Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 09:50:36 -0500 From: music teacher <musicteacher2002@hotmail.com> Subject: "This is the Night" chapter 5 Disclaimer: I have an overactive imagination, the result of which is this story. I do not know Clay Aiken or any other celebrities mentioned in this story, and I do not intend to imply anything about their true sexualities. Simply file this in the "Wouldn't it be nice..?" portion of your mind. Also, if you are under legal age to be reading this sort of stuff (18 in most areas), then leave now. All the rest of you who ARE of age, please enjoy my little mind trip away from the land of reality. *** CHAPTER 5 *** I think the best word to describe my mood for the last few school days would be "floating." I was in a wonderful mood, with a huge grin plastered permanently on my face. Of course I was sad because I had to say goodbye to my students for the summer, but I would see them again in a few months. Meg, one of my closest co-workers, noticed my mood. "Randy, what's going on with you? If I didn't know better, I'd say you met someone!" "What do you mean, `If I didn't know better'? Why don't you know better?" I said, grinning (of course). The surprise was evident on her face. "You met someone?! I want details!" She sat down at one of the tables in the teacher's lounge and looked at me expectantly. Details? She wanted details? I realized that I couldn't even tell her my boyfriend's *name*, much less give her details. Still, I did the best I could. "Well, we met on Friday night at the furniture store of all places. He was buying one of the beds Lee was looking at." "Ohhhh, that's convenient," Meg said with a wink. "Meet in the beds section, get all that taken care of right away..." "Meg!" I said, shocked. For a woman pushing fifty, she sure had a dirty mind! "You know I'm looking for more than that!" "I know, I know," she said. "But it's fun to see that look on your face." "Yeah, yeah...ANYWAY...He and I went to lunch on Saturday, and then he came over to watch movies on Sunday. That's when Lee decided to be all sneaky." I relayed the story to her about what Lee had done. She cracked up. "Remind me to give that boy a hug the next time I see him. It's about time *someone* gave you the kick in the ass you need!" "Yeah, well...I'm glad he did it, too, I guess." I couldn't keep from blushing. "You really like this guy, huh?" Meg seemed genuinely happy for me. "Yeah..." I said, blushing deeper and looking down at my hands. "So then I'm sure he must have a name..." she prompted me. I looked up quickly. Shit. How was I going to answer this one? "Well....uh....yes, of course he does. I just don't really want to say because I don't want to jinx anything..." It was the best excuse I could come up with. "OK, well, I guess that's fair..." I'm not sure she really bought it, but there wasn't much I could do about that at this point. Luckily, it was time for both of us to get back to our rooms, so we wished each other good luck with the rest of the day (a little tradition we had built up over the year) and went our separate ways. The incident with Meg really got me thinking, though. I had realized all along that Clay was famous. I guess what I didn't realize, though, was how much that would affect our relationship. I mean, here I was, forced to hide his identity from one of my closest friends. I had never been so excited about a new relationship, and yet I couldn't really tell anyone. Sigh...this was so ironic, Alanis Morissette would be proud. So that got me thinking about the relationship. What else would I have to hide? How long would it be before the tabloids started rumors? Would I be able to handle all of this? Thank goodness my next class came, or else I might have driven myself insane right then and there. The next couple of days passed fairly quickly, and were rather uneventful. Of course I talked to Clay often, and even saw him briefly a couple of times, but with the end of the school year came lots of extra little things to do, and I was incredibly busy. Clay was equally busy with publicity for his single. His single was apparently *far* outselling Ruben's. This came as no surprise to me, but then I might be a bit biased. Needless to say, both Clay and I were very relieved to have a night off. I decided that I would surprise Clay by making him dinner. I don't cook often, because it's usually just me in my apartment, and it's no fun to cook for one person. When I do cook, though, I'm pretty good at it. Dinner was going to be lasagna, with freshly baked garlic bread and salad. Nothing too incredibly complicated, but I knew we were both fans of Italian food. I told Clay to arrive at my place at 8:00 sharp. That gave me plenty of time. I set about preparing the food. While the lasagna was baking, I got dressed. I had bought a new shirt for tonight - an olive button down from Bachrach. I wore the shirt over a light-colored pair of slacks. When I was satisfied with my appearance, I glanced at the clock to see what time it was. 7:45. Perfect. The lasagna was done, so I put the garlic bread in the oven, and set the table. I lit a couple of candles, placed them on the table, and dimmed the lights. No sooner had I done that than Clay arrived. I should have known he would be early. I opened the door to the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. Clay was dressed in a black suit jacket and pants over a royal blue shirt. "Hey there, beautiful," he said, before pulling a single red rose from behind his back. And I thought *I* was the one doing the surprising tonight! "Please come in," I said after I regained the ability to speak. Clay walked in and saw everything I had set up for our night. "Wow, what's all this?" he asked. "I thought we'd stay in tonight. I made dinner, and thought we could watch a movie or something." "You cooked? That's so sweet!" "It was no trouble, really," I told him. "Well, I have a better idea of what we can do after dinner..." Clay said, raising an eyebrow suggestively. "Oh really?" I asked, moving in closer to him. "Yeah," he said, moving so that his face was mere inches from mine. "It's a beautiful night...we could take a drive..." "That sounds nice. Where would we go?" Clay turned and started walking away. "The emergency room. We might need it if YOU cooked dinner..." he said, quickly ducking behind my couch. "What?! I can't believe you!" I said, chasing after him. I trapped him in a corner and slowly walked toward him. "Take it back," I warned him. "Or what?" he taunted me. "Or I might do this..." I resorted to my best weapon - tickling. I had discovered that Clay was as ticklish, if not more so, than Lee quite by accident one day. We had been laying on my couch, and I was idly running my hand up and down his chest. I let my hands wander down to his stomach, and was practically thrown off of him onto the floor by his wriggling and giggling. Needless to say, tickling worked very well in getting Clay to surrender that night. "OK, OK, stop! I'm sure your cooking is wonderful!" he said. I stopped tickling him, and just held him in my arms. "Damn right it is." I gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Now come on, the food's getting cold." I took Clay's hand and led him to the dining room. I was the perfect gentleman, pulling Clay's chair out for him. When the food had been served, I went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of wine. I poured us both a glass and joined Clay at the table. "This looks great, Randy. I can't believe you went to all this trouble!" "It really wasn't much trouble at all. We haven't been able to spend much time together this week, so I thought I would do something special." "Well, you succeeded," he said, smiling at me. We ate our dinner in relative silence, just enjoying the food (which was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself) and the company. In the background, soft jazz music played. We finished dinner, and I cleared the table as Clay sat on the couch. When I came out to join him, he stood up. "May I have this dance?" he asked, holding out his hand. "I would love to," I said, and took his hand. He pulled me close, holding my hand to his chest, and I laid my head on his shoulder. We swayed gently to the music. When the song was over, Clay grabbed me in a big hug. We stayed in each other's arms, and looked into each other's eyes. I leaned in and kissed him gently. When the kiss was over, we walked over to the couch. "Oh!" Clay said suddenly. "Before I forget, the record company is throwing a party tomorrow night. Something about celebrating the success of my single, blah, blah, blah...I think they`re just looking for an excuse to throw a party. Anyway, I say if I have to go, you have to go. What do you say?" "That sounds like it could be fun. Sure! Who all will be there?" "I'm not sure. I know for sure Kim Locke will be there. Possibly Simon, Paula, and Randy. Carmen said she would try to make it." "Awesome! I'm looking forward to meeting all of them!" I said enthusiastically. The way Clay talked about them, I felt like I knew them already. "Why don't you ask Lee if he wants to come, too?" Clay said. "Oh, wow, he would love that!" I said. Lee may not have been *as* big a fan of American Idol as I was, but he definitely loved the show Plus, if there was a chance that he could meet some of the "gay male eye candy" (his term, though I definitely agreed) over which he had drooled for two seasons, I was sure he would jump at the opportunity. "Great! I can't wait to introduce you to everyone," Clay said. He sounded excited. I was suddenly feeling a bit queasy. "Yeah," I said. "That'll be...fun..." Clay didn't buy it for a second. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. I looked at him. "Clay, how exactly are you going to introduce me to other people?" I asked him seriously. "I've been thinking about that," he said, equally seriously. "I was thinking that I would simply say `This is Randy.' That way, I won't be lying to anybody." "You're right, it's not. But won't some people wonder why I'm at this party?" "Nah - it's my party, I can invite whomever I want. And like I said before, I'm only going if you're going. So if I can't go, the party will be kind of a bust." "Does anyone know about us?" I asked. "Well, I told Kimberley, of course, and Carmen. Other than that, though, I haven't told anybody. Is it OK that they know?" "Of course! I just want to know who I have to be more careful around, you know?" "Oh, I'd still be careful around Kim and Carmen," said Clay, smiling. "They're so anxious to meet you, they'll probably give you the third degree all night. They've both mentioned that you have to `pass inspection' or something along those lines." "Haha, well, I think I can handle that. I'm looking forward to meeting them, too." "But," he said, turning serious again, "we will have to be careful about reporters and such. I'm still new to all of this celeb stuff, and I already get annoyed by it." I sighed. "We'll just be careful. That's all we can do, right?" "Right." "So," I said, leaning my body closer to Clay's, "let's not worry about it. Tomorrow night is tomorrow night. Let's concentrate on tonight. How about that movie?" We selected a movie and cuddled together on the couch as we watched it. When it was over, I looked up at Clay, and saw that he had fallen asleep. I smiled, sat up, and put my hand to his cheek. "Clay, wake up, baby," I said softly. "Movie's over." "Mmmm, don't wanna wake up...too tired..." he mumbled like a little kid. I laughed gently. "Too bad," I said, shaking him a bit. "Besides, you'd get a stiff neck if you slept like that all night." He sighed. "Oh, fine." He stood and let out a large yawn. His eyes still weren't completely open, and I realized that he was probably too tired to drive home. "Clay? Do you want to stay here tonight?" I asked him tentatively. "Mmmm, sure," he said, still mumbling. Poor guy, I thought. The constantly busy schedule was really taking its toll on him. We both got ready for bed. I changed into a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, while Clay wore his undershirt and boxers. We climbed in bed, and I immediately snuggled up to him. "Goodnight," I said, looking up at him. He was already asleep. He had a contented look on his face, I smiled, kissed his forehead, and laid my head on his chest. I normally do not sleep well at all when there is someone else in the bed with me. In college, I would often tell my guy-of-the-moment to leave (or I would leave myself, if we were in his room) after we were done. I'm just normally a person who needs space in bed. Don't get me wrong - I *love* cuddling, but when it comes to sleeping, I usually need space. With Clay, however, it was different. I was able to fall asleep right away cuddled up to him. I'm not quite sure why I was able to do that. Maybe I felt safer with Clay. Maybe it was because I was afraid it was all a dream, and I wanted to hang onto it as long as possible before waking up. Or maybe it was because I was falling in... Nah, that couldn't be it... Could it? *** That's it for another chapter! Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying reading the story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Thanks to everyone who has written in! As always, please send your comments and/or suggestions to musicteacher2002@hotmail.com Thanks yet again to Lee for being my editor for this chapter! An additional thanks goes to my dear friends Scott and Paul for their help with additional editing. I love you both!