Happiness Is: Chapter 6
"6:00?" Chris called out.
Lance nodded as he unlocked the door to his hotel room. "Sounds good, I’ll let J know whenever he shows up."
"See ya then."
Lance closed the door behind him and walked over to his duffel bag and pulled out a pair of clean pants and turned towards the bathroom at the same instant that he heard the shower come on. He sighed and threw the pants back on top of his bag. He walked over to the TV and turned it on then jumped on the bed and leaned back, his hands folded behind his head.
He could hear Justin singing in the shower but couldn’t hear the words clearly and turned up the TV to drown him out. Lance flipped the channels until finally settling on Total Request Live on MTV. The video for Bad Touch by the Bloodhound Gang was on. He chuckled at the lyrics and video and waited for Justin to get out of the shower so that he too could get ready.
He leaned forward as Dolphin’s Cry video for I Want You came on next on the countdown. He watched the girls laugh and joke all the way through the video and shook his head. Hard to believe those are the same girls on this tour…
The past few days since the girls had begun to fight had been awful for everyone. Taylor and Dani were at each other’s throats every minute of every day it seemed. In fact, just before he and Chris had come upstairs to get ready for dinner, they had witnessed Kat attacking Dani about something. The two were quickly becoming more vocal and violent in their arguments and he was afraid that they were going to have to start playing referee and end up having to separate them. Now that would be good for publicity and public relations. Dolphin’s Cry guitarist kills bassist. Guitarist convicted of murder. Drummer looking for new group members.
Lance leaned back against the headboard, zoning out as his thoughts drifted to the girls. He was really concerned about Kat. They had been talking a lot more lately ever since the initial fight and he could literally see her deteriorating. Every time they talked, she always seemed on edge and was more catty toward everyone. Nothing seemed to please her and any mention of Dani or Taylor sent her into gripe session. The only time she seemed to relax was with him, during their random chats. She always sought him out at the oddest times to just talk about nothing. They’d talk about the weather, the tour, fans, anything but Taylor or Dani, but sometimes she’d slip and talk a little bit about how she was feeling but nothing too deep.
Dani, on the other hand, he noticed seemed to be doing fine. In fact, sometimes even better than fine. She almost seemed to be opening up now that Kat and Taylor were no longer the poster children of the group. She was coming out of her "shell" almost as if to replace Kat. She was more flirty with the guys, always open for chats, and willing to do whatever it to hang out with them. She was getting on all of their nerves because it wasn’t that she wanted to get to know them so much as she wanted to get into one of the pants and didn’t really care who it was so long as it was one of them, although he did think she her initial preference was for Justin. He, however, was running the other way. They had talked one night and Justin had confided that, sure he liked Dani, but not in that way. He was still head over heels for Kat but that was diminishing, due to the fact that every time he talked to Kat she bit his head off about something.
All of a sudden a pair of lonely green eyes and blonde hair came into his mind, causing him to sigh. He was really worried about Taylor. No one had seen her outside of their shows and interviews for days. If she was spotted, she almost shrunk into herself and would only speak if spoken too and only then in one-word answers. Lance folded his hands behind his head and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. He wished he could figure out what it was that drew him to this complicated girl. For all intents and purposes, he should ask Kat out. They were getting closer and he couldn’t say that she wasn’t attractive but the spark wasn’t there. He didn’t feel like all the breath in his lungs left him whenever he was near her, like he did with Taylor. He didn’t feel a compulsive need to protect her and make everything rosy for her.
He shook his head and sat up. It wasn’t going to happen between them though. Taylor didn’t even know that he existed except as a nuisance. He glanced at the bathroom and heard the water still running and gritted his teeth. Forget the shower… He walked back to his duffel bag and grabbed his pants and a new shirt and changed. He’d shower later.
Just as he finished, he heard a knock on the door. He opened and let Chris in. "The boy ready yet?"
Lance shook his head. "Are you kidding, he’s been in the shower singing for as long as I’ve been here."
"HEY!"
Lance grabbed the door right before it shut in Joey’s face. "Sorry."
"No problem."
He stepped into the room and immediately sat in front of the TV and became absorbed in the show. "Backstreet’s on?"
Lance shrugged. "I guess. I haven’t really been watching, it’s been more for noise than anything else."
"You okay?" Chris asked.
Lance nodded. "Yeah, just thinking."
"Did we get a new letter?" Chris asked quickly.
"Nope. Haven’t heard from her in awhile. I was thinking about the girls."
Chris sat on Justin’s bed. "Yeah, it’s a waste to see them like this."
"I know. I just wish I could help. Especially for Taylor and Kat since they’ve always been close."
"Scoop, they’ll work through it. They’re just going through a rough patch. We’re been through it. Every group does." Chris said.
"Our wasn’t this bad."
Joey looked up. "Wanna bet… remember the fight you and J had in Europe where you threw all his clothes out in the hallway and wanted to pack it up and go home?"
Lance flushed. "Oh yeah and yours and JC’s screaming match at that one club in Germany…"
Joey turned back to the TV, blushing himself. "We all had out moments."
"True, and look at us now…we’re…" Chris stopped in mid-sentence and turned toward the bathroom door. "What is he singing?"
Lance shrugged. "I don’t know. I turned the TV up."
Chris got a mischievous grin on his face and motioned for Joe to turn the TV down so that he could hear. All of a sudden the words became clear and all three people in the room looked at one another and began to roll with laughter.
"I'm a model, you know what I mean, And I do my little turn on the catwalk, Yeah, on the catwalk, on the catwalk,yeah I do my little turn on the catwalk"
Joe looked up from the floor. "Please tell me, he’s not singing what I think he’s singing."
"Sorry, buddy, no can do." Chris laughed, wiping his eyes. "It’s I’m too Sexy."
Lance and Joe groaned, then looked at each other and cracked up again.
Chris rubbed his hands together. "Oh this is good. He’s not living this one down."
Lance shook his head and opened his mouth to answer, but another knock on the door cut him off. He let JC in, who didn’t look pleased. "Do you know what time it is? Our reservations are in fifteen minutes!"
Lance rolled his eyes. "Tell fro-boy then to hurry it up. We're waiting on him."
JC sighed and walked over to the bed to sit when he looked at Chris and Joe who were still laughing. "What’s with you guys?"
Chris held up a hand, waving a hand, cause he couldn’t speak cause he was laughing so hard then pointed to the bathroom, where they could still hear him singing. JC’s lips twitched before he fell backwards on the bed, joining in the laughter. He finally managed to choke out his thoughts on the subject. "Is he on crack?"
Lance, Joe, and Chris all stopped and stared at JC.
"What?"
They just shook their heads and snickered. They turned to the door just as they heard the lock click. "And I’m too sexy for this group…" He sang, embellishing the end as he walked out of the bathroom wearing a towel. He stopped as he noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room.
Justin flushed, holding his towel tightly. "Uh, Hi guys… what’s up?"
"Did you forget tonight was our date, J?" JC laughed.
"Oh right… whoops. Is it Tuesday already?"
They all nodded, their mouths twitching in amusement as he slowly made his way over to his bag to get some clothing.
The guys had made a pact with each other during their first tour to always try and do something with each other once a week, if they were able to and nothing conflicted. Because of all their hectic schedules, they liked to do something that reminded themselves that they were still normal human beings like being able to go out for dinner or go to a movie… doing something that normal guys did all the time. This helped them stay rooted, plus it also gave them a time to play catch up with each other because since they were always moving, they didn't always know what was going on with each other. They always referred to this time as their "dates".
"Hurry up! I'm starving!" Chris whined.
"I'm hurrying!" Justin grumbled, walking back to the bathroom.
"Oh and J…" Joey called out sweetly.
Justin turned around slowly. "Yes…"
Joey launched himself on him and started rubbing his head with his knuckles. "That’s for thinking you're too sexy for this group," he said laughing.
"Not the hair!!!!" Justin cried out.
Everyone laughed as Joey stood and shook his hand. "How much goop did you put on? Did you leave any in the bottle?"
Justin glared at him and slammed the bathroom door shut behind him, causing everyone to laugh again.
~*~
"Did you see that chick?" Joey asked, turning around the blonde in question as she walked out of the hotel.
They had just arrived back from dinner and were going back up to their hotel rooms.
"Yes, Joey." JC sighed, "But unlike you we didn't feel the urge to ogle her and drool."
Joey grinned. "It's my way of complimenting the fairer sex."
Chris rolled his eyes. "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend."
"HEY! That's not the…"
"Guys…" Justin sighed as he punched the button to the elevator. "Lay off, I've got a headache."
"Oh does the po wittle guy have a headache… want me to rub it and make it feel better." Chris asked, looking up at Justin with puppy dog eyes.
Justin rolled his eyes and waited for the elevator to arrive.
"Anyone want to go out tonight?" Joey asked eagerly.
"Sure I'm up for it." Chris told him, practically bouncing.
"I'm beat." JC said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Plus we have a full day tomorrow, interviews and then the concert, they won't let us out of their sights."
"Oh come on daddio… what they don't know, won’t hurt them." Joey whined
"If you want to go out, go out. We won't stop you." Lance said.
"Come on Scoop, come out with us." Chris said.
"Nope, I'm with Justin and JC. Bed sounds mighty good."
"Fine." Chris pouted.
JC sighed. "We don't know anything… not where you are, where you went, nothing… go have fun."
Chris and Joey exchanged a look, then bolted for the door, before anyone could stop them. "See ya tomorrow." They both yelled back as they exited the hotel.
JC shook his head then walked into the elevator when the door opened. "They are so weird."
"Yeah," Lance commented absently as he saw a tall blonde walk around the corner.
"You there, Lance?" Justin asked as they both walked onto the elevator.
"Yeah." He shook his head as if coming out of a fog then hurried back off before the doors could close. "I'll meet you guys upstairs." He said then took off after the blonde.
He wandered down the hall looking for Taylor but she had disappeared. He peeked into a few rooms but couldn't find her. Lance finally decided to just head back up to his hotel room when all of a sudden he could hear a piano playing from the music lounge. He retraced his steps to the first room on the left and opened the door and found her bent over the piano, enthralled with the music. She hadn't even heard the door open. He leaned against the wall and just listened to her play the haunting melody.
Taylor was bent over the keyboard, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulder into her face as she played and quietly sang Angel by Sarah Maclachlan. She swiped at her face every now and then but Lance wasn't sure if it was because of tears or just to get the hair out of her face. She finished, the melody lingering in the air and just as he was about to start clapping, she started in on another song. One of their own, he was surprised to hear… she began to play Promises with the same haunting sound that she had applied to the first song.
He felt bad not letting her know he was in the room and realized that she had just given him the perfect opportunity. He listened to her husky voice as she raised Justin and JC's part a whole step to fit her vocal range, easily changing the key of the song to fit as well. He waited until the chorus then came in as her accompaniment.
Taylor swung around, eyes wide at the new voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Heard you playing and thought I'd come see how you were doing."
"Remind me to stop practicing in the hotels." She told him before turning back to the piano and rummaging her music into one pile.
Lance sat down in the nearest chair to the piano. "You weren't practicing, plus I like to hear you play."
"So does the rest of your group, it seems." She stood and made her way towards the door. "If you'll excuse me…"
He leaned back in the chair and watched her walk away, admiring the view. "What's your hurry?"
She sighed. "I just don't feel like talking right now."
"You can't run from us forever. Holding everything in will only make it worse." He said softly.
She turned around and once again the pain that was evident in her eyes washed over him. "I'm not running away from anything… just you."
He sat forward, his hands cradling his face as he leaned his elbows on his knees. "You're a horrible liar."
She took a step back, all the while watching him. "That's not true. You can't see a thing."
He took a deep breath before continuing, stating the truth as he saw it. "I see you Taylor. I see your pain, I see your hurt, I see your frustration, and I see your sadness. I see you. I only wish I could take it all away for you."
She shook her head. "No one sees me. I'm all alone. You're wrong."
"All one has to do is to look at you, Tay, really look and its apparent. Talk to me."
"NO… You don't understand." She dropped her music in an attempt to shut out his words, her hands covering her face. "I'm dealing with it. I've accepted that no one cares and that I'm to live alone without anyone seeing me, who I am inside." Her voice breaking as she tried to stop the flood of tears.
He stood up and started towards her. "Tay, let me help."
"No. No, just…. Leave me alone." She fled out the door, leaving Lance alone in the lounge with her music.
He sighed and picked it up and headed back up to his room. Lance walked down the hallway and opened the door to his room. All the lights were out, so he figured Justin was already in bed. He placed the music gently on the nightstand before slipping out of his shirt and pants and crawling into his own bed.
"Is she all right?" Justin asked out of the darkness.
Lance sighed. "I… No. Not at all. She's falling apart. I'm really worried."
"She's strong."
"I don't think so anymore… She used to be but…"
They were both quiet for a long time before Justin spoke again. "She's gotten to you hasn't she?" He said softly.
Lance stared up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I admire her so much. She's talented, beautiful, modest, reserved but funny, but underneath it all, she's innocent, fragile, but not breakable. I could always see the strength underneath all the sadness. I don't see it anymore, J. All I want to do is hold her and tell her everything is going to be all right. Tell her that she will be happy again. I want to make her happy."
Justin rolled over onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow so that he could see Lance. "Then make her happy."
"I don't know how."
"You will."
~*~
"Justin, you’re behind by one count. Try this." JC showed him the move, exaggerating on the part where he thought Justin was messing up.
After there radio and Teen Beat interviews that morning, they were rehearsing at the venue right before sound check so fix some of the things that they had been messing up regularly at concerts.
"It’s not me." Justin cried out, tired after being up late the night before talking to Lance.
"Quit whining, J, and try it." JC told him.
Justin rolled his eyes. "Get off my back, Jace. The move is fine."
"Look Mr. Hot Shot, if we don’t get it down, we’re going to look sloppy."
"Sloppy’s fine with me." Justin muttered.
"What was that?" JC asked him.
"Nothing, daddy."
JC gritted his teeth and looked at the other guys who were standing there watching the show. "Could someone please talk him out of his snit!"
Chris yawned. "I’m too tired."
Lance chuckled. "That’s what you get for being out so late last night." All of a sudden, he yawned. "Chris! Stop that!"
Chris yawned again. "Sorry."
Joey looked over at Chris at that moment then yawned himself. "Ugh. Why is yawning so contagious?"
Lance yawned again. "I don’t know but it’s annoying. Its making me tired."
JC threw his hands into the air. "Can we please stay on track."
"I’m not messing up!" Justin yelled. "Did you ever think that you might be the one behind?"
JC stalked over to him. "Get off your high horse, Curly, and just fix it."
"Why don’t you?"
JC shook his head. "I’m not going to argue with you. Why don’t we all run through it again and see what exactly is off then if it’s not you, your majesty."
Justin glared at him. "Fine with me." He cued the band and they took their places and ran through the choreography for ‘No Strings Attached’.
""You’re off still." JC cried.
"You are." Justin told him.
Chris walked over and grabbed his bottle of water and sat down on the steps to watch the two perfectionists argue. Lance and Joey just shook their heads and sat down as well.
The door to the auditorium opened, but no one paid attention because of the drama that was unfolding on stage. Mike, one of their bodyguards, walked down the aisle and laughed as JC and Justin were nose to nose both arguing the same points but blaming the other person.
He walked up to the stage and whistled, grabbing Lance and Joe’s attention. The two walked over and sat down on the edge of the stage. "What’s up?" Joe asked, swinging his feet.
He held up the two blue envelopes. "Got some news." He looked over to the other guys. "Should we tell them too?"
Lance looked over at them and shook his head. "I don’t think they’re paying attention right now."
"Look fro boy…."
"JC, you’re on crack!"
Chris sat and watched as the entire thing unfolded, and occasionally egged them on if the argument began to wane.
Joe looked over and shook his head. "Yeah, better just tell us."
Mike shrugged. "Well, you wanted me to go to the Post Office and see what I could find out right?"
They nodded.
"Well, what I found out is that you can’t send any mail through the post system without a return address."
"Then how did they get mixed in with our mail, if they weren’t delivered by the post office?" Lance asked.
"Hand delivered." Mike told them.
"But that would mean…" Joey began.
Mike nodded. "Either the girl is on tour with us or she’s following us and giving them to us when we collect stuff at the end of every concert, but I don’t think that’s too likely because one of us would have remembered getting a blue envelope after a concert and everyone I’ve talked to says they don’t ring a bell."
Lance shook his head. "On our tour…."
"Fine Justin! You’re perfect! You don’t have to change a thing! We’ll change to ACCOMMODATE you!" JC yelled. "Guys, let’s start from the beginning. Lance, Joe…come on."
Mike laughed. "The master beckons."
Joe jumped up and rolled his eyes. "Wonderful Mr. Cranky, beckons."
Lance started off into space. "That would mean we know her."
Joe nudged him with a foot. "Come on, Lance."
Lance looked at Mike. "How would we be able to find her?" He asked, still thinking about the girl.
Mike shrugged. "I don’t know… you could always question everyone."
Lance rolled his eyes. "I don’t think that would work." He shrugged. "At least we know she’s close though…"
"LANCE… JOE…"
Mike laughed again at JC’s disgruntled expression. "Go, we’ll talk later."
They nodded and hustled back to the middle of the stage. Chris stood up and stretched. "What’d Mike want?"
Joe kneeled down to tie his shoe. "Oh, he just wanted to let us know that he’d talked with the Post Office."
JC and Justin’s heads jerked around to them. "What?"
Lance shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, apparently she’s on tour with us. You guys ready?" He cued the band.
JC cut the band off. "Explain that comment."
Joe and lance told them about the lack of return address and how the Post Office won’t send them, so Mike figured she was hand delivering them and was traveling with them.
"But that would mean we know her…" Justin started.
Lance nodded.
Justin sat down. "Who…Oh man."
JC placed a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. "At least we know she’s still alive then… no one on our tour has disappeared and we can keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary."
He looked up at JC. "Yeah, we can take care of all the females on our crew."
Joe’s eyes lit up and he stuck his hand in the air. "I volunteer for the position."
Chris rolled his eyes and slapped him upside the head. "No, Joe, you’ll drive them insane… better let JC do it, he just bores everyone to death."
"HEY!" JC glared over at Chris, who looked over innocently.
"What?"
"Guys…" Lance laughed, "We’ve got sound check in a few minutes, let’s get this nailed down and do our jobs. We can talk about what to do later."
JC nodded. "Finally someone who understands that we’re slacking…"
"No, I’m hungry. The sooner we get done, the sooner we get food."
JC grumbled as everyone laughed and moved into position. All through the song, Lance’s thoughts kept drifting back to the letters and the girl…. He knew that he knew her but he didn’t want to think about the complications of it being who he thought it was.
Lance nodded as he unlocked the door to his hotel room. "Sounds good, I’ll let J know whenever he shows up."
"See ya then."
Lance closed the door behind him and walked over to his duffel bag and pulled out a pair of clean pants and turned towards the bathroom at the same instant that he heard the shower come on. He sighed and threw the pants back on top of his bag. He walked over to the TV and turned it on then jumped on the bed and leaned back, his hands folded behind his head.
He could hear Justin singing in the shower but couldn’t hear the words clearly and turned up the TV to drown him out. Lance flipped the channels until finally settling on Total Request Live on MTV. The video for Bad Touch by the Bloodhound Gang was on. He chuckled at the lyrics and video and waited for Justin to get out of the shower so that he too could get ready.
He leaned forward as Dolphin’s Cry video for I Want You came on next on the countdown. He watched the girls laugh and joke all the way through the video and shook his head. Hard to believe those are the same girls on this tour…
The past few days since the girls had begun to fight had been awful for everyone. Taylor and Dani were at each other’s throats every minute of every day it seemed. In fact, just before he and Chris had come upstairs to get ready for dinner, they had witnessed Kat attacking Dani about something. The two were quickly becoming more vocal and violent in their arguments and he was afraid that they were going to have to start playing referee and end up having to separate them. Now that would be good for publicity and public relations. Dolphin’s Cry guitarist kills bassist. Guitarist convicted of murder. Drummer looking for new group members.
Lance leaned back against the headboard, zoning out as his thoughts drifted to the girls. He was really concerned about Kat. They had been talking a lot more lately ever since the initial fight and he could literally see her deteriorating. Every time they talked, she always seemed on edge and was more catty toward everyone. Nothing seemed to please her and any mention of Dani or Taylor sent her into gripe session. The only time she seemed to relax was with him, during their random chats. She always sought him out at the oddest times to just talk about nothing. They’d talk about the weather, the tour, fans, anything but Taylor or Dani, but sometimes she’d slip and talk a little bit about how she was feeling but nothing too deep.
Dani, on the other hand, he noticed seemed to be doing fine. In fact, sometimes even better than fine. She almost seemed to be opening up now that Kat and Taylor were no longer the poster children of the group. She was coming out of her "shell" almost as if to replace Kat. She was more flirty with the guys, always open for chats, and willing to do whatever it to hang out with them. She was getting on all of their nerves because it wasn’t that she wanted to get to know them so much as she wanted to get into one of the pants and didn’t really care who it was so long as it was one of them, although he did think she her initial preference was for Justin. He, however, was running the other way. They had talked one night and Justin had confided that, sure he liked Dani, but not in that way. He was still head over heels for Kat but that was diminishing, due to the fact that every time he talked to Kat she bit his head off about something.
All of a sudden a pair of lonely green eyes and blonde hair came into his mind, causing him to sigh. He was really worried about Taylor. No one had seen her outside of their shows and interviews for days. If she was spotted, she almost shrunk into herself and would only speak if spoken too and only then in one-word answers. Lance folded his hands behind his head and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. He wished he could figure out what it was that drew him to this complicated girl. For all intents and purposes, he should ask Kat out. They were getting closer and he couldn’t say that she wasn’t attractive but the spark wasn’t there. He didn’t feel like all the breath in his lungs left him whenever he was near her, like he did with Taylor. He didn’t feel a compulsive need to protect her and make everything rosy for her.
He shook his head and sat up. It wasn’t going to happen between them though. Taylor didn’t even know that he existed except as a nuisance. He glanced at the bathroom and heard the water still running and gritted his teeth. Forget the shower… He walked back to his duffel bag and grabbed his pants and a new shirt and changed. He’d shower later.
Just as he finished, he heard a knock on the door. He opened and let Chris in. "The boy ready yet?"
Lance shook his head. "Are you kidding, he’s been in the shower singing for as long as I’ve been here."
"HEY!"
Lance grabbed the door right before it shut in Joey’s face. "Sorry."
"No problem."
He stepped into the room and immediately sat in front of the TV and became absorbed in the show. "Backstreet’s on?"
Lance shrugged. "I guess. I haven’t really been watching, it’s been more for noise than anything else."
"You okay?" Chris asked.
Lance nodded. "Yeah, just thinking."
"Did we get a new letter?" Chris asked quickly.
"Nope. Haven’t heard from her in awhile. I was thinking about the girls."
Chris sat on Justin’s bed. "Yeah, it’s a waste to see them like this."
"I know. I just wish I could help. Especially for Taylor and Kat since they’ve always been close."
"Scoop, they’ll work through it. They’re just going through a rough patch. We’re been through it. Every group does." Chris said.
"Our wasn’t this bad."
Joey looked up. "Wanna bet… remember the fight you and J had in Europe where you threw all his clothes out in the hallway and wanted to pack it up and go home?"
Lance flushed. "Oh yeah and yours and JC’s screaming match at that one club in Germany…"
Joey turned back to the TV, blushing himself. "We all had out moments."
"True, and look at us now…we’re…" Chris stopped in mid-sentence and turned toward the bathroom door. "What is he singing?"
Lance shrugged. "I don’t know. I turned the TV up."
Chris got a mischievous grin on his face and motioned for Joe to turn the TV down so that he could hear. All of a sudden the words became clear and all three people in the room looked at one another and began to roll with laughter.
"I'm a model, you know what I mean, And I do my little turn on the catwalk, Yeah, on the catwalk, on the catwalk,yeah I do my little turn on the catwalk"
Joe looked up from the floor. "Please tell me, he’s not singing what I think he’s singing."
"Sorry, buddy, no can do." Chris laughed, wiping his eyes. "It’s I’m too Sexy."
Lance and Joe groaned, then looked at each other and cracked up again.
Chris rubbed his hands together. "Oh this is good. He’s not living this one down."
Lance shook his head and opened his mouth to answer, but another knock on the door cut him off. He let JC in, who didn’t look pleased. "Do you know what time it is? Our reservations are in fifteen minutes!"
Lance rolled his eyes. "Tell fro-boy then to hurry it up. We're waiting on him."
JC sighed and walked over to the bed to sit when he looked at Chris and Joe who were still laughing. "What’s with you guys?"
Chris held up a hand, waving a hand, cause he couldn’t speak cause he was laughing so hard then pointed to the bathroom, where they could still hear him singing. JC’s lips twitched before he fell backwards on the bed, joining in the laughter. He finally managed to choke out his thoughts on the subject. "Is he on crack?"
Lance, Joe, and Chris all stopped and stared at JC.
"What?"
They just shook their heads and snickered. They turned to the door just as they heard the lock click. "And I’m too sexy for this group…" He sang, embellishing the end as he walked out of the bathroom wearing a towel. He stopped as he noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room.
Justin flushed, holding his towel tightly. "Uh, Hi guys… what’s up?"
"Did you forget tonight was our date, J?" JC laughed.
"Oh right… whoops. Is it Tuesday already?"
They all nodded, their mouths twitching in amusement as he slowly made his way over to his bag to get some clothing.
The guys had made a pact with each other during their first tour to always try and do something with each other once a week, if they were able to and nothing conflicted. Because of all their hectic schedules, they liked to do something that reminded themselves that they were still normal human beings like being able to go out for dinner or go to a movie… doing something that normal guys did all the time. This helped them stay rooted, plus it also gave them a time to play catch up with each other because since they were always moving, they didn't always know what was going on with each other. They always referred to this time as their "dates".
"Hurry up! I'm starving!" Chris whined.
"I'm hurrying!" Justin grumbled, walking back to the bathroom.
"Oh and J…" Joey called out sweetly.
Justin turned around slowly. "Yes…"
Joey launched himself on him and started rubbing his head with his knuckles. "That’s for thinking you're too sexy for this group," he said laughing.
"Not the hair!!!!" Justin cried out.
Everyone laughed as Joey stood and shook his hand. "How much goop did you put on? Did you leave any in the bottle?"
Justin glared at him and slammed the bathroom door shut behind him, causing everyone to laugh again.
~*~
"Did you see that chick?" Joey asked, turning around the blonde in question as she walked out of the hotel.
They had just arrived back from dinner and were going back up to their hotel rooms.
"Yes, Joey." JC sighed, "But unlike you we didn't feel the urge to ogle her and drool."
Joey grinned. "It's my way of complimenting the fairer sex."
Chris rolled his eyes. "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend."
"HEY! That's not the…"
"Guys…" Justin sighed as he punched the button to the elevator. "Lay off, I've got a headache."
"Oh does the po wittle guy have a headache… want me to rub it and make it feel better." Chris asked, looking up at Justin with puppy dog eyes.
Justin rolled his eyes and waited for the elevator to arrive.
"Anyone want to go out tonight?" Joey asked eagerly.
"Sure I'm up for it." Chris told him, practically bouncing.
"I'm beat." JC said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Plus we have a full day tomorrow, interviews and then the concert, they won't let us out of their sights."
"Oh come on daddio… what they don't know, won’t hurt them." Joey whined
"If you want to go out, go out. We won't stop you." Lance said.
"Come on Scoop, come out with us." Chris said.
"Nope, I'm with Justin and JC. Bed sounds mighty good."
"Fine." Chris pouted.
JC sighed. "We don't know anything… not where you are, where you went, nothing… go have fun."
Chris and Joey exchanged a look, then bolted for the door, before anyone could stop them. "See ya tomorrow." They both yelled back as they exited the hotel.
JC shook his head then walked into the elevator when the door opened. "They are so weird."
"Yeah," Lance commented absently as he saw a tall blonde walk around the corner.
"You there, Lance?" Justin asked as they both walked onto the elevator.
"Yeah." He shook his head as if coming out of a fog then hurried back off before the doors could close. "I'll meet you guys upstairs." He said then took off after the blonde.
He wandered down the hall looking for Taylor but she had disappeared. He peeked into a few rooms but couldn't find her. Lance finally decided to just head back up to his hotel room when all of a sudden he could hear a piano playing from the music lounge. He retraced his steps to the first room on the left and opened the door and found her bent over the piano, enthralled with the music. She hadn't even heard the door open. He leaned against the wall and just listened to her play the haunting melody.
Taylor was bent over the keyboard, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulder into her face as she played and quietly sang Angel by Sarah Maclachlan. She swiped at her face every now and then but Lance wasn't sure if it was because of tears or just to get the hair out of her face. She finished, the melody lingering in the air and just as he was about to start clapping, she started in on another song. One of their own, he was surprised to hear… she began to play Promises with the same haunting sound that she had applied to the first song.
He felt bad not letting her know he was in the room and realized that she had just given him the perfect opportunity. He listened to her husky voice as she raised Justin and JC's part a whole step to fit her vocal range, easily changing the key of the song to fit as well. He waited until the chorus then came in as her accompaniment.
Taylor swung around, eyes wide at the new voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Heard you playing and thought I'd come see how you were doing."
"Remind me to stop practicing in the hotels." She told him before turning back to the piano and rummaging her music into one pile.
Lance sat down in the nearest chair to the piano. "You weren't practicing, plus I like to hear you play."
"So does the rest of your group, it seems." She stood and made her way towards the door. "If you'll excuse me…"
He leaned back in the chair and watched her walk away, admiring the view. "What's your hurry?"
She sighed. "I just don't feel like talking right now."
"You can't run from us forever. Holding everything in will only make it worse." He said softly.
She turned around and once again the pain that was evident in her eyes washed over him. "I'm not running away from anything… just you."
He sat forward, his hands cradling his face as he leaned his elbows on his knees. "You're a horrible liar."
She took a step back, all the while watching him. "That's not true. You can't see a thing."
He took a deep breath before continuing, stating the truth as he saw it. "I see you Taylor. I see your pain, I see your hurt, I see your frustration, and I see your sadness. I see you. I only wish I could take it all away for you."
She shook her head. "No one sees me. I'm all alone. You're wrong."
"All one has to do is to look at you, Tay, really look and its apparent. Talk to me."
"NO… You don't understand." She dropped her music in an attempt to shut out his words, her hands covering her face. "I'm dealing with it. I've accepted that no one cares and that I'm to live alone without anyone seeing me, who I am inside." Her voice breaking as she tried to stop the flood of tears.
He stood up and started towards her. "Tay, let me help."
"No. No, just…. Leave me alone." She fled out the door, leaving Lance alone in the lounge with her music.
He sighed and picked it up and headed back up to his room. Lance walked down the hallway and opened the door to his room. All the lights were out, so he figured Justin was already in bed. He placed the music gently on the nightstand before slipping out of his shirt and pants and crawling into his own bed.
"Is she all right?" Justin asked out of the darkness.
Lance sighed. "I… No. Not at all. She's falling apart. I'm really worried."
"She's strong."
"I don't think so anymore… She used to be but…"
They were both quiet for a long time before Justin spoke again. "She's gotten to you hasn't she?" He said softly.
Lance stared up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I admire her so much. She's talented, beautiful, modest, reserved but funny, but underneath it all, she's innocent, fragile, but not breakable. I could always see the strength underneath all the sadness. I don't see it anymore, J. All I want to do is hold her and tell her everything is going to be all right. Tell her that she will be happy again. I want to make her happy."
Justin rolled over onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow so that he could see Lance. "Then make her happy."
"I don't know how."
"You will."
~*~
"Justin, you’re behind by one count. Try this." JC showed him the move, exaggerating on the part where he thought Justin was messing up.
After there radio and Teen Beat interviews that morning, they were rehearsing at the venue right before sound check so fix some of the things that they had been messing up regularly at concerts.
"It’s not me." Justin cried out, tired after being up late the night before talking to Lance.
"Quit whining, J, and try it." JC told him.
Justin rolled his eyes. "Get off my back, Jace. The move is fine."
"Look Mr. Hot Shot, if we don’t get it down, we’re going to look sloppy."
"Sloppy’s fine with me." Justin muttered.
"What was that?" JC asked him.
"Nothing, daddy."
JC gritted his teeth and looked at the other guys who were standing there watching the show. "Could someone please talk him out of his snit!"
Chris yawned. "I’m too tired."
Lance chuckled. "That’s what you get for being out so late last night." All of a sudden, he yawned. "Chris! Stop that!"
Chris yawned again. "Sorry."
Joey looked over at Chris at that moment then yawned himself. "Ugh. Why is yawning so contagious?"
Lance yawned again. "I don’t know but it’s annoying. Its making me tired."
JC threw his hands into the air. "Can we please stay on track."
"I’m not messing up!" Justin yelled. "Did you ever think that you might be the one behind?"
JC stalked over to him. "Get off your high horse, Curly, and just fix it."
"Why don’t you?"
JC shook his head. "I’m not going to argue with you. Why don’t we all run through it again and see what exactly is off then if it’s not you, your majesty."
Justin glared at him. "Fine with me." He cued the band and they took their places and ran through the choreography for ‘No Strings Attached’.
""You’re off still." JC cried.
"You are." Justin told him.
Chris walked over and grabbed his bottle of water and sat down on the steps to watch the two perfectionists argue. Lance and Joey just shook their heads and sat down as well.
The door to the auditorium opened, but no one paid attention because of the drama that was unfolding on stage. Mike, one of their bodyguards, walked down the aisle and laughed as JC and Justin were nose to nose both arguing the same points but blaming the other person.
He walked up to the stage and whistled, grabbing Lance and Joe’s attention. The two walked over and sat down on the edge of the stage. "What’s up?" Joe asked, swinging his feet.
He held up the two blue envelopes. "Got some news." He looked over to the other guys. "Should we tell them too?"
Lance looked over at them and shook his head. "I don’t think they’re paying attention right now."
"Look fro boy…."
"JC, you’re on crack!"
Chris sat and watched as the entire thing unfolded, and occasionally egged them on if the argument began to wane.
Joe looked over and shook his head. "Yeah, better just tell us."
Mike shrugged. "Well, you wanted me to go to the Post Office and see what I could find out right?"
They nodded.
"Well, what I found out is that you can’t send any mail through the post system without a return address."
"Then how did they get mixed in with our mail, if they weren’t delivered by the post office?" Lance asked.
"Hand delivered." Mike told them.
"But that would mean…" Joey began.
Mike nodded. "Either the girl is on tour with us or she’s following us and giving them to us when we collect stuff at the end of every concert, but I don’t think that’s too likely because one of us would have remembered getting a blue envelope after a concert and everyone I’ve talked to says they don’t ring a bell."
Lance shook his head. "On our tour…."
"Fine Justin! You’re perfect! You don’t have to change a thing! We’ll change to ACCOMMODATE you!" JC yelled. "Guys, let’s start from the beginning. Lance, Joe…come on."
Mike laughed. "The master beckons."
Joe jumped up and rolled his eyes. "Wonderful Mr. Cranky, beckons."
Lance started off into space. "That would mean we know her."
Joe nudged him with a foot. "Come on, Lance."
Lance looked at Mike. "How would we be able to find her?" He asked, still thinking about the girl.
Mike shrugged. "I don’t know… you could always question everyone."
Lance rolled his eyes. "I don’t think that would work." He shrugged. "At least we know she’s close though…"
"LANCE… JOE…"
Mike laughed again at JC’s disgruntled expression. "Go, we’ll talk later."
They nodded and hustled back to the middle of the stage. Chris stood up and stretched. "What’d Mike want?"
Joe kneeled down to tie his shoe. "Oh, he just wanted to let us know that he’d talked with the Post Office."
JC and Justin’s heads jerked around to them. "What?"
Lance shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, apparently she’s on tour with us. You guys ready?" He cued the band.
JC cut the band off. "Explain that comment."
Joe and lance told them about the lack of return address and how the Post Office won’t send them, so Mike figured she was hand delivering them and was traveling with them.
"But that would mean we know her…" Justin started.
Lance nodded.
Justin sat down. "Who…Oh man."
JC placed a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. "At least we know she’s still alive then… no one on our tour has disappeared and we can keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary."
He looked up at JC. "Yeah, we can take care of all the females on our crew."
Joe’s eyes lit up and he stuck his hand in the air. "I volunteer for the position."
Chris rolled his eyes and slapped him upside the head. "No, Joe, you’ll drive them insane… better let JC do it, he just bores everyone to death."
"HEY!" JC glared over at Chris, who looked over innocently.
"What?"
"Guys…" Lance laughed, "We’ve got sound check in a few minutes, let’s get this nailed down and do our jobs. We can talk about what to do later."
JC nodded. "Finally someone who understands that we’re slacking…"
"No, I’m hungry. The sooner we get done, the sooner we get food."
JC grumbled as everyone laughed and moved into position. All through the song, Lance’s thoughts kept drifting back to the letters and the girl…. He knew that he knew her but he didn’t want to think about the complications of it being who he thought it was.