Jimmy Needs Assistance

I woke up the next morning to the sound of the phone ringing. Talk about a rude awakening! I rolled over and picked up the phone, mumbling "hello" into the receiver.

"Hello, this is your wake up call. Have a nice day and thank you for staying with us!" a cheery woman's voice said.

All that got out of me was a groggy "screw you! How can you be so damn cheerful in the morning," as I hung up the phone. Thank god she didn't hear it. Yep you guessed it, I am NOT a morning person. My idea of an early morning was around 11:00 am so a wake up call at 8:00 am is not a welcome event. To be woken up by a certain blond boy-band member on the other hand, I could probably warm up to without a problem. Unfortunately it wasn't going to happen this morning.

I lay in bed for about 5 minutes trying to talk myself into not rolling over and falling back to sleep. One thing changed my mind however - I was going to be seeing James. Then I realized that I was also going to be saying goodbye to him as well. Damn this afternoon was going to suck.

Ten minutes later I was still in bed, but for another reason. No you pervert, it wasn't playing with little Jojo! Jeesh. You all have one track minds. I was thinking over what had happened the last few days and was amazed at how much my life had changed - all for the better. I had a new job, I was going to be living in both New York and Florida, I had a new boyfriend, and made some new friends. All the bad luck that I'd had over the last few years must have been causing some good karma to build up and rain down on me all at once. I was sure of one thing, I wasn't going to complain for a second!

I finally dragged my sorry ass out of bed and began the morning routine - shit, shower, and shave. After my routine was completed I took a quick walk down to the bakery on the corner that was quickly becoming my favorite to get some quick breakfast and coffee. I fell in love with the bakery the minute I walked in it the other morning. A really nice older Italian couple, that reminded me of my grandparents, ran it. It had some of the smells and atmosphere of my grandmother's kitchen when she baked and the goods were out of this world. It definitely spoke to the Italian in me, and I made a mental note to show this place to Joey. He would probably love it.

After chatting with them for a couple minutes and finally making up my mind, I made my purchase and headed back to the hotel. I sneaked my breakfast up to my room and ate it while I packed. I had a feeling that it would be best if I checked out of the hotel before I went to the FreeLance offices, thinking that it would give me a little extra time with James.

I called down to the front desk asking them to call me a cab while I did a final look around the room to make sure I had everything. Yep I did, checked out and timed it perfectly. As I was walking out the door the taxi pulled up. I gave him the address to the offices and off I went.

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Arriving at the office about 5 minutes before 10:00, I realized I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Walking up to the receptionist I let her know that I was here for my 10:00 am meeting with Lance.

"You can go right in Mr. Pearce, Lance is waiting for you" she said.

"Thank you" I told her. "May I ask what your name is? I know we met the last time I was here but I never caught your name" I mentioned with a genuine smile.

"Oh, how lax of me. My name is Kimberly, but most people call me Kim."

"Well Kim, it's nice to meet you, and please call me Jojo. I hate the Mr. title, and we will probably be talking to each other quite a bit."

"Thank you Mr.. err Jojo. Sorry about that, old habits are hard to break" she said sheepishly.

"No problem Kim, just don't let it happen again" I told her in mock anger and gave her a smile. "I'll tell you a secret" I said in a lowered voice, "I do the same thing."

She just gave a small laugh and said, "I'll remember that."

"I'm sure you will," I said back with a small laugh myself. One thing I have learned is ALWAYS be nice to the secretaries and receptionists. They control the access to the people you need to deal with, and pissing them off or talking down to them will make your job thousands of times harder.

She just laughed. I then asked "I have a flight at 3:00 and have to leave here by 1:30. If it gets to be 1:15 or so and we're still talking, could you please let me know?"

"Sure, that won't be a problem" she said. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No thank you, that will be all. I just don't want to miss the plane."

She just gave me a smile as I walked over to James' office. When I got to the door I knocked and heard a voice I was beginning to cherish say, "Come in Jojo."

I walked in the door and noticed James sitting behind his desk with both John and Johnny sitting in chairs in front of him. I immediately went up to both of them and said good morning while shaking their hands.

John was the first one to speak. "Congratulations on the job Jojo. If there is anything you need just let me know. I thought I would take the liberty and contacted a couple of real estate agents for you. By the time you get back I will have some apartments ready for you to look at. I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all John! Thanks for doing that. You didn't have to go to all that trouble, but it is greatly appreciated. It's been such a busy couple of days that it totally slipped my mind."

"Not a problem, I'm glad I could help. Just stop by my office before you leave and let me know some ideas on what you are looking for so I can relay that to the real estate agents."

"No problem John, I will do that. Thanks again" I said as we all sat.

At this point James jumped in. "John knows quite a bit about the schedule and logistics for the next couple of months, and has a great head for details. I am going to pair you two up. John you and Jojo will be working with each other on most of the logistics and arrangements that need to be made. Jojo will be taking over most of the detail oriented stuff that I used to take care of John, and I would like it if you would work with him on that."

"No problem boss" John said with a smile.

"Great" James answered. "Meredith will be one of the opening acts for *Nsync during this leg of the tour as you all know, and Jojo will be in charge of everything that needs to be done so I don't have to worry. I will be there to guide him and show him the ropes on that end when he needs it. Jojo will also be the main contact for FreeLance in dealing with anything tour related, Johnny. Could you let the staff for WEG and anyone else that needs it know of the change?"

"Yeah Lance, no problem. I see you are going to give him a baptism by fire in all of this" he said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, what better way to learn than jumping right in" James said. "John, could you get the information together like I asked and have it ready for Jojo before he leaves?"

"Yeah Lance, no problem" John added. "I already anticipated you asking for most of it and have that ready. There are just a couple of things I need to add. I will have it ready for him by the time he stops by my office."

"Perfect" James, added. "I'll let you get started. I'll catch up with you later."

"Ok, see you then" John said standing, then added looking to me "good luck Jojo, and if there is anything I can do, let me know."

"Don't worry, I will" I said with a chuckle. "If you hear someone crying or talking a thousand miles an minute on the phone, you'll know it's me."

He just chuckled and left the office leaving just James, Johnny, and myself.

"There, that is one thing down and two more to go" James continued. "Johnny, I know it's short notice, but I'd like the hotel arrangements changed if at all possible."

"I'm not sure Lance, but I will see what I can do. What changes do you want made?"

"Well, when we have a suite of rooms, if there is a fifth one, I would like Jojo assigned to it. If that isn't possible I would like him booked in a room that was adjoining or next to mine. We'll need to spend a lot of time together, especially in the beginning, and it would make my life easier if he were close."

Johnny gave James a shocked look when he mentioned me getting the fifth room. James also knew what this was about as well.

"That brings me to the second reason why I wanted to talk to you Johnny" Lance continued. He gave me a quick look and he seemed to be telling me that I'm going to tell him about us, just trust me. I did and tried to convey that in the look I gave him back.

"Don't worry Johnny, Jojo knows about Justin and Josh being together. They told him about it last night at the party, after you left."

"Oh, ok. I was just looking out for you guys," Johnny said.

"I know you are, and we appreciate it. We've been through a lot of shit and you know you're family. That is why I am trusting you with what I am about to tell you" James finished.

"What is it Lance, you're scaring me a little."

"Oh sorry Johnny, it's nothing bad. Didn't mean to scare you. Seeing you are going to be with us on the tour, I wanted to let you know something so we don't shock you." James gave me a quick look and I nodded my head 'yes' so he knew I was ok with telling him.

"Jojo and I have started seeing each other. I have one request though. Please keep this to yourself for a bit. Only Joey knows right now. We've decided to wait a week or two to tell the other guys so they could get to know Jojo better. I know they won't have a problem with it, but I want to do it in my own way."

"No problem Lance. I had a feeling that you would probably hook up. The sparks that were flying between you during the interview were quite intense at times. I just never thought you would get together this quick. Let me guess, Joey was involved?"

"Yep he was," I added.

"Thought so, that boy has himself involved in everything some way or another," Johnny said laughing. "If there isn't anything else, I'm going to get going. I'll get back to you later as soon as I have anything for you guys. Welcome aboard Jojo, you are in for one hell of a ride!"

"Thanks Johnny, I think. I'll probably see you when I get back from New York."

"I'm sure you will. Have a safe flight." The last words were said as he was walking out of the office. It was finally just James and myself in his office.

"Hey, alone at last" mentioned James as he gave me a look that wasn't quite professional.

"James, cool those hormones or I am going to be forced to get out a hose"

"Ah, your no fun."

"Oh, quite the contrary, but we are at the office, in YOUR office may I remind you, and we agreed that at work it would be friendly and professional. I may not like it, but that's life."

He put a pout on his face trying to soften my resolve and said quietly "yeah, but you are going to be gone for about a week and I won't be able to see you. Wait a minute, you aren't even on payroll yet so technically you aren't an employee."

"James please don't make me the bad guy here. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize you, our careers, or me. What if it got out that Lance Bass was dating his employee, his gay MALE employee and was caught in a compromising position in his office? What do you think would happen? Do you know how the public would react to that? Imagine what the guys would be put through? I can't let that happen James, I couldn't live with myself."

The look on his face showed definite disappointment, but also understanding as well. "Yeah, your right. I still think it sucks though."

"Your right, it does suck, but we both knew what we were getting into. Besides who says that we can't leave the office and go out to lunch, as well as you escort me to the airport. That way we can spend time together, cuddle a little and not worry. It could be private if we went to your house for lunch instead of a restaurant. We can say goodbye there and not worry about prying eyes" I finished, proud of my idea.

It took a second or two for him to process the idea, but as soon as he did, the look on his face was priceless. He literally had a grin from ear to ear. "Yeah, I like that idea. I like it a lot. Nice thinking Jojo!"

It was at this point that I realized something, or should I say it was noticeable. He was acting his age. I'm not saying that is a bad thing either. I got so used to the professional side of James where he seemed more like he was in his early thirties instead of his early twenties and I wasn't expecting it. I had to admit that it was cute in a way.

"Great, now that we have that settled why don't we get done what we need to, then head over to your house and have a long lunch?" I asked with a twinkle in my eye. He wasn't the only one that can revert in age!

So we got down to business. (Literally - Jeesh there you go again with your mind in the gutter again! What am I going to do with you?) I signed my contract and almost had a heart attack at what I was making a year, had to go through the lovely non-disclosure and privacy agreements, and went on a tour of the office. James introduced me to all the staff, and I was surprised at the amount of staff he actually had. It looked like he was just about ready to sign more artists, as it looked like he had adequate support staff. I went to John's office and chatted a bit, gave him the information about what I was looking for in an apartment, and got the stack of information James wanted me to go over. I felt like I was back in school with a homework assignment on the first day. James and John got a laugh out of that when I mentioned it.

Next was the fun part - toys! James brought me to my new office, and it was bigger and nicer that I expected. I also got a neat little cell phone that not only worked all over the US and Canada, but in most of Europe as well and even had email. Cool! He was even thoughtful enough to have all his numbers, as well as the office and the guys from the bands numbers programmed into the phone. I also got a nice neat laptop with a DVD player in it that was even better than the one I bought myself a few months ago. James explained that I had nationwide Internet service on it, and would be able to connect with the network at the office to keep the schedules and other info current. He also gave me a company credit card (sweet, I'd never had a company credit card before) and went over some other miscellaneous stuff.

On the way back to his office we stopped by Kim's desk and had me pick up the plane ticket for my return flight as well as giving me the information about moving my stuff. He had her arrange for a company to pick the stuff I was packing from New York and temporarily store it here in Orlando until I had an apartment and a chance to set it up. I tried to argue with him about it, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. I finally gave in and thanked him. I did notice that there wasn't any mention about a hotel or other place to stay on my return. I figured that I would ask when we were in private. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was up to something and figured that now wasn't the time to ask in front of the other staff.

Looking at the clock when we were done, I mentioned to James that it was 11:45, more than enough time for a nice leisurely lunch before I had to go to the airport. He had a grin on his handsome face and said, "come on, let's go!"

On our way out he told Kim that he was leaving for lunch and would be back later that afternoon. Grabbing my luggage we walked out to James' car. He was real cute as we started towards his house as he was acting like a kid with a new toy. In a way I suppose I was. As soon as he had the car in drive he reached over and held my hand. We enjoyed that comfortable silence the whole drive, both of us with goofy grins on our faces.

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Needless to say his house was gorgeous! Walking into the living room from outside, I almost died. "Oh my god, I'm in love!" I exclaimed. James had a puzzled look on his face after my embarrassed exclamation, not knowing what I was referring to.

"Sorry James. I just noticed your stereo system and I fell in love with it right away. I have a couple of CD's at home that are screaming to be played on that thing," I said sheepishly.

"That's OK, you just surprised me a little there. I wasn't' sure if you were referring to us and was a little taken aback."

"Oh James, I am so sorry! I could see where that could be misconstrued. This must be another of those 'open mouth insert foot' type of moments." Boy did I feel like a fool.

He just gave me a hug to show he was fine and said "that's fine Hun, no harm done. Why don't we get lunch started and then I will give you a full tour of the house."

"Hey Booboo you called me Hun. That's so sweet" I almost gushed.

"Yeah, I guess I did. I didn't even realize it. I hope that didn't bother you," he said a little sheepishly, not catching my previous reaction.

"No Booboo, that didn't bother me at all. I am actually touched. You can call me Hun all you want, well except in public and all, but other than that it's fine."

We walked into the kitchen, and decided to make some sandwiches and have some fresh fruit and chips with them. We carried on some small talk while we ate, and then James gave me a tour of his home. He had great taste. The house was beautiful and he decorated it himself, and did a wonderful job. He used a natural theme throughout the house, using a lot of earth tones for colors. It was very, very relaxing. I made a mental note to get him to help decorate the apartment when I found one.

After the tour we settled to the living room, sitting (actually cuddling is more accurate) on the couch in silence. I was half sitting, half lying in the corner of the couch with James lying along side me with his head cradled in my shoulder and neck. Some soft Jazz was playing on the stereo very quietly to mask any noise coming from outdoors essentially putting us in our own little world. We must have been sitting there for around 20 minutes before either of us felt compelled to talk. James was the first one to break the silence.

"I could definitely get used to this," he said with such conviction and tenderness and maybe even a little sadness, knowing of my leaving shortly, that it melted my heart.

"Yeah I know what you mean. I really don't want to leave to go to the airport. I would be happy sitting like this for the rest of my life." You could hear the emotion in my voice.

"You just had to remind me that you are leaving, didn't you." A pout came over his face.

"James you KNEW I have to go back to New York to pack up my clothes and some of my personal stuff. It's not like I'm not going to be seeing you for six months or more, it's only for a week. If I get everything taken care of sooner, I promise that I will fly back early."

"I would really like that Hun. Next week we start the final rehearsal for the new tour and it always takes a lot out of me. I don't catch onto the new dances as easily as the others, and with dealing with everything from FreeLance it's going to be hell. At least with you here I can concentrate more on the group and less about business. I also won't be so lonely either." He added after a little thought "and it's nice to have someone to look forward to coming home to. I feel so relaxed when you are by my side. We haven't been together officially for 24 hours and I feel like we have been together forever. I'm going to miss it." I heard the sadness and it broke my heart. I had to reassure him somehow.

I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the forehead, then on his lips. "James, you will NEVER be lonely again, that I promise you. You already captured my eye, and have a pretty good start on my heart. I'm here for the long haul so get used to it Mr. Bass. I'm not going anywhere."

It was his turn to give me a kiss. I also noticed a tear in his eye as well. "Thank you for saying that, Love. You don't know how happy that makes me feel. I was starting to give up on ever finding love in my life. This business is not the most conductive to healthy relationships and I was pretty much resigned to be alone. I just thank God that I found you. I love the guys, but it's not the same."

I gave a little chuckle trying to lighten the mood a little. "I think thanking the Internet God is more like it. If it weren't for the net, you wouldn't have come across my resume and we wouldn't have met. Isn't technology great!"

"Don't you know it!" he answered back with the look that I have fallen in love with. I just gave him a squeeze and a kiss on the head and we melted into each other some more.

"James, where am I going to stay until I find an apartment?" I asked him a couple of minutes later. I figured now was as good as any to broach that subject.

"Well, I was thinking you could stay here with me until you found a place." He looked a little unsure of my reaction when he said this.

"I'm not sure James, I don't think that would be a very good idea."

"Why not?" he asked a little hurt.

"First, I'm your employee as far as the public and staff know. I don't think it would look appropriate for a new employee to move temporarily into his bosses' house" I began.

"But." he started.

I gave him a quick kiss to shut him up. It worked. "Second, we agreed to go slow with our relationship. I'm not sure that sleeping in the same house would be a good idea right now."

"What, you don't trust me?" he asked a little hurt.

I gave him another kiss to shut him up again and also to show that the real reason wasn't what he was thinking. "No I trust you, it's ME I don't trust. I want to do this right and I want us to last. I'm afraid the temptation would be too great for either of us. There is a lot we need to learn about each other before we come to a point where we can entertain that idea. I would be too tempted to join you some night, especially if our inhibitions were effected. I don't want to hurt you."

"But we will be spending time and possibly a suite together while on the road. I don't see where that is any different," James pointed out.

"Yeah you're right, but there will be the guys and staff there as well. Here there won't be anyone to remind us of reality." A look of resigned acceptance came over his face as I explained this to him.

"Ok, I see your point, but I also don't want you staying in a hotel either. We will be seeing more of them then you want to even think about over the next few months. I know! Hold on a minute." I could almost see the light bulb appear above his head as he got an idea.

James reached over and picked up the phone beside the couch. He dialed a number and waited for the other party to answer. "Hey bro, what's up? Great Just spending time with Jojo until he has to go the airport... yep, everything is all set ... about a week that's what I'm calling you about uhuh no, we didn't think it would be a good idea You were?... is it?.. You sure? you don't mind do you? Ok, thanks! Love you too bro, bye."

"OK, what was that about?" I asked obviously the conversation was about me, but only hearing James' side of the conversation I was a little lost.

"Oh nothing! You'll just be staying with Joey until you find a place. He has a nice guestroom that's yours for as long as you need it. He said that when you got back and if you were staying at a hotel until you found an apartment he was going to offer you his guestroom. He can't see you spending any more time in a hotel than was necessary."

"I'm going to have to do something nice for that boy. I know, I am going to have to cook a nice traditional Italian dinner for you guys before we leave for the road. Do you mind if I borrow your kitchen for a day?" I asked.

"Ooh, my boyfriend can cook too! I think I hit the jackpot!" James was actually excited!

"Yep" I said smugly. "I was thinking about becoming a chef for a while when I got out of high school because I love to cook, but decided against it. I used to work with a guy that was a trained chef he but gave it up. The hours were horrible and he said the pay was really bad. He made more money and worked half the hours installing insulation. So I reconsidered and now just cook for fun. When is the first day off you guys have after I get back?"

James thought for a minute "next Saturday. These last couple days have been light as you've figured out, and the next few days are going to be killers. We leave for Louisiana the following Saturday afternoon so that will be the only day off we will have until after the first show at the end of the month."

"Great. Tell Joey and the guys that dinner Saturday will be here and that I will be making a pot of homemade sauce. I'll ask my grandmother to make me up a batch of fresh pasta as well. Her pasta always turns out better than mine. I'll make sure you guys get at least one more home cooked meal before we hit the road." I smiled, this should be fun. I love cooking for others.

The look on James face was priceless. "You don't know what that will mean to the guys. That is like the ultimate gift you could give them. After years of eating hotel, restaurant, and catered food, having someone taking the time to cook for them means a lot."

"Good, then it's settled. I'll also keep that in mind for work as well. You always want to keep the talent happy! Oh, almost forgot, when is Meredith getting into town?"

"She will be here on Friday, why?"

"Perfect" I can kill two birds with one stone. "I was just thinking. Why not invite Meredith to dinner. That will give her one more home cooked meal, and give her and I time to get to know each other outside of work. What do you think?"

"I think it is a great idea. Leave it up to me and I'll set everything up."

"Great. Lets see, today is Monday so I should be able to get everything at home ready by Thursday. I'll change the return ticket to get here from Monday to this Friday while at the airport. That should give me enough time to get together what I need and tie up the loose ends in New York. I'm not going to be bringing a whole lot, as I want to keep the apartment there. That way I'll also be here when you start tour rehearsals on Sunday. I can also get the grocery shopping done Friday night after I fly in so I don't have to rush to do that on Saturday. How does that sound?" Most of this was thinking to myself out loud, but I thought I would see what James thought.

"Sounds good. It might be a rushed the next couple of days, but it doesn't sound impossible" was his reply. "I have a question for you though. Why are you keeping the apartment in New York?"

"For a couple of reasons actually" I answered. "I will have a place to stay whenever I go back home, the rent is cheap, and it's a security blanket."

"What do you mean a security blanket?" The last reason I gave him had him puzzled.

"It's a place to go back to. My life has changed so much over the last couple of days it's almost scary. Now before you go getting ideas it has nothing to do about you. It's just nice to have a 'backup' there in case I need it. I can well afford it with the salary you are paying me, and who says I can't give it up later. It's just a little extra piece of mind." I hope I explained it well enough.

"Oh, I get it, kind of like what FreeLance is to me. If the group was to break up tomorrow for some unseen reason, I still have my company to fall back on."

"Exactly." I agreed.

Looking at the clock I noticed it was getting close to when I had to leave. "James we only have about 5 minutes until we have to leave for the airport."

"I know, don't remind me" was the grumbled answer I received.

"I know, but I'll be back 3 days sooner than planned so it won't be that bad. You have a ton of stuff that you need to prepare, and you haven't been that productive the last couple of days."

"I know, but I wanted to spend it with you."

"We will be seeing each other quite a bit starting next week. Lets get what we need to get done now so we can take some personal time later."

"Not a bad idea. I am going to miss you though."

"I'll miss you as well Booboo. There is an invention called a phone you know so we can keep in touch throughout the week. Just remember that you pay the bill on the cell phone if you call me on that so don't go too crazy" This got the desired reaction out of him, he laughed. I love to see him laugh, his whole face lights up.

"Yeah, yeah I know, so let me worry about the bill then."

I leaned in and gave him a kiss. This was our first 'big' kiss and it was filled with love and emotion. After breaking it about 2 minutes later, we followed it up with a couple of little kisses then we rested our foreheads against each other and looked in each other's eyes. Yep, I was beginning to fall in love with him already.

With a sigh we got up silently and headed for the car. The whole ride to the airport was quiet with James driving and me looking out the window, but both of us holding hands the entire time.

Arriving at the airport, we both silently walked in, I checked my luggage, changed my return flight without a problem, and walked to the gate. I was surprised that James didn't get recognized. Maybe it had to do with him not being with the other guys and how quiet he was being.

The wait for the boarding call was about 20 minutes and we also spent this in silence. We weren't holding hands, but we were close enough to touch at the arm. When they announced the boarding call we both stood up and James pulled me into a hug.

He whispered in my ear "have a safe flight Hun, come back to me soon, and I'll miss you."

I whispered back "I'll miss you too Love, and I'll be back as soon as I can." At this point we both started crying.

We reluctantly broke apart so we wouldn't draw attention, said bye again and I boarded the plane. I was so sad and wrapped up in my feelings that I didn't even notice the plane taking off as I was on my way back to New York. I got over my fear of flying, but I wouldn't recommend this way to get over it. It really sucked!

It was at this point that I had a revelation, I wasn't falling in love with James, I already had. I was both elated and scared to death at the same time. Was this going too fast?

To Be Continued!