“I’m not all the good,” replied JC embarrassed.
“Whatever,” grumbled Lance under his breath. “What do you want to do then?”
“My grandparents have a large collection of movies,” suggested JC. Watching TV Was out of question as the cable wouldn’t be connected for another two months when JC’s grandparents arrived.
“Fine,” sighed Lance standing up and walking over to the video collection. IF he was going to have to watch a movie, he was at least going to be the one to pick it out.
After looking for a few minutes, Lance finally pulled out a video and popped it into the VCR.
With a smile on his face, he picked up the bowl of popcorn from the coffee table and flopped down on the couch next to JC, placing the bowl in between them.
“What movie did you pick?”
“Clue,” whispered Lance as it started.
Throughout the movie, Lance alternated between watching the movie and watching JC. Lance always figured that you could tell how good of nature a person had by how much they enjoyed comedies. Plus it was Lance’s favorite movie and he liked people who liked it.
Lance normally suggested watching the movie not long into when he was dating someone new. Unfortunately he usually ended up with that person after that date. JC however, seemed to be enjoying it.
“That was good!” commented JC as the credits rolled. “But what was up with that ending?”
“In the theaters, you only saw one ending depending on what theater you watched it at. That way whenever you went to see it you never knew what ending you’d see. When the VHS was released all three ending were put on it with the real ending with Mr. Green being the cop as the last one.”
“Got it,” nodded JC as he stood up to eject the tape and replace it on the shelf. “Do you want to watch another one or just go to bed?”
“It’s your turn to pick,” replied Lance as JC studied the movies.
“Hey! Star Wars!” cried JC excitedly. “I would of thought that they would have gotten rid of it years ago!”
“Why?” asked Lance, curiously. Most people, including himself, loved the movie.
“It’s my favorite movie,” admitted JC sadly. “Heather told me they got rid of all my stuff after . . . .—they must have missed this tape.”
“Put in ion and come here,” commanded Lance, as he placed the empty popcorn bowl on the floor and patted the cushion next to him.
Doing just that, JC was soon curled up next to Lance, who had his arm around JC as they watched the movie.
They stayed like that until around half-way through the movie when JC shifted to lay down, his head now resting in Lance’s lap as Lance absentmindedly stroked JC’s hair.
*~*~*
Over the next week, the pair quickly fell into a pattern.
They would sleep until noon, get up, eat lunch, go down to the water until supper and watch movies after supper until the early hours of the morning when Lance would then help a sleepy JC into the bed that they shared.
After the second night JC had told Lance that they didn’t have to sleep in the same bed anymore, but Lance refused, liking the comfort he felt each morning as he would untangle himself from JC since they always seemed to manage to end up that way despite how far apart they were when they went to sleep the night before.
Over the week, the pair had grown closer, but neither would admit to himself, just how much they had fallen to for the other person.
“How much longer do you plan on staying here?” asked Lance on their eighth night together as they cuddled together on the bed.
“I don’t know,” sighed JC. “I still haven’t figured anything out but it isn’t fair to you, keeping you here.”
“Why do you need the money?” asked Lance quietly. “I know you wouldn’t steal unless you had to.”
“My parents fount out Heather and I had been in contact,” informed JC. “They cut off all their funds to here and she’s barely getting by having to work two jobs now. Her tuition payment is coming up and if she doesn’t pay it she’ll have to leave school and end up a bum like me.”
“You’re not a bum Josh!” protested Lance. “You’re wonderful and caring! Life has treated you like shit yet somehow you still make it. Now you’re getting screwed again just because you want to help your sister. I would do the same thing for Stacy.”
“But money means everything to you,” pointed out JC sadly. “You’ve said so yourself.”
“I was wrong,” replied Lance softly.
JC rested his head on Lance’s chest and he looked up at Lance’s green eyes. “I’m tired,” he whispered as Lance stroked his hair until he fell asleep.
*~*~*
Chris sighed as he made his way through the semi-busy bar and flopped down on the barstool. Normally Chris would have been at his own place but tonight he was at Fat-One.
“What’s wrong?” asked the bartender whom Chris recognized as the owner Joey Fatone. “Hey aren’t you the owner of Kirkpatrick’s? What brings you here?”
“Yeah,” nodded Chris. “I’m trying to track down a friend of mine, JC Chasez. He’s been missing for over a week and the police are doing nothing since they figure he just got up and moved on to a new place. Yet, all his stuff is still in his apartment and his car is still parked in the parking lot of my bar!”
“What does he look like?” asked Joey concerned. He hated it when something happened to people.
“Here,” replied Chris handing Joey a Polaroid of JC taken a few weeks ago. Fortunately it wasn’t uncommon of Chris to start taking pictures when the bar was a lively place, so luckily he had a picture of his friend. It would have been harder if Chris had no picture of JC.
“I haven’t see him,” replied Joey sadly as he started to hand back the picture. “Do you have a copy of this picture because I could ask around to see if any of the regulars around here have seen him?”
“Keep it,” informed Chris as he stood up, ready to head onto the next place. “I have plenty more.”
“I hope you find him,” replied Joey as Chris walked towards the exit and back out into the cool night air.
“What was that all about?” asked Justin wandering over and taking a look at the Polaroid. “Who’s the hottie?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” sighed Joey. “Right now I just have an urge to call Lance.”
“Okay,” nodded Justin as he went back to staring and drooling at the picture. Joey meanwhile quickly dialed first Lance’s cell phone number and then his home one, but like any time Joey had tried to call that week, he only got Lance’s voice mail.
“So what’s up?” asked Justin, seeing that Joey was no longer on the phone.
“The guy in picture is JC Chasez,” sighed Joey. “He’s from that place, Kirkpatrick’s. He’s been missing for a week. Then I realized that while Chasez’s friend is out worried about him trying to track him down, I’ve been doing nothing to try and get a hold of Lance because I figure he’ll call me back. I just feel really guilty right now since I’m suppose to be Lance’s best friend.”
“Go over there,” suggested Justin. “It’s a slow night and I’m sure the other employees could handle things without you.”
“I think I just might do that,” replied Joey with another sigh. He just couldn’t shake this bad feeling he was having.
*~*~*
Thirty minutes later as Joey pulled into Lance’s drive he knew something was wrong right away. The giveaway being that both the mail and the morning paper had been piling up for days it seemed.
Grabbing his cell phone, Joey quickly called the police.