Chapter Twenty-Seven
That afternoon, we played the main stage at the Spring Break party. The wind was whipping off the ocean and kept making Nick's dutch-boy-length hair cross into his face and eyes and he kept having to smooth it back. The sun was hot and the air was humid, making our shirts stick to our skin. Given the way my t-shirt had seemed to become some form of paste, I started to understand why everyone in the crowd was wearing bikinis and swim trunks as a norm. I couldn't imagine how hot it would be packed in among all those bodies or what the smell would be like from all the sweating.
After the show, we went to go change for dinner and Johnny called a band meeting because he had some schedule changes for us. I couldn't help but glance at Leighanne and wonder if she'd worked magic somehow and gotten me the time off I needed. I pictured Johnny saying that he'd pray for me and then all the fellas worried looks and finally Nick apologizing for being a shithead and everything going back to normal where none of us ignored each other's pains and we all got along and maybe Lou even paid us fair wages. By the time I got to the restaurant we were eating at, I'd nearly talked myself into thinking it was a fact that this was what happened, and I had mentally worked out the thank you and don't worry, everything will be okay speech I was going to give.
"I know you kids were supposed to have this weekend off before we head over to Europe, but Lou scheduled a relief benefit concert in Orlando for the 14th," Johnny said by way of announcement.
My imagination deflated.
"There was a lot of damage in our hometown caused by the tornadoes --"
I'd completely forgotten about the tornadoes. I felt guilty for not caring about other people's pains, being so engulfed in my own. Selfish, I blamed myself.
"--and we think it would be really good publicity if you clowns play a show where all the proceeds go to the city to help the rebuilding effort," Johnny continued.
Kevin nodded solemnly, "I like that idea."
"Count me in," AJ agreed.
"Brian? Howie? Nick?" Johnny looked at us.
Nick was biting his nails.
"It's not like we have a choice," I said, shrugging. "Not that I don't want to help the tornado victims, I mean, I'm just saying. Why are you bothering to ask us if we're in? You're going to make us do it anyways. It's already booked, isn't it? It's already on the schedule. God almighty help us if the schedule alters."
Johnny's eyes narrowed, but he didn't deny it or argue, nor did he particularly press the subject of getting us to agree to do the show.
When I got back to the hotel room, Leighanne was laying on the bed, looking out the window and eating from a room service tray. She looked up, smiled, and held out a strawberry to me. I bent down and ate it out of her hand, kissing her fingers. She laughed. "So did you talk to the guys about the surgery?" she asked as I slid onto the bed beside her and wrapped my arm around her.
"No," I answered, "It wasn't the right time."
"When is the right time going to come?" she asked.
"I dunno, I'll know it when it's here though."
She sighed, but she didn't argue with me - which I was thankful for - and instead she changed the question to, "So what was it about, then?"
"Lou scheduled us a relief benefit concert in Orlando," I answered, "To help raise money for the tonado victims."
A smile spread across her face, "Aw, that's really nice," she said. She rolled over and kissed my chin, "You're like a hero."
"Nawh," I answered. But her words did make me feel pretty awesome, I have to admit. I felt prideful. My voice was capable of raising money to help people who were in need, who were in trouble, who needed help that I could provide them. "Not exactly a hero."
Leighanne seemed to know my ego had just swelled because she smiled and ran her hand down the length of my arm. She squeezed my fingers. "Mmhm," she whispered in a husky voice, "Exactly a hero." She moved until she was pressed against me, until I could feel every inch of her body. I held her closer and just felt thankful she was there. It wasn't a sexual moment, it was just a good one. I liked these sorts of moments, when I just knew she was there.
We fell asleep like that.
The next morning at breakfast, Johnny managed to get us all there at the same time, and he anxiously waited while we collectd our food and returned to the huge table he'd staked out. Leighanne sat next to me and slid a piece of mango into my mouth, telling me I had to try it. When all five of us fellas had finally settled down, Johnny said, "Lou called me this morning."
Kevin was shovelling cereal into his mouth.
"And we've pushed the relief concert back a day."
"What? Why?" Howie asked.
Kevin shovelled more cereal into his mouth. Nick was pushing eggs around his plate. AJ took a sip of juice.
"Because we got the word that you guys are going to be making an appearance on Saturday Night Live."
Kevin and AJ both spit in shock, Nick dropped his fork, Howie dropped his jaw, and I blinked in surprise. Leighanne jumped to throw napkins over AJ's spit-riddled orange juice mess.
"Saturday Night Live - seriously? The Saturday Night Live?" Kevin demanded.
"Live from New York, it's Saturday Night," Johnny replied.
"That is the fuckin' coolest thing I ever heard you say," AJ crowed, "Dude that's gonna be fucking awesome."
"Do we get to do skits?" Howie asked.
"We get to meet the cast!" Nick exclaimed.
And the table burst into a flurry of conversation and excitement as we all discussed favorite scenes from SNL over the years and how awesome it was gonna be to be featured on the show. Johnny went over our new flight itineraries because our travel plans had completely changed now, obviously, but we were all okay with that for once because it was SNL, for crying out loud, and none of us were about to complain about that.
We were still doing our best impressions of Chris Farley's dowwwn by the riiiiver skit as we retreated to our rooms to pack to head back to the States. At the airport, Johnny filled us in that the host was going to be Julianne Moore and AJ, Nick, and Howie instantly started a heated debate on whether she was hot or not, and Nick admitted he thought Molly Shannon was hotter, which made AJ and Howie erupt into a discussion about Julianne's performance in Boogie Nights and some other movie about a dude that goes bowling or something that was either new or coming out, I wasn't really paying attention to them.
Lou met us at the airport in New York City in high spirits, as were the rest of us, but I did notice that he avoided Nick like the plague. I hadn't realized how often he did tend to rest his hands on Nick's shoulders or whatnot until I saw how uncharacteristic he seemed staying away from Nick altogether. It was like the guy didn't know what to do with his hands, and he shifted them from his pants pockets to folded across his chest, and back again to his pockets.
Leighanne nudged me in the car, "You should tell them today," she said.
"What?" I asked, glancing around, "But --"
"The timing's perfect," she answered, "Everyone's in such a good mood."
Which was exactly why I didn't want to tell them. Why ruin a good mood when they so infrequently happened?
But at Leighanne's assistance, I pulled Lou aside in the lobby at the hotel, "I need to talk to you at some point, okay?" I asked.
Lou sighed, "If this is about the gigantic engagement ring on your fiance's finger, then yes, we do need to talk."
"Well that, too," I said, flushing. I hadn't even thought of that.
Lou shook his head, "We really should've planned this ahead of time, like before you had her following you around wearing that thing. You know how bad this is going to effect your sales? A boy band member getting engaged..." he rolled his eyes.
"It shouldn't effect sales," I said, "I can still sing."
"Yeah but once you're married, you're off-limits, and a lot of girls will think twice." Lou shrugged.
"That's ridiculous," I snapped.
"It's how the world turns," Lou replied, and he pushed away, announcing who was rooming where and with whom. It wasn't until he'd handed me the room key and meandered into the elevator that I realized that I hadn't gotten the okay to talk to him about my heart.
Upstairs in the hallway, I stopped him again. "So when would be a good time to talk to you?" I asked, "I can swing by the room and --"
Lou studied me a moment, then his eyes flickered to Nick who was shouting down the hallway to AJ, and then back to me. "That wouldn't be a good idea," he replied. "I'm busy. Next week." He disappeared into the hotel room and slammed the door.
I sighed.
"You get a woman and the single," said Howie, suddenly behind me, "I need to bring Carol on tour."
"What would happen if more than one of us had a girl on tour at the same time?" AJ wondered.
"Maybe you should leave that worry to the guys who have real girlfriends and not just blow up dolls," Kevin teased.
AJ rolled his eyes, "She ain't a fuckin' blow up doll, Jesus."
"She doesn't exist at all," Howie laughed. AJ flipped the bird and went into the hotel room Nick had already disappeared into.
Once I'd joined Leighanne in our own room, she asked, "Did you talk to Lou?"
"He said we could talk about scheduling time off next week," I answered, even though that wasn't expressly what Lou had said I figured it wasn't so much of a stretch as to be considered a lie.
Leighanne smiled, "That's good," she said. "So when do you talk to him? When do you call your doctor?"
"Next week?" I ventured.
Concern passed over Leighanne's face. "What? You mean he's gonna talk to you next week, not schedule you time off next week?" I realized suddenly how Leighanne had taken my response.
"Yes, sorry," I answered.
"Brian -- What the hell? He can't even make a couple minutes to sit and talk with you?" she demanded.
"He thinks it wouldn't be a good idea for him to invite me to his hotel room," I replied, "Not right now, with the whole thing with Nick going on and --"
"What thing with Nick?" Leighanne demanded, "That's so ridiculous, what in the hell could possibly be going on with Nick that Lou wouldn't be able to talk to you for five minutes because of?"
I felt the words coming out of my mouth before I could stop them. "Nick's mother's trying to sue Lou because I told her Lou was trying to molest Nick."
Leighanne's jaw dropped. "What?" she asked.
I felt my face go all hot. "Please don't tell him I told you that. Please. You can't. He only just barely started talking to me again and --"
"Lou tried to molest Nick?" Leighanne asked.
My cheeks were practically on fire. I grabbed her hands. "Seriously, you can't tell Nick I told you this okay?"
"Is he okay?" Leighanne's eyes fogged with worry for Nick.
"Yes," I answered, "I guess so. I mean he's been a liar lately, but I mean he said nothing really happened, only that it was really strongly suggested. He told AJ and me."
"And he's pissed because you told his mother?" Leighanne asked.
"Him and his mother aren't exactly the - um - closest," I admitted.
Leighanne closed her eyes and bit her lips. When she opened them again a moment later, her voice came out quiet and low, "That poor kid."
"What?"
"Nick," she said, "I feel bad for him. He's been through hell, hasn't he?"
I shifted uncomfortably. "I um.. I guess."
Leighanne sighed. She shook her head. "Something needs to be done about Lou. He's abusing you guys in every way you can possibly be abused and it needs to stop."
"I don't know how to stop it," I replied.
"It starts by demanding to talk to him," she said, "Demanding he talk now. It starts there because you need to get well before you try to take on any battles." Leighanne looked me deep in the eyes, "You have to do something. You can't be passive about this. You all deserve better than he is giving you."
I nodded.
"I'm serious Brian," Leighanne said, "It's important... It's imperative, even."
"I know," I answered.
"So go talk to Lou," she said.
"Now?"
"Right now."
I ran my hand along the back of my neck. "But right now is --"
"The best time," Leighanne finished for me with a firm voice. "Go talk to Lou. Lay down the law. Tell him what you need and be authoritative. Remember, he works for you, not the other way around."
I nodded. Leighanne's pep talk was actually helping. Again, I felt my ego swell like it had the day before. I took a deep breath, sticking out my chest, and nodded again. "I can do this," I said. "I can do this."
"I know you can. Now go do it."
I strut out of the hotel room, feeling brave and impressive, and marched myself right over to Lou's hotel room door. I knocked, and the door opened and Lou stood there in front of me, all fat and intimidating, and he stared at me for a long moment. "What?" he demanded.
"We need to talk. Not next week. Not later. Now," I said.
Lou glowered. "Fine." He opened the hotel room door, allowing me inside.
Chapter End Notes:
MTV Spring Break footage is available here - there's more in the related video area on the sidebar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2rszTUjEAg
