She stared at him for a second, blinked and turned to open her door. Justin's eyebrows lowered in wonder. "Sweetie, hurry up and wash your face or something! You need to wake up and get movin'...we're gonna get KILLED."

Two minutes later, Kelsie came back out in the hallway, a little more revitalized than earlier. She hadn't even bothered to change, but she had thrown her hair up in a loose bun. He smiled slightly at her, grabbed her hand and yanked her to the elevator.

"Where is everybody, Justin?"

"I don't know. They probably couldn't find us anywhere, so they figured we went to the arena earlier to get a head start. Even Lonnie's gone...", his eyes darted around cautiously. "We have to be extra careful... come on!"

She allowed herself to be dragged to his car and she climbed in without saying anything. She wondered if she could be any more embarrassed. Okay, so he had no idea that she had had a dream like that last night (as far as she knew, anyway) but it was just humiliating to even begin with. A thought struck her suddenly, and her head shot up in fright. What if she had been talking in her sleep and he had heard her say something about him? Oh wow...she would never come out of the hole she was about ready to dig for herself.

He glanced at her as he started his car. "Is something wrong, Kelsie? You're not acting like yourself."

Her head whipped towards him. If he knew, he sure didn't let it show. "Justin, did I fall asleep last night?"

He smiled. "Uh..yeaaah. So did I..."

Kelsie bit her lip and shook her head furiously. "Noo..no. WHEN did I fall asleep??"

Justin scratched his forehead. "Um..I dunno.. We were talking about the stars and...", he looked down at her hand that was resting on the arm rest that was in between the two seats and smiled. "...and then our conversation just kind of drifted off....and so did you."

She looked very relieved. "And that was it? After that I fell asleep and that was it?"

Justin chuckled, trying his best to keep his eyes on the road. "Yeah, Kels, that was it."

She sighed and turned to look out the window, remaining quiet for the rest of the ride. Justin sucked on his lower lip, his head throbbing in pain from all the things running through his mind. The number one thing being what happened last night...yeah, so it wasn't a BIG deal, but it just set something off in his body that he had never felt before. Kelsie had fallen asleep not long after he had grabbed her hand to hold. He wished that she hadn't fallen asleep because he had just been on the verge of telling her his feelings and then she went and decided it was time for bed. He hadn't let that bring him down too much, though, because he had spent a great portion of the remaining night just watching her sleep. That was something he used to do a lot with Chloe, too. Just watch her sleep...watch her stomach rise and fall with her breathing, see her moist lips slightly parted, and stroke the soft texture of her skin.

Last night it wasn't cold out at all, like it ever was in Florida anyway, but for some reason, in the middle of the night, he had felt Kelsie snuggle up to him...just out of the blue, like she wanted to crawl up inside of him. He wondered what had caused that impulse inside of her to do that -- maybe she was having sweet dreams...dreams that he hoped he was included in. Thinking about it made him long to have the ability to jump inside of her dreams to see what they were about and if they were just as wonderful as he imagined. And if they were...he envied her for it. Why couldn't he have dreams like that? Dreams that left him as speechless as she was this morning?

He sighed louder than he thought he did and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kelsie's head turn towards him. He saw her open her mouth to say something, but frowned when she decided not to say it. He reached for the power button on the radio and flipped around rapidly for a good song. He settled on a Dave Matthews Band song and left the radio alone.

As they neared the Lakeland Center, Justin turned to look at her. She was slouched in the passenger seat, her head propped up on her hand, staring out of the window blindly. "You know...", he started and paused until she looked at him. "We're gonna get MAD teasing."

Kelsie nodded slowly and shrugged. "Oh, let them poke fun. As long as we know that nothing happened...", she drew in a breath when she said it, "...then, then that's all that really matters."

Justin smirked. "We could always make up some wild reason like we made wi--"

She touched his arm with a small smile. "You do that, Justin."

He smiled gently as he pulled into the parking lot, praying for the courage to get through the murderous torture that he was about to endure.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Well, well, well!! Here come the two lovebirds now!", Chris' voice piped up when he saw the familiar bandanna walk in through the side door. He lowered his voice and nudged Joey in the ribs. "Five bucks says he's got bruises."

Lance leaned in to Chris and Joey's bet making. "Twenty says nothing happened!"

Chris gave Lance a smirk which said, "You're on. Hope you have twenty bucks ready to give me." and they shook hands.

Kelsie rolled her eyes when she saw Lance and Chris shake hands. She grabbed Justin's hand and wiggled her fingers so they entwined with his. She pushed on his shoulder until he bent down so she could whisper in his ear. "Play along..."

He grinned and they walked up to the crowd that had gathered. "Hey guys, we're so sorry we're late...", she began.

"Rough night?", Chris said innocently.

Kelsie shrugged casually and smiled up at Justin seductively. "You could say that..."

When Kat heard Kelsie's voice from a distance, she pushed her way up to the front to see Justin and Kelsie standing next to each other, their hands connected tightly and Kelsie leaning on Justin's shoulder. Her mouth hit the ground and she exclaimed loudly, "WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO UP THERE!?"

Justin smirked evilly. "We made hot, passionate love!!" He laughed. "No, no, just kidding. We were...", he paused to look at JC and held up two fingers to make the quotation marks. "...'watching a movie'."

Kat blushed from head to toe and glared at Justin. Chris snickered and held out a hand to Lance. "Twenty bucks, man."

Kelsie laughed and tore her hand away from Justin. "Guys, nothing happened. We just overslept because no one came to wake us up and there was no alarm clocks on the roof! Why didn't one of you guys come get us?"

Joey shrugged. "We didn't want to...um, how should I put this...INTERRUPT anything.."

JC continued. "Plus, we didn't know where you were."

Justin lowered his eyebrows. "Oh, shut up. You and Kat AND Lonnie ALL knew I was upstairs."

Everyone just shrugged nonchalantly and Justin groaned. "I know what this is all about. You just wanted to get me in trouble wi--"

"JUSTIN!!!"

Lance snickered and held out a hand so Chris could reluctantly slap a twenty dollar bill in his hand. Justin groaned at the angry voice and rolled his eyes at Chris and Lance, snatching away the money, putting it in his pocket and then finally turned to look at Johnny who was standing with a disappointed look on his face. "You're never late, Justin. Five days before the tour starts and...", his eyes glanced over to Kelsie who was shuffling her feet. "And Ms. Meyers...this is something I never expected from you."

"I'm sorry...but it's not that big of a deal, these guys know this tour perfectly.", she stopped talking when he gave her an angry glare. "And ...and that is exactly why we should start rehearsal RIGHT THIS SECOND!", she smiled timidly.

Johnny smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Good answer. Get to work, guys!", he said with a playful wink. He turned to walk away but quickly stopped and spun back around on his heels. "Oh! I almost forgot. Chris, is Ron coming today?"

Chris pulled into his professional mode at the mention of Ron's name. Ron Irizarry was the first artist signed onto his clothing slash music business and he was touring with the group this year. Chris was extremely proud of both his company and Ron and he knew that he would be a big hit on the tour. "Yes, I think he said he was going to stop by later today. He can get a feel for the whole environment that way."

Johnny nodded. "Okay, great." With one last smile, he was out of sight.

Seven hours into the rehearsal, Kelsie stood towards the back of the arena, watching the boys rehearse her personal favorite song, "Digital Getdown". She watched intently, all her focus on the guys, though occaisonally she would glance down in front of the stage to see Kat a few feet away from it dancing wildly and screaming positive remarks at random. Kelsie couldn't help but to laugh at her best friend. She had always been the outgoing one, not really afraid of saying or doing anything. But if Kelsie had said to her a few years ago that one day she would be standing in front of the *NSYNC stage during rehearsals making them laugh and also being on the brink of falling in love with one of the world's most eligible bachelors, Kat would have only laughed in her face and said, "I wish." with a sigh. Kelsie continued her thoughts with a frown...if she had told HERSELF that one day she would be standing here choreographing the world's most prominent music group and that even though she had never really liked them to begin with, she would one day fall head over heels in love with the alleged "hottie" of the group, she would have burst into an unstoppable fit of laughter. Yet, here she was...

A voice behind her made her jump out of her skin and spin around to come face to face with an attractive young man with soft brown hair and matching caring brown eyes.

"What are you doing all the way back here for?"

She raised an eyebrow at the man and smiled. "I'm observing." She held out a hand. "Kelsie Meyers, I'm a choreographer for this tour. And you are?"

He graciously accepted her hand and smiled an adorable smile. "Ron Irizarry, singer for this tour. Nice to meet you, Kelsie. I've heard lots about you."

She crossed her arms. "Good things, I hope."

He chuckled. "Well besides the fact that you work the guys until their feet are bleeding and that you can have a really bad temper when Chris messes up a step, yeah, all good."

"He does it on PURPOSE though!", she pouted.

He laughed and looked towards the stage. "How long have they been practicing?"

She looked at her watch. "About seven and a half hours, now. They're not even half way finished, though."

He blew out a breath and shook his head, impressed. "Man...how do they do it!?"

She smiled at the stage. "They're married to it...they're so passionate towards what they do and they love it so much. It's what they LIVE for...and THAT'S how they do it."

He followed her gaze to Justin and then looked at her beautiful face. Her eyes held a look of sadness as she looked on at the dancing superstar. He wondered what she could be so sad about. "Is everything okay?"

Her eyes tore away from Justin and she looked into his concerned eyes. "Huh? Oh...oh, yeah I'm fine.", she smiled and waved him ahead. "Come on, I'll introduce you to some tour people."

Ron smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Meyers." He held out an arm for her to take and when she linked hers through it, they started walking towards the stage together.

Meanwhile, as the music droned on in Justin's ears and he casually began dancing on and off the moving conveyor belts that ran across the stage as part of the choreography by Tony Michaels for "Digital Getdown", his eyes began to wander around the arena. The first thing he saw was Kat dancing around like a fool in front of everybody and he let out a small laugh at her fun-loving spunk. There were people EVERYWHERE, each of them doing oddball things for the tour that was about to launch in a few days up in Biloxi. He saw Wade talking to Jamal, sometimes busting into a random move. He saw Tim, the tour production manager, standing with his arms crossed across his rather large body, discussing things with Anthony, the stage manager. He saw Chuck, the head rigger, working with another rigger off to the side. His eyes swept across the area again as he did the memorized dancing without much thinking. The lighting technicans were working hard on the lights, the pyro techs were waving their hands around in the air trying to describe how things would go and the sound techs were busy at work behind the control booth. His bodyguards wandered aimlessly around the building, just making sure everything was going safetly and Kelsie was laughing and had her arms all over Ron Irizarry. He smiled and shook his head in disbelief at how incredible all of this was. All these people were here because of HIM...it was amazing to think that this one little dream that he held could have come true to this extent...

He smiled again and looked around once more before he did a complete double take. Holllld on a second...WHAT was that last thing he saw? Kelsie laughing and falling all over Ron Irizarry??? His eyes widened as he took in the sight before him. Yeah, no, this was definitely not happening, right? He stopped mid dance routine and just stared out into space.

Tony, their choreographer, stared at him for a few seconds before waving a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Justin. What's wrong with you?"

He slowly turned to face Tony and said slowly. "I need a break..." He began to walk off the stage, but turned around and grabbed Chris by his collar, dragging him off with him. He pulled him down the steps and out to the open arena floor. In a low hiss, he growled in Chris' ear. "Chris! Your lame musical product is hitting on MY girl!"

Chris pulled away from Justin and rolled his eyes. "Justin, she's not your GIRL until you make that MOVE!", he paused. "And Ron is not LAME!" He walked off, leaving Justin in frustrated thought.

Justin watched Kelsie longingly for a long time, not knowing that the guys were off to the side of the stage, staring at him in concern. JC rubbed his forehead, squinting his eyes. "He is so hung up on her!"

Joey laughed when he saw Kat trying to jump up and smack JC on the foot. "Hey Jace...speaking of being hung up on someone...", he motioned with his head towards Kat and it only took JC one smile and two seconds to get off the stage down to where she was standing.

Chris groaned. "Why can't he just TELL her?"

Lance shrugged. "He's nervous as hell, that's for sure. I don't know why he's letting it go so far... he's never like this..."

Chris nodded. "I know, but dude, a girl can only wait so long, ya know?"

The two remaining members nodded in agreement and just shook their heads at Justin in confusion, before jogging down the steps to get something to drink.

Justin stood there for another second, debating whether to go and interrupt or not. He didn't think much about it and walked up to the two, behind Kelsie. Ron saw him first.

He had no expression on his face, just stared at Ron with a clenched jaw and piercing eyes. Jealousy streaked his face clean through, though Ron didn't really take notice to that. "Uh, hi Justin..."

Kelsie spun around and smiled at Justin. "Hey! Taking a break?"

He looked down at Kelsie, his lips slightly parting as if to say something, but only continued to stare. She lowered her eyebrows in confusion and her smile instantly disappeared. "J, is something wrong?"

He took a deep breath and pushed out a smile. "Of course not... I just wanted to say hi.", he turned on Ron and his voice came out raspier than he thought. "I think Chris wants to see you."

Ron got the hint and nodded, turning one last time at Kelsie and smiling sweetly. "It was wonderful to finally meet you, Kelsie." He took her hand and bent down to press a gentle kiss against her skin. He winked and walked away confidently.

Kelsie grinned after him, blushing.

Justin watched on in horror. His horror turned into extreme envy and his envy turned into anger. He SO did not just do that. Before he could say anything, Kelsie had turned around to face him, her face beaming like she had just won a million dollars. He was so irritated he just wanted to go slap that stupid Ron Irizarry around until he couldn't feel his body parts.

"Well, isn't he a nice guy?", she sighed.

He scowled and mumbled under his breath. "Yeah. Nice."

Kelsie smiled at Justin happily and walked off to where Wade was standing. Justin watched on furiously and before he blew up, he stormed backstage and locked himself in the dressing room. He punched a pillow angrily for a few minutes before flopping onto a couch and holding the same pillow over his flushed face.

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!", he sceamed into the fabric. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST SUCK UP YOUR STUPID PRIDE AND TELL HER THE GOD DAMN TRUTH!? WHY IS IT SO HARD?" He pushed the pillow harder down on his face to somehow try to stop the tears that wanted to come out so badly from coming. It didn't help much.

He flung the pillow across the room and wiped at the fresh tears with the back of his arm. "Why did he have to flirt with her? Why can't you just let it go and realize that she likes you? Why does she have to make you FEEL THIS WAY!? Why did you LET HER IN?", he sniffed hard and felt his chin start to tremble. "Why can't things go back to the way they were? Why does Chloe have to FREAKING CHEAT on you? WHY DOES LOVE HAVE TO HURT SO MUCH!?"

He cried quietly for about fifteen minutes until he heard a knock on the door. Not wanting to answer it, he continued to lay there, feeling sorry for himself. It wasn't until five knocks later and a "Justin? Are you in there?", did he get up and crack the door ever so little.

JC stood there, his eyes glazed over in worry and his hands on his hips. "Justin? Are you okay?"

He peered through the crack with one eye and spoke quietly. "What do you want?"

"Well, uh, we were looking for you because we have to get back to rehearsal. No one could find you. What's wrong?", he tried to push open the door but was met with pressure from Justin keeping it closed. "Justin, let me in. What the hell is wrong with you?"

JC finally won out and pushed the door open only to see Justin's bloodshot and teary red eyes and his flushed cheeks. He was shocked. "Have...have you been crying?"

Justin turned around so that his back would face JC. "Of course not.", he looked down at his watch. "Go away and give me five minutes to get up there."

JC remained quiet for a minute, but then decided it was best to let him alone. He slowly walked back up towards the stage, shaking his head slowly. This was killing him.

_________________________________________________________________________________

"So what REALLY happened upstairs last night, Kels?", Kat asked suspiciously, laying on her stomach on the bed in the room that her and Kelsie shared. Kelsie looked up from doing crunches and exhaled as she finished them.

"Nothing really."

Kat folded her arms. "Liar."

Kelsie smiled. "We slept on the roof and watched the stars.", she shrugged. "That's about it."

Kat raised an eyebrow. "You're still lying." She pouted. "Come onnnn, Kelsie! TELL me!"

Kelsie grinned and finally let it all gush out. "Welll, I was up there just thinking about everything that was going on...you know, the tour and Justin and the way he's been acting lately, and then all of a sudden I hear his voice and it scared the HELL outta me. I seriously almost fell off the ledge I was sitting on. He got kinda worried when that happened, too. It was so cute.", she sighed. "He said he wouldn't know what to do without me....

Oh, but anyway, the next thing I know, he was standing in the middle of the roof looking up at the sky and he said how he'd always wanted to just lie outside all night under the stars so I said we should do it! I came back down and got some blankets and when I went back up, you should have seen the expression on his face. He was in the deepest thought I've ever seen and his forehead was all scrunched up...", she giggled. "It was TOO adorable."

Kat grinned. "And?"

"So, we were laying there next to each other, staring up at the stars. They were so beautiful, Kat. It was like they were shining extra bright just for us, ya know? We talked for awhile and we got on the topic of The Little Mermaid and when I said that Ariel was pretty, he said that she had nothing on me...."

"Awww!", Kat gushed. "Oh man, Kels, he is TOTALLY crushing."

"Shut up!", she hissed. "That wasn't even the best part though. After he said that, he totally reached down and grabbed my hand! Then we just layed there holding hands for awhile..."

"No way! What happened next!?", Kat exclaimed, her excitement building.

Kelsie frowned. "I think I fell asleep."

Kat's eyes grew huge and she sat straight up. "You WHAT?"

Kelsie nodded. "I KNOW! I was SO mad at myself! But wait, you have to listen to this dream I had... I was completely SHOCKED when he started shaking me to wake me up and I realized it wasn't real."

"I'm listening."

"Okay, so in the dream, we started playing this game -- the favorites game -- where you have to guess each other's favs. The only rules that Justin made up were that every one right, you had to exchange a kiss.", she sighed. "God, Kat, it was SO real... I could FEEL his lips on me...Why couldn't it have really happened?" She smacked her head. "For all I know it COULD have happened if I hadn't FALLEN the hell asleep!"

Kat laughed. "That SUCKS." She smiled. "But hey, you must be able to tell that it's obvious he has feelings for you..."

"But why won't he TELL me?"

Kat shrugged. "Maybe he's nervous or something. I saw him today when you were talking to that brown haired guy, the new singer or something..."

"Ron Irizzary."

"Yeah...him. Anyway, I was watching Justin when he saw you guys. He was MAD...let me tell you that. He was completely possessed by the green eyed monster."

Kelsie chuckled. "Really?"

Kat nodded. "Yep. I'm sure he'll tell you real soon..."

Kelsie frowned. "But I don't want him to...I mean, I DO...but I won't be able to handle it or...or accept it..."

Katherine's jaw dropped. "WHY?"

Kelsie shrugged. "I dunno...I can't listen to him tell me that he has feelings for ME when he still hasn't broken up with his girlfriend. I just can't handle that...it's not right and he himself said that he would never cheat on her no matter what the situation..."

Kat groaned. "Kelsie, are you for real? Say he comes up to you and just blurts out, 'Kelsie - I love you.'? What are you gonna say? 'Oh, sorry, no thanks.'??"

"I'll just say that he should come back and tell me that again when he's AVAILABLE."

Kat rolled her eyes. "You're impossible." She rolled onto her back and smiled. "BUT let's talk about me now... guess who JayyyyCeeee likes!?"

Kelsie laughed. "What happened when you guys were 'watching a movie'?"

Kat grinned devilishly. "We hooked up."

Kelsie squealed and jumped up off the bed. "NOOO WAY! Sweeet, Kat! Tell me, tell me...is he a good kisser?"

Kat giggled and bit her lip. "Ohhh yeah. Hey! Did you know his birthday is August eighth too??"

"Serious? That's so weird that you guys were born on the same day...", she smiled. "But enough about that...tell me about this kiss!"

Kat grinned. "You mean...kissES."

_________________________________________________________________________________

(the night of the first show - May 9: Biloxi, MS.)

Insane. If there was only one word to describe the atmosphere right about now, that would be it. Completely and utterly insane.

The trip up to Mississippi was nowheres near calming. The excitement that floated around was strong enough to suffocate anyone and the anxiety that pulsated through everyone's bodies was mind boggling. Everyone involved in the tour in the smallest way was on a seemingly permaneant high and everything besides the performances that were coming up were forgotten.

In the last five days, so much had taken place it was incredible. The days had seemed to stretch out so that they could get done what was needed to get done. The rehearsals lasted twenty two hours at the most, twenty at the least. The technicans worked on overdrive making sure everything was working properly, that the strings were strong, the lights were working, the sound was tuned, and the pyro was ready to be fired. The band prepped themselves and made sure they knew the music and the group of guys that all this comotion was for, tried to focus and put their all into the dress rehearsals.

Tonight, all their work and all their sweat would be showcased for thousands of fans to see. There was only about four hours until showtime and the group was arriving at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum one by one for soundcheck.

Kelsie had been there since two thirty, getting a feel for the arena and just doing some work before the guys got there. Kat had gone back to school yesterday, and that was upsetting for Kelsie...leaving her again. She wouldn't see her for almost two more weeks. So now she sat, her forehead in one hand, looking over the playlist and the other paperwork for tonight's show.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her around to look at him. "Kelsie, we need to talk."

He was panting, like he had just been running for a long time and his blue eyes pleaded with her. "Justin, what's wrong?"

"N...nothing. But I need to talk to you about something REALLY important..."

"Okay, go ahead.. What's wrong?"

He took a deep breath and was about to say something when a hand reached in around the door and yanked on Justin's arm. "Come on, we've gotta go do soundcheck man. Let's go...", Lance said through the opened door.

Justin groaned and looked at his watch. He was late. He turned back to look at her. "I still need to tell you something, so don't make plans."

She laughed. "I'm not going anywhere Justin. I'm stuck here ALL night."

He winked. "Good.", he dashed out the door and towards the stage to do the big soundcheck.

Kelsie shook her head with a laugh as the door closed behind him. She, herself, had to get out there in a few minutes to watch the soundcheck, so she began to clean up the mess of papers she had made around her. Justin had been acting weird around her for the past few days, jumpy one minute and extremely quiet the next. She wondered what was so important that he needed to tell her. The tour had come so quickly and so chaoticly that any and everything that she might have been preoccupied with before this "crunch time" began four days ago was completely washed out of her brain. The only thing that she could think of was the show...it's the only thing she would ALLOW herself to think about.

As the hours passed by quickly, the soundcheck went smoothly and it was drawing close to the two hour mark. The guys were getting ready to duck into the meet and greet room to meet the select group of fans that had been ushered into the small meeting room. They stood huddled in the corner in front of the door, waiting for JC to arrive. He was always, always late. Justin rubbed his hands together as they waited and looked at his friends. "I'm gonna tell her tonight...I think..."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "It's about time, anyway."

Justin glared at him. "Shut up, Lansten. No one asked your opinion."

"But I decided to give it anyway. Look, J, you've been in love with this girl for like how many months now? She can't wait forever for you to dish out your feelings to her. For all you know, she could already have a boyfriend somewhere back at her place that she hasn't told you about."

Justin sighed and rubbed his face. "She doesn't....she can't."

Before Lance could answer, JC came riding up to them on his Razor Scooter with a big, goofy smile on his face. All four of the guys rolled their eyes, each knowing that he must have been talking to Kat again. They proceeded to follow their coordinator into the room, plastering smiles on their faces and taking in the explosion of bright flashes that hit them in the face. Justin sighed while he signed the CD sleeves, tour programs, notepads, passes, tee shirts, or anything else that was shoved into his face. He smiled up at the girls that stared down at him with stars in their eyes and graciously shook hands, smiled for pictures, or reached up to give hugs. It all seemed to drag on tonight...usually he was so energetic during meet and greets and he loved doing them, but tonight it just seemed so dull. Plain and simple, he just didn't want to be there...

Ten minutes to go. Ten minutes seemed like an eternity. The guys were dressed in their stage costumes, the sheek expensive vaudeville clothing fitting them perfectly, though desparately needed to be broken in. They emerged from their dressing room, Joey holding the infamous hackey sack in his hand, unconciously squishing it around in his grip. They could hear the screaming from where they were, they could see it shaking the walls, they could feel it in their veins, they could smell the excitement that swept throughout the building and they could taste the energy that each of them felt inside of them. This was going to be INCREDIBLE.

A slew of people passed by them, running out to the stage sides to make sure the final touches were set to rock. Kelsie was one of them and she stopped long enough to give a few encouraging words.

"Guys, this is it. Go break some legs and show these people what you're made of!", she winked. "I'll be on the side of the stage, so if I were you, I had BETTER not forget any of my dance moves." She smiled and continued walking. "Good luck!!!"

They waved a thanks as she disappeared behind the curtains. Justin nodded as they formed a circle to toss the hackey around. "Yeah, guys, don't screw up because I need her to be in a good mood tonight.", he laughed.

They rolled their eyes and attempted to get a hackey. After six tries, they got it and huddled close for a prayer.

This....was....it.

__________________________________________________________________________________

"OH MY GOSH GUYS! THAT WAS INCREDDDDIBLE!", Kelsie squealed when they were all safe and back in the hotel. She grabbed them all in a huge bear hug and squeezed the remaining energy out of them. They stood around in the hallway talking excitedly about how well the show went and how receptive the fans were. If it was any premonition as to how the rest of the tour was going to go, things were going to be amazingly perfect.

While seventy-five percent of *NSYNC was thriving on excitement, Justin stood off to the side, unlocking his room door. He had had the time of his life out there on stage tonight, that was a no brainer, but he had let his adrenaline come to a slower pace on the way home. Right now, he had more important things to worry about. He slipped unnoticably into his room, heading straight for the shower.

Only when the door clicked shut, did the group standing around in the hallway realize that they were missing one. The excitement seemed to fizzle after awhile and they all retreated to their rooms, hoping to get some sleep before they left bright and early for Arkansas....well, except Joey, who headed out right after his shower.

An hour passed and Justin paced his room, frustrated. Stop being a wuss, Timbs. Just go straight over there, knock on her door, look her in the eyes, and tell her. Just DO it! He rubbed his forehead and checked his watch. It was late...he was taking quite a chance by going over there so late, but he really couldn't take it anymore. It was eating at his brain, making him crazy. He took a deep breath and checked his hair in the mirror before calmly walking down to her door.

He knocked quickly, thinking to himself there was no turning back now. His heart beat sped up as he heard her footsteps. He closed his eyes and said a fast prayer for courage before she opened the door.

"Hey, Justin. What's up?"

His eyes flew open and he smiled at her. "Hi."

She looked at him funny when he didn't say anything else. "What do you need?"

He frowned. Was this going to go as well as he hoped? He supposed there was only one was to find out. "I...I really need to talk to you."

She looked at her watch. "Can't it wait until tomorrow? It's kind of late and I'm sort of worn out from th-"

"No. I HAVE been waiting.", he stared at her until she opened the door wider so he could come in and he continued talking. "I have tried to tell you this SO many times before now but I never could and it's not going to wait any longer because I can't. I...I just CAN'T. I won't be able to sleep tonight without telling you. This is probably going to be the single most important thing I ever say in my life and I need you to be here to hear it."

She was beginning to get worried when she sensed the nervousness and anxiety in his voice, completely oblivious to the fact that what he wanted to tell her was about her. "Is something wrong? Did something happen? Are you okay?"

"No, no...", he shook his head quickly. "I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."

"Is it bad? Justin, I can't hear anything bad..."

He looked away from her for a second and glanced around the room. This was like, the LEAST romantic place in the entire world, yet here he was ready to tell her everything. He looked at her for a second, smiled at the way she was waving her hands around in a panic as she kept on talking, and let his eyes fall to her soft lips. No turning back now...

"...then I'll be ALL worried and thinking WAY too much the entire night and I'll be SO upset that I won't get any sleep and...."

Justin took a deep breath, grabbed her face and pulled her to his mouth, pressing his lips against hers in a kiss. The instant their mouths touched, there was an unbelievable electric charge that surged through their bodies. The power in the reaction that both of them felt inside of them was so huge that it almost felt as if they had just been struck by lightening. Kelsie's arms dropped to her sides and she instantly relaxed against him. Yet then, at the same time, they both pulled away and touched their lips, as if trying to shield them from something.

She stared at him for a full minute in complete and utter shock. Her eyes were as wide as two oversized bowling balls and she stammered on her words until she could say something. "Wh...I, I...why did you do that?

He watched her closely. She was almost shaking in disbelief. "Kelsie, I really need you to listen to me, okay?"

She inhaled sharply. "Y-you still have a girlfirend, Justin. To my knowledge, Chloe is STILL YOUR GIRLFRIEND, Justin."

"I know, but -- "

She shook her head wildly. "No...no, you just cheated on her! Justin, you even said th--"

"Kelsie, you are the one that told me she cheats on me and I believed it right away. I believed YOU. There isn't a second that goes by that that stupid girl doesn't cheat on me and --"

She turned away and backed away from him. "But that doesn't make it RIGHT, Justin... It's not right..."

He gripped his head in his hands, knowing that he couldn't think of an answer to that. He had been fighting this for so long, fighting the feelings he had in his heart for too long, and it wasn't doing him any good anymore. He was quiet for a long while, trying to put everything he felt into words...which is what he had been having so much difficulty with for the past month or so. Maybe Lance had been right when he said not to try, just to talk. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to give it a go. He finally took his head out of his hands and looked up at her confused face and suddenly felt this huge weight lift off of his shoulders because he knew everything was right. Just by looking at her, every little thing that he was worried about to begin with -- it all fell into place.

"Kelsie...", he started, taking one last deep breath. "Kelsie, I'm in love with you."

Her breath caught in her throat when the words hit her ears. She felt her chin begin to tremble and her eyes begin to water and she took a shaky breath. "N...no, you can't be...you, you can't..."

He studied her expression and it made his heart break. Here she was putting her love for him aside, the love for him that he KNEW she had, just because she knew he still hadn't broken up with Chloe...now that was something in its own. "But I AM. I AM, Kelsie."

She just shook her head again violently, trying to hold back the tears that were about to escape the brim of her eye.

"Just listen to me, please...", he reached for her hand and brought it up to his chest, flattening it out over his heart. "Do you feel that, Kelsie? That's beating for YOU. It's all for you...and I honestly can't think of a better or more deserving person to give it to. I've been struggling with how to tell you this for so long and I can't believe I've let it go so far untold... but I was scared...I was scared, confused, and I didn't know how to tell you something like this. Kelsie, I'm in love with everything about you.", he closed his eyes and just started talking, still holding her hand tightly.

"I'm in love with the way your eyes sparkle when you look at me, I'm in love with your smile, and how whenever you grin, the dimples in your cheeks stand out, I'm in love with the way your hair falls softly against your cheek and the way it gets in your eyes when you dance. I'm in love with the passion you have for your dancing, I'm in love with the way you're always, ALWAYS there for me when I need you the most, I'm in love with the way you make me laugh, the way that you make me feel like I'm the most important person you've ever known...I'm in love with the way that you make me feel so incredibly comfortable when I'm with you and the way your presence brings such a peaceful and such a strong sense of RIGHT to my life..."

Kelsie had tears rolling down her face and just barely found the strength in her voice to speak. "Justin please...stop..."

He shook his head and kept going. "I love the way you close your eyes and sway your head when you watch our shows and the way you think that no one is watching you when you do it. I'm in love with your laugh and how whenever I hear it a surge of warmth pulsates through my body. I love your voice, how it sounds like angels singing. I love the way you smell because it makes me feel like I'm right where I belong...like I'm home... I love the way every little thing has to be perfect, and I love the way you are so stubborn when you want something done your way. I'm in love with the way your forehead scrunches up when you get angry. I love the way you make fun of me and the way you yell at me... And I love the way you're putting your love for me aside because Chloe is still kind of in the picture."

By the time he finished, he himself was crying out of disbelief because of how true it all was. "And lastly, there's only ONE thing I hate. I hate the way that I let MYSELF fall in love with you when I still haven't broken up with HER."

He leaned over and kissed away each new tear that fell onto her face. In a whisper, he completed his thoughts, knowing that he had just told her everything straight from the heart. "Don't you see, Kelsie? YOU are everything that I've ever wanted..."