“Hey, JC. James asked me to save you guys a spot.” She turned around and headed for a corner.
The three men followed, sliding into a comfortable booth that gave them a great view of the stage.
“What’ll ya have?”
“JD straight.” “Vodka tonic.” “AmberBock.”
“Coming right up.” She gave them a smile and headed for the bar, sidestepping several rowdy young men at a table.
“So that’s Gabrielle.” Chris stroked his goatee as he looked around the place.
“Yeah. She’s pretty nice. Her son’s cool. Got a good head, I think. Might have some potential.” JC leaned back against the cushion.
She reappeared in front of them, setting their drinks on napkins. Joey leaned forward to pull his wallet out of his back pocket and she shook her head.
“First round’s on the house.”
“But…” Joey gave her a wide-eyed look.
Gabrielle grinned and nodded towards the stage as Justin and Lance settled into their places.
“Good evening. Welcome to the Starlight Lounge. I’m James, and this is Randy. We’re gonna do a few numbers for you, then we might take some requests.”
He started playing, and Justin began to sing. Lance harmonized softly beneath him, and the three men settled back to enjoy the evening. Joshua appeared at their table, and JC nodded for him to join them.
“Guys, this Joshua Martinson. Joshua, Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone.”
Joshua’s eyes grew big as he shook hands with the two men. “Wow. This is too cool.”
Chris and Joey smiled before turning their attention back to the stage. There were several parties in attendance, and they kept coming up with requests when the singers finished their play list. Justin took a sip of water after he finished singing, slouching down on the stool.
“Y’all sound like you’re having a good time tonight.”
Loud cheers were his answer, and he turned to look at Lance. “Well, I want y’all to help me with something, okay. There’s someone here that I want to join me on stage, but they’re kinda shy. Think you can help me convince ‘em?”
The three men in the booth looked a little worried at Justin’s words. They weren’t sure what they would do if they were called up on stage to perform.
Justin laughed at the clapping and cheers. “Would the fair Gabrielle please grace us with her presence?”
Gabrielle rolled her eyes as Dionne dragged her to the stage. Justin helped her up, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
“Now, you know you wanna do this, G. Don’t try to deny it.”
She picked up a microphone and bumped him with her hip as she moved behind him to lean against the piano. “Don’t even think this will get you back in my good graces, Randy.”
The young man rolled his eyes then winked at the audience. “What’s your pleasure?”
She closed her eyes for a minute before leaning down to whisper into Lance’s ear. He looked at her and smirked before cracking his knuckles. The first notes drifted out over the audience. The crowd roared with laughter as she began to whisper the opening words.
Get up
Get up
Get up
Get up
Let’s make love tonight
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up
‘Cause you do it right.
Not to be out done, Justin started singing.
Baby, it’s hot just like an oven
I need some lovin’
And baby
I can’t hold it much longer
It’s getting stronger and stronger
And when I get that feelin’
I need sexual healin’
Joshua groaned and let his head fall to the table as he listened to his mother sing. JC patted his back as he watched the trio on stage. When they finished the song, Gabrielle and Justin bowed, but he wouldn’t let her escape yet.
“Unh unh, it’s my turn to choose the song.”
She leaned away from him and gave him a look. He chewed on his lip before leaning down to whisper to Lance. The other man shook his head then sighed as Justin pouted at him. He began to play, and Gabrielle smiled at him as she recognized the song. Nodding at her, Lance waited for her to begin.
I see the crystal raindrops
And the beauty of it all
When the sun comes shining through
To make those rainbows in my mind
When I think of you sometimes
And I wanna spend time with you
The two of them sang the chorus then Lance began to sing.
We look for love, no time for tears
Wasted water’s all that is
And it don't make no flowers grow
Good things might come to those who wait
But not to those who wait too late
So we gotta go for all we know
They sang the chorus again, and Justin adlibbed a little as he got into the song. He swayed in the background, catching the looks from the four men in the back corner booth. When the song was over, Justin clapped loudly as he helped her off the stage.
“Give it up for Gabrielle.”
There was another round of applause as she shook her head and made her way back to the bar to pick up her tray. She went around to her tables and took more orders as she thanked everyone for their compliments. Justin and Lance continued singing, taking more requests.
When she made her way over to their table, JC, Joey, and Chris all applauded her. She laughed as she set more drinks down in front of them.
“Thanks. Now I have to think up my revenge.”
“You were great, Mom.” Joshua smiled at her, giving her a one-armed hug.
“Thanks, baby.” She took a quick sip of his ginger ale. “Why don’t you guys get up and sing something? I mean, you used to do it for a living. Couldn’t you find something that you all could sing?”
Chris cast a wary glance at his friends. “I don’t want to take away from their show, ya know?”
She nodded. “I understand. Gotta get back to slinging drinks. Yell if you need another round.”
Dionne approached the stage with water refills and smiled at Justin when they took a quick break. “Why don’t you ask your friends to sing?”
“I don’t know if they’d want to do that with just a couple of amateurs.” He took a big gulp of water, hoping she wouldn’t push it.
“I think you’re great, and they’d be lucky to sing with you.” She smiled again, staring up at him with wide, dark eyes.
Sighing, he followed her back to the booth. “Hey, guys. This is Dionne.”
The three men smiled and nodded at the young woman.
“You did good, Randy.” JC slapped Justin’s hand.
Chris gave his friend a confused look, grimacing slightly as Joey kicked him under the table. Dionne looped her arm through Justin’s.
“I’m trying to convince this guy to get y’all to sing with them.”
“I don’t know…” Joey bit his lip.
Joshua and Dionne continued to plead with them, and Justin shrugged helplessly. Lance looked over at the group from his vantage point at the bar. Gabrielle looked at the table.
“Looks like you’re going to get more singing partners.”
“Yeah.” His tone was resigned, and she looked at him for a moment before touching his arm.
When he looked up, she smiled at him again, the same smile that she had shown him at the mall earlier. Lance made his way back up to the stage and sat down at the piano as the four other men joined him.
“What can we sing?” Joey looked around.
“I dunno. None of our songs. That would draw way too much attention.” Justin shook his head quickly.
“My Girl?” Lance played a couple of notes. “We did that once. Sounded pretty good.”
“Yeah, that’ll work.” Justin smiled before turning to the audience.
“Hey, gang. We’ve got a real treat for you. I don’t know if any of you were familiar with a group called *N Sync a few years ago, but the three remaining members are here and willing to do a song with us. Give it up for JC, Chris, and Joey.”
The audience clapped as they waited for the men to begin. Joey started the song as Lance played, and each man settled into a familiar pattern. After they finished, the crowd asked for another one, and they sang I Heard It Through the Grapevine. When the applause finally stopped, Lance looked around at the group and smiled.
“Thank you, guys. We appreciate it.”
“No, thank you. It’s good to be on stage with you.” JC smiled before making his way back to the booth.
Joshua beamed at the three men. “You guys sounded great. I wish we sounded like that.”
“You guys playing anywhere?” Joey swallowed the rest of his beer and signaled for another one.
“We’ve got a party tomorrow night at a frat house. If it goes well, I think we could have an in for rush and stuff.” The young man finished his soda, smiling at his mother when she set Joey’s beer down in front of him.
“Almost time for you to head home, kiddo.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He looked around the booth. “Thanks for inviting me. It was a real honor to meet you guys.”
Standing up, he shook hands with each man before following his mother to the entrance of the bar. They watched as she stood at the door to make sure he got into the car safely and waved him away. Turning back, she grabbed her tray and walked over to a table to take another order.
At closing time, JC, Joey, and Chris stayed to help clean up, much to the amusement of the ladies. Justin handed most of the tips to Dionne, asking her to split it with Gabrielle. JC asked about Joshua’s rehearsal and said that he might try and stop by to listen to them. She nodded her thanks, writing the address down on a napkin.
The five men walked out of bar and followed the women to their cars before walking back to the apartment. Safely inside, they sat around the living room and stared at each other.
“So…” Chris leaned back on his hands as he stretched out on the floor.
“So…” Lance stretched out on the sofa as Justin lounged on the other end.
“What happens now?” Joey looked at the two men across from him.
“You guys go back to your lives, and we go back to singing in a bar and figuring out what we want to learn this week.” Justin tucked his arms beneath his head and his toes beneath Lance’s thigh.
“I can’t just walk away. You don’t really think we’re gonna be able to do that, do you?” JC’s eyes opened wide.
Lance sighed. “What do you want us to do? We can’t be *N Sync again. That’s over with, and we can’t go back. Right now, we’re James and Randy, a couple of lounge lizards. In a couple of years, we’ll be somebody else, somewhere else. We don’t stay long in any one place because people start to wonder when they never see you getting any older. Our families are moving on, and you have to do that, too. Please, don’t make it harder.”
Joey rubbed his eyes. “Does it have to end right now? Can’t I have a little more time?”
“We just got here, so we’ll be around for a while. You could stop by some time, if you want.” Justin smiled at his friend, trying to ease the pain.
Joey nodded in relief. JC looked out the balcony door, still trying to wrap his mind around the past few days. Chris sighed and laid back on the floor, covering his face with his hands. They all sat in silence for a long time.
**~~**
Despite their desires otherwise, the world kept turning and life moved on. Chris went back to California to design his new line for the fall, but he did call every couple of days to talk and reminisce. Joey worked on a new movie that was shooting in Chicago, so he came by the lounge whenever he could. JC was working in Detroit and kept in touch with Joshua, helping the group record a demo.
Justin started hanging out with Dionne, finally enrolling at UIC for a few classes. Lance spent his days wandering around bookstores and museums, indulging himself in whatever caught his fancy. He also started accepting dinner invitations from Gabrielle, who was tired of cooking for one since Joshua was actually living at school.
**~~**
“Hey, Gab?” Dionne straightened the tablecloth and smoothed it over the edges of the table.
“Yeah?” The older woman continued pulling chairs off tables as they prepared to open the bar.
“You ever notice anything strange about Randy?”
“Other than his predilection for harassing me on a daily basis?” There was fond amusement in the voice, causing the younger woman to laugh.
“Besides that. I dunno…there just seems to be something about him.” Dionne shivered. “I really can’t explain it.”
Gabrielle finished setting down her chair before she looked over at her coworker. “Well, when you figure it out, let me know, and I’ll tell you if there’s anything strange about him.”
“Deal.” The young woman grinned as the object of their discussion entered the bar. Dionne smiled as she watched her friend glance casually over Justin before homing in on Lance. She had noticed the two of them getting closer, and she liked the fact that Gabrielle seemed to find happiness in something other than her work and her son.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the kiss on her cheek. Looking up, she stared into blue eyes and grinned.
“Hey, Randy.”
“Hey, Dionne. Did you get your chapter read for class?”
“Yeah, finished this morning. You?”
Justin nodded as he settled himself into a chair. “Yeah, although it was much easier to understand since I’ve seen the painting.”
“You’ve seen it?” Dark eyebrows rose in surprise.
The young man nodded. “Yeah. James and I spent a couple of months in Europe, working some clubs, and I saw it at the Louvre. Picture in the book doesn’t do it justice.”
“No, I would imagine not.”
**~~**
One night, while Lance was looking through her CD collection to find something to listen to while they made dinner, Gabrielle stood in the doorway of the kitchen and watched him. He was intent on his mission, carefully pulling out discs and scanning the covers to see if anything appealed to him. He finally slipped a disc into the stereo, clicking on the power.
“Lance.”
“Yeah?” He turned around and froze, his eyes widening as he realized what she said.
For a moment, he wobbled before straightening up and staring at her. “How did you know?”
Walking towards the stack of CDs, she dug through them and pulled out a familiar case and handed it to him. “I’m a fan.”
Taking a few steps, he sort of crumpled onto the sofa and covered his eyes with one hand. She sat down beside him, reaching out to pat his arm.
“When did you figure it out?” Looking at her, he thought he saw understanding in her eyes.
“When JC showed up with you at the mall. Listening to you sing, I knew there was something familiar about you. Then, you introduced JC, and it made me think about *N Sync, so I pulled out the CDs and listened to them again. Justin has a distinct voice. And you…”
“And me?” He grinned ruefully.
“There’s no disguising those beautiful eyes.”
Lance stood up and began to pace the room while Gabrielle watched. He was silent for a long time before turning back to her.
“What are you going to do?”
She shrugged and chuckled softly. “There’s nothing *to* do. Lance and Justin died two years ago. *N Sync is gone, families have moved on. I would guess there’s a reason why you did what you did, it’s not my place to say or do anything about it.”
Seeing the truth in her eyes, he breathed a sigh of relief and sat down again. Taking her hand in his, he smoothed his fingers across the knuckles.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled at him again then stood. “So, we cooking or what?”
Lance nodded. “We’re cooking.”
He followed her into the kitchen after pressing a button on the remote to start the music.
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