There was a parade of *N Syncers running for the room, and Helen quickly dodged out of their hyper-active way.
Sam sat in a chair, her back to the doorway. Joey, Chris, and Lance all ran in and smooshed together on the couch, JC jogging in after them, only he jumped and landed on Sam's lap. "Hey!" She squealed as he adjusted himself so he lay across the recliner sideways.
Justin stood in the doorway, for once calm.
"Ok, what's going on?" JC asked as Sam tickled him a little on his side and he flipped off the chair trying to get away.
"You're falling off the chair and we're gonna go through how we want this done," Helen said, eyeing him playfully.
"Ok, how do we want to do the sets?" JC asked, sitting back on Sam's lap and wrapping an arm around her neck.
"Ok, I was told to see if you guys were ok with Sam singing three songs, changing outfits, singing two, and then going off. You guys go on and when you change outfits for "Digital Get Down", Sam goes on and does "What You See"," Helen suggested.
"Sounds good to me," JC shrugged. Joey, Chris, and Lance all murmured their agreement.
"Timberlake?" JC asked.
He looked at him absently. "Yuh-huh, sure, whatever."
JC let out a short bark and Justin came back to reality. "You're gonna die later, Chases," He snarled, intentionally pronouncing JC's last name wrong.
JC barked again and Chris grinned. "Puppy loooove!" He crooned at Justin.
Helen sighed and left to talk to the stage managers.
JC, Chris, Joey, and Lance tumbled out in a flurry of barks, threats, and playful name calling.
Sam sighed, thinking they were all gone, and went over to her make-up counter.
Sam heard her dressing room door shut and froze.
"Hey," Justin's voice floated softly over to her.
"Hi," She said, not turning.
"I know about it," Justin murmured.
Sam sighed. "You know no one wants me? You know I make a great punching bag? Ok."
"No, I know some idiots thought you'd make a great punching bag and some even stupider people didn't want you," Justin said.
"Yeah, Justin, try telling them they're stupid for not wanting a failure like me!" Sam snapped.
"You aren't a failure. Who broke Britney's record? Who's on tour with *N Sync, who happened to break Backstreet Boys' record? Who's on the cover of Rolling Stone? Who's got about a million teenage boys drooling over her pinups?" Justin asked.
"Uhm...Me, Me, Me, and Britney. In that order," Sam sighed.
"No, you, you, you, and you," Justin smiled. "In that order."
Sam laughed lightly. "Does it matter what order?"
"A lot of little things matter," Justin said.
"You're too smart to be only nineteen," Sam said.
"Eighteen," He said. "Just turned eighteen."
"I was close," She shrugged.
"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," Justin said.
"About what?" Sam asked, applying some eyeshadow.
"If I made you uncomfortable or anything. I'm stupid like that sometimes," Justin sighed.
"I should be apologizing," Sam smiled. "I was rude."
"No, you weren't. I was being rude," Justin said.
"If you say so," She shrugged, finally turning to look at him. "Ohmigod!"
Justin looked at her. "Ya like?" He pointed at his head as he sat down on the couch.
Sam went to him and slowly reached out to touch his hair, formerly a 'fro, now in cornrows. She felt Justin shiver a little when she touched him, but ignored it, figuring he was cold. She snorted softly. "I've heard about this problem of yours before," She whispered.
"Really?" Justin asked, whispering too. For no reason, other than it was quieter like that. "What problem is that?"
Sam placed one knee on the couch and lowered herself onto her leg, staring him in the eyes. She took his face in both hands and said, seriously, "It's a serious thing, Justin."
"What is?" Justin asked.
"Your problem," She said.
"My problem is what, again?" Justin asked her, distracted by the fact that she was holding his face in her hands.
"Your problem is...Oh, I don't know if I should tell you!" She said, biting her lip.
"Yeah, you should," Justin nodded, loving the way she bit her lip.
"I don't know if you can handle it!" She said, looking away.
"I can handle it, I'm a big boy," Justin grinned crookedly and wiggled his eyebrows.
She laughed softly. "I suppose. Your problem is, well, you think that...It's just that you think...You think you're black!"
"I do not!" Justin wailed, tackling her on the couch and tickling her. "Take it back!"
"You do!" Sam squealed, trying to get away from him. "And no!"
"Yes!" Justin said, sitting on her. "Take it back!"
"No! No, no, no!" She yelled.
All of a sudden, Sam caught Justin off-guard and flipped him over. He grabbed onto her instinctively as he flipped off the couch onto the floor, on his back. Sam squealed as she fell on top him.
"Uhm, guys?" JC's voice broke in. "If you're done, Sam needs to be onstage in five minutes and we need to hackey."
"Gotcha," Justin blushed, lifted Sam up by her hips so she could get her legs underneath her to stand. He quickly clambered to his feet afterwards, said 'bye to Sam, and ran after JC.
© 2001 Princess Fan Fics