Elaine and her Mom spent the day finishing up the last minute preparations for the graduation at their church. She attended private school at the school sponsored by their church. The public schools were just horrible and dangerous. Gwen felt better having her in a Christian school because she was gone so much.
Off and on throughout the day, Elaine remembered again the first years her Mom went to work for *NSYNC. That was when she realized something very special about a new friend in her life.
(FLASHBACK)
During the summer tour, the guys bass player got a call about his Mom and he needed to take off for a while. They were trying to find a temporary replacement while they had a couple of days off until their next concert. Everyone was on tour, busy or unavailable.
Finally, Elaine mentioned to Justin that her brother played bass for a band he belonged to and that he would probably love to play for them. They were getting desperate, so they had Gwen call her son Wesley and have him fly to St. Louis and try out to play with the band. Needless to say, he jumped at the chance to play with the greatest group alive and grabbed the next flight to St. Louis.
Gwen was handling some important paperwork for Johnny Wright, so she couldn't go to the airport to meet Wes. Instead, she was sending Elaine in the limo. "I hope she will be okay by herself at the airport," she said to Lance, as he was helping her fax some things for Johnny.
"Elaine seems like a very mature young lady. I'm sure she can handle it, but, if you like, I'll go with her."
"Don't you have things you need to be doing with the guys?" Gwen asked. "It's not going to take all afternoon. I can take off long enough to go to the airport with her."
Actually, Lance wanted an opportunity to get to know Gwen's daughter a little more. They had thrown a surprise birthday party for Elaine's 15th birthday shortly after she joined the tour that summer. She was always helping out her Mom in the makeshift offices they fixed for her wherever they were and then on the bus assigned to them. Employees were not employees, they were family.
For her young years, Elaine was very grown up, but, yet still a kid at heart. She knew when to be a young lady and when to be a kid. On the ride to the airport, Elaine was taken with how truly sweet Lance was. It was not an act or put on. He asked about her school and friends and seemed genuinely interested in her life.
When they got to the airport, Lance sent one of the bodyguards with Elaine to wait on her brother. There were a lot of people coming in and out and he did not want to create a mob by sticking his head out of the limo.
Wesley's plane was on time and they gathered him and his luggage and started out to the limo. "Well, aren't you Miss Important, bodyguards and limos," he smirked. Sometimes Wesley could be a real pain.
"We do things right on this tour," was Elaine's comeback.
They were almost at the limo and the door opened and out stepped Lance. Wesley stopped dead in his tracks. "I don't believe this, Lance Bass coming to get me."
"Actually, I'm here for your sister to make sure she is safe." Lance remembered one of their conversations when Elaine told him about how rotten her brother could be at times. He walked over and put an arm around her and said, "Don't want anything happening to our little Sissy."
Sissy. That was the nickname the guys had given her the first trip she came on with them. They were all like big brothers to her and she was like a little sister to them. She would help out when Chris's sisters and other family kids came to visit. Elaine was so responsible, they could trust her with anything.
Lance had copies of the music with him that he gave to Wesley. "Here is our set list and music. Look over it and we have rehearsal at 5. If you have questions, then is the time to ask."
Wesley covered for about 10 days and did a great job. He was an excellent musician. He loved his bass guitar and he really got down and funky on some of the songs. Everyone loved it.
that was the year that Lance became Elaine's protector. One day Wes and Elaine got into an argument and he was pretty nasty to her. She ran out of the bus crying and ran into the venue, almost knocking Lance and Joey down as she tore around a corner. Lance had never seen her that upset and he took off after her. He caught up with her and finally got her to tell him what had happened and what her brother had said to her.
Lance was so taken aback that Wesley would say such cruel things to her in such a hurtful way. Elaine was sobbing uncontrollably and Lance took her into his arms and just held her and rocked her until she calmed down. When she finally stopped crying, Lance took her to Gwen and told her what happened. "Wesley can be so cruel sometimes. His ADHD causes him to say and do things without thinking," she said, embarrassed at her sons actions. "He's fine until he goes without sleep for a while."
"That's still no excuse for cruelty, especially to Sissy," was Lance's reply. "I am going to find him and we are going to have a long talk. I wanted to make sure that Elaine was all right first," he said.
"Thank you, Lance for looking out for my baby," Gwen expressed as she gave Lance a hug.
"We are all family here and no one, I mean no one gets away with hurting someone else."
(END OF FLASHBACK)
That was when Elaine started looking at Lance in a whole different light. Crush was a mild expression to use for her feelings for Lance. He was her Knight in Shining Armor, her Sir Lancelot. Only problem was that he was 8 years older than her.
