The guys were all chilling
in the green room, waiting for Carson. He had invited them all to lunch with him
and since they had the rest of the day off, they agreed. They were sitting in
the green room, as Carson went to the post-meeting and get changed.
Joey
leaned over to Justin. "Hey, did you hear what that one guy said that Maddie
said yesterday?"
"About what?"
"Oh, you mean about that guy who,
like, stalks her?" Heather asked from her seat on Chris' lap.
"What
guy?" Justin sat up in concern.
"She has this one guy, well, this one
car that will come and stake out her house and he'll just sit there for hours."
"And just watch her house?"
"Yup. Her dad almost called the cops
but Maddie told him not to."
"For real?" Justin sat back, deep in
thought. He ignored the light-hearted banter of his friends and bodyguards
around him as he processed the new information. He opened his mouth to speak,
but then paused when the door opened. The door opened inward and he was sitting
behind it, so he heard the laughing voices before he saw the faces but he'd
recognize that voice in a New York subway during rush hour. He started to
breathe a little faster, a fine sheen of perspiration dotted his forehead, and
his heart tapped out an erratic rhythm.
"Maddie!" Lance cried as he
stood and walked over to embrace her.
Madison walked further into the
room; Justin saw her for the first time. She was wearing a pink skirt that
showed off more leg than Justin was comfortable seeing and a white top that was
deceptively simple. The front of it gave the illusion that she was completely
covered from waist to neck. The back of it was another story; it dropped
dangerously low, exposing a smooth expanse of creamy skin that Justin's fingers
fairly ached to touch. He gave a start when he felt the crotch of his khakis
pull a little tighter. He hadn't had this kind of reaction at the mere sight of
a girl since…well, ever. He watched from his seat as his band mates and the
others in the room went over to greet the girl and her friends. He recognized
the shorter one as her sister but he had no idea who the older one was and he
was too busy wondering how he was going to get himself out of the room without
calling attention to his 'problem' to listen to the introductions. He saw Maddie
glance at him, taking it all in--him splayed out on the couch, legs spread,
leaning forward with his arms on his knees in an attempt to cover his lap. He
swore silently when she rolled her eyes and turned back to whatever Mike, one of
the bodyguards, was saying to her. He managed to catch Joey's attention; he
looked at Maddie and widened his eyes, looked back at Joey and then nodded to
his crotch. Joey immediately caught on and had to fight to stifle the laugh that
threatened to burst free. He racked his brain thinking of a way to either get
Justin out of the room before the girls saw his 'problem' or to get the girls to
leave. Just then Carson walked into the room.
"Hey, everybody ready?"
"Wait, who are you talking to?" Wendy wanted to know.
"All of
y'all. You're still going, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, I was just making
sure." Wendy glanced back at Justin and then at Maddie. She was well aware of
how her friend felt about him and knew that she was going to hear an earful and
then some later on.
"So, where we going?" Nicole asked, eyes on JC.
"Wherever y'all want to go. It's my treat so it's whatever," Carson
said, looking around the room. "Hey Justin, wus up?"
"Nothing," Justin
mumbled, silently cursing Carson for drawing attention to him.
"You
gonna join us or what?"
"Yeah, I'm coming." Justin forced a smile.
Meanwhile, Joey had managed to communicate Justin's problem to Lance.
Lance wasn't as successful as Joey in controlling his merriment but thankfully,
Heather was exclaiming over Chris' lack of manners (he had failed to introduce
her to Madison and the others) so no one heard him. Eyes on Justin, he said,
"Hey, Carson, didn't you tell me that Ananda wanted to see Maddie?"
"She
did?"
"Oh, yeah, she did," Joey parroted.
"All right, then. So
we'll go see Ananda and then head out? Cool? Cool." The VJ turned and led his
entourage out of the room.
Lance and Joey (and their bodyguards) stayed
behind with Justin, who was still seated at the couch.
"You OK now?"
Lance whispered.
"No!" Justin hissed through his teeth. "And why are you
whispering?"
"Oh. I don't know."
"What's wrong with him?" Mike
asked.
In one very crude movement, Joey told him.
"Oh. Ooohhh."
Mike turned his back so that Justin wouldn't see his smile.
"Just think
of nasty stuff. Or boring stuff," Wes advised. "Like baseball. Golf.
Synchronized swimming, stuff like that."
Justin sighed, feeling way
beyond humiliated. "That doesn't work for me."
"Well, you better think
of something fast cause Ananda's not here and they'll be back in about three
minutes."
"Shit." Justin put his head in his hands. The situation would
have been funny to him…if it had happened to someone else.
Joey sat on
the couch next to Justin (but not too close) and said, "Just think what'll
happen if word of this ever gets out. Your mom will be ashamed to show her face
and will lock herself in her house and never come out. Your fans will start
thinking you're some sex-crazed pervert and they'll all start liking Lance.
Daniel and Jeremy are gonna be in your face twenty-four-sev-"
"The first
one was enough, thank you," Justin said as he sat up.
"So, you're OK
now?" Mike asked.
Justin stood. "I'm OK. I knew I shoulda wore jeans."
Forty-five minutes later, they all were happily, if rather tightly,
packed in Carson's studio apartment. They'd decided to forgo battling the New
York City traffic in favor of ordering takeout. Carson's place, shared with a
roommate, Brian, was definitely a man's place complete with dark colors,
over-sized furniture and a calendar with pictures of naked girls marking the
months hung in the bathroom. Carson's golf clubs held a prominent position right
next to the big screen TV/entertainment center. The entertainment center looked
like something out of a sci-fi movie. The man had enough in electronics to open
a small store.
"Nicky, what do you want?" Wendy asked, surrounded by
menus from various eateries around town. She had a pad and pen and was recording
everyone's order so Carson could make the calls.
"I don't know. Where is
everyone else ordering from?"
"Everywhere," Maddie said wryly and
flopped down on the seat next to her sister. She regretted it almost as soon as
she'd done it. As she sank into the deep cushions, she realized that those same
comfortable cushions would be like quicksand when she tried to move, giving way
beneath pressure, affording no hard surface for her to push off of. And because
Carson was 6'2" and the furniture had been bought to suit his size, her feet
didn't even touch the floor. She was going to have a hell of a time getting up
but she decided not to worry about that now.
What was on her mind was a
certain curly-haired singer. She was not upset about his behavior earlier, just
puzzled as to why he didn't get up to greet them. Before that, she had decided
to get over her grudge against him, thinking that Romero was right and that
Kelly had been at her over-dramatic best that day. But seeing as how he'd acted
earlier, she was rethinking not being mad at him. Maybe he was as self-centered
and egotistical as Kelly had said he was. She fanned herself with one of the
menus. Carson had turned his air conditioner off while he was at work so the
apartment was hot and muggy. Justin, Chris and Lance walked in from the balcony
where they'd been enjoying a bird's eye view of the city from twelve stories up.
Obviously, Justin and Lance had felt the heat as well because they'd both
removed their shirts and were clad in undershirts, Lance's a plain white t-shirt
and Justin in a navy blue tank top.
Maddie's mouth went dry and she
forgot all about Justin's personality flaws as she took in his physical
perfection. Muscles rippled in his arms as he passed menus back and forth to
Joey and Chris. He was standing at an angle to Maddie but he had his head turned
in a way that allowed her to clearly see his profile; curly hair, long
eyelashes, pouting pink lips stretched out in a grin. Without realizing it, she
sighed. Soft as the sound was, Joey heard it. He looked over and saw the awed
look on her face. Her mouth was slightly open and she was looking at Justin as
if he was a seven-course meal and she had just come off a seven day fast.
Smiling, he nudged Justin and when Justin looked at him, Joey nodded his head in
Maddie's direction. Madison was so caught up in inspecting the beauty that was
Justin that she didn't notice when all four men began to stare at her staring at
Justin. Carson walked into the room, bottles of wine in both hands, intending to
ask them which they'd prefer. He stopped short when he saw the tableau in front
of him. Justin, Lance, Joey and Chris seemed to be frozen in place as they
watched Maddie. It was if they thought any move they made would snap Maddie out
of whatever spell she was under. The only thing that moved on Maddie were her
eyes; they traced a path over Justin's body.
Everyone in the apartment
jumped when someone began pounding at the door. Maddie raised her eyes and saw
Justin watching her watch him. She blushed and turned away when he flashed her a
knowing smile.
Carson walked over and, without checking the through the
peephole first, opened the door. Romero and a short brunette that Maddie had
never seen before stood there.
"Cool! You come bearing gifts?" the woman
asked, referring to the wine bottles that Carson still held.
"Jen!"
Chris yelled. He ran over and Carson had to quickly step back to avoid being
bowled over. Jen didn't fare as well. Chris slammed into her and sent them both
stumbling out into the hall.
"Damn!" Jen laughed as she returned the
embrace. "Down, boy, down. I thought I trained you better than that."
Chris just grinned at her and grabbed her hand to pull her into the
apartment. Romero stood in the hallway looking rejected and dejected. "What, I
don't get a hug? Where's my love?" he whined.
Chris sighed exaggeratedly
and clomped back over to the stout man. "Hello Romero," he said as he gave the
older man a friendly hug.
"It's not much but I'll take what I can get,"
Romero said over Chris' shoulder.
"All right, now get off my man before
you turn him out," Heather called as she sat on the sofa next to Maddie.
Romero leaned around Chris to respond but the words never left his
mouth. Everyone's jaw dropped when Jen walked over to JC and just about slammed
her tongue down his throat. The two went into a clinch hot enough to melt iron.
Maddie blindly reached out to cover her sister's eyes with her hand.
"Maddie please," Nicole snapped. She was a bit pissed to see 'her' man
with his hands on someone else's ass and his tongue down her throat. "I've seen
worse than that. I've done worse than that."
The full meaning of what
she meant didn't hit Maddie til much later. As of now, she couldn't take her
eyes off the tonsil-hockey playing couple in front of her. A part of her was
afraid that Jen was gonna throw JC to the floor and ravish him right then and
there.
"Hello?" Heather yelled. "My virgin eyes can't see this!"
JC and Jen broke apart and Maddie scrambled to get out of her seat.
"Damn, girl, what's wrong with you?" JC asked her.
To Heather
Madison said, "I had to get out of the way just in case God strikes you down for
telling that bold-faced lie."
"Damn! She got you cold!" Joey crowed.
"Yeah whatever," Heather flipped him off. "Damn, Carson, your couch is a
death trap," she grumbled as she struggled to get off it.
Wendy gasped
and stood straight up. It took her a minute because she had to work her way out
of the man-eating cushions. "Nic! Your flight!"
Now it was Maddie's turn
to gasp. "Fuck me, we gotta go!"
The guys of *NSYNC gave a start at
hearing one of Justin's favorite expressions come out of Maddie's mouth.
"What's the matter, mami?" Romero asked, coat half off.
"We
gotta go! Nic has a flight in," she paused to check her watch, "an hour and
twenty minutes!"
"Aw hell," Nicole's face fell. "I'm not gonna make it!
The airport is on the other side of town!"
"Oh, you're gonna make it!"
Maddie said determinedly. "Let's go!"
"Wait, wait," Justin grabbed her
arm as she stormed by him. "How y'all gonna get there?"
"Taxi, I guess."
"No, James can take her."
"James?"
"He's our driver.
That man knows traffic like no one else. He can get you there in no time."
"But it's on the other side of town, what is he gonna do, fly?" Nicole
asked.
"No, but he can get you there. Where's you stuff?" Joey asked.
"At the hotel."
"Which hotel?"
Carson spoke up,
"Actually, it only takes fifteen minutes to get to the airport from here."
"Well, the hotel is about five minutes away so we should make it with
time to spare," Wendy sighed.
"Why should y'all go? I can handle this by
myself," Nicole said.
"I'm sure you can but I'm still going," Maddie
said and began to look around for her purse.
"Madison! I'm not a little
kid! You don't have to hold my hand all the time. I'm perfectly capable of
putting myself on a plane."
Maddie stopped and looked at her younger
sister. Really looked at her. What she saw was not the young girl of her
memories but a young lady who looked far more mature than her fifteen years. She
sighed. "You sure?"
"Geez, it's not like I've never been on a plane
before!" Nicole rolled her eyes and bent to gather her purse.
"Your
ticket is-"
"In the side pocket of your carry-on and the cell phone is
there, too, and you want me to take it and call you the second I get on the
plane and as soon as we land and as soon as I get home."
Maddie
suppressed a grin. "All right then. Come give me a hug."
The sisters
embraced then kissed each other on the cheek. Nicole made her way over to Wendy
and those two did the same. Nic turned and gave everyone else in the apartment a
wave and a bright smile. "Bye, you guys! It was nice meeting you!"
"James is waiting for you in the lobby," Joey told her, hanging up his
cell phone.
"How will I know who he is?" Nicole asked him.
"I
told him what you were wearing."
"Nic, do you have a key to the room?"
Nicole dug around in her purse for a second then produced a key-card.
"I'll leave it on the dresser. Bye Wendy. Bye Mads. I'll call you."
After she left, Carson went to make the calls about the food and Madison
stepped out onto the balcony. The view was breathtaking but Maddie was too
distracted to notice. She was worried about her little sister and regretted
letting her go alone. So much could happen in New York City to a grown person,
she hated to think what could happen to a fifteen-year-old girl. Joey came to
stand beside her. They struck identical poses, with their forearms resting on
the bar, hands clasped, looking out at the city.
"So what's up with
you?"
"Just a little worried about my sister."
"That's not what
I meant."
"Oh." When Joey didn't clarify, she had to ask. "What did you
mean?"
"I saw you earlier. Looking at Justin like you wanted to strip
him naked and have your wicked way with him."
"No, I wasn't," Maddie
protested.
Joey turned to her. "Maddie, I have spent years perfecting
that look. I know it when I see it."
"And I had it?"
"You had it
worse than I have ever seen. So what's the deal?"
"Nothing. I don't
know."
"Why won't you at least give the guy a chance?"
"I have
given him chances! At that party, we were talking and he just walked away.
Didn't say goodbye or anything. And then today, he didn't even come over and say
'hi' to us."
"When?"
"When we were at MTV, in the green room."
Joey had to put his head down to hide his smile. "Oh, well, he couldn't
come then, he…had a problem."
"What kind of problem? All he had to do
was say hello. Where's the problem in that?"
Joey knew Maddie well
enough to know that if he made a big deal of it, she would only sink her teeth
in and wear him down til he had no choice but to tell her. She was like a pit
bull. He tried to think of a tactful way to put it. "It was a guy problem."
"A guy problem? What the hell does that mean?"
"Think about it.
You're in this outfit, showing a lot of skin…Justin had a guy problem and
wouldn't get up and come talk to you…"
"Oh." Red bloomed in Maddie's
cheeks as comprehension dawned. "Oh!"
"Yeah," Joey turned and sat on the
edge of the lawn table Carson had set up, "oh."
"He had a-" Maddie
glanced over her shoulder to be sure that no one was listening, "a…a…you know."
Joey grinned. "You mean a boner?"
Maddie gave him an impatient
look. "Whatever."
"Yes, Maddie, he had a boner."
"Who had a
boner?" Jen asked from the doorway.
Joey cursed under his breath. Jen was the last person he wanted to have
had overheard them. Not that he wanted anyone to hear what they were talking
about. If Maddie told her whom they were talking about, Jen wouldn't hesitate to
announce it to all and sundry and the poor guy would never hear the end of it.
"Oh, this one guy in that one show we saw," Maddie said vaguely, laying
Joey's fears to rest.
"Oh. Whatever." Having lost interest, Jen went
back inside to find someone to harass.
"Thanks for that. He'd kill me if
he knew I told you. Well, he'd die of embarrassment but he'd come back to haunt
me," Joey grinned.
"Don't worry, I don't think I'll be telling anyone
about this."
"Yeah right. You'll tell Wendy the second y'all leave."
Maddie laughed. "True."
Heather called Joey's name. "I'm being
summoned. Don't think this is over," he shook his finger in her face, "cause
it's not. We will finish this."
"Thir, yeth, thir!" Maddie saluted him.
He laughed as he walked away. "You've been watching too much Major
Payne!"
Maddie smiled to herself. She turned and resumed her pose,
leaning against the bar of the railing, hands clasped, gazing into the clouded
sky. Things with Justin had taken a turn she hadn't anticipated. She
was…attracted to him. And the news that she could affect him physically made her
feel strangely powerful over him. As if she had some kind of hold on him or
something. She became very grateful that women show very few signs of arousal.
Maddie had been a little hot under the collar earlier as she'd stared at Justin.
She was glad that Justin didn't know that. She was embarrassed enough to have
been caught staring at him. 'And just where the hell did this new-found
appreciation for his body come from?' she wondered. 'Yeah, he's a cutie but
these feelings…WHOA!'
"Maddie!" Carson called out to her. "Food's here!"
She turned and walked back into the apartment. "Good cause I feel rumbly
in my tumbly."
Lance paused in his search of the bags of takeout and
squinted up at her. "Winnie the Pooh?"
"Yeah!" Maddie smiled at him.
The next few minutes were utter and complete chaos as everyone searched
for his or her food. Plastic bags were ripped open, paper bags were crumbled,
Styrofoam containers squeaked open and shut. On top of all this was the steady
drone of conversation. For the most part, Madison avoided having to directly
speak to Justin. Jen and Heather pretty much dominated the conversation. Wendy
and Carson were lost in their own little world. Maddie just sat back and watched
the interaction between the guys of *NSYNC and the *NSYNC girlfriends. They
seemed to be a pretty tight-knit group. She caught a few speculative glances
thrown her way. And then there was the moment her eyes met Justin's as she
shifted to hand Joey the bottle of ketchup. It suddenly seemed very hard to
breathe and she heard a rushing in her ears. Her line of vision narrowed until
all she could see was Justin. Joey took the bottle out of her hand and broke
whatever connection there was between them. Maddie didn't have very much of an
appetite after that.
Carson had just pushed his plate away when his
phone rang. He went to answer it as JC's cell phone rang. His conversation was
much shorter than Carson's. "That was James. Johnny says we need to be back at
the hotel."
"He's back?" Maddie said, sitting up.
"James? Yeah.
Your sister made it all right."
"Good."
Carson let out a loud
bark of laughter.
"Sheesh, what the hell's so funny? Chris," Heather
whined.
"What?" he whined back.
"I ate too much. I can't move."
"For real?" Chris asked, smiling mischievously.
"For real."
"Well, then, I guess you'll just have to stay here. Too bad cause I got
this flavored body oil and some edible panties…" he trailed off.
"What?"
Heather sat up in a flash.
"That got you moving!" Chris laughed.
"Oh, you little asshole! I'm gonna get you for that!"
"You
promise?" Chris asked, dodging the pillow Heather flung at him.
"Carson,
man," JC reached out and the two men slapped hands then shared a brief man-hug.
"It's been cool but we gotta jet."
"Who was on the phone?" Jen asked.
"Damn, Jen!" Lance smacked her on the leg. "Nosy much?"
"That
was my producer, Deb. Since the show went off, the phone lines have been blown
out twice and we've had over fifteen hundred hits at our website."
"About what?" Jen wanted to know as she got up from her seat on the
floor.
Everyone else looked back and forth between Justin and Madison.
"Hello? Is anyone gonna tell me or do I have to sing 'Oops, I Did It
Again' like I did last time?" Jen asked, annoyed.
"Tell you later,
baby," JC said into her ear.
They'd successfully managed to avoid
bringing Justin and Maddie's relationship, or lack thereof, into the
conversation. Until this.
Justin decided that he wasn't going to let the
afternoon end on a bad note. He grabbed Maddie's hand and led her out to the
balcony. He closed the door behind them so no one else would be able to hear
what he had to say.
"Look, Maddie," Justin paused to collect his
thoughts. "I know this is weird and all but-"
"You know what? This is my
fault. I had this stupid grudge against you and I let it go too far."
"Yeah but I shouldn't have said what I did today. That probably created
more problems than it solved…made me feel pretty damned good though," he smiled
down at her and she couldn't help but smile back.
"Truce?" she held out
her hand.
"Truce," he agreed and wrapped his hand around hers. Neither
of them noticed that their hands lingered a little longer than necessary. Justin
caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw JC
laughing at Jen and holding her back from throwing her shoe at Joey. "Guess we'd
better go. Y'all want a ride to the hotel?"
"Thanks but no. We're gonna
go take a look at Times Square."
"OK."
"All right."
"OK," Justin said again then pushed the door open for Maddie.
"Did y'all kiss and make up?" Heather asked, playing in Chris' hair.
"Do you ever not sit on his lap?" Maddie laughed.
"No," all five
*NSYNCers, Jen and Heather responded.
"All right, y'all, let's head
out," Lance instructed.
"Y'all are gonna chill for a bit, right?" Carson
asked Wendy. She looked to Maddie, the unspoken plea evident in her eyes.
Maddie smiled. "Yeah, we'll stay for a while."
"All right then,
hugs all around!" Joey commanded, already walking towards Maddie, arms
outstretched.
As Joey said, they shared hugs all around. Maddie shyly
went into Justin's arms for a hug. She stepped back and looked up at him.
Abruptly, he bent his head and touched her lips with his. It happened so
quickly that Maddie didn't even have time to close her eyes. It was the lightest
of touches; soft as a butterfly's wing, she barely felt it on her lips. But she
felt it in the deepest recesses of her body. Oh boy, did she feel it.
Justin pulled away with a scared sort of look on his face, as if he was
afraid she was going to smack him. Maddie simply narrowed her eyes, turned on
her heel, walked over to the couch and turned her face away from everyone.
Justin looked to his friends to find them all staring at him with
various expressions on their faces. Joey, of course, had a huge grin on his mug.
Chris and Heather seemed amused. Jen looked as if she had something to say and
was going to burst if she didn't say it soon. JC had enough on his hands with
Jen. Carson just seemed shocked and Lance looked pissed. He didn't care about
their reactions. He looked to Wendy and was relieved when she smiled and flashed
him the thumbs up sign. She knew Maddie better than anyone else so he took the
most from her reaction to the impromptu kiss. Ever since he'd caught Maddie
looking at him like that earlier that day, he'd wanted to do something to shake
her up.
