Hello again! School started three weeks ago (ack!) so this took longer to write than I expected. Not sure when I'll get to update again, but I'll do it as soon as I can, wizard's honor. To those who got the hint of reviewing, I thank you. I like you, because you are nice to me *eskimo kisses all around* Again, any reviews concerning my writing are helpful. Hugs and butterfly kisses, ravenclawdancer4999.
"Julia, what are we doing?" Rosenthal complained, "I was in the middle of eating and you know I can't do a show on an empty stomach!"
Currently, Julia was leading Rosenthal, Holden, Lauren, Meredith, Dylan, Walker, Jaime, Joey, and Jim through the dark concert hall. A few minutes earlier, Julia had abruptly interrupted dinner and asked, actually, commanded was probably a better word, that everyone to follow her. No one was really in the mood to argue with their director, they all followed. The group was smaller than usual; it seemed that Charlene, Tomek, Megan, Dave, and Clark had mysteriously disappeared around lunchtime.
Julia, who hadn't said a word the entire time, made a swift right and opened a bright blue door. She gestured for the Starkids to go ahead and descend the staircase into the building's basement.
"Jules, are you trying to kidnap us?" Meredith asked solemnly, "Because if you are, you should know that Jim volunteered to sacrifice himself if anything like this ever happened."
"HEY!" Jim protested, his voice echoing through the theater, "I never said anything like that!"
"Knock it off you two," Julia laughed, shaking her head, "And no, Meredith, I'm not planning on kidnapping you anytime soon. That is, unless you piss me off, which is always a possibility. That's when you should be afraid." She gestured again for the group to head downstairs.
"Mommy told me never to go into dark basements," Walker added in the highest voice he could muster, earning a sharp elbow in the side from Lauren, "Especially with dangerous people."
"But, we're you're friends, Walker," Joey pouted, putting on an offended air.
"Exactly my point, you're a danger to yourselves and others," Walker snorted, "I love all of you, really, but you're all headcases, completely and irreversibly insane."
"Tell us something we don't know," Jaime beamed, quite proud of the title.
"How do you think we feel?" Dylan retorted gleefully, "Do you know what it's like to say, 'Hey Mom, Joe is coming over for dinner, you know, the one who performed an entire monologue about getting his balls cut off?'" Just as Walker was about to open his mouth to make another remark, Julia cut him off.
"You two can insult each other later," she said exasperatedly, "You know what? The band set up some new equipment down here and they wanted it to be a surprise, happy now?"
"Very much, but don't worry. We'll act surprised," Lauren smirked, bounding down the stairs two at a time. Soon after, everyone else followed the petite girl, leaving Julia at the top of the stairs. With a sly smile, she closed the door behind her and flicked off the dim bulb, which was the only source of light. Julia heard a series of crashes that came from the darkness below.
"Get OFF me Jim!" Julia heard Holden groan, "You're crushing me!"
"You think I'm comfortable?" Jim grunted, "You have the boniest body of any male I have ever met!"
"Try having Lauren on top of you," Meredith remarked irritably, "She's got to have the boniest butt in history."
"Oh yeah? Well you-" Lauren started before Dylan interrupted.
"Did you guys just hear something?" he whispered warily.
"Yeah, my stomach," Rosenthal mumbled.
"No, I thought I heard someone move," Dylan answered, "Clark? Tomek? Dave? You guys down here?
"Charlene? Megan?" Jaime called, "Where are you?"
"There's something funny going on here," Joey said suspiciously, groping the wall for a light switch. Suddenly, the room was bathed in light, temporarily blinding the tangle of friends on the cold floor.
"SURPRISE!" a familiar group of people yelled happily, all grinning in a self-satisfied way. Devin Lytle, Nick Strauss, Lily Marks, Britney Coleman, Joe Moses, Nick and Matt Lang, AJ Holmes, Ali Gordon, Brant Cox, Denise Donovan, and Arielle Goldman stood in the center of the room, trying to suppress chuckles at the hilarious sight before them. Around them hung posters of all the past shows, several balloons and at least two dozen streamers hanging at strange angles. As usual, Lauren was the first to speak up.
"OMIGOD!" she squealed, practically bouncing with excitement, "I don't believe it, how are you all here?"
"I said that we should have traveled by montage," Brant announced earnestly, "But no one went for it..." Everyone laughed, and launched into joyful reunions; most of which involved hugging, laughing, and embarrassing memories from college. However, probably the most entertaining of them all was Walker after he spotted the Lang brothers towards the back.
"MATT! NICK!" Joe bellowed happily, barreling towards them before knocking both of them to the floor.
"Easy boy," Matt sighed, trying to wriggle out from underneath their muscular friend, "Heel!"
"You'd think we'd dropped off the face of the Earth," Nick rolled his eyes, still trapped. After this amusing display of brotherly affection, the group split off into smaller groups. Britney, Dylan, Brant, and Meredith got into an in depth conversation about the remake of "The Hobbit." Denise and Lauren began to chat animatedly about the past week's Glow* posts
"Can you believe some of these girls?" Denise smiled broadly, "They're insanely smart!"
"I know," Lauren laughed, "Maybe they should take over from now on, some of them know more than I could ever hope to." Meanwhile, Ali had reunited with Brian and the two were strolling down memory lane.
"It's been forever since I've actually seen you in person, Holden," Ali commented.
"You're telling me, the last time we saw each other was at your graduation over a year ago!" Holden exclaimed, but then became serious, "We have a very special relationship that very few people could even hope to understand."
"Precisely," Ali deadpanned, "You are the best vagina I ever had."
"Sing it sister," Brian quoted in his highest falsetto, before the two broke into fits of hysterical snickers.
"So how'd your run of Young Frankenstein go, AJ?" Rosenthal asked.
"Yeah, how does it feel to be in a legitimate production as opposed to playing piano for parody musicals in U of M's basement?" Moses joked.
"Don't tell my cast mates this, but not nearly as much fun," AJ grinned, "Would you believe that the professionals don't believe in waiting until the last minute?"
"You mean, they don't learn songs two days before they open?" Rosenthal gasped.
"I know, the horror!" AJ said with mock terror.
"Speaking of waiting until the last minute," Moses drawled uncertainly, "You know how I have my own one man show, right? Um, I was kind of wondering if maybe next season you guys wanted to hop aboard the JMOMS team! You know, be guest stars or something like that, all the other Starkids are invited too, of course."
"Please tell me it won't be like the time you made fun of me because I shit my pants as a kid," Rosenthal frowned.
"I'll try to refrain from teasing you about your inept bodily functions," Moses proclaimed, "But I make no promises."
"I guess that's the best answer I'll get," he sighed, shrugging, "I guess I'm in."
"Me too," AJ volunteered, "It'll keep me off the streets until I can find another gig."
"YES!" Joe clapped giddily, "Okay, so I'm thinking that we could do a parody of Glee, just for Darren..."Across the room, Julia was recounting the tales of the past week to Lily and Devin.
"Jaime did WHAT?" Lily raised her eyebrows.
"She managed to scare the living shit out of Lauren," Julia replied.
"And Lauren is okay with this?" Devin questioned, glancing in Lauren's direction.
"Not in the slightest," Julia grinned, shaking her head, "She vowed revenge, I doubt Jaime has slept well for the past few nights."
"You have to swear you'll tell us all about when this happens?"
"Cross my heart, that is, if I'm around to watch. Knowing Lauren, she'll make sure her target is completely isolated."
"You make her sound like a ruthless assassin," Lily remarked.
"When it comes to her pride," Julia said in a hushed tone, "She is." A few feet away Joey and Jeff were engaged in a relatively serious conversation.
"So, I hear that you've been playing Sweet Tooth," Jeff said casually, eyeballing Joey inquisitively.
"Yeah, I have actually," Joey replied in an equally nonchalant tone. Jeff decided to take the first jab, teasing him playfully.
"Bet you can't do it as well as I can," he goaded Joey.
"Oh yeah?" Joey sneered lightheartedly, "Is that a challenge?"
"Maybe it is and maybe it isn't," Jeff shrugged, "Either way, you just aren't meant to play villains. Me, on the other hand..." He threw back his head and gave a sinister cackle that reverberated off the walls.
"Just because I've never been cast as the bad guy before doesn't mean I can't be the bad guy," Joey said indignantly and let loose a maniacal laugh of his own. Now nearly the entire room turned to look at the two suspiciously. The two stared right back, waiting for everyone to lose interest before they spoke again
"Not bad young grasshopper," Jeff grinned teasingly, giving Joey a hard pat on the back, "I'm just messing with you though, I'm sure that you're a great ST."
"So Strauss, what's this I hear about Tyler not being able to make it to our show?" Jim asked.
"Oh, he's going to be an even bigger hit with the ladies now," Strauss rolled his eyes, grinning broadly, "He booked a Colgate commercial."
"Well, we all knew this day was coming sooner or later," Jim chuckled, "Did I ever tell you about the time Tyler nearly blinded me with his teeth?" Jaime and Arielle had taken their conversation to the corner of the room
"So," Arielle grinned mischievously, "What's this I hear about you and Joey on SPACE tour?"
"It was a stage kiss," Jaime rolled her eyes, "We did that for every show." Even after hearing her tone of voice Arielle continued to tease her.
"You two just couldn't keep you hands off each other," the small girl taunted gleefully, "I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?"
"Just because you're the baby of the group, doesn't mean you won't be punished for saying things like that," Jaime threatened playfully.
"JAIME LIKES JOOOOEEEEEYY! JAIME LIKES JOOOOEEEEEYY!" Arielle yelled loudly, slipping out from underneath Jaime's arms.
"YOU GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE POOF!" Jaime shouted and began to chase her around the room, while the other Starkids looked on with delight. It was good to know that some things never change.
A/N: Do not fear Darren fans! DCriss WILL make an appearance before this story is finished, I promise. Also, I know that I've been putting off writing Lauren's revenge. I still have some ideas rolling around in my head, it has to be extremely devious because it IS Lauren, but not TOO terrible, so they can laugh about it later. I just don't want to let all of you down because you are totally awesome!