Meanwhile, downstairs Justin and JC were plotting with Lynne and Rickii. The housekeeper was making a delicious meal to be served in the gazebo. They were going to have music and dancing and it was supposed to be a beautiful, clear night.
JC sat and stared off into space for a few minutes. "Penny for your thoughts?" asked Rickii.
"I'd be a millionaire," he laughed, "I was just thinking how much Lance has changed over the last several weeks. Ever since your graduation, he has seemed like he is searching for something and I think he has found it in Elaine. Who would have thunk it," he laughed.
"Well, I know Elaine has loved that guy as long as I have known her. It's not a teeny bopper love either. When she talks about him, she comments on his intelligence, his humor, his heart. Can I ask you something, JC?" asked Rickii.
"Sure, fire away."
"What is the deal with this Vivica person? Elaine won't talk about her, but, I do know that this woman is the one person Elaine hates with a passion. From what I can gather, she hurt Lance pretty bad."
"That would be an understatement. She just about destroyed our Lance. Elaine tried to warn him, but, he was brain washed by Vivica."
"Do you mind my asking what happened?"
"I don't mind, just don't let on to Lance that you know anything. He is still very sensitive about the whole thing."
"I won't say a word, but it may help me understand what we are needing to overcome."
JC proceeded to tell Rickii about how they met Vivica Lawrence when she was picked to do their first movie. She was Lance's love interest in the movie and she wanted to carry it over into real life when the movie was done.
She was a shrewd one because she learned everything about Lance there was to know. The sad part was that Lance fell madly in love with her. There were times that she 'played' Lance so bad, that she convinced him that she was the only one who cared for him at all. The mind games that she would play were unreal. She convinced him that NO ONE cared about him the way that she did. Head games were all that she knew.
She even used sex as a ploy to get at Lance. He had vowed not to have sex until he was committed in a relationship. This did not work into her plan. Everytime they were together she tried to seduce him and get him to go against his vow. When he wouldn't, she really got devious.
One night when they were at a party, she slipped something in his drink and he started coming onto her. In fact, she made a point of letting everyone know how he was acting. Anyway, when they finally got home, there was not much that had to be done to get him into bed. The bad part, she video taped it and then she had that to hold over him. In her sick twisted mind, she used that to show him that "he really loved her."
Essentially, she tried to alienate all of the guys from him. "They're just using you to get what they want" was her story. Throughout all of this, she would disappear for hours and no one would know where she was. Lance was a recluse when they were home. All the guys got together after an argument with Lance and he made some off the wall comments about them not really caring, that Vivica was the only one who really cared. JC was the one who had the gut feeling that something was wrong, in the beginning. He and Joey, Chris and Justin agreed that they needed to find out what she was up to. They also agreed that they would need hard facts and proof to show Lance for him to believe them. So, a private detective was hired to check out Vivica's background and to follow her and record her actions.
That was the real eye opener. They found that she had done this several times before. She would get involved with someone of some prominence and then blackmail them if she couldn't get them to make a commitment to her.
When she would disappear for hours, she was meeting her partner in crime, who also happened to be her lover. The one good thing in all the mess was that she was at least smart enough to have Lance use a condom when they were together. The detective was able to get pictures of her going in and out of the apartment and one day he was able to get video of her with the guy in bed. They had left one of the blinds open and that was the proof they needed to put an end to the madness. While they were at it, they were able to have the apartment raided and all the photos and videos were destroyed.
An injunction had been put out against her to keep her away from them. No one had heard from her in years and no one wanted to hear from her. Lance had been in denial, at first, but when they finally broke down and showed him the videos, he realized, with sickening reality, what she had been up to. He was completely and totally devastated.
"No wonder Elaine hates her so. I've never known her to be over reactive about something, but this explains so much. This explains a lot about Lance, too," commented Rickii.
"Lance has been a shell of a man for years now since then. When he realized what had been done to him, he swore never to love again," remarked JC.
"No one could blame him for that. I'm surprised he was able to continue with performing."
"That was his only lifeline, the group and FreeLance Entertainment. He buried himself in his work so that he didn't have to think about how really empty his life was. Sissy is the only one who got through to him a while back. I don't know what happened except he went off on her for no apparent reason and evidently she put him in his place," laughed JC.
"So what are we doing about tonight?" asked Justin as he and Lynne came up to where JC and Rickii were talking.
"Just what we have planned," said JC.
About that time, Lance and Elaine came down the stairs to join them. The four conspiring friends took a look at the two new arrivals and swore they saw flushed cheeks and swollen lips. But that wasn't possible, was it? Oh well, tonight would be a night to remember.
