Legal Stuff: I don't know NSYNC or any other celebrity mentioned. While real people are the basis of characters, they are characters here and do not represent the real lives, thoughts, or feelings of the real people. Again, these are characters based on them, not the real people themselves. If you are too young, or live in a location where it is illegal to read stories that include love between men, read no further! Like that would have ever stopped me...
A Phone Call -- Chapter 4
I must have laid there in front of James' condo for at least a half-hour as I cried. I always seemed to screw up the good things in my life. Well, so far this little trip to L.A. had reminded me of why I left Southern California years ago, and why I never really wanted to come back here. I'd had a good friendship, and maybe something more going with James but I ruined it totally. This is what I got for trying to reach for things that were too good for me. I went back inside, got my bags and called a cab. I made sure to leave the cell phone for James' PA on his coffee table along with a note reminding him of where I'd left the schedules and information for whoever his Agency sent him. By that time, the cab had arrived and I hopped inside with my bags.
The ride to the airport was made in silence after I gave the driver his destination. Once there, I realized I had four hours until boarding so I went to a bar in the airport. As much drinking as I'd done in my life, you'd think I'd know better than to drink on an empty stomach. It was dinner time before boarding began, and I had not eaten all day. I was pretty drunk boarding the plane, and only got drunker by the time it landed. The entire flight I stared at the empty seat next to me and drank more alcohol. By the time I got off the plane and got into a taxi, my speech was so slurred that I had to repeat the destination three times. Once home, I went into my bedroom and collapsed on the bed, ignoring the answering machine blinking with twelve messages.
I woke up the next morning with a hangover, an upset stomach, and no desire to go to work. I resisted the urge to call in sick and took a shower. I ate some toast after getting dressed, drank about a gallon of water and a bottle of Pedialyte (yes, Pedialyte. If you've been out overdrinking, it really does help the next day. I usually drink it before going to sleep and it reduces the hangover). Feeling a little better physically, I ignored the answering machine that now had fifteen messages and drove to work.
It was a typical Monday. The only good thing that happened that morning was the inspector for James' subdivision called me at 9 a.m. to say that all the work was completed and we could give them their clearance. I finished that up immediately and set about working on some other things that were high priority. My boss poked his head in at lunch and invited me to go eat with him, and I agreed. We went to a little restaurant near the office and sat down at a table farthest from anyone else.
"So, how was the weekend?" He asked me after the waitress took our orders.
"Awful." I said, then proceeded to tell him some of the details. I changed a couple of names though since I didn't want to out people I knew were gay, and totally forgot to tell him about Chad. I'd shared a lot of stuff with over the years, and we were as close to friends as one can be with your boss. We'd even gone on a trip to Europe together after his last divorce. He took a couple of pages from my book and picked up women like I was picking up guys at the different bars. He shook his head and asked the logical question:
"Have you called him yet?" He asked, referring to James.
"No," I said, looking down at the table. "I'm too scared too."
"You shouldn't draw back into your little shell, Dave." Chuck told me in a fatherly tone.
"I know, but..."
"It's much safer to just have casual sex with strangers, never letting anyone into your heart. I know, I've seen you do this before. You're going to end up a lonely, bitter, old man if you keep this up."
"Geez, Chuck. Thanks." My voice dripped with sarcasm. Time to change the subject. "So, how's the new girlfriend working out?"
It worked of course. I knew him too well, or he knew me too well. It doesn't really matter which. The rest of lunch passed quickly, as did the rest of the day. Tuesday was much the same, and as my life resumed its normal, safe patterns with no hint of boy band members or Hollywood stars, I grew more relaxed. The answering machine was now up to 23 messages. That night I moped around the apartment, not really doing much. I went to bed early, with the help of a sleeping pill. Tuesday was a little different, but not until after work.
I had just gotten home Tuesday afternoon and was trying to decide what to prepare for dinner when there was a knock at my door. I had no idea who it could be since this was a gated complex, but I answered it without looking through the peephole. I suddenly wished I had looked first when I saw James standing there. His hair was fixed all spiky and he had this expression on his face that almost made me cry right then and there.
"Hi." I whispered.
"Hi." He responded. We stood there like that for a minute before he spoke again. "Can I come in?"
"Sure." I said quietly, moving out of the way so he could come in. He headed for the couch and I followed, sitting in one of the chairs next to the couch.
"I'm sorry about leaving like that on Sunday." He said softly. I looked up from the floor and saw him looking at me with tears in his eyes.
"You're sorry?" I asked in surprise. This was not what I expected to hear. "Why would you be sorry? I'm the one who should be apologizing."
"For what? He asked. "All you did was get kissed by someone who you use to have a crush on and then have the bad luck to have a picture taken at that moment. It's happened to all of us in NSYNC at one time or another. A picture at the wrong time I mean."
"I should have told you I knew some people in Hollywood..." I started to say, but he cut me off.
"Big deal. I still overreacted Sunday, and I'm sorry for that." This was Lance Bass, the business, pop star talking as well as James. I could tell the difference.
"Apology accepted." I said slowly. Part of me wanted to get up and run, or ask him to leave. I would have, but his presence here had awakened something inside of me that I'd suppressed ever since Manuel and I had broken up. I moaned as I realized what it was, and what it meant. I don't even remember getting out of the chair and rushing into James' arms. All I knew was that a short time later his shoulder was soaked and I was all cried out.
"I'm falling for you big time." I told him in a soft voice, shocked that I'd be so forward and honest.
"I never thought I'd feel this way about someone again." He whispered into my ear.
"You hungry?" I asked as I pulled back, sniffled and wiped my eyes.
"Sure. I haven't eaten much in the last few days." He said with a smile.
"How about chicken parmesan?" I asked him.
"Sure, but I don't feel like eating at a restaurant. Do they have take out?"
"Take out?" I said in a horrified tone. "I'll have you know I was offering to COOK you chicken parmesan!"
"Home made?" James said, his eyes wide and a smile on his face. "Is there anything you can't do?"
"Yeah, sing." I said, with a laugh. I slapped his knee as I got up and went to the kitchen. A few minutes later I had the ingredients laid out and started cooking. James came into the kitchen and after some prodding from me, and got a root beer out of the fridge. He leaned on a counter chatting easily with me about his new assistant, meeting Chad at a caf where Chad explained everything about the picture and even conveyed Chad's apology for the picture. I made a mental note to call Chad sometime.
"28 messages!" James exclaimed when he glanced at the machine. Before I could say anything he had grabbed a pen and paper and started playing them. The first four were from Manuel, cussing me out for becoming a hermit again and not answering the phone. James kind of snorted at that and gave me a look that said he wouldn't be accepting that kind of behavior from me. The next three were from James, and he skipped over those very quickly. The next message made us both look at each other before I told him to delete it. I was not talking to a reporter about the article.
My grandmother was the next message, excitedly telling me about Robin calling her and telling her about the Charity event. James snorted when she mentioned that Robin had told her I was with a handsome young man. She wanted me to bring him back home and introduce him. Probably wanted to measure him against Manuel then try to convince me to get back together with him. My family seemed to love my ex more than me sometimes.
The next three phone calls were from Robin, Whoopi, and Chad respectively. James wrote down their numbers and I decided that yes, I would be calling them back. James didn't even get a jealous look on his face at Chad's message, just laughed at the sound in Chad's voice as he apologized three times for the picture, and the kiss. That was when the phone calls started from Luke. There were four of them less than three hours apart, all from Sunday. There were even more calls on Monday. Tuesday, he was sounding pretty desperate, then the last call surprised me. It was J. Michael Straczynski. The man had created several television shows that I loved immensely, and here he was on my answering machine. Okay, I shrug off meeting actors, having a pop star in my kitchen, but producers like him left me startstruck.
I didn't even bother washing the egg and crumbs off my hands before picking up the phone and dialing the number. James started laughing so hard at me that he fell off the counter. I took the opportunity to give him a light kick and turn my back on him. The phone rang four times before a man's voice answered.
"Hello." It said.
"Uh, hi. Is this J. Michael Straczynski?" I asked, only stuttering a little.
"Yes, who is this?" the voice was immediately suspicious.
"This uh, this is, uh, this is Dave Young returning your call, sir."
"Sir!?" James exclaimed from the sitting position he had assumed on the floor, falling over again from laughing so hard.
"Ah, yes. Mr. Young. Luke tells me he had a chance to chat with you this weekend, but that you weren't returning his calls. Should I take that to mean that you aren't interested in working with us on your story?"
"No! I mean Yes! I mean..uh" I stumbled for a moment before thinking `this guy's no different that James who is rolling around on my kitchen floor, laughing. Yeah, he's no different than the POP STAR LANCE BASS WHO IS IN MY KITCHEN!' Crap, I was on total freak out mode right now.
"Hehe, no need to get flustered, Mr. Young." The voice on the phone told me reassuringly.
"Sorry, hate to be pass, but I've always been a tremendous fan of your shows. I even cried at the end of B5." I told him. This only caused the pop princess on my floor to laugh harder. I thought about kicking him but decided I didn't kick dogs, so why kick boyfriends. Wait, where did THAT come from. Okay, things are moving to fast here. I wiped my forehead of the sweat, but for some reason it felt stickier after I did that. Oh, right, I'm on the phone.
"Well, let's just say I'm enamored of your script as well. I'd like to sit and talk with you about the back story, character points, all of that. Then we can go over options."
"Um, sure." I agreed immediately. "When would you like to meet?"
"How about Thursday? Say 2:00 p.m. at the studio."
"Sure, Thursday, 2:00 p.m. at the studio. Got it." I told him excitedly.
"Great, now you're in Phoenix, right?"
"Mesa actually, but ya, the Phoenix area."
"Great, I'll have my assistant call you later tonight to make arrangements for your flight and stay here. We'll probably want you around Friday as well if you can. I'll have the studio put you up over the weekend if you like."
"Sure, um, let me talk to my friend who lives there before your assistant calls and I'll have a better idea what I'll need."
"Okay, see you in two days." He said lightly, then hung up. I bent down to tickle James who was now just lying on the floor looking up at me, but he yelled "NOT WITH THOSE HANDS!" and jumped up, running into his room. He slammed the door behind him and I could hear him laughing inside. Deciding I was going to ignore him, I went back to the kitchen, washed my hands, and face, and went back to fixing dinner. About fifteen minutes later, James came back out and looked at me with a worried face. By then the chicken was in the pan and my hands were cleaned, but I stood over the stove stirring in the marinara sauce.
"Dave, is something wrong?" he asked timidly.
"No, James, nothing's wrong." I said innocently. "Why would you think something's wrong. I'm just floating on cloud nine here."
"Oh, I thought you were going to pick the lock and follow me in to the room." He was almost pouting now.
"Sorry dear, I thought it would be more fun to splatter you when you came out of the room."
"Splatter me?" he asked, then his eyes grew wide, but it was too late. The shot of sauce hit him perfectly, half on his forehead, half in his hair.
"Not my hair!" He shrieked, and for a moment, I thought he'd switched places with Justin Timberlake his voice was so high. Now it was my turn to double over because I was laughing so hard. He ran into his bedroom and I soon heard the sound of a shower running. Dinner was done about the time he emerged with his hair done like it had been before.
"How'd you get your hair fixed?" I asked him.
"I, uh..." he was blushing. "I left some of my stuff here last week. I was hoping to come back."
"I'm glad you did." I told him, putting my hand on his should and leaning into him. We touched our heads together for moment before sitting down and eating. He kept on raving about my cooking, which embarrassed me to no end, then he got more serious.
"I would like to talk about us." He said simply, laying everything on the table.
"I guess we should." I agreed, not really wanting to, but wanting to at the same time. I was at war with myself. Part of my said stay safe, don't let him in, don't get hurt' and the other was shouting go for it'. Okay there was a third part but I stopped listening to him when I hit 28 and woke up in the arms of guy I didn't know and there were pictures of this guy shaking hands with Ronald Reagan, George Bush (both of them) and Donald Rumsfeld. My dick was not going to rule my life again. Nope, not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.
"What do you see our relationship as being?" James asked me. I took a moment to think out what I wanted to say, what I honestly felt.
"James Lance Bass, you are the most interesting, fascinating, and sexy person I've met in a long time." There, that was a good beginning, now for the hard part. "Ever since my last relationship ended, I've kept myself back, not let myself feel anything for anyone besides sexual desire and maybe low-key friendships. I haven't been willing to let myself care for anyone but myself. Now, you've changed that. No matter how hard I tried to forget you the last few days, you've been on my mind all the time and I've been totally depressed. I want you in my life any way you are willing."
"Good, because I feel the same way." He said simply. All of a sudden, the desire to kiss him, hold him grew too strong to resist. The table between us, our half-eaten dinners were all forgotten as we rushed out of our chairs and engaged in a kiss that was so passionate I forgot my own name for a moment. The one long kiss turned into a series of passionate nibbles on each other's faces, and I found myself groaning as he moved to my neck. James was about to find out just where my `passion' spot was. Sure enough he hit it at the base of my neck and grabbed the back of his neck, burying his face in that spot. He took the hint and started nibbling there stronger and stronger. Finally, he started sucking so hard there I knew the mark would last for days.
I didn't care because that sent me over the edge. As soon as he pulled his head back, I bent and picked him up. I was carrying him towards the bedroom before I remembered he may not be ready for that yet.
"James.." I whispered hoarsely, looking into his eyes. He'd wrapped his arms around my neck and gazing at me with passion filled eyes.
"Bed, now" he said simply, and strongly. There was no denying him with that tone. It was at that moment that he took possession of my heart, lock, stock and barrel. I was now his.
I woke up the next morning with the alarm going off. James had been nice enough to set it after Round 3. Or was it Round 4? Doesn't matter. Right now I was cocooned in blankets and James. I was spooned into his smaller frame, all nice and comfy warm. Getting up was the last thing I wanted to do, but it had to be done. I had to work after all.
As I walked into the bathroom, the first thing I noticed were four humongous bruises on my neck. Two on my left, one on my right and one right in front. Fuck! That's when I noticed the other marks, one over each nipple, one right above my belly button. I rubbed my naked ass and felt something that caused me to wince. Okay, my butt was sore on the inside too, but as I twisted and turned in the mirror, the mark on each cheek made me groan aloud. I'd never had this many hickeys at one time before.
"I wanted to make sure that everyone knew you were taken." James said from the doorway to the bathroom. He had a smug grin on his face.
"Sure, you get to leave all the marks you want, but I can't touch Mr. Pop Star's creamy white skin because people would wonder what girl gave them to him." I teased, pulling him in close so our naked bodies were touching in many places.
"Is that going to bother you?" James asked quietly, laying his head on my shoulders. "Me not being out, not being able to publicly acknowledge you?"
"Actually it's kind of nice `cause I get to tease you about it." I told him, smiling as I rested my chin on his head. "Seriously, though, I don't mind. Remember the talk about my childhood? I've done it before and if I have to do it again to keep you, I will. Heck, maybe I should have a chat with Chad and see if he'll be my cover boyfriend. If I'm linked to him, they won't look at our relationship as being anything more than friendship."
"You mean that?" James asked softly. "You would really do that for me?"
"James, I'm yours, baby. I'll do whatever I can to keep you."
"I love you David Young." James said softly.
"I love you too" I answered him, and was surprised to find out that I really meant what I had just said. That was the scariest part. "Now I have to get ready for work."
"Call in sick." He said.
"Can't, I have to take the rest of the week off to go to L.A."
"That's right, try to make sure you get Delta flight 1493. Make them put you first class. I'm in seat 3A."
"Okay darling. Now, let me take a shower."
"Only if I'm in there with you." James said in a tone that did not allow argument.
Yes, I was a half-hour late for work today. Big fucking deal. Sue me. Plus I forgot that JMS's assistant was calling me last night. She left four messages while James and I were having sex. Luke left two letting me know how excited he was that I'd called back, and wondering if he'd done something to piss me off. I wrote both their phone numbers down and decided to call them from work. As luck would have it, my co-worker Jean was walking by my office when I got Luke Perry's voicemail system and shouted "Dammit, I don't care if you are Luke Perry, leaving twenty voicemails on my machine is a bit excessive. Call me the fuck back at my work number, here it is 555-555-5555. Seriously though, I'm not pissed. I just had a bad day Sunday with that damn article in the H-Times. I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon. Love ya, Dave."
Of course Jean heard this all and went on-line. I didn't even know that they had an on-line version. Apparently they do color pictures too, because I came out of my office at 10:00 a.m. to talk to Chuck and there was a 22"x36" color printout of the Chad kiss. They'd stuck lettering above it that said "Could this be LOVE?" Now all I needed was for James to come in and see this. Fortunately for her, Jean was not at her desk just then. I thought about tearing it down, but remembered what had happened to the poor sod who had done that to a picture of him. The next day, every cubicle, every restroom, every storage closet, every file cabinet had been stuffed with copies of the picture. Nope, I definitely wasn't going to tear it down. Just then, Chuck came around the corner, stopped, stared at the picture, looked back at me and harrumphed.
"I thought you said you had an awful weekend in L.A." He said with a knowing grin. I noticed his eyes were locked onto my neck. Damn Phoenix weather not making turtlenecks feasible. You wear one hear and everyone tears down the collar to see what you're hiding.
"Chuck, can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked him, ignoring the comments.
"Sure, what do you need?" he asked.
"I need Thursday and Friday off." I said simply.
"Hot date?" he asked with a smirk.
"Not really. I have a meeting in LA that I need to attend with some people. It's regarding something I wrote years ago and it might get picked up again."
"Well, as long as you are back by Monday, have fun with your new boyfriend. Get me the paperwork before you go."
"Chuck, I'm not going..." I caught myself in time. I almost said I wasn't dating Chad, I was dating James. This might be harder than I thought.
"Whatever, Dave." He said, walking down the hall. His shoulders were shaking as he tried to keep from laughing. "Don't came back with any tattoos, earrings, or dyed hair. Oh I guess we better add pictures in the paper to that list."
"ARRRRRRGGGHHHH!" I screamed into the office, and I noticed four or five heads popping up from different cubicles. They all had silly grins on their faces. That was when my office phone rang. It was the receptionist. Apparently there were a number of deliveries downstairs for me. I walked past the poster, resisted the urge to tear it down, and went downstairs. I certainly was NOT expecting what I saw.
The delivery was five-dozen flowers. One dozen was red, another yellow, another white, a dozen pink carnations, and another dozen of tulips. Tulips! Each had a card and I picked the cards up. They were one continuous message that ended up saying: I...LOVE...YOU...Thanks for...A Wonderful Weekend! The receptionist gave an "Ah!" as she looked over my shoulder.
"I've never gotten so many flowers before" she pouted.
"Shut up." I told her. "Your husband gives you a fresh set of flowers every Monday."
"So, he's never given me five at once."
"Great, now he's gonna blame me." Her husband worked in the field as an inspector. I made four trips taking them up to my office, and had no desk or bookshelf space left after I had placed them all. My office smelled wonderful and I couldn't help but smile. Jean stuck her head in, sniffed a little and wiped a fake tear from her eye before walking away smiling. I couldn't help the shit-eating grin I wore the rest of the day. The phone rang shortly after that and I answered it with the most pleasant voice I'd ever used at work.
"Good Afternoon Public Works, this is Dave." I said.
"Someone sounds happy." That voice only made me smile more.
"Heyla love. How's your day?" I asked James.
"It couldn't be better. I got a delivery from a certain someone today."
"I did too." I told him.
"You like them?" he asked in a hopeful voice.
"I've never had anyone send me flowers at work before." I told him. "And no one here has ever received five-dozen at one time."
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Just wait until I get a hold of you and thank you for them."
"I can't wait." James said slyly.
"Neither can I."
"I'll call you back later, k?" James said. I could hear his cell phone going off in the background.
"Okay, later." I told him. A throat being cleared at the door made me look up, and there was my boss smiling at me.
"I know you said you had a thing for Chad Allen at one time, but isn't this a little much?" he said with smirk.
"Can't help it if the man I love has extravagant tastes." I said. I didn't feel comfortable lying to him, but I'd let him make wrong assumptions.
"Well, we have some work..." He started to say, but the phone range. I picked it up and gave my now very pleasant greeting. It turned out to be JMS's assistant. She had bad news in that my meeting had been pushed up to 11 o'clock and there no morning flights available. She had a flight that left at 6:30 tonight. I told her to go ahead and book it, even though I would have to wait to see James. He was going to L.A. Thursday anyway. He'd already given the keys and alarm codes to his L.A. condo and the house here. He had my car keys and apartment keys as well. I was thinking of asking James to take me to the airport when she said the car would pick me up from work at 5:00. That should leave just enough time to go straight to the airport.
My boss gave me odd looks as I finished up the phone conversation, then we continued discussing the item he had brought to me. That took another hour, so it was past two before we were done. Several phone calls and a few visiting co-workers later, it was 3:30 and I was finally calling the man I loved to tell him the bad news.
"Baby," I said. I'd decided to use pet names when calling where people could possibly overhear me. As long as they didn't hear me say his name, they could make all the assumptions they wanted. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave tonight."
"I understand, this happens." He told me after I'd explained everything. "I got good news, though. I packed your bags so I'll just drop them off by your work before you leave."
"That would be so wonderful. Come on up to the office when you get here and I'll shut the door."
"You got it, see you in a few." James said as he hung up the phone. I finished up what I was working on and James arrived right at 4:15. I shut the door and we were immediately in each other's arms, lips touching everywhere we could. I didn't want to stop, but it would get too suspicious if my door was shut much longer. I opened it after we pulled apart and we spent the last half-hour of my day talking about his house and how much he was enjoying it now that his furniture was there. He even liked the crystal lamp I had bought at the auction. All too soon, my phone rang and it was the receptionist telling me that my ride to the airport was here. James followed me down and I gasped in surprise when I saw a limo there. James smiled and made a comment about not having to worry that they were treating me right, gave me a friendly pat on the back and walked out into the parking lot to go home. I turned around and there was my boss and several other co-workers just staring at the limo. With a shrug, I left the building gave the driver my bags, and got in the back as he held the door open. My co-workers were still standing there, and Chuck was shaking his head.
The flight to L.A. was comfortable since I was in first-class again. I was quickly getting use to this. There was another limo waiting for me in L.A. and it dropped me off at James' condo, with me reassuring the driver I would not need him tonight. Christina came by and apologized for hitting me. I actually thanked her for caring enough about James to do what she did. We stayed up late chatting about all the things that happened over the last few years and then she went home to her husband. I picked up the phone around eleven and called James' new house. He wasn't there. For some reason I called my apartment and he answered.
"What are you doing at my place?" I asked him after a moment. "I thought you'd be enjoying your new home."
"You're not mad?" he asked.
"I gave you the key didn't I? I told you that you were welcome to use it anytime, whether I was there or not didn't I?"
"Yes," he started to say something else, but I cut him off.
"Then I'm happy you took me at my word and went there because you wanted to, I'm just curious as to why?"
"Because I'm lying in your bed, smelling your scent and dreaming that you're here with me." He said in a very husky voice.
"That's funny because here in L.A. I'm lying in your bed, wrapped in your sheets thinking the same thing." Now my voice was extremely husky too.
"I miss you."
"I miss you too, but we'll see each other tomorrow, right?"
"Yep, and don't you dare make that bed. I want it all messed up when I get there so I know you were there."
"Yes, boss." I laughed at him, but it was getting late and I was tired. "I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."
"Love you, too."
To be continued...
Yes folks, this is the end of the chapter. It's not as long as some of the others, but each have their own length. I hope you enjoy them all.
One note...while the situations in this chapter become sexual, I don't give a blow by blow (Pun intended) account of it. Sorry, if that's what you want, I'm not that kind of writer. I suck at writing those scenes and won't ruin an otherwise good story with my bad porno writing.