Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 22:57:40 -0500 From: Angel Lenoir Subject: Could it be you? 2-3 Hey guys. It's me again. I know that this story just got off the ground, but here's Chapters 2 and 3 for your reading enjoyment. This will be the last update for almost two weeks. I apologize to those who are actively waiting for more, but I have to be at class all next week. I will be back on Friday though and will hopefully have the next couple of chapters well on the way to being finished. I will warn you now that there will be no major sexual content in these chapters so if that's what you're reading for then I apologize. However I do promise that you will have what you're looking for later on. Now once again for a couple of shout outs. Zakie-poo: You rule bro and don't worry, be happy. Aure: I'm still looking forward to that picnic! Ad: Thanx for being a listening ear. DDP: I'm still waiting for you to write me. Clive: I miss you bro. Missy: Not sure if you're reading this or not, but you're the bomb girl. Sammy: You're tight man. And to everyone else from the #boyband chatroom: Stay crunk. Once again this story in no implies that Lance Bass is gay or bisexual. This is just a fantasy of mine. If by some chance it is true, and Lance, you're reading this, then email me! ;p Hey! It doesn't hurt to try! ;p Anyways, sit back, relax, and enjoy! Angel Could it be you? Secrets revealed. Last time: "Okay." I said as I clicked off my phone and opened the door. The sight that unfolded as I opened the door took my breath away. There in front of me were the guys from NSYNC. "What? How?" I whispered as Justin stood up and walked over toward me. "So what was that about the hug?" Now: "But how? What? Why? Oh man." I mumbled as I slumped down into the floor. "Angel? What's the matter?" Justin asked kneeling down by me. "Anthony." I said. "Pardon me?" "Well if secrets are out, my name is Anthony, but you can still call me Angel if you'd like everyone else does." I said in a small voice, "And you gave me all kinds of hints. If I wasn't so dumb." "Angel, you're not dumb. Sure I gave you some things, but unless you're a rocket scientist then you wouldn't have been able to figure it out. I mean even when we talked on the phone the first time, I kept expecting for you to start yelling or something. I figured that you'd recognize my voice. When I realized that you didn't, I wanted to get to know the real you. Not the one that was trying to impress a celebrity, and I wanted you to get to know the real me." "God, I must look like such a fool." I said realizing that I was sitting on the floor in NSYNC's dressing room. "I'm sorry guys." I said as I stood up and looked around. "I just didn't expect this." "It's okay," JC said with a slight tone of amusement in his voice, "At least you didn't try to rip our clothes off." Immediately after saying that, his face turned a bright red, "I didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry." "Well that's one question answered." I thought to myself. "They know and they seem to be cool about it." Looking over at Justin, I lifted an eyebrow. who at least had the good graces to look slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he said, "but they came in one day while you and I were chatting. I didn't hear them and didn't have enough time to close down the window when I realized they were there." "That's okay. At least that's one thing I won't have to worry about hiding." I said with a slight chuckle. "You mean you're not mad?" "Justin, man this is going to get some getting used to, when have you ever seen me get upset about my sexuality?" "Well, what about your parents?" "Forget my parents. They don't even deserve to walk in my own shadow." I said with all the anger and hurt in my heart. As I tried to fight back the tears that filled my eyes, I missed Lance looking over at Justin and mouthing, "Parents?". With a shake of his head, he came over and hugged me tight. "It's okay," he whispered. "They don't know what they're missing." "God! I must really look like an idiot," I said as I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Here I am meeting one of my best friends for the first time, in the dressing room of my favorite group, and I'm sitting here crying like a baby." "Hey, we don't mind." Chris said, "At least we're not what you're crying over. Imagine how we feel. Whenever we meet someone, it's alot of screams and tears. Sometimes I have to wear my rubber boots just to keep my feet from getting wet." The thought of Chris wearing rubber boots surrounded by a group of teenage girls crying their eyes out brought a slight smile to my face. "That's just cause you scare them with the hair," I couldn't help but say. "Harsh man. You just meet us and you're already dissing the hair?" JC said with a laugh, "You're going to fit right in dude." "I see what kind of friends I have here." Chris said trying to look hurt. "Yeah, the type that tells you exactly what we think of you." Justin said with a smile. "Well guys I hate to bust this up, but I'm hungry. Angel, you know anyplace around here that we can go to to eat? Preferably a place where we won't get too much attention." "Let me think about it for a minute. Actually I think I know just the place. Of course it won't be a restuarant, but I think that we can manage." I said as I grabbed out my cell-phone. Hitting a button on it, it automatically dialed Erin's number. "Erin, this is Ant. Listen I have a group of hungry guys here that don't want to be molested while they eat. Think that I could bring them over?" "No way am I going to cook for 6 guys this late." Erin said with a treatening tone in her voice. "You won't have to cook. I'll do the cooking. Just make sure that you have something laid out. I'll be there in like 30 minutes. I'll stop by the store and bring in some stuff also." "Fine, but that means that you'll be cooking for 8." "Oh, is Jon there? I'm not interrupting anything am I?" "Not anything that we can't continue after you guys leave. Unless you'd like to watch?" "Well I wouldn't mind, but what would Jon say about that one?" I said with a laugh. "Oh, I think that I could get him around to my way of thinking," she replied with a laugh of her own. "Maybe some other time. Tonight's not a good night for that babe." "Oh well, can't blame a girl for trying can you?" "Not at all." I said before hanging up. Looking back at the guys, I noticed them all looking at me with slightly amused expressions on their face. "What?" I asked in confusion. "Babe?" Lance said laughing. "Hey I call everyone babe. Just ask Justin." I said with a laugh. "You should have heard him the first time that I called him babe on the phone. I thought that he was going to laugh his ass off." "Nope, it's still here," Joey said as he looked around to see if indeed Justin had laughed it off. "Hey hands off." Justin said with a laugh. "They can't help it Just, they just want your body." I said with a laugh. "Anyways, back to food. Tonight you're going to eat at the Casa de Erin." "Casa de Erin?" "Yeah. You don't want to be molested right? So tonight you're going to eat at a friends house and I'm cooking. Besides, they don't like your music anyways." I said with a laugh. "They?" "Erin and her boyfriend Jon will be there also." "And what do you mean they don't like our music?" Joey asked looking slightly hurt. "Let's see if I can put it midly. Won't ever listen to that bubble gum producing machine if my life depended on it, was as close as I can come." Looking around I was surprised to see all the guys bust out laughing. "What? Was it something that I said?" "Not at all, but if they're anything like you, then I think that we'll get along just fine." "Okay, so are we ready to go?" I asked with a smile on my face. "Sure. Let's rumble." Justin said with a smile. "Babe, just whatever you do, don't say that in front of Jon. He's a major wrestling fan and would most likely take you up on the offer." With a laugh still sounding from my lips, I walked out the room and led them toward the parking lot. Realizing that I didn't have enough room in my car, I looked at them, "Uh, guys, how are we going to get there? I have my car with me, but it'll only ride two. Maybe three if someone sits in someone's lap." "Don't worry about it. Management arranged for us some transportation tonight. Tell you what, I'll ride with you and we'll meet up with the guys around back." Justin said. "Okay, sure." As Justin and I headed off, I couldn't help but shake my head at the situation that I was in. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined myself talking to Justin Timberlake. Looking over at him, I noticed him watching me with a smile on his face. "What?" "Oh nothing. Just thinking about how nice it is to actually meet you in real life. I never would have imagined that I'd meet someone like you." "Someone like me?" I asked confused. "Yeah. I mean look at you. You're cute. You're in control. You know who you are. You don't have to put up with everyone's bullshit. I feel priveleged to be able to call you a friend." "Trust me Justin, my life isn't as easy as you think it is." "I know, but you get to be you. Do you realize how hard it is to live behind a facade to protect yourself?" "Yeah I do. I lived with one nearly all my life. Granted I don't have the problems that you have. I'm assuming that they guys know?" "Yeah, they know. After I met you online and we got to talking, I was able to find the courage to tell them. It was kind of funny though." "Funny? How?" "Well Angel, let's just put it this way. You gave three of us the courage to come out." "What?" I exlaimed. "Whoa. Back up a minute there. Did you say three of you?" "Yeah. It seems that several of us had been hiding it from each other, but the best thing is that now we're all happy. Two of us are even an item right now." "Dude, you can't keep me in suspense. Who is it?" "It's Lance and I," Justin said with a sigh to his voice. Hearing those words were like a punch in the gut. Lance was gay, but he was taken. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I couldn't be hearing it. "Lance and you?" I whispered. "Yeah. Look Angel, I'm sorry. I know that you're attracted to him. I just wanted to let you know before you tried something. I hope that I haven't hurt you." Justin said with concern in his voice. "No, no, you didn't hurt me. Just surprised me is all." I said forcing my voice to remain calm. Luckily about that time we got to my car, and everything was put aside as Justin whistled at the beauty in front of him. You see, one of the first things that I'd done when I got my inheritance was buy my dream car. What Justin was whistling at was a 2001 Corvette Convertible. Pitch black on the outside, it was a deep midnight blue on the interior. I'd had to have it custom built. The thing about this car wasn't it's looks though. It was the power under the hood. It could go from 0-75 in under 1.5 seconds. The shutoff didn't kick in until it reached 190, and that was only beause I insisted on it. In the six months that I'd had it, I'd only made it shut down twice. "This is yours?" Justin asked with awe in his voice. "Yeah. Custom built," I couldn't help the little touch of pride that slipped into my voice. "Cost me a fair penny, but it was worth it." "Dude, if you have that much money, then tell me why you're still here. You're always talking about how you can't wait to move to Florida or to California. You could do it right now no problem." "I know, but when I was looking for colleges, I didn't want to be too far from home in case something happened to someone in the family. That was three years ago, and I haven't had any problems until this sememster. I've worked for it this long, I might as well finish up here and then get the hell out of here. Of course it helps that I don't have to worry about anyone right now." "Yeah I guess that's a small plus." "Anways, let's go get the guys. I don't know about you, but I'm getting kind of hungry myself." I said with a slight smile. "I'm starving dude." 30 minutes and two stops later, we were pulling up into Erin's driveway. As we piled out of the cars, Erin and Jon came out to greet us. As I watched them head toward me, I couldn't help but admit that they made a good couple. I'm glad that Jon had gotten her. I can definitely say that they made a better couple than she and I would have made. "Hey babe," I said with a smile as Erin came up and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Right back at ya," she said with a smile, "So these are the guys that you've been talking about forever? Want to properly introduce me or do I do it myself?" "Oh, guys this Erin. Erin this is the guys." I said with a smirk on my face which quickly turned into a grimace of pain as she pinched me on the cheek, hard. "Cute, really cute. Don't you think so, Justin?" Erin asked laughing. "I thought that you didn't know us?" "Oh I never said that I didn't know you. I just haven't been properly introduced. I'm a stickler about manners." "Well in that case, allow me to introduce myself and my friends," Justin said with a laugh. "I'm Justin, that's JC, that's Joey, there's Chris, and last but certainly not least Lance." Justin said as he pointed out each person. "It's nice to meet you all. This is Jon, my boyfriend. Won't you come in and make yourself at home." Erin said with a smile. "So this is Jon? Nice to meet you in person." Justin said as he shook hands with him. "Do I know you?" Jon asked confused. "Well you've talked to me some online. I'm James. You know JLama?" "You mean that was you? Talk about some people having all the look," Jon said as he shook his head at me. As we walked into the house, I immediately walked into the kitchen followed by Erin and Justin. As I looked out to see what Erin had laid out, I was surprised to see that she had chicken laying out. With a laugh I started to cut it up. "What's so funny?" Justin asked. "Jon doesn't like chicken normally." I said with a laugh. "The only way that he'll eat it is if Ant fixes his famous chicken alfredo." Erin said. "Yeah, as soon as I saw the chicken out, I knew what was happening. You just want the guys all to yourself. Trying to keep me cooped up in the chicken for hours," I mumbled causing both Justin and Erin to roar in laughter. "Keeping you cooped up in the chicken?" Erin asked between gasps for breath. Realizing what I'd said I couldn't help but to laugh also. "Okay you two get out of here before I put you both to work." "That's my cue to leave," Erin said with a smile as hurried out of the kitchen. "Anything I can do to help?" Justin asked. "Sure, look in that cabinet over there and find out what people would like to drink." As Justin looked into the cabinet, he whistled again. You see another of my hidden talents is that I'm the bartender of the group. I had everything in that cabinet. Whatever they wanted, I could make. I finshed cutting up the chicken as Justin went in to find out what everyone wanted. After making their drinks, I started the noodles to boil, set the timer, and started cooking the chicken. Part of what makes my alfredo so good, is that I cook the chicken first, then put it in the sauce. I'd long ago discovered that with the proper mixtures of oregano, italian seasoning, and some parsley for color, that it seasoned up the chicken just right. Usually it takes me almost two hours to make everything just right, but I took some shortcuts knowing that they guys were probably starving to death. Within 45 minutes, everyone had a plate of alfredo in front of them. Raising my glass of wine, I decided to toast the guys. "To friendships. To life. And let us never forget the people that we hold as true friends in our lives." I said as I looked over at Jon and Erin and then at Justin. "Here, here," Everyone replied as we toasted each other. As we sat there eating, we talked about all kinds of things. About how life on the road was. About college. Eventually, as it always does when I'm around Jon and Erin, the conversation turned to love lifes. "So Justin, you seeing anyone?" Erin asked out of the blue. "Erin! You shouldn't ask that," I chided at her gently, "What was this about manners that you told them earlier?" "I just said that I'm a stickler about manners, and I am in other people. You know that I have none myself." "It's okay Ant." Justin said with a smile, "Yes I am seeing someone and we're quiet happy." Hearing these words I once again felt a pain go through my body. Looking around I noticed that JC didn't seem too happy to hear those words himself. "Could he be the other one?" I thought, remembering that Justin hadn't told me who the other was, just him and Lance. "That's all you're going to give us? And after we made this lovely dinner for you." Erin said with a laugh. "Excuse me? After who made this dinner? Girl you couldn't cook your way out of a kettle of premade soup." As Erin and I took potshots at each other, I tried to keep my eyes from wandering over toward Lance, but seemed unable to do it. Everyone time that I looked in his direction he seemed to be looking straight at me, and each time that I tore my eyes away from his body I reminded myself that him and Justin were together. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. With a sigh, I excused myself from the table explaining that I needed to clean up the mess I'd made in the kitchen. As I walked out of the dining room though, I headed out the back door for some fresh air. As I stood out there looking at the stars, I heard the screen door open and close behind me. As I listened to the footsteps on the gravel, I knew who it was before I even turned around. "I'm okay Erin." "How'd you know it was me?" she asked in surprise. "I've known you long enough to know your footsteps." I said with a slight smile. "I don't believe you," she said, disbelief in her voice. "I'll prove it to you sometime then." "Are you sure you're alright?" "Yeah. I just needed to get some fresh air. Things seemed to be moving in slow motion in there." "I understand. Everyone's asking after you though. Justin and Lance are doing the dishes for you. They wanted to come out here and find out what was up, but I told them I'd do it." "Thanks, dear. I appreciate it." "It's hard isn't it?" "What's that?" "Being in the same room as him and knowing that you can't have him." "What do you mean? Does it show that much?" I asked as I quickly reviewed the night in my head. "I didn't think that I was that obvious." "No, it wasn't, but Ant I know you too well. That, and the fact that they do make a cute couple." "Who? What do you mean?" I asked trying to plain it safe. "Justin and Lance. They make a cute pair, don't you think?" "What? How'd you know?" "We told her," a voice said out of the darkness. A voice that I would recognize anywhere at anytime. "I'm sorry Lance. I didn't hear you come out." "That's okay Angel." "How long have you been there?" "Long enough." "How long is that?" "Long enough to hear that you're having a hard time with Justin and I." "Well, I think that's my cue to leave," Erin said as she retreated to the house. "No, it's not that at all Lance. I think that the two of you deserve each other. At least you get to see each other everyday. You get to fall asleep in each others arms. You're always by each others sides. I just wish that I could have something like that in my life," I said. "Angel, you do. You have your friends and from what I've seen of these two, while they might be a handful, they'd do anything for you." "I know that Lance, but the thing is sometimes that's not enough. I mean it's good to have friends, but sometimes you need something more. You need the love of that person who's your soulmate, the one who'll make you whole. Then you know what love is, until that time you spend your life in the company of those who can fill up parts of the holes in yourself. For some people that's a life long process. They're so busy filling up the holes that they have, that they never find the person that they were meant to have in their life." "I understand what you're saying there Angel. It's like something that my grandmother told me once. She told that you had no control over who you fall in love with. You fall in love with the person that was created for you. Each person has a soul mate and each person will find their soulmate at one point in their life. The thing is, unless they are looking, they won't realize that they've found them until it's too late." "Sounds like love isn't all it's cracked up to be, huh?" I said with a sad smile on my face. "Well I wouldn't say that. After all it does have its perks. At least now when I'm asked if I'm seeing someone, I can be truthful about it. I mean it's not like Justin and I are going to come out or anything, but we can skirt around the issue so to speak." "How can you hide something like that? I mean when I was 18, I couldn't hide who I was any longer. I didn't want to hide who I was. I'd hid it from myself for 8 years. When I finally accepted it, then I wanted to share it with the whole world. I mean, here was the real me. The person that no one knew. That was who I wanted them to know. I guess I had it easy though. College is an easy place to come out in. What surprised me was the amount of respect that I got. Sure I lost alot of people close to me couldn't handle the fact, but I dealt with it. It was because of this that I had the courage to come out to the people that scared me more than anything. I knew what was going to happen when I came out, but it was a chance that I had to take." "Justin told us what happened. I can't believe that someone could be so heartless. I mean when I came out to my mom, it was the greatest feeling that I'd ever felt. It was a relief to have her come over and hug me afterwards and tell me that she'd always known, but wanted me to tell her." Before I could say anything else, we heard the screen door open and close again. Looking back toward the house, we saw Justin walking towards us. As I saw the smile that lit up Lance's face, I knew that they two were happy with each other. "I'll let the two of you be alone together," I said as I headed toward the house. "Angel, thanks." Lance said before I could leave. "For what? For talking to me," he said with a slight smile on his face. "Okay, but I thought that you were the one that was talking to me." "Oh, yeah. You're right," he said with a smile that made my knees go weak. As I walked by Justin, I could see the worried expression on his face. As he questioned me with his eyes, I shook my head. "We'll talk later, right now, go be with him. Get as much time alone as you can." "Where's Lance and Justin?" JC asked as I walked back into the house. "They're outside. Spending some quality time with each other." I said as I went to the liquer cabinet and fixed myself another drink. "Drink?" I asked looking at him. "Yeah, give me something hard." "Ah, a man after my own heart," I said as I poured him a Lenoir special. As he took a sip, I couldn't help but laugh as he suddenly doubled over coughing. "What did you put in this?" he asked between coughs. "Oh a lil bit of Jack, a smidgeon of Jose, and just a tiny bit of Crown. Shoot 5 of them, and you'll be drunk before you know it. Drink them mixed, and you can sip on them all night." "Then line me up 4 more," he said as he regained control of himself. "Are you sure about that? What are you doing tomorrow?" "We're off tomorrow. Just have to be at the hotel in time to leave." "Well that's good, 'cause if you're drinking, you're not going anywhere. And since I can't let you drink alone and the other guys have already had some alcohol, then all of you will be staying the night here." "What'll Erin say about it?" JC asked. "Nothing. See technically I'm her roommate also. I pay part of the rent, so that I can have a place to stay on the weekends away from the dorm. We needed a place big enough that all of us could fit in, and when Erin and I saw this place then we knew this was the place that we wanted." "You really care for her alot, don't you?" "Honestly, yeah I do. Here, take your glass, and I'll tell you the whole story," I said I headed toward the dining table. "By the way, where's Joey and Chris?" "Oh, Jon told them that he had a PSII here and they all disappeared. I don't think that we'll have to worry about them anytime soon," he said as he sat down across from me, "So what's the story?" And so I told him the whole story. I told him how I met Jon and Erin both the first night that I was at college at our freshman mixer. I told him how we'd hit it off immediately, and how Jon and I were both attracted to her. I told him about coming back to my dorm room and discovering that Jon and I were roommates. I told him about how the two of us had actively pursued Erin for the next month, and how when I'd realized how deeply they cared for each other, how'd I'd backed off to allow them to be together. I told him all about the relationship that the three of us had. How Erin was more of a sister to me now, and Jon was the brother that I'd never had. All through the story, JC remained silent, occasionally nodding to himself. As I had told the story, I'd kept both of our drinks full. Realizing that I was quickly approaching my limit of wakefulness, I excused myself and went and tapped on Erin's door. "Erin," I said through the door, "I'm heading to bed. The guys are staying here tonight. I'm not in any condition to drive them back and neither are any of them. Would you show Justin and Lance to the extra bedroom when they come in? I'm going to pull out the couch and let Chris and Joey have it, and JC will get my room while I sleep on the other couch." "I'll sleep on the couch," a voice said from behind me. "No JC, you're a guest. You get the bed. I'll be fine on the couch." "Angel, I'm not going to let you sleep on that couch. Now either you let me sleep on it, or we can share the bed." "Are you sure that you're okay with sharing the bed with me?" I asked him softly. "Yeah, I'm sure. Besides I did it all the time with Justin when we first started off." "Well, okay I guess, but I'm going to warn you now, I snore." "That's okay," he said with a laugh, "so did Justin." As I led the way to the bedroom, I was barely able to stay on my feet. I guess was drunker than I thought I was. We finally made it to the bedroom and the last thing I remember was collapsing on my bed until the sunlight and the pounding headache woke me up the next day. Laying in my bed I was suddenly aware of arm wrapped around my stomach, my naked stomach. With a jolt, I shot up in the bed. Looking over, I relaxed a little until I realized that I was naked and so was JC. Questions? Comments? Feedback in general? Then there are several ways that you can get ahold of me. First be warned, all flames will be used in my furnace as it seems that the blasted thing won't work right. Anyways... Where was I? Oh yeah, you can reach me at: Email: angel_lenoir@angelfire.com ICQ: 64742298 MSM: angel_lenoir (angel_lenoir@hotmail.com) AIM: angellenoir