AN:  Everyone who has sent email- ya'll rule.  If I was Empress of the World ya'll would so 
get your own countries.  Thanks for the feedback, even when my chapters have ten thousand 
stupid grammar mistakes.  No one betas for me and I have the bad habit of posting at three in 
the morning when I never catch my mistakes.  Many apologies! =)  Enjoy chapter seven!  Gotta 
get some Lance interaction in man...

PS: It cracks me up when I get emails from BSB fans addicted to this story... I love you 
all... LOL




************************* Nightmare of a Lifetime: Chapter Seven *********************



"You gonna hurt me?" Lance asked as Nicole Perry growled at him for his intrusion.  

"Will it get me fired?" she demanded through gritted teeth.  

Lance chewed at his lip and tried, unsuccessfully, to contain his giggles.  His manly giggles.  
"Nope," he wheezed, "I'm the ugly one remember, the other blonde."  

A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth before she could help herself.  "The other, other 
white meat right?"  

Lance lost it.  "Grade B Mississippi born and raised," he replied with a slow drawl that made 
her titter.  "Did you see the look on their faces?"

Nicole sighed, suddenly mirthless, and pressed the heel of her palm to the bridge of her nose.  
"Yeah."  They were quiet as the elevator moved slowly down another few floors.  She cursed 
suddenly.  "We're going to get mobbed.  This is the main lobby elevator."  

He shrugged, unsympathetic.  "Well if you had thought of that before we snuck away we might 
have been able to avoid the teenies."  

She glared daggers at him.  "Well if I had known that I would have had a boy band stow away I 
would have made sure to use the service elevator in my rage.  Aren't you gonna get busted for 
leaving the hotel without security?"

His green eyes widened.  "We're leaving the hotel?"  

Nicole rolled her eyes.  "Only if you play the proper stow away.  I'm leaving.  I need, I need 
to get out of here for a bit.  You can tag along or go crawl back to your beefy, highly paid 
protectors."  

"Oh that's just not fair, taking jabs at my masculinity like that!"

Perry shrugged, equally unsympathetic.  "Everyone else does."  

Lance snorted and paused, a thought just occurring to him.  "Joey so owes me fifteen bucks!"

"For what Oh Pinnacle of Manliness?"  

"I bet him fifteen bucks you were exactly the same without cameras.  He thought it was an act, 
being funny in front of Bill, ya know?"  

She shook her head and smiled grimly.  "You are who you are Lance.  If you want to be different, 
don't pretend, just change.  Anything else isn't worth it."  

He started to reply but the elevator dinged, opening the doors to the main floor of the lobby.  
The crowd was small, mostly due to the fact that they boys were scheduled to make an appearance 
at a club, and she waited, impatiently, but waited, for him to sign some two dozen autographs.  

They raced out of the hotel, despite his talk of his bodyguard's wrath, and Lance hailed a cab 
as screaming fans tried to follow.  He asked the cabby, who obviously had no idea who he was, 
to drop them off a few blocks away and paid the man a twenty.  

Perry ignored Lance's outstretched hand and got out of the car by herself.  They stood on a 
dark street corner in silence for awhile before he finally asked.  "What now?"  

She regarded him with dark, dark eyes for a long moment and he wondered, if only briefly, what 
she saw when she looked at him, before shaking the thought.  He had stopped caring what people 
thought of him long ago, had almost stopped.

"You got any more cash on you?"  

Lance hesitated a moment and nodded, counting out a ten and three ones in his big palm before 
she nodded down the block where a twenty four hour diner was.  "Then lets go get some food, 
coffee, whatever."  

He watched her walk away without looking back for a moment, tank top and bunny pants and all, 
before jogging to catch up with her.

****************************************************************************************

The diner was dark and empty except for one man in a rumpled business suite.  Lance made them 
take a corner booth anyway, so he could watch the door, just in case.  He felt exposed without 
being surrounded by the usual entourage, a feeling he often had when he went home, after tour, 
to Mississippi.  He knew his home town though, so the feeling wasn't nearly as strong.  

"You're awful jumpy there Bass..."

He flinched and gave her an apologetic smile.  Perry continued to watch him with her 
speculative, nearly black gaze, hair gleaming brightly red in the fluorescent lighting of the 
restaurant.  "I just, never go out alone anymore."  

Lance was grateful when she accepted his explanation with a quick nod of her head.  A waitress 
named Doreen came by and took their drink orders, a black cup of coffee for Perry and tea for 
himself, without sugar.  Doreen, who was sixty if she was a day, barely looked up from her 
order pad before shuffling away.

She returned promptly with their drinks and took their order.  Lance ordered a bagel to be 
polite.  He wasn't hungry.  

He nearly choked when Nicole ordered French Toast.  

He stared at her suspiciously after Doreen left again.  "Why did you order that?"  

Perry raised dark brows.  "Umm, cause I like French Toast, obviously dumb shit."  

"No other reason?"  

She sighed, weary.  "Yes Lance, I ordered French Toast for world peace, geeze.  I... its 
tradition at my house, okay?  French Toast is like my only comfort food so stop freaking out."  

Abashed he fiddled with his fingers as she stared at him, brows still raised, obviously waiting 
for an explanation.  "Umm, well, my favorite food is French Toast and well..."  

"And you thought I was what, a closet fan?"  He nodded, suddenly shy, and she reached across 
the table to thunk him upside the head.  "Idiot."  The insult sounded strangely affectionate.  
He kinda liked hearing something other than derision in her voice.  

They shared another minute of silence and Lance used the opportunity to study the girl, the 
woman before him.  She was younger than she acted, he realized, as the bad lighting made her 
skin seem even paler than normal, and the shadows under her eyes unnaturally dark.  She was 
younger than Justin even, and he wondered briefly what she was doing so far from wherever she 
probably called home.  

He had liked her from the beginning.  Lance usually had good instincts when it came to judging 
people.  Nicole Perry, despite her foul language, volatile temper, and camera tag along, was a 
very good person.  He had been vocal in his support cause it annoyed Justin and that was a good 
enough reason as any.  But he wouldn't mind becoming friends with her, if she let him.  God 
knew real, genuine friends were hard enough to find in their business.  

"Why did you follow me into that elevator?" she asked as she fiddled with some of the rings on 
her fingers.  

Lance chuckled.  "Honestly, we drew straws."  

"You drew straws?!"  

"Yeah, cause we thought you shouldn't be alone but you were scary as hell and looked like you 
were about to breathe fire.  Goodwill only extends so far you know?"  

Perry shook her head but smiled despite herself.  

"What made you so mad?  Bill said it had something to do with MTV."

She chewed on her lower lip as he watched, quiet and serene.  "Yeah, disagreement on the show's 
direction."  

"The show has direction?"  

Nicole Perry laughed as their food arrived.  They ate in nearly companionable silence and paid.  
Lance shivered as they walked outside and they got hit by the cold air.  The temperature had 
dropped some twenty degrees in the hour they had been gone.  He was so dead for disappearing 
for so long.  He looked down to see the girl, woman, at his side shivering and suddenly 
realized if he was cold in his turtleneck and jacket she must be freezing in slippers, pajama 
pants, and tank top.  

Ever the southern gentleman, Lance slid quickly out of his jacket and wrapped it around her 
shoulders.  Perry jumped about a foot and looked at him with suspicious eyes.  "Don't be 
stubborn and take the jacket.  You're cold.  That doesn't mean you're not a bad ass.  Okay?"  

She smiled thinly and ducked her head in quiet thanks, pulling the jacket closer.  "Let's head 
back before your keepers have a heart attack."  

"Aright."  

Lance had found a friend, a strange tattooed wisp of a friend, but a friend.  He smiled when 
she tripped over the curb and cursed, loudly.  He was glad he had drawn the short straw.