"Justin,
have you heard anything we've said in the last five minutes?" Johnny Wright
asked.
"Give it up Johnny, he's in Maddie-Land," Joey informed their
manager.
"Well, he needs to snap out of it, there are a lot of important
people and a lot of reporters here and the last thing we need is a picture of
him staring at Madison Morse like some lovesick puppy," Jeremy Costa, their PR
rep from Jive Records, snapped.
"Dude, chill," JC intervened. "He's
allowed to have feelings, OK?"
"What if someone takes a picture?"
"So what, it's not like that would be the end of the world." Chris and
the rest of the group were very quickly becoming disillusioned with their new
label. They switched to Jive because they thought that they would have more
control over their careers. Jive did let them have a lot more artistic input and
their last album was highly personal to them. But when it came to their private
lives, Jive was trying to pull the same scam that Trans Con had, namely trying
to get the guys to convince the fans that they were too busy being *NSYNC to
even think about women.
"Look, the only reason no one has asked about it
so far is because everyone at this table is affiliated with you guys or Jive.
But if he keeps staring at her, people are going to take notice."
"'He'
is sitting at the table, you know," Justin spoke up, his eyes still on Maddie.
"Justin, listen--"
Justin turned his head to look Jeremy in the
eye. "No, you listen. I'm sick of this shit. If I wanted to go over there and
slam my tongue down her throat, I would. And you couldn't do a damned thing to
stop me."
"Do it, man, do it," Joey urged.
Justin sighed. "Joey,
I'm not gonna do it, I was just making a point."
"I think you should,"
Joey shook his head as he say back and crossed his arms.
"The last thing
we need is him being slapped with a sexual harassment charge for unwanted
advances," Jeremy hissed at Joey.
"Jeremy," Lance said pleasantly.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Silence reigned for a heartbeat and
then the five members of *NSYNC burst into laughter. Johnny tried unsuccessfully
to hide his smile behind his hand while Jeremy just fumed.
Heads turned
to see what all the ruckus was about. Justin felt his face go hot and his laugh
choke in his throat when Madison turned her blue eyes in his direction. He had
been watching earlier when she and her manager had surreptitiously switched some
of the placards at their table. He had been watching her face and she had said
something like 'No way in hell I'm sitting next to that _____!' He couldn't make
out the last word and had to fight to stifle his laughter at her behavior. He
also thanked his lucky stars because her new seat was across from his so all he
had to do was lean forward and turn his head slightly to the left and he had a
perfect view of her.
"Justin!" Joey nudged him in the arm. "Smile, she's
looking over here!"
"Joey, leave the kid alone," Chris reprimanded him.
Justin shot him a grateful look. When he turned his attention back to Madison's
table, he saw that she had looked away. What stood out was the look of complete
and utter disgust on her face.
"What the hell is she looking at?" JC
muttered. Their entire table followed her gaze to see more of Britney Spears
than they had ever wanted to see.
She stood poised at the top of the stairs like a wild cat ready to
attack. She was wearing a skirt so short it barely covered her butt. Her
belly-button baring top consisted of a flesh colored material with two bright
red dots. From a distance it looked like all she had on was a red skirt with two
dots over her nipples to match.
"What the hell is she wearing?"
Maddie's voice was heard through the entire hall.
"Madison!"
Romero hissed at her, ducking his head as the eyes that weren't plastered on
Britney at the stairs turned to their table.
"What? You know that's what
everyone is thinking."
"Yes, but sweetie, nobody says it!"
"Well, they should. Maybe then she wouldn't wear shit like that."
"Britney, hi!" Romero stood up to greet the singer as she approached the
table. He pinched Maddie on her arm when she remained seated.
She sighed
and stood. She made no effort to get closer to the singer. "Hi Britney," she
said flatly.
"Madison Morse, goodness, it is so good to see you!"
Britney took a step toward Maddie as if to embrace her. Romero knew that Maddie
was NOT going to allow Britney to touch her, so in the hopes of not creating a
scene, Romero said something he thought he'd never say: "Britney, I love your
outfit! Where did you get it?"
"Oh thank you! I had it specially made!
My mom went with me and when she saw it, she was all like 'Oh my gosh, Britney,
you have to wear this!' And so I got it," Britney flashed her brightest smile at
Romero, not knowing that her charms were being wasted on the gay man.
"Britney, how you been?" Her co-manager, Johnny Wright, approached her,
smiling apprehensively. Trailing behind him were some people from Jive Records,
with Jeremy in the lead, and behind them were the men of *NSYNC.
"Johnny!" Britney squealed and reached up to embrace him, causing her
already short skirt to ride up another inch or two. Maddie rolled her eyes at
this, only to be pinched again by Romero, a lot harder this time. "Lordy, I
haven't seen you in so long."
The reps from Jive surrounded her, passing
her around like a bottle of wine for everyone to sample. Maddie turned away from
the spectacle in front of her. Romero put his hands on her shoulders to turn her
right back around.
By this time, the guys of *NSYNC had made their way
over to the group. "Hey Britney," JC said nonchalantly.
"Hey, oh my God,
I didn't know you guys were going to be here! This is so perfect!"
She
hugged each guy in turn but seemed to linger a little bit longer in Justin's
arms. Justin didn't notice. He was too busy looking at Madison over her
shoulder.
Britney stepped back so that they were forming something of a
circle. "So…how do y'all like my outfit?" She struck a pose and waited for the
compliments.
The reps were so enthusiastic in their response to her play
for attention that she didn't even notice that none of the *NSYNC guys or Johnny
said a word. Once she got tired of hearing the Jive people grovel, she turned to
Justin.
"So, Justy, how do you like my outfit?"
"Don't call me
that," he said distractedly, his eyes still on Madison, who had flipped Romero
off and was now sitting with Drew Lachey from 98 Degrees.
"I'm sorry,"
Britney pouted. "But what do you think of my outfit?"
Justin didn't
bother to respond. Britney followed his gaze. Her eyes narrowed when she saw
that he was watching Madison laughing at something Drew had said. Just then,
Maddie turned her head and noticed Justin looking at her.
"God," she
muttered under her breath as she turned away.
"What?" Drew asked her.
"That Justin kid has been staring at me all night."
"That kid is
older than you are and who can blame him? You're the prettiest woman in here."
Maddie smiled. "And what about Miss Britney?"
Drew looked over
at Britney and shuddered. "I'm taking the Fifth on this one."
"Good
answer," Maddie laughed.
"I gotta get back to my seat, they're about to
start serving," Drew stood. "I'll see you at the party right?"
