It was Tuesday morning and Alli and Jill only had three days left until the taping of the show.
"What are we gonna do?" Jill asked Alli.
"I don't know, but we better think of something fast or Jeff is gonna kill us," she told her.
There was a knock at the door.
"I hate to interrupt but I have some bad news," Candice told them.
"What now?" Jill questioned, "Nothing can be worse than two of the five celebrities cancelling."
"Actually, now it's four of the five celebrities cancelling," she said, "The only one that can make it is Freddie Prinze Jr. Something about the WB network not allowing the guys to participate. That's all their agents would tell me."
"This cannot be happening," Alli said burying her face in her hands.
Just then the phone rang.
"Matchmaker Productions, this is Jill," she said into the receiver.
"Hey baby, how's work going?" the voice said back.
"Hey JC, works not going too good," she told him.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Yes there is," Jill said suddenly coming up with a plan, "Can you and Joey meet us for lunch in about 20 minutes?"
"Yeah, I'm sure we can. What's up?" JC asked curiously.
"We'll talk about it over lunch. I've got to talk to Alli first," Jill said.
Alli looked up at Jill and raised her eyebrows.
"Okay, we'll meet you at Chili's," JC said.
"Bye," Jill said hanging up the phone.
"What do you need to talk to me about? You look like you're up to something," Alli questioned.
"I'll tell you in the car," Jill said picking up her purse and heading out the door.
JC and Joey were standing at the entrance to Chili's when Alli and Jill walked up.
"That's a really great idea," Alli was saying, "Do you think they'll do it?"
"Do what?" JC interrupted.
"Let's go inside and talk," Jill said to them, still trying to keep them in suspense.
They all went in and got a table.
"What is the big secret?" JC asked looking even more curious.
"Hi, my name's Sara and I'll be your waitress today. What can I get y'all to drink?" she interrupted.
"Actually, I think we wanna go ahead and order our food too. We're on a tight schedule," Alli told her.
Alli, Joey and JC quickly ordered their food and then waited for Jill. She didn't know what she wanted and JC was getting antsy. He started pointing out different things on the menu to help her decide. His curiosity was making him crazy.
"Finally," he said as the waitress gathered the menus and walked away, "You do realize you're killing us. What is going on?"
Jill looked right at Joey, "Don't tease, we are officially desperate."
Joey cracked up laughing, "Let me guess, you need help with the show."
"Most of our celebrities had to cancel due to network problems and now we're stuck," Alli told them.
"We were hoping you and Joey would come on as two of our bachelors. We'll need one of the other guys to help too," Jill continued.
JC thought for a moment, "I don't think me and Joey can do it," he said.
Jill and Alli looked crushed.
"But," JC continued, "We might be willing to reconsider if you allow ALL of *NSYNC to do the show."
JC explained to them that the group was having a hard time booking appearances on tv shows and really wanted to get some air time for the whole group.
"Okay, let me call Jeff and see what he thinks," Alli said pulling her cell phone out.
She dialed the number to Jeff's office, "Hey Jeff, this is Alli. Listen, we've got something we want to run by you."
"I'm all ears," Jeff said hoping she was bringing him good news.
Alli proceeded to tell Jeff of their new plan for the show. He was more than receptive considering the problems they'd had already.
"What do you think?" Alli finished.
"It sounds great. Can you get the guys here to sign a waiver today?" Jeff asked.
"I'm sure we can," Alli reassured him.
"Great, I'll leave it in you and Jill's capable hands."
"It's done," Alli told them, "We just need the five of you to come down to the office and sign your waivers."
"Do you think the rest of the guys will be okay with this?" Jill asked them.
"I'm sure they will. I'm just worried that Andie and Jenn won't let Lance and Justin do it," Joey told them.
"I don't think that will be a problem, they know how important this show is to us," Jill said smiling at Alli.
They got in the car and headed back towards the office to let the other guys know what was going on.
