It’s
More Than Friendship… We’re Family
By: Maple Beanie
Disclaimer:
I do not know, own, are related to, let alone ever met the members of Nsync,
their family, friends, record label, associates or management. I have no idea
how most of the events in this story actually happened all I know is what was
reported in the press. The version of the events in the following short stories
are mine and mine alone, they are from my own imagination and in no way
necessarily the complete real accounts of what happened. This is fiction and
intended for purely entertainment purposes only.
Author’s Notes:
As the summary says it is all about the friendship. There are 2 shorts about
events (good or bad) in each Nsyncer’s life (2 for JC, 2 for Lance, etc.)
within the time frame since they have become members of Nsync, plus 2
additional shorts for the group in general. Some are shorter or longer
depending than others and I’ve tried to put them in chronological order as best
as I could but I’m not sure of exact times and dates for all of them and they
will possibly over lap in time. I obviously also wasn’t present at the time
these events took place so I don’t know exact facts about everything being
written. If you do and feel the need to correct me please do so. I would like to
know, I just ask that you do it nicely. =) Considering the shortness of each
story please be prepared that things will move very quickly. It is really just
a small peek into the whole event. Scene changes will be marked normally
through *~*~* symbols while change in times will be marked simply through (***)
three Stars and there will be a name in bold at the start of every scene so you
know which guy’s event is being portrayed. Each scene can probably easily stand
on its own but being in chronological order a lot will have sentences linking
each scene together. Hopefully that explanation wasn’t too confusing and by the
end of this you will have maybe just a little smile on your face. This is my
first attempt at a short story; the idea came to me quickly and was written
just as fast. Reviews always welcome and I hope you enjoy it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Yes Sir, we will all be there at 10 am
tomorrow. Goodbye” Chris said hanging up the phone.
He rocked back and forth excitedly on his
feet, trying to resist the urge to just jump around and scream at the top of
his lungs because of his excitement. Tomorrow was the day he was going to find
out whether or not all his dreams would come true.
He turned back to the four friends sitting
on the couch behind him grinning widely. The five of them joined together to
make a singing group. Each one knew at least one other and all were good
friends, now united simply in the process of getting a record deal.
“We’re in.” He said simply grinning from ear
to ear, letting lose and bouncing around the room much to his friend’s
amusement.
***
“Ok whenever you are ready sing something
for me so I can hear what you five sound like together.” Lou Pearlman said
looking at the five boys in front of him. They were an interesting bunch but he
could see they wanted it badly and being in the ‘boy band’ business he was
willing to give them a shot.
“Yes Sir. Is there anything in particular
you want us to sing?” Chris asked. Lou Pearlman looked up at the young man who
spoke. Noting that he was the one who started the group.
“No whatever you guys know. The National
Anthem would be fine.” He said dismissively. Snapping his head back up upon
hearing their voices.
They were good.
Really good.
There was some kind of magic about them, as
if they were always meant to sing together. When they stopped he just sat there
looking at them until finally the one responsible for bringing them together
spoke up breaking the silence.
“So how were we Mr. Pearlman?” Chris ask
anxious to hear what the older man thought, all of his hopes and dreams on the
line.
“I think we can work something out.”
***
“CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!” Chris yelled. Unable
to control his hyperactivity any longer he jumped on the back of his friend
Joey sending both tumbling to the ground. “WE HAVE A RECORD CONTRACT!” Chris
continued getting up and bouncing around all over the room.
And his friends just smiled adding in
comments to the hyper man’s babbling every so often. It was no secret that
while they all had wanted this record deal Chris by far wanted it the most. Not
wanting to have another dream be crushed and fail.
“THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST! GOOD TIMES
FROM NOW ON BOYS!” Chris yelled ecstatically.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It had all happened really quickly. It might
be a cliché he reflected but it happened just like a slow motion movie.
They had signed with Lou Pearlman’s company
a couple years earlier and since then they had been force to maintain an
extremely gruelling schedule in the effort to make it big.
“You have to do this if you want to get air
play and be successful. I’ll remind you that we have a contract that says you
do as I say.” They heavy set man had scolded them when they asked for just one
day off.
So they had maintained the schedule
convinced in the fact that while it seemed like more hard work than necessary
it would pay off any day and they could go home. Lately they were all feeling the
hard work more than ever. They were burning out and burning out quickly. They
just didn’t know how quickly for one of their number.
***
They had been sitting in the Common room
waiting to go on stage for the night’s performance when Joey had looked over to
Lance and noticed that the bleached blond was even paler then normal.
“Hey Lance are you feeling alright? You
don’t look very good…” The Italian asked with concern.
“Yeah don’t worry… I think I’m just coming
down with a cold or something.” The green-eyed blonde had replied. But his
friends weren’t to be deterred.
“No I don’t think you are alright. Hey Lou!”
Chris had yelled across the room gaining the man’s attention as well as the two
former mouseketeers who came trotting over to see what was wrong.
“What is it Chris?” The older man asked
exasperated.
“Lance is sick I don’t think he should go on
tonight.” The oldest member had said not fazed by the tome of voice at all.
“He can’t just not go on Chris. He WILL go
on just like the rest of you and that’s final.” Pearlman had said eyeing Lance
quickly and then turning to go back across the room to what he was doing.
“But…”
“No Buts. I told you guys before if you want
to make it in this business then you do as I say.”
And that’s how it started.
***
One minute he was upright the world spinning
fast around him and then the next he woke up lying in a hospital bed completely
unaware of what happened or how he got there.
His mom was sitting by his side old his
hand, her thumb gently rubbing circles over the back of it. But he didn’t see
the guys anywhere.
“Oh thank god honey. We were all so
worried!”
“Where are the guys?” Lance asked, his mouth
dry.
“He wanted them to finish the show, they
wanted to come with you but they will be here any minute now.” His mom had
comforted.
“What happened?” Lance asked confused.
“Ssshhh. Don’t worry about that right now
lie back and get some more rest.” His mom said smoothing out the blankets.
***
“Ok thank God Lance we were so worried about
you!” JC had cried when he entered the room to see Lance sitting on the
hospital bed awake.
“I’m ok. I just don’t really know if I know
what happened?”
“You collapse on us in the middle of the
performance.” Justin said.
“Oh. And Lou made you stay to finish it?”
“Yeah. We wanted to come with you I hope you
didn’t think we didn’t. We were really worried about you.”
“You were?”
“Yeah. Well that’s what friends are for.”
Chris sung breaking out into a cheesy grin making everyone laugh.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
JC sat fiddling with his notebook sitting
patiently as the rest of the guys read over the handful of songs he wrote. He
was showing to them in hopes maybe they could use some on their up coming
album.
He knew that they were just his friends but
he was nervous. He really liked writing, loved it even, but this was the first
time he had shown his work to anybody and he would be lying if he was to say he
wasn’t at least a little afraid of rejection. He worked hard and really wanted
the guys to like them. Sure he knew some of them were basically crap… even he
would admit to that. But they were his first tries and well first tries at
anything aren’t always the best. But there were several songs that he really
liked and were proud of and those were the ones his four bandmates in front of
him were looking at.
He worried his bottom lip between his teeth,
as the silence grew longer. Looking down into his lap at his notebook he didn’t
see the grins of his friends over how nervous he was.
“Well I’m done.” Lance said looking at JC
with a smile.
“Yup so am I.” Joey added.
One by one he watched as his friend’s put
down the copies they were holding and looked at him.
“Well?” JC asked tentatively. Watching as
his bandmates passed unreadable looks between them before breaking out into
smiles.
“They really good Jace.” Justin said, “I
don’t know about you guys but I really like these four here. Showing them the names.
“I agree. I really like No Strings
Attached.” Lance said. “Actually I think that’s the perfect name for the album.
What do you guys think?”
The course of agreement echoed through the
room and JC couldn’t help but smile widely at the praise, he had found one of
his passions in life.
“Yeah I agree. But I have just one question
for you Jace.” Chris said trying to be serious.
“Umm… sure… Shoot.” JC said nervous all over
again.
“Digital Get Down? Dude is there something
you should be telling us?” Chris teased and they all broke into laughter at how
JC flushed and started to stutter a response, his arms flying about wildly as
he tried to explain.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was a shock to all of them. One minute
they are flying high on their growing success getting ready to release a new
record under a new label back in the United States with a whole new start and
the next they have been slapped with a $125 million dollar lawsuit and the
threat of losing their name.
They could have easily sued Lou Pearlman and
his company when they first agreed to leave it for another label. There were
plenty of things wrong with the way they had been treated and most of which
were thanks to the man that they were once so happy to know. But they had
decided that it was best to just let it die and have a whole new start. Never
in their wildest dreams did they figure the man to bring up a lawsuit against
them. Especially one of such severity.
***
It was shaping out to be a tough battle
between the two sides. They had countered sued Pearlman and his companies and
so far were winning. With the media frenzy the whole thing had become well
known but at least the press was a little more sympathetic to their side.
It was fought dirty and dragged out but as
Joey the ever optimistic had said:
“As long as we stick together we will get
through this. So what if we have to start over with a new name, it will still
be us and we will still be friends regardless.”
And he was right, because they were friends
and nothing could change that.
***
They looked up from the TV as their manager
Johnny Wright entered the room with a smile on his face.
“Hey what’s up Johnny?” Justin asked looking
back to the movie they were watching.
“It’s over.”
“Excuse me?” Lance asked.
“It’s over. Pearlman agreed to a settlement
out of court. You guys came out on top and most importantly you get to keep
your name. Better get ready to release that album in a few months’ boys. I have
a feeling this one is going to be big.” Johnny Wright said with a grin,
watching at the guys cheered and celebrated.
***
They were sitting around waiting impatiently
for their manager Johnny to enter the room bringing them the results of their
first week sales. They had agreed that no matter where they wound up in album
sales for the week that they would be happy and not get discouraged. The
lawsuit brought good and bad press and could have affected album sales in
either way. But they would keep going.
Still, no one would deny that it would be
nice to come out at number one.
The door opened and their manager walked in
with an unreadable face. Shifting nervously they waited for him to come and sit
down to address the group.
“Well… you guys want to know the results?”
Johnny asked watching as the five heads nodded. “The good news is that you guys
are the number one album sales this week.”
“Hey well that’s good right? Why do you look
so gloomy?” Chris asked nervous tension releasing a little as did the other
guys. “Wasn’t quite the figures you wanted?” He added tentatively.
“You didn’t let me finish Chris. But no it
wasn’t quite the figures we were expecting.” Johnny said unable to hold back a
smile now. “The good news is you guys are the number one album sales this week…
The even better news is that you guys have the number one, first week record
sales all of time! You guys sold 2.4 million copies in the first week!”
They screaming and cheering that followed
the statement was deafening.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The overwhelming success of No Strings
Attached skyrocketed Nsync to over whelming success. The fans loved them and
the men of Nsync loved and appreciated their fans.
With the release of the album came a nation
wide tour that was just successful as the CD sales itself. And amongst all of
it the baby of the group all the sudden wasn’t a baby anymore.
At the end of one show on the tour Justin
was about to run off stage as they normally did when a hand on his arm stopped
him. He looked up to see JC smiling at him.
“Hold on a second J there is something else
we have to do.”
Justin was confused but simply nodded and
followed JC back to the centre of the stage where there was a little podium set
up and a group of people standing, one of which he recognized as his mom. He
noticed that the other guys had by now put on graduation caps and were standing
off to the side. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he reached the group
and was about to say something when a man spoke up.
“Justin Randal Timberlake. After a lot of
hard work and completing all of the required courses I am pleased to be here
tonight to present you with your High school diploma.”
All the sudden it made sense and Justin
couldn’t help but grin widely throughout the ceremony. When it had finished he
turned around to smile at his friend to see their very proud faces looking back
at him.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Joey was nervous. He was about to tell his
four best friends about what could be the biggest thing to ever happen to him
in his life and wasn’t sure how they would react to the news.
Certainly he was known as the flirt of the
group, always chatting up one girl or another. But Kelly wasn’t just another
girl, she was… well she was almost like his high school sweetheart. In his own
way he really did love her.
So even though what had happened was an
accident he wasn’t the kind of guy to run away from his problems and leave her
to deal with it on her own. He could and would never do that to anyone no
matter how scared he was.
If he was honest with himself, once he got
passed all the insecurities and fear he was glad it had happened. He was going
to be a father and he couldn’t help but smile at the prospect.
***
He opened the door nervously to see his
friends standing on the front step with warm smiles stating various non-angry
greetings as they stepped by and into the house.
“That’s just because they don’t know why
they are here yet. They are going to hate me.” Joey thought nervously.
Once they had all settled into the living
room of his home the question he had been dreading was asked.
“So what’s up Joe? Why the urgent meeting?”
Lance asked casually.
“Well I have something important to tell you
guys… something that um… could possibly bring bad press and hurt us…” Joey said
not looking at anyone.
“What is it Joey?” Justin asked seriously.
“Well... you see… I guess there is no easy
way to say this… Kelly’s pregnant and the baby is mine, and we are going to
keep it.” Joey blurted out waiting for a response as silence surrounded them.
Still unable to look anyone in the eye he
kept his eyes focussed on the ground not seeing the shocked yet caring looks passed
amongst his friends.
“Is that what you want Joe?” JC asked
softly.
“Um... yeah… yes. I’m scared as hell but
part of me is also happy about it. Obviously it wasn’t planned but its
happening and well I just hope you guys don’t hate me.”
“We would never hate you Joey. If it is what
you want then I guess Congratulations are in order.” Chris said with a smile
and walking over to give his bigger friend a hug, the others following suit.
“But what about the press. They are going to
have a field day with this.” Joey stuttered in surprised.
“We’ll deal with it when it comes. The most
important part is that you’re happy.” JC said with a smile.
“Awww…. GROUP HUG!” Chris yelled.
***
“Hey Lance?”
“Yeah Joe?”
“Would you be the baby’s godfather?”
“I’d be honoured.”
***
“Joey just called! Kelly is in Labour and we
have to go to the hospital right now.” JC said frantic.
“Calm down Jace. You never have been very
calm under pressure.” Justin joked.
“Yeah next thing we know your going to pass
out and we have to put you in the hospital.” Chris chimed in.
“Shut Up.”
***
All eyes in the waiting room looked up to
see Joey enter carrying a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket.
“It’s a girl.” Joey said beaming over his
child. “Guys I’d like you to meet Brianna Fatone.”
“She is beautiful Joey. Congratulations.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“So I was thinking that as if we didn’t have
enough going on right now that I would start a clothing line.” Chris said in
passing one night just after a concert when they were all sitting on one bus
heading towards the next city.
“Why?” Justin asked before he could stop
himself.
“Geez… way to be supportive there Justin.”
Chris said sarcastically.
“No it isn’t that I’m not trying to be
supportive, but a clothing line? I was just curious why you would want a
clothing line?”
Chris shrugged. Truth is he wasn’t really
too sure why either just seemed like a good idea to him.
“Lots a big names have a clothing line why
not me?” Chris said defensively.
“You don’t know why do you?” Lance said with
a smirk looking up from his laptop.
“Well why did you start two companies?”
Chris countered.
“Touché.” Lance said.
“Well you know we will support you in any
way Chris, I say go for it. Right Jace.” Joey said.
“Huh?” JC questioned head popping up from
looking at his portable keyboard and taking the headphones off his ears. “What
did I miss?” he questioned clueless, his friend chuckling at his cluelessness.
Joey reached over and gently slapped the
confused man upside the head. “Spazz.” He joked causing the skinny man to go
red in the face and the laughter to only grow louder.
“Would someone just tell me?” JC asked
rubbing the spot on his head where Joey had hit him.
“I’m going to create my own clothing line.”
Chris repeated his laughter subsiding slightly.
“Oh. That’s really cool Chris but… um… why?”
JC questioned causing the whole room to erupt in laughter and JC to go red in
the face once again.
***
“Yeah its called Fumanskeeto and the clothes
will be out in stores sometime in October. Right now it is targeted just to
girls but we hope to get a boys line up and running by sometime next year.”
Chris said enthusiastically in response to the interviewer’s question.
“And what do you guys think of Chris’s new
venture?” The Journalist asked the other guys.
“We think its great. Although we are still
trying to get him to make us free clothes.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“So I was thinking that uh… while we were
off on our individual breaks that I might try releasing a solo album. Not that
I don’t like what we have together its just that I think I need to go out and
prove myself on my own… Jive approached me and are all for it and it of course
it wouldn’t mean the end of Nsync in anyway, it would be a totally different
sound to what we can do as Nsync… You guys are always going to be first
priority in my life of course… it’s just that…” Justin nervously rambled.
“J?” Chris interjected.
“Yeah?”
“You sound like JC.” Chris said with a grin.
“HEY! I really wish you would all stop
making fun of me.” JC huffed.
“It’s not our fault you make it easy.” Chris
countered grin spreading even wider.
“You know Justin if you want to release a
solo album, just like everything before we will support you.” Lance said
seriously. “Its not going to be easy though you know that right?”
“Yes I know and I think I can handle it.
It’s just something that I feel I need to do right now.”
“Ok.” And that was it.
***
It had indeed been a very tough ride. There
were lots of questions over the solo album and whether or not it meant the
break up of Nsync as a whole. No matter how hard they tried no one seemed to
believe them when they said that they were still a group and simply taking a
break from recording. That there would be another album within a year or so.
And there were also many questions on Justin’s
personal life and his ability to record a successful solo album. And now they
sat waiting to hear if he had in fact released a successful album.
Justin sat biting nervously at one of his
nails. He was surrounded by family and friends as they waited to hear how his
first week album sales were JC, Chris and Joey were there with him while Lance
was in Russia but would call later on to hear how it went.
The phone rang and Justin answered it
nervously.
“Hello. Oh Hi Johnny. Yeah. Uh-huh...
Uh-huh. Ok Thanks. Yeah Goodnight.”
“So?” JC offered.
“Well…” Justin said taking a deep breath.
“The good news is that I sold just under half a million copies in the first
week. Bad news is that is only good enough for number two on the charts. I lost
out for the number one slot to the Eight Mile Soundtrack.”
Congratulations were shouted out from
everyone but Justin merely smiled, part of him somewhat disappointed.
“Hey listen Justin.” Chris said taking the
younger man’s wrist and dragging him away from the group of people, JC and Joey
in tow. “Half a million copies in the first week is really good J. It means
that you proved to the world you can be a successful solo star.”
“I know it just would have been nice to be
number one.” Justin said quietly.
“Number one or number two doesn’t really
matter Justin. You proved that you have what it takes and proved all of those
stupid critics wrong. You should be proud of yourself. I know we are proud of
you.” JC said hugging his friend.
Justin smiled widely in response.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
If the media and people thought that the
whole put a pop star in space thing had come out of left field then they had no
idea how far out of left field it had come for the five men of Nsync.
They all knew Lance was fascinated by space
and had done the space camps when he was younger. And they all knew that it
would be a dream come true if he actually got a chance to go up into space. It
was just never in a million years would they have thought it was a distinct
possibility.
The moment the rumours – true or not – had
started Lance was extremely excited… practically bouncing on spot at the
prospect of his dream coming true. Whoever had come up with the rumour had no
idea how hard it was about to back fire on them.
***
They were all on tour gathered in one room
for breakfast one morning. As usual they had fought over the different sections
to the paper each wanting their individual favourites first. Chris naturally
like he did every morning was content with the entertainment section (Which of
course held the comics) and was flipping through the section when he noticed a
small picture of Lance. Naturally curious he stopped to read the article and
nearly spit out his coffee over what it said.
“YOU’RE GOING TO SPACE!” Chris yelled
causing everyone to jump in the previously silent room.
“Who is going to space?” JC had asked
innocently enough.
“LANCE!”
Four heads, faces showing various degrees of
shock, turned to the fifth only to see the same confusion and shock mirrored on
his face too, but a smile slowly started to grace the features.
“Is there something you forgot to tell us
Lance?” Joey questioned.
“Not that I can think of Joe… I don’t know
anything about it but I certainly wouldn’t turn it down….” Lance said slowly.
“That’s really dangerous isn’t it?
Travelling into space I mean…?” Justin asked quietly.
“Yes partially… but this is my biggest dream
guys you can’t expect me to pass it up?”
“No of course not. If its what you want then
we are behind you all the way.”
***
It turned out to be a very bumpy road to
space. Not only was there a lot of gruelling training and hard work but also
there were a lot of troubles with backing and financial problems that almost
had sent him home on a number of occasions.
But Lance persevered and kept a positive
outlook trusting that it would all work out and his dream would become reality.
It became hardest on Lance when he had to
miss important events in his friend’s lives. Events that he would have attended
come hell or high water just to be there to cheer them onto victory, but simply
couldn’t because the Russian space centre insisted he continue training.
***
Justin had been supportive when he had
called to find out the first week sales of his album asking all sorts of
questions even though Lance was trying to find out about him.
The album sales had been good, great even
but he could tell his friend was a little disappointed and it hurt him not to
be there to comfort and cheer Justin up.
***
Joey’s debut on Broadway in Rent had been
praised significantly. He was a hit.
When Lance had called Joey to congratulate
him on opening night and hear all about it, even though he couldn’t see his
friend he could hear the excitement of being on stage and if he closed his eyes
could picture him practically glowing with it.
He wished he could have gone to see the show
and share in his friend’s excitement.
***
But the worst was when he was told he was
going to have to miss the Challenge for Children event. He was looking forward
to it and seeing his friends again. Sure he talked to them all the time and JC
had even managed to come out and visit him while he was at NASA in Huston. (JC
had been very excited and interested in everything and while Lance knew it was
in support of him part of him suspected that a few songs would show up sometime
in the future.)
It just wasn’t the same.
He had called all the guys part of him
hoping that they would tell him to give up and come home so he could
participate. But all they did was cheer him on even more saying that he was so
close to his dream hat he couldn’t simply give up now. And he had to smile because
as strong as the feeling was to just give up his friends encouragement was
enough to keep going.
***
When everything feel through for good, at
least for the mission he was aiming at, he returned home to find his four
friends waiting to pick him up. After a brief visit to his mom they whisked him
off to Joey’s house where they ate pizza watched movies just forgetting that
his dream just fell through, that Justin was only in for the night, that JC
should have been in the studio recording and that Joey and Chris were suppose
to be somewhere else as and it was just like old time.
Sometime later in the night when they had
all gone quiet Chris spoke up.
“There will be other chances Lance so don’t
think this is the end. You’ll get to space sometime we’ll see to that even if
it comes down to us financing you ourselves.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
To Joey, it was a dream come true.
Sure singing was always first and foremost
for him but he loved to act and a part in a Broadway show where he could do
both was very simply a dream come true.
It really didn’t matter what show it was in
the minute the words were out of the man’s mouth he agreed.
***
Nsync were on their break so making the time
to take up a role for a month or so in Broadway’s Rent wasn’t hard at all. And
it meant that he could spend some time in his native New York, which he always
found nice.
But it turned out that doing a Broadway show
was a lot harder than he had ever imagined it being and he constantly found
himself wanting to give up go back to Orlando and just take it easy. But it was
funny because every time that thought filled his head during the couple weeks
of rehearsal before his debut one of the guys would call him five minutes later
listening to him talk animatedly about how much he loved being on the stage,
telling him how proud of him they are were and in general giving him exactly
what he needed to continue on with the gruelling rehearsals confident in the
knowledge that it will all be worth it.
It was after he hung up the phone just after
one of these calls that he found himself wondering how he ever was lucky enough
to have such good friends.
***
When opening night came around Joey was
nervous. Really nervous. His hands were sweating, he couldn’t stop shaking and
he swore if he took so much as one step he was going to be sick.
He knew that JC and Justin were going to be
there in the audience tonight to watch him and that Lance being in Russia
following his space dream obviously couldn’t attend but would call after the
performance and Chris would be there later in the week due to obligations he
had made long before Joey was ever even offered the part.
This was completely different. On stage with
Nsync he could get a way with a mistake because there were always four other
voices to cover for him. Here while there were other voices there were lines
and stage directions and it wasn’t a stadium packed with screaming girls but a
small little theatre with serious theatre go-ers just waiting for him to screw
up in some way.
But he was a success and while yes he had
screwed up a couple times no one seemed to notice anyway. They went out and
partied hard later only to regret it the next day when he had to get up and do
it all over again.
***
When he finished up his stay in Rent Joey
had been somewhat sad to see it end, even though he was completely exhausted.
The five of them went out to Celebrate, the other four toasting Joey on a job
well done and once again Joey found himself wondering how he ever ended up
worthy of friends like them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
JC
It was no secret that JC could write for
hours on end, song after song after song. But when Nsync went on hiatus and
each member off to do their own thing JC started to miss the interaction with
the fans. At first he had just shrugged it off thinking that he just had to
adjust to not touring and everything that for 7 years the five of them had been
doing basically non-stop, but as the break grew longer JC realized he needed to
come up with some way to interact with the fans on hiatus or not.
***
Only Artist was launched officially in
February the following year after a long period of getting permits and making
it work. Its success was overall really good and he was getting plenty of
feedback.
Each of the guys had a little something to
do with the site even though over all there was no doubt that this was JC’s
“baby”. Joey helped with some of the technical stuff since it turned out he was
really good at creating web pages. Chris with some of the designs since he had
had Fumanskeeto and proved that he was good at it. Justin had helped JC figure
out a few lyrics for songs over the phone while he was off promoting Justified.
And Lance… well Lance couldn’t really help with anything being so occupied with
getting ready to go to space but if it hadn’t been for Lance’s encouraging JC
would have never gone through with it.
The launch and relative success of Only
Artist helped change or perhaps just make up JC’s mind in terms of releasing a
solo album as well.
***
JC ducked his head in the manner he always
did when nervous, as he switched off the CD player. He had just finished
playing the guys a copy of his solo CD that would be release about a month
later and while he had been so anxious to the point of practically bouncing off
the walls to hear what the guys thought of the album he was now extremely
nervous as he waited to hear their opinions.
“It is really good Jace. People are going to
love it.” Lance said hugging his friend.
“Dude. You’ve got some amazing songs on
there.” Justin added in.
“And some that once again I’m wondering
where the inspiration has come from.” Chris chimed in being hit with a flying
pillow moments later causing him to cackle with laughter.
“Its great Jace. Number one album.” Joey
said with a wink.
JC beamed at the praise and smiled widely.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
They hadn’t technically sung together in
over 8 months. But it was something that they just couldn’t refuse… that they
didn’t want to refuse. Being asked to sing a medley of songs by one of the most
influential groups in music history at the Grammy awards, as a tribute to them
since the death of one of their members and brother, was one of the greatest
honours ever bestowed upon them as a group.
***
They got together a couple days before the
show to practise and everything was as if they never had been apart from each
other for as long as they had. Come the night of the performance when they
stepped out on stage they knew they sounded a little rusty but 8 months apart
and several solo events is a fairly large obstacle to overcome. But it was also
the best feeling in the world to be back and singing as a group again and they
were the hit of the night.
After the show finished they went out to the
various post Grammy parties but all agreed to meet back again later at JC’s
house to catch up and spend some time together.
***
“So that felt good tonight.” Joey ventured
as they sat around JC’s living room at 3am.
“Yeah. It really did.” Justin added. He
liked the solo thing but he couldn’t be without being in Nsync.
“I guess that just shows that we can go away
and do all of these solo things and still be able to come back together again.”
Lance said taking a sip of his soda.
“I’m not sure it is just that Lance.” JC
started. “I mean yes we go apart and do all of these things outside of Nsync
and still can come back together as a group again but have you noticed that we
really aren’t going apart and doing our own thing? Think about it we each do
our solo stuff but we are also calling each other, asking each other’s opinions
and everything. That’s because we are more then just a singing group, we’re
friends.”
“You sort of right there Jace but it goes
further than that.” Chris said, “It’s more than just friendship…. We’re
family.”
The
End
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