Nick and the Altos, Part 16
Nick and the Altos, Part 16
Here we go with Part 16 -- sorry it has taken so long. Things have been kinda hectic here.
Hey, all hope you all were able to catch Queer as Folk on Showtime. Now I've already seen the British version and I must say that I was impressed with Showtime's version. I was really surprised that they didn't hold anything back. And Randy Harrison... OMG, he is so cute!!! and he's gay.
One of the things that seems to be a tradition on here is for authors to mention some of their favorite stories... I have been an avid reader of quite a few: Brian and Me, Jamie's Romance, My Surprise Romance, Lance in Shining Armour, Studio in the Country, Lucky Me, Not Meant to Be, Twist of Fate, Mile High Meeting, Model Romance, Beneath It All and the list goes on. My email address is mikeylikesit80@hotmail.com, if you feel inclined to write and let me know what you think or just want to chat.
Now on to the standard disclaimers. I doubt that anything I write will make any difference since if you found this little gathering place on the World Wide Web you're probably going to go ahead and read what's here no matter what anyone says. But here it goes anyway...
If you have a problem reading about guys who like other guys as something more than just friends, you need to go find some other place to poke around. If you are under the legal age to read erotic fiction where you live, you probably wouldn't get in trouble for reading this story, but you really don't belong here. And most importantly, many of the names mentioned in this story have been changed to protect the guilty (or is that supposed to be the innocent?). Under no circumstances will I disclose whether or not I actually know any of The Backstreet Boys or any other celebrity who may make an appearance. Nor do I believe in outing people, so I will not disclose any information about the true sexual orientation of anyone mentioned in this story.
Previously in the story of Nick and the Altos
"So what are you going to do?"
"Well, I'm definitely not going to do what Kevin wants and leave on the next plane. I guess I'm going to go find him and talk to him about everything."
"Nicky, if you need to talk, call me. I don't care how late it is."
"Thanks, Bri. I'll let you know what happens."
"Thanks. Love you, Nicky."
"Love you too, Bri. Nite."
"Nite."
Nick hung up his phone and continued to lay on the bed. Finally, he decided that he couldn't postpone things any longer and got up and left the guest room. It looked like all of the lights were out in the house. He walked across the courtyard and went into the living room. Mikey wasn't there so he went upstairs. He turned towards the bedroom and stopped and listened. He could hear Mikey crying.
Nick walked into the bedroom and quietly got undressed. Then he walked over to the bed and slid under the covers and said, "Mikey, there are some things I need to tell you..."
I continued laying there, trying to stop crying. I didn't know how to react. Here I had figured Nick was abandoning me as a friend and now here he was in bed beside me. I tried wiping the tears from my face. Then I felt him slide over next to me and reach over and try to get me to roll over and look at him.
I resisted, saying "What, Nick?"
"Mikey, I need to explain what's going on."
"You mean why you took off after looking at the pictures and wouldn't talk to me?"
"It's way more than just the fucking photos, Mikey."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, Mikey, ever since I met you, there's been something I was afraid to tell you. Jeez, this is difficult, I've never had to say something like this before."
"What Nick, you're starting to scare me."
"It's just that I've never felt this way before and with everything that's been going on in your life, I didn't want to say anything cause I didn't know how you would react."
"Ok, now I'm really getting worried."
"Mikey, I really like you."
"Yeah, I know."
"No you don't Mikey. I really like you and... well, it's that you aren't the only one in this bed who likes guys."
I lay there speechless for a moment. Then I slowly rolled over on to my other side so I was facing Nick, "You mean you're..."
"Yeah, and I think I'm falling in love with you."
"No shit, Nick?"
"Yeah, totally serious."
"So why did you wait so long to say anything?"
"It's just with everything going on with Angela, I didn't feel right about saying anything."
"So the photos changed things?"
"Not really the photos, it was the fight I had with Kevin tonight. That's where I went after you opened the envelope."
"Bet those made his day."
"Oh, yeah. Then when I told him I'm gay it was icing on the cake."
"I'll bet. So what are we going to do about this situation?"
"What situation is that?"
"Well us both being gay, you falling in love with me and me falling in love with you..."
"You mean you feel that way too?"
"Very much so, I've really never felt this way about anyone before."
"Really?"
"Yeah, so what are we going to do about this?"
"Well, I could really get into sleeping in your arms tonight."
"Can I maybe have a goodnight kiss?"
"Well, I've never kissed a guy before..."
"So are you adverse to a first time?"
"No, definitely not."
I leaned over and kissed Nick on the lips. It didn't last all that long. Then I lay back. After a minute or so I felt Nick moving towards me and then I felt his lips on mine. This one lasted longer. His kiss was so tender and gentle. After he pulled back we both lay there smiling at each other.
"Wow! I think I'm going to like this," Nick said.
"You're not the only one," I responded.
Nick rolled over and gave me another kiss, another lingering one. This time he brought his hand up and gently stroked my face. The kiss became more passionate and lasted quite a while. When we finally came up for air I was pretty overwhelmed by how I was feeling.
"Oh my God, Nick! Kissing you is so incredible!"
"You mean I'm not bad for my first time?"
"You've never kissed anyone before?" I asked in disbelief.
"Not really, at least nothing serious."
"You can't understand how incredible that makes me feel."
"Yeah, I do cause I feel it too."
We lay there in each others arms for a while, talking quietly about our how our feelings had evolved over the past week and a half. Gradually we became quiet and just looked in each other's eyes. We both slowly leaned in for another kiss. This time our lips parted and the kissing became much more intimate.
We must have kissed for a couple of hours. Believe it or not, while our hands wandered around touching each other gently, neither of us ventured below our waists. I honestly don't ever remember being this turned on before. I definitely didn't want it to end.
Suddenly, Nick stopped kissing me and said, "Oh Mikey!" I felt something hit my arm.
"Oh shit! Mikey, I'm so sorry! God, I can't believe this."
"Nick, don't worry about it. It's not like I'm not pretty excited too."
"Yeah, but it's all over you. I'm so sorry."
"Nick it really is ok, I got pretty close myself more than once. Why don't you just go get a towel from the bathroom."
Nick got off the bed and returned a minute later with a hand towel and proceeded to wipe up what was on me.
"Wow, Nick, you really put out a lot," I said, teasing him.
"Well, I am at my sexual peak you know."
"Oh, I'm sure I could do just as much, it's been so long."
"Well, I guess it's only fair that we take care of that."
"I don't think so," I said.
"Why not, I don't want you to be left out."
"Yours wasn't planned, it just happened without any help."
"Don't remind me."
"Don't be embarrassed, Nick. I think it's pretty cool. Come on, let's go to bed."
Nick got up and put the towel in the laundry hamper and joined me in bed a few minutes later. We cuddled up together, kissed each other goodnight and with in a few minutes were sound asleep.
I was wakened by the phone ringing. Groggily I reached out and felt around on the nightstand until I found it.
"Hello," I said, still pretty much asleep.
"Mikey, hon, did I wake you?" my mother asked.
"Yeah, what time is it?"
"Nine, you're usually up long before this. Are you ok?"
"Yeah, Nick and I stayed up pretty late uh, talking. Mom, you're not going to believe this, but he told me he's falling in love with me."
"Mikey, that was pretty obvious over a week ago to everyone but you."
"Really?"
"Your father had a long talk with your grandfather this morning. He's not planning on leaving. I'm sorry Mikey. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Shit!" I said, loudly. "We haven't talked about the photos and what Nick and the guys are going to do."
"If you need anything, Mikey, call me. Ok? Oh, and give my love to Nick."
"Sure, mom. Thanks."
I hung up the phone and snuggled up closer to Nick, if that was possible. He had woken up while I was talking to my mother, I soon learned. He asked me what was going on and I told him what she had said. We lay in bed and talked for a few minutes but avoided the subject that I was sure was weighing heavily on both of us -- what was going to happen with the pictures.
After we had been laying there for a while, I decided it was time to get started with the day, "I think I'm going to go take a shower. See you in a few minutes."
"You want to conserve water by showering together?" Nick asked with a big grin.
"Um, I don't think I'm ready for that yet," I replied.
"I wasn't meaning anything was going to happen. How about I shave and brush while you shower."
"Actually, I'd rather have the bathroom to myself this morning. You could always go down and start some coffee."
"Oh, ok. Guess you need some privacy in there, huh?" he said with a major grin on his face.
"Yeah, and let's change the subject," I said, blushing away. I got out of bed and dug a clean pair of boxers out of my dresser. Then I headed down the hall to the bathroom. I was feeling sort of funny about the privacy thing because even if Nick had been here, I would still have had plenty of privacy since the shower is pretty secluded. But knowing my friend, Nick, he would have prolly walked into the shower just to catch me in the act.
Nick got out of bed and went downstairs, followed by Gracie. She convinced him that the first order of business was to let her out in the back yard. That accomplished, he went about setting up the coffeemaker and waited for it to finish brewing.
A couple of minutes later and Gracie was at the door asking to come back inside. Nick let her in and then fixed her breakfast. By the time she was chowing down, there was enough coffee brewed for two cups. After pouring the coffee, he headed back up to the bedroom and crawled into bed and turned on the television.
I walked back into the bedroom a little while later, all shaved, brushed and showered. I stuffed my dirty underwear in the laundry hamper and went over and took a sip of my coffee.
"Ummm, good coffee. Thanks, Nicky."
"So did you have fun in the shower?" he asked with yet another grin plastered on his face.
Blushing deeply, I replied, "Actually, I sort of lost interest in doing it by the time I got in the shower. I was sort of feeling weird about it with you here."
"Guess I shouldn't have teased you about it. I prolly would feel sort of weird doing it if you knew I was going to do it too. Sorry Mikey."
"It's ok, just hope I don't end up having a wet dream cause it's been so long. Now that would be messy."
I crawled into bed next to him and we watched tv and drank our coffee. When our cups were empty, I started to go for a refill, but Nick decided to go take his shower, so I said I would wait until he was done. I closed my eyes and didn't open them again until Nick crawled on to the bed and straddled me.
"Hello again, cutie," he said. "you know, I've been wanting to do this every morning for the past several days."
"Do what?"
He leaned over and gave me a kiss. It didn't last long and wasn't real intimate, but it was gentle and sweet and it was so wonderful. We looked into each other's eyes and then he leaned in for another kiss. This one was much more intimate and much longer. Way too quickly I was getting very excited.
"Nick, I think we need to stop before we get too carried away," I said as I broke off the kiss.
"You're no fun, Mikey," he said pouting.
"It's not that I wasn't really enjoying myself, but I'm worried things are going to happen way too quickly. There is a lot of really fucked up stuff in our lives right now and we need to deal with it. The way I feel about you there is not one bit of doubt in my mind that we are going to end up in love, but we need to wait until we're both certain how we feel. Hope you're not disappointed..."
"Yeah, I guess I am a little disappointed cause I feel so strongly about you, but I know you're right. Guess we are both going to need a little private time in the shower for a while."
"Guess I'm going to need to get over being embarrassed cause I know you know what I'm doing in there."
"It is going to be sorta weird doing it when I really want to be doing it with you instead of by myself."
"Uh, can we change the subject. It's not exactly going to help me to relax down there if we keep talking about it."
"Well, why don't you just get out of bed. It's not like I haven't seen it before, you know."
"Maybe I would if you'd get off of me."
"Oh, sorry," Nick said as he climbed off me. From the looks of his boxers, I wasn't the only one who had gotten a little excited.
We went downstairs and, after getting some more coffee, called my parents. Essentially, the story hadn't changed much since my mother's phone call earlier that morning. My father was doing his best to find out who was doing the extortion but wasn't making much progress. We talked about what our options were if the people followed through with their threat.
There didn't seem to be any decent alternatives, so after a few minutes we said goodbye to my parents and Nick said he wanted to call Kevin. I was really worried about how Kevin was going to react to the latest news.
"What do you think you guys are going to do, Nick?" I asked.
"I don't know, Mikey. It's all so fucked up."
"Tell me about it. I just don't want you to get hurt, Nick."
"You either, Mikey. That's most important. That and our relationship not being affected by whatever happens."
I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Nick turned and lay down on the couch and I lay down beside him and rested my head on his chest.
"You know Mikey, a big part of me wants to stand up and tell the whole world that I love you. Then those damned pictures will be worthless."
"Nick, you can't do that. Think of what it would do to the group. All the girls who fantasize about you would give up on you guys."
"Yeah, but think about all the gay guys who would pick us up."
"Most of them probably buy your stuff already."
"You don't..."
"Yeah, and I'm not going to start now either."
"Fine fan you are..."
"Correct Mr. Carter, I'm not a fan of the group."
"What! I thought you loved me?"
"I do love you, Nick, but not because you're a Backstreet Boy, in spite of it."
I felt him lean forward a bit and kiss the top of my head and squeeze me.
"Nick, there's another reason you shouldn't come out."
"What's that, Mikey. Are you ashamed to admit you love a Backstreet Boy?"
"Well..."
"Oh, thanks a lot."
"Just kidding, handsome. No, but seriously, I really value my anonymity. If you go telling the world about us, I'm totally exposed again. I'm just not ready to jump into the spotlight."
"I sure wish I knew what to do. Guess we need to give Kevin a call and see what he wants to do. Then there'll be 'input' from management. That's going to be lots of fun."
Nick reached over and picked up the phone and called Kevin. As you can imagine, he wasn't exactly what you would call a happy camper. Nick explained that my grandfather wasn't going to agree to leave the country and that my father wasn't having any luck tracking down who was behind the threats. Kevin proposed that the guys hold a press conference and that Nick explain that the pictures were of innocent gestures on his part towards a friend whose sister had just died.
Nick went pretty much ballistic over that idea. When he had calmed down he explained that saying something like that was a blatant lie because he and I were in love and how would they be able to explained my hanging out with him in the future.
I was definitely witnessing the adversarial relationship between Nick and Kevin as I listen to them argue back and forth about what the group was going to do. I wouldn't say that they eventually came to an agreement, but they finally quit yelling back and forth. Kevin announced that he was going to contact management and let them know what had happened and about Nick and me. Something told me that was going to go over like the proverbial lead balloon.
"Sorry you had to hear all that, Mikey," Nick said after he hung up the phone.
I have to admit I was sort of, I don't know, pretty overwhelmed by the feelings Nick was having towards me. I knew he was falling in love for me, as I was for him, but I just had never had anyone display that much love for me before. We lay there on the couch for a couple of minutes and then I turned over and reached up and gave him the most passionate kiss I could.
"Whoa, Mikey," he said when I stopped, "and I thought I was the one who was getting a little anxious to have something happen." I guess then he noticed the tears in my eyes, "What's wrong, Mikey?"
"Nothing's wrong, Nick. I just am a little overwhelmed by how much I mean to you and I haven't ever had anyone care for me like this before. I fucking hate whoever it is who is trying to hurt you, but I love you more every minute I'm around you."
"So does this mean I can turn my hormones loose now?"
"No, but once we're both ready, I think they're going to really enjoy themselves."
"Yeah, and to be honest, I'm not even really close to being ready to do much more than we have. Not saying that I don't think about it a lot, though."
Nick and I talked about what lay ahead and I suggested that it might be a good idea to join the rest of the guys in Colorado. That way we would all be in one place and could talk easier. Nick agreed, so I called and arranged for us to fly out in a couple of hours. We were going to go directly to Beaver Creek instead of stopping in Denver like last time. My car was still up there so it made sense for that reason too.
Nick, Gracie and I took a cab to the airport and took off for Eagle shortly after arriving. Brian and Leighanne met us when we arrived. Brian filled us in on the reaction of everyone to our situation. The group's management wasn't exactly thrilled, needless to say. And at this point they didn't know that Nick's and my relationship had moved to another level. I couldn't wait to hear their reaction to that one.
When we got to the house Kevin, AJ and Howie were in the middle of a rather heated conference call with management. Brian and Nick went over to join in, looking not too enthusiastic about the idea. Leighanne went looking for the others and I headed into the kitchen to get something to drink. I grabbed a bottle of water for myself and one for Nick.
After handing Nick a bottle I started to head up to my bedroom but Kevin stopped me and asked me to stay in case anything came up involving me. Just what I wanted to have to deal with! So I sat down next to Nick and he grabbed hold of my hand and gave me a smile.
I noticed a frown on Kevin's face and a smile on Brian's. AJ had a slight grin on his face and Howie gave us sort of a questioning look. The conference call finished just after I sat down, fortunately.
"So Nick, anything you need to tell us?" AJ asked.
"Jeez, AJ, no 'Hey, how are you' or anything first?" Nick replied.
"Ok, how's it going Nick?" AJ asked.
"Pretty good other than the photo mess. Whatcha been up to?" Nick replied.
"So, Nick, did you and Mikey finally hook up?"
"Depends on how you mean that?" Nick replied.
"Ok, you guys doing it yet?"
"No way!!!"
"But you are boyfriends?"
Nick and I looked at each other. I figured Nick would answer the question, but he didn't. He leaned over and kissed me in front of everyone. I was pretty shocked at his action and started blushing. Not the reddest I have gotten but I definitely was feeling embarrassed.
AJ jumped up off the couch and started jumping up and down, yelling "Yes! I won. I knew out little Nicky was gay! Pay up Howie!"
"Shit," Howie said as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and handed AJ a Ben Franklin."
"You had a bet that I was gay?" Nick asked, shocked.
"Yeah, we made it over a year ago," AJ replied, still excited about winning.
"Thanks a lot," Nick said dejectedly.
"Come on, Nick. We were just doing it for fun, we still love you," AJ said.
"You can be such a jerk, AJ," Brian said. "It's not like this is the easiest thing for Nick to deal with and you go and make a bet out of it."
"Hey, we're just playing around, guys. We weren't trying to make fun of you or anything, Nick," AJ said.
"It's ok, it just I never figured I was that obvious."
"You aren't, Nick. It's just you never seemed all that interested in girls. I knew I was right watching you two last week."
"I just hope you guys aren't going to get too intimate in front of us. I don't have any problem with you guys being gay and being boyfriends, but I don't really have any desire to see you going at it on the couch," Howie said, smiling.
"Don't worry," I said. "First, we haven't even done anything other than kiss at this point, and second, anything other than cuddling and kissing will happen in private when that time comes."
"You mean you guys aren't having sex yet?" AJ asked.
This time both Nick and I blushed. "No, AJ, we aren't and not only that, it's not something I'm planning on disclosing when we do," Nick said.
At this point Kevin interrupted the conversation and explained the facts of life to Nick and I -- not those facts of life, the way things were going to have to be in public. Nick and I just sat there and listened to his speech to make him happy. It wasn't like he was saying anything we didn't already know.
Once Kevin finished, Nick and I explained that we already knew what had to happen. I told them how I had no interest in becoming an object of public attention, preferring to remain completely in the background.
Kevin told us that the group needed to hold a press conference in Denver that evening and introduce me and explain my involvement with them. He also announced that they needed to fly to Kansas City the next day to resume the tour. That really came as a shock to Nick and I. It's not like we were expecting to be able to stay together, but we didn't realize that we were going to be separated so soon. A limo was scheduled to pick us up in an hour to take us to town and then they were going to stay at the Brown Palace that night.
Since my car was at the house, I decided that I would drive it to Denver rather than ride with them. Nick said he was going to ride with me. Kevin said that was fine but we needed to arrive at the press conference in the limo so it was decided that we would meet at the hotel and I would leave my car there.
Nick and I went upstairs to pack up our stuff. As soon as he finished packing, Nick came to my room and sat down of the bed and just watched me silently. When I finished I went over and lay down next to him, putting my hand on his back, rubbing up and down. After a minute or so he lay down and turned to face me. He looked so sad I almost started crying.
"Guess this sort of snuck up on both of us, huh?" I said.
"Yeah, it's not like I didn't know I was going to have to go back on tour, but we just got together..."
"It's going to really suck not sleeping with you but you know how much I love you and being separated isn't going to change that one bit."
"I know and you know the feeling is mutual. Thank God for cell phones and email," Nick said.
"And private jets..."
That got a smile out of him, "You mean you're going to come see me when I'm on tour?"
"Does a bear..."
He leaned over and kissed me passionately. I don't know what it was about kissing him, but whenever we started kissing I got instantly hard and this time was no exception. I mean it was like turning on a light switch. It's not like I have had all that much experience but it had never happened like this before.
As we continued to kiss and our hands did some wandering, I discovered that I wasn't the only one who had gotten excited. Unfortunately we were interrupted after a couple of minutes by a knock at the door.
"Come in," I said as Nick and I tried to adjust things so it wasn't too obvious what had been going on.
Kevin walked in and said "Sorry to intrude, but I need to talk to you guys if it's ok."
"Sure, Kevin," I said, "why don't you have a seat."
He went over and sat in one of the chairs after turning it to face the bed.
"So what's up?" Nick asked.
"You guys probably think I don't approve, but I just wanted to let you know that's not true. I'm really happy for you guys, I think you are really cute together."
"But...?" I said.
"Yeah, but," he continued, "I know you guys realize how careful you have to be. If word gets out it is going to be a real mess. If those pictures get published how are you guys going to deal with the aftermath. Nick is basically going to have to tell the world that there is nothing between you other than friendship. I'm sure that's not going to be easy for either one of you."
"It's going to tear me up inside to say Mikey is just a friend, but it's something I'm just going to have to do. He knows how much I love him," Nick said, giving my hand a squeeze.
"Yeah, I have not doubt about how Nick feels and I know he understands how I feel about him. I really was serious earlier when I said I wanted to stay in the background. I realize you need to explain who I am in case the pictures get published and because I'll be seen with you guys."
"Thanks for understanding, guys. I really am happy for you. I hope the separations aren't going to be too rough, I know how much it hurts."
"It's going to totally suck, especially since it's happening right at the beginning," Nick said.
"At least we can both afford to get together whenever we have time. I can do a lot of my work away from the office which will help, too."
"I've noticed you haven't exactly been doing much work the past few days," Nick said.
"No, but the company pretty much runs fine, maybe even better, when I'm not spending a lot of time there."
"Well, you guys need to get your butts in gear. We need to be leaving in a few minutes," Kevin said.
"Yes, dad," Nick said.
"Hey, Kevin, I know this situation probably isn't what you'd like to have happening, but thanks for being so supportive of us," I said.
"Mikey, I never had anything against you. Nick and I tend to butt heads a lot, what with our tempers. I really am glad the way things are working out cause it'll be good for Nick to be in a relationship. I have to admit I could do without the photo thing hanging over our heads, though."
"Shit, don't feel alone. I'm the reason it happened so I really feel terrible about it."
"Mikey, you are not the reason for it, your grandfather is and you just happened to be the easiest target," Nick said.
Kevin got up and left the room. I know that Nick and I should have followed, but we went back to what we were doing before he interrupted us. A few minutes later we heard someone yell from down the hall, "Calling two horny boys... put your dicks back in your pants and your asses downstairs, the limo is here."
We jumped off the bed, arranged things once again and headed downstairs, both of us blushing. We loaded our bags in my Grand Cherokee and took off, followed by the limo. I tried driving a little slower than normal, but we still left them far behind. Nick and I talked about how we were going to deal with the separation that was going to be starting in the morning. We were trying to be adult about it but we weren't very successful.
We made it to the Brown Palace about 20 minutes ahead of the limo. Nick went ahead and checked into his suite and we went up to wait for everyone else to show up. For those of you who haven't been to the Brown, it is a really famous old hotel in downtown Denver. Nick's suite was in the old part of the hotel. I think it's the part of the place to stay if you have the choice. The whole hotel is pretty gaudy inside since it is still decorated like it was 100 years ago.
One of the sort of weird things about it is that in a lot of the rooms you step up to enter the bathrooms. That's supposedly because when the place was built they didn't have water piped into the rooms, so they had to raise the bathroom floors to add the plumbing. Don't know if it's true but it sounds reasonable.
Everyone else finally arrived and checked in on the same floor. I guess the guys and their entourage normally have an entire floor that is secure. That doesn't happen in the Brown Palace since the center of the hotel is completely open. So you can stand in the lobby and look up and see all of the floors. So extra security staff was posted on either side of the suites the guys and their girlfriends were occupying.
A little while after the rest of the group arrived, it was time to head off to the television station where the press conference was going to be held. The six of us got in the limo and we headed over to Channel 9's studios. We were met by a whole bunch of people from the management group. There were publicists, videographers, makeup staff. It was crazy what preparation was being done for a relatively brief interview.
After everyone was fixed up to the satisfaction of the people who seemed to be running the show, we were put in a room and told how we were going to do the interview. I was going to be kept out of camera range to begin with. Towards the end of the interview Kevin was going to bring up The Backstreet Foundation and introduce me as the person who had volunteered to do the design and hosting of The Foundation's web site. I was told that when I joined them on camera I would stand next to Kevin and Brian and avoid any contact with Nick.
It all seemed pretty ridiculous to me, but I was going to go along with it. A few minutes later we were taken into the studio and the guys perched on stools arranged in an arc. There were a half dozen people who I assumed were reporters sitting a ways in front of them out of camera range and a person who was a moderator who was sitting opposite them on another stool.
The interview wasn't live, but because there were press in attendance, it might as well have been. It wasn't that the interview went non-stop, but they had to be careful how they responded to questions. A couple of questions were directed at Nick, asking where he had been during the previous press conference. He responded saying that a good friend's sister had been very sick and he went to visit her. Then the moderator wanted to know where he had been, but he politely declined to answer.
A variety of questions followed about what the rest of the group had been doing during the past week and the guys responded they had been resting in the Colorado mountains and playing some golf.
Finally Kevin took control of the interview and said that he wanted to announce more information about The Backstreet Foundation. He explained that they had joined forces with a person from California who was active in a variety of charitable causes and who was a partner in an internet boutique that had volunteered the company's services to design and host The Foundation's web site.
"And now I'd like to introduce our good friend and partner in The Backstreet Foundation," Kevin said as he turned and looking where I was standing off camera. "Michael, come on out here."
I walked out and stood between Kevin and Brian.
"This is Michael Alto, Jr., whose company is doing the work on our web site."
The moderator asked me about my company and what other charitable causes I was involved in. I answered carefully, being careful not to mention anything about the gay and lesbian work I did. Ok, I guess that was sort of a cop out, but I was trying to lay low in case the photos of Nick and I ended up being made public. Then the moderator made a comment about how young I was. I pretty much ignored the comments and gave more information about the company and our track record.
Out of the corner of my eye I snuck a glace in Nick's direction and noticed he was looking right at me and was smiling. I started getting really self conscious at that point. I couldn't help myself. I turned and looked towards him and smiled. Kevin saw what was happening and took control of the interview again and brought it to a close.
As we walked back into the room where we had been earlier, I turned to Nick and said, "You dick! Why'd you start looking at me?"
"Cause you were so cute and I love you," he replied.
"If your management people didn't hate me before, they are going to totally hate me now."
As it turned out they were pretty pissed and we got a serious lecture about how we needed to be more careful in public. The management group was sure that it wouldn't take very long for the press to find out who I was and learn I was gay. It dawned on me at that point that no one had said anything to them about Nick's and my relationship. They would really have gone through the roof if they had known about that.
A few minutes later we went out to the limo and headed back to the hotel. Nick announced that he was going to spend the night at my house and he would see them in the morning. Kevin gave him a mini-lecture about being careful and making sure we were back at the hotel by 10 a.m. so they could get to the airport in time.
We went and got Gracie from Nick's suite and left for my car. We stopped for some groceries on the way to Lookout Mountain. When we got home Gracie went charging off to see what had invaded her domain while we had been gone. Nick and I put our bags in my room and then went back into the great room where I started a fire in the fireplace. Once it was blazing away I joined Nick on the couch. I'll bet you can't guess what happened next...
Well, that's it for Part 16 of Nick and the Altos. You'll have to wait for Part 17 to find out what transpired on the couch that evening. No promises as to when it will be out since life is pretty crazy these days. This time next weekend is a good bet. Any comments, suggestions or whatever, email me at mikeylikesit80@hotmail.com.
Thanks for reading... Mikey