CHAPTER 6
The room was full of people. People of all ages and walks of life, dressed in a myriad of fashions, some of which made Skye giggle to herself. How could some of these eccentric people let themselves be seen out in these clothes? Everything was flashing in coloured lights, the mirror ball turning from the ceiling reflecting the coloured fairy lights as it spun.
She looked around, not knowing where she was or why she was there. The place looked familiar but that nagging familiarity was annoying her. Why couldn’t she place it? She didn’t recognise anyone in the room either. Every person in the room seemed to be holding some sort of colourful alcoholic drink. She looked down at her own bare hand and wondered why she didn’t have one.
Then she saw him. Her Blue Eyes. He stood in the corner of the room looking more than a little lost. She felt his pain, feeling the same way herself. He had no drink in his hand either and he was dressed conservatively in a black suit and dark blue silk tie, the white of the dress shirt in stark contrast to the black of the jacket. Everything about him was poised and immaculate but at the same time he radiated a certain loneliness. Skye’s heart went out to him and she wanted to take the loneliness away for him.
She saw someone talk to him and motion towards where Skye stood. It looked like the person was talking about her and she felt self-conscious and turned away. Her heart began to pound at the thought of him coming towards her and when she felt the tap on her shoulder she jumped.
Skye turned to look into the most startling blue eyes she had ever seen. The smile on his face was equally as dazzling and she couldn’t help but smile back. His face beamed at her and gone was the loneliness she had seen only moments before. She thought the person with him was a friend but she could not take her eyes off the man in front of her. She was mesmerised.
“Skye. Skye! Skye,” she heard and felt someone shaking her. Her eyes opened and again she realised it was a dream. When was one of these ever going to be the real thing? She had been so taken with this dream she felt as if it was the real thing for sure. She frowned when she realised it wasn’t. She wanted whoever was shaking her to go away and let her go back to sleep. Let her continue her dream.
She thought about the man in her dreams, her Blue Eyes. She remembered more of him this time. His face, not just his eyes. His smile was amazing, lighting up his eyes like sapphires. She felt like she could drown in those pools. She became aware of Jay talking to her.
“… what’s wrong with you these days, you are always in a world of your own. Skye, are you listening to me?” she asked staring straight at her.
“Yeah. I heard you. There’s nothing wrong,” Skye said as her mind began to wander again. No she had to wait till Jay was gone, then she could daydream as much as she liked.
“I wanted to remind you about Daniel’s party next week. You have to send an acceptance.”
Skye screwed up her face. “Oh you know I don’t want to go to that.” Daniel was a close friend of both of theirs. Having made it good in real estate, he now devoted a lot of his time towards charities and his latest project was to help the Children’s Hospital acquire a new extension to their surgery unit, in particular for the heart patients. He had asked them both to one of his functions, as his guest. Skye secretly felt that Daniel had a bit of a thing for Jay and she knew Jay liked him. She always felt like she was in the way when she tagged along.
“Skye, you have to come. You promised me.” Jay said to her with pleading eyes.
“Why do you want me along? You don’t need me there, you know Daniel likes you, you can impress him on your own.” Skye whined, but she knew she wasn’t being fair to Jay. She looked at her friend’s pleading look and smiled. “Okay, I will be there. You knew I would.”
Jay smiled at Skye and hugged her. “So do you really think we will need an acceptance? Seeing we are his guests and all?” Jay asked.
Skye swatted her friend on the arm. “That was just a way to bring the subject up before wasn’t it?” At her coy grin she laughed. “You have no shame.”
“I know,” Jay said. “Now how about tonight’s dream? What happened this time?” she asked out of the blue changing the subject skillfully. She didn’t want to talk about her love life, but she was happy to talk about Skye’s. Not that a dream could remotely be called a love life.
Skye thought for a moment, the dream having evaded her while they talked. Suddenly she recalled the scene at the party and a feeling of apprehension came over her. She said nothing to Jay, brushing off the dream telling her she couldn’t remember, but she now wished she had said no to Daniels party. Could it have been a premonition? She shook her head and admonished herself. It was only a dream. She couldn’t possible be dreaming about something that hadn’t happened yet.
Jay left the room, a spring in her step. She liked Daniel too, and one way or another Skye would help the two of them get together. They both liked each other, they really shouldn’t need much help, just a bit of a push.
She thought back to her dream and her mystery man, for a moment wishing she could meet him there. She thought of those eyes again, the ones that had been haunting her dreams for weeks now. She didn’t even know how long it was anymore but it had been while school was still in. It was now the summer vacation, and with all their savings they had made this year, both Jay and Skye had decided to rest up this summer. They had no plans. It would be a perfect time to meet him. It was a fanciful thought. Thoughts she hadn’t felt free to have since… No she wouldn’t dwell now.
Blue Eyes. That was so often all she could remember from her dreams, but this time there had been more. She could remember that. His smile, that had slowly been creeping into the dreams was there again, always lightening her heart, but this time there was more. The face, his cheeks and chin, and his striking square jaw line. She could picture his face in her mind and felt herself smiling. He was truly beautiful, in a male sense of the word. Her fingers twitched as she remembered his hair and she longed to be able to run her fingers through hair like that. It was well styled, a dark blonde in colour, with blonde highlights scattered through it. It really suited him. She would like to meet this mystery man just to put meaning to her dreams if nothing else.
She suddenly realised she was sitting in the middle of her bed grinning like a fool. This wasn’t getting her anywhere and she jumped out of bed. She had planned on going to the store today and didn’t relish the thought of the drive to the larger mall in the heat of the day. While living away from the hustle and bustle was perfect for her, it had some drawbacks.
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“Brian, long time no speak. How are you going in the crazy world of pop?”
“Going crazy,” Brian told his cousin Daniel over the phone, chuckling ironically. “I feel like I am going into stress overload.” Brian really did feel like that and felt he was getting close to a breakdown.
Daniel’s light-hearted manner quickly turned to concern. He and Brian had always been close as they were growing up, their current life styles dragging them apart more than they wished for. “What’s up Brian? The pace getting you down?”
Brian sighed. Where did he begin? “The pace, the constant pressure, the demands on everything from your time to everyone needing every piece of you. Never knowing what people want from you and if they are genuine. It’s wearing me down and tapping away at my nerves. For once I just want to be Brian Littrell the person, not Brian Littrell Backstreet Boy. I need to be able to do normal things.”
“I can only imagine what it’s like and I don’t envy you cuz. You need a break and I have the perfect place for you.”
“I was hoping you would,” Brian sighed in relief.
“I have a place not far from my house.” Brian nodded, recalling Daniels house down the coast from Virginia Beach. He had always liked the seclusion of the area. “It’s empty at the moment. I can keep it for you if you would like it. It’s nice and secluded like my place, only a few houses along that stretch of beach. I think it would do you the world of good.”
“Sounds perfect. You don’t know how much I am looking forward to this.” Brian felt his troubles lifting just at the thought of some time alone to recharge his batteries again. He would have to make the odd business trip, but knowing he had somewhere to escape to once he was finished made him smile. “I’ll pay you the going rate in rent,” he told Daniel.
“Nonsense. My house is yours Brian.”
“But…”
“No buts. If you feel so strongly about it, you can attend my charity event next week.”
Brian felt himself draw back. “I don’t know Daniel. I am trying to escape that scene.”
“There’ll be no pressures there Brian. No one will know who you are. I promise you.”
“Can’t I just make a donation?” Brian asked him weakly. He hated saying no to Daniel. He really should go and in the back of his mind he knew he would.
“I guess you could, but I think you would like to meet some of these people, considering your own foundation you have. There will be a lot of people there from the paediatric cardiac care unit.” That piqued Brian’s interest and he knew he would attend. “Besides, I want to show off a girl,” Daniel said, his voice softening.
“A girl? Daniel, you been hiding someone from the family?” Brian joked with him.
“Well not really. She’s been a friend for a long time. But that’s all it is so far.”
“But you want more?” Brian pushed. This was the normal sort of banter he wanted.
“Oh yeah.” Daniel said to him and they laughed.
The two of them talked a while longer about their foundations and their lives and once he lowered the phone back in it’s cradle, Brian felt as if an enormous pressure had been lifted from him. He had three concerts left to perform, in three different cities, he had to go home to check on things there, but in 5 days time he was heading towards his vacation getaway, and no one but his parents would know how to find him. Granted he would have his cell phone for anything important, but no one would know his where abouts and he could turn that off when he wanted. For the first time since becoming a Backstreet Boy all those years ago he would be his own person, free to do what he liked when he liked. It hadn’t been like that for such a long time and he ached for it. It was long overdue. Surely the others felt like that once in a while, but they all seemed to be coping much easier than he was and didn’t know how to help him. Then again, they all had girlfriends at the moment to keep their lives on a more normal keel. It had been a while since he had anyone special in his life. This again brought him to thinking about his Honey Eyes. Would he ever find anyone like her for himself?
Chapter 7
Index
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