~~**~~
"Can I sit here?" Justin mumbled, standing above Freddi, waiting for her answer.
"Sure, though I am warning you know, I am really cranky and have one hell of a headache, I won't be much company"
"Perfect, I don't want to talk and I don't want to listen, perfect" Justin swung his long legs over the bench of the picnic table and sat down beside her.
"Did you leave any food for the rest of them? Joey will crap if he gets to the front of the line and there is no pasta left." Freddi teased. "I thought you said you weren't going to be much company" Justin mumbled.
"Well slap my ass and call me inconsiderate, jesus Justin I was just trying to be friendly, forgive me for making small talk" Freddi threw her spoon down on the tray and walked away, leaving Justin to hang his head and push his yogurt around his bowl.
~~**~~
"Howie I swear to you I am going to kill his moody ass. Everyone else is great, but that little twerp makes it impossible for me to relax and enjoy this tour." Freddi was curled up on the couch in the bus, talking on her cell.
"Red forget about him, you don't need to be friends with him, all you need to do is do your job and concentrate on making him and the rest of the guys look good, anything else is purely optional."
Freddi looked up and saw the guys boarding the bus "D I have to run, I will call you later, give everyone a kiss for me"
"Howie?" Lance asked.
"How is it possible that you can always tell who I am talking to?" Freddi asked with a grin.
"Easy, let us explain. When you talk to Nick you always seem to fill your conversations with be good, stop complaining, did it hurt, with AJ it is did you even find out her name, was she pretty, you did what? Brian's are filled with how sweet, she must have loved that, with Kevin it is these long ass philosophical conversations and then we come to the latin lover, the sweetness himself" Chris teased as he made kissing noises on the back of his hand.
JC laughed "You should see your face when you talk to Howie, your eyes glaze over, you have this little half smile and you speak softly to him. Girl if I didn't know you better I would think you had a crush on him"
"I DO NOT...he is my best friend, that's all" Freddi protested.
"Girl you can deny it all you want but there are some serious sparks that fly when you two are together"
Freddi blushed and pretended to busy herself with paperwork.
~~**~~
CURLY - I know you aren't on but I needed to talk, if you get this I will be on around midnight. I really need to talk to you
~~**~~
Freddi logged on and saw that she had missed an IM. She smiled when she saw
CURLY had left her a IM message.
CURLYQ- Hi sweets, I will meet you at midnight. Smile, frowning gives you premature wrinkles. LOL. TTYL
~~**~~
Freddi climbed into her bunk, content in the silence that had replaced the yelling, screaming and obnoxious voices that had filled the bus for the last 2 hours. She saw a letter propped up on her pillow
Freddi -
Once again I am left to apologize to you, so in advance I will apologize for everything that I will probably do to you on this tour.
I am sorry for snapping at you
I am sorry for bitching and moaning first thing in the morning
The scowling
Sarcasm
Sneaking out of curfew
One night stands with starlets
Wrestling with the guys
I think I have covered everything but if I do something that I haven't covered then consider this my apology.
I am glad that you are on tour with us, you are far prettier to look at then Chris or Joey and your voice doesn't annoy me like Lance's.
-Justin
Freddi smiled and leaned out of her bunk "Thanks Justin you are forgiven" she said loudly.
"You're welcome Red"
~~**~~
CurlyQ- Are you feeling better?'
CURLY- Yes, I apologized to the person I snapped at, I thinks things are better now.
CurlyQ- Good, I hate to see you so upset. How is your trip going?"
CURLY - Alright, my back is killing me from the hard mattresses and the food sucks but other than that I am loving it.
CurlyQ- Lucky you, I got stuck next to someone who snores so bad he rattles the wall between us.
CURLY- poor you, I have one of those too. Hey I have been meaning to ask you, how come Curly Q?
CurlyQ- My dad used to call me that, my hair is so curly that it looks like cork screws, it just stuck I guess
CURLY - sounds cute.
Justin and Freddi continued on their conversation long into the night, passing 4 cities and miles of country side, neither knowing that the person that they were each intrigued with was only a bunk away.
~~**~~
"Is there a reason that you are standing over me in the dark, breathing heavy and pouting?" Freddi looked up from the email she was writing and looked at Justin who was clad in boxers and a wife beater.
"I can't sleep, want some company?"
Freddi pulled the blanket tighter around her and closed her laptop. "Sure little man, what do you want to do?"
"Go for the gold Curly man go for the gold" Joey screamed from the bunk area.
"And the Boy Wonder wonders why he is still single" Justin muttered with a grin "Yo hormone, pipe down! So what were you working on?" Justin sat down beside her and smiled.
"I am really behind on my emails, my best friend thinks I am being held hostage as Joey's love slave, my mom figures that Chris has locked me up and is practicing weird and wacky hairstyles on me and my sister figures that I am too busy turning you all into men to send an email to her" Freddi laughed.
"Interesting ideas" Justin grinned and then got serious "Freddi I know that we didn't start off very well but I really am not that bad of a guy, I hope that you can start to relax around me and act like you do around the others"
"Curly don't worry about it, honestly I dealt with Carter, talk about a walking hormone and one messed up kid. If I survived him I can survive you"
"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence"
"You are welcome, anytime you have the urge to be knocked down a peg feel free to come and see me, I will gladly do it, its one of my many talents, not one of my more popular ones but one I am proud of none the less" Freddi giggled. "So Justin I heard you typing away like mad a while ago, emails? video games, I know, you write fanfics"
Justin blushed "actually I was IMing with a friend." where had he heard this conversation before, it sounded so familiar.
"I didn't reckon you to be someone who would computer chat"
"I really don't, only to her. She is great, she makes me laugh, she talks me through my outbursts and she understands me, its really scary actually how much she understands me" Justin clammed up when he realized that he was confiding a lot of emotion to Freddi.
"Justin you don't need to be embarrassed, sometimes it is easier to spill your heart out to someone who you have never met before then to people who love you and who have known you all your life" Freddi touched the young man's arm and smiled. "I am all of a sudden overcome with an urge for ice cream and magic shell" Freddi walked over to the tiny bus freezer and reached for the Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough Delight that she always kept stocked on the bus. She poured the magic shell into the ice cream carton and handed Justin a spoon as she sat back down on the couch. "This is what we women call chick bitch food" she sighed as she spooned a chunk of the ice cream into her mouth. "Heaven, god this is the single woman's substitute for sex."
"She is waiting Curly, take her while she is weak" Chris screamed.
"I'll take you in a minute if you don't shut the hell up..I swear to god Dani must have a child fetish or she is a saint because that boy gets on my last sane nerve" Freddi and Justin broke out into laughter as they shared a carton of ice cream in the darkness, as the bus wheeled down the seemingly endless highway.
~~**~~
Freddi laughed as she watched the boys rehearsing for the show. Justin seemed happy and alive for the first time in weeks. Chris and Joey had both teased her, asking her what kind of magic she had worked on Justin during their late night talk, to make him human again. It was amazing really, Justin was the fun loving, smart ass kid he used to be, his moody temperament vanished and he and Freddi were now civil, almost friendly to each other. She picked up her ringing cell phone and immersed herself in Nick's rehash of the starlet he picked up the previous night.
~~**~~
Lance watched her and smiled. He loved the way she threw her head back and laughed, her red curls spilling down her back, the way she snorted and hit her leg if something really amused her. Her lips were full and her smile wide.
"Bass pay attention, you of all people should be paying attention" Darren scolded as he demonstrated a new move to the guys.
~~**~~
"Chris where do you think you are going? I want you all in your rooms, resting" Johnny yelled as Chris tried unsuccessfully to sneak down the hall towards the elevators.
"BUSTED" Freddi teased as Chris rolled his eyes and stamped his feet down the hall towards his room. "Next time FU Man at least wait until everyone is settled into their rooms and wait till Johnny has done bed check before sneaking out"
"Now you tell me" Chris said in mock frustration.
Freddi laughed and walked down the hall to her room, noting that she had an adjoining room. "Wonder who my neighbor is?" she threw her room card on the table and fell onto the couch, closing her eyes. She opened them when she felt someone staring at her. "what are you doing in here?"
"I thought that JC was my neighbor, I am sorry" he turned to walk away.
"Lance, hold up, you don't need to leave" Freddi grabbed for the man's arm.
"Was there something you needed, I mean I am not JC, hell not even close, my ass is not as sexy as his" Freddi grinned "but I will try to help"
"I am bored, I can't sleep during the day and Johnny knows that, I don't know why he always makes us have quiet time, damn I feel like I should be on Romper Room"
Freddi formed a circle with her fingers and brought them to her face "Romper Bomper Stomper Do, Tell me tell me tell me do, did all my friends have fun today, did all my friends have fun at play....I see Lance, I see Sarah and I see you too" Freddi and Lance burst into laughter "You know I always hated that Miss Fran bitch, she never saw me, god my therapy bill was so high, why didn't she see me, why am I not her friend"
Lance wiped the tears from his eyes "You are a nutbar, you know that right?"
"Baby sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I don't" Freddi sang, imitating the commercial's perfect pitch.
"So PooFu" Freddi smirked at the man's nickname "how about you and I show Chris how it is done"
"Show him how what's done?" Lance asked, unsure of what she was implying.
"How to sneak out without being busted" Freddi wiggled her eyebrows and grinned evily.
"Frederikka Pablos, Johhny would have our asses"
"Lansten my boy, I am your PR and Image Director remember, if we get caught or arrested I will get us out of it. Are you in?"
Lance thought for a moment and then smiled "Hell yeah I am in"
~~**~~
Justin stared up at the ceiling, he had been lying in bed trying to sleep but he couldn't. He wanted to be out, in the city, not stuck in the hotel room. He heard footsteps outside his door and smiled when he opened it, trying not to laugh when he saw a tall red head and a shorter man following her, the latter dressed in baggy clothes, a fisherman's cap covering his platinum locks. "Cough cough and where do you two think you are running off to?" Justin said, his voice low.
Freddi grabbed Lance and pushed him into Justin's room "Okay little man we are busting out of this pop stand, how much is it going to cost to keep you silent"
"That's easy, I am coming with you" Justin pulled a baseball cap over his curls and reached for his jacket.
Lance silently groaned, he had wanted to be alone with Freddi, he wanted to get to know her better, away from the tour, the bus and the other guys. There was a knock on the door and the three groaned.
"I bet it's Johnny" Lance whispered.
"I bet it's Mike, he worries when I am too quiet, pretty bad when the guy I pay to watch my ass doesn't trust me" Justin grinned and opened the door.
"What the hell?" he asked as a grinning Chris and Joey stood in the doorway with their arms crossed.
"We heard there was a jail break being planned. Ordinarily we would turn you in, you know us being the older, mature and responsible ones of the group but since we are bored, we thought we would suck it up and break out with you" Chris smiled.
"How in the hell, oh sweet jesus why do we get stuck with tweedle dick and tweedle dum" Freddi mumbled. "Where is the pretty boy, the golden boy, hell if we are all going to bust out shouldn't he be here too?"
"Nah, JC is gone the minute his head hits the pillow, he will be out till one of us drags his ass out of bed and throws cold water on it"
"Since this was supposed to be a tag team mission and now it isn’t I have some ground rules."
"Aww man, enough with the rules, this is supposed to be fun" Joey whined.
Freddi shot him a look and continued " No picking up girls, I mean it, I don't want pictures of this little escapade on the net and the media, the less Johnny knows the easier my job will be. No acting up and drawing attention to yourselves, I mean it, we are going without backup, without hired thugs so if you get noticed and a riot ensues we are toast, your asses, what's left of them once the teenies strike, might as well be shipped to the dog food factory because that's the only thing they will be good for. Now that the rules are in place let's go tear up the town" Freddi smiled at the boys and ushered them down the hall. Wait till Howie and the rest of the boys found out what she had done, they would die. It was so unlike her and she was having so much fun doing it.
~~**~~
The plan was simple, Justin and Lance would walk out the side door, Chris and Freddi the front door and Joey would walk out the kitchen exit and they would meet at the back and wait for their cab. They high fived and laughed when they all appeared at the designated meeting spot, unharmed. They hailed the cab and piled in, telling the driver to take them to the record store downtown.
"I cannot believe that we got by those fans, they didn't even look at us" Joey grinned "and they call themselves fans"
~~**~~
"Ooh Freddi......don't you want your love slaves' import cd?" Chris dangled the boys' new single The One in front of her eyes.
"Actually Christopher I already have it, they sent me an autographed copy" she flicked the bill of his cap and grinned.
"Tell me he is not looking at what I think he is looking at, someone..for the love of god make him stop, make him stop" Joey fell to his knees wailing as he pointed at Justin who was innocently looking at Britney Spears' latest cd.
"Get off the floor idiot boy, everyone is looking" Freddi smacked Joey, trying to maintain a scolding tone of voice, when in reality she was trying hard not to crack with laughter.
"WHAT? I was just checking out her song list" Justin protested.
"Hmm that's funny, I didn't know the song list was written in her tits" Chris teased and everyone started to laugh when Justin blushed and dropped the cd.
"Ooh I love this song" Joey and Chris squealed and clapped their hands "where her girls at, from the front to back" they motioned to Freddi's chest, changing the words to where her girls' at.
"Funny, really funny you asses, let's go" Freddi laughed and ushered them up to the cashier to pay for their cds.
~~**~~
"I am starving"
"Jesus Joey you have been starving at every block" Freddi groaned.
" I am a growing boy and I need my energy and vitamins" he whined playfully.
"Yes and we all know where you are growing" Chris patted his friend's stomach.
"Hey more cushion for the pushin, the ladies don't seem to mind the more bounce for the ounce"
Freddi shook her head and kept walking.
~~**~~
"You are so dead Curly man" Freddi and Lance watched as Joey and Justin tackled each other in the ball pit of Chuck E Cheese.
"Remind me whose idea this was again?" Freddi asked.
"Look at all my tokens, the little shit wouldn't give up so I gave him a noogey" Chris motioned towards the little boy who was rubbing his head and crying in his mother's lap.
"You did not...CHRIS..." Freddi screamed.
"Wanna slap my ass and punish me, I have been mad momma and I need a spanking" Chris bent over and lifted up his shirt, motioning for Freddi to slap him.
"You would enjoy that way too much"
Chris stood up and straightened his clothes "You're right...I would" and he ran into the ball room.
"Lance can we have a decent conversation?"
"As opposed to ones filled with cuss words and immature fighting" Lance teased.
"Exactly, explain to me how you and JC are so sane and the other 3 are like little kids."
"It's the even balance theory. They are wild, we are straight laced. For all the immature stuff they do we make up for it by being the good guys."
"Doesn't that bother you?"
"No, trust me Red" Lance lowered his eyes "It's the good guys you have to
look out for"
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