Disclaimer: This story is pure and total fiction which means it came straight from the left side of my brain. The places, characters and other things in this story are totally fiction. If your not old enough to read this or if homosexuality offends you in any way, shape, or form, please do not continue reading.
Author's notes: I would like to thank the authors of 'This Gift', `Brian and Me' and 'My Everything' for giving me the inspiration to write this story. This is my first time writing a story and I hope you guys who read it like it.
I would like to thank one of my dearest friends, Candy, for editing what your about to read. Love ya babe. I would also like to thank DK (author of "Phone Call") for editing this as well. I thank you both for you time.
Please feel free to contact me with any comments, concerns, criticism, or suggestions regarding the story or just an email to shoot the bull. My address is dlbaby16@yahoo.com. I hope you like the story. Enjoy!!! I shall have another chapter out shortly after this one.
Object of my Affection
Chapter 1: The Encounter
Usually Friday mornings are boring and this Friday morning was no exception. I had not had a single client all day. Hold it there sicko. I didn't mean those types of clients. Before you go and think something different I should let you know that I work for a travel agency called Orue Travel. There was no one else in the office this morning but me and my manger. She was in the back doing administrative things such as financing and the like.
"Damn," I thought, "You would think everyone would be calling to finalize their travel plans for the weekend but no... not a single client has walked through the door."
I guess I should introduce myself before I continue. My name is Xan James Scott. Xan is actually short for Alexander. You would think I would use Alex but that is so common. Instead I chose Xan because it was more original.
Anyways, I live in the beautiful South Floridian paradise in a nice house, about an hour's drive from Orlando. My house isn't that great but then again it's not as bad as it could be. I come from a somewhat wealthy family so I live pretty decent. I went to school at Roanoke College in Virginia, where I spent my entire childhood. What I would be doing here in Florida you might ask? Let's just put it that I had some uh... "troubles" in Virginia that cause me to pack up in move, to sunny side Florida. Here I found a house to my liking and applied for this travel agency job. It pays well and I get a free round trip flight anywhere once a year. The only part I didn't like about the job was that I had to work every other Saturday. It's not as bad as it sound 'cause Saturdays usually go by fast.
I absolutely hate Fridays though. This Friday was different however, because tonight would be with my girlfriend, Jackie. We have been dating off and on for the past year and a half. She would be coming home tonight for her summer vacation to spend with her family and of course her boyfriend, me. Tonight was also our two-year anniversary and we would be going to a concert and then dinner. She chose the concert we would be going to. Turns out her favorite group, 98 Degrees was in town and she was desperate too see them. I wasn't too happy with the choice. I would have preferred Linkin' Park or 3 Doors Down but it was her choice and I let I be. After the concert we had made reservations at a fancy Italian restaurant called, La Amore. We had eaten there before on many occasions and we both seemed to like it. The concert didn't start till seven but I told Jackie to be ready by 5:30.
As the day slowly progressed I looked at the clock. It read 11:30. "Just a couple more hours and you're done." I kept telling myself. Then I heard the familiar chime of the door opening and was relieved that I would actually get some work done. I looked up and sat two guys before my desk. One was about 5'8" and wore a pair of khaki shorts and a blue button up shirt with a white under shirt. He also styled a pair of sunglasses and a blue bucket hat on that made him look like Gilligan from Gilligan's Island, I used to love that show, too bad they cancelled it. The other guy was a little shorter than the first, around 5'6". He had a pair of khaki shorts on as well with just a plain white shirt on, nothing fancy. He also sported sunglasses and a hat. His hat was a red baseball cap instead of the bucket hat his friend had on.
"May I help you sirs?" I asked the two gentlemen.
"Yes, I would like to set up a vacation package for my brother and his girlfriend. There a surprise for him. It's a Valentine's Day gift for the two of them. Got any places that are worth sending two love-struck, love birds?" The guy with the red cap asked.
"Yeah let me get some brochures from the rack and we'll take a look to see where we can send your brother and his girlfriend." I said walking from behind the counter and went over to a rack of brochures for about just every place imaginable: Jamaica, Tahiti, Bahamas, Alaska, and even Moscow. I picked four brochures I thought would be nice: Hawaii, Bali, Paris and Australia. I walked back to the counter and gave the brochures to red cap.
"Here are some vacation packages that I think are the best. I would personally recommend Australia but they are all pretty nice." I said and the two gentlemen as they took the various brochures and flipped through them.
"What's in the Aussie package?" asked bucket hat.
"You get a 5 day 5 night stay at the Sydney Marriot Resort. As part of the package you also get to scale the infamous Sydney Harbor Bridge, visit the Sydney Opera House and you also get a chance to dive or snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. The package also includes diving lessons." I said reading from the brochure.
"Oh Jess will love that. She's always wanted to scale the Sydney Harbor Bridge." Bucket hat said to red cap.
"Yeah and Nick's been wanting to dive at the reef for quite some time now. He just never gets the chance," red cap said, "Look at the Hawaiian trip. Listen: A beautiful 5 day 4 night stay at the Halikoha Resort where you can enjoy the wonders of the beautiful Waikiki beach. Includes free surfing lessons, a 1 day yacht cruise on the Pacific Ocean. Swimming with the dolphins and diving are a must. I think Jess would enjoy that one, you know she's in love with the ocean and swimming with dolphins would just make her love it more."
"Which would you recommend?" Bucket hat asked me.
"Personally I would choose Australia. One, its more fun and 2 because I've done it, It's really nice, but if your looking for something more romantic, then Hawaii is defiantly the way to go. It all depends on what you're looking to get out of it." I said.
"Cool," red cap said." I think he's right. We should send Nick and Jess to Hawaii."
"Yeah, I agree with you, but maybe we should run it by Justin first." After I said this I started thinking as they went on with reason on why and why not to tell Justin and just make a decision there and now. I zoned out completely and started to try to figure out who these two mystery men were. When they had mentioned the names Nick and Jess, I was skeptical. There are lots of people named Nick and those nicks could be dating a Jessica (which I assumed that' what the name Jess was short for.) But when they said Justin I put everything together. Brother, nick, girlfriend, Jessica, Justin, red signature cap, Drew and Bucket hat Jeff.
"Holy shit!" I shouted aloud. "You guys are Jeff and Drew of 98 Degrees. And the present is for Nick and Jessica, oh that's so sweet."
"Thanks. You're right; the vacation is for my brother Nick and Jess. We would appreciate it if you would keep all this hush hush though," Drew replied with a bit of authority in his voice.
"Yeah, I understand. I wouldn't want anyone to tell what I was doing 24/7 to the media."
"Finally, someone who gets it!" Jeff said with relief.
"And don't worry about keeping everything hush hush. My lips are sealed. And you don't have to worry about my manager, her lips are sealed too. ISN'T THAT RIGHT MACY!" I shouted so that she could hear me through the closed door.
"SURE THING XAN! DON'T INTERUPT ME AGAIN THOUGH I'M BUSY ON THE PHONE WITH THE CEO OF THE COMPANY, MR. ORUE." She yelled back.
"See she won't talk."
"Thanks," Jeff said with a weird look on his face. He then turned to Drew. "But we should really run this vacation stuff by Justin before we decided anything."
"I agree." Drew said.
"Damn I'm starved." Jeff suddenly said. "What time is it?"
"Quarter past twelve," I said glancing at the clock on the computer screen in front of me.
"Shoot, no wonder I'm so hungry." Jeff said rubbing his stomach again.
"Say you wanna come to lunch with us? We can sit and talk about this trip for Nick and Jess. You know, finalize everything, costs, expenses, the like." Drew asked me with a touch of order to his voice once again.
"Um... I wouldn't want to inconvenience you guys." I said nervously. Shot two famous people just asked me to lunch, I'm pretty sure you would be nervous too.
"You wouldn't be an inconvenience to us. I told you we have to go over things about the vacation. If it was an inconvenience to us, we wouldn't have invited you." Drew answered.
"Ok...Sure...if you say so." Not sure if I should take what he said as a compliment or what. I decided to take it as a compliment.
"I do say so." Drew replied.
"Where are you guys going to go eat at?" I asked.
"Um... dunno, what do you suggest?" Jeff asked.
"Well, I think Denelly's would be good, it's one of the best places to eat in this town." I replied. Well, it was true, everyone says so. "It's one of those nice restaurants that you can sit down with the family." Jeff then looked at Drew and nodded their agreements.
"All right then it's settled. Let's go."
"Hold on while I tell my manager I'm going to lunch and then we can go." I walked over to the back door, knocked then let myself in. I could see Macy was still on the phone. She looked at me and I motioned to her that I was going to go eat lunch and would be back in an hour.
"All right, keep the office door open and turn on the door bell so I can hear if someone comes in just in case I don't hear the chimes of those bells." I said sure and walked out of her office.
"All ready to go?" Drew asked. I nodded. I walked from behind the counter and followed Drew and Jeff out the door. Before going out the door I turned on the switch on the wall that activated the door bell to sound when someone came in. I proceeded to follow Jeff and Drew out into the parking lot. They walked over to a red corvette and climbed in, Jeff on the driver's side and Drew the passenger's.
"What no limo?" I asked sarcastically as I got into the car
"We only use the limo when we go to concerts or press stuff. For everything else we use a rent-a-car, it's less conspicuous." Drew said. I was shocked. I hadn't expected an answer. Jeff then started the engine and back out of the space. He pulled out of the parking lot and stopped at the corner. He asked me where Denelly's was and I gave him some directions. After about five minutes we arrived in the parking lot of Denelly's. We got out of the car and I led Jeff and Drew to the restaurant. We walked in and were immediately greeted by the hostess.
"Good afternoon. How many are in your party?" she asked with a smile.
"Three and could we get a secluded table please," asked sensing that's what Drew and Jeff would want.
"Yes sir, right this way." The waitress then led us to a booth in the far back of the restaurant. She gave us our menus and then proceeded back to the front. After a while of looking at our menus deciding what we wanted, a waitress came and took our orders. Drew and I both ordered a chef salad but he had water, while I had a Coke, and Jeff ordered a pasta dish with a Sprite. The waitress wrote down the orders and told us she would be back with our drinks shortly, Then she collected our menus and went to place the order. Drew, who sat across from me with Jeff sitting beside me, looked at me and just stared.
"What?" I asked meeting his gaze.
"How did you know we wanted a secluded table?" he asked keeping my gaze.
"I just figured you would want some privacy. I know I would. I would hate not being able to walk into a restaurant and not be able to have a decent meal without having to sign twelve thousand autographs. It would get a real pain in the ass after a while and would make me want to go out less."
"He hit the nail right on the head didn't he?" Jeff asked Drew.
"Yeah," Drew replied. The waitress came back and handed us our drinks. She then said our meals would be ready in a few minutes.
"So, about the vacation for Jess and Nick, what are we talking about price wise? Jeff asked me.
"Well it depends on where you want to fly out of. The cost for hotel and the activities will be around $2,000."
"That's not bad. I think we'll fly them out of Orlando, so how much will that cost?" Drew inquired.
"The trip total including airfare, hotel, and activities should be around $2700, but I would have to check. I'm just giving an estimate. The plane tickets are first class by the way."
"O.K. right, first class tickets are what we want. So are you going to our concert tonight?" Drew asked.
"Yeah I'm taking my long time girlfriend to go see it. It's our two year anniversary and I am treating her to a concert and dinner to celebrate."
"Happy anniversary, that's so sweet what your doing. I hope things work out between the two of you." Drew said looking somewhat hurt. I wonder what the look for was. Then I thought he probably hasn't had a few good girlfriends lately, maybe it was because of his break-up with Lea, his high-school sweetheart. I will have to inquire on that later.
"Yeah, happy anniversary," Jeff said more enthusiastically than Drew.
"Thank you very much, guys." I said in reply. Then Jeff reached into his pocket and handed me something across the table.
"Here is an anniversary present. I'm sure your girlfriend will love it." I noticed that they were two backstage passes to their concert.
"My girlfriend will definitely like these. Thank you." I thanked them a couple more times. I was just star struck. Here were my girlfriend's two favorite members of the group and I was discussing travel plans with them.
The waitress returned with our food and we ate in silence. Every now and then there was a "please pass the salt," Or, "please pass the pepper." I looked up at Drew and he looked lost in thought, the look of hurt still in his eyes. I looked at Jeff, who was scarfing down his meal like it would be the last time he would ever eat. After we ate our meals the waitress came by and dropped off the bill. I immediately picked up my bill but Drew snatched it from my hands.
"Nope our treat, we asked you to come to lunch, we pay." Drew said with a cocky look on his face. The look of hurt now gone
"No, I don't think so," I said snatching my bill out of his hand.
"Don't think so." He said snatching it back.
"Don't argue with him Xan." Jeff said taking the last sip of his Sprite.
"Fine," I said letting go of the issue and then proceeded to the cash register with Drew and Jeff in my wake. Drew paid the bill and then led the way out the door towards the parking lot. We then walked back to Jeff's corvette and got in. Jeff drove back to the Orue travel agency. He parked in front of the door to let me out.
"Thanks guys again for lunch." I said
"No problem, anytime. See you at the concert Xan." Drew said and with that waved goodbye as Jeff drove off waving back to me. I waved back and then proceeded back to work.
To Be Continued...
****Well that's the end. I hoped you liked the first installment of this story. I will post another chapter soon. Feel free to email me at dlbaby16@yahoo.com.
James