This is part five of 'Love's Faint Echo', a story about lots of stuff that NEVER happened. Okay? NEVER HAPPENED. It's not meant to imply anything about anyone, particularly any members of any boy-bands mentioned. All for fun, folks. And don't be reading it if you're not supposed to, okay? Okay.
PLEASE, let me know what you think of the story, and whether you're enjoying it so far or not. There were a few of you who wrote last time, and it was appreciated. Input is very welcome at:
faint_echo@hotmail.com
Thank you.
FIVE
Shelby was sitting in the living room with one of his new books on his lap, trying to puzzle out a difficult sentence, when the buzzer sounded. He immediately sat forward and placed his bookmark, then put the book back in its place on one of the shelves and grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair.
Closing the apartment door, he thumbed the intercom beside the elevator at the same time he pressed the button for the elevator. "I'm on my way down."
"Okay," Lance's voice returned, making Shelby jump. No one normally used the intercom at the door for anything more than buzzing to be let in. Delivery people didn't seem to feel comfortable doing it, and everyone else that showed up was on business, and there was little talking done.
Shelby started the elevator moving and slipped on his light jacket. It was still warm enough to go without, but he liked the jacket, and he didn't know exactly how late he was going to be out. When the doors opened again, he walked over to the street entrance and pressed the keys on the pad there. Pulling the door open, he found only Lance standing there waiting.
"You ready, or do we have to hang out for a bit?" Lance asked, smiling when he saw Shelby's face.
"Come in for a second, and we'll see," Shelby invited, stepping inside. Lance followed him in, and closed the door behind him. Shelby turned to the intercom and pressed a button on it. "Jackson, I'm leaving now. You need anything before I go, or are you fine until they get here?"
There was a moment of silence from the speaker, and then there were two short buzzes before it fell silent again. Shelby nodded and turned back to the door. "Let's go."
"Doesn't he speak?" Lance asked as Shel unlocked the door again. Automatically-locking doors could be a pain in the ass sometimes.
"He does," Shelby answered, pulling the door open and ushering Lance outside again. "But he knew you were here. Must have seen you when you buzzed."
Lance just gave him an odd look, and then led the way to the limo. The door opened as they reached the car, and Lance climbed in first. As soon as he was inside, he found that they were all smiling at him, and the seat beside his was open. Joey had moved to the other side of the car.
They all said hello when Shelby got in and took his seat at Lance's right, and he returned the greeting. "Did you all get your sleep?" Groans greeted him, making him smile.
"I suppose you lounged around the house all day?" Chris asked.
"Not at all. Just part of the morning. Fridays I let myself sleep in until ten. Normally, I'm up at seven."
"What for? You said yourself that you have most of the day to yourself."
Shelby smiled. "Old habits die hard. I like to be up and moving by eight, so I get up at seven. That gives me an hour to mope around and try to get myself together."
"So what did you do all day?" Lance asked. "Were you in your workshop?"
Shel nodded. "Part of the day I was. I got up and read the papers, as well as the ones from yesterday so that I knew what tonight held in store. Then I was in the workshop for a few hours, and then I went upstairs to work out.
I was just finishing that when you called. After I got off the phone, I took a shower and did a bit of reading."
"That's it?" Justin laughed. "We've been running our asses off all day!"
"That's it," he confirmed. "There was a break in there for a quick lunch. But I ate it in the workshop, so I guess it doesn't really count."
"Wish I had spent the day with you," JC said. "We've been all over the place today, getting things ready for tonight, and signing autographs and stuff."
"You were signing autographs?"
Lance smiled. "Some people are actually impressed by us," he joked. "We had a signing just after lunch, and then it was back to the stage for sound checks."
"So you read the papers, huh?" Joey asked him with a grin. "So you know what you're in for tonight?"
Shelby nodded and smiled at Joey. "Yeah, I took your advice and checked you out. I should thank you for the pass for backstage. There's no way I'd want to be out in that sea of screaming girls."
"Hey! We get our share of screaming boys, too," Chris laughed.
"Of course, they're all screaming for me," Justin said importanly, trying to look serious. "Some of them pretend to like the other guys, but it's just a way for them to get to me."
Shelby saw JC roll his eyes dramatically, making him smile. "I'm sure you've all got your share of screaming fans. Male and female. I'm just glad that I don't have to worry about being in the middle of them. Large crowds aren't something that I do well."
"I can imagine," Lance said. "Spending that much time alone has to make it a little weird to be in a huge group of people."
"More than a little weird," Shelby confirmed. "It was pretty mild before, but now I just can't handle it for long. I have to get out."
"But you walk around, you said. And you were out in the bookstore when we met," Chris pointed out.
"That's different. It's not a huge number of people. If the bookstore had been packed with people, I wouldn't have been there. Thursday mornings are pretty quiet, so that's when I go. And as for walking around, I usually do that at night. I make quick trips out in the day, but not for very long or very far. At night, the streets are less crowded."
"You're like a vampire. Walking at night, wearing black..."JC commented with a smile.
"NSYNC and the Vamps," Lance said under his breath, just loud enough for Shelby to hear him. When he realised that Shel was looking at him, waiting for an explanation, he blushed. "Sorry, just something I heard somewhere."
"Where?"
"On the net somewhere, I think," Lance said, blushing even more. The last thing he wanted was to admit to where in front of the guys.
"Hey!" Justin said suddenly, drawing attention away from Lance's red face. "That's something right there. Why don't we exchange email addresses? That way we can stay in touch when we're on the road."
Everyone thought that was a great idea, until Shelby shook his head. "No good. I don't have a computer."
Chris looked shocked. "You're stuck in that apartment all day and you don't have a computer? How do you live?"
Shelby smiled. "I don't really have much need for a computer, Chris. What would I need one for?"
"Emailing us," Justin smiled. "And playing on the net."
"You could visit all of our fansites."
Shelby raised his eyebrow. "I know you. What do I need fansites for?"
"It's too bad that you don't have one, though," Lance said. "It's a whole lot easier to keep in touch with people."
"Well," Shelby said, looking at them all. "Why don't you give me your email addresses anyway, and I'll see what I can do."
They were silent for a minute, and then JC laughed. "You're going to go out and buy a computer just to email?"
"No, I'm going to give Jackson a call when I get home. He's got a huge setup in his apartment. I'm sure I can talk him into setting me up. He's always telling me that I need to be more in touch. This is his chance to put his money where his mouth is."
"Who is this guy?" Chris asked, laughing. "He's just going to give you a computer because you want one?"
"Jackson likes to keep me happy," Shelby told them. "It's not easy to find someone that he can trust as much as he does me. I'm the only one that he's in real regular personal contact with. I doubt it'll be much of a problem. He's probably got a few extras stored up there, anyway."
Lance opened the backpack that was at his feet and pulled out a notepad and a pen. He bent over it and started writing out addresses. "You sure you're going to be able to figure things out? I mean, there's a bit more to the whole thing than turning on the computer."
"I'll be fine. We've got people who take care of stuff like that. Tech support."
"We?"
"Sorry, it's sometimes easy to forget that I'm just a lackey. I'm the one that lets the support people into the building and escorts them to the apartment. I'm usually the one that deals with them entirely. Jackson normally hides in his bedroom while they're there."
"You really should get online. World at your fingertips," Joey told him.
Lance finished writing and handed Shelby the piece of paper with five addresses written on them. "Those are our personal accounts, not the band ones. That way we'll be sure to get them, and we can answer right away. Otherwise, it might take a while to get to us."
"I'll talk to Jackson tomorrow," Shelby promised as the car pulled up to the curb.
"Dinner! I'm starving," JC said, leaning over and opening the door. He waved to Shelby, telling him to get out first, and then they climbed out as well. The limo pulled away as soon as the door was closed again, and the guys walked to the door of the restaurant. Obviously being recognized, they were immediately seated, and were provided with a very attentive waiter.
Dinner conversation was wide and varied, but almost universally came back to the show that they were going to be doing that night. Shelby could see that they were psyching themselves up for it, and it was an interesting thing to watch.
JC's eyes darted around the table and the restaurant, as thought he was full of energy and only his eyes were showing it. Chris and Joey were tightly controlled as well, though their energy was evident in their voices rather than their eyes. Everything they said was a little faster than normal, and tended to be related in short, quick words. Justin was actually bobbing up and down in his seat by the time the meal was finished, and Lance was getting fidgety beside him.
JC grabbed the check when it came, and handed the waiter a credit card. They waited for it to come back, and then stood up while Lance pulled a phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons. When he started to speak, Shelby understood that he was calling the driver to have him bring the limo back around.
Once they were back on the road, there was little conversation at all. Shelby knew that they were getting into the mindset to perform, and he let it happen. It was similar to the way he carved. Once he was in the zone, it was like he couldn't make a mistake if he tried. The problem was getting into the zone sometimes. He wasn't going to interrupt Lance and the rest as they were trying to find it.
=============
The concert was even crazier than Shelby had anticipated. Even from backstage, he was intimidated by the sheer number of people in the audience, and the hectic pace of the movement around him, as people rushed everywhere to make sure that the show went smoothly. He found a little niche off-stage and stayed there, trying to keep his eyes on his new friends and not on the screaming fans.
By the time the show was over, Shelby was very much on edge. The eruption of screams as they came offstage, even louder than they had been all night, was more than enough to make him want to get out of there. "So do you just go now?" he asked as they filed past him, trying to keep his voice even.
"Not for a while yet," JC answered. "We've got to meet with some contest winners now."
Shelby took a deep breath and nodded, following along with them to a sort of conference room. He was directed to stand off to the side while the guys each took a seat at the tables set up. As soon as the fans were let into the room, jostling each other and trying hard not to scream too loudly, Shelby knew it wasn't going to work. Opening the door they had just come through, he slipped out into the hall again.
Joey saw him go and nudged Lance, who was sitting beside him. "Go check on Shelby. He just took off."
Lance looked to the doorway and then back at Joey. "What?"
"Shelby just left, go find him."
"You think the crowd got to him?"
"Probably. He said he's not good with them, and he's had more than enough exposure to one tonight. He's probably looking for a quiet area. Why don't you take him to the dressing room?"
Nodding, Lance got up from the table, excusing himself for a moment. The fans didn't like it much, but Joey talked with them for a minute and had them smiling again. Lance stepped down off of the little elevated platform the tables were on, and opened the door, a security guard falling into line behind him. He rolled his eyes and started down the hall.
He found Shelby standing at the end of a quiet hall, getting a drink out of the water cooler there. "Hey," he said, smiling. "You alright?"
Shelby nodded and took another drink. "I am now."
"The crowd?"
"Yeah."
"Dan?" Lance said, looking behind him. The security guy who had been with him stepped forward immediately. "Can you take Shelby back to the dressing room and make sure he gets in?"
"Mr. Bass..."
"Dan, I'm going right back to the conference room. Don't worry about me." Lance dismissed the matter and turned back to Shelby. "It's quiet in there, and no one will bother you until we get back."
"Thanks," Shelby said, relieved.
"No problem," Lance smiled. "We'll likely be a while, so you might have to entertain yourself for a bit."
"That's not a big deal at all," Shelby assured him. "As long as I'm not surrounded by people, I'll be good."
"Good. Dan? I'll see you back at the conference room."
"Yessir, Mr. Bass," Dan answered, then motioned Shelby down the hall toward the dressing room. Lance watched the two of them until they turned the corner, then he walked back to the conference room and took his seat again.
"You find him?"
Lance nodded to Joey. "Dan's taking him back to the dressing room."
"Was he totally freaking?" Joey asked, shaking hands with the girl in front of him, then signing the CD she put on the table.
"I think so, but he didn't say much more than that it was getting to him. He looked strange, though."
Joey passed the CD to Lance and smiled. "I'm sure he'll be fine once he's out of the middle of things."
"I hope so." Lance signed the CD, shook the hand, smiled, and moved on to the next person, already wondering how long this was going to take.
When they were finally finished, the five of them stood up and said goodnight to the people in the room, then turned and were ushered out the door. As soon as they were in the hall, Chris grabbed Lance's arm. "Where'd you go?"
"To find Shel. The crowd was getting to him, and he took off. I had someone take him to the dressing room to wait for us so he wasn't freaked out too bad."
The security guy opened the dressing room door for them, and they filed inside to change and shower. They stopped just inside the door, though. Shelby was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, having shifted some furniture around to make room. His hands were resting on his knees, and his eyes were closed.
"Shel?" Lance said, not knowing if he were asleep or not.
Shelby's eyes popped open and he shifted on the floor. "Sorry," he said, then leaned forward and stood without using his hands. Uncrossing his legs once he was on his feet, he stepped back a little. "I was just..."
"Meditating," Justin smiled. "I've always wanted to learn how to do that."
"There's not much to learning, though you might have some difficulty with it."
"You calling me stupid?"
Shelby smiled and shook his head. "Not at all. Just that it involves clearing your head, and judging from what I've seen tonight, you might have too much in there to clear."
"Trust me," Chris laughed. "Justin's got lots of empty space left."
"Hey!"
"Come on, come on," Lance laughed. "Let's just all get changed and we can get Shel out of here before he goes insane."
"I'm fine," Shelby said, smiling at the concern. "Don't rush on my account."
"It's no problem," Joey stepped in. "We can shower at the hotel."
"Ugh, the hotel," Chris said sourly. "I'm so sick of hotels. When do we get to be home for a few days, so I can sleep in my own bed?"
"Not for another month or so," Lance said with a smile. "So suck it up."
"Well, I can't promise you your own bed, but you could all stay at the apartment, if you wanted. There's an entire floor there that no one ever uses."
"We couldn't do that," JC said, shaking his head. "That's your place."
"It's really not a problem, JC," Shelby insisted. "There's four beds on the floor, so two of you would likely have to share, or one on a couch. And there are two showers on that floor, two on mine, and one on the fourth, so you can all get cleaned up."
"You're sure it's okay?" Justin asked.
"With Jackson?"
"Yeah."
"I'm sure. As long as you guys promise not to step foot on the fifth or sixth floors, you'll be my guests. He won't care."
"Well, if you're sure," Lance said, smiling. "I'm in. Anything to be out of the hotel for a night."
Everyone voiced their approval of the plan, then quickly changed. Lance called their management and told them that they wouldn't be staying at the hotel, giving them Shelby's number in case they needed to get ahold of him or one of the others. He actually laughed when they asked him if he needed a security guard to stay with them, and assured them that it wouldn't be necessary. Once that was taken care of, they stepped back out into the hall and found Dan waiting to escort them to the limo.
Lance held back for a moment, and grabbed Dan by the arm. "Look, Dan, can you get enough people to make sure that we can get to the limo without being crowded too much? My friend's kinda wary of big groups of people."
"I'll see what I can do, Mr. Bass," Dan promised, then took off down the hall, pushing past the others and talking to a couple of other security people.
By the time they got to the exit, Dan had organised the security personel and they were holding back the fans hanging out at the back door of the venue as well as they could. Without being rude, the guys all made their way to the limo as quickly as possible, and headed back to the apartment after making a quick stop to pick up some extra clothes for the next day.
"You're sure that this is okay?" Lance asked once last time while Shelby unlocked the door. "We don't want to put you out any."
"You're not," Shelby assured him with a smile. "I don't go onto the third floor very often anyway. Only to dust every couple of weeks, really. Like I said before, I don't have people over, so that entire floor is empty. I try to keep it from feeling too unused, though. Gives me something to do. I go around and change the bedding and open windows to air it out and all of that."
"Anything's better than another hotel room," Chris assured him, everyone agreeing whole-heartedly.
"Then you're welcome any time," Shelby assured them. "Like I said, the only rule that you have to follow is that you don't step foot on the fifth and sixth floors. Jackson'd have my ass in a sling for that."
"We'll stay away from them," Lance promised.
"Okay, then." Shelby pressed the button for the elevator, and they all stepped inside. He took them to the third floor so that they could claim rooms before showering. Once they were there, they all dropped their things into rooms seemingly at random. Each of the rooms was essentially the same, so there was no reason to fight over them. There was a moment where it was a little bit awkward when Lance announced that he was sharing a room with Joey.
Shelby hadn't been assuming anything, but he had found himself hoping that maybe something would happen with Lance that night. But, Lance was obviously not ready for that, so he contented himself to wait. His friendship with the group was solidifying with every moment, and he had no doubt that there would be other opportunities to spend time with them. With Lance.
With the rooms claimed, they started calling showers. JC and Justin both beat the others to the showers that were on the third floor, and Chris announced that he would use the one on the fourth floor, which left Lance and Joey to use the two in Shelby's private apartment. JC and Justin grabbed a change of clothes and disappeared as Shel led the others to the elevator. After dropping Chris on the floor above, they descended again and entered Shel's apartment. Naturally, Joey made sure to claim the bathroom that was not attached to Shelby's bedroom, smiling at Lance as he left the room.
"I can just wait until he's done," Lance said shyly, not wanting to intrude upon Shelby's personal space too much.
"No, please, go ahead. There's towels in the little closet beside the shower."
"You're sure?"
"I won't offer if I'm not sure," Shel told him, arching his eyebrow. "Why do you guys always assume that I'm not sure about things?"
Lance smiled as he stood up. "It's nothing personal, Shel. It's just that you're a pretty private person, and we don't want to intrude. I know that a lot of that privacy is a result of the job, but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of it is self-imposed, too. We don't want to cross the line."
"Lance... should I call you Scoop? I have to tell you, I prefer Lance."
"Lance is good. I think I'd like you to stick to Lance."
"Okay, Lance. You haven't known me very long, or you'd know this one thing about me. I'm blunt. I don't much believe in pretense. It just gets in the way of what you're trying to say. So, if I say it, I mean it, and it's the truth as I see it. Beating around the bush annoys me. So, when I say that I'm okay with you staying here, and using the shower, I'm okay with you staying here and using the shower. If I wasn't, you'd know."
Lance watched as a small smile appeared on Shelby's face, and was surprised to realise that he had only seen Shel smile in the short time that they had known each other. Even with all of the joking that they had done with the guys the night before, Shelby hadn't laughed. He found himself wondering if Shelby even could laugh, and how it would sound if he did. He thought it might sound out of place with Shel's demeanour, and he couldn't think of any other person he knew where that would be the case. What kind of personality led to a laugh seeming out of place?
"Lance?"
Realising that he had been staring and that Shelby was still waiting for a response, he blushed and chuckled. "Sorry. Okay, I won't ask again if you're sure about something, as long as you won't offer something you don't want to offer."
Shelby let that hang in the air for a moment, thinking of what it might mean, and then nodded. "If I offer, the offer's good. You can count on that."
Nodding his head, Lance took a step toward the hall leading to Shelby's bedroom. "I will, I think. I'll see you in a minute?"
"Take all the time you need," Shel responded, turning on a lamp by the couch in the reading area of the room. He moved to the doorway and dimmed the lights, leaving the couch in a circle of bright light. "I'll be right here."
=================
Justin was the first finished with his shower. He changed into the pair of sweatpants and tshirt that he had brought to relax in, then searched the rest of the rooms on the floor to see if anyone else was still around. Passing the other bathroom on the floor, he heard the shower still running and knew that JC was occupied still. Not seeing any sign of anyone else, he got into the elevator and headed down to Shel's apartment.
The double doors were open, inviting them in rather than making them knock. Justin did so anyway, standing in the doorway of the dimly lit room and looking over to Shelby, who was bent over a book, his finger running over the words as he read. It was something that Justin hadn't seen since he had been learning to read, and he smiled when Shelby looked up. "Okay to come in?"
"Sure."
Justin stepped into the room and took a seat next to Shelby on the small couch. He silently promised himself that he'd move and give the seat to Lance when he showed up. Shelby closed the book after replacing the bookmark and then set it on his lap.
"You feel better?"
Justin nodded as he smiled. "Lots better. Thanks for offering to let us stay here. It feels a lot more homey."
"No problem. It's kind of strange for me, knowing that there are other people here, but it's a good kind of strange. This place can seem really empty sometimes."
"I can imagine." Justin tapped the cover of the book on Shelby's lap. "What are you reading?"
Shel handed the book to Justin and smiled as he tried to puzzle out the writing on the cover. "Literally translated, that says 'The Day of No Light', but the book's really called 'The Darkest Day'. The translation doesn't always capture everything. I've read the English translation of it, but it felt wrong. I'm enjoying that one a lot better."
Flipping through the book, Justin noted that the bookmark was about a third of the way through the book. "Must take a long time to read, doesn't it?"
Shelby shrugged. "That's one of the ones that I bought yesterday, when I ran into Lance and Chris. It's hard to get into, but once you get used to reading in another language, it goes faster."
"How many languages do you know?"
"That depends, I guess. I speak only English fluently. A few words here and there in a bunch of different languages. I don't have much call to speak them, so that part of my learning is seriously stunted. I can read and write in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, and now Arabic, though that one's still being developed."
"Where did you learn all of that?"
Shelby smiled and indicated the shelves lining the walls. "Taught myself, for the most part. I've got a set of dictionaries in the different languages, and then I just forced myself to read books in their original languages and decipher them. You'd be surprised by how quickly you learn them, if you've got the time to do it. Sort of like learning French by dropping yourself on a street in Paris and having to learn it to survive. They say you can pick it up in under two weeks if you're totally surrounded by it."
"So you know..." he counted them through in his head, ticking them off on his fingers, "seven languages?"
Seeing Justin's movements reminded Shelby of something else. "I know sign language, too," he smiled. "Though that one's pretty much totally useless to me, since I never interact with any deaf people, but it's interesting."
Justin laughed and looked through the book again, before handing it back to Shelby. "So what's the next one?"
"I'm thinking about maybe one of the Scandinavian languages. Maybe Swedish.
But, I might try a native American language, too. I'll decide when I've got Arabic down."
Lance came walking out of the hallway and smiled at the two of them. "What are you two talking about?"
"Shelby was telling me about the different languages he knows," Justin supplied. "He'd be handy on a world tour."
Lance laughed and sat on the arm of a chair. "I guess he would be. Though I don't know how often we'd need someone who knows Arabic."
"Not just Arabic, Scoop. He's got most of the big European languages down, too."
Lance arched his brow and looked impressed. "Something tells me that you wouldn't want to be hanging out with us at the concerts on a regular basis though, huh?"
Shelby shook his head immediately. "I don't think so. I'll be content to be right here, thanks. But I'll read the entertainment section of the paper from now on, so I know what's going on with you. All of you, I mean."
Lance smiled. "You won't need to, if you can convince the boss-man to get you online. We'll be able to tell you what's going on with us."
"Just be prepared for a whole lot of emails saying the same thing: We're tired and homesick," Joey laughed, entering the room. "I left the towel hanging up, Shelby. Hope that's okay."
"That's fine," Shelby assured him. "What'd you do with yours, Lance?"
"It's hanging up, too. I didn't know what to do with it." He stood up and indicated the pile of clothes in his arms. "I'll throw these upstairs and then come back down, I guess."
Joey agreed with that, and the two of them walked out to get the elevator. Shelby leaned forward and dropped the book to the coffee table in front of him and Justin, then turned to his companion. "Do you want anything? A drink or something? We can order some food, if you like. I'm afraid that, aside from some fruit, and a lot of juice, I don't really keep much in the kitchen."
"I'll have an apple, if you have one."
Smiling, Shelby got up and started for the kitchen. "I have some. Nothing to drink?"
"Nope, I'm good."
By the time Shelby got back with the apple and a glass of juice for himself, the rest of the group was coming back into the apartment. "Do you guys want anything? I've got juice and fresh fruit. Aside from that, we're ordering in." He handed Justin the apple that he had asked for and looked around to find the rest of them shaking their heads, indicating that they didn't want anything. Seeing that, he sat back down on the couch. He noticed that Justin had moved to one of the chairs while he had been out of the room.
Everyone else claimed seats as well, leaving the empty space on the couch for Lance. Neither Lance nor Shelby failed to notice, but neither of them said anything about it.
"So," Chris said, looking at their host. "The crowd got to you tonight, huh?"
Shelby nodded and pulled one leg up under himself. "I don't know how you can do that night after night. I've never been good in crowds, even when I was little, but it's gotten worse since I started here. I can't imagine being out on stage with them all looking at you like that."
"It's a little much, sometimes," JC conceded. "You get used to it to a degree, but I don't think you ever get completely used to thousands of people screaming at you. And sometimes it seems like they never go away, too. They're at the hotels, and at the concerts, and outside the concerts. Sometimes they're at our houses when we finally do get a break."
"Well, it's a safe bet that they won't find us tonight," Joey laughed. "This place doesn't even look like it would be a residence, let alone a hideout for a pop group."
Shelby smiled at that. Joey was right, the building didn't look like much from the outside. That side of the building had been left without adornment. It was basically a solid brick wall with no windows. The first floor was entirely without windows, with the only way to the outside being the street entrance and the venthilation system that had been put in in his workshop to deal with the fumes and dust.
The building to one side of Jackson's was only two stories high, and the one on the other was a single story, so the upper floors could have windows on three of the four sides, leaving them practically bathed in light. Shelby's floor had been designed so that the most used rooms had the light, and the rest were dependent on lamps and interior lighting. From the outside, the building looked out of place, yet unobstrusive. It was the type of place that your eye slipped over. If anything seemed strange, it wasn't strange enough to be worth a second look.
"I don't think they'll find you, no," Shelby finally said. "Unless your driver or someone you deal with told them, they'd have no way of knowing. And even if they did, there's no way they'd be getting in. Trust me on that one. Jackson's got an eye for security."
"Plus, we've got a big brute like you as a bodyguard," Justin laughed.
Shel smiled. "Yeah, you've got that, too."
===============
"What's on your mind?" Joey asked, seeing Lance was thinking about something. They were back in the room that they were going to share, getting ready for bed after having left Shel's apartment with the rest of the guys.
"Like you need to ask."
Joey laughed and pulled the covers of the bed down. "I don't know if I want to be sharing a bed with you if you're going to be dreaming about a guy. Who knows what I could wake up to find you doing to me."
Lance smiled as he got under the blankets and put his hands behind his head.
"Ugly bastard like you doesn't have to worry."
"So what is it about him that you're thinking about? Be specific, my boy," Joey turned out the light, walked back to the bed, and got in.
"He's weird."
"Just your type."
Lance elbowed Joey as they laughed. "I mean, he's so open in most ways. We were talking tonight, after you went in to take your shower, and he was saying that he's very straight-forward. If he says it, he means it. That sort of thing."
"That is weird, I guess. Most people aren't that honest about stuff. But it's a good thing."
"Yeah, it is. But it makes me wonder."
"About...?"
"About what it is that he isn't saying." Lance rolled over on his side to look at Joey. "He's open to a fault, but only to a certain point. Then there's like this door that slams shut. There's no grey area to it. Just stuff that he's blunt about, and stuff that he doesn't talk about."
"Like this job. He's been really vague about exactly what he does."
"Exactly. He'll talk about it, and tell us some of what is his job, but not the whole picture. If he's open and honest about stuff, it makes me wonder just what it is that he's not saying."
"I don't know, James." Lance paid attention, since Joey only ever called him James when he was being completely serious. "I mean, maybe it's part of the job. Maybe this Davis guy is so paranoid that Shelby's not allowed to tell us exactly what his job is."
"Maybe..."
"Or, maybe that's just part of his personality. He spent quite a bit of time alone on the streets, and that's got to give you a strange way of dealing with things. Maybe he just learned to close off certain things that are too personal. He obviously doesn't have friends, since he never has people over and can't go out, so he's not used to dealing with people on a close basis. He could just be feeling his way through it all."
"So you think that, eventually, he'll open up?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. That's a question for Shelby, I guess. You really are getting into him, aren't you?"
Lance dropped back down to the mattress. "I am, yeah. He seems so together, but when you look closer, you can see he's not. Like tonight at the concert. Normally, he seems so calm and sure of himself, you know?"
"I've noticed."
"Even the way he walks. Like there's no hurry to get where he's going, and he knows he'll make it."
"Wow, you've really been thinking about this."
"I guess. But then, tonight at the concert when I went to find him, he was rattled. He was more rattled than he's letting on now, even. And he looked so relieved when I had Dan take him to the dressing room."
"I can imagine that he was."
Lance sighed and put his hands behind his head again. "This is going to sound weird, but it was nice to see him like that."
"Sadist."
They both laughed for a moment, before Lance continued. "Not that I wish for him to feel like that, but it was nice to see that he can lose that calm, you know? And you want to know something?"
"That's why I'm here. Not to sleep, but to listen to you gush about guys."
Kicking him under the covers, Lance smiled at his own foolishness. "I felt good being able to help him. It was nice that he kinda needed me."
"Awww."
"Shut up, idjit. But he was scared, and I helped him. I liked that."
"I'm not surprised. You like to be needed; you always have. And to be needed by someone that you'd like to jump is probaby even better."
"I do find him attractive, but it's beyond that. I want to help him come around, if I can. To be more comfortable with people, and to open up a bit.
It's not natural the way he is."
"Don't be judging what's natural and what's not, Lance. It might just be the way he is, and you've got to accept that if it is. There may only be so far that you could ever get into his head. Some people are just like that."
"Okay, it might be natural, but I still want to try. He was actually scared tonight, Joey. That proves that there's more to him than he's shown us so far, and that he appears to show to everyone else. He seems to walk around like 99% of what goes on around him doesn't interest him at all."
"It probably doesn't, since it doesn't affect him being stuck in the apartment all day. But, if it helps, I'd place money that you're in the 1% that does interest him. So, you'll likely get your chance to help bring him out of whatever shell he's got around him. If you make a move, and if he wants to be brought around."
"Maybe I will."
"You will. Now you've just got to figure out when."
TBC...
PLEASE send any comments to faint_echo@hotmail.com
Thanks.