Between the day that Lance got home from Atlanta and the day of the wedding rehearsal, we got all the problems worked out. All the clothes now fit... all the guests knew that the wedding was at the Disney Wedding Pavilion and the reception was at Lynn and Paul Harliss’ home.
The morning of the sixth, myself, Lance, the wedding party, and our immediate families spent the morning at the Harliss residence where we decorated. However, by two o’clock, we were all at the pavilion... including the few singing and the preacher.
“Okay people... let’s do this!” Diane Bass yelled. It seemed everyone was caught up in their own conversations. I sighed and gently massaged my temples, trying to lessen my beginning migraine. Diane saw my movement and pulled Justin away from the group. He took a deep breath and gave a shrill whistle. The quieted everybody down. “All right! Now that you’ve shut up, listen to Kelly!”
I slowly stood from where I had been sitting and faced the group. “Hey... how y’all doing?” A quiet chorus of ‘fine’s, terrific’s, and great’s’ answered my question. “That’s wonderful. What do you all say we get this started?” I looked around, noticing all the blank stares and sighed in response. “Okay, first things first. Lance and Joey, you two need to be up there.”
I pointed to the front of the large room. “Now-” I turned, finding the next five I was looking for. “Nick, Drew, Jeff, Justin, and Serena, you all need to be on the front row.” The four member group 98 Degrees was would be singing while Nick Lachey would be doing a solo. Serena would also be singing.
“As for all of you... candlelighters! Sarah and Jennifer!” While in a pinch, I asked Sarah Dawson and Jennifer Coleman to be the candlelighters.
“Here we are!” The exclaimed in unison. I pointed to the front of the group.
“Stand there.” The ambled to their spots. “Mom and mom!” My mother and Diane were already behind Sarah and Jennifer.
“We’re here already, calm down,” I heard my mom say.
“Okay, next is Briley. She walks in by herself since she is the maid of honor.” Briley quietly took her place. “As for the bridesmaids and groomsmen... y’all will be paired up.” All of them began moving around, not quite sure what to do. “Okay, stop. Let’s try this... Alex and Justin, Jenny and Chris, Baylee and Joey, Sydney and Tyler,” I said, referring to Tyler Chasez, JC’s brother. All of them got into line. “Alright... Carly and Jon?” Jonathan Timberlake was sitting on the floor, while Carly Phillips was nowhere to be found. “Jenny, where is your daughter?”
“I think she’s....” Jenny began.
“Mommy!” A voice called from the bathroom.
“I’ll be right back,” Jenny said as she left her place in line.
We all talked quietly amongst ourselves until Jenny returned with a pale Carly five minutes later. “Is she okay?” I asked Jenny.
“She says she feels better now,” Jenny answered. “She doesn’t have a fever, so I guess she’s fine.”
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road!” I said louder. I took my place in the back of the line as the beginning of Nick’s song began, echoing through the building.
Stacy grinned. “I don’t think you will have that problem.”
I looked out the window. Twenty minutes before the guys had whisked Lance away, JC claiming that they were taking him home to get his beauty rest, though we all knew better. Suddenly, I realized something. “Stacy, this isn’t the way to my apartment.”
“I know.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” She said mysteriously.
Soon, she parked in front of a large two story white house. She instructed me to get out, and when I did, she grabbed my hand and pulled me to the door. She threw it open and a large group of people yelled, “SURPRISE!”
I was slightly confused until I realized that everyone in the room was female. “Welcome to your bachelorette party!” Alex exclaimed, running up to me. “Are you surprised?”
“Very!”
“Let her open presents!” Sarah Dawson yelled from somewhere in the room. Jenny approached and showed me to a table with presents stacked on it.
I sat on the stool next to the able and surveyed everyone in the room. “Why do I get this feeling I don’t want to open some of these here?” A wave of laughter went through the room. One by one, I opened the gifts... alot of them turning out to be lingerie of sorts.
I picked up the next gift and there was no name telling me who it was from. “Hmm... an anonymous gift...” I mumbled as I opened it. “And now I know why...” I continued as the gift was revealed. Someone had been doing some shopping at Spencer’s. I was holding a variety basket filled with different ‘sexual items.’ My face flushed slightly but wasn’t that noticeable, until...
“I don’t want to think about my brother like that!” Stacy exclaimed. This made me blush even more.
“And I’m sure he doesn’t want you to think of him like that,” I said with a smile.
After a few more gifts, Alex approached me. “Kelly, you like Will Smith, right?”
“Oh yeah!”
“Great, because all of us here chipped in and got you...”
A door on the other side of the room opened and out walked a Will Smith look alike, complete with a ‘Wild Wild West’ costume. Some music started and in the middle of the room, he began doing what he had been hired to do.
Soon, “Will” was down to his boxers when Jenny turned the song “Touch It” by Monifah on. I sat for a split second, then jumped up and began dancing with him. When the song ended, I made my way to the kitchen to get something to drink. There, I found Jenny on the phone with someone. “Yeah, she’s right here.” Jenny handed me the phone.
“Hello?” I said.
“Kelly, it’s me.”
“Hey Lance, everything all right?”
“Not exactly. Kelly, can you do something for me?”
“Lance, I’m not going to have sex with you the night before we get married.”
“No! That wasn’t what I was going to say!” He chuckled a bit. “Okay, Kelly... do you know where the Orange County Sheriff’s department is?”
“Yes. I’m looking for a Lance Bass, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone, and Chris Kirkpatrick.”
“Go down that hall, make a right, they will help you there.”
Us five girls followed the directions to the room. There, we repeated our request. The officer just pointed to the adjoining door.
That was where the holding cell was located. A very bored officer sat behind a desk, reading a magazine. Lance stood in a corner of the cell, leaning against the wall. Joey sat on a bench, looking very uncomfortable. An overweight bald tattooed man had his arm around Joey. Justin was lying on the floor, with his head on Joey’s foot. Chris was leaning over the toilet, sick. JC was asleep, with his head on the wall, sitting up.
Lance quickly walked to the front of the cell as we made our presence known. “Excuse me sir... I’d like to pay bail for Mr. Bass.”
“That’s seventy five dollars.”
I made out a check and said, “Here you go... wait though. I’d like to speak with him first.”
“Ma’am, Mr. Bass is the groom, correct?”
“Yes sir.”
“Wow... first time I ever saw the groom qualify as the designated driver.” I smiled and approached the cell.
“Lance, what in the world happened?” He didn’t answer. Rather, he just reached through the bars and took my hand.
“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! IT seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear. Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows. As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows. The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand. And in touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Has my heart not loved ‘til now? Forswear it sight! For I never saw true beauty ‘til this night.” I just smiled as Lance continued to recite from ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ “If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle fine is this. My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand, to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.”
I paused, falling into the enactment. “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much. Which mannerly devotion shows in this. For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy plamers’ kiss.”
“Have not saints lips, and holy palmers’ too?”
“Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.”
“O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”
“Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake,” I said.
“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take. Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.” I leaned up and our lips came together through the bars.
“Then have my lips the sin that they have took.”
“Dangit! I forgot the next line!” Lance exclaimed.
“Sin from...” I prompted.
“Oh yeah!” He got back into his Romeo mode. “Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.” We kissed again.
“Justin Randall!” Alex’s voice broke through the silence of our kiss.
Justin jumped up. “Alex! I... um...”
“Officer, let him out!”
“You know, I think I’ll just stay here tonight...” Justin suggested.
“No... your coming with me so I can torture you!” Alex said in a ‘mad scientist’ type of voice.
The officer shrugged, unlocked the cell and Lance was the first one out. He slid his hand into mine. “Well, I’m calling it a night. I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I said before Lance pulled me out the door.
Once in the car, we drove in silence until I parked by the curb in front of his house. Neither of us said anything at first. “So, what did happen?” I finally asked.
Lance gave me a small embarrassed smile and ran his hand through his hair. “Well, I’m guessing the music was too loud so some of Justin’s neighbors got mad and called the cops. We’re the only ones who got caught. All the guests and the...” He stopped.
“Stripper?” I suggested.
“I prefer to say female entertainer.... anyway, they all got away. JC, Joey, and Chris were all too drunk to move. Justin was too, and considering he’s underage made it worse. And me? I was just there. Bachelor party bust and the entire male portion of the wedding party got arrested... can’t wait for magazines and web masters to get ahold of this.”
I gave a small laugh. “My night went slightly better.”
“Stripper?”
“I prefer to say male entertainer...” I gave Lance an innocent smile. “Will Smith look alike. Lance, why can’t you look like that?”
“Oh, I can see I’m wanted.”
“At least you know that your wanted for your mind and not your body.”
“Ha. Give me a second and I might actually laugh.”
We were quiet for a second. “So, any look alikes on your end?”
“Umm... Britney Spears.”
“That poor soul. Where did they get someone who looks like her?”
“Well, not in the face... but in other areas...” Lance said.
I glanced down at my own chest before replying. “Yeah, so she has more than me... get over it!” The two of us laughed.
Then, Lance looked at his watch. “I better get some sleep. See you tomorrow.” He leaned over to kiss me and as we connected, I found myself thinking of how this was our last kiss before we would be married.
A couple of minutes passed before Lance got out of the car. “Good night. Love you.”
“I love you,” Lance closed the door as he answered. He headed up the pathway to the house.
As I drove away, I said outloud to myself, “Kelly, you are incredibly lucky.”
