"So," Karen said, taking a sip of her drink. "How long have you two been together?"
"Not very long, a couple of weeks," I answered.
She nodded, and I knew she didn't really know what to say to us. "So, how've you been Mom?" JC asked, and I was proud of him for taking the first step. "I've been okay... I miss you, so do Tyler and Heather."
"And Dad?"
Karen looked away for a moment, and then she looked down. "You know your father," she said. "He'll come around." JC nodded, biting his lower lip, and I knew he thought she was wrong.
"So Lance, how are your parents taking you and Joshua together?" Karen asked.
"They... uh, they don't know," I told her.
"We're waiting for the right time to tell them," JC added, and I gave his leg a squeeze to thank him for his support.
"Look, Joshua, I know that ever since you told us about you...being... well, you know..."
"Gay?" JC answered with a small smile.
"Yes. Ever since then, I know your father and I haven't made it easy on you, and...this is very hard..."
"I accept your apology, Mom," JC said. She smiled at him, and then did something that shocked both me and him. She leaned over the table and pulled him into a hug.
*
"KB Toys?" I asked incredulously, looking at Chris' gleeful face. "How the hell are we supposed to find birthday presents for Justin and Joey in KB Toys?"
"Look at it this way Lance, we could've gone to Toys-R-Us," JC said, grinning. Chris sighed. "Just calm down Lance. There's plenty of stuff in here we could get them. We could get Joey a superman doll."
"Oh, because he doesn't have one of those," I muttered.
"We could get Justin a Britney doll," Chris continued, as if he hadn't even heard me, as we passed a large set up of Britney replica dolls.
"Ooohh, VMA Britney," JC said, holding up one of the boxes and grinning. Chris giggled like a little kid on Christmas and grabbed the box from him. "You're both nuts," I muttered, but I had to admit I was a little amused as well.
We walked around the little toy store, laughing at all the stupid things we saw. We passed a large bin marked $1.00 or less, and I looked inside, laughing at what I saw. "Hey guys, check it out, we're less than a buck."
JC and Chris, who were playing with a Tickle-Me-Elmo, came over to look in the bin, which was filled with our merchandise. We started looking through it, seeing if there was anything good. "Hey, I can't believe they would sell -this- for less than a dollar!" JC exclaimed, pulling out a Bye, Bye, Bye marionette of me.
"JC, it has no leg," I said, pointing to the large hole on my plastic hip where my plastic right leg should be.
"Do they have one of Justin?" Chris asked, looking around. "Why?" JC asked, giving Chris an odd look. "Because I want to put marionette Justin with my VMA Britney."
*
After leaving the toy store, we decided to check out the CD store next to it. "What CD's do you think the guys'll want that they don't already have."
"I say we get Justin this," Chris said, grabbing a Bahamen CD. He stared singing `Who Let The Dogs Out' and a couple people stared, so JC grabbed the CD from him and said, "Fine, we'll get it if you stop singing."
Chris laughed and we continued to look through the store. "How about we get them this?" Chris asked, holding up the Backstreet Boys' newest album. "How can you touch that? It broke our record," JC said, and Chris shrugged. "We'll just break it again when we come out with the new album. Even more so because people think you're going to die. Hey, think of the records we’ll break if you did die and we made you a tribute album!"
JC laughed and playfully smacked Chris. It took all my will power not to throw up on the spot. I had to tell myself they didn't know... they didn't know... they didn't know...
"Lance?" I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I didn't know if it was Chris or JC... I was just trying to get myself under control. "Hey man, you okay?"
"Y..yeah," I said, taking a deep breath. I looked up and gave them my best smile. "Sorry, I just got a little dizzy."
"Maybe we should go..." JC started, and I jumped in. "No! No, I'm fine. Really, I'm okay."
"You sure man?" Chris asked, and I nodded. "So, ex nay on the Backstreet Boys," I said, and Chris grinned, "Yeah, because Hanson is so much better!" he ran off to the H section, and I just shook my head, grinning.
"Are you sure you're okay?" JC asked, putting his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him. "I'm sure."
I wasn't really fine, I knew that pretty soon all these morbid thoughts were going to drive me insane.
*
We got back from the mall late that night, walking into the house loaded with shopping bags, and of course Justin and Joey knew what they were, and of course they were full of questions.
"What's in `em?"
"We're not going to tell you, shit head."
"Can we see?"
"No, you can't see, shit head."
Justin laughed. "Stop calling me shit head, Chris."
"Here, you can see what's in here," JC said, handing Justin one of the smaller bags. Justin grinned and Joey looked at him expectantly as he looked inside. Justin's face took on a confused expression as he pulled the item out of the bag.
"You got me a Lance doll?" he asked. "With no leg," Joey added.
"No," JC said, grabbing the doll from Justin. "This is mine."
I felt my face flush and I looked down at my feet. "Uh, JC? Why did you pay money for a Lance doll with no leg when merchandising would give you all the Lance dolls you want for free?"
"Hey, they'd probably give you a life size one for those lonely nights on the road."
I blushed again and everyone laughed at the look on JC's face.
*
