Disclaimer: This is a work of FICTION. As such, it does not imply anything about the true sexualities or anything else for that matter of the celebrities mentioned in the story. This story contains homosexual themes. If you are below the legal age to read such material, please leave. If such material offends you, go away. If it is illegal to view such material where you leave, go somewhere else.
Me again, just wanted to say hi to the people who are reading. Hope you like is so far. Bear with me because I'm doing exactly what the tittle says, I'm typing whatever comes into my head. I know it's not a very good way to do it and believe me, it's caused quite a few headaches for me but I do it this way when I can. Let me know what you think.
Going with the flow Chapter 3 --------------------
I went downstairs to find that JC had left me not one, but two tickets as well as passes. 'Was I expected to find a date?' I thought, rolling my eye.
I spent the most the day at the mall. For some reason, I decided I needed new clothes for the concert tonight. It funny really, yesterday I was ready, to bite of their heads and now I realize that I actually liked them. Maybe it's just how they remind me of the guys and me but I didn't really think so, there's more than that. Well, whatever the reasons I decided to just accept them as friends and not worry too much about it. Why complicate things that anyway? After browsing the stores for two hours, I didn't find anything I liked. 'I give up. It's not like I didn't have anything to wear right? Who cares how I looked? They wouldn't if they were friends.' Before leaving, I decided to stop by at the record store.
"Oh mi gosh! It's you."
I turned around and saw this cute Asian girl about 16 years old who was clearly star struck. She was staring at me with her mouth wide open. "You...you're Ste..." I rushed over and covered her mouth with my hand.
"Can you calm down?" I whispered. In fact I was silently pleading with my eyes. Nobody else recognised me but the few other people in the store were staring at us. Her eyes got even wider but she nodded. I removed my hand, ready to cover her mouth again just in case. Luckily she had calmed down a bit. "Hi I'm Steve. Nice to meet you," I said, holding out my hand and smiling. She seemed puzzled but then she smiled and played along.
"Hi Steve, I'm Kelly. It's so nice to meet you. I just love you and the guys," she said shyly.
"Where are you from Kelly? Somehow I don't think you're American."
"I'm from Singapore. I'm here with my friends on holiday. We leave tomorrow. Umm Steve?" she shoved a scrap of paper and a pen in my face. Where did they come from? I just smiled and sign her paper for her.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. My friends are going to be so jealous. How long will you be here anyway? And where're the others?" she asked looking around`.
"They're not here. I came alone and like you, I'm taking a break." Seeing the disappointment on her face, I decided to make up for it. It was nice to have someone who sort of knows me to hang out with anyway. "Kelly, I know we just met and all that but how would you like to join me for a concert tonight?"
"You want me to go to a concert with you? OH MY GOD." She screamed. I could see she was going into hysteria again but luckily she managed to calm down. "What concert?"
I caught a glimpse of the cd she was holding and decided against telling her. "I take it that's a yes?" she nodded. "I'll tell you later. Trust me, you'll love it," I was smiling as I said and she gave me a glare. 'That's a good sign,' I thought, 'She's starting to see me as a person.'
Elsewhere....
"Hey guys, is it me or does Steve look kinda familiar?" Joey Fatone asked his band mates as they were getting ready for the night's performance.
"Nah, I don't think so. You think I would forget a face like that?" Lance said, blushing when he realized what he'd just said. He was more or less back to normal after the outburst earlier.
"You like him don't you?" Chris asked.
"Yeah, I think so. What I mean is I'd like to get to know him better." As he said this a small smile started to form on Lances lips.
"You'll get your chance tonight Scoop. We'll see him at and after the show," Justin reminded his friend. It was clear that Lance something for Steve. What that feeling was remained to be seen. As long as Lance was happy and it didn't hurt him or the group, they would support him. Lance just smiled at him and nodded. With that they all, the room fell silent as they prepared to go on stage.
Back to Steve and his date....
"Come on Steve, where are we going? You've had the whole day to keep it a secret. We're already on the way so you might as well tell me," Kelly pestered me. She had been at it for the whole day. We had spent the whole time talking and hanging out. She was now treating me like and old friend and I rather liked that. We were now in a rental car I had taken for the occasion. She was playing an N'SYNC cd. I didn't usually listen to their music. Those boys were not too bad. Some of the songs were very good in fact. I thoroughly enjoyed 'Bye Bye Bye'. We had gone back to her hotel so she could change. She had a grand time watching her friends freak out until I reminded her about her own reaction earlier. Then she shut up and slugged me in the shoulder hard. She was really getting comfortable around me. Well, payback or reward depending on how you looked at it was coming.
"OH MY GOD." She liked saying that I noticed. "Please tell me we're going to see N'Sync," she sreamed as we neared the arena. We an hour early put the place was already jam-packed.
"Okay, we're going to see N'Sync," I said with a straight face. "We met at the hotel and they invited me to see them." When she had stopped screaming I continued, "They don't know who I am or what I do. To them I'm Steve the musician and I'd like to keep it that way."
"You mean we're gonna meet them?" she was on the verge of tears.
"Yes Kelly," I said smiling. "I want you to remember that they're only people like you and me," I paused for a moment realizing the irony of what I just said. "What I'm saying is treat them like how you're treating me instead of celebrities. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about," I said, winking at her.
"Okay Steve, I understand. You mean you guys only just met? How the heck did you manage that? There must have been so many places and times you could have met," Kelly said not believing me.
"It's true Kel, remember what I said. Oh yeah, you can thank me later," I said getting out of the car. We walked arm in arm pushing our way through the horde of teenage girls and a few guys. I smiled to myself as I thought about what I was doing. It's been a while since I was in the audience of an actually pop concert. A boy-band one no less.
"Don't do this much do you?" Kelly asked, seeing the look on my face. There was a smirk on her face as she said this.
"No I don't. I don't even think I've done it like this before."
"Good, now you know what the rest of us go through. The last time you were in Singapore I got much worse and my seats sucked," she said as a girl charged right trough me, almost knocking me of my feet. I made a face and shrugged. We finally made our way trough to the VIP entrance, which, I of course knew was there, and showed the guard our tickets and passes. I could almost few the heat from the thousands of glares that were directed at us just then. I could resist so I turned around and waved all the while grinning. I was really enjoying my anonymity.
An usher appeared to take us to our seats. Front row centre no less. Before long the lights dimmed and the opening act came on. Apparently, someone had decided to use the local talent instead of a better known act. They were introduced as 'Cybersoundz'. Come on, the name itself should have been an indication. To be fair they weren't that bad and the crowd seemed to like them. Kel was definitely enjoying it as she was moving and humming along to the music even though she most probably had no idea what they were singing.
After what seemed like hours, the light came on and Cybersoundz disappeared backstage. Finally the lights ended signalling the end of a brief intermission. At this the crowd went wild. The screaming was so loud that I wouldn't be surprised if the roof came down. I looked around and saw that quite a few of the girls were holding out signs professing their love for one or another member of N'Sync. Some were offering to be the mother of their children. Again, I smiled. In another place and another time I would have been my name on some of the signs. If only they knew.
The intro for Bye Bye Bye started and N' Sync made their grand entrance. This started another screaming frenzy. I sat up and payed more attention. This was what I came to see I must admit I was impressed. They had the crowd eating out of their hands from the beginning. I even caught myself singing along to 'God Must Have Spent' once or twice. Occasionally, one of the guys would look my way and make a slight gesture like smile or just nod. I'll say first hand that while I was watching the show, more often than not, my gaze found its way to Lance. Because of this I knew that I wasn't imagining it when I say that Lance was glancing at me more than he should.
Two hours and two encores later Kel and I went backstage. The guard saw I passes and waved us in. There wasn't anybody else around so I assumed that there was no meet and greet or anything like that. I knocked on the door and heard Chris yell for us to go in. I poked my head in to make sure it was safe to let my under aged guest in. They were all just sitting or lying around and just resting. All were fully clothed.
"Hey guys, you mind if my friend joined us for a while? She's a fan."
Lance was the first to reply, "Not at all. Come on in."
I opened the door and let pushed Kelly in. She had reverted back to the star struck mode. I introduced her to them individually been she couldn't get more than her name out and that was difficult enough. Luckily by the time the introductions were done, she had found her tongue and was soon asking them questions that fans normally asked. Funny how she didn't really ask me that stuff.
"So Kelly, how did you meet Steve here? Are you too like old friends or something?" Justin asked.
At that, my head shot up. How was she going to answer that without giving me away? She caught my eye before answering and winked. "Yeah, I've known Steve for three years now I think but we weren't really friends until I met up with him at the mall today." I sighed in relief. That wasn't even a lie.
"Kel, we have to get going now it's late and you have a plane to catch tomorrow."
She gave me a sad look, which I could have sworn, was mirrored by Lance and went round saying her good byes. They each gave her a hug and an autographed picture. I told Kelly to wait outside while I had a few words with the guys. "Thanks a lot guys. That was a great show one of the best I've been to. And thanks for letting me bring Kelly in here."
"No problem, it was our pleasure."
"Anytime."
"Anything for a fan."
I was turning around to leave when Lance called out my name and walked up to me 'These guys just love doing that,' I thought. "Thanks for coming Steve. I was hoping we could go out and have a drink and talk or something but looks like you're busy tonight so how bout you join us for breakfast again tomorrow? We're not leaving until later in the day anyway." As he said this he looked me right in the eye. I looked in his and saw hope and sincerity and fear. Knowing he saw the same things in mine, I nodded and kissed his cheek and left.
The ride back to Kelly's hotel was filled with her endless chatter. I listened only half-heartedly as I had other things on my mind. I think she was talking about Justin or somebody. I was thinking about another member of the group.
When I dropped her off, the good bye was tearful for both of us. I had made a friend and I was actually quite fond of her now.
"Thank you so much Steve. You've made so many dreams come true for me. I'll miss you and take care."
"You too Kel. You have my email so keep in touch. Don't be a stranger. And don't give it to strangers either." At this she laughed. "One question Kel."
"What?"
"Do I have to be jealous of Justin Timberlake?"
"No you don't. You'll be my favourite singer," she said pecking me on the cheek. We hugged and she went into the hotel. I watched her go into the elevator and then I went back to my own hotel already thinking about tomorrow.