Now, more than ever, I needed distractions. I needed to be indoors, away from the general public, and I needed to have something to do. School was over and I didn’t have any academic work to busy myself with. I had no rehearsals, concerts, or tours to worry about either; I left that life behind months ago. I didn’t even have that many friends to go out with since people generally hated me now. It was the middle of summer, and I rarely knew what to do with my free time.
Fortunately, Richie was very good at giving me things to do. Whether it was a grocery shopping, cleaning the house, or getting paperwork done, Richie always found ways for me to help him out. It was refreshing to know that I was still useful in someone’s eyes. He kept me active, busy, and distracted.
Basically, he kept me sane.
Mass publicity on the Naked Brothers Band was far from over. Their tour was still going strong and the sales were still breaking records all over the place. There were even stories of fans going to multiple concerts and buying multiple albums to keep the numbers up and the support strong. The media had, in general, stopped slamming me as hard as they used to, but the public opinion of me was not much better than when the tabloids had been bashing on me.
On a different note, soap sales had gone up slightly since the incident. Perhaps it was just a coincidence but an amusing one nonetheless.
Publicity was dying out. The hate was still everywhere. Summer days were dragging on and on. This so-called normal life was far from normal in my eyes. Perhaps I was already too far sucked into the spotlight to truly understand what it meant to live a normal life. Some habits could not be broken and some memories would never fade. At least I had my distractions. Perhaps I could never forget, but I could learn to move on. According to Richie, this required going on with life as if nothing was wrong and keeping busy.
Today, that meant clearing out the junk cluttering his house. About fifteen minutes ago, he had left to grab some more trash bags from the store and was going to be back anytime now. I had offered to get them myself, but he wouldn’t let me, knowing that I was just desperate for an excuse to flaunt my newly acquired driver’s license.
Summer birthdays had their benefits.
For the most part, Richie’s apartment was clean. There was only a little bit of dusting to do and a few useless trinkets to get rid of. As I plopped down on the couch, however, my foot struck something hard. Checking under the couch, I found a slightly dusty chest sitting on its lonesome. My curiosity got the best of me and I decided to go through it.
Its contents were somewhat typical for a softie like Richie. There were old newspaper clippings, pictures, letters, and other small items that probably had some sentimental value to him. I didn’t want to completely violate his privacy while he wasn’t there, so I didn’t look at the items with much detail, but one thing caught my eye more than anything else.
It was a simple photograph. Rather, it was a strip of low-quality photographs taken at one of those booths at the mall. A strange mix of emotions passed through me that very instant, and I was touched that Richie had decided to keep the pictures in a box full of what seemed to be his most cherished memories.
“That was a great day, wasn’t it?” Richie said from behind me, causing me to jump a little bit.
“It really was,” I replied when I finally got my nerves back together.
“You wanted to leave the mall so quickly, so I guess you forgot about them, but right before we left, I snatched them from the booth.”
“So you could put them in this box?”
“No,” he said a bit too quickly. “I just didn’t want any reporters to find them or anything.”
“And that’s why I found it in this box?” I smirked. “Because you wanted to protect them from the media, who found out about us months ago?”
Richie rubbed the back of his head with a bemused look on his face. “I’m a pretty bad liar, aren’t I?”
“No, you’re actually pretty good.” I pulled him down, and he fell on us butt on the floor beside me. “I just know you better than that.”
Rubbing his back in exaggerated pain, he looked at me with his chocolate brown eyes. “Was that necessary?”
“Nope, but it was fun. Now,” I said as I stood up and dusted myself off, “we have to put those trash bags you bought to good use.”
He looked up at me with a devilish glint in his eyes. “One more thing, though.”
“What’s that?” I asked cautiously.
“Revenge!”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me back down to the ground. Richie hadn’t realized that he pulled me so hard that instead of falling straight down, I fell towards him. With lighting quick reflexes, he caught me before I crushed him.
All I could say was that it left us in a very awkward position.
There I was, laying in my best friends arms. Our noses were practically touching and my breath caught tight in my chest. As soon as we realized what just happened, we both scrambled to our feet, blushing. The worst part was that it hadn’t been the first time we found ourselves in a situation like this. My heart was racing and my mind was shifting through the memories of all the other times Richie had unintentionally flirted with me within the past few months. After taking a moment to breathe, I turned around to look at him. He was still too embarrassed to look at me, and I couldn’t help but smile.
Richie was easily the smoothest boy in the world and he didn’t even know it.
