*Untitled* Bigger part of Ch. 3 -- Fictional Getdown

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Date Posted: 23:37:44 11/05/02 Tue
Author: Z
Subject: *Untitled* Bigger part of Ch. 3

I put the first part over again..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 3:
January 17, 2003

Justin pulled onto the highway and checked the time. He had only 20 minutes to cut through the traffic if he wanted to make it to rehearsals on time.

"Shit, shit, shit," Justin mumbled under his breath. He turned his head around to see if he could pass the annoyingly slow car in front of him. Just as he was about to turn the wheel, a car came up from behind, forcing him to remain behind the slow driver. "Great!" Justin slapped his hands on the wheel and fell back onto his seat with a sigh.

So far the day had sucked and it wasn't even 10 in the morning yet. The piece on "Justin's women" on Extra could have been over looked the night before as well as the early morning lecture from his mom about being careful, but when the local radio station started discussing his technique in bed, Justin had almost lost it. It might have been humorous, but after hearing the topic, or related ones, incessantly for the past month, Justin failed to laugh anymore.

It was embarrassing to have your sex life discussed so much. Life was better when everyone thought he was still a virgin. Now whenever Justin met anyone, he wondered if they were thinking about the latest story they'd heard. Justin didn't even want to think about whom had listened to this morning's bit. It was starting to get hard to face people he knew.

Justin's thoughts turned to the past week of dance rehearsals. Thankfully, they had kept him busy so he couldn't get into much trouble. No Hollywood parties, no Hollywood girls, no Hollywood gossip. Overall that seemed like a safe plan for Justin to follow.

For the millionth time that month, Justin tried to evaluate his relationships. He couldn't understand what it was about him that made superficially wonderful girls flock to him, only to have the fa�ade disappear a little while into the relationship when they got bored and ended up cheating on him. As much as Justin tried to be casual about his relationships, it was getting harder and harder to bounce back from the dust after he invested so much of himself.

Each of his relationships had meant something to him, especially with Britney. The two of them had shared so many big steps together that Justin was sure that she would be the one for him. He believed that so much that he closed his eyes to the reality. In his mind, Britney had to be the one because she had to be the only one who understood him. She knew what it felt like to deal with fan and paparazzi. The desperation to be understood left Justin blind to the incongruities between him and Britney. No matter how much Justin tried to convince himself, the fact remained; him and Britney came from different backgrounds. Thought they had ended up in the same places, the two had taken different routes.

After the end of that relationship, Justin wasn't sure what to do with himself. Whatever he knew about love had gone out the door. Slowly he began indulging himself in small, not completely meaningless flings. With his subsequent relationships, Justin worried less about creating the perfect relationships and more on enjoying the moment. Even then, he stayed with one woman at a time. Of course that hadn't been hard because women came up to him. Not just any women, gorgeous, sophisticated women. Justin discovered that he not only liked confident women, but that they were also his weakness. Despite all his experiences, Justin came to the conclusion that he liked being a boyfriend and a good boyfriend at that. He enjoyed thinking up surprises and romantic gifts to give.

Justin was forced back into the present when the car in front of him hit its breaks. Quickly, Justin's foot stomped on the break as well, making him stop just inches behind the car. In his rearview mirror, Justin saw the car behind him break closely as well. Craning his neck to see ahead, Justin could barely make out flashing police car lights. The sounds of an ambulance siren assured Justin that an accident had transgressed up head. Sighing with frustration, Justin let out a string of expletives that would make a sailor blush.

Scanning the cars around him to make sure he wouldn't be pulled over, Justin pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and randomly called one of the guy's cell phones. It was a minute to 10 and undoubtedly the others would be wondering as to his whereabouts.

"Where ARE you?" Chris answered on the first ring.

"Stuck in fucking traffic." Justin replied grimly.

"On the highway?"

"No on my driveway, yes of course." Justin knew he was taking out his frustrations on Chris, but he didn't care.

"Hey, don't take your shit out on me, serves you right for sleeping in. Hold on." Justin waited as he heard fumbling from the other line. "Okay, yeah I'll ask. Okay, they wanna know where exactly you are."

"Like 4 miles before exit 5, I think."

"Right before exit 5," Chris conveyed to the rest of the group.

"Crap, he's like a good 20 miles from the exit. With traffic he could be there another hour," JC surmised.

"But Marc's going to be here in like half an hour."

"Exit 5 is 441, right?" Hannah said, speaking up as she pictured a map of Orlando in her head.

"Yeah, I think so, why? J, hold on."

"I'm holding," Justin said with a sigh. It's not like he had much choice just as long as he didn't get another citation or ticket for driving and talking on the cell phone.

"Okay tell him to take the next exit and go north," Hannah told Chris authoritatively.

"Okay, Justin? Hannah says take the next exit and go north, then what?" Chris turned back to Hannah and waited for further directions.

"Then make a right on 27th and go east on it. Left onto south Division Avenue and then�"

"Hold on, hold on, " Chris said, struggling to remember Hannah's words. "Actually, here, tell him yourself." Chris thrust the phone into Hannah's hands and she looked at Chris as though he was speaking in a different tongue. She looked down at the cell phone in her hands. Faint sounds of Justin's voice filtered into Hannah's conscious and she hastily put the phone up to her ear.

"Hey," Hannah said softly.

"Okay good, so now where do I go? I just got onto 441."

"Um turn right on W. Michigan."

"Wait, what happened to 27th?" Justin sounded flabbergasted and Hannah smiled to herself. She distinctly remembered how he hated being late and how he always ended up being late anyway.

"27th IS W. Michigan, so chill. I'll get you here in 30 minutes." It seemed so normal to be talking to Justin on the phone. She had spent hours of her first two years as a teenager listening to that very southern drawl.

"Okay, I see 27th, what's next?"

"Make a right and then make a left on south Division Avenue." Hannah continued to give the rest of the directions to Justin. Hannah tried to hang up the phone a few times, but Justin insisted that she remain on the phone with him through all the turns so he didn't miss any streets. While Hannah waited for Justin to get to the next intersection, Justin talked about various topics. Hannah made sure to keep her guard up so that she didn't slip again.

Justin smiled as he pulled into the studio parking lot. True to her word, Hannah had gotten him there in half an hour. He had it found it amusing to make Hannah talk to him on the phone during the trip. He could sense her reluctance, but to his surprise it didn't seem to stem from shyness or even from being intimidated by him. That's the first thing Justin had noticed and appreciated; Hannah hadn't given any heed to their celebrity status. From what Marc had told them, it didn't seem like Hannah had had much exposure to big artists, or any artists for that matter, so it would be a natural reaction for her to be star struck, but she showed no signs.

Locking the car behind him, Justin galloped to the studio and reached inside at exactly 10:32. He looked around and saw that Marc hadn't arrived yet.

"Hey, look who finally decided to show up," Joey said upon spotting Justin.

"Ha, bite me," Justin said with squinted eyes. "Hannah! Thank you so much! If it weren't for you, I might still be stuck in traffic."

"Sure, no problem, now Marc should be here any minute." Justin noticed the quick change of subject from Hannah and he dropped his thank yous. Before shifting gears completely, Justin couldn't help stopping and wondering his sudden interest in observing Hannah's behaviors.

"Good morning, my sweets!" Marc said, boisterously entering the room. All eyes turned to him and JC and Chris rushed over to help him. "Thank you boys, you're too nice. Hannah, darling, how has it been?" Marc asked as he gave Hannah a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. Hannah returned the greeting and smiled.

"Absolutely wonderful! I thought this job was supposed to be a challenge!"

"That's why you're the person for the job! Now lets see your creations."

"They're talking about us as if we're not here," Chris said loudly to Joey.

"I know. Hey Chris, maybe we're invisible!"

"All right! I'm gonna go to the girl's locker room then!"

"Okay, okay, Chris, come back from 8th grade for a minute so I can win the bet," Hannah said with feigned boredom.

Hannah's comment took Justin back to a long forgotten memory.

"Come on, Justin, the coast is clear," Trace said quietly as he peeked around the corner.

"I don't know, what if we get caught?"

"Stop being such a worry wort, come on! This might be you're only chance to see Jessica changing."

"I don't know�"

Justin shook his head and tried to figure out what had just transpired. He saw Chris saying something to Marc and it was quite obvious that he had spaced out for a minute. A smile came to his face as he thought about the crazy antics of him and his friend, Trace, back in Tennessee. It seemed like a whole other life to him now.

"Oh yeah, Marc, you're the judge and you have to be fair," Chris said, wagging his finger at Marc.

"Please, when am I not. But enough chit chat, dance for me!" Marc clapped his hands and everyone jumped into action. Justin shook the clouded memories from his head and turned his attention to dancing.

Hannah felt a wave of nervousness wash over her as the guys took their positions. She looked to Justin for the cue to begin and pressed play when he nodded. Quietly, she walked over to Marc and took on the roll of an anxious parent. Hannah was less worried about the bet and more focused on living up to Marc's expectations.

Even though they still had a whole other week, Hannah found herself grimacing at every misstep. She had to admit the mistakes were very minute and Chris and Lance were dancing up to par with the other. Now all that mattered was what Marc saw. With Marc's experience and knowledge, he saw so much more than the routine. He could tell whether or not a mistake was because the step was taught incorrectly. Marc could see the dance instructor's work in the dancers and that scared Hannah.

The last note of the song rang out in the studio and the group came to a standstill. Everyone looked expectantly at Marc. Marc sat quietly in his seat with a thoughtful look on his face. He made sure to prolong the suspense as long as possible.

"Christopher?" Marc's somber voice rang through the small room.

Chris swallowed quickly and looked up. "Y-yes?"

"Tonight, when I kneel by my bed, I'll pray for you."

"Huh?"

"I'll pray that Hannah takes it easy on you because only God can help you now. Hannah, you did a fantastic job. I'm impressed!"

"Really?" Hannah was sure she had heard incorrectly.

"Don't sound so surprised, Hannah, I never doubted your talent for a second, but you even exceeded my expectations."

A broad smiled spread on Hannah's face and her face blushed under the compliments. It felt good to do good and at such an important level too. Marc had left Hannah solely responsible for the way NSYNC looked on stage. That was something major. Maybe I'm good at this, Hannah thought for a split second before dismissing the thought. She shook her head, reprimanding herself for thinking such thoughts.

"Don't stop yourself from thinking you're good because you are," Justin said without thinking. He wasn't sure how he knew, but by looking at Hannah he felt like he could sense what she was feeling. His words resounded in his head and he tried to figure out why he had said that.

"Wha--how'd you know what I was thinking?" Hannah asked astounded. She stared open-mouthed at Justin, completely shocked. The rest of the group was oblivious to the exchange between Justin and Hannah.

"So, Hannah, what's it gonna be," Chris asked, bringing Hannah out of her stupor. With one last skeptical glance towards Justin, Hannah turned her attention towards the others.

"Oh, hmm, actually, I think I'm going to let you sweat it out until the end of the day." Hannah gave Chris an evil smile and walked over to Marc who was talking to JC and Lance.

"So all of you are flying up to New York the same day as I am, right?" Marc said, trying to finalize the dress rehearsal schedule.

"Yeah, on the 27th and the show is on the 29th," Lance reminded the others.

"The show's in New York City?" Hannah asked as she joined the group.

"Yeah, at Madison Square Garden, too."

"Wow, that's so awesome!" Hannah sighed dreamily as she thought about the city. Her dream was to move up there and hopefully be able to afford an apartment in Manhattan. She was still a ways off from getting there.

"It won't be so awesome to be in the city in the middle of winter! Brr, I'm going to freeze my cute little ass off," Marc said with a shiver.

"But you'll be in New York City," Hannah emphasized.

"Center of the universe," Joey sang, joining the conversation.

"Sing it, girl," Hannah added with a smile.

"Times are shitty. But I'm pretty sure they can't get worse." Joey continued.

"Okay, okay, Joey, enough with the Rent songs, we get it, you were on Broadway," Chris called out from the side.

"Aww, but I like Rent," Hannah said with a whine.

"At least someone appreciates me," Joey said with his chest puffed out. He reached out and pulled Hannah in a hug.

"You can sing me those songs any time."

"Okay, back to the rehearsal," Marc said. "Since you'll have all the steps down before that, I'll just oversee your dress rehearsal from the stage and let you know if anything needs to be changed, okay?" The rest of the group gave their affirmations. "Good, now I'm off so Hannah can work more of her magic. See you later, sweeties!" With that, Marc exited the studio, leaving Hannah alone with the guys once more. Since it was almost lunchtime anyway, the group didn't bother in getting into new steps. With two routines out of the way, they had some breathing room. Right at 12, the day's lunch arrived and the group quickly set up for the meal.

The day's lunch was Chinese food, much to JC's happiness. He loaded up his plate with chicken lo mein, pepper steak and sweet and sour shrimp before settling down contently.

"Yeah, I think JC's gone to heaven," Chris noted, bringing attention to JC eating.

"What can I say, I'm easy to please. Besides, this means you guys are off the hook. We don't have to go a Chinese restaurant for dinner."

"All right! French it is then!" Lance said excitedly. "Speaking of, Hannah, why don't you join us?"

"Oh for dinner?" Hannah stalled while trying to think of a feasible reason to decline without appearing rude.

"Yeah, it'll be fun. Have you ever been to Chez Maurice?"

"Um, no, I've never had French food, but-"

"All the more reason to come! You'll like it." Joey added, also insisting.

"But, I have class and stuff."

"We can go tomorrow night, you'll be free then, right?" Chris jumped in.

"I have a lot of work to finish over the weekend, though."

"Please?" Chris begged, batting his eyelashes. Hannah couldn't help but smile and knew she was going to give in to that plea.

"Okay, I guess I can manage. I'll come find you if I fail though."

"Deal. You can even make me do your homework, but I can't guarantee good grades."

"Nah, I have something better planned for you."

After lunch was finished and everything was cleaned up, the group got back to dancing. Hannah had decided to end the first week with the beginnings of the third routine so that the guys could have the steps mulling around in their heads over the weekend. The third song was another up tempo song, but definitely not as high impact as the first routine.

At 6 o'clock, Hannah called it a day. She had an hour and 15 minutes to shower and get to campus. Hannah threw her belongings into her bag and made a beeline for the exit, pausing only to yell out a quick good-bye.

"Wait, wait! Where should we pick you up on Saturday?" Lance called out, catching Hannah just as she was out the door.

"Oh, I can meet you at the restaurant."

"No, no, give us an address," Lance insisted. "Think of yourself as our date."

Hannah inhaled deeply and looked skeptically at Lance. "I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"

"Nope. We're very persuasive. We got you to come to dinner, didn't we?" Lance smiled innocently at Hannah.

"Okay, fine. I'll give you the address and phone number. Call if you need directions." Hannah spoke as she scribbled her information on a piece of paper. "I gotta run, so I'll see you later." With that, Hannah turned and exited, leaving the others to still pack up.

"Wow, I haven't had to beg someone to join us for dinner in a long time," Chris commented as he took a swig from his water bottle.

"Yeah most of the time people join us without being asked," JC said jokingly.

"Hey, what do you guy think of Hannah?" Justin asked curiously.

"She's cool, a little--I don't know uptight, maybe? Great dancer though," JC answered thoughtfully.

"You think she's uptight?" Chris asked with a surprised tone.

"I thought she was kinda cool," Joey said.

"Yeah she made and won a bet with me. Hey, she never said what he wanted me to do! He'll forfeit her win cuz you only get 24 hours!" Chris realized suddenly.

"Well, I guess uptight's not the right word. I just don't get her reluctance and all."

"Give the girl a break, we are kind of overwhelming," Lance said with a deep laugh. "Oh and Chris, she left me her number, we can call and find out."

"She's in class though."

"I'll leave a message."

"Darn it!"

"I wonder what she's studying," Joey mused.

"Man, we are self-involved." JC said, shaking his head.

"Hey, Curly, what do you think of Hannah." Joey turned to the quiet youngster.

""She's okay."

"Just okay?"

"Yeah, I mean like you all said--we don't know her that well."

"Then why did we invite her to dinner?"

"I dunno, as a thank you, I guess," Lance said shrugging his shoulders. "Let's get out of here, I need a shower."

___________________________________________________________________________

Hannah opened the door to her apartment and practically fell in under the weight of her bag and the armful of groceries. Dropping the book bag next to the door and setting the groceries on the table, Hannah walked over to the answering machine to check her messages. Surprisingly she had 3 messages. Hitting play, Hannah tiredly fell onto the couch.

"Hi, Hannah, it's Daddy. I'm just calling to check-in with you. I'll try again tomorrow afternoon. Love you, baby girl." Hannah smiled warmly as her father's voice filled the room. The two of them had gone through some tough times in their relationship, but both were trying hard to mend it. Hannah made a mental note to talk to her father as soon as possible as the machine went to the next message.

"Hey, Han! Where have you been all week? You totally need to get a cell phone! You will not believe who I saw at the mall yesterday. Call me back as soon as possible and I'll fill you in! Byeeee!" Hannah slapped herself on the forehead as she realized she had totally forgotten to fill Lucy in on her schedule. Seeing as it was only 10:30, Hannah reached for the phone and quickly dialed Lucy's number. The phone rang a few times as Hannah listened to her last message.

"Um, hi, it's Lance�Bass," the deep voice began, catching Hannah off guard. Lucy's answering machine greeting brought her back to reality. Hitting the pause button on her machine, Hannah left Lucy a brief message to explain where she had been. She left the number of the studio and told Lucy to call her there next week. After hanging up, Hannah started her last message again.

"Um, hi, it's Lance�Bass. I'm calling cuz none of us know how to get to your house and also cuz you never told Chris what you want him to do for the bet and Chris says the bet becomes null if you don't tell him in 24 hours. So give us a call back on my cell, 407-674-5389. The number's kind of private so keep it on the down low. Oh and we'll be up late so call for sure. Later."

Hannah was definitely not expecting a message from one of the country's biggest names. She had been so caught up with running into Justin again that she hadn't had time to realize that she was working with such major celebrities. Not only that, she was going to have dinner with them tomorrow night at some fancy restaurant. Her goal had been to avoid Justin, instead his friends had managed to pull her in--just like before. Life worked in weird ways, Hannah thought with a sigh.

Deciding she better call Lance back now, Hannah picked up the phone once again. She hesitantly dialed the number, not sure what she would say.

"Hey, Hannah!" Lance greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey, I just got your message."

"You just got done with class? Wow, that's a long class!"

"Yeah, but it's a twice a week class so that's why. So you needed directions?" Hannah didn't feel comfortable carrying on a conversation casually and she had no idea how she's make it through an entire meal with just her with the guys. "I do have a car. I can meet you there."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay still not done, but almost this time...

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Replies:

GRRRR.... -- Sonali, 23:57:09 11/05/02 Tue
Okay Z...get working, lol. I need more of this story...I feel an addiction forming. (NT) -- Tiffany, 15:04:37 11/06/02 Wed
Keep it coming girl. Keep it coming. (NT) -- Reagan, 23:09:43 11/06/02 Wed