Well hello again my wonderful readers. I bet you thought that I had disappeared and completely given up on you. I want to assure you all that I’m not ever giving up on you or this story. Sure I have been through a lot lately that should not have happened but with a lot of thought and many encouraging words from my awesome readers and fans I have decided to ignore all other outside influences and do what I love to do…WRITE. I want to thank you all for sticking with me through everything. I have said it before but it is worth saying again you guys are the best and I am writing this story for you.

As you can see the chapters have a lot of new elements. New look (Love You Dreamy), new Disclosure (Love You Liz) and new headers. There should be no question from this point on that this story, concept and look is all mine and not borrowed from others. I hope you like it.

I want to send a huge apology to the fans and to Nifty. All of the things that have happened with this story as of late were posted and brought before everyone and they should not have been. I am hoping that everything will be smooth sailing from this point on, but I wanted to apologize that you all were drug into it.

I still love feedback so please sent your thoughts or comments to shywriterboy29@hotmail.com.

“Shut up and hug me.” Cameron said, pulling me into a huge bear hug.

It was nice to hug him again. Cameron was one of my best friends on this planet and I missed his huge hugs.

“You look awesome.” He said as he released me from the hug.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” I replied with a smile. “Now let’s get out of here.”

We made out way to the doors and went out to the curb. Cameron looked around and began to get very confused.

“Where’s your car Walker? You sure as hell don’t expect me to walk. I’m not in sensible shoes you know.” He said smiling.

“I didn’t bring my car.” I said laughing. “And no, you’re not walking. Our ride is over here.”

I made my way to the limo with him following close behind me. The chauffer had gotten out and opened the trunk for the luggage as I heard Cameron say “What the hell?”

After the luggage was loaded, the chauffer came around and opened the door and I climbed in. Cameron climbed in after me and the Chauffer closed the door. Cameron looked around for a min trying to get his bearings when he noticed who was sitting in the car with us. He froze completely, his eyes got wide and his mouth opened as if to say something but nothing came out.

It was about that time that Lance leaned forward, and extended his hand, “You must be Cameron. Cody has said a lot of good things about you.”

Cameron did not move, did not extend his hand. He just sat there in awe, with that dumfounded look on his face.  

That Day - Chapter 8

By ShyWriterBoy

It took about three minutes for Cameron to come back to his senses. I started tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention and get him to snap out of his weird little trance.

“Stop it, dumb-ass,” I heard him say. “I think Starbucks must have spiked my coffee this morning because I’m having one hell of a cool delusion.”

“Cameron you’re not having a delusion,” I said chuckling. “Cameron, meet N’Sync.”

Cameron turned and looked at me seriously. “That’s not funny, Cody. N’Sync is not here. I have to be dreaming, I just have to be.”

“You’re not dreaming, Cameron, it’s really us,” Justin said moving closer to Cameron and extending his hand this time.

Cameron reached out and shook Justin’s hand this time and almost lost it. It was kind of funny. Cameron is gay, yes, but he is on the more butch side of gay. Very broadly built, nice toned frame and no one you want to piss off and then run into in a dark alley. Very tough and has gotten me out of some sticky situations. However, they always say that there is one thing that can dissolve even the butchest of men to a puddle of nothing. For some it is spiders or snakes or a beautiful man/woman. For Cameron it was meeting N’Sync. As he shook Justin’s hand all he could muster was “No way, no way, no way.”

“Earth to Ass-Face,” I called trying to calm him down. “You’re going to hyperventilate if you don’t calm down.”

“OK, OK,” Cameron said, taking a deep breath. “I’m calm,” he turned to me and grabbed me by the shoulders. “Tell me one more time and tell me the truth - am I really sitting in a limo with N’Sync?”

Trying not to laugh I looked at him seriously and said, “Yes, you are sitting in a limo with N’Sync, and we are also heading to the arena now to hang out with them ‘til the concert tonight. So stop freaking out and just go with it. They are good friends of mine and we’re going to have fun today, OK?”

“Hanging out with them.…arena….concert tonight….N’Sync,” Cameron stuttered as I gave him a stern look. “OK, I’m alright. This is just way unexpected.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re breathing normal again,” Josh said smiling. “We thought you were going to pass out there for a minute and then you would have been in trouble. None of us know CPR, so Cody would have to have given you mouth to mouth.”

Cameron looked at me with a disgusted look on his face and then back to Josh. “Hell, no, not with those lips. I don’t know where they have been.”

Everyone but Lance and me erupted in laughter. I glance over to Lance and smiled which caused him to blush. As I looked back toward the group I noticed Joey was still chuckling but giving me and Lance a strange look.

I turned to Cameron. “Are you normal again?”

“You have known me for how long Cody and you still don’t get it?” he said quite sarcastically. “I’m never going to be normal. But yes, I have calmed down. I’m OK.”

“Well, it’s about damn time,” I said sternly, looking at him very seriously. I immediately began to smile and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I missed you ass-face.”

“I missed you too dumb-ass,” Cameron said hugging me back. “So tell me, how did a schmuck like you get in good with N’Sync?”

“You want the long or the short version?” I asked.

“Short please,” Cameron replied.

“OK then,” I said sitting up straight. “Josh beat me up, Lance saved me.”

“HEY!” Josh cried loudly. “I didn’t beat you up, my arm just had a mind of its own.”

We all laughed at that one, confusing Cameron even more.

“OK, will someone please explain this to me. I’m lost,” Cameron said looking at all of us.

So we all took turns telling Cameron the whole ordeal of how we met and the punch heard ‘round the world. We then told him about dinner, about Chris and Justin in the bathroom, about Lance and my walk and up to current.

“Wow, that’s quite the story. And YOU!” Cameron said looking at me. “You have to be the luckiest shit on the face of this planet. The only question I have is, do you really want me to hang out with you today?”

“Of course we would, why wouldn’t we?” Justin quickly and loudly piped up, startling us all. I looked over to Justin after he said that and he grinned slightly and looked away.

“Well, Cody is my best friend on this planet and if that Chris character starts crap again, I don’t know if I will be able to keep from knocking him into next week,” Cameron replied.

“I think I can speak for all of us when I say, we wouldn’t mind!!” Lance replied laughing.

“OK, I’m curious,” I asked looking at the four N’Sync members. “What the hell is he so bitter about? Would one of you please explain that to me?”

They all looked at each other for a minute and then Lance spoke up. “We don’t exactly know all the specifics, but Chris has been through some family troubles lately and hasn’t been the same since. All we know is that it had to do with his cousin.”

“Cousin?” I asked, “What about his cousin?”

“As I said,” Lance repeated. “We don’t know the specifics, but Chris was very, very close to his cousin, Brayden, and then one day something weird happened between them. Since then he refuses to speak to him, does not talk about him, and has been a complete asshole to EVERYONE around him.”

“Chris is just being a fucking bastard,” Josh blurted out suddenly with an intensely angry look on his face. “Brayden did nothing wrong and is being treated like shit for no reason.”

“Whoa, Chasez!” Joey exclaimed, looking at Josh. “What are you getting all heated up about?”

“Nothing, forget it,” Josh snapped.

“Wait a minute, JC. What do you know that you’re not telling us?” Justin asked staring at Josh.

“I SAID NOTHING, JUSTIN, NOW DROP IT!” Josh retorted loudly.

That outburst shocked us all and we just sat there in silence. Finally Josh began to speak. “I’m sorry you guys, I did not mean to snap at you all. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s alright, Josh,” I spoke. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I don’t think so, but thanks, Cody,” Josh replied with a timid smile.

“No problem just thought I would ask,” I said. “Just as long as you’re alright.”

“I will be. I just can’t stand Chris anymore,” Josh replied.

“OK everyone look,” Joey finally said firmly. “Tonight is supposed to be about Cody and our new friend Cameron. We want them to have the best night possible, so can we just drop the Chris drama and have a good time?”

“YES!” Josh, Lance and Justin said in unison. Cameron and I just chuckled and looked at each other.

“Wow,” Cameron said, “You all must really be over him.”

“You have no idea,” Justin replied back. “So tell me, Cameron, how did you and Cody meet?”

“Well, it was about 4 years ago when we were in High School, and he was dating my sister,” Cameron said, getting strange looks from everyone. “Yes, there was a time that Cody thought he loved Tuna, believe it or not.”

Everyone laughed at that one. I turned bright red.

“Anyway,” Cameron continued. “He would come over to hang with her and at first I didn’t like him at all. I would give him shit all the time. I admit, I wasn’t very nice to him, and he just got fed up one day and laid into me. I said some smart-ass comment to him and he just fought back and ripped me up one side and down the other. We were arguing at the top of the steps in the front foyer of my house and I was so pissed that he had talked to me like that that I pushed him backwards and he fell down the stairs.”

“Oh my god!” Lance said looking at me. “Were you hurt?”

“Well, I bruised a couple ribs, had a mild concussion and broke my left arm,” I replied. “But I was able to stand up and walk myself home.”

“Damn, you are a resilient little shit, aren’t you?” Justin said smiling. “What happened after that?”

“Well, I didn’t see him at school for a couple days after that,” Cameron replied. “When he did come back he had this huge bandage on his forehead and his arm was in a cast. The minute I saw him I felt just horrible. I had always been the big tough guy on campus that took no shit from anyone. Sure I had been fights, but they had been provoked. I had never purposefully hurt someone before in my life and it sucked knowing that I had done that to him. But what sucked worse is that I couldn’t bring myself to apologize. I was immature and too worried about my reputation. I quickly got over that though.”

“What do you mean, you got over that?” Lance asked, looking at me.

“I better explain that one,” I replied looking at Cameron, he nodded. “I was very introverted in High School. I had no friends and spent a lot of time alone. I wasn’t a butch jock, nor did I have a girlfriend, so automatically I got pegged as being gay. Little did I know what the future would hold, but back then, I spend so much time defending myself to people that I wasn’t gay. I got teased all the time and even beaten up over it. It was an every day occurrence until one day when someone came to my rescue and made it all stop.”

“I was walking down the hall one day,” Cameron started in. “And saw Cody fall to the ground in front of his locker and about 5 guys running away. I ran up to him and he had a black eye and his nose was bleeding. I was immediately enraged and ran down the hall after the guys.”

“Did you catch them?” Joey asked getting into the story.

“Yeah, I caught them, and let’s just say they couldn’t walk straight for a week,” Cameron said with a grin. “After I finished that business I went back to Cody’s locker and he was still sitting in front of it, crying…”

FLASHBACK TO THAT DAY…

“You come back to finish the job?” Cody said staring at the ground.

“I didn’t come back to beat you up, Cody,” Cameron replied. “I came back to apologize for what I did to you.”

“W..W..What do you mean?” Cody said, looking up at Cameron.

“When you started dating my sister I automatically hated the idea. I had heard what the kids at school were saying and I didn’t want my sister to be involved with the likes of you. That is why I was so mean to you,” Cameron said sitting down next to Cody. “When you finally fought back I flew off the handle and I shouldn’t have. I feel really bad that I did that to you, Cody, and I wish I could make it up to you.”

“Don’t worry about it, Cameron, I’m used to my life being shit. There isn’t anything you can do to make it better,” Cody said, tearing up again. “Your sister won’t talk to me anymore, I can’t come to school without leaving with a black eye or bloody nose, and I haven’t a friend in the world. As you can see, I’m a hopeless case.”

“You’re not a hopeless case, so stop,” Cameron said as he turned to face Cody. “Cody Walker, I swear to you here and now that no one will EVER lay a hand on you again in this school, I will personally see to that. I would also be honored if I could be your friend, that is, if you’ll have me.”

Cody looked at Cameron in shock. “YOU want to be MY friend?”

“Yes, I do. I never gave you a chance before and I want to make up for that.”

“I can’t let you do that, Cameron,” Cody replied, starting to cry. “There is something that you don’t know that would ruin your reputation if you’re seen with me. My life is already ruined, I can’t let you do that to your own.”

“Cody, there is nothing you can say that would not make me want to be your friend,” Cameron replied seriously.

“I AM gay, Cameron,” Cody fired back quickly before he lost his nerve. “I have been hiding it and trying to date girls because I’m scared to be gay. I just wanted to fit in but no matter how much I tried it didn’t work. I’m now to the point where people can kick the shit out of me all they want, I’m tired of hiding.”

They both sat there in silence not knowing what to say until Cameron finally broke the silence.

“I know your gay, Cody, and you better stay that way or else I will be beating people up for nothing,” Cameron said starting to giggle.

Cody couldn’t help but giggle with him. “You mean you don’t care? Aren’t you afraid of what people will say if they see you hanging out with me? What if they start thinking you’re gay, too?”

“I don’t care what people say. I treated you like they do once, and I’m never going to let it happen again. Not by me or anyone else. You’re a good guy who deserves to have friends and treated with respect,” Cameron replied as he extended his hand. “So what do you say, friends?”

“Friends!” Cody said shaking Cameron’s hand.

“Good, now let’s go get you cleaned up,” Cameron said, putting his arm around Cody’s shoulder as they walked down the hall towards the bathroom.

END FLASHBACK…BACK TO PRESENT DAY

“That was the coolest thing I think I’ve ever heard,” Lance said as we pulled into the arena. “I think everyone should have a friend like you, Cameron.”

“Well, since that day I have made it my personal promise to protect Cody. He doesn’t need it as much now, but he is my best friend in the world and I don’t know what I would do if something happened to him,” Cameron said, looking at me.

“Oh Ass-Face, I didn’t know you cared so much!” I said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“You know, you really live up to your nickname sometimes, Cody…DUMBASS!!” Cameron said laughing as we all began laughing with him.

“Umm, I’m confused about something with how you two met,” Justin asked.

“What’s that, Justin?” I asked.

“When you both became friends, you told Cameron that you were…” Justin hesitated and looked around. “Part of the other team. When did you decide to step up to bat, Cameron?”

“Well, I had had the inclination that I was gay back in school when I met Cody, but because of my tough guy jock image, I ignored it pretty well. After we graduated and I started living life on my own, the inclination kept getting bigger and bigger. Cody was out completely by then and I got to witness how it changed him and made him a lot happier. Hiding sucks let me tell you,” Cameron said sarcastically. Everyone kind of chuckled at that one.

He continued. “One day I decided that it was time to stop hiding and at least tell Cody what was going on. I was scared to death and didn’t know how to do it so I just decided to spring it on him so I didn’t have the chance to think about it and chicken out.”

“Yeah, but it didn’t quite work like he wanted it to,” I said laughing. “We were sitting at my house watching a movie when Cameron turned to me and said ‘Cody, I have to tell you something.’ I immediately thought he was going to tell me about this new girl that he found or something. The next thing I know he kisses me.”

“WHAT!” Joey and Josh said at the same time.

They all looked at Cameron and he went bright red.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Cameron said in his defense. “I tried to open my mouth and say the words but nothing came out. I was grasping for straws so I did the first thing that felt natural to do.”

“Needless to say I was shocked,” I said, trying to save Cameron from any more embarrassment. “We talked about it and I told him that I was OK with him being gay. I was more than OK with it, I was elated. I finally had someone to completely relate to. I had already begun to get the feeling that Cameron was gay, but I knew that if that were true, he would tell me eventually.”

“So did you guys have a relationship?” Lance asked with a concerned look.

“Nope,” I said reassuringly. Lance looked relieved. “We decided to leave our relationship on the friend’s level. We were already very close and we did not want to screw it up by becoming romantically involved.”

“Besides, it was like kissing my brother…not that I know what that feels like or anything,” Cameron stuttered, causing everyone to erupt in laughter.

It was at that time we reached the area. The limo drove around to the back and came to a stop at the rear entrance of the arena. The door opened and we all got out. I looked around, taking it all in. I had never been on this side of the spectrum before. I was always a fan on the outside looking in and it was very cool to get to see the other side. As I was looking around, a familiar face came up to us grinning from ear to ear.

“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Walker,” Lonnie said.

“Please, Lonnie, its Cody. It’s nice to see you, too,” I said shaking his hand. “Lonnie, I would like you to meet my friend, Cameron. Cameron, this is Lonnie, Bodyguard extraordinaire for N’Sync.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Cameron replied shaking Lonnie’s hand.

“Good to meet you, too, but we need to get one thing straight,” he said smiling. “The name’s Lonnie, not Sir.”

“You got it, Lonnie,” Cameron said chuckling.

“OK, you two,” Lonnie said to Cameron and I. “Here are your all access passes to get anywhere in the building with the guys. I have been given explicit instructions to treat you like you are members of the group, so if you need anything at all or run into any sort of trouble, just let me know. You get the same treatment as one of the guys.”

“Cool, thanks, Lonnie,” I said as I hung the pass around my neck.

“As for you four,” He said talking to Joey, Justin, Lance and Josh. “Johnny wants to talk to you and there are some last minute items that need to be autographed for some local charities, he and Chris are waiting in the green room for you guys. I’ve been sent to escort you there. Cody and Cameron have been requested to be there as well, so that Johnny can meet you and give you some ground rules.”

“Oh, beautiful, the one person I was hoping to avoid,” I said rolling my eyes.

“SHIT, SHIT, SHIT,” Justin began to spout.

Lances eyes immediately went wide and he grabbed Justin by the shoulders. “Justin, please tell me that you did what I asked and told Chris that Cody and Cameron were hanging out with us today.”

“I was going to but I totally forgot,” Justin said in a panic. “I was too worried about making today awesome for Cody to say anything. I’m sorry.”

“Justin, remind me never to ask you to do ANYTHING again,” Lance said angrily.

“Don’t be mad at Justin, Lance. I’ll just wait out here ‘til you all are done,” I said turning back for the limo.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Cameron said grabbing me by the arm and spinning me back around. “Haven’t I taught you anything yet? You’re not going to run away from him just because he’s an ass. Be tough, Walker! Besides, if he starts anything, I’ll knock him down to size.”

“Alright you guys, there will be none of that,” Lonnie said surveying this little scene. “If Chris starts any crap, you all stay cool and let me and Johnny handle it, you got it?”

We all nodded.

“Good, now let’s get going,” Lonnie said as he turned and headed inside the building.

We all filed in behind Lonnie, me as close to Cameron as possible. Even after all these years, I still use him as a security blanket.

We entered the Green Room with Lonnie leading the way. As we entered I noticed Chris and some other people seated on the couch at the far end of the room.

“It’s about damn time you all got…” Chris stopped when he noticed Cameron and I. “What the hell is that little leach doing here? Who invited him?”

Cameron immediately stiffened in defense and I grabbed his arm to calm him down.

“They are our guests, Chris, so I expect you to not be an asshole and be respectful,” Lance said rather sternly.

“I don’t give a fuck who they are; I don’t want that little twit here. He is only out to exploit us for his own gain. Get him the fuck out of here,” Chris demanded.

Again, I had to hold Cameron back. He was ready to kick ass and take names by that point.

“You know, Chris,” Joey piped up. “Just because you have one does not mean you need to be one.”

“Spare me your stupid sayings, Fatone,” Chris said flipping Joey the bird. “I said, get his little faggot ass out of here.”

“THAT’S IT!!” Cameron yelled.

I tried to hold Cameron back but I just wasn’t strong enough.

“CAMERON…STOP!!!” I yelled as he lunged towards Chris.

**To Be Continued**