I Need You Tonight
Part II
"So, let’s start over, at the top. Okay. One, two, three, four..." Kevin counted off as we started the song at the beginning. We, Kevin, me Nick, Howie, and A.J., were in Nick’s garage practicing for a city talent show that we had entered. We were going to sing the song "I’ll be there", the duet by Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz. I had to do all the Mariah Carey parts while the guys switched out on Trey Lorenz’s parts.
"You and I must make a pact, we must bring salvation back, where there is love I’ll be there." I took a deep breath and kept singing. "I’ll reach out my hand to you, I’ll have faith in all you do. Just call my name and I’ll be there."
Kevin took a deep breath and carried on with the song. When we were through, we all cheered and traded high fives. We had sounded great! And it was all because of the hard work we had done. Since it was summer, we all had free time and all of that free time went to practicing. When we signed up for the talent show we got to hear some of the competition, some of which blew us all away. To beat them, we had to be perfect. And that was exactly how we had just sounded. Perfect.
Two weeks after we had all gone to Disney World, we had gotten a call from Kevin. He said that he’d been thinking about our offer and wanted to know more about it. He asked if we could meet him somewhere and we agreed to meet up at the Olive Garden. We spent three hours at the dinner table disscussing the group and getting to know each other and Kevin finally decided to join. We had been together for only about one week before we heard about the city talent show when we decided to sign up for it. And today, after we had been practicing for an hour and forty five minutes, we decided to take a break. We all sat around in Nick’s backyard drinking kool-aid and eating the chocolate chip cookies that Nick’s mom, Jane, had just baked. Nick, Howie, and A.J. were lounging on the hammock when Kevin asked us a really interesting question.
"Have you guys ever thought about sending a demo tape to a record company? I mean they could end up liking what they hear and could even get you a recording contract. Wouldn’t that be awesome?!" He took a sip of his kool-aid and waited for us to respond. We were letting what Kevin had just said sink in. We sat in silence for a while. Finally A.J. spoke up from where he was comfortably perched on the hammock.
"Well, I admit that I have thought about it but only a few times. I just thought that it was out of the question and decided to stick to the smaller gigs." We all nodded in agreement.
I had thought about it but not in a serious way. To me, it had always seemed like wishful thinking. But now that Kevin had brought it back up, it didn’t seem so wishful this time. With all of the talent that we had combined right here, we could probably make it.
"Do you guys want to send in demo tapes?" Kevin suggested. "No, we probably shouldn’t because we haven’t had enough time together or written any of our own songs. Maybe we could later on."
"But there’s one part of the harmony missing, like we don’t sound complete. There’s just something missing. We sound great and all, but there’s something not there." Howie sat in thought trying to think of what was missing.
"Yeah, it does seem kind of like something’s missing," Nick said. "But what key is it?"
"It’s not a key, Nick," I finally figured out what was missing. "It’s a voice. A smooth voice. You know, just to make our music have the perfect mix of gentle sound and edge." When everyone looked at me like they had no idea what I was talking about, I sighed. "There’s really no way to explain it, it’s just one of those things that you have to hear. Once you hear it, you’ll go, ‘Oh! That’s it!’"
I looked at Kevin and he seemed to have understood. "I think I know what you’re talking about, Dani. It’s just a smooth, easy voice like you said. And I know someone with that type of voice. Except that person lives nowhere around here."
"Who is it?" A.J. asked.
"Well, I have a cousin who lives up in Lexington, Kentucky that has that voice that we’re looking for." Kevin continued. "His name is Brian Littrell and he’s younger than me. I think he’s 18 now, but I’m sure he’ll want to join us." Right then, Nick’s mother appeared with a phone in her hand.
"A.J., your mother is on the phone." While A.J. talked to his mother on the phone, we continued talking about the talent show. A few minutes later, A.J. came walking back to us.
"Hey you guys, I have to go. My mom just called to remind me that today is the day that my family is supposed to come and spend the summer with us. She wants me to come home so we can fix up the house for them and for the barbeque we’re having tonight." A.J. went to the driveway where he had left his bicycle. "Sorry guys." He looked at me and said, "And girls." He grinned and hopped onto his bike. "I’ll probably be free tomorrow to practice, but one of you call me and tell me what we’re gonna do, ‘k?" He smiled, waved and sped off.
"Well, do you guys wanna keep practicing or just call it a day and go play in the lake?" Nick asked. He looked around and everyone smiled. We were all thinking the same thing. "Okay then! Let’s go to the lake!"
"And the first place winners are....." The announcer opened the envelope and a drumroll started. We all waited backstage anxiously. Our names hadn’t been called for any of the other awards and we all prayed for first place. A hush fell over the crowd and the crew and performers backstage. "Underage!!"
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!! We won! We won! Nick!" Nick and I held on to each other and jumped up and down. We had done it! We had won! He let me go for a quick kiss and went to go congratulate the others.
"Dani! We did it!" A.J. grabbed me in a hug. "I knew we could! We did it!" I gave hugs to Kevin and Howie as well on our way up to the stage. I was so ecstatic. We had really done it. We had sounded great! We thought that compared to all of the other gigs we had no chance at all. But hearing the name that we had finally agreed on announced for first place just blew us away. And up there looking out at the audience giving us a standing ovation, gave me chills. This is what we had all been hoping for. Approval by a large crowd.
Kevin accepted the award for us and unlike the Oscars, we didn’t get to say any thank yous. We bowed and went backstage again and all started cheering. Once we had all calmed down, Kevin suggested we go out for dinner.
"McDonalds!" A.J. shouted.
"Mamasitas!" Howie cried.
"CiCi’s!" (That was Nick.)
"I’m just hungry!" I laughed. We finally decided on CiCi’s Pizza. We carpooled over there and had our own small, spontaneous party over at CiCi’s.
Howie held up his cup of Coca-Cola and made a toast. "To Underage, for winning first place!"
"For winning first place!" We repeated, and all took a sip. We sat around eating and drinking and talking about the other gigs that we as Underage could do. I was talking to A.J. about what we could do in the future, when Nick tapped my shoulder.
I turned. "Hey, Nick! What’s up?"
"Um, Dani.... Uh, A.J. can I pull Dani away for a minute? I need to talk to her." A.J. nodded and Nick led me to a corner, away from everyone else.
"What’s up, Nick?" I asked. Nick was worrying me with the look that was on his face. "Nick? Is there something wrong?"
"Well, Dani," Nick started. "I have something to give you. I wanted to give it to you before the performance but you were with all the guys. So I’m giving it to you now." Nick pulled something out of his pocket and lifted it up for me to see. It was a necklace.
"Oh! Nick!" Was all I could say. It was gorgeous. It was a gold heart outline, hanging on a gold chain. In the corner of the heart was a diamond. "Oh, it’s gorgeous!" Nick got behind me and I lifted up my hair as he fasted the chain around my neck.
"I hope you like it." I answered him with a kiss. And another one. And then a hug.
"Thank you." I whispered. Then he led me back to the table where the group was finishing up their last pieces of pizza.
"There you guys are!" Howie grabbed Nick with one arm and me with the other. "We’re taking pictures! Smile!" A bright flash went off. Denise McLean was holding a camera.
"Okay everybody! Another picture!" Me and Nick posed together, with our arms around each other. "Say cheese!" Another flash. "Last one!" And another flash.
When we were done with pictures, Howie, A.J., Kevin, Nick, and I went to a table of only us and started talking about what we wanted to do next musically as a group.
"Well how about asking if we could perform at one of those restaurants that have a live band?" Howie suggested.
"That’d be cool. Or we could perform at the carnival that’s coming up in Orlando." A.J. said. "But we still need that other voice."
Kevin spoke up, "Well, I told you about my cousin, Brian didn’t I? We could ask him to join us."
"But I thought you said he lives in Kentucky?" I said.
"Yeah, that’s true. So I guess we’ll have to find another person then. Any suggestions?" No one had any. "Oh well."
Howie looked at his watch. "It’s getting pretty late. I’m supposed to go to this ceremony or something in the morning so I have to go. I’ll see you guys later!" After Howie left, everyone started leaving until it was me, A.J., and A.J.’s mom, Denise, and Denise’s friend. I had ridden with Nick but he had already left so A.J. had offered me a ride.
"Here’s some money. You two can go play some video games if you want. Me and Laurie are just going to talk for a little bit." Denise handed both me and A.J. a five dollar bill. We headed to the back room where all the games were.
"I’ll play you air hockey." A.J. challenged.
"Okay. What does the winner get?" I smiled and slid my bill into the coin machine. A.J. thought for a while. Twenty-five quarters (there was a five-quarter bonus) clanged into the coin bin. I picked up all of the change. "Well." I probed.
"Okay. The winner gets a kiss." A.J. smiled and stuck out his hand.
I nearly dropped my quarters. Would it be considered cheating if I kissed A.J. or if he kissed me? I shoved the thought out of my mind. I placed all of my quarters into one hand and smiled just as mischievously as A.J. did as I shook his hand. He went to one side of the air hockey table as I put four quarters into the machine. The air in the table turned on suddenly as I left my quarters on the side of the table where they couldn’t be hit by the puck.
"Ready?" A.J. placed the puck on the table and grabbed his hitter.
"Ready." I grabbed my own hitter and waited for A.J. to hit it to me. He did and I blocked. He shot the puck right back at me, quick and hard, and it slid into my goal.
"Okay. I’ll get you back for that goal!" I hit the puck back at him. But I never did get him back for scoring that goal. I don’t know if he was just really good at air hockey or I wasn’t trying hard enough. But what I didn’t want to acknowledge was the reason of me having the smallest little crush on A.J. and losing on purpose, just so I could get a kiss. But I shoved that thought away faster than I shoved away the thought of me cheating on Nick. No! I wasn’t losing on purpose! I just wasn’t doing my best! And right then, I sent the puck flying through his goal. And as soon as I scored, the air turned off, signaling it was the end of the game. I looked up at the scoreboard. 13 to 1. Pretty pathetic.
"You won. I just wasn’t giving you my all. But I bet if I did, you’d lose!" I said, trying to delay the kiss that I knew was going to happen whether or not I wanted it to.
"Okay. We’ll have a rematch." I sighed. "But!" I held my breath. "I have to get my kiss first." He smiled and leaned casually against the side of the air hockey table. I moved from behind the table and closer to where A.J. was. I stopped when I was about three feet away from him.
"Where do you want it and how long?" I asked. He started laughing. "Well I just wanted to make sure!"
"Okay." He said through laughs. Suddenly he got very serious. "Lips, five seconds. At least." I moved until I was right in front of him. I tilted my face up towards his. Closer. Closer. A few inches. Centimeters. But just before I kissed him, he leaned in the rest of the way and kissed me. I was so surprised that I didn’t know how to respond. The only thing that I could think of doing was to kiss back. Then I felt the cold chain press on my neck. The necklace that Nick gave me! Oh my gosh! Nick! What would he think about this?! But A.J. was such a good kisser. It took all the will power inside me to push A.J. away.
"I’m sorry." I mumbled, stuttering on my words. I grasped the heart in my hand and I think A.J. understood. "I...I just can’t. I’m sorry." I left in a hurry for the table. Denise and her friend were still sitting there and it seemed like safe territory. I sat down and busied myself with a napkin until it was time to leave.
The ride home was worse. I sat in the backseat of a small car with A.J. for thirty minutes, the guilt inside me ready to burst out in the form of tears any second now. Every now and then, I would look over and catch A.J. looking at me. We’d both turn away and stare out the window. When we finally reached my house, I was on the verge of tears. It took all I had just to whisper, "Call me" to A.J. as I got out.
I stood on the door stoop and unlocked the door with the spare key. I opened the door and turned to wave good-bye and thanks to Denise. I stepped inside and shut the door. I leaned against it and sank down until I was sitting against it. I sat with my knees up and rested my head against them with my arms covering my face. I sat there and cried, knowing that my parents wouldn’t hear me because they were asleep. As I cried, I realized something. It wasn’t will power that made me push A.J. away. It was my love for Nick. Knowing that, I cried harder. I never did make it up to my bedroom until early the next morning.
"Hello?" The ringing of the phone had woken me up. I sat up on the bed and suddenly I realized why I was so tired. Last night I had stayed up until four thirty trying to sort out my feelings about what had happened at CiCi’s.
"Is Dani there?" The voice on the other end of the line seemed familiar.
"This is Dani. Who’s this?" I got out from under the covers and flipped my legs over the side of the bed.
"This is A.J." I sighed. "But don’t hang up!" He said quickly. "I need to talk to you. Besides, you told me to call. I’m sorry. I knew that you and Nick were an item but I..." There was a long pause. "I like you Danielle. I really do. And I was just feeling so good last night that I thought, no I didn’t think. I just didn’t think about what might happen to your relationship with Nick. All I thought about were my feelings for you. I’m sorry."
"It’s okay. But what are we going to do now? What are we supposed to tell Nick?" Last night I had come up with so many senarios of how I was supposed to tell Nick, but now all of those seemed like the wrong thing to do.
"Do we really have to tell?" A.J. sounded hopeful.
"I don’t know! I’m not sure I know anything right now. I’m just so confused about everything. I admit, A.J., when I first saw you, I did have the slightest feelings for you but I pushed those away because I have Nick and there’s nothing more that I could ask for. You don’t know how much I love him. He means so much." And then the flow of tears came again.
"Dani, don’t cry. Oh gosh. I don’t know what to do either. Should we tell him at all? Or just forget and go on the way we were before- just friends?" When I didn’t answer, he continued. "It’s up to you. If you feel that it would be better to tell him about what happened then tell him. If you want to keep it a secret.."
"No!" I interrupted. "You see that’s the thing. I have never kept anything from Nick. I have told him every deep, dark secret about me and he’s told me all of his deep, dark secrets. And that’s just what this is. A secret. I think we should tell. And I say we for a reason. You have to help me tell him. You are a part of this too."
"But when and where do you want to tell him?"
"My house. My mom and dad aren’t going to be here so I’ll have him come over here at one. You too."
"Okay. Let me ask my mom." A.J. put me on hold and when he picked up he said, "My mom said that would be alright. I’ll see you then. Bye."
"Bye." I placed the receiver on it’s cradle. I looked at the clock. I only had thirty minutes to prepare for the worst meeting with Nick that I would ever encounter.
"Oh, Lord, help me," I prayed, and picked back up the phone. It was time to call Nick.
Nick sat there in silence. We had just gotten through telling him what happened last night. Actually it was more or less A.J. telling the story, me feeling too guilty to say more then, "I’m sorry."
Nick shook his head as if to clear his mind. "So let me get this straight." He was furious, but he was doing his best to keep himself calm. "You," he pointed at A.J. "kissed her? Or did you," this time he pointed to me, "kiss him?"
I couldn’t say anything. I hung my head in shame and covered my hands with my face as I cried.
"I kissed her," A.J. spoke up. "Nick, I’m sorry. I really am. If I could go back and change what I did, I would. I just wasn’t thinking."
"Yeah, you weren’t." Nick placed his head in his hands, trying to compose himself. He looked up. "I’m sorry I snapped at you. It’s just that I can’t believe..." He couldn’t go on. I just sat back on the couch and watched the two of them. Nick looked so broken, it hurt me even more.
"Nick, I’m so sorry. I can’t even ask you to forgive me. How could you?" I fiddled with my necklace, the one that Nick gave me.
"Danielle..." He only called me that when he was mad. "I can’t believe you could do that. No, A.J. I can’t believe you would do that. It just hurts..." I longed to reach out to him, but I knew that right now wasn’t the time.
"Nick, I’m so sorry." I reached out my hand and pulled back. I felt so guilty, I couldn’t even touch the one person that really mattered. "Nick, I feel so guilty. And I felt that I had to tell you. I knew that if you had done something like this..."
"But I didn’t!" He cut me off. "You see, Danielle, that’s the point! I didn’t do it! You did! And you can’t change what you’ve already done! And I don’t know how, but I forgive you. And, Dani, I still love you." He reached out his arms to me and I fell into them. We sat there like that, both of us crying, for the longest time. Finally he pulled me away and kissed me. "I still love you." He smiled.
"I love you, Nick." I kissed him, laughing and crying at the same time, happy that he forgave me and that he still loved me.
Nick turned to A.J. and looked at him for a moment, not saying a word. Finally he said, "And I forgive you too." He reached out for A.J.’s hand, shook it, and then pulled him into a hug. After he released him, he put his arm around my waist and said, "Let’s just forgive and forget. We can still be friends, but friends who don’t kiss each other. Except for me and Dani, or course." He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss and we all laughed.
"When I came over here, I thought we were going to talk about Underage. But since we didn’t before, I have some news to tell you about the group." Nick sat back down on the couch and I sat down next to him, A.J. across from us on the loveseat. "We finally have that extra voice that we’ve needed!"
"Who is it? Who did you guys find?" A.J. asked, curious.
"We didn’t have to find anybody. Kevin called up his cousin in Kentucky and he said that he’d be happy to join! His name is Brian Littrell and he’s 18 and he’ll be here tomorrow. Isn’t that awesome?" Nick seemed so happy about meeting this Brian guy. I wasn’t too sure. But oh well.
"Yeah that’s awesome!" I said, matching Nick’s enthusiasm. "Have you heard him sing yet?"
"No, but I’m sure he’s just like Kevin said. But I keep wondering what will happen if he’s not." Nick said. "Oh well. We’ll just have to wait and find out."
Part III
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