Day One
“Nick, they’re shellfish.”
“They are not.”
“They are too, they’re shellfish.”
Nick chucked a pencil at the ceiling. “Do they look like they have shells, dumbass? No. They’re not shellfish.”
I sighed. “You’re the dumbass. Shrimp are shellfish,” I argued. “I thought you were ocean boy.”
“Look, clams are shellfish. They have shells. Shrimp are not shellfish. They do not have shells.”
I pointed at the TV screen. “Shut up for five seconds and listen to the guy on here, I bet he’ll say shellfish.”
“Fine, but you’re wrong.”
“Sh!” And we got quiet, but it was just then that the Discovery Channel special we had stumbled on ended. “Damnit, we missed it.”
He threw another pencil. “It’s better that way, you would have just been disappointed.”
I laughed. “Whatever.” I started clicking through the channels. We had only been in Detroit less than two hours and I was already bored. Nick, obviously bored too, had followed me into my room and taken up position on my bed, laying on his back and throwing pencils at the ceiling. He had been harassing me to go to some arcade that he’d heard of but I wasn’t in the mood. He hadn’t brought it up for a few minutes though so I was hoping he had abandoned the idea.
“So we should probably get to GameWorks before it closes, huh?” he said after a moment.
“Nick, I am not going to GameWorks.”
“But why?”
I sighed again. “Because I am not in the mood to go and hear all that stupid noise.”
“Oh, OK, sorry Trisha.” He turned and gave me an evil smile, knowing I would not be pleased at the comparison to my ex-girlfriend. He was right - I reached down and threw my shoe at him. “Ow!” he cried as it made contact with his hip. “Only pencil throwing here, no shoes.” He held it up and examined it. “Damn, B, these are like canoes.”
I laughed. “Oh, and you’re one to talk.”
“My feet are petite and dainty.”
“My ass!”
Nick looked over at me. “I don’t know, Brian - I mean your ass is small but I’m not sure I’d go as far as petite and dainty,” he said critically. I just laughed again. Nick was a nutcase and if I had more energy I would have gone and pounded him a little, but I just stayed and the couch and he resumed pencil throwing. Hanging out with Nick was still a little weird at times now. When I had been with Trisha I had isolated myself so much from everyone that the guys were almost like strangers. I didn’t notice because I was so focused elsewhere, but after that ended I found myself pretty much alone. It had been a couple months and things were still awkward - at first Nick wanted almost nothing to do with me - but I was getting back on track and it felt good.
Just then Kevin showed up and asked if we were up for the casino. For a minute it sounded kind of promising, then I remembered that pretty much everyone was a table games player except me, and I was in no mood for slots (if I was I’d have been at the arcade with Nicky, they were one and the same with video games). So I said no and he left (but not before reaffirming the fact that shrimp are shellfish and Nick’s an idiot, although that got me a pencil to the ear). It was quiet again as I continued flipping channels and Nick, now out of “missiles”, laid wordlessly on the bed. Finally he sighed dramatically.
“Brian, I’m bored.”
“Really, Nick? I hadn’t picked up on that yet.”
“We need to do something.”
“Go get the Playstation then.”
“No, I beat Star Ocean last night.”
“We can always play Crash Team Racing.”
Nick sighed again. “I don’t want to play video games,” he stated. I looked back at him, my jaw dropped in mock-amazement.
“Alert the media!” I cried, grinning. Nick just sat up and ran a hand through his hair.
“Come on, Rok, don’t you wanna get outta here?”
I raised an eyebrow quizzically. “To do what? I don’t wanna go to the arcade, Nick, I already--”
But Nick shook his head. “No, no, I know. Forget the arcade. Let’s just get a car and drive. We’re in Detroit, man, there’s gotta be something to do.”
“Yeah, avoid getting shot.”
“That could be fun.” He grinned at me but I just continued to watch him expectantly. “Seriously, there has to be something...like, AJ was telling me that during the Johnny tour he hit some hockey restaurant here that was cool...Hockey Central or something...” His eyebrows scrunched as he thought, then shot up. “Hockeytown Cafe! That was it. Plus if we don’t find anything in Detroit we can always try Windsor - that one bar was cool, remember the one? Something about a wolf...”
“Howl at the Moon,” I reminded him, remembering. It was where AJ had gotten drunk legally for the first time in Canada - a crazy night, to say the least. I shook my head, returning to present. “Nicky, yeah, that’s great. Nobody’s just gonna drive us around to a bunch of different places til we figure out what we wanna do.”
“That’s why we should just ask Skippy to borrow one of the rental cars and drive.” I shrugged, skeptical. “Just like our road trips at home, B, like old times.” He looked me in the eye, full aware that I was a sap for any mention of “old times”. I sighed and Nick grinned, knowing he had me beat. “Awesome, it’ll be great. Let‘s go talk to Skip.”
“Yeah, great,” I said, standing and following him to the door. “You just better deliver, Carter.”
******
“Should I turn left or right up here?”
“Just freaking park already!”
“On the street?” Nick sounded terrified, with good reason - he was a horrible parallel parker.
“No, there’s a lot up there, on the right.” I was ready to kill the bastard. We had absolutely no idea where we were and hadn’t for awhile. We’d missed every exit for Detroit and had turned down way too many side roads for me to ever keep track of. By the time we had parked we’d been in the car for an hour and I had no idea if we were even in Michigan anymore (although I hadn’t seen any signs telling me otherwise so I was hoping that was a good sign). We got out of the car and I stretched my arms behind my head.
“So...I wonder where we are?” Nick asked in an unnecessarily curious tone. I shot him a dirty look but he chose to ignore it. “It looks kinda cool around here, don’t you think?” He smiled encouragingly. He knew I wanted to strangle him.
“I need to get something in my stomach and go to the bathroom, not in that order,” I said in response. Nick nodded.
“OK...you wanna walk up and down, see what there--”
I shook my head, pointing across the street at a brick building. “No, that’s a cafe. Java Joe’s. We’re going there.” Before I had even finished talking I was heading towards it. Nick didn’t have much choice.
“All right,” he agreed, trailing along behind. We walked in and drew a few looks from some of the customers. I almost gagged from all the smoke, but managed to ask after a bathroom. Nick followed me up the stairs and pointed off towards another smaller room, holding tables and much fewer people.
“I think this is non-smoking, I’ll just grab us a table up here,” he told me. I nodded and entered the restroom. I knew I was being kinda jerky, but Nick pissed me off when he went off all half-cocked on some idea and dragged me along. OK, maybe I wasn’t exactly being dragged along, but he should know better. I resolved as I washed my hands to try and be a little nicer, or at least not speak until I could be nice. After all, he really had tried to do something fun.
When I got back to our table and saw that he had ordered a drink without waiting for me I realized the not-speaking option was the one I’d be taking. I looked around inconspicuously instead, making sure that my hat was tipped down far enough. I scanned over some dorky looking guys and instead honed in on two girls about tables away. One was pretty, but the other... I was a sad case, because I always ended up falling for the same type of girl, look-wise. But this girl fit the pattern to a tee - blonde hair, big blue eyes and, as I saw a minute later, an absolutely beautiful smile. She was younger-looking and petite, but there was no question she measured up in Brian’s Book Of Beauty. I turned my attention to her conversation, which Nick started doing a few minutes later too (he thinks he’s so secretive but that’s bull, it’s plain as day when he starts eavesdropping). When she (Andie, as I overheard), and her friend (Cecily), started talking about us - especially me - I was floored, but happy too. At least I knew that, should I get up the guts to go over and start talking to her, she already thought I was cool, or at least that Backstreet Brian was cool. It was a start.
The two got in a mock argument over me - supposedly they both liked me, then Cecily started liking Nick but argued she still had a claim on me, even though Andie said she had liked me first (fans and the way they talk about us never cease to amaze me). That was all just sorta fuuny, but then they decided to ask the dorky guys what they thought. The guys - who were all wrapped up in some role-playing card game and sounded like morons - thought the girls were pathetic, which Cecily called them out on. Yeah, the girls may have sounded dipsy, but it was clear they were joking. You’ve got these guys talking about wizards and stuff and...well, it was just too funny. I started cracking up, as did Nick. The guys got all flustered and left, which I thought was even funnier. It was about then that the girls noticed us. I was a little embarrassed but pleased too. Maybe they’d say hi. Fortunately something even better happened - I didn’t have to worry about getting up the nerve. A minute later there Andie and Cecily stood, wondering if they could join us.
I stood up right away and pulled a chair over for Andie. I knew I should have gotten two but Nick wasn’t helpless and I wanted to make sure Andie sat next to me. She flashed me a shy grin. “Thank you,” she said, taking a seat.
“No problem. Should we introduce ourselves or...?” I shook my head, feeling stupid. “I mean, no, hi. I’m Brian.”
Andie gave me a smile that clearly said she knew we didn’t have to do this. “I’m Andrea, but just call me Andie.”
“Hi Andie,” I said, smiling back.
“I’m Cecily,” she introduced, then looked at Nick. He grinned briefly.
“Nick.”
“So I guess those guys were not our biggest fans, huh?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” Cecily answered as Andie shook her head. “But maybe they don’t have enough spell points to earn that right.”
Nick laughed but I didn’t really get it so I just smiled. Andie did too. The four of us continued talking - well, some more than others. I kept trying to talk aka flirt with Andie but then Cecily would jump in and she has the type of enthusiasm that you can’t really compete with. It was OK because she was a real card, but it was a little frustrating. That was why I nearly jumped out of my chair when the girls suggested going to some park. I was hoping I could get a little quiet time with Andie and see if she was as cool as I wanted her to be. I knew that meant leaving Nick and Cecily to their own means but she was really cool and screw him and his fan hangup. These girls were definitely some of the most normal fans I had ever met. He’d be just fine and, as I knew when Andie gave me that smile again, I’d be even better.
******
“It’s so beautiful out tonight,” I said with a sigh, leaning back against the bench. Andie and I had been walking behind Nick and Cecily along the boardwalk. We had had to walk a little slower anyway, having shorter legs, but I had kept the pace at super-turtle, hoping we’d fall behind them. My plan had worked and so here we were.
“Yeah. It’s been raining all week so it’s nice that it’s clear again.”
“Do you live near here?”
Andie nodded. “Sort of. My parents live about ten minutes up the road. My apartment‘s about a half-hour away.”
“Are you and Cecily roommates?”
“No. She‘s staying with me at my parents this week while I take care of my dog.”
“You have a dog?” Andie nodded again. “What kind?”
“A toy poodle. My baby Al.”
I grinned. “You sound like me talking about Tyk. I spoil him rotten.”
“Same with Al. Cecily laughs, because sometimes I carry him around wrapped in a blanket.”
“I do that too!” I laughed, then lowered my voice. “Never when anyone’s around though.” At the coffee shop I had overheard her initially talking about missing classes to go somewhere with Cecily the next day. I wanted to be subtle about asking but wasn’t quite sure how to do that. “So are you doing anything fun this week?” I asked casually.
“Ah, actually,” Andie began, smiling sheepishly, “Cec and I are going to your thing tomorrow.”
“Our conference?” She nodded. I was surprised. “Really?”
“Yeah.” She was starting to look truly embarrassed.
“That’s awesome!” I knew I sounded overly enthusiastic, but I was trying to make her feel better about it. She giggled softly and I put an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t feel bad about it.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just...it’s weird telling you that.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re gonna be there.” I squeezed her shoulder and she looked at me, a soft smile on her face. I knew I wore the same type of smile, and I suddenly wanted to kiss her. Badly. I knew she’d let me, too, which made it all the harder not to. I had to look away. I didn’t want to get wrapped up in all that right now. It was too soon after Trisha. But at the same time...I shook my head. I couldn’t debate this.
“What?” Andie asked.
“What?” I repeated.
“You shook your head.”
“Oh. Bug in my ear,” I covered, smiling. We continued talking as we sat, and it was the strangest thing - I don’t think I’d ever said the words “me too” more in a conversation than I did that night. Andie and I were eerily similar. It made not acting on attraction even more difficult.
After talking about our mutual obsession with cheese I had to laugh. “I’m almost scared that we have so much in common,” I told her.
“Why are you scared? I think it‘s cool.”
“It’s not cool - there shouldn’t be another loser like me in the world,” I proclaimed. Andie smacked me in the leg, laughing. I grabbed her hand but found that I couldn’t let it go. I traced her fingers with my other hand, slowly outlining each one. We both watched me, as if it were the most fascinating thing we’d ever seen. Finally I rested my hand atop hers and slowly turned to her. We just stared at each other and I felt what little resolve I had melt away. I leaned toward her just as she leaned toward me.
“Can you guys guess who this is?”
I jerked away at the sound of Cecily’s voice. Both Andie and I watched she and Nick coming back from wherever they’d been.
“I have a few choice guesses,” I joked. It was exactly what I needed. I let go of Andie’s hand and she quickly moved it to her lap. I felt bad running so hot and cold, but I couldn’t do this. Nick started hinting at going home, though, and suddenly I found that I didn’t want to leave. What was going on with me? He was insistent and so we walked the girls back to Andie’s car, making plans to meet up the next day. Nick got pissy once he heard they would be at the fan conference. which I thought was pretty stupid because I could tell that up until then he had had a lot of fun with Cecily (whether or not he’d admit that). I tried to get him to talk about it but he was tight lipped. That was actually all right, because I wanted to ponder this Andie matter further. Nick must’ve read my mind because as we got on the highway he smirked at me.
“Thinking about Andie, aren’t you?”
“Sorta,” I admitted.
“Do you want her?”
“Such graceful wording,” I told him. He shrugged.
“Well?”
“I...” I looked out the window. “I don’t want another Trisha situation.”
“She’s not like Trish, Bri.”
“That I know. I’m just saying...I don’t know that I’m ready for another relationship,” I explained. Nick snorted.
“Brian, we’re here for five days.”
“Yeah, and?”
He looked at me. “You don’t have to get into a relationship with her to have fun.”
“That’s not my style, Frack, you know that.”
“Maybe you should make it your style. B, she’s a hot girl, you know she wants you, it’s been awhile since...y’know. Why not?”
I shrugged as I followed traffic. “I don’t know,” I said quietly.
“Suit yourself. But don’t rule it out.”
We were quiet after that so I flipped on the radio, still thinking. It wasn’t my style to do things that way, and hadn’t really ever been. Not that I hadn’t had a fling here and there, but I actually liked relationships. Well, I had, up until the last one. But I knew I liked Andie, and that she liked me. There were no rules that said I had to make any vows to have fun. Couldn’t that mutual attraction be enough, for once?
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