October 5th, 1995

Orlando, Florida

“So how’s everythin’ out there?”

Lance let out a heavy sigh, rubbing at his tired, burning eyes before falling back against his bed. He stared up at the ceiling of his room in the band house. There wasn’t a lot in his room at that point and that added to his feeling of emptiness and homesickness.

“You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice, Ace,” Lance said as he crossed one leg over the other.

“Hey, I’m here, too!”

Lance rolled his eyes at Darren’s outburst. “But, it’s good. It’s a lot of hard work. Harmonies, dancing, vocal runs, all day all the time.”

He could hear Darren chuckle on his end of the line. “It’s not like it’s nothin’ you’re not used to, right?” he asked.

Lance didn’t know how any of them had survived without three-way calling. It was nice to hear his friends’ voices. Apart from his mom, Justin, and Lynn, he was the only one in Orlando, that he knew of, that had a Southern accent. It was normal for him to hear the accent all the time and to suddenly be planted in the heart of showbiz on the East Coast, where you had all sorts of accents, was kind of daunting.

He liked to think that he could have Justin become a good friend of his due to the fact that they were both Southern. Justin was incredibly young, but incredibly talented. Lance thought that his mom must’ve known it, too to have her pick up her life and move out to Florida with Justin for MMC let alone *NSYNC. Justin had what they called “it”; something that made people instantly take notice. Whether it was his baby blues, his curly top, or his infectious smile, Lance wasn’t sure, but he certainly had what it took to be in the band.

JC was more quiet and serious, kind of acting as an older brother, or another parent to Justin. Well, not only him but Chris and Joey, too. He knew when to have fun and when to be serious. He could be just as crazy and out there as Joey or Chris when he wanted to be, and with a flick of a switch, he could be the one warning everyone not to do something stupid; like back flips into the pool off a stack of chairs. When singing, he was a smooth crooner with a voice that was uniquely his. It was no wonder both Robin and Papa Lou decided to have the two of them be lead singers. Not that Lance cared as much; he was used to being the bottom layer of a group and comfortable blending in than standing out.

Chris was the oldest in the group, but he sure as hell didn’t act like it. He was the craziest out of him and Joey, and was also the most outgoing. He did or said anything that popped into his head to help get Lance situated in the new home. A lot of the times, Lance laughed at Chris out of pure awe at some of the things that came out of his mouth. In Mississippi, he wasn’t around a lot of the crude humor that Chris was famous for. He had the highest singing voice, something Lance would have never expected, but it really helped round out their sound.

Another thing he wasn’t used to was all the cursing from Joey. Back home, it was a huge deal to hear anybody curse freely. Fingers would be pointed, threats to “tell your momma” was thrown around, and if your parents caught you, you were bound to get a stern talking to because of it. Joey had, what the rest of the guys in the group called, a sailor mouth. Lance wasn’t sure he could say a sentence without a curse word in it. But, he was a great singer and dancer, and knew how to bring a goofy energy to both whenever he was called to do so.

When they were all working together, singing and dancing, Lance constantly had shivers running up and down his spine. He couldn’t believe that their blend of voices could make that kind of music. It was the kind of music that made his mom cry whenever she heard them. It was kind of embarrassing, but at the same time, Lance would rather have his mom around then do this without her. She was his sense of home while he was in Orlando, and he knew that her crying was due to how proud of him she was, or because deep down she knew that they had a good chance at being something big.

“This is way more than what we’ve done with Showstoppers, Attaché, or Seven Card Stud,” Lance replied with a shake of his head. “It’s more serious an’ repetitive. You know how we’d always work on parts and then move onto others when it was adequate enough?”

“Yeah,” Darren and Annaleigh replied in unison.

“With *NSYNC, we go over one part we’re having trouble on over, and over, and over until it’s perfect,” Lance replied. “Unfortunately for me, that’s me and dancing.” He put a hand over his eyes. “Chris had even called me the whitest boy he had ever seen.”

“Well…you are kind of…bad,” Annaleigh slowly replied.

Lance let out a startled laugh. He had always known Annaleigh to be incredibly blunt at times, but even now it sometimes through him for a loop to hear the words he was sure others were thinking. Justin and JC, they had MMC to help them out with their dance moves. Ever episode had a handful of songs they had to learn choreography to, so it was easy for them to pick up no new moves and routine quickly.

Both Chris and Joey worked as part of a show in Universal. They didn’t have to do as many different songs as Justin and JC did, but they worked out the few they had over and over until it was done perfectly. They also learned how to improvise in the slim chance that things went wrong, so they had a leg up with that.

The only thing Lance was sure he had more experience with was when he went on tour with Seven Card Stud. Sure, it wasn’t a real  tour, and it was only to the state fairs that wanted to have them perform, but he got a feel for life on the road, living in hotels for days at a time, and all the screaming girls. It was a rush, something that made him hooked to the idea of doing something like this for the rest of his life. Now that he was here, he wasn’t sure if he could do it on such a grand scale.

Lou was always talking about how “huge” they were going to be and how “huge” a deal it was for them to try and make a group like this. Pop music wasn’t what was in the market, but it was time to bring it back. At least, that’s how Lance interpreted all the technical jargon Lou threw his way. Lynn seemed to know what he was saying and Lance chalked it up to her being in the industry longer than he had been, so he was happy to know that his mom had someone there to help her out at least.

“Thanks, Ace, that’s what I really wanted to hear right now,” Lance replied, rolling his eyes. “Especially when we have a showcase in…” Lance trailed off, looking at his watch, “15 days.”

“Fif-teen days?!” Darren repeated. Lance could practically see Darren’s eyes widening. He had a knack for stressing syllables in words whenever he was shocked or frustrated about something. “There is no way you can ‘ave a showcase done in fif-teen days.”

“It’s nothin’ too big,” Lance explained, “just four songs.” He squeezed an eye shut as he tried to think about it. “Ummm, the songs we’re doing are Dreaming, Give in To Me, We Can Work It Out, and I’ll Be Back For More. Lou and JC, one of the *NSYNC members, wrote a couple of the songs. Or somethin’ like that. They’re pretty good.”

“Why is it called *NSYNC again?” Annaleigh asked. Lance could imagine her wrinkling her nose, her freckles joining together to form a cluster of spots along the bridge of her nose, her blue eyes narrowing slightly.

“It’s the initials of your names,” Lance replied before quickly explaining in depth. “It’s also to show that we’re in sync with our harmonies and our dancing. Justin’s mom came up with it.”Lance shifted his position on his bed and groaned. “I don’t know about the rest of them, but I’m so tired, there’s no way I could even dream of being in step with any of them.”

“I think you mean in sync,” Darren said and Annaleigh let out her familiar tinkling laugh. Lance laughed along with him before grasping his stomach in pain. In addition to singing and dancing, they had been working out to get in shape to help with their endurance, and Lance’s abs were killing him.

“Very funny,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes. That was the only body part that didn’t seem to hurt or throb with pain. “I don’t know if I can do this, guys.”

“Don’t you dare back out on it now, James,” Annaleigh all but snapped. Lance pulled the phone away from his ear. “You’ve done so much just to get this far and you’ve actually signed a contract to be a part of the group.”

“Ace is right, Lance,” Darren agreed.

“Of course I am. I’m always right.”

“Everythin’ you’ve done has led up to this: Showstoppers, Attaché, Seven Card Stud, every little bit of that has helped you make it here,” Darren continued as if Annaleigh hadn’t said anything. Lance could hear Annaleigh huff on her end of the phone. “Pray and seek out your passion and God's leading.  What will inspire you? What gives you energy and what drains it? You’ll figure it all out, but this is the steppin’ stone.”

“They only wanted me for my singin’, not my dancing,” Lance replied. “Shoot, they didn’t even ask to see my dancing when I auditioned.”

“James Lance Bass, stop talkin’ like that,” Annaleigh said. “You’re great. You had ta dance in those other groups, you can do this.”

Lance let out a sigh through his nose. Truth be told, a lot of the time, he truly wondered if the only reason he had been accepted on the spot was because of his voice. He knew he could keep time, and slower and medium-paced dances were easier to get through, but after four days with the group, he knew they were starting to worry about whether or not he could make it to the showcase.

He knew that Justin and JC got frustrated from time to time, he could see it in their eyes whether or not they had said it out loud. After long days, their faces bright red with exertion, sweat sliding down their faces, they weren’t progressing as well as they could, but even then, Papa Lou had always given them words of encouragement and praise, taking them out to dinner after a long day of hard work, going to get ice cream after that, and even buying new “toys” for the house. With all the exercise they were doing day in and day out, it was no wonder that he tried to fatten them up, in a way. Lance had already noticed a change in his physique.

The house was huge with every video game and gadget you could imagine. Big screen TVs, boom boxes, a gigantic pool, a basketball hoop around every corner of the house, a recording studio, and a space big enough for rehearsals. It was so big he wondered why anyone would choose to live there by himself. The boys sure made it a home to them with clothes and shoes, empty bags of chips, and food lying around everywhere. Lance tried to be as nice and neat as possible, they could cut him at any time for his less than smooth moves.

What really made it hard was how little he got to see his mom every day. He didn’t even know what she did while he was rehearsing, but she seemed to at least be having a good time sightseeing and looking at all of the shops. He could see a certain glow about her that he hadn’t ever seen before, but like him, she had also accepted that she would be heading home soon. She still had her students to teach at school, and he knew that this glamorous life wasn’t for her.

“Well, how are things back home?” Lance asked, changing the subject.

“Boring,” Annaleigh replied and Darren laughed. “It’s Clinton, what’d you expect?”

“Everythin’s the same here, buddy,” Darren replied. “It’s like you never left it.”

Lance felt his heart pang in his chest. That was what he was worried about; leaving to do something with the band, and nobody noticed that he wasn’t around anymore. Everyone would move on without him. He hadn’t told anyone, not really, about going down to Orlando, but with Annaleigh’s mouth, as well as Jasmine’s he was sure it was out making rounds at the school by now. What he missed he most was just being at home, hanging out at the Fire Tower or being back at the Back of ’80, hanging out, having a few beers and a few laughs with his friends.

Try to make the best of it, Lance thought to himself, repeating his dad’s words. He looked around the white walls of his room. What’s there to make the best of?

“Hey, James,” Annaleigh said quietly. Lance stopped what he was doing, fixing in on her voice. “You can do this. I know you can. We know you can. Just remember us when you get your first Grammy.”

“When is this showcase anyway?” Darren asked. “What time?”

“I don’t know yet,” Lance replied. “Why?”

“Fixin’ to come out to see it,” Darren replied and Lance felt himself smile; the first one in a long time. Despite his aching muscles and cheeks, he smile as wide as he could. “You need as much support as you can get, but I bet it will be good. Justin and JC showed talent on MMC. But no one has the charisma and heart that you have when you put your all into your music.”

“Ace, what about you?” Lance asked.

“I’ll try my best but you know my parents,” Annaleigh replied with a heavy sigh. “Figured I’d just go with D just to get out of here for a while.” There was a shuffling sound on her end. “But, don’t worry about it, worry about what you’re doing and relax. Just breathe.”

Lance was grateful for her words. Annaleigh always put others before herself despite going through her own troubles. That was why he and Darren tried to look out for her as much as possible; to give her a stable place to go when it seemed like, to her, her world was crashing down around her. Annaleigh was the best girl friend he had ever had. She was the easiest person to talk to and always had words of wisdom for him even if they were a bit harsh. She was always looking for something fun to do, even if it got them in trouble and with her smooth talking, she could always convince him to go along with it. He could confide his problems to her and work on his dance moves with her.

Darren was his best guy friend ever since he started getting interested in music as a serious profession. Ever since Lance met him, when he was thirteen, Darren was singing all the time. Lance caught him singing his replies to him over the phone or in class, but he was never embarrassed about it. He was teased for it every now and then, but he always kept his head high, not caring as it was something he loved to do. Plus, with show choir, he got to be around a lot of girls. Darren always gave him singing advice, advice on girls, and was always just fun to hang around with. Darren was his friend who Lance went out drinking with, talked about women, and the one he turned to when looking for a good party to hang out at.

Together, the three of them were inseparable. While they worked well together, they could also get on each other’s nerves pretty easily. Lane felt that Annaleigh didn’t talk about herself enough, Annaleigh thought she had to reel Darren in a lot of the time, and Darren thought Lance was too self-conscious. Darren and Annaleigh had plenty of complaints about each other which led to arguments, which led to Lance being in the middle, trying to get the two of them to stop arguing. Although, he knew that part of the reason why Annaleigh got into arguments with Darren was because it was an easy way to get attention from him if only for a little while. Despite all that, he didn’t know what he’d do without them.

Lance looked up when he heard a knock on the door. “Hey, I’ve gotta go,” he said into the phone, “but I’ll try and call back later.”

“Bye, Lance.”

“Talk to you later.”

Lance reached over to place the phone into the cradle, before calling for whoever was at the door to come in. He jumped when the door was practically kicked open and Chris and Joey stormed into the room. “Uhhh, hi,” he said to the two of them as they jumped onto his bed, jostling him. “What’s going on?”

“You’ve been locked up in your room for a while, we just wanted to check that you were ok,” Joey replied before gently hitting Lance on the leg. “You ok?”

“Yeah, I’m just a little homesick,” Lance replied.

“What, we’re not like family to you yet?” Chris asked, widening his eyes, putting a hand over his heart. He made a face as if he was insulted. “Well, excuse me for trying to make this place home to you.”

Lance laughed, putting a hand in his face. “You guys are great,” Lance replied before shrugging. “I just haven’t been to a place as big as Orlando before.”

“What’s Mississippi like, anyway?” Chris asked, tilting his head to the side. A grin spread across his face and Lance rolled his eyes.

“Ya know,” Lance said, exaggerating his accent as much as possible. “It’s just so wonderful there. We have a great hoedown every Friday ni’t, and then on tha weekands, sometimes, we have what we call a cousin swap and it’s soo much fuuun.”

Joey and Chris were doubled over with laughter. Joey had his arms wrapped around his stomach and Chris had his face buried into his blankets. “Sorry, dude,” Chris said as his laughter died out. “I had to ask.”

“He didn’t really, but Chris isn’t really known to think before he says something,” Joey said as his face slowly returned to its normal color. Lance could detect a New York accent in some of his words. Chris nodded happily, agreeing with his friend. “So come on, dude. We’re going to the pool.”

Lance looked over at the clothes hanging out of his hamper. It seemed like all they wanted to do was hang out in the pool. Lance really enjoyed swimming, and took advantage of the opportunity anytime he had the chance to go to the pool in Clinton, or when it was warm enough to swim in the creek. He wouldn’t be surprised if his hair turned green at some point.

“Pool! Pool! Pool!” Chris chanted, slamming his fists down onto the mattress.

“Pool! Pool! Pool!” Joey added onto the chant. Lance opened his mouth to protest, but started to laugh as the two of them started to jump up and down on his bed. “Pool! Pool! Pool!”

Lance bounced up and down on the bed, his pillows falling down onto the floor. He curled himself up into a ball, covering his arms and legs. “Popcorn!” Chris shouted and started to jump closer towards Lance’s head. Joey let out a bark of laughter, bouncing all over the place. Lance could feel himself unravel before a well placed bounce threw him to the floor with a loud crash. “Yes!”

Chris and Joey jumped to the ground before they slapped each other a high five. “We win,” Joey laughed, punching the air with his fists. “And because we win, you have to do what we say. Chris, grab his arms.”

“No,” Lance shouted, but Joey and Chris grabbed his arms and legs, lifting him up into the air. He tried to pull his arms and legs out of Joey and Chris’s grasp as they pulled him out of his room, laughing all the way. “Get off me!”

“What are you guys doing?” JC asked as they passed by his room. Lance craned his head to see him lounging on his bed, a guitar in his lap.

“Pool,” Chris replied simply. JC’s eyebrows shot up his forehead and he slowly smiled.

“Have fun,” he replied.

Oh, gee, thanks, Lance thought to himself as Chris let out a cackle, continuing down the hall. The two of them were practically giggling like school girls. They pulled him out of the house and to the edge of the pool. “Don’t! Put me down.”

“It’ll be fun, trust us,” Chris said. “You’ve been cooped up in your room all day. Who was it, your girlfriend?”

“The hot one with the freckles?” Joey asked and Lance let out a groan as the blood rushed to his head. They had seen the few pictures from home that he had brought with him.

“Ace isn’t my girlfriend,” Lance replied.

“Ace?” Chris repeated.

“Annaleigh,” Lance corrected.

“Hot name, too,” Joey said with a short laugh. “On three, Chris.”

“Right-o,” Chris replied, giving a nod of his head.

“One,” Joey and Chris called out together, swinging him back and forth. “Two! Three!”

On three, they swung Lance forward and he twisted once in the air…before landing on the top of the cover of the pool. Lance closed his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. He sat up, the water underneath the tarp causing him to bob up and down. Joey and Chris were grinning at him, but Lance still heard laughter. He lifted his gaze up towards the back of his house and saw JC and Justin hanging out of Justin’s window, laughing.

“It’s a trust test,” Justin explained, his face split open with a wide grin. “They got you good.”

“Not as good as Curly Top,” Chris said, jerking his thumb upwards in Justin’s direction. “Practically peed his pants.”

“Did not,” Justin said with a frown.

“Did too,” Chris shouted back, looking up at him. Justin stuck his tongue out at Chris and JC rolled his eyes before disappearing back inside the room.

“Hey,” Joey called, crouching down beside Lance, offering him his hand. Lance carefully made his way to the end of the pool and grasped his hand, allowing Joey to pull him up. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” Lance replied. “But, I’ll let you know for sure once my heart stops pounding.”

“Sorry about that,” Joey said, clapping Lance on the shoulder as soon as he got to his feet. “Just a little initiation you know. Happened to all of us.” He then lifted his hand, brushing his hair out of his face, giving Lance a toothy smile. “You’ve been feeling down lately, just wanted to cheer you up a bit. We’re in this together, right?”

He gently hit Lance on the shoulder and he stumbled back a little bit. Lance then smiled, hitting Joey back. “Right.”