going to California yesterday,” Chris agreed.

“Well he lied!” Justin crossed his legs in mid air and landed on the bed in Indian-style sitting position. “Wait a minute! Every time she said she was going to New York…” his voice trailed off.

Lance’s eyes widened. “She was coming here to cheat on JC the entire time!”

“With Wade?” Joey asked.

“No.” Justin shook his head and rubbed his chin. “She’s been ‘going to New York’ too many times for it to be Wade, but it is a big coincidence.”

“I don’t think it is,” Lance said as he stood himself and began pacing the room. “True, he has choreographed stuff for us before, but there has to be some sort of explanation of how he knew about our tour that was coming up. Barley anyone knew and Johnny said he was approached with the idea of Wade being our tour choreographer. I mean, Mack could’ve easily done it by herself.”

“He has a point,” Chris agreed. “His timing seems a little too perfect. I mean, with Mack’s arm in the sling for a few more days she’s going to need him to take over a bit and we’re going to have to start running through our songs by the end of the week.”

“What, you think he somehow planned to show up that night, flirt with Mack, somehow get JC drunk and then practically break her arm?” Joey asked with a scoff. “No one’s that evil.”

“But someone’s that ambitious,” Justin commented. He reached over to the notepad that was on his bedside table and pulled out a pen from the depths of his curls that was hidden by his bandana. Lance, Chris, and Joey gave him an odd look. “What? My curls aren’t here for show,” he muttered, clicking the top of the pen. He quickly scribbled down what they had said before slapping the pen down on the pad, causing the others to jump. “There isn’t a celebrity out there that doesn’t want Mack to choreograph for them, even if it’s for a minute-thirty routine, she’s that good. There isn’t anyone out there that hasn’t read the articles that have been written about her. She’d probably be choreographing…the Backstreet Boys if she wasn’t so dedicated to us. Now Wade comes along and suddenly Mack is injured and he’s thrust into the spotlight.” He tapped the pen against the pad. “Something does add up.”

“Backtrack a bit.” Joey rubbed his beard as he thought. “To the night of the Arm Incident. We were at the club, right? You said we were going to meet Wade there. Somehow, Mack and JC were the only ones who actually talked to him. Mack and Jace both said it was as if he appeared out of nowhere. That means he had to have been there longer than we have or else we would’ve noticed him come in because we were by the door almost the entire night.”

“Right!” Lance snapped. “Which means he had to have been watching her most of the night. Or long enough to find where she was when she was talking to Jace.”

“But how would he know that she’d be there?” Chris asked with so much excitement that he jumped out of his seat.

“I told him when he called,” Justin admitted. Chris’s face fell and he sat back down in his seat. “JC, when he wasn’t puking, said that Wade was openly flirting with her. The two big questions that come out of it are: 1) Why would that drive JC to getting drunk and 2) Did he know that she would end up getting hurt?”

“The answer to two is no,” Lance replied with confidence. “There is no way that he would have known that JC becomes somewhat violent when he’s drunk.”

“Unless…someone…told him!” Chris said as he jumped to his feet again.

“Who would be stupid enough to do that?” Justin asked, tapping the pen against the pad faster. He squeezed his eyes shut to think. His eyes flew open when he was suddenly smacked on the back of the head. “Ow, what?”

“Who’s the stupid one now?” Joey asked with an eyeroll. “It had to be Bobbie.”

“How would Bobbie know who Wade was? She’s never met the guy and she doesn’t have access to any information of choreographers that we do,” Lance added.

“Maybe not by herself but through JC she could,” Joey replied. “She can get anything out of JC without having to try that hard. She’s practically sucking him dry.” He made a face when Chris and Justin covered their mouths to keep from laughing out loud. “All kidding aside, whatever she wants to get her hands on, she can get it through JC easily.”

“But why would she tell Wade about JC’s random bursts of violence when drunk? How close are they?” Chris muttered.

“Pretty damn close,” Justin mumbled. “Well, Bobbie can’t stand knowing that JC works with other women all of the time and JC, for some reason, hates when Mack gets hit on. Put those two together and you have your reason for why Wade flirted with her and why he ended up getting drunk and why he eventually hurt her arm.” He frowned. “There’s still one question that’s not answered: what would she get out of all of this? What’s she aiming for?”

“JC’s name?” Lance suggested with a shrug.

“She wants to be married to him maybe,” Chris spoke up.

“Not maybe. Definitely. She wants his money and the fame that comes with being with JC but I still don’t get why she would stoop so low just to get to it.”

Justin’s eyes suddenly widened and he hit himself on the head. Duh! The answer was right in front of him and he was too stupid to see it. Lance, Chris, and Joey gave him questioning looks. “I know why! She’s jealous! She feels threatened! She thinks her access to JC’s money and the short stint of fame will go away,” he declared, scribbling on the note pad again. It all made sense now.

“What?” Joey questioned.

“Why?” Lance asked.

“I think I missed something,” Chris mumbled. “Why does she feel threatened?”

“Because of Mack!” Justin exclaimed, still scribbling. “It all makes sense. Bobbie hated Mack from the beginning because she has the one thing that Bobbie doesn’t have.”

“What’s that? A brain?” Lance asked dryly.

“No!” Justin grinned. “JC’s heart!”

“Ok, now I’m really confused!” Chris said as he threw his arms into the air.

“The reason JC’s been acting funny lately is because he’s in love with Mack. Not JC. Bobbie must’ve seen it when they started dating. That’s why Bobbie hates Mack so much. It would also be the reason why she’d get Wade’s contact info, anonymously give it to Johnny, get him to meet us at the club, flirt with Mack, which would get JC drunk and then he would hurt her. She must’ve thought that it would make Mack hate him and not want to talk to him and that would hurt him and make him pay more attention to her. And she’s cheating on him with Wade as a payment for all that he’s done!” he threw his arms into the air and grinned. “I cracked the code!”

“So what do we do now? I’m pretty sure if we confront them about it they’ll deny it,” Lance replied. “Not to mention that fact that I’m not even sure that Mack’s aware that JC’s in love with her. Besides, that would cause a few problems if she ever found out: 1) She’s five years younger than him and 2) he’s technically her boss and she could end up fired.”

“She can’t get fired if he ever tells her the truth,” Justin said with an eye roll.

“Yeah. She can only get fired if he fucks her,” Chris agreed.

Justin cut his eyes at Chris. “Don’t talk about her like that. She’s a friend, not a groupie!”

“Have you seen JC? He’s a freak, he’ll get whatever he can and when he’s horny and he sets his eyes on something he likes he has a hard time controlling that urge.”

“Ok, this is simple. We’ll just keep JC away from Mack as much as possible and Mack away from Bobbie so they won’t kill each other,” Joey said as he snapped rapidly.

“What about Wade and Mack? Bobbie could make him do something that she won’t be ready for,” Justin said with concern laced in his voice.

“You really think that Bobbie could get Wade to rape her or something?” Chris asked. Justin shrugged. “Well, I think that’s a chance we have to risk. Mack might be able to get some info out of him or he’ll let it slip. She may be innocent but she knows how to act.”

Justin stayed silent, weighing his options, which weren’t many. He didn’t want to put his friend in danger but he didn’t want Bobbie to ruin JC’s life either. He bit his lip and exhaled. “Ok. She all ready knows about Bobbie cheating. We just have to get her in on the plan and we should have them exposed by…next month at the latest.”

“Let’s do this,” Chris said as he punched his fists into the air.

“Ok, what do we do first?” Lance asked.

“I suggest getting Mack her own room or she can share mine,” Justin replied as he dug around in his pockets for the number of Johnny’s hotel room. “She’ll get more done without JC lusting after her.”

“Wonder how long it’ll take before she gives in,” Chris muttered as he studied his nails.

“Wha?” Justin demanded. His head was tilted so he could keep the phone on his shoulder as he held the card in one hand and dialed Johnny’s room number with the other.

“Well…she’s a girl and JC’s the type of guy that she’s always been attracted to,” he said with an eye roll. Justin stared blankly at him. “What, wasn’t it that obvious to you? Sheesh, you call yourself her best friend.”

Justin’s lip twitched slightly. “Ok, Lance you get her out of there. I don’t care what lie you have to make up, just do it.” Lance nodded and rushed out of the room. “Joey, what kind of set are we doing to at MTV?”

“An acoustic set,” Joey replied.

“Ok, go with Lance and try and convince Mack to stay here. Say there’s no need for her to come and make sure we don’t make a mistake because it’s an acoustic set.” Joey nodded and followed Lance out of the room.

“What do you want me to do?” Chris asked eagerly.

“Stay here with me for now, then I’ll give you your assignment,” Justin replied, tapping his fingers against the desk as he waited for Johnny to pick up.

“I feel like we’re on a spy mission,” Chris said as Justin turned his back to him so he could pay more attention to the phone call. “Oooh! Will your message self destruct once you’re done giving it?” He asked eagerly once Justin put down the phone.

“You’ve been watching too much TV,” Justin said as he slowly shook his head. “For now we’re going to have to pretend that nothing is going on. This means that we can’t let Bobbie know that we know what she’s doing. So we’re just going to have to act normal.”

“So…we can still make fun of her and call her names?” Chris asked.

“Yes, we can still do that, meanwhile we have to keep an eye on her to get proof of her cheating before we bring it up to JC,” Justin continued as he pulled on his shoes. “So don’t mention anything to JC at all. What we can do is make Bobbie and Wade sweat a bit without confronting them.”

“I think I get it,” Chris said as he nodded slowly before he cackled. “The bitch is finally getting what she deserves.”

“And we’ll make sure she gets it in a big way,” Justin agreed. “Let’s go to the restaurant. I’m starving.”

“Finally you say something I do understand.”

Justin laughed and shoved Chris out of the door of his hotel room. The two walked with their heads together, thinking up ways to expose Bobbie once they got the truth out of her. They were so into their conversation that they didn’t notice JC had come out of his hotel room and ran after them down the hall. “Hey.”

“Aaaah!” Justin and Chris shouted, jumping apart and whirling around. They backed away from him, hands clutched over their chests.

“What the heck is your problem?” JC questioned. “I was yelling your names and chasing you down the damn hall. What’s so important that you didn’t hear me?”

“Well, you don’t talk that loud,” Chris stared lamely. “So you yelling would be the equivalent of a mouse’s squeak.”

“Ha ha,” JC laughed sarcastically and rolled his eyes. “Where are you two headed?”

Justin said “The Arcade” the same time Chris replied “The Restaurant”. The two looked at each other and replied again, this time switching their answers. “They have a few arcade games in the restaurant,” Justin quickly said with a little laugh. “I bet Chris ten dollars that he couldn’t beat my high score in pinball.”

“With his attention span you’re going to keep those ten dollars,” JC commented dryly. He smiled innocently when Chris gave him an offended look. JC casually shoved his hands into his pockets. “Hey, do you guys know why Mack was moved out of my room?” He asked nonchalantly.

“Uhhhh,” Chris and Justin stammered in unison.

“Because…” Chris looked over at Justin.

“I…asked her…to room with me,” Justin finished lamely.

“Why?” JC asked in confusion. “You said so yourself that she’d get more sleep if she roomed with me.”

“Right, but…” his eyes shifted as if he were searching the hall of his answer. “I didn’t…want Bobbie at your throat once she found out about the arrangements.” He chuckled as he subtly hit the down elevator button with his elbow. “I saved your life, man, be happy. You know how ballistic she can get.” He flinched slightly when he felt Chris elbow him in the side. “Speaking of which…what do you think she’d do if you cheated on her?”

JC blinked and knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. “Why?”

“Just curious,” Justin shrugged. “What about you? What’d you do if Bobbie was cheating on you?”

“I’d dump her. There’s no point in putting a lot of energy into a relationship that the other’s not willing to work on.” He squinted. “Why the sudden interest?”

“Curious,” Chris and Justin replied in unison before backing into the elevator and Chris slapped a button on the panel. “See you later.” They waved with over-the-top enthusiasm as the doors closed. They sighed and slumped against the back wall. “Geeze, you’d think JC grew up in the police force. How are we going to deal with his interrogations?”

“Just do what I do,” Justin replied.

“What’s that?”

“Ignore him.” The elevator doors opened up and revealed the lobby. The two stuck their heads out and looked around before stepping out completely. They were only a few paces out of the elevator when they saw Bobbie sitting in a chair in the lobby. She turned her head and smiled when she saw them. The smile made Justin want to kick her in the face for pretending to be all innocent. She stood and started walking in their direction, the smile never leaving her face. “She’s heading this way!”

“Retreat! Retreat!” Chris grabbed the back of Justin’s shirt and pulled him back into the elevator, hitting a random number. “Did you see that smile on her face? It makes me sick!”

“I want to punch her for doing this to C,” Justin agreed. “God, she’s making me feel guilty and we haven’t even done anything.” The elevator doors opened up on the second floor. “What the hell!?” He practically shouted but Chris covered his mouth in time and he pressed another button and the doors closed again. “What is this, hide-and-seek?” he demanded once Chris moved his hand.

“What if Bobbie knows that we know about what she knows?” Chris asked with wide eyes. “Then she’d keep being nice to us to make us more paranoid until we spill and come out looking like the bad guys. Oooh, she’s an evil genius.”

“If she were a genius she wouldn’t be making out in public!” Justin shot back. “And being a genius usually means you need a brain, which is what she lacks.” He took a deep breath. “We just have to play it cool.” The doors opened again. Chris looked up and started screaming as Justin rolled his eyes. “And apparently that’s easier said than done.”

“What’s his problem?” Joey asked as he and Lance moved into the elevator and pressed the L button.

“He’s paranoid that Bobbie knows that we know what she knows,” Justin replied. “So now he’s paranoid because it seemed like every floor we went on either she was there or JC was there and it was like we were playing hide-and-seek or something.”

“A scary game of hide-and-seek,” Chris corrected. “Anyway, did you do your jobs right?”

“Yup. Mack is now rooming with you, J. I called Britney about it and she says she’s fine with it because she knows you won’t do anything to hurt her,” Lance replied.

“And we convinced her to stay here and sleep since she hasn’t gotten any lately,” Joey continued. “What else can we do?”

“For today, nothing. Just watch Bobbie and Wade I guess,” Justin replied. “Oh, and put your video camera to use just in case you can get evidence.”

“Got it.”

JC sat on the couch that was provided for them in the Green Room of MTV studios. He sat there, quietly observing his friends who were doing their normal thing, eating candy, talking, and laughing like nothing was going on. But JC wasn’t a fool, he was slow sometimes but he wasn’t oblivious.

The entire time they were at the hotel he went looking for them but they ran out of the room whenever they saw him like they were hiding something. That was the only conclusion that JC had, they were hiding something from him but he didn’t know what it was. Either way, it made him upset.

He hated being the last one to know about something but he hated not being told whatever it was more. It’s obvious that they wanted to say something to him or else they wouldn’t be acting like they committed a felony. Actually, JC couldn’t rule that thought out, especially when that thought was linked to Chris and Justin. The two kept looking at him as if he caught them with their hands in the cookie jar.

JC bit his lip and let out a slow breath through his nose trying to keep his anger down. He was madder at Justin than the rest of them. He and Justin told each other everything yet now he was acting like JC didn’t exist. Furthermore, Justin ruined JC’s only chance to getting Mack to be his. He was closer than he was before to kissing her when Johnny had called telling them of the room changes. After that Mack bolted as if she were being chased by a monster. And Justin was the reason behind it.

“Joshua, are you even listening to me?” JC tore his eyes away from Justin and looked up at Bobbie who was currently perched on his lap.

“Sorry, I was thinking about something,” JC mumbled, catching the look that Chris shot Joey who tried to hide his smile. “What was it that you wanted?”

“I said that there’s a big sale that’s going to start in…” –she paused to look at her watch– “fifteen minutes and if I don’t get there in time all the good boots will be gone so…” she put on her charming smile and hugged JC around the neck. “Can I borrow your credit card again?”

JC let out a loud sigh, one that seemed to silence every noise in the room. He could practically feel everyone’s eyes on him. Bobbie looked at him with wide eyes, waiting for his response. JC hesitated. He really wanted to tell Bobbie off and that it was over between them, heck they never really had a relationship in the first place. JC had a relationship with her beauty and she had a relationship with his money.

“I don’t know…” he lowered his voice so the other guys couldn’t hear him. “Why don’t you just use your own?”

“You have more credit on yours,” she replied as if it were obvious. “Besides, I thought you liked the stuff I bought for you.

“How can I? You only buy stuff for yourself,” JC hissed.

Bobbie’s eyebrows knitted together. “That’s not true. What about that red nightie I got last week? Hmm?” She nuzzled his neck. He shoved her to the ground in response. The boys were looking at him with raised eyebrows while Bobbie as looking at him from the ground, eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. She quickly regained her composure and scrambled to her feet. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She hissed.

“Thinking clearly for the first time since we started dating,” JC replied, bringing a hand up to his temple which he started to rub. “It’s against my morals to lay my hands on a woman unless they deserve it, and in this case you do!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about this!” he replied, pointing at himself then at her then at himself again. “Us! As far as I’m concerned, there is no us anymore because the only thing you’ve done since we started dating was use and abuse me!”

“I never abused you,” Bobbie replied through clenched teeth.

JC scoffed. “Not physically but it sure feels like you did. Go home, Bobbie. Go back to your stupid teenie magazine because I’m done here.” When she didn’t move he walked over to the door, opened it, and pointed outside. Instead of huffing, cursing, or screaming at him like the others thought she merely crossed her arms over her chest and smiled.

“You can’t get rid of me like that,” Bobbie replied, slowly shaking her head. She walked over to where he was standing and whispered something in his ear. The look of anger slowly fell from his face and was replaced with a look of horror. She merely smiled and walked out of the room. JC lightly pushed the door and watched as it swung forward and closed.

“C?” Justin asked, walking over to him. “C?” He repeated. JC stared off into space as Justin waved a hand in front of his face. “JC?” He placed his hand on JC’s shoulder. JC blinked and looked at Justin as if seeing him for the first time. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” JC replied, his voice suddenly hoarse. “I just have to call someone."

“C! Wait!” Justin shouted as JC bolted out the door.

“We’re about to go on!” Joey added.

“I’ll be back in time!” JC shouted over his shoulder.

“What do you think she said to him?” Lance asked breaking the silence that followed.

“I don’t know but we sure as hell won’t get it out of him,” Justin replied. “We won’t get it out of Bobbie either.”

“So we just have to get it out of Wade,” Chris pointed out.

“Ok, how are we going to do that without accusing him of messing up our friends’ lives?” Justin asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Who said anything about accusing him? We can drag it out of him with torture.” A sadistic smile crossed his features that actually scared Joey, Lance, and Justin.

“I think we should leave that as Plan…elfor” Lance suggested making up a letter.

“That’s not a real letter,” Chris commented.

“Exactly.”

~*~*~

“Whoa. Bobbie, what’s up?” Wade asked, jumping out of the way of his hotel room door that she had just pushed open with so much force he probably would’ve gotten a broken nose if it hit him.

“What’s up is that JC tried to break up with me,” Bobbie replied practically foaming at the mouth.

“What? Why?” He demanded, following her over to the love-seat that was in front of the large sliding glass door that led to a balcony. “What happened?”

“All I was doing was talking to him and asked him if I could borrow his credit card because I was planning on surprising him. He went ballistic. He shoved me to the floor and yelled at me in front of his loser friends!”

“He all of a sudden said he wanted to break up with you?” Wade questioned. She nodded and tapped her fingers against the armrest of the couch rapidly. “Then it must’ve been something that you’ve been doing. JC usually doesn’t hold a grudge.”

“How would you know? You practically know them!” She spat, glaring at him.

“Yes, but I’ve worked with him long enough to know that he doesn’t hold grudges unless he thinks he can work something out by himself,” Wade replied calmly. “You said you wanted to borrow his credit card?” She nodded. “How often have you been asking for it? Maybe that’s why he’s mad, because you stuck him with the bill?”

“That can’t be it!” Bobbie said, waving away the thought. “Uh-uh, no way!” She mumbled as her mind set on something. “He went and fell in love with that Shrimp! I’m am not going to let him get away with this.”

“Isn’t your plan kinda…screwed?” Wade asked in confusion.

“No, there is no change in my plan; you’re still going to get your prude. I just have to work harder. I all ready have him afraid of me, he won’t stray. I’ll make sure of it.”

~*~*~

“JC!” Lance shouted, trying to grab the back of the older man’s shirt.

Their driver slammed on the brakes as JC catapulted himself out of the van. He ignored his friends shouting about waiting for their bodyguards to escort him into the hotel. His heart was beating against his chest at the fear of Bobbie going through with her threat.

“Excuse me!” He practically shouted at the receptionist as he slapped his hands on her desk. “Have you seen a girl walk by here recently?”

“Seeing as 60% of our staff is female I should say yes,” the man replied with a hint of a smile.

“The girl I’m talking about is 5’2” has blue eyes, black hair, the bangs are blue, she’s wearing a sling,” JC replied, getting more desperate with every word he said.

“Oh, her.” He smiled. “Yes, I saw her going to the restaurant about ten minutes ago. I think she’s still there.”

“Thank you!” JC ran a couple of paces before turning back around and running back to the desk. “Where is it exactly?”

The man laughed and gave him the directions. JC thanked him again and ran off in the direction he was told. He stopped outside the restaurant doors and looked in through the window. He spotted Mack through the window and rushed inside. She looked up and jumped a bit when JC stopped by her table, panting. “Whoa, Jace, where’s the fire?” She asked in concern.

“Need to…tell you something,” he panted.

“Ok, what’s–” she started but he slapped his hand over her mouth, stopping her from speaking.

“Don’t talk! Just listen!” he ordered. She nodded and he sucked in his breath. “This may sound really weird but I have to get it off of my chest before someone tells you and I can’t.” She knitted her eyebrows together, confusion shining through her eyes. “I love you. I have since…I don’t know how long, but I had to let you know. I couldn’t hide it from you any longer. It was slowly driving me insane. I just…fuck, I…” he stopped talking and pulled his hand away from her mouth. He sat looking at her, stunned at his confession. “Say something,” he begged. “Please.”

“What’s he doing?” Chris asked, his voice strained. He didn’t speak much because Joey’s knee was digging into his kidney. Lance was also crouching on the ground and Justin was kneeling on Lance to see into the window.

“He’s talking to her,” Joey replied. “Judging by his face he’s freaking out about something.”

“He told her!” Chris shouted, standing up in excitement. He merely watched, pointed, and then laughed as Joey fell over and landed on the floor. “Anyway, that has to be why he’s freaking out.”

“No, that can’t be it,” Justin said as he shifted a bit so Lance was more comfortable. “JC’s a pussy when it comes to telling girls his feelings.”

“Unless that’s why he ran out before our show,” Lance commented from where he was positioned on his hands and knees. “Bobbie’s probably aware that he loves her and threatened to tell Mack herself. She doesn’t believe anything Bobbie tells her so she’d probably deny it. If JC told her after Bobbie did she’d laugh or something which would hurt him which would make Bobbie happy.”

“It’s like she can read JC,” Justin mumbled, shaking his head. “Guys,” he said slowly. “We aren’t going to win.”

“What’re you talking about, soldier?” Chris demanded. Although he took their ‘mission’ as a joke he was super serious about how Bobbie was ruining his ‘brother’s’ life. “The odds of her wining this battle may be in her favor, but she won’t win this war. We have more people on our side; she and Wade is her only army. She’s outnumbered six to two. She may have the brains but we have the pride.”

“Chris is right!” Joey agreed, slapping Chris on the back. “JC’s our friend and if we give up after this battle then we not only lost the war, but we lost JC as well and I’m not going down without a fight. So what if it takes weeks, maybe months to get JC to realize what she’s doing to him? God dammit, I’ll wait those weeks and those months because I am not leaving him behind.”

“We need a new plan of attack then,” Lance pointed out, slowly shaking his head at their motivational ‘speech’.

“And I think I have a good one, but it’s going to rest heavily on her part,” Justin replied, nodding his head in Mack’s direction. “I’m sure she’ll go along with it. If it’s anything she hates more than Bobbie, she hates anyone messing with us. The fact that it’s her makes it personal.” He dropped the serious look and adopted a slightly goofy smile and a new energized demeanor. “Now, what we’re going to do,” Justin started in an army-like shout, “is we’re going to have a good battle. So sayeth the Sheppard–“

“So sayeth the flock!” The rest of the boys shouted with him.

~*~*~

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        “Say something,” he begged. “Please.”

Mack’s mind went blank as she studied JC’s face and eyes for…something, but all she saw was sincerity. She sighed and lowered her head, scratching her hairline. JC instantly knew that she was having a hard time trying to find something to say. She only reacted that way in awkward situations, it was her nervous habit.

She finally lifted her head and looked him in the eye. “Jace…I…where is this coming from?” She finally asked.

“I’ve felt this way for a long time and I felt like I needed to tell you. I hate keeping things from you and it was slowly tearing me up inside.”He reached across the table and took her hand. “Just tell me…do you feel the same way about me?”

“I…Jace, I can’t…” she mumbled.

“You can’t what?” He demanded, never taking his eyes off of her.

She sighed again and pulled her hand away, placing it on her lap. “JC, you’re five years older than me–”

“So?” He interrupted her. “My Dad’s seven years older than my Mom and they’ve been together for a while.”

“I understand, but we’re on different, um, different maturity levels,” she replied.

“Bullshit.” JC shook his head, not believing a word she was saying.

“JC, you’re my boss!” She said as she threw her free arm into the air in exasperation. “I could get fired if I ever had a relationship with you–with any of you.”

JC leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “So Justin’s the only exception?” He demanded.

“What the heck does Justin have anything to do with this?” She asked–trying to stay calm–even though she all ready knew the answer.

“It seems to me that you’ll say one thing but do the other when Justin is involved,” he continued as if he didn’t hear her. “You say you won’t have a relationship with your ‘boss’ yet with you and Justin being as close as you are it seems like he has a special treatment or something.”

“You know my relationship with Justin, Joshua,” she replied through clenched teeth. “We’re friends and that’s the beginning and end of it. I’m not sleeping him nor have I slept him in the past. I don’t know what the hell is going on with you lately, but I don’t appreciate you talking to me like I’m below you or something.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but…I just can’t deal with this right now. If the situation was different…” she stopped and shook her head. “I just can’t deal with this.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

She stopped and stared hard at him and he held her gaze. “I can’t."

“Whatever.” JC rolled his eyes. “Just know this, you may think that there’s nothing between us, but I know there is. You’re going to come to your senses and know that there’s something there.” He paused. “I’m the one you want,” he said barely above a whisper. “I just wish you’d give me a chance.”

“Stop it! Just stop it!” She shouted, ignoring the fact that she grabbed the attention of the other customers in the restaurant. “Stop trying to make me feel guilty!”

“I’m not trying to make you feel anything!” He shot back standing at his full height and looking down at her. “I love you, which part of that don’t you understand?”

“You can’t love me!”

“Why not?”

“You just can’t, ok?”

“No, it’s not ok because I can’t just change the way I feel. I can’t just get over you because you want me to.” He slowly shook his head. “Why can’t you accept the fact that someone outside of your family thinks you’re wonderful, nice, pretty, sweet, smart, caring, and outgoing?”

She looked past him and out the window. “Your girlfriend’s waiting,” she hissed before moving past him, purposely hitting his arm with her shoulder. He watched her leave and then glared at Bobbie when she came up to him smiling.

“What did you do?” He demanded.

“I didn’t do anything,” she replied with a shrug.

“Don’t lie!” he snarled through clenched teeth.

“I’m being honest, Joshua. I haven’t said a thing to her. She reacted that way honestly. She hates you, Josh. Get over it. She’ll never love you.”

“You don’t know how she feels!” JC snarled.

“Yes, but I do know that she can hold a grudge for a long time and you, Joshua, are going to be left out in the rain like a pathetic little puppy.” She chuckled at the vision in her head. “Besides, she has other boys, sorry, men to worry about. I heard that Wade was planning on asking her out sometime today.” The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile as he clenched his hands into fists. “Forget about her, Joshua. She’s all ready forgotten about you.”

Johnny could practically feel the hostility in the room. He could tell most of it was directed towards him because he was blocking the only exit out of the room. Since they got back from New York he’s gotten reports from Wade that they were missing steps that they would easily get and that they didn’t seem as focused as they used to be, so he staged an intervention at their compound.

“Johnny, we have to rehearse,” Mack commented from her seat in between Joey and Lance.

“From what I’ve heard your rehearsals haven’t been going well,” Johnny replied. “And you’re partially to blame.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “Me? I haven’t been able to do anything since I got the freaking sling on my arm, how could this be my fault?”

“Wade says that there’s a problem between you and JC, a problem that neither of you are addressing, which I believe to be part of the focus problem,” he responded as he looked back and forth between the two he mention. JC was slumped in his chair, his hands in his pockets, staring up at the ceiling. The room was silent for a couple of minutes. “Well? This problem isn’t going to be solved unless either of you say something.”

“There’s nothing to say,” Mack replied. She glared when JC started chuckling from where he was sitting. “What the hell’s so funny?”

He lowered his head and sat up in his chair, a small smile was on his face. “The fact that you can just sit there and lie to one of your bosses,” he replied calmly.

“I’m not lying, I’m stating the truth: there’s nothing to say.”

“That’s a load of crap and you know it.” The smile left JC’s face but his eyes were shining as in mischief.

Mack scoffed. “You didn’t want to talk to me three days ago, why do you want to bring it up now?” She brought on a child-like tone to her voice. “Is it because Princess Bobbie is insecure?”

The light faded from JC’s eyes as he glared. “Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with our problem.”

“There is no problem.”

“How can you just sit there and deny it?” JC shouted. The other boys were in shock. He rarely ever raised his voice at anyone. He usually took the calm voice approach but now he must be really pissed. “How can you just…ignore this?”

“The same way you can ignore me for the past three days,” she shot back, standing and stomping over to him so they were almost nose to nose.

“You’re the one who avoided me!” JC pointed out, getting to his feet and glaring down at her.

“Are you sure? Maybe Bobbie made you blind to everyone else around you that your vision is distorted whenever she’s hanging off your arm.”

“Don’t you get it? She’s the one causing all of our problems!” Chris shouted overtop of their arguing. Mack and JC turned to look at Chris who had gotten to his feet. Justin and Lance were struggling to pull him back down in his chair. “Let go of me! They need to know!” He shouted.

“Shut up, Chris!” Justin hissed.

“Yeah, you’ll ruin everything,” Lance added.

“Boys, let him go,” Johnny said from where he was sitting. Justin and Lance slowly let go of Chris’ arms and gave each other a scared look. “Now, what is it you want to say?” He asked calmly.

Chris shifted from foot to foot. Joey was biting his lip, Lance was looking around the room, Justin was messing with his bandana, and Johnny, JC, and Mack were staring at him intently, waiting for him to say what he was going to say.

“What’re you talking about?” JC asked, breaking the silence.

“It’s Bobbie, don’t you get it?” Chris asked in exasperation. “Bobbie’s the reason why you two are at each other’s throats. Johnny, the only reason they’re fighting is because of JC’s girlfriend, girlwhore, whatever the fuck she is, I really don’t give a shit about her but the fact that she’s messed up their friendship kills me.”

“What do you mean Bobbie has something to do with this?” JC asked, his arms crossed over his chest. Chris looked away from JC’s piercing gaze. His eyebrows slowly knitted together when he looked at each of his friends’ faces and noticed that none of them were looking back at him. “What is it guys?” His voice cracked. His stomach dropped and his hands flooded. “Guys?”

“She’s cheating on you!” Justin shouted before dropping to the floor on his knees. “Bobbie’s been cheating on you! Every time she went to New York she’s been hooking up with someone else!” The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop them and JC merely stared at him, stunned. “Just last week she went to New York before us. Remember that?” He didn’t wait for JC to answer. “She went a day earlier than the rest of us to be with Wade. Yes, Wade. She’s been cheating on you with him. The only way I know is because I caught them making out in the restaurant. I told Mack–”

“You knew?” JC demanded, turning to her. She backed away from him rapidly, almost tripping over her own feet. Justin stood and she ducked behind him.

“Jace, I made her not tell you. Then I told the guys–” Justin continued.

“They knew too!?” JC rounded on Lance, Joey, and Chris who looked up at him with wide eyes. He was taking deep breaths and his face was void of any emotion except for his eyes. His eyes showed that he wanted to throttle them.

“I told them not to tell you. We didn’t want you to have to find out on your own, or worse, have Bobbie tell you so we came up with a plan to expose her ourselves but it kept backfiring in our faces,” Justin continued. “Don’t be mad at us, we were trying to protect you. We were being your friends.”

“My friends don’t keep secrets from me!” JC shot back. Justin winced at the tone JC was using with him and lowered his voice to the ground. “I can’t believe you guys! I can’t believe you would keep something this important from me! I just…I can’t wrap my head around it. I’m floored.”

Despite the mood, Chris burst out laughing. JC was the only one they knew that actually used an expression as weird as that in a sentence. He immediately stopped laughing when JC glared at him. “Don’t be mad at us, C.”

“Then who should I be mad at?”

“You should be mad at yourself for not noticing the fact that your girlfriend was straying. The fact that she’s a gold digger is another one. Oh, how about the fact that she’s controlling your life without doing much?” Chris replied with an eye roll.

“Wait, wait,” Johnny interrupted, waving his hands so he could get everyone’s attention. “Let me see if I understand this: this girl, Bobbie, JC’s girlfriend, is the main reason you all aren’t focused. JC, because you’re dating her, boys because you want to expose her?” They nodded. Johnny started laughing. “Have you boys not heard of The Beatles? Now, I’m not saying that Yoko was the number one reason for their split, but she had to be a little factor in their split. I don’t want that to happen to you boys either. You have something big here; your album sold over a million copies in one week. You were able to win a lawsuit that no one thought you would win. And you want to throw all of that away because of a girl?”

His opinion hung in the air as the guys looked at each other. They knew he was right; they just didn’t want to be the first one to admit it. They were too close to let a girl come between them. They were more than friends, they were brothers, and brothers were always there for each other.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want a Beatles repeat,” Chris spoke up.

“You don’t want to make music that people are going to remember years from now?” Justin asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Oh, I want to do that. I just don’t want to break up because of a girl…or have a few of us die when we’re still young.”

Justin scoffed. “We,” –he motioned to himself, JC, Joey, and Lance– “are still young. You’re the one who has to worry about it, Old Man.” The other guys cracked smiles. “Do you want us to get you a walker soon? Or how about a power-scooter for when your back gives out?”

Even Johnny burst out laughing at Justin’s teasing. They ended up laughing so hard tears fell down their faces. It’s been a while since they all laughed like that and JC missed it. He hated himself for not realizing how much of a difference it made having Bobbie around.

“Ok, guys, now that everything’s settled…” he leaned over slightly to look at Mack who was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. “Rehearsal start in…about two hours?” She nodded.

“Great! Let’s get breakfast!” Justin said as he clasped his hands together.

“J, can you drop me off at the dance studio?” Mack asked him, pushing herself off of the wall.

“You don’t want to eat with us?” He asked.

She shook her head. “Nah. I ate earlier. Besides I want to get some more stuff figured out before I teach you what I’ve been working on.” She made a face at the next explosion of laughter. ‘Besides, I’m going to need the peace and quiet.”

 

~*~*~

 

“Hey Mack,” Wade greeted her cheerfully as she stretched against a wall. He stopped and looked across the room at her as she continued stretching, ignoring him. “What’s up?” He questioned, dropping his bag in a corner. She lifted her head and glared at him and recoiled. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Your gold digging girlfriend did,” she replied from her position.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said in confusion.

“I believe she goes by the name Bobbie Two-Timing Thomas.”

“Ohhhh, that.” Wade chuckled a bit and ran his hand through his bleached-blond hair. “That thing between me and here was just a one-night stand. No strings attached. I was bored and horny and she was around. Honestly, I never even knew she was dating JC or else I would’ve left her alone.”

“Why’re you trying to convince me?” She asked, sitting up.

“Because your opinion is the only one that really matters,” he replied matter-of-factly. She narrowed her eyes as if trying to read his mind. “What I mean is that we should have some sort of trust between us if we’re going to be working together. At first I got the feeling that you hated the fact that I was going to be co-choreographing this tour and then I thought you hated me.”

“Oh, I do,” she replied nonchalantly. He stared at her with a mixture of shock and surprised on his face. When the corners of her mouth twitched up into a smile he relaxed. “Look, I don’t like it when people step into my territory–”

“You working with the guys,” he interrupted, nodding. “I get it. I’m not here to take your place; I’m here to help you make them better.” He smiled. “What you’ve done is impressive; I’m not going to lie. How you showed how the guys grew through their dance moves is really cool.”

“Thanks I guess,” she muttered, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking up dances for Just Got Paid, It’s Gonna Be Me, and No Strings Attached and I think it would be best to start with the easier songs and move up in intensity. From what the guys want to depict with Just Got Paid I came up with something really simple that doesn’t have a lot of choreography but it has to be precise to look good instead of letting them make a few mistakes.” She crouched by her bag and pulled out a white binder. She flipped a few pages before pointing to a page. “They want this song to sort of tell a little story which is why there’s less dancing and more crowd interaction. It should take them…two days, maybe three to get the steps down.”

“Sounds good to me.” Wade nodded as she closed the binder with a loud snap. “How long until they get here?”

“About a half hour. Could be a little bit later ‘cause of JC, he’s notoriously late.”

“Right.” He scratched the back of his neck. “So, um, how close are you and Justin?”

Mack sighed heavily. She hated having to repeat their relationship to people. “Justin and I are just friends. He’s more like my brother. No I’m not dating him nor have I dated him,” she replied in monotone.

“What about the others?”

Mack cut her eyes at him. “Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious.” He shrugged.

“I don’t mix business with pleasure and I don’t date.”

“Someone as…outgoing as you? Why not?”

“I don’t have time and I don’t want to have to deal with users.”

“Users?’

“Yeah.” She nodded. “People who claim they want to know but what they really want is for me to use my ‘connections’ and get them a record deal or something.” She rolled her eyes. “It makes it hard to trust people in this business sometimes.”

“How do you deal?”

“The guys protect me. They can usually spot the users from miles away so it saves me the time of having to kick their ass.”

Wade chuckled and looked out the window when a car pulled into the parking lot followed by a jeep. The guys were there. “So um,” he cleared his throat. “I know you said you don’t mix business with pleasure, but I was hoping you’d make an exception.”

Mack looked over at him before glancing out the window. Her eyes swept over the guys and rested on JC a bit before hardening. She sighed under Wade’s gaze. “Don’t make me regret it.”

He smiled. “I won’t.”

JC wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his arm as he waited to hear the reason they were being stopped this time. He had no doubt that they were being stopped because Mack was going to criticize him for something else he did wrong. So far she’s yelled at him for being a half-step behind, for changing the choreography slightly, and simply for making a suggestion.

She kept her finger pressed on the pause button of the boom box that was sitting to her left as she scanned the slightly panting group of boys. They shifted their weight from foot to foot as they waited for her to critique them or, worse, make them start over from the beginning. The only sound that filled the room was the sound of her fingers tapping against the hardwood floors. Wade sat quiet in a corner watching the rehearsal. The two choreographers had an agreement, when the boys were working on their specific song the other would sit back and watch, giving little critiques here and there.

“Guys, you have to get this down by Monday and that’s three days away if you didn’t know,” she said slowly. The guys could tell by the way she was breathing that she was trying to stay calm. “You need to get this down so it won’t be hard to figure out where to go once we start practicing on the stage. OK?” They nodded. “Ok. You’re done. Do whatever.”

“If it’s any consolation they’re going to look really good on stage once they take your critique and apply it,” Wade said in a low voice as he watched Mack slip CDs back into the sleeve of the large case she held in her hand.

“Stop sucking up, I’m all ready making an exception for you,” she commented with a small smile.

“Busted,” he said and laughed a bit. “I’ll get that.” He grabbed the handle of the boom box and easily lifted it off of the ground. “So, um, when do you get your sling off?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Today, actually. That’s why practice is over early,” she explained, securing her shoulder bag and made sure the strep rested comfortably against her chest. “I’m going to the doctor now. There is a very slight chance I still have to wear it but I’m sure I don’t have to so I can finally dance again.”

“I still don’t get why your doctor wouldn’t let you. I mean, technically you don’t use your arms as much as you use your feet.”

“Unless I need better momentum for turns,” she pointed out. She noticed JC hesitating by the door of the studio. “I’ll see you later, ok?”

“Tonight I hope.”

Mack nodded. “Right. Just give me a call once you think of something to do.”

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye.”

“You’re a big hypocrite you know that?” JC spoke up as soon Wade left the room. Mack lifted an eyebrow. “’I don’t mix business with pleasure’,” he recited, trying to imitate her voice. “So you’re going out with Wade but you won’t even give me a chance? You’re a hypocrite.”

She slowly shook her head. “Sounds to me like you’re jealous.”

“Damn right I am,” he replied, which shocked her. She kinda thought he’d deny it, most boys don’t ever admit when they’re jealous. Of course, most guys don’t confess their love out of the blue either. “You’re not being fair.”

“Life’s not fair. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to go to the doctor to get this sling off, which you put me in,” she called over her shoulder as she made her way to the door.

“How are you going to get there? You don’t have a car,” JC pointed out, following her.

“I’ll walk,” she replied.

“It’s six miles from here.” JC sighed. “At least let me drive you.”

“Why? The only thing that’s going to happen is you’re going to go running out of the room at the sign of anything that resembles a shot,” she replied, trying to hide the grin that was coming onto her face.

“That was one time ok?” He sighed in exasperation. He should have known that things wouldn’t be the same between them after his little ‘confession’. He hoped it would, but then again God was never really nice to him. “Fine. If you want to walk, go ahead, I don’t care.”

“You’re lying through your teeth, Chasez.” He didn’t think he was being that obvious. “You wouldn’t let me walk these Orlando streets by myself, even though it’s one of the safest places on the planet. I mean, really, what could happen when the happiest place on earth is practically right next door?”

“Crazy people go to Disney World you know.”

“Mhm, but the only reason you’re offering me a ride is so you can stop feeling guilty about what you did.” She had a knack of hitting the nail on the head, even if that was a part of the reason. Was it against the law to want to spend time with her, even though she was stomping on his heart by going out with Wade later? There was something about Wade that bothered him but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

~*~*~

 

“No, not that one.” Justin shook his head, turned his thumb upside down, and stuck out his tongue.

“You’ve hated everything I’ve picked out. You pick something then,” Mack said as she crossed her arms and sat down in the chair that was in the corner of her room. Justin jumped off of her bed and dashed into her closet as she chuckled. Justin didn’t really like showing it, but he had an eye for clothing and what went well with what. “Are you sure you’re ok with me going out with Wade?”

“Are you ok with it?” He called back.

“Yeah. I mean, I know what he did with Bobbie was wrong but I believe him when he says what he did was a mistake,” she replied.

“Let me guess, he sucked up to you until you let your guard down,” Justin said as he poked his head out of the closet. She shrugged and smiled coyly. “And yet at first you were complaining about him being a ‘baby’.”

“Stop lecturing me all ready!” She cried out and threw a pillow at him. He laughed and moved out of the way of the pillow.

“Ok, I got something and you can’t say no!” He called after a few minutes.

“Oh, that means I’m going to hate it,” she commented, moving over to her bed. She flinched when a hooded tee and a black skort were thrown at her. “Yup, I was right.”

“You’ll look hot,” Justin said as he walked out of the closet with a pair of shoes in his hands. “You gotta show off your legs more, they’re your second best asset, behind your eyes. You know what they say: If you’ve got it, flaunt it.” He sat down next to her and gently knocked shoulders with her. “You could at least pretend to be excited,” he commented sarcastically.

“I am. I’m just thinking about something,” she replied.

“JC?” He questioned. He didn’t wait for her answer. “You know how I’m against you liking anyone, but I really think you should give a chance,” he hesitated, waiting for her reaction. She remained silent. “I mean, you said so yourself that JC’s the type of guy you usually go after. And he’s been here for you whenever you needed help with anything. He loves you, Mack. He really does. He doesn’t say that about just anyone, you know. And you’re hurting him by doing this.”

“So you want me to just cancel with Wade and talk this out with Jace?” She asked after a few seconds of silence.

“No, I want you to understand how he feels. I want you to make your own decision. I’ll stand by it 100%, you know that,” he replied. He then grinned. “I just think it would be cool if you two got married. Your kids will have kick-butt blue eyes and they’ll be as musical as hell. And I can be their godfather!”

“You’ve been thinking about this for a while, haven’t you?” Mack asked with a laughed. He nodded and beamed. “Tell you what, I’ll talk to Jace after I get back, ok?”

“Ok, but you won’t find him here,” Justin said as he stood. “He’s staying at his place tonight, something about wanting to get some work done without the noise. If you need a ride afterwards, I’m a phone call away.”

“Ok. Leave so I can get changed.”

“Who said anything about me leaving?” he asked with a grin and raised eyebrows.

“I’m sure Brit would love to hear about your peeping on your best friend.” Mack laughed when he dashed out of the room in fear.

 

~*~*~

 

“So, what do you want to do now? I still have a few hours before the guys start calling to demand where I am,” Mack said as she got into Wade’s car.

He had picked her up at the house and had taken her to Oliver Garden, which was her favorite restaurant. She was kind of surprised that he had known that about her but didn’t question it. He probably got some of the information from Justin. They had a light conversation about how long the other danced, where their career has taken them, and what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. Mack said she wanted to act a bit, maybe purse singing, but she ultimately wanted to have kids. Wade said that he would open up a camp for underprivileged children and teach them how to express themselves through dancing.

He then took her to a club where they went dancing. Instead of it being a normal club that she and the guys went to it was a club where they explored different types of dances. Wade was patient with her as they learned how to salsa dance, ballroom dance, waltz, and swing. They hadn’t left the dance floor the entire time they were there. Now that they were in his car Mack finally felt the effects in her aching feet.

“We could go somewhere and talk,” he suggested as they pulled out of the parking lot.

“Ok. The park?” She asked, rubbing her feet.

“Actually, I was thinking of my hotel room, there are fewer distractions that way,” he relied, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. She was biting her lip and looking down at her lap. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” he continued. “I can just drop you off at your place and we’ll call it a night.”

“Umm…no, we can talk a bit longer,” she said with a small smile. Wade smiled in return; turning left at the light and drove them to the hotel. The only sound in the car was the smooth jazz that was coming out of the radio.

Finally they pulled into the parking lot of the hotel. Mack smiled when Wade opened the door for her and gently took her elbow, leading her inside. “Relax.” Wade laughed a little when she hesitated in the door way. “So where do you want to live in the future?”

Mack instantly relaxed and found herself feeling comfortable talking to him despite where she was. Soon she found that she had lost track of time and needed to get home as soon as possible. Wade suggested she just stay there but she declined saying that the boys––Justin especially––would get worried and she wouldn’t want to keep them waiting up.

“I’ll drive you,” Wade offered.

“I don’t want you driving this late at night,” she replied, glancing out the window where the pitter-patter of rain against the windowsill filled the room. “I’ll just call a cab, it’s no big deal.”

“You’re not going to take a cab,” he replied a little firmly. “I don’t trust them at this time of night. I’d rather drive you.”

“I told you I’ll be fine. If it’ll ease your mind I’ll call you once I get home,” she said as she turned towards the door.

“Either I drive you or you’re not leaving!”

She turned around at his tone and raised her eyebrows. “I’m not leaving?” She repeated. He shook his head no.

“Not unless you let me drive you.”

She merely laughed a bit and turned back around. She reached her hand out for the door. Her knuckles barely grazed the knob when a blow to her back made her slam against the door. Her forehead throbbed with pain and tears immediately sprung to her eyes. She tried to turn around to see what had hit her but she felt a weight pressed against her back.

“You should’ve listened to me.”

 

~*~*~

 

JC grumbled under his breath as he forced himself off of his couch. The sound of fists pounding on his door along with the constant ringing of the doorbell was too much to ignore, even when he was in what the others called Josh Land. He was watching a video of one of their old shows to study and mentally perfect some moves of their songs that they were going to perform on this tour when the banging and ringing started.

“It’s 11:30 at night. Who the hell would bother me now?” he mumbled to himself as he made his way to the front door. “Better yet, who would deal with this rain to want to talk to me?” He grasped the doorknob and opened the door. His mouth fell open and his eye nearly popped out of his head when they rested on the sobbing, soaked figure in front of him. “Mack?” he whispered.

“What happened?” He demanded, reaching out to wrap an arm around her shoulder. She jerked out of the way and took a step back. His eyebrows knitted together in concern as she looked down at the ground, her shoulders shaking from time to time as she sniffed or let out a sob. “Come in.” He backed away from the door, giving her more room to come into the house.

She blinked and rubbed her cheeks which were instantly hit with the warmth of the house. She didn’t say anything but watched as JC rushed out of the foyer. She crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her arms, noticing how much water she was dripping on the floor.

“Umm, they might be a little too big but I guess you can just pin them,” JC said as he held out clothes to her. “The bathroom’s upstairs, first door on the right of the right hallway. Leave your wet stuff outside the door and I’ll get it washed for you, ok?” She nodded and turned to leave but JC held out an arm to stop her. “Call if you need anything, ok?” She nodded again and moved around his arm to go up the stairs.

It broke his heart seeing her so fragile and vulnerable like that. It just wasn’t her and he hated seeing her in that state. What made it worse was that he knew Wade had something to do with it. He wanted to know what Wade did, if he did anything, and hurt him for hurting her which in turn hurt JC himself.

The ringing phone shattered the silence of the house and it was quickly followed by the bark of JC’s Eurasier, Jacer. “Hey, stop that,” he shushed the dog and lightly petted his head. Jacer immediately quieted down and climbed onto the couch next to JC who sat to answer the phone. He smiled down at Jacer who put his head in JC’s lap before he answered. “Hello?”

“I’VE BEEN CALLING FOR THE PAST FIVE MINUTES YOU FUCKER!” Justin yelled on the other end.

JC jerked the phone away from his ear and made a face. “J, calm down!”

“Do you know where Mack is? She’s not answering her phone! Wade’s not answering his phone either! She could be hurt or lost or something. Should we call the police? I–”

“JUSTIN!” JC yelled interrupting him. Justin fell silent. “Take a deep breath.” Justin did as he was told. “Now let it out, slowly.” Once again he did as he was told. “Relax, ok? She’s here with me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because she just showed up here. If I had known she was going to come I would’ve told you.”

“She said she was going to talk to you earlier.”

“She hasn’t’ stopped by except now.” He sighed. “Something’s wrong, J.”

“What do you mean? Did something happen?” he asked, concern dripping from his words.

“I don’t know what happened but I do know that something did happen. She won’t talk to me, she won’t look at me, and she won’t even let me touch her. She just showed up about…three minutes ago soaking wet and crying.”

“Why…why didn’t she come to me?” He asked in a small voice. JC sighed. He could practically see the hurt that was etched across his best friend’s face. It was dripping from his words and JC didn’t know how to make his friend feel better. “Why, Jace? She’s always come to me before, why not now?”

“I…I don’t know, Jus,” he mumbled. “I really don’t know.”

“Is she there? I want to talk to her.”

“Hey man, don’t push it.” JC ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath. “Don’t force your way into her problem, she’s only going to pull away even more.”

“Don’t talk to me like you know more about her than I do, ‘cause you don’t,” Justin practically spat into the phone.

“Whoa, man. Don’t get mad at me. I’m just saying you should give her space and give her enough time to come to you instead of forcing yourself on her.”

JC heard Justin sigh on the other end. “I get it,” he mumbled. “Tell her to call me when she feels like it, Ok?”

“I will.”

“Oh, and Jace?”

“Yeah?”

“Take care of her for me.”

“I will.”

JC hung up the phone and went up the stairs. He spotted her wet clothes lying in a pile by the door. Ignoring that he was getting his own shirt wet, he gathered the pile into his arms and went back down the stairs, through the kitchen, and down another flight of stairs to get to the laundry room. He had put her clothes into the water and added the necessary amount of soap. He was about to turn on the washing machine when he heard Mack’s scream.

He dashed back up the stairs, Jacer following at his heels. Once he reached the landing of the top floor he turned and was about to go into the bathroom when Mack came flying out, crashing into him. “Whoa, girl,” he said as he grabbed her shoulders to steady her. “What’s wrong, why’d you scream?”

“There’s a spider!” She replied, moving behind him to use him as a human shield. “On the counter.” She shoved him into the bathroom and pointed at the spider that was, indeed, sitting on the counter. “Kill it!” JC looked back and forth between her and the spider before laughing. She glared and lightly slapped his arm as she asked, “What’s so funny?”

“You are,” he replied, still chuckling as he pulled a piece of paper from underneath the sink and slid it under the spider. He went back down the stairs to the front door and lowered the paper to the ground, waiting for the spider to scurry off of the page. “The storm’s too bad for you to go back to the compound. You can stay here tonight,” he said without turning around after hearing Mack’s footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Are you sure?” She asked. “I don’t want to be in the way.”

JC turned and smiled at her. “You’re too small to be in the way,” he teased.

“Ha ha,” she laughed sarcastically while rolling her eyes. “Is it ok if I watch tv a bit? I’m not really tired so…”

“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll join you in a bit, if that’s ok.”

“It’s your house.”

JC watched as she turned and went into the living room, Jacer following close behind. He was surprised Jacer had taken a liking to her that quickly. Eurasiers were known to be very close to their human family and they were very protective when strangers came into the picture, yet Jacer treated her like she was part of the family all along.

JC shook his head and went into the kitchen, pulling out hot chocolate packets from the pantry. He filled two cups with hot water and poured in the instant mix. Once he thought it was mixed in well enough he dumped in mini marshmallows and then carried the mugs into the living room where Mack was curled up on the couch with Jacer lying cross her lap.

“Here,” he said as he held the mug out to her before sitting down next to her. She took the mug and looked in it.

“Oh, hot chocolate.” Then her eyes widened. “And marshmallows. You know me too well.”

“You’re easy to please,” he pointed out. “You get excited over glow sticks, play-doh, bouncy balls, hacky sacks, and the Where’s Waldo? books to keep the list short.”

“What is it, Pick on the Young One day?” She demanded.

“No, that’s every day.” He set down his mug, grabbed the remote from her hand, and muted the TV. “Why are you here?” He asked once she turned to look at him.

“Because you let me stay,” she replied simply.

“Don’t be a smartass. I want to know what happened.” She opened her mouth but he held up his hand to stop her. “Don’t deny it, I know something happened or else you wouldn’t have shown up here this late at night soaking wet and crying.” She remained silent. “You can tell me.”

“I can’t,” she replied.

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll do something stupid once you find out.”

“I promise I won’t.” He put his hand over his heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die, watch our sales records fall from the sky.” He smiled when she chuckled at his rhyme.

“You’re so lame,” she muttered shaking her head. She let out a slow breath and looked in the direction of the TV but her eyes never rested on it. JC didn’t think she was going to answer but she sighed again and finally spoke. “Wade had taken me to dinner and then we went dancing at this club. Usually I try to stay away from dancing on a date, since that’s the only thing I ever do, but he managed to convince me to do it.” She took a slow breath before exhaling. “We were leaving and he said he wanted to talk some more. I suggested going to the park but he said we should go back to his hotel room because it was quieter.”

“Don’t tell me,” JC mumbled.

Mack continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “So I agreed to it and we went back to his hotel room. I said I wanted to leave. I didn’t want to stay out too late and I wanted to leave before the storm got worse. Wade said that he’d drive me but I didn’t want to have him deal with driving in the storm so I said I’d take a cab. He kept going on about how I either had to let him drive me or I’d have to stay there. I laughed at him because he thought he could control me. The next thing I knew I was being shoved against the door”…

~~~~~~~~

“You should’ve listened to me.” Mack struggled to get air into her lungs as she was being pressed harder against the door. Her vision started to blur as she struggled and squirmed to get Wade off of her back. He just laughed in her ear. “Keep struggling, baby, you’re only turning me on even more.”

He kissed her neck as she tried to bring her leg back far enough to kick him somewhere but she couldn’t budge. Tears started to form in the corner of her eyes as she racked her brain to try and think of something to do but everything was slipping from her mind.

Suddenly the weight on her back was removed. Before she could react she felt tugging on the hood of her t-shirt. She reached up to try and pull it away from her throat where it was tightening, cutting off her oxygen once more. Wade tugged so hard at her hood that she felt back against the foot of the bed.

“Wade, please...” Mack begged as tears fell freely down his face.

He merely let out a breath from his nose before straddling her, keeping his knees on either side of her hips so she was pinned. “We can either do this the easy way or the hard way. If you don’t choose I’ll choose for you,” he told her, bringing a hand up to his belt.

“Wade, don’t!”

“Fine, we’ll do this the hard way.” He grabbed her hands with one of his and pinned it above her head as she started to sob. “You chose this way, I would’ve let you off easy you know,” he said as he unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants, and pulled out his throbbing membrane. He brushed it against her lips as she fought to turn her head out of his way. He used his other free hand to grab her hair, yanking her head up. She let out a cry of pain and he slipped his cock into her warm, wet mouth. He let out a groan as his eyes slid shut in ecstasy.

He drew her away and brought her to him as she tried to get out of his grasp, but he tightened his hold on her hands and her head causing her to let out a groan of pain, which only made Wade feel even better. He began to buck his hips against her face, causing his cock to slide further back into her mouth. She felt the urge to gag every time it hit the back of her throat.

“Oh fuck,” he whispered. “You’re going to swallow it all.” Mack’s eyes widened in shock as the liquid spilled down her throat and Wade slammed into her mouth once more, harder than before. He pulled out of her mouth but kept a firm grip on her hair and her hands. “Swallow it all or you’ll have to do it again until you do.” She squeezed his eyes shut and winced as she swallowed gingerly, trying not to throw up at the brackish taste. “There’s more on the tip, lick it.” He forced her head to the tip of his cock and waited as she licked it clean. He then let go of her hair and her hands, backed away, and tucked his cock back into his pants. “You can go now.” He tilted his head towards the door. She merely looked up at him in confusion. “Did you think I was going to rape you?” He chuckled. “I’m not stupid and you’re not stupid. If you went to the police for this technically you’d be the one going to jail, not me, because you’re the legal adult in this situation. That and I know you wouldn’t want to lose your job. So let’s just keep this between us, OK honey?”

Something in his last sentence triggered the sobs that had wanted to escape her but got stuck in her throat. Eyes blurry with tears and sobs stopping her from being able to speak, she turned and ran out the door…

~~~~~~~~~

“So I ran here. I didn’t bother getting a cab, the driver would’ve kicked me out anyway,” she finished with a shrug.

“You ran here?” JC repeated. She nodded. “Mackie, that’s six miles!” he exclaimed, using her most hated nickname.

“I’ve run worse."

“Why the hell are you being so nonchalant about this? You have to call the police! What he did to you was wrong.”

“You heard what he said; I’d go to jail, not the other way around. I worked hard to get my reputation as a good choreographer and I’m not going to let a jackass like him take that away from me.”

“But he could’ve–”

“But he didn’t,” she insisted. “So let’s just leave it at that. It’s late, we need sleep.”

“Oh, I’m not going to be able to get to sleep now,” JC said as he shook his head. “I want to kick his ass for what he did. Don’t you understand? He violated you.”

“I understand that,” Mack replied, cutting her eyes at him. “Believe it or not, I’m not stupid. I may be naïve sometimes but I’m not an idiot.” She sighed. “This is just how I deal with it. If I went around crying or whatever then he’d know that he got to me. If I don’t react then I’ll win.”

“Win what and what do you mean this is how you deal with it? Has this happened before?” He demanded.

“Does it matter?” She asked, standing, ready to leave the room.

“Yes, it matters!” He replied, grabbing her arm before she could leave.

“You’re not going to be able to do anything about it anyway so just drop it.” She rubbed her temple with her free arm. “I appreciate your concern but let me deal with this on my own, OK? I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself."

“I want to take care of you for you so you don’t have to worry,” JC mumbled, looking at his feet suddenly acting like the shy man that he could be. “I love you. I want to be there for you, to protect you.”

Mack sighed and turned to face him, lifting his head with her hand. “You all ready are here for me. Why do you think I’m here now? Compared to you, Justin would tear up the town in search for Wade.” She paused and scrunched up her face, thinking. JC couldn’t resist the urge her cute face gave him so he kissed her nose. “I care about you Josh, you know I do. You and the guys…you’re the most important thing in my life besides my family. The thing is…you and me…to be honest I’m scared.”

“Of what? I won’t hurt you,” JC mumbled, leaning close nuzzling her cheek.

“I’ve been fed that lie before.”

“I’m not lying.” He lightly kissed her cheek. “I’ll never hurt you.” He kissed her forehead. “Hurting you would end up hurting me.” He kissed her nose again.

“I could lose my job.”

“You wouldn’t. The guys, Johnny, and I are the only ones who can fire you and they’d be stupid if they did.”

“I could get a bad reputation.”

“Let me worry about that.”

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?”

“Nope. I’m just going to pursue you even more until you eventually realize that I’m the perfect guy for you,” he replied. “My intentions are good, I promise.”

“Really?” A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Yeah, that’s not what Justin tells me.”

JC backed away and squinted at her. “What did he say?”

“Basically, he said you want to do more than kiss me.”

“He has loose lips.”

“I knew before he told me.” A smile spread across her face. “That’s the downside to you having amazing blue eyes, it’s really easy to read them and figure out what you’re thinking.”

“Well, I can’t help it.” He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her close, surprised that she didn’t pull away. “You’re so naively hot that it gets to me.”

“I can tell,” she laughed. She then stood up on her tiptoes and leaned forward. He blinked before leaning towards her. Only when her breath tickled his lips did she whisper, “Goodnight” before backing out of his reach and racing up the stairs.

“You’re a fucking tease!” JC yelled after her.

“Yet I bet you like that about me too!” She shouted back.

“Damn straight,” he told himself as he petted Jacer’s head.

 

~*~*~

 

“Ok guys, you can take an hour break,” Mack called as she lowered the faders to zero, cutting off the song mid-chorus.

“Finally!” Chris cheered, jumping off of the stage and racing towards the nearest exit.

“We’re goig to go down the street for some lunch. Do you want to come?” Lance asked, walking over to where Mack was standing, studying her notebook.

“Nah, I’m going to stay here and fix some stuff,” she replied with her sunniest smile. “Go ahead without me. You wouldn’t want to keep Chris from his so-desired food.”

“Ok. Don’t overwork yourself,” Joey said as Lance gave her a little hug and kissed her cheek.

“I won’t,” she replied with an eyeroll. “God, I do that once and you won’t let me forget it.”

“Only because you were going on a JC-like rampage,” Joey joked.

“Hey now, I haven’t done anything to you and yet you’re putting me down!” JC called from across the stage as he tied his shoe. “That’s not going to fly with me.” He picked up the water bottle that was by him and ran at Joey. Joey let out a little cry of surprise, jumped off of the stage, and ran in the direction that Chris went. “See ya,” JC called over his shoulder, slowing down a bit to wink at her before he continued chasing Joey again.

“You might want to catch them,” Mack suggested.

“I will. See you in a bit.” Lance then jumped off of the stage and jogged after them.

“Aren’t you going to go?” Mack asked, turning to Justin who had appeared by her side.

“No, I want a few questions answered,” he replied, crossing his arms over her chest.

“I would’ve called but my phone broke, no, JC didn’t try anything, sorry I didn’t come to you but I wanted to take care of some things on my own,” she rambled as soon as he opened his mouth. He closed it, squinted, and opened it again. “And yes I’m fine.” He closed it again.

“Now I know something happened between you and Jace so you better spill ‘cause I can always ask him and he’d give me a warped version of the truth,” Justin said as he grinned.

Mack rolled her eyes and walked across the stage, her eyes glued in her notebook as he followed close behind. “I showed up at his place, took a shower, drank some hot chocolate, talked to JC a bit, and then went to sleep.”

“No confessions on your part? I’m surprised,” Justin mused. Mack stopped and looked at him. “Mackie–” he started.

“Stop calling me that,” she said in a warning tone.

“Scrappy, then,” he corrected, using his old nickname for her. “Stop telling yourself to ignore your feelings for Jace. You know it’s there. I know it’s there. He knows it’s there. Hell, my parents call me almost every day to find out if you’ve gotten together yet. Everyone knows you feel for him, so why won’t you admit it to him and to yourself?” She didn’t reply. “You’re scared, right?” She nodded. “Scrappy, JC’s the most honest, loyal, patient person I’ve ever met. He’d never force you into anything you’re not ready for. He’d wait until you’re comfortable to move on. If he could, he’d wait forever. I know it. You guys are perfect for each other. Please, give him a chance? For me.”

She tapped her fingers against her notebook. “I’ll consider it. Honestly, I don’t want to put my career in jeopardy.”

“Your career is safe. It’s your personal life that would be put in jeopardy, but it would be worth it to date a catch like him.”

“Thanks, Scooby.”

“No problem, Scrappy.”

 

~*~*~

 

“Joey and I will get a table, OK?” JC said as he leaned against the counter. Chris and Lance nodded as they continued to study the menu. JC lightly slapped Joey’s arm and the two went to the nearest table that would hold all of them.

“What’s with the smile?” Joey asked, studying JC’s face. JC just shrugged and continued to smile. “Oh, you’ve had some Mack progress, eh?”

“You can say that,” JC shrugged. “She seems fine knowing how I feel about her. She doesn’t deny it anymore. I just have to get her to realize she feels the same way.”

“Are you sure she does?”

“I know she does, Joe. I’ve never felt this way for anyone before, you know that. It’s just…this feeling I have. I can see myself marrying her, Joe.”

Joey was about to respond but his eyes widened in shock. JC’s face contorted to a look on confusion. Joey pointed over JC’s shoulder and the latter turned. His mouth fell open when he saw someone enter the building, look around, and lay their eyes on him. “What’s she doing here?” He hissed.

“Joshua, I’m glad you’re here,” Bobbie mumbled, her hands clasped in front of her. “We need to talk.”

“Whatever you have to say you can say it in front of Joey,” JC replied, nodding at his friend. “And I thought I said to never speak to me again.”

“But Joshua, it’s important.”

“And I told you not to call me Joshua; only my family calls me that.”

“But Josh–”

“What’re you doing here, Bobzilla?” Chris demanded. He and Lance were standing behind her, a tray in their hands was loaded with food.

“Josh, please,” Bobbie begged, ignoring them.

JC sighed and got up from the table. He followed her a little ways away from them. “What is it you wanted to–?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“You’re…you’re what?” JC gasped.

“I’m pregnant,” Bobbie repeated. “Three weeks. I took a few home pregnancy tests and I went to the doctor. The tests were positive, the blood test was positive. I’m pregnant, Joshua.”

JC slowly sat down in a nearby chair. He was looking right at Bobbie but the look in his eyes let her know that he was actually looking through her, not focusing on anything. Pregnant? There was no way that Bobbie could be pregnant…was there. JC wracked his brain, trying to remember the last time he was with her intimately in the past three weeks.  The only problem was that he couldn’t think of which time he was with her that made her pregnant. JC had declared their relationship over only five days prior so it wasn’t much of a shock to him that she kept it from him. He had made it painstakingly clear that he didn’t want to see or hear from her.

Then his life flashed in front of his eyes and it filled him with fear. This could easily ruin his career. He’d have to leave ‘N Sync and take care of a child. He’d have to stop singing and dancing. He wouldn’t be able to see his friends anymore. He’d spend his days running to the store getting diapers, baby food, and baby clothes. He’d have to wash many baby bottles, change a lot of diapers, and stay up late if the baby is up late. All the while he’d have to sit at home and watch his friends go off and achieve the dream that he’s always wanted to reach.

“JC? Are you ok? What’d she say? JC?” Chris waved his hand in front of JC’s face as Bobbie stood by quietly, arms crossed over her chest and one hand was up by her mouth so she could bite her thumb.

“A…are you sure?” JC finally choked out, looking past Chris to look at Bobbie. She nodded.

“Sure about what?” Chris demanded.

“I’ll understand if you still don’t want to talk to me,” Bobbie muttered, hanging her head. “I just wanted you to know.”

“Am I…?”

“I don’t know. The test results won’t be in for a few days.”

“Ok.” Bobbie took his silence as a time to leave. JC got up from the seat and went over to the table that they had chosen, Chris followed close behind. JC moved on autopilot until he sat down in his seat, leaned forward, and rested his forehead against his fists.

“What’s wrong with you? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,’ Lance commented before biting into his sandwich.

“No, but Bobbie just said something to him and now he’s a zombie,” Chris said as he lightly poked JC in the side of the head.

“What’d she say?” Joey asked, lightly nudging JC’s foot with his shoe.

“She…she, uh…” he cleared his throat a couple of times and lightly shook his head. “She told me that she’s…pregnant.”

Lance, Chris, and Joey all dropped what they were eating. It landed on their plates with a loud clank, causing the other people in the area to look over at them. Their eyes were wide and their mouths were so wide flies could’ve flown in and out. Bobbie pregnant? There was just no way, was there?

“You…are you sure?” Joey asked. “I mean, are you sure it’s yours? She did sleep around quite a bit.”

“I know, but…” JC shook his head and squinted a bit. “I feel that it’s mine. I mean, I’ve been with her so many times that…” he let his voice trail off. Then he groaned and slammed his forehead on the table. “No. No no no no no no no! This can’t be happening to me. Not now!”

“Jace, I promise you that this won’t affect your career,” Lance spoke up. “I highly doubt that the baby is yours. And if the small chance that it is, we’ll make sure to be able to arrange things so you can be a good father and be with the band.”

“It’s not that,” JC said as he lifted his head. “It’s just…I’ve made great progress with Mack. If she finds out about this everything I’ve worked to build will come crashing down on me and I’ll lose the one girl that I really care about.”

“Well, either you tell her or let Bobbie do it. The way I see it you’re screwed either way,” Chris said as he picked up his wrap once more and took a large bite out of it. He chewed peacefully until he looked up to see all of them glaring at him. “What?” He asked innocently. “He is screwed either way. She’d probably think Bobbie told her just to rub it in her face or something that she’ll be connected to Jace through a kid. If JC told her she’d either be mad that he made such a stupid mistake or finally realize that she’s liked him the entire time and then hate herself for not giving him a chance and then want nothing to do with him. I.e., either way he’s screwed.”

“Joey, give me some real advice,” JC begged, looking over at the man who had stayed silent. Joey rubbed his chin, deep in thought. JC tried to force himself to eat some of his food but her had lost his appetite altogether. He pushed his plate away from himself and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

“You’re going to have to fess up one way or another,” Joey finally replied. “I’d rather you tell her youself. I’m not going to force you because, ultimately, it is your decision. Technically, it’s not her business whether or not it’s yours, but in your situation, since you seem to really want to be with her, I’d be up front about it. Don’t wait, get it done as soon as possible.”

JC nodded and excused himself from the table. He made a beeline for the bathroom, looking around himself to see if Bobbie was still there. She wasn’t. It made him relax a little bit more but it also made him apprehensive of the phone call he was about to make. Once he was in the bathroom he pulled out his phone and sighed heavily before dialing. “Hey Mack? I need to talk to you about something.”

 

~*~*~

 

“No.” Justin shook his head. “No, I’m not wearing this for Space Cowboy. There is no way in hell.”

“Oh come on,” Mack said with a smile so large dimples were visible in her cheeks. “I think it’s a good look for you.”

“Yeah? Then why are you trying not to laugh?” He demanded as the stylist walked around him, writing down his measurements. They decided to bring a stylist in to get an idea of what they would wear for certain songs. Justin was currently wearing his grayish blue bandana to keep his curls down.  The stylist had given him a white cap sleeved shirt, the sleeves in black, with the word HERO on it in gray along with the number 01. It was paired with tight, red, pleather pants, and black shoes. “I’m not wearing it.”

“Oh, come on. You look…” her voice trailed off as she covered her mouth with her hand. “Nevermind. Just take it off. We have a few minutes before the boys get back. We can talk about clothing then.”

“Fine, Ms. Bossy Boots.” He sat down on the floor and didn’t move as he watched her fold some clothes and put it into a box. “Are you ever going to tell me what happened?”

Mack paused briefly to look at him before continuing with her work. “Nothing happened,” she replied. “I told you all ready, I was just having some period pain and his house was the closest, that’s why I stayed there.”

“It doesn’t make sense, though,” he pressed. “Why wouldn’t Wade drive you back? Why’d you walk?” His questions hung in the air as he let out a breath. “I know you’re hiding something from me. That’s what hurts the most about this, you feel as if you can’t trust me when I’ve proven time and time again that you can.”

“I know that, Scooby,” she replied. “I just…I can’t,” she whispered. “You’ll hate me or think of me different or do something stupid.”

“Hey,” he said gently, shuffling over to her on his knees. He lifted her chin and smiled at her. “I would never think differently about you, not over something really stupid. Now tell me what happened, you’re giving me worry lines.”

Mack closed her eyes briefly, asking the Lord for strength before she told her story again, word for word about what happened. As the story went on the look of fury in Justin’s eyes got more intense until he was shaking in anger. “That bastard put his hands on you? Where is he? I’m gonna–”

“Do nothing,” Mack interrupted him. He looked at her in confusion. “You promised, besides I can handle this. I have a plan and a backup plan if that one doesn’t work. He won’t get away with it.”

“You’re too calm about this,” he muttered.

She shrugged. “Would you rather me be a blubbering ball of emotions?”

“This had to have bothered you even in the slightest bit.”

“Oh, it does. I’m just keeping it all inside or else I’d be in a blind fury right now.” She nodded. “I always told myself that I wouldn’t be one of those girls, the ones that fell for a sweet word. But I believed this happened so I could get strength from the situation.”

“You’re one of the strongest girls I’ve ever met. You don’t need any more strength, you can all ready beat Lance and I at one of those Test Your Strength things at the fair.” He smiled a bit. “Seriously, though, I know you and I know when something is bothering you, you keep it bottled up until you explode. Don’t keep us out, let us help you.” The two looked up when they saw Wade approaching. He looked in their direction but didn’t look at them. Justin tightened his grip on Mack’s shoulders a little.

“I don’t want the rest of the crew brought into this, not even Johnny,” Mack whispered so he could hear her. “I’d get in trouble for what I did. If you really want to do something you can talk to him but don’t hurt him or else everyone would want to know why you beat him up. We only have a month left with him, after that everything will go away.”

“Ok, but if he lays one hand on your I swear I’ll rip off his testicles and serve them to him in the form of meatballs, pun intended.” The two started to giggle, much like they did when they were little kids. It was cut short when her phone started to ring. She looked at the screen and made a face. “What?” He asked.

“Jace is calling me,” she replied.

“Maybe he’s calling to say they’re stuck in traffic.”

“They walked.”

“Answer it anyway.”

“Ok, ok. Hello?” Justin leaned close to try and listen to the conversation but Mack held out her hand and stopped him. He watched intently as her eyebrows knitted together as she listened to whatever it was that JC was saying to her. Her lips parted into an O of surprise before a hurt look flashed across her face.

“What? What is it?” Justin whispered. Mack shook her head and jammed her finger in her other ear. Justin bit his lip as he studied her face which slowly started to crumble in front of his eyes. What was JC saying to her that would cause her to break down like that? Justin really wanted to just grab JC by the throat and strangle him for doing that to his friend, no his sister. “What? What did he say?” He demanded once she hung up the phone. “Mackenzie Danielle Charlotte Desrosiers, tell me right now.”

“Jace just called to tell me that Bobbie told him that she’s pregnant,” she replied.

“What!?” Justin yelled so loudly it caused the crew in the area to jump. “Sorry,” he apologized and flashed his trade mark Timberlake-Charm smile. They chuckled and went back to what they were doing. “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack,” she replied.

“But…is it his? There’s no way it can be,” Justin said as he shook his head. “There’s just no way. She’s a whore; she’s probably been sleeping around with a bunch of diseased guys. It can’t be his.”

“There’s no way to tell without a paternity test,” Mack replied. “If she is pregnant.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is something that Bobbie would do. She’d probably lie about her pregnancy to get on my nerves. I hate to admit it but its working.” She sighed. “I don’t get it, Just. One day things between us are fine and the next I want to rip his hair out of his head and the next I want to claw Bobbie’s eyes out because she’s with him and not me.”

“There’s a simple answer to your problem,” Justin replied. “You. Love. JC. Accept it all ready. Everyone knows. Hell, JC even knows. You’re the only one who can’t accept it. My parents call everyday to see if you two have gotten together. The crew people are talking. Johnny is asking questions. You’re constantly linked to him in the tabloids. Just accept it and be happy, please? I know you have Philophobia and Monophobia but you can’t let it stop you from living your life and loving whoever comes into it. JC’s here to stay, I know that now. Once he’s dedicated to something he’s dedicated for life.”

She slowly shook her head. “What if the baby is his? What then? I sure as hell just can’t randomly go up to him and say ‘Congrats on your baby. Oh yeah, I love you, just so you know. Ok, be happy and move on’.”

“Who said anything about him helping that bitch?”

“It’s JC for God’s sake; he’s going to do the right that. That’s what he does. He wouldn’t be JC if he didn’t.” She sighed again. “I might as well just move on and forget about him.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I don’t want to but it looks like I’m going to have to.”

 

~*~*~

 

JC sighed heavily and sat up in bed. He couldn’t get to sleep. He hasn't gotten any sleep for weeks; the looming tour and Bobbie's revelation kept him awayke. Everytime he tried he heard Bobbie’s voice in his head reminding him that he could’ve gotten her pregnant. After that Mack’s voice came into his head telling him that she couldn’t talk to him anymore unless necessary. The hurt look in his eyes told him everything. That she had finally accepted how she felt about him but that she had to let him go because of his stupid mistake.

He had mentally kicked himself all day for telling her, but she did have a right to know. She needed to make sure they were focused when it came to their shows and this definitely took everyone’s focus away from their upcoming shows. Even Johnny could tell and her forced JC to tell him what was going on. Johnny was shocked but he wasn’t mad about it, JC was an adult after all and he had to work out his own problems.

He had decided that he would be there for his baby if it was his; if it wasn’t then he’d finally sever all ties with Bobbie. The hard part of all of it would be if the baby was his, he’d end up severing ties with Mack, which was the last thing he wanted. If it wasn’t it still would be hard for her to come to terms with the fact that he got her rival pregnant, he didn’t even need to ask to know about that. Either way he was in a lose-lose situation. To make matters worse he couldn’t get her out of his head (not that she was out of it before). He couldn’t get the hurt look out of his head, he couldn’t keep her voice from getting into his head. He was driving himself crazy all because of a situation he could’ve avoided if he had listened to the guys in the first place and hadn’t started dating her. But he was lonely and they had hooked up after their first ‘date’ and he was a guy. JC shoved the covers off of himself and moved swiftly to his hotel room door. He had to make things right.

He remembered to grab his key and walked down the hall as fast as he could. He knew he was risking being seen by the paparazzi that would inevitably find their way into the hotel, but love made him crazy. Once he reached the door he was looking for he pounded it repeatedly with his fist.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” Mack snapped once she got the door open.

JC hesitated in his response as he looked her over. ‘Why does she have to wear that damn tank top and shorts that hug every part of her body? Why?’ He shook his head and looked up at her. “We need to talk.”

“We don’t need to talk about anything,” she said as she tried to close the door but he stuck out his foot and stopped it. “Move, JC!” She ordered.

“Not until you talk to me,” he begged. “Why are you mad?”

“Why am I mad?” She repeated somewhat sarcastically. “JC, you got Bobbie pregnant. You’re losing your focus on the band and in turn you’re making everyone else lose focus so your dancing sucks and I’m the one who gets blamed for it.”

“Are you sure that’s the only reason?” He asked, forcing his way into the room and closing the door behind himself.

“Yes,” she replied, turning. “Now leave so I can sleep.”

“Mack.” He grabbed her arm and turned her back to him. “I all ready know, but tell me the real reason you’re mad. I have to hear it.”

She shook her head and groaned, which slowly escalated until she was growling, which was a signal that she was about to explode. “Because you’re always with her!” She practically shouted. “Bobbie always finds a way to be with you and now she somehow found a way to be with you when you’ve broken up!”

“So you’re jealous of the fact that I dated her?”

“No! I don’t give a fuck who you date, I care when they don’t give you time to be with the guys, be with me. I hate it. I like being with you, JC, I really do, but I…I just…” She closed her eyes.

“Say it,” JC whispered, his mouth by her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“I…I want you for myself,” she mumbled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Finally!” He gently but firmly pushed her against the wall and kissed her hard, savoring her taste. She wrapped her arms around his neck tighter and kissed him back with equal passion. He slipped his hands under her tank top and ran them over her smooth, flat stomach. She pulled away slightly and groaned against his lips. He pressed his body against hers, rubbing the bulge in his pajama pants against her side. “God, I want you so bad,” he muttered, kissing her neck.

“So take me,” she replied.

He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “Are you sure?” He asked, lightly stroking her cheek with his finger. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m ready,” she replied, kissing his cheek. “It’s not like you could go to jail or something,” she added, joking a bit.

He chuckled and kissed her. “No, but people might think it’s wrong that I’m with someone five years younger than me.”

“Since when do I give a crap about what others think?”

“Good point.” He kissed her again before picking her up, bridal-style, and gently laid her down on the bed. He gently tugged at the bottom of her tank top and looked at her with questioning eyes. She nodded and he lifted her shirt over her head. She blushed when his eyes rested on her breasts. “Don’t be shy, you’re very beautiful,” he told her, kissing her cheek. He then gripped the bottom of her pajama pants and started to pull them down.

“Wait,” she stopped him. “Don’t you want me to…?” her voice trailed off.

“No, but thanks for the offer. Tonight’s all about you.” He kissed her nose and smiled. “Just close your eyes and relax.” She nodded and slowly closed her eyes. JC leaned forward and took a nipple into his mouth, his hand attaching to her other breast. He gently bit down on the nipple and rolled it between his teeth, causing her to let out a little sigh of pleasure. He massaged her other breast as he continued licking, sucking, and biting on the nipple. He then switched sides and smiled a bit when he heard her gasps of pleasure. He backed away and hooked two fingers in her panties. He slowly dragged them down, not taking his eyes off of her creamy thighs. Once he pulled them off he lightly kissed the patch of hair that covered her, causing her to squirm a bit. He lowered his head, licked her folds briefly, and began ravishing her clit.

"Oh my fucking god," Mack moaned as she felt his tongue enter her wet opening. "Don't stop." She breathed before pushing his head down farther, running her fingers through his hair and massaging his scalp. She arched her back and let out moans as pleasure shot through her and to her center. JC lifted his head and she let out a sigh of disappointment. He backed away a bit to pull off his shirt and shed himself of his pajama pants before climbing on top of her. He unwrapped the condom that was in his hand and paused to roll it onto his cock.

"Will it hurt?" She whispered to him as he lay her head down on the pillow.

"I'll go slow."

"JC, that won't fit in me," Mack whispered as she finally took in the size of him.

"Don't worry." He kissed her forehead and slipped a finger into her so that he could get her ready for him.

"Oh God." Mack groaned as she felt a second, then third finger be inserted. She squirmed a bit. It was uncomfortable to her but she figured she’d get used to it. A few minutes later she was moaning into his ear.

"You want it?” he whispered in her ear.

"Fuck yes,” she begged as his fingers probed her center.

Replacing his fingers with his dick, he felt Mack's walls tighten around his length. He only slid in the head, because he knew his three fingers hadn't stretched her enough for this. "Are you OK?" JC asked before he pushed in anymore.

"Yea." Mack replied, the initial pain of feeling her walls stretching subsiding. Sliding in inch by inch, JC got half way in before he felt as if he'd broken something. Reaching down in between them, he touched his hand to her center and saw the blood coating his finger.

"You're officially not a virgin anymore," he announced before sliding all the way in.

Under him, Mack wiggled in pain as tears sprung to her eyes. JC noticed and kissed them away as she squeezed her eyes shut. He didn’t move as he waited for her to get comfortable. Slowly she opened her eyes as she felt her walls adjusting to his size and her body began to responded to his. "I love you Mack," he breathed to her as he pushed in for the second time.

She was about to respond when a new sensation hit her as she felt him press in deeper. "Ahh. Fuck!" She screamed as he hit the spot again.

"Want me to do it again?" He asked her as he sat inside her, unmoving. She looked at him and saw that smile on his face, the teasing one. The one that made her want to punch him and kiss him at the same time.

"Yes!" She hissed through clenched teeth.

"Beg for it," he said seductively, huskily, wanting, no needing her, to yell his name.

"JC. Please," she begged as she felt the sensations begin to die away. Pulling out completely, JC slammed into her, hitting her spot again, the impact causing her to scream out. "Harder." She breathed raggedly, unable to form many words.

"You sure?" JC asked, not wanting to hurt her.

"Yes! Damn it. I'm not fucking delicate!" She nearly screamed at him.

"Ok then." JC smirked, she had no idea what she got herself into. It was nice to know that his girl liked it rough. Pulling out completely, he then slammed into her as hard as possible. Burying her to the hilt, Mack yelled out, feeling her body almost ready to reach the limit. "Turn around." He commanded, making sure she was leaning on her elbows with her backside high in the air. Entering her from that angle, he slammed into her, getting satisfaction as he felt her body quake from him hitting her spot for the third time. Getting a steady pace of in and out, he could feel himself nearing the limit and he was almost positive that Mack was on her second. JC pulled out completely and laughed at the annoyed/disappointed groan that came out of Mack’s mouth as she turned to face him.

“Come on!” She cried out.

JC merely laughed and kissed her. “I just want to try one more thing, ok babe?” He asked, nuzzling her cheek. He didn’t wait for her to answer and lay down next to her, his head lying on the pillows. “C’mere.” He held out his arms to her. She crawled over to him and knelt by his side. “No, sit on me.” A confused look flashed across her features before she blushed but did as she was told. She eased herself down onto his cock as he held onto her waist. He waited until she got comfortable before lifting his hips and filling her completely before sliding back out. He got a rhythm going and licked his lips, watching her rise up a bit before coming back down. She ran her hands over his chest, lightly pinching his nipples as he moved faster, thrusting harder. She leaned forward, her moans filling his ear as he slammed into her. “I’m…almost…there…FUCK!” he slammed into her once more, relishing in the feeling of her walls clamping down on him. He kept his arms wrapped around her waist as he pulled out of her, rolled onto their side, and pulled the covers over them. She snuggled closer to him, taking in his sent before drifting off to sleep.

 

~*~*~

 

JC woke up the next morning with sunlight hitting his face. He forced his eyes open and squinted. He stretched and noticed that the space in the bed next to him was empty. He sat up and looked across the room and saw Mack sitting in a chair, her covered knees brought up to her now covered chest.

“Are you ok?” JC asked without moving. “Did I hurt you last night?”

“No.” Mack’s voice was hoarse as if she had been crying. “I’m just thinking.”

“About what?” JC pulled on his pajama pants and walked over to her.

She stayed silent. He wasn’t sure she was going to respond. “What if the baby is yours?” She asked.

“It’s not,” JC replied, tired of the conversation all ready.

“But what if it is?” She demanded. “Then what am I to you? Your no-strings-attached fix on the side? No pun intended.”

“No! I love you, you know that.”

“Yet if the baby is yours you’d run to Bobbie’s side in an instant because you can’t just leave the baby without a dad,” she replied. JC opened his mouth but she stopped him. “You know you would. I just think…last night was a mistake and I don’t think we should be together until we find out who the dad is.”

“Are you sure? Do you really want that?” JC asked.

He could see the answer in her eyes. It was different from her reply. “I’m sure.”

“Ok.” His heart sank but he nodded. He gently laid a kiss on her cheek before grabbing his shirt, pulling it on, and walking towards the door. He looked over his shoulder just to make sure. She was looking out the window, not turning around no matter how much he silently willed her to.

Justin shook his head as he continued to pace the room. His hands were clenched into fists and he really just wanted to land a punch on both JC's and Bobbie's faces. He wanted to punch JC for falling for Bobbie's trap like he always did. He wanted to punch Bobbie for creating the trap and using JC's good-natured personality against him. It was a good plan, Justin had to admit. JC wouldn't be able to deny a baby if it were his and he wouldn't be able to stay out of the baby's life. He would've felt really guilty and Bobbie knew that.

He let out a scream of rage and punched the closest thing to him, which was a pillow. He, Lance, Chris, Joey, and Mack were currently sitting in the dressing room. Sound check was an hour ago and JC still hadn't shown up. He didn't call any of them to tell them that he was going to be late either. It was as if he didn't care about the band anymore, but Justin refused to believe that.

"Guys, we should just get started," Lance decided, looking at his watch again. "If we wait any longer then we'll end up having to push back our first show. I'm sure the crew, the fans, and Johnny wouldn't want to do that."

"Lance is right," Joey agreed, sighing. "I personally want to wait some more but Johnny will have our heads."

"I wish I had JC's neck in my hands right now," Justin mumbled.

"J, we get that you're worried but-" Chris started.

"I'm not worried, Chris," Justin interrupted. "I'm furious. Appalled. Shocked. Dismayed. And a little hurt," he listed.

"It's not like JC did this on purpose," Mack spoke up.

"You, of all people, I though would be on my side," Justin said, rounding on here.

"There are no sides," she said, getting to her feet. She waited until she was a few feet away from him before continuing. "And don't talk to me like that. I know you're upset with JC, we all are. This isn't like him, I get that. This isn't your fault so stop blaming yourself. JC's a grown man, he can make his own decisions and fight his own battles. We don't need you putting all of your focus on him. I understand that he's your best friend, but as his best friend you have to give him a little space and a little more time to figure out what he's going to do and how he's going to handle the situation!" She let out a slow, shaky breath and started speaking calmly. "JC wouldn't want you to be so worried about him. He'd want you all to focus, so please, do that for me? We'll shorten sound check to an hour, which should be enough time for JC to figure out what's going on. We can go talk to him afterwards."

"Why are you so calm about this?" Justin demanded.

She shrugged. "I'm not a pessimist, J. Everything will fall into place the way God wants it to happen. If she is pregnant and the kids is his, I'm not going to stand in his way of being a good father. The only thing I can do is be there for him no matter what the outcome is."

"Still, this feels fishy to me," Chris said as he got up. He rubbed his chin as he started to pace in the same fashion that Justin had earlier. "She has a reason to fake the pregnancy. Hell, she could easily convince JC that she's pregnant. The main question you have to ask is what does Bobbie want in the long run? Why is she willing to con JC into being with her?"

"For fame," Joey replied.

"For money," Lance guessed.

"Where are you going with this?" Mack asked.

Chris merely smiled. "Little girl, I'll tell you in a few minutes." He ignored the glare that she shot his way. "Right now we have to convince Johnny to let us go on without a sound check or a Meet and Greet and we'll have a double Meet and Greet tomorrow in return. Also, we need to order some food because we're going to be here for a while."

"Johnny won't go for that," Lance said, shaking his head. "Tour starts in two days. Two days, Chris. More the one, less than three."

"I can count!" Chris snapped.

"Oh so you do have a brain up there," Lance said in mock shock.

"Lansten, I have an idea and I know it will work. If you'd please trust me we'll be able to save our friend from the class of the Wicked Bitch of the West." They then turned to Lance who was biting his thumbnail, deep in thought. He looked up once it registered that they were looking at him. He noticed the hopeful look in their eyes and sighed. The responsibility of calling Johnny was on him, he could tell.

Lance sighed and stood. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't get started without me."

"You're not going to miss much," Chris said with a wave of his hand. Lance made a face before leaving the room. Chris sat on the floor and motioned for everyone else to sit around him. Once he was sitting down he grabbed a notepad and a pen from the table in front of the mirror. "Ok, let's start with what we know." He quickly wrote Bobbie's name on one half of the notepad. "Shout out everything you know about Bobbie."

"She's a bitch."

"She's a whore."

"She's a golddigger."

Chris doubled over in hysterics at what they shouted out. The fact that it was the truth was what made Chris laugh so hard. That and the fact that JC couldn't see it even if the evidence was right in front of his face. JC was clueless sometimes, he was known throughout the group as The Slow One, but they didn't think he was blind to Bobbie's ways. "Ok, ok, in all seriousness. What do we know about her?"

"She writes for J-14 and Twist Magainze," Justin replied. "Ummm, she's friends with Stacey Ferguson."

"She lives in California," Joey added. "Ummm, she comes to a lot of our concerts? I don't know. How is this going to help us form a plan?"

Chris held up his hand and wrote down their suggestions. "Ok, why do you think Bobbie dated JC in the first place?"

"His looks," Justin replied.

"His singing voice," Joey spoke up.

"His voice?" Mack asked.

"His sweet demeanor?" Lance asked, coming back into the room and joining their circle. "Why're we complimenting JC again?"

"We're trying to deduce why Bobbie got together with JC," Justin replied. "Well, Stacey kinda forced them together when things between her and JC didn't take off. She told me. She got them together because she wanted to get JC off of her back and not get distracted when he was helping them produce some stuff."

"But Bobbie could've easily left JC, she stayed for a reason," Chris said as he tapped his chin. "Mack, you're a girl-"

"Thanks for noticing," she quipped.

"You get what I mean. Anyway, JC's totally your type, right? Why do you want to be with him?"

"Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well, all girls usually look for the same thing in a guy, right? I figured if we understood why you wanted to be with Jace we'd understand why Bobbie wanted to stay with him."

"Aside from JC, Bobbie and I like different type of men," Mack replied. "She just goes for people in the spotlight, I actually like to go deeper than in the person's wallet. The fact that JC has money is just a coincidence. I could do without it."

"What aren't we getting?" Chris mumbled to himself. "There has to be something missing."

"My Mom said that when she started dating she was looking for men she could see herself married to and starting a family with," Lance spoke up. Everyone fell silent as they looked at him. His eyes shifted as he pressed his lips together. Had he said the wrong thing? Were they going to make fun of him for mentioning something that his mom told him? Were they going to call him a Mama's Boy now? Justin would be a hypocrite if he did, he was the biggest Mama's boy in the world. If you called him that he would glare at you and threaten you and make you regret calling him that in the first place.

"He may be onto something," Joey said as he rubbed his chin. "That's what my Mom did. She says when she first met my dad that was it. She could easily see herself getting married and having kids with him."

"Wait, so you think Bobbie's with him just so she could marry him in the future?" Mack asked. "The only thing she'll get out of that is his name."

"No, I think it's more than that." Chris let out a sigh and rested his back against the couch behind him. "We're going to be here for a while."

 

~*~*~

 

Why am I here?

JC's been asking himself that question since he woke up that morning. After many hours of trying, and failing, to go to sleep he got on some clothes and left the hotel. He didn't know where he was going, he just followed where ever his feet took him.

He kept his head down to make sure no one on the street would recognize him. The last thing he wanted was to be stopped for an autograph or something, especially at this time of morning. It was rare for people to stay outside of their hotels through the night, no matter what kind of weather it was.

He had made his way to the park when he got the call from Bobbie asking him to join her at the doctor's office. A part of him told him ntot to go, that he was just digging himself a deeper grave. The other half of him told him that he at least owed it to her and to be there for her. He knew no one else would be there. Her family turned their backs on her when she decided to move to Los Angeles.

After a few more hours of walking he made sure to go back to the hotel and get a few things before, discreetly, leaving and going to his car. He was surprised their security team went along with his plea of keeping quiet of where he was going. He knew the guys wouldn't understand what he was doing. Hell, he didn't even understand what he was doing. All he knew was that he was right and his mother always told him to do the right thing. And this was the right thing, at least, that's what he kept telling himself.

That's why he was now sitting at the doctor's office with Bobbie by his side. She had her right leg crossed over her left. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was biting her nail as she looked around the doctor's office waiting area. A bunch of little kids were playing with those little rollercoaster bead toy things. Some babies were being fed by their mothers and others were being rocked to sleep so their visit could go by smoothly and quickly.

JC looked at his watch again and sighed again. Bobbie briefly looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She slowly uncrossed her legs and arms. She squirmed in her chair a bit before turning to look at JC. She bit her lip and tucked her hair behind her ears, keeping her eyes on JC. He finally looked up from the book he was holding in his hands and looked over at her. Seeing the concerned look in her eyes instantly made him mark his page and close the book, giving her his full attention.

"I was thinking," Bobbie started. "I thought long and hard about this. If this baby isn't yours I'll leave you alone. I promise. I won't call you or e-mail you or talk to you ever again. I'll just disappear from your life and leave you to live it anyway you want. You can forget about me. I'll give you back everything you gave me." She let out a breath. "If the baby is yours I was hoping that you'd consider...moving in with me. I think it would be best for the baby to have his or her father around. My house has enough space for all of us. You can turn the basement into a studio if you want, too. That way we can be together, like a family should."

JC just stared at her dumbfounded. He was at a loss for words. She was switching between emotions like someone would change the channel on a TV. At first she was pissed off at him for being with Mack and not returning her calls. Now she wants him to move in with her?

"I would hardly call us a family if that were the case," JC mumbled.

She slowly reached out and grasped his hand. "That's why I was hoping...you'd marry me. Then the baby could have a proper father."

"Marry you!?" JC cried out. He couldn't help it, he started laughing. Here he was being asked to marry a girl that spend his money like a sick person used a tissue and she wants to be married. "Bobbie, you want me to marry you?" He chuckled. She nodded. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm 100% serious," she replied, nodding. "I know I've been a bad girlfriend-"

JC laughed again. He didn't recognize the laugh that was coming out of his mouth. It was harsh, a little too harsh. It wasn't' like him at all. But what did Bobbie expect, for him to drop to his knees and shout to the heavens how much he loved her? That was out of the question. That ship had sailed. "A bad girlfriend?" He repeated, his voice rising a bit. "No, Bobbie, you haven't been a bad girlfriend, you've been a horrible girlfriend."

"Joshua, ssssh!" She hissed, looking around at the others that were looking in their direction.

"What? Afraid that these strangers will judge you for what you did?" JC demanded. "I don't really give a shit." He ignored the mother's that covered their kids' ears with their hands and glared at him. He was too mad to care. Too mad at her and too mad at himself for falling for her trap once more.

"Joshua, calm down."

"No, I won't calm down. Here I am trying to be a good friend and all you do is try and con me into marrying you!" JC's hands clenched into fists. "Bobbie, you've lied to me, cheated on me, stole my money, tricked me, lied to me, made me constantly hurt my friends and betray the girl that I love." He ignored her wince when he used the ‘l' word. "And now you're trying to con me into marrying you. Here I thought you couldn't sink any lower."

Bobbie grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and tugged him into his seat. She brought her hair up into a ponytail with her hands and let it fall over her shoulders. She took a deep breath, shaking her head a bit, before looking at him. "I thought-"

"You thought what? That I'd come crawling back to you like before? Well guess what? I'm not falling for anything anymore."

"You're here now aren't you?"

JC opened his mouth to argue but closed it after a few seconds, clenching his teeth at the smirk that slid onto her face. She was crazy; there was no other way to put it. She did everything she could to keep JC coming back, even he couldn't resist, especially if she was in trouble. That's just the way he was, and she knew it too. She exploited it.

"Ms. Thomas?"

Bobbie gathered her purse and slung it over her shoulder while standing. She looked back at JC and waited a bit for him to actually get out of his seat and follow him out of the waiting room. The doctor led them into a room and told them about the process of DNA testing and what they should do if JC were the father. Almost as soon as the doctor excused himself to get the results Bobbie left the room to go to the bathroom. JC was about ready to jump out of his chair and run when the doctor and Bobbie finally came back to the room.

"So? Am I the Dad or what?" JC demanded before the doctor could even open his mouth.

"Well, there's no way around it. JC, you're the father to this baby."

JC fainted.

Bobbie grinned.

 

~*~*~

 

"Did you hear what happened?"

"I know."

"He got her pregnant!"

"I know."

"I didn't think JC would be so careless."

"Don't talk about him like that. You know him better than that."

"Yeah, for all we know it could've been a mistake."

"It is a mistake."

"What do you think he's going to do?"

"It's JC, he wouldn't deny a baby that's his."

"But what about his singing career?"

"What about ‘N Sync?"

"What about his life?"

Justin slammed his plate down on the stage where everyone was gathered around to eat some lunch before they went back into rehearsals. It was the day before their big tour and everyone was excited. The excitement went away once the talk about JC amongst the crew spread to everyone who was working on the tour. JC stayed quiet, smiling at everyone he passed and making it seem like he was fine with everything when they really knew that he wasn't.

"Ok, this has got to stop," Justin muttered loud enough so everyone but JC could hear him. Not that he was paying attention anyway. JC was currently lying on his back, his eyes closed, his hands folded on his chest. Headphones covered his ears and, judging by the loud music that was coming out of it; he wouldn't be able to hear them. "We're shutting down Bobbie once and for all."

Mack glanced around. "Do we have time to get away?"

"Chris can cause a distraction," Lance replied.

"Who's going to go?" Joey asked.

"It'll be easier if Mack and I went," Justin replied. "We can get anything out of Bobbie. You guys will be there but you won't physically be there." He tilted his head towards his bag that was by his feet. "We just need a distraction long enough so Johnny won't notice that we're gone for long."

"Oh, I have about thirty ideas going through my mind all ready," Chris said with a grin. "Ok, let's synchronize our watches." The rest of them stared at Chris as if he had grown a second head. He groaned and rolled his eyes. "Don't you do your homework? I told you we should've watched more spy movies before we went to sleep last night."

"Get over your spy fantasy; it's never going to happen!" Justin exclaimed waving his hands in the air. He then quickly looked around. "Come on, we have some busting to do." He and Mack both looked around before grabbing their dropped bicycles and pedaled off as fast as they could. Once they reached the closest door that lead them outside they ditched the bikes, ran through the door, across the parking lot, and jumped into Justin's silver 1998 Chevrolet convertible. "Did you grab my bag?" he asked as he quickly buckled himself up and adjusted the rear-view mirror.

"Got it," Mack replied, lightly kicking it with her feet and buckling up herself. She lowered the sunglasses that were on her head as Justin peeled out of the parking lot. "Ok, we have about...twenty minutes to get a confession out of her once we get there so we have to make this quick."

"Don't worry, we'll do most of the talking and get what we want and then we'll go just like that." Justin snapped for emphasis. He slowly shook his head. "Jace really got himself into some shit this time and once again we have to clean it up for him because he's too much of a ‘gentleman'." Despite the disapproving tone in his voice he had a smile on his face.

They finally pulled up at a hotel that was on the outskirts of the city. Justin checked his watch again before grabbing his bag and getting out of the car. Justin and Mack calmly walked through the automatic doors of the hotel. Mack pulled out a piece of paper in her pocket that had the number of a room written on it. Justin glanced at it before running across the lobby and dove into an elevator before the doors closed. "Are you trying to kill yourself before we get this over with?" Mack demanded, jabbing the 7 with her elbow.

"Sorry, I guess I'm kind of excited," Justin replied. "That and I was hoping no one would see me. The last thing we need is to be stopped by a swarm of fans. I don't have time to sign autographs."

Mack stared at him for a bit. "Do you listen to yourself talk? I don't think it's possible to be that conceited."

Justin merely shrugged, shoved his hands into his pockets and whistled as the elevator slowly rose up the floors. How he managed to stay calm beneath the pressure surprised Mack. Either they were going to get Bobbie off of their backs or they were going to lose a member of ‘N Sync depending on which way this conversation went. "You ready?" Justin stood and stretched his arms over his head.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

The ding signaled that they had reached their floor. With every step they took Justin's heart beat against his chest harder. He cleared his throat and checked the paper again to make sure they had gotten the right room. He cleared his throat again, lifted his hand, and knocked on the door. He waited a few seconds as he listened. Silence was on the other side of the door. He lifted his hand and knocked again.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" He heard on the other side.

He felt Mack gently poke him in the back and he nodded slightly. Justin's eyes locked with Bobbie's for a split second as soon as she opened the door. She tried to shove it closed but Justin swiftly shoved his foot in the doorway. "Back up, Thomas. I'm not afraid to take down this door and take you down with it."

"Whatever happened to the sweet Justin Timberlake that the world knows?"

"His best friend has been screwed over and he's taking things into his own hands! Move!" Justin glared at Bobbie through the crack in the door. She held his gaze for a few seconds before letting go of the door and backing up as fast as possible. Justin and Mack moved into the room, closing the door after them. "Wade? What're you doing here?" Justin demanded, noticing the spiky haired blond in the corner of the room. "Oh, so you're in on her stupid plan."

"What plan?" Wade questioned. "I just came here to talk to her." He nodded at Mack.

"How'd you know she'd be here?" Justin asked, subtly moving to stand in front of her. He hated the way Wade was looking at her.

"Because she hates Bobbie and I figured it'd only be a matter of time until she'd come over here to talk to Bobbie about the whole pregnancy thing," Wade replied. "You two are very predictable, you know. I'm surprised your friends don't know you're here."

"They will in a second. Johnny will know too and you'll get suspension if anything for missing out on practices without telling him why," Justin replied, keeping his thumb on a button on his phone.

"Johnny knows where I am," Wade replied with a small smile. "If you really want to know I didn't think I was giving Mack the time she deserves to work with you guys and give her input on your tour. I asked Johnny for a few days off so she could get more work done. I was doing this for her, really."

"Bullshit!" Mack spoke up, stepping out from behind Wade. "If you're being so damn honest with Johnny why don't you tell him what you did to me? You fucking coward!"

"Even though what I did is no one's business I do plan on telling him, I'm just trying to find a way to do that where it doesn't hurt your image nor mine," he replied. "I'm being honest," he added when Justin and Mack scoffed in unison. "I wasn't myself. I would never hurt you, your friendship means too much to me."

"Where have I heard that before," she muttered bitterly.

"What do you mean you weren't yourself?" Justin demanded.

"Well, that's where she comes in," Wade replied, tilting his head. Justin looked in the spot where Bobbie was sitting before but she was gone. "Wha-?"

Mack whipped her head around and her eyes rested on Bobbie who was carefully making her way to the door. Bobbie lifted her head and froze for a split second once she was spotted. In an instant Mack tossed Justin's bag onto the ground, turned, and ran full tilt at her. Bobbie turned and managed to run a few steps before she was tackled to the ground. Justin and Wade stood by and watched as the two girls rolled around on the floor, screaming and trying to claw at each other's faces.

"Wow, if this situation were any different this would be such a turn on," Wade commented. He paused for a second. "Who'm I kidding? This is a turn on anyway."

Justin ignored Wade as he moved his bag out of the way of the fighting and put it on the table by the single bed in the room. He waited patiently for the fighting to stop as he looked at his watch. The guys would understand if he was a little late, he was on a mission to save a friend after all. "You bitch! Get off me!" Justin looked up and laughed. Mack was sitting on Bobbie's back and had a firm grip on Bobbie's hair with one hand and her leg with another.

"Are you going to cooperate?" Mack demanded, tugging on Bobbie's hair and her leg.

"Ow! Yes! Just get off!" Bobbie shouted. Mack looked up at Justin who nodded and she got off of Bobbie, backed up towards the door, and stood there with her arms crossed over her chest.

"How does Bobbie come into play with this, Wade?" Justin asked him.

"Let's just say...I have a bad habit," Wade replied.

"What kind of habit?"

"A drinking habit," Bobbie replied with an eye roll.

"I still don't get how you tie into this," Justin muttered. "Nothing's piecing together right."

"That's because we're missing part of the story," Mack replied, nodding over at Wade. "We need to get his side first. How he and Bobbie met and how he got this job and stuff."

"I'm willing to talk," Wade added.

"Yeah, but she's not so we're going to need some reinforcements," Justin replied, nodding in Bobbie's direction. Alost as soon as the sentence left his mouth there was a knock on the door. Mack opened the door and Lance, Joey, and Chris walked in.

"What're they doing here?" Bobbie spat.

"I speed-dialed Joey," Justin replied, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Wade I kinda figured would be easy to get some stuff out of. I knew we'd have a hard time with you which is why I brought them here."

"I'm surprised you didn't being JC along," Bobbie said with an eye roll. Justin flinched at the way she said his name. It didn't sound right coming out of her mouth.

"He doesn't need to be here," Justin replied. He turned to his friends and lowered his voice. "Lance, Mack, and I will take Wade in the other room. You two stay here and get whatever you can out of Bobbie. If you don't get anything by the time we're done with him let us take a shot at it, ok?"

"Got it," Chris replied. He looked over at Bobbie, grinned, and cracked his knuckles. "It'll be fun annoying her."

Justin grinned and motioned for Wade to go into the other room. He willingly got up and went into the room, followed closely by Lance, Justin, and Mack. Lance closed the door behind them and leaned against it.

"Let's start with how you got the job with us in the first place, the VMAs," Justin prompted.

"That was easy. I was working for Brit anyway and when she said she wanted to perform with you guys I jumped at the chance to choreograph your routine. I've seen some of your shows, you guys are amazing." Wade paused to pull at a thread on his shirt. "JC was dating Bobbie about the same time, right?" He didn't wait for them to answer. "Yeah, I think that was it. I was talking to her once while you guys were at rehearsal, the day before. I was looking for someone else to choreograph. Not that Britney wasn't amazing, I just wanted something different. She said since she was dating JC she'd be able to hear if anyone needed a choreographer since you guys know a lot of people."

"So Bobbie's the reason you got called to choreograph our tour?" Lance asked. Wade nodded. "We were right about that, J."

Justin nodded and urged Wade to continue.

"Anyway, I was back at home in LA when I got a call from Bobbie saying that she made a suggestion to wade about me being your tour choreographer. Then Johnny called me saying I got the job if I wanted it. I had a lot of good ideas anyway so I said sure. When I came out I got your number, Justin, from Johnny and told you to meet there. Once Bobbie heard I was in town she asked me to do something for her."

"Flirt with me," Mack spoke up.

"Right." Wade nodded and gave her an apologetic look. "She told me she'd get me as much beer as I wanted. I was in that revellious phase. I was close to being an adult but I couldn't drink yet when I really wanted to. She was able to get the drink for me if I helped her get JC to herself. Being stupid, I said sure. I got a little tipsy and then I started talking to her and JC at the nightclub. Bobbie said it would make JC jealous but I didn't think it would make him jealous enough to drive him into getting drunk. That's how you hurt your arm, right?"

"Right. He dislocated it," Mack replied. "It was an accident," she quickly added.

"Right, ‘cause you don't want to believe he'd hurt you on purpose," Wade agreed. "Anyway, after that Bobbie kept in constant contact with me, providing me beer if I did what she asked. The time I went to New York was to make sure we had a space rented out for rehearsal. That was before I knew it was an acoustic set. Bobbie sent over a few beers undetected, which I was amazed by. Anyway, I got drunk and got lonely and ended up sleeping with her. All the while she was telling me a plan she had to mess up JC's and Mack's friendship and have him to herself."

"Which is why you..." Mack's voice trailed off.

"Did what I did to you, yes," Wade replied.

"What'd he do?" Lance asked in alarm.

"It doesn't matter," Justin replied, holding up his hand. "You practically disappeared since then."

"As I said it was to give her space to do what she was hired for," Wade said as he nodded in Mack's direction. "Johnny knows why I left, to get a handle on my drinking. I've been taking AA classes." He sighed. "I mean no harm. Honestly, I just want to dance and to help you guys have the best tour you can have."

Justin held Wade's gaze and sighed. "I believe you," Justin muttered.

"May I ask why?" Lance questioned.

"Because he willingly told us all of this stuff. If he didn't want us to know he wouldn't provide all this information," Justin replied. "Now all we have to do is get the word out of the Queen Bitch herself." He looked at his watch again. "Does Jace know we're gone?"

"Uh-uh, we convinced him to get some rest. He'll be out for a few hours. Johnny knows what we're up to so we're fine," Lance replied.

"Ok, let's get this over with." Justin opened the door to their room they were in and burst out laughing. Joey had Bobbie pinned to the floor by holding her shoulders down while Chris dangled one of his socks over her face. "Chris, what're you doing?"

"Trying to get answers from her!" he replied.

"I said interrogate her not kill her! Get up." Chris and Joey did as they were told and moved to stand behind Justin. He smiled to himself feeling like the general of an army of avengers. Bobbie got up and eyed them all. "I'll make this very simple, spill your guts and I won't let Chris hold that sock in your face again."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Bobbie asked.

"No but I can easily dish one if you want it so bad," Mack spoke up.

"Down girl," Justin said in a joking tone.

"You might as well fess up," Wade added.

"Why? To give them another reason to hate me?"

"I don't hate you," Justin replied. "On the contrary. I don't hate people, I just don't like you. You tricked JC, you've hurt JC, you lied to him, and you hurt my girl in the process and I'm not going to fly with that. So talk! It's not like you have much to lose anyway, JC's not here and I'm not going to tell him anything. He has to hear what you're going to say from you, not me."

"Whatever." Bobbie rolled her eyes. "JC's mine, first and foremost," she declared, glaring at Mack. "My roommate set us up and we're perfect for each other."

"If you were so perfect you wouldn't have to keep lying to get your way," Joey spoke up.

"I was making sure things stayed my way. I knew since I first met you all that she would be a threat to our relationship," Bobbie said bitterly. "I could tell by the way he was looking at her that she meant something to him, even if she couldn't see it. It wasn't fair that he was pining after someone that didn't see how wonderful he was. I was there for him, he didn't need anyone else. If he couldn't see that I had to make sure that he understood it so I took some matters into my own hands."

"So Wade was part of your scheme?" Lance asked, moving over to the bed.

"Yeah. He probably told you but we met for your VMA rehearsal. I walked in on him while he was drunk once. He begged me not to tell anyone that he was drinking or he would lose his job. I decided to keep his secret and give him some beer if he helped me get JC away from her." She chuckled. "It turned out easier than I thought. All I had to do was sleep with JC a few times to get him to tell me anything I wanted to know. When I found out that Wade had a chance of being your tour choreographer I suggested that he look into what he's done so he would pick Wade. When he did I told him I'd get him free beer at a nightclub if he met up with you guys and flirted with her. I knew it would get on JC's nerves and I knew it would get him to drink more. I didn't know he was that violent when he got drunk, usually alcohol brought out his rough side for sex. I didn't think he'd cause physical harm, but that was a serendipitous side effect."

Chris grabbed Mack's arm to hold her back. He knew if he let her go she would lunge at the girl and knock her out in three seconds flat. Chris wanted to attack Bobbie himself but he knew they needed her info so he let her be for now.

"After that I just made sure to do everything I could to make sure things between them got even rockier, even if that meant I had to temporarily mess up my own relationship with JC, he always comes crawling back so I wasn't worried. When I went to New York, I did sleep with Wade but he was drunk and he didn't know what he was doing so it didn't even matter. I promised him her if he promised to get her out of my way. He asked her out and-"

"Don't!" Mack hissed through clenched teeth. Bobbie smiled, knowing that she struck a nerve. Lance, Chris, and Joey exchanged confused looks but everyone else ignored it.

"JC broke up with me after you idiots told him about me and Wade," Bobbie continued. "I'll admit I was hurt but then that hurt went away once I realized I was pregnant. That's when I knew that I had him and JC would always and will forever be mine. We're going to get married. He said himself that he can't let his baby grow up without a father, so that's it. Either you be nice to me or JC will quit ‘N Sync, it's your choice." She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled with confidence.

"What makes you so sure the baby is his?" Justin asked.

"DNA test," Bobbie replied. "We went yesterday, that's why he wasn't at practice. It was the same time he proposed to me, see?" She held out her hand and showed off the diamond ring that lay on her finger.

"DNA testing, eh?" Mack asked, part of her Canadian accent coming through. "By any chance do you have a copy of the results with you?"

Bobbie scoffed. "Of course. I knew you guys would try to disprove of my baby being his." She pulled an envelope out of her bag and handed it over to her, smirking all the while. Lance shifted on the bed and stretched, shifting Justin's bag slightly as Mack pulled the paper out of the envelope and read it over.

"Hmmm," Mack muttered as she looked the piece of paper over. When she lowered it and lifted her eyes to Bobbie she sighed. "There's no denying it," she muttered, waving the piece of paper a bit. A smile suddenly formed on her face. "There's no denying that this ‘DNA test' is a fake." Bobbie's smile dropped from her face.

"What!?" Bobbie shrieked. "How dare you call me a liar!"

"I don't have to, this paper does it for you," Mack replied, laughing. "I can spot a fake from miles away."

"How?" Wade asked.

"My Dad's a photographer," Mack explained. "He takes pictures of stuff, blows stuff up, and shrinks it too. He even makes copies of documents and stuff for people. I've been around the shop long enough to know a fake document when I see it and this DNA test is false."

"How do you know?" Chris asked.

"Like I said, I can spot fakes a mile away. That and doctors' use a specific paper with a water mark so it can't be copied as easily. This is on thicker paper and the water mark is nowhere to be seen. Also, the signature of the doctor is different than the doctor's actual signature."

"How...?" Bobbie was speechless.

"You went to an Orlando doctor, right?" Mack asked. She nodded. "Dr. Levitt?" Bobbie nodded again. "He's the best known doctor in the Orlando area and he's my doctor. I know his signature anywhere." She rolled up the paper. "You're not pregnant, if you haven't figured that out."

"Yes I am!" Bobbie stomped her foot.

"Really? You seemed a little too eager to attack me then. I could've easily killed your baby but you didn't seem to care at all. If you were really pregnant your motherly instincts would've kicked in and you wouldn't risk the baby's life." Mack chuckled. "Give it up, Bobbie. Stop the lies and leave us all alone." Bobbie stayed silent.

"Oh, and if you could do us one favor," Lance spoke up.

"What?" Bobbie snapped.

Lance unzipped Justin's bag fully and pulled out the video camera that had a red light on it. He lifted it to his eye and grinned. "Say hi to the camera." A look of horror came onto her features. "Oh, and thanks for the help Wade."

"No problem," Wade responded.

"Wade?" Bobbie questioned.

"He's been on our side from the start," Justin declared.

"You see, we had a feeling you've been cheating on JC in the beginning," Joey explained. "We knew you were contacting Wade the entire time so we got him to expose you if we kept up our promise to help him with his alcohol problem. We got him the best AA teacher we could find."

"We used your plan against you, Thomas," Chris said with a grin as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You're done. Leave JC alone and stay out of our lives or else we'll call the police and file a restraining order and I'm sure you don't want the police on your case."

"I can't believe you would do this!" Bobbie said as tears started to fall down her cheeks. "All I wanted was a husband and a family and respect."

"You don't deserve our respect! You don't deserve JC. You don't deserve anything!" Justin snapped. He nodded at Lance who turned off the camera. "Have a nice life." He looked at his watch again. "C'mon guys. We have a show to get ready for." Justin lead the group out of the hotel room.

"Hey, how'd you know that test was a fake?" Chris asked.

"I didn't," Mack admitted with a smile. "I just made her believe that I thought it was fake until she spilled it for me."

Everyone laughed as they walked to the elevator. "Now there's just one more thing we need to take care of," Justin announced with a smile.

 

~*~*~

 

"JC! Guess what! Guess what!" JC could hear Chris's muffled voice along with footsteps. Before he knew it he could feel weight on his chest. The sudden weight caused him to lose all of the air that was in his chest temporarily. The dull ache that was throbbing at the top of his head turned into a full blown headache. Having a twenty-nine-year-old jumping on him didn't help.

"Chris," JC groaned as he glared at him through heavy eyelids. "Why won't you let me sleep? We don't have to go anywhere for a few more hours, Johnny told me himself. Why are you jumping on me?"

"Because I have something important to tell you," Chris said as he dropped down so he was sitting down cross legged, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin resting in his palms.

"Ok, ok, fine," JC sighed as he sat up and ran a hand though his hair. He didn't have to look in a mirror to tell that my hair was sticking out more than usual. "What is it that you have to tell me?" He looked up when everyone else rushed into the room, panting heavily. "What, did Chris eat your candy again?"

"Not funny," Chris said with a pout. "Now, if you keep making jokes then I won't tell you the best news ever."

"Ok, I'm sorry," JC apologized as he rubbed my temples. He really wanted to get some Advil but he couldn't with Chris sitting on my legs. "What is it that you wanted to tell me?"

"We exposed Bobbie like the goldigger she is!" he shouted as he punched his hands into the air in triumph.

"What?" JC muttered.

"It's true," Lance said as he walked into the room, carrying Joey's video camera into his hands. "We got it all on tape. Watch." He turned it on and held it in front of JC's face as the others crowded around him to see the video again. From time to they would comment on something and laugh at an expression on Bobbie's face. As JC watched a warm and fuzzy feeling started to wash over him.

"What's up, C? You look like you're going to cry or something," Joey commented, nudging his friend.

"It's just..." JC shook his head. "You guys are the best friends ever. I mean it. You guys went to great lengths to make sure I was happy and focused and..." He let his voice trail off. "Thank you, so much. I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

"Get a degree and be a vet?" Mack guessed. They turned to look at her and she shrugged. "He said that he'd be a vet if he wasn't in this band. Or he'd do something with animals at least."

"When'd he say that?" Justin questioned.

"A few years ago, back in Orlando. We were eating desert after Thanksgiving and we were discussing what we'd be doing if we weren't working with ‘N Sync."

"You remembered that?" JC asked touched and slightly shocked.

She nodded and lowered her head, suddenly embarrassed. "I remember a lot of things you say, no matter how stupid they sound sometimes. If it's important to you, it's important to me."

"Could you ask her out all ready? Your flirting is really starting to get on my nerves especially since you two haven't gotten anywhere," Joey said as he nudged JC who blushed but smiled.

"You might want to save that until after rehearsal," Mack replied. "You might change your mind with how hard I'm going to work you boys."

"Never," JC replied grinning.

She clapped her hands. "Up and at ‘em boys. Get to the stage."

They groaned but got to their feet anyway. Chris brought his leg back at an angle and kicked Mack causing them both to run out of the room yelling. Lance followed them and Joey followed him, carrying his video camera.

"What's this?" Justin picked up a notebook that was on the floor.

"Oh, I was just finishing some new lyrics," JC said with a shrug. "You can read it if you want."

"Cool." Justin turned his attention to the page.

See Right Through You

By: Joshua Chasez, May 2000

Tell me what kinda girl would wanna play me
Tear me down then try to break me
Baby how could you betray me
After all I've done for you
Took you there, bought you this, now it's not enough babe
You better get your story straight babe
Tell me why you wanna play
I've had enough

These games they've got to stop
(Oh)
About to get pissed off
(Ooh yea)
You had to keep leading me on
Baby you thought you had me fooled but I see right through you

Look into my eyes
Tell me what you see
You see a man who thought you loved me
You played me like a fool but I see right through you
I look into your eyes
(Oh)
I'll tell you what I see
I see a girl who ran game on me
You thought you had me fooled but I see right through you

Tell me girl what's his name
What'd he do to take you
Does he freak you the way that I do?
(I do)
'Cause you know that I know how to
(I know how to)
When he leaves you don't come crying back to me
'Cause I'll be moving on you see
And you'll be just a memory
I think I've had enough

These games they've got to stop
(Oh oh)
About to get pissed off
(Ooh yeah)
You had to keep leading me on
Baby you thought you had me fooled but I see right through you

Look into my eyes
(Oh)
Tell me what you see
(Tell me what you see)
You see a man who thought you loved me
You played me like a fool but I see right through you
I look into your eyes
(Into your eyes)
I'll tell you what I see
(I see)
I see a girl who ran game on me
You thought you had me fooled but I see right through you

You got me fooled
See right through you
(Oh, oh, oh, oh)
Ooh yeah
See-see-see right through you

Baby tell me does he do it, do it like I do?
(Oh)
Baby tell me will he love you, love you like I do?
And now you're crying 'cause you can't believe that we are through
I don't care 'cause I see right through you
Let me tell you that-a this is how it's gonna be
After all that we have been through, what you meant to me
(To me)
That you won't do this to me
'Cause now I see right through you

Look into my eyes
(Oh)
Tell me what you see
(Tell me what you see)
You see a man who thought you loved me
You played me like a fool but I see right through you
I look into your eyes
(Whoa whoa)
I'll tell you what I see
(Oh oh)
(Tell you what I see)
I see a girl who ran game on me
(Tell you what I see)
You thought you had me fooled but I see right through you
(See right through you)

Look into my eyes
(Oh)
(See right through you)
Tell me what you see
(Baby)
You see a man who thought you loved me
You played me like a fool but I see right through you
(Oh oh)
I look into your eyes
(Yeah)
I'll tell you what I see
(Tell you what I see)
I see a girl who ran game on me
You thought you had me fooled but I see right through you
(See right through you)
(See right through you)

"You ok, man?" Justin asked, looking up at JC as he closed his notebook.

JC nodded and smiled. "Yup. For the first time in a while I feel like things are going the right way."

Two months later…

“Good morning, beautiful.” Mack opened her eyes the rest of the way and yawned a bit. She rolled onto her side to see JC sitting on top of the covers, reading a book. He looked up and smiled at her before kissing her nose. “How’d you sleep?”

“Better,” Mack replied, stretching her arms over her head.

“Feel sick?” He asked, closing the book.

“Nope. I guess it was just the stomach flu,” she replied before pushing back the covers and going towards her suitcase which was on the opposite side of the hotel room. “Can you believe that two of your Madison Square Garden shows are sold out?”

“I still can’t wrap my head around it,” he admitted, stretching and letting out a little yawn. “Oh, Justin called earlier. He says to meet in the lobby breakfast area so we can hear about the VMA nominations. If we don’t hurry I’m sure Chris is going to eat everything.”

“You can go. I’ll be there in a few,” Mack said as she gathered some clothes in her arms and walked in the direction of the bathroom. She stopped when she lightly felt a tug on he back of her shirt. She turned and looked up at JC. “What?” She asked, grinning a bit at the smile on his face.

“I just wanted to say thanks again, for sticking by me I mean. And for giving me a chance,” he replied. “These past two months have been the best two months of my life.”

“Is it really me or is it because your tour is doing so well that most shows are sold out?” Mack asked with a teasing smile.

“That too,” JC replied before kissing her cheek. “See you downstairs.”

“Mhm.” Mack glanced at the door and waited for it to close before she rushed to the bathroom. She closed and locked the door behind her and moved over to the cabinet by the mirror. She pulled out the box that was sitting behind a few things. She stared at the box for a few seconds before ripping it open and reading the instructions. “Simple enough,” she muttered to herself.

She followed the instructions carefully and used the toilet. Once she was finished she washed her hands and sat on the counter, skimming through US Weekly as she waited. Five minutes, which felt like an eternity to her, she got up the courage to look at the little stick that was sitting on the lid of the toilet. She didn’t even have to cross the room to see what the stick said.

Muttering to herself, she left the bathroom and rushed over to the phone. She pulled it into her lap and dialed a room number. She tapped her fingers on the arm rest of the chair and waited impatiently for someone on the other end to pick up.

“Hello?” Someone finally answered.

“J! Glad I caught you. You aren’t getting ready to leave are you?” Mack asked.

“No, I’m still getting some stuff together so we can leave as soon as breakfast is over,” Justin replied. “You know we still have about seven hours before we get to New York.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said in a distracted tone. “Look, J, we need to talk.”

“Oh no,” he gasped. “Please tell me you’re not going to break up with JC.”

“What? No! Of course not,” Mack said as she shook her head.

Just let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I don’t want a heartbroken C on my hands. If that’s not it then what is it you need to talk about that it can’t wait?”

“It’s something really important.” Mack bit at her bottom lip.

“What is it?” Justin asked, instantly concerned at the tone in her voice.

“Are you sitting down?” She stalled.

“No, should I?”

“Yes. You’re going to want a chair after I tell you.”

“Spit it out, girl! You’re making me nervous!”

“Well…um…” Mack hesitated trying to imagine what he’d do once he found out. Would he be mad? Would he support her? She mentally slapped herself. Of course he’d support her, he’s her best friend. He wouldn’t drop her like that.

“Mack!” Justin yelled.

“I’m pregnant,” Mack finally blurted out.

“What!?”

“Two months.”

“What!?”

Mack could practically hear his frantic breathing on the line. “J, calm down before you pass out due to lack of oxygen!” She ordered.

Mack could practically see Justin rubbing his temples as he sighed. “Uh, you should tell the father. Who is he by the way?”

“You must be joking…” Mack almost laughed with a strange hysterical sound in the back of her throat.

Justin gulped at the slightly insane energy coming off of her. He lightly scooted his seat back a few inches.  “Who is it, Mack?” Justin repeated it quietly.

Mack sighed impatiently, “Don’t waste time acting stupid J.”

Justin blinked, “It isn’t JC’s is it?”

“No, of course not, it’s Joey’s…” Mack growled, “OF COURSE IT’S JC’S YOU DOLT!”

Justin sighed, he really should have just stayed in bed today. “When did this happen?”

Mack sighed herself. “Well, we’ve been pretty serious since we got together. The first time we had sex was a few weeks before tour started but we were protected. Second time was the same night we exposed Bobbie and we weren’t realy careful that time. J, I’m late.”

“It will be okay Mack. You might not be, drugstore tests can be wrong. Besides, we don’t know how JC will act. I’ll always be here for you if you ever need help.”

“Thank you, Justin.”

 

~*~*~

 

JC took the elevator down to the lobby and took the time to think back on all that’s happened to him. He smiled at the thought of his friends going to Bobbie’s hotel room and cornering her, making her confess to what she did, and getting it on video camera. He could practically see the shocked look on her face once she found out that she was exposed.

When they got back to the venue and showed them the video tape he was speechless for the first time in his life. He didn’t know what to do or say first. He wanted to laugh at the fact that she was easily exposed, he wanted to thank the guys for helping free him from her clutches, and he definitely wanted to just grab Mack and kiss her.

JC smiled to himself as the elevator doors opened. The guys have proved time and time again that they were there for him, that they were his brothers. He had no clue how he was going to make it up to them, to pay them back somehow.

“’Bout time you get your ass outta bed,” Chris commented as soon as he saw JC walking across the lobby. “Where’s your better half?” He joked.

“Changing,” JC replied, ignoring the jab. “We were talking earlier. I still can’t believe that two of our Madison Square Garden shows are sold out and it’s going to be turned into an HBO special.”

“I know, I can’t wait,” Lance agreed. “This means we can’t make many mistakes.”

“Any mistakes,” JC corrected him. “We have to be perfect.”

“You’re asking too much out of us, Jace,” Joey spoke up. “Nobody’s perfect you know. So what if we make a small mistake? I’m sure no one will notice that much.”

“You’d be surprised,” JC replied.

“Well not everyone is as perceptive as you are so stop freaking us out about it and take a trip to Chill-adelphia.”

JC lifted his eyebrow but Joey ignored him as he looked around. “Where are they? I’m itching to read the nominations.”

“Who cares about them? Let’s crack that baby open!” Chris dove across the table and grabbed the letter that was addressed to them and pulled it out of Lance’s hands. He ripped the envelope open and scanned the list with his eyes so fast that he looked like a mental patient. “Whoa!” He cried out. “Bye Bye Bye is nomimated in six categories!”

“Six!?” JC, Lance, and Joey cried out in unison.

“Are you sure?” Lance finally gasped.

“Six what?” Justin asked as he and Mack walked over to the ground, their eyes filled with confusion.

“Bye Bye Bye has been nominated in six different categories for the VMAs,” Joey replied.

“We’re nominated for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best Pop Video, Best Dance Video, Viewer’s Choice, and Best Choreography in a Video,” Lance read over Chris’ shoulders.

“Oh, babe, we’ll totally win the last one,” JC said as he turned around and grasped Mack’s hand. She smiled a bit and nodded. He gently tugged her hand and pulled her onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.

“What should we do for the awards?” Justin asked excitedly as he sat down in the only empty chair.

“Do we really need to think about that now?” Lance asked. “We should focus on this week’s shows.”

“Yeah, but we can at least dream about the perfect performance for it,” Joey agreed before turning to Justin. “What if we did a medley? That’d be pretty cool. We can start it out with a slow song, like This I Promise You, and then we can go into Bye Bye Bye and It’s Gonna Be Me because those are our first two singles and they’re doing pretty well. The fans seem to love those songs the most.”

“Yeah, but I’m getting kinda bored with the choreography,” Justin said as he leaned back in his chair. He glanced over at Mack who was glaring at him and he grinned sheepishly. “I don’t mean it like that, I mean we should switch it up a bit, like change the tempo or the style of the song.”

“Guys, we really should focus for tonight’s show,” JC stressed.

“Fine, be a party pooper like always,” Chris said with an eye roll before looking at his watch. “We should split anyway, the buses pull out in fifteen minutes.”

“Let me guess you haven’t packed anything yet have you?” He squinted at Chris.

“Nope,” he admitted. “I figured now would be as good as a time as any.” He pushed back his chair and walked back through the lobby to the elevators.

“We should go help him, it’s going to take a while,” Lance said as he nudged Joey. He nodded in agreement and the two followed Chris.

“So what took you two so long?” JC asked, turning to Justin who lifted his spoon full of cereal to his mouth.

He lowered it slowly and looked over at JC. His eyes flickered over to Mack briefly and then looked back at him. Justin shrugged. “We were just talking.” He shoved the spoon in his mouth and pulled it out empty. He chewed rapidly before swallowing and asking, “Why? You keeping tabs on us or something?”

“No, I was just curious.” JC knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. “Why’re you so jumpy?”

“I’m not jumpy. What’s with the interrogation?”

“I just asked you a question, I hardly call that interrogation,” JC said with an eye roll. He looked up at Mack who was standing out a window with a distant look in her eye. “You ok, honey?” He asked, lifting one of her hands to his mouth and kissed it before rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

“Mhm,” she replied looking down at him. “I’m just a little tired. I’m still not really used to bus time yet.”

“You’ve been sick almost every day last week too,” JC added. “Maybe you should take a break today? We can run rehearsals by ourselves. Stay on the bus and rest. We’ll get you when the show stars.” Mack opened her mouth to protest. “I insist,” he interrupted her. “You need to rest and get better. I’m not going to take no for an answer, ok?”

“Fiiiine,” Mack grumbled.

“I’ll make sure Chris doesn’t bother you,” Justin told her with a smile. She nodded her thanks and got off JC’s lap.

“I’ll go check on them. Somehow I doubt that they’re actually helping Chris with his packing.”

JC watched his girlfriend practically run out of the lobby before rounding on Justin. “Ok, what’s going on?” he demanded.

“Waddya mean?” Justin feigned innocence as he shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

“I mean you two are acting funny,” JC replied. “I want to know what’s up. We don’t keep secrets from each other, man.”

Justin swallowed and messed with the milk that was in his bowl. “Uhhh….this is something you should really talk to her about.”

“Well it seems important enough that she’d tell you before she’d tell me.”

“I’m her best friend.”

“She’s my girlfriend.”

“I get that, really I do, but if she feels more comfortable telling me something before she tells you don’t blow up at me about it. Just wait for her to come to you, OK?”

JC sighed. “I know you’re right. It’s just…I don’t know, I’m afraid I guess.”

“Afraid of what?” Justin asked with his mouthful, causing some milk to spray out and hit JC in the face. Justin sheepishly smiled as milk dribbled down his chin. “Sow-wee.”

“S’all right.” JC wiped his face with a napkin. “I mean my longest relationship was with Bobbie and we lasted for only a year and–”

“You don’t have to worry about Mack cheating on your or anything,” Justin said as he wiped his chin. “The girl’s been infatuated with you since she was twelve.” JC’s lip twitched into a smile. “You two are perfect for each other. You’re like…two halves of one person.”

“Oh that’s very poetic,” JC said with an eye roll.

“All I’m saying is that you should show her how much you love her and  reinforce that fact.”

“How do you propose I do that?” JC questioned. Justin turned to him and lifted his eyebrows. JC gave him a confused look before his mouth slowly opened and formed into a smile. “I have an idea.”

 

~*~*~

 

“Everyone decent?” Mack called from the other side of the door.

“Man, you’ve seen us in only boxers, why are you suddenly so shy?” Chris asked as she came into the dressing room as he buttoned up his shirt.

“For all I know you could’ve been planning on mooning me or something,” she replied dryly.

Chris stayed silent for a couple of seconds. “I never thought of that but it’s a very good idea. Thanks!”

Joey rolled his eyes and shoved Chris a little bit. “Do you know where Jace is? We have ten minutes ‘till show time and we still haven’t hackied yet.”

Mack groaned. “God, why the hell’s he always so late?”

“Dunno, he’s your boyfriend, not mine.”

“That doesn’t mean I keep tabs on him. I didn’t implant a tracking device on him or something.”

“You should, we’d know where he was half of the time,” Justin replied. “Although most of the time he’s sleeping so I don’t know how a tracking device would help.”

“Do you guys always talk behind my back when I’m out of the room?” JC asked as he came in, dropping his bag in the corner.

“It’s a lot more fun than talking about you in front of your face.” Justin shrugged. JC shoved his shoulder and went over to his stuff. “You’re sticking around, right?”

“No J, I’m scheduled to jump out of a burning building,” Mack said with an eye roll.

“Hey, I don’t need your back talk, missy.”

“Missy?” Lance repeated with an eye roll.

Justin sighed heavily. “I was raised being taught not to mistreat women in anyway.”

“And for good reason.” Mack shoved her hands into her pockets. “Yeah, I’m sticking around. I don’t have anything else to do besides go deaf from the screaming fans like always.”

“I think this show is going to be a little different,” Lance said.

“Why? Did you change some of the choreography and not tell me?” She demanded, somewhat fiercely. She knew the boys wouldn’t dare, not without running it by her first unless someone forgot a step on stage and need to improvise. She was very protective of her dancing and she always claimed that any mistake they make would leave a bad impression on her skills. They knew she was overreacting but they didn’t try and get her to change her mind. After all, their dancing looking amazing because of her.

“No, of course not, we like our limbs,” he replied with a little laugh. “C’mon guys, let’s hacky.”

She moved out of the way so the guys could get into the hallway. She leaned against the wall watching them play, laughing from time to time when they messed up. JC was right when he claimed that they suck at hacky sack.

“Ok guys! Let’s give ‘em a great show!” Justin shouted as he punched his fists into the air and the others hollered in unison.

“Come with us. You know, just to make sure we’re in our harnesses right,” JC said as he held out his hand to his girlfriend. She grasped his hand and followed him around until they got to the area where their harnesses were and they would be lifted into the air before being brought back down which signaled the start of the show and launched them into No Strings Attached. “Wait here.” He grabbed a mic that was held out to him and took an alternate path to the stage. Ear-splitting screams filled the air as he walked onto the stage.

“What is he doing?” Mack hissed.

“Don’t know,” Joey replied, trying to hide his smile.

“I want to thank you all for coming out tonight,” JC addressed the crowd. “Thanks to you this is the first show of our four-day Madison Square Garden show that is sold out.” He paused as the audience screamed. “And you area all to thank for that.” He paused again. “Tonight is a special night for me. As you all may know by now I have the most wonderful girlfriend in the world. I’m glad that she’s our choreographer because I get to spend a lot of time with her since she comes with us on tour. Now, I’d like to bring her out. Mackenzie, would you please come out on stage?”

“What!?” Mack whispered.

“Go! Go!” Justin said as he shoved her but she wouldn’t budge. “For the love of…” He wrapped his arms around her waist and easily lifted her over his shoulder. He took the same path that JC did to get her to the stage. He shuffled across the stage and put her on the ground.

“Thanks J,” JC said to him.

“No problem,” Justin said with a salute and backed away a bit.

“Mack, when I first met you I thought you were this annoying kid that followed me around like Justin did. It was only after a couple of weeks did I realize that I liked the attention you gave me and I enjoyed spending time with you.” He took her hand and gave it a little squeeze as she looked at him in confusion. “A few years later my affection towards you grew and I ended up with a crush on you. The thing is, you were fifteen at the time and it’s weird for a twenty-year-old to like a fifteen year old. But as my feelings grew I learned that you can’t put a limit, an number of sorts on love. I love you, Mackenzie Desrosiers. I know you don’t trust guys that much and it’s hard for you to be in a relationship but I want you to know that I’ll never hurt you. Baby, you’re not the only one. You don’t have to be afraid to fall in love and I know that you’ve hurt in the past but…” he paused and got down on one knee as the audience exploded into cheers, “if you want it here’s my heart…” he paused again to pull a box out of his pocket and opened it, “no strings attached.” He paused once more. “Well, in this case there are strings attached. Mackenzie Desrosiers, will you marry me?”

Her lip twitched slightly as the venue exploded in loud screams. Even the other guys joined in on screaming “Say yes!” and “Don’t make him wait!” She chuckled as JC licked his lips and looked up at her with waiting eyes. “You just had to ask in front of all of these people,” she muttered.

“It’s ‘cause I knew you wouldn’t say no,” JC replied. “So, will you?”

“Of course, dummy,” she laughed.

“Yes!” JC put down his microphone and slipped her ring on her finger before picking her up, spinning her around, and kissing her hard as the place exploded in cheers. He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. “You easily made me the happiest man on the planet.”

“I’ll bet,” Mack whispered. “About this marriage thing–”

“Don’t worry, honey. We’ll have a nice long engagement,” he interrupted before kissing her forehead.

“No, it’s not that.” She laughed a bit. “It’s just a good thing you asked me ‘cause in about…seven months we were going to have a reason to be married.”

“Seven months?” he repeated. “What do you…?” His eyes slowly widened and his mouth fell open as she smiled and nodded. “I’m going to be a dad?” He whispered. She nodded again. “I’m going to be a dad!” he yelled. Next thing he knew he and Mack were in the center of an *NSYNC group hug being jostled a bit from side to side as the other guys yelled in happiness.

“Ok, ok. Go celebrate by having the best show you’ve ever had,” Mack said as she kissed her fiancé’s cheek.

“Gosh, I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Me too. Now you’re stuck with me whether you like it or not,” she joked. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

“I wouldn’t even dream of trying.”