Starlight Express, Parts 8-9
Chap 8
Megan squealed in delight as Allison walked in. Everyone turned around and several of them stood up to welcome and hug their youngest member, looking all grown up in her mile-high heeled boots.
“Hey, Allie Cat,” Adam called, and she turned towards his voice, her eyes shining. “Glad you could make it.”
“Not making it never crossed my mind.” Allison grinned back. “Where’s the proud dad?”
Matt jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen. “Trying to catch up with food for the rest of us. I think we kind of surprised him.”
Danny chuckled. “Maybe we shouldn’t have invited ourselves over, but I think we could make an exception for this occasion.”
“Funny, I thought I heard some meowling,” Kris said, walking in with a warm smile and open arms. “Whoa. Someone’s grown up. A bit.”
Allison crashed into Kris, bowling him over, sending him onto Adam’s lap with a faint oof. Everyone laughed at the three’s raucous reunion, Adam hugging both of them fiercely before shoving them off him.
“If I had known you wanted to end up on my lap, Kris honey, you should have said something before this,” Adam grinned, wagging his finger playfully. “I won’t really try that anymore now that you’ve got to be a better model for your little boy.”
Kris threw him a light punch, keeping an arm around Allison. “Yeah, and you’re a better model?”
“You bet. Your little carbon copy over there in his precious little bassinet will never have a cooler uncle than me. I’ll give him his first beer. And his first motorcycle ride. And … ooh, I’ll even get him his own designer.” Adam smiled at Katy as she came in with a blue bassinet in her arms, sending everyone into cooing overdrive as they all crowded around to take the first peek at Kris’ newborn, who took in all the adoring looks with cool aplomb.
“Like father, like son,” Anoop declared. “Not a quiver. Balls of steel. Bet not even Simon could make you flinch.”
“And look at his cute brown eyes,” Lil giggled.
“And the floppy mop of hair, just like Kris’ when he came out of the mansion pool on his first day,” Danny put in.
“And his jaw. Wonder if he sings sideways?” Michael asked.
Kris bopped Michael on the head with a well-aimed diaper, making them all laugh.
The doorbell announcing the arrival of pizza made them all scramble for chairs around the enormous dinner table, and Adam could swear that there was nothing happier than ten reunited friends arguing good-naturedly over the last pepperoni slice and goosing on and on about a sleeping, adorable newborn.
---
Kris and Adam stood side by side on the porch, nursing a drink each, wispy smoke from Adam’s pursed lips drifting slowly in lazy swirls. Adam stole a glance at Kris, who had a faraway smile on his face, blinking at a horizon that was slowly taking on a light pink tinge.
“I think Allison fell asleep standing up,” Adam chuckled. “Either that, or her being crushed between Danny and Anoop kept her from buckling down.”
Kris laughed softly. “Yeah, she’s always been a trooper. Last I saw, Megan and Lil were trying to get her to the room upstairs. The girls decided to share the larger one.”
Of course Kris had three other spare bedrooms (although one was made up permanently for Adam’s use, and which Kris had slowly filled with furniture so unlike everything else in the house that it was like stepping into a completely different world) but some of the boys - Michael, Scott, and Matt - had decided to simply sprawl themselves onto the couches. The drive (and in some cases, flights) back to their homes was not going to be quick, so despite talking until about four in the morning, they had all decided to catch a few winks before heading out.
“I missed them all, you know,” Kris whispered. “Five years now, and I still cannot believe all this good fortune that’s come to me. Wonderful experiences, fantastic people. Beautiful music. Good friends. Great friends.”
“And money. Don’t forget that one,” Adam put in, laughing.
“Well, yes. That too. The money is amazing, a great, crazy blessing. In my wildest dreams, between scooping frozen yogurt and wheeling sand across the parking lot, you know, I never would have imagined this much. But seriously, man,” Kris paused, looking up at Adam. “It’s the people that make the ride worthwhile.”
The two men smiled at each other, nodding - yes you, yes me -- then went back to silently watching the sunrise.
---
The pastor paused in mid-sentence, looking up at the sleeping baby’s parents. “His name?”
Adam watched Katy look at her husband, smile, and nod.
Kris looked at Adam and grinned.
“His name is Karl. Karl Mitchel Allen.”
The press had a heyday on that one.
It was, seriously, nothing Kris nor Adam gave a real shit about.
Chap 9
People still did a double-take whenever they passed them, especially since they were, after all, still recognizable: the smaller man in the plain white shirt known for having won some singing contest fifteen years back that launched his highly successful, award-winning, singing-songwriting career; the taller one in black and leather made famous by his premier roles in several highly-touted, multi-awarded and rave-reviewed Broadway plays. They had even collaborated on writing one of those plays; the younger man lending his writing talents to make the show one of the most profitable runs ever to reach Broadway in such a short amount of time.
Despite the occasional stares, the park, for most part, was quiet enough, and Kris Allen and Adam Lambert sat in companionable silence. The day was just winding down, deep oranges and red in the autumn now, the air turning crisp and the sun blanching gold.
“Never gotten used to stares, have you, Kris?” Adam smiled, trying for a light opening.
Kris grinned back, if a little sadly. “No, not really.”
“You’d think, that after all the awards shows you’ve attended and accepted trophies from, and after all the speeches and interviews you’ve given - respectable ones, too, not just your usual uhhm-ing and ahh-ing and Adam deserves this, really - come on, man, I’d think you’d have at least grown accustomed to it.”
The younger man shrugged, “I guess inside I’m still just a farm boy, wondering just how I got here in the first place.”
Adam sighed. “Shut up already. Fifteen freaking years, fifteen years worth of songs, hits, and fans - get some confidence, will you?”
For once - this kind of conversation being something they had, on and off for the past years, since they had met on the now-defunct American Idol contest - Kris didn’t answer, had no witty rejoinder that usually ended up with them laughing their brains off. This time, Adam felt, rather than heard, his sigh, coming up from his toes to his head, a long, tired exhale.
“Kris?” Adam asked, tilting his face slightly to the left to watch his friend’s face.
Kris looked down, reaching his leg a bit to scuff the heel of his shoe onto the dirt. “You know, Katy and I - we used to talk about that. The first time I took the televised stage and sang that MJ song - Man in the Mirror - she said she was awed by my confidence. Awed, you know. ‘Cause really, ‘cept in church and stuff, I don’t really try to get any spotlight on me. I like being in the background.”
Adam fell silent, watching, feeling.
“But really, that confidence did not spring just right there. All through auditions and Hollywood and the sing-off and everything - it was already there. I pulled it out of somewhere. I pulled it out for Katy, and the family I promised her we would build together. I had her in my mind, the whole Hollywood week. The thought of her being proud of me was more than enough to weather everything. Even Simon.”
Adam ached for Kris, ached for the way he knew the younger man’s heart broke. It was soon, really, too soon to talk about this; the pain was still too near to them both. He reached out, covered Kris’ hands with his. “Honey, I know she was proud of you. Always. Even if you didn’t win then, she would still have been proud of you.” I know I was, Adam thought, but as always, always in the past fifteen odd years they had been friends, what he thought never went past his lips. They stayed in his head, where they belonged.
Kris smiled then, a small smile, but a more genuine one. “I know. You two were so close. I kind of think you may have been plotting on me one of those times you went shopping with her. I mean, she came home with such a friggin’ ton of silk for the bedroom, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
Adam chuckled. “Yeah, that was my doing. Katy always looked really pretty in silk.”
“I know,” Kris smiled, wistful. “She was always pretty.”
Adam squeezed Kris’ hand. “She will always be pretty. In your heart. In your mind.”
Kris looked down at their clasped hands. “Yeah. She will.”
And Kris leaned his head on Adam’s shoulder, seeking warmth from his side, closing his eyes. Adam held Kris’ hand tightly as the younger man gave way to tears, his uneven sobbing breaths raking through Adam’s soul as nothing else could. If he could take Kris’ pain away he would, but he knew of no way to do so, so he simply clasped Kris’ hand tighter than he ever imagined possible, and grieved with him.
Twilight came and the park slowly emptied, but there, on the bench, sat two men, their faces quiet. They had long since stopped crying, but the taller man in black continued to hold the younger man’s hand as peace slowly stole over his grief-ravaged face and settled into a soft smile.