Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 04:29:11 EDT
From: Gabriella Morrison <sweetheart_stories@hotmail.com>
Subject: My Surprise Romance 17

Hi everyone,

This is Chapter 17 of my continuing story.  I don't think there's much
introducing needed--except my once again desperate plea for
e-mails. Please, please feel free to drop me a note with any comments (good
or bad) you have about my story--I love getting new e-mail! The address is
sweetheart_stories@hotmail.com--and tell me what you think. Thank you to
all of the people who have e-mailed me over the past few days. Your
comments mean a lot to me!

And of course, no new installment would be complete without a few more
words of thanks. Justin, Damon, Clarke and now, Cele. Thank you all so much
for writing me--the story wouldn't be the same without your e-mails! Thank
you, thank you, thank you. Words cannot say enough of how much I appreciate
you...and now the almighty disclaimer...

DISCLAIMER: This story involves a m/m relationship. This story doesn't
imply the sexuality of any member of `N Sync, or Lance Bass. You must be
18/21 (depending on the area) to read this, blah blah blah...and now....


My Surprise Romance

Chapter 17


As the next three days of concerts and cities passed my mind in a whirlwind
blur, I realized something: I could never do what Lance and the rest of the
guys were doing. It was exhausting, moving from city to city, with nary a
trace to catch your breath. I was drop-dead tired, and I could barely stay
awake. Sleep was my new best friend. The past two nights, Lance and I had
fallen into bed with just a kiss good night and nothing else.When I looked
into the mirror Tuesday morning, I looked as though I was run over by a
truck. My hair was dull and flat, there were dark bags under my eyes, and
my skin looked sallow and sickly. How the hell could Lance do this almost
every day? I asked myself as I turned on the water and began to brush my
teeth.

But despite my inner grumbling, I had never been happier in my entire
life. I think I had finally reached an inner level of peace that I had
never reached before. My thoughts of low self-esteem had practically been
banished from my mind. When I woke up every morning, I couldn't help but
smile. And of course, waking up with Lance's arms around my body helped. It
was thanks to him, that I was a changed person.

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror for a few more seconds and as I
did this, another seed of worry began to grow in the back of my mind. I
began to wonder how one person could change my life in such a short period
of time.  As I grabbed for the hotel brand of shaving cream that sat on the
sink's counter, I realized that the idea of one person changing my entire
life scared me. And then I began to shave and think at the same time. What
would happen if Lance and I broke up? What would happen to me then? There
would go my newfound feelings of exhilaration and love and uplifted
self-esteem...God, why the hell was I thinking this? I stared at myself in
the mirror, half of my face still covered in shaving foam. Was I mentally
trying to ruin my first relationship?

As I finished shaving, I heard footsteps approach the bathroom door and a
few seconds later, I saw Lance's head appear around the edge of the door in
the reflection of the mirror. His blond hair was sticking out in various
directions, making him look even more handsome (if that was possible), but
in a goofy way. A smile lit up his sleepy face when he saw me standing at
the sink.

"Hey," he said softly, walking into the bathroom. He placed his arms around
my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. Lance looked at our reflection
in the mirror as I wiped my face clean with a towel. I turned to him,
preferring to see the real person face to face rather than just as an
image.

"Hey yourself," I shot back, giving him a good morning kiss. "I didn't want
to wake you up this morning." He ran a strong hand up and down my chest,
causing me to shiver. Lance placed his lips next to my earlobe and placed a
small kiss on it.

"That was sweet, but I wouldn't mind if you had waken me up," he whispered,
his perfect brown eyebrows raising upwards suggestively. I groaned at his
expression, trying to ignore the feelings that were running rampant inside
of me and grinned instead.

"That's my boy--always thinking about the naughty stuff," I quipped as I
ruffled his hair, causing him to stick his lower lip out at me.

"Hey, I fixed my hair this morning," he said in mock protest. "And you go
messing it up."

"That's what I'm here for," I grinned, walking out of the bathroom, Lance's
arms still around my waist. I walked over to the bed, pulled my luggage
from under it and began to rummage through my rumpled clothes, looking for
something decent to wear.

"So what's on the agenda today?" I asked Lance as he unwrapped his arms
from my waist and took a seat on the bed next to my suitcase. "I definitely
know we have a day off today," I said, grinning at the thought.

"Yeah, finally," Lance agreed. "And I kinda have something special in mind
for us to do," he said, returning my grin exuberantly.

I stared at him in confusion for a second before letting a smirk cross my
face. "Oh God--don't you think we've done enough?" I said. "I don't think
there's anything more special for us to do."

Lance laughed at my statement, and pulled himself into a kneeling position,
meeting my eyes. "Now who's thinking the naughty thoughts?" He asked
teasingly, leaning over and biting my bottom lip, pulling me in for a
passionate kiss. His hands rested on my back and for a brief second, I
actually thought we were going to start something. But Lance quickly
brought the kiss to an end, once he noticed that both of our breathing
patterns had changed.

"I was actually thinking something else in mind," Lance murmured against my
lips. "Although I do like your train of thought." He pulled his face away
from mine and looked into my eyes deeply. "I was thinking that we could go
out on our first date."

"First date?" I repeated in surprise. "Didn't we have our first date at the
sculpture park?"

Lance shook his head, a bemused smile on his lips. "Nope, that doesn't
count. I didn't know if you liked me as a friend or something else," he
remembered, his voice growing soft with the memory. "And once I did,
well...we never got to go out or anything." He briefly looked away for a
second, and then looked back at me, a mischievous grin replacing the shy
one he had worn seconds ago.

"Besides, I feel bad...using you for sex..." Lance said huskily, trying not
to laugh. "You should be getting more out of the deal--at least dinner and
a movie." My eyes grew wide at the bawdy way he had put his thoughts,
causing a grin to form on my lips.

"What if I like being used for only sex?" I shot back, grabbing him around
his waist and catching him off guard. "You never think of what I like."

"Yes, I do," Lance protested, steadying himself by placing his hands on my
shoulders for support. "All of the time--when I wake up, when I first see
you in the morning--" I cut him off, placing my hand on his mouth to shut
him up.

"Okay, okay.. I get it. You're obsessed with me." I leaned over, removed my
hand and kissed him on the lips. "And I like it." Our mouths met once more,
and we became so involved in our early morning groping, that we didn't
notice that the door had opened.

"Oh my God!" Lance and I broke apart abruptly, to see his road manager
standing in our doorway. A thoroughly shocked expression appeared on
Marshall's normally stern face, as the stack of newspapers in his arms slid
to the floor. I stumbled to the opposite side of the room, paralyzed with
fear. Why the hell didn't people knock? I thought with disgust. Were they
raised in barns?

However, my thoughts were the least of everyone's problems. Marshall just
stood there, the horrified look still on his face as he had discovered
Lance and I in an intimate embrace. No words left his mouth. I don't think
the man could have spoken if you paid him.

"Oh crap," Lance managed to say, looking ashen. "Marsh, I can
explain...Stephen and I..." We had been doing more explaining these past
few weeks than we had ever done in our entire lives, I thought, panic
starting to overtake my mind. Marshall was as uptight as one guy could be
and now that he found out about Lance and I as a couple...Jesus, I thought,
shaking my head, I could kiss touring with `N Sync good-bye.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Marsh squeaked out, holding his chest as
though he was about to have a heart attack. "I mean...Lance...I don't know
what to say." He looked at me, standing there and then back again at
Lance. The poor man was dumbfounded and I'm sure it didn't help matters
that Lance and I were clad only in our boxer shorts.

"I don't know--I thought you were going to kick me out of the group," Lance
muttered. "You said it the other night--you want straight, single guys in
this group, And I'm neither, so..." he trailed off, not sure of what to say
next. To our surprise, Marshall didn't start screaming at us, or even told
me to get out. He just took a few deep breaths, leaning down to retrieve
the newspapers that he had dropped. When he stood back up, a calm look had
appeared on his face,

"Do the rest of the guys know about you two?" Marshall managed to say in a
cool, collected voice. But his eyes continued to stare at us in obvious
disbelief, as though he had walked in on a bad dream of sorts. Lance and I
both nodded in unison and then looked at each other, worried expressions
still on out faces. Marshall just shook his head. "At least I know now why
the rest of the guys wanted you to join the group." He looked at me
suspiciously. "So is that girl, Cynthia, really your cousin? Or is she
dating someone in this group too?"

I met Lance's eyes, and a silent understanding passed between us. "She's my
cousin, sir," I said, avoiding to mention her new relationship with
Josh. That was their business, not mine. I wasn't sure if they were ready
to go official, and I was not the one who was about to announce it. "I
promised that I would spend the summer with her, and the rest of the guys
wanted her along with them," I said honestly.

Marsh lifted a hand to his forehead and began to rub his temples. "Look,
you two, to be perfectly honest, I don't care what you guys do behind
closed doors. It's your business and trust me, I didn't want to see
you...um," he searched his mind for the right word.

"Involved?" Lance volunteered. Marshall nodded.

"Right, I don't have a problem with it...I've dealt with other bands that
have gay members, so I'm used to hiding stuff--" Marshall explained.

"Oooh--which bands?" I asked eagerly, cutting him off.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he smirked in an annoying way, that made me
want to slap him across the face. "But, I'm telling you two the same things
I tell those other guys. Be good--no public groping, no public displays of
affection--as far as the world knows, Lance Bass is straight. Once they
find out you're with a guy--" He kissed his fingertips, "say bye, bye, bye
to your career." He laughed bitterly, obviously amused by his witty, little
joke.  Just then, Marshall pulled his arm from behind his back to reveal
the stack of newspapers which turned out to be the daily tabloids. "And as
far as I'm concerned, no one's gonna doubt your sexuality once these babies
hit the presses." He threw the stack of newspapers at Lance, who managed to
catch them with the grace of a professional baseball player. I walked over
to Lance and together, we looked at the paper that sat on top of the pile
and gasped.

"`N SYNCER CAUGHT IN PASSIONATE LOVE AFFAIR!!!'" The blaring headline read
in two inch, bold letters.  Upon seeing those words, I felt as though the
wind had been knocked out of me. For a split second, I expected to see a
grainy photograph of Lance and I together. So imagine my relief when I saw
a color photo of Lance and Cynthia locked in a passionate embrace.  It was
from the night we had tricked the overzealous fan that had been hitting on
Lance and I laughed at the photo, thinking `oh, if only the reporters knew
why they were kissing...'

However, Lance didn't find it as funny at all, as he skimmed the cover with
an angry, confused look on his face. "What the..." Lance trailed off as he
flipped through the paper, until he reached the article.

"Listen to this," Lance announced, clearing his throat dramatically, as
though he was about to read a speech. "`Lance Bass is no longer single,
girls--as evident by the passionate embrace he was caught in backstage at a
Dallas concert.'" He looked up at me, waiting to see my reaction.

I calmly folded my arms across my chest. "Go on," I prodded, as Lance
continued to read the false article in a fake broadcaster's voice.

"`The lucky girl is reported to be 19 year old University of Wisconsin
student, Cynthia Marie Peterson, who is currently sleeping, er, working her
way through the summer as the bands personal assistant.'" By the time Lance
stopped reading, his face was bright red. He placed the newspaper on top of
the rest and then looked at Marshall and I, waiting to see what we would
say.

"Nice," Marshall said, smiling "Well, at least the reporters think you're
straight," he casually remarked and then gave us one more look. "And to
keep it that way, I suggest that you and *Miss* Peterson, not Mister--" he
snapped, looking at me pointedly, "--spend a little more time together--you
wouldn't want the press to think you're gay," Marshall said sarcastically
and then left the room.

Lance and I stood there in complete silence, not sure what to say to each
other. I think our first instinct was to laugh--the idea of Lance and
Cynthia together was kind of funny. But then I kept hearing Marshall's
snide comments repeating themselves in my head. My eyes kept drifting over
to those tabloids, with their false proclamation of Lance's sexuality to
the world. I looked at my boyfriend, who was staring at me with a nervous
expression. And then he crossed over to me, and wrapped me in his arms. But
this time, it wasn't for passion--it was for comfort.  We held each other
for a few seconds, before Lance finally spoke.

"I don't want to be Cynthia's boyfriend," Lance whispered, looking
forlorn. "I want to be *your* boyfriend." There was something in his eyes
that broke my heart. He looked so...so...sad. And there was nothing I could
do about it.

"You are my boyfriend," I said, reassuringly. "I know that, you know that,
the guys know that...don't worry," I said, taking him back into my
arms. "I'm the worrier in this relationship, not you."

"But now everyone thinks I'm with your cousin," Lance said. "And now in
every interview I'm going to have to talk about Cynthia. I don't want to
talk about her--" he looked up and smiled at me. "I want to talk about you,
Stephen. I want to tell them that you're an artist and you do wonderful
paintings and that you're sweet and that--" He stopped short, and then
looked down at the floor.

I looked at Lance carefully. "What?" I asked, tipping his chin up, so I
could look into his beautiful eyes.

He hesitated for a second, before speaking. "That I love you."

I love you. The three words that no one had ever said to me before. I felt
a chill run up and down my spine as Lance's eyes never left mine, waiting
for some sort of response. I could still hear his voice...I love you...

"Stephen?" Lance asked gently. "Hello, Stephen," he said, softly. "Are you
still there, or did I just make a fool out of myself?"

I laughed at his little remark. "No, it's just that...no one's ever said
that to me before," I said, still amazed. "You love me?"

He rolled his eyes and gave me a little, light slap on the cheek. "Yes...of
course I do. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it. I'm a man of my
word," he whispered, tracing my lips with his fingertip.

I, however, was still in shock. And when I'm in shock, I babble. "Are you
sure? I mean, you can change your mind, before you lock into anything too
certain," I told my boyfriend, who shook his head firmly, his eyes
sparkling.  I stared at Lance for a few seconds, my eyes taking in
everything feature about this man that I held in my arms. He was so
wonderful..it was as though some higher power had singled me out to find
him...like we had been waiting for each other all of out lives...

"I love you," I whispered to him, our eyes still locked together. And the
words didn't come out just because Lance had said them first. They came out
of my mouth because I wanted to say them. They came from my heart.

Lance's face lit up then when he heard his words returned and our lips met
in a soft, perfect kiss. It wasn't passionate or a lustful...it was
real...because we were in love and we loved each other.



Lance and I arrived at breakfast together, hand in hand. The rest of the
guys (minus Justin) looked at us, their eyes briefly dropping down at the
sight of our hands clasped together.

"Morning, you two," Chris said, looking a bit bleary-eyed from his and
Justin's adventure to another local nightclub the night before. "Have some
food--I know I won't be eating any."

"Hangover?" Josh asked, leaning over the table and spearing another slice
of French toast with his fork.

"You said it," Justin announced, entering the room, wearing a tight t-shit
and baggy jeans. "I'm so sick, I think I'm gonna die." He fell into a seat
next to Joey at the table and placed his forehead on it. Lance took a plate
and began filling it with food.

"Then you shouldn't drink so much," Josh said sensibly, as though he had
never been drunk or hungover in his life. He cut a piece of the toast off
and popped it in his mouth.

"Someone's in a good mood," I observed, as I sat down next to Lance. I
looked around the table to see that my cousin was mysteriously
absent. "Where's Cynth?" I asked. We all knew that Josh and Cynthia had
gone out somewhere the night before, but they refused to tell us where
their exact destination had been to.

All eyes at the table turned to Josh, who was still stuffing his face with
food. He looked up at us, with an innocent expression on his face, "What?"
he managed to mumble around the food in his mouth.

"Where's Cynthia?" Joey asked him, a grin appearing on his face. "I bet you
know Josh..it wouldn't happen to be in your room, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't." My cousin appeared in the doorway, a smile on her pretty
face, her blonde hair pulled into two low pigtails that tumbled past her
narrow shoulders. She was wearing one of her infamous, `I Hate Boy Bands'
shirts as well as a pair of men's boxer shorts. In her hand was a
newspaper, that she rolled up into a tube and promptly smacked Joey in the
head with.

"Hey, what did I do to deserve that?" he exclaimed, looking at her in
surprise.  He rubbed the back of his head, where the paper had smacked him.

"That's for having your mind in the gutter. If you must know, I spent the
night in my room. Alone," she remarked, a grin on her face. Cynthia then
walked over to me and dropped the newspaper in my lap. "And that's for you,
Stevie. I always told you I'd be a star."

I closed my eyes as I saw another picture of Lance and Cynthia plastered on
the front page of the newspaper. Only this time, the headline was much
smaller and read, "`N Sync Member Breaks Teenie Hearts With Buxom
Girlfriend." It was a choice picture of Lance, who had his face buried in
my cousin's chest. But let me tell you one thing--it's not nice seeing your
cousin looking like a slut on the front cover of a national publication.

Josh looked over at the paper and snatched it out of my lap. His face
drained of all its color as his eyes read the headline and then skimmed
over the accompanying picture.

"What the hell is this garbage?" he yelled out, opening the paper to the
article about Lance and Cynthia."You're not with Lance--you're with me."

Cynthia laughed nervously at his outburst, giving the rest of us a worried
glance. She gently placed an hand on his arm. "Josh, relax--I know
that. Lance would never be interested in me--would you, Lance?"

My boyfriend shook his head, with a disgusted look on his face. "Quit
hitting on me, girl. Or my boyfriend will beat you up," he said, laying his
head on my shoulder, looking up at me. Immediately, I pushed his head off,
causing him to look at me in surprise.

"Hey, you want to mess with Cynth--go ahead," I said, sliding my chair away
from Lance. "She's tough. She's a girl," I joked. By this time, the rest of
the guys were laughing hysterically at our bantering, with the exception of
Josh, who eyes were glued to the picture.

"This is ridiculous," Josh declared. "We'll just clear it up in an
interview or something. Tell those reporters that Cynthia is seeing me and
not Lance," he said confidently, flipping through the tabloid rag.

"Um..." Lance began, looking down at his plate of food. "You guys, Marshall
found out about us--me and Stephen--and then he showed us that this
morning," Lance explained, pointing to the paper in Josh's hands. "But it
was a different one." He paused uncomfortably. "And then he said that
Cynthia and I should act like we're together, so that the press doesn't
find out that, um, I'm gay." Everyone stared at Lance in amazement, except
for Josh, who began flipping through the paper furiously in search of the
article.

"Marsh can't make you do that," Joey said, after taking a bite of his
eggs. "He can't--it's not right."

"It's not right, but...for the sake of the band," Lance sighed, pushing his
plate away from him. He looked as though he was sick to his stomach."I
guess I'll do it."

"Wait a minute--what about me?" Cynthia spoke up. "You guys are planning my
life for me and I don't like it. First of all, I don't appreciate looking
like this," she said angrily, pointing to the picture of herself. "Second,
I don't want to be Lance's girlfriend." She looked over at Josh who had
found the article and was now speed reading it. Once he finished, he
slammed the paper down on the table, pushed his chair back and stormed out
of the room.  Everyone looked at each other with shocked looks on their
faces (except for Justin, whose head was still on the table, looking as
though he was about to die).

"What the hell was that?" Joey asked, swallowing the food he had in his
mouth.

"He's really pissed off ," Chris noted, opening a bottle of aspirin he
pulled from his pocket. He took two and washed it down with a glass of
orange juice. "I mean, Josh can't really believe it, can he? He knows Scoop
is gay. And I say fuck what Marshall says. You cannot live a lie like
that--I mean by saying Cynthia is your girlfriend," he added quickly.

"Because you wouldn't want the press to find out that I had a boyfriend,"
Lance said, sarcastically. "God forbid, our sales would go down and no one
would like us anymore."

Chris looked taken aback. "Hey, I didn't say that," he said nervously. "But
you gotta admit, it would kill our careers." Justin looked up just then,
staring at Chris with a strange look on his face for a few seconds and then
he put his head back down on the table.

Suddenly Cynthia leaped up from her chair. "Josh had to know that it's not
true!" she screamed hysterically. "For God's sake, Lance is gay! Big deal
about your careers--just let the boy be happy already! " Cynthia then
jumped up from the table and ran out of the room. "Josh!!!" we heard her
yell as she ran down the hall to his room.  Dead silence filled the
breakfast room and Chris was the first to speak up.

"Hey, Lance man," he began. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to come out like
that."

Lance shook his head. "I know you didn't, Chris. And you're right--it would
kill all of our careers if I came out." I noticed that Lance avoided
looking at me, just then and pulled his plate back in front of him
immersing himself in the actions of eating his food.

The next few minutes were silent, filled only with the sounds of metal
utensils hitting the china plates. And then Justin suddenly stood up.

"Hey, you guys, I'm gonna go out for awhile," he said uncomfortably. "I'll
be back later tonight, okay?" Justin didn't bother waiting for an answer,
or even tell us where he was going. He just turned on his heel and walked
out of the room. The remaining four of us, looked at each other, clearly
bewildered by Justin's strange exit.

"Weird," Joey breathed, before taking another bite of his food, while Lance
watched him.

"Man, don't you ever stop eating? Doesn't anything ever stop you?" he
asked, shaking his head. Soon Justin's strange behavior was long forgotten
as Lance and Joey began a mock duel with their forks. I laughed as Lance
finally managed to knock Joey's fork out of his hand, after a long fought
battle.

"Win!" Lance shouted, throwing his hands up into the air in victory. The
rest of us who were still at the table, laughed at what had just happened,
the mornings' past troubles hidden in the backs of our minds. If only we
could all stay so happy...


Lance and I walked back to our room after breakfast, our hands entwined
with each others. As we approached the room that Josh and Justin shared,
Lance and I stopped in front of it, listening for any kind conversation
coming from inside.

"Nothing," Lance whispered to me, looking at me with worried eyes. "That
kind of scares me."

Before I could respond, I heard Cynthia's voice suddenly ring out in the
quiet hallway. "It better scare you, you little eavesdroppers!!!" Lance and
I looked up to see her and Josh together, his arms hooked lazily around her
waist.

"Whoops--busted," Lance said, sounding defeated. He made a lame attempt at
trying to look embarrassed, but ruined it by breaking out in laughter. "You
two okay?" he called out as they walked towards us.

"We're fine," Josh said, speaking for him and Cynthia. His blue eyes were
glowing happily as he pulled my cousin closer to him. "We burned all the
papers," he joked. Cynthia looked up at him, pouting.

"My big newspaper debut and it's gone," Cynthia said, sighing. "Oh well,
I'm sure someone back home will clip it out for me." She shook her head
ruefully. "And I'm gonna be the laughing stock back at school," she
bemoaned. "How did I go from selling shirts with messages against you to
going out with one of you? I am going to die of humiliation when I get
back," she said melodramatically, turning back to Josh.

"I think you'll live," he said, giving my cousin a quick kiss on the
lips. I looked at Lance and we raised our eyebrows at each other, clearly
amused by their public display of affection.

"Now who needs a hosing down?" I teased the new couple. Cynthia turned
towards me and placed a finger to her lips.

"Oh cram it, Stevie. We had to put up with you and Lance going at it all
the time, now it's our turn," she said happily as she stood on her tiptoes
to kiss Josh once more. Lance and I watched them, with horrified looks on
our faces.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Lance whined, sticking a finger down his
throat as he made gagging noises. "Come on, Stephen," he said pulling me
into the bedroom. "I need some normalcy back into my life!" And with that,
he yanked my body into the room, almost causing me to fall over my own two
feet. Cynthia peered into the room, as Lance grabbed the doorknob and
closed the door.

"I know what you two are gonna do in there!" Cynthia called out girlishly,
as the door slammed in her face. Lance and I looked at each other and
laughed.

"She's a perceptive girl," Lance commented, giving me a provocative
smile. He leaned over and gave me a kiss, which I eagerly responded to.

"After all that tension this morning, I think we definitely needed that," I
lamented, after our lips parted.

"I second that," Lance agreed, backing up my statement with another
kiss. When we parted, Lance stood there and stared into my eyes for a few
seconds. "So, are we on for tonight?" he finally said.

"Tonight?" I repeated blankly, unsure of what he was talking about. "What
are we doing tonight?"

Lance groaned in frustration. "I can't believe I have a boyfriend with such
a short-term memory," he said, shaking his head as he touched the tip of my
nose with his index finger. "Our date, remember?" he said, as though I
should have remembered.

"Oh yeah, our date," I said airily, my face lighting up at the thought of
going out with Lance. "I guess we could go...but I have to make sure I have
room in my very busy schedule," I said in my most businesslike voice. Lance
feigned being outraged by my comment and neatly popped me in the stomach

"You're gonna make room in your schedule for me," Lance said in a
threatening voice, pressing himself closer to me.

"And if I don't?" I said challengenly, enjoying the intimate rapport that
Lance and I were sharing.

"Then your in trouble, mister," Lance said, moving his lips to my
chin. "Big trouble."

"I like the sound of that," I said, feeling a little winded as Lance kissed
me. "Trouble sounds pretty good to me--I guess I'll *have* to go out with
you then."

Lance looked up at me and grinned. "I knew you'd see it my way," he said,
kissing me once more time.



I headed out to the local mall that afternoon, dragging Cynthia with me. I
had somehow managed to get her out of Josh's arms and into the car that I
had rented for the afternoon.

"What do you need me for?" Cynthia complained, as I drove down a busy
street, en route to the mall. "I mean, really--aren't you sick of me yet?"

"Never," I said, smiling. "I love my cousin, even if she is on the cover of
many tabloid magazines with my boyfriend."

"Oh God," she said, burying her face in her hands. "I can't believe that
happened. That's the last time I'll ever help you out with a joke, Stevie,"
she grumbled as she opened the sunroof over our heads.  "So what are you
and Lance doing tonight? As if I don't know already," she said,
sardonically.

I ignored her little jest there and followed the signs that led me to the
mall. "Lance and I are going out on our first date. That's why I need new
clothes and that's I dragged you with me. I need female fashion advice," I
told Cynthia, which caused her to snicker.

"If I'm not mistaken, you usually go out on a date first, and then have
hot, passionate sex--not the other way around," Cynthia deadpanned, looking
out the window.

"Shut up--it sound so...dirty when you say it like that," I laughed. "So
are things okay between you and Josh?"

Cynthia nodded as I turned into the parking lot of the spacious
mall. "Great," she said. "After I ran out of the breakfast room this
morning, I found Josh and told him that there was no way I was going along
with this whole Lance charade. It's not fair to any of us--you, me, Josh,
Lance..." she trailed off.

Something in her words struck me funny in my heart. "I understand," I
nodded. "I wasn't too hot on the idea of you and Lance together either, but
I figured that if it would help the band out, I'd go along with it," I
remarked as I parked the car in an empty space that was at least fifty
miles away from the nearest mall entrance.

"No it's not that.." Cynthia said, deep in thought. "Josh and I were
talking and we both disliked the fact that we couldn't talk about each
other. I would always have to make up lies about Lance and Josh would have
to pretend he didn't have a girlfriend. And, Stevie, if I have a boyfriend,
I want to be able to talk about him...even if he is a member of a
boy-band," she added, as we made our way to the mall. I nodded at her
words--she always managed to make perfect sense of everything.

Once inside, Cynthia and I began to scour shops for clothing that I could
wear that night. I've never been very into fashion, or appearances, but I
definitely wanted to look good for Lance that evening. Cynthia and I went
into what seemed to be a hundred different stores and finally settled on a
short sleeved, beige colored shirt and a pair of tailored army green pants
from Banana Republic. I really had my eye on a nice shirt from Abercrombie
& Fitch, but Cynthia refused to let me go into that store.

"It's bad enough that I'm dating a boy-band member--let me have some
dignity by not setting a foot in that place," she said adamantly, walking
me past the store like a child. I shook my head at my cousin's bizarre
guidelines that she stuck to.  As we left the mall a thought from early
that morning suddenly popped into my mind.

"Hey, Cynth--you know who's acting weird?" I said, as I searched the
parking lot for the rental car. "Justin."

"You don't say," she remarked casually, looking at me with interest. "How's
he acting weird?"  "Well, this morning, he was really hungover from last
night and then he just got up and said that he was leaving." I shrugged my
shoulders. "He didn't tell us where he was going or anything." As I talked,
I noticed that Cynthia was strangely looking off to the right of her, as we
waked down an aisle filled with cars.

"Cynth--hello, Cynthia," I said, snapping my fingers in front of her
face. "Come in Cynthia," I teased her. Despite my goofing around, a
distraught look appeared on her face, as she stopped dead in her tracks.

"You wanna know why Justin's been acting strange?" she asked in a choked
voice. "Just look over there." She lifted her arm and pointed her finger at
an expensive looking Lexus, whose finish was so polished, it damn near
blinded me. I squinted at the car in the bright sunlight, only for my mouth
to drop open as I saw Justin Timberlake, in that car, locked in a very
passionate embrace with another man.


That's it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the cliffhanger (?)
ending. Once again, I would like to hear your thoughts about my story--is
is getting too sappy? Too dumb? E-mail me at
sweetheart_stories@hotmail.com.  Thanks for reading--Gabriella.