Date: Wed, 22 Dec 1999 15:18:39 PST From: Jason Clarke Subject: Ryan and Lance - Part 15 This story involves members of the bands NSYNC. I am in no way implying anything about the sexuality of any of their members. This is purely a fictional story. Enjoy! Thanks to everyone who have taken the time to write me. I really, really enjoy hearing from you guys, so please send any comments and/or suggestions to jaclarke@hotmail.com (ICQ #7964029) * * * * * * * * * * * * Ryan and Lance - Part 15 By the time the elevator reached NSYNC's floor, JC was fuming. He walked briskly down the hallway and stormed into Joey's room with a menacing look on his face. Everyone stared at him with surprise, not knowing what was causing JC's foul mood. "Who the fuck is responsible for this?" JC demanded, throwing the newspaper onto the floor in front of everyone. Justin picked it up and read the front page, his face becoming red with anger. Joey grabbed the paper from Justin and he too became very upset. Chris took the newspaper from Joey and stared at the headline, the events of the past night slowly coming back to him. "Oh my god..." he whispered. "Was it you?" Justin asked accusingly. "You did it, didn't you?" Chris continued to stare at the newspaper in disbelief. "Why?" Justin demanded. "Why??" "I don't know..." Chris muttered. "I was at a bar, drinking..." "You were drinking at a bar???" Joey exclaimed in surprise. "I can't believe you, Chris!" JC bellowed. "What have you done?" Back in Orlando... Lance woke up to a bright sunny day. He was starting to enjoy his relaxing schedule but knew that he shouldn't become too lazy. He got up, dressed and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Ryan was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper, but when he saw Lance, he quickly tried to hide the newspaper. "Morning Ryan," Lance greeted his friend. "Morning. You're up early today," Ryan remarked. "Nah, I used to get up at 5:30 all the time. I'm getting lazy now," Lance laughed. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. "Pass me the paper, Ryan?" "Uhh...uhh..." Ryan hesitated as he tried to think of an excuse to not give Lance the newspaper. "What's wrong?" "Uhh...nothing..." "Well, then can I read the paper?" Lance asked again with a goofy smile. Ryan sighed and handed the newspaper over to Lance, who began reading the front page. "Lance, maybe it's not..." "It's okay, Ryan. I'm okay," Lance replied. "Are you really okay, Lance?" Ryan asked with concern in his voice. "Hey, what can you do?" Lance replied helplessly. "At least they didn't out me to the press." "They've gone too far this time, Lance. I can't believe they would do this," Ryan argued with anger in his voice. "Anyways, I'm off to run a few errands. You want a ride to school?" "Nah, it's okay. I think I can use some exercising." "You sure?" "Yeah, I'll be fine." And not too far away in Tampa... "What are we gonna do?" Justin asked with despair. He looked to JC and Joey for an answer but neither of them had one. "Well," JC finally said, "I think the only thing that we can do is to make a public statement to clear Lance's name." "But that would mean implicating Chris as a liar..." Justin replied. "So?? He was a liar!!!" JC fumed again at the mention of Chris' name. "What do you want to do, Justin? Sacrifice Lance to save Chris?" "NO!!!" Justin screamed back in tears. "I don't know!! I just don't know how the fuck we got into this mess. Everything was so perfect and now everything's fucking messed up." Justin broke down in tears and JC felt guilty for yelling at Justin. "I'm sorry, Just, I'm sorry," JC said, trying to calm his bandmate down. "Okay, JC, let's go clear this thing up. I'll let Pete know to call the media people." Again, back in Orlando... Lance walked back into the studio building for the first time since leaving NSYNC. He felt a little awkward to say the least, but he kept convincing himself that NSYNC is in the past and to look forward. He walked down the hallway only to find a blond girl sitting on the floor, with her face buried in her hands, quiet sobs coming from her. He quietly walked up to her and asked softly, "Are you alright?" The girl shook her head and continued crying, her body trembling a bit at the sobs. Lance tried again, "You want to talk about it? Sometimes it helps." "It's not going to help...my manager just let me go...my dreams are all gone..." she stuttered. Lance tried to make sense of the situation. This was when he recognized who the girl was. "You're Amy Freisner, aren't you?" The girl looked up at Lance briefly before beginning to cry again. "How do you know?" "I heard you rehearsing in the studio the other day. You sounded really good." "Thanks. Not that it matters any more." "Hey, don't give up! There are lots of opportunities out there. You just have to believe that you'll find them," Lance comforted the young singer. The girl stopped crying again. "Your voice...it sounds so familiar..." She looked up at Lance again. "Oh my god...you're...you're..." "Lance Bass," the blond singer replied, extending his hand, "nice to meet you." "Oh my god, I can't believe I've just made an idiot of myself in front of...oh my god..." "Hey, calm down a bit. It's okay...really. But I do want to help you, if you would let me." "What do you mean?" the Amy asked, not understanding Lance's comment. "Well, you said that you needed a manager, right?" "Uh-huh..." "Well, if you don't mind, I can sign you on to Free Lance until you find the manager of you choice. I won't hold you on to Free Lance if you decide to be managed by someone else later on. What do you say?" "You serious?" "I'm not much of a joker," Lance replied with a smile. "I still can't believe this is happening, but I'd be really stupid to say no right now," Amy answered. "Then it's settled then. Any time you feel you're ready to move on, just let me know." "Thank you, Lance. I don't know how to thank you!!" "Well, I guess you can start but putting your great voice back to work!" Lance joked. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The room in Tampa was packed with reporters as JC, Joey, Chris, and Justin made their way to their seats. Once they were all settled in, JC took charge of the situation. "First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for coming on such short notice. The reason why we decided to call this news conference today was because we needed to clear up some misinformation that has been circulating in the press." "The fact is," Justin continued, "that Lance did not leave NSYNC over financial disagreements. As he stated earlier, he left for personal reasons for which we do not feel is appropriate for us to disclose at this point in time." Then it was Joey's turn. "We just want to reiterate once more that the stories printed in the media recently have been grossly inaccurate and we ask you to respect both our wishes and Lance's privacy in this matter." Despite more questions from the reporters, the guys did not provide any more answers. As quickly as they entered the room, they all left in the same manner. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * With everyone busy with their respective work, it came to everyone's surprise that the end of the year was near, meaning among other things, Christmas, and year-end music awards. During the last few months, NSYNC struggled to continue their work, and it appeared as though they were back on track. Meanwhile, Free Lance had grown to become an up-and-coming force in the industry while Amy Freisner released her debut single to phenomenal results. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Amy paced around the dressing room nervously. This was the night...her first awards gala. True, it was the Canadian music awards and certainly not as big as the Grammys or other awards, but still, this was big for a newcomer. Her nerves driving her crazy, Amy opened the door and walked into the hallway, only to see Lance coming her way. He was wearing a grey Armani suit, and wearing silver-trimmed glasses. "Amy, relax, you're supposed to be having fun tonight, not having a nervous breakdown," Lance said with a smile. "I know, I know...but I can't help it. I'm so nervous..." "Why don't you take your seat in the auditorium. I think you'll calm down a bit once you get settled in." "I hope so," Amy answered nervously as she followed Lance to the main hall. It was close to 8pm and the ceremonies were about to begin. Along with many Canadian musicians, most of the big-name American and international superstars were also on hand. As Lance took his seat, he noticed the rest of NSYNC taking their seats several rows in front of him. Not about to let bad memories ruin his night, he brushed the images aside and concentrated on making the most of this night. About halfway through the awards... "And we are so honoured tonight to have Ms. Celine Dion with us tonight to present the award to the Most Promising Newcomer," the host of the awards gala announced. Applause rang throughout the auditorium for quite some time. "Newcomers are vital to the continued success of the music industry, and tonight, we would like to honour some of these bright future stars for their hard work," she began. "And the nominees for Most Promising Newcomers are: Joanne Connors, Nathan Belamy, Amy Freisner, and Jonathan Tavis. And the winner is...Amy Freisner!!" Amy could not believe her ears. She got up from her seat and walked towards the stage in a daze. This was her dream come true, to win a music award...and to have the award presented to her by one of her idols, Celine Dion, was just unbelievable. She shyly accepted the awards and began her acceptance speech. "This is a total surprise to me...but it is also a dream come true. I would like to thank my parents for always loving me, to all my friends who've kept me sane all these years. To my fans for supporting me. But especially, I want to thank my friend and manager, Lance Bass, for believing in me from day one, and for making me believe in myself. Thank you for helping me realize my dream. Thank you." With that, Amy walked off the stage with tears of joy, while Lance smiled from his seat. "And now, we would like to present the award for the Most Outstanding International Group. We would like to invite our earlier winner for the Most Promising Manager, Mr. Lance Bass, to present this next award." Lance walked up onto the stage and looked out to the audience. It had been so long since he had been on stage in a packed auditorium and the feeling brought back good memories. "This has been a year in which many groups made their marks on the music industry. We have all been blessed by their sounds and their music and we'd like to recognize their efforts tonight. And the nominees are: The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, 98 Degrees, and Boyzone." Lance took the envelope and began to open it...he was pretty sure that the winner would be the Backstreet Boys, after all, they've beaten NSYNC at almost all of their previous encounters. It was a good thing, he thought...at least he didn't have to face the rest of the guys. "And the winner is..." Lance opened the envelope and unfolded the paper, "NSYNC..." ...to be continued.... Hope you enjoyed this segment. Let me know what you think!! Will this be the chance for the guys to make up? As always, I'd love to hear any comments/ideas/questions. Please e-mail me at jaclarke@hotmail.com (ICQ #7964029)