Chris finished grading the essays of his class three hours before the time he was supposed to met with Lance, which was a record time for him. He also had managed to do the laundry, wash the dishes, and leave his room in some semblance of order.
His morning was perfect.
Until the phone rang.
"Yeah?" He asked, happy, cheerful, and a little hyper after his second coke of the morning.
"Chris?" Danny sounded too near, and Chris paled. He really didn't want to talk to his ex that day. Or ever. Danny's name brought him back too many sad memories. "Oh, I'm glad I got you and not Kate or Molly."
"What do you want, Danny?" Chris didn't want to have that talk then, not when his day had started so well, not when he had heard the same conversation more than once in the last two years.
"I meant what I said at the restaurant, Chris," And obviously, Danny hadn't changed. He still was using that condescending tone, as if he was talking to a child, as if Chris wasn't his same age. A tone Chris had heard every time they broke up, and hated even more with each time. "I was an idiot. I wasn't thinking right."
"You said this was coming for a long time." Chris reminded him. Strangely, remembering that night didn't hurt him that much, maybe because now the image of Joey standing near the bar was much more clear than his break up. "And that you and… Bobby or whatever his name is, were picking a place in L.A."
"Elf, don't do this…" Danny warned. Now the tone had changed from the parental to the threatening. Like it always did. And Chris knew what would follow. Only that this time he really didn't want to hear it again.
"Stop it, Danny. You've said it before, and I am tired of it." He sighed, closing his eyes, and taking off his glasses. He really needed to get more used to the contacts. "Just… go to L.A. and forget it, all right?"
"Does this has anything to do with those guys at the restaurant? The ones who send the gorilla for you?" Now his ex was growling, and Chris shook his head. He knew what was next. "Elf, don't fool yourself. Those guys were out of your league. They would never want someone like you. Just their clothes looked more expensive than your house!"
"Danny…"
"No, listen to me, Elf. I don't want you getting hurt…" Except by me, thought Chris, lamely, trying to fight the tears that were pooling on his eyes. "I'll go to the Cauldron tonight, and we'll talk, all right?"
"Danny, I don't…" But then the connection was broken, and Chris hung the phone, sliding to the floor.
"Chris? You all right?" Kate came out of her room, looking really worried.
"It was Danny. He wants me back." Chris said, numbly, and told Kate some of the things that Danny had said, making his sister frown. "He'll be at the Cauldron tonight."
"Want me to call Maren and tell him you can't go?" Kate kneeled at his side, hugging him. "You know she won't be mad."
Chris shook his head, and got up. "No, Kate, thanks. I'll go. With any luck, he'll forget. He never liked to see me there anyway."
When his sister
didn't answer, Chris got his coat and left the house, he needed some fresh
air, and time to think. He never noticed Kate grabbing his old phone book
and start ruffling through the pages.
* * *
"O.K! Enough!" Wade's voice startled everyone, and Joey couldn't help the nagging feeling that it was his fault. If practice two days ago had been impossible, this one was the nightmare of every choreographer.
And it was Joey's fault. He was too angry at Lance for not telling him that Chris had called. He was even more angry because he knew Lance had given Chris the number, because it was the only way Chris could have gotten the room number. It wasn't right, not when he had trusted Lance with everything.
No matter how much he tried to hide it, he was jealous.
To make things even worse, JC was still fuming.
Apparently, the only one who was blissfully ignorant of all what happened around him was Justin, who, when Wade started ranting about how no one was putting their heads, hearts and feet on the steps, silently slipped away and turned on his cell phone.
Probably to call Britney, but Joey really didn't care.
"Look guys, I don't know what has gotten into you…" Wade said, pacing from one side of the studio to the other. "We've been doing this same routines for at least six months, you all have them nailed down. So WHY THE FUCK YOU KEEP TRIPPING TODAY?!" Not really expecting an answer, Wade shook his head. "Very well, let's take 15 minutes. We still have two hours to go, and I expect you to actually DO the routines like if you were a successful pop group and not a bunch of kids making me loose my time!"
Everyone nodded, even Justin, who was still too immersed in his conversation with his phone. When he finally hung up, he walked towards the group, a silly smile on his face.
"So, what we have to do after this?" He asked, smiling like a young child in Christmas.
Lance nodded, pulling out a little notebook from his bag. "JC and I have to give an interview for a local station, Justin, you and Joey have a signing of records at the… Carrousel mall. Then at 4:00 we're free. I don't think Wade will want us back for rehearsal after this mess, but we're supposed to be here at 6:00."
"You have your date, right Lance." JC commented, glaring at Lance. He was getting really good at it, thought Joey, turning away. "What are we doing in those two hours?"
"I want to do some sight seeing." Justin said, and Joey had the sneaking feeling that that sudden urge to see Albany had more to do with the call than with the city itself. The he shrugged. Probably Britney was in town… or maybe whoever Justin was really dating behind the cover of his perfect relationship was. "I mean, if you guy's are o.k. with it?"
"I'm going back to the hotel." JC shrugged. "I have to make some calls, and it will make thing easier for Lommie and the guys."
Joey looked at Lance, who smiled brightly before announcing he had some things to do and left the studio. It didn't took Joey much time to decide he was following his traitor ex-friend. Then Wayne returned and he had to concentrate more on dancing than in his aching heart.
* * *
Justin had to bite his tongue to avoid laughing at one of the last people on the line to get his autograph.
It was a young man, around Justin's age, dressed like a reject from a punk band. He was wearing short green-grayish pants, that even when they looked three or even four sizes bigger than him, let his all too white legs show, as they swan in his white? gray? green? socks, and a pair of sneakers that definitively had seen better days. He was also wearing an orange t-shirt with short sleeves that read "Hurl-USA" and he could see various colorful tattoos in both arms. Temporal, maybe even adhesive, if Justin' guess about the identity of the guy was right, but looking authentic enough to not be noticed if one of them peeled in the wrong moment. A red cap, put on backwards hid most of the hair of the guy, although the few strands that managed to break free were of a bright green color. Part of his face shone in the lights of the record store, so Justin guessed that he was wearing at least five earrings, one of them in his lower lips. He couldn't see his eyes, as they were hid behind the most awful dark glasses Justin had seen in his life. The girls around him actually tried not to get to close, obviously feeling not very comfortable around him.
"I think that guy got the wrong line…" Joey muttered, and Justin just nodded, not wanting to speak, afraid of laughing and destroying his best friend's best disguise to that date. Finally, the guy arrived and handed… no shoved… a teen pop towards the guys, mumbling something about his sister. Joey sing it quickly, finding a page with a solo pin up and handed it to Justin, who had to shuffle to the pages to find a similar page. When he found it, he chuckled. Because right there over his afro -and what had he been thinking when he shaved it anyway?- he could read a message meant for him:
"I got away from George. I bought you clothes too.. So what about just going to a coffee shop or something to talk about what you wanted to talk? Just loose the gorilla and the crazy one, please."
There was no signature, but when he looked up to the guy, he was smiling and had lowered his glasses, to reveal his blue eyes.
Quickly, not to alert Joey, Justin jotted his own message.
"Count on it, Nick. Give me 10 to wrap this up."
Then
he handed back the magazine, and Nick was gone, mumbling to himself something
that sounded too close to 'boy band sucks, they are all gay anyway, why
couldn't they just fuck die', and this time, Justin couldn't contain his
laughter. Nick had the greatest ideas when it came to disguise himself.
"That was creepy." Joey commented, but there was no humor in his voice. And Justin suspected that Joey hadn't really been paying attention the whole two hours. After all, 90% of the times Nick had pulled a similar stunt, Joey had always recognized the younger Backstreet boy. "Want to head back to the hotel?"
"No… I saw a few things I wanted to check… If you could help me to do one of your disappearing acts…?" Justin knew that that was the best way to get in trouble, since Joey would not rest until he found out why Justin, usually the best behaving in the group, wanted to get away.
"Your girl's here?" Joey's question surprised Justin, because he had always assumed that the guys believed that he was happy with Britney. And they never talked about Britney as Justin' girl. She was always Brit or B.
"Yeah… she's…" Trying to come up with a suitable lie, Justin stammered. "…that guy's sister. She's expecting me in ten minutes…"
Joey nodded, although there was something in the older man's eyes that Justin didn't really liked. Then Joey laughed and Justin forgot his unease for a moment. "Well, I guess that means you and I won't be hitting the clubs tonight. Let's go to the bathroom, and I'll help you get away."
* * *
JC stared at the phone, wondering when all his band mates had decided that *N Sync's reputation was not really that important. According to Lommie, Justin had disappeared in thin air just minutes after their autograph signing had ended. Joey had pleaded absolute innocence in that regard, only to disappear when they had gotten to the hotel. Lommie had called just to inform JC that he was going to look for Joey first, and then try and locate Justin.
Tony had called too, just to tell him that Lance had not pulled a disappearing act, but had asked him to be discreet. When Tony told JC exactly with whom Lance was meeting, JC had been furious. Exactly what the hell was Lance thinking by meeting with Kirkpatrick again?!
It also meant that the call in the morning had been Kirkpatrick. Lance had been planning to meet with Kirkpatrick all morning.
But more than the lie -and the fact that Lance was with Kirkpatrick, of all people, - what nagged JC was that this had been building for months. Joey's constant disappearances were just the tip of the iceberg, of the lack of trust they had in each other. JC knew most of the lies, he knew that Joey wasn't a flirt like everyone believed and that most of his escapades weren't to bars, but he didn't know where Joey went. He knew Justin was not dating Britney, he had discovered that once when Justin went to a 'date' with her, the same day when Britney was giving a concert in the other side of the world. JC was no better. He had too many secrets that he had carefully kept from the guys, and just because of that, he couldn't believe that Lance didn't kept secrets for him. And now, he was sure.
As sure as he was that now, he needed a friendly ear, a friendly advice. And he only knew someone whom he could trust enough to tell the truth.
Quickly, as if not to convince himself that it was a very bad idea, he turned on his cell phone and dialed the number from memory, hoping that his friend was not busy in a signature session, a rehearsal or an interview.
"Yeah?" The voice on the other line sounded tired, but not busy or angry, and for that, JC was grateful.
"Kevin? This is JC. Look, sorry for bothering you, but I really need a friend right now…"
* * *
Lance waited until the waitress served them their meals before turning to see Chris again. As the young teacher had promised, the little restaurant was very quiet, out of the way, and no one had bothered them. The waitress had almost fainted when she first saw Lance, but she hadn't made any move or noise. She had been behaving very professionally all the while.
So, with his hamburger waiting for him, Lance decided to stop going around the bush and go straight to the point.
"Chris… Look, don't be offended by this, but…" He took a deep breath as Chris looked up to meet his eyes. "Are you gay?"
Thankfully, Chris didn't seem surprised or even offended by the question. He just blinked, took a sip of his coke and smiled sadly. "Did I offended any of you guys last night?"
"No!" Lance laughed, really amazed. Chris hadn't answered yes immediately, but his question was answer enough. "I was just wondering… What did you thought of us?"
"Are you coming on to me, Mr. Bass?" Chris looked truly puzzled, lifting his eyebrows. And something in his eyes told Lance that if Chris were having this conversation with, say, Joey and not him, the question would be more rhetorical than literal.
"I'm just curious, man." The singer smiled. "Last night was great. We all had a good time, most of it…"
"Even JC?"
"Never mind JC. He's so wrapped up in the 'dad' role that he forgets to relax sometimes." Lance chuckled, wondering what JC would think about that. "No, I mean… you didn't treat us like big stars, or anything. And I was really curious about that."
Chris shook his head, smiling. "You didn't act like big stars, and the girls… they were too happy." He finally said. Lance had the idea that Chris was looking for the words. "But I don't know you guys enough to have a good opinion of you."
"That's fair." Lance nodded. In that short time he had decided that he really liked Chris, and that the young teacher would be a good influence in Joey… That or they would both end up doing pranks against security and management. And with Chris' ideas, that would at least make days less tedious.
"Why you wanted to know?" Now it was Chris' turn to make questions, and Lance knew that the other man was talking about the first question. The one about his preferences.
"That blonde guy, the one who bumped you?" Lance waited for Chris' nod, and frowned a little when a look of distress appeared in Chris' eyes. "Something Emily said made me wonder. I just wanted to be sure. Is he your boyfriend?"
"Ex." Chris words were almost too soft to hear, and Lance kicked himself. Obviously, it was a too tender subject, and it wasn't really easy to go from that to, 'what do you think of Joey?'. "Danny just has to get used to that."
There was a long, not very comfortable silence, as they both eat their meals. Finally, Lance decided to risk it all. "Say, Chris… The guys and I really enjoyed your company last night. And…well, Justin, Joey and I would really like to try it again. Without the glamour of knowing that we have a thousand photographers following our steps. You could show us the best of Albany's night life…"
"I'm afraid I can't do that…" Chris began, and Lance didn't hid his disappointment. How was he supposed to get Joey and Chris alone if Chris wasn't there?. "…I'm not very familiar with it myself, and I do have something to do… but… If you want, maybe tomorrow?"
"Great!" Lance smiled, as dessert was served. Now all he had to do was to get rid of both Justin and JC to make the two fools talk.
* * *
Justin finished telling his story to Nick, as they drank a moka in a small coffee shop in the outskirts of the city. After getting away from Joey and Lommie, Nick had found him fairly quickly and handed him a duffel bag. A quick trip to the bathroom later, and Justin looked like an escaped extra from Edward Scissorhands. Not even the guys would recognize him with that disguise: Black clothes all over, a long purple coat with feathers on the lapels that obviously came from Prince's rejected clothes, silver rings in every finger, and enough makeup to hide all his features. Perhaps it was a little over the top, but he had fun dressing up.
They had found the "Witch Cauldron" by accident, and, since it was small, not very well lit, and away from everything, they decided it was a good place to talk.
"That Kirkpatrick guy sounds like fun." Nick agreed, smiling. "But what's the problem you were talking about, Ju?"
"Well, JC has been acting weird ever since we meet Chris. And Lance always has this little smile, the one he gets when he knows something… And Joey… Joey was weird man. He hardly spoke at first, and kept looking at Chris as if he was going to disappear…"
"You think that one of your friends has the hots for this Chris?" Nick couldn't hide the smile in his face from Justin, who playfully hit his shoulder.
"Hey! I didn't mock you when you were so sure that AJ and Howie had something going on!" The younger member of *N Sync laughed, remembering that time, only a year ago. "I'm serious here. What's worse, now they aren't talking to each other… And I'm sure that Chris has something to do with it."
"English lit. teacher from Albany causes *N Sync' breakup?" Nick shook his head. "I don't think so." Then, he turned to the center of the room, where a microphone was being placed near a chair. "Is there going to be a show or something?" He asked to the woman behind the counter, who smiled at him.
"Not until 8:00." She explained. "We always have live music here at the Cauldron. You can check the program on the wall."
Justin turned to see the little piece of paper taped to the wall, and his eyes grew big as saucers.
Right there, in the 'Saturday' line, below the performance of "Moonshrow" at 8:00, was Chris Kirpatrick' name, singing at 10:00 p.m.
"He's going to be here tonight…" He whispered to Nick, who opened his eyes, amazed. "We could bring the guys here and you will see that I'm not exaggerating…"
"Are you ready to let them know about us?" Nick asked, half joking, half serious. "Because by now, Kevin must be ballistic that I'm missing…"
Justin thought for a minute before answering. No one knew that Nick and Justin were friends, and in fact, all believed that they hated each other. They were the most vicious when insulting the other band all the time, and there had been a time when all that was true. When they had talked and found out that they had more in common than what they originally believed, they had become friends… and forgot to tell the others. It had been their favorite game for almost two years. "They won't believe us anyway…"
Nick open his mouth to say something, but the ringing of his and Justin's cell phone interrupted him.
"Didn't you turn that off?!" they both asked at the same time, and laughed, at the same time they answered the call.
* * *
Joey entered the hotel, feeling like shit. He had seen Lance meet with Chris at a small restaurant, not very far from Carrousel mall… and all his anger had evaporate. He had managed to go by unrecognized, mostly because Lance got all the attention, not wearing anything to disguise himself and being followed by a bodyguard.
He had heard them talk, and almost chocked on his food.
When he had realized that Lance had made a date with Chris, he had been furious, feeling betrayed, sure that Lance was planning to make a move on Chris even when he knew Joey loved Chris. (And the fact that it was the first time he admitted it out loud, and that it had been love at first sight, was a whole new can of worms that Joey didn't want to open at that moment.)
And just by hearing Lance's first words, Joey realized that Lance was not trying to seduce Chris… He was trying to find ways to get him and Joey together… That was what made Joey feel bad, because he hadn't trusted his best friend. So he had called Lommie, promised to be back at the hotel and done exactly that.
He expected to find a very angry JC and being yelled for disappearing, and for Justin's disappearance.
He really didn't expect to find Kevin, Brian, and AJ with JC, or to get
yelled at Howie and Nick's disappearance too.