This story is about male/male relationships and contains graphic descriptions of sex.
You should not read this story if it is in any way illegal due to your age or residence.
This is a work of pure fiction. It mixes fictional characters and events with real people. However any real person mentioned in this work is purely an actor playing a part. This story in no way is meant to imply anything about the sexuality, personality, or behavior of the actual person.
Thanks to mattvt for reviewing and proofing parts of this story; all errors remain my fault!
Copyright 2003 Jason Calme. This story is the sole property of its author and may not be copied in whole or in part or posted on any website without the permission of the author.
Questions and commentary can be sent to "JasonCalme@yahoo.com".
Chapter 3 Meeting
Matt startled, nearly dropping his drink. He turned to see a man about his own height standing about five feet away from him, also gazing out at the city.
"Uh...yeah," Matt agreed.
"Sorry," the stranger smiled. "Did I startle you?"
"No," Matt lied.
"Pretty amazing isn't it?" said the stranger. "Makes you wonder why everyone's in there," and the stranger jerked his thumb back at the building.
Matt nodded and turned back to look out at the city. With a bit of luck the guy would stop talking in a minute and leave him alone.
Matt heard the man move, and glanced sideways to see that the man had turned around and was now leaning against the railing, one foot resting on a lower railing. The man was looking at Matt, but Matt turned back to look at the city.
"So do you work for a record company?" the man asked.
"Huh?" Matt said, turning back to look at the man. The light wasn't great, but he could make out his features. He was in his twenties, blond hair, and he looked pretty cute.
The man sniffed loudly.
"Just wondered why you're here," the man went on.
"Uh...uh," Matt stuttered. Was the guy going to have him thrown out? He better go find Ethan. God! What was Ethan's last name?
"It's cool," said the man, obviously sensing Matt's discomfort. "Just making conversation, you know?"
"Yeah," Matt smiled nervously, and then turned back and looked out at the city. 'Dodged a bullet there,' he thought to himself.
"So'd you come with someone?" the man persisted.
God! Thought Matt. He isn't going to give it a rest.
Matt took a deep breath. "Came with a friend," he said quietly.
"Oh yeah? Who?"
God! This was turning into twenty questions.
"Ethan, ahhh...Thompson," Matt said, the name suddenly coming back to him. He breathed out in relief.
"Ethan?" said the man vaguely. "Ethan?" he repeated. "Ethan?! You mean Justin's Ethan?"
Matt felt himself blushing. What did the man mean by that? Did the man know about them? He better not assume anything, Matt told himself. This could be some reporter from the National Enquirer or something trying to get information out of him.
"Uhhh," he grunted, trying to think of what to say.
"I don't actually know him," the man went on, in a conspiratorial tone. "But Justin's mentioned him a couple of times." And then the man laughed a little to himself.
Matt glanced over and saw the man catch his eye. The man stopped laughing.
"Sorry! Sorry. I'm not...it's none of my business...and I'm happy for him," he paused, and then he frowned. "You're okay with it right? You know about them?"
"Uh...yeah," Matt nodded. He was embarrassed. Should he have acknowledged that? Had he just done what he shouldn't have? Yet he didn't want to appear ignorant either. Damn! This was so hard. He should go inside. Get away from the guy.
"Yeah, I'm cool with it," the man said almost to himself.
Matt turned away to look at the city again.
"But Justin man...phew! He's too uptight about it all," the man whistled, and turned around to face out at the city again.
Out of the corner of his eye, Matt noted that the man was actually a little closer to him now. He regarded the man carefully, and the man looked back at Matt and seemed curious. He raised an eyebrow as though asking what Matt was thinking or something.
Matt felt like he should say something.
"Why do you say that?" Matt asked quietly.
"He practically has a cow if someone suggests he's gay. He's totally paranoid about what's gonna happen if the word gets out." The man paused, "I feel sorry for him."
Matt couldn't figure out what this guy was about, so he looked back out on the city. He could see a bunch of taxis going down a street together.
"So, uhh...I'm Nick," said the man.
Matt turned and the man had straightened up a little and held out his hand to him. Matt regarded the hand, and the man, and decided to shake his hand just to get rid of him.
"Matt," he said, shaking the man's hand quickly.
"Nice to meet you Matt," said the man, smiling.
Now that he was standing close to him, staring him in the face, Matt thought the man looked familiar. Very familiar.
A little too familiar.
Matt's mouth fell open a little.
The man's smile tightened for a second and then he shrugged, as though acknowledging that he'd been recognized.
"So you don't live in New York I'm guessing," Nick said.
"Uh..uh...no."
"Figured, or you'd be in there with that lot," and Nick waved his hand derisively at the building behind them.
"Oh," Matt smiled nervously and nodded, and then turned away hastily and looked out at the city, his heart beating fast.
"So you here on vacation?" Nick persisted. He'd moved closer to Matt, though he was still leaning against the railing.
Matt glanced over at Nick, seeing that Nick was watching him closely. Nick raised his eyebrow questioningly and Matt looked quickly back out at the city.
"I'm just in town for this," Nick went on. "And a radio thing...oh and an MTV appearance...you watch MTV?"
"Sometimes," Matt said quietly, wishing that Nick would just go away and leave him alone. Frightened that he would say the wrong thing to him.
Nick turned around again so that he was facing out on the city, but he was now even closer to Matt. Matt glanced to his side and saw how close Nick was, and took a small half step away from him.
"Yeah, it's a cool view up here," Nick said, almost to himself. "So why are you here again?" Nick asked.
"I came with Ethan," Matt replied.
"No, New York,"
"Job interview."
"Oh really? Cool, you gonna move down here?"
Matt shrugged.
"No?" Nick asked.
"I don't think I..." he trailed off.
Matt realized Nick was going to think he was a loser. He looked away, embarrassed.
"Hey," said Nick, and he lightly punched Matt on the shoulder. "You don't know, right? And there's always other jobs out there." Nick glanced out at the city, then turned back to Matt. "You never told me where you're from."
"Vermont"
"Oh? Yeah? That's a nice place. Played up there once a long time ago."
"I know," Matt smiled.
"Huh?" said Nick.
"I took my cousin," Matt smiled nervously.
"Oh! A fan huh!" said Nick jokingly.
Matt blushed and turned away.
"Just kidding," said Nick. "I'm sure you didn't want to go." And he turned away almost dejectedly.
"Oh no!" Matt began, and then paused, embarrassed.
Nick turned back to face him, the smile back on his face.
"Yeah?" said Nick.
"Uh..uh..I really like your album," Matt said quickly and rather breathlessly, then he looked down, too embarrassed to even face Nick.
Nick stood there, thinking for a moment.
"So how long you here for?" Nick asked.
Matt looked up shyly. "I go back tomorrow afternoon."
"You seen much of the city?"
"Uh..no," Matt said quietly, shaking his head slowly.
"You want to blow this joint?" Nick asked him, smiling.
"Wha..what?"
"Wanna go out and explore? I'm only here for a day too and haven't seen anything either! Come on!" and Nick reached out and grabbed Matt's elbow and tugged his arm a little.
"Uh...I've got to...Ethan's expecting me..."
"He won't care! Come on! It'll be fun!"
"Uh..."
"Come on! It'll be fun...it's much more fun to explore with someone than on your own...puhleeeze" he said, giving Matt a puppy dog frown.
Matt smiled.
"I have to tell Ethan though," Matt said.
"Okay, you go do that. I'll meet you at the elevator."
"Uh...okay," Matt said, and he walked slowly back to the door. He stopped and turned back to see Nick watching him. Nick smiled at him and then waved his hand as though encouraging him to hurry up.
Matt grinned back and opened the door.
His stomach swirling, Matt walked out of the room into the elevator lobby. He glanced around. There was no sign of Nick. For a second his stomach lurched. Had he misunderstood?
"Hey!"
Matt turned to see Nick coming down the hall toward him.
"You ready to go?" Nick asked, smiling at him.
"Yeah," Matt nodded nervously. He thought he was. Yeah, he was pretty sure he was.
Nick pressed the elevator button and the door opened immediately, causing Matt to smile. He wasn't the least surprised that the elevator opened as soon as Nick pressed the button. He kind of suspected that the world was tilted towards some people.
Nick waved Matt in, and they entered the elevator and Nick pressed a button, then looked up at Matt and smirked.
"So you went to a concert huh?" Nick said.
"Ahh..." Matt muttered, and blushed, looking down.
Nick reached out and lightly punched Matt on the shoulder. "So what'd you think of it?" he asked.
Matt looked up and smiled nervously. "Good...uh, you were great," he said, and smiled, and then blushed even more.
Nick stared at Matt, smiling. They stared into each other's eyes for just a moment, interrupted by the ding of the elevator bell.
"Come on!" Nick said, and almost jumped through the door as it opened. Matt followed behind him, trying to keep up without running.
But it was hard. Nick really was running. Nick seemed to run through the lobby, Matt half running, half walking behind him, conscious that people were staring at them. He was sure someone was going to yell at them to stop.
But then it occurred to him; he was with Nick Carter! Someone famous! They wouldn't tell Nick Carter to stop!
Would they?
He ran faster.
Matt got to the revolving door, waited for a moment as a couple came in, and then dived into it, pushing against it to make it turn faster. He jumped out the other side and looked around for Nick. There was no sign of him on the sidewalk or in the street. Where had he gone? He felt a moment of panic.
"Ahhhh!" an ear splitting scream filled his ears and suddenly someone had grabbed him in a headlock. Matt twisted to try and get away, scared out of his wits, when he caught a glimpse of the shirt and pants of his attacker and realized it was Nick.
Nick had a firm hold of him, and started giving him a noogie.
"Hey! Stop that!" Matt protested, but Nick continued for a moment, laughing manically, before suddenly releasing him. Matt, half crouched for a moment, breathing heavily and trying to regain his composure.
"So what do you want to do?" Nick asked, as though nothing had happened at all. Matt looked up at him and saw Nick looking up and down the street. Nick then paused and looked back at Matt. "It's still early, we could go up the Empire State Building. You done that yet?"
"Uh...no," Matt shook his head.
"Awesome," said Nick, taking that as Matt's approval to go, and he stepped out onto the street and waved his hand at a taxi.
Matt straightened up. "Are you sure..." he started to ask as a taxi pulled up and Nick opened the door.
"Come on slow poke!" Nick called, waving his arm at Matt.
Matt shrugged and walked over to the taxi. Nick stood at the door, waiting for him to get in. Matt wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what, so he just smiled and climbed into the taxi. Nick climbed in behind him, playfully shoving Matt as he did so.
"Hurry up!" he half giggled, as he pushed Matt.
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying," Matt grumbled as he slid over to the other side of the car.
"So how do you know Ethan?" Nick asked as the taxi pulled out into traffic.
"Uh, what?" Matt asked, distracted by the traffic and turning back to face Nick.
"I said, how do you know Ethan?"
"Oh, his Mom is a friend of mine."
"Oh," said Nick, looking a little puzzled.
"I don't really know him," Matt added.
"Oh," said Nick, and then he blushed a little and turned to look out the taxi window.
"What?" asked Matt, suddenly worried that Nick thought less of him for some reason.
"Nothing," said Nick, turning back and smiling a little, and then looking out the window again.
"No, what's the matter?" Matt persisted.
Nick turned back to face him and smiled a small nervous smile. "I just..." he paused, letting out a deep breath, "what I said before, I shouldn't have said...I was just...well I shouldn't have said it."
"Said what?" Matt asked, truly puzzled.
"It's nothing," Nick said, trying to dismiss it and turning back to look out the window.
"You mean about Ethan and Justin?" Matt asked.
"Uh...yeah," said Nick quietly, not looking back from the window.
"It's uhh...Ethan hadn't told me, but I'd already figured it out," Matt said.
Nick turned back to face him. "Yeah?" he said, smiling.
"Yeah, it's pretty obvious, if you watch them closely," Matt grinned.
"Yeah, I guess so," Nick nodded.
They both smiled and then looked out the windows at the passing street scenes.
They got to the Empire State Building a few minutes later, bought tickets, and only had to wait a short while in line to go up. Nick wore sunglasses, and no one seemed to notice him. They hardly spoke as they waited. Matt was nervous, and Nick seemed not to want to talk, so they just stood in line, lost in their own thoughts.
Matt nearly gasped as he walked up to the railing and looked out upon the city below.
The view was spectacular. The night was clear and the lights of the city shone brightly.
"Cool, huh?" Nick said, standing just beside him.
Matt nodded.
"Look at that," Nick said, pointing at the lights of the Brooklyn Bridge.
For almost an hour they looked out at the city, Nick pointing out things here and there, Matt following along quietly, a huge smile permanently plastered on his face, his eyes wide.
"Having a good time?" Nick asked him at one point.
"Yeah," Matt nodded, turning to look into Nick's eyes. But then he turned away quickly, worried that Nick might think he was weird.
Or that he might guess he was attracted to him.
"That's pretty cool, huh? I've never been up at night before," Nick said as they exited the elevator and walked back to the entranceway.
"It's was great," agreed Matt. "Thanks for taking me up."
"Hey, it was fun," said Nick. "So what do you want to see now?"
"Uh...that's okay. You've been really kind," Matt began to protest.
"Hey, I'm having a blast, it's good to have someone to do things with, you know?" Nick smiled.
"Yeah," Matt nodded. "But you don't have to, you know..."
"What?" asked Nick, looking puzzled. He stopped just as he was about to go through the revolving door and Matt stopped behind him.
Matt stared back nervously, biting his lower lip.
"What do you mean?" Nick repeated.
Matt shrugged, but before Nick could say anything, a group of people came up behind them, waiting to go through the door. Nick grabbed Matt by the arm and pulled him over to the side.
Out of the way of the passing people, Nick let go of Matt's arm and stared at him. Matt blushed and looked down.
"What's the...why don't you want to hang with me?" Nick asked, confused.
"Oh, no!" Matt mumbled, looking up into Nick's face and frowning nervously. "I'm sorry," he went on, "I'm messing this up." Matt, turned away, obviously upset.
"Hey, it's cool!" Nick said.
"I'm sure you could find someone else who'd be more fun," Matt said quietly.
Nick paused staring at Matt for a moment, then he smiled. "Nah, come on, I wanna go up to Times Square! You want to go?"
Matt looked up shyly, blushing. He wanted to do anything with Nick, but he didn't want to blurt that out either.
"Sure," he smiled nervously.
"Come on then!" said Nick, and he grabbed Matt's arm and pulled him toward the revolving door.
Outside they paused for a moment. Nick seemed to be deciding whether to take a cab or not.
"You want to walk it?" he asked Matt.
Matt smiled and nodded. "Sure," he said.
"Okay! This way," Nick said, pointing down the street.
They set off at a fast pace. Nick walking quickly, while Matt tried to keep up with him. Even though it was getting late, there were still a lot of people on the street, and Nick threaded his way through the people, always keeping any eye out to make sure Matt was keeping up with him.
"Look at that!" he said, pulling up in front of a window and holding out his hand to stop Matt. Matt was so busy trying to make his way through the crowds and keep his eye on Nick that he didn't see the hand and barged into it. Nick's hand was hard against Matt's stomach and he almost collapsed around it, the breath being pushed out of him.
"Ahh!" Matt, yelped.
Nick turned to face him.
"You okay?" Nick asked, putting up his other hand to steady Matt for a second.
"Yeah," Matt gasped, trying to get his breath back.
"You should watch were you're going!" Nick laughed, though he was watching to make sure Matt was okay. After a second Nick decided that he was, and turned back to the window. "Cool, huh?" he said to Matt.
Matt turned to the window. It was either some kind of art exhibit, or a food display. There were odd dishes of food, with even odder objects of art threaded around and into them. Mechanical hands were bursting out of plates full of pasta and cables and bits of metal were haphazardly strung about.
He couldn't figure out what the thing was about, and he looked around for some placard; some hint of what the thing was about.
But there was nothing.
Matt looked at Nick, who was now staring at him, obviously wanting to know what Matt thought of the window.
"What do you think?" Nick asked him expectantly.
"Uh....uh...it's," Matt paused and looked back at the window. He couldn't figure out the point of it, and he didn't know what he was supposed to say. He turned back to Nick. "It's different," he finally said.
Nick raised one eyebrow for a second, then he smirked. "Yeah," he laughed, "It is that," and then he smiled and slapped Matt on the back. "Come on," he said, and turned and set off up the street once more.
Matt stood there for a moment. He turned back to the window. It still made no sense to him. He wondered if he'd said the wrong thing. Would Nick think less of him now because he hadn't understood it?
"Hey!" Nick called, now half a block up the street. Matt turned and Nick waved his hand at him. Matt nodded and walked quickly after him.
It isn't that far from the Empire State Building to Times Square. It shouldn't of taken that long to walk there, but Nick, it turned out, got lost a couple of times, and they got sidetracked by different things. Nick kept stopping to look at anything that caught his attention so that it took over an hour to get to Times Square.
Times Square at night is incredible. Lights and signs - huge signs - cover every building. When they got there Nick led Matt out onto the island in the middle of Times Square where the 1/2 price ticket booth is located.
Matt just stood and stared, his mouth hanging open. He tired to it all in. The lights, the people, the cars, the billboards. It was an amazing assault on the senses, and he stood there and slowly turned, absorbing it all.
He'd been quickly through Times Square earlier that day with Ethan, but they'd been on there way to somewhere else and Ethan hadn't really said anything about it, and Matt was trying not to lose him in the crowd, so he hadn't really noticed it at all then. And it wasn't really as dazzling then. The lights at night just made it so much more incredible.
Matt looked up into the sky and realized that he couldn't see any stars. He thought for a moment. He'd thought he'd seen them when they were at the Empire State Building. Maybe the lights of the square were drowning them all out.
The wind blew and it felt suddenly colder and Matt buttoned up his jacket unconsciously. He realized that the sky was now a light gray color.
He looked over at Nick. Nick was looking around too, seemingly as amazed by the site's of the square as he was.
The wind was picking up.
Nick turned to look at Matt. "Quite something, huh?" he said.
Matt nodded.
Matt felt a little something hit his face. For a moment he thought Nick had spat on him when he'd spoken. But that made no sense.
Then another couple of drops. He looked down and saw that there were several drops of water on the ground. More drops were landing. A noise, the sound of water, seemed to be coming towards them as the rain started to pick up. Matt looked at Nick and Nick looked at him, and then pointed to the McDonalds across the street.
They ran to the edge of the traffic island, waiting for the traffic to clear. The rain was getting heavier every second. Big, heavy drops of water were tumbling out of the sky and falling on them, the street, and the cars going by. The rain was falling in sheets. They were already soaked, and it had only been raining for 20 seconds or so.
The lights changed and the traffic cleared and they ran, laughing and giggling, across the street and into the McDonalds.
"Man, that came on fast," Nick laughed breathlessly as they made it inside.
They stood for a moment looking out at the rain pouring down.
"Well, what do you want to do now?" Nick asked, turning to Matt. Matt shrugged.
"Want to get something to eat of drink and we can wait until it passes?"
"Okay," Matt nodded.
They walked over to the counter. A young Latino woman smiled at them.
"Welcome to McDonalds, may I take your order?" she asked.
Nick was digging through his pocket, trying to pull out his wallet. He turned to Matt. "What do you want?" he asked.
"Uh," Matt paused, surveying the menu and trying to decide what he was going to have.
"I'm starved," said Nick. "Didn't eat anything at the party. I'm gonna have a Big Mac."
"Number one meal for here please," Nick said to the woman.
"Medium, Large or Extra Large?"
"Ah, Large," Nick smiled at her.
"And what to drink?"
"Coke."
"Anything else?"
Nick paused and turned to Matt. "I'm having a meal, you hungry?"
"Yeah," Matt nodded.
"What do you want?"
"Uh...ah cheeseburger"
Nick turned back to the woman. "And a cheeseburger meal too." He turned back to Matt. "What do you want to drink?"
"Coke."
Nick turned back. "Coke with that please." Nick handed the woman a twenty-dollar bill just as Matt hastily started to pull out his wallet.
"I'll get it," Nick said.
"You don't have to," Matt protested.
"It's okay. You get the next one," Nick said, smiling.
Matt blushed.
When the food came Matt carried the tray and Nick carried the sodas. They went upstairs and found a table by the window and sat down. The rain was still falling heavily.
Matt carefully unfolded the paper wrapper from the cheeseburger. Suddenly he was intensely aware that he was sitting across from Nick Carter! Someone famous! Someone he'd had a crush on for years.
Matt's hands were shaking a little and he tried to stop it. He looked up only to see that Nick was watching him. Just sitting there, watching him. Matt startled and dropped the burger onto the tray. He felt himself blush. God! He was acting like a complete dork! What must Nick be thinking of him?
"You okay?" Nick asked.
"What?" Matt almost gasped, looking up at him, his eyes huge, the panic rising in him.
Nick was unwrapping his own burger, carefully looking at the burger, rather than look at Matt.
"You know," Nick said, still not looking up at Matt, "I meet lots of people and they all go crazy around me, you know? You wouldn't believe it." Nick picked up the burger. Still not looking at Matt he took a large bite out of it and sat there chewing. Then he started talking again, his mouth still full. "You know, I think they think I'm different somehow...like I'm not like most other people."
Nick stopped chewing and swallowed, and then he looked back at Matt, his eyebrows raised in a question.
"I...I..." Matt stuttered.
"It's like, yeah I travel around and do thing most people don't even dream of," Nick went on, "but I'm still like most guys, you know. I like to have fun, I like to eat burgers, I pick my nose and I use the bathroom just like everyone else."
Matt blushed, looking down at his burger.
"Sorry," Matt mumbled.
"Hey, it's okay, it happens all the time. Just...it'd be great if you could pretend like I'm just a friend, you know?"
Matt looked up and smiled. "I'll try," he almost whispered, shyly.
"Cool," Nick nodded, and took another bite of burger.
They sat there, eating quietly, not really talking. They spent most of their time watching what was going on in the street outside. The traffic going by, people running to try and stay out of the rain, the lights of the square reflecting off the wet pavement.
But after half and hour, and after they'd finished their food, the rain still showed little sign of ending. It would pause for a little bit and then bucket down again.
Nick led the way back down stairs and they stood at the door looking out. Nick glanced at his watch. "It's almost 11:30," he said.
"Oh," Matt nodded. It was pretty late. But it wasn't very late. He assumed that Nick would be going off to some club or late party. He probably wanted to say good-bye.
"Uh, well thanks very much..." Matt began.
"Where are you staying?" Nick asked him.
"Huh? What?" Matt stuttered, thrown by the question.
"You at a Hotel or staying with friends?"
"Ah, I'm staying at the Ramada"
"Oh, that's just a couple of blocks away!" Nick grinned. "Let's grab a cab." And he barged out the door before Matt could say anything.
The rain was pouring down and the cabs seemed to be hiding from them. What cabs they saw were full, and after only a few minutes, Nick was soaking wet. He turned to Matt and laughed. "We're soaked now!" he said, "might as well walk there!"
"It's okay, I can find it," Matt began.
"Come on! I don't want you getting lost in the rain," and Nick grabbed him by the arm and started walking down the street.
The rain was pouring down, soaking their clothes and their hair and running into their eyes, but all Matt was aware of was Nick's hand holding firmly onto his arm. The rain felt warm. He felt warm. And long after Nick had let go, Matt still felt warm.
Warm and tingly.
------------------------------- To be continued...
My other stories:
High School: Do What You Can
Celebrity: Boy Bands: Birthday Blues
Celebrity: Boy Bands: All The Ways I Love You