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“Hey look, there’s Nick and Jeff.  Hey, Nick, over here!”  Tofu shouted across the bar.

Nick turned his blond head in their direction.  His face lit up, and a grin spread across his face.  .  He had cut his hair.  It was short and it changed his face from a boy to a man.

A thrill ran through Mel’s stomach.  Aw, crap, she thought!

Mel had spent the last two weeks talking herself out of that thrill.  She had decided on the plane home from Rome that the kiss in the elevator never happened.  It couldn’t have.  Way, way too many complications, if it had…so therefore, it hadn’t.  She knew Nick would be thinking the same thing…if he thought about it at all.  A few days in Rome with Tamara should have driven it from his mind completely.

It had taken Mart all of three minutes to get the story out of her.  Melody tried to downplay it as much as she could but, when she said, ‘and then his mouth…my mouth…we…’, Mart had moaned out loud.

Well, Melody Elizabeth Jones, get out your poker face, she told herself, as the two men made their way across the room, you can’t afford to lose this game.

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

Nick picked his way through the tables, telling his stomach to settle down.  He was kind of glad that the first time he was going to see Mel was in a group.  He’d be able to see how things were, her reaction, his reaction, etc.  Well, his reaction was pretty clear.  He felt like his stomach was trying to escape his body through his nostrils.  Aw crap, he thought!

Nick hadn’t thought about Mel at all in Rome.  After he recovered from his hangover, he had delighted in Tamara’s company.  At least, at first…after awhile, sharing the same bedroom just got really, really annoying…Nick didn’t blame Tamara…he was sure he had tons of annoying habits, just like she did.  It was just that they had never spent more than a day or two together before, and the conversational well ran dry fairly quickly.  Thank goodness for Jeff.  By the end of their stay, they were each saying more to him than they were to each other. 

When they were alone together, they didn’t have much to say, so they just had sex instead.  Lots of it.  Nick made up for his behavior the first night by staying away from alcohol and making love to Tamara until she squealed.

Then he had come home and finally got to go out on his boat.  He stocked it up with supplies and headed out.  He didn’t take anyone with him, just relished the silence.  He took along his guitar, and played until his fingers were stiff.  And whenever he picked up the guitar, he thought of Mel. 

Nick came to the same conclusion she had…it never happened.  Strenuous circumstances…he thought that’s what it was called.  When people are in danger and they come together like that.  Except, of course, that we weren’t in any danger, said an inner voice.

Nick hoped Mel wouldn’t make a big deal of it.  Surely, she knew enough not to expect anything.  After all, he’d gone from that to spending four days with another woman.  Nick decided that, if Mel said anything at all, he would just apologize…although he wasn’t sure what he would be apologizing for…she had given as good as she got, and she’d been the one to start up about the nipple ring…

It was all too confusing for him, so Nick had a beer and went below to bed.  He replayed some of his sex scenes with Tamara in his head and decided to relieve his tension by hand.  But when he got to the end, the scene he had in his mind was in an elevator in the dark.

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

“Where’s Toby?” Blaine asked Jeff.

“He and Gus are in their room.  Probably going over file folders,” chuckled the security man.

In fact, the two men were engaged in a very stilted conversation.  Toby was extremely uncomfortable.

He had spent the last two weeks trying to take control of his life.  The first thing he had done was to go shopping for a computer.  He now had many more file folders…all of them electronic.  He had researched Nick thoroughly.  He knew everything there was to know about him. 

Then Toby had researched everyone else on the crew.  He thought some of them might be surprised by how much information he had been able to ferret out about them.  And he had ferreted out something very interesting about Gustavo Deloro.

The night they spent together in Rome had been illuminating for Toby.  Gus had been gentle and patient, but determined.  Toby got nothing from him until he was willing to reciprocate.  So ever so slowly, Toby learned the joy of giving.  And when Gus finally entwined his fingers in Toby’s hair and pushed his head down, Toby put his mouth over him and knew that his life was changed forever.

And he didn’t like that thought. 

He had enjoyed the act.  Gus had been so pleased at what he called ‘Toby’s progress’ that he had allowed Toby to penetrate him without demanding similar privileges.  ‘Later’, he had said. 

Toby had spent the last two weeks unable to think about anything else.  He did not know why he was afraid of Gus, but he was.  Toby was the boss, he was the master, he should be the one telling Gus what to do, not the other way around.  But somehow, it wasn’t like that.  Toby knew that for sure. 

He had to get the upper hand.  He had to get control back.  That was his biggest fear, that he wouldn’t be able to get control back.  Actually, that was his second biggest fear – his biggest fear was that Gus would have lost interest in him.

“So, I just wanted to go over a couple of things,” Toby began.  “Everyone’s in the bar downstairs.  Nick’s invited us to join them, so I won’t take very long at this.”  Toby began babbling out instructions and information.

Gus leaned against the wall with his arms folded and listened to the river of words, a bland expression on his face.  When Toby finally stopped talking, Gus pushed off from the wall and approached him.

“So are you ready to go for that drink?” asked Toby.

“Not just yet, Boss,” said Gus and he reached for Toby’s belt. 

He lowered Toby’s pants and pushed him back into the armchair.  Then he knelt between his knees and welcomed Toby back into his world with his mouth.  Toby gripped the arms of the chair and put his head back.  When he came, it took all his concentration not to howl.  As Toby sat there, sweating and panting, Gus got to his feet and went to the bathroom.  Toby could hear him brushing his teeth. 

And they both knew that, even though it appeared that Toby was the master, in fact, Gus had just made him his slave.

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

“So Tofu, how was your break?” asked Nick.  “Variety still the spice of life?”

“Yeah,” said Tofu.  “It was nice to get with someone who spoke English for a change.”

“You talk to them?” Mel asked, in mock surprise.

Everyone laughed.  It was great how easily they had slipped back into their comfort zone with each other, laughing and teasing.  Blaine had been forced to share his story again and accepted heartfelt congratulations from them all.  He knew that they were genuinely pleased for him.  Tofu told him on the plane that he was jealous of him…that for all his screwing around, he was just looking for that special someone.  Rashad had remarked at that point that perhaps Tofu would have better luck if he went out with one of them twice.

They shared a drink and swapped stories about their break.  Nick’s response to ‘How was Rome?’ was to describe the scenery and the food, and that was all.  When he talked about getting out on the boat, however, something changed in his eyes.  They became peaceful.

“I’m surprised you managed to get time to yourself,” said Tofu.  “I figured ol’ Rafe would be dragging you from interview to interview, flogging the CD.”

Nick sighed.  “That starts this week.  You should see my schedule.  I’m not going to have time to breathe.  Things better go smoothly.  I don’t have time for a traffic jam.”

“You’d better stay away from elevators then,” remarked Rashad, and was gratified by the tiny grunt that came from his left.  Without looking, he knew that Mel had reacted in some way.  He was also pleased to see Nick’s ears turning a delicate shade of pink.

“Here comes Rafe,” announced Toby, as if he were heralding the entrance of a king.

“Don’t everybody bow at once,” said Nick.

When everyone turned to look at Rafe, Rashad glanced over at Blaine and raised his eyebrows.  Blaine nodded and silently slipped a ten-dollar bill into Rashad’s palm.  While they had been waiting for Tofu at the airport, Blaine and Rashad had had a conversation about Nick and Mel. 

Rashad had told Blaine that Keshia thought there was something happening there.  Rashad had described their behavior.  Blaine said that made it kind of hard to explain four days of Tamara.  Rashad pointed out that Rafe had sprung that on Nick, that he’d had no say in it.  And if he hadn’t enjoyed the rest of it any more than he’d enjoyed the first evening… They talked it over and finally wagered ten dollars on it. 

Easy money, thought Rashad.  Keshia was never wrong.

Rashad figured it was obvious from the second they were in the same room.  They never said a word to each other beyond the initial hello.  And even then, their eyes met and then slid quickly away.  They participated in the conversation with everyone else, but they never directed another word to each other.  And yet...well, it was obvious to Rashad that they were hyper-aware of each other.

Rafe greeted everyone in the group with smiles and nods.  He asked them how their break had gone, but he really wasn’t interested in the answer, and they knew it, so they simply said, good, fine.

“Is everybody ready?” he asked.

They were going to see the buses.  There were a bunch of them.  Melody was amazed by how many were needed.  Buses and trucks.  Big trucks, full of all the equipment.  Buses for personnel.  Two buses for the performers.  The buses and trucks didn’t always travel together.  After a show, the musicians would be in their buses and on the road before the audience had risen from their seats.  The stage crew would dismantle the stage and equipment and head out hours later.  Once the tour got rolling, the performers rarely saw the others any place other than the venue.

Nick and Tom had discussed the arrangements.  Nick wanted Mel to work with him on the guitar, so he wanted her on his bus.  Also, Toby and Jeff.  That left Gus, Blaine, Rashad and Tofu for the other one.  Tom realized that putting Mel anywhere was going to be a problem, but he figured putting her with the kid and the bodyguard was a much better bet than putting her with Tofu.

Tom had laid it out for Rafe, who surprisingly hadn’t reacted.  Maybe his spy had already clued him in that there was nothing going on between Nick and Mel. 

Good!  thought Tom.  Maybe the spy can convince him.  He sure doesn’t want to believe me.  Tom looked around and wondered again who it might be.  Probably Toby.  Or maybe Gus.  Sure not Tofu.

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

“Omilord.”

Melody knew that she had said that way too many times, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.  She was completely blown away by the bus.  She wasn’t sure what she was expecting but certainly not this hotel on wheels.  The back of the bus was Nick’s bedroom.  It had a double bed and some built-in cupboards.  Ahead of that, on either side of an aisle, were two bunks…not directly across from each other…on one side it was a bunk and then cupboards and on the other it was cupboards and the bunk.  This meant that Melody and Toby were not going to be directly across from each other.  Both were relieved by the news.

The bunk space was about four feet high.  Quite roomy, thought Mel, who had been afraid it would be confining and claustrophobic.  Below it were drawers built into the wall and above it were storage cupboards.  A privacy curtain separated the sleeping area from the rest of the bus.  Nick’s room had a door that slid into the wall.

Forward from the sleeping area, there was a bathroom – pretty big, actually, thought Mel – and a kitchen, with a fridge, a microwave and a coffee maker.  The kitchen was designed for snacks and breakfasts, not full-scale meals.  There was a small table with a bench around three sides of it.  The cushions on the benches lifted off to reveal more storage space under them.

Forward of the kitchen was a living room with a couch along one side.  It turned into a bed, if necessary, Mel was told.  There were two armchairs and some small tables that folded down against the wall when they weren’t in use.  Along the front of the bus was another curtained bunk.  This one was for Jeff.  There had been some thought that Melody should have that one, but Jeff was reluctant.  He wanted to be near the door if anything started up.  Melody ended the discussion by saying that she was an early-to-bed kind of gal and preferred to be in the back.

The bus driver was in a separate compartment.  His bunk was behind his seat – back-to-back with Jeff’s almost.  There was a sliding window in the part of the compartment near the passenger door, through which instructions could be relayed.

Melody walked around the bus three times.  She couldn’t believe it.  From the outside, it didn’t look that big.

“It won’t seem that big when you’ve been crammed on it for eighteen hours,” said Blaine.  “People tend to get on each other’s nerves after awhile.  Good thing you’ve got your crosswords.”

Melody laughed.  “You mean to hit people with?”

Blaine laughed, and Melody asked him about the other bus.  Who got the big room at the back?  Blaine explained that it was different on their bus.  The layout of bunks and cupboards was similar except that it was more of a U -shaped area with bunks along the back.  There were actually five of them.  Other than that the layout was similar.  Their sleeping area took up more room, but they didn’t have a bunk in the front like Jeff’s so it all sort of worked out the same.

“Good to know there’s an empty bunk on your bus, in case I need to throw a hissy fit,” said Mel.

“You ever thrown one?” inquired Gus.

“No,” said Mel, “But if this touring thing is all you say it is…”

They wandered on and off the buses for a few minutes, while Rafe and Nick had a discussion away from everyone else.  It didn’t look angry, but no one was going over there anyway.  Toby took the opportunity to corner Mel. 

“Um…Mel…you know on the bus, on our bus…the bathroom…”

Melody raised her eyebrows.  “We’re not going to have the shampoo discussion again, are we Toby?”

Toby blushed.  “It’s just that, well…there’s certain things that aren’t supposed to go down…the drain…get flushed…”

“I know that,” said Mel.

“So…um…I put a…a little garbage can with a lid in the cupboard under the sink.  And um…there’s some plastic bags…”  He couldn’t go on.

Mel stared at him for a long moment.  Then she reached over and squeezed his arm.  “You’re good at your job, Toby.  And you can be very sweet.  Thank you.”

“Well, I just…” he stammered, “…I just didn’t want anyone to be embarrassed by anything…not just you…well, you, but me…Nick…Jeff too.  I just didn’t want anyone to be embarrassed.”

“I know, Toby,” said Melody with a smile.  “That’s what makes you sweet.”

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

“So does that really make him sweet?” inquired Martha Jane.

“Yes and no,” said Mel.  “It was a sweet thing to do.  The old Toby would have come across more controlling, would probably have made a public announcement or put a big sign on it.”

“But the new Toby…what made old Toby into new Toby anyway?”

“Who knows?” said Mel.  “Maybe something happened over the break.  “I’m just going to enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Don’t turn your back on him,” cautioned Martha Jane.

“You know it, Mart!” exclaimed Mel.  “You know it!”