Jimmy Needs Assistance

I know that there is some confusion on the timeline of the story - I haven't been doing a good job of making it clear about what has happened and some of the timeline is getting jumbled in the process. To help both you the readers, as well as myself, I have created the following time line.

This should hopefully clear some of the confusion up. As you notice the story is about 6 weeks behind real time, and I hope to correct that soon. The story will always be a little behind, about a week or so, but until then this should help.

4/18 - (Wed) Jojo's Phone Interview (1st Interview)

4/25 - (Wed) John calls Jojo to set arrangements to fly to Florida for second Interview

4/27 - (Fri) Interview with James and Johnny (2nd Interview)

4/28 - (Sat) Jojo offered and accepts job

4/29 - (Sun) Dinner and Party at Justin's (Decide to date)

4/30 - (Mon) Jojo says goodbye

5/1 - 5/4 (Tues - Fri) Rehearsal at the Compound with new dancers, Jojo is home packing

5/4 - (Fri) James' 22nd birthday, Jojo returns to Florida

5/5 - (Sat) *NSync day off - Dinner that Jojo cooks for guys

5/6 to 5/12 - (Sun - Sat) New Orleans Stage Rehearsal

Chapter 7 - When Chaos Rains Supreme

I guess why the realization snuck up and then hit me like a ton of bricks was that I'd never been in love before. Yes, I've had crushes, and yes there are people I love, but never anyone I can honestly say that I had truly been in love with. I reasoned that I had to be in love with James, not being with him had me feeling like there was a piece of me missing, like I wasn't complete without him by my side. Hum, I never expected that to happen especially this soon in our relationship, if at all. (Yeah, sometimes I can be pessimistic about things, so shoot me.)

Could I actually fall in love with someone that soon? Could there actually be something called love at first sight? I didn't believe or think so before, but how can I explain the almost instant bond that James and I shared? I really couldn't answer and it was driving me up the wall. What I really needed right now was my rocking chair in my back yard. Another thought hit me, did James feel the same way about me? Could he love me already as well? This just kept going in a vicious circle, the more I thought about it, the more I kept coming back to my original thoughts. Damn, this was really productive, wasn't it? I almost laughed at myself with that thought.

I was broken out of my thoughts by a tap on the shoulder by the flight attendant. Is seemed that everyone had exited the plane and I was the only one left. I thanked her and got off the plane, looking for Stephen. I had made arrangements to have my best friend pick me up at the airport. He worked in downtown Albany and had to go by both the airport and my apartment on his way home so it saved either my mother or one of my sisters coming to get me. I hated leaving my car at the airport and this way they didn't have to drive the 30 miles to Albany to get me.

The first thing that Stephen said to me when he saw me was "You look different. I can't place my finger on what it is, but you do." I kept my mouth shut about James for the moment, not because I didn't trust him, because I trusted him with my life, but I was wondering if he would figure it out on his own.

"Hum, don't know what you are talking about, must be the slight tan from the Florida sun" was all I told him. I wanted to change the subject quickly because I didn't want to tell him in public. "Come on, I want to get my luggage before it turns up missing. Hey do you know where baggage claim is here, I can't find anything since they built the new airport."

"No" Stephen said, "Your guess is as good as mine. Hey, there's a sign. It looks like it's that way."

Before you start thinking how lame can I be not being able to find baggage claim in an airport I have been to many times before, well let me explain. A couple years ago the Albany County Legislature decided that they needed to redo the airport (it was WAY overdue.) Although I had been to the airport quite a few times, they just got done with building the new terminal. As soon as they finished the new terminal, they tore down the old one and everything was all mixed up. I had no idea where anything was anymore. Now if you were wondering why would the county be involved in the Airport reconstruction, that's simple. The Albany International Airport was actually called the Albany County Airport before the name change. Yep you guessed it, the airport isn't a private one, it is one of the few municipal run airports in the country and the county legislature is in control. Needless to say that improvements are slow in happening, but it is still a nice airport.

Going through the metal detectors, I had to remove everything metal seeing as I set it off. Just what I needed I thought to myself. Nothing like being embarrassed in public. It seems that I forgot to take out my cell phone before going through and that set it off. Hey stop laughing, I'm not used to carrying a cell phone and wasn't used to it being there. Once I successfully made it through, much to Stephens's amusement, I retrieved the cell phone and turned it back on.

One of the first things I noticed once it finished doing what they did when you turn them on, was it showed that there was a message waiting. Following the instructions on how to retrieve it while walking to baggage claim I finally got the message to appear. It was a text message saying, "I hope your flight went well. I miss you already. Love ya, James."

Two things happened immediately after I read his message. The first was my reaction. I had a perma grin attached to my face with a tear of happiness falling down my left eye, thinking could he really love me, or is it just out of habit when signing (or typing in this case) a note. The second was the reaction from Stephen after catching the look on my face out of the corner of his eye.

He put everything together in a course of a few seconds and exclaimed "You son of a bitch!" he told me with an amused look on his face "You met someone, didn't you! Who is he? What's he like? That's what I noticed different about you, isn't it? When in the hell were you planning on telling me you asshole!" I just started laughing at his reaction.

He then took the cell phone out of my hand and looked at the message. "Nice phone and who in the hell is James? Is this the guy that you met?" He said this last part with a grin on his face.

"Oh, he's just my new boyfriend! No biggie" I said with the best innocent look I could muster, and let me tell you it was weak. "No more info about him here, Stephen. I promise to tell you everything in the car. It's too public to talk about right now."

"Ok, but you better tell me everything, and I mean everything, as soon as that seat belt clicks!"

"You have a deal. Since when have I ever NOT told you everything?"

"True" he managed to say "you can never seem to hide anything from me, can you."

You see I actually met Stephen on the Internet about 4 years ago on one of those matchmaking websites out there. Before you go jumping to conclusions, Stephen isn't gay, but he is bisexual. We started chatting mainly because he lives 3 miles away from me and I worked less than a half-mile from his home at the time so we started a friendship online. We dated a couple times after we met in person but we decided that friendship was all we would be. He is my confidant and my rock and can sometimes guess what I am thinking before I think it myself. He also knows more about me that anyone else in the world. For those that are wondering, he also fell in love and got married about a year ago to a really nice woman. Joan is a sweetheart and can sling the insults and jokes just as fast as I can. He has also been really hoping that I would find someone for a while now. I guess his wish came true.

We finally found the baggage claim and got my luggage. Thank god that nothing got lost. After we got into the car I filled Stephen in on everything that happened, not sparing any details, or at least all the details that I could remember. I called James on the cell and told him that I returned home without incident. I wanted to talk to him longer than I did, but the reception on the phone started cutting out (driving into a valley can be hell for cell phone reception) and I lost the ccall. I figured I'd just wait until I got home to call him back.

As Stephen dropped me off at home, with him agreeing not to tell anyone about James until I was ready. I also promised we would get together before I left on Friday. Getting home I threw everything in the bedroom and collapsed on the couch. It had been a very long 4 days after all and I think it all caught up to me at once. Was I ever going to get used to the pace? I hope so before it kills me, I thought as I drifted off to sleep without even realizing it.

I was woken up a couple of hours later to the phone ringing. Thinking it was my mother calling to bitch me out for not calling her after I got back, I answered saying "Yeah mom, I'm an ass for not calling you sooner. So shoot me. What do you want?'

Opps, I think I screwed up as I only heard someone with a deep voice on the other end chuckle. "Booboo, is that you?" I asked.

"Yep, its me. I can't believe that you answered the phone like that. I'm going to have to teach you some manners Boy"

Picking up his playful tone I laughed back and told him "well if I had known it was you, I would have definitely answered it differently. I can usually guess who is calling but I guess I was wrong this time. Sorry I didn't call you back earlier hun, I kinda passed out on the couch when I got home. I'm not used to the flying and fast pace like you, Mr. Rock Star! Don't forget I'm a little old country boy. It takes these old bones a little time to adjust you know"

"Yeah country boy my ass, but those old bones are all mine!" he jumped in with a chuckle.

"Ewe gross you pervert! That's just sick" I joked back. We both got a laugh out of that.

The laughter ended quickly and we both got quiet. I was the first one to break it. "I miss you like you wouldn't believe," I said to him in almost a whisper.

"I know what you mean. I haven't been able to get a thing done all afternoon. I can't seem to concentrate. You're all I can think about" he admitted.

"Yeah, I've been the same way," I admitted to him. "The whole plane ride home I was in a daze. I didn't even notice the takeoff or landing, if you can believe that. The only time I wasn't thinking about missing you was during the drive home when I was talking to Stephen, and the conversation was about you the whole time."

"I know what you mean. Joey stopped at the office this afternoon. I think he figured I would be the same way. I just don't know how that boy does that. Aren't we pathetic?" he said the last question with a hint of humor.

"No, just in love" I managed to say in almost a whisper thinking it was to myself and not out loud.

"I think you're right." He said this so matter of fact - like a statement.

"Huh, what?" I asked puzzled.

"What you just said, about being in love" was all James said in reply.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize that I said that out loud. Wait, I'm not sorry I said it, but that I didn't realize I said it out loud. Oh shit that didn't sound right either. What I meant was…" that was as far as I got with my babbling when James interrupted me.

"Hun, it's ok. I know what you meant." He chuckled a little. "I can just imagine the look on your face right now. The reason I know what you meant is that I was thinking the exact same thing. I'm falling in love with you as well. It's only been a few days but it's the only conclusion I can come up with for the feelings I have. I came to that realization after you got on the plane and I was crying my eyes out and trying to drive on the way home from the airport."

"I came to it after I noticed the plane was in the air and already leveled off, and I didn't remember the plane actually moving. I was totally focused on you, and us. It just kind of snuck up and said Surprise! What really sucks is that I didn't get to tell you in person" I said a little exasperated. "You don't know how much I want to kiss and hold you right now. It's killing me."

"Yeah I know. Me too. If I could I would have flown up with you while you packed" James said.

"Yeah it would have been nice. I'd like you to meet everyone as well but this isn't the time for that. You have to prepare for a new tour as well as worry about Meredith. It just isn't practical at the moment. The next time we have a few days in a row off we'll have to come so you can."

"Yeah that sounds like fun. I would love to meet everyone, especially Stephen. He must be a great guy and a great friend."

"He is. I'm worried about something as well James." I had to bring it up to clear my conscious or it would eat me alive.

"About what?" he asked. I could hear a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"About us, about what we just said to each other. James, we met 4 days ago, we started dating a little over 24 hours ago! Now we're talking about love and meeting my friends and family. Doesn't that scare you a little? It scares me to death, and I can't stop it."

I took a breath and continued, "I'm afraid we're moving too fast and I don't know what to do." There I said it. I actually got it out without losing it or sounding paranoid.

James paused for a bit processing what I just said then answered "Yeah, when you put it that way, all out in the open, it concerns me too. I DO know what I am feeling for you, and I KNOW that can't be wrong. We can only take it a day at a time and it will work itself out. All I can see with worrying about it is problems in the end. Don't doubt yourself Hun, just feel. My momma always said to follow your heart, it will never lead you wrong. My heart is telling me to follow you."

At this point he had me crying. He said that with such conviction and feeling that there was no way on earth that I could ever doubt him. I didn't need to see his face or look into his eyes to know he was speaking from his heart. Those words lifted a lot of doubts and uncertainties. It didn't clear them all, but it was a very good start. Only time would clear the rest.

We continued talking about everything and nothing for another hour. After how I started out the conversation in the beginning, the light chitchat about what was going to be going on while I was gone, what he thought of the new tour and album, and various other things was what I needed. Noticing it was getting late and my stomach wouldn't stop growling, much to James' amusement, we decided to hang up. We both were going to have a busy couple of days and said goodnight.

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The next few days on my part, as you can imagine, were a blur. Between cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer, going through all my clothes, deciding what I wanted to keep here, what I had to send to Florida and what I wasn't going to keep at all was tiring. That took all day Tuesday in itself. I still had to clean everything, make arrangements with my landlord for the rent, and visit friends and family to say bye and a ton of other stuff as well. Stephen was my savior as usual, offering to keep an eye on the apartment and forward my mail until I had a permanent address in Florida. He was even willing to start the car every now and then and drive it a little so when I came back during some time off I would have a vehicle ready. I thought that my few days in Florida were busy, but that was nothing compared to these last few days.

What really got me was how busy James had been. If I thought it was bad for me, he went through total hell. He called me every chance he had, whenever he had a chance, but that was few and far between. He usually had about 5 minutes while he had a lunch break or late at night when he got home.

The guys had spent the last 3 days at the Compound. For those of you that don't know what the compound is, it is a really big house & office that Johnny Wright/Wright Entertainment Group owns in Florida. It has just about everything you could think of. James was telling me all about it one night. It had a lake complete with Jet Ski's, a huge yard with a pool, a sand volleyball court, hoops, and just about everything you could possibly want.

Indoors was another story in itself. They had a full dance studio in there, a game room complete with a pool table, foosball, the requisite PS2 and Nintendo systems, full arcade video games, pinball and off to the side a full, complete bowling alley. Yes, I said bowling alley! Let's not forget the fully equipped weight room with Jacuzzi. It held all this, as well as the guest bedrooms and an office for Johnny when he was here. Like I said, it was huge. Unfortunately they didn't get any time to enjoy it.

Amazingly enough, James was relieved a little about the prep for this tour. I asked why and he went on to explain. With the 'No Strings Attached' tour they only had around two weeks or so to learn the choreography, throw their part of the show together, as well as deal with the final details and last minute problems that cropped up. This tour they all had some more time allocated for rehearsal, and luckily for them they did. He went on to tell me that this show was going to be even bigger than "No Strings" and they were going to be using backup dancers this time. That's why they were at the compound as this was the week that they met and started working with them.

He mentioned that he and the guys were having a little trouble at first getting used to having them on the stage. They were so used to having the stage to themselves that it took some time to get used to anyone else on it. At the mention of this, he started laughing, telling me that he has some stories to tell me about that. I started pestering him to tell me, but he said no, I had to wait. I also found out something else, pouts don't work over the phone, I tried.

I was starting to get concerned about him, as he already sounded so exhausted. They had been putting in 12 to 14 hour days all week. When I mentioned my concern he shrugged it off and said that this was nothing, wait until the 7th when they got to New Orleans and the arena they rented for the stage construction and first actual rehearsals on the stage. While they were there, they would in all likeliness be putting in 12 to 18 hour days right up to the day of the first concert on the 23rd. I just sat there dumfounded. How the hell could they keep the pace and I asked him that. He said that the last few days they are pretty much running on willpower alone, but it's worth it the first time they step on stage for the first show.

We also talked about what I would be doing up until the first concert. I found out that I would be accompanying them to the arenas for both the New Orleans and Jacksonville rehearsals, as he wanted me to see as much of the preparation as was possible. I wouldn't be having much contact with James during this time unfortunately, but he had worked out that I would be spending a lot of time with Johnny, as well as some of the managers and other support staff. I wouldn't have to worry about being productive during this time, as it was mainly a way for me to see what I would be doing, but obviously on a smaller scale. The first thing that went through my head after he said this was 'Oh shit. This job is going to kill me!'

James also mentioned that he told the guys about dinner on Saturday that I was going to make for them, and to quote Joey, he said "What?! He's cooking us dinner? You said he's actually making homemade sauce AND pasta? Oh man, if you don't marry him Scoop, I will!!!" Needless to say he was quite excited. Joey was so excited in fact, he had James call me so Joey could pester me for 10 minutes trying to get out of me what I was making. I wouldn't give in though, as I wanted it to be a surprise. I just told him that it would involve homemade pasta and sauce, but what I did with it wasn't his business until it was dinnertime. I could hear him pouting and drooling at the same time over the phone.

James also mentioned that the other guys were excited about the idea as well. I just hoped they liked it. Poor James had to put up with Joey hounding him the whole next day trying to get what I was making out of him. It didn't do him any good though, I didn't tell James what I was making either!

To be Continued!

Author's Notes: Here is chapter 7 of my ongoing saga. Thanks to the few of you who sent me a note on the story. I'm sorry that I haven't responded to them yet, but I really haven't had the time lately. I'm having problems with the house that have taken all my time. Hopefully within the next week or so once I get the roof replaced (so I don't have it raining inside while it is raining outside!) I will get them all answered.

You should be happy to know that chapter 8 is about half done. When I get some down time at work I get a chance to write so that helps get this out to you sooner. I don't know if this will always happen, but I should be able to keep this weekly update going.

You are probable getting sick of this, but I would like to thank DJ for his editing help with this chapter. I would also like to say that my begging for him to start another series actually paid off! He started another story, so you should start seeing it soon. Please also check my site for it.

Finally, if you have anyting that you would like to see in the story, or have any ideas or questions that you would like to have answered, please email me at Jojoe@nycap.rr.com. Thanks!

Jojo