Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 12:17:49 EST
From: SweetAngel472023@aol.com
Subject: 'A Second Chance' Chapter 8

'A Second Chance'
Chapter 8

Hello Everyone!
The votes are in, and I am quite surprised with the result. The almost
unanimous winner (and no, there won't be any recounts) is...::drum roll::
option four 'Turn it into a saga. Get them married, add a few plot twists,
another couple etc.' I am really flattered that no one voted for option one
::grin::
I also had a few people ask me who the 'odd couple' is. And since it doesn't
look like I'm going to start another story soon, I will incorporate my idea
into this story. I'll have to play around with it a little bit to make it
fit, but I'm sure it'll work out. The story will get a little darker, so
consider yourself warned. Anyway...here's chapter 8. Enjoy!
Take care
j

Disclaimer: The usual stuff applies. This is a work of fiction, the product
of my over active imagination. I am not implying anything about the sexuality
of the members of the two bands. If you are underage, please leave or at
least make sure you don't get caught. If you are homophobic...what are you even
doing here?


*** This chapter starts at in the first week of the joint tour. Nick and
Justin are still together and happy as ever. Nick has come out to his band
and family. Due to some idea of management, there are always two guys in
room, one from each band. ***

    Justin snuggled up to Nick and rested his head on his lover's chest. Nick
opened his eyes slowly and sighed.
    "Justin, will you please stop moving around? I'm trying to sleep." He
whined.
    " Sorry. But I can't sleep. I love you too much." Justin replied.
    "What does that have to do with anything? I love you too. That's no
reason not to sleep." Nick couldn't help but smile. Sometimes Justin's logic
was overwhelming. Justin smiled back.
    "Ok. I'll try to sleep." He closed his eyes and soon fatigue took over
and he was swept away. Nick looked down at Justin's angelic face. It was
moments like this when he wondered what he had done to deserve Justin's love.
'Maybe I shouldn't ask so much and just accept it.' He thought to himself.
One thing was for sure. He was happier now than he had ever been before.

    It was easy to forget. AJ needed only two things to make his life
bearable. Alcohol and a knife. It was still dark outside, and he was sitting
on the balcony. He had to be quiet as to not awake his roommate. For some
reason management had set him up with JC. If this was some sort of joke about
the fact that both their names were made up of initials, he would kill
management. He sighed. Who was he kidding? The only person he was killing was
himself. He took another drink from the bottle and reached for the knife. The
cold blade, sliding smoothly over hot skin, leaving a crimson trail. He
didn't cut deep, just deep enough for the pain to take over his mind so he
didn't have to think. He stared at the blood that was running down and
dripping on the tiles. Tears came to his eyes. When had he become so messed
up? 'Don't think!' he reminded himself. The bottle. He took another sip, then
drained the entire bottle. There hadn't been much left anyway. He sank back
into the chair and waited for the alcohol to take over. Numbing his body to
the stinging pain form his arm, dulling his sense. He welcomed the feeling.
Soon his eyes fell shut and he drifted off to sleep.
    It was the sound of the bottle, rolling off the chair and shattering on
the tiles that woke JC up. He looked around but couldn't locate the source of
the noise. He got up and walked over to the adjoining room where AJ was
sleeping on the couch. Or was supposed to be anyway. In amazement JC started
at the empty couch. Where had his roommate gone? He stumbled towards the door
and switched on the light. The door to the balcony was open, and he walked
out. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw there.
    JC had realized some time ago that nothing was ever like it seemed. The
world wasn't just black and white, cut and dry. There was something in
between, something hiding in the shadows. Sometimes, it would leave the
shadow. No one wanted to be confronted with the shadows. Not JC, of all
people. He was a practical person. Everything had to be simple, there had to
be an explanation for everything. But sometimes, he couldn't find that
explanation, and that was when he got scared. Like now. Seeing AJ passed out
on a chair, a trail of blood trickling down his arm, an empty liquor bottle
on the ground, he got scared. It took him a while to regain his composure,
but then he knew he had to do something. He picked up the intoxicated
Backstreet Boy and carried him over to the couch. With a wet wash cloth he
wiped off the blood. He threw away the empty bottle, and following a quick
impulse, he threw away the knife too. He undressed AJ down to the boxers,
then pulled up the blanket and covered him. Exhausted he went back to his
bed. He left the door open and stared at the couch. AJ was sleeping
peacefully now, but sleep was not an option for JC. There were too many
unanswered questions in his head. He hadn't known AJ for long, but what he
did know about him made him seem like a pretty normal person. Okay, so he
dressed a little weird, he was a popstar, he was known to go a little
overboard once in a while. But all in all, he had always come across as a
pretty sane person. Yet by JC's standards, sane people weren't cutters. He
wasn't blind, he knew that cutters existed and he knew that AJ was probably
one. The thing that got to him was that he could not detect a reason for it.
There was only one thing he knew for sure, and that was that AJ needed help.
Kevin should probably know, since he seemed to be the head of the Backstreet
Boys, but JC didn't know Kevin well enough to predict how he would react. For
AJ's sake, he didn't want to turn this into a huge thing. The only other
person that he thought could handle this situation and do something about it
was Lance. The longer he thought about it, the better the idea seemed to him.
Finally he picked up the phone. He knew that it was only 4am, but if he
couldn't sleep, then Lance might as well not be able to sleep either. He
dialed the number.

    "Who would call at 4 fucking am in the morning?" Kevin murmured sleepily
as he reached for the phone.
    "Hello? Whoever this is...it's too damn early to be making phone calls.
Can't this wait till morning." Kevin yelled.
    "It's me, JC. And no, this can't wait. Can you put Lance on the phone?"
JC pleaded. Kevin let out a few curses, then got out of bed. He walked over
to the couch and shook Lance.
    "Wake up! There's a lunatic on the phone for you." He said.
    "Tell him to call back. I don't talk to lunatics before sunrise." Lance
replied.
    "He says it's important." Kevin pointed out. Lance turned around and
gasped.
    "Um, Kevin, I don't care if you sleep in the nude...just put something on
before you come to me, alright?" he grinned and walked over to the phone,
leaving a very embarrassed Kevin standing by the couch.
    "Hello? Who is this? And it better be important." Lance said into the
phone.
    "It's me. And I've got a problem. Well, I don't, but a certain Backstreet
Boy does." JC explained.
    "I'm not responsible for the Backstreet Boys. Maybe you should talk to
Kevin." Lance advised. Kevin heard his name and came closer.
    "But I don't know how he would react." JC complained.
    "Then you're just gonna have to find out. I'm putting him on the phone,
k?" Lance didn't wait for and answer and handed the phone over to Kevin.
    "JC? What's wrong?" he asked, concern in his voice.
    "I found AJ passed out on the balcony. He drank an entire bottle of
vodka, and he cut his arm with a knife."
    "He what?!" Kevin yelled. "I'll be right there."


Well, that's it. I told you that my story would get darker. And it will get
worse before it gets better. By now you probably also figured out at least
one half of the new couple. Anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter out as
soon as possible, since this kind of ended on a cliffhanger.
Take care,
    j