"Who's coming, Emily?" Chris asked to his younger sister, barely lifting his head from the book he was reading. He had to get a class ready for next Monday, and he knew that if he closed the book, he would never finish in time.
"*Nsync!! They are going to have a concert here!" Emily ran into the kitchen like a small tornado. She was quite exited about the whole business although Chris couldn't exactly understand why. He knew who *Nsync were, as half the students in his class were obsessed with them and he had confiscated quite a number of teen magazines from them in the past months, but that didn't explain the outburst of energy from his younger sibling. "Please, Chris! Can we go to see them?!"
Chris was about to shake his head no, as he knew that this would only lead to him being the chauffer for all his sisters' friends, which would only lead to him losing the little respect they had for their 7th grade teacher, when he saw his sister's pleading big puppy eyes.
"I don't know, Emily…" He began, only to see tears start coming down in his sister's eyes.
"C'mon Chris!" She insisted. "I'll behave in class, promise! And I'll not complain when you leave us too much homework, and I'll tell my friends to stop calling you names at your back! I'll do your house work for a month if you drive me to the concert!"
"Where are you going to get money for the tickets?" Chris asked, although he knew the answer to that one.
"I was hoping you could… lend me some cash?" She said, the perfect picture of teenage innocence. "Please! I'll die if I can see Justin in person!"
"All right." Chris finally accepted his fate of a night of giggling teenagers in his car, and endless repetitions of the same cd. "But if you or your friends do any kind of practical joke on my class next week, you can forget about it!" Before he could return to his book, Emily hugged his neck, yelling a long litany of 'yay!great!thanks!Iloveyou' on his ear before returning to the living room and probably, the phone.
Chris shook his head, smiling. The price of being the older one, he thought, as he tried to immerse again in the subject of his class instead on in his sister's joyful voice.
* * *
"Where are we now?" JC asked, watching the changing landscape pass through the windows of the bus.
"United States of North America?" Joey offered, smiling before receiving a heartfelt slap in the back of his head, courtesy of a not-amused Lance.
"Albany, New York." The now blonde said. He always knew those things, which was very helpful in Joey's opinion. after all, he could never remember where they were supposed to be going.
He threw a sideways glance to the back of the bus where Justin made his diary call to Britney. 'She's just my friend' Spears. Joey knew that in fact the relationship was just a scam, a charade that Brit and Justin were trying very hard to keep up. But if Justin was happy believing he could fool his bandmates, it was all right with him.
Sighing, Joey closed his eyes for a moment. Lance, JC, Justin and him were one of the most popular bands of the year, had the chance to go and see exotic places, had millions of girls yelling their names at concerts (Well, Justin' name most of the time, but Joey hardly ever dwelled on that). Their first record had been a hit on Europe, and the second was a hit everywhere, breaking record and igniting rumors all over. They were the new Beatles, the new faces of Pop, the stars. They were on the top of the world.
Sure, they had had their bad moments… The whole Louis Pearlman/Backstreet Boys thing. Changing Labels. Getting sued. Hiding themselves so no one would recognize them in clubs, bars and places where the four couldn't be seen, not without damaging their clean image. Getting sued again. But that was part of the charm, part of the game.
It wasn't enough for him anymore. Perhaps it was that he felt like the odd man out. Sure, they were four, which meant that there was no odd man, but he had some troubles relating to his friends. He wasn't the older but he sure did look the part, and he wasn't a pretty boy like Lance or Justin, or had that air of innocence that JC had. He was the weird one, the prankster, the bad boy, the flirt. At least, if you believed the teen magazines. He was Joey Fatone from *Nsync.
But sometimes…
Sometimes he needed something more than being Joey Fatone from *Nsync.
Opening his eyes, he grabbed one of the comic books he always packed to fight boredom. Sometimes, he played gameboy, sometimes, he watched a movie. But even that didn't help much lately, now that the glamour of touring had gone away. Just before he immersed himself in the world of Superman and Metropolis, he heard JC's voice rise again.
"So… _Where_ are we now?"
* * *
Chris
sighed, for what seemed to be the hundred time that day. He had just finished
the last class of the day, and felt exhausted. Sure, Emily had been true
to her word, and neither she or her closest friends caused any problem…
But that couldn't be said of the rest of the class who was completely
hyperactive. He had been catching notes and half whispers, confiscated
three more magazines (Only for two days, he wasn't cruel enough to actually
keep the girls away from their latest crushes), and read one too many
sentences starting with the names Joey, JC, Justin and Lance.
Now, the only thing he wanted was to get the tickets he had promised to Emily, and then go home to a long, long hot shower and a well deserved night of sleep.
However, fate seemed to have a different idea for him.
First, he had to deal with a giggling ticket sales girl, who apparently found incredibly funny that he was buying tickets for his sister. That would have been fine if it wasn't because crossing the parking lot he was spotted by one of his co-workers, Samantha, who taught physics, and who also looked at him as if he had something tattooed on his forehead.
And Chris was sure that she didn't believe that he was getting the damn tickets for Emily.
Then, when he finally reached his house, his mother asked him to get some shopping done. So Chris had gone, only to be stuck in a full store for two hours. Feeling more dead than alive, he had returned with the bags, still having his mind set on the long shower, when the phone rang.
* * *
Joey entered the bar, conscious that management would want his head the next morning when they discovered that he had once again escaped the ever vigilant eyes of their bodyguards, their representatives, and even the other guys only to have a night of fun.
But it was worthy, just for a few hours of freedom. For a few moments to be just Joey and not Joey Fatone. Besides, it was not as if he was planning to get a date. The last time he had done so, a photographer had managed to get a picture of him, and that had been almost a disaster.
No one could know that a member of *Nsync not only went to gay bars, but also picked up guys there.
Still, it was not even worth the effort to think about that. After all, he was only there to get a couple of drinks and try and forget the emptiness that had been eating him the whole week.
Almost absent mindedly, he looked around the bar. There were many couples that night, but still there was a fair number of lone ones like himself. It wasn't a big place, so Joey could guess that most were regulars, knew each other by name, and that before long, he would be pegged as the outsider.
Again.
It was then when he saw him. Sitting all by himself in a table, watching his beer with a sad expression, although from time to time he watched at the empty seat in front of him. He had brown hair, and his eyes were of an extraordinary shade of brown, that under the lights of the bar seemed almost black.
* * *
Chris looked at his beer, trying not to sigh. He had been doing that too much in the week, and apparently, it hadn't done him any good.
He tried not to look at the other seat, not to think about what had happened mere minutes before.
Danny had been sitting there a minute ago.
It wasn't as if he hadn't seen the break up coming. Chris had wondered many times why he and Danny were still together, since they seemed to have nothing in common. Danny was a designer who was usually flying from Albany to L.A. then to New York City, then to Chicago… He hardly spent more than a week at home. And Chris… Chris was just an English lit. teacher in a public high school, taking care of his family. Nothing much there to build a common ground.
Still, it had been nice to be with Danny, to have someone to hold at nights, someone to talk with. And now, Danny had decided to break up. He had someone new, another designer from L.A., and was moving out from Albany. That was the reason why he had called Chris that night. To give him the news.
Finally accepting that the half-filled glass of beer wouldn't have any answer for him, Chris decided to let his eyes roam. It was then when he saw the stranger sitting by the bar, who was drinking a beer. He was a tall man, who covered his head with a superman baseball cap, had an unshaved brown goatee. Chris wasn't really sure, but he thought he had seen that face somewhere else. Shrugging, he shook his head and returned to his stare contest with his beer.
He had just ended a two year old relationship. He really didn't want to get lost in some stranger's brown eyes.
* * *
After his fourth beer, Joey decided he couldn't just stay there, staring. At least an hour had passed since he had set his eyes on the other man, and no one had approached the empty seat. It didn't take a detective to know that the man with brown eyes had been either stood up or abandoned there.
Which meant most probably a broken hearth, which explained the sadness irradiating from him.
And suddenly, Joey wanted nothing more than to see the stranger smile. Just to see if those eyes were as expressive when happy.
He swallowed, thinking a thousand ways to introduce himself to the deep eyed stranger that didn't sound like 'Hi, I'm a big star, wanna fuck?' But in the moment he left his beer down, he looked at the entrance, recognizing Loomie immediately.
Lommie, his bodyguard, looking less than pleased.
Joey knew that if he went out now, he could save the situation, without coming out, without hassle and even more lecture than the one he was already going to get. But that meant he would never hear the stranger's voice, or even see those eyes directed at him.
If he went, the stranger might not recognize him, but someone else could. And it was not only him the one who would be thrown to the wolves. The rest of the group would be seen as guilty by association.
That would mean the end of *Nsync.
And Joey knew he couldn't take that risk. So he paid his beers and walked towards Loomie, not daring to look at the sad stranger one last time.
* * *
Chris had been sure that the tall stranger had been looking at him. At least, until the stranger simply paid and went away with a big man who looked like a bouncer.
At that sight, Chris shook his head. It was just his luck, that he always had to set his sights in someone who would never even look back at him. Or someone who would break his heart.
He stopped, mulling that thought over and over in his head.
When he had arrived to the bar, he had done so thinking of spending a quiet evening with Danny. Obviously, that hadn't been the case. Then, he had decided to drowse his sorrows in beer –he never got drunk, he couldn't, not living with three younger sisters who were also students in the school where he worked, but sometimes a beer or two were very welcomed. The last thing in his mind had been picking up a date.
And if he had wanted to get a new date, it would have been of the one night stands variety, not someone who would ever get the chance to break his heart.
Even so, that had been the impression Chris got from the tall stranger. That if they had ever crossed more than one word… the stranger would have had his heart to do whatever he wanted to do with it.
Chris shook his head, trying to clear his head from those thoughts. He had never believed in love at first sight, and wasn't going to start now. He got up from the table, and went to pay his beer, fully aware that Danny hadn't paid for his, decided to put all the night behind him, to keep smiling and face the world and whatever it brought him.
And forget the brown eyes of the stranger in the Superman baseball cap.
* * *
It was almost three in the morning, and Joey still couldn't sleep.
Surprisingly enough, there hadn't been any harassment from the other guys, who didn't even ask where he had been. Joey knew that Lance suspected something, as he always seemed to know everything, but the blond-brunette didn't say a word, just handed him the key to his room before leaving for the night.
Management would wait until morning, find if there were any embarrassing pictures, and then chew his head off.
Still, that wasn't what kept Joey awake.
It was the image of the young brown eyed man, sitting by himself in a gay bar.
The man that had stolen his heart without even looking at Joey, and whom Joey would never see again.