The rest of Chris' performance wasn't as full of emotion as the first two songs, but even so, the audience was glued to their seats. Joey didn't even realized that it was over until Justin spoke.
"Wow, man. He shouldn't be here." The singer said, honestly awed. "He should be up in a real stage. With that voice…"
"People would forget we exist, really fast." Nick finished, and only then Joey registered that the table had been silent the whole hour and a half. Not a sound, not a word had been uttered since Chris started singing. And he remembered Lance's words about Chris: 'He must be really special if he can make you stay silent.'.
But when Chris awkwardly bowed once, left the guitar on the stage and began walking towards the edge of it, Joey knew it was time to start talking. He had already wasted most of their stay in Albany thinking, so it was time to act.
He got off his seat, and took two steps towards Chris, as they were near the stage there was no need of getting closer. Not yet.
"Chris!" He called, and was very surprised when his call was
echoed in two different voices at the same time.
* * *
He had planned on finishing his song, and invent an excuse to go and say hi to Joey. And to Lance, since he hadn't thought on inviting the guys to the Cauldron, mostly because he was sure it was not his kind of scene and he hadn't want them to know he sang.
Chris had never expected Joey coming towards him, calling his name.
He certainly didn't expect Howie and Danny doing the same, at the same time.
Before he could answer to either man -he really didn't want to acknowledge Danny's presence- Joey turned to see Howie.
"What are you doing here? The guys were worried crazy!" Joey said, punching Howie lightly on the shoulder. Behind Joey, Chris could see that the four men in the table who were with *N Sync were watching the scene with shocked curiosity.
"You know Howie?" Chris managed to ask, before Danny grabbed
his arm and forced him to turn around.
"Chris, we need to talk." Danny growled, almost threatening.
Chris wanted to agree, to avoid any scene. The first time Danny had accepted to listen to Chris sing at the Cauldron, Chris had wanted to stay and help Maren after the show, hang with some of his friends. But Danny hadn't liked that, hadn't liked the fact that Chris sang in front of strangers, and had managed to humiliate Chris in front of everyone. 'You're 28, for God's sake, Chris! You shouldn't be doing this stuff! Grow up a little! Get serious with your life!'. And Chris didn't want a repeat from that time. Never again.
But Howie didn't gave him the chance to answer, he stepped between Chris and Danny and glared at the taller man. "Look man, I think Chris don't want to be around you right now. And if he wanted to talk, you wouldn't need to push him around."
"Who do you think you are?" Danny almost shouted, but he let go of Chris' arm. From the corner of his eye, Chris could see Maren's brother stand up, and he knew that Danny had seen the enormous man too. Maybe tonight, there would be no problems.
"I'm Chris' friend." Howie answered calmly, with the same tone of voice he always used. One of the things Chris had always admired of the younger man was how he seemed to be at ease, no matter what happened. "And I haven't talked to him in a long time. So why don't you go home, get a grip, and call Chris in the morning? Whatever you need to tell him, I'm sure it can wait."
* * *
Joey was floored.
The coincidences of the afternoon had gotten too weird for him.
But he wasn't going to stop and think about that, while Danny tried to get Chris away from him. Them. He couldn't forget Howie was there, acting as if he had know Chris for a long time, and defending the teacher from the abusive blonde.
"Yeah, man." He heard himself say, as he walked closer to Chris. "Chill down. The guy has to greet his fans."
Danny stared right into Joey's eyes, and the singer _knew_ he was being challenged. As if Chris were Danny's property. So he returned the stare, hating the man in front of him for causing Chris such discomfort, for treating Chris like a prize and not like a person. He wasn't going to back down in the stare contest.
"I'll talk to you later, Danny." Chris said meekly, behind Howie. "Just… let me alone tonight, please."
Joey frowned, as his rival smiled. "It's a date, Elf. I'll pick you in the morning, and we'll go to my place. Like old times."
Then Danny was gone, and Joey could feel the tension in the room dissipating. Obviously, he wasn't the only one who disliked Danny… although he hoped the others hated the blonde for other reasons. He had enough competition for Chris' attention as it were.
Which took him to the other question that had been nagging him from the beginning. He waited for Howie to turn around, and before the other could say anything, he spoke. "You know Chris, Howie?"
"You know Howie, Joey?" Chris asked, at the same time. They looked at each other, their eyes meeting… And they laughed, surprised, joyful and, at least for Joey's part, a little confused.
"I'm guessing you two know each other." Howie said, smiling, when they managed to stop laughing. "Why don't we go with the others, and explain everything there?"
"You mean, you also know *N Sync?" Chris asked, frowning, and then Joey understood, and he couldn't but laugh again.
"You don't know who Howie is, do you Chris?" Joey asked softly, not wanting to sound condescending or anything. "I mean… you confiscate all those Super teen and Teen bop magazines at your school and you've never once read them? Just for curiosity?"
Light dawned on Chris' eyes, a look that melted Joey's heart, a mix between understanding and child-like amazement that could lit a city. Then, Chris turned to see Howie, chuckling. "The thing in Germany worked out, right?"
"You could say that…" Howie shook his head, as they sat at the same table where the others were half listening to the conversation and shared looks of confusion. "… When Kate told me you were a little slow when it came to popular bands, I never believed it was this serious."
"You don't know who we are?" Nick finally found his voice, looking far more offended that the others. "You teach in High School and you haven't got the slightest idea of who we are?!"
"Calm down, Nick." Lance explained, smiling. "His sisters have taste. They're *N Sync fans."
"Then you mean they have bad taste." AJ had to add, and the whole table laughed at the seriousness of his tone.
* * *
Chris looked at the men on the table trying to remember in which teen magazine he had seen their faces. Unfortunately, there were too many groups, and he had never really paid any attention.
That made him feel a little ashamed. After all, one of his best friends at College was in said band, and he hadn't even know. Sure, Howie had changed a lot, long hair, a five o clock shadow… earrings… Not much to relate to the shy guy for whom Chris had fallen back then. Only the eyes were the same, and that was why Chris had recognized him so easily. He began shuffling in his mind the names of the groups he had seen in the covers of his sister's magazines, trying to pinpoint his friend. The young blonde sure looked insulted for his lack of knowledge.
"Don't mind Nick, he knows we don't' have many fans past 20." Howie said, smiling, pointing at the blonde. Nick. Didn't 98 degrees had a Nick?, Chris thought but then he remembered 98 were four, and he was almost positive there were a pair of twins somewhere in that group. He smiled as Howie continued the introductions. "The guy glaring at me, next JC, is Kevin," Westlife! No, Chris shook Kevin's hand, still trying to remember, those guys are Irish or something. "The freak with the dark glasses in a dark room is AJ, and the one who seems unable to stop laughing is Brian."
Then the names finally got in the picture. Howie, AJ, Brian, Nick and Kevin… Backstreet boys. "Oh… shit..." He muttered, so softly that no one heard him, except perhaps Joey who was standing really close to him. "I remember now. Backstreet boys, right?…We… ah… the choir at my school sang one of your songs last summer… But I never got to see any pictures, sorry… "
"Really?" Justin jumped at the word 'choir', and Chris remembered that the younger member of *N Sync had been really curious about that, after the girls had giggled and laughed and shared secret looks among themselves during all dinner. "Which one?"
"Which…" Chris stopped himself as nine pair of eyes settled on him. "'I want it that way'" He finished. It wasn't that far away from the truth. They had rehearsed that song, and the one they finally sang had the same tune… It wasn't really his fault that most of the guys of the choir hated every single boyband on earth, and much less that they had wanted to get revenge on the girls for forcing them to choose a BSB tune, was it? But after JC's glares, and Nick's offended reaction to his initial ignorance, Chris was sure they didn't want to hear about that particular school festival.
"You sang with them?" Brian asked, as if studying Chris. "With your voice, it must have sound great."
"I did the high parts." Chris answered, blushing a little.
"Howie's." AJ nodded. "Makes sense. How…"
"What are you doing here, Howie?" Kevin interrupted, in a tone that reminded Chris of JC at his worst. What was with the older members of boy bands that couldn't act a little more relaxed? "We were really worried for you."
"As I told the ape back there, and I'm sure you heard," Howie smiled, not even fazed by Kevin's half growl. "Chris and I were friends in College. This morning, his sister Kate called me and told me Chris needed a friendly ear. So I came. I didn't think that I would find you here."
At the mention of his sister's name, Chris shook his head. He really needed to talk to the girl about not going around pocking her nose in his business. Sure, it was great to see Howie again, but he could have done it without the awkward moment of not knowing he was in a popular band. He really needed to start browsing the pages of those magazines and pay more attention to what Kate and Emily listened to.
* * *
"How did you find the Cauldron, anyway?" Howie asked, after the big woman behind the counter brought everyone their third or fourth coffee of the night. "It's not the kind of place where any of us would be usually seen."
"I'll let the twin fashion disasters answer that one." JC muttered under his breath. Joey didn't liked the tone of his band mate, but at least it was better from the glares from the night before.
"We found it by accident." Nick explained, playing with his green tips. It was a great color, Joey thought, and briefly wondered how would it look on him. Red was getting old anyway. "Justin wanted to talk to me about something, so we searched for a place where we wouldn't be mobbed by fans. And then he recognized Chris's name in the wall, and he had to come and listen to him sing."
"Why didn't you told us you sang, Chris?" Justin turned to see the teacher. It was only then when Joey noticed that Chris was blushing. It was hardly noticeable under the light of the candles, but it was there. It only made Joey want to lean on and kiss him. But he couldn't do that in front of the boys.
"From where do you know Chris?" Howie asked at the same time, looking at Kevin and JC. Kevin shrugged and pointed to JC, who sighed dramatically.
"His sister won a dream date with us." Lance explained, smiling. "Chris was kinda of an added bonus. But he never told us he could sing like that…"
"I… I didn't think it was important. " Chris almost whispered, nervous, and Joey couldn't help himself. He placed his hand on Chris' knee, under the table, away from the questioning eyes of everyone. The contact, the first touch between them, was like electricity. Chris turned to see him, surprised, but smiling. And Joey smiled back.
"You've
got a great voice." Joey said, seriously, hoping that JC wouldn't
start glaring again. "I'm glad Nick and Justin found this place."
"Yeah, although that leaves us with the problem of returning to Buffalo and not sleep, or sharing rooms with *N Sync." AJ interrupted, laughing. There was nothing changed in his attitude or in his tone of voice, but Joey had the feeling that the other man suspected something. "And I don't think two rooms are comfortable of nine people."
"I didn't thought of that…" Nick lowered his head, like a child who is being scolded. "I just wanted to see Justin and…"
"My mom and older sister are out of town," Chris suddenly said, and when everyone turned to see him he blushed and ducked his head. "I mean… I do have extra rooms… If you don't mind a giggling 14 year old and a crazy 20 year old girls in the morning…"
"I always wanted to meet your sisters," Howie nodded, then turned to see the others. "Who else wants to come?"
"I'd like to talk with you, Howie." Lance was the first to speak, as JC and Kevin were too busy glaring at their band mates. "Plus, Chris promised me we would be doing some sight seeing tomorrow, so if I go with you, it's less likely that he forgets."
"I'll take my chances with Emily," Joey smirked, jumping at the chance to spend more time with Chris, not offering more explanations.
Nick and Justin turned to see each other, and for a moment, Joey was sure that they were going to take Chris' offering too. But before the younger members of each band could say anything, Brian opened his mouth.
"In that case, it's better that AJ and I risk it too." He said, smiling. "Just to keep some semblance of order and not make the girls think all members of *N Sync and Backstreet are crazy or something."
There were some more arguing, most of it from JC and Kevin's part, arrangements were made, decisions were taken. But Joey didn't hear any of that. He was too concentrated in the place where his hand rested, on Chris' thigh. On Chris' smile. And in the fact that they were going to spend the night under the same roof.
* * *
Chris could barely contain his nervousness and excitement when the cab finally stopped in front of his house. It was well past midnight, so he knew his sisters would be asleep. Or at least he hoped they would be asleep.
The arrangement had been easy to decide. AJ and Brian would share the guest room in the first floor, while Lance and Howie would sleep in Molly's room. Joey would get the other guest room, the one upstairs from Chris' room.
They were going to be really close, and Chris couldn't think of something to tell the other man.
So he showed everyone their rooms, and where they could find anything they could need, and promised that he would try to wake up first to warn the girls and avoid any surprises in the morning, and soon, he was alone with Joey, standing in front of the stairs that led to the second floor.
There was a long,
uncomfortable, alien silence between them, and Chris didn't know how to
break it. But he couldn't stand it anymore.
"Joey…"
"Chris…"
And then, words were excessive, ugly, useless.
They both leaned in at the same time, meeting halfway, lips touching lips, need meeting need.
The rest of the
world stopped for a moment, but Chris couldn't care less. He finally was
where he was supposed to be, and nothing else mattered anymore.