"Yeah, I feel sorry for him. Carol wasn't right for m- HIM." Chris quickly fixed his slip as he relaxed on the couch.
The photographer came out and ordered the guys to the shooting area.
"Now, JC... you stand over there," she pointed to the blue background and JC scooted in front of it. "Joey, stand next to JC... Justin too..." She looked confused when she saw Chris standing next to JC. "No... JUSTIN next to JC," she corrected.
Justin turned red and moved out of the way as Chris took his spot. This was harder than it seemed...
"Okay..." the photographer continued. "Chris and Lance sit on those stools." She pointed to the stools in front of Joey, JC and Justin... ah... Chris. She walked behind the camera. "Okay, the first couple shots you'll be smiling..."
After the photo shoot, the guys went their separate ways.
Justin grinned as he walked into a bar. He sat down on the stool and looked up at the bartender.
"What are you so happy about?" he was asked.
"Nothing... Gimme a beer."
The bartender looked at him suspiciously. It was obvious that this man was over twenty-one... but why was he grinning like that? "Okay..." he poured Justin a beer and slid it in front of him.
Justin spent a minute observing it. Why was he doing this? After all, he WAS almost twenty-eight years old. Justin chuckled at the thought. He WAS almost twenty-eight. His body could take the alcohol. Well, Chris was kinda short... but...
Slowly he raised the glass to his lips and took a gulp. He smile faded when he realized that the bartender was still watching him. What the hell was his problem?
Chris led Gracie to his... er... JUSTIN's hotel room.
"Hey, Justin..." she said, sitting on the bed and looking at him.
Chris hesitated as he looked at her. "Yeah?"
"Come here..."
He gulped. Justin had told him not to touch Gracie... but if he didn't she might catch on... wouldn't she? Besides, he didn't want to ruin Justin's relationship with her. Slowly, he walked over to the bed.
Gracie grabbed him and pressed her lips to his. He pulled away.
"You know... Why don't we go somewhere..."
She looked up at him and pouted. "Don't you wanna stay here with me?"
Chris thought about it. Yes. "Well, I just thought we could go to a movie... or maybe to the mall or something..."
Gracie jumped up at the "M" word. "Yeah! Let's to the mall!"
Chris smiled. There. Now he wouldn't get in trouble with Justin.
Meanwhile, Justin was still drinking.
"I think you've had enough, pal..." the bartender told him when he asked for another drink.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Justin waved his hand in the air. "Fine. I'll just go now."
"Maybe I should call you a cab..." the bartender offered.
"No," Justin said, getting up from the stool. "My hotel's right down the block."
Justin stumbled down the sidewalk. God... so THIS is what it felt like to be wasted. He wasn't sure that he liked it. He finally made it to the hotel, bumping into Chris and Gracie on his way in.
Chris' eyes widened when he saw Justin's condition. "Oh, God..." he said, grabbing Justin's collar and leading him to the elevator. "I'll be right back, Gracie!" he called over his shoulder.
When the elevator doors closed, he frowned at Justin. "What are you trying to do to my body?"
"What?" a dazed Justin asked.
"You're drunk!"
"Yeah...?"
"Please wait until you're in your OWN body to get trashed," Chris said, still holding Justin up.
"I CAN'T get drunk in my own body. I'm only seventeen. Remember?"
"Justin... you're EIGHTEEN. Not, seventeen."
"Whatever... I'm still not old enough to drink."
"Listen to me, Justin. I want you to go to your hotel room and sleep. Tonight we have an interview and I don't want you to make an ass outta me."
The doors opened and Chris pulled Justin to his room. He opened the door and led Justin to the bed.
"You don't need me to make an ass outta yourself, Chris. You do a fine job of that all by yourself," Justin said as he fell backwards on the bed.
"Shut up and get some sleep." With that, Chris turned around and exited Justin's room.
Gracie was sitting in the hotel's lobby when she saw 'Justin' get off the elevator. She stood up. "Come on, let's go."
Chris smiled at her and they went out to the car.
"Hey, Justin..." Gracie started when they pulled out of the parking lot. "Chris looked wasted."
"That's because he was. I don't know what's wrong with him. He usually doesn't do that kind of thing..."
Gracie looked over at her boyfriend. For some reason he seemed different... his facial expressions had changed and he talked different. She dismissed it and looked ahead.
A half hour later they were walking around the mall. Chris made sure to put on sunglasses and one of Justin's hat's so he wouldn't be recognized. For once he didn't have to find a hat that would cover his unmistakable dreads.
After he had paid for a pretzel, they walked over to a bench and sat down.
"Watch this!" Chris snickered, pulling off a piece of his pretzel and dangling it over the railing.
"Justin! Don't!" Gracie said, grabbing his arm.
"Why not?" He let it go, nearly hitting a man on the head.
The man saw the pretzel fall next to him and he looked around to see where it was coming from. When he started to turn his head upwards, Chris grabbed Gracie and pulled her away from the railing. They burst out laughing.
After a few moments of laughing, Chris fell back down on the bench, taking a deep breath. "Whoa... that was HILARIOUS!"
Gracie stopped laughing and stared at him.
"Did you see him looking around?" Chris laughed.
"Justin..."
Chris stopped laughing. Whoops... for a while there he forgot he was Justin... "What?"
"You've never done anything like that before..."
Chris was silent as he stared back at her. He didn't know what to say.
JC opened the door to his hotel room. He froze when he saw Chris in bed, sleeping. He looked at his watch. It was only five... Maybe Chris really WAS sick... JC decided to leave him alone. He flopped on his bed and turned the TV on.
Justin opened his eyes and groaned. Man, did he have a head ache. He looked over at the clock, the red numbers glaring back at him as he squinted to see. It was almost six. Across the room, he saw something moving.
"Are you all right, Chris?" the figure asked.
"Huh? Who?"
"YOU. Are you all right?"
Justin recognized the figure to be JC. "Yeah... can you get me some Advil or something. I have the WORST headache."
"So..." JC said as he dug through his bag, searching for pain killers. "Where did you go today?"
"I don't wanna talk about it..." Justin spat out as he put his head back on the pillow. "Just hurry up with that Advil."
"I am, I am." JC went to the bathroom and fixed a glass of water and handed it to Justin.
"Thanks," Justin said, taking the pills and water from JC.
"No problem. So where were you today?"
Justin popped the two pills in his mouth and took a big gulp of water.
"Lemme guess..." JC said quietly, taking the glass back. "You went to the bar."
"How did you know?"
"Well, it's obvious that you got wasted today..."
"It is?"
"Yeah. I come in here at five in the afternoon and find you sleeping? I figured that you were either sick or drunk. Since you didn't seem to be sick before... well not physically..." he chuckled. "I narrowed it down."
"Oh..." Justin said.
"You better pull yourself together. We have to get to an interview soon. You better not make a fool out of yourself."
"I won't," Justin promised.
"You know, Justin..." Gracie said as she pulled him through the store. "You've been acting different today."
Chris gulped. "What do you mean?"
"Well..." she started. "You're not acting like the Justin I know. You're more silly... kinda like..." she paused and Chris leaned in to hear what she had to say. "Like Chris..."
"Well..." Chris chuckled nervously. "I guess he's finally starting to rub off on me..."
"I like it," Gracie smiled. "Today was a blast! We should have fun like this more often."
Chris smiled back. "Yeah." Inside he was laughing. Justin's girlfriend liked HIM better! This was hilarious! Okay... so maybe not hilarious... but it was pretty... um... weird.
They arrived back at the hotel just in time for Chris to get ready for the interview.
When they reached Chris' room, Gracie leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. "I had a lot of fun today, Justin," she whispered.
Chris smiled. "Me too."
"Will you call me when you get back from your interview?"
"Of course," he promised as she kissed him again.
Gracie walked away, flashing him a smile before she turned the corner. Damn, Justin had fine taste in women. Why couldn't he get a girl like that?
Justin looked through Chris' clothes. What should he wear to the interview? Man... did Chris have NO taste whatsoever? All he could find was Fubu jerseys and jeans. "Might as well just keep what I have on..." he mumbled to himself, looking down at a blue Fubu jersey and jeans. Chris had NO variety...
JC walked in from the bathroom. "Are you ready?" he asked.
"Yeah," Justin said, slamming the suitcase shut. "Let's go."
The two of them walked out in the hallway only to bump into the other three members of their group.
Justin looked at Chris, his jaw dropping. "What are you wearing?" he asked, eyeing Chris' blue Fubu jersey and jeans.
Chris glared at Justin. "What are YOU wearing?"
Justin frowned. "Like I had any choice... this was all you- I mean... this was all I had in my suitcase!"
"Well this is the only thing I could find that wasn't baby blue!"
"It's STILL blue."
"Not BABY blue."
Justin glared at his friend. "Are you saying that there's something WRONG with baby blue?"
JC, Joey and Lance looked at Chris and Justin fighting. Why was Justin complaining about his baby blue clothes, and why was Chris defending the color?
Justin pushed Chris back down the hall. "I don't care what you say... Get back in there and put on a different shirt! We are NOT wearing the same thing to this interview."
"You don't even know if there's gonna be a camera there."
"I don't care. We're are not wearing the same thing!"
"Fine," Chris agreed as they went back to his room.
Justin closed the door. "I looked through your entire suitcase," he told Chris now that the others were out of sight. "You have nothing but Fubu jerseys and jeans. I was FORCED to wear them. So I come out into the hall and what do I find you wearing? The ONLY Fubo jersey I brought along and a pair of jeans. Not only that... but it just HAPPENS to be the same jersey I'M wearing."
Chris reluctantly pulled a baby blue shirt out of Justin's suitcase. "I'm only wearing this because I'm forced to," he said, holding up the shirt.
"I still don't see what the big problem is with baby blue..." "And I still don't see how you can wear the same color ALL THE TIME."
"Well, I don't see how you can own so many Fubu jerseys!"
"Okay, ENOUGH!" Chris almost yelled after he slipped on Justin's shirt. "Let's just get out of this room before they come looking for us."
"Fine," Justin agreed, holding the door open as Chris rushed out into the hallway.
The rest of the guys stood at the end of the hall.
"Come on!" Joey called, waving his hand.
They arrived at the location where the interview was to be shot. Cameras were already set up and 'N Sync sat down on the chairs that were in front of the camera. A lady stood by the camera with a sheet of paper in her hands.
"Are you guys ready?" she asked them.
"Yep," all five of them answered in unison.
The cameraman turned on the camera and signaled the interviewer.
The interview went on for a while with no problems... until Chris was asked a question.
"So, Chris... we were wondering, when was the last time you 're-braided' your hair?"
Chris nudged Justin.
"Ow! I mean, Oh!" Justin rubbed his side. "Let's see," he said, fingering a braid. "I would have to say that the last time I re-braided my hair... was..."
Chris tried not to groan. God... Justin had come with him when he got his hair re-braided! 'Answer the damn question!' he told Justin mentally.
"Um... a month ago?" he looked over at Chris who shook his head. "Two months? That's it. Two months ago."
Chris put his hand to his head.
"Okay..." the interviewer continued. "JC..."
"Can't you remember when I went to get my hair done? You went with me for Christ's sake!" Chris hissed at Justin as everyone made their way to the car.
"What are you two talking about?" Lance wondered, coming up behind them.
"Nothing," both Chris and Justin spat out.
"It didn't SOUND like nothing... Are you guys fighting?"
Knowing how Lance hated it when people fought, Chris told him that they were only having a disagreement."
"Oh..." Lance said.
There was a pause, and Lance went to go talk with Joey.
"Geez, Chris," Justin started. "I count the days from the last time you re-braided your hair..." he said sarcastically. "I mark it down on my calendar." Justin held up his hand and pretended he was writing. "Today Chris re-braided his hair. Woo!"
"Shut-up," Chris muttered as he and Justin piled into the back seat.
"Hello," Justin said into Chris' cell phone.
"Chris! PLEASE don't hang up! I really need to talk to you!"
Justin thought about what she had just said. 'Hmm... this must be Carol... Chris' ex.'
"Chris, just listen!"
"Hold on a second, Carol." Justin pulled the phone from his ear, smiled at JC who had been watching him, and walked out of their room. He rushed down the hall and knocked on Chris' door, praying Joey wasn't there.
"Hey Chris," Joey smiled as he stepped aside.
"Hi. Is Justin here?"
"You'll have to wait. He's in the bathroom."
"Okay," Justin said, stepping in and pressing the phone back to his ear. "Can you call back in five minutes?" he asked Carol.
"Sure, sweetie. Bye."
"Bye," Justin snapped the phone shut and turned to find Joey sitting cross-legged on his bed, shoving pretzels in his mouth.
"Come and watch this show with me, Chris," he said with his mouth full. "I think you'll like it."
"Just while I wait for Justin to get out of the bathroom..." Justin agreed, sitting on the end of Joey's bed.
"Hey!" Joey said, throwing a few pretzels at him. "Your dreads are in the way."
"Sorry," Justin apologized as he put the pretzels in his mouth and scooted out of the way.
The bathroom door opened. "What are you doing here?"
"Well," Justin said, walking over towards Chris and pushing him back in the bathroom.
"Stop! If we sit in here talking, don't you think Joey will get suspicious?" Chris wondered.
"No... he's too busy watching TV. He won't even know we're gone," Justin explained. "Anyway, Carol decided she wanted to talk to you." He held up the phone.
"Damn!"
"She should be calling back in..." Justin paused to look at his watch. "About thirty seconds."
Just then the phone rang.
"Oh! She's early!" Justin grinned as he flipped the phone open. "Hello?"
"Chris! Please let me talk!" Carol begged.
"Look, Carol... I'm too mad to talk. You can talk to Justin and then he'll tell me."
"No, Chris! Wait!"
It was too late, Justin had already shoved the phone into Chris' hands.
"I'm NOT gonna talk to her!" Chris hissed at Justin.
Chapter 3
Identities
Chris {Fiction}
Justin {Fiction}
My Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
Email Me