| Chapter Fifteen |
| The next day... "What are you talking about Johnny?" Justin shouted at his manager angrily. "I just think it would be better if I took over Crystal's job. I just don't think she can handle it. She's too young and too inexperienced. The European tour went so well I just didn't think wisely. You guys are huge now and can't have an assistant the same age as Justin. Just look at the Backstreet Boys, Lou doesnt have some teenager as their personal assistant and look where they are right now. I'm going to be the laughing stock of the music industry if..." "Oh so that’s is what this is all about. You. It doesnt have to do with us or what we think. Just as long as you look good everything is great, right Johnny?" Justin cut him off. He shot a icy glare at him, as he waited for a response. "Justin don't start. Crystal can't keep the job just because you have feelings for her. You need someone else, and that's the end of it. I dont want to hear anymore. As of today I will be taking over all events and be starting to search for a new personal assistant." "Fuck you Johnny." Justin threw his chair across the room and angrily walked out the door slamming it behind him. "Come on Johnny. You can't be serious. She messed up once." Chris said softly shaking his head. "I am serious. Messing up once in this business is too much. You all should know that by now. Justin will get over it eventually, and you all should too. I already informed Crystal about the situation, and actually, she took it alot better than the five of you. I'm sure she'll be just fine without us. We have another radio interview in a couple of hours so relax until then, I'll send some food up." Johnny said and exited the hotel room. The four remaining men sat in the room in silence. There was nothing they could do. Johnny ran the show and his decisions were always final. They were going to miss her. But the fate of the group was more important than anything. They just hoped that Justin would stick around to be a part of it. *********************************** Crystal sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes as she finished packing the last of her things. She should of known this would happen. She had really screwed up the other day, she had almost ruined the whole schedule, even though there were only one hundred and thirty people at the signing they had still barely made it on time to the radio station. Johnny had had a fit and screamed at Crystal all the way from the record store to the radio station. She had sat in silence the entire trip, but Justin had given him an earful and boy did Johnny get pissed off! Then that night Johnny had come to her hotel room and told her he was letting her go. She pretended like she didnt care and he bought it. Crystal was very good at hiding her emotions. Her whole experience with Todd had taught her how. Only now that she was alone and packing her bags did she let her true emotions flow out of her. What was she going to do now? Go back to Justin's house and sit around until he got his next vacation? That could be months from now. She knew what this felt like. This felt exactly like when Justin had left her to go to Germany before the tradgedy happened. Visions of Todd began to enter her mind. She could hear his voice echoing in her mind. Dont you know I still love you baby? We're going to be together for ever No one's ever going to take you away from me again... again... again... She screamed and backed into a corner of the hotel room. Suddenly she wasn't there anymore. She was back in that place. That dark room with no windows. No light. No chance of escape. She could hear him walking down the steps. She saw him walking towards her. Tell me you love me Crystal.... Crystal... Crystal... "CRYSTAL!!" Justin yelled in a panic. He shook her, trying to get her to calm down as she screamed uncontrollably. He realized she wasn't seeing him or her surroundings. Her mind had slipped into another world. "No Todd! Please! Please!! I love you! Just dont hurt me! Please don't hurt me!" Crystal cried out. Justin wrapped himself around her and she screamed even louder. "Crystal, it's me, its Justin. It's ok, Todd's gone. It's just us now. No ones going to hurt you!" Just as fast as she had slipped out of reality, her mind popped her back into it. She looked into Justin's worried eyes. "Justin...." she whispered and wrapped her arms around him. She breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that it had only been her imagination, and that Todd wasn’t really there. "Oh God...are you ok?" he asked her as he cradled her in his arms and stroked her face. "Yea...I don't know what happened. I guess I just blacked out or something. That's never happened before." She leaned her head into his chest. "Jesus girl, you scared the shit out of me." Justin said after a few moments. "Fuck this, there is no way I'm letting you go home by yourself. Fuck NSYNC." "No J. You're not going to do that, not to yourself and not to those other four guys. I'll be ok." She forced a smile. "Johnny doesnt know what he's doing, hes a fool. I'll make him reconsider." Justin shook his head. "It’s not right what he’s doing." "No, Johnny has a point. The group is too big now. You need someone who has alot of experience and knows more. I'll always be your friend Justin. Even if we dont talk for ten years. You know that. Look at all the shit that we've gone through, and look at us. Here we are, still going strong." He was silent for a moment, not knowing if it was the right time to bring up the fact that they had slept together. But, he decided to take the chance. "Yeah, I mean...just look at what happened with us a few weeks ago..." Crystal sighed. "We need to talk about that J. Don't you feel weird that we haven't mentioned it at all?" "Of course I feel weird. It just happened so fast, that I really didn't know what to say. I didn’t want to pressure you about it. I was afraid I would push you away. But now I'll just be honest with you. I care about you Crys, alot...no I don't care about you..." Justin sighed and shook his head. "Wait...you don't care about me? I'm confused J." Crystal laughed nervously. "No I meant to say I dont just care about you anymore...I love you." Justin said finally and searched her eyes for the answer that he hoped was there. Crystal looked deep into his eyes. "I love you too Justin." She leaned in slowly and brushed her lips against his. She could almost feel the electricity sparking as their lips touched. It was amazing. "So...does this make us a couple now?" Justin laughed. "I guess so. A very strange couple. But a couple." Crystal replied with a smile. " But I'm going to miss my flight back to Orlando if we keep sitting here." "Stay the night. I'll get you on a plane tomorrow." Justin said, his eyes pleading with her. "Oh yeah, ‘cus you know no one's gonna burst in on us while we're making passionate love in the bed over there." Crystal said sarcastically. "Well then..." Justin smiled at her mischeviously. "I guess we're just gonna have to find somewhere else to go mami." They both cracked up. Johnny was going to get one hell of a headache once he realized his precious star was missing. Revenge was sweet. ******************* "So you mean to tell me that we have to be on Regis and Kathy in one hour and Justin isn't in his hotel room?" Johnny shouted at Fritz as he, Fritz, and the other four members of NSYNC stood in the hallway. "Hey don't get mad at me Johnny. I made my rounds last night. Justin was here when I went to bed. I did my job." Fritz glared at his boss. "Who was he with last night?" Johnny asked JC through gritted teeth. "I dunno, I didn't talk to him after he stormed out on us yesterday. None of us did." JC replied. "He was probably with Crystal, because she's gone too." Joey supplied with a small nod. Johnny squeezed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger and squeezed his eyes shut. But before he could say anything else he heard the one voice that he needed to hear. "Sorry I'm late." Justin flashed his million dollar smile. "I overslept." "And where may I ask did you sleep Justin? Because you weren't in your hotel room this morning." Johnny asked him angrily. "Hey I'm here aren't I? What does it matter?" Justin rolled his eyes. "It matters because you are under my supervision. And there are rules you need to follow. I don't ever want you acting this way again, do you understand?" Johnny glared at him. "Yea, I understand." Justin replied nonchalantly. "And I don't ever want that girl hanging around you while you are promoting. She's not good for your image. I don't care what you do in your downtime. But when you're working, she's not to be around. I mean it Justin. No Crystal." Johnny said sternly. "You can't stop me from seeing her. I'll see her whenever I want to." Justin replied coldly. Johnny stepped up to Justin and got right in his face. "You will do no such thing. I hate being a jerk. But I will be one when I have to be. If she comes around again, there's going to be trouble. Big trouble. I'll see to that." Justin shook his head and looked at the floor. "Fine. Whatever." "Good. Now hurry up and get yourself together. We have like thirty minutes to get to Regis." "Yo man...what the hell did you do last night?" JC asked his friend as they walked, keeping his voice low. "Oh my friend...a gentleman never tells." Justin smiled devilishly. JC rolled his eyes. |