It's A Roller Coaster Ride We're On

I don’t think I slept at all that night. It wasn’t until I heard Lauren get up and open the curtains that I moved. She turned her head when she heard me move.

“Sorry. I didn’t wake you did I?” she asked.

“No, I never really fell asleep.” I said, shrugging my shoulders. I stretched my arms above my head and yawned.

“And why is that?” she asked, sitting on her bed, one leg tucked underneath her and the other hanging over the edge.

“You know why.” I said, rolling my eyes. “Mind if I shower first?”

“Go ahead.” She said. “I’ll see if the guys are up yet and make plans for breakfast.”

After I showered I wrapped a towel around my body and another around my hair and piled it on top of my head. I grabbed my pajamas and walked back out to the bedroom. I gasped in surprise when I looked up and saw Kevin in there with Lauren. Kevin looked up when he heard me and blushed.

“Uh, I’ll just go back to my room for a bit. Sorry Melissa.”

“It’s not your fault Kevin.” I said, glaring at Lauren as he closed the door behind him. “What the hell Laur!”

“What? Joe’s still sleeping and Nick’s in the shower and we were bored so we were talking.” She said, throwing her hands in the hair. “It’s not my fault you walked out here in just a towel.”

“Well how was I supposed to know you’d be flirting with Kevin out here?”

“I was not flirting.” She scoffed.

“Sure.” I said, rolling my eyes and grabbing my bag, searching for an outfit for today.

“Whatever, I’m going to shower. Kevin thinks that Joe should finally be awake soon and they’ll all be ready in an hour for breakfast if you want to wait.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” I said. “Hey, while they’re doing their sound check today I was thinking we could interview and photograph Denise, Kevin Sr., and Frankie.”

“Awesome. We can think of questions when I’m done.” She said, walking into the bathroom.

****

“So Lyss, we heard Kevin pretty much saw you naked.” Joe said, taking a bite of his eggs. We had gone to a diner down the street, Rob was with us.

“I had a towel on.” I said defensively, I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks and I stared at my plate.

“Oh relax.” Joe said, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and squeezing me. “I was just messing with you.”

“Yeah well, if somebody had warned me about that I would have brought a change of clothes in the bathroom with me.” I said, sticking my tongue out at Lauren.

“Oh geez, how many times do I have to tell you?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “We didn’t plan on you walking out in just a towel. We didn’t even plan on being in there.”

“Again, I’m really sorry Mel.” Kevin said.

“Kevin, stop apologizing! It’s not your fault.” I said, smiling at him.

“So what are you two planning on doing today?” Nick asked, changing the focus of the conversation. I looked at him and thanked him with my eyes. He smiled and nodded his head slightly.

“Well, we’re going to interview and photograph your parents and Frankie while you have your sound check. Maybe even take some candid shots of you three. Do you think your Dad will let us in lockdown with you just once? Actually, only Mel has to go and get some shots of you guys and the band before a concert.” Lauren said.

“That would be a nice addition to the book.” I said.

“I’ll talk to him when we go back to the hotel.” Nick said.

“Awesome.”

****

Lauren and I were in our room, jotting down last minute questions that we could use for Denise and Kevin Sr. and even Frankie when someone knocked on our door. I got up to answer it, going through pictures on my camera that I had taken over the past few days.

“Oh, hey Joe, come in.” I said, opening the door wider to let him in. “What’s up?”

“Nick’s talking to Dad now about you coming with us during lockdown and Kevin’s talking to Mom and Frankie and I’m left bored and all alone.” He said pouting as he sat on my bed.

“Aw, poor Joey,” Lauren said laughing at him.

“Hey it’s not funny. I’m really bored.”

“Well, want to see some pictures I took the other day? You can help me figure out which ones I should delete right away and which ones to keep to chose from for the book. Slim down the choices.”

“Sure! I love photography and film making actually. I used to have some kind of camera all the time whether it was video, digital, even Polaroid. Those were my favorites.” He said, lying on his stomach on my bed as I got out my laptop and inserted the memory card to the camera.

“Ah yes! Polaroid’s are awesome, they’re such classics. I wish they hadn’t stopped making those.” I said, now lying next to him, waiting for the pictures to upload. Finally they were all set and I opened them on the screen. “Alright Joseph, I trust you to help me here.”

“I like this one.” He said, pointing to the picture of him throwing the whiffle ball to Frankie from yesterday.

“Me too,” I said, nodding my head and moving it to the save folder. “People don’t usually see many pictures of you three interacting with Frankie. It shows you haven’t forgotten about the little people.” I joked.

“Wait until I tell Frankie you called him little.” He said, nudging my side. “He’s not going to talk to you for days.”

“I’m only kidding! Frankie knows I think he’s awesome.” I said, turning my head to glare at Joe. I caught Lauren’s eye over his shoulder and she was grinning at me. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the screen. Joe leaned his head closer to mine.

“Alright, I won’t tell him. On one condition.” He said softly.

“And what would that be?” I asked, turning to look at him again. His face was so close to mine, I got lost in his brown eyes. I could feel his breath on my lips, that’s how close we were.

“You agree to go on a date with me this weekend.” I panicked slightly and looked over his shoulder at Lauren. She had one of those looks on her face. One of those “I told you so” looks and she mouthed “Don’t do it. Be professional… for now at least.” I slightly nodded my head and took a deep breath.

“I… um, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I said, turning my head back to the screen.

“Why not?” he asked sounding disappointed.

“Well, because, I’ve only known you for a week, I’m working with you, and… I’m not ready to date just now.”

“Oh, I get it. You just got out of a bad relationship didn’t you?” he asked, resting his chin on his hands.

“Uh, yeah, kind of,” I said.

That wasn’t the reason at all. My last and first relationship ended over two years ago and it was nothing special. I looked over at Lauren again but she didn’t seem to be paying attention. Then there was a knock on the door again.

“I got it.” I said, standing up. Anything to get away from the awkwardness, Joe and I had been so close on the bed we were practically touching. He was scanning through the pictures as I opened the door.

“Hey Mel, can we come in?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah, sure, come in. Hey Nick.” I said, letting them in.

“Hi.” He said, smiling at me. “Oh. Hey Joe. We were wondering where you went.”

“Yeah well you guys left me all alone so I came here. Lyss was showing me some pictures she took yesterday and I was helping her figure out which ones to delete and which ones to save.”

“I see, well, I talked to Dad about you joining us in lockdown Mel.” Nick said, sitting on the couch. Kevin sat next to Lauren on her bed and she smiled at him. I sat on the foot of my bed and looked at Nick.

“What did he say?” I asked.

“He said that it’s fine. He knew you’d have to at one point for the book. Only if you’re just taking pictures of us though. He doesn’t think it’s a good idea if you’re talking to us while we’re concentrating and everything. We can’t lose focus.”

“Of course, we wouldn’t want that to happen now would we?” I asked smiling.

“Right,” Joe said behind me. “Got to stay focused… isn’t that right Kevin?” he asked.

“What?” Kevin asked, looking up. He and Lauren had been having their own private conversation and she was smiling.

“I said; we have to stay focused.” Joe said trying not to laugh.

“Oh, right. Well, we should probably get to the venue. Do you two have your equipment all ready?”

“I do.” Lauren said, standing up.

“I just have to put my camera back in the bag.”

“I already did that.” Joe said, handing me my camera case. “I put the memory card back in too.” He said as I opened my mouth to ask him that very question.

“Thanks Joe.” I said, smiling at him and taking my case.

“Anytime.” He said, winking at me.

“Guys come on, Kevin and Lauren just left without us. It’s like they’re in their own little world.” Nick said… glaring? At Joe and I. It was weird but seeing Nick looking at me like that made my heart ache. No. I can’t do this. I can’t develop feelings for these guys. Especially Nick, he’s so young…