(Three Days Later)
Ryan stared at the computer screen, squinting her eyes to adjust to the brightness.
"Why isn't THIS WORKING?" Ryan said getting frustrated. Ryan double-clicked on the icon that read, "*N SYNC" and waited for the site to fully load.
"Looks good..." she mumbled under her breath.
Ryan looked over the display she had created. The new and improved *N SYNC Web site was up and running. Or so she hoped. Ryan clicked on the link labeled "Lyrics" and it started to load. Ryan's face expression turned from relaxed to surprised and unsure. The screen turned white with the text, "Connection timed out". Ryan waited and counted to ten to herself. She exhaled softly and clicked on the close button. The screen froze, making Ryan panic.
"NO NO NO! DON'T do this to me!" A box suddenly appeared on the screen. Ryan read over the text, "You have performed an ILLEGAL? Operation...this system will now shut DOWN! But I DIDN'T save ANY of this!"
Ryan placed her forehead in the palm of her hand and sighed. She clicked the OK button, shutting the system down. She had no other choice. There was NOTHING she could do. She slammed her head on her desk and scolded herself.
"Your SO stupid Ryan! How many times have you been told to save your stuff like EVERY five minutes...Why do you have to be so stu--"
The door opened, interrupting her little discussion with herself. JC peered his head through the door and looked up at Ryan.
"Oh...I'm sorry...Are you in the middle of a meeting or anything?" JC asked looking around the room, seeing no one with her.
His eyes turned back to her and he smiled lightly.
"Oh...no... I-I'm not..." Ryan blushed.
She knew that he had heard her talking to someone, but he didn't know that she was talking to herself.
"Oh...all right...Look...a bunch of us are going downstairs to get some lunch...and we wanted to know if you wanted to join us."
Ryan looked down at her laptop. She had lost EVERYTHING on that last entry that she had worked on and she had a lot to catch up on. Ryan exhaled and sighed softly to herself.
"Well...JC...I'd love to bu--"
"Ms Joleigh!" Johnny called walking into the office. Johnny noticed JC and smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "What do you have planned for lunch today Ms Joleigh? Or have you all ready taken your lunch hour?"
"Well," JC started. " We were gonna take her out. At least just down stairs...but she hasn't answered me yet..."
Johnny smiled and turned to Ryan, "Go ahead Ms Joleigh...it's important that you relieve some of the stress that you're under and you need to take breaks. Plus, this is a good way to see the boys for who they REALLY are...Go, go to lunch...have fun!"
Ryan smiled shyly but returned her glance to her computer. "I dunno...I have A LOT of--"
"Ryan..." Johnny asked softly.
Ryan turned her gaze to Johnny. He had a stern look on his face and she knew that she was fighting a losing battle. Ryan sighed gently and nodded her head. JC smiled and walked over to Ryan, waiting for her to get her purse. Ryan looked up from her purse and looked at JC. She smiled, with a light glow on her cheeks.
"This way Miss..." JC said, leading her down to the elevator.
(At Lunch)
JC pulled out a chair for Ryan. She sat down on the chair and thanked him. Ryan took a quick glance around the table to see whom she was sitting next to. To her left was JC, who was chatting up a conversation with Justin to his left. Ryan turned her head to her right and saw Joey. He smiled at her along with a quick, friendly wink. Ryan blushed and turned her head to the center of the table.
Ryan picked at her salad that she had taken when her and JC had gone up in line together. The guys were talking about everything. The up coming Tour and tomorrow's schedule. Ryan didn't talk much, since she didn't have anything to say among the topics.
Ryan felt that someone was looking at her for quite sometime now, but was afraid to see who was. She placed her fork down, and looked up to see who was looking at her. Her eyes met with the crystal green eyes she favored. She blinked, expecting his eyes to disembark from hers. They remained on hers. Ryan didn't understand at all. He seemed like he hated her, but now she was starting to this other wise. Ryan swallowed deeply and decided to speak to him.
"H-Hi Lance..."
Lance continued to stare at her. She started to feel really uncomfortable. She looked away from him and turned to see what time it was. It was 12:34...she still had twenty minutes left of her lunch break. She wanted it so badly to end now. She looked back at Lance. His eyes were still on her. Ryan exhaled and had enough of his games.
"What is it Lance? Do I have something in my teeth that you have to CONTINUALLY stare at me and make me feel UNCOMFORTABLE around you?"
The whole table became silent and watched the two stare at each other. Lance leaned back into his chair and folded his arms comfortably on his chest.
"What is it Lance? WHAT did I do to you to make you hate me?"
Ryan wanted answers and she wanted them NOW. One of Ryan's biggest fears is people hating her. She didn't understand what she did to him, and now that he wasn't answering her made her really upset.
Lance continued to look at Ryan, his eyes relaxed and his face showing no expression.
"Hi guys..."
No one in the table turned to look who had acknowledged them. "Whoa, tough crowd...Lance? Lance are you all right?"
Lance finally let go of Ryan's gaze and looked up at the familiar voice. His lips formed a smile at the sight of her and he got up from his chair and embraced her in a hug.
"Oh Anne, it's so good to see you..." Lance trailed off.
Anne smiled and wrapped her arms around Lance. Anne's eyes slid closed from being in Lance's arms. She opened her eyes and saw Ryan, in complete awe.
"Ryan!... Hi..."
Ryan's stomach started to feel like it was being pulled into knots. She was gonna be sick.
"I didn't know that you knew *N SYNC..." Anne said being released from Lance's firm hold. Anne looked around the four guys and then again at Ryan. Anne looked confused at the sight.
"Yeah!" Lance started, "She's our--"
"Lance! NO!" Ryan begged.
Lance's lips twitched and formed into a grin...The grin made Ryan lean back into her chair and hold her stomach. "She's our new Journalist..."
