Blind Date Chapter Fifteen

In order to accommodate all the people who are asking me, about when the next chapter comes out, I've created a Yahoo Group (Gods, Yahoo is like the Borg!): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mark_writings

This is the page of the group, If you would like to be notified when a new chapter gets posted please go join my group. {smile} I'll try and make sure there's fun stuff along with this.

Okay, after getting several emails about how my story was getting too lovey-dovey. Well I've been planning to start up the drama, and it starts up in this chapter. So I hope you like it. Oh, and this chapter is much longer and more fast moving than the last few so get comfy! And don't forget - keep up with the emails its my driving force!

Well I've gotten some emails asking which stories I follow, so in no particular order here are the ones I keep bookmarked:

Kris grinned, "Are you kidding? That would be great!" With that Lance and I stood up. Lance went into the bedroom and grabbed his cell phone to let Lonnie know about the change. Kris sat back down and waited for us to get ready. Walking into the bedroom, I saw Lance just finish telling Lonnie about what we were doing.

"Lonnie will be over in a few minutes."

"You’re ok with this, right? I mean I know we were planning on just spending today together, but I completely forgot I had made these plans with Kris."

"Hey, its not a problem, he seems like a nice enough guy and you seem to trust him knowing about us, so that’s good enough for me. Besides, I’ll still be with you today." He smirked, "And as long as I get you to myself tonight."

Smirking back at him, "Oh I think I can guarantee that!"

"Um hello, lovebirds, I can hear you out here!" Kris shouted from the living room. Lance’s face immediately turned a bright crimson red and I burst out laughing.

"Come on Tweety," grabbing Lance’s hand, "Let’s not keep our guest waiting."

Lance and I walked back into the living room and sat with Kris. I was glad to see that Lance and Kris were getting along well. They chatted while we waited for Lonnie to arrive. Once he finally did, Lance asked where we were going to go hiking. Kris was talking about South Mountain or Squaw Peak, but I interjected and suggested we go up to Sedona. Kris then asked about what about my having to work later tonight and not wanting to get into it, I simply told him I didn't have to worry about going in today. Being the close friend that he was, Kris picked up on not continuing the subject. I explained to Lonnie where we were going and we all piled into the Ford.

We headed up the interstate, as Sedona is about a 90-minute drive north of Phoenix, but it has some of the best hiking, mountain biking and camping spots in the state. I figured we'd do three hikes, Devil's Bridge, Pink Sand Canyon and a trail I found that's about halfway up Old Schnebly Hill Road. This way Lance would see some of the most breathtaking parts of Sedona but still on trails obscure enough that we wouldn't encounter many people. In fact, we lucked out and didn't see a single soul on any of the trails. Lance was able to keep up with Kris and I pretty well, falling behind only on the really steep parts of the various trails. Lonnie had no problem keeping up with us but he did tend to hang back a little bit. As we were walking on the last trail, I slowed down a bit so Lonnie would catch up with me. Lance and Kris kept going, chatting.

"Hey Lonnie, sorry if we're dragging you all over the state."

He chuckled. "Its ok." He stopped and looked around "This is actually a very relaxing assignment for a change. It's like a little mini-vacation. Besides, I never seen Lance this happy before."

"Cool, well I know you're supposed to just be out on the sides, but I can tell Lance relies on you and I want to make sure you're doing ok too."

"Hey you guys got to see this view!" Lance called out around the turn that was ahead of us. Lonnie patted me on the back and we went to catch up with the others. We got up to Kris and Lance at the top of the trail. I had already been up here several times; it’s a wonderful view of the entire Sedona Valley and Oak Creek Canyon area, on the clearest day you can usually see about 50 miles in every direction if not further. I heard Lonnie gasp a little when we came up to the point to where we could see.

I smiled and walked up behind Lance. Wrapping my arms around him he leaned back into me and turned his head around to me. "It's so beautiful." He whispered. I kissed him gently on his cheek. And we sat down on the rocks to enjoy the view with him in my arms. Kris said he wanted to go down a nearby trail to the next overhang and started heading over. Lonnie mumbled something about checking out the trail too. I guess he felt we would be okay on our own here for a little bit.

We sat there for a while, was easily ten minutes. I went to set my chin on his shoulder and hug him tighter. I noticed that he had a tear fall down Lance's cheek.

"Lance, Hun, what's wrong?"

"This whole week has been the best in my life. I found you, and I've fallen in love with you. Now I have to leave you to join up with the guys."

"But you knew this would happen, we both did. And we still fell for each other."

"I know but I didn't think it would feel like this. I'm going to miss you so much." He began to sob.

"Hey, we'll always have the phone and we'll be together soon, I promise. I'm beginning to think that my loosing my job after meeting you was fate telling me to move."

He sobbed a little in my arms. But he started to feel better. Soon Kris and Lonnie joined back up and we started back down the trail to the car and back to my place. Lance was kinda quiet on the drive back; he just sat there squeezing my hand. When we got back to the apartment, Kris made his good-byes and Lonnie headed back to his room. Lance and I went in and he collapsed on the bed.

"Wow, I never thought hiking could be so tiring."

I smiled and lay back next to him. 'Well I think you did well on the trails." He leaned over, kissed me on the cheek. I went into the kitchen to get some water and when I came back he was fast asleep. I chucked and got him undressed and tucked into the bed. Then I hopped into the shower, grabbed a quick bite to eat and was about to join Lance in the bed when my cell phone started to ring. Looking at the caller id I saw that it was Joey.

"Hey Joey." As I answered the phone.

"Naw, its Chris. How you guys doing?"

"Doing well, we just arrived in Oakland, have interviews tomorrow before the show. How's Lance?"

"He's asleep."

"So early? Damn, is he even going to be able to walk tomorrow?" He laughed.

"No, he's tired from our hiking." I explained to him what we did.

"Cool, well I just wanted to make sure he will be here in time for the interviews."

"Yea, he's all packed and I'll make sure he gets on the plane in time."

"Cool. Well I won't keep you from your hubby. Talk to you soon!" We hung up and I went back into the bedroom. Lance was still fast asleep. I climbed into the bed next to him and he instinctively wrapped his arms around me and I eventually fell asleep.

The next morning we awoke to the alarm clock, it was early, as Lance's flight left at 9am so he could be in Oakland in time. Lance was quiet; we each took a turn in the shower and then met Lonnie out by the car. I followed them to the airport in my Jeep. After they checked in we sat in the VIP lounge. There weren't many people in the lounge so we were able to have our own little corner.

"Lance, talk to me. I know you're sad that you have to go, but it's not the end of us, I will be with you soon, I promise."

"I know, it just I'm already missing you."

"Hey, I know it'll be rough, I'm sad to see you go too. But I'm going to call you everyday and you damn well better be calling me at least once a day too." I smirked at him. We wanted to kiss so badly but since we were in public we both knew we couldn't. So we just sat there and chatted about our plans for the week. Lance kept hinting that he was sending me something for my birthday on Friday. We kept on chatting and I could see Lance was cheering up a little bit. But both of us were sad that he had to leave. Eventually his flight was called and we got up and walked to the gate.

Just before he went down the gangplank he grabbed me and hugged me tight. "I love you so much." And with that he went down the gangplank.

I cried all the way home.

The next few days went as well as they could be, Lance and I chatted on the phone at least 6 times a day, and I must have gotten 3 or 4 emails from him each day. I chatted with Chris, Joey and JC about once a day never really chatted with Justin, but I think he still didn't really like me much so it didn't bother me too much. Kris and I went hiking each morning. I filed for unemployment but decided I would wait till after my birthday to start looking for a new job. My good friend Dale was planning to fly out for my birthday and the weekend. Wow, I can't believe I'm turning 30!

Friday started creeping closer, I'm supposed to pick up Dale around 7pm on Thursday night. So Wednesday night I started cleaning the apartment up. At about 6pm there was a knock at the door. I went to answer it and it was a delivery boy with the largest bouquet of flowers I had ever seen. I signed for them and was reading the card when my phone rang. I had a pretty good idea who it was.

"Hello?"

"Hey sexy, did you get my flowers?"

"Oh hey Chris, yea I did, but you better hope Lance doesn't find out about our affair!" I teased.

"HEY!"

I burst out into laughter. "Aww I'm just kidding Hun. Yes I did, and they are beautiful. Thank you."

"You're welcome, so are you going to be around tomorrow?"

That question perplexed me. "Yea should be home all day."

"Good. Well I just wanted to call and see that you got the flowers, I have to go get ready for tonight's show. I love you so much!"

"Love you too! Break a leg!"

Lance chuckled, "Hmm if I did would you nurse me back to health?"

"But of course. I'll call you after your show. Tell the guys I said hi."

"Ok, love ya!" With that he hung up.

The next day I got up did my morning hike with Kris and then continued doing some house cleaning and tackled a little laundry. Around noon there was a knock at the door. I smiled; thinking it would be more flowers from Lance. I swung open the door and there was Lance standing there hold a tulip in his hands.

"Happy Birthday babe." He smiled at me.

"Oh my god! What are you doing here?" I lunged at him grabbed his shoulders and planted a deep hard kiss right smack on his lips. Dragging him in to the apartment as we kissed. He closed the door behind him with his foot.

After we made out up against the door for a few minutes I pulled apart from him. "What are you doing here you have a show tonight in Vegas?"

"Well I'm here to give you your birthday gift."

"My Birthday isn't until tomorrow."

"I know but I couldn't wait. Any way, we don't have much time."

"Huh?"

"Well I'm flying you up to Vegas so we can celebrate your birthday!"

"What? But we can't, Dale flies in at 7pm and Kris and he have already planned to take me out. I love you but I can't abandon my friends. Plus what about Kiwi?"

"Don't worry about it, I've taken care of all that. When Dale arrives he'll be told to pick up a message at the gate and there will be a ticket for him to Vegas. I've already swung by Kris's and he's got his ticket to fly up to. And Kris's roommate Dawn said she would dog sit. So all problems solved. Now you need to go pack cause we have to leave in an hour."

I hugged him so tightly. "You are the best, I can't believe you went through all that trouble for me!"

"Hey, when it comes to you, there's no trouble." He kissed me and then pushed me out of the hug, turned me around and patted me on the ass. "Now go and pack."

I wandered into the bedroom, walked into the closet and grabbed my duffel bag, paged up enough clothes for the weekend, grabbed my CD Player and my disc carrier. I went out to Lance who was watching MTV.

"All ready?"

"Yeap." With that he got up, switched off the TV and took my bag out of my hand and we walked out to a limo which was waiting for us. "Wow, a limo I'm impressed."

"Nothing but the best for my boyfriend."

Lance and I ended up making out a little bit in the limo ride to the airport. We got there just in time; they had just started the pre-boarding. Since we were in first class we were allowed to board as soon as we arrived. The flight was uneventful. Once we arrived in Vegas another limo was waiting for us. After we got in Lance explained to me that he was being driven right to the arena for the sound check then the guys had a few interviews, a short dinner at the hotel and then back for the show. Lance had arranged it so that Kris and Dale would arrive on the same flight around 9pm.

"Our show lasts till about 10pm so you guys can come over and see the end. When you check in there will be a package for you with passes. I figure Dale and Kris can have your suite, cause I was hoping you'd share mine." He winked at me.

We arrived at the arena and I stepped out. Lance looked confused. "You're not headed back to the hotel?"

"Well I thought I'd say hi to the guys really quick if that’s ok."

"Oh, but of course. Sorry, I forgot you're friends with most of them now. I've been so used to you just being with me the last weekend."

"Uh oh, I think that peroxide you've been using to bleach that hair is sinking into your brain." I snickered.

"Hey!" He reached out and tried to start tickling me. I ran inside to try to escape him. As I opened the stage door out popped Chris and I ran right into him causing him to fall back on his ass.

"Ow! Hey you doofus, what where the hell you're going!" Chris yelled as he recovered from the fall.

"Oh, man Chris, dude, I'm sorry I was running from Lance and didn't see you there." I reached out my hand to help him back up.

Chris looked up at me. "Mark! Bud, how ya been? I'm sorry I didn't know that was you, I thought it was that clumsy intern again! What are you doing up here?" He jumped up and pulled me into a hug bear hug that caused me to gasp for air. Lance followed through the door to see Chris grabbing me into the hug. I could see him smile. He was always happy that the guys like me. As Chris rocked me back and forth I saw the others coming down the hall. Justin was in the front. Well most of them liked me.

Just as Chris let me go and I was about to explain to him why I was here, the rest of the guys caught up with us and we exchanged the same pleasantries as Chris and I. Justin was even friendly to me. They were all asking me what I was doing up here. Lance explained that he flew me up here to celebrate my birthday, and that he also flew up my two best friends. After a few minutes of all of us catching up, someone came walking over to let them know that they were ready for the sound check. The guys said goodbye and that they would see me at dinner. Lance and I hugged and kissed each other and I went back out to the limo, which took me the Hard Rock Hotel. When I checked in there was a package waiting for me like Lance said. I accepted it and followed the bellhop up to the suite Lance had gotten for Dale and Kris. Before I left the counter the driver informed me he would return around 8:30pm to take me to the airport to pick both of them up. Inside the package there was a keycard with a post note on it. I recognized Lance's handwriting; it said 'Just for you'. That must have been the card to his suite. Also in the package were three backstage VIP passes to their concert and two passes to get on the floor they were staying on in the hotel. Another note explained that security already knew I was to be allowed up at all times. After the bellhop showed me to the suite and left. I went over to the elevator and went up to the next floor. As soon as the doors opened I saw to big guards.

One of them asked who I was, I told them my name and they looked at each other nodded and let me pass. I walked down to the suite number that was on the key card Lance had given me. Swiping it, I walked in. This suite was twice as big if not bigger than the one I had just been in for Kris and Dale. I walked into the bedroom to unpack and saw another tulip and a note sitting on the bed.

I looked at the clock, it was just past 2:30pm so I had quite a while until the guys would be back. So I put on my swim trunks grabbed my CD walkman and headed down for the pool to catch a few rays. I told the guards were I was going just in case the guys got back early. I found out from them that I was allowed to use the VIP pool so I went down to that one. It was very relaxing; there was hardly anyone there so I was able to get a good swim and some good rays. I got back to the suite just in time to hear one of the guards in the all say that they guys would be back at the hotel in about 15 minutes. I decided I would wash the chlorine off, so plopping a CD into the stereo I went to soak in the shower (turned out the Hard Rock put stereo systems in every room in the suite). I had the music up load enough that I didn't hear the guys come into the suite.

"Hey, where's Mark? I thought he'd be here when we got back?" Joey asked.

"I'll go check in the bedroom." Lance chimed in and he went over to open the bedroom door. Once he did the guys could hear the music coming from the bathroom.

"Hey, he's listening to Pop!" Lance remarked as the rest of the guys followed him in. Just at that moment I walked out of the bathroom; fortunately I had a towel with, which wouldhave been a good thing, but I was at the time using it to dry my hair. I walked into the bedroom a few feet before I even noticed the guys standing at the other end of the room. When I reached the dresser I was awarded with several whistles and catcalls. I looked up from the towel to see Lance with a big blushing grin on his face; Chris, Joey and JC were howling with laughter and Justin just stood there with a blank look in his face. I could feel my face burn with embarrassment as my face turned a bright crimson. I quickly whipped the towel from off my head and wrapped it around my waist.

"Now I know why Lance always is walking funny!" Chris howled.

"Chris! Both Lance and I scream in unison.

"Out! Out! Out!" I screamed as they started to walk back into the living room. Once they all left, Lance closed the door leaving him in the room with me.

"Hey sexy. That wasn't quite the way I was hoping to see you again, but I liked what I saw." Lance snickered.

"Well that was embarrassing." I went back into the bathroom to return the towel and turn off the CD player. Walking back into the bedroom Lance tossed me a pair of my boxers and I put them on, then wandering through the drawers I put on some jeans and a t shirt.

"It's okay, we've all seen each other like that one time or another, it's almost as if it’s a right of initiation. So welcome to the family." He gave me a big hug and we started kissing. Our tongues probing into each other.

A pounding on the door interrupted us. It was Joey. "Hey stop with the nookie, I'm starving!" Lance and I just chuckled and made our way back out to the other room to join the others. When I got out into the living room I saw that two lovely ladies had joined us, one was sitting with Chris and the one I recognized was sitting with Justin. It was Britney Spears. Lance started with the introductions. First introducing me to Britney and then introducing me to Danni, Chris's girlfriend. Both were very nice and friendly to me. Apparently they were here because of a big charity event they guys were hosting on Saturday. All of us went down to one of the dining rooms, we were directed to a private part of the room so we could eat in peace. Dinner was good, Lance and I ended up being the topic of the evening discussing with Brit and Danni how we met, what we liked about each other and what we had planned. Both were shocked to learn that tomorrow was my 30^th birthday. Brit even remarked that I looked too good to even be 25.

Dinner went by quick, I knew they didn't have much time before they would have to head out for the show. Once we had all finished we went back up to the suites so the guys could get ready. For me it was entertaining to watch Lance run around cleaning up and getting dressed. We met up with the rest of the group in Chris's suite. We were the first to arrive so we just sat, Danni and I chatted more about what it's like to date an N'sync'er. Finally the rest of the group arrived and we headed down to the elevator. Once we got there, Lance and I gave a hug to each other.

"See you soon love."

"Have a good show and we'll be there as soon as we can."

"You're not coming?" Brit asked.

"Mark's friends are flying in around 9pm so he's going to met them and they'll head over to the show." Lance explained.

"Oh." And with that they all piled into the elevator.

I went back into Lance's suite and sat down to watch some TV while waiting for it to be time to head out to the airport. Around 8:30 one of the guards knocked on the door to let me know that the limo was ready. I wandered down and went off to the airport.

Waiting at the gate I watched the plane come in.

As the passengers were disembarking I saw Kris and Dale come walking up the gangplank together chatting. Knowing Lance he probably sat them next to each other.

Kris was the first to see me and he ran over towards me and tackle hugged me. Dale looked overto where Kris was running to and he smiled when he saw me.

"Hey Bitch! So what's with flying me up here first class?" Dale asked as he walked over and gave me a hug.

I looked at Kris, "What, you didn't tell him anything?"

"Nope, saved it all for you." He answered back as the three of us went to go pick up their luggage. On the way I explained to Dale about how Lance was doing this as my gift. And Dale was updating me with what was new with his life. We grabbed the luggage and headed out to the limo.

"Wow, even a limo!" Kris teased me. And we piled in. I gave the guys their passes and we were off to the show.

We arrived to the arena at about 9:30pm. An intern escorted us up to a private skybox that was closer to the stage than most. I was surprised that the box was empty, but the intern explained that the box was for the record label bigwigs but they weren't interested in coming to tonight's show, as they had been at last night's show. The show looked the same as the one I had seen in Phoenix and it looked like they still had about 40 minutes of it left to go. Dale and I had seen the show before so we sat down and tried to catch up. Kris hadn't been to one yet so he was jumping up and down and loving it all. When the guys finished, we waited in the box for a little bit for the crowd to die out, our escort arrived again to take us backstage.

We sat in the green room waiting for the guys to finish cleaning up from the show. Kris was still on his little adrenaline high from watching show and kept pacing around the room. Dale and I started to play on the playstation 2 that was in the room. Eventually Lance, Joey and Chris wandered in and Lance snuck up behind me and wrapped his arms around me causing me to break my concentration at which point Dale took advantage and killed my man.

"Ha! Die baby die!" Dale shouted as he won the game.

"Hey, that doesn't count, I was distracted!" As I turned to give Lance a kiss.

"So I'm a distraction am I? Well, I can leave if you want." Lance tried to pull away from me.

"Oh no you don't! You can distract me anytime you want!" And I pulled him closer to me.

Joey coughed loudly and I turned and smiled at him. "Hey guys." I stood up with Lance still intertwined with me. JC and Justin finally wandered in. "I want you to meet my two best friends. This is Kris," I pointed to Kris, "and this bastard that killed me in cold blood is Dale." Dale bopped me on the back of the head. "Ow!" Lance chuckled.

The guys walked over and said hello and shook hands with both of them. I was surprised that Kris held up so well considered how he acted when he first saw Lance. Lance must have had the same thought cause he kept on eye on Kris. When Joey went to shake hands with Dale, he spoke up.

"So you're the Dale that's friends with Jake, right?" As he clasped hands with Dale.

"Yeah that would be me." Dale started a new game, and Joey took the other controller. They made small talk as they played, and they seemed to scoot closer to each other. Dale killed Joey's character pretty quickly, and I noticed that Joey patted Dale's leg and offered congrats. Was that a squeeze? I looked at Lance, and saw that he'd noticed it too.

After we all chatted for a little bit we all piled into the limo and headed back to the hotel. In the limo Lance decided that we would all go out to a few clubs to get an early start on celebrating my birthday. When we arrived at the hotel, Lance and I took Dale and Kris up to their suite, gave them the passes to our floor and told them to come up when they were ready and we headed back up to our suite.

Once we got into the suite, Lance grabbed me and planted a big wet kiss on my lips. "I'm gonna go hop in the shower for a min. I didn't shower as long as I wanted to at the arena cause I couldn't wait to be with you."

"Okay sweetie." I walked into the bedroom with him, we both got undressed, but He headed into the bathroom as I started fishing out some clothes to wear. And I realized that I didn't have anything club like. I grabbed a pair of my silk boxers and a robe and wandered across the hall to JC's suite, as he was the only one that was as tall as I was. So I knocked on the door and JC opened it up shocked to see me.

"Umm, hey JC. I was wondering, I kinda didn't pack anything that was club nice and I thought maybe you'd have something that I might be able to borrow?"

"Doesn't Lance have anything you can wear?" He seemed very perplexed as to why I would be asking him.

"Well you're the only one that's my size."

"Oh yea, come on in. I think I have just the thing." He went to the closet and I stepped into the suite. After a minute JC came back with a pair of Tommy Hilfiger tan pants and a black-grey stripped pullover. "This should work just fine."

I grabbed the clothes from him. "Thanks JC, I owe ya." And I wandered back to our suite.

"Sure, no problem. Oh and Mark?" I stopped at the door and JC continued. "Thanks for coming. Lance's performance tonight at the show was the best he's been since he left you last week. You do good things for him. That’s you're payback for me, just keep loving him." He smiled as I went in.

Lance had made use of the bathroom and was just starting the shower. He decided to turn on the stereo. My CD from earlier was still in the player so it automatically started playing the CD. Lance smiled when he heard That's When I'll Stop Loving You came out of the speakers. He stepped into the shower, when he emerged the system was playing Pop. Lances chuckled but wondered why the disc was playing songs from two different albums. He poked the eject button to see what disc was in it. He saw a gold Pioneer CD-R with the word N'Sync written in red marker on it. Lance frowned and toweled off.

I had just finished putting on the clothes JC had loaned me and was admiring how good I looked in the full-length bedroom mirrors when Lance walked out of the bathroom in his robe. He had one of my CDs in his hand.

"Mark, what is this?" He held out the CD.

"It's one of my CDs, why?"

"You made it?"

"Yea, I burned it after you left. I wanted some of your music. So I downloaded some of it and burned it to disc.

"YOU WHAT?" Lance yelled

I was taken aback from Lance's reaction.

"I burned a disc of the songs I liked the most from you guys."

"But you got them from where?" I noticed Lance's voice had risen a little.

"From the net, where else? I don't have any of your albums."

"I can't believe you did that!" Lance's voice was at a full-blown yell.

"What's the problem, and why are you yelling at me?" I struggled to keep my voice from raising.

"That's piracy! You took the music and just downloaded it. Don't you remember all the problems with Napster?"

"Hey, that's not fair! I downloaded just the songs I liked, its not like I downloaded the entire albums and made my own copies of them."

By this time both of us were at full-blown screaming at each other.

"But you still stole the music. They're copyrighted. That’s why we sued Napster."

"But I just wanted a few songs, a few of my favorite songs that you guys sing, what the hell was the problem with that? " I started walking out into the living room and Lance followed me.

"That doesn't matter, you're still taking music that you didn't pay for!

"So now I'm a thief?"

By this time Lance and I didn't realize that we were loud enough to be heard in the hallway. Kris and Dale were walking up the hall when they heard the yelling. Dale stopped in front of one of the doors, which opened about the same time he stopped. Joey's head popped out. "Hey Dale, what's going on? He asked.

"Not sure, but it sounds like Lance and Mark are having a fight."

"I didn't say you were a thief." Lance yelled back at me.

"You didn't but you sure as hell implied it. You said I took music I didn't pay for."

"You downloaded music from the net, it’s the same thing."

"NO IT'S NOT!" More doors started opening out in the hallway.

"You download music, music that wasn't put up there by the artist. So the artist isn't getting his royalties for the hard work that he put into his music. You've been around us enough to know how seriously we take out music. And we're the successful ones; we have plenty of support and sponsorship from our label. Most artists don't! They live off of what they sell. And when you download music it takes away from what they earn."

"Oh, so it's all about money is it? Nothing about appreciating music simply because you like it. Enjoying the feelings it makes you feel? It's about how an artist can make money?"

"No, not entirely. But a lot of groups depend on their royalties."

"Well I guess the money you make means a lot to you too, cause you wouldn't have blown up at me like this if it didn't!" I started to storm out towards the front door.

"It's not the money, damn it Mark, don't you understand? Downloading from the net is piracy, it just like when you buy a movie that was tape recorded from the theatre."

"So you're calling me a pirate too?" I grabbed the door and flung it open. The guys along with Dale and Kris were gathered a few feet down the hall from it.

"I didn't say that, I just said…"

"I know what you said!" I reached out and pulled out my wallet and pulled out a bill. "Here's a twenty, " I threw it at him, "I hope you'll be very happy with it, cause you seem to care more about it than you do me!" With that I ran out the suite crying past the guys and down the hall to the stairs. Lance walked to the door, he had tears down his checks too and he slammed the door shut.

The guys looked at each other stunned. Chris spoke up. "JC, you go talk to Lance and see what all this is all about. Justin, you let Brit, Danni and the others know we're going to be late to the club. Joey let Lonnie know what happened, have him and the guys keep an eye out for Mark. Dale, you go with Joey, once you guys have talked with Lonnie help me find where Mark went. And Kris, hang out at your suite in case he heads there and you'll act as our command post as the three of us search for him." With that the group broke up to do their specific tasks.

That’s it for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Keep up the emails, as I love getting them!