Hi everyone...
This story has now officially taken on a life of it's own. I didn't expect it to go this long or be this developed.
I'm not hearing from anyone anymore. I don't know if this means that you guys are too busy to write or no one's reading anymore. I'll go another couple of chapters, and if the feedback doesn't increase I'll wind the story down with a finale.
As always, Gabriella and Mike are my main cheerleaders. 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!!
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)
--The Lottery Winner Ch 29--
Joey hovered around me in the house. Every time I tried going into another room, he followed. We'd only been home a few minutes and I was already sick of it. I went and sat in the living room and sat on the couch. He came in seconds later, and saw my glare.
"What?"
"When did we become attached at the hip Joe?" He flashed that gorgeous smile of his at me, and tried snuggling. I wouldn't have it. Finally he broke down and talked.
"You seem like you're pulling away sweetie. I don't want that. You have to remember that I'm here for you, and I ain't gonna go nowhere." I pulled him into my arms and gave him a passionate kiss, then bit his lip.
"Ow!"
"Just keeping you on your toes Joey." I got up and headed onto the deck. It was nice out, there was a breeze blowing, so the air was fresh. I sat and dangled my feet, for some reason I felt like some brief alone time before everyone invaded. I got probably five minutes before the doorbell rang. I didn't even look to see who it was, just kept staring out at the view.
I heard Joey talking quietly to someone and about a minute later I saw somebody sit next to me. They didn't say anything, just sat there. Well, that was fine with me. A few minutes later someone sat on the other side of me, and they too were silent.
HHMM…what're these guys up to?
Well, before I could find out Chris showed up and ruined it. He came out onto the deck like a bull in a china shop.
"DALE!!! How's it going my man?"
I turned and looked at the two sitting next to me, I had Justin on the left and Lance on the right. Justin was glaring at Chris.
"Geez Chris. Anyone ever tell you that you totally ruin a mood?" Justin gave my shoulder a quick pat and headed back inside. Chris watched him go then turned to us.
"What'd I say?"
I didn't say anything, just got up and looked at him. He suddenly looked like he was going to cry. Pulling me into a quick hug, he just held me for a couple of seconds and let me go. He didn't say anything as he ran back into the house. I just looked at Lance as he got up.
"Okay, what's up with Chris?"
He just flashed his grin at me and pulled me inside. "It's his time of month." We walked into the kitchen just in time to see everyone in a huddle.
"Shut up he's here." Joey came up to me and gave me a quick kiss. "Hey you." He wrapped his arm around me and stuck his hand in my pocket. "Okay, we're thinking pizza for dinner. How's that sound hon?" I just smiled and leaned my head against his shoulder.
"Whatever you want to do is fine with me. I just want to get out of the house for a bit." I turned to Josh. "What, no Gabriella tonight?"
He smiled as he gave me a quick hug. "Tonight's just for us. She sends her love."
I giggled as he said it. "Geez Josh, you already sound like it's serious. Things moving that quickly?" He had the good grace to blush at that.
"She's just not like anyone I've ever met before. I feel a connection. It's a little scary."
"Well, I want to be the one to walk you down the aisle Mister Chasez." He laughed at that and clapped me softly on the back.
We walked out the front door and all piled into two cars. Joey and I rode with Lance and Chris in Chris' PT Cruiser, and Justin and Josh rode in Justin's car. The three of them engaged in small talk, talking about their plans for the upcoming album. Joey mentioned he wanted to do a love ballad, and smiled at me.
"Gee Lance, big shock why he wants to do that huh?" I smacked the back of Chris' head. "HEY!"
"Don't be knocking Joey. If he wants to get all mushy and ooky with the romance stuff he can. I think it's sweet."
"Aw, thanks babe." We kissed and then proceeded to cuddle for a few minutes.
"Dale, how're you holding up?" His finger gently traced along my arm as he took my hand in his.
I had to think about it for a second. "Actually, now that I finally remember it's starting to not hurt as bad. There's a part of me that can't accept that it really happened, but I have to. If I deny it and try to block it out I'll only be hurting myself in the long run." I stopped and kissed him, as our lips softly parted I continued, "everything happens for a reason. Maybe I had to go through this so I could finally put the past behind me and appreciate what I have now. Only God knows why, and since I can't talk to him I have to assume that's the plan."
I stopped talking and looked at him, he was just staring at me. "What?" He didn't say anything as he leaned towards me and kissed me.
"Have I told you lately how much I love you?" He wrapped his arms around me and just held me close. We chose to ignore the chorus of noises coming out of the front seat.
We pulled up in front of a seedy looking pizza joint about twenty minutes later. Justin pulled in behind us and the two of them caught up to us before we hit the door. I looked at our surroundings, and at the building.
"Um guys. I hate to be a bitch, but this is a really skuzzy looking place. Are we sure we want to eat here?" They all just laughed at me and drug me through the doors. An older lady who looked tired met us on the other side. She smiled at the guys and turned the sign on the door to `closed'. We were seated, and the guys grabbed glasses off of a table and went to get soda and tea.
"What do you want to drink Dale?"
"Um, Pepsi is fine." Joey flashed a grin at me and went to get our drinks.
After a few minutes we were all sitting around a large table. I kept trying to pull into myself, but the guys wouldn't let me. I was being pulled into the conversations, and random comments. Finally a couple of pizzas and orders of breadsticks arrived.
"Wait. We didn't even tell them what kind of food we wanted."
Justin grinned at me. "It's okay Dale. The parents of one of my friends from MMC own this place. We've been coming here for years. They have us down cold with what we get. Now dig in, they always give us lots of food because we have to feed Joey." Joey giggled and put his hand on my thigh and gave it a soft caress.
The next couple of hours were pretty uneventful. We sat around and demolished the food, and just talked. The guys switched to harder drinks after the first couple of rounds of sodas, while I stayed with Pepsi. Josh proposed a toast to friendship, then asked about why I wasn't drinking what they were.
"I can't. If I lose control over my emotions right now it'd be very messy."
Lance let out a snort. "It can't be that bad Dale, you're too nice for it to be that bad. Besides, it's not like you killed him." I felt my jaw drop as the man I thought of as a friend said that. Tears started falling as I told Joey to let me out of the booth.
"Lance, maybe you don't know me as well as you think." I looked at Joey, "I'm going out for some air." I headed to the exit without a backward glance. I was proud of myself. I made it outside away from their eyes before lost it totally. I slid to the ground with my back to the wall of the building. I was sitting there crying my eyes out a few minutes later when Justin came out.
"Dale?" I sniffed and wiped my eyes. He didn't say anything else, just sat next to me.
"Dale, Lance didn't know the whole story about today. Joey filled us in, but he was outside with you so he missed it. He's so sorry. I told him I'd come out first and talk to you. He's so embarrassed about what he said." We sat there for a minute, not saying a word. Suddenly he pulled me into a hug, then helped me up. The first thing I was when I got back inside was Joey glaring at Lance, and Lance looked like he was on the verge of crying. Joey got up and let me back in. The mood around the table was very dark.
Lance stirred in his seat. "Dale, I…"
"Shut up Lance. I don't want to talk about it." Joey reached for my hand to give it a squeeze, but I pulled away from him. "To set the record straight, yes it was bad. And yes, I killed him." I threw the pizza back down on the plate and pushed it back. "Gee, this was fun Joe. Thanks." There were mutterings from all of them, but Joey held his hand up.
"Dale, you've put a wall up. We want to help you through this and be there for you, but you have to let us in. Don't shut any of us out." Joey was on the verge of tears when Josh broke in.
"Come on Dale. You know that we're not going to let anything bad happen to you. You're part of the family now. You're stuck with us so you might as well get used to it." He then crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at me.
I smiled.
"Wait. Is that a smile?" Justin leaned in slightly. "I think it is. See, it's not painful or anything, and dammit Dale we're entertaining!" Justin then reached for my hand, and got serious. "You are so like Joey sometimes. You're so stubborn and thickheaded that you can't see when something is a good thing. We all understand you're scared, but we got your back. Now and forever my man." Josh put his hand on top of Justin's.
"Ditto."
Chris and Lance repeated the gesture. Joey was resting his head on my shoulder, and smiling at me. I looked at him and saw the love shining through in his eyes. I took a cleansing breath, and smiled at everyone. Finally, I turned to look at just Lance.
"So, how about this weather we're having?"
He smiled and ducked his head suddenly. When he raised his head back up his eyes were shiny. "It's been pretty warm that's for sure." The guys all pulled their hands back and went back to eating their pizza. About thirty minutes later we were done with the food, and I could tell the guys weren't ready to let me go yet.
We headed to the house, there was a new car sitting in the driveway when we pulled up. JC and Justin had pulled up first, and we were treated to JC running up to the car and pulling the driver into his arms. We got out of Chris' car and headed over to where they were standing holding each other.
"Geez Josh, get a room." I grinned as Gabriella turned around like she was going to beat on me. "Hi Gabriella, how's it going?"
"Hey handsome. How's Mister Italian here treating you?" She pulled me into a quick hug before jabbing Joey in the stomach.
"Ugh, Gabriella don't! I just ate a bunch of pizza!" She gave him a hug and began pulling us inside.
"Come on guys, we're gonna have a nice relaxing evening hang out and talking." I looked at Joey, who just smiled and shrugged. We followed the group into the house, and saw they were already sitting down in the living room. Gabriella came whirling through with drinks for everyone. She smiled at us and blew me a kiss.
"What do you want to drink toots?"
I sat down on the couch, "just a Pepsi please."
Joey started to say something when she held her hand up. "I don't think so Mister Fatone. Your legs are not broken. I'm being nice to Dale because he's been through a lot. Now you get up and get your own drink." She turned and walked into the kitchen. We all just looked at each other.
"Josh?"
"Yeah Dale."
"If you don't marry her I'm going to." I grinned at him, and was promptly hit from five sides by pillows. We were interrupted with a smacking sound coming out of the kitchen. Joey and Gabriella walked back in a few minutes later, Joey was rubbing his ass.
"Dale! Gabriella smacked my ass."
He sat down next to me and stuck his tongue out at her. I grinned and gave him a kiss. "Who can blame her? It's such a nice ass after all."
We all sat around and just talked about stuff. Joey and I cuddled, and so did Josh and Gabriella. After about an hour or so Chris suggested we watch a movie. We all told him he could pick, and we were surprised when he chose `What Dreams May Come'.
"Um, Chris. You realize this isn't a slasher flick or a comedy right?" He sat down on the other end of the couch and took a pull on his drink.
"I know Justin. I'm just in the mood for this kind of movie right now." He got quiet at that. The movie was started and we all dug in and got comfortable. Partway through it Joey was crying. I laced my fingers in his, and pulled his head onto me. Josh and Gabriella were in their own world, and partway through the movie they got up to go.
"Josh, go ahead and take the first room on the left tonight. You've been drinking so can't have you driving home." Joey wiggled his finger at him, and laughed when he pulled Gabriella with him.
"HEY! NONE OF THAT IN THIS HOUSE!"
I poked him. "Does that mean us too?"
"Oh God no. I hope that happens tonight." He gave me a quick kiss and went back to cuddling. Justin fell asleep on the other couch, so it was just the two of us and James and Chris.
I looked down at the other end of the couch and my jaw dropped.
Lance was sitting on the floor in front of Chris, and Chris was rubbing his shoulders and giving him a massage. Lance was getting into it, and wasn't questioning that his friend was giving it to him. The movie ended a little bit later, and Chris was crying. He got up and went into the kitchen. Lance hurried after him without a backward glance.
"Dale, what's going on with those two?"
I smiled and traced his lip with my finger. "I'm not sure baby, but I think Chris is starting to realize he likes boys."
He grinned. "You think? Good for him." He kissed me and got up so he could pull me into his arms.
I went to Justin. "Justin? The movie's over. Do you want to just crash here or do you want to head up to a bedroom?" He smiled at me and mumbled something before going back to sleep.
I grinned at Joey as he went and got a blanket and pillows for Justin. After we tucked Justin in I went around turning off the lights that were on.
On our way down the upstairs hall, we noticed the door to the second guest room partway open. We heard what sounded like kissing. Joey went and knocked on the door. It took a about thirty seconds for someone to say `come in'. Joey opened the door, and we both peeked our heads in.
Chris was sitting on the edge of the bed, blushing. Lance was sitting next to him, smiling.
"Hey guys, we're heading to bed. We'll see you in the morning." We were closing the door when we heard Lance say something to Chris. We went into our bedroom and stripped to get into bed. We were lying there cuddling when we heard a groan through the wall. It sounded like Chris.
I giggled as Joey wrapped himself around me. "Well, wonder if this means that those two are a couple now." Joey began nuzzling my neck and licking his way down my body. Shortly he had me moaning and groaning to match the noises coming from the other room.