October 20th, 1995

Orlando, Florida

Pleasure Island

“Ow, ow, ow, ow,” Lance repeated, eyes squeezed shut. His knees bounced as he repeatedly tapped his feet on the floor.

His head was on fire! He licked his lips, repeatedly pressing them together, breathing in and out through his nose as he waited for the bleach to be washed out of his hair. He peered at his reflection in the square mirror in front of him and if he wasn’t in so much pain, he probably would’ve burst out laughing as his face was contorted as if had sucked on a lemon.

“Oh, my God, get this out!” Justin cried.

Lance opened an eye to peer over at Justin who was sitting next to him also in front of a square mirror, practically ripping a hole through the cape he had around him as he bit down on it. His face was scrunched up into a look of pain. His face was a bright red as he held his breath, hair as white as snow due to the goop in it.

“Hold on, time is almost up,” JC said, looking up from the newspaper he was reading in the chair to Lance’s left. Lance started to repeatedly slap his hands onto his arm rests before gripping it tightly in his hands.

“Joey, would you look at that,” Chris said from where he and Joey were sitting. Lance could only see the backs of their chair in the mirror. “I think they’re crying.” Joey chuckled before using his feet to spin his swivel chair around. He then pulled himself forward with his feet until he was sitting beside Justin.

“Would you ladies like us to hold your hands?” he asked before offering his hand towards the youngest band member. He set his hands on the counter in front of him before leaning back in his chair.

“Knock it off,” JC said. He didn’t bother looking up from the newspaper in his hands. “And put four on the floor, we don’t want you to crack your head open.”

I want to crack my head open, Lance thought, clenching his teeth tightly together. If it meant the burning would stop.

They were all backstage at the Rock-N-Roll Beach Club preparing for their showcase. Anytime their makeshift dressing room door was opened, they could hear the faint sounds of a crowd starting to form; the lucky few who got their early enough to see them do their final dress rehearsal.

 “I’ll tell you what you can do with your hand,” Justin said, kicking at Joey’s hand. “You can use it to pull Chris’s hand out of your butt, you puppet.”

“Justin Randall.”

Lance winced, partly from his burning head and partly due to Lynn Harless’s call from across the house. He thought his mom was bad; she could hear any curse word, or any roughhousing, or anything from what, to him at the time, felt like miles away. He was a good kid, but any small chance of trouble he had gotten into, she would bombard him about the second he stepped through the front door, before he could even open his mouth.

It takes a village as they say.

Everybody knew about everybody in Clinton, so he wasn’t too surprised that people would know about his business before he even got home. He couldn’t deny it was a bit unsettling, though.

“Sorry, Ma,” Justin called back, face still contorted with pain before glaring at JC’s back. “Thanks, C, I really needed that.”

“Sink. Sink, now,” Lance said, slamming his fists onto the arm rests. Lord, have mercy.

“Almost done,” Joey said, glancing at his watch. “The hair ladies should be back in here, soon.” He reached for the gloves on the kitchen table and slapped the wood with it. “They’re doing Lynn’s and your mom’s hair. Don’t think they could really pass up the chance to have their hair done. You know how girls are.”

“Not funny,” JC commented.

“Yeah, Joe, that’s not funny,” Chris repeated.

 “Whose bright idea was this?” Justin asked through his clenched teeth.

“Papa Lou’s,” Lance replied. He stretched his legs out in front of him and started slamming his heels into the floor as he kicked his legs up and down. “My head is seriously burnin’ over here.”

“Uh oh, his accent is coming out, he’s talking business,” Chris said, looking in Lance’s direction as he got to his feet.

Lance briefly looked up at the ceiling. He did have a point though. Papa Lou had been trying to get him to speak more without his accent, or to “dumb it down” as Justin often put it. It honestly wasn’t that hard; he was in Orlando now. Not a lot of people there had a Southern accent.

The more he was there; the more accustomed he got to taking up the way they talked. He was sure that eventually, he probably wouldn’t be speaking with his accent at all, and God knows no one could hear it when he sang.

Chris pulled himself out of his chair and grasped the door handle, pulling it open. “Hey, we’ve got burning heads in here,” Chris loudly called. Seconds later, the boys could hear heels clacking on the floor as the two hairdressers hurried into the kitchen, ushering Lance and Justin to the sink.

“Alright, alright, let’s go,” one of the women said, tapping him on the shoulder.

Lance and Justin jumped out of their chairs and rushed out of the room, rushing into the bathroom, practically throwing themselves into the sink, nearly colliding the top of their skulls with the faucets.

 “Careful, careful,” the woman said, grasping Lance’s shoulders, gently removing his head from the faucet so he wouldn’t dent it. Lance slapped at the sides of his legs with shaking hands as he waited for the woman to slide gloves onto her hands, turning on the water.

It wasn’t just the bleach that made his hands shake. It was the nerves bubbling in his stomach that he tried to mask. Today was the day of the showcase and he had woken up a bundle of nerves. Or rather a bundle as he had wrapped himself up so tightly in his blankets that he could barely move. Not that it was a bad thing; if he couldn’t move then he couldn’t embarrass himself on stage.

“I’ll go jump into the fountain just to get this off me,” Lance said practically running in place.

“If you do that, you’ll strip your head bald,” his hairdresser said, trying to keep him still before guiding his head under the water. “I promise, it’ll look great when it comes out. Just wait a little bit longer.” He practically sighed in relief, and gripped the side of the sink in pain as warm water rushed over his head, washing out the bleach, soothing the burning spots on his head.

He closed his eyes as the woman squirted shampoo onto the back of his head. He could hear the suds being built up as the woman’s gloved fingers massaged at his scalp. The warm water rushed down the back of his neck, down the sides of his head, clearing the white goop that was burning his, by now, red ears. He watched as the white mixture swirled down the drain, pushed with the water. He closed his eyes as he could feel the mixture heading towards his eyes.

Moments later, he was back in the dressing room, getting his hair combed and styled. He slumped in his seat, a smile of delight on his face as the pain had subsided.

“Guys,” he heard JC say from where he was sitting. “Today’s the day. We’re really debuting as *NSYNC.” Lance could hear the mystified tone of his voce. Lance could practically see him staring off into space.

“Don’t do that,” Chris groaned. Lance couldn’t blame him.

There was a thick cloud of tension and anxiety in the air, making it almost impossible to not breathe it in. But, they had all tried to be natural that morning, to act like nothing life changing was happening that day.

They had their usual nose-goes game to see who would be the one to make breakfast, the one to clear the table, worked on their dancing and singing before sneaking out to play a game of basketball in the yard, only to be “caught” and sent inside to work on wardrobe and hair for last minute touches before heading over to the performance space to go through a final dress rehearsal.

“Wow, it really is getting close, isn’t it?” Joey asked; all amounts of his normal upbeat, cheerful attitude gone. “Only a few hours.”

“Three hours, twelve minutes, and 23 seconds to be exact.”

Lance shot up in his seat, effectively driving his head into the teeth of the comb as he did so, focusing his eyes on Darren and Annaleigh. The woman doing his hair threw her hands into the air, taking a step back from him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked them, his cheeks instantly starting to ache as his smile widened.

“Why is your hair orange?” Annaleigh replied. Her nose was wrinkled and her upper lip curling slightly as she looked over at Lance.

Lance’s eyes widened before he spun around to look at his reflection in the mirror. His jaw dropped as he stared at his orange hair in the distorted reflection of the spoon.

“My hair,” Lance said, reaching a hand up to touch his wet hair.

“We may have left the bleach in a little too long,” his hairdresser said with a grin. “Don’t worry. It’ll lighten up in no time. With all the lights out there, no one will notice.”

“It’s not that bad,” Darren said, putting a hand over his mouth. Lance looked at him and saw his shoulders shaking as he laughed quietly. Lance twisted his mouth to the side, making a face at his friend, but he didn’t say anything.

“Everybody, that’s Darren Dale and Annaleigh Carr, my best friends from home,” Lance said, using one hand to indicate to his friends.

“Oh, so you’re the hot chick in Lance’s pictures,” Joey said, a wide smile on his face as he held his hand out towards her.

“I guess,” Annaleigh replied, giving Joey and odd look before her brown eyes flickered towards him before a smirk crossed her features, her eyebrow hiking upwards. Lance rolled his eyes before stepping close to his friends.

“That’s Justin, and Chris, and JC, and Joey…who can let go of your hand, now,” Lance said pointing out his friends to them. He removed the towel from his lap, rolled it up into a ball between his hands, and threw it across the room, punching the air with his fists as the towel met their mark and landed on his head. “Anyway, is Jazz here, too?”

“Yeah, she’s checking out the place,” Darren replied as he lifted his hand in greeting when the rest of the *NSYNC members called “Hello” to him. “As for why we’re here, Miss Diane invited us down to check out your showcase. You didn’ think we’d miss your show, did ya?”

“Who are we kiddin’? I wanna go ta Disney World,” Annaleigh said, shooting Lance a bright smile before moving to take one of the empty seats in the room. JC jumped to his feet to pull out her chair for her, giving her a smile as she sat down. “I thank ya, kindly.”

JC blinked, taken aback for a moment before looking over at Darren who shrugged, a half smile on his face. “You’re welcome, Sweetie.”

“Let’s get your hair finished, Lance,” the hairdresser said as she tapped her long fingernails on Lance’s head. She gently grasped his shoulders, moving him to sit back against the back of the chair. “It won’t take long, we’re almost done.”

Take your time, Lance thought to himself. If it meant that he wouldn’t have as much time to sit and worry about the show case, he’d happily burn all his hair off.

“This place is so cool,” Jasmine loudly announced as she made her way into the room. “Looks like somethin’ you’d find in the future. I’d gladly leave Clinton if it meant I could live here.” She pushed her hair back behind her ears. “And it’s so close to Disney World. You could go there anytime you want and you’re actually performin’ there tonight.”

“Everybody, this is my sister, Jasmine,” Darren said, putting his hand on Jasmine’s shoulder. “Jazz that’s JC, Chris, Joey, and Justin.” Jasmine turned and gave Justin a smile, offering him her hand.

“Pleasure to meet you,” she said, giving him a warm smile. Lance hiked an eyebrow in Darren’s direction and he briefly glanced at the ceiling, shaking his head. The hairdresser grabbed his head, holding it in place as she started to run a comb through his hair. “I’m a huge fan of yours. I watched you and JC on MMC all the time.”

“Thanks,” Justin replied with a warm smile, causing a blush to spread across her cheeks. Lance pulled he corners of his lips downwards to stop himself from smiling as a brief look of annoyance passed over Darren’s features. “Glad you could make it.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jasmine replied, her smile widening slightly.

“You can let go of his hand, now, too,” Darren said, putting his hands on his sister’s shoulders before pulled it her back from Justin. “Hey, we’re all excited for your show. We heard it was being taped?”

“Lou is taping the show to shop around to see if anybody would be interested in signing us,” Chris explained. He gave a shrug of his shoulders. “And if nothing happens, we at least have a memento from this.” He then started twisting his fingers in his lap before reaching a hand up to twirl a lock of his hair around his finger. “Is it getting hot in here or is it just me?”

“No, it’s not,” Joey replied deadpan before throwing a smile in Annaleigh and Jasmine’s directions.

“I think I’m getting sick,” Chris said, putting his hands to his stomach, closing his eyes, tilting his head back towards the ceiling.

“Chris, calm down, everything will be fine,” JC said to his friend, getting out of his chair to make his way over to the oldest *NSYNC member, clapping him on the shoulder. “Everything will be fine. Let’s go take a walk, calm you down.”

“Wait up, I want to see if Kelly’s here yet,” Joey said, getting to his feet, hurrying after his friends.

“Alright, you’re all done,” the woman said, tapping Lance on the head, swiping the comb through his hair a couple more times. “Your hair will take a little time to dry, but we’re all done.”

“Great,” Lance said, getting to his feet. “Come on guys, I’ll show you the stage and everything.” He ushered Darren and Annaleigh out of the room. He led them through the twisting and winding halls before coming to a door. Pulling it open, they were at the back of the stage before he stepped out onto the wood. “Well, this is it.”

“Would you stop being so nervous?” Darren asked with a chuckle, gently hitting Lance’s shoulder. “You’ve performed on plenty of stages before.”

“Yeah, and for crowds bigger than this, too,” Annaleigh added, sliding her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.

“Yeah, I know,” Lance replied with a nod of his head, letting out a sigh through his nose. “But, I was also dancing with a group than this, too.” He then shook his head, looking over at his friends. “Thanks for coming out, I really appreciate it.”

“Wouldn’ miss it for the world, Lance,” Jasmine replied.

Lance looked over at her and watched as she spun, twirled, and danced across the stage. It then hit him that he’d be doing his own dancing on the stage soon. His stomach started to bubble and gurgle, spit collecting in his mouth.

“I don’ think can do this,” he said.

“Yes, you can,” Darren immediately replied in a calm and soothing tone. He gave a small laugh. “You always get like this before your first performances and then you always do well.”

“This is so much bigger than that, though,” Lance replied, crossing his arms over his chest. He put a hand to his face before running his fingers through his damp, orange hair. “I don’t have anyone to hide behind up here.”

“You shouldn’ have to hide, James,” Annaleigh said, removing her gaze from the dark house before looking back over at her friend. “You have a natural gift, a natural talent that others would kill ta have.” She reached out a hand and rubbed at his shoulder. “You always shine on stage, whether you realize it or not. You never had to hide.” Lance pressed his lips together, slowly nodding his head. “Come on, what is it I always tell you?”

“Suck it up and deal with it?” Darren asked.

“Exactly,” Annaleigh replied with a bright smile. Lance caught Darren’s eye and the two of them laughed quietly.

“You’ll do great, Lance,” Jasmine said, stepping up on the other side of him. “God gave you this gift. If He didn’ think you were made to share your talent with everybody, He wouldn’ have given you the gift in the first place. Remember, James 1:17…James.”

“’Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning’,” Annalegh recited and Jasmine gave a nod of her head.

“See?” she asked, shaking his arm.

“God won’t ever leave you in a time of need, and neither will we,” Darren added, lifting his hand to punch Lance’s shoulder. He then gave a teasing grin. “Unless you puke, then you’re on your own.”

“Thanks,” Lance replied with a roll of his eyes.

“Hey, dude,” Joey said, walking up behind them. “We’ve got to start going over vocal runs.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “And Chris puked.”

“I’m right there with him,” Lance said, rubbing at his stomach. He lifted a hand in a wave to his friends before following Joey back offstage, breathing in through his nose and out his mouth.

“Sheesh, looks like you’re just about to throw up, too,” Joey said, clapping Lance on the shoulder. “Relax. It’ll be fine.” He then put his arm around Lance’s shoulders. “And if you’re going to puke onstage, do it on Chris.” Lance laughed as Joey started to shake him. “If you get nervous just look at me.”

“Yeah, right, your goofy faces and hammy routine will make me forget everything,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes.

“You can’t puke and laugh at the same time, right?” Joey asked with a wink before he shook Lance again. “Come, man. We’ve been through this before, we can’t do this alone. I mean, everybody made a big deal about your voice and everything, but the way I see it, you’d flounder by yourself.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Joe,” Lance replied, gently thumping Joey on the back.

“No problem,” Joey replied with a bright smile.

“There you are,” Lou said as they rounded a corner, clapping his hands together. “We’ve been looking all over for you two boys. We’ve got a lot of work to do; there’s not much time left.”

“Ok,” Joey said, his smile slowly fading, putting a hand to his stomach, his lips twitching. “Now I feel like puking.”

“See, I told you that things would work out,” Annaleigh said bright as she dug her spoon into the ice cream sundae that she, Darren, and Annaleigh were sharing. “And you didn’t puke once.”

“No,” Darren agreed, turning away from the group of teens on the dancefloor, where his sister was dancing. He set his attention on the sundade, working out a chunk of brownie from the ice cream with his spoon before sliding it into his mouth. “But, he looked like he was goin’ to when he had to croon to all the ladies at the beginnin’ of that one song.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes. “The guys wouldn’t stop making fun of me for it.” He smacked Annaleigh’s spoon with his own before quickly grabbing one of the cherries on the sundae. As he slid the sweet dessert into his mouth, he took the time to look around the packed Rock-N-Roll Beach Club.

The performance had gone off without a hitch, save for all of the nerves that were bouncing around backstage. JC and Justin had been pacing, muttering the lyrics to all of the songs they’d be performing that night. Chris was outside throwing up everything he had eaten or drank before hand, and Joey and Lance took the time to mime the dance moves one last time.

They were all surprised by their family coming to see their performances, greeting them backstage before they went on. Lance was glad to see his dad and Stacey, and they brought some comfort to him as he shook out his arms and legs, wiping the sweat from his palms so he wouldn’t drop the microphone in his hands. Knowing they would be out in the audience watching and cheering him on helped.

Before he knew it, they were out on stage, greeted by all of the cheers and screams of excitement from the MMC fans. But, they hadn’t just been screaming for JC and Justin, but for all of them. They all knew who each and every one of them were. It gave them enough energy to practically fly through the songs, at least that’s what Lance felt like; like everything was going double the speed then they had rehearsed it.

Lance lifted his hand, giving his mom and dad a wave before scooping out another spoonful of ice cream. “Lou says everything went well,” Lance said after he swallowed, licking his lips. “Only time will tell.”

“What are you going to do now?” Darren asked.

“Go home,” Lance instantly replied. “There’s not much to do here, now. I mean, it’s not like it was a done deal; we perform, we get a record deal.”

“Haven’ you learned by now that the stage is your home?” Annaleigh asked with a roll of her eyes before giving lance a smile. “Things’ll work out, don’t worry.”

“Speaking of which,” Lance said, turning his attention to her and Annaleigh’s eyebrows twitched as she gave him a curious look, “your parents actually let you come out here?”

“I’m sittin’ in front of you, aren’t I?” she asked, hiking an eyebrow. “But, yeah, they decided to take the time to try and work things out.” She then laughed lightly. “I wonder if I can get a trip to California out of them with that excuse.”

“Good luck with that,” Darren said with a snort. “They practically grounded you indefinitely from comin’ here, what makes you think they’d let you go to California.”

“A girl can dream,” Annaleigh replied with a shrug of her shoulders, lifting her spoon to her mouth to lick the melted ice cream and chocolate syrup off her spoon. “This one came true, didn’ it? I got to come out here.”

“That wasn’ a dream, that was constant begging,” Darren said with a roll of his eyes. Lance watched as Annaleigh set down her spoon, looking as if she was preparing to verbally fight him, but Joey came up to the table, asking her for a dance as loud, dance music started blaring through the speakers of the club.

Lance got to his feet, giving Annaleigh room to slid out of the booth before he dropped back down next to his friend. “Haven’t seen her that happy in a while,” he commented, watching Joey and Annaleigh dance for a few moments before turning his attention back towards his childhood friend. “Do you really think Mr. and Mrs. Carr are going to work things out.”

“Honestly?” Darren asked, his eyebrows shooting up and Lance nodded. “Can’t really say. I think it’s up to God to decide whether things’ll work out for ‘em. God and a little compromise on their end.” He worked out a chunk of brownie from the sundae and put it into his mouth, slowly chewing. “But, if they’re anythin’ like Ace, I, personally don’ see it workin’ unless they really want to put their stubbornness aside.”

“Yeah, I was thinkin’ the exact same thing,” Lance replied.

 THE END