Justin gazed into Jordan's troubled eyes and cocked his head to the side, trying to read her thoughts. She shifted impatiently from one foot to the other as she waited for Justin to answer her. "Well?!?" she said finally, tossing her hands up in frustration.
"It's not a big deal..." Justin said casually, running his fingers nervously though his tangled mass of curls.
"Well it would be LESS of a big deal if you would just spit it out. What about Britney could you possibly feel the need to share with me? If it's not that she asked you out, then what is it? She wanted you to come over for a slumber party so you two could bedazzle your denim jackets together?! What?" Jordan said, her dark eyes piercing Justin's clear blue ones.
Justin sighed, rolling his eyes at Jordan's impatience. "If you'd let me continue and stop interrupting then you'd find out what I was going to tell you." he shot back.
"Whate--" she started.
"Shhh," Justin raised his eyebrow at his girlfriend, holding a finger up to silence her. "By the way, I resent that bedazzling comment. I do not bedazzle, I accent with rhinestones. There's a difference."
"It's the same thing." Jordan interjected before he could silence her again.
"ANYWAYS..." he said emphatically, "As I was saying...Britney wanted me to apologize to you...for her rudeness earlier."
"Britney, rude? NO!" Jordan said, gasping in mock horror. Ignoring the dirty look Justin shot her, she motioned for him to continue.
"See, she was getting ready to leave for another party, when her mother saw me standing here and suggested Britney come over to say hello." Justin explained, "So she did, and I guess she felt pretty awkward with you standing there...cuz well, she doesn't think you like her very much. That's why she said your sister was looking for you...she wanted to talk to me for a few minutes without feeling like you were giving her the death look." he finished.
Jordan rolled her eyes. "Honestly Justin, I was NOT giving her the death look. I don't even think I HAVE a death look. She was the one being a huge bitch to me...you heard some of the stuff she said."
"You WERE giving her a look, and you have to admit that the tension was pretty evident. I see your point, but I see how you being around would make her uncomfortable too." Justin reached out gently for Jordan's hand.
Jordan smiled slightly as she let him take ahold of her hand, feeling most of the anger disappear within her. Letting Justin pull her into a tight hug, she looked up at him. "Although I hate to say it, she was right."
Justin furrowed his brow in confusion. "Right about what?"
"I DON'T like her." Jordan said, giggling slightly as Justin looked down at her in surprise before she escaped from his hug. Stealing his drink off of the bar where he had set it down, she darted through the crowd.
"Hey! That's my drink!" he laughed, hurrying after her, happy everything was resolved...as it was too great an evening to ruin the memory of it with a fight.
****
"Ughhh..."
Leigh awoke to a slight knock on the door to the room she shared with Jordan. Peeking out from under a mountain of covers, she opened one eye to see what time it was before groaning her disapproval when she noticed the red numbers glaring 8:15. "Who is it?" she mumbled to the unknown outside of their door, not making any effort to get out of bed and find out herself.
Rach peeked in the door of the room, "Leigh?" she mumbled, holding her head as well as attempting to shield her eyes from the brightness of the room. "Do you have any Advil? I've got a killer headache...I probably shouldn't have had that last drink last night."
"I don't...ask Jordan." Leigh said, her voice muffled as she flopped her head back into the pillows that littered the bed.
Rach shuffled over to the bed where Jordan lay, and giggled before moaning again from the piercing pain of a hangover. "She looks too cute to wake up. Plus she'll be a bear...she always is in the morning."
Leigh rolled on her side and frowned at the blonde, "We've been asleep for a half hour Rachel. For God's sake, even I'm a freakin grizzly at this point in time. So although I feel your pain, it's like look in her purse or get out so I can sleep before our meeting with Johnny."
"Fine." Rach snarled, unusually quick tempered. Grabbing Jordan's purse off of the floor, she rifled through it before emerging triumphant, then leaving with the bottle of Advil in hand.
Leigh watched her leave and shook her head, "What's her deal?" she muttered before falling back into a deep sleep.
****
"Hey J, get your lazy ass outta bed. We have to meet Johnny at Jive in 45 minutes." Chris shouted from the main room of the hotel suite.
"You talkin to me foo?"
"If your name is Justin and you have a bushy ass afro poof that takes you 20 minutes just to rake through before you enter any sort of public place, then yes. I am talking to you." the short dark haired man retorted back.
A headful of curly hair peeped through the open door. "And what if I don't hurry?" he smirked.
"I'll beat yo ass and tease your hair."
Justin threw his head back in laughter, his eyes twinkling. "Please don't!"
Chris crossed his arms in front of him and tried to look stern and fatherly. "Why's that?"
"Cuz if you do there's a good chance I might develop a stutter. Puh-puh-puhleeze don't do that to me." Justin replied imitating the little boy from 'Big Daddy'.
Chris laughed out loud before pointing at the clock, "40 minutes and counting."
"Yeah, yeah." Justin said before disappearing back into the room he shared with Lance.
Thirty minutes later, all the guys with the exception of Justin were waiting in the lobby for the missing group member and the five women of Eternity. JC looked impatiently at his watch before rolling his eyes, "What in God's name could possibly be taking so long? Johnny's gonna be pissed if we're late, especially since he rescheduled it for later in the day to accomodate us."
Lance frowned slightly at JC's annoyance and shrugged, "They're women..."
"True. But that doesn't give Justin an excuse." the dark haired man stated in return.
"Well he uses as much beauty crap on his hair as a woman does, so I guess it's about the same thing." Joey snorted before laughing to himself.
"I heard that!" Ashlee said, walking up behind the four men.
"Me too, and I'm telling!" Rachel smiled smugly.
"Telling what?" Jordan piped up, joining the group.
"Well..." Chris smirked, glancing around at the rest of the group before turning back to Jordan. "I don't know if you can take it."
Jordan rolled her eyes, "Hit me."
"Okay!" Chris said, and pretended to prepare to strike before Jordan quickly moved out of the way laughing.
"So tell me! I'm nosy!"
"We know what you did last summer." He said, laughing at his corny reply. Jordan groaned and slapped him on the ass as he doubled over in laughter.
"Seriously could you come up with something decent next time? Something remotely funny?" she teased back as she continued swatting him.
Chris stood upright and turned quickly so Jordan couldn't hit him anymore. Throwing his hands up triumphantly, he shouted, "I AM THE FUNNIEST MAN ALIVE!" Then, noticing Justin coming out of the elevator along with Leigh and Tressa, he stuck his tongue out at Jordan before darting out the door to the awaiting limo.
"I think we aged a few years waiting for ya there Justy!" Rach joked as the rest of the crew headed to the limo.
"Yeah, yeah. It takes time to look this good." Justin grinned, patting his curls gently. "Unfortunately you don't know anything about that." he joked, tugging on Rachel's blonde hair.
"Of course I don't...I wake up this beautiful!" she teased, making a sweeping motion with her hand toward the open limo door. "After you Miss America."
Justin shook his head and his face lit up as he laughed. "Thank you. I'll be sure to remember all the little people such as yourself. You're too kind." he finished before wiggling his eyebrows at her and entering the long vehicle.
'What a dork.' Rach thought to herself, 'But so charming...I can see why Jordan thinks the world of him...along with the entire 12 year old population.' Shaking her head, she climbed into the limo behind him.
****
"Johnny said for ya'll to go on back, he's been waiting for you to arrive." the secretary at Jive greeted the two groups pleasantly, gesturing toward the long hallway. "He's in the third room on the left."
"Thank you Charlotte." Leigh said politely as they made their way down the hall, hoping Johnny wasn't too pissed about them being more than 15 minutes late.
Johnny sat patiently and greeted the two groups with a smile and gestured for them to take seats around the large glass topped table. "Good evening!" he said, still glowing from Eternity's surprise win at the Grammy's the night before.
"Sorry we're late Johnny." Lance said apologetically.
Johnny frowned slightly and dismissed his comment with a wave of his hand. "No need to apologize Lance, I just got here a few minutes ago myself. But now that we're all here, there are some very important things we need to go over." As he spoke, he picked up a large file of papers and handed several sheets to each individual that was sitting around the large table.
"What--?" JC started, but Johnny stopped him before he could ask.
"Now boys, I'm sure you are probably familiar with these...they just look a little different now that we're with Jive. Girls, don't worry, I'll explain everything in a minute." he explained patiently.
Looking down at the stark white papers that she held in her hand, Jordan flipped to the second page. At the top was a pretty self explanatory "SCHEDULE: N SYNC" in bold letters. Skimming over it quickly, she noticed that they were scheduled to head back to Orlando the day Eternity was supposed to start filming their 'Making of the Video' for MTV. Frowning slightly, she read over the rest of the schedule, noting that soon after their return to Orlando, they were to finish up some last minute things with the NSA album and then start rehearsals for their tour which would start in May and go thru the end of July. Looking up before turning the page, Jordan noticed the looks of disappointment as everyone else quietly flipped through the sheets of paper they held tightly in their hands.
Continuing on, Jordan brushed her bangs out of her eyes before she began reading the next page, which read "SCHEDULE: ETERNITY". Her eyes rushed over the contents, and her disappointment grew as she read off the dates in her mind.
The dates continued on thru March with the girls recording overseas as well as several trips between New York City and Orlando. Jordan sat back in her chair and was met with Justin's cloudy blue eyes, showing his disapproval in the separation of the two groups as well.
Johnny stared back at ten upset expressions as the labelmates finished reading their schedules. "You guys, I'm sorry. It can't be helped. You're just at different points in your careers now. It's not fesible to have you tour together at this particular time. I know you all have grown used to being around each other, having time off together...but this is the way it is."
The room was silent, the air heavy with disappointment as the two groups sat staring at their manager with obvious discontent.