Lance Bass and Michael Turchin: Our Love Story (original) (raw)

It’s a love story that was almost never written.

Lance Bass and his fiancé Michael Turchin are set to wed Saturday evening, but their journey towards the aisle actually began – or, rather, almost didn’t begin – four years ago when the two started a friendship that neither thought would become anything more.

“We just started talking and began hanging out as friends,” Turchin tells PEOPLE of connecting with Bass on Facebook after meeting him at a friend’s birthday celebration in Palm Springs, California.

But Turchin’s feelings for the former ‘NSYNC member grew into something more.

“I am so shy and never would have made the first move. I was thinking, ‘This is Lance Bass. I grew up watching him on TV and listening to his music.’ That just added a whole other layer of intimidation,” the artist says of why he kept Bass in the friend zone.

Bass, 35, agrees that he and Turchin, 27, “became best friends overnight” and also admits he felt the need to keep his romantic desires private.

“I was attracted to him and wanted things to go further but I was convinced he wasn’t into me,” Bass says. “So I focused on becoming such good friends that I wouldn t be able to look at him in any other way.”

It didn’t work.

“We spent every day together for a month before I did it, but I finally went in for that first kiss,” says Bass.

“It was just so organic and not a forced situation,” adds Turchin. “We just knew each other so well by the time we got to that point. We had a great foundation to build upon.”

Shortly after their friendship turned romantic, Bass found himself moving across the country to New York City.

“The first few months we were dating, we would spend a couple of weeks apart at a time,” Bass says. “That separation really does let you get to know each other because you are always on the phone and texting each other.”

Aside from Turchin’s sense of humor, Bass says he also knew his fiancé was the one for him when he saw how well Turchin handled his hectic Hollywood schedule.

“Out of all my past relationships, I’ve had no one who could really handle my lifestyle,” says Bass. “But Michael understands my crazy life and he fits perfectly into it. He’s the support system that I need.”

And the feeling is mutual.

“I started out in my art career a couple of years ago and I think half the success I’ve had is due to the support Lance has given me,” says Turchin. “He’s just such an incredible person. I couldn’t imagine waking up next to anybody else.”

In fact, the couple would even go as far as to say that they are “in sync.”

“That phrase is forever ruined by the way,” Turchin tells Bass. The former boy band member responds with a laugh: “Sorry.”