| Chapter 5 |
| things moved ridiculously quickly after that. lance and his mom made plans to get lance relocated to the area as quickly as possible, and as soon as he got down there, the five guys got to work. it was late one afternoon, and the guys were in their warehouse rehearsal space once more going over the choreography to what they hoped would be their first single. they'd run the same dance about 25 times when lance realized that that day, he wasn't going to get the steps they were working on. he'd done it all just fine the day before, but that day, right then, it just was not clicking. at all. chris had rolled his eyes enough times to make lance want to cry, but he swallowed his tears. [i will get this], he though bitterly, glaring at chris. "can we do it again, guys? please?" he asked quietly, his eyes meeting justin's and pleading. he knew if anyone could help him, it would be justin. "if i have to count to eight one more time, i'm gonna freak," chris muttered. lance didn't hear him, but justin did. so justin spoke up. "lance, i'll practice with you," he said, his face a mask of infinite patience -- patience which could only come from love. "the rest of you guys get out of here." "thanks, justin, you're a lifesaver," chris said, already halfway out the door. joey and jc made similarly hasty exits, barely even waving good-bye, which left lance alone with justin. "wow, i ... i'm sorry, justin, for keeping you. you can go, with them, you know, if you want to." justin looked at lance, trying to catch his cat-green eyes, but lance was studying his shoes. justin smiled. "i'd rather be here with you," he said, and lance looked up into justin's sparkling baby blues. "thanks," he said quietly, returning justin's smile, though not as brightly. "so can you teach this to me? i'm obviously not getting it today." "i can try," justin answered, coming to stand next to lance. "we'll run it without the music first, ok? it's like this ..." justin ran through the steps flawlessly and in perfect time. he finished the short routine and looked over at lance. justin's eyes sparkled when he saw that lance's mouth was agape. it wasn't that lance had never seen justin dance before. he watched him everyday at rehearsal, because justin learned the steps faster than humanly possible, so lance was always trying to catch up to the younger boy. so no, it wasn't that. it was that justin had just danced for him -- only for him -- and that justin was looking at him with a gaze that was hot and cold all at once. it froze lance into place and made him nearly spontaneously combust at the same time. as he watched justin, who, having finished the routine, was standing looking at him and [grinning], lance felt a rush of warmth flow over him. it was as if justin has suddenly ignited something within him... or, as lance thought about it more, it was more like justin had [re]ignited something -- something that he'd felt the first time he'd seen justin. justin had looked at him in the airport with the same bedroom eyes he was using on lance now. lance swallowed, hard, and looked at his feet. "can you show me again," lance asked feebly. justin merely nodded and counted off the beats, and once again lance was transfixed. "like what you see?" justin asked after finishing the routine for a second time. lance blinked away his own glazed look. "you nailed it, j, twice," lance answered, trying to sound noncommittal. "so can you teach me?" "sure," justin answered, "come here." when lance felt justin's hands on his hips, that same fire flashed through him once more. he swallowed again and tried to hide his reaction from justin, but the curly-haired boy did not miss it. he grinned where he stood behind lance. [i like having this affect on him], justin thought. out loud he said, "move where my hands move you. you know these steps. your [body] know them, you're just thinking too much. your mind is tripping you up." justin then leaned in close to lance and whispered in his ear, "stop thinking. feel, lance. let yourself feel." justin felt the shudder that ricocheted though lance, and he smiled, feeling goosebumps of his own at being so close to the boy he was in love with, but then justin returned to the business at hand, and he counted off the beats: "5-6-7-8!" lance did as justin told him -- he let himself feel. he felt justin's hand easing him in the right direction, he felt justin's breath on his neck keeping the beats, and he felt his body moving as it was supposed to, the way he had taught it to in the preceding days. with justin still holding onto him, lance easily got through the whole routine. it didn't look at good as had when justin had done it for him, but it was passable. chris would not have rolled his eyes. as lance and justin embraced in the middle of the warehouse, hot and tired and elated that it had been so easy to fix lance's little glitch that day, jc watched from the door, unseen by the younger guys. before either caught sight of him, he ducked out of the rehearsal space and disappeared out to his car. |