Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 22:20:55 EDT From: Khiem725@aol.com Subject: "Umm...Whatever" -- Chapter 4 -- Gay Male/Celebrity/ Umm... Whatever! - Chapter 4 By Khiem... This one is like, coming out sooner, and it's longer! It's just not addin' up right in my head. But anyways... this is numero cuatro or number four or numereau quatre... I think... E-mail me! I'm serious! Or I'll hunt you down and spank you sooo hard.... =) Just kiddin'. I know that'll totally decrease the numbers of email I have to 1... unless that's something you're into... =) Thank you to all of y'all. Y'all are the coolest people for readin' my crazy tale of love. =) Email me at Khiem725@aol.com Enjoy... Wait! Don't enjoy! Not yet. I always forget to put this part in! Ugh!!!! Por favor, S'il vous plait, please : Don't think this is real or anything. I'm not schizo. This is fiction. However, I am rather unstable and that shows through my character!... Now you may enjoy... Chapter 4 "Khiem. You gonna stay here?" Jack asked. The band was meeting in his room so that they all could go to the arena together. "Yeah. I'm just gonna go swimming and then like, watch a movie or something." I said, playing a winning game of thumb wars with Joey. He's so childish sometimes... "All right. That's it guys. Let's go." I got a round of 'see ya later, man' and stuff. It was only around six and the sun was still out. I wanted to go swimming but then Jack wouldn't allow it... but then, Jack wasn't here. I don't know why, but I get such a kick from disobeying Jack. I guess because he's the authority figure and stuff. The hotel was right near the beach and so I could walk instead of hailing a cab or something. The sun was still pretty high and bright red orange. I was wearin' some red hawaiian shorts and had my towel hanging around my shoulders. Oh! And I had my camera... Never leave home without it. See, I haven't been to the beach. Actually, I've probably been to the beach like, maybe five times tops. But I know one thing- the beach isn't supposed to be this dirty. I mean, there were empty bottles everywhere! The sand was like, scattered with all these broken sea shells and dead seaweed. And there was a really pungent smell that the wind kept blowin' my way. "Umm... forget this. I ain't goin' near the water." I said outloud. Man! I had my hopes up to go swimming in the pacific, but nope. I guess my dream of swimming in all four oceans will never be accomplished. There's only four oceans, right? I decided to just walk along the beach, maybe watch the sun set or something. It was a good thing I brought sandals with me because the sand was freezing hot!! Well, I was just walking along the sand and then, out of no where, this guy runs into me. I fall flat on my butt and sand rides up my shorts! "Ahh! It burns! It burns!" I'm screamin' all over the place. A little dramatic, but hey! That's me. "Watch where you're going!" I yelled at him. "No. You watch where you're going! You're standing in our court." He said. I looked around and noticed that a game of volleyball was in progress. "Oh.. Opps! I'm really sorry. Excuse me." I said, walking away. I heard some mumblin' behind me. "Hey... Kid!" He yelled. I didn't liked being called a kid but I turned around anyways. "Look, I already said I was sor..." "Naw. That's okay. Mark over there is a clutz anyways. Sooner or later, he was gonna trip over." He joked. I smiled. "We was wonderin'. See, we short one player. You know how to play volleyball?" He asked. "Yeah. K." "Awesome, dude." He was definitely a surfer! So, all the guys intro'd themselve and stuff. I was stuck on Mark's team. We played on and on forever! Eventually, my team lost. "Alright guys, 100 pushups." Ryan from the other team said. "What the hell?" I said. "We play for pushups. It's punishment for losing." Mark said, already down and doin' it. I just sighed and went down too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Come on... ninety-five... ninety-six... You can do it Khiem.. Just four more. Everyone was around me, looking at the kid who obviously never did 100 pushups before. All the other guys had finished long ago. The sun was gone and the wind was blowin'. I was freakin' tired. But I was so close to finishin'. "Are you gettin' all of this Ryan?" I asked him. He was filming, ever since I hit fifty. "Yeah! Come on, dude! Only four more." All the guys were laughing and stuff. I looked up, they didn't seem the least bit tired. And I'm so sure they didn't break a sweat either! Ugh! "Ninety-seven... ninety-eight..." Mark said. "Ninety-nine... One hundred!" All the guys started clapping and I just collapsed on the cool sand. I was breathing hard... really hard! "Hey man. Are you okay?" Mark asked me. "Yeah. I'm fine... just asthma." I said, taking deep breaths. "Asthma? Why didn't you tell us? I mean... We wouldn't have made you!" He said really quickly. "It's nothing... really! It never acts up unless I totally exert myself... like just now... just let me rest here. Y'all can go... really." "Really?" Mark asked. I was laying on my back now, looking up at the stars. My first asthma attack was when I was probably seven. Just woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't breathe. It was kinda scary. My mom freaked out and took me to the hospital. But, I haven't had a major asthma attack since I was twelve. "Go. My hotel is right there, the one with the blue lights." I told them. They all said 'sorry' and stuff and left. All except Mark. "Y'all go. I'll hang out with Khiem for a while." He said. I smiled, not at him but to myself. He reminded me of Lance. It was something that Lance would have done. After a few minutes, my breathing decreased down to a slight wheezing. "Okay. Let's go." I said. "Where to?" Mark asked, standing up with me. "You're gonna buy me some ice cream. Think of it as payback for making me do 100 push-ups, asshole." I said. He just nodded and grabbed my camera. We made our way to Braums in Mark's car. Now, I know never to take rides from strangers. And Mark was a stranger. But I trust basically everyone, and I know that one day, I'll regret it. But I had a craving to ice cream. "Can I help you?" The lady working there asked. "Umm... yeah. Like, I want a banana split with everything on it... extra whip cream... extra cherries.. and... umm... marshmellows." "I can't help but get a feelin' that you're just usin' me." Mark smiled. "Wow! You're not as dumb as you look." I laughed at him. He just punched me on the shoulder, making me fall over. "Opps!" He laughed. He extended a hand and I accepted. "I didn't know you were so weak." "Hey! I did 100 pushups! I'm sore." We ordered our ice creams and Mark paid. We sat at the corner and ate. I was hungry. After three games of volley ball, I was hella hungry and hella tired. Mark kept looking at me, but didn't say anything. He just kept on eating. It was kinda weird actually. "Are you gay or something?" I asked him. He was in mid-chew and just spitted it all in my face. That was kinda unexpected, but then the question came out of no where. "Um.. uh... how'd you... I mean! What made you say that?" he asked. I wiped my face with a napkin. "So you are! hehe... cool." I said. He looked all confused. "You just kept looking at me. I'm not good at readin' things, but I kinda guessed." He laughed. "I wasn't hidin' it or nothin'. Just kinda freaked that you figured." He said, smilin' at me 'that' way again. "You like me." I said, confidently. "Me? Like you? Please! You're too skinny. Too short. Too pale. Too loud." He listed off all the qualities he didn't like of me. "You like me." I stated. He laughed. "Well, only a little. But you're a twerp." He said. "What about you?" "What about me?" I asked. "Do you like me?" "Nope. I have someone else in mind." I smiled. Two actually, but lets not get things confusing, ya know? "Really? Tell me about him." "Nothing really to tell. I don't know him that well." I said. That rhymed. But I felt like talking about him. "He's really nice and stuff. He can be crazy and act stupid, but he's smart and funny. You know, the basic stuff. He's a singer. Really smooth voice. But he doesn't have feelings for me, I don't think. It's probably a brother/brother relationship kinda thing, ya know?" I sighed. I didn't want to tell him who it was. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We talked for a while, my ice cream melting and mixing into one pot of goo. "Tell me about yourself." He asked me. "Okay. Umm... lets see. I'm from Dallas." I said. "Texas?" "Yeah. I lived with my mom until she passed away. She's Vietnamese. She was a lawyer. Very sucessful and stuff. She spoiled me all the time! She bought me this camera." I said, patting my camera. "I carry it with me everywhere. Emotional attachmetn and stuff, ya know." I smiled. "Oh. That's a bummer, dude." "Yeah. After she died, everything just like, totally went ballistic. She's been the only parent I've ever known. I mean, I didn't even know who my dad was. All I knew was that he was white. That's it." "You mean, you never met him?" Mark asked. "Well. It's really messed up. It was like, he didn't know about me. It was a fling kinda thing that he had with my mom. And then they broke up and she moved back to Dallas and stuff and found out she was pregnant with me." "And she didn't tell you dad? Why?" Mark asked. "It was the eighties. And she was Asian and he was White. Everyone frowned on things like that. She was embarrassed and ashamed. But she had me anyways. She didn't even have the nerve to tell her mother back in Vietnam." I said, kinda sadly. "Oh... that really sucks." "No. But I understand why, though. I don't blame her. Although, who'd want to hide such a cute kid like me?" I said, laughing. He just gave me a weird look. "Anyways, she had me. Didn't tell my dad or my grandmother." "Did you ever wonder though? Like, who he was and stuff?" Mark asked. "Well yeah! Oh course. I mean, I didn't look like the Asian kids and I didn't look like the White kids. And in school, people would tease me about it. And I was small then, and I let it get to me. I'd run home, cryin'." "Why didn't she just tell you who your dad was when you were older?" He asked. "Well, it's not like she didn't want to. It was because I didn't want to know sort of. It was like, I grew up, right? And then I was so used to having just my mom and I was kinda afraid that if like, my dad came into the picture, it'd mess everything up, ya know? I guess I had some anger towards him or something. But back then, I didn't know the whole story." "This sounds like something from the 'Joy Luck Club'." He said. And it did. "I know. So anyway, my mom died a year ago..." I said. "Of what?" He asked, having this sympathetic look in his eyes. I just smiled. "Breast cancer." "Sorry." "No. Don't be. Cause like, I see it as kind of like God's work or something. She's a total saint. She died and left me her money. And I wanted to put it to good use. I mean, sure! I could go and buy fifty cars and stuff, but I wanted to honour my mom sort of, ya know?" I said. He nodded. "So I donated it to some breast cancer foundation." "Wow. That's all so... spiritual." "I know! I was kinda surprised too, ya know? I mean, under any other circumstances, I wouldn't have given that money away." I said, feelin' kinda guilty, but it was true. "Get to the 'meeting your father' part already." Mark said. "Oh. Okay. So like, my only living relatives are in Vietnam, ya know? But I'm an American citizen and stuff. I didn't want to go and live in some foreign country or anything. But my mom knew that too. And so like, they lawyer dude was readin' the will and stuff and he tells me that I'm in custody of my dad. And I'm like "what?"" "Wow... what a way to find out." "I know! That's what I said. So like, I'm all confused and stuff and I tell him that I don't have a dad. And he's all 'well, you do now' and shit. I was totally buggered. And then like, the funeral comes and goes and all of a sudden, I find myself in Florida and stuff." "So who's your dad? What does he do?" "I'm getting there. So, I arrive to Florida and stuff and like, no one is there to pick me up. It's a good thing I'm not big on first impressions or I would've killed him. And I wouldn't be talking to you here, right now." I smiled at him. "So like, I hail a cab and tell him the directions to my dad's place. And so like, we get there and I'm standin' in front of this huge-ass mansion with gates and all! "I go up to the intercom and I'm like, "hello? Can someone open up the doors please?" and stuff." Turns out, he's not even there, ya know? He's away at some business trip and stuff. So already, I'm not liking him. The maid shows me to the room and she's all 'sir' and stuff and it felt kinda weird. "Then what?" "Well, like, the next day, he comes home. And it was kinda creepy when I first met him. I'm in bed, right? And it's early mornin'. I heard some creakin' and I see him sitting in a chair, next to my bed, staring down at me. I freaked out and fell off the other side of the bed. I was like 'freak!' but he wasn't. It was just something fatherly that he was doing. I mean, I understand, ya know? He's never seen me before and I AM undeniably cute." I said, giving him a big teethy grin. "You are so full of yourself." Mark said. "So anyway, everything is awkward and stuff. I mean, how could it not be, ya know? I mean, he's my dad, which I haven't ever seen before. It's not like I'm gonna up and hug him and stuff. it was kinda scary." ~~~~ Flashback. ~~~~ "Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." My dad says standing up and coming over to my side of the bed. He's towering over me. "It's okay. I'm just not used to having strange men staring over me like that." I was already trying to joke and lighten the mood. He turns on the lamp above me and I can finally see his face. He's not that old... maybe 40 or so. He's still in his dress shirt, unbutton and his tie is loosely hanging around his neck. "You look so much like your mom." He says. "Um... thanks. You must be dad." I say, standing up and shaking his hand. It felt kinda strange shaking hands with your dad and all. "Yeah." He says, obviously affected from hearing me call him dad. "Was your trip okay?" "Oh, yeah. No one picked me up though. But I took a cab. You have a nice house by the way." I say. "It's yours now too, ya know. You're my... you're my son." He says, smiling widely. I smile back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hello! You zoned out there for a second." Mark said, putting whip cream on my nose. "Oh. I was just thinkin' about the time I first met my dad. It's cool, really. I wasn't nervous, scared, or anything. It was like... like... swimmin' in Jello. All mushy and stuff. He cried. I cried." "We all cried for Ice cream!" Mark made a failed attempt to be funny. I did laugh, though. At his corniness. "Okay... so it wasn't funny... just shut up." "Well, that's about it about me." I said. "Who's your dad anyways?" He asked. "Michael Collins." I said. "Oh... who?" He asked. "He's like, supposed to be some major dude in the music industry. I really don't pry." I told him. It was kind of a half lie. Anyway, right? "Can we go yet? It's getting late." "Not until you finish your ice cream." Mark said, pointing to my now, watery bowl of ice cream. I looked down at it and looked up at him. "Down it." He meant business. So I started eating.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ughggggghhghghghgh...." "Dude, is he alright?" The guy in the other car asked. We stopped at a red light on our way to the hotel. Just as we pulled to the light, I couldn't hold back anymore and just barfed, half hanging out the window. It was a good thing Mark drove a Wrangler or else I woulda puked in his car. He was rubbing my back. "He's okay. Just something he ate. He gets car sick really fast." The light turned green and Mark sped off with me still hanging out the window. "I hate you!" I yelled at him. I grabbed a bottle of water and rinsed my mouth and washed my face. "That's what they all say." He said, as we pulled up to the hotel entrance. I looked at the clock. It was already 10:30. We just sat in the parked car, not saying anything. "Umm... I had a great time today. Thank you." I said. "Yeah. Me too. Welcome. Maybe I'll see you sometime. How long are you in town?" He asked me. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning." I said sadly. "Maybe I can call you and stuff. I'm on the move lots so I don't know if you'll be able to reach me." He nodded and gave me his number. We exchanged props and I waved goodbye. He was nice... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I showered and packed all my clothes up. It was only 11:00 so Jack and the guys weren't gonna be home yet. I felt refreshed after the shower and stuff so I decided to order some popcorn and hot chocolate from room service and I used Jack's credit card to rent a pay-per-view movie. Gladiator was showing. I heard it was really good and stuff, but I didn't get to see it. All in all, today was fun. I met Carson and Mark. And enemy and a friend. That should balance it out. I played volleyball, did 100 push-ups, puked, and now I'm chowing down on popcorn and hot chocolate. Drinking that hot chocolate was probably a bad idea. Cause like, I fell asleep on the floor just half an hour into the movie. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "It's like you get heavier everyday, Khiem." I heard Jack say. I was still sleeping when he came back. I was kind of awake but didn't feel like waking up completely. Jack dragged me to the side of the bed and picked me up, rolling me onto the bed. With some quick maneuverings, he wrapped me in the blanket and went to take a shower. I consider myself a heavy sleeper. I hear everything that goes around me, but I ignore it. Like, it goes in one ear and comes out the other. I don't ever remember what I hear and it never wakes me up. I heard someone knocking. "Jack? You here?" Justin yelled. He and JC came into the room. "Shhh! Khiem's asleep." JC said, seeing me all spread out on the bed. "Please! Believe me, he won't wake up. He'll sleep through anything. He slept through our concert once." Justin told JC. "Are we that bad of entertainers?" JC said. "Well, I'm sure seeing the same show more than ten times can get irritatin'. That's why he don't go to the shows anymore. Stays home and spends Jack's money. He's got it made." Justin laughed, picking up the popcorn and eatin' them. JC walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. "Guess we'll just wait for Jack to come out." JC said. "If you stare any harder, he might disappear." Justin said. "What? Oh..." JC blushed. Justin laughed. "Dude. If you like him, tell him." Justin said. "Well, I tried, but he fell asleep on me." JC said. Justin just laughed harder. "Maybe you ARE borin'." Justin laughed at JC. "Well, when he wakes up, tell him. You obviously like the kid." "That's the problem. He's a kid. He's only 17. I'm 23. That's a big difference." "So is it an age thing? Or is he immature or dumb or what?" Justin asked. "No. It's none of that. Well... he is young." "Jailbait. Hmm... I see." Justin said, tapping his fingers against the desk. "I still say that you go and talk to him tomorrow. Tell him that you..." "Hey guys! What chu doin' here?" Jack said, coming into the room. "We've came to talk to you about that break thing you promised us yesterday." JC said. "Y'all gonna really hold me to that?" Jack said, drying his hair with the towel. "Hell yeah. But, ya know how you said it'll be at the end of the week. Well, we looked at the schedule and we'll be in Las Vegas. Well, we was wonderin' if you could let us have the two days after tomorrow off instead. Cause we's flyin' to New York tomorrow. So we decided we want our break in NY. That way we can go clubbin' and shit." Just said. "Yeah. That way, we can do whatever we're doing in New York and then roam free around the city." JC said. "Yeah... that'll work out okay I guess. Just need to move things around and stuff. It's not gonna interfere with any of the concert dates... You know what? Why not. That's a good plan guys. Did Lance think of this?" Jack asked, knowing well that Lance was the only one who knew the schedule almost by heart. "Yep. Good Ole' Lance." Justin said. "All right. I'll have a meetin' before we fly off tomorrow. Now leave. Khiem's not gonna wake up but I'm not gonna sleep if y'all keep talking." They all smiled. Justin and JC walked to the door. "Is Khiem going to New York too?" JC asked. "Yeah. Why?" Jack pondered. "Just wonderin'. Umm... I wanted to show him around New York. He's never been there before. G'night." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I woke up, sore all over. Jack was still asleep, I could tell. Even though it's a king sized bed, and even though Jack is bigger than me, I take up the most room. I'm lethal in bed. I toss and turn and flip every which way. So today, I knew Jack was still asleep because I could feel his stubble under my foot and his stomach rising and falling under my right leg. You don't know how many ways I can turn around at night. But I wasn't aching from the awkward position. I didn't know what it was, but I was itching and aching all over! I slowly got up and went into the restroom. I turned on the lights and closed my eyes so that I wouldn't be blinded by the lights. My eyes slowly adjusted onto the image of myself in the mirror. "Holy fuck!" I said. "Shit!" I was freakin' red! My arms, legs, face, everything! No wonder I was hurtin' all over. I had a major-ass sun burn! Now Jack will surely know I went out last night with tellin' him. Ugh. I didn't know what to do. How the hell did I get so red and not notice it last night? Even my eyelids were sunburned. It was hurtin' just blinkin'. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Khiem. Why are you wearing a long sleeve shirt? Do you know it's ninety something today?" Jack asked me, seeing me coming out of the restroom. I was wearing long pants and a loose, light weight, long sleeve shirt with a hood. I was also wearing my big Oakley. "Well... umm... I heard that it snows in New York." I said. "Not in the summer time kiddo." Jack laughed at me. "It's just as hot as Texas." "Umm... well, I just wanted to wear a long sleeve shirt. I don't want to get any darker." He laughed again. "Okay then. Get your suitcase and put it near the door for the bell boy. You can go ahead and go to breakfast down stairs. I'll meet you down there." Jack said. "Okay." I dragged my suitcase to the door. I was too weak to carry it. I said bye to Jack and headed for the elevator. I was extra hungry today. I mean, I puked up my dinner last night, didn't eat much popcorn. So now I was hungry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All the guys were already down here eating. I passed by their table and waved to them. I was heading to get my plate. "I saved you a seat Khiem." JC said. I smiled at him. The seat was between him and Lance. The hotel had a big selection of breakfast stuff. And I remember my mom telling me 'When it's all you can eat, never get full on bread.' So toast was out of the question. I decided to go for an omelette with tomatoes, onions, and ham. And I got some sausages and some OJ. I made my way back to the table. "Thanks." I said, sitting down. "You're welcome." JC smiled widely. Justin gave him this goofy look. "So what time are we leaving today? I can't wait to get to New York. I want to go to central park and the Statue of Liberty. Visit MTV... again." I said with a gleam in my eyes. All the guys started laughin', rememberin' what happened yesterday and all. "Not until 9:30. So we eat then head to the airport. No hurry." Lance said. I took a forkful of scrambled eggs from his plate. I didn't see any scrambled eggs before... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Now boarding flight D437 from San Diego to New York." Said the intercom person. We were first class! Wow! I have never been to first class before. I was so gonna enjoy this flight. "Wake me up if I fall asleep, okay y'all?" I said, entering the terminal. The flight was fun. I even got a window seat! Four chairs faces each other and so we were able to play some cards. I sat next to Joey. Lance and JC sat across from me. Finally! We were in New York. I have never been to New York before. We made our way to the carousel to retrieve our luggage. Mine passed by and I grabbed it. But still being way tired and sore from the 100 push-ups yesterday, I couldn't pull it off. So instead, I fell into the carousel. I just decided that I didn't have enough strength to get up so I waited until I did a whole full round. Justin and Chris pulled me up. Joey got my luggage. "What's wrong man? Not feelin' good?" "I'm just so sore today." I said. "Get some rest then." Justin said, patting my shoulder. I wanted to scream so badly but decided that wasn't the best way to keep a secret from Jack. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We were staying at the four seasons or something like that. It was way sheek. We checked out a whole penthouse suite. It was very majestic and stuff. I got to have my own bed too! I was putting away my clothes into the closet when I heard a knock on the door. "Come in, I'm naked." I said. I turned around and JC smiled at me. "You lied. That's a false invitation." He said, sitting on the bed. "I'll make it up to you one day." I said, bending down really slowly to sit next to him. "Well, that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about." JC said. "Huh? You wanna talk to me about my nakedness?" I joked with him. He smiled but then got serious again. I didn't know what he was gonna say, but I decided now wasn't the time to joke around. He seemed like he really wanted to tell me something. "I love you." He blurted out and hugged me tightly. How sweet. Well, it would've been sweet except I had a major-ass sunburn all over my body. I would have liked to hear those words said to me and me saying it back but the only thing that came to my mouth was... "Ahhhhhhhhh!"........ To Be Continued. So... how do you like it? I liked writin' thing one. It was cool. So I've done my part. Now it's your turn. Email me. Maybe if like, I get more readers and stuff, I'll post sooner and stuff, ya know? =0' Till next time... Khiem.