ISOK12

August 2000

    Months passed, and Lance and Sabrina became more and more frustrated with James. It seemed that the only way he would be truly happy was to make them miserable. It was wearing them down, and adding that strain to the stress of the tour didn�t help Lance any at all. He was beginning to show signs of the stress, and it began to worry Sabrina. He had a hard time sleeping, and every little noise made him jump. She started to fear for his health, but he always insisted that he was "fine". His personality started to change, too. Instead of being goofy and sometimes quiet, he became easily pissed off, and took out that anger on anyone that even looked at him cross-eyed. Sabrina decided that it was the last straw, when she found herself in a bad situation with him.
     "God dammit, Sabrina!! Why can�t you just leave me alone? I told you, I�m fine, and I don�t need you as a second mother!" he yelled at her one afternoon at her house. Oklahoma City was one of their stops, so she insisted that they come and stay at her place, so they could sleep without having to be in a hotel room or on the bus.
      Sabrina found it very hard to control her own temper. She reminded herself that he was stressed out to the max, but she had had just about enough of his temper. "Lance, I�m giving you a fair warning. I�m having a hard time controlling myself at this point, and I don�t want to get into a yelling match with you. So, just calm down and speak at a normal voice."
     He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Sabrina, you are not my mother, like I just said. So I�m giving you a fair warning. Just leave me alone, and let me work out my own problems. I didn�t ask you for your help, anyway."
     Something inside of Sabrina just snapped when he said that. She walked past him, opened the door to the study, grabbed his arm, and yanked him inside of it. Throwing him into one of the leather chairs, she leaned over him and put her hands on the chair arms. "Now, listen." When he opened his mouth to protest, she held up a hand. He shut his mouth, and she continued. "Just hear me out." She grabbed one of the chairs and pulled it up so she was sitting in it and facing him. He turned his head away from her, not wanting to look her in the eyes. She grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her. "Lance, I know something is bothering you. And I know it has to do with me, because you�re not this bad around the guys. Now, the only way that things will get better, is if you tell me what is wrong."
     He looked into her eyes, and felt his heart break. This was the face of the girl that had been his best friend for twenty-plus years. He had grown up with her, watched her evolve into a beautiful woman, and had unknowingly, slowly, fallen in love with her. "Look, I told you I�m fine, and I�m fine. I�m just tired. That�s all. There�s nothing else to it." His voice came soft and sad. Sabrina could tell that he was keeping something back from her, and she knew that the only way she could get it out of him was to push him.
     "Lance," she said softly. "I can tell there�s something else. Something more than you�re just tired. Don�t try to tell me there isn�t, because I can just tell. I�m not going to leave you or anything, just because you have a problem with something. Now, will you tell me?"
     He couldn�t make himself meet her eyes. "I�m not holding back anything. I don�t know what you�re talking about."
     He could see the disappointment in her face. "I�m sorry you don�t feel like you can�t confide in me about this. Maybe you�ll change your mind. At least, I hope so." She got up and walked out of the room, not even looking at him.
     He slammed his head into the back of the chair. "Why didn�t I just tell her?" he wondered out loud. "When am I ever gonna get the guts to admit to her how I feel?"