One Dark Night
by Rob
Standard Disclaimer: This story is a complete work of fiction. The author does not know the members of *Nsync or any other celebrities who may just happen to appear in the following fictitious account, and certainly does not have the slightest clue as to their sexual orientation. Quite frankly, the author does not care, although one does always love to speculate! Again, the scenes that follow are taken solely from the author's overactive imagination, are most definitely not true, and do not make any implications about the sexuality of the persons named. On another note, if reading such stories that depict relationships between men is illegal in your area, you are under the age of 18, or viewing such stories is against any beliefs you may have, stop reading and go do something else. Last, but certainly not least, if you are looking for a story with tons of steamy sex scenes, stop reading. You won't find a lot of that here either. Now with that said, enjoy the show!!
Last time...
"If I have to sing one more note, I think my voice will give out," Mandy said.
"Well, considering how much singing you and Will are doing, I'm not surprised," Karri said.
"What are you saying?" Mandy asked.
"Just that you two seem to have more solo time than the rest of us. I mean, Will I understand, but you?" Karri said.
"Are you jealous?"
"No, it's just that it seems a little out of balance, that's all."
"Uh, we haven't gone through all the songs," I said, coming up behind them. "Actually, we only went through, like, six of them."
"It was more like ten, but who's counting?" Karri said. "Anyway, whatever."
"Well, if you'd rather not do this," I began, "you can always leave. Contract isn't final yet."
"Nah. Don't mind me. I'm just having a moment. You understand what it's like, right Will?"
"And that's supposed to mean what?" I asked.
"Uh, nothing. I mean, um, well, just that—oh, forget it! Man, are we all uptight today or what?"
"Nope. Just you," Mandy said before stalking off.
I sighed. "We've barely started and we're already fighting. This is so not good."
Chapter Twenty: Feeling Lost
Since I was rather adverse to the idea of Johnny really having any clue as
to where I lived, I asked the guys politely if they minded driving themselves
and their stuff back to Baltimore rather than having Johnny or Eric or whomever
come get them. Yes, I knew that they already had my address, but they would
still have to try to find the place without directions, and the thought of
them getting lost in the back roads of Baltimore County made me laugh.
The guys had arrived back at my house in good time and silently packed their
bags up to leave. They had told Eric that they would be back at their original
hotel by three o'clock that afternoon, and considering how long it had
taken Justin to get ready, they were already going to be pushing their luck
getting there on time. Fortunately, it was a Saturday, which meant very little
traffic, even for downtown Baltimore.
Joey had to take a moment and stare at the empty living room before he shut
the door. He kept telling himself over and over again that this was not good-bye,
but jusqu'à la prochaine fois—until next time. Hearing
Lance call his name, he turned, ran down the stairs, and across the yard before
getting into the car. He sighed inaudibly as Lance drove my car down the drive.
Since there wasn't enough space in the car that they had rented on Wednesday
for all of them and their stuff, I had offered to Joey use of my car. I would
ride with Jerrica and Mandy and pick it up on our way down to work.
After some minutes of silence, Lance asked the other occupants—Joey
and Josh—a question. "So, are either of you ready to get back to
the ol' grind?"
"In some ways yes, and in some ways no," Josh replied. "I
love performing and all, but for a moment there, life actually seemed, well,
normal. It was kind of nice."
"Yeah," Joey agreed. "No hordes of screaming fans, no life
scheduled down to the last minute, no Eric breathing down our necks."
"And Will," Lance interjected.
"And Will," Joey repeated. "Can't forget him." After
a moment of silence passed, he said, "Man, I miss him already."
"Sad, isn't it Lance?" Josh said from the backseat, trying
desperately not to laugh. "It only took an hour or so for Joey to become
completely pathetic."
"Knock it off, Josh," Joey retorted as he rolled his eyes.
"Ouch. Someone's touchy," Josh said, but the smile on his
face hadn't wavered. After all, the good-natured prodding that the five
often engaged in wasn't taken seriously by anyone. "Keep that sullen
look on your face, Joey, and maybe Eric will take one look at it and decide
to leave us alone."
"We can only dream, right?" Lance said. "At least we have
one way to finally keep that man in line."
"Jerrica, or the threat thereof," Josh said. "I thank God
every day for her for that simple reason."
Joey muttered something inaudible at the mention of Jerrica's name,
and neither Josh nor Lance dared to ask Joey to repeat himself for neither
was really sure they wanted to know what he had said anyway. "So Lance," Joey
said, attempting to change the subject, "what's the schedule for
the rest of the day?"
"Well," Lance said, "we have to check in with Eric once
we get to the hotel, and Josh has an appointment with the doctor, and..."
"Doctor?!" Josh exclaimed. "What's this about a doctor?"
"Uh, hello? Dude, you have to get cleared by the doctor before you
can go back to performing," Lance replied.
"I'm fine," Josh said. "I don't need a doctor
to tell me that."
"Sorry man," Joey said. "I don't think you get a
choice in the matter."
Josh sat back and grumbled, not happy about the prospect of having to see
the doctor, especially since doctors often meant needles.
The three remained silent the rest of the way to the hotel, lost in their
own thoughts as they prepared themselves mentally to get back to life on the
road. As the rural scenery gave way to the urban sprawl, things began to feel
like they used to. The five guys of *Nsync on the road—alone—and
yet at the same time, not. There were many people around them, and the five
were, usually, a cohesive unit all to themselves, but there wasn't anyone
else. If they weren't from the record label or Johnny's team of
people, then they were nothing but a passing blur. Granted, Joey met a lot
of nice people over the years in many different places, but even when he had
tried to take a moment to get to know someone, he was yanked out of the situation
before it could go anywhere. It was by sheer dumb luck—in Josh's
case, bad—that he had been thrown into my path, so to speak, but there
was a part of him that wondered, even with two solid weeks of bonding, if it
was enough to keep his fragile relationship with me stable and lasting.
Of course it is, you nut, Joey thought to himself. Stop thinking
like that. It's just what Johnny wants—to see the two of us split
up before it hardly ever started. I wouldn't give that man the satisfaction. As
he thought, Joey unconsciously clenched his fists, and when the cars pulled
into the hotel parking lot a moment later, Joey's anger began to escalate.
The normally levelheaded, easy-going one in the group was already getting
agitated at the thought of seeing and having to deal with Eric, and the two
hadn't even said one word to each other yet.
"Miss Wolfe? Is there a problem here?" M.F. said loudly, walking
over to Karri.
Karri, whose mind had been elsewhere, jumped and immediately snapped to attention. "Uh,
not at all. Nope. No problem here."
"Then why do you keep missing your cues?"
"Give me a break. We just got this music a couple of hours ago. I'm
not a robot," Karri grumbled, "and besides, it's not like
there's much for me to learn anyway."
"Excuse me?" M.F said. "Do you, or do you not, recall that
this is a group, and there is no 'I' in group! Why don't
you go over to the corner there with Miss Benton and the tape player and do
five?"
Karri crossed her arms and stared into M.F.'s green eyes. "No," she
said at last. "I'm not going to do it."
"Ah. We want to make it longer now, do we? How about seven minutes?"
Karri hesitated slightly, but then refocused and stood her ground. "You
don't scare me, Mary Frances. I'm not doing your stupid punishment."
M.F. moved in closer until her nose was almost touching Karri's. "Ten
minutes, and if I hear one peep of complaint out of you, I will make your life
a living nightmare."
Karri stared back at her, defiance completely evident in her eyes. "You
do that already," Karri retorted. "Why should now be any different?"
The corners of M.F.'s mouth were beginning to twitch, and I could swear
I could see her eyes turning red with fury. "Uh, M.F.?" I said
timidly. "Do you mind if I talk to you for a moment in private?"
"Mr. Robertson, I am busy right now. Could you please stifle yourself
until I am done?"
I'm going to regret this, I thought to myself. I know I'm
going to regret this, but... "It's rather important," I
persisted, "and I don't think it should wait."
I could see the battle waging in M.F.'s head. Should she divert any
of her attention toward me, the source of her interruption, or should I be
ignored so as not to release the lock she had on Karri? "Mr. Robertson,
I am not going to repeat myself again. BE QUIET!"
Oooh, girlfriend just rattled a nerve , I thought in annoyance. After
making a split second decision, I marched over to M.F. and Karri and pushed
Karri out of the way. "Sorry Karri, but since politeness is obviously
out of the question here, I suppose I need to be a bit more direct." Glaring
at M.F., I said, "Ms. Brannigan, your office, right now."
"My, we are a bit impertinent today, aren't we?" M.F. said. "When
I am through with Ms. Wolfe, then I will deal with you."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did that sound like a request to you? It wasn't." I
reached over and grabbed her arm. "NOW."
"Let go of me Mr. Robertson, or I may be forced to do something we'll
both regret."
Dropping her arm, I said, "With pleasure. After all, since you were
acting like a four year old, I figured that meant I was going to have to treat
you like one. Does this mean you are ready to lose the attitude and act like
an adult again?"
M.F. took a step back and regarded me with a puzzled look. At first I had
a bit of trouble deciphering what the look meant, but soon the look of puzzlement
turned into a smile. "I'm impressed, Mr. Robertson. You do have
a backbone after all."
I figured that was the closest I was ever going to get to a compliment from
M.F. these days, so I took it for its implied value. "Of course I do.
Now, as I was saying, your office please."
"Fine. Take five everyone. I shall return shortly."
The two of us walked to her office, neither looking at the other. Once we
were behind closed doors, the two of us sat facing each other, both completely
silent. At last, I broke the silence by saying, "Well, that was certainly
an interesting performance out there, now wasn't it?"
M.F.'s eyes narrowed as she stared at me. "So," she said
crisply, "what did you want to discuss with me?"
I leaned forward and said, "It's obvious that we are having some—how
should I put this—personality issues within the group already, and I
wanted to talk to you about some solutions in resolving them."
"You mean Miss Wolfe?" M.F. asked.
"Primarily her, at least for the moment, but I see other potential
for problems. The biggest issue is that there is so much focus on me, the others
may feel like they are getting lost to the background, and I don't want
that. I need your help in finding a way to make sure that everyone feels like
their contributions are not only valued, but are also brought to light."
M.F. leaned back in her chair and folded her hands together. "And exactly
how do you suggest we do that?"
"Well, I know Karri is concerned about the vocal breakdown for the
songs, so I was thinking maybe we should review them and see if we can't
reshuffle the vocal assignments a little. Plus..." My voice faltered
a little, not knowing how well M.F. would take my next suggestion.
"Plus what?" M.F. asked, her voice losing a little bit of its
hard edge.
"Plus, I was thinking that maybe, possibly, Karri could become an assistant
choreographer?" I suggested timidly. "Look, she's a really
good dancer, and I think it would make her really happy because then she would
feel like she was, you know, really making a significant contribution, and
I don't want it to sound like I don't think you're capable
or anything..."
"Mr. Robertson, please slow down!" M.F. said with a slight laugh,
halting my babbling tirade. I looked at her in surprise. There was actually
a small smile on her face. "Believe it or not, I actually like your idea.
Considering the nice routine that you all did on Wednesday, which I am guessing
Miss Wolfe created, I am quite impressed with her talent. As for the vocal
division, I think that should be taken up with someone a little more familiar
with the subject, like Miss Benton?"
"Is everything okay in here?" Kimber asked as she stuck her head
in the door.
"We were just talking about you, as a matter of fact," I remarked
as the rest of Kimber's body made its way through the door.
"Nothing bad, I hope," Kimber said with a small smile. "I'm
sorry to interrupt, but the others thought I had better come back here and
make sure Will was still alive."
"I'm fine, as you can see, but since you're here, the three
of us have some things to discuss," I said as I began to lay all of my
ideas out on the table.
As per my instructions, Lance set the spare set of keys I had given him to
drive the car down to Baltimore underneath the driver's seat. The quintet
started to try to carry all of their stuff to the hotel entrance as best as
they could when a stroke of genius hit Justin. "What are we doing?" he
asked aloud as he set his stuff down and began to jog toward the front of the
hotel. "Why don't I just go get a cart or something so we can wheel
this stuff in?"
"Sounds like a bright idea to me," Chris said, "and the
fact that it came from Justin..."
"Shhh!" Josh hissed from behind. "Justin's still
really touchy, and I promised Will we'd be on our best behavior around
him."
"I didn't," Chris said.
"And you don't think that if you start ragging on Justin, that
Joey won't tell Will, and that Will won't tell Jerrica, and that
the next time one of them sees you that you won't get either pounded
into a pancake by Jerrica or lectured to death by Will?" Josh asked.
Chris shivered. "I'm not sure which is worse," he said
with a laugh. "I think I'd almost rather face Jerrica."
"Yeah, so then she can take care of you afterward," Lance said
with a sly grin.
"Hey, isn't making up the best part of fighting?" Chris
said, smirking mischievously.
A moment or two later, Justin returned with a luggage cart. "You would
not believe how much coaxing it took for me to get the bellhop to let me bring
the cart out here. You'd think the thing was made of gold or something."
"Porter," Joey said quietly. "I think the correct term
for his job is 'porter,' and as far as he's concerned, the
cart is made of gold. How do you think he makes his money? By
getting tips from the people whose bags he brings in. If you use his cart,
not only is he not getting a tip from you, but his cart isn't available
to someone else who might tip him."
"Oh," Justin said thoughtfully. "Good point. Well, I guess
we'll just have to tip him well once we get inside."
"I think that would be a splendid idea," Joey said as he started
to load bags onto the cart.
Out of Joey's earshot, Chris leaned over to Lance and whispered, "If
we're not careful, next thing you know, Joey will take your place as
the responsible one in the group."
Lance smiled. "And it's about time too," he mumbled under
his breath. He had been nicknamed 'Scoop' because he always knew
what was going on within the band, but it was a tiresome role, and he was more
than happy to relinquish it to someone else. He just never expected that it
could possibly be, of all people, Joey!
Eric sat in a chair in the meeting room, impatiently tapping his foot. It
was nearly ten after three and his face was slowly turning different shades
of red and purple. He was absolutely certain that the guys were late on purpose,
especially since they had met up with the Wicked Bitch of the East, as Eric
liked to refer to Jerrica. However, he knew that she wasn't always going
to be around, so there would be times where he could start to reassert his
dominance over the group. He just had to be cautious about how he did it, for
he knew, according to Johnny, that he would be seeing much more of Jerrica
in the coming weeks than he would ever want to see for the rest of his life.
At quarter after three, Josh sauntered into the room with a wide smile on
his face. "Wassup Eric?" he called across the room.
"Good afternoon JC," Eric said in a low, menacing voice. "Where
are the others?"
"Oh, they're just bringing in the stuff," Josh replied,
never taking his eyes away from Eric's. "So, did you miss us?"
"'Miss' is such a strong term," Eric said stiffly. "Did
I notice your absence? Yes."
"Glad to know you care so much for us," Josh said with disdain.
"I would have missed you more if one of you could actually tell time
for once."
"Why? Are we late?" Josh asked sarcastically.
"Don't play with me, Chasez," Eric snarled.
"Play? Are we playing games today?" Josh continued. "Can
we play Monopoly? I get to be the racecar!"
Josh's manner was really starting to get on Eric's nerves. He
was about ready to blow when someone else walked in the door. "You're
late!" Eric yelled as Justin made his way in the room, followed momentarily
by Chris.
"It took longer than we thought to get packed," Justin said with
a shrug. "Be thankful that we're here in one piece."
"Speaking of one piece," Eric said, taking his eyes off the boys
and glancing over to some paperwork lying on the table in front of him, "JC,
you need to go into the room to my right. There is a doctor in there waiting
for you."
Josh gulped. "D-Doctor?"
"Yes. He needs to look at your leg. Get moving!" Eric said loudly
with just a hint of satisfaction. There was nothing he enjoyed more than seeing
a look of panic on their faces. Granted, it was only one person instead of
all five, but for right now it would have to do.
"Do you want someone to go in with you?" Justin asked. "Maybe
Lance or Joey?"
Josh studied Justin for a second and interpreted the unasked hint. "I
was hoping you might," Josh said with a smile. In his mind, he rationalized
that, if nothing else, when word of this reached me, it would shut me up for
at least a few minutes, but deep down he was rather glad to see his friendship
with Justin getting back on track.
"Of course," Justin said, returning the smile. "Let's
go."
As the two of them passed Eric and exited the room, the last two stragglers,
Joey and Lance, came into the room. "So there you are," Eric said
coldly, his glare transfixed on the last two. As usual, Eric could see that
his steely glare was making Lance nervous, but Joey would not be moved. Joey
stared back with harsher intensity; so much so that for once it made Eric a
little nervous.
"We're here," Joey said, never breaking his eye contact
with Eric. "So now what?"
"Have a seat," Eric said, motioning to the chairs surrounding
the table.
Chris and Lance both took a seat immediately, but Joey didn't move
a muscle. "I'll stand, thank you very much," Joey said coolly
as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Sit down. I insist," Eric said, a harder edge this time to his
voice.
"I said, 'I'll stand,'" Joey
growled, and the look of slight surprise on Eric's face felt like a victory
to him.
"Very well then," Eric said as he narrowed his eyes at Joey. "Suit
yourself. This will be a short briefing regarding the schedule for the next
two days as well as the two week extension of the tour due to the, uh, mishap
of late."
As Eric prattled on, Joey tuned him out. I wonder what Will's up
to right now? he wondered. I wish I could see him tonight. I wish
I had thought to make arrangements to call him before we left, but since
I didn't, I'll just have to take my chances and see if I get
lucky. Otherwise, tomorrow will be a new day.
It took a considerable amount of time, but once it was all said and done,
I felt we had reached a well-rounded compromise. The division of the vocal
parts was a little less me-heavy and a bit more equitable all around. I hoped
that Karri would be more pleased with the new distribution of vocals. Besides,
it's not like she wasn't going to have her hands full enough already
assisting M.F. with choreography anyway. As it were, I was a bit uncomfortable
with how often I was going to be center stage on vocals anyway, so I was completely
happy with this decision.
When we walked back into the hall, Mandy ran over and practically tackled
me. "Oh my God! You're alive!" she cried as she hugged me.
Tom, Jerrica, and Karri snickered behind us. "Of course I'm alive," I
said. "What? Did you think she was going to kill me and leave witnesses?"
"No, we just figured she was coming back to finish off the rest of
us," Karri said.
"Is that so?" M.F. asked, and the five of us involuntarily jumped
back a couple of feet.
"Well, uh, I mean..." Karri stammered, her once-found determination
completely dissolved.
"Let me be the first to assure you that while I have a lot of bark,
I don't have a lot of bite," M.F. said, a small smile appearing
on her face. "I'm so used to dealing with people who have no drive
or passion to dance that I have to be a little, well, pushy."
"A LITTLE?!" Tom, Karri, Mandy, and I chorused loudly.
For the first time since I had ever met her, I actually saw M.F. blush! "All
right, all right! So I'm very pushy."
"Look, M.F., we understand. We really do. However, in the future when
it comes to our practices for the show, can you tone it down a bit? After all,
I think it's obvious that we have 'the drive' and 'the
passion' to do this," I said.
"I'll try," she said. When we all raised an eyebrow, she
said, "Hey! That's the best I've got. Take it or leave it."
"We'll take it!" we all said quickly before bursting into
laughter.
"Now that this part is settled," Kimber interjected, "I
wanted to discuss some things with you all." Kimber turned on her heel
and went over to the table in the back of the hall. Looking over her shoulder,
she said, "Uh, coming?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah," I said, shaking my head. Kimber may have been
an adult, but she was still Kimber nonetheless. If I didn't know better,
I would have sworn she dyed her hair red to cover the blonde beneath.
We all sat down at the table and stared at Kimber and M.F., who were whispering
to each other. "So, M.F. and I have been discussing some things, and
we wanted to talk to you about some changes we're going to make."
"What kind of changes?" Jerrica asked, cocking her head to one
side.
"For example, the choreography for this show is taking a lot of time
and effort, and between this and my other classes, I'm having trouble
getting it all done. Therefore, I was hoping that one of you would be able
to assist me? Maybe you, Miss Wolfe?" M.F. suggested.
Karri's eyes widened in surprise. "Say what? Me?" She then
looked over at me with a questioning glance. I just shrugged my shoulders and
motioned my head back at M.F. "Well, I suppose I could do that."
"Good!" Kimber exclaimed. "Now, as I was listening to you
sing, I decided that something seemed a little off, so we're reworking
the vocal arrangements."
Mandy cocked her head to one side. "They are? I mean, I know we're
sounding a little off, but we only just got the music today." She then
turned to look at me. "Unless, of course, this decision of yours was
prompted by someone else," she continued, raising an eyebrow. I felt
my cheeks flush a little, which was a dead giveaway, but I hadn't really
expected to keep what was said in the meeting quiet. It was going to be an
issue of how well I could play it off without someone getting pissed off.
"Yeah, I kind of mentioned something to Kimber," I admitted. "The
vocal arrangements are too heavy on my side, and too light for others. If I
have to sing as much as I am currently slated for, my voice will give out before
we're done each night."
Karri rolled her eyes. "Right. Sure. You're just doing it because
I had a momentary hissy fit. I told you before. I'm fine."
"Granted, that is was started it, but I realized that you were right.
We're a team, and that means we share the work as evenly as possible.
No one is more important than anyone else, not even me. The problem, of course,
is that between the heavy promotion of us as a group, me as a solo artist," I
said, rolling my eyes, "and whatever Tony has in store for me as an author,
there is going to be a lot of focus on me in particular. I hope that everyone
can handle that."
"Duh," Mandy said. "Were it not for you, none of us would
be here. Besides, you're not the type who is inclined to get a big head."
"Right," Jerrica said. "You're more the type to stick
his head in the sand."
"Are you calling me a chicken?" I asked loudly, turning to Jerrica
and staring her in the eye.
"If the wings fit..." she said, a smile forming on her face.
"Excuse me?!" I shouted as I stood up, knocking over my chair.
"Uh oh," Mandy said. "Here they go again."
Jerrica stood up and started arguing with me. The two of us slowly moved
away from the table as our voices got louder. The others just sat there and
stared at us, shaking their heads. "You know, if I have to put up with
this for the next three months, I'm liable to kill one of them," Tom
stated seriously.
"Nah," Mandy said. "I just keep waiting for it to come
to blows."
"I don't think that'll happen," Karri said. "That's
not their style."
"CHILDREN!!" M.F. yelled, stopping Jerrica
and me in our tracks. "Can we please get back on track here?"
"Okay," Jerrica and I mumbled, a bit dejected that we hadn't
finished our tirades.
"Now, let's review the show's outline and how we're
planning to rework the vocal distribution," Kimber said. "Please
feel free to interject your comments and thoughts at any time."
The seven of us buckled down and started discussing our thoughts and ideas
freely, with each person's suggestion considered and debated. An hour
away, however, it was a completely different scene.
"For the last time, I don't care what the doctor says!" Eric
shouted. "JC has to dance, and that's final!"
"But Eric," Lance protested. "The doctor said that Josh
has to stay off his leg or he risks it fracturing."
"The whole show will be destroyed if he's not onstage," Eric
continued.
"I will be onstage!" Josh said. "That's the whole
point! I just won't be able to dance for another couple weeks."
"Do you have any idea how stupid that will look?" Eric asked. "It'll
look absolutely terrible."
"So then cancel and reschedule the shows until he can dance," Justin
said.
"Not an option," Eric said. "Johnny said that we've
lost a lot of money from these last two weeks, and we can't wait any
longer."
"So you want me to risk hurting myself," Josh said angrily.
"If you don't dance, then you violate your contract," Eric
said as he stood up. "Think about that." He then turned, walked
out of the room, and slammed the door behind him.
"Damn!" Josh yelled as he stood up and shoved his rolling chair
against the wall. "Now what do we do?"
"I don't know Josh, but we can't let you dance; not until
we know for certain that you won't hurt yourself," Chris said sympathetically.
"But if I don't, then we've got a whole different set of
problems," Josh said with a sigh. "Why does this stuff happen to
me?"
"You're not alone, man," Justin said as he stood up and
place his arm around Josh's shoulder. "We're in this together.
That's how it works, remember?"
Josh smiled briefly before his face returned to a frown. "I just don't
know what to do," he said sadly.
"Read the contract," Joey said quietly.
"What?" Justin asked.
"I said, 'Read the contract.' There has to be some provision
in there about what happens when one of us gets hurt. I don't believe
for one second that he can force Josh to dance while he is injured, and I bet
there is more to the story than he is telling us," Joey said.
"I bet you're right," Chris said. "Lance, do you
have a copy somewhere?"
"Yeah, on my laptop," Lance said, "but it's incredibly
long. It'll take forever to find what we're looking for."
The whole group sighed. They glanced at each other, pondering what to do,
until a tiny voice made a suggestion. "We could always split it into
parts and skim over it," Justin said quietly.
Josh's head perked up. "Come again?"
"Uh, never mind," Justin mumbled, turning away from the others.
"No, no, no!" Josh exclaimed. "Say it again. You may be
on to something here."
Everyone was looking at Justin now, and that made him a bit nervous, but
nonetheless he said his piece anyway. "Well, I was thinking if we split
the contract up and skimmed over it, then it wouldn't take so long. We're
only looking for one thing, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find."
All of a sudden, a light bulb went off in Lance's head. "That's
a great idea Justin, although it's still a bit time-consuming. However,
I have an even better idea, thanks to you." Justin, who thought Lance
was about to jump all over his idea, smiled when Lance made his last remark. "Since
the contract is saved on the computer, I can just have the computer search
for key phrases, like 'injured.' That should cut the search time
down from a few hours to a couple of minutes."
"Now we just have to find time to do it without Eric finding out," Chris
said.
A loud noise could be heard from the other side of the door, which caused
Joey to roll his eyes and plop down into a chair. "Something tells me
he already knows, the little rat," he said in annoyance. "On the
plus side, at least he knows we don't plan to give up. Maybe then he'll
make this easier than it's already promising to be."
"Eric? Make anything easy?" Josh exclaimed. "Not on your
life."
Lance looked down at his watch and sighed. "Guys, I think we ought
to get moving. We're supposed to be on the bus in twenty minutes."
"Lovely," Chris muttered. "And so it continues."
"So does everyone understand the drill?" Kimber asked cheerfully.
All of us nodded our heads slowly. We were completely exhausted, and it was
only four o'clock. We still had another hour to go, and I didn't
think I'd be able to move or speak again for as long as I lived.
"Can we have a break?" Mandy whined. "Even a little one?"
Kimber mulled this over in her head for a moment before agreeing. "All
right, but it's going to be a working break. I want you to go over and
see Shana so she can take your measurements. She wants to get started on some
designs right away."
"Cool!" exclaimed Mandy, Karri, and Jerrica. "Clothes!"
Tom and I exchanged looks. "Girls," we said in unison as we rolled
our eyes and shook our heads. The girls, who had absolutely no energy only
seconds before, were off like a flash to Shana's side. Tom and I, not
nearly as enthused as they were, strolled over at a much more leisurely pace.
As we were walking over, Tom said, "Will, I want to thank you for increasing
my part in the show. I don't feel so much like a backup singer anymore."
"Tom, it's like I told you at Celia's the other day. You
have a marvelous voice, for one, and we are all in this together. Oh, and just
so you know, if I ever get sick, you get to be my fill-in," I said with
a smile.
Tom froze. "Huh?"
"Well, any time I get sick, my voice gives out. I go from a three-octave
range down to less than one most of the time. So, in any places where it's
plausible, you'll sing instead of me. It most likely won't be the
same songs though," I added hastily, "since you definitely can't
get near the high notes, but there are spots where you could sing instead of
me, and come to think of it, maybe we ought to review some of those and make
them permanent."
"I, um, uh, okay," Tom stuttered.
"Don't look so worried Tom," I said, trying to assure him. "It
won't be as terrible as you think. Trust me."
"If you say so," Tom said, but I knew he wasn't at all
sure about what I had just said. Thinking about me hitting so many high notes
freaked him out a little, especially since he knew that he couldn't even
dream of touching half of them.
I left Tom's side and went over to my bag. I figured I'd check
and see if there was any possible chance that I could find a way to go into
work late that night. If not, I was in for some hell. M.F. had left just enough
time in the schedule for me to go from work to practice and back to work again.
I was praying with all my soul that the weeks of leave I needed desperately
would clear, or else I was going to have another set of issues I didn't
want to face to tackle head on.
I picked up my phone and noticed that I had voicemail. Wondering whom it
was from, I called and picked up my messages. There was only one, but it was
the kind of news that I needed. "Hi Will, this is Tina at Northern Skies.
I just wanted to let you know that all of your weeks of leave have cleared
through September except for the week beginning on the twenty-ninth of June
and the week beginning on the third of August. Just a reminder..."
The message babbled on about health benefits, shifts in seniority date in
regard to pay increases, and other things I could care less about at that point.
I got my leave, and it was effective today! Thank you God, I thought
joyfully. Wait until I tell Joe! He'll be so excited when I get home... My
thoughts trailed off when I suddenly realized that he wouldn't be home.
It figured that the first night in what seemed like a long time when I would
be able to spend quality time with him, he was gone. I sighed heavily, stuffed
my phone back into my bag, and traipsed over toward Shana. I only made it about
halfway before someone else intercepted me.
"If I didn't know she was over there, I'd guess your best
friend died judging by the look on your face," Aja said lightly.
I tried to smile, but it wasn't forthcoming very easily. "Well,
I just found out that my leave at Northern Skies has been approved, but that
it doesn't much matter tonight. Joe is in Richmond and I'm here."
"Are you always going to be this depressed when he's gone?" she
asked.
I shook my head. "I don't think so. It's just that, well,
there's been so much going on this week I've barely had five seconds
to talk to him. I mean, we've basically been in the same space at any
number of times, and yet we've said very little to each other." I
stared at my shoes for a moment, took a deep breath, and plastered a cheesy
smile on my face. "But I can handle it. I'll see him tomorrow."
"Don't think for one second you're fooling me, mister," Aja
scolded. "I know better. Besides, if you're off today, why don't
you just go to Richmond? How far away is it?"
"The way I drive, about two hours, give or take a few minutes."
"There you go then. Why don't you go down and see him?" Aja
suggested.
I was starting to get excited about the idea when reality kicked in. "I
don't think it'll be possible, Aja. He's with the band and
their whole crew, and I highly doubt that Johnny and/or Eric are going to be
sympathetic to Joe wanting to see me, considering the events of late."
"Who says you have to tell them?" Aja said with a mischievous
grin. "Joey has a cell phone, right?" When I nodded, she continued. "Well,
call him up and tell him to meet you somewhere else, or see if you can get
a room at the same hotel he's staying at. He'll be more likely
able to catch up with you if he doesn't have to leave the hotel, and
less inclined to get in trouble that way."
"Good idea. Maybe Jerrica and I can go down tonight. I can use her
for extra cover, and also to help keep Eric at bay if necessary. I just have
to get her to go along with it," I said.
"You think she'd say no?" Aja asked.
"Not seriously, but she might in the beginning just to mess with my
head."
Aja rolled her eyes and walked away. I turned and went back to my bag to
get my phone. I had a call to make, but not to Joey. I was going to let him
be surprised. It was more fun that way.
The bus had finally been loaded, everyone was boarded, and the group was
on the way. After about half an hour, everything felt typical. No longer did
things seem out of the ordinary or special. This is how life normally was:
on the bus one day, somewhere else that night, on the bus the next day, and
so forth. Just when Lance was almost beginning to wonder if the last two weeks
had really happened or not, his phone rang. A little surprised, wondering who
would be calling him, he grabbed his phone and looked at the Caller ID. A small
smile spreading to his face, he motioned to those who were paying attention
that he was going to the back of the bus to answer the phone and then walked
away.
In a hushed whisper, he answered the phone. "Hey man! How's it
going?"
"I'm stuck with M.F. How do you think? Brutal, as usual," I
said with a small laugh. "Why are you whispering?"
"Johnny's on the bus with us," Lance replied. "Need
I say more?"
"NO," I said, a hard edge to my voice clearly evident.
"I thought not," Lance continued. "So why are you calling
me? Not that I don't like hearing from you or anything."
I laughed. "Two reasons actually. Number one, I figured if I called
Joe, it might draw attention, and second, I'm planning a little surprise
for him and Chris and need your help."
Glancing around to double check and make sure he was out of earshot, Lance
said, "Okay, sure. What's up?"
I briefly explained what had happened a few moments ago and Aja's idea. "So,
that's the idea anyway. What do you think?"
"I think it's a good idea. Joey's been a bit melancholy
since we left York earlier, and Chris is kind of off as well. Actually, all
of us are. I think it might do us a little good, and do Joey and Chris a lot
of good," Lance said. "Of course, you'll have to maneuver
around Johnny, though."
"See, this is why I keep people who are smarter than me around. I just
have to see if the hotel you are staying at has any extra rooms and book them.
That way, no one has to leave the hotel and make Johnny suspicious, and even
if I do run into him, there's not much he can do if I'm a registered
guest other than tell me to stay away from your floor."
"I would advise not running into Johnny," Lance warned. "If
he knows you and Jerrica are around, he'll keep the five of us under
lock and key."
"No kidding," I said. "Anyway, I just need to know where
you guys are staying."
"At the Marriott on Broad Street," Lance said. Out of the corner
of his eye, he spotted someone moving in his direction. "Listen, I have
to go. Bye!" Before I could even say another word, he had already hung
up.
I stared at the phone for a minute in surprise. "Well, I hope he didn't
get busted by Johnny," I said with a sigh. "Things would be so much
better if that fils de pute wasn't messing things up all the time."
"Oh Robért-James?" Jerrica called in a singsong voice. "Shana
said it's your turn."
I debated about giving her a piece of my mind over the 'Robért-James' crack,
but I let it go. I needed Jerrica to be as agreeable as possible right now.
"I'm coming!" I called back as I again stowed my phone
in my bag. I ran over to Shana, who was talking to Raya, and apologized. "Sorry.
Got caught up in something for a moment."
"No problem," said Shana, giving me that smile that could melt
even the most frozen heart. There was a silent strength to her that many people
found comforting, and it was one of the many things I liked about her.
As Shana took my measurements, I listened to the conversations going on around
me. Tom was talking to Mandy about a fiddle competition he had won not that
long ago, Karri was talking to M.F. about some dance moves for a variety of
songs we were doing, and Jerrica was just being a pain in my ass as usual.
"Would you go away for a couple minutes until I'm done?" I
asked through clenched teeth.
"Someone's really touchy today, isn't he?" Jerrica
said playfully.
"If you don't be nice to me, I won't tell you about my
surprise," I said, knowing that would drive Jerrica bonkers until I told
her.
"What? What is it?" she exclaimed.
Right on cue, I thought smugly. I knew Jerrica too well, and her reactions
to most things were rather predictable. "I'll tell you when I'm
done," I said, "which probably won't be for a while."
"You're done," Shana said as she stood up from her kneeling
position while measuring my inseam.
"Oh. Um, are you sure?" I asked, wanting to make Jerrica sweat
as long as I could.
"I'm sure," Shana said.
"You didn't forget anything?" I asked, trying to get her
to catch my eye, but she instead turned her back to me to write some figures
on a sheet of paper.
"Not at all," Shana replied. "Everyone is done."
"Oh," I said, a bit dejected. Just when I had the perfect opportunity
to annoy Jerrica, it was snatched away from me. My life just sucks like that
sometimes, but what can you do?
"So?" Jerrica asked, grabbing my arm and yanking me halfway across
the gym. "What's the surprise?"
"We're going to Richmond," I said evenly.
Jerrica's face went blank. "What's so surprising about
that? I already knew that, you jerk! We talked about it earlier when the guys
were here."
"We're going tonight," I said, waiting for
it to sink in.
"You mean... You and I... Tonight? That means... Whoo
hoo!" Jerrica exclaimed, drawing funny looks from everyone else in the
room.
"Way to be low-key," I said.
"Oh shut up you," Jerrica scolded, but the smile on her face
could not be missed. "But how is this possible? I thought you had to
work tonight?"
"My leave time for this summer got approved, minus a couple of weeks,
but I'll deal with those at another time. We just have to endure the
last," I began, checking my watch, "forty-five minutes of this
session, and then we are out the door. We'll have Mandy stop by the house
so I can throw some clothes into a bag before we go and pick up my car downtown."
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" Jerrica cried. "I
can't wait!"
"Whatever it is you can't wait for, Miss Andrews, it will have
to wait until after five o'clock. Until then, you are mine," M.F.
said as she came up behind us. "Now, let's get moving. We do not
have any time to waste, you know."
"Yes, ma'am!" Jerrica shouted, giving her a small salute
before running to the other side of the hall.
I was trying hard not to laugh, but a stern look from M.F. killed all of
the humor inside me. "I, um, think I'll be following her now," I
said before dashing off in Jerrica's direction.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have one more song to go through before we
call it a day," Kimber said. If you will pull out your music again for Rev
It Up, we'll go over the music a couple more times and then start
going over the dance moves.
The five of us groaned. Even with the momentary excitement that got Jerrica's
adrenaline pumping, she had already come crashing back down to fatigue. "Must
we?" Karri whined.
"Look, I'll make you a deal. Do this for me now, and we'll
start practice an hour later tomorrow," Kimber said.
"Sounds good to me," I said. That would be an extra hour for
Jerrica and I to get back up to York. In all my excitement about going to Richmond
tonight, I had forgotten about rehearsal for tomorrow. Oh well. We'd
have to check out of the hotel at four in the morning for the drive back up,
but it was going to be well worth it in my mind.
"Heck yeah!" said the girls, and their sentiment was echoed by
Tom.
"All right then," Kimber said. "Let's begin. I think
it starts off with you and Tom, right Will?"
"Uh, yeah. Tom, um, count of three?"
"Okay," Tom said as he looked back at the sheet music in front
of him. Since I had written the song some time ago with Jerrica, I didn't
need the music. I had long since had the song committed to memory.
"All right then. One, two, three..."
Hurry up! We're all ready,
and all you need to bring is yourself.
Gonna go slow, take it steady,
'Cause there's no room for nobody else.
Tom and I started into the bridge, with the girls providing backup.
Sun is high, Sky is blue.
It's so bright, we're just waiting for you
(We know what you're doin')
Sun is high, Sky is blue.
It's so bright, we're just waiting for you
We know what to do.
So rev it up, I said (Don't waste time)
We know where we're goin'.
Rev it up! No lead (The coastline)
Where the wind is blowin'.
He-e-e-e-y, yeah. Hey! Hey!
Mandy and the girls jumped into the next section, this time with Tom and I providing backup vocals. For ease, a lot of songs
were going to be divided this way so that no one person was singled out or focused on more than another.
It seemed like the best solution to me, especially since it provided more opportunities for everyone to sing. Plus, if I were to get sick,
like I was telling Tom, then he would already know the music and be able to run with it by himself.
Give it up Mr. Blue Sky.
Speeding right on into the bay.
Everybody wave as we drive by.
To the beach where we're gonna stay.
Sun is high, Sky is blue. (ahhhhhh)
It's so bright, we're just waiting for you.
(We know what you're doin')
Sun is high, Sky is blue. (ahhhhhh)
It's so bright, we're just waiting for you.
We know what to do.
We know what to do.
So rev it up, I said. (Don't waste time)
We know where we're goin'. (It's all right)
Rev it up! No lead. (The coastline)
Where the wind is blowin'. (It's all right)
We let Mandy run a little free with this song by giving her the 'heys' all
by herself while the rest of us sang the other part. Every now and again I
was willing to nurture her inner diva.
He-e-e-e-e-y, yeah (Rev it up I said)
We know what you're doin'. (Hey)
We know what you're doin'. (Hey)
Rev it up! No lead. (Hey, yeah)
We know what you're doin'. (Hey)
We know what you're doin'. (Hey)
This was the part where Tom would grab his fiddle and play this section—by
his request, of course. We were going to try to find someone else to do it,
but Tom insisted, and we were more than happy to let him. It was one less person
to hire, and I knew that Kimber and J.B. were incredibly budget-sensitive.
Anyway, I wouldn't be able to dwell on that much, since this was also the
section where the rest of were doing an Irish dance number, and even though
that whole part would only last a whole thirty-five seconds, later on as I
did it more often, there were times when I thought it would never end. What's
worse is that it's not even the end of the song!
(Hey Hey Hey Hey)
Do do do,
do do do do do do do,
do do do do do do,
do do do do do do do
Do do do,
do do do do do do do,
do do do do do do,
do do do do do do do
We know what to do.
We know what to do.
To end the song, one person from each gender—in this case, Mandy and
myself—would sing the lyrics while the others provided backup. This again
was a brilliant idea of mine: have us split the songs into sections by gender
in the beginning, and then merge the two at the end. It would be a different
pairing for each song, so everyone would have a turn. By default, Tom would
get to sing a little more often because the girls outnumbered us three to two,
and I deferred to him more often in group songs because of the amount of time
I was going to have to focus on other songs.
So rev it up, I said. (Don't waste time)
We know where we're goin'. (It's all right)
Rev it up! No lead. (The coastline)
Where the wind is blowin'. (It's all right)
We know what to do.
We know what to do.
Hey
We know what to do.
We know what to do.
Hey
We know what to do.
"Not bad at all, you guys," Kimber said as she clapped. M.F.
joined her in the applause, and I actually started to feel pretty good about
the whole thing. Maybe, just maybe, we could actually pull it off.
"Now, let's move on to the dancing," M.F. said. "We'll
start with something easy, since we don't have much time, so let's
look at the Irish dance section of that song."
Tom moved off to the side, since he wouldn't be dancing during that
time while he was playing the fiddle, so it would just be the remaining four
of us. Karri, Mandy, and I shrugged our shoulders and approached M.F., but
Jerrica hung back a little.
I could sense that Jerrica was nervous about something, so I went over to
her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" I
asked.
"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Jerrica said quickly.
"Honestly now," I said, giving her the eye, "who exactly
do you think you are trying to kid?"
"Darn you," Jerrica grumbled. "I told y'all I don't
know how to do that."
"And that's why you are going to learn, starting today!" Karri
exclaimed. "Come over here."
Jerrica glared at me for a second and then slowly made her way over to Karri's
side. "Okay, I'm here. Now what?"
Karri stared at her for a second before breaking out into a smile. "I'll
be honest. It looks harder than it is. Once you get the basic steps down, the
rest comes easily."
"Easy for you to say," Jerrica grumbled.
"Come on. Just work with me here," Karri pleaded.
"Fine, fine!" Jerrica relented. "Just stop begging."
"Good!" Karri said. "Now, just watch my feet, and then
when you think you're ready, do what I do. All I'm going to do
is the same step over and over."
"O...kay," Jerrica said slowly.
"Now then, here we go!" Karri took a couple steps away from Jerrica
and then began to do a standard step as slowly as she could. I was amazed at
how easy Karri made it look. She definitely had promise as a choreographer
and a teacher as well.
I would love to say that Jerrica picked up the steps immediately and that
life was perfect, but that would be giving her far too much credit. She tripped
over her feet more often than not, and Mandy and I did the best we could to
try and steer her in the right direction, but it all seemed to be for naught.
Just when we were all about to give up, she finally got it, and the rest of
us were all incredibly thankful, since M.F. was refusing to let us leave until
she did.
"Okay folks! Let's blow this Popsicle stand!" I yelled
as I dashed for my bag and then herded Jerrica out the door. I had just gotten
to the parking lot when I realized that my car was in Baltimore and that Mandy
was driving. "Whoops! Forgot Mandy was driving!"
"I was going to tell you that," Jerrica said, "but it's
more fun to watch you make an ass out of yourself."
"Thanks ever so kindly," I retorted as I trudged back inside.
Meanwhile, the others were still in the hall laughing out our departure. "When
do you think he'll realize I have the keys?" Mandy asked with a
smug grin.
"Soon enough," Karri said. "I've never seen someone
that happy to go to work before."
"Who? Him?" Aja asked as she walked up to the group. "He
said something about getting some sort of leave?" she asked aloud, trying
to remember my exact words. "Anyway, it was something like that."
"Hmmm," Mandy mused. "I wonder if Karri and I had anything
clear as well?"
"Only one way to find out," Karri said as she pulled her phone
out of her bag that she had collected from the table where Shana had been measuring
us earlier. Karri dialed the number for the office and waited for someone to
pick up. When someone did, the conversation she had was brief, but by the end,
she was all smiles. "Well, it's official," Karri said to
Mandy. "We got leave as well!"
"So we don't have to go to work tonight?" Mandy blurted
out.
"Nope!" Karri exclaimed. "That means we get to finally get
some sleep!"
"Well, congratulations you two," Tom said. "I think you
are deserving of it."
"You and us both!" Mandy agreed. "You know, since we're
now off tomorrow, we ought to find out if there is any possible way the guys
could hook us up with tickets to their show tomorrow in Richmond?"
"I don't know," Karri said with a shrug. "I thought
I heard somewhere that it was sold out."
"Never say never," Kimber interjected. "I know the perfect
way to cajole some tickets out of Johnny Wright."
"Yeah right," Tom snorted. "Like that man wants to do us
any favors."
"I can be very persuasive," Kimber said. "So am I making
that seven more tickets or eight?"
All eyes turned to Tom, who was starting to look a little uncomfortable. "Well," he
said slowly, "I really want to go, but I wouldn't know how to get
out of work. I mean, I suppose I could call in sick, but..."
"That would be a lie, and you don't want to do that," Mandy
finished. "I understand that, but you know you'll be sorely missed."
Tom smiled and, before his brain could catch up with his mouth, he said, "Make
it eight!" Five sets of eyebrows shot up, so Tom clarified by saying, "I'll
find a way to get there! Don't you worry!"
"You ought to just quit," Karri suggested.
"I really should," Tom said. "My boss has been on my case
lately anyway. Besides, no matter what happens with this, I would never go
back there, so what do I have to lose?" The entire group remained silent
while Tom worked through the thoughts in his head. "All right. Since
that's settled, does anyone have a phone I could use?"
Karri handed hers over and watched as Tom called and quit right there on
the phone. As he hung up, Karri said, "Well that was easy."
"I don't think my boss ever liked me," Tom admitted, "so
that was really no big surprise."
"Maybe it's better that you leave then," Raya said quietly
from behind everyone. In fact, the way she had snuck up behind everyone caused
them to jump in surprise. "You shouldn't have to work somewhere
that you're not wanted."
"You mean like Will?" Mandy asked. "And don't sneak
up on me like that!"
"Sorry," Raya apologized.
"Yeah, although Robért-James seems to believe he has no choice
in the matter," Shana said as she joined the group, "I think a
part of him really wants to do this."
They all became rather silent after that; no one was really sure what to
say after that. "So you said seven in the morning, right Kimber?" Tom
asked.
When Kimber nodded, Aja said, "Wow. I hope Ro—, uh, Will and
Jerrica make it back from Richmond on time."
"What are you talking about?" Kimber asked.
"Will and Jerrica decided to go down to Richmond tonight to see the
guys. Apparently, Joey and Chris miss them already," Aja stated, and
was answered by some snickering from Mandy and Karri.
"Well in that case," Kimber said as she began to pace while thinking, "maybe
we should just move our rehearsal down there? I bet Johnny would have no problems
with letting us use his space."
"Uh, are we talking about the same guy here?" Karri asked.
"Yes," Kimber said, "and I like I said before, don't
underestimate me! You wouldn't believe how persuasive I can be."
"Just don't get on her bad side!" Aja warned. "She
has the temper of a four year old."
"Very funny," Kimber retorted. "Anyway, let's keep
this a secret and surprise Will and Jerrica."
"I think it's a good idea. Do we have any idea where they are
staying?" Raya asked.
"No, but here comes Will. I bet we can find out in a moment," Mandy
said.
"Let me ask," Karri whispered to Mandy. "You know if you
do it, he'll figure out we're up to something."
"We're always up to something," Mandy retorted. "How
would this be any different?"
"Good point," Karri said, "but let me do it anyway."
"Suit yourself," Mandy said with a shrug.
A couple seconds later, I joined up with them. The fact that they had all
become quiet and were staring at me made me wonder what was up. "Uh,
what did I do?" I asked.
"We were all just wondering how long it was going to take you to figure
out that I'm driving?" Mandy asked.
I laughed. "Yeah, well, I kind of got excited about something, so I
forgot momentarily."
"Yeah, we heard you're going down to Richmond tonight," Karri
interjected before Mandy could say anything further.
I glanced over at Aja, who then turned away from me so as not to look me
in the eye. "I see someone has been blabbing things," I said with
a small smile. "And no Aja, it wasn't a secret, at least not from
all of you, so don't worry." I turned to face Karri went I sensed
a slight uneasiness from her. It was obvious she wanted something but wasn't
sure how to ask. This ought to be interesting, I thought.
"Anyway, you're going to be back in time for rehearsal, right?" Karri
asked.
"Yeah. Seven in the morning is going to make for one quick trip. Let's
just hope that the police aren't out tonight," I replied.
"Do you want me to look in on the cats tonight? If so, I'll need
to know where you're staying," Karri said.
I cocked my head to the side slightly and contemplated her words. Her uneasiness
seemed to be growing, so it was obvious that there was a hidden agenda behind
finding out that information. Besides, Karri had never volunteered to watch
the cats while I was out of town for days or even weeks at a time before, so
that she would offer now made the whole situation that more bizarre.
"I'm sure the cats will be fine," I began, and then I decided
to jump into what I believed could be the only rational explanation for this
conversation. "However, if you wanted to know where we were staying so
you could come down too, all you had to do was ask."
Karri's mouth dropped open, as did those of a few others. "Dude,
you are no fun sometimes," Mandy said, shaking her head.
"How did you...?" Tom started to ask, and then he thought
better of it. "Wait. I may not want to know, so I'm not going to
ask."
"So?" Karri prodded.
"We're staying at the Marriott on Broad Street, I hope. That's
where they are, but who knows if there will be room available?" I said.
"Well, we'll just have to find out then, won't we?" Kimber
said, jumping into the conversation. "Let me work on that while the rest
of you get going. Make sure that I have all of your cell phone numbers before
you leave, please."
Kimber already had mine, and Jerrica didn't have one, so once she got
Mandy's the three of us left. Once in Mandy's car, we chatted about
going down to Richmond and seeing the guys in concert. It actually wasn't
a bad idea to begin with, considering we were going to be going on before them.
It would be handy to know what we were playing up to.
Mandy decided to stop by her house and pick up some spare clothes and other
items for her and Jerrica, and then to my house to grab some items for me.
We stopped by the hotel to pick up my car, and then drove over to the Northern
Skies office to leave Mandy's car there. That way, Mandy didn't
have to worry about something happening to it, since all of our co-worker friends
would keep an eye on it.
We made the drive down to Richmond in great time. Kimber called as we were
passing through Fredericksburg to let us know that the Marriott did indeed
have rooms available. Even with the concert being sold out, it wasn't
close enough to summer for the area to be too busy. Kimber had made reservations
for five rooms: one for herself and Raya, one for Aja and Shana, one for M.F.
and Karri, one for Mandy and Jerrica, and one for Tom and I. She said that
this would be included in the tour expenses that she was submitting to Johnny,
so not to worry about paying for the room.
I was in heaven. I was going to get to see Joey, and I mean really get to
see him, for what seemed like the first time in a long time, plus I was going
to get a real night's sleep for once. The day couldn't get any
better.
Arriving at the hotel, I went inside to get us checked in. As I somehow figured,
there were problems initially, but those were cleared up and we were issued
our room keys. Of course, that was the easy part. Meeting up with the guys
would be a bit more difficult. I figured between Eric and Johnny, those guys
would be under lock and key tonight. Then again, I should have considered whom
I was dealing with. Turns out that sometimes, things are just destined to go
your way.
By the time we dragged our stuff upstairs and tossed them in the rooms, it
was nearly eight o'clock and I was already about to pass out dead on
my feet. However, that would have defeated the original intended purpose in
coming down to Richmond in the first place. My first problem, though, was going
to be how to figure out where Joey was. I knew the front desk would never tell
me where they were, or that they were even there for that matter, and with
good reason. I'm sure that, over the years, *Nsync has had issues with
people trying to break into the hotels and even their rooms to try to get near
them. For privacy, they would have to have strict orders about who can get
access to their room areas.
Just as I was plotting on how to go about doing this, there was a timid knock
at my door. Wondering briefly whom it was—knowing full well that Jerrica
would never do anything timidly—I went over to the door and opened
it. Standing outside my door was Lance, and man was I ever glad to see him!
"Come on in!" I said, grinning from ear to ear as I ushered him
into the room and then gave him a friendly hug. "How did you know what
room I was in?"
"I called the front desk and asked," Lance said with a shrug. "Unlike
us, they don't care who knows where you are."
"Now don't I feel special," I said sarcastically.
"Just you wait buddy," Lance said. "Enjoy this now, because
in a couple of months, it'll be the same for you, and then you'll
wish life was like this instead."
"So that means you want to quit singing and go back to Mississippi?" I
asked with a wink.
"Uh, did I say that?" Lance replied with a laugh. "Hey,
not all good things come without consequences you know."
"Tell me about it," I said. "So, what's the word?"
"Well, you were right. Johnny has expressly forbid us from leaving
the hotel. Something about making the fans wait until tomorrow to see us and
blah, blah, blah. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to begin with,
and I thought it was a bit silly, but there's not a whole lot we can
do about it. Anyway, no one else knows you're here yet, and the others
are bored out of their skulls already. I guess we got a little spoiled by being
at your house. Even when we weren't doing something, we didn't
feel like we were caged in either. Does that make any sense?"
"It makes perfect sense, actually. Now, I've got an idea. Call
me in half an hour, because by that point the rest of the crew ought to be
here."
Lance narrowed his eyes at me. "What are you planning?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just a little get together of sorts," I replied.
"Having a party, are we?"
"Yep, and y'all are going to be the guests of honor!"
"Y'all?" Lance queried. I had to laugh for two reasons.
The first one was the perplexed look on Lance's face was quite amusing
to begin with, and second was realizing the fact that Lance, even though it
was unspoken, had a point. Using slang of any sort was a bit out of character
for me.
"Yes, y'all," I said. "Now leave me alone while I
plan this out. I don't have much time, which means I'm going to
need Jerrica's help." With a sigh, I said, "This ought to
be interesting."
"Where's Jerrica?" Lance asked.
"In the next room. Lucky me that the doors are adjoining, huh? Hang
on a second and I'll get her," I said as I headed for the door.
The adjoining rooms each had a door on their own side, so that if I wanted
to, I could leave my door locked or unlocked so Jerrica and Mandy could come
and go as they pleased, if they wanted to, and I could do the same. Her door
was locked, so I pounded on it and yelled, "Hey beast girl! Open the
door!"
I could hear Lance laughing behind me. "Beast girl?"
"Lance, I assure you there are some things that are just better off
left unexplained," I said as I pounded on the door again.
"I'm coming you twit!" I heard Jerrica say from the other
side. "Don't get your undies in a knot." I heard the deadbolt
on her door slide and within seconds Jerrica was staring me in the eye. "What
the hell do you want?"
"I was just trying to let you know that we had company," I said
sweetly.
"Oh!" Jerrica exclaimed, looking only slightly embarrassed. "Sorry
you had to hear that Lance. I didn't realize this idiot had someone over."
"I will never understand you two," Lance said, "nor am
I ever going to try. Listen, Will has some planning to do and said he needs
your help. Do me a favor and try not to kill him in the next half hour. I don't
want to have to try to explain that to Joey, thank you very much."
"Me? Kill him?" Jerrica said with grand exaggeration. "Surely
you jest."
"Whatever," Lance said with a smile. "Now get to work.
You don't have much time." With that, he left the room, leaving
me alone with Jerrica.
"So, we have some party planning to do. Go grab Mandy so we can get
going."
"Who died and put you in charge?" Jerrica asked.
"If I told you that, I'd have to kill you, and I don't
want to have to explain that to your mother," I said. "Or mine," I
added quietly.
"Ha, ha, ha!" Jerrica laughed facetiously. "You are so
funny! NOT!"
"Knock it off you two," Mandy said as she came through the door. "I'm
not playing referee today."
"Yeah, so stop being a pain in the ass," I said to Jerrica.
"Yes, mother!" Jerrica said, rolling her eyes.
"I'm going to get Josh for starting that," I mumbled as
we made our way out the door.
Almost half an hour later, Jerrica, Mandy, and I burst through the door to
my room loaded down with bags. We had bought a number of standard party items:
chips, pop, an assortment of finger food, and some healthy stuff... The
last part is only because Mandy insisted, mind you. I assure you it wasn't
on my list, believe it or not, but I had to agree with her in the end that
it was a good idea.
I set my bags on the floor and turned on the light. I almost fell backward
when I realized there was someone else—or rather I should say some people—in
the room. "Whoa! How did you guys get in here?" I asked as Tom,
Karri, and the others started laughing at me.
"It's my room too, remember?" Tom said with a mischievous
grin as he waved his room key.
"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed as he light bulb popped on. "So
now explain to me why you guys are sitting here in the dark."
"Just thought we might try to give you a heart attack, that's
all," Karri said with a smile.
"She definitely has been taking lessons from you," I said to
Jerrica, who chuckled evilly.
"It's all part of my diabolical plan, you know," Jerrica
said.
I rolled my eyes and walked further into the room. "So, are you all
going to sit on your duffs all day or are you going to help me set up? We don't
have all night, you know!"
"Let's do it!" Raya exclaimed as she ran over to help me
with some of the bags.
I was astounded. It took barely ten minutes to get both Jerrica and Mandy's
room and the one I was sharing with Tom ready for a party. This was going to
be one of the best nights I had had in a long time. I couldn't wait to
see the look on Joey's face when he saw this.
"Come on guys. It's not that bad," Lance said as the other
four moped around in his room. "I'm sure we can find something
to do tonight."
"Like what?" Justin asked. "Eric and Johnny both said we
aren't allowed to leave the hotel."
"So then we find something to do here," Lance persisted. "I
heard there's supposed to be a party going on in one of the rooms right
below us."
"Yeah, and what are we supposed to do? Just walk in uninvited?" Chris
asked. "Of course, we are *Nsync after all. Who wouldn't want us
at a party?"
"Well, I think we should go check it out, nonetheless. It's better
than staying cooped up in here," Lance argued. He looked at his watch
and realized it was already time to get the guys downstairs.
"Well, I suppose I'm game if you are," Justin said at last.
"What about the bodyguards?" Chris asked. "How are we supposed
to get past them?"
"They have a meeting with Eric in a couple of minutes. The only one
out there is Mike, and you know he won't say anything," Lance said.
Actually, getting them all to go to a meeting with Eric was Lance's idea,
and he was surprised how quickly Eric had jumped on the idea.
"Yeah, Mike's cool," Josh said, "but I still feel
kind of funny about crashing a party in someone's hotel room."
"Actually, we were invited," Lance said. "Well, I was invited,
and I'm sure they won't care if you guys come too."
"This could be a disaster," Joey said, speaking up for the first
time. "How do you know who they are? You know how crazy fans can get,
especially at a party."
"I know, but just trust me. I know everything's going to be okay," Lance
pleaded.
"All right, all right. You win Lance," Josh said.
"Yeah. Let's go," Chris said.
"I'll stay here," Joey said. "I don't really
feel like going."
"Sorry man. It's all of us or none of us," Lance said. "We're
a group, remember?"
"But..." Joey started to object, but Lance stopped him.
"Look at how excited Justin is. Do you want to be the one to tell him
no? Besides, I thought you were trying to get along better with him. Wouldn't
this be the perfect way to show Will how hard you're trying?"
Joey grunted. "Fine. Let's go."
The five exited the room and made their way down the hall with Mike closely
on their heels. Lance pushed the button on the elevator and when the doors
finally opened, he motioned for everyone to get inside. No one said much as
they went down to the next floor, and as they started to walk down the hall
behind Lance, were a bit surprised by how quiet the floor seemed.
"If someone really is throwing a party, you'd never know it by
how quiet it is out here," Joey remarked.
"Here we go, Room 1013," Lance said as he knocked on the door.
They waited for a moment before the door finally opened. "Hi guys!
Good to see you!"
"MANDY??" exclaimed Josh, Joey, Justin, and Chris.
"That's me!" Mandy said with a grin. "Come on in!"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Joey said. "If you're here, does
that mean..."
Joey's words were cut off when I pushed Mandy out of the way. "Are
you guys going to stand out here all night or are you going to come in?" I
asked. I spun on my heel and walked out of the doorway and through the adjoining
door into Jerrica's room. As I expected, Joey was not too far behind
me.
"But...I thought you had to work tonight!" Joey exclaimed
when he caught up with me.
"I got my leave from work, so we thought we'd come down and surprise
you," I said nonchalantly. I was about to say something else when my
lips were blocked by a passionate kiss. I was so caught off-guard that for
a few seconds, I think I forgot how to do this, but eventually I was able to
get myself together enough to reciprocate. "Wow," I said when we
broke apart. "Ça, c'est incroyable!"
Joey smiled. "If that means you think that was incredible, you haven't
seen anything yet."
I smiled and placed my hand on Joey's chest to block him from coming
in for seconds. "You are correct on the translation," I said, "but
remember that we do have company."
Joey turned to see Jerrica, Mandy, Tom, and all the others watching us. "Uh,
hi," he said, blushing furiously.
"Okay, now that we have embarrassed the lovebirds fully, let's
have some fun, shall we?" Jerrica yelled as she went to turn the radio
on.
"Shall we get our party started?" I asked Joey as I held out
my hand.
"Definitely!" Joey replied as he grasped my hand. Joey was definitely
in better spirits now. Every time I entered the room, to him, it seemed like
the sun parted the clouds and shone brightly. Before you start laughing, think
back to the first true love of your life and then try to admit you didn't
feel the same way. Can't, can you? I didn't think so.
We partied for what seemed like hours, but at last it was starting to get
late. "Wow, it's almost midnight," Josh remarked as he plopped
down on one of the beds and sprawled across it. "I'm having a ton
of fun, but it's starting to get late."
"You're right about that," Kimber said, "and these
guys have an early morning. Seven o'clock, remember?"
Karri, Mandy, Tom, Jerrica, and I groaned. "Yeah, we know," I
said.
"I guess that means we should get going, huh?" Chris said as
he laid his head next to Jerrica's.
"Probably, but we'll se each other tomorrow, and then pretty
soon, it'll be every day!" Jerrica said with as much enthusiasm
as she could muster.
"Well, I guess we'll see each other later then," Chris
said as he gave Jerrica a tender kiss on the lips.
"Yeah," Jerrica whispered. It had been a while since she had
last kissed someone, and she had forgotten how nice it felt.
"Before everyone goes," Kimber said aloud, "I think we
have time for just one more thing." Everyone turned their attention to
Kimber who pulled out a guitar.
"What? Are you going to sing us a bedtime story?" I said jokingly.
"No, you are," Kimber replied as she stuck the guitar in my hands.
"Uh, I am?" I asked, a bit confused as to where this had come
from.
"Why not?" Kimber replied. "You know how to play and everyone
here knows how wonderful your voice is. Why don't you sing something?"
"I don't get the choice to say no, do I?" I asked as I
took the guitar over to a chair and sat down.
"Nope," Kimber replied.
"They're out to get me. Every single one of them," I remarked
to no one in particular as I sat down and started to tune the guitar. "Do
you guys really want to hear me sing?"
"YES!" came a thundering chorus from the rest of the room.
"Okay then!" I exclaimed in surprise. "A song it is. What
to sing though?" I racked through my memory trying to decide on something
when my eyes fell on Joey who, though he was smiling, was obviously not happy
that this little reunion of hours was incredibly short-lived. It was at that
moment when a thought occurred to me.
"Well?" Jerrica asked a bit impatiently.
"I think I have the perfect song. This one goes out to all of you,
and is just a friendly reminder that no matter how lost you may you feel, there
is always a road leading to home."
"That was rather corny," Jerrica commented, but Chris whacked
her on the arm and shushed her.
Holding in my laughter at this display, I took a breath, strummed the guitar,
and began to sing.
Sunny days and starry nights
And lazy afternoons
You're countin' castles in the clouds
And hummin' little tunes
But somehow, right before your eyes
The summer fades away
Everything is different
And everything has changed
If you feel lost and on your own
And far from home
You're never alone, you know
Just think of your friends
The ones who care
They all will be waiting there
With love to share
And your heart will lead you home
Funny how a photograph
Can take you back in time
To places and embraces
That you thought you'd left behind
They're trying to remind you
That you're not the only one
That no one is an island
When all is said and done
While I was singing, no one heard a key slide into the lock and the door
silently open as two figures crept in the door.
If you feel lost and on your own
And far from home
You're never alone, you know
Just think of your friends
The ones who care
They all will be waiting there with love to share
And your heart will lead you home
There'll come a day
When you're losing your way
And you won't know where you belong
They say that "Home is where the heart is"
So follow your heart
And know that you can't go wrong
If you feel lost and on your own
And far from home
You're never alone, you know
Just think of your friends
The ones who care
They all will be waiting there
With love to share
And your heart will lead you
If you feel lost and on your own
And far from home
You're never alone, you know
Just think of your friends
The ones who care
They all will be waiting there
With love to share
And your heart will lead you
Where you belong
I know your heart will lead you home
As the others started to clap, someone from the doorway began to clap more
loudly. All eyes turned to the doorway and were shocked to discover Johnny
and Eric standing there.
I immediately jumped to my feet. "How did you get in here?"
"We let ourselves in. The people at the front desk were most kind in
giving us an extra key to your room when we voiced our concerns to them that
the members of our band went missing. Of course, they bent over backward to
assist in locating you. Once I figured out that you all were here, it wasn't
very hard to figure out where these boys went," Eric said with a devilish
grin.
"Johnny, get out!" Chris yelled as he tossed a pillow at the
man's head.
"Now that wasn't very nice, was it Eric?" Johnny asked
the other man.
"You know, you'd think that, considering we're going to
be around so much and opening for this group, Johnny and Eric would be a little
nicer to us," Tom said.
"No way. They like being bastards too much for that," Jerrica
said, standing up and glaring at Eric who cowered behind Johnny.
"Ah, Miss Andrews, so good to see you again. Now, I had better see
five boys back in the rooms upstairs in five minutes, or things are going to
get rather unpleasant around here." Johnny went to leave when he turned
around again and said, "Oh, and Will. You really do have a beautiful
voice. I am quite impressed." Then he turned around and was out the door.
"I really, really hate that man," I said through clenched teeth,
"You and everyone else," Justin said. "Well, I guess we
better get going."
While everyone was starting to say their good-byes for the night, I made
my way over to Josh and asked, "And whom are you rooming with tonight?"
"Joey. Why?" he asked suspiciously.
"Well, I was just thinking maybe we could trade rooms for tonight."
At first, Josh seemed a bit confused, but then the light in his head came
on. "Ahhhh... I get it. No problem. I don't mind rooming alone."
"Uh, I'm not rooming alone," I said. "I'm rooming
with Tom. Thanks Josh! You're the best!" I said, giving him a quick
hug.
"Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute!" Josh exclaimed, grabbing my shirt
as I tried to make a getaway. "What do you know?" Josh asked.
"What should I know?" I asked with a smile. "Besides the
fact that you're attracted to Tom?" I said quietly.
"Let me guess. Joey told you?" Josh asked.
"Actually, no. I figured that one out on my own," I said. "So,
on that note, I'll go get my bags and take them upstairs."
"Uh, first, Johnny is going to pitch a fit when he sees you, and second,
I'm not so sure about this."
"Don't worry Josh. Have I ever steered you wrong before?" When
Josh shook his head, I said, "I'm not about to start either. As
or Johnny, he only said he wanted to see five boys upstairs, and last time
I checked, I still qualified in that department."
"You are a brave guy, Will," Josh said.
"Sometimes, you just have to fight for what you want. I'll bring
your bags down in a bit." As I started to walk away, I turned, flashed
Josh a huge smile, and said, "Hopefully, you'll thank me in the
morning."
Josh shook his head. Yet again, I had gotten what I wanted whether he liked
it or not, but this time he was actually looking forward to the events to come.
Maybe, possibly, things would go exactly the way he wanted them to. That night
could be the start of something new and exciting. He almost couldn't
wait.
So what did you think? Will Josh and Tom finally see the sparks between
them and figure out what the others already know? Can Will find a way to
keep everything in control without losing his mind? What will happen in
the weeks to come? Please, drop
me a line and let me know your thoughts.
Another chapter done! Isn't it great? Sorry about seemingly falling off the
face of the planet, and I promise the next chapter will be forthcoming much
more quickly than this one! (I know I've said that before too!) Also, for those that are interested, I have started
a second story, called The
Glamorous Life, which I am co-writing with a very talented author and
can also be found on my website.
Thanks to everyone who has written to me!! A special thanks goes out to my editors, Mandy and Dreamy, who keep me in line.
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The characters Kimber Benton, Jerrica Benton, Aja
Leith, Shana Elmsford, and Raya Alonso are creations of Hasbro. Song
lyrics used in this chapter are protected under copyright by the original
authors and their recording labels. No attempt to infringe on these copyrights
should be assumed or implied.