Disclaimer: This is a work of FICTION. As such, it does not imply anything about the true sexualities or anything else for that matter of the celebrities mentioned in the story. This story contains homosexual themes. If you are below the legal age to read such material, please leave. If such material offends you, go away. If it is illegal to view such material where you leave, go somewhere else.
Nothing much to say except thanks to the people who have written. To me and to David at Nifty, thanks for posting this and doing what you do. I promise to include part number next time. Sorry. To the rest of you out there, take care. Of course, it goes without saying that I'd love to hear from you. :)
Going with the flow Chapter 4 --------------------
I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing. I had arranged for a wake up call. I'm surprising myself more and more the last few days. I spent a few minutes just laying on the bed and thought about yesterday and the day before. In truth, I haven't really given them much thought. Not that I didn't want to but because there wasn't much time to do that properly. 'Yes I liked the bunch. Yes I think I could trust them. Yes they were good singers. Yes I liked Lance a lot.' I gasped. Now where did that come from? I tossed the idea around in my head. It wasn't that difficult to come to the conclusion that I was the truth. Those eyes, those eyes that said so much, that smile even the spiky blond hair. Remembering the exchange we had yesterday evening I realized he might feel the same. I wouldn't say I was falling for him, that would be taking it a step to far even if there was mutual attraction. Beside, they were leaving tonight for goodness knows where. Still, who really knows where we'll end up if we tried. The phone snapped me out of my reverie. Interruptions happen a lot these days I noticed.
"Steve? Good morning. This is Lance. Ready for breakfast?"
"Oh morning Lance. Yes, I'll be over in a while."
"Sure. See ya then."
Sighing, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready. I took longer than usual this time. I had spent almost twenty minutes in the shower and would have been longer if I didn't remember that there were people across the hall waiting for me. Hot showers helped clear my head and I definitely had much on my mind. Finally I got dressed and headed to the guys' room.
Justin opened the door and I went in. "Glad you're here bud. What took you so long? Lance wouldn't let us eat until you got here."
I looked at my watch; it was already 10:30. "Sorry, I just lost myself in the shower for a while."
"It's okay. Happens to me all the time. Come on the guys are waiting."
"Hey guys, look who decided to grace us with his presence." I couldn't help but blush at that. They all smiled at me and greeted me. There was a glimmer of amusement on everyone's face except Lance's. His cheeks were probably as red as mind.
"Morning guys. Sorry I'm late. You really didn't have to wait for me."
"Think nothing of it. These guys would have finished everything if we didn't," Lance said coming over and giving my shoulder a squeeze. I smiled and took a seat on the sofa next to Lance.
"Can we eat now? I'm really hungry and I am a growing boy you know?" JC asked still grinning. Lance blushed again and nodded. I wonder what they were talking about. The others just attacked the food table like a pack of wolves. Lance just rolled his eyes muttered something that sounded like 'kids' under his breath.
Joey must have caught that too because he looked up and arched his eyebrows, "Come on Lansten, you're worse than us and you know it. I'm sure Steve won't mind if Lance came out to play. Oh shit," he said blushing, "Did I just say what I think I said?" He was blushing now along with Lance and me. The other guys were just laughing their heads off. Chris managed to cough out the piece of toast in his mouth, covering the front of Justin's shirt with it. This of course sent all of them into hysterics again. This time, Lance and me were rolling on the floor laughing. Suddenly, my stomach growled, causing another round of laughter at my expense. Lance got up and began filling a plate. I got up and joined him.
"You don't have to do that. This is for you. Just go sit down and relax," Lance told me.
"Oh this is not for me." I looked up and smiled at him, "Its yours."
"Awww how sweet," Chris gushed grinning. The others chuckled with amusement. Without missing a beat, I put the plate on the table, bent over to pick up a pillow that was conveniently on the floor and threw it at him. He was about throw one at me but he caught on my face and went to get more food instead.
"What do you guys have planned for the day? You're leaving later right?"
"We don't really have anything on. I dunno bout you guys but I think I'm just gonna chill here for awhile."
"I'm with Joey. What about the rest of you?" JC asked. Chris was staying in and Justin wanted to catch a movie. Suddenly, all eyes were on Lance and me.
"Umm I was thinking of doing some shopping or something," Lance said.
"I'll join you," I told looking at him.
"Didn't you do that yesterday? I mean you met Kelly at the mall right? I wouldn't want to bore you or anything."
"I spent most of the time talking to Kel yesterday that I didn't see or buy much. Besides, its not everyday you get to shop with a celebrity."
"Or eat with five, but that's what you've been doing," Justin butted in. "Kelly still around? Maybe she'll join me for a movie or something."
"No, she left this morning. You should have asked yesterday she would have stayed longer. You should have been there on the ride back to the hotel yesterday. She couldn't talk about anything else but you."
"It's not my fault I'm the best looking guy in the band," he said smiling broadly.
"Didn't I tell you? She was going on and on about how ugly you were." I said this with a grin of my own as his disappeared. The others cracked up again. "Of course, with the exception of Lance, these clowns here do make you look good," I said looking around the room at all of them and finally at Lance who was smiling shyly and blushing. "Lets go," I leaned over and whispered pulling him to his feet while the others were still trying to come up with a suitable comeback. As we passed Justin I patted his cheek and said, "You're cute when you pout but you're not my type sorry.
"Hey!" they all said in unison. We managed to get out of the room just as four pillows flew in our direction.
"So, what do you think about us?" We had driven my rental car to the mall and were now looking around. He was once again in shades and a baseball cap. I didn't really understand his choice of disguise actually but I kept that to myself. I found that he was like me when I came to shopping. He went from shop to shop without buying anything. We were just making small talk and enjoying each other's company.
"What do you mean? I like you guys. I hope we can be friends. I know you're celebrities and all but so what? You're only human after all. If anything you've proven that nobody's perfect. I mean you must have problems to be where you were that night." Biting my tongue I looked over to him to see if he was all right, fearing I had said too much. He must have caught the look on my face because he smiled and shrugged. The smile was slightly forced but I was relived all the same. "Sorry."
"I was having some problems. I'm kinda okay now. Don't worry bout it."
"Do you want to talk about it? Maybe I can help."
"Nah, I don't want to burden you with my problems. Thanks anyway, you've helped me a lot as it is."
"Lance, I just said that I hope we could be friends. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine but if you don't want to 'burden' me, then you're obviously not taking what I said seriously," I said, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"I didn't mean that. You sure you wanna know?" I didn't say anything and just stared at him. "Okay, okay I get the hint. Why don't we find somewhere to sit and maybe have some coffee or something?"
"There was a coffee shop next to that book shop we went to just now."
"Okay, lets go there." It didn't take long to reach the shop. We took our seats and ordered. " I guess I should start huh?" He said when the drinks arrived and we were alone.
"Look Lance, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I understand."
It was his turn to give me a funny look. This look was different from what I gave him a moment ago. It was like he was trying to see find something. He looked into my eyes and saw that I was sincere. Again the depth of his eyes captivated me. For an instant I held my breath. Suddenly, he leaned over and kissed me softly on the lips. I quickly pulled away. He was shocked and it showed. The shocked expression was soon replaced by hurt.
"We're in public," I whispered. Realizing that I was right, the look on his face changed into that of a dear caught in headlights. I was amazed to see how easily his emotions showed on his face. "Relax, I don't think anybody saw us. His face took on a more normal expression as he composed himself.
"I'm going to tell you. I trust you. There's not much to tell really. For the past month or so I've been feeling a little depressed. The guys tried to help but they didn't know what was going on. It was just that I was sick of living a lie and having to hide who I really was. More than that I was feeling lonely. I was afraid that I would never find someone." He wasn't crying but there were tears swimming in his eyes. I reached out and touched his hand. "Like I said, I'm okay now. I had a talk with the guys yesterday and I feel much better. I'll just have to wait for the right man to come along. And you listening has also helped me a lot. Thank you." I didn't know what to say so I just smiled and went over to hug him. I was fighting to hold back my own tears. Could two people be so alike?
"We better get going, you have a plane to catch. I'm sure you aren't even packed yet. Come on, I'll help you," I said heading for the door.
We were silent for most of the journey back to the hotel. As looked had it, Lance was not recognized by a single fan when we were out. Looks like the disguise does work after all. Joey, Chris and JC were in front of the TV when we went into the suite. Three pairs of eyes were trained on us the minute we said our hellos. They all had that silly grin plastered on their faces. "I thought you guys went shopping. No bags? What were you up to?" Chris asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know," I replied pulling the blushing Lance into his room and shutting the door. "Start packing," I ordered as I helped him gather the various articles of clothing around the room and tossing them on the bed next to the bag he had put there. I was interrupted by a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Lance gazing into my eyes again.
"I just want to say thanks again for being my friend." He stopped, as is hesitating, "But I have to ask this, do you think there's a chance that we could be more than friends?" As he said this his gaze held mine. Not knowing how to answer in words, I kissed him. His eyes widened in surprise then he kissed me back. The kiss was tentative and didn't last long but it was enough. When we parted, we were both smiling.
"Lance, you ready to go? Just is back we need to go now. The plane leaves in an hour." We heard JC shout.
"Just a minute," he shouted back, not taking his eyes of me.
"You better finish packing or you'll be late," I said turning away. His hands gripped my shoulders and he spun me around and kissed with an intensity that shocked me. Our tongues met. He ran his fingers down my back and I moaned. There was a knock on the door. The moment was broken.
"Damn," he swore as I pushed him away and proceeded to pack for him. While I did this he scribble on a piece of paper. When I turned to face him he gave it to me. He had written his cellular phone number and email address. Wordlessly, I gave him mine as well. He took my hand and we went outside.
His band-mates us holding hands but didn't say anything. They didn't have to. The grin that had been on their faces since this morning said it all. I just grinned back. "You guys better get going. Much as I'd like you to miss your flight I don't think that's a good idea."
"You're not gonna see us off?" Lance asked shocked.
"No. I'm not good at good byes," I said squeezing his hand. "Its too public to do it properly anyway." As I said this I pulled him into a kiss. When it ended we were both out of breath and in each other's arms. I then hugged each of the others in turn and told them to take care of themselves and each other. They caught my meaning and nodded. I went over to Lance and hugged him tight. "Take care of yourself."
"I'll call you as soon as I land."
"Go already," I said herding them all to the door and walked them to the elevator. Lance and I kissed our last good bye and he went in. As soon as the doors closed, I let the tears flow freely. This morning I was attracted to him, now, six hours later I knew I was in love. I missed him already. I went back to my room and waited by the phone.