The next morning was very calm, the guys had nothing to do that day since they were still on their ‘strike’ if you could call it like that. They were all sitting at the table having breakfast, Joey was there too, he had come over to stay for a while since they didn’t have any work to do. “So, we’ve been thinking about finding someone else to manage us.” Chris started a conversation. “Really?” Lance started. “Thank god. I thought I was the only one who didn’t like Lou.” Just then the phone rang. Joey went to pick it up. “Speak of the devil.” he said as he covered the part of the phone where you talk into so that the person on the other end couldn’t hear what he said. They rolled their eyes “What does he want now?” Justin asked, feeling annoyed. Joey didn’t answer Justin’s question, he paid attention to the phone call. “What do you want Lou?” he asked in an annoyed tone. “Uh huh….. Okay…. So we’ll meet you there?.... Okay, see you then.” Joey said as he hung up the phone. “What did he say, Joe?” JC asked. The other guys nodded and looked at Joey, making Joey know that they were curious too. “Well, he said that he wants us to meet him at this restaurant for lunch.” “And, do you care to explain why we apparently agreed to go...?” Chris asked. “He said he had something important to tell us. So I agreed that we would go. I was just curious to what he would say, okay?” “Fine, I guess we can just go and see what it’s about. Right guys?” Lance said, trying to convince them to go so that they could find out what Lou wanted. “Yeah, I guess.” Chris said as he got up to go and change. Justin and JC nodded to let them know they were in agreement to going. After a while, when they were finished with their breakfast, they all went to change. When it was time to go, they all got in the car and JC drove them to the restaurant.
When they arrived they could tell something felt fishy. And, no, they weren’t at a seafood restaurant. It was a really fancy place. They knew instantly that something was up. As soon as they got in, they were taken to a table that had a reserved sign. Lou hadn’t arrived yet. “Guys what do you think he’s gonna tell us?” Joey asked the rest of the guys. “I hope nothing bad, because I’m already mad at him.” Justin said. “I hope so too, J.” Chris muttered. Lance and JC just looked at each other and shrugged, hoping for the best. After about five minutes, Lou Pearlman walked through the doors of the restaurant and sat down at the table where the guys were waiting. “Hello boys. Sorry for being late. I had business to do.” Lou apologized fakely. The guys just muttered “yeahs” and “whatevers” as they opened the menus to look at what they would be having to eat. When Lance looked at the prices of everything he said, “Woah.” “What?” Lou asked, looking away from his menu to look at Lance. “Oh, nothing really, it’s just that everything is so expensive… are you sure we can afford this?” Lance looked back at Lou with a concerned look on his face. “Oh, that’s nonsense boy. Of course we can afford this. I’m paying, don’t worry.” Lou replied as he looked back at his menu. “In fact, you can order anything you’d like, and as much food as you want.” After this comment they all looked at each other. They were really confused. Why did Lou act so kind towards them all of the sudden? The waitress came and they ordered their drinks. They tried to shrug it off but something didn’t feel right. Finally after what seemed as an eternal silence from all of them Chris asked, “So, Lou. What did you want to tell us?” he put his menu down to look at Lou. “Well boys,” Lou started as he looked at all of them, “I wanted to apologize for what I said.” No one really believed him because the tone he used didn’t make what he said sound like he really meant it. “Okay…?” Was Joey’s reaction. “So, now what?” JC said, unamused. “I just apologized.” Lou said in a flat tone. “Alright.” JC replied. Chris looked at him with a look that said ‘What are you doing?’. JC just shrugged him off. He knew that arguing with Lou wouldn’t take them anywhere, he also knew that it wasn’t worth it since they were going to find someone else to manage them anyways. They didn’t need to be on good terms with Lou. Basically they just accepted his fake apology so that he would shut up, they never really believed him at all though.
After they were done eating, the guys said goodbye and went back home. Lou had told them that they had practice the next day, and honestly the guys were not looking forward to that. The guys still were angry at Lou and were going to leave him even after he ‘apologized’. When they got back home, they played basketball for a bit. Lance went to take a nap, when he woke up he went to the kitchen for a glass of water and heard that the guys were still outside playing basketball. After he drank the water he walked outside and played basketball with the guys. As he played, he started realizing that this was really similar to his nightmare. He started panicking a bit, he had heard from some of his friends back at Mississippi that sometimes you dreamt what was gonna happen in the future. This really scared Lance, he didn’t want to get rejected, especially by his new friends. “I think I’m gonna sit down.” He said as he walked towards a bench swing that they had in the backyard. He took deep breaths to calm down as he swinged, he didn’t want his nightmares to come true.
Chris noticed that Lance was looking distracted while they played basketball but decided not to think too much of it. After a while, Lance went to sit down on the bench swing that they had in the backyard. “I think I’m gonna sit down.” He said as he walked towards the bench swing. The guys just kept on playing basketball without really noticing that Lance was gone. After about 5 minutes Chris thought he should go and check on Lance. He walked up to the bench swing. “Hey,” he started, Lance looked up at him. “Can I sit here?” He motioned for the empty space next to Lance. The younger one nodded. After a minute of not saying anything and just swinging there, Chris decided to break the silence, “What are you thinking about?” Chris looked at the blonde. “Oh, nothing really.” He replied as he was snapped out of his thoughts, he looked at the older member. “Are you sure? Because you know you can tell-” “It’s nothing.” Lance cut him off. “Okay. Whatever you say.” Chris said as he looked over to where the guys were and saw that they were going inside. He turned to Lance and nudged his arm, “Hey, what do you say we go get some ice cream before Justin and Joey eat all of it?” Lance turned to Chris and smiled, “Sure.” They stood up and went inside.
“Woah, what do you think you guys are doing?” JC asked as Chris and Lance were getting ice cream. “Uhhhh getting some ice cream? Duh.” Chris answered matter-of-factly. “You can’t eat dessert before dinner.” JC warned. “Fine.” Chris said as he put it away. When JC turned around, Chris looked at Lance and mouthed the words ‘wait’. Then, JC walked to his room to get something. “Now!” Chris whisper-shouted. Lance giggled at the childishness of his older bandmate. They didn’t listen to JC and ate some ice cream before dinner. “Good job blondie.” Chris high-fived Lance as JC came back to the kitchen to make dinner. “What are you guys up to now?” JC looked at them suspiciously. “Oh, nothing.” Chris said as he walked out of the kitchen to watch some TV. JC and Lance stayed in the kitchen. “Seriously, what did you two do?” JC looked at Lance. He tried not to tell JC but he couldn’t lie to him. Lance sighed in defeat, “We ate ice cream.” “Don’t follow Chris’s examples, he acts like a child.” JC whispered the last part. “I do not!” Chris screamed from the couch. JC rolled his eyes and whispered, “He does.” Lance chuckled. “What are you making for dinner?” “Some mac and cheese. Though I don't know if you will eat any since you already had dessert…” “I’ll have some, I’m still hungry.”
Lance was about to head out of the kitchen when he turned around. “Hey JC, do you need any help with dinner?” JC turned around and smiled, which made Lance’s heart flutter. “Yes, please.” He said, still smiling. Lance and JC made dinner for the boys. They all ate their dinner happily. When they were done, they left the dishes in the sink to do later and went to bed.
Lance was already in his bed trying to fall asleep when he heard the door open. He looked towards it and saw that it was JC. The brunette walked towards his bed but before he could lie down he heard Lance say, “Was it just me, or did Lou seem like he wasn't really sorry. I think he was lying. ” JC looked down at Lance and thought about what he should say. “He didn’t seem very honest with me either. But, don’t worry about it okay? Try to get some sleep, I feel like tomorrow is gonna be a busy day.” JC said as he got in his bed and turned off the lamp they had on the bedside table. “Goodnight JC.” “Goodnight Lance.” JC smiled as he quickly fell asleep. Though for Lance getting sleep was a different story.
