Living in the Shadows
Chapter 9
June 1, 2006
Day tour starts
Sabrina woke up early on the morning the tour was starting. It was a beautiful sunny morning in which she enjoyed the sunrise on her back step with a nice glass of jasmine tea. It was going to be the last bit of peace and quiet she would experience for a long time so she was sure to spend an extra bit of time there just enjoying the quietness of life. She had about a half hour to get ready before Joey was supposed to pick her up so reluctantly she got up and got in the shower.
Sabrina was one who could get ready within fifteen minutes as makeup wasn't her thing and she loved to let her hair dry naturally. Half an hour later she sat on the porch with Pumpkin and all of her things waiting for Joey. Sabrina hadn't wanted to drive her car to JIVE and have it sit in the parking lot for the next three months.
Half an hour passed and still Joey hadn't showed up. Looking at her watch, Sabrina muttered a curse. She was supposed to be there in ten minutes and the buses were pulling out in an hour. Her phone rang and she quickly answered it.
"Sabrina, where are you? You should be here by now." Wade asked.
"Well I was waiting for Joey, but apparently he forgot or something." Sabrina answered anger building inside.
"Joey got here a half an hour ago. He's here with Melody. Joey said that Melody told him you said you didn't need a ride. I knew I shouldn't have believed that little bitch. I'm sorry, can you get here?" Wade questioned.
"Yeah, I'll try." Sabrina said hanging up her phone.
She let out a frustrated scream before calling Amber.
"Amber are you busy?" she asked the moment Amber said hello.
"Not exactly, shouldn't you be leaving for the tour?" Amber asked.
"Yes, except my lovely sister told Joey I didn't need a ride. Of course I do need a ride and I never even talked to her. I'm going to pick you up, can you bring my car back here?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Amber nodded.
Sabrina hung up the phone then went to pick up Amber. They made it to the parking lot forty five minutes later. Sabrina was pissed off by the time she made it into the meeting. Pumpkin was being ornery as all get out and she was still seething from Melody's little lie.
"Glad you could make it Sabrina." Wade said when she walked through the door.
"Yeah whatever." Sabrina huffed plopping into a seat nearest the door.
"Now what I was saying was that Jaime won't be joining us at all. She was supposed to come with us as you all remember, but due to personal reasons she won't be coming at all. Sabrina you'll be in her place throughout the rest of the tour. I'm sure you'll have fun with that."
Sabrina merely rolled her eyes and willed the meeting to be through so she could get her stuff on the bus and vent out some frustration. If this was any indication of how the rest of the tour was going to go she would rather stay home and go to school for the summer.
The meeting was finally over and Sabrina was the first one out the door. She ignored the calls for her to stop and talk to them, she grabbed her suitcases and threw them in the closet on the dancers' bus. She took Pumpkin outside to go to the bathroom and looked around. It was really a sight to see--everyone scrambling about making sure they said their goodbyes and also that they didn't forget anything.
Her eyes subconsciously found Joey and her heart dropped. Him and Melody were with his parents laughing and talking like they were a happy family. His parents liked her? How could that be, she's a bitch. When she caught a glimpse of Joey and Melody's faces she saw something that didn't match up. Joey looked amused and Melody looked pissed off. Perhaps they didn't get along after all. Sabrina was going to cling to that hope with all she was worth and not let go.
Joey caught Sabrina's eye and saw she was looking over at them. He jogged over and grabbed her hand and led her over to meet his parents. He didn't care if Melody got pissed, he wanted his parents to meet Sabrina. "I want you to meet Sabrina. She's Melody's sister and my friend."
"Nice to meet you Sabrina, I'm Phyllis Joey's mom and this is his dad Joe." Phyllis said shaking her hand.
"Please to meet you too." Sabrina said in a soft voice. She wasn't sure what Joey's point was to introduce her to his parents. She was a little nervous, she wanted them to like her.
"This is my brother Steve, you'll be seeing him later though. He tends to come on tour with us a lot." Joey said introducing her to his brother.
"Nice to meet you." Sabrina nodded.
They talked for a little bit longer before the boarding call was made and they had to go. Joey said goodbye to Melody and after she walked away he invited Sabrina to join him on the Nsync bus. Sabrina tried to say no, but it didn't take much for Joey to talk her into it.
All the while, Joey's mother took in all of this information and wondered if Joey knew he was with the wrong sister. She could see the love and admiration in Sabrina's eyes for her son, and saw a similar expression on Joey's. One thing was for certain, this was going to be an interesting journey for all those who would take witness.
The tour would start in Atlanta and end with a show at Disney on the 31st of August. Everyone couldn't wait to get out there again after so many years of not touring. Justin and JC had done their share of touring with their solo acts, but even they had missed touring together as a group.
For Sabrina this was her first tour so she was both excited and nervous. It didn't help any that Melody would be joining them in a few days. She wanted to talk to Joey about what happened this morning, but she really didn't know how to bring it up. She couldn't just say Melody lied to you I didn't even talk to her, but maybe he would bring it up--heres to hoping right?
"Sabrina are you in here?" Wade asked boarding the Nsync bus.
"Yeah, Joey invited me." Sabrina said from her place in the back.
"Okay, I'm just going to let them know." Wade said. He spoke through the walkie talkie he had strapped at his waist that Sabrina would be riding the boys bus.
"So you excited?" Joey asked her.
"Yeah. This is all new to me. Something I've always wanted to do though. See the country and all that, plus this way I'm getting paid for it." Sabrina smiled.
"True that. How come you didn't tell me you needed a ride this morning?" Joey asked bringing up the subject on Sabrina's mind.
"I did need a ride. I haven't talked to Melody since she pretended to apologize and say everything was going to be different. I waited for you for a half an hour. Wade called and told me that you were already here. I had to have Amber give me a ride with my car." Sabrina said trying to not to get angry again after she'd finally calmed down.
"What? Melody said she talked to you this morning and said that you got a ride from someone else." Joey defended.
"And you believed her? the queen of lies? You could have at least called me to confirm instead of taking her word for it. How many times has she lied to you before. You know she hates our friendship." Sabrina said feeling the anger rising again, especially now that Joey seemed to be taking Melody's side.
"Well she did apologize for those things and she said she wouldn't do them any more." Joey shrugged.
"And you believed her? You don't know her like I do Joey. I know you want her to be a different person, but she's not--she's never going to be. Just accept it." Sabrina said.
Not bothering to hear his response she got up and went to the front of the bus to see what was taking them so long to leave. What she saw when she looked out the window made her stomach drop. Melody was making out with some guy in the parking lot at her car. She was cheating on Joey. How could she? Did she not know what a beautiful soul Joey was?
"What are you looking at?" Justin asked coming up behind her.
"Um. Nothing." Sabrina said forcing herself to turn away.
"Oh my god, that doesn't look like nothing to me. That looks like something to me. Are you going to tell him?" Justin asked seeing what she saw.
"Why should I? He wouldn't believe me even if I did." Sabrina shrugged sitting at the table.
"You don't know that." Justin said trying to give her some reassurance.
"Yeah I do. But hey, if you wanna tell him go tell him." Sabrina said with a wave of her hand.
Justin got up and went back to talk to Joey. Joey too was looking out the window, but he didn't say a word. He didn't see Melody making out with another guy, he just saw her car. Justin saw the tortured look on his friends face and decided to say something.
"Melody is cheating on you." he said quickly.
"Where did you hear that?" Joey said looking up at his friend.
"I saw her making out with some guy in the parking lot." Justin answered honestly. "So did Sabrina."
"Whatever." Joey said turning back to the window.
"She may still be out there. Why don't you come out here and check for yourself." Justin said pointing to the front of the bus.
"Why should I J? I trust her."
"Just come here." Justin said pulling him up.
Joey reluctantly followed him out to the front where Justin pointed at the spot where Melody should be standing there making out with some other guy. He saw her hanging on the guy, but they weren't making out as they were before. They seemed to be just talking. He turned his head and looked back she kissed him.
"Sorry man." Justin said putting an arm around Joey's shoulder.
"That's just her brother." Joey said knowing what he said sound stupid to even his own ears.
"We don't have a brother." Sabrina said softly.
"Whatever, I'm sure she has a good explanation." Joey said turning to go to the backroom again.
He had a big choice to make. Should he just dump her again and get it over with, or should he give her another chance--a chance to explain herself. He wanted both, to give her a chance and to kick her to the curb. If she was gone, he could pursue a deeper friendship with Sabrina, but if she had an explanation, then he could give it another chance. He lay down on his bunk and put the headphones over his ears. It wasn't something he wanted to deal with right now. He'd deal with it later.
Back up front Sabrina knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he wasn't going to do anything about Melody. He was just going to ignore it and keep on as if nothing had happened. Whatever. Wasn't her fault when everything went to the dogs for him and he woke up and saw how she really was. Enough of this depressing bullshit, this tour was a new experience for her--something she'd long dreamed of. She wasn't about to let Melody ruin it for her.
They still hadn't left yet so she asked the driver if she could get off and onto her own bus. He checked with the others and found that her bus had already left. The only reason the Nsync bus was still there was because they would be the last to pull out. She thanked him and went back to sit down at the table, Pumpkin jumped up in the seat beside her and climbed in her lap giving her comfort.