Chapter Fifteen
The concert that night was definitely not one of their best and it was
all Krista’s fault. During their whole
set she could feel JC’s eyes boring into her and it made her forget parts and
was off. The normal person couldn’t see
it; only the people who knew their music inside and out could tell, mainly,
Dan, James and Pauley. Krista was so
thankful when her set was over and was able to go back to the hotel. All she wanted was a long hot shower and her
bed.
Dan knocked on Krista’s door,
“Hold
on! I’ll be right there!” She yelled from inside. Suddenly the door flung open and Krista was
there pulling her wet hair up on top of her head. “Dan! Come on in
hon!” She said backing up from the door
letting him in. Dan walked in and
Krista shut the door with her foot as she finished with her hair. Dan silently paced the room not knowing how
to start. Krista saw this and was
instantly worried. “Dan, what’s wrong?”
She asked gently.
“I’m
trying to figure out how to tell you.”
He said looking down,
“Well,
just tell me.” She said softly,
“I
don’t want to upset you. It’s the last
thing I want to do.”
“What’s
the matter? What’s going to upset me?”
“What
I have to tell you.” He said and there
was a knock on the door.
“Hold
that thought.” She said and answered
the door,
“Hey
Krissie!” It was JC and Dan clenched
his teeth.
“Hey
Josh, what’s up?”
“I
said that I was going to stop by after the concert and see if we could hang out
and watch a movie or something, remember?”
“Oh,
yeah.” Krista said and looked back at
Dan and then back at JC, “Really this isn’t the greatest time. Maybe some other time.”
“Oh,
yeah.” JC said and the disappointment
was apparent in his voice, “That’s cool.”
“Kay,
I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
Later Josh.”
“Night,
Krissie.” Krista watched JC walk away
and then shut the door.
She
went back to Dan, who was now sitting on her bed, “Sorry about that.” She said and sat down across from him.
“Didn’t
mean to ruin your evening plans.” He
shrugged,
“I didn’t
have any plans. So what’s going on in
that mind of yours, Dan?”
“I
don’t know Krissie, I’m real worried that’s all.”
“About
what?”
“You
mostly, and the band.”
“What
do you mean, me?”
“Tonight,
you were a bit off, that’s all. We
can’t afford that.” He frowned even
more.
Krista
sighed and shook her head, “I know, I’m sorry I don’t know where my mind was.”
“Did
you forget to take you’re medicine?” He
asked looking up at her.
She
shook her head vigourously, “No, I took it.
I ALWAYS take it, I know how I am without it.”
“I
know, I know, it’s just what it felt like.”
He took a deep breath, “Is it because of JC?” He asked gently and looked at her.
She
looked away, “I don’t know.”
“Be
careful Kris, that’s all I’m saying.
You can’t let your head get in the clouds over some guy. I know how you feel about him and how it can
be really exciting to have his attention suddenly-”
She
interrupted him, “We’re just friends-”
“I
know you’re friends but, I mean, what if he wants more? I really need you to keep your head in the
band and in our music.”
“It’s
not like that with Josh.” She said half
lying to herself,
“You
mean to tell me that you haven’t thought of him, you know like that?”
“Well
yes, I guess but I don’t think-”
“Krissie,
I need you to help me with this. Paul
and Jim are great but you know we are the ones that hold it together. If you’re off in la-la land over JC, I don’t
have you to help me keep it together. I
can’t do it by myself. I really like
what we’ve created with the four of us and I don’t want to make you choose, but
I don’t know what else to do.” He said
and his shoulders slumped in defeat.
Krista
reached over and touched his arm gently, “Dan, I will always choose the
band. You guys are my family, my
loyalty lies with you, Pauley and Jim.”
She said seriously and Dan took a deep breath.
“Okay,
I really appreciate it. I know I was
stupid to bring it up.”
“No,
it’s cool, you had your worries. I’m
just glad that you felt cool to come to talk to me about them.”
He
smiled a little smile at her, “Well you’re kind of my only option. Paul and Jim aren’t the best listeners.”
“You
don’t need to tell me that.” She
laughed, “So you wanna hang out tonight?”
She asked,
“You
don’t want to hang out with JC?” He
asked skeptically.
“I
hang out with Josh all the time, we never hang out like we used to.” She reasoned with him and he nodded,
“Kay,
yeah, what do you want to do?”
“Movie? Twister?
Miniature golf?” She listed,
“There’s
a miniature golf course here?”
“I
don’t know but when has that ever stopped us before?”
“You
are so right.” He agreed and they set
off to find a course. There wasn’t one
near the hotel so they created their own in the hallway with Pauley and James. They used furniture from the rooms, plastic
cups and putters that Pauley had in his room.
The game turned a bit rowdy when Pauley and James brought the beer and
turned on music.
Krista had fun hanging out with the
guys. JC had been taking up a lot of
her time and Dan was right. She needed
to concentrate on the group and keep them together.
The next day the group dragged themselves out of
bed, they were all a little hung over from the night before. Krista broke out into laughter when she saw
the hallway, the hotel was not going to be happy with them. Most of their furniture and objects were
strewn allover the hallway. It was hard
to imagine how they got to their rooms with out killing themselves.
“Holy
shit! What a night!” Pauley said rubbing his head groggily,
“Did
we really do all of this?” James
exclaimed looking around,
“Looks
like it.” Krista said flipping a chair
upright.
“Who
wants water and aspirin?” Dan asked and
the trio raised their hands. “It’ll be
right up, let the hotel staff take care of this. Go shower.” He directed
and the group nodded.
After they were all set to go, the sleepy group went
to pack the bus. Krista could barely
stand up straight. She leaned against
the bus and fell asleep.
“Krista! Krissie!”
Someone yelled and Krista groaned,
“What?” She asked grumpily.
“Whoa,
someone had a bad night.” JC joked
coming over to her.
“Shh! You’re so loud! I actually had a good night, too good of a night.” She said standing up again and rubbing her
forehead.
“Really? Where’d you go?”
“No
where, our hallway.” She said as Dan
and James came down to the bus,
“Kris,
you forgot your water up in my room.
Did you get aspirin?”
“Yeah,
hon, thanks. Remind me not to suggest
miniature golf when we have to get up early the next day.”
“You
played miniature golf? I thought you
said that you didn’t go out.” JC
inquired crossing his arms.
“Shh! Jesus Josh you’re yelling.” She said wearily waving him off, “We didn’t
go out. I told you we were in our
hallway.”
“Someone’s
a little hung over.” Dan teased taking his
bag and shoving it under the bus.
Krista
flipped him off, “I wouldn’t be so hung over if you actually lost
sometimes.” She retorted, Dan took her
bag and shoved it under the bus.
“Yeah,
when did you get so good at golf?”
James said as he shoved his bag under the bus as well and Dan shrugged,
“I’ve
been playing with Chris and Justin in our down time.” He replied and he ushered Krista over to the door of their
bus.
Justin
popped down to the bus area, “What the hell did you guys do to your hallways? The hotel staff was bitching up guys up and
down.” Dan, James and Krista just
laughed to themselves.
“Wait
you guys played miniature gold in your hallways?” JC said having everything finally click together. James smiled and nodded.
Dan
pulled Krista’s arms around his neck, “Come on girly girl you need to sleep.”
“It’s
all your fault, Dan.” She said climbing
up on his back.
“Bye
guys.” She half waved as Dan carried
her on to the bus.