Chapter 12: What the Hell Just Happened Here?

“Please tell me that we don’t have to go to another airport any time in the near future,” Justin asked Lou before reaching towards his soda that sat on the table in between the two. Lou chuckled and shook his head, earning a sigh of relief from the boy.

“No. We’re staying in Stockholm because it’s where Cheiron Studios is located,” Lou explained over the loud techno music that was playing in the club they were currently occupying. “No more flights, I promise. Well, not for a while. Not until you guys get big.”

Justin smiled at the thought of being big in Europe. Lou had taken then around the city to look at the sights before they were shut in at the studio all day long. Afterwards, by Joey’s persuasion, he took them to a teen club. Joey and Chris immediately went to find someone to dance with; after all there were a lot of beautiful girls there. Lance went with them, only because he wanted to test if he could actually get an alcoholic drink while they were there. JC and Mack were at a store down the street to get a soda or something.

“So, when do we get to go into the studio?” Justin asked, his eyes shining bright at the thought of recording in an actual studio with professionals.

“Tomorrow, but you won’t be recording until next week,” Lou replied. He chuckled when he saw Justin’s face drop. “Don’t worry, I don’t want you recording for the first week so you can get comfortable with the producers and you know what direction they want you to go in.”

“I can’t wait a week,” he whined.

“Trust me; it’ll be worth the wait.”

Justin smiled and nodded although his eyes showed uncertainty. He knew he should believe the man; he has made them a known name all because of their Pleasure Island show. Justin mentally slapped himself for being a skeptic. He looked up when JC and Mack joined them at the table. “Where have you two been?”

“Do you know how hard it is to buy a freaking soda here?” Mack all but exploded, slamming the soda bottle onto the table.

Justin turned to JC with a questioning look in his eyes. JC sighed. “She’s just upset because she didn’t realize that they also spoke French here. Basically her fuse is too short to be patient with anyone who speaks a different language.”

“Stuff it, Chasez.”

“C’mon,” Justin said as he held out his hand to her. “Let’s dance, it’ll calm you down.”

“I don’t wanna,” she grumbled, sounding like a five-year-old. She suddenly stiffened as if something had touched her before jumping up, grabbing Justin’s hand, and dragged him onto the dance floor, shoving through the moving crowd.

JC scanned the crowd amazed by how beautiful everyone looked the women and the men. The dance floor was covered in blond haired people. Their skin was so fair that it seemed to reflect the colored lights of the club. He also couldn’t help but notice that most of the women were well endowed and didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Most women he knew who were also well endowed were self conscious about it, yet here they embraced it.

He chuckled when he spotted Joey, Chris, and Lance push their way onto the dance floor. They stuck out like sore thumbs as they each started dancing with a blonde girl. He was amazed how their dancing styles shifted depending on the environment. Justin was still the smooth dancer that he worked to be. Lance was still self conscious about the way he looked when he was dancing (only because he wasn’t as good as the others, but he was still working on it); it was Joey and Chris who stood out. Joey had a cheesy smile on his face, dipping his head every now and then to feed a cheesy line to the girl, causing her to giggle. Chris didn’t have to do much to get the girl he was dancing with to laugh at him.

JC tore his eyes away from the dance floor to look over at Lou who was staring hard at something, or someone, on the dance floor, a faraway look in his eyes. “Excuse me, Lou.”

Lou broke his gaze and turned to look at JC, flashing lights reflected off of his glasses. Lou chuckled a bit and stated, “I thought I told you boys to call me ‘Papa Lou’.”

“Ok, um, Papa Lou, um,” JC stuttered. “How long are you planning on staying here exactly? I mean, um, we shouldn’t stay out too late. We need some sleep after flying around a bit. Jet lag is going to set in soon and we’ll crash badly, especially the younger ones.”

Lou laughed a bit again. “Did Lynn call you to ask where we were? I told her that I’d look out for you boys.”

“No,” JC shook his head and cleared his throat. “She didn’t call. I’m just worried about the others, that’s all.”

“I appreciate your concern, Joshua.” JC winced slightly. The way Lou called him by his full name was unsettling, it sounded weird coming out of his mouth. “If you want to leave you can. You are an adult after all and I promise to bring them back before midnight,” he concluded, looking at his watch.

“I don’t know,” JC sighed. “I don’t want to leave Justin and Mack here. I know Joey will stick by Lance but those two could get into trouble they’re not ready for.” He looked at his watch himself. “I think I’ll just take them back with me.”

“Get some sleep, Joshua; you need to relax a bit.”

JC forced a smile and walked onto the dance floor, avoiding behind hit by arms that were swinging high in the air. His eyes practically bulged out of his face and his mouth fell open at the scene in front of him. He shoved the rest of the way through the crowd and reached out his hands once he was close enough. His finger and thumb latched onto Justin’s and Mack’s ears respectively before he turned and pulled them out of the club, the two screaming in pain the entire way.

“Ow! What the hell’s your problem?” Justin demanded, rubbing his sore ear that was finally released from JC’s grasp.

“I should be asking you that,” JC shot back.

“What’s the big deal? We were just dancing like everybody else,” Mack said as she rubbed her red ear.

“This is exactly the problem. You two are too young to be dancing like that,” JC replied, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring down at the two who stood I front of him, wincing every now and then.

“I’m fifteen thank you very much,” Justin pointed out.

“I’m almost there,” Mack added. “Just a month and a few days.”

“Yeah? Well, you two are acting more like you’re ten, copying everything that you see.” He scoffed. “C’mon,” he muttered, tilting his head to signal for them to follow him.

“Where are we going?” Justin mumbled, his face matching the shade of red his ear took on. He hated being yelled at, and being yelled at in public by his best friend was worse, even if people couldn’t understand what was being said.

“Back to the hotel,” JC replied. “You have a curfew, remember?”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Wait! I want my soda,” Mack spoke up. Her feet were planted where she was standing.

“Get another one at the hotel,” JC said as he turned to look at her. “It’s probably cheaper anyway. It’s probably free.”

“I want the one I paid for!” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a challenging look. JC grumbled under his breath before going back into the club. The two young ones stood outside in silence, huddled close together to stay warm from the biting temperature. The only sound was of their teeth chattering

JC came back out of the club, practically shoved the soda bottle into Mack’s chest, and directed them in the direction of the hotel. He kept his hands on their shoulders as if he were waiting for them to run away or something.

Justin and Mack let out soft sighs of relief once they stepped into the lobby of the warm hotel. It felt as if their cheeks were thawing. “I want to play pool,” Justin declared, walking past the elevator that JC was moving towards.

“Aren’t you going to tell Lynn that you’re back?” JC questioned, pressing the up button.

“You can do that while we go play.”

JC stared at the young boy, dumbfounded over the fact that Justin was starting to walk all over him. What was worse was that JC kept convincing himself that Justin was merely trying to get out of doing stuff he hated to do, such as reporting to Lynn whenever he came back from going somewhere.

“I think you should just go back to your rooms,” JC said slowly, trying not to sound like a scolding parent. “You can play pool tomorrow. Besides, J, Lynn’s going to give you a half hour until she’s going to make you go to sleep. Same with you and Robin, Mack. And you two are horrible at pool so it would take you hours to finish one game.” JC smiled to himself as the two groaned and complained but followed him into the elevator. The ride up to their floor was quick and they separated and went into their own rooms.

“Did you have fun, honey?” Lynn asked, pulling Justin into a hug and the two settled onto the couch that was in their extravagant room.

“Mhm,” Justin replied, resting his head on her shoulder as she ran her long fingernails through his hair. He smiled at the ‘massage’ he was receiving and curled into her side, suddenly feeling really tired. He let out a long yawn and Lynn chuckled, squeezing him a bit.

“Long day?”

“Yeah. Mama, the city is beautiful. Lou said that we’ll be going into the studio starting tomorrow but we won’t be singing until next week. He wants us to trust the producers first and have a feel for what kind of songs we’ll be singing before we actually start doing anything.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Lynn agreed, gently rocking him like she used to when he was younger. “Remember, just because they’re older than you don’t mean that you can’t speak your mind. If you don’t agree with something you can always say no.”

“I know, Mama, I”–he yawned again–“I know.”

She kissed his forehead. “I’m proud of you, honey.”

“I know Mama,” he smiled sleepily as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

~*~*~

“Come in! The door’s open!” Mack yelled without moving from her position on her bed. She was hanging upside down, her hair lightly touching the ground. She lifted her arm and pressed a button on the remote, flipping through channels. “Heyyyyy, its Joshie!” She exclaimed, looking at him upside down. She lifted her other arm and waved at him as if signaling for help.

“You shouldn’t hang upside down like that,” he told her.

“Why not?” She questioned.

“Because all the blood will rush to your head and you’ll get light headed,” he replied. “Come on, sit up.”

“Yes sir!” She saluted him and swung herself up and onto the bed. She sat up and turned around to face him. She squeezed her eyes shut and brought a hand up to her forehead.

“Told you,” JC said with a smug smile.

“What brings you to my home sweet hotel?” She asked as she flung her arms out and let them drop onto the bed.

“Robin wants me to watch you,” JC replied. “She said she’d be back in about a half hour but she wanted me to make sure you actually got ready for bed like she told you to.”

“I’m ready,” she replied, bouncing up and down a bit, the smile never leaving her face. “I all ready changed, brushed my teeth, and my hair. I’m just not sleepy yet.” She continued to bounce up and down as JC watched her, an eyebrow raised.

“Why’re you acting so funny?” He asked, squinting as he crossed his arms over his chest. She shrugged and continued bouncing. “Did you eat or drink anything since you came in here?”

“Just my Sprite,” she replied.

“Huh. Can I see it?” He held out his hand and waited for her to give the bottle to him. Once it was in his hand he watched her bounce a couple of times before turning his attention to it. He opened the bottle and held it under his nose. He made a face before taking a little sip of it. The taste was unmistakable. “Damn,” he whispered, recapping the bottle. “Hey.” She turned to look at him. “Stop bouncing and get under the covers and go to sleep.”

“I can’t sleep until I pray with J and then I can’t sleep until I talk for a few minutes,” she replied even though she listened to him and got under the covers.

“Ok, fine, just let me call someone first.” He picked up the phone and dialed the number to Joey’s room. ‘He has to be back by now.’ After a few rings Joey finally picked up. “Hey Joe,” JC whispered, keeping an eye on Mack who was rapidly flipping through TV channels and giggling for some unknown reason. “We have a little problem.”

“What’s up?” Joey asked, concern oozing out of his voice.

“Well, somehow Mack’s soda got spiked with vodka and I think she’s drunk,” JC replied.

“What!?” Joey shrieked.

“Sssh!” JC hissed. “The soda’s barley been dented so she didn’t have much, but a small amount probably would have an effect on her.”

“Ok. Just…give her aspirin and water; she’ll need it in the morning. The only thing we can do is make her sleep it off. Oh, and don’t mention anything to Robin, Lynn, or Lou.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

“She’ll be fine in the morning.”

“Ok, thanks man.”

“No problem.”

JC hung up the phone and dialed the number of the Timberlake room. He got Lynn who said that Justin had fallen asleep and she didn’t want to wake him up so they’d have to make up for it later. JC agreed, bid her goodnight, and hung up the phone. He turned to see Mack watching him.

“Talk to me about something,” she urged. “You’re an expert about talking people to sleep.”

JC ignored her jab and sat down on Robin’s bed, wracking his brain to find something to talk about. “Ok. Umm, are you happy about not having to go back to school?”

“Totally,” she replied. “I hated going to school I didn’t have any friends.”

JC blinked in confusion. “What’re you talking about? You had Heather.”

“Yeah, she was my only friend,” Mack replied, tugging, a loose thread that was on her shirt sleeve.

“You went to birthday parties all the time though.” His eyebrows knitted together.

She shook her head so hard her ponytail lightly slapped her face. “Uh-uh. I lied,” she replied simply. “People hated me at that school, the girls especially. Probably because I knew you and Justin and they loved you on MMC. They made fun of me every day, hung signs on my locker, pushed me down, and threw stuff at me.” She shrugged. “Heather was great about it, she got the same treatment out of association but she kept going like nothing happened. She’s the best friend ever.”

“Does anyone else know?” JC questioned. He knew the answer before it came out of her mouth. There was no way she would’ve told anyone else, not even Justin because she hated it when they worried about her. Alcohol did seem to have a thing about it that it made people say something without thinking of the consequences.

“Nope, just you and Heather. You Chasezs are special,” she said with a grin. “Usually I don’t keep anything from Justin but he doesn’t deserve that. I hate making him worry.” She sighed heavily and flopped back against her mountain of pillows.

“There had to be one good thing about going to school,” JC said slowly.

“The only good thing about school, besides Heather being there, was when Trace visited from time to time,” she replied. “Trace was like my human shield. Everytime he was around no one would say something so he made it a point to stick with me the entire day. What made it even better was that he and Heather got along really well.” Her smile faltered a bit as a tired look crossed her features. “I fell badly though. J and I just left him behind. He wasn’t upset about it, at least not as much as I thought he would be. He seemed cool about it but I know that he’s still upset about us just packing up and leaving him behind. That’s why I make sure I call him at least once every day.” She pulled her covers up to her chin and yawned.

JC noticed that her eyes seemed to light up when she was talking about Trace. “What do you think of him?” JC questioned.

“Trace is a great friend. I don’t give him enough credit.” She paused to yawn again. “I miss him a lot. He’s the type of guy I’d date.” JC looked at his watch again and stood. “What’re you doing?” She asked, suddenly alarmed.

“Leaving. Robin should be back soon,” he responded.

“Don’t leave my here by myself.” She pleaded him to stay by widening her eyes and sticking out her bottom lip. He sighed and walked over to her bed. She shuffled over to make more room for him and he sat down next to her. She smiled up at him as she settled down and got comfortable. “Sorry.”

“Hmm?” JC asked, looking down at her.

“Sorry,” she repeated.

“For what?” He asked in confusion, back tracking in his brain to think if she did or said anything to him that needed an apology for.

“Being mean,” she replied scooching closer to him so she could rest her head on his chest. She paused a bit, listening to his heartbeat. “Calling you names. Insulting you. Being sarcastic. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he shrugged. “I get it a lot from my brother and sister so I’m used to it.”

“Am I like a sister to you?”

“Mhm. That’s why we worry about you so much.”

“Not just ‘because I’m a girl?”

“That’s part of it,” JC admitted. “It’s that, the fact that you’re younger, and we see you as little sister. We just want to make sure you’re safe and happy.”

“Ok.” She nodded a little before her eyes moved to something. “Do you usually get a hard on whenever you’re talking to your sister?” JC blushed and shifted, trying to hide what she had just noticed but it was hard. “Hey, can I touch it?” She asked, reaching out her hand. Before he could even move she had placed her hand on his bulge and gave it a squeeze. Every thought instantly cleared from his head as he bit his lip to keep the groan of pleasure from coming out of his mouth. He bit his lip harder as she massaged him through his jeans. “Can I see it?” And, suddenly, the voice in his head started yelling at him until it sounded like he was being yelled at in both ears.

JC jumped off of the bed, landing on the floor with a thud as his face flamed. Is she serious? It wouldn’t surprise me if she were; words were falling out of her mouth because of the alcohol. “I…you…n-no! Why would you ask that?” She shrugged. “Let me ask you this, would Justin let you see his if you were sober?”

“I wouldn’t have to worry about that, I’ve all ready seen his,” she responded, turning on her side and curling into a ball. “That’s what you get when you grow up down the street from him. Don’t worry, it’s not all that impressive but my opinion shouldn’t really matter.” She let out a slow breath and closed her eyes. “’Nighty night.”

JC stared at her as she drifted off to sleep. ‘What the hell just happened here?’