This is part three of 'Love's Faint Echo', a story about lots of stuff that NEVER happened. Okay? NEVER HAPPENED. It's not meant to imply anything about anyone, particularly any members of any boy-bands mentioned. All for fun, folks. And don't be reading it if you're not supposed to, okay? Okay.
PLEASE, let me know what you think of the story, and whether you're enjoying it so far or not. There were a few of you who wrote last time, and it was appreciated. Input is very welcome at:
faint_echo@hotmail.com
Thank you.
And now.....
THREE
"Thanks for the help," Shel said, smiling at Lance. "It's not really necessary, but it's appreciated."
"Don't worry about it," Lance assured him. "We helped make the mess, the least I can do is help clean it up. This place was spotless when we got here."
"I don't do much to make a mess. It's not that hard to keep clean, really. Usually once a week I go through it and give it a once-through. With just me here, as long as I clean up after myself, it doesn't get out of hand." Shelby picked up the glasses from the table and led Lance into the kitchen, indicating the garbage container under the sink for him to put the food boxes in.
"It really is a nice place."
Shel nodded as he put the glasses into the dishwasher. "Yes, it is. There are a few things that I would change if it had been up to me to decorate, but it basically suits my personality and tastes. And the price is right."
Lance laughed and closed the cupboard again. "That it is. It might be an odd deal you've got going for yourself here, but it's definitely working for you. Sounds kinda lonely, though."
It was lonely. Shelby knew that and it was one of the things that he tried not to dwell on. Instead, he kept himself busy. "I guess," he said aloud. "But if you can't live with yourself, you won't be able to live with anyone else. Besides, this way I get the time I want to follow my interests."
"Speaking of which, you never did show me the soap carvings that you talked about."
"That's right, I didn't. There's only a few of them here, actually." Shel indicated for Lance to follow him, and headed down the hall toward his bedroom again. Lance felt a little uncomfortable being there, he had to admit to himself. Not because it was likely to lead to anything, even though he did find himself attracted to Shelby. There was something about him that seemed to draw a fundamental part of Lance to him.
The uncomfortable feeling he was experiencing came from the realization that, even for someone as private as Shelby was, the bedroom was the most private place. It was, for most people, the one place where they were most themselves. Where their true nature shone through the most clearly.
"Here's the one that I'm most proud of," Shelby told him, breaking through his thoughts. "I just couldn't bear to part with it."
Shelby indicated a glass case on the top of his dresser. Moving closer, Lance saw why he would be especially proud of it. Inside the glass case, resting on a custom-made wooden base, was a rose made out of soap. The petals were a dusky pink colour, each clearly defined and tapered slightly down to the beginning of the stem. Because of the colour and the detail on the flower, it looked as though it really would be soft and silky to the touch.
The stem was of a deep green colour, with three individual leaves jutting off of it at random places. Looking closely, Lance could even see a couple of slight protrusions. Hints of the existance of thorns on the stem. The entire flower looked as though it had been plucked from some children's story. The colours were subdued just enough to give it a fantastical quality. It seemed like Shelby had known that he couldn't capture the perfection of nature, so he had given his creation a perfection of its own.
"It's beautiful," Lance said, his voice almost a whisper.
"It took me weeks, and a lot of tries," Shelby told him. "I did the stem first, since that was going to be the less tedious part of it. Even that took me several attempts. The leaves kept snapping off before I could get them properly cut and etched. That stem there originally had four leaves, but one broke. I already had the other three finished, so I decided that this rose was only going to have three leaves on it."
"How did you do the flower?"
"Each of the petals are separate. I did each one, then attatched it to the last one all the way around until it looked right. They're sort of half-glued, half-melted together. And believe me, there were a lot of ruined pieces before I finally got it right."
Lance smiled and finally looked away from the flower. "You definitely got it right."
"Thanks. I'm pretty proud of that one myself. There's one over here, too. It's not as pretty, but I like it." He led Lance over to the bed and lifted another glass case off of a shelf built into the headboard. Turning, he handed it to Lance.
The carving inside was of a hand. Cut off at the wrist, it stood straight up, the fingers curled up not quite to the point of making a fist. Tilting it carefully, Lance could even see that the area between the palm and the fingers had been hollowed out. He noted that there were even faint lines on the palm.
"Wow," he commented, looking it over.
"It's not much for exciting, I suppose, but it's one of my favourites. It took almost as long as the rose did, though Ididn't work on it nearly as regularly."
"It's great."
"Thanks," Shelby smiled, happy that Lance liked it as much as he did himself. Not normally one to really put much stock in what other people thought of what he did, he found himself very much wanting to impress Lance.
"The third one is in here." He led Lance into his bathroom, indicating a third glass case.
This one was hanging on the wall, and behind the glass was a snow-white relief carving. The block of soap had been carved down to reveal slightly more than half of a hummingbird, hovering beside a flower, not quite close enough to drink from it. The wings and features of the bird were incredibly detailed, making it look almost alive, even though there was absolutely no color to the carving.
"I like the way the shadows fall back on the block," Lance said, leaning in for a closer look. The carving really was impressive, and he found himself glad that Shelby was able to spend a lot of time on it. Even if his enjoyment of his art hadn't been clearly imprinted on his face as he showed the pieces to Lance, it was certainly visible in the obvious care and attention he had paid to each one. "You only have these three?"
Shelby nodded. "I thought it was kind of pretentious to fill the place with my stuff. I donated the rest of this kind of thing to a little store downtown. It's all put together to raise money for several shelters in the area. I donate some of my stuff, and they sell it and keep the money."
"That's nice of you, Shel."
Shelby looked away from the case on the wall and found Lance smiling at him.
The smile, accompanied by the almost liquid quality to his green eyes, drew Shelby in, and he couldn't seem to find his voice. They stood like that for a moment, neither one of them able to pull their attention away, and then Shelby finally succeeded in responding.
"Um, thanks. I just figured that I don't really need them, and if they can help someone else out, why not? Not many are going to luck out the way I did, so I thought it was the least that I could do. I keep anything that's got real meaning for me, and the rest gets put to better use than sitting on a shelf around here."
Lance took another look at the hummingbird, and then followed Shelby back out into the living room. They quickly cleaned up the rest of the mess from dinner, and started for the elevator.
"Say, Shel, what are you doing tomorrow night?"
Shelby reached out and pressed the button, hearing the elevator chime and start to move down from the fourth floor. "No plans, really. I told you that I normally go for a night-time walk, but that's the extent of it."
"Aren't you a little nervous just wandering around at night?"
Shelby shook his head. "I survived out there for over two years on my own, and I'm a whole lot more able to take care of myself these days. People don't tend to bother me."
Lance blushed and a sad look flashed across his face. "I'm really sorry about what you went through, Shel. The thought of what you had to do, the lengths that you had to go just to get a hot meal..."
"Try not to think about it," Shelby advised. "There's nothing to do about it now. I did what I had to do, and if put in that position again, I'd probably do the same. Thankfully, I'll never be in that position again."
"Still..."
The doors of the elevator opened, but neither one of them moved. Shelby had turned to face Lance, and suddenly found his hand on Lance's shoulder without any knowledge of how it had gotten there. "Look, thanks for the sympathy, but it's really lost on me now. That's all behind me."
There was a certain spark in Shelby's eyes when he spoke that rocked Lance to the core. Not in a specifically erotic way, but with the knowledge that there were depths to his new friend that he hadn't even begun to guess at. There was a lot more to Shelby than the mild-mannered man in front of him. That much was clear, but what there was below the surface remained hidden. Part of Lance determined right then and there that he wanted to find out as much as he could.
Shelby removed his hand shyly and stepped onto the elevator. "Sorry." Lance wasn't sorry at all, but he nodded his acceptance and joined Shelby in the elevator.
As soon as the doors opened once more, they heard the distinct click of the pool balls. "So why did you want to know what I was doing tomorrow night?" Shelby asked, walking into the room with Lance beside him.
"I thought you might like to come and check out our show. That was the previous engagement that I told you about this morning. I know that you don't have a clue who we are, but it might be fun. Get you out of the house, at least."
"So that's why you're in town, then?"
"Yeah. We have tonight off, and then a show tomorrow night and the next. We leave on Sunday afternoon."
"And you really want me to come along to a show?"
Overhearing them, all of the others stopped playing immediately. "Yeah! Come on, Shelby. Who knows, you might just want to pick up our CD after you see us do our thing," Justin laughed, clapping Shelby on the back. "If you can make it, it'd be cool if you came."
JC nodded. "I think it's a great idea. We'll set you up with passes and everything, and you can watch from backstage."
"Don't go through any trouble for me," Shelby protested weakly. "I don't need to be hanging out backstage, getting in everyone's way."
Lance smiled and gave him a knowing look. "Trust me, Shel. You do not want to be sitting in the audience. You'll be swallowed alive by masses of screaming teenage girls."
"Screaming teenage girls?"
Chris laughed and took a seat on the edge of one of the pool tables. "You really have to start paying more attention. To us, anyway. It's weird talking with someone who doesn't have a clue about what we do."
"Is there a newsstand somewhere close? Anywhere that we could get today's paper?" Joey asked suddenly, looking at Shelby.
"I've got today's paper downstairs. Three different ones, actually. Why do you need it?"
"Well, I'm sure they mentioned the concert, and probably included a couple of pictures from the last show we did here. Checking that out might give you a better idea of what you're going to see tomorrow night. If you agree to come, that is."
"See?" Lance asked with a grin. "Everyone thinks it's a good idea. You said yourself you have no plans. Why not check it out? We'll pick you up and drop you off and everything."
It was obvious to everyone in the room that Lance really wanted him to go. It was even clear to Lance, who responded to his own statement by blushing. Shelby looked at him for a moment, still trying to figure out just what it was about him, and then he nodded. "Okay, I'll come along. If you guys are really sure."
"We're sure," JC assured him. "Can I use your phone? I'll get everything cleared up right now, so that they know that we're bringing a friend with us tomorrow night."
Shelby smiled at JC's calling him a friend, and then nodded again. "There's a phone over there, at the end of the counter." He pointed to the the kitchenette in the large room, and JC walked off in that direction to make the arrangements.
Lance took JC's place in his game with Justin, and Shelby sat on the end of the air-hockey table, watching both those two, and Joey and Chris, battle it out. He paid particular attention to the sounds in the room. He had always felt very much alone in the fourth floor. Even more alone than on any other floor. Perhaps it was the wide open nature of the space, or perhaps it was the fact that the whole purpose of that particular floor was to make noise and have fun. That was hard to do when you were the only one there. Having a group of people there seemed very right to him at that moment.
"All set," JC announced, returning to the table and sitting with Shelby. Lance offered him his cue back, but he shook his head, content to just sit, watch, and chat with Shelby. JC had caught his smile at being referred to as their friend, and it hadn't been lost on him. He decided that, regardless of whether anything happened with Lance, he wanted to befriend Shelby.
It didn't seem right to him that someone shouldn't have friends. Thinking back on the number of times that he had needed the guys surrounding him, and that they had needed him, it didn't seem right at all. And so he let Lance replace him, turned his attention to his new friend, and started to get to know him.
=============
It was after midnight when they decided to call it a night. More truthfully, it was well before midnight when the decision was made; it just took a while to make the transition into reality. As Justin started to rack up for another game of pool, JC put his hand on his shoulder and finally took the initiative, taking the cues and putting them back in the holder on the wall.
Shelby led them back to the elevator, and walked them to the street entrance once more, listening to them all grumble about how early they had to be up in the morning. A new venue meant new sound checks and rehearsals, which meant early wake-up calls for them. Lance promised to find some time to call Shelby and let him know what was going on, and to finalize the plans for the next night.
"And you're sure that I won't just be in the way?" Shelby asked, his hand reaching for the keypad to unlock the door. He punched in the code and heard the door unlatch, then pulled it open and stepped out into the street, the guys following right behind him.
"Man, stop asking that," Joey laughed, clapping him on the back. "You're coming. End of discussion."
"Seriously, Shel," Lance said sincerely. "We all want you to come. Don't worry about being in the way, or being a distraction, or any of that. We spend so much time moving around, it's nice to have our friends with us as much as possible."
JC smiled, remembering Shelby's reaction to being called their friend. "Yeah, we want you to come."
"You're coming," Chris added decisively. "If we have to break in there and haul your ass out to the car."
Shelby smiled, knowing that not only could they never break into the building, but that they wouldn't be able to haul his ass anywhere that it didn't want to go. "Okay, okay, you convinced me. Just give me a call sometime tomorrow, and let me know what's up."
"Try to be ready this time, huh?" Justin laughed. "If you answer the door half-naked tomorrow, that's how you're going to the concert."
Shelby smiled and promised to be ready, as Chris hailed a cab. Seeing that they were off safely, Shelby excused himself and opened the door again with a key he pulled from his pocket. "Goodnight, guys. I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow."
With a shy smile, Lance said goodnight for all of them. "I'll call sometime tomorrow afternoon."
"I'll be here," Shelby promised with a smile, making them laugh. After another goodnight, Shel stepped inside and pulled the door closed, listening as the lock engaged once more. He stood there for a moment, once more thinking about how odd his day had been, then walked to the elevator.
Pressing the button, he frowned slightly as he heard it start to drop. It should have been on the first floor already, since they had just used it. There was only one explanation for it not being there waiting for him, and his suspicion was confirmed when the doors finally opened.
Sitting on the floor of the elevator, in the very middle, was a single slip of paper. On it was written two words: SEE ME
With a sigh, Shelby stepped into the elevator and picked up the piece of paper. Checking his watch, he crumpled the paper up, put it into a pocket, and pressed the button for the fifth floor.
==================
"Why don't you guys take this one? Scoop and I will get one and follow you," Joey suggested as Chris, Justin and JC stepped toward the cab.
Chris looked at Joey and Lance, and then nodded his agreement. "We'll either see you at the hotel, or we'll see you in the morning." He knew that they would likely take some time making their way back. He and the other two got in the back of the cab, and it pulled away.
Joey and Lance shared a look, then started walking instead of trying to get another cab right away. They had passed a few buildings when Joey finally couldn't stand the quiet. "Well?"
Lance smiled to himself, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk ahead of him. "Well, what?" He knew, of course, but he had decided to make Joey work for it.
Joey laughed and nudged Lance into the wall as they walked. "Well Shelby. It was obvious that you like him."
Lance blushed and came perilously close to giggling. Joey noticed, and his smile expanded further. "Shel's nice. I do like him. There's something about him that grabs my attention."
"I noticed," Joey told him, his smile changing to become more of a smirk. "I believe that something you mentioned is known as a chest."
"What?"
"Come on, Scoop. When we got there and he answered the door all sweaty and dirty from working, it was all you could do to keep from jumping him."
"Joey!"
"And, when he went to take his shower, I knew you were holding back an offer to help scrub his back."
"Joey, come on..."
"And then there was that whole 'You guys go on up and I'll help loverboy clean the dinner stuff, grab myself a piece, and we'll be right up..."
"Cut it out," Lance laughed, feeling the warmth of the blood in his cheeks. "It wasn't that bad."
"You want him, man. No shame in that."
"Well..."
"And who wouldn't," Joey started again with a laugh. "Those eyes, that dark hair, the sweaty chest greeting you at the door. Plus, he's super-pale, just like you! You'd make a good - if ghostly - couple."
Lance couldn't help but laugh along with him. While all of the the members of *N SYNC had been okay with Lance's sexuality, only Joey was so completely comfortable with it that he would joke so much. The rest of the group did make fun, but not on the levels that Joey would go to sometimes. He was the only one who would go so far as to pretend to find a man attractive, just to get a blush out of Lance. Lance greatly appreciated that in Joey, and it had led to them becoming very good, close friends.
For the ghostly comment, Joey got a punch in the arm. "It wasn't that obvious, was it?"
Joey shook his head, turning serious suddenly. This was another thing that had cemented their friendship. Joey always knew when Lance needed him to be serious. "Relax, man. I think all of the guys knew that you find him attractive, but that's because we know you so well."
"So you don't think Shel caught it?"
"I didn't say that," Joey smiled. "Think about it. You told him that you're gay, you accepted his invitation to dinner, and you smiled at him all night. He strikes me as a pretty smart guy, buddy. He's got to know something."
"Do you..I mean...do you think maybe.."
Joey put his hand on Lance's shoulder. "I don't know for sure, Lance. But didn't you notice that whenever you were smiling at him, he was smiling back?"
TBC...
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Thanks.