Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 15:37:57 +0800 From: Dane Javier Subject: Mad Season Chapter 7 Disclaimer: Since my last chapter had no disclaimer this applies there too. I don't know them. I don't really know what their business is. Their sex life is their own. And it's all fiction. Today's featured song is "Good Times" by Edie Brickell and last chapter's song was "The Air That I Breathe" by Simply Red. Author's Notes: Sorry, if some of you people have been waiting for this one to come out. Writer's Block, and all that. Anyway, I hope you like this one because I have to admit that this one isn't the best of my work. Email me anyways just to say your say. A shout out to some people. Samantha, Joanne, and Jose, who are God knows where in the world. Shaun, who hosts my work on his site. Ashley W, who likes what she reads. And to Josh who has this wonderful story called "Like the rain" in the Nifty Boyband Section. Read it. It's like milk. Good for you. Btw, please read my new series that I have on Nifty called "Love, Words, and Intentions". Please email me about that too and see what you think. Please keep an open mind because it's a NSYNC/ BSB story. Now, go read and enjoy. Dane PS. What do you guys think of the "Lady Marmalade" performance in the MTV movie Awards this year? Mad Season Chapter 7: It's All Been Done Earlier in the Day; about 7:30 in the morning... The four men of NSYNC had a restless night of sleep, much due to the fact that all of them were excited. The next morning, they all gathered, along with the rest of the members of the "Get Lance Back Conspiracy", in JC's room for an early breakfast. Janine managed to drag her brother out of his bed, so now they were sitting by the vanity table eating some bacon and eggs that they ordered from room service. JC, Chris, and Dani sat surrounding the table near the window, mostly talking and waiting for their meal. Justin and Ryan were both sitting on the bed while holding on to their bowls of Cap'n Crunch. Jessica and Christina wanted some McDonald's breakfast so Nick and Howie decided to accompany them; afterwards they went to Starbucks at Howie's insistence. Everyone wanted coffee so they gave the four singers their orders before they went out to the pavement. More than 30 minutes have passed before they returned. "JC, here's your Café au Lait and a Danish. Chris, your Mocha Frappoccino and Bagel with Cream Cheese. Danielle, your brewed Coffee and Cinnamon Roll. Janine, your Triple Espresso with milk. Joey, a Cappuccino flavored with Amaretto. Justin and Christina, here are your Noshes. Ryan and Jess, your Garden Berry Tea and some muffins. Nick, your honey glazed donuts. And a Cappuccino and Quiche Lorraine for me," said Howie as he passed out the caffeine and bakery goods. Nick did the same thing with the bags of McDonald's food. How they managed, no one asked. All of the McDonald's items were given except for two very stuffed bags one each in the hands of the young sopranos. Sitting down on the floor right in front of the television, both of them started to eat their abundant load of Biscuits and Sausage McMuffins. After about 15 minutes, everyone in the room were somehow fixated on them except Nick, who was eating his Donuts and drinking his Orange Juice, and Justin, who continued to shovel his face with kid cereal. Both of them looked with their mouths full and said, "What?" "Damn, you two. How can you eat all that and not get fat?," asked JC. Both of the girls just shrugged then proceeded to eat their breakfast. Everyone just shook their heads in disgust or in amazement, except for Nick and Justin. "How come you are reacting like this is normal?," asked JC while pointing at them. "It's because it is normal", said Nick with a mouthful of honey-glazed donuts, and then quickly swallowed. "Jess is a craver. Once she gets her mind onto any kind of food, she won't stop until she gets it and eats a whole bunch of it. And she craves a lot." Out of nowhere, a magazine hits Nick directly in the face. Jessica tried to look innocent while everyone laughed at Nick's expense. After calming down, Justin looked at Christina with a smug look. "I'm surprised that you don't remember how much she eats, JC. Do you remember the time she called her mom to bring over some food to the set of MMC because she was so hungry? Her mom came in about 30 minutes later with so much Tupperware filled with whatever food in them. A lot of us thought that she planned to give us some of that food, but no, she managed to finish most of it with only a salad leftover. That day forever changed my view of you, Chrissy," said Justin. Just like Nick, Justin ended up with a magazine straight to his face and spilt milk on his shirt. Everyone cracked at the big wet mess in front of Justin. After several minutes of hilarious laughing and some mild annoyance from Justin, Chris announced that they have to run through the plans for the day. "Okay, let's review everything. Kelly's going to help us lure Scoop here so we can finish this once and for all. JC has called up Lonnie and the rest of our security to help us in the "set-up" later. Now Chrissy, Ryan, and Howie will handle all the necessary arrangements and also call up all the people that need to be here later tonight." The three of them nodded in response to their part. "Dani. You, Jess, and Nick will go shopping and get whatever things we'll need for the party later." Dani and the engaged couple shook their heads. "What about me?," asked Janine who is not quite sure of her role in all this yet. "You will talk to Kelly and update her on our preparations. After that, help Howie, Chrissy and Ryan because I'm sure that they will need your help." Janine smiled; satisfied that she had a part in this whole thing. "And the NSYNC boys will stay here and discuss our battle plan for our encounter with Lance later is evening." After a quick Q&A session, all corners of what is expected have been covered. "Okay, boys and girls! Clean up then get to work. We'll reconvene at lunch 1pm at the Hard Rock Café", said JC as Justin, Chris, and Joey rolled their eyes at the thought of eating at Hard Rock again. Everyone else just nodded. Once the clean up was finished everyone separated to their tasks while the remaining members of NSYNC stayed to "discuss" group matters. It's a good thing Howie got coffee. An hour later, two rooms down in Justin's suite... "Thanks Stacy. We'll see you tonight? Okay. See you later," said Christina before she replaced the receiver of the phone. She was sitting on her bed while Ryan was in the bathroom and Howie was in the common room of the suite that she shared with Ryan and Justin. After a few moments of processing the things that Stacy, Lance's sister, just told her, she decided to join Howie outside her room. "How's Stacy?", asked Howie who was reading through some lists of people that they needed to call up. Christina exhaled loudly then plopped herself beside Howie on the couch. "She's fine. She's so pumped at the thought of seeing Lance again that she's leaving for the airport the moment she got off the phone with me." Howie smiled. "At least Lance has an ally in her. What about Lance's brother-in-law and his dad? What's their stand in this whole mess?" By then Ryan had gotten out of the Bathroom and sat on the other side of Christina. "Ford is standing by Stacy's decision and is very mad at Diane at the moment. Jim is a little confused by all this. He doesn't know what to make of this whole situation. But from what Stacy is telling me, he wants to talk to Lance first." "Well, I guess confusion is better than spite any day. At least Jim is willing to talk to his son," said Ryan who ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the excess moisture from his hands. "What about his other relatives?" "The relatives are cool with it. It's just that Diane always took the Bible way too seriously," Christina said with much sarcasm. "Even Jim is slowly going against Diane, not that it's a bad thing." "You're mean, Chrissy. But I guess its justified," said Ryan with an exasperated tone. "Pass the Dorito's, Howie." Howie grabbed the bag of chips and threw it in Ryan's direction without really looking up from the list he was studying. The bag hit him in the forehead. "Oww, that hurts!", he yelped. Just that moment, Janine, with a grocery bag full of treats, entered the suite as the bag of chips hit Ryan in the face. She laughed along with Howie and Christina. "Herc, be a dear and stock this sodas in the fridge," she said in reference to Ryan's role as the young Hercules. "Sure," he complied grudgily. Just as he left his place, Janine quickly gave him the bag and sat herself down on Ryan's place on the sofa. He saw this and grumbled, "What's this? Fuck with Ryan's Head Day?" Janine, Christina and Howie all laughed at Ryan, which he took with mock indignantly. "Screw you, guys. I'm going home," he said with his best Cartman voice. That only fueled more laughter before Ryan finally joined them. In a nearby Party Favor Store... "What do you think of these?" Dani turned her head to look at Jessica and a lot of rainbow streamers in her hands. "Nope, too gay." "Wait a minute. Isn't Lance gay?" Jess asked in clarification. "Yes, he is but this isn't a coming-out-of-the-closet party we're setting up here. Do you think Lance will want to see **that** should he decide to come back to us?," asked Dani with a know it all tone. Jess shrugged in agreement and went back to picking out decorations. Out of the blue, both of them heard Nick laughing very loudly in the costume corner of the store. Dani was first to be beside Nick and then started laughing along with him. Jess just became confused. "What are you guys laughing at?" Nick pointed at this one costume of a Dalmatian for a five-year-old kid. Jess stayed confused. "What's so funny about it? It's only a dog costume." Nick started to calm down. "Remember that time that we surfed on the net together and we decided to look at the sites of the other pop acts out there. Remember when we looked into the site of NSYNC." Jess thought for a moment. "Yeah. For some reason, there was a picture of a little kid in a dog suit in the home page. There was a large name there to, Poofy, I think. The kid was so cute. You were going to ask them about that kid," Jess cooed. "Well, I did ask them about it. Chris said that was his revenge to Lance for the time that Lance pulled down his pants during one of the tapings for SNL," Nick snickered. Jess still remained baffled. "Let me explain," said Dani. "When Lance was a kid, he had a job entertaining kids. He had to wear a dog suit to kid's parties and his name was Poofu," Dani said without giggling much. Jess saw the connection but just smiled. "Guys, I have an idea," Jess said gleefully as she started to show her idea to Nick and Dani. Back in the Hotel... "Okay, any other problems we need to take care of before we face Lance? None? Now let's get going. We have been here for the pass 3 hours and we have to meet up with the rest of the group before we go on with the "conspiracy". Wanna go now, guys?," asked JC in a serious demeanor. "No, Josh. I want to change first and grab a quick shower before anything else," said Justin in a whiny tone. Joey and Chris echoed that sentiment with equally whiny voices. Josh conceded and told them to meet up in the limo downstairs in 30 minutes. Justin whooped out of the room with Chris barreling along behind him. Joey just shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the room in a casual stride. Later in the Limo... "Where in the heck is Justin?," complained Chris as all of them waited for Justin to arrive. "We're going to be late if he doesn't get here soon." As soon as those words left his mouth, Justin crashed in through the door and immediately locked it. The rest of them heard the screams of pre-pubescent teenage girls and all of they started to laugh. "So, that's why you were late," commented Chris. "I got down here about 15 minutes ago when a class of 12 years old girls saw and recognized me. They chased me down to one of the buildings down the block. Sorry if I got you guys waiting," huffed Justin with ragged breathing. "No sweat, Just," said Joey in a sympathetic note. "We're all out of practice when it comes to something like this. We haven't been mauled by any mob of fans in a long time. Even the one in MTV the other day was nothing." "Well, enough talk of Justin being the "Cute one". Let's go. I'm starving," said JC as he pressed the button to tell the driver to leave. As the limo leaves the front of the hotel, the sounds of the crowd of teenage girls drown out by the distance. The trip to Hard Rock was quiet and somber. Justin and Joey made small talk while JC was on the phone talking to the rest of the "co-conspirators". Chris stayed silent and looked outside through the tinted glass, then his phone started to ring. "Hello", announced Chris. "Hey, Bobby.... No, doing good... You saw our TRL special?... Glad you like it.... Joey? I'll tell him...How are Linzy and the kids?... Well, I'm glad you won the rest of the pot from the poker reunion...Finally you can fix up that big old beat-up car of yours... Next week, maybe... Yeah, me and Dani will try to make it... We'll be there... Howie too... Yeah, let's do some bowling... Good times if you ask me...Listen gotta go...You know, things to do, places to see, people to annoy... Oh, you know me too well... But honey, you don't want me to say goodbye...I promise... Okay... Bye" Chris pressed the off and noticed that everyone was watching him for some reason. "What!," he asked. The others didn't answer. The limo stopped in front of the Hard Rock Café and the guys were quickly ushered to their table by the headwaiter. The four of them remained silent, taking in the noise and atmosphere. Out of the noise, there came a hum. The humming became louder, and then another hum sounded to become a harmony with the other hum. Soon three distinct sounds were flowing together into one. Chris looked at his band mates in a questioning before going against his better judgment and started to harmonize with them. By then, the rest of the gang have arrived and, for some reason or another, started to blend with them. Everyone in the restaurant stopped what they were doing and basically looked on to the table full of popstars and friends. All of them continued humming, until Chris decided to get the song started. With all the soul he could muster, Chris' falsetto rang through the place like a good wind that blesses the people around. You don't even have to try It comes easy for you The way you move is so appealing It could make me cry Go out driving with my friends In Bobby's big old beat up car I'm with a lot of people then I wonder where you are Good times, bad times, give me some of that Good times, bad times, give me some of that Good times, bad times I don't want to say goodbye Don't want to walk you to the door I spend a little time with you I want a little more Good times, bad times, give me some of that Good times, bad times, give me some of that Good times, bad times, give me some of that After Chris finished off the song and the beat the group ended, the entire Hard Rock started to applaud with much gusto at the impromptu show. Pretty soon, the patrons gathered around the celebrities for autographs and pictures. The manager had to disperse the crowd just so the group could eat. "Guys, why all of the sudden were we doing an acapella version of 'Good Times'?" asked Chris while munching his meal of Chicken Fingers. "You know that conversation you were having in the car before we came in here?," said JC. Chris nodded. "Well, we stopped what we were doing because the driver said we were near this place already. We heard what you were saying and what got our attention was "your big old beat-up car". Then you said good times and then for some reason that Edie Brickell song got stuck in my head. I started to hum it, and then Joey and Justin followed my example. Then out of the blue, Nick and the rest of these jokers joined in. Eventually one of us was bound to start singing that song and you did. "Well, at least that got rid of some of the tension I've been feeling since this morning. Did all of you guys do what your supposed to do?," asked Chris to the rest of the co-conspirators. "We did and everything is set. Everyone we called will be at the hotel by tonight," said Christina. "All the stuff for the Function room is back in the Hotel. Nick, Jess, and I will start hanging things up by the time we get back," said Dani. "Stacy, Ford, and maybe Jim will be there. Diane will still be problem though. All of his friends will be flown in courtesy of Jive Records. And a select gathering of Pop music heaven will grace the Ritz-Carlton for the sake of a certain James Lance Bass, whoever he is," joked Ryan but got a weird look from everyone. "Kidding, geez." "Okay, boys and girls, finish up your food. It is now 3:30 and we better get going otherwise the plan will not fall properly in place," dictated JC. Everyone finished their meal and was soon out the door for the start of Operation "Get Lance Back". TBC............ Please remember to email me about "Mad Season" and "Love, Words, and Intentions". FYI, I think Angelina Jolie is da bomb as Lara Croft.