Jimmy Needs Assistance

The following morning I was shocked beyond belief. I actually woke up
before the wake-up call! I was so proud of myself. Granted I had set the
wake-up call for 10:00 am and waking up at 9:50 wasn't that early,
but I HATE mornings like you wouldn't believe! Most mornings the alarm
clock and I have a battle of wills in which it usually wins. Let's just say
that the snooze button and I were very well acquainted!

Now would begin my waiting for a phone call. Not any phone call mind
you, but a very specific phone call. I also had to figure out
what to do today. I didn't know if I should stay in the room waiting
for the phone call or go out sightseeing. I really wanted to see
Orlando, but was afraid to be gone too long.

I finally decided that I wasn't going to decide. Now that is real
original, isn't it? So you finally found out, I have a bit of a
procrastination streak in me. So sue me. I did my morning routine,
taking all of 15 minutes (I told you I hated mornings, I get done as
quickly as possible!) and then decided to go across the street of the
hotel and get a coffee and pastry from the small bakery. As you can
probably tell as well, I am what my best friend Stephen calls 'thrifty'
(read thrifty as cheap and you would be more accurate, Stephen would
say) I just can't see paying over $10.00 for a coffee and a danish from
room service.

About 10 minutes later as I strolled into my room (sneaking my
breakfast past the front desk) intent on eating my croissant and
drinking my coffee on the balcony, I noticed the message light was
flashing on the phone. The first thought that came to mind is (and
excuse the language here) 'No fucking way is James calling me back this
soon'. Needless to say my breakfast plans were forgotten for the
moment.

Picking up the phone I called down to the front desk to retrieve the
message with my heart in my throat. After hearing the message I hung
up the phone, and literally fell to the floor more from relief than
anything else. Talk about an anticlimax. The message did take care of one
thing though, it deflated my ego, which it needed, seeing
It had been steadily building it up all night last night when I got back
from the interview.

Oh, sorry, I just realized you were probably wondering whom the message was
from? I don't know if I want to tell you. I bet you were thinking it was
from James, but ha, it wasn't! It was from my mom. Yep, she just has this
sixth sense to know when to call me to bring me back down to earth. You've
got to love her, and at times like this it is hard, but what can you do.

After giving myself an internal shake, I picked myself back up off the
floor then took my breakfast out onto the patio. It was another
beautiful day and I was enjoying it so far. After I finished my meager
breakfast (nerves over waiting wouldn't let me eat anything substantial) and
taking in the sun for about a half-hour, the phone rang.

This time, before I picked up the phone, I actually smarted up and sat
on the bed before answering it. I didn't want to repeat the earlier
incident of landing on the floor. Smart move on my part too, as the
other person on the line wasn't someone that worked for James, but James
himself. Talk about being surprised!

"James" I said, " I am a bit surprised that you called yourself, and
this quickly as well. What do I owe this honor to?"

"Well, I've made my decision on who I was going to hire as my assistant, and
I was wondering if you would like to meet for Lunch. I don't like talking
about stuff like this over the phone, I hope you understand" he finished.

Talk about brain overload! The only thing that kept going through my
mind for the first few seconds was 'did I get the damn job or
not????' Finally coming to my senses I replied kind of hesitantly "yes
James, I'd like that. Where and at what time would you like to
meet?" I asked as calmly as I could.

James answered with a hint of a smile in his voice "how does 1:00 p.m.
sound at Emeril's Restaurant Orlando? I just love Emeril LaGasse's food as
it reminds me a little of home. It shouldn't be to hard to find, as it's at
Universal Studios."

At hearing this, I just about went through the ceiling! "James, are you
kidding me? You want to go eat at Emeril's? That was one of the first
things I was going to do when down here! I love his show, and some of
his recipes are to die for!"

On the other end of the line I heard James laughing as he said "someone
sounds excited! Would you like me to send a car?"

Coming back to my senses finally, I got myself under control and said
rather sheepishly "No James, a car won't be necessary. I will meet you
at the restaurant at 1:00. Sorry about that by the way, didn't mean to
go teenager on you there! You just kind of surprised me a little."

"That's quite alright," James said laughing, "I was like you when I first got
into this business. You get used to it after awhile. I will see you at
1:00." I thanked him one last time and started getting ready for lunch.

Right after I got ready to go, I booted up my laptop and did a little
research before I went to the restaurant. I went onto FoodTV's website
and brought up Emeril's area, then clicked on the link for his
restaurants. I took quick note of the address and headed down to get a
cab. I figured that I would get there as soon as possible and wait
instead of possibly being late.

I found out that it was a good idea I had left early, as the traffic at
lunchtime was worse than I thought. I arrived at the restaurant at 12:45 so
I had about 15 minutes to get myself together. I couldn't figure out why I
was so nervous. The interview went well yesterday, and I knew we got along
well, so it didn't quite make sense. I did manage to calm down most of the
way and that would have to do for now, as it was about 5 minutes before 1:00
and I needed to get inside.

Walking in I told the hostess that I was here for the 1:00 p.m.
reservation with Mr. Bass. As she looked it up she asked my name, and
as I replied Mr. Pearce she said, "oh, here it is. Welcome to Emeril's
Mr. Pearce. Your other party hasn't arrived yet" as she showed me to
the table.

One thing I have to say is that I was impressed with the restaurant. It was
everything I had expected. It was just as nice as I would expect from one
of Emeril's restaurants. While I was waiting for James I ordered water to
drink. I didn't know what to expect from James and didn't want to start
this out badly by ordering an alcoholic drink, especially this early in the day.
After all, I still didn't know if I had the job yet or not.

James showed up a few minutes later, just as I drank the last of my glass of
water, asking, "have you been waiting long? Sorry to keep you waiting." He
said the last bit as he sat down.

I immediately said to him "no I haven't been waiting for long, I just got
here a couple of minutes ago myself."

At this point the waiter came over, handed us our menus, rattled off the
specials and took our drink orders. This time I ordered an Iced Tea, and
ironically James did the same. We both got a quick laugh out of it.

We didn't talk about anything important other than what sounded good,
and James giving a few recommendations on some menu items. The waiter
came with our drinks and we both ordered our lunches.

After the waiter left the table, James started by saying, "thanks for
coming to lunch. As you are probably wondering, I asked you here to
tell you my decision on the position of my assistant."

I was a nervous wreck. Was he going to keep beating around the
bush or get right down to the point. I was now regretting the croissant I
ate earlier, as it felt like it might make a surprise visit at any moment.

James continued with "now as you know, it was a decision between
yourself and another gentleman that I interviewed before you yesterday.
I would also like to mention that you are not quite as qualified as the
other candidate." After he said this last part, my hope sunk. Was he
telling me that he offered the job to someone else?

Noticing the look that came over my face, he continued quickly "BUT,
experience isn't the only thing I am looking for. What I am trying to
say, but obviously not very well, is I would like to offer you the job.
There are a couple things I would like to discuss before I receive a
definite answer. What do you say?"

All I could say, or think for that matter is "OOOOooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh
mmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy ggggggggooooooooodddddDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!" You could barely hear this as it was but a whisper. You should have seen the look on my face. You think that James just told me that my whole entire family was
just massacred and wiped off the face of the earth! He started laughing so
much I thought he was going to piss his pants!

After doing a 'fish out of water' impression for a minute or two, much
to James' mirth, I finally found my voice, well kinda. All I could
manage to croak out was "Why?"

This simple question brought a twinkle to his eye, and he began
explaining "there are quite a few reasons actually. The main one is I
like you. That is important seeing how closely we will be working with
each other. I feel that we already have started establishing a
friendship. I have to like someone before I can work closely with him or
her. Secondly, you seem to adapt quickly to new situations and have shown
that - like flying to Florida and walking into a blind interview with very
short notice. Interviewing with me, a well known celebrity and not even
showing how nervous you really were, then looking past the
celebrity status and dealing with James, real person and not Lance the
performer."

By this time our food showed up. In between bites of his food, he
continued "your references came back impeccable, especially with your
last job. One of your past supervisors said that you caught on to new
tasks extremely fast. If a problem was to develop, you were usually the
first one figuring it out, and the last one there until it was fixed. He
also mentioned that when given the freedom, you would take the ball and run
with it. You weren't afraid to make decisions, and if you made a wrong one,
you weren't afraid to own up to the responsibility and take your lumps."

Whoa, talk about shocked. I thought I stepped on a lot of toes and then
they tell James this. He had actually rendered me speechless. Now THAT is
rare, ask any of my friends or family! I didn't know what to say at that
point. James took another bite and kept right on going, so I thought it
best to keep my mouth shut as I listened further.

"I like to have someone with me where I can just show them what I want
done, and count on them to get it done. You aren't just a Yes man and I
need someone that can take the lead when needed. I also need to trust you.
After all you will be representing my name. Everything that has come back on
you shows that you are a man of your word, and I respect that."

It sounded like he was finally winding down, so I took the opportunity to
interrupt. With as much seriousness and conviction I could muster in my
voice, I said "James, I really don't know what to say. You have me utterly
speechless. I would like to say thank you. I will do everything in my
power not to disappoint you."

James smiled at this, and then I saw the glint in his eye again. I was
beginning to hate that glint. Every time I have seen it, it usually
meant that he was either going to embarrass or shock me to my core. This
time was no different. He decided to drop the bomb, and what a bomb it was.

He just gave me that smug look and said, "plus, it's nice to have
another gay guy around. We have to stick together you know."

This time I thought 'ha, now it's my time to get a little payback'! I
could tell by the look on his face that he thought he would surprise me
with that little comment, so I did exactly what he didn't expect, I
ignored it and went on like nothing out of the ordinary was said.

I asked James if he could pass the salt, and then gave him a look, using his
eyebrow raising trick on him thinking 'two can play at that game'. God I
love bitch mode! I then asked him what the salary would be and if I would
have to move to Orlando or not.

The look on his face was priceless! The poor boy didn't know how to
react. This was the first time that I had actually seen him speechless, and
it looked like he didn't like it much either. I made it a point to use this
technique more often. You have to keep your boss on his toes now and then
you know.

After about a minute of letting him hang like this, I decided to let him off
the hook by saying with my best hoochie mama voice "got you there girlfriend!" and started to laugh.

Realizing that he didn't get me, he started laughing and then asked,
"how did you figure it out?"

"James" I began to say, "you are talking to someone that has well tuned
'gaydar' not to mention that you are a shameless flirt when you want to
be. Oh, don't forget that gay men can't dance that well, except maybe
ballet, and you my dear have not been compared to Fred Astaire."

"Oh" he said, "you are going to pay for that! You are not even on the
payroll yet and you are already badmouthing the boss!" This followed by a
sincere laugh.

"Well" I said, "Someone has to keep the boss' ego manageable, and there
is no time like the present to start!" I fired back. Yep, I was going to
like this job a whole lot!

Unfortunately lunch was coming to an end. We were both done eating and
we couldn't sit here all day. I sort of wished we could, but I didn't
think they would be happy with that at the restaurant.

I did manage to pull a fast one on James though. As the waiter brought
the bill over to the table, I intercepted James and gave the waiter my
credit card to pay for the meal. You should have seen the look on
James' face. It seems he looks used to doing just the sort of thing I
just did, but didn't care for it when others did it to him.

I quickly put a squash on that really fast. I gave James a look that
said 'stop that attitude RIGHT NOW or you will regret it' and it even
worked! Taking advantage of my little moment of victory over my new
boss, I said "Don't argue with me. This is my way of thanking you. I was
planning on coming here while I was down here, and you were some nice bonus company. Now don't argue with your elders!" and started
laughing. That did it. He started laughing and even allowed me to pay.

Before we left the table he asked, "do you have any plans tonight for
dinner?"

I told him "no, I kind of left today up in the air knowing that you were
going to get back to me sometime" I replied.

"Good" James said. "The rest of the guys from Nsync are getting together at
Justin's house tonight for dinner. I'd like you to come over and meet and get to
know them. For the next few months you will be around them quite a bit.
You should have a lot of fun."

"Thank you James, I'd love to come over for dinner. Just give
me a time and an address and I'll be there" I replied back.

He just shook his head and said "no way. You are going to be my guest at his
house, and I will be there and pick you up at the hotel. I'll have the front
desk call you when the car gets there. Dinner will be at 7:00 so the car
should be there at around 6:00"

Knowing when not to argue I said, "Thanks James, I'll see you then.
Thanks again for giving me the job and showing that you have faith in me. I
won't let you down."

"I know you won't," he said, "and I will see you later."

With that, we shook hands and I decided to explore Universal Studio's a
little seeing I had a few hours until dinner to waste.

To be Continued.

Author's Notes:  

First I would like to take a minute to thank David for all the time and energy that he puts into the Archive.  Thanks David for all you do!

Second I would like to thank the lovely and talented DJ for all his input and help with this story.  Without all his help and editing this story wouldn't be close to readable as it is.  Thanks Bud!  Not too bad even through you ARE a blond!

A quick shout out to Willow and Uninspired Teen, where in the hell are the updates to your stories?  Yes I know that I haven't taken the time to write you and slap you around some to get going, but Jeesh, we have been waiting a LONG time for updates!  

Lastly, the next chapter should be out in a week or week and a half.  I just got back from a week of training for work (Oracle Forms for anyone that was interested) and didn't have time to write the last week.  I try to have a chapter done before I send in one. Another words, I like to be a chapter ahead so it will take me a little time to get back to normal.

Jojo