My Knight in White Board Shorts - A Jordan Knight Fanfiction

Chapter 4

Jordan's POV

Knowing I couldn't stay in my 'room' all day, I followed the smell of breakfast out of my room and to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, I was welcomed by smiles from Jonathan and Harley.

"Hey, good morning sleepy head!!" Jon said, as he walked by and ruffled up my hair. What was I, five years old. I sent him a glare and sat down at the kitchen table saying nothing.

"Are you excited to start planning out the setlist for the cruise concert today? Jonathan was telling me that you were thinking of letting fans decide what they wanted to hear." Harley said from across the table.

"Oh yeah, super duper excited. All I want to do is spend my Monday morning watching Donnie and Joey argue over what song to sing and how to perform them," I replied with a slight eye-roll. What could I say, I was definitely not a morning person. I watched as Jonathan and Harley laughed letting my comment slide. Jonathan continued to finish the breakfast and started to make the plates. I found my mind drifting off at the thought of the cruise. Not only was this year going to be filmed in our perspective for the world to see, but we had to outdo ourselves from the previous years. Last year was also filmed, but in the eyes of the fans on board. Hell, a couple even got married on board the ship on the lido deck of all places. When POP TV approached us again this year about doing a season two in our perspective, there were some worries. I, of course, was hesitant in saying yes. I wasn't quite ready to have the fans know all about me at this point in my life. I'm dealing with quite a few personal problems. The thought that scared me was that they wanted cameras located in our cabins. I'm afraid that the cameras may catch me talking to lawyers or that I may slip something out of my big mouth. I know Donnie has control of editing the footage, but who knows what he'll keep and delete. Plus, I've never been easy going when I knew cameras were rolling and I feared I may shelter myself from the fans.

"Jordan? Jordan!" I jumped as Jon called my name.

"Huh? What do you want?!?" I found myself exclaiming.

"We've been talking to you for the past couple of minutes. Are you with us? You seem really spaced out. Plus, you haven't touched any of the food I placed in front of you." Harley said giving me a sympathetic smile. He probably thought I was thinking about Evelyn. To be honest, I didn't even realize Harley had even given me a plate or that Jon had joined us at the table.

"Sorry. I guess I find myself day-dreaming about the cruise." i replied with a shrug, as i began to push food around on my plate.

"Who wouldn't! It's like paradise for so many days. Are you worried though? I mean, it's the first real fan encounter since the divorce. You remember how Donnie took it. He was easily upset at any mention of Kim or the kids. The fans will be able to tell if there's something going on if you start acting weird." Jon said,

"Yeah, I guess that could pose a problem. I don't know how I'll handle it, but I don't think I'm quite ready to broadcast my problems to the fans. Hey, maybe I'll do some more yoga and they'll forget I'm acting weird." I add as try to ease the tension I was beginning to feel. I guess the beginning was a little harsh about broadcasting my problems. I know the guys like to be open with the fans, but that really isn't my thing. I'm not Donnie, I don't feel the need to tell everything, and I mean everything, to the fans. Of course, he did that to pick up all the girls on tour and to live it up. I was happy just feeding off of their electric energy.

" Jordan, it could be a relief to get it off your shoulders. The fans will be there to comfort you. In more ways than one, actually probably in anyway that you could possibly want," I laugh when Harley interrupted him with a slap to the back of the head. "Ow! As I was saying, the fans will comfort you. Then, you'll be able to fully enjoy yourself without the feeling of keeping things from the fans and the worry that it could be revealed," Jon finished saying. I could see that Harley's skills of giving good advice were beginning to rub off on my brother. I guess I can see why Jon fell in love with him. My brother needed someone he could confine his inner struggles to. I found myself nodding at what Jon had said. The two seemed to take my answer okay and didn't proceed to push the problem any further.

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The New Kids break was over. After a year break, we were back at work. For today, we would be working on finalizing the details for the cruise. Our management did all the hard work. all we had to do was give the final say so to their choices and approve schedules. It may seem fairly easy, but it was a lot harder. Every little possibility had to be discussed deeply within the group. It seemed that every member had an opinion. It was always me butting heads with Jon, or Joey and Donnie arguing over events. Danny spent most of the time on his phone not wanting to get in the disagreements all around him. There's a lot of pressure on us each year to create a cruise better than the last year. The fans paid a lot of money to be on that cruise ship and deserved to get their moneys worth. Thus, we had to deliver one hell of a show.

Our manager's voice broke through all the disagreements, " Guys! Let's get back on track and finish this. I promise you'll all get your moment to shine on this cruise. I want to be able to get back to the hotel and relax before I spend 24/7 worrying about you guys on the cruise. We all know Joe's a PR disaster waiting to happen when he's drunk." As our manager said this, the group all began to laugh. You could feel some of the tension starting to slip away. The first day back to work after some time off was always stressful. Everyone wanted to get their opinions heard.

"Agreed! Well. I would like to continue doing my duets at dusk. I think this year may be the last one I decide to do." Joey said as he tapped his pen on the desk. Everyone seemed to be okay with that decision. We all loved to join in and be able to see our fans' talent on the stage. Thus, we moved onto the next decision to be made.

"I don't want to do a D-Dub backrub this year," Donnie said as he rubbed his hand across his face. You could see all the looks of disagreement on people's faces.

"Wait! I don't think we should get rid of that. All the fans love the possibility of being chosen for the back rub. It's always been one of the highlights on the cruise," I said as I watched everyone nod their head in agreement. You could see Donnie shaking his head at me and fidgeting in his seat.

"Nah man. I'm with Jenny now and I don't feel like getting all hot and heavy on another girl. It was a lot different back then when I was single and had no chick waiting for me at home." Donnie proceeded to say.

"Well, maybe you could have a guest appearance on the D-Dub backrub like last year. Maybe it could be Jordan." Jon suggested.

Joe was quick to jump in, " Yeah! I mean I did it last year, while you narrated it. The girls all seemed to love it. And I had no objections to getting down and dirty. Jordan, if you do it. Don't get down to your boxers, that's my signature." Joey said as he winked.

I found myself shrugging, " I don't know. I'm not comfortable putting myself quite out there like that. It's different dancing dirty on stage, but I've seen some of the stuff you do in those back rubs. And the fan's would be able to sense something's up. Evelyn would never let me act like that." I said.

"It's about damn time you get over Evelyn and what she would or would not let you do. All she ever did was treat you like shit and hold you back. Telling you what to do, when to do it, and with whom to do it with. Jordan, you were never yourself when she was around. The fans wouldn't notice anything because they would be to happy getting to see the old you again. Now's the time to break out and have fun. Who cares what the fans think may or may not being going on at home. Go out there and have a great time and a great experience with a smoking hot fan. That's how I moved on from Kim. I surrounded myself with beautiful women that loved me for being myself, not a 'better' version of myself." Donnie said. Everyone seemed a little shocked at his outburst. He mostly held it in until we were somewhere private, then he unleashed it on you. Although, he did have a point. I needed to move on. Plus, Donnie was experienced in this category.

"You know what, I will do it! I'll give that lucky fan the best back rub they've ever had, but Donnie will narrate it. It'll be like a surprise, as the fan won't know it's me doing it until the end." I said. I felt a new wave of confidence rushing through me that I haven't felt in a long time. I was ready for this cruise, and I was ready to forget Evelyn.