Carefully rolling over in the bed, JC smiled when he saw that his dream hadn’t been a dream and Lance was actually sound asleep next to him. His smile only grew larger when green eyes opened to stare into his blue ones.
“Do we have to get up yet?” asked Lance sleepily, only wanting to lay there for hours with his lover.
“No,” whispered JC, snuggling back down next to Lance and wrapped his arms around the younger man. Justin and Chris could wait.
*~*~*
“Do you think something has happened to him?” asked Justin Timberlake later that morning as he and Chris Kirkpatrick drove up their friend’s long driveway. When JC had failed to show up for their breakfast meeting, the pair had quickly decided to head over and see what had happened to their friend.
“Hopefully he just slept in,” replied Chris. “He’s been so tired lately, he needs a good night’s sleep.”
“What do you think his problem is?” asked Justin for Chris had known JC longer than Justin as he had grown up with him whereas Justin had only known JC for about a year. “For someone nicknamed Mr. Sleepy, he sure hasn’t been getting a lot of sleep lately.”
“He’s in love,” simply replied Chris. “It’s that Lance guy he met in Chicago. He misses him.”
“If you say so,” sighed Justin as he pulled his car to a stop in front of JC’s house.
“I know so,” replied Chris as he hurried up the steps to the doorway and was about to press the doorbell when Justin stopped him.
“Let’s just use the spare key,” suggested Justin. “That way if he’s asleep we won’t be waking him up.”
“Good idea,” nodded Chris, digging out his keys. Since JC was away for months at a time on writing trips, both Chris and Justin had keys to his place to keep an eye on things while he was gone.
Chris quickly opened the door and he and Justin slipped inside before they closed the door quietly behind them.
“Let’s just check his bedroom to see if he’s asleep, first,” whispered Chris. “If he’s asleep we leave, if he’s not there, we’ll then search the rest of the house.”
“Okay,” nodded Justin as the pair started to climb the stairs to the second level of the house. Once there, they quietly and quickly walked down the hall towards JC’s master bedroom and pushed the door open a little ways. Just as quickly however, they backed out of the room and closed the door as gently as possible.
“Did you see that?!” exclaimed Justin a little to loudly so Chris quickly grabbed him and dragged him downstairs to the kitchen.
“Of course I saw it,” replied Chris once they were safely in the kitchen, wondering what was going on with his friend.
“I guess you were wrong about him missing that Lance guy,” grinned Justin. He had figured all along that JC just needed to get laid and he was happy about being right.
“Justin,” hissed Chris. “He talks about Lance non-stop. Hell, I’ve never even met the guy but I can tell you his life story. Something else is going on here.”
“What do you suggest we do then?” asked Justin, crossing his arms over his chest. “Wake them up?”
“We wait,” replied Chris walking over to the refrigerator. “But we might as well cook breakfast in the process while we wait.”
*~*~*
An hour later JC and Lance awoke again but this time it was due to the smells that were forming downstairs in the kitchen.
“Huh?” asked Lance confused, knowing that he had to be wrong about the food smells unless JC had a cook that came in to cook everyday.
“It must be Chris and Justin,” explained JC with a smile. “I was suppose to meet them for breakfast today so they probably came by here when I didn’t show up.”
“Is this the same Chris who has his own company that manages music stars?” asked Lance remember back to a week ago when JC had told him about his best friend Chris. Lance didn’t know why that he then didn’t realize that JC also would have been rich if his childhood friend was.
“Yep and Justin is interning there for the summer,” informed JC. “I met Justin a year ago while walking through a park and I heard him singing. He has a great voice and I told him he could be a star but he said that kind of public life wasn’t for him but he did wanted to be involved in the industry. Chris owed me a favor so he hired Justin to intern for him but they soon became fast friends.”
“Think they made enough food for us?” asked Lance as his stomach growled.
“If we hurry,” smiled JC, so the pair quickly dressed before walking downstairs and into the kitchen, hand in hand.
“Hey C, hey C’s friend,” mumbled Justin through mouthfuls of cereal. Chris meanwhile was busy finishing up eggs and bacon.
“Hey C,” called Chris from the stove. “Who’s your friend?”
“Guys this is Lance,” announced JC as he and Lance sat down at the kitchen table across from Justin. “Lance, the one without any manners is Justin and the nut burning down my kitchen is Chris.”
“I’m not a nut!” protested Chris as he sat down next to Justin after placing the food on the table. “So is this the Lance from Chicago or do you just have a thing with picking up guys named Lance lately?”
“It’s the Lance,” blushed JC while Chris exchanged gloating looks with Justin.
“So what brings you to Orlando, Lance?” asked Justin ignoring Chris. “I mean besides JC. Not that we mind, though, it saves us from listening about you 24/7 from C.”
“Guys leave Lance alone,” ordered JC, blushing again. It was true though, he did talk about Lance a lot to his friends.
“I’m looking for new job opportunities,” replied Lance, feeling a little guilty. All while JC had been talking non-stop about him to his best friends, Lance’s best friends didn’t even know that he was gay yet.
“I might have something you’ll be interested in,” offered Chris. “Call my office later and I’ll set you up. JC has the number he can give you.”
“You mean Dani will set him up,” teased Justin referring to Chris’ president and on and off girlfriend.
“Same thing,” laughed Chris and Lance felt completely at ease with them.
*~*~*
Elsewhere
“Okay what’s the big emergency?” asked Joey as he entered his friend’s apartment. Randy had called him an hour ago saying that he needed to get there right away.
“Lance is gone!” exclaimed Eric, panicking.
“What do you mean he’s gone?” asked Joey confused. “We saw him just last night and he came back here!”
“He’s gone to Florida,” explained Randy calmly. “He left a note saying he was going there for a while and that we’ll hear from him soon.”
“What do we do?” asked Eric.
“Do what the note says, I guess,” shrugged Joey but truthfully he was worried about Lance.