This is part six. Again, thanks to everyone who has given me compliments. I can't do it without you. You all know the legal stuff. If you are offended by sexual relations between two men, go away. This story is not meant to imply the sexual orientation of any member of 'NSync, so don't think it does, please. As usual, comments, questions, concerns: please e-mail me at Faradhi269@aol.com. Thanks
CHAPTER 11
His lips brushed mine and my thoughts whirled. --I don't believe it! My dreams have come true!- As his lips met mine, I felt the same jolt I felt the first time we touched, but magnified by a hundred times. After the kiss broke, he pulled away and I looked into his beautiful blue eyes. There was love there and a sense of relief. I moved forward to taste his lips again... just to make sure they tasted as good, you understand. As my lips met his, his mouth opened and his tongue brushed my lips. I shivered in ecstasy as I allowed my own tongue out to intertwine with his. The kiss lasted for a couple of minutes and I literally swooned. Everything in my being concentrated itself on those contact points and I never wanted it to stop.
But it soon ended and we hugged each other as hard as we possibly could. I started to cry from sheer joy that I'd finally found someone. "Ry, why are you crying? Is something wrong?" He asked. His face had a look of wonder and worry on it. I looked up at him and smiled and kissed his lips very quickly.
"No, I'm just so happy. I've finally found my love, and this new love means I'm not empty or alone any more."
We hugged and held hands and just kept physical contact, hoping that it was real and not another one of our dreams. But time passed quickly. "Justin," I reminded him, "don't forget you've got a play to go to tonight." It wouldn't be for a while, but we had to get the guys there early to avoid any mobbing or rioting. That, and I had to sadly inform him that we couldn't stay together forever like I wanted to.
"Justin," I murmured into his ear. He was nuzzled against my shoulder and his head felt just so... right there. "Justin, baby, time to get up. You've got a play to go to tonight."
"I don't wanna," he replied into the crook of my neck. "I want to stay here with you."
"I want you to stay, too, J, but the ticket's paid for and I want you to see a musical. You may not be in New York for a while, so why throw a chance away?"
"I don't know. I just want to be with you."
"Justin Timberlake," I said in an authoritative tone of voice. "You WILL go spend some time with your friends tonight and you WILL have a good time of it," I ordered.
"Oh, all right," he grumbled.
I laughed. "Get your cute butt moving," I commanded.
"Can't you come?" He asked me plaintively.
"Justin, there are five tickets," I said patiently. "And let's see: there's you," I held up one finger, "Joey," I held up another, "JC," yet another, "Chris," one more, "and Lance," my fifth finger rose. I counted my fingers in front of him. "One, Two, Three, Four Five. If you see a sixth, let me know."
"Ohhhhh," he pouted.
I laughed again. I couldn't refuse him when he did that, he looked so cute! "All right," I gave in. "Let me see what I can do."
I called down to the theater desk in the lobby and asked them to send a playbill up to the room immediately. Only a few minutes later there was a knock on the door.
I got up and answered it and the bellboy handed me the playbill. I gave him a five and thanked him and closed the door.
I scanned the cast members and theater crew trying to see if I recognized anyone. Suddenly, there it was. An old tour guide who I'd kept in touch with was in the chorus. I called the theater and asked to speak with Amanda.
"Amanda? It's Ryan."
"Ryan! Good to hear from you! It's been a while, hasn't it? I just heard about your family. I'm sorry."
"Thanks," I said simply. I was surprised to discover that it didn't seem to hurt as much as before to talk about, but I still didn't really want to.
"So what can I do you for?"
"Well, I'm here with a couple of friends and bought some tickets for the show, but now there's a last-minute addition."
"Ryan, I wish I could help you get an extra ticket, but the theater is completely sold out. You did know that our main characters are the original cast, right?"
"Yeah, I know. But the addition is... me. Couldn't you arrange for something? Something backstage or the like?"
"Well... I don't know."
"Amanda, I think I can afford it if I really need to bribe someone. If that's the case, let me know and put the person I need to talk to on the phone." I winked at Justin as I said this, and he smiled back.
"OK, hold on just a second." she went of the line for a minute, then came back on. "Ryan, do you still sing?"
"Um, yeah." I answered, confused. I wasn't sure where this was going.
"Great! I'm going to put you on the speakerphone, OK?"
"Um, sure." A second later, I heard a click and then a lot more noise than before.
"Now, Ryan, how well do you know this play?"
"Really well. It's one of my favorites."
"Good. Now, do me a favor."
"Sure."
"Sing from 'Murder, Murder,' will ya?"
"What's this all about Amanda?" I asked suspiciously.
"Just do it, please, sir. I'm curious to hear it," a strange man's voice said on the phone.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the theater manager. Please, son, just sing this part. The director is here with me and he wants to hear you too."
"OK." And I started to sing just a small part: "Read about the hideous murder... profane religious murder... that poor old bishop, what a shock. Seen walking with his daughter... a moment prior to slaughter... the shepherd tended to his flock. He died in a London slum... a slave to martyrdom. He died without complaint... he should be made a saint. He's gone back home to God. It all seems very odd. Why should it be... this mystery?"
"OK, that's great. Amanda tells me you're an actor."
"Yeah."
"And you're about 6' tall, a little thin?"
"Yep."
"Tremendous. One of our male chorus members is sick, and his understudies are, too! I need you to fill the part. His stuff should fit you. Would you please come by immediately?" A different man's voice said. I assumed he was the director.
"Sure. Absolutely. No problem. Thank you very much," I was so excited, but I was trying very hard to hide it in front of Justin. I wanted this to be a surprise.
"No, thank YOU. I'll see you soon."
"Justin, I need to go see the theater manager right away. Please, don't worry. If I can't get a seat, I've seen it before and we can still talk about it."
"Man," he groaned.
"It's OK, baby. Now you get in the shower and get ready." I arched an eyebrow. "I could help you, if you like."
He blushed a deep red. "No thanks, man. Maybe later," he added impishly.
I looked at him feigning shock at his suggestion and he chuckled. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and said, "I'll see you later, sweetie. Enjoy the show." Then I bolted right out the door and to the theater.
When I got there, I was put into a costume and makeup and spent the next two hours before the show working with the other chorus members on the movements that I'd have to make. They were easy and I remembered them pretty well from last time I saw the play, so it wasn't so bad.
Justin groaned after I left and went to talk to the others. He knocked on Joey's door and heard Joey say, "Come in."
"Joey, do you know what time we need to leave to go to the play tonight?"
"Yeah. It's an 8:00 show, and we want to get there early to avoid the rush and crowd. It's 5 minutes away, so I'd say about 7:00. Why?"
"Well, Ryan went to the theater to try and get himself a ticket."
"Why'd he do that, J?"
"Well... I asked him to." Justin flushed a little bit at Joey's knowing look.
"How are you two getting along?"
"Oh God, Joey! I wish I'd told him when we first met!"
-So do I- Joey thought. But what he said was, "That well, huh? That's great. I'm so happy for you. But how did Lance take it?"
"Lance?" Justin asked, looking confused.
"Yeah, he heard Ryan singing and flew over to your room in a rage."
"Uh-oh."
"Yeah."
"But I didn't see him there. He didn't do or say anything if he was there."
"Maybe he changed his mind, but I doubt it."
"Should we go see him?"
"Yeah. After all, we're making something of a public appearance tonight, aren't we?"
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that. He said the theater's full."
"Great," Joey sighed. "Another complication."
But he picked up his phone and dialed JC and Chris and told them to come over. Then he called Lance.
"Hello?" Lance answered in a broken voice.
"Lance?"
"Yes, dumbass. Who ELSE would it be?"
"Sorry, didn't think."
"No shit. Whaddya want?"
"We're having a meeting about tonight. Will you come over and join us?"
"Is Ryan there?"
"Nope."
"Is Justin there?"
"Yep."
"OK, just give me a couple of minutes to... clean up." He sounded almost like a man about to go to his execution.
"No problem. We've got plenty of time." Joey hung up the phone and looked at Justin. "I think he's going to want to talk to you."
Justin took a deep breath and said, "Let's get this over with."
The guys arrived a few minutes later and Joey explained that even though the play was at 8:00, they'd need to leave earlier. The whole time, Lance avoided Justin's gaze. JC and Chris noticed this.
"OK, Lance. What's going on?" Chris burst out suddenly.
"None of your business." Lance replied sullenly.
"'None of our business?'" JC echoed incredulously. "You're tearing yourself apart and taking the rest of us with you! How can you say it's none of our business?"
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
"Lance," Chris warned dangerously.
"Look, guys. I'll handle this on my own. Don't worry about it! You don't understand!"
"I do, Lance," Joey quietly said. Lance stared at him in horror. "I think that you and Justin need to talk, so let's get this general meeting over with."
"With that in mind, what's the deal?" Chris asked.
"Well, tomorrow, we've got to leave by 10:00 in order to head to our next spot, right JC?"
"Right."
"Where's the next spot gonna be?" Justin asked.
"I dunno. I thought we were heading for Nashville and then Richmond. Am I right?"
"Yeah, I think so," JC affirmed.
"Cool. So we need to leave tomorrow at ten, and the play ends at eleven tonight, so just remember not to stay up all night.
"No problem there. Are we going clubbing afterwards?" JC noted.
"Let's talk about that after the play, OK? We promised Ryan that we'd talk to him about it when we got back."
Lance frowned at the mention of my name, but he didn't seem to do it out of anger. Justin noticed this, but didn't make any mention of it yet.
"So, if we're still wide awake," Chris giggled at this, "some of us may go clubbing. All right, everyone?" Joey asked.
He got a chorus of "sure" and "no problems" and looked at Lance and Justin. "Maybe now you two should talk."
Both of them sighed and steeled themselves. Then they went off into Justin's room.
Meanwhile, I was working my tail off so that I wouldn't make a complete idiot of myself and ruin the show. God, how do Broadway actors keep it up?
CHAPTER 12
Lance and Justin walked into Lance's room and Lance took a seat on the bed. Justin pulled up a chair and sat down facing Lance. "OK, Lance, what's your problem?" Justin asked bluntly.
"Well, Justin..." Lance didn't know just quite how to begin.
"Scoop, I'm your friend, OK? But you need to tell me why you don't like Ryan so much. Why are you acting like this?"
Tears filled Lance's eyes. "Curly, I'm afraid for you. I just..." he started to sob.
"Lance, what are you afraid of? Why are you afraid?"
"Well, you told me that Ryan's a fighter."
"Yeah, so?"
"So I'm afraid that he's gonna hurt you. I don't know, but I think he's gonna get violent on you. That, or something's gonna happen to him that's going to hurt you emotionally."
"Oh. So that's why you've acted like this. You were trying to drive him off so I wouldn't get hurt."
"Y-Yeah. I just don't want to see you get hurt. That's why when Ryan hurt you earlier, I went kind of ape-shit."
"Yeah, Lance. We noticed." Justin commented wryly.
"So, I just don't know what I'm going to do about him. I can't shake the feeling that he's going to hurt you, but I don't want to hurt you by sending him away."
"Lance, we are in love. No one ever said love is painless. But it's totally worth it," Justin told him gently.
"I guess," Lance said quietly. His sobbing had decreased, but his tears still fell regularly.
"Why do you care for me so much, bud? I mean, I appreciate it, but I just don't understand it."
"Justin, you're like a brother to me. But there's more. I really, really care for you and if you're hurt, I'm hurt."
"Why's that, Lance?"
"'Cause I love you, Curly," Lance sobbed.
"Lance, you know I love you, too, don't you?" Justin asked gently.
Lance nodded his head.
"Scoop, are you gay?"
Lance shook his head.
"But you know I am, right?"
Lance nodded again. "We all do."
That surprised Justin, but he didn't let it affect him too much. If they all knew, but hadn't done anything yet, then he guessed they were OK with it.
"So, you're just worried that I'll get hurt?"
Lance nodded again.
"Lance, I know you want to protect me, but I don't think that driving off the one that I love is the best way to do it."
"It was all I could do, J."
"What do you mean?"
"The minute he arrived, you took to him and he took to you, but I didn't want him taking advantage of you. After a while, I realized he wouldn't do something like that, so I calmed down. But after what happened earlier, I thought I was right."
"Oh, so that explains it." Justin muttered thoughtfully.
Lance nodded his head morosely. "I'm so sorry. I just want you to be happy and I don't want you to hurt yourself by doing something stupid."
"But Lance, you saw how we just connected, didn't you? Did you see how much we love each other?"
"Yeah," he replied, "but that was just now and I feel so bad. I don't know what to do."
"You need to talk to Ryan and tell him. I'll give you some support if you need it, but you need to tell him."
Lance looked up hopefully. "Then you forgive me?"
Justin laughed gently. "Of course I do, you goofball."
Lance smiled. "Then let's go talk to him."
Justin frowned slightly. "We can't." When Lance looked at him quizzically, he shrugged and added, "He's been at the theater trying to con the manager into giving him an extra ticket to tonight's show so he can join us."
"Hasn't he come back yet?" Lance wanted to know.
"No, and I'm kind of surprised. I'm a little worried, actually. I hope nothing's gone wrong."
Lance was about to respond when the phone rang.
Justin answered it. "Hello?"
"Hey, sweetie!"
"Ryan! I've been worried. What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, Curly, but I'm gonna have to stay. The manager's being sort of obstinate..." I gave a wink to the manager who was standing right next to me. "And I'm trying to get that damn seat. My friend Amanda's trying to help, but what can I do? I just called to tell you not to worry and I love you."
"That's so sweet. I love you two."
"I gotta go. I'll try to catch you at the show. It starts in about an hour, so you guys better get a move on."
"OK, Ry. We'll be there," he promised.
"Great. Bye cutie."
"Bye."
He looked at Lance. "He's still trying to get a ticket, but looks like we passed more time than we thought, since we need to leave soon. I need a shower."
Lance got up. "OK. I'll catch you in a few minutes."
Justin stripped down once Lance had left and turned on the water. He closed his eyes as he stepped into the hot water. "Ahhh," he sighed. But with his eyes closed, one image kept appearing in his mind... me lying in my boxers and nothing else. He kept imagining me without those boxers and realized that he had to take care of some added business before leaving for the theater.
He leaned against the back wall and worked up a good lather with the shampoo. His hands worked his hard member and he kept seeing me naked or sucking his cock. It wasn't long at all before he felt the approaching ecstasy. His balls pulled up into their sack and he was hit by his most powerful orgasm that he'd ever experienced. He moaned and nearly slid down the back wall but remembered that he'd be meeting me soon; so he finished his shower and put on a pair of black corduroys and a baby blue Polo shirt.
He met the guys at the elevator and they all walked over to the theater.
Showtime!-I thought. We all went out and got ready. The lights dimmed and the show began. For the first couple of songs, I didn't have anything to do, which gave me the time to calm down. I needed it-I was a nervous wreck. It'd been a while since I'd been onstage, and one of my dreams was to perform on Broadway-and here I was!
When the time came for my first part, "Fa‡ade," we paraded out. I was hardly recognizable, since I was wearing ragged brown pants and my hair was dyed dark. I was shirtless, as I was playing a common laborer, but I still had a solo, so if the guys didn't know who I was yet, they would soon.
I saw them sitting in the third row right in front of me and by the looks on their faces, they were enjoying themselves immensely. Justin was sitting next to Joey on the right side and Lance sat on the left side. He was looking at me, but he couldn't tell who it was. I secretly got some pleasure out of this. I couldn't wait to see the surprise on his face.
My solo rolled around. "If we're not one but two... are we evil or good?"
Granted, that's not much of a solo, but it was enough to make all the guys' eyes widen in shock. I gave Justin a quick wink and he smiled grandly. Throughout the play, the guys reacted strongly and at both Jekyll's and Lucy's deaths and the meanings behind some of the songs were definitely not lost on them.
The play was outstanding overall. I was honored to meet the original cast and they were all very nice. After changing and washing the makeup off, I went and gave Amanda a huge hug. "Thanks, Amanda. I can't tell you how awesome this was!" She laughed. "No problem, Ryan. I hope we can work together again sometime." "Speaking of which, the manager has something for you," broke in the director. "Oh. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate it." He smiled. "No problem. If you want to come back again, just give me a call, will you?" "Absolutely." I shook hands with him and the rest of the cast members and went to the manager's office. He handed me a large stack of money. "This is the average payment per show for our chorus members," he said. "I through in a little extra because you saved our tails and did a great job of it." "Th-thanks," I stuttered. Was he serious? I would've done it for free! "Oh, yes. And I also covered your fee for joining the actor's guild." "Wow. How can I ever thank you?" "Don't worry about it. Just come back, you hear?" "Yessir. I'll be my pleasure." I stuffed the money into my bag and headed back to the hotel.
Justin was waiting in the lobby and when I came through the doors, he flung his arms around me and just picked me up. "You were awesome!" he cried and just swung me around. I laughed. "Thanks, hon. But where are the others?" He smiled at me. "They're upstairs, waiting to talk to you. I just didn't want to wait." I smiled and hugged him tighter. "You don't know how much I appreciate that." He put me down and we went upstairs, dying to but barely avoiding holding hands. Once we got to our floor, however, his hand slipped into mine and squeezed. I squeezed back and gave him a kiss once we stepped off the elevator. It was a quick kiss at first, but soon his lips parted and our tongues intertwined again. After what seemed like forever, I opened my eyes and was kind of ashamed to find that I was about to cry. "Ry, what's wrong, baby?" Justin asked, seeing my tears. "It's just... I've been so lucky. Some people never find their one true love, and I've found you." I smiled through my tears. "I love you so much, Justin." He sniffled. "And I love you, too." We kissed again and went to Joey's room to talk about the play.
When I came in the door, they all stood and gave me some applause. I blushed a deep red and told them to stop. "After all, guys, it's not like you don't do the same thing," I reasoned. Then we all got comfortable. I took a seat on the floor in front of the bed and Justin sat between my legs with his head resting against my shoulder. Lance took a chair right next to us, JC and Chris sat on the sofa and Joey lied down on the bed. "That was great man," Chris said enthusiastically. Too enthusiastically, I thought, considering it was about midnight by now. "Yeah," Lance agreed. THAT surprised me. "You were really good, and I can see why you like that play so much." "I love it. Especially a couple of years ago, I was fully a Jekyll and Hyde case. I was a caring individual who loved helping people and having friends, but when I would get hurt or angry, I'd become a monster. I would get so deformed by hatred that I just lost who I was. It took a lot of time and effort, but I managed to bring that under control. The play helped a lot, because I could sing the part that applied-Jekyll's or Hyde's part. More often than not, I sang 'Confrontation' as both and, uh... became both sides." Lance kind of hung his head. "I know what you mean, Ryan," he said quietly. I was confused by this so I just looked at him and said, "Huh?"
"Well, I got really angry at you because you and Justin hit it off so well and I didn't want him to get hurt. I didn't realize how connected you two were until earlier today." "When was that Lance?" I asked curiously. "When you sang that song together." "You heard that?" I was surprised and embarrassed. He nodded. "And I saw you and Justin. It was then I realized I was wrong. So I want to apologize." I smiled at Lance. "Lance, you don't have to. I've already forgotten about it." He got up quickly and gave me a hug, smothering Justin in the process. "Hey," protested Justin, "hands off my man!" They all laughed and Justin pulled me closer. "I've got a congratulation present in my room from everyone. I'll show you after the meeting, if you want." My mind was racing with possibilities, so I nodded "yes" enthusiastically. I was so curious/anticipatory of the "present" that I really barely heard the rest of the conversation, or at least, I didn't remember much of it, anyway. So about an hour later, everyone was getting anxious. "Well, who's up for clubbing?" Chris asked. I yawned. It had been a crazy day for me. "You've got to be kidding, Chris. It's one am." "But isn't New York the 'city that never sleeps?'" JC asked innocently. "Well, yeah, but..." "Ryan," Joey interrupted, "you don't have to go, you know. It's understandable. You've had a long day and your only 18." "Joey, that doesn't mean I'm a little kid who can't stay up past his bedtime," I protested. "I never said that, Ry," he answered placatingly. "I only meant that you probably can't get into a lot of the clubs with us, that's all." "Oh. Sorry, Joey. I must be more tired than I thought if I'm snapping at you for no reason." "Don't worry about it." "I'm game," put in Lance. "I need to dance out a couple of kinks." "Me, too," added JC. "Wait'll you guys see the moves that I'm gonna do tonight. You're all going to be soo jealous!" Amid a chorus of "Yeah, Right," and "As ifs," Justin told the others, "I'm only 18 too, so I'll stay here." Joey and Lance shot him a knowing look, and Chris and JC decided they didn't even want to think about it. Shortly after that, Justin firmly pulled my by the hand to his room. "I want to show you that present, Ryan," he said excitedly-just like a little kid at Christmas. I smiled indulgently and shook my head slightly. He's just so adorable. He pushed his keycard in the slot and started to open the door. "Now close your eyes," he commanded as he opened the door all the way. I followed him in, guided by his body until he told me to stop. I did and then slowly opened my eyes. His room looked normal except for the bottle of champagne chilling next to the table. "What?" I started, but then I stopped myself. "It's really nice, Curly. I need to thank the guys for the champagne." "Actually, the champagne's mine," he grinned. "The present is in those drawers there," and he pointed to the right-hand dresser drawers. He'd really stirred up my curiosity, so I went to the top drawer and opened it. I just stared. There was nothing in it but clothes! But they looked kind of familiar... I just looked up at Justin with a question on my face. He giggled and nodded to the next drawer. I opened it and it was the same as the top one! Now I was really confused. Justin was also getting a little tense, but I couldn't really understand why. I moved on to the bottom drawer and inside of it were a pair of black silk boxers, a pair of sleeping pants and a red rose with a note tied to it. I opened the note and read, "Ryan, I'm sure you're curious what your present is by now. Well, it's... me! I hope that you'd be willing to stay the night here with me. I want to be with you forever. Love, Justin." I closed the note and looked at Justin curiously. "You mean this?" "Yeah." Then he looked a little sheepish. "Besides, I think I cut off any options. I checked you out of your room and the guys helped me move all your stuff in here." I just stared at him. No wonder those clothes had looked familiar! He looked a little concerned. "It's OK, right? I mean, you do want to stay, don't you?" I answered him in the best way I could-I pulled him into a hug and dropped us both onto the bed, kissing with all the passion I've ever known...
That's all for part six. I hope you all like it. I'll try to keep it up as much as I can. Please, suggestions or questions or just a hello, e-mail me. I adore getting mail. Thanks again to all those who've been writing me constantly. Zeo, thanks again. Mike, good luck. Scrouge, what can I say? I wish you the best.