Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 22:04:10 +0000 From: Angel1313@att.net Subject: Devotion Ch. 3 Devotion Chapter Three: Hotel Room Romp disclaimer: I don't know if any of the members of *NSYNC are gay or not. If you're reading this, I love you. Please send me some feedback! (And a huge thanks to those who did. You know who you are !!) -Angel1313 ^_^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter Three: Hotel Room Romp "Guys?" Lance called gently. "We're here." "Already?" Chris complained. "Man, I didn't get like any sleep!" Joey moaned. "Ugh. I slept on my shoulder funny." Lance laughed softly. Justin and JC didn't say anything as they woke up. After everyone was out of the limo, the boys made their way into the lobby of the hotel they were staying in. "All right," Lance said, turning to everyone. "I'll check us in, so you all just wait here. Okay?" "No problem, Scoop," Chris said, patting him on the back. Joey plopped down on one of the chairs. Glancing at JC and Justin, who were standing at opposite sides of one of the couches near by, he decided that it would be a better idea to go with Lance, and he quickly go up and followed the blonde to the front desk. /Great,/ Chris thought to himself. /Stuck with the two who are PMSing or something./ He sighed and took the seat where Joey had been. Justin sat down on the arm of the couch, and JC began to walk over to him. /Yes!/ Justin thought happily. /He's going to talk to me!/ Instead, JC walked past him, muttering something about seeing what Lance and Joey were doing. Justin sighed and slumped down onto the couch, willing himself not to cry again. JC ended up meeting Lance and Joey halfway. Lance refused to give Joey and JC their keys before talking to everyone. Once the three of them had rejoined Justin and Chris, Lance held up three sets of keys. "This place is totally over-booked because of the VMAs," he explained. "So we only have three rooms. Two have two double beds, and one has a queen. Now we have to dilly up who gets what." Everyone began to talk at once, mostly calling the queen. "Hey!" Lance shouted. Everyone settled down. "Now listen, we've never had a problem with this in the past, and we're not going to start now. Let's say we all have to get partners. Justin, who'd you like to room with?" "Um, I don't know," Justin mumbled, looking away. Lance sighed. "Look, we're just doing this so I have all the options. It doesn't matter, no one's going to take offense." "Um, I guess Josh then," Justin said as quickly as he could, looking anywhere but at JC. "Okay. Joe, what about you?" Lance asked, turning to the New Yorker. "I guess you or Chris," he responded nonchalantly. "Chris?" Lance moved on. "Joey," Chris simply stated. "JC?" Lance asked, moving on to the last person. There was a pause. Looking directly at Justin, who refused to meet his eyes, he finally responded, his voice showing no hint of emotion. "I'll be fine with anyone but Justin." Justin's head quickly jerked up to meet JC's expression. His eyes began to fill with tears, and he turned away just as quickly. An uneasy silence fell over the group. Chris and Joey glanced nervously at each other, their expressions surprised and questioning. Lance took a deep breath before beginning again. "All right then, um, I guess we can settle this a couple of ways. Um, since no one said Justin, he gets the room with the single bed." Justin's expression was one of indescribable hurt. He had never had to have his own room when they had gotten to choose their roommates. He and JC had always stayed together. *Always*. Trying to lighted the mood, Chris spoke up. "Damn, Curly, how'd you get so lucky? Why'd Joey have to say me? Dammit, Joe, you'd better hope the two of us don't have to room together!" Joey laughed. "For health reasons, I might have to room with you, Scoop," he said, placing a hand on Lance's shoulder. Lance smiled up at him before continuing. "All right then I guess that Justin gets the one with the queen, Joey and I room together, and Chris and JC get the other one. Everyone okay with that?" Joey nodded and Chris responded, "Sure. No problem." JC muttered "Whatever," and Justin didn't say anything at all. "Okay, then," Lance said nervously. "Why don't we all meet in me an' Joe's room in 45 to have lunch. I'll call everyone to see what you want, so take a look at the menu. We need to have a little meeting, so everyone's coming, hungry or not." Lance made his way back over to the front desk with Joey in toe and explained to them who's bags went where. He then walked back over to the rest of the group and tossed everyone their keys. They then all made their way to the elevator. "We're on floor 7," Lance informed them. "I think we all figured that out when we saw that our rooms were in the 700s," Chris shot back with a laugh. Lance and Joey launched too, not because it was necessarily funny, but because the tension between Justin and JC was getting to be too much to bear. The three breathed a collective sigh of relief as they reached the seventh floor and the elevator doors opened. Sliding his key card into the door of his and Joey's room, Lance called out, "Okay, our place in 45, and we'll call you to see what you want. Got it?" Justin, JC, and Chris all nodded their confirmation, and then everyone entered their rooms. Justin immediately collapsed on his bed and began to cry. JC went over to the pile of bags on the floor next to the door and began to look for some clothing. "What?" he mumbled to himself. "You say something?" Chris yelled from the his place on one of the beds. "None of these bags are mine. They're...yours and..." JC paused to look at the tags, even though he knew whose they were without looking. "Justin's," he finished. "Well," Chris reasoned. "Then he must have yours. Why don't you go exchange them? There's only two of them; I know you can handle them, big boy." JC glared at him but picked up the bags anyway. He was about to open the door when he set the bags back down. "You know what," he said, more to himself than to Chris. "I've got a spare change of clothing in my gym bag. I'm just going to use that. He can pick up his bags after lunch." "Still avoiding him?" Chris muttered, but when JC asked what he said, he replied, "Nothing. Just mumbling to myself." JC let it go and slipped into the bathroom to take a shower. Chris watched as he closed and sighed, shaking his head. "What the hell happened between him and Justin?" he wondered aloud before settling in and looking through the room service guide. "Damn!" he exclaimed, realizing that he'd forgotten to ask JC what he wanted to eat. As he continued to flip through the catalogue, Chris noticed that much of the menu was missing. Sighing, he hopped off of his bed and headed into the hallway, his keycard in hand. "Now," he thought aloud. "Where did I see everyone go in?" Heading next door, Chris knocked loudly, hoping that he'd picked the right room. After a few moments, the door opened, reveling Justin inside. His shirt was off, and he looked as though he had been crying. "Sorry, Just," Chris began, recognizing that Justin did *not* feel like talking. "I, um, our menu's a bust, so can I look at yours?" "Sure," Justin stated flatly, opening the door further so Chris could step inside. "I had forgotten about that," he added, closing the door behind his friend. "Yeah, well, so did JC," Chris laughed, flipping through the menu Justin had handed him. "Any idea as to what he'd like?" Justin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Why did Chris have to bring up JC? "Justin?" Chris asked, looking up at his friend in concern. "Oh, um, he'd probably want the club sandwich. Turkey," he added as an afterthought. "Turkey? Okay, then. Mind if I use your phone to call Lance? Oh, and what do you want?" "What? Oh, nothing. I'm fine. And go ahead and use the phone." Chris thanked him and began to dial Lance's room number. "Oh, and Chris," Justin began again. Chris looked over at him. "I'm going to hop in the shower, so just be sure to shut the door all the way closed on your way out." "No problem, Curly," Chris said, giving the younger man a thumbs up. He then turned back to the phone. "Lance? It's Chris. Yeah, I decided to call you. What? Oh, JC's in the shower and I'm in Justin's room. Oh. Yeah, our menu was missing some pages..." Justin squeezed his eyes tightly shut before making his way into the bathroom and shutting the door. He then began to undress as he got ready to take a shower. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh yeah, a fight! You gotta love it! Anyway, feel free to write me with comments, suggestions, etc. at Angel1313@worldnet.att.net anytime!