All the usual disclaimers apply: Please stop reading if you are underage or homophobic.
This is a work of fiction - nothing is being implied about the sexuality of any of the people portrayed below.
Author's notes: Due to the comments I keep getting, I realise that people are really enjoying my characterisations of Kevin and Justin. In fact, some people feel that I've 'broken' them and want me to 'fix' them quickly! Which in a roundabout way makes me happy - I'm glad that they care enough about the characters to feel that deep a connection to them. :)
Please be assured that Kevin and Justin will get together (eventually)... otherwise there's not much point in calling the series 'Kevin and Justin', is there? :) I'm just from the old romantic school of thought that says 'nothing whorthwhile comes easily'... I'm sure that Kevin and Justin would appreciate their special relationship a whole lot more if they have to fight for it!
On a side note... I have a few favourites of my own in the Archives... Stories that I can't wait to see the next instalment of! Two such stories are 'Forever' and 'Studio in the Country'. If you haven't checked either of them out yet, then what are you waiting for?!? :)
Anyway, let's get on with it...
Kevin & Justin - Chapter 7 --------------------------
Movement at the doorway caught Brian's eye...
He'd been watching out for JC's return and was surprised to see Kevin reappear instead. He instantly spotted the fake smile on Kevin's face and knew that something disastrous had happened.
A.J. and Howie were also drawn to Kevin's entrance by some mysterious agency. Just as easily as Brian they could see that Kevin was covering up something. The only other time they had seen him smile like that was during the fan 'meet-and-greet' sessions.
They easily recognised the fake smile on his face. Truth be known, they all knew each others' fake smiles from the genuine ones. The fact that Kevin was using it now indicated he was not feeling what his expression was showing.
A.J. gave Howie a look that said 'Trouble!'
Nick, who was currently sitting on the stool posing for Dave, noticed Howie's and A.J.'s exchange. Perplexed, he looked over to the doorway, wondering what had drawn their attention? He did a comical double take when he saw Kevin and 'that' smile.
Dave, sensing another rocky session like Brian's managed to get Nick's attention focused back on him, but started getting annoyed at the continual worried looks that Nick kept throwing Kevin's way...
Lance, who was next in line to be photographed, had also noticed the look between A.J. and Howie, and the intriguing reaction from Nick. He couldn't see what had occasioned their mass fascination with Kevin...
Chris and Joey, discovering that their four-way conversation with Howie and A.J. had suddenly become a two-way conversation with just each other, looked across at what Howie and A.J. were looking at. They noticed Kevin standing in the doorway smiling at everyone, and wondered why the guys were staring at him?
Notorious for being able to keep his sense of humour in all situations, Joey chose that moment to make a wisecrack. "What? Haven't you guys ever seen Kevin smile before?"
None of the BSB guys laughed, and Kevin's smile remained fixed on his face - neither deepening nor lessening. Only Lance and Chris chuckled at Joey's joke, and then wished they hadn't.
Brian cleared his throat, though no-one was saying anything at the moment. "Kevin, can I please have a word with you? Outside?"
Kevin nodded, his smile slowly disappearing as he led the way outside.
Howie and A.J. exchanged another complex look before returning their attention back to Chris and Joey. Nick, now that he had lost the distraction, started responding better to Dave's directions.
Lance sat back and wondered what the hell had just happened!? He had never seen a group of people display such a dynamic interchange before - and all with barely a word being spoken...
--*
Brian paced on the sidewalk outside the studio. As there weren't any pedestrians around he didn't insist on retiring to the limo to talk.
Kevin's smile had finally disappeared, now that he didn't have to keep up appearances in front of the guys.
He had a bad feeling that he knew what Brian was going to ask...
"Kevin-"
"No Brian. Listen to me!" he interrupted abruptly. "Nothing is happening, or is likely to happen, so drop the 'talk', okay?" He was being rude, but he felt emotionally wrung out and didn't want to have this conversation. He always hated talking to Brian about things like this, and his irritation was exacerbated by what he had so recently witnessed.
"Excuse me?" replied Brian, staring at Kevin with both eyebrows in danger of disappearing into his hairline, and his mouth hanging open in surprise.
"I know what you want to talk about," began Kevin, "but there's nothing happening between me and ANYONE else at the moment, nor will there ever be! That's final!"
"Cuz, you're not making any sense... I could see the way you were looking at..." Brian looked both ways before lowering his voice, "...him. How can you say nothing is going to happen?"
"Because he already has someone else!" cried out Kevin, not caring who heard. He turned around so that Brian couldn't see the tears falling down his face.
Brian slowly stepped up to Kevin, and though he was inches shorter than his cousin, he placed his arm around Kevin's shoulders. "I'm so sorry Boo... I didn't know. I take it that he and JC are together? Is that what you found out when you went to find them?"
Kevin momentarily became rigid before he silently nodded. He was crying too hard to answer Brian any other way. His breathing was barely keeping up with his body's requirement for oxygen, and his heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice.
"Oh Boo, I'm so sorry... He seemed like a really nice guy. He certainly has tried his hardest to make you feel happy these past two days."
Kevin smiled through his tears and decided to pull himself together before anyone came looking for them. If he knew the others, they'd be worried about him, and they would get more worried the longer it took him to put them at their ease.
Eventually, his tears stopped flowing and his breathing became more regular.
There wasn't anything that could be done for the pain he was feeling inside...
"Let's go back in Brian. Thanks for understanding and caring. But I need to ask a favour though?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I'd like to take back the responsibility for our schedules. You're relieved of being 'me' as of this moment, okay?" He softened the order with a smile.
"Are you sure Kev? It's no problem."
"I'm positive. If I don't have something to do, I'm going to think too much about..." he stopped, unable to go on. "'Life goes on...'" he quoted sadly.
"I understand."
Kevin smiled weakly and led them back inside.
--*
JC and Justin pulled out of their marathon hug and smiled at one another. They knew they'd be the best of friends till the day they died.
As Justin reached to open the door, he had a thought.
"Josh?"
"Yeah Curly?"
"I've thought of something, but I'll need your help."
"What is it?"
"Can you arrange for us to be split into different groups when we next have to get into the limos? You know, some 'N Sync guys and some BSB guys in each limo... And if we can arrange it so that Kevin and I are in the same one, all the better!"
JC smiled, liking Justin's devious plan. "Sure, but I don't know if Lance would approve."
"Well, Lance may not, but he's not in charge today. That's why I need your help. Can you talk to Joey about it? Can you try to convince him?"
"Yeah, no probs. I don't think it will be too hard to do that."
Justin smiled the happiest smile JC had seen in ages, and grabbed his friend in a bear hug. JC returned the pressure in the hug, feeling overjoyed to see his best friend looking so happy for a change.
They walked back to the studio and entered it, both smiling broadly, and in perfect step with each other.
All eyes swung to them, and expressions around the room ranged from surprise to curiosity. Even the 'N Sync guys who were used to the two of them being 'connected' in some mysterious way found themselves surprised at their colleagues new level of synchronicity.
"Justin, talk about great timing! You're up next. Can you please sit down?" Dave asked, oblivious to the charged atmosphere in his studio.
Lance hopped off the stool, grateful that his solo session was over so soon.
--*
As with JC and Justin several minutes earlier, the entrance of Brian and Kevin drew all eyes.
Chris started to feel agitated...
He didn't know what was going on, but he knew there were several undercurrents around him and he was not amused. He noticed that the BSB guys were once again paying close attention to Kevin (and he discreetly made sure that it was Kevin whom they were looking at, and not Brian).
Then, as if Kevin had given some invisible signal, they all relaxed, though A.J. was the slowest to relax. And from what Chris could see, he didn't seem to relax completely either...
The atmosphere in the room became less charged now that the BSB guys had lost their tension. Chris felt the breath he had been subconsciously holding leave his body in relief.
--*
Fifteen minutes later, Dave was done with Justin, and the solo sessions.
"Okay Justin, thanks." Then turning around to face the guys, he said, "Just a couple more shots of both groups combined, and we can wrap it up."
Justin took the stool out of the camera's field of vision and walked back into the frame. One by one, the others joined him. He kept an eye out for Kevin, hoping that he could get Kev to stand next to him.
"Justin, can I get you and Howie to sit down in front?" Dave asked.
Justin felt disappointment at the request but obeyed. He noticed Kevin walk over to join them, and hoped he would stand nearby. He tried to catch Kevin's eye, but Kevin seemed to be looking everywhere but at him!
His hopes were dashed as Kevin walked to the other side of the group and stood near Joey, A.J. and Chris.
"Okay... uh, Nick, can you also sit down? And Brian, you too?" Dave asked. Checking his viewfinder, he was happy to see that the group seemed to be better balanced. Except for Kevin. He was the tallest of the guys and was stuck near the end. "Kevin, can I get you to trade places with Lance?"
Kevin said nothing. He walked to where Lance was standing and took his place, while Lance wandered over to stand next to A.J. Kevin was closer to Justin, but not close enough to feel his composure desert him.
Another quick look through the viewfinder, and Dave was happier with the layout of the scene. The only problem was that Kevin and Justin weren't even making an effort to smile. He took a couple of snaps anyway.
"Kevin, Justin, do you guys think you could smile just a little bit?" he asked hopefully.
The others looked at both Justin and Kevin, and noticed that they weren't smiling. Brian and JC, in particular, were concerned. Kevin essayed a smile, but couldn't keep it on his face. He resorted to using his fake smile.
Justin went through a similar exercise. He ended up still not smiling, but at least he wasn't frowning either...
Dave knew that he couldn't do anything more. He took a couple more snaps, resorting to getting them to say 'cheese' in hopes that he could get a more genuine smile on either of their faces.
He finally gave up. Sighing in frustration, he said, "Okay, that's a wrap guys. Thanks for your time."
They all thanked him, and watched him disappear into the back part of the studio with his camera and film canisters.
"Phew, that was tiring!" Nick said with a sigh. Then brightening, he asked, "Hey, isn't it time for lunch yet?"
Joey looked at his watch and sighed. "Yeah, it was lunch time three quarters of an hour ago. We're behind schedule already. We won't be able to go to any restaurants guys. I'm afraid it's takeaway for us!" He looked across at Brian, seeing if his co- leader agreed. He was surprised to see Brian shrug and point to Kevin.
"Yeah Joey, you're right, we'll probably only have time to get some drive-thru and eat it in the car if we want to be at the album signing on time."
All eyes turned to regard Kevin in surprise.
Justin couldn't believe what he had just seen and heard!
Kevin had taken over coordinating BSB's activities again! That would leave Kevin precious little time to sit and talk to him. Even less than Kev had spent with him this morning! Which amounted to almost nothing!
He started to finally wake up to what his subconscious had been trying to tell him for several minutes now... Kevin had changed! Gone was the Boo that he knew. This other Kevin wasn't being open and friendly anymore. And though he didn't know how he knew, he could sense that Kevin seemed to be avoiding him!
Joey, taking the change in his stride, and hoping that Lance wouldn't do the same to him, suggested that they'd better go. He hastily remembered what JC had asked him, and boldly announced: "We'll try something a bit different so that we can get our two groups to bond better. JC and Justin, you ride in one of the limos with Kevin, A.J. and Nick. The rest of us will be in the other limo with Brian and Howie."
Kevin frowned at Joey's suggestion and looked ready to challenge him. He didn't know if he could stand to be in the same enclosed space as Justin for any extended periods of time...
He sighed and decided that he had to act grown up about it. Besides, Joey's suggestion had some merit to it. He nodded his acquiescence. The members of both groups walked out past Joey and Kevin and got into their assigned limos. All with the exception of Justin.
Justin remained standing outside the first limo, looking back at the studio. He wanted to sit next to Kevin and see whether he could find out what had happened to make him change so suddenly?
Kevin looked outside and noticed that Justin was waiting for him, holding open the door, much to the disgust of the driver. He grabbed Joey's arm as he was about to walk past and said, "Can we switch places? You get into the limo with JC and Justin and I'll get in the other one." He felt ashamed at his sudden lack of courage, but couldn't face being that close to Justin just yet...
Joey shrugged his shoulders, not seeing a real problem in swapping places, and said, "Yeah, fine with me."
He walked up to Justin and said, "Get in Curly. And move over so I can sit down."
"Wha-? Isn't Kevin coming with us?" Justin asked.
"No, Kev will ride in the other limo."
Joey watched as Kevin quickly sauntered over to the other limo and got in, then turned back to see the look of surprise and... loss? hurt?... on Justin's face. "Justin, is something wrong?"
"No, I guess not," gulped Justin as he stepped into the limo and sat down next to JC. He gave Josh a quick pained look before staring forwards. Josh discreetly checked that the others weren't watching, before placing his hand over Justin's and squeezing gently in support.
The rest of the trip to McDonalds (A.J. insisted that they go there) passed in relative silence for both of them. JC was lost in thought, trying to figure out a way to bring Justin out of his sudden downcast mood... He couldn't stand seeing Justin like this, after seeing how happy he had been so recently!
Justin was oblivious to everything except the hurt in his heart and the face of his angel in his mind...
--*
"Hey Curly!"
A.J.'s insistent voice brought him back to his senses. "Where were you man? Never mind! What do you want?"
"What?" asked Justin in a stupor.
"What do you want to eat?" A.J. enunciated clearly, pointing to the speaker grille outside the car's window.
"Oh. Anything. Get me anything."
A.J. gave him a strange look, then took him at his word. Turning back to the microphone, he said, "And another Big Mac meal." He started to wonder what was happening? First Kevin was acting weird, and now Justin!
JC was starting to get extremely worried about Justin. Justin's depression was deeper than anything he had seen in the past. He had to find a way to snap him out of it... And the only thing he could think of doing, was to lie...
He leaned over and whispered, "Don't worry too much about it Just. He probably just wanted to get to know the others better. He already knows you fairly well, so there's no point in him riding with us just so that he gets to know only one other person better."
Justin perked up slightly at JC's words; they made a lot of sense!
But somehow, deep down, he knew there was more to it than that...
He couldn't tell how or why, but he sensed - no, he KNEW - that Kevin was deliberately trying to avoid him...
But why? What had he done to hurt or anger Boo? He'd cross the Earth to undo whatever wrong he had perpetrated on Kevin!
Meanwhile, JC felt like an absolute heel. He had intentionally misled Justin, in hopes of cheering him up. If Justin really bothered to think about it, then he'd know that his suggestion was untrue. After all, Kev already knew Lance fairly well, so there was only one other 'N Sync guy whom Kevin could get to know better in the other limo. Not two, like he had suggested to Curly...
He hoped that Justin wouldn't twig to the obvious!
--*
In the second limo the atmosphere was heavy with tension.
Chris and Lance could tell that something was bothering Kevin. It was obvious in his expression and around his eyes.
Howie knew Kevin a lot better than the 'N Sync guys, and knew that Kev was trying to cope with something that had upset him deeply. Had he and Brian been alone with Kevin, he had no doubts that they would've done all in their power to help him. As it was though, he had to remain quiet.
Seeing Kevin this way however, especially since his eyes had been 'opened', bothered him immensely!
Brian avoided everyone's gaze. He knew what the problem was, but he wasn't able to discuss it. Even with Howie! He kept his lips pursed and tried to concentrate on making the time pass quicker.
Kevin ignored them all. He could only think of one person - a person who was beyond his reach. And with each passing second, the sparks that comprised his spirit died one by one.
Lance and Chris couldn't help looking at each other and wondering what the hell was going on with them all?
--*
The ride to the record store was long enough that they ate their meal without having to hurry.
As they pulled up outside the store, JC had another thought. He turned to the others and told them that he had something to discuss with Justin.
"It won't take long, I promise," he told Joey, as Joey was about to order them out.
"It better not," Joey muttered, closing the door.
"Grouch," JC said under his breath. Lance at least seemed to remain civil when bossing them around...
"What is it Josh?"
"Justin, don't hate me, but I've got to say this."
Justin's frown came back. "What?"
"Curly, I just want you to be prepared. If it turns out that Kevin isn't gay, or even if he is gay but isn't interested in you, then you'll have to accept it. For your own sake, as well as ours. We've got a concert tomorrow night. We can't let anything affect us."
Though his words sounded callous, Justin understood the reasoning behind them. Even though he hoped - no, to be honest, he prayed! - that Kevin was gay and would be interested in having a relationship with him, if it turned out to be untrue, then he would have to respect Kevin's feelings.
All of a sudden he realised that Josh had been right - he DID love Kevin; even though it had been a short two days!
It wasn't a simple case of infatuation, puppy love, or even just lust... He loved Kevin more than he thought humanly possible!
And loving Kevin as he did, he knew that he would do whatever he could to make Kevin happy. If that meant just being friends, then so be it, no matter how crushed he would feel... Kevin's happiness was ALL that mattered. Nothing else came close!
He nodded his head at JC, wiped away the lone tear from his cheek, and slowly stepped out of the limo. JC silently thanked his friend for showing such maturity. He hoped he'd never be in the same situation as Justin... especially if he ever found his one true love.
He exited the limo in a less than jovial mood. How he prayed that his friend would find true happiness!
--*
Justin looked around. The security guards whom they had yet to personally meet, were evident and out in force. Kevin was talking to one of them, well away from the crowds gathered on either side of the cordons erected to keep the fans at bay. The rest of the guys had either already entered the store or were about to. JC, who had exited the limo after Justin, had already reached the doorway to the store.
He took a few moments to look at Kevin and felt his heart clench in pain, knowing that Kevin didn't want to be close to him anymore...
He started walking slowly toward the entrance, flashing a smile that he didn't feel to the crowd, and generally waving. He was just abreast of Kevin when Kevin finished talking to the guard.
Justin glanced at Kevin's face, hoping to see any sign that his fears were unfounded, and felt his hopes plummet. Kevin's expression was distant. In fact, it was downright unfriendly!
What had happened to make Kevin change like that? What had he done to turn Boo away from him?
Without saying a word, they accompanied each other into the store.
The manager was waiting for them.
"Ah, Mr. Richardson. May I have a moment of your time?"
"Certainly, Mr. -?"
"Burnside. Daniel Burnside."
They shook hands.
"What can I do for you Mr. Burnside?"
Justin could tell he was just getting in the way and excused himself. He spotted the others hanging around the service desk and walked over to them. He could see JC looking at him with the sympathy clearly showing in his eyes.
He started to lose control and looked away, desperately trying to get his emotions under control. JC had seen his expression though, and was soon close enough to reach out and touch his arm.
"I'm so sorry Blondie. Are you going to be okay?"
"I have to be Josh. I can't start crying here. It's way too public!"
JC could hear the pain in his voice, but could only nod. For the same reason that Justin would try not to cry, JC could not reach out and hug his friend. The best he could do was to support Justin verbally.
"C'mon, let's get back to the others."
Justin slowly nodded.
"You know what you need Curly?" suggested JC, suddenly brightening.
"No, what?"
"You need to hear a couple of Chris's really bad jokes!"
Justin laughed despite himself. He smiled up at his friend and reached out to give his arm a squeeze in thanks. He had to get on with life, just as JC had suggested in the limo. Kevin didn't seem to want to be near him anymore, so he would try to stay out of Kevin's way. Anything to make Boo happy, even at the expense of his own happiness.
--*
A.J. walked over to Brian, who was standing slightly apart from everyone else and looking intently at his cousin. He noted the concern on Brian's face and realised that Howie was right. There WAS something going on with Kevin.
"B?"
Brian turned to face him. "Yeah Alex?"
A.J. looked deeply into Brian's eyes and could see the confusion there. "We need to talk about Kevin." He pointed vaguely in the direction of the others.
Brian looked over and saw Howie looking at them. "Who's 'we' A.J.?"
"You, me, D and Nick."
Brian sighed. "What do we need to talk about? I thought we had already discussed our plans for helping Kevin?" he answered evasively.
"That's not what I'm talking about, and you know it. This isn't about yesterday! It's about whatever happened today at the studio. One minute Kevin is the happiest I've seen him in months, and the next he is miserable! And what was all that garbage about him taking over the responsibilities again? I thought you were the one who insisted we had to do this and see it through. How could you just let him take over like that?"
Brian winced, knowing that A.J. would not rest until he had answers. But Brian couldn't give him any while Kevin was still 'in the closet'. "A.J. we can't really talk about this here. It's way too public. Can't it wait until later?"
"Yeah, it can wait. But Nick, Howie and I want to know what's going on! We hate being left in the dark, especially after we committed to helping Kev out."
His anger was apparent as he stalked away to speak to Howie.
On top of all his other worries, Brian now had to come up with a plausible explanation for Kevin's mood swing. One that would dispel the guys' suspicions...
He felt a migraine coming on!
--*
One of the junior managers had come over and shown them to their respective tables a short while ago.
All of the 'N Sync guys were seated at their table waiting. Kevin still had to join his bandmates at their table. The nine of them were starting to get slightly edgy.
Kevin suddenly appeared and walked to a point between the two tables.
He looked over at his guys and then over to the other five guys. He cleared his throat. "The manager asked me if we would consider spending some additional time signing albums this afternoon. I said 'yes'." He held up his hands until the protests died.
"I only said 'yes' on behalf of the Backstreet Boys. I don't have any power or authority to answer on your behalf," he stated, looking over at Lance and Joey.
"But why did you say 'yes' Kev?" Howie asked in irritation.
"It seems that the turnout is greater than the store expected. And what with there being two of us signing, rather than a single band, some fans who've purchased both our albums won't have enough time to wait in both lines. So in all fairness, I said that we'd stay an additional hour at least, and that everyone who had bought both CDs should get in line over here first," he indicated 'N Sync's table. "Since we'll be here an additional hour, that should give them enough time to wait in our line as well."
Howie and the others weren't too happy with the decision, but after they had promised to help out Kevin, they found themselves reluctantly agreeing.
"Hold on a sec Kevin," Joey said. He looked over at his bandmates, asking the question with his eyes. All nodded back to him. "We'll stay the extra hour as well."
Kevin smiled the first sincere smile he had felt since the photo shoot, and nodded his appreciation at their decision. "Okay, I'll let the manager know. We'll be signing in a minute or so."
True to his word, he was back within a minute and the first people in line rushed towards the tables.
--*
JC snuck the occasional look over at his friend. In almost all instances, he noticed that Justin's gaze was directed towards Kevin.
He couldn't help but feel his heart break at the sorrow he could see on his best friend's face.
--*
Brian also spent an inordinate amount of time looking across at his cousin. Like JC, he could see the sadness hovering just below the surface of Kevin's features. He could also see how hard Kevin had to fight to keep his gaze from automatically seeking out Justin.
He sighed and glanced over at the other table. He noticed that JC was looking over at Justin, with concern clearly showing on his face. He also noticed that Justin was looking over at Kevin. Those two were such an odd pair!
If he didn't know any better, he would have thought they weren't a couple. Even now, knowing what he knew, he felt that there was something 'not-quite-right' between the two of them. A small part of his mind couldn't help but wonder if Kevin had got it all wrong?
--*
At four, their signing session was officially over, and they left the store. They waved at the groups of people still waiting to catch a glimpse of them, and piled into the limos.
Brian made sure that he and Kevin were the last ones to enter their limo. He pushed Kevin in and followed him inside, closing the door with a resounding bang.
Kevin gave him a frown, but settled down when he saw the no- nonsense expression on his face.
Brian leaned in and whispered into his ear, "We've got to talk. Urgently! As soon as we're at the stadium make an excuse for us."
Kevin didn't respond.
Neither did anyone else in the limo, though they hadn't heard Brian's whisper; they could once again feel the tension in the air.
--*
JC had just finished whispering something similar in Justin's ear.
Justin nodded and turned his attention back to the front. He failed to see the way that Nick and A.J. were looking at them in surprise.
--*
The limousines pulled up at the back entrance to the stadium.
In the first limousine, Justin stammered something about not feeling too good. "It must have been something I ate. You guys go ahead and I'll catch up to you. I'll just lie down for a second and hopefully it will pass."
Taking his lead from Justin, JC asked, "Do you want me to wait with you buddy?"
"Yeah Josh, if it's not too much trouble?"
"No, no trouble at all."
Pleased at their subterfuge, JC shooed the others out of the limo.
Outside, Nick and A.J. looked at each other. A.J. couldn't help shaking his head and saying, "That was fairly weak." Nick only nodded and snorted as he started following A.J. Neither of them noticed Joey's surprise, nor his sudden interest in what was really happening in the limo...
Why did the two of them suddenly always want to spend time alone with each other?
--*
In the second limousine, Kevin offered up his excuse.
"Uh guys, go ahead. Brian and I will catch up with you soon. I just need to check up on something that Brian arranged earlier, especially now that I've taken over from him again."
The other three left them alone, Chris and Lance still in the dark about what was happening, and Howie silently fuming at both his bandmates.
Howie had immediately recognised Kevin's words as an excuse to get rid of them. He just knew that they were going to try to come up with a cover story for the happenings at the studio. He spotted A.J. and Nick up ahead and excused himself from Chris and Lance.
"Hey guys, wait up!" he called.
Nick and A.J. turned around expecting to see the rest of their bandmates. Instead, they saw Howie jogging towards them, and he didn't appear to be too happy!
Howie pulled them aside and said, "I don't think Brian is going to be any help. We'll have to discuss this problem without him, and maybe confront Kevin directly to get the answers."
"Okay," A.J. agreed, "but not here. We'll meet later tonight to discuss this. Nick, do you think you can get away from Brian tonight without being noticed?"
"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem. Should I try to pump him for any info in the meantime?"
"No, he'll just get suspicious. We'll meet in my room. Get away as soon as you can, okay?"
"Okay," replied Nick. After his recent 'blindness', he was going to do all in his power to help Kevin.
They separated and followed the 'N Sync guys into the stadium.
End - Chapter 7
To be continued...
Comments / criticisms / kudos / curses / etc. gratefully appreciated.
eMail : rh_chan@hotmail.com ICQ : rh_chan (ICQ#61523677)