It was about ten-thirty in the morning, and most everyone was up....well, except for those selected few who chose to sleep in late. AJ had found the boys' bus too crowded and moved in with the band in their bus. Dani had caught the flu and was sleeping a lot more. We had been on the road two weeks. It was a crazy two weeks. We had already mastered eight shows and were on the way to concerts in Iowa. It was really weird not having my bud stay in the same bus as me, but he was such good friends with the band and loved being with them. The dogs had gotten used to the few adjustments and enjoyed annoying everyone just the same.
D and Nick were sitting at the table with toast and coffee. I was walking around in my boxers and t-shirt, burning up from the heat in the dead of summer. Amanda came by, wearing a sports bra and some GAP boxers, and grabbed a small Sunny D bottle out of the fridge.
"Have any of you seen Chache? I can't find him anywhere," I wanted to know.
"They're sleeping on a bunch of blankets in a cupboard. I stuck them there last night," said Brian, walking out of the bathroom as he dried his hair. He gave Manda a morning kiss and sat down next to Nick. "So we're headed for Des Moines today?"
"Yep, we'll probably be there around mid-afternoon, cuz the concert is scheduled for tomorrow," Nick informed Brian.
"Man, I am dying to get some b-ball done," Brock sighed. He hadn't played any since the day before they left, when he, Nick, and Lisa got together with a few of Nick's friends and played a huge game. That night Nick took Brighty out to dinner (as friends, just friends) and they had a pretty marvelous time. She never really let on that she had very quickly fallen in love with him, and that pretty much ate her up inside. Looking at the basketball lying on the ground at the back of the bus only reminded Nick of his times with Lisa, and he yearned to play b-ball again.
"Yeah I know what you're saying B-Rok. I miss the court," Nick finally spoke up.
"Hey guys, my parents have lots of room at our house. When we get to Minnesota, do you wanna go and hang out there?" Amanda offered. Brian's eyes lit up as he grabbed his girlfriend's hand.
"I'd love to meet your parents," he smiled at her. "Plus, I think it's time you got a little embarrassed after all I went through that night...all those baby pictures..."
"Oh stop it B!" she giggled. I dodged into the bathroom and took it before anyone else so I could get my shower overwith. Not in the mood to dry my bangs when I was done, I quickly put my hair in two braids and stuck my North Carolina hat on backwards. When I walked out, Amanda took one look at me and busted up.
"What?!" I cried, trying not to laugh as well.
"Well...it's just...I've never seen you with...wearing a hat that way..." she explained through giggles. I joined in as I sat in another chair.
"Yeah that's just Gilli thinkin she's AJ. Nothin' new," Nick commented.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, slapping Nick's arm. He laughed at me. Then I mumbled, "I don't have my sunglasses on yet..." Brian and Howie both busted up. I turned to Manda as soon as we had finished our laughter. "You mean you haven't seen me dancing like this? I wear my hat like this when we're dancing all the time!"
Amanda paused. "Nooo...I don't think so. I don't really pay attention. I just watch Brian," she confessed.
"That's your job!" Brock spoke up. She rolled her eyes in amusement.
"Hey guys how's Dani doing?" I decided to changed the subject from my rather different look. D exhaled and glanced over at the bunks.
"Couldn't tell ya. She's been asleep since yesterday afternoon," he replied. The five of us sat in silence. We were suffering from bus-lag, especially after the party we threw last night. The seven of us had turned on the music and danced around the bus, had food fights, Nick drove the bus, we made paper airplanes and were throwing them out the window...we did virtually everything stupid one could think of. At one point, Nick picked up Tyk and threatened to throw him out the window, freaking poor Brian out. Brian jumped over everything and snatched his scared dog from Nick's hands and hit his best friend over the head, calling him an idiot. Tyk immediately escaped and hid from Nick and growled at him whenever Nicky attempted to pet him or touch him.
At that moment, we heard stirring from the bunks. We knew one of the two was waking up. Just then, Nick pulled out a small pocket recorder and laughed evilly. He crept into the bathroom and stuck the recorder into a robe that was hanging on the door. He had been planning this for a few days now. Nick couldn't wait to play this trick on Kev. He hadn't in years and felt the desire to bring these memories, these gags back. Fresh with three tattoos, he was badder than ever. HA! He was still little Nicky to me, though he was nearly seven inches taller and a year older than I was. Dani got up and smiled at him as she passed Nick walking back to the front.
"Feeling better today Dani?" Manda called from the back. We all leaned in and looked down the small hallway at her.
"A little. Not really.....uuuuuuuoooooooooohhhhhhh why do I have to be sick?!" Dani cried, plopping herself on the couch in the back.
"Do you want something to eat?" I asked.
"No thanks. I'm not really hungry...hey is Kev still asleep?" Danielle wanted to know. We all told her he was and she sighed.
"Figures...one of these days, I'm gunna teach that boy to wake up!" Suddenly, she heard yipping from the cupboard above her head. Dani opened it and faced the two small dogs.
"Who put these poor little puppies in here?"
"Brock did!" Nick answered. Danielle picked the two chihuahuas up and set them on the ground, then watched as they took off running towards the front of the bus. Tyk stopped abruptly when he saw Nick and began to bark viciously at him.
"Ohhhh Nick. You got an enemy now!" Howie teased. Nick stared down at Tyk, trying to get him to shut up. Tyk wouldn't give up.
"Tyk! Come here!" Brian sternly called, slapping his thigh to get his dog to go to him. Tyk's head snapped toward his master's voice and he finally stopped barking to trot victoriously over to Brian.
"That dog thinks he owns this place doesn't he?" Nick asked, laughing.
"Yeah well if he owned this place, you certainly wouldn't still be here!" I shot at Nick. I laughed at myself as he scoffed at my little remark. Howie quietly moved from his chair seated beside Nick to a spot next to me. Amanda walked to the back to check up on Danielle. At that moment, Kevin woke up, mumbled a muffled morning to us all, and followed Amanda to the back room to see Dani.
"Dani you're not pregnant, are you?" Nick wise-cracked. Howie and I stared at him wide-eyed and Brian stiffled a giggle. Kevin's head poked out of the doorway and he gave Nick an extremely unappreciative look.
"Nick, your little childish antics are not needed at the moment, so if you don't mind, SHUT UP," Kevin replied as authoritatively as he could. Nick's face flushed as he resituated himself in the chair.
"Sorry Kev....Dani," he finally called, ashamed at what he had said. If anyone was there to keep Nick in line, it was definitely Kevin. Especially when the jokes weren't funny. "Guess now wouldn't be the time to uhhh do that little recording then I guess...." he mumbled to himself.
"Nicky, if I were you, I'd go to the bathroom now before Kevin gets in there and takes his shower," Brian said. Nick followed his best friend's advice, and shot back into the bathroom as Kevin was walking out to the small kitchen area. He got out a bowl, then looked through the cupboards to find a can of noodle soup. Kev grabbed a can opener, opened the soup up, and poured it into the bowl before sticking the soup into the microwave. When the timer went off, indicating the soup was done, Kevin got a smaller bowl and a spoon and poured the soup into the smaller bowl. Then he grabbed a thing of peanut butter, a knife, and a package of crackers, and carried everything to the back room.
"Kevin...he will be a great husband some day..." Brock sighed. I gave him an odd look, without him seeing it. Then I noticed Howie was playing with one of my braids. He twirled it around, flopped it up and down, swung it back and forth, and flipped the edges. Finally, I got so irritated that I turned swiftly to look at him.
"WHAT exactly do you think you are DOING??" I cried, angrily.
"They're just so fun to play with Gilli," D told me. He grabbed the braid again and rubbed it on the end of my nose. As if in a reflex, I smacked his knee.
"WILL YOU STOP IT?" I screeched. I reached around and mussed up his hair. "Two can play this game, you know quite well..." Then we started to tackle each other. The two of us were on the ground, wrestling back and forth with each other, smiling evilly and trying to pin the other down. We even got Chachi and Tyk goin, barking their heads off at us.
"Awwww...now aren't they cute?!" Nick exclaimed. "Look just like me and my sister!"" Howie and I both stopped what we were doing and snapped our heads over to them.
"SHUT UP!!!!" we both yelled. Brian grabbed D's polaroid and snapped a picture of our match. In the end, Howie had me pinned down on the ground underneath him. We were both out of breath from the fighting. He leaned down and kissed my forehead, then let me go. I got up and laughed.
"HA! You're lucky I didn't hit you in the stomach!" I replied, jumping up and grabbing my hat, which had fallen off during our wrestling match. I stuck my hat on backwards, as it was before, and walked to the back of the bus, scratching my forehead. "This thing itches when I wear it like this..." I muttered, when I arrived in the back room.
"Hey Dani! How ya feelin?" Brian called from the front of the bus. Danielle smiled.
"I'm under the care of six people, how could I not get better within a matter of days?" she cried. We chuckled lightly.
"If you're still sick when we get to the Lake, I'll have you go see my old doctor," Manda told Dani. I sat down on the ground, under the TV.
"Think you'll be able to come backstage tomorrow night? I don't think I could dance without you backstage watching me!" I said.
"Oh come on. You did it on your trip to New York and Kentucky!" Dani pointed out.
"Yeah well so? That was like three concerts without you! That's nothing!" I said. "And I thought about you the whole time!"
"Yeah right!" she argued. She gave me a look that read 'don't even TRY to fight back.' I hated that look, but I didn't want to fight with someone who was sick. She sat back and finished her soup. As Dani pushed the soup away, she leaned towards me and whispered, "I don't really like soup that much. But since Kev woke up to make it for me I just couldn't break it to him." I smiled and giggled like a little kid.
"Well Dani, what do you want to do?" I wanted to know, after taking the empty bowl away from her. She, Amanda, and I were sitting in the back of the bus by ourselves. Kevin was in the shower, Nick was hard at work on a game on his laptop, Howie was listening to music on his discman, and Brian was playing with Tyk.
"Let's watch a movie. I really don't have much energy to do anything else," Danielle suggested. Amanda opened the cabinet that held all the movies and the three of us looked at our choices.
"I say we watch Wizard of Oz," Manda spoke up. "Do you guys want to?" We said sure, so she popped the videotape into the VCR and waited for it to begin. The three of us had seen the movie so many times that we all recited every word to every scene and sang to every song. I had Muchacho sitting in my lap, resting.
Soon, the part where everyone believes there is a man hanging himself in the background came on. Sure enough, Dani brought it up.
"I heard that a guy hanged himself in the background...see...right THERE," she pointed on the screen. I sighed.
"THAT IS A BIRD. I am tellin ya. It's not true. There's no one hanging himself in the background. Everyone says that there is but I've seen that movie so many times that I know the whole thing by heart and I watch it all the time and I sat and studied that scene forever and I swear that's just a bird there is no man back there I even saw it on the big screen when it came back out and there is NO man hanging himself why are people so dumb? They tell me I'm wrong but I know I'm right it's so obvious I don't know how they can't see it why does everyone argue with me--" I rambled on in annoyed fury.
"STEPH! OKAY! We get the point! Just watch the movie!" Amanda interrupted. I apologized and sat back to watch the rest of the movie. Pretty soon, Brian and Tyk joined us in the back.
That night we hit Des Moines. The hotel there was bigger and had more available rooms, so every one of the guys got his own. Howie and I still shared rooms, since we were kinda used to it. Dani and Manda split another room, as did Emily and Amy. The dancers stayed in four rooms, and the band had another four. In other words, we had pretty much the whole top floor. Which was cool. We were able to keep our doors open at all times and yell from room to room. We ran into each other's room and hung out, goofing off. It was fun.
At around 8:30, I was lying back on my bed and relaxing a little while Howie took a nap. Just then, I heard a scream and nearly fell off the bed. D immediately snapped to attention and sat up. Standing next to the open closet door were two girls, about 12 and 13, their mouths wide open. They were completely frozen. Howie was a little mad, not as much as I was, but he put on a warm smile and decided to talk to them.
"Hi girls, what brings you here?" he asked.
"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!! We are in HOWIE'S room!" one of the girls shrieked.
"Does your mother know you are here?" D wanted to know.
"Uh-uh we told her we were going to a friend's house. Oh can we have your autograph PUHLEEEEEAZE?" the girl begged. Her friend stood beside her, stiff as a doornail.
"Sure. But you are going to have to leave as soon as I give them to you, okay? Tell me, how long have you been up here?" Howie continued to question them, instead of calling the front desk.
"We've been here since 12 in the afternoon," the girl exclaimed excitedly, pulling her friend from their corner and thrusting a pen and a picture of the boys into his hands. Howie signed it, then took a picture from the other girl to autograph. Then the main talker pulled out a camera and asked if they could get a picture with him. Howie looked over at me, sitting on my bed watching them.
"Steph? Would you mind taking the picture?" Howie politely asked, handing me the camera. I grabbed it and took a picture of the two girls with Howie, then handed it back to one of them.
"Uh guys, everything okay in here?" Amy had walked into the room after she heard the scream from her room.
"Yeah, it's fine Amy. Just got a few visitors," I answered her.
"Uh guys, well you got what you wanted. But I have to ask you to leave. This floor is off-limits and we need our privacy before tomorrow's concert. You gunna be there?" D told them.
"YUP! We got our tickets!" the girl exclaimed.
"Well you'll see me tomorrow. But please, please leave," he continued, as nicely as he could. The girl thanked Howie a million times as she and her silent friend made their way to the door slowly. The quiet girl glared at me as she passed, which almost scared me. As soon as they left, Amy closed the door behind them and made sure that they went straight to the elevator and didn't try to find another one of the guys.
"Did you SEE that girl? She gave me the meanest glare!" I cried, turning sharply to Howie as soon as the door was shut. D shrugged. There was nothing he could do about it. "Oh gosh just let me go to bed," I sighed, thrusting myself onto the bed. Howie laid down on his side, facing me.
"What's on your mind?" he wondered.
"Hmmmm nothing. I just like to think about what life would be like if you weren't famous or we didn't travel all the time...think we'd be together if you weren't famous?" I asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it was bound to happen. God made us best friends because He knew later on in life that we would be together," Howie suggested. I transferred my gaze from the ceiling to D and smiled at him.
"God does have a plan for everyone...well our lives were pretty well planned don'tcha think?" I joked. Howie chuckled lightly as I rolled over on my side to face him. We were lying down, laughing, when in walked Dani.
"Kevin and I are gunna go dancing. Wanna come?" he asked. I jumped up the second I heard the word 'dance' and put on my tennis shoes.
"Guess that means we are," Howie said, as he watched me tie my shoes and run into the bathroom to change into a cooler shirt because I knew I was gunna be getting really hot later that night. When I came out of the bathroom, Howie was by the door in a button-down, short-sleeved shirt with a wife-beater underneath and a pair of jeans. His hair was just pulled back in a low tail, the curls quite visible.
"Oooooo dead sexxaaaaayyyy!" I cried, imitating Fat Bastard from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Howie gave me one look and cracked up. I laughed as well, while grabbing one of my adjustable hats. We walked out the door together, then he locked it. I was in a pair of GAP sweat pants and had on a spaghetti strap tanktop. At the elevator, we met Kevin and Dani. Kev was dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans. Dani had on a pair of jeans and a baby-tee with a see-through, button-down shirt over it.
"Nobody else comin?" Howie wanted to know as we waited for the doors to open.
"Nope. AJ and Emily had plans of their own and Nick and Brian hate going out dancing sooo...it's just us," Kevin replied. We heard the ding of the arriving elevator and stepped inside as the doors opened.
"Know where we're going?" I was curious.
"Yup. He called the front desk and they're gunna have a chauffeur take us to the place, instead of making us take a cab," Dani informed us. That was nice. Dealing with cabs was NOT fun. The elevator hit the lobby and we exited the small, enclosed means of transportation. The car wasn't a limo, but rather a Lincoln Navigator limo, was parked in the carport right outside the front, glass double doors, the chauffeur waiting with the doors open. The men let us get in first, then followed as the doors shut behind them. Soon, we were off to the destination, some dance club in the middle of town.
When we got there, we were immediately ushered in and found the place to be a dimly lit (as always) dance floor/restaurant/bar. Young men stood at the front door as greeters and offered to take anything we had off our hands. I had learned early on in Europe never to trust anyone with my personal belongings because at a club, my belongings were stolen from me. We ignored the greeters and headed for a table.
"Come on let's dance," I immediately exclaimed after we had found a booth.
"Steph let's get something to drink, first," Kevin replied, trying to calm me down. I said fine and they signaled a waitress down.
"Water all the way around, two long islands, one strawberry daquiri, and a margarita," Kev spoke for everyone, after we decided what we wanted from the menu inside the plastic display thingy. The waitress took our orders and went directly to the bar to get our drinks ready.
Kevin put his arm up on the booth, behind Danielle, and yawned, getting comfortable. The music playing was pretty good, I recognized a lot of the songs. While I sat there, singing, the others engaged in conversation.
"Dani, how are ya feeling?" Howie asked.
"A lot better actually. After resting, I've been feeling tons better than a few days ago. I think it was being on the bus that got to me. In a few days I hope to get well," she explained. Howie nodded his head in understanding. Then he turned to me, who was singing my heart out.
"Gilli...do you HAVE to sing?" D teased me. I gave him a wicked smile and sang out the annoying chorus to Cher's "Believe," while dancing around in my seat. The drinks came and I took a breather to have some of my margarita.
"Okay. Now let's go dance," I declared, grabbing the sleeve to Howie's shirt. He jokingly rolled his eyes as we scooted out of the booth and headed for the crowded dance floor. Once down there, the two of us danced our hearts out.
Back at the booth, Danielle and Kevin were watching us from above, laughing at the way we danced exactly the same.
"I'm soooo glad you're out here with us Dani. On the bus and everything," Kevin told his girlfriend.
"Yeah me too. I can't believe I'm out here with you guys! It's a lot of fun, unless you're sick. Come on now. Let's--" Dani started to say, but was interrupted by someone.
"Excuse...Kevin?! it's me, Johnny Cosgrove. Haven't seen you in years!" the stranger introduced himself. Kev recognized the man, Johnny, as one of his high school classmates and fellow graduates.
"Johnny?! Hey man! Whassup? Sit down!" Kevin exclaimed, shaking his old friend's hand.
"How ya been?"
"Pretty good. Got a job straight out of college. Doin' good with it. Makin' my money. Lookin for a wife, still. How bout you?" Johnny replied.
"Well I got my successes. This here is my girlfriend Dani. Dani, Johnny and I knew each other back in high school. We were in football together," Kevin cleared up the confusion. Danielle nodded her head in interest, then accepted Johnny's hand for a handshake.
"Nice to meet you, Johnny," Dani said.
"The pleasure is all mine," Johnny answered with true Southern manners. "Have you been back to Lexington lately?"
"Uh yeah we went back a few weeks ago. Made a few promotional trips before our tour officially began. Ran into a few of the guys back there..." Kevin told his friend.
"That's great. Your tour...I forgot about your career..." Johnny chuckled to himself.
"Yeah....huh--oh! My niece has your cd. Big fan. Told her I knew you and she went berserk! I'm her new favorite uncle now." Kevin laughed, picking up that this guy he used to be friends with was just interested in getting backstage passes for his niece. He counted the seconds before he heard that ever famous, way overused phrase.
"Yeah man. That's cool. She want me to sign a napkin here for her to show all her friends?" Kevin joked. Johnny laughed out loud.
"Well, do ya think I'd be able to get backstage passes to tomorrow's concert for her?" BAM! There it was. The guys knew that line so well they could predict when it was going to come out of someone's mouth. When most of their 'friends' showed up out of the blue, they knew it was to see if they could get backstage or something.
"Well I'm sorry Johnny but I really have no control over that," Kevin politely answered the ever-dreaded question. Johnny sighed. The music quickly enveloped them as the conversation cut short.
"Well, I guess I better get goin. Got a drink and three girls waitin for me at the bar!" Johnny immediately decided to leave, seeing that he hadn't received what he had come for.
"Yeah! It was nice seeing you again Johnny! Later!" Kevin called as Johnny began to walk away. His 'friend' yelled back a goodbye, then disappeared in the crowd of people.
"It's AMAZING how many 'friends' I have after I become famous..." Kevin spoke out after Johnny was gone.
"Do a lot of old friends come by, asking for stuff like that, now that you're famous and all their nieces and daughters and sisters listen to you?" Danielle wanted to know.
"More than I would care to have!" Kevin exclaimed. "They show up out of nowhere just because I'm in the yearbook with them."
"That's crazy," she inserted.
"I know," he sighed. Just then, Howie and I came back up to the booth, flushed from all the dancing we had just done. "Hey guys! How is it down there?"
"Traaaaaiiiiinnnn....ya missed a good time, man!" I cried, goofily. Dani laughed. Just then, a F*R*I*E*N*D*S scene popped into my head. "I am the energy train and YOU are on board!" I cut out the "whoo whoo" part though.
"Steph, just don't get drunk on us tonight," Howie warned. "You're already in a goofy mood and tomorrow is a concert. If you have a hangover, we are all dead." Dani and Kevin both laughed at D's sarcasm.
"Says here 93% of da wemen at UCLA ah sexually active. Dat means dat 93% of da wemen at UCLA ah wahkin aroun' thinkin 'class...or sex...what SHALL I do to-day?' " I quoted Kenny from Can't Hardly Wait.
"Hoh no...she's starting to sound like AJ now..." Dani joked. "Someone SAVE US ALL!"
"Hey guys! CHILL! I'm not even done with my margarita!" I cried.
"Okay, let's make a compromise NOT to buy her anymore alcohol now. It's soda from now on!" Howie declared, shaking his famous pointer finger at me. We all laughed some more.
"Come on Dani, let's dance. They had their turn, now it's ours," Kevin suddenly spoke up. He and Danielle scooted out of the booth and walked down the stairs to dance some.
"Did you know we dance alike?" Howie asked as soon as we were alone. I looked at him confused and said I didn't. "Some person down there told me we dance the exact same. Like we're mirror images of each other or something."
"Oh how funny! I guess that's what growing up together does to ya," I said, after giggling. I took a drink of my margarita, then gulped down the water. The two of us sat and watched Dani and Kevin, dancing under the lights below us. They were having a great time together, groovin and singing. Danielle looked up and saw us, then waved frantically. I leaned over the railing and waved back with both hands, then blew her a kiss. She jokingly blew one back and I caught it, then patted my cheek, as if I were sticking her blown kiss on it. Dani laughed, then got back to concentrating on her dance moves.
"Hey how come you never do that with me?!" D suddenly wanted to know.
"Because you're a dork," I told him. Howie kept the smile on his face.
"Well dorks travel in packs, I hope you know..." he shot back.
"I know! And you got three more at home, getting rested for the big concert tomorrow night while the other two are here, dancing!" I explained. He grabbed my hand.
"Come on. I don't care about the drinks. They're almost gone. You and I are dancing. NOW," Howie declared, pulling me out of the booth by the arm. We skipped down the stairs and I bumped Dani on purpose, so she'd notice that we were down there with them. The DJ put on "Fly Away" and instantly, Howie and Kevin grabbed mine and Dani's waists and we began to dance to the beat. Looking into the big brown eyes, I hung my straight arms loosely across D's shoulders and the two of us danced while I sang. The four of us were grooving to the various beats of the song, letting Lenny Kravitz envelope us while we faded into the sea of dancing people.