Up Up And Away

By:  Lara

 

“Oh, man, outer space?  How cool is that?” Joey’s smile beamed at Lance as he hugged him. “Dude.  Your dream come true!  How cool is that?” Joey repeated.  Lance laughed a bit, pulling away.

“You know…it’s not like a done deal or anything yet.  Just an idea…they even wanna do a TV thing about it.”  Lance blushed slightly. “It’s no big thing.”

“No big thing?  Lance, you’ll be in outer space!  The final frontier!” Chris exclaimed, hugging Lance as well.  “That’s just way too cool.  You need to take a journal or something…write down every minute of every second…I mean…you know what I mean!”  Chris bounced up and down. “Our Lancey…a spaceman!”

“Right outta Star Trek,” JC said admiringly. “Damn but I’m jealous, Lance.”

“Well…like I said, it might not happen. My heart and all,” Lance said softly.

“Your heart’s fine.  You’re going into space!”  Chris yelled, hugging Lance again.

“I think it’s a stupid idea,” a voice said from a chair in the corner of JC’s living room.  Everyone turned to look at Justin. “An incredible stupid idea.”

“Justin!” JC gasped.

“It is. Think about it. All we do is try to get ourselves respected.  We try to get our music looked at as music, instead of background noise to the teenybopper screams.  But here’s Lance, gallivanting around space, spending all kinds of money.  Money that he could be spending on charity or something.”

“Lance gives to charity,” Joey said almost angrily.

“What’s gotten into you, Justin?” Chris asked.

“Nothing. I just think this is an incredibly stupid idea.” Justin stood.

“You said that already,” Lance said softly, pain filling his beautiful green eyes. Justin tried to ignore that.

“Lance, good luck and all…but I want no part of this. If there’s press conferences or something…say I’m hoping it’s everything you’ve dreamt of…but just don’t ask me to be there, okay?”  Justin went out of JC’s house, leaving everyone staring openmouthed.

 

“Did you know that some of the fans think we’re gonna cancel the tour or something?” Joey said three days later as they got together to rehearse.  He was fooling around on Lance’s laptop.  “Like we’d do that.”

“They don’t always think,” JC said as he stretched.  “They talk first, think later.  Like someone else we know.”

“Shut up, JC,” Justin muttered. He knew that JC was referring to him. They all thought he had been incredibly rude to Lance.  Chris even went so far as to tell Justin he had “shit on Lance’s dream.”  Justin didn’t care. It was a stupid idea.

“Okay, kids, the old man’s here. Let’s get cracking,” Chris said as he entered the studio.  “Where are Wade and the Spaceboy?”

“God, Chris, will you quit calling him that?” Justin snapped.  “It hasn’t even been made definite yet.”

“Can I ask WHY you’re being such a prick about this?” Chris asked angrily. “Is it because YOU’RE not the center of attention for once?”

“That’s not it at all,” Justin retorted. “I just think…”

“I don’t care what you think.  Go cry to Britney.” Chris glared at his supposed best friend and went to talk to Joey.

“God,” Justin muttered, kicking at the floor.

 

“Did you see it?  Did you see it?” Joey yelled into the phone.  “They freaking interviewed Lance on the Today Show!  This is awesome!”

“We’ve been on the Today Show like nine thousand times, Joey,” Justin said, annoyed at being awakened at eight in the morning.  “Whoopee.”

“Justin, what’s up your ass about this?” Joey asked.  “I’m beginning to think that what Chris said about you being the center of attention was right on par.”

“You’d be wrong, then,” Justin said into his pillow.

“This is Lance’s dream come true. Don’t you want that for him?”

“I do…I guess…I just…I don’t know, Joey. It seems all wrong.”  Justin closed his eyes and sighed.  “I want him to get his dream. Of course I do.”

“Then tell him that.”

 

“So, um, Lance?”  Justin fidgeted as they got ready for the first show of the tour.

“Yeah?” Lance looked up from tying his shoe.

“I’m glad you’re getting to realize one of your dreams. Really.  It’s great for you.”

“But you still think it’s a bad idea, right?”  Lance asked. Justin shrugged.  “Whatever.  When you’re REALLY happy for me, come see me, okay? Until then, don’t give me fake apologies.”  Lance turned and went to get his makeup on.  Justin stared after him, heart in his shoes.

 

The months of the tour flew by, and there were signs at every show. “Good luck, Lance!”  “Have fun, Lance!”  “Come back safe, Lance!”  Justin hated them all.  Lance still was barely talking to him. Actually, Joey was the only one treating Justin like a human being. If Justin hadn’t known better, he would have thought that maybe the group was breaking up.

Two days after the tour ended, Justin took a deep breath and drove to Lance’s house.  He needed to talk to him.  “What are you doing here?” Lance asked when he opened the door.

“I needed to talk to someone…well…to you,” Justin said.  “Can I come in?”

“Sure. I’m packing, though.”

“Right,” Justin said with a sigh.  He followed Lance upstairs to his bedroom.  “So, you leave tomorrow, huh?”

“Yep.  I can hardly wait.”  Lance couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “Stupid idea or not…I’m off to train.  In Russia.  Me…the little country boy from Mississippi.”

“Yeah,” Justin said.  He picked up some of Lance’s socks and started folding them.  “So…um…did you know I broke up with Britney before the tour started?”

Lance dropped the shirt he was folding. “You what?”

“Yeah. It…uh…wasn’t working.”  Justin placed the socks in the suitcase and started on boxer shorts.  “We’ll still be friends and still keep up the show for a while.”

“Jesus, Justin. I had no clue. You didn’t say a word.”

“I didn’t want it to seem like I was stealing your thunder…trying to be the center of attention,” Justin said softly.  Lance stared at him.

“Justin, Chris was just trying to get to you.  None of us believed that.”

“Whatever,” Justin grumbled. He started to place the boxers in the suitcase, then stopped. Something caught his eye and he picked it up.  It was a framed picture of them all.  Justin was at the end next to Lance, with his arm around Lance’s waist. Lance had his head on Justin’s shoulder and was grinning at the camera.  Justin sighed.  “Do you know why I’ve been so against you going up on this thing?”

“I wish you’d tell me,” Lance said quietly.

“Because you’ll be gone for five months…and then you’ll be up in that damn thing all that time. I…what will I do without you, Lance?”

“Justin, what are you talking about?”  Lance sat next to Justin on the bed.

“I talk to you every day…I see you almost every day…you take care of me.  I…”

“Justin?”  Lance asked softly, confused.

“What if you don’t come back?” Justin asked, and suddenly Lance understood. He saw the very young boy looking out of the adult blue eyes.  “What if this is another Challenger or something?”

“I’ll come back.  Especially since I know you’ll be worrying about me like this.”

“I will be,” Justin said softly.

“Will you wait for me?” Lance asked softly.  Justin looked at him, trying to smack down the hope that filled his heart.

“Wait for you?”

“You won’t go finding someone else?” Lance whispered.  Justin shook his head viciously.  Lance smiled. “Then I will most definitely come back.”

 

“Lance…the limo is here,” Justin said, peeking out the front door the next morning.

“Okay.”  Lance lugged a suitcase towards the staircase.  Justin hurried to carry it for him.

“Wimp.  Like you’ll be able to make one day of training,” Justin teased.

“Thanks for the encouragement, Justin,” Lance said, slapping his backside.

They climbed into the back of the limo, and Lance opened his arms.  Justin snuggled close, the same way he had slept the night before.  “I’ll miss you,” Justin whispered.

“Not as much as I will miss you.  I won’t even speak the language there!” Lance reminded him. “Here. I have something for you.”  Lance handed Justin the framed picture he had looked at the night before. 

“Don’t you want to take it with you?”

“I have some other ones…you keep this.  I won’t forget you,” Lance promised.

“Me either,” Justin said.

 

“Hey, you ready, Scoop?” Joey asked as Lance and Justin entered the airport.

“As I’ll ever be,” Lance said.  Chris looked at Justin.

“You over this thing now?”

“No,” Justin said sadly. “But I’ll deal with it.”

“You done being a prick?”

“Enough, Chris,” Lance said gently. “I gotta go do the press thing…so let’s say our goodbyes now, okay?”  Lance hugged Joey first.  Justin bit his lip to keep from crying.  JC looked at him and did a double-take.

“Oh, God, Justin, is this what the whole thing has been about?” JC asked softly.  Justin could only nod.

“Be safe,” JC said when it was his turn to hug Lance. Lance turned to Justin.

“Check up on JC for me, okay? Make sure the boy eats.  You know he never eats enough.”

“Right,” Justin said, nodding.

“And make sure Chris’ dogs don’t kill my ferrets, okay?”  Justin nodded again. “And take a million pictures of Brianna for me. She’ll learn to do so much while I’m gone.”

“Okay.”  Justin was doing quite well. Tears weren’t even starting to fill his eyes.

“God, Justin…take care of yourself, okay?  I can’t wait to come back to you.”  Lance looked away, blinking hard.

“Lance,” Justin whispered, an evil tear slipping out and falling down his cheek.

“Love you.” Lance gave Justin a big hug, kissed his neck, then went out to face the media.

“Up, up and away,” Joey sighed, watching the door close behind him.  JC said nothing, just hugged Justin hard.

“Now what?” Chris asked Justin.

“Shut up, Chris,” JC said. “C’mon, J. I’ll buy you breakfast. He’ll be back.”

“Right.”  Justin left with JC’s arm around him, trying not to start counting the days.

The End

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