|
|
Chapter 24
It was a cool night as the guys piled into Shannon's silver Saab and headed toward the mall to get costumes for the next night.
"Brian, what's the next direction?" Kevin asked, looking over at his cousin who had the written directions Morgan had given them.
"After the next light, turn right at the Sports Authority." Brian rolled his eyes. "Leave it to women to give directions by landmarks. They never say street names or headings or anything simple like that."
Kevin laughed, agreeing. "You better not say that when the girls are around," he advised.
Brian smiled. "Who do you think I am? Nick? I'm not that dumb."
There were a couple of minutes of silence until Nick realized that he had been insulted. "Hey shut up!"
The four other guys laughed as they pulled into the parking lot of the mall.
"Okay, we're here," Kevin said as he parked. There were relatively few cars in the parking lot since it was 7 pm on a weekday but they put on their hats just in case. They got out of the car and headed for Melissa's Multiple Personality Shack to get costumes.
"That is a really cool name for a costume store," AJ said as he read the sign.
They heard Blur playing over the speakers as they entered and became surrounded by hundreds of costumes and accessories.
"Hey look, Elvis," Nick said, grabbing a white jumpsuit and holding it up to him.
"Yeah, there are probably going to be a couple of Elvis impersonators at the party. He's always popular," Howie commented as he looked at a Popeye costume. "Nah, too childish."
Kevin looked up from a black Tuxedo suit. "What do you think?" he said, holding it up.
Brian looked up at it, confused. "Um, what is it supposed to be?"
"Bond, James Bond," Kevin said dramatically.
Nick snorted. "It looks more like, suit, black suit and that's it."
Kevin looked at it again. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
AJ grabbed a costume and held it up. "Hey Kevin, you could always be Aladdin," he said smiling. Kevin groaned as he looked at the costume.
"Man, no thanks. I'm so sick of every fan talking about me being Aladdin and being the man of their dreams."
AJ laughed as he looked at black leather suit and hat. "Hey guys what about this?" He held it up.
"Nah, too Judas Priest," Brian rejected.
AJ nodded. "Yeah."
Brian looked through a few more racks when he found a costume he liked. He grabbed it and ran into the dressing room to put it on, coming out a few minutes later.
'Hey guys, look!" They all looked as Brian started walking really slow.
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," he said deeply, his voice echoing in the helmet to the astronaut suit he had put on.
Nick shook his head. "You won't be able to eat real easily."
"Or pee for that matter," AJ joined in.
Brian still looked undecided.
"Or kiss Ryan who will probably be wearing some really hot costume," Howie advised.
That decided the matter and Brian quickly returned the costume to the rack. About an hour later, they had finally picked out their costumes and headed back to the house where Brian and AJ started making dinner and Kevin, Howie, and Nick went to get movies.
**************************************************
The girls entered the venue, looking around at the crowd of people waiting for Sugar Ray and Orgy to perform and they showed their tickets to one of the guards who let them in. They had general admission to the mosh pit and they fought their way up to the front of the stage and waited for the concert to begin. Colleen paused to put in a pair of earplugs as Shannon and Morgan rolled their eyes at her.
"You know, when I'm 50 and have great hearing and you're practically deaf, I'll scream I told you so."
They laughed and got excited as the lights went down and the music started pounding out of the speakers. They were glad they were wearing sturdy shoes as they moshed with the crowd as Orgy played into the night.
*******************************************************************
"I've got the blues, Kraft's macroni and cheese blues," Brian sang as they cooked some of his favorite meal, mac and chess. AJ pretended to study him.
"You know, you're pretty good. Have you thought of making a career out of singing?" he joked.
Brian paused as if thinking. "Nah. It crossed my mind once or twice, but I'd never make it."
They both laughed as they thought of how lucky they were to have really made it. They heard the door open as Kevin, Howie, and Nick walked into the kitchen with a pile of movies they had rented from Blockbuster.
"What did you get?" AJ asked as he got out plates.
Howie read off the titles. "Strange Days, TimeCop, and Dead Again."
Brian looked up. "Oh, they already have TimeCop. The girls have every Jean Claude Van Damme movie made."
AJ raised his eyebrow. "Oh a Jean Claude Van Damme thing?"
Brian shook his head. "No, a martial arts thing. They love stuff like that."
They all scooped out generous portions of macoroni and cheese and went into the living room to watch the movies.
Around one am, the girls returned, trooping through the front door, exhausted.
"Man, I'm tired," Shannon moaned as she put her coat in the closet. Everyone nodded.
"Awesome concert though," Kendall said. They walked into the family room to see the guys spread out, watching Dead Again.
"Hey guys. Did you get costumes?" Morgan inquired as she flopped down on the couch besides Howie.
They absently nodded, caught up in the plot. Morgan looked at the screen and smiled.
"Hey Colleen, Shannon, look."
The girls looked and saw that the guys had rented one of their favorite movies.
"Oh cool, just wait until the end," Colleen told them and the guys shushed her as they tried to pay attention to the movie, engrossed as Emma Thompson was hypnotized.
Colleen laughed and turned. "I'm going to bed. Night." And she climbed up the stairs to her bed. She walked out to her balcony, looking up at the sky for a moment, enjoying the smell of roses in the night air. She turned around and walked back in her room, leaving her doors open as she turned on her CD player, putting in her VAST CD, turning it to track two. Touched came on as she stripped out of her clothes, taking off her wig. She placed the wig on her dresser, laughing as she thought about how the guys thought it was real. She ran her fingers through her hair, to get it untangled. She unlaced her boots, and took off her clothes, standing in the middle of her room in her bra and matching thong that she had worn because of the high slits in her skirt. She stood just thinking until cold air from the open doors on her balconey raised goose bumps on her arms. She stripped off her bra and grabbed a t-shirt climbing into her bed and going to sleep.
She was never aware of someone watching, always watching.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~