The Legal Stuff - If for any reason this is in anyway, shape, place, or form illegal where you are, do not read this, download this, or do anything with this. If you are too young - scoot, you shouldn't be here. If you don't like male to male sex - what are you doing here? If you are an anti- gay bible pusher (or any anit-gay/bi person) - be careful, you don't want to get on my bad side. I can be a mean ass if I want to. Finally, if it is perfectlly legal in everyway, shape, place, and form - welcome and please continue by all means.
This story is mostly fiction. Some of the characters are similiar to real life people, but this is mostly just in my mind. The story is not intended to imply or say that anyone in it is gay/bi or has gay/bi tendencies. Basically, don't take this story the wrong way.
Please do not copy this or any other part of the story. Everybody is allowed one printed and one electronic copy. The only site able to post this story if Nifty. Any other sites have to contact me, to get my permission.
This is my first time writing anything, so please tell me what you think. My e-mail address is cheir0n@hotmail.com (be careful cheir0n has a zero not an o in it.) Any constructive criticism is welcome, of course flames will be ingnored.
I truely hope that all of you will enjoy this. Have fun and read on.
The Bliss of Love - Part 3
I woke up the next morning thinking it was all a dream. I thought it was the day of the concert, so I went about getting ready. When I couldn't find the tickets, I started getting worried. I decided to call my mom and tell her the bad news.
"Hey mom," I said depressed.
"I'm not mom," my father joked to me.
"Oh, hey. Where's mom?" I asked.
"She's still sleeping, you two got back late last night." 'So it wasn't a dream... wow... deep.' "What happened, you mother said you were drivin to your car, but she didn't tell me anymore before she zonked out." I told him the whole story about my watch and everything.
"So you actually got to meet them. I'm sure you liked that. Although she was tired, I could tell mom had a good time," dad commented.
"Yeah we did. The concert was terrific. They got on stage to the theme of Empire Strikes Back. It was pretty nifty."
"I'm glad you liked it. Oh, why did you call anyways?" he asked.
"I thought it was a dream. I woke up, couldn't find the tickets, and panicked."
"Oops, well now you know it wasn't a dream. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, and that you got your watch back."
"So am I. Well, I don't want to raise my phone bill, so I gots to go. Talk to you later, dad."
"Ok, Bye."
"Bye." I hung up the phone and sighed. 'It wasn't a dream... Oh boy.' Thoughts started to race through my mind as to what went on, and as to why they happened.
There was a knock at the door, and I went to answer it.
"Flowers for a Mr. Mendenhall," said a delivery girl.
"That's me."
"Sign here, please." I took the flowers and signed the slip she handed me. "Somebody really likes you," she commented.
"Yeah, I wonder who," I stated astonished.
"Well, best of luck on finding out who." With that she turned and left.
'I wonder who these are from.' I thought. I went to the kitchen and looked for a vase. Once I found one, I put some water in it, cut an asprin in half and put one of the halves in the water. I turned on the sink, filled it a little, and cut the flowers under the water. I found out that this is how they lasted the longest. As I was preparing the flowers, I searched for a note or something. I found a small piece of paper and put it aside for when I was done.
"Who are those for?" asked my roommate Sean. (The only female roommate I had, besides my sister.)
"Me," I answered cheerfully.
"Yeah right, now tell me... really who are they for?" she asked not believing me.
"I told you. They are for me. A delivery girl came by and said that the flowers were for a Mr. Mendenhall not Mrs. or Miss."
"Ok, who are they from then." She still didn't quite believe me.
"I don't know. I found a note, but I haven't read it yet." I stated.
"Mind if I read it?"
"Not until after I do, and even then maybe not. Who knows, it could be personal."
"Well, let me know."
"I will."
I finished with the flowers, picked up the note, and went to my room. I layed down on my bed and opened the note. I was hand-written.
For the love that is meant to be.
So that your heart may be set free.
Here is to the beginning of something new.
And may it be fresh as the morning dew.
May you find the soul you seek.
And kiss each other on the cheek.
If you will meet me again.
You will become more than just a friend.
ANON
By the time I was done reading, my mouth was on the floor. Someone actually liked me. (I have low self esteem.) Something else ran into my mind. 'My spell must be working. How else could this have happened without me knowing? ... I wonder who it is.'
The entire day I was in a trance. I had let Sean read it, and she was amazed. She thought it was so romantic, she almost started crying. When I showed my sister though, she thought it was corny, but that's my sister.
I decided I needed to find a place to put my flowers. I could've put them in my room, but it was a mess. The flowers wouldn't look good in there. I finally decided to put them on top of the TV in the living room. This way the cats couldn't get to them, yet everybody saw them. I sat down, turned on the TV and watched it. After getting bored of the TV, I went up to my room and started reading, what I called, my stories. To put it bluntly, Boy-Band erotica stories.
I was reading a particularly juicy part when my cell started ringing.
"Hello," I answered the phone.
"Yes, may I please speak to a Mr. Mendenhall?" asked the person on the other side of the line.
"Speaking, how can I help you?" I asked.
"I have two tickets here for you," stated a nice lady.
"I don't know anything about any tickets," I commented confused.
"Yes, I know. These were just given to me, along with your name and number. I was told to tell you that you have two tickets for a concert tonight at the MCI Arena..."
"I already went to that concert last night," I interupted.
"Yes. As I understand it, your watch was stolen last night."
"Yes it was, why do you ask?" I asked a little shaken.
"Well... the MCI Arena would like to make it up to you, and is giving you two free tickets to the Backstreet Boys concert tonight. We would like to apologize for any inconvenience, and would like to replace any bad memories you might have of this place with good ones."
'Yeah right, you just don't want anything bad spread around. Especially by two people with some pull in the area.' I thought to myself. "Sure I would love to go, but I have a few problems." 'If they want to do that, I'm going to milk it for all I can.'
"And what would they be, sir?" she asked.
"Well, I don't have enough gas to get there, or money to get there. Plus my date for last night, my mother, can't come with me."
"It's already been arranged to pick you up in an hour. As for your mother, we are sorry to hear that she cannot come along."
"Yeah, well now I have less than an hour to get ready, and one extra ticket. Thanks you for the tickets. By the way, when am I going to get them?"
"The driver will have them for you," she stated.
"Another thing, isn't 3:30 a little early to pick me up for a concert that doesn't start until 7:30?" I asked thinking that there was something else going on.
"Normally yes, sir. But these were the instuctions I've been told to give you. From what I understand, the traffic is going to be heavy today. That plus the normal traffic for an event being held here at the Arena, is going to make it a complete mess."
"Yeah. I guess that makes sense. Well gotta go and get ready. Thank you for calling me."
"Goodbye, sir."
"Goodbye, and thank you," I said.
"Your welcome."
I hung up the phone and laughed. "I wonder what'll happen next." I started to get ready for the concert. I didn't know of anybody I was going to take, so I decided that I would sell the other ticket, depending on how close I was. If I was on level one, I wouldn't, but two or three I would. About an hour later there was a knock on the door. I answered and there was a man in a chauffeur's uniform. He was in his mid to late twenties, and looked like he was brought up and trained to be the proper chauffeur.
"Mr. Mendenhall please," he said in the way a butler would say it.
"You got him Jeeves, what's up?" I asked. I was hoping for a chauffeur like in the movie 'My Chauffeur.' (I think it was Cindy Lauper who was the driver, but I'm not certain.) I was hoping for a good time (not sexually you nin-come-poops) while riding to the concert.
"Yes sir, I'm here to take you to the concert and to give you these," he said handing me two tickets.
"Cool, lets go. Oh, by the way... you don't have to call me sir, although I do enjoy it. We're almost the same age for goodness sake. Second, dump the driver bit. I can tell you don't want to do it."
"Yo, thanks bro. I was hoping you'd say something like that. Come on, you got a limo waiting."
"A WHAT?..." my jaw dropped.
"Yeah, you got a limo waiting for yo ass. I've never seen the Arena do this for anybody, but celebs, man. Now lets get it in gear."
"Gotcha."
He was about to go for the door, when I glared at him. He stopped and looked at me. "I know it's your job, but please be yourself. Tell you what, when we get to the Arena, you can put you act back on, but until then you act like someone normal, ok?"
"Cool."
I got in, closed the door. He got in the driver's seat, started the car and pulled out. I saw a phone, and just had to use it. I picked it up, and 'Jeeves' anwsered it. "Yo, what you want?" he asked.
"How do I get this window down."
"There is a button on the armrest marked driver window, push it."
"Cool, thanks." With that, I rolled the window down. "Hey, my name's Steve, what's yours?"
"Deppesticski, my parents had a weird sense of humor. Everybody calls me Dipstick though. It's because I'm good with cars."
"Gotcha." We continued to talk for a while when I noticed an envelope on the seat in front of me. "Yo Dipstick, what's this?" I asked holding up the envelope.
"Don't know, never seen it before. Open it up."
I looked at him through the rear view mirror to see if he was lying to me. I didn't think he was, so I casually opened the envelope. There was a note and something else that fell out when I opened the note. I ingnored what fell, and read another hand-written note.
You have taken the chance,
Now see it through.
Don't wait too long,
or I can't be with you.
ANON
I looked at the driver and he gave me this questioning look. "I have no idea, so don't ask," I told him. He shrugged his shoulders, and returned to watching the road. I looked down at the floor and couldn't believe my eyes. I rubbed my eyes to make sure it was what I saw. It was... it was a backstage pass to the concert.
"Cool, backstage pass," I commented.
"What did you say?" Dipstick asked.
"I said backstage pass. Now I got a two tickets and one backstage pass, wierd, doncha think?"
"Why do you have tickets to a Backstreet Boys concert anyways?" he asked.
I told him the whole story about bringing my mother because of the song - 'The Perfect Fan', about my watch getting stolen, and everything else. I also told him about the phone call.
"That's strange, MCI Arena never does anything like that."
"Probably because other people can't spread as nasty a rumor as well as my mother and I can. Not only that, once we get the rumor spread through the entire State Department, who knows where it will spread to. That's why I think they sent me the tickets. The pass though, I have now idea about them." I know I lied about the pass, but the tickets and pass together didn't make any sense. 'Unless the tickets were planned with the pass, but who would do that?' I asked myself. 'And why would they know to put only one pass in and not two?"
"Yeah, I guess if you got reach, they'd try to stop you, but still - the pass. That just messes up everything. I mean the only people who could give you a pass for a concert that doesn't have passes would be the group themselves, or their management. That's messed up man."
"What do you mean 'aconcert that has no passes. They decided to have no contest for backstage passes for tonight?" I asked.
"All the contest were for last night. This way, they could head staight to the hotel and get some sleep before they had to get on the plane," he told me.
"Cool, gotcha." Things quieted down, and I enjoyed a ride to the Arena. When we were getting close, the driver rolled up the window between us, and the phone started ringing. I picked it up and it was Dipstick. He said he would get in trouble if the window was rolled down when he got there, and I said I understood. He also told me that I was in for the ride of my life. I was about to ask him, when he hung up the phone. I thought about it for a minute, when it finally sink through. How many limos would there be going to a concert where the majority of fans are young girls... next to none. 'They'll probably think this is the limo for the boys,' I thought. 'This could be fun.'
As we approached the ramp to go under the Arena, where the parking is, I heard screams. They seamed to get louder the closer I got. I looked at all the girls outside. I started laughing. They thought I was the BSB. Boy were they wrong. They tried to crawl over the guards that were watching the entrance. They were there to make sure cars got in, and people didn't. I was laughing so hard, it was a riot. I did do one thing that I probably shouldn't have done. I rolled down the window a little, stuck out my hand (so they could only see my hand), and waved. The girls went nuts. Once I rolled up the window, I fell on the floor I was laughing so hard.
When we got to the entrance, Dipstick stopped the car, got out, and opened my door for me. I got out. Shook his hand, slipping him a twenty at the same time, and said thanks. We said goodbye, and I walked into the Arena.
I finally decided to look at my ticket to see where I would sit - Section 1, Row 1, Seat 5. "Holy Shit," I said. I realized I would be right under them as the went on stage. I wore my BSB t-shirt that my mother had bought me, so I pretty much fit right in. I decided to take a look around and see what mischief I could get into. I hung the pass around my neck, and started walking around. I asked one of the guards how I could get backstage. He saw my pass, and pointed me towards a door. It was 6:00 so I decided to look around backstage. People were scattering all over the place yelling things to one another. I was in a wierd mood, so I yelled, "Price check on prune juice Bob, price check on prune juice." (If you haven't seen Fern Gully, see it. It's good.) Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. Heads turned to look at me. Some of then shook there heads. As quickly as they had stopped, they went back to work. A man started walking towards me. I noticed that it was Jim.
"Hey Jim, what's up?" I asked.
"How do you know my name?" he asked grumpily.
"Gee, it's been less than 24 hours since my watch was stolen, and you don't remember me. I feel loved," I said sarcastically.
"Oh, hey. What's up?"
"Nothin' much, just looking around."
"Well your not allowed to be back here," he stated bluntly.
"This says that I am." I showed him the pass.
He looked the pass over, trying to find something wrong with it. "How did you get that?"
I told him the story of finding it in the limo, minus the 'love note'. He didn't believe, but didn't push any further. "Next time, please don't come back here till after the show. We get very busy right before a show. We can't afford any distractions."
"Sure thing, like there will be a next time anyway."
"I'll talk to you later, I'm a little busy right now. Nice seeing you again. Bye." He dashed off as I said bye to him. I looked at my watch, and saw that it was getting close to show time.
After passing who knows how many 'check points,' I finally made it my seat. There was one problem though. Someone else was in it.
"Excuse me ma'am, your in my seat," I asked kindly.
"I don't see your name on it. Besides you should have been here sooner. Bye."
"Don't get me started. Do you want to see this concert?"
"Get lost asshole," she yelled at me.
"Don't say I didn't warn you." I looked around for a few moments. I spotted Jim and ran to him.
"You still busy?" I asked.
"No, why?"
"I got a small problem. Seems like some bitch won't get out of my seat. I tried, but she she won't give."
"Gotcha, lead me to her." I led him to the girl and pointed her out to him. This is where the fun started.
He didn't say anything. He looked at another guard and got him to come over. They both went up to her.
"Get out of the way dipshits," she said.
Wrong move. They each took an arm, lifted he up, and carried her away. Later I found out that she was not allowed to see any BSB concert that ever came to the MCI Arena. Jim told me that her picture was posted along with the ones of being banned.
After they had taken her away, I looked at the other girls in the area. "Anyone else want to try me?" They all shook their heads and sat down. There was one girl who was figiting nervously in her seat. I sat down and looked at her. She looked at me, afraid that I would do something to her too.
"Don't worry, your safe. I didn't bring a date, so you don't half to get up." Her eyes widened. "Yeah I know that's not your seat. I have the ticket for that one right here." I took out the ticket and showed it to her. "Listen, I'm really a nice guy. You didn't do anything wrong except hope you could get a good seat, and take one you saw empty."
"I'm really sorry. I won't do it again."
"Don't worry about. Just be thankful I didn't bring a date... Here, take the ticket. That way, if anybody comes over here and checks tickets, you can show them that you're supposed to sit here."
"Shit, thanks," she smiled widely, then hugged me.
"You're welcome. Know don't let it go to your head. I intend to enjoy tonight's concert like I did last night's."
"You came last night?"
"Yeah, I brought my mother. You know - 'The Perfect Fan...'" I said.
"That is so sweet," she interupted.
"Yeah, but anyways, my watch got stolen, and this is how the Arena is keeping me quiet since I have a huge mouth."
"Gotcha. Let me guess, that's how you were able to get the girl thrown out so easily."
"Yeppers," I said. The lights started to dim, so I turned forward. "Remeber, don't go crazy on me."
"Ok," she promised.
One good thing I did remember, was to buy earplugs. I put them in and watched as the show started. The show progressed much as it had the night before's. EYC opened up, and the show was good. This time it only took 15 minutes to set everything up between EYC and The BSB.
The lights dimmed for the second part of the show - the main event - The Backstreet Boys. As usual the girls started screaming their heads off. My mother was right, the screams really weren't loud when you had the earplugs on. I could actually still hear. Again they rose from the black box through the thick heavy smoke. They glided up into the air, to make their way to the stage. They made their way threw the air to the stage. I stood up and watched as them came towards me. I looked up and could see all five of them. Then Kevin, Brian, and Nick winked at me. Or at least I think they did. It also seemed as if Howie and AJ gave me a small wave. 'Awesome, they remember me,' I thought.
The girl next to me, started jumping, holding onto my shoulder. It was like she was using me as a foot stool. I spun around and gave her a mean look and threatened, "What did I tell you?" She looked at me, started shaking, and sat back in her seat like a child that was just scorned by her mother. I looked back up to see the guys stiffling laughs. I just smirked back up at them. Shortly after that, they landed on the stage.
Everything happened the way it did last night except for a few things. For one thing, Nick didn't seem to have a hard on tonight, oh well, I've already seen it. I grinned at the picture I tried so hard to memorize. As usual, at one point during the concert, they flew off into the audience. One change though, where Brian had flown last night, Kevin was now there. They had switched places. Which meant Kevin was above me. They all started doing flips and waving at people, all except for Nick. 'Dang he must really be afraid of heights.' All he did was stay upright and wave to people. 'If I didn't know better, I'd say he shut his eyes as tight as possible.' The people working the strings would taunt the audience, lowering each of the boys just out of reach of the crowd. I was standing, enjoying my view. Kevin started lowering as he headed back my way. He got lower than normal this time, so I reached my hand up. (Hey I'm a fan too. I can do it too.) Kevin grabbed my hand with both of his and shook them. At the same time he wispered, "Good to see you again." I nodded and smiled at him and he smiled back. Then he was yanked away, to go once more over the crowd before they had to return to the stage. The girl beside me nearly fainted because of what went on.
The rest of the show went on as normal. Again they used five sets of mother-daughters during The Perfect Fan, but I planned on telling them off when I saw them later for that. All in all, the show went fabulous. The concert ended around 10:30. As the last song ended, I went backstage. I knew it would take them a while to get back to their room. Their was no way for them to get from under the stage to backstage, besides going through the crowds.
I saw Jim on the way back and asked him if they were still in the same room as last night. (Just to make sure.) He said they were, so I decided to wait for them outside their door. I didn't think it would be polite of me to wait inside. That would be like going into someone's home and waiting for them, until they got back from shopping. You just don't do that without their expressed permission.
It was taking them a while, so I sat down and lowered my head to 'rest' while I waited for them. The next time I look up, there is a hose pointed at me. Holding the hose right at me was AJ. I look at his face, gave him a blank look, and said, "Don't point that thing at me unless you plan to use it."
Laughter filled the hallway. I looked down the hall to find everyone else near a spigot and the other end of the hose. "Oh, I do... NOW," he yelled. In less then two seconds water came gushing out of the hose. I dodged to the right to avoid the water. Only my arm got wet. I jumped up, turned around, and grabbed for the hose from behind AJ. I turned it on him, soaking us both at the same time. The other guys were laughing a us.
"Get 'em," I told AJ. He clamped the hose so that the water would shut off. What I thought he would do was aim the hose at the guys, but no. He knew something I didn't. The other end of the hose couldn't be tied tight to the spigot. The other end burst from the pressure sending water all over the hall. Brain, Kevin, Nick, and Howie rushed to the spigot to try and turn it off. Their slippery hands weren't helping them. Eventually they got the water turned off.
We all heard someone comming, so we all dashed towards their dressing room and opened the door. I cut in front of them, telling them that guests had the right of way. We all made it in the door and closed it, before we got caught. We all started laughing really loud.
"What do you mean guests have the right of way?" Howie asked through a laughing smile.
"I didn't want to get caught out there. I'd get thrown out, you guys, on the other hand, would just be told not to do it again," I laughingly said.
We all clamed down after a few minutes. "Now what am I going to do. I'm all wet."
Nick chimed in, "I thought only girls had that problem around us."
The others were smirking. "Yeah, yeah. You got me..."
"No I don't," he interupted. "And I wouldn't want to either." At this, the others were all blood red in the face. They were trying their best to hold their laughter in.
"Yeah, well you ain't no peach either, honey," I snapped back. They couldn't do it. They busted up. Their faces slowly returned to normal as their breath was finally laughed out of their lungs. Once everything quited down, again, I said, "Now really, what am I going to do? My clothes are soaked."
"Well you shouldn't have turned the hose on yourself then," said Brian.
"I was trying to get AJ. My plan didn't work as well as I thought it would. I thought he would shield me from the water. I forgot that he was skinny assed."
"Who you calling skinny assed, toothpick?" AJ joked.
"Who am I looking at?" I said looking at AJ.
"Enough guys, we got to get ready. Our plane leaves in the morning," Kevin stated in a fatherly tone.
As they were busy getting changed and showering, each one by one in the bathroom, Kevin started up, "Oh, by the way. How did you get back here?"
"I found a pass in the limo that drove me here," is said casualy.
"What?" Brain said unbelieving.
"It's really strange. I got a call from the Arena today saying they wanted to make up for last night. They were sending a limo to pick me up, and the driver would have two tickets for me. He did have the tickets. When I was riding I found a note. Inside was a backstage pass," I relayed the shortened story.
"I'd like to know which of us gave that pass to you. Only we can give those," he said pointing to my pass, "passes out. Ok guess fess up, who done it?"
Everybody looked at everybody. Casually Nick walked out of the bathroom. He saw everybody looking around. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Did you send him the pass?" asked Howie.
"What pass?" Nick asked.
"The one around his neck," Brian commented pointing at me.
"Why would I?" he asked.
"Because nobody else did, your the only one left, and only we can give that kind of pass out," AJ explained.
Nick seemed to hesitate for a while. "Ok ok, I admit it. I arranged for the tickets and the pass to be given to him," admitted Nick.
"Why?" I asked.
"Can I talk to you for a second... alone?" he asked me.
"Sure, let's go in the bathroom," I suggested.
We both headed into the bathroom. Nick closed and locked the door. I watched him as he went to the shower and turned it on. "This way, they won't overhear us talk," he told me.
"So tell me, why did you do it?" I asked again.
"Well... you seemed like such a nice person the last time we met. That plus I was hoping to give you a better meeting of the Backstreet Boys, than you first," he said.
"Ok... Now tell me the real reason." I didn't believe a single word. That MAY have been part of the reason, but I knew that it wasn't the whole reason.
"I can't tell you the whole reason why. I'm bound by contract not to, but believe me when I say your perfect for this group," he explained.
"What do you mean 'perfect for this group?'" I asked.
"I can't really tell you. I don't really know how to explain it. I just know you are."
"Ok, so now what?"
"I have no idea. I thought I would know the next time I saw you, but I don't," Nick told me.
"Well, I'll give you my phone number and you can call me when you find out... ok?"
"That could take too long. Why don't you hang out with me at our hotel tonight. We could play video games, or just sit and talk, get to know each other better. Then I might know what this means, or what to do."
I was hoping he would invite me to their hotel. I didn't want to invite myself. That is way to rude for my tastes. "Sure, maybe we can solve this riddle," I expressed.
"Cool, now lets get out of here before they start thinking we're showering together," he said with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want that to happen now would we." I too grinned.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Your name is Steve, right?" he checked.
"Yeah," I said confirming he knew my name.
Nick turned the shower off, unlocked the door, and headed out. I followed right behind him. When we got out, the others we staring at us.
"Ok, now are you going to tell us what you two did in their," said Kevin angrily.
"What? As long as we didn't take a shower together, why should you be worried?" asked Nick.
"Because you don't turn on the shower, unless you don't want us to hear what your saying," answered Brian.
"Oh, so he does this a lot?" I asked, turning my head towards Nick.
"No, not normally. He does this when he want's to talk to one of us in private, and doesn't want anyone else to hear," Howie told me.
"Ok," I said facing the others again.
"So, are you going to tell us what you said in there?" asked Kevin again.
"Only the last part," explained Nick. "Steve's coming with us back to the hotel for a few hours. We're going to play games and talk to each other. Other than that and a joke about showering together, I'm not telling you anything else."
"One, we're not supposed to bring anybody back to the hotel with us. Two, even if you did, you have to get ready to leave. Because three, the plane leaves in seven hours. Four, your need to get sleep, because you've been way to tired lately. You've been messing up," Kevin listed the reason why Nick couldn't take me back to the hotel.
"One, I don't care what you say. Two, he's my guest. Three, I already invited him. Four, go fuck yourself," Nick listed back. You could feel the tension in the room rising with each number said.
"Look guys, I don't mean to cause any trouble. If would please everybody, I'll take Nick back to my place. That way I wouldn't go to the hotel. I'll also make sure that he gets to the airport when he's supposed to. The only thing you guys would have to worry about is his stuff. Since it's a good 45 to 50 minute drive to my house from here, I'll force Nick to sleep in the car. He'll also sleep on the way to the airport. From my place, he'd get 30 minutes to Dulles, 50 minutes to National, and a couple of hours to BWI, depending on where you're leaving from. This way everybody's happy. Nobody breaks any hotel rules. Nick gets some sleep, yet we still get to talk and play games. Ok?" I tried to set up a compromise.
"How do we know you're not going to kidnap him," Brian stated out of concern for Nick.
"Easy, you can take me to my house. This way you can make sure Nick gets some sleep and you find out were I live. That way, IF anything SHOULD happen, you know where to find me. I'll even give you my phone number," I answered Brian.
"I don't know," said AJ.
"Group meeting," said Howie.
"I'll be in the bathroom when you need me," I told them, trying to make myself scarce. I went into the bathroom and closed the door. While I was in there, I looked at the ceiling and tried to find a hole. I wanted to see how my watch could 'float and spin.' But I couldn't find any tricks or hidden holes, or newly made walls. There was a knock and I opened the door.
"You can come out now," said Kevin.
"Ok, so what's going on?" I asked.
"We're going to take you home. If we feel we can trust you, by the time we get to you're house, we'll let Nick stay. If not, he comes with us," Brian explained.
"Sounds fair to me. When do we leave?"
"There's a limo waiting right now," Kevin answered my question.
We walked through the winding halls in silence, except for that first hall where the floors were still wet. When we finally got to the limo, Dipstick opened the door.
"Hey Dipshit, how's it going?" I joked.
"Pretty Good... Although next time you might want to be original, Jackass," he joked back.
The Backstreet Boys were looking at us like we were mad. "You two know each other?" asked AJ.
"Sort of, Dipstick picked me up at my house and drove me here," I explained.
"Cool, we got to get going though," said Howie.
I was about to tell Dipstick to get in the front, and that I would handle the door, but then I realized we were still at the Arena. He had to act like a limo driver until we left. We all got in the limo, and he closed the door. Nick, Brian, and AJ were on one side, while Howie, Kevin and I were on the other side. Nick leaned against the window to try to go to get some sleep. Shortly after, we were on our way to my house. Once it was safe, I rolled down the driver window. "Hey, how's it going?" I asked Dipstick.
"Pretty good. You ever find out about that pass you got?" he asked me.
"Yeah, it was Nick here. He sent me the tickets and the pass. He set the whole thing up," I told him.
"What about the..." He started, but didn't finish when he saw me give him a loof that told him not to go further.
"What about what?" asked AJ.
"Oh nothing. Actually it's kind of inappropriate to talk about here," he lied.
"Oh... well tell us about yourself, Steve," AJ asked turning to me.
"What do you want to know?" I asked him.
"Where are you from?" asked Kevin.
"Earth, next question," I said bluntly.
"Where on Earth you idiot?" laughed Howie.
"It's a long story, if you want to know why I answer that question that way."
"Well, start talking," said Brian. To me it seemed like he had a chip on his shoulder. I figured it might take a while for him to trust me.
"Well out of my 24 years, I've lived maybe 9 in the US. Seven of that in Northern Virginia, not even in the same town. When I was a number of months old, I moved to Europe, I lived there for about four years. We moved back here for a year and a half, when my sister was born, I wasn't yet 6. Then I moved to the Caribbean. I lived there for about two years nine months, then moved mack to the US for about another year. After that, I moved to Africa for another two years nine months. Then a short three month visit to the US, before I moved to Asia for two years. Then it was back to the US for about nine months, then to Brasil for a little over two years. There I graduated from High School, then moved to upstate New York for College. I was there for two years, until I ran out of money, then moved to Northen Virginia. I have been here ever since. That is why I say I am from Earth. I really can't call one place home. I may have been born in the US, but I've spent more of my life overseas."
They had listened intently to my story. "Well hello then, Earthling," joked Howie.
"Ok, what's next?" I asked.
"What do you do?" asked Brian.
"I'm a computer programmer working on the Y2K problem. (huge grin)" I explained. "I have a question for you guys."
"What is is?" they asked together.
"What do I have to do to convince you I'm trustworthy, and not some crazed fan?" I asked.
"Be yourself," "Don't lie," "Don't be an asshole," "Be an Eagle Scout," they all replied one after another. They looked at Brian like he was crazy when he said that I would have to be an Eagle Scout. Brian had tried to think of something that I couldn't be.
"Well, for one, I am trying to be myself. Two, I don't lie, except under extreme circumstances. I won't say I never lie, because that's a lie. Three, I'm not an asshole unless your on my bad side, then you'll wish you were never born. And finally, I became an Eagle Scout in June of 93, one month before my eighteenth birthday. I even have my gold card to prove it."
"Your gold card?" Howie asked.
"You get a credit card when become an Eagle Scout?" asked AJ.
"No. When you become an Eagle Scout they send you a certificate and plastic gold card, saying that you are what you are." I took it out and showed it to them. "That's signed by Former President George Bush. The certificate I have at home is signed by Clinton."
They all looked at the card. Brian scrutinized the card. They all couldn't believe that I actually 'passed' Brian's part of the 'test.' Once they were done, I put the card back in my wallet. We continued to talk for a while, until we got to my house. In the end, they agreed that Nick could stay. 'Gee, thanks dad,' I thought. It was like I was asking permission for a friend to spend the night. I understood where they were coming from, but still. Sometimes enough is enough.
After we woke Nick up, we all piled out of the car. I lead everyone to my house, actually townhouse. (For those of you who don't know what a townhouse is, imagine seven houses put wall to wall to wall. Each house is either two or three stories. Each house is about 20 feet wide, from house to house, and 50 feet long, front to back. The 50 feet doesn't include the patches of grass in the front and back.) I unlocked the door and led both the BSB and Dipstick inside. I turned off the upstairs light and the light in the stairwell going down. As usual, they were left on. I turn on the living room light.
"Do you guys want a tour of the place?" I asked them.
"Sure, why not," they replied.
I showed them downstairs. There was a decent laundry room with extra shelves and an extra refrigerator. I showed them the downstairs room transformed into a bedroom. "This is were one of my roommates sleep." I led them to the top floor. "Those are two more bedrooms for two more roommates plus their full bathroom," I pointed out. I showed them my room.
"Wow, it's a jungle in here. This is worse thn all of our rooms put together," said Nick.
"Yeah, but I really don't feel like cleaning it. I'm super organized at work, but at home I'm a pig," I told them. I continued to show them the master bathroom, meant only for stick people. It's so cramped, you have to turn your legs towards the sink if you want to close the door, and you're sitting on the toilet. While I was in my room, I fed Daisy, and introduced the guys to her and to her 3 week old kittens. After much cooing and saying they each wanted one, we left. I pointed toward the rope in the hallweay that was hanging and told them that you pulled it for the stairs to the attic. We went back down to the main floor, were I showed them the kitchen, dining room, living room (again), and half bathroom.
They all though it was better than an apartment, but definetly worse than a house. We sat and talked for a little while. I explained that my roomates were probably all still at Denny's. They usually spent all night there. After we talked for about half an hour, they said they had to go. They told me and Nick they would see us in the morning. I showed them to the door and closed and locked it behind them.
To Be Continued
What will happen at the house? Will they make it on time to the airport? Does Nick know which airport to go to? Why did Nick arrange the tickets and pass? Did he also arrange the notes? This and more on future installments of The Bliss of Love.
Let me know what you think. Any questions, comments, and suggestions are welcomed. Any flames won't, and will be ignored. The sender of any flame will be blocked from sending and further e-mail.
Steve (Cheiron) cheir0n@hotmail.com