Sixteen

I stared down at him as he slept.  I remembered when this all began, when this journey started and I was completely disgusted staring at Justin and Britney on the television.  Little did I know that the same disgusting feeling Justin gets when he looks at Britney, is how I’m looking at Lance right now.  That means I am completely, utterly, disgustingly in love with this man next to me.  We’ve just made love for the first time, we have an album coming out soon, our friends are pretty accepting of it and Joey will be with time.  All is well accept Lance’s family.  But I’m hoping as I stare down at his innocent face that that too will come with time.

His eyes fluttered open and I felt his fingers dig into my skin as he smiled and stretched.

“Hey,” my voice was soft, my smile huge.

“Hey,” his voice croaked back, “we slept longer than I thought we would.”

“Jet lag?”  I suggested.

“No,” he smirked, “I think you wore me out,” and then a small chuckle arose from deep within his throat.

And with that I just kissed him.  And kissed him.  For hours I covered his body with my lips and my hands.  I devoured every inch of him with every inch of myself.

And that is how we spent the next two days.  We rarely left the room.  After all the years of touring I don’t think we’ve ever ordered that much room service or that many movies.

Lance woke before me and showered the day the others were flying in.  He seemed nervous, pacing a hole in the floor as I shaved.  I looked at his reflection in the mirror as he watched me shave.  “Don’t forget your chin,” he pointed.  The only facial hair that man ever allowed me to have was the runway and I wasn’t sporting that at the photo shoot.  So I had to choose stubble or nothing.  I wanted stubble.

“Stubble is good in the bedroom, not for the photos,” he pointed.

“Lance, quit bitching, you’re making me nervous, shit,” I moaned.

I couldn’t exactly place why he was nervous, I think it’s because he had an evening planned with Joey to try to work things out with him.  After all they were best friends and I sensed that Joey wasn’t upset that we were together just because we are two men, I think he was upset because he felt like he was losing his best friend.  At least that was my take on it, I after all am the observer of the group.  I still didn’t quite get why Lance was nervous, I mean come on, we’re talking about Joey here.

An hour later they arrived by van.  They all kind of looked at us strangely at first and no one really spoke.  I mean, I kind of understood.  The maid hadn’t been to our room yet and here they are standing in the room where we’d spent two almost three days of passion.  They all looked…weirded-out so to speak.

Johnny informed us what time the photo shoot would be.  We needed a certain time of the day for sunlight, so we decided to go out and grab something to eat before we had to be prepped by makeup and hair people.

Eating was interesting.  Everyone kept shoving food or drink into their mouth and eyeing everyone else trying to avoid conversation.

“Okay, look,” Chris set down his burger.

Everyone looked up at him and stopped chewing.

“Obviously there’s some tension, but the truth is, I know you guys had some good sex and I’m over that.  I’m cool with the fact y’all finally fucked, I bet you it’s the most C’s gotten in months, okay?”

A few people blinked for a few moments and then everyone cracked a smile.

“How did I know Chris would break the ice?”  Justin smirked.

“Seriously, you guys don’t have to talk about our sex life, we can talk about what’s been going on since we’ve been away,” I replied.

They looked a bit relieved and seemed to not stuff the food in their mouth at warp speed anymore.

“We didn’t want to talk about your sex life…just…hmmm…” Justin began.

Lance and I broke out into laughter.

“Look the sex was great, okay?  Now that’s out of the way, can we move to another subject?”

“Wait wait the sex was great?”  Chris chirped, “since when can Bass fuck like that?”

I smiled, “well he had a great teacher.”

Lance just smiled and picked at his salad.

And so the day went on, and we played around and had fun at the photo shoot.  Nightfall came and Lance came into the room as I was flipping channels, one arm behind my head.  He was wearing a pair of jeans and a white button up shirt with the first two buttons undone.  He smelled of cologne and freshly brushed teeth.

“Going out with Joe?” I asked, my eyes moving up and down his body.  Damn why was it he looked even more sexier when I knew I couldn’t devour him right here and now?

“Yeah I’ll be back later okay?  Don’t wait up,” he leaned down and kissed me gently.

“Have fun,” I smiled and stretched as he left.  I was getting sleepy anyways, so I suppose it was good he was going out, because if he was here I wouldn’t sleep at all…

Lance slid into the bartstool next to Joey and looked in his glass to see what he was drinking.

“Hey,” Joey replied dryly.

“Hey, what are you drinking?”  Lance signaled the bartender.

“Gin and tonic.”

“Two gin and tonics,” Lance told the bartender.

“Wait, look,” he nodded towards a guy sitting in the shadows with a camera.

“Tabloids?” Lance asked annoyed.

“Yeah, let’s go up to my room,” Joey downed the rest of his drink, “I’ve got a ton of booze up there.”

Lance nodded and so they went.

“Dude your room is so small!”  Lance joked as they walked in.

“Okay well I didn’t get the honeymoon sweet like you lovebirds,” he moaned as he went to the mini fridge and pulled out a few beers.

“Got anything harder than that Joe?”  Lance laughed as he walked into the mini bar and started pulling out some hard liquor.  Joey watched him mix drinks as he downed almost a whole beer.  Lance watched him curiously out of the corner of his eye and wondered why exactly he was drinking so much.

After Lance had mixed some drinks he took a seat next to Joey on the couch.

“So talk,” Lance leaned forward, his brow furrowing as he looked at Joey.

“About?” Joey copped a bit of an attitude.

“Before JC and I left you seemed…just not happy with us being together.  I mean I understand, but I don’t UNDERSTAND because we’re your friends.  And I just want you to be happy for me.  For us.”

“I am happy for you…” his voice trailed off.

“You don’t sound convincing…”

“It’s just been weird to get use to,” he shrugged.

“It was weird for everyone, but they all seem to be doing fine accept for you.  I don’t get it…”

Joey sighed as he put his beer down and put his face in his hands.

He sat up a moment later and said “gimmie that drink.”

Within seconds he downed it and was heading to the bar for another.

“Joey how much have you drank tonight?”

“Not enough,” he grabbed the entire bottle of JD.  He did however start to sway on the way back to the couch and then shoved the bottle at Lance, “here have a sip.”

Lance just stared at him oddly.  He was acting so…so…unlike himself.

“No, I’m straight, thanks,” Lance pushed the bottle away.

“Straight, hahaha now that’s wrong,” Joey began to slur his words as he drank more.

“JOEY what the FUCK is going on with you?”  Lance stood up and looked down at him.

Joey’s Italian anger showed through as he stood up and looked down at Lance.

“Are you that fucking stupid?”  He pointed to his head and squinted at Lance.

“What are you talking about?”  Lance asked angrily.

“I’m fuckin’ in love with you."

Chapter Seventeen