There was silence on the end of the phone, and Melinda held her breath, waiting for Kevin to say something, anything.
“So let me get this straight, you want me to become the new choreographer for Westlife? You can’t be serious, I mean, they don’t even dance!”
“Yes, I know, but they want to and that’s why they need you. Their old choreographer has walked out on them, and now the whole world tour is in danger and may not go ahead. They need someone who can move”
Melinda heard Kevin sigh and she gave a small smile. She knew she was getting to him. Kevin loved dancing, and loved being able to show off his talent. It was time to play her trump card.
“You know Kev, that Westlife lads are pretty good looking. Imagine spending the whole day watching them strut their stuff.”
There was silence on the other end, before Kevin cracked up with laughter, and Melinda knew she had got him.
“Alright, you win, Give me Louis’s number and I’ll give him a call!”
Melinda grinned in triumph and rattled of the number Louis had given her.
Dublin, 3 days later
Louis stared in dejection at the newspaper article from 3 days ago. Despite his best attempts the story had still leaked, causing a mass panic among fans over the concert. It had been 5 days since Charlotte had walked out and 3 since he had rung Melinda. He was now loosing all hope of finding a new choreographer, he had been relying on Kevin getting in contact with him, but there had been no word and Louis was disappointed. He had managed to dig up some of V’s old video clips and Kevin had great style, and could’ve really helped Westlife. A knock on the door startled him and he sighed, frustrated at being interrupted .
“Yes?”
The door opened and a young man walked in. He looked strangely familiar, standing about 5ft 11, with sandy hair and intense eyes.
He strode up to Louis and held out his hand,
“Hello, I’m Kevin McDaid.”
Louis grasped his hand and stared in surprise. It was as if all his prayers had been answered.
Kevin chuckled. It had been worth thinking about for two days, and then all the plane delays to get here. He could’ve rung and spoken to him, but the look on Louis’s face made flying over all the more worth while.
Louis finally found his voice, “Kevin! Sit down lad, sit down!”
Mark plugged his laptop in and switched it on. He had found a quite corner of the hotel room he was sharing with Kian and was determined to do this. Kian was out with Jodi, and Mark was almost certain that they wouldn’t be back for a while.
He opened up the internet and called up the Google search engine. He quickly glanced around the room again, making sure he was alone, before typing in a single word.
‘Gay’
He was surprised at how many responses and sites came up. Over 281,000,000. Clicking on a promising sounding site, he started to read.
Kian kissed Jodi goodbye (she was sharing a room with Gillian, something about them getting to know each other better) and opened the door to his and Mark’s room.
“Mark? You in here mate? Louis wants to see us.”
No answer.
“Mark?”
He glanced into Mark’s bedroom, seeing if he was taking a nap.
No Mark.
“Mark? We need to get going”
He headed into the lounge area and saw Mark sitting with his back to him, hunched over his laptop. Kian smiled, that was typical Mark, he would get chatting to friends and tune out to the rest of the world.
Kian walked up behind him, intending to scare him, for a bit of a laugh. Then his eyes settled on what Mark was reading.
HOW TO KNOW YOU ARE GAY
Kian blinked, but the web page didn’t change. He touched Mark gently on the shoulder and Mark jumped in fright.
“What are you looking at Mark?”
Mark stared at him, his eyes wide with fright.
“Nothing! Nothing at all!”
He quickly slammed the lid of his laptop down and turned away.
“Do you wanna tell me something Mark? I promise I won’t judge.”
“NO! Please, just leave it Ki.”
He turned his face, so Kian wouldn’t see the tears that were threatening to fall. Kian reached out and slipped an arm around Mark’s shoulders and gave him a hug.
“Don’t be ashamed Mark. Never, ever be ashamed of who you are.”
Mark managed a watery smile and a tear trickled down his cheek.
“Now, we can talk about this later, if you want. Now hurry up, Louis and the lads are waiting for us!”
Half an hour later, Mark and Kian hurried onto the dance studio, over 10 minutes late. Kian had insisted on walking, to clear Mark’s head. They hadn’t talked much, but Mark had bee glad to have Kian there.
Louis rounded on them the second they stumbled i.
“So nice you can join us!”
Kian grinned cheekily and ducked his head.
“Sorry Louis, we walked and some fan’s stopped us. Couldn’t be rude, could we?”
Louis rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Now you lot, gather round. As you know, I’ve found you a new choreographer. Bit of a change to the last few you have had. He’s not professionally trained, but he can move, and I trust he can get you lot moving.”
Shane looked puzzled, “He?”
Louis nodded, “Yes Shane, he!”
He looked across the room to the back entrance and hollered,
“Alright Kevin! You can come in now!”
A tall, sandy haired guy walked into the room with a confident swagger.
“Lad’s, meet Kevin McDaid. Kevin, meet Westlife. And may the force be with you, because you’re gonna need it!”