Spoon part 14

"Stay in Portland?" Kevin repeated in disbelief. Luther whistled and shook his head, "That publisher of yours sure can be a pain sometimes." Joel narrowed his eyes at the ground, his hands clamped together, and our manager-who was currently on speaker on Kevin's phone, practically growled. "Thing is, though," he said, "that woman know that you're our weakness. And though you would never stoop so low as to threaten to leave the band when you have bad publicity to take care of that stunts us, she would. As much as you're our secret weakness, you're her secret weapon." Luther chuckled, Kevin smiled slightly, and Joel narrowed his eyes more at the ground. Suddenly, he looked up and said, "I don't get it, though," catching us all off guard, as he hadn't said a thing since I told them I had some bad news, "Why is it so important that you take care of this particular story? I mean, rumors about you dating random chicks go around all the time. What's so important about killing this one?" All the guys looked at me now, and George, our manager, didn't say anything. They were all waiting for my response. I stuttered, "Oh, well, um...I guess because my cousin doesn't want to, you know, become a public figure, you know?" But it was so obviously phrased as a question that I knew this wasn't a good enough a response, "I don't know. Kassy's the publicist, not me." George laughed at that, "Indeed she is. The publicist of no fun and games." Luther and Kevin laughed, and Joel kind of smiled, but he was still staring at me, his eyes blank.

"Kassy?"

"Hey, doll face."

"I think I've found our solution," I said now, slipping into Kassy's office, clasping my hands behind my head. She put her hands out, "Let's hear it." I bit my lip, "Well. I told the guys that she was my cousin." Kassy blinked at me, "Your cousin." I nodded. She blinked at me for a while longer before looking away and saying, "That might work, actually." She looked up at me, "I'll schedule a meeting with you and People magazine." She pointed a finger at me, "You tell them that, and maybe we can just put this whole thing behind us." She looked down, typing something, and then looked up to meet my face again, "Oh, and, for future reference-try to make sure you aren't photographed, Ok?" I blushed and nodded.

And so the story was printed that the mystery girl was my cousin, who, as I told People, "...I'm very close to. She didn't want to get sucked into this world, though, you know- so I didn't tell anyone about her before now." Now, however, the new of her was out. And Kassy, set on solidifying the story, wanted this cousin of mine to be spotted at a Spoon event dancing with guys that were not Jackson. The only problem with this plan was that Jackson had to be spotted at this event, too. And so it was that I entered a club-an after party for our starting-the-tour-back-up concert- as Jackson, with the guys and a bag that was supposedly full of ice cream for the snack table. I slipped into the crowd as quickly as I could after greeting the cameras and getting into the club and sneaked into a fortunately both gender bathroom, taking the wig off and changing from jeans a button-down shirt to a short, tight, red dress and black pumps. I slipped back into the crowd, out a side exit, and then entered the club again, letting the cameras get pictures of Jackson's cousin entering soon after himself. From then on, paparazzi couldn't see me, and the inly people I had to worry about seeing both me and Jackson were the people inside the club. Back in the crowd, I immediately spotted the guys sitting together on some bean bags near the food table. They were looking around-probably searching for Jackson- and, not knowing what else I should do in that moment, I decided to... introduce myself. I walked straight up to them and said, "Hey. I'm Kristin, Jackson's cousin. You guys are Kevin, Luther, and Joel, right?" As if I wouldn't have known exactly who they were. They all immediately jumped up, as if there was still a rule that you had to stand when a woman entered the room, and I blushed as I saw them take in my appearance with wide eyes. "Wow," Luther said, shaking his head, "I can't believe Jackson never told us he had such a gorgeous cousin." I blushed brighter as Kevin nudged Luther and said, "Hey, you have a girlfriend, remember?" Luther scoffed, "So? Does that mean I can't compliment a friend's cousin? I think not." I couldn't help but laugh, and I caught Joel staring at me now, his eyes wide but at the same time narrowed, somehow. "You really do look a lot like Jackson," he said now. I blushed again, "Oh, um, yea. I get that a lot." I laughed-nervously- and started playing with my hair, tugging on it and trying not to break out in a cold sweat. Why had I come over here again? It was so weird to be standing with these guys-these guys that I had traveled to world with, shared a bathroom and a bed with, talked and laughed for hours on end with- and feel so strange, knowing that to them, I was a complete stranger. Because...I was. "So," Luther said, obviously trying to ease the awkward atmosphere, "Do you sing, too?" I bit my lip, "Oh, I mean, not really. Sometimes. But...I never really wanted to make it a career, you know?" Luther nodded, but Joel rose an eyebrow and said, "You said that in the past tense." I rose my eyebrows, "Excuse me?" Joel waved his hand, "You said 'I never wanted'. Does that mean you do, now?" I shrugged, blushing again, and then shook my head, "No, not really." He stared at me for a moment and then said, "Hm." I bit my lip and then looked back at Kevin and Luther, who were still staring at me, "So, um, how did you guys meet Jackson?" Kevin shrugged, "Oh, you know. We were all growing up in Oregon, all wanted to be musician, all had potential-"

"And all didn't do drugs," Luther continued with a grin. Kevin nodded, "Yup. So our agents hooked us up." I nodded, "Oh, Ok. Right. Cool." It grew quiet between us for a moment, and then the song Undisclosed Desires by Muse came on and I clapped my hands together and looked up at the speakers, "Oh my gosh, I love this song." Luther smiled, "Muse fan, are you?" I nodded, "Their biggest," I replied with wide eyes. Joel grinned, killing the uneasy atmosphere, and offered me his hand. I grinned widely and accepted it, and Kevin and Luther watched us with sappy grins as we disappeared into the crowd and danced together.

© 2010