In the weeks leading up to the Challenge for the Children, Salina distanced herself from JC as he began excitedly talking about what it would be like to work with the guys of NSync again. He had spent a lot of time on the road for his club tour, but called Salina every day and mentioned their forthcoming reunion at least once during each conversation.
He began to notice her distance and asked her about it several times, but she always played it off as being tired and busy. JC had planned to ask her to move in with him once he finished his tour in June, but decided to put it off due to her recent lack of enthusiasm about their relationship.
Salina sighed as she listened to JC jabber about the weekend they were about to experience as she unbuckled Vanessa from her carseat and pulled her out of the car. She set the little girl on the ground, then walked to the back of the SUV to help JC and Lonnie get their luggage out. The three had finally arrived in Miami for the Challenge for the Children weekend and were staying in their own private cottage as were the rest of the guys of NSync and their guests.
Salina had arranged for Jen to come down and help out with the event and much to Jen’s delight, Tyler had been “hired” to be Vanessa’s baby-sitter for the weekend while everyone was busy with the event.
“So, who all is already here?” JC asked Salina as they unpacked.
“Joey, Chris and Lance should all have gotten here already.” She replied.
“Where’s Justin?”
“He’s coming later.” She answered shortly.
“He’s not going to be at the thing tonight?”
“Yes, he will. He’s just not here yet. He wanted to cut it close like that, don’t know why.” She sighed.
He stared at her for a few moments. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out what had been bothering her. “Are you okay?” He asked for what seemed like the millionth time in the last 4 weeks.
“I’m fine. Just thinking about how much work this weekend is going to be.” She cringed as the lie rolled easily off her tongue.
“Don’t worry about it so much, babe. You’ve done a fantastic job already. It’s going to be amazing.” He kissed her and wrapped his arms around her. “What day are we having the meeting?”
Salina closed her eyes. “Whenever you guys decide you’re ready.” She took a deep breath. “Josh, what if it doesn’t come out the way you hope? What if you guys decide you don’t want to do another album?”
He was quiet for a moment and Salina was afraid she had said the wrong thing. “It’s possible, but I don’t think that’ll happen. We’ve all been able to stretch our wings for a little bit, it’s time to come back now. Plus, we owe JIVE some more albums.” He said stealing another kiss from her before turning away and walking over to where Vanessa was playing with her doll on the floor. “You girls want to hit up the pool before the scavenger hunt thing tonight?”
Salina smiled and nodded before moving to pick out Vanessa’s bathing suit along with her own. She let JC focus on getting the little one dressed while she snuck into the bathroom to change. JC groaned appreciatively when she stepped out in her barely-there bikini.
“Mothers everywhere must wonder how you have this body after having that child.” He said kissing her neck and making her giggle.
“I burn calories chasing after her.” She said as he retreated into the bathroom to change into his own trunks.
Salina looked in the direction of where the guys had walked away from them two hours ago for about the tenth time.
“Girl, don’t worry about it.” Carrie said from the lounge chair next to her. “They’re big boys they’ll be fine.”
Salina nodded and went back to adding more sunblock to Vanessa. The men of NSync, their significant others and children had all been outside by the pool relaxing without the interruption of cameras when Chris decided that they better get what they were all dreading over with. So the five men walked away from their families back to the hotel where they had been for the last two hours.
Salina and Jen had spent the past three days working their butts off with celebrities and various members of the press. All of the events had gone off without a hitch and Salina had watched from across the stadium as the five men sang the national anthem together for what she assumed would be their last public performance as a group. She watched the five men grin at each other upon finishing and blinked back the tears that for some reason had clouded her vision. She caught JC’s glance and offered him a smile, then turned around to address the journalist who was standing next to her inquiring about his interview with the guys.
The weekend had been a complete success and the two girls were exhausted. After a few hours at the spa, paid for by the members of NSync, they had taken root poolside with the rest of their group.
“Sal!” Tyler called to her. “Can I bring Vanessa in?”
”Yeah.” She said as Tyler got out of the pool and took Vanessa’s little hand. Salina smiled as she watched all the kids play in the water with Tyler, Matt, Juan, Trace and Steve. The women all laid on the lounge chairs and relished the fact that they did not have to deal with boyfriends or husbands or children. All of the adults knew in the back of their minds that when the five men came back they were either going to have huge smiles on their faces or be in really bad moods. Salina had a pretty good idea of which it would be.
She looked towards the hotel again and saw four people walking towards them. Lance and Joey were walking together talking quietly. Chris was behind them and seemed to be deep in thought. Justin was walking slowly behind him, with his hands in his pockets. Salina searched for JC, but didn’t see him.
“Uh-oh.” Kelly breathed from the other side of Salina as she locked eyes with Joey.
Joey and Lance quickly made their way to the sides of their women. Lance knelt next to Carrie and she kissed his forehead while Joey laid back onto Kelly in the lounge chair. Chris said nothing to his date for the weekend as he walked to the edge of the pool and watched his niece and nephews play. Lastly, Justin silently took Cameron’s hand and guided her away from the pool area back to where their cottage was. Not a word was said by any of the four men, but their actions spoke clearly. Salina was really worried now because she knew JC probably hadn’t taken the news well at all.
“Joey?” She called quietly knowing he was upset.
He turned to her. “He’s in the big ballroom with the piano. Second floor.”
“Thanks.” She turned to Tyler and Vanessa, but Kelly spoke before she could.
“Go. We’ll keep an eye on her.”
Salina nodded and walked quickly towards the hotel. She found the ballroom quickly and heard piano music trickling from the doors. It took her a second to figure out the song, but soon she realized it was the music from ‘This I Promise You.’
She walked into the room and saw him sitting at the piano. Concentrating on the keys as he played carefully, not wanting to mess up. She walked slowly over to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
He stopped playing immediately and she felt him tense. She tried to massage his neck and shoulders, but he moved away from her, standing up and pacing the floor. “You knew, didn’t you? That’s why you’ve been acting so weird, you knew.”
That question caught her off guard. She didn’t think JC knew that she knew what Justin was going to say.
“I had a pretty good idea, yeah.” She said timidly.
“Why didn’t you say something?”
”To him or you?”
”Both!” He said starting to get angry.
“Well, I didn’t say anything to him because it’s not my job to get involved in things that only concern the five of you. I didn’t tell you because when I talked to him he hadn’t made a decision one way or another. I just knew what he was going to decide.”
”You should have told me.” He said accusingly.
“I couldn’t. Part of my job is to be his publicist too and to keep certain things confidential. Dating you doesn’t change that.”
“It should! You should have said something during all those conversations we had about this.”
Now he was making her upset. “Why JC? So you could’ve made a big deal about?”
”This isn’t a big deal?!”
“That’s not what I meant. I just… you would’ve told the other guys and you all would’ve been snubbing Justin these past few days and this whole weekend would’ve been ruined.”
”Well, as far as I’m concerned it is ruined.”
”JC, this weekend isn’t about you, it’s about the money you raise.”
“I know that publicity bullshit! I’ve said many times myself!” She was startled. He’d never yelled at her or swore at her before. “But you know as well as I do that the real reason the five of us are here was to make this decision. Frankly, I’m surprised he showed up.” JC chuckled spitefully.
Salina gulped. “Did he say he wants to quit?”
JC scoffed. “No, he wants to focus on his movie career.” JC said in a mocking voice. “He doesn’t even want to put out a ‘Justin Timberlake’ album.”
Salina nodded. “What’d the rest of the guys say?”
”We’re all ready.”
“And he’s not.” Salina said sitting on the piano bench and looking at her feet.
”Of course. If I had a multi-platinum selling album, movie deals flowing in, artists all over the world wanting to work with me and Cameron Diaz on my arm, I’d screw over my best friends too.”
Salina looked up at him astonished. She said nothing and it wasn’t until JC stopped pacing that he noticed the hurt on her face.
“What?” he asked.
“I can’t believe you.”
”What?” He asked again slightly more aggravated.
“Cameron Diaz on your arm? Is that what you want? Some high profile celebrity so that you can walk around and rule the world like Justin? If so why didn’t you just stay with Tara?”
”Ugh, Salina, I’m not doing this with you right now.”
”Doing what, JC?”
”Stopping to make you feel better because something I said came out of context. That’s not what I meant and you know it. God! I don’t have time for that, I have to figure out how to save my goddamn career.”
Salina narrowed her eyes at him. “Fuck your career, JC!” She said before standing up and leaving.
She listened to see if he would call out for her, but he didn’t. She looked back to see if he was following her, but he wasn’t. Completely forgetting about Vanessa, Salina walked out to a secluded section of the beach and sat down. Tears streaming down her face.
Incomplete
jamiebrown232000 is the author of 1 other stories.
This story is a favorite of 6 members. Members who liked Corazon also liked 360 other stories.
This story is part of the series, Around the World. The previous story in the series is We're In the Business.
This story is a favorite of 6 members. Members who liked Corazon also liked 360 other stories.
This story is part of the series, Around the World. The previous story in the series is We're In the Business.
Story Tags: boyfriendjc jc justin hospital tabloids joey chris lance solojc
