Chapter 2
Nothing interesting in this chapter, besides the fact that one of the guys finds out about JC's secret. Who could it be though, and how did they find out? I don't know, maybe if you read you'll find out. Oh plus, thanks to anyone who sent me feedback on the first chapter, it was appreciated, and yes, even the hate mail was responded to.
Oh yeah, I'm glad that the friends I added in this chapter liked it, they have been with me through all my stories, so I had to give them props some how, and just saying thanks wasn't enough.
Last time in Chapter 1...
If he couldn't have love, he had this. He had a peaceful friendship, one that was something he would never trade in for anything else. And if it meant that he couldn't pursue any love interests, he wouldn't. The more and more he thought about it, the more he knew that he didn't need to. Lying in his bed, held by his arms was the one he really wanted to be with, the only one he could imagine himself with. And he liked it, he liked that feeling of warmth that coursed through his veins just with the touch. It was enough.
"Love ya Just." JC whispered, leaning down and placing a kiss on the young blond's head. Softly he picked up the remote and clicked off the tv, careful as could be he adjusted the blond, so that he too could sleep but made sure that he never lost his hold of protection over him. "Good night."
Knock!Knock!Knock!
"shhh" JC answered the door to his hotel room, a bathrobe covering his body and a cup of coffee in his hand. Motioning he made it clear to Joey to keep it down, as Joey cast his gaze on a still sleeping Justin.
"We have to talk to Lou in a little, he's coming by, meeting in Lance's room in twenty." Joey replied softly.
"Okay, I'll wake Justin up soon."
"He's cute when he sleeps, if you don't wanna wake him up, will just let him sleep. Lou can deal." Joey smiled, and patted JC on the shoulder, JC smiled back in appreciation. He always hated waking Justin.
"What time is it?" JC turned sharply, surprised to hear Justin's voice.
"10:30 honey." JC responded like he usually did in the morning, like a mother, like a father, like a best friend, like everything he could be in one.
"When do I have to get up?" Justin asked in a sleep filled tone.
"Lou's coming at 11, but if you wanna sleep go ahead. I'll fill you in afterwards." JC replied, slipping on some clothes and setting down his coffee cup.
"I'll get up." Justin responded, rolling over and looking up at the ceiling. "Or maybe, I'll stay in bed." He laughed to himself, rolling back onto his stomach again. JC went about cleaning up the room, tossing things where they belonged, but it wasn't long before he heard Justin's voice again. "I really liked using you as a pillow last night. I'm sorry for acting like such a baby yesterday and taking you so seriously when you flipped on me."
"It's okay." JC replied. "You've got nothing to apologize for, it was all my fault."
"I'm not saying it wasn't your fault, I'm still sorry for crying over it." Justin replied.
"You don't have to apologize for crying."
"My dad always said that only girls cry." Justin replied
"Well I say it takes a real man to show his feelings enough to cry." JC returned comment, sitting on the bed next to Justin. "I know you had it rough with your dad, and he tried to teach you things like that, but everything he said isn't true. Guys can cry too, we can hurt, we can ache, we can long, we can need. And some times shedding some tears is healthy."
"I know, but, it's so hard not to believe him, he's my dad." Justin replied.
"And you love him for that, but you don't have to believe everything he says. And you always have us, think of Joe as your dad, and Chris as your mom." JC teased.
"I'd like you as both." Justin replied, and pulled himself close to JC. JC knew he shouldn't get back in bed again, but here was this kid, hopeful, needing, and he couldn't turn away, so he let himself slide down enough for Justin to rest on, and watched as his breathing became steady and rhythmic evident of sleep.
And at that point, JC thought he heard a slight whisper, vague, uncertain, and barely audible, but he thought he heard it loud and clear. But the idea slipped out of his mind as an illusion when he replayed the words through his head. "and more" He knew that Justin would never say that, so he smiled, and slowly and quietly picked up the phone by the bed. He was going to have a hard time explaining their absence from the meeting, but he couldn't help it.
"What up?" JC laughed, one of these days some one would get pissed at Chris for answering the hotel room phones like that, but he just found it amusing.
"Hey Chris, it's Jace."
"What's up JC?" Chris asked again, unsatisfied with JC's original answer of just his name. He was too impatient just to let that as an answer.
"Um, well, see..." JC started but was quickly cut off.
"You aren't coming to the meeting." Chris said with an obvious smirk laying behind it.
"How'd you know?" JC asked again, confusion laying behind his words.
"Joey told me that the kid was still asleep when he came to wake you up. And I know you and I know Justin. And I know that when Justin sleeps he's out like a light. And I know that you never have the heart to wake him up, so you just let him sleep. I'll think of something to tell Lou, he'll understand." Chris laughed.
"Thanks Chris, talk to you later."
"See ya." Chris and JC both hung up, and Chris turned around to his roommates laughing.
"What will I understand?" Lou Pearlman asked with a smile.
"That JC and Justin are still sleeping. Justin doesn't feel good, and JC's staying to take care of the kid." Chris answered without hesitation, he was use to the excuse.
"Alright, lets start the meeting then." Lou replied easily, sometimes he knew they were lying, but he just let it pass this time.
"We have some complaints Big Poppa, like the outfits they ask us to wear. They constantly make us match, like if I wear a pair of jeans, then everyone else has got to wear a pair of jeans, and all the pairs are just a little lighter. Couldn't some of us wear khakis? Or Cargo pants?" Joey began the meeting like usual with a complaint.
"That's minor Joe, if you talk to wardrobe and they disagree, tell them to talk to me and I'll work something out with them. Settled?"
"Yep." Joey smiled triumphantly.
"Now, what about the schedule?" Lance asked, always the one focused on timing and management issues.
"You have a week off, except for later today. I'll be back around 3 to pick you guys up, Teen Beat is doing an interview with you guys, the regular stuff, color, food, interests in girls." Lou explained. "But like I said after that, you have some time off. I want you to stay at the house together though, but you can do whatever you want other then that. And Lance, some girl called me, complaining that she doesn't get to see you enough. I thought I specifically said no one gets my number? And besides that, especially not a girlfriend."
"Sorry Lou, that's Summer. She just hates to be away from me. I think I'll give her and Mary a call and see if they can't get a flight down here to stay for a while." Lance spoke more to himself then to Lou.
"Just as long as they behave and don't injure you I could care less. In fact, I'll book the tickets, a little reward for being such a good band. I'll give you more details that you can tell them later when I come back." Lou replied. "Any other complaints, suggestions, warnings?"
"Yeah, you need to find a babysitter for Justin. The kid can't get into clubs without using his name, and even then he just sits there to himself, and usually that means that JC sits with him after a while. And then that means that Lance feels bad, and then Joey feels bad and then I get stuck acting like I feel bad and we all come back to the hotel and watch a movie. So find him a babysitter." Chris said, teasing anger, but really only pouring sarcasm.
"Okay, Chris you are Justin's babysitter from now on every night you have off. There, now everything is settled. I'll talk to you guys in..." Looking down at his watch, Lou looked back towards the guys. "6 hours."
Joey, Chris and Lance said goodbye, and walked Lou down the hallway to the elevator, smiling and almost laughing as they passed Justin and JC's shared hotel room. They all knew that JC was awake, they all knew that Justin was probably asleep cuddled close to him too.
And they were right. JC was still watching Justin sleep, admiring the way he looked perfect and so cute while he slept, even with his hair messed up and his nose scrunched up heavy in dream. But the one that thing that kept him beautiful, the one thing that seemed to brighten every part of JC's life. His smile, Justin smiled like no other, he smiled with wisdom that only old people had. And when he wasn't smiling, that seemed to bring JC's whole world down. Now that Justin was smiling, JC could smile back, even if Justin couldn't see him doing it.
"Josh, Josh." Justin started to wake up, rolling slightly, and opening his eyes just barely enough for JC to tell that he was actually waking and not just dreaming.
"I'm here Curly." JC replied, rubbing his head lovingly.
"Did we miss the meeting?" Justin asked.
"Yep, probably ended no more then ten minutes ago." JC replied.
"Do you think Lou's mad?" Justin asked.
"Nope, Chris said he'd cover for us." JC explained
"Now he's gonna make us repay him or something. He'll make us buy him dinner or something and then just buy shit that he doesn't even like." Justin smiled, and laughed. JC laughed at him, not because what he said was funny, but because what he said was stupid, but yet because Justin was laughing he laughed too.
"What ever, why don't you get up? You need to brush your teeth, shower, and have some breakfast." JC replied, easily pulling the younger bandmate to his side at the head of the bed.
"I don't wanna get up." Justin replied in a cranky and pouty tone.
"Too bad, I'm in charge of making sure you do everything you're suppose to do. Just shower and brush your teeth, it will take no more then twenty minutes if you don't fool around in the shower." JC was trying his hardest not to cave into Justin.
"Fine." Justin stood from the bed. He grabbed a pair of boxers and a wifebeater from his suitcase on the floor and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it behind him.
JC couldn't tell if he was upset or if he was just in a bad mood because he was awake. He shrugged it off and figured it could wait until he got out of the bathroom before he had to question it. And if he was, JC would just apologize and Justin would accept it and they would go on for the day.
"Okay, I'm glad to see that our two ill ones were able to make it out of bed for the interview." Lou Pearlman was smiling at the boys of the band as they pulled into the lot of the office they were interviewing at. He had told the boys he would meet them, but instead had just sent a van in his place, and had decided to meet them there.
"Yeah, sorry, we were just really tired." JC lied lamely, but he could tell that Lou wasn't upset by it.
"That's fine, the interview is waiting for you on the tenth floor, second door on your right. I'm gonna be talking to the editor making sure that everything we talked about goes through the magazine. I'll see you guys in about an hour or two." Lou turned and walked back to his limo to get somethings, while the guys headed into the building and to the second room on the tenth floor.
"Hi guys, take a seat." Chris had barely walked into the room before the young woman had asked him to take a seat. "I'm Kathleen, I'll be interviewing you guys."
"Cool, you probably know we are." Joey giggled at his own statement, as the other guys just looked at him oddly.
"Yeah I do, otherwise I wouldn't be interviewing you now would I?" Kathleen asked sarcastically. "Anyways, you guys are probably busy, so I'll start right off the bat. First things first, I have to ask you guys the group questions. So just go down the row and tell me your favorite colors."
"Baby Blue." Justin responded.
"Blue" JC's answer came second, as he looked to see if Justin was in a better mood after answering, he got his answer easily by seeing that Justin wasn't looking down the row waiting for answers but instead staring at the interviewer.
"Green." Joey replied.
"Orange" Lance was next and Chris finished off the row by saying red.
"Okay, now I know you guys get asked a lot of generic questions. So I don't think I'm going to concentrate on the questions I was told to ask, and more on some personal ones that the reader would rather know. What do you guys do when you aren't touring? Do you hang out together, spend time with family?" Kathleen was apparently knew at this, because they had been asked that question about as many times as they had been the color one, but they were use to it.
"Well, we all live together actually. We find it a lot easier that way, since we all live in Orlando now anyways. But we do spend time with our family. I usually go back to Pennsylvania to see my parents." Chris answered the question first.
"I use to visit my sister and brother a lot when touring ended, but well, I don't have to anymore. My sister is actually on tour with Britney Spears, and my brother helps out with our management. But I do see my parents a lot when we have off." Joey replied.
"I go back home a lot. I rarely see the guys that much after the tour. Cuz with my family and then I have some close friends back home. So if I'm not on tour, I'm usually back home." Lance explained.
"I stay here in Florida, I feel like my family is here. My brother and sister come down all the time, and my parents visit about once a month when we have free time. And living here is so nice, the weather, the atmosphere and I like to be around the guys." JC replied.
"I live here, so, I guess that's what I do while we have off time. Like Chris said we live together, all of us with my mom so I get to spend time with her all the time. And everyone once in a while I go back to Tennessee to see my little step bro Jonathon and my dad." Justin was the last to answer.
"I didn't know you all lived together. Does that ever cause any problems?" Kathleen quickly asked another question.
"Sometimes. Justin is a primadonna in the bathroom. He takes at least twenty minutes just to gel his hair, so that is a little bit of a problem." Chris jumped in to answer first.
"Chris snores, and I can hear it through the walls." Joey threw one at Chris.
"I think we get along great. We have a pool, and we get a lot of swimming in. And we just recently added a weight room in the basement, and me and Justin use that a lot, so that's really cool. And we all like to play basketball, except for Lance, so we play games of two on two all the time." JC cut them both off, deciding if he didn't they would make fools out of the group rather quickly.
"Whose better at basketball out of the four of you?" Kathleen asked a question that they truly never had been asked.
"Me." Came in four unison voices, each of the guys saying themselves.
"Lance?" Kathleen chuckled and turned to Lance for an answer.
"I'd say even though Justin's younger then them all, he's really good." Lance replied in favor of Justin.
"Yes!" Justin smiled triumphantly.
"Do you guys have a problem going out in public?" Kathleen asked another familiar one.
"Yes and no. Actually, mostly no. We don't have that big of a fan base here in the states, cuz we started off over in Europe. Just yesterday I took a walk and didn't even get noticed once, but sometimes its completely different. We are growing a big fan base here in Orlando and it's hard to go to the mall, or a restaurant. That's become a big problem." JC explained.
"But it helps too. I can get into some clubs if I say my name." Justin replied.
"So you guys go clubbing?" Kathleen asked a little more interested in the conversation. JC gave a sharp scowl at Justin for saying that, and cleared his throat to answer.
"Not that often. Since Lance is only 18 and can't drink, and since Justin is only 16 and can't legally get into clubs we don't go that often. And none of us are big on drinking anyways, we usually go to clubs when we are in the mood to dance and just listen to the music." JC replied, shooting her ideas of juicy information down.
JC thought he heard a mumble or complain from Justin's voice, but he couldn't be sure, so he continued to pay attention to the interview.
"Do any of you have any romances going on?"
"I'm dating some one right now, but I don't think she'd like it if I said her name." Lance replied.
"I'm single." Joey replied.
"Single too." Chris agreed.
"Single"
"Single" JC and Justin finished it off.
"So what do you guys look for in a girl?" Kathleen asked.
"I like some one who's nice. They have to be funny, and young at heart. And a surprising thing I like about people is their shyness. I don't know, seeing someone timid about something silly just gets me." JC started. "I guess it's because it makes them honest, and I like that feeling that you can do anything in front of someone and it's not going to change anything."
The guys all stared at JC after his answer, even Justin who had been avoiding looking at the old man felt his eyes head straight for his best friend after the words left his mouth. They had never heard him say anything about his interests like that, usually he just said smart and nice, and average looking, but this time he had gone into a lot of depth. Soon the eyes left him though, all except for a familiar pair of brown ones that belonged to a certain elder of the group, but JC didn't even notice them.
In fact the rest of the interview went by quickly. The others answered what they looked for in a girl, JC frowning when Justin responded with his answer. And soon they were all out of the building, their bags were already packed and in the van and with in half an hour they were at the house they called home unpacking in their individual rooms.
Lance was on the phone with Summer telling her all the details about her flight down and when he would meet her and Mary. Joey was in his room unpacking and planning on what to do during the vacation. Chris was busy thinking of things he could do and tricks he could play on his friends.
Justin was unpacking and talking to his mom while she folded his clothes neatly after he threw them out of his suitcase recklessly. And JC was unpacking slowly, setting his stuff out neatly on his own, all the while thinking about how he was going to find out what was bothering Justin. Which is why he was surprised when Chris stood in his doorway.
"Come in." JC motioned for Chris to step in the room, and was a little confused by Chris's secrecy when he shut the door. "What's up Chris?"
"I guess I wanted to ask you something. And please, if I'm wrong, just take it as a mistake and don't get pissed. You were um, describing some one in particular today during the interview. Ya know, when they asked what you looked for in a girl, weren't you?"
"Um, I don't know." JC hesitated, and blushed at the question. He was so bad at lying, that he knew Chris was seeing right through him.
"Ya know JC, if you ever had something to um, tell us, I mean, the guys and me, you know you could right?" Chris was trying to hint at something, and JC could tell that he was hoping he would say it first. "Cuz um, ya know, we love you."
"I know, it's rough Chris. I can't, I can't really just say it." JC tried to explain, but he knew that Chris wouldn't understand.
"JC, I know who you were talking about. I saw you staring, and I, you described perfectly everything about..."
"Don't say it Chris, please, let's just let it be that you know that I like him, but we don't have to say his name." JC interrupted, he didn't want to know that some one knew.
"Alright, but, Josh, please, if you wanna take about it, about him, um, find me."
"I will, but uh, I really need finish unpacking." JC decided he just wanted to sit and think for a little bit, he couldn't believe that Chris had discovered it.
"Okay." Chris didn't say a word other then that. JC knew he could trust his older band mate, but it was still a shock to him that some one else knew. That besides him and Mary, he had another person in on his secret, and he hadn't planned it.
But he had plenty of time to think. He was just going to sit and try and think of what to say to Chris when they did have that talk. He knew Chris, and Chris didn't like to let things dwell, he knew that with in the day he would be sitting with Chris some where by themselves talking about it, and figuring out something to help him. He wanted Chris's help, but he couldn't talk about it. It was one thing when it was Mary, they rarely even spoke his name, but with Chris, he knew his name would come up over and over again, and he hated that the most.
"How are you Joshua?" Lynn Harless stood in the doorway now, startling JC out of his thoughts.
"Fine, how have you been?" JC asked politely.
"I've been good, missing you boys." Lynn smiled and laughed.
"Yeah, we missed you too. Especially Justin, it's obvious that he still gets home sick every once and a while." JC smiled back.
"But he's gotten better with that because of you. He looks up to you, and I know right now he's upset about something, but that's Justin. I could tell the moment he walked into the house that he was mad at you for some reason. He just carries it through him whenever he gets upset with you, like everyone else should be nice to him. But we both know he's going to be apologizing in an hour about how stupid it was for him to get upset." Lynn started to laugh again.
"I know, it just makes me upset to see him pissed at me." JC explained.
"Talk to him, he never shuts you out." Lynn smiled, patted JC on the back and walked out of the room. JC smiled to blank air for a few minutes, and then walked down the hall, not far, Justin had insisted that their rooms be side by side and knocked on the door frame.
"Can I come in?" JC asked.
"Sure." Justin answered absent-mindedly.
"I'm sorry for whatever I did, even though I'm not exactly sure what that is." JC apologized and added in the end for a laugh, but he didn't receive one from Justin.
"You don't have to apologize. I'm just pissed about a lot of shit, not at you." Justin answered.
"Oh, wanna talk about it?"
"No." That was a first. Justin never shut himself out to JC, but JC knew when not to push situations.
"Okay, but I'll be in my room if you do."
"Okay." JC took that as a sign of being asked to leave, and he backed out of the room and down the hall. The mood in the room made JC wonder if Justin really wasn't made at him, but he decided to wait until tomorrow when the girls came to figure it out. He was going to have to see what Mary thought before anything else.
TBC...
Okay, this chapter didn't cover much. You got to know JC's dream girl, even though he really wasn't describing a girl. And Chris's age gave him the wisdom to figure that JC wasn't talking about a girl at all. So now Chris knows, and Mary knows, and JC knows obviously because he has the feelings. But when will the others find out? And when will JC and Justin hook up? Will they hookup? I don't know yet, but you'll find out in a week.
And oh yeah, did you pick up on the little insight. Read through the beginning again if you didn't catch it. But maybe Justin wants a little more too.
Brown Eyes