Kathryn raced up to her hotel room, and threw herself on the bed. She buried her face in a fluffy pillow as a whirlwind of thoughts overtook her mind. Oh my God...she thought to herself. They kissed. Her and JC. Kissed. They kissed. JC...her closest friend JC...kissed. Those thoughts kept chasing each other in her mind until she literally felt dizzy. Mouse was pawing at the cage to be let out, and she asbent mindedly released him. He crawled up to her and started nestling against her to make her feel better. Petting him, she began talking to herself.
"I can't believe this. We KISSED. Sure, it was just lips, but STILL! Friends don't kiss! I mean, wow amazing tingly and incredible...but we're friends! Oh LORD, we KISSED. I can't believe this. Oh God, how can I face him? How can I face the guys?!" Delicately, she touched her lips, and realized again, she had kissed him. A mixture of fear, confusion, pleasure, excitement and a billion other emotions overtook her. She sat on her bed, trying to sort out her whirlwind of thoughts. Suddenly, there was a sharp rapping on her door.
"Yes?" she called out, having an idea of who it was.
A smooth voice she had grown to like, a voice that belonged to the man who she had just run from called out, "Kat? Kit-Kat? Girl? You okay? Can I come in?"
Kathryn's eyes darted around, seeing no escape. She gulped. The bathroom! She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door, closing it tightly. "Um, I'm in the bathroom! Sorry!" She smile satisfied. Technically she wasn't lying.
"Oh." JC's voice was dejected sounding. "I'll just wait until you're out then. I'm outside the door when you need me." He said, his voice brightening a little.
Kathryn bit her lip, and spoke out. "Um...I'm kinda tired after...the amusement park...I think I'm going to sleep right away."
"Oh." JC's voice turned downcast. "I'll just...uhhhh...leave. I'll talk to you later?"
Kathryn didn't answer that question. She felt awful, but it was what needed to be done. She needed to distance herself from the guys. JC seemed to wait a moment, and with a deep sigh was gone.
Kathryn sank down onto the floor, and closed her eyes painfully. She had friends...she loved it too. But she didn't want to face the guys or JC...she wasn't ready. It was too much. Kathryn shook her head a little, and buried her face in her hands. She was going to keep herself away from the guys. After all, Marie, Nana and Mouse were enough for her...right?
JC entered his room with a sigh. Sitting on the other double bed was Lance. He seemed to be engrossed in some form he was going over with a pencil, his face serious.
He looked up when JC came in, and smiled, before looking back down at his forms. "So...now that Kat's not here, how was the day really? Ya' like her? She's pretty hot, ya know. Anything happen between you two? Sparks?" asked Lance curiously, speaking in a voice that made anybody want to talk to him, yet remained looking at the forms to avoid suspicion. It was his job to get the "scoop" from JC. The guys didn't call him Scoop for nothing, after all.
"We kissed." said JC flatly, walking over to the other double bed, and flopping face-down.
At that, Lance's head shot up. "You WHAT?"
JC responded again in the same flat tone. "We kissed."
Lance couldn't help the huge grin that crossed his face. This was too easy. "That's awesome! Why the glum tone? Man, if I were kissed by a girl I liked, I'd be jumpin' all over the place! Well, I mean, you like her, don't you?"
JC sighed and rolled over, looking at the ceiling. "Yeah, I like her. More than like her." he said.
Lance put his pencil and forms down. "Well? Why are you all upset looking?"
JC shut his eyes tightly and opened them again. "You see...we kissed over a plate of spaghetti, and she ran out from the restaurant. She won't talk to me now."
Lance asked concerned,"Did you try?"
"Well, yeah, but she said she was busy, and I don't think she really was. And she didn't answer when I said we'll talk later. She said she was going to go sleep, but it's only 7:45!" exclaimed JC.
Lance shrugged. "Hey, it's been a long day. Maybe she's just tired, man. You can always check from the balcony or something. She's probably in bed or something."
JC nodded, trying to believe Lance's words. "Yeah, probably. I think I'll go check."
Casually, he walked out of the balcony, and noticed her blinds were open. He took a quick peek in her room, and felt his heart drop. She was reading a magazine, not even in her pajamas and listening to some music. She looked completely unnaffected by what had occurred between them.
Head down, JC walked back to his room. Some things...he thought to himself dejectedly...weren't meant to be.
(The next day...)
In the lobby, the guys were getting prepared to get back on the bus. Apparently, they had almost finished eating breakfast. Joey was jamming a bagel in his mouth, Lance and Justin were arguing over who was better at Foosball, and Chris was just hopping around. JC was sitting on a chair in the corner, with his bodyguard, Wes, right by him.
As Kathryn walked into the room, the guys, having heard what happened the day before, suddenly fell quiet. Then, remembering they weren't supposed to kow anything, they resumed talking with considerable less gusto.
Strolling up to Kathryn, Joey mumbled a cheerful hello, still having some bagel in his mouth. "'Mornin' K!"
Kathryn smiled quickly, and said, "Hi." quietly.
Joey cocked his head. "You okay?"
Swallowing, Kathryn realized that "distancing herself" as going to be harder than she thought. Really, she just wanted to talk to Joey and joke around with him, but she couldn't. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." she said, a bit coldly.
Joey thought that was strange, but thought nothing of it. "Okay!" He went over to Lance and Justin and shoved Justin, claiming that he was the Italian Stallion of Foosball. This of course began a small struggle between the 3 men.
Kathryn couldn't help but giggle softly at the antics of the three men. Hopefully, she'd have more friends in the future, even without them. Chris bounced over to Kathryn.
"HEY KAT-KAT-KATHRYN!" he exclaimed, grinning and hyper.
Kathryn smiled. "Hi, Chris."
"Wanna come on our bus today? We could have fuuunnn! I still can't believe you beat me at Mario Tennis!" said Chris with a big grin.
"I...um..." Kathryn really wanted to go on their bus, she always had so much fun with the 5 men. Quickly, she remembered what happened with JC. "No, I can't, because Jos...um, I mean, I have to...I can't!"
Chris's face was concerned. "Josh? Does this have to do with JC?"
Kathryn was clearly a bad liar, as her face revealed that it did. "NO! I mean...no. Of course not. Hehe. Um, why would it have to do with him?"
Chris shrugged playing along. "Oh, I dunno, that's what I thought for a minute. Silly me! Oh well. See you later! I gotta go tell those losers that I am the REAL king of foosball!" And away he bounced off over to them.
Kathryn, going to sit on a bench felt miserable. To think, she was pushing away 5 people that she had grown to love as brothers, and maybe like one more than a brother. Sighing, she leaned her head back against the wall, waiting until her bus was called to go.
Meanwhile, Chris wasn't just going to argue with the other men on who was the real ruler of foosball, although he felt that he naturally was. "Hey, you guys..." he said.
"SHUTUP POOFU! As if you can actually move the HANDLES of the table..." Justin said to Lance.
Lance retorted, "Yeah, actually I can...maybe you are better...you can not only move the handles with your hands, but with your HAIR, Lord knows that FRO has a mind of its own..."
Justin's jaw dropped open. "You SO did not just diss the hair..."
Joey nodded, "He did, brother, and I gotta say, with good reason..."
Justin turned to Joey. "As if YOU should be talking about hair! Who dropped a tomato on YOUR head?" Lance snickered in agreement.
Joey's eyes narrowed, and he was about to retort, when Chris took all three of their heads and bopped them together.
The 3 rubbed their sore heads, and gave Chris pitiful looks. "What was that for?" asked Justin, rubbing his head sadly.
Chris sighed and rolled his eyes. "You GUYS. I don't know what's wrong with Kathryn, but we need to find out. I have this strange feeling that she's going back to the "Stay away from NSYNC" days..."
Lance shook his had and clapped his hand on Chris's shoulder. "Don't think that, man. She's just a little confused right now, but she'll come around. Trust me. Besides, why would she do that? She's like our sister, now."
Justin nodded in agreement, "Yeah, dude she's like one of the group now. You know, everyone on the tour calls us NSYNCN!"
Chris's worried expression didn't leave. "I don't know, you guys..."
Joey shook his head. "Don't worry about it man. C'mon, the buses are here anyway. Let's go."
Chris shrugged, trying to brush off his uneasy feeling. It was probably nothing anyway...hopefully.
Meanwhile on the bus, Justin and Chris were talking, looking at JC worriedly. He was just sitting on the bus window seat, with a piece of paper, writing songs. When asked if he wanted anything to eat or drink, he refused. When asked to play Playstation or N64, he refused. This was very strange. He didn't even want to eat a BUTTERFINGER bar! That alone was a frightening fact.
Lance walked up to the 2 men, leaving Joey yelling at his N64 controller. It was supposedly "posessed".
Lance nodded his head over at JC. "He's still pretty blue, huh?"
Justin nodded concernedly. "Yeah, he didn't even defend himself when I made MMC jokes about his old character, Wipeout!"
Lance's eyebrows shot up. "Really?!"
Justin nodded gravely. "Those are my best insults, too!"
Chris and Lance nodded. "Yes, they are." said Chris, in agreement.
Chris voiced once again what had been bothering him. "Guys, I honestly think that Kathryn is going to start pulling away from us."
Justin sighed. "C'mon CK, how many times we gotta tell you? The girl is like our sister. No way would she do that!"
Chris shook his head. "J, man, think about it. I know you don't agree with me, but when we get to St.Louis, at the arena, check how she acts around us, okay? I won't say anything else about it for now, but just check how she acts. That's all I'm asking."
Justin nodded relentingly. "Fine, I don't think you're right, but I'll do that."
"You too, Lance." said Chris.
"Okay, okay." said Lance. He was starting to get what Chris was saying. He had spent hours upon hours just talking with Kathryn. He and Kathryn probably had the tightest friendsip bond out of the group. Kathryn and JC had something between them stronger than what he had with her, but Lance knew he probably understood Kathryn the best, from what he had learned about her.
"C'mon guys, can we play Mortal Kombat? I got some codes online!" begged Justin.
"Cheater! I could probably still beat you though." said Chris, in a bragging tone.
Lance rolled his eyes. "I'll watch and make sure the fighting stays on-screen."
"Oh hell no Poofu, you're playing!" said Justin shoving him over to the TV set.
Lance grinned. "Fine Curly boy. Hey, Jayce, man, you wanna play?"
JC looked up for a second from what he was writing. His eyes were a bit bloodshot. "Nah, I'm fine." And sadly, he looked back to the song he was writing.
Exchanging glances, the 3 men went to join Joey at the TV set.
(At the arena)
Kathryn shuffled through her papers of the piano music. She walked up onto the stage and sat at the piano, ready for sound-check. She sat at the beautiful piano, and played a few quick ragtime tunes to warm up, along with some scales. She chatted with a few of the other band members, comfortably. In the band, she was probably closest to the drummer, Lon, since they were both considered the rhythm section.
Lon, who most people just called Lonny, grinned as Kathryn started playing what she played during Justin's beatbox routine. He drummed along to it. Justin, coincidentally, walked into the room beatboxing along with the drums, adding his own special moves to it. The band chuckled at his confident attitude, and winks he was giving to an imaginary crowd.
The rest of the men slowly trickled onto the stage, chatting amongst themselves. Normally, it was a tradition for the guys to each yell, "Hey Kat Girl!" and she'd yell, "Hey..." to whoever was yelling to her. Today, Justin yelled, "Hey Kat Girl!" and she just looked at him and gave him an icy look. She cringed and looked away, when Justin cocked his head and gave her a confused expression.
Justin told himself it was nothing, but was concerned, anyway. Soundcheck began, with JC throwing himself into the rehearsals. The sound check and performances were a perfect distraction, no matter what he gave every performance 110%. He felt he owed it to the fans. The check continued, and everybody in the band and around noticed Kathryn's abnormal closed off attitude towards NSYNC..especially the C in that word. Usually, Kathryn and JC would playfully rib each other, talk, and sing along to quick little tunes on the piano...but today JC watched Kathryn a lot, while Kathryn completely ignored JC.
In the audience, overlooked by many, John, the photographer was watching the interaction with great interest. He couldn't help but admire Kathryn's beautiful silky hair, gorgeous eyes and body. John was around 25, a good looking photographer for the tour. Maybe nobody would've noticed him had it not been one thing about him that stuck out. Everything was so very average about him...but his eyes. He had jaded green eyes that one could spot from a distance.
He leaned forward in his seat, his green eyes noticing with glee that Kathryn didn't seem to be interacting closely with the men. Truth be told, he had a thing for Kathryn, probably reaching obsession. He had noticed with dismay that lately she had been rather...CLOSE with JC. Apparently he needn't worry about competition with that loser. Continuing to take pictures of the men, he took a few close-ups of Kathryn. One day, she would be his, no matter what it took. Maybe not today, tomorrow...but one day, she would.
After the soundcheck, JC realized this was a perfect opportunity to talk to Kathryn. Walking up to her at the piano, he began, "Hey, Kat, I wanna talk to you about last night..."
"Don't worry about that, it didn't mean anything to me either, so don't worry a thing about it. It was almost funny wasn't it?" Kathryn said, lying through her teeth and feeling miserable. She could've kicked herself, seeing JC's hurt and confused face after her comment.
"Oh..." said JC slowly, letting the hurt of what she said sink in to him. "Yeah. Funny." he said, trying not to show how he felt. In reality, it was incredible, but how could she just brush it off like that? Surely she felt something too...at least a spark! Dejectedly he kicked at something imaginary on stage.
Kathryn couldn't bear to stand there anymore, and realize she was the one that had hurt him. "I'm just gonna go walk around backstage, okay? I'll see you." she said cooly, walking off. JC's face showed shock at her not so friendly behavior, and he looked dismayed and worried.
Reaching backstage, Kathryn sunk to the floor and groaned. Why did this have to be so difficult? God, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt any of the men. She assumed she could just detach herself from them, but it looked like they weren't going to make it easy for her.
John saw Kathryn and saw her on the floor. Casually walking over, he said, "Hey. Can I help you up?" he helped her up.
"Thanks, I guess. What's your name?" asked Kathryn curiously.
John smiled. "My name's John...I'm the photographer. You okay? I saw you on the floor..."
Kathryn blushed a little. "Yeah, I'm fine...it was just...umm...a long story. It's nice to meet you John." said Kathryn shaking his hand. "I'll be seeing you here and there, I guess. I'm just gonna walk around backstage." Kathryn flashed him a huge smile, and was off.
John smiled to himself, his emerald eyes following her as she walked off. "Yes, you WILL be seeing me around, Kathryn. You certainly will."