Time Out (5 page)

“I’m sure that there are, but you fell in love with me,” I made the distinction clear. “You know the one who doesn’t put up with any of your bullshit and knows that you don’t walk on water.” 

“Ah—yes, that does sound familiar,” he laughed. “What was I
thinking
?”

“I don’t know, but I was beginning to wonder that maybe you were having second thoughts when your bus took off without me tonight.”

“Sorry about that, but I was told that you were last seen with Riley.”

“Let me guess,” I shook my head in disbelief. “Gwyneth told you that.”

“How did you know?”

“Oh—it was just a hunch,” I kept it vague on purpose because I didn’t want Warren’s sister to know that she had gotten underneath my skin any more than she already had.

“So where is Riley if he’s not with you?” I asked.

“Yeah—I think he’s with Harlow.”

“Way to go Riley,” I emphasized, causing Hawkins to snicker since we were the only ones besides Lizzie who knew about their secret love affair. 

“I didn’t know if you were date crashing or what,” he laughed at our private joke. The one where he insisted Riley and I were like an old married
couple, that
was if Riley didn’t happen to be gay.

“But when you didn’t show up eventually, I tried calling you on your cell,” he explained. “And when you didn’t answer, I thought maybe you were still pissed at me.” 

“No, I’m not mad anymore,” I briefly closed my eyes with regret because in light of everything that happened tonight; I just wanted to be back in his arms again. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk.”

“No I get it. You were hurt,” he sighed. “You have every right to be mad at me after what happened today on the elevator.”

Though the guy behind the counter was quickly becoming a distant memory, I couldn’t help but notice as his mouth dropped open wide in astonishment by everything he was overhearing.

“We can talk about it later, if you want,” I offered as I looked down at Rick the ‘receptionist’, who suddenly perked up in his seat like the professional he should have been when I first walked through the door.

“But right now, all I really want to do is to be back with you on the tour bus. Alpine hasn’t
been exactly understanding
, if you know what I mean?” I groaned. 

“I’m already on my way,” he said the first good news I had heard all night.

Slapping down the phone, I smiled down at Rick - but not really - and said, “Tweet that.”

It’s funny how quickly things can change when people realize that you’re actually telling the truth, like for example when Rick’s boss’s boss quickly became the person to graciously oversee my departure, and the first person to put Rick ‘the receptionist’ down for not believing me in the first place. I couldn’t help but grin at the little punk like doesn’t seem so funny now does it? When Rick’s boss’s boss was finally done reeling into him we left the office area in the direction of the backstage door where ‘Brett
Keisel
’ was still standing. 

“We are so sorry for any misunderstandings,” Rick’s boss’s boss confessed for like the umpteen time.

“I understand, you all have a job to do,” I pretended to sympathize as I locked eyes with
Keisel
. “But
J.T.
,” I took a page out of Gwyneth’s book, “was so mad when he found out his ex-fiancé was allowed backstage before me. Imagine his surprise when he saw her,” I continued to torment the security guard. “You wouldn’t believe the kind of hell she raised. I guess there’s a reason for the restraining order.” I shrugged.

It seemed to quickly dawn on
Keisel
what had really happened tonight and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I enjoyed knowing that at least someone was going to get a version of the truth even if it was stretched a wee bit.   

“Do you know anything about this?” Rick’s boss’s boss turned to reel into
Keisel
next.

“The woman said she had never seen her face before in her life,” he nodded in my direction.

“Well
yeah
,” Rick’s boss’s boss said with exasperation like he was about to pull out his hair. “That was his ex-fiancé and this is his…

“His
soon
to be fiancé,” I added thinking why stop now. 

“But she didn’t have a backstage pass,”
Keisel
explained.

“Well that’s because…

“I lost it on my way up to the stage tonight,” I quickly filled in the rest. “You know, when I slow danced with Hawkins.” I nodded as if prompting the security guard to remember what I had told him about being on the stage earlier. As I watched ‘Brett
Keisel
’ suddenly gulp, I raised an eyebrow as if to say, ‘Do I look good enough for him now?’

“I’m so sorry,” Rick’s boss’s boss continued to apologize as he pushed past
Keisel
on our way through the door to backstage. I know I should have felt guilty for the way I was
lying
, but I guess you could say this was my revenge on the staff of Alpine Valley Music Theater for not believing me in the first place.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t have been happier to put the horrific night behind me when I saw Hawkins’ purple tour bus pull up into the back parking lot. 

“You wouldn’t happen to be heading to Chicago, would you?” I toyed with Hawkins when his tall physique came down the steps of his bus.

“Why, do you need to hitch a ride?” he asked with a wicked grin. Sometimes
I
didn’t even know how I managed to get my hooks into Hawkins, but as those smoldering blue eyes took in the sight of me, I felt my heart skip a beat.

“Yeah—I guess you could say that.” 

Once on the safety of the bus, I turned to ask him more seriously, “Do you know, that
no
one thinks I could be your girlfriend dressed in these clothes?”

I didn’t know what finally made me feel self-conscious. Maybe it was all the condescending looks I got tonight from the staff and the other groupies, like I was trailer trash that wasn’t good enough for Hawkins,
or
maybe it was because of Hawkins’ ex-fiancé who was suddenly in the picture and didn’t look like she was leaving any time soon.

Whatever the reason, I was just thankful for the dark tinted windows on the bus as I proceeded to strip my white tank top off, revealing a white lace bra from Victoria Secret, because part of me blamed the horrific night on the stupid clothes I was wearing.

“I mean
no
one,” I stressed as I continued to strip down to just my underwear by flinging my pink sweatpants off next; revealing a pair of white lacy boy shorts that read, ‘groupie’ in pink cursive sequins on my behind (a left over gift from Hawkins.)

For a second, I just stood there half naked in the aisle of the bus heaving in and out like I was glad to finally be rid of the clothes.

“So can you…umm give me something else to wear?” I gasped, half surprised by what I had done. “Like one of your button down shirts?”

“When did you start to care about what other people think?” he asked with a half grin as he began to unbutton his royal blue and white striped American Eagle shirt.

“When I couldn’t get ahold of my boyfriend in a strange town, far from home,” I admitted in a quiet voice as my eyes took in sight of his broad bare chest as he pulled his arms out of his shirt.

“Your boyfriend sounds like a jerk,” he said jokingly, but I could tell that he blamed himself for what happened tonight.

I also knew that if I told Hawkins what had really happened that he would confront Warren’s sister out of a courtesy to me, but the last thing I wanted was for her to know was that she had won the battle, but sure as hell not the war.

“What did you ever see in him, anyway?” He smirked, bringing my focus back to him as he leaned in to wrap his shirt around my back.

“I like that he gets me,” I confessed in a moment of honesty.

“Are you hard ‘to get?’” He cracked a knowing smile like he thought so as he tugged both sides of the front of the shirt closer to him; pulling me forward until the white lace of my bra brushed up against his naked chest.

Our eyes locked in the semi-darkness of the bus, sending a sweet shiver down the pit of my stomach. In Hawkins’ penetrating gaze, I felt a kind of nakedness that had nothing to do with what I was wearing.

“Well—if you ask me, he’s lucky to have you.” His smoldering eyes took in the sight of me dressed in his opened shirt that created a peekaboo effect with my bra popping out.

“I’m the lucky one,” I murmured as I reached up to brush back a piece of his dark hair. “But don’t tell him that,” I smiled up at him. “It might go to his head.”

“We wouldn’t want that, now would we?” He flashed a wicked grin as he slowly pulled me into his body again; causing
a warmth
to spread where our skin touched as he gently rocked me back and forth until we were dancing again. Except this time when I laid my head against his chest, I knew I had him all to myself. 

Chapter
Two

I knew that Hawkins’ tour bus was the place to be every morning, or at least it was to Warren. The bass player of the band, who looked like the kind of guy who spent his days surfing the beach and his nights playing in the band, never failed to drop by every sunrise for breakfast, even though he supposedly was ‘over Lizzie.’

Nevertheless, it was already a full house on Hawkins’ bus with Riley, Lizzie, and me practically living there as well; something I felt guilty about on a regular basis. I knew that if my dad’s vintage van hadn’t been completely totaled, I’d still be driving it (bullet holes and all) because my friends - or rather
Lizzie -
was a handful to deal with.

I had hoped that when she got back with Ryan, he might take her in on his tour bus that he shared with the other members of his band The Larks. To his credit, Ryan had tried, but it didn’t take long before Lizzie was banned for good because as word had it she was beginning to drive them all up a wall, which I guess you could say I had expected.

What I didn’t
expect
was to wake up to the sound of an unfamiliar girl laughing so hard she was practically howling; making the noise seem to boom off the walls somewhere around the direction of the front of the bus. 

Still dressed in the Hawkins’ royal blue striped button down shirt, I stumbled out of bed wondering what all the noise was about. I was just grateful that the end of the shirt grazed my mid-thigh; covering up everything I didn’t want anyone else to see.

When I pulled back the door, I noticed that among the usual crowd of Riley, Lizzie, and Warren was Gwyneth chatting it up with Hawkins in the front of the bus as CNN boomed overtop of them, and I thought—good freaking morning to me.

I know that I should have grabbed something more suitable to wear besides Hawkins royal blue button down shirt, but then again I thought why shouldn’t I be comfortable on
my
boyfriend’s bus?

“You won’t believe what happened,” Riley informed me on my way down the aisle.

“What? Did you get left behind at the venue last night too?” I made a small dig because a piece of me was still mad that he had forgotten all about me in his hot pursuit to hook up with Harlow last night.

             
“Wait—what?” he asked, but when I didn’t answer him because I had bigger fish to fry, he continued to explain. “The 02 Arena in London was bombed last night. Eighty-six people attending a Project Redemption concert were killed and two-hundred and eleven people were injured. Two of the band members are still in critical condition. That’s not even the worst of it,” Riley added as I continued down the aisle. “The Grimm Brother’s Band was scheduled to play there last night before they canceled it a few weeks ago due to all the change in staff and with everything that happened with Cyrus.”

“Do you think the two are connected?” I asked as we passed the kitchen area.