Chapter Eight
They began the tour with a few glitches in the show that were quickly
fixed. Being on your with the guys was
so much fun for Krista, especially getting all the time to hang out with JC. He had even come up with a new nickname for
her, Spunky…
Krista found JC sleeping backstage and quickly
jumped on him playfully,
“Hey
Josh!” She exclaimed and JC groaned,
“Jesus,
Krissie, calm down it’s time to nap.”
“No
nap time!” She laughed as she jumped on
JC trying to get him up, “I’m too wired to take a nap. Come hang out with me. I’ve got some time to kill till I have to do
my sound check and everyone else is a party pooper.” She said tickling his side a little and he squirmed out of her
hands.
“You
are the biggest punk I’ve ever met.” He
grumped jokingly and she sat up on her knees placing her hands on her hips,
“I
am certainly not a punk!” She declared
as she glared down at him, “I’m especially perky.” She replied haughtily,
He
looked at her with only one eye open, “How about especially punky, or
spunky?”
“Perky.” She debated, crossing her arms defiantly.
“Spunky.” He said closing his eyes again, and settling
in to catch more sleep.
“Perky.” She poked him in the side, not allowing him
to get a moments rest.
“Spunky.”
He taunted her, enjoying the playful banter.
He honestly didn’t care that she had just woken him up. He loved the idea of her sitting on him the
way she was. Anything to keep her that
way, was a good thing.
She
pouted playfully, “You’re a stubborn old mule.”
“Whatever
you say Spunky.” He smiled in his sleep
knowing that she didn’t like this new name.
Krista
groaned and rolled her eyes, “Ugh, do not think that you can call me that and
I’ll respond.”
“Kay,
Spunky.” He replied, teasing her even
more.
“I
hate you, Josh.” She crossed her arms
and glared down at him.
“Come
on Spunk, for me, please?” JC pleaded
as he followed her backstage.
Krista
looked back at him quickly, “No, I’m not going to do it. I told you I can’t.” She protested,
“I
still maintain that you can sing.” He
said defiantly and she turned quickly,
“Don’t
you have screaming teenies to entertain or something?” She retorted placing her hands on her hips,
“You’re
one of them.” He shot back, “Where’s
your tee-shirt Krissie?” He taunted
back,
“Up
your ass, where your head is.” She shot
back and then continued to walk away.
JC
was hot on her trail; he enjoyed bantering with Krissie. “I’m not going to leave you alone until you
sing for me.”
“I
have a sound check to do, thank you very much.
It’s what you hired me to do.”
She said walking onto the stage.
JC
followed her on the stage, “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I’ll be here till you do.” He taunted and she whipped around in front
of her drum set.
“You
wanna hear me sing JC? Do you
really? FINE!” She screamed, “I’ve warned you, here it
goes.” She opened her mouth,
“NOOOOO!” Pauley cried and tackled Krista to the
ground, “Don’t do it!” He exclaimed and
looked back at JC, “Are you crazy? What
the hell were you thinking?”
Krista
fought her brother off, “Get off of me you brute! He asked for it and deserves everything he gets!” She exclaimed.
James
joined in, in wrestling Krista to the ground, “Think of us Krissie! You promised to only use your powers for
good!” James exclaimed,
JC
threw his hands up in the air, “Good Lord!
She can’t be THAT bad. You guys
are over reacting!” JC sighed and Dan
ran out onto the stage,
“What
the hell happened? Guys get off of
Krissie!” He demanded and they all
stopped wrestling, but didn’t get up.
Pauley kept her in a headlock and James had her mouth covered.
Pauley
looked up at Dan, “She was going to sing!”
“What? Why?”
Dan asked worriedly,
James
pointed at JC, “He forced her to do it!”
He accused.
Dan
turned to JC, “Are you insane? Krista
is NOT allowed to sing, unless there is loud music playing that can drown her
out.” He said seriously.
JC
rolled his eyes, “You guys are ridiculous.”
“This
from the man that has never heard her sing.”
Pauley scoffed.
“She
can’t be that bad, I’ve heard bad singers.”
JC protested,
“She
breaks windows dude. You don’t want to
mess with it.” James added, “Trust
us. My dog went deaf.”
JC
looked at the quartet and the serious looks on their faces, “Come on, you can’t
be serious.”
“As
a dead corpse.” Pauley replied and JC
looked at Krista,
“You
made James’ dog go deaf?” He asked
skeptically and she nodded her head.
She fought to get James’ hand off of her.
James
looked at her, “Do you promise not to sing?”
He asked and she rolled her eyes as she nodded. “Fine.” He released her slowly.
She
looked up at JC, “Now do you believe me?”
She asked and he thought for a moment,
“I
don’t know, you cracked windows?” He
asked still not believing the scene that had played out in front of him.
“Uh
yeah.” She affirmed, “I told you, I
can’t sing.”
“Trust
the girl. She knows what she’s talking
about.” Pauley mentioned letting her go
and leaning back on her hands.
“I
was only trying to protect you.” She
said with a shrug, “Though you push me again and I will not think twice about
using it.” She threaten playfully.
“Man
as long as I’m not in ear shot. Go with
my graces.” James teased and Pauley
agreed,
“Ditto
for me.”
“Are
we all done playing now? I distinctly
remember having a sound check scheduled for this time.” Dan said sternly, crossing his arms.
“Okay,
okay, we’re going DAD.” Krista muttered
and stood up brushing herself off. “Dude, could you not tackle me so hard next
time. Man, I’m going to be sore for
weeks.” She said stretching slightly,
“It
was dire!” Pauley exclaimed, “The fate
of the free world depended on that tackle!”
He protested making everyone laugh.
Krista
looked to JC, “Hey Josh?”
“What?” He replied walking over to her,
“You
wanna hear our song, you know live?”
She asked and he smiled,
“Spunk,
you must have ESP because I was just thinking about that.” He grinned and she laughed,
“You
found me out, I’m a psychic.” She
shrugged, “So you wanna hear the song?”
“Of
course.” He said nodding,
“Kay,
go chill in the audience and let me know how it sounds.”
“Kay.” He said jumping off the stage and sitting
down in the seats.
Krista trotted back to her drum set,
“Alright guys, let’s start with ‘Harder’.”
JC
sat back in the first row and listened to them play the songs. He had to admit that Krista was right, it
was a number one song. It was hard to
believe that, that was the song that they had written the first night they had
met.
The one thing that always held true with the
Klemmers, or rather Krista was that you never knew what to expect with
them. The Nsync boys readily found this
out on their day to day excursions with their opening act. Usually Krista was the main culprit of the
spontaneity, but never less they enjoyed it in their heavily scheduled
lives.
The buses rolled to a stop and JC looked out the
window, it was late in the evening and the sun was setting into the
horizon. They had parked along side the
road of a deserted beach in Southern Oregon.
“Why
the hell are we stopping?” Justin asked
as he came up to the front of the bus. “We’re not at the hotel are we?”
“No
even close. We’re at the beach.” JC replied as he looked out the window with
Justin.
“What?” Chris asked coming up front to see what was
going on.
JC
looked over at his band mate, “We’re at the beach. I’m gonna check and see if another bus broke down or
something.” JC said getting up and
getting off the bus. He stretched and
heard Krista’s playful screech. He
looked and saw her running down to the water’s edge.
“Krista
the water’s freezing!” Dan yelled as he
walked down to meet her.
“Oh
come on Dan! It’s the ocean! It’s nice!”
She screamed back as she played in the water’s edge.
“I’m
going back onto the bus.” He muttered
and walked back up the beach.
“Party
pooper!” She screamed playfully after
him,
JC jogged down to the beach and was
almost over run by Paul and James as they ran into the ocean, splashing around.
“Ocean,
ocean, ocean!” Pauley chanted as he
tried to dunk James.
JC
made it down to Krista, “What are you guys doing?” He asked as he crossed his arms tightly to keep warm.
Krista
kicked some water up, “Playing in the Pacific!
Come on in!” She laughed trying
to get out of the way of Pauley and James’s splashes.
JC
protested, “Why? It’s freezing!”
“I’ve
never been the Pacific ocean, silly. So
we stopped so I could go in real quick.”
She said throwing some water at JC.
He
jumped out of the way, “It’s freezing!”
He said but moved a little closer to her.
“It’s
fabulous!” She cried throwing water up
in the air and dancing around in the waves.
JC
shook his head, “Spunky, you’re going to catch pneumonia.” He scolded her.
Krista
successfully splashed JC, “No I won’t and neither will you. We’ll be just fine. Come on in, please?” A wet JC was all she had on her mind at that
moment and she was willing to do anything to see it.
JC
gave in and splashed her back, “You’re crazy!”
He laughed.
“Nope,
just love the ocean!” She grinned
crazily and took his hand pulling him in further. Mission accomplished!