December 22, 2002
"Wake up! It's time to go out the door!" my dad exclaimed, trying to wake me up for church. "Alright, alright, I'm up! Even though we still have an hour to leave . . ." I replied, sleepily. I did the normal Sunday routine, hopped into the van, and yawned the whole way to church. I walked in, hung up my coat, and walked to the pew that my friends and I usually sat in . . . the next to last pew in the back. "Hey Dodson." Crystal greeted me. "Hey Brownie." I replied as I sat down. "Is there enough room for me?" I heard a familiar voice beside me and turned my head to see Stephanie. "STEPH!" I exclaimed, jumping up to give her a big hug. She had joined the navy when we were seniors in high school, and we hadn't seen each other since June. "I missed you guys so much!" she sobbed and also gave Crystal a hug. I asked her a million questions about basic training and we filled each other in until the Sunday school service started. Halfway through the second song, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned my head to see another big surprise . . . it was the guys! "How did you guys get here?!" I asked in an excited whisper. "We flew in our spaceship!" Chris whispered back. "We talked to your parents this morning and got directions here . . . we wanted to surprise you." Lance grinned. "Well it definitely worked!" I giggled. They sat down in the pew in front of us as Stephanie and Crystal gave me surprised and confused looks. When we were dismissed for our Sunday school classes, I gave each of the guys a hug, and introduced them to Crystal and Stephanie. On our way downstairs, I told Stephanie and Crystal a shortened version of my ‘meeting NSYNC' story. We all went to the young adult class and had an interesting time there, then sat through the regular church service, which involved some note passing. I sat beside Chris during the service, and the entire time he was trying to make me laugh. I'm just glad I have a silent laugh because the entire church would have been giving me the dirty looks! After the service, the guys volunteered to take us all out to eat and bowling, so Crystal asked her grandmother, and Steph already had plans. Needless to say, it was just me and the guys once again.
"You guys want me to drive? We can borrow mom's van." I suggested. "Do you remember how we met?" Joey joked. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Mom's van it is then! It's not like any of us know where we're going." Chris shrugged. The decision being made by Chris, we all got into my mom's van, with Justin and Chris in the back, JC and Lance in the middle, and Joey up front. The entire trip to Altoona, Joey was pushing all the buttons on the dash board. I had to smack his hand a few times. "What is this? It sounds familiar." Joey said thoughtfully. "It's my Ragtime tape . . . from a musical called Ragtime." I answered with a smile. "That's it! I've wanted to see that for the longest time . . . it's never near the same town that we're performing in." "Me too . . . it showed twice in State College, but it was sold out by the time my chorus teacher called for tickets."
When we finally made it to the bowling alley, we were all stuffed from eating at Red Lobster. "I still owe you guys for saving my life, and now for this!" I exclaimed after JC and Lance had left to get us all drinks. "Wait a second . . . would you do ANYTHING to pay us back?" Joey beamed, obviously coming up with some kind of devious plan. "Any . . . almost anything." I changed my response, carefully. "Well it just so happens that we do need help with something." Justin smiled. "JC's girlfriend for two years, dumped him about three months ago and he's been so bummed ever since. He just wasn't himself . . . until we met you." Chris explained. "We all think that he likes you and we were hoping that you would ask him out." Joey finished. I stared at them blankly, in disbelief. "Did I just hear you right? You want me to ask JC to go on a date with me?" I practically laughed. "Yes, and yes." Joey chuckled then continued, "We just want him to feel better and we thought that you were just the girl for the job." I looked down at myself and held my arms out from my sides a little. "But I'm . . ." "We don't care, you're still beautiful." Chris interrupted me with a smile. I melted under the pressure of the hopeful looks on their adorable faces. "If it'll make JC feel better . . ." I sighed. The three guys cheered. "Group hug!" Chris exclaimed and wrapped his arms around me. Justin and Joey moved in quickly and smothered me. The only thing I could do was laugh.
When Lance and JC came back, they had bought a disposable camera. "What's that for?" I asked as Lance sat down beside me. "To take pictures, silly." Lance chuckled. "Der, I know that . . ." I giggled, watching Chris snatch the camera. "Smile!" Chris exclaimed, pointing it at us. I put my arm around Lance's shoulders as we leaned closer together, and secretly gave him bunny ears. *click* Chris took the picture and he and I busted up laughing. "What's so funny?" Lance asked. "I gave you bunny ears." I giggled innocently. "Smile again!" Chris demanded. Lance and I leaned our heads a little closer again and smiled.
"Thanks for today guys." I smiled, giving them each a hug as they filed into their limo, back at my house. "No, thank-YOU." Joey grinned, as he took my hand and kissed the top of it. "Aw, how sweet." I blushed. "Hope to see you again soon!" Chris exclaimed, being the last into the limo. "Bye bye bye guys! And I wanna see those pictures as soon as you get them back!" I waved and they all blew me kisses.
A few miles down the road, Joey noticed JC pulling his phone out. "Who are you calling?" Joey asked. "Crystal." "Give the girl a break." Lance mumbled. Joey, being the only one who could hear Lance, immediately understood what was going on.
When I walked in the door, I realized the rest of my family was at the evening church service. I was playing with my cat when the phone rang. "Hello?" "Hey Crystal." "Hey JC." "What are you up to?" "Oh nothing, just talking to my cat in my quiet, empty house . . . once again." I giggled. "Sorry." "Ah, it's alright. I'm used to it." "Do you think you could get used to NOT being alone?" "Um . . . probably." I giggled. "With me?" "Uh . . . JC, you have to actually be there to be with someone, not traveling all over the U.S. calling each other once and a while." "Then come with us." "I can't just quit school!" "I know . . . we could get a tutor for you." "And what if things didn't work out between us? Penn State isn't gonna welcome me back with open arms." ‘I now officially think he is on crack!' "So . . . you don't like me." "I like you a lot! You're a great guy! It's just that you're touring and I'm schooling." There was a moment of silence. "Tell you what . . . we can try the long distance thing, and during summer breaks, I'll go on tour with you guys." ‘I would sooo love to drop all my responsibilities and go on tour now.‘ "Is that a promise?" I could tell he was smiling. ["This I promise you."] I sang with a smile. ‘Wow, I'm gonna be dating JC Chasez . . .'
December 24, 2002
Everyone in my family woke up late and we all sat around, listening to Christmas music, and watching TV. I couldn't get the guys off my mind. As evening approached, I suggested playing a game, and to my surprise, everyone agreed. We played a few games and I actually had a great time . . . but it still didn't take my mind off of ‘them'.
The guys finally arrived at the Pittsburgh air port to fly to their parents' homes for the rest of their holiday vacation . . . for five days. "Bye guys! Merry Christmas ya'll!" Justin smiled and waved, then went to his plane to Tennessee. "D'oh!" Chris exclaimed. Lance laughed. "Just keep your money . . . and here's the hundred and fifty you gave me because of Crys . . . tal." Lance cleared his throat and gave Chris his money. "Merry Christmas." Lance smiled. "Thanks. You alright man? You seem bummed about something." "Yeah, I'm fine." Lance chuckled. ‘He's not fine . . . something's bugging him.' "Alright . . . if you need somebody to talk to, feel free to call me or whatever." "Thanks Chris, but I'm fine." ‘I can't talk to you about this type of thing. I need a girl's advice . . . maybe Crystal could help.' "See you in a couple days then. Merry Christmas!" "Bye Chris." Chris finally jogged toward his Florida bound plane. JC and Joey had already said their good-byes and were getting limos to take them home since their parents lived only a few hours away from the Pittsburgh air port. Lance meandered to his Mississippi bound plane, tired from the constant touring and lack of sleep. After signing an autograph and getting situated in his seat, Lance pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. He hung up before there was an answer and waited until the plane was in the air to dial the number again.
As we were cleaning up the last game, the phone rang and my dad answered it quickly. "Crystal, it's for you!" he hollered. "Who is it?" my mom asked him. "Some boy." "Probably JC." I giggled. "Hello?" "Um, hi Crystal." My heart skipped a beat. "Lance? Hi, what are you up to?" "Nothing, just flying home to visit my family for a few days. What about you?" "Just finished playing games with my family." "That's cool." There were a few moments of silence. "Yup." I said, hoping he would continue the conversation. ‘Now what?' He thought as he chewed on his bottom lip. "Well, is it JC?" my mom asked as she walked into the kitchen. "Lance." I mouthed, silently. "So, what led you to decide to call poor lil' old me?" "I just wanted somebody to talk to . . . and I need advice." "Oh . . . well then talk to me. Give me your sticky situation, and I'll try my best to help." "Well, one of my closest friends found a really great girl and they've been dating for a while now." ‘Yeah, that's it, lie to her . . . but at least she won't get the idea.' "And?" I urged him to continue. "And, the thing is, I think she's great too . . . I love everything about her . . . I kind of figured you'd be better at giving advice on this than one of the guys." ‘Lance Bass is asking me for advice about how to get hooked up with his friend's [girlfriend] . . . he could just sing that song to her.' I smiled at my sarcastic thought. ‘Hmm . . . should I be [selfish] and tell him to let it go . . . or should I actually try to help him?' "Lance, that's a toughie." I giggled. ‘Come on Crys, he's asking you for help . . . and you HAVE a boyfriend now!' "A real toughie . . . but I'm sure you're an expert advice giver." Lance replied. "Nah, but I try my best to help out a friend in need." I cleared my throat and started. "Alright, here's my suggestion. Just sit back and watch them for a while . . . might sound weird, but finding out how they act can help a lot. Take notice of the way they look at each other, the way they talk when they're around each other, the little things they do . . . the tiniest little details are what you have to really pay attention to. If you come to the conclusion that they're happy together, then try to move on and be happy that they're happy. If you see that their relationship is held together by . . . dental floss, then . . ." "Dental floss?" Lance chuckled. "Yes, dental floss. I needed something that's weak to use for an example." I giggled. "Anyway . . . if their relationship is held together with dental floss, try to hint to them both about it, and tell them both how you feel. Tell them separately of course . . . it would be a little weird to tell them at the same time. SO . . . it's all up to your observation skills and the personalities of your friends." Lance laughed. "You sure sound like an expert at giving advice." "I'm not . . . I'm just a dumb blonde with brown hair, trying to help everyone who needs it." I giggled. "Do you always put yourself down like that? You've done it quite a few times since we've met." "I make fun of myself as often and as much as possible." "Why?" "It's my defense system . . . make fun of myself before anyone else can." "They have no reason to pick on you." "Sure they do! I'm fat, ugly, stupid . . ." "No you're not! Just stop doing that . . . please." "Sorry." "You shouldn't be worried about other people's problems if you have your own you need to solve." "I'd rather deal with my friends' problems." "That's good to an extent . . . some people let their problems go and when they finally decide that it's time to fix it, they think that there's only one way out." ‘Tell me about it.' I chewed on one of my nails as I thought about some of the hard times in my past. "Crystal? Just so you know, I consider you one of my best friends, and if you ever need to talk to somebody, I'll be here . . . well, not exactly here, but you know what I mean." Lance smiled, attempting to make me laugh. "Thanks Lance." I giggled, "Hey wait . . . you called to GET advice, not GIVE advice!" "Oh well . . . it happens." he laughed.
December 25, 2002
Christmas day came slow and went fast. I, of course, felt bad that I didn't have the time or money to get everyone gifts, but they all said not to worry about it. When I got home from my grandmother's house that evening, I saw that there were two messages on the answering machine. The first message was Ashley, Amber, and their mom saying Merry Christmas. The second message was from JC. "Hey Crystal. Um . . . I guess you're not home, so I'll just give you your present on the machine." He cleared his throat, sang a little bit of [‘I Don't Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You'], and said, "Merry Christmas!" ‘Wow.'
December 26, 2002
It was time to go back to school already, so I said my good-byes and headed back in a lovely taxi . . . very lovely. When I finally got there, I paid the driver and headed to visit my friend in her third floor room. "Hey Rach." I greeted my friend as I closed the door behind me. "Hey Crys." Rachel replied. ‘Huh?' I sat down on the extra bed she had set up for me when I spend the night with her, and picked up a little wrapped box and card that were sitting on my pillow. "That was laying at the door when I got here this morning." Rachel explained. I opened the card to discover that it was from the guys. ‘Hope you like what we got you. Love, ‘da guys'.' "Who's it from?" Rachel asked. "Da guys." I giggled. I unwrapped and opened the box and dangled my present from my hand. "Keys? . . . for that?!" Rachel exclaimed and pointed out the window. I scrambled over to the window and looked into the parking lot, where Rachel was pointing. A shiny, new, 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder edition GT, with a green body and tan convertible top, with a little Christmas package bow on the hood, sat in the parking place where I used to park my junker. My jaw dropped and my eyes grew wide as I gasped. Rachel squealed, already half way to the door. Still in shock, I ran after Rachel. I opened the driver's side door, picked up an envelope off the seat, and climbed in. I opened the envelope and read the note enclosed. ‘We weren't sure how many friends you have mentioned in the past couple weeks, so we're hoping that ten is enough!' Also in the envelope, were ten front row tickets and meet-n-greet passes. "Raaaaaaach . . . look!" I squealed. She also squealed when she saw what I held in my hands. "Hop in . . . we'll take a quick cruise!" I smiled.
After our drive around town, we went back up to Rachel's room. I picked up her phone and dialed Justin's number. "J-Dawg in ‘da house." "You're the sweetest men alive!" I exclaimed. "Hey Crystal!" he chuckled, "So I take it you like the presents?" "I love them . . . but you guys really shouldn't have!" "I know, but we wanted to." "Just as long as you don't do that very often . . . I'll get spoiled." I giggled. "You won't get spoiled . . . and if you do, JC will be the one that has to buy you stuff." he laughed. After hanging up with Justin, I called up the rest of the guys to thank them too.
December 28, 2002
I parked my car in the parking lot and Rachel and I headed to the back of the Bryce Jordan Center where we had arranged to meet everyone else. To get to the bus/truck area, we had to trek down a fairly steep, grassy hill to a chain link fence where we could see the back entrance, buses, trucks, personnel, and anyone lucky enough to be inside the fence. To our surprise, my friends were already there. I hugged all of them in turn. "I missed ya'll so much!" I squealed. We were all catching up with each other when my cell phone rang. "Hello?" I answered. "Hey Crystal. What are you up to?" "Hey Blu! I am standing at the bus slash truck area with everyone. What about you?" "We just finished sound check and I'm sitting here at the meet-n-greet table, waiting to give you a great big hug . . . can I send someone out for you so you can come in before the meet-n-greet starts?" "Yeah, I'm sure my friends won't mind." "Alright . . . [Wes] will come out and all you have to do is tell him your nickname for me." "Sounds easy enough." "I can't wait to see you! It's been a very long six days." I just giggled. "Hey, I'll see you when you make it in. [Baby, bye bye bye.]" he sang. "Byez." I shoved my cell back into my coat pocket and explained everything to my friends. Just as I finished, I recognized a guy coming out of the center. "Hey, isn't that the Wes guy?! The scary one?!" Dawn whispered, excitedly. I laughed and walked over to the fence where Wes was scanning the fans. "Hi Wes." I smiled timidly. "Crystal?" He questioned. "Yup." I leaned closer to the fence to whisper. "My nickname for JC is Blu . . . B-L-U." "Come on over to the gate." I did as he told and slipped in through the gate as he opened it. The other fans didn't even try to push their way in. They just watched with jealousy, as Wes re-locked the gate and led me to the back door. I followed him into the large building, through a long, dimly, lit hallway and into a room. When we walked in, the first thing I noticed was a huge poster of the guys on the wall. Wes stopped, so I did the same but continued staring at the poster. "CRYSTAL!" the guys shouted suddenly. I turned toward their voices to see them all sitting on top of the meet-n-greet table. "Hey guys!" I exclaimed. I started toward them, but barely took two steps before JC hopped off the table and ran toward me. ‘Wow . . . a guy is actually happy to see me . . . better yet, five . . . and even better . . . it's NSYNC!' JC approached me quickly and wrapped his arms around me, tightly. I returned his hug with a huge smile on my face. "Do you have school off for New Year's?" was the first thing JC asked. "Yup . . . my next class is on the sixth." I replied as we stayed in a tight hug. "Will you come to Lance's party?" "Of course." I smiled and tried to step away from JC to look at him instead of talking into his back, but he continued hugging me. "I think you can let me go now." I giggled. JC laughed, pulled his arms away, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. JC grinned and took my hand in his, then led me to the table to greet the other guys. "You're finally gonna meet Ash." I smiled at Justin. "She's here?! I was so hoping that you'd invite her!" Justin exclaimed. Justin gave me a hug and thanked me for getting her to come. "She would have killed me if I didn't." I laughed, "So . . . what type of exciting things have happened since I talked to ya'll last night?" "Absolutely nothing!" Chris sighed, sounding disappointed. JC took my hand into his again. ‘Dental floss, dental floss, dental floss . . .' Lance repeated over and over in his head as he looked at JC and me. He let out a little chuckle. "What are you laughing about?" Joey asked. "Nothing . . . just thinking about a conversation that Crystal and I had the other day over the phone . . . and dental floss." he smiled. I laughed. "Huh?" the rest of the guys asked in unison. "Where are you having this party of yours, Lance?" I smiled, changing the subject. "My house . . . you can come early to take a tour and hang out if you want." he suggested. "Sounds great." "I was thinking that you could just come to Lance's house with us when we leave. If you want, you could stay at the house with us as long as you're off." "Alright." I giggled, "I'll bring some make-up and give ya'll make-overs." They all laughed. "Hey Lance, can I invite Ash to the party?" Justin asked. "Justin, you don't have to ask to invite people." Lance laughed, "In fact . . . Crystal, you can invite all your friends if you'd like." "They're all gonna love me so much." ‘I already . . .' Lance was interrupted mid-thought when Wes walked in and announced that the meet-n-greeters would be coming in, in an orderly fashion, very shortly. The guys sat down in their designated seats and JC pulled me over beside him, then put my hand on his shoulder and smiled at me. "I wish I had my camera to take pictures of Justin's face when he first meets Ash." I giggled. "Why didn't you bring it?" "It's broken." I giggled. "I could probably get you . . . " "No! No more presents!" "Not even free ones that we can get from our tour sponsors?" "Oh . . . free is good." I smiled. Fans started to enter the room in an orderly fashion, just like Wes said they would. Of course, they were chattering excitedly to one another and holding back squeals, but they still followed instructions. I spotted my friends amidst the crowd as they were waving at me wildly. I giggled and waved back. Justin saw my friends waving at me and immediately searched for Ashley. ‘Ok, blonde hair, blue eyes . . .' he thought as he looked at each of them, ‘There's three of them! AUGH! Alright J, calm down . . . use elimination . . . uh . . . her hair's too short . . . so it's down to two.' He narrowed it down to Ash and Amz, of course . . . both have long blonde hair and blue eyes. Wes got the line moving and the first meet-n-greeters came up to the table. Each guy said their ‘hello' and ‘how are you?' or ‘have you been to our concerts before?' to every fan that went through. Some of the fans asked for hugs and the guys were happy to grant their requests. First in line from my group of friends was Amy. "Hey angels!" she exclaimed. The rest of my friends and I just laughed. As each of my friends walked up to the table, I introduced them to each of the guys. Before I could introduce Ashley to Justin, she went up to him and smiled. "Hey Shweets." Justin obviously had no idea of what to do, because I've never seen him so dumbfounded in my life! It was hilarious. ‘It's ASHLEY! Say hi Justin!' "Hey Punkin." Justin finally replied with a big, bright smile. He sat staring for a few seconds, then noticeably, snapped back into reality, hopped up out of his chair, causing it to fly back and fall over, and gave her a big hug. Ashley laughed, and embraced Justin for the first time. Justin sighed with the relief of finally meeting his dream girl in person. "All of you girls are invited to my New Year's party. If you need help getting there, just tell Crystal and everything will be taken care of." Lance announced when my friends were lined up in front of the table. They all thanked him. "Alright . . . we'll have plenty of time to talk to these guys at Lance's party, so we should let them get back to meetin-n-greetin." I smiled and shooed everyone away. Justin gave Ashley a quick kiss on the cheek as I did the same to JC. "I'll talk to ya'll later . . . have fun boys!" I smiled and waved as I followed my friends. "We will!" They replied in unison.
"Justin thinks you're hot! He wants to hug you, he wants to kiss you, love you and marry you . . ." I taunted Ashley. "Shut up!" Ashley giggled uncontrollably. "Hey Crys . . . are you dating JC just to have access to Lance?" Dawn asked, right out of the blue. I was stunned by her remark. "What?! No! That's not it at all . . . I love JC!" "I was just wondering." Dawn giggled. I took a deep breath and let it back out quickly. "You scared me! Do you seriously think I'd do something like that?!" "Yes." Dawn gave a big cheesy grin to prove that she was joking. I stuck my tongue out and crossed my eyes at her. We all giggled and made our way to the main entrance.
The concert was absolutely, incredibly, totally, and completely awesome! Especially from the first row . . . oh, the serenade helped make it even more awesome. In the middle of the concert, JC came to the edge of the stage and announced that they were going to sing a special Christmas song. "This song is special because, it is my girlfriend's favorite Christmas song. Crystal, this is for you." he smiled, then winked at me. I felt my cheeks get hot and knew I was blushing. I smiled back at him, and then noticed that my face was up on the screens. I waved shyly at the camera and then sat down and covered my face as I giggled. "Aww, don't be shy." JC chuckled. They sang [‘The Christmas Song'], angelically and I bawled my eyes out.
After Rachel fell asleep back at the dorm, I listened to her Celebrity CD. The phone rang and I grabbed it quickly so it wouldn't wake Rachel. "Crys here." I whispered. "Hey! Did you like the concert?" "I LOVED it! Ya'll were perfect!" I said in an excited whisper. "Thanks. Glad you liked it . . . why are we whispering?" JC whispered. "Because Rachel's asleep." I giggled, quietly. "Oh, I see . . . well, I better go. I just wanted to know if you had fun." "I had a blast." "I'm glad. Oh, and we're staying at a hotel here in Altoona, so do you wanna do something tomorrow? Just you and me?" "Sounds great." We made our arrangements and said good-bye.
December 29, 2002
At 11:30am I drove to the hotel where the guys were staying, and waited for JC at the front door. Dre escorted him out through some screaming fans. "Thanks Dre. I'll call you when we get back." JC explained as he climbed into the passenger seat. "Hey Blu." I smiled brightly. "Hey yourself." he smiled back. "What would you like to do?" "Um . . . how about the movies?" "Buckle up." I smiled and pulled away from the hotel. We went to the nearest movie theater and looked over the showing times. Two of the movies would be starting in five minutes, but JC wanted to see one while I wanted to see the other. I, of course, gave in quickly and he paid for our tickets.
I didn't like the movie at all . . . I had to close my eyes or bury my face in JC's arm half the time. I HATE scary movies! . . . Unless of course I watch them with Ash and Amz because I crack jokes and we all laugh. I loved the Scream movies because I watched them at Ash and Amz's house. Anyway . . . after the movie, JC suggested bowling. Now THAT I didn't mind. Our first game wasn't too great, but our second and third games were a little better. JC won the first game by two points, I won the second by five points, and JC won the last game by fifteen points. My second game is always my best, and every single time I go bowling, I throw the ball backwards once during the first game. I surprisingly didn't follow my tradition the first time we all went bowling together, back on December 22, but this time, I did. JC thought it was the most hilarious thing and his face turned red from laughing. I smacked him in the arm for teasing me, explained my tradition while laughing, and then took my turn.
"That was fun." I giggled as I buckled my seat belt. "That was funny when you threw the ball backwards!" he laughed. I stuck my tongue out at him, then laughed along with him. Just then, I heard a growling noise, followed by JC's laughter again. "Does Chinese food sound good?" I giggled and drove toward the best Chinese restaurant around. It was a nice place called Hong Kong Buffet. We had a good time eating, talking, and goofing around. "Is there a football game tonight?" "Um . . . in State College? . . . as a matter of fact, there is, but it's probably sold out . . . of course, it doesn't hurt to try." It was about 5:30pm when we got to Beaver Stadium . . . only half an hour before kick-off. We surprisingly got tickets . . . even more unlikely, they were on the fifty yard line, first row! I think it was just because JC could pay in cash on the spot . . . plus he's JC Chasez from NSYNC! Who wouldn't sell tickets to him?! We both cheered for Penn State and they won! It was a really good game. I was ready to turn in for the night, so I drove back to Altoona and toward the hotel to drop JC off. "Are there any hoppin' clubs around here?" "Aren't you tuckered out yet?" I giggled. "Not at all!" "Well, there are a few clubs around here . . . but I don't think the other guys would appreciate not being invited along." I giggled, hoping that JC would change his mind about going. "I'll call and ask if they wanna go." he smiled as he pulled out his cell phone. "Hey Joey, do you and the guys wanna go clubbin' with Crystal and me?" "Yeah! Where at?!" "The club is right beside your hotel." I said without even hearing his question. "Does that answer your question?" JC laughed. Joey agreed to meet us in front of the hotel's main doors in ten minutes. ‘Rachel's gonna be worried sick about me!' "Hey Blu, I'm gonna be spending the night in Rachel's dorm, so could I possibly use your cell to call her?" I asked sweetly. "Of course!" he chuckled.
When we met the rest of the guys, they were all handsomely dressed in their clubbin' duds. We walked two blocks to the best club in town and got in immediately because . . . guess what . . . they're NSYNC! . . . I'm seeing a pattern here . . . I was re-energized for the first hour of upbeat dancing, but then I started to get drowsy again. Just as I was about to sit down and take a break, [‘Gone'] came on. "Oh, by the way, this is a beautiful song Justin." I giggled. JC grabbed me by the hand and gently pulled me up against him. He put his hands on my hips and I reluctantly put my hands on his shoulders. ‘My first real slow dance with my first real boyfriend.' I smiled to myself. There was this situation in sixth grade where I was "going out" with a boy, and we kinda sorta slow danced, but I don't wanna get into that. It was kind of awkward to have a guy touching my hips, let alone doing it voluntarily. We looked into each other's eyes and I got lost in his beautiful baby blues. By the time I started getting used to it all, the song was over and it was back to the upbeats. "I'm gonna take a break." I yelled over the music, then headed to a table, plopped down in a chair, and put my head down. Before I knew it, I was asleep.
Lance noticed me and immediately thought there was something wrong. "Hey Crystal." he shouted over the blaring music. I didn't budge. He tapped me on the shoulder, but I was out like a light. Then he figured out why I wasn't responding and laughed. ‘She must have been pretty tired to fall asleep in this atmosphere.' "Cryyystaaal." Lance chuckled, shaking my shoulder. I jumped and sat up. "You a little tired?" he laughed. I just yawned and giggled. "You want me to walk you to your car?" "Sure. I'll tell JC." I walked over to JC and told him the plan. "I'll call you later." JC smiled and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"It's chilly out here." Lance shivered. "Yeah, especially after being inside that hot club." We walked slowly and kept our eyes glued to the ground. "So how are things going with your friend and his girlfriend?" I asked. "It's not looking too good for me . . . they seem happy." he sighed. "Sorry that I can't help you out much." "Just talking to me helped . . . I owe you one." he smiled. "You don't owe me a thing." I giggled. "That's not how I work. Someone does something nice for me, I do something nice for them and there's no way to stop me." he jokingly threatened. "Oo, is that a threat?" "Nope, it's a promise." he grinned. We both laughed and continued on our way in silence again. When we reached the hotel, I thanked him for walking with me. "No problem." he smiled. "Are you going back to the club?" I asked. "Nah, I'm just gonna go up and go to bed." He put his hands on his biceps, kind of hugging himself to keep warm. "I'm gonna curl up under a million warm blankets and sleep as long as possible." I yawned, then smiled. "Sounds good right about now. Good night." he smiled sweetly. ‘You're so adorable . . . I'd give anything to kiss you right now.' I snapped out of it. "Later, love ya, kay-gotta-go-bye, and all that shtuff!" I smiled back. "I still need to learn that." he chuckled and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I had started rubbing off on the guys and got them into the habit of kissing me on the cheek every time they or I would leave. Another thing I started was my little saying . . . "Later, love ya, kay-gotta-go-bye, and all that shtuff!'. I giggled and turned to head for my car. One half of me wanted to run back to him and plant a big kiss on his inviting lips, while the other half reminded me about JC. "Crystal?" Lance's voice interrupted my thoughts. I stopped and turned to face him again. "Yeah?" ‘I love you.' he shook the thought. "We'll have to take you to our favorite club while we're at my house for New Year's." "No complaints here." I smiled. "Cool. Save me a dance, alright?" ‘Duuuuuuuude!' "Alright." I giggled. I walked back over to him and gave him a hug. We just embraced each other for what seemed like an eternity. As we slowly broke the embrace, his cheek lightly brushed against mine, and I ended up staring straight into his warm, innocent, deep, sweet, seductive, beautiful green eyes. ‘Melting will begin in 1.5 seconds . . .' I very slowly started to push my face toward his, but stopped, not knowing if he'd ‘approve'. Then, he moved his face closer, to where our noses were almost touching. I could feel his warm breath on my lips as he edged closer.
