Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2003 21:31:20 -0700
From: dkstories@cox.net
Subject: A Phone Call Chapter 7

Legal Stuff: I don't know NSYNC or any other celebrity mentioned.  While
real people are the basis of characters, they are characters here and do
not represent the real lives, thoughts, or feelings of the real people.
Again, these are characters based on them, not the real people themselves.
If you are too young, or live in a location where it is illegal to read
stories that include love between men, read no further!  Like that would
have ever stopped me...


A Phone Call -- Chapter 7


Life was going good.  That's why I had a very bad feeling when I woke up
the next morning.  Or maybe it was the fact that James wasn't in bed with
me.  My hand encountered a note and I struggled to focus my eyes enough to
read what it said.

	Dave --

I've gone to the store to get some stuff for breakfast.  We really need to
go grocery shopping if we're going to be here long.  Love -- James.


Okay, not so bad.  We did need food and I hated going out for breakfast.  I
pulled a pair of sweatpants from the dresser, noting that even these were
designer sweat pants. I sighed at James' obsession with designer clothes
and put them on.  If it made him happy, it was definitely something I was
willing to live with.  I mean, imagine breaking up because your boyfriend
wanted you to look good?!

I stumbled out of the room and entered the kitchen.  Some searching
revealed an unopened can of coffee, sugar, and some dry creamer.  I smiled
and found the coffeemaker.  Soon, the smell of roasting coffee filled the
condo and I was starting to feel a little better.  I headed into the dining
room where'd I'd left my briefcase and pulled out my notepad from the day
before.  I got my laptop that James had borrowed from the office and booted
it up there on the dining room table.  Soon I was lost in a world of
typing.  I shuffling sound announced that someone was awake, and I looked
up to see Manuel pouring coffee.

"Me too." I told him and he poured me a cup as well.  He set it down as I
connected the laptop to a phone jack and logged onto a temporary dial-up
service.  I hated dial-up. I was definitely going to order high-speed for
the condo when I came back to LA.  I logged on and found the usual junk
mail with a few real messages from different people.  I answered those and
hit the send/receive button.  I was about to shut the machine down when I
saw a new message appear.  At first glance I thought it was another junk
mail, but something about the address made me open it and read.  When I was
done, I stared at the screen until Manuel distracted me.

"What could possibly cause you to look so worried?" he asked me.

"A problem." I told him cryptically as I re-opened my briefcase and took
out a sheet of paper from yesterday.  I got up, went back into the bedroom
and took the phone off the charger, then returned to the dining room table.
I dialed a number and waited for an answer.  Two rings later, the person I
was calling answered.

"Hello." Marketing Mark said in a sleepy tone.

"I thought you said the story would not break until after I'd gotten done
with the script?" Okay, I was almost shouting.

"Huh?  Who is this?" was the sleepy response.

"It's Dave Young." I said, anger in my voice.

"Dave, what story are you talking about?" he asked me.

"I just got an e-mail from a certain fat red-headed guy that has a very
popular web site." I told him.  "He says that he has a rumor from a source
that I had just signed with Korvan Studios to write and produce a
mini-series with JMS.  He's even asking me if I'm the same guy that wrote
the script "Collision at Ganymede".  He said he'd read it years ago and
liked it and that he was very glad to hear that it was going to finally be
made.  There's also a bunch of questions about me and about the story,
etc."

"Shit, we obviously have a leak."

"No shit, Mark.  What do I do?" I asked him.

"Forward me the e-mail.  I'll look at it and talk to Tom.  We'll get back
to you later."

"Okay, I'll be in San Diego attending Justin's concert.  Call me on the
cell.  I'll take my laptop with me so I can use e-mail if I need to."

"Sounds good.  Have fun." Mark said, and I could hear him smiling.  He
didn't even complain about being woken up at 7:30 a.m.

"You know," Manuel said, speaking up after I hung up. "I think you have
never been happier than you are right now."

"What?" I asked, startled.

"You are one lucky man. You have a wonderful boyfriend.  I approve by the
way, and you have your one dream that never came true.  You've always loved
writing, I could tell.  It hurt you so much after the first deal fell
through that you never even tried getting published or signed.  Instead you
just wrote little stories for yourself."

"How'd you know about those?" I asked, startled.  That was the one secret I
always kept from him.

"Try using a password besides `lifesucks' sometime."  He smiled at me.
"They were good.  I don't have any doubts about your writing ability.  You
never stopped."

He probably would have said more, but the front door opened at that moment
and James came stumbling in with several plastic bags of groceries.  Manuel
and I jumped up to help him out and soon the groceries were on the counter.
Except for the food we'd likely use this morning, most of the stuff he
bought were staples that would last for a few months if neither of us were
using the condo.  I was surprised out how thoughtful his shopping was, but
I didn't know why I should have been.  He kissed me after the groceries
were put away then ordered me out of the kitchen.  I smiled and found
Manuel on the computer accessing his own e-mails, so I decided to take a
shower.  I was not going to argue about the computer.  That was the cause
of our biggest arguments as a couple.  Who would get to use the computer?
We really should have bought two.

By the time I was done, breakfast was ready, Justin was awake, and it was
time to eat.  The table was pretty silent while we ate.  I must admit,
James did a good job on the bacon, sausage, eggs, and waffles.  They were
delicious!  After the food was eaten, Manuel and Justin picked up the
dishes and started washing them. I felt a little prickle of alarm because
it felt pre-arranged.  My suspicions were confirmed when James reached
behind him and tossed a newspaper across the table at me.  It was another
one of those daily Hollywood rags.

"Don't get too upset." James told me as I reached for the paper, wincing at
the picture. I didn't even realize that when the four of us had walked into
that club last night, James had wrapped his arm around my waist.
Unfortunately, the cameraman had caught it perfectly.  There was a short
blurb below the picture.

* NSYNC Stars Visit Club `Make' With Mystery Guests

Last night, NSYNC stars Justin Timberlake and Lance Bass were spotted
visiting L.A.'s hot new club with two mystery guests.  One of the guests
seemed pretty intimate with Lance Bass, and the two were later spotted on
the dance floor cutting it up with several local ladies.  All four left
after a few hours of dancing and fun, by themselves.  Timberlake is
performing tomorrow in San Diego and rumors have it that Bass has been
staying in L.A. promoting some groups through his FreeLance company.

Sources tell us that the mystery man next to Lance Bass is Dave Young who
was seen at a charity event last week with Chad Allen.  Sources also tell
us that Young was seen twice this week at Korvan Studios.  Exactly who he
is, what is connection to Chad Allen, NSYNC, or Korvan Studios is a mystery
since none of them returned our calls.

*

"No one returned their calls because it was late at night!" I muttered
indignantly and James chuckled.

"It doesn't matter when they called, no one would have returned them
anyway." He told me gently.  "No one will respond to their taunting because
they're just a local trash magazine.  We don't have to worry about things
unless they appear in a national tabloid or in a mainstream newspaper."

"You're the expert at this." I told him, letting go of my edginess.

"That's what I was hoping to hear." He said, getting up and giving me a
hug.  "Now, let's get ready to go to San Diego.  We'll be staying at
Justin's hotel tonight."

"We will?" I asked him, surprised.

"Yeah, he wants us to stick around, and your flight back isn't until Sunday
evening."

"Okay.  You know, I like him. I think he'll make a good friend." I told my
boyfriend.

"I hoped you would.  You know, he said the same thing last night about you.
He also likes Manuel, and so do I.  Once he got over the whole groupie
thing he turned out to be a nice guy. They've already exchanged phone
numbers and made plans for when Justin's tour comes through Manuel's town."

"When did you have time to talk to Justin about all this?" I asked
incredulously.

"We both woke up earlier this morning. I went shopping, he went back to
bed." James told me.  About that time, the other two came out of the
kitchen having cleaned up the dishes and headed off to get ready.  I joined
James in the bedroom and we quickly packed a bag for the two of us.  We
were joined by Manuel and Justin a few minutes later.  Apparently, Justin
had informed Manuel of the overnight plans, because he'd repacked all his
bags.  We loaded up the two vehicles. After a little discussion, it was
decided Manuel would ride with me in James' rented SUV while James and
Justin drove down in Justin's rental car.  This way we'd all get to spend
time with our friends.

We were just past Carlsbad when my cell phone rang.  I answered it with one
hand and was driving with the other.  Manuel went pale instantly.  He
always did whenever I drove one-handed.  For some reason he thinks that
fender bender a few years ago was the result of my using a cell phone.

"Dave." I said by way of answering the phone.

"Mark" came the reply. Okay, this guy was going from disliked to humorous
pretty quick.

"Speak." I said, not wanting to be the first to use more than one word.

"Thanks for the early wake up call and work on a Saturday.  You just get
brought on board and you're already giving me a headache."

"Good morning to you too." I responded.

"Hehe.  Okay, you can take a joke pretty good." Mark said with a little
chuckle.  "I've talked to Tom and JMS and we want you to go ahead and
respond to the e-mail.  Keep things as vague as possible about the actual
project, but use your judgment in other areas. JMS will confirm the
existence of the project, but not give more info.  He wants you to take the
lead on this."

"Okay, I'll respond when I get to San Diego.  I'll also try to get him on
the phone instead of over e-mail.  If I screw up, it'll be easier to
attribute it to a misunderstanding."

"Good plan, enjoy the show!" Mark said, then hung up. Manuel looked at me
for a moment.

"So they want you to actually respond, eh?" he asked.

"Yeah." I told him.

"You are so happy about this."

"Dammit, I hate you." I told him.  He was right.  This was turning out so
different than eight years ago.  I was actually starting to believe I'd see
my dream on the screen.  To me that was more valuable than the money I
stood to make.  The rest of the drive was consumed with us talking about
our lives, about my plans for the near and long term future. I tried
talking him into moving back to the West Coast, but he kept on throwing the
fact that he was happy at his current job back at me.  It's kind of hard to
argue with that one.

I lost Justin's car as we entered town, but he'd told me what hotel he was
at.  I'd been stationed here in the Navy and knew the area pretty well.
I'd also harbored a long-term desire to stay at this particular hotel.  It
seemed lately that all my desires and dreams were coming true.  Speaking of
desire, I almost rushed over to James as soon as we arrived at the back
entrance.  I had to wait until we were in the elevator before getting a
quick kiss.  Of course Justin and Manuel razzed us about it.

As soon as we were in Justin's suite, I instantly opened my laptop and
connected to the net while Manuel informed them of my conversation with
Mark.  I sent off a quick reply to the e-mail asking for a number to call
to talk over the phone.  I was surprised when a reply came before I'd done
more than kiss with James for a few minutes while Justin took Manuel to
introduce him to some people.  They came back a few minutes later and
Justin announced that he needed to go to the venue to take care of some
stuff.  Manuel was going with him, and James looked at me for permission.

"Go." I told him firmly.  "I need to take care of this."

"You are so lucky I understand the business." He told me, giving me a kiss
before following Justin and Manuel out the door.  I picked up my phone and
mentally prepared myself for my first news interview in a long time.  Some
people said this guy really wasn't a reporter, and they were right, but he
was somewhat influential and could generate positive buzz for the project
before the script was even finished.  I was willing to do everything I
could to make this project a success.  It was my dream after all.

"You're on." A voice said after four rings.

"Hi, this is Dave Young." I said a little hesitantly.

"OH!  Hello!  I can't believe you're calling already!"

"Yeah, well I must say I was surprised to get an e-mail from you.  I've
been reading your site for a long time and love it."

"You do?  Wow, not what I was expecting to hear.  People usually avoid me."

"Some people are afraid of critics." I said smugly.

"Wow, you sound awful confident."

"Your e-mail said you liked my first script.  You can't be that bad." I
joked.

"Hehe. Well, I did like it. Can you answer some of my questions?" he asked,
his voice getting all eager.

"Yeah, I can.  You can also say that you've gotten the scoop on this
too. No one else has picked it up yet and we weren't planning on announcing
anything for a couple of weeks."

"Oh, you know how to stroke my ego!" He said in an excited town.

"So, why don't you ask me some questions and we get on with this.  It's my
weekend off and I need to relax some."

"Okay, first off, can you tell me if Korvan Studios has picked up your
script for `Battle of Ganymede'?"

"They've done better than that." I started off, my tone showing my
excitement.  "I've just signed a deal to write & work on a six-hour
mini-series based on the original script.  They've also committed to at
least one season of a series based on that."

"Really?  How did this come about?"

"Well, I originally wrote the script eight years ago and sold it to a major
movie studio.  They canned the project before it went into production and
it never got made.  I decided to go back to college and get my degree.  A
few months ago, an old friend of mine was talking with JMS about ideas for
a new movie and showed him his copy of the script.  JMS loved it and was
thinking about trying to get a movie studio to buy it when he was
approached by Korvan with the idea of making a mini-series and series.  He
thought my script could fit the bill and had my friend try to get in touch
with me."

"Wow, what have you been doing while all this was happening?" he asked.

"I've been working for the last three years out in Phoenix at a regular
job." I told him, trying to be as vague as possible.

"So, who was this friend and how did they contact you?"

"Uh, it was Luke Perry. He saw me at a charity event here in L.A. and told
me that something was in the works.  I flew back out this week and met with
the studio.  We signed a deal yesterday."

"Wow, so what's the mini-series going to be about?"

"Well, you've read the original script, right?"

"Yes, but my readers haven't."

"True. Well, I don't want to go into too many details yet.  I mean the
movie script was for two hours, and the mini-series will be six. I haven't
even had a chance to write the script so I can't give too much in the way
of details yet.  The basic premise focused on four characters, but given
the new format that number will probably be expanded.  It's a standard
sci-fi slash alien invasion story, but with a major twist.  The mini-series
will introduce our characters, their environment, and the threat they face.
The series will likely detail their struggles in the aftermath of the
mini-series events."

"Wow, well I read your original script and I have to say that struck me the
most about it were the characters.  I mean every sci-fi show these days can
have good graphics and lots of explosions, but your characters are
something different.  They have so many layers, so much depth that I felt
myself wishing I was there with them.  I mean I loved most of `em and there
were a few that I absolutely hated, but even the ones I hated, I enjoyed."
He could be so long --winded, but this was a question I was glad he
asked.

"That's what I went for in that script, and what I'm going for in the
series.  Good stories, even sci-fi stories are made by the characters that
inhabit it.  I don't care how damn good the special effects are, if people
don't love, and hate, the characters, the story is no good."

 "So, your story will be about the people more than the sci-fi?" he asked.

"No, my story will be about the people in an fictional environment and
about what happens to them and to those they care about.  It's sci-fi at
its core, I mean most of it takes place in and around one of Jupiter's
moons.  But the people in the story, they are what will make things work."

"Okay, so you're writing the script.  Are you involved in this project in
other roles?"

"Yes, I'm an Associate Producer.  JSM is acting as Executive Producer and
Luke Perry will be Producer.  We haven't hired a director, or cast yet.
Hell, I haven't even quit my old job yet!"

"You've signed a deal this big and you haven't quit your old job yet?" he
asked incredulously.

"Well, I need to give them two-week notice."

"Let me get this straight, you sign a major Hollywood deal reportedly worth
millions, and you don't just quit your job?"

"No.  I love the people I work with.  They've been good to me over the last
few years and I'm not going to leave them in the lurch like that."

"You know, there's not a lot of people like that in Hollywood."

"Well, there's one more now." I told him, my voice hard.

"Okay, okay.  A few more questions for you." He said, changing gears real
fast.  Of course his next question did not improve his status with me.

"What's this I hear about you and Chad Allen being an item?"

"We're not." I said simply.

"So you're not gay?"

"I didn't say that." I replied quickly. "I'm gay, but I'm not dating Chad
Allen.  We met many years ago when he was involved with someone else.  We
got carried away the other week when we saw each other for the first time
in years.  That's all."

"Oh, so where are you right now?" Okay, now my internal alarms were going
off.

"San Diego." I said.

"Isn't Justin Timberlake doing a concert there tonight?"

"Yeah, him and Christina Aguilera and a few other people."  I answered.

"Are you going?" he asked.

"Yeah.  My best friend is a big fan and flew out to see it." I told him,
prevaricating a little.

"Is that the guy who was pictured with you, Lance Bass, and Justin last
night?"  Shit, he'd seen that article.

"Yeah, we were showing Manuel a night out on the town, Hollywood style." I
said, hoping this wouldn't get ugly.

"Cool.  How do you know Lance & Justin?"

"Lance and I met a while ago through business and struck up a
friendship. His PA quit the other week and I came out to L.A. to help him
out until his Agency could send a replacement.  He's been nice enough to
let me stay with him while I was in town."

"Is that all?" he asked, and I knew what he was fishing for.

"No, not really.  When I came out here to talk to the studio, I thought
they just wanted the television rights.  Instead they offered this deal and
I needed someone familiar with the business to talk to me.  Lance agreed to
act as my agent and got me all hooked up. So now we have a business
relationship.  I'm also helping him out a bit with some of his work
whenever he needs my help. I'll probably be renting a room from him for the
first few months that I'm working in Hollywood.  I'm going to be way to
busy to look for my own place."

"Oh, wow.  Sounds like you lucked out there, too."

"Yeah, I've had a real lucky month so far." I told him.  "Is that it?  I
promised them I'd get to the venue before they finished sound checks."

"Sure, thanks for your time.  I hope you'll be willing to talk some more
about your project in the future."

"Definitely, just shoot me an e-mail." I told him. "Oh, yeah. I'll see
about getting you on-set once we start shooting.  I think you'll like what
you see."

"Really? That would be great!  Talk to you later!" He said before hanging
up. I leaned back and wrote down some notes about what'd told him,
especially regarding my relationship to James.  I didn't want us to get our
stories messed up.  When I was done, I headed downstairs and got into my
SUV.  There were teenage girls out front, but I was just another hotel
guest leaving to them.  It wasn't until I got to the venue that I realized
I might have trouble getting in.

Sure enough, the guard at the gate flat out refused me entry. Worse, he
called the tour manager who said he'd never heard of me.  By this time, the
guard was ordering me to leave as I was pulling out my cell phone.  The
guard overreacted and pulled his weapon on me, ordering me out of the truck
and calling an emergency into his radio.

Now, I was in the Navy and this guy's hand was shaking so bad I had little
doubt I could have kicked his ass, gun or no gun.  I resisted the
temptation though and got out of the vehicle with my hands up.  When he saw
that I was holding a cell phone, he had the temerity to order me to drop
it.  Of course, I'd already hit the speed dial by touch and James had
answered.  I could hear his voice saying "Hello" over and over again.
Before he could hang up, I said calmly to the guard.

"Look, I know we're in front of the venue and there has to be press around.
You don't want a scene, do you?"

"Drop the phone!" the guard ordered, pointing his gun for emphasis.

"Look, buddy." I said as I kneeled down and put the phone on the ground,
speaker side up.  "You don't want that gun to go off and hit an unarmed man
who's an invited guest here."

"The tour manager has never heard of you!" the poor guy was yelling as two
security carts, and a police car pulled up.  Everyone got out of their
vehicles with guns raised.  The police rushed over and ordered me onto the
pavement, then through the routine of cuffing me.  They were a lot rougher
than they needed to be, I was sad to realize. I understand cops have to
worry about criminals hurting them, but sometimes they can be way too
rough.

The security guys radios all started to go off at the same time, and I
could hear someone yelling as they officers read me my rights and started
walking me towards their patrol car.  As they put me in the back seat, I
looked and saw Justin, James, and Manuel running up with about five other
people in tow.  Justin was yelling at the security people while James
rushed over to the officers who were getting into their squad car.  Both
men tensed as he ran up, but quickly relaxed when the younger officer
recognized him and told the other officer who it was.

"Release him, now!" James ordered the cops.

"We can't.  The arena security has charged him with trespassing and
disturbing the peace."

"He's a GUEST of the star of tonight's concert!" James was almost shouting
now.  I couldn't help chuckling in the back seat of the squad car.  This
was just too much.

"Officers, I'm afraid there's been some confusion here." A new arrival
said.  I looked and from the bars on the guy's uniform, I assumed he was
the head of the venue security.

"That much is obvious." The older officer said with a snort.

"Our security guard overreacted when Mr. Timberlake's guest did not appear
on the approved list.  Apparently he was a late addition and the new list
did not reach the post in time."

"Well, didn't he contact the tour manager?" the younger officer asked.

"Apparently the tour manager heard the wrong name.  We've been having
problems with static on the radios today."

"Oh, Jerry, release the guy." The older officer told the younger one.  He
opened the back door and unlocked the hand cuff. James started to move
towards me but stopped when I looked at him.  I rubbed my right wrist,
which was sore from the rough treatment earlier.

"Lance, do they have an EMT here?" I asked him instead.

"Actually, they have an RN, why? He asked worriedly.

"My wrist is numb and I think I have a few scrapes that need to be
cleaned."

"Oh, okay." He turned to the security chief and asked him to call for the
RN.  The cops got a worried look on their faces and I turned to the older
one.

"I know that it's dangerous being a cop these days." I said calmly, looking
him right in the eyes.  "But you might want to think in the future about
just how much force is necessary in a given situation.  I don't want any
press coverage right now, or I'd really think about having a chat with your
supervisor.  Just remember this in the future."

"Yes, sir." The man said quickly.  He got in his car, as did his partner
and they drove off rather hurriedly.  Lance walked beside me as I made my
way back to the SUV.  The guard who had pointed his weapon at me came up
and started apologizing.  I was in a bad mood now and decided to teach him
a lesson.

"You need to think more in the future." I told him, my voice rock hard like
I had learned years ago.  "What happened here today is the result of pure
stupidity and major overreaction.  When you saw that I was only getting a
cell phone, you should have backed down.  A quick phone call would have
settled this without any police or all this ruckus."

"Yes, sir." He said meekly.  Justin was in a rage and had to say something
at this point.

"He should be fired for drawing his gun on my friend!" Justin shouted at
the security chief.

"That's their decision, Justin, but I really wasn't any danger anyway." I
told him.

"How can you say that? He had his gun pointed at you!"

"Easy, he forgot to take the safety off.  Plus it's an original model
Beretta.  If I thought he was going to shoot me, I would have stripped the
slide off it before he got the safety off.  Those guns are useless against
someone who knows what to do and is as close as I was."

"How do you know that?" the Security chief asked.

"He worked with guns in the Navy." Manuel said, a small smile on his
face. "Trust me, you don't want to get him pissed off at you when a gun is
nearby.  I've been shooting with him before. He even helped me pick out a
gun when I wanted to buy one.  I almost bought one of those Berettas until
he showed me how easy the came apart."

"Oh." The security chief looked at me oddly, as did James and Justin.

"I don't own guns." I told them.  "They are usually more dangerous to
innocent people than to criminals.  That's what police are for."

"You still surprise me." James said softly so that only I could hear him.

"James, I hope we keep surprising each other for years." I told him
honestly.  By this time, the nurse had shown up and didn't find anything
too wrong with my wrist.  She thought it was probably just sprained.  We
finally got everything sorted out and all got in the SUV. James drove us up
to the actual venue and we all got out and went inside.

We had lunch there while Justin worked with his staff on stuff for the
show.  James was right there with them most of the time and I got to see
him really in his element.  I could tell he loved performing, and that part
of him missed it a lot.  I worried about that for a bit, but spent most of
my time talking with Manuel.  As show time neared, Justin introduced us to
Christina and the other people performing with them.  I could tell Manuel
was all excited, but music had never really been my thing.  As the show got
closer to starting, James led Manuel and I to a VIP box that had been
reserved for us.  There were other VIPs there, and I even recognized a few.
James spent most of the time before the show chatting with different people
there, but came and sat by me when the show started.  As the lights were
switched off and the suite became darker, his hand found mine and we sat
like that through the show.

Was the show good?  If you're a Justin Timberlake fan, I recommend going
and seeing it. Christina was good too.  Her song "Beautiful" made me cry a
bit and squeeze James' hand tighter.  Unfortunately, I'm not a big pop fan,
enjoying my Pink Floyd, Metallica, Linkin Park and others a lot more.
However, I would be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed it. Hell, I enjoyed the
NSYNC concert that one time Manuel convinced me to go.  What made this one
special though, was sitting next to James for the whole thing.  Manuel
enjoyed it a lot more.  He was constantly moving in his seat and I could
tell from the wide grin that he was in heaven.  We waited in that suite for
about twenty minutes before heading backstage.  The party had already
started and we joined in.  Maybe it was the stress of the day, or just the
fun atmosphere but I was drunk within an hour.

Maybe an hour and half after we joined the party, Justin decided we all
needed to go out.  He ordered a limo and within twenty minutes, the five of
us (Christina Aguilera joined us) were heading out to party.  We stopped at
one of the best clubs in San Diego and walked past the long lines and into
the club.  I was getting very use to this start treatment.

We were all sitting in a booth an hour later when Manuel struck. He has
this thing about convincing me to do weird things and he can always tell
when I'm just drunk enough to go along with his scheme.  He was the reason
Chuck always warned me not to come back with new tattoos, piercings, or
colored hair.

"So, did your boss warn you about coming back with new tattoos, piercings,
or dyed hair?" Manuel shouted over the music.  Everyone's eyes were on me
now.

"Yes!" I blushed.

"That's too bad." Manuel said, and he did look sad.

"Why?" I asked.  Oh, yes, stupid, drunk Davey.

"'Cause I saw this tat that would be perfect on your arm!"

"Really?" I asked. Oh yeah.  Get me drink and I lose brain cells fast.
"What kind?"

"Well it was this kanji symbol that goes great with the ones you have."

"You have tattoos?" Justin shouted.

"Yeah!" I answered and hopped up until I was standing on the seat.  I
raised both my pant legs and turned so he could see both legs.  "See!"

"Cool!" Justin shouted as I sat down.  "What do they mean?"

"Truth on the left, Honor on the right" I told him.

"I was thinking that love would look perfect on your upper arm." Manuel
added in.

"We could get matching symbols!" James shouted excitedly.  That was it.  We
were back in the limo and headed for a tattoo parlor.  Sure enough, we
found one on University Street in the Hillcrest district.  An hour later,
James and I walked out with matching tats on our upper right arms.  Manuel
was smirking.  He had more pictures of me getting a tattoo for his photo
album.  Oh yeah, they had this bad ass hoop ring that goes in the upper
left ear as well. I couldn't resist it and he got a picture of my new
piercing too.

"Well, at least I didn't color my hair." I muttered as the limo drove down
the street.  Christina wanted to go to a gay bar since we were in the area.
I told the driver where to go and soon enough we were in one of my old
haunts.  Heck, it was the bar where I'd met Luke, Chad, and a few other
people.  It wasn't as busy as I remembered, but it was busy enough.  And
the drinks were even stronger.  Two drinks later I found myself on the
dance floor, shirt off (I actually never did find that shirt), and James in
front of me as we danced.  A break and a drink later, we were back on the
dance floor, doing our version of dirty dancing.  From the looks we were
getting, and what Manuel told me later (after he was safely home and out of
my reach) we were pretty sexy that night.

I wish I could remember more, but we had one more drink after that and I
passed out in the limo.  At least James was nice enough to hold my head in
his lap.  The last thing I felt was him running his hands through my hair
and commenting I needed a hair cut.

At least the bad day was over.

***

Yes, to be continued.