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"I thought I knew you.  I guess I really don't."  Ryan said as he sat down in his chair.

"Yeah, I think I even surprised myself!"  Colin said with a half-smile as he took a sip of water from his glass.

Colin, Wayne, Chip, and Ryan had just completed a startling game of "Superheroes" in which the audience had named Colin "Captain Break-dance".  Figuring Colin could never pull off something like that, Drew accepted the name from the audience for kicks and got the situation from them that there was a shortage of leg warmers.  The other three had stood off stage in anticipation of what Colin had to show since he hadn't shown any signs of anxiety when given the name.  When the game started, Colin wowed everyone by dropping down on his back onto the floor and going through this amazing dance routine.  After Colin had finished, he showed no signs of exhaustion.  No heavy exhaling, nothing.

Ryan looked back at him and could tell that that half-smile was not his usual surprised face.  Something was up, he thought.  He was determined to find out, but it wasn't the time or the place.  Ryan snapped back to reality to hear Drew's usual banter after the game.

"1,000 points to Colin- Captain Break-dance."  Drew shook his head.  "Wow, man…where did you learn to move like that?" 

Colin laughed and pointed to his friend next to him.  "Ryan taught me that a few years ago."  The audience chuckled.  Ryan could only smile, as he knew that that was definitely a lie.  Being best friends with Colin for over 20 years, he could read him like a book.  Ryan glanced at Colin as his laughing smile soon faded. 

The taping finished without a hitch.  Each of them was on the ball as usual, with only a few retapings, which put them all in a good mood by the end of the day.

"We only had to do one hoedown tonight, thank god!"  Ryan said with a chuckle as he opened the green room door. 

"Yeah, Colin almost lost it there at the end… 'pulling a Colin' as they call it.  I thought we were going to have to do it over for sure."  Chip followed Ryan into the room.

Ryan sank into his favorite chair and rubbed his brow.  "Speaking of Colin, can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure."

"Shoot."

"Did you guys notice anything…uh…different about him tonight?"

Chip and Wayne looked at each other before speaking.  "Nothing outstanding, why?" Wayne pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Did you see him during 'Superheroes?'  In my twenty years of knowing him, I have never ever seen him move like that!"

"You mean you didn't teach him to spin on his head?"  Chip said with a laugh.

"Hell no…Colin just said that for a few giggles.  I could never move like that with my back and all.  Anyway, something fishy's going on.  He's been really secretive lately."

"That's true…just a few days ago he walked really fast past me after the taping carrying some dark blue duffel bag and mumbling something I didn't quite get.  I asked him where he was headed and he was like… 'Yeah…um, my wife's in town.'  Doubt that.  She was here last week."  Wayne said as his eyebrows became furrowed in thought.

"That's right!  See?  I gotta find out what's going on with him."

Suddenly the door opened to the green room and Colin entered.

"Hey Col," they all chanted.

Colin waved his hand in a lazy manner towards the voices.  In one hand, he carried the blue duffel that Wayne had been referring to and with the other, he grabbed a bottle of water off one of the tables in the green room and began to head out the door without even as much as making eye contact with anyone there.

"Col?" 

He jumped slightly.  "Hmm?"

"Where ya headed at this time of night?" Ryan subtly wanted to find out what was up with Colin without having to actually stalk him.  That wasn't his style.

"Uh…um…going out with the wife."

"Oh really?  I haven't seen Deb in a while.  Can I join…"

"No!"  Colin interrupted.  "I mean…Oh man, look at the time, I gotta run."  He flew out the door faster than Ryan had never seen. 

"Alright.  That's it.  Something's up and I have to find out what it is.  Who's with me?"

"I can't not find out…I'm in." Wayne replied as he shook hands with Ryan and stood up.

"Uh, sure.  Why not?"  Chip followed suit and got his jacket from a hook nearby.

The three gentlemen headed outside the studio and got into Ryan's car.  Ryan spotted Colin throwing himself into his car and peeling out of the parking lot.

He pressed his foot on the gas pedal and flew out of the parking lot just as fast as Colin had gone.  They wanted to remain hidden but still able to see Colin, so they stayed about two cars back at each light. 

The three men followed Colin through several lights until Colin took a right turn without signaling, catching the men off guard.  Luckily, Ryan was road-savvy and was able to keep up with Colin.  The road they had turned onto soon became dark and desolate.  Small apartment buildings lined both sides of the street.  The streetlights had just come on, flickering in an unusual rhythm with each other. 

Colin's car disappeared into the night as he pulled off to the side of the road, down an unpaved street that led to a small building in the distance that had a bright light beaming from it, almost beckoning them to it. 

Ryan stopped his car before the turn and watched Colin travel down the street.  Wayne and Chip were assigned as lookouts for other cars coming towards the building.  Not five minutes later did a small stream of compact cars pass the three men and turn down that same street that Colin did just a few moments ago.  Ryan decided he had waited enough time and followed the last car that turned down the street. 

When they reached a stop by the other cars, the three men unloaded themselves from Ryan's automobile and walked towards the bright light.  As they got closer, they could hear fast-paced music and a muffled voice over what sounded like a loud speaker.

"What the hell is that?"  Ryan exclaimed as he walked up the sidewalk to the front doors.

"I don't know if I want to know…" Chip hesitated.

"Damn it, I'm not backing out now.  Let's go.  Stay close to me but keep hidden.  He can't know!"  Ryan whispered as he grabbed Wayne and Chip and opened the front doors.

The three men crept inside and stood behind a few tall men standing on the outside.  Ryan looked around the room:  white walls on three sides of the room with the fourth side being completely covered in mirror panels.  A ballet bar intersected the panels halfway and a radio was plugged in beneath the panels. 

"Holy shit, this is an aerobics class!"  Wayne chuckled to himself.

"Actually, it's a dance class," chimed in the gentleman standing in front of the peepers.

"No way," Chip said in disbelief.

"What sort of dance class?" Ryan questioned the man while watching some of the antics in front of him.

"What's it to you?"

"Look, one of my friends takes this class, but he won't tell us the name of it.  We were thinking of joining…the three of us," he pointed to Wayne, Chip, and himself.

"Ok…" he hesitated.  "It doesn't really have a name…it's a kind of underground dance club I guess you could call it, for men who never really had much dance experience as a child, or just really sucked at it and they can come here to learn some moves to show off if they ever go dance with their wives."

The three of them nodded in unison as the crowd parted halfway just enough to see Colin in the center of the dance floor doing the Jitterbug with some young girl, who they assumed was one of the instructors.  Wayne stood in amazement as he watched his friend, who he could once out-physical, swing a girl back and forth across the dance floor with the greatest of ease.

"He's pretty damn good," Chip remarked as he rubbed his eyes.

"No kidding," Wayne said.

All of a sudden, Ryan busted out laughing.  "What's so funny?"  Chip questioned

Ryan chuckled.  "This explains so much.  Disco Boy, Captain Break-dance…I should have known."  The three men turned around to leave, opening the exit door.  "What I don't get is why he never told me straight out."

"This is exactly why…"  A hand grasped Ryan's shoulder and turned him around. 

"Col…I…uh…"

"You know what, Ry?  I thought I knew you.  I guess I really don't."