=Chapter Six=The Show Must Go On=

I could feel my heart starting to race as we pulled up in front of the studio.  I took several deep breaths to try and calm my nerves.  Marty looked over at me.

“Are you all right?” He whispered as he reached over and rubbed my shoulder.  I sighed and glanced over at him.  I shook my head.

Of course I wasn’t doing all right.  I was about to go on national television and lie to everyone.  I was about to go on one of the highest rated television shows on MTV.  I was supposed to act like nothing happened between me and Justin the other day.  I was supposed to act like he hadn’t tried to kiss me.

I was about to step out of the car and be in a huge crowd of people.  People that I didn’t know.  People that I didn’t know what the hell they were going to do when they saw me.  I’d always been terrified of crowds, which was another reason for hesitating when Kenzie asked me to do this.  I always felt a little claustrophobic when I was in a big crowd.

“Kenzie, you feeling all right?  You look a little pale,” Justin said as he looked up from his cell phone.  I looked over at him and shook my head. “Nerves again?” I shook my head again. “Then what is it?”

“I hate big crowds.  I hate being in the middle of them,” I managed to answer as my breathing began to quicken.  I hadn’t had a panic attack in several months.  I could see that Justin was looking at me funny.  I felt Marty turn me toward him and I looked into his dark eyes.

“You need to calm down, take a few deep breaths.  You’ll be fine, I’m here to protect you.  No one is going to get you, I promise,” Marty said softly.  I took a few deep breaths and nodded.  He smiled and smoothed my hair.  He leaned over and kissed me on the head.

“I’m okay,” I said as I took one final deep breath.  Marty nodded and rubbed my shoulders a few more times to get the blood flowing.

“You’ll do just fine, Lola,” he whispered in my ear.  I looked over at Justin, hoping that he hadn’t heard Marty call me by my name.  From the look on his face he hadn’t.

“You okay now?” Justin asked with a hint of concern in his voice.  I nodded and gave him a smile. “All right, good.  I don’t want you freaking out when we get out there.”

“I won’t, I’ll be fine.  I’m sorry about that.  Every once in a while, I get a little panicky when I’m faced with big crowds,” I explained as I shrugged.

“Are you ready for this?” Marty asked as he removed his hands from my shoulders.  I looked at him and nodded. “All right, I’ll get out first and then you and Justin can.” I nodded again as I took another deep breath.  The car stopped in front of the doors.  I looked out the tinted windows at the large group of people.  I sighed.

You can do this.  You can do this.  You’re going to be just fine.  Marty will be there to protect you.  And Justin will be too.  You’re going to be fine.  You can do this.

Marty opened up the door and stepped out of the car.  I looked over at Justin.  He had a concerned look on his face.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” He asked as he scooted closer to me.

“Yeah I’ll be fine.  Don’t worry about me.” He nodded and stepped out onto the sidewalk.  I watched him for a few moments.  He waved and smiled for the cameras and the crowd.  I took one last deep breath and stepped out of the car.  I smiled and waved at the crowd as I walked up toward the doors.  I even signed a few autographs and got a few pictures taken with fans.

But by the time we’d gotten into the doors I was on the verge of another attack.  Just seconds before I started to have another Marty came up and pulled me aside.  He took me to a quiet corner and leaned down in front of me.

“Breathe, Kenzie, breathe.  See you’re all right, we got you inside safely. Breathe,” Marty said as he began to rub my arms again.  I did what I was told and began to relax.  Once I had finally calmed down I smiled up at Marty.

“Thank you.”

“Sure thing, Mac.” Marty grabbed my hand and lead me back to where Justin was standing.  He had been watching the whole thing.  I knew I’d have a lot of questions to answer later but at the time being I didn’t care. 

“Come on, let’s get this over with,” I said as I started down the hall toward the elevator.

=

“Now, here are our special guests, Kenzie Stevens and Justin Timberlake,” Courtney, one of the hosts, announced.  A crew member handed me a microphone and I followed Justin out into the studio.  The studio audience was loud as Justin and I came out.  I couldn’t help but smile.  As Justin and I made our way through the isle way we gave the crowd high fives.

I just sort of followed what Justin did.  I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.  Since I’d never done anything like this before.

“Hi Court, how are you?” Justin asked as he hugged the tall blonde.  I just stood there staring at the two.  I waited for them to finish hugging and then hugged Courtney myself.

“So how are you two doing?” Courtney asked.

“We’re doing great,” Justin answered.

“How’s the tour going?”

“The tour is going fantastic.  Things are actually going better than I ever expected.  Especially working with him,” I answered as I laughed and nudged Justin.  He looked over at me and shook his head.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Whatever you want it to mean, Old Man.”

“Old Man?” Courtney asked as she raised an eyebrow at the two of us.  I laughed and smiled.

“She insists on calling me Old Man, cause I called her Kido once…” Justin explained.

“You’ve called me Kido, more than once,” I protested.  We continued to bicker like this for a few more moments then stopped and put our attention back on Courtney. “Sorry about that, when the old man gets onto a subject, it’s hard to stop him.” I glanced over at Justin and saw him roll his eyes.

“That’s all right, it’s actually pretty entertaining.  I can tell you two are close, you sound like an old married couple,” Courtney said with a laugh.  I glanced over at Justin and smiled.

“Me, marry her?  Yeah right,” Justin said with a laugh.  I glared at him and shook my head.

=

“All right, well now we’re going to play a little game,” Courtney announced.  The crowd began to cheer.  I laughed.  Things were actually going a lot better than I thought they would.  I was actually comfortable there.

“What are we going to play?” I asked as I looked over at Courtney.  She smiled.

“Well, we’re going to play the Hot Seat.  But instead of me asking you guys the questions, you two are going to ask each other the questions,” Courtney explained.  I glanced over at Justin.  He had a big smile on his face.

“All right, sounds like fun,” Justin said as he rubbed his hands together.  I shook my head as Courtney handed us cards with our questions on them.  I looked down at the cards and smiled when I read some of the questions that I had to ask Justin.

“Well…I’m going to step over here and watch.” Courtney smiled and walked off stage.  She sat down in the audience and rested her microphone on her lap.

“All right, I guess I’ll start…Kenzie, who was your first kiss?” Justin asked as he looked at me.  I put my hands on my hips and swore softly to myself.

Damn it, I don’t know who Kenzie’s first kiss was.  Do you think not remembering would work?  I sure as hell hope so, since that’s the direction I’m going.

“Awe, hell, I don’t remember.  I was like five, it was some boy down the street, I think,” I answered and looked over at Justin.  He gave me a shocked look. “Hey, I was an early bloomer, what can I say?” I shrugged.  Justin shook his head as the audience laughed. “All right, Justin, what are you afraid of?”

“You,” Justin answered.  My mouth fell open and I punched Justin in the arm.  He pulled back quickly. “See what I mean, how can I not be afraid of you when you do stuff like that?” I rolled my eyes.

“How many shoes do you own?”

“What kind of question is that?  I don’t know, fifteen, I think…I don’t know.  How many do you have?”

“Hey that’s not one of your questions,” Justin said as he tried to lean over and look at my card.  I put it against my chest.

“How do you know?  It’s my turn,” I said with a laugh and pushed him away from me. “Who was the last person to break your heart?”

“You.”

“What?  When?  How?”

“Earlier today, when you told me I looked fat in these jeans,” Justin answered as he wiped away an imaginary tear.  He sniffled a little bit.

“You punk, I did no such thing.  You liar,” I yelled as I shoved him a little.

“You see this, the abuse I get,” Justin said to audience as they laughed.  I shook my head and rolled my eyes again.

“What’s your guilty pleasure?”

“Uh…you,” I answered.  Justin raised an eye brow.  I laughed. “I’m kidding, I don’t have one…at least I don’t think so.” I shrugged. “Oh…my turn, who was your favorite person to do a duet with?”

I smiled.  I knew that my sister and Justin had done a duet together earlier in the year, to promote them going on tour together.  I was wondering if Justin would catch on.  He thought for a moment then looked at me.

“Hey, wait that’s not a fair question.”

“I wasn’t the one that came up with it, that would be the people that work for TRL.  I’m just an innocent pawn in all of this,” I explained with a smile.

“Right, innocent,” Justin said with a chuckle.  I glared at him. “No, it would probably have to be…Elton John.”

“All right, I can except that answer…I guess,” I said with a shrug.

“Okay, last question for you, what is the one thing you want people to know about you?”

I want people to know that I’m not Kenzie Stevens.  I’m a medical student, not wanting to be here in the spotlight.

“Uh…let’s see, I’m not as abusive as Justin claims,” I answered and stuck my tongue out at Justin.  He laughed and shook his head. “Last question…are you serious, Courtney?  This the last question?  I already know the answer, there’s no competing with her.” Courtney just shrugged.  I sighed.

“Come on, Kenzie, what’s the question?” Justin asked.

“All right, who would you choose, your mother or me?” I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Yeah you are right, there is on contest, my mother,” Justin chuckled. “But hey, don’t worry you’re a close second.” Justin patted me on the back.  I shook my head and pushed him away.