"L-Lance?" Vanessa stuttered, appearantly even more flabbergasted than himself. She stood in place, her body rigid like a corpse.
Lance gazed at his childhood best friend, wondering where the years had gone. Lance was in a quandary; was the gorgeous woman before him actually Vanessa? Gone was the doe-eyed, little girl but a sassy, confident young woman. As he silently dove into the depths of her curious, chocolate eyes, he felt something tug at his soul.
[What's happening to me? I'm not attracted to my best friend, am I? No, it's nothing. Besides, I love Bridget..] Lance reasoned.
"What are you doing? Go over and talk to her!" JC hissed. Lance nodded and strolled over to Vanessa, still trapped in her stare.
"What are you doing here? I thought you lived in New York", Lance blurtted out.
An ambigious expression passed through her eyes as she glanced from JC to Lance.
"Well, I was. Until I graduated last year. I'm Gillian's personal assistant. Of course, you would have known all of that if you'd bother to pick up the phone and call once in awhile", Vanessa frostily informed, her voice rapid and clipped. Lance winced. He deserved that. But it wasn't entirely his fault.
When he and the rest of the guys had signed with BMG and Lou Pearlman, there had been a rule of absolutely no girlfriends. At first, Lance had been able to keep in touch with Vanessa but soon Lou changed his mind. He decided that Vanessa and Lance's friendship was far too close for his liking and thus Lance was forced to end all ties with her. It was either that or taking the option of returning home empty-handed. So, Lance had reluctantly chosen the first choice.
When Nsync had finally cut the strings to Lou in 2000, so had the whole " no girlfriends" propaganda. With this in mind, Lance had been tempted countless times to call her but never followed through with it. It always came down to the same reasons; A) he was to afraid or B) he was too busy. Nine out of ten times, it was letter A. But overall, neither were legitamite excuses to forfit one phone call and both never failed to fill the pit of his stomach with a ball of guilt. It also left the plaguing question of "what could have been?"
Back in the days of Pre-Nsync, Lance secretly knew Vanessa harbored more than friend feelings for him and he began to realize he did also; in fact, subconciously, he still did. He wondered what it would have been like if they had pursued a relationship. But that was a closed topic now; he had a fiance...
"Yeah, I guess I deserved that after everything I did. But there's more behind it", Lance began.
Vanessa crossed her arms over her chest and looked him squarely in the eye.
"Well, as you can see, we're kind of busy right now. I'm sure you can understand", she snapped back. Lance sighed. One thing that certainly hadn't changed about Vanessa was her stubornness. When someone did her wrong, she would never be the first to apologize. But again, he couldn't critizie her choice of action.
Gillian suddenly stepped forward and flashed a sweet smile.
"I'm Gillian, by the way. We were just about to leave now, but tonight we're going to that new club on Bankstreet, if you want to join us", the pop-star offered, more so to JC than Lance.
Vanessa threw Gillian a deadly glare that could have killed a grizzly bear on the spot. JC returned Gillian's smile with a flirtasious grin.
"I'm JC. You must mean Club Illusion. Lance and the rest of the guys and I were going to head down there around ten thirty", JC announced. Gillian gazed up at him through her mascara-coated lashes.
"Then we'll see you there", she enthusiastically confirmed.
"Count on it", JC promised, with a wink.
"See you tonight", Gillian called in a sing-song voice, as Vanessa and she departed. Lance turned to JC.
"Why do I have the feeling that you and Gillian are plotting some plan to hook me and Vanessa up?" Lance forsaw. JC gave Lance a puzzled expression.
"What are you talking about? Stop being selfish; I was thinking about Gillian and me", he informed. Lance was silent but gave JC a skeptical stare.
"Oh all right, maybe that was somewhere on my agenda. But c'mon, from the way you talk about her, you'd think Vanessa was some kind of Goddess." JC paused and smirked.
"Although she certainly could pass for one", he confessed. Lance gazed at the exit door, where the girls had long left through.
"That's because she is. And you know what happens when mortals mix with the Gods, don't you?" Lance sadly asked. JC shook his head.
"No what?"
"Complete disaster."
*~*~*~*~*~*
"Ugh, were you dropped on your head as child?!" Vanessa fiercely exclaimed, later that night, in the confindment of Gillian's hotel room. After the little reunion with Lance, Vanessa and Gillian had gotten a bite to eat at McDonald's, went shopping for a few hours, gotten dinner and then returned back to the Mariot, to just relax until they were to arrive at the club.
Gillian's hotel room was spacious, with two twin beds, a phone, a 36 inch TV with a DVD player, a stereo, a nightstand in between the beds, a mini-fridge and of course, a bathroom. The walls were peach colored and a large, oval window overlooked the scenery below them.
Gillian rolled her eyes playfully and chuckled.
"You know you want Lance...I was only helping fate speed up", she patiently exclaimed. Vanessa snorted.
"I want Lance as much as someone wants to get stung by a thousand African Killer bees", she heatedly corrected. Gillian ignored the comment and glanced at the red, glaring numbers of the digital clock, located on the nightstand. It read: 10:25 PM.
"Hurry up, we've got five minutes to get to Club Illusion", the blond informed. Vanessa sighed and hooked on her black, platform sandals. She stood up and glanced in the floor-length mirror, which was placed on the left side of the room. She paused, giving her outfit a once-over.
For tonight's escapde, she had decided on wearing a pair of low-rise, Baby Phat, denim jeans that were sprinkled with silver glitter. The dirty-denim wash jeans laced up on each pant leg side. For a shirt, she was wearing a thick-strapped, violet colored tank top, with the words: Catch Me If You Can, across the chest in white, capital letters. The tank top had a low, scoop neck that showed more skin than material. In her ears were ruby studs that was a shade lighter than her shirt. For makeup, she had decided to go natural, with earth-toned shades that provided her skin with a healthy glow. Also, she had applied MAC Lipglass, giving her full lips extra shine.
Finally, for her hair, she had straightened it with a flat iron; letting it fall freely and grazing her waist.
As for Gillian, she had had decided on a black, mini-skirt with black, platform sandals that were identical to Vanessa's. For a top, she was wearing a long-sleeved, red shirt of thin material that cut away in a V at the bottom, to expose her belly, with was accompinied by a gold, belly-button ring. For makeup, Gillian made her eyes dark and smoky, a la Britney Spears in her "Slave For You" video. But concering the rest of her face, she'd kept the makeup simple and barely there.
Then, to complete the whole ensemble, she had curled her hair into bouncy, soft frizless spirials. The girls grabbed their purses and Gillian snatched the hotel key. Their heels clicked against the cement as they walked out the hotel doors and to the royal blue Saturn Gillian for their stay in Orlando.
It took them less than eight minutes to actually get into the club and with Gillian's connections, less than five to slip into the VIP section. Smoke from a hidden source and the tremble of the music from the DJ consumed the air. Club Illusion was one of the most popular clubs in Orlando, with a line curving half-way around the block to prove it.
On the outside, it was a simple, brick, two-story building with handfuls of pill shaped windows that rarely could be seen into. On the inside, the club was enermous, with a dance floor on the bottom floor, (usually littered with clusters of people) and a medium sized bar, accompinied with cushioned, metal stools.
The second story was divided into two halves; a bar with every drink imaginable and the exclusive VIP section. Overall, Club Illusion was the place to be on a weekend night.
"Do you see them?" Gillian demanded, scouring the room with squinted eyes. Vanessa dully shook her head.
"No, thank God." Gillian elbowed her in the arm, careful not to spill the non-alcoholic, strawberry daceri, Vanessa was holding. (Neither girls were big drinkers.)
"Shut up! You know-Oh my God! I see them! Should we go over there or wait here?" Gillian frantically asked. Vanessa plopped down on the soft, crimson sofa behind her, wondering why destiny was chosing to be so cruel. She set her half-full glass on the coffee table on the side of her.
"Stay here. You wouldn't wanna look too desperate and seem like you actually do have a huge crush on him", she teased, meaning JC. Gillian rolled her eyes but followed Vanessa's advise and took a seat next to her friend. The five men of Nsync squeezed their way through the crowds and finally to Vanessa and Gillian. The guys had decided to keep their 'club outfits' semi-casual; saving the leather pants for the photo shoots.
"Hey JC", Gillian greeted with a half-smile. JC returned the smile.
"Hey Gillian, Vanessa", he warmly greeted. Vanessa flashed JC a smile and then focused her gaze on Lance. Her scowl turned into a smirk as she noticed the wide-eyed, opened-mouthed expression of her friend.
"You might want to close your mouth before you choke on a fly", Vanessa icily informed. Lance clamped his mouth shut, a blush beginning to spread onto his cheeks. Everyone, minus Lance laughed.
"This is Justin, Joey and Chris. And taking that comment into consideration, I'm sure you know Lance", JC announced. Vanessa eyed Lance up and down, as if he were an unidentified, green blob on a microscope slide.
"I know him but I'm pretty sure he FORGOT about me", she answered, stressing on the word forgot.
Gillian cleared her throat, hoping to break the thick tension overpowering Lance and Vanessa.
"I think we should all let Lance and Vanessa catch up on old times. Would you guys mind if you escorted me down to the bar downstairs?" Gillian suggestd.
"Yeah, sure", JC quickly replied. The sudden shrill ring of a cellphone cut through the air. Justin reached into the back-pocket of his Tommy Hilfigher pants and pulled out his Nokia phone.
"Hello?" he curiously questioned. He listened for a minute, then covered the bottom part of the phone with his hand.
"I'll be right back, guys", he declared, then headed across the room and strolled down the stairs. Gillian turned to JC, Joey and Chris.
"Looks like it's just us", she observed.
"And how's that a bad thing?" Joey asked with a sly smile. Chris rolled his eyes.
"That must be some new kind of record; it only took you two minutes to hit on the girl instead of the usual sixty seconds", he joked. Gillian laughed and held up both hands as a signal to stop the banter.
"Boys, boys, there's enough of me to go around!" she proclaimed, with a coy smile.
"No, there's certainly enough but it's all for me", JC slyly corrected. Gillian giggled and with that, the group walked acorss the room, down the stairs and then became swallowed into the blackness of the mass of people on the dance floor.
Vanessa kept her eyes away from Lance and crossed her arms over her chest.
[I don't want to speak to him...ok, so maybe I do. But how can I forgive him for what he did? Plus, I just know I'll probably start babbling..I mean, when did he suddenly become so DAMN fine?!] she thought. Lance, who was still standing, stared at his friend, wondering if he had caused all the pain and sorrow, hidden by anger in her eyes. He sighed and slid in next to her.
Lance turned his head to her's, studying the stony expression on her face.
"Vanessa, you can't keep up this silent treatment act", he scolded lightly. She snorted, still looking away.
"Watch and learn."
"C'mon, you're acting like you're three. Tell me what's bothering you", Lance urged, starting to become frustrated.
"Why do you even care?" Vanessa venomesly spat out.
"Because, I'm your best friend."
This caused a spark to go off and Vanessa finally faced him, her eyes ablaze.
"Best friend? Best FRIEND?! How dare you call yourself my friend when for the last six years you fucking IGNORED me; acted like I never existed. Yeah, that's really a great way of showing you care, James", Vanessa snapped.
Lance sighed. She only used his first name when she was exceddingly angry. But yet again, he understood where she was coming from.
"Look, I know what I did was lousy but I have a reason. I tried to keep in touch with you but Lou though you were my girlfriend and banned me from talking to you. When we dropped Lou a few years ago, I saw it as a chance to finally speak with you again. But I couldn't do it. I knew you were probably mad at me for losing touch so I figured you wouldn't listen to me if I tried to explain. I can understand if you hate me but I want to at least know that you realize it wasn't my choice to do that."
"You've been my best friend since before I became known as Lance Bass, 1/5th of Nsync. You know me in a way a lot of people don't. I don't want to throw away what I have with you", Lance sincerely confessed.
Vanessa's smirk slid off her face like oil on a sizzling frying pan. Something inside of her melted as she stared into the eyes of the man she loved as a friend, a brother and a soulmate. She couldn't be angry at him, even with all the acting lessons in the world. She sighed and gave him a small but genuine smile.
"You always were the one to apologize first and make me realize how much of an idiot I am", she quietly joked. He smiled and brushed away a lock of hair, both of them feeling a white-hot, electric current fly from their fingertips and through their arm. He heard her sharp intake of breath as he moved closer, which closed the space between them; their legs against each other's.
"You're not an idiot. And I'm guessing you don't hate me?" he noted.
Vanessa shook her head slightly, her eyes focused on his lips.
"No. I could never hate you", she honestly whispered. He grinned, causing her heart to skip a beat.
"Good to know", he murmured. He inched his lips forward. Vanessa closed her eyes, her heart beating so loud it rang in her eardrums. The world began to spin as his lips hovered in front of hers, their rapid inhales and exhales mingling. His hand rested on her cheek, bringing her flushed face closer.
This was it, he was going to give her the kiss she had yearned for, for years. It was though she had lost all control of her body. His lips were about to graze her's when the sudden clomping of feet and a shouted greeting, lost in the sounds of the club made them jump apart.
"Sorry to interrupt but Lance..uh BRIDGET's here", JC warned. Vanessa stared at Lance; puzzled.
"Who's Bridget?" Lance glanced down and cleared his throat. Should he tell her the truth? Well...it wasn't exactly a lie, but then again, it wasn't the complete truth.
He quickly looked at Vanessa then away.
"My...uh...girlfriend."
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