ring, ring.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?"

"What do you mean. Who is this? You called me. Don't you know?"

"Look kid. Don't get smart with me. Let me talk to Lance."

"Sorry. He is asleep and I'm not waking him up. Now who is this?"

"This is Diane Bass. Now let me talk to Lance."

"No, I don't think he wants to talk to you."

"Do you know what he is? Did he tell you? Do you know he is a FAG? That he likes men? Did he tell you? What do you think of him now? Huh? Not such the sweet little southern boy now is he? What do you have to say about that? Is this Joshua? So what do you think of your so-called friend now?"

"Look Mrs. Bass. I know all about Lance and I don't think any differently of him now than I did before he told me that he is gay. Unfortunately, you do. I can't believe that someone such as you could raise such a wonderful, caring, and kind person such as Lance. I'm very disappointed in you and the way you and your husband are taking this. I'm certain I can speak for Lance on this. I would greatly appreciate you not calling this house again, unless you have a change of heart. I will not allow you to treat him the way you did. Not while I am here and I don't plan on going anywhere any time soon. By the way, yes, this is Joshua, but you don't have the privilege of calling me that anymore. You will either address me as JC or Mr. Chasez, if and when I ever decide to speak to you again. Goodbye, and please for Lance's sake, don't call here again unless it is to apologize for the way you reacted."

Click.

Damn, I can't believe the nerve of that woman. What the hell did she think she was going to say to him? I'm so glad I beat Lance to the phone. He really didn't need that first thing in the morning.

Ok, back to the bed before he sees me standing here. Don't want him to catch me. God, what a cute ass. Ok, get your crazy ass back to bed. Hurry up he's turning around. Whew made it before he saw me. I wonder what the hell my mom said to piss him off that bad. It must have been something bad. He looked madder than a wet hen.

Mrs. Bass' mind.

Damn that boy. I should call his mother and tell her that her son is living with a fag. I can't believe he wouldn't let me talk to Lance. Who the hell does he think he is? I'll show him. Where's that number. Ah, here it is.

ring, ring

"Hello."

"Hello, is Karen Chasez there please?"

"This is her?"

"Hi, Karen, this is Diane Bass, Lance's mother."

"Hi, Diane {cheerful tone}. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I just thought you would like to know that your son is living with a FAG. I just got off the phone with him and he said it didn't bother him in the least and he went off on me, saying I had no right to call his roommate a FAG. What on earth have you people been teaching that son of yours? I thought you raised a good Christian boy."

"Look, Diane {agitation sounding through}. I appreciate you telling me that my son disrespected you and I will talk to him about that. I really don't appreciate you calling here at an ungodly hour of the mourning and tell me that my son is living with a 'FAG' as you call him. I'm assuming it is a him. I don't care if the person Josh is staying with is an ex-can as long as Josh trusts him and believes he is a good person. I trust Josh. He is a strong boy. I will not tolerate you calling me and calling people hurtful and ugly words like that. Our faith tells us to 'Love everyone'. Did you forget that? What about 'Though shall't not judge, lest ye be judged'? Did you forget that or are you too busy condemning this poor person? Who is this poor child and why do you even care? It's not like............... Oh, my goodness. It's Lance isn't it? How could you say such things about your own son? What the hell is the matter with you? Don't you ever call here again, unless it is an emergency or you have apologized to Lance. Goodbye."

Back with Lance and JC.

I wonder what I could do to make Lance's day a little better than yesterday? Hmmmm. Maybe I could make him some breakfast? [Note: I know everybody out there things JC can't cook, but in my story he has a second hobby and that is being a chef. Sorry, just deal with it.] Let me see what there is in the fridge. Man good thing I stopped at the store before Lance got home. The boy never has anything in this house. Ok, milk, bread, eggs, cinnamon, butter, and frying pan. Good, all the makings of his favorite breakfast. Turn the coffee pot on, turn on the stove, turn of the Joshua, turn on the radio, lowly, crack the eggs, stir them up, pour in a little milk, dash of cinnamon. Oh wait, shit, where's the damn nutmeg. Ah, there you are. Put a little butter in the pan, yep, it's warm enough. Dip the bread in the egg, put in the pan and fry it up. Uh-oh, I think I here a Lance stirring upstairs. Damn, I wanted to surprise him. Oh well, too late now. Well, at least he'll be happy I cooked. Flip over the bread. Get a plate; put it on the counter. Take the French toast out of the pan.

"Morning."

"Morning. How are you feeling today? I hope better."

"Yes, actually, I'm feeling much better. Thanks. You didn't have to cook. I could have just had cereal or something. We could have went out. I'm afraid to see the mess he made. I swear this boy really can't cook for shit. Man, that actually smells good What did you make, anyway?"

"Your fav. French Toast. There is Orange Juice and Milk in the fridge. I figured you wouldn't have anything here that was edible so I went shopping before you got home yesterday. You don't mind do you? I'll clean up after we eat."

"If it tastes half as good as it smells, I won't care what kind of mess you made."

"Well, here you go, enjoy." Please, please like it.

Damn, this shit is great. When the hell did he learn how to cook? "This is really good JC. When did you learn to cook this?"

You'd be surprised what I can do when I'm properly motivated. "I just picked it up along the way. I don't know why you guys think I can't cook. I only burnt the curtains once and that was because Joey was messing around in the kitchen and knocked the pan of grease over. I swear, one mistake, and they never forget."

"So who was on the phone earlier? I thought I heard it ring?"

"Yeah, it was just Joe, wanted to see if we wanted to do something today."

"I'd love to. Should I call him?"

"Nah......"

"Hello, anybody home. Hey what smells so good? Oh shit, C's cooking everybody run for your lives. The house be on fire soon."

"Ha ha, Joe."

"Actually it's pretty good, but I don't think JC's going to let you have any after that comment."

"Hey, Joe, Just, man what smells so good? Who the hell cooked and how come I wasn't told to be here before it got cold? Somebody better start talking."

Ok, can you tell these guys never get any home cooked food? They're talking like there's a Thanksgiving Day dinner on the table or something. "Hey, guys sit down and I'll make some more for everybody."

"Great, I'm starved," this from Joey.

"Me too," Justin chimes in.

"Scoot your ass over Bass, I want some of that too," Chris says as he shoves Lance to the floor.

"Hey, Chris?"

"Yeah, C?"

"You want some of this food?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Then give Lance back his chair and stop acting like a starving lunatic. All of you go wash up or you don't get anything." Ok, I'm starting to scare myself. That sounded very much like something my mother would have said.

"Hey, Jayce?"

"Yeah, Lance?"

"You do realize you sounded just like your mom, don't you?" Although, I don't think your mom would have gotten quite so upset about Chris shoving me out of my seat. He is so adorable. I really need to tell him how I feel. I'm not so sure I can keep from letting it slip through when he does things like that.

"Ok, we're all washed and ready for breakfast, dad. Can we have some food now?"

"Sure go sit at the table. Just why don't you get some plates? Chris get some glasses. Joe you get the juice out of the fridge."

"Dude. You be feelin' ok? You be sounded like my moms. Wha happen, you hit you hea or somthin?"

"Justin. If you don't stop talking like some stupid trailer trash, wannabe, black boy, your gonna be hitting your head on the wall."

"Sure C. That'll happen."

"At least it got him to talkin like a normal white boy again."

"Well, I'm gonna take a shower. You guys figure out what we're gonna do today."

"Alrighty, Lance."

"Ok, so did you guys decide what we're doing? Where'd JC go?"

"JC's in the shower, and we're going to Disney. If that's alright with you," Joey replied.

"Yeah, sounds good. Man, is it just me or has JC been acting kinda strange lately?"

"What do ya mean?" Justin asks.

"You mean besides, him coming back a week early, cooking this wonderful breakfast, AND cleaning up the mess?" Chris inferred.

"Well, besides that. He seems real quiet. Like he's got some thing going on in his head that he doesn't want us to know about."

"Did you ask him about it?" Joey asks.

"Yeah, he said I'd be the first to know once he worked it out."

"Well, then quit worrin about it. When he's ready to talk he will. We all know C won't talk until he's ready," this from Justin Little know it all. Likes to think he knows JC so well. If he knew him so well, he'd know what the problem was. He'd also have known that JC could cook.

"Well, what I want to know is WHEN the hell did JC learn to cook? That boy couldn't boil water before we left on tour, now he's cooking FRENCH TOAST. I know it's not the hardest thing in the world to cook, but we're talking about JC here. The only thing that boy knows is music and sleeping. What the hell is going on?" Chris ranted.

"Gee, thanks for that vote of confidence there Chris. I really appreciate it. Next time I decide to cook I'll make sure you are not on the guest list. So is everybody ready?"

"Yep." The other four chorused.

"Great lets go."