To Hi everyone...
In order to accommodate people who are asking me about notification lists, I've finally created an YahooGroup (Gods, Yahoo is like the Borg!) to do so: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dale_writings
As always, Gabriella is my main cheerleader. Mark has also been great. I've even inspired him! Check out his story "Blind Date", it's also here in the Boyband section.
I'm a bit nervous--so if people could please e-mail me at bwicub@hotmail.com--I'd really appreciate it. I love e-mail!!
My story is hosted on another website. Here's it is: http://railwayshoes.net/hosted
It's partway down the site, just look for "Lottery Winner". There's lots of other great stories there so check them out.
DISCLAIMER: The names of the people are fictional (well, except for the members of the group). This is a fictional story that came right out of my own mind. I have no knowledge if any member of N Sync are gay or whatever. That being said, please enjoy the story and remember-- write me!!! (Especially write me if you're a member of the group! GRIN)
Thanks guys and gals, Hope you like it.
Dale
--THE LOTTERY WINNER...Ch 47--
"CODE BLUE TO ICU!! CODE BLUE TO ICU!! "Crash team to room 3-C STAT! Crash team to 3-C stat!"
When he heard the room number, Mark took off at a run. He'd just left Dale's room no more than ten minutes ago to get a bite to eat and stretch his legs. What the hell had happened? He skidded around the corner as he ran, sending an orderly who was carrying towels flying backwards.
Finally he got to the room, but he couldn't get in. There was a cart in the way, and a team of seven people was working on Dale.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"
"Sir, wait outside please." The nurse slammed the door shut. Mark stood there wringing his hands, when Dale's doctor came out the door.
"I'm sorry to tell you this. But he's gone."
Mark screamed... and sat up in bed.
"Jesus Christ!" He flopped back down onto the bed. His dog Kiwi woke up and came over to see what was wrong. Mark scratched his ears for a few minutes, then Kiwi went over to the rug and fell back to sleep. Mark glared at him because it was so easy. With a snort of disgust, he pulled himself out of bed and went to take a shower. He began waking up, and realized that he was incredibly horny for some reason. He called up an image of Lance from the shower after the concert, and kept that as he soaped himself up and began playing himself.
Just as the image of Lance was going to sink to his knees in front of Mark, the phone started ringing.
"Shit. Oh fuck it, the machine can get it."
He started washing his hair when he heard Lance's coming out of the answering machine. "Mark? Are you there? Mark, come on and pick up the phone."
The phone started ringing again after he'd finished the hair and was washing his body. Again he heard Lance's voice coming from the machine. "Mark? I know you're there. You're jeep is in front of your building. Come on, pick up the phone."
Mark was getting dressed when his doorbell rang. He began giggling as he went to answer it. He didn't even look as he opened it. Just called out a "HI LANCE" as he swung it open and turned away. He turned back when he heard the door close and stopped in his tracks.
It wasn't Lance.
"Chris. What're you doing here? Where's the rest of the group?"
Chris didn't say anything for a second. He just stood there staring at Mark. Finally he walked over to the couch and sat down.
"Mark, we gotta talk."
"Um. K." Mark slowly edged over to his recliner, and perched on it.
Chris spent a few minutes looking around at the various pictures Mark had up on the walls. Finally he cleared his throat. "Look, I want to apologize for last night."
Mark sat back. "For which part? For telling me to fuck off or just being a prick?"
Chris tensed up and snapped at him. "Well what would you have done if you were me?"
"I WOULD HAVE TALKED TO YOU LIKE A GODDAMN PERSON!" Mark sat back down after standing to scream. "I wouldn't have flown off the handle at you Chris. I'm coming into this partway through the show. I didn't even know that you and Lance were a thing. Hell, I didn't even figure out you were gay until just recently."
"Now Chris. You want to yell some more or do you want to talk like adults?"
Chris sat silent for a minute, then tilted his head back and let out a bloodcurdling scream. It went on for nearly a minute and a half. Finally he tapered it off, and sat there looking at Mark. After a few seconds of scowling he smiled and then winked at Mark.
"Okay, I feel better now."
Mark rolled his eyes. "You're such a numnut."
Chris looked down at his hands, and then looked into Mark's eyes. "Please don't take him from me."
"Him? Who him Chris? Richard Simmons?"
"Mark, no more jokes. I'm here to ask you to please don't take Lance from me."
"Who in the hell are you to be asking that?" Chris and Mark both looked over at the door where the voice came from. Standing there with his hands on his hips, was Lance.
"How dare you ask someone that Christopher! You don't own me dammit!" Lance stormed over to Chris and grabbed his shoulders. He began shaking Chris as he asked the question again.
"Lance stop it!" Mark had jumped out of the chair and grabbed Lance from behind. Lance was practically throwing himself at Chris. Mark had never seen anyone this mad. Finally he tossed Lance onto the chair.
"Jesus Christ Lance would you chill the fuck out! He had his reasons to ask that question of me... if anyone has something to explain it's you with this reaction. What gives?"
"Let him go Mark."
"WHAT?" Mark couldn't believe what Chris had just said.
"You heard me. Let him go."
Mark took a couple of steps back, and watched as the two band mates stared at each other. "Okay you two, no bloodshed please... I want to get my deposit back on this place."
After a few minutes of no one saying anything, Mark excused himself. "I'm going to start boxing some stuff up for the move." He went to the kitchen and began boxing up the pots and pans that he didn't use on a daily basis. He finished two boxes of kitchen stuff, and was going to start boxing up some of his towels and stuff when he decided to check on Chris and Lance since he hadn't heard any noise from the front room of the apartment in a bit.
He peeked in, and saw Chris and Lance sitting facing each other on the couch, holding hands. Their heads were lightly touching, and Chris' other hand was massaging the back of Lance's neck.
"Perfect. Just perfect." Mark went back to packing. A few minutes after he started, he began whistling.
Meanwhile, in a room across town...
"I know what I'm doing." Dale's fingers tapped out a beat as the lab technician drew more blood out of his arm. "Jesus lady, aren't you done with all the tests? I feel like I've gotten pricked more than a sailor on shore leave."
The phlebotomist just smiled at Dale, and walked away. He glared after her for a few minutes, and then laughter from the other corner of the room pulled his gaze back.
"What're you laughing at mom?"
"You. I'm glad you're back on track. You really scared me." She grabbed Dale's hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "So kiddo, you excited to be going home?"
"Eh, I guess."
"What is it Dale?"
Before he could answer there was a knock at the door and it opened. Joey came in quietly; he didn't say anything until he'd closed the door behind him. "Hi guys. Wanted to stop in and see how things are."
Dale caught himself staring at Joey. Something was so familiar... Suddenly he was remembering a kiss. For some reason it upset him.
He was still staring at Joey while he made small talk with Christine. Finally Joey noticed that Dale was staring. "So Dale, what's up?"
Dale almost didn't say anything. Finally he blurted out. "We knew each other. I can't shake the feeling that we knew each other."
Joey smiled and sat down by Dale's mom. "Yeah, we knew each other. What do you remember about me Dale?" He sounded hopeful as he asked the question.
Dale thought about it for a bit. "Nothing's coming to mind, but for some reason I keep picturing a blond guy." Dale perked up. "Is my boyfriend blond?"
"Blond?" Joey sounded like he was going to cry, but Dale didn't notice.
"Yeah, blond. For some reason I remember blond hair. I don't know, I just want to get the hell out of here." Just as Dale said "I hate hospitals" Joey said it at the same time.
Dale laughed. "I take it you remember me saying that before?"
"Oh hell yeah." Joey sat staring at Dale for a bit before speaking again. "The guys and I are getting ready to take off on the bus to head back to Orlando. Do you think the docs would let you come back with us? It'd give you a chance to maybe remember some more stuff."
"Joey, can I talk to you for a minute outside?" Dale's mom walked by and grabbed Joey, dragging him out into the hall. Dale sat there watching them through the window in the door as they talked rather heatedly about something. Finally Joey came back in the room.
"Where'd mom go?"
"She's, um, going to ask the doctor if it's okay to have you go now. I mean, unless you want to stay here another couple of days before they bother letting you go."
The cell phone by the bed started ringing. Without even thinking Joey reached for it and answered. "Dale's phone. Hang on just a second and I'll get him."
Joey handed the phone to Dale. "It's Mark."
"Hey Mark, where are you? Really? That's right, you almost all done? How're you getting there anyway? Okay, just curious. Actually I think I'm going to be riding back with the group of guys from the concert. One of them offered to let me come back on the bus with them. I guess it makes sense since I apparently know them and we live in the same city."
While Dale was talking to Mark, Joey's phone started ringing. "Hello?"
"Joey, it's me."
"Lance! What's up buddy?"
"Chris and I are going to be a bit late meeting up with the bus. Make sure everyone knows."
Joey sat down in the chair. "Wait. 'Chris and I'? So does this mean the ice age is over?"
Lance giggled. "I don't know. We'll see. Talk to you later." He hung up.
Joey smiled at the phone and watched Dale.
"Mark, if I want to pay for your move I will. Stop arguing with me dammit! Give me twenty minutes to make a couple of calls and I'll call you back." Dale disconnected the call and dialed another number.
"Larry? It's Dale. Yeah, yeah... I'm fine. Look, I need to pay and get a moving company to move someone from Phoenix to Orlando. What's that?" Dale realized Joey was staring at him, so he stuck out his tongue. "Yeah, to the house you have paperwork on. Here's the person to contact and arrange a pickup time in Phoenix..." Dale rattled off Mark's name and phone number, telling Larry to put a rush on it. Dale disconnected that call and called Mark back.
"Okay look. My accountant is going to call you and finalize details. You'll have a moving company show up and drive all your stuff there. Call U-Haul and cancel the truck. Oh don't give me that shit! You're my friend, and you've been there for me a great deal lately, so think of this as payback. Fine whatever."
Dale disconnected the call from Mark, and sat back on the bed playing with the phone.
"So, this is my cell phone?" He started playing with the controls, and called up the phone directory. He spent a few minutes arrowing through the listings. He murmured the names as he went by them, smiling because he remembered them and made the connections.
"Hey look. You're in here. At least, I think this is you." Dale hit a button to dial the 'Joey' that was listed. Joey's cell phone started ringing. Dale giggled and hit end. "Check it out Joey, I have all you guys here." Dale was so excited about looking through the list, and it was infectious... so Joey went over and sat next to Dale on the bed.
Suddenly Dale felt comfortable. For the first time all day he felt at ease.
He turned and looked into Joey's face. He'd never noticed before, but Joey really had pretty eyes.
"Joey, I..."
Joey looked into Dale's eyes, and the world shrank down around them. They stared into each other for a few seconds, and then their faces began inching together. Dale finally found his voice just before they kissed.
"Could you scratch my back? It itches..."
Joey smiled sadly, and began scratching. "How's that?"
Dale groaned as the sensations hit his brain. "Oh yeah, that's it. Lower. Lower. A little over to the left. Oh god yeah. Oh that feels good sweetie."
He stopped. "Sweetie? Why did I call you sweetie?"
Joey smiled gamely. "You call everyone sweetie. It's something we all love about you." Joey kept scratching, and a few minutes later Dale's mom came in. He felt the urge to explain to her. "Dale's back was itching."
"Okay. The doctors have okayed you leaving today. He'll be in here shortly to discharge you. He's going to have some conditions for you to follow though... and frankly I don't blame him."
"Oh it'll be okay Chris." She looked at Joey as he continued. "We'll keep an eye on him, and we'll stop whenever he needs anything. Don't worry, you know we won't let anything happen to him."
There was something in Joey's voice that made Dale look at him. Joey was smiling and looking at Dale with a look that made Dale feel warm all over.
Wait a minute... could it be? No, he can't be gay.
"Chris do you want to come with us? I'm sure Deb won't mind."
She laughed. "No way in hell. The idea of riding on a bus from here to Orlando does not appeal to me. Even if I'm surrounded by cute young men..."
"Yeah whatever you old lez, you'd be happy to do it if the band was the GoGo's". Joey's jaw dropped and he looked at Dale.
"OHMYGODDALE! What did you just say to her?" He looked at Chris fully expecting her to come unglued.
She was looking at Dale with an arched eyebrow. She kept it up for a few seconds, and then began giggling. She pulled Dale into a tight hug.
"Okay I lied. NOW I know you're on the road to recovery."
The three of them sat and talked about random things for about an hour or so before the doctor finally got around to them. After a final exam, the doctor gave Dale his discharge instructions. He made Joey promise to keep an eye on Dale and to find the nearest ER if something happened. Joey was grinning ear to ear as he got Dale ready to go. Joey and Chris hugged, then Chris gave her son a final hug.
"Call me every night kid. Don't want to worry about you. Now sit in the wheelchair."
"Wheelchair? No way in hell. I can walk fine."
"Sit, or I'm telling the doctor you fainted again and he'll make you stay." She smiled as she said it.
Dale gasped. "You wouldn't!"
"Oh, try me. Now, please do what I ask."
Dale glared at her for a minute, then let out a snort of disgust. "Fine." He plopped down into the wheelchair. Chris let out a small cheer as she pushed Dale out of the room and headed towards the front door. It took her a few minutes to realize that Joey wasn't right behind her, looking back she saw him surrounded by a bunch of people signing autographs. She could tell his heart really wasn't in it. Finally after a few minutes he broke through the crowd, making apologies as he caught up with them.
"Sorry about that. Occupational hazard I guess."
Dale's mom smiled at him. "Bullshit Fatone. You love it and you know it."
Joey laughed. "You sound just like Dale when you do that." He noticed Dale looking over his shoulder at him. Joey smiled at Dale and squeezed his shoulder. "It's going to be okay. We're going home."
"Mark? Mark are you in here?" Lance came around the corner and saw Mark quietly boxing up items from a closet in the bathroom.
"Hi Lance. What's up?" Mark didn't look at him, just kept packing stuff.
"Um. Chris and I have to leave if we're going to make it back on time to catch the bus. Wouldn't want to get left behind." He smiled as he said it, but Mark wouldn't look at him, so it didn't work.
"Yeah. It'd really suck to stay here wouldn't it." Mark sounded very bitter as he said it. "Shit Lance. I didn't mean that to come across like it sounded." He stretched then turned around to look at the singer. He tried putting a grin on his face. "So, you and Chris are talking. I take it this is a good thing? It must be because you look like a schoolgirl who's talking to her first crush."
Mark sidestepped the playful punch that Lance threw at his stomach.
"Who you calling schoolgirl mister?" Lance tried growling as he said it, but it didn't work. The tension in the room was broken, and the two men hugged.
"Just be careful Lance. I'll be in Orlando in about a week if you need me. Have to get ready to work at the new job."
"You never even told me what you were going to do. Where are you going to work?" They sat in the bathroom, Mark on the closed lid of the toilet and Lance on the side of the tub... just talking like friends talk. When Mark tried sounding all important about working at Universal Lance shot him full of holes, pointing out that Joey used to work there.
"If Joey worked there, then anyone can do it." Lance stuck his tongue out at Mark. They were laughing when there was a knock at the bathroom door.
"Lance? We should really get going." Lance smiled and went to Chris, taking him in his arms. Planting a quick kiss on his lips, he smiled as Chris tensed a bit seeing Mark.
"Don't worry baby. Mark's happy for us." Chris smiled at Mark. "I'll go get my coat. Lance squeezed by Chris, leaving Mark and him standing in silence.
"Well Mark. I guess I'll see you in Orlando."
"Chris?" Chris looked up at Mark. "If you hurt him I'll kill you." Mark then pulled him into a quick hug. Once he released Chris, he went back to packing. When he heard the door of the apartment close, he sat on the toilet and cried. Kiwi heard him, and softly padded his way into the room. After a few seconds of staring at Mark, Kiwi rested his head on Mark's leg.
"Where in the hell are they?"
"I told you Jimmy, Lance called me and said they may be late. They'll be here. What're you in a hurry for it's not like we're going to the next stop on the tour." Joey was tossing a baseball in the air and catching it. He kept sneaking glances at Dale, who was leaning against the bus talking to JC. Joey missed the ball on his last throw and it almost hit him in the face.
"SHIT!"
JC and Justin started laughing at him. Dale glared at them then asked if Joey was okay. "Yeah I'm fine. Just being blond." Joey smiled at Justin to take the sting from the comment, and then went back to tossing the ball.
Twenty minutes later Chris and Lance came running around the corner to where the bus was sitting. They both began profusely apologizing, but the road manager Jimmy wasn't too concerned with listening. He grumbled at them and shoved everyone onto the bus.
Joey had shown Dale around the bus when they first got there, so Dale already knew where the bunks were. "Joey, I'm feeling a bit tired. Does it matter which bunk I use to nap in?"
"Yeah, come on and I'll show you." Dale followed Joey back to where the bunks were. After Joey pointed out which one to use he stood there watching Dale as he slid into the bunk and began falling asleep.
"What're you staring at Joey?"
Joey grinned. "Nothing Dale."
"Something is familiar about this. I wish I could remem..." Dale fell asleep.
Joey stayed there for a while, just watching Dale sleep. He noticed some hair had fallen down on his face, so Joey reached down and lightly pushed it away.
"I miss you Dale. I miss you and I need you. There, I said it. I know it's not easy to be with me. But you make it look so easy I never gave it much thought. You never complain or bitch about things... you spoiled me."
Joey felt tears start to run down his cheeks. "If this works out, then things will change." Joey left and headed back to the front of the bus. The other guys noticed he'd been crying, but didn't say anything. Lance and Chris were sitting on the sofa talking. Joey went and sat between them. They didn't say anything, just hugged him from each side.