~*~Kevin~*~
Think quick, think quick. "Nope, you’ll have to wait. Listen to it with everyone else in New York." Did she say something about going "back"? I knew there was more to this story. I like mysteries.
"Don’t I get to hear the old stuff?"
I had to think about that. Some of it is pretty cheesey. I don’t even like it. "Maybe later at the party. Only with one of us there to see your reaction."
"That could be embarrassing. For you. I don’t get embarrassed."
She was dead serious. She scares me. She’s gonna be fun to have around. I think we’ll keep her.
~*~AJ~*~
He thinks he’s making things better and he’s making them worse. What if she doesn’t like it and starts laughing. I’m gonna be there and make sure we skip "If You Want It To Be Good". Baby Nicky singing that is hilarious. I hope Mr. Smartass doesn’t suggest watching old videos. My hair in "Loverboy" is truly frightening. His spinning across stage would be good for a laugh, it always gets me. I think it’s gonna be ok. If I say that enough maybe I’ll convince myself. I don’t know why this is making me so nervous.
We never got around to it at the party. We just partied. One more week. I love this CD. I’m more proud of it than anything we’ve done so far. I wrote a song for it. It didn’t make the cut, but I think it’s excellent. Oh, Kevin stole Tracie’s bacon again. I think one day she may hurt him.
Finally the day to leave came. We all met up at the airport. I hate flying. So does Nick. So we got to sit on either side of the girl. Kevin rolled his eyes. Hey, if you’re gonna have a girl guy friend you can use her for comfort on flights. I went to the bathroom when we could. When I came back Tracie was sitting there with a shit eating grin on her face, "Guess what Nick gave me?"
I didn’t even want to guess, "What?"
She held up a CD player and 2 headphones, "Wanna listen with me? It is you after all."
Remind me later to hurt Nick. At least he’d given her the Japanese import with extra songs.
~*~Tracie~*~
I wasn’t head over heals in love with the first CD. They sounded so young, hell, they were. Kevin had kicked Nick out of his seat and joined. They wanted a review. "I liked Quit Playing Games, Everytime I Close My Eyes. Lay Down Beside Me, now that I can do. Like that R & B feel. And I’m not crazy about I’ll Never Break Your Heart, but Kevin, babe, you need to not speak like that. What is up with that voice?"
"You mean this one?"
I clapped my hand over the smartass’ mouth, "Don’t!"
AJ laughed, "What didn’t you like?"
"Nick’s whiney voice in Let’s Have a Party. Boys Will Be Boys. How many of you had even had sex at this point."
Kevin laughed, "Oh yeah, me I think. We did these early promos videos with these pelvic thrusts. I remember teasing them that not a one of them had a clue. Nick was 13 singing he’ll be your lover."
"I was hoping to avoid any embarrassing video memories." AJ put his head in his hands. "Next CD"
This I liked. I was jamming. I ripped of the headphones during one song, "This! I fucking love this. This is amazing."
Kevin put the headphone to his ear, "That’s The Way That I Like It"
I hit the replay button a few times. I kept going. "10,000 Promises, love this." Then we hit a little problem, "Sampling Spandau Ballet? Wrong." Then I nearly peed my pants.
AJ took the headphones off me, "I knew I should find away to skip that song."
"Bad boys." I made a naughty face and pouted. I listened to this song with them talking. "Howie is toast. Nick had never kissed a girl. Brian is a goof. AJ has some good moves. Kevin, that voice again." They laughed with me. "I must go to the ladies. I’ll be right back." I climbed over AJ and grabbed his face, "I’m your bad boy". I kissed him and walked on.
~*~Kevin~*~
What she didn’t understand and that left us dazed and confused was that as she said that and laughed it was the same laugh that AJ does at the beginning of one of the songs on the new CD. "Did you give her Millennium?"
"No. That was fucking bizarre." We both sat quietly for a few seconds. "Any idea why her hearing our stuff is making me so nervous?"
"Because most people we meet anymore at least have heard of us, and she is honest and would tell us if she didn’t like it?"
About that time she came back, "I like."
"You like what?"
"You guys, the music. It’s not my normal thing, but it’s good. Overall. I can’t wait to hear the new one. I’m excited." AJ and I both smiled.
We got to New York and checked into the hotel. AJ gave her his room and shacked with me. Just like old times. It was kinda cool. I was nervous as hell. What if this CD tanked? It would be over before it began. This one could really break us in the States. "I gotta go out. I’m gonna go nuts."
About that time Nick, Brian, and Howie banged on the door, "We’re nervous. We gotta go out."
"Hey, you guys wanna go out?" Tracie had appeared through the connecting door between our rooms.
Nick put his arm around her, "We were just discussing that. Let’s find out what’s going on."
"We can go to MonWow."
We all stared at her, "Really?"
"Give me five minutes." Tracie got on the phone. MonWow is a private club that moves locations a lot. There was usually an up and coming sort of band there and it was a safe haven for anyone in town. One of a dozen clubs where celebrities could go unnoticed. You had to know someone to get in, and we didn’t. Until now. I had heard of it, in passing somewhere, but didn’t know enough yet to know how to go about getting in. We weren’t quite there yet. But Tracie knew. I knew there was more to her story.
~*~Tracie~*~
Yes, this was a risk. But I needed to blow off steam and of all the places in the whole city I knew for sure I would "safe" there. I got the address and we headed out.
"You’re sure about this?" Nick said looking around. "This is a warehouse."
I smiled and knocked on the door. I knew this bouncer, "Tracie? Good lord girl we thought you were gone for good. Get your ass in here." Carlos gave me a hug and looked at the five men behind me, "They with you?" I nodded. "Welcome to the show."
Once inside we had to stop and let our eyes adjust to the darkness. Carlos led us to a table near the stage, "Julia is tonight, does she know you’re here?"
I smiled, "I didn’t know Julia was here."
"Ah, the girls are back in town! I’ll send over a waitress."
AJ leaned forward, "This is cool. I feel like we’ve arrived. I’m gonna go check this out. Get me a shot and a JD and coke." He took off with Howie and Brian in tow.
We sat and looked around. Tables surrounded a small stage and over to the side was a makeshift dance floor. The music was loud and a mix of everything. It wasn’t uncommon to hear Nine Inch Nails right after Duran Duran. They played Nirvana and Nick and I hit the floor. This I found humourous. He loved Nirvana and that genre, but the music he sang was a polar opposite. He told me that he didn’t listen to the type of music they performed. I liked that. Told me he wasn’t locked into anything, could look around and see things for himself.
It came time for the show and we sat down. I had met Julia six months before I left New York. We became friends fast. I loved her music. She wrote what I felt a lot of the time. Some upbeat happy, some sad, and some angry. She was one of the few people who knew why and when I left. It was a girl respect thing between us. Halfway through her first song she saw me and we exchanged smiles. I saw her looking at the men I sat with and almost laugh. She dedicated "Bury You" to me. Boy, did that fit, "If I could bury you, would anyone even notice you were gone."
~*~Nick~*~
That’s some ugly song. Mean. I wonder what it means? Cute woman. Dark curly hair, thin, dark eyes. I like her music too. She said she writes it all. Good for her. She jumped off stage and came over and hugged Tracie, "I am so glad to see you. I was worried."
I want to know what about. Tracie introduced all of us and we sat down. Julia has this killer Australian accent. I could listen to that for hours. She never said anything that gave me any clues about how they knew each other or what this was all about. She knew who we were. Kevin laughed, "Tracie didn’t know who we were."
"You didn’t know who they were? Their new CD is gettings tons of talk up."
Tracie rolled her eyes, "Fine, I suck. Whatever."
This was what I needed. Nervous. Pam gets in tomorrow. She lives in Chicago. We’ve been apart for about two weeks this time. I miss her. I’m glad she’ll be here for all this craziness. I’ll spend time with her and she’ll see how important she is too me. Even with all the stuff going on.
