Hello, everyone. This is part three. Sorry about a couple of errors in Part Two. I accidentally wrote two months instead of three. My bad, and I'll try not to let it happen again. Thanks to all those who have written me with positive reinforcement. This time, there won't be so many long talks, promise.
Ok, the legal stuff. This story is a complete work of fiction and in no way depicts the sexual orientation of any of the members of Nsync. If you are offended by the material, go away and come back when you're more open. If you're not of legal age, I won't tell anyone-read whatever you want.
CHAPTER 4
"Whoa," whispered JC. "This thing's beautiful."
Chris slowly moved the sword around and felt the balance and weight. While holding it, he noticed the onyx handle with white gold wire used to accent the face of the snarling wolf. At the bottom of the handle, the mouth was open wide, revealing a mouth full of sharp, literally, teeth. But the sparkling eyes were the most noticeable. They gleamed red in the sunlight streaming through the windows to the bus. The wolf's legs were pulled up underneath him and his tail wrapped around the lower part of the blade, shown with amazing engraving on the titanium. "This is so cool," he smiled and cut through the air with a whistling sound.
"Chris," Lance snapped, "be careful! You could hurt one of us!"
"Oh, sorry." Chris lowered the sword onto the floor and started rummaging through the rest of my stuff. "I wonder what else he has in here?" he mused. JC and Lance moved over to see more.
"Dammit, Chris," Justin said, starting to get angry, "leave his stuff alone. We have no business in there!"
"No business?" Lance exclaimed incredulously. "He brought a WEAPON here! How do we know that the loss of his family hasn't turned him into some sort of psycho? How do we know that if he doesn't get his 'job' he's not gonna kill us all? Huh?"
"Jesus, Lance, will you give it up?" asked Joey, exasperated. "I'm really getting tired of this. He needs us to trust him, and I do."
"Me, too," added Justin.
"Uh, guys," JC interrupted, getting their attention.
"What?!" all three snapped as they turned to JC and Chris.
"Look what I found," Chris supplied in a little-boy voice.
He pulled out another sword, smaller and straight, but with equally beautiful workmanship and a keen edge. It also had a black handle, but instead of a wolf, this sword held a dragon in full fury. It was coiled around the handle of the sword like an angry snake and it's wings were folded back over it's body and protected the holder's hand. It appeared that it was flying in a dive, ready to snap at its prey. But this time its jaws were at the other end, and the blade came out of its wide mouth. These eyes gleamed a malevolent green and sparkled with a life of their own. "Whoa" was all that the others said.
"Damn, he's got some neat stuff," Joey added. Lance looked at him as though he were a raccoon caught between the headlights. Joey saw Lance's look and giggled. "I'm only kidding, Lance. Sheesh."
"Joey, you need to learn when kidding isn't a good idea."
"OK, OK," he sighed, "God, you're uptight." Lance was about to respond to that when JC looked at his watch and exclaimed "Crap! We gotta concert in one hour!"
They all scrambled around furiously, preparing for the concert: warming up their vocals and tuning their harmony, getting a quick shower and getting dressed in the costume for the night. As they rushed out of the bus, Justin pulled a backstage pass out of his pocket and placed it in the bunk with me. 'In case he wakes up,' Justin thought. Then they flew backstage. The manager of the auditorium looked at them a little angrily. "Cutting it a little close, guys?" he asked acidly.
Joey smiled. "Hey, we still got five minutes before showtime, you know." The rest of the guys laughed, but the manager did not look happy and stalked away, muttering angrily. JC clapped Joey on the shoulder. "You can't win 'em all, guy."
"Yeah," Joey grinned, "and am I glad, 'cause HE'S no prize." The guys laughed again, and the tension seemed to ease right before the performance.
The guys started off the concert with "Here We Go," and the sound of it woke me up in the bus. I groggily looked around and noticed the pass on the bunk next to me. "It had to have been Joey or Justin," I thought to myself, "Lance would never have done it." I stretched as much as I could, considering I was in a bunk on a bus and got up to get dressed. I went into the back room and grabbed my bag. Everything looked as though it had been moved around, and my katana and ninja-to looked like they had just been thrown in my bag. I knew that I never put them like that, but I figured security was pawing through my stuff and Justin told them to stop.
I smiled, 'still protecting me.' I thought. So I slipped on a pair of black jeans and a black shirt with the outline of a huge, angry wolf on it, put on my hat, grabbed the pass and headed to where the music was coming from. I showed the pass to security, but they didn't want to let me through. Two of the guards at the stage were guys I had inadvertently beaten up, and they WEREN'T letting me through. "Great," I sighed...
Then I quickly did a spinning-heel kick to the first one's jaw, dropping him like a bomb and used my momentum to let me go low and perform a spinning sweep to the other. I kept spinning, came up into a handstand and dropped my now-straight leg onto the side of his head. Then I flipped up and kept going towards the wings with their groans becoming less and less audible due to the music.
But unfortunately, my little escapade didn't go unnoticed...
CHAPTER 5
As I got to the wing where I could see the guys, I pulled up a chair to watch. They were on their fourth song and were almost done with it. "Sailing" was definitely one of my favorite songs, and I was annoyed that the stupid guards had made me miss it.
From my position, I could see the audience, but my black clothing faded into the darkness, so they couldn't see me. But the guys did. All of them saw me and flashed me a quick smile, except of course for Lance. Justin's smile seemed even more poignant than before, for some reason. But anyway, they started on "Tearin' Up My Heart," and I sang along quietly in the background. I couldn't take my eyes off Justin as he danced onstage. His back was to me sometimes, and I got a great look at his ass. The site of his cute buns shaking at me nearly drove me wild. I didn't understand it-I couldn't be gay! I don't want to be gay! It's only one more complication! But I couldn't deny that I was turned on, and even if I wanted to, the uncomfortable tightness in the front of my jeans would have convinced me otherwise.
Every now and then, Justin would look at me and smile and I'd give him a huge, supportive smile back. On "God Must Have Spent," I pointedly looked at him during the verses, but I tried not to be TOO obvious about it. After all, Justin was straight, wasn't he? He was still going out with Brittney Spears, wasn't he? I decided not to pursue that train of thought, and concentrated on him instead. God, he was gorgeous!
Finally, "Everything I Own" came up. This was the moment I'd been dreading. The minute the first words were out, I was in tears and still singing along. "You shelter me from harm... you kept me warm... you kept me warm... you gave my life to me... you set me free... you set me free... the finest years I ever knew... were all the years I spent with you... and I would give everything I own... I'd give up my life, my heart, my home... and I would give everything I own... just to have you... back again..." At this point, I completely broke down. I couldn't help but think of my parents when I heard this song. I missed them so much!
But Justin noticed my condition and after ending the concert with "I Want You Back," (which did NOT help me out at all) he came over and consoled me... again. I felt like I was being such a burden to him, but what was I to do? He hugged me close again, and the smell of his sweaty body really hit me in my uncertain state. Luckily, he never noticed or I would have been so embarrassed.
The others came over after changing and showering and by then I had calmed down and was back to normal. I congratulated all of them on their awesome show, not letting on how those beautiful songs had affected me.
I found out that the guys are really tired after a show, so they were too beat to act suspicious of me. Even Lance had chilled, and we all sat around in the bus for an hour or so just goofing off. I was laughing at all the stories they told me about each other-how Lance was so reluctant to join, how JC's voice cracked big time when doing a solo and how Justin would never stop eating. I remembered his shirt when I first saw him, and I could believe it. I saw a lot of yawns, though, so I wished the guys goodnight and went out to my car, grabbing my bag before I left. When I did, they all averted their eyes, but I didn't notice it.
"Ryan," JC spoke up as I was heading out the door.
"Yeah, JC?" I turned around a little bit.
"We have to leave at 7 am tomorrow morning to continue the tour." He shrugged. "Just thought I'd let you know."
"Thanks a lot, JC. I'll see you guys in the morning, bright and early." I smiled as they all groaned at the thought.
Right after I left, they all huddled together to discuss my traveling with them. Joey felt that I should have a job in backstage work or something, while Justin, seeing me coming down the hill thought I should be security. JC and Chris were willing to go either way, but Lance was still against my coming. Even though I hadn't done anything wrong, Lance was uncertain as to my reliability. But in the end, it was decided that I would be security/bodyguard of the guys and we'd see how that worked out. Lance was outvoted, but he didn't protest too hard.
At the same time, the two security guards that I had beat up-twice-were talking with a man who had witnessed it. He was very interested in me for some reason, and the three men followed me to my car. As I arrived in the now empty parking lot, I heard a scuff of someone's foot scraping the pavement and I whirled around to see three men with knives walking slowly towards me only a few feet away.
"Go away," I said, a bit nervously. Weapons had changed things quite a bit. I slowly got into a fighting position, not really wanting to do this again.
One of them laughed. "It's our turn, you little shit," he said in a bad imitation of a menacing voice. I looked around and realized that no one could or would hear anything from here. "Oh, man," I groaned. "Just fucking wonderful."
They came at me from straight ahead, the left and the right at the same time. I waited with my back to my car to see who would attack first. The man to my left swung his knife in an arc, and I dodged it by jumping to my right and then spinning quickly, narrowly avoiding getting impaled my the other attacker, but getting a deep cut on my arm in the process. Damn, that hurt. I was lucky that the third attacker wasn't getting involved right away. He seemed content to watch for a while.
The man on my right, drawing first blood decided to stab at me again, but he used a straight thrust this time. I was clutching my left arm with my right hand, and as he thrust out, I hopped to the side and my right arm wrapped around his and locked it. I lifted a little, and he had to drop the knife or I'd break his arm. He dropped the knife. As I had him in the arm lock, I swung him towards the other attacker who had been trying to sneak up behind me while I was otherwise occupied. The fist attacker was accidentally slammed into the other man's chest, and both dropped.
I bent and picked up the discarded knife and smiled. "Now we can play," I grated. I was definitely not in a happy mood. The both got up and spread out, one of them still holding his knife. Then they both rushed at me, trying to tackle them. I hopped onto the trunk of my car (sorry, baby) and flipped over them just as they were about to grab my legs. I decided that the man with the knife would have to go first, so as I landed, I lashed out with a side kick that bent his knee in a direction it was never meant to go. He screamed and fell forward, clutching at his leg. He seemed really surprised when I came up behind him, pulled up his chin and held the knife to his throat. I told the other to back away, and grabbed my cell out of my car, keeping my hostage ready. I called the police, and the third man smiled a little, nodded and congratulated me. Then he walked away and disappeared into the darkness.
On the phone, I told the police what had happened and asked them not to come with sirens blazing as it would wake my friends up. The first attacker tried to run, but with his back turned, I jumped up after him and tackled him to the ground. Then I sat on him.
The police arrived a few minutes later and took the two men away. They asked if I wanted to press charges, and I told them no, a few nights in jail would be satisfactory to me, since I'd be gone in a day or so. The cops said fine and drove off with my attackers.
I drove to a nearby motel and got a room for the night. I set my alarm for 6 am and after thinking about Justin for a half-hour, finally fell asleep. For some reason, I felt better after the little skirmish.
CHAPTER 6
The next morning, I went to join the group for breakfast and found Justin stuffing his face, naturally. He looked so cute!! When they saw me, they jumped up and told me that I got the job. I was so relieved that I nearly broke down and gave everyone a hug, even Lance. But Joey gave me a bear hug and I winced when he squeezed my arm.
"What's wrong, Ry?" he asked, concerned.
"Nothing," I replied indifferently, "your just so buff, you're squeezing too tight," I joked. Everyone laughed and they told me the schedule of the tour. We'd be going all over the East Coast, and after a couple more weeks, we'd head back to Orlando.
Our first stop was in NYC, and besides a concert, they'd be guest-hosting MTV's TRL. Cool. I've been to the MTV studio before, and it's kind of cool, but I like the part of New York that it's in more: the Theatre District. An idea on how to pay the guys back for letting me go with them came into my head. I badgered them for some more details about our time in New York and finally found out that we'd be there for four days and four nights, Tuesday when we arrived; and that the last night, Saturday night, would be a free one.
Afterwards, we had to get ready to leave, so I hopped in the bus. I gave Joey and Justin my cell phone number in case they needed to call me, and I got Justin's in case there was a problem. Then I pulled in behind the bus and we were off. I couldn't believe that I was actually going around the country with `NSync! Well, behind, actually, but hey, my luck was changing. I was really starting over again.
It was a long drive, so while I drove I stuck in one of their CD's. I sang along to almost all the songs and before too long, (or so it seemed. It'd actually been a little over an hour) we had to stop and get some gas. I was glad to stretch my legs anyway, so it worked out really well. While we were waiting, I idly asked if anyone had seen any shows on Broadway.
"Of course we have," blurted Joey. "Man, what kind of idiots do you take us for?" The others all looked at him strangely. Catching their look, I asked, "So which one was it Joey?"
"Uuhhh." he looked dumbfounded. "I can't remember. It's been a while."
I laughed. "OK, Joey, I just wanted to make sure." The others laughed too. "I sort of thought that was the case, you guys being so busy and all," I paused, "so I went ahead and got some tickets to a show for Saturday night. Any takers?"
"What show did you get?" Chris asked me enthusiastically. "I got tickets for `Jekyll and Hyde.' I hope that's OK," I replied. I was a little uncertain about their reaction to this.
"That's great!" Joey exclaimed. "Since you told me about it, I've wanted to see it. It sounded really good."
"So, where're the seats?" JC wanted to know.
"They're in Row C, seats 117, 119, 121, 123, and 125," I told them. "Centermost seats, third row."
"Whoa, that's awesome man!" Justin said. "I can't wait to see it."
Lance looked at me curiously, "Why only five seats?"
I balked at that one. "Well... I didn't think I should go. It' my way of saying thank you for taking me with you. You can't really begin to understand how much it means to me that you gave me this chance. And-" I hesitated, looking at Lance. "I didn't want to thrust myself in with you more than I have already. Some of you may not like me, and I don't want to make things worse." Lance looked down at his feet. "Besides," I added lightheartedly, "I've seen it lots of times. I know it by heart. I don't need to see it again."
They insisted that I come along with them, but I firmly told them that I would just stay at the hotel. The musicals all end at 11, so we could all talk about it when they got back. I'd be waiting in the lobby.
"That reminds me, which hotel are we staying at, anyway?" I asked.
"We're at the Marriot Marquis, why?" Justin wanted to know.
"I just wanted to know where we were in the city. We're next door to MTV studios and three doors away from the theater. Good placement." I replied.
"How do you know that?" wondered JC.
"I said I'd seen Broadway shows before. The best place to see them is from the middle of the theater district. I've stayed there several times with my dad-" and all of a sudden, I choked up. It caught me by as much surprise as it caught them. "Sorry," I managed.
"Hey, man, it's all right," Chris comforted me. "We understand."
That was when the gas pump pinged. We went to pay for gas and got ready to leave and Justin came over to me. "Mind if I ride with you for the next leg?" he asked.
Hell no! I could've screamed. But I couldn't let him know that I'd actually fallen for him. I'd just die if he knew and stopped being my friend. So I said, "no problem. You sure?" "Sure," he replied. So we hopped into my car and followed the bus again.
For an hour or so, we talked about a lot of stuff, just getting to know each other better. Justin's smooth voice sent shivers into me, and I loved listening to him talk.
It was during this talk that Justin told me that the guys are happy they've got a friend going with them on tour.
"A friend?" I asked. "What are you talking about? As much as I'd like to be friends, you guys barely even know me."
"So?" he replied. "You've been treating us normally, and we really like it when people do that. It doesn't happen too often."
"Normally?" I repeated. "Have you lost your mind, Curly? Remember how we first met? You call that `normal'?"
"Well, yeah, for us." He laughed. "But maybe not for you. It doesn't matter anyway, since afterwards, you treated us like normal people." Then he started rifling through my CD's, trying to figure out what to listen to.
"Hey, punk! Get outta my stuff!" I joked. He flinched at that. "What's wrong, Justin?"
"Ryan, we... kind of... uh... looked through your bag yesterday. We didn't take anything, and I told the guys not to, but they... we saw your things." He sat there breathless while I took this in.
Inside, I was crushed. They looked into the bag because they didn't trust me, part of me said. Another part said, they trusted me enough to give me a job, so it doesn't matter, does it? Besides, it's not like there was anything illegal, was there? No. So don't worry about it. So I calmly asked, "did you guys like the swords?"
He seemed surprised by my coolness. "Uh, yeah, they were beautiful."
So I told him a little bit about the history of the swords, how much they were (expensive!!!) and why I bought them in the first place. "And J," I added afterwards, "I was only kidding. If you see something you like, stick it in."
"Cool, thanks, Ry." He started flipping through my CD's again and stopped on "Jekyll and Hyde." "How about this?" he asked.
I glanced over. "That's not fair, you know," I laughed, "you'll know the words and the others won't. You'll know the story, too. I don't think it's a good idea."
"Oh, come on," he pouted. He looked so adorable with his lower lip sticking out a little that I couldn't say no to him. So we stuck it in.
"My favorite song is `Confrontation,'" I told him, "but it's not until the end."
So as we drove, Justin listened to the CD and sang along on the chorus verses. I sang as Jekyll/Hyde, and I've done it before, so I was familiar with the words. I started singing along a female part without even thinking about it, and Justin looked at me weirdly. I didn't even notice-- I was too busy singing "No One Knows Who I Am."
"Look at me... and tell me who I am... why I am... what I am... Call me a fool and it's true... I am... I don't know who I am... It's such a shame... I'm such a sham... No one knows who... I... am. Am I the face of the future? Am I the face of the past? Am I the one who must finish... last? Look at me... and tell me who I am... why I am... what I am... Will I survive... who will give a damn... if no one knows who I am? Nobody knows... not even you... no one knows who... I... am..."
My tears were freely flowing, and so were his, but I wiped my eyes and kept going as though nothing strange had happened. When "This is the Moment" rolled around, I couldn't finish the note-it was so long and I gasped for air. He just laughed at me, but listened intently during the transformation sequence. Soon enough, I told Justin that "Confrontation" was next and started to sing both parts. Justin was surprised, because whenever I sang Hyde's part, my voice changed and my face became twisted and angry. I didn't even know that I was doing it until he pointed it out to me afterwards. "Why is that song your favorite?" He asked.
"Well," I guessed, "maybe it's because it stresses that everyone has two sides. Recently, my darker side has been on top, since I've been so sad and angry. But it also gives me hope that soon all of my pain will end."
"Oh. I see," was all that he said.
Twenty minutes later, we arrived in NYC.
I was really excited. I'd be with the guys at their rehearsal tomorrow night and their concert the next. I'd also get to be in the studio for TRL and see everything there. First, we stopped at the hotel after a short wait in traffic (about an hour). It turned out that the eighteenth floor was reserved for `NSync, and they had arranged a room for me, as well. We go in to the huge rooms that I'd always enjoyed so much and got showered and dressed for the time on TRL. I was technically acting as a bodyguard, so I figured I'd go all out. It might have been a little melodramatic, but the guys would get the joke-or at least, Justin would. So I dressed in my loose, black jeans and another black tank top and hooked a case with some Chinese stars (the guys hadn't found those yet) onto my belt, strapped my dragon-sword onto my back and my wolf on my left side (yes, I have a license to carry them). I pulled my long hair back and put on a black Nike hat and sunglasses. I then put on my tabis, which are the oriental boots with toes that were accented. All in all, I totally overdid it, but I wasn't going to be on camera, so I figured I could have a good time this time.
I waited by the elevator for them to come out, and they all came from JC's room. Apparently they'd had some sort of meeting that I didn't know about. When they saw me, they completely bugged out. They just stared at the swords I was wearing and Chris had a guilty sort of look on his face. I noticed it and started giggling. Justin started laughing and Joey giggled too, but Lance looked at me like I was a madman and asked, "What are you DOING?"
I stopped laughing and answered in a deadly serious voice: a low monotone with my face never cracking a smile. "I am your bodyguard, aren't I? Well, then, to answer your question, Mr. Bass, I am doing my job." He just stared at me, and I smirked at him. This got JC and Chris laughing, too, and Lance finally had to give in. I looked kind of ridiculous, so it wasn't really too hard for him to laugh at me anyway. I winked at him. "Besides, I'm not going to be on camera, so I'm just here to look dangerous." Then I looked at my watch. "Let's go, you don't want to be late for your fans."
On the way across the street, the NYPD was helpful enough to keep the screaming girls at bay, but one of them tried to stop me, too. Lance turned and told the cop that I was with them and I got hateful stares from literally hundreds of pre-pubescent girls. I leaned in and told the cop who was staring at my arsenal "I'm their bodyguard. Don't worry." He didn't seem to believe me, but he didn't hinder me any more.
The hosting job went great. The guys were a natural in front of the camera and everyone had a good time. But then Carson HAD to ask about me. I'd been standing in the back by the doorway, trying to be unobtrusive, but Lance decided that it would be his turn to get me back for the hotel incident.
"That's Ryan," he told Carson in an offhanded way. "He's our bodyguard, so don't mess with him!" He laughed and Carson did too, but he had one of the cameramen turn around and put the light on me! I was so scared, I looked like a complete ass! But I tried to stand still and assume a bodyguard-ish posture. I looked at Lance very harshly and quietly promised, "I'm gonna get you for this one, Lance."
At this statement, everyone laughed and I blushed tremendously. The rest of the afternoon went smoothly, and I escorted the guys back to the hotel so that they could rest before going clubbing.
It was about an hour later when Joey and Chris knocked on my door. "It's open," I called out. They stepped in and looked around the room. The swords were on a stand on the desk and I was sitting on the bed in a pair of shiny black nylon pants reading a huge book. Then I looked up.
"What's up, guys?" I asked.
"We're going clubbing tonight, and we want you to come with us," Chris told me. "As a friend, not a bodyguard," he added quickly.
I blinked back a couple of tears. "Are you sure?" I asked them. "I mean, I don't want you guys to feel as though you have to take me anywhere."
"Of course we're sure," Joey told me firmly, "but before you can go with us, we need to take you shopping." With that, he smiled. "Where's the nearest mall?"
I laughed. "We'll just have to go store by store, Joey," I told him. "But I think you'll like it. Why are we going shopping?"
He just looked at me. "You need new clothes," he assured me in a high and feminine voice. I just laughed. "And since we both love to shop-" Chris nodded enthusiastically, "we figured we'd take you. Now."
I hopped out of bed. "Then let's go."
This was going to be so great. We spent the rest of the day in stores getting clothes, hats and other trinkets as reminders of the trip. Joey and Chris insisted on paying for everything, no matter how much I tried to pay. So I knew that I had to come up with some way of repaying them.
After a couple of hours, we got back to the hotel and were ready to go clubbing. I made a quick phone call to a guy I know that goes to NYU and he told us where the hottest clubbing scene was. He also offered me condolences. Apparently, the story of my family's death was on the national news. I thanked him and hung up, a little shaken. So much for anonymity. But when I hung up, I figured out what I should do for the guys, so I called the View, the rotating restaurant on the 40th floor of the hotel and made a reservation for the six of us for tomorrow night. Then I prepped myself for tomorrow's purchase-Justin can really eat a lot when he sets his mind to it, and I wanted to be sure I had enough. It seemed OK and I was waiting by the elevator door for them all to come out... again. Not much later, they all converged on me and we headed down. I told them not to make any plans for Wednesday night, as I had found a nice little caf‚ we'd be going to eat at. They all thought it was a great idea and agreed wholeheartedly.
At the club, everyone was dancing... except for me. They were all having a great time and I was like a wallflower at the prom. Justin saw me and came over to the table.
"What's wrong, Ry? Why aren't you dancing?"
"Justin, I'll do a lot of things that are stupid or embarrassing, but I'll never dance in public. I just can't do it. I suck and I'd totally make an ass out of myself."
He laughed. "You did that earlier today, too. So what?"
"Nope. Lance made an ass out of me. I didn't do it to myself." I answered quickly.
"I mean when you were at the elevator waiting for us."
"Oh, that..." I blushed, "well... I was just with a bunch of friends. I didn't really care if I made an ass out of myself."
"Well, there you go!"
"But we're in public right now. Look, J, there are some people who want to dance with you." I pointed at the rest of the guys who were beckoning us to the dance floor. He laughed and said, "come with me."
"Uh uh."
"Oh come on."
"Uh uh."
"Oh come ON!" All of the guys shouted.
What was I to do, I ask you? So I went out there with my face flaming and started to dance very badly. We all danced together and laughed at each other's coordination or lack thereof, especially mine. The time just passed away quickly. I got tired and went to sit at the table and Joey went with me. While we were talking, a slow song went on. JC had picked some random girl, a blonde, to dance with while Chris tugged on Joey's arm to go with him. I looked at them quizzically, and Joey just said, "It's an ongoing joke. Don't ask."
So I scanned the dance floor and there were Justin and Lance dancing together, very slowly. Justin was chatting away and smiled when he saw me staring, but Lance's eyes told me all I needed to know. Now I understood why he didn't like me too much. As I realized this, my eyes filled with tears and the music stopped. The guys came over and I wiped my eyes. They were beat. We'd been dancing for hours. Lance looked at his watch. "Guys, we gotta get back. We've got an early start tomorrow." They all groaned.
"Hey, it won't be so bad," I told them. "After all..." I put on my "bodyguard" face, "I'll be there to protect you." They all laughed at my lame excuse for a joke, and we went back to the hotel. Once alone, I started sobbing again. This time, the memory of Justin dancing with Lance sent me off. I recognized that I was definitely in love with Justin. "But he'll never be with me. We'll never be together." And I cried myself to sleep.
That night, I dreamt that Justin and I were going out. We were desperately in love with each other, and nothing could separate us. It was the best feeling in my life. But then, the rest of the guys interrupted our date. "I hate to say this," JC told us, "but management has found out about you Justin, and they've decided on it..." he trailed off, not liking the subject. "They wanted us to tell you that this is a danger to the group and that you have to stop seeing Ryan." Chris finished for him, also seeming very uncomfortable. "What!" Justin exploded. "Are you kidding me? We are in love! There's no way that I'm going to stop seeing him!" "If you don't," Joey quietly told him, "you're going to be asked to leave the group." Tears filled his eyes. "I'm sorry Ryan, but none of us want that. Please leave." Justin was about to go berserk when I grabbed his shoulder. "They're right, Justin." I said to him seriously, tears filling my eyes. "You can't let me come between you and the guys. And you can't let me ruin your career. I don't want that to happen to you." He stared at me dumbfounded and then they all started to fade away. Just before they vanished, Lance put his arm around Justin's crying form and smirked at me. Then they were gone and I was alone in a void...
I woke up at 6:30 to the beeping sound of my alarm and looked around. I was covered in sweat and my eyes were brimming. "Just a bad dream." I muttered...
*That's all I've got for part three. I hope it clears some of the plot up for everyone. It seems so to me; but then again, I already know the ending of the story. Again, comments, concerns, questions, please e-mail me. I love getting mail. To those few who never got a response from me, I apologize. My system wouldn't send due to some "Program error." It's fixed now, but I still want to say sorry. I'll start working on part four soon, I hope. *