"Brian!" She shrieks as she goes into a fit of giggles. Diana rolls off the couch next to Nick then looks over toward the kitchen table at Brian, Kevin, and Laura who all work intently on plans for the next show. She laughs again, plucks the magazine from Nick's hands, and scurries across the floor toward Brian.
"Brian!" She shrieks again, shoving the magazine up in his face and laughs. She pauses for a moment, then starts to laugh again.
"Diana, please," Brian says moving to the far side of the table. Diana jumps up from the floor and plops down by Brian, laughing hysterically. Trying to look beyond Diana's fit of giggles, Brian begins to discuss costume plans with Kevin.
"I dunno, Bri. My opinion is that we should go with the more basic costumes, like the windsuits, for Toronto. Then maybe the other set of costumes for the opening in L.A." Kevin replies to Brian's suggestion.
"Okay, I'll mark that," Laura says, writing the information down on some purchase orders.
"But then, what about the costumes for Quebec?" Brian begins.
"Brian!" Diana shrieks again, putting the magazine back in front of Brian's face.
"That's it!" Brian growls, shoving the magazine onto the table. "Diana, we have to talk."
Slowly, Diana gets up from the bus window as they begin to walk across the parking lot.
"Uh-oh, there's trouble in the love department," Nick mocks in a melodramatic voice. He snickers, but stops short when he finds everyone glaring at him and not laughing. He clears his throat and politely asks Laura if she will throw the magazine to him. "Yo, AJ! Have you found the connection cord to my Playstation yet?" He quizzes not looking up from the magazine.
"Nope," AJ replies, as he comes up the stairs onto the bus with Brenda and Howie, all clad in swimsuit attire. Brenda is so absorbed in the stack of papers she's reading that she stumbles, but doesn't fall over Nick's inconveniently-placed scuba gear. The near-fall breaks her trance and she glances back to see what she stumbled over. It being Nick's gear doesn't seem to phase her as she goes back to reading from the stack of papers.
"So?" AJ asks, coming up behind Brenda and looking over her shoulder. "What do you think?"
"These are good!" Brenda replies breathlessly, handing the papers over to AJ. "These are really good!"
"Where were you guys?" Laura asks, looking up from the order forms with curiosity.
"We went to the pool," Howie replies, throwing his wet towel towards Laura. It lands on the table with a smack… Right on top of the order forms.
"Howie!" Kevin exclaims, whirling around to face him.
"Uh, oops?" Howie squeaks sheepishly. Kevin picks up the towel and throws it back at Howie, who ducks. The towel soars, hits Nick in the face, then plops into his lap.
"Ew, wet!" He yells, picking his hands, and now, a slightly moist magazine up an looking down at the towel in disgust.
"Duh-hur!" Brenda mocks, grabbing the towel and chucking it at Laura. It hits her in the back of the head; the impact of the towel causing her to lurch forward and smack her head on the table. She retaliates by throwing the towel back at Brenda, but it hits AJ instead.
"You guys…" Kevin begins, turning around, but is interrupted when the towel smacks over his head. Everyone erupts into laughter. Kevin peels the towel off his head and throws it on the floor. "Ha ha, very funny," he says sarcastically. He turns back around with Laura and they continue with their work.
"What were you reading?" Nick asks Brenda, grabbing the papers from AJ's hand. He glances at one and chuckles loudly. Then he clears his throat and reads in a civilized voice, "Honey from the hive / Sweet resonance / What lips of which I share passion / We are but two…" AJ snatches the papers back from Nick before he can recite anymore, but Nick continues to laugh. "Pathetic… I could do better."
"Honestly, Nick. You have no respect or knowledge of good poetry," Brenda defends, sitting next to him on the couch and slugging his arm. She looks at AJ and smiles. "We couldn't get AJ in the pool. He was so busy writing his poetry." She looks back at Nick and adds, "He has real potential with those poems."
"Potential for what?" Nick snorts. "Potential to make me hack?!" He makes a gagging gesture then laughs.
"Sometimes you are so mature, you know that?" Brenda gripes, getting up from the couch. Nick follows her.
"I am not!" Nick defends. Brenda turns to face him as he continues. "You're one to talk," he points out. "Going around insulting everybody." By now, Nick and Brenda have gained an audience. "Just the other day, you were walking around telling AJ he sounded like a dying horse being ridden by Laura!"
"Say what?" Laura asks, but they ignore her.
"Have you heard your singing?" Brenda asks, pointing at Nick.
"What about my singing?" Nick bellows.
"Oh, nothing," Brenda replies, a smile etched jaggedly across her face. "We're all just glad that you enjoy practicing your singing in the shower." She glares at Nick with a scowl. "Mainly because the showerhead's the only thing we've found that can actually drown out your voice!" She makes a swooshing sound with her mouth to get her point across. "God only knows how long your sax player has been trying to do the same thing!"
"See! There you go again!" Nick retorts.
"I don't deny it though," Brenda fires back. "Unlike some people."
"You know, I'm beginning to have regrets about that kiss yesterday!" Nick shouts.
Things turn deathly quiet as everyone stares at them in shock. Brenda turns bright red and runs out the bus door. Nick looks at everyone, a regretful look on his face, and follows Brenda.
"I swear, man, it's like a soap opera or something around here these days," AJ groans, plopping down on the couch.
"Yeah, a regular "As The World Turns"…" Howie sighs.
"What?" Laura asks, turning to face them.
"Diana, I'm sorry," Brian whispers to Diana as they continue their walk. "We're just too different."
"I understand," Diana replies softly. She tries hard not to cry as she speaks.
"Diana, I love you," Brian confesses, stopping to hug her. He pulls away and looks into her eyes. "It's just… We're not happy together."
Diana had to agree. Though she tried her best to make their relationship work, things weren't falling into place like she'd hoped. They were two total strangers when they were together, and now it was time to stop looking through rose-colored glasses and face the truth. Her and Brian…
"We're breaking up," Diana sighs. She looks up at Brian, into his sad eyes. "No hard feelings, no regrets… Friends?" She blinks back tears.
"Friends…" Brian whispers and gives her a hug. Diana embraces him in return. One last time.
"Brenda! Wait!" Nick calls as he tries to catch up with her. Brenda continues to run across the parking lot. Suddenly, she stops and turns around as Nick catches up with her.
"Why'd you have to do that?!" Brenda cries, running her fingers through her wind-blown hair.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it," Nick says softly, looking down at the pavement. "I was upset."
"Do you know how embarrassing that was for me?" Brenda asks in a shrill voice. She avoids making eye contact with Nick, and he can't help but notice that her cheeks are turning a light shade of crimson again.
"I'm sorry," Nick repeats again, keeping his eyes on his shoes. Brenda glances up and suddenly starts to chuckle lightly. Nick gives her a funny look and asks, "What?"
"Take a look at your pants!" Brenda laughs aloud. Nick looks down and groans. Apparently, Howie's towel had leaked on him earlier when it was on his lap. And he bore the moist spot on his pants to prove it.
"Boy, Nick! It’s one thing to get upset, but come on!" Brenda snickers as they turn back toward the bus. Nick playfully slugs her in the arm and smiles.
"Truce?" He questions, with puppy-dog eyes.
"Truce," Brenda replies.
"Hey, you didn't really mean what you said about my singing, did you?" Nick asks. Brenda shrugs with a smirk and starts to run to the bus. "Yeah?! Well, you wanna know what I think about you?" Nick yells as he hurries to catch up.
