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Fan
Fiction |
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Title:
Forever In My Life
Author: Trang Le Thu
Genre: Romance/Humour/Drama
Started: 01. March 2002
© Trang Le
Thu 2002
I looked down at my room key and back up at the number on the door.
"Well, this is it, room 239" I called down the hall to Michelle, my best friend, who was slowly making her way down the corridor, dragging her backpack behind her.
"This is so great! I finally feel like we're on our own!" She grinned.
I unlocked the door and pushed my backpack into our hotel room. Michelle came in behind me and shut the door. I flopped down on one of the twin beds.
"I felt like we were on our own the second we got on the plane back in Warsaw." I sighed.
Michelle and I had won plane tickets to London, England and return tickets from Frankfurt, Germany. We had three weeks to backpack through Europe, and we had just arrived in London.
Michelle dumped her stuff on her bed and went to check out the bathroom.
"You tired?" She called to me.
"No!" I called back. "I slept on the plane."
"Good. Neither am I. Where should we go?"
I sat up and fished out my travel guide and flipped to the section on London.
"Piccadilly Circus sounds interesting" I said.
"A circus?" Michelle asked, horrified. "Stacey, you know I hate clowns!" She stood outside the bathroom with her hands on her hips.
I laughed.
"A circus is an intersection of main streets. Piccadilly is like the Times Square of London."
She pointed a finger at me.
"Don't scare me like that!" She sighed and went back into the bathroom.
"Do you want to go now or wait until its almost dark?" I asked.
"What time is it?" Michelle asked me.
I glanced at the clock radio between our beds.
"Its 11:30 am." I said.
"Are you serious?" She asked, coming out of the bathroom.
"Dead serious. I think we should wait until later tonight to go to Piccadilly Circus, though."
"Sure. What should we do now? I want to take a shower first, cause I feel gross." Michelle said, standing in front of a mirror.
I got up and stood next to her and we looked at our disheveled reflections. Michelle's waist-length blonde hair was braided into two pigtails. She wore jeans and a red Fubu shirt and looked great for having spent over nine hours on a plane. Michelle always looks great and completely gorgeous, she always draws a crowd with her features and outgoing personality. I on the other hand am short and so petite that I am often mistaken for a freshman in high school rather than a high school graduate.
"I need to take a shower too!" I nodded, squinting at my reflection.
My blue eyes seemed bloodshot because I slept with my contact lenses in. My shoulder-length brownish-blonde curly hair was messy and frizzy.
"Afterwards, we could take a city tour of London on one of those double-decker busses. That would be cool."
"I think that's an excellent idea." she said. "Do you mind if I shower first?"
"No, go ahead. I'll call and find out when the tour times are." I offered.
"Cool! This is gonna be so great." Michelle grabbed a change of clothes and headed back into the bathroom. I found a phone book and started dialing.
We raced up the stairs of the Underground station to ground level. Michelle abruptly stopped on the top step and I heard a sharp intake of breath. I gasped as well. The neon lights of Piccadilly Circus lit the area like a Christmas tree in a dark room. We grinned at each other.
"What should we do first?" I asked.
"Take a picture!" Michelle said, pulling her camera out of her knapsack. She handed the knapsack to me. "Can you hold this for me? I have way too much stuff."
"Sure!" I said, putting it on. "Just as long as no one makes fun of me about all the patches you have on it." I said, indicating her patch collection.
Michelle took a picture and put her camera away.
"Thanks. But don't worry about the patches. You'll be fine."
I looked around to see what stores were in the area. Suddenly Michelle gripped my arm and pointed across the street.
"Stacey, there's a Tower Records." she said excitedly.
"You wanna go in?" I asked. "I know you do."
"Of course I do!" she started walking to the nearest crosswalk.
I jogged to catch up with her, and at the first break in traffic we dashed across the street. Once inside, Michelle headed upstairs to look for CDs and I went down to the basement to look for a book.
As I was walking down the stairs, something caught my eye and I turned my head, but continued walking and collided with someone. Sheepishly, I ducked my head.
"Excuse me!" I mumbled.
"Oh, it's okay!" an strange German voice answered.
I looked up and blushed. Adding to my humiliation of not watching where I was going was the fact that I had run into the most gorgeous guy I'd ever seen. He smiled, nodded, and then continued up the stairs.
"Tall, blonde, strong and handsome." I said to myself. "Why don't the hot German guys ever vacation in Poland?" I walked down the remaining steps and started browsing the shelves.
Seeing nothing interesting in the fiction section, I walked to the next aisle over and found myself in the celebrity biography section. I rolled my eyes and looked around for a clock. Scanning the room, I spotted the guy I ran into talking to an other guy, who was also blonde and equally as gorgeous as the first. The guy I ran into and I made eye contact and I quickly turned away. When I peeked back, the two blondes were looking my way.
I ducked down and pretended to be interested in the books on the bottom shelf. I picked up an Agata Christy biography and started flipping through it. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see two pairs of shoes walking towards me.
My pulse quickened, and I crossed my fingers, hoping they would keep walking. They didn't and I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Excuse me!" A deep voice said.
I slowly stood up and tucked my hair behind my ears.
"Yes?" I asked, trying to avoid looking at them. I couldn't help it though. The one who had spoken to me had the most beautiful blue eyes and I couldn't quit staring.
"You ran into him back there." the second guy said.
I turned my attention to him. He had short dark blonde hair and blue eyes. His hands were jammed into the pockets of his jeans and his posture suggested he'd rather be somewhere else.
"I said I was sorry!" I said, my face burning, and a little annoyed at the interrogation.
The first guy laughed.
"I know, I know. But you seemed pretty embarrassed."
"Wouldn't you be?" I laughed nervously. "I smacked my head right into your chest."
The second guy coughed to cover up his laughter. I raised an eyebrow at him and he looked away. There was an awkward moment of silence.
"Okay!" I said. "Are you just here to humiliate me further or what?"
"No, no, no, it's not like that at all!" the first guy said. "Jeez, I haven't even introduced myself."
"True!" I said.
"Well, I'm Jimmy" he said, extending his hand. I shook it and then he pointed to the second guy. "And that's Paddy. We're from Cologne, Germany." Paddy nodded at me.
The expressions on their faces seemed like they expected a reaction out of me.
"I'm Stacey!" I said. "And I'm from Warsaw, Poland. My friend and I are backpacking through Europe for the next three weeks. What about yourselves?"
"Touring!" Jimmy said.
"Oh come on!" Paddy exclaimed. "You can't tell me you don't know who we are!"
I glared at him.
"Dude, I'm sorry, but I have no idea who you are. And actually why do I care." I said, trying to put an edge to my voice. "Jimmy, it was really nice meeting you, but I have to go."
"Oh, okay!" he said, sounding a bit disappointed. "See you later."
I nodded and slowly walked away to another section of books.
"What is your problem?" Jimmy asked Paddy, irritated. "You blew it!"
Paddy shrugged.
"She wasn't as hot as I thought she was."
"Not that! What was with the whole 'don't tell me you don't know who we are' thing? That was rude!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"Are you blind? She had an Kelly patch on her backpack!" Paddy exploded. "There's no way she couldn't know!"
Jimmy smacked him on the arm.
"What if it wasn't hers? She said she was here with her friend. I'm going to go apologize."
"Whatever, Jimmy. I think she was playing with us."
"I think you're jumping to conclusions." Jimmy said, pointing at Paddy. "Now come help me find her."
I was about to start up the stairs to find Michelle when I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Jimmy and Paddy walking towards me.
"Hey Jimmy." I sighed.
I glared at Paddy, who was pointing at me.
"Look, it's right there, on the shoulder strap." Paddy said.
I looked down at the strap of the backpack and tried to determine which patch he was talking about, but there was only one: the Kelly one.
"Yeah, so? That doesn't mean anything." Jimmy said in hushed tones.
Knowing Michelle's keys were in her backpack, I opened the flap and took them out. Sure enough, there was an Kelly key chain. I squinted at it. There on the key chain smiling at me were Jimmy, Paddy two other guys and two girls.
"See, I told you she knows who we are." Paddy said smugly.
Angry, I pointed to the backpack.
"This isn't my backpack, Paddy!" I exclaimed. "It belongs to my friend Michelle. I have it because it's my turn to carry it."
"See, I told you she doesn't know who we are." Jimmy imitated Paddy. Then he turned to me. "You didn't, did you?"
"No!" I exclaimed. "I don't even listen to your music. It sucks!" I turned to Paddy. "Is that why you were so rude to me back there?"
"Look, I'm sorry about that." he apologized, turning red in the face. "I thought you were messing with us."
"It's okay, but maybe you should quit jumping to conclusions." I said.
"That's what Jimmy told me. Yeah, so, I'm sorry I was such a jerk. Can we start over?"
"Sure!" I extended my hand. "I'm Stacey."
"I'm Paddy. It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise. So, you're in a band? It sounds like fun."
"It's great. We meet a lot of people and get to travel around the world." Paddy said.
Jimmy rolled his eyes.
"You both are going overboard on being nice. And you're blocking the stairway."
I made a face at him. He made one back.
"Um, okay, well, are you here alone right now?" Paddy asked.
"No!" I said. "In fact, my best friend Michelle is upstairs, and I think she's heard of you. Would you like to meet her?"
"Sure, that would be great." Jimmy said.
"Awesome! Well, please follow me and we'll go find her."
We walked up the stairs to the second floor, myself in the lead. As we approached the top, I told Paddy and Jimmy to hang back so we could surprise Michelle. I walked by the pop music room and spotted Michelle through the windows at a listening station. I knocked on a big window near her and she turned around. When she saw me, she waved and motioned for me to come to her.
"All right, guys." I said so Michelle couldn't see me talking. "Come in after I do."
I opened the door next to the listening stations and since there was no one else in the room, Michelle started doing some hand motions and singing out loud "I feel love when I look into your eyesssss..." Then I heard a door open behind me.
"I feel lo… Oh my gosh!" she screamed.
She turned a bright shade of red, ripped the headphones off and dropped to the floor. Then she started shaking and laughing uncontrollably. It was such a sight that I started laughing too. Paddy and Jimmy were totally not expecting that reaction, and they started laughing nervously. I turned to face them.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's heard of you." I knelt down on the floor. "Michelle, sweetie, are you gonna be okay?"
Still unable to speak, she shook her head no. I fanned her with my hand, trying not to laugh. She took a deep breath and finally spoke.
"I just broke my number one rule: No personal humiliation! I'm so embarrassed. I want to die!"
Jimmy knelt next to me and Michelle sat up.
"Don't say that!" he said. "We've definitely heard worse. And it's okay, we know those cheesy words were a target for ridicule."
"Well you make it so easy." Michelle blurted. She realized what she said and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"
Jimmy and Paddy were almost in convulsions.
"That was a reality check!" Paddy exclaimed.
Jimmy stood and helped Michelle up. Her cheeks blushed a deep red and thanked him quietly. He was still holding her hand.
"Hi, I'm Michelle."
"I'm Jimmy." he said.
"I know!" she said.
They couldn't take their eyes off each other. I shifted uncomfortably.
Paddy coughed.
"And I'm Paddy!" he said loudly.
The two of them snapped out of their trance and Michelle turned to Paddy.
"Right." she said. "I knew that too. So, um, how did you meet Stacey? Oh my gosh! You guys must think I'm an obsessed fan! I'm scaring you, aren't I?"
"No, actually you're not!" Jimmy said. "Except for that whole freaking out part, you seem more normal than most girls we meet."
"Well, Stacey is an exception." Paddy said. "She yelled at me."
"You yelled at him?" Michelle asked me, appalled. "How could you!"
I pointed at Paddy. "He pissed me off."
"It was a simple case of mistaken identity." Paddy defended himself. "I saw the Kelly patch on your backpack and I thought it was hers. So I called her on pretending she didn't know who we were."
"Paddy, you assumed that just because I'm a teenage Polish girl that I'm madly in love with you!" I countered.
"No I didn't! I…" he started.
"Quit fighting! I thought you two started over!" Jimmy said.
"Oh yeah!" Paddy said. "I forgot. Truce?"
"Truce!" I nodded.
"Do you girls want to go somewhere? Coffee or something?" Jimmy asked.
"Yuck. I hate coffee." Michelle said.
"Actually, we just arrived in London from Warsaw this morning, and I don't know about Michelle, but I'm really tired." I said.
Michelle hit me on the arm.
"Stacey!" she hissed.
"Would you mind if we took you to wherever you're staying?" Paddy asked. "It would give us an opportunity to talk more." He looked me straight in the eyes. My stomach filled with butterflies.
"Okay!" Michelle accepted the offer.
"I should call Joey and let him know what's going on." Jimmy said.
"Nah!" Paddy said. "We're not going to be gone long. Besides, I told him we were gonna be out late."
"Okay. I guess you're right!" Jimmy said.
"Joey's here too?" Michelle asked.
"Yes and no." Jimmy laughed.
"What?" Michelle asked, confused.
"He is in London, but hot here." Jimmy explained. "The others are here too!"
"That's great! I have to meet them!" Michelle laughed. "I can't believe it!"
"Don't laugh too hard." I reminded her. "You will have to serenade them all!"
Michelle stopped laughing and glared at me.
"Do you like picking fights with people?" Paddy asked. "You do it a lot."
I thought for a minute.
"Yes." I said firmly.
Jimmy pulled out his cell phone.
"I'm going to call anyway." he said. He dialed a number. "Hey, Joey… yeah, we're about to leave… we're gonna take two girls home. It's their first day in London… yep, that's it… okay, I'll tell him… yeah, we'll be there later… right… okay, bye." He put his phone away.
"Tell me what?" Paddy asked.
"Tell you to make a charge this lady for the assault!" Jimmy joked.
"Let's get outta here." Paddy said, laughing.
"Yes, let's!" Michelle agreed.
"Well, they did it." Joey said, putting away his phone.
"Did what?" Angelo asked, looking away from the TV.
"They picked up a couple of girls at Tower Records." Joey explained.
Maite turned around in her chair.
"In half an hour? They're getting slower!" she laughed.
"No kidding!" Joey said.
"So what are they doing?" Angelo asked.
"They're 'taking them home'" Joey said slyly.
"Home?" Maite asked, still laughing. "Those girls must be pretty well worth it, if those two boys are going home with them!"
I took a seat on the subway train and Paddy sat down next to me. Jimmy and Michelle found seats at the other end of the car and sat down. We sat in silence for a few moments, and then both spoke at the same time.
"Go ahead!" I said.
"No way, ladies first." he grinned.
He had such an honest smile that I couldn't help but smile back while I got a funny warm feeling inside me.
"Wow!" I whispered. He smiled even wider. I blushed. "Did I say that out loud?" I asked, horrified.
"Yeah, you did." he said, still grinning. "What was that about?"
"Well, you have an amazing smile." I said.
"Thanks!" he smiled again.
"That's the one you use on all your fans, right?" I asked, teasing him.
"Nah, just the special ones." he said. "So, tell me about yourself."
I eyed him slyly. If that was his idea of a pick-up line, it worked.
"What do you want to know?" I asked.
"The usual stuff, plus something personal and something embarrassing." he said.
"Okay… well, I'm 20 years, I study in Warsaw. I'll be 21 in October. I like to play the clarinet, listen to music, I go to church almost every Sunday, and I'm addicted to the Internet. My favorite movies are Titanic and A beautiful Mind. Or maybe Star Wars and The lord of the rings, I can't decide. I have a part-time job at an ice cream store and my favorite flavors are bubble gum and vanilla" I sighed.
"You're a Christian, then?" he asked.
"Yeah. You?"
"Yep." he said. "Continue."
"Awesome. Something personal, let's see… I sometimes hold grudges and I'm a perfectionist. And I get defensive a lot when I'm criticized. As for embarrassing, there was that incident about an hour ago."
"Before then. Yelling at me doesn't count." Paddy laughed.
"Fine. During my last year of high school, I wrote a letter to my boyfriend and his best friend read it aloud in the cafeteria at lunch."
"Ouch! So, uh, you have a boyfriend?" He asked, eyes downcast.
"No, I don't!" I said quietly. "He dumped me on a class trip at the end of that school year. He, uh, hurt me pretty badly, and I haven't had a boyfriend since."
"What a jerk! Why haven't you had a boyfriend?" He asked, genuinely interested.
I had just met Paddy and I was already telling him my life story. I couldn't believe I was doing this, but I spoke anyway.
"I don't trust guys with my feelings anymore. I don't want to get hurt like that again."
Paddy nodded.
"I guess it's my turn. I'm Paddy Kelly. Wait a second, you never told me your last name."
"It's Maier!" I supplied.
"Okay, Stacey Maier. I like it. Anyway, I'm 24, my birthday is in December. Oh wow, I'm sorry, but I never would have thought you that old. I mean you look less than your age. Is Michelle the same age of you too?"
"No, she'll be 21 May. And I'm used to having my age mistaken. It's no big deal. Most people think I'm barely 18, and that's only when they see me with car keys." I laughed.
Paddy raised his eyebrows.
"Sheesh. Anyway, I have been graduated without going to school. Since when I'm on tour, that means since my birth, I have private lessons. I go to church when I can, I love football, music of course, and my favorite color is blue. My favorite singer is Maria McKnee, and I love chocolate and ice cream. I afraid of spiders and snakes." he said. "But don't tell anyone… ahmm… I think I said that on a RTL interview."
"In that case, you can count on the entire fan base knowing." I said. I turned in my seat and caught Michelle's eye. "What's Paddy afraid of?" I called.
Her face clouded with confusion for a moment and then she glared at me. I stuck out my lip and she finally answered.
"Dying unloved, snakes and spiders." she said. "Why?"
"I'll explain later." I called back. I turned back around to Paddy. "See?"
"That's freaky." Paddy said, shaking his head. "Okay, aside from the numerous times I've gone onstage with my so-called dancing, one time I slipped on some water on the stage and I broke my thumb." He wiggled his right thumb to show me he was okay.
I grabbed it and did my own examination, bending it back and forth. He laughed and I looked up. I gazed into his bright blue eyes and felt a tiny twinge of fear. Paddy was definitely flirting with me and I found I was starting to fall for him. He was obviously showing interest in me and I suddenly felt scared of being hurt again. I looked away and let go of Paddy's thumb.
"Stacey, what's wrong?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.
I shook it off as the train lurched to a stop. I stood up.
"This is our stop!" I said, hoping he'd be satisfied with that answer.
I took Michelle's arm and we walked ahead of Paddy and Jimmy down the street.
"What's up?" Michelle asked.
"Paddy" I said, pouting. "I think he likes me, and I'm scared."
Michelle gripped my arm harder.
"Stacey, it's been two years. Do not let bad memories of Ray get in Paddy's way."
"But what if…" I started.
"But nothing!" she said. "Paddy is nothing like Ray. Don't do this to yourself. Take a chance."
"Michelle, I can't. I just can't." I whispered. "He was too much a part of my life. I have all these bad memories and I won't let it happen again."
"So don't." Michelle said. "Set Paddy straight. If you tell him, he'll either stick around because he really wants to get to know you or he'll be immature and leave."
"But I don't want him to leave." I whispered.
"They're talking about us, you know." Jimmy said to Paddy.
"Yeah, I know!" Paddy said. He seemed distracted.
"Is it going badly with Stacey?" Jimmy asked, trying to get him to talk.
"It was going great until… I don't even know what happened. She just got this faraway look on her face and then quit talking. It was really weird." Paddy said. "What do you think of her?"
"Stacey? I think it's great she had the nerve to yell at you. That was funny." Jimmy laughed. "When she froze up, was that right before we got off the train?"
"Yeah, did you see that?" Paddy asked.
"Yes, I did. I kinda wondered what was going on."
"I don't understand what I did wrong." Paddy said. "She doesn't have a boyfriend 'cause she had a nasty breakup with her last one and doesn't trust guys anymore."
"You learned all that from a 10-minute train ride?" Jimmy asked, amazed. Paddy nodded. "Well maybe she's falling for you and is scared of being hurt again. Take it slow."
"And you don't think I'm a little wary of a relationship?" Paddy asked. "I always scare the girls away. Either that or they cheat on me because I'm never around."
"So you understand how she is." Jimmy said. "Just give it some time."
Paddy sighed. "I guess you're right. What's Michelle like?"
"She's great. She's like Lonnie in that she's not one of those teenybopper girls. And she doesn't ask dumb questions." Jimmy said.
"If she's so great, why are you comparing her to Lonnie? She broke up with you, Jimmy, so quit talking about her!" Paddy exclaimed.
"It was only three weeks ago, man. We were dating for nine months! Give me a few days!" He said sarcastically.
"Is Michelle really great?" Paddy hinted, ignoring Jimmy's excuse.
"Shut up!" Jimmy exclaimed, blushing.
"I can tell you like her." Paddy taunted.
"Yes. I do like her. Like. That's all."
"Yeah right!" Paddy rolled his eyes.
"Right. And by the way, Michelle said that she thinks you and Stacey would make a cute couple." Jimmy said.
"Uh-huh, whatever!" Paddy said.
"It's true. If I were Stacey, I'd be all over you." Jimmy teased.
"You're such a moron, Jimmy. You're lying."
"Nope, not at all. You're pretty sexy. That girl's got to have a lot of self control." he laughed.
Paddy punched him on the arm.
"Dude, shut up. Oh, they're slowing down. We'd better catch up."
"Right. We'll finish this later." Jimmy said, elbowing Paddy in the ribs.
"This is our room!" I said, unlocking the door.
"Do you guys want to come in?" Michelle asked. "We don't mind."
Paddy shrugged. "Sure."
We walked in. I sat down cross-legged on my bed and Michelle leaned up against the headboard on hers. Jimmy sat down on the end of her bed, and Paddy pulled a chair over between the two beds and sat down.
"So what is it like, being famous?" I asked.
"We really don't consider ourselves famous." Jimmy said. "If we did, we wouldn't be able to relate to anyone. We're just a couple of guys doing what we love."
"There are good and bad things though." Paddy continued. "We get respect from most people, but then there's the people who hate our music and call us posers."
"Do you always have to be careful about what you say?" Michelle asked.
"Definitely. That's how the rumours get started. We joke about something in an interview and the fans take it seriously. It's crazy!" Paddy said. He shifted in his seat. "These chairs are not comfortable! Stacey, do you mind if I sit with you?"
"No, hop on!" I said, scooting over. He laid down next to me and I leaned on my pillows.
We talked late into the night. Our conversation gravitated from their careers to us to movies and TV to a short-lived game of Truth or Dare. After that, Michelle and Jimmy went out onto the small balcony, and I went into the bathroom to change into my pyjamas.
"What time is it?" I asked, coming out of the bathroom.
"It's about 3:30 am!" Paddy said.
"Wow, you've been here a long time! Do you all have plans for tomorrow?" I asked.
"We're doing a TV show in the morning and a concert at night." he said, yawning.
I sat down on my bed and leaned up against the headboard next to Paddy. He put his arm around me and I laid my head on his shoulder. I was relieved to find that I trusted him as a friend, but nothing more. We had opened up to each other, but I wasn't ready to risk my heart. Sighing, I closed my eyes, and as soon as they were closed, I fell asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED...
