Laurie stopped screaming, and she could hear the fans clapping, signifying the end of the song. A few minutes later, she heard everybody run backstage. She ran for the bathroom and locked herself in. Minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
"Anybody in here?" Zac asked. "I REALLY gotta go!"
"Hold on," Laurie said. She unlocked the door and slid out.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I had something in my eye," Laurie quickly bluffed. Zac seemed to accept the answer, or else he really had to go bad because he didn't question her. Laurie stayed back, away from everybody, until she heard everybody leave. She waited a few minutes and went to the lounge room. She sunk down on the couch.
"Fancy seeing you here," Andy said, sliding next to her on the couch.
"Hi," she said.
"I guess you heard 'I Will Come To You'", Andy said.
"Gee, you think Sherlock?" Laurie asked bitterly.
"Look, what Isaac did wasn't cool," he admitted. "You have every right to be mad."
"But..." Laurie started.
"However," Andy said, "I'm betting the only reason Isaac did it was to draw attention to the fact that Danielle was there."
"I doubt it. Face it, she's more his age and prettier than I am," Laurie said.
"True, she may be more his age, but you're prettier than she is," he said.
"You're supposed to say that," she said.
"True, but I mean it," he said. "Just let Ike know how you feel."
"Okay," she said.
"Great. Lets go watch the rest of the concert."
Andy and Laurie headed back out to the arena. They watched another 40 minutes of music, then immediately went back to the buses. Laurie got her shower very quickly and got into bed before the guys came back. She didn't want to hear about how awesome it was to have Danielle Fishel at the concert.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Laurie woke up around 3:00 in the morning. She had to go to the bathroom...really bad. She sat up carefully in her bed and climbed down. She noticed a folded up piece of paper between the mattress and bedframe. She pulled it out and read it in the bathroom.
"Laurie,
I know you're angry about what happened with Danielle, but I swear I didn't mean anything about it. I care for you a lot and I don't want anything to happen between us. I hope you can forgive me, and I'll see you in the morning. - Ike."
Laurie folded up the note. She flushed the toilet and washed her hands. She picked the note back up and took it back to her bed. She stuffed it under the mattress, and went right back to sleep.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Laurie woke up at 8:30 am. Actually, her mom woke her up at 8:30.
"Sweetie, it's time for breakfast, why don't you get dressed?" she asked.
"All right," Laurie said sleepily. She threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She headed to the bathroom and she ran into Isaac.
"Laurie," Isaac started, but Laurie put a hand up.
"We'll talk later, when we have time," she said. She went into the bathroom and closed the door. She brushed her hair and her teeth, even though she'd be eating soon and she hated the taste of anything after she brushed her teeth. She left the bathroom and moved to the back of the cabin with Taylor and Zac. They watched TV silently until they hit the restaurant. Everybody got off the bus, except for Laurie and Ike. They sat at the table, across from each other.
"Laurie, I know you're upset," Isaac started.
"That's a good start," Laurie replied.
"Nothing went on between Danielle and I last night," he said.
"It sure looked different from my perspective," Laurie replied. "Isaac, you had her arm around her, you dedicated a song to her and pulled her up on stage. I don't know what happened after the show, and I don't think I want to."
"There's nothing to worry about. After the show, I talked to her a little, and then we exchanged e-mail addresses. Taylor and Zac talked to her too, we signed some autographs for her and other fans who were backstage, and then we came back to the bus."
"Is that all that happened?" Laurie asked.
"Yes. Why can't you trust me?" Isaac asked.
"I do trust you, but you made it a little difficult after what you were doing in front of my face."
"I'm sorry," he said.
"I am too," Laurie said after a few silent moments. "I did put you through the third degree."
"It's okay. Is everything cool?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"Great," he replied. They got up to leave the bus and he reached for her hand. Laurie drew away.
"I thought you said things were cool," Ike protested.
"I did," Laurie replied. "I didn't say they were back to normal." With that, she walked to the restaurant. She sat next to her parents, and pretended everything was great.
Chapter 14 *not yet up*
Chapter 12
Heading to Albertane
While We Grow
