Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 11:45:11 -0400
From: J. B. <DownLikeAStone@msn.com>
Subject: When It's Over Part 3

DISCLAIMER: This is story is a work of fiction and in no way is meant to
apply anything about the sexuality of Lance Bass or any other celebrities
in the story. I don't know them and don't know any one that does. Also, if
you are not of legal age in your area to read stories of this theme, or do
not enjoy/are offended by stories that contain gay relationships/ sex, then
please find something else to read.

When It's Over - Part 3

Jody stood looking at himself in the mirror of his hotel room. He had to
keep wiping the steamed over glass so he could see himself. His hair was
longer than he normally kept it, coming about halfway down his neck. "One
of the hazards of tour, who has time for a haircut?" He grinned at his own
comment but was instantly staring himself down again. He looked tired. His
skin was a couple shades paler than usual. There were dark circle around
his eyes, and his normally clear blue eyes were cloudy and bloodshot, and
almost looked gray. His taller frame was hunched over the sink in his
bathroom trying to figure why Lance had wanted to kiss him.

"It was because I 'saved' him. He felt bad and thought he would make up to
me. Yeah... but I don't need a pity fuck." Jody said quietly to himself,
attempting to put Lance out of his mind. "Besides, he's older than me." The
record company had, without Jody or the band even realizing it, managed to
downplay Jody's age. They were afraid no one would take him seriously if
they knew he was only 19. "No point in standing here staring at myself, I
should sleep... Yeah, sleep... When was the last time I managed to sleep
all night?"



"You look like shit." Chris stated simply as Lance walked into his room,
joining every one for breakfast. They all looked up and quickly agreed with
Chris's comment. "Too much alcohol last night?" The smug grin on Chris'
face said he knew that wasn't it.

"Yeah, something like that..." Lance mumbled as he poured a cup of coffee
and turned to return to his room for a hot shower when JC interrupted him.

"Excuse me, but are you planning to share whats going on or do we have to
guess?"

"I know! I know!" Justin jumped up and yelled with his right arm raised
like a 2nd grader who finally understood the hard math problem on the
bored.

"Curly, lower your voice, please!" Lance said somewhere between grunting
and pleading. His head was throbbing from lack of sleep and his mind was
still rather foggy from the alcohol the night before.

"Sorry." He stated simply as he sat back on the couch beside Brittany. She
instantly let her head fall over on his shoulder snuggling into the crook
of his neck.

Lance left the room followed closely by JC and Joey. "Scoop, wanna talk
about it?" Joey asked as Lanced turned somewhat surprised, he didn't even
hear them follow him out of the room.

"I just drank a bit much..." What else was he going to say? 'I was buzzing
pretty well, and almost kissed the guy that 'saved' me, which would
instantly kill all of our careers.' They would take that well. Maybe then
he could just come out on TRL and grab Carson's ass just to prove his
point. He was still mulling this and many other thoughts over in his mind
when Joey pulled him out with one question.

"Or does Jody not return your affection?" Lance took a moment to look over
his surroundings as the words sunk in. He had at some point sunk against
the wall that was still currently supporting his weight. Josh was standing
across the hall, staring at him with concern in his eyes. Joey was leaned
against the door of Chris' room trying desperately to make the eye contact
Lance was trying hard to avoid. Suddenly the plush beige carpet beneath his
feet became very interesting.

"What do you mean?" His words came out, and his voice floated between that
of a child caught doing something wrong and a bad actor trying to be
surprised on stage.

"Well, you spend all night staring at him like god almighty himself..."
Josh finally said something, though the joke didn't break the
tension. "Then you follow him outside and when I come out it looks like
things are going well, but then he runs out and you follow him."

"Then you come back a few minutes later..." Joey was taking over the
conversation again. "And you look almost defeated. I've never seen you like
that Scoop, but I have seen others and I know what it is. Rejection, pure
and simple. Did we miss anything?"

"I take it you two know... about me.... I mean... you know... damn!" Lance
stammered still staring at the carpet. His mind has stopped dead in tracks
long ago. Not one clear thought formed in his head, and fear had gripped
his chest. He breathing had become labored and he was terrified of even the
idea that anyone knew about him.

"What that your gay? PLEASE! We knew that since, what, day one?" Josh said
jokingly once again trying to take the tension out the air, and failing
miserably. One more try, "Except Chris, and I think he is still trying to
figure it out." This brought a small grin to Lance's face, he always
enjoyed it when the others made of fun of some one besides him,
Mr. No-Self-Esteem himself. Always afraid they would discover his "secret"
that wasn't even a secret except in his mind.

"Come on, Lance. Just relax, we aren't going to go psycho and yell and
scream. We won't even preach about it. I promise." Joey said. usually he
was the one joking trying to make things easier but apparently that
positioned was filled at the moment.

Lance removed his eyes from the carpet for the first time it what seemed
like an eternity and finally made the eye contact Joey and been striving
for since the beginning. There were tears streaming down his face and Joey
and Josh both instantly grabbed Lance into a hug. Joey opened the door he
had previously been leaning on and pulled the mass of three hugging through
the too small doorway back into the hotel room.

"Whats going - Lance, whats wrong, you ok?" Brittany jumped up, playing the
role of over protective sister she had fallen into with all the guys.

"I think Scoop has something he would like to get off his chest." Josh
said, being serious for the first time since the expedition into the
hallway.

"Josh, I can't." Lance said into Joeys' shoulder where his face was still
buried. He rose his head just slightly to see his friend who was smiling
encouragement. "Fine." He took a big breathe as he slowly pulled away from
Joey who also was smiling, encouraging Lance to get it off his chest and be
honest with his friends for the first time about who he was.

"Well..." Justin said with anticipation, he knew the secret, they all did,
but knew Lance needed to say it.

"OK, guys, uhmmm.... I have been lying about something for quite
sometime. I hated not being honest but I felt I had to. I
am... I'm.. gay. There I said it." His eyes had managed to find a corner of
the room where no one was until Brittany was suddenly blocking the view of
anything but her face.

"Does this mean we can watch the fashion awards together? You know, I need
another girlfriend to check out guys with. Never have to many." She was
smiling and Lance instantly felt a weight lift off his chest. As Joey had
promised there was no yelling and no preaching, but he did get hugs and
kind comments around the room.

"You know, it had to suck - no pun intended - to have to hide that shit. I
mean, I could never do it, you have some amazing courage, Scoop." Justin
said as he hugged him.

"But guys, we still have a problem." Brittany said with a devious look on
her face. "There is still a certain some one a few floors up that has
peaked Lance's interest, time to play matchmaker!" She said rubbing her
hands together as Lance began to shake his head and blush. He didn't like
the look on her face.



Jody opened his door, still somewhat groggy after little sleep. He looked
Justin and Brittany over quickly before commenting. "I go on tour and bitch
because I can't sleep on a bus. Then on my time off I have this boy band
that likes to call and show up at my door and wake me up." He sounded
rather rude on purpose, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"Thought you might like breakfast." Justin said holding out a brown paper
bag and a cup of coffee in a paper cup.

"Excuse me?" Jody said slightly confused.

"Actually, we have to talk so we brought you lots of sugar and coffee to
wake you up." Brittany said quite seriously as she pushed past Jody pulling
Justin into the hotel room.

Jody finally excepted the fact that there would no sleeping as long as he
was in New York with these people and closed the door. The teen couple had
found a place on a couch and was setting out several doughnuts on the
coffee table in the middle of the room. Apparently it would be a long
talk. For the first time it occurred to Jody that these two were his age,
and that he had always thought of them in the same group as the twelve year
old girls that made up most of their fan base.

"So, can we cut the bullshit and you tell me what you want, I would like to
get some more sleep, and I am not a very polite host when I haven't slept
much."

"Funny you should mention lack of sleep. There is a blonde downstairs that
barely slept last night because your were on his mind too much."
Interjected Justin, whom barely seem to notice how flat out rude Jody was
being. Brittany immediately noticed the slight anger forming in Jody's blue
eyes, and winced at Justin's comment.

"And that is your business how?" Jody said forcing himself to stay
calm. The idea that these two had come up here to guilt trip him or "make
him see his true feelings for Lance" was enough to make him tell them what
exactly he thought of them right now, but he managed to swallow down the
anger and sound almost calm and relaxed.

"We're two of his best friends and are just worried about him." Brittany
quickly through in trying to ease Jody's mind.

"Well, let me explain something, I met Lance when he called me and wanted
to talk to me, I don't know why, but he then proceeds to insult me. On our
second meeting a saw a guy with a death grip on a fence, obviously in
trouble, I didn't know it was him until I was right up next to him. I
carried him inside to his friends, so he could be around people that
actually give a shit what happens to him, and so I could sleep at
night. Then I am "taken out" to show "appreciation" with a group of people
I could never imagine going out with again, and once again he managed to
make me feel very uncomfortable, and I am supposed to be upset because he
missed some sleep?" Jody said through clenched teeth and a cold stare going
down to the pair sitting on the couch.

"Yeah, but I heard how you sounded when I called, I heard the concern when
you asked if he was ok." Obviously Justin was trying to figure out who was
full of shit, his logic or Jody.

"I can relate to what happened to him, I've been there before, and it isn't
fun." Jody said suddenly noticing the hot coffee and wondering if some
caffeine in his system would help his mind wake up enough to figure out
exactly what was going on.

"So you did give a shit what happened to him..." There was a glint of hope
in Brittany's eye.

"Did... I did give a shit.... Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get
ready, I have a press conference in a few hours and would like to be
somewhat awake for that..." Jody turning to show them to the door. He
winced he realized what he said.

"Making an announcement?" Brittany asked, genuinely curious.

"Uhmm.. yeah..." Jody said eyeing them again when he realized neither of
them had bothered to even pretend to have interest in leaving.

"Something interesting, or just some bullshit industry stuff?" Justin
asked, he too wondered why at the mention of the press conference Jody had
winced a little.

"Lets just say I'm ending some bullshit industry stuff...." Jody mumbled,
hoping the two would feel uncomfortable - anything that would make them
leave.

"Like what?" Justin leaned back into the couch and Brittany instantly moved
closer to his shoulder.

"I... uh.... the band is uh... moving in two different
directions.. theirs... pop/punk bullshit... and mine... away from the
industry..." Jody couldn't believe he was talking about this. Not even his
management or the band knew why he had called the press conference, though
they all had guesses.

"Meaning your leaving the band that made you popular to have a small solo
career and live away from the spotlight." Just translated.

"Something like that, or maybe just a relationship and a normal job, you
know, in an office, where everyone knows me as the computer geek." Jody
said while digging in his suitcase. If they wouldn't leave then he would
just go ahead and get ready. Though, he was still completely dumb struck
that he was talking about this with them.

"Computer geek?" Justin asked. At some point, and Jody couldn't quite
remember when, Brittany had dropped out of the conversation and was now
watching every move he made instead.

"I have a degree in computer science... youngest person in my university's
history to finish a degree." Jody said with mock pride.

"How old were you?"

"19."

"Wow, when did you graduate?"

"About 2 months ago."

"WHAT?" Justin and Brittany chimed in this time. "You mean your only 19?"
Justin stammered.

"Yeah, how old did you think I was?"

"At least Lance's age...."

"Gee, make me feel old huh?"

"I didn't mean.. I just... you just seem to much more mature... I mean... I
dunno..." Obviously Justin was giving up. Jody liked where the conversation
was going. He like seeing Justin completely shock out of words, and
apparently Brittany had forgotten to close her mouth.



Several hour slater Jody was watching the flashes of light and listening to
yelled questions from the few reporters that showed up for his press
conference. None of the band seemed surprised when Jody made his
announcement. Management had instantly been on the phone with lawyers to
check the bands contract. That's when Jody chose to announce that he had
found a loop hole in his contract, and citing an anxiety disorder said he
would be filing a claim in court to have the contract voided. All the while
his left hand was in his jeans pocket, playing with a card for Freelance
entertainment that Justin had given him just before he left. He had said
Jody might need some management and that this was a very "capable" firm.



Lance was sitting a a desk in the "headquarters" of Freelance , also known
as his home office, reading some legal documents about NSYNC's new tour
when the phone rang. He had heard all about Justin and Brittany's visit
with Jody and had been rather annoyed that Justin had given Jody once of
his cards, it seemed all rather childish to him.



"Freelance, this is Lance." He stated trying to sound cheery even if he was
already occupied with the papers in front of him at the moment.

"Hi, I understand your looking for some new clients." A somewhat familiar
voice came over the other end.

"Yes, always, how can I help you?" Lance said though he was concentrating
on trying to place the voice.

"Well, I just left my current management and band, heading out solo, and
need some new representation. I'm not sure if you would be able to
represent me, but I was hoping you would at least consider it." 'Damn, that
voice is so familiar, who is this?'

"Well, I guess I could at least listen to your demo, do you have one?"
Lance asked, leading the conversation towards getting a name.

"Oh, you've heard my music before, but I don't have demo."

"Could you be a little more specific, I've heard lots of music." Lance said
the annoyance in his voice quite clear. This game was wearing on his
nerves.

"Come on Lance, you mean you honestly don't know who this is?"

"No."

"Its Jody."

Lance's mind instantly went blank. He had toyed with the idea of Jody
actually calling but he never would have guessed he really
would. "Wow. Hi. You know, you could have just called to say hello instead
of pretending to be a potential client." That was all he could think to
say. Though he was rather disgusted he had wasted so much time already.

"I wasn't pretending... I just called to see if you might be
interested... and I guess... I called to apologize too... I wasn't exactly
nice to you in the past, and I felt bad...." 'Nervous as hell' was how Jody
described himself at this point. No one in the industry waned to touch a
rock singer gone solo at the beginning of the bands success. Besides, for
some reason after Justin and Brittany left he couldn't get Lance out of his
mind.

"So your actually interested in being a client?" Lance was to shocked by
the second part of Jody's statement to answer it. Jody felt bad about
something, let alone how he treated a boy band member?

"Well, yeah... But, I think you missed the second part of that..." Jody
said, hoping maybe Lance would just hang up and Jody would be out of this
ackward conversation.

"No, I caught it, just a little shocked to hear it, besides, business
first."

"Damn, you are in management..."


Feedback is always welcome.