Chapter Eight
Stephanie quickly sat up and pulled her pager out of it's case to look at the screen. "Damn" she muttered.
"What? Who is it?" Brian asked as he too sat up.
"It's my parents. They went online to send me a message."
Brian took the pager out of her hands to read the message for himself. It read "Steph, where are you? Are u O.K.? Man. found cars when he opened. Called police @ robbery. We're worried. We luv u. M & D" Brian returned the pager to the main screen to check the time. It was 6:30 A.M.
"We're gonna have to stop for gas soon, Steph" he told her as he handed Stephanie her pager back.
"I know. But my parents and the police have no clue where to look for me. Maybe......... When were you guys supposed to arrive at the next tour stop?"
"We were supposed to arrive in Charlotte between 6 and 7. Nobody's missed us yet" Brian said. "But as soon as they do, they'll be able to track us down. There's a tracking device that was installed on the bus just in case something like this happened."
"And maybe once everyone figures out that you guys would have passed by, they'll figure it out" Stephanie said hopefully.
"I really hope so, Steph. Now come on. You're going to fall over later if you don't get some more sleep" Brian said with a concerned look on his face.
"Speak for yourself, Bri. You haven't slept all night" she reminded him.
"I know" he admitted sheepishly. He laid back down.
Stephanie sighed and laid down too. "I'm worried, Bri. My parents have no clue that I'm with my favorite group of people in the whole world. And I was perfectly happy despite our bad circumstances before they paged me."
"Everything will work out, Steph. God's watching out for us" Brian reassured her. He began to play with her hair.
Stephanie moved her head so that her chin rested on his shoulder and her forehead touched his cheek. Brian tilted his head slightly so that it leaned on hers. He had one arm wrapped around her back and his hand was on her waist. With his other hand, he searched for Stephanie's hand. Holding hands, they drifted into deep, dreamless sleep.
Stephanie and Brian hadn't been asleep for more than 20 minutes when AJ woke up. "Would ya look at that" he whistled softly when he sat up and caught sight of the two of them curled up on one beanbag. "I never woulda figured that those two would hook up" he told himself as he stretched. He watched them for a minute before nudging Nick. "Hey, Nick. Wake up!" he hissed.
"Let me sleep a little longer" he whined and settled deeper into his beanbag.
"Nick," AJ kicked Nick in his rear end, "you're gonna want to see this!"
Nick opened one eye and glared at AJ. "This better be good, Bone" he threatened.
"Oh, believe me, it is" AJ gleefully said. AJ tipped his head in the direction of Brian and Stephanie.
Nick sat up and turned around to see what AJ had woken him up for. His mouth dropped open. He whipped around when he heard AJ start to laugh uncontrollably. "What's your problem?" he asked, irritated.
"Nick, man, you gotta check out your hair!" he said in between laughs.
Nick raised one hand to his head and felt a bunch of medium width braids scattered throughout it. "Damn it" he muttered as he began to take them out.
"B-Rok must have been playing another game of Truth or Dare" AJ told him, still laughing.
"Yeah, well, I wish he wouldn't use me as his lab rat" Nick said, shooting a glare at his sleeping best friend.
AJ was still laughing when he noticed that Stephanie had only one of her shoes on. He looked around curiously and noticed it lying on the ground near Nick's beanbag. "Hey, Nick, you didn't happen to smell anything peculiar last night, didja?" he asked with a wicked grin.
"Should I of?" Nick asked warily. AJ, in a total laughing fit, just pointed at the shoe. Nick looked at it suspiciously. He then looked at Stephanie, because it wasn't a shoe he recognized. "That boy is gonna die" Nick sourly predicted.
"Awww, man, give him a break, Nick. He and the lady were just having fun. And think about it this way- if they actually hook up, you'll have played a major part in it!" AJ proclaimed.
"An unwilling part, may I add" Nick huffed. He was quiet for a minute as he really looked at his best friend. "You know, Bone, he looks happy" he observed.
"I think you may be onto something, Nick. And you know, when Leighanne broke up with him, I never thought"
Nick broke in "that we'd see him happy again."
"Yeah. Actually, he was so broken-hearted that I though I'd never see him date again. And up to this point, I haven't seen him look twice at any other girl" AJ mused.
"Bone, you haven't been watching him too closely. He's been checkin' out a few in the past month or so" Nick informed AJ. "Not that I blame you for not noticin'. You've been kinda preoccupied, for the past couple of weeks. Gettin' my drift?" Nick teasingly asked.
"Yeah, I do" AJ admitted as he shot Nick sheepish look. "But what can I say? Amanda is a very good distraction, 'specially since I only see her every couple of months!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Nick said, dismissing whatever AJ was saying. He was looking intently at Brian and Stephanie. "I wonder...." he thought out loud.
"What?" AJ asked.
"Nothin' really. But I do wonder if anyone has noticed she's gone yet?" he mused.
"It's 7 A.M. Nick. I'm sure a manager or something has noticed by now and called the police. But no one's missing us yet, I'm sure" AJ continued talking.
Nick tuned AJ out. When you're around someone like AJ, who talks constantly, you learn to tune them out when you don't want to hear it. He laid back down with his hands behind his head, and tried to go back to sleep. AJ continued to prattle on to himself. Something was on the edge of Nick's mind, but he couldn't think of what it was. Finally, just as he was drifting off, it hit him. "Hey, AJ" he interrupted.
"What, Nick?" AJ asked, irritated at being interrupted.
"Whadya mean when said they wouldn't be missing us yet?" Nick asked.
"We were supposed to be in Charlotte between 6 and 7. Was that all?"
"Yeah." Nick closed his eyes and tried to sleep. His eyes hadn't been closed for 30 seconds when he noticed that the bus had begun to slow down. "Bone" he interrupted again.
"What now?" AJ snapped, extremely irritated that he'd been interrupted for the second time in less than a minute.
Nick sat up and pointed out "The bus is slowing down."
