“Hi,” said Howie, relieved that she was dressed. “We…uh…it’s nearly time…uh…”
“Come on in,” said Abby. “Nick’s just finishing up. Do we have time to get breakfast?” Abby really had no idea how this whole tour thing worked. She had been so focused on the wedding that she hadn’t even thought about what came after. She was going to spend a few days traveling with the guys, sort of a ‘honeymoon on wheels’ and then she was going home to Chicago, back to her real life. Until the moment that she realized she was in love with Nick, she had thought it would be a fun few days learning about the world of music. Maybe a minstrel show would come to entertain Princess Penelope and the Court in Myopia. She looked at it differently now. Now it was an opportunity to be with Nick…to touch him, to taste him, to breathe him in…to make the most of the short time together before she had to go home, back to her real life. She thought it might not be too long before Princess Penelope needed to find her a bigger trunk.
“Yes, we’re all having breakfast together in the dining room. We didn’t know if you would want to join us or have room service or…” Howie decided not to finish the sentence.
Abby smiled at him. Or just keep going at it? She didn’t say it either. “We’re all packed and ready.” She picked up the champagne bottle. “We didn’t open this last night. Should we take it or leave it here?” She didn’t know about rules for alcohol. Was it allowed? She wondered about AJ.
“Bring it along,” said Howie. “It’s paid for. You might as well. Hey, mornin’ Nicky.”
“Mornin’ D. Are we having breakfast? I’m starving.” Nick dropped his bag beside Abby’s.
“Yeah, Kevin and Brian are here and AJ’s gone down to meet them in the dining room. I came to see if you guys were…up.”
“Drew the short straw, did you?” laughed Abby, but she could feel herself starting to blush.
“Nah, I volunteered,” said Howie. “But you’ll notice I didn’t knock too loud.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In the dining room, the other three stood as they approached the table. Abby said good morning to them all and took her seat. She had asked Howie in the elevator if Kristin and Leighanne were there too, but he said ‘no’ that they had said all their goodbyes at Brian’s house.
So it’s just me, then, thought Abby. Just the blushing bride. And five very masculine men, four of whom get their greatest joy from teasing the daylights out of the fifth. She hoped that every sentence wouldn’t be a double entendre.
“Did you sleep well?” asked Kevin politely.
Abby merely nodded. See, that was the kind of thing she meant. Did you sleep well or did you have sex all night instead? She was sure he didn’t mean it that way, but…
“Yeah,” said Nick. “It was good.” And there we go again, thought Abby, picking up her napkin and putting it in her lap. “Man, we were so beat.”
The waiter came by and poured orange juice for them all. “Tea, please,” said Abby. Howie requested the same and the others ordered coffee. “Brian, please thank Leighanne again for me for all that she did.”
“Yeah,” said Nick. “Even champagne and shit…I mean, stuff…last night, in the room.”
“Which you never drank,” said Howie.
“Nah, we were too tired. We just wanted to go to sleep.” Nick looked up from his menu. “We didn’t, of course…I mean, we…I…”
Abby held her menu firmly in front of her. She wasn’t making eye contact with anyone and she wasn’t lowering this menu until the heat left her face. She was sure she was glowing. Someone was giggling. She guessed AJ.
Brian rescued them. “Well, good for you then. On our wedding night, Leighanne and I were so tired, we didn’t do anything. We even thought about sleeping in separate beds in the hotel room.”
Abby breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her menu. Brian’s eyes twinkled at her. “We made up for it the next morning, though.”
Abby’s menu went back up in front of her face. She and Nick had more than made up for it this morning. She looked sideways at Nick, who was also blushing. Then he winked at her and shrugged.
Right, thought Abby. We’re married. We’re on our honeymoon. Last night was our wedding night. No big surprise that we had sex. Now get over it…or they’ll be teasing you both forever. She lowered her menu. “Yes,” she said, primly. “We wondered if we’d make it through breakfast without going at it here on the table.”
“I told ya, Baby, all that cutlery and shit would get in the way,” said Nick, picking up the cue.
They all laughed. Kevin nodded at her. Yeah, she’d be okay. She’d be one of them.
Over breakfast, Kevin got them organized. We go here, we do this, we go there, we do that. He hesitated a couple of times and Abby knew that he was trying to factor her into the plans. The third time he did it, she said, “Kevin, don’t worry about me. I’m excess baggage and I know it.” She raised a hand to still Nick’s protest. “No, no, you guys do what you do. I’ll fit into your plans. Don’t try and work things around me. I’ll just be invisible.”
The five men looked at each other. “Well, see that’s the thing,” said Howie. “You won’t be invisible. Everyone will want to see you.”
“And hear from you,” added AJ.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no…” Abby erased the entire idea from the air with her hand.
“You don’t have to say anything or do anything,” said Nick, “but you’re going to need security.”
Abby’s eyes widened. She shook her head.
“Just someone to walk you through crowds, someone to stand with you when we’re doing our thing…interviews and shit like that,” explained AJ.
Abby lowered her head. Nick could see her turning into the Abby he had met at the Lodge, the one who tried to make herself disappear. He picked up her hand. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “but it’s what I do. It’s my world.”
Abby straightened her shoulders and raised her head. “Of course, it is,” she said, squeezing his hand. “And I’ll stop being such a big baby about things and do as I’m told.” She paused. “But I don’t want to be in the spotlight. That’s your place.” She included them all in a sweeping gesture. “I’m not saying anything to anyone.”
“Okay,” said Kevin. “That’s cool. And what do you want us to say about it all, when we’re asked…because we will be…that’s guaranteed.”
“Oh, the usual,” she said with a straight face. “She’s smart, funny, talented. Nick’s lucky to have her. You’re surprised he was able to make such a good catch. Stuff like that.” Then she grinned at her husband and squeezed his hand again. “Right, Nick?”
Nick picked up her hand and kissed her fingers. “Right,” he said, laughing. The other four men looked at each other. They didn’t think it was funny. They thought it was correct. It was pretty much exactly what they were all thinking.
“There’s Terence,” said Howie, nodding at the doorway, where Nick’s security guard was standing. “Time to go.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~“Wanta check out the Internet?” asked Nick.
They were settled on the bus, heading for New York. It was going to be a long ride. Fifteen hours, give or take. It would be close to midnight when they arrived. The time required to check into the hotel, find the room, wind down into sleep, etc. would put them into the wee, small hours of the morning. So they weren’t going to do that. They were going to sleep on the buses at the venue.
The next morning, they would have to be up early. They were going to be on Good Morning America. They were going to sing Ribbons of Light and chat for a few minutes with either Charlie Gibson or Diane Sawyer. They weren’t sure which. Then they were splitting up to do three separate radio interviews. Brian was going on his own. Kevin and AJ were teaming up and Howie was working with Nick.
After that, they would have some free time until the afternoon. Kevin had arranged a meeting between his publisher friend and Abby for that time. Then it would be a whirlwind at the venue. Rehearsal, sound check, meet-and-greet… After that, they would have a light supper and get ready for the show. After the show, it was straight onto the buses and off to Boston, arriving around two in the morning. They’d eat dinner on the bus and sleep there again.
The bus seemed pretty comfortable, thought Abby. It had all the amenities of home. Unless you were claustrophobic, you might enjoy the bus better than a hotel room, she thought. It would be more familiar. You’d know where your stuff was. Of course, you couldn’t just get up and leave it whenever you felt like it…
There was a double bed in the back room, she was happy to see. There was a kitchen and a fairly large bathroom, which surprised her and pleased her. There were three bunks for other people. They would be taken by Terence and Patrick, Abby’s security guard. She shook her head at the thought. Her own security guard. Heavens above!
All of Nick’s video game equipment was there, along with his favorite games. There was a DVD player and a stereo. One cupboard was opened to reveal a guitar. Another held art supplies. That was good, thought Abby. If Nick were supposed to illustrate her stories, he’d need that.
There was a curved bench on one side of the bus, with a half-moon shaped table. Nick’s computer was plugged into a wall outlet behind it. He had a separate mouse attachment that he was moving around the table.
“I guess we should,” said Abby, rubbing her hands together nervously. She really didn’t want to, but…
“Okay, let’s start here…whoa!”
“What?”
“I thought I’d start here at LiveDaily. They usually have current stuff.”
“And…?”
“They’ve got about six different threads running on it. And they’ve all got lots of messages. Come here.”
Abby slid onto the bench beside him. Nick started opening the threads. The first one was titled NICK GOT MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was posted by babykaos849. Abby thought the exclamation marks were a bit overdone. After all, he’d been engaged. How big of a surprise was this?
The message was long and incoherent. The poster was so anxious to be the first to share the news that she didn’t do much in the way of editing or spell-checking. Nick laughed and pointed at the line where the girl said she wanted to spread the word so badly that she hadn’t stayed for the end of the concert, but left when there was still half an hour to go, not counting the encores.
“They know exactly how long the concert is going to be?” asked Abby.
“Oh, yeah, it all gets put down. Some of them sit with their cell phones on and have their friends record it on the other end. Then they measure and analyse…every word, every note.”
“The sound quality must be awful,” said Abby.
“Yes, all they would get would be the people around them screaming and talking and us in the background. We ask them not to do it because the cell phones screw with the sound equipment, but…” Nick shrugged.
They looked back at the message. Through the poor grammar and atrocious spelling, they divined that the girl reported it fairly accurately. She spent a few sentences explaining the events and then a long time detailing her reactions and emotions. It was quite sugary, all about how much she loved Nick and wished him well and was so honored to have been there when it happened …almost as if she’d had a personal invitation, thought Abby…
hotforfrack came next and she seemed a little pissed, they thought, that she was number two and not number one. She agreed with all the facts presented by babykaos849 and then proudly filled in a few more details. She spent a lot of time talking about the look on Nick’s face when he’d been singing to Abby and finished by saying that she wished Nick well. He deserved happiness. He had given so much to so many.
On and on it went, with every poster adding their congratulations to Nick and then talking about their own reactions. Nick and Abby skimmed through the thread. There were 128 replies. That was a lot in an 18 hour span.
The next thread said Congratulations, Nick! It was begun by the moderator of the board and announced that it was the ‘official’ congratulations thread. “What does that make the rest of them?” asked Abby. Nick laughed and said he didn’t know. They scrolled through the messages, giving the occasional ‘awww’ or ‘look at that one’, but they didn’t linger on any of them. The other four threads were just more of the same.
Interesting, thought Abby. They were all happy for Nick…at least, if they weren’t, they didn’t say so…but mostly they wanted to talk about themselves…how they felt, what their reaction was, give details of something in their life that had made them feel the same way… It was amazing how wrapped up they were in the Boys, how everything the five men did had a huge impact on these girls’ lives. One of them had expressed disappointment that Nick had eloped because she had heard he was getting married the third weekend of September and she had planned her own wedding for the same day. Abby wondered how the girl’s fiancé felt about that, or if he even knew.
“Wonder what they’re saying at MFC?” mused Abby. She looked up to see Nick grinning that sexy, lopsided grin. “What?”
“MFC?”
“The Mature Fan Club,” she said, with a grin.
“I know,” said Nick, laughing. “I just didn’t realize you were a fan…or mature!”
Abby blushed. “Of course, I’m a fan. I don’t know about the mature part, though.” She gave him a little punch on the shoulder. “It’s the place I went to, back in the beginning when I needed to know what you were doing, you know if you were making headlines or something...”
Nick nodded. “Why there?”
“I sorted through a lot of teenybopper stuff before I found it. I mean, I waded through A LOT of exclamation marks! They seemed a little more reasonable over there, a little more…”
“Mature?” Nick put his head back and roared.
“Yes, you nut…hence, the name!” Abby laughed along with him.
In the front of the bus, Terence smiled at Patrick, who nodded and smiled back. Nick’s bodyguard turned a page of his magazine and thought, yeah, it’s all good.
