Late the Next Morning...
“Dude,” Lance says, sitting across from Justin at the table. He was staring into his cereal bowl, trying to wake up. “I hate to tell you, but you look like crap.”
Justin looks up at him with tired eyes. “I think I know that. It’s your fault.” He says, joking, but looking totally serious.
“Ha, ha. To say that you’re still sleepy, you still seem to have a sense of humor.” Lance says. “Why are you so tired? Didn’t you go to sleep?”
“Well, yeah, but Tyra thought it would be funny to come banging on my door at three-thirty in the morning. That’s my girl and all, but sometimes she’s just...too much.” He says. “Hey, does Reagan ever talk?”
“People usually do.” Lance replies.
“Have you ever talked to her?”
“Who?” A sleepy-eyed JC asks, walking into the room.
“Reagan.” Lance answers.
“Oh, I talked to her yesterday.” JC says, taking a seat next to Lance.
“Impossible.” Justin says.
“Nope, it’s not. I talked to her. She can sing too.”
“She sang for you?” Lance asks.
“No, I heard her when I was going to my room.”
“Well, you just suck.” Justin says. “She like, never talks.”
“To you.” JC says. Justin rolls his eyes.
“Ooh. Ego burst.” Lance says.
“You just get a kick out of making little comments like those, don’t ya?” Justin asks, jokingly.
“I sure do.” Lance says with a smile. Justin smiles, shaking his head.
“Exactly why everything is your fault.” Justin says.
“Where did you guys get that from anyway?” Lance asks.
“I don’t know, Chris started it.” JC shakes his head at his two friends and sits down on the couch.
Everyone on the other bus was sleeping, except for Tyra, Tonia, and Reagan. Tonia was on the phone, obviously talking to someone who had something to do with the tour. “So, Tommy is in fact coming on the tour?...That’s great...Yeah, he’ll be a lot of help...I’ll be sure to let them know...Okay, bye.” Tonia says, and hangs up her cell phone.
“Tommy is coming on the tour?” Tyra asks her mother.
“He is, indeed.” Tonia says.
“Who’s Tommy?” Reagan asks.
“He’s a guy our age, who helps with the lighting for the tour sometimes.” Tyra answers.
“And he’s our age. Young, huh?”
“Yeah, but he’s cute so, you know. Gives you something to look at.” Tyra says, and her mother shoots a look at her. “What? Mom, come on, you know it’s true. Honestly, if you were our age, you’d think he was cute.”
“I think he’s cute anyway, but you know, since I’m married, your father wouldn’t want to know about this conversation. Don’t tell him anything.” Tonia said. Tyra smiled at her mom.
“See, even my mom thinks he’s cute. My mom has great taste in men.” Tyra leans in closer to Reagan. “How do you think we got on this tour. She had a choice. Either 98 Degrees or *N Sync. Of course she chose the cuter group.” Reagan laughs at her friend.
“Yeah, I know what you’re saying.” Reagan says. “Hey, how about I show you the guitar stuff now? I’m in the mood.” Reagan asks.
“You mean, you’re gonna sing for me?” Tyra asks, hopeful. Reagan nods. Tyra squeals and hugs her. “Yeah! Go get it! Hurry because I wanna hear you!”
“Tyra, it’s not like you’re getting off this bus anytime soon anyway.” Tonia says as Reagan gets up. Tyra sticks her tongue out at her mom. Reagan returns shortly, her guitar in hand.
“I’m sorry if you don’t like this group, but I’m really into a BBMak mood right now okay, and you know, I just feel like doing one of their songs. Any disagreements?” Reagan asks.
“I just wanna hear you.” Tyra says.
“Alrighty.” Reagan says and begins to play.
Baby set me free from this misery
Until you're back here baby
So I told you lies even made you cry
Until you're back here baby
And I wonder, are you thinking of me
Until you're back here baby
Reagan finishes playing and looks up at Tyra and Tonia, who are staring at her with wide eyes. “What?” She asks, sitting the guitar next to her.
“Have you listened to yourself?” Tyra asks.
“A lot actually.” Reagan says with a smile.
“Your voice is beautiful!” Tonia says.
“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Kiara says, coming into the room.
“When did you get up?” Tonia asks.
“Like, a minute ago.”
“Oh, hmm...” Tonia replied.
“How much longer do we have on this bus? As soon as I get to the hotel, I’m taking a nice, hot bath.” Kiara said.
“Me too.” Tyra and Reagan replied simultaneously. They looked at each other with surprised faces before laughing hysterically.
Tonia rolled her eyes at the two girls, “Anyway, we have about an hour before we get there.” She answered Kiara’s question.
“Okay, well, I’m going to go ahead and brush my teeth.” Kiara said, and walked out of the room. The bus phone rang.
“I’ll get it.” Reagan said, and picked up the phone that was next to her. “Hello?”
“Hello?” The person on the other end asked.
“Who is this?” Reagan asked.
“This is Justin.”
“Oh, you must be calling for Tyra- -”
“No! No, Reagan. Actually, I’m calling for you.”
“For me? Why? You don’t even know me.”
“That’s because you don’t give me a chance to get to know you.”
“I guess you’re right.” Reagan said softly.
“Meet me when we get to the hotel, alright? So we can talk.” Justin said.
“Um...sure, I guess.”
“Talk to you then.”
“Alright, bye.” Reagan said.
“Bye.” She hung up the phone.
“Who was that?” Tyra asked.
“That was Justin.” Reagan answered.
“And he didn’t want to talk to me?! How rude!” Tyra joked. “Probably still mad because I woke him up anyway.”
They arrived at the hotel about an hour and a half later. Reagan was a little wary about talking to Justin, but she knew that it was for the best. She had been hiding out in her room by herself. Kiara and Brett had gone out to lunch. Reagan was comfortably laying on the bed watch television when someone knocked on the door. Thinking that it was Kiara and Brett, she opened the door, only to be faced with Justin’s smiling face. “Oh! It’s you. I thought you were KiKi and Brett.”
“Talk about a warm welcome.” Justin said, his hands in the pockets of his dark blue windpants.
“Sorry. You...wanna come in?” Reagan asked, stepping out of the way so Justin could come into the hotel room.
“Sure.” He said, flashing a smile at her as he came into the room. Justin sat down on the bed. “Jerry Springer, huh?” He asked as she closed the door.
Reagan turned to him with a smile. “It’s interesting...sometimes. The situations are so bizarre that I can’t help, but watch. Trash, I know.”
“Nah, it’s okay. I mean, every now and then I sneak in a little bit of Court TV.” He confessed, shrugging.
“Really?” Reagan asked, sitting indian style on the bed next to him. He nodded.
“See, we’re learning stuff already. We both watch trash TV.”
“I wouldn’t call it trash...I would call it...life’s lessons.” Reagan said. Justin gave her a confused look. “Of everything that you shouldn’t do. In example, never let your girlfriend hump a cone.” She said. “Okay, maybe it is trash TV.” Reagan could feel herself getting more comfortable around Justin. He was right when he said that she didn’t give him time to get to know her. Everytime that she’d see him or the guys of *N Sync, it seemed as if she’d turned into a mouse.
“I heard that you sing.” Justin said out of the blue. Reagan raised an eyebrow at him.
“Really now? From who exactly did you find out this info from?” She asked, resting her elbows on her thighs.
“JC told me.” Justin said, not once hesitating.
“Oh.”
“I’d like to hear, you know, if you don’t mind.” Justin asked, giving her one of his famous puppy-dog looks. Reagan’s face broke out into a smile.
“Well...I guess so. Since you asked so very nicely.” She said, her lips resting calmly in a half-smile. “A cappella or guitar. Pick one and one only.”
“Guitar.” Justin said, proud of his choice.
“Alright, I think that it’s right over there.” Reagan said, pointing to the chair by the window on Justin’s side. “Could you get it for me?”
“Yeah, sure.” Justin answered. He leaned backwards, reaching for the guitar, thinking he would be able to grab the guitar from where he was. The guitar unfortunately was too far out of his reach and he tipped over, falling off of the bed. He hit the floor and the wall with a loud thump. He groaned in pain.
“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Reagan asked, quickly coming around to the side of the bed he was on. He sat up slowly, using one arm. She kneeled down, noticing his other arm. “Is your wrist broken?” Justin cringed as he moved his left hand at the wrist, letting her know that his wrist wasn’t broken.
“It’s probably just sprained.” Justin said.
“You need some ice for that.” Reagan said, standing up. She held a hand out to Justin. He took her hand and she pulled him up. He followed her to the sink. Reagan grabbed a paper towel and wrapped some ice in it. She handed it to Justin. "Hold this on your wrist until I come back with a bandage and a ziplock bag." She instructed. "I'm so sorry. This is my fault. I should've got the guitar."
"Reagan, it's not your fault." Justin said with a smile. Reagan gave him a soft smile and rushed out of the room. Justin sat down on the bed, holding the ice to his wrist until she returned. He was glad that she had opened up to him. Reagan didn't really talk to the guys, but he knew that she wasn't as shy as she seemed. A few minutes later, Justin heard the door unlock and Kiara and Brett came in laughing. Brett was leaning in to kiss Kiara when Kiara noticed another person in the room.
"Oh! Justin! What are you doing in here?" Kiara asked.
"I was in here with Reagan, just hanging out."
"What happened to your wrist?" Brett asked, indicating the paper towel of ice in Justin's right hand.
"I sprained it, that's all. Nothing serious." He answered, shrugging. Justin turned his attention back to the television until Reagan returned.
"Hey KiKi, hey Brett." Reagan said hurriedly as she came into the room. She sat next to Justin, taking the paper towel away from him and emptying out its contents into the zip-lock bag. She put it to the side. Kiara and Brett watched in curiousity. They both knew how Reagan was. She was, well, a closed person to people she barely knew and here she was, helping Justin, someone whom she'd rarely talked to, with his wrist.
Reagan carefully wrapped the bandage around Justin's wrist. "Is that too tight?" She asked him. He shook his head no. "Alright. Try to not use that wrist as much as possible. Here's your ice back."
"Thanks a lot, Ray." Justin said, leaning over and giving her a small kiss on the cheek.
Reagan smiled, "Hey, it was not a problem at all."
"I'm going to head out now. I'll talk to you some other time." Justin said, standing up and walking to the door. "By the way, you owe me a song."
I can't take it no more
Since you went away nothing's been the same
Don't know what I'm living for
Here I am so alone
And there's nothing in this world I can do
Miss you want you need you so
Until you're back here baby, yeah
There's a feeling inside I want you to know
You are the one and I can't let you go
Baby I was so wrong
Girl I promise you now my love is true
This is where my heart belongs
‘Cause here I am so alone
And there's nothing in this world I can do
Miss you want you need you so
Until you're back here baby, yeah
There's a feeling inside I want you to know
You are the one and I can't let you go
‘Cause I'm thinking of you
And I wonder
Are you ever coming back in my life
Cause here I am so alone
And there's nothing in this world I can do
Miss you want you need you so
Until you're back here baby, yeah
There's a feeling inside I want you to know
You are the one and I can't let you go