Life and Death
Each member of *NSYNC sat down in chairs, they were getting their makeup fixed to go on stage and perform their new song, “Selfish” for the MTV Movies Awards. They had been on the road for 3 months and had a good month off to record, and have fun with their families. Justin was getting his curly hair spiked out, using about 2 bottles of jell. Joey was bouncing his leg up and down talking on the phone to his girlfriend of eight years. Chris was telling a joke to the makeup and hair dresser, while he just nodded his head and said “Hmm”, “Is that so”, and “Oh really, wow”. JC was drinking a mint mocha from star bucks.
“Lance, your face it’s so pale.” Keri said applying foundation on Lance’s whiter then usual face.
Keri didn’t say much after that, just put Lance’s make up on and tried her best to cover up his dark circles and pale skin. With her last touches she patted him on the back indicating he was free to leave. Lance smiled and thanked her for doing her best to make him his best.
Lance looked around the room, each guy was doing something, and they were always doing something. They wouldn’t even notice if he were gone for more then six months. He wanted to see how long it took his friends to notice he wasn’t with them at after parties, at the clubs. He wanted to see how long it took them to notice he never hung around them unless they were on their way to some place, or were doing something. It had been six months ago, when he started this…experiment. Slowly he turned around and walked out of the dressing trailer, not wanting to disturb his friends any longer.
Lance was half way to the backstage when a strong arm went around his shoulder and weighed his light body down on one side. Lance cocked his head to the side and looked at the side of Joey’s face and sideburns. Lance sighed a little and shrugged his shoulder causing Joey’s arm to fall off and land at his side. Lance rolled his eyes taking a step to the side, so Joey’s body parts were no where near him. That was all he wanted, pictures of Joey’s arm around his waist.
Joey laughed a few times and then hung up his cell phone; he grabbed Lance by the arm and drug him towards the backstage door. He was still laughing as he pulled Lance through the back and to the side of the stage, which was getting read for them to set up for *NSYNC’s performance. Joey was about to say something to Lance when the other guys came strolling up to them.
“The joke went, “This mushroom walked into a bar, and the bartender told him, ‘we don’t serve your kind.’ The mushroom asked, ‘why not? I’m a fungi!’” Chris said to Joey elbowing JC in the side.
JC stood there and laughed at Chris that was Joey’s joke when they first came out… everyone knew Chris was a little slow. Justin raised an eyebrow at his older friend before he jumped on Chris’ back and started to punch him in the side while yelling.
“I’m Chris, and I look like a little DOG!” Justin laughed as Chris fell back wards with the extra weight on him.
Lance looked around and noticed that stage crew were staring at them. He scratched his head slightly and stepped around them walking to the other side of the stage. Lance was about to sit down when an MTV crew member walked up to him and handed him his microphone. He put it on and looked around, the guys were still on the other side of the stage laughing and joking around they hadn’t noticed he walked away.
The lights went down and the announcement rang through the arena that *NSYNC was on stage and ready to perform. They each took the stage, one by one as the band started to play the music, and each voice penetrated the entire arena, the stars were staring the fans were singing along. In Lances mind, he didn’t even need to be there. There wasn’t really a need for his low voice; they just needed a fifth member to make the group more equal in looks, not sound.
The song was flawless and they went out like a bang. They were the last performers to perform that night, which was extremely different. All the guys rushed to the dressing trailer to get changed so they could go to all the tight after parties and have some F-U-N, fun. Lance just walked to the trailer, he didn’t feel like running he didn’t want to go to the after parties.
Pulling the door open he had each guy’s eyes on him, they were soon back on them selves as they changed. Lance rolled his shoulders as he walked over to the pile of his clothes he pulled off shirt and was about to put his other shirt on when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Shocked at the cold hand and knowing it was one of the guys he took a deep breath and turned around to see Joey standing there, his eyes wide with concern.
“Dude, you… I can see… have… ribs… eat…” Joey was always one to stumble on the right words.
Lance looked over Joey’s shoulder and noticed the other guys weren’t in there any longer. He looked at Joey raising his eyebrows higher and higher waiting for him to at least spit something out that any half-smart dog would understand.
“Have you been working out?” Joey said biting his lower lip and looking Lance up and down.
Lance didn’t say anything he just turned around and finished changing his clothes. He sat down the pulled on his shoes and looked up, Joey was still staring at him pondering what to say or do. Standing up Lance pulled his hands above his head popping his back. He grabbed his coat and pulled it up his smaller then usual arms and zipped it up.
“Yeah, Jo, I’ve been working out.” Lance rolled his eyes as he walked by patting Joey on the back and leaving Joey and the trailer behind him.
Lance laughed to him self at what Joey asked him, working out? Wouldn’t that cause your body to gain muscle not lose it? Lance’s laugh wasn’t one of a happy man, it was a lonesome laugh, a laugh of a man dying with emotions and living with a healthy beating heart, good lungs and a somewhat nice body.
Flagging down a cab was where Joey found Lance a few blocks from the Arena; he ran down the street and grabbed Lance by the arm pulling him around and away from the car.
“Hey man, where you going?” Joey asked looking in the cab and at the driver.
Lance looked up at Joey, trying to read his eyes and face. He was getting confused he found nothing, not a trace of concern, joy, sadness, happiness, nothing. Joey was emotionless. Lance cocked his head to one side and thought of an answer.
“To the hotel.” Was all he could think of, he used to be the brightest guy in the group and he couldn’t come up with a better lie then to the hotel? Starving him self was doing more damage then he thought. Not only was he starving him self of food and proper drinks, he was starving him self from people, he would make sure he was alone so no one could look at him any longer.
“Want to come hang with me and the guys? We are going down to the Roxy then later Justin is going to invite people over to his place.” Joey said linking his arm with Lances and closing the cab door, thus making it drive away.
Lance gulped a little, he couldn’t go out with the guys. He wasn’t ready for that; he was nervous just standing there with Joey. People were driving by and looking at him, the way he stood the way he looked in his clothes. They were judging him at the moment, thinking he was gay and that Joey was his boyfriend because Joey was linking arms with him. Judging him, thinking he was ugly because before he hit puberty he kind of looked like his mother. People called him heavy set, retarded and all and any name in the book.
It was one thing when someone he didn’t know said it to him or about him, but it was another thing when the guys said things like that. Even if they were joking around most people thought he was a little slow, even though he was the brightest out of the group. Justin used to call him retarded because his parents looked so much a like. Which wasn’t true in any way shape or form. Justin was just out to pick on someone and Lance was in the way that day.
“That’s okay Jo, I much rather get a good nights rest then party until four am.” Lance said trying to pull his arm away from Joey’s.
Joey looked at Lance trying to get away from him and squeezed his arm tighter around Lance’s arm. He wasn’t going to let him go this time. He noticed Lance was always missing in action when they went out, but he didn’t say anything about it. He thought that maybe he had things to do, people to meet with, Joey thought that until that night when they were getting changed. He usually didn’t even look at the other guys while getting changed but something in the corner of his eye made him look up at Lance with his shirt off. That something was the pale white skin and ribs that shined on Lance’s back and when he turned him around, he could see Lance’s rib cage clearly as if he was looking at a skeleton.
“Just for a few hours, it’ll be fun… you might even get some action.” Joey said raising his eyebrows up and down as they walked the two blocks to the limousine where each guy was waiting for the two of them.
Lance got into the Limousine his dull eyes looking at each guy they didn’t even look at him which was a sting in the heart. Lance took a seat across from JC, Chris and Justin, Joey sat next to him and the limousine was off to the Roxy.
Joey stayed by Lances side most of the three hours they were there, for some reason something in his mind told him to stay with him, not leave him for anything at all. He didn’t understand what it was, but he was listening to it. He was afraid he was going to loose his best friend, his daughters godfather of all people. Joey noticed how Lance didn’t talk to anyone, not even JC, Chris or Justin.
He and Lance were half way to the guys when someone grabbed his arm and turned him around, he smiled and looked at Lance who was still walking. He took that as a sign that he was going to go talk to the guys so he turned back to the male celebrity that had pulled him off to the side, and they began to talk about sports and music.
Lance looked back and sighed looking down at the ground. Joey left him alone and in a club nonetheless, a club he didn’t want to be at. He had had a headache all day long and it was getting worse and worse. It was pounding so hard, at first it was just at the front of his head, but it started to work it’s way through his whole head as the day went on.
Lance looked around the club each guy was talking to a different person so he decided to leave; he didn’t want to bother them with him lone face. Lance made his way out of the club and to a cab, he didn’t want to fuss with a limousine.
Lance paid the cabby and made his way up to his hotel room, he barely made it up there, his head was pounding even more, his vision was getting blurry and his legs and arms were becoming weak under his weight, something he was going to have to fix.
Lance dropped down on his hotel bed, sweat beads had formed on his forehead from the work out he made his body do from all the walking he had been doing. His breathing was getting shorter and shorter and his head was hurting even more. He pushed him self off the bed and stumbled to one of his bags, he dug through it and pulled a bottle of ibuprofen out. He stumbled back to the bed and barley got his butt on before he’s legs went lax. He tried and tried to open the bottle, however, he was too weak to open the childproof bottle.
Lance tried to take a deep breath to push him self to open the bottle so he could make his headache go away, but he couldn’t… he could barley breath in a short breath. His eyes fluttered trying to shut on him, his right arm went lax and the bottle dropped to the floor and the cap busted open spilling all the pills on the floor.
A cry left his lips as he fought to keep his eyes open, tears would have formed, but he had no water left for them to form out of. His breaths were now so short that his head became heavy from lack of oxygen. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and the back of his body slammed against the mattress.
Joey told the guys what he was thinking and they agreed to come with him back to the hotel, after guessing that is where Lance took off too. They walked down the hotel hallway and reached Lance’s door, it was ajar a little that basically the door was cracked open. Joey pushed it open and walked into the room, his mouth dropped open as he looked at Lances lifeless body, but to him it still had life in it, it had to have life in it. It was only three am; Lance was only a lone a good hour.
Tears were running down his face as he dove on that bed and grabbed Lance, his skin was cold, colder then ice. Fear was all over his face as he looked up at the others who that stuck at the door looking at Lance lying dead in Joey’s arms now.
“GO GET HELP! GO GET SOMEONE!” Joey Cried tears falling down his face like a waterfall. This was his best friend and he should have noticed something wasn’t right when it started, whenever that was! It was his entire fault that this happened.
Justin was the first one to run out of the room and down the elevator to get someone from the front desk to call 911 for help. When the ambulance arrived they pronounced him dead, if they could have got to him sooner they could have tried to save him.
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