His house was just as glamorous- if not more- than the others. Two stories. A two car garage. A fenced in backyard.
“Who drew the cartoons?” Carmen looked at the map.
“Nick,” I laughed. “Cute, huh?”
“The blonde that wanted to make sure you invited me? Ha, the kid cracks me up,” she looked at the pictures.
“He’s my age- and only a year younger than you!” I pointed out.
Carmen looked in the rear view mirror before she got out of the car.
“One last check before your front page picture?” I asked.
“You can never be too carry. I’m hanging with the crowd these days. And they’ll want to see Kevin... what’s his last name again?”
“Richardson.”
“Richardson’s new girlfriend, after all.”
We walked up to the front door. “Should we just go on in? I mean, there’s a lot of people here. And I don’t think anyone will hear the doorbell over the music playing,” I commented.
“Nope. Doors get opened for me,” Carmen laughed. “August, you're a rising star, get used to some good treatment. She pushed the doorbell a few times.
Kevin came to the door. “Hello ladies, how are you this fine evening?”
“It’s getting better every minute,” Carmen flirted.
“Come on in,” he stepped aside so we could come in. “The kitchen and the mosh pit are that way. You can’t miss the bumping and grinding. Not to mention the ghetto music AJ put on,” Kevin gave us directions, laughing. With that, he headed upstairs.
“Oh, he’s not getting away that easily,” Carmen said.
“You’re turning into a guy chaser,” I noted. “Aren’t you usually the one being chased?”
She was about to go upstairs when Nick stepped in front of her.
“I stand corrected,” I smiled.
“Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Nick,” he held out a hand.
“Um, Carmen,” she smiled, obviously wanting to go and follow Kevin.
I had to give Nick some credit. They looked cute together. The blonde hair matched. And she needed a tall guy, due to her high stature.
I wondered if he had even noticed me standing there.
“We heard you were the person who snuck into the dance auditions. I’m sorry we won’t have someone as beautiful as you leading the group,” Nick smiled. He was trying, I gave him that. But he was also trying a bit too hard.
Something flashed in Carmen’s eyes. Maybe that had meant more to her than I thought. I didn’t think she’d be too disappointed about it, considering she hadn’t practiced dance in forever, she hadn’t seen their routines before, and she wasn’t even supposed to be there.
But she recovered quickly. “Yeah, well. Such is life.”
“Come on, plenty of people are in there... wanna dance?” Nick asked.
“In awhile, come find me. I’ve got someone else to say hello to first,” Carmen headed upstairs.
“Who’s she going to see?” he turned to me.
“Oh, so you do know I exist?” I mentioned. “Kevin headed up there. What’s he doing?”
“AJ has a theater room. Him, his best friend, and some others are watching a movie,” Nick told me. “You worried Carmen was going to walk into something that she didn’t want to see?” he laughed. He wandered back into the room with all the “clubbing.”
I instantly felt completely out of place. I need to remember this next time I’m thinking about going anywhere with Carmen.
I wandered into the kitchen. There was alcohol and soft drinks. I opted for Sprite. I looked into the Living Room and saw AJ standing on a table singing along to the Britney Spears song someone had decided would be funny to play.
He obviously had not made the same choice as I had.
Someone bumped into me as I turned around.
“Sorry,” I said automatically.
“What do they have to drink around here?” she opened the door to the fridge.
Nick walked in. “Sandra? What are you doing here?”
“AJ invited me,” she put on a smile. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” he looked nervous for some reason.
“Don’t worry, Carter, I’ve got nothing on you. I knew it wasn’t you who booted me off the tour. Don’t sweat it. I’m onto better things,” she smiled.
So she was the original choice for the opening act! She was almost as beautiful as Carmen, and just as confident. But there was something about her that I didn’t like.
“August, can you pass me the bag of chips?” Nick asked.
“Sure,” I handed them to him.
His cell phone rang and he went outside to be able to hear the caller better.
“Ah, so you’re August?” Sandra’s sight locked onto me for the first time. She laughed to herself. “So, what do you do?”
“I play the piano.”
“Hmm... well, Kevin did say that he wanted talent over beauty. No offense, you know what I meant.”
Yes, I did. And I believed the original wording was exactly her intent.
“Sandra,” Brian came in. There was almost a hint of warning in his voice.
“Brian! I wasn’t sure if you were coming, it’s good to see you!” she enveloped him in a hug. “How’s the show coming?”
“Great. It’s going to be an awesome tour.” Brian looked cute. He could pull off the jeans and a t-shirt look better than anyone I’d ever seen.
“That’s good! Listen, no hard feelings. I understand that I didn’t fit into Kevin’s vision for the show. In fact, it worked out nicely. I got signed to Jive, and I’ve just started recording.”
“Congratulations,” Brian said.
She started into a conversation. I headed for the back door, feeling uncomfortable around her. And the fact that she was so obviously after Brian made me sick.
“All I wanna know is where the party’s at... Let’s have a party,” the Backstreet Boys track blared.
“Hey! Who put on this piece of crap?” AJ screamed, laughing his maniac laugh like in the beginning of Larger Than Life, as I shut the door behind me.
Chapter Seven
Chapter Nine
Dreaming of Destiny
Frick's Fairytales