It was a brand new day. A new life was about to begin. Not a complete change, but a new job, or at least she hoped. She looked out the window to see the sun rise and the birds fly past the window of the small hotel room from tree to tree. Her usual home would be a little out of Orlando in a smaller town, but she was in Orlando Florida now. On a usual visit to the city she would either be going to school, shopping, or just hanging out for the day with friends, and family. She had had many jobs before, but none that she actually wanted to have, but just ones that gave her enough money to pay bills.
Slowly the body moved away from the window to walk to the bathroom which was a short distance away. She grabbed a set of clothes and went to begin her daily routine everyday by starting with a shower. When her shower was over she did her makeup and hair like always. Everything had to be perfect though today. First impressions were everything in the real world, and she was no stranger to that.
While applying the last bit of eyeliner, the phone rang throughout the hotel room like a bullet in the middle of the night. She darted towards the phone, picking it up immediately. "Hello?"
"Is this Natalie Taylor?"
"Yes it is, how can I help you?"
The voice on the other line sighed with a chuckle. "All right Natalie, this is just a call to tell you that you have to be down at the office by 10. We wanted to make sure that you'd get here on time, that's all."
Natalie smiled graciously. "Well thank you. I'm almost done getting ready, and I'll leave in a half an hour."
"We'll look foward to seeing you."
Natalie hung up the phone and went back to the bathroom to do something with her still wet hair. Usually when she'd apply for a job, they didn't call you the morning of the interview to make sure you'd get there. Of course, she never applied for anything like this before.
When she was done with her makeup and hair, she put all of her things away and left the room to go downstairs before leaving for the interview.
Nervousness was something that she rarely had, and luckily it wasn't present today because she was all ready to give a good first impression. The short bit of schooling that she had was very well worth it and it gave her even more confidence to go in there and prove that she could do a good job.
When 10:00 came by, Natalie was already at the office that she had to be at and she was ready to go. She entered the building and walked right over to the secretary. "Hi, I had an--"
"Hi Natalie, just go down the hall and the 3rd door on your left."
Speechless, Natalie stared at the secretary. "Uh, how did you uh know I was Natalie?"
"Pictures. They give me them and when they are expecting people to be here, I am one of the first people to find out, don't worry about it. You better get down there now."
Natalie sighed and walked down the hall and stood outside of the door she was to be at. She lifted her hand and knocked quietly. Waiting for only a few seconds, the door swung right open. A bright smile was planted on her face as the man who was standing there smiled down at her. "Hello Natalie."
"Good morning. I'm on time, right?"
"Yes, just come in and we'll talk to you before you can show us what you can do."
"All right."
After an hour later of going over what she would be doing for the tour and after doing the one guy's hair, she was ready to go. She couldn't wait to see if she got the job. Doing hair was always a thing she loved to do. Everyday, she would do her hair until it was perfect, and she got real good at it and went to school for a little bit. Working for Jive would be an honor, but going on tour with the hottest boy band in the world during probably the biggest tour ever would be the opportunity of a lifetime.
Natalie broke out of her daydream that really did occur a week ago. Getting the phone call that she got three days later was the best thing in the world to her. There would have been no way that she would have said 'no' to a job like that.
Driving carefully down the road, she looked around for the place she would turn in to go somewhere that she had been told. Finally, a new job, she thought, one that she would not have thought about a year ago, but it was something that intrigued her greatly. Doing hair really wasn't her favorite thing to do, but with a few months of school, she found that she was very good at it, and so did her teachers. One teacher had been looking around for good short time job opportunities that would be good for her. Doing celebrities hair was always a plus and could get you out in the world of hair with other people due to others going up to the celebrities and asking who did their hair because of it being so nice. It really was a good job offer, but she was not exactly sure of it at the time.
When she reached the relatively big building that she would be going to for this job to meet the people she would be working with, she turned the wheel slowly and immediately found a place to park.
She stepped out of her car cautiously, making sure of that she wouldn't bump her head upon the roof of her own car. After closing the door she took her keys and swung them around her fingers before swiftly pressing the lock button to lock her car. As she walked up towards the tall building, she blew a bubble and popped it just as she stopped to gaze up at the building. She shook her head. "Here we go, what have you gotten yourself into this time Natalie..."
She walked slower than usual to give her a few seconds to think. Just then, the thoughts of a conversation that she had with her mother just a few days ago came to her. Her mother continuously asked her if it was such a good idea for her to be going on the road with a bunch of stars. The thing was that her mother didn't know exactly who the people were that she was going on tour with. Several things about them being on drugs or not were always on her mind, because she didn't want her daughter to get ruined just because she was going to be traveling with rich, famous people that could very much afford drugs.
When the memory left her mind, she picked up the pace and walked up to the doors to open them just enough to slip in. When she walked in, she moved out of the way for a few people to walk by just before walking further away from the doors. As she popped one more bubble, she walked up to the desk where a lady was frantically throwing papers around as she was talking on the phone. Natalie smiled as she tucked some hair behind her ears. The lady behind the desk smiled back and held up a finger indicating that she would be done in a minute.
Natalie stood there patiently and got in her purse to grab her lip-gloss. Quickly she applied, put the top back on, and stuck the lip-gloss back in her purse. After situating her purse back on her shoulder just right, she looked around the building to find that it was actually pretty big. Many doors, and hallways were filled for even just the little bit that Natalie could see. She knew that it had to have been much smaller than the one in New York for the record company, but it was still overwhelming.
By the time Natalie was done looking around the area she was standing in, the lady had hung up the phone. She folded her arms, leaned on the desk and smiled at Natalie. "Hello, how may I help you."
"Um, I was told to come here, well hang on." Natalie reached in her purse to get out a letter from Johnny Wright. She handed it to the lady. "Here."
The lady smiled up at Natalie. "Hi, I'm Katrina... I'll help you in a minute, I have to go through a few things first."
"All right."
After a few minutes, Katrina looked up at Natalie and smiled. "Well, what do you do?"
Natalie shrugged slightly. "Well, I don’t' really have a permanent job, but I do people's hair... so of course, I'm going on tour with N SYNC to do their hair for appearances and the shows of course, I'm hoping to find some fun out of it..."
Katrina smiled gently. "Trust me, you'll have fun with those boys, they are wild children at times, and you might just get in trouble, and besides, they're cute."
Natalie's eyes widened. At that, Katrina shook her head. "Come on, be honest, they're cute, you know it, I know it, heck, everyone knows it."
"Well, I've only seen like one picture of them, and I've never seen them in person."
Katrina's smile just turned into a worried look. "Oh boy... you're in for it then, the shock of your life girl, let me tell you!"
Natalie grinned uneasily. "I bet.."
Katrina then put a finger up as she looked through some files to pull out a paper. She looked at it quickly before nodding her head. "Ok, well you need to go to the second floor. The guys are practicing right now, so you'll get to meet everyone today, hopefully, depends on how busy Wade is keeping them. Oh, and take this paper to show you what room."
Natalie took the paper graciously and then questioned Katrina. "Wade?"
Katrina giggled. "He's the choreographer... He's done stuff with them for No Strings Attached, their last tour, and he's worked with Britney a bit."
"How old is he?"
"That's the amazing thing, he's 19, isn't that great? Oh, and he's a cutie... well, you better get going."
Natalie smiled and waved. "Thanks!"
Natalie walked over to the elevator and popped another piece of gum in her mouth and pushed the up button. She backed away as the doors opened and a load of people came out. After that, she hurried in and stayed close to the front so she could hurry out when she would arrive on the second floor. When she got in, she pressed the two and waited impatiently.
Within less a minute, the elevator arrived to the second floor. When the doors opened, she walked out and looked at the paper before walking down to the end of the hallway. When she was getting closer to the end, she started to hear the music that was soft probably due to sound boards that were probably in the room. She shook her head when she came to realization that they were practicing to the music. She stopped in front of the door before pretending to pray. "Oh God, please help me, make them like me, I want to fit in, and please, please, PLEASE! Let them all have nice hair!"
She put her head back down and clapped her hands. "Ok, here we go."
She opened the door and closed it immediately. "I don't want to go in."
Natalie thought to herself before attempting to open it again. "Goodness, I'll just get it over with."
Natalie went to open the door again, but she backed away. Feeling the nervousness that she was feeling now scared her. Being nervous wasn't one of her weaknesses. She knew that if she was getting nervous over this, the rest of this tour would be very interesting and the effect the guys were already having on her was quite frightening. She wasn't ready for this. Would they accept her? Would they like her? Questions went through her mind. She didn't want to be the oddball, sure she thought she would probably be for a while, considering that she was new, but she didn't want that permanent title. All she wanted was to befriend them and be befriended by them, acceptance was always an important thing to her, but she was trying her best to just let it go for a few hours and just be herself. Being herself around new people was always hard at first, but she was going to try to make this a first time. After more thoughts went through her head, she got closer to the door.
She continued to mumble to herself, when the door just opened surprisingly. A very tall man was standing there looking down at her. "Um, hey, did you just open and close the door a few times?"
Natalie looked up and bit her lip. "Uh, yeah..."
"You can come in." He extended his hand out for hers. "I'm Justin."
"Hi, I'm Natalie.."
"Come in!"
Natalie rolled her eyes to herself as she thought silently. So this must be the Justin Timberlake of Nsync. He must be mastermind of the whole thing, or so they say. The heartthrob, the this, the that and everything else. She wasn't going to try to judge the guys for what they were said to be, but she couldn't help it when he acted like the nice person everyone said he was. Natalie then walked in and looked over at the guys and smiled before she went to take a seat.
Justin walked over to the rest of the group and pointed to Natalie and smiled. "Hey everyone, um, Natalie arrived."
JC walked over to her and grinned. "I'm JC." He pointed over to the rest of the guys who were lying on the floor, except for Justin and Joey. "The two on the floor are Chris and Lance, that's Justin, and that is Joey."
Natalie smiled and shook his hand nervously. "Hi."
JC sat down and smiled at Natalie. "So, what's your business here?"
JC was interrupted by Johnny Wright, who was all smiles to see that JC was already greeting Natalie and trying to make her welcome.” Natalie, you made it! Usually, everyone is afraid to meet the guys..."
Justin shot a look at Johnny to immediately interrupt with complete defense on his behalf and the guys.. "No they aren't!"
Wade Robson, who was standing in the middle of the floor, shook his head. "To be honest with you Justin, I was..."
"No you weren't."
Wade rolled his eyes. "Yah, I was, and I had every reason to be, you scared me to tell the truth and still do at times, so don’t get your hopes up."
Johnny shook his head as he continued to get comfortable so he could talk. He moved the seat so it was right in front of Natalie so he could talk to her better. "So, what do you think?"
"Well, I just got here about 30 seconds ago probably so I don't really have an opinion on anything to be honest..."
Johnny nodded his head in an understanding matter. "Oh, ok, well, do you know everyone yet?"
Natalie bit her lip. "Well, JC here just told me who they were, except for him." Natalie pointed to Wade. "Who is he?"
"That is the choreographer, and producer and everything else that he does, his name is Wade."
Natalie nodded her head quickly. "Ok, now I know everyone in this room."
Johnny smiled as he set all of his papers and stuff down on the table beside them. "Well, do they all know who you are? I just want everyone to be acquainted to we can all sort of get some things done possibly and so we don't have to do this later when the first show comes around in a few days."
"Yah, they know I'm Natalie."
Johnny nodded his head and clapped his hands. "Ok, everyone, you all know this is Natalie from what I’ve been told. Well, she is the hair dresser for the tour and other such things."
Everyone nodded their heads and Justin spoke up. "My curls are growing again, so be careful, I can't afford to lose any of this hair. I like it too much."
Natalie laughed quietly, but just loud enough for everyone to hear. So that was Justin Timberlake. "I'll try not to hurt you"
Suddenly the door opened and closed. A girl who looked about 19, or even 20 walked into the room. She had a very calm look on her face as she walked over to JC. "Hey."
JC turned to face her. "Hey lil punk, haven't seen you in a while."
The girl shrugged slightly and grinned evilly. "Haven't seen you in a while either, not to say it's a let down. I would have been here earlier, but a certain someone kept that from happening." Laura glared over at Wade.
JC smiled. "Oh well, what a shame, too bad you didn't get delayed any longer. I'm sure missing out on seeing you. It’s like our lives aren’t complete when you’re not here. Oh please, stay longer, I would be THRILLED."
"You haven't seen me in forever, so don't even go there besides, I know you love me."
"Laura, it's a blessing that you haven't been around for a while."
Laura smiled evilly. "Well, it's not my fault that a certain someone never asks me to come along anymore these days. Oh well, can't say I'm missing out. It's just you, boring 'ol JC. I'm mad at him anyway"
"Well, miss attitude, you can stop right there."
Wade walked over and made Laura scoot over a little bit so he could sit on the seat beside her. "You came, I'm proud, I thought you'd be a no show..."
Laura smiled over at Wade. "Yah, I did, but not for you to let your sweat drip on me..."
Wade smiled and hugged Laura. "Awww, poor Laura, ya know I wuv youuuuu."
Laura stood up and sat in another chair. "Oh yah, I love ya too." Laura then mumbled to herself. "Not."
Wade grinned at her and scooted closer to her. "What made you decide to come?"
Laura shrugged her shoulders and blew a bubble with her gum, popped it and then looked back at Wade. "I dunno, to come here and torture you. Oh and if you ever call my house at three in the morning TWENTY TIMES ever again, consider this friendship OVER."
JC grinned over at Laura, who was obviously still upset about it. "What's wrong Laura, don't like waking up in the morning?"
Laura glared at JC and rolled her eyes. "JC, I know you love to sleep, how would you like it if your bestfriend called you early in the morning just because he was BORED."
JC shrugged his shoulders and sat back in the chair. "I'd probably be mad, but it's funny when Wade does things like that to you just to make you mad."
Wade grinned at Laura, who wasn't facing him purposely. "Oh come on, it was funny. You have to admit some of the messages I left were amusing."
She rolled her eyes and gave a fake smile to JC. "So, new best friend, what's going on with you guys? Excited for the tour in oh, just a matter of days?"
"Sure, if you say so."
Wade leaned foward to whisper in Laura's ear. "Come on, you can't be THAT mad."
Laura turned around and pushed Wade as hard as she could, knocking him on the floor. Then she turned to JC. "People."
JC shook his head and sighed. "You don't have to be so mean."
"Yes I do."
Wade stood up and sat on Laura's lap. She looked up at him and glared, pushing him. "GET OFF!"
Wade smiled and just stood up. "Come on."
"Apologize."
Wade leaned down and whispered in her ear. "I'm sorry."
"For what are you sorry for Wade?"
Wade shrugged and got on his knees. "Oh dear Laura, please forgive me for calling your house early in the morning, leaving obnoxoius messages twenty times."
"What else are you sorry for?"
Wade pouted his lip and sighed before looking back up at Laura. "I'm sorry for taking your keys out of your purse and hiding them outside."
"Why are you sorry for that?"
"Because it probably made you really mad and you probably couldn't find them anywhere and you were probably searching for hours and that's why you weren't here earlier."
Laura nodded her head in satisfaction. "I forgive you."
Natalie looked at Laura and Wade and then at Johnny before leaning in to whisper. "They're together, right?"
Johnny shook his head. "No, surprisingly, I don't know if that would be healthy for either one of them though, I don't know Laura myself that well, but I think it would be a disaster, but they've been friends probably for all their lives, I think, but I don't see them getting together for oh, about ever. All of the guys themselves have said that it would be a nightmare for the two of them to be together, they'd probably both end up dead."
Natalie nodded her head and smiled at Johnny. "Well, you know what they say about best friends--"
"I know, we all know, but we'll just see. If it’s going to happen, I’d see it happening now."
Natalie excused herself from Johnny and walked over to where Laura, Wade and JC were sitting and smiled. "Hey, I'm Natalie."
Laura shook her hand firmly and smiled just as bright. "I'm Laura, if you didn't catch that..."
Natalie nodded. "Yah, I figured that out."
Just then, Lance stood up and sighed. "I'm going to go get drinks and stuff, YES, everyone gets something, I'll be back." He turned to Chris and frowned. "Chris, are you coming this time to scare everyone in the building, or are you going to hide out here for everyone's own sake?"
Chris stood up and pouted to Lance. "Everyone loves me, besides, I don't want to go with you, you are weird, and nasty and so..."
"Thirsty? Just like everyone else? Yah, exactly, let's go, as much as I don't want you to come, you are going to carry everything..."
Natalie rolled her eyes and continued her conversation with Laura. "Anyway, what are you doing here anyway?"
Laura shrugged and looked over at Wade before looking back at Natalie. "Basically, I decided to come back for a visit, I've only been able to talk to the guys a few times and I've only seen them a few times, so I decided to come and see what kind of trouble I could get in to. Dear old Wade over there dragged me along with him all the time during No Strings Attached, so I kind of got close to the guys. But I also figured that there would be new people here today, so I wanted to see who I could meet. "
"Sounds great..."
"So what are you doing here?"
Natalie shrugged and sighed before replying. She was going to have to answer this question a lot, so she mine as well get used to it now and make it short and sweet. "Well, I'm the hair dresser and of course I'm going to go on tour with the guys and do their hair for concerts and any other appearances that come in between that is."
Laura nodded. "Pretty much how it is, sounds fun though, you'll have fun on tour, I hear going on the road is a blast."
"It would be better with a friend or something, I'm going to have to find my own ways around here, I can tell already."
Natalie and Laura paused to see JC and Joey now fighting over something. Laura made a weird face and then looked back at Natalie. "I know exactly what you mean..."
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