"Yeah," Kelsy grinned. "But they are cute!"
Thousands of girls screamed their agreement, in the studio and outside on the sidewalks and streets.
"Thank you," JC grinned at Kelsy.
"So, Lance, I hear you're still going out with Danielle Fishel?" Carson Daly droned on.
Justin and JC rolled their eyes at each other, knowing they'd have to sit through about ten minutes worth of girlfriend-talk. They hated "girlfriend-talk", as they called it, unless they were the ones doing it.
Fifteen minutes later, Carson shocked everyone by cutting off one of Joey's answers and turning to April. "April," He grinned devilishly. "Sources say you've been getting pretty cozy with someone, lately, at your concerts."
April's jaw dropped, wondering who had said this.
"We hear he's a dancer named Josh Johnson?" Carson continued.
April closed her mouth, then opened it back up to talk. "No, Josh and I are just really good friends. We have been forever. He's so much fun, I just had to have him on this tour, and when I discovered he could dance, I pulled a few strings."
"Whined incessantly for two weeks," Kelsy supplied.
"Well, yeah, but so what?" April laughed.
"So you knew each other before the tour?" Carson asked.
April didn't like where this was going, and neither did Kelsy. "Yes." She said warily.
"How did you meet?"
April's brain reeled with a plausible lie to feed to Carson that wouldn't be too difficult to remember. "Oh, a horse-packing trip thing." She decided to tell the truth. "But that doesn't matter, these girls want to hear more about those cute *N Sync boys, right?"
She turned to the crowd, desperate for them to start one of their deafening screaming marathons so that she would be spared. She was quickly obliged.
"Good job," Kelsy whispered in April's ear.
But Carson wouldn't let it go. "So, do you like him?"
April decided to play around with it. "No way!" She said, contorting her face and using a child's voice. "He's got boy cooties!"
"Josh! Come here," Carson called Josh forward.
Josh grinned at April. "Boy cooties, huh?"
"Yeah, boy cooties," April said, sticking her tongue out at him.
Carson was mouthing something at the camera and April was glaring at Carson when Josh shocked them all by touching a finger to the bottom of April's chin and saying, "Just wait. One day I'll show you how you really get boy cooties," before walking off-screen.
April's jaw dropped, and Kelsy's eyes widened as the studio was filled with catcalls, whistles, and shouted invitations for Josh to show them.
Carson turned to April, a smug look on his face. "What does the all-knowing April have to say about this?" He asked.
The words "all-knowing" flashed April back to the horse-packing trip, during which Josh had flashed her his most charming grin and labeled himseld the "all-knowing horse master".
Kelsy, too, went back to that moment, because she had seen the looks in their eyes and it was something Kelsy hadn't seen in April's eyes in a long time. It was happiness.
"Josh is a flirt, so what's to say?" April shrugged. "He'll show almost anyone how to 'get boy-cooties'."
This caused the color to return to Justin's face and a grin to cover it.
JC elbowed Justin and Justin tried to take the smile off, but he couldn't, so he stuck his tongue out at one of the girls, causing screams from many girls. That way he could laugh and smile and no one would know why.
"Smart boy," Chris muttered under his breath. Justin just kept grinning like a moron.
"Not really," JC muttered to Kelsy, who had heard the entire exchange.
Kelsy looked at him questioningly.
"Well, seems like we have three or four different conversations going on at once!" Carson said cheerily. "What were you signing, April?"
April and Josh often communicated in sign language, and they were doing it right then.
"A question about tonights concert," April replied. "Not that it's any of your business, is it?" She added pointedly
Carson laughed nervously and had a fan ask a question.
April's mind wasn't on the question, though. It was on her date that night with Justin Timberlake, and if Josh would lend her their favorite jersey, and how he would take the news. She had a nagging thought that he wouldn't be all that happy.