Music blared loudly out of the shiny, black limosuine as it rolled through the busy streets of New York City. Five men were clowning around inside while a sixth man was trying unsuccessfully to look through his planner and some paperwork.

"STAYIN' ALIVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEE HIVVEEEEEE OOOOOOOO", Joey hollered in a high pitched voice, imitating the classic Bee Gees song, 'Stayin' Alive'. His leg bounced anxiously as he moved his hands back and forth in waving motions around his head.

JC flinched and covered his ears at the screeching coming from Joey's mouth. "I knew I should have worn my ear plugs today...I just had that hunch that someone would come along and try to ruin my ear drums...", he laughed.

Chris jumped across the seats, landing on his knees, pretending to be a hip hoppin' air guitarist. Justin started cracking up. "Dude, Chris, there is NO guitar solo in this song!"

Chris frowned. "Oh..."

Joey was just about to belt out into another soprano melody, when the music was cut short. "HEY!", he looked around, confused. "Where'd my music go?"

The sixth man, Johnny Wright, looked at him. "It went byyyye, byyyye, byyyye!"

"Hey, I like that...bye bye bye...", Justin sat up from the groove he was slouching in against the car and started humming possible tunes for those words.

"No, seriously, put my music back on.", Joey whined.

"Before we get to MTV, you guys have to be aware of what is going on this month. You won't have a free day."

"Not one?", Lance asked.

"Zilch."

Lance slouched. "Man, that sucks."

Joey pouted. "Can't you just put it on low?"

Johnny rolled his eyes."Get over it, Joe...the song is over anyway." He fiddled with some paperwork and started talking. "All right...listen up. You're shooting the little promo commercial with MTV today, then you're going straight to the Jay Leno studio to tape the segment for his show. You also have Rosie O'Donnell and Good Morning America this week. Next week you have, if I counted right, nineteen photo shoots. We're trying to squeeze three into each day. You have an interview with WIOQ in Philadelphia on next Saturday, then with KIIS 92 FM on Sunday. The week after that, you are making appearances with Macy*s and JCPenny in New York, and you're doing a mall show in Ohio. MTV wants to meet with you again during that week, so we'll be going back and forth an awful lot. At the end of this month, the Janet Jackson tour will be in full fledge. It's a thirty-city tour so you'll be all over the place.", he paused and looked up at the guys. "Any questions?"

Chris blinked. Justin scratched his head. Joey yawned. JC rested his head against his hand, while his elbow was propped against the window. Lance swallowed and scratched his throat.

"Ok, good, I guess there's no questions....", Johnny concluded from their actions and suspiciously eyed Joey. "Joey, did you get all that?"

Joey looked up. "Get all what?"

"Everything I just said."

"Um, what were you talking about? I think I dozed off. Sorry."

Johnny rolled his eyes and switched the radio on. As soon as the music hit their ears, all five of them jumped up and started goofing off again, as if nothing had been interrupted.

Brian watched as his basketball swiftly swooshed through the net in his driveway. "SWOOSH!!!", he yelled triumphantly, while Janet Jackson's "Velvet Rope" CD blared from the portable stereo he had set up near the garage doors. Liv was sitting on the black pavement, sipping her iced lemonade in a pair of cut-off blue jean shorts and a green halter top.

"Hey, Brian?"

He shot the ball again towards the net. "What?"

"Remember when you told me to call Justin?"

"Yeah.", he answered, keeping his eyes focused as the ball sailed through the net.

"I called him...."

"Good for you, Liv! What'd he have to say?"

"He wasn't there...I left a message, but he never called me back."

Brian finally turned to look at her. "He didn't call you back?"

She shook her head. "But I mean, he is a really busy guy...I guess I can't really be angry with him."

"What a creep. He told you to call him, and you did, but he didn't call back."

"Brian...he might not have gotten the message...you know, with all those fans who get his number and bother him..."

He bounced the basketball over to where she was sitting and took a seat next to her. "Can I have a sip?"

She handed him the lemonade. "Look, Liv, when did you call him?"

"Oh, you know...maybe about six weeks ago..."

Brian shook his head. "He got the message. He's a loser, trust me. If he was interested, he would have called you back."

Olivia shrugged. Brian looked at her. "Hey, Liv, I gotta question."

"What?"

"Well, I got these tickets to this concert I wanted to go to-it's on September eighteenth in Orlando...they were for me and Bridget, but she's busy that day so she told me to take you. Would you be interested in going?"

"Who is it?"

He grinned. "Janet Jackson!"

(August 31, 1998; boys en route to meet Janet Jackson)

"OH MY LORRRDY, I'M GOIN' TO MEET JANET JACKSON! OHHH BAYYYBEEE!", Justin cheered in a strong southern accent as *NSYNC's bus pulled into the parking lot of an arena in Michigan, where the tour was kicking off. They were about ready to go meet Janet and then go over the stage rules, song set, and do a breif soundcheck.

Lance threw a pillow at his head and yelled "Shut up, Curls. That's all you've been saying for the past hour!"

Justin gasped and touched his hair. "OH MY GOD...LANCE, YOU DORK, WATCH THE HAIR! I'm only MINUTES from meeting the most gorgeous woman on this Earth!"

Lance rolled his eyes and mumbled. "Can we say O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D?"

Justin mimicked him in a baby voice. "Can we say obsessed?" He threw the pillow back at Lance and knocked the soda he was holding out of his hand, causing it to spill all over his white shirt. He jumped back, falling off the couch and landing with a loud 'thud' on the floor. An angry glare spread over his eyes and he leaped across the room, taking Justin down in a headlock. Angrily, he thrusted his hands through Justin's bleached curls and grabbed the half full Dr Pepper can, pouring it ALL over his hair and extra tight (for obvious reasons) white tee shirt.

Justin's eyes began to boil with fury. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??? MAN, GET OFF ME!" He shoved Lance off him, and jumped up, pulling the dripping shirt, that was sticking to his chest, away from his body. He stormed into the hallway on the large bus and slammed right into JC.

JC looked at him and started laughing. "What happened to you?"

Justin glared at him and pushed his way to the bathroom. "How much time do I have to get this soda out of my hair?"

JC snickered. "None, man. We're here."

Justin's eyes widened into the size of two large basketballs. "WHAT!? NO, MAN! I CAN'T GO MEET HER LOOKING LIKE THIS!!! Dude....", he ran to the front of the bus and grabbed the driver by the shoulders. "JAMES! Please....drive around for a little bit...don't park yet...please!"

"What?", the middle-aged, soft-hearted man looked at his young friend curiously. "What do you want me to do? Drive in little circles around this parking lot?"

"YES! If that will work for you! I just have to get this soda out of my hair and get changed and freshen up and....", he began to trail off as his hands moved around frantically. "Oh, God...how am I supposed to rinse this...there's no shower on the bus!" He looked around rapidly. "THE SINK!" Justin took off to the small bathroom and bumped into Johnny Wright who had joined the five on the bus.

"Ready Justin? Let's go, we're late already. Everyone else is already off the bus."

"No, man. I have to wash my hair."

Johnny stared at him for a second and suddenly burst out laughing. "No, you're not going to wash your hair now, son. C'mon, get off the bus."

Justin grabbed his arm as he turned to walk away and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please, Johnny..."

"No, Justin.", he said sternly. "Let's go. Ms. Jackson is waiting for us. Not everything revolves around you looking perfect for your little obsession."

Justin's shoulders fell in defeat and he frowned, trudging slowly to the front of the bus. He pulled his shirt over his head and quickly grabbed a clean one before jumping off the stairs onto the warm pavement of the parking lot.

Not too long after, the six men made their way onto the arena's stage, where Janet was walking around getting a feel of what she would be performing on. Justin lagged behind, knowing that he looked awful. She smiled and approached them blissfully when she saw them walk in.

"Hey guys, glad you could make it...", she grinned, as she shook the four hands. "Hey, weren't there five of you...where's the blonde one?"

Justin blushed from behind Joey where he was hiding. Soon, he felt a hand latch onto his head pulling him from out where he was.

"He's riiiiight here...", Lance grinned. He was loving every second of watching Justin suffer. Justin lowered his head against his chest in embarrassment as Lance pulled him out in front of Janet.

She laughed. "Don't be shy...I heard you weren't shy at all..."

He looked up slowly, a deep crimson red spreading over his face. "W-well...I'm not...I mean, you're - you're J-Janet Jackson..."

She smiled. "And you're Justin Timberlake..."

"I look terrible."

Janet laughed boisterously and turned to the rest of the guys. "Is he always like this?"

"He's only like this when he's star-struck. And he's kinda obsessed wi--", Joey started to say but finished the sentence with an "OOMPH" as Justin elbowed him roughly in the ribs.

She laughed again and turned to Justin. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. You look fine. You can't be perfect everyday. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun on this tour. It's great to meet you guys.", she said kindly and kissed Justin on the cheek. She winked and walked off to meet with her soundcheck guys. Justin's jaw hit the floor and his cheek burned with warmth where her lips had touched him.

When she was out of hearing range, all the guys surrounded Justin, busting on him.

"This is gonna be an awesome tour...", he sighed.

Johnny rolled his eyes. "All right, guys, time to get to work. And Justin, for God's sakes, take a shower."

(September 18, 1998; Orlando, FL)

"Brian!!! Come, on, we're gonna be late if you don't get your butt down here!", Olivia yelled to him from the bottom of the stairs at his house.

A few minutes later, he flew down the steps and yelled to his parents. "Mom, we're leaving! See you later!" Then he grabbed Liv and pulled them out the door. "Oh my God....I can't believe I took so long to get ready!"

"I know, you were like a damn woman. You took like two hours.", she exaggerated.

"One."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "So, who's opening for her?"

Brian shrugged. "I don't know. Some new group or somethin'.", he said as he pulled the car out of the driveway. "Hey, when we get there, let's go see if we can find her tour bus. Maybe she'll still be in there and then we can meet her and --"

"Brian, I'm sure she'd already be in the arena."

He shrugged. "Worth a try, anyway."

Half an hour later, they pulled into the packed parking lot. "Man, this is gonna be so much fun! Come on, Liv...", he grinned excitedly and jumped out of his car. She followed him down to where the tour buses were parked.

"Bri, are you sure we should be doing this? I mean, I don't want to get in trouble..."

He grabbed her hand. "Oh, Liv...loosen up. Have some fun. We'll be fine...and look, there's nobody down there...they won't see us."

That immediately brought back memories...

"C'mon Liv...we'll be fine...no one will know what happened. You gotta have some fun in your life you know.", Greg tried to comfort her.

Olivia narrowed her eyes. "Greg, this is NOT having fun. We are going to get in SERIOUS trouble if anyone ever finds out what you just...did. I knew I shouldn't have come."

"Liv, you gotta trust me."

She pushed the thoughts away from her mind and looked at Brian. "The last time someone said that to me, I got in an unbelievable amount of trouble.", she warned him, not wanting to tell him what really happened that night. She hadn't told anyone that she had recently met....not Brian, not Serenity and definitely not Justin.

He sighed. "Please, come. If we get caught, which we won't, but if we do, I will cover for you. I promise. Let's go."

She shook her head but followed him down the grassy hill to the buses. There were four of them sitting patiently in the lot. "How do you know which one is hers?"

"I don't know...maybe we could just knock on the doors..."

"Brian..."

He knocked on the front door to a big red and silver bus, which the driver had deserted. "I don't think anyone is in this one, the driver's not even there." Olivia got curious and peeked in the window, struggling to see through the tint. "Well, somebody's in there. I can see shadows." She started to move away, pulling Brian with him when suddenly the door to the bus opened and a head poked out.

"You knocked?"

Olivia froze when she heard the voice and slowly turned around. "Please don't be who it sounds like, please don't be who it sounds like.", she prayed. When she was fully around, her eyes locked with the tall, crystal-eyed man in front of her. She swallowed hard and narrowed her eyes. "Justin..."