Extra Hot, No-Foam Boxer Briefs
by lancenerd
Lance/JC Rated R
For the "Understand I'm Satisfied" challenge.
http://challenge.thatgirlyousee.com/
Thank you chootoy for beta and title and strandia for coffee accuracy.
Everyday I tell myself I'm sane
Like a watercolor painter painting in the rain...
Beth was dreaming of skydiving. She was in the plane, suited up and ready to go when alarm bells started ringing, then the plane was in a free fall dive with no power and she woke up with a start. Her phone was ringing beside her head on her nightstand.
"Hello?"
"Hey Beth, I need you to stop by Starbucks on the way in. Also, we need to go over the contract with Radio Shack so bring in your laptop. Oh, and I just got a call, we're going to have a conference call with the Russian guys tomorrow just as soon as we can work out the time zone thing."
Beth's head swam. Why was Lance calling so damn early and why was he so damn fucking chipper about it?
"Um... Okay" she stifled a yawn.
"You still sleeping? I thought you'd be up by now."
"It's only... " she looked at her clock and groaned to herself. "I'm up."
"Good. Did you get all that?"
"Mostly. You want Starbucks?"
"Yeah, we want Starbucks."
We?
"You have a cap-" She got cut off as another voice got on the line.
"Hey, honey."
She reached up and smoothed her sleep-rumpled hair. "Hey." Her heart did a summersault. She didn't know JC was staying with Lance.
"Can you please bring us Coffee?"
"Um..."
"Lance only has some weird soy crap in his fridge..."
Beth heard a struggle, JC swear then Lance was back on the line. "JC thinks I can't make a good latte," Lance said, out of breath. "So will you?"
"Yeah, sure, what do you want?" Beth was already up and grabbing a piece of paper and a pen.
"Decaf grande no fat extra hot no foam hazelnut latte."
Beth winced. She new you couldn't get extra hot and no foam at the same time. "You're sure."
"Yeah, just like that." She heard JC in the background say something then the phone dropped to the ground and was picked up again.
"So," JC said. "Will you bring me a latte?"
"Just a latte?"
"Yeah"
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"Decaf?"
"No."
"Flavour?"
"No."
Soy?"
"Ew."
JC laughed then Lance got back on the phone "Thank you, Beth".
"You're welcome."
Beth hung up the phone. When Lance was working he usually didn't want anyone around. Although she expected a house full the day before he left for Russia.
She didn't mind that JC would be there while they worked, on the contrary she was quite glad. It was no secret that she'd had a crush on JC since his days in the Mickey Mouse Club. When she had started working for Lance, she had a glamorous notion that they'd be on one bus together, hanging out and having fun. Well the gloss of living with rock stars wore off quickly; it was hard work and long hours and she didn't get to hang out with the guys at all. But she liked the work and wasn't on the road all the time, instead working in the Freelance office.
She jumped out of bed and quickly made her way toward the shower.
~~~~~~~~~~
Beth hated the people at the Starbucks between her and Lance's place. Being across from a gated community, this particular store tended to hire kids from the neighborhood whose parents made them get a part-time job to teach them the value of making a dollar. They always tried to make her feel like she was bothering them with her order and tried to make all of their customers feel stupid. But she wasn't afraid of a few snotty rich brats. After all, she was surrounded by them all day when on tour with Lance giving her attitude when she told them they couldn't get back stage.
The teenager who took her order rolled her eyes at Lance's choice and announced it to another teenager behind the bar who also rolled his eyes. Beth gave the girl a thin smile as she paid for the drinks then waited by the bar with a tray to carry them out. The boy behind the bar smiled at her and gave her a wink as he placed the drinks with lids on them in the tray for her and bid her a good day. Beth smiled back, as she put on her sunglasses then turned and walked out the door. Maybe those kids weren't so bad after all.
She drove to Lance's and reached for one of the green and white cup beside her to take a sip. It felt light. Too light. She ripped off the lid and peered inside. There was foam. Significant foam. The black marker scrawl on the side of the cup said "soy".
"Shit!"
Those damn kids fucked her over. Bastards. She could drive back over there, and that's what she should do, but she had a lot of work to do today and the sooner she started, the sooner it would get done. Plus, JC was over and she didn't want to postpone seeing him any longer.
Reaching inside her side console, she dug down until she found her cache of McDonald's straws. She sucked off the foam then topped up Lance's latte with her own whole milk hazelnut latte. She hoped Lance wouldn't notice. She hoped the milk wouldn't curdle.
She entered Lance's house and found him and JC in the kitchen. JC jumped up and caught Beth in a hug as she handed him his drink "Thank you, honey."
Beth closed her eyes and smelled JC's hair, but was distracted by Lance taking a sip of his coffee. He swished it around and raised an eyebrow, but kept drinking. Beth let her breath out in a silent sigh of relief and let go of JC.
~~~~~~~~~~
All week it was the same thing. She'd get a call in the morning from JC asking her to bring them coffee. The rest of the day was spent ironing out the details of Lance's trip to Russia next week. Lance seemed to be more relaxed with JC in the house, which was good because she thought he was going to rip David's head off through the phone on a few occasions.
On Thursday she got her usual call but there was a twist.
"Hey, Beth. Can you go buy JC some underwear? He's kinda out and we forgot to go to Walmart last night."
Beth nearly dropped the phone.
"Um... what kind?" Her face began to flush.
"Tighty whities!" Lance yelled into her ear then laughed. She heard a struggle and then JC spoke.
"Honey do you mind? I wouldn't ask..."
"No, no, it's okay." Her face felt like it was on fire. "um. No. Um. what... what kind?"
She closed her eyes. which made writing this down hard to do.
"Boxer briefs."
"What size?"
"Medium"
"Any, um, brand preference?"
"No. But dark colours are cool."
"Okay."
"Thanks honey, I owe you big time."
She hung up the phone, wincing with embarrassment. It's not like she's never bought men's underwear before. She bought things for Lance all the time.
All the way to the store her face burned like fire. "Get a grip." she said out loud. "This is ridiculous. It's just underwear."
In no time she was standing in front of a huge rack of Men's underwear. White briefs, blue bikinis, a few thongs and some maroon boxers. She circled around the department looking at every package. There were packages of grey extra large and a few small black. All the mediums seemed to be stripes, checks or white; no grey, no blue, no black. She started to panic until she saw a sales clerk and begged her to go into the back to find dark boxer briefs size medium. The manager wandered over and helped them look. By the time they were through, Beth had two packages of grey, one black and one navy. She hoped it would be enough, although Lance was going away next week, JC could very well be hanging around.
She was a little more than disheveled when she got to Lance's that morning. But they were both grateful that she brought fresh bagels and the required coffee order. Lance didn't get up but gave her a big smile. JC hugged her and took the bag from Beth's hands. That's when she noticed that he was wearing a robe and his hair was wet. As he rounded the corner out of the kitchen, Beth realized he wasn't wearing anything under the robe. She made a small noise and brought her hand to her mouth.
"What was that?" Lance asked, picking up his dog and rubbing the top of its head.
"Um. Nothing."
She collapsed in a chair and took a long drink of coffee.
~~~~~~~
The next day Beth decided to be proactive. She got up early, showered and was dressed before her phone rang. The snotty kids at Starbucks actually did a half-decent job this time. It was going to be a great day. She was going to surprise the guys with breakfast, sit in on a couple of conference calls and then go get her hair done.
Lance's neighborhood was quiet except for the hum of air conditioners and pool equipment. Quietly she punched in the code for the alarm and shut the door behind her. There weren't any lights on and it didn't seem like there was anyone in the kitchen. Softly she walked upstairs toward the bedrooms. When she got to the top of the landing she heard JC say something and then someone else reply.
She stopped in her tracks. Suddenly the plan to deliver coffee in bed didn't seem like a timely idea. Did JC have someone, a girl, in his room? Slowly she inched down the hallway telling herself to just go downstairs and wait, because whatever was going on in Lance's guest room was private and none of her business. Unfortunately her feet didn't get the message, because she kept walking toward the open door.
Noises were coming out of the room, but Beth couldn't turn back now. She peeked around the corner and quickly bit her lip so sound wouldn't escape. Through filtered sunlight she saw them. JC and Lance. Together. JC on top, Lance below, both of them a tangle of limbs and golden skin. She watched them move together, both of them oblivious to anything but each other until Lance cried out and broke her trance.
Beth turned away and started back down the hallway on shaking legs. Miraculously she kept a firm grip on the tray of coffee.
Quietly she went downstairs, set the alarm, got in her car and drove around the block to park at the playground. Her hands trembled as she reached over and grabbed one of the cups beside her. She took a large gulp, not caring whose it was. She sat there, the scene running over and over through her mind, leaving her shocked, horrified and turned on at the same time.
She didn't know how long she sat there, but suddenly her cell phone rang, making her spill cold coffee all over her steering wheel.
"Hey, honey. Can you get some more of those bagels this morning?"
Beth started laughing, hung up and didn't stop for a long time.
The end.
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