'N SYNC: LANCE 'N' JC CHAPTER 25
Usual disclaimer applies: This is a work of fiction. It is not meant to imply anything about the orientation, beliefs or anything else about the real members of 'N Sync, or anyone else depicted here. If you are under legal age, or are offended by graphic depictions of homosexual relationships, please go find something else to read.
As regular readers know, the members of 98 Degrees made a cameo appearance a couple of chapters back. I have started a story centering on them called '98 Degrees - The Hardest Thing' which at least for now overlaps this story.
I love getting email, please let me know what you think about the story! lictor (at) aol (dot) com
Story content copyright 2000 T. Kevin.
While the guys rehearsed and did sound checks Terry uploaded and tested the main site pages. He was trying to achieve a balance between worthwhile content and snappy bells and whistles; hopefully he succeeded. He also started writing the on-line diary, 'On the road with 'N Sync,' introducing himself and placing a (tiny) picture next to the first entry.
'March 3, 1999
'Hi everyone, my name is Terry and I'm going to be writing a little commentary here at the web site about what it's like to be on the road with the guys of 'N Sync. You'll get up close and personal with all the guys, learn all their bad habits, and in general get to know them a little better. If you have comments about what you see here or anything about the web page, please email me! terry@nsync.com.
'We left Orlando early this morning and now we're in Jacksonville getting ready for the first performance of the tour. Using the links below, you can check out some pictures and quicktime movies of rehearsals and the kickoff barbecue that 'N Sync's record label threw the other night...'
To Lance's increasing annoyance, Bobbi managed to hang around most of the afternoon. JC pretty much ignored her, but Joey and Steve fell completely for her charms -- or at least her cleavage. She chatted away during the meal, while they were in makeup, during a photoshoot, and even tried to get into their dressing room.
"I'm sorry, but you can't come in here." Lance blocked her path when she tried to follow them in. Behind him, Joey put on a CD: Jordan Knight's new album.
"Why not?" Bobbi stepped closer but Lance didn't budge. "You guys aren't going to change for awhile are you? The concert isn't for hours, and you have a fan meet first, right?
"This room is for us; no one else."
"I'm sure Joey wouldn't mind, and his brother is in there too..."
Fortunately Joey didn't notice, as he was defending his music choice to his brother.
"I mind!" Lance snapped, then was angry at himself for losing his temper. He lowered his voice and added "And don't think I don't know what you're up to. You're not interested in Joey or Steve."
"I don't know what you're talking about. And why should you care anyway; you have a girlfriend..." Then a smile slowly spread across Bobbi's face, an expression that Lance found very disconcerting. "You're jealous.."
"I have no need to be jealous." Lance gave her his best innocent smile.
"Then why can't I come in?"
"Because it's not appropriate. Don't make me have security remove you from the venue."
Bobbi's eyes narrowed for a moment, then she tossed her head. "Fine. I'll go hang out with Dani. But I'm warning you, I always get what I want."
Lance bit back a retort and closed the door in her face. He took a deep breath and tried to remind himself he was a Christian boy and it was not right to wish that Bobbi would get a terminal case of acne.
"What was that all about?" Joey called from the foosball table, where Steve was kicking his butt. Chris was cheering him on.
"Nothing important." Lance got a Coke from the cooler and sat next to JC, who was reading a novel in the corner. "Can we talk?" He asked softly.
"About what?" JC didn't look up.
"Stuff."
"Is it about that girl, Bobbi?"
"Partly, I guess. Do you like her?"
JC furrowed his brows and closed the book before looking at Lance. "She's okay I guess. She's a friend of Dani's."
"She's kind of pushy." Lance looked at the floor, and didn't see the expression of surprise on Josh's face.
"Don't be jealous!" He said after a moment, one corner of his mouth twitching towards a smile. Lance was jealous. It was sweet of him.
"I'm not! Well, maybe I am. Josh, I'm confused."
"So am I." JC sighed.
"Your parents really upset you didn't they?"
JC leaned forward and put his head in his hands. "Yes." He whispered after a long pause. "I keep hearing my mother's voice, so much hatred."
"Josh please, don't punish yourself over this." Lance put his arm around JC, and Josh flinched. Lance pulled away. "I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry. It's not you, really. I just don't know what to do, what's right and what's wrong." JC sighed. "Aren't you worried about what your parents will say?"
"Yes, of course." Lance admitted, though his mind was on JC's actions. He wrung his hands. 'Josh doesn't want me to touch him... how can this be happening?'
"Should we... should we be worried about our souls?" JC finally whispered. "Are we doing something God hates?"
"I don't know, JC, I just can't believe it... I won't." Lance fretted.
They sat in silence for awhile, oblivious to Chris, Joey and Steve whooping and hollering at the foosball table. Chris was now playing against Steve while Joey watched.
"Do you like Danielle?" JC asked Lance suddenly.
"Danielle Fishel? I guess. She's turned out to be nicer than I expected. Why?"
"Do you think you could learn to like her... that way?"
Lance looked at him in horror. "What are you saying? That we should try to go straight?! Just change the way we are? You think that's even possible!?" It was Lance's turn to pull away.
"My mother said that there were places where they could turn you straight..." JC looked down at his hands.
Lance took a deep breath. He fought back the tears of frustration and pain he felt burning in his eyes. It took him a moment before he thought he could speak without his voice breaking. "JC, I've read about those places, all run by very conservative religious groups. They use all kinds of cruel psychological tricks, even physical pain in some kind of 'aversion therapy'. They basically try to brainwash you into believing you are straight. It's barbaric! And it's never been proven to actually work."
"Josh...listen to me." Lance continued when he had caught his breath again. He grabbed JC's hand and pulled it to him. "There is an incredibly high suicide rate for guys who come out of those programs. They make you hate what you are, and then when you realize you can't be what they want you to be, you can't live with yourself. We have to accept who we are. And if our parents accept it, great. If they don't, well, we have to deal with it as best as we can. We have to make our own peace with God."
Lance was reassured when he felt JC squeeze his hand. "You're right. It's just... it was a shock, how bad they reacted."
"I understand. And if you need time, I understand that too. But please don't close me out."
"Okay." JC smiled a little. "Thanks for being patient with me, man."
"As long as it takes. I'm not going anywhere."
JC pulled him into a hug and held Lance tight, but for some reason he wasn't comfortable kissing him again... not yet.
Lance felt it, and smiled sadly. Deep inside he wondered how badly Josh's parents had damaged him with just a few words. He wished there was someone they could go to, someone they trusted who wouldn't be judgmental.
Across the room, Joey saw the two deep and conversation and frowned. He had an idea what was going on between them and wished he could do something... but knew that they had to work it out themselves. 'I just hope this doesn't put any more strain on the group,' he thought to himself. 'And I gotta remember to ask Chris about Bobbi. She's a flirt -- nothin' wrong with that -- but I got a feeling she has her eye on JC, and that could make things more complicated. Sheesh, when did I become the den mother?!' Joey shook his head.
"I can't believe you don't play basketball!" Justin exclaimed as he and Terry burst into the room, followed closely by Lonnie.
Terry shrugged. "Sorry man, I wasn't into sports in high school."
Joey, Chris and Steve looked up.
"Typical fag -- can't play sports." Steve muttered. Joey shot him a dirty look; no one else seemed to hear.
Chris scored a goal while Steve was distracted. "Whoooo!!!!"
Meanwhile, Justin stared at Terry, his eyes were wide as saucers. "What DID you do?"
"Uh, geeky stuff I guess." Terry shrugged and slumped on a couch.
"Like what?" Justin sat right next him and bumped shoulders playfully. "Were yah in the chess club or somethin'?"
Lonnie sat by the door, folded his arms and sat back. His gaze never left Justin.
Lance noticed how the bodyguard watched Justin with Terry. 'Does he know about them yet -- or us?' Lance wondered. 'Assuming there still is an 'us'.'
Terry sighed. "Almost as bad. I was in the band."
"'One time, at band camp...!'" Justin burst into giggles and squirmed on his little butt. "Just tell me you didn't play the flute!"
Terry looked confused.
"Don't sweat it, man." Joey said, walking over to join them, "I guess you haven't seen 'American Pie'.
Terry raised his eyebrows. "Oh, the one with the guy and the apple pie."
"Yep."
Justin looked thoughtful. "Seems like an awfully messy way to, you know..."
"Some things are more fun messy!" Joey leered. "Typical of you to want everything neat and clean."
But Justin didn't hear him; Terry was whispering something in his ear.
"Hey Curly," Joey said when Terry got up to get a drink, "It's pretty fun to watch you turn red right before my eyes.
"No way." Justin whined, putting his hands to his cheeks.
"It's not hard to imagine what Terry just said to you, either..." Joey whispered, leaning over. "My money says it has something to do with you, him, and a certain dessert."
A guilty smile spread across the blond singer's face. "Hey Terry!" He called across the room. "I think I saw some apple pie back at the cafeteria! Wanna go see if there is any left?"
Terry spun around, his eyes wide. Joey and Justin both burst out laughing as his face flushed crimson.
There was a knock on the door a moment later; and a familiar female voice yelled "Everybody decent?"
She was answered by a variety of smart remarks as Lonnie cracked the door, then opened it wide. Melinda blew in with her ever-present clipboard. She turned down Jordan Knight on the boombox, then addressed them. "Okay guys, I know things have been kind of up in the air over the MTV Spring Break stuff but we finally have that settled. You leave first thing tomorrow for Mexico; your flight is at 7:30 AM from Atlanta; we're driving up there tonight." She bravely continued over the chorus of moans and groans, "And you'll fly back up the next night, the 5th, to Charlotte, where the bus will pick you up and take you to Chapel Hill, to make your date on the 6th in the Dean Smith Center.
"Woohoo! Go Tarheels!" Hollered Justin, pumping his fists in the air.
"So we have 2 days and one night in Cancun." Lance clarified.
"Basically." Melinda agreed. "And it's just the five of you. MTV says they will provide everything for you in Cancun, including security. You and 98 Degrees."
Justin scowled. "Just the five of us? No support staff?" He glanced at Terry, who sat very still. Lonnie looked sad.
"That's it. And TransCon wasn't keen on paying last-minute airfares for anyone else. It's just one day basically, and you do 2 songs for their Fashionably Loud show."
"I think we should bring our web guy to document it." Justin's argument was pretty transparent to everyone in the know, and a little strange to those who weren't. In the ensuing silence, Steve looked disgusted, Lonnie furrowed his brows, and Melinda looked at Lance.
"It's cool, Justin." Terry broke the uncomfortable silence. "How about if you record a little report from there and we can add it to the site -- the fans would love a first person account from you."
But Justin only looked annoyed, then leaned close to Terry -- seemingly oblivious to Melinda and Lonnie -- and whispered loudly "I wanted to be with you in Cancun!"
As if on cue, the other members of 'N Sync staged diversions. Joey cleared his throat loudly; JC jumped to his feet and started doing stretches. Chris turned the music back up. Lance stood next to Melinda and took the clipboard from her hand in an effort to distract her.
"You want to tell me what that was all about?" Melinda asked Lance, prodding him with her elbow.
"Not really." Lance gave her his very best charming smile.
The meet-and-greet had gone smoothly enough, though Terry had indeed noticed how Justin would distance himself from the fans. Joey happily gave out hugs, Lance was friendly and polite, Chris was chatting away with every girl. JC seemed merely shy. Justin, however, would visibly cringe if a girl lunged over the table at him (a frequent occurrence). He would passively allow her a quick hug before Lonnie stepped up (from his usual spot right behind Justin) and gently but firmly pulled her away. Justin's smiles were forced-looking and usually he wore a blank expression. The whole thing kind of creeped Terry out. It was the 'other' Justin in full force, and the tour was just beginning.
An hour later the five members of 'N Sync were in their costumes. Terry was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans. He had made a point of not looking at Lance while they were all changing, and he caught Justin's eye and a little smirk. The tall blond sauntered over to him after tying his shoes. "Aren't we the strapped hottie in out tight little t-shirt, showing off our pecs." Justin winked, apparently back to his old self after the Meet-and- Greet. "Trying to distract the teenies from mahself?"
Terry looked down at himself in embarrassment. "I, uh, I was wearing black so I wouldn't stand out when I was in the pit filming. Should I wear something else?
"Nah, man, I'm just messin' wit yah." Justin pulled him in a quick hug, then as they parted copped a feel of Terry's chest. The designer could feel himself twitching down below just from that momentary caress.
"C'mon, you can watch the 'ritual'." Justin grinned.
The others were waiting by the door. They all nodded solemnly to each other before filing out. Lonnie and two other bodyguards -- Wes and Randy -- were standing just outside, talking amongst themselves and into walkie-talkies. When the guys emerged, they all went to the enclosed (and now-deserted) meet-and-greet area. Terry hung back by the fence.
Each member hugged every other, sometimes with a whispered word in an ear. Terry thought he saw Lance hold on to JC a moment longer than the others. Then they formed a tight circle, took each others' hands and bowed their heads. Terry felt very uncomfortable, like a spy or intruder, as he watched the members of 'N Sync pray together. It was one of those rare moments when he envied those with strong religious beliefs. He felt a little deprived, not having something like that to believe in. On the other hand, he thought that belief in anything supernatural was terribly naive. And wasn't it JC's parents' religious beliefs that were really what was behind the problems between Lance and JC right now? Religion could be a comfort, but all too often it was also a weapon and a tool for the closed-minded and intolerant...
"Amen!" They all said in unison and stepped back.
"Hackey!" Chris shouted, producing the little cloth ball. The mood abruptly changed from solemn to lighthearted.
Terry had to work very hard to keep from laughing at the spectacle of 'N Sync trying to play hackeysack. Poor Lance and Joey simply were not as coordinated as the others. Justin was the most agile, JC not far behind in skill, though not quite as 'smooth.' Chris was at least competent, but Joey just seemed like a big spaz. And Lance, not the picture of ballet-dancer grace on a good day, seemed distracted. Terry could guess why. He wished he could do something to help Lance and JC, but this was between them -- or a group issue at most -- and he decided the best thing to do would be to stay out of it.
But even Lance got into the game after a few minutes of Joey's antics. On one level they took this superstition very seriously, but on another level they didn't seem too intent on getting the ball around as quickly as possible. More than one time Joey or Chris sabotaged it by pushing one of the others while they were trying to flip the ball.
Finally, however, everyone got a hit, and with a chorus of whoops, they trotted towards the stage door. Justin winked at Terry, then he was out of sight down the shadowed corridor, obscured by Lonnie's bulk.
Terry took his position in the camera pit, along with Steve and another video cameraman and a couple of still photographers. The video guys' job was to get good shots what would be projected live on a huge monitor at the back of the stage for the benefit of those who didn't have close seats. Terry wanted to get some good digital shots for the web site. He'd also never seen an 'N Sync show live, so he was understandably excited... and a little nervous.
The opening sequence, involving the guys in baggy space suits, was kind of bizarre; Justin had explained that it was the idea of a friend of theirs. Terry made a mental note that he would have to come up with something much more high-tech for the second leg of the tour. As the show progressed he was amazed at the energy level they managed to maintain. There were a few minor screw-ups, but Terry doubted anyone would notice unless they knew how it was supposed to go.
Also not lost on Terry was Lance's introduction to "GMHS." He did it the way he wanted, ignoring Alex Sommers' order to do otherwise:
The bass singer stepped out onto center stage and swept his gaze across the screaming throng. "I look across the audience and can't help but think that... God must have spent a little more time... on Jacksonville people." Not Jacksonville 'girls,' but 'people.'
Terry had to admit, it really kind of sounded odd. During the song, Justin winked at him more than once, though there was a clutch of girls right behind him that were sure Justin was winking at THEM... probably just as well. And at the end, when they brought a little girl up to 'help Justin finish the song,' the singer kept glancing over at Terry over her shoulder.
Backstage between numbers was pandemonium of course, with the guys frantically changing costumes while trying to catch their breath. They were all on an adrenaline high, fueled by the screaming throngs. JC was happier than Lance had seen him since the barbecue; but then performing was JC's second favorite thing after being in the studio. Lance enjoyed touring, but being on stage didn't give him quite the thrill it seemed to give JC and Justin. At one point during a costume change Lance was staggering around trying to pull his pants on when he felt hands on his shoulders.
"Need some help?" JC smiled.
"Ugh! just keep me from falling over!" He yanked the pants leg over his shoe. "You're in a better mood."
JC shrugged. "You know how I love being on stage. And um, I'm sorry I've been a jerk lately."
"I know you've had a hard time. It'll all work out."
"Yah." But JC didn't sound convinced.
"Josh..." Lance took hold of JC's arms and gently but firmly pulled him close.
At first JC turned his head away, but then he reluctantly looked at Lance, his face wearing a mask of sadness.
"Josh we have to talk about this. It's killing me. I know I said I'd be patient, but I need to know. Are we together or not?"
Suddenly Justin flew by, waving his arms in the air. "Come onnnnnnn!!!!"
"We'll talk about it later." JC muttered. "We have to get back on stage."
The show concluded with Tearin' Up My Heart,' and it was pretty obvious that the guys were exhausted. As the song ended and they trotted offstage, Terry felt a rough nudge on his shoulder. It was Steve Fatone.
"What!?" He snapped, shouting over the deafening squeals."
"C'mon man! Didn't your boy tell you? The bus leaves NOW!" Steve seemed to take delight in the fact that he knew something that Terry didn't. Nevertheless, he made sure Terry stayed with him as they ran backstage and through a maze of equipment and people. Terry had to show his pass more than once, but finally he found himself being escorted onto the bus by a frowning Lonnie.
The door slammed behind him and he hadn't even gotten to a seat before the bus started moving. Steve stumbled back to the kitchen, and further back he could see the other guys milling around, toweling off, changing out of their sweaty costumes. He was just turning to look out the window when a pair of sweat-soaked knickers hit him in the face. There was a chorus of hoarse laughter from the back.
"Since when did my face look like a laundry basket?" He asked with a smirk, peeling the moist article off of himself.
"Since you were a target!" Chris shouted. Suddenly clothes were flying everywhere. Terry ducked into Justin's bunk for cover. A moment later he wasn't alone: a tall, giggling young man in t-shirt and shorts had joined him.
"Laundry boy!" Justin said with a laugh, grabbing Terry and pulling him into a hug.
"Ew, you're all sweaty and smelly!" Terry wrinkled his nose. Though, to tell the truth, Justin didn't smell bad, and he was fairly dry and wearing clean clothes.
"Get used to it man, we roll right after most shows, to get out of town and to the next place as soon as possible so we can sleep in a real bed."
"Whatever!" Terry delicately pulled a random wet t-shirt off of the bunk and tossed it into the aisle. "Umm, that's Joey's. It's really cute that all your clothes have your names sewn in them though."
"They all get thrown in the laundry together, how else do they know who's is who's?"
"True, it all seems kind of... 'summer camp' though."
"I guess. So how'd we do?"
"It was great -- better than I expected. You guys are incredible performers."
"D'jou catch me givin' you a personal hip thrust in 'Crazy For You'?" Justin gave him another little hip thrust for a reminder.
Terry smiled in the dim light. "Yeah I did, you tease. The girls behind me were fainting over you."
Yah, well, Ah bet they would nevah guess where Ah am rahyght now." Justin whispered, playing up his ghetto accent and snuggling closer.
Terry reached over him and pulled the curtains shut. He ignored the giggling and whispering outside their tiny niche of privacy. "I bet you're right." He whispered softly. Justin was already half asleep in his arms.
Meanwhile JC tumbled into a bunk and turned his back to the aisle. After vacillating for a moment, Lance quietly closed the curtains on JC's bunk before crawling into a different one. Despite being exhausted, he didn't sleep.
JC didn't sleep for a while either. He kept hearing their finale song in his head: 'It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you, but when we are apart I feel it too...' Tears welled in his eyes and his lean body shook as he cried silently into his pillow. 'And no matter what I do, I feel the pain, with or without you.'
He knew he was hurting Lance; whenever he saw those green eyes sad it was like a knife in his own gut. But he couldn't just ignore his parents' beliefs. They had raised him, loved him all these years. No matter what he did he was going to hurt someone. Not to mention the reason behind his mother's hurt and anger: the religions he and Lance followed both preached what what they had together was a mortal sin.
He'd never felt such pain as this. For the first time in his life he wished he had never been born.
It was late at night when the 'N Sync buses got to the hotel near the Atlanta airport. Terry was reminded of a similar experience from his high school days, when he was in the band and they went on cross-country trips in chartered buses to be in competitions. It seemed as though they would always get to their destination in the middle of the night. It would be some isolated hotel, the weather would be warm and windy, whether it was Texas or Florida or Tennessee. It was disorienting to be awakened from a fitful sleep, in a strange place, and be guided into anonymous chain hotel. At least the 'N Sync guys stayed in nicer hotels than he had in high school.
In their exhausted state, Terry and Justin stumbled off the bus with their arms around each other without thinking. There was Lonnie, along with the other security guys -- and a sleepy-looking Melinda, who's expression betrayed that suddenly she was putting some pieces together. Terry caught her look and thought 'uh-oh.' But it was too late to take his arm from around Justin, and the blond was already practically hanging on him.
"Man, what time is it?" Justin mumbled, his eyes half-closed.
Melinda smiled then, much to Terry's relief. "Time for a certain Justin Timberlake to be in bed, looks like." She said. Once they were all clustered on the pavement outside the bus, she hollered "This way, guys!" and started for the hotel back entrance .
Terry glanced at Lonnie, and felt a pang of guilt. The bodyguard looked at him, looked at Justin (who's head was down; he was still half asleep), then looked back at Terry and nodded, his lips pressed together. He looked... resigned, even sad. Was Lonnie jealous? Did he know? Thoughts flashed around Terry's sleep-confused mind, but he realized one thing: Lonnie understood that there was something between Terry and Justin now, and he wasn't going to interfere. Terry tried to smile back appreciatively and nod, but Justin chose that moment to stumble, and he had his hands full keeping them both on their feet. Lonnie started to move towards them but stopped himself. Terry could tell this wasn't easy for him.
They made it to the building and Lonnie held the door as they entered. "Take care of him man." He said in that incongruously soft voice.
"I will, I promise" Terry answered, knowing that Lonnie did not mean just helping Justin to the hotel room. He would have paused, but there was a ruckus behind them.
"Come on! Hurry up and put the baby to bed!" It was Chris of course. ---
Lance and JC took their room keys from Melinda in silence as they passed her and trooped down the hall. Chris made some unintelligible comment, and when Joey stumbled up she finally ran out of patience. "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" She whispered.
"Huh?" Joey gave her his best dumb look. It was pretty impressive.
"You know what I'm talking about." She fell into step with him. Each of them towed a small suitcase on rollers, the thick carpet muffling all sounds. The others ahead had already filled an elevator; Steve and the bodyguards were wrestling with luggage behind them.
"It's really late, Mel." Joey sighed. He was a little annoyed that the rest of the guys had not held the elevator for him. He tried not to take it personally, but sometimes he felt like the tag-along member of the group.
"I mean, I always figured maybe Lance was that way, but what's going on with Justin and that web-guy?" Melinda punched the elevator button.
"It's really not my place to talk about that. Why don't you ask them?" Joey yawned.
"Because I was hoping for the 411 straight-up. Without a lot of dodging and stammering." Melinda shot him a look.
"A lot is going on right now." Joey rubbed his face.
"That's dodging."
"Would you believe me if I told you I'm not even sure what's going on right now?" A tinge of irritation crept into his voice.
"I'm sorry." Melinda sighed. "It's just hard keeping ahead of all the crazy rumors, especially on the internet. Justin and Britney, Lance and Danielle Fishel, blah blah blah."
"Well," Joey smirked, "I can tell you what's NOT going on, and that's the two couples you just mentioned."
"Johnny told me about the Danielle thing but didn't give me details. He just said they are 'more like friends' but if asked I shouldn't say they are not dating. Oh the games we play, huh?"
"Yeah. I think it goes a little too far when we start making things up to try to cover things we don't want people to know about though."
Steve and the bodyguards came rolling up with the rest of the luggage just as the elevator arrived. "Thanks, bro." Steve winked, and they all piled on.
Justin and Terry got to their room and flopped on the bed; Wes brought their bags a minute later. No one commented on the fact that Wes knew to bring Terry's bags to Justin's room; word got around fast even in the middle of the night. After he was gone, Justin rolled onto his back. "Ah am sooo tyred!"
"And you have to get up early for your flight."
"Aww man."
"How about a quick shower?"
There was a pause and Terry thought he saw the blond smile in the semi-darkness. "Will you help me, pleeeze? I'm afraid that ah will fall if ah go alone."
"Whatever! Terry sat up and grabbed Justin's hand. "But we have to talk about your relapse."
"Relapse?"
"Into that bizarre accent of yours."
"Werd!"
"Huh?"
"C'mere." Justin pulled him into a rough hug.
"This I understand." Terry mumbled before he felt the blond's soft lips on his own.
Lance and JC walked down the hallway, arriving at the number assigned to JC first. Lance hesitated a moment, then without a word continued down towards the number on his card.
JC watched Lance's back, head hanging, as he shuffled on to the next room, opened the door and went inside without looking back. The door slammed shut. JC leaned his head against his door and fought tears. 'Why am I doing this to us? We were so happy... and now because of something my mother said I'm tearing us apart.'
Just then Melinda, Joey and the rest of the crew arrived. "Trouble with your key?" Mel asked.
"No, no, I'm fine." JC muttered, trying to hide his face as they passed.
Melinda and Joey exchanged looks; Joey shrugged.
Showered and dried and in boxers, Terry and Justin climbed into the king-sized bed together.
"Hmmm, love clean sheets." Terry said appreciatively.
Justin snuggled next to him. "How about clean Justin?"
"Even better." He lightly kissed the blond on the forehead.
"I just want you to know..."
"What?" Terry shivered as Justin's fingers traced over his chest.
"Man... " Justin smiled shyly. "I jus'.. I love you, man. I never thought I would feel like this. But when we are together you make me feel so good."
"Me too." Terry sighed, thinking 'I never thought I could trust someone again, but I do, I trust you.'
Justin lay half on top of him, his head nestled in the crook of Terry's neck. "You comfortable like this?" He whispered.
Terry pulled the tall blond closer against him, his arms around Justin's lean back. He could feel the youth's heart beating. "Very comfortable. You?"
Justin brushed his lips against Terry's neck. "Verrry."
In his room, Lance showered, brushed his teeth and crawled into bed. The golden ring JC had given him gleamed on the bathroom counter. He left it there and turned out the light. As he lay alone in his bed in the silence and the darkness, he felt the pain in his chest again, that terrible ache that had no physical cause.
It was his heart breaking.
End of Part 25, to be continued...
In part 26, MTV Spring Break in Cancun with 98 Degrees...
Email me and tell me what you think! lictor (at) aol (dot) com