Date: Wed, 31 May 2000 18:00:28 EDT
From: Gabriella Morrison <sweetheart_stories@hotmail.com>
Subject: My Surprise Romance 15-16

Hi everyone!

   This is chapter 15-16 of my continuing story. Thank you, thank you,
thank you for all of the e-mails that I keep receiving about this story. I
really appreciate everyone's kind comments and thoughts and
encouragement. Remember, if you want to send more e-mail to me (I love
e-mail!) then the address is sweetheart_stories@hotmail.com. Not only do I
accept comments, but I take donations of money as well :)

Of course, no opening would be complete without thanking Justin, Clarke,
and Damon. You guys are great and my writings wouldn't be the same without
your constant encouragement.  Words cannot express how much I thank you :)
so we'll leave it at that!

DISCLAIMER: This is a fictional story, not meant to imply the sexuality of
`N Sync or Lance Bass. Um...you know the rest--18 or 21 depending where you
live, m/m relationship--you don't like it, leave, good-bye. You do? Then
read on...


My Surprise Romance

Chapter 15


After rehearsal, Lance and I headed back to the hotel, so we could have
lunch via room service. The rest of the guys, as well as my cousin, went
out to some local trendy restaurant to eat, flanked by bodyguards. As they
got into a van, I noticed that Cynthia took a seat next to Josh, smiling at
him like mad. I wish I could have felt the same way. Instead I was a
nervous wreck...my stomach was jumpy, and the thought of lunch made me
queasy.

Once we were back in our hotel room, Lance immediately pressed me up
against the door, and kissed me. He pressed his body against mine in
anticipation. But as much as I enjoyed it, I had to push him away.

"We need to talk before we go any further," I said as walked over to the
bed, sat down and attempted to catch my breath. He looked at me with
curious green eyes, and took a seat next to me.

"What's wrong, Stephen? What did I do?" he asked, a bit sadly. He placed
his hand on my kneecap and gently rubbed it.

I couldn't help but sigh in pleasure as he did this. But I had to get down
to business. Fast. Before my resistance crumbled under his
touch. "Lance...why do you like me?" I said as quickly as possible. Those
few words that tumbled out of my mouth, sounded silly to my ears. Like I
was a whining little boy, asking some stupid childish question.

Lance, however, didn't think it was so funny. "Why do I like you?" he said,
sounding a bit taken aback. "What brought this on?" he asked, turning
towards me, scratching his head.

"I mean, what attracted you to me in the first place? Why me? Why do you
like me?" I said, the words sounding frantic to my ears. I was losing
composure and that was the one thing that I didn't want to do. Lance
noticed this and placed his arms around me, like he always did. And like
the effect they always had, I felt immediately better and more at ease. I
felt safe.

"Why do I like you?" Lance whispered in my ear. "I like you because you're
Stephen. You're mine. You're easy to get along with--" I cut him off.

"Oh, so I'm easy? That explains a lot." I teased him gently as he smiled at
me.

"And you're funny. Not to mention undeniably cute. Even with that crooked
nose," he pointed out, kissing the tip of it. I felt my heart race as I
heard myself say another stupid thing.

"You mean I'm not just convenient?" I said, looking at him. His face
screwed up in a look of pure shock.

"Convenient?" Lance repeated in bewildered amazement. "What are you talking
about?"

What was I talking about? All of my thoughts, which had sounded so sane
when I was in the auditorium, now sounded like the ramblings of an insane
person. "Well," I began slowly, letting my fingers trace a path on his
thigh. "I mean we met when you had that long break between concert dates. I
was around. I wasn't seeing anyone...I just thought..."

"You just thought that I liked you because there was no one else?" Lance
finished up for me, placing another soft kiss on my lips. "Right?"

"Right," I agreed, feeling relieved that Lance had understood me so
well. His arms tightened around me a bit and I felt my tense addled body
relax a little bit.

"Stephen, think about this. If I was just using you for your`convenient'
status, then why would I leave the tour and risk losing everything for
you?" Lance asked me, making me look into his eyes. "Think about that,
okay, honey?" I nodded, and he went on. "Do you think I would just fall
into bed with anyone because their convenient?"

"I don't know--would you?" It was my lame attempt at a menial joke. But it
didn't cause Lance to laugh.

"I'm serious," he replied. "Do you think I really would climb into bed and
do what we did that first night? Especially when I've never done that
before?" His voice had dropped and he stared at his hands for a
moment. "Stephen, I was scared beyond belief when we slept together. I
wanted to so badly and when we did, it confirmed that I am gay. It wasn't
some kind of crush I had on you--I really like you." To my horror, I
noticed that when Lance looked back at me, his beautiful eyes began to fill
with tears.

"I still have to tell my parents about this and do you know how that scares
the shit out of me? Especially after I saw how your mom reacted? I've
always dated girls before you and now I'm with a guy." He looked at me, the
tears now falling freely from his eyes. "How are they going to react? When
I come home and say, `Mom, dad--meet my boyfriend'? And I know that they
won't be happy--but I am. I've never been happier in my life." He paused to
wipe away the tears. "So don't you ever say you were convenient to me,
Stephen Peterson. I would give up everything to be with you."

By that time, we were both crying. Him, for his situation, and me for
feeling like a class A jerk. I felt my heart beat rapidly, not because of
nervousness, but because I finally felt relieved. He did like me for who I
was. And I couldn't believe that I had doubted his feelings for me. I
reached over and grabbed a tissue from the box that sat on the nightstand
and wiped his face off. After a few seconds, Lance began to laugh.

"Look at us--two big crying queens," he managed to joke. I laughed at that,
wiping my face with the back of my hand. We held each other for a few more
seconds, when I noticed a tear sliding down his cheek. I kissed it away,
and he responded to my gesture by placing his mouth on top of mine and
passionately kissing me, his tongue entering my mouth and meeting mine. He
gently laid me down on top of the neatly made bed, and began sliding his
hands under my shirt. It surprised me that we had gone from sentimental to
lustful in a matter of seconds--and I, for one was not about to complain.

I felt myself begin to grasp the comforter, twisting it around in my hands
as Lance ripped my t-shirt off of me in a fit of passion. I stared at him,
shocked by how fervent he had become as he began to move down my half-naked
body, letting his lips trail over my skin. He straddled me, grinding his
hips against mine and slowly ran his tongue over my nipples, causing me to
let out such loud moans, I was surprised that the entire hotel didn't
hear. Lance then stopped his actions, and smiled shyly at me as his hands
slowly began to work at my belt, undoing the buckle and then the button on
the jeans.

Then all of a sudden he stopped, and looked at me, a seductive smile on his
face. He stood up, grabbed my hands and pulled me off the bed, letting my
pants fall to the floor and began to lead me to the bathroom

"Someone promised me a shower this morning," Lance said huskily, as he
continued to walk backwards, never letting his eyes leave mine. I could
barely speak as I managed to step out of my pants, as Lance pulled me to
his body again and kissed me, letting his hands slide into my boxer
shorts. The moment that Lance touched me, I pushed him into that bathroom,
unable to stand it any longer.

We kept kissing each other, our tongues dancing around in each others
mouths. I grabbed the bottom of his sweatshirt and pulled it over his head,
breaking our kisses for a brief second. Lance leaned over and managed to
turn on the water in the shower, while I let my hands fall to the waistband
of his track pants. I pulled them down, falling to my knees. Lance was
looking down at me, waiting to see what I would do next. I began to kiss
his stomach, resting my hands on his ass. Slowly, I licked down the light
trail of hair that lead down to his lower regions and let my tongue dip
into his navel for a brief second.

"Stephen..." he groaned softly, as I continued to taste his skin for a few
more seconds. Then I let my teeth grasp the waistband of his boxers and
quickly pulled them over his erection and down his hips with my teeth,
exposing him to my eyes. Once I did that, Lance ran his hands down the
sides of my arms, and pulled me off the floor, meeting him at eye level. He
kissed me passionately once more, before running his hands down my sides
and yanked down my boxers. With a boyish grin on his face, he then pulled
me into the shower.

The water hit our bodies as he pressed me against the cool tiles, and
placed his mouth on top of mine in an almost desperate gesture of
passion. I felt my breathing grow ragged, as I pulled my lips away from his
and began to let them trail down the side of his neck, softly kissing his
shoulder and then, very suddenly, I dropped to my knees. I looked up at
him, only to see him smiling down at me, attempting to control the eager
look on his face.

With that I took Lance into my mouth, going slowly at first so I wouldn't
gag. I began to apply gentle pressure, slowly letting my tongue caress the
ridges as my mouth began to move up and down, all the while inhaling his
musky scent. Lance threw his head back, eyes closed, making my heart beat
even faster as he ran his fingers through my hair. Slight moans escaped his
beautiful mouth as I kept bringing him closer to the edge.  I ran my hands
from his ass, up his back and then to his dampened pecs, where my fingers
gently pinched his hardened nipples. I then brought my hands back down to
his ass again where just touching his warm skin was turning me on so fast,
I prayed that I would last.

Lance began to thrust his hips, causing the head of his penis to move
further back into my throat. I grabbed the base of his shaft and pulled it
from my mouth a bit, so I could let my tongue lick at the dampened
head. After a few more licks, I felt the muscles in Lance's body tense
up. I ran my tongue over the swollen head over and over, before taking the
entire shaft into my mouth once more. He began groan in ecstasy and barely
spoke, "Stephen, I'm..." before he violently came in my mouth. He held on
to my shoulders for dear life as I swallowed his release. As I removed my
mouth from him, my mind whirled at what had just happened. After a few
seconds, I slowly began working my way back up to his mouth with a trail of
passionate kisses, until our lips finally met again in a frantic kiss.

"My turn," Lance said softly once we parted. His eyes lit up in
anticipation, as his hands began to run down my wet chest and found their
way to my ass. They remained there while he showered my thighs with kisses
and then he finally lowered his mouth to my penis.  I felt his lips slowly
engulf me, as the hot water from the shower head hit our trembling
bodies. His began to tug at my balls, driving me almost insane with
pleasure, as his mouth continued to suck at my hardness. His tongue ran up
and down the swollen shaft, causing my knees began to shake uncontrollably
as his fingers reached up and began to play with my hardened
nipples. Lance's tongue lapped over my head once more, before I felt my
body go rigid. I grabbed onto the back of his head and I finally came in
his mouth, letting my pleasure with excruciating groan that echoed off the
tiles. Even after I came, Lance continued to work his mouth up and down my
now limp penis, causing an exquisite pain throughout my body,before
standing back up on his own shaky knees, stopping to lick at my nipples
before once again, meeting my mouth.

I kissed him back, letting my tongue snake in between his soft, wet lips. I
felt more in love than I had ever felt in my life. Lance grinned at me,
looking tired, and wrapped his arms around my naked body.

"I don't mind talking to you if it always leads to this," Lance whispered,
as his hand ran up and down my skin. He moved the damp hair away from my
face, and looked into my exhausted eyes.

"I thought we were having lunch," I teased him, as he nibbled at my
earlobe. He looked at me with a seductive expression on his face.

"And I thought we just did," he replied suggestively, before meeting my
lips in another one of his loving kisses.



Once we actually made it out of the shower, which took quite awhile, Lance
and I did order room service and ate a nice, leisurely lunch in our
room. We were in the middle of a conversation, when a knock on the door
interrupted us.

"Who is it?" Lance called out, giving me a look. `Now who?' he mouthed to
me, rolling his eyes wearily.

"Josh," the voice replied through the heavy door. "Is it safe to come in
there, or will I have to cover my eyes to talk to you?"  Lance looked at
me, a smile appearing on his face. He beckoned me to come over to him, and
then pulled me onto his lap.

"Okay, come on in," Lance called out, wrapping his arms around my neck and
snuggled his face in my chest. Josh entered the room, and immediately
groaned.

"Come on you two, I asked if it was safe to come in here," he said,
shutting his eyes. He peeked one eye open at us and saw the two of us
dissolving in fits of laughter. I slid (unwillingly, of course) off his
lap, and walked back to my seat.

"What's up, Josh?" Lance asked him, as Josh sat on the bed across from
us. "How was lunch?"

"Fine," he answered, his chiseled face turning bright red. Lance and I
looked at each other, knowing that Cynthia must have said or done something
to make him blush like *that*. "Lunch was good. We missed you guys though."

"Aww," Lance said, "We'll come to lunch with you guys tomorrow. Promise."
He crossed his heart and took a sip of his drink. "So how much longer until
we have to get ready?" he questioned, leaning back in his chair.

Josh looked at his watch. "About two hours--hey, Scoop, did you know we
have to meet some more contest winners before the show?" Josh asked. Lance
looked at him in shock.

"What? How come no one told me about this? I'm usually the first one to
know about this kind of stuff." Lance said, visibly upset. Josh looked
uncomfortable for a moment, and hesitated to open his mouth. Finally, he
spoke.

"Look, Lance--we know you like to stay on top of stuff like that, but me
and the rest of the guys..." he trailed off, and I could tell he was
thinking on how to put his next words more delicately. "We just don't want
to bother you..."

"Why not? That's my job," Lance said a bit nervously. I avoided either
Josh's or my boyfriend's gaze. I knew why no one wanted to bother him and
it boiled down to one word: me. It was my fault that Lance had been
slacking off on his duties as the group's organized businessman. All of his
free time had been spent with me...and I felt terrible.

"Well, you're just spending so much time with Stephen," Josh said, careful
not sound offending or angry. He looked at me and gave me a anxious smile,
letting me know that he wasn't upset. "Not that I'm berating you or
anything, Stephen...it's just that, you two seem so happy. We don't want to
bother you guys."

Lance stood up, pushing his chair away from the table. "So you guys don't
think I'm capable of handling a relationship and taking care of the groups
business, is that it?" Lance said, his slight accent growing deeper as he
became angrier.

"Lance, no, that's not what I meant," Josh said in frustration. "It's
just--"

Lance cut him off. "It's just what?" he said in a challenging voice,
walking up to Josh and meeting him eye to eye. Josh hesitated.

"It's just that you split out on the group. You missed interviews and
everytime one of tries to talk to you, your head is in the clouds." Josh
paused. "I'm happy that you found someone, Scoop, I really am. And so are
the rest of the guys, but...we can't be certain that you'll keep the
promises that you make."

I closed my eyes at the bad choice of words that Josh had chosen to express
his thoughts.  I completely knew the point he was trying to get across, but
it just came out, well...mean. Lance stood there speechless for a few
seconds, his mouth agape, before he walked out of the room and slammed the
door behind him. Josh and I both cringed at the noise, and then looked at
each other.

"Whoops," he said, shaking his head. "Not very tactful, am I?"

"Nah, I understood what you meant. Lance has been spending too much time
with me," I said, hating to acknowledge the truth. "I'm starting to think
that it was a mistake for me and Cynthia to come along with you guys. We've
hindered more than helped."

"No!" Josh suddenly exclaimed. "No, um..." he managed to spit out
awkwardly. "You two aren't hindering us at all," he said, desperately
trying to come up with an answer. I tried to hide a smile, as he tried to
cover up his outburst. "I love having you two along."

"Especially one of us, and I know it's not me," I said gently, not trying
to pry. Josh's face turned redder than before.

"Well, yeah...but that's not important. It's just that Lance...in these
last few weeks, he's done a complete turn around of character. He's never
been this way before. He's always stayed on top of things, gone over our
business deals...stuff like that. Now I'm afraid that he can't even add two
and two together."

I sighed. Why was it that everything was centering around me lately? And
why, after Lance and I had cleared up things, did some other problem have
to come along? It was almost like someone was specifically putting these
road blocks in our relationship to challenge us.

"Look, Josh--I'll go talk to Lance. He'll listen to me. I'll just have to
tell him that we can't spend so much time together away from the group,
okay? I think I might know where he went to."

Josh nodded and began to turn towards the door, when something popped into
my mind. "Hey, Josh," I called out. He turned back towards me.

"Yeah, Stephen?"

"How's Cynthia doing?" I asked him, trying to hide the knowing smile from
my face.

It took all of his composure from breaking out into a huge
grin. "She's...uh, fine," he managed to say. "She's great actually." He
looked down at his sneakers for a second and then looked back up at me, the
grin finally breaking through. "Thanks for talking to her, Stephen," he
said.

"No problem," I said casually. "Glad I could help you two kids out. Now if
you excuse me," I said, joining him at the door. "There's a certain member
of `N Sync I have to go talk to..."


My first instinct was to go to the balcony at the end of the hallway. It
wasn't like there were hundreds of places to go to in the building but I
had a strong suspicion that I would find Lance there, and I was right. My
boyfriend was standing there, leaning on the rail of the balcony, looking
out over the city. I noticed there was a gentle breeze blowing around us,
as I joined him at the railing.

"Nice view, huh?" I asked quietly, not wanting him to surprise him at the
sound of my voice.

"Yeah," he said glumly. "Nice." He refused to say anymore, opting to keep
his eyes focused on the view in front of him.

"Lance, come on," I finally spoke. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" he asked, turning towards me. "What's wrong?! I'll tell you
what's wrong, I don't know what I'm doing anymore, that's what!" He took a
deep breath. "Look, Stephen--if I hang around with you, I'm ignoring the
group. If I'm hanging around with the group, I'm ignoring you. I'm damned
if I move one way, and damned if I don't."

"You know, sometimes I wish I wasn't even in this group. I mean, I love
it--I love getting up on stage and singing and meeting people and
traveling. It beats working a minimum wage job, you know?" Lance asked me,
searching my face for understanding. When I finally nodded, he continued.

"And then I meet you," he said, a smile on his face. "And I want to spend
time with you, but then I ignore something else--the thing that let me meet
you," he said, as he grabbed my hands briefly and then let them go. "And
then I ignore the rest of the guys and they get frustrated at me for
ignoring my duties to the group. Somehow, it's always my happiness..." He
looked back out at the city and then turned back to me, sadness in his
eyes. "I just want to be happy, Stephen. I feel really rotten that I've
been ignoring the guys, but I don't want to ignore you either. "

"I won't be mad," I said honestly. "I know you big pop stars have
responsibilities,' I said, grinning.  "As long as you don't forget my name
and we get to spend a little *quality* time together, I'll be happy," I
said, raising my eyebrows suggestively.

Lance smiled at my expression. "You're so sensible," he sighed. "I think
that's another reason I like you so much."

I laughed at his remark. "Yeah, sensible--that's why I quit my job and left
my sister and now my mother disowns me," I thought, my face growing dark
with the past memories. Lance noticed this and gently touched my cheek.

"Come on, don't think about her," he said, stroking my skin. "We had a
pretty good day, didn't we?" He smiled, thinking about our previous
rendevouz in the bathroom. His touches grew a bit heavier. And then I
realized something.

"Lance--we're in public," I reminded him, with a weak smile. Despite that,
he ignored my warning and kept his fingers firmly in place. My eyes locked
with his, and I felt myself falling into the recesses of withdrawal from
the real world, and into another where only Lance and I existed. Suddenly,
the shriek of a young female girl from below whipped us back into the
present.

"LANCE!" the voice shrieked from down below, causing him to yank his hand
from my face as though I was on fire. His face turned crimson, as he leaned
back over the balcony just in time to see a throng of young, female girls
running towards us, although we were about twenty stories off the ground.

"How can they tell that it's you?" I asked him, as he began to wave to the
girls.

He looked at me and shrugged. "The hair I guess. And my stunning good
looks," he added oh-so-modestly, giving me a wink. "Hi girls!" he boomed in
his deep voice and the screams were so overwhelming, I'm surprised that all
of the windows in the buildings didn't shatter.

"Ugh," I said. "Trust me to get the arrogant `N Sync member," I teased,
turning away from the crowd, so that I wouldn't be noticed by the adoring
mob. Following my lead, Lance turned away from the crowd, and grabbed my
hand, laughing.

"What if I kissed you here?" Lance asked, a devilish look lurking in his
eyes. "I could say you're my really, manly girlfriend," he added once he
saw the horrified look on my face.

"Hey, it's your reputation if you're seen with a really ugly girl," I said
chuckling at his remark and walked inside of the building. Lance gave the
girls one more wave and screamed, "Bye--see you at the concert" and then
followed me back into the building.

"Whew, it's tough being a star," Lance said jokingly, as we headed back to
our room. Once we were inside it, I took him by surprise and pulled him
into my arms. I looked into his eyes and attempted to recapture the moment
that we had lost outside.

"It's not the balcony, but at least we're not surrounded by hundred of
prying eyes..." I trailed off, before letting my lips meet his in a soft
kiss.

"Stop it," Lance said, giggling after we parted. "You're distracting me
from my job,"

"What job?" I teased him. "Just shut up and kiss me, Mr. Pop Star," I shot
back, trying to hide my grin.

"Now, I like that order," Lance commented, his expression turning serious
as he ran his fingers through my hair. Then, like we had done so many times
before, Lance pressed his soft lips against mine, and I felt myself falling
once again...





Chapter 16

It was my cousin's first `N Sync concert and the expression on Cynthia's
face rivaled the one on a prisoners face.  She looked as though she was
about to be dragged off to her last supper, or something along those lines.

"Just because I'm starting to see one of them, doesn't mean that I like
their music or will *ever* like their music," she grumbled as we sat
backstage on cheap foldout chairs, eating cold pizza that was leftover from
the crew member's dinner. The rest of the guys were in a back room, meeting
the local contest winners. I smiled at the thought--I had been one of those
people only a few weeks ago and look what had happened to me.  My thoughts
wandered to Lance, and I felt my face grow warm, as my mind flipped over
all of the moments that we had shared together. The sound of falling
equipment backstage brought me back to reality.

I looked at Cynthia. Despite her complaints, she had never looked more
beautiful in her life. At it wasn't just her clothes or perfectly styled
hair--it was *her*. Her ivory skin was glowing and her violet eyes were
sparkling. I could tell that she was in love--at least the first stages of
it. That funny roller-coaster-for-a-stomach feeling, wondering if the other
person felt the same way about you--I could tell because only a few weeks
ago I was in that stage myself. And even though she was crabbing, I could
tell that despite herself, she wanted to smile.

"So, if I'm not being too nosy...what happened with you and Josh during
lunch? He seemed pretty happy when I talked to him this afternoon." I said,
chewing on a stale pizza crust. Cynthia avoided my gaze for a few moments,
choosing to stare at the overweight roadies scuffling back and forth with
equipment instead.

"Um...some stuff," she said vaguely. "You know, the usual..."

"And what, may I ask, is the usual?"

"Oh for God's sake's Stevie," Cynthia huffed, flipping her
strawberry-blonde hair over her shoulders. "I told Josh how much I liked
him. Is that what you wanted out of me?"

I nodded. "Yup. Thanks," I said, leaning over and pinching her cheek. She
swatted me away with her hand, but gave me an elated smile anyways.

"Bastard," she shot back. "You always were." Just then we heard a
commotion, and saw all five of the guys, plus the contest winners emerging
from the back room. I looked over and watched Cynthia's face break out into
a grin as her eyes zeroed in on Josh's tall frame.  He was holding onto a
little girl's hand and the girl, who was blonde, automatically reminded me
of Natalie. For a moment, I remembered how happy she had been that night. A
deep feeling sunk in my stomach, as I realized how much I missed my sister
who was back home with my mother. Poor Natalie. She was stuck in that house
with that witch, who was probably deprogramming her from her thoughts of me
as well as `N Sync.

Just then, Lance caught my eye and tried to nonchalantly call me over by
jerking his head to the right a few times. Cynthia and I looked at each
other curiously and walked over to the guys, who were now saying their
good-byes to the contest winners. They consisted of a guy who was with two
little girls. He was fairly good looking, with windblown sandy hair and
casual, yet dressy clothes. There was something about him though, that made
me a bit suspicious. And as I watched him leave, my suspicious were
confirmed as I noticed that he blatantly winked at Lance--*my* Lance.

`What the hell...' I thought, my strides increasing in pace as I reached my
boyfriend, who was staring at me with a distracted expression on his face.

"Hi, Lance," I said, taking a place next to him. "What's wrong?" I asked in
a quieter voice.

"You see that guy over there?" he asked, trying to point the guy out
without him noticing. "He was hitting on me. Or at least I think he was
hitting on me." Lance scratched his head in confusion. "What did he mean
when he said, `nice eyes'?"

I laughed at his remark and he shot me a dirty look. "I don't think this is
that funny, Stephen," Lance muttered, desperately averting his eyes to
avoid the guy's longing gaze.

"I'm sorry sweetie," I whispered. "But if you couldn't tell that he was
hitting on you, then you're more naive than I think. I'll take care of
this," I said confidently. I walked over to my cousin, who was standing
next to Josh and talking his ear off.

"Hey, Cynth--" I said. She turned to me with a clearly aggravated look on
her face. "Can I speak with you for a moment? If you're not too busy, that
is," I said, smiling at Josh. She gave him an apologetic look as we walked
away from the guys, her silver platform heels clomping noisily on the floor
with every step she took.

"What do you want, Stevie? This better be good," Cynthia said once we were
out of earshot from the guys. She crossed her arms over her chest, and gave
Josh a backwards glance, only to find that Josh was staring at her. Her
cross look was replaced with a sweet smile as she gave him a little
wave. Once she turned back to me, the angry look returned. She was such a
quick change artist.

"It is..." I said, looking at Lance, who had taken to staring at his
sneakers. "There's a guy hitting on Lance, Cynthia." I pointed him out to
my cousin and continued. "Do you think that Josh would mind if you went
over and, um, became a bit, um, affectionate towards Lance? Just so the guy
gets the idea that Lance isn't interested?" I explained, choosing my words
carefully.

Cynthia's scowl changed once again. In a matter of seconds she went from
offended to excited. "Sure! I love role-acting!" she said enthusiastically.
"Did you know that in high school--"

"You were the lead in Grease for two years straight, yeah, yeah. You're a
wonderful actress. Now work your magic." I brushed her off, starting to
laugh. "Just get your butt over there and pretend that you and Lance are
boyfriend and girlfriend, or have a thing for each other--whatever--just
get over there," I said, pushing her off towards Lance.

Almost immediately, I could tell that Cynthia was going to relish every
second of her new role as `Lance Bass's girlfriend'. Her eyes lit up as she
walked over to Lance, and threw her arms around him, which not only took my
boyfriend by surprise, but the rest of the guys as well.

"Hi, Lance, sweetie," she cooed, giving him a big kiss on the lips. I tried
to stifle my laughter, as she began to lay her act on even thicker and
heavier. I let my eyes wander over briefly to the guy who had been hitting
on Lance. His shocked expression was as clear as day, as he realized that
the guy he had made a move on was `straight'--or so he thought, as he
watched my cousin begin to molest my boyfriend.

"Cynthia, what are you--" Lance managed to sputter as my cousin kept
kissing his face over and over. He looked over at me, only to find me
doubled over, laughing. Lance then looked back at her, his pale skin
turning tomato red in embarrassment. Cynthia noticed his mortified state
and just laughed girlishly as she pressed her body against his.

"Oh, Lance, I missed you so much," Cynthia said in a very faux seductive
way, blinking her eyes at him and then, to everyone's surprise, she
suddenly did her trademark move and jumped on him. He managed to catch her,
as he gave me a look that clearly said, `What is going on here?' And then
the lightbulb suddenly clicked on over his head and he knew what Cynthia
was doing. A smile lit up his face, as he began to twirl her around in his
arms.

"Oh Cynth--I'm so glad to see you," he bellowed, finally returning her
sloppy kisses. "I thought I'd never get to see you again!" By this time,
everyone--and I mean, everyone--the roadies, the backstage crew, the public
relations people--were staring at the two of them, who were hamming it up
so realistically, they deserved some sort of award for their
performance. They actually looked as though they were madly in love. The
rest of the guys were staring at Lance, open mouthed in shock, and then
looked at me, where I was laughing my ass off. Josh, however, was a
completely different story--his face had twisted into a mask of pure
confusion and hurt as he watched the girl he had fallen for, slobbering all
over the guy who was supposed to be my boyfriend. But, the best part of
their act by far, was the effect it had on the guy who had been hitting on
Lance. He had obviously had enough, as he gave Cynthia and Lance a look of
pure evil. He then spun around on his heel furiously, yanking the two
little girls that were with him.

Cynthia looked at me as Lance's face was buried in her cleavage. "Okay, is
that enough?" she called out to me, looking somewhat disgusted. I managed
to nod through my laughter and watched as she jumped off of Lance.

"Hey," he said in mock protest. "I was just getting started."

"Oh, you should know I'm a tease by now, Lance," she said flippantly, and
walked back over to where I and the rest of the guys were standing.

Josh looked at her, perplexed. "What the hell was that all about?" he asked
her, as she gave us all a cat-who-ate-the-canary grin.

"There was a guy who was hitting on Lance," I explained quietly as the
other guys walked over to us, curious to know what was going on. "And I
thought the best way to get rid of him was for Cynthia to work her magic
charms." I said, trying to recover from my laughter.  I wiped tears away
from my eyes and looked at my cousin proudly. "She's quite the actress."

"I thought maybe Scoop had changed his mind," Joey said, laughing as he
finally got the joke, "Or that he was using you to get to Cynthia."

"Oh, everybody wants me," my cousin giggled, as she slyly looked at
Josh. Just then Marshall walked over to us, with a disapproving look on his
face.

"Congratulations, guys--about a thousand press photos were taken of you and
you," he said sarcastically, pointing at Lance and Cynthia. "Good job."

"Aww, Marsh, they were just shitting around," Chris spoke up, looking
disgusted with his road manager. "No big deal."

"No big deal? We want to have single guys in this group, okay? Let's play
out the fantasies for the kids..." Marsh said quietly but was still
obviously agitated.. "Now get into wardrobe and get ready for the show!" he
ordered them and stomped away, gluing his ear to a cell phone. Cynthia
looked at the guys, with a worried look on her face.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked in a quiet voice. She looked as though she had
been reprimanded by a teacher. Josh grabbed her shoulder, and gently rubbed
it.

"Eh, don't worry about him--he's so uptight sometimes, I'm surprised his
head doesn't explode," Josh said casually, shrugging him off. "We gotta get
moving, guys," he announced, walking back towards the dressing rooms. Then
he stopped, glanced back at Cynthia and grinned.

"I'll see you later--you're gonna go out with us tonight, right?" he called
out to her, his blue eyes looking her up and down in approval. She nodded
happily, her violet eyes watching as he disappeared into a room with a
curtain over it. The rest of the guys followed, except for Lance, who
stopped to talk to me.

"Thanks," he said, shyly. "For what you did. Even though we did make jack
asses out of ourselves," he added with a grin.

"Oh, it was nothin'. Cynthia'll jump at any opportunity to act like a
maniac in public," I said. He shook his head, looked around to make sure no
one was watching us (except for Cynthia, of course) and pulled me back into
an off limits area of secluded darkness.

"No, for making sure that guy knew I wasn't interested in him," Lance
said. "You could've shrugged it off and told me not to worry, but you made
sure he knew that I wasn't interested." He let out a deep laugh. "A little
extreme, but it worked." He gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Stephen."

"I guess I'm just the jealous type," I joked. I noticed the serious, yet
sweet look that remained on Lance's face as he continued to gaze at
me. "Hey, you're welcome." I said, touched by how much he obviously
appreciated it. "It's nothing that you wouldn't do for me, right?"

"You know that, Stephen." He let out a sigh and then grinned mischievously.
"But you know what? Cynthia did not do a *thing* for me." We laughed at his
comment and stared at each other for a few more seconds, loving the little
moments that we were able to spend together, before we both heard Justin
call out, "Lance! Now!"

Lance rolled his eyes in frustration. "Gotta go, Stephen," he sighed,
giving me another kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you after the concert."

"Make me proud," I called out to him, with a grin on my face. He gave me
the thumbs up sign before disappearing into the dressing room and as I
watched him I let out a happy, content sigh, once that I didn't even know
that I had been holding.


That's it for Chapter 15 and 16. I'm not sure when the next installment
will be coming out, but I will try to get it out as soon as possible.
Thanks for reading. Remember, comments, questions and concerns (i feel like
I'm writing a survey or something) are welcome at
sweetheart_stories@hotmail.com. Thanks--Gabriella.