Part 442
Nick groaned as he collapsed into the first empty seat he could find. "Shoot me now," he whimpered. "Please?" He folded his arms over his eyes and continued to moan as the rest of the group piled onto the bus as well, hunting for their own personal space to recuperate. By the time the girls got there, they found half-dead men spread out everywhere.
"God," Alison said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "It smells like a locker room in here."
"That’s sweat, baby," AJ clarified, as if anyone really cared. "MAN sweat."
"Ooh, ooh ooh!" Brian added, attempting to do the ‘Tool Time’ grunt and failing miserably.
Sonja giggled, tossing him a bottle of water. "You guys suck, you know that?"
"Only if asked really, really nicely," he grinned, his smile fading as he felt the muscles in his thighs begin to cramp up.
"It’s not fair," Nick groaned. "Did you SEE the size of some of those players?"
"Nick, this was a baseball game, not football. Good grief, it’s not like it was a contact sport," Becca laughed.
"Fuckin’-a, Bec, it might as WELL have been," he grumbled.
"Ya’ll are a bunch of losers," Sarah smirked. "Literally. What WAS the final score Bec?"
"Not sure, sis," Becca grinned. "I stopped counting when the other team was ahead by 13 runs."
"That’s it," Nick sneered, jumping up as fast as his aching body would allow. "Off the bus, BOTH of you!" He tried to catch Becca, but she ducked behind Kevin, laughing gleefully.
"Carter, you’re getting soft," Kevin drawled. "Is this what marriage has done to you?"
"Soft?" Nick whispered, "SOFT?" he smirked. "Ask Bec if I’m soft … she’s never complained about that problem before," he grinned.
"God, Nick, you’re a pig." AJ grinned when he said it, making everyone realize he’d intended it as a compliment.
"Thank you," Nick said in his best Elvis voice, "Thank you very much." He cocked one eyebrow and tried to wiggle his upper lip, and if he weren’t in so much pain he would have swiveled his hips, too.
Becca giggled and reached to take Garrett from Lynne. "Nice going, Elvis," she smirked. "The King is in the house," she added.
"Long live the King!" Brian acknowledged, lifting his water bottle in a feeble attempt at a toast. He attempted to pull Sonja onto his lap, but she resisted, wrinkling her nose.
"No way! Just because YOU smell like third base doesn’t mean I have to."
"How are you guys gonna clean up?" Lynne asked.
"There are showers on each bus, but I doubt there’s enough water to do all five of us."
"You could always double up," Becca cracked, smiling innocently as Sarah howled.
"Hey Bec, didn’t you write a shower scene once? If I remember correctly it was Kevin and-"
"Just never mind," Becca said, shooting a warning glance at Sarah who was still snickering.
"Ain’t NO way I’m getting’ in a shower with Kev," Nick insisted, cracking up everyone else within earshot.
"Ya never know, Kaos, I bet the pictures would sell for a fortune on E-Bay." Brian smirked as Nick shot him a nasty look, then got up to hit the shower first.
"Not too long," Sarah reminded him. "The water’s limited and ALL of you need to be clean and sweet smelling when we pull into the venue."
There was an exhausted silence that settled over the bus, finally broken by Lynne. "The tour will be done soon, what’s everyone going to do then?"
"Sleep," Nick mumbled with his eyes closed.
"More sleep," Kevin agreed.
"AJ has a wedding to plan," Howie smiled.
"No," AJ smirked, "ALI has a wedding to plan."
"Not true, hot shot," Ali quipped. "This is a 50/50 deal. You want me to marry you? You do half the work."
"Yes dear," he deadpanned.
"Ah, Age, you did that well," smiled Howie. "We have taught you well, Obi-wan."
"What’s that supposed to mean?" Sarah frowned.
"He means that now he’s almost a married man, that he will forevermore bow gracefully to his wife’s demands." Nick never moved from his sprawled position and never even opened his eyes as he spoke.
"Nick!" Becca scolded.
"Well, it’s true," he argued lightly. "Dear."
"Yuh huh, that’s ‘MRS. Dear’ to you, Carter," Becca retorted.
"Soooo," Sarah said thoughtfully, playing with Howie’s fingers as they held hands, "husbands are supposed to give in to their wives?"
"Yep, it’s in the Husband’s Handbook."
"Good."
"What, Angel?"
"Than that means you’ll be getting rid of the Corvette when we get back home." Sarah’s face held a triumphant smirk, a look that said ‘gotcha’.
"But-" Howie sputtered, but at the look on Sarah’s face he gave up the fight, but only for the time being.
"Next?" Brian called as he toweled off his wet hair.
"I’m next," Kevin said, dragging himself out of his seat and grabbing Lynne’s hand. "Wanta come scrub my back?"
"In your dreams, Richardson," she grinned.
"Yeah, and that’s not all we do in my dreams, baby," he drawled.
Everyone else hooted as Lynne blushed, and Kevin planted a quick kiss on her mouth before heading off to shower. Talk turned to the upcoming concert dates and one by one the guys managed to sneak in a quick shower without depleting the reserve tanks.
Garrett was sound asleep, and Becca was almost asleep, her head resting on Nick’s chest as he talked to the others. The vibrations of his voice were soothing and in no time she, too, was sleeping soundly. Carefully, Nick shifted so that her head was cradled in his lap and as the time passed he gently ran his fingers through her hair, allowing the long blonde waves to wrap around his hand.
Becca managed to sleep for a good half an hour before being bumped into wakefulness by Sarah as she raced past Nick and Becca on her way to the bathroom.
"Sorry," Sarah managed as Becca lifted her head in confusion. She barely made it to the bathroom in the back before losing the ginger ale Howie had just poured for her.
"What’s up?" Becca asked sleepily, as Nick helped her to sit up.
"Sarah’s sick again," Lynne said. "This is the third time in the last half hour."
"Damn," Becca mumbled. "This isn’t good."
"Bec, she’ll be fine," Nick tried to reassure her.
"Yeah, once she gets there, but …"
"I’ll go check on her." Howie made his way to the back, and when he and Sarah returned, they had Garrett with them.
Sarah was pale, but managed a small smile. "Look who we found!" She passed the baby to Nick and shook her head at his antics as he tried to get the tiny infant to smile. Deciding that she really wasn’t in the mood for conversation, she took a window seat and tried to tune everyone out.