The next day Isabella helped Joey bring his luggage down to the awaiting limo. He only had a suitcase and a bag with him so it only took one trip. Isabella wanted to make it last longer but soon it was time for him to get in the limo and leave. Joey leaned against the limo and Izzy stuck her hands in her pockets.
"All this for you? You sure they don’t have you mixed up with someone else?” She joked and Joey laughed sadly,
"Yeah, I know unreal, huh?”
“You bet it is, who would have thought?”
“Yeah, who would have thought?” There was a long silence between them.
“So I guess this is it until what, Christmas? You are coming home for Christmas right?” She asked,
“I don’t know, I sure hope so.” He paused, “Izzy-bell, what are you doing this summer?” She shrugged her shoulders.
“I don’t know. Work at the pizza shop probably, why?”
“Well I was thinking that maybe you could come on tour with me. I mean we never get to spend time together anymore and I've really missed you.”
“I've missed you too, but I can’t let the summer slide and pal around with you. I need to have a job and work so that I can pay for school and stuff.”
“Oh,” Joey thought a minute and then perked up, “Why don’t you be my personal assistant. I’ll give you a salary and everything, that way you can work and hang around with me.”
“Oh, I don’t know Joey.”
“Please Izzy, I've been saying for ages that I've needed someone to keep my life straight and I can’t think of anyone I trust more or could do the job better, please?” His warm brown eyes won her over and she caved.
“Okay, sure.” She smiled at him.
“Yes!” Joey shouted as he jumped in the air, then he picked her up and swung her around, “This is gonna be great!” He put her down, “When are you done with school?”
“In about two weeks, the grad students get out in the middle of April.”
“Really? Wow that’s great. I can fly you to Orlando, that’s where we should be and then you can start. I can’t wait! We're gonna have the best time.”
“Okay! Okay!” She said laughing at his enthusiasm. “Well then, I guess I'll see you in two weeks, huh?” She said hugging him.
“Yep see you in two weeks!”
“Bye Joey-bear.”
“Bye Izzy-bell.” Joey kissed her on the cheek and hopped in the limo. He waved out the window as the limo pulled away. Izzy watched it leave till it drove out of sight and then slowly walked back into the house wondering what she had gotten herself into.
“Izzy?”
“Yeah Greg?”
“I've been thinking and I really like hanging out with you, and, um, I don’t know what your plans are for the summer, but I was wondering if you could stay here with me in Edwards.” Izzy hated to wipe the hopeful smile off his face but she had too.
“I can’t Greg, I already have a job lined up.”
“Can’t you quit and stay here?”
“It’s not that easy, I’m working for my friend Joey as his personal assistant. I can’t just quit, he needs me.”
“Well I guess what I need doesn’t count, huh?”
“What you need Greg? Joey asked me almost two weeks ago. That’s why I’m saying no to you. If you had asked me before he did then I would have said not to Joey's offer.”
“Guess I better take a number next time.” He retorted.
“You know you’re being a real jerk about this, considering there is no us, there’s no commitment between us. In fact you have no right to be upset at all.”
“Well I was kind of hoping that we could have something but since you’re going to spend your summer cleaning up after some big ego, lip syncing, cry baby, who can’t take care of himself, I guess not.” Izzy was furious now,
“Don’t you dare bring Joey into this! It’s not his fault that he asked me first and for your information I was hoping to have something with you this summer but apparently looking after my big ego, lip synching, cry baby of a friend is going to take up too much of my time. So I guess it’s out of the question.” She got up from where she was sitting, “Good bye, Greg. Have a nice summer.”
“No wait Izzy come back.” He shouted after her but Izzy didn’t stop, she stalked all the way up to her house and to her room. She pulled out her suitcases and began packing.
She had only two days left in the semester and basically two classes, each of which she could skip because they were handing back papers.
Soon she had everything she needed and she packed up her pick up, said goodbye to her sisters and headed for home in New York City. She blared loud angry music all the way home, which made her feel better. Finally after eight hours of driving she pulled into her driveway finding that her house was all dark. She had forgotten that her parents were off on a cruise with her younger brother Tony.
Well it didn’t take her long to decide what to do. After taking a long shower she grabbed some extra cash and took a taxi to the airport. She had already received everything she needed to get to Joey. She hoped to cash in her ticket and get a new one. Luckily there was a woman who had a ticket for that day and wanted a later ticket. It was fate Izzy decided and she took the flight all night to Orlando. She slept most of the night on the plane and arrived the next day around ten in the morning.
She got her luggage, rented a car and by then it was noon and she was famished. Izzy got some food before heading over to meet Joey. He had no clue that she was there and thought it would be cool to surprise him. She stopped and freshened up before she went. She changed her clothes; she put on worn in, low-slung jeans and a white t-shirt that ended above her waist showing off her great abs. She rebraided her hair into two low braids. Izzy thank go that she took a shower before she left for the airport. She put back on her cowboy hat that matched her boots and went to find Joey.
Izzy drove and found her way to where the boys were staying. They let her through the gate on their compound and she drove up the long driveway. Izzy almost couldn’t believe her eyes the house was huge! She parked and hopped out of the car. Guards stopped her outside the front door.
“Hi I’m Isabella Mariani, I’m here to see Joey Fatone.” The guards nodded and let her into the house. Izzy looked inside and then backtracked to the guards. “Do you know where I could find him?”
“Down the hall on the right.” The guard replied pointing her in the right direction.
“Thanks.” She replied and sauntered down the hall taking everything in. If she wasn’t careful she was going to get lost.
“Izzy-bell?” She heard from behind her and she whipped around to see Joey walking towards her.
“Joey-bear!” She exclaimed, running and jumping into his arms, wrapping her long legs around him. Izzy hugged him tightly.
“What are you doing here?” You weren’t supposed to show up till Saturday. What happen to all of your classes?” He asked and she smirked,
“I’m playing hooky.” She replied with a wink.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, if I didn’t know any better I’d say that I was rubbing off on you.”
“You bet!” She exclaimed and they hugged again.
“I’m so glad that you’re here! This is great!”
“Me too.” She replied as Joey finally put her down.
“I just can’t believe, how did you get here?”
“I’ll explain later.”
“Hey Joey! Come on we’re starting again!” A young guy with a bandana on yelled from down the hall.
“Okay be right there!” Joey yelled back. He grabbed Izzy’s hand.
“Come on you can watch us learn new choreography for our new songs.”
“Okay.” She agreed and followed him into a dance studio. Everyone in the studio turned and looked at them. Joey just ignored them,
“You can sit here.” He said pointing to chair in the corner, “Do you want a water or something?”
"Yeah that would be great." Izzy said nodding her head as she sat down in the chair. Joey quickly got her water and handed it to her.
“Here you go.” He said with a huge smile.
“Thanks.” She replied quietly with a smile.
“Come on Romeo.” One of the guys called at him and he hurriedly got into his place. Every one of the guys kept eyeing her and she kind of liked it. Apparently Joey hadn’t told them who she was and she enjoyed being the mysterious woman.
‘Justin- shaved head and smiles a lot. JC- long hair and a biggish nose, really pale blue eyes. Lance-green eyes and short spiky blond hair. Chris-dark spiky hair, likes to joke around a lot.’
Izzy looked at each of the guys and looked at her notes. Two of the guys were wearing bandanas and the other two had dark spiky hair. Her notes were useless. She began to wonder if Lucy had described the right boy-band. It was that or the fact that Izzy took really bad notes. When Lucy began talking about each guy, Izzy just couldn’t pay attention and her brain went on vacation. She really regretted it now.
Izzy’s cell phone rang or rather vibrated. She quickly left the room to answer it. It was Lucy,
“Hey girl, how’s Florida?”
“How’d you know that I was in Florida?” Izzy hadn’t told anyone of her plans.
“I’m psychic, remember?” She answered sarcastically. Izzy gave the sarcasm right back,
“Oh yeah that’s right, sorry, forgot that little detail about you.”
“So don’t keep me in suspense, how cool is it to be hanging out with some of the hottest pop stars in the world?”
“Oh please Luce, I was just watching them learn some choreography. It’s not as glamorous as you think.”
“Uh huh, and millions of girls, including me, would give their right arms to be where you are right now. Tell me is Justin as hot in person?”
“Well I don’t know because I can’t tell any of them apart, except for Joey.”
“Oh please! They look nothing alike!”
“You’re not here Lucy!” She hissed.
“Okay remember, Lance looks like a choir boy with spiky blonde hair.”
“There’s no spiky blonde hair! Just two guys with dark spiky hair and two guys with bandanas on. This is ridiculous Lucy, you should be here instead of me.”
“I know someone who would rather have you here in Edwards.” Izzy bit her lip.
“Why what has he done?”
“Well Greg’s called like twenty-three times since you left and he keeps coming up to the house looking for you.”
“You haven’t told him that I left yet have you?”
“No, I just keep telling him that you aren’t home. He seems pretty upset Izzy. Why can’t you call and talk to him.”
“Because I have nothing to say to him.”
“Well at least tell him that you left town so he doesn’t waste his time looking for you.” Lucy paused, “Well you can tell him right now, he just came up to the house.”
“Lucy, I swear if you put him on the phone I will never talk to you again.”
“Okay, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t run away from your problems.”
“I’m not running away, I’m taking a vacation.”
“Uh huh, sure.”
“Okay, can we not talk about this?”
“Hold on,” Lucy took the phone away from her mouth but Izzy could still hear what was going on. ‘Hey Greg.’ ‘Hey Lucy, is Izzy home yet?’ ‘Nope sorry, she’s not.’ ‘Now is she not home or are you just saying that she’s not home?’ ‘Really Greg she’s not here, I swear.’ ‘Okay, do you have any idea where she is?’ ‘Greg, do you really expect me to answer that? I’m her best friend.’ ‘So you do know where she is?’ ‘I’m not telling you either way.’ ‘Well okay can you tell her to call me when she does get back?’ 'I can tell her Greg.’ ‘Kay thanks.’ She put the phone back to her ear, “Hey, I’m back.”
“Thanks Lucy.”
“You owe me big time, but no problem. Oh, I got your papers from your professors.”
“Really what did I get on them?”
“A D+ and a C-.”
“What?!” Izzy said shocked.
“I was just kidding, you got and A and an A+, you nerd.”
“Oh that makes my day!!! Can you send them to me? I want to look them over.”
“Yeah where do you want me to send them?”
“Oh hold on.” Izzy slipped quietly into the dance studio and grabbed her journal.
“Okay,” she said when she was outside in the hall again, “I wrote it down somewhere, oh here it is,” Izzy read her the address, “We’ll be here till the middle of May I think.”
“Okay, God, I still can’t believe that you get to hand out with Nsync all summer long and get paid for it!!!! Do you think that you could get me in to meet them?”
“I don’t know, but if I can I will, okay?” Lucy let out a little squeal and Izzy laughed, “Sometimes I forget that you’re older than me.”
“I’m young at heart, nothing wrong with that.”
“Anyways, I guess I should get back and figure out who’s who.”
“Why didn’t Joey introduce you to them?”
“I guess I caught him on a break from rehearsal and he was called back before he could.”
“Oh well that makes sense. I’ll let you get back to your glamorous job. Talk to you later sweetie.”
“Talk to you later and make sure that you give my love to Laura and the girls.”
“I will, Bye Izzy.”
“Bye Lucy.” Izzy hung up the phone and felt a tad bit homesick. This place was definitely not her vibe, but she was up to the challenge. She walked back into the room and settled into the comfy chair. Pulling out her journal again she decided to jot down what had happened in the past few days. Writing it down usually helped her sort everything out. She wrote about Joey and the boys. Izzy loved observing people and watching how they interacted. It was one of the reasons she decided to study psychology. During her writing she figured out who Chris was because of all the joking around he did. Which left her the other three to figure out.
She wasn’t paying much attention to the scene while she was writing and Joey came over to her.
“What cha writing?” Izzy jumped and quickly shut he journal.
“Nothing.” She said innocently. Joey smirked and sat down on the chair arm. He tried to reach for the journal but Izzy pulled it away.
"Come on, what’s so secret?”
“Nothing, it’s just my thoughts. I was writing down all the good things that have happened to me in the lately.”
“Like getting to hang out with me all summer?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
“No, like getting a 4.0 gpa for my fourth semester in a row.”
“Really? Wow, that’s great Iz, you always were the smarter one.”
“I know.” She joked and poked him in the side. “So are you ever gonna introduce me to your band mates or am I supposed to guess?”
“Hey you’re the smart one.”
“I’m not psychic.”
“Didn’t you meet them before?”
“Yeah, like five years ago. I have no clue who they are now. Lucy tried to give me a crash course on who’s who but I didn’t really pay attention.” Joey shook his head,
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, and I expected so much better.”
“Look are you going to introduce me or not? I feel quite content on calling them, ‘Hey you’. I just figured that it would be less rude if I called them by their actual names.”
“I don’t know if I want to introduce you with that attitude.” She sighed,
“Joey.”
“Okay, okay, come on.” Joey led her over to the guys. They were sitting on the other side of the room discussing something.
“Well look who finally decided to join us.” One of them said.
“Here,” Another one said as they handed him a piece of paper, “it’s the final set list and tour dates.” Joey glanced at it quickly,
“Sounds good to me.” He handed it to Izzy, she looked at it,
“You’re playing in Giant’s Stadium?”
“I know cool isn’t it?” Joey replied.
“Damn right it’s cool. God I remember when you used to sing in my backyard for me and Lucy Jones. How times have changed.”
“You used to know Joey when he was younger?” One of the guys asked and Joey stepped in,
“Yeah guys, this is my best friend, Izzy Mariani. Izzy this is Justin, JC, Lance and Chris.” He said pointing them all out,
“So you’re the infamous Izzy, huh?” Justin said smiling.
“Infamous? I don’t know about that.” She said.
“Oh please, he hasn’t shut up about you for the last two weeks!” Lance said.
“Yeah we’ve heard a lot about you!” Chris said.
“Oh geez, I hope nothing too embarrassing.” She commented.
“Of course I told them the embarrassing stories, they’re always the good ones.” Joey said and the group laughed.
“Well it’s nice to meet you guys, I’m sure I’ll get to know you all pretty well this summer.”
“Hey guys, I want to start again.” Their choreographer told them. Most of the guys groaned.
“You’re a slave driver, Wade!” Chris whined.
“Yeah, but a slave driver that needs you guys to learn your routines before the tour starts.”
“Aw, we don’t need to learn the routines before,” Justin said getting up off the couch, “we'll just make something up.” He broke out in random dance moves.
“Okay, okay, enough. If you guys finish this song we’ll break for the day.” Wade said. Cheers came from the guys and Izzy took her spot in the chair again. She pulled out her journal and began to take notes on the guys. Their group dynamics were really interesting, you could see that they were all hard working guys, some more than others, but they could play at the same times. Joey and Chris tended to play more than the others, but she assumed that’s how it had always been. After two hours they were finally done learning the song. Joey came over to where she was sitting dripping with sweat.
“You stay away, gross sweat boy.” She said holding her arms up in protest. He pouted and Izzy rolled her eyes. “Dork.” She said and he smiled,
“Come on, I’ll show you my room and then I’ll show you your room.”
“Kay.” She followed him upstairs in the huge house.
“Joey how do you keep from getting lost in this place?”
“It’s not that hard.”
“Well you might need to draw me a map.”
“You live in that huge sorority house and you think that you’ll get lost in here?”
“There aren’t that many twist and turns. Do you all live here together? I thought that you had your own house.”
“We all have houses around here, but when we prep for a tour we all live here so that it’s easy for us to practice late and crash.” Joey opened the door to his room, it was kind of like his room at home, messy.
“You haven’t changed a bit have you Joseph?” Izzy said looking around. He just shrugged his shoulders,
“I’m gonna take a shower and then I’ll show you a your room.”
“Okay.”
“Take a seat.”
“Where?”
“Just move some clothes.” Izzy just shook her head and Joey went into his bathroom. She went about and picked up his room a little. Lance stopped by the room,
“You’re not here five minutes and he already has you cleaning his room.” He said and Izzy smiled,
“Old habit’s die hard, I wanted a place to sit actually, wait you’re Lance right?”
“Last time I checked, yeah.” He said leaning against the door frame.
“Where’s your blonde hair?”
“Oh, I died it for a movie that I was doing with Joey.”
“Joey never told me that he was in a movie.”
“Actually he’s been in two.” Izzy poked her head into the bathroom.
“Joseph Anthony Fatone, Jr., when were you planning on telling me that you were acting in movies?!”
“Um right now?” He yelled from the shower.
“Dumbass.” She muttered as she went back into his room. “And you think you know someone.” She said and Lance laughed,
“So, do you think you can handle being Joey’s personal assistant?”
“Well we’ll see, but I think I’ll be fine. I’ve been his personal assistant all my life, so it’s really nothing new.”
“Yeah, I guess, well I’m gonna shower now see you around, Izzy.”
“Bye Lance.” Joey walked out of the shower as Lance left the room. He was wearing just a towel but Izzy didn’t pay much attention.
“So are you gonna explain to me why, you’re here two days early?” Joey asked.
“What, I can't show up early to have more time to hang out with my best friend?" Joey raised an eyebrow at her as he began to get dressed.
"You never skip a class without a really good reason or if you're really upset, so what's the real reason why you're here so early? I am your best friend, you’re required to tell me.”
“Oh really? You seemed to have forgotten some key things that have happened to you.”
“Only the movie thing because I forgot. Forgive me I’m an idiot."
“You got that right.” Joey was fully dressed now.
“Okay, so what happened that you’re here so early?” Izzy shrugged her shoulders,
“You know, stuff.” She walked out of his room and Joey followed,
“Stuff, as in Greg stuff? How is ol Greggy-boy? Your room is this way.” He nodded down the hall and they began walking towards it.
“I wouldn’t know how he is because I’m not talking to him.”
“Ahh, there’s the jackpot. What happened?”
“He flipped when he found out that I was spending the summer working for you.”
“Why was he so upset?” Joey stopped at a door and opened it.
“Because he’s an asshole.” Izzy said walking into the room. It was a moderately sized room with a queen size bed in the middle and a huge bay window with a seat that looked out into the yard. There were dressers and tables sparactically along the walls. The room was done in shades of dark green and rose. Joey came in behind her,
“Is that a technical term, Miss Psychologist?”
“For him it is. This room is great Joey, I love it.”
“I thought you would. So where’s you luggage?”
“In the car.”
“You drove all the way here?”
“No I flew and then rented a car.”
“Oh, okay. Let’s go bring up your stuff.” They walked out of the room and down the stairs,
“I don’t get it, why was he so upset that you were working for me?”
“I guess because he wanted me to spend the summer with him in Edwards, but I had already made plans with you, so I couldn’t.” Joey opened the front door for her,
“You gave up Greggy-boy for me?” And you said that you were immune to the Fatone charm.” He joked and she smiled as she walked through,
“Whatever, it was just that I already had made plans with you first. I would have done the same to you if he had asked me first.” She sighed and picked up a bag from her car, “I don’t know, he was just going on about what he needed and what he wanted and then he started calling you nasty things and I just snapped. I walked away, packed my things and left and here I am.” They walked back to the house,
“Well I’m glad you’re here.”
“I am too.”
“You know if you want you can have the next couple of days off, cuz you technically don’t start till Monday. You can just lounge around by the pool and do nothing.”
“Oh I don’t know about that, I’ll probably go nuts with nothing to do.”
“That’s cuz you’re an over achiever.”
“I am not an over achiever, I just have high standards. Anyways I have some work I’ve been meaning to catch up on. So I won’t be too bored.”
“Work-a-holic.” Joey joked.