Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 01:55:33 -0600
From: Mike <strytll3r@mac.com>
Subject: Secret Lives 02

Secret Lives
An *N Sync Experience

Disclaimer: I do not know any famous people.  I do not know any friends,
relatives or friends of relatives of any famous people.  This is a creation
by me to help ease my writer's block, and nothing serious will come of it.
Occasionally, this story will divulge into areas that some deem
inappropriate.  If you deem it so, please rant and rave elsewhere.  Thank
you.

I got quite a bit of emails.  Thanks for reading/writing/commenting.


Email me @ strytll3r@mac.com


Chapter Two

"So, where to?"  James asked as they left the Plaza and the party.  The
early autumn night had a hint of a chill to it and both Jason and James
huddled in their overcoats.  "I know of several places to go, but..." he
looked at his watch and sighed.  "...Nothing that I know of would be open
at 2:30 in the morning.  Unless you watch to go to a club."

Jason winced.  "No.  No clubs.  My head wouldn't take it, I'm afraid."

James smiled faintly.  "I forgot, sorry.  How's your headache, anyway?"

Jason gave a half-hearted grin.  "Tolerable."  He closed his eyes and drew
in a deep breath.  Suddenly, he began to grimace.  Opening his eyes and
looked towards James.  "I know of someplace we can go first."

"First?"

"Yes first."  Jason looked down at himself.  "I need to change."  James
gave him a blank look.  "Clothes.  I need to change clothes."  Still the
blank look.  "The incident at the stairwell, remember?"  Dawning broke on
James face and he smiled.  "The rancid smell lingering around me would not
do well in the second place we're going."

"Is your place nearby?"  James looked around.  Being this close to Central
Park at night scared him.

Jason laughed quietly to himself as he noticed James' unease.  He obviously
was not from the city.  "It's relatively close, around a twenty-minute
walk.  Fifteen if you want to cut across the park."  James nearly jumped
out of his shoes.  "I kid.  Come on.  Jason turned and started walking.
"Go west, young man."  James started out and the pair began to walk.  They
had grown accustomed to the chill night air and the slight breeze felt
wonderful against Jason's flushed face.

"So, tell me a little about yourself, Mr. James?"  The pair had walked the
southern edge of the park in comfortable silence.  Jason pointed north and
they turned the corner, walking uptown.

James glanced over at his companion.  "You really don't know me, do you?"
Jason gave him a quizzical look and shook his head.  "Wow.  OK, I'll give
you the short version for now.  About twelve years ago, I was in a pop
group.  We were big in Europe and then we hit the states and became huge."

Jason looked flabbergasted.  "Really?  Which group?"

"*NSync."  James turned as he heard the sound of laughter.  "Obviously you
weren't a fan."

Jason shook his head and began to control himself.  "Sorry.  I wasn't.
Only gay guy in history who was never into the boy band scene, probably."

I was James' turn to laugh.  "No, there are at least two," he said as he
raised his hand.  Jason turned shocked.  "Yeah, I hate pop music.  I'm a
country boy at heart.  Always will be."

"So why did you join?"

James laughed.  "I was 17 living in Mississippi.  The only gay guy in my
school, or so I thought.  My hormones were raging and I thought I could
meet people like me."

Jason giggled with glee.  He hadn't felt this giddy since his early years
of college.  "Which boy was it?  Justin?  Nick?  I always thought Nick was
cute."

James rolled his eyes.  "Nick is the Backstreet Boys.  Anyway, it was Josh.
I loved that man from day one."  James grew silent and looked down.

Jason didn't know what to say.  He looked around for some distraction and
noticed they were at his apartment.  He turned to face James, and noticed
that James had crept into the park a little.

"Hey, I was joking when I said we could cut across the park."

James smiled and stood there.  He was looking at the Strawberry Fields sign
and Jason heard a sigh.  "I've always wanted to come to this place," James
looked back at Jason.  "I loved Lennon.  Didn't care too much about his
music, but I appreciated his talent, his activism."  He turned back to the
sign.

James smiled to himself.  Strawberry Fields was still his favorite spot in
the city.  He came here often to think and contemplate life.  He came up
behind James and wrapped his arms around the blond.  It just felt like the
right thing to do, and James leaned back a little.  "Well, every time you
visit me, you can visit Strawberry Fields," he whispered in James' ear.
James turned slightly and Jason continued.  "I live right across the street
and you can see this place from my living room window."

James turned and looked across the street and gasped.  "That building looks
famous."

Jason looked at it and nodded.  "Yup.  It's the Dakota."

James looked at Jason, stunned.  "You live in the Dakota."  Jason nodded.
"But you're a teacher."  Jason nodded.  "And that's the Dakota."  Jason
nodded yet again.  "How'd you?  Where did you?  How can you?"  And he
stopped talking and stood there.

Jason smiled.  "My grandmother left it to me in her will when she died.
Plus a trust fund that pays for the taxes and junk.  No biggie."  The pair
started across the street as Jason talked.  "She wasn't famous or anything.
My grandfather played the stock market well and was the CEO of a company
way back in the day.  When he died, she had a little over 10 million and
had a gorgeous house in New Rochelle.  She sold it and movie to the city."

Jason slid his key in the door and the pair went inside, James looking
around in awe.  He looked at his new friend, still dumbfounded.  "Why did
she choose the Dakota?"

"She was a friend of Yoko and wanted to close by.  Plus, she liked being
close to the park."  Jason hit five on the elevator and the doors slid shut
quietly.

"So, she knew John Lennon?"

"Yeah, I wish," Jason laughed.  "She moved in 1985, and met Yoko in 1983.
Here's our stop."  They stopped moving and the doors slid open.  Jason
turned left and James followed closely, looking around.  "I loved visiting
her in the city.  I'm from Buffalo, and rarely got to come here."  Jason
opened his door and turned on the lights.  Soft ambient lights softly
illuminated the room.  "I even got to meet Yoko a few times.  I remember
one time, I think I was nine, she and Yoko took Julian and I to the zoo."
He smiled softly.  "Anyway, grandma knew how much I loved her place, and
gave it to me.  She loved the fact I was studying to become a teacher, and
new I would never be able to afford living in the city on the salary I was
destined to.  The last time a got to see her, she told me to always do what
was in my heart and to allows follow my dreams and that everything would
come into place."  Jason's voice cached at the end and he turned quickly
toward the bedroom.  "Make yourself comfortable, James, I'll be back in a
few."

James looked around and smiled.  The room was just his style.  Leather
sofas were arranged neatly in the corner, an upright piano stood near the
bay window and a chair sat quietly in the corner with a reading lamp
nearby.  A book lay on the chair, "Was" by Geoff Ryman.  James placed the
book back on the chair and looked around some more.  There was no direct
lighting in the room, everything was backlit and illuminated nicely.  A
couple of art pieces decorated the room, musically themed, and taking
center stage was . . .

"What?"  Jason walked into the room in time to hear James gasp.

"Is that?"  He pointed.

"Yea, a gift to my grandmother."

Hanging on the wall was the Hirschfeld painting of John Lennon sitting near
his apartment window.  All that James could say was "wow".

"Anyway," Jason said, changing the subject, "we should get going,
considering it's past 4."

"Yeah, where are we heading, anyway?"  James turned and looked at Jason.
"Wow."  He was speechless yet again.  Jason had changed into a pair of
tight fitting, low slung Gap jeans and a mesh thin sweater that matched his
steel blue eyes perfectly.  James could see the faint outline of Jason's
six pack and hard pecks through the material.  A simple sterling silver
choker hung around his neck and Jason had messed up his dark brown hair,
giving him a boyish feel.  A pair of black Sketchers completed the outfit.

James cleared his throat.  "Wherever we're going, I'm going to be way
overdressed."  He looked down at his Armani suit and chuckled.

Jason looked James over.  "Well, you are about my size and build.  You're
welcome to borrow a few things."

James looked up and smiled.  "Thanks, Jason."

"No problem.  Bedroom's the third door on the right."  Jason pointed toward
a shadowy hallway and James started moving.  He found the light switch for
the bedroom and turned it on.  The bedroom was furnished similarly to the
living room, with gray furniture and red accents.  James looked up and
noticed a half finished ceiling of painted rose petals, like on "American
Beauty".  He found the closet and glanced inside.  `This guy has about as
much clothing as *NSync put together,' he thought to himself.  He quickly
picked out a red long sleeve shirt and a pair of diesel jeans.  The shoes,
unfortunately, were a size too small, but no one would notice the shoes,
right?  He backed out of the room and found Jason sitting with his eyes
closed."

"How's your head?"  James whispered softly as he approached.

Jason opened his eyes and smiled.  "Doing much better, thanks."  He stood
up and the pair started out.  "So, tell me about *NSync.  If I remember
correctly, wasn't there some scandal that happen a couple of years back?"

"Yeah, there was," James began.  While he talked, Jason steered them
through the deserted streets of New York.  "I guess it started right after
Celebrity came out, our third album.  "Josh and I started seeing each other
a couple of years prior, and the guys found out.  I think Justin walked in
on us one day.

"The guys freaked and everyone started acting weird towards us, which put a
strain on our relationship.  Anyway, we had a tour to do, and the vibe
between us wasn't working.  After the tour, we took a break.  Justin went
solo and made it big, which made Josh a little jealous.  He started working
18, 20-hour days, writing songs, music, putting together a solo album.

"Meanwhile, Joey and Chris had there thing going ^Ö Joey with Little Shop
and Chris with his clothing line.  And me?  Well, I had odd projects, but I
stayed out of the limelight, providing support for Josh.  But Josh started
pulling away, getting absorbed with his work.

"Anyway, Josh's album came out and it bombed.  Completely bombed.  Thrilled
Justin to no end, and Josh crawled into his dark place, shutting me out.

"Jive records contacted us to start up the group again, and we had a
meeting one day.  Justin, gloating and laughing at Josh said that gay guys
could never make it big.  Management asked what he meant, and when Justin
told them about Josh and me, they tried to make us sign a non-disclosure
contract and told us that we couldn't see each other.  That it would ruin
our reputations.  I was so pissed, I left the meeting without signing
anything.

"One day, someone with AP called and said that Justin was saying that I was
holding up the new album.  I said there was a contract dispute, and when
the reporter kept pressing, I said that they wanted me to stay in the
closet and I don't think that I wanted to do that."  James laughed
bitterly.

"It was in all the papers the next day.  Jive called and bitched me out,
said that *NSync was finished.  The other guys were pissed as hell and
Josh, well."  James cleared his throat.  "Josh said that he couldn't
believe what I did.  That they would put us together and that I was being
selfish.  And he was right.  A couple of days later, a report came out
speculating that Josh and I were a couple.  The next day, Josh was out with
every girl in LA, it seemed.  Kissing, making out, groping.  He said that I
brought it on myself.

"And then the video came out.  Josh released it himself.  Him and a girl
having sex, just to prove that he wasn't gay.  I saw the tape and I packed
up my things.  Haven't talked to him since."  A tear fell from James' eye
as he finished, and Jason, not knowing what else to do, put his arm around
him and they walked down 60th.

"Do you keep in contact with the others?"  Jason asked after a while.

"Joey and I still do.  Chris and I never did get along, that much and
Justin.  Well, I wanted nothing to do with Justin since forever."  He
cleared his throat.  "Anyway, that's the story.  Now, I'm living in LA as a
talent scout of sorts.  Plus I run a gay independent movie studio, so I
come to NYC often."

"Well, that's good to hear," Jason said, smiling.  "It's kind of hard being
friends if we lived on opposite coasts."

James laughed.  "Don't worry, Jason.  You'll be seeing so much of me,
you'll be sorry that you've ever met James Bass.

* * * * *

End of Chapter Two.  Sorry about the long wait, but reality caught up to me
and needed to be addressed.  Email comments to strytll3r@mac.com