“So how goes the search?”
“You know how it goes!” grumbled Lance Bass to his best friend Joey Fatone as he took a swing from the beer in front of him. The pair was spending the afternoon in their regular bar. However while Joey was busy rehearsing with his band for that night, Lance was drowning his sorrows in beer. “The girl of my dreams hates me and I have no clue as to why!”
“Cheer up man!” replied Joey slapping Lance on his back. “When one chick passes by another one is right around the corner.”
“Yeah, then I’ll screw that one up too!”
“You’re too hard on yourself Lance!” sighed Joey. “So you get cold feet? That happens to a lot of guys.”
“Yeah?” asked Lance in disbelief. “Name one other guys besides me that has had this bad of luck with women them me!”
“Well . . . umm . . .”
“Exactly!”
“Well maybe you just haven’t met the right girl!” protested Joey. “Yeah I know you liked all those girls you crapped out with and I know you think that this train chick is ‘the one’, but what if she isn’t? What if you’re wrong and this connection you say you had was from something like you were siblings in a past life? You knew her five minutes Lance, maybe it’s time for you to stop chasing fantasies and wait for love to find you!”
“Easy for you to say,” grumbled Lance, “Mr. I-Have-A-Hot-Date-Every-Night.”
“Fine Lance,” sighed Joey standing up from the counter. “I have to go and get ready for the gig tonight. Just think about what I said okay?”
“Whatever,” mumbled Lance as Joey made his way over to the door, pausing only to let the young, slim man, with a heedful of curly hair slip into the bar first before he exited it.
“Hey Chasez,” called the bartender to the slim, young man. “Nice of you to make it on time today! Maybe you won’t get fired after all!”
“Shut up Scott!” snapped the slim man, annoyed. “It’s not my fault that I keep on over sleeping!”
“Oh yeah, I forgot!” laughed Scott. “You’re a ‘writer’ and need your beauty sleep.”
“Well, this writer is covering for you tonight, Scott, while you go out with your girlfriend so be nice okay?”
“Point taken,” replied Scott sobering up. “The bar is yours and I’ll be on my way.”
“See you tomorrow dude,” sighed the new bartender as he watched Scott quickly leave.
“What’s up with Scott?” asked Lance confused, forgetting his own problems for a minute. “I’ve never seen him not like someone before, yet he doesn’t seem to like you.”
“He thinks I’m gay,” replied the mystery man with a shrug while giving Lance a warm smile. “I’m Josh by the way, but everyone calls me JC.”
“Lance,” he replied extending his hand to shake JC’s.
“I know,” smiled JC. “I read about you in the paper. How did that thing turn out anyways?”
“Why does everyone keep on wanting to ask me that today?!” cried Lance. “Didn’t you read the part where the entire city hates me because they think the whole thing was a scam to meet women including the girl from the train?!”
“Relax,” replied JC softly. “I did read about that but you don’t seem the type that would do that. If the train girl didn’t see that then she’s not good enough for you!”
“I just don’t want to talk about it okay,” grumbled Lance.
“That’s fine,” smiled JC.
“So are you gay?”
“Huh?” asked JC surprised at the question.
“You said Scott thinks you’re gay, so are you?” asked Lance staring into the blue eyes of JC with his own green ones.
“Yeah I am,” nodded JC. “Is that a problem?”
“Not with me,” shrugged Lance.
“Good,” replied JC while giving Lance a warm smile. “I just arrived in town last week and I didn’t want to be getting off to a bad start already. Some other places I’ve been haven’t been as welcoming towards my sexuality.”
“You move around a lot?”
“Well . . . somewhat,” answered JC. “I live in Orlando but I’m a song writer and I like to travel around the country on writing trips when I need ideas. It’s amazing what kinds of song ideas you can come up with by meeting so many different people.”
“You should meet my friend Joey then,” replied Lance, rolling his eyes. “He lives to be a famous rock star.”
“Maybe we could work together sometime then,” smiled JC. “What do you live for, Lance?”
“Me?” asked Lance surprised. “I work for an advertising agency.”
“That’s where you work, not what you live for Lance,” sighed JC. “When you were a kid, what did you dream you would be when you grew up?”
“Lots of things,” shrugged Lance. “Astronaut, horse ranch owner, own my own business, club owner . . . “
“Then why are you in advertisement?” asked JC gently.
“It’s a good job!” protested Lance. “Plus I do like it there! Just because it wasn’t one of my dreams as a kid doesn’t mean I’m not happy working there!”
“Okay, okay,” replied JC quickly, backing away from Lance. “Forget I said anything!”
“Whatever,” grumbled Lance, standing up from the bar stool and pulling out his wallet to pay for the beers. “I have to get going anyways.”
“Bye Lance,” whispered JC sadly as he watched Lance exit the bar.
*~*~*
“You coming tonight?” asked Eric, one of Lance’s roommates. It had been hours since Lance had left the bar and since then he had stayed in his room playing on his computer.
“No,” answered Lance, not looking up from the monitor.
“Why not?”
“I don’t feel like it,” mumbled Lance. The truth was however he hadn’t been able to get the curly haired bartender out of his head since the encounter that afternoon and it was confusing the hell out of Lance.
“Come on Lance!” begged Eric. “Think about Joe. He’s going to be counting on you being there.”
“Fine!” sighed Lance in defeat, hoping that the bar would be busy that night so that he wouldn’t have to talk to JC again so soon.
Unfortunately for Lance, he got just the opposite, as the bar was no less busy than normal. But for some reason the older man brought a smile to Lance’s face. A true smile he hadn’t experienced in days and he suddenly regretted the way he had treated JC earlier.
“Hello again,” smiled JC as Lance approached counter ready to order more beers for himself and his friends. “I didn’t expect you to be back so soon since you seemed pretty mad when you left.”
“I wasn’t really mad,” blushed Lance, somewhat embarrassed. “More frustrated with everything that has been happening.”
“Well I’m glad you’re back because I don’t think the owner would like me too much if a customer stopped coming here because I scared him away,” laughed JC.
“I don’t get scared that easily,” chuckled Lance, surprised at how easily he could talk to JC once he wasn’t in a bad mood. “Besides my best friend Joey, plays here with his band. He’d kill me if I stopped watching him perform.”
“I was wonder if they were the same person,” remarked JC. “I’ve briefly meet him once or twice. He’s really good!”
“Don’t tell him that or he’d love you forever!” chuckled Lance.
“I’ll tell him, he’s just okay then,” JC teased while he busily got a drink for another customer. “What do you want to drink anyways? Since I’m sure you didn’t come over here to keep me company when you could be having fun with your friends.”
“I’m having fun here!” protested Lance a little too quickly which caused him to blush brightly. “I mean, umm . . . four beers.”
“I’ll have it sent to your table,” replied JC quietly with a small smile.
“Thanks,” murmured Lance before wandering back to his table.
“Where’s our beers?” complained Eric when Lance returned empty handed.
“They’re being brought over,” replied Lance quickly, sitting back down.
“What took you so long?” asked his other roommate Randy.
“Hey yeah did you mean any hot chick?” added Eric excitedly.
“I was talking to a friend,” answered Lance nervously. “Can we just change the subject?”
“Hot chick,” whispered Eric to Randy who nodded his head in agreement.
*~*~*
Early the next morning Lance rolled out of his bed and walked sleepily to the bathroom. His sleep hadn’t been a very restful one as the words of Joey and JC wandered throughout his head.
Stepping under the warm water of his shower, Lance allowed the water to wash away his confusion for the time being.
As Lance slid his soapy hands over his body cleansing himself he started becoming aroused and his hands slid lower and lower until they reached his waiting erection.
Lance tried to muffle his moans as he ran his hands along the long length, knowing he would never hear the end of it if Eric or Randy heard him.
As the strokes became harder and more intense, Lance closed his eyes and began picturing an image he had come to know well over the past few weeks, the image of the girl from the train. To his surprise however, the girl disappeared suddenly and was replaced with the image of the sexy bartender.
“No,” whimpered Lance but it was too late as an intense climax ripped through is body.
“Fuck,” whispered Lance as he slid to the floor, suddenly feeling very scared.
*~*~*
For the next week, Lance avoided the bar where JC worked like the plague, claiming on too much work when his friends inquired why he was never going. But still thoughts of JC suck up on him.
Lance knew he had to go back sometime but JC did tell him that he moved around a lot and Lance hoped that if he stayed away long enough JC would of already left by the time he started going back.
Fate however had different plans for Lance as he sat on the L on his way home from his job one afternoon.
“Penny for your thoughts?” asked a familiar voice and Lance looked up into the smiling, angelic face of JC.
“JC?” he asked surprised, his voice cracking slightly.
“You haven’t been around all week,” continued the older man sitting down next to Lance. “I was beginning to wonder if anything was wrong.”
“I was busy,” lied Lance, looking down at his lap, needing to look anywhere except at JC.
“Come on Lance,” begged JC, teasingly. “I’m a bartender, I’m use to hearing other people’s problems. You can at least tell me yours.”
“I can’t!” whispered Lance sadly.
“Talk to me Lance,” begged JC, resting a hand on Lance’s knee.
“I think I’m falling in love,” replied Lance softly.
“So?”
“With another guy.”
“Oh,” replied JC surprised. “Do you know if the other guy is gay?”
“Yes.”
“Then what is your problem?” asked JC confused. “Just tell him how you feel.”
“I just can’t,” sighed Lance.
“Then, next time you see him, kiss him.”
“What?!” asked Lance not believing what he was hearing as he looked up at JC in surprise.
“Kiss him,” repeated JC. “The worst thing that could happen is for the guy to hit you. If that happens you know the guy is a prick and you no longer need to be love struck over him. The best thing is if he feels the same way about you.”
“Umm . . . okay,” replied Lance, before leaning forward and brushing his lips quickly against JC’s before looking up at him with scared eyes. “Are you going to hit me now?”
“No,” whispered JC, smiling and bringing one hand up to gently stroke Lance’s cheek, while placing the other behind Lance’s neck. “But I am going to do this.” With that JC leaned in and kissed Lance, longer and more tender this time and he smiled into the kiss when he felt Lance kissing back.
Lance meanwhile never felt happier while kissing JC and he realized that love really did happen on the L.