Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 03:45:44 -0800 (PST)
From: JB <jbcs3@yahoo.com>
Subject: To Where Life Takes Me Chapter 1 (jb) (M rom) [1/?]

Title: To Where Life Takes Me
Author: JB (jbcs3@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer:This work is fiction. All characters present within this story
are property of the writer. Please contact me if you wish to put this story
on your website. Also, if you are underage (18 or 21, depending on your
location) or otherwise prohibited from viewing this material, please do not
read this and go elsewhere.

This is my first time writing something on my own without any specific
prompts given to me like in school. As a result, constructive criticism,
feedback, or questions is greatly appreciated. My email address is
jbcs3@yahoo.com. Thanks and I hope you enjoy the story.

To Where Life Takes Me
Chapter One - An Introduction

	A young man straightened his tie as he ran down the staircase of
his lavish house. Only at the young age of 18, Nick Myers lives a life that
most people can only dream of. Generations ago, his great grandparents came
to the United States and established themselves a small restaurant which
they named "Clover". The small restaurant quickly became popular among the
rich and privileged and as time passed, the small restaurant went through
many renovations. As the restaurant expanded, so did the popularity. The
new "Clover", in the present, is one of the most contemporary and upscale
restaurant in Houston. The restaurant is still family owned, even to this
very day. The current owners of Clover just happens to be the parents of
Nick. As a result, the wealth accumulated over the years has grown giving
the Myers family a very comfortable lifestyle.

	Midway down the stairs, Nick spotted Jeff who was close to the
entrance of the house.

	"Hey, Jeff? When's the party starting again?" Nick asked the
family's long time butler.

	"Your parents said you needed to be at the restaurant by 7:00,"
Jeffrey responded.

	"Ah shit, looks like I'm gonna be like 30 minutes late," Nick said
looking his watch and reading 7:00. "Man, I wished mom and dad didn't force
me to attend Rice University so I wouldn't have had to stay here in
Houston. Houston traffic sucks!"

	"Well, the car's outside waiting for you, sir. Oh, you may want to
check your tie again," Jeff reminded him.

	"Ugh, you'd think after putting this stupid thing on so many times
since I was born, I'd eventually get it," complained Nick.

	Nick walked over to the bathroom just below the left stairs of the
double staircase that led to the second floor of their house. He looked at
himself in the mirror. Nick examined himself carefully wincing at the
sight.

	"Huh, it was crooked," he said to himself silently. He was wearing
his newly tailored black suit with a black dress shirt underneath. His tie
was metallic silver and his shoes were also black. He always loved wearing
black. He frowned knowing that he wasn't going to enjoy the rest of the
night. He hated going to the parties that his parents made him go to. There
was never anyone interesting, he thought.

	Nick stands just slightly below 6 feet tall. He has brunette hair
and amazing blue green eyes that sparkle like the ocean waters during
midday. Underneath all that clothing, Nick had a swimmer's build. He wasn't
too muscular and he liked that. He was proud of his body after putting in
so many gym hours just to get it the way he wanted it to be. Ever since he
was born, he was always an attractive child, men and women thought so.

After straightening everything, Nick exited the bathroom and double checked
everything. He had his wallet, keys, and of course, his favorite gum,
Icebreakers, with him. His parents always hated his gum addiction.
Everywhere he went, he always had his Icebreakers, even his friends know it
and as a result, he's constantly the source of relief for any gum
necessities.

	Nick hurriedly exited the house leaving the door open for Jeff to
close. He sighed as he waved goodbye to Jeff who was standing at the
doorway of house. He got into the BMW 740i that was waiting for him in the
circle driveway.

	"Good evening, Nick," greeted the driver as he pulled out of the of
the driveway and out of the property's gates.

	"Hey Dave," Nick retorted.

	"Not looking' forward to the party, huh?" asked Dave.

	"Nope, not at all. What's it for this time anyhow? Mom never tells
me anything."

	"I heard it was a party for the launch of some artist's new album
or something like that."

	"Oh fun, another one of those. Last time I went to one of those
album launch parties, it was the one for Beyonce's solo album. That was
actually kinda fun." Nick smiled remembering meeting Beyonce for the first
time. "Yeah, Beyonce even gave me an autographed copy of her album."

	"Ah, hmm. I think this one's for some new artist named Adam
Barnes."

	"Well, let's hope this one would be at least kinda fun." Nick
thought out loud.

	`And maybe some cute guys too...' Nick hoped silently.

	He looked outside his window as the car traveled closer and closer
to the restaurant. He wished he was driving his own car instead of being
chauffeured, but he never really minded Dave's company. Dave's the second
of the two drivers that the family hired. He was mostly a part time worker
seeing as he's usually only responsible for driving Nick around.

	`The good thing about being driven around is that I can actually
just observe the places that I pass.' Nick thought. He loved just watching
people. Not in some scary stalker kind of way, but he loved to sometimes
just sit in a quaint little coffee shop and just watch the cars and people
pass by. That's the one thing he loved about Houston, the diversity of the
people. Of course, the traffic sucks.

	"We should be there before 7:30, Nick," said Dave, interrupting the
silence.

	"Okay, at least the traffic's not so bad around this time. And
sorry about making you wait. I just couldn't get this damn tie straight."
Nick apologized.

	"Hah! You owe me one, dude," Dave said while chuckling.

	Nick sighed.

	The drive to Clover usually wasn't long. It usually took Nick 15
minutes to get from the River Oaks mansion to the restaurant which was
located in the Upper Kirby area. However, during rush hour, it took around
25 minutes to get to the restaurant since everyone's either trying to go
home or find some place to eat.

	The rest of the car ride was silent with the exception of the music
of Mixx 96.5 playing in the background.

	`This is going to be a looong night' Nick thought. He readied
himself for the night's events while staring out the window in an almost
dreamlike state.

	The dreamlike state was broken when he realized the car was pulling
up to the front of the restaurant.

	"Here we are, man," explained Dave.

	"Yep, here we go," said Nick with a reluctant sigh.

	`Cute guys, cute guys, cute guys...' thought Nick, smiling as he got
out of the car.

	Nick was greeted by the flash of the camera lights when he exited
the car. The first time Nick went to of these socialite type of events, he
was surprised by all the media attention. He was never comfortable in the
eyes of the public, but he's gotten used to it, accepted it.
	As soon as he started to walk thru the little red carpet leading to
the very stylized restaurant, he was asked a barrage of questions.

	"Nick, Nick, do you know who this artist is?" asked a reporter.

	"Nick! Do you like his music?" asked another.

	"Nick! Is it true that you're gay?!?!," asked one more.

	That question made Nick stumble a little bit as he walked by. He's
always known that he was never attracted very much to girls. Even
throughout high school, he never dated very much. He was a popular kid
during this years, and even now he still maintains a close friendship with
many of the people he met in high school. Still, Nick with his good looks
and charms, was liked by many girls and some of the guys. He played the
`straight' role for a little bit. Dating here a girl here and there, but
never doing anything more than a kiss with them. With the exception of his
circle of friends, not a lot of people knew about Nick's family's wealth
and he liked it that way. He figured people could actually like him for who
he actually is instead of being friends with him just so they can get into
the best places all around town.

	`Ugh, god damn reporters. Can't mind their own fucking business,'
thought Nick.

	Nick was ushered into the restaurant where familiar sights and
sounds filled his senses. Everywhere he looked he saw people dressed almost
exactly alike. Most of the men were wearing suits and most women were
wearing that little black dress that's become so very popular lately.

	Nick took a glass of champagne from the passing caterer holding a
tray of champagne filled glasses as he made his way through the crowds. He
made his way over to where his parents were talking with what seemed like a
possible investor.

	"Hi Mom, Dad," Nick said as he paid his formalities.

	"Hey, kid. Took ya long enough to get here," his dad replied.

	"Nice to see you honey," his mom replied.

	Nick took the initiative and shook the hand of the pudgy man who
his parents were talking to. "Hi, my name is Nicholas Myers," he said as he
shook the man's hand.

	"Pleased to meet you, Nick," the man said as he grinned. "I've been
looking forward to meeting you for so long. Your parents talk about you all
the time. Oh, where are my manners. *laughs* My name is Calvin Holmes."

	`Great, time to play nice.' Nick thought as he gave his best fake
smile. "Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom," Nick said to escape.

	Mr. Holmes just laughed as if he realized he was making Nick
uncomfortable.

	Nick passed the time by saying his formalities to all the guests in
the party. He knew a lot of these people were friends of his parents, so he
had to make a good impression. Sometimes Nick thought that being born into
wealth was a curse, not a blessing.

	Tired of the party scene, Nick went outside to the terraces on the
second floor of the restaurant. He absolutely loved this view. When he was
out there on a clear night, he could see the stars just sparkling like
diamonds placed on the midnight blue canvas of the night sky. If he looked
to his right, he could see the bright lights of the skyscrapers in downtown
Houston. He smiled as he remembered just how beautiful Houston can really
be especially if you're traveling at night on the 59 or 45 freeways and the
skyline composed of the many skyscrapers with the various lights seems to
go by in a blur.

	He took a sip of the champagne he had in right hand.

	"Aren't you too young to be drinkin' that?" asked a soft tenor
voice from behind Nick.

	"Excuse me?" Nick asked as he turned around. The sight of the man
behind him made him weak at his knees. There stood in front of him, the
epitome of beauty. Nick estimated his height to be around 6'2 and thought
he looked like he was in his late 20`s. He had short blonde hair, and the
bluest eyes Nick's ever seen that was accentuated by the man`s high
cheekbones and jaw line. Nick could tell right away that the man was
slightly muscular, but just the perfect amount of muscle and definition.
Enough muscle to make any shirt taut over the chest area to hint of hard
worked pectorals and a slim waist that was probably size 30. He was wearing
a blue dress shirt with black pants and black shoes. He looked slightly out
of place from the rest of the people in the restaurant.

	"You, too young, that's champagne, is it not?" asked the man.

	"Oh! This, um, yeah, it's champagne, but my parents don't mind as
long as I only have one glass. They've been letting me drink this since I
was sixteen and started going to these types of things." rambled Nick.

	The man just grinned, moving towards the terrace's end where he
leaned on the marble that formed the railings. "I just had to get outta
there," the man explained.

	Nick joined him along, trying his best not to look at the
temptation standing right beside him. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he said
while peering at the view of the rest of Upper Kirby.

	There they stood for a few minutes in silence as if basking in the
view in front of them. It was a nice comfortable silence, not one of these
silences where you're expecting someone to say something or don't know what
to say.

	"So, just exactly how old are ya, kid?" asked the man, breaking the
silence.

	"18," Nick replied.

	"Ah," the man said. Slight pause, "My name's Josh. Josh Bell."

	"Nice to meet you, my name's Nick Myers." retorted Nick.

	"Wait, are you the son of the owners?" he asked.

	"The youngest one, yeah," Nick said after thinking about his older
brother, Steve.

	More silence followed the short exchange of words between the two.

	"Niiiiick," cried a woman's voice.

	"Damn, that's my mom. I've been spotted," Nick said as if
complaining.

	His mom approached the two. She gave Josh an acknowledging
smile. "Come on Nick, the music guys are about to start," she said.

	"Fine, mom. I'm coming," he replied back. Nick turned toward Josh,
"I guess I'll see ya later."

	"Nice meetin' ya too, kid," Josh said and followed it with a small
chuckle.

	`Damn, I didn't even to talk to him for that long.' thought Nick as
he was getting dragged through the crowds by his mother.

	He was led to the back of the restaurant where a small stage was
located. He knew that this new artist would be playing soon. All Nick could
do was hope that the set was actually pretty acceptable. Nick wasn't hard
to impress when it came he music. He could basically listen to anything
except for like really heavy metal.

	"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for adding the launch party of
Adam Barnes' new CD, "Eternity"!" said a short bald headed man in the
middle of the stage. "Now here's the man of the hour, Adam Barnes!"

	Nick looked to the right side of the stage where a guy about 22
years old made his toward the stage carrying his acoustic guitar. He had
that kind of classic skater look. That same look that many punk and rock
music people seem to love wearing. Tight t-shirt, jeans, belt with silver
studs, and a leather wrist bracelet was what he was wearing. You could tell
that he was a pretty good looking guy. He had black hair, around 5'8, and
had brown eyes. Just from how his clothes fit, you can automatically see
that he was pretty thin yet his muscles were clearly defined.

	"Hey, everyone. Thanks again for coming. I'm gonna play a few songs
for y'all if y'all don't mind," he said. And he did. He was actually pretty
good. He was like a weird mix of John Mayer and Jason Mraz.

	Nick made his way over to the table where Adam was giving away
signed CD's.

	"Hey man, I liked your set," Nick said.

	"Thanks, dude. I felt kind of weird playing that type of music in
this type of restaurant," he said with a laugh. He gave Nick a signed copy
of the CD. "Enjoy."

	"I will! Thanks again," Nick said and flashed Adam a smile.

	`Huh, he's actually pretty cute. Wonder if he's going to stay here
in Houston for a little bit' Nick pondered.

	Nick wandered around the restaurant, hoping to catch Josh around
still. With avail, Nick headed for the bathroom. He did his business and
just as he was exciting, there was Josh.

	"Hey, long time no see," kidded Josh. They both laughed. "Well,
excuse me, gotta do what I gotta do." And with that he made his way over to
the urinals.

	Nick shook his head just headed straight out to where his parents
were. Most of the guests by this time had left already. The restaurant
seemed somewhat empty now with only about 30 people instead of the 150 that
was earlier.

	"Mom, can I leave now?" asked Nick.

	"Sure honey, your dad and I will see you at the house," his mom
said.

	With that, Nick took out his cell phone and dialed a familiar
number. "Hey Dave? Can you pull around to the front and pick me up now
please?" he inquired. Nick waited patiently outside under the canopy of the
night sky.

	"Huh, we've gotta stop meeting like this," a familiar voice said.

	"Oh, hey Josh. I'm just waiting for my car." Nick said.

	"Ah. Rich boy's chauffeur late?" he asked with a laugh. "I'm just
kidding ya." He smiled warmly.

	Nick felt like he would melt if Josh kept smiling. He couldn't help
but blush a little bit. Nick lowered his head hoping Josh wouldn't notice
the effect he was having on Nick.

	A black BMW 740i pulled up.

	"Well, this is me. I guess I'll see you around," said Nick, almost
regretfully.

	"Yeah, I'll see you around," replied Josh, still flashing Nick his
wonderful smile.

	With a wave goodbye, Nick got into the car. `What the hell am I
thinking? He's way too old for me' he thought.

	"So, how was the party?" questioned Dave.

	Staring into the night sky remembering the moments he had with
Josh, Nick replied, "Great, just great..."


End of Chapter 1 - Introduction
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Comments, Questions, Suggestions - jbcs3@yahoo.com

I know this was a little slow, but I felt I had to introduce Nick and give
some background at the same time so you could related to him better.