Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 15:48:57 -0700 (PDT) From: NAU Representative Subject: Music Shatters Ice - Part 4 Welcome to part four. Sometimes you have to wonder where college work ends and where the fun begins. Sorry for being late in putting this out, but at least its out and I can begin working on other chapters. Paws naupres@yahoo.com DISCLAIMER: Remember this story is fiction and is not intended to imply anything about the true sexuality of the celebrities mentioned or any personal knowledge about their private lives. And if you are underage go somewhere else, this is not for you and you should wait a few years. Music Shatters Ice Music Shatters Ice - Part 4 - Night of Television It was six-ten in the evening and I was headed towards the hotel to watch the Miss United States Pageant with James and the rest of Nsync. The day had already been a drag on me, so I was looking forward to relaxing. It began this morning when I woke up late for classes. Matters didn't help any when I received a Chemistry test back and getting a "C" on it. The final bad part hit during practice, I did my part by making up six new plays, but the guys on the other hand. The guys didn't really feel like practicing so Coach Roberts was a little upset at them. This would mean that I would have to work with them harder tomorrow. All in all, I was glad I could now relax. I pulled my car into the parking garage and walked around to the front of the hotel. There were many security guards and such, keeping away all the fans and unwanted. I strode to the doors only to have one of them open the door for me. What can I say when you are in a town that loves hockey and knows what you can do for the team and follows your every move in directing the team, you get to know the people and they get to know you. I went in and immediately went to the elevator. I pressed the button and waited for a few minutes. When it finally came down I entered and logically pressed the button in which I thought they would be staying. Top floor, where else? The top floor was one giant suite while the rest of the floors were all individual rooms. Before the season started I had to put up several freshmen here. The campus did not have the freshmen dorms ready as they said they would. Arriving at the top floor, I walked to the double door and knocked. The door opened and I was greeted with a grinning James. "And what exactly are you grinning about?" I asked. "I'm thinking how much trouble you had to go through to get up here. With security and the hotel staff." He said as he led me into the main room. "I had no problems at all. Remember who I am. Everyone knows me and everyone loves what I can do for the team." I said. "What? Were you expecting me to have an extremely hard time?" "Yes, and I was hoping that I would have to come down and rescue you." "You'll know when I need rescuing." I said briefly before we came before the rest of the guys. "Guys I want you to introduce you to Jace Taylor." James said. "Jace this is JC, Justin, Joey, and you know Chris." I went around the room to each of them shaking their hands. "Joshua, Justin, Joseph. And nice to see you again Chris." They all looked at me oddly. "What is something wrong?" I stated. Joshua was the one to speak up, "No, its just that no one uses our full names. Why do you call us by that?" "Because on your birth certificate I doubt it says JC and Joey. Would you prefer I called you JC and Joey?" "Yes." They both said. Justin spoke this time, "So why did you call Chris by his shortened name?" "My father, on his birth certificate says Chris." I said smiling. That caused a couple of the guys to groan. I turned to James, "You want me to call you James?" "Call me whatever you want." "I'll get back to you on that one." "So how exactly did you two meet?" Justin asked from an armchair while I took a seat on the couch next to James. "Scoop said you met by accident." Chris put his hands in front of his eyes as if bracing for impact. He was the only one that knew and he was trying to prevent himself from laughing. I went though the entire story. * * * "Scoop, we are never letting you go out without an escort ever again." JC said scolding him. "If it wasn't for that police officer, I feel that I would not be standing here alive before you right this moment." I said putting my hand on James' shoulder. Chris came back in the room. I hadn't even notice that he left. He brought in drinks and chips and turned up the TV as the show was beginning to start, but muted it real fast. "Before we begin, bet your states on who you want to win. I'll take New York, Texas, and California." Chris said. "Next." Joey thought, "I'll say...New York or New Jersey." "Justin?" Chris asked. "Tennessee, Virginia, and Florida." Justin said confident. "I'm really not sure but give me the east coast from Georgia to Maryland." JC said, hoping that his choice was a large enough area. "Next batter. Scoop." Chris said pointing. "Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Missouri." James stated with a smile. "Last contestant: Jace." Chris finished with a grin. "Pick your poison." I had no choice so I did what I always did at home, I picked hockey states. "I'll choose college hockey states if it matters to any of you." "No not at all. You're the coach." Chris said revealing that I was a coach, surprising the rest of the guys excluding James. "Remind us to ask you about that later." JC said. "But for right now choose." "Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Alabama." I said. "They have hockey in Ohio and Alabama?" Justin asked. "Yes Justin they do, but you shouldn't take them lightly." "Shhhh guys its starting." Chris said turning up the volume. Immediately the music 'One in a Million' by Bosson began playing as the fifty contestants vying for the title of Miss United States began crossing the stage. Looking over at Justin and JC, I could literally see the drool coming out of their mouths. "What do you think James? Healthy stock this year?" I asked. "Yeah they definitely have put time into growing them well this year." He said giving a small laugh. As the fireworks starting going off onstage, I could feel James get closer to me and eventually cling to me as if he got a warm feeling by watching the fireworks and truly was already having a fun time even though the show had just began. The music stopped and the host of this year's contest was introduced. I nearly had a heart attack. "Oh wow! You see who that is guys? That's William Shatner." I said smiling. I had always been a fan of him and his work. Taking the microphone he went to center stage and looked over the audience. "Hello and welcome to this year's Miss United States Pageant. We have contestants from every walk of the country here tonight, and one of them will take home the crown. The crown which will announce her as Miss United States. But now it is time for the Miss United States Creed:" He readjusted his microphone as the crown came up from under the stage encased in glass and began rotating sparkling brightly. Next to me I could feel James start to snuggle up against me as we started watching Shatner speak. "From sea to shining sea like Lady Liberty She reigns over all she sees. She's beauty and she's grace. She's queen of fifty states. She's elegance and taste. She's Miss United States. Hold your crown up high. Hold your crown up high. Raise it to the sky. Hold your crown up high. She's beauty and she's grace. She's queen of fifty states. She's elegance and taste. She's Miss United States." As he finished I felt James give me a tight squeeze. It was at that time in which I could tell that's what James wanted to do. He wanted to be involved in the Miss United States Pageant. Everyone has dreams, all I could do was hope that his would come true. Shatner began speaking again. "And after this commercial break we will announce the ten contestants which will move into the next round." "So what do you think so far?" Joey asked. "There are some great looking women out there." JC said. Yeah when he saw Miss Arizona, I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head. While I know that Justin had a thing for Miss Nebraska as he almost fell out of his seat trying to get closer to the TV. "So you are a hockey coach?" JC asked. "Actually an assistant coach." James said. "For what team?" Joey asked. "The local university in town." Chris responded. "Guys are you going to answer all my questions?" I asked. "When is your first game Jace?" Justin asked. "The first two games are this Friday and Saturday against North Dakota." "I would love to come see a game." Justin said. "But we can't we have a concert Friday in Lansing." JC commented. "What about Saturday?" Justin asked. "Saturday we are free, I think." James said. "After all we are not due back on the road until Monday." "That settles it, we are coming to the game Saturday." Justin said. I could tell that Justin was excited. I wasn't sure if he had ever seen a hockey game before but he was going to get a great show. "I'll arrange tickets for you. All you have to do is tell me where you want to sit." I said. The commercials ended and William Shatner came back into view. "Welcome back and now it is time to introduce our ten semi-finalists. In no particular order they are..." The women on stage held their pose and their breath as he started to call out the names. "Miss Texas...Miss Montana...Miss Oregon...Miss Alabama...Miss Georgia...Miss Michigan...Miss Louisiana...Miss Ohio...Miss New Jersey...and...Miss Tennessee. Those are our ten semifinalists. Come back to us and we will have our interview segment. You will not want to miss it." The screen then went to another commercial. "How did everyone do?" Joey asked. "I got one." "I got one." Justin said. "One." Chis said. "Same here." JC said, "What about you two?" He said to James and myself. "I guessed two." James said looking at me. "I got three. Luck huh?" I said watching the commercials. "Well you're not going to get past the semifinals. I see New Jersey taking it all." Joey said smugly. "Whatever, Tennessee doesn't even have to break a sweat to get into the finals. So I'm still going with her." Justin spoke up defending his choice. "I guess we will see won't we?" I stated. I then turned to James, "You do know that Mississippi will not make it to the next round." "That's why I'm placing my chips on Alabama." He replied. "You're hoping that a star will fall on Alabama?" "Absolutely." He said as the show came back on. "Welcome back. We will now commence with our interview portion of the program where each contestant will answer one question. Let us begin. The first contestant is Miss..." After all the interviews were completed, the judges did not waste anytime getting their votes cast on who would make it to the next round, which all the guys were eagerly awaiting for. "The five contestants going into the next round are Miss New Jersey...Miss Montana...Miss Michigan...Miss Georgia...and the final contestant going into the next round is...Miss Alabama!" Shatner finished. "By my count, Justin and Chris are out. Let me add up the rest: JC one, Joey one, James one, and me two." I said giving a slight laugh. "Face it guys," I said turning to Justin and Chris, "You two just don't have the knack." "Maybe," Justin said, "but at least we have better taste in dates." I could tell that struck James a little hard, but I know how to counteract a smart aleck. "Well Justin, I would like to see that. So go get her and inflate her so we can compare." I said wryly. I was immediately surrounded by the sounds of laughter from James, Chris, and JC. Joey was deeply engrossed in a food commercial. Taking a coin out of my pocket, I tossed it into the air. "What are you doing Jace?" James asked. "I want to see who will win, Alabama or Michigan. Alabama is tails and Michigan is heads." I replied as I caught it and looked at it. "What's it say?" He asked. "Alabama wins." I said shoving the coin back into my pocket. "Alright I'm taking my genius over your coin." JC said, "I'll take Miss Montana." I went to the bathroom and quickly came back out. I found that I had missed three backstage interviews. "Who's left?" I asked as I came back to my seat. As soon as I had got there I had obtained a growth hanging onto me. "Georgia and Alabama are left." Joey said. "Now let's hear from Miss Georgia." William said from the television while giving the last question and answer round. "Now Miss Georgia if there is one thing that you could bring to the world what would it be?" Miss Georgia replied as seriously as she could, "Oh wow, bring to the world, huh? That's a tough one, but I'd have to say world peace." "Good answer." Several of the guys called out. "That'll never happen." I said contradicting their words. "Don't you believe there will ever be world peace Jace?" James asked with a pleading heart look on his face. "Yes it is a possibility, but right now it is not a reality. And I only say that is because the people in Israel and the Arafat contingency are too ignorant to want peace. Instead they just want to kill each other, and I say if they don't want peace let them go at it. Let everyone else just watch." I believe my statement had a strong impact on the guys for they actually took the time to think about it and could not argue the point. I looked back at the TV for Alabama was giving her answer. "I want to see more effort being put into technologies for space and colonization of other planets and moons. Think a minute if you will if a celestial object collides into the earth, we either need a strong defense against it or the ability to escape it. Without either we are just sitting ducks waiting for our race to die." Miss Alabama said. "Now that's an answer." I said. "We'll be right back with the popular German music group, Ein." William Shatner said as they went to commercial. The only thing I hated about the Miss United States Pageant when I watched it every year is that I would get very sleepy. I think perhaps it was all those dumb answers to the interview questions. I'm not sure if any of the other guys noticed. But as James put is head under my arm just so I would end up holding him I put my own head on his and felt my eyes closed. The next thing I remember is opening my eyes slowly to a wide awake JC and Justin. James was nowhere to be found and neither was Joey and Chris. "Where is everyone?" I managed to squeak out. "Chris and Joey went to sleep, while Scoop went into his bedroom for a second, he said he would be back out." Justin answered. "And what happened?" I asked pointing to the television. "Miss Alabama won." JC said, "But now it seems that group. What was it, Ein? They are definitely someone that can put you to sleep." "Yeah, I know the feeling." I said getting up and stretching. I then started to head towards the door. "Where are you going?" JC asked. "I'm going home." I said. "Ok see you later." Justin said from the couch. "You're not going anywhere." JC scolded me as he ripped a glare at Justin. "You are not driving anywhere if you cannot even keep your eyes open." "I'm fine." I said. "Let me just put water in my eyes and I'll be fine." "You are not a plant. And I'll bet that if we dunk your head in water you'll drown due to your tiredness." JC said continuing to scold me. "Trust me I'll be alright." I said as I opened the door, but not quite fully as I turned around to walk and slammed right in it with my face. "Sure." JC said. At that point James came out of the bedroom, wearing a towel around his waist. I could not see all of him for I was on the floor from when the door plastered me. "What's that noise?" He asked. "Jace slammed himself into the door trying to walk to his car." JC said. "It's a miracle he can even be on his feet." I got up off the floor to find James holding me up. "You're not going anywhere tonight." James said. "But where am I going to sleep? The couch? That's way too uncomfortable." I said. "I think we can find you a place." JC said grinning. "Oh JC stop it. You can be so perverted." James said as my body began to grow limper and limper. "Let's put him somewhere." James said somewhere next to me as my eyes closed and I felt gravity drag me back down to the floor and then have myself pass out into dreamland.