Fifteen

The next few weeks flew by.  Lance had taken care of everything with Trin and she was happily living in his apartment with a couple thousand dollars he graciously gave to her.  The album was pretty much done.  We had to finish up the last track on the album either tonight or late tomorrow and then post-production would begin.  The single would hit airwaves next week and we’d have to go to L.A. to film the video.  It would be a two-day shoot produced again by Wayne and the night we finished Lance and I would fly to the Caribbean.  Yesterday we did a quick two-hour photo shoot for the cover of the single for our European fan base, or what there was of it.  Right now we all sat around a table at Jive Records in New York.  We all clicked our pens against the table and stared each other down.  We had a little conflict: no one had a name for the album and the record company’s deadline for the name was tonight at midnight.  They had to put it on the list of releases and begin the promotional work, not to mention you can’t release a single without an album title.  Battery Studios had phoned an hour ago asking if we wanted to finish the last track, but we told them we wouldn’t be there till we had a name.  Stubborn, yes we are.  Perfectionists, yes we are.  Creative, yes we are.  Did any of this help think of a title?  No.

Lance was leaning back in his chair in a white button up shirt and staring everyone down with a serious look, accept I could see a little bit of a smile curved on his lips.  He found this amusing because he was the most laid back of all of us.

Chris’s leg was shaking so rapidly the table was jittering as he rolled a pencil up and down his spot on the table.  Joey was staring up at a fly on the ceiling, Justin looking so deep in thought, I could of swore his face was going to crack.  And I, I was falling asleep.

“Why don’t we name it Untitled?”  Chris joked.

“That’s stupid Chris,” Justin replied.

“You got something better Timberlake?” he replied.

While I was bored with them I looked at my watch and huffed, we really needed to get down there if we wanted to finish this by tomorrow.

My finger touched the face and I smiled, Lance had given this watch to me a week ago “because I love you.”  The back of the face was inscribed with the first day we met years ago, the date we first got together, and the day we’re planning to make love for the first time.  Under it read “eternally yours, JLB.”

I got a goofy smile on my face and he noticed it from across the table.

Suddenly it was like a light bulb flicked on.

“Eternally,” I blurted.

Everyone sat up in their chairs.

On the album there was a song where in the chorus it said “eternally, faithfully, always.”

“I like it,” Justin replied, “it’s simple and means a lot,” his eyes shot between Lance and I.

“Yeah, dude I don’t care anymore, I want out of this room,” Chris huffed and stood up.

“Joe, Lance?” I asked.

“That works, I like it,” Joey stood up as well.

Lance smiled at me, “I think it’s perfect JC.”

A Week Later

We were on our third clothes change on the second day of the shoot when Lance came into my dressing room.

My eyes lit up, so many people could have seen him come in there.

“Lance, what – “

He cut me off with a long kiss, his green eyes sparkling as they looked back at me.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“If we do the dance sequence all the way through correctly, all we have left is the individual shots at the end and we’re out of here Jayce,” his hands dropped to my waist.

I smiled back at him, “and off to paradise,” I added.

“And off to paradise,” he repeated.

We both smiled stupidly.  We were so excited about…making love.  It just made us both jump like two little boys getting a new bike.

We’d still managed to keep everything between us a secret.  The only people that new were the couple handfuls we told and we knew that no one would question us in the Caribbean.  It would be like a mini-vacation where we could be out in the open.  Lately we’d been going to a movie and dinner at night and I sensed that sometimes people looked at us oddly.  It felt so weird being under a huge microscope.  Here I thought after we’d told our family we’d be okay, but we were still hiding not only from our feelings for each other, but as the people we truly were.  That was something that bothered me, because even though it really isn’t any one else’s business, I’m not going to live my life like one big lie, and neither is Lance.

We heard footsteps coming and I turned around so Lance could pretend fix my collar.

“Let’s go guys, you’re on…” we heard someone yell from the doorway.

In my mind it was hard for us to hide it anyways.  We ended up grinning at each other stupidly or accidentally brushing shoulders as we moved about, if someone really was looking for it, believe me, they’d see it.

A few minutes later we ran through the dance sequence flawless.  I think everyone else knew Lance and I were in a hurry to get out of there because they seemed to do it more perfectly than ever and they all smiled at us after.

After the individual shots I ran in the back to change clothes when I heard voices in Lance’s dressing room.  The door was only slightly cracked and I stopped when I heard my name.

“You’re my best friend and I want this to be okay with you because if it’s not okay with you, I can’t go,” Lance quietly said.

Joey sighed and looked at the floor.

“Lance, I want you to be happy, Josh too, it’s just I’m having a hard time thinking that EVERYONE will want the same thing.  I’m not ready for the end of the group, I’m not ready to have people hating us when we walk down the streets…” he confessed.

Lance put his hand behind Joey’s neck.

“Listen, if you don’t want JC and I to say anything, we won’t…” he answered.

Which is exactly the opposite of what I wanted.

“Why don’t you guys just not worry about me and go, go on your vacation and we’ll see you there in a couple days, okay?” Joey smiled at Lance.

Lance wasn’t buying it, he knew this was really getting to Joey.

“Joe…”

“No, Lance, go, go have a good time, okay?” Joey quickly hugged him and walked out.

Lance stood there, looking blankly at the floor, his hand on the chair.  He looked deep in thought and I knew it would be best to leave him and finish getting ready.

Justin pulled me into a tight hug as I was about to get in the car.  His arms wrapped around me so hard I thought he was going to strangle me.

“Jup…what’s wrong?” I asked.

He pulled back, his hand behind my neck, “I’m so happy for you JC,” he answered, his dark blue eyes gazing into mine.

I couldn’t help but smile.  Justin was my best friend.  We grew up together practically, and he’d got me through the times I didn’t think I’d make it with Lance.

“Thanks Jup, we’ll see you in a few days, okay?” I hugged him again.

I looked over and saw Joey watching us in the distance.

“He’ll come around Josh,” Chris told me as he reached up and hugged me.

“I know,” I replied.

“Oh and since I don’t want Bass-babies running around,” he joked and shoved a package of condoms at me.

My face turned bright red as Lance came walking out, his backpack slung over his shoulder.

“I’m not even going to go into the anatomy of how that’s not possible little man,” I quickly shoved them into my bag before anyone saw them.

“Hey you never know, you’re very feminine JC,” he lightly punched me in the stomach.

I socked him back and replied “you just want a piece Kirkpatrick,” and I quickly leaned in and kissed his cheek in an exaggerating way.

“YUCK JOSH,” his face contorted as he wiped it off.

“Bye guys, have fun,” Justin hugged Lance, Chris did as well.

We both smiled and ducked into the SUV.

We then set down our bags as the car took off.

“You ready for paradise?” Lance asked.

Sixteen