Her eyes slowly crept open as she heard the stewardess announce the condition of the air plane. She would be landing in a matter of minutes, only to be tortured by a choreographer for the next 6 hours-at least. She gathered up her stuff, and sat patiently as she felt the plane touch down. She picked up her cell, as she heard the muffle ringing coming from her bag, "So, baby you ready to roll?"
She smiled, relieved it wasn't Justin. "I sure am, is there security waiting for me outside of this thing, cuz I really don't think I could handle a crowd on my own."
"Of course there is. We're all waiting here, including your new dancers," he said as he looked over two beautiful girls and three good-looking guys. He was sure Melissa was going to love having girl dancers around-she was always surrounded by men.
"Oh really? Wow! Tell them I said hello, and I'll be right out," she instructed as she made her was down the terminal. She smiled widely when she spotted James. The three men held out their hands.
"Nice to meet you Melissa, the name's Dave," one, very good-looking dark haired man offered. She smiled, "Same, same."
"I'm Trisha," the next girl in line spit out. "I'm a huge fan."
"Well, thank you," she said taking in the girl. She was a little taller then Melissa, and obviously older-she had to be about 22, 23.
"Chris," a sandy-haired blonde offered. He held out his hand, "It's an honor to be working with you." She smiled, 'Damn, he's cuter than the first one.'
"Mike," the last young man offered. He wasn't as good looking at the other two, but still better looking than your average boy, and a smile to die for. "You can call me Mikey."
"All right, MIKEY," she stressed his name and flashed a quick smile.
"Well, if we're on the subject of nicknames, I'm Allison, but you can call me Ally," she smiled down at the girl. She was even prettier than Trisha, long blonde hair, bright blue eyes.
"Well, now that we're all aquatinted with one another, we should head over to the studio," James said leading the group to the limo. The five dancers automatically surrounded Melissa, so that it was obvious she was around. All of the dancers, including the two girls towered over her. She felt extremely small and out of place.
In the limo ride to the studio everyone started asking questions about one another. It turned out that Allison and Trisha happened to be roommates at their dorm in New York. They attended a well-known dance school and went to the audition on a whirl. Luckily they both made it, and there weren't any hard feelings. Apparently Chris and Dave were friends back in California and came strongly recommended for the part. They were good friends of the Choreographer-Tina, and had worked with her many times. Mikey was the odd man out. He didn't really fit in with the tight-knit good looks of the other two, and was obviously uncomfortable around everyone. Melissa flashed him a heartwarming smile, and she could see his muscles relax.
"Well, when I got the phone call that I made the cut, I wasn't home," Mike smiled. "I complete forgot about it all together, cuz I definitely didn't think I was gonna make it.
Melissa smiled and waited for someone to say something, Trisha spoke up, "Have you ever danced before?"
"Well, not unless you count my living room as an audience," he smiled shyly.
"Hey, that's where I started and look where it got me," she had a soft spot for him already...she knew where he was coming from.
Before they knew it the group had arrived at a large building in the heart of New York City, they made their way upstairs, and the body guards waited outside the studio. When they entered the large room, surround by mirrors, a petite, strong woman emerged from her stretches on the floor. "Hey everybody," she started enthusiastically, "You must be Melissa."
She pulled Melissa to the front of the group and gave her a strong hug. "I'm Tina Landon, and I'm the new choreographer. Anything you've already learned for your songs will be cut out, but if you feel something fits, you're more than welcome to speak up."
This was the infamous Tina Landon. Melissa had heard lots about her-she was a huge fan of Janet Jackson when she was younger, and new damn well that Tina was at one point one of her dancers, along with her choreographer. She also did a lot of work for Ricky Martin. She smiled warmly as Tina placed the six young people in random spots on the floor. "Warm up guys, cuz it's gonna be a long day," she smiled turning on some music.
After six hours of constant dancing, and numerous bottles of water-the day was over. The had done a run through of most of the songs that were coming out for the album, and especially her first single. The dances looked amazing, as she could tell, and she was extremely grateful for everyone's help. "Thank you so much Tina..." she said giving the tall dark haired woman a hug.
"Oh my pleasure sweetness. You're going to be great, and I'm gonna meet up with you all a few times while you're on the tour to do some touch up work," she said grabbing her stuff together. Melissa nodded a smile and started to walk away, until she realized what she said. "Tour?" her eyebrows shot up in question.
"Yeah, you're going on tour-you didn't know that?" she smiled, whipping her face with a towel. The dancers started getting into the conversation and Chris interjected, "Yeah, we leave in like a week."
"Are you serious? James didn't say a thing to me!" she said running out of the room. All the dancers looked at one another and Ally was the first to speak, "That was weird."
"JAMES! JAMES!!!," Melissa shouted down the long hallway in search for her manager. He slyly stepped out of the waiting room, and leaned up against the doorway, "So I guess you've heard the news, huh?"
"YEAH!" she said, trying to regain her breath. "Who?"
"Who what?" he questioned.
"Who...am... I... touring with," she spit out in-between deep inhales of breath.
"Well, that my friend is a surprise," he smiled.
"No, this isn't funny! Come on," she said punching him lightly in the arm.
"Well, it's not definite yet, but NSYNC is going to be doing some promotional stuff for the new album, and they were thinking of a new opening act. They had Mandy Moore on the ticket, but they want some fresh faces, and don't get your hopes up... But your in the running," he smiled. She had an ear to ear grin on her face the second the word NSYNC left his mouth. An ear shattering shriek was followed when it finally set into her head.
"I can't believe this!" She grunted out loud, "And YOU! You didn't even tell me." She continued to hit him until he was huddled over. She was laughing hysterically as James started to regain himself, "I just knew you'd stress out!"
"Well, stop holding this stuff back from me," she said looking at him sternly, "you got that big guy?"
"Is it too late to tell you you're going on TRL today," he smiled, running down the hallway in a fit of hysterics.
A few hours later, she found herself in her dressing room at the TRL studios. She was going on the air in about 15 minutes, just to talk with Carson. She couldn't stop thinking about the tour. She wanted to find out desperately if they had chosen her or not, but what was she gonna do? Call Justin up and be like 'Hey, did you pick me to be your opening act?'
She remained still in the chair, as the make up lady led the brush over her face one last time. "You look a little happy today," the woman chirped happily.
"Yeah, I just found out I might be opening up for NSYNC," she smiled. Saying the words again made her face light up.
"Well, congratulations," she replied spinning her around in the chair. "You're all finished."
She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled brightly. She looked amazing, "Thank you very much."
"No problem darling. Good luck out there," the older woman replied as Melissa left the makeup room. Her dancers met her in the hallway and they waited behind the curtain for their cue to come on. The director shot her a finger, and motioned for her to come out to the studio.
"And our special guest for today is Melissa Robinson," Carson announced and the crowd shrieked with excitement as she came out to meet him. She shook his hand and gave him a big smile, "Thanks for having me."
"Our pleasure. So tell us about yourself," he looked over to the audience. "This little wonder has the number 3 song in the country and doesn't even have a video yet."
She blushed looked at her shuffling feet. "Well, that'll come soon, I promise," she boasted.
"Good, cuz it's about time," Carson replied. "So where are you from, give me a mini bio."
"Well, I'm going to be eighteen in a few weeks. I'm originally from Boca Raton, Florida. I've been singing since I was very young, and ummm," she paused. "That's about it."
"Do you have a boyfriend?" he smiled at her, and took in the look she gave him.
She smiled shyly, "Not yet."
"You've got your eye on someone?" he said in a knowing tone.
"Yes, sir," she smiled back at him.
"Anyone I know?" he questioned jokingly.
"Yeah, maybe," she smiled. Carson erupted with laughter and a sly smile as the crowd continue to shout out 'Who? Who?'
Carson continued, "Well lets introduce your dancers, and then we have a quick announcement before we get to the number one video." Her dancers started to fill the studio one by one, and she introduced them as they stepped out, "This is Chris, Dave, Trisha, Ally, and this right here is Mikey."
Mikey stood next to here smiling uncontrollably. "Nice to meet you guys," Carson stated politely. "Now on to our concert announcement," he said calmly.
The crowd erupted with applause as he continued to read the cue card which was visible to Melissa and her dancers.
"November 14- West Palm Beach, Florida, November 16- Orlando, Florida, November 17- Tampa, Florida, November 19- Atlanta, Georgia..." Carson continued to spit out dates and venues as Melissa started to lose her cool. "So if you wanna see this young lady and NSYNC those are the places to be," he said smoothly. He noticed Melissa jumped when he said her name along with NSYNCs.
"Looks like someone's a little excited," he said looking over at her. "Is this a surprise to you as much as it is everyone else?"
"I had... I had no idea," she smiled. Finally, all was falling in to place, and what could be more perfect than opening up for NSYNC. She started to get butterflies in her stomach as she thought about how much time she would be spending with them, and especially with Justin. 'Well, I probably won't see them too much,' she thought to herself, 'being that we'll have totally different schedules and all.'
The show was quickly over and Melissa and her dancers jumped up and down excitedly outside the studio. All of them were so excited to be going on tour with NSYNC, and only a few days away at that. Melissa thought about the locations they were going to, and an idea popped into her head, "Maybe the girls can come along."
James looked down at her pleading expression, "I'll see what I can do."
Justin rewound the tape for the tenth time, and replayed it again. The TV screen became visible and the small girl spoke again;
She smiled shyly, "Not yet."
"You've got your eye on someone?" he said in a knowing tone.
"Yes, sir," she smiled back at him.
"Anyone I know?" he questioned jokingly.
"Yeah, maybe," she smiled. Carson erupted with laughter and a sly smile as the crowd continue to shout out 'Who? Who?'
Justin's face lit up with excitement. Could she be talking about him? This had to be one of the greatest days of his life.
"You are so gay-you're going to wear that tape thin," JC said reemerging from the kitchen. "Can we watch something else please before you have to change your pants or something?"
Justin looked up at him with a look of pure stupidity, "JC. Do you know what this means?"
"Yeah, it means the girls got a crush on you-along with about three million other girls. Get...over...it," JC smiled brightly.
"Whatever dude. She's coming on tour with us, oh..." he sighed, "This is going to be perfect."
"Oh my God, that's it. You've lost it," he said taking in Justin's dreamy look. "You have gone completely insane, and even worse...you've turned into a girl in the process. Give me the remote."
Justin handed over the remote without a fight and continued to smile, as he leaned his head back on the plush couch. This was gonna be good.
Before she knew it she was throwing all her stuff into the under carrier of a gigantic tour bus. It was all hers, well not to keep, but it was going to be her home for the next few months. She had just finished a long week of early morning appearances, and she couldn't wait to get on the road. She wanted to perform for huge crowds, not little dinky ones that could squeeze into a studio. As she continued to daydream about tour life her thoughts were interrupted by shuffled footsteps on the concrete. Justin approached her and she felt her stomach drop as he reached for her hand, "There's someone I want you to meet."
Justin walked her over to a curly haired woman who was undeniably his mother, he smiled at her, "Mom this is Melissa. Melissa this is my Mom."
Melissa stuck out her hand, while Justin's Mom pulled her into a hug, "Very nice to meet you, Justin's Mom."
"You can just call me Mom, everyone else does," she smiled warmly. "It's nice to finally meet who my boy continues to brag about." Melissa's shocked expression looked up at Justin as he turned a light shade of pink, "Moooommmm."
The two woman started laughing, as Justin pleaded his excuse, "So, I'm a little proud of you-so sue me." His eyes looked upon the young girl in front of him, and she met his gaze dead on. This was going to be an amazing trip.