Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 18:38:30 EST
From: Papito6187@aol.com
Subject: Rob and Lance 35

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! So, I was thinking to myself, what better present to
give my readers, than an actual chapter of the story. So, here it is!
Again, this part of the story, and a few more chapters to come, have been
based and written on an idea from a friend of mine. He wrote most of what
you're going to read, but of course, I put me personality into it and added
stuff. Let me know what you think. And because he would like to remain
nameless, let me know and I'll let him know! So, without further ado, ON
WITH THE SHOW!!!!!

As we neared Orlando around 1am, as tired as Justin was, he was really
excited to be going home. I had been spending most of the time on the guy's
bus, making sure that Lance was ok. I felt bad for ignoring my crew, but
they told me to stay, they knew that I would just be worrying sick if I
were on my bus and not with him. I was surprised at how they took it. I
noticed some facial expressions that weren't too approving, but those who
had them were, chastised by the rest. For the most part, Lance was just
fine. I was just too worried to leave him alone. When we got into Orlando,
we all went to our separate homes and agreed to meet up at Justin's the
next day.

The next day, we all sat in the Harless' living room trying to decide what
to do for the rest of the evening. Since we had gotten into town late the
night before we'd slept most of the day away. For the most part, we felt
like just relaxing and kicking back for the rest of the night, but were
still considering what to do, if anything.  "You know I'm surprised that
Lynn and Paul don't just kick us out," I said as Lynn walked through the
room. "When we are here, we're like a bunch of freeloaders or something!" I
laughed.

"Don't think the thought has never crossed my mind!" Lynn said sternly
pointing her finger at me and Lance curled up on the loveseat, before she
broke into a smile.  "Lord, if we did that, then we'd never see you guys!"
she said leaning over the back of the couch to kiss Justin on the
forehead. "Sorry I have to leave to take care of business on your first
night back honey."

"Oh, don't worry about it mom," he said smiling up at her, "I of all people
should know how thing are with the business."

"Still, I hate it," she started, but was interrupted by her cell phone
ringing.  "Oh, what does he want now?" she moaned as she looked at the
caller ID on the incoming call.  "Jerry, I'm on my way in right now. Could
this not have waited until I actually got there?"  We all chuckled as she
rolled her eyes dramatically. "Yes, I'm leaving right now. In fact, this
would have been me opening the door and getting into the car, but I'm on
the phone with you!" She listened for a few more minutes then said, "Jerry,
I'm on my way...."  She sighed deeply, and Justin gave her a sympathetic
look. Rolling her eyes once more and shaking her head she hit the off
button.  "And that was me hanging up!"

"You go Lynn!" Chris yelled from where he was stretched out on the floor
playing with Busta.

"Man that guy's an idiot," Justin said as he and the rest of us
laughed. "Bye mom!"

"Bye honey, y'all be good now!" Lynn said with grin as she walked to the
door.

As she opened the door she was surprised by, the young man standing there
with his finger posed to ring the bell.

 "Well now, that was timing!" he said and they both laughed.

"Hey kiddo!" she said as she smiled and hugged him.  "I'm so happy to see
you!  Just not happy that I have to go into the office," she frowned.

"At this hour? Ouch!" he said with a grimace. "Sorry. Are the guys..." he
asked pointing inside.

"Yes they're inside, go on in," she motioned toward the door as she headed
for her car.  "I'll see you later, Lew!"

Lew walked through the hall and into the living room and said,

"So this is what boy bands do when they aren't dodging screaming ten and
twelve year old girls!"

We all jumped, startled by his sudden and unexpected presence. Once the
newcomer's identity registered though, Justin and JC both yelled,

"Lew!"

They both got up and ran over to give him a hug. Lance and I suddenly
conscious of our seating arrangements quickly moved away from each another,
hoping he hadn't noticed us. The slight grin he gave us before turning back
to Justin and JC, however, made us both blush.

"What are you doin' here?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, when did you get back into town?" JC asked.

"I just moved back last week," Lew replied, "Well I'm not actually back in
Orlando, I've got a place just the other side of Bithlo."

"Why are you so far out there?" Chris asked scrunching his face.

"Halfway between here and the beach?" Lew said with a smile and a shrug.

JC ushered Lew over to the sofa. As he sat beside Joey, Lew shook his hand
and gave him a little hug.

"Damn, Joe!  Son that's..." Lew stopped as if searching for the missing
words.  "It's even redder in person!"

Justin laughed from where he was now sitting on the table in front of the
sofa and said,

"Yeah, but it kinda grows on yah!"

"I could just imagine you with it that color the time you forgot to get all
the wolf-man make up off before you came to the taping!" Lew said stifling
a laugh.

"Ah shuddup!" Joey said throwing a pillow at him.

I looked quizzically at Lance, who just grinned. JC noticing our exchange
said,

"Oh man, I'm sorry! Rob, this is Lew ... well Ronald Lewis, he was one of
our tutors when me and Curly were on MMC."

"Oh! Nice to meet you, Lew?" I said as I got up to shake his hand.

"Yeah," Lew replied as he stood and took my hand, "Rob? Oh, Rob! The new
label mate that's opening for them?"

"That be me!"

"I just heard you're latest single man.  It's great!  And the first one
wasn't too shabby either, guess I'm going out to get a new CD huh?"

"Thanks! Bring it by sometime and maybe you can get it signed by the artist
and the guys who discovered him," I said, smiling.

"Ok, enough with the admiration! Sit down already!" Chris said with mock
disgust from the floor, "You're makin' Busta nervous down here!"

"That dog is always nervous!"

"Finally learn how to take that mutt for a walk so he doesn't have to
embarrass himself on national TV anymore?" Lew laughed as he sat back down.

"Oh, ha, ha!"  Chris said giving him the finger.

Lew shook his head and said,

"So, are you guys here for a while?"

"Yeah, for a little while anyway," JC said.

"Yeah we're doing the Rosie O'Donnell show and a special at Disney, then we
have the show here and a few nearby," Lance said.

"Kewl," Lew said, "regular old vacation for you then?"

"Yup, same old stuff," Joey said.

"So what are you guys up to tonight?"

"That's what we were trying to figure out when you came in," JC said with a
smile.

"Well I'm getting kinda hungry," Chris said.  "How `bout some dinner?"

"Sounds great to me," Justin said, "come to think of it, I'm starving!"

"Me too!" JC said.

"Yeah, but I don't think we have a menu for what you two are craving!"
Chris said laughing.

Justin and JC both turned and glared at him, then JC handed Justin a
cushion from the sofa.

"I think I just missed something," Lew whispered, leaning over to Joey's
ear, "but I guess I'll just wait and see if I catch back up later."  Then
both JC and Justin began to pummel Chris, even getting Busta into the act.
Lew shook his head and said, "And I just told his mom he was a good kid!"

We all waited until Chris finally yelled,

"Uncle! Uncle already!"

"Well that did nothing to help my appetite!" I said with a chuckle.

First we debated whether to go out or just order some take out. We'd
already agreed that none of us felt like cooking. Dining out, and the
potential hassle of constant fan interruptions certainly didn't look
appealing since we were all tired, so we decided on take out.  We all began
to yell out different foods, from Chinese to buffalo wings. Then Lance
called order.

"Guys, guys! Hell, when we order we always get the same thing! Hey what are
you in the mood for?"

"Who me?" Lew asked.

"Yeah, why not?" I said, "Like Lance said, we always get the same stuff,
let's try something different, you choose."

Lew shrugged, "Well, I dunno ... oh, is Giuseppe's still around?"

"Ooo yeah!" Justin said.

"Huh?" was all that I could come up with.  "What or who is Giuseppe's?"

"It's only like THE best pizza in the world!" Joey told him.

"I doubt it, no pizza is better than New York Pizza! Wait. let me rephrase
that, Italian New York pizza!"

"Well, this comes a close second!"

"Yeah, they're like way across town," Chris continued, "but what the Ale
House is to wings, Giuseppe's is to pizza!"

"You guys didn't subject the poor guy to the Ale House test did you?" Lew
said with mock disgust.

"Yup on like his first night out down here!" Joey said smugly.

"Such cruelty!" Lew laughed. "I thought so much better of you lot!"

"Oh come on you know you love `em too!"  JC said with a grin.

"Well yeah," Lew said returning the grin, "but to thrust it onto the
unsuspecting!"

"Aw, he held his own," Lance said patting me on the back.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" I said.

"No comment," Chris chuckled, gaining a death stare from me and Lance.

In a few minutes we settled on what we wanted and Lance called and placed
our order.

"Well that's done, who's gonna go pick them up?"

"Well not me," Chris said from the floor, "Busta and I are pretty damn
comfortable where we are!"

"Hell, I'll go," Lew said, "I'd just have to go out and move my car for you
guys to get out anyway."

"Great, I'll come with ya," JC said heading for the door.

Once JC and Lew walked out the door, Lance and I snuggled back up together
on the couch.

"Now, I'm comfortable!" I said.

"Me too!" Lance replied as the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Justin said getting up from his spot on the floor.

"Ten bucks says it's Jay!" Chris said.

"I ain't gonna argue!" I said as Lance started playing with my hair.

Sure enough, it was Jay. I stole the phone from Justin long enough just to
say hi. After he beat me down to get the phone back, he went upstairs to
his room with the phone.


"Oh, man!  You done gone old fogy on me man!" JC yelled, grabbing his head
dramatically, as he stepped out onto the driveway and saw Lew's car.

"What?"

"C'mon man? A minivan? Where're the kids?" JC laughed.

"Oh shuddup! They're in the house there if you must know!" Lew said
unlocking the doors and climbing in. "And it's an APV not a minivan!"

"Mm hmm! That's like an SUV on tranquilizers right?" JC said, as he
fastened his seat belt.

"No smart ass, it's an `all purpose vehicle', meaning it's got enough
passenger space to accommodate you buncha bozos or I can remove some or all
the seats and haul equipment packages around."

"You know I'm just teasing."

"Yeah, figured you had to be. I mean, it ain't like your jeep is the best
date car!" Lew laughed.

"Wouldn't know, never been near my jeep whenever I had a date!" JC laughed.

They made some more small talk about this and that, nothing very important.
Then JC commented on Lew's choice of music as the CD changer shuffled from
an `N Sync song to one of Britany's to one off Tony's latest album.

"Yeah, well you guys are all hell on the entertainment budget!  I've got
pretty much all of your albums, but you can't even imagine the strange
looks I get when I bring teeny pop stuff like Britany's, then Buzzfly and a
Gary Morris CD to the register!"

"You actually listen to Chasen's stuff?!? Now Matt and his dad ... country
... I can see, but you never struck me as the type to go in for Chasen's
music." JC laughed.

"Hey, he's got some good stuff on there. I even caught one of his gigs at a
club in LA a while back. Tony sat in and was jammin with them. And Ricky
and Dale were there, hell it was like old home week!"

"Oh man, I miss that sometimes," JC said with a touch of lament in his
voice.  "Hell the last time I even tried that, I couldn't listen to them
play cause all the people started asking me for autographs. It just wasn't
fair to them."  He sighed. "Oh, well.. I still never pictured an old dude
like you goin to one of their gigs!" he laughed.

"Hey now!  Watch who you're calling old! Hell I'm only about six months
older than Chris!"

JC laughed,

"Yeah, well sometimes I forget that Chris is that old, he can be worse than
Justin if you catch him in super hyper mode!"

"I think I saw one of those once. Not pretty!," Lew laughed.  "So Josh
... how long have Rob and Lance been together?"

JC smiled and shook his head, then looked over at Lew and said,

"You don't miss much do you?"

"Training. Years and years of scientific observation and of course watching
to catch you guys passing love notes back and forth in class!"

JC laughed,

"Hey I only got caught once ... unlike Tony and Keri who did it on a daily
basis!" They both laughed, "So how did you know?"

"Well they were giving each other these looks, like `I want to touch you,
but I can't'. Then there was the way that they were obviously sitting
together before I came in and then developed a severe case of the `cooties'
or somethin' afterwards."

"Oh man, that was funny!" JC laughed, "Well they've been pretty much
together since mid January."

"That's when you guys first met Rob wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So how did y'all really meet?"

"Haven't you heard the interviews?"

"Well yeah, but I also know that there's usually a little more to it than
the PR department tends to give out."

"No it's pretty much all there the way Rob tells it in interviews."

"They met in a public bathroom and it was love at first sight? I never
thought Lance was that kinda guy!"

"OH ILL!!!  NO!  Man that's sick!"  Lew grinned and stuck his tongue out at
him.  "No, he was ducking some fans and Rob snuck him out. Then they went
for coffee and talked for a while. Lance kinda freaked a little though, and
bolted when Rob accidentally found out that he was gay -- well bi -- from
an old picture he'd had in his wallet. Rob tailed him back to the hotel and
explained that it was okay that he was too, and that he'd never tell
anyone. Then they talked some more, really hit it off ... Lance introduced
him to us, we hit it off ... things just clicked and now we're one big
happy family!"

They both laughed.

"You're such a wonderful story teller!"

"Hey, I do songs, not books!"

They both laughed again as they pulled into the parking lot, and the
conversation was postponed until after they retrieved the pizzas and were
back on their way home.

"So you think you guys are really gonna enjoy it on the road with Rob,
huh?" Lew asked as they pulled back into traffic.

"Yeah, it's been great so far! He and I've gotten pretty close over the
past few months. I think in some ways I've even gotten closer to him in
this short a time than I have the rest of the guys in the years I've known
them." JC laughed, "You know what's funny ... I didn't really like him at
first."

"Why not? He seems great."

"Oh yeah, he is!  It was just ... well the first time we met Rob he was
coming down from Lance's room. I had had a bad day, and when I saw Rob with
Lance, I immediately assumed the worst. The only thing I could think about
was the last asshole that Lance had been with. I just didn't wanna see a
repeat of him getting hurt like that."

"Oh yeah, I think Jus told me about him. You didn't really beat him up then
throw him off the bus in the middle of the highway, did you?"

"Well ... I did ask James stop first, I just kinda didn't exactly wait for
him to do it," JC laughed.

"Josh, remind me never to get on your bad side!"

"Hey Lew!"

"Yeah Josh?"

"Never get on my bad side man!"

"Why thank you for reminding me Josh! Well looks like we've got Lance
happily attached, what are we gonna do with the rest of you?"

"Actually Rob's been really good luck."

"Oh yeah?  How so?"

"Well a few days after we met him we went to play some ball, and he brought
along his best friend Jay."

"Oh?" Lew looked over at JC questioningly as they stopped at a light. "NO!
You don't mean Jus?"

JC nodded.

"They are the cutest couple! Don't tell him I said that though, he'd kick
my ass." JC laughed.

"Oh man," Lew shook his head as the light changed, "I just can't imagine
Jus like that ... I mean sometimes I still see that 13 year old I first
met."

"I know I have the same problem sometimes, especially when he pulls shit
like he did when he and Jay first met!"

Lew laughed,

"Why?  What'd he do?"

"Aw, the little prick!  Well, we met that first day when we played ball and
all, and I guess they exchanged numbers. Then the next day or so while we
were all out shopping and stuff, Curly invites him over to the hotel and
they have a fuck fest!"

"Josh! I don't think I've ever heard you refer to sex like that."

"Well that was putting it mildly! Damn, I guess they were both just so
horny that they just didn't give a shit.  When I finally found out about
it, I think that was the most disappointed I've ever been in Justin; it was
just about the stupidest thing he'd ever done. It was so much like `wham
bam thank you man' kinda thing, he almost ruined the whole thing between
them!"

"But they're okay now?"

"Oh yeah, they're great! They finally both came to their senses, and I know
Jus is hooked, and from what Rob says Jay is as well."

"That's amazing!  Damn, he done went and growed up on me!"  They both
laughed.

"It's gonna be so awesome this summer!  We all set up this surprise for Rob
when he comes on the road with us, were gonna let his bro and Jay and
Melissa come with us!"

"Whoa, all you `guys' and then this Melissa?  That should be interesting!
I can just see Joey flirting now!"

"He damn well better know to keep his paws off of her!"

"Oh?" Lew said giving him a sideways glance. "So just who is this Melissa?"

"Oh, she's Rob's other best friend."

"Uh huh, and just why should Joe know to keep his paws off of her?" Lew
said noting the broad grin stretched across JC face.  "Jooosh?  Josh!" he
said opening his mouth dramatically. JC's grin got even bigger, if that was
possible.  "Damn I guess he has been good luck! All three of you?" JC
nodded. "Okay, so tell me, what's she like?"

"Oh, man!  She is sooo amazing!  She's got long dark hair, and the most
gorgeous, deep, brown eyes. She's tall, and dark and. she's just beautiful,
and incredibly sexy!!  She's smart, she's funny, she's ... she's just
incredible!"  Lew couldn't help smiling as he stole glances at JC, who was
positively glowing as he described her.  "And she loves me for me," JC said
as his eyes got slightly misty, "she's in love with Josh, not JC.  It's
been so long since anyone ever even cared enough to notice the difference.
I just feel so comfortable with her, it's ... I don't know ... it just
feels so right when I'm with her."

"Oh, wow!  You got it bad don't ya?"

"Oh, yeah!  But I tell ya, bad has never felt this good!"

Arriving back at the house, they parked in the driveway and divided the
pizza boxes between them to carry in.  JC let himself in and said,

"Hey guys!  We're back, come and get it!"

A female head then peered around the corner and JC's eyes lit up.  Before
he could say anything she leapt into his arms and kissed him full on the
lips.

Lew quickly grabbed the pizzas that JC had been holding and did a rather
awkward looking modern dance number to get them safely to the coffee table
in the living room.  All of us, minus Justin were sitting there laughing
hysterically.

"I take it he knows her.  I hope!" Lew said.

We all laughed again as JC and his companion broke their kiss for the first
time.

"I've been wanting to do that since we saw you off at the airport.. How
long ago? Too long!" Melissa said.

"Me too!" JC said with a broad smile as he placed his arm around her waist
and pulled her into the living room.

"I take it this is Melissa?" Lew said with a grin.

"How'd ya guess?" JC laughed.  "Melissa this is Lew ... Lew, Melissa."

"Pleasure to meet you Melissa," Lew said kissing her hand, which gained a
raised eyebrow from JC, but Lew just grinned.  "So where's Jus?"

"Oh, he's on the phone, Jay called," I said.

"So I take it we start eating without him, huh?" Lew said.

"Oh yeah!  He could be awhile!" JC laughed.

We started passing around the food and Lew noticed me and Lance again
sitting on opposite ends of the love seat.

"Uh ... would you two mind doing me a huge favor?" Lew asked us.

"Sure what do you need Lew?" Lance asked.

Lew grinned and JC said,

"Stop sitting like you guys have cooties or something!"

Lew and JC burst into laughter.

"Actually I was gonna say stop sitting in separate time zones, but that one
works too!"

"He's cool guys, he knows."

"Oh!  Well in that case..." I said, then swung myself around and laid my
head in Lance's lap.  "Ahhh ... MUCH better!"

"Definitely!" Lance added.

"Hah," Melissa said, then crawled into JC's lap.  JC gave her a rather
surprised but still happy look.  "Well ... why should they have all the
fun!"

"Okay, I think I'm gonna have to take the dog outta the room now before he
gets sick!"  Chris laughed.

"So who is this Lew guy anyway?" Melissa whispered into JC's ear.  "He
seems pretty cool."

JC filled her in on who Lew was and how they'd met and then a short while
later Justin came walking into the room.  Surveying the seating
arrangements he said,

"Okay, now this is just no fair!"

"Tell me about it!" Joey laughed.  "Depressing as hell ain't it?"

"Yeah and they didn't even save me any damn pizza!"

"Well you coulda just told ... uh ... Jay?" Lew said with a grin, "that you
had to go, and just hung up and come and eat."

Justin looked at him with a half grin then appeared to consider the idea.

"Umm ... NAH!  Don't think so!"

We all laughed at him.

"Don't worry," Lew said with a wink as he slid one of the boxes aside, "I
saved you a whole one."

"Did I ever tell you that you were always my favorite?"

"Yeah!  Riiiight!  I'm sooo sure of that!  By the way, I still have those
pair of shoes."

"Huh?  What pair of ... ooooh!"  Justin began to shake his head and point
at JC, "It wasn't me!  Honest!"

Lew raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Yeah well I just wear them around like when I wash the car or something
... and they still suds up!"

The 3 of them started laughing as the rest of the room just looked at them,
seeing as how it was an inside joke.

"Josh!  What did you do?" Melissa asked him.

"Oh, now don't look at me!  It was the other Josh, I'm the good one
remember?"

"HA!" we all said.

"I'm crushed!" JC said with look of mock hurt on his face.

"Well `someone' put shaving cream and like dish soap or something in my
shoes once when they were out doing a location shoot at the beach."

"Laundry detergent," Justin sad off handedly as he took a bite of his
pizza.

We all turned to look at him and he began to blush as he realized what he'd
just said.

"I KNEW IT!" Lew yelled.  "It WAS you and Ryan!"

"Um."  Justin grabbed his glass, started downing his soda, and we all
started to bust out laughing again.

"BUSTED!" JC howled.  "And it's only been what five, six years?"

"Yeah, well where'd the shaving cream come from, huh?  It's not like Ryan
or I shaved back then!" Justin said sticking out his tongue at JC.

"You still don't!" Chris and I said as Justin stuck up his middle finger.

"Wouldn't Jay get jealous?" Chris asked.

"Oh that's it!!" Justin said throwing a pillow at Chris, which missed and
hit the dog.

"Uh oh.. he hit the dog!" I said.

That was when the all out pillow war began. If it weren't for the fact that
all the cups were plastic and all the soda bottles were empty, we would've
definitely caused a huge mess which Lynn would've killed us for. It was Lew
who, after about a good 10 minutes, tried to stop us all. As he stood up
and tried to get everybody's attention, we all just threw our pillows at
him.

"Oh, that's it! It's war now!!!!" He said grabbing every pillow within his
reach and chucking it at all of us.

After he was out of ammo, we stopped the war and called a truce. The
playful banter kept up most of the evening.  Lew told a few more
embarrassing stories of JC and Justin's younger days, even a few involving
Joey hanging around the set.  As the hour grew later we all decided to call
it a night.

While Lew and I were walking to the door together I said,

"Jay would so love to meet you Lew!"

"Oh, no!" Justin shook his head.  "He's not getting anywhere near Jay!"  We
all laughed.

We all said our final good byes for the evening and Lew headed off.  JC and
Melissa lingered on the front step as Lance and I climbed into my car and
headed back to my place.

"I wish I were staying, or you weren't," Melissa said as she placed her
arms around his neck then kissed him.

"I know, me too, but it just wouldn't feel right in Lynn and Paul's house,
and I've got that meeting about the tour first thing in the morning at the
head office."

"I know baby."

"Tell ya what though," he said leaning his forehead against hers, "I'll get
everything done, and talk to Rob and see if maybe I can crash at his place
for a day or two."

"Oh, really now?  Well I happen to know that he only has the one guest room
and already has someone staying there this weekend."

"Hmm ... is that right?"  She nodded.  "Well maybe he can talk to this
person, and maybe they wouldn't mind sharing or something?"

"I think you may be in luck, I happen to be pretty tight with both of `em
... maybe I can talk to `em for ya?"

"Oh, if it's not too much trouble?"

"Nah, it'll be hard, but I think I can convince em. I can be VERY
persuasive you know!"

They laughed and shared one last embrace and a tender kiss before she got
in her car and headed over to my place.

TBC...

As always, you know the deal, let me know what you think! Email me at
Papito6187@aol.com. See yah next time!