I don't know the Backstreet Boys, or N'Sync, nor is this story meant to imply anything about their sexuality, their private lives or their life choices. Please don't take any of this seriously, it is just a story, nothing more. Nothing in this story is real, it is the product of the author's imagination. That's enough disclaimers I think...
Now some suggestions, seeing as everyone else seems to be doing it. My favourite stories are: Forever (Kevin) Jamie's Romance (Justin) My New Life (Lance) JC's Hitchhiker (JC) Get Another Boyfriend (Kevin) Whiplash (Kevin) Blind Date (Lance) My Surprise Romance (Lance) Josh and Just (Duh!) Lottery Winner (Joey) Brian and Me (Brian) That's it, I know there are more I read that I haven't mentioned, but I can't remember them right now, sorry!
On The Streets - Part 33
Jared's Point of View<<<
The next day Kevin went into work early, and I went with him. We were supposed to have a training session with the guys today anyway, so it wasn't too much trouble, but we were going to see the guys' management, to see if I could get any more jobs as trainer. Kevin really didn't like me working and cleaning around the house - funny, I mean why not? He worked, I stayed at home, what was the big problem? I guess he thought of housework as either easier or harder than the work he did and so he wanted to balance it out more. Either way, we were soon at the manager's office. Kevin knocked, and poked his head in the door. Things weren't very formal here - Kevin hadn't waited for an answer or anything, and we just walked in. Well, Kevin walked in, and dragged me in by the arm. It felt weird, because we were dressed for the fitness session at 11, so we were in our workout kits, and the guy behind the desk was smartly made up. He was actually pretty hot - maybe a bit on the skinny side, but definite potential - very strong jaw line, slicked back blond hair. Anyway, we sat down opposite him.
"So Kevin, what can I do for you?" He smiled at Kevin and then at me.
"Actually, this is about Jared." Kevin said to him. The guy turned to me. I noticed the name plate on his desk: Peter Richardson. Huh, big coincidence - I'm in an office with two guys with the same surname.
"Umm, Mr. Richardson? I was wondering if it would be possible to get umm, any other people to train, you know, like I do with the guys? Fitness instructor to them? It's just I haven't had much to do since I came to the US, I just wondered if you had any other clients who would be interested?" I looked at him hopefully. He leant back in his chair and grinned at Kevin.
"Ok, first Jared, call me Pete. I hate using my full name. No offence Kevin." He grinned at him. Kevin nodded graciously. "Secondly, yes we do have other clients, and I'm sure a few of them would be interested, after seeing your results with the Backstreet Boys. I'll set up a few trial sessions for you, either today or tomorrow, or maybe thursday. We'll see how you do, or rather the clients will see if they like you, I've heard you're a bit of a slave driver." He grinned. "And, we'll see about keeping a number of clients on permanently then, ok? I'll give you a list if you come here after the guys' fitness session of all the available clients, and we can sort out some times ok?" I nodded.
"Thanks a lot Pete. I'll see you later. I stood up and we shook hands, Kevin stood as well, and we walked out the office.
"He's a nice guy isn't he?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah he is."
"He's got a really nice boyfriend too." Kevin said to me with a grin. I turned to him and smiled.
"I just hope I can find my way back here once we're done." I said to him, hoping he'd offer to bring me back cos I knew I'd get lost in this maze of corridors.
"I can't bring you back I'm afraid, we're straight into the studio once you're finished with us." He turned to me and smiled apologetically. It's amazing how many feelings you can convey with a smile.
"It's ok, I'm sure I'll manage." I wasn't so sure.
Nick's Point of View<<<
Berg and I ended up talking for a few hours last night, I asked him to stay and watch a movie, but we ended up muting that and talking to one another instead. It's so weird - we grew up like 5 minutes from each other, what are the odds? I parked at the studio complex and went inside. Kevin and Jared were on their way from the executive offices, so I went over and said hello.
"So, where have you guys been?" I asked them.
"Just to see if we could get any more jobs for me." Jared answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Like being fitness instructor to more people. You guys only keep me busy for like 8 hours a week, it leaves a lot of spare time." Jared grinned at me. I nodded and turned to Kevin.
"Hey Kevin, you know that reporter yesterday?" I was excited about meeting Berg, so I wanted to tell him.
"Yeah, err, Bergin right?" He answered.
"Yeah, well guess what? He's gay!" I told him.
"Yeah, I know. So?" Kevin looked at me with a confused expression.
"How do you know?"
"Well, when we started the interview with me, he said how amazing he thought it was that I came out, he said it was a really good thing, and that he'd never do it. It kinda gave away the fact that he was gay when he said that." Kevin smirked at me. Berg hadn't mentioned that he'd never come out to me.
"Oh, well, he was a bit of a jerk in our interview to me." Kevin's face turned to a frown. "But, he came over last night, and we talked, we talked for ages, we stayed talking for about five or six hours. It was amazing! He grew up like round the corner from where I lived. He moved to LA though, and lived out his teens there, but he came back about two years ago. He's only a year older than me. Can you imagine? If we'd gone to High School, we'd only have been a year separate from each other? He said he really doesn't like doing interviews either, he just sorta fell into it. That's weird isn't it? I mean surely there's enough people who want to interview celebrities, that you don't need to get someone who doesn't want to do it. Oh well, either way, he didn't leave till this morning." I took a breath. Both of the guys were looking at me funny. "What?"
"Does Nicky have a crush, Kevin?"
"I do believe he does Jared." Kevin answered. "Shall we start teasing him yet?"
"I do believe we shall." Jared answered. Then they both started:
"Nicky and Bergin sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." They both started laughing.
"Shut up!" I shouted at them, though I started laughing too. I did have a crush on Berg. Just thinking about him made me sigh, I was happy. He was handsome, really smart, and I got the feeling he liked me too.
Kevin's Point of View<<<
Yeah I know we probably shouldn't tease Nick, but he looked so love struck. As soon as we stopped singing, he got this faraway look in his eyes, and he let out a big sigh. He had it bad. Or good? Nicky had been so upset over the past few weeks, I hope this makes him happy, otherwise I'm gonna have to start working really hard to find him someone new. We arrived at the dance studio where we were scheduled to do a workout with Jared. We workout on alternate days now, unless it falls on a Sunday, which we always have off. Jared had said we didn't need to go into the actual gym and we could just work out in the dance studio, since it was pretty big and all. The other guys arrived gradually, and by 9:30 they were all there, AJ was late as usual.
"What? I had to pick out the right gear to work out in!" AJ whined as we berated him for keeping us waiting.
"AJ, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were gay, the amount of time you spend shopping, trying on clothes, and in the closet." Jared said to him once we'd all quietened down. I don't think he realised the pun of the last thing he said, but when he heard us snigger, he just rolled his eyes. "Right! Everyone, laps to start. This is your first fitness session, in, a long time, so make it a good one." We all got up and started jogging around the dance studio. Have you ever run straight towards a mirror, then turned the corner, run straight towards another mirror and so on? It gives you a really weird dizzy feeling, and I wish at least one of the walls in this place wasn't mirrored. "Ok, everyone, in a semi-circle. Give yourselves enough room to move about, swing your arms out at your sides once you pick a spot, if you touch anyone else, you're too close."
"What if we want to be too close?" I came up behind Jared, and whispered in his ear. He turned around, grinned at me then grabbed the top of my ear, and dragged me out in front of him where the rest of the guys were.
"We're working right now, and if you try to stall so that you can rest for longer by using little familiarities on me again, then I'll make you run an extra 100 laps, ok?" Jared said with a big smile on his face, but I got the feeling he wasn't kidding. "Ok, everyone, crunches first!" Jared started. He actually did everything with us, which just made it worse, seeing him doing what we did and only being a little red in the face, well, it was embarrassing. "Press up position." Oh no. Jared has this nasty exercise: you do press ups, but you hold them at the lowest point. Count to ten, then raise yourself again. I could see Nick shaking out of the corner of my eye. I don't think he'd got enough sleep last night. He just fell forward onto the floor. "Five minutes!" Jared commanded, then came over to Nick, and helped him up, then he took him over to a chair that was in the room, and gave him some water. They talked for the five minutes, and I heard Nick and Jared laughing. After the five minutes was up, Jared came back. "It's been an hour, that's enough for your first work out." He said looking at his watch. "Everyone, twenty laps, then stretch off, and hit the showers." We groaned as we started jogging. I saw Nick helping Nick stretch, and they were still talking, and then he sent Nick off to have a shower. Once we were done, the guys went off to shower, and I went off to speak to Jared.
"Is Nick ok?"
"Yeah, just tired, apparently he stayed up for more than a few hours last night, talking to 'Berg'." He answered. "Hey, at least you don't have to find someone for him to go out with now right?"
"Yeah I guess not, I don't know though, this Berg guy seems to have a funny way of meeting a guy - I mean just kissing him in the interview, practically jumping him there and then? And then coming over and apologising? Seems a bit strange."
"Oh leave it alone, come on they'll be fine, I'm sure Nick'll realise if there's anything wrong, and he's not stupid Kevin." Jared said. I nodded and made my way to the showers. I don't know if I appreciated Jared showering with us, for a start cos I know Nicky was eyeing him up while we were in there. Secondly cos I had to focus not to get hard while we were standing in there. Finally we were out of there. It was 11 by the time we got out, and time for us to get into the studio. I said bye to Jared, and he left. I told him he should try Pete early, see if he was ready just in case, but if not, then he should just go have lunch or something and then come back and Pete should be done by then. So we kissed and said we'd see each other later that evening, and he was gone. We however had to start working on the album. After getting everything sorted with the producers yesterday, we were due to start voice work today, and then the synthesisers would be ready tomorrow, and we could start blending on at least one song by the end of the week.
Jared's point of view<<<
I can't remember the last time I had a job interview, but for some reason, turning up at Pete's office, I felt like I was going into one. I knocked on the door, and hearing someone shout 'come in', I turned the handle and went in.
"Ah, Jared, you're back early, well, that's good actually, I realised I wasn't gonna be here this afternoon, so you were going to have to see one of the other executives, but I've actually got the list now, so we can go over it. Most of them are available tomorrow for a trial session, though some may have to wait till thursday. One band is in the studio right now, so if you want you could try with them later this afternoon." He handed me a copy of a paper with a list of bands, and each band had about 3-5 names underneath them, presumably the individual members. There were some which had management companies written by them, that weren't Jive.
"Why are some of them not Jive? Surely if I'm a Jive employee I can only deal with Jive clients?" I asked, confused.
"No, what we did was we notified several management companies of your 'available' status, and we gave you our recommendation. The guys' fitness has improved drastically, and you even got Tima's recommendation, which doesn't come cheap. What will happen is as you take other companies' clients, the company will reimburse us for the time that their clients have from you, and we'll pay you out of that, ok? There's no reason for us to limit you to Jive clients, as you basically only have 8 hours of work a week at the moment, and there's not enough Jive clients to fill up all your time." Pete explained. I nodded and looked down the paper. "We were thinking if you could take on an extra two as well as the Backstreet Boys, and if you want to take more on after say a couple of weeks, that would be fine.
"Ummm, ok, well, how about first, that group that's in the studio at the moment, and I could deal with them this afternoon. I'd have to say, it's probably a good idea for me to trial as many as possible, after a single session with me, I don't think many people will want to carry on - as you said, I'm a bit of a slave driver." Pete smiled and told me it would be fine. "So who is the group I'm seeing this afternoon?"
"N'Sync."
Nick's point of view<<<
After lunch.
We're back in the studios again and it is tiring, I didn't get much sleep last night, and with Jared's session this morning, I'm so tired. I'll phone Berg tonight and arrange to go out tomorrow, or maybe Friday. I've got a bit of a break while Brian lays down some vocals for one of the tracks. I think Kevin's really proud about how well all his songs are coming out. He's only had to play with one or two of them to fit our voices, and they're sounding amazing. I was walking around the Jive offices waiting for my time to come up in the studio. I walked past the dance studio where we'd been training with Jared that morning, and he was in there again. With N'Sync? I stood watching at the window for a while. All the guys were sweating and breathing pretty heavy, I guessed it was towards the end of their session as Jared was red in the face too, and they were on their backs doing crunches. I hated how Jared lifted his legs up while he did crunches. It hurts! Finally, he jumped up and shouted 'Laps', and they headed off, jogging around the room. Justin stumbled, and I saw Jared run to help him up. He sat him in the chair I'd been in earlier, and Justin seemed to have a cramp.
Jared's Point of View<<<
"Are you sure you're ok, you looked like you cramped up pretty bad when you were running."
"No man, it'll be fine, I just haven't done much running recently, what with the new album and Britney and everything." Justin answered.
"How is Britney?" I continued rubbing his calf trying to get rid of the cramp.
"She's fine, doing great actually, she's not touring at the moment, so we're home together every night, it feels almost real, you know, like it's not part of this life anymore, like we're not Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake anymore, we're our own people, and we're a normal couple. I'm just not looking forward to when she goes on tour again, that will make it pretty hard for us to see one another, and once the NSync tour starts, it's gonna be downright impossible for us to meet." I smiled sympathetically, and told Justin he should be fine. I helped him stand up, and then I saw the door opening.
"Hey Jared." Nick? What was he doing here. "I've got a break, so I thought I'd come see who your first clients were, looks like you've been having fun Justin, what's the matter, Jared's workouts too hard for you?" Nick said with a grin. Justin blushed.
"Nick?" Why was he being nasty about Justin getting a cramp? "As I recall, you were the one who couldn't even finish the press ups this morning. Justin got further than you." Nick's turn to blush. Justin made a sniggering sound as Nick just shook his head.
"Fine. So, you guys going to keep Jared." Justin threw an arm around my shoulder.
"You know, I think we might, this way I can get all the dirt from your camp, stuff to tell the tabloids." Justin said with a laugh as he threw his arm around my shoulder.
"Ha. Ha." Nick answered him. "Jared, I've got to get back to work, are you gonna stop by the studios later today? Or are you going home separate from Kevin?"
"Well, as this is the only appointment I could arrange for today, I guess I'm just going to be doing nothing until Kevin wants to go home, so yeah I might be by. Kevin drove us in this morning, so I can't take the car." I answered him.
"Ok, well I'll see you around." Nick said with a smile as he walked out the studio.
"Thanks man." Justin turned to me.
"What for?"
"Not letting Nick take the piss. We're always trying to get one up on each other, and now I'm married, he's always boasting about his 'exploits', though I think he makes up most of them. It gets really depressing after a while." I just nodded. "You know, you could come back with us. We're all going back to Lance's house, something tells me we'll be keeping you on as trainer anyway, so we could sort out some times." I just shrugged.
"Sure, I guess, I've got nothing to do for the next three hours." Justin grinned and we walked into the changing rooms.
Nick's Point of View<<<
Hmmm. Could one guy be fitness trainer for both N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys? Wouldn't that be like playing for both sides? Either way, I should get back to the studio. I turned into the director's booth, and saw through the window that Bri still wasn't finished, so I went back outside, where the rest of the guys were waiting. I decided to call Berg now, so I went down the corridor to get a bit of privacy.
Ring Ring. Ring Ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey Berg." I said down the phone. "It's Nick."
"Oh hey Nick, how are you, how's recording going?"
"Oh, it's boring as hell, I'm outside at the moment, waiting for Brian to finish.
"Oh right."
"Hey listen, how would you like to do something, like tomorrow night, or maybe Friday?" I waited in anticipation.
"Ummm, tomorrow night would be great, I'm booked up Friday night, but I can definitely make tomorrow." I heard him answer. I could feel the grin spread across my face.
"That's great, shall I pick you up?"
"Ok." He gave me his address. "What time?"
"Umm, how about 8, then we'll have dinner and go do something."
"Sure. I'll see you then Nick." He sounded excited, cool.
End of Chapter 33 TBC...
I know, I know, it's been ages since I posted, the weird thing is I've had this written for about a week or so, so I've just been torturing everyone for the sake of it! HaHa! Sorry, seriously, I've basically set a limit on how long this story's going to be now, it's either gonna be 50 or 60 chapters long, I'm not quite sure, but either way I'm over half way through now, I'm hoping everyone's really enjoying it. (BTW, that limit is negotiable, if enough people say enough nice things about the story, it might just continue. Well either way, hope everyone enjoyed that chapter, speak to you soon! Bye.