“Oh my God, what have I done?” I whispered to myself, looking up at the ceiling of the empty hotel room. I was in shock, and felt more guilty than ever before. I couldn’t believe I had just disrespected myself like that last night. Forgot my beliefs. I walked over to the mirror. “What happened Alexia?” I asked myself, “what happened?”

“I can’t believe I did that” Nick said, banging his head up against the wall for the thousandth time. “She was innocent! She’s my best friend!” he turned around, his back against the wall and sank to his knees. ‘Oh God, I just had sex with my best friend’ he wiped away tears that threatened to fall.

“ Nick, man, you ok?” he heard a voice ask. He turned his head to the left and saw a concerned looking Kevin standing beside him. Nick stood up.

“Yeah, I’m fine” he mumbled

“you don’t look so good” Kevin said.

‘I can’t tell him,’ Nick thought, ‘he’ll kill me!’ a little voice argued back with him ‘and you think Brian won’t?’ “I know, just a little hangover” Nick said, it wasn’t a total lie, he did have a hangover. Kevin nodded, smart enough to not ask Nick where he got alcohol

“you might wanna get out to the bus, we leave in a few minutes” Nick nodded, and walked to his room to get his bags. Minutes later Alexia walked out of her room, Kevin noticed she looked a little pale, and her usually bright blue eyes seemed lifeless. He hurried over to her, taking her bag “here, let me help you” she smiled, ‘a lifeless smile’ Kevin thought, he wondered what had her down. He walked out with her to the bus “you ok?” he asked before he turned to go back inside. She thought about telling him, but she felt so ashamed ‘I can’t tell him, he’ll tell Brian, or someone!’

“Yeah, just worn out” she said. He looked at her

“you and Nick were together huh?” she grimaced inwardly.

“At least the room’s not spinning anymore” Kevin smiled as he turned to leave.

“Man, you might wanna check on your sister” Kevin said as he walked by me. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes,

“why?” I asked, looking at Kevin, “is she ok?” concern entered my mind

“Just a little hangover” Kevin said, I looked at him

“how the hell did she get drunk?”

“Beats me,” Kevin said, “besides, Nick has one too”

“oh, so they were in this together?”

“Oh God, like you haven’t had a few hangovers”

“yeah, well, she’s not exactly legal”

“neither were you. Besides, she said the room’s not spinning anymore.”

“just swell” I muttered, walking towards the elevators, where Q and Dave met me. After getting through the crowd, and signing a few autographs I stepped onto the bus. “Alexia” I called I saw a hand wave to me from the bunks. I threw my stuff on my bed, and walked to hers, which was across from mine, I opened the curtains and peered in. She had her eyes closed and her hand on her head “you ok?” I asked

“I have one heck of a headache” she replied. I nodded

“I’ll meet you at the couch with some Tylonel and some water, you have some explaining to do” She sat up, stumbling to the couch. I got her the Tylonel and a glass of water “So what did you have?” I asked, handing it to her. She quickly swallowed it.

Tequila” I jumped up,

“What! Who the hell let you have Tequila!”

“A.J.”

“A.J. let you have a whole bottle of Tequila”

‘Actually it was three bottles’ she thought “well, not really, I kinda talked him into it”

“how much did you have?”

“I lost count after the second bottle”

“Alexia Dawn Littrell!” I yelled. “I’m surprised you didn’t do something stupid!” I said. She looked up at me, tears filled her eyes

‘I did Brian,’ she thought ‘I did something very stupid, I had sex with your best friend’ “I’m sorry” she whispered. I was fuming.

“where’s A.J. ?” I asked she shrugged,

“I think in his bunk” she blinked to keep from crying. I nodded

“look, I’m mad at A.J. more than I am at you, so don’t cry, ok?” she nodded, and I went off in search of A.J. “A.J. , you have 1 minute to tell me why the hell you let Alexia have Tequlia” I said, still fuming.

“Man, chill out, I didn’t think she’d get drunk”

“Oh, so you were with her?”

“no, I heard you yelling”

“back to the point, why the hell did you let her have it?”

“Like I said, I didn’t think she’d get drunk”

“A.J., you asshole! What the hell made you think she wouldn’t? Not to mention, Nick was with her, and they both have hangovers!” Nick heard his name and started listening from a few bunks down “What if something had happened? Huh? What if they got to drunk to realize what was happening and did something?”

“Nothing happened, now did it!” A.J. said, climbing out of the bunk and looking me in the eye

“you don’t know that” I said

“neither do you” he replied, walking off. I stood in shock at what he just said, then realized Nick wasn’t in his room last night when I knocked. Fearing the worst, I walked to Nick’s bunk, pulling him out, I slammed him up against the wall

“Nickolas Gene Carter, you better tell me fast, and you better tell me the truth,” I said “what happened last night?”

“we got drunk, and we went to bed”he said, swallowing. I glared at him

“together?”

“In the same bed, we passed out in it”

“is that all you did?”

“Brian, that’s all, I promise” He said. I let go on my grip,

“k, sorry to get all up on you like that, I just needed to know, I mean, if something had happened, I would feel so bad, you know?”

“Yeah, it’s ok” he said, “I’m just gonna lay down” he said, walking to his bunk. I walked slowly into the kitchen and grabbed a drink, glancing over at my baby sister lying on the couch.

“You worry, don’t you?” I jumped at the sound of A.J’s voice. He walked over beside me, watching her sleep.

“Can you blame me?” I said. A.J. looked at me

“Brian, I’m not gonna lie, I’m gonna flat out tell you what I think”

“wow,” I muttered, “what a first”

“haha. Your sister is gorgeous, drop dead gorgeous in fact. If she was closer to my age I would be hitting on her.” I glared at him. “Man, Nick and Alexia bonded the first time they met, she’s the closest to his age, they’re best friends, you know that. He would never try to take advantage of her”

“what if he didn’t, huh? What if they both agreed to it?”

“Oh hell Brian, you really think your sister would do that?” I glanced over at her, so content and peaceful looking.

“Honestly, no.”

“See” A.J. said, walking off. I followed him towards the back of the bus, stopping in at the bathroom.

“Yo, Kevin” I heard Nick say as he passed by the bathroom, “you seen Alexia?”I pressed my ear up to the door

“yeah, she’s asleep on the couch, why?”

“oh, just wondering” he said. I heard him walking into the front room, where she was asleep. I snuck out of the bathroom silently and hid around the corner.

“Why haven’t the two of you hooked up?” Howie asked

‘great Howie, just go suggest that’ I thought

“what do you mean?” Nick asked

“I mean, why haven’t you guys ever gone out? I mean, you like each other, don’t you?” I shook my head ‘hopefully no more than friends’

“we’re friends, that’s it. Besides, she doesn’t like me”

“so why are you watching her sleep?”

“I came to talk to her, and she was asleep” he said after a moment.

“Sure Nick” Howie said, before walking off. I acted like I was tying my shoe while Howie walked by me. When he was in the back I stood up and leaned back against the wall.

“oh hey” I heard Alexia said, yawning

“hey” Nick said, “we need to talk”

“yeah, I know” I peeked around the corner and saw her sitting up, Nick sat down beside her

“what happened? Why’d we do that? We’re friends, nothing more, right?” He asked. She shrugged

“I don’t know, but I feel guilty has hell” he nodded in agreement

“me too. I lied to Brian and told him we just passed out in the bed together, that we didn’t have sex.”

‘I’m gonna kill the little blonde bastard!’ I thought, about to spring out from where I was hiding when he started talking again.

“Look, I’m not gonna lie to you, Alexia, what we did last night doesn’t feel wrong.”

‘It’ll sure as hell feel wrong when I get to you!’ I thought, my blood boiling.

“I feel guilty, but I don’t feel like we did something wrong, I feel. . . .. I don’t know how I feel. Guilty, happy, shamed. I’m just so confused.” she looked over at him

“are you serious?” he nodded,

“yeah, I mean, Alexia, you and Brian are my best friends, but, I think I feel differently for you now, I, I think I like you, maybe even more” he said in a rushed voice, she looked him straight in the eye. Without speaking they leaned in to each other, closing their eyes, her and Nick’s lips met.

“I did not just see that” I said, stepping out from where I was at. Alexia and Nick jumped apart

“Brian” she said nervously, “you scared us”

“yeah, well, you better be scared, because I’m gonna kill your precious Nick” I said, pointing at him.

“Why?” she said, “what the hell did he do?”

“Oh like you don’t know, little miss you passed out in the same bed”

“Your being irrational” she said standing up and looking me in the eye. Nick stood up nervously

“um, should I be here?”

“No, go Nick” she said. Nick started to walk off but I grabbed his arm

“oh no, not after what you two did, you’re not leaving this room till I’m done” he shook his arm free,

“she’s eighteen Brian, a legal adult, she can do whatever the hell she wants to”

“yeah, well, so can I” I said, doing the one thing I had wanted to do ever since I found out they were drunk in the same room. Punched him. He looked back at me, holding his nose “damn that felt good,” I said “and I bet the next one will feel even better” I said, lunging at him

‘WHAM! THUD’

“what the hell!” I said, opening my eyes. I was laying in the middle of the floor, between all the bunks. ‘It was a dream’ I realized. My fall from the bunk had woken the guys, who were all looking out at me. Nick was looking down from the bunk above mine

“you ok man?” he said, I glanced at my sister, who had climbed out and was helping me up. I gave her a hug

“thanks God!”

“Uh, ok” she said, looking confused. I glanced at Nick

“and Nick, if you ever, I repeat ever, sleep with my sister, I swear, I’ll kill you” I said climbing in my bunk, ignoring the confused looks of the other guys. I poked my head back out, “and I mean it”