Ok, I don't know the BSB, nor do I know any other celebrities, particularly those portrayed in this story: N'Sync, Britney Spears... I don't know the sexuality of any of these celebrities and I don't claim to. This story is entirely fictitious, and the author accepts no responsibility for any of the twisted and sick storylines which appear. But nonetheless, I would like to suggest that everyone read this story, just for a bit of fun...enjoy this chapter - it's my longest yet!
Last Time:
"Ok, this is the first part of my present to you." Brian said with a smile. Kevin ripped open the box and inside was one of those palmtop computer things. I still couldn't get the hang of computers.
"Thanks Brian." Kevin said with a smile on his face.
"That's not all of it. Read what the screen says." Kevin opened up the top and on the screen it said: Look in the second bedroom. Kevin looked up at Brian with confusion on his face. That's when I realised that Brian's suite wasn't quite the same as Kevin's: it had two main bedrooms in it. Kevin got up and walked across to the door, and swung it open. Inside stood a tall, statuesque blonde woman. A smile crept across Kevin's face.
"Kristin!" He swept her up into his arms and spun her around and around. Kristin suddenly let out a yell.
"Kevin! Put me down!" She said in a half-serious, half-joke yell. He lowered her to the floor. "Thank you. Now I think you've got something to explain to your wife!" And with that she looked across the room to me...
Chapter 19
I glanced across at Kevin and gulped. Kevin still had one hand wrapped around Kristin's slim waist. Kristin was only a cover right? She knew their marriage was a sham, and they were on a permanent separation, so what was the problem.
"Jared, don't look so scared! Kristin's only kidding with you!" Kevin said to me. I looked from him back across towards Kristin. She was smirking slightly.
"Hell no! I'm not kidding! Cos of him, it's been almost 2 months since you called me! What kind of a friend is that?" She reached around and smacked him on the chest. She met a flat plate of muscle - Kevin had been working out hard. "Whoa boy! You been working out?" She smiled at him again. "Anyway, how'd you manage to end up with a guy who looks like him? I gotta get me some of your pheromones boy!" Her accent was very thick, and I had a great deal of trouble understanding it, but I started to pick up bits of it. "Now, you and I have gotta have a talk." She came over to me and took my hand and we walked out the room. I cast a worried glance over my shoulder at Kevin, but I saw him standing there, smiling. Kristin dragged me across to Kevin's room and we sat in the living room.
"Now, let me guess, you're worried about how I'll react about my husband dating another man right?" I hesitated, but then nodded. "Well, first of all, Nick's told me that he told you about the arrangement that Kevin and I have. I am just a friend of Kevin's who agreed to help him out. We agreed that when the band is finished, or as soon as we can, we'll get a divorce, and Kev will be able to live his life as he wishes. But...I am one of Kev's best friends. I want to know some more about you. Brian's told me a lot don't worry, even if that good for nothing husband of mine in there can't be bothered to phone his wife, Brian did. I want to know if you're treating Kevin right. I care about Kevin a lot. If I ever find out that you're doing anything to upset Kevin, or if you leave Kevin and don't have any reason, or if you do anything that will hurt Kevin in anyway, I swear I will hunt you down and castrate you." O...k, this woman seemed so nice looking before. I nodded, with just a hint of fear. "Good. Now we've got that sorted, how bout we get down to knowing a bit about each other. Oh, and you don't need to worry, Brian already told me what you did before you joined the tour." I smiled up at her - thank god she wasn't that sadistic bitch all the time!
Kristin and I talked for about 40 minutes. I have to say she was nice enough, but well, she seemed to be slightly distant, like she wasn't really talking to me or something. She seemed to be just existing, I didn't understand it, but if this was one of Kevin's friends, then I would get to know her. Towards the end she started really opening up - I guess the initial impression was just her being a bit restrained, but by the end we were almost roaring with laughter. Kevin walked in a bit later. "Hey Jared, the guys are taking us out to lunch, so we have to start getting ready. We've got a rehearsal this afternoon, so we have to go a bit early." I nodded and stood up. Kristin stood up too and walked out, though she hugged Kevin before she left.
Kevin and I both showered and got ready, and we both dressed and sat down in the living room. "Thanks again Jared." Kevin said to me.
"What for?"
"The gift, being here, everything." I could feel myself blushing, and Kevin smiled. "Huh! And I didn't think anything could make you blush!" I smiled back. "Come on, we should get going. The guys are probably waiting." Kevin and I left the suite, just as we were swinging the door open, Howie started to knock on the door.
"Oh! You're ready! We thought you guys might, well, take a little longer." Howie said with a sly grin on his face.
"Are you implying something Howie?" I asked with an innocent expression on my face.
"Oh! Errrr... No, no of course not!" Howie said.
"Yeah he was! He was saying that you two fuck like rabbits, and we can't believe you didn't get it on while you were getting ready." Nick said as he walked past. Kevin lunged at Nick and got him in a headlock. "Hey man! You're mucking up my clothes! Let me go!" They were both laughing, and Howie was blushing bright red.
Lunch lasted for almost two hours, there was me, Kevin, Nick, Howie, A.J., Brian, Kristin, Leighanne, Fatima, the guys' tour manager, and a couple of other faces. There were always at least five or six conversations going on at once. I started to get a bit confused, I have to admit even around the guys I got a bit confused - I still wasn't used to participating in long conversations with people. I guess that's why Kevin and I got on so well - we were both pretty quiet most of the time, except when we had something important to talk about. We were both happy just being together - it was enough for us. I rested my hand on Kevin's leg for most of the meal. Fortunately, we were far back enough in the restaurant that no-one really paid much attention to us. That is, until they brought out the birthday cake. With - not 31 - 62 candles arranged all over it. It looked like one giant flame over the whole cake. Kevin smirked when he saw that the guys had put twice as many candles as they should have done on the cake. I knew he was a bit sensitive about his age - I was glad that he saw it as a joke.
After the meal, the guys had to start getting ready for their rehearsal. I felt a bit sorry for Kevin - he couldn't eat what he wanted for his birthday lunch because he had rehearsals straight afterwards, and then he has a concert in the evening! That has to suck! But Kevin seemed happy when he came back up to the room. Kevin decided to go take another shower before he went to rehearsal, and so that he wouldn't be later, I waited in the bedroom. While he was in the shower, the phone started to ring.
"Jared, could you get that?" Kevin shouted over the shower.
"Hello?" I asked as I picked up the phone. There was silence on the other end. "Hello?"
"Errr, I'm sorry, I must have the wrong number." I heard a woman's voice say on the other end.
"Are you looking for Kevin Richardson?" I asked.
"Yes, is he there?"
"He's in the shower at the moment, could I take a message?" I asked in the cheeriest voice I could muster.
"Ummm, do you mind if I ask who you are first please?" She asked.
"My name is Jared, I'm the guys' fitness trainer."
"Oh yes, I heard about you from my son." I froze - was this Kevin's mum I was talking to?
"Excuse me, is this Mrs. Richardson?"
"No, this is Mrs. Harless." Phew.
"Oh, ok, I'm sorry - I don't know who you are, but I'm sure if Kevin knows you, then I should take a message, so would you like me to take one down?" I asked as I searched for a pen and paper.
"Yes, ok, ummmm, how can I say this, ok, well Kevin and the guys were invited to my son's wedding, and we wanted to tell them about a change in venue. It's now being held in Capri. Tell Kevin I'm sorry about the short notice, but we're trying to stay one step ahead of the reporters, and it's getting harder and harder. I know the wedding is only a few days away now, and we we're wondering if the guys were able to make it. Justin would be really pleased if they could, oh yes and tell Kevin that we're attempting complete media blackout, so it won't matter who he wishes to bring along as a guest."
"Ok, I think I got all that, would you like Kevin to phone you back?" I asked as I furiously scribbled down as much as I could of the message.
"Yes, please, just tell him to phone my home number."
"Ok, I'll tell him when he gets out. Nice speaking to you Mrs. Harless."
"You too. Goodbye." And she hung up. Kevin walked out the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips a minute later.
"So who was on the phone?"
"A Mrs. Harless? She wanted to tell you that, her son's wedding venue's been changed to Capri, she's sorry it's short notice, her son would like you to be there, and she's trying for a media blackout?" I asked, uncertain if I had heard her correctly. He nodded. "So you can bring who you like, or something like that. Who is Mrs. Harless?"
"Errr, give me a moment Jared, I should phone her back right away, the wedding's in only a few days, so we should get back. It's on the day we leave from Italy, so we'll go there and fly straight from there to Norway." I nodded. I wasn't quite certain what was going on, but Kevin was now pressing buttons on his cell phone furiously.
"Hey Lynn. Yes it's Kevin. Yes he told me about the changes. They work out great for us, we're in Rome right now, so we can actually come across a bit early if that's ok, we don't have a concert the day before the wedding. We'll have to send our crew and everything up to Norway ahead of us in the buses, so it would be helpful. Besides, I'm sure Justin's dying to see Nick again. Yes, Nick wants to see him too. How's Brit? Good. Ok, yeah we'll be across on the 5th, then we can get settled and everything. Jared said you were going for a blackout? That's great. Yeah, I was planning on bringing him, do you think anyone will mind?" Kevin was casting a glance across at me, and I gulped - he had a devilish look on his face. "Great! Yes, we'll see you then. I'll phone before we leave, so we can sort out final details, and I'm sure the guys won't mind lending a hand seeing as we'll be there anyway. Ok. Yes. Sure. Ok, thanks again, I'll speak to you soon. Bye!" Kevin hung up the phone and threw it onto the chair in the room. Then he came running across the room and jumped onto the bed that I was lying on, straddling my waist in the process. His towel flew off mid-leap.
"So, you gonna tell me what that was all about?"
"Oh, errr, well, we've been invited to Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears' wedding. That was Justin's mum."
"I thought she said her name was Mrs. Harless?"
"Yeah, she divorced Justin's dad and married again."
"Oh ok."
"Anyway, their wedding's on the 6th, and we're flying out to Capri to attend."
"And what was that about how you were 'planning on bringing him'? Something you want to tell me?"
"Well, I was hoping you wouldn't mind coming with me, you know as a sort of date."
"Do all the people there know you're gay?"
"Well, most of them are linked to N'Sync, so they should do. We basically have the same management, so news and info travels around pretty quick. I'd really like to take you Jared, do you mind?" I almost laughed at how shy he'd suddenly become. He was willing to let me shower with him, he didn't mind holding my hand, or kissing me in front of a room full of people, in fact he didn't even mind taking me to a wedding where we might be seen in front of many more people together, and yet asking me if I would actually go with him was something he felt he should be ashamed of.
"Sure I'll go with you, one question first though." He raised his eyebrows expectantly. "What's in sink?" Kevin paused for a moment thinking about what I just said. Then he leant down and kissed me hard on the lips, his tongue pushing past my lips and into my mouth, He clasped the sides of my head firmly and made the kiss more and more passionate. Finally, I broke away with a gasp. I raised my eyebrow, still awaiting my answer.
"Get one of the guys to tell you. They'll love you forever if you ask them what 'in sink' are." He smiled, got off of me, and started to get dressed. We walked out together and once we met up with the guys we made our way out the hotel and into the waiting limo. Once we were inside, Kevin spoke up.
"Hey guys! Listen to this, Jared, ask that question you asked me when we were upstairs?"
"Huh? Which one?"
"The one about who the people are linked to who are going to be at that special occasion." He said with emphasis on the last bit.
"Oh right yeah! Who are 'in sink'?" I asked.
"Huh? Who?" A.J. asked.
"He means who are N'Sync?" Kevin said with a grin on his face. Suddenly the limo was filled with cheering and hollering.
"So are you guys going to tell me or what?" I asked as the shouts and high-fives died down.
"We're sorry Jared, but it's so unusual to meet someone who's never heard of them that when we hear of someone who likes our music but has never even heard of them, well, let's just say it's a blessing." Kevin replied.
"Who said I liked your music? As if I'd listen to that sappy pop crap!" I said with a straight face. They sat back stunned for a moment, well, except Kevin, who somehow knew I was kidding, and he leant over and kissed me. When we pulled apart, I was grinning, and the guys could see I was kidding. All I can say is I was glad there was nothing handy for them to throw at me!
"What was the special occasion Kev?" Nick asked.
"Huh? Oh yeah, Justin and Britney's wedding is on the 6th. It's now in Capri, it's getting closer all the time - I reckon they're just moving it around to fit in with our schedule. Anyway, Lynn phoned, and they're having a complete media blackout, so we can bring who we want." Kevin placed an arm around my shoulder.
"Kevin, are you sure that's wise?" Brian asked.
"Lynn said the only people who will be there will be management, close friends, and the staff who have signed confidentiality agreements. They've basically hired out most of the island, and the police are blocking it off. They've even had a no-fly zone called over the area to prevent press helicopters getting in. But most news services don't even know where the wedding is yet! And we're going a day early - on the Monday, so Nick you'll get to spend some time with Justin before the wedding, and the other guys will be there, so you'll all have plenty to do!" All the guys cheered again.
At the concert, the songs went off almost flawlessly. I did my flips across the stage - I actually only realised that night that the dancer who had been injured was already back, and I was still doing the moves. But then, Fatima was the one who gave me the cue to go on stage, so I presumed it was still ok. When 'I want it that way' came up, the guys all got in position on stage. The stage here was set up like a normal theatre stage, and the guys stood in a sort of line, but with Nick and A.J. slightly behind, in a zigzag style. But instead of the normal beginning with the gentle melody coming through the speakers, it was a piano playing with just one key. Kevin looked around at the guys, and then realisation struck his face.
"Oh Geez! I can't believe you guys did this!" Kevin said through his microphone. Thank god Happy Birthday was basically universally recognised - the audience started joining in, even if it was in Italian, and sounded a bit funny with the guys singing in English. Another cake was wheeled out onto the stage. It was even bigger than the one at the restaurant, and the audience all started applauding when Kevin came over and blew out the 31 candles on the cake. Kevin was blushing a deep red, and all the dancers and the guys were hugging him. I saw him glance over to the side of the stage and he just blew a kiss at me, very subtly, so that no-one else saw, and they might have mistaken it for Fatima who he was blowing the kiss to. I smiled. The concert proceeded after that, and the audience seemed really uplifted after seeing such a personal moment with Kevin.
Yesterday was a bit tiring for all the guys, especially Kevin, so he slept like a baby that night. I was starting to worry about the wedding though - what if I went with Kevin and it came out that we were together? It would ruin his career. I was getting depressed, too depressed to sleep, so I climbed out of bed, leaving Kevin sleeping soundly and pulled on some clothes. I walked down to the hotel lobby and went into the bar. It was dimly lit, and it was almost 12, so there were very few patrons. I walked up to an empty bar stool, and the man behind the bar came over. I ordered a beer. I hated Italian beer, it was weak and watery, but I was desperate. There was no-one else sitting at the bar. Half-way through my first bottle, a man came over and sat next to me. He was wearing a dark blue suit, and he had slicked back hair. He looked very familiar.
"Can I get you another drink?" He asked pointing towards my half full bottle. I shrugged my shoulders and nodded slightly to indicate it was ok. I wondered why he had sat next to me when there were so many other seats at the bar. He called the barman over and ordered another drink for me, and some cocktail for himself. "My name is Leo Schemp. I work for an American newspaper, though I'm sort of freelance now. You're working with the Backstreet Boys right?" I nodded. That's where I knew him from.
"I saw you in Paris wasn't it? You were holding a camera and watching our tour bus leave."
"Yes, that's right. I've found that following celebrities around is the easiest way to get a quick scoop. Even if it's got nothing to do with the ones that I follow, I find that news and celebrity seem to be linked quite well." I nodded, uncertain of how to peg this man - I mean he was following us around Europe! "So, I hear there's been some commotion in the Backstreet camp?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well, it's just common knowledge that the guys don't expect to be around for much longer, and it's put a strain on their relationship. The other day, I saw Kevin and Howie having a huge fight, that is until some security guard dragged me away."
"I don't know what you're talking about, the guys have always been extremely close when I've seen them." He looked at me sceptically, but I wasn't gonna say anything to give him an article was I?
"There's also rumours about one of the guys being gay." He said somewhat bluntly. I think he saw me flinch or something, because he carried on: "So, there is some truth in the rumour?"
"Look, I really don't know what you're talking about. None of the guys are gay, and they are all extremely close. There are no problems in the group of any kind." The guy nodded, a slight smile forming on his lips as I stood and left the bar. I joined Kevin upstairs again and climbed in bed with him.
"Where have you been?" He mumbled with his eyes still closed.
"Just down to the bar, I needed a drink."
"You were gone a long time."
"Yeah, this creepy guy started talking to me." His eyes opened slightly.
"What do you mean, creepy?"
"He was some kind of reporter. He carried on asking questions, but I carried on denying everything he said. He even asked if one of you guys was gay, but don't worry I denied it, and I said we didn't have any problems in the group either." Kevin let out a sort of sigh, but nodded and slowly fell back to sleep. I gradually fell asleep with him.
The next day, I had to get something to wear for the wedding. I only had casual clothes, so Kevin took me out to get a suit. We tried loads of shops all around Rome. I had never been into shops like these. They didn't have any racks of clothes, and there were assistants everywhere. They all looked at me rather snottily as I walked in, but as I took off my top layers of clothing, the women's eyes generally started appreciating what they saw. A few of the men's did as well. I finally got kitted out in a new suit. It looked kinda strange: it had a cut I had never worn anything like before, one lapel was much higher than the other, and the jacket sort of folded over the other side, so it buttoned up strange too. Italian fashion - I'll never understand it!
Straight after, Kevin wanted to go and have a look at the Vatican as he had never been. I said I didn't mind, so we went to look together. The buildings inside were impressive. St. Peter's was quite incredible. But one thing I noticed was how this place didn't have the feeling of a church like I got in the churches in Paris, or even in London. I think it might have been to do with my Catholic upbringing - 18 or 19 years of being told I was evil by my church, and now this was the absolute centre of that institution. The thought sickened me a little. Especially when I saw all the gold on the altar. Normally churches have some gold: the cross, or the cups and candlesticks, but this was different: this was decadence. I had heard once that the seven richest men combined could solve world hunger by giving away all their money. I had later heard that the Pope controlled more wealth than all those men combined. A man who has taken a vow chastity and controls a trillion dollars, as far as I'm concerned, is a hypocrite. Much less a servant of the servants of god, than a slave of mammon.
We left the place a bit later. It was starting to really creep me out, and fortunately Kevin had seen enough. I was starting to wonder what Brian would think if he went there, but Kevin told me that he had a been a few years ago, with Howie, AJ and Nick, but Kevin himself had been caught up in some meeting. I nodded, and we climbed back in the limo, and returned to the hotel. We sort of lounged around the rest of the afternoon, the previous night had left me a little tired, and after walking around the shops and then the Vatican all day, I was exhausted.
Around 10, Kevin and I turned in. We were both pretty tired, and we slept through the night.
We were woken at 8 by our wake up call - someone banging at the door. We had half an hour to be ready before we have to leave. Kevin and I had packed all our stuff the previous night, so we just threw it on the bus. We both had overnight bags for our suits, and some casual clothes for the next two days. We were flying from Da Vinci airport at 10, so we had to be there by about 9. I learnt from Kevin that both AJ and Howie had girlfriends flying in from the US to go to the wedding with them. Brian would go with Leighanne, and Nick and Kristin would pair up for the sake of the wedding, though I could see how the slow dance might be a little awkward for them! Kristin, Leighanne, and Howie and AJ's girlfriends would be flying in later though. Kristin and Leighanne both wanted to spend longer in Rome, shopping. The flight was only about half an hour - the island of Capri is a beautiful touristy island off the coast of Italy, but early November isn't really the high point of the season, in fact it could get a little cool around this time of year. I was kinda nervous about meeting all these people. Our flight touched down. It was a small plane, and it kinda gave me the creeps. I have to admit I was actually pretty scared. I was gripping Kevin's hand for most of the flight, and I almost started hyperventilating once we were in the air, looking out over the waters of the Mediterranean. The touchdown did it for me though: my breathing started getting faster and faster. I could feel Kevin's fingers were being crushed in my hand. Suddenly, I couldn't catch my breath. Kevin looked over at me concerned, as I was trying to swallow and breath at the same time, and my face was turning quite red and my eyes were watering. "Put your head in between your legs Jared." I looked towards him for a second, and then ducked my head down. My breathing caught and I gulped in the air. I could feel Kevin's hand on my back and it comforted me slightly. I felt like shit. The plane had stopped, and the other guys were starting to stand up. Suddenly all of them were gathered around me, and while it was getting kinda claustrophobic in this tiny plan with all of them so close to me, it made me feel better to have them there. We finally disembarked. As we walked through the corridor to one of the waiting areas for our luggage, I heard footsteps behind us. Kevin, Nick and I were standing in a row, walking behind AJ, Brian and Howie. I turned my head, and saw a guy wearing a beanie hat, and a denim jacket. He looked about 23, or 24, but I couldn't tell. Then I heard the footsteps behind us get quicker and quicker. Nobody else seemed to notice. Then when he was right behind us, I flicked my head to the side, I saw him crouching to jump at Nick. As he was in the air, I spun around and pushed him over, so that his side went into the wall and he fell slumped to the floor.
"Aah Shit man! What you do that for?" The young guy asked.
"Well what the fuck do you think you're doing? You were about to jump on him!" He was sitting on the floor rubbing his shoulder. All the guys had walked on a few steps, not realising what I'd done straight away, then they realised and came running back.
"Oh shit! Justin! Are you ok man?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, except for this doofus hitting me! Who is this guy some deranged bodyguard or something?" Justin asked.
"No, this is our fitness instructor, and" he whispered the next part, "Kevin's boyfriend." He looked over Nick's shoulder at me.
"Oh right, that makes sense." While they were talking, it dawned on me who 'Justin' was: Justin Timberlake - the guy who was getting married.
"Oh you're Justin Timberlake! Oh shit! I mean, oh sorry, I didn't mean to hit you, I just thought it was a little strange that some guy should be running up behind Nick and should jump at him, I'm really sorry!"
"Hey man it's ok." He said as Nick helped him up. "I wouldn't mind if my fitness instructor doubled as a bodyguard!" He smiled an incredible smile at me - I don't think I've ever seen anyone show as many teeth in a smile as he did. "We should go get your bags and stuff." The guys all nodded, and we picked up our bags and headed for a waiting limo. The ride over took almost half an hour, so by the time we got to the hotel, it was almost 11.
"Hey what did you mean, 'oh you're Justin Timberlake'?" Justin turned to me with a quizzical expression on his face.
"Hey Justin guess what?" Nick asked Justin with a malicious grin on his face.
"What?" Justin replied.
"Jared had never heard of you, or N'Sync before two days ago when we mentioned the wedding." Nick smiled back at Justin, slightly smugly. Justin turned to me, aghast.
"He's kidding right?" Justin asked with a slightly worried expression on his face. I just shook my head from side to side. Justin gasped slightly. Then his face returned to the smile he had before. He turned back to Nick. "Oh well Nick, what does that make it? 1 to about 120 million or so?" Justin said with a big grin on his face.
"Bastard!" Nick said before lunging at Nick and they started play fighting in the limo. Before they had been fighting for more than a minute or two, the limo stopped and the door opened. Nick and Justin were lying, partially on top of each other, partially underneath. They looked up when they saw the door open, and there were four faces looking in. Suddenly, all the guys in the limo and the faces looking in burst out laughing when they saw the two guys lying on the floor. I had to admit it must have looked funny, so I joined in. I supposed that as the person who opened the door wasn't the driver, these four guys must be the other members of the group N'Sync. The guys all started piling out of the limo, and pulled their luggage out the back of the limo. Some porters offered to carry their luggage, but as they only had one bag each, they all refused, well, except AJ, who had four bags. All the guys went up to the suites allocated for them, and stowed their stuff before meeting back in one of the other guys' suites. We sat around, I sort of sat on the arm of the couch that Kevin was sitting on, but he pulled me down so that he was sitting next to me.
"Relax will you?"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I'm just not used to this sort of thing ok? You know all these people. I don't." I had never been much good around new people anyway. I sorta hid that when I was on the streets. Kevin and I were the first ones in the room, and then a door opened behind us, and a short, blonde guy walked out. I thought to myself that he was quite good looking.
"Jared, this is Lance. He's to his group what I am to ours - he organises everything and keeps his guys in order." Kevin smiled at Lance and hugged him as he came around the couch.
"It's nice to meet you Jared." Lance said before hugging me too. I looked over at Kevin with an awkward expression on my face. He just shrugged, and I hugged Lance back, before we all sat down again.
"Ok, so we've got another 15 minutes or so before the other guys arrive!" Kevin announced with a chuckle.
"Yeah, they're so slow it's a joke sometimes!" Lance agreed. "Hey, you want to take a bet on who'll arrive first?" Lance said with a grin at both of us.
"Ok, ummm, I reckon it'll be Brian." Kevin answered.
"Ok, I say JC." Lance answered with a smile. "What about you Jared?"
"Howie." I said quietly.
"Ok, we'll see soon. So, where you from Jared?"
"I'm from England."
"Really? Which part?" Lance asked. I got the feeling he was just trying to keep up a conversation.
"London. Where are you from?" I asked before he could fire any more questions in my direction.
"Mississippi." I nodded.
"Don't people from Mississippi normally have really strong accents though?" I asked, not quite sure seeing as Kevin and the guys didn't have very strong accents. Lance looked over at Kevin with a grin.
"We hide our accents Jared." Lance said with a really thick accent all of a sudden.
"Whoa! What happened?" I asked with a smile on my face.
"Nothing Jared, this is how we sound if we don't hide our accents." Kevin said to me. That was a real shock: Kevin's accent was quite thick, and I'd never heard him use it before.
"Whoa!" I grinned at him. "Though I have to say I like your accent." I said to him slightly huskily. I remembered Lance was in the room and turned to him and blushed.
"It's alright Jared, we already know about you and Kevin." I nodded. Suddenly the door swung open, and there stood Howie, Brian and another person I didn't know.
"Godammit!" Both Lance and Kevin shouted together. "What are the chances of all three people we guess would arrive arriving together?" We all laughed a bit, even the people who just entered, who realised the bet.
"So who guessed me?" Howie asked. I raised my hand. "Thank you Jared." He grinned at me.
"You were normally first for breakfast, and we're presumably gonna get some lunch soon, so I guessed you wouldn't take too long." I smiled back at him.
"Jared, this is JC. He's one of the best musicians I've ever met, oh yeah, and we've all got something in common." He caught my eye as he said that, and, realising what he meant, I shook JC's hand and smiled at him. The door opened again two minutes later, and in walked a short woman with brownish blonde hair. All I can say is she was incredible looking. We all stood up at the same moment. She walked into the room with a big smile on her face, which really lit up her face. She hugged Howie and Brian, then saw Lance.
"I don't need to say hello to you, now, which of these two fine men do I say hello to first?" She smiled as she came over to us. Kevin wrapped her up in a hug. He literally covered her - he was bigger now than when I had met him, because of all our time in the gym, but she was also a lot shorter than him, maybe 9 or 10 inches. "Now, who is this?" She said as she pulled back. Kevin smiled down at her.
"Britney, this is Jared, my boyfriend." He smiled broadly. "Jared, this is Britney Spears." I held out my hand to shake hers, but she knocked it out the way and gave me a hug. I grinned at Kevin again over her shoulder, but hugged her back. I should probably mention now that while I have always known that I was gay, I am a notorious flirt when it comes to women, and I normally have them giggling within about 5 minutes of meeting them.
"What is it with all you people? Why does everyone hug everyone else around here?" I asked with a grin on my face. She giggled - I think that was a new record - about twenty seconds since I first laid eyes on her, and she was giggling all ready! We all sat around and started chatting generally about different things. Britney and I started talking, she was asking me questions, about all sorts of things. We actually started talking like old friends. Eventually the other guys started arriving, Justin arrived and kissed Britney before sitting down on the next couch along as with me, Kevin and Britney, our couch was full. A tall guy with dark hair arrived, and Kevin introduced him as Joey.
"Pleased to meet ya." Joey said in a thick accent. I was kinda surprised, most of them had hidden their accents, but Joey made no attempt. "Not used to hearing our accents are ya?" I shook my head and Joey laughed.
"Actually Joe he was talking about our accents earlier. He wondered why I didn't seem to have one even though I was from Mississippi, so I showed it to him." Lance laughed a bit, as he had allowed his accent to gradually resurface. Suddenly they all started talking to me at the same time.
"What you don't like our accents?" Britney said in some southern accent.
"Yeah, what do you mean you don't like our accents?" JC said in a slightly less pronounced, but still distinctly American accent.
"Our accents are what we normally sound like man, take it or leave it!" Howie said with an accent that sounded slightly southern, but with a bit of latin thrown in.
"So, you like our accents or not?" Brian finished with a southern drawl somewhere between Kevin's and Lance's. Then I had a thought.
"Well, I dunna, tha'al'depens, wha'd'you think o'my accent? Whassamatter Kev? Oh tha's rite! You never my 'eard my Londun accent 'ave you? Aw, it's great, I can fit the word mate into a sennence bout a dozen times, what? Don't you like my accent then?" Kevin's jaw had dropped. I have to admit, my accent was a bit forced, but I could change it considerably. When I looked around, I realised the other people in the room were also a little surprised when I pushed my accent out.
"Oh my god, you sound like Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady!" Britney said.
"Are you saying I sound like a cockney woman?" I asked with a smirk on my face. Britney slapped my arm.
"You know what I mean!"
"What was that Jared?" Kevin asked with a little surprise still showing on his face.
"Well, you didn't think I worked in London with the accent I've got now do you?" I asked them. "I come from North London - the accent there is very different from that in Central London."
"Yeah, it must be just like in New York - we got loadsa accents depending on what part of the city you're from, or where you're from." Joey said.
"There you see, same sort of thing." Kevin just shook his head, he still seemed a little surprised. "Hey Kev, don't worry, that accent is forced, I'm speaking now in my real accent!"
"Yeah, and he sounds less like Eliza Doolittle now, and more like Giles off Buffy the Vampire Slayer!" Britney said.
"Who? Off what?" I said with confusion written all over my face.
"Giles off Buffy!" Britney said again. I just shook my head, not quite sure what she was talking about. "Oh my god! You don't know who Giles is, or what Buffy is?" I shook my head again.
"Britney." Kevin started. "He doesn't only not know what Buffy is, he doesn't really know who you are."
"Hey yes I do! She's Britney Spears! She's getting married to that bloke there, ummm, Justin." I said in my defense.
"Do you know what Britney does for a living Jared?" I thought for a second, then just taking a stab in the dark, I answered.
"Ummm, a singer?" Kevin smiled and shook his head.
"Ok, Jared, name one of her songs." Ok, I was caught. I shook my head. The other guys in the room, well, the N'Syncers all gasped. Even Britney looked surprised, ok, that was a little conceited - to presume that I'd heard of her. "Britney, guys, he didn't know any of us until we started telling him about us. He'd never heard of the Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, or Britney Spears until recently." Kevin explained to the others. It was kinda embarrassing, being shown up like that. But I don't think they were too bothered about it after all. We all sat down again.
"I don't get it, where have you been hiding for the last few years that you managed to miss out on all of us?" Lance asked with confusion on his face. I froze - what was I supposed to say? The other Backstreet Boys all froze too. I flicked my eyes back to Kevin and saw him with a worried expression on his face.
"Jared's just been really busy with work the past few years I guess." Kevin said with a firm voice.
"Yeah, but how did you manage to miss out on all of us, I mean..." Lance was interrupted by JC clearing his throat. I looked up at him and saw him shaking his head at Lance. Lance shut up. I was surprised they didn't want to know what I'd been doing that I'd managed to miss out on hearing about any of them. Finally, AJ and Nick arrived, and another person who was dragging a woman in behind him.
"Ah, Jared, this is the final member of N'Sync." Kevin said once Chris had greeted the other Backstreet Boys. "This is Chris Kirkpatrick. Chris, this is Jared, my boyfriend." Chris and I shook hands. "And Jared, this is his girlfriend, Danni."
"Actually, Kevin, it's fiancée. Danni and I are engaged." Chris corrected as Danni and I shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
"Wow! That's great you guys! Congratulations!" Kevin said and he hugged Chris and Danni.
"So shall we get going to lunch?" Lance asked, which was immediately greeted with a round of yeses from everyone.
I sat at lunch with Kevin on my left, and Britney on my right, and I think I actually ended up talking over my right shoulder than over my left. She was sitting next to Justin, and he carried on trying to get her attention, but to no avail. Britney and I really were chatting like old school friends by now. It was quite funny, and every now and again we looked up and realised everyone had gone silent and stopped eating and we were the only two talking! This brought on rounds of laughter from everyone, except for Justin.
After we'd finished lunch, Justin and the other guys involved in the wedding, which basically was the rest of N'Sync and Nick had to go and get fitted for their outfits, which left the rest of us free. Brian and Howie wanted to go off and explore the rest of the island, AJ wanted to just lounge around, he said he didn't get much sleep the night before, so he wanted to catch up before the wedding the next day. So Kevin, Britney and I were left in the hotel lobby.
"I do need to speak to Kristin sometime Jared, we have to arrange her flights over here, I don't think she's got all the details yet."
"Ok, so shall we go up and do that now?" I asked him. He headed off for the elevator, and I followed behind. I was about to say goodbye to Britney when she shouted out to me.
"Jared, would you like to come and see where we're having the wedding tomorrow?" I looked back towards Kevin again. He nodded, and I turned back to Britney.
"Sure, shall we go now?" She smiled broadly and nodded her head. She motioned for me to follow her outside. It was sunny outside, with just a few clouds floating across the sky, but it fortunately wasn't too hot, and so we ended up walking the short distance to the site. It was less than a mile to walk, and when we got there, we saw the commotion of activity as the caterers set up tables, chairs were set up, among other things. The site was actually an Ancient Roman ruin, some kind of temple or something, with colonnades, and huge Corinthian columns stretching upwards. There were broad stone steps leading up to the central area, which was circular, with columns all around it. It was very impressive, especially with the garlands of wreaths stretched from pillar to pillar. We walked around it once, Britney inspecting it. She seemed to be pleased with the results. We ended up sitting on the steps around the back of the ruin. It was beautiful from here, and we could even see the sea in the distance.
"It's a beautiful day isn't it?" Britney said.
"Yeah, let's just hope it stays like this for tomorrow." Britney smiled, one side of her mouth going up slightly.
"Is it really that bad?" She asked.
"Is what really that bad?" I asked back, confused.
"Whatever you've been doing for the last few years. You didn't answer us when you were in the hotel, and JC basically told Lance to shut up when he tried asking you. Is it really so bad that you can't tell us?" I looked at Britney for a moment, she was certainly not naive about things. She could see right through me, and I'd been hiding myself for years. I'd actually been thinking about this almost all the way through lunch, and as Britney and I walked around here together. I wasn't sure how much I could trust Britney, but I finally decided I could.
"I worked the streets Britney." I said quietly.
"What?" She asked back. I wasn't sure if she meant she hadn't heard, or that she was so shocked that she didn't want to hear.
"I was a prostitute." I stared down at my hands which were locked together in my lap. I hunched my shoulders, preparing myself for the onslaught of anger, betrayal and fear that normally comes over people when they hear what I do, or rather what I did. But nothing came. Suddenly I saw a hand enter my field of vision, it was Britney's and she moved her hand so that it linked with one of mine. I watched as her fingers interlinked with mine, and finally locked and gave my hand a squeeze. I looked up at Britney, and saw her smiling back. There was a look of sympathy, but also caring on her face, and I smiled back gratefully. This girl was one in a million, I actually started envying Justin slightly for grabbing onto her, I don't care if I'm gay, if I'd met her and got to know her a few years ago, I would've held onto her. We sat there for a while, undisturbed by the wedding workers who were on the other side of the structure. About 5 o'clock, we decided to return to the hotel. I was very grateful towards Britney: she had accepted me, even after finding out what I did before I met Kevin. After I had told her about my past life, she had spoken a bit about her life too, she had told me how scared she was about the next day. As scared as she was, she made it clear that she loved Justin very much and wanted to get married to him, it was just she was worried that she was too young, and maybe she was getting in over her head. I tried to console her, but once again, my ineptness at such activities showed through, and I think I ended up confusing myself more than I did her! We arrived back at the hotel just after 5.
"Where have you guys been?" I heard Kevin's voice coming from an area of seating in the lobby of the hotel.
"We went to see where the wedding's going to be." I answered him.
"But that was over two hours ago." Britney and I turned to each other, and started laughing. Neither of us had really noticed how long we'd been out for. "Ok, so you guys we're going out to dinner at about 6:30, so you need to go get ready or something." Britney and I nodded, and we headed up to our floor. Kevin followed us up. I saw him giving me funny looks all the way up in the elevator. Once we got into our suite, I turned to him.
"What?" I asked, quite curtly.
"Well, I was just wondering if you were gonna tell me what happened?"
"What do you mean what happened?"
"Well, it doesn't take over two hours to see a site for a wedding."
"Britney and I ended up talking ok?" I replied.
"Oh. Is everything ok?"
"There's two things: first of all, she knows about me now, and she's ok with it." Kevin let out a sigh of relief I think and we went into the bedroom.
"What was the other thing?"
"She told me some stuff about how she's nervous about the wedding and everything, I tried to tell her it would all be ok and everything, but I'm not much good at that sort of thing. I just hope she'll be ok for tomorrow."
"Ok. You like Britney don't you?"
"Yeah I do. It's been a long time since I've been able to talk to someone quite like I do with her." Then I realised how that must have sounded to Kevin. "Oh, um, I don't mean we don't talk, I mean we talk differently. I mean, neither of us are particularly talkative people, are we? So I just sometimes need to talk to someone, and spill everything out, god this must sound weird. It's just sometimes I need someone who's not like a boyfriend like you or someone I see everyday, like the guys, I just need someone else."
"It's ok Jared, we all need other people to talk to occasionally." I smiled in appreciation, I wasn't sure if what I said had come out right. "Well, we're going for dinner early, so we can go swimming this evening. We should probably start getting ready." I nodded, then walked over to Kevin and took him in my arms, then kissed him. I pushed hard into the kiss, and we swapped tongues and I ran my tongue all round the inside of his mouth. I could feel the breath from his nose blast into my cheek, and I could feel his hands running up and down my back. I pushed my hands through his hair and grabbed his shoulders, and wrapped my arms around him completely. We pulled back from the kiss a few moments later. "Wow! What was that for?"
"For being you." I answered before grabbing some clothes and walking into the bathroom. I turned back and saw Kevin with a goofy smile on his face.
At dinner, almost the same happened as at lunch, Britney and I ended up hogging one another's time. Though I did try to talk to Kevin more so that Justin wouldn't get annoyed, I still saw him throwing nasty glances at me whenever I was talking to Britney. Dinner was finished shortly after 7, and we all agreed to meet up again around 9 and go swimming in the hotel pool. Kevin and I went to our suite, and we decided to just lounge about in the living room. We ended up talking about inconsequential stuff, and Kevin had his head resting in my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair. Around 10 to 9, Kevin and I got up and went to get our swimming stuff. Kevin and I both pulled on some trunks, we each put on a t-shirt too, and grabbed some towels, then made our way down to the hotel swimming pool, which was located in what looked like a huge greenhouse on the roof of the hotel. It was really nice, because by this time, it was dark out, so the lights in the pool made the water seem to glow. About 5 minutes later, the rest of the guys showed up, in similar gear, and with towels tucked under their arms, or around their necks. The youngest two, Justin and Nick shed their t-shirts quickly and dived into the empty pool, instantly decimating the calm of the water. The other guys started laughing, and soon followed. Britney walked in a moment later. Kevin and I were still standing on the side of the pool in our t-shirts. Britney looked incredible. She wasn't wearing a bikini suit as I thought most girls her age would, but rather she had gone for the slightly more modest approach, and worn a one piece suit which, although hiding more, seemed to accent her curves more, and just made her appear more beautiful. Justin was a very lucky man. Britney greeted us, then jumped into the pool herself. She actually tucked her knees in so that she would make the biggest splash possible, and she soaked both Kevin and me.
We both looked down at Britney, and she gave a cheesy grin up at us. Kevin and I both looked at one another, and mouthed the word 'revenge'. We both grinned and stepped back for a second to discuss what we would do. Then, Kevin took off his top and went to the shallow end of the pool. I went to the deep end, and stood on the lower of the two diving boards. I stood there for a second until I had everybody watching, making sure that Britney was watching, then I slowly took off my t-shirt, rolling it up over my abs, then revealing my smooth pecs and finally lifting it off. I did a double biceps pose, and I think even the guys of N'Sync were a little surprised. But I was sure I had Britney's attention, which was the important thing. What she hadn't noticed was that Kevin had slipped into the pool behind her, and was slowly advancing on her. Finally, just as I was about to jump in, Kevin dunked her from behind. She took a sudden intake of breath as he put his hands on her shoulders, and she went under. I dived into the water, and swam underwater until I was near where Britney would come up. I stood next to Kevin, and when she came up we were both grinning at her. I leant with one elbow against Kevin's shoulder, and she put her hands on her hips and stared at us.
"Bastards." She muttered as she swam away. I heard everyone else in the pool start laughing. We ended up playing that game where one person gets on another person's shoulders and they have to knock over another pair of people in the same formation. Of course, just to see how easy it would be to knock everyone else over, Kevin and I worked together, with him on top. Combined, we were about 9 foot tall, and more than half of that was out of the water, so together we basically scared the crap out of every other teaming. The only people who even came close were Nick and Howie, but in their case, we out sized them easily, so they went crashing into the water the same as everyone else. Eventually we had knocked everyone off, and we were surrounded by people standing on their feet.
"Errr, Kevin?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I see them Jared." Everyone else in the pool had actually surrounded us and was moving in a closer and closer circle towards us.
"What are they doing?" I asked nervously.
"I dunno." Kevin answered. Suddenly all of them pounced, and they started tickling me, and pushing me back and forwards, and while I kept my balance for a while, I quickly fell under. Kevin came down next, and they started on him, while I swam out from under them and swam as far away as I could, as quickly as possible. I watched Kevin get dunked once, twice, three times, and then they backed off. I saw Kevin coming towards me from out the crowd. "Thanks a lot! You were loads of help!" I chuckled at Kevin, and he kissed me. We all descended into playing games in the pool, having competitions to see who can hold their breath longest, that sort of thing. Eventually, it started getting late, and the guys were all getting pretty tired, so they started filtering off, saying goodnight as they left. Eventually, Kevin and I, and Justin and Britney were the only ones left.
"Are you excited guys?" Kevin asked them.
"I can't wait." Justin answered as he wrapped his arms around Britney's waist from behind, and rested his chin on her shoulder. It was almost midnight now.
"Hey, it's almost the day of your wedding, you two aren't supposed to see each other before the service!" Kevin said with a grin on his face.
"Silly superstition." Justin mumbled. We heard a church bell in the distance strike 12. Justin and Britney both shrugged their shoulders. Kevin and I finally excused ourselves and went back to our suite, Justin and Britney said they wouldn't be far behind. Kevin and I both settled into bed and wrapped up close, though we knew we wouldn't stay like that through the night.
"Goodnight Kev." I said as my eyes drooped shut.
"Goodnight Jared." Kevin answered back.
To Be Continued. End of Part 19
Ok, how's that for a long chapter? My longest yet, and I haven't even got to the wedding yet. I know this chapter was a bit of a turnaround in the storyline, and I'm sorry to all those Justin fans out there who don't like Ms. Spears, but hey it's my story, don't be mean. I also know the introduction of N'Sync might be seen by some of you guys and girls out there as a bit of an unrealistic plot device, but hey, I like it and once again: it's my story. I should say thank you to a few people for their support in this story, though don't worry I haven't finished yet if enough people say they want it to go on, it will, in fact it probably will anyway. I want to thank Jimmy, Daniel, Ry, WriterBoy69, who I am so thankful to for carrying on JC's Hitchhiker, one of my fave stories, please let Jack be ok, I'd also like to thank Peter and all the other people who have sent me emails, oh yeah and I think I need to say sorry to 'Lost', for being so mean to him in so many emails, when all he did was tell me I got those state capitals wrong a few chapters ago. Sorry man. Anyway, hope to hear from loads of people on this chapter ( I love feedback! ).