Chapter 52: Aren’t you guys sick of this, yet?
Steve
We were all on the floor, giggling. Even Tiffany, who didn't want to join us at first, saying she needed to warm up and had no time to play. Even Kate, who didn't want to join us at first, but I guess changed her mind when she realized Mark wasn't with us. Although, look at her now, smiling at Mark. Mark must be shitting himself.
LJ walked towards Marky with his phone in Mark's face, who didn't look happy at all, it was hard to comprehend. "And where have you been, Mr. Movie Star?" LJ asked, sounding a little like Sarcastic Ned.
"Go to hell," Mark grumbled. Maybe seeing Kate smile at him again after so long was too overwhelming. I mean, I can totally relate, Missy slept with me last night and I still can't believe it. Well, okay, fine, we did actually only sleep, I haven't found the courage to even try to kiss her yet, but she was in my arms and didn't complain when she woke up because my hard on was pressing on her leg, I can't even believe that.
"Marko, can I have my phone, please?" Jamie said, crawling out from under Tiffany, which cracked Tiffany and Missy up further. I realized that Missy was trapped under Jamie's big, bony frame, poor tiny thing. I shoved Jamie away and pulled Missy free. She was in a giggling fit, the kind that doesn't end, and just keeps going at the slightest provocation. She landed on my lap and giggled harder.
"Uh oh, there she goes," Tiffany shook her head. Like me, she knew that these fits of Missy's tend to last forever.
LJ was suddenly beside us, filming Missy, and Missy started to feebly push him away. "Wow, you're so pretty, Missy," he said. Then, he raised his eyebrows as he suddenly realized something. "Wow, you kinda look like Jamie."
My head snapped to look at Missy's face, but she just continued to giggle and said, "I get that a LOOOT!" She breathed out the word "lot" like she was trying to suppress her laughter, but kept giggling anyway. "They" *giggle* "said I'm the female" *giggle* "Jamie Next Door." *giggle*
"Blasphemy," I snorted, quickly glancing at Jamie to see his reaction. He was massaging his thigh while staring at this phone, pretending he didn't hear us.
"She really does, I think it's their eyes... and their cheekbones," LJ kept filming but glanced at me with a knowing look. I glared at him to continue his train of thought but he is smarter than we give him credit for, fortunately. "How much does footage like this go for these days?" he asked us.
"Oh, Missy hasn't laughed like this on cam in a while, so maybe a couple grand," Kate chuckled.
I studied Missy's face. Why haven't you been laughing, love? She noticed me staring at her and glanced at me. Still giggling, she creased her eyebrows in a small frown and weakly punched my shoulder. Then, she looked away and continued to giggle.
I miss this. It reminded me of the good old days. Not our trainee days, no, we worked like dogs when we were trainees. Post launch days, when both Goddess Athena and Boy Next Door were new and gaining popularity, but we still had time to play around with each other like this. Back then, we were still excited about getting noticed, getting recognized, and since we debuted almost together and found successes together, we were all a big happy family. We appeared on each other's music videos, in each other's variety shows, performed each other's songs on radio guestings because upper management wanted to milk two cows at once. But we didn't mind, back then, it was fun. We didn't have the responsibilities that we have now, we didn't have the pressure on our heads to keep going, to keep our status where it was.
Lia opened the door and stuck her head into the room. She was surprised to see the Goddesses with us. "Ned is asking if there's anything to show him from today's session," she curtly said to LJ, who was supposed to be our choreographer for the day.
LJ got up and pointed his phone at Lia. "How much will you pay me to not post this video of you on our social media page?" he asked her.
Lia scowled at LJ. "Post it and watch your fan base disappear, I dare you."
LJ stopped grinning and put his phone down. "Ned can't watch yet, we were just playing around with formations today," he said, very pro.
Lia looked at him suspiciously for a second. Then she turned to me. "Steve, Burt, please drop by Ned's office when practice is done. Thank you." And she was gone.
We looked at each other curiously. When Ned wanted to talk to us, it was always as a full unit of five, never just one or two of us separately. They would talk to me outside of Boy Next Door when they wanted me to write songs or produce an album, but it was always a scheduled appointment with the artist in question. We wondered what was up.
"Should we all go, anyway?" LJ asked us.
"Solo albums," Missy said, suddenly serious.
We all looked at her. She looked at me. "When they want to talk to you like that, they want you to do a solo album," she expounded. She pushed herself off my lap. "You guys should take this time to talk about how you all feel about this before actually doing it."
"Yeah," Tiffany agreed, getting up, as well. She took Missy's hand and hooked her arm around Kate's waist, leading them to the door. Kate looked back at us, I think specifically at Mark. Tiffany noticed this and looked at Mark too. "Bye, Marky," she said, while Kate said nothing.
Missy turned to look at me and mouthed, "Wait for me after practice." I nodded. And then they were gone.
Jamie checked his phone one last time and finally put it away. His face was also suddenly serious, but then all of ours were, too. "Honestly," he said. "This should have been offered to you guys a long time ago."
He saw me smile at him and he added, "I'm still mad at you, asswipe. Focus."
"But you know what it means, right?" LJ said, softly.
"Yeah," Mark nodded. "They might be planning to disband us."
"Not necessarily," Burt said. "Code Red didn't disband after Q released his solo. And doesn't Goddess Athena have dance practice after this?"
"This is Goddess Athena's farewell album," I said. They all looked as alarmed as I knew they would be. "It's been eleven years for them, guys. Tiffany's going to get a solo, too."
We were all quiet, and the silence was deafening.
"Aren't you guys sick of this, yet?" I had to ask. I knew I was, but I was just one guy of five, and we had always agreed that we were a democracy.
I wondered if anyone else ever felt that they wanted to stop doing this boyband thing but couldn't because it would be unfair to everyone else. I knew for a fact that I could have a successful solo career if I wanted. I cannot confidently say the same of the other guys. Not that none of them can't hold their own - we are all awesome singers in our own right. But today's market is unpredictable. Fickle. They want younger faces, aggressive hip hop. They want PYD. Pretty soon, they won't want PYD anymore, either.
"I'm sick of this," Burt admitted. "But I can't imagine what it would be like without the four of you."
"You just don't want to dance," Jamie teased him.
"Yes, mostly that," he admitted. They grinned at each other and I felt a twinge of jealousy in my heart that anyone would feel about their first unrequited love.
"This sucks," Mark buried his head in his arms. Out of all of us, Mark would be the most successful on his own, but as a model, a movie star, a celebrity. Out of all of us, Mark would be the least able to release a solo album.
I looked at all of them, and something just clicked in my head. "I have an idea," I said.
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