Dani hung out with the guys as they were doing various interviews during the day, just staying in the background. JC walked over to her during a break,
“Hey you, how you feeling today?”
“Fine, thanks for last night. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem, that’s what brothers are for.” He shrugged,
“Good thing I have you around then, huh?” She smiled.
“Hey man, what are you looking at?” Justin said coming up to Lance,
“JC and Dani.”
“Why?” He said and looked at the two,
“I don’t know, they’re just interesting, you know?”
“No, what do you mean?”
“I can’t put my finger on it but there’s just something there, you know? Like last night, he was seriously freaking out when he couldn’t find her and it just seems that Dani is the only one who can calm him down or pick him up. I’ve just never seen him act like that around a girl before.”
“Now that you mention it, they do spend an awful large amount of time together. And I see what you’re talking about. There’s just something about them that just seems, I don’t know, it’s not weird but…”
“It’s something.” Lance finished for him.
“Yeah. I’m really glad that she is on the tour. He’s just a lot better all around with her around.”
“Maybe because she takes care of him.” Lance suggested,
“But he takes care of her more, look at last night.”
“But on the plane she let him sleep on her. Then at the club he was all pissed off and after five minutes of talking with her he’s perfectly fine and happy as can be. I just don’t get it with them.”
“Maybe there’s more than friendship between them.”
“You think?”
“Yeah I do.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Dani said coming up behind them and scaring them both.
“Jesus, we’ve got to put a bell on you girl.” Justin teased,
“Whatever, you two were just really engrossed in something to not notice me and that only happens when you’re talking about something good, so spill.”
“Um, it’s kind of a band thing.” Lance said, thinking quickly,
“Oh, okay. That’s cool.” She poked Justin in the arms lightly,
“You up for dinner and a movie tonight?”
“You cooking?” Justin asked and she laughed out loud,
“Have you ever tasted my cooking? It ain’t pretty, my type of cooking involves a phone and a delivery service.” Lance looked at Justin and they began to laugh, seeing how alike JC and Dani really were. “Oh, like you guys can cook any better.” She said placing her hands on her hips. Justin shook his head,
“Probably not, but dinner and a movie sound good.” Justin said and she turned to Lance,
“You can come too Lance, I didn’t mean to leave you out.”
“Nah, I’m gonna do something with JC.” Once again Lance caught Justin’s eye and smiled. Dani looked between them,
“Why do I feel like you two are up to something?” She eyed them both suspiciously,
“When are we ever up to something?” Justin smiled and she rolled her eyes,
“When ever you’re breathing.” She retorted,
“Hey, just because you’re a paranoid freak…” Justin teased and she punched him playfully,
“Jerk. I’m not paranoid, I just know you too well.”
“Oh you do, do you?”
“Yep, I do.” She said crossing her arms, “It’s from spending all that time with you when you were on the show.”
“I have grown up since then, you know.”
“Yeah, OKAY shorty.” She smirked,
“I HAVE!” He said getting defensive and she laughed,
“There’s my point.” She winked as she walked away, “Call me later Justin.”
“Pain in the ass.” He muttered,
“That’s why you love me, shorty!” She yelled over her shoulder.
“Come on in, the door’s open.” She shouted and Justin walked into the room,
“Dani? It’s me Justin.” He said and walked further into the room. Her room was completely trashed, in fact it looked like her suitcase had blown up. Along with clothing, art supplies littered the room covering the little space that was left. “Uh, Dani?” He asked and she stood up from the side of the bed with brushes in her hand and a couple in her hair. Justin covered his eyes at the sight of what she was wearing. She was only in her underwear. “Dani, why didn’t you tell me that you weren’t dressed?” He asked and she completely ignored him as she crawled on her bed over a canvas that was lying there. She stared at the painting a moment and then sighed basically throwing her brushes down. “Dani?” Justin called to her again and she looked up at him slightly distracted.
“Come here.” She beckoned,
“You’re not dressed.” Dani ignored him and simply waved him over with her hand as she turned her attention back to the canvas. Justin sighed and went over to her. He almost had to stifle a laugh, flecks of paint covered her body and the underwear she was wearing he knew was supposed to be white but was covered in smudges of paint.
Dani noticed that he was beside her and she grabbed his hand,
“I need your hand.” She said grabbing a brush and began painting his palm with different colors.
“Hey, Dani that tickles! I just took a shower!” He tried to pull away but she was insistent as she pulled him closer. Justin ended up kneeling on the bed next to her as she intently painted his palm. When she was satisfied she pressed his hand to her painting. Then she added globs of paint to his fingertips and then began dragging them all over the canvas gently. Justin stared at what she was doing as she formed pictures with his hand. When she was done with the canvas she pulled him over to the other side of the bed and began painting his palm again. “What are you doing now?” He asked and she swirled colors around on his palm.
“Decorating.” She said evasively and then made him press his palm down onto a plain white wife beater. She then let him up and looked at her work on the shirt. “Exactly what it needed. You can wash up in the bathroom.” She waved him off and Justin did exactly that. He came out drying his hands,
“What the hell is going on in here?” He asked and Dani was back to the canvas as she mixed paint colors on the back of her hand and brushed different colors over the shapes she had made with Justin’s hand. He looked over her shoulder and cocked his head to the side. It was definitely an abstract piece, but at the same time it wasn’t. If you unfocused your eyes it became a picture, the colors came together to form a mudded giant handprint of some sort. Justin’s hand was in the lower left corner of the painting. “Wow that’s amazing.” He whispered and Dani looked up as in shock,
“Oh, it’s you. I thought you left.” She said and sat back on the bed.
“Not really, I wanted to see what you were doing with my hands. Plus you wanted to have dinner.” He smirked and nodded to the painting, “That’s really cool.”
“It’s not finished, but it’s getting there. Thanks for the help.”
“No problem, just warn me before you do that again. It was kind of freaky.” He laughed and she nodded,
“Sorry about that I kind of get distracted by my art.” She shrugged,
“Do you always paint in your underwear?”
“What?” She said looking down, letting realization hot her, “Oh no, I just happened to get inspiration when I was getting dressed. It happens.” She smiled with a little shrug,
“You ever paint in the nude?” Justin wiggled his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes,
“What do you think?” She smirked and he laughed,
“You’ve got to call me up for that.”
“Oh yeah, you’ll be first on my list.” She said pulling on a shirt and tying her hair up into a messy bun. Justin walked over to her,
“So you DO paint in the nude?”
“I’ve done it before.” She shook her head, “Great now all the guys will know and will come banging on my door.” Justin sat down on her couch,
“I will definitely be one of them.”
“I do not doubt that. So about that dinner….”
After a whiled she fell into her work intently drawing the intricate details of Justin’s facial features. The whole world disappeared from her current conscious or rather faded into a very blurry mass as she drew.
“BANZAI!” Someone yelled and Dani looked up in time to see Chris flying at her. She quickly tried to slide out of the way and most of Chris landed next to her. Most, meaning his body, his face conveniently landed in her lap, knocking her for a loop.
“Chris!” She gasped barely clinging onto her book and pencil.
“Mmphn.” Was the response she got and she lifted his head by the back of his bandana.
“Pardon me?”
“I said, nice lap.” He smirked and she rolled him onto the floor,
“Yeah, and it’s even nicer without you in it.” Chris looked up at her with a pout,
“You don’t mean that, do you?”
“Yes, I do.” She shook her head, “Are you okay?”
“I was better when I was in your lap.” He teased and got up from the floor.
“I bet you were.” She muttered and a sweaty Justin plopped down next to her, throwing an arm around her shoulders.
“Nice shirt.” He said nodding to the wife beater she was wearing. Justin’s hand print was directly over her right breast.
“It’s very interesting.” JC commented as he walked over to the group, “Where’d you get it?”
“I made it, with Justin’s help.” She shrugged and JC’s eyes went a little wide,
“Excuse me?” He said as Justin placed his hand over the print but didn’t touch her chest,
“I have to say it’s the best art I’ve ever done.”
“I think I need a pair of jeans to match. Hand prints right on the ass.” She said and Justin grinned,
“I am all to willing to help. You gonna do it nude?” He wiggled his eyebrows and she giggled,
“You weren’t supposed to say anything about that.”
“Nude?” JC and Chris said at the same time, making the duo laugh,
“I see that, that is one habit I’m going to have to break on this tour.”
“Why are we nude with Justin?” JC asked with crossed arms,
“Because I’ve got the flava.” Justin said puffing his chest a little,
“I’m doing nothing nude with Justin.”
“Yet.” Justin corrected,
“Ever.” She retorted and looked up at JC with a smirk, “Inspiration comes at weird times for an artist. Sometimes you just happen to be nude.” She shrugged,
“Man, I’m gonna hang out in your room more often.” Chris teased,
“It’s quite the show. I mean when I was in there the other day, she was wearing nothing but und-” Dani covered Justin’s mouth,
“Thanks Justin. See if I ever do art with you again.”
“I’ll take his place.” Chris said raising his arm and Dani rolled her eyes at all of them,
“Horny little boys, that’s all you guys are.”
“I’m not a little boy.” JC defended and Dani got up out of her seat stretching,
“But you’re horny?” She teased poking him in the stomach. JC reached over and pulled Dani in a light headlock, giving her a noggie.
“I’m not the one parading around in my underwear in front of Justin.” He teased.
“JC!” She struggled against him but he held her easily, “I’m gonna kick your ass! You smell awful!” She said desperately trying to get out of his grasp,
“What? I don’t smell bad.” Dani grabbed him around his waist and tried to wrestle him.
“Argh! Chip!” She exclaimed, “You’re sweating all over me! Gross!” JC began to rub more sweat off on her as she struggled,
“You make a great towel Dani!” Dani finally started to tickle him. JC still held her in the headlock but tried to get away from her hands, “That’s not fair!”
“You have me in a head lock and you’re rubbing all your sweat off on me! It’s plenty fair!” She said still trying to tickle him and now was trying to kick out his legs. They were going round in circle to the enjoyment of the other guys.
Dani got her legs tangled up with JC’s which landed them both on the floor with JC on top of Dani.
“You are just looking for any way to get on top of me!” She teased as she tried to get out from under him. JC held her there as he sat on top of her,
“You make a comfortable seat.” He teased and began tickling her,
“Hey! Hey! JC! I can’t breathe!” Her voice was very panicky and JC jumped off of her,
“Jesus, are you okay?” He asked worriedly and she popped up,
“Man, are you a sucker. That was too easy.” She smirked, “Tony makes me get a lot more dramatic before he lets me up.”
“You were faking?” Dani cocked her head to the side,
“Tony’s not the only actor in the family.” She winked and headed over to the couch. JC ran up and grabbed her throwing her over his shoulder. “HEY! Not fair!” She shouted and began to smack JC’s backside. “Let me down! All the blood’s rushing to my head!”
“No.” He grinned as he began to trot her around the room.
“Chip! Come on! Be a nice guy.”
“What? What’s that? Are you calling the sucker a nice guy?”
“I can’t be upside down, it makes me dizzy and I could faint!”
“Nice try, Dani but you can only fool this man once.” He spun her around,
“Please, Jace…let me down…” She said weakly,
“Nope, get a better acting class next time.” He teased and then he felt Dani go limp on him, “Dani? Dani, come on…” He said as he stopped and pulled her down. She was completely out, “Shit Dani! Guys move!” He yelled and scooped her up into his arms and laid her down on the couch. He lightly slapped her face, “Get me a wash cloth or something!” He yelled to the guys and turned to Dani, “Dani, wake up come on, I’m really sorry I didn’t know! I thought you were kidding!” She slowly opened her eyes,
“Man, you really are a sucker!” She laughed and JC sat back on the floor in disbelief.
“You were faking!?” Dani got up and did a little dance,
“How’s that for an acting class?” She danced around JC as the guys laughed at the pair. “Chip is a sucker, Chip is a sucker…” She chanted and he smiled at her,
“Okay, okay, you got me, you win. You happy now?”
“Maybe after I gloat a little more. I think I’m going to make up a shirt that says ‘JC of Nsync is a sucker!’ HA!” She laughed and JC pulled her back down tickling her mercilessly. She began to scream playfully and tickled him back. Lance and Justin simply smiled at each other knowing that they were both thinking the same thing.
Finally Dani was released when the boys had to get back to rehearsal and she flopped back down on the couch. They guys were back to the grind but she couldn’t throw off the feeling that Justin and Lance were basically staring at her. Well not constantly, but it was like they were watching her. JC looked over every now and then as did the other two, hell Chris made grotesque faces at her. But Lance and Justin’s looks were down right creeping her out, it was like they were trying to analyze her. Suddenly the room felt extremely claustrophobic and the only thing she wanted was to get out of there. She bolted during a song and didn’t stop till she was clearly out of the building. She leaned against the building, gasping for a breath. What the hell had just happened to her? Why was she having a panic attack over shorty and Lance, for the way they were looking at her? She was going nuts! Dani needed a break and hell Tony wanted her to do some sight seeing while she was here in New York and this was the perfect opportunity. So Dani took off to explore New York.
“Where the hell have you been?!” She held up her bags,
“I went shopping and sight seeing.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” He asked and she closed her eyes as that feeling of claustrophobia came over her again,
“Because I’m an adult and I don’t need to tell you everything that I do.”
“You ran out of practice! I had no idea where you were or what was wrong! All of us were worried sick about you.”
Dani put her bags down and backed up from JC. He instantly took a step forward,
“JC you need to calm down.” She said putting her hands up between them.
“I’m fine.” He said through gritted teeth,
“And I’m Donald Duck. Why do you flip out every time I disappear for more than five minutes?”
“Because I told you, I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt because of me.”
“I’ve known you for years and nothing like that has ever happened.”
“Well that was before you really hung out with us, like publically.” He sighed running a hand through his hair, “I just need to know where you are, that’s all.” He said and Dani stared at him.
“Whoa, are you even listening to yourself? You NEED to know where I am? Who are you, my father?”
“Dani, come on…”
“No Jace I won’t. God all of you watching me makes me feel so claustrphobic, it’s insane!” She said throwing her hands up into the air, “That’s why I needed time to myself, away from everyone watching me. It really bothers me when you’re like this.”
“I’m sorry.” He said hanging his head,
“It’s okay, I’m just not used to it. Just take a chill pill and try not to freak.” She said gently,
“I just worry.” He shrugged and she twisted her smile to the side,
“I know you do and that’s your nature. I guess I’m just used to doing whatever I want, go where I want and not having to tell people.” She shrugged and paused for a moment, “How about this? If I promise to let you know where I am more often, will you promise not to freak if I’m missing for more than five minutes?” JC smiled one of his rare genuine smiles,
“Okay I promise.” She held out her hand and they shook.
“Good deal.” She said picking up her bags and shoving half of them at him, “Help me carry some of this to my room.”
“Kay.” He said taking the bags from her and began walking with her to her room. “So, why did you run out of practice today? I think that’s what worried me the most.” He asked and she shrugged,
“I don’t know, I just suddenly felt so claustrophobic that I needed to get out. I wasn’t really thinking, I just needed to be out.”
“I wasn’t watching you during practice though.” He said quietly,
“It wasn’t you Chip, it was me and my weird thought processes.”
“You okay now though?”
“Yeah, I had my Dani time and I’m good now. You okay?”
“Once my blood pressure returns back to normal, I think I will be.” He joked and she rolled her eyes,
“I’m shocked you haven’t had a heart attack yet, Chip. What the hell am I going to do with you?” She laughed, shaking her head as she let him into her room.
"Got me Dani, got me..." He laughed glad to see everything was back to normal with them.