[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Letterman didn’t turn out at all like they expected.  It was so much better.  It put them in such an elevated state, they could probably all have flown to Holland under their own power.

Nick did two radio interviews over the weekend.  Alias Me was being released nationwide as a single on Tuesday.  But it was being played during these two interviews, which meant that, thanks to the Internet, it would already be one of the most requested songs on the various ‘Top 6 at 6’, ‘Top 7 at 7’, etc.

That didn’t surprise them.  In fact, they were counting on it.  What surprised them was that, in each interview, the DJ mentioned a different well-known rocker and said that the person had seen Nick perform at Ziggy’s and had been blown away.  Rafe Ariando was looking more like a genius every minute.

The guest preceding Nick on Letterman was P. Diddy Combs, there to promote his latest venture, a line of clothing.  “Diddy Duds,” teased Letterman.  At the end of his segment, Letterman thanked him for coming and said he’d let him get back to his regularly scheduled task, working his way through all the women in New York.

“First you take Manhattan…” joked Diddy.

“Next up,” said Letterman with a chuckle, “his first single off his new album, Don’t Call Me Nicky, is going to be released tomorrow.”  Letterman held up the CD for the camera to pan in on.  “After the break, we’ll have Nick Carter.”  He turned to Diddy.  “Thanks for coming, Man!”

“I’m staying,” said Diddy.  “I don’t want to miss this.”

Letterman looked confused.  What was going on?

“I saw this Friday night,” said Diddy.  “Trust me.  This is going to blow you away.”

“Maybe I’ll take out some extra insurance during the break,” joked Letterman, winking at the camera.  “We’ll be right back.”

After the commercial break, Letterman said, “According to this fellow,” he motioned to Diddy Combs, who hadn’t moved, “we’re about to see a performance of the Song of the Year.  So strap yourselves in. Ladies and Gentlemen, with his first single from his new album, Don’t Call Me Nicky, here is Nick Carter with Alias Me.

The band watched the Combs interview from the green room.  During the break, they were hustled on stage. 

“No pressure,” Blaine whispered, as they made their way up the hall. 

“I live for pressure,” retorted Tofu.

“Let’s do it,” said Nick.

He had learned from his television appearances for his first album.  Stuff that worked when he was in a packed warehouse didn’t work in a small studio.  So he wasn’t going to jump around.  He was just going to belt it out.  He hadn’t decided what to do about Mel.  At the last minute, when Darryl went to put a mike on her, Nick said, “Never mind.”

“Just like Friday,” he said, and he pulled her forward on the stage, closer to him. 

Except it was better than Friday.  Nick didn’t take the mike out of the stand this time.  He sang most of the song making love to the mike stand with his hands.  But when he got to an ‘alias me’, he swayed sideways, leaning the mike stand down to Mel’s level.  She stretched up to meet him, with the added bonus that her chest pushed forward…and they sang it into each other’s eyes again.

The rest of the band had never seen it, and the first time they did it, Tofu almost stopped playing.  But he recovered and kept going.  He snuck a sideways glance at Blaine, who was grinning from ear to ear.  Rashad Williams was too much of a professional to let anything distract him from the music at hand, but Tofu thought he detected a wink from the big man when he glanced in his direction.

They finished the song like they always did.  Melody stepped back.  Nick had the last lonely notes, and the musicians all looked down.  But the pause tonight was only one second, and then the screaming started.  It startled Melody.  Man, she was going to have to get used to this!

Nick bowed to the audience and then looked over at the desk.  Both Diddy and Letterman were standing.  Letterman had his fingers in his mouth and was whistling.  But past that was the band – Paul Schaefer and the band.  And they were standing too.

“We’ll be right back,” yelled Letterman, in response to some frantic handwaving by an assistant director.

During the break, the band was moved quickly offstage and back to the green room.  Nick was deposited in the chair beside Letterman and handed a bottle of water.

“Awesome, Man, just awesome,” said Diddy Combs.

Letterman nodded.  “Anything in particular you want to talk about – or not?” he said, giving Nick the biggest reward of all.

“I’d rather talk about the future than the past,” said Nick.

“You got it,” replied Letterman.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, we’re back.”  David Letterman shook his head.  “Phew!  If you’re just joining us, then I hate to tell you, but you just missed something phenomenal.  Nick Carter…” he had to pause, waiting for the screams to stop.  “So Nick, that song is called Alias Me, and it’s the first single off your new album, Don’t Call Me Nicky, which incidentally,” he looked down at a cue card, “will be released on the 29th of this month.”

Nick nodded and grinned, which set the fans screaming again.  The audience was full of fans.  All the stops had been pulled out; all the favors called in; get me a seat for that show, pleeeeeeeeasssssssse Daddy!!

“So Nick, that’s a pretty good song.  Who wrote it?”

Nick ducked his head shyly.  A moan moved through the front rows of the audience.  “I wrote it,” he said.

“Yeah, Man!” said Diddy Combs, giving him a high five.

They talked for two more minutes, and then Letterman wrapped up the show.  But in that two minutes, Nick managed to get out the information that he had, in fact, written eight songs for the album, that he thought he was being backed up by the best musicians in the world, that he couldn’t wait to get out on tour and that he loved his fans.  All of these bits of information were given in short bursts, interrupted by fits of screaming from the aforementioned fans.

After the sign-off, Nick got up to leave.  He shook hands with the host.  “Thanks, Man,” he said.

“No problem, Kid.  Come back any time.  And here, thought you might like this…”  Letterman picked up a cue card from his desk and showed it to Nick.  Then he tore it in half and handed the fragments to him.

Nick took them and grinned.  “Yeah.  I’ll take them.”

Offstage, he ran into Diddy in the hall.  Nick began to express his thanks.  Diddy waved him off.  Nick persevered.  “So like, did they have to sign over Jive to you for that or what?”

Diddy laughed.  “Hell no, Man!  No one asked me to do anything.  That was from the heart.”

Nick blushed.  “Well, thanks.”

“It’s gonna be a great year for you, Kid.  Enjoy the ride.”

The band was waiting in the green room with hugs and high fives.  A couple of minutes later, Jeff came in.  “Okay, the cars are here…let’s get this organized.”

“How many?” asked Nick.

“Couple hundred,” said Jeff.

Couple hundred?  Couple hundred cars?  What was that? wondered Melody.

“Fans,” explained Tofu in her ear.  “Waiting for a piece of him.”

Melody pictured all the screaming girls from the audience.  “What do we do?”

“We don’t have to do anything except get out of the way.  They won’t even recognize us and won’t care about us if they do.”

”What will he do?” asked Melody.

“Depends.  If there’s a barricade set up, he might stay and sign a few autographs.  But if he’s surrounded by a crowd, Jeff will move him straight to the car.”

Barricades?  My Lord, thought Mel.

“She’s a rookie,” Tofu explained to Jeff.

“Okay,” said Jeff.  “Here’s how it goes.  The first car has Blaine, Rashad, Scott and Gus.  The second will have Tofu, Darryl and Rafe.” 

Heads snapped up.  Rafe was here?

“Yes, Rafe is here.  You didn’t think I’d miss this, did you?”  Rafe strode into the room.  He walked straight to Nick and held out his hand.  The two men shook hands without a word.  Just nods and smiles.  Then Rafe turned to Jeff.  “I thought Mel was going with me, I mean, in that car.”

“No,” said Jeff, “she’s staying with me.  It’s her first time.  You can have Toby.”

“Okay, whatever,” said Rafe.  “Let’s get this show on the road.”

They all trooped out.  Toby was seething.  His place was with Nick.  And this woman was getting his spot because she was…what?...a crowd virgin?

Melody thought they were making a big deal over nothing, but she didn’t want to waste everyone’s time by arguing about it.  She didn’t miss the look Toby bestowed on her, however, and she made a mental note never to turn her back on him.

When they got to the entrance, Melody could hear the hum of anticipation from the crowd.  It pitched a little higher, as she heard Tofu say, ‘he’s coming, he’s coming’ as he made his way to his assigned car.

“Listen to me, Mel” said Jeff, when it was just the three of them left.  “My place is with Nick.  When I say ‘go’, I want you to walk straight to the car.  I want you to get in and move all the way over to the far side, and I want you to stay there.  Do you hear me?  Can you do that?”

Of course, I can do that, thought Melody, but she merely nodded her head.

Jeff turned to Nick.  “You ready?”

Nick took a deep breath.  “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Jeff nodded to the CBS security man, who opened the door.  Jeff stepped out and surveyed the crowd.  Then he motioned Nick out and to his left.  Melody followed right behind and then stopped short.  Excited squeals and cries of ‘Nick! Nick!’ came at her from all sides.  Teenage girls, and quite a few older women - probably their mothers, thought Mel - were standing four deep around a section of the sidewalk that was barricaded by heavy metal dividers.  The girls reached over the barrier, thrusting their hands forward, hands that held pictures or clothing or other memorabilia that they wanted autographed.  Some had nothing to be signed.  They just wanted to see Nick or touch him.  There was a constant clicking of cameras.  Melody could see cell phones raised high in the air.  People were sharing the precious moment with friends.

Nick started at one end and made his way around.  He signed his name quickly and said, ‘Thank you’ often.  Jeff made sure he didn’t step too close to the barricade.  Once Nick was underway, Jeff turned to Mel and mouthed, ‘Go!’  She slipped quietly around the end of the barricade and made her way through the crowd to the black limousine that was parked half up on the sidewalk.

“Could I have your autograph, please?”

Melody looked up into the eyes of a young woman.

“Mine?” said Melody.

“You’re the guitar player, aren’t you?  The one who sang with him.”

Melody nodded.

“Well,” said the girl, “I’ll never get through that mob to get close enough to him, so you’re the next best thing.  Will you sign?”  She held out a picture of Nick and a Sharpie pen.  Melody took them from her. 

“Could you sign on the back, please?” asked the girl.

Melody smiled.  ‘The next best thing’ didn’t sign on the front. 

“My goodness, yes,” said Melody, turning the picture over and writing her name carefully.  “Who would want to deface that face?”

“Thanks,” said the girl, moving away. 

She was immediately replaced by another girl and then another.  The people at the back of the crowd realized that they were never going to get near Nick, but maybe they could get a piece of her – the next best thing.

Melody signed a few things and said that, yes, she was looking forward to going on tour, and yes, she was lucky to be working with Nick and gee, I never really thought about it.  This answer followed the question, how did she feel having her mouth so close to Nick’s?  She might never have thought about it, but the crowd around her obviously had because a low moan went through it.

Melody looked over at Jeff, who motioned toward the car with his head.  Get going!

I’m trying!  Mel edged closer to the car.  The driver stood beside the door, ready to open it for her.  Finally, when she was just about there, she looked over in Nick’s direction and said, ‘oh my’.  Every head turned away from her, and she dove into the car.  She scuttled over to the far side and looked out the back window.

“They’ll be along soon,” said Tamara. 

Melody turned.  She hadn’t noticed the model sitting on the facing seat.  Although how she had missed those long legs, she didn’t know. 

“They’ll have to,” explained Tamara.  “Those girls aren’t following the rules.”

Rules?  There were rules?

The driver got in the car and started the engine in preparation for take off.

“It’s kind of understood,” explained Tamara.  “Once you get your autograph or your hug or whatever, you’re supposed to step back and let someone else have a turn.  They’re not doing that.”

The sound of the car motor turning over raised the level of desperation, and the girls started pushing forward.  Melody could hear frantic cries of, “Nick. Over here!  Please!”  Finally, Jeff pulled the plug.  He motioned to the security guard who moved the barricade enough for Jeff to step through.  Jeff moved quickly to the car, Nick one step behind him.  Melody could see his lips moving.  Sorry.  Sorry.  Sorry.

Then the door opened, and Nick tumbled into the car.  Jeff was right behind him.  As soon as the door closed, the car started moving…very, very slowly.  This was the tricky part.  This was where the driver earned his money.  Girls surrounded the car.  The network security guard stepped into the street and stopped the traffic.  The driver slowly made his way off the sidewalk.  Once the car was in the street, it moved forward and the girls moved away.

Melody looked over at Nick.  He was grinning from ear to ear.  Melody grinned back at him.  “You loved that, didn’t you?”

“Yep,” he nodded.  “I love getting out there with the fans.  I just don’t like the end bit…having to leave…having to disappoint someone.”

“You would have been there for hours,” said Melody.

Nick shrugged, but Tamara snorted.  “At least.  There’s always one more fan.  He could be standing in the pouring rain starving, but there would still be one who wanted ‘just one more picture’.”

There was a pause in the conversation after that.  Melody looked out the window and watched New York roll by. 

“Um…Mel…”

She turned back to Nick. 

“I haven’t said it yet, but…um…thanks…for doing this, I mean, for going with me…and for…”  Nick didn’t even know what he meant by ‘and for…’

Melody smiled, including them all in it.  “It’s adding whole new dimensions to my education,” she said.  “I’ll think of it as a college course – Touring 101.”

“I never went to college,” said Nick.

“Me neither,” said Melody.  “I never wanted to do anything but make music.”

They looked over at Tamara. 

“Vassar,” she said.

Melody turned back to Nick.  “What did he give you, there at the end, Letterman, I mean?”

Nick pulled the two pieces of cue card out of his pocket and handed them to her.  Melody put them together and then smiled and nodded.  “Cool,” she said and handed the pieces to Tamara who glanced at them and handed them on to Jeff.

“It’s the question he didn’t ask,” explained Melody to Jeff, who looked down at the card.  So what about the Backstreet Boys, it read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You told me I’d be invisible.  You said I didn’t have to do anything.”  Melody hurled the accusation good-naturedly at Chris.

They were in Rafe’s suite, celebrating the success of the show.  Rafe had Toby order up food and drinks.  The mood was euphoric, with each of them reliving the scene.  I just about died when Diddy said…  I thought those girls were going to rush the stage… what about that crowd outside?... 

Everyone joined in but Nick and Rafe.  Tamara had chosen not to attend the gathering but rather to wait for Nick in his room.  Nick sat in the corner with a beer grinning at them all.  Rafe sipped from a glass of wine and looked on with a paternal eye.

“Well,” said Tofu, answering Mel’s complaint.  “I forgot how you stand out in those vests of yours.”  He cupped his hands in front of his chest and bounced them.

“Yeah, like that attracts the girls, you twit,” she retorted.

They all looked over at Nick, who seemed to be choking.  “Went down the wrong way,” he gasped, holding up his beer bottle and clearing his throat.

“Anyway,” continued Tofu to Melody.  “You survived, and now you’re not a virgin any more.”

Yeah, you can get back in the other car where you belong, thought Toby.

“Tofu!”  Nick’s voice cut across the room.  They all looked at him.  What?

“Oh, come on Nick,” said Melody, with a lazy smile.  “I’m thirty years old.  Surely you don’t think I’m still a virgin.”

Nick’s ears burned.  He knew they were turning red.  “I guess it depends on your definition.”

“More beer, anyone?” said Rafe.