Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 14:38:37 EST From: Tulsa Oklahoma <authornoklahoma@hotmail.com> Subject: New Story (Boy Band Section) Title - Peace Frogs. This is a work of fiction. The author is not implying anything about the sexual orientation or actions of any celebrities involved. This is a work of fiction and is meant to entertain. --------------------------------------------------------------- Hey there! This is going to be a detailed, but action packed story. If you are looking for sex scenes, there will be a few, but this story will have depth and hopefully it will challenge you to really think. This story will be focused more on the down to Earth part, not the performing part. Here it goes. --------------------------------------------------------------- <<CHAPTER ONE: The Dream>> Joshua sat at the back of the small diner in his home town. Broken Arrow was a quaint place, he thought to himself. Being in the middle of the "Bible Belt," it was a very quiet and reserved town. In other words, not a lot of fun for teenagers. Josh smiled to himself, then took a sip of his vanilla coke, the house specialty. He looked around, hoping to see one specific person. The one who he had come here to wait for. And with that thought, he heard the familiar chime of the door opening. He waited in anticipation. His breath caught in his chest. He was paralyzed with a longing to see that familiar face round the corner. Just as the figure rounded the wall and Josh thought he'd burst, a faint buzz began to invade the restaurant. Josh looked around to see where the sound was coming from. Josh rolled out of bed, realizing he was drenched in sweat. "Another Dream," he grumbled to himself, half asleep. He reached over and shut the alarm off. Josh slowly picked himself up off his bed and made his groggy way over to his dresser. He slowly pulled out a clean pair of CK boxer briefs, then headed towards his shower. He could not escape the dreams, he thought to himself. They'd never end. Never fade. Which made his heart heavy, and made him wonder if he would ever be able to move past that day and the events that changed his life forever....... The time was just four short months earlier. Joshua was back in the small diner. The chime of the door sounded, and an instant smile came on his face. He waited patiently. Finally, standing in front of him was the object of his desire.The tall, blonde man with a heart of gold. Austin was Josh's best friend. They had met over three years ago, when they both had turned 16 and ended up in the same Driver's Ed course. Josh hated school. But somehow, Austin's friendship made it worth going to everyday. All the little laughs, and inside jokes. They had become the best of friends, then a year ago, they had become lovers. In the most passionate sense of the word. Every kiss was a pure expression of love. Every look spoke directly to the others soul. This was it. This was what a soul mate was, Josh thought one day when they were in the park. Austin sat down, and after a small kiss hello, they began small talk about what had happened since the weekend, when they last saw each other. The two lovers sat tucked back in a corner, just enjoying the love that was shared, oblivious to anything else. Oblivious to the fact that owner of the restaurant was being held up by a 15 year old boy in the front of the store. Oblivious to how this day would change their world. Maybe "shatter" would be a better world. "Just gimme the fucking money, dude. I'm not going to hurt you," the young boy in the mask said, holding his hand inside his shirt, as if concealing a small gun. The old man fumbled nervously. Taking the cash out of the drawer and putting into the "Fraggle Rock" pillow case the assailant had brought with him. "I'm going to get a soda, you want something, Joshie?," Austin said, placing a loving nuggie on Josh's head. Josh couldn't help but smile, knowing how much he loved Austin. "Sure, I'll take a snicker-doodle cookie, since your acting like you have manners," Josh said slyly, smiling up at the now standing Austin. "Ha ha. I'll be right back," Austin said, leaning in and placing a soft kiss on Josh's waiting lips. If only he had known that would be the last kiss they would share, he might have savored the touch of Austin's lip as much as he did with their first kiss. Austin turned the corner to go up to the counter. He saw a man in a mask. Fear took over. Austin froze in place. The boy caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and whipped in Austin's direction. In his alarm, he squeezed the trigger. Life went into slow motion. The bullet shot a hole in the kids sweater. Ever so slowly, the bullet soared across the diner, finally making contact with Austin's chest. Austin's feet flew out from under him. He crashed to the floor with a deadening thump. Realizing what he had just done, the kid took out the door, leaving the 35 dollars that he had collected in his heist behind. Josh laid crying on the motionless Austin for at least ten minutes before the first paramedic or police offer arrived. It seemed like a dream. He had gone for a pop and a cookie. What he got.....his life taken away. Josh moaned in agony as they loaded the lifeless Austin into the ambulance. He knew it would be the last time he saw that face. Austin finally lost his battle in route to St. Paul's hospital. The water was cold on Josh's face, bringing the reality of his life into plain view. He was alone. Left with building the small business he and Austin had dreamt of starting for 2 long years. "Peace Frogs" was not only an inside joke between Josh and Austin, but also the name they decided on for their little coffee shop. Josh had opened the shop in January, like planned. But instead of just being just a coffee shop, Josh had taken the idea to the next level. He made it kind of a "Safe Haven" for teenagers. Especially gay teenagers. No judgment, no rejection. So, Peace Frogs had quickly become known for it's tolerant atmosphere. It was an instant success. Josh finished his shower, then made his way back into his bedroom to get dressed and face the day. He quickly dried his toned body off, then slipped the CK boxer briefs on. He pulled a pair of black slacks out of his closet and slid them on. He picked an orange ribbed shirt to wear for the day. With that, Josh fed his Chihuahua, Butch, and headed out. When Josh arrived at Peace Frogs, he noticed a small crowd already outside the door. "This is for you, babe," Josh said, kissing his fingers then placing the kiss onto a picture of Austin that was over his tachometer. Josh stepped out of his Durango and headed up to the main door to open for business and see what new adventure awaited him today. As he approached the crowd, he heard an excitement he had not heard in some time. "Their concert is tomorrow. I hear they are coming to town tonight, though," Chase (A boy of 17, who was a regular) said to a friend as Josh approached. "Who's coming to town?", Josh asked as he began to unlock the door. He walked through the door, and flipped the "closed" sign over to read "open." "What, are you dead? How old are you? 50? Nsync! They're putting on a show at Driller stadium tomorrow night!", Chase said flustered. "Nsync? Which one are they, again?", josh said, trying to bug Chase. "You're hopeless man!", Chase said, heading over to one of the pool tables with a couple friends. "Oh, I'm pulling your leg," Josh said smiling. "Be nice, or you'll go 'Bye, bye, bye'...See! I'm hip! I'm down with it!", Josh said, making sure to over exaggerate the fact he was maybe two and a half years older than Chase. The day went by quickly. Just the normal. Serving coffee, doing book work and spending as much time with the teenagers as possible. This was his calling. Josh was an excellent listener and an even better at giving impartial advice. When 10:00pm rolled around, Josh slowly started running all the kids out of Peace Frogs. When the last one was out, he locked the door and went to finish do some little cleaning, trying to help out the cleaning staff that came in at midnight to really scrub the place down. He was cleaning up some chip crumbs by the sofa in the small room he had made into a quiet room, almost a library when he heard a knock on the door. "What does Chase want now. I told him to make sure he had everything when he left," Josh said, obviously worn out. When Josh arrived at the door, he was surprised when he did not see Chase. Instead, there was large, bald man. Josh slowly unlocked the door and opened it, a little afraid. "Are you still open?", the man asked. "Not really, but that's okay. What do you want? I'll get it if it doesn't involve cooking," Josh said smiling. "Actually, I'm okay. Are you alone here?", the man asked. Josh was hesitant. "Yes, but I am expecting a friend anytime," Josh lied not wanting to let the man know that was completely alone and would be all night. "Good. Do you keep up with Pop music?", the bald man asked, his features softening. "Some of it. Why? Are you going to quiz me?", Josh asked. "No, but I need a favor. I'm the head Personal Security officer for the Pop group 'Nsync,'" he said. "They are on that bus right out there, and they are exhausted from riding," he began. "Would it be okay if they came in, used the bathroom, unwound for a few minutes, maybe got a drink, then we'll get back on our way? It's another 45 minutes to the hotel, and they are getting restless." Josh hesitated. He thought about the chips on the floor and how he wish he had known they were coming, he would have cleaned up earlier. "Sure, they are welcome to come in and stay as long as they'd like," Josh offered, opening the door all the way. The large, bald man turned around and waved to an equally large man standing by the bus he hadn't originally noticed. "Thank you so much, they call me Mutt," the man said extending his hand to Josh. "No problem at all. I'm Josh. Let me go call the cleaning service and cancel then for tonight, so no one knows they are here except us," Josh said, walking past the entrance way, into his office. He made the call, then hung up the receiver. He could hear the balls on the pool table cracking and rolling. Josh got up from his chair, sighed once, then made his way out to where the action was. "This is Josh, fella's. He was kind enough to let your animals out of your cage, so show him so love!", Mutt said putting his large hand on Josh's shoulder. The guys of Nsync began cheering and waving to him. "Hi, I'm Lance," a blonde walked over to Josh and said. "It's a pleasure, Mr. Lance," josh said. "No Mister, just Lance," he said and smiled. "That's Joey with the scary red hair, Chris is the one who is now humping your pool table it seems," Lance said shaking his head at Chris' actions. "And over there about to fall asleep is J.C.," Lance finished pointing to J.C. curled up on a couch. "I thought there were five of you guys?", Josh asked. "There are. Justin is here somewhere," Lance said looking around. "Check the bathroom. He had to go for like 3 hours, but Mutt was hogging the one on the bus." J.C. not even raising his head. "For 3 hours, Mutt? Geeze. And, no thanks. I'll wait for him to come out," josh said. Time passed and the whole group played pool, got drinks and sat around talking and laughing. Josh sat on a loveseat next to Chris. Justin and J.C. were spread out on a couch and Joey was sitting on the floor in front of the loveseat that Lance was laying on. "So, what's up with the name 'Peace Frogs' Josh?", Justin asked. "It's a long story, but it was an inside joke between me and my boyfriend." Josh said, not even thinking about how tolerant the Nsync members were towards gays. "Are you guys still together?", Joey asked. Tears filled Josh's eyes. It was still rough. "No, he died four months ago," josh said in a shaky voice. "No.......I'm sorry," Joey said in disbelief, feeling bad for bringing it up. "No, it's okay. I'm just still dealing with all of it. I'm fine," Josh said, wiping his eye. "So, was this like a dream of both of yours or is this just something you wanted to do?", Lance asked in his low Bass voice. "The coffee shop was our dream, but I decided after I lost him that I wanted to do something that would make a difference. So, I made it not only a coffee house, but a support center slash activity center for teenagers....specifically, but not limited to, gay teenagers," Josh said, the passion for his work obvious in his eyes and voice. "That's totally awesome, man." Justin was the first to speak. "Yeah, I agree," Chris said, actually being serious. "Well, guys. It's going on 1:00am and we have about an hour to go to get to the hotel....," Mutt said. All the guys grumbled and moaned about getting back on the bus. "Everyone say thank you to Josh for letting us invade his business so late," Mutt added. "Thank you Daddy for reminding us," Chris said in an irritating voice. They all got up and slowly made their way to the door, making sure to clean up their messes on their way out. "Thank you for your hospitality," Joey said and hugged josh. "Yeah, you DA man!", J.C. said, also hugging josh, then heading out the door with Joey. "You make me want to break up with my girlfriend...," Chris said, hugging Josh then acted like he was going in to kiss Josh. They both burst out laughing. "Here." Justin said, handing him two tickets to their concert and two backstage passes. "These are from the guys, Mutt and I. Please come," Justin said in an almost pleading voice. "I'll be there...with bells on," Josh said, locking eyes with Justin. They both paused in the doorway, as if someone had hit the pause button on time. Josh looked away, knowing what that look was a precursor to. "I'll see you tomorrow, punk!", Josh said coyly. "You had better be there!", Justin said then walked away. Mutt walked up, after checking around to make sure the guys had cleaned up after themselves thoroughly. "Thank you, Josh. You saved my sanity. You get the tickets and passes?", Mutt said smiling. "No problem! Yeah, I'll be there...," Josh said. Mutt and Josh shook hands, then he headed out to the bus. Josh could hear the Nsync boys singing "There You Go" by Pink on the bus. Then he heard Mutt shout something and they all started laughing, and singing louder. Josh stood in the doorway smiling. __________________________________________________ What do you all think? Could that have been any longer? For once, I just stopped thinking and let my thoughts just pour onto the screen. So what do you think? E-mail me and let me know! Feed back is SO important. You have the power to influence the stories you read, everybody. So, E-mail me a line, good or bad I take them all. Send E-mail to: authorNoklahoma@hotmail.com. Thanks! ___________________________________________________ If you enjoy this story, you might also read "98 Degrees and BSB All Star Tour." They also come from the mind of Ethereal. Thank you all!