Twenty-Five: Questions
“Do you have a girlfriend, Nick?”
I froze a bit. That shouldn’t have been a hard question. I mean, it never had been before. Do I have a girlfriend? No, I don’t. Not if I still wanted a career anyway.
But things were starting to change... I didn’t have to answer that question a certain way anymore, and the answer wasn’t an automatic “No” anymore. Kevin had admitted to having a girlfriend, and obviously the fans had known about Kels since she had been an opening act on our tour.
I didn’t know if I was ready to explain Dani to the rest of the world though. Hell, I’d had a hard enough time trying to explain her to Brian and trying to understand her myself.
I guess that was sort of the reason I gave a glance in Brian’s direction. Maybe because I wanted some kind of confirmation from him that it was okay. That he’d accepted it and could move on. He just nodded at me... probably wanting me to just answer the question. I think I had a stupid look on my face the whole time. It shouldn’t have been a hard question. Yes or no really.
Except that yes wasn’t ever just yes and left at that. They wanted to know her name, how long we’d been together and everything about her. The fans would hate her. Well, not all of them. Some of my fans were sane. But only some of them.
“Yes.” I blurted out finally. I couldn’t really answer no anymore since I’d taken so long to think about it.
“Is that Kels?” The interviewers never missed a beat. Stupid Kels.
“Um...no.” I responded. It probably would have just been easier to say yes and left it at that. Me and my big mouth.
She just raised her eyebrows at me. “Really? Well who is the lucky lady then?”
“Dani...er, Danica.” I choked and stumbled on my words. I sounded stupid.
It must have satisfied her though, because she moved on to asking Brian the very same question.
Of course his answer was different than mine. He’d just said that he didn’t and the interviewer lady made some comment about him being an eligible bachelor. If only the fans knew what had been going on behind the scenes.
“What are you planning to do when the tour is over?”
I didn’t have to worry about answering those types of questions, Kevin always handled them. Sometimes I found that annoying, but at that moment I was grateful. It gave me time to think.
Because, really, what was I planning to do once the tour was over? That was coming up pretty quickly. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I knew that I was going to be recording the next CD with the other guys. I knew there was going to be promo, a first single, a video shoot and eventually another tour. My life was just an endless cycle. What about Dani? When our tour was over would she go look for another dance job? She couldn’t just follow me around all the time, she had her own career too. Or maybe she’d go home to New York and hang out with her family.
I guess I just had to try to talk to her about that stuff. Maybe she could still tag along with me for a bit. Or she could come to visit me in Florida. That would be cool.
As a side note, I do have to say I enjoy how the girlfriend questions always come before the tour questions and the album questions. Good to know these magazines have their priorities.
After they asked us about a bazillion more questions we (mostly Kevin) had already answered before, we were finally free. Well, free to start getting ready for our show that night anyway. I told you my life was just an endless cycle.
Soundcheck was pretty uneventful. That was nice, considering all it had been for the last little while was tension and arguments. It was nice to actually just stand there and... check the sound.
“Hey Nicky.” Kevin said to me as we were leaving the stage. We were the only ones left. How did he always manage that?
Nevermind, I know how. Because I’m always off in my own little world and he’s usually reminding me to keep up with the others. So when he wants me alone he just has to do nothing and it’ll eventually happen.
“Yeah.” I said, looking at the ground.
“I told you that you’d be able to work things out with Brian.”
I guess he was looking for praise on his lecture from before. Kevin always has to be right, and when he is right he makes sure you know it. “I know.”
“Did you talk to Dani too?”
I knew he was going to ask that. “No.”
“Might want to get that out of the way before the tour ends.” He advised. Damn Kevin, he was probably reading my mind during the interview. That, or he knows how my brain works. It was probably the first one.
“I will.”
And for once, instead of continuing his lecture, or explaining why he thought it was so important, he just left it alone.
Well, not completely. Since he was still a couple of inches taller than me he was still able to ruffle my hair. “The little man is finally growing up.”
Damn Kevin.
“I love this song.” Dani said as she flipped to MTV. It was that stupid Britney Spears video. I’d met Britney a few times, she was nice enough I guess. She hung out with Nsync a lot, and I definitely didn’t get along with them.
I wrinkled my nose. “That song’s boring.”
Dani just laughed. “She has the same writers as you do.”
I suppose she had a point there. “Yeah, but those songs are better suited to people who can actually sing.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure she can actually sing, Nick. She did get a record deal after all.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” I said, sort of bitterly. I already explained how the actual music is the last thing this industry cares about.
We were both silent for a minute before Dani spoke up. “I was thinking of trying out for her new tour...” She said almost shyly.
Aha! I knew there had to be a reason why she’d mentioned Britney. “You have enough experience for it.”
“I know.” She said quietly.
I think she and I were both thinking the same thing. With her on tour with Britney and me doing whatever else...who knows when we’d get to see each other? I guess now was as good a time as any to have that talk.
“So um...” I didn’t really know how to start.
“What’s going to happen with us when the tour is over?” That probably would have been a good way. Dani was always better at this stuff than I was.
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to keep seeing each other?” She asked, moving closer to me.
That was a stupid question. “Obviously.”
“But how are were going to actually...you know...” She looked over at the TV. The video wasn’t Britney anymore. It was some commercial for a stupid looking original movie. From what I could tell, the movie was mocking me and the other guys. Not cool, MTV.
“See each other?” I finished.
“Yeah....I mean I guess I could come visit you sometimes, and you could come visit me.” She suggested.
I nodded. “Would that even work? You know how busy I am all the time. And if you go on a separate tour you’ll be busy too.”
She shrugged. “I’m sure there would be times when we could find time for each other. We’d still have the phone and stuff.”
I hated the phone. But I guess I could deal with it for her. “That’s true.”
She took my hand. “We’ll make it work.” She said, giving me a hopeful smile. I kissed her, wanting to assure her she was right. If we’d gotten through this tour, we could get through anything.
