Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 22:18:26 -0800 From: Zeo Subject: N Sync Love Part 2 ** I humbly bow to all the people to who gave me support. ** I wasn't expecting so many responses, thanx....Enjoy... ** Oh...one more thing...sorry for making the story so long... Chapter 3: Sincerity As the sun slowly rose over the horizon, the golden rays of light shot through the open window forming a bright line across the wall. I finally awoke from my deep sleep. Slowly opening my eyes, I tried to focus on the ceiling, everything was fuzzy. After a minute or so staring at the ceiling, I turned my head towards the table where the clock was. It read 6:00 AM. "Damn it's early," I said to myself, "I knew I should have closed the curtains." I sat up on the bed and started to think what I was doing here. "Let's see," I said to myself, "I crashed into JC, met his friends, hung around Justin, was invited to his house, ate pizza, played with his little brother, slept over and a guy kissed me in the middle of the night," listing things which happened in that hectic day. "Anything else gonna happen?" I said sarcastically I finally managed to get out of the warm confines of the bed and started to clean myself up. Because I wasn't able to get back to the hotel, I had to use the same clothes I had the day before. I tried to make them look as clean as possible by getting all of the lint and wrinkles out. Once I thought it was satisfactory, I put them on and headed out the door. I reached the doorknob when a thought occurred. "These guys have done a lot for me," I said, "I've got to do something to pay them back....But what?" While thinking of what to do, I headed out the door and down the stairs. By that time, my stomach was making funny noises and I instinctively went into the kitchen. I looked through the refrigerator and again to my disappointment there was nothing to eat. "That's it," I smiled, "That's what I'll do to partially pay them back." I grabbed some eggs, milk, and butter from the fridge and set them on the table. Next, I looked through the cabinets for a bowl, a spatula, a fork, and some flour. It took a while to find all the things I needed, it felt like an Easter egg hunt. I poured some flour into the bowl, cracked a couple of eggs and added a touch of milk. Once all the ingredients were in, I proceeded to make some pancake batter. Occasionally, I would add a dash of salt or baking powder to make it just right. Once the batter was done, I then started to make my French toast. I grabbed a few slices of bread, mixed the eggs and milk and made a few French toasts. I didn't make too much of one thing. I always loved variety. Both of them done, I looked for a skillet or frying pan of some sort. I fired up the range and started to cook the pancakes. I could see the smoke rising from the pan the second the batter made contact. I had to admit, the food smelled better here than it did back home. No idea why. All I could make was 10 cakes before the batter ran out. All of the pancakes were stacked on a plate next to the range. Just as I was about to start with the French toast, Johnathan walked into the kitchen. "Morning Johnathan," as I continued with my cooking. "Morning," he replied sleepily. He rubbed his eyes a bit and took notice on what I was doing, "Whatcha doing?" "I'm making breakfast for you guys because you have been so nice to me," I replied still focused on the toast. "Can I help?" he asked. "Well..." I was kinda hesitant fearing that he might get hurt. "Please, please, can I help?" Johnathan begged. I couldn't say no to the little guy, "Sure you can." Johnathan started to bounce up and down. "But you've got to be extra careful." I said sternly. "I will," he beamed back. "First, I would like you to go to the refrigerator and get some sausages." he happily complied and brought back the sausages that I asked for. "Would you please get me a plate so I can put the toast in?" This went on for a few minutes. While I was cooking, Johnathan would go around the kitchen getting things I requested. When he wasn't getting stuff, he was next to me transfixed on what I was doing. I would occasionally glance at him and smiled. 'I guess he wants to be a chef.' I thought to myself. By this time, all of the toast were done and I started on the sausages and scrambled eggs. I decided to start with the eggs first. I cracked the eggs in the pan and stirred them up a bit. I let them sit there as I turned to get another plate. When I came back, I was startled. Johnathan was barely able to see over the counter when he tried to reach for the spatula. "Johnathan no!" I barked at him. He jumped back at my words. "Are you OK?" I knelt down in front of him inspecting his hand. He just looked down with a frown. "I'm sorry for yelling at you," putting my hand on his little shoulder, "I was afraid that you might get burned because you couldn't see what was on the stove." "I didn't mean to..." he pouted almost crying. I reached over and gave him a hug. "I know you meant well," I said breaking the hug, "Why don't you get the table ready?" I asked softly. "Really?" as he looked at me. "Of course," I smiled back, "You are my helper, aren't you?" Johnathan laughed and rushed off to set the table. I wasn't sure why he was so happy. It was either because he wanted to help out, or I didn't scold him or maybe it was a little of both. I got back up and resumed with my cooking. After a few minutes, I had finished the eggs, bacon, and sausages. I placed all of the food on the dining room table and set everything in place. There were 5 plates and glasses with all the utensils, some extra juice and milk, cereal, and napkins. Once everything was done, I told Johnathan he could start eating. It was amusing watching Johnathan climb up on the chair and reaching for the food. After a few moments watching him struggle to get the food, I went beside him and placed some pancakes, eggs, and other things on his plate. Once he was squared away, I sat down and began to place the food on my plate. Right as I put some syrup on the pancakes, the doorbell rang. I stopped and looked at Johnathan. He just kept eating and the doorbell rang again. I didn't know what to do. 'Who could be here at 7 in the morning?' I thought to myself. So I put the syrup down, got up and started for the door. I opened it and was surprised to see 5 girls standing there with pens and pictures of Justin, JC, and Chris. "Hello," I politely said to them, "How may I help you?" They looked shocked to see me standing at the door. They were quickly giving glances back and forth to each other trying to figure out what was going on. "Umm," the girl in front of me started to say, "Is Justin Timberlake in?" I had to think fast because from the look of these girls, I knew Justin didn't know who they were. "I'm sorry," I finally replied, "But he has already left for the day." "How about JC or Chris," another one butted in. "Actually, all of them left together about an hour ago," trying to keep a straight face. "Well...OK," one of them said in disappointment, "But could you tell them we were here?" "Uhh, sure. Just hold on a minute," I said as I grabbed a blank pad and a pen on the night stand next to the door. I managed to scribble down their names and phone numbers and all of the things that they wanted to say. Also, they gave me some pretty intense instructions about getting their autographs and stuff. As I wrote down everything, I was in disbelief. I didn't know that these guys had a cult following. I had to check up on who they were before leaving town. After they were done giving me orders, I told the group that I would relay the message and that they would get back to them when time permits. I thought I was doing well for a fake butler. With that over, I closed the door and plopped back into my seat. Johnathan was halfway done with his breakfast when Chris came hopping down the stairs. "Hey, what smells so good down there?" Chris yelled as he came down the stairs. "Come down and see," I yelled back. The look on his face was one of astonishment. "You...did all of this?" he managed to sputter out. "Yup," I smiled at him, "This is my way of thanking you guys for letting me stay." "Gee," as he surveyed the table, "You went all out, didn't you?" I started to blush a little. "It's just that usually the guys and I just eat some cereal and only eat this kind of stuff on the road," Chris explained as he took his seat. "You don't eat breakfast here?" I asked. "Nope. No one around here can cook...except Justin's mom. But she is always out of the house by the time we wake up," Chris piling up food on his plate. During breakfast, we chatted about how Johnathan helped out preparing the food and the girls that came by. He was surprised that people came by this morning and he was impressed on how I handled them. I also gave him the notes I jotted down. One look at the notes and he busted out laughing. "You're serious aren't you?" he said after he finished laughing. "What? You don't believe me or something?" I said sarcastically. "No it's not that. It's just that I never imagined fans would come to the house so early in the morning to get our autographs," he remarked as I kept eating the food. "Were any of them cute?" he put the note down. "If any of them were," I said looking at Chris, "I would have invited them in." Both of us laughed at the comment. Then JC and Justin sleepily walked down the stairs. "What's going on guys?" JC asked with a yawn. "Oh, nothing," Chris responded, "Just eating some good old fashion breakfast that Mano here was gracious enough to make." I think Chris got a kick of embarrassing me in front of everyone. "What?" JC looking at the table in disbelief. "It's the least I could do," I said, "I hope you don't mind me using the kitchen?" "Oh no not at all," JC said as he and Justin took to their seats, "It's just that this was a complete surprise." During this little conversation, I noticed that Justin was not his usual self. He had almost a haggard look on his face. Didn't even say anything to me or anyone else for that matter during the whole time he walked down the stairs and started to eat. "Is Justin all right?" I whispered in JC's ear. "Yeah," JC whispered back, "He's always grumpy in the morning." "Oh..." I responded. After that, Chris and I resumed our little chat session on what happened this morning. JC was interested on what happened and joined in too. Only Justin and Johnathan were left out for obvious reasons. Time was going by pretty quickly and it was almost eight. Finally, Justin was awake enough to start talking to us. He commented on how people would go so far to get a signature or just to be in a picture with them. Of course, I still didn't know who the hell they were except that they are ultra famous. I was getting a little bit nervous just talking to these guys. All I could think was how stupid I sounded to them. I quickly nixed that thought considering that they have put up with me for this long. Just then there was a knock at the door. "Oh my God! They're back," Chris joked. I jumped at the thought that they were back. "I'll get it," I started to get out of my seat, "If they are back, I'll make sure they WON'T come back." The rest of the guys laughed. As I opened the door, I was shocked to see who was standing in front of me. "Mano? What are you doing here?" Lance's eyes bugged out. "Hiya Lance," I tried not to act surprised, "Justin asked me to spend the night cause I was too far from the hotel and it was getting late." "Really?" Lance cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm sorry," I snapped to attention, "Please, come in." Both of us walked towards the dining room with Lance behind me. I felt really uncomfortable with him. It felt as though he was looking at me under a microscope, I didn't know why considering that we don't even know each other at all. "Who is it Mano?" JC yelled from the table. "It's Lance," I replied. "Hey Lance," Justin said as he saw him walk in the room, "What's up?" "Don't you know what time it is?" Lance replied sternly. "Oh damn!" JC recoiled, "We completely forgot!" "No kidding," Lance snickered. "Come on Justin," as JC quickly stood up, "We've got to get ready." Justin followed JC upstairs still chewing on a mouthful of food. "It's going to take them a while to get ready," I turned towards Lance, "Why don't you have something to eat?". Lance slowly turned his head towards me and just stared for a moment. I was petrified by his gaze, but I held my ground. He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Sure, why not?" I let out a silent sigh of relief when he started to sit down at the table. I quickly ran into the kitchen and grabbed a plate and some utensils. Then I placed them in front of Lance and he proceeded to put some French toast on his plate. He sprinkled a dash of powdered sugar on it, cut away a small corner of the toast, and placed it in his mouth. At this point I was ready to pass out from the tension that has been building up since Lance walked in the door. He chewed for a while and I guess he liked it cause he started to wolf down the rest of the food. "This is pretty good," he finally spoke in between forkfuls of toast, "You're a good cook." I didn't know what to say except, "Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it," as I munched on some toast. Once Chris was finished with his food, he started talking to Lance about some contracts and of the like. I had no idea what they were talking about and I was not going to butt into their conversation. He and Lance talked for a while until JC and Justin came down the stairs all ready to go to the 'studio' as I can tell from the conversation. "We are so sorry Mano," JC apologized, "Justin and I wanted to give you a tour of the city, but we completely forgot about the studio." "That's no problem," I tried to soothe him, "As long as I can get a ride back to my hotel, it's no big deal." "Well, that's the thing," Chris started up, "It is a big deal for us. We feel really bad that you had to spend your vacation by yourself and me and guys wanted to help you out." "Now what's next," I replied sarcastically. "You see," Justin continued, "Last night, we got together and came up with a cool idea," Justin started smiling. "Yeah. We thought it would be cool that me and Joey will give you a tour of the city," Chris finished the thought while Lance cocked an eyebrow in his direction. I thought about his proposal for a minute while everyone held their breath for my answer. "Sure, I'd love to take a tour of the city," I finally responded. Chris gave me this wicked grin while JC and Justin silently patted themselves on the back. I knew I was going to have another one of those crazy days. I glanced towards Lance, noticing that he was not at all pleased at what just happened. It felt like there was a vendetta against me or something. I tried to contain my excitement as best as I could. "Hey, Chris," I started up. "Yo, what's up?" "Before we go out into the city, is it possible to go back to my hotel so I can change clothes?" "Sure, that's no problem. We can pick up Joey along the way." With that, JC, Justin, Lance as well as Johnathan left the house and silence permeated throughout the empty rooms. Chris began to walk back up to his room so he can get changed, leaving me alone in the living room. I sat on the couch and started to think about what happened a few minutes ago. Lance gave me a death look just because the rest of guys wanted to hang out with me. Something must be going on around here and I wanted to know what it was. My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of Chris' steps coming down the stairs. He looked kinda funky looking. He was wearing black pants with a chain connected to his wallet, an unusual colored striped shirt, and his slick black jacket. It looked like he was all dressed up for a date instead of a day in town. "Ready," he said as he looked through his yellow glasses. "As ready as I'll ever be," I replied enthusiastically, though I knew I would probably regret this day. I slung my backpack over my shoulder as we headed out the door. "We'll use JC's jeep cause it's a good day to drive," he commented. I couldn't argue with him, it was a beautiful day outside. The sun was blazing in full force and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I wished San Francisco was like this. We hopped into JC's black jeep and headed back to my hotel. Chris took a route different than that of Justin's. He traced the edge of the city making sure that we didn't go in. I asked him about it and he said we were supposed to take a tour of the city later on and didn't want to ruin the excitement. On the way to the hotel, we drove through this quaint neighborhood. It was one of those neighborhoods in which the Beaver family would live. Many of the houses were two stories and all of them looked exactly the same, with the exception of the different colors, but nonetheless the same style house. It was as if a giant cookie cutter came down and shaped all of these houses. We drove for a while until Chris slowed down and parked into a driveway. It was curious that Chris managed to pick out the one house out of all the others. The two other houses next to us looked exactly the same. I guess they knew each other pretty well. "Wait right here while I get Joey," Chris said as he turned off the car and stepped out. "No problem," I replied back. I watched Chris walk along the driveway to the front door and started to knock. This puzzled me because I didn't understand why he wouldn't just use the doorbell which was in plain sight. Then I thought that maybe the doorbell didn't work. The door opened and Joey was standing there talking to Chris. It looked like Joey was already dressed and ready to go. I felt like this was a set up. I focused my attention on the similar houses across the street and took mental images for my sketches. I guess I was too deep into thought because I was startled by the sound of the door opening. Joey popped his head in, "Hey, how're you doing?" he asked chipperly. "I'm doing great," I replied equally chipper, "And you?" "Not too bad," he said as he hopped into the back seat, "So, where are we off to?" "First we have to get Mano back to his hotel so he can get a new set of clothes," Chris started as he sat in the driver's seat, "Then we're hitting the mall." "The mall?" I asked in dismay, 'This is what you call a tour of the city?' I thought in disgust. "Cool," Joey's eyes widened, "I need to buy some clothes." "Don't worry Mano," Chris looked at me, "You're gonna love this mall." I half-heartily smiled back. It's not that I hated going to the mall or anything, it's just that I never really thought highly of malls. I always went into one, but I was usually by myself and there were so many people in the mall it kinda makes me feel really insignificant. Not that I really needed that to make me feel even more lonely. I took deep breaths and kept thinking to myself that everything was going to be fine cause this time I have some company with me. The way to my hotel was uneventful. Joey and I talked about all the places that they have been to and all the video footage he had taken with his camcorder. He was very careful not to mention too much about themselves. I picked up on this and thought out my questions very carefully before I asked. I had this feeling that they were testing me so I played along. All of us joked on the embarrassing moments that Joey went through and the cool thing was that he wasn't ashamed of it at all. Joey was very secure about himself. After 20 minutes or so, we reached my hotel and I told them I would be right back. I bolted through the lobby almost running over one of the bellhops, took the elevator and quickly entered my room. I threw all of the clothes I was wearing on the ground and rummaged through the suitcases. I managed to pull out some kakhi pants, a dark green shirt, and a black and white flannel shirt. 'That should do it,' I thought. Before I went back out, I decided to put some spare clothes in my bag just in case another "fiasco" occurred. Once done, I zoomed back out of the room and impatiently rode the elevator down to the lobby. Upon reaching the lobby, I slowed down my pace and casually walked to the jeep. "Sorry I took so long," as I boarded the vehicle. "Took so long?" Joey commented with some curiosity, "You weren't even in the hotel for more than 15 minutes and you call that long?" "I really didn't want you guys to wait for me, so I tried to hurry up," I apologized to him. "No, no, don't be," Chris started, "It's that the rest of the guys would take about 30 minutes or so to do what you just did." "Really?" I said and Chris nodded back. "Well then lets get going," Joey interjected, "It's still early so that means there's not that many people at the mall." "OK then, we're off!" Chris started up the jeep and headed towards the city. This time, the drive was quite fast. Instead of taking the sidestreets or cutting through neighborhoods, Chris cruised along the freeway and in no time flat we arrived at a garage in the city. The garage wasn't very crowded and Chris found a space very near the exit. He joked about being so close to the exit because we might need an "escape" route just in case things got out of hand. Chris and I got out of the jeep and Joey followed soon afterwards. All of us started to walk out of the garage. "So which store are we gonna hit first," I asked. "I don't really know," Chris replied. "Footlocker first," Joey said, "I need some new shoes." "Sounds good," I said knowing that I would definitely regret this day. Finally walking out of the garage, I looked over the placed and was amazed at what I saw. This mall is HUGE. It consisted of 2 very large stories full of shops of every shape, size and content. Marble floors and walls lined mall. There were also marble-like columns every few feet or so holding up the ceiling. This place is nice. What made this mall so different from all the others I had been to back home was that the roof was made out of glass. It let so much light in that you could have sworn you were outside. As we walked the long, winding corridors, I was amazed at everything. There were so much plant life in aisles that it looked like a garden which stretched from one end of the mall to the other. Different types of flowers and scents floated in the air as we walked toward the store. Chris smiled cause he knew I was having a good time. Once we reached the center of the mall, I was even more amazed. A huge, complex fountain was at the heart of the place. Jets of water sprayed upwards at every which way you could think of. Along with the jets of water were many different colored spotlights shining through them. It created an image which seemed that the jets of water were dancing. In the center of the fountain, was a beautiful marble and gold statue. It looked like one of those old Roman statue goddess that you see on the Discovery Channel. "Aren't you glad you came along?" Chris asked smiling. "I am now," I smiled back. "Don't tell me this the first time you've been in a mall?" Joey looked at me. "Oh, please," I rolled my eyes, "I've been in lots of malls. But not a mall quite like this." "Yeah right," Joey kidded, "A mall is a mall." I just shrugged my shoulders. We finally reached Footlocker and Joey began to look through some cross-trainers. Chris looked at some sneakers while just browsed in the sport boot section. They had an impressive selection of shoes to choose from. As I looked through the store, I noticed Joey with handful of shoes in his arms. The shoes came in many different colors and designs, and some of the colors I kinda questioned, but kept my comments to myself. Joey sat down on the bench in the middle of the store and started to fan out the shoes on the floor in front of him. "Hi. What can do for you today?" as female sales associate walked towards Joey. "Hello," Joey responded, "I would like to try on these shoes please." She looked at the line of shoes on the floor, "My, that's quite a lot to try on." "I know," he scratched his head, "But I need a good one for the road." "Oh OK. I understand," she said as she started to pick up the shoes. Once she gathered all of the shoes, she stood up and took a good look at Joey. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God," she stammered out. "Please don't scream," Joey gave her a sad puppy look. "I...I'm sorry," she calmed down and apologized, "I'll get you your stuff right away." She bolted through the stockroom door and disappeared from sight. "That was close," Chris gave a sigh of relief as he walked towards Joey. "No kidding," Joey replied back. I really didn't care at all except that everyone seems to know about them and I didn't. It kinda got me a little mad and jealous at the same time. The woman came back out of door carrying many boxes of shoes. She wasn't alone though. Another female co-worker was helping her with the shoes. She probably tagged along cause she didn't believe that Joey was in the store. "Oh my God!" I heard the second woman whisper to the first, "Chris and Joey are here!" "Isn't it cool," the other one whispered back. I just cocked my eyebrow at them. They put the boxes next to Joey and started to take the top off the lids of the boxes. "That's OK ladies," Joey said to them, "I can take them off." "Sorry about that," one of the associates said. Both of them walked to the back of the counter and stood there staring at both Chris and Joey. "One of them is pretty cute," Joey quietly chuckled out. "Please, you have low standards," Chris replied. "There's nothing wrong with browsing," Joey defending himself. "When was the last time you had a date?" Chris kidded and all of us giggled at the comment. I heard the two ladies whispering to each other behind the counter. I guess they could tell we were talking about them. Joey tried on lots of shoes. He walked in them to see how they would feel like. Shoe after shoe he tried, but couldn't find the right one. When he put on this Nike cross-trainer, a smile formed on his face. He put the pair on and tied the laces. "Do you like?" as Joey raised his leg straight out so all of us could see the shoe. "Looks good," Chris commented. "Nah," I replied, "It doesn't say Joey on it." "OK," Joey looked kinda disappointed, "Which one do you think is me?" I guess he wanted that shoe and I felt bad that I shot him down. I rummaged through the remaining shoes which he hadn't tried on and found the prefect one. "Here, try this one," I showed him the shoes. It was a pair of Adidas cross-trainer high tops. It had a very stylistic purple and white design on it. Joey looked at it for a moment and started to put on the pair. Once he finished tying the laces, he stood up and walked around a bit. "You know what?" he asked me. I shrugged my shoulders. "You have good taste," Joey laughed. Chris nodded his head in agreement and held up his pair at me to choose from. "OK, Mr. Expert...Which one?" he looked at one, then the other, and finally at me. I looked at both shoes and said my thoughts, "Neither." "What?" he looked puzzled. "The one's you're wearing are way better than the one you're hold up," I stated. He looked at his shoes. "I guess you're right," he admitted. We talked some about the other shoes and Joey finally chose the one I picked out for him. All of us got up and walked to the counter to pay for the stuff. The two women were shaking ever so slightly as they rung up the sale. Joey noticed this. "Calm down," Joey smiled. Chris took two business cards from the counter and signed it. He passed it to Joey who also signed it. Once the transaction was over he gave one of the cards to each of them. "Have a nice day," he said to them. Joey took his bag and we hurriedly walked out the store. No sooner did we make it 10 feet away from the store when heard a scream. "CHRIS AND JOEY GAVE ME THEIR AUTOGRAPHS!" both women yelled. A few people turned their heads as we quickly went up the escalator. "I don't think we're safe here anymore," Chris said with concern. "Nah, don't worry about it," Joey tried to assure him. "What's next?" I asked the two of them changing the subject. "I don't know about you two," Joey looked at us, "But it's almost 1:30 and I'm starving." "No prob," Chris acknowledged, "I'm kinda hungry myself. Let's get some food." "Let's try that new Italian place in the food court," Joey suggested. "Good idea," Chris responded. I just tagged along with them cause I wasn't really feeling very hungry. Considering that I just ate a full course breakfast, my stomach was still full. We slowly walked over the food court. Along the way we would stop to peer through a shop window or go inside and browse through the selection. Once in a while, some of the associates, especially the younger ones, would do a double take. I guess they couldn't believe who they were seeing and they didn't give us any trouble. All the while, I talked to Chris and Joey about the store, the products, life in general. Both of them were very interesting to talk to. The only problem I had was that Chris has a very short attention span. I didn't mind so much, but he kept changing the subject the minute we would start to go deep into one. I didn't get annoyed cause I knew people who were just like him. Joey on the other hand had a tendency of bumping into things in the store. He wasn't a klutz or anything, it was just that things seem to be getting into his way and he would always bump into it. In one of the stores, he was looking at a designer plate and he put it back down. He "accidentally" tipped it over. Luckily, I was there next to him and caught the plate before it smashed into a million pieces on the floor. A good thing too cause that baby was expensive. We finally reached the food court which was on the second floor above the fountain. All three of us grabbed the nearest table next to the Italian place and plopped down. Joey and Chris went to go check out the menu. They both debated on what to get. Either some lasagna or fettuccine. Since neither of them could get the other to agree, they got one of each item. Once they paid for the meal, they sat back down and started on lunch. Chris looked at me quizzically, "Aren't you going to eat lunch?" "Nope. I'm not really hungry," I answered. "OK, but you're missing out on some great food," Joey commented. "I'll eat later," I tried to assure him. They kept eating their lunch stopping for a moment to take a sip of their soda and comment on the food they were eating. I just looked around the food court area admiring all the different designs that were strewn all over the place. I also looked at all the stores on the other side of our table. Many of the stores were the same expensive clothing store, or something to that effect. Then I saw something which caught my eye. Squinting my eyes so that I can see through the glare of the window, there was a very small, well hidden jewelry store. I thought for a moment and decided that I would buy something here after all. "Mind if I shop while you guys are eating?" turning towards my two grubbing partners. "No problem," Joey started. "It'll be a while till we're finished," Chris ended. "OK see you guys in a bit." I casually got out of the seat and walked over to the direction of the jeweler's shop. For a small store, there were tons of diamonds, rubies, and all sorts of rings and necklaces. I looked through all of the rings and found none to be satisfactory. I asked the gentleman in the front to show me some of their broaches or pins. He gave me a kind of dirty look and proceeded to show them to me. I had the impression that I didn't fit the type who would buy something here. Of course I'll have to prove him wrong. I found 5 pins which was exactly what I wanted. I smiled to myself knowing that the guys would flip over this. I told the guy I would buy the pins. He was kinda surprised that I would buy something from the store. He opened the case and took out only one. I told him, I wanted 5 of them. The associate was even more dumbfounded. This time he quickly and carefully took out the pins. His attitude changed towards me cause now he was almost bending backwards to help me out. I knew he was phony and just asked for 5 small boxes to hide the pins. I paid for them with the cash I had on me as well with the credit card in my wallet. I put the 5 small boxes in my backpack so Chris and Joey wouldn't ask me what I bought. With that done, I walked out of the store. I was heading toward the direction of Chris and Joey when I noticed something was wrong. There was a mob of people where our table used to be. I hurried my pace and reached the end of the crowd. All I could see was Chris and Joey being pulled every which way by screaming people. It looks like they were going to need help. I rammed myself into the mob and literally pushed people down to get to the center of the mess. I reached out and firmly gripped Chris' arm. Then with my other hand I caught Joey's wrist. I pulled them with all might and fought my way through the crowd. I reached to the edge of the crowed and threw both of them forward and they stumbled out of the crowd. It took them a few moments to regain their balance and looked at me with shock. "Go!" I yelled trying to hold back the mass of people, "Go now! I'll slow them down!" They nodded and ran as fast as they could down the escalator and to the garage. Half of the crowd went the other way and tried to chase after them. The people which I held back yelled and glowered at me for what I had done. I didn't care and walked away from the cursing crowd. 'That was stupid,' I thought to myself. 'Now I'm alone again in this stupid mall. On top of that, I have no way of getting back to my hotel.' I realized this because I spent all of my cash buying the presents for the guys. I kept walking through the mall not bothering to look at the stores anymore. I was instinctively walking towards the garage, hoping that they would be there waiting for me. I reached to the spot where Chris had parked and the jeep was gone. "Some friends they were," I hissed. A tear fell from my eye knowing that I had been used all along. I hate being used. That was the one thing which I despised the most. I couldn't just stand there and look like an idiot, so I walked off, out the mall. I walked to the intersection and looked around. There were cars driving by all over the place. The streets were much wider and nicer than the ones in San Fran. With the large streets, traffic moved very well and you can actually cross the over without fear of being run over. I tried to figure out which way Chris got here so I can hopefully walk back to the hotel. I started to walk along the street next to mall to see which was the correct one to follow. Just as I was about to cross, a car's horn was honking at me very loudly from behind. I turned around and saw that it was JC's jeep heading in my direction. Chris pulled up next to me and the door opened. "Well?" Joey eyed me, "Aren't you gonna hop in?" I gladly accepted and sat in the back seat. There was an uncomfortable silence once I settled in. "We are sooooo sorry about that," Chris apologized in a low tone. "We tried to go back and get you, but there were people chasing us and couldn't go back," Joey pouted. "No, it's OK," I tried to assure them, "As long as you guys didn't get hurt, that's all that matters." "NO! It's not OK," Chris argued, "You pulled us out of that mess. Then you blocked everyone trying to get us so we can get away. And all we did was to ditch you," Chris' voice was starting to crack. "No one has ever come close to what you did for us," Joey continued without making eye contact, "We really did try to find you." I was at a loss for words at this point. All I could do was to reach around the seat with one arm and hugged Chris. He was a little surprised by my action, but eventually he put his hand on my arm and squeezed a little. I broke the hug and did the same for Joey. He ran his hand up and down my forearm and patted it. "Now that we've got settled," I started back up, "We should get out of here cause you might get a ticket," I laughed. Chris smiled and started up the car, "I know this great museum full of weird things." "You mean the one with all of the wax..." Joey started to ask. "Shhhh..." Chris interrupted him. The rest of the day continued without any more complications. Chris showed me around the wax museum and that was cool. It creeped me out a little, but it was all in good fun. We made so much noise in the museum that we almost got ourselves kicked out. The next stop in my grand tour of the city was the "business" sector where all of the tall buildings were clustered together. Joey wanted to go up to the top of a skyscraper and try to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Chris and I just laughed and tried to imitate him. It was during this time that I noticed a change in Chris. Once in a while, I would be looking at some buildings and I would catch him sort of staring at me from the corner of my eye. Every time I started to turn my head, his eyes would wander around as if he was looking at something else. 'Nah, he couldn't be,' I thought to myself. It's not what he was doing was uncomfortable or anything, it was just the thought that he might have been the one who kissed me last night. But I didn't know for sure because JC and Justin was there too. All throughout the day, it went on like this. I had a blast talking with both Joey and Chris. I think Chris had other things on his mind, but I wasn't the type to guess. He did look attractive in a way. With his hair moving about and those glasses which sorta highlighted his eyes, I had to admit he was pretty cute. Of course I wasn't going to flat out tell him, or else I would be in serious trouble. I just kept the thought in my head as we explored the city throughout the night..... Chapter 4: Resistance JC and Justin were laying their vocals on the tracks while Lance was in the booth monitoring them. Lance turned a few dials, pushed a couple of buttons, and flipped some switches on the board to add some various effects. This would happen a few times, for they had to start over in order to make extra copies so that they can experiment with different styles. Lance glanced at the wall clock and flipped another switched. The music stopped flowing in the booth. "Let's take a break you guys," Lance bellowed into the mic, "It's already 5." "Five already?" JC took of his head phones. "Yeah, time sure goes fast," Justin followed. The three of them walked out of the studio and silently navigated their way through the twisting corridors. Lance and Justin pushed open a set of double doors and entered the cafeteria. They took a plate from the counter and piled various foods from the buffet table. Once done with their selections, the three sat down on a table in the corner. They started to eat their late lunch. "This isn't as good as breakfast," JC commented as he took a bite of his sandwich. "No kidding," Justin followed, "I bet Mano can do way better." Lance stared at them still continuing with his food. JC noticed this, "Look Lance we've gotta talk." "About what?" Lance raising an eyebrow. "About Mano." "There's nothing to talk about." "Why are you so against him considering you don't even know the guy?" Justin asked. "That's just it," he replied, "I don't know him and you guys don't either and all of a sudden you're all acting like he was your best friend or something." "That's where you're wrong," JC resumed his argument, "We do know him and he's a good guy." "No," Lance snapped back, "You only THINK you know him. For all we know, he could be using you trying to get some popularity points from his friends." "He's not like that," Justin said angrily, "He doesn't even know who we are let alone trying to win a popularity contest." "Yeah...whatever," Lance resumed eating. "Look, why don't you give him a chance?" JC suggested. "No way," Lance was being stubborn, "I've made up my mind." Justin looked at him in disbelief. JC paused for a moment, "You said that you don't like to be pre-judged, right?" Lance stopped eating and knew where this was going. "Right now you're being a hypocrite assuming that Mano is using us," JC resumed, "So why don't you just hang around with him for a while and then make your decision?" Lance stared hard at JC for a while, then turned his head towards Justin. "All right already," Lance sighed, "I'll spend some time with him tomorrow." Justin and JC smiled with victory, "That's the spirit," Justin said enthusiastically. "I said SOME time with him," Lance made it clear, "Once I've made my decision, YOU will stop bothering me," pointing at JC. "Scout's honor," raising his hand like a Boy Scout. They finished eating their lunch and started back up again. Spending time with Chris and Joey was one hell of an adventure. I could barely keep up with Joey let alone both Joey and Chris. Everywhere we went to, Joey would make a comment about it and Chris would argue with him and I had to eventually break up them up. I have never encountered anyone like these two guys. That's probably why I was having so much fun. The day was winding down and the sun slowly moved across the sky. Naturally, none of us noticed this until the sky was pitch black. When we came out of this tiny Mexican restaurant, I looked at the night sky. I admired how the stars were clearly visible from within the city. Chris was standing next to me on my left while Joey was on the other side. They both looked up at what I was staring at. I let a out a sigh. "The sky is so beautiful," I said. "Yeah, the stars are so stunning, aren't they?" Joey backed me up. "Not as stunning as you," I heard a very soft almost inaudible whisper coming from Chris. I just froze on the spot. My mind was racing, trying to struggle for an answer on just what happened. I couldn't concentrate on the stars anymore, just on what Chris had just said. 'That's impossible!' I thought to myself. 'He can't be gay! He just told me all of his girlfriends and he's thinking of me?' still thinking to myself. The city wind blew by which made me shiver a little. Chris noticed, "It's getting late, I should take you back to your hotel." "Huh...oh, yeah, I guess it is getting late," snapping out of my train of thought. We hurriedly got inside the jeep. Joey and Chris sat in the front, while I stayed in the back seat behind Joey. On the drive home, we chatted for a while about nothing really important. Chris didn't seem to be in a rush getting me back to my hotel, and I knew why. Joey was completely oblivious to what was going on and continued to talk about the places they've been to. We finally reached the hotel and Joey got out of the car so I can leave. Once I got out Joey hopped back in. We said our good-byes and good-nights to each other. I turned and started to walk to the entrance. "Hey wait a minute," Joey called from his seat. I turned back towards Joey and leaned on the door, "What's up?" "Would you mind if you could write down your room number at Disney?" Joey asked. "I want to see if I have some free time tomorrow so that we can kick it some more." I swore Chris pouted, "No problem," I replied writing down my room number on some paper Joey grabbed from the glove box. "Hope to see you tomorrow," Joey said with a smile. "OK, see you guys later." "Bye," Chris said through the window. I walked to the entrance and walked through the lobby. Took the elevator up to my floor and entered the room. I placed bag down next to the door and shuffled towards the bed. Once I reached the end of the bed, I fell on top face first. "What the hell is going on here," I talked through the mattress. I flipped over and stared at the ceiling. "Justin having some love problems, someone kissing me in the middle of the night, Lance giving me the evil eye, Chris is making comments about me, and Joey is asking for my number........This is getting way too much for me to handle," I sighed. I sat back up on the bed and started to take off my clothes. I threw them in the corner of the room where all of my other dirty clothes are and looked for something to sleep in. I found my sweats and an undershirt to wear, but first I had to take a shower. I ran some water through first so that there was a constant stream coming from the shower head. I adjusted the temperature and stepped in. 'Maybe I should just stay here tomorrow until all of this craziness blows over,' I thought to myself. "Hell I'm gay, I might as well hit on them first," I laughed, "And besides, they'll never see me again." After the quick shower, I put on my sleeping clothes and finally fell asleep on the bed. I woke up the next morning feeling a little groggy. I got out of bed and stretched a little. I looked out the window and saw Disney World from my vantage point. So many little dots moving around reminded me of ants on the ground. I sat on the chair next to the desk and started to think of what I was going to do. I was tracing some shapes on the table. I decided that I should draw some stuff which I had seen yesterday. I walked over to my backpack, opened it and pulled out a pencil and the sketch book. The first thing that came to mind was the statue in the middle of the mall. I quickly sketched the figure and it looked pretty decent. Then I started to draw all the tall buildings in Orlando thinking of a city-life theme for the prom. I did another one with the wax museum of monsters, but knew that a monster theme is not a good choice for a prom. I flipped to another blank page and just placed my pencil on the middle of the paper. My pencil just stayed in the middle of the page not moving. My head went blank and I had to idea what to draw out next. Then to my surprise, my hand started to move. As if I was possessed or something, I started to sketch out a face. I realized that I was drawing Justin. I concentrated on his hair trying to capture the curliness of it. Once that was done, I started to draw his facial features. Finished, I took a good look at my sketch. It looks pretty close, but he looks much cuter in person I criticized myself. I then flipped to the next blank page and sketched Chris, Joey and Lance in the same fashion concentrating on their best features; Chris with his hair, Joey with his facial fuzz and Lance with his smile. I looked at them and thought I was doing pretty well. Then I started to work on JC. I slowly drew an outline of him and worked on the details. I did his hair, ears, nose, and mouth fairly quickly. Then I started on his eyes. I took great care in drawing his eyes, picturing him in my mind so I can transfer them on paper. As I drew the last line of his eyes, my pencil broke. I kept it on the spot where it broke and looked in shock what I just drew. 'Oh my God,' I whispered. Just then I heard a knocking at my door. I snapped to attention and quickly closed the book. I placed it on the table and headed towards the door. I unlocked the bolts and opened the door. "Hi Mano," Lance said. I jumped back a little, "Hi Lance. What are you doing here?" "Joey called me up last night and said that he had to do some stuff for today," Lance looking me over, "Joey thought it would be a good idea for me to take his place." "I see," not buying his story, "Please, come in," I opened the door. Lance walked in the room, "Please have a seat," I said pointing at the bed. "Thanks," he replied looking around the room, "Have you thought of anything you want to do?" "I don't really know," pulling out some new clothes from the suitcase, "I've already seen Disney World and took a tour a of the city, I really can't think of anything to do." "Hmmm, I can't come up with any ideas either," sternly looking at me. Finding the clothes I want, "Oh, I know. When Chris was driving through town, I noticed some large parks on the outskirts of the city. Do you mind if we can go hiking?" Lance cocking an eyebrow, "You like to go hiking?" asking me. "Yeah, I love hiking. Always hiked up hills and mountains when I was a little kid." "That's cool. Didn't know you liked the outdoors?" asking in a surprised tone, "It'll be no problem getting there." "Awesome," turned and smiled at him, "Could you wait a few minutes as I got changed?" "No problem." I went to the bathroom with the clothes I was gonna wear and closed the door. Once I was out of the room, Lance went over to the table next to the window. He saw my sketch book and started to browse the sketches. He flipped through the pages and saw the new one I had made. 'So that's where he went,' Lance thought as he saw the sketches I made of the mall and other sites. He flipped more pages and his eyes grew very large. "What!?!" he whispered as he saw the sketch of Justin. "I knew he was using us," Lance said out loud. He then continued to look at the sketches of Joey, Chris, JC and himself. When he saw the sketch of himself he chuckled. "Not bad," he commented, "He even got the hair right." Just then, I exited the bathroom and saw Lance quickly putting down the sketch book. "Sorry, for looking through your stuff without asking," sounding apologetic. "No it's OK," I replied half-heartily, "Did you like the portraits?" I asked bluntly. "Ummm, yeah they looked pretty life-like," Lance blushing a little. I knew I caught him off guard. "Ready to go?" quickly changing the subject. "Oh, um, sure." We headed out the room and out of the hotel and into the parking area. Lance led the way and stopped at a cherry red 4 Runner. I stopped and smiled. "What's the matter?" he asked. "You've got good taste," I said. "How so?" Lance looking confused. "This is the exact same car I want to have," I smiled at Lance, "Except that it would be blue." He laughed and unlocked the doors so we could get in. The drive to the park was pretty strange. I felt tension in the air. I tried to make conversation several times, but couldn't get it out. It was as if I was back home trying to talk to people, but couldn't. Lance didn't say a word on the trip, he just kept driving. Thank God that the trip only lasted 10 minutes, any longer and I would have popped open the door and jumped out. Lance pulled into the parking place and both of us stepped out of the car. I took a deep breath as my lungs filled with fresh, crisp air. Both of us walked over the map to check out the trails. "Have you been here," finally breaking the silence. "Never have," clearly lying. I quickly looked over the map, "That looks like a good trail to explore," I pointed at some curvy lines. "Looks good," he replied. We started on our hike, but we really didn't get very far until I saw the ranch full of horses. "Oh, wow," I said in amazement, "Look horses," I changed direction and walked towards them. Lance rolled his eyes and followed me. There were horses of every size and color. There were so many horses it looked like they could cause a major stampede. I looked around for someone who was in charge of the place. I found a dusty cowboy looking guy near one of the gates. I walked up to his direction. Lance just followed me not knowing what I was going to do next. "Excuse me sir," I said slowly. "Yes, son," he replied unlocking the gates. "Is it possible to rent one of the horses so we can ride it along on one of the trails?" I asked cautiously. "Why of course it is," surprised, sounding if I was dense, "Go to the registration office right over there," he pointed, "...and they'll get you squared away." "Thanks a lot," I said as he tipped his hat a little. "You know how to ride horses?" Lance asked as we headed for the office. "Well..." I started to say hesitantly, "I haven't ridden in a long time so I'm really rusty." Lance just nodded his head in acknowledgement. Once we went into the office, there was a nice lady there who explained to us all the rules and regulations regarding the horses. I listened carefully, while Lance was trying not to act bored. After everything was done and all the papers were signed, we were given a little wrist band indicating that we could pick out a horse. We went back to the corral and the cowboy there saw our wrist bands and let us in. It was difficult to pick out a good horse. I finally found one which was friendly enough to let me rub its nose. Lance was waiting impatiently for me because he had already pick his horse. We started to ride the horses on one of the trails and slowly paced along. It took me a few minutes to get myself reacquainted with the horse. I could tell that Lance was a good rider just from his posture. About 1/4 of the way along the trail I finally decided to speak. "So....Where did you learn how to ride a horse?" I asked still looking straight ahead. "I used to live in Mississippi, and my church would always go on a trip where we could ride horses," Lance replied, surprised that I asked it. "That's pretty cool. Can you ride fast?" I asked turning towards him. "I can go pretty fast." "OK....Race you to the top of that hill," I yelled as I nudged the horse to full gallop. "Hey!" Lance yelled back, "No fair!" Lance galloped his horse on the trail while I was off to the side. There was a fallen tree in my way. Probably was moved off the trail. "Hey, you better slow down!" Lance was yelling at me from behind. I couldn't hear him and saw the log up ahead. I urged the horse to go a little faster and then pulled the reins back a little making the horse jump over and it easily cleared the log. I pulled back the reins even more and slowed the horse down, until it was walking again. I heard Lance gallop behind me, "That was pretty reckless of you!" he barked at me. "Sorry," I said apologetically not knowing why he would get so riled up. "Damn right you better be sorry!" still yelling at me, "You or the horse could have gotten hurt. Or if one of the rangers saw you pulling that shit, you would have gotten us both kicked out of the park!" I felt guilty for what I did, considering I knew the consequences of my actions. I just thought it would be kinda fun having the horse jump over things. All I could do was slouch in my saddle and continued on the trail looking down at the ground. After a minute or two, Lance calmed down a bit and was feeling sorry for me. "Hey, Mano. I'm sorry for going off on you like that," Lance said calmly and softly. "No, no, you're right," I replied still looking at the ground, "I shouldn't have pulled that stunt, but I couldn't resist." "Well remember not to do it again." "I won't," still not looking up. "Umm....Mano?" "Yeah." "You're a pretty good rider." I looked up at him, "You think so?" "Normal horse riders wouldn't have the foggiest idea how to make their horse jump," he stated a matter a factly, "Where did you learn how to ride?" Lance asked. "When I was little, I used to live in Kentucky..." "Kentucky?" he interrupted. "Yeah, my friend and I would always ride the horses on his ranch and we would always see who could clear the most hay stacks. He would always win cause he was older and knew more than I did." "That's pretty cool," Lance started to get interested in what I was saying, "Were you born in Kentucky?" changing the subject. "Nope. I was born in the Philippines and moved to Kentucky when I was 4." "So you grew up there?" "I guess you can think of it that way. I stayed there for a while and then moved to San Francisco during the start of high school." Lance sighed at my answer, "I know how it feels to move to a new place and start over." We then continued silently along the trail and I noticed that more and more bushes started to appear. It was a beautiful park. You could hear the birds singing their song, the leaves rustling all around you, and the patches of sunlight filtering through the tall trees. It was a very picturesque place to be. I had to draw this place later on. Lance just observed me in silence while I looked at everything around me. I thought I heard him giggle, but it was just the wind. We then came across some dense foliage and started to trot through it. About halfway through, the bushes moved which made loud rustling noises. A rabbit jumped out of the bush and quickly hopped away from us. Both of our horses were startled by the rabbit and reared up on their hind legs neighing loudly. I was caught off guard, but managed to stay on the saddle and calm the horse down. I turned to Lance and saw that he wasn't in his saddle. I instinctively got off my horse and ran to where he was. He lay on the ground moaning from falling off his horse. He was probably caught off guard, but wasn't lucky enough to stay on. "Lance! Lance!," I said worriedly, "How bad are you hurt?" "I don't know," clinching his leg, "I think my ankle's sprained." "Take deep breaths," trying to soothe him, "Let's get yourself sitting on that log over there, okay?" He looked at me worriedly, "OK." I slung his left arm over my shoulder and told him to put all of his weight on me. I almost tipped over cause he was so heavy, but I managed to keep my balance and I led him to the log to sit on. "Wait right here," Lance looked at me like I was going to leave him, "I'm going to tie up the horses so we won't get stranded here and then I'll check out your ankle." He nodded as I proceeded to lead the horses to a tree. I was in plain view of him so that Lance wouldn't be scared thinking I would run off to get help. Once I finished, I hurried back to Lance. "Does, your ankle still hurt?" "A little, but I can't feel my foot anymore." "Holy shit!" I yelled, "Lance, this is going to hurt. Do you trust me?" I asked him right in the eyes. He hesitated a bit and nodded his head. "This will hurt. Keep your mind off of what I'm doing," I explained. I slowly untied his lace and as carefully as I could, loosened his laces a little. Lance hissed in pain. I stopped until he was calm enough. I then lifted his leg slightly and tried to pry off his boot. "Arrrgghhhhh!!!....That hurts!" Lance yelled. "I'm really sorry," I said prying off his shoe. "I promise, it'll be over soon." "It better be!" he yelled back. Once the shoe was off, I slowly removed his sock. He didn't yell when I pulled it off cause he was still hurting from me prying off the shoe. Once I pulled off the sock, I saw his ankle. There was a huge bruise covering up his entire ankle. His skin was all dark blue, it looked like someone spilled ink on his skin. "That's why you can't feel your foot," I pointed at his ankle. He looked at it, "Oh that's great," complaining sarcastically, "I've got a bruised ankle." "Not to worry," I looked at him, "You should be able to walk in about a couple of hours, as long as you put all the weight on your other leg. Lucky for you, you didn't break it," sounding like a doctor. "Yeah, I guess I was lucky," sounding pissed, "But if it wasn't for that stupid rabbit, I wouldn't be in this mess," he joked and I laughed with him. I could hear a stream very close by and looked over Lance's shoulder. There was a clear stream which was running next to the trail. I took of my shirt and then took off my white undershirt. "What are you doing?" Lance asked nervously. "I'll see if I can get you to walk a little bit sooner that you expect," I replied as I put back on the other shirt. I took my thin under-shirt and grabbed each side of the seams. I pulled at them hard and fast ripping the shirt until one side was torn off. I then started to fold up the shirt until it was a long thin rectangle. I went over the stream and soaked the shirt. Once it was fully soaked I wrung out the excess and went back to Lance. I slowly pressed one edge of the folded up shirt and heard Lance hissing a little. I then wrapped the shirt snugly around the ankle. While I was wrapping his ankle, he just kept hissing and grunting from the pain. Once I was done, Lance was breathing heavily. "Don't tell me, you're a Boy Scout too," looking at me. "Well, not exactly," I looked back and his puzzled face, "My friend taught me some survival skill while I was in Kentucky. I thought it might come in handy one day." "You really can do everything," smiling at me. "Nope. I couldn't play basketball for the life of me," answering back. Both of us just laughed. From then on, Lance loosened up and started to talk to me about my sketches, and all of my character designs. I was feeling more and more comfortable with him. I told him everything as best as I could and he did the same when I asked him stuff. About 30 minutes passed when I asked if could walk. He said that he would try. Again, I had Lance put his arm over my shoulder. I almost jumped a little cause I wasn't expecting him to squeeze my shoulder with his hand. I guess he was off balance and needed a better grip. We both hobbled to the horses and helped him get back on his horse. I literally had to push him up into the saddle. Once he was secured, I went back on my horse. We then continued on the trail. It would about another 30 minutes until we came full circle. During the slow trot back we jabbered on video games and computers. I was a little surprised that he liked that kind of stuff. By the way he dressed and acted, I wasn't expecting him to like "techno- geek" stuff. I enjoyed a refreshing conversation on video games and he joked that he was the best around the area. I challenged him at a match if we ever went to the arcade. He laughed and said that its a deal. As we conversed, I felt something familiar in him. I couldn't quite pinpoint it. He had a very short spiky hair which I thought of as funny. Or maybe it was his light green eyes? His eyes had the color of a Siberian Husky's, which made me feel lost every time I looked into them. Or it could have been his deep Southern voice which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Whatever it was, I felt like I had very strong feelings for him. I didn't know why, but it was there. We finally reached the ranch and the cowboy saw us coming up. He opened the gates and we trotted in. I hopped off my horse and then helped Lance off his. The guy looked at us funny, but didn't say a word. We walked back to the office with Lance's hand on my shoulder and gave back the bracelet ids. Then we went back to his car. "Hey, Mano?" Lance asked while we were heading for the car. "What's up?" I replied. "I think that my ankle is feeling a lot better now. Would you mind if we went to the beach to get some lunch?" I looked at my watch and was amazed that it was already 2:30 and had totally forgotten about lunch. "Sure no problem. But are you sure able to drive?" asking him worriedly. "Yeah I can drive," he said assuring me, "The beach isn't far from here." "I thought you've never been here before," cocking an eyebrow. "Well...." looking down. "Don't worry, I'm just kidding," I said smiling. Lance unlocked the doors I helped him get in first. I then hopped in my seat and both of us chatted away. Lance was right, the beach was pretty close to the park. It was only a 5 minute drive. Once we got there, lots of people and kids were already on the beach. We stepped out of the car and I surveyed the area. The sun was blazing high in the sky and surfers were riding the waves. I could see all the kids running on the beach with little colored pails full of sand. The sound of the waves crashing, the wind blowing across the sand, and the sound sea gulls hovering overhead made me feel like this was paradise. I seriously thought of moving out of house and living here. "Ready to eat?" Lance asked as he limped towards me. "Sure, but where to?" looking at the shops which lined the shore. "I know this great sandwich place. It's not from here." I agreed and both of us walked side-by-side along the large sidewalk. We resumed our conversations about computers, video games, anime, and 'I Love Lucy' episodes. We...well...he got looks or double takes from people we passed by, but he pretended to be a nobody. Lance is quite knowledgeable and thoughtful. I was surprised that he and I had more things in common than any of the other guys. Maybe that's why I'm attracted to him...who knows? We stepped in a little store which had lots of toppings to choose from. Of course I ordered a veggie sandwich and Lance ordered a roast beef 6' sub with everything except chili peppers. The food was to go and we left the store once the sandwiches were done. We walked down to the beach and found a nice flat spot to sit. We started to much down on our meals in silence, just listening to the waves crash against the shore. "Lance?" I started. "Yeah." "Can I ask you something?" "What about?" Lance looking at me. I took a deep breath, "Do you like me?" "Huh?" looking at me in disbelief, "What?" "When I met you, I felt that you wanted to kill me or something," I tried to explain, "I was just wondering what I did to make you so mad." "Ummm...actually," looking down at the sand, "At first I didn't like you. I thought that you were using us to gain popularity from your friends. And when I saw the sketches, I thought I was right." I kept looking at him. "I thought you drew our portraits to show off to everyone," he continued, "But, when you helped me out in the park, I realized...I was the one who was wrong," finally raising his head at me. "I'm so sorry for treating you so bad the past few days," Lance letting tears well up in his eyes, "I understand if you don't want to speak to me again," looking back down. "Look," I interrupted, "I knew you had your reasons for doubting me. I would probably do the same thing if I was in your place," Lance looked at me confused, "If there were crazy fans trying to rip me apart, I would be suspicious of everyone I met. It's not your fault. Besides, you are an interesting person to talk to and I wouldn't dream of not talking to you," I smiled at him. Lance smiled back, "Thanks for understanding." "I've been doing that a lot lately," I laughed and he followed too. We finished our sandwiches and Lance thought of my duel. I told him to bring it on. We stood up and brushed ourselves off of sand and returned walking on the sidewalk. It was a short stroll to the arcades. A typical arcade room, full of machines new and old buzzing everywhere. We got some change from the machine near the entrance and Lance asked me which game to play. I walked around the place looking for a good game to deflate his ego, then I saw it in the middle of the room. It was Street Fighter Alpha 2 on a giant screen. Lance gave me very cocky look. We put our tokens in the machine and started to play. He picked Akuma while I choose Sakura. I thought it was gonna be an easy match cause every time I played someone who used Akuma, that person was not really good at playing the game. We started and I just toyed with him, trying to figure out his strategy and how much he knew about the game. He won the first match, but not by much. In round 2, I pretty much did the same thing and was beginning so see his style. I won the match by a little bit. Round 3 came along and I was ready. This time, I was going to go all out. I was surprised that Lance went all out. All I could do was block his shots for about 10 seconds. I got fed up being in the corner and went on the offensive. He blocked everything I had to throw at him. Then I realized that he toyed with me in the 2nd round. He used every trick in the book...and then some! I did the same thing, but to no avail. The clock was ticking and only a few seconds were remaining. I took a chance and threw a punch while he launched a kick. It was a double KO. Both of us were stunned. Final round came by and both of us knew what to expect from each other. It was a fierce match. All you could hear was the buttons pounding and the joysticks moving back and forth by both of us. By this time a fairly large crowd had gathered around us watching the game. Everyone was mesmerized by the animated figures jumping back and forth on the screen. He was a really good player. At the last second, I pulled off a super move which caught him by surprise, I won the game. "No way!" his jaw dropped. I breathed out deeply, "That was a close one. I got lucky." "Whatever," he pouted, "You are a good player," looking at me deeply. "No, not really," I turned away continuing my game, "You have much more style and finesse than I do." Lance didn't say a word. "I'll give you rounds so you won't get bored." "OK...No problem," he finally spoke. The crowd dissapated and I was against the computer opponent. The game started. The computer was much harder than I expected, it was actually putting up a decent fight. I was looking for a tactic against the computer when I noticed something very disturbing. I could see a faint reflection coming off the screen. I could see Lance standing behind me and looking over my shoulder. He was close.....very close. He was so close that I could feel the heat coming from his body even though I couldn't feel his breath on my neck. He must have been either holding his breath or breathing very softly. I was so focused on what I saw that I lost my concentration. When I realized that I was losing to the computer, I rallied back to victory. When I finished, I told him it was his turn and he stepped back and I scooted out of the way. We never spoke while playing the game. I had this unnerving feeling he wanted something, but I couldn't figure it out. While he was playing, I fantasized that he would start to plant kissed down along my neck. I just smiled at the thought. He was too good for that kind of thing. This went on until both of us beat the end boss and put our initials on the high score mark. By now it was around 7 and I was getting really tired. I didn't get that much sleep from the adventure before, and I asked Lance if he would drive me back to the hotel. He looked sad that I had to go, but he agreed to get me go. We walked back to the car and he started to drive. He went through this other neighborhood and I just looked out the window reading the street names. I recognized one of the streets from a letter I received recently. I asked Lance to turn at the corner. He looked puzzled by my request, but complied anyway. We slowly went down the street until I found the correct house number. He parked on the curb and I got out. Lance looked at me from the driver's seat. I went up to the door and pushed the doorbell. There was no answer. I pushed again, still no answer. 'Damn, he must have left,' I thought. I used a pen which I left in my pocket and scribbled a note on a scrap of paper I had. I slipped it through the mail slot and went back to the car. He inquired about whose house this was and I said that it was a friend's. He didn't ask about the house anymore and both of us started a conversation about beanie babies. That was hilarious. Another deliberate and slow ride back to the hotel, but I didn't really care. We finally reached the hotel and I said good-bye to him. I also wished him good luck with his ankle. He smiled and said that it wouldn't be a problem. I slowly and sleepily returned to my room. It was only 8, but I was so tired that I flopped on the bed and thought about me and Lance. 'Nah, it wouldn't work out,' I thought to myself. I slowly closed my eyes and my thoughts drifted to another crazy day in Florida....... TBC ** Tell me what you think ** Thanks for reading....