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Chapter Twenty-Nine


"I can't believe we're in fucking Dublin, Ireland on Saint Patrick's Day," AJ said, pressing his face against the window of the car, looking out at the city. It was about eleven o'clock at night on the 16th, and the city streets were crawling with people. Every bar was lit up and the sounds of Irish drinking songs poured out of them and mixed together in the street to make a dull hum that underlined the usual sounds of a city. Signs and banners everywhere boasted specials on beers. AJ turned to look at the rest of us. "Did y'all ever think you'd ever be in Ire-fucking-land for Saint Paddy's?"

Nick's eyes were bright, "What's the drinking age here?"

"It doesn't matter," Lou snapped, "None of you have time to go drinking."

AJ rolled his eyes, "Don't be such a hard ass kill joy, Lou," he said.

Kevin leaned forward, "Actually I wouldn't mind a beer myself," he said, "Seeing as it's St. Paddy's and all."

Johnny turned to look back at him, "We've got a really full schedule the next two days," he replied.

Kevin sat back and Nick pouted and AJ huffed and looked back out the window. I glanced over at Howie, but he was asleep. Leighanne, who was next to me, squeezed my hand, and I smiled at her.

At the hotel, Lou did the usual routine of putting us in our separate rooms, but he pulled a surprise on us by pairing AJ and Howie together and putting Nick in with Kevin. Kevin looked at the room key and raised an eyebrow, "Really?" he asked.

"Seriously?" Nick echoed.

Lou nodded. "I figure if anyone's gonna keep a safe watch on Nick it's you," he said to Kevin. "Make sure he doesn't do anything he shouldn't be doing," he added.

Kevin nodded.

Up in the room, Leighanne and I started undoing our luggage to find the things we needed for the next two days and unpack them. Leighanne hung up her dresses so they wouldn't wrinkle, and we looked out the third-story window at the cobblestone side street our room overlooked.
The next morning Lou had us up bright and early as usual. Nick was shooting Kevin irritated glances almost every time he spoke. We did an early morning news show interview and a quick stop at a local Dublin radio, followed by lunch, and an afternoon signing CDs at a record store. After we'd pretty much all begun suffering with carpal tunnel syndrome, we were brought to the venue to begin our rehearsals and soundchecks.

The RDS Arena was an open-air sports arena and with the grass covered and the stage set up sat around 18,000 people. We'd sold the stadium out for two nights in a row. The halls backstage were lined with photos and posters for futbol and rugby and horse racing. We could hear the fans as they filled the stadium with shouts and shrieks. Even before getting out there, the crowd was loud, and we attributed that to the excitement of Saint Patrick's Day.

When the show began, we couldn't see the stars because of our stage lights, but knowing they were up there over our heads was exciting. The crowd was on fire, and the show went incredibly because we were feeding off their energy. Plus being the first show of the tour, even though it wasn't like we'd been off and relaxing in between tours or anything, still had a special feeling to it, an inaugeral sort of air. I kept peeking over at Leighanne, waiting in the wings, her face wide in a smile. Once, I looked over during All I Have To Give and I saw she had her eyes closed and her lips moved along with mine saying the lyrics.

After the show, on the way back to the hotel, Lou gave us another talk about staying out of trouble, and made another appeal to Kevin's fatherly instincts to keep Nick where he should be that night. We had a huge crowd of fans to break through to get into the elevator at the far side of the lobby, shrieking loudly and asking for hugs and autographs. Security ran us through, though we tried to say hello and touch hands with as many of them as possible. AJ managed to have his hat stolen and Howie had chosen to hug one too many girls on the way through and ended up with his shirt looking like Shredder from the Ninja Turtles had been after him.

Upstairs, Kevin said good night and dragged a scowling Nick into their hotel room. Leighanne and I bade AJ and Howie night and went into ours as well. We sat on the bed and pulled out the Monopoly game we'd packed and started setting it up. It'd been maybe a half an hour since we arrived, and I'd already managed to buy Park Place, when there was a knock on our door.

It was Kevin. His eyes sparkled and he glanced over his shoulder, his voice low, "It's Saint Paddy's," he said quietly. "There's only one place you should be in Ireland on Saint Paddy's day."

"What?"

He grinned. "C'mon. Let's go."

"But Lou said --"

"Oh fuck Lou," Kevin waved a hand at the far end of the hallway. "Meet us in the stair well."

I ducked back into the room. "The fellas are planning a prison break," I said.

Leighanne looked up, "What?"

"They wanna go to a bar in honor of St. Paddy's," I replied.

Leighanne grinned mischeviously.

She was still grinning twenty minutes later, when we'd snuck down the stairs and out a back door of the hotel onto the cobble-stoned street our room overlooked, downtown to a pub that glowed with warm light and smelled of ale. After we'd all been carded at the door, we found a booth in the corner to the side of a wide dance floor. A ragtag band played from a cleared space in the corner, traditional Irish music, fastpaced and exciting. People danced on the floor in a blur of color and shouting. Kevin bought a round of pints and we sat with our foaming, iced glasses.

"I can't believe we're fucking doin' this!" AJ crowed, slamming his open-palmed hand on the table, "This is classic, this is incredible." He took a large gulp of the beer, "Jesus Christ, I fuckin' love Ireland!" he crowed.

Nick took a gulp of his beer, and the foam settled on his upper lip. "I love being eighteen in Europe," he declared with a burp.

"As long as you're responsible with it," Kevin said.

"Yeah-huh," Nick nodded, gulping more beer down.

Howie laughed, "This is pretty awesome. I'm part Irish you know," he added with a nod. "That's why I can drink any one of you bastards under a table," he said, winking.

Leighanne grinned, "I could out drink any one of you if I wanted to," she said, she looked at Howie, "Even you, Howard."

"I call bullshit," Howie shouted with a look of amusement in his eyes.

"She's full of crap," I laughed, "She said she could beat me at Monopoly too and I have yet to see that."

Leighanne turned to me, "Oh just because you interrupt our game to pub crawl doesn't mean --" I interrupted her by leaning down and pressing my mouth to hers. She laughed into the kiss and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Get a room," Nick groaned from across the table. He kicked me under it.

We separated and Leighanne turned to look around the table. "Which one of you Boys knows how to dance?" she asked.

A look of confusion crossed Nick's face, "What? We just spent the last two hours doing a show that's nothing but dancing," he said.

"That's choreography," Leighanne said, shaking her head, "I mean real honest to goodness dancing." She waved a hand at the dance floor, where the people were really moving at a good pace. They all seemed to know the steps, like they'd been choreographed, too.

Kevin stood up, drained his pint glass, and held out his hand. "I am a cerified ballroom instructor," he informed her.

Leighanne grinned. She looked at me. "No offense?"

"None taken," I replied, sliding out of the booth to let her out. She leaped to her feet, reached for her hair and let it down. It fell in long golden waves across her back like a splash of water across the green dress she'd put on, and Kevin took her hand and led her onto the dance floor. I watched as he spun her once and they fell into steps with the other dances on the floor. Her dress fluttered and flowed with every move and tiny sequins that were stitched in swirling patterns across the skirt kicked up in the house lights.

Howie shook his head, "Hot damn she's beautiful." He turned to look at me, "You're a lucky man."

"I know," I replied, hypnotized by them.

AJ had finished his beer, too. "I'm gonna go get another round," he said and he slid out of the booth and disappeared into the crowd.

Nick clutched his pint. He looked over at me and Howie. "How come Lou didn't want us to have any fun?" he asked.

"Because Lou's old and can't have fun himself," Howie replied, sipping his beer.

Nick laughed, "Yeah he's an old Bison." He finished off his beer and put the glass back down heavily. "I feel closer to you guys when we do stuff like this," he admitted. "Sometimes I feel like y'all think I'm a little kid and stuff, you know? Especially Kevin." He looked out at the dance floor. "I'm glad I'm old enough to go drinkin' with you guys now."

The song ended and an elated Leighanne was clapping and laughing out on the dance floor. She said something to Kevin and the two of them came back to the table as the thumping first few notes of the next song began, like a low heartbeat. "I'm gonna dance with every one of you," she announced. She pointed at Howie. "You're next."

Howie grinned and slid out before Kevin got into the booth. Leighanne winked at me, and led him out on the floor. Howie didn't know the moves quite the way Kevin did, but being a quick learner, part Irish, and one full pint down, he picked on up on them to some extent and bullshitted the rest of the way through them, his feet flying almost as fast as Leighanne's.

Kevin took the rest of Leighanne's beer and downed it. "Damn your girlfriend can dance," he commented, breathless. He glanced back out at the floor. "It's like she's the Energizer Bunny."

I grinned, "Oh trust me I'm aware of her Energizer Bunny-ness."

"Toooooo much information," Nick cried.

I laughed.

AJ returned then with six pints clutched in his hands and slid them around the table. Nick took a big sip of his and clutched the glass again. He looked at Kevin. "Thanks for letting us all do this," he said. "This is great."

Kevin nodded. "There's some times that drinking can be fun."

"Drinking is always fun," AJ said, laughing.

AJ was next to dance with Leighanne. I made a point of telling him to keep his hands to himself, and he grinned. Leighanne took lead with him since he had no clue about the moves. What he lacked in knowledge though he made up for in energy and before long they were fumbling through a dance, laughing as Leighanne spun AJ instead of the other way around.

We'd drained the second beers and Howie had gone for a third round and Nick was getting a little furry around the edges. Kevin casually emptied half of Nick's third beer into an empty pint glass, which he drank himself, and Nick never even noticed. "I really like being brothers with you people," he droned, "It's so fun because y'all are so nice," he grinned.

Kevin laughed heartily, "If you weren't such a pain in the ass we'd be nicer," he said.

AJ and Leighanne returned to the table and Leighanne pointed at Nick. "You. I want you."

"Who doesn't?" Nick drawled. He ducked under the table instead of making AJ and Kevin slide out to let him by.

"I'm saving the best for last," Leighanne said, looking at me.

Nick stood up at the end of the table and grinned at Leighanne. "I used to think you were a bitch you know," he said.

She laughed, "How many pints are in this one?" she asked.

"Two and a half," Kevin answered.

"One down, all the rest of y'all to go," Howie said, waving a hand around the table.

"He's inexperienced," Kevin said.

Nick flopped his arm around Leighanne's shoulder. "Let's go dannnnncin'," he said.

Leighanne laughed, "We'll be back!" and dragged Nick out onto the floor. Nick's an awkward dancer anyways, even when it is choreographed, but throw a couple beers into him and take away the choreography and he's downright clumsy. His arms flailed about and he looked like he was attempting to hip-hop dance to Irish pub music. Leighanne laughed, tossing her head back, as she tried to corral him into some semblence of the dance moves.

"He looks like a squid on shore," Howie commented.

We laughed and commentated on Nick's terrible dancing as we drank our beers. Kevin cheersed to us all having a good time, and to the tour going amazing. The room was becoming more and more of a blur around me and I knew I needed to cut myself off after this pint was drained.

When Nick and Leighanne's dance ended, they returned to the table and Nick dropped into the booth beside me. "You're a lucky-lucky-lucky-lucky dude Frick," he gasped out, his eyes unfocused, "She's a sexy lady..." he started singing, high-pitched, some old seventies disco song.

I laughed, "You broke my Frack," I commented.

Leighanne grinned and sat down. "Just a quick break and then you -" she pointed at me, "- are all mine." She took hold of the beer that AJ had bought her and drank. "This is really good," she said, holding it up.

"It's authentic," Howie said.

Nick laid his head down on his arms on the table. "I'm dizzy," he announced, laughing into the crook of his arm.

Kevin laughed, "It's okay Nick, the room will stop spinning soon." He reached over and patted Nick's shoulder.

The reaction was insane. Nick slammed Kevin's hand to the table, sat up, and snarled, "Don't touch me like that." His eyes focused on Kevin and his cheeks flushed, "Sorry," he apologized. He looked sick to his stomach.

"What in the hell was that?" Kevin demanded.

Nick shook his head.

Leighanne glanced at me. She reached over, "It's okay Nick," she said. She touched his back, and though he steeled at her touch, he let her slowly rub his back in a soothing manner. Slowly, he leaned back down, resting his head against his arms again. "It's okay," she said again.

Nick's eyes had filled with tears, "Nuh uh," he whispered, "It's not okay. It's not okay."

Kevin's eyes filled with concern. AJ looked at me knowingly, and Howie tried to be more interested in his beer than in the drama. The people on the dance floor blurred together into one color as I stared at the sadness on Nick's face and Leighanne's hand gently rubbed along his spine in a comforting manner, the way a mother might.

"What's the matter honey," she asked, leaning down to look him in the eyes, her head practically laying on the table, too.

Nick's tears spilled across his face side ways, pooling on the ridge of his nose. They were big, thick tears, the kind little kids cry when they cry silently. "I don't know," he hiccuped.

"Is it Lou?" she asked quietly.

Nick's eyes met her eyes.

"What about Lou?" Kevin demanded. He looked at me, then Howie, and AJ. AJ looked away quickly.

Leighanne's hand continued rhythmically rubbing Nick's back.

Kevin's brow had stitched together in concern, and I didn't dare breathe a word. I expected Nick to leap up and karate chop me. I pictured a big Irish pub brawl, starting as he broke a pint glass over my head or something. I pictured the world turning into a mass vortex of violence and Irish accents and beer splashing every which way. I pictured him saying he hated me again.

Instead he leaned into Leighanne and pressed his face into her shoulder, crying.

"I think we need to get him back to the hotel," she said to me.

I nodded. Kevin started to get up. "No it's okay," I said, "We can do it. Don't worry. You three have fun."

"Are you sure?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah," I replied. Leighanne slid across the seat, taking Nick with her, and stood up. I got up, too, and took him, draping his arm over my shoulder. He was gulping for air. "We're good."

"Okay." Kevin settled back down.

Leighanne and I took Nick out of the bar into the cold air outside that smelled of the sea and we started walking back to the hotel. It was early, early morning and somewhere church bells were chiming out the hour. People were everywhere. We passed a guy laying across a park bench under a wool coat and a couple guys in sailor uniforms walking down the street laughing loudly.

"I'm sorry I'm busting everyone's fun," Nick slurred as we walked, his full weight bared down on me. Leighanne carried her purse and held one of his hands.

"It's okay honey," Leighanne replied.

We got back to the hotel and realized we didn't have a key to Nick and Kevin's room, so we brought him to ours and gave him our extra bed. He laid down, tears still streaming down his face. Leighanne sat on the edge of the bed beside him and continued to rub his back like she'd been doing at the pub. "You're a good man Nick," she said quietly, her voice low and sincere.

"I don't feel like it," he murmured, pressing his face into the pillow.

Leighanne shook her head, "You're such a good person, I know you are. I had so much fun dancing with you," she added. She leaned down and placed a kiss on his temple, like a mother would.

Nick closed his eyes.

"Such a good man," she cooed.

I watched the fight and stress melt out of his body as he fell asleep, her hand rubbing his back, and I couldn't help but feel pride because my woman had been able to comfort my best friend in such a gentle way. Once he'd passed out, she turned to look at me, her own eyes filled with tears. She got up and walked over, wrapped her arms around me, and leaned her head against my chest. "That poor kid," she whispered.

"I know," I replied. I rocked her gently back and forth.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to dance with you," she said quietly.

"You are now," I replied, and I gently twirled her around in a slow circle, then pulled her back into my chest and held her tight. "Thank you," I said.

"For what?"

"For helping him," I said, nodding toward Nick. "It means a lot to me."

She smiled. "He means a lot to you," she said.

"He does," I answered.

We danced quietly in the pale moonlight that filtered through the window, illuminating the room and the tracks of tear stains on Nick's cheeks, and I'd never been more in love in all of my life than I was at that very moment.