Stone's Dream
Chapter 4

Everyone was getting on edge an hour and a half later. Justin was still nowhere to be found, the sound check had been halted until his return, and Lindsy was driving everyone nuts by pacing around like some caged animal. 'Where are you Justin?' The thought had barely escaped into her head when Justin showed up bearing a single flower.

"Hey, Honeybear." He planted a kiss on her cheek and handed her a perfect Iris. He apologized as she inhaled its sweet fragrance. "I'm sorry I'm so late and didn't call you. I had a lot of catching up to do with some old friends whom I ran into in town." Throwing him one of her perfect smiled, Lindsy ran for the backstage area.

"You're late for your sound check. Everyone's waiting on stage." Justin ran on stage and only saw three of the guys. Joey was nowhere to be seen. He glanced in both directions of the stage, catching sight of the cousins, deep in a heated argument. Lindsy threw the Iris on the floor and stormed off to her dressing room. Joey hurried on stage to get the sound check done with.

"What was that about Joe?" Joey seemed very distracted.

"What? That? I don't know, we have to finish it after the sound check." Justin began to get a discomforted look on his face.

"Why did she throw my flower on the ground?" JOey was getting tired of all these questions, everyone could see that. He snapped on Justin, just as his mike was turned on.

"Maybe she's tired of you trying to buy her love. Maybe she knows what you were really doing today, and is through with you." 'Thank God the speakers don't reach back into the private rooms.' Justin prayed as everyone who had heard turned to stare at the two men.

"You told her?"

"No! I'm not dying just because you had to be a selfish bastard!"

"Hey! It was only lunch! Don't talk to me about being selfish, look at you! You punched out some guy, just because he was friends with your precious Carrie!" They both were mad as raging bulls by now. Wendy had enough sense to turn off the mikes, as if that would help. They were shouting at each other loud enough to be heard outside the theater. Finally, Chris had to break it up.

"Guys, I'm pretty sure everyone can hear you now and know everything. Calm down."

"But he's cheating on my cousin!" Joey had lowered his voice to a hissing whisper.

"No way! I told you the truth! Tina and I just had lunch at her place." Joey was about ready to strangle Justin, but Chris held him back. Chris gave one last shove, and Joey walked away from the stage to go take his frustration out on something less Justiny. When he had vanished from sight, Chris grabbed Justin's shirt and pulled him down to his eye level.

"Lunch? At her place? Are you mentally retarded?"

"What is your problem?" Justin wrenched his shirt out of Chris' grasp and began smoothing the wrinkles out of it. "I had lunch with her. We talked about old times. I left, bought Lindsy a flower, and came here. Nothing happened!"

"Says you!"

"You know what? I don't need to take this shit from anybody! I'm outta here!" Justin jumped from the stage and ran for the exit. He was going home.

"Fine! We don't need you!" Chris hadn't really meant to say that, but he felt that he needed to have the last word. Now, he wasn't sure if it was true. What would 'NSync be, without Justin?

Amber leaned against the make-up table in Lindsy's dressing room and just shook her head. Only she knew how bad things really were. Carrie and Wendy were too busy diluting themselves with hopes that everything would turn out all right, and Lindsy was too self-involved at the moment to grasp anything as important as the future. Lindsy blew her nose into another Kleenex and tossed it for a three-point shot into the garbage can. Joey knocked quietly on the door and asked to borrow his cousin for a moment. He took her into a private office to talk to her.

"Why are you guys being like this?" Joey set his jaw before answering her question.

"Because we're all mad at J. He's never late, we just got edgy today. Maybe we've been on tour too long or something."

"You're not lying to me are you, Joe?" She looked up at him, hope glimmered in her tears.

"I wouldn't lie to family." He locked Lindsy in a comforting hug. "With all this stress I'm surprised we're all still mostly sane. Don't worry about it. It's our problem to deal with. Loosen up and go get ready for the show."

"What about Justin? Won't the show be canceled, if he doesn't show up?"

"Show business is in his blood. He'll be back." Lindsy smiled hopefully and went back to her room to get ready. Joey let out a breath of relief. At leas he had managed to tell her a bit of truth. Now, it was all up to Justin.

Justin did come back right before the show was about to begin. He couldn't let down his devoted fans. Afterwards, he stood outside the suite, contemplating whether or not to go in. Joey seemed to be calmer, hopefully someone had managed to cinvince him that Jusitn had told the truth. Finally, he made up his mind and went inside, ready to face his punishment like the man that he was. Only Amber raised her eyes to him, disappointment clear in them. He disappeared into his room and grabbed his shower gear. He locked himself in the bathroom that his and Jc's rooms shared before Jc could claim it. Joey and Lance came bounding into the lounge, sweaty and smelly.

"Hello, beautiful ladies!" Joey bent down to give Carrie a kiss, but she used her powers to freeze him in his tracks.

"You don't kiss me til you get a shower." She used an Italian accent to let his know that she meant it. She released him, and he stood back up.

"I'll definately have to get one too." Lance pilled off his shirt and used it to wipe some of the sweat off of his skin. Wendy reached into a side cabinet beside her seat and pulled out air freshener. She aimed and shot him with a squirt of the wildflower scented stuff. "Hey! I said I'd get a shower."

"Yeah, but that's Wendy's way of telling you that she'll join you." Amber smiled wickedly at Wendy and waggled her eyebrows over the rims of her glasses. "I'm just trying to help you get Lindsy to smile." Wendy smiled back.

"Go to hell, Amber." Wendy set herself up for one of Amber's oldest jokes.

"Been there, done that." They looked over at Lindsy, but she didn't even blink. 'Damn!,' they thought at the same time. Joey decided to try his luck.

"Are you okay, little cous?" He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. She reared up like a skittish animal.

"I'm fine!" She certainly didn't look it, but she went bounding off to the spare room next to Amber's before anyone could say otherwise. Everyone present stared at the closed door. Each one had some emotion on their face. Joey with his guilty look, confusion for Lance, worry etched Carrie's face, and Wendy had sorrow for her friend. Only Amber kept her face to a carefully expressionless mask. She vanished into her room, like Lindsy, her last words leaving a chill in the air.

"I guess she is fine, for someone who's had their fairy tale life ripped to shreds."

Later that night, Joey made his way silently down the hallway. He caught Amber in the kitchen, finishing off one of her special bottles of liquor. She glanced at him once and slid a second glass his way. he took it and sat in the booth next to her. "I followed you in here. I want answers."

"Well, there goes my reputation of being as silent as a cat. If I woke you up, I must be pretty loud." He ignored her sly move to change the subject. He wasn't going to be deterred by any of her deceptions tonight.

"You know, don't you? You know that Justin's cheating on Lindsy, don't you?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on the way you look at it."

"Is he? Please, just answer yes or no on this." She saw the depth of his pleading. She felt sorry for the poor ignorant fool, so she humored him with the truth.

"No. Justin was telling the truth. What would he have had to gain by lying to his friends and four very powerful witches." Joey heaved a sigh of relief and poured himself a shot.

"So how do you know if he is ot not? Can you read mind, or see the future? You know, witch stuff." Amber leaned back in her seat, not sure of how to answer.

"Well, Wendy can read and even control other peoples minds if she wanted to, but respects everyone's need for privacy. Carrie can see the future, sort of. She told you she gets premonitions sometimes. This life as a singer is hard for Lindsy. She can become in tune with nature, trees and such, and she doesn't get much of that being on tour. I am a different story all together. It's real hard to explain, but I can see the present. I know what's happening right now. It's like I'm anywhere but here." She had successfully managed to confuse poor Joey, and she didn't feel one bit sorry. He had asked her after all, not that the answer would have been easier for anyone else to give. He shook his head to clear it and stood up to go back to bed.

"I guess mere mortals like myself are unable to understand what they dont' know. G'night Amber." He made his way back to his room; her eyes on him the whole time. 'You have no idea how mere you really are.'

Lindsy felt better the next morning, she had dropped off to sleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Justin wasn't a problem for her anymore; in fact, she had missed waking up to find him sleeping next to her. She went to his room and walked in, just as he was tossing his clothes all over the place. She crept up behind him and slid her arms over his shoulders. "Looking for something?" Justin turned to see who it was and smiled widely when he saw she was back to her old self.

"Yes, I'm looking for my jacket."

"Which on? You've got like a hundred of them." She broke away to help him clean up the mess. She had learned a bit of responsibility and liked to keep things slightly neat.

"The one I've been wearing for the past three days. The one you bought me."

"Oh, that one. I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it will turn up. But if it doesn't, I'll just have to buy you a replacement." She stood on her toes, since she wasn't wearing heels and kissed him lightly.

"Maybe one of the other guys borrowed it." He kissed her a second time and went off to another room to continue the search. She sat back down on the bed and began folding up Justin's shirts. She put them aside when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Um, hi. Is Justin there?" It was a female voice that spoke back. Clearly this person was as confused as Lindsy at why another woman was on the other line.

"He's kind of busy right now." Justin dashed down the hallway, still looking room to room. The woman on the other end laughed as she heard the commotion over the phone.

"Is he lookign for his jacket?" She asked, knowingly. "He left it over at my place when we had lunch together yesterday."

"I don't believe I caught your name."

"Are you a reporter or something?" The woman seemed like she was ready to hang up the phone, but Lindsy wanted answers.

"Yeah, something like that."

"My name is Tina, and I'm an old friend of Justin's. We haven't seen each other since we were seventeen. Wait, you're not going to put this in a magazine are you?" Lindsy had to breathe in deeply just to keep her head clear, but the tears still welled up inside her.

"No, this is just for me."

"Oh, okay then. I ran into him like yesterday while I was out shopping, and we got to talking. God, I missed him. Anyway, I invited him to have lunch with me, and he couldn't stop talking about how much he missed me! He is a really good guy once you get to know him."

"I'm sure he is. Well, I have to be going no. I'll tell him about his jacket."

"Thank you! But now!" The line went dead and Lindsy replaced the receiver. She stared at nothing, in total shock. Justin came back in, unsuccessful in his search.

"Lindsy... are you okay?" She shook her head and glanced at him.

"You left you coat at your ex-girlfriend's." Fear mixed with surprise filled his face.

"I can explain, Honeybear." Lidnsy got up from the bed and forced her way passed her. She didn't want to hear him explain anything. She didn't want to hear him period.

"Don't call me that ever again, you two timing son of a bitch!" She hurried to the spare toom and slammed the door. Justin stood in the hall, unsure of what to do. Everyone stared at him so he went into his room and slammed the door.

"I thought you said he wasn't." Joey accused Amber. She stared back.

"I have been known to be wrong."