Last time on Chapter 21 of Love Interest -
"Did you feel anything when I kissed you?" Chris's words came out in slow motion for Josh, he knew after the word feel came out what was coming. He didn't know what to say, he knew the answer, and the answer was no, but his first reaction was to see what Justin was doing. Looking at Justin's face he could see anger beginning to build, and he was unsure if he should have answered.
"No." Josh answered harshly, and slowly began to rub Justin's shoulders. Chris's face went to a mixture of sadness and contempt, and Justin just smiled at him. "Chrissy, truth or dare?" Josh wasted no time in changing the topic.
"Well since so many party poopers have chose truth, I'm gonna take dare."
"I dare you to cut Chris's hair." Josh smirked at his own dare, and even started a little giggle.
"What the fuck!" Chris yelled, standing up defensively.
"What is was okay for you to ask me a fucked up question? To try and piss me off, or upset my boyfriend. But when a dare threatens you, you suddenly get all hissy. What the fuck about that Chris?" Josh shot back, and soon they were both standing, each being seperated by another one of their band members. Joey grabbed Chris quickly, and drug him down to the floor, making sure he couldn't squirm free. And Lance pushed Josh into the door, and just stood their. At the same time Brittney took a seat next to Justin, sensing that he was getting upset with the situation. Christina and Samantha each went to help Joey and Lance to make sure they were keeping Chris and Josh in line.
"Guys this is enough. You have to stop this, I thought it was cool, and that time was going to settle it all. But Josh is right Chris, that question was meant to hurt someone. And you are, all of us. This band isn't going to last much longer if we can't play a simple game together. And I'll be the first one to leave, cuz I'm not going to stay while we self destruct." The shouting and yelling, along with the crying from Justin, was all silence by Lance's words. The silence only broken by Justin's muffled sobs. "Justin, I know you're pissed but you don't have to cry about it." And the silence was suddenly erupted into yelling again, but this time the focus of anger was not directed at Chris or Josh, but at Lance. Justin took off running after Lance's words left his mouth, and Josh chased him down. Lance thought with Josh gone things would cool down, but he was wrong.
"What the fuck was that Lance? You are such an insensitve prick, ya know that?" Brittney's words hit him like a slap, and all he could do was look at her confused. "Chrissy was right, I don't think we were ready to take it to the next level. God, you didn't even make it romantic, it's was like, wham, bam, thank you mam and you were in and out." The room was now quiet, all eyes were on Lance and Brittney, and although Joey and Chris had been in the dark about the sex between the couple, they now knew all about it. "You and me are over. And if this band does end, you and Chris can be blamed for it, you both have one thing in common. You know how to fuck with serious things, and throw them down the toilet."
Storming out of the room, but not the only one, Brittney was soon followed by Chrissy and Sam. Lance stood shocked in the corner, and Chris sat their in anger, but both of them were even more shocked when Joey turned and walked to the door way. "I don't know everything Lance, but if anything like Britt said, you are just as big of an ass as Chris. I'm sorry, you two are my friends, but you both fucked up. And I'd say things were probably getting better for you, but tonight you fucked up again. I'm not going to be the one who stays here to watch you fuck up again, I'll see you in the morning on the bus." Turning, he walked out of the door. And Lance and Chris were left alone, neither of them sure of what to say. Neither of them sure what to do, neither of them looking at each other. It was true, they had fucked up, both of them had lost important things like relationships and friendships, things that they could never get back.
"Justin where are you going?" Josh could barely keep up with him. Justin was running down the hall and rounding the bend for the stairs. He knew the routine, he had snuck out plenty of times. Like usual, the stairway security guard would be in bed, and he would easily be able to run out and get away from every body.
"I don't want to talk about it." Justin yelled back taking off down the steps. Josh ran as fast as he could, and watched him run out of the hotel door. He followed out quickly, and for some reason found himself running ten times faster then he thought he could. He easily caught up to a now walking Justin, and grabbed him by the arm. "Let go of me. I want to be alone." He yelled, and ripped his arm from Josh's grip. Josh stood still for a moment, Justin had never reacted with anger by his touch, never, even when he found out he was gay.
"I'm sorry Justin. I don't know what's wrong right now, and I don't want you to tell me if you don't want me to. But I'm not going to let you be alone, not now, not tonight. Let's go back into the hotel, to our room." Josh suggested, and Justin just looked at him. After taking a good look at Josh, Justin glanced around him, and noticed that the few people on the street were staring at him, and four of them were his friends. Joey, Christina, Brittney, and Sam were all waiting a good 100 feet from them, but Justin could tell they had heard the whole arguement. Which means so did the other people on the street, and Justin stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly he walked over to Josh and hugged him, but he didn't let it last long, not in front of all the people. Josh wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and they walked back to the hotel, all 6 of them together.
"What happened in the room? After I left I mean?" Justin asked as they walked up the steps.
"I don't know, I left as soon as you did." Josh replied, and looked at Britt and Joey for an answer. Brittney's face was relatively calm for some one who had just dumped a long time boyfriend, something that shocked the ones with her that knew. Justin and Josh were still in the dark about it.
"Um, can I sleep in your room tonight?" Brittney asked calmly, and it caught Justin and Josh off guard, but they shook their heads in a unison agreement.
"Me too." Joey asked, looking at them with pleading eyes, they agreed again, and as Christina and Samantha went to their rooms, the four of them went into Josh's and Justin's. They all took seats on beds. Justin and Josh in theirs, and Brittney and Joey squeezed into one, and Joey had no intents of being his flirtatious self that night, not after what had happened between his friends.
"Alright, what happened when we left?" Josh asked, looking for an answer from the only two in the room that had remained after they left. Justin was slowly slipping into sleep.
"Lance and I had sex this morning. It was quick, and to him it was just a fuck. I should have realized it, but I didn't. I dumped him, I yelled at him, and I blamed him and Chris for the group's problems..." Josh was unsure if Brittney was going to continue speaking, but he was sure that Joey was only starting the story.
"I told them, that when the group was over, when they turned us against each other. I wouldn't be their. I wasn't going to be the member of NSYNC that stood beside the destructors of it, I wasn't going to be the sap. And I walked out, they may be my friends, but they are ruining relationships and friendships, something I don't want to be a part of." Joey finished the story of them being their. "I don't know what they were doing when we left, but I don't care either.
"All this, all of this because of me." Josh muttered, he was blaming himself. It had started with Chris, involving Justin, pulling in Brittney and Lance, and it all started with that kiss, the attraction that Chris felt for him. And it disgusted him. "This group is falling apart, and we have a concert tomorrow. How ironic, Bye Bye Bye won't even get to be our final song at this concert, because it implies to the real NSYNC, we are Bye Bye Bye." Brittney and Joey both looked at Josh, giving him confused looks. Justin was now a sleep, clutching Justin's waist. Picking up the phone, they both looked at him harder, and they found a Josh they had never seen. Their was no reason, no sensibility in the eyes of their friend, only a driving force.
And through out the conversation Josh had over the phone, they both sat still. Neither of them stood to argue. Although they felt bad for Samantha, she was the only one who it would really effect. The tour being cancelled would effect her start, something they didn't want to do. But they could sense that Josh knew what he was doing. Their was no way they were going to have a group tour tomorrow when they couldn't get along in a room. After hanging up the phone, Josh turned, and saw two pair of eyes, one from a man and one from a woman, both of them saddened.
"We go home tomorrow. You two can come to our house. Chrissy will just head out to work on stuff before touring. And Samantha will go back to Ireland to work. I don't know, and I don't give a shit what Lance and Chris do, right now, we need some time apart." Josh spoke, and the words he spoke were shocking. Joey nodded, he was right, they would return home with Justin and Josh, and he too didn't care what Chris and Lance did, at the moment the two were far from any one in that room's minds.
It had been a good twelve hours since the day had started. Justin, Josh, Brittney, and Joey had awoken around 8, and went about getting ready. After they were all showered, Joey went to his and Brittney's room to pick up their stuff. In the process he explained the ordeal to Lance and Chris, and in the hall caught up with Christina to tell her about it. Packing came quick for the four of them, and they were soon at the airport.
They were polite enough to say their good byes to Christina and Sam, but they didn't even acknowledge Chris and Lance. They figured they could catch their own flight back to Orlando, if they even chose to show up.
The plane ride was anything but comfortable. When Justin wasn't sleeping he was worrying, he couldn't get over the fact that NSYNC might be over. Joey and Brittney managed to sleep periodically, but they both noticed that Josh didn't sleep at all. Every time they were awake, he was awake, watching Justin lovingly. They wished they could have given him the option to sleep while they watched over him, but they knew he wouldn't take that offer, even if it was extended.
And now, the four of them were waiting in the airport parking lot, at the spot they had been told to wait at. Lynn Harless was coming to pick them up. It was the first time she would see her son since she found out he was gay. But it was also the first time she would talk to him since the incidents that had gone down during the short lived tour. Standing in the parking lot, their suitcases by their sides, Josh smiled at the sight of the familiar SUV. Lynn must have figured they would have lots of stuff with them, and Josh was happy to see his car coming towards them.
As soon as the driver's door opened, and Lynn walked around the car, she was met with her son, in her arms. His hug was weak, and she didn't know what to make out of it. Josh just gave her a weak smile, and a face that said he would explain later. Justin's stuff was put in the car, and he was put in the car.
"Joshua, would you like to drive home?" She asked, as Joey loaded in the final suitcases. Brittney took the front seat, and Justin was already in the back, his head leaning against the window on the driver's side. Joey waited for Josh to make up his mind, knowing that if he sat in the back, Josh would want to sit next to Justin.
"Um, no, you go ahead Lynn. I'll sit in the back with Justin." He replied, and took the seat next to Justin. It was one of those times, one of the few times, that Justin didn't make Josh smile, but rather made him frown. It hurt him as much as it hurt Justin when he was in pain.
In twenty minutes they were at the Harless residence in their closed in neighborhood. Justin smiled vaguely at the house, at least it was evident that he was happy to be home. If you could even call it happy. Not even bothering to wait for any one, he exited the car and went straight into the house.
"Alright, would some one mind explaining to me what's wrong with my son?" Lynn asked as they all unloaded the car of it's luggage. "And why the tours over? Or how about why only 4 of you are this house, when usually you all show up?" Josh just gave her a shake of the head, letting her know it wasn't the time to explain it, and took the bags he had into the house. Lynn, Joey, and Brittney followed, and Brittney managed to shut the door with her free hand.
Looking around they caught an eye of Justin sitting in the living room, the radio on to a local pop station. Josh set down his things, and walked to the couch. Taking a seat, he grabbed the blanket on the back of the couch and wrapped it around Justin. Justin sank down into his lap, and didn't even notice that his mother and friends had entered the room.
"Justin, dear, what's been going on lately?" Lynn asked her son, and Justin just stared back at her.
"It's a long story Lynn. It started when Chris kissed me." Josh started to explain, but didn't continue, not after the look he got from Lynn.
"You kissed some one else. Justin why are you still sitting near him, he cheated on you." Lynn accused harshly, but sensing that Justin was even phased by the accusation, she just gave Josh another look.
"No, I didn't kiss him. He kissed me, then I hit him. Then he beat Justin up." Josh responded to the look, and his voice slowed after he mentioned the last part. Explaining it to Lynn he felt like a failure, like it was his fault Justin had been beaten. "Chris apologized, and we worked things out, I mean well, we were on terms where I could look at him without wanting to beat his ass for what he did." Josh didn't even notice that he had swore around Lynn, who was very against foul language, but apparantly she let it slip in the moment.
"Is that why you are all home?" Lynn asked, but Josh didn't motion to answer it. Instead Brittney fielded the question.
"Well, not exactly. Last night, we were playing Truth or Dare in Lance's room. Chris asked Josh for a truth if he felt anything when they kissed. Josh answered no, and the game went on. Josh dared Chrissy to cut Chris's hair, and then that started it, Josh and Chris were closing to fighting, Justin ran out of the room, and Josh followed." Brittney stopped at that moment, and then looked at Joey, giving him the signal to continue the story.
"Well, the main reason Justin left, is because he was crying while Josh and Chris were arguing. And Lance told him to stop being a baby, so he ran off. The room fell quiet after that, and Brittney yelled at Lance. Called him inconsiderate, and then dumped him. Then the both of us blamed Chris and Lance for the break up of the group, and that if we did break up for sure, that they would have lost our friendships. So me, Britt, Christina, and Samantha took off chasing after Justin and Josh." Joey finished the story, and turned to Lynn. "And that brings us to now. Josh cancelled the tour with management, and we hopped a flight this morning."
"You aren't seriously thinking about breaking up NSYNC are you?" Lynn asked, looking confused and shocked at the four of them.
"No, we aren't breaking up." Justin spoke up for the first time since listening to the ordeal. "I don't want to break up the group."
"Baby, if Chris and Lance can't figure out what they did, and work it out by themselves, then we aren't going to be in a group with them." Josh responded to him. "You shouldn't be around asses like that." Justin said nothing in response of Josh, and just sat their, not really paying attention to anyone.
"Um, why don't you go take a nap honey. I'll start dinner, and we'll have a nice dinner outside on the back patio. Your father will be home soon, and I think Randall and Lisa are coming over with Steven and Jonathon later too." Justin perked up a little at the mention of his family. Nodding, he stood and started to walk towards the steps. Stopping, he turned and looked back at Josh. Josh smiled and walked over with him.
TBC....