Hello all. I promised you that I would have the next edition of this story out within a few days and I kept my promise. I want to thank all of you who have written to let me know how much you liked the story. If you like the story, please write me and let me know. I enjoy getting your opinions and suggestions as well. Send them to a41a14a@yahoo.com or if you have ICQ send them to #76118280. Well now that I'm done eith my customary yapping, on with the story.
Jason's dreams were filled with peaceful images and happy thoughts of his new found friends. He replayed all that had happened the previous day and he remembered what a great time he had had. He smiled to himself contently.
He slowly opened his eyes and blinked, bringing everything into focus. He found himself laying on the bed in JC's hotel room with his arms wrapped around something warm and soft. Still half-asleep, he tightened his arms, pulling whatever it was close to his chest in a tight embrace. He inhaled deeply and smiled. He was perfectly happy.
JC opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt a pair of warm arms around him, holding him tight and a warm body up next to his. He felt so safe, so secure. He closed his eyes and just reveled in the feeling.
Suddenly, JC's eyes shot open, as he realised who it was that was holding him. He recalled what had happened the night before. He remembered Jason falling asleep watching the movie and then himself trying to stay awake to watch the end of it, but failing. He turned his head and saw Jason behind him, peacefully resting.
A multitude of thoughts began to race through his mind. What was going on? Why was Jason holding him? And lastly, Why haven't I moved yet? JC started to try and get up when Jason tightened his hold and pulled JC closer to him. The feeling that shot through JC was undescribible. JC stopped resisting and just lay in the embrace.
Jason reopened his eyes and saw the back of JC's head in front of him. That was when it all hit him. He realized it was JC he was holding and he tried to let go, but his arms wouldn't move. His brain was telling his hands to let go and his arms to move, but the refused to do that.
He took a deep breath and concentrated. He pulled his arms apart and off of JC. "Eh." managed to escape his mouth before he had realised it. Jason slid off of the bed, trying not to wake JC and quickly moved out of the room, disappearing behind the closing door.
After the door had clicked shut, JC popped up in the bed. What just happened? Where did he go? JC got out of bed and scrambled to find his shoes. As soon as they were on his feet, he raced out the door and into the halls. He searched and searched all over the hotel, trying to find his missing friend. After about fifteen minutes of searching, JC gave up and returned to his room.
JC sat in his chair pondering what to do next. It was 8:45 according to the bedside clock. The group had to leave later that morning and JC's jeep was at Jason's place. How was he going to get it before they left. His thoughts began to return to the question of what happened that morning. Before he could indulge in too much thinking, there was a soft knocking at the door.
JC arose from the chair and strode over to the door. Gazing through the peep hole, he saw Jason standing on the other side of the door. JC opened the door with a sigh of relief. "Where did you go?" JC asked as Jason stepped into the room.
Jason held out his arms showing the treats he carried in them. He had brought doughnuts, danishes, fruit, and coffee. "I brought breakfast. Or what the hotel chooses to call breakfast." he added with a laugh.
Jason had actually fled the room in fright. He didn't understand what had happened or rather what was happening. He needed to get out of there fast. He just ran, but then he realized that he was being silly. Why sacrifice a friendship over a stupid misunderstanding. Plus, he remembered that he still had JC's jeep, and what kind of friend would run off knowing he needed it back. So he went and got breakfast and came back upstairs to the room.
"Oh, that's nice of you. I just knew that you had fallen asleep here and when I woke up, you were gone. I got a little worried." JC said, not revealing that he had seen Jason race out of the room.
"I'm sorry, I should have left a note or something. I'm usually not that inconsiderate. My apologies." Jason returned. As he placed the large amount of food he had down on the table, there was another knock at the door. JC again opened the door, this time revealing Lance.
"Hey JC. I heard you..." Lance stopped short of completing his sentence as he saw Jason sitting in the corner of the room. "Oh... Hi, Jason. Well, I guess I know who you were talking to then." Lance looked from Jason to JC, giving him an awkward look.
"Yeah, we were watching a movie after we all got back here and I fell asleep. I guess I didn't realize how tired I was." Jason said standing to his feet and walking to the door.
"Oh." Lance replied in a relieved tone. Jason could only imagine what had been going through his mind. He definately knew what it COULD have looked like.
"Jason went and got some food from downstairs, want some?" JC asked, starting a new topic of conversation.
Lance's face lit up and he grinned in a 'What do you think?' sort of way as he moved inside and over to the table. Before JC could shut the door, Joey and Chris had showed up and were welcomed inside. The story was explained to them as well, but they were more interested in the food than anything else.
"I think I had better go and get some more if you all are going to join in." Jason joked. He headed out the door and back down to the lobby, where the food was set up. He grabbed as many pastries and muffins and dougnuts as he could carry and got more coffee and some orange juice. He felt like a regular waiter. He juggled all of these things as he walked back to JC's room.
His arms were so full that when he arrived at the door, he found that he was unable to knock. Instead he had to kick the door to get in. The four of them laughed as he walked into the room with his armload of treasures.
"You wanna help me, or are you just going to laugh?" Jason announced over the food.
"Oh, we were just going to laugh." Joey joked.
"Don't be an ass. Get over here and help me." Jason played. He was soon unloaded and they had set up their own little mini-buffet in JC's room. By that time, Jason had noticed tha absense of Justin's presence. "Hey, Justin not up yet?"
"I haven't seen him since last night. But the condition he was in, I can understand why he isn't up yet. But he does need to get up soon. We have to be out of here by noon." Lance answered.
Jason walked over to the mini-bar and found the small stock of medicine the hotel kept there. He took several packets of asprine and put them into his pocket. "I'll get him up." Jason walked out the door and walked down to Justin's room. 'I've still got his room key.' Jason remembered. He grabbed the key and slid it through the lock.
The door clicked open and Jason walked into the room. By the light that was streaming in through the window, he could see Justin sprawled all over the bed, out like a light. Jason walked into the restroom and filled a glass with room temperature water. He walked back into the room where Justin slept and sat on the side of the bed next to Justin.
"Justin." Jason said softly. Having no affect, he repeated himself. "Justin, it's time to get up. Come on Justin." Justin stirred slightly, but remained comatose. Jason dipped his fingers in the glass of water and sprinkled it, little by little, onto Justin's face. "Justin, it's time to get up." Jason repeated softly.
Justin's eyes fluttered and slowly eased open. "Jason? What are you doing here? Why is my face wet?" Justin sat up in bed and quickly grabbed his head with a loud 'Ow!'.
"I am trying to wake you up. You have to leave in a little while. Here, take these." Jason instructed, reaching for the asprine he had brought with him. "Do you remember any of last night? Or any of yeaterday for that matter?"
Justin took the asprine and washed them down with the water Jason had also brought. He sat there thinking for a moment of the day before. "Yeah, sort of. I remember the concert, and you took us all out and I drank a little more than I should." Jason nodded his head in aggreement as Justin continued. "And I remember you carrying me back here?" He added this last part more asking than telling, because he wasn't all that sure.
"Yep, I sure did. Are you feeling OK?" Jason asked with concern.
"I will be. Thanks, by the way." Justin answered.
"Alright, Everyone is over in JC's room having breakfast if you want to join them." Jason informed. Justin nodded in the affirmative as he swung around and tried to get up off of the bed. He stood up and then fell back down.
"Never get drunk unless you're willing to pay for it, the next day." Justin warned as he laughed at himself. Jason grabbed him by the arm and guided him toward the door.
"You just have to get your bearings. You'll be fine." Jason assured.
By the time the two of them had reached JC's door, Justin was walking under his own power and Jason was just by his side, just in case. Jason reached up and knocked on the door.
"Ow!" Justin exclaimed grabbing his head. "Those asprine haven't quite kicked in yet."
"Sorry." Jason apologized as JC opened his door.
"It's alive!" JC teased as he motioned for them to come inside. Justin hobbled into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. All eyes watched him as he reached for a dougnut and started eating.
"What?" Justin asked, wondering why everyone was looking at him.
"You alright, Curly?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Or at least I will be." Justin answered. He tried to cover it up but it showed through anyway. He was way hung-over. He would just have to cope though, he thought to himself.
The six of them ate all of the food Jason had brought up before they went back to their rooms to pack up and get ready to leave. They all left JC's room and left Jason and JC alone once again.
"I guess I'm going to have to take you to get your jeep soon." Jason said, sitting down on the bed.
"Yeah, I have to get it back to the rental place before we leave." JC responded.
"I can follow you over there to drop it off if you like." Jason offered.
"That would be great. Just let me get a shower before we leave. I won't take long, I promise." JC assured.
"Alright, but I'm going to hold you to that promise." Jason joked. JC left the room and went into the bathroom. Jason turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. He had done about thrity minutes of flipping when JC finally emerged from the bathroom. The steam flowed from one room to the other and floated across the ceiling.
"Not long my foot." Jason announced.
"What? That wasn't long. You think that's long, you ought to try and wait for Curly to take a shower. He'll be in there for hours." JC said pulling on his socks and shoes.
"Well, if you put it that way." Jason responded. He could just imaginf Justin spending hours in the shower. He looked like he was one who liked to 'primp'.
JC finished packing up the rest of his stuff and was ready to go. He alerted Chris to where he was going and that he would be back before they had to leave. With that taken care of, they left the hotel.
"Can I drive again? Please." JC asked, nearly begging.
Jason smiled at his request. "I only let you drive it yesterday to save time."
"Pleeease?" he pleaded again.
"Alright, but you know the rule." Jason warned jokingly.
"You break it, you buy it." JC laughed, climbing into the driver's seat. Jason handed him the keys and they were off, speeding towards Jason's apartment.
They pulled into the parking lot about fifteen minutes later. JC pulled up right beside his rented jeep in front of Jason's apartment. "You do even better in daylight." Jason teased.
JC only smiled in response as he got out of the car and followed Jason up the walk to his apartment. Jason took the keys from JC and opened the front door. JC stepped in behind him and Jason closed the door.
"Now, I am going to take a short, and I unlike you mean short, shower. I'll be right back, OK?" Jason announced.
"Sure, go ahead." JC answered. He shot a look over at Jason's massive computer. "May I?"
"Yeah. Computer..." Jason announced from across the room. The black screen flickered and turned into the normal Windows operating screen. "What is it you wanted to do?"
"I haven't checked my email in a little while." JC stated.
"Connect to Internet." Jason instructed. Within seconds, the computer was online and ready. "Have fun. I'll be out in a few."
"Wow." was all JC could say as Jason marched up the stairs to take a shower.
Jason was showered, shaved, and changed in fifteen minutes. He walked down the stairs to find JC sitting at the computer. "Alright, I'm ready to go whenever you are."
"You have one awesome computer. I wish I had one like that. I'm afraid that It wouldn't go on tour though." JC said, getting up from the desk.
"Yeah, I like it. Lock on stand-by." Jason answered. The computer again flickered and went to a blank black screen.
The two of them headed out once again. Jason locked his door and got into his car, while JC got into the jeep. Jason followed JC to the car renter and waited for him to get that all taken care of. JC walked out of the renter's office and got into the convertible. "To the hotel?" Jason asked.
"To the hotel." JC confirmed. The sleek convertible sped off toward the hotel. Little was said olong the ride and before long, they pulled up to the hotel. The valet took the keys and JC and Jason walked inside. They rode up to the floor everyone was staying on and back into JC's room at a quarter to twelve.
"I appreciate the ride, man." JC said as he plopped down on the bed.
"Anytime. So, are you guys about to head off?" Jason asked, taking the chair across from the bed.
"Yeah. We're heading to Orlando today for a show tommorow. Then we finally get a break." JC sighed with relief. They were all well overdue for a break.
There was a small break in the conversation as Jason considered asking JC to come back to Atlanta for a little while while he was on break. Jason had enjoyed himself yesterday more than he had in a long time. Jason had decided to ask and his mouth had begun moving as a knock came from the door.
JC got off of the bed, breaking the odd silence between the two, and opened the door. Chris was standing on the other side, leaning against the door post. "You ready to go?" he asked.
"Yeah. I was just packing the rest of my stuff." JC replied as he walked back to the bed and picked up his bag. Chris narrowly missed being hit with the sack as JC tossed it out the door and into the hall.
"I'm not your bell hop." Chris said, stepping back in front of the door.
JC grinned with a funny quirk in his smile. "I wasn't expecting you to be." JC made a last check of the room before returning to the door. Jason, already up and waiting to exit, walked out into the hall with Chris and JC. JC picked up his bag as the door clicked shut behind them.
"Where are the others?" JC asked Chris.
"They're already on the bus. Waiting..." Chris added, picking at JC's tendency to lag behind again.
Jason followed the two down and out of the hotel and towards the awaiting bus. 'That's a big-ass bus.' Jason thought to himself as they approached the doors, which were cocked wide open.
JC and Chris marched up the steps and into the bus. Jason stopped short, not knowing whether he should enter or not. JC peeked his head around the corner looking down the steps and flashed his trademark grin. "Are you coming?" he asked.
Jason hurried up the steps and into the large tour bus. Most of the group was sitting in the spacious, well spacious for a bus, living area. JC walked into the back and tossed his bag into a bunk in the wall before returning to the others.
"Hey, Jason. We had a really great time. That club you took us to was da bomb!" Joey stated. There nods and aggrements from Lance, Chris, and Justin, who was now fully sober and coping with his headache.
"I'm glad you guys enjoyed yourselves. I guess I had better be off so you guys can be on your way." Jason responded. All except JC waved from their seats as Jason turned to exit the bus. JC managed to trip over several of his band mates trying to get out, but eventually succeded. He followed Jason down the steps and out into the parking lot.
"I had a great day yesterday. I hope we can do it again soon." JC said when Jason had turned around to face him.
"Me too. I sure hope we do. And I hope that this face to face meeting won't stop our online chats and emails." Jason answered. Although he had managed to cover his last statement as a joke, he was genuinely worried that this meeting would change things somehow between him and his newest ally in life.
"No way. You are my rock." JC caught himself as the words exited his mouth. 'My rock?' he thought to himself. "You're always there. And we always have a great time." JC added, not sure how Jason would take being called a rock.
"Alright." Jason said, forcing out a laugh. He didn't feel at all like laughing. He didn't want his friend to go. Jason felt that they had connected somehow, and although he couldn't quite put his finger on it exactly, he knew that he didn't want JC to leave.
"I guess I had better go." JC said after a brief pause. JC didn't want to go. He wanted to stay with Jason. When he was with Jason, he was happier than when he was by himself or with the guys. Why? he couldn't figure out. Against his mind's will, his body turned and headed back toward the bus.
"Remember to keep in touch." Jason called as JC mounted the stairs. The doors slid closed and Jason turned from the bus. He heard it pull away and onto the busy street. When the sound of the bus had faded, Jason turned and gazed down the road. As he walked back towards his car, he felt a distict empty feeling inside. A pain of longing deep within him.
Where we go. I think I'll just leave it at that. Drop me any questions or comments. The email is a41a14a@yahoo.com, reach me on yahoo messenger at the same ID (a41a14a), or ICQ at #76118280 Hope you liked it and another will be out in a few days. Promise. See you all later, JC.