Only He Holds The Key 2

We walked into the conference room, and I didn't like what I saw. There were 7 men in dark suits seated around a table. "I wonder what we did wrong?" I whispered to Scott, who only shrugged his shoulders.

"Have a seat boys, we need to talk to you guys about something" said a large man in a black suit wearing thick, dark rimmed glasses. We looked at each other and took the seats in front of us.

"We'd like to talk about your performance out there tonight, it was, well it was amazing. You had the audience captivated from the moment you took the stage to the time you left. That kind of reaction from a relatively unknown local band is extremely rare to say the least. When we do see that kind of following though, we are compelled to capitalize on it. I just got out of a conference call with the Boys management, The Firm, and their record label Jive. We're willing to offer you a full contract as well as put you on tour with the Backstreet Boys right away..."

He was interrupted by another suit. "As you know, this isn't something we usually do, but we are under some unusual circumstances at the moment. The Boy's opening act is leaving to tour with another band, and the replacement we had lined up won't be able to make it for the tour."

"We're going to talk some more with Jive and The Firm, then we'll have the lawyers draw up the contracts. Right now we can only offer you a spot on the tour. Later on, once Jive gets a chance to view your concert footage, you may be offered a record deal." the man continued.

"So, what do you guys think?" he asked.

We look at each other and shouted "Yes!" in unison.

"Great, I'll call you when we get the contracts finalized, and we will be able to get more info to you."

After thanking the men and telling them good-bye, we quickly got out of our seats and ran towards the door before they could change their minds. "I guess we should head out to the van now" Brian suggested.

"Yeah, there's not much else we can do until the contracts get back," I stated with a grin.

"Except for a celebration!" screamed Scott.

"Um, I'm thinking no." I said. He put his head down, and his medium length, light brown hair fell down to cover his deep brown eyes. I was more or less the unofficial boss of the group. I kept up with all of our schedules and what we needed and where we had to be. Occasionally I would have to keep the guys out of trouble, but not very often, as we weren't a stereotypical rock band. We weren't into drugs or alcohol, but occasionally one of the guys would get a little tipsy.

"How about we wait until we are actually under contract?" I suggested.

"I guess." he said softly. I looked into his eyes. 'He has the most beautiful eyes,' I thought. What the hell am I thinking? He's not even gay, and more than that he's my best friend. "Let's get out of here before the traffic gets bad" I said, stepping into 'leader' mode. I looked up and saw Scott staring at me, and when he saw me he quickly looked away. 'Why is he acting so weird now?' I asked my self.

We finally found our way to the exit after navigating the huge maze of halls in the gigantic arena.

After we left the conference room, the men assembled there continued to discuss us. "We need to get them signed to us immediately!" one of the men shouted to the others. "They have the potential to be one of the biggest acts in this country, screw the country, they could be one of the hottest bands in the world."

"Okay, I understand, thank you Sir," said the man in the large glasses as he hung up the phone with the big boss then addressed the group. "He said they had better have full contracts by Monday, or our jobs are in jeopardy."

He paused for a second to let it sink in then continued "let's get the Boys in here after the show to discuss their new opening act with them."

By the time we were finished with our conversation in the arena hallway, the crew had already packed up our gear for us, and we headed back to my place.

When we arrived at my house (if you remember is our unofficial headquarters,) we were all still pumped up from the news of us going on tour. "I can't believe this is happening to us. A national tour, this is what I've dreamed about forever" I said, the excitement clearly showing in my green eyes as I was practically bouncing off the walls. I quickly went over to Scott and pulled him into a big hug.

"Dude, settle down" James said laughing at my hyperness. "You don't even know any details about this. We haven't signed the contract either."

"Well, the crowd did love us. I seriously doubt that they would lie about giving us a contract." Scott commented.

"Aww hell, we do deserve it. Group hug!" James shouted.

After an hour or so of talking about getting our first contracts, touring, and our future in the music industry, we were all worn out. "I think I'm gonna get home, I need my beauty sleep." Brian said.

'No you don't' I thought to myself. Brian always had the girls going after him - nearly as many as I did, but he was actually interested in them unlike me. You know the type, short black hair spiked up with gel, about 6' tall and in really good shape. The cute 'boy next door' look. "Alright dude" I said, "I'll see ya later."

Not long after that, the rest of the guys decided to go home as well. I stayed up watching MTV, thinking that one day I might end up on there. Then my thoughts turned to Nick Carter. I had almost had a heart attack when I saw him in person for five minutes today, what was I going to do during a 3 month tour? As I drifted off to sleep I was thinking about what it would be like to hold Nick, stroking his soft blond hair.

Meanwhile, at the Backstreet Boys concert, the Boys were just leaving the stage after their final encore and were heading towards their dressing room.

"That was a hot crowd tonight!" Howie proclaimed.

"Yeah, I hope the rest of the tour goes this well," AJ added.

Then a head popped in the door. "Guys, we need to see you in the conference room in 5."

"What the hell is this? There wasn't a meeting planned." Kevin shouted.

"The quicker we go, the quicker we can get it over." Brian said.

"I wonder what it's about, I thought we did pretty well out there tonight." Nick said.

"There's no time like the present," Kevin grumbled as he motioned the Boys out of the room. They found their way to the conference room and opened the door.

"Come on in guys," said the man in the large glasses, whose name turned out to be Rick Thomas.

"What's this about Rick?" asked AJ, who was anxious to hit some of the hot Dallas clubs.

"Well we just wanted to know what you guys thought about Weathered, the band that opened for you tonight?" asked Rick.

"I think they were really good, now what do you want us for?" asked Brian.

"I'm getting there. Well, we're also impressed with them, and after a long call with management and some executives with Jive and the Firm, they are extremely interested in them. We're going to sign them and they're going to join you on tour and fill in as your new opening act." Rick told them. Nick quickly looked up when he heard this. 'Well, maybe I'll have a chance to meet the guitarist, I think his name was Mark. He seemed really nice' Nick thought to himself. 'At the very least we might be able to become good friends, but hopefully we could...'

"NICK, GET YOUR ASS UP. NOW." Kevin screamed at him waking him out of his daydreams of Mark. "The meeting has been over for ten minutes, and what are you smiling about?"

"Um, nothing." Nick said as he looked down, blushing.

"Well, let's go see what that club Deep Elum is all about." AJ said as they were headed out the door.

"Okay everybody, go get showered and changed, and we'll meet out at the limo in 30 minutes" Kevin told the guys.

"Man, that was awesome, did you see when that chick..." Howie said, as they rode in the limo back to the hotel after leaving the club, recounting the same story that he had told them several times already. Nick started his daydreaming again. 'Wow, Weathered on tour with us' Nick thought, 'I'm gonna make sure I finally talk to him when they join us. Maybe I'll get to see him without his shirt at a hotel pool, dripping wet with only a pair of shorts on. Or better yet, maybe I'll be able see him come out of the shower, I wonder what he looks like without any...' "NICK, what's come over you? We've been at the damn hotel for 5 minutes, would you like to join us, or do you want to sleep in the limo tonight?" Kevin asked exasperated.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something", Nick explained.

"Yeah, whatever. Are you coming?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming" he mumbled thinking 'I wonder what it would be like if me and Mark were to...' slipping into his dream again. "HELLO!" Kevin shouted again, waving his hand in front of Nick's face.

The group battled their way through the group of fans and eventually found the hotel lobby. Surrounded by security, they entered the elevator as it began to ascend towards their private floor. "Guys", Kevin began as they exited the elevator," You need to get up at 7:00. We have a photo shoot at 8:30, and at noon we have an interview with some local radio station. At 4:00 we need be packed up and on the bus. No complaining, just be ready." Kevin made his way to his room and entered.

"I say we throw him out the window," Brian joked.

"Too bad he doesn't have a mute button," Howie added.

"Well, you heard the captain, we probably should be getting to sleep. Especially you," Brian said, pointing to AJ, "I've never seen anyone who can go clubbing like you. Goodnight guys."

With that, the guys slowly went towards their rooms. Nick stopped at his door and pulled his key card out of his pocket. The green light on the door lit up and he opened the door. 'It sure would be nice to have a room to share with somebody' Nick thought to himself with a smile.

The next four days went by at a snail's pace for the members of Weathered. They still hadn't heard anything about their contract or the tour.

RING. RING. 'Who would be calling at 6:30 in the morning I thought to myself.' RING. "Hello."

"Hello, may I speak to Mark Phillips please." the voice asked.

"This is him."

"Hi, I'm calling from Jive records. We sent you plane tickets to LA, and you should receive them via UPS today. When you get to LAX, we'll have transportation ready for you there. I'm sorry about the short notice, but we can't schedule the management and lawyers to meet you in Dallas, and the Backstreet Boys have a few days off in LA, so you can meet about the contract here. Once again I'm sorry about the short notice. Have a nice day." With that she hung up.

I called all of the guys and told them about the change of plans. The tickets arrived later that day, and we were scheduled to leave in two days, which was Friday. The next two days passed much faster with all of the excitement and packing.

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep... I finally managed to hit the snooze button, stopping the alarm. Today was the big day, the big meeting in LA. I managed to pull myself out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. After taking a shower I headed to the kitchen for some breakfast. Just then I heard the doorbell ring. 'Who in the hell is that?' I thought. I opened the door to find my fellow bandmates with their luggage standing at the door.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"What do you mean 'what are we doing here'? Duh! We're riding to the airport with you." Scott said.

"Oh crap. Come in. I totally forgot about that. Sorry."

"Yeah, yeah. Hurry up. We have to be at the airport in 45 minutes." James said.

I sat at the table eating my Lucky Charms while the guys talked. I finished up and said, "I'm done. Let's go."

The drive to the airport was rather uneventful. I found a parking place and we unloaded our luggage. We found some seats and waited for our flight to be called. "Flight 1837 to Los Angeles is now boarding first class passengers" a voice said over the PA system. We got up and boarded the plane. We still couldn't believe that they were flying us in first class. I mean, come on, who were we? No one. Oh well, I didn't complain. I fell asleep shortly after take off and about two and a half hours later, I was awakened by the captain telling us to fasten our seatbelts, put our trays up, yada, yada, yada. We stepped into the airport and saw a man approach us.

"Are you the guys from Weathered?" he asked.

"Um, yeah, that's us." I told him.

"This way." he motioned for us to follow him. "Your luggage is already in the car."

We followed him and got into the large black Suburban he drove. "Okay, first I'm going to take you guys to your hotel. Your meeting is at 3:00. Meet me in the lobby at 2:45 and I'll show you to the conference room. It's in the hotel, so I just need to show you where it is. Got it?"

"Yeah, we've got it." James answered.

After we arrived at the hotel, we found our way to our rooms and began to unpack. Scott and I shared a room, and Brian and James were sharing the other. One thing they forgot to tell us was when we would be returning to Dallas. When I was done packing I sat down and turned on the TV, and shortly after that Scott sat down and joined me. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was already 2:40. "We better get out there," I told Scott. I got up and grabbed my key card while he turned off the TV. We headed out the door. As I stepped into the hallway, Brian and James were already waiting by the elevator.

"It's about time. We were about to drag you two out of that room." Brian told me.

"Well, we're here now, so let's go." We got on the elevator and descended towards the lobby. When we got off of the elevator, the same man that drove us from the airport greeted us.

"If you'll follow me, gentlemen." We followed him until we came to a door that was labeled as 'Conference Room 14'. He opened the door and told who ever was waiting inside that we were there. "Go in guys." he said with a smile as he went back towards the lobby.

We entered the room and found a large oak table with three men and one woman sitting at it. "Come on in guys," said the man with the glasses. "You remember me, I'm Rick Thomas. This right here is Jim Richards, our lawyer. To his right is Sally Cotterman, she's from Jive records. And this right here is Pat Hestla. Both Pat and I are from The Firm, the guy's management team. Please take a seat boys."

We all took our seats and introduced ourselves and waited for someone to speak. Finally Sally spoke up. "Hello guys. I've heard a lot about you, all good, too" she said with a smile. "We have had several meetings about you, and we have decided that we would like to sign you to a record deal." She slid each of us a thick contract. "This is a pretty standard contract, and Mr. Richards can explain it to you."

After being bored to death by twenty minutes of 'lawyer talk', we signed the contracts. Then Pat spoke, "Well guys, with all of the legal mumbo jumbo out of the way, let's talk about the tour. Your first show is going to be next Friday in Denver. We are going to provide you with new gear, so you don't have to worry about that. I have also heard that the secretary that called you with the arrangements failed to mention that you were coming on tour immediately. So, we will provide you money for clothing and personal things that you may need." He talked about 15 more minutes before they left and a sound technician came in.

He talked to each of us individually about what kind of gear we needed. He came to me last. "So, what are you going to need?"

I ended up telling him to set 3 PRS guitars, a MESA/Boogie triple rectifier, and Fender Twin, some MESA cabs, and a bunch of other incredible gear I always wanted.

We were all happy about the outcome of the meeting, and we decided to celebrate by going out to dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel.

"So, what can I get for you guys?" asked a rather cheerful waitress as we were seated at the table.

"I'll have a cheeseburger with no lettuce, tomatoes, or onions. And a coke, please." I told her. Brian, Scott, and James then ordered their meals. After we ordered, I got up to use the bathroom. Turning the corner, I crashed into something large enough to knock me down. I hit the ground and saw a hand sticking out to help me up. I grabbed it and got back to my feet. I noticed a pair of beautiful blue eyes and amazing blonde hair when I regained my senses.

"Nick?" I asked, with my hand covering my face to inspect for any damage.

"Um, yeah, and you are?" he asked.

"Oh, you probably don't remember me, but we opened for you about a week ago in Dall..."

"MARK!" he shouted loud enough that half of the restaurant turned to see us. "Oh, of course I remember you. I've been thinking about yo… I mean yeah. So what are you doing in LA?"

"Well, we just finalized our contracts to go on tour with you guys. And guess what? We also got…"

"Come on Nick. We're going to be late." a voice yelled, interrupting us.

"Well, I guess you have to go," I said, feeling rejected.

"Yeah, we have some lame magazine interview to do. Hey, are you staying at this hotel?"

"Yeah, why?"

"How about later tonight we can get some coffee or do something?" he asked with what looked to be nervousness in his eyes. I could get lost just staring into those eyes. I quickly shook myself out of it.

"Yeah, that would be great. I'm in room 814."

"Awesome, can I meet you there, at, say 8:30?"

"Sure, I'll see you there."

He left to join up with the rest of the guys, and I went towards the restroom. I came back to the table with a huge smile.

"Why are you so happy?" asked Brian.

"Guess who I just saw?" I asked them.

No response.

"Nick Carter."

"Um, okay. And your point is?" asked James.

"Well, he asked me if I wanted to go out tonight...to do...stuff."

"Oh, I get it! You've got a hot date." Scott said with a smile.

"Yeah right. I wish. We were over there talking and he had an interview that he had to go to, so he asked me if I wanted to go out and get coffee or something."

"If you say so..." Brian said with a grin.

Our food arrived and I attacked my cheeseburger. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was starved. I looked at my watch, 5:41. I had just under three hours until our 'date.' We finished our dinner and I paid the bill. I then ran up to the room Scott and I shared and jumped in the shower. By the time I had taken my shower, shaved, and gotten my hair perfect, it was already 7:45. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to find the perfect thing to wear. Damn. Most of my clothes were still at my house in Dallas.

"Hey Scott?" I said going towards the couch.

"What's up?" he asked. "You better hurry, it's already 8:15."

"I can't find anything to wear. Do you mind if I look through your clothes?"

He faked a sigh and said with a smile, "Yeah, just don't get anything, ya know, dirty."

"Shut up. I wish it was like that, but no."

"Better hurry up pretty boy."

I went towards Scott's bags and dug until I found the perfect thing to wear. I had my short blond hair gelled up, and I had on a pair of cargo pants and a really cool blue shirt from Mark. Just as I got the shirt on and sprayed some cologne, I heard a knock at the door. I heard voices in the other room as Scott came in my room.

"Your date is here," he whispered with a smile.

I gave him a dirty look and went out to see Nick. He looked great. He was wearing a pair of khaki pants and a nice button down shirt.

He looked at me with a smile and asked, "You ready?"

'Oh yeah, I'm always ready for you', I thought. "Yeah, let's rock," I smiled at him, as we walked out the door.