"Yours." Mercedes mumbled from under the bed spread. Lance reached down to the floor next to the bed, "You’re just saying that aren’t you?"
"Ah um." she answered sleepily, paused, then giggled. Lance grabbed her butt with one hand and growled humorously.
He pawed around in his flight bag and came up with the culprit. "Yeah. Lance." he answered cheerfully. "Mom. Hi." Lance darted a look over to Mercedes, who at the mention of Lance’s mother popped her head up from under the covers with a wide-eyed expression. "Good morning to you, too, Mom." He is sitting with his boxer shorts on, next to Mercedes who is lying in bed wearing his t-shirt.
"You tried to call me last night, and it just kept ringing? Oh, well that’s because Wes had my bag. Yeah. Mercury in Nashville? Yeah. How does Meredith like it there? Yeah. That’s good."
Mercedes quietly slips out of bed, and Lance watches as she goes into the bathroom and closes the door. She smiles at her reflection in the mirror, thinking about how they must’ve looked when they finally got that elevator fixed. Wes behaved just like a Daddy.
‘Boy, have you been bad?’ Lance didn’t blush, he didn’t give anything away, he just asked for his bag and lead Mercedes by the hand to their hotel room.
When she opened the door, fresh from her shower, Lance was finishing up his conversation, "When I see her at breakfast, I’ll ask her. It would HAVE to be tomorrow? Well, because I had hoped she’d be going to New Orleans with us. I know, Mom, she’d have to sometime, but...Yeah. Stacey’s right about that."
Lance turned and noticed Mercedes was sitting in a chair with her legs over the arm of the chair, the swan ankle bracelet gracing her right leg, and a towel wrapped around her as she brushed her hair. "So, she told you that she’s never seen that look on my face before? (pause) That’s because no one has ever put it there before Mercedes did." She shyly looked over to him and smiled. "Yeah, Mom I have that number. I’ll call you before ten. Tell Meredith I said, ’hi’. Okay, bye."
Lance clicked off his cell phone, walked over to where Mercedes was and swooped her up into his arms. "Good morning."
"Good morning, Be."
Lance snapped his head back with a surprised look, "Be?"
Mercedes smiled, "Well, I’ve been thinking."
Lance gave her a wide grin, "And?"
"I need to give you a proper nickname."
"And ‘Be’ is a proper nickname, why?" Lance rubbed the stubble on his chin as he snuggled up with her in the chair.
"Honey Bee. Kind of reminds me of ‘sugar’ which I like for kissing purposes."
Lance’s eyebrows rise up and he makes a funny puss face with his lips, "Me, too." Then kisses her open mouthed as if to prove it was so.
"Ummmm." Mercedes pauses to enjoy the kiss.
"Then, of course, there’s ‘B’ for Bass." Lance offers.
"Yes, indeed, sir."
Mercedes looks into his beautiful green eyes and softly tells him, "But, it’s really ‘Be’ for my...Beloved."
The innocence and tenderness of her words hit Lance at the very core of his being. Inside his soul. He placed his head against hers. Took his right hand and held her head there and kissed it. He twitched his nose and looked away for a minute, he didn’t want to cry. But, it really touched him. "That’s beautiful, Darlin’. I’ll live (pause) every day and try to deserve that one."
Mercedes placed her head on his shoulder. "You already do, Be, you really do."
"It’s much better than Poofoo." Lance says with a smirk.
"Yeah." Mercedes said nodding and they shared a laugh.
"So, what did your Mom have to say about me, because you’re suppose to ask me something at breakfast. Spill."
Lance looked at her, "I am really torn over this Mercedes. Mercury wants you to produce Meredith’s record. It’d be great for her, if you agree to it, but...." he adds softly, "I don’t want you to go to Nashville. I’ll miss you terribly." He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.
"I know I’m being selfish." Lance added.
"Do you think it’ll help Meredith, if I produce the record?"
Lance nodded his head, "You know I do."
"And we want her to succeed."
"She’s my friend and I want her to have her dream realized. Yes."
Mercedes hugged Lance tightly, " Then, I guess I have to go. I’ll miss you, too."
"You mean you’re going to miss the gay bar in the Latin Quarter?" Chris stated. "Mer...oh, we’re back to ‘Mer’ as your nickname now because Joey and I haven’t seen you hardly AT ALL the past two days. What up with THAT?...you don’t know what you’re missing bailin’ on New Orleans this way."
Mercedes and Lance were sitting together on an overstuffed chair in Chris and Dani’s suite. Lance had a coffee cup in one hand and was holding Mercedes hand with the other. "Gee Chris, you make it sound soooo interesting. I’m not sure I’d fit in at a gay bar. That must be were all those rumors got started..." Mercedes said.
Joey started to laugh. Chris was equally amused. "You’re going to do great things for Meredith Edwards, I’m sure." Joey said.
"Hey, look what you did for that boy band, Nsecure...or Nsane, what did they call themselves?"
"Nsignificant..." Chris tried to help.
"Npossible," Lance joined in.
"N aughty?" Mercedes attempted.
Chris roared, "Doesn’t really work...but I like it, I like it!"
"Seriously, when will we see you again, Mercedes?" J.C. asked passing Joey the breakfast rolls.
Lance looked at her, then down at his shoes.
"I’m not really sure." Mercedes answered hesitantly.
"How about the MTV Movie Awards?" Lance asked. "Take the day off and fly out to join me there. That’s a little less than two weeks from now..."
Lance’s face showed some genuine pain, he leaned his head back against the couch cushion, and said, "10 days. 240 hours...more or less." He let a slight smile slip. "I can handle this, I can handle this!" Which Lance made sound like some sort of pep talk.
Mercedes leaned her head up against his, and said softly, "I’ll be there, Be. We’ll be together again soon."
Lance nodded his head, and looked directly into her eyes. "From your lips to God’s ear." Then, he hugs her tight.
"Gimme some sugar." Mercedes smiles. Lance leans in and plants a juicy one on her lips. They let it linger.
(24 hours later. Nashville, TN)
"Mercedes, let me introduce you to Norman Conroy Mercury’s Public Relations man." Diane Bass said.
"You know, Diane filled us in on the fact that you produced N SYNC’s first big hit. Lance being at the helm of Meredith’s management company...this could be BIG PR."
‘BIG BS.’ Mercedes thought to herself. "Hello." she said politely and shook his hand.
"I’ve met you before. Now, that’s not a line...we really have met before!"
"Have you, really Mercedes?" Diane asked.
Mercedes puts her hand to her forehead, "Nope. Nothing! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Norman’s face before. Sorry Norman, I can’t recall."
"Well, I’ve got a mind like an elephant." said Norman.
‘Body like an elephant is more like it.’ Mercedes smiles through her teeth. "Well, if you say so." she says.
"Trans Con...I worked with Liam Burns, your husband."
Mercedes face went ashen. "Oh. I’m sorry I still don’t recall..."
"Well, I was just an underling then. Not a big deal like your husband."
Mercedes exchanged looks with Lance’s mother without comment. Mercedes wished she knew what Diane was thinking. ‘God’s getting me back for that elephant comment.’
"We should get together and talk about old times one of these nights." Norman said.
"Sorry Norman, the times we’re in are the best by far." Mercedes says.
"Is that a song lyric, because if it isn’t it should be." He quipped.
Mercedes just wanted to get down to work. "Can I see the studio?"
"How’s New Orleans?" Mercedes asked.
"Lonely. But, I called to ask about Nashville."
"It‘s lonely, too. Like an old country song, sad and blue." Mercedes giggles.
"Are you making fun of my favorite music?" Lance asked.
"Oh lonesome me...of course not, Be." Then she paused, "Do you remember a man named Norman Conroy?"
"No. Who is he?"
"Public Relations for Mercury. He says he worked at Trans Con with Liam."
"He probably worked as an intern or something. His name doesn’t ring a bell. Do you want me to ask Johnny about him?"
"No, it’s alright. I don’t have any reason to think or even care if he’s lying. He just BUGS me."
"They’re hitting on you already, Baby?"
"No. It’s his ‘style’. He probably DID work with Liam. I had forgotten how slick...God forgive me, but...such BS. Liam ‘worked’ people so well. I had almost forgotten that." Her voice got quiet, "I hated that."
"Did you? I wondered if you did. I thought you probably did." Lance said quietly. Lance laid down on his hotel room bed, his arm behind his head.
"Remember, the other day, you had to go to a radio interview...we were going to talk about you and Liam. Remember?"
Lance rubbed his hand over his face, ‘oh shit.’
"Darlin’, I...I can’t talk about that over the phone. Please understand. It’ll have to keep until we’re face-to-face. Trust me, we will talk about it if you really want to."
"Let’s change the subject." Mercedes stretched out on her hotel room bed, surrounded by sheet music and cassette tapes. "Why aren’t you out clubbin’ with Chris and Joey?"
"I’m not a single guy anymore."
"That’s sweet, but neither is Chris."
"Well, Chris just goes to keep Joey in line." Lance laughs.
"I hate to think of you all alone...scratch that. " Mercedes cleared her throat.
"I know what you’re trying to say, Darlin’. I think of you alone in your hotel room right now and I wish I were there. I hate to think of you being lonely, but I want to be the one there to make your loneliness disappear."
"I’ll just remember what you once said, when I had that sad dream at your house, ‘you’ll never be alone again, because...’"
"’Even if I’m out on the road, you are still going to be with me in my heart.‘ Thanks for bringing that up, Darlin’ That’s just what I needed you to remind me of right now."
"So, I guess we can’t say we’re lonely."
"Not, if you’re always still here with me...and I’m there with you." Lance rolled over onto his side, "What do you have on right now, Baby?"
A devilish grin appeared on Lance’s face, "Come on, tell me."
Mercedes smiled and spread herself out over her bed, pushing aside all the sheet music and cassettes. She cleared her throat, "The only thing you’d want me to wear."
"The swan?" Lance asks, shifting uncomfortably on the bed at the mere suggestion.
"Ah a um...and your hands all over me." Mercedes then gasped.
"Oh, Baby. Are you going to lay down here with me?" Lance asked in a deep, seductive voice.
"I am a phone sex virgin, be gentle my Beloved." Mercedes said grinning wildly.
"I promise, I will take it slow, and easy...at least at first." Lance rolls onto his back. "Baby, with you I just can’t help it..my enthusiasm gets the better of me."
"Would you like me to...ride you?"
"Ohhh, you’re catching on. Giddy up, Baby."
