They walked into the convention center, Brian first, Catlyn and Nick following closely behind. They were in the midst of a friendly debate over which Spider-man villain was the coolest, the Green Goblin or Venom. "Oh man," Nick said looking around in awe. "This is so cool," he said.
"Hey look!" Catlyn pointed. "Isn't that Kevin Smith?" she asked.
"I think so," Brian said squinting.
"We have to go over there," she said dragging them by the arm.
"Slow down Cat," Nick laughed. "We have all evening."
"Yes, but he rates up there with Stan in my book," she grinned getting in line.
Brian glanced at Nick who was staring at Catlyn with a strange smile on his face. Brian knew what his friend was thinking and it worried him. He knew how rocky Nick's relationship with Crystal was, and he knew how Catlyn felt about relationships. Brian hoped that Nick wouldn't do anything too rash or stupid.
Howie smiled over at Kyndall as they walked to their table down in front of the stage. He held her chair out for her, pushing it in as she sat down. "Kind of a cool place," he said setting down and looking around.
"Yeah. It's all right," she smiled. A waiter came around taking their drink order. He returned a few minutes later with their drinks, setting them on the table in front of them. Kyndall took a sip of her peach margarita.
"How is it?" Howie asked watching her.
"It's good. Want a taste?" she asked him, holding her straw out to him.
"No, that's okay," he said making a face. "Can't stand those things."
She laughed. "Baby," she teased.
They turned their attention to the stage as the lights dimmed and a spotlight shown on the center of the stage. Two groups entered, one coming from the curtains on opposite sides. They stood lined up facing one another, no expressions on their faces. Suddenly one of them spoke, loudly spouting nonsense at the group in front of him. The other group retorted with something just as nonsensical. This was the impromptu comedy battle between two of the classes that the SAK's Comedy Lab taught. The two groups had the audience rolling with their jokes, jibes, and antics. They were good. Funny, spontaneous, and original.
Howie glanced over at Kyndall and smiled. She was laughing to the point that she was almost crying. The smiled on her face was genuine. She showed no signs of the pain that she was dealing with. He was glad that he had made her promise to forget her problems for the night. He was also glad that Catlyn was successful in her mission to get Kyndall to come along.
He just wished he could keep her smiling. That when they left the club, she didn't have to go back to the lonely heartache that AJ had left her with. He wished with everything that he had that he could be the one to make her happy. He wished he could be the one that she loved, the one she dreamed of at night, the one that she wanted to be with. But he knew those thoughts were never going to lead to anything and tried to keep them out of his head. At least he could be her friend and make sure she was okay.
AJ entered the building, begging the host to allow him a table. Recognizing AJ as a Backstreet Boy, he readily agreed. It was times like this that AJ was thankful of his celebrity status. He scanned the room, smiling to himself as he spotted her across the room. Nodding in agreement at the choice of tables, AJ gave the host a tip for his trouble. Sitting down, he ordered a Bud Light from the waitress that walked by. He watched her smiling, carefree and happy, chatting with away with her date. Knowing who it was that was with her killed him even more. He hated the fact that he wasn't the one making her smile like that. It killed him that she wasn't thinking about him. That she seemed content that he wasn't a part of her life. That was probably the hardest part to see. Sighing, he took a long draw on his beer, that he didn't remember the waitress sitting in front of him. He sat back in his seat and watched her watch the show.
