Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 10:09:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: JC <a41a14a@yahoo.com>
Subject: Jason and JC - 8

Hello all. I promised you that I would have the next edition of this story
out within a few days and I kept my promise. I want to thank all of you who
have written to let me know how much you liked the story. If you like the
story, please write me and let me know. I enjoy getting your opinions and
suggestions as well. Send them to a41a14a@yahoo.com or if you have ICQ send
them to #76118280. Well now that I'm done eith my customary yapping, on
with the story.

*******************************************************************************

Jason's dreams were filled with peaceful images and happy thoughts of his
new found friends. He replayed all that had happened the previous day and
he remembered what a great time he had had. He smiled to himself contently.

He slowly opened his eyes and blinked, bringing everything into focus. He
found himself laying on the bed in JC's hotel room with his arms wrapped
around something warm and soft. Still half-asleep, he tightened his arms,
pulling whatever it was close to his chest in a tight embrace. He inhaled
deeply and smiled. He was perfectly happy.

JC opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt a pair of warm arms
around him, holding him tight and a warm body up next to his. He felt so
safe, so secure. He closed his eyes and just reveled in the feeling.

Suddenly, JC's eyes shot open, as he realised who it was that was holding
him. He recalled what had happened the night before. He remembered Jason
falling asleep watching the movie and then himself trying to stay awake to
watch the end of it, but failing. He turned his head and saw Jason behind
him, peacefully resting.

A multitude of thoughts began to race through his mind. What was going on?
Why was Jason holding him? And lastly, Why haven't I moved yet? JC started
to try and get up when Jason tightened his hold and pulled JC closer to
him. The feeling that shot through JC was undescribible. JC stopped
resisting and just lay in the embrace.

Jason reopened his eyes and saw the back of JC's head in front of him. That
was when it all hit him. He realized it was JC he was holding and he tried
to let go, but his arms wouldn't move.  His brain was telling his hands to
let go and his arms to move, but the refused to do that.

He took a deep breath and concentrated. He pulled his arms apart and off of
JC. "Eh." managed to escape his mouth before he had realised it. Jason slid
off of the bed, trying not to wake JC and quickly moved out of the room,
disappearing behind the closing door.

After the door had clicked shut, JC popped up in the bed. What just
happened? Where did he go? JC got out of bed and scrambled to find his
shoes. As soon as they were on his feet, he raced out the door and into the
halls. He searched and searched all over the hotel, trying to find his
missing friend. After about fifteen minutes of searching, JC gave up and
returned to his room.

JC sat in his chair pondering what to do next. It was 8:45 according to the
bedside clock. The group had to leave later that morning and JC's jeep was
at Jason's place. How was he going to get it before they left. His thoughts
began to return to the question of what happened that morning. Before he
could indulge in too much thinking, there was a soft knocking at the door.

JC arose from the chair and strode over to the door. Gazing through the
peep hole, he saw Jason standing on the other side of the door. JC opened
the door with a sigh of relief. "Where did you go?" JC asked as Jason
stepped into the room.

Jason held out his arms showing the treats he carried in them. He had
brought doughnuts, danishes, fruit, and coffee. "I brought breakfast. Or
what the hotel chooses to call breakfast." he added with a laugh.

Jason had actually fled the room in fright. He didn't understand what had
happened or rather what was happening. He needed to get out of there
fast. He just ran, but then he realized that he was being silly. Why
sacrifice a friendship over a stupid misunderstanding. Plus, he remembered
that he still had JC's jeep, and what kind of friend would run off knowing
he needed it back. So he went and got breakfast and came back upstairs to
the room.

"Oh, that's nice of you. I just knew that you had fallen asleep here and
when I woke up, you were gone. I got a little worried." JC said, not
revealing that he had seen Jason race out of the room.

"I'm sorry, I should have left a note or something. I'm usually not that
inconsiderate. My apologies." Jason returned. As he placed the large amount
of food he had down on the table, there was another knock at the door. JC
again opened the door, this time revealing Lance.

"Hey JC. I heard you..." Lance stopped short of completing his sentence as
he saw Jason sitting in the corner of the room. "Oh... Hi, Jason. Well, I
guess I know who you were talking to then." Lance looked from Jason to JC,
giving him an awkward look.

"Yeah, we were watching a movie after we all got back here and I fell
asleep. I guess I didn't realize how tired I was." Jason said standing to
his feet and walking to the door.

"Oh." Lance replied in a relieved tone. Jason could only imagine what had
been going through his mind. He definately knew what it COULD have looked
like.

"Jason went and got some food from downstairs, want some?" JC asked,
starting a new topic of conversation.

Lance's face lit up and he grinned in a 'What do you think?' sort of way as
he moved inside and over to the table. Before JC could shut the door, Joey
and Chris had showed up and were welcomed inside. The story was explained
to them as well, but they were more interested in the food than anything
else.

"I think I had better go and get some more if you all are going to join
in." Jason joked. He headed out the door and back down to the lobby, where
the food was set up. He grabbed as many pastries and muffins and dougnuts
as he could carry and got more coffee and some orange juice.  He felt like
a regular waiter. He juggled all of these things as he walked back to JC's
room.

His arms were so full that when he arrived at the door, he found that he
was unable to knock.  Instead he had to kick the door to get in. The four
of them laughed as he walked into the room with his armload of treasures.

"You wanna help me, or are you just going to laugh?" Jason announced over
the food.

"Oh, we were just going to laugh." Joey joked.

"Don't be an ass. Get over here and help me." Jason played. He was soon
unloaded and they had set up their own little mini-buffet in JC's room. By
that time, Jason had noticed tha absense of Justin's presence. "Hey, Justin
not up yet?"

"I haven't seen him since last night. But the condition he was in, I can
understand why he isn't up yet. But he does need to get up soon. We have to
be out of here by noon." Lance answered.

Jason walked over to the mini-bar and found the small stock of medicine the
hotel kept there.  He took several packets of asprine and put them into his
pocket. "I'll get him up." Jason walked out the door and walked down to
Justin's room. 'I've still got his room key.' Jason remembered. He grabbed
the key and slid it through the lock.

The door clicked open and Jason walked into the room. By the light that was
streaming in through the window, he could see Justin sprawled all over the
bed, out like a light. Jason walked into the restroom and filled a glass
with room temperature water. He walked back into the room where Justin
slept and sat on the side of the bed next to Justin.

"Justin." Jason said softly. Having no affect, he repeated
himself. "Justin, it's time to get up. Come on Justin." Justin stirred
slightly, but remained comatose. Jason dipped his fingers in the glass of
water and sprinkled it, little by little, onto Justin's face. "Justin, it's
time to get up." Jason repeated softly.

Justin's eyes fluttered and slowly eased open. "Jason? What are you doing
here? Why is my face wet?" Justin sat up in bed and quickly grabbed his
head with a loud 'Ow!'.

"I am trying to wake you up. You have to leave in a little while. Here,
take these." Jason instructed, reaching for the asprine he had brought with
him. "Do you remember any of last night? Or any of yeaterday for that
matter?"

Justin took the asprine and washed them down with the water Jason had also
brought. He sat there thinking for a moment of the day before. "Yeah, sort
of. I remember the concert, and you took us all out and I drank a little
more than I should." Jason nodded his head in aggreement as Justin
continued. "And I remember you carrying me back here?" He added this last
part more asking than telling, because he wasn't all that sure.

"Yep, I sure did. Are you feeling OK?" Jason asked with concern.

"I will be. Thanks, by the way." Justin answered.

"Alright, Everyone is over in JC's room having breakfast if you want to
join them." Jason informed. Justin nodded in the affirmative as he swung
around and tried to get up off of the bed. He stood up and then fell back
down.

"Never get drunk unless you're willing to pay for it, the next day." Justin
warned as he laughed at himself. Jason grabbed him by the arm and guided
him toward the door.

"You just have to get your bearings. You'll be fine." Jason assured.

By the time the two of them had reached JC's door, Justin was walking under
his own power and Jason was just by his side, just in case. Jason reached
up and knocked on the door.

"Ow!" Justin exclaimed grabbing his head. "Those asprine haven't quite
kicked in yet."

"Sorry." Jason apologized as JC opened his door.

"It's alive!" JC teased as he motioned for them to come inside. Justin
hobbled into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. All eyes watched
him as he reached for a dougnut and started eating.

"What?" Justin asked, wondering why everyone was looking at him.

"You alright, Curly?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Or at least I will be." Justin answered. He tried to cover
it up but it showed through anyway. He was way hung-over. He would just
have to cope though, he thought to himself.

The six of them ate all of the food Jason had brought up before they went
back to their rooms to pack up and get ready to leave. They all left JC's
room and left Jason and JC alone once again.

"I guess I'm going to have to take you to get your jeep soon." Jason said,
sitting down on the bed.

"Yeah, I have to get it back to the rental place before we leave." JC
responded.

"I can follow you over there to drop it off if you like." Jason offered.

"That would be great. Just let me get a shower before we leave. I won't
take long, I promise."  JC assured.

"Alright, but I'm going to hold you to that promise." Jason joked. JC left
the room and went into the bathroom. Jason turned on the TV and flipped
through the channels. He had done about thrity minutes of flipping when JC
finally emerged from the bathroom. The steam flowed from one room to the
other and floated across the ceiling.

"Not long my foot." Jason announced.

"What? That wasn't long. You think that's long, you ought to try and wait
for Curly to take a shower. He'll be in there for hours." JC said pulling
on his socks and shoes.

"Well, if you put it that way." Jason responded. He could just imaginf
Justin spending hours in the shower. He looked like he was one who liked to
'primp'.

JC finished packing up the rest of his stuff and was ready to go. He
alerted Chris to where he was going and that he would be back before they
had to leave. With that taken care of, they left the hotel.

"Can I drive again? Please." JC asked, nearly begging.

Jason smiled at his request. "I only let you drive it yesterday to save
time."

"Pleeease?" he pleaded again.

"Alright, but you know the rule." Jason warned jokingly.

"You break it, you buy it." JC laughed, climbing into the driver's
seat. Jason handed him the keys and they were off, speeding towards Jason's
apartment.

They pulled into the parking lot about fifteen minutes later. JC pulled up
right beside his rented jeep in front of Jason's apartment. "You do even
better in daylight." Jason teased.

JC only smiled in response as he got out of the car and followed Jason up
the walk to his apartment. Jason took the keys from JC and opened the front
door. JC stepped in behind him and Jason closed the door.

"Now, I am going to take a short, and I unlike you mean short, shower. I'll
be right back, OK?"  Jason announced.

"Sure, go ahead." JC answered. He shot a look over at Jason's massive
computer. "May I?"

"Yeah. Computer..." Jason announced from across the room. The black screen
flickered and turned into the normal Windows operating screen. "What is it
you wanted to do?"

"I haven't checked my email in a little while." JC stated.

"Connect to Internet." Jason instructed. Within seconds, the computer was
online and ready.  "Have fun. I'll be out in a few."

"Wow." was all JC could say as Jason marched up the stairs to take a
shower.

Jason was showered, shaved, and changed in fifteen minutes. He walked down
the stairs to find JC sitting at the computer. "Alright, I'm ready to go
whenever you are."

"You have one awesome computer. I wish I had one like that. I'm afraid that
It wouldn't go on tour though." JC said, getting up from the desk.

"Yeah, I like it. Lock on stand-by." Jason answered. The computer again
flickered and went to a blank black screen.

The two of them headed out once again. Jason locked his door and got into
his car, while JC got into the jeep. Jason followed JC to the car renter
and waited for him to get that all taken care of. JC walked out of the
renter's office and got into the convertible. "To the hotel?"  Jason asked.

"To the hotel." JC confirmed. The sleek convertible sped off toward the
hotel. Little was said olong the ride and before long, they pulled up to
the hotel. The valet took the keys and JC and Jason walked inside. They
rode up to the floor everyone was staying on and back into JC's room at a
quarter to twelve.

"I appreciate the ride, man." JC said as he plopped down on the bed.

"Anytime. So, are you guys about to head off?" Jason asked, taking the
chair across from the bed.

"Yeah. We're heading to Orlando today for a show tommorow. Then we finally
get a break." JC sighed with relief. They were all well overdue for a
break.

There was a small break in the conversation as Jason considered asking JC
to come back to Atlanta for a little while while he was on break. Jason had
enjoyed himself yesterday more than he had in a long time. Jason had
decided to ask and his mouth had begun moving as a knock came from the
door.

JC got off of the bed, breaking the odd silence between the two, and opened
the door. Chris was standing on the other side, leaning against the door
post. "You ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah. I was just packing the rest of my stuff." JC replied as he walked
back to the bed and picked up his bag. Chris narrowly missed being hit with
the sack as JC tossed it out the door and into the hall.

"I'm not your bell hop." Chris said, stepping back in front of the door.

JC grinned with a funny quirk in his smile. "I wasn't expecting you to be."
JC made a last check of the room before returning to the door. Jason,
already up and waiting to exit, walked out into the hall with Chris and
JC. JC picked up his bag as the door clicked shut behind them.

"Where are the others?" JC asked Chris.

"They're already on the bus. Waiting..." Chris added, picking at JC's
tendency to lag behind again.

Jason followed the two down and out of the hotel and towards the awaiting
bus. 'That's a big-ass bus.' Jason thought to himself as they approached
the doors, which were cocked wide open.

JC and Chris marched up the steps and into the bus. Jason stopped short,
not knowing whether he should enter or not. JC peeked his head around the
corner looking down the steps and flashed his trademark grin. "Are you
coming?" he asked.

Jason hurried up the steps and into the large tour bus. Most of the group
was sitting in the spacious, well spacious for a bus, living area. JC
walked into the back and tossed his bag into a bunk in the wall before
returning to the others.

"Hey, Jason. We had a really great time. That club you took us to was da
bomb!" Joey stated.  There nods and aggrements from Lance, Chris, and
Justin, who was now fully sober and coping with his headache.

"I'm glad you guys enjoyed yourselves. I guess I had better be off so you
guys can be on your way." Jason responded. All except JC waved from their
seats as Jason turned to exit the bus.  JC managed to trip over several of
his band mates trying to get out, but eventually succeded.  He followed
Jason down the steps and out into the parking lot.

"I had a great day yesterday. I hope we can do it again soon." JC said when
Jason had turned around to face him.

"Me too. I sure hope we do. And I hope that this face to face meeting won't
stop our online chats and emails." Jason answered. Although he had managed
to cover his last statement as a joke, he was genuinely worried that this
meeting would change things somehow between him and his newest ally in
life.

"No way. You are my rock." JC caught himself as the words exited his
mouth. 'My rock?' he thought to himself. "You're always there. And we
always have a great time." JC added, not sure how Jason would take being
called a rock.

"Alright." Jason said, forcing out a laugh. He didn't feel at all like
laughing. He didn't want his friend to go. Jason felt that they had
connected somehow, and although he couldn't quite put his finger on it
exactly, he knew that he didn't want JC to leave.

"I guess I had better go." JC said after a brief pause. JC didn't want to
go. He wanted to stay with Jason. When he was with Jason, he was happier
than when he was by himself or with the guys. Why? he couldn't figure
out. Against his mind's will, his body turned and headed back toward the
bus.

"Remember to keep in touch." Jason called as JC mounted the stairs. The
doors slid closed and Jason turned from the bus. He heard it pull away and
onto the busy street. When the sound of the bus had faded, Jason turned and
gazed down the road. As he walked back towards his car, he felt a distict
empty feeling inside. A pain of longing deep within him.

*******************************************************************************

Where we go. I think I'll just leave it at that. Drop me any questions or
comments. The email is a41a14a@yahoo.com, reach me on yahoo messenger at
the same ID (a41a14a), or ICQ at #76118280 Hope you liked it and another
will be out in a few days. Promise. See you all later, JC.