What Happens on the Cruise

59. You've Got a Friend

"These showers are really nice," Austin commented as he walked out into the backstage green room area with nothing on but a towel.

Tim glanced up from his songwriting notebook and was immediately distracted by Austin's body in the low-slung towel, how the blades of his hip bones and the arrow of abdominal muscles seemed to draw the eyes downward.

"... to the bar after?" Adam said. "Tim?"

"What?" Tim asked, tearing his eyes away from Austin.

Adam shook his head. "Never mind."

"We've got Whataburger!" Heather announced as she walked into the room with a box full of food. "Oh, Austin!" She averted her eyes.

"Sorry, I'll go pull some jeans on."

"I'm not sure how that towel even stays on," Rob commented as Austin stepped into the side room where he'd stowed his clothes.

"It's like magic," Chris said, helping Heather sort out the food. "Tim." He held out a burger.

"Uh." Tim flushed, glanced down to his lap where his song notebook was very handily arranged and then back up at Chris.

"Oh. Hold on." Chris grabbed a drink and fries and carried them over to Tim, setting them on the table next to him. "There ya go."

Austin emerged in tight fitting jeans and nothing else and took the chair next to Tim, immediately stealing fries.

"Hey, get your own!" Tim groused.

"I'll share mine," Austin responded, then reached for Tim's notebook. "Whatcha workin' on?"

Tim slapped his hand away. "I'll show you later."

"Y'all bein' rude. What crawled up your butt?"

Tim blinked twice, then grabbed Austin's belt to pull him forward. Any protest Austin had was cut off when Tim kissed him soundly. When they parted, Tim put his mouth right next to Austin's ear. "You did," he breathed.

"You guys behave," Chris ordered. "We don't have time for you to take extra showers before the show."

***

The autograph line was long, but not unhappy. They were joking and chatting with the audience as they came through. Tim had just turned to talk to Rob when he heard someone say, "Are you okay, man?"

He turned, panic rising, to find Austin looking pale. "Austin?" Tim said quietly.

"M'okay," Austin answered, looking anything but.

Tim caught a whiff of some kind of cologne. He stood and took Austin's elbow. "Come on, let's get you some ice water. We'll be right back, folks." He pulled Austin into the green room. "It's the cologne, isn't it?"

Austin nodded.

Heather scurried in. "Are you okay?"

"Can you get him some ice?"

Tim dug through Austin's bag till he found the tin of mints. He handed it to Austin, who popped it open and inhaled deeply.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Just needed to get the smell out of my nostrils." Austin sighed. "I feel so stupid."

"Are you kidding? You're still walking and talking instead of in the middle of a full-blown flashback. You're doing good."

Heather came in with a cup of ice. "Courtesy of the bar."

Austin took it, pressed it to his face and just stood a moment, then took four Altoids at once and popped them in his mouth. "Okay, let's go."