By heidi
"Stop the knocking. I hear ya already." Joe walked from the bedroom to the door of the suite, scratching his stomach through a well worn t-shirt. "People are trying to sleep in here, you know."
Yanking open the door, he starred blurry eyed at the courier on the other side. "Jeeze, think you could have come any earlier?"
The young man seemed unimpressed with Joey's muttering. Thrusting an electronic pad in front of him, "They want you have these taken care of tonight. Someone will pick them up in the morning."
Joey signed the pad as the courier hauled a large box into the suite. Once he studied the pad, pressing a few buttons in the process, the young man then handed Joey another, much smaller, box.
"Thanks."
The courier grunted, turned, and left.
"Asswipe." Joey muttered, closing the door. Opening the large box, he groaned, realizing that Jive had sent them what looked like 300 pristine posters, all to be signed. Dragging the box further inside, he left it leaning against a chair, and dropped the smaller box onto the table before going back to bed.
*****
Joey slowly woke, rubbing the crusty stuff from his eyes. Getting out of bed, he heard talking in the main part of the suite. A quick glance to the clock revealed 10:48; that would mean all the guys were up and he was the last. Scrubbing his bed head, he went to join the others. Expecting to see all the guys hunched over posters, signing furiously away, he was surprised to see that not a poster was in sight.
"No, no," Chris tapped his finger onto something that was laid out on the table, "We won't be able to enter there. See that? It means the way has been closed over, and unless you plan on using a sledge hammer, it's just not gonna work."
Lance nodded, but was obviously getting frustrated. "Okay, what's your suggestion then?"
Still scratching various body parts, Joey joined them at the table. "Was that in with the posters." Justin nodded. "What's the deal?"
"Job. They want us to break into a lab, and the bastards want us to do it tonight." Chris sounded pissed.
"Tonight?"
JC handed him paperwork which outlined what was wanted, and from where, and when it had to be done.
"So that's why the dink made a point about having this all done by this evening." Lance raised a perfectly arched brow at him. "Hey, I was only up to take a piss. I can't help it if I wasn't working on full power. Why do they always send the couriers at 6:30 in the morning anyway?"
"Because they know we'll actually be here?" Joey glared at JC, but understood the logic.
Turning his attention to the paperwork, he studied it for a moment, screwing his face up in confusion. "They want us to do this tonight? That can't be right."
"'Fraid so." Lance drawled. "We won't have an opportunity to do it tomorrow night since we're leaving right after the concert. We can't delay our departure - too many people know that part of our schedule."
Putting down the papers, Joey moved over to look at the plans of the laboratory. Quickly scanning them, he pointed towards a spot that seemed obvious to him. "What about the roof?" The others looked up at him, Justin's mouth opening and closing like a fish. "What?"
Chris quickly hunched over the plans again, running his hands along various lines. "Damn it. Why didn't we think of this before." Looking up at Joe, he smiled. "Who are you, and what did you do with the real Joey Fatone?"
Joey slapped him upside the head before turning his back on them and walking towards his room. "If you need me again to figure out your problems, give me a yell. I'm going to go take a shower."
As he closed the door, Lance called out, "Make it fast, you have 300 posters you need to sign by the time we leave for the record store."
Hanging his head momentarily, Joey groaned, then went to get ready for
the rest of the day.