***Hey everyone...Chapter 7 has arrived! Sorry about the delay! If anyone has the time, do you think you could send me a little feedback...i take criticism well...just wanna know what I can improve on! Enjoy...!"***
Kathryn looked at the phone, disbelief and shock etched across her face. She slowly closed her mouth, which had dropped open while listening to Nana. Kathryn sat down, a slight bit shakily on a chair by the sink. Nana had never, ever spoken to her harshly in her life. She had never truly criticized her or pointed out her worst faults either. Tears stung at Kathryn's eyes for a moment, but sternly she blinked them away. Crying was a sign of weakness, and one thing Kathryn refused to ever be was weak. Kathryn took a few deep breaths, and cleared her mind.
She started to think about what Nana said. Superstars. That's what *N Sync was right then and there. What had made her think that she couldn't be friends with superstars? Then, as Nana had said, they weren't any different from you or me. Kathryn pondered this. Justin had been as normal as any 19 year old guy she'd ever met, and the rest had seemed like average guys. Mentally, Kathryn crossed off those two reasons off her list of three.
Finally, she had never had any friends. Here, Kathryn cringed. The truth was supposed to hurt, and in this case, it did. Kathryn never did have any friends. Her nose had always been buried in a book as a child, she was usually more mature than other children, and she blushed at every little thing. She had never had a deep interest in making friends either. Not only that, but Kathryn had always been so focused on passing through college with flying colors and perfecting her skills that she didn't really remember making friends along the way. She wasn't the popular girl type, and she didn't seem to have time to socialize if she wanted to pass school quickly.
As Nana had said though, maybe it was time to relax. She was on one of the biggest tours of the summer, she was the pianist, and she was a graduate from a prestigious Ivy League School. What was stopping her now? Why couldn't she make friends now? With a sigh, Kathryn mentally crossed off number 3 on her list. No reasons were left. Maybe she could be friends with *N Sync and other people...or at least, try.
As Kathryn was on her way out of the bathroom, she paused and looked at her reflection in the quaint bathroom mirror. Looking back at her, with a confused expression was a simple girl. Straight, yet thick brown hair, luminous blue-green ocean colored eyes, and the slightest sprinkle of freckles decorating her straight, perfect nose. Honestly, Kathryn was a beautiful girl, but Kathryn looked and saw a typical 21 year old. Adjusting her silver and indigo dress, Kathryn stood straight. She looked at herself, and spoke confidently. "Kathryn, enough is enough. You're going to make at least 1 friend on this tour, or give Mouse away." Smiling to herself, Kathryn spun on her heel and walked out the door, to the table of boys.
Justin drummed his fingers on the table, the slightest bit impatiently. "Where is she?" he asked Chris.
"Uh, the bathroom?" said Chris, with a grin, reaching out and slamming his hand on Justin's, stopping the irritating drumming.
Justin rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, but I mean, she's been gone for a really long time." He resumed drumming on the table, much to Chris's annoyance.
"Maybe she fell in!" piped up Joey, unhelpfully.
The men all turned slowly to stare at him.
"What?" defended Joey. "It could happen."
"Sure, Joe, you keep tellin' yourself that." said JC, grinning and shaking his head, at a sheepish Joey. By this time, all the guys had ordered a simple coffee, and Kathryn and Justin's food had been taken away. The men were stirring their coffee with the stirring stick, and sipping it occassionally.
Justin had to admit, that the thought had crossed his mind that Kathryn had simply left the restaurant. Though he wasn't sure a stranger would do something so blatantly rude, especially a polite seeming girl like Kathryn, she didn't seem very comfortable around the guys. There was a chance that she got so uncomfortable she simply left. Justin shifted in his chair awkwardly, hoping that she didn't leave.
Hearing the click of heels, the men turned towards the sound seeing Kathryn. "Hey, Kathryn!" said Justin, expecting a nod of her head.
"Hey Justin!" said Kathryn, swallowing quickly, before flashing her pearly white teeth at him. Kathryn smiled to herself. Okay, so it wasn't much. But it was better than her usual weak smile and nod.
"Oh my God! She spoke!" said Joey, dramatically clutching a hand to his chest, smiling at Kathryn, showing that he was joking.
The rest of the group cringed, assuming that Kathryn would close off at the light-hearted joke, but surprisingly Kathryn giggled along with the gang. Gesturing to JC and Lance, the two moved in, allowing her to sit on the outside of the booth. Kathryn struggled against the urge to sit quietly and listen, and spoke. "So, what'd I miss while I was gone?" she asked with a friendly smile.
The 5 men turned to look at each other in slight disbelief. Was it just them, or did it seem like this was Kathryn's identical twin? It was almost as if she had undergone a personality change in the period of time while she was in the bathroom. "Oh nothing." said Justin. "We were just talking about how excited we are about the tour. We always dreamt we'd be this big, we weren't sure it would happen though, and it's really just beyond amazing for us. It's like, one day we're singing in clubs...and then wha-bam! We're noticed, and our dreams are a reality."
Kathryn nodded her head. "Yeah, I never thought I would actually be playing piano on such a huge thing. I dreamt of course...but to have this career a reality...it's just...wow."
The men nodded their heads and murmered their agreement. "It's almost surreal, isn't it?" said JC to Kathryn.
She nodded her head, agreeing with him. They chatted for a minute about the tour, and there was a pause in conversation. Inside, Kathryn was excited. She was talking to them, and things seemed to be going well. Who ever thought that this would be so easy? Kathryn cheered for herself silently, and smiled. Hmmm. Maybe, this friend thing wasn't so bad after all.
"You know, you play the piano really good. In my opinion, I think that you're even better than our old player." commented Lance.
Kathryn blushed rosy red. "Well, thanks. I'm not really that great or anything." she said modestly.
Chris shook his head. "You're awesome at it. How long you been playing for?" he inquired.
"Uh, well since I was 5. Like, 16 years." Kathryn said a little bashfully.
"16...?! Wow!" exclaimed Joey. "That's awesome! No wonder you're so good! I don't think I could ever stick with an instrument for 16 years unless I really loved it. Do you play any other instruments?" he asked. "Actually, yeah I do." said Kathryn. "I play the guitar and clarinet. My dad wanted me to play guitar, my mom wanted me to play clarinet and I wanted to play piano...so I did all of them!" said Kathryn with a good-natured laugh.
Justin looked at her, his mouth agape. "All of those???" he said in slight shock.
"Yup." said Kathryn, with an embarrassed smile. "I love music...it's just me. I mean, I love it, and I guess you could say I'm passionate about it." Here Kathryn stopped, a little embarrassed.
"Go on." encouraged Lance.
Hesitantly, Kathryn continued. "Well, if loving something means you can't live without thinking about it, and you have it on your mind, and it never ceases to amaze you or make you happy...and you feel as if you could never live without it...not to mention it makes you wonder if you could ever have enough...then I guess it's safe to say I'm in love with music. The term might sound funny...but in every sense of the phrase...it's me." Kathryn finished with a small smile.
All the guys looked understanding, especially JC. "I know exactly what you mean!" said JC, enthusiastically, amazed to see that somebody else shared such a love for music as he did. "Like you love it so much, you feel like nobody else likes it as much, and you never get bored with it. Sometimes you wonder if you could ever stop learning more about it!"
Nodding her head, Kathryn smiled at JC, and agreed. " It's exactly like that! How'd you know? It's just like that...it's...well, amazing."
All the guys murmered a "Yeah", surprised by how much love she had for music.
Kathryn was on the verge of saying something about their next tour stop, then saw Justin rub his eye, and rested his cheek on his hand, elbow on the table. Unfortunately, right after that, Chris yawned loudly.
Without thinking, immediately Kathryn assumed that she was being boring, and a faint red color grew in her cheeks. She had to practice this friend thing. Maybe some of the things Nana said weren't very correct. After all, they were probably used to great company and people with plenty to say. She wasn't the most talkative person, so maybe she was a bit boring. She quickly snapped her mouth shut. She should leave soon, anyway. Why unneccessarily bore people? To an outsider, Kathryn's logic was completely irrational, but to her, it made perfect sense.
In truth, Justin had caught something in his eye, and it was a habit to rest his cheek on his hand. With Chris, he had not been able to sleep the night before due to the fact that he kept trying to wake up the other guys; obviously he was tired. Also, he had been thinking about the interview they had to go to in around 10 minutes. The thought of another long interview being asked what his favorite color was, what his favorite food was, and if he was single, was just too tiring for him to ponder.
Noticing her mouth had snapped shut all of a sudden, Justin looked up at her. "Were you going to say something?" he asked, wondering at her actions.
"Oh, no. I, uh...no." said Kathryn, the rosy tinge brightening for a moment on her face, then disappearing.
Just then, the waitress came and put the bill on the table, taking her time with the simple action. Kathryn noticed that the waitress batted her eyelashes and flirted with the guys, succeeding only in making the men look on in amusement as Joey took down her phone number, and complimented her. Joey had to have at least 20 phone numbers of girls in his black book that he didn't even call, but the waitress certainly seemed to look happy enough with the result.
Quickly, Kathryn checked her watch and realized it was 2:45. Taking a twenty dollar bill out of her purse, she set it on the bill tray. The twenty covered quite a bit more than her meal, but Kathryn didn't mind. She didn't want to be rude by paying for exactly her meal, or having to stay for change. She stood up, dusting herself off and picked up her purse. She decided to make a quick exit.
"It's really been a pleasure chatting with you, but I think I should get back to the hotel, now. I have to, you know, check on things...yeah. Thanks Justin, for coming along, it was nice to meet you all. I'll see you guys later on at sound-check!" said Kathryn hurriedly, not allowing much more than a few "bye"'s and "see ya'"s from the guys. She briskly walked out of the restaurant, the little bell on the door tinkling as she exited.
Justin looked at the others. "Was it something I said?" he asked, confused. Chris looked behind her and scratched his head, equally confused. All the men were. Chris sighed. This was not going to be nearly as easy as they expected, nowhere near it. Chris had actually assumed that Mission: Kathryn would be completed today. Not quite.
JC looked at Kathryn's empty spot, and his brow furrowed. There seemed to be a pile of papers there. Grabbing the stack of papers, he looked at them. He read the title of the top page. "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You." he read aloud.
"Why thank you JC," said Chris placing his hand on his chest in jest, "I never knew you felt that way about me! I always thought God spent some more time on me, but it's nice to know other's feel that way too," said Chris with a chuckle.
"No, no!" said JC, looking at all the papers. It was her piano music. She had forgotten to bring it with her! "Guys, c'mon let's go find Kathryn! She left her music here, and she needs it for sound-check! We can't give it to her there, she has to practice with the band before we even get there!" said JC.
Chris got up quickly. "Hurry up, we have to be at an interview in a few minutes! Maybe we can catch her before she gets to the elevator!" Dashing out the door, Justin paused and ran back to the table dropping a 20 onto the bill tray. He then followed to rest of the men, who looked very comical, running like mad to the hotel.
As Justin and the men ran to the hotel, he thought about the restaurant. Why had she changed after coming back from the bathroom? Something was odd right there. Kathryn seemed so enthusiastic, and smiling. What was up with this personality change? It was almost like she had an identical twin. Whatever it was...he didn't mind it at all. But then again...it might make their plan a little harder if she kept switching to social to quiet...and on and on.
Running into the hotel, they saw Kathryn stepping into the elevator, alone. Chris shouted, "Kathryn, wait!" Not hearing them, she pressed the button on the elevator for floor 10. As the doors were closing, Chris made a wild leap and landed in the elevator, the doors re-opening as he lay there. The others followed him into the elevator after he cleaned himself off and got up.
"Sorry about that." Lance said, noticing Kathryn's odd expression.
She smiled hesitantly, confused. "Uh, no problem. Um, no offense or anything, but, uh, how come you're...uh...here?"
Collecting themselves, JC handed her the music. "Oh, we have to go to an interview in a few minutes, and we thought we'd give this to you before you got to your room. You know, so you'll have it for soundcheck. You left it at the resturant, and I noticed, so I guess we'll go now..." said JC.
"Oh, thanks!" said Kathryn, her cheeks turning a little pink for a moment as she looked at the music. "I can't believe I forgot this!" she exclaimed a little embarrasedly.
JC laughed. "No problem, happens all the time. When the tour starts, we usually end up leaving the important stuff at home, and our families ship them to us...and we leave stuff everywhere. I think the tour makes people forgetful!" said JC with a chuckle.
Kathryn laughed politely. JC seemed to be a nice guy. "Well, I guess I'm part of the forgetful crowd, now." she said with a light laugh.
JC laughed with her. "Welcome to the crowd! I guess we better leave for our inter..." trailed off JC, as he and the rest of the guys turned around to face closed doors. The numbers above the steel gray doors showed they were on floor 6.
Joey looked at the doors and sighed. "Only us. It would only happen to us." Reaching out his finger, he pushed the button titled, "Lobby".
After Joey pressed the button, Lance gave him a stern look. "Kathryn was here first, man. Let her go to her floor before us." He said gentlemanly. He reached out and pushed the button for floor 10.
"But Lance! We have our interview...." Joey said trailing off, staying quiet with the look from Lance.
Kathryn smiled at Lance. "No, really," she said, "it's okay. I mean, you do have an interview. I'm not in any rush."
"See?" said Joey. He pushed the Lobby button.
"But it's the PRINCIPILE of things!" said Lance, pushing the Floor 10 button defiantly.
"We have an interview, man. The limo's probably out in front of the hotel right now." said Joey, as he reached out and pressed the Lobby button.
"The interview can wait, Joe." Lance pushed the Floor 10 button.
"No, it can't Lance." Grinning at Lance, Joey pushed the Lobby Button.
As soon as he did that, Lance quickly pressed the Floor 10 button.
Just as quick, Joey pressed the Lobby button.
"Uh, you guys, maybe you should stop..." said Justin nervously looking at the flashing numbers above the door that were ricocheting all around.
Suddenly, a horribile "ZZZT" was heard. The elevator cranked slowly to a grating stop. The numbers above the door flickered between 4 and 5 and the light in the elevator shook dangerously in a moment where everyone held their breath... then snapped off. From what it looked like...they were stuck. Stuck between floors...in the dark.