Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 17:49:51 -0500 From: Case . <casewriter@nycmail.com> Subject: Quarks, Flaws and Sleepless Nights (part 1) Quarks, Flaws & Sleepless Nights -1- By: Case (casewriter@nycmail.com) --------------- Don't read this if you are under 18 or the legal age to view stories of this nature. This story is pure fiction and in no way portrays the realistic life of any celebrity mentioned. It's just a story. --------------- Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by to check out my first attempt at a story. I've been reading these stories forever and decided it was time to contribute.... Let's see how it goes. This stories love interest is JC Chasez of N'sync. --------------- Nineteen year old Adam Texan was having a hard time directing his ambitions. One year out of highschool with nothing more than a C average to show for it, Adam was in a state of carelessness. His current motto was 'Party now and grow up when it becomes conveniant.' Apparently that would never happen. Adam's party money came from tending bar at a restaurant conveniantly owned by his cousin Marty. His transportation was his own car, a gift from his generous father. The phone rings. Once. Twice. Adam picks up the phone and presses it to his ear. "Shit, you woke me up. Who is this?" "Oh hey Tex, it's just me Marty." His cousin casually replied. "Sup Marty man? Try not to call so early." Adam, or as his friends called him 'Tex', groaned out. "Oh. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Say, could you do me a favor?" Marty said. "Sure." Tex said. "I'm not quite sure of the time. Think you could check that for me?" Marty said. Tex answered a firm, "12:45 PM". "12:45 on a Monday?" Marty asked. There was a curious tone in his voice. "Yea, well, 12:46 now." Tex verified. "Wow Tex, I knew you were fast. I didn't know you were that fast.", said Marty. "Umm. I'm sorry, what was that? I don't understand.", said Tex. "I just think a person must be awfully speedy to get out of bed, take a shower, I dunno... brush the teeth, have a cup of coffee.... and uh, oh yea! Be at work by 11:30 AM. What time is it now Tex?", asked Marty. "Still 12:46. Oh. Man, I forgot I was working today. Hey look, I can be there in 15 minutes.", Tex answered. He could actually be there in about 45 minutes, but 15 was a more phone friendly number at the moment. "Don't bother. You're fired. End of story.", Marty shot out. "Ok, I'll be there in 15 minutes. How does that sound Marty?" Without waiting for a responce, Tex put down the phone and slowly got out of bed. He knew Marty wouldn't be mad. At 26, Marty Grasso was seven years older than his cousin Adam Texan. Marty had inherited the family buisness. A small family style Italian restaurant, Marty's father had left him 'Rosie's', named after Marty's great aunt. Everyone who worked at Rosie's was family, though only a few by blood. Tex hurriedly slipped off his pajamas (white tshirt, white boxers) and swiftly made it to the bathroom to shower. One minute to adjust the water temperature. Fifteen minutes to shower. Eight minutes brushing his teeth. Three minutes to dry off. Ten minutes looking for clothes and two minutes putting those clothes on. Eight minutes gelling his short brown hair. 55 minutes had passed including the seven minute total for each time he stopped to check himself in the mirror. Tex didn't need the constant looks from young girls and occasionaly guys to know that he looked good. It wasn't pure 'Full-of-himselfism', but Adam Texan had strived to build his athletic physique. He felt he needed to be as pleasing as possible on the outside, to hide his inner insecurities. Tex was gay. On top of that, he was a virgin. He tried to deny that for a while. First he was straight, then he was bisexual and now he was gay. He tried his best to hide this fact because of the impact he knew it would have on his friends and family. Friends and family were the two most important things in Tex's life and hard as it may be, he would continue to play it straight. That was, play it straight to everyone but Marty. Marty was his best friend and the only person he could confide in. Nobody else needed to know. Nobody else would know. Hell, he was born ! an actor. Another twenty minutes and Tex was stepping out of his car into the parking lot of Rosie's. He made his way to the door and stepped inside. He looked at the clock. It was only a little past two. It was just as he thought, there were only a few, maybe 5 or 6 tables seated and not one person at the bar. It was never busy this early on a Monday. He knew Marty would be a little pissed though, because the bar had to be set up. Stools overturned. Crushed ice replenished. Bottles restocked. Marty stepped out from where he was, behind the bar. "I thought I fired you.", Marty said with a smile. "You can't fire family. It's against the rules." Giving a look that said "I'm sorry", Tex walked around behind the bar to see if anything else needed to be done. Nope. "Yea, I finished all your work. Don't worry about it. Just try to be on time at least once a week, so it at least feels like you work here." Marty smirked and stepped away from the bar giving Tex a firm slap on the back. Tex walked over to his personal drawer, pulled it out and retrieved a thick paperback book. Every bartender that doesn't work in a nightclub, needs a thick paperback book to make it through the slow times. Tex was into the 'True Crime' genre of books. It was amazing to him how people justified their actions. He was currently reading a book about a female serial killer. An hour passed before he got his first customer. "Excuse me." An agitated man spoke out from his seat at the bar. The tone of his voice suggested this was probably the third or fourth 'Excuse me' he had called out to Tex, who always got absorbed in his books. The young man appeared to be in his twenties with a thick head of brown hair, slightly darker than Tex's. He had a slim, yet defined body. What was odd about him, was that he was wearing sunglasses inside the dimly lit restaurant. The man was with a young woman of around the same age. She was exotic looking. Asian with black hair and light brown eyes. "Sorry, I was kinda in my own little world." Tex stood up straight and put his book down on the back counter. "Alright, and what can I get for you two today?" The man was first to speak. "I'll have a dry Martini." Tex punched it into the register, then looked toward the lady. "Anything for you mam?" She paused for a second before asking for a Strawberry Daiquiri. Tex gave them a smile and a nod and proceeded to turn around and fix the drinks when he caught a glimpse of Marty in the corner. Tex sighed. Marty was mouthing 'ID' to him from across the room. Marty was very anal about checking ID for anyone who looked under 28. Tex turned back around to the couple. "I'm sorry. Can I see some ID?" The man had an annoyed look on his face. "ID? Are you serious?", the man asked. "If I asked you what the difference was between a midget and a jackhammer, I definately wouldn't be serious. I'm asking for ID though. It doesn't make for good humor." Tex tried to make light of things while waiting for the guy to take out his licence. "I'm 26." The man was stubborn. The woman had already shown Tex her own licence. She excused herself to the bathrrom. "Sir, I'm sorry, we don't really accept verbal ID. Any form of picture identification will do just fine." Tex was beginning to wonder why this guy was so reluctant to show his ID. He didn't look under 21. He didn't want to sound like an asshole, but he didn't want to get Marty in trouble by not doing his job. If he just served drinks to everyone who looked as though they might be over 21, Marty would soon enough lose his liquer licence. Eventually, the guy pulled out a wallet and handed Tex his licence. His name was Joshua Chasez and sure enough, he was 26. Tex was drawn to Joshuas face. Those piercing blue eyes looked familiar as though he had seen them somewhere before. A few pours from several bottles and Tex had the drinks made and set them in front of Josh. Fifteen minutes had passed and still the exotic girl had not returned. In the meantime, Joshua Chasez had ordered and sucked down four more dry Martini's in addition to drinking the exotic girl's Daiquiri. "Excuse me, what's your name?" Josh asked the bartender. "Adam, but everyone here calls me Tex." "Hey Tex, what beer do you have on tap?" Josh seemed dark and sullen. Tex assumed he was trying to drink away the departure of exotic girl. "Joshua?" Tex asked. "JC.", he corrected. "Call me JC." "Alright JC. You look a little down and I understand if you wanna just kick back here and drink for a while... But man, I really don't feel like serving you glass after glass. You're slurping them down like water." Tex said. "Thanks for the concern. I appreciate it. Just give me a beer, I really don't care what kind." Tex looked down to the empty strawberry daiquiri glass. "What happened to your date?" "She wasn't my date. I actually don't think I'll ever see her again." JC looked down at the table. "Oh, just somebody you met here?" Tex asked. "No. One of my best friends for ten years." JC answered. "Why won't you ever see her again?" Tex questioned. He hoped he wasn't being too nosy, but he had found that instead of drinking, people might just want to talk. "It's nothing you would want to hear. Just get me a beer. I'll be out of your way in a second." JC said. Tex felt a connection with JC. His cousin Marty had been a drunk in the not so distant past. Marty started boozing it up every chance he got after his dad died. Marty's dad was his idol and his death had ripped a hole in Marty. Whenever Tex saw him, Marty was beyond belief and Tex had simply shrugged it off as phase he would get over. It took years for that 'phase' to end, and in that time, Maty had almost destroyed himself. Tex felt that he should have seen the signs earlier. "Hey, I'll hear it. I've got nothing else to do. Truth is, I like talking more than getting people drunk." Tex said. JC sat up straight and seemed to relax a little bit. He asked Tex, "Have you ever made a mistake so big, your life just seemed to slip away day by day?" "Hmm. I can't really think of a situation like that off the top of my head." Tex said. "Then you wouldn't understand." JC said. "Wait. Actually, there is something that comes to mind.", Tex looked over at Marty. You see that guy with the red hair over there?" JC turned around and nodded. "That guy is my cousin Marty. We've been close for as long as I can remember. Anyways, a while back my Uncle Donny, Marty's father, passed away. Marty got so distant. He wouldn't eat. He couldn't sleep. He started drinking really heavy. Whenever I saw him he was drinking or already wasted. The thing was, me and Marty would hang out every day. This was an everyday thing for him. I was so blind. I never saw Marty as an alchoholic. I just thought it was funny. I thought it was just something he did for fun. Hell. I drank with him sometimes. I was too caught up with myself to notice the trouble Marty was getting into. He always had my back, and this one time he needed me, I didn't even notice. One day I get home, and there's Marty slumped on the couch. He's passed out. I thought nothing of it and ! just turned on the tv and started watching one of my shows. Marty had too much to drink that night. I was watching some stupid comedy and there was my cousin in a coma." Tex was clenching his fists. It was hard for him to tell the story, but at the same time it felt good to get it out. JC was staring at him in concern." "So, what happened to him?" JC asked. "Well, you still see him standing there. He's pretty much ok, but there was significant brain damage. We were both just lucky that night. I wanted to go out for pizza so I tried waking him up for some money. When he wouln't wake up, I called 911." Tex said. "Thank god for pizza." JC said. "Thank god for pizza." Tex agreed. "So JC..." "Yea?" JC responded. "It's your turn bro. What's got you feeling down?" Tex asked. "I still don't think you'd understand. It's not something I'm proud of." JC said. "Whatever it is, you gotta tell it. Fair is fair." Tex said. "Promise you won't freak out on me?" JC asked. "Just go for it. I don't freak out easily." Tex said. "Fine." JC said. He cleared his throat and looked nervously at Tex, though he found trouble sustaining eye contact. "Well, I've had this secret all of my life. Few people know what it is, and of those few, none of them were happy about it. I've had tons of friends as a kid, but now I can count all my friends on both hands. It's mostly because I've lost touch. I have to work all the time and that leaves little room for just hanging out with my friends. Gloria, that girl who was just with me... She was one of my best friends since highschool. I told her the secret last week. She was stunned. I figured she'd never want to see me again until this morning, she called me. She said she wanted to talk in person, but I guess at the last minute she changed her mind. When she got up, I knew she wasn't coming back. Call it a hunch, but that's what they all do. Walk away from me. It's the most awful feeling in the world to bear this secret. At least to me it is." JC forc! ed a weak smile. Tex leaned a little closer to his new friend. "You're gay. That's it right? You're gay?" JC could only respond by lowering his head with a slow nod. Tex was shocked. He hardly ever met any other people like him. Gay. It was always a weird feeling when one showed up. This was the most memorable encounter. His encounter with JC. He liked this guy. He liked him a lot. Tex looked around the room. Everyone was in their own little world. Marty was busy talking to some girl. Nobody was concentrating on the scene at the bar. JC was slumped down with his head facing the table. "It's okay Josh." Tex ran his hand through the side of JC's hair. Nobody saw. "I do understand." --------------- THANKS for reading part one. It was slow to come out. I'm still getting used to the whole concept, but this is just a small portion of what is to come. Sex? lol. Nope, they just met, but there will be plenty of that later on. Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated at casewriter@nycmail.com