Chapter Four
The
Klemmers walked into their manager’s office, Krista bouncing around in her
usual perkiness and the rest of the boys in their morning funk.
“Hey
Steve!” Krista chimed and waved before
she plopped herself into one of the plush office chairs.
Their
manager smiled at her, “Good morning Krista!
Good morning guys, glad you could make it in!” He greeted as the rest of the band plopped themselves down around
the office. The boys just grumbled back
their greeting as they sipped their coffee.
Krista
could barely sit still in her seat.
Steve said that he had some new exciting opportunity that he wanted to
pass by them and she couldn’t wait to know what it was. She leaned against his desk, “So what’s new,
Steve?”
Steve
couldn’t stop smiling with Krista in the room.
She always seemed to brighten his day with her energy. In fact, she was one of the main reason why
he signed on to manage the band. He
knew that she would be able to take the band places they could only
imagine. Dan was the serious one that
kept the band ground, while Krista pushed them further along. They made a great team.
Steve
leaned back in his seat, “Well I have exciting news for you guys. Nsync has asked you to be their opening act
during their Celebrity 2002 tour.”
“Really?” Krista asked becoming more excited.
Dan
stood up, slamming his hand down on the desk, “No! We’re not some opening act!
We should be headlining concert venues!”
Steve
wasn’t phased by Dan’s outburst, he expected that kind of reaction, “Now Dan,”
Steve said calmly, “this is a great opportunity for you guys to reach a new
audience and it’s only for two months or so.”
“I
want to do it. This sounds like so much
fun!” Krista said and James looked at
her,
“That’s
because you’d get to spend two months with Nsync!”
Krista
looked over at James as she rolled her eyes at him, “No, that’s just a
bonus. It’s a great opportunity for us,
like Steve said.”
“I
guess.” Pauley said with a shrug and
Krista stood up turning around to look every guy in the eye.
“Look,
we may not get top billing but it’s a great way to reach other people. Any exposure is good exposure, plus it’s
only for like what, two months? We’ve
recorded a bunch of stuff already and the rest we can do on the road. The only way we can keep up this momentum is
if we keep visible. So, we have to tour
as much as we can. I don’t think we
could hold our own tour just yet. So
why don’t we take this small tour and then maybe over the summer do our own
tour.”
“I
guess.” Pauley said, he always the indifferent one. He could care less if he was playing in run down bars or huge
stadiums. All he cared about was
playing.
“Sounds
good to me.” James agreed, “You have a
really good point there.”
Krista
turned to Dan, “Well Dan how about it?”
“Whatever
I don’t care.” He grumbled, sitting
back in his seat and crossing his arms, looking away from her.
Krista
kneeled in front of him and placed a gentle hand on his knee, “Dan please,
it’ll be good for the group you’ll see.”
She pleaded.
“Fine!” He shouted throwing up his arms, “We’ll do
the tour! Say yes to fucking
Nsync!” He yelled at Krista and she
slowly stood up glaring at him the entire way.
“You
are so petty. Your feelings towards
this are personal, not professional.”
She accused harshly.
Dan
stood up, getting in her face, “Are you going to deny that yours aren’t?” He demanded.
Krista
closed her eyes to regain her composure.
When she opened them again, they were soft and caring again. She rested a soft hand on his arm, “Dan, I
truly believe that this is a good step for us.
I would never put the group’s future in jeopardy because of my personal
thoughts. I know you know that. I also know that you know in your heart that
this is a good decision for us.” She
ended gently and he looked to the ground then back at Krista,
“Okay,
let’s do this. It’s a good thing.” He agreed and she looked at him,
“Really?” She asked softly, trying to contain her
enthusiasm.
Dan
nodded, “Yeah, you’re right.”
A
huge smile spread across her face as she jumped in the air, “Alright!” She said giving Dan a quick hug before
turning to their manager, “Okay, Steve what do we have to do?”
“Joshua
Scott Chasez, pick up your damn phone.”
Krista muttered to herself as she looked around the studio. They had a break for lunch and Krista
decided to call up JC to tell him the good news about the tour. Ever since that time in New York, they had
been calling each other on a regular basis. “Come on you dork-”
“Hello?” He answered as she was talking, “Krissie?” He questioned,
“Hey
Josh!” She said trying to keep her
excitement in.
“Hey
Krissie, what’s up?”
“What
took you so long to pick up?” She
asked,
“I
was in a meeting and you’re lucky, we just got out.”
“Oh,
sorry. I thought you had the day off.”
“Ha,
ha, ha, define day off. I don’t know
the meaning of it.” He smiled, glad
that it was her on the phone.
“Hmm,
I don’t know the exact definition, but I do believe it means a day to yourself,
where you can do whatever you want.”
“Yeah,
I don’t get them.” He half grumbled,
“Yes,
you do whiner.” She teased, “You just
like working too much.”
“ANYWAYS,
was there a reason for this call?”
“Oh
my gosh Josh!” She stopped and giggled
at her rhyme, “Hey I’m a poet and didn’t even know it.” She laughed again as JC groaned on the other
line.
“That
was horrible.” He said but chuckled at
the end,
“But
you laughed.”
“Only
because it was so bad.”
“So
bad it was good.” She teased, making
him laugh again.
“Yeah,
okay you win.”
“I
always do.” She smiled with attitude,
snapping her fingers and JC could picture her doing that exact thing.
“I
know, so how has your day been?” He
asked and it was then that Krista realized the reason why she called,
“Oh
wow! It was so awesome, guess who
signed on to be your opening act?”
“You
guys signed on?!” He asked excitably,
“Yeah,
we sent out the contract today! Isn’t
this going to be great! I can’t wait
for it!”
“Neither
can I! I didn’t think that you guys
would seriously go for it when we thought up the idea.”
“I
was totally for it and the guys were really into it too.”
“Were
they now?” JC questioned, not believing
her for a moment.
“Okay,
so Dan took a little convincing, but in the end he thought it was a good idea.”
“What
did you have to do to convince him?”
“Sexual
favors for a month.” She teased and JC
was silent on the line for a moment, “I’m kidding!” She laughed and JC then laughed along with her. “I can’t believe that you think that I would
do sexual favors to go on tour with you guys.
I mean you’re good, but not THAT good.”
She teased,
“I
don’t know whether to be insulted or complimented.” JC said and she laughed even harder,
“I
don’t know either, but isn’t it great that we get to go on tour together and
hang out?!”
“Yeah,
it’ll be great. My best friend Tony is
opening too.”
“Tony
Lucca?”
“Yeah
that’s him.”
“Sweet! That’s really cool, I can’t wait to meet
him.” There was mumbling in the
background, “Shit, I have to go Jace.
Call me later kay?”
“Yeah,
I’m free for the rest of the day, you?”
“Tonight,
after eleven.”
“Where
are you?”
“I
have no freaking idea, but my watch says that it’s 3 o’clock.”
“Okay.” He laughed, “Talk to you later Krissie.”
“Bye
Josh.”