Just the way I wanted it.
I should have done this long time ago but no, it’s perfectly fine to wait for a little longer. At least, I know I would be savouring this moments for life. Afterall, the saying always goes with good things are worth waiting for and now, the waiting has come to an end.
The moment I saw the schedule lying on the table in my office, I knew my wish has finally been granted. The debt has been overdue for way too long and each time I looked at my lenses, it brought me back to the same day happened a year ago. It was a day that witnessed a silence war between us as the prank they played on me brought those sinister laughter on their faces. A day that I remembered clearly and a day that marked them as my first target this time round.
That day, it was like any other photo shoot session that we have done before. The boys were early, and so were the crews. So far and as far as I can remember, working with the Backstreet Boys has had always been great. They were not fussy even though you can see right from their eyes, how exhaustion they were. They were not choosy in terms of clothing and the best part of working with them has definitely got to be the laughter. With them around especially when Nick and Brian on a full blast gear, there was no room for silence. Not even for a second.
Sometimes even Kevin gave up on the idea of getting them to shut up when they teased him on his self-pose in the photo-taking session. Howie was the most intelligent one I should say. If its not his turn, he would either sit and watch the pranksters at work and if he was the one being played on, all he did was to show the middle finger and nothing else. AJ, on the other hand would either join in the crime or for occasional reasons, he would be in foul mood. In the end, each session would take more than forty minutes just to get the first few snaps done. I’m telling you, sometimes I do feel like strangling these kids! Of course, compared to the earlier days they started off as Backstreet Boys, the second album showed more maturity and professionalism in their pictures as they could easily absorbed the kind of ideas that you had for them to express themselves in front of the lenses.
Back to that day, I was busy rotating the caps of my lenses and my eyes were concentrating on the figure standing in front of the blank screen when I heard soft giggles coming from behind. It was more like a devilish one. Sensing something was wrong, I turned back and saw Nick, Brian and AJ gathering around the lunch table. My first intuition was, what the hell were they doing? I’ve heard from Nigel how mischievous the boys were and just the other night, they played a nasty prank on him. They actually had all the energy to play ghost in the middle of the night to scare off the poor guy in the recording studio. When Markus opened up the white cloth, they saw AJ sitting on Brian’s shoulders and Nick was right behind flapping the white cloth.
“You think he will know?”
“Sssshh Bri! No one knows if we keep out mouth shut right?”
“But Nick… what if-”
“What if what Bri? Nothing serious is going to happen… don’t worry alright!”
“But dude… I heard if we pour this in an excess amount, it can cause death.”
“Funny Jay! Now tell me, where did you get that from?”
“Here! Right here on the bottle!”
“Do I really need to smack your head now? How many times must I tell you that the tablets in here are only sw-”
“What the hell are you guys doing here?” I snapped from behind trying to catch them red-handed.
“Nothing!” They answered in unison as they tried to hide the bottle away.
“Nothing? And what is that in your hands Nickolas?”
“Hands? Nothing!”
“The other hand!”
“See… nothing right?”
“Right! Now, both hands Nick!” Just as I expected, the bottle dropped and the tablets scattered on the group.
“Oh! Oh! You are in deep shit!” I heard Howie jested in an almost whispering mannered from the side as Kevin and I bent over to pink up the tablets. If I had a third eye, I can practically see Howie doing the tap-dancing.
“What is this?" I asked, turning to Nick, then to Brian, to AJ before I turned back to Nick.
“Sweets-”
“Right! And you expect me to believe that?”
“No!”
“So you are trying to put this into my drinks so that I can get upset stomach, you think I’m stupid?”
“No… that is really sweets Josh! Believe me!”
“Right! After playing dead the other night, you expect me to believe you now?” Nick gave me a shocking look. Perhaps he never thought Nigel would share it with me but its too late. I’m quicker than they thought.
“I’m going to tell Nigel about this and I am going to warn other photographers about you guys now!” My voice changed and I sounded pissed off. The pretentious was pretty much convincing judging by the look on their faces and its been awhile since I felt that good. If not, these kids will think I’m a fool and will definitely try to play such stupid pranks on me next time. Next time? Nah, there will never be a next time.
I left the room for a short while, reaching for my phone and dialed my wife’s number. Alternatively, it’s a good way of giving them some guilt-trip as I took some time out. The guys were inside and I saw Howie watching me from the side window. I tried not to display any smiles on my face though my wife kept laughing at the other line about some silly incidents happening to our neighbour. Her laughter alone did not help me much in keeping a straight face. Damn! I had to keep my cool and remained calm.
“Its all your fault Nick!”
“Yeah! Its all thanks to you that no one wants to work with us now!”
“Oh! So now its my fault eh? Who were the ones who agreed with me last night? Who was it Jay? Bri? And now you’re talking about my fault! Funny!”
“But Nick… what if-”
“What D? Josh telling Nigel about this? Its not like you’re the one in trouble, its gonna be the three of us!”
“Why is it so hard to make you see this Nick? They are taking us as Backstreet Boys and not individually. Even though its you who’s playing those sick pranks on them, they are going to blame it on the Backstreet Boys!”
I knew it. Nick got some tongue lashing out lessons by the other members.
“Oh come on Kev! Its supposed to be April Fool joke!”
April Fool? Right, and who was being fooled now guys!
I pretended to clear my throat and bid goodbye to my wife as I made my presence known. Nobody said a word but I heard them pushing and whispering among themselves.
“Josh… I hmmm… sorry… I… its just a joke, really!” Maybe I should have prolonged his misery for a little longer but no, I am such a sensitive and softhearted guy who always gave in.
“Alright, alright Nick… I forgive you now! I’m not that petty! Its just that… you guys should stop playing pranks on others, can you imagine if I didn’t catch you red-handed? I would be running and searching for the gents right now!”
“Do you want to know the truth Josh?”
“And what would that be now?”
“These are actually sweets… really, I’m not kidding you… see…”
“No Nick!” Nick took a few from the bottles and threw them inside his mouth. I tried to stop him but he kept chewing them like those were… sweets. “Sweets?”
“Yeah… here, have one!” I shook my head lightly and kept looking at how he chewed the small tablets.
“Okay… then what was that ‘if he will know’ was all about?”
“What? That one? Oh Josh! We were talking about Marcus! He loves keeping these sweets away from us so we had to put them in this bottle so that he won’t know anything about this you see.”
“Okay then… I guess I was wrong too… to actually accuse you guys for playing the pranks on me. You know… its April Fool afterall.”
“We thought of playing one on you but you are just too nice a guy so we forgo the idea!” If there was a noose, I would have hanged myself right there and then, and spared me all these embarrassment.
“So sorry about that just now-”
“Oh! Not to worry! We’re fine with it! Right guys?” Man, I should have seen the way he winced at them.
“Alright now kids, let’s continue… Who’s next?” Without a second call, AJ ran up to the front and took his position.
Just when I thought everything was back to normal and that it was over, it happened.
“Hey hey everyone! So, how’s everything go…ing… Josh…?”
“Everything is fine Nig! Its a wrapped, I’ll call you up once the pictures are ready!”
“I mean… you Josh… what’s wrong with your eyes?”
“My eyes? What’s wrong with my eyes?”
“Look…” I turned to see my own reflection from the glass and saw patches of black ink around my eyes. There were smudges of ink almost all over my eyes, my forehead and my nose. I remembered of wiping off the perspiration using the back of my palm. I should have seen it coming. I should have known the boys better.
But that was a year ago.
Now, I’m back with a vengeance. Wait a second – maybe vengeance seemed a bit harsh for my own dictionary, how about a little payback time? Yeah, that sounded better. At least, it’s a mixture of fun and less evil ingredients in that one.
Nah, I am not going to force them to drink poison. I am still sane for God’s sake. For someone of my age, I could think of something better. Something more matured than those pranks played by those kids. Ah! Those pranks were so yesterday.
What am I going to do?
Ha! Easy. As always, we will have fun, laugh and joke around. No need to make it so obvious, the plan will be carried out discreetly. I will make them look like fools. No macho kind of pose, no sweet and charming smiles for the lenses but clown faces all the way. Yes, clowns.
“Hey Josh!” Oh here they are!
“Hey guys! You are early!”
“Time is essential my friend!” I smirked at Nick, the same smirk he flashed at me a year ago.
“Glad that you have grown up Nick!”
“With these guys! You grow up everyday… so… were you talking to someone just now?” What? Did I say anything out loud?
“Who? Me? No!”
“Oh! I thought you were saying something…”
“You always imagining things Carter!” I chuckled as I tried to get away from his scrutinizing eyes.
“So… what are we going to do today?” AJ asked as he took the empty chair and sat next to Nick.
“Well… today’s theme is more relax… more like fun…” I said trying to keep the horns down.
“Fun? How fun is that fun?” Howie sounded extra excited that morning and I flaunted my forever-young smile at him.
“Not to worry Howie… I called it legally fun!”
“Anything that is not related to nudity sounds fun to me!” Right Brian! Nudity? What do you think I am? Pervert?
“Right Bri! Like as if you have never been nude before in your life!”
“No I didn’t… I mean apart from the times when I was a child but that was different!”
“Haha! Defensive much eh!”
“I can’t believe it! I am actually talking to you, Mr. McLean about nudity?”
“Oh oh! Our Bri is blushing about it eh! So, Kev have you seen your cousin nude before?” Teased AJ followed by Nick’s loud laughter from the side.
“Funny Jay! Alright stop it you two!” I loved this Kevin guy, the saviour of all times.
“Alright kids! Stop fighting now… go and change, we don’t have all day for this now!”
Everything went as planned. No one suspected anything, not yet. For all I knew, the bubbles of my thoughts still remained intact above my head. At the same time, I had to be wary as well. They could just come up with anything out of the blue. They were cunning and good at sneaking around. Whenever one of them asked to go to the toilet, I’ll take a few minutes off just to make sure that everyone was right there in front of my eyes. Each time they posed as per to my instructions, my heart was laughing. They did flash once or twice an “unbelievable” and “what the heck” kind of look but I continued with the game. Not sure if they realized what the date was or maybe the hectic schedule on the road had absorbed them into world of forgetfulness but it’s alright, its better that way. As for now, I don’t really care if I should act maturely for someone of my age. These boys has turned a 52 years old man to as young as 18 when it came down to this.
I can already sniff my moments of triumph.
After developing the pictures that night, I looked at my awesome masterpiece. Some were seriously hilarious and I had chosen just the right one to mail out to each of them. Slowly I scanned it and bold the letters “Gotcha this time round! 1 April! Loves, Josh” at the back of the picture.
Oh… what a sweet payback!
