Some Enchanted Evening by Dante
This story is a work of fiction; like many others in this archive, it comes from the vivid imagination of a writer at heart and has nothing to do with any knowledge or implications about the sexuality of any member of BSB. The main character, Ben, is modeled after myself, but with many modifications.
This may eventually contain homosexual themes; if this offends you, then what are you doing here? Shouldn't the background image of the archive give you a clue!!! If you are a minor, or it is illegal to read/access erotic literature, then wait or move, that's your problem not mine. If you have questions, comments, etc., e-mail me at dantesprayer@yahoo.com.
This is my first time posting at the Nifty Archive, and this is also my first story of this nature. Actually, it started off as a project for a class in creative writing, and just evolved. I will try to respond to your e-mails in a timely fashion, although I have a full course load and work, meetings, a social life...you get the picture...
At this time, I would like to thank the countless authors at Nifty that have inspired me to write. I guess anyone who has the guts to write something and let it be seen by the world gets major kudos from me.
Without further junk from me, here is Some Enchanted Evening *** Chapter 2
"Welcome to my humble abode. Its not much, but its mine...and CK's." I said, walking up the front porch. I turned on the light switch, illuminating the maroon walls of the dining room. I have never really liked my dining room, right in the center of the house, and so close to the main entrance, but I have not had the time to remodel the entire house, nor have I had the money. I heard Brian pull up, so I walked out to the cobblestone driveway, and opened the garage door for him. Luckily, my brother had taken his car to school with him, that thing takes up so much space in the garage. I showed Brian into the house and closed the door behind me. "While you are here, feel free to look around. Its an old house, but she isn't going to collapse any time soon."
With that, Howie and Brian went to the right, into my living room. The hunter green curtains contrasted nicely with the ivory walls, and the silver accent pieces went well with my decorating scheme. Actually, it was my mothers, but she has her own place now, so I just stole her ideas and made them into my own design. "Hey, Ben. Nice television, mind if we watch a show?" asked Howie, as he sat on my highback green chair. "Sure, but I'd get out of that chair, it's CK's, and he doesn't usually like visitors, unless its my cats. None of you are allergic to cats, are you? Cuz I have four."
"Four cats? What are you, a vet?" asked Nick, as he looked at some of the photos in my den, adjacent to the dining room.
"No, I live in the farm, and we get kittens dropped off here all the time. Its part of being a country boy, I guess. Would you like to meet them, they should really be woken up, otherwise they will drive me crazy tonight."
"Sure, I guess. We wouldn't want you getting no sleep!" said Nick.
I walked up the stairs, as I heard Nick flipping through my photo rack. I had my grandfather make me a photo album on the wall that had multiple parts, so that it held lots of pictures. 'Oh shit, what if he sees the pictures of Eric and I. God, why am I such a sentimental fool! Now these guys are gonna freak and run...' I gathered up two of the kittens, and woke up the others, knowing that they would go downstairs once they heard new voices. I quickly hid the few pictures on my nightstand of Eric and I kissing, and brought down the terrors.
"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to my family for now. This little boy is Napoleon." I said, pointing to a lanky grey striped kitten, still yawning and fussing about the sudden change in his sleeping patterns. "The puma over here," I motioned over to a lanky pure black kitten, stretching, and looking around for her next prey, "is Angel. But she is anything but that. We also call her Pywhacket, fro Bell Book and Candle. She purrs like you wouldn't believe!" Suddenly, a herd of elephants ran down the deep stairs and into the kitchen. "And those would be Galihad and Algernon. They look identical to each other; the only difference is that Galihad has a black left hind paw, and Algernon has a black right front paw. Otherwise, they have the same grey spots and same ravenous appetites. They will be in as soon as they get their fill of kibble."
By this time, Nick had walked in, and was sitting on the loveseat next to Howie. Angel had decided that she would like to catch the caterpillar on Howie's face, so she was playfully batting at his check, as he pet her back. She started purring almost instantly, and laid down with content. Nick was busy trying to catch Napoleon, who unlike his namesake, was very much afraid of people. "The Little Conquerer will hide from you, he is very skiddish around anyone but my brother."
"You keep mentioning your brother, where is he?" asked Brian, ungluing his eyes from the television.
"He is at school right now, student teaching and probably enjoying not being a Resident Assistant."
"Oh really, what is he majoring in?"
"Secondary Education and History, concentrations in anthropology and medieval Europe. Way too boring for me. But then again, he hates my biology stuff, especially when I talk about my research with HIV."
Nick looked up at me, and asked, "You research with HIV? That is so interesting."
"Not realy, I perform antibody tests and try to figure out how to use feline immunity in correlation to our systems. It is really boring. But I am away from that for a semester, thankfully!"
"Taking a semester break?"
"Yeah, I am going to Germany to assist the research team at University of Berlin with a new project. It should be interesting, but I got very burned out with all of the work last semester. I was either in the LifeStyles center, the dance studio, or in the immunology lab 24-7."
We chatted for a little while longer, until our stomachs started growling. "So do you guys want to head out for food, or do you want to just stay here, I can whip up something quick, and it won't be loaded with grease."
The three of them looked at each other, and quickly agreed to stay here and let me cook. "I hope you don't mind, but I have no carnage in the house, save canned cat food. I haven't had meat in over a year, so I don't buy it when Nate is gone."
"Sure, that isn't a problem. I know that my system can use a break from all the hamburgers!" exclaimed Nick.
"Oh, come on, Mr. McDonalds is my middle name!" joked Brian. "Do you need any help?"
"In a few minutes, I might need help setting the table." With that, I went into the kitchen, and got out some fresh vegetables, rice, and seasonings. While I may be a vegetarian, I can't stand the texture of tofu, so I have to get my protein from other sources. I walked to my stereo system in the living room, and turned on the kitchen speakers. I decided on something very 'there' to cook to, so I chose a few pieces of Johann Sebastian Bach, perfect for the quick-paced chef. With that, I went to work.
"Hey, Ben. Mind if I give you a hand?" asked Nick. I nearly slipped with the knife, not thinking that anyone was in the room.
"Sure. For starters, don't startle a guy with a sharp knife, I don't want to add my blood to the stir-fry!" I teased, continuing to cut the carrots and peppers.
"Sorry, I wasn't thinking. What do you need me to do?" he said, his voice quiet, almost dejected.
"Umm... for start, you can put some water on the stove for the rice, and you can cheer up, I was joking about the knife thing. I have had much worse wounds than from a lousy knife!" I said, slightly laughing. While he hadn't freaked out on me yet, I didn't want him to need an excuse to out me to the other guys and have them kick my ass. The three of them looked pretty fit, and I doubt that I could take all of them on, if the time arose.
"So, do you usually listen to loud classical music? Or is it some dark ritual before you cook your unknowing victims their last meal?" He joked, pointing to my spice jars. I do have to admit, they look rather sinister, each one in a different size, shape, and colored container.
"I suppose that it would look fairly witchish, if there were a cauldron and a few bats flying around, but alas, the cats and the dog have not yet learned to fly!" I said, smiling.
There was an awkward silence in the air; I could feel that there was a little nervous tension between us, but I wasn't going to approach the subject.
As Nick put the water on the boil, I could hear him mumble something to himself, but I wasn't quite sure what he said. "Ben, I have a question for you."
"Shoot." I said, almost dreading the future.
"Who took those pictures in the den? Some of them are really beautiful."
"Oh, some of them I took, others Nate did, and some of my friends also. Anything that I see as beautiful, I put up in there. It relaxes me after a long day that it isn't that bad out there" I said, pointing to the outside world. "My house is like my sanctuary, it is about the only thing that I can control to some degree, so I do."
"Who is that guy in a lot of the pictures? The guy with the blue eyes and big arms?" he asked, turning his head slightly away.
"Well, since you asked, I may as well tell you. I hate lying, so here goes. He is...was my boyfriend. His name is Eric, and right now he is about the biggest asshole out there." I said calmly. In my years of training with conflict resolution, I knew that if I kept my calm that I would be least likely to have him run out of the house screaming.
"Oh, I'm sorry that he hurt you. He looks like a nice enough guy, but a little to arrogant to me. He flirts with the camera like there is no tomorrow!"
"Yeah, well, that's not all he flirts with like there is no tomorrow, but for those ones, it was okay. I was behind the camera." I said with a smile. Although he did hurt me, I did miss spending time with him in the parks, feeling his strong arms around me. 'Oh well, tomorrow is another day' I thought with a sigh.
After a minute or two of silence, Nick spoke up, "Penny for your thoughts?"
"I am just thinking, I really likes spending time with Eric, and I feel kinda crummy right now. It sucks being alone, you know. He was my first boyfriend, and we spent a lot of time together...well, I thought we did. He spent a little time with guys on the side, especially while I was away. Not kosher at all!"
"That really...sucks!" He said, laying his right hand on my shoulder. "So you didn't go out with anyone until you were 24?
"No, I went out with lots of people. It wasn't until I met Eric that I realized that I was bisexual. Now I think that I like guys more...but I am really just looking for a soul mate, someone who I can share every thought with before it is even spoken. I don't know, maybe I am nuts, but I don't think that sexuality barriers apply to souls, so I am just looking for now."
"Oh, I see..." He looked a little pensive, as if he had more to say, but was afraid to say it. So we continued preparing the meal in silence, with Bach's music keeping a steady flow of inspiration and sound.
I got Brian to set the table, since Howie was in the bathroom, and Nick and I set the food on the table. When Howie got back, we sat down and began to eat. The dinner conversation was rather light, not delving too much in depth into anyone's past. Most of it was focused around me, since the others knew each other.
After dinner, we retired into the living room, where I turned the speakers on and put on some light early romantic music on.
"Do you have any music more...modern?" asked Nick. "This stuff is decent, but it's going to put me to sleep!"
"Well, not really. I have some jazz, but Nate brought most of it to school with him. I really don't listen to a lot of popular music. I guess its my Dad's fault; he has always been a huge classical fan, and it rubbed off on me."
"That's cool, I guess. I grew up listening to all sorts of music in church, it was pretty fun hearing the other choir members sing parts of their favorite pieces." said Brian, as he got up to look at my collection of disks. After about 5 minutes of looking through racks of cases, he turned to me. "You have way too many CDs! I could never listen to this much music, it would drive me insane!"
"I figure that its more entertaining than listen to the pop radio stations. Don't get me wrong, some of the artists have talent, but I don't want to hear the same gushing cheesy love song seventeen times a day! That would drive me crazy!"
Howie looked like he turned a little blushed, but I passed it off as some of the dinner spices actually hitting his tongue. I have always loved spices, and I have this unique 'talent' of hiding the spices into the aftertaste, so that they don't hit right away. I turned on the ceiling fan, and asked anyone if they wanted something to drink. Brian asked for a Coke, Howie an iced tea, and Nick a ginger ale. "I'll have to go down to the pantry for the sodas, I rarely have any in the main fridge." I slipped on my shoes and headed toward the kitchen
*** "Do you guys think he knows who we are?" asked Howie, as soon as he thought I was out of earshot.
"Yeah, he hasn't acted at all strange about us, and hasn't said anything about it at all. And he seems to not listen to pop music much at all." added Brian.
"I don't think that he knows us from the English Prime Ministry...then again, he might know the English Prime Ministry, but not know us...I have no idea what I'm saying, so I'll shut up now." babbled Nick, his face turning slightly red with embarrassment.
Brian walked over to Nick, and put his hand on his forehead. "What's gotten into you, Nick. You are babbling a lot, and weren't exactly paying attention at dinner. I had to ask you three times to pass the vegetables before you even snapped out of it! Are you feeling all right? You don't have a fever."
"Yeah, I'm all right, I just have a lot on my mind."
"Uhh-oh, I know that look. Little Nicky has a crush on the new guy in town! Isn't it so cute!" said Howie, rustling his hair slightly.
"Leave me alone! I do not have a crush, its just that when I was talking to him, he seemed so...alone. I don't know. I just feel something there, but I don't know what to do. Usually I can just go and pick up a guy from the crowd and have a little fun, but I don't think that I can do that." Nick said, his voice dipping down a little softer.
"Well, this time, if you are going to get to know him, you are going to have to use some charm. Your fame won't help you in the sack tonight, you know." said Brian. He immediately realized his mistake when he saw a tear roll down Nick's cheek. "I'm sorry, Nick, I didn't mean it like that..."
"No, you are right. I use my name to get me what I want. Do you know how sick it makes me feel when I wake up next to some guy, who I don't even know his name? I hate it, but I can't help it! I just, for once, want to be in a relationship. He was telling me about being in love with...this girl, Erin, and I realized how low I felt." As he spoke, tears slowly flowed onto his cheeks, emphasizing his true emotions.
"Don't worry about it, Nicky. Whatever happens will happen, just be yourself, not Nick Carter of BSB. If he is into you, then you'll hit it off; if not, then it wasn't meant to be." Brian reached around Nick's shoulder, giving him a squeeze. "And we'll just have to not tell Kevin. He would have a fit if he found out that we were in public...all of the booming metropolis that it is!"
"Yeah, and we should keep AJ clueless for a while, we don't want any unnecesary competition between us. The last thing we need is for there to be a bloody battle between the two of you over a guy!" added Howie, grinning slightly.
By now, I had been upstairs, and had been pouring the drinks. "You guys want any chips or pretzels or anything? I noticed that ya didn't eat a lot there, Brian...afraid of the veggies?" I called from the kitchen.
"We're fine!" said Howie, as he stood up to get Nick a tissue.
By the time I had gotten in there, Nick had made his face look near normal, although I did notice the tissue clenched in his hand and a slight puffiness to his eyes.
"So do you guys want to head out to your campground soon? I think that the ones around here close at midnight, and it is almost 11:30."
"Wow, is it that late? I didn't think that we were by the pond that long. We should probably get going. Are you still up to come with us?" asked Howie, sipping on his tea.
"Sure, if you are sure that I won't bore you to tears." I noted that Nick looked up at me, and quickly turned his head back to his lap, squeezing the tissue even tighter.
Howie stood up, and stretched his back a little. "It would be nice to have someone to talk to besides these guys. Besides, we have an extra sleeping bag; one of our friends was supposed to join us, but he hurt his ankle at the last minute."
"Well, I have to just take care of the pets, and I can get going. Want me to bring any food or stuff? I got plenty."
"No, just bring some clothes and a pair of trunks, the lake is gorgeous. I'll get the van running and I'll meet you out there." Howie grabbed the keys from Brian and headed out, followed by Brian. Nick stayed behind, still thinking about what he had told the guys and what Ben had told him. 'What if I do start to like him..more... I mean, he is really neat and fun to hang out with. Is he ready for a relationship? Is he even looking for one? Am I ready for a relationship? God, this sucks!'
"Earth to Nick! This is Mission Control." Nick jumped a bit, startled out of his thinking process. "Are you allright? You aren't going to wig out on me, are you?"
"Huh? Oh, no. I am just thinking."
"Is it about what I told you earlier?"
"Kind of, but not entirely. Its hard to explain. Maybe later tonight." Nick stood up, and slipped on his shoes and headed out the door.
I made sure that the cats had food and water, and gave CK a biscuit, and brought a few for Tyke, in case Brian didn't have any.
With that, I grabbed some clothes, a swimsuit, and a pillow, and headed out.
*** Well, I hope that you enjoyed this installment of Some Enchanted Evening. Any comments, questions, ideas, whatnot, e-mail me at dantesprayer@yahoo.com. I am also on ICQ (18288122) and AOL Instant Messenger (MilanTraveler). The next one should be coming out in about a week or so.
Dante