DISCLAIMER: I don't know Ashley Parker Angel. This is strictly in my fantasy. I am in no way affiliated with his record company and anything to do with him. If homosexual content is illegal for you to read or you don't like it then please leave.
The only thing I have remotely in common with Ashley is that we were born on the same day - August 1, 1981.
FIRST THINGS FIRST: Well I'm back. After more than 2 years away from Nifty I've decided to start writing again. It feels great to just be writing this and hope that as you read this you can share in my excitement. I'm hoping I can rekindle some old friendships on here but at the same time meet as many new people as possible. Tell me what you think about this one...it's a new story with a familiar face for me in it. I've been a huge Ashley Parker Angel fan for a long time and recently met him, which gave me motivation for this story. I hope you like it.
As always, Pytn18@hotmail.com for comments, suggestions, conversation, etc.
For those of you that want to check out some previous work of mine, check out these stories: -Nick and Ashley (Boy-Bands directory) -Timmy's Love (High School directory)
I know what you're thinking...let's get on with it already!!! Here we go...
Soundtrack To Your Life - Chapter 1
Ashley Parker Angel sat in the Z100 studio in the heart of New York City with headphones around his ears and a microphone hanging down in front of him. There was hustle and bustle all around him but he was indifferent to it. The morning show host Elvis Duran gave him the 5 minute cue but he didn't even notice. He was dead to the world and didn't even notice when someone bumped into his chair by accident.
Tiffany, his girlfriend for almost 3 years walked out on him early this morning. Quite literally this morning, right before his ride showed up to take him to the airport for this appearance in fact. Ashley remembered back to that vicious conversation...
"I don't know if I can handle this anymore Ash!" Tiffany said.
"What do you mean Tiff? What's the matter, I have to go in like 5 minutes." Ashley responded.
"That's just it! You're never home anymore. You're always off somewhere while I sit here and wait for you." Tiffany screamed out with her arms flailing wildly in the air.
Ashley's voice began to rise. "Tiff, I'm doing this for you and Lyric. I'm trying to get my feet on the ground in this business and make some money for us. If I don't promote my name then it'll be gone as fast as O-town was."
"I just can't do this...I can't. You need to be around more. I'd like to start my career again as well! My modeling agency calls me every day for me to come back to work and I can't because I'm home with Lyric every night." Tiffany yelled back.
"Tiff, you knew this was going to happen when we had a kid. I have to go to work now, I'm gonna be late." Ashley said as he walked towards the door.
He opened it and walked out carrying his luggage on his shoulder.
"Yeah well maybe I won't be here when you get back" Tiffany said under her breath with anger.
Ashley heard it barely but knew it wasn't true. 'She'll still be there. She won't leave me' he thought to himself as he got in the airport shuttle car.
The plane flight was long and Ashley couldn't sleep because of everything that happened. He just wanted to land and call Tiff as soon as possible. The 5 hour flight from California to New York finally landed and Ashley turned on his cell phone. He tried to call Tiff with no answer. Again he tried to call, and again and again. Still nothing.
As he was getting into the cab to head towards the studio he received a text message. It read...
"I took Lyric to your mom's house. My stuff is out of the house. Goodbye Ashley."
Ashley was in a daze all the way to the studio and still was. Finally, he snapped himself out of it. He only had about a minute before they clicked his microphone on. He pulled a small picture out of his pocket that he always kept with him. It was of his son, Lyric. His beautiful blond son that he loved more than anything in the world. If all of this was really happening, he would have to be his strength and his motivation.
The radio station clicked on his microphone and gave him the cue that he was on. Ashley put the picture back in his pocket, ran his hands through his long blond hair and put on his happy face for everyone and started promoting the album.
Josh Walker laid in bed staring at the ceiling. Morning came entirely too early. A late night with some friends didn't help the night before either. Just as he was about to go back to sleep the snooze went off again.
"Alright, alright I'm up" he said out loud to no one.
He got up and headed to the shower, peeling clothing off as he crossed the room. He took off his mesh shorts and t-shirt and stepped into the bathroom. He turned the water on and waited for it to get hot. He turned around and looked in the mirror. He saw a 25 year old guy with a good physique, not fantastic but good enough to keep him happy with himself. He played ice hockey every year through his childhood and a bit in college but mostly just for fun now. It left him in good shape though, which he enjoyed. He looked at himself as his jet black hair fell in front of his face at a medium cut, and his crystal blue eyes.
'I really need to get this cut, it's way too long' He thought to himself as he finally hopped in the shower.
It wasn't long before he was out of his New York City apartment, after a quick bowl of cereal. Eventually, he was walking towards the subway heading towards the Z100 studios downtown.
He started an internship there at the beginning of the summer and was asked to stay on board for at least the winter and become a part-time employee. He went to school for communications and production but really wanted something more out of life, whether that be in radio or whatever. He didn't want to be stuck behind a desk his whole life.
He got to work just in time to see a lot of commotion.
"What's everyone's deal this morning?" Josh asked one of his coworkers.
"Do you live in a cave?" She responded
"Well I live in a studio apartment and I know it's small but it's not a cave by any means." Josh responded with a smile.
"Ashley Parker Angel is here today." She snapped back in a vicious tone.
"Wow, ok then." Josh said as she walked away somewhat annoyed.
He was always a bit sarcastic but the mention of the former O-town member turned soloist excited him a lot. He was always a huge fan and emulated him a lot. On top of all of that, he was a pretty gorgeous specimen. Josh knew he was gay since he was in college. He was in a pretty serious relationship with a girl, and one day it just clicked. When he kissed her he felt nothing. He never went out of his way to engage in anything sexual with her. He quickly broke it off, not wanting to lead her on. She took it very seriously but he knew that there was no future in that.
Since then, Josh had never had anything too serious with guys besides fooling around with some drunken friends every now and then. Of course, it was never really talked about once everyone sobered up and they all went about their own lives.
The morning show that he worked for was very efficient and went very smoothly as usual. It was almost time to bring on the special guest. Ashley had really made a name for himself recently with his new solo album and was trying to get as much good press as possible. He watched the MTV show "There and Back" pretty religiously when it was on last season and was excited to meet him.
He looked different today though. He usually seemed very excited and upbeat but today he looked like someone had just punched him in the stomach. He was dazing very easily. He didn't even notice when Josh bumped into his chair by accident. He was like a zombie.
'Something must be up' Josh thought to himself.
Ashley walked out of the studio and headed towards the elevator. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. He pulled out his cell phone on the way and tried to call Tiff again. No answer. She was obviously ducking him. He pulled up his contact list and called his mom. She of course answered.
"Mom, it's Ash." He said quickly into the phone
"Hey honey...what's going on? Tiff just dropped the baby off and stormed out of here." Paula Angel said worriedly into the phone.
"It's ok Mom, I'll explain everything later, just take care of Lyric for me for now. I'm in New York, I'll be home in a week." Ashley said as he headed into the elevator.
"But wait what's going on...Ashley...can you hear....." Paula said as the phone cut off.
"Damn elevators." Ashley said out loud as he shut his phone off. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone right now, especially 10,000 questions from his mom. He was just glad that Lyric was safe.
He reached the bottom floor and headed out of the building. He threw on a backwards yellow UCal hat, his favorite hate, and a pair of sunglasses, trying to avoid being noticed as much as possible. He hailed a cab and headed over to his hotel that he was staying at.
The hotel was in Midtown and the cab was cruising along until it slowed down eventually coming to a complete stop. It might as well have been a parking lot as no one was going anywhere.
"I'll get out here." Ashley said as he threw the cab driver a 20 dollar bill and got out.
He started walking in the general direction of the hotel and eventually stopped dead in his tracks as he realized what the traffic was all about. He looked on as he saw his hotel that his manager booked for him completely engulfed in flames. Firefighters worked furiously to try and put out the fire but was not having much luck.
"Wow, this really isn't my day." Ashley said out loud to himself in his usually laid back manor.
He stood there and watched the fire for a while until realizing that he should regroup. He went into a Subway restaurant and sat down at a table in the back, turned his phone on again and called his manager. Of course he got voicemail.
"Mike...it's Ashley. Call me asap. Got a small problem." He said into the phone.
He could have easily just went to another hotel but he was just so overwhelmed with everything that was going on that he just sat in the back of the restaurant staring out the window, looking into the flames.
Josh swiped his Metro Card and got onto the subway and headed uptown. He needed lunch. He was too tired to eat breakfast this morning as usual and was in the mood for a big sandwich. He could have gone to any place in the area but wanted to get out of the busy section for a while. He headed back to a place where he knew pretty well. It was a Subway in Midtown that he used to work at when he was attending college here in the city. He walked in and saw a lot of his old buddies behind the counter. After a small amount of banter he got to ordering since his stomach was growling.
"Give me the Roasted Chicken." Josh said as he ordered his usual with a smile on his face.
He looked around the restaurant as he waited for his sandwich to be made. It was the usual lunchtime rush. There was one particular character in the corner though staring out the window. He took a closer look and recognized him as Ashley from the studio this morning. The only reason he figured it out was because of the clothes he was wearing. Other than that the hat and sunglasses look really worked much to his surprise. He was in zombie mode again. Josh turned around and after telling him what condiments he wanted on his sandwich, took the tray and headed for the table.
He started to sit down at a random table but stopped himself.
'Obviously something's wrong. He's just a normal person like me. I see celebrities all day. Why is this one different?' Josh thought to himself as he headed over to the table.
Ashley didn't even notice that he was standing right next to his table. It took a lot of courage but he finally mustered enough up to say something.
"I don't mean to pry but are you ok?" Josh said out loud as Ashley quickly snapped out of his trance and spun his head around, almost like he was startled by the sound of someone talking to him.
He looked up and saw a guy about his age and swore he recognized him from somewhere. His brain was so fried but eventually realized that he was from the radio station.
"Oh, yeah I'm ok. You're Josh right?" Ashley asked back trying to keep small conversation.
"Yeah." Josh said surprised that he knew his name. "How did you know?"
"You work at the radio station from this morning. I remember you from there." Ashley responded matter of factly.
"Oh well you looked like you were a bit out of it this morning so I wasn't sure if you remember me." Josh said.
"I usually don't but you stuck in my head for some reason." Ashley responded back.
'Interesting...wonder what that means.' Josh thought to himself. "So you're a bit of a space cadet today." Josh said out loud regretting it immediately. "I'm sorry I didn't mean for that to sound so harsh."
Ashley just laughed.
"Nah, I agree I've been really out of it today." He said.
"Everything alright?" Josh asked.
Ashley thought about it for a second. He hated spilling his guts to people but he felt comfortable with this newfound stranger/friend. He figured what the hell, someone to listen to him speak might be good for him right about now.
"Well...let me tell you about my morning." Ashley said as he started telling Josh all about the events of the morning.
Ashley talked and talked and talked. Josh just listened and ate his sandwich. It was an odd situation but both seemed to thrive in the conversation. It seemed weird just striking up conversation with a stranger but felt food at the same time. They both felt some weird connection and found comfort in each other's company.
"Wow, that's a lot at once. I'm sorry to hear that man." Josh said.
"Yeah it all kinda happened so fast that my head is spinning right now." Ashley responded.
"Well where are you staying?" Josh asked.
Ashley laughed again. "It's funny that you mention that." He said as he just pointed outside to all firefighters working frantically to calm down the fire.
"Wow, that's not good. Why don't you stay with me? I've got a place right around the corner." Josh said trying to seize a great opportunity.
"No, no don't even worry about it. I just left a voicemail for my manager. He'll set something up for me." Ashley said.
Ashley of course was trained to be as careful as possible with situations like this. The rule was to never get too close to a fan, never go to their place, and never open up emotionally. But where do you draw the line between being a celebrity and being human? Was he not allowed to meet strangers and become friends with them? Especially with everything going on with Tiff, who knows what the future holds for him.
"Well at least come over until you figure it out. I mean as much as I love this place, we can't hang out in Subway all day." Josh said sarcastically.
Ashley laughed another time. That was the third time he laughed in one conversation. He can't remember the last time he had a good laugh.
"I guess that's ok." Ashley said with a smile on his face.
"What are you doing tonight by the way? I've got Rangers tickets at the Garden through the station. You should come." Josh said.
"Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun. After that maybe we could go out to a bar or something and try and forget about a tough day." Ashley said.
"I like that idea. I'm gonna call out from work." Josh said as he took out his cell phone.
"No, I don't want you doing that." Ashley said nervously.
"Nah, don't worry about it. I'm tired of this job anyway. I'm looking for a change soon." Josh said as they both headed out of the restaurant.
Everything about this was against what Ashley normally does. His whole world was upside down right now and he wasn't sure what he was doing but that was the exciting part. He had just met this person that he really got along with and just felt right. Why not pursue it? For once, Ashley forgot about his inhibitions and just went with the flow.
On the other hand this was a dream come true for Josh. He came across as a cool character but he was very nervous. He was used to dealing with nervousness through his hockey training his whole life but this was a celebrity. For some reason, he didn't feel star struck with Ashley. In fact, he saw a person who looked like he needed help. Josh had a good heart and saw a human being who needed a friend more than anything. Who knows what may come of this...all he knew was that Ashley Parker Angel was following him back to his apartment.
<<<< So what did you guys think? Not a bad start. I'd like to get back into writing in this directory as I had a blast last time I had a run in here. As always, please drop a line to me at Pytn18@hotmail.com, I can never hear enough from you guys as you are the reason why us writers are here.>>>>
Keep dreaming...
---ND---