Chapter Seventeen
"Eeee-eeee ah eeeee-eee-eeee ah weee umm bom baaah waay...." Brian was swaying in his seat, singing under his breath. He'd had exactly two (small, light on the alcohol) drinks and three shots and he was down for the count. He had his arms around Nick and Howie, who were both in a silent, yet intense, competition to see who could drink who under the table first (my money was on Howie). AJ had been nursing the same can of Red Bull since we got to the club. "In the juuuungle the miiighty jungle the Briiiian sleeps toniiiiiiiight..." Brian sang, giggling when he replaced Lion with his own name. "Get it?" he asked Nick, his mouth right in Nick's ear, "Do you get it? Because lion rhymes with Brian?"
Nick bombed another shot of tequila and looked at Brian, "You're so drunk," he laughed.
"I'm not that drunk," Brian argued, "You're drunk." He looked at me, "Pssst, Ben... Am I drunk?"
"Yes," I answered. I took a sip of the rum & coke that I'd ordered.
"Oh," Brian said, accepting my word that he was drunk. He returned to singing his song. "In the village, the peaceful village..."
"I'm gonna go play deejay for a bit," Nick announced, wiggling out from under Brian's arm. He wobbled a little bit as he got up out of the booth.
"He just doesn't want to keep doing shots," Howie said in a teasing tone as he licked his fist and knocked back another shot.
Nick grabbed the last one off the tray in the middle of the table, "Fuck you," he said, took the shot, cussed and slammed the glass back on the table, "I'm younger than you Howard, I will so beat your ass at this game."
AJ wiggled the straw around in the mouthhole of his Red Bull can. "Ah, the joys of sobriety. Seeing you ding-dongs act like idiots."
Brian looked over at AJ, "I'm drot nunk." He paused, his eyebrows coming together as he thought about the words he'd just said, then he said, "Okay so I am." He laid down on the far side of the booth, "The seats warm," he muttered.
"From Nick's ass," Howie said.
"He had beans earlier, too," AJ commented.
Their conversation was getting on my nerves. I slid out of the booth, leaving my drink, "I'll be right back," I said.
"Where you going?" Brian asked from under the table's ledge.
"I've gotta make a call," I answered, "I'll be right back."
"Who you gonna call?" he asked.
"Ghost Busters!" AJ and Howie both shouted at the same time. "Jinx," AJ and Howie both yelped, pointing at eachother. I could hear them arguing over who called jinx first as I walked away.
I sighed and pulled out the cell phone I'd got after Brian had asked me to come on tour with them. My VIP pass bounced against my chest as I walked, and I clicked into the contacts list, scrolled until I found Kim's name and clicked on it. Leaning against the rail of the balcony, overlooking a dance floor full of girls wearing Backstreet Boys t-shirts and waving glow-sticks, I waited for Kim to pick up.
"Hello?" she sounded sleepy. I looked at my watch. And then remembered on top of the late hour, I was also an hour behind her.
"Shit I'm sorry I just realized what time it is. I'll call you tomorrow. I'm sorry," I said, and started to hang up the phone.
"Wait! Stock Boy!" her voice caught me just before I hit the End Call button.
I raised the phone back to my ear. "I really am sorry," I said.
"It's okay," she sounded more awake now. "How'd your first day on tour go?" she asked.
"Went okay," I replied, "They definitely don't sing country music."
Kim laughed. I'd told her about my faux pas with the genre of music the Boys performed. "I knew that," she said. "Did you get to meet them all?"
"Yeah, actually I'm out at an after party with them right now," I replied.
"Wow," Kim said, "Very impressive. So you're all VIP and stuff?"
"I actually have a badge thing that says that," I bragged.
"Ah... my famous Stock Boy. When you get discovered by Hollywood, just make sure you remember that I knew you when," she teased.
"I will," I answered, "I'll never forget the Little People who helped me get where I am."
"Bastard," she laughed.
"I love you," I said.
Kim's smile practically radiated through the phone, "It's weird to hear you say that. It's also weird to want to say it considering we've only gone out like twice." She paused, "That said, I'm okay with weird. I love you, too."
I smiled and we fell into a comfortable silence.
Across the floor, Nick was finally donned with headphones and grabbed a microphone away from the current DJ and he said into it, "Who wants to get fucking crazy in here?" He looked around as all the girls below started screaming and jumping and waving their hands. The noise decibles in the club had just quadrupled in a matter of seconds.
"What the hell is all that racket?" Kim asked, laughing.
"That," I said, "Are the fans."
"They sound ridiculous," she laughed.
I looked down and what few faces I could see in the flashing pink strobe lights looked like they were in the height of euphoria. "They're okay," I answered, "A little nuts, but okay."
"No groupies, mister," Kim said in a mock-stern voice.
"With a face like mine," I said, "I doubt I'll get any groupies after me."
"I'll be your groupie," Kim promised, "When you get home I'll stock you and wear a shirt with your face on it and offer to give you a blow job in exchange for front row tickets. How's that?"
"Sounds amazing."
"Good. Now go to bed, I'm going to bed."
"That also sounds amazing."
Kim laughed, "Good night Stock Boy."
"Night Waitress."
Later that night, after Howie proved to Nick that he could, indeed, drink him under a table, AJ and I round Nick, Howie, and Brian up and hauled them back to the tour bus, which was waiting just outback of the club. Howie muttered something barely coherent in Spanish before disappearing into his bunk, while AJ threw Nick onto one of the couches. "I'm gonna hurl so many times its not even funny," Nick mused, kicking his sneakers off.
Brian stumbled over one of them and I kicked the shoes out of the way. "I'll be right back," I told AJ, "Make sure if h pukes he does it out the window at least?" I guided Brian into the bus and into his bunk. It was weird because I just instinctively knew which one was Brian's.
He folded into it, his eyes barely focusing. "That was fun, huh? Did you have fun?" his words kind of stuck together.
"Yeah it was fun," I said. I pushed Brian's legs into the bunk.
Brian grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. He stared at my eyes for a long moment. "I really wish..." he muttered.
"Really wish what?"
"...been a long time..." his breath really smelled bad.
"What?"
"...impossible anyways..." His eyes were almost closed so I assumed it was the alcohol talking, and pulled his bunk's curtain shut.
When I returned to the couches where I'd left Nick and AJ, Nick was laying flat on his back, his face was screwed up tight like he was holding his breath or something and AJ was laughing. "What is he doing?" I asked. He looked like he was trying to take a dump during a bout of constipation or something.
AJ laughed, "He thinks he can levitate."
"What?"
"He thinks if he concentrates long enough, that he'll float or something."
"Oh for Christ's sake." I shook my head, walked over, bent down, and lifted Nick up.
The moment I lifted him, Nick's eyes flew open, "I'm doin' it! I'm doin' it!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Then his eyes focused on me -well, as much as they were going to that many shots in the hole- and he said, "Where we goin'?"
"Bed," I answered.
"Dude I don't swing that way," Nick answered.
"I'm not going to bed, you are going to bed."
"Okay."
I shoved Nick into his bunk, into which he'd put a blue Batman comforter, and he scrunched around in the blankets until he'd gotten comfortable. He glanced over his shoulder at me just before I pulled the bunk curtain closed. "You're cool."
"Thanks."
Nick grinned and flipped over onto his stomach. I had a feeling he'd be asleep before I could count to ten.
When I returned once again to the couches, it was to find them empty. The smell of smoke, though, was leaking from AJ's closed bunk. I sighed. I had no idea where I was supposed to sleep since I'd never gotten to talk to Rick. I lowered myself onto the couch and grabbed one of Nick's many duffle bags to use as a pillow. It smelled a little bit like laundry. How in the hell did he already have laundry when the tour had just started that day? Did he pack clothes that were already dirty?
After Self by Pengi
