****
"Jordan...Justin...wake up please." Jordan's mother Karen said soothingly, nudging the pair with a gentle hand.
Jordan wrinkled her nose and buried her head further under the blanket that covered her and Justin as they still lay on the couch. Opening her eyes slightly at her mother's repeated urging, she squinted against the brightness filtering in from the large picture window. "What?"
Throwing some wood into the fireplace, Karen restarted the fire that had burned down to embers during the night. "Our phone's been ringing off the hook this morning, Mo has called about three times, Lynn called, Johnny called, and Chris called...but I still am unclear to why he may have called. Such a hyper young man." she laughed, shaking her head as she recalled Chris' phone call.
"My mom called?" Justin mumbled, rubbing a hand over his face as he struggled to focus against the brilliant white from outdoors that lit up the room. Sitting up slightly, he looked at Jordan's mother. "She probably just wondered when my flight to Memphis was..." he started, before Karen interrupted him with a laugh.
Karen shook her head. "I'm sorry Justin but we had a hell of a snowstorm last night, and all the major airports closed down. Your mother just wanted to make sure you got in okay and that you weren't stranded in some random airport still waiting for a flight here. She said she'll call back later, but it doesn't look like you'll be getting home for Christmas."
Jordan sat straight up. "What about the New Year's concert in New York? We're supposed to leave on the 29th...is the weather supposed to calm down at all?"
A disappointed look on her face, Karen gazed at her eldest daughter. "I don't know hon, we'll just have to see. The forecast doesn't look good right now, the wind and snow are supposed to pick up again around early evening, and is expected to go on like that for a few days."
Justin and Jordan exchanged worried looks, both of them hoping the four of them would be able to make it to NYC in time for the final show of the year 2000.
Their thoughts were interrupted quickly by the doorbell's persistant ring. Rachel, who was making her way down the stairs, opened the front door on her way past. As the door swung open, the blonde burst out laughing as she gazed at their neighbor and friend standing on their front porch. Hearing her laughter, Jordan and Justin got up and curiously glanced out into the front hallway. Also wondering what was going on, Joey left his breakfast sitting at the kitchen table and joined his friends in the entryway. At the sight of April, all four of them were in hysterics, Jordan laughing so hard she could barely breathe.
"Are those...MOON BOOTS you're wearing?" Jordan managed to squeal out between gasping breaths.
April nodded proudly, "Yep. I figured since Justin's such a child of the 80's, he'd appreciate them for sure." she stated, sending them into even more fits of laughter.
"Cute." Rachel said, shaking her head as she rolled her eyes. "Come on in..." she gestured, moving out of the way for April to enter the home.
"Looks like you two just rolled out of bed." April observed, pointing at Justin's rats nest of curls and Jordan's tangled locks.
"Actually we just rolled off the couch but yeah, pretty much." Justin replied, trying to rake his fingers through his messy fro.
"So I assume you've heard the news?" Joey asked, leaning up against the oak railing of the stairs.
"Yup. So I figure if we're stuck we might as well have fun. Now go get ready." April urged, nudging Rachel toward the front coat closet as the others agreed and quickly ran to get dressed in warmer clothes.
****
"Oof!" Justin grunted as he fell backwards into the snow. Lying on his back, he began moving his arms and legs in an outward motion. Then, standing up carefully and with Jordan's assistance, he turned to gaze down proudly at his creation in the snow.
"Aww how cute, you made a snow angel!" Joey squealed in a high pitched voice as he ran by, accidentally stepping on the imprint made by Justin's head.
"Hey! You stepped on my head!" Justin protested, reaching down to grab some snow as he quickly formed it into a tightly packed ball. Grinning mischeviously at his friend, he raised an arm to throw it.
Looking over his shoulder at Justin preparing to toss a snowball at him, Joey wasn't watching where he was going and collided with a slender figure. A flurry of motion and a tangle of arms and legs landed him on top of Rachel in the snow.
Justin laughed loudly at Joey's clumsiness and quickly readjusted his aim to hit April in the butt with his snowball.
"Oh. You did NOT just hit me with that Timberlake." April said, reaching down to make her own snowball to toss at him.
Rachel smiled up at Joey as he lay over her, his face showing signs of embarassment. "I'm sorry!" he said sheepishly, "It was Justin's..."
The blonde silenced him with a tight hug. "It's okay. Let's get him." she stated, wiggling her eyebrows as Joey nodded in agreement and the duo quickly began forming snowballs with their hands.
"Jordan! Telephone...I think it's Mo." Karen shouted from the porch at her daughter.
Jordan dropped the snowball she had been clutching and ran toward the house and stepped inside the entryway as her mom handed her the cordless phone. "Hello?"
"May I just ask why you crazy mid-westerners think Christmas and snow have to coincide? What is wrong with Florida? So it's not minus 30 degrees...so it's not blizzard conditions...but it's CHRISTMAS REGARDLESS!" Mo said with a melodramatic tone as her voice drifted over the phone line.
"I take it you've seen the weather reports?"
"Seen them? I have been up for almost 12 hours watching the weather channel, hoping that God really doesn't hate me and it's all some cruel joke that the people at the National Weather Service are playing on me." Mo retorted dryly.
"I'm sure everything will clear up in a few days...it usually never lasts as long as the weather says it will. Don't worry!" Jordan reassured her friend, noticing out of the corner of her eye that April was trying to sneak onto the porch. Watching as her friend held up a ball of tightly packed white snow, Jordan squealed and tried to shut the front door. "AGH! DO NOT THROW THAT SNOWBALL! I'M IN THE HOUSE!!!" Jordan screeched into the phone by accident. "Oh, sorry Mo." she said quickly after realizing she had just probably blown her friend's eardrums out.
"It's okay...but what I need to talk to you about is.." Mo got cut off by a loud yelp.
"You are sooo dead!" Jordan yelled at her neighbor. "I'm sorry Mo, I'll call you later. Bye!" she hung up the phone and set it on the steps before running outside to get revenge on her friend.
****
Standing patiently in the bustling waiting area of the Orlando International Airport, Johnny looked down at his watch. Turning to JC, who stood next to him, he frowned slightly. "Have you seen Justin or Joey? I thought they knew we were all meeting here to leave for New York. Did I forget to mention the time and date to them?"
JC shrugged his shoulders, a clueless look gracing his chiseled features. "Well if it's December 29th, 2000 and the time is 5:00 pm...then they heard the same thing I did when we had our meeting. I have no idea where they are."
Chris bit his tongue as Johnny gave him a questioning glance, but before his manager could ask him if he knew anything about his bandmates whereabouts, Mo walked up with Ashlee.
"Mo! There you are. Have you heard if Jordan and Rachel will be able to make it out in time?" Johnny asked, moving beside his assistant and placing a gentle hand on her back.
Mo looked up at him with a nervous look on her face. "Actually I'm not sure...they said the weather has calmed down quite a bit, but they're waiting to hear whether the airport will be opening back up within the next day or so. Jordan said she'd let us know as soon as they heard."
Johnny nodded and adjusted his baseball cap thoughtfully. "What about Justin and Joey...do you know why they're running late?" he asked.
Surprise and guilt graced Mo's delicate features. "Um...didn't Jordan tell you?" she asked meekly.
"Tell me what?"
Mo's eyes widened slightly in disbelief before she cleared her throat to begin telling Johnny that his precious boys were stuck right along with Jordan and Rachel.
"That she talked to Justin and since he took Joey with him to Memphis that they would fly into NYC tomorrow morning!" Chris slid in, covering for Mo as she shot him a grateful look.
"Ahh, okay. Well if Jordan and Rachel can't make it, we'll just make some adjustments and N Sync will be the sole performer. Sound good Mo?" Johnny asked, moving to pick up a newspaper as he sat down in the waiting area.
Rolling her eyes slightly, Mo forced a smile. "Sure..sounds...great!" she managed to choke out.