"Hey Steph. Wake up Gilli," Howie was nudging me in my bunk. I turned over and looked at him sleepily.
"Hey Sweet D," I sighed, smiling weakly.
"We're in Florida," D whispered to me. I woke up a tad more.
"Huh? Home?" I mumbled. Howie grinned at me and chuckled a little.
"No, not quite sweetie. Now come on! Get up Gilli! We'll be home in about three hours," he told me, looking long into my eyes. I blinked slowly and stirred to get up. It had taken about five and a half days to get where we were. We weren't scheduled to be back until Monday and here we were, just around the corner from being home on Saturday.
Everyone was a little more than excited about getting there and seeing family. I just wanted to see my car that I missed so much. I had the thing for a little over 3 months and I had to leave it. Dani hadn't wrecked it, which was a good thing because I now trusted her to drive the mustang. The seven dogs had survived the tour so far, at least that's what we heard. The guys had been up for a few hours cleaning their bus as if someone was going to come and inspect it or something.
The dogs were put in a backpack of mine, so that they wouldn't get in the way of the rushing men. Rubbing my eyes, I lazily got up and walked up to Kevin.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked him, yawning. Kevin gave my forehead a quick kiss.
"We're getting ready for the homecoming, Gill," he said, walking past me with a couple of dirty shirts in his arm. Kevin threw them on the spare bed that once belonged to Emily and then shot into the bathroom the second AJ walked out of it. I sat down at the table and watched this whirlwind of boys running around the moving bus.
"Well good morning! We've been trying to wake you up for about an hour Gilli, and you finally broke from your sleep!" J greeted me. I cracked a sleepy smile and pulled my hair out of its messy ponytail so that I could run my fingers through my hair and straighten it out somewhat. Brian grabbed a phone and called the flower store to order two dozen white roses. I listened to him with great interest. I was extremely curious as to what he had up his sleeve today. Brock refused to tell anyone though.
"Hey J is your mom coming in to check up on how the bus is looking or something?" I called to the back as soon as Brian hung up the phone.
"Huh? Oh no. We just want to get all our stuff together so that we can get it all washed and cleaned and stuff while we're home," Bone answered me. I guess I understood then.
"Hey Gilli, about that whole "I Cross My Heart" thing...if I'm going to do that, when should I do it?" Brian asked me.
"Brock, you won't even tell me what you're doing with all those roses. How am I supposed to know what you plan to do with the song?" I told him.
"Okay okay. I'm gunna try to talk to Manda. So I'm gunna go over to her apartment today, when Nick and Amy take off. I already talked to Dani and Amanda's gunna be home all day today so I've got it all planned. I just don't know what I should do with the song. I mean, I really like that idea but I don't know...." Bri explained. I turned to completely face him and thought for a second.
"Okay. Here's what you could do. When you get to her doorstep, you can sit there and sing the song into the phone, whether she gets it or the answering machine does. Then, when you're done, go to the front door and knock on it," I replied.
"You really think it might work?"
"I don't know. It depends on how forgiving Manda wants to be, Brock." He slumped back in his seat on the couch under the window. He knew how much he had broken her heart. He knew how he sang her that song on the first night they met. He knew she was probably thinking the same thing. He knew how much of a mistake he had made. He was completely beside himself. And now, he wasn't sure if he knew she would allow him back into her life. He needed her badly, but he didn't know if she felt the same about him. Brian became silent again, running all of this through his head. I decided to leave him alone and jumped at the chance to snag the bathroom as soon as Kevin got out of it carrying his shaving kit, toothbrush, cologne, aftershave, hair gel, and anything else he happened to have stashed in that tiny bathroom that was much more like a water closet, as it once had been called.
"Hey Gilli! Are you going to get out of there or are you turning into a mermaid and not telling us?!" Nick called from the other side of the door. I laughed. "Howie! Are you still out here with us?"
"NICKOLAUS!" Howie and I both yelled at the same time.
"Okay okay. Just teasing you! But Steph! Get out of the bathroom! There's only one on this bus and you've been occupying it for a half hour!" Nick continued to yell through the door. It was true. I was in the shower and had gotten lost in a train of thoughts about everything that had happened. At the moment, I was in the middle of getting dressed, in a trance. I snapped awake when Nick began pounding on the door to get in.
"Let me get dressed Nick, then you can come in, okay?" I shouted at him. I heard him mumble something but I couldn't decifer what it was. As soon as I got out of the bathroom, Nick ran in and slammed the door shut behind him. I turned to AJ, who was cleaning his drawer out.
"How long has he been waiting for me?!" I cried. AJ shrugged and continued to clean out his clothes. I soon followed. We had two hours left before we would hit Tampa.
"Well guys, I'm off. Wish me luck," Kevin called to us as he was walking out of the bus. He had called the day before and left a message on Dani's machine, playing "Back to Your Heart" because we knew that she would be at my house with Panda and Bear. We had parked the bus around the block from where her house was, so she wouldn't see us. Brian had just been dropped off at his house so he could pick up the roses and drive over to Amanda's house. Just before Kevin was about to leave, he turned around and looked at me.
"Steph, do I look alright? My shirt not wrinkled? My hair okay? My goatee okay? My clothes match--" Kev began to shoot questions at me. I looked at him and put my hands on my hips, almost disappointedly.
"Kevin. This is Dani. Do you really think she's gunna care if you look like you just walked a thousand miles to fall down at her door?" I sighed. "You look fine. Now get out before I KICK you off the bus!" Kevin chuckled.
"But I would walk 500 miles then I would walk 500 more. Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door. Da dada da. Da dada da. Da dada da. Da dada da. Dadadadadadadadadadadadadada. Da dada da. Da dada da. Da dada da. Da dada da. Dadadadadadadadadadadadadada," AJ and Nick began singing once they heard my little speech to Train. They included the Australian accents and everything. Suddenly, the two busted up laughing. Kevin and I looked at each other and chuckled a little as I put one hand on his back and shoved him out the door.
Then the other three came up to the front and sat beside me as I perched myself up by the window to watch Kev walk down the street. He stopped to breathe into his hand and check his breath. Then he straightened his shirt. Then he unbuttoned it. Then he rebuttoned it. Then he ran his fingers over his hair. Then he readjusted his shirt.
Finally, AJ opened the window and yelled, "Kevin Scott! GO before she goes and gets married to someone else!" Kev turned around and pointed at us. Howie, Nick, and I all ducked down as AJ pointed back at Kevin. Laughing to himself, AJ shut the window and turned around to face us. "Guys. What the hell are you doing down there?" We all straightened up and got back to what we were doing.
Diiiiiiinnnnnggggggggg Doooooonnnnnnnggggg. Kevin stood there, adjusting and readjusting his shirt. Wiping his sweaty hands on his jeans. Checking his breath. Then the door opened.
"KEVIN!" Danielle greeted him with a brilliant smile. Kevin returned it with one of his own, causing Dani to blush. She absolutely adored his smiles. They stood there, smiling at each other, before Dani realized that she hadn't said anything else besides his name. "Oh gosh! Come in! I'm so sorry! It's just that..."
"I know I know. We're here a few days early. Well, we were dying to see all you guys so we asked the bus driver to book it down here," Kevin explained as he walked through the front door. Dani led him into the kitchen where she had been sitting, looking through a magazine and eating her favorite snack: ritz crackers with peanut butter and jelly. Kev observed this and his eyes grew wide. Danielle noticed.
"Uhhh do you want some Kevin?" she asked, noticing he was like a cat who had just spotted a mouse. He smiled and sat down at the table with Dani, grabbing a few ritz.
"This is like my favorite snack in the world. None of the guys or Steph ever let me have it on the bus because they know we'd run out of ritz in, like, two days," Kevin exclaimed excitedly, spreading some pb on the cracker. After layering it with jelly, he stuck the entire cracker in his mouth and ate it. Dani laughed as she did the same thing.
"I know! I could live on these suckers!" Dani told him. Kevin chuckled. She looked into his green eyes....then noticed something. "Uh Kevin?"
"Yeah?"
"You have some peanut butter on your....what is that thing?" Dani tried to point out, but ended up giggling. Kevin realized she meant his goatee/mustache and tried to wipe it off.
"Well you have some on the corner of your mouth...right....THERE," Kevin said, putting some peanut butter on her cheek.
"Oh yeah! Well what about that little spot on your nose huh?" Dani sarcastically replied, taking a big gob out of the peanut butter jar with her finger and sticking it on the end of Kevin's nose.
"HEY!" He sat there, trying to think of another place to stick peanut butter on Danielle's face. Then they found their hands brushing each other as they both dove for the jar of peanut butter to get more. To make matters worse, their hands got stuck. "Hoh boy...." Kevin sighed. He grabbed the jar with his free hand and the two worked to get their hands out of the peanut butter. After a few minutes, they worked their hands free and sat there, looking at each other and laughing.
"Here, let me get that peanut butter off your nose," Danielle offered, after wiping her own face with a napkin. She reached over and gently wiped the peanut butter off Kevin's nose as he sat there, completely still and staring at her with his green eyes. Suddenly, as if on impulse, Kevin grabbed her wrist and pulled it down as he leaned in to give Dani the most passionate kiss she would ever experience...
"Okay. Here I go...oh crap! I forgot the song! Oh dang it. Nevermind, forget it," Brian mumbled to himself, pacing to and fro in front of Amy and Amanda's apartment. Nick had called Emily and asked her to take Amy out to lunch because he wanted to surprise Amy at a restaurant and have a double date, so Brian and Amanda would have as much time as they needed to talk. "Here goes nothing." Brian took a deep breath as he made his way towards the front door. He lightly knocked on the door and stood there, holding the 24 white roses in front of him. The door creaked open slowly and Amanda's face appeared. The slightly pleasant face changed to an upset, angry expression and Amanda turned around, shutting the door behind her.
"Wait! Mandaaa..." Brian called, putting his foot in the way so the door wouldn't fall shut on his face. "Please!" he cried, following her into the apartment.
"What? Is there a need for you to be here? I don't think there is one. You already told me you weren't ever in love with me. I wasted my life, my hopes, my dreams, my.......my heart on you and you threw it all away! I have nothing to talk to you about!" Amanda exclaimed, her voice beginning to tremble slightly.
"I know! I know! God, believe me, I know. That's why I'm here. Please Manda," Brian replied, reaching out for her. Amanda turned around and looked at him.
"What? Why? You've already said enough!" she cried, clutching her arms. Brian sighed.
"I know. I know. And I said all the wrong things. I just, I don't know. But please Manda. Let me explain," Brian begged, letting his outstretched hand fall back down to his side. Amanda continued to look at him, staring into those blue eyes that had first drawn her in and now were showing a great deal of pain and suffering. She couldn't let him go.
"Fine," she gave in, sitting on the couch in the front room. Brian placed the roses on the kitchen table and sat at the opposite end of the couch.
"Whoa. What was that for?" Dani asked, shocked and extremely flustered. Kevin looked into her big brown eyes, searching for any kind of sign.
"God Dani. I don't know why I did it or how I was able to survive it but after that blind date with Tim, I don't know why I was so scared to start a relationship. All of them kept telling me that. I have missed you since the second we left Florida. I denied it. I didn't want to believe that I still had feelings for you. I tried not to believe it. But Dani, you're the only person I've been able to think about since you left Kentucky. All I am asking for is a second chance. Please Dani. I think we can work it out this time," Kevin tried his best to explain. Danielle didn't say a word. Instead, she leaned in for another kiss.
"Manda....Manda...oh I don't even know where to begin..." Brian stuttered nervously.
"Well, you could start by explaining why you suddenly decided that all those months, all those kisses, all those walks on the beach, all those gifts meant absolutely nothing to you," Amanda suggested. Brian sighed. Why was he such an idiot to say those words???
"Amanda. I don't know why I was so scared of a committment. Everyone wouldn't stop telling me how perfect we were together and how we should get married and I freaked out! My parents love you. My brother loves you. My aunt loves you. My cousins love you. All my friends love you. It was all so right I flipped out. My life had never been so perfect before! I had the perfect girlfriend, the perfect job, the perfect life and..." Brian stopped and looked up at Amanda. She was hugging her legs to her chest and letting rivers of tears roll down her cheeks. Almost instantly, images of the day they first met and what he said to her, what he sang her to sleep with, all came back to Brian and soon, he too had tears streaming down his face.
"...and I was just so scared of losing it all that I began to doubt that I had ever loved you."
"The night of the concert, I went straight back to the bus to explain to you that I was wrong and a complete idiot for saying such meaningless things. You weren't there and...and I've cried every night, sleeping with that bear and the necklace every night. Then when I saw you at the press conference, I thought everything would go back to being the way it was. But you had that guy with you and..." Brian continued.
"That guy is going to take my place as your public relations manager. I have to look over another new band so I had to drop you guys," Amanda quickly told him. She watched as Brian's expression let on that his heart had just dropped about ten feet. Tears continued to stream down Brian's cheeks.
"I know. I don't know. But I do know that I can't live without you in my life. I have put myself through Hell, living without you. Loving and supporting me," he cried.
"Brian you know I can't forgive you for what you did. You broke my heart. After promising you wouldn't. After everything you did and said. Then you went and broke it. That was too much. I'm not sure I can take that again," Amanda tried to tell him.
"I know. But please, just give me one more chance. Just a chance to prove that I meant nothing that I said when I broke up with you that night. Please Manda," Brian begged. She could see he was almost on his knees. Amanda wiped the wet tears from her face and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath.