Six

The interview was a nightmare for Justin, but he made it through with Lance’s help. Lance sat close to him, and on his lap was a notebook. He jotted quick notes to Justin in a type of scribbled shorthand, so Justin could try to answer the reporter’s questions as normally as possible. The reporter thought that Justin was slightly rude for continually looking at the little notes Lance was obviously passing him before every question, but since the word was out that Justin was pretty much an obnoxious asshole, the reporter considered himself lucky that it was ALL Justin had done wrong.

JC, Joey and Chris left the conference room of the hotel, laughing as they made their way to the elevators. Justin held Lance back. “So, uh, are they going out after dinner?”

“Yeah, they, um, asked me to come along,” Lance said. He then remembered that Justin probably couldn’t understand him, but from the sad look on Justin’s face, Lance figured that Justin probably HAD understood.

“Okay, well, I think I’ll just eat in my room. Maybe I can go down to the front desk and ask them to call room service for me. Have a nice time.” Justin turned back towards the lobby, a bodyguard on his heels.

“No! Justin…” Lance ran after him, tugging on the back of his jacket. “Wait. Come to dinner.” Lance pantomimed eating, then shook his head. “I’m not going out.”

“You’re not?”

“No. I’d rather stay in with you.” Lance smiled. “Really.” Lance pulled out the tiny notepad. “Or we could go with them,” he wrote. “You can definitely feel the music in a club. And most of the time, you can’t hear people talk in a club, anyway.”

Justin shook his head. “I’d feel weird. I’ll stay back…but you don’t have to.”

“Justin, I want to,” Lance said softly, and he was shocked to see tears in Justin’s eyes.

“Thanks,” Justin whispered. “Where are they going?” Lance pointed to the hotel dining room and Justin rolled his eyes. “Did JC pick again?”

Lance grinned. The hotel restaurant had a gourmet menu. “Just be glad you don’t have to hear Chris bitch about the food,” Lance wrote. “Did you want to go somewhere else?” Justin nodded and smiled. “Meet me down here in half an hour?” Justin nodded again and they headed for the elevator.

It wasn’t until he was unlocking his own door that Lance realized that it was exactly like they were going on a date.

“This is what you want for dinner?” Lance asked in disbelief. Justin nodded happily, and the bodyguards gave a sigh of relief. “Pizza,” Lance said. Justin nodded again.

“I know…I’m a cheap date,” Justin said. Lance glanced at him quickly. Justin gave him that beautiful smile, and Lance could only smile back.

Lance placed their order while Justin sat at a tiny table in the back of the pizzeria. He brought their Cokes back to the table and sat down across from Justin. “You know Joey will be MAD,” Lance said, overemphasizing his words. Justin grinned again to show he understood. Lance reached over without thinking and straightened Justin’s baseball cap. It wasn’t the BEST disguise, but who really expected to see Justin Timberlake and Lance Bass in a dingy little pizza shop? Justin caught Lance’s hand and held it for a split second.

“Thank you,” Justin said quietly, and Lance knew he meant it in more ways than one. Lance nodded and said nothing.

They waited for their pizza, not speaking. Lance studied a crack in the tablecloth, trying not to think about being on a date with Justin. Lance shook his head and groaned inwardly. It HAD been way too long, if he was having those thoughts about Justin again. Those thoughts were dead and buried and long gone. Justin was straight, even if he HAD admitted while drunk that he had had a blowjob given to him by another man. Lance had no right thinking about that, because it was just WRONG. He looked at Justin and noticed that Justin was staring at a family seated at a table across the room. Lance studied the family. A mother and father, boy and girl. The girl had an NSYNC shirt on, which was no big deal. Lance then realized what Justin was staring at. The little girl was blond, about nine years old, and was speaking with her hands. She laughed a lot, and her gestures and facial expressions were very cheerful and animated. Justin sighed and rested his chin in his hand, his eyes never leaving the little girl.

“I bet she’s been that way her whole life,” he said quietly. “She’s never heard a song, never heard her mother’s voice, never once heard a tone of approval. And look how fucking happy she is.” Before Lance knew it, Justin was standing up. Lance hurried after him.

“Justin!”

But Justin kept on walking. The mother eyed him warily, but as soon as the little girl’s blue eyes looked up at him, she let out a happy squeak of noise. “Justin!” The little girl said. It was difficult to understand, but it was definitely his name.

“Hi.” Justin bent down so he was on her eye level. “What’s your name?”

“Charlie,” she said slowly.

“Charlotte,” her mother said, smiling. “But she likes Charlie.” Justin smiled at her, obviously not understanding her but not wanting to seem rude. “She reads lips, so she’ll understand you,” the mother continued.

Lance tapped Justin’s shoulder, then pointed to his lips. Justin smiled. “How are you?” The girl smiled and nodded vigorously. “I was just noticing your nice tshirt.” The little girl giggled and blushed. “You like NSYNC, huh?” Again a vigorous nod. She shyly looked down and pointed to Justin on her shirt. “Oh…you like me? The other guys are nice, too.”

“Thanks a lot,” Lance mumbled, and the mother laughed.

“She LOVES you guys. She can’t really hear the music, of course, but she watches all the videotapes and TV shows, and if we turn up the CDs really loud, she can feel the vibrations of the music.” Lance looked down at Justin, who was now shaking hands with Charlie’s older brother. “Our son has perfect hearing…it’s just Charlie who is deaf,” the woman said with a small sigh.

Lance pulled out the notepad that he used to talk to Justin, and ripped off a clean sheet of paper. “I’m gonna give you a phone number,” Lance said, scribbling on the paper. “The next time we come into town for ANYTHING, you call him, and he’ll get you tickets. At a concert, she’ll definitely be able to feel the music.” Lance handed her the paper with a smile.

“Thank you,” the mother whispered.

Justin gave Charlie one last hug, closing his eyes as her small arms went around him. When she pulled back, her mother quickly signed to her about the number Lance had given her. With another happy squeal, Charlie threw herself into Justin’s arms again, and he knew immediately what Lance had done. Justin looked up at Lance over her head, smiling at him. The smile warmed Lance all over, and he felt better about himself than he had in weeks.

Seven