DISCLAIMER: This is story is a work of fiction and in no way is meant to apply anything about the sexuality of Lance Bass or any other celebrities in the story. I don't know them and don't know any one that does. Also, if you are not of legal age in your area to read stories of this theme, or do not enjoy/are offended by stories that contain gay relationships/ sex, then please find something else to read.
When It's Over - Part 3
Jody stood looking at himself in the mirror of his hotel room. He had to keep wiping the steamed over glass so he could see himself. His hair was longer than he normally kept it, coming about halfway down his neck. "One of the hazards of tour, who has time for a haircut?" He grinned at his own comment but was instantly staring himself down again. He looked tired. His skin was a couple shades paler than usual. There were dark circle around his eyes, and his normally clear blue eyes were cloudy and bloodshot, and almost looked gray. His taller frame was hunched over the sink in his bathroom trying to figure why Lance had wanted to kiss him.
"It was because I 'saved' him. He felt bad and thought he would make up to me. Yeah... but I don't need a pity fuck." Jody said quietly to himself, attempting to put Lance out of his mind. "Besides, he's older than me." The record company had, without Jody or the band even realizing it, managed to downplay Jody's age. They were afraid no one would take him seriously if they knew he was only 19. "No point in standing here staring at myself, I should sleep... Yeah, sleep... When was the last time I managed to sleep all night?"
"You look like shit." Chris stated simply as Lance walked into his room, joining every one for breakfast. They all looked up and quickly agreed with Chris's comment. "Too much alcohol last night?" The smug grin on Chris' face said he knew that wasn't it.
"Yeah, something like that..." Lance mumbled as he poured a cup of coffee and turned to return to his room for a hot shower when JC interrupted him.
"Excuse me, but are you planning to share whats going on or do we have to guess?"
"I know! I know!" Justin jumped up and yelled with his right arm raised like a 2nd grader who finally understood the hard math problem on the bored.
"Curly, lower your voice, please!" Lance said somewhere between grunting and pleading. His head was throbbing from lack of sleep and his mind was still rather foggy from the alcohol the night before.
"Sorry." He stated simply as he sat back on the couch beside Brittany. She instantly let her head fall over on his shoulder snuggling into the crook of his neck.
Lance left the room followed closely by JC and Joey. "Scoop, wanna talk about it?" Joey asked as Lanced turned somewhat surprised, he didn't even hear them follow him out of the room.
"I just drank a bit much..." What else was he going to say? 'I was buzzing pretty well, and almost kissed the guy that 'saved' me, which would instantly kill all of our careers.' They would take that well. Maybe then he could just come out on TRL and grab Carson's ass just to prove his point. He was still mulling this and many other thoughts over in his mind when Joey pulled him out with one question.
"Or does Jody not return your affection?" Lance took a moment to look over his surroundings as the words sunk in. He had at some point sunk against the wall that was still currently supporting his weight. Josh was standing across the hall, staring at him with concern in his eyes. Joey was leaned against the door of Chris' room trying desperately to make the eye contact Lance was trying hard to avoid. Suddenly the plush beige carpet beneath his feet became very interesting.
"What do you mean?" His words came out, and his voice floated between that of a child caught doing something wrong and a bad actor trying to be surprised on stage.
"Well, you spend all night staring at him like god almighty himself..." Josh finally said something, though the joke didn't break the tension. "Then you follow him outside and when I come out it looks like things are going well, but then he runs out and you follow him."
"Then you come back a few minutes later..." Joey was taking over the conversation again. "And you look almost defeated. I've never seen you like that Scoop, but I have seen others and I know what it is. Rejection, pure and simple. Did we miss anything?"
"I take it you two know... about me.... I mean... you know... damn!" Lance stammered still staring at the carpet. His mind has stopped dead in tracks long ago. Not one clear thought formed in his head, and fear had gripped his chest. He breathing had become labored and he was terrified of even the idea that anyone knew about him.
"What that your gay? PLEASE! We knew that since, what, day one?" Josh said jokingly once again trying to take the tension out the air, and failing miserably. One more try, "Except Chris, and I think he is still trying to figure it out." This brought a small grin to Lance's face, he always enjoyed it when the others made of fun of some one besides him, Mr. No-Self-Esteem himself. Always afraid they would discover his "secret" that wasn't even a secret except in his mind.
"Come on, Lance. Just relax, we aren't going to go psycho and yell and scream. We won't even preach about it. I promise." Joey said. usually he was the one joking trying to make things easier but apparently that positioned was filled at the moment.
Lance removed his eyes from the carpet for the first time it what seemed like an eternity and finally made the eye contact Joey and been striving for since the beginning. There were tears streaming down his face and Joey and Josh both instantly grabbed Lance into a hug. Joey opened the door he had previously been leaning on and pulled the mass of three hugging through the too small doorway back into the hotel room.
"Whats going - Lance, whats wrong, you ok?" Brittany jumped up, playing the role of over protective sister she had fallen into with all the guys.
"I think Scoop has something he would like to get off his chest." Josh said, being serious for the first time since the expedition into the hallway.
"Josh, I can't." Lance said into Joeys' shoulder where his face was still buried. He rose his head just slightly to see his friend who was smiling encouragement. "Fine." He took a big breathe as he slowly pulled away from Joey who also was smiling, encouraging Lance to get it off his chest and be honest with his friends for the first time about who he was.
"Well..." Justin said with anticipation, he knew the secret, they all did, but knew Lance needed to say it.
"OK, guys, uhmmm.... I have been lying about something for quite sometime. I hated not being honest but I felt I had to. I am... I'm.. gay. There I said it." His eyes had managed to find a corner of the room where no one was until Brittany was suddenly blocking the view of anything but her face.
"Does this mean we can watch the fashion awards together? You know, I need another girlfriend to check out guys with. Never have to many." She was smiling and Lance instantly felt a weight lift off his chest. As Joey had promised there was no yelling and no preaching, but he did get hugs and kind comments around the room.
"You know, it had to suck - no pun intended - to have to hide that shit. I mean, I could never do it, you have some amazing courage, Scoop." Justin said as he hugged him.
"But guys, we still have a problem." Brittany said with a devious look on her face. "There is still a certain some one a few floors up that has peaked Lance's interest, time to play matchmaker!" She said rubbing her hands together as Lance began to shake his head and blush. He didn't like the look on her face.
Jody opened his door, still somewhat groggy after little sleep. He looked Justin and Brittany over quickly before commenting. "I go on tour and bitch because I can't sleep on a bus. Then on my time off I have this boy band that likes to call and show up at my door and wake me up." He sounded rather rude on purpose, but neither of them seemed to notice.
"Thought you might like breakfast." Justin said holding out a brown paper bag and a cup of coffee in a paper cup.
"Excuse me?" Jody said slightly confused.
"Actually, we have to talk so we brought you lots of sugar and coffee to wake you up." Brittany said quite seriously as she pushed past Jody pulling Justin into the hotel room.
Jody finally excepted the fact that there would no sleeping as long as he was in New York with these people and closed the door. The teen couple had found a place on a couch and was setting out several doughnuts on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Apparently it would be a long talk. For the first time it occurred to Jody that these two were his age, and that he had always thought of them in the same group as the twelve year old girls that made up most of their fan base.
"So, can we cut the bullshit and you tell me what you want, I would like to get some more sleep, and I am not a very polite host when I haven't slept much."
"Funny you should mention lack of sleep. There is a blonde downstairs that barely slept last night because your were on his mind too much." Interjected Justin, whom barely seem to notice how flat out rude Jody was being. Brittany immediately noticed the slight anger forming in Jody's blue eyes, and winced at Justin's comment.
"And that is your business how?" Jody said forcing himself to stay calm. The idea that these two had come up here to guilt trip him or "make him see his true feelings for Lance" was enough to make him tell them what exactly he thought of them right now, but he managed to swallow down the anger and sound almost calm and relaxed.
"We're two of his best friends and are just worried about him." Brittany quickly through in trying to ease Jody's mind.
"Well, let me explain something, I met Lance when he called me and wanted to talk to me, I don't know why, but he then proceeds to insult me. On our second meeting a saw a guy with a death grip on a fence, obviously in trouble, I didn't know it was him until I was right up next to him. I carried him inside to his friends, so he could be around people that actually give a shit what happens to him, and so I could sleep at night. Then I am "taken out" to show "appreciation" with a group of people I could never imagine going out with again, and once again he managed to make me feel very uncomfortable, and I am supposed to be upset because he missed some sleep?" Jody said through clenched teeth and a cold stare going down to the pair sitting on the couch.
"Yeah, but I heard how you sounded when I called, I heard the concern when you asked if he was ok." Obviously Justin was trying to figure out who was full of shit, his logic or Jody.
"I can relate to what happened to him, I've been there before, and it isn't fun." Jody said suddenly noticing the hot coffee and wondering if some caffeine in his system would help his mind wake up enough to figure out exactly what was going on.
"So you did give a shit what happened to him..." There was a glint of hope in Brittany's eye.
"Did... I did give a shit.... Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get ready, I have a press conference in a few hours and would like to be somewhat awake for that..." Jody turning to show them to the door. He winced he realized what he said.
"Making an announcement?" Brittany asked, genuinely curious.
"Uhmm.. yeah..." Jody said eyeing them again when he realized neither of them had bothered to even pretend to have interest in leaving.
"Something interesting, or just some bullshit industry stuff?" Justin asked, he too wondered why at the mention of the press conference Jody had winced a little.
"Lets just say I'm ending some bullshit industry stuff...." Jody mumbled, hoping the two would feel uncomfortable - anything that would make them leave.
"Like what?" Justin leaned back into the couch and Brittany instantly moved closer to his shoulder.
"I... uh.... the band is uh... moving in two different directions.. theirs... pop/punk bullshit... and mine... away from the industry..." Jody couldn't believe he was talking about this. Not even his management or the band knew why he had called the press conference, though they all had guesses.
"Meaning your leaving the band that made you popular to have a small solo career and live away from the spotlight." Just translated.
"Something like that, or maybe just a relationship and a normal job, you know, in an office, where everyone knows me as the computer geek." Jody said while digging in his suitcase. If they wouldn't leave then he would just go ahead and get ready. Though, he was still completely dumb struck that he was talking about this with them.
"Computer geek?" Justin asked. At some point, and Jody couldn't quite remember when, Brittany had dropped out of the conversation and was now watching every move he made instead.
"I have a degree in computer science... youngest person in my university's history to finish a degree." Jody said with mock pride.
"How old were you?"
"19."
"Wow, when did you graduate?"
"About 2 months ago."
"WHAT?" Justin and Brittany chimed in this time. "You mean your only 19?" Justin stammered.
"Yeah, how old did you think I was?"
"At least Lance's age...."
"Gee, make me feel old huh?"
"I didn't mean.. I just... you just seem to much more mature... I mean... I dunno..." Obviously Justin was giving up. Jody liked where the conversation was going. He like seeing Justin completely shock out of words, and apparently Brittany had forgotten to close her mouth.
Several hour slater Jody was watching the flashes of light and listening to yelled questions from the few reporters that showed up for his press conference. None of the band seemed surprised when Jody made his announcement. Management had instantly been on the phone with lawyers to check the bands contract. That's when Jody chose to announce that he had found a loop hole in his contract, and citing an anxiety disorder said he would be filing a claim in court to have the contract voided. All the while his left hand was in his jeans pocket, playing with a card for Freelance entertainment that Justin had given him just before he left. He had said Jody might need some management and that this was a very "capable" firm.
Lance was sitting a a desk in the "headquarters" of Freelance , also known as his home office, reading some legal documents about NSYNC's new tour when the phone rang. He had heard all about Justin and Brittany's visit with Jody and had been rather annoyed that Justin had given Jody once of his cards, it seemed all rather childish to him.
"Freelance, this is Lance." He stated trying to sound cheery even if he was already occupied with the papers in front of him at the moment.
"Hi, I understand your looking for some new clients." A somewhat familiar voice came over the other end.
"Yes, always, how can I help you?" Lance said though he was concentrating on trying to place the voice.
"Well, I just left my current management and band, heading out solo, and need some new representation. I'm not sure if you would be able to represent me, but I was hoping you would at least consider it." 'Damn, that voice is so familiar, who is this?'
"Well, I guess I could at least listen to your demo, do you have one?" Lance asked, leading the conversation towards getting a name.
"Oh, you've heard my music before, but I don't have demo."
"Could you be a little more specific, I've heard lots of music." Lance said the annoyance in his voice quite clear. This game was wearing on his nerves.
"Come on Lance, you mean you honestly don't know who this is?"
"No."
"Its Jody."
Lance's mind instantly went blank. He had toyed with the idea of Jody actually calling but he never would have guessed he really would. "Wow. Hi. You know, you could have just called to say hello instead of pretending to be a potential client." That was all he could think to say. Though he was rather disgusted he had wasted so much time already.
"I wasn't pretending... I just called to see if you might be interested... and I guess... I called to apologize too... I wasn't exactly nice to you in the past, and I felt bad...." 'Nervous as hell' was how Jody described himself at this point. No one in the industry waned to touch a rock singer gone solo at the beginning of the bands success. Besides, for some reason after Justin and Brittany left he couldn't get Lance out of his mind.
"So your actually interested in being a client?" Lance was to shocked by the second part of Jody's statement to answer it. Jody felt bad about something, let alone how he treated a boy band member?
"Well, yeah... But, I think you missed the second part of that..." Jody said, hoping maybe Lance would just hang up and Jody would be out of this ackward conversation.
"No, I caught it, just a little shocked to hear it, besides, business first."
"Damn, you are in management..."
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