The Ackles Live on Stage Part 6
Jared was almost positive his head was going to explode. If he heard one more Blink 182, Offspring, NoFx, Green Day, P.O.D., Clash, New Found Glory, Ramones, Pearl Jam, Good Charlotte or Fall Out Boy song Jared might have to decapitate himself. Jamie was listening to so much skater music Jared wanted to cut his own ears off. The only ones he could stand were the punky ones by Jensen. But that was due to Jensen’s voice and they weren’t as shouty as the other. He didn’t hate the music, he usually liked it, he just couldn’t deal with the continual onslaught of noise. The only saving grace of the music was how much Jamie loved it. His enthusiasm was infectious and he played along with his keyboard or guitar and laughed all the while. He sang along with them except for the curses because Jensen didn’t “approve” of Jamie swearing.
The five days in LA were a reprieve because they saw so many friends and were out of the bus for most of the time. They met up with Paris but not Misha. They went to the Soda Fountain with Katie and Suri, Michael and August, and James and Sullivan. Jamie loved hanging out with everyone. The Soda Fountain put up a picture of them on the wall and Jamie thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then they went across the country. The concerts were fantastic and Jared loved it, he loved being with his boys and all the tourist traps.
One morning they got a call from Annie. Jensen listened and smiled and put her on speakerphone, “Say that again, Annie.”
“Jamie, you officially have two dads. As of today you have legally adopted Jared.”
Jamie threw himself at Jared and Jared hugged the hell out of him. “You’re mine now,” Jamie said.
Smiling into his hair, Jared said, “I already was, baby. I love you exactly as much as I did yesterday because I couldn’t love you anymore than I already do.”
He vaguely heard Jensen telling Annie that she was missing the most adorable hug ever. Then Jensen must have hung up because suddenly he was being hugged by both his guys. Jared managed to get to a supermarket and cooked them a super special dinner of roasted veal loin with a chanterelle mushroom sauce and roasted potatoes with bacon and leeks. Jamie helped him cook and they tried to stay out of the way of the craft people who were actually supposed to be there. Jamie fell totally silent while eating which was always a good sign while Jensen was making borderline pornographic noises while chewing. Jared felt like the luckiest man in the world eating good food with his boys.
Finally they hit New York for the last eight days of the tour. Jared didn’t like New York much as a city because so many of the people had a shitty self-superior attitude that got under his skin. New Yorkers thought that no other city could possibly be as good. But, at the same time, he had so many happy memories of the city from college and it felt nice to be there with his boys. And Jared was thrilled that the tour was going so well and that it was going to be over. They were all starting to feel tired and it would be good to go home and do nothing for over a month before the school year started.
They had three shows in a row. One was in the Delacorte Theater and then the next afternoon and night they played on the Great Lawn which was so fucking awesome. And they spent a lot of time rehearsing for Carnegie Hall, even practicing twice in the actual hall. The classical music was such a pleasure after all the skater tunes. They were backstage before the Great Lawn night show when one of the bouncers came and said, “Jared, there’s a girl who wants to come say ‘hi’ and she says she knows you? Name’s Alexis Bledel.”
“Alexis Bledel?” asked Jensen. “Isn’t that your lesbian friend from pastry class who grew up in Houston?”
Jared felt himself smile, “Yeah, I haven’t seen her wedding two years ago.”
Jensen smiled at the bouncer, “Please let her in.”
When she got there Jared hugged her and lifted her up a little. She laughed and asked, “Have you gotten taller?”
Jared shrugged, “Maybe.” He put her down. Turning her he said, “Alexis, meet my boys Jensen and Jamie. Jensen and Jamie, meet my cake friend Alexis.”
She reached out to shake their hands and said that she was a huge fan. Jensen said, “I like your shirt.” He motioned to her tee-shirt, an old tour tee of his.
Jared saw it and rolled his eyes, “Alexis, you can’t wear a tee-shirt of someone when you’re meeting them.”
Jensen rolled his eyes and said, “Ignore him, Alexis. When Jared met Jim Cameron he wouldn’t let go of his hand while rambling about Terminator. I like the shirt.”
Alexis smiled, “I wasn’t, um, planning on coming back here when I got dressed. I was talking to Elisha on my way here and she said that Jared was on tour with you so I figured I had to try and say hello. And you guys are so awesome. How’s the tour been?”
“Awesome,” said Jamie, “but we’re all kind of ready to go home.”
She nodded, “I can’t imagine.” Turning to Jared she said, “Tomorrow’s your birthday. Happy birthday.”
“Wow, I can’t believe you remember,” he smiled. “Thanks. I tried to convince the boys to go to a Broadway show but they said we have surprise plans.”
“Really cool plans!” said Jamie.
Jensen grinned, “You’re going to love it so much more than a play.”
“What is it?” asked Alexis. Jensen whispered to her and she grinned, “Jared, you are going to freak out.”
Jared had been whining about wanting to know the plan for days and he knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere so he changed the subject. “How is your hot wife?”
“America is smoking,” she said with a solemn nod. Then she laughed, “She’s good. We’re opening our second bakery in two months. She’s a little panicky about it. She was supposed to be here but her sister went into labor about three hours ago.”
Jared laughed, “That sucks.”
“Yeah,” Alexis nodded. “She ordered me to come and report back on the song list.”
Jensen laughed at that and pulled a folded piece of paper out his back pocket. Jared recognized it as a hand written set list. “Do you have a pen in that huge purse of yours?” She fished one out for him. “America spelled like the country?” She nodded and he spoke as he wrote. “Dear America, we’re sorry you couldn’t make it tonight. Here is the set list as promised.” He looked at Alexis. “Are you guys free the night after tomorrow?” She nodded again and he went back to his note. “We’re sending Alexis home with backstage passes for the concert at the Garden. Congratulations on your niece or nephew! Love, Jensen and,” he passed the paper and pen to Jamie and Jamie signed it and gave it back to the shocked Alexis. He heard the warm up band finishing up their first set. “We’ll see you at the intermission.”
Jared dragged the still stunned Alexis to the wing to watch his boys. It was a great concert and he said, “It’s good to see you,” as they danced to the music.
“You too, you should come up more often.”
“You should come home to Texas every once in a while.”
She shook her head, “I like being a lesbian in Brooklyn not Texas. I’m not going back.”
He spent the night dancing with her and feeling more connected to the city than he had since graduating. Being at a concert reminded him of school!New York not the Network’s head offices!New York. Afterwards they went back to the bus and he and Jensen banged each other’s brains out and when they were lying together. Covered in each other’s come Jensen said, “It’s past midnight. Happy birthday, Jay.”
And it was. They spent the morning in the park because the weather was gorgeous. They went to the zoo and had a good look around. Later they met up with Michelle and Mattie for a picnic and then in the afternoon they went to the Victorian Gardens Amusement Park where Jamie and Mattie went on all the rides. In the cab back to the bus Jared smiled, “You guys were right. Way better than a play.”
Jensen raised an eyebrow, “Jay, that wasn’t the awesome part. That was just a day off in New York. We’re going home, eating dinner and then we’re going to the awesome part.”
Jared was almost humming with excitement. It had already been such a good day. Dinner was good and there was a huge, tasty, birthday cake with his name on it and everyone sang to him and he blew out the candles. Afterward they went to get dressed and Jensen picked his clothes which all made him look a little trendier than usual. Jamie wore yet another Chad tee-shirt that said, “Ignore Me” on the front and “I’m Just a Roadie Who Looks Like Him” on the back and Jensen laughed, “That is so apt tonight, nicely done.”
Clif took them to a back street. There was a bouncer in front of a totally normal door and Jared couldn’t figure it out. Jensen wouldn’t bring Jamie to some super exclusive nightclub, not even for a birthday. The bouncer opened the door for them and Jared realized that they were backstage at a concert. Not one of the huge venues that his boys played but a concert none the less. He heard the crowd but there was no music. He was wondering what was going on and then he saw the man. He felt his mouth go totally dry as Raine Maida walked over to them.
Raine smiled widely and said, “Hi there. Happy birthday, Jared.” He shook their hands, “Jensen called me. I owed him a favor; he helped me with a song years ago. He said you and Jamie were huge fans and asked if you guys could come. And, as we’re huge fans of you guys, I said yes.”
“I got Naveed fifteen years ago today on my twelfth birthday.”
Raine smiled, “That makes me feel really old, man.” Then he turned to Jamie. “I know you’ve been in on this from the beginning but there’s one more surprise. Your dad says you know our discography by heart on the piano.”
“You guys are awesome,” said Jamie. “I know all of them.”
“Do you want to play a song with us? Just one because usually we don’t have a keyboard and people expect to hear them normally. So just one song. But would you like that?”
Jamie looked as floored as Jared felt. “Seriously? That would be so cool.”
“I think it would make it an even more special day for Jared,” said Raine.
And Jared nodded, “It seriously would.”
The man handed Jamie a set list and Jamie didn’t hesitate, “I want to do Is Anybody Home? is that okay?”
Raine nodded, “Let’s go into the green room and practice it a bit so you can get used to doing it with a band and on the keyboard we have.” Turning to the adults he said, “Why don’t you guys catch us up once Jared stops looking like he might faint? You can meet the rest of the band.” He and Jamie walked away with Jamie fanboying at him with rapid praise. Raine chuckled sounding amused.
The minute they were out of sight Jared pushed Jensen against the wall, balling his shirt in his fists and kissing him hard and deep and as they broke apart panting he said, “Best birthday present ever, Jen, honestly.”
Jensen smiled and stroked his cheek, “Glad you like it. You feeling ready to meet the rest of them?” Jared nodded and they headed down the hall to the green room just as Our Lady Peace’s opening band started. He was practically shaking with nerves as he chilled out with the band.
Jamie practiced with them for twenty minutes playing the same awesome song over and over again until Raine nodded, “You really are amazing.”
Jamie blushed and ducked his head and said, “You guys are so awesome and this is so epic.”
They spent another five minutes talking about OLP’s tour and their tour and then the band went to play. They watched from the wings and Jared and Jamie danced and lip-synced and generally freaked out at how awesome it was and how close they were. Then about half way through the set Raine said, “In late 1996 I got stuck on a song. I really liked this young artist’s at the time. He was packaged as a heartthrob but his music had real depth. So I called him. It was about two in the morning, I was drunk and he was sixteen. I called his home phone number, his dad picked up and after a very long explanation of who I was he put his son on the phone. And Jensen Ackles helped me write a song that we finished at 4 in the morning and called it 4 AM.” The crowd cheered. Jared had never known that and he stared at Jensen, being amazed by the man all over again. “He never called me out on that. But he called me about a month ago and told me that today is Jared’s birthday and he’s a big fan. So they’re backstage. And Jamie’s a huge fan too. So, please welcome Jamie Ackles to the stage.” The crowd went crazy for Jamie as he went out.
It made the whole thing even more awesome to see Jamie playing with OLP. He grabbed Jensen’s hand. He whispered, “Best present, Jen, I can’t believe Jamie’s playing with them.”
Jensen nodded and smiled as they finished the song and the crowd screamed and Jamie leaned into the piano mic and said, “Thanks, that was awesome.” He waved and smiled as he jogged off stage, straight to Jared who swooped him up in a hug and kissed his nose. “Happy birthday, Jay.”
“Thank you, baby, having you play with them was the best birthday present ever.” He hugged Jamie really tight and started dancing with Jamie still in his arms as they started playing Happiness and the Fish. Jamie giggled at the word “masturbating” and stopped lip-syncing when it hit the f-word. They enjoyed the rest of the concert and the band got the whole crowd to sing Happy Birthday with them for Jared. Afterwards Raine gave him a white tour tee-shirt that the whole band signed and Jared hugged all of them.
Jensen rolled his eyes and said, “Jared, just because they’re Canadian and polite doesn’t mean you’re allowed to get all up in all their personal space.” But the guys laughed. And they had a smaller version of the tee-shirt signed for Jamie too and his face broke into a huge grin as he thanked them.
A car was waiting outside for them when they left and when they got back to the bus Jared turned to Jamie and said, “Are you as wired as I am?” Jamie nodded. “Go put on PJ’s and I’ll get the ice-cream.” While Jamie and Jensen got changed Jared got the ice-cream out of the freezer and the toppings. He made them a sundae and got three spoons. His boys came down and Jamie looked like he was flagging. As they sat down around the booth and dug into the sundae Jared said, “Thank you guys, that was the most awesome birthday present ever.” Then to Jensen he said, “I can’t believe you never told me you wrote with Raine Maida.”
“I knew you’d pester me to meet him and I wanted to save it for a special occasion,” Jensen kissed him deeply. “Now you know why Alexis was so impressed when I told her what we were doing.”
Jared laughed and they finished up the sundae. And as they were finishing Jamie said, “Jay, would you please put me to bed? We can talk about the fact that we both touched Raine. Daddy isn’t as impressed.” Jensen laughed and hugged and kissed Jamie goodnight. Jared went with Jamie to supervise him as he brushed his teeth and climbed into bed. He made sure Jamie had his lion and was settled in before he sat on the bed.
“We met OLP,” said Jared. “How cool is that?”
“I played with them,” said Jamie, “I played with them one of my favorite songs.”
Jared wrapped an arm around Jamie. “It was the best birthday ever.”
“I’m gonna keep my shirt nice. Are you going to wear yours?” asked Jamie.
“No way, I’m getting it framed. I liked how my birthday was fun for all of us. I hate it when the birthday person is the only one who thinks it’s awesome. A birthday should be great for everyone. We went to the zoo, we saw Mattie and Michelle, and you and Mattie went on all rides, then we had cake and then, on top of all that awesomeness, we got to touch Our Lady Peace.”
“It was awesome,” agreed Jamie.
“Now, baby, you gotta get some sleep. It’s late and you have a show tomorrow.” He took Jamie’s wrist, “I’m turning off your alarm, sleep late.” He kissed Jamie’s forehead and then his cheek, Jamie hugged him one last time before Jared stood. “What CD do you want tonight?”
“Dublin, please.” Jared set up the CD and Jamie said, “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you, sleep well.” He turned off the lights and said, “See you in the morning.”
“Love you, Jay.”
“Love you too, baby.” Jared shut the door and saw Jensen waiting in their bedroom doorway with the can of whipped cream. “That for me?” Jensen nodded. Jared sauntered to him and said, “Best birthday ever, Jen.”
“I knew there was nothing physical that you wanted for your birthday so I figured that great night would have to suffice.”
“Suffice?” Jared laughed and kissed him. “More like amaze.” He pushed Jensen back to the bed. “And now we’re topping it off with food sex. That’s plenty physical. I love food sex.” They stripped each other quickly, kissing and groping. Jensen squirted whipped cream into Jared’s mouth, and then kissed him, sharing the whipped cream. And as Jared swallowed he said, “I couldn’t build a more perfect man from scratch. Christ, I love you.”
“You just love food sex.”
“It’s more awesome with you.” Jensen squirted more whipped cream into to his mouth and kissed him again, licking cream out of his mouth. They spent the next hour licking cream off of each other. Then Jensen took him on his side, Jensen was curled around him, sucking hickeys into Jared’s neck and giving him an expert hand job that left Jared babbling about his birthday and music, food sex, hot chocolate and how good Jensen’s hands felt. He talked about why he loved tour and how awesome it was to be with Jensen. He loved that over the course of the tour Jensen’s hands had gotten calloused from all the stringed instruments and he loved those calluses. He came with a groan and kept writhing to get Jensen off.
They were panting together. Jensen chuckled, “We’re sticky.” He slowly pulled out off Jared and then he licked his fist clean and then licked all the come off Jared’s abdomen and then, without swallowing squirted whipped cream into his mouth and kissed Jared, sharing the come and whipped cream with Jared. “You are awesome, Jay, happy birthday. The only thing that could make you taste better is whipped cream.” He stood up slowly and went to the bathroom bringing back a wet washcloth He cleaned Jared off and left again, coming back without the cloth. As he climbed into bed he said, “You’re awesome, Jay, I mean it. Happy birthday, you deserved having a good day. I know it’s hard for you to be away from the kitchen for so long.”
“I love being with you and Jamie more than anything. We have the show tomorrow,” he looked at his watch, “tonight. Then we have tomorrow off and then, drum roll please,” Jensen drummed his hands on Jared’s abs. “Carnegie Hall!” Jensen smiled and kissed him.
“Then we go home and recharge before school. And you can cook a lot while I’ll compose,” Jensen said, stroking his hand over Jared’s abdomen.
“That sounds nice, it’ll be good to get home… I could also go for not listening to Good Charlotte for a while.”
Jensen laughed, “Yeah, the punk is getting a bit tiring.” He rested his head on Jared’s chest. “Did you have a good birthday?”
“Best one ever. Miles and miles better than my worst. My sixth birthday we had a clown.”
“You’re terrified of clowns.”
“I did not know that until there was one in my backyard.” Jensen laughed, “Don’t laugh at me. It was one of the most frightening days of my life. I was so scared I almost fainted.”
Jensen kissed him slowly then he turned off the light and pulled Jared close, “Night, Jay. No clowns here. Just you and me, post-birthday boy.”
Jared kissed him one more time, “Don’t talk about clowns when I’m trying to go to sleep.”
“I’ll protect you, gorgeous.”
Jared was silent then he said, “I am pretty gorgeous.”
Jensen laughed, “Go to sleep, idiot.”
“A gorgeous idiot,” said Jared. Then there was light coming in the window. He sat up slowly and stretched. He kissed Jensen and then climbed over him. He went into the bathroom took a leak, washed his face, brushed his teeth and moisturized. Then he put on his drunk sport tee-shirt and went downstairs where he fed the dogs and made coffee. He drank his coffee and checked the time, the time zones made it too early to call the restaurant to check in. So he pulled on his shoes and took the dogs out for a jog.
Back at the bus he showered and dressed before calling the restaurant to say hi and see how everything was going. The boys stumbled down the stairs around eleven and they went to get breakfast at craft. They went over to Carnegie Hall to do a rehearsal. The novelty of being in the hall had worn off enough that Jamie no longer ran around the place like a lunatic. Jared loved being only one of twenty people in the audience watching the show. He cheered after every song and five songs in Jensen called, “You’re being very vulgar, Jared. You’re supposed to just clap.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll do that on the night,” he called back, “right now I’ll be as vulgar as I like. Keep going: it’s beautiful.”
The boys went back to playing with the orchestra and Jared kept up the cheering between songs. It was fun. Afterwards they went to the hotel where the orchestra was staying to go swimming in the pool. The bus was parked under the hotel in the lot for the time being. The dogs weren’t allowed to come and Jensen said, “The dogs are probably going to love being at home so they can swim again.”
“I’m kind of ready too,” said Jamie. “I’m still having fun, but I’m ready to go home and hang out with Tim and Daniel in real life and not on Skype. And I miss Annie and everyone. But I’m gonna miss the bus.”
“The bus is awesome,” agreed Jared. “But what I’m going to miss is being two rock stars and their hanger-on. We go home and we’re back to being a kid on summer vacation, a singing dad who bakes and a cook who is way too fond of his dogs.”
“I want to record my concerto,” said Jamie.
“I want to score a movie,” said Jensen.
“I really want to get back to my kitchen to see what Paris and Elisha have done,” agreed Jared.
“Also, when we go home, the pool has a diving board and toys,” said Jamie.
Jared nodded, “Okay, you’re both right: I can’t wait to get home.”
“Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall and then we’re on a plane.” Jensen dunked under the water and popped back up, raking his fingers through his hair. “We should go back to the bus and get cleaned up. We have to be at the Garden in three hours.” They climbed out of the pool and toweled off and put on robes.
They cleaned up and grabbed a picnic from craft and went to Central Park with the dogs. They ate by the carousel, in the little park where dogs were allowed. It was a prime location for people watching but the problem was that people were watching them; it’s hard to unobtrusively study people when you’re eating with rock stars. Jamie went on the carousel after diner and then a car came to take them to the Garden.
They had about an hour and they did a quick sound check and then went to makeup. In makeup the film crew came and asked them for final thoughts. They said they were excited for their last show and for Carnegie Hall. They said they were a little tired and ready to go home and Jamie said, “My Aunt Macky is going to have a baby soon and we want to be home for that.”
“We get cuddling practice before our twins come, right?” said Jared. Jamie nodded happily.
“But we had a good tour didn’t we?” asked Jensen and Jamie nodded. “What was your favorite part outside of the concerts?”
Jamie thought about it. “Meeting Our Lady Peace? That was awesome, and playing with them was really awesome. But that’s concert-ish. I liked getting to see our friends who don’t live in Texas, that was really fun. But I think my very favorite bit that wasn’t music was when we went and saw all the skateboarders. Do you think Santa will bring one for Christmas?”
“If you’re very good, I’m sure he will,” said Jensen.
Jamie shook his head, “No, I’m wrong. My favorite bit was when I adopted Jared as my parent and he cooked us a special dinner.”
Jared felt himself beaming, “That was my favorite bit too, baby. I love you.”
“I love you too, but you shouldn’t call me baby on camera. And when we go home we get to have a big barbeque with all our friends and it’s like a party for me adopting you. And everyone will stay for a whole week,” said Jamie. “Usually when we have barbeques during the year people only stay for a few days because they have to go do movies and stuff but it’s the summer time so we get to hang out for a whole week which is really awesome.”
“After that it’s nothing but chilling out. Playdates are cool but not too many sleepovers,” Jensen said. “You need to get rested before school starts.”
“And lots of pool time to get our tans right,” Jared said. “Nothing nicer than late summer in Texas.”
“So true,” said Jensen.
“I’ll be able to going bike with my friends,” said Jamie. “I’ve missed all my friends and all our family.”
“Yeah, but did you like the tour?” asked Jared.
“I loved it,” said Jamie. “Can we do it next summer?”
“Maybe,” said Jensen. “We have to write new CDs, you can’t tour with the same stuff. We’ll see how we feel closer to the time.”
“The babies are coming in November,” said Jamie. “Will that make a difference?”
“Nah, babies are easy to tour with. Mommy and I toured when you were a baby. You just need more adults with you to take care of them when you’re on stage. But as there are three sets of grandparents that isn’t really a problem. Babies don’t need as set schedules, there’s no school or anything to interfere with it. Maybe we’ll tour next summer, but no promises.”
“It’s really fun,” said Jamie. “It’s like a road trip with showing off on stage.”
Jared laughed but Jensen nodded, “That’s how I always felt about it… how I still feel about it.”
“This has really changed my views on fame.” Jared spoke with a smile. “I really believed I was famous until this tour. But the way people look at you, watch you, it’s kind of creepy. We’ve have so many people taking pictures of us and following us. I’m glad I’m just some guy who cooks on TV.”
“A very handsome guy who cooks on TV.” Jensen nodded, “There won’t be anywhere near as much paparazzi when we go home. We’re sort of boring as celebrities. There’s no scandal around us. When we go home we’ll be back to normal. That’s the nice thing about being a grownup and a kid doing this, we’re not going to clubs or getting inappropriately drunk.”
“You’re never going to do anything like that, are you, Jamie?” asked Jared.
Jamie laughed, “Don’t be silly.”
Jensen smiled but said, “Right now it’s cute that you’re saying it but I’m telling you: there is no way you will ever get into controversy like some of these teen stars nowadays. I don’t know why their parents don’t step in.”
Jared nodded, “All these young women, shoplifting, and drugs and going out without underwear. Young men beating people up and running roughshod over people? No way. Because we will be there.”
“And there will be consequences,” said Jensen. “That’s an important thing to remember. As you grow up people will tell you that you are incredible, they’ll tell you you’re different or better than other people. None of it is true. You have an amazing talent and you should very proud of yourself for all the work you do and all of your accomplishments but that doesn’t make you above the rules. It doesn’t make you any better than other people. There are laws are rules for a reason and all of this can go away in a minute.”
“And we will if it’s necessary,” said Jared. “No more recording, no more tours.”
“We’ll lock the piano lid if need be,” said Jensen.
“Really?” asked Jamie slightly wide eyed. “Did Grandma and Grandpa have the same rule?”
“Yeah, I remember once when Macky got her first boyfriend I wouldn’t stop teasing. I was teasing her a lot, I thought it was funny. I was fourteen and I didn’t see that I was really upsetting her. Grandma and Grandpa pulled me to one side and said, ‘Jen, if you don’t cut it out and apologize to your sister we’re canceling the tour.’ I knew they weren’t kidding. I knew that if I played up my parents would ground me just like everyone else’s parents. So I never did anything controversial, the only thing that ever painted me with any scandal was when my boyfriend sold his story to the papers and told the world I was gay before I was ready for that to be common knowledge.”
“Did Grandma and Grandpa make you stop touring for that?”
“No, no, you don’t punish your kid for getting his heartbroken in a very messy public way. That’s, sadly, just a part of celebrity. I stopped touring for a little while but that was because I didn’t want to tour. It wasn’t a punishment. But for other stuff? Bad things, they would have made me stop touring. You have to behave and you’re grades can’t slip or else we can’t do this. Because, like anyone else, you can be grounded. School and behavior count, no matter how famous you are.”
“I don’t know why all those kids do things that are horrible like stealing,” said Jamie.
“Well, maybe they’re being pushed too hard. I think a lot of those kids are pushed really hard from a young age and they feel a little trapped,” Jared smiled. “If this becomes too much we stop. Adults talk about fallback plans you have the best fallback plan going: summer vacation and going to school. If this isn’t fun you go back to being a normal kid.” Jamie laughed. “What?” asked Jared.
Jamie giggled as he said, “On that Toddlers and Tiaras they always have the mom saying, ‘When she doesn’t want to do this we’ll stop.’ And then they show the three year-old crying and not wanting to do it and the mom shouting at them and giving them coffee and pixy stixs to make them not tired.”
Jensen laughed, “Jamie, don’t tell people that we let you watch that trash. That’s stopping when we go home. It’s on way past bedtime. The only reason you’ve been able to watch it is because of time zones and touring schedules. And we’re at home you’re not inside as much. The bus has made you watch way more TV than usual. No more trash TV once we’re home.”
“But it’s so funny,” said Jamie. “I’m never allowed coffee.”
“It stunts your growth and has way too much caffeine,” said Jared. “When you’re tired you have a rest not coffee and sugar.” He smiled and said, “But we really mean it. If you don’t want to do this then we don’t do it. Not like the moms on that show who just say it.”
“It’s fun,” said Jamie.
“Good,” said Jensen. “But if it stops being fun then you stop. After Mommy died this wasn’t fun. So I taught music and was just your daddy who cooked every night. I enjoyed it. I liked teaching, I liked going to the grocery store and all that stuff and I liked being home with you. See, you can have a nice happy life without this. Touring isn’t the be all and end all of life.”
“So there’s a good final thought,” said Jared. “It’s been awesome and we’ve had a great time. I have learned that I’m not really famous. We have watched bad TV on our awesome bus and we’ve done a lot of great things and seen friends. Jamie wants to do this again, if he behaves himself we can. And if he wants to quit that’s cool because, as awesome as this is, there is a whole world outside of this.”
“But it was the best summer vacation ever,” said Jamie. “I loved it.”
“Y’know how Mr. Morgan took Tim fishing and he was really disappointed that Tim hated it because to him it was his favorite memory of being a kid?” asked Jensen and Jamie nodded. “Well touring isn’t my favorite memory of childhood, it was my childhood. I stopped going to school at ten and did this instead with lots of tutors. Touring and making CDs was my whole childhood and I’m so glad you like it.”
“I don’t want to be homeschooled, at least not yet, I really like school,” said Jamie.
“I wasn’t even suggesting it, baby. I know you like school. Maybe someday you’ll want to do this all year maybe you won’t. I’m just glad you’ve had such a blast because it feels really great to share it with you.”
“Best summer ever,” said Jamie.
Jensen beamed, the happy smile he had whenever he was really proud of Jamie. “Two more shows and then home.” He held out his hand and Jamie gave him a high five.
A PA put his head around the door and said, “Your friends are here.”
And the camera guys said, “We have enough.”
“Are you going to take interviews before Carnegie Hall?” asked Jamie.
The head camera guy shook his head, “No that’s going to be a separate DVD and it’s just going to be the concert and the rehearsals. We’re going to make that one serious.”
Jensen nodded, “That makes sense.”
~~~
CONTINUE
The five days in LA were a reprieve because they saw so many friends and were out of the bus for most of the time. They met up with Paris but not Misha. They went to the Soda Fountain with Katie and Suri, Michael and August, and James and Sullivan. Jamie loved hanging out with everyone. The Soda Fountain put up a picture of them on the wall and Jamie thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then they went across the country. The concerts were fantastic and Jared loved it, he loved being with his boys and all the tourist traps.
One morning they got a call from Annie. Jensen listened and smiled and put her on speakerphone, “Say that again, Annie.”
“Jamie, you officially have two dads. As of today you have legally adopted Jared.”
Jamie threw himself at Jared and Jared hugged the hell out of him. “You’re mine now,” Jamie said.
Smiling into his hair, Jared said, “I already was, baby. I love you exactly as much as I did yesterday because I couldn’t love you anymore than I already do.”
He vaguely heard Jensen telling Annie that she was missing the most adorable hug ever. Then Jensen must have hung up because suddenly he was being hugged by both his guys. Jared managed to get to a supermarket and cooked them a super special dinner of roasted veal loin with a chanterelle mushroom sauce and roasted potatoes with bacon and leeks. Jamie helped him cook and they tried to stay out of the way of the craft people who were actually supposed to be there. Jamie fell totally silent while eating which was always a good sign while Jensen was making borderline pornographic noises while chewing. Jared felt like the luckiest man in the world eating good food with his boys.
Finally they hit New York for the last eight days of the tour. Jared didn’t like New York much as a city because so many of the people had a shitty self-superior attitude that got under his skin. New Yorkers thought that no other city could possibly be as good. But, at the same time, he had so many happy memories of the city from college and it felt nice to be there with his boys. And Jared was thrilled that the tour was going so well and that it was going to be over. They were all starting to feel tired and it would be good to go home and do nothing for over a month before the school year started.
They had three shows in a row. One was in the Delacorte Theater and then the next afternoon and night they played on the Great Lawn which was so fucking awesome. And they spent a lot of time rehearsing for Carnegie Hall, even practicing twice in the actual hall. The classical music was such a pleasure after all the skater tunes. They were backstage before the Great Lawn night show when one of the bouncers came and said, “Jared, there’s a girl who wants to come say ‘hi’ and she says she knows you? Name’s Alexis Bledel.”
“Alexis Bledel?” asked Jensen. “Isn’t that your lesbian friend from pastry class who grew up in Houston?”
Jared felt himself smile, “Yeah, I haven’t seen her wedding two years ago.”
Jensen smiled at the bouncer, “Please let her in.”
When she got there Jared hugged her and lifted her up a little. She laughed and asked, “Have you gotten taller?”
Jared shrugged, “Maybe.” He put her down. Turning her he said, “Alexis, meet my boys Jensen and Jamie. Jensen and Jamie, meet my cake friend Alexis.”
She reached out to shake their hands and said that she was a huge fan. Jensen said, “I like your shirt.” He motioned to her tee-shirt, an old tour tee of his.
Jared saw it and rolled his eyes, “Alexis, you can’t wear a tee-shirt of someone when you’re meeting them.”
Jensen rolled his eyes and said, “Ignore him, Alexis. When Jared met Jim Cameron he wouldn’t let go of his hand while rambling about Terminator. I like the shirt.”
Alexis smiled, “I wasn’t, um, planning on coming back here when I got dressed. I was talking to Elisha on my way here and she said that Jared was on tour with you so I figured I had to try and say hello. And you guys are so awesome. How’s the tour been?”
“Awesome,” said Jamie, “but we’re all kind of ready to go home.”
She nodded, “I can’t imagine.” Turning to Jared she said, “Tomorrow’s your birthday. Happy birthday.”
“Wow, I can’t believe you remember,” he smiled. “Thanks. I tried to convince the boys to go to a Broadway show but they said we have surprise plans.”
“Really cool plans!” said Jamie.
Jensen grinned, “You’re going to love it so much more than a play.”
“What is it?” asked Alexis. Jensen whispered to her and she grinned, “Jared, you are going to freak out.”
Jared had been whining about wanting to know the plan for days and he knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere so he changed the subject. “How is your hot wife?”
“America is smoking,” she said with a solemn nod. Then she laughed, “She’s good. We’re opening our second bakery in two months. She’s a little panicky about it. She was supposed to be here but her sister went into labor about three hours ago.”
Jared laughed, “That sucks.”
“Yeah,” Alexis nodded. “She ordered me to come and report back on the song list.”
Jensen laughed at that and pulled a folded piece of paper out his back pocket. Jared recognized it as a hand written set list. “Do you have a pen in that huge purse of yours?” She fished one out for him. “America spelled like the country?” She nodded and he spoke as he wrote. “Dear America, we’re sorry you couldn’t make it tonight. Here is the set list as promised.” He looked at Alexis. “Are you guys free the night after tomorrow?” She nodded again and he went back to his note. “We’re sending Alexis home with backstage passes for the concert at the Garden. Congratulations on your niece or nephew! Love, Jensen and,” he passed the paper and pen to Jamie and Jamie signed it and gave it back to the shocked Alexis. He heard the warm up band finishing up their first set. “We’ll see you at the intermission.”
Jared dragged the still stunned Alexis to the wing to watch his boys. It was a great concert and he said, “It’s good to see you,” as they danced to the music.
“You too, you should come up more often.”
“You should come home to Texas every once in a while.”
She shook her head, “I like being a lesbian in Brooklyn not Texas. I’m not going back.”
He spent the night dancing with her and feeling more connected to the city than he had since graduating. Being at a concert reminded him of school!New York not the Network’s head offices!New York. Afterwards they went back to the bus and he and Jensen banged each other’s brains out and when they were lying together. Covered in each other’s come Jensen said, “It’s past midnight. Happy birthday, Jay.”
And it was. They spent the morning in the park because the weather was gorgeous. They went to the zoo and had a good look around. Later they met up with Michelle and Mattie for a picnic and then in the afternoon they went to the Victorian Gardens Amusement Park where Jamie and Mattie went on all the rides. In the cab back to the bus Jared smiled, “You guys were right. Way better than a play.”
Jensen raised an eyebrow, “Jay, that wasn’t the awesome part. That was just a day off in New York. We’re going home, eating dinner and then we’re going to the awesome part.”
Jared was almost humming with excitement. It had already been such a good day. Dinner was good and there was a huge, tasty, birthday cake with his name on it and everyone sang to him and he blew out the candles. Afterward they went to get dressed and Jensen picked his clothes which all made him look a little trendier than usual. Jamie wore yet another Chad tee-shirt that said, “Ignore Me” on the front and “I’m Just a Roadie Who Looks Like Him” on the back and Jensen laughed, “That is so apt tonight, nicely done.”
Clif took them to a back street. There was a bouncer in front of a totally normal door and Jared couldn’t figure it out. Jensen wouldn’t bring Jamie to some super exclusive nightclub, not even for a birthday. The bouncer opened the door for them and Jared realized that they were backstage at a concert. Not one of the huge venues that his boys played but a concert none the less. He heard the crowd but there was no music. He was wondering what was going on and then he saw the man. He felt his mouth go totally dry as Raine Maida walked over to them.
Raine smiled widely and said, “Hi there. Happy birthday, Jared.” He shook their hands, “Jensen called me. I owed him a favor; he helped me with a song years ago. He said you and Jamie were huge fans and asked if you guys could come. And, as we’re huge fans of you guys, I said yes.”
“I got Naveed fifteen years ago today on my twelfth birthday.”
Raine smiled, “That makes me feel really old, man.” Then he turned to Jamie. “I know you’ve been in on this from the beginning but there’s one more surprise. Your dad says you know our discography by heart on the piano.”
“You guys are awesome,” said Jamie. “I know all of them.”
“Do you want to play a song with us? Just one because usually we don’t have a keyboard and people expect to hear them normally. So just one song. But would you like that?”
Jamie looked as floored as Jared felt. “Seriously? That would be so cool.”
“I think it would make it an even more special day for Jared,” said Raine.
And Jared nodded, “It seriously would.”
The man handed Jamie a set list and Jamie didn’t hesitate, “I want to do Is Anybody Home? is that okay?”
Raine nodded, “Let’s go into the green room and practice it a bit so you can get used to doing it with a band and on the keyboard we have.” Turning to the adults he said, “Why don’t you guys catch us up once Jared stops looking like he might faint? You can meet the rest of the band.” He and Jamie walked away with Jamie fanboying at him with rapid praise. Raine chuckled sounding amused.
The minute they were out of sight Jared pushed Jensen against the wall, balling his shirt in his fists and kissing him hard and deep and as they broke apart panting he said, “Best birthday present ever, Jen, honestly.”
Jensen smiled and stroked his cheek, “Glad you like it. You feeling ready to meet the rest of them?” Jared nodded and they headed down the hall to the green room just as Our Lady Peace’s opening band started. He was practically shaking with nerves as he chilled out with the band.
Jamie practiced with them for twenty minutes playing the same awesome song over and over again until Raine nodded, “You really are amazing.”
Jamie blushed and ducked his head and said, “You guys are so awesome and this is so epic.”
They spent another five minutes talking about OLP’s tour and their tour and then the band went to play. They watched from the wings and Jared and Jamie danced and lip-synced and generally freaked out at how awesome it was and how close they were. Then about half way through the set Raine said, “In late 1996 I got stuck on a song. I really liked this young artist’s at the time. He was packaged as a heartthrob but his music had real depth. So I called him. It was about two in the morning, I was drunk and he was sixteen. I called his home phone number, his dad picked up and after a very long explanation of who I was he put his son on the phone. And Jensen Ackles helped me write a song that we finished at 4 in the morning and called it 4 AM.” The crowd cheered. Jared had never known that and he stared at Jensen, being amazed by the man all over again. “He never called me out on that. But he called me about a month ago and told me that today is Jared’s birthday and he’s a big fan. So they’re backstage. And Jamie’s a huge fan too. So, please welcome Jamie Ackles to the stage.” The crowd went crazy for Jamie as he went out.
It made the whole thing even more awesome to see Jamie playing with OLP. He grabbed Jensen’s hand. He whispered, “Best present, Jen, I can’t believe Jamie’s playing with them.”
Jensen nodded and smiled as they finished the song and the crowd screamed and Jamie leaned into the piano mic and said, “Thanks, that was awesome.” He waved and smiled as he jogged off stage, straight to Jared who swooped him up in a hug and kissed his nose. “Happy birthday, Jay.”
“Thank you, baby, having you play with them was the best birthday present ever.” He hugged Jamie really tight and started dancing with Jamie still in his arms as they started playing Happiness and the Fish. Jamie giggled at the word “masturbating” and stopped lip-syncing when it hit the f-word. They enjoyed the rest of the concert and the band got the whole crowd to sing Happy Birthday with them for Jared. Afterwards Raine gave him a white tour tee-shirt that the whole band signed and Jared hugged all of them.
Jensen rolled his eyes and said, “Jared, just because they’re Canadian and polite doesn’t mean you’re allowed to get all up in all their personal space.” But the guys laughed. And they had a smaller version of the tee-shirt signed for Jamie too and his face broke into a huge grin as he thanked them.
A car was waiting outside for them when they left and when they got back to the bus Jared turned to Jamie and said, “Are you as wired as I am?” Jamie nodded. “Go put on PJ’s and I’ll get the ice-cream.” While Jamie and Jensen got changed Jared got the ice-cream out of the freezer and the toppings. He made them a sundae and got three spoons. His boys came down and Jamie looked like he was flagging. As they sat down around the booth and dug into the sundae Jared said, “Thank you guys, that was the most awesome birthday present ever.” Then to Jensen he said, “I can’t believe you never told me you wrote with Raine Maida.”
“I knew you’d pester me to meet him and I wanted to save it for a special occasion,” Jensen kissed him deeply. “Now you know why Alexis was so impressed when I told her what we were doing.”
Jared laughed and they finished up the sundae. And as they were finishing Jamie said, “Jay, would you please put me to bed? We can talk about the fact that we both touched Raine. Daddy isn’t as impressed.” Jensen laughed and hugged and kissed Jamie goodnight. Jared went with Jamie to supervise him as he brushed his teeth and climbed into bed. He made sure Jamie had his lion and was settled in before he sat on the bed.
“We met OLP,” said Jared. “How cool is that?”
“I played with them,” said Jamie, “I played with them one of my favorite songs.”
Jared wrapped an arm around Jamie. “It was the best birthday ever.”
“I’m gonna keep my shirt nice. Are you going to wear yours?” asked Jamie.
“No way, I’m getting it framed. I liked how my birthday was fun for all of us. I hate it when the birthday person is the only one who thinks it’s awesome. A birthday should be great for everyone. We went to the zoo, we saw Mattie and Michelle, and you and Mattie went on all rides, then we had cake and then, on top of all that awesomeness, we got to touch Our Lady Peace.”
“It was awesome,” agreed Jamie.
“Now, baby, you gotta get some sleep. It’s late and you have a show tomorrow.” He took Jamie’s wrist, “I’m turning off your alarm, sleep late.” He kissed Jamie’s forehead and then his cheek, Jamie hugged him one last time before Jared stood. “What CD do you want tonight?”
“Dublin, please.” Jared set up the CD and Jamie said, “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you, sleep well.” He turned off the lights and said, “See you in the morning.”
“Love you, Jay.”
“Love you too, baby.” Jared shut the door and saw Jensen waiting in their bedroom doorway with the can of whipped cream. “That for me?” Jensen nodded. Jared sauntered to him and said, “Best birthday ever, Jen.”
“I knew there was nothing physical that you wanted for your birthday so I figured that great night would have to suffice.”
“Suffice?” Jared laughed and kissed him. “More like amaze.” He pushed Jensen back to the bed. “And now we’re topping it off with food sex. That’s plenty physical. I love food sex.” They stripped each other quickly, kissing and groping. Jensen squirted whipped cream into Jared’s mouth, and then kissed him, sharing the whipped cream. And as Jared swallowed he said, “I couldn’t build a more perfect man from scratch. Christ, I love you.”
“You just love food sex.”
“It’s more awesome with you.” Jensen squirted more whipped cream into to his mouth and kissed him again, licking cream out of his mouth. They spent the next hour licking cream off of each other. Then Jensen took him on his side, Jensen was curled around him, sucking hickeys into Jared’s neck and giving him an expert hand job that left Jared babbling about his birthday and music, food sex, hot chocolate and how good Jensen’s hands felt. He talked about why he loved tour and how awesome it was to be with Jensen. He loved that over the course of the tour Jensen’s hands had gotten calloused from all the stringed instruments and he loved those calluses. He came with a groan and kept writhing to get Jensen off.
They were panting together. Jensen chuckled, “We’re sticky.” He slowly pulled out off Jared and then he licked his fist clean and then licked all the come off Jared’s abdomen and then, without swallowing squirted whipped cream into his mouth and kissed Jared, sharing the come and whipped cream with Jared. “You are awesome, Jay, happy birthday. The only thing that could make you taste better is whipped cream.” He stood up slowly and went to the bathroom bringing back a wet washcloth He cleaned Jared off and left again, coming back without the cloth. As he climbed into bed he said, “You’re awesome, Jay, I mean it. Happy birthday, you deserved having a good day. I know it’s hard for you to be away from the kitchen for so long.”
“I love being with you and Jamie more than anything. We have the show tomorrow,” he looked at his watch, “tonight. Then we have tomorrow off and then, drum roll please,” Jensen drummed his hands on Jared’s abs. “Carnegie Hall!” Jensen smiled and kissed him.
“Then we go home and recharge before school. And you can cook a lot while I’ll compose,” Jensen said, stroking his hand over Jared’s abdomen.
“That sounds nice, it’ll be good to get home… I could also go for not listening to Good Charlotte for a while.”
Jensen laughed, “Yeah, the punk is getting a bit tiring.” He rested his head on Jared’s chest. “Did you have a good birthday?”
“Best one ever. Miles and miles better than my worst. My sixth birthday we had a clown.”
“You’re terrified of clowns.”
“I did not know that until there was one in my backyard.” Jensen laughed, “Don’t laugh at me. It was one of the most frightening days of my life. I was so scared I almost fainted.”
Jensen kissed him slowly then he turned off the light and pulled Jared close, “Night, Jay. No clowns here. Just you and me, post-birthday boy.”
Jared kissed him one more time, “Don’t talk about clowns when I’m trying to go to sleep.”
“I’ll protect you, gorgeous.”
Jared was silent then he said, “I am pretty gorgeous.”
Jensen laughed, “Go to sleep, idiot.”
“A gorgeous idiot,” said Jared. Then there was light coming in the window. He sat up slowly and stretched. He kissed Jensen and then climbed over him. He went into the bathroom took a leak, washed his face, brushed his teeth and moisturized. Then he put on his drunk sport tee-shirt and went downstairs where he fed the dogs and made coffee. He drank his coffee and checked the time, the time zones made it too early to call the restaurant to check in. So he pulled on his shoes and took the dogs out for a jog.
Back at the bus he showered and dressed before calling the restaurant to say hi and see how everything was going. The boys stumbled down the stairs around eleven and they went to get breakfast at craft. They went over to Carnegie Hall to do a rehearsal. The novelty of being in the hall had worn off enough that Jamie no longer ran around the place like a lunatic. Jared loved being only one of twenty people in the audience watching the show. He cheered after every song and five songs in Jensen called, “You’re being very vulgar, Jared. You’re supposed to just clap.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll do that on the night,” he called back, “right now I’ll be as vulgar as I like. Keep going: it’s beautiful.”
The boys went back to playing with the orchestra and Jared kept up the cheering between songs. It was fun. Afterwards they went to the hotel where the orchestra was staying to go swimming in the pool. The bus was parked under the hotel in the lot for the time being. The dogs weren’t allowed to come and Jensen said, “The dogs are probably going to love being at home so they can swim again.”
“I’m kind of ready too,” said Jamie. “I’m still having fun, but I’m ready to go home and hang out with Tim and Daniel in real life and not on Skype. And I miss Annie and everyone. But I’m gonna miss the bus.”
“The bus is awesome,” agreed Jared. “But what I’m going to miss is being two rock stars and their hanger-on. We go home and we’re back to being a kid on summer vacation, a singing dad who bakes and a cook who is way too fond of his dogs.”
“I want to record my concerto,” said Jamie.
“I want to score a movie,” said Jensen.
“I really want to get back to my kitchen to see what Paris and Elisha have done,” agreed Jared.
“Also, when we go home, the pool has a diving board and toys,” said Jamie.
Jared nodded, “Okay, you’re both right: I can’t wait to get home.”
“Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall and then we’re on a plane.” Jensen dunked under the water and popped back up, raking his fingers through his hair. “We should go back to the bus and get cleaned up. We have to be at the Garden in three hours.” They climbed out of the pool and toweled off and put on robes.
They cleaned up and grabbed a picnic from craft and went to Central Park with the dogs. They ate by the carousel, in the little park where dogs were allowed. It was a prime location for people watching but the problem was that people were watching them; it’s hard to unobtrusively study people when you’re eating with rock stars. Jamie went on the carousel after diner and then a car came to take them to the Garden.
They had about an hour and they did a quick sound check and then went to makeup. In makeup the film crew came and asked them for final thoughts. They said they were excited for their last show and for Carnegie Hall. They said they were a little tired and ready to go home and Jamie said, “My Aunt Macky is going to have a baby soon and we want to be home for that.”
“We get cuddling practice before our twins come, right?” said Jared. Jamie nodded happily.
“But we had a good tour didn’t we?” asked Jensen and Jamie nodded. “What was your favorite part outside of the concerts?”
Jamie thought about it. “Meeting Our Lady Peace? That was awesome, and playing with them was really awesome. But that’s concert-ish. I liked getting to see our friends who don’t live in Texas, that was really fun. But I think my very favorite bit that wasn’t music was when we went and saw all the skateboarders. Do you think Santa will bring one for Christmas?”
“If you’re very good, I’m sure he will,” said Jensen.
Jamie shook his head, “No, I’m wrong. My favorite bit was when I adopted Jared as my parent and he cooked us a special dinner.”
Jared felt himself beaming, “That was my favorite bit too, baby. I love you.”
“I love you too, but you shouldn’t call me baby on camera. And when we go home we get to have a big barbeque with all our friends and it’s like a party for me adopting you. And everyone will stay for a whole week,” said Jamie. “Usually when we have barbeques during the year people only stay for a few days because they have to go do movies and stuff but it’s the summer time so we get to hang out for a whole week which is really awesome.”
“After that it’s nothing but chilling out. Playdates are cool but not too many sleepovers,” Jensen said. “You need to get rested before school starts.”
“And lots of pool time to get our tans right,” Jared said. “Nothing nicer than late summer in Texas.”
“So true,” said Jensen.
“I’ll be able to going bike with my friends,” said Jamie. “I’ve missed all my friends and all our family.”
“Yeah, but did you like the tour?” asked Jared.
“I loved it,” said Jamie. “Can we do it next summer?”
“Maybe,” said Jensen. “We have to write new CDs, you can’t tour with the same stuff. We’ll see how we feel closer to the time.”
“The babies are coming in November,” said Jamie. “Will that make a difference?”
“Nah, babies are easy to tour with. Mommy and I toured when you were a baby. You just need more adults with you to take care of them when you’re on stage. But as there are three sets of grandparents that isn’t really a problem. Babies don’t need as set schedules, there’s no school or anything to interfere with it. Maybe we’ll tour next summer, but no promises.”
“It’s really fun,” said Jamie. “It’s like a road trip with showing off on stage.”
Jared laughed but Jensen nodded, “That’s how I always felt about it… how I still feel about it.”
“This has really changed my views on fame.” Jared spoke with a smile. “I really believed I was famous until this tour. But the way people look at you, watch you, it’s kind of creepy. We’ve have so many people taking pictures of us and following us. I’m glad I’m just some guy who cooks on TV.”
“A very handsome guy who cooks on TV.” Jensen nodded, “There won’t be anywhere near as much paparazzi when we go home. We’re sort of boring as celebrities. There’s no scandal around us. When we go home we’ll be back to normal. That’s the nice thing about being a grownup and a kid doing this, we’re not going to clubs or getting inappropriately drunk.”
“You’re never going to do anything like that, are you, Jamie?” asked Jared.
Jamie laughed, “Don’t be silly.”
Jensen smiled but said, “Right now it’s cute that you’re saying it but I’m telling you: there is no way you will ever get into controversy like some of these teen stars nowadays. I don’t know why their parents don’t step in.”
Jared nodded, “All these young women, shoplifting, and drugs and going out without underwear. Young men beating people up and running roughshod over people? No way. Because we will be there.”
“And there will be consequences,” said Jensen. “That’s an important thing to remember. As you grow up people will tell you that you are incredible, they’ll tell you you’re different or better than other people. None of it is true. You have an amazing talent and you should very proud of yourself for all the work you do and all of your accomplishments but that doesn’t make you above the rules. It doesn’t make you any better than other people. There are laws are rules for a reason and all of this can go away in a minute.”
“And we will if it’s necessary,” said Jared. “No more recording, no more tours.”
“We’ll lock the piano lid if need be,” said Jensen.
“Really?” asked Jamie slightly wide eyed. “Did Grandma and Grandpa have the same rule?”
“Yeah, I remember once when Macky got her first boyfriend I wouldn’t stop teasing. I was teasing her a lot, I thought it was funny. I was fourteen and I didn’t see that I was really upsetting her. Grandma and Grandpa pulled me to one side and said, ‘Jen, if you don’t cut it out and apologize to your sister we’re canceling the tour.’ I knew they weren’t kidding. I knew that if I played up my parents would ground me just like everyone else’s parents. So I never did anything controversial, the only thing that ever painted me with any scandal was when my boyfriend sold his story to the papers and told the world I was gay before I was ready for that to be common knowledge.”
“Did Grandma and Grandpa make you stop touring for that?”
“No, no, you don’t punish your kid for getting his heartbroken in a very messy public way. That’s, sadly, just a part of celebrity. I stopped touring for a little while but that was because I didn’t want to tour. It wasn’t a punishment. But for other stuff? Bad things, they would have made me stop touring. You have to behave and you’re grades can’t slip or else we can’t do this. Because, like anyone else, you can be grounded. School and behavior count, no matter how famous you are.”
“I don’t know why all those kids do things that are horrible like stealing,” said Jamie.
“Well, maybe they’re being pushed too hard. I think a lot of those kids are pushed really hard from a young age and they feel a little trapped,” Jared smiled. “If this becomes too much we stop. Adults talk about fallback plans you have the best fallback plan going: summer vacation and going to school. If this isn’t fun you go back to being a normal kid.” Jamie laughed. “What?” asked Jared.
Jamie giggled as he said, “On that Toddlers and Tiaras they always have the mom saying, ‘When she doesn’t want to do this we’ll stop.’ And then they show the three year-old crying and not wanting to do it and the mom shouting at them and giving them coffee and pixy stixs to make them not tired.”
Jensen laughed, “Jamie, don’t tell people that we let you watch that trash. That’s stopping when we go home. It’s on way past bedtime. The only reason you’ve been able to watch it is because of time zones and touring schedules. And we’re at home you’re not inside as much. The bus has made you watch way more TV than usual. No more trash TV once we’re home.”
“But it’s so funny,” said Jamie. “I’m never allowed coffee.”
“It stunts your growth and has way too much caffeine,” said Jared. “When you’re tired you have a rest not coffee and sugar.” He smiled and said, “But we really mean it. If you don’t want to do this then we don’t do it. Not like the moms on that show who just say it.”
“It’s fun,” said Jamie.
“Good,” said Jensen. “But if it stops being fun then you stop. After Mommy died this wasn’t fun. So I taught music and was just your daddy who cooked every night. I enjoyed it. I liked teaching, I liked going to the grocery store and all that stuff and I liked being home with you. See, you can have a nice happy life without this. Touring isn’t the be all and end all of life.”
“So there’s a good final thought,” said Jared. “It’s been awesome and we’ve had a great time. I have learned that I’m not really famous. We have watched bad TV on our awesome bus and we’ve done a lot of great things and seen friends. Jamie wants to do this again, if he behaves himself we can. And if he wants to quit that’s cool because, as awesome as this is, there is a whole world outside of this.”
“But it was the best summer vacation ever,” said Jamie. “I loved it.”
“Y’know how Mr. Morgan took Tim fishing and he was really disappointed that Tim hated it because to him it was his favorite memory of being a kid?” asked Jensen and Jamie nodded. “Well touring isn’t my favorite memory of childhood, it was my childhood. I stopped going to school at ten and did this instead with lots of tutors. Touring and making CDs was my whole childhood and I’m so glad you like it.”
“I don’t want to be homeschooled, at least not yet, I really like school,” said Jamie.
“I wasn’t even suggesting it, baby. I know you like school. Maybe someday you’ll want to do this all year maybe you won’t. I’m just glad you’ve had such a blast because it feels really great to share it with you.”
“Best summer ever,” said Jamie.
Jensen beamed, the happy smile he had whenever he was really proud of Jamie. “Two more shows and then home.” He held out his hand and Jamie gave him a high five.
A PA put his head around the door and said, “Your friends are here.”
And the camera guys said, “We have enough.”
“Are you going to take interviews before Carnegie Hall?” asked Jamie.
The head camera guy shook his head, “No that’s going to be a separate DVD and it’s just going to be the concert and the rehearsals. We’re going to make that one serious.”
Jensen nodded, “That makes sense.”
~~~
CONTINUE