Remember in this chapter you will find out who Chris likes. And I made this decision carefully, with help from fans of the story, so I hope you like the decision I made, although it is bound to start a little bit of controversy in the story. I want to thank Dan Hennagir for helping me with this chapter. I used a lot of good ideas of his eyes, and I want to thank him for that.
Last time on Chapter 11 of Love Interest -
Samantha was happy, she had expected to be an outcast among the large group of stars. After all, she was new to the music scene. Not to mention the fact that everyone knew how close they all were, especially the members of NSYNC. But they had accepted her quickly, and she felt like a part of the group now that she knew about Justin and Josh. A secret she knew she would never tell anyone, not even her family.
She smiled with the girls, glad to be part of such a big 'family'.
The whole time the story of Justin and Josh was being told to Samantha, two people could easily hear it. Josh who was still awake holding Justin was one of them. He found it to hard to stop listening, tears even came to his eyes. He never took in the full truth that he had been a jackass to Justin before they started dating, when Justin really needed him. But the story was a good one, and he knew exactly why Brittney was slightly jealous of there closeness.
The other was another member of NSYNC. But Joey was sound asleep, and Lance was watching the news, quite interested in a story that his friends would have found pointless and boring. Meanwhile Justin slept comfortably, unaware of the story about his relationship with Josh, and unaware of his boyfriend sniffling from the story. Chris however, was laying in his bed, disgusted by the story. He was tired of listening to Justin and Josh, and stories about Justin and Josh. He knew it would be coming closer and closer to the point where if he didn't confess his love he would burst. But it was hard for him, he was not gay, and there was no way he could love some one from NSYNC, he was too close to them to let it become love. Not to mention he fretted breaking Dani's heart, something he didn't want to do even though he knew his love for the other was stronger.
Realizing he had to get some fresh air, or he would burst from the frustration of his love life, he slid out of his bunk. Walking right past Lance without saying a word, he slipped off the bus, and found himself next to Lonnie. Lonnie smiled at him, and waited for Chris to do whatever he had planned on doing.
"You waiting for something?" Lonnie asked with a slight giggle. Chris looked at him with a little anger for laughing at him.
"No! Just needed to get some fresh air." Chris retorted with his anger showing in his voice. "I'll be back." Lonnie decided it would be best just to let Chris handle whatever it was on his own. So he neglected in his duties to follow him and enforce the rule of staying on the bus. Afterall Chris was the oldest, and he had good judgment, unlike Justin.
Chris walked towards the building, but stopped. He had come to get fresh air, not to be stuck in a cramped office. Thinking again to himself, he wondered why managment hadn't given them rooms, since they were in town for three days, it would have made more sense. But then he thought he was better off in this sense. Brittney and Lance would share a room, and Christina would share with Samantha, while he would get stuck with Joey. It was obvious that Justin and Josh would share, they shared before they were even dating, that wouldn't change now.
His anger and jealousy of the couples that evolved from his friends was slowly consuming him. The others thought his depression during trips was because he was without Dani, but that was not true. His depression came from watching Justin and Josh. Even when they were just friends, Justin was closer to Josh then he could ever be. His secret love for Josh was slowly consuming him, and now he had to realize it would be a hard task to pry his love from Justin's clingy hands.
Figuring if he didn't get back Lonnie would come looking for him, he shrugged off his anger for the moment. An idea came into his mind, and although he knew it might have to wait before he could pull it off, he knew that Justin's personality would help him, with his plan to get Josh.
"Did you cool off?" Lonnie asked, much to Chris's surprise as he came closer to the bus.
"um, yeah." Chris muttered, but was stopped by Lonnie before Chris could get on the bus.
"You wanna talk about it. I know I ain't a member of the band, or even that much of a friend, but some times it good to just let it out, to some one you don't really know." Chris was stunned by the amount of depth Lonnie had. Lonnie and Chris did know each other, but they were not friends. Only Justin and Josh had that connection with Lonnie. Once again Chris started to think about them together, but instead of anger, only happiness came to his mind. His plan was going to start soon, and he was intent on making Josh his lover, instead of Justin's.
"Um, well if I want to talk to somebody, I'll come to you Lonnie. Trust me, I think you might be write about talking about though." Chris smiled, but Lonnie did not detect that the smile was an evil, deviant smile.
"What the hell is going on?" Fatima barked as practically everyone on stage screwed up there dancing. "Justin good like always, Josh what's the problem tonight?" Fatima questioned, a little concerned that Josh was screwing up, since besides Justin he was the best. "Chris surprisingly you are doing better then anybody tonight. Justin, Chris, you can go take a break. I need to work with every body else by themselves." Fatima ordered, and Justin and Chris walked off.
Samantha, Christina, and Brittney were all busying picking out wardrobe and deciding hair designs for the concert the next day and the tour they were going to be starting.
"How are you? I mean, without Dani?" Justin asked, as he took a sip of water.
Chris got a mischevious smile on his face, and knew that now would be the perfect time to start his plan. Justin didn't catch the evil grin, so he had no idea about what was coming. Chris coughed, and then started his plot to ruin Justin and Josh. "Actually I like some one else." Chris started, knowing this would get the expected reaction from Justin.
"What!???"
"Yeah, actually, it's, well, it's Josh" Chris knew this would make Justin's reaction worse. He knew that the reaction would be one of two options, either extreme anger, or extreme jealousy.
"You what?" Justin asked dumbfounded, almost a hint of sadness and depression emitted from his voice. The emotion was not what Chris had expected, but he decided to flow with it.
"I like Josh. And I think I have a better chance with him Justin. I'm older then you Justin, and I know what true love is, I know how to return and recieve love. You are young Justin, you don't know love, you know lust. And Josh will see that, he will realize that I'm what he wants, not some confused teenager." Chris's words were cutting straight through Justin. Chris expected anger, but instead he was met with tears. Justin sobbed, he dropped his cup of water, and without a word ran from the stage area crying. Chris was the only one who caught it, and he smiled as his plan kicked off to a glorious start.
"You can do streaks or anything this concert Chrissy?" Brittney asked, as the hair stylist showed her some different styles she could use for the tour. Brittney pointed to one, and the stylist agreed.
"Nah, I think I'm just gonna stay blond this time, none of that pink shit. I realized how stupid I looked after I saw myself on tv." Christina laughed.
"It wasn't that bad." Samantha laughed at the same time she spoke, contradicting her words.
"Sure." Christina sarcasmed, but before she could continue anything, Justin burst into the room crying. Brittney turned around, and got upset at just the sight.
"What's wrong Justin?" Brittney asked as she rushed to him. Justin immediately clung to her, and cried. "It's okay Justin. What is it?"
"I don't wanna talk about it." Justin answered quickly as he sobbed into Brittney, her shirt quickly becoming wet with his salty tears. Christina went to the hall but found no one following him. Knowing that meant Justin was either upset at Josh, or no one knew he was crying. Because if he was upset with Josh, then Josh wouldn't follow him. But if Josh knew he would have followed him.
"Did Josh do anything?" Christina asked, hoping to get answers. Justin shook his head no, and continued to cry. "Sam, can you go get Josh for me?" Christina looked at her pleadingly. Samantha nodded and took off running, taking the job she was just asked of seriously.
"Josh" Samantha hollered as she neared the stage. Fatima looked at her, anger in her eyes. But for once in her life, Fatima was met with eyes that had no fear of her.
"What do you think you are doing Samantha? You do not interrupt them when they are dancing." Fatima barked, knowing that she would get fear out of this girl yet.
"Excuse me, but right now something is more important then there dancing." With the words leaving Samantha's mouth, Josh, Lance, Joey, Chris, and Fatima all stopped. There eyes grew wide as they focused on her, surprised that anyone would have the guts to speak up to her.
"It better be, or you are in serious shit." Fatima warned, and waited for an explanation.
"Josh, um, Justin is really upset about something. He came running to the wardrobe area sobbing, he won't tell us what either. I think you should probably talk to him." Samantha answered, and she could tell by Fatima's look that it was serious enough to interrupt the dance. Samantha caught agreeing nods from Joey and Lance, but when her eyes cast on Chris she thought she saw a little bit of pleasure in his eyes, but shook it off. Josh immediately ran over to her. And soon they were both running back to the wardrobe area.
"baby" Josh called as he entered the room. Sooner then he expected, Justin was off of Brittney and being held close to Josh's body. He reacted more comfortably to Josh's body, almost like an extended limb. Justin sobbed and sobbed, and Josh didn't ask him anything, he just held hm. Brittney escorted Christina and Samantha out of the room, knowing that the two needed some time to talk. "Do you wanna talk about it baby?" Josh asked, smoothly caressing the younger man's back and shoulders. Justin shook his head in a no again, and just continued to cry. Josh held him, confused, and frightened that Justin wouldn't tell him what was wrong.
The practice had ended earlier. It was obvious that Justin wasn't getting back on stage. In fact as soon as they were dismissed Josh had taken him straight to there bunk to talk to him. Slowly Justin began to stop crying, but in the process he also let sleep over take him, and Josh slid out of the bunk, hoping to find something out from Chris who had been with Justin before he became upset.
"Hey Chris. Can I talk to you outside for a minute?" Josh asked once in hearing distance. Justin was awakened by the call, and tears filled his eyes again. Josh was going to be with Chris alone, no one to watch them. Justin waited until he heard them leave the bus, and with tears still in his eyes, he slowly slid out to the front of the bus. Opening the door a crack, he managed to keep his tears quiet, an listened.
"Yeah, what is it C?" Chris asked as soon as they were outside. Chris put a hand on Josh's shoulder, and Justin flinched in anger and sadness.
"Um, do you know what's up with Justin? I mean, you were the last one with him before he started to cry." Josh asked, waiting for an answer.
"No, I don't. We were having a normal conversation, and then all of a sudden he ran off. I didn't even know he was crying, so I didn't think about following him. I'm sorry, I should have comforted him, and found out what was wrong right away. It's my fault he's so upset now." Chris acted like anger was fighting with in himself, but as Josh put hands on his shoulder to comfort him, he smiled. Before Josh knew what he was doing, Chris had pulled him into a kiss. The kiss was brief, because Josh managed to pull back. All the while, Justin cried, still silently though in the doorway, watching. As soon as Josh and Chris were at standing positions, Josh through Chris to the ground, and just looked at him.
"What the fuck were you thinking? I'm with Justin, I love him." Josh asked in anger, as Chris looked up. Chris caught a pair of eyes in the door way, and smiled. His plan was going to get moderated, but maybe it would work better this way.
"It's okay baby, Justin already knows. He just caught us." Chris said smiling, and Josh turned to see Justin in the door way. Justin looked at him, tears in his eyes. Josh felt his own heart ache. Looking at Chris, he found nothing to say. But he found something to do, and with a quick punch, Chris was no sooner up then he was back on the ground. This time his nose bleeding from the hit.
"We are not fucking involved. And Justin just caught you being an ass." Josh hollered, and turned. Justin was still standing there, tears flowed down his face. Justin could feel pain throughout his whole body. And slowly, he fell to the ground, crying as he held himself. Josh ran to him quickly. Justin wanted to fight to get away from him, but he knew Josh didn't do anything.
But words never left the three. Chris sat watching, waiting, anticipating that he had ruined there relationship. Justin layed crying, still in Josh's arms. While Josh cried as he held him, no words could speak for how sorry Josh was, but he didn't know if anything he did could mean anything to Justin any more.
TBC......
This chapter was pretty big if you ask me. I left it off with a major cliffhanger. Will Justin forgive Josh? Did Chris get what he wanted? Where is everybody else?
I want your opinion for some of those questions, and I will probably end up using some. Chapter 13 probably won't be out until late Sunday, early Monday. I have a few parties to do, so I won't have time to write.