“Hey Holly, I’m Justin Timberlake, and this is the rest of the group, Lance Bass, Josh Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, and Joey Fatone. Welcome to the *Nsync POPODYSSEY tour.” Justin took my hand in his and shook it firmly.
Alright, here’s the deal. I, Holly Tyler, am a 20-year-old college graduate who is making big bucks by dressing famous people (who I know already know how to dress themselves). I’ve worked on a few low-budget movies, some small-time tours that tour from bar to bar, but the *Nsync tour is my first big job.
Now, you might be wondering how I got to be 20 and already out of college. Well, I skipped two grades, 6th and 7th, which put me in college at 16. I majored in behind the scenes stuff at an acting academy, and now here I am, a costumer.
“Alright, let’s get these boys…costumed. Whoever’s working with me, let’s get a move on!” I yelled.
“She’ll fit right in,” I heard *Nsync’s manager, Johnny Wright whisper to the group.
“Thanks Johnny, I hope so,” I told him before I walked to the costume room.
I stared at myself in the wall-length mirror in he costume room. I smoothed the wrinkles in my pink baby tee, and tugged on the hem of my khaki shorts. My chestnut hair fell around my shoulders, highlighting the tan that I finally gotten on my small body. I ran my hand through my hair one more time and took a deep breath. Now was my time to show off. I was fitting each individual guy, and I wanted to look good.
“Ok, who’s the first victim?” I asked as I stepped out into the hallway later that day. We were fitting for costumes for “Celebrity”.
“I am!” Justin volunteered.
“Ok, let’s go. Get your butt in here.” He subtly saluted me and walked into the room, shutting the door behind him.
I walked over to the rack of clothes and picked out a pair of rhinestone-studded jeans and held them up so I could see them better. As I reached in to grab the jacket, the pants fell out of my hands. I bent over to pick them up and snuck a glance in he mirror. Justin’s eyes were glued to my butt and about to pop out of his head. “You don’t waste any time, do ya?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” he asked innocently.
“You were so checking me out!”
“I was not! I was…”
“Checking me out. I know you were.”
“Well can I help it if I wanna figure out where you’re hiding your wings? Cause baby, you look like an angel to me,” he said in a low voice.
“If you’re trying to be sexy, it isn’t working. You just sound like a dork who’s desperate for a date.”
“Well, are you willing to go out for dinner with this desperate dork?”
“Just go try this on!” I exclaimed, throwing the jeans and jacket at his face. He walked to the dressing room, but turned around to wink at me before he disappeared.
“He asked you out?!” my friend Hannah asked that night when I got back to the apartment we shared.
“Yeah, and I’d only known him for 5 minutes.”
“Well, what did you say?”
“I threw some clothes at him and told him to try them on. I never answered…I don’t know if I should or not. I mean, if it doesn’t work out, what am I supposed to do? Quit the best job I’ve ever had? I don’t think so.” I walked to the back and into my room. “What do you think I should do?” I called back to Hannah.
She made her way into my room without saying anything. She sat on the bed and stared at me.
“Ok, please say something. You being quiet means that something is wrong. C’mon Hannah…” I pleaded with her.
“Hol, I think you should give him a chance. After what happened with you and Jake, you practically gave up on guys…well except for Daniel.”
My eyes welled up with tears at the thought of my 2-year-old son who I had given up for adoption just days after he was born. See, my boyfriend…well ex-boyfriend Jake and I were pretty serious for a long time. We were even talking about marriage. But I got pregnant and when he found out, he didn’t want anything to do with a child…it was too soon for him. So, I was left alone. Sure my parents took care of me, but Jake wasn’t there, and that hurt.
But of course, that didn’t get me down. As soon as my son Daniel was born, I gave him up for adoption and went back to school. But I find myself thinking about him from time to time. I even have a picture of him tucked away in my closet. I miss him so much sometimes…
“Holly, not all men are like Jake. Trust me. You’ve gone for over two years without a date with one guy. You can’t keep your head buried in your work forever. Give Justin a chance…he might surprise you.”
The next morning I woke up around 5:30 a.m. Hannah was still asleep, so I quietly showered, ate breakfast, and left.
As I drove off to the convention center where the guys were rehearsing, I gathered my thoughts.
Should I go out with him? It’s only one harmless date, it means absolutely nothing, I told myself. But even if it did, is that a bad thing? I mean, I have been feeling really alone for a long time. It’s not a crime for me to move on.
I pulled into the parking lot and found a place to park my baby blue Ford Explorer Sport. I took one last look in the rearview mirror to check my hair and make-up before I got out and walked into the building.
As I was walking to the costume room, one of *Nsync’s bodyguards, House, came up to me and handed me a letter. “It’s from Justin,” he whispered, his low voice even lower.
I thanked him and began to walk again, but this time towards the bathroom. I sat on the couch they have in there, opened the letter and read it to myself.
Dear Holly,
I know I didn’t come off too well yesterday…I moved
kinda fast and I'm sorry. If you don’t wanna go out
with me still, I’ll understand. I acted like a jerk
yesterday, and I know I did. I’ll leave you alone now.
I just hope this doesn’t make things weird during the
tour.
Love,
Justin
I sighed and got up, stuffing the letter into my purse. I slowly walked out of the bathroom, almost running into Justin.
“I guess you got my letter, huh?” Justin asked. I nodded, not able to look him in the eye. “Well, I can see that you don’t wanna go out with me, so I’m gonna go and I’ll try to stay outta your way, ok?”
I took a deep breath and nodded my head, not able to bring myself to stop him. “Yeah, that would probably be the…best thing to do.”
He bit his bottom lip, I guess expecting me to stop him. “Yeah, well I’ll see ya.”
“Yeah…see ya.” He walked away from me, his head hung. I thought for a minute about calling out to him. I turned around and took a breath to call his name, but when I looked he was gone.
