Mark's
trip up to Big Bear Lake to see MTV film the Snowed
In Event had been an amazing stroke of luck. He had
been scheduled to work when his boss called him and
asked if he would mind dropping his shift as they
were over budget for salary for the week. Mark agreed
and quickly called the resort near where the event
was happening and was surprised to find that there
was still a room or two available.
Mark used his credit card and reserved the room for
two days, and then packed his car and got underway.
The drive wasn't too bad, he had made it to the hotel
in just under 3 hours. Mark went inside and checked
in, then took his luggage up to his room. As he sat
in his room, Mark decided to shower and change then
go down to the hotel bar and see if they were still
serving dinner.
As the elevator door opened on the ground floor,
Mark was slammed back into the back of the elevator
by five guys who quickly backed in and immediately
closed the doors. The elevator had begun to move up
when Mark coughed, causing the guys to turn around
and face him.
"Oh…God!", the smaller blond said as he turned, "We're
so sorry….we didn't see you in here and we needed
to escape from that crowd. It was getting out-of-hand!"
Mark's eye lit up as he immediately placed the face
of the young man in front of him.
"No problem Lance….I understand.", Mark said with
a grin.
"Dude! You know us?", JC asked, "Are you a fan?"
"Yeah. I think you guys sing really well!!", Mark
said, "I came up here to see the SNOWED IN event and
was hoping to catch your performance."
"Coolness!", Chris said with a smile, "You got more
than that, you got to meet us."
Mark chuckled, "Yeah…I know of about 30 girls that
would gladly give up several non-vital parts of their
bodies to be standing where I am standing right now."
The guys chuckled and nodded.
"You don't happen to know if the restaurant is still
open, do you?", Mark asked as his stomach growled
loudly.
"We were gonna try to find that out ourselves…but
we saw the mob coming and decided to head back to
our rooms.", Joey said sourly. "I guess its room service."
"Well…If you wanted to order a pizza or Chinese,
I could go pick it up for you guys and bring it to
your rooms. I think I saw some take out menus on the
nighttable in my room.", Mark said. "No reason to
settle for hotel food just cause you can't get take
out from the lobby for fear of being mobbed."
"Oh man…a pizza would be so awesome now!", Justin
said and Joey nodded.
"How about this….", JC said with a smile, "you pick
up our stuff from the lobby and we'll buy your food
and we'll all eat in my room together. OK?"
Mark nodded, "Sure. No problem."
The doors opened and Mark followed the guys to JC's
room as JC looked around and grabbed the take out
menu's that had been placed on his night table. After
a few minutes, JC decided on Chinese, whereas Lance,
Justin, Chris and Joey had all gone in for four different
pizzas. They looked at Mark who grinned and decided
to join JC as he ordered beef fried rice and an order
of fried wontons. JC smiled and high-fived him and
Mark called both places and placed the orders. Mark
and the guys all sat around and chatted pleasantly
for the next twenty minutes until the front desk rang
them to tell them that there was carry-out drivers
in the lobby. Mark smiled and jumped up, walking out
of the room and heading for the elevator. The elevator
opened and Mark walked off into a sea of girls who
were being quickly dispersed by the hotel staff. Mark
walked up to the front desk and asked about the carry
out drivers, the concierge pointed to the corner of
the lobby where two men waited. Mark approached the
men and pulled out his wallet, quickly paying for
the bills and grabbing the bags of warm food.
A few minutes later, Mark knocked on JC's door. JC
opened the door and smiled and let Mark in. As Mark
put down the bags, JC pulled out his wallet and smiled,
"How much do I owe ya?"
Mark shook his head and grinned, "Don't worry about
it, I took care of it."
"No man…I said I'd buy dinner…how much was it?",
JC insisted.
Mark shook his head, "Like I said, I got it. Don't
worry about it. K?"
JC put his wallet away and smiled as he grabbed the
bag of Chinese food and passed Mark his fried rice
and wontons.
"Can we at least give you a CD in exchange for dinner?",
Lance asked.
Mark nodded, "Sure…if you want to….you don't have
to pay me back….dinner was on me, OK??"
Lance smiled and grabbed a CD from the stack that
was on the nightstand and handed it to Mark.
"Oh Cool…Bye Bye Bye….I don't have a decent copy
of this song.", Mark smiled.
JC laughed, "Its off our new album, we haven't released
it yet. The only people getting this CD have been
the ones at the concert we did on New Year's and at
the event here tomorrow."
Mark smiled, "OH….Wow! That makes it even cooler!"
Mark opened the case and looked at the CD. "Oh cool.
There's a little sticker of Joey inside here. That's
neat!"
Lance chuckled, "These are the CD's that we are giving
out for the "win a dream date with NSYNC" contest.
They each have one of five pictures inside them and
the winners will be the ones whose picture gets drawn.
Hang onto that when you come tomorrow, you could win
a date with us. HEHEHE!"
Mark smiled, "Oh...I can think of worse men I've
dated."
Mark smiled as JC and Joey and Chris began to cough
and choke on their food after hearing Mark's response.
"Wow…you're gay?!?", Justin said with a smile, "I
couldn't tell…you don't look it at all!"
Mark threw his head back and began to laugh, "What
are gay people supposed to look like exactly….what's
the giveaway?"
Lance smiled and looked at Justin who had begun to
blush as he stammered, "Uh…no…I mean….you don't act
like…uh…oh DAMN...forget it…forget I said that, OK??"
Mark laughed again and then took a bite of his food.
"We almost never get a chance to meet and talk with
any of our gay fans", JC smiled.
Mark finished chewing and swallowed, "That's too
bad, they're almost as loyal and fanatical as your
straight ones, tho they are much less likely to cry
and try to grab at you if they see you. Take me for
example, my eyes are dry, I am sensibly talking at
a decent decibel level and I have no intention of
trying to tear your clothes off. Us gay folk are just
normal peeps who really like the way you do your job
and think that you're all pretty awesome."
Mark smiled as the guys nodded and took bites of
their food, and then he decided to have a little fun
with them.
"Not that I wouldn't tear your clothes off if you
were really into that and asked me to.", Mark added
non-chalantly and took a bite of a wonton and waited
for their reaction.
Chris, Lance and JC got it first and began to choke
on their food, grabbing their sodas and gulping them,
Justin, unfortunately was not that lucky as he heaved
forward and spit the contents of his mouth back into
his plate. Joey just chuckled as he chewed.
"Mark…dude….that was SO wrong….I almost choked!",
JC said as he looked up from his food.
"Sorry….I couldn't resist.", Mark said with a smile.
"I am sure that NONE of you are gay like me…I was
just teasing you."
"So Mark…", Joey smiled, "Where's your man?"
"I am single", Mark said, "I just came out to my
parents and the town where I live is not too keen
on gay people, so I guess that dating is out of the
question until I move or go to college somewhere more
accepting."
"Oh. That sucks!", Justin said with a frown, "I don't
understand why people make such a big deal out of
it."
"Because they think I am sick….or depraved, they
would like to think that rather than being a normal
straight kid like you, that I CHOSE to be gay. They
think I would CHOOSE to separate myself from the rest
of the guys my age and open myself up for ridicule
and who knows what all else from them and people like
them.", Mark said bitterly. "I don't know of anyone
in their right mind would make a choice like that.
I didn't choose anything….being gay is just the way
I am."
Mark looked up at the guys who were all staring at
him, their expressions ranging from sad to dumbfounded.
Mark shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat his
dinner.
"I don't think anyone here thinks like that at all
Mark", Lance said quietly and leaned over and squeezed
Mark's shoulder. The guys nodded and murmured their
agreement.
"So when do you guys have to perform tomorrow?",
Mark asked.
"We have to be ready to go tomorrow at 7 am. The
event opens at 9 am.", Lance said with a frown.
"Well…I better let you all get some sleep. It's really
late.", Mark said as he finished off the last spoonful
of his fried rice and then tossed the container into
the trash. "It's been really nice meeting you all.
I guess I'll see you again tomorrow at the event."
Mark shook everyone's hand and headed to the door,
"Goodnite guys."
Mark made it to the elevator and was getting on when
he heard a call to hold the door.
Mark pushed the door open button and waited. A second
later, JC walked into the elevator and smiled.
"I thought I read somewhere that you liked to sleep.",
Mark said with a smile.
"I really do. But I just felt that maybe you wanted
to talk or something. You kinda left in a hurry. Are
you OK?", JC said.
"I guess I am OK. I just wanted to go cause my being
gay seemed to be making you all uncomfortable, despite
my attempts at levity.", Mark replied.
Mark and JC got off the elevator on Mark's floor
and Mark opened the door and let JC into the room.
JC walked over and sat down on the bed and looked
up at Mark, who was grabbing his pajamas out of his
suitcase. Mark smiled and modestly walked into the
bathroom and changed into his pajamas, then came back
out and sat down on the bed opposite JC.
"So you said you told your folks.", JC said after
a minute, "How'd they take it?"
Mark sighed and shook his head, "Well...I have my
own studio apartment now, and a job to support myself…they
didn't take it too well at all….I haven't heard from
them since."
"Aww…..", JC said sadly as he saw Mark's eyes fill
up with tears. "Mark…I am so sorry….that really sucks….your
own parents!"
Mark nodded, "They always told me never to lie…but
when I told them the truth rather than lie to them
about myself, they tossed me out. I was just lucky
to have had some money stored away, so I got an apartment
in the next town and a job as a waiter. I've been
doing OK for myself."
JC shook his head and the two guys continued to talk
for a while longer. A while later, Mark looked up
and smiled as he noticed JC had fallen fast asleep.
Setting the alarm for 6 am, Mark pulled the blanket
across JC and then fell asleep on the other side of
the large bed.
Mark roused only slightly when the alarm went off
the first time. He reached over and slapped it off,
the lay in bed dozing soundly, enjoying the warmth
of the body that lay spooned against him in the bed.
A few minutes after he shut off the alarm he heard
a sigh, then the body next to his got out of the bed
and went into the bathroom. A minute later, he felt
the return of the warmth beside him as a hand brushed
over his face, pulling away the long dark hair that
had covered his eyes and forehead. Next he felt the
pressure of a moist pair of lips lightly kissing his
forehead and then brushing over his lips. Then, again
as before, the warmth got out of bed and left the
room.
When the alarm went off the second time, Mark opened
his eyes, amazingly awake after so little sleep, and
walked to the bathroom, using the facilities and then
taking a long hot shower. Mark toweled himself off
and then got dressed. As he went to pull on his pants
he noticed a note beside the bed.
Mark-
I hope I see you again today. It was nice sitting
and chatting with you last night. I hope my falling
asleep in your room didn't put you out or anything.
-Josh
Mark smiled, remembering how nice it was to sit and
talk with someone about his feelings and have them
listen so intently. He grabbed the CD that the guys
had given him the previous night and made his way
to the lobby to see if the hotel was still serving
breakfast.
As he ate, Mark looked outside the window and smiled
as he saw a sea of girls waiting in line for the "dream
date contest". As Mark began to eat his breakfast,
his eye was caught by a small fragile looking girl
sitting with her parents at a table near to him. Her
eyes were stained with tears as she kept glancing
nervously out the window.
"All I am saying, Kimi, is that those boys are really
popular and I am sure they're gonna be really busy
today. I know its your dream to meet them, but you
have to stay inside here. Your health wouldn't be
able to stand a day out in the cold outside.", the
mother said to the small girl, causing more tears
to come to her eyes and her head to droop a little.
"I just want to see them, that's all. Before I have
to go back to the hospital and get back on chemo.",
the little girl said sadly. Mark's earlier cheerfulness
evaporated as he heard the last few words the girl
spoke. He shook his head slightly and finished his
omelette. Mark drank an extra cup of coffee and then
paid his check and headed outside to the sea of femininity.
As Mark navigated his way through the crowd, he noticed
a small group of girls huddled together screaming
and jumping up and down. As he made his way over to
them, he smiled as he saw them all holding copies
of the same CD the guys had given him last night.
As he approached, a familiar looking face walked over
to him and said, "Hi there. Are you here for the dream
date contest?"
Mark smiled as he recognized Carson Daily and held
up his CD and nodded.
Carson smiled and shook his head, "Wow…a guy wanting
to go on a dream date with NSYNC, that's a novel concept.
Well…just go ahead and join the rest of the girls
and the next round will start in a few minutes."
Mark nodded and walked over to the crowd of girls
who stopped screaming and looked at him funny, then
shrugged and began to jump and scream again.
A few minutes later, Carson stood at the stage and
explained that the next round consisted of the winners
being the lucky 10 whose CD had the picture of the
NSYNC'er that he would pick out of the fishbowl. Mark
smiled as Carson reached his hand in and picked out
a piece of paper.
"Joey!", Carson yelled out, "those with the Joey
sticker stand up."
Mark smiled and stood up as the girls around him
gasped. Carson's smile got even bigger as he saw the
young man stand up and walk to the front with the
rest of the winners.
Joey looked over to the group of winners and began
to laugh hysterically as he saw Mark standing there
with the nine other winners.
"Guys…Look!!", Joey laughed and Justin, Chris, Lance
looked over and gasped.
"Its MARK!", Lance said and laughed as he saw JC
fall out of his seat as he turned to look.
"Oh my God! The CD single!", JC said under his breath.
Mark and the other nine winners were pulled up on
the stage by the stage personnel, who looked at Mark
and then the other winners and smiled and shook their
heads. Carson came back and explained that they would
be split into two teams of five and that they would
compete in a dance competition with each other. Mark
and his group were given a few minutes to stand and
choreograph a 30 second dance routine. As they worked
through it, Mark smiled and grabbed a very pretty
girl with long dark hair and then explained the idea
he had for it. She smiled and agreed then convinced
the rest of the girls to go along with it.
They were the second group to go out and dance so
they watched as the first group did their number,
then left the stage. Their intro music began and the
ran onto the stage, quickly getting into formation.
The music for tearing up my heart began and they began
their routine and just at the end, the dark haired
girl stepped in front of Mark who picked her up in
a cheerleading pose together as the three girls in
front fell to their knees and pointed into the crowd.
The crowd went wild at their routine and Mark let
the dark haired girl down after the music had stopped.
Carson asked the guys what they thought and they all
nodded as JC gushed out how awesome their routine
was. Carson walked over and announced that their team
was the hands down winner.
Carson smiled, "OK…The time for teamwork is over,
the next round is every woman…er and man…sorry, for
themself."
Mark and Carson grinned and blushed as the girls
in the audience and the guys of NSYNC laughed at Carson's
second terrible gaff of the day. He had been recovering
nicely from slipping up and calling the guys NSTINK…but
it seemed to not be his day.
Mark and the guys sat on the stools that were brought
out for the next round and Carson introduced Danielle
Fischelle, who was to ask them questions for the round.
"What kind of food would JC be most likely to take
you out to eat? Mexican, Italian, or Sushi?"
Mark wrote down Sushi as did the rest of the girls.
JC smiled slightly at Mark as he turned over his sign,
the answer was sushi. Everyone got a sticker. The
next question was about Lance. "What music would Lance
listen to to get romantic? Boyz II Men, Marvin Gaye,
or D'Angelo?" Mark thought for a second and wrote
down Marvin Gaye, thinking that this was as good a
choice as any. Lance smiled as he watched Mark turn
over his card, him being the only one to choose Marvin
Gaye. Lance smiled and turned over his card, the answer
was Marvin Gaye. Mark was the only one with a sticker.
The next question was from Chris and it was kinda
silly.
"What would be the worst thing to happen on a date
with Chris? Name Drop, Fart, or Burp?"
Mark shook his head and wrote down Name Drop, thinking
that was the least crude of the answers. Chris rolled
his eyes slightly as he surveyed all the answers,
one had written down fart, which was Chris' answer.
It was a two way tie now. The next question was about
Justin.
"What is the first thing Justin looks at on a girl?
Butt, Eyes, or Lips?"
Mark again had no idea, so he wrote down butt for
the humor value and was joined by all but one of the
girls who wrote down eyes. Justin smiled and shook
his head and laughed and explained that the lips were
the first thing he checked out. The score was still
a tie. The last question was about Joey
"What kind of Roses would Joey send you on your first
date? Red White or Pink?"
Mark smiled, knowing the answer immediately….Red
roses meant love, and white roses were the ones that
meant friendship, so he wrote down white roses. Joey's
face broke into a smile as he saw that Mark was the
only one who had answered white, almost everyone else
had answered red and one girl had said pink. Joey
shook his head and turned over his card and revealed
that white was the answer, because red roses mean
love and white roses would be more appropriate for
the friendship of a first date . JC smiled at Mark
as both Mark and the other girl moved onto to the
final round.
The final round consisted of matching up the names
of the guys with their baby pictures. Mark smiled
inside as he realized he had seen the Rosie O'Donnell
show with all the same pictures on it. As Carson and
Danielle pulled off the covering and exposed the pictures,
Mark immediately put each one's face with a name.
Carson gave them a second and told them to start.
Mark grabbed all the tags and matched them up with
all five guys and stopped with about 5 seconds to
spare. As the buzzer sounded, Carson went over the
girls answers first, and she got 3 out of 5 correct.
Mark grinned as Carson came over and revealed that
all his answers were correct.
"Way to go Mark! You are the biggest NSYNC fan here
today….you won the dream date with NSYNC!.", Carson
said as he put his arm around Mark's shoulders.
Mark's face went blank as he thought back to breakfast
and that girl from the morning. He sighed and frowned
slightly, torn between pursuing a fantasy and doing
what he knew, inside his heart, was the right thing
to do.
Finally, Mark took the microphone and spoke into
it. "As much as I'd like to say that I am the biggest
fan of NSYNC, I can honestly say that there is one
bigger than me…but her health wouldn't permit her
to come outside to participate today. There is a little
girl named Kimi in the lodge over there, she has leukemia
and had come here this weekend hoping to just to catch
a glimpse of these guys before she goes back to her
hospital for some new rounds of chemotherapy. I know
I'll see NSYNC again, and go to their concert this
summer, but she may not be able to, if her health
fails, she may not live to see that time. So, I am
gonna transfer my dream date with NSYNC to Kimi."
The crowd stood shocked, dead silent, until JC and
the guys began to applaud. Carson smiled down at Mark
and nodded his head, "That's fine. It looks like Kimi
is gonna have the night of her life tonight when she
spends it with the five guys of NSYNC."
The camera pulled back from beside Carson and they
gave him the "off the air" signal. Carson turned to
Mark and smiled, "That was an amazing thing you did
there. A gay guy going on a date with NSYNC would
have been hot news, but that pales in comparison with
the kindness that you just showed that little girl."
Mark smiled and waved as the guys came up to him
and Carson. "Hey Mark", JC said quietly.
"Hi Josh.", Mark said quietly, "I hope you're all
not too put out by me passing that date off like that."
The guys surrounded Mark and gave him a group hug,
squeezing him tightly, "That was the coolest, most
selfless thing we've ever seen anyone do. You're awesome,
man!"
Mark smiled and then told the MTV guys that Kimi
would be sitting in the lodge there looking out the
window. He gave a description of her to them and they
went off to find her and set everything up. As Mark
turned to leave, he looked over to the guys who were
getting ready for their date and he waved goodbye.
JC looked up at him and waved back mouthing something
to him that he didn't quite catch. Mark nodded and
then walked back to the hotel and fell asleep.
Mark awoke that night around 8 pm and yawned and
then headed off to the bathroom for another shower
and a change of clothes. As he finished dressing,
he heard a knock on his door and he walked over to
see who it could be. Mark opened the door and he gasped
loudly, his eyes filled with tears as he looked to
see JC standing there before him, smiling and holding
out a single red rose.
The End
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