The show went off smoothly, all of the guys being their wacky selves. Anyone who didn’t know Justin personally didn’t seem to notice how strained he seemed; as if his mind was on something else. Indeed, he was running on performance autopilot, but none of the teenyboppers seemed to care. They continued to scream his name, believing that this was the night he was going to notice them, from among the crowd of twenty thousand. In actuality, Justin barely noticed his mother in the front row. He was quite happy when they finished the encore and got to leave the stage. Lynn was waiting for him backstage after his shower, and hugged him as soon as he was within arms length.
“Justin, sweetie, is there something wrong?” Lynn was concerned by the blank expressions that her son had worn during parts of the show.
“Yeah mom, I just missed you, that’s all.” He replied, halfheartedly. His mother sighed; that ‘I know you are lying to me, but I can’t force you to tell me’ mother sigh. Before she could say anything else, JC walked up to the pair.
“Hey Momma! We all really missed you!” JC said, kissing Lynn on the cheek.
“I’ve missed you boys, too. But I am beat, so I think I will head back to the hotel. Justin, you want to come with me?”
Justin began to nod, but JC cut him off. “Actually Lynn, we got this letter about this girl…and we are going to see if we can help her out.”
“What letter?” Justin asked, puzzled.
“Here, read it for yourself.” He said, handing Justin the paper he had in his back pocket.
Justin slowly began to scan the words.
Dear Nsync- I am the mother of a12 year old girl. She, like most girls her age I suppose, loves your music. The reason my daughter, Florensia, is so special is because she has a very rare cancer. She has been in the hospital for the last 2 years of her young life, but the treatments just aren’t working anymore. We brought her home last month, and it is killing her father and I to watch her suffer. Rensy stays positive though, always singing your songs and watching you on television. I would like to request that you come to our house whenever you are in the area and visit her. It would be an amazing way for her to end her life. Sincerely and Gratefully Yours- Mrs. Elba Arrerbac.
Justin had tears in his eyes as he finished the letter. ‘How can I be so wrapped up in this stupid thing with Symone when there are people out there dying?’ he thought. “JC, man, we gotta go do this. Let’s go right now.”
“OK, the guys are waiting in the bus.”
Justin handed his mother the letter to read, and kissed her quickly. “We’ll spend the day together tomorrow, right?” Lynn nodded, and Justin followed his friend, along with security, out to the bus. Symone’s sister Nicole was there, as well as Krysti and Jessica, who he hadn’t met yet. It didn’t look like he was going to anytime soon, being that she and Joey were all over each other. As he sat down, Krysti spoke up.
“Jess, you never did tell us about your date last night.”
Jessica looked up and smiled. “Oh, sorry guys. Well, we went clubbing, which I guess was a given. But, this one did the sweetest thing. He called me up and we talked…”
“And he was really outside your house the whole time.” Nicole and Krysti said in unison.
“Uh, yeah…how’d you guys know?” All the inhabitants of the bus, excluding Justin, laughed hysterically and Jessica sat wondering what she said that was so funny.
Justin pressed his head against the window, remembering how that very act had blown up in his face. All the other guys seemed to have no trouble at all. ‘That’s because they know how to control their tongues!’ Soon the rocking motion of the bus lulled him into the most peaceful sleep he could muster.
30 minutes later, the bus pulled into Symone’s driveway. Terri awakened Justin, and she led him by the hand into the house. He was still groggy and didn’t realize exactly where he was. He just knew he had a dying girl’s wish to complete.
The group walked out to the garage and filed into Symone’s room. They all admired the quirkiness of the atmosphere silently.
Symone was seated on her bed with a guitar and bass on the floor, and tons of sheet music scattered about. She didn’t notice her visitors at first, but then she looked up. “Um, may I ask what’s going on here?” At that moment Justin walked in, still unaware of whose house it was, being that he never got past the front door.
Nicole explained. “Well, you didn’t want to go to the concert, so we brought the concert to you Sym.”
Justin’s eyes popped open when he heard her name. He stared into Symone’s eyes, not believing this deception. She looked confused, scared, frustrated and just plain angry all at once. He didn’t care. “I don’t know what kind of sick joke this is, but it’s just not funny.” Justin turned on his heal and stalked out of the room. JC, Lance and Joey followed him to explain, leaving the rest in the room to deal with Symone.
“I will ask again; what the hell is going on here?” She asked.
“Well, you see, we all agreed that Justin should apologize, so…” Chris began.
“So you dragged him here without knowing where he was going,” Symone said, stating what was obvious to her now. She was so angry right now. She pointed at her best friend and sister. “I could have SWORN I told the two of you that I did NOT want to see him again! How could you do this to me? I didn’t want to look him in the eye and know the horrible things he thinks about me! And yet you bring him to my house, my ROOM and make a fool out of the both of us! Thanks a lot guys, the situation is really resolved now.”
The other five people said nothing; she was right. Nicole walked to the bed to comfort her sister, but quickly realized that she wasn’t sad, she was angry.
“Please, leave. I just want to be alone right now,” she said in a very soft voice. Nicole, Krysti and Jessica gave each other looks and left the room, muttering their apologies. Terri stayed behind, and Chris stood in the doorway waiting for her.
“Symone I have never seen you like this. Please, come spend the night with Chris and I. I hate to leave you alone when you are feeling so bad.” Terri said. “You need to get out of this room for a night.”
“You and Chris must have tons of stuff to keep you busy right now, you don’t need a charity case,” Symone replied, laying back on the bed and crushing a few of the papers.
Chris walked to the bed and picked her up. “YOU, young lady, are no charity case. And you are coming with us, whether you like it or not.”
Symone just rolled her eyes and let herself be carried to the bus.
