Chapter Nineteen
Krista was sitting outside the back of one of the
venues. It was a rare heat wave. It was 95 degrees outside and she was just
chilling enjoying the free moments of sunshine. Her band mates were all at the hotel enjoying their free time. She was here waiting to have lunch with
JC. The drivers were washing down the
busses while all of the guys were inside doing odds and ends before they could
go back to the hotel for lunch.
She heard the screech of Chris and
Justin as they ran outside,
“We’re
free! We’re free! Thank the Lord we’re free at last!” Justin shouted and she laughed at them. They were all dancing around all weird and
shit. The other three came out and were
just as bad. They all came over to her
and she swatted them away.
“What
am I? Fly paper for freaks?” She teased, “Hey Lonnie!” She yelled to their bodyguards, “Know of a
circus that could use a few freaks, five to be exact?”
“If
it was only that easy, Kris. If it was
only that easy.” Lonnie joked with her.
“Our
opening act and our staff are making fun of us. Are they allowed to do that?”
Chris asked playfully,
“Allowed?” Krista teased, “I’m required by my contract
to make fun of you guys at least once a day. Timberlake gets two because he’s
so easy.” She teased and Justin eyed
the running hose at his feet.
“Yak
it up Journey. You never know when it’s gonna come back to you.” Justin teased,
“What
are you going to do? Sit all day and
think of a come back?”
“No,
I’d do something like this.” He said
stooping down grabbing a hose and spraying her with it.
“Ahh!” She screeched as the cold water hit her,
“You’re
dead Timberlake!” She yelled as she
lunged at him wrestling the hose away from him and drenching him with it. He grabbed a sponge and threw it at her as
he found another hose to spray her with.
It was an all out war after that.
Suddenly Justin and Krista heard the
laughing of the rest of the Nsync members who were watching the spectacle that
was unfolding before them. Krista and
Justin turned to look at them,
“Oh,
you guys think that this is funny, do you?”
She said walking towards them,
“Hey
Krissie, we were uh, just laughing with you.
Yeah, that’s it.” JC said as
they all walked backwards from the advancing threat.
“Uh
huh, sure.” Justin smirked and gave
Krista a look before they turned the hose on the dry Nsync members. Soon everyone within a ten-foot radius was
soaked to the bone and laughing hysterically.
When they got back to the hotel and were finally
dry, JC and Krista chilled out with a movie in her room. Their relationship didn’t change much after
their confessions of the previous night.
In fact, it made them closer than before. She was glad that their true feelings were out in the open.
Krista
stretched out on the couch placing her legs in JC’s lap and he saw the ‘8876’
tattoo on her ankle.
“Krissie?”
She
didn’t look up from the movie, “Yeah, Josh?”
“You
never told me what this meant.” He said
running a thumb over it,
She
glanced over at what he was looking at, “I know.” She said and went back to watching the movie.
“Can
you tell me?” He asked and she looked back at him,
“Why
do you care?”
“Because
I like knowing everything about you.”
He shrugged and looked at the number again,
“It
really doesn’t mean any one thing, you know?”
She said evasively with a shrug,
JC’s
lips curled into a smile, “It’s my birthday, isn’t it?” He teased lightly, “I was your favorite
Nsyncer and you had my birthday tattooed on your leg.”
“Wow,
you are sooo full of yourself.” She
grinned at him, “I mean, I’m a fan and everything, but I don’t think I would be
THAT drastic.”
“Are
you sure?” He teased again, “8-8-76,
August, 8th, 1976, IS my birthday.
You have my birthday tattooed on your leg.” He said smugly,
She
rolled her eyes at his arrogance, “I know when your birthday is and that wasn’t
the reason for it.”
“Then
what is it?” He asked,
She
tilted her head to the side, “It’s kind of complicated.”
“Try
to explain and I’ll try to understand.”
He shrugged,
“I
don’t know if I can.” She said with a
slight frown,
“Please?”
She
shook her head, “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
“Only
if the true reason is that you tattooed my birthday on your leg.” He grinned and she rolled her eyes,
“Just
promise me you won’t laugh.”
JC
made a cross with his finger over his heart, “I promise.”
“Okay…”
She sighed, “It means a lot of different things to me.”
“Like
what?”
“Like
on that day my aunt Joanie had a dream about me and then my mom told her she
was pregnant with me.”
“That’s
cool.”
Krista
began listing things off on her fingers, “And 88’s my lucky number.”
“Okay.”
She
glanced up at the ceiling, remembering everything that the number meant to her,
“Matthew 7:6 is an important message from the bible to me.”
“What
is it?”
She
looked at him, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to
pigs. If you do; they may trample them
under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” She said and JC let it sink in.
“Wow.”
“I
know, it reminds me that I shouldn’t sell myself short.”
“That’s
really great advice.”
“Trust
me, I know.” She smiled warmly at him,
“Is
there anything else?”
“Yeah,
if you add all the numbers together, you get 29 or 2/9, February 9th,
my birthday. Then 8876 are the last
four digits of my parent’s number, which reminds me of home. 6/7/88 was the date of my first kiss and in
the end it all comes down to two.”
“Two?”
“Yeah,
plus, my favorite Nsyncer’s birthday is 8-8-76.” She said grinning up at him,
“I
knew it.” He grinned back at her and she
shrugged,
“I
just added it to the list.”
“Who
knew a number could mean so many different things?”
“I
know.”