A.J. McLean, half asleep but desperately needing something to quench his thirst, finally gave into the need, dragged himself out of his bunk and shuffled toward the front of the tour bus. He stole a glance at the clock on the microwave before opening the refrigerator. He found the bottle of Evian he wanted then unscrewed the top and took a long gulp. It was then that he noticed the dim gray light and almost inaudible hum coming from a laptop computer.
A.J. stepped closer to the figure sitting at the kitchen table, its back to him. He squinted, his sleep-filled eyes unable to focus. "D…that you?" He called in a whisper.
Startled the shadow turned to face him. "Hey, A.J." Howie Dorough replied, quickly hitting a few buttons to close the document on which he had been working.
"What’s up?" The first man slid into the booth beside his friend. "Shouldn’t you be sleeping? We have another concert tonight."
"Just checking my email and surfing the web. Couldn’t sleep and with us being as busy as we are I didn’t have any other chance today."
A.J. craned his neck and read the screen. "Since when are you on a list serve?"
"Call it research. It’s a Backstreet Boys list," he explained, referring to the popular male-vocal quintet that he and A.J. were members of. "I’m on a few. You know, just to see what the fans are saying."
"Howie Hootchies?" A.J. raised an eyebrow.
"It’s a real ego booster, and don’t worry, there are A.J. hootchies on the list."
"So what other lists you on?"
"An adult fan list and a younger teenybopper list. They’ve been bashing Mandy again…"
"You don’t actually post, do you?"
"Nah, I don’t post any messages," he said reassuring his conscience that he wasn’t really lying. "Even if I did, I have an alias and use several different emails anyway. No one could track it or figure out it was me."
A.J. yawned. "Well, let me know what the harem of hootchies says about the Bonedaddy. I’m going to bed."
"Oh, I’m sure the ladies would love to hear their stud went to bed earlier than Sweet D."
"Whatever…too tired to argue…’night."
"Goodnight, J."
Howie waited to make certain A.J. was asleep before opening the document he had shut down upon the earlier interruption. Taylore loved seeing him in his element. He truly came alive when he was performing in front of a crowd. And she appreciated the changes in him. The sparkle in his brown eyes. The flush in his cheeks. Those both remained after the show when she would meet him backstage.
Equally, he loved seeing her in the audience. It made his performance better just knowing she watched. He thanked God every day for her presence. She brought a sense of normalcy to his otherwise crazy life.
She met him backstage after the concert that night and gave him a kiss as she loosened his brown curls from his ponytail. It was their post-show tradition when she was on the road.
Howie’s fingers rested above the keys for a pensive moment before he began to type.
As they pulled away from their kiss, he could see the love shining in her green eyes. Howie knew he couldn’t be happier in his life, but he wondered how it was that he got so lucky. And whether or not he actually deserved it.
Satisfied with what he read, Howie highlighted the
four-page block of text, copied it then pasted it into
a blank email message. He entered the mailing list
address after the "To:" then clicked his mouse on the
send icon.
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