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"Kevin!" Jennifer dove into her best friend's arms when he opened the door, the two months they had just been apart feeling like forever. "You've lost weight," she shook her head fretfully as she ran her hands over his back before pushing him away, looking him over critically. "And you need a haircut, and why are your eyes all bloodshot? Where's Kristen, we gotta have a talk..." she peeked past him into the house with a smirk.

"I've missed you too, Jen," Kevin laughed and pushed her into the living room. "Sit, Kristen's not here, you can tell her how badly she's treating me later."

"How is married life treating you?" Jennifer asked, flipping her blond hair out of her face with an absentminded flourish. "Where is she?"

"In LA, working," Kevin sat down on the couch and gestured for her to do the same. "She'll be back next week."

"Cool, we'll talk then," Jennifer smiled. She'd always gotten along with Kevin's first girlfriend, then fiancée, now wife, and was glad to see the two of them happy together.

"You'll still be around?" Kevin asked, watching her plop down onto the couch next to him with a soft thud. "Still as graceful as a swan," he cracked when she sprawled out, her feet ending up in his lap.

"Shut up," Jennifer stretched out on the couch and laughed, kicking Kevin in the process. It was a long standing joke with the two of them...Jennifer was a klutz, and was always knocking into something or another somewhere. But she also was a dancer, which made for an interesting combination. "I'm auditioning for a new tour tomorrow, but it doesn't start for a month or two," she said nonchalantly.

"Oh?" Kevin adjusted Jen's feet in his lap until she wasn't hurting him quite so much before looking at her with a curious grin. "You're done with NSYNC, then?" He had been less than thrilled when his best friend had up and joined NSYNC's tour as a backup dancer, and the two years she'd spent with them had been far too long, in his opinion.

Jen nodded. "Their tour's over, and it doesn't look they're going to use dancers on their next one, whenever that will be."

"So, who are you auditioning for tomorrow?"

Jennifer grinned, her blue eyes glistening wickedly. "Oh, nobody..." She was amazed Kevin hadn't figured it out yet, after all, he was her best friend. She was a dancer. Why wouldn't she audition for his tour? Touring with her best friend would be a blast, she was sure of it. She'd always wanted to, but had figured that she needed the proper credentials before auditioning, so there would be no question of favoritism. After two years on tour with NSYNC added to the rest of her resume (mostly comprised of shows in and around Orlando, she'd followed right in Kevin's footsteps, joining the Disney crew) , nobody could be more qualified to dance with the Backstreet Boys than her.

Kevin's eyes narrowed as he grew suspicious. "Jen...I know that smile..."

"You'll find out soon enough," Jennifer shrugged. She had no doubt she would make the cut. She was a damn good dancer, and had worked hard to get to where she was. The Backstreet Boys needed three new dancers, surely she would be chosen as one.

"When does this tour you're auditioning for start?"

"Two months, I think?"

Kevin shook his head slowly, "Oh no, Jen, you're not..."

Jennifer laughed, "Surprise, Ritchie. Come on, won't touring with me be fun?"

"It's not me I'm worried about, Jenny Lynn," Kevin used her middle name as an insult, knowing she hated how 'Kentucky hick' it sounded to her ears. "You know they're all single now. You're single."

"I'm not the slightest bit interested in Brian, I assure you, Kev..." Jennifer laughed. She'd known Brian as long as she'd known Kevin, and saw him as a brother. "And what are you talking about, they're single? Nick and AJ?"

Kevin rolled his eyes. "It's not BRIAN I'm worried about." AJ, Howie, Nick...each of them had hit on Jen at one point or another over the last eight years. She was absolutely beautiful, and was always around, a handy target for some misdirected sexual energy. They'd all excused it as a drunken mistake (although he knew for a fact that Howie had been sober at the time, and suspected the same of Nick), and Jen had gently rebuffed them all, but the last thing he wanted was one of his Backstreet brothers sleeping with his best friend. "And yeah, they're single. Nick, AJ and Howie."

"I'm not interested in anyone at the moment, anyway," Jennifer reassured Kevin with a soft sigh. "Men are assholes."

"Oh? NSYNC turn you off of men?" Kevin asked her with a smirk.

"Very funny," she made a face, "you know I wouldn't have touched any of them with a ten foot pole."

"You're not still hung up on geeky boy, are you?"

Jennifer bit her lip and shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "We only broke up two months ago, it's taking a while, ok?" They'd broken up the night before she'd left for the last leg of the tour, in fact. Paul had been the love of her life, so she'd thought....they'd met in a bookstore, of all places. Paul was a programmer, and designed computer games for a living. His life was his computer, and ultimately, that was what tore the two of them apart. Paul was happier spending time at home in front of his computer staring at binary than taking the time to see her.

"He was an idiot," Kevin shrugged. He'd never understood Paul...how a guy so vain, so concerned with his body that he would work out for three hours a day, everyday, could then turn around and spend every other moment he was awake sedentary in front of a computer, ignoring a woman like Jennifer. Paul could work from anywhere, all he ever needed was a computer. But when Jen had asked him to tour with her, he'd said no, that he wanted to work from home. And that had been that.

"That's men." Jennifer laughed, "you included."

"I haven't been called an idiot by Kristen in a while, I'll have you know," Kevin protested, tickling her for emphasis.

"She just hasn't known you long enough," Jen giggled, smacking at Kevin's hands. "She'll learn."

"She's known me for years and years." Kevin replied, grabbing Jen's hands and holding them down. "Stop, you're making it worse."

"I've known you longer, and I say you're an idiot." Jen told him, squirming in his grasp. "Now let me go, I need to go home, I have an audition tomorrow, remember?"

"You just got here," Kevin held her hands tight, laughing at her angry expression. "And I really don't think you auditioning for our tour is a good idea..."

"I don't care what you think, and I should go anyway. I'll see you tomorrow, after I make your tour, ok?" Jennifer summoned all of her strength and yanked her hands out of Kevin's, squealing when the force sent her flying onto the floor. "Ow."

"Klutz."

"See you tomorrow, Richie."

"Yeah, night, Jen."



Jennifer smiled knowingly when her number was called, along with that of two other girls, and they were escorted into an office and sat down.

"Congratulations, Jennifer, Alison and Melissa," Fatima sat down across from them at a desk, handing each of them a folder with packets of paper inside. "Here are your contracts, and schedules for the next few months. I suggest you all look them over now, any conflicts I will need to know about immediately."

Jen beamed as the two girls beside her squealed, both of them clearly getting their first tour job. She remembered how excited she was the first time she made a tour, it was a whole other world than performing in Orlando...definitely much better. "When do we start?"

"Rehearsals will start in two days," Fatima told Jen with a smile. "Kevin know you're doing this?"

The two girls next to Jen turned to stare at her in surprise, Melissa finally asking the thousand dollar question. "You know Kevin?"

Jennifer snickered and nodded, "Yeah, he knows, although he's not all that happy with it."

"You're more than qualified, Jen, but he's got a point, you know these guys, you sure you want to tour with them?" Fatima asked her softly, ignoring the reaction of Alison and Melissa.

Jennifer laughed, "Are you forgetting what tour I just finished? This will be a piece of cake. I love these guys." She turned to Alison and Melissa and waved her hands reassuredly, "you will love them as well, Fatima's just being silly, I think she's known me for too long."

"Since you were a little bitty thing, yes," Fatima nodded.

"I was never a little bitty thing," Jennifer challenged, shaking her head. She was 5'10 now, extremely tall for a dancer, but she more than made up for it in talent and flexibility. "And I was, what, 16 when we met, I can't be much taller now than I was then."

"You've grown up a lot in the last few years, Jen, I'm not talking height." Fatima laughed, and waved to the folders the women were holding. "Now look, read, I need to know problems now."

Jennifer opened the folder in her lap, grinning from ear to ear when she saw "BACKSTREET BOYS 2000 WORLD TOUR" across the top. Touring the world with her best friend. What could be better than this?