“Uptown girl. She’s been living in her uptown world. I bet she never had a backstreet guy.” AJ sang into his mic, ignoring the sounds around him. “I bet her Mama never told her why I’m gonna try for an uptown girl.” He threw his all into the song, same as he always did. No matter if it was performing their hits up on stage, or singing Uptown Girl into a remote control while dancing around their bus.
He jumped up onto the couch as he sang along with Me First and the Gimme Gimme’s, a band that only does cover song. Currently it was a remake of Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl” to a much faster tempo than the original was. Brian and Nick sat on the opposite couch, clapping their hands in rhythm to the song. Nick put his hands to his mouth and pretended to catcall over the loud music.
The three were having the time of their life on their bus together. When it had come time to travel to the next town, they’d only been allotted two buses this time to travel on. Immediately Kevin and Howie had declared that AJ and Nick were sharing a bus. Though Nick and Brian were rumored to be the two craziest together, it always seemed to work out that no one wanted to be stuck with AJ and Nick. Their minds were both playful enough, and both evil enough, to constantly keep things interesting.
Brian and Nick would plan jokes when they were together, but being on a bus with those two was always entertaining. Kevin always said that being stuck on a bus with Nick and AJ was like throwing yourself into a warzone. If the two weren’t playing jokes on one another then they were busy trying to kill each other. Being the closest in age, the two had bonded like brothers early on. Which meant that, with their share of love also came temper tantrums of two strong willed people.
Naturally, Brian chose to ride with AJ. Though the two weren’t an item, it was obvious to anyone who looked at them that they would be one day. They’d gone on one date already, but touring life didn’t leave room for too much beyond that. Still, AJ was courting Brian. The two were enjoying this ‘dating’ stage of things.
Though it wasn’t common knowledge, AJ and Brian both knew that Nick would be more comfortable if they were the ones with him in comparison to anyone else. Especially a certain band member. Only AJ and Brian knew the truth about who Nick was in love with. They were the only ones that he had told, while falling down drunk one night, about the feelings that he carried for Howie and how he had never felt safe enough to try. Howie had someone he loved, that was common knowledge, but Howie always said that it was a pointless love. It was one that was never going to be returned to him. But, he said, that didn’t mean that his heart could just change what it felt.
So Kevin and Howie had taken the one bus while Brian, AJ, and Nick had taken the other. Because Brian had seen the mood his best friend was in, the slight depression in his eyes as he’d watched Howie board the other bus, Brian had set out to try and cheer him up. To that end, he’d put a CD in the CD player and had started singing once the bus started down the road.
It hadn’t taken much for AJ to get into the moment with him. To Nick, it probably looked like they were goofing off. But the look that AJ discreetly sent Brian’s way showed that he had known what Brian was doing and had approved whole heartedly of it.
When his song finished and the next one came on, AJ tossed the remote to Nick so he could take lead. The young blond grinned at them, all his earlier tension forgotten. The next was their rendition of “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, definitely faster than the original, and Nick jumped right in with a laugh and a grin.
AJ sat back against the couch, cat-calling when Nick danced across the floor. He smiled to himself, thinking that Brian had been dead on with this one. Goofing off was just what Nick had needed to loosen up a little. If only Howie would open his eyes and look at what was right in front of him! AJ loved his best friend dearly, but he could be so stupid sometimes that it was hard not to throttle him.
In the spirit of things, Brian hopped up and grabbed the nearest thing he could, a hairbrush, and started to join Nick in singing. AJ was never one to be outdone. He grabbed his cell phone where it sat charging on the counter and sang into it, dancing and shimmying around the cord, treating it like it was a dance partner. Seeing him dance around the cord had Nick laughing at him.
A loud curse cut through their singing only seconds before the world around them went insane. There was a crashing sound, metal scraping metal, and the bus jerked. Everything suddenly flew sideways, sending the three of them crashing into the side of the bus. AJ spun, trying to brace himself, but the rolling sensation kept going, spinning him around and around, throwing him into everything around him. Pain exploded everywhere as objects fell off the counters and crashed into his body.
He saw Brian toppling with him, bouncing into what had been the roof before as it rolled under them. In the swirl of objects, the trio lost track of one another, barely able to move or see as the bus rolled and rolled.
The cell phone that AJ had been holding was dangling now, but the rolling had caught the cord around him, wrapping around his neck. As the bus flipped again he tried to grab the cord, to yank it away, but his body was thrown sideways again, cinching it together. He could barely move, could barely see.
There was the sound of glass shattering, screams echoing through the air. His hands groped at his throat as the world around him started to dim. Black crept in around the edges of his vision. He barely noticed that the bus had stopped moving. Didn’t see that it was lying on its side. His eyes found Brian, saw him lying against a window, blood flecked over his skin and on the ground. Nick was nowhere in sight. Where the hell was Nick?
AJ tried to call out, still grappling with the cord, but no sound came out. The last thing he saw as the world went completely black and swallowed him was flames leaping from the front of the bus. Then, his lungs screaming for air, his body hurting in so many places, he slipped down into the blackness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What do you think they’re doing over there?” Kevin asked conversationally as he sat down on the couch across from Howie. Their bus was quiet; peaceful. Nothing like what he imagined the other bus sounded like right then.
Howie smirked at him, sipping at his glass of juice. “Oh, probably tearing the bus apart. You know the three of them.”
“I don’t envy the driver, that’s for damn sure.”
“Oh, no shit.” Howie chuckled, reaching over to set his glass in the cup holder. He rolled his eyes, his smile softening the look. “You’ve got to admit, they may fight, but they always have a blast together.”
Kevin snorted. His eyes were twinkling, though. “They do. Bunch of kids, they are.”
“Totally.”
For a moment the two were silent. Then, together, they started to laugh. Kevin rubbed at his face, chuckles shaking his tall frame. “God, D, we sound like a couple of old farts. I remember listening to my dad and his cronies talk like this about us kids. I always thought they sounded so old and crazy. I can’t believe that’s me now.”
“Shit, Kev, you won’t ever have to worry about being an old fart so long as we’ve got those three. They’ll keep us on our toes until we’re dead and buried. “
“Pleasant thought.”
The two shared another smile. Kevin enjoyed his friendship with Howie. He enjoyed his friendship with all his band mates, really. But it was nice to have someone to talk to sometimes that was more business minded. He had his moments where he could play like the rest of them, but he had his moments where he wanted to be an adult too. With Howie, he could have that. They had a good friendship that worked for them.
Looking at his friend, Kevin smothered a smile. Howie had that faraway look he tended to get when he drifted off in his thoughts. Kevin knew exactly where his thoughts would be drifting. He couldn’t help but think what a fool Howie was. The man was stone blind when it came to what was right in front of him.
Because of their late night talks together, Kevin knew a few secrets that the others didn’t know about Howie. Not even AJ. Especially not AJ. No one knew the crush that Howie had on his best friend. AJ was utterly oblivious to the longing looks that Howie cast his way sometimes.
It amused Kevin to see it. Howie may think he cares about AJ like that, but the fool is too confused to realize half of what he feels. Kevin thought to himself. It wasn’t a matter of really caring about AJ. There was love there, yes, but Kevin was convinced it was a more brotherly love. But, to Howie, AJ was safe to care about. Someone he’d known for a long time. Someone semi close to him in age.
But Kevin had seen the way that Howie would look at Nick sometimes, even if Howie didn’t realize it. The way he tolerated, even enjoyed, things about Nick that drove others crazy. The way he stuck up for the kid when he felt he was being picked on. There was something there, but Howie was too afraid to act on it. The best that Kevin had ever been able to get, and Howie had been drunk at the time, was that Howie thought Nick was way too young for him to look at so he’d never allowed himself to look.
Well, if the man would just take a moment and look, he’d realize that Nick had grown up on them. He might also see the look in Nick’s eyes sometimes when he was watching Howie.
Those two would make a good couple. Nick’s craziness countered by Howie’s calmness. They would balance one another out.
The idea of Howie and AJ being together made Kevin want to laugh. Howie may have thought they’d make it as a couple, but Kevin doubted they would have. They’d kill each other in a week. AJ was too wild, too zany, for someone like Howie. Not crazy in the way Nick was, with the small bouts of humor and the practical jokes.
No, AJ was more the ‘make a statement’ kind of guy. Whereas Nick played his jokes and tried to deny he ever did them, AJ did what he wanted, when he wanted, and didn’t care who knew what he did. He’d play a joke on you and grin when you hunted him down. He’d grin even as you tried to hit him. “There’s no shame in my game.” He’d been known to say.
Not to mention his temper. With the temper that AJ was notorious for, he and Howie would quickly come to blows with one another if they spent the time together that a couple usually did. Howie liked to micromanage things, always needing to have some control. This worked perfectly with Nick, who required someone who could steer him in the direction he needed to go and help him channel his energy. Try getting AJ to do something that he might not want to do and you might as well try moving a mountain with your bare hands.
That’s why Kevin thought that Brian and AJ were perfectly suited to one another. Where AJ would rage, Brian would keep his cool. When AJ was doing his own thing, not caring what was going on around him, Brian was there, quietly steering AJ in the direction he needed to go without ever letting AJ know he was being steered. When Brian got into his quiet moods, hiding out a little, AJ was always there to pull him back out. Best of all, in Kevin’s mind, when Brian stood there and took crap from people simply because he didn’t want to fight, AJ stepped up and either stood up for Brian or gave him the courage to stand up for himself. They made a perfect team.
The driver suddenly shouted from the front of the bus. Kevin felt the wheels skid on the road slightly and had to grip his seat to stay still. After a second they straightened out. Worried, Kevin moved toward the front of the bus. “Everything ok?” he called out.
“Just some ice, Mr. Richardson.” The driver yelled back. “Sorry about-“ His words were cut off when they hit another patch of ice, sliding their bus sideways again.
Kevin tried to grab on to something to hold himself still, could vaguely hear Howie cursing in the background, and then there came the loudest sound he’d ever heard. Something connected with the back of their bus, crashing into them with the horrible squealing sound of metal on metal. The force of the impact sent Kevin flying straight into the windshield.
He saw the drivers face, saw it fill his vision as the bus was suddenly rolling on to its. It sent Kevin flying into the driver, crashing them together, then sent him back into the window. There was a shattering sound and Kevin found himself flying through the air. He hit the ground with a hard thud, driving the air right out of his lungs. But there was no time to gain his breath or his feet. He landed on the hill and his body instantly started to roll down.
Minutes that lasted for hours went past as he bounced off of the hard ground, rocks and branches, everything rolling and rolling and rolling.
When he landed, he simply lay there on the wet ground, snow falling down on his face. Every inch of him seemed to hurt. His stomach and chest felt like they were being stabbed with daggers.
After a moment he tried to sit up. What the hell had happened? The world seemed to spin around him again as if he was still rolling down the hill. Thoughts wouldn’t form together into something coherent. He raised his hands, cradling his head while he shifted into a sitting position. It took a moment but slowly the world calmed down.
A loud boom brought him fully back to reality. He dropped his hands from his face and looked dead ahead to where a giant fireball was burning. What the hell? What the hell was that? What had happened?
It rushed back on him with sickening clarity. The bus, the ice! Crashing, rolling, flying out the window. Oh God, tumbling down the hill. The bus had crashed!
Somehow he found himself on his feet. Everything hurt, but that wasn’t important. What was important were the two vehicles lying on their sides, fire spewing from both of them. Dimly he registered that he was moving now, rushing toward the fires. His friends were in there! His friends! He’d been lying on the ground for God knows how long, staring up at the sky, as he friends lay inside!
A pair of hands suddenly grabbed him. Kevin didn’t bother to look and see who it was. He fought to yank free, ignoring the pain it caused in him. He didn’t realize that he was screaming hoarsely. But the hands around him gripped tighter, yanking him further and further away from the fire.
Finally a voice broke through his panic. “You can’t go there, Kevin! Dammit, we need to keep you safe. Let the rescue teams do their work. Come on!”
What did it matter if he was safe? The four best friends he’d ever had were over there! He had to know they were ok!
The panic was clawing at his throat, tearing him apart in its effort to break free.
People were all around him, rushing toward the fire, rushing toward him. Where had they all come from? He thought he recognized the outfit of an EMT. How had they got on scene so fast? How long had he been lying there at the bottom of the hill before he’d gotten up?
One of the EMT’s stepped up to him, helping to force him to sit down on something. A gurney. They were putting him on a gurney. Kevin couldn’t take his eyes off the crash site. Sweet God, where was everyone? Where were they all?
That prayer stuck with him as four EMT’s held him down to the gurney and lifted him into the ambulance.