Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2004 01:55:33 -0600 From: Mike Subject: Secret Lives 02 Secret Lives An *N Sync Experience Disclaimer: I do not know any famous people. I do not know any friends, relatives or friends of relatives of any famous people. This is a creation by me to help ease my writer's block, and nothing serious will come of it. Occasionally, this story will divulge into areas that some deem inappropriate. If you deem it so, please rant and rave elsewhere. Thank you. I got quite a bit of emails. Thanks for reading/writing/commenting. Email me @ strytll3r@mac.com Chapter Two "So, where to?" James asked as they left the Plaza and the party. The early autumn night had a hint of a chill to it and both Jason and James huddled in their overcoats. "I know of several places to go, but..." he looked at his watch and sighed. "...Nothing that I know of would be open at 2:30 in the morning. Unless you watch to go to a club." Jason winced. "No. No clubs. My head wouldn't take it, I'm afraid." James smiled faintly. "I forgot, sorry. How's your headache, anyway?" Jason gave a half-hearted grin. "Tolerable." He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. Suddenly, he began to grimace. Opening his eyes and looked towards James. "I know of someplace we can go first." "First?" "Yes first." Jason looked down at himself. "I need to change." James gave him a blank look. "Clothes. I need to change clothes." Still the blank look. "The incident at the stairwell, remember?" Dawning broke on James face and he smiled. "The rancid smell lingering around me would not do well in the second place we're going." "Is your place nearby?" James looked around. Being this close to Central Park at night scared him. Jason laughed quietly to himself as he noticed James' unease. He obviously was not from the city. "It's relatively close, around a twenty-minute walk. Fifteen if you want to cut across the park." James nearly jumped out of his shoes. "I kid. Come on. Jason turned and started walking. "Go west, young man." James started out and the pair began to walk. They had grown accustomed to the chill night air and the slight breeze felt wonderful against Jason's flushed face. "So, tell me a little about yourself, Mr. James?" The pair had walked the southern edge of the park in comfortable silence. Jason pointed north and they turned the corner, walking uptown. James glanced over at his companion. "You really don't know me, do you?" Jason gave him a quizzical look and shook his head. "Wow. OK, I'll give you the short version for now. About twelve years ago, I was in a pop group. We were big in Europe and then we hit the states and became huge." Jason looked flabbergasted. "Really? Which group?" "*NSync." James turned as he heard the sound of laughter. "Obviously you weren't a fan." Jason shook his head and began to control himself. "Sorry. I wasn't. Only gay guy in history who was never into the boy band scene, probably." I was James' turn to laugh. "No, there are at least two," he said as he raised his hand. Jason turned shocked. "Yeah, I hate pop music. I'm a country boy at heart. Always will be." "So why did you join?" James laughed. "I was 17 living in Mississippi. The only gay guy in my school, or so I thought. My hormones were raging and I thought I could meet people like me." Jason giggled with glee. He hadn't felt this giddy since his early years of college. "Which boy was it? Justin? Nick? I always thought Nick was cute." James rolled his eyes. "Nick is the Backstreet Boys. Anyway, it was Josh. I loved that man from day one." James grew silent and looked down. Jason didn't know what to say. He looked around for some distraction and noticed they were at his apartment. He turned to face James, and noticed that James had crept into the park a little. "Hey, I was joking when I said we could cut across the park." James smiled and stood there. He was looking at the Strawberry Fields sign and Jason heard a sigh. "I've always wanted to come to this place," James looked back at Jason. "I loved Lennon. Didn't care too much about his music, but I appreciated his talent, his activism." He turned back to the sign. James smiled to himself. Strawberry Fields was still his favorite spot in the city. He came here often to think and contemplate life. He came up behind James and wrapped his arms around the blond. It just felt like the right thing to do, and James leaned back a little. "Well, every time you visit me, you can visit Strawberry Fields," he whispered in James' ear. James turned slightly and Jason continued. "I live right across the street and you can see this place from my living room window." James turned and looked across the street and gasped. "That building looks famous." Jason looked at it and nodded. "Yup. It's the Dakota." James looked at Jason, stunned. "You live in the Dakota." Jason nodded. "But you're a teacher." Jason nodded. "And that's the Dakota." Jason nodded yet again. "How'd you? Where did you? How can you?" And he stopped talking and stood there. Jason smiled. "My grandmother left it to me in her will when she died. Plus a trust fund that pays for the taxes and junk. No biggie." The pair started across the street as Jason talked. "She wasn't famous or anything. My grandfather played the stock market well and was the CEO of a company way back in the day. When he died, she had a little over 10 million and had a gorgeous house in New Rochelle. She sold it and movie to the city." Jason slid his key in the door and the pair went inside, James looking around in awe. He looked at his new friend, still dumbfounded. "Why did she choose the Dakota?" "She was a friend of Yoko and wanted to close by. Plus, she liked being close to the park." Jason hit five on the elevator and the doors slid shut quietly. "So, she knew John Lennon?" "Yeah, I wish," Jason laughed. "She moved in 1985, and met Yoko in 1983. Here's our stop." They stopped moving and the doors slid open. Jason turned left and James followed closely, looking around. "I loved visiting her in the city. I'm from Buffalo, and rarely got to come here." Jason opened his door and turned on the lights. Soft ambient lights softly illuminated the room. "I even got to meet Yoko a few times. I remember one time, I think I was nine, she and Yoko took Julian and I to the zoo." He smiled softly. "Anyway, grandma knew how much I loved her place, and gave it to me. She loved the fact I was studying to become a teacher, and new I would never be able to afford living in the city on the salary I was destined to. The last time a got to see her, she told me to always do what was in my heart and to allows follow my dreams and that everything would come into place." Jason's voice cached at the end and he turned quickly toward the bedroom. "Make yourself comfortable, James, I'll be back in a few." James looked around and smiled. The room was just his style. Leather sofas were arranged neatly in the corner, an upright piano stood near the bay window and a chair sat quietly in the corner with a reading lamp nearby. A book lay on the chair, "Was" by Geoff Ryman. James placed the book back on the chair and looked around some more. There was no direct lighting in the room, everything was backlit and illuminated nicely. A couple of art pieces decorated the room, musically themed, and taking center stage was . . . "What?" Jason walked into the room in time to hear James gasp. "Is that?" He pointed. "Yea, a gift to my grandmother." Hanging on the wall was the Hirschfeld painting of John Lennon sitting near his apartment window. All that James could say was "wow". "Anyway," Jason said, changing the subject, "we should get going, considering it's past 4." "Yeah, where are we heading, anyway?" James turned and looked at Jason. "Wow." He was speechless yet again. Jason had changed into a pair of tight fitting, low slung Gap jeans and a mesh thin sweater that matched his steel blue eyes perfectly. James could see the faint outline of Jason's six pack and hard pecks through the material. A simple sterling silver choker hung around his neck and Jason had messed up his dark brown hair, giving him a boyish feel. A pair of black Sketchers completed the outfit. James cleared his throat. "Wherever we're going, I'm going to be way overdressed." He looked down at his Armani suit and chuckled. Jason looked James over. "Well, you are about my size and build. You're welcome to borrow a few things." James looked up and smiled. "Thanks, Jason." "No problem. Bedroom's the third door on the right." Jason pointed toward a shadowy hallway and James started moving. He found the light switch for the bedroom and turned it on. The bedroom was furnished similarly to the living room, with gray furniture and red accents. James looked up and noticed a half finished ceiling of painted rose petals, like on "American Beauty". He found the closet and glanced inside. `This guy has about as much clothing as *NSync put together,' he thought to himself. He quickly picked out a red long sleeve shirt and a pair of diesel jeans. The shoes, unfortunately, were a size too small, but no one would notice the shoes, right? He backed out of the room and found Jason sitting with his eyes closed." "How's your head?" James whispered softly as he approached. Jason opened his eyes and smiled. "Doing much better, thanks." He stood up and the pair started out. "So, tell me about *NSync. If I remember correctly, wasn't there some scandal that happen a couple of years back?" "Yeah, there was," James began. While he talked, Jason steered them through the deserted streets of New York. "I guess it started right after Celebrity came out, our third album. "Josh and I started seeing each other a couple of years prior, and the guys found out. I think Justin walked in on us one day. "The guys freaked and everyone started acting weird towards us, which put a strain on our relationship. Anyway, we had a tour to do, and the vibe between us wasn't working. After the tour, we took a break. Justin went solo and made it big, which made Josh a little jealous. He started working 18, 20-hour days, writing songs, music, putting together a solo album. "Meanwhile, Joey and Chris had there thing going ^Ö Joey with Little Shop and Chris with his clothing line. And me? Well, I had odd projects, but I stayed out of the limelight, providing support for Josh. But Josh started pulling away, getting absorbed with his work. "Anyway, Josh's album came out and it bombed. Completely bombed. Thrilled Justin to no end, and Josh crawled into his dark place, shutting me out. "Jive records contacted us to start up the group again, and we had a meeting one day. Justin, gloating and laughing at Josh said that gay guys could never make it big. Management asked what he meant, and when Justin told them about Josh and me, they tried to make us sign a non-disclosure contract and told us that we couldn't see each other. That it would ruin our reputations. I was so pissed, I left the meeting without signing anything. "One day, someone with AP called and said that Justin was saying that I was holding up the new album. I said there was a contract dispute, and when the reporter kept pressing, I said that they wanted me to stay in the closet and I don't think that I wanted to do that." James laughed bitterly. "It was in all the papers the next day. Jive called and bitched me out, said that *NSync was finished. The other guys were pissed as hell and Josh, well." James cleared his throat. "Josh said that he couldn't believe what I did. That they would put us together and that I was being selfish. And he was right. A couple of days later, a report came out speculating that Josh and I were a couple. The next day, Josh was out with every girl in LA, it seemed. Kissing, making out, groping. He said that I brought it on myself. "And then the video came out. Josh released it himself. Him and a girl having sex, just to prove that he wasn't gay. I saw the tape and I packed up my things. Haven't talked to him since." A tear fell from James' eye as he finished, and Jason, not knowing what else to do, put his arm around him and they walked down 60th. "Do you keep in contact with the others?" Jason asked after a while. "Joey and I still do. Chris and I never did get along, that much and Justin. Well, I wanted nothing to do with Justin since forever." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, that's the story. Now, I'm living in LA as a talent scout of sorts. Plus I run a gay independent movie studio, so I come to NYC often." "Well, that's good to hear," Jason said, smiling. "It's kind of hard being friends if we lived on opposite coasts." James laughed. "Don't worry, Jason. You'll be seeing so much of me, you'll be sorry that you've ever met James Bass. * * * * * End of Chapter Two. Sorry about the long wait, but reality caught up to me and needed to be addressed. Email comments to strytll3r@mac.com