"I love you, too," I choked out. "Bye." I closed my cell phone and threw it on the table. I looked over at Justin who was sitting on the sofa on the back of the bus. He motioned for me to come over and I sat down next to him. I looked down at the table and a single tear rolled down my cheek.
"What's wrong?" Justin asked.
"I miss him so much," I cried, laying down and putting my head on Justin's lap.
"Hey, don't worry," he said. "I'm sure he misses you, too."
"I don't think that's what she's worried about," Chris said, sitting down by my feet.
"I just want to be with him," I whispered loudly, tears streaming down my face.
"At least you can still talk to him on the phone," Justin offered.
"It's just not the same," I said, burying my face in his lap. "I just feel so lost without him. I'm cold at night and lonely."
"You can sleep with me," Justin suggested. He smiled giddily and Chris shot him a dirty look.
"You've spent a few days without him, before," Chris said. "Why, all of the sudden, do you feel like this?"
"I guess it's the fact that he's so far away," I said. Just then, my cell-phone rang.
"Want me to get it?" Howie asked, joining us. I nodded and tears continued to steam down my face as Justin patted my arm, comfortingly.
"Hello?" Howie said. "Yeah, Bri, she's here . . . sure, hold on." He handed the phone to me. I wiped the tears from my face and sat up, trying to clear my throat.
"Hello?" I said, trying to sound strong . . .and failing miserably.
"I knew something was wrong when we hung up," Brian said, his voice full of concern. "What's wrong, angel?"
"I just miss you, that's all," I said, a fresh wave of tears threatening to wash over me.
"Hey, I miss you, too," he said, sounding like he was also on the verge of tears, "but the tour is half over. We'll see each other in three weeks, okay?"
"Yeah," I said, weakly.
"C'mon," Brian said. "Be strong for me, okay? I know you can do it." Then he pulled a baby-voice on me. "For me? Pwease?" I smiled through my tears and rolled my eyes.
"Why do you always do that to me?" I asked, laughing slightly.
"Because it makes you smile," he said. "Now, go get some rest. It's got to be around eleven where you are because it's 2 am, here."
"Okay, I love you," I said.
"I love you, too, angel, now go!" I hung up the phone and yawned.
"Wow," Chris said, looking up at me in amazement.
"What?" I asked, warily.
"I don't think anybody's ever been able to cheer you up that fast," he said in awe.
"Yeah," Justin chimed in. "You usually mope around until you find either something to eat or someone you can beat up . . . mainly being me." I gave him a look and hit him playfully on the back of the head. "See?"
"I'm going to sleep," I announced, walking out of the room and past AJ, who was talking to god-knows-who on the phone (not Maribeth, because she went to sleep after I talked to her). I waved goodnight to him and climbed onto my bunk, which was in the front of the bus with Justin's. Throwing my cell-phone in my bag, I fell asleep almost immediately.
I woke up, suddenly, to the sound of my phone ringing. I looked at my watch. 3am!
"What the- !" I heard Justin say as he sat up groggily. Whoever has the nerve to call me at three in the morning had better have a good excuse! I rummaged through my bag, found my cell phone, and turned it on.
"What?" I snapped.
"Alex?" Joanne asked. The worried tone of her voice made all of the anger fly out of me, only being replaced with nervousness.
"Jo? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.
"It's Maribeth," she managed to choke out through tears.
"What's wrong?" Justin asked, concerned by the tone in my voice. I held up a finger for him to wait.
"It's okay, calm down," I told Joanne. "What about Maribeth?"
"What?" I heard AJ call from the back of the bus. I motioned for Justin to keep him back there until I found out what was wrong. Justin nodded and left.
"She-she . . ." Joanne tried to get out. After taking a few deep breaths, she continued. "Sh-she's in the hospital. Brian heard her yelling in pain in the middle of the night. He took her to the hospital and told me to call you." My heart caught in my throat.
"Where are you guys?" I asked.
"We're near Los Angeles," Joanne responded. "They took her to St. Mariah's Hospital."
"Jo, who else went with her?"
"Joey went," she said. "Brian told Nick to stay with me."
"Okay, go to the hospital," I said. "Tell her that AJ and I will be there as soon as we can. Also, have Nick go the Los Angeles Airport and wait for us, okay? Can you do that?"
"Sure, and hurry." We hung up. I threw on a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt, jumping off my bunk. I walked back to where Justin was trying to calm AJ down.
"Okay, here's the deal," I said. "Chris, go tell the bus driver to drive us to the nearest airport ASAP, Howie, find out what the nearest airport is and call there and reserve two seats for the next flight to Los Angeles, AJ, sit down. I need to talk to you." As the others obeyed, AJ sat down on his bunk, Justin still next to him. AJ turned his face up towards mine, worry lines creasing his forehead. "Maribeth was taken to the hospital not too long ago. Joanne said that Brian heard her screaming in pain in the middle of the night and immediately rushed her there." AJ 's face turned white and he started shaking. "Hey, listen to me." Justin moved and I took his place next to AJ. I took his hands and held them tightly. "You need to be strong, okay? I know for a fact that Maribeth wouldn't want you to worry about her. She'll be fine until we get there, okay? She has Brian and Joey watching over her at the moment and Joanne and Nick will be there soon. Joanne will definitely keep her on her toes, if nothing else." AJ stopped shaking, but still looked worried. "Besides, Maribeth's strong," I said, thinking back to all the times we'd ended up in fights together against people from our school and others. "Yep, she's definitely a strong one." AJ snickered a little, looking a little more calm. "Okay, you ready to do this?" He nodded. "Throw some clothes on and pack some stuff in a duffel bag. I'm going with you." He obliged and I went up front to pack my stuff.
"The earliest flight is in one hour," Howie told me. I nodded.
"And how far are we from the airport?" I asked.
"Fifteen minutes," he said.
"You guys can handle things without us, right?" I asked him as Justin and Chris came up to us.
"Of course," Chris said. "You just worry about getting to her. We'll think up something to tell the public."
"Thanks, you guys. You've been a great help."
"Don't worry about it," Justin said, giving me a hug. "Call us as soon as you know anything. Okay?"
"Gotcha," I said. AJ came out of his bunk, dressed and carrying a duffel bag. "You ready?" He nodded.
"Get me to my fiancée."