Maddie sighed as she sat back in the
plush seat of the rental car. She looked around at the familiar sights of New
York and smiled to herself. 'You've come a long way, baby.'
Her smile
was also due in part to the fact that she knew she'd be seeing Justin for the
first time in almost a week in less than fifteen minutes. They'd become so
close, so fast, constantly talking on the phone and emailing each other.
"Jacob, how far away are we?" she leaned forward to ask the bodyguard in
the driver's seat.
"We're about ten minutes."
"So impatient.
God, mami, he's gonna be there when we get there," Romero smiled.
Maddie
sat back. "I know."
Her cell phone rang. Maddie reached for her purse.
Jacob glanced over at Romero. "Five bucks says its Justin."
"What, are you kidding me? I'm not stupid, I'm not taking that bet."
"Ok, shut up, we do not talk that much and look, it's not even him,"
Maddie glanced at the unfamiliar number on her caller ID, then flipped the phone
open. "Hello?"
"Hey baby."
Maddie smiled and her voice softened.
"Hey."
"Ah ha! See, I tole' you so! 'It's not even him'!" Romero
laughingly mocked her.
"Whatever," Maddie rolled her eyes.
"They
giving you shit again?" Justin asked.
"Yeah. It's okay though cause
they're just jealous." She directed the last part of the sentence at Romero who
was busy making kissing noises.
"Where are you guys?"
"We're
about ten minutes away. Whose phone are you on?"
"Oh, this is Chris's. I
left mine in the hotel."
"You loser," Maddie scolded.
They
continued in their light-hearted banter as Jacob navigated the car through the
stagnant New York traffic. Romero smiled, listening to Maddie's side of the
conversation, her sarcasm and laughter peppering the exchange. She'd been
different in the way she acted with Justin before, so not like herself, so
unsure. Uncertainty had colored every encounter they'd had. Now she was her
usual witty, trash-talking, sardonic self and Romie was loving it.
He
didn't know exactly what went on back in Texas but whatever it was, it was good
for Maddie and, he guessed, good for Justin as well. Justin had only stayed for
two days but he'd made a real impact on the entire household. Travis seemed to
worship the ground he walked on, Paul liked to joke around with him, Mike had
spent hours playing video games with him and Nicole had turned to him for advice
about a guy that she liked. He'd been by Maddie's side when she visited Jake in
the hospital; Ron had pulled him to the side to thank him for being there.
They pulled into the underground garage at the Jive offices. Romero
turned around to look at Maddie. "Mami, tell him to get off your phone, you're
gonna see him in, like, three minutes."
Three minutes and forty seconds
later, the trio stepped off the elevator into the lobby of the twenty-second
floor. Maddie looked around, anxious to see Justin. He said he'd be waiting for
her so she was expecting to see his smiling face.
What she didn't expect
to see was him flashing that smile at another girl as they embraced. Maddie
stopped short, thrown by this. She wasn't jealous or upset, she figured he'd
tell her what's up; she was surprised and very curious.
The girl stepped
back and turned to hug Joey. Maddie saw her profile. She sent Romero a confused
'what's going on?' look; he shrugged in return. She glanced back at Jacob to see
if he was taking this all in.
Suddenly someone grabbed her hand. She
hardly had any time to take in Justin's beaming face before he hauled her to him
and covered her mouth with his.
It wasn't a passionate kiss, though it
was open-mouthed. It was…sweet. It was a reunion. It was their way of saying
'I'm happy to see you'. It made those watching smile.
Romero giggled,
delighted at this. He couldn't resist giving them a hard time. "Man, could you
guys come up for air, please, I'm gonna need her to sing soon. Ah, I don't care,
just keep it PG-13, OK? Don't be putting on no show."
"Imagine that.
Porno…live!" Joey grinned at the thought. "Ew, but get new actors, though."
"Yeah, really," Chris seconded. "Although I'm thinking that we could
really cash in if we put them on pay-per-view." He stepped out of the way to let
the others pass by him.
"Oh, no shit. And then get the rights to the
video…" Joey continued.
"We could have t-shirts, buttons, mugs…the
possibilities are endless," Chris schemed.
Maddie stepped out of
Justin's arms. "OK, y'all are nasty. And don't be making a mockery of our
relationship."
"We're not trying to make a mockery," Joey corrected,
"we're trying to make some money!"
"Where are your girlfriends, I'm
telling on y'all."
Both men put on exaggerated frowns. "They went home,"
Joey pouted.
"No wonder."
"No wonder what?" Justin asked,
enjoying the bantering between his friends and his girl.
His girl. He
loved that.
"No wonder they're acting like this, they're horny."
"Um," Chris held up a hand, "in Joey's defense, he's always horny."
"No, I'm not! Not always…just when I'm awake," Joey admitted with a
grin.
"How do you stand it?" Maddie played along.
Joey sang,
"Digital digital getdown."
"Damn, Joe, that's more than I ever needed to
know about you and Janine," Justin said as he put his arm around Maddie. He
glanced at the now empty lobby. They were the only ones there. "We better get
going."
"What? It's not like they can start without us," Joey kidded as
they walked down the hall.
Through the glass windows built into the
walls of the conference room, Maddie saw the girl Justin had been hugging
earlier take a seat at the U-shaped table.
"What's she doing here?" she
whispered to Justin as they walked into the room. There was no heat in her
voice, no rancor. She just wanted to know. In one of their many marathon-session
phone conversations over the past week, Justin had openly discussed his
relationship with Britney. They had been each other's first in just about every
way a person could have a first. There was a bond between them that no one or
nothing could break. She wasn't his best friend but she was one of his closest
and he loved her, even when he was annoyed with her. He'd admitted that he
didn't know why she put up with him; he had a tendency to brush her off or be
abrupt with her, considering how crazy the media hype around them had been. They
hadn't been romantically involved since shortly after her seventeenth birthday
but the paparazzi just wouldn't give it up.
"I don't know, she showed up
a few minutes before you did."
"Damn, she's gonna tear my hair out."
"What?" Justin laughed at her.
"First I talk shit about her,
then I steal her man."
"Girl, quit trippin'."
Maddie smiled up
at him when he pulled out her chair for her.
"Yeah, my mama did teach me
some manners," he smirked at her surprised expression. "Not a whole lot, but
some."
Maddie never got a chance to reply. Kristy Murray bustled in with
a man who looked as if he had stepped right out of the pages of GQ.
"That's Dean Waters," Romero leaned over to whisper as he sat on the
other side of Maddie.
Her brows rose in surprise. "That's Dean Waters?"
"Mmhmm."
Maddie looked at the man in question. "Damn."
He was nothing like she'd pictured him. Considering the massive amounts
of money and clout he'd amassed, she assumed that he'd be a little old man with
white hair, wrinkled skin and a big smile. In reality, he was young, in his
early thirties; tall, broad shouldered with dark hair and a strong jaw. He had
an air of confidence about him that said that he was used to getting what he
wanted.
"Hello?" Justin rapped on her head with his knuckles. "Boyfriend
sitting right next to you, try not to drool so hard."
Normally a gesture
like that would have irritated Maddie to no end but Justin had just referred to
himself as her boyfriend for the first time. She felt all warm and giddy inside;
a surge of affection rose within her, like an air bubble, from the pit of her
stomach to her heart where it burst and left her feeling almost breathless. She
couldn't hide the smile that decorated her face. She reluctantly turned her
attention to the front of the room when the meeting was called to order.
"I want to thank you all for coming out here. For those of you who don't
know who me, my name is Dean Waters."
His voice was as smooth as his
appearance. Maddie knew that if it weren't for Justin she'd have been crushing
on this guy big time.
"This is my assistant, Kristy Murray. I think you
all know her." His eyes lingered on JC as he said that last part.
Bored
already, Maddie looked around the conference table. Britney sat sandwiched
between a dark-haired woman that Maddie didn't recognize and her co-manager
whose name she couldn't remember (Barry? Larry?). Chris sat next to the manager;
Justin sat next to him. Then Maddie, Romero, Johnny Wright, Lance, Joey and JC.
Five minutes later, Maddie seemed to be completely out of it. She was
playing with Justin's hand, tracing the lines in his palm, running her fingers
over his knuckles. Justin was visibly having troubling concentrating and Maddie
seemed to be in a world all her own.
Kristy held out for as long as she
could. Finally, about ten minutes into the presentation, she stopped. "Maddie."
She had to pause to take a deep breath. "Could you please pay attention? This is
fairly important."
"I have been paying attention," Maddie said, not
looking up from Justin's hand.
"Oh really?" Kristy crossed her arms over
her chest. "What have we been talking about?"
Maddie finally looked up
at her. "Do you want it verbatim or can I paraphrase you?"
Kristy glared
at her. Maddie smiled.
"You guys want to make two tapes, one about
Britney, one about *NSYNC, using me as the link between the two. They'll be
called Tour Time with Maddie or something else just as trite and you want me to
go out with each act for two weeks so your cameras can follow us all around and
capture every little detail on film. We all stand to gain a great deal of money
from this-do you want me to quote the projected figures?"
Dean stepped
in to smooth things over. "No need for that." He shot Kristy a stern glance.
"Kristy was merely concerned. Romero told us that you make all the decisions
regarding your career, usually without any outside influences, so I'm sure that
Kristy was just wanting to make sure that you were well informed of all the
facts so you can come to a decision."
Kristy forced a smile. "Right."
"I'm informed."
Dean and Kristy spent another forty-five minutes
going over the logistics of the plan in great detail. Most of the things they
said were common sense but they'd both learned that it was better to waste a
little time now to spell out the most minute details than to waste a lot of time
later trying to get someone out of a jam because that one little thing hadn't
been directly stated.
"If we get your okay, we can have contracts drawn
up and to you by this afternoon," Kristy concluded, a hopeful note in her voice.
Britney turned to the woman next to her and the two spoke in low tones.
It took the guys of *NSYNC about two seconds to decide.
"All in
favor?" Chris asked.
All five raised their hands.
"We're in," JC
said to Dean.
"Ok, who else voted yes just cause you didn't want Justin
to kick your ass if you voted no?" Lance asked, smiling.
"Why would
he-oh. Maddie," Larry answered his own question.
Britney tapped him on
the arm and he turned to her.
Justin looked at Maddie. "You're gonna,
right?"
They'd talked a lot but hadn't touched on the subject of touring
together. He knew that Maddie had been opposed to the idea but he figured that
things were different now.
She raised her eyebrows at him but didn't
respond.
Britney looked up at Dean. "I'm in."
Everyone turned to
look at Maddie.
She looked at Romero. He nodded, not telling her that
she should do it, but to let her know that it was her decision and that he'd
back her up, no matter what.
She understood. She tapped the nail of her
index finger against the table as she thought. She wanted to…badly. But
something held her back.
She rested both of her forearms on the table
and leaned forward. She seemed to be staring at the table. She was lost in
thought, debating the pros and cons.
Justin tried not to let her
indecision hurt. He'd thought that since they were together now, this was a
non-issue, that she'd be more than happy to jump on the chance for them to spend
more time together. He made himself remember that Maddie didn't think the same
way most people did. He bit his lip as he waited for her decision.
Finally, she looked up at Dean. "One condition."
He shared a
wary glance with Kristy. "Yes?"
"We have final say."
"What do
you mean by 'final say'? And who is 'we'?" Dean wanted to know.
"'We' is
us-me, them, her," she pointed as she spoke, "and 'final say' means just that:
we have the final say."
"About what?" Kristy asked.
"Everything."
"Like?" Dean prompted.
"Like about the
music you choose to set it to. Like about what gets put in these videos and what
gets cut. Like about the pictures you put on the covers of these tapes. Like the
little blurb that goes on the back of the cover that explains what the whole
this is about. Like everything."
Dean shook his head. "I don't think we
can do that."
Maddie sat back in her chair. "Then I don't think I can do
this."
"You are aware that we can do this without you?" Kristy pointed
out.
"I'm aware."
"And you are aware that you're still under
contract with Jive?"
Maddie looked her over. "Uh uh. That dog don't
hunt. My contract with Jive was for one album, with the option of two more if
both parties were in agreement. Done. Two videos with the option for two more if
both parties were in agreement. I've already made one. As of last week, JUST
MADDIE had sold a little less than 2.2 million copies. Jive owes me about
seventy grand. I could make a video with a quarter of that and still walk away
with a nice profit. I still win."
"But you'd never work in this business
again." Kristy to pointed out.
"I'm aware."
Kristy opened her
mouth to argue some more. Britney beat her to the punch.
"I agree with
Maddie."
"What?" Kristy looked as if she was about to have a fit.
"I think we should have final say," Britney said, not looking at any of
them. "I think it'd be nice if people could see me how I really am and not how
Jive wants them to see me."
Britney looked up and for the first time
that day, her eyes met Maddie's. Maddie wasn't sure what she saw in the other
woman's gaze but she realized that she had nothing to fear from her.
Dean looked to JC. "I suppose you guys want final say, too?" Not waiting
for an answer, he sighed. "Ok, I'll see what I can do."
"Oh, come on,
Dean," Maddie cajoled. "TIME listed you as one of the most influential people in
America. If you wanted to do this, you could."
"Okay, okay," Dean
relented, a headache beginning to form behind his eyes, " you guys have final
say."
"One more thing."
Everyone turned to look at Britney.
"We get to keep the tapes."
"Huh?" Joey asked.
"Well, if
this is gonna be true-to-life like y'all say, there's gonna be certain things
that get filmed that none of us will ever want anyone else to see. So we keep
the tapes," Britney explained.
"Yeah," Maddie smiled at her. "That's
good. Smart thinking, Britney."
Dean sighed, regretting his decision to
tackle this project himself.
Maddie summed it up: "So here's how it'll
go. Your guys follow us around, film us. As each tape gets full, they pass 'em
over to us. We keep 'em. Once the two weeks are over, we set aside a few days to
go through them and decide what to keep and what to toss. The tapes remain in
our possession. You get the final version."
"Well, who decides who gets
to keep the tapes? And how are you gonna get all this edited? None of you have
room in your schedules to take a few days off to edit this, this is-"
Dean interrupted Kristy's harangue. He shook his head, sighed
resignedly. "Yeah, okay. Just write down everything you want and we'll put it in
the contract."
Five minutes later, over the legal pad where she was
writing all their conditions, Maddie looked at Britney. "Let's have lunch?"
Britney looked uncertain for a moment, then smiled. "Okay."
"Where do y'all wanna go?" Justin asked, looking over Maddie's shoulder.
She craned her head to look up at him. "Sorry, baby, you're not invited.
Girls only."
"Well, that's no fun," Justin pouted.
"Besides,"
Britney teased, "how can I tell her all your most embarrassing secrets if you're
sitting right there?"
"Lord help me." Justin sat down with a loud sigh
and a glance to the heavens.
