Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 20:20:53 -0000
From: Tris <mystories@btinternet.com>
Subject: Under Management Chapter 3

Author's Note:

Hey everyone, this is my first submission to the Nifty Archive. I hope you
enjoy reading it as much as I am writing it. I'm trying to get as much
realism as is possible in a story of this type, so the characters will need
to get to know each other before there is any sex. It's also not exactly a
'two guys fall in love, and live happily ever after' story, there are going
to be a few bumps in the road. Oh yeah, one more thing - just because I
said 'thanks for the feedback' doesn't mean I've had enough and never want
any more! Without it I don't know if anyone's reading or if there are any
particularly good bits or bad bits which I can then develop on in further
chapters. So please...

If you have any comments, questions or criticisms e-mail me:
mystories@btinternet.com

Disclaimer:

This story is a work of fiction. I don't know or own any of the celebrities
mentioned in it. I also don't know anything about the personalities or
sexual orientations of any of the members of *NSYNC, and the purpose of
this story is not to imply anything about them.  Secondly, this story
contains adult themes and content as well as gay relationships. If you're
too young to, or don't want to, read what's contained within, then leave
now. Everyone else, enjoy...


Under Management by Tris

Chapter 3

That evening I was sitting on my couch with a glass of red wine in one hand
and my cell in the other. My brother was on the line. "You need to get a
Merc, just like Timberlake's. Then again if you're their manager shouldn't
you have nicer wheels them?"

"I'm really not that fussed, Jess, I only want an improvement on a Ford
sedan. By the way, his name's Justin, and he's alright, you don't need to
be all macho and slate him 'cos he's in a boy-band." I corrected him.

"Says he who, until very recently, had a master plan to take over the world
with a rock band. You said , and I quote 'Whenever one of those pussy bands
releases a single, I'm gonna find out, and them I'm gonna get one of my
bands to release on the same week - we'll beat them to the top spot -
they'll always be second best.' If that isn't being all macho and slating
them just 'cos their boy-bands then what the hell is?" He argued.

"So maybe I was a little judgmental, but now that I know them, I like
them. As people anyway." It was always much easier to concede defeat with
my brother than to continue an argument. He was a good person to have on
your side, but piss him off and it could take months to rebuild what you
once had.

"You're only being nice about them because you are associated with
them. From now on, you make of them, you make fun of you!" He
laughed. "Anyway, since you were so rude about them before you met them; I
think I am entitled to be as well."

"Then maybe we should organize a little get-together or even a play-date
for you and 'Timberlake' as you so affectionately call him."  I teased
before laughing along with him. Our joking was interrupted by the ringing
of the apartment phone.  I said my goodbyes and hung up my cell. I tried to
think who would be ringing me at this hour, other than my brother and I had
just been talking to him, I gave up on my thoughts and answered the
telephone in my usual manner. "Hello, Alex Michaels."

"Hello Alexander, its nice to hear your voice." I stiffened.

"Its nice to hear you too Father. How are you?" I responded coldly.

"I'm well, thank you. I already know of your exploits, I have heard you
have found yourself suitable employment; your mother said you were happy
about it. It doesn't surprise me you're working in the music business
Alexander..." I shivered once more at my full name, my dad is the only
person who has ever called me by it.

"Please, let's not go down that road father. It pays extremely well and
although its hard work, I'm enjoying myself." I tried, as I had many times
before, to explain the situation rationally to him.

"I'm glad you're happy" he sneered. "I suppose I'm keeping you up. I
wouldn't want to do that, what with you being so busy and all." I could
virtually hear him smirking.

"Goodnight father." I breathed a sigh of relief as I put the phone down.

I didn't manage to get to sleep very quickly that night; my eyelids only
drooped closed as the first light of dawn shone through the crack in my
curtains.

***

"Wake up you lazy bum! Its past lunch time for God's sake!" someone
screamed at me. There were only three people who could possibly be in my
bedroom, as there were only three people with keys to my apartment - my
mother, my brother and Susie. The voice was too high pitched for a boy, or
man should I say, and I'll be damned if it was my mother blaspheming like
that. I smiled at the realization that my best friend was standing above
me. I pulled the covers higher, up to my nose; only to have them yanked off
me fractions of a second later. I groaned and opened my eyes slightly.

"My, haven't you grown since the last time I saw you in all your glory!"
she giggled. At that my eyes shot open, I bolted upright in bed and
surveyed my state of undress. I flipped myself over onto my stomach and
groped around on the floor for my boxers; once I had found them I quickly
pulled them on and turned to face my friend.

"Why don't you leave me alone you sick, perverted woman, and get me some
coffee" I snarled.

"You weren't saying that the last time I was sitting on your bed,
presenting myself to you" she grinned.

"The last time was when I was 16! And if I remember correctly..." I began
to laugh "...I was about to fuck you!" I scrunched up my nose at the
thought.

"Ah, those were the days... I remember the first time we did it, you
couldn't work out which way to put the condom on!" she teased.

"Hey! I wasn't that bad. It wasn't my fault I was an upper class, naive,
British boy... besides I never heard you complaining." I defended myself.

"Well you were cute, you still are..." she flirted.

"Why don't you get some breakfast..." I changed the subject, looking at the
clock beside my bed, "...or lunch or whatever. I'll take a quick shower and
be out in minute. There should be enough in the kitchen to put something
together." I walked towards the bathroom leaving Susie sitting on the bed.

***

We were at the table in the kitchen eating some chicken salad that Susie
had thrown together. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, she asked
the inevitable question, "Why were you sleeping so late? I know you're not
a morning person but putting waking up off until the afternoon isn't very
productive.  Especially when you say you have so much work."

"I didn't get to sleep very quickly last night... um... My dad called me."
I almost whispered the last part.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sweetie. She stood from her chair, walked over to me, and
squeezed my shoulder."

"Thanks, but I'm fine now. Honestly." I gave her a half-hearted smile that
even a stranger could tell was fake, let alone my best friend. Thankfully,
she decided to change the subject rather than pursue that line of
questioning.

"So when do I get to meet the boys? I'm looking forward to getting up close
and personal with Justin... He's so fine!" she practically began to drool.

"Sorry Darlin', I can officially confirm that he is taken by a certain
blonde, chart topping singer" I grinned.

"Ugh! Spoil all my fun why don't you?" She noticed the time, "Speaking of
fun being spoiled, its time for me to get back to the office." She kissed
me on my forehead; I followed her from the kitchen and picked up my keys
from the table next to the door. "Where are you going?" she gave me a
questioning look.

"I need to grab some work from the compound..."

"You mean you have a job?" she feigned shock. I pushed her out of the door,
slamming it behind us.

***

I was working at my desk, in my office, not my makeshift dining room/office
in my apartment, I was in my very classy office in the Jive compound, with
leather upholstery might I add. As I feverishly scribbled into a notebook,
I glanced at my computer monitor, where the new e-mail icon had recently
popped up. Luckily, one of the post-it notes there caught my eye,

'You said you would phone *NSYNC' 'You do wanna go out tonight, don't ya?'

I don't know why I tried to include some comedy in notes, as it always fell
flat on its face. Anyone who came into my office, and made an effort to
decipher my handwriting would doubtlessly think I was mad. I tore that
particular note off, and checked the time. It was still only 4 o'clock,
they would be in the studio until 6 tonight. I looked at the list of
speed-dial numbers on the top of my phone. I had made a point of adding all
of the guy's numbers to it. I tried Josh's cell first. It rang, and rang,
and rang and then the his voicemail message began to play. I hung up. I
tried Justin's phone next, but had the same problem. It was then that I
realized that they must all be in the recording booth, if they weren't one
of the others would have answered. It took me a few seconds to realize I
could just leave a message for them at the studio.

I clicked through the address book on my computer, finding the studio's
number relatively quickly. A receptionist answered on the fourth ring.

"Hello, Orlando Recording Studios. How may I help you?" she enquired
politely.

"Hi, this is Alex Michaels, I'm *NSYNC's manger..." I began, before being
cut off.

"I'm sorry Sir, but I can't give them a..." I was getting fed up with the
people in that place.

"Would you just check the security list for me? I'm Alex Michaels, they're
in 2A, and I believe the current security password is..." I flipped through
some notes on my desk. "Chocolate fudge." I stated. It was up to the guys
to think up the passwords, Johnny had mentioned that they often used the
names of foods; they found them funny I guess.

"Excuse me a minute Sir, I'll check the list."

"Thank you!" I breathed a sigh a relief. I heard a few keystrokes and mouse
clicks in the background and the woman got back to me very quickly.

"I'm terribly sorry for the trouble we caused you Sir. You must understand
how careful we have to be. Now, what can I do for you?" At least she was
apologetic.

"Could you transfer me to the production booth, in 2A, please?" I asked,
not even sure if that was possible.

"Of course Sir, please hold." As soon as she had said that I was confronted
with some classic hold music, Greensleaves.

"Studio 2A, Todd speaking." A deep male voice answered.

"Hi, this is Alex Michaels, *NSYNC's manager. Could I leave a message for
them?" I asked.

"Well, would you like to speak to them? They're in between run-throughs at
this moment." This guy was much more obliging than the receptionist. I
thought about that and his question for a short time. I came to two
conclusions, I had passed the security test, so now that they knew I was in
some way related to a paying customer, they were being nicer. I explained
my second thought to the guy on the phone.

"Um... Its Ok, I don't wanna break their rhythm and its not all that
important..."

"I can patch you through to their headsets if you want - they're only
teasing Joey anyway." I was surprised that they could even do that. It
appeared that all my problems had been solved.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate that..."

"Hang on a tick..." he instructed. For a brief second I thought the line
went dead, and then I heard the unmistakable sound of Justin's giggle. I
was unsure of how to continue, but I did so anyway.

"Um... Guys, can hear me?" I started.

"Aghhh!" Justin screeched, I had to pull the phone away from my ear. "Shit
Alex, you scared me half to death." He laughed, along with the others when
they understood the situation.

"Hi, I just wanted to confirm tonight with you. I've made reservations at
this little secluded restaurant, and then organized transport to a club in
town." I told them my plans.

"Do you want us to meet you there?" questioned Lance, ever the practical
one.

"It might be better if no-one drives. I don't really want an '*NSYNCer
Caught Drink Driving' headline on my first week on the job. How about you
all gather in one place and I'll send someone to pick you up."

"Joey's house!" The other four exclaimed.

"At Eight!" I added. "Sorry, but I've gotta go now, paperwork and all
that. Could you tell Todd I'm done."

"Sure thing." JC confirmed. The line went dead, I was surprised at the
speed of his reaction but thought nothing of it. I pulled out another
notepad, and resumed my scribbling, placing the phone on the hook in the
process.

***

The Maitre D' walked slowly over to the table I was sitting at, with my
five guests in tow. The restaurant I had chosen was a small, rustic affair
on the edge of town.  I had taken a seat at the head of the table nearly 10
minutes ago, when I sat down I ordered two bottles of wine, one red, one
white, and a large carafe of still water. My orders were now placed at the
centre of the table in front of me. I stood as the guys neared, and was met
with, mostly warm, greetings. Lance and Joey sat to my left, Justin and JC
to my right, and Chris took the chair directly opposite me, at the other
end of the rectangular table.

A waiter asked if anyone would like anything else to drink, the guys
ordered two beers and two soft drinks, Lance seemed content to drink the
wine. We were handed menus and after a few minutes of small talk, which was
briefly interrupted by the same waiter to take our orders, we broke up into
small groups to talk. Joey and Chris were having a rather animated
discussion at the other end of the table, I could hear snippets of Justin
and JC's conversation, about Britney evidently. Then there was Lance and I,
when we were left to our own devices we were consumed by an awkward
silence, but soon after we found a common ground. It appeared that we were
getting along quite well.

"...We were at this record release party, I forget whose album it was, I
haven't heard of them since; Josh was downing his beer and chatting up some
girl at the bar. There I was in the middle of the dance floor with my butt
being squeezed to death to my date, one of my prospective clients." He
continued.

"For FreeLance?" I asked. He nodded in the affirmative. "I'll bet she
wasn't very prospective after the articles in the tabloids the next day." I
laughed.

"Damn right!" He agreed and laughed with me. "The band, that I can't
remember the name of, was playing but Sheri and I were attracting more
attention... it was at that point I tried to push her away. She must have
been really mixed up, I think she took it as a good sign, she then shoved
her tongue down my throat. I stood back and turned to walk away, she
followed me and all the while there were hundreds of camera flashes
directed at us. She was lucky she was a she... I would've hit her
otherwise!" He exclaimed.

"I say she's lucky you didn't bite her tongue clean off, imagine those
headlines!" I giggled.

"Yeah! 'Lance Tyson - Eats Tongues Not Ears!'" He laughed.

Our laughter was interrupted by the arrival of our meals, we all tucked
in. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Justin had finished his Coke, he
was reaching for the white wine. I turned towards him and, with a straight
face, raised an eyebrow.  I presume this was the reaction that the rest of
the group was expecting as well, as their conversations stopped and they
all faced the two of us. Justin stared me in the eye, as if daring me to
say something. I couldn't resist it.

"ID?" I questioned.

"Well... Um... Usually... I mean... The guys, they sort of..." As he
attempted to stutter out his response it was my smile that betrayed me.

"Y... You know Alex... The guys, and... um... our other managers...", the
corners of my mouth crept upwards, "...well, they let me drink... Not that
much... Y'know, not enough to make me puke or anything..." I was now
grinning, as were the others. Justin paused, glanced at each of the guys,
then at me and finally understood the situation. "You bastard!" he shouted
at me, causing the entire restaurant to look in our direction. The tension
had also caused him to forget that he was still holding the bottle of wine;
he dropped it onto the table, spilling it. I grabbed the bottle and turned
it back upright. I then smiled and shrugged my shoulders at all the people
who were looking at us.

"You're 21 now stupid! You don't have to lie any more!" I laughed.

The commotion also attracted the attention of the waiter, who came over to
our table only to see Justin attempting to mop up the mess with a
serviette.

"Could you pour for my friend, please? He's terribly clumsy." I smiled
sweetly, causing several giggles from around the table. The waiter did as I
asked and then assisted Justin.

The rest of the meal progressed smoothly. It ended in the inevitable
argument over the bill - although I noticed Chris had no objections to my
paying. I pacified the rest of them by telling them that they could pay for
my drinks for the remainder of the night. We left restaurant in high
spirits, *NSYNC gave a few signatures on the way out and joined me in the
awaiting black people carrier. The only noticeable rift in our group was
between Chris and I.

***

The car slowed to a stop, we could feel the vibrations of the heavy bass of
the music even inside the vehicle. Joey looked out the window at the club
and then at the line outside it.

"This place looks rockin'." He said, "Hey Alex, you get to experience one
of the perks of working with such superstars."

"Uh huh, superstars!" I chuckled sarcastically. "Someone forgot to take
their reality check pills this morning." I commented, to which I received
no response.  Joey and Chris were already stepping down onto the
sidewalk. JC slid over to the door and jumped out, Lance followed him
closely, muttering something along the lines of 'Well, I thought it was
funny.' Justin and I were last, on getting out I told the driver not to
wait for us, and that we would take cabs home. He nodded and drove off
quickly once I had slammed the door shut behind Justin and myself.

I surveyed the scene in front of me. Justin stood next to me, presumably
doing the same as I was, the other four were casually walking past the line
of 200 or more people waiting for admission to the club. They were
receiving several groans of annoyance and angry glares, however, the
majority of the people queuing seemed genuinely happy that they would be
dancing in presence of fame.

I placed the palm of my hand on Justin's back and urged him forward, he
complied. We skipped the queue, just as the other guys had, and walked
directly towards the bouncer on the door, who was taking great pride in
opening his velvet rope for a bunch of young girls. As we approached him he
checked the clipboard he was holding and smiled.

"Ah, Mr. Timberlake... a pleasure" he shook Justin's hand, "And
Mr. Michaels" he simply nodded in my direction, "I realize this is unusual,
but we're having a clamp down, so could I see some ID, please?" I reached
into pocket for my wallet, un- phased, until I yelped in pain, as Justin
stamped down hard on my foot.

"What the fuck did you do that for Justin?" I shouted at him.

"I'm sorry Alex, it was accident, c'mon you better sit down for a bit" he
lied, pulling me towards the steps outside a nearby fire exit.

"No, its alright, let's just get in there..."

"No! I insist!" he dragged me away from the bouncer, who looked perplexed
by Justin's actions. I was pushed down onto the step, and soon joined by
Justin.  "Honestly Alex, you're kind of slow." He offended me.

"You trod on my fucking foot! What the hells wrong with you?" I asked
through gritted teeth.

"I was trying to cause a distraction. Alex, he asked for ID! I don't have
any! I'm never asked for ID - I'm famous!"  He explained.

"Oh..." I grinned in understanding. "In that case you're gonna be one
lonely pop star tonight." I stood, noting the shocked expression on his
face. I turned towards the club entrance, but instead of moving towards it,
I spun back to face the steps where Justin was sitting. "On second
thoughts..." he exhaled loudly, and stood to join me.

"You had me going for a second there." He said, as his breathing returned
to normal.

"If I can get us onto the guest list of this place, then don't you think
I'd be able to actually get us in there too?" I removed my cell phone from
my pocket, and dialed a series of numbers.

"Hi. Jean Paul?"

"Yes, who is this?" he inquired in his French accent.

"It's Alex. We're... uh... having some problems getting in." I explained to
my friend.

"D' Accord. I'll be down to greet you now, mon ami." He slipped into his
native tongue.

"I'll see you soon, thanks Jean. Bye." And all I could hear was the dial
tone.

I replaced my cell phone and nodded at Justin. I walked over to the
bouncer, and just as he was about to speak, I saw my friend Jean Paul
coming out of the club.  The big guy on the door turned to see his boss
standing behind him; he nodded and said something, which I couldn't hear. I
moved towards the two of them, turning back towards Justin, indicating to
follow me. The Frenchman smiled warmly and extended his hand, which I
readily accepted.

"It's good to see you again, my friend." He greeted me.

"You too Jean Paul. It's been a long time." I replied. "This is Justin, I'm
now managing him and his band mates." I introduced them. Justin responded
with a 'Hi', and my foreign friend, and club owner permitted us to enter
his domain.

"Now I would be honored if you and Justin would join me in the VIP
lounge. Oh, and before you say anything, I know of your other friends. They
are waiting for you inside." He smiled and raised his arm, indicating for
us to go ahead, I did so and Justin followed eagerly. As I had visited the
club on several occasions I knew my way and walked quickly through the
crowds of sweaty bodies on the dance floor. I reached a set of double
doors, and looked back to see Justin, but no Jean Paul. Justin must have
realized my concern as he pointed over to the bar, where the club owner was
involved in a heated conversation with a barman. I shrugged, as talking or
even shouting over the music would have been impossible, and proceeded to
open the doors. Justin followed and closed the door behind us, suddenly the
thumping beat of dance music stopped and we were shrouded in
silence. Justin looked puzzled and turned back to the doors, giving them a
close inspection.

"They're heavily soundproofed." I explained as I climbed the staircase in
front of us.

"Oh" he said simply, and bounded up the stairs two at a time to catch up
with me.

Two hours later, Justin, Joey and I were sitting on the barstools in the
executive lounge. I was explaining how I had come to know the owner of such
a prestigious club to them. "He had a really good upbringing in France, his
family lives in a villa in the mountains near Marseille. His father was the
local doctor and Jean was expected to carry on the tradition. However, when
it came to the crunch of having to cut people open and all that gruesome
stuff he couldn't do it, he dropped out after the first year of
university." I poked my tongue out and scrunched up my nose at the thought
of the scalpels and blood. Justin giggled at my expression and downed
another shot. "So, his family didn't like it but were still supportive and
gave him all the money he needed to travel the world, and that's what he
did."

"Where do you come in?" Joey asked.

"I'm getting to that. He reached the U.S., well, here to be specific and
fell in love with the town. He phoned his parents, told them to ship all of
his stuff over here and that was that. Until, he realized that someday he
would run out of money so he in enrolled in a business management course."
I explained.

"You mean the same one you did? So that you could manage bands?" he caught
on.

"Yeah, we sort of helped each other out. He assisted me with all the maths
and economics sections, which I wasn't very good at. I taught him, or at
least improved upon, his English skills." I finished the story. Joey smiled
at the explanation, but soon his expression turned into a frown as Justin
downed another one.

"Barkeep!" Justin shouted, "Get me another few of these!" he held up his
shot glass.

"Uh... Justin, I don't think that's..." I began, but stopped when Joey
whispered into my ear.

"Leave him Alex, he needs to learn for himself." I looked back at Joey, and
after a moment's contemplation I found that I agreed with him. I waved for
the barman to get Justin his Tequila.

A short time later we were rejoined by Lance, Chris and JC, who were sweaty
from dancing. JC spoke first. "Hey guys, its getting late, we ought to be
getting moving."

"Nope. I ain't going nowhere! I've gotta finish all my..." he surveyed the
bar in front of him, seeing six full shots he slurred the end of his
sentence "...all my drinks." The three band members, who had recently
joined us, seemed shocked at his condition. Joey stood and pulled them
aside to explain the situation. When they returned it was Chris who
explained their plans, albeit in his concise, cold manner.

"We're going. Lance is staying to look after Justin, 'cos he's drunk the
least. You can join us or not. We don't care." JC elbowed him.

"I'm staying too. I don't care how drunk he gets but the second he gets
photographed like this it becomes my problem. I don't feel like dealing
with bad PR right now." I stated. The members of *NSYNC who were leaving
said their goodbyes and made their exit, leaving Lance and I, and one very
drunk Timberlake.

***

"I ... I think I'm done now guys." Justin croaked from his position above
the toilet bowl. I walked over, and knelt next to him.

"Are you sure?" I checked. He nodded, before turning green and emptying the
remainder of his stomach's contents down the pan. Once he had finished, I
wiped his mouth with a towel, while Lance helped him to his feet.

"Ok, now I'm done." He repeated, and between the two of us we dragged him
out of his bathroom and into the bedroom. We eased him onto the bed, and I
motioned towards him.

"You know him, you can strip him. I'll go get him a bucket or something." I
told Lance.

I returned to find him pulling the covers up to Justin's neck. I placed the
bucket that I was carrying next to the bed. I also put down a glass of
water and two aspirins on his side table. Justin mumbled his thanks and was
soon fast asleep.  Lance waved for me to follow him out, and I did so. We
closed Justin's front door behind us, and Lance phoned for a cab on his
cell, as both of us still had too much alcohol in us to drive ourselves. We
sat on the curb in front of Justin's house, I thought over our situation,
the cab would be here soon and it was a forty minute ride to Lance's place,
but only five to mine. I checked my watch, '3.15' it was too late to let
him go right to the other side of town.

"Lance..."

"Alex..." we both started at once, but it was me that continued.

"Lance, its quarter past three, you won't get home until four, at the
earliest. Why don't you come back to my apartment? The guest room is all
made up and its only five minutes down the road." I asked him.

"Thanks Alex, I was gonna ask you what we were going to do... I really
appreciate it." He smiled warmly at me.

At that moment the cab pulled up alongside us, we got in and gave the
driver my address. We sat in virtual silence; Lance was looking out the
window and appeared deep in thought, I did not feel the need to interrupt
him. We were at my apartment building very quickly; Lance paid the cab
driver before I could. I let us into the building and we rode the elevator
up to my apartment, which occupied the entire third floor. After opening
the door, I placed my keys, wallet and cell phone on the table next to the
door. Lance followed me in and flopped down onto the sofa. I smiled at him,
he returned it and asked,

"So, where do I sleep?"

"The guestroom's just over there" I pointed "Do want to go straight to bed,
or do you fancy a nightcap?" I pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels from the
drinks cabinet and waved it him.

"I suppose I could manage one." He grinned. I poured the drinks and take
them over to Lance, I handed him his, and then sat next to him on the
sofa. We sat in silence for a few minutes before I decided to strike up a
conversation.

"I can understand why Chris doesn't like me, although it annoys me like
hell.  What I can't understand is why the other four of you accepted me so
quickly. Ok, so JC is a nice guy and gave me a break, but it was like
talking to totally different people the day after we met." I furrowed my
brow in thought.

"Uh... well... I hate to steal JC's thunder, but it might be something to
do with me." He appeared embarrassed. "I know the paper work wasn't very up
to date, I know I, or we, couldn't manage to do it alone. We needed a
manager, I sort of helped JC to convince Justin and Joey. And as for Chris,
he's..."

"... only being protective of the four of you. He's the oldest he feels
obliged to, and in actual fact he probably doesn't hate me as much as he
appears to." I finished for him.

"Um... yeah," curiosity thick in voice.

"I am... was... a psychiatrist remember? I spent years learning how to
analyse people and Chris is easy. Then again, so are Justin and Joey - they
both suffer from severe big kid syndrome. JC is sincere, a good friend to
have, but keeps himself to himself, simply because that's the way he likes
it." I ran through the personalities of *NSYNC, as if I had known them for
years. Lance seemed amused.

"Oh, so we're that easy to read are we? I think you're generalising
slightly, but you are pretty close to the mark on all accounts." He
chuckled.

"You're wrong there Lance. You aren't all that easy to read. The other four
are, the record company has loads on them, and they make their opinions
known.  They know all there is to know about them. They have relatively
nothing on you. I have relatively nothing on you." I said seriously, yet
his bemused expression did not change.

"Really? Want to get to know the real Lance Bass do you?" He grinned.

"You pipe up whenever you need to say something, you speak when spoken to,
but you don't.... won't get into arguments. You prefer to simply sit back
in your chair and let the rest of the guys fight it out over the top of
you. You zone out occasionally and appear to be deep in thought, although
as far as I know you don't have anything that major to think about. Most of
the time, you just watch the world go by." I paused as the realization hit
me. "You're trying to see where you fit in. You have all this...." I waved
my arms "...but you still have to do something else in life, and you don't
know what it is..." I trailed off. Lance's smile had long since faded into
an emotionless face - impossible to read.

I sat next to him on the couch, finishing my drink. He said nothing, and it
soon became apparent that he wasn't planning on saying anything any time
soon. I stood, not wanting to push him, and walked towards my bedroom door.

"I'm going to bed now Lance, I'll see you in the morning. Good night." I
stepped through the door and closed it behind it me. I stripped my clothes
off and stepped into the en suite bathroom, remembering to lock the other
door in there, which lead into the guest room. I brushed my teeth, and
unlocked both doors before climbing into bed. As I was laying there in the
silence, I was finally able to finish my earlier line of thinking... 'Maybe
you don't know what it is Lance, or maybe you do... and you're keeping it
to yourself.'

***

End Chapter 3