Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 20:58:55 EDT From: RinSong@aol.com Subject: The Reunion part2 Disclaimer: This story is a work of pure fiction. It is in no way meant to show that he members of 98 Degrees are homosexual. This is just a piece that I have had running around my head for a couple of weeks. Rating: R for mm relations. Thanks for the feedback guys! Keep hanging in there. You never know what my sick little mind might turn out on the next go around. Peace. RinSong@aol.com "Lunchtime!" Karen announced, walking into the room with her purse in one hand and her keys in the other. "Come on, you workaholic. I am famished!" With this said, she hauled Matt to his feet and proceeded to drag him towards the door. Matt just laughed and walked with her. "All right, all right! I can walk Karen. Just give me a minute to get myself together." "Hmpf! Get yourself together. You sound worse than I do," Karen said, crossing her arms over her chest as tapping her foot. "Ha! Stop that. You make it sound like I'm some cheap queen who can't have a single hair out of place. And stop tapping your foot at me. Let's go." "Cheap queen? You mean you're not?" "Bitch. Just walk." They both laughed together as they walked out of the office and onto Grand Blvd. This area of the city had seen some pretty rough times. But, since the Fox had its doors reopened in the mid eighties, it had cleaned up pretty well. There were quite a few cafes and restaurants up and down the street to accommodate the new businesses that had come in as well as the college students trying to grab a bite before having to get back to class. They picked out a small caf^Â that was located about a block down from the theater. It was a small place that they ate at fairly regularly. They lunch staff knew them and seated them in their normal seat by the front window. After they had placed their food orders and had their drinks, coffee for Karen and a Pepsi for Matt, Karen broke the silence. "So, if I'm not getting into something too dangerous here. How did you and Nick meet anyway. You never told me." Matt just looked at Karen for a couple of minutes and then laughed. "It's actually quite funny." "Well? Don't just leave me hanging. Tell me!" "All right. Well, we met as the result of a car accident..." Chapter 5 Matt was luxuriating in the feel of the wind on his face as he drove through mid-morning traffic in Cincinnati. He had come down to pick up an order that Laura had placed a few days ago. They both thought it would be quicker if one of them drove down and retrieved it. Instead of having to wait for the shipment to arrive. He was sitting at a stop light looking over the packing list from the company and trying to figure out if the had missed anything when he heard someone tooting their horn. He looked up and realized that the light had changed and started through it. It was at that moment that he heard to horn and the sound of brakes squealing. Matt quickly turned to his left just in time to see the red sports car collide with his front driver's side panel. He just sat there for a minute, stunned when he heard any angry voice call out. "What the hell do you think your doing, you idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed if not both of us!" Matt looked up and saw the driver of the other vehicle coming around the cars. He was pissed. But, so was Matt. What? Who does this moron think he is? "Excuse me? You are the one who ran the red light, not me," Matt replied, heatedly, climbing out of the suv he was driving. "I think you might want to change your attitude a bit." "What are you talking about? My light was green!" "I don't think so! I had the right of way, moron! Your light had just turned red!" "Um.....excuse me," a voice from behind Matt said quietly, placing a light touch on his arm. Both he and the other driver spun in the direction of the new voice. "But, his light was green," the young man said, indicating Matt. "I know it for a fact. I honked at him because it had changed and he was just sitting there reading something. It hadn't even changed to yellow before he pulled out. It was still green when you hit him." "Wait a sec, his light was green too," they heard from another voice coming for the other direction. "I saw the whole thing. I think the stop lights are broken. Look." The woman who had spoken indicated, and they look up at the light hanging over the intersection and noticed that the light did indicate the same color for both directions. "Oh, well this is just great!" the guy who had hit Matt said, turning and grinning at him. "Now whose fault is it?" God he is beautiful. Matt thought as he gazed into his bright blue eyes for a moment. "I think that they will consider this no ones fault." At just that moment the police arrived. After approximately twenty minutes or so, both of us had copies of the accident report and all of the necessary information. We had pulled our cars out of the intersection shortly after the police arriving and now stood on the curb next to our parked vehicles. Thankfully, both of them were drivable. All they would need is some body work. Finally Matt turned and held out his hand to the other man. "Well...," Matt said, looking down at the accident report quickly, realizing that he had never heard the man give his name. "Um, Nick. Sorry about everything. I hope that you can get your car fixed." Nick Lachey, where do I know that name from???? "Hey, no problem," Nick said, smiling at me and taking my hand. "Same to you. Maybe the next time we meet it will be under better circumstances." "Maybe," Matt laughed in agreement. "Well, take care. Bye." "See ya later," Nick said, climbing into his car and pulling away from the curb. Matt stood where he was for a few minutes wondering about the adorable man that he had just met. Once they had both realized that neither of them was truly at fault, they had quickly become nice to each other. Those eyes. He had the most beautiful eyes. ********** It was approximately a month later that they saw each other again. Matt was working in the store that he and his friend, Laura, ran together. Beads and Things was the brainchild of Laura, and Matt had moved out to Akron from St Louis MO to help her run it. He had been living in Akron for a little over a year by this time. Hopelessly single, but happy. Matt was busy trying to finish the display of new jewelry that had just arrived when he heard the front door open. Turning to greet the new customer, Matt came to a halt when he saw who it was. "You! Nick, hello! I honestly didn't ever expect to see you again. How are you doing? How's your car," Matt said, feeling like a complete and total loon for how idiotic he must sound. Nick just laughed and said, "I'm good. Car's fine. And, I must say that I am a bit hurt that you thought that of me." "I'm sorry. I have been doing that all day. I think something and say it before I can get my mouth under control," Matt said, embarrassed. He could feel the heat of the blush running up his face. Nick laughed again and looked at him with a peculiar twinkle in his eyes. "Here, I have someone I want you to meet," Nick said, walking over and opening the door to the shop. "Hey, guys, come in here for a sec." He closed the door and took a step back and smiled over at Matt. Just then the door opened and three other guys walked in. It was at that moment that Matt knew where he had heard Nick's name before. "Nick Lachey, now I remember! You guys are 98 degrees!" As soon as he had said it, Matt groaned and blushed all over again. Much to the total amusement of all four of the beautiful men standing in his shop. "Not again. I can not believe that I just did that!" "Hey, there's no need to be embarrassed," Jeff Timmons said, walking towards him, smiling and shrugging his shoulders. "We're used to it." The others just laughed while Matt turned an even deeper shade of red. He couldn't believe that he hadn't recognized Nick. After all, he had all of their cd's. Matt was a big fan of the "boy bands" and wasn't afraid to admit it either. Jeff reached out and offered to shake Matt's hand as Drew and Justin walked up behind him. "It's nice to meet the guy who smashed my brother's new car," Drew said, laughing and giving Nick an affectionate punch on the shoulder. "Thanks, sorry about the outburst. I promised myself that if I ever met anyone that I admired that I wouldn't act like a loon and the first time I do, sanity goes right out the window and I start acting like a fourteen year old girl at her first concert." Needless to say, this got all four of them laughing their heads off. At that moment Laura came walking back in. "Matt, having a party and didn't invite me?" "Laura! I didn't expect you in today," Matt said, walking around the guys and giving his friends a hug. "Come here chick. I got someone you need to meet." At that moment Laura's jaw dropped open and she stopped dead where she was. "Oh my God! You are not them!" Matt just groaned and blushed all over again. He opened his eyes to see the guys snickering and laughing all over again. "You know, Laura isn't it? Matt just said almost the exact same thing," Drew said, coming over and taking Laura's hand and kissing it lightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you." "Oh...um..thanks," was all she could get out. It was then that Matt turned and looked over at Nick who was smiling at him. "What?" Matt asked. "Oh, nothing," Nick said, walking over and leaning down to whisper in his ear. "I was just thinking about how cute you were when you blushed." "Oh! Um, thanks, I think. Nick, are you hitting on me?" Nick laughed and then turned red himself. After a moment he turned and looked at Matt, excitement and something else showing in his eyes. "Yeah, I guess I am." Matt caught his breath at that look. God, I have never been looked at like that before. This is too good to be true. "Oh, really, you want to keep going?" "Well, that depends on how far you want to go," Nick said, his voice low. He walked over and backed Matt into a corner and blocked him against the wall with his arms braced against it on either side of Matt's head. Just as he was leaning down towards Matt they heard someone clear their throat behind them. "Ahem! You guys want to get a room," Drew said, grinning widely while Jeff, Justin and Laura snickered behind him. Trying to cover their embarrassment, the two men just apologized quickly. It was in that moment that Nick turned and looked at Matt. "Is there someplace that we can go and talk quietly?" "Yeah, there is," Matt said. He walked over to the door and held it open. "Laura, since you're here, I am going out for a bit. You mind?" "Not at all," Laura replied, her eyes twinkling. "Have fun!" ************ Nick and matt left Laura and the guys back in the store and headed for the street. Once reaching the sidewalk Nick, stopped and took of a deep breath of the warm early summer air. He sighed and turned to Matt, saying, "Ah, that's better. I hate being cooped up inside on days like this, don't you?" "Wow! I hadn't realized that it had gotten this nice out here. It was rather chilly when I came in this morning," Matt said, shrugging out of the shirt he was wearing. He had on a white t-shirt underneath that clung to his well-defined chest and arms. Matt had a nice body and was not afraid to show it off. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Nick watching him. "Want to go for a ride," Nick asked, stepping off the curb and opening the door to his red Mustang convertible. It was in wonderful condition. Matt could not even tell that it had been involved in an accident. "Sure," Matt said, walking behind Nick and climbing into the passenger seat. "Where are we going?" Nick sat there for a moment and the, smiling shyly, he said, "I wanted to talk to you somewhere private. Anyplace that you can suggest?" "I know just the place," Matt said, feeling his heartbeat pick up. Oh, stop it! You're acting like a school girl who just got hit on by the captain of the football team! ************* Nick slowed the car down and pulled off to the side of the dirt road there were on. Stopping, he turned and looked at Matt just in time to see him climb out of the car. "Turn the car off and follow me," Matt said, closing the door. He walked around the front of the car and stopped at the start of what looked like a hiking trail. "Don't worry, the car will be fine. I come out here all of the time." Nick climbed out and walked over to where Matt was standing. He just stood there for a moment and smiled down at the shorter man. He is so beautiful. "Follow me," Matt said, breaking Nick out of his trance. He turned and started walking up the trail without so much as another work to Nick who just shrugged and followed. He's got a nice ass too. Approximately twenty minutes later, after traveling through some heavily wooded terrain, they walked out onto a small grass covered cliff. It overlooked a small valley with a stream running through it, already a riot of color with some wildflowers in bloom. Nick gasped in surprise. Matt laughed and said, " I know, It always does that to me too." Matt sat down on the grass and watched to breeze blow through the trees. After a couple of minutes, Nick sat down next to him and put his hand on Matt's thigh. "Look, an eagle," Nick told him, pointing off into the sky overhead. Matt nodded and placed his hand on top of Nick's, causing the other man to jump. "Oh! Sorry about that!" Matt just laughed as Nick pulled hand away and blushed. "What? You seemed about ready to jump my bones back at the store. But...hey! I see that I am not the only one that blushes easily." "Thanks," Nick mumbled, blushing even deeper than before. This caused Matt to laugh even harder as he realized that Nick's face now matched the red on the shirt he was wearing. "But, you're cute when you blush." "Hey, that's my line," Nick said, turning and pulling Matt towards him. He stopped just a few inches from his face. They sat there for a moment, just gazing into the others eyes. Then Nick closed the gap. Placing his mouth over Matt's he proceeded to kiss him until it was broken by Matt gasping for air. "Wow," matt said, his voice husky from lack of air and arousal. He looked up at Nick who was apologizing. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry! I have to idea what came over me. I'm not like this. You have to believe me!" Matt laughed and put his hand up over Nicks lips. "Shh, I understand. I normally don't do things like this either. But, there is just something about you." Nick grinned and said, "You mind if I kiss you again?" "If you don't, you might get hurt," Matt told him, his eye gleaming. Nick leaned in and pulled Matt to him rolling over on top of him in the process. He pressed his lips against the smaller man's and gently prodded at his lips with his tongue. Matt quickly opened up and let Nick explore his mouth his a vengeance. By the time they broke this kiss apart their arousal was evident through their pants. Nick reached forward and tried to undo Matt's pants but was stopped by Matt's hands. "No, not here." ************* "Hey!" Karen said, reaching across the table and smacking Matt on the arm. "You just got to the best part. Don't stop now." "I don't think so," Matt laughed. "There are some things that are better left unsaid. Besides, we need to get back to the office. We have been gone for over an hour." Karen sighed and picked up the tab and headed for the counter. "What's a woman to do? I can't get any from a man right now and my employees don't even want to share their sexual adventures with me." "Oh, stop it. You are beginning to sound like one of the melodramatic queens who hasn't gotten laid in a week and thinks their life is over." This got the two of them some surprised glances from the other patrons, which just caused both of them to start laughing as they walked out. Matt pondered his past as he and Karen walked back to the theater. I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn't slept with him that night. Would we have even started seeing one another?