"Do you want to know about Europe?"
Cari looked up from her notepad, already slightly more comfortable. "You're really good at this."
"Like I said, I've done quite a few of these." Joey's smile only disappeared for a second as he took a quick swig of water. "As you know, we were in Europe for a few years. It's a boy band thing. That's what we were in Europe, you know. I'm not going to deny it. Back then we were no different than any other boy band filled with pretty faces and love ballads. The problems started in Europe. Justin's ego was slowly growing, Chris's age was being noticed and criticized, JC found out that a line of coke and a performance was one amazing combination, and Lance had to work harder to stay in the group. You see, in the states girls will stay with you through bad and good times, but in Europe they find a new obsession once things go down. He was just too shy, and they still didn't like the accent. Not to mention the fact that he dancing was only decent no matter how long he practiced."
"And when exactly did you notice the changes in all of the guys?" Cari grinned, she was really getting at ease about this.
"Well, with Justin..."
JUSTIN
A 19-year-old Joey bobbed his head to the music on his headphones.
"Justin, leave me alone." Joey opened his eyes to see Lance sitting in a hard chair, book in hand, and Justin in front of him.
"I swear, just one more pair after these." Justin spun around in a new pair of tight leather pants.
"I don't know. Do I look like Mr. Fashion to you?" Lance pushed his younger group mate away, but Justin just bounced back.
"Come on, do I look hot or not? I mean, I know I always look hot, but don't you just wanna grab this ass?" Justin shoved his ass in the blond's face, giggling.
"No, I don't wanna grab any part of you. Now, go away. We've already established that you don't like my taste, anyways." Lance attempted to end the conversation by pulling his book up, but Justin wouldn't be stopped.
"I don't care if you have bad taste. I still want to know exactly how much you want a piece of this sweet, sweet ass." Justin smacked his ass and began doing a little dance. "You know you want it, baby."
"Sorry, but I'll pass on that image." Lance kicked at the boy in front of him.
"You can't kick me."
"What ya gonna do 'bout it?" Lance now stood up, ready for a fight.
"I just might have to kick you." Justin kicked playfully at his shin.
Lance jumped him and both boys began rolling around on the floor, jokingly clawing at each other. Joey watched from his chair, laughing at the two friends.
"Fuck!" The playing stopped and Lance stood up. He lifted his shirt to show a large bruise forming on his chest.
Joey stared in awe. "Justin, what the Hell did you do to him?"
"It was an accident, who cares?" Justin sat down, catching his breath.
"Well, we do have a photo shoot tomorrow where they plan on us taking off our shirts. That's not gonna look good."
"They can just put him in the back. No one wants to see him, anyhow." Justin left the room and his humbleness behind.
JUSTIN
Joey looked up to the reporter. "I guess that's when Justin first changed, or when I first noticed it."
"It was true, though. Lance had very few fans in Europe. They wanted to see Justin."
Joey slammed a fist softly on the arm of his chair. "That's not the point, though. It was an awful thing to say, and it wouldn't be the first time he said something like that, either."
"Well, what about the others?" Cari tried to shrug off the anger that had dimmed Joey's smile.
"I guess I could tell you about Lance now."
LANCE
Joey walked down a long hallway, tired and leaning against the wall. He stopped at the door that belonged to Lou and attempted to open it, but the knob wouldn't turn. Joey began to walk away when he heard a noise from inside. It was sort of a muffled groaning. He kneeled down and peeked in through the keyhole.
Inside, Lou was sitting at his desk, seemingly alone. He held onto the edge of the desk, moaning to himself. Joey shook the strange image off and was about to stand up when he noticed Lou putting his hand down to his lap and grabbing something. When he let go and few strands of bleach blond hair came up with his hand. Joey recognized that hair.
He moved to the side and leaned against the wall, slowly dropping to the ground. "Oh. My. God." He breathed in deeply and closed his eyes, trying to forget what was happening in there. Soon, the door opened and Joey jumped to his feet, now eye-to-eye with Lance.
"Hey, Joe." The 17-year-old's smile was beaming.
"Hi, what you up to?"
"Aww... you know, business stuff." Joey held himself back from breaking out in tears. That was not business stuff. That was... fucking... not right stuff. There was no other way in his mind to put it, but not right. "Were you gonna talk to Lou or do ya wanna get something to eat with me?"
"Umm... I have to go." Joey didn't think he could look at either of them for at least a few hours. He walked off as fast as was possible without being too obvious.
LANCE
Cari shifted her legs. "So, the rumors were true?"
"You mean, the shower ones?"
"Yeah." She flipped to a new page in the notepad.
"I never caught them in the shower." He stopped for a drink of water. "Why don't I tell you about JC?"
"Sure, that'd be good."
"I can't remember this very well. We were all a little drunk."
JC
All five group members sat in hotel room, smiling and holding bottles or glasses.
"I think that was our best performance yet." Justin stood up on a coffee table. "And you know why?"
"Why?"
Justin grinned. "Because of my super fine ass."
"That must be it." JC stood up, slapped his friend's ass, and made his way to a bedroom.
"Where you going?" Joey looked up from his drink. JC didn't answer, but left the room. Joey turned to his other friends.
"Ass ass ass..." Was all that he heard from Justin's mouth. Chris was lying on the floor, eyes glazed over and Lance was giggling into a bottle of whiskey.
"Do any of you know what JC's doing?"
"Probably jackin' off." Lance's giggles became louder, which sent the other two into fits of laughter.
"I'm gonna go and check on him." Joey walked over to the bedroom and slowly opened the door. JC was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. "Hey, Jace." JC leaned his head back and took a breath. Joey stepped forward and saw the little baggie of white powder lying next to his hand. He watched JC's chest softly rise and fall.
JC finally opened his eyes, and slid the baggie out of view. "Hi." JC smiled at his friend.
"What ya doing?"
"Nothing."
"That's not nothing." Joey walked closer, taking him by the shoulders, but was pushed away.
"Look, it was just this one time." JC looked over the concerned face. "Just experimenting, you know."
"Ok." Joey left the room.
JC
"I take it he wasn't just experimenting." Cari gave the man a questioning look.
"Nope. I don't even think that was his actual first time." The smile came back to his face. "Now, let's not forget Chris."
CHRIS
Joey lied in his bunk trying to sleep when he noticed a quiet sobbing. He waited a few minutes to see if it would stop. When the crying had not stopped, he climbed out and went to the living area. In the dark he could barely make out who was the sobbing mass.
"Are you ok?"
Chris lifted his head and wiped away a tear. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were awake."
"It's ok, but what's wrong?" Joey sat down next to the older man.
"I'm old."
"No, you're not. Why would someone call you old?"
"It's not really that I'm old, but the rest of you are all younger. I'm the old one. " Chris pulled his knees up to his chest. "The magazines called me 'gramps'." He flipped through the pages of a thin copy of TeenBeat.
"Chris, they're just teenybopper magazines. It doesn't matter what those stupid things say." Joey picked up the offending magazine and tore it in half. "That's what I think of them and their worthless comments."
Chris smiled and giggled as the black and white pages fell to the ground. "Thanks."
"You gonna go to bed now and stop worrying about those magazines?" Chris nodded. "Good night."
"Good night." Joey left for his bunk, looking back to catch a glimpse of his friend bending down to pick up a paper from the floor, a tear rounding his cheek.
CHRIS
"He wasn't very old."
"Yeah, but those teenies don't pay attention to sense." Joey's smile dimmed from the pain of the memory. "Some people can be so cruel to the sweetest souls."