Chapter Eleven: Revenge is a Dish Best Served With a Tongue in Your Mouth

(WARNING! This chapter contains some “adult” material. Nothing too graphic, but mild sex and some sexual language are included.)

Brian had made his threat to tattle on AJ and, miracle of miracles, AJ had held his tongue...at least with the general public. With me it was another matter.

“Hey Nicky...need some corn starch for that RASH?” Is there any chance that really large radio-active ants are anywhere near the area? I have a perfect meal for them. Oh, and now the smirk.

If I had smirked that much my mother would have informed me that my face would freeze that way and I would just have to learn to live with it because there was no charity for that particular affliction.

“Hey Nicky...heard any infectious jokes lately?” I took AJ’s comments with a great deal of pouting and whining, {“KEVIN! AJ is being mean to me! (Hey, it’s all Kevin’s fault, why leave him in peace?), BRIAN! AJ is saying mean things to me! (It’s best to be specific with Brian.), HOWIE! You are a jerk! (Atta boy Nick, tell it like it is!)}. Not that I was really that upset by this time, I knew my secret was fairly safe (and in BSB land that’s about a close to a sure thing are you will ever get), rather it was imperative that my behavior seem normal (whine, whine, whine, complain, complain, complain...) so the guys wouldn’t catch on to “the plan.”

Oh yes, I had a plan. Or something like that. I was playing quite a bit of it by ear, but hey, I’m young. Being truly devious takes time and experience. Just as AJ.

I also had a fall-back plan; when in doubt use spit-not now for something a little more interesting, and a bit less likely to get me killed.

“What the hell?” AJ shouldn’t cuss in front of me, it’s not nice. “Where’s my underwear- and what the hell are..where the hell did these come from?”

“What ya got, Aje?” Kevin squeezed himself past the bus's seats to the bunk area. “Are thoses..speedos? Man...” Kevin laughed, “How may pairs do you own?”

None, if the truth be told. However, to the innocent it would be eleven pairs. That’s all I could gather from the lost and found and steal from the member of the band. Speedos. Yes, speedos. Let’s think about this...

“Hey, wait - there’s something written on them....” Kevin lean in to exam the swim briefs, and frankly I think he should have checked to be sure they were clean first. Ick.

I scrunched down in my bunk, where I was being a good boy. The doctor had unpacked my nose (and unpleasant experience, but overall much better than the packing) just that morning with an “all clear” but a strong suggestion that I “take it easy” for a day or two. My nose was throbbing a bit now that the packing was out but my Mom was assured that this was normal. I was taking over the counter meds for it, but Mom had one or two pain pills just in case the first few nights were rough. If AJ discovered who the speedo supplier was I just might need them.

“Speedies? What the hell are Speedies?” Oh, my. It seems someone...some cruel, evil person, had crossed out the “o” and replaced it with “ies”. Now, WHY would someone do that? Kevin cracked up, and he wasn’t even in on the joke. AJ was not amused.

I flipped the page of my book (OK!OK! Comic book. No way was I going to read that book in front of AJ again, ‘cause who needs that teasing? I could read it in front of Kevin if for no other reason than entertainment. Who wouldn’t pay to see Kevin turn that shade of red and attempt to screw himself into the ground? I could read it in front of Howie but I won’t; I’m too busy hating him. I could read it in front of Brian with no reaction, but what’s the fun in that?).

And speaking of Brian, he was getting some serious “I’ll kill you” looks from AJ. Brian was looking innocent, because he was. I was looking at my comic. None of this was my concern. Keep your nose where it belongs and your nose will not get cracked.

AJ shoved the speedos...sorry “Speedies” back in his pack and stormed off to the front of the bus. Too bad it wasn’t in front of the bus. Not really, I like AJ, but he is always threatening to kill me.

“Nick?”

“I’m reading.”

“Nnnniiicckkkk....” Brian sounded upset. He must have leaned too close to his own bare feet again.

“Whhaaattt..” I had the impression I might as well start whining now and avoid the Christmas rush.

“Those speedos...”

“SpeedIES.” Let’s set the record straight.

“NICK! I thought you understood that AJ would keep quite if I did! He doesn’t know you know, and if he finds out he will kill me!” Oh. I didn’t understand that.

“I’m sorry Bri, I didn’t understand that.” Might was well confess. “But AJ keeps teasing me and..”

“I’m sorry AJ is teasing you, but heck Nick he does it all the time! He’ll go on to something new really fast, he always does. You have got to promise me that you won’t do anything else, OK? You promise?”

I didn’t want to, this was the only time I had ever had anything on AJ, but I couldn’t get Brian in trouble.

“OK, I’ll stop.” Brian actually sighed in relief. I thought that was just a cliché.

The rest of the bus ride was uneventful as AJ stayed in the front and I stayed in my bunk. I wasn’t about to get into any more trouble as there was a famous amusement park at our destination and Kevin had promised to take me (It seems that the last country didn’t have Chuck E. Cheese.). We arrived in the next town in order to sing at some park or fair or something, I have no idea what it was, I wasn’t going to sing, or so management had just been told. I would describe this event for you but I’ll bet you’ve seen Friday the 13th and really don’t need a repeat.

Let’s just say management was less than happy to discover that I was under doctor’s orders to wait another day or two before attempting to vocalize. I missed most of this conversation between my mom and management as Kevin decided it was a wonderful opportunity to drag me to my room and make sure I rested.

The guys left for the park or fair or whatever about an hour later. My mom went to her room so I had the room and TV to myself, and what do you know some of the programs were in English!

About dinner time I started to wonder where the guys were, they should have been back almost two hours before. I went to Kevin’s room and knocked on the door but didn’t get an answer. I decided to check with my mom who, despite spending very little time with us, usually knew what was going on.

“Nick! Baby are you all right? Is your nose bothering you?”

“No. I was just wondering if you knew where the guys were.” Just the usual curiosity. That and it is always best to know where your potential killers are.

“They decided to go that amusement park after the concert.”

“The amusement park?” Say it isn’t so! “But....we were going tomorrow!”

“I know honey, but it turns out that we have to leave tomorrow, management has set something else up for tomorrow evening, so I guess the guys wanted to be sure to get that park in.”

Oh. Fine. I see. Of course. Makes total sense. Just a matter of convenience. Nothing more. Not another attempt to dump the blond kid because he is so much younger than us and we have more fun without him. Nothing of that sort. And hey, what’s a promise to the blond kid, I mean his nose isn’t broken or anything.

“Honey, where are you going? Do you want some dinner?”

“No, I feel tired. I snacked on the bus so I’m not hungry. I’m going to bed.”

“Bed? Nick it’s only seven! Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”

“Yea.” My nose feels fine. My tummy doesn’t feel so good, it has that funny ache in it again. “I’ll gonna watch TV in bed and go to sleep early.”

“All right, baby. But you call me if you need anything, OK?” A quick hug and a kiss on the cheek and I was out the door and back at mine in no time.

Well. No use feeling sorry for myself, it wouldn’t change the situation. No sense getting mad, no one was here to yell at. I guess Kevin could have forgotten his promise, but he usually remembers stuff like that. My theory is “Nick is well, I didn’t do any permanent damage and I have paid my dues, therefore I an under no obligation to follow through with a promise made when I was temporarily insane.” That sounds about right.

I decided to go ahead with my plan to watch TV in bed, there really wasn’t anything else for me to do. I took a shower; not a quick one. For one I was back on hotel soap (I guess we left the good stuff behind.) and...well..since I was in there anyway and considering all that had been going on.... Fine. I just decided to LOOK again, I mean I know it’s not an infection, but better to be safe than sorry!

I pulled on clean Pj’s and curled up in bed and actually found something interesting to watch, a documentary on sharks. I guess I dozed off because the next thing I knew someone was banging on the door. I knew it wasn’t Brian because he never forgot his key, and anyway if he’s late he usually just crashes with Kevin so he won’t wake me (Which makes that “mom shared the room with Nick” episode even more interesting, don’t you think?).

“Nick?” I could barely make out the voice, but I could tell it was female. “Nick, it’s April.” Great. AJ was out on the town so he was sending his girlfriend over to take up the slack. I wonder what infection jokes she had.

“Um...April,” I opened the door a crack. “I’m watchin’ some TV and...”

“Great!” She pushed her way in. Really. She is a strong girl, and I wasn’t expecting it. “I’ll watch with you.”

My . I hardly knew what to think. Actually I didn’t think much about it, other than AJ had sent her to punish me.

“Well, I’m just going to watch a bit longer and then I’m going to bed. I’m already ready.” I thought I’d point that out in case the pj’s, the turned down bed and no lights (OK, the bathroom light was on. I’m not fond of the dark. And contrary to popular belief and Brian’s big mouth I am not scared of the dark. It’s what’s IN the dark I’m scared of.) escaped her.

“Can I watch until then? The TV in my room is busted...and...well....I’m lonely.” I knew the feeling.

“OK.” Why not? It would get the joke over and done with and I wouldn’t have to suffer tomorrow waiting for the shoe to fall.

We both sat Indian style on the end of the bed and watched the movie. After about twenty minutes I forgot to wait for the ax to fall and started enjoying the story line. April seemed to like it as well, she laughed at the jokes and made smart comments at the dumb stuff. I started raggin’ with her and before long we had our own version of “Mystery Science Theater”. The second movie was even worse, which meant we had an even better time. Such a good time that I didn’t notice April had been in my room for over two hours. I didn’t notice that Brian still wasn’t back. I didn’t notice anything until, during a what-was-suppose-to-be scary part of the movie, April squeezed my thigh. That’s a normal reaction, I think. However, I wasn’t sure the not letting go was. I hope she stops soon as the circulation has and my leg is already asleep. I hate when that happens; means my thigh will be up all night.

She finally stopped squeezing, but didn’t move her hand. There it sat, on my leg. The upper portion of my leg. If only it had stayed there. It didn’t, and normally this would have been a good thing, but then I’m Nick. That hand, that hand attached to April, seemed to have a mind of it’s own. April continued to watch the TV as if nothing was going on when actually quite a bit was. First the hand seemed content to stroke up and down my thigh, keeping things within range of it’s original resting place. I thought, “Maybe she doesn’t know she’s doing that. It could just be something she does when she watches TV.” And then the hand rubbed small circles on my knee. OK. Now I know I’m over-reacting. Who ever heard of the knee being important? Right? Then I remembered my reaction to the “infection” and realized I knew squat. Maybe I should have panicked a while back.

But honestly I thought I was just making things up in my head. I mean she was AJ’s girlfriend! AJ, who was almost seventeen. AJ, who could drink in this country. AJ, who had muscle tone. AJ... oh my. While I pondered the wonders of AJ the hand had made quite a leap. It was now on the small of my back.

What should I do? I didn’t’ want to look clueless. Should I just move away? Should I...oh, I know!

“April?” Thought I’d get her attention first.

“Yea?” Gee, the movie must have scared her. Her voice sounds all breathy.

“I think I’m going to bed now.” There. Now she would leave. “Sounds good.” No hard feeling apparently, as she turned and gave me the biggest smile. So I smiled back. I really should have read the rest of Kevin’s book.

Instead of getting up and making an exit April leaned in....and kissed me. Well. That’s a friendly goodnight if I ever saw one. An extremely friendly one. She used her tongue.

“Which side?” Excuse me? Well, the lights were off. Maybe she couldn’t find the door.

“The right.” Yep. Right over there.

“You’re right handed, huh? You know that’s perfect! I’m a lefty.” I swear I can’t get what AJ sees in this girl. She makes no sense what-so-ever. Neither did her next action, which by the way was to scoot up in my bed and slip under the covers. The left side of the bed for those who are way ahead of me.

“Uh...you cold?” What, her blankets broken as well?

“Nope!” And with that she disappeared under the blanket, but only for a few seconds. Then she reappeared, as did her jeans and her shirt, and they weren’t on her. She flung them to the end of the bed and leaned back on the pillow. I waited. She waited. There sure was a lot of waiting going on here.

“Nick?”

“Yea?”

“You coming?” Now, if I had been AJ I’m sure I would have found a double meaning in this sentence. But at the time I really couldn’t think of one, much less think. “Sure.” I have no idea why I said that. But then I have no idea why I didn’t back out of Sophie’s breast.

I moved up the bed and scooted under the covers on the right side of the bed, the extreme right side. You could have put Kevin, Brian and an extremely angry AJ between us. April didn’t seem to care for this and scooted over next to me.

“You want to take something off?”

“What?” Yes. I really said that.

“Oh, you really are shy!” She seemed so pleased. “How ‘bout your T-shirt?”

“Maybe later.” Without my shirt she might notice that I had stopped breathing and I really didn’t want any more medical attention.

“That’s fine.” Good, ‘cause that’s the way it was going to be. “What say I turn off the light? It won’t bother you so much then.” What won’t bother me so much? The lack of oxygen to my head? The fact that my heart had stopped beating? The fact that April wasn’t wearing any underwear, which I discovered when she got up to turn off the light? How about all of the above?

So there I was. In the dark, in bed. Nothing new here. Well, OK. The complete dark was new. So was the nude girl who had returned to bed and my side.

“Nick?” I almost jumped out of my skin. “You want to take off your shirt now?”

I didn’t answer. I was torn between “yes”, “no” and “is this some severe joke you have going on with AJ?” I disregarded the latter because no matter how angry AJ was, no matter how cruel he could be, he would never, never, never share a girl. Even for revenge.

It seems that it didn’t matter, the T-shirt. April just put her hand under it. I wished she had warned me, or warmed her hand. I don’t think men are suppose to squeak in bed.

“Sorry.” She started making small circles on my stomach, I guess to calm me down. Or maybe she thought I had an upset tummy. Maybe my mind is wandering and I should pay attention to what is going on. Kevin always says that.

As it turns out I should have taken that advice as once again while my mind did the walking her hand did the talking. April was once again stroking my thigh. No need to panic, this had happened before. Of course the last time it was on the outside of my Pjs. I have no idea what any of the other guys did the first time a woman stroked their bare thighs, but I’m fairly certain it wasn’t falling out of the bed.

“Oh my God Nick! Are you OK?”

“Yea.” After all I wasn’t on my nose. What I was was on my back with my knees and lower legs still on the bed. That’s also where my Pj bottoms were as April’s hand had snagged on them when I fell. I had the strangest feeling that this had happened before.

“Are you sure?”

“Yea.” It was dark. She wouldn’t notice that I was half naked.

“Good. I’m sorry about that! I didn’t realize we were so close to the edge.”

“Yea. I guess I’ll get up.” April laughed and I had the feeling once again that AJ would have gotten more out of that than I did.

“No, don’t bother, I’ll come down there! Here, let’s take care of these first.” And with that she, who had obviously noticed my open ended situation, pulled my Pj bottoms to my ankles. I told you she was a strong girl.

“Um..April I don’t think...UGH!” April was just full of surprising moves, the latest of which was to flop full-body down one me.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I should have warned you.” Silence. A long silence. “Nick, is this OK?”

Sorry. I’m busy. Actually I was contemplating this new feeling, her bare body against mine. Just a few days ago we had received new silk shirts for a photo shoot and Howie had commented that his was “The best thing he had ever left against his bare skin.” This lead me to one of two conclusions: One, Howie was a virgin. Or two, there was something seriously wrong with that boy.

“Yea, it’s fine.” And indeed, it was. So was the next twenty minutes or so. I’ll skip the graphic description. Suffice it to say that April’s hand was extremely talented...both of them if the truth be known. April was also very good, or very vocal, concerning what mine should be doing, some of which I don’t remember being in Kevin’s book.

Stage one followed the natural course to stage two, and stage two reached a .... type of conclusion that I can honestly say was .... satisfying for both parties involved. I know it was for me because I was there. I’m fairly sure it was for April. I’m fairly sure the guy three doors down knew it was. Girl should be a singer, good lungs.

At this point things should have progressed to stage three (better known as “intercourse”, according to that book) and actually were well on their way when suddenly, I thought of AJ. Picturing another guy’s face in my mind pretty much dampened my enthusiasm, picturing AJ’s face had the impact of Arctic water.

“Hey Nick, you still with me?” I guess I froze up for a moment.

“Yea, I’m still here.” I’m young, I can get back in the grove. My conscious had different plans and I saw AJ’s face and that little annoying voice in my head said {Don’t do this, you’ll regret it later.} Yes, but I won’t regret it now. {Yes you will.} No I won’t. {Yes you will.} “NO I WON’T!”

“Hey, that’s OK! We can do it this way, if you’d like.” April was being all helpful and I wish she would quit it.

“No, no. I don’t want to do it that way.” No problem there. April knew lots of ways to do it.

“No, I mean I don’t want to do it.” Was that me? Am I normal? Hey April can you wait a moment while I check something in this book?

“You don’t want to? Is your nose bothering you?” Did my nose have anything to do with this and if so which chapter was that in?

“No. I can’t do this because....AJ.” There.

“AJ? What has AJ got to do with this?” Maybe some of that nose packing had worked its way into my ears, because surely I heard that incorrectly.

“What do you mean what has AJ got to do with this? He’s your boyfriend!” Maybe this fact had escaped her.

“So? What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him!”

Actually what he doesn’t know won’t hurt me, but that damn conscious of mine was correct. I was already regretting what I had done, much less what I had not.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done this, and I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been mad at AJ.” Oh, that didn’t sound nice. “I’m sorry I did this to you.” There. Make a clean break.

“Are you KIDDING me? Are you feeling guilty? You don’t have to. Look, it was my choice to come here tonight, and AJ will never know! Come on Nick!”

“No. I can’t.” Just for the record, I don’t me I couldn’t. I mean I wouldn’t.

April didn’t seem very pleased with my decision. She shoved herself off me and grabbed her clothes. “That’s what I get trying to help a kid. You know,” She turned and smiled at me but not the same way as before. “AJ told me everything. I know all about the “infection.”

She waited a moment, I guess to see what my reaction would be, but I was determined not to show her any. Her comment had really cut, not that I cared that she knew because I had just realized that she was a person who’s respect I didn’t want (At that moment I didn’t have all that much for myself.), but I was hurt that AJ had told her. It might have made be feel better about making out with her, but it didn’t.

April yanked on her clothes and flung open the door. I followed, pulling on my pants and Tee at the same time, in case she had any intention of slamming the door. I didn’t need my Mom investigating any loud noises. Just outside the door April turned for one last hit.

“You know, you’re a little prick, emphasis on the little.” She crossed her arms and glared at me in a “I dare you to make a comment” stance.

“Night, April.” I wasn’t going there. After my actions I had no right to.

“You are so dumb. You’re just a dumb kid. AJ would never have known if we had sex!”

“Nope, he wouldn’t have.” OH GOD. “Nick is really good at keeping secrets.”

I turned to my left and there was AJ. He just stood there, arms crossed with a look of mild interest on his face. I’m sure he was conserving his energy. It takes quite a bit of it to rip a person’s arm off and beat them to death with it.

“Aje!” April sounded so surprised. Then... “AJ! You have no idea what Nick did! He invited me here to watch some TV ‘cause mine was broken...” WHAT? “...and then he jumped me!”

I was stunned. I might be a big jerk (I prefer this term and size over April’s choice.) but I wasn’t a fibber.

“AJ.” I was dead anyway, but I wanted him to know, at least know, that it had not been my initial idea. I hadn’t gone looking for an opportunity, it had come knocking on my door.

“AJ.” He didn’t look at me. His gaze was fixed on April’s face. “AJ, no, that’s not...” “Go to bed Nick.” AJ’s voice was very soft. I couldn’t tell if he was just angry or about to go Mid-evil. “Aje...”

“Go to bed Nick, it’s all right.”

“All right! AJ did you hear what I just...” I’m sure several people trying to sleep could hear what April was saying.

“Can it April!” Now AJ sounded mad.

“Go back to our room, we’ll talk there.” Finally he turned to me. He didn’t look mad. Not at all. He looked....disappointed.

“Aje.” Now I was having trouble with my volume. It was hard to make myself heard around the tears in my voice.

“Bed Nick. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

And so I just stood there as AJ followed a fuming April down the hallway. I just stood there when they went inside AJ’s room and closed the door. I just stood there. 

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