Untitled

By: Jennifer

He had been asking for a day off for weeks. They all had. The tour was taking its toll on all of them. Bickering on the bus, long waits backstage at the venues, the endless interviews, teenagers dressed in ways that he prayed his mother never let his sisters wear, and just the endless questions about the other guys and their solo careers. It was the last tour, they all knew it, and it had to end somewhere and this was going to be it. The fans didn’t know, the press didn’t know, they were the only ones who knew it. He was having a tough time dealing with it and that was why he needed this day to himself. To just go, be himself and not have to deal with whining, complaining, flirting or primping. To be himself. All he needed was his bike, a coat, a helmet and a map and he was good to go.

He convinced Mike to have one of the roadies grab his bike out of the back of one of the trailers. It was a must on the tour for him and Justin to have them. It was their release and he needed it. He promised Mike that he’d be back, made the obligatory call to Johnny to tell him where he’d be and said he promised to return.

The day was warm. Unusually warm for a day in February, especially after all the damn snow that they had been seeing on the tour. It seemed the entire Northeast was covered with feet upon feet of the white stuff. He thought back to the last time he saw that much snow and realized he was only about 6 years old.

He drove out of Boston and headed north. Not really knowing exactly where he was going, just as long as he was off that bus. He thought about the last 10 years and everything that had changed. He thought of where he was, what the stars held for him and what he was going to do with his life. Single, 32, rich, popular, an icon in many ways and invincible, at least that’s what it seemed to others. He crossed the line into New Hampshire and stopped at a rest area to use the rest room before he realized how far he had gone, and he tried to figure out where he was going.

***********************************

She sat at her desk looking out the window. Waiting…waiting for something to happen and she wasn’t even sure what she was waiting for. The end of the day, that was a definite. It had been a long week and she was just waiting for the weekend to start so she could just relax. School had taken its toll, work was crazy and she just needed a weekend to herself. She had thought about going to visit a friend, but it was too expensive, she thought of writing, but she didn’t know if she had the words. The only thing she knew was that she wanted to be away from where she was. She wanted warmth and sunshine and those were two things that she hadn’t experienced in months. She looked out the window at the sun that was beating down on the snow that covered the ground. Under the tree she saw what was the first sign of some green and she smiled. Really smiled for the first time in days…weeks maybe, but it was a real smile. She looked at her clock on the phone and realized that she had to get out of work because the overtime was going to kick in soon and that was something that she couldn’t have.

She said goodbye to the people who sat around her and grinned at the fact that she was leaving. She walked into her boss’s office and handed in her work for the day, threw her bag over her shoulder and headed out the door. Breathing deeply as she walked out the door she felt the week completely shrug off of her shoulders and she knew that it was all going to be okay. It was warmer out than it had been in months and it even looked as if the snow that seemed to be constantly falling was melting away. She knew where she was going to go as soon as she got into her car. She rolled down the window, turned up the music on the radio, pulled the elastic out of her hair and let her curls fly out the window as she made her way to her favorite place.

She drove up to the pier and turned down the music. It didn’t seem right to have music blaring when she got there, it was solitude that she was after and she knew that she could find it there. She grabbed her laptop out of her bag and turned on some classical music. She got out of the car and sat on the hood, her hair blowing in the breeze and the ocean lying before her and she wrote.

************************************

He asked someone at the rest stop for a relaxing place to go and they said to get off the next exit; head down the road and you’ll find it.

“You can’t miss it,” the old man said and he smiled and nodded. He walked outside and hopped back on his bike and followed the directions that he was given. He rode down the road and there before him lay exactly what he was looking for. A place of solitude and ocean that just seemed to roll on forever.

He pulled up aside a car that seemed to be one of few that were out that day. It wasn’t as warm as Orlando but it was a hell of a lot warmer than what he had been experiencing on that bus. He just sat. Sat and thought. Thought about everything in his life.

Next to him he heard sniffling and he turned his head. There sat another car with a girl sitting on the hood. Typing and typing she seemed almost possessed by what she was doing. He didn’t want to bother her but he couldn’t help but notice the tears streaming down her face as well as the smile that seemed to be brighter than the sun. Her hair fell in ringlets down to her shoulders. She wasn’t the type he usually went for, that tall beautiful blonde type. She had a remarkable simpleness about her and there was something that drew him to her. He didn’t know what it was but he wanted to know her. To touch her, to run his fingers through her hair.

“Hello,” he said, sounding almost like a question.

She quietly looked up from her computer and smiled at him. He was right, it was brighter than the sun. He shrugged his shoulders almost in an invite to spend time with him and she seemed to know exactly what he was talking about without a word being spoken.

“Chris,” he said with a smile and an outstretched hand.

“Jennifer,” she replied as she took the hand. They shook hands and smiled.

“Wanna come with?” he questioned her.

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled. She jumped off the hood of the car while still holding his hand, put her computer in the back of her car and locked the doors. She went to grab some money from her wallet and he pushed it aside. He just smiled and she smiled back. He handed her a helmet and she straddled the seat. He got on and took her hands in his and put them around his waist.

It was as if two became one as the two drove in relative silence down the seacoast. Watching the sun set over the water she smiled and she could feel him relax under her hands. They stopped and ate, barely speaking at all during the quick meal. They said everything yet nothing at all as they stared into each other’s eyes.

They made their way back to the beach so that she could get her car. He knew that he was going to have to leave her and she wasn’t even sure if she would ever see him again. It didn’t matter at all. She just enjoyed the time. It was nice to have a person to put her arms around. To have arms wrapped around her shoulders as they sat on the top of her car together when they got back to the beach. They looked up at the stars together and a single shooting star fell from the sky.

“Make a wish?” she asked.

“Mmmmmm….you?” he asked.

“Yup,” she said as she looked at his eyes and smiled. Brown eyes twinkling in the moonlight. The moment was perfect and he leaned his forehead into hers. Their eyes staring intently into each other as their breath became one. He leaned closer and his arms enveloped her. He gently brushed his lips with hers testing to see if there was more that she wanted. She leaned closer, relaxed in his arms and the kiss lingered, and grew and became a series of kisses before they pulled away breathless.

He took her hands in his own and looked at her eyes. Knowing that saying goodbye was going to be hard. He just smiled. That smile that she had been looking at all evening and was quickly falling for. He had to get back. The guys were all going to be wondering where he was soon because they were so used to his constant joking all day long.

She smiled back knowing that she had to get back to her work. School was hectic and so was work. It was just a one-night thing and she knew it. It didn’t matter though because it was what she needed. It was what he needed and it was perfect.

He pulled her close and hugged her. The two melted to each other and they just stood there holding on. Holding on to something that was greater than either of them. Holding on to something stable because they both knew that away from each other, there was so much that was left to question. They broke their embrace after what seemed like hours but was likely only minutes. He took her hand and squeezed it and put his helmet on his head. Started up his Harley and he was gone.

*****************************

He got back to the hotel and it was late. It was really late and the five of them were standing outside of his room. Justin, JC, Joey, Lance and Mike all staring him down as he walked out of the elevator.

“Thanks,” he said to Mike as he handed him his helmet and he pushed aside the guys to get into his room. Lance and JC looked at each other, shrugged their shoulderser and headed back to JC’s room to finish their movie. Justin just stared as the door was shut in his face. Hurt, he went back to his room to finish the call with his girlfriend. Joey propped the door open with his foot, careful not to let the other guys see what he was doing.

He knocked softly on the door, “Chris,” he said softly as he made his way into the living room of the suite. “Yo, we were worried about you dude, you okay?” he asked as he looked at his friend.

Chris sat on the couch, his eyes closed and his head leaned over the back of the couch as he held in his hand a small piece of paper. “Yeah,” he said, “I’m gonna be just fine Joe,” he said as he looked at one of his best friends.

“If you need anything…”

“Don’t you worry about me,” Chris said, “go take care of that baby of yours.”

“Thanks,” Joey said, “I just, I wanted to make sure you were alright first.”

“Thanks Joe,” he said and Joey turned on his heel and made his way out of the room.

He sat on the couch with his cell phone in one hand and the paper in his other. He carefully dialed the number. He heard the ringing and butterflies began to fly around his stomach in some weird configuration that made him feel like he was going to vomit. He was shaking from his head to his toes. Pop stars, shaking over a phone call, imagine that. The phone rang three times before he heard the connection.

She looked at her cell phone ringing beside her and saw the unfamiliar number come up on the caller id. She held her breath. Seeing a Florida number and she was sure it was her ex. She gathered her energy and flipped the phone open. “This is Jennifer,” she said.

“Hello, Jennifer, this is Chris,” he said as he let out a sigh. He took a deep breath, “be with me?” he asked.

“Yes Chris, I will,” she said with a smile.

And they were.

The End

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