Em awoke the next morning with the smell of French toast filling the air. She smiled.
“Jamie’s up.” She rolled over and looked at the clock. “At the butt crack of dawn, as usual. I’m going back to sleep.” Then she heard Kit’s laugh. “Ah man.” Em slapped the sheets but giggled. She couldn’t resist the chance to spend more time with Kitty.
A little while later Em managed to stumble downstairs and into the kitchen. There she saw Jamie apply a drop of maple syrup to Kit’s lips before kissing them. Em put her hands on her hips.
“I really am always interrupting you aren’t I?” She asked. They both turned and laughed at her. Kit scampered over to wrap Em in a big hug.
“Good morning Sunshine.” She giggled.
“Good morning.” Em said rather against her will. She was no morning person. She sat down at the table and Jamie put a plate of food in front of her. He patted her head.
“How’s my Emmy?”
“Not this hungry.” Em said, eyes wide as she contemplated tackling the amount of breakfast before her. Jamie knelt beside her chair.
“Come on Emenemmers,” he said in a fatherly tone. “I make the best breakfast in the world. You’ve got to eat at least some of it.” Then he made a goofy face at Em and poked her side. She giggled and shook her head.
“Why do I suddenly feel like I’m six?”
“Cuz you’re mind finally figured out that that’s how old your face looks?” Reny quipped, walking into the kitchen. Em stuck her tongue out at her. Reny smiled and took a seat at the table and was promptly greeted with a plate of food similar to Em’s. “So, how did everybody sleep last night?” She asked, digging in.
“Thuper.” Em answered, picking at her food. Kit playfully slapped her hand as she walked past her to sit at the table.
“Don’t play with your food, eat it. We slept really well Re.”
“When we did sleep.” Jamie replied wiggling his eyebrows. Reny made a face, Kit laughed, and Em pretended that she hadn’t just heard that.
The doorbell rang and Em jumped up to get it. It was a good excuse to leave the kitchen.
“Well hey guys!” She said happily to Alex and Mandi.
“You look surprised to see us Em.” Alex said hugging her as Paul and Jeff ran between them and into the kitchen.
“I’m not surprised.” Em lied. Mandi giggled.
“Should we even ask if you were paying attention when Reny asked us to breakfast last night?”
“No,” Em blushed. “Of course I wasn’t paying attention Man-dan-di.” She slung her arm around Mandi’s shoulders and they followed the others into the kitchen. “You know me too well.”
“Well, I try.” Mandi replied.
After the many hugs that were required as greeting for the group, they all sat down at the table and began to eat. Em shared tortured glances with Jeff, who had an equal aversion to breakfast food. The other adults, however, we happily eating away at Jamie’s feast; Mandi cut her sausage up into little pieces for Rachel, Reny ate with her elbows all akimbo, Kit was licking the syrup off her fingers and looking at Jamie in a way that made Em very nervous, Jamie responded with a barely audible growl in his deep tones, and Alex was very busy cutting up his muffin. Em watched him, and as the others noticed too, they all grew quite so they could figure out what was going on.
“What are you doing?” Renee asked finally.
“Searching for body parts.” He responded matter-of-factly. The others couldn’t help but roar with laughter.
****Flashback****
The “Joined at the Hip” tour of 2003 was on a weeklong break in L.A. as the members of Spark and Unison did the talk show/radio circuit without Alex. He was with Mandi waiting for her caesarian section. It was their first child and Alex was beyond excited and also very nervous. Unfortunately, since he and Mandi weren’t married yet, Mike thought it best to keep the birth a quiet matter. The guys had agreed, and were anxious to have Alex back. They were even throwing him a party in honor of his return to the tour and his new role as a father.
Em sat off in a corner trying very hard to suppress an evil grin. Scott caught her eye and snuck over to her to find out what was up.
“Alright, spill it.” He said, sitting next to her on the couch. Em’s lips tightened and she shook her head.
“Nuh uh.”
“Oh come on Em. I know you, you’re bursting to tell somebody.”
“Of course I am Snot, but I’m not going to.”
“Don’t call me Snot.”
“But I like calling you Snot.”
“If you tell me what’s going on, I’ll let you call me Snot.”
“I’ll call you Snot anyway.” She said smugly. “Give me a better bribe.” Scott grabbed his chest with mock shock.
“A bribe? Me? Never.” She laughed at him.
“Alright listen…” he leaned in close to hear her. “I’ll let you in on my plan, but we’ve got to make a few provisions first.”
“I’m listening.”
“First, you can’t get all pissy when I call you Snot. It’s a damn funny nickname and you know it. Second, I want in on all future secrets you guys may have. No more surprise proposals.”
“You’re still pissed about that?”
“Yeah, I am. Anyway, third…”
“There’s a third?”
“Yes there’s a third. Are you going to keep complaining, cuz I’ll just not tell you, how bout that?”
“I’ll be quiet.”
“Good boy. Third, I want you to stop eating all the candy in our bus. I know it’s you, don’t even bother denying it.”
“How could you know it’s me?”
“Because, genius, you might want to not have all the wrappers in your pockets.” She got closer and whispered in his ear. “They make noise when you walk.” Scott blushed.
“Oh.” Em laughed at him before continuing.
“Well? Are we agreed? You’ll meet my demands?”
“Is it really worth all this trouble?”
“Baby, if it wasn’t worth it, I’d just out and out tell you.”
“You have a point. Ok, I agree. My name is Snot, I have no secrets, and no candy.”
“Ok, cool. Here’s what’s going on…”
“Yes?”
“Just making sure you were still paying attention.” Em giggled as Scott smacked her leg.
“I am. Tell me!” He said excitedly.
“Ok. Well, you know how Mike is getting cupcakes for us tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, um, the one that’s for Alex, um, has a special bonus in it.”
“What did you do?” Scott asked, eyes widening at the possibilities.
“I had the hotel’s chef put one of these in it.” Em reached into her pocket and pulled out a doll head. Scott choked on a laugh before saying,
“No way.”
“Way.” Em smiled.
“He could choke on it.”
“No he can’t. Snot,” she dangled it in front of his face, “it’s a head! How can you choke on a head?” There was a pause and they both looked at each other before turning red and giggling. “So you’re not going to tell anybody right?”
“Boy scout promise.”
“I don’t trust the boy scouts. All that helping old ladies across streets and sleeping in tents. Makes me nervous.” Em stopped for a minute to giggle at herself. “Pinky swear me Snot.”
“Pinky swear.” The two linked pinkies and nodded, sharing a look of devilish delight.
Later that evening, room service brought up a tray of cupcakes.
“We were going to have a cake Alex,” Mike apologized. “But the kitchen had some problems, so we settled for these.”
“It’s ok Mike. They’re like, baby cakes or something. Get it, baby, cakes?” Alex made a face and they all laughed, glad to have him back. Everyone took one and they sat down around the suite to eat them. Scott was watching Alex intently and so everyone else was watching him. Em noticed and elbowed him in the ribs.
“Everybody’s looking at you.” She whispered.
“Oh, sorry.” He whispered back.
Just then Alex bit into his cupcake.
“What the….?” He said, pulling a doll’s head from the center of the desert. Scott immediately began to laugh and dance around like a retard. Alex looked up at him with a mixture of anger and confusion. Em was turning red from holding in her laughter. “What the hell is this Scott?” Alex said as he came up beside his friend and held the little head by the hair.
“She did it!” Scott managed to gasp.
“Yikes!” Em yelped and ran out of the room. Alex came running after her, with the others close behind. Scott was bringing up the rear since he found it hard to giggle like a crackfeind and run at the same time. Alex managed to tackle Em near the end of the hallway.
“Why is there a severed doll’s head in my food Em?” He yelled as he sat on top of her. She was laughing too hard to answer right away. Especially as he dangled the head above her.
“Um, welcome back?” She finally managed to say.
“Oh, that’s it, you’re goin down!” Alex chucked the head down the hallway, and as the others laughed and cheered him on, he tickled the squirming Em.
****
Their laughter was interrupted by a howl from another room. Kit sprang up.
“Fate’s awake!” She scampered past Jamie and gave him a kiss on the head before disappearing from the kitchen. The rest of the friends still chuckled a little to themselves but returned to their food. Em saw an exchange of confused looks between Jeff and Paul, which made her giggle even more. Reny gave her an odd look, but excused her behavior as “just being Emmy”.
They were finishing their breakfasts when the doorbell rang. Paul, Jeff, and Em all raced for the door.
“Cammers!” Em cried happily as Cameron tumbled through the door. He was quickly entwined with Alex’s sons as the three boys playfully wrestled hello.
“And where’s my love?” Andy said, with his hands on his hips, refusing to enter the house without a proper greeting. Em rolled her eyes but smiled.
“Is that my darling Andrew?” She closed her eyes and put her hand on his face. “Oh my, I think it is, but curses, I’ve lost my sight.” She felt him laugh and he smacked her hand away.
“You’re a dork Em.” Andy said stepping into the house and hugging her.
“Why thank you. You’re pretty dorky yourself.”
“Not me!” Andy said as they both walked towards the kitchen. “I’m a rock star, I’m way super cool.”
“Ok, who just used my phrase?” Reny’s voice called.
“I’ll give you one guess Shortie.” Andy answered in a high-pitched voice.
“Who you callin Shortie?” Reny said, appearing in front of Andy and punching him in the gut. He doubled over and groaned. “That’s what I thought.” She laughed.
“Ok, kids.” Alex said in his fatherly tone. “Stop beating the crap out of Andy Re, You know he’s delicate.” Reny turned to Alex with an evil grin on her face. “Eek!” He shrieked and ran back into the living room. Reny was about to go after him but Jamie held her back.
“We don’t have time for you to kill him just now Reny.”
“We’re going somewhere?” Em asked. They all turned to her with “you moron” looks on their faces. “What? I mean it, we’re going somewhere?” The others simply turned around and walked away. Reny went to get dressed; Alex was still hiding in the living room; Andy went to scavenge in the kitchen for leftovers and have a chat with Mandi; Jamie patted her cheek as he passed by Em on his way into get dressed with Kit; and Em just stood there. After a series of confused looks moved over Em’s features, she decided to join Alex in the living room. He was sitting on the couch pretending to watch the boys in the backyard as he dozed. Em sat down next to him with a sigh. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything so she lay down with her head in his lap. He chuckled to himself and patted her shoulder.
“You really don’t know where we’re going do you Emmy.”
“No, I’m just pretending to be stupid because somebody’s got to pick up the slack for Anton.” She replied sarcastically. “No, I seriously don’t know what we’re doing today. I don’t know what I was doing when ya’ll were talking about it last night, but I guess I wasn’t there.”
“Oh, you were there. You just don’t pay attention.”
“Ok, so I’ve got the attention span of a five year old on crack, you’re one to talk Alex.”
“But at least I’ve gotten better with age.” He smiled down at Em.
“What are you implying?” She smirked back.
“Just that some things never change. You’ve never been the most observant one of the group Em.”
“True. But I do catch the really important things.”
“Whatever. Now hush up so I can sleep a little before we leave.”
“But where are w….” Em started but Alex clamped his hand over her mouth. She giggled and licked his hand. Then they both snuggled into the plush couch and drifted off to sleep.
****Flashback****
Em sat off in a corner booth at one of the world famous after parties that were thrown after shows. The other Starlets had come to visit them all again. Jamie and Kit had decided to go out to a late romantic dinner; Jacks and Sean were shaking their respective “thangs” out on the dance floor; Renee had the sniffles and Scott had decided to get some sleep that night and Mae was more than a little miffed that he’d gone back with Reny to the hotel instead of coming out with her but Andy had promised to show her a good time; Alex was doing his trademark bounce a few tables away; and Anton was talking with the d.j. about something. Over the speakers came “Brick House” by the Commodores.
“She’s a brick, house. She’s mighty might just letting it all hang out. She’s a brick, house. The lady’s stacked and that’s a fact, ain’t holdin nothing back.”
Em began to grove a little to the song but caught Anton’s eye.
“She’s a brick, house. She’s the one, that only one, who’s built like an amazon.”
Anton smirked and pointed to Em. She laughed and flicked him off. Alex came bouncing over to her and pulled her out to dance with him to the song Anton had dubbed “Em’s bitch anthem” on the first tour. She danced with Alex for a while and then with some fans, but her knees began to bother her and so she sat back down. It was getting late and things would be wrapping up soon, besides, it was time for the inevitable slow songs. Em wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on but she smiled when she saw Andy hop up on the d.j.’s platform.
The song that came on was “Down Low” by R. Kelly. Em shook her head, Andy and his R&B. She scanned the room again and was happy that she could see everyone from her elevated position in the “VIP area”. Anton was doing horrible things to a woman who had to have been at least thirty-five, Alex had what looked like a six year old girl standing on his shoes as they danced, and Andy and Mae were dancing off in a corner of the dance floor that was partially hidden from general view. At first Em smiled, but then the words to the song began to sink in.
And keep it on the down low, nobody has to know. We can keep it on the down low, nobody has to know.
Andy had pulled Mae very close to him and their bodies were moving in perfect rhythm.
Secret lovers is what you want to be, while making love to him, girl you’re silently calling on me. What is a man to do in a situation like this? I feel there is something I don’t want to miss.
Em blinked hard, hoping she wasn’t seeing what she was seeing. Andy’s hands slowly caressed Mae’s back and her hands teased his neck and jaw line.
And keep it on the down low, nobody has to know. We can keep it on the down low, nobody has to know.
Now Andy mouthed the lyrics and Mae slowly nodded in time with the music. He pulled her even closer to him and…Alex smacked Em in the head.
“Hey, I’ve been callin you for the past five minutes. Are you dead or something?”
“Huh?” Em answered trying to see around his body that was now blocking her view.
“And you always give us crap for making fun of you for not paying attention. Come on Em, we’re leaving.” He pulled her to her feet and when she could finally look back at where Andy and Mae had been, they were gone.
“What about Andy and Mae?” She asked as Alex tugged her arm as they headed into the crowd.
“What? They’re probably already in one of the vans.” He pulled harder. “Like we should be, come on Emmy.” Em shook of what she’d seen as nothing. Probably just lack of sleep on her part, “Yeah, just imagining two of your best friends macking on each other, perfectly normal.” She thought to herself. But, she knew she’d rather consider herself crazy than think that what she’d just seen had led to anything more. What bothered her the most was the fact that when she called over to the room Kit and Mae were sharing, Mae wasn’t there.
****
“He’s certainly mellowed over the years, hasn’t he?” Em heard Jamie’s voice ask. She didn’t bother opening her eyes.
“Yeah, and the pregnancy is finally forcing her to get more sleep than a crack monkey.” Reny replied. Em was about to wake up for that, but what really got her was when two small lips blew a raspberry on her forehead. She jumped to grab Cameron as he giggled like crazy.
“So is anybody going to tell me where we’re going?” She asked cuddling Cammers.
“Not a chance.” Andy said as he reached out to help her up. Em sighed but smiled as Andy wrapped an arm around her shoulders and put her head down on his shoulder. “But if you’re real good, maybe I’ll buy you a pony for your birthday.” She smiled up at him.
“Really Daddy?”
“OH I LOVE IT WHEN THEY CALL ME DADDY!” Andy yelled causing Alex to jump awake.
“Who’s your daddy?” He asked, momentarily confused. The others laughed and got the eldest of their group to his feet and out to the cars.