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Chapter 3
After the show in Frankfurt, Anne called her friend Steve.
"Hey Steve, it's Anne."
"Hi, how's everything in Germany?"
"It's great, I love this tour."
"Where are you?"
"Frankfurt, this is so weird, tonight like one hundred girls fainted."
"You're kidding?"
"No, I'm dead serious, I felt so bad they were just dropping like flies."
"That's quite a mental picture, so what's up?"
"I called about your little shindig in August."
"What do you want to know?"
"Well I've got a really cool idea for a costume and I know what you think? I want to come as a 60's swinger chick, how does that sound?"
"Fine, do you have the clothes yet?"
"No, I was planning to try and get them in London, I'm sure I can find something there. So what will you be wearing?"
"You know I can't tell you that, Anne, all you need to know is that it will be over the top."
"As usual, right?"
"Of course."
"So how are things in Chicago?"
"Great, a little chillier than I'd like, but other than that, fine."
"I was talking to Howie yesterday and I mentioned the party to him, he said it sounds really cool."
Steve and Anne continued to talk for another ten minutes. She talked about the guys, the tour, and Europe mostly.
"You like him, admit it," said Steve.
"Excuse me? Who?" Anne asked.
"Howie. For
the past five minutes it's been 'Howie this and Howie that.'
You're nuts about him."
"I am not," Anne replied trying to defend herself.
"Liar, I've known you for years now, I can tell when you're hiding something. You're crazy about him, you know you could do worse. He's a good singer, a good dancer, not to mention really cute."
"Hey, hey, hey! I thought we agreed never would talk about stuff like that!" Anne exclaimed very defensively.
"Okay, sorry, I was just saying he is definitely above your usual taste in men."
"Oh, my taste in men, now this could be fun. I seem to remember someone, Steve, dating oh what was his name, um Trevor? Now what did he do again? Oh that's right he was a waiter at Planet Hollywood, right? And then there was Evan, and then Bob, or was it Bebe? I can't remember, now he could work heels like no one I've ever seen. And then there was Brenden, what ever happened with him?"
"Hey, you set me up with that one. Okay, I get your point quit teasing."
"Seriously, how are things with you and Mark?" Anne asked.
"Mark, they're fine, we just got a nice place over on the lakeshore."
"What does he do again?"
"An investment banker."
"So how long have you two been together?"
"Um...almost two years."
"Wow, that's really good, congrats. Hey Steve, I have to go, I'll talk to you later."
"Okay sweetie, talk to you later, bye."
"Bye," Anne said, she hung up the phone. "He can't be serious, I don't like Howie, do I? Okay maybe I'm a little infatuated, but I don't think I really like him, but he's so nice, maybe I do?" Anne wondered to herself.
Anne was hanging out with the guys in Nick's room in Koeln, Germany, after the show that night. Nick, Brian, and A.J., were going to finally going to settle the question of who was the best Mortal Kombat player. Kevin, Howie and Anne just decided to watch because it was pretty funny to watch these three guys become so obsessed with a video game. Anne, Kevin and Howie were all sitting and talking on the big 'L' shaped sofa in the corner of the room, talking. They got on the topic of what they did in their free time and Anne mentioned writing.
"I just can't get over how charming all of you are, you're so funny," Anne said. "I'm glad my Sir Kevin wasn't far off."
"Sir Kevin?" Kevin asked.
"Nice one Rosie. Now how can I explain this without sounding like a complete psycho?" Anne whispered to herself. "Well, a while back, while I was still in college I started writing this rather lengthy piece of fan fiction based on the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. Well, I hit a wall at one point, complete writers block, and it was just after Lauren and Lindsay went to see you guys, and they kept going on and on about the five of you. You all seemed rather nice, so I just dropped all of you in, and might I say the five of you made rather dashing knights."
"Could I read it sometime?" Kevin asked, rather curious.
"Sure I don't know why not, actually it's on my laptop in my room, I'll go get it." Anne returned with her laptop, and each of the five guys took their turn reading their 'part,'and each gave favorable reviews.
"That was pretty good, Anne, do you have anything else?" Howie asked.
"I have a
little something in the works but I haven't had much time to work
on it in a while."
"So what don't you do?" Howie asked. "You sing, you dance, you act, you play piano and guitar, you write, do you walk on water too?"
"No, not even close. I was just thinking about this, all my lead girls have a protective older brother. There must be some weird Freudian reason for that."
"Are you an only child or something?" Brian asked.
"Yes, it's just Mom, Dad and me. My cousin, Sara, is like a little sister to me."
"That's cool, I'm an only child too," A.J. said.
"Yes, although most of us have pretty decent size families," Kevin added.
"See, my family is huge, it's just that it's only the three of us at my house."
"Oh I get it, you know we have family out all of the time, A.J. has his Mom out on tour with us a lot. I bring my Mom out for a week or two sometimes, I sometimes have my brother, John, out too," Howie said. "Actually, I think Leighanne and Amanda, Brian and A.J.'s girlfriends are going to meet up with us in Paris, oh wow that's tomorrow, you'll like them, they're nice."
"John? You're kidding, that's the name of her brother, I mean all my girls have a brother named John. Hey, could I invite some of my family out with us sometime?"
"Sure I don't know why not," Brian said.
"Hey it's
getting late, I think I'm going to crash," Anne said as she
looked at her watch.
"Okay, I'll walk you out," Howie said getting up from the couch.
"Night guys, see you tomorrow," Anne called.
"Night Anne," several of the guys called.
"Hey Anne, one quick thing before you go," Howie said softly. "Can I read the rest of that thing you wrote, I want to know what happens?"
"Sure I guess, but I don't think you'll find it very interesting, because you're not really in much more of it. Good night."
"Night," he replied.
Anne went back to her room and fell asleep when her head hit the pillow. She woke early the next morning to begin the long day ahead of her. They were all off to Paris, a long bus ride awaited her. That evening after everyone was settled in their rooms Kevin, Howie, and Anne went out to get dinner at a small local cafe, A.J., Brian and Nick all went on a McDonalds run.
"Here's a nice quiet place," Anne said. "Une table pour trois, si vous plait," she told the maitre d'. The waiter showed them to a table.
"Hey Anne, got a favor to ask," Howie began. "Can you translate this into English for me? I want to know what I'm going to be eating."
"No problem, hey when the waiter comes back do you want me to just tell him what you want?"
"Sure that would be great, I don't want to butcher their language more than I already have," Howie replied.
"I'll make you a deal, I'll help all of you out while we're in France, Howie, if you help me out while we're in Spain. Deal?"
"Deal."
When the waiter returned Anne ordered for all three of them. They ate their food. Later they did a little shopping along the Champs Elysees, they were relatively left alone by the fans. Howie and Kevin had come prepared, they had brought their hats. At about 4:30, Anne looked at her watch.
"Hey guys, I have to go, I just realized what time it was, I promised to meet a friend of mine, in few."
"Really, who?" asked Howie, surprisingly curious.
"My friend, Mike, we went to school together, he's over here teaching.
It's a shame I don't have time right now, I could show you this amazing restaurant close to where I used to live in the Latin Quarter, not like it's very glamorous or anything, but it was a cute little place. Maybe I could show you a bit of the city tomorrow?"
"Sure that would be cool, well, tomorrow night we were all going to go out and do all of the touristy things anyway, maybe you could come with us and show is where to go then?" Kevin asked.
"Sure that sounds like a lot of fun, plus I could be your interpreter right?"
"Yes, I-I mean we, could sure use one," Howie added.
"Well, I'll
see you guys at the Bercy in a while, bye," she said and walked
toward the nearest Metro stop and took a train to her favorite section in the
Latin Quarter, the one with her favorite cafes. "Mike!" Anne called
out when she saw her friend sitting at a table drinking a glass of wine.
"Anne, comment ca va?" he asked, after they greeted by kissing each other each cheek, in the French tradition.
"Ca va bien. Ready to go get some coffee?" They both sat down at the small table out on the sidewalk.
"So how's the tour going?"
"Great, I absolutely love these guys, they're so funny. So how's teaching going?"
"It is so wonderful, I love it."
"So where are you at, again?"
"A prep school, the students are mostly Americans, most of the people working out at the embassy send their kids there. It a shame you're not going to be here next week."
"Why?"
"I just got an email from Mme. Bingen, she and the kids on the France trip will be here starting next weekend."
"A trip with Mme. Bingen, just like old times right? She was one of the cooler French teachers I've had, I had this one professor in college that was a total tool."
"I see you haven't changed at all."
"Nope, I was practically born with my foot in my mouth, of course you've known me long enough to know that. So how are things with Madam at old HHS?"
"Fine, I'll make sure to tell them you said hi."
After getting their food they chatted a little while longer and then Anne had to head back to get ready for the show. She took the Metro right to the Bercy, a building she always thought looked like someone had taken a stadium dome, planted it in the ground and then covered it with tinfoil. The show went well, that night Tommy had a party in his hotel room. Everyone involved with the show was there, the band, the dancers, some of the crew, Anne, and of course the guys. The MIS, Men In Suits, stood watch at the door. Howie and Anne were busting a move in the middle of the room, with about a dozen other people. After the song was over, they retreated to the balcony for a little fresh air. Even through the sliding glass door they could hear the music, a slow song came on they started to dance.
Brian and A.J. were sitting on the couch with their girlfriends, Leighanne and Amanda, the girls had met up with everyone before the show. Leighanne tapped Brian on the knee and motioned to Howie and Anne dancing outside.
"Are they a thing?" Amanda asked A.J.
"I don't think so," he said. A.J. looked at Brian.
"Hey don't look at me, I don't know?"
Howie had his hands around Anne's waist, he held her tightly, the sweet smell of his cologne floated in the air. "I have to ask you something," Howie asked.
"What is it?"
"Something you wrote, I can't get it out of my mind. When you wrote about me, my eyes, you said 'You could drown in those eyes.' Did you mean that?"
Anne looked into Howie's eyes, their deep chocolate color seemed to put her in a trance. "Every word," she replied. Howie grabbed Anne's hand and kissed it. He smiled and spun her in a circle, dipped her and planted a soft kiss on her lips.
The quartet on the couch just smiled. Leighanne said with a slight laugh, "Yeah, I think they are a thing."
"This is a first, I've never written something that has gotten me a kiss before," Anne said. "Remind me to thank whoever directed that video."
"Video?"
"I don't know if you could notice, but when I wrote all the stuff with you guys in it, A.J. was sort of my favorite. Well about a month ago, I caught the video for I Want it That Way, and when you did the 'You are my fire, the one desire' part, I was like 'Ooh, he has nice eyes,' so I opened the story back up and dropped in that line."
"Really? So you're an eye person?"
"Totally, I think eyes are the best way to look into a person's soul, you can tell a lot by a person's eyes," Anne said, then changed the subject. "I love Paris at night, it's so beautiful, there's no place like it in the world," Anne commented, a shiver went up her back.
"It is amazing. You're cold, we should go back inside," Howie said.
"Maybe that would be a good idea."
Howie and Anne came in from outside, the two couples on the sofa clapped softly. "I think we had an audience," Howie whispered to Anne.
"I think you're right," she whispered back.
The next day everyone wandered around Paris, saw the sights, and did their best to avoid the fans. The day concluded with a boat ride up the Seine, this was the first opportunity Anne really had to talk to Leighanne and Amanda.
"So how was your flight into DeGaulle?" Anne asked.
"Long," Amanda replied.
"I bet, what is it, six, seven hours?"
"It feels a lot longer," Leighanne added.
"So how long are you two going to be hanging out with us?"
"We fly out of Heathrow, on the 18th?" Leighanne said, looking at Amanda for conformation on the date. Amanda nodded. "That's the day after the second London show," Leighanne continued.
"That's cool, don't look now, but here come Brian and A.J., they look a little neglected," Anne said. Each girl went to hang out with their respective boyfriend. While the other two couples held hands with their boyfriends and talked about events back home, Anne stood beside Howie at the boat rail, silently watching the city go by, and occasionally pointing out landmarks.
Late that night they all hopped a plane to Manchester, England, where they were going to do a show the next day. England was fun, it rained a little, while on the busses between the cities, Anne, Howie, and a few of the other guys usually Kevin and Nick staged a few 'Bad Movie Marathons.' After about two movies they would have to stop, they just could not take the bad acting anymore. Usually, they would either watch something else, or just talk for a while then put in another horrible movie.
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