Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 03:45:44 -0800 (PST) From: JB Subject: To Where Life Takes Me Chapter 1 (jb) (M rom) [1/?] Title: To Where Life Takes Me Author: JB (jbcs3@yahoo.com) Disclaimer:This work is fiction. All characters present within this story are property of the writer. Please contact me if you wish to put this story on your website. Also, if you are underage (18 or 21, depending on your location) or otherwise prohibited from viewing this material, please do not read this and go elsewhere. This is my first time writing something on my own without any specific prompts given to me like in school. As a result, constructive criticism, feedback, or questions is greatly appreciated. My email address is jbcs3@yahoo.com. Thanks and I hope you enjoy the story. To Where Life Takes Me Chapter One - An Introduction A young man straightened his tie as he ran down the staircase of his lavish house. Only at the young age of 18, Nick Myers lives a life that most people can only dream of. Generations ago, his great grandparents came to the United States and established themselves a small restaurant which they named "Clover". The small restaurant quickly became popular among the rich and privileged and as time passed, the small restaurant went through many renovations. As the restaurant expanded, so did the popularity. The new "Clover", in the present, is one of the most contemporary and upscale restaurant in Houston. The restaurant is still family owned, even to this very day. The current owners of Clover just happens to be the parents of Nick. As a result, the wealth accumulated over the years has grown giving the Myers family a very comfortable lifestyle. Midway down the stairs, Nick spotted Jeff who was close to the entrance of the house. "Hey, Jeff? When's the party starting again?" Nick asked the family's long time butler. "Your parents said you needed to be at the restaurant by 7:00," Jeffrey responded. "Ah shit, looks like I'm gonna be like 30 minutes late," Nick said looking his watch and reading 7:00. "Man, I wished mom and dad didn't force me to attend Rice University so I wouldn't have had to stay here in Houston. Houston traffic sucks!" "Well, the car's outside waiting for you, sir. Oh, you may want to check your tie again," Jeff reminded him. "Ugh, you'd think after putting this stupid thing on so many times since I was born, I'd eventually get it," complained Nick. Nick walked over to the bathroom just below the left stairs of the double staircase that led to the second floor of their house. He looked at himself in the mirror. Nick examined himself carefully wincing at the sight. "Huh, it was crooked," he said to himself silently. He was wearing his newly tailored black suit with a black dress shirt underneath. His tie was metallic silver and his shoes were also black. He always loved wearing black. He frowned knowing that he wasn't going to enjoy the rest of the night. He hated going to the parties that his parents made him go to. There was never anyone interesting, he thought. Nick stands just slightly below 6 feet tall. He has brunette hair and amazing blue green eyes that sparkle like the ocean waters during midday. Underneath all that clothing, Nick had a swimmer's build. He wasn't too muscular and he liked that. He was proud of his body after putting in so many gym hours just to get it the way he wanted it to be. Ever since he was born, he was always an attractive child, men and women thought so. After straightening everything, Nick exited the bathroom and double checked everything. He had his wallet, keys, and of course, his favorite gum, Icebreakers, with him. His parents always hated his gum addiction. Everywhere he went, he always had his Icebreakers, even his friends know it and as a result, he's constantly the source of relief for any gum necessities. Nick hurriedly exited the house leaving the door open for Jeff to close. He sighed as he waved goodbye to Jeff who was standing at the doorway of house. He got into the BMW 740i that was waiting for him in the circle driveway. "Good evening, Nick," greeted the driver as he pulled out of the of the driveway and out of the property's gates. "Hey Dave," Nick retorted. "Not looking' forward to the party, huh?" asked Dave. "Nope, not at all. What's it for this time anyhow? Mom never tells me anything." "I heard it was a party for the launch of some artist's new album or something like that." "Oh fun, another one of those. Last time I went to one of those album launch parties, it was the one for Beyonce's solo album. That was actually kinda fun." Nick smiled remembering meeting Beyonce for the first time. "Yeah, Beyonce even gave me an autographed copy of her album." "Ah, hmm. I think this one's for some new artist named Adam Barnes." "Well, let's hope this one would be at least kinda fun." Nick thought out loud. `And maybe some cute guys too...' Nick hoped silently. He looked outside his window as the car traveled closer and closer to the restaurant. He wished he was driving his own car instead of being chauffeured, but he never really minded Dave's company. Dave's the second of the two drivers that the family hired. He was mostly a part time worker seeing as he's usually only responsible for driving Nick around. `The good thing about being driven around is that I can actually just observe the places that I pass.' Nick thought. He loved just watching people. Not in some scary stalker kind of way, but he loved to sometimes just sit in a quaint little coffee shop and just watch the cars and people pass by. That's the one thing he loved about Houston, the diversity of the people. Of course, the traffic sucks. "We should be there before 7:30, Nick," said Dave, interrupting the silence. "Okay, at least the traffic's not so bad around this time. And sorry about making you wait. I just couldn't get this damn tie straight." Nick apologized. "Hah! You owe me one, dude," Dave said while chuckling. Nick sighed. The drive to Clover usually wasn't long. It usually took Nick 15 minutes to get from the River Oaks mansion to the restaurant which was located in the Upper Kirby area. However, during rush hour, it took around 25 minutes to get to the restaurant since everyone's either trying to go home or find some place to eat. The rest of the car ride was silent with the exception of the music of Mixx 96.5 playing in the background. `This is going to be a looong night' Nick thought. He readied himself for the night's events while staring out the window in an almost dreamlike state. The dreamlike state was broken when he realized the car was pulling up to the front of the restaurant. "Here we are, man," explained Dave. "Yep, here we go," said Nick with a reluctant sigh. `Cute guys, cute guys, cute guys...' thought Nick, smiling as he got out of the car. Nick was greeted by the flash of the camera lights when he exited the car. The first time Nick went to of these socialite type of events, he was surprised by all the media attention. He was never comfortable in the eyes of the public, but he's gotten used to it, accepted it. As soon as he started to walk thru the little red carpet leading to the very stylized restaurant, he was asked a barrage of questions. "Nick, Nick, do you know who this artist is?" asked a reporter. "Nick! Do you like his music?" asked another. "Nick! Is it true that you're gay?!?!," asked one more. That question made Nick stumble a little bit as he walked by. He's always known that he was never attracted very much to girls. Even throughout high school, he never dated very much. He was a popular kid during this years, and even now he still maintains a close friendship with many of the people he met in high school. Still, Nick with his good looks and charms, was liked by many girls and some of the guys. He played the `straight' role for a little bit. Dating here a girl here and there, but never doing anything more than a kiss with them. With the exception of his circle of friends, not a lot of people knew about Nick's family's wealth and he liked it that way. He figured people could actually like him for who he actually is instead of being friends with him just so they can get into the best places all around town. `Ugh, god damn reporters. Can't mind their own fucking business,' thought Nick. Nick was ushered into the restaurant where familiar sights and sounds filled his senses. Everywhere he looked he saw people dressed almost exactly alike. Most of the men were wearing suits and most women were wearing that little black dress that's become so very popular lately. Nick took a glass of champagne from the passing caterer holding a tray of champagne filled glasses as he made his way through the crowds. He made his way over to where his parents were talking with what seemed like a possible investor. "Hi Mom, Dad," Nick said as he paid his formalities. "Hey, kid. Took ya long enough to get here," his dad replied. "Nice to see you honey," his mom replied. Nick took the initiative and shook the hand of the pudgy man who his parents were talking to. "Hi, my name is Nicholas Myers," he said as he shook the man's hand. "Pleased to meet you, Nick," the man said as he grinned. "I've been looking forward to meeting you for so long. Your parents talk about you all the time. Oh, where are my manners. *laughs* My name is Calvin Holmes." `Great, time to play nice.' Nick thought as he gave his best fake smile. "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom," Nick said to escape. Mr. Holmes just laughed as if he realized he was making Nick uncomfortable. Nick passed the time by saying his formalities to all the guests in the party. He knew a lot of these people were friends of his parents, so he had to make a good impression. Sometimes Nick thought that being born into wealth was a curse, not a blessing. Tired of the party scene, Nick went outside to the terraces on the second floor of the restaurant. He absolutely loved this view. When he was out there on a clear night, he could see the stars just sparkling like diamonds placed on the midnight blue canvas of the night sky. If he looked to his right, he could see the bright lights of the skyscrapers in downtown Houston. He smiled as he remembered just how beautiful Houston can really be especially if you're traveling at night on the 59 or 45 freeways and the skyline composed of the many skyscrapers with the various lights seems to go by in a blur. He took a sip of the champagne he had in right hand. "Aren't you too young to be drinkin' that?" asked a soft tenor voice from behind Nick. "Excuse me?" Nick asked as he turned around. The sight of the man behind him made him weak at his knees. There stood in front of him, the epitome of beauty. Nick estimated his height to be around 6'2 and thought he looked like he was in his late 20`s. He had short blonde hair, and the bluest eyes Nick's ever seen that was accentuated by the man`s high cheekbones and jaw line. Nick could tell right away that the man was slightly muscular, but just the perfect amount of muscle and definition. Enough muscle to make any shirt taut over the chest area to hint of hard worked pectorals and a slim waist that was probably size 30. He was wearing a blue dress shirt with black pants and black shoes. He looked slightly out of place from the rest of the people in the restaurant. "You, too young, that's champagne, is it not?" asked the man. "Oh! This, um, yeah, it's champagne, but my parents don't mind as long as I only have one glass. They've been letting me drink this since I was sixteen and started going to these types of things." rambled Nick. The man just grinned, moving towards the terrace's end where he leaned on the marble that formed the railings. "I just had to get outta there," the man explained. Nick joined him along, trying his best not to look at the temptation standing right beside him. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he said while peering at the view of the rest of Upper Kirby. There they stood for a few minutes in silence as if basking in the view in front of them. It was a nice comfortable silence, not one of these silences where you're expecting someone to say something or don't know what to say. "So, just exactly how old are ya, kid?" asked the man, breaking the silence. "18," Nick replied. "Ah," the man said. Slight pause, "My name's Josh. Josh Bell." "Nice to meet you, my name's Nick Myers." retorted Nick. "Wait, are you the son of the owners?" he asked. "The youngest one, yeah," Nick said after thinking about his older brother, Steve. More silence followed the short exchange of words between the two. "Niiiiick," cried a woman's voice. "Damn, that's my mom. I've been spotted," Nick said as if complaining. His mom approached the two. She gave Josh an acknowledging smile. "Come on Nick, the music guys are about to start," she said. "Fine, mom. I'm coming," he replied back. Nick turned toward Josh, "I guess I'll see ya later." "Nice meetin' ya too, kid," Josh said and followed it with a small chuckle. `Damn, I didn't even to talk to him for that long.' thought Nick as he was getting dragged through the crowds by his mother. He was led to the back of the restaurant where a small stage was located. He knew that this new artist would be playing soon. All Nick could do was hope that the set was actually pretty acceptable. Nick wasn't hard to impress when it came he music. He could basically listen to anything except for like really heavy metal. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for adding the launch party of Adam Barnes' new CD, "Eternity"!" said a short bald headed man in the middle of the stage. "Now here's the man of the hour, Adam Barnes!" Nick looked to the right side of the stage where a guy about 22 years old made his toward the stage carrying his acoustic guitar. He had that kind of classic skater look. That same look that many punk and rock music people seem to love wearing. Tight t-shirt, jeans, belt with silver studs, and a leather wrist bracelet was what he was wearing. You could tell that he was a pretty good looking guy. He had black hair, around 5'8, and had brown eyes. Just from how his clothes fit, you can automatically see that he was pretty thin yet his muscles were clearly defined. "Hey, everyone. Thanks again for coming. I'm gonna play a few songs for y'all if y'all don't mind," he said. And he did. He was actually pretty good. He was like a weird mix of John Mayer and Jason Mraz. Nick made his way over to the table where Adam was giving away signed CD's. "Hey man, I liked your set," Nick said. "Thanks, dude. I felt kind of weird playing that type of music in this type of restaurant," he said with a laugh. He gave Nick a signed copy of the CD. "Enjoy." "I will! Thanks again," Nick said and flashed Adam a smile. `Huh, he's actually pretty cute. Wonder if he's going to stay here in Houston for a little bit' Nick pondered. Nick wandered around the restaurant, hoping to catch Josh around still. With avail, Nick headed for the bathroom. He did his business and just as he was exciting, there was Josh. "Hey, long time no see," kidded Josh. They both laughed. "Well, excuse me, gotta do what I gotta do." And with that he made his way over to the urinals. Nick shook his head just headed straight out to where his parents were. Most of the guests by this time had left already. The restaurant seemed somewhat empty now with only about 30 people instead of the 150 that was earlier. "Mom, can I leave now?" asked Nick. "Sure honey, your dad and I will see you at the house," his mom said. With that, Nick took out his cell phone and dialed a familiar number. "Hey Dave? Can you pull around to the front and pick me up now please?" he inquired. Nick waited patiently outside under the canopy of the night sky. "Huh, we've gotta stop meeting like this," a familiar voice said. "Oh, hey Josh. I'm just waiting for my car." Nick said. "Ah. Rich boy's chauffeur late?" he asked with a laugh. "I'm just kidding ya." He smiled warmly. Nick felt like he would melt if Josh kept smiling. He couldn't help but blush a little bit. Nick lowered his head hoping Josh wouldn't notice the effect he was having on Nick. A black BMW 740i pulled up. "Well, this is me. I guess I'll see you around," said Nick, almost regretfully. "Yeah, I'll see you around," replied Josh, still flashing Nick his wonderful smile. With a wave goodbye, Nick got into the car. `What the hell am I thinking? He's way too old for me' he thought. "So, how was the party?" questioned Dave. Staring into the night sky remembering the moments he had with Josh, Nick replied, "Great, just great..." End of Chapter 1 - Introduction =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Comments, Questions, Suggestions - jbcs3@yahoo.com I know this was a little slow, but I felt I had to introduce Nick and give some background at the same time so you could related to him better.