Is it really worth it? JC asked himself as yet another twelve year old girl nearly wet her pants and could barely remember her name when he asked her during the meet-n-greet so he could sign an autograph and send it down to Lance, sitting next to him.
"Yes," Lance said, as if reading JC's mind.
How does he do that? JC thought.
"I'm smart," Lance mumbled out of the side of his mouth as he smiled at the thin girl with braces and thanked her for the stuffed animal that would just be given to an orphanage or something in a few days.
No, you're not, JC thought.
"I am too smart," Lance pouted.
That's creepy, Scoop, quit it, JC was starting to wonder about his sanity.
"Creepy, ain't it?" Joey asked from the other side of JC.
Great, JC thought. Now they can both read my mind.
"He does it to me all the time," Joey continued.
Maybe not, JC said optimistically in his mind.
"I just know you guys," Lance smiled his shy, southern-gentleman smile and shrugged. "A little too well."
JC nodded and continued mechanically smiling, calling girls "Sweetie", "Honey", and "Sweetheart", just as management liked.
"It'll be ok," Lance said. "You'll fall in love with it again."
How does he know I fell out of love with being in *N Sync? JC thought, panicked.
"I did it once, too, ya know," Lance continued, not noticing JC's panicked face.
Lance fell out of love with being in *N Sync?, JC felt like his whole world was being pulled out from under him.
"You think you can't go another day and you can't do one more show, and just when you're about to reach your breaking point and you're finally calm and ok with losing your mind in front of millions, one or a few fans do something so cute, funny, touching, whatever that it makes it all worthwhile," Lance said while hugging a six year old girl.
JC sighed. That, my friend, is where you are wrong. How can just one thing make it all worthwhile?
"Not just one thing, like, everything that happens at one concert, I mean," Lance said, walking out of the room with JC and heading to make-up and hair to get ready for the show.
Mind-reader, JC accused.
Lance grinned at him. "You don't believe me, but you'll see. Justin and Joey didn't believe me either. Chris hasn't gone through it yet." With that, Lance turned and walked away.
JC stood, dumb-founded, until Chris came up and drug him to make-up, rambling on about some new joke he'd heard.
Last song, last song... JC gave himself a mental pep talk. He had seen all those touching, sweet things, but he had yet to see anything even remotely funny.
As the opening notes to Tearin' Up My Heart began to play, JC eyed two girls in the front row, twins it looked like, debating on whether or not to invite them backstage to chat them up. They looked about nineteen or twenty, and they were both pretty, wearing matching tight jeans and tube tops, one in pink, one in baby blue. The whole night they had laughed and smiled and JC was a bit intrigued by the new look on their face. It was devilish, pure and simple.
As JC began to sing, and the other four guys began to dance, the girls lifted their sign and, at just the moment Justin, Chris, Lance, and Joey turned around and did the move the fans had labeled "the Butt Wiggle", the girls spun, lifted the sign, shaking their rear ends and grinning over their shoulders at JC, who tripped and nearly dropped his microphone.
The sign read "We have cute butts, too!" and when it came time for the chorus, a few moments later, he burst out laughing, smiling at the girls.
They were definitely going backstage. They had just pulled him out of his funk. He had no idea how, but he just felt alive and happier than he had in months, and he was on stage.
The other four boys, who had had their backs turned, looked confused. The girls flipped their sign and winked while JC read the words - "Our little secret?" and smiled at the lip-stick kisses decorating it. He nodded and they again winked.
Lance grinned as he watched JC perform. JC was over it. He'd have to remember to thank those two girls, his girlfriend's cousins. They'd helped quite a bit.