"Hey dorks, wake up! We're at the airport, and wait till ya get a load of this." Rachel said, poking Justin, Jordan, and Joey awake.
"Huh? We're here already?" Jordan sat up quickly, pushing the hair out of her eyes, and struggling to focus.
"Yep! Lou just stepped on the plane a minute ago to prepare us for the mob scene waiting inside." Leigh mentioned as she walked around, gathering her bags.
"GET UP!" Rachel tugged on Justin's curls, trying to rouse him from his deep sleep. "Curly, if you don't get your lazy ass up in like 3 seconds, you are goin down mister."
Justin stirred slightly, and swatted Rachel's hand away from his hair. "Don't touch me," he mumbled.
"Then get your buns movin! We have to get ready to go out into teenybopper hell...so open those eyes boy, and show me you're still alive!"
Justin opened his eyes halfway for Rachel's benefit. "Now leave me alone!" He closed his eyes for a few more minutes, but opened them again when he felt someone bump his arm.
"Sorry...I didn't mean to bump you." Jordan apologized as she threw a sweatshirt on, and pushed her long hair under a hat, pulling the ponytail through the hole in the back. "I guess Lou said the fans waiting are unbelievable. They found out what time our flight was coming in, and have been waiting for hours. It's craziness."
Justin shrugged, he was used to all the fan hysteria. "I just really don't feel like posing for pictures and signing autographs forever. I am so tired, and I am sure we don't have a day off tomorrow, knowing Lou. I just want to get home and get in bed." he frowned, picturing the mob scene already.
"Well, I am sure we won't have that problem...seeing as how most of the fans are there to see N Sync, not Eternity." Tressa commented as she put her jacket on.
"Well, ya know...we are the POPULAR ones," Chris said to Tressa teasingly.
Ten minutes or so later, the two groups stepped off the plane and into the terminal. Chris and Rachel led the way up to the opening of the gate, where they could hear all the people laughing and talking loudly. Joey, Leigh, Lance, Ashlee, and Tressa were close behind them...while Jordan, Justin, and JC lagged behind.
"Wow" Rachel stopped in mid step, before exiting the terminal. As soon as the crowd caught a glimpse of the tall blonde and the man with the braids standing next to her, they knew they had hit the jackpot after hours of waiting. The area filled with screams and frenzied waving, and jumping around. The gate was filled with girls and guys, ranging in anywhere in age, from 6-22.
As Rachel stood there, Joey, who had been busy dialing a number on his cell phone, bumped into her. "Um..HELLO? Joseph? Don't you walk much or what?" Rachel turned to glare at the Italian.
"Well why didn't you see him coming? That bright orange hair is enough to flag down a large plane!" Chris chuckled.
The groups surveyed the gate area, as security made their way towards them.
"Ya know, it's kinda hard to tell who's fans are whose." Leigh commented, scanning the crowd.
"Well, OBVIOUSLY the male fans are pretty much all yours, and the female fans are ours." Justin said matter of factly.
"Oh really? So how do you explain...them?" Rachel smiled smugly as she pointed discreetly past one of the security guards who was roping off a path for them. Justin looked over Joey's shoulder to where Rachel was pointing. He saw a large group of adolescent males, holding up signs that said 'Point Your Erection in My Direction!' with pictures of him plastered around the lettering. Justin's face turned a deep shade of red as the rest of the group started laughing.
"Yeah Justin...Eternity sure does have..uh..ALL the guy fans." Jordan struggled to keep in her laughter as Rachel motioned for a security guard to come over to her. When he reached her, she lowered her voice discreetly, motioning toward the group of guys with her hand. The security guard nodded, then went to clear a path to the boys.
"Come on Justin...all you guys...you have to come get a picture with some of your BIGGEST fans!" Rachel said loudly, barely containing her laughter. She grabbed Justin and JC by the hand, as Jordan shoved Joey along after them. Chris and Lance followed reluctantly, led by Leigh and Tressa. Ashlee was helping Jordan push Joey, but got distracted by a cute guy in a blue tshirt along the way.
"Ohmygod, aren't you guys so excited that Justin is standing right in front of you?" Rachel asked the obviously homosexual group of young men. "Hey aren't you Eddie from TRL...who asked JC bout his fantasy?" She asked. When the boy nodded shyly, she gave JC a shove towards him. "Let's get a picture!" The girls pushed the guys toward their admirers and grabbed the young boys' cameras to take some photos.
"Ok, let's see some happy faces!" Tressa giggled as she looked through the lens.
"Get in close...that's it. Don't be shy now!" Leigh said playfully.
Jordan and Rachel exchanged mischevious glances before adding their own little commentary. "Justin...where's your hand?! Oops, there it is...my bad!" Jordan giggled like a little girl as Justin shot her a dirty look.
"Justin, were you honking that poor boys buns?" Rachel said with a straight face, her hand on her hip. When Justin gave her a look that would kill, all the girls started laughing uncontrollably. They finished up the little "photo session", handed the boys their cameras back, and proceeded through the crowd to the baggage claim.
"You guys SUCK!" Chris said loud enough for the girls to hear.
"Um...no we don't, but your new fans might if you asked nicely." Ashlee said with a devilish grin.
"Oh, man that was a low blow Ashlee." JC said, looking down at her disapprovingly.
Ashlee shrugged, and adjusted her bag that was slipping off of her shoulder. "Ya know JC, it wouldn't hurt you to remove that stick from your butt once in a great while."
JC shook his head and turned to grab his bag that was coming toward him on the luggage belt. "I'm not even gonna waste a reply on that comment Ashlee. We're all tired, so let's just let it go." he said.
The groups glanced at each other, all looking tired, with bags under their eyes. After grabbing their bags, the five guys and five girls walked out to their limo. From there, they would return to the Transcon lot to get their cars and head home for the night.
***
"Hahah, look at Lance. He tries sooo hard, yet fails to impress me, or anyone else for that matter." Tressa laughed and pointed at the Mississipian through the glass.
"Oooh, poor Lance. Why do they always have to stick him next to Justin? I mean, nevermind that he can't dance, but putting him next to arguably the best dancer in the group? That's torture!" Leigh said, trying not to giggle as she watched him struggling with the new choreography through the window.
As the girls entered the Transcon lobby, Lou's secretary called them over. "Hi ladies..nice to see you. I heard TRL went well, so I just wanted to say good work. Also, Lou and Johnny will be in the lounge with the boys in a few minutes. Apparently, MTV has something about the massive crowds greeting you guys last night that he wants you all to watch."
"Ok, thanks! Are they there right now? Or do we have time to put our stuff down in the practice room?" Tressa asked.
"You should have a few minutes to go throw your stuff in there, but hurry, it should be starting soon."
The five of them wandered back into the practice room at Transcon. The boys had just finished up their choreography session that the girls had peeked in on outside. Lance was talking to Darrin, trying to figure out one of the many moves that he was having problems with. Joey and JC were goofing around, laughing and yelling at Chris, who was swatting at them with a white towel. Justin, wearing a wifebeater, was digging through his bag, looking for a tshirt to put on before heading to the lounge.
The girls threw their stuff on the couches, and walked down the hall to the lounge. Lou and Johnny were already there waiting, the big screen tv turned up loud.
"Hey ladies, nice job yesterday. You were presented with some pretty tough questions, but pulled through them like pros." Lou said warmly, a big smile on his chubby face.
"Well, it wouldn't have happened that way if we wouldn't have gone through the millions of hours of media training we suffered through." Ashlee said cheerfully.
"This is an MTV news brief. Where you hear it first.."
"Oh it's starting...sit down girls. Boys, come in, come in." Lou beckoned to the boys as they were coming into the lounge.
"Last night, N Sync and Eternity left New York City to head back to their hometown of Orlando. The two groups were here doing various promotionals for their upcoming cd releases and tours. Eternity debuted on TRL and did a Tower Records signing, while N Sync paid a visit to a radio show here in Manhattan. Arriving back in Florida late last night, the groups created a mob scene at the airport. Seems as though Eternity is giving N Sync a run for it's money in the fan department, as most of the fans seemed to be there to support the ladies."
Justin snorted and rolled his eyes as if to say 'whatever'. When Jordan glanced at him, he was staring intently at the tv, a pissed off look on his face.
*TV shows several clips of airport crowd, many holding up signs and pictures of Eternity* "Also, the two groups arriving together started some speculation about a couple possible romances, namely Eternity's Jordan and N Sync's Justin."
Eight heads swiveled around to look at Jordan and Justin, who were sitting on chairs near each other. They glanced at each other before looking down at the floor. "Oooh Justin...anything you wanna tell us?" Chris joked.
Justin looked up, his cheeks flushed, eyes flashing. "Actually no Chris, the only thing I have to say is congratulations to the girls, seeing how they haven't even released their album, but are already "giving us a run for our money in the fan department", he said sarcastically before walking out of the lounge.
"What crawled up his butt and died?" Tressa whispered to JC and Leigh.
"My dog." said Rachel, trying to lighten the mood.
"Maybe we should go talk to him?" Joey mentioned cautiously, feeling the confusion in the room.
"No, you guys can go home, ladies...rehearsals are starting in ten minutes. Don't keep Darrin waiting, ok? I will go speak with Justin." Johnny stood up and walked down the hall after the blonde.