Time seemed to stop for a second, at least for Joey who was lost in the brown pools in front of him. But then Kirkpatrick blinked and the moment was lost.
"Hi." He heard himself say. "Are the girls ready?"
"I…" Kirkpatrick began saying, only to be interrupted by an excited yell and a couple of giggles. That seemed to help him focus again, although that slight hesitation could have been only in Joey's mind. "I think so."
Smiling, even when he was thorn inside, Joey looked at the three girls behind Kirkpatrick, all of them exited and happy to see them there. He knew immediately who was Emily, as her eyes were almost the same shade as her brother's, only that hers shone with a happiness he still hadn't even glimpsed in Kirkpatrick's eyes.
"Well then, we better get going before dinner gets cold!" Joey said, managing to pass the words trough the lump in his throat, smile still in place as he watched Kirkpatrick lead the girls out of the house, tell something to an older woman -who Joey sincerely hoped was his mother- and then follow them out towards the limousine where JC and Justin waited.
All the while trying
to figure how to start a conversation with Kirkpatrick that didn't started
with the words "I saw you in a gay bar and fell immediately in love
with you."
* * *
Chris was sweating. From the moment he had opened the door to the moment when he entered the limo where the other members of *Nsync his stomach felt even more jumpy than Emily and her two friends.
He knew everyone's names, birthday dates, place of birth and favorite color. Three or four different nicknames just for Joey. But he couldn't admit that. Not when he really didn't know any of the songs they sang, or what type of music they really played. You didn't got sound out of magazines, and he hadn't even paid enough attention at the concert.
He couldn't pass as a fan if he didn't know the name of their record. Or how many records they had. And he didn't want Joey to think that he was a stalker or something. He didn't want Joey to think anything bad of him. And he couldn't call Joey by his first name.
"I bet you would love to be anywhere else, right man?" Justin asked him, pulling him out of his depressing thoughts. The blond singer was sitting right in front of him, Emily sitting at his side with an adoring look in her eyes. Thankfully, Justin didn't seem to mind that, and Emily seemed to be happy enough by being close to him and wasn't trying anything weird.
"I… " he began, when his mouth seemed to get a mind of its own. "I like to see my sister happy. I didn't have any plans, anyway… Just… don't feel offended if I don't know your songs or something."
"Well, you were at the concert…" JC mentioned, but his eyes seemed cold. Chris didn't thought that the thin man was happy to see him there. Still, he hadn't been rude to Jeanette, who now was looking at Emily with a puzzled look. Obviously, both girls were confused over Chris' reactions to the band. "You must have got some idea of what we sing."
"Leave him alone, JC." Lance interrupted, smiling at Marcy who seemed to be in seventh heaven. "We know guys are not really interested in our music, so it's all right." He added, looking at Chris. "Say, we know your name from the contest entry, but… we don't know how to call you. Christopher? Mr. Kirkpatrick?"
"Chris." Emily said, shyly, blushing as her four idols turned to see her. "He's not Mr. Kirkpatrick outside the classroom."
"Classroom? What do you do?" Joey talked to him for the second time in the evening, and Chris felt his heart start beating faster at that. He just hoped he was not blushing.
"I teach English Lit. at Emerson High school." He answered, trying not to look straight into Joey's eyes, fearing to get lost in them. "And Emily's right. I prefer to be called Chris when I'm not there."
"He's the coolest teacher ever." Marcy said, obviously encouraged by the amiability Lance was showing, a great contrast against JC's cold attitude, and Emily and Jeanette agreed, nodding. "If we do finish the class early, he lets us go out."
"And he doesn't get mad when we're reading 'Teen pop' or 'Super
teen' in the class." Jeanette blushed. "Well… he doesn't
like it, but he doesn't yell or makes us stand in front of everyone when
he catches us."
* * *
Joey heard all that with great interest, at the same time he was trying very hard not to stare. He couldn't be obvious. The only ones in the car who knew he was gay were Lance and maybe, if he recognized him from the other night, Kirkpatrick. Christopher.
Chris.
He let the name roll in his mind, once, twice, memorizing it, and deciding he really liked it. It suited the shorter man. It was a sweet name, a sweet sound. And he had the sweetest voice.
The singer was convinced that if any of his teachers had had that voice when he was studying, he might have ended in college instead of inside a werewolf suit at Universal studios.
In that moment, he wished that Chris would call him by his name. Just to hear how it sounded said by such beautiful voice. However, the teacher seemed happy with the short answers, not giving much of himself, as if he was afraid that they would bite him or something.
Which, judging by the looks that JC was sending his way was possible.
"Well," he finally said, trying to live up to his reputation as the cheerful one of the group. " Relax. This ain't no classroom. And if we're going to call you by your first name, you should do the same. I'm Joey."
"Lance." The bass singer offered his hand to Chris, and Joey send him a grateful look that was missed by Justin.
"Justin." The younger man said, smiling then pointing to JC. "And JC. As you must know if you have confiscated a few Super Teen."
That seemed to ease a little bit of the tension in the car, as the girls began giggling excited about how their friends were never going to believe that they had won the date… And that Mr. Kirkpatrick had shook the hands of *Nsync, now everyone would drop dead from jealousy. At that, Chris looked at the three girls with a very stern voice and reminded them to call him Chris, because they were not in the classroom.
"But…" Marcy, Lance's 'date' began, blushing again. Joey wondered how many blood the girl still had in her to manage that feat. "… Mr. Kirkpatrick…"
"If you call me Mr. Kirkpatrick again, I'll have to ruin dinner by reminding you of your homework for Monday." Chris said, so stern that even Justin paled at the mention of homework. In that moment, Joey believed that the older man was a teacher. And then, at the shocked faces of the three girls, and Justin who was probably reminding himself how lucky he was of not having to go to high school, Chris smiled and began to laugh. "I was joking girls, I wouldn't be that mean."
Then Justin laughed, nervously, and Lance joined in. Soon, they all were
laughing. Except JC, who still was looking at Chris as if in the short
man's body was the key to the destruction of the world or something.
* * *
Chris couldn't be happier when they finally reached the restaurant. Between the closeness to Joey, who had been sitting at his side the whole ride, and the hostile looks he kept getting from JC, he simply couldn't relax, not even when Lance and Justin had begun talking to him. The two blond men were actually very nice, and not the egomaniac pop stars that Chris had figured every single boy band member to be, and Lance had been trying really hard to make Chris, and the girls, feel comfortable in the date.
But he didn't seem aware of JC's hostility. The singer hadn't said more than three or four things to Chris, all of them loaded with sarcasm. And all the ride he had kept looking at Chris as if he was waiting for Chris to get a new head or something.
It was not as if Chris wasn't used to such reactions. Although he didn't made a show of himself, he didn't hide the fact he was gay. And sometimes, more often than not if he had to admit the truth, people didn't react well to that. But he hadn't told the group about his preferences, and he was sure that there was no way they knew.
Unless Joey had recognized him from the bar and had told everyone.
But then… then they would be hostile with Joey too. Unless Joey was there just for the drinks.
A million thoughts passed through Chris' mind as they entered the restaurant, walked to a nice, almost private table and were seated. Vaguely, he was aware of a couple of flashes going out, as Emily was placed at Justin's side, Jeanette between Justin and JC, Marcy between JC and Lance, and himself between Lance and Joey.
And he wondered how he was going to manage to eat, between the nervousness and the knot in his stomach.
"They say the meat is great here." Lance said, opening his menu. "Please feel free to ask anything you like."
As Chris looked through the items in the menu, he decided that Lance was a nice guy. He didn't seem faced by the fact that neither of the girls could hold a conversation, as excited as they were of being so close to their favorite group, and kept trying to open new topics to talk. He also seemed very interested in making Chris feel part of the dinner instead of the necessary but annoying accessory.
After everybody had made their order, and yet another topic had been abruptly cut by blushes and giggles from the girls, Justin turned to see Chris. "So, you confiscate the magazines because they don't pay attention to your class, right?"
"It's part of the rules." Chris apologized, feeling a little ashamed. "I also confiscate comic books and gameboys…"
"I bet you have quite a collection of games, then." Justin smiled, grabbing a bread stick. "You look way younger than all the teachers I remember."
"I'm 29." Chris answered. He liked Justin too. He seemed like a kid who was trying very hard to show he was a grown up and not just a child.
"Not for long." Emily said, and her three friends giggled with her. Although the singers didn't had to know that, his age was some sort of private jokes between his students. Especially when a couple of them were taller than him.
"You don't look that old." Joey said, softly, making Chris
turn around, finding himself lost in the eyes of the other man.
* * *
Lance frowned slightly as he watched JC watching Joey and Chris. All evening he had had the feeling that JC didn't liked the idea of Chris joining them for dinner, and, deep down, Lance couldn't blame him. Dream Dates were only publicity, and a guy instead of a girl, even in one picture, could mean a bad week of fighting rumors. And JC still was not recovered from the "JC's gay and dating Eminem!" rumor that had spawned on the web. Not that it excused JC's behavior towards Kirkpatrick. Chris was really nice, and Lance was sure that he was the mysterious 'Brown eyes' that had Joey captivated.
Hard to miss that, when Joey had been trying his best not to stare obviously at Chris. More to Lance enjoyment, he could see that Chris was not unaffected by Joey's presence. The man had tried too hard not to look at Joey, and when he did…
Justin and JC had to be blind not to see what was going on there.
Which meant that, against all his wishes, he had to draw the attention away from the two men.
"No kidding." He said, picking up Joey's last comment. "You look younger than Joey."
"That's why some of the other teachers pick on him." Jeanette half whispered, and Marcy nodded, picking up her friend's story. "The first day he was giving classes, he had the first hour with the 9th grade… And he was in the middle of the class when another teacher came in and thanked him for taking over the 'absent' Mr. Kirkpatrick but that he could go back to his seat now and let a teacher take care of the class…"
At this point of the story, the three girls started laughing, followed by Justin and Chris… and even JC chuckled at the image Marcy's words conjured. Lance began laughing too, when he caught Joey's half hurt look. Obviously, the laughter had interrupted something, a moment between Joey and Chris. Lance couldn't but smile apologetically and simply point with his head at JC.
Apparently Joey understood, because soon he too joined in the laughter.
"I will never live that one out." Chris said, once that the laughter began to die, and he was drying tears from the corner of his eyes. "Mr. Zeck still don't forgive me for going to give classes wearing jeans."
"You mean you don't have a jacket with elbows patches and a tie to go to class?" Justin asked. The whole atmosphere of the dinner had changed somehow, and even the girls were starting to overcome their shyness around the group. Now it was a lot more relaxed. Almost like hanging out.
"He did once." Emily said. "Remember, Jeannette? Last month?"
"The teacher-parent day!" Jeanette's eyes lightened up. "That was, like, priceless! Because he did wore a jacket for the teacher's meeting in the morning…"
"Mr.
Zeck had threatened him to behave." Marcy interrupted, giggling.
"So he was, like all proper and we didn't know what to do. We had
never seen him wearing a tie or a plain color shirt!"
"Then, when the parents were arriving, Chris excused himself and went to change in the boys bathroom…" Jeanette was red again, but this time was because she was laughing again. "… and when he came out… oh, god… you aren't going to believe it…"
They all turned
to see Chris, who was by now bright red, as Emily continued the story.
"He was wearing some bright blue jeans that were easily two sizes
bigger than him, a yellow t-shirt with a happy face and orange and black
sleeves… And he had braided in his hair some weird white extensions,
and fixed it in two ponytails! I thought Mr. Zeck was going to die in
the spot!"
* * *
Chris laughed with everyone, remembering that particular time of rebellion against the system. Mr. Zeck was still on his back most of the time, but had faded from a constant threat to a mild annoyance. Especially after they had had a small talk about many things.
And he didn't felt that uncomfortable anymore, even when he was still nervous about the looks that JC sent his way.
Because in the brief minute before the girls had decided to remember all the humiliation at school, when his eyes had found Joey's. Just for a second, before Lance interrupted.
But that second had been enough.
He had seen that Joey recognized him from that night in the bar.
And, even when
he couldn't be sure, not until he could talk to Joey in private, he was
almost positive that he had seen the same feelings his heart harbored
mirrored back in the singer's brown eyes.