Joey listened almost calm at the explanation of why Backstreet Boys minus two were waiting for him in his and JC's room. He was very surprised to know that Kevin and JC were such good friends that the older member of the other band would leave everything they were doing just to come to help JC in a crisis, especially when he found out that both Nick and Howie had disappeared from their hotel after a phone call.
"Have you tried calling them?" He asked the others, as soon as explanations were over. "And Justin too… I bet he hasn't thought of turning off his cell phone."
AJ laughed, as both Kevin and JC blushed a little. Obviously, the groups' 'dads' hadn't thought of that simple solution. And as they both grabbed their cells and dialed, Joey sat on his bed, shaking his head. This was going to be fun, see the lecture directed towards someone that wasn't him.
"Hey, man." AJ sat next to him, as Brian turned on his cell too. "What's up?"
"Nothing much," Joey shrugged. Of all the others, the one with whom he related the most was AJ. Perhaps it was because they were the same age, or because both had taken as their mission in life to shock their band members, management, PR and stylist as much as they could. But it didn't matter really. The truth was simply that they were friends, and that was enough for Joey. "New tattoo?"
"Yeah. Kevin almost had a stroke when he saw it." AJ laughed, pointing to the newest drawing on his skin. "For what I heard, you and JC aren't cool anymore."
"He's been acting like a jerk." Joey didn't elaborate. He wanted to tell AJ all about Chris, all about himself, but not in front of Brian and Kevin, and definitively not in front of JC. "How did you manage to loose Nick?" He said, trying to change the subject.
"I think he's been taking lessons from you." AJ took out a cigarette, and offered it to Joey, who didn't accept it. "You think he's with Justin again?"
Joey was going to shake his head no, when suddenly, the image of the
green haired punk that evening returned to his mind, and he chuckled.
"If he is, he really has gotten better at disguising himself."
* * *
After Lance left, Chris decided to walk a little, to clear his thoughts.
He still couldn't believe that Lance had wanted to have dinner with him, much less that he had been invited to hang out with the group. If Emily knew, she would have a fit. Of course, he didn't plan on telling Emily (Or Kate, for that matter) until after the fact, when the guys were on their way to the next concert, and he could put all week among his most precious memories.
And he was going to see Joey again. Even if it was only for a few hours, and the guy would probably forget all about him as soon as their bus left Albany.
Truth was, what Danny had told him earlier still weighed in his heart. It was not as much as how Danny had said the words, as it was the fact that Chris had been thinking about that ever since he discovered that his mysterious guy in the Superman cap was in fact a successful pop star. Even if Joey had really been seeing him that night, he surely couldn't fool himself into believing that he would have any interest in Chris, past the amusement that his misadventures in school had provided them for one night.
There was nothing Chris could offer to Joey, not one reason why Joey could actually want something with him.
As his steps carried him closer to the Witch Cauldron, he chuckled despise himself. If his sisters ever knew his most hidden thoughts, they would probably kill him. They always were trying to remind him that he was as good as everyone else, when in truth, Chris knew it was them just being nice.
He wasn't bad looking, and he knew it, but he was hardly the best looking guy in town. Not even one of the top twenty. And he wasn't tall enough, and he got a lot of grief over that when he had been studying. And he had the worst possible luck in falling in love.
Love. There was that word again. Connected to the name of a guy he had only known for one week, and only talked to once.
And it also brought him unwanted memories, of Danny, and all their discussions, and breakups, and how he always ended up forgiving Danny because, after all, who else would want to put up with him for the rest of his life?
Before Danny, there hadn't been many. Mostly one night stands, and not because he didn't want the second date. And all of them looking a lot like his first crush.
Chris remembered him very well, one of the other members of the choir at College, with beautiful brown eyes, lips to die for, and a shy smile that made Chris' heart beat faster every time it appeared on his face… And straight as an arrow.
But
unlike other jerks who would only make fun of Chris, or, even worse, ran
like hell, Howie had been quite understanding, and they had become friends.
With time. Chris' crush had disappeared, the same way crushes do, and
Howie had gone with some friends to Germany, to pursue his dream to make
it big in music, and Chris had toyed with the idea too, but then his mother
had got sick, and he had returned to Albany. Then, after many nights just
by himself, he had meet Danny, his first lover who wasn't brunette, or
had deep, brown eyes, or an air of innocence and sweetness. Only then
Chris had been able to truthfully say that he didn't long for Howie anymore.
The problem was that everyone except him agreed that Danny was a jerk. And now, when he agreed with them… he once again was falling for someone unattainable.
* * *
Joey had to bit his lips not to laugh out loud at the storm exploding when Nick and Justin finally arrived at the hotel, and he knew AJ was doing the same. Both JC and Kevin started with the 'Where the hell were you' rant, and were at least 4 minutes into it before it registered that Nick and Justin had arrived exactly at the same time, and what they were wearing.
Justin's black nails, black hair, and weird spider-like shaped earrings didn't earned many yells. Nor did Nick's green hair and tattoos. Now that at least three hours had passed, some of them were fading. What iced the cake was Nick's lip and eyebrow rings.
And as Kevin continued the rant, Brian joined AJ and Joey in the bed, trying to call as little attention to himself as he could.
"Any luck?" AJ asked, softly, not to interrupt Kevin.
"No. His cell is turned off, or off limits." Brian answered, in the same low tone. No one wanted to interrupt Kevin or JC when they were in 'dad' mood. "What's Nick wearing?"
"Blink 182's hand-me downs." Joey said, still biting his tongue. "Now, am I the only one who think it's weird that our younger members, who always find a moment to talk bad about the other band, arrived together?"
"Are you implying that…" Brian let the phrase incomplete, because Lance choose that moment to come through the door.
"Hey, guys, what's…" The blond man stopped, took on the sight in front of him, and did a double take. IT was quite unusual, seeing Kevin and JC standing up, looking quite angry at a pair of punks who apparently were Nick and Justin, while Brian, AJ and Joey sit at his best behavior sitting in the bed nearer to the window. "Do we have another boy-band battle coming up and everyone forgot to tell me? Where's Howie?"
"That's what we like to know." Kevin growled, not taking his eyes away from the smirking Nick. Joey had the nagging suspicion that the younger singer found all this incredibly funny. And thankfully for Lance, JC was too focused on Justin to start going against him too.
"What are your plans for tonight, Lance?" Nick asked, taking full advantage of Kevin's pause. That only made Joey's smile grew wider. Despite everything, with the Backstreet boys there, the night could still be fun.
"We're supposed to be rehearsing in half an hour." Lance answered, smiling at Joey. And the older man had the impression that Lance wanted to give him thumbs up. "Then, we got nothing to do. Oh, and Just? I just talked to Johnny. Tomorrow we all can go sight seeing."
"Well, Ju and I found a great coffee not far away from here." Nick continued, ignoring the glares that Kevin kept sending his way. "It's small, not well lit, and I doubt anyone there would recognize us. Plus, they have live music. It would be a nice change from clubs and parties."
Justin nodded, and Joey couldn't help but wonder at the amused gleam that appeared on his band mate' eyes. Those two were up to something, he was sure of it. And by the looks Brian and AJ were exchanging, they knew that too.
"You aren't going anywhere until you explain those earrings to me, Nick!" In an useless attempt to return to the original conversation, Kevin pointed to Nick's lower lip. But the younger man only shrugged and pulled it out with such ease, that Joey would have been impressed, had he not have been too busy wincing at the sight.
"They're fake, Kev." Nick said, smiling, and taking off his cap, to show that only the tips of his hair were dyed green. "So, we'll wait for *N Sync here, and then we all go to the Witch Cauldron, right?"
* * *
Howard Dorough stepped the Witch Cauldron, searching through the few patrons of the place, at the same time he adjusted his baseball cap. So far, he hadn't been spotted, and he really hoped that he could still have some privacy there.
He sat in one of
the booths, far away from the door, but quite near the stage. He wanted
to see Chris before talking to him. When Kate had called him earlier,
after getting his cell phone number from his parents, Howie hadn't believed
her at first.
Sure, he did remember Chris Kirkpatrick. He was a guy hard to forget, really nice. He and Howie had been very good friends at college and, hadn't Howie had to leave to Germany when Backstreet Boys finally got it's break in the business, they would probably keep in touch. But all the mess with Pearlman and the band had took all l of Howie's time, so he had lost contact with the short, brunette man. He had never expected a call from Chris' sister, asking for help.
But when Kate had explained him why Chris needed his help, Howie had gotten curious. Kate hadn't gone into details, proof that the Kirkpatrick clan knew how to be discreet. What he did got was that Chris had somehow managed to land himself in a very abusive relationship and that now that he was getting out of it, when another guy was showing interest in Chris, and the interest was mutual, Chris had gotten very unsure because said guy was in the same line of business as Howie, and Chris' ex had managed to convince Chris that he wasn't worthy.
Kate hadn't say who the mysterious guy was, but Howie knew that *¨N Sync was in Albany that week, and that made him more curious. Once the thing with Pearlman was over, and the two groups were working with Jive Records, they had managed to talk without cameras, microphones or paparazzis and, surprisingly, had become friends. Howie really liked the other guys, even when Justin's ego sometimes rivaled Nick's and JC took everything too seriously.
He sure hoped neither JC or Justin were the one interested in Chris. Howie really couldn't picture either or them, or Lance to that matter, with Chris. Not with the hyperactive, outgoing and sometimes child-like man he had meet in college. He had thought of that for a long time, in the trip from Buffalo to Albany, once he had managed to loose his bodyguard, and then while talking to Kate. And as he thought more and more of it, he decided that he hoped it was Joey.
Not that he knew if Joey swing that way or not, but if his old friend matched anyone from *N Sync, it was Joey.
Of course, it could be that he was completely wrong, and Kate was only exaggerating things. But to know that, he needed to see Chris. And, even if everything was all right, and Kate had been just trying to get his autograph -even when she didn't ask for one, Howie planned on giving it to Chris for the girl- Howie wanted to hear Chris sing again.
A little bell signaled the entrance of a new costumer, Howie looked up to see a tall, blonde man coming in. The guy didn't seem very happy to be there, in fact, from the look the woman behind the counter send his way, he wasn't really welcomed there. Even so, the guy ignored her, made a quick order and sat near the stage, not very far from where Howie was sitting.
* * *
Chris arrived a little late to the Cauldron, he had spend too much time thinking, and unfortunately, all his thoughts only got to one conclusion: he loved Joey. Although his rational mind insisted that he couldn't fall in love with someone whom he had only seen once, and only talked to once, his heart seemed quite set on the matter.
Even so, he didn't want to set himself up for yet another broken heart. He couldn't let himself dream about Joey's eyes, smiles, lips… or his voice. He had to accept that even if Lance had been really nice with him earlier, and if everyone had acted friendly -except JC, but that had been fading in Chris' mind, because all he could think of was Joey's smile-, they were leaving Albany and that was it.
The problem was that every time he reached that point, his thoughts traveled again to the fact that he loved Joey. So he remembered the fact of why he couldn't fall in love with him, and everything started again.
That was when Maren found him, outside the Cauldron.
"Chris?" She asked, concerned. The woman was twice his age, and about thrice his size, but she had the face of a little child. "You o.k? You don't look so fine… Want me to cancel your act?"
"Uh?" Chris looked at her, and forced a smile. "No. It's nothing, Maren. I was just distracted."
"Danny is in there, you know?" The woman continued, shaking her head, and so, the thousand beads that made the braids of her hairdo shone like little stars on the lit street. "I tried to make him go away, but… I couldn't."
"It's all right, Mar." He smiled, and took a deep breath. Now that he was paying attention, he could hear the first notes of Moonshrow's closing act. "He hates my singing, so he will probably not stand around to hear the end."
"Then besides being a jerk, he's also deaf." Maren laughed, and Chris couldn't help but join her. "We always have full house when you sing, Chris. And tonight we even have a few new guys. I had to pull out chairs from the basement!"
At this, Chris stopped laughing, getting a little pale. "I really didn't need to hear that, Mar… You know I get really nervous when I know there's a big audience…"
"It will be all right. Now, come on. You can get on by the back door, so you don't see your ogling fans." Maren laughed, and as she lead Chris through the ally, he briefly wondered how Joey did it. He was getting nervous over 20, maybe 30 people coming to hear him sing, when Joey had to face 65 thousand screaming fans every night… And sing and dance at the same time, when all Chris did was play the guitar and sing some popular songs.
Finally, Moonshrow finished their song, took a bow at the public, and left the stage. Then Maren introduced him, and he walked towards the microphone, sat on the chair placed there by Moonshrow's lead singer, and tuned on his guitar.
Only then, when he was ready to introduce the first song, he got a good look at the audience.
And almost fell down of the chair.
Not because Danny was there, as he had expected that.
But because, just a couple of tables away from him, he could see Lance, Joey, Justin and JC, sitting with other four very handsome men that he was sure he had seen somewhere else, but couldn't place names to their faces.
And all of them
were waiting for him to start singing, when just one look at Joey's eyes
had made him forgot all the songs he knew.