| Chapter Fourteen |
| Album release day… Crystal squinted her eyes as she tried to see the end of the massive line of fans that had lined up outside tower records for the album signing. It was huge; there was no way management was going to let the group sign for all these girls. They had to do two radio interviews that night and TRL the next day. She sighed; she didn’t want to let anybody down. She headed back inside and made her way downstairs to the room that all the guys were in and found Johnny. "So, what’s it looking like out there?" Johnny questioned her. He had a serious look spread across his face, as if he really didn’t want to be there. "Crazy. There has to be at least five hundred people out there waiting. I had no idea this was going to turn out so big. If I did I would have never suggested the idea to you." Crystal swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. Johnny was not happy. He didn’t need fans hating the group for not signing on the day of their album release. "What were you thinking Crystal? You knew the single was big. There’s way too much on their agenda to be at this signing for five hours. Hell we have to be at Z100 by five and its already two thirty. I knew this wasn’t a good idea from the start…" "I’ll fix it Johnny ok, whatever fans don’t get an autograph, I’ll get them into TRL tomorrow." "Oh, so you’re going to add them to the already overbooked list of kids that are supposed to be in the studio, right? No Crystal, it’s not going to work. I’m giving the guys till 4 to sign, after that we’re leaving. And you better go upstairs and tell all those people that right now. Here…" Johnny paused and pulled a fist full of red wristbands out of an envelope. "Give these out. The people that receive these are the only people to be let inside. Everyone else is going to have to leave." "Johnny how do you expect me to do this? I can’t just let them down like that." Crystal pleaded with him. "You screwed up Crystal. Be an adult and deal with it. And don’t let it happen again. You need to learn to stop caring about those damn kids so much. The world can't meet NSYNC." Johnny said shaking his head and walked away not saying another word. Crystal covered her face with her hands as she tried to hold back the tears that were trying to break through. She was such a moron. She had been so caught up in trying to do things for the fans she had completely overbooked their agenda. Maybe she just wasn’t cut out for this. God, she just couldn’t do anything right. "Hey, you ok?" Justin said from behind her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, yea." She wiped the tears away quickly and turned around to face him, trying to pretend as if nothing had happened. "No you’re not. I can tell. What did Johnny say to you?" Justin looked at her concerned. "I totally overbooked the days agenda. I should have known there would be a big turn out for this; I was just so caught up in everything, I didn’t think about it. There’s like five hundred girls outside waiting for all of you J…" "Five hundred?" Justin looked at her amazed. "Yea…and Johnny gave me these," Crystal held up the red wristbands in his face. "The people that get these are the only ones allowed into the signing. Everyone else has to leave. There’s nothing I can do, and now I have to go upstairs and tell them all. I totally screwed everything up J, and I’m really really sorry." Tears began to stream down her face. "Hey, don’t do that. You did the best you could Crys’ and I don’t give a crap what Johnny says or thinks. All he sees is dollar signs sometimes. I’m so proud of the way that you handle our schedule. No one tries harder for the fans than you do. But no one stops to realize it except me and the rest of the guys. And if the people out there are true fans, they will realize it’s not your fault or our fault that this happened. They’ll have other opportunities. Don’t even worry." He half smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Now go on, before we have no time to sign for anybody. Try and pick the die hards." Crystal looked into his eyes and smiled once more before walking away. "I love you J. I love you so much." Justin stared at her retreating backside, his eyes widening. Realizing for the first time that he truly did love her. And she loved him. ******************* Crystal took a deep breath as she stood at the beginning of the massive line. She felt terrible. Some of these girls had slept overnight to get into this thing, and only over a hundred of them were going to be let in. She didn’t even know where to start. She figured to make it fair she would take a group from the front, a group from the middle, and a group from the back. But which people to choose out of the five hundred standing there was going to be tough. Who really wanted this? And who was just here to get somebody’s autograph? "If they try to jump us I don’t know if I’ll be able to save you." Fritz chuckled. ‘Thanks." Crystal smiled sarcastically at her friend. "You always know how to make a girl feel better during a time like this Fritzy." "No problem." He laughed. Crystal held up the megaphone to her mouth and started to shout into it. "Ok guys, here’s the deal. The guys have a really busy schedule today and due to the tremendous turnout we have no choice but to give out wristbands. If you are given a wristband please enter the store and someone will place you in line. If you do not receive one they guys wanted me to express their apologies and hope you keep stayin’ NSYNC!" Crystal winced as her announcement was immediately followed by crude remarks and shouts from the crowd. A wave of nausea swept over her, this was not going to be good. Nervously she approached the girl that was in the front of the line. "Hi," she said quietly handing her a wristband, "I know you’ve been here since last night. Thanks for coming out." "Thanks so much. My name is Danielle. Can my friends Trysta and Renee come in with me? The three of us came together. If you can’t do it then just give my wristband to someone else. I won’t be upset." The young girl said with a small smile. Crystal looked at the other two girls that stood with her. She couldn’t say no to them. It wouldn’t be fair. She happily handed Danielle two more wristbands who then handed them to her two friends. The three girls freaked out right there in front of her. "Thank you sooo much!" The girl that was pointed out as Trysta said. "I know this is probably a hugely difficult job for you. See you inside!" she smiled as she pulled the third girl, Renee, who was too shocked to speak behind her. Crystal smiled to herself as she continued to make her way down the line. Maybe this was going to turn out ok after all. ************************************************** "Hi I’m Danielle." The girl smiled at him and stuck out her hand. "Hey, nice to meet you, thanks for coming out." Justin smiled at her as he she gave him her CD for him to sign. "Here you go hun. See you soon." Justin smiled at her once more before looking on to the next fan in line. "Hey Justin?" Danielle said before moving on to a confused looking Lance. "Yeah?" he asked politely, half expecting an "I love you so much," to come out of her mouth. "That girl Crystal…you guys are really lucky to have someone like her working for you. She’s the best. Can you just let her know that for me?" "Sure I will." Justin said as a wide smile spread across his face. "You can count on it." |