Hi everyone, and thanks for reading my story! I want to thank everyone who emailed me about chapter one. I'm glad people seem to be enjoying the story so far. Let me know what you think about chapter 2 at itookherkiss@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: This story isn't true. I made it up. It isn't meant to imply that any people are gay, because I don't know if they are or not. If you aren't old enough, don't read this. If you are offended by gay relationships, don't read this. If it is illegal for you to read this in your area, don't read this. If you don't fit any of those categories, go ahead and read chapter 2.....
The shrill ringing of his alarm clock jarred Lance awake. Fumbling for the off button, Lance sat up and rubbed his eyes, confused by his new surroundings. Instead of waking up in his hotel room, Lance found himself in an unfamiliar cabin style building.
"Where the hell am I?" Lance asked out loud, surveying the room, trying to make sense of the situation.
"I would! I will! Baby I'd do that gladly!" A voice interrupted Lance's thoughts. Suddenly he knew where he was, and the events of the past few days came rushing back to memory. Getting out of bed, Lance trudged towards the shower, not wanting to miss the group's appointment with their publicist on his first day.
An hour later, Lance sat waiting in the living room for the rest of the guys to finish getting around. They were already half an hour late to meet with Jay, a fact that everyone seemed aware of, but no one paid attention to.
"Erik Estrada, stop hogging the mirror! I need to do my hair." Jacob's voice rang through the halls of the O-Town cabin. All the guys sucked in their breath at the way Jacob intentionally left out Erik's middle name.
Angered, Erik retorted, "Who the hell do you think you are anyway with that curly mop, Justin Timberlake?"
At the sound of his friend's name, Lance stiffened in his chair. He gripped the armrests on the chair and looked down at his shoes, trying to keep his emotions in check. Nothing could keep Lance from remembering the happiness he felt as a member of N Sync, and as all the good times he'd spent with his friends flooded his memory, a single tear escaped and rolled down his cheek. It was at this moment that Lance noticed a camera zoomed in his face, capturing his emotional vulnerability for the world to see on the next episode of "Making the Band".
Just then the boys emerged from the bathroom, only 40 minutes late for their meeting, and sauntered towards the car. Lance sat in silence on the way to the studio, trying to figure out his role in O-Town. In New York, Justin was thinking the same thing as he sat at breakfast with the members of 98 Degrees.
"So, why is it that you're singing with us again?" Drew asked Justin as he piled a forkful of scrambled eggs in his mouth.
Sighing, Justin repeated what Johnny had told him to say. "Since the public found out about Jeff having a kid out of wedlock, management thought that you guys could use a little image boosting. Plus with Nick and Jessica's relationship out in the open, they thought the teeny boppers needed another guy in the group to swoon over."
"Well," Nick began, "I'm not so sure how well this is going to work out. I'm not happy that they think we can't handle these PR issues on our own, first off. And secondly, this means we're going to have to rework our songs and choreography."
"Yeah, and that means I'll have less time to spend with my kid!" Jeff exclaimed.
"Look," Justin started to get defensive. He didn't want to be here anymore than they wanted him here. "I'm only doing what management requested of me.
It's not like I'm glad to be split up from my friends, you know?"
Gathering up their belongings, the five guys made their way towards the hotel exit. As security rushed them to the limo, throngs of rabid girls mobbed the group shouting, "I love you Justin!"
"No matter where I go,'' Justin Timberlake murmured as the group shoved into the limo, "They seem to find me anyway."
"What do you mean?" Justin of 98 Degrees asked, genuinely confused, "They were talking about me. Didn't you hear them yelling and screaming for Justin? That's me. This is so cool! This is the first time they've been yelling about me and not Drew or Nick. Pretty soon they'll be letting me go shirtless at photo shoots too!"
"Its not you they're all hot and bothered about, Justin." Drew said shaking his head.
"It's not?" both Justins asked in unison. "They're screaming for him," Jeff pointed to Justin Timberlake, "Not you."
Justin paused to think about this for a minute before articulating what was on everyone's mind. "This is going to be kinda hard with both of us having the same name."
"Well," Jeff said slowly, thinking of a viable solution to the problem, "Do either of you have any nicknames you could go by?"
"Hmmm, let's see." Justin listed his nicknames sarcastically, "There's The Baby, Mr. Smooth, Curly, Bounce, Ju Ju..."
"So what are we going to do now?" JC asked Johnny as he and Joey and Chris sat in the hotel dining room eating breakfast. "We were famous for our five-part harmonies. There are only three of us now. And the name! What about the name! We can't be N Sync when at best we're Syc or Cys." JC's voice rose to near hysteria.
"Calm down, JC. I have everything under control." Johnny said, trying to soothe the agitated singer, "Five-part harmonies are way over rated. Look at LFO. They're a singing sensation! And there are only three of them. You're going to be S-Y-C, just like L-F-O."
The remaining members of N Sync stared dumbly back at their manager; unable to believe he had made such a heinous suggestion. The trio shook their heads and listened as Johnny detailed their schedule for the week. After the briefing, they all wandered back upstairs to watch a little TV before their grueling week of re-recording and re-choreographing began.
"Hey, isn't that Justin?" Joey asked as he flipped through the channels.
"What channel, Joe? Is it one of our old appearances?" Chris asked. "MTV plays those clips all the time."
"It's MTV news. It's a press conference. It's live!" JC's eyes lit up at the sight of his best friend. "Shhhhhh, turn it up!"
"I joined 98 Degrees because our management thought it would benefit the group to have five members. Just to round out the sound." Justin answered Kurt Loder's question, "I think it will be an interesting experience."
"Do you foresee any problem's resulting from this move?" A newscaster asked from the back.
"Actually, we've already had an issue surface. The fact that there are two of us named Justin is starting to cause a bit of confusion. But we've worked out a solution to that." Justin cringed as he continued, "I've decided to go by one of my nicknames, Ju Ju, for the duration of my time with 98."
"Hey! That's the nickname I gave him!" Joey sounded pleased with himself.
The rest of SYC sat open mouthed while they watched their friend change his identity.
On stage Justin couldn't believe what he was doing. He counted the seconds until the press conference would end and he could bolt back to the limo. All he wanted was to be alone, but with his jump from N Sync to 98, everyone wanted an interview. Zoning out and letting the rest of 98 do the talking; Justin's thoughts turned to Lance.
"You guys need to be professional. You are always late. You do foolish things without worrying about your image. This needs to stop. You don't realize that what one of you does reflects on the group as a whole. What do I need to do to get this through your heads?" Jay was pacing as he lectured O-Town, "And don't even think about it Erik. I am not in the mood for your whiny, pathetic excuses."
Erik's mouth snapped shut and he assumed his pouty pose.
"I can't imagine what it must be like for Lance." Jay stopped walking and looked pointedly at each member of the band. "He's here to help you guys out. He is a professional. You guys need a bass. We found you a bass, a famous one, so O-Town can do 5 part harmonies and to help boost the ratings.
You should all be grateful that this arrangement has worked out in your favor."
Lance cringed at Jay's mention of the "arrangement" that brought Lance to O-Town. As far as he knew, no one involved with O-Town, not even Jay, knew the real reason Lance had been sent in as the new bass.
"Now, let's get on with things. You are meeting with TyJuan this morning and after lunch you'll be reworking the harmonies on Baby I Would with Mark.
So get going, I don't want you to be late." Jay shooed them away with a flick of his wrist.
Obediently, Lance followed the rest of the band towards the dance studio, nervous at the thought of having to learn new choreography. Dancing was never his strong suit, and he had relied heavily on Justin and JC to help him keep up to speed. Without their assistance, Lance feared he would be the weak link, dance wise, in O-Town.
TyJuan led them through a series of warm ups before reviewing the steps. Lance was pleasantly surprised with the moves; O-Town's choreography was much easier than what he was used to with Darren. As they worked through the sequences, it was apparent that the rest of the group was as unfamiliar with the steps as Lance. TyJuan stopped abruptly and turned to face the guys.
"I thought we had these steps down," he began pointedly. "And after having three days to practice, I thought for sure you'd have this routine down cold. Lance is the only one of you that should be having any difficulties with these moves, and he's catching on the fastest. It's as though the rest of you are learning this for the first time too. What's happened? Have you guys practiced this at all?" TyJuan's tone escalated as he continued. "You perform in a week. These routines have to be polished performance quality by then. How can you expect to achieve that when you don't practice?"
"But we do practice!" Erik whined. "I just haven't been feeling well lately and..." TyJuan held up a hand in Erik's face to shut him up.
"I don't wanna hear it, Erik. You need to take responsibility for your actions. You're the one who needs the most work on this, and all you've done is go out to clubs and give your hotel room to crazed fans. You are the least professional member of this group."
Lance sat back and watched the group get lectured for the second time that morning. Erik reverted to his pouty face and Ashley Parker Angel fought back tears of shame. Later that afternoon, in the confessional, Lance summed up his thoughts about his new band.
"I guess I just don't understand why they won't buckle down. I mean, here they've been handed all the tools they need to be a successful group, and they don't make the best use of what they've been given. It's like they enjoy being yelled at." Lance poured his feelings out to the camera, "I wanna go back to N Sync!" The tears in Lance's eyes welled up and began to run in rivulets down his cheeks. While Lance was taping his confessional scene for America to view later that night, the members of SYC were in the studio trying in vain to make a three part harmony work.
"I just don't like the sound of it." JC complained over the intercom to their producer. "It sounds thin."
"It's a three part harmony, what can you expect." Chris retorted with a sarcastic glance in Johnny's direction. "Now when we tour I won't get to explain the intricacies of our five part harmony."
"How does LFO do it? How can they be so popular with such a shallow sound?" JC mused aloud.
"I think it's their looks." Joey remarked seriously. "That Rich Cronin is a hottie. And Devin! His teeth are enough to drive anyone wild. Besides, with quality tunes like Summer Girls, you can't lose."
JC peered at Joey through squinted eyes. Sometimes he didn't know what was going on in Joey's head. "Yea, well, there's no way we can get this to sound any rounder without Lance and Justin. So we might as well record this and get it over with." JC said with a sigh.
After recording a few tracks and working with Darren, the guys of SYC headed back to the hotel. When they got there, Chris slumped in a chair and turned on MTV to see Kurt Loder relate the latest music news.
"Hey, it's us!" Joey said, pointing at the screen. The leading story on MTV news was, of course, the game of boy band musical chairs. Kurt detailed the transfer of Justin, now JuJu, to 98 Degrees and the donation of Lance, as the bass, to O-Town. His newscast was punctuated by video clips of concerned fans in Time Square during the day's TRL.
"Hey," Chris complained, "They aren't even saying our new name right!"
All the interviewed fans, as well as Kurt Loder referred to SYC not like LFO, but as "Sick".
"Change the channel." JC commanded, "I don't want to watch this."
Chris channel surfed until he came to Making the Band. On screen, Lance was sitting in an armchair, head in his hands as Ashley lectured Erik about his behavior.
"I'm sick! I can't help being sick! It's not my fault. Do you think I like being sick?" Erik whined as the group ganged up on him. Lance remained quiet, watching the drama unfold before him. Suddenly the camera cut to his confessional scene.
"O-Town is a lot different from what N Sync was. This is just five guys randomly thrown together to create music, while we were actually friends before we tried to make it big. I guess I'm just not used to the way the guys here operate. It's like they aren't a group; they're all individuals. When they practice, they practice alone. No one forces Erik to practice. Ashley and Trevor cry a lot. Jacob thinks he's already a star. Where do I fit in?" Starting to cry Lance gave a short laugh, "I guess I belong with Ashley and Trevor."
"No! You belong with me and the rest of N Sync!" JuJu started talking to the television. He was alone in his hotel room after a long day of practicing. Things hadn't gone well for the new 98 Degrees group. In order to create the five-part harmony the guys had been lacking, JuJu was given the majority of Nick's solos. Nick, already upset at the introduction of a new member to the group, was furious by this development and stormed out of the studio, threatening to quit the group and become a duo with Jessica.
Sighing, JuJu looked at his friend on TV, understanding the loneliness and isolation he must be feeling. None of the guys wanted JuJu in the group. Justin was mad because his short lived fame was due only to the fact that he shared Justin Timberlake's name. Nick was angry because JuJu came in and "stole" all his solos. Jeff was upset because he wasn't able to spend more time with his girlfriend and their kid. And Drew was mad because management thought they needed a new voice and PR help.
"What a hostile working environment," JuJu thought to himself. "I need to get out of here before things get ugly."
On Making the Band Lance's confessional scene ended and was replaced by Mike, one of the O-Town hopefuls that hadn't made the cut.
"I don't understand it." Mike yelled at the camera, "They didn't pick me to begin with, ok, I understand. But now that they need a bass, why didn't they ask me? I should have been their first consideration. Frankly, I'm pissed not only that they just picked someone else, totally unassociated with O-Town, but that I wasn't even considered for the spot." Pausing to catch his breath, Mike continued, "I'm pissed, and someone's going to be sorry."
Thanks for reading my story! All feedback is welcome at itookherkiss@hotmail.com.