Bobbie entered Chris' apartment just in time to see the teacher dumping a very beautiful flower arrangement.
"Who'…" She began, but Chris shook his head to interrupt her.
"Danny." He explained, sadly. "Apparently, he doesn't understands the 'fuck off' part of our last encounter."
"I'm sorry…" Bobbie lowered her head, ashamed. "If I hadn't meet Danny, he wouldn't have…"
" Broke up with me?" Chris surprised her, laughing. "It wasn't the first time he did it, Bobbie. And If he hadn't done that, I wouldn't have meet Joey. So, in truth, I'm glad we broke up. That was the best thing that could have happened to me. I'm sorry about you… you loved him a lot…"
"Not really." Bobbie laughed too, blushing. "I think I was more in love with the idea of being in love, you know?" There was a short silence that was broken when Bobbie remembered what she was doing there in the first place. "I can get you your old job back… But… I wanted to ask you to stay for a while here…"
"I haven't been a good teacher lately." Chris shook his head. "I don't think I'm doing much for the students here…"
"Then you're letting Danny win."
* * *
Lance couldn't stop the smile forming on his face when he received Emily's package. It was a little hard to keep JC from finding out what was inside the small box, because in the last few weeks they had been together all the time, the only good thing that had come out of Chris' departure.
But this, this was a surprise, one that he and Nick were planning to give the group, and JC couldn't know what was it.
So he had managed to loose JC and was now in Jhonny's office, fidgeting with the videotape.
"It better be good, Lance." Jhonny warned, but his eyes were warm. "Nick Carter called me, he wants to do a video conference with us at the same time, so I'm guessing he also knows what you want to show me."
"Actually, it was his idea, Jhonny." Lance smiled, turning on the two tvs and maneuvering the digital camera so it took an image of the TV hooked to the VCR. As he did that, the image on the other set flickered and he was rewarded with a close up to the grinning Nick.
"More like a joint effort." Nick said, his voice sounding strangely clear. "Have you seen the tape already, Lance?"
"No. Emily just send it." Lance answered, before frowning. "What time is it on… Where are you now anyway?"
"Madrid. And it's like 6:00 a.m." Another voice, almost sleepy interrupted, and suddenly in front of the camera were a very disheveled Brian Litrell and a not so awake AJ Mclean, glaring at Nick. "What's going on?"
"This two are trying to convince me that they found the perfect fifth member from *N Sync." Jhonny answered, shaking his head. "You want to watch this with me, or would rather get some sleep?"
Brian and AJ looked at each other, shrugged, and sat near the bed in the edge of the camera.
"Play it, Lance." Nick smiled, eagerly, and Lance couldn't blame him. It had been really hard to convince Emily not to send any random Chris' performance at the Cauldron, they wanted the School Festival when he had sung with the choir. They wanted to know why Chris blushed every time they mentioned the 'choir thing' and, since he said he had sung a Backstreet Boys song, it would be easier to convince Jhonny that Chris was good for the job.
The screen showed a normal school theater, and a teacher, probably Mr. Zecks was announcing the next performance, by the male members of the choir. Apparently, for what he said, four of their tenors were leaving for college that year, and wanted to sing something special for everyone. With the help of Professor Kirkpatrick.
There was a loud applause, and a lot of screaming and yelling in that part, but the older teacher continued on.
/This always happens when my bro's on stage/ Kate's voice came from the speakers, as she narrated the story. /No one wants to hear Zeck, right? I mean, he says the same every year. I bet people can recite the speech by heart. I can do it, but I really rather see Chris singing. As in, now. He promised me this was going to be unforgettable./
Finally, Zeck finished his speech, and left the podium, as the lights lowered and the curtain was raised. The first strings of "I want it that way" were played, and five young men walked into the stage, all of them dressed like the Backstreet Boys had dressed for that particular video. The last one of them was Chris. Wearing awful white and black dreadlocks, just like Emily had told them, so many months ago.
//We
are on fire, we have desires… //
"That doesn't sounds like 'I want it that way'" Brian said, frowning. But no one paid attention to him. At least not Lance, who thought he recognized the line, and couldn't believe he was hearing it.
//But one is that way, One Backstreet Boy's gay//
* * *
"You want me to sing?!" Chris looked at Bobbie as if she had gone insane, and Bobbie smiled. As Nick had told her in the phone, they had to keep him a little confused, or he would be against the idea. "Why?"
"Danny once commented that you sang. And the school festival really needs some talent." Bobbie explained, trying to look innocent. "Please? It would mean a lot to everyone to hear someone who can sing…"
Bobbie bit her lower lip, wondering if he would refuse, but he smiled and looked straight into her eyes. It was then when she finally understood why two men were ready to do everything in their power to be with Chris. His eyes were mesmerizing.
"All right… Which song?" He asked, and she hoped he would miss the triumph in her voice as she answered.
"Well, it's for the closing moment, and since, well, the theme of the festival is true love and sorrow…" She babbled on, sure that she had to contact the School committee to inform them of the change on theme. "It's Shape of My Heart, of the Backstreet Boys."
Chris looked at her for a moment, and then frowned. "You're kidding, right?"
"No, why?" She prayed that he would not suspect anything, or realize her hands were sweating. She had never been good lying.
"It… No, it's nothing." Chris shook his head, and she was sure he was blushing. Which was good. Nick had told her it was something Chris did when the Backstreet Boys and a choir were mentioned around him. "It's just that… I don't know the lyrics… My sisters are more like *N Sync fans…"
"Only your sisters?" Bobbie joked, and was rewarded by hearing Chris' laugh.
"I wasn't much of a pop fan either." The teacher finally said when he sobered up. "Not until Joey…"
Bobbie immediately walked the few steps that still separated them, to put her arms around him. It was the first time Chris mentioned Joey's name, ever since explaining to her what Danny had done, and even when he was trying to hide it, it was obvious that being apart from the *N Syncer was hurting him. And suddenly, she found herself with a armful of tears, and shakes, and regret, because apparently, Chris finally had decided to release his sorrow.
It was a long time before he calmed down and looked at her with red, puffy eyes.
"I was an idiot, right?" He asked, and she found herself at a loss.
"For falling in love? No." She answered, truthfully. "For running away, yes. Did you ever told Joey about the pictures Danny has?"
"No." Chris admitted, sitting down on the couch. "I was afraid Joey would try and risk it."
"So you just went away with no explanations, as if you deserved to suffer?" Bobbie was feeling more and more sad for all the problems she and her father had caused the two lovers. "You should at least try to explain Joey why you left."
"And risk Danny finding out?" Chris shook his head, almost in defeat. "I am almost sure that he was the one behind everyone knowing that Joey was going to be at the airport when this mess started. I… I don't' want to know what he would do if I tried to talk to Joey."
"But… well, Chris… I'm sure the pictures cannot be that bad!" She tried again. "He said he took them at Universal, and surely you and Joey weren't obvious there!"
"I'm pretty much out, Bobbie. Everyone who knows me knows I'm gay, and since Emerson hired me knowing it, there were a couple of articles about it." Apparently, he was ready for every single thing she could think of. "So how do you think it would look in the papers to know that a member of *N Sync spend a whole day alone with a gay high school teacher?"
"You're a stubborn man, Professor Kirkpatrick." Bobbie finally said, smiling weakly. "But one of this days, I'll find the way to make you see that the world isn't a dark and brooding place."
* * *
Lance smiled as the others raged and protested about the delay on their new CD. In the usual circumstances, he would be outraged too. They had took too much time between the Christmas record and the No Strings Attached record, and now, to delay Celebrity even more could mean the death of the group.
But this time, this time he knew that the delay would bring a worthy product. One that every single fan of *N Sync would love, and that would even appeal to those who didn't like the group.
And the way in which Jhonny had planned it… Well, that was even better.
After managing to break through the shock of hearing Chris sing with four kids that parody song –and getting the pleasure to see Brian Littrell and AJ McLean completely shocked-, Lance had turned to ask Jhonny what did he made of the tape. And he had seen his manager smirking. Which was completely understandable, since Nick was laughing out loud.
"What do you think, Jhonny?" Lance had asked again, hoping for a better answer than Nick's laugh.
"That whoever who wrote that song was mostly right." Jhonny answered, sobering up. "Three out of five isn't that bad. Anyway, your kid does have a good voice. How old is he?"
Oh, and that had been hard to answer. He knew Jhonny wasn't going to like the answer. "He'll be 30 this October."
But Jhonny had surprised him, not for the first time. "30? Well, he surely doesn't looks like 30. Can he sing a serious song?"
"Sure he can!" Nick had interrupted then, while AJ was finally getting the joke. "We heard him last October. He's really good."
Of course, that comment had brought a lot more questions, and finally Jhonny had put two and two together and recognized the pineapple man as Joey's boyfriend. And his reaction had been a new surprise. Because even when he didn't want Joey, or JC and Lance to come out, he was finding the idea of an out gay member on *N Sync really intriguing.
But it was necessary that the guys didn't knew right away, because they wanted to move it as a surprise. A surprise that would automatically be destroyed if anyone outside the room knew about it, so AJ, Brian and Nick were sworn to secrecy.
"No way!" JC's yell make him come back to the present, to see his boyfriend pounding on the table. "You want us to re-do what little we've done just to accommodate someone that you still haven't choose? And we get no saying on the outcome?!"
"Since you couldn't work with your last three choices, we've decided that no, you cannot say anything about this." Jhonny answered, dead serious. "We're already working on the arrangements for the songs, so you better be ready to learn them."
"How can you make arrangements if the guy hasn't even been chosen?" Justin asked, but his calm tone didn't hide the fact that the younger *N Sync member was angry.
"We already know what kind of voice we're looking for." Even if the finality of Jhonny's tone didn't clued the others in the fact that it was the end of the meeting, the big man leaving the room certainly did the job.
"Well, I still don't like it." JC huffed, sitting back on the chair.
Lance didn't smile, as he knew that would look wrong, and simply stared at the only other member who had stayed silent most of the meeting.
Joey. Who still was crushed beyond repair.
And he hoped that Nick would speed up his part of the plan.
* * *
Nick logged on to his favorite *N Sync chat, just as Brian entered the room. Since the night when Nick had come out to him, Brian had been a little more reserved with him. Never to the point of stop talking to him altogether, thankfully, but Nick had known that his friend needed time to come to terms with everything that had happened around the group.
"What are you doing?" Brian asked, sitting down next to him in the hotel bed. Nick just smiled and showed him the monitor of his laptop.
"I promised Lance I would start a rumor going." Nick simply said. "And this is the fastest way of doing it without it being traced back to Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys."
Brian nodded, and as Nick wrote, began to read the lines on the chat.
justinrules: A friend of mine swears that a friend
of hers
justinrules: went to school with a guy who knew Joey back at Universal.
justinrules: And she says that the guy was the one who really had the
idea of forming Nsync!
justsaylance: Really? C'mon, don't lie! Everyone
knows it was JC's idea.
justinrules: That's what I told the girl, but she
swears
justinrules:that this guy was a friend of JC's also.
When he got to that point, Brian frowned. "What are you trying to do?"
"We need to get the girls to accept the story Jhonny and Lance wrote to 'why is there a fifth Nsyncer" Nick answered, not even looking away from the monitor, where he was trying to convince both justsaylance and nsyncrulez that what he was saying was the truth.
"I didn't mean that." Brian shook his head. "But while we're on the subject, how are you going to convince them if by now everyone knows that the group got together when JC decided to do something more creative with his life after leaving MMC?"
"Just read." Nick said, pointing to the latest entry. "And what did you mean?"
jfnumber1: I heard Pearlman forced JC to agree
to
jfnumber1: his version of the story. And that because of the lawsuit
jfnumber1: they have to stick to it.
Brian frowned. "From where did she heard that? Anyway, I meant your screen name."
"Isn't it obvious?" Nick smirked. "And she probably is making it up. But it helps."
"Are you planning on telling Justin?" Suddenly, it seemed that Brian was no longer interested in whatever Nick was writing, only on watching Nick's face.
Nick stayed silent for a moment, just typing. Then, finally, he looked at Brian and smiled sadly. "No."
* * *
Bobbie dried a tear as Chris finished his umpteenth rehearsal with the school pianist, Mrs. Michaelson, and the male choir, who backed him up in the chorus. They had been doing the song ever since Bobbie convinced Chris to do it, but this was the first time he let her stay while he tried to memorize the lyrics.
She began clapping, in part to see him blush and in part because she was impressed. In only two weeks, he had nailed the song and made it his own. Even when he still didn't admit it.
"That was wonderful, Chris!" She said, walking towards him.
"It's thanks to them." Chris said, waving to the choir, who snickered and shook their heads. Now that Chris was finally fighting the depression that had set over him the first time he came to the school, he had easily won everyone's hearts. They would all be very sad to see him part, but at least the choir was very glad to have the chance to work with him one last time.
"You're way too modest." Bobbie smiled, then kissed him on the cheek. "Now, you got a few seats for your guests at the show. So, how many tickets do you need, and where do I mail them?"
"Bobbie you shouldn't…" Chris began, but Bobbie hushed him.
"I put you in this mess, away from your family. So yes, I should have. C'mon, spit." She smiled, and waited until he sighed in defeat.
"All right. Emily, Taylor, Kate, Molly and my Mom." Chris relented.
"Only them?" Bobbie knew she was pushing it, and that maybe that would ruin the careful plans made by Nick, but she couldn't help it. She had to see if Chris would follow her lead.
"Joey is busy doing his next record, Bobbie." Chris told her, sadly. "And from what Emily has read on the net, he's got his hands full. It's all right. Once we think how to get rid of Danny's pics, I'll write to him. Promise."
"That's a promise you'll keep, mister." Bobbie smiled, softly. "Trust me on that one."
He opened his mouth to say something, when Mrs. Michaelson interrupted them, grinning. "Come on, lover birds. Mr. Kirkpatrick has to go and get his clothes fitted. I promise I'll return him in one piece."
"Mrs. Michealson, you know that I…" Chris began saying, but the old pianist shushed him, putting a finger on his lips.
"I know, I know. But don't deny this old woman her only pleasure." She said, dragging him away. Bobbie could clearly hear her voice for a minute longer, as she told Chris about the time when Bobbie herself had been a student there, and then she was almost alone.
She waited a few seconds, just to make sure Chris wasn't coming back, escaping the powerful grip of Mrs. Michealson, and then pulled out her cellphone, dialing a number.
"Hello?" A deep, sexy voice answered her after a few rings. "Who's this?"
"Lance Bass?" She asked, hating her luck on men. Why all the ones with sexy voices were gay anyway? "I'm Bobbie Loughride, Nick gave me this number…"
"Oh, yeah! His friend from the 'net." The voice chuckled, making her knees go weak. "You got Chris to sing?"
"Yes, he'll be the closing act. I already have a cameraman hired to tape the whole thing. Will you be able to do your part?"
"Jhonny and I will be there. Just get us seats away from the stage so he doesn't see us."
* * *
Lance hung up the phone, and looked at Jhonny as if saying sorry. They had been in L.A. for two hours, and Lance and JC had had 6 phone conversations already.
One while waiting for the plane in Orlando, one as soon as they got off the air in L.A., and four in the short ride to the St. Bridgitt High School.
Since Lance wasn't telling JC were was he going, the other singer had been in the verge of paranoia.
But thankfully, that was going to be over soon. Soon, Jhonny would hear Chris singing a serious song, and see that everything Lance and Nick said was true. And they were going to have a tape of the event, which was even more important.
And soon, Danny Windsor was going to learn not to play against professionals.