Thursday’s lunch date turned out to be a great success. The guys picked Gina up on time and she gave them a quick tour of her house, which they all marveled over. They piled back into the limo and got to their destination in a short time. Once they were inside and looking over the menus, the conversation began to pick up. Gina found out that her and JC had a lot in common; from sitting in the studio for hours to get a part of a song just right to singing into their cell phones when they had inspiration for a song. Chris amazed her with how much he actually knew about her, and they talked about her albums in detail. Gina couldn’t believe that he had actually seen her in concert…more than once. Joey cracked her up constantly, and they talked about cooking and how they had both been to Italy recently. Lance was quite the businessman and fascinated Gina with how much he knew about the business, especially for someone being in it for such a short time. She also vowed to help him with his acting abilities after she gave him a hard time about his appearance on 7th Heaven.
Justin was still a mystery. He was almost like a silent observer, listening to what everyone had to say and how Gina responded to it. He excused himself from the table constantly and was gone for long periods of time. Gina tried not to notice it, but she couldn’t help it. She really didn’t know why he had such a dislike for her, but she was pretty sure he knew why she didn’t like him. The longer they went without talking, the harder it would be to become friends. However, Gina thought it was too soon to just start chatting away with him after their fight from the previous day, and since he made no move to talk to her she did the same. Gina had no real desire to get to know Justin, truth be told. Britney was not a reliable source of information, because one minute she was so in love with him, and the next she was badmouthing him. Gina believed in surrounding herself with people she could trust, and Justin was nowhere near making that list of people.
After lunch they dropped Gina off at her place, where she invited them in. However, the guys had a meeting with Wade to talk about rehearsals so they could not accept her invitation. They bid their farewells and were left with one last night of calm before the storm.
(7am Friday, August 25th)
Gina was finishing up her stretching on the studio floor when the door opened. She glanced up to see JC strolling in with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a smile on his face.
“Good morning Miss Gina,” he said as he tossed his bag next to her on the floor.
“Morning JC. You’re the first of the bunch to get here.”
“So I see. How long have you been here?”
Gina stood up and pulled her arms up over her head. “I got here at 6:45 actually. I love coming to the dance studio in the morning before anyone has been in here, when it’s dark and cool and quiet. I get to collect my thoughts before everything starts getting crazy.”
JC sat down and leaned against the mirror, looking up at her. “Good deal. That’s what I do when I’m in the car-“
“She’s here! Pay up Joey, I told you Gina would be here before Justin, now give me the ten bucks!” Chris called out, interrupting JC and Gina’s conversation as he and Joey walked into the studio. Joey glanced over at Gina and blushed a bit when he noticed her staring at him in an almost challenging way.
Chris walked over to Gina and threw his arm around her shoulders casually. “See girl, I had your back. I knew there was no way in hell you would be later than Justin. Joey was all thinking that because you’re a female-“
“Here’s your money CHRIS,” Joey interrupted before Chris could get him into any more trouble with Gina. Chris gladly took the ten dollars and shoved it into his sock. He glanced up at Gina and winked.
“Lunch is on ME baby.”
Gina couldn’t take it anymore, so she began laughing at their crazy antics. The three looked at her and just smiled, happy that they were all getting along so well after such a rocky start at the awards.
“I hope we go somewhere fancy, our first date should be special,” Gina said with a mock serious face. Chris’ eyes widened, and if his smile could get any bigger, it did. He looked over at JC and Joey proudly.
“I have a date with Gina Corleone, all before 7:30 in the morning. What do you guys have? NOTHING.”
“Her phone number,” JC answered smugly, standing up and pulling off his sweatshirt. Chris glared at him and waved him off.
“Fine, but Mr. Flirt-Pimp-Daddy over there has jack squat!” He called out, pointing towards Joey.
“Has jack squat what?” Justin asked as he walked into the studio, followed by Lance.
“Has ten dollars less, thanks to you,” Joey replied.
“What? What are you talking about man?” Justin asked, royally confused.
“I don’t want to know…I just…don’t.”
“Lance gets smarter and smarter everyday I tell ya,” Chris giggled.
“Whatever. Where’s Wade y’all?”
“Oh he’s around here somewhere, he went to go get music I think,” Gina answered Justin while tying her shoe. She figured she could be civil, because they were going to be spending a LOT of time together.
“He has our music already.”
“Justin don’t start, its not even 7:30 man. She just answered your question, get over it,” JC said, glaring at him.
Gina stood up and sighed heavily, then placed her hands on her hips. “Fine, then he went to go get MY music.”
She walked over to her bag so she could put her sweatshirt and tear away pants in them. She pulled them off, and grabbed a rubber band to put her hair up with. She tried, and that’s all she told herself she would do. If he wanted to be an ass, that was fine with her.
If the initial conversation with Justin was any indication of how the morning would go, then it would be a rough day. Wade finally made his way back to the studio with Gina’s music, while Justin shot her a dirty look to prove a point. Wade decided *NSYNC would start working on their choreography first, and the Gina would sit and watch because her dancers weren’t arriving until 8.
She sighed and slid down the wall, watching the guys shake out their legs as Wade looked over the set list. Each of the guys had their own way of getting ready to rehearse, and it was amusing to watch their mannerisms. Without warning, at least on Gina’s part, “No Strings Attached” began blaring out of the speakers causing her to yelp and jump from her spot on the ground. They all glanced over at her and she colored quickly, embarrassed at the outburst.
“You OK over there Gina?” Wade asked, stopping the music.
Gina nodded and covered her face briefly. “Yeah, just wasn’t expecting that.”
“This IS rehearsals…there needs to be music for us to dance. Remember? Tour, singing, dancing, practice?” Justin said in an annoyed tone.
“For someone that really cant stand me, you sure do talk to me a helluva lot,” she quipped back, still embarrassed.
“And back to rehearsing…its coming, Gina,” Wade said, smiling at her. She took a deep breath and leaned back against the mirror once again, ready for the loud pounding music to begin. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to compose herself. The music began pounding out of the stereo and Gina opened her eyes, watching the six of them begin the choreography.
She had to admit she was impressed. The fact that they could dance in that way was awe inspiring, but what really got her was that they could sing the song while they were dancing that way. She could not help her mouth dropping open slightly as they got through the first verse before Wade stopped the music.
The guys were trying to concentrate on Wade, but they couldn’t help but glance over at Gina for a reaction. She smiled when she noticed she had caught the gaze of more than one of them, and they smiled back proudly. Chris was practically giddy.
“What didja think G-thang?” he asked, donning Gina with a new nickname. She glanced at him a bit surprised at the name, but continued smiling.
“Very nice Special K, very nice.”
Chris glanced at the rest of the guys in a snooty way; letting them ALL know that he got a nickname and they didn’t.
*NSYNC’s rehearsals continued much of the same way; they would dance, Wade would stop them, and Chris would glance over for approval and a comment. Gina would reply and they would continue the cycle once again. Around 8:30, a commotion started outside of the studio in the hallway, causing rehearsals to be interrupted.
“What the…” Wade mumbled, glancing towards the doors. All of the sudden, they swung open and four people walked in, two guys and two girls.
“AHHHHHHHH! Hey y’all!” Gina cried as she jumped from her spot on the ground and towards the group of people.
“Gina! There y’are!” they called, all hugging.
“Um…OK…I am feeling unloved here…” Chris commented, while the rest just looked on. They had known Gina for a few days now, but had never seen her in her element with actual friends. They were amused at how she acted with her friends the way they interacted with each other.
“You guys are LATE yo! 8:00 doesn’t mean 8:30, but that HAD to be Chad’s fault,” Gina said, punching one of her dancers in the shoulder. She had been feeling so out of her element without her support group. The *NSYNC guys had each other through all those meetings, she had Mark. Nothing was wrong with Mark, but she couldn’t call him at 3am to just chat, their relationship wasn’t like that.
“Gina?”
“Girl it wasn’t even Chad this time, it was Tony. We were all there picking him up and he was like, ‘oh five minutes’ and we were like…”
“GINA?”
“Holly is full of it Gi. They were late picking me up-“
“Gina we have to PRACTICE!” Wade called out, well on his way to getting extremely angry.
“Oh! Um, sorry Wade, guys. These are my dancers, Chad, Tony, Holly, and Diane…”
“Hey how YOU doin?”
“JOEY!” four voices called out.
“Typical,” Wade said, shaking his head. “OK now back to rehearsals. Gina, we all really need to concentrate here. We only have three and a half weeks to brush up and put together a whole new set.”
“Sorry Wade…” Gina repeated once again. If anyone could make her feel bad about wasting time, it was the young choreographer in front of her.
“It’s not a big deal…back to it…”
Gina smiled and was finally feeling more in her element. Her dancers were an important part of not only her career, but her everyday life as well. They made working a bit easier, and above all else they kept it real.
*NSYNC got back to their dancing while Gina and her dancers did what they did best: gossiped.
“Mmm girl that Justin boy is cute, even if word on the street is that he’s a jerk.”
“Oh Diane. Just wait til he opens his mouth to talk,” Gina whispered back rolling her eyes for effect.
“Ouch. That bad eh?”
“He’s got an ego exceeding bastard like proportions.”
“That’s too bad…what a waste.”
“Ladies my poor ears! Look at them, they sure can dance though, damn,” Chad added, interrupting what was the start of a bash fest with the main event being Justin Timberlake.
Gina stopped chatting and looked over at the guys busting their asses. Chad was right; they could dance like nobody’s business. Her eyes wandered and focused on each person. As much as she did not want to admit it, Justin was awesome. He danced like he was walking on water. She didn’t know many people that could dance that way, and on top of it all he could sing while he did it.
It was nearing 10am and the guys were getting ready for a break. Gina and her crew had watched them the whole time, enjoying it. Gina especially liked it when Wade got on Justin’s case; she just couldn’t help it.
“Everything looks good so far; it hasn’t been that long since you performed these. We’ll work on fine-tuning the routines and figuring out if you want any kinds of gags or whatever. Gina, you guys ready?”
The guys sighed and retreated back to their bags, towards Gina.
“Yup, ready as we’ll ever be.”
Gina and her dancers quickly shook their muscles out, ready and eager to dance and get to practicing. Sitting around for too long was something that none of them were used to or liked all too much. Wade slipped her CD into the player and they got into their positions, waiting for the music to start.
Gina did get nervous at times, and this was no different. She felt as if she had to impress them, and she was nervous about what they would think about her dancing. She wasn’t a bad dancer, and several of her songs involved intense dancing. It was just that she normally had the studio to herself and her dancers, whom she was very comfortable with.
“Well G, time to expand your horizons.”
“What was that?” Wade asked, glancing over at her.
“Nothing, no worries. Start the track danceman.”
On that note, the music began and the guys had just settled in and began watching Gina and her dancers work the choreography. The dancing was indeed intense, and in no time they were sweating and in need of a quick water break.
“Gina it looks good so far. Holly and Chad, you two need to make your movements pop just a bit more during ‘Tell Me’.”
Gina nodded as she gulped down half of her water from her water bottle. After the initial awkwardness of dancing in the studio in front of an audience she had soon forgotten about the guys sitting there and got into the music, like she always did. They got back to their dancing and continued to dance for about two and ½ hours before breaking for lunch. The guys had been watching her intently; not talking about it right then and there, but all gaining a bit more respect for Gina Corleone each minute they watched her dance. They also had the chance to really listen to her album and recognized her vocal ability.
As soon as Gina and her dancers were dismissed by Wade for lunch, Chris jumped up and ran over to her wide-eyed.
“I am not even going to tell you you are good, because you already know that. Now, it’s time for lunch and we have a date Miss Godfather.”
Gina looked at him with crinkled eyebrows. “Miss Godfather? Christopher, has Joey clonked you on the head one too many times this morning?”
Gina’s dancers watched the two as they animatedly discussed the ‘Miss Godfather’ issue. After a few minutes of listening to the two go back and forth, they walked off the floor towards their things and started chatting with the other guys. Chris pulled her over to the rest and grabbed her bag and a towel for her.
“Here, let’s go eat. California Pizza Kitchen is calling, and there has to be one close by. This IS Cali.”
“You’re going out to eat? What about the rest of us?” Justin asked, glancing at a still sweating Gina.
“I made a date with Gina, so yeah, we’re going to eat. You all can eat here in the cafeteria if you want…there’s a McDonalds a block away. We’re outta here! Are you ready m’lady?” Chris held out his arm for her to take.
“Of course, lead the way monsieur.” With that, the two exited the studio leaving the rest of them to fend for themselves.
“Well thanks Gina for leaving us here with people we don’t really know…” Tony muttered to his friends.
“Is she always like that? That was pretty rude,” Justin said, narrowing his eyes at the door Gina and Chris walked out of. “I think Chris has an unhealthy obsession with Gina. I mean, I knew he had been to a show, but I didn’t know he had been to more than one and like, worshipped the ground she walked on.”
“She’s awesome, actually. You’ll see, she’s a lot of fun.”
“I’ll pass.”
Diane, Tony, Chad, and Holly glanced at each other. Gina was right, he was quite the jerk. JC and Joey noticed the looks Gina’s dancers were sharing and didn’t want Justin to make yet another awful first impression.
“Do you guys wanna grab some food with us?” Joey asked, interrupting the deafening silence.
“Sure…we know of a little deli down the street from here, they have the best subs!”
“Subs? Lead the way!”
The group reconvened about an hour later, and it was the guys turn to take the floor again. The day continued in that way; *NSYNC for a few hours, than Gina and her dancers for a few. Gina jammed to *NSYNC’s music and noticed how different the guys choreography was from her own. It seemed as if Wade and the other choreographers they used tapped into each group/artists personal flavor and capitalized on it. Gina watched and imagined what kind of moves she would be doing during their songs. The guys did much of the same as they watched her. By the end of the day they group was extremely tired and was ready to call it a night.
As it neared 11pm, they all decided enough was enough of rehearsing. They were able to run through each of the songs they wanted to perform, and it was just a matter of being able to dance and sing it straight through, work on gags, and tighten up the choreography.
Gina’s dancers were the first to leave, and *NSYNC and Gina stayed to talk to Wade for a few minutes. They chatted about the next few weeks, what he planned on working on, and what the other choreographers would do also. They still had to plan the finale and what song they would sing, and that was the main thing they would be doing the whole next week. Once he was finished, Gina high-tailed it out of there, eager to jump in the shower and get to bed. It had been weeks since she had been in a studio for that long and as much as she loved it, she had to get out
So far, she was excited about this tour, and it had been a long time since she had gotten truly excited over anything. She made a mental note to call Sharlene and fill her in on the latest news.
The guys were gathering their things when Lance brought up something he had been meaning to talk about since earlier in the morning.
“I have to say guys, I now have a much higher respect for Gina Corleone than I did before, and even that was high.”
“I totally agree with you Lance. I hadn’t heard her CD, just her singles on the radio and what not but wow, I was blown away. The girl can MOVE too, she can put us to shame,” JC added as he threw on a sweatshirt.
“You should have listened to me when I told you she was awesome,” Chris said proudly.
“No wonder she’s been singing and successful for so long, listen to that voice!”
Justin had been listening to his friends talk up Gina and was getting fed up. “OK she wasn’t this amazing ‘oh my God’ dancer, and her singing is alright. Yeah, she’s sold a lot of albums, wow. Can we please get over this ‘Gina Corleone’ kick you all seem to be on?”
JC tossed his bag on the floor and rested his hands on his hips. “Enough is enough Justin. What is your deal? We are going to figure this out now because we’re going to be with Gina and her dancers 24/7 for a couple of months. I would like to know why you can’t stand the sight of her, the sound of her music, or the way she dances. She ISN’T Britney, not by a long shot. She’s good, she has talent, and you have a stick up your ass.”
“I don’t need this shit from you guys. Whatever OK? We’re tired and it has been a long day. I don’t have to explain my reasons to you.”
“Um, yeah you do actually. Like Jace said, we’re working with her side by side for months. We need to know where this dislike sprouts from,” Lance said forcefully.
“Fine. She’s friends with Britney. Meaning her and Britney have things in common. I don’t want to associate with that right now. I can’t deal with another solo female artist and their attitude. I am finally single, I want to have fun and date, play the field, but with Gina around she’ll be clocking my every move. She was straight up bitchy to me and I don’t deal with that.”
“At least we’re getting somewhere. First of all, your mom talks to Britney and they have things in common, that doesn’t mean they are alike. Secondly, she was only nasty to you after you were talking shit about her. You had heard rumors about Gina and believed them, whereas she was just wanting to get to know a colleague. Lastly, who cares if you want to date? Does her opinion of who you see matter to you? You don’t even know her.”
“Lance is right. What if Gina had heard things about you and believed them? We know that most of the things said about you are not true…but she doesn’t know that. How would you feel Justin? Shitty huh?”
“I don’t want to talk about this right now. I’m going home and going to bed. I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning, bright and early. Later,” Justin said rolling his eyes and walking out of the studio angrily. He didn’t want to hear it, and that could mean one of several things.
He possibly had made the wrong judgment of Gina. He quickly banished the thought from his mind; there was no way. He was a good judge of character. He was tired and that’s why he was having these thoughts. He shook his head and jumped into his rental car; turning up the music and trying to think of other things.
