It was funny to me how different they were. John was careless and very carefree. Plainly put, he was the disorganized type. Cliff was the orderly type. He had everything down to schedule, time, date and such. He was the dangerous type. Sarcasm was his motto. Sometimes I'd asked myself 'why am I attracted to him?' He had that unmistakable air of authority and dominator and I was too shy to say anything.
That night we had just performed and were at the bar taking some drinks. "Oh great, the female parade arrives," he warned as group of girls surrounded us. They were giggling softly and were starting to ask a lot of questions that groupies usually do. I hid behind Cliff as I usually did. He could handle the fan girls. If I wasn't careful, I'd be eaten alive.
"You guys are like, so hot! Are you single?" a blonde girl asked Cliff. She seemed like the pack leader. A curly haired brunette followed by asking me, "Keith you were tots amazing! Every time you play, you're in like a zone and your green eyes shine from above the stage." Being the type of person I am, I blushed orange. Compliments were sort of awkward for me, and my only defense was to blush. If it wasn't for the dark lightening of the club, they would've noticed.
"Thank you ladies, and if you must know, yes I am single," Cliff said noticing my discomfort. Ah, it seemed that he was going to give them the same story that he'd been giving every fan girl since our tour. "But my heart already belongs to some one else."
There was an 'Aawww' in unison from the group of girls. They were always smitten by the romantic story he narrated. For me, it got me in a little defensive mood. Some one was lucky enough to have him, not only him, but his heart. That was a feight in a whole. I scolded myself for being self-centered. He had the right to love any one he wanted. It wasn't as if I'd have the balls to come out and confess my love to him like in one of those romantic comedies. Then again, I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth. He looked serious enough for it to be true or it could be just a story to get the fan girls from, all but rape him in public. Damn his awful handsomely sleek, sexy self.
"That's sooo sweet. How lucky can they be?" a red head asked curiously.
"You can say that, but as for the person, they don't know," he said with a wry smile and winked. Clifford the charmingly dangerous lead singer.At least that's what he showed to our female fan base.
"How about you Keith, are you single?" a pink hair girl asked, looking at me with glittering eyes.
I choked on my drink and spilled some. 'Way to go' I said to myself. "I ... um... Well, uh, same here. Loving but unloved... so yea." You're pathetic, I said scolded myself. Why couldn't I be as smooth as the other guys or Cliff. He seemed to have every one eating from his hands. So controlled and composed.
"If she doesn't love you, you can always come back here. I love you!" says another girl with red streaks in her spiky hair smiling sinisterly. 'Oh great, and opportunist,' I said to myself while taking a long swing from my beer. I felt embarrassed and utterly flustered. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Well, ladies, it's been lovely to speak to you beautiful females, but we're on a schedule. Gotta go on the road soon tomorrow," Cliff says saving me once again from awkward silence.
There were disappointed and Cliff promised that he'll come back and play for them some time after the tour. On our way to the hotel, I was wondering if I should ask him if the story was real or not. It was not like me to want to ask anything straight forward and I didn't how to get it out.
"Just got a text from Kyle. John's been drinking. Again," Cliff said.
"Should we go look for him and help out Kyle?" I asked to take my mind off the bothering question.
"Naw, if any one can handle John it'll be little elfin Kyle," he said with some hidden meaning. "Let's hope that those girls don't rape them on the way back."
I chuckled lightly, as the taxi paused at a red light. "Not if he gives them the same story you gave them," I said nonchalantly.
He didn't answer right away so I waited and looked at him. He was looking out his window and sighed lightly, "Who said that it was just a story?" My suspicion was solved. He was in love with some one. My hopes, rather ridiculous as they were, shattered in me. "Besides,I'm not that person's type. I just can't help it though, because that individual is exactly my type. So timid, and shy."
I looked away, and just uttered, "Oh, she must be lucky.Good for her." I felt him stare at me, and it seemed like he was going to say some thing, but then we had reached the hotel.
* * * * *
We reached the room and ordered wine. The time it had taken for the wine to reach, Cliff and I had already taken our shower. The pretty waitress girl blushed bright red, when seeing Cliff walking around in his Calvin Clain briefs. The material hugged his sexy butt, and outlined his thick package. The girl eyed me and I blushed red on Cliff's behalf.
When the waiter girl left, I said, "You nearly gave that girl a heart-attack. You can't be walking around semi-naked."
"Pshh, it's called 'room service' amigo. They should be use to this shit. I bet she's seen worst," he said pouring himself a glass and handing me one. His pale skin seemed to shine with the lighting of the room. To me, he seemed to brightened the room with his presence.
"Keith," Cliff seemed to want to want to ask something. I was reading a Manga (Japanese comic book) which Cliff didn't understand. I wasn't paying attention to the tone of his voice due to the distraction of the book.
"Sup?" I asked flipping pages and trying to ignore the allure of his scent. "What did you mean when you said 'good for her' inside the taxi?" he asked swirling his wine in the cup.
My mind quickly took on panic mode. "Um... n-nothing. Why d-do you ask?"
He was staring at me with those damn hypnotic silver eyes and for the life of me, I fought not to be caught in them. I willed myself not to show any signs of nervousness while turning the page. He drained his cup of wine and placed it somewhere out of the corner of my eyes, then dragged the Manga out of my hand.
"Dammit Keith, you know I hate it when you lie to me.