Tour--Chapter Nineteen and Twenty
Tour--Chapter Nineteen
'he he he' Nick retorted with a sour look on his
face. We walked into the arcade. It took a few
seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness inthe
arcade. IT was also wuite loud inside because of the
video gfames but nothing compared to the chaotic
noise backstage. As we looked around I thought to
myself that I never even imagined that as many video
games existed as were in the arcade. "Now this is my
world..." Nick sighed with a joyous gleam in his eyes
as he gawked at all the games. 'What are you babbling
about?? either I or Brian always beat you, even
Leslie always beats you at mortal Combat" Aaron
antagonized Nick and we all laughed. 'oh yeah come
on hot shot" Nick battle with Aaron then picked him
up from under his arms and swung him a round a few
times. A couple of the guys had already taken off
and since noone had quarters we all headed for the
change machines. Both brain and Nick changed $20
dollar bills into quarters. I looked at Howie in
disbelief and asked "Are they really gonna use all
those quarters??" 'Thats nothing,once we stayed at a
hotel that had an arcade, they spent 5 1/2 hours in
there and blew like $100 dollars on games', I laughed
in disbelief. We decided that since the band had
their own mascot, Guido, then we should have one too,
so we decided to play all the games that give tickets
so we could win a mascot. AJ sat at the slot machines
trying to win more tokens so we could keep playing,
it was the closest hed get to a casino for a long
while. Three of us ganged up on a croccodile bashing
game and bashed the living crap out of it. Im
surprised it didnt go into tilt considering the
number of tickets it spit out all at the same time.
After a while we realized that noone had seen Aaron
in a while so we went looking for him, Bobby found
him. Aaron had found an electricution chair just like
the one in the Addams family. "You guys have to try
this. You have to sit in the huge wooden chair and
hold on to the two medal rods coming out of the arm
rests. The longer you can hold on the more tickets u
win." He explained to us how it worked. Its
incredible how easy it is to inflate the guys' egoes.
"I'll do it" AJ stepped forward as if being executed
and boasted proudly as he sat in the chair. I
> popped the tokens into the machine and watched as
the posts started to shake at an incredibly high
speed as he held on. It didnt give out real
electricity rather the posts vibrated at extremely
high speeds so it felt like electricity on your
hands. "..Just to make sure you dont let go.." Nick
said as he clamped his hands tightly over one of AJ's
hands so he wouldnt be able to let go of the post,
Kevin folowed and held the other one. At first the
vibration was only slight "hehe I can handle this" AJ
boasted. As it grew stronger his face started to turn
red and he started laughing. " HAHAHA you look like
a red chili pepper" Bobby laugheda and we all
snickered. Had kevin and Nick not been holding his
hands he would have let go half way through. "You
guys have to try this" AJ laughed nervously and
amused as he jumped off the chair rubbing his hands
to get feeling back into them. "me next" Aaron
announced and sat in the chair. I put in some more
coins and Brian and booby held his hands down. Aaron
started laughing as the increasing vibration spread
fro mhis hands to his arms to his face, making his
jaw vibrate as he laughed. Half way through he
couldnttake it anymore
"..Iii..can..t..ho...ldd...onn...llee....tt.gooo.."
he stuttered and they let him go. Evemtually everyone
went and they didnt clamp anyone else's hands down
since the rest of the guys were pretty strong and
could deal with it. We all laughed at everyone's
expressions as the vibrations made their faces shake.
Eventually I was the only one left, they all turned
and looked at me. "You can stop looking cause Im not
gonna sit in that torture machine, Im all for being
adventurous and taking risks but thats just plain
masochistic" I said slightly backing away from the
machine. 'Come on Erika you can do it, I didt it"
Aaron said to me pleadingly. They all started wining
and Bobby called me a wimp "fine fine if itll shut
you guys up. Im only doing this cause Aaron asked me
to" I finally gave in just so theyd stop wining "on
one condition.. yo uguys dont hold my hands down..".
I said stoping before getting to the chair. "promise,
scouts honor" both Brian and AJ said simultaneously
crossing their hearts with their fingers. I sat down
in the chair and held on to the posts as Aaron popped
in the coins and i clenched my teeth. The beginning
vibrations werent that bad but it soon increased '
i... don..t.. kn..ow...y... imm.. do..inng...
thiss.." I stammered in between laughs as my jaw
vibrated and the guys laughed. I was about to let go
and then Nick and Kevin clenched their hands on top
of mine and i couldnt let go. I could feel my hands
starting to hurt from the vibrations and then i
couldnt feel them anymore. ' lee..tt..gooo......" I
attempted to say through my chattering teeth. I
could feel my face getting hot and I couldnt talk
anymore. It finally stopped and I ripped my hands
from underneath theirs. "You guys suck,, you promised
u wouldnt do that.." I accused them in a pretty
ticketd off tone as i hopped off the chair rubbing my
hands together trying to get the feeling back in them
"We didnt promise, they did" Kevin snickered while
nick laughed. I laughed realizing how stupid i was
acting but tryed to act irritated anyway. "If i ever
get the feeling back in my hands im gonna slap you
two silly" "ohh really..." AJ said with a grin in his
face and making a purring sound 'Is that all you ever
think of??" I asked him laughing "pretty much yeah"
he answered matter of factly " ok just making sure" i
answered him laughing.I kept rubbing my hands as
feeling slowly returned to them. "You know what the
best part is? I got all you guys on tape..hehe" bobby
laughed handing Kevin his camera back. We all
laughed. We played more video games for about another
hour when Mike reminded us what time it was. We
pulled all our tickets together and fed them to the
counting machine "wow baby, ive never seen so many
tickets" Aaron exclaimed as he helped Howie feed the
machine. We ended up having 1100 tickets. I thought
the machine was gonna explode. The 11 of us walked up
to the prize counter and looked at all the prizes we
could get. After 30 minutes of discussion we decided
on a teal/green/blue Iguana like lizard. The tail was
almost 1 1/2 feet long. When u picked it up it felt
almost liek a beany baby but the outside fabric was
really shiny and looked like scales and it was stiff,
not floppy like a beany baby. THe lizard was only
850 tickets so with the rest of them we got a whole
bunch of junk. We got glow in the dark animal paw
prints, slinkys, bouncy balls, chinese finger traps,
jacks, whistles and tons of junk. The guy had to put
it all in 2 bags for us. I carried the lizard out on
my shoulder as we walked back to the van. It was
already about 6 pm by then so we headed back to the
hotel. We were all in a good mood so we decided to go
in by the front entrance to make the fans happy. In
the van we all took turns holding our mascot. "what
are we gonna name it?" Aaron asked. "Good question
little bro" Nick answered. We all started thinking of
names. John suggested we call it john jr. we all said
no. Brian and Nick suggested names from NES
characters but none of them seemed right. We had
reached the hotel and still had no idea what to call
it. We stopped in front of the van and our protectors
got out. There were about 15 girls standing around in
front of the hotel and as soon as they saw the van
stopping they started screaming. Surprisingly they
got louder the moment the door opened. Being strange
as usal AJ put the lizard on top of his head and
walked out of the van. "hehe you know that lizard
being on his head is gonna be all over the internet
within 2 hours hehe" I laughed to Howie as we stepped
out. He laughed in agreement. Surprisingly the fans
were pretty calm and sedated by the time we were all
out of the van so the guys all stopped and signed
autographs and took pictures. One girl had Kevin sign
a sign that said . He saw it and although he didnt seem
fased by it u could tell that he was blushing under
his skin. Within twenty minutes they were done and
the fans even wanted me to be in the picks which was
very flattering. One girl told me that my nake and
pics were all over the internet and that i should go
on and check damage control. I thanked her knowing
very well what was probably flying all through
cyberspace about me. The moment we were out of
earshot from the fans the guys started teasing Kevin
and we all laughed. Kevin Howie and I were the only
ones who felt like going clubbing so in an excuse to
talk to Denise I said Id tell her. Luckily I found
her in her room working on paperwork and some hotel
forms. I waited for her to finish her phone
conference and the told her our plans. I also asked
her a few questions and she said shed have to make
sure but she didnt see any problems with regards to
my question. I said goodbye and went to find the
guys.They were each in their respective rooms. I
stopped at Howie's room first and he let me in. "Hey
D where do you wanna go,I don't know of any clubs
around here and Im really in a mood for a Latin club"
I sat on his bed as he stood across the room looking
through his luggage. The moment I mentioned the word
'Latin' he whipped around and seemed extremely happy.
"Are you serious?? Finally I can go to a Latin club
with someone these guys just cant manage to get the
dances down so they hate going" "Yeah Im serious, can
you merengue?" I asked him. Instead of erplying he
came up to me and we started dancing merengue, hes
pretty good. "I'll take that as a yes, cool, think
you can find a club?" "I'll call down to the front
desk and ask the concierge" he replied as he sat down
next to the phone. "Sounds great, Im gonna go tell
Kev, and then Ill be in my room" I said walking out,
already energied at the thought of being able to
dance with someone who knew how to. Kevin let me into
his room and I told him, he didnt seem unhappy "Itll
give me a chance to practice my moves, what time are
we leaving?" he smiled 'I have no idea, Howie is
finding out if theres any clubs around here". I left
andheaded to my room. The moment I reached my door I
realized that I didnt have my key and would have to
go through Nick's room. I knocked at his door " Who
is it?" came a low moan from inside "Its me Erika"
"Come on in" he mournfully replied again. I walked
into the room to find him strewn across the bed with
his eyes closed. I became worried. "Hey nick, you
okay?? you dont look too great" "thanks." he managed
to crack a sarcastic smile " I feel like crap and the
pain killers wore off and I cant take anymore for
another 2 hours", I sat down next to him on the bed
"I know how that feels, you just wanna crawl under a
hole and die right?" he nodded in agreement. "Are you
sure you dont wanna come with me Kevin and Howie?? by
then the pain killers will have kicked in and you
could get your mind off of it" "where are you guys
going?" " If we can find it a Latin club" "thanks but
no thanks im not great at it and I dont feel like
making an ass of myself today" "Thats a first.. ok well in that case your
gonna stay and sleep, no videogames" "thanks mom" he
answered laughing, a slight tinge of pain audible in
his voice. At that point someone knocked at the door
and I went to get it, it was Howie. "HEy you werent
in your room and I remembered you had to come through
here so I figured youd be here, anyway I found a club
and it doesnt open till 9 so theres about 3 hours
till we have to leave" " sounds great, and the guy
said this is the best one in town??" "yup, im gonna
go make security arrangements now, Kevin or I will
come get you when we leave" "sounds good to me, im
gonna dress just as I would to go to the Liquid in
South Beach, thats fine with you right?" " thats how
Im going" "Allright Ill see you in a few hours then
k?" " K later" and with that he left. Nick was now
sitting up watching tv, yet a painful facade still
plagued his face. "I said no tv, its not gonna help
the pain itll just make you strain your eyes more,
dont make me have to treat you like a four year old"
I said to him, he smiled back at me in defiance and
shut the tv off " so ms. nurse what do you want me to
do instead?" he asked trying to get me rieled up.
"wait here". I wen to my room and changed into a
tshirt and wind breaker pants. I layed out my outfit
for the club then grabbed two of my journals and a
couple of graphite pencils. Iwent back to Nick's rom
and found him in the same position as I had left him.
"O kmr. smart ass since you wanna do something you
can pose for me, I have to get at least 5 graphite
photoreals done by the end of summer for class or my
professor will kill me" " and howam I involved in
this?" he questioned. "Since moving for you is
painful right now you get to pose" I smiled at him "
oh I see so I get to sit here like a dumbass while
you draw" without replying I tossed him the new
journal and a graphite "oh ok, this I can deal with"
" had you let me finished you wouldnt have needed to
ask" I taunted him.
> He sat on the bed with his back against the wall. I
pulled the chair up next to the bed and sat in it
with my feet on the bed facing Nick. I picked up my
journal and started drawing. Since I ahd no
inspiration at the moment I drew him since the light
from the window created awesome effects on his
rumpled up clothes. FOr a few minutes we sat in
silence concentrating on what we were doing.Then he
asked me about high school and what it was like "it
was half hell half a great time. I dont know ,
although I usually dont give a flying rat's ass about
what people think about me there were days were I
wished Icould just fit in and not be the "strange
strange girl who has few friends", but overall id say
it was fun. Although I wish I could go back and
erase a lot of things that happend to me." I said
painfully recalling all the things that had happened.
He must have realized that there was emotional pain
going through towards the end. 'Its ok you dont have
to tell me the bad parts, tell me abotu the fun
parts" he softly said trying to get back to the
uplifting part of the subject. "tell me about prom,
and all the stuff yo u do as a senior" his eyes lit
up at thinking of all the things he missed "well Id
have to say that my fave part of senior year was
towards the end. though i have to admit I loved being
able to scream 'freshmen suck' at the peprallies. "
we both laughed "hmhm i guess id say the most
anticipated part for me was Grad Night, I had wanted
to go since I was a freshmen. It was great, you guys
performed it, I was front row center stage the whole
time, I was the girl with the electric blue jacket
and ice blue lipstick, id be surprised if you even
saw me" I said slightly laughing trying to cver up my
emberassement at realizing that I had told him about
how much i liked them. He laughed but not at me "
actually you know we did see you cause AJ said he
loved your makeup. He tried to find you later to ask
you where you had bought the jacket. I hadnt made the
connection that you were the same person. I remember
it, it was the closest Id ever been to being in high
school. "hehe are you serious?, that black shiny thing?" "
yeah he was obsessed with your jacket for 3 days. He
finally stopped nagging about it when Denise
threatened him" " hahaha, the only reason I wore it
is cause it matched my pants, everyone on the bus
nagged me about it. IF i find it he can have it". We
sat there laughing for a while. "when we get to New
York we have to go pic up Tyke at the pet store
right?" Yeah, I think the day before we leave for the
World Music Awards". I sat there slightly stunned.
Noone told me we were going to the World Music Awards
"Pardon?" " oh crap I wasn't supposed to tell you"
"You just said that we, as in you and all the guys
AND me are going to the World Music Awards, the same
ones that are held in MonteCArlo every year? the ones
were Princess Stephanie of Montecarlo is always the
guest of honor?" I asked him as i sat in my chair
stunned in disbelief. " I wasn't supposed to tell
you. Its supposed to be a surprise. PLease dont tell
them I told you, they'll kill me" He sat on the edge
of the bed in front of me with an extremely worried
look on his face. I was still stunned "yeah don't
worry, even when they tell me ill still be stunned.
I'm still in shock" " just pleaseeee dont tell them.
Brian and AJ threatened me if I told you, lets change
the subject
what are you drawing?" though still in shock I was
pleased to change the subject so I wouldn't have to
think about it "I'll show you if you show me". Nick
had sat back to where he was "nope im not done yet" "
come oonnn I've shown you tonnes of my work" "nope"
"fine act like a child" "don't worry I will" he
laughed at me sticking his tongue out,I stuck mine
out at him and we both laughed. "ok since you got to
ask me about high school I get to ask you something
about you" "ok shoot, just don't ask me how me and
the guys got together, what my favorite movie is, or
any of that papparazzi crap". I laughed at the look
of annoyance on his face "hehe don't worry I won't.
You guys should just send those people fliers so they
don't keep asking you the same stupid questions hehe"
he laughed in agreement. "hmhmh ok let me think, I
gotta make it good" while I thought he kept drawing.
I sat in contemplation for about five minutes. "OK I
got it" " k what?" "ok, if you could only keep one
memory for the rest of your life and you could choose
which one to keep, what would it be?". He sat with a
blank puzzled look on his face "WOW thats a good
question, I'll have to think about it and get back
to you, I have no idea, you completely stumped me" "
ha see you havent been asked EVERYTHING, so while u
do that I'll go make some phone calls" I got up with
my journal and pencils and headed for the door. "who
are you calling?" he asked inquisitively "none of
your business but if you must know I told Megan and
Nicolle that I'd call them so they'll be waiting by
the phone and Im calling a couple of other friends" I
said smirking and sticking my tongue out at him as I
walked into my room. I was about to close the door
when he yelled "When you talk to her come over here
cause I wanna talk to her" "Ok" I yelled back and
closed the door. I looked at the clothes I had layed
out to wear. I picked up the phone and dialed her
number, her mom picked up and told me that she had
gone out with her boyfriend Jeremy.I left a message
that she should wait for me to call the next morning.
When I hung up I paged her. Nicolle wasnt home yet
and it was too late to make anymore calls. "hey Nick
would you keep my phone while I take a shower in case
she or someone else calls?" I asked as I walked back
into Nick's room. "Yeah no prob, just leave it on the
table next to my bag". I thanked him and walked back
to my room. I took a shower and did my hair. While I
blow dried it I contemplated cutting it but decided
not to.I looked at the radio and realized that I only
had 30 minutes to get dressed and do my makeup. I
decided to wear my capri pants, slightly heeled
sandals and a metallic baby blue tank top. "Can I
come in?" Kevin's voice came through the door as he
knocked "yeah come on in". He walked in the door
looking amazing. He wore nicely pressed khaki slacks,
a tight black shirt with a neatly pressed royal blue
long sleeved shirt buttoned and tucked into his pants
over it.his hair was loosely gelled back with a few
strands falling around his forehead framing his eyes.
" your looking amazing" he smiled "thanks, not so bad
yourself" I answered back smiling at him.
Tour--Chapter Twenty
"are you ready to go? Howie already got security
there and the car is waiting in the back parking lot"
he said closing the door to the room. I slid on my
arm band, put on my earring and grabbed my purse from
the bed. "I'm all set and ready to go". He held the
door open for me and I stepped out locking it behind
him. Walking by AJ's door i knocked on it saying
"We're leaving Bone, don't wait up, be good". I did
the same at Brian's and Nick's doors. We met Q at the
elevator and slyly made our way to the back parking
lot, thankfully no having to stop for anything. We
found D waiting by the van talking to the driver. He
turned around when he heard us coming "oy senorita
usted es mui elegante esta noche' he said to me
smiling holding the door open 'gracias senor, usted
esta mui elegante tambien' I replied getting into the
backseat of the van. D wore a black on black suit and
shirt showing off his tan. He had his hair neatly
pulled back into a neat ponytail, making him look
very attractive. "So where are we off to?" I asked
settling into the seat as we pulled out. "This great
club my cousin Diego recommended, he's gonna meet us
there cause he's the owner" D answered trying to pay
attention to the street signs "who?' I replied "One
of D's many family members, its like everywhere we
go, somoone in that town is related to D in some
obscure way or another" Kevin explained smiling, the
street lights bring out the deep green glow of his
eyes in the dark car. "you wouldn't be hispanic if u
didn't right D?" I asked him smiling. "hehe you got
it family half way around the world and back". He and
I laughed while Kevin looked on in amusement. The
drive to the club was about 25 minutes and we cracked
up the radio getting hyped for our night of fun. From
about a block away you could tell the club was
popular because there was about a block and a half of
people lined up trying to get in. "You guys its gonna
take forever to get in- look at that" I said, the
dissapointment in my voice distinct, as I saw the
line. "You forgot your with us" Howie reminded me
giving me a reassuring pat on the knee. "Let's go" Q
proclaimed steeping out of the car first with Tim
scoping out the scene and letting us out after they
were satisfied with security. The five of us
walked right up to the front door where we were met
by a huge guy who looked like he could beat the crap
out of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who stood in front of a
red rope blocking the front door. "Excuse me where do
you think your going" his deep voice said as he
stepped in front of the door to block us out.By now
the people in the front of the line trying to get
into the club were more interested in seeing what
would happen than into trying to get in. Q stepped up
to him and said something low enough to were only he
and the guy could hear. Whatever he said was
effective cause the guy moved over and apologized to
us for making us wait. We walked in and were greeted
by the incredible sound of Santana blasting from the
speakers. "I don't know what you said to that guy but
Q you are officially the man" I said to him putting
hand on his shoulder and smiling at him. We were
immediately greeted by a handsome tall guy who
appeared to have some of the same features as D's
mom. "Howie como estas, que ase aqui hombre, ase anos
que no nos vemos" he said as he came up to D and
hugged him. "Diego this is my band mate and best bud
Kev, one of the loveliest ladies in the world Erika,
and the men that keep us safe and my best confidants
Q and Tim. Diego shook all of the guys's hands and
then came up to me 'Good evening" he said holding my
hand 'buenas noches, gracias por invitarnos, me
encata vuestra discoteca" I said to him. I must have
caught him off guard but he immediately smiled and we
exchanged customary hispanic greetings. Diego asked
me to dance so he and I went off to the dance floor
and the guys dissipated. He was a great dancer. We
danced a merengue and a salsa together. Deciding I
needed some water he escorted me to the bar and I
asked for mineral water since I don't drink. The
night went great. I found out that dancing runs in
the Dorough blood as D proceeded to astound me on the
dance floor. I ended up dragging Kev onto the dance
floor and trying to teach him how to salsa. "Come on
Kev, just cause your a gringo doesn't mean you can't
salsa, just put your hips into it" I said over the
music laughing. Eventually he got it down and was
pretty damn good. I even got Q and Tim to try a
little. There were lots of great looking guys there
and I had no problem finding a dance partner. At 1 am
we decided to head back. I reached for my purse over
the table I was sitting at when I felt a cold grip on
my wrist. Cold shivers of anxiety and fore shadowing
moved through my mind and body. I turned to find the
brunette who had been harassing me all night grabbing
my wrist. I danced one dance with a guy I didn't know
was her boyfriend and she decided to take out a
personal vendetta against me. She had already gotten
nasty with me to the point where Q had to escort her
to the other end of the room where she had promised
to leave me alone and supposedly accepted my apology.
"Excuse me please let me go" I asked her politely
trying not to piss her off while I searched for one
of the guys. She had managed to get me in a dark spot
away from anyone. "so what you think you are you
think you can come in here and just take him from me
huh? you gonna have to fight me for him" she yelled
at me, her face about 2 inches from mine where I
could smell the heavy smell of alcohol on her breath.
I ripped my hand away from her grip and attempted to
walk past her so as to avoid a confrontation. I saw
that both Q and Kevin, at the other end of the room,
had seen her and were walking towards us. As I
attempted to walk past her she managed to grab my
shoulders and push me a couple of feet away so as
that I was looking at her again. "Look I don't want
him, you can have him, I just want to leave" I said
to her in as calm a voice as I could muster. Without
saying a word, in a split second she punched me. I
wasn't expecting it but I tried to move away in the
last second, realizing what was happening. Before
hitting the floor like a limp puppet I heard her
screaming for them to leave her alone.
By the time I was aware of my surroundings again,
we were back in the hallway of the hotel room. Kevin
and Howie were walking on each side of me with Tim
and Q in front and behind. "She seems
ok......Denise....pissed......not a
concussion.......morning.....ice...her room....."
were all the words I was able to gather from their
conversation but I was unable to distinguish the
voices as they slowly swam in and out of my mind,
coming through only in the intermittance of the
painful throbbing that made my head feel like a
ticking time bomb. We stopped in front of a door,
which I would later realize was not room. I felt a
surge of light flood my eyes which I don't remember
if they were open or closed, followed by intense pain
that reached from my eyes to what felt like the
epicenter of the pain i in my head, increasing the
pain 10 fold. I captured some more words and was
aware that someone else was there
"...fight....here.....an
eye.....doctor..sleep.....watch...alone". They lifted
me into something soft which I was able to identify
as the bed and pulled the covers over me. The light
remained on and they continued to speak but I
immediately fell asleep and tuned out even the pain
from my consciousness as I slipped into a dreamless
but restful sleep.
The next thin I remember is waking up. I slowly
returned to consciousness as I was awaken by the
noise of people moving about and objects being
dropped and carried away. I opened my eyes but saw
nothing. A surge of white pain ran in front of my
eyes and through my head like a swift bolt of
electricity "oohhh mannnnn" I moaned raising my hands
to my eyes in an attempt to shut out the pain.
However my attempts were futile for as I reached for
my face I touched it increasing the surge of pain in
my face. I kept moaning and sat in the bed with my
hands in front of my face but a few inches away so as
to not reactivate the intense pain. I became aware of
someone, one or possibly more, in the room moving to
the bed and sitting on the edge of it. I kept my
hands over my face as I concentrated on blocking g
out the pain enough to focus my vision. I opened my
eyes and stared at the white popcorn roof for a few
seconds adjusting my eyes to the light. "How are you
feeling?" I recognized Denise's voice coming from
beside me. "once the throbbing goes away I'll tell
you" I answered in a half moan turning to look at
her " well at least she has her humor back" I
looked and found Angie seated right next to Denise
smiling. Her infectious smile caused me to smile back
at her through the pain. I slowly sat up in the bed
to keep the vertigo down as much as possible. "Do you
have any idea what happened?" Denise sternly asked me
"all I know is that we were at the club, I was
getting my purse to leave and the next thing I know
some pshyco woman punched my lights out" I said to
her. My eyes finally focusing and I payed attention
to where I was. Angie snickered as she pictured the
event. "Well the woman hit you, pretty damn hard I
must say for what your face looks like, and you
passed out. If security hadn't restrained her she
probably would have kicked the crap out of you from
what the guys are saying. Diego got you to the back
and they called a doctor and made sure you didn't
have a concussion so they let you come home. The guys
said you were walking under your own power and seemed
fine but weren't too responsive which doesn't
surprise me." Denise explained to me and I adjusted
myself to pay more attention to her. " That would
explain it, I think I kept floating in and out of
consciousness last night and I don't remember telling
the guys anything. Other than this atrociously
painful throbbing and stinging I think I feel fine" I
answered her as I dared to run a finger across my
left eyebrow, the source of the pain, immediately
regretting it. "don't worry bout the bruise for the
apperances, I'll work my magic on you" Angie smiled
in reassurance making me snicker. "Where am I
anyway?" I asked as I continued to look around and
realized this wasn't my room. "you'r in Kevin's room.
They didnt want to leave you alone last night just in
case. Kevin, Howie, Q, Tim and Nick took turns
watching you during the night in case something
happened" Denise continued to explain. I then looked
at the watch and realized it was almost 9 am. "aren't
we supposed to be loading stuff into the buses?" I
asked realizing I probably caused delays in the plans
and felt horrible about it. "the guys are doing it
don't worry about it, they are taking your stuff down
now I think" Angie told me. "the doctor last night
suggested pain killers and disinfectants so we're
gonna do that as soon as we get to the first aid kit
in the bus. Can we leave you to change and meet us in
the bus in 20 minutes?" She asked me, the irritation
gone from her voice replaced with an acutely
protective and worried motherly tone. "I'll be ok, I
think I can manage" I smiled letting her know I would
be fine. "Allright kiddo we'll see you in a few"
Angie said hugging me and walking out of the room
with a smile. "I have to go, I have some paperwork to
finish for 10 am. Are you sure your ok?" Denise came
up to me and stroked the hair away from my forehead
being careful not to touch my face. "I'll be ok. I'm
so sorry to be such an inconvenience and a pain in
the but, I know I'm the last thing you want to be
dealing with, with all the management stuff going on
and everything" I apologized to her getting back a
radiant smile. "Don't worry about that, you are not a
pain in the butt at all, your like the daughter I
never had. I just want you to be ok, I was so worried
when Howie burst into my room at 3 am this morning.
I'm glad your ok." we hugged. "thanks" "I'll see you
down in a few minutes then ok..oh if you need clothes
go get them now before the guys take it downstairs."
and with that she left the room.
I took care of callings that for a few moments were
more powerful than the pain. In the bathroom mirror I
closely analyzed the telltale mark on my face. I had
a multicolored bruise running from 2 inches above my
left eyebrow to an inch below my eye and and a
diameter of about 3.5 to 4 inches. I could feel my
eye began to swell. I took an advil and timidly
placed some ice on my eye for a minute or so,and
though it hurt, the cold felt great against the pain.
I managed to cross the hallway to my room, grab my
clean clothes bag, and cross back undetected. Kevin's
room had already been cleaned out so I knew I was ok
there. I changed into my cargo pants and a teal
tanktop. I put on a long sleeved blouse, leaving it
unbuttoned over the tanktop, cause it was cold in the
room and I knew the bus would be too. I brushed my
hair out and put on sunglasses, as gently as possible
so they wouldn't touch my eye.
I waited to leave the room until I could tell that
they had already finished taking my stuff down cause
I didn't hear anymore people coming back and forth.
Though I knew it wasn't my fault I was throughly
embarrassed by the predicament I had gotten myself
involved in. I wanted to get to the bus with as
little commotion as possible. I casually walked to
the elevator and found Tim there waiting for me. I
smiled at him. We walked in comfortable silence to
the bus. The last bag was being put into the
compartment locker and the door was being closed. We
headed for the bus. Denise saw me first and stopped
to give me my passes and ID's for the next venue. She
reassured me that she placed the first aid kit and
pain killers on the bus but because of stuff she had
to finish she would have to travel with the band.
"Don't worry about it, the guys and Q here are
experienced in being nurses when I'm not there.
They'll fix you up" I smiled. We said goodbye till
later and I climbed the stairs of our bus with Tim
right behind me.
Read on!
