Learn From Cigarette Burns

I felt the anxiety creep up my spine as my eyes searched the foyer, hoping to find someone willing to take over my duties for a few minutes. When the only people that I saw were fans in attendance for the show, I couldn't help but frown softly. I lowered my gaze to the table in front of me and crossed my arms in front of my chest, much like a little kid would do when they didn't get the toy that they saw in the store window.

"Dee," a familiar voice laughed quietly, "why so unhappy?"

Looking up in the direction of the voice, I recognized Tommy, Kennedy and Garrett's guitar tech, making his way through the crowd toward me.

"I want to go and watch the guys' set for a little while, but I didn't see anyone to take over for me." I said sadly as he took a seat beside me. "I haven't gotten to watch them at all this tour." I added in a soft mumble.

Tommy giggled cutely and then tilted his chair back as he put his hands behind his head. "Ms. Thompson, would you like for me to watch the merch while you slip away and watch your fiancé strut around on stage?" He questioned with a tiny sparkle in his eyes.

I felt myself blushing slightly and then nodded my head. "I'd appreciate it." I whispered.

"Alright," he grinned, making a sudden 'shooing' motion with his hands. "Get out of here, go watch your man."

I gave Tommy an appreciative smile and then stood up, straightening my clothes before making my way into the main theater without so much as a backwards glance to the merch table. Once inside, I slipped passed the crowds of people and then took up a place of residence along the far side of the wall here I still had a clear view of the stage.

Pulling my hood up over my head, I crossed my arms in front of my chest once again and leaned against the wall as I watched my fiancé sing on stage. I smiled as he walked to and fro before everyone, throwing in a few silly dance moves here and there. As they finished up their current song, the crowd started cheering happily, causing John to smile brightly as he faced everyone.

He took a step away from his mic to grab a bottle of water from Pat's platform and then turned back to the crowd.

"I have a quick question for you guys." He said as a shy smile pulled across his lips.

His green eyes darted over to Garrett who had said something to John that I didn't understand, and then laughed quietly. Taking a drink of his water, he replaced the lid and then set the bottle next to the mic stand.

"I'm in need of a wedding band." He confessed to their fans. "I've been looking around for months it seems like, but I haven't found the right one. You guys have any suggestions where I should look?"

The crowd yelled some responses, some of which caused John to laugh.

"Jared's?" He repeated. "He went to Jared's." He giggled, quoting the corny line from the commercials. "Really, though, I already went to Jared's and I didn't see shit."

"Hey," Jared said defensively, "why you gotta be dissin' on my store man?"

"Sorry Jared, but your store ain't got shit." John said, shaking his head. "Come on guys, what else you got? What do you think about Tiffany's? I haven't looked there yet."

John paused as the crowd responded with their approval and then smiled happily. "Tiffany's it is then," he laughed quietly.

Running his fingers through his hair, he looked out across the area, his green eyes examining seemingly each and every face as if he knew I were somewhere out here in the crowd. Then, for a few seconds, he got that far away look in his eyes as if he were somewhere else. I've seen the look before, although I wasn't quite sure where he went when he got that look.

Finally, John snapped back to reality, offered another smile, and then introduced the next song.

Unable to help myself, I smiled to myself, given that John had just basically admitted aloud that he was in fact off the market. I know that by doing so he had broken a lot of teenage hearts tonight, but that was just too bad. The cute green eyed boy singing on stage was mine; he always has been and he always will be.

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

"Dee!?" Kennedy wailed. "Why me? You already dragged me around New York City."

"Kennedy?!" I mocked. "Please? You and John have the same size hands and fingers. Plus, I don't know my way around this city."

"Dee," he pouted, "but - "

"Kenny, please?"

"But ... "

"Please?" I repeated with what I imagined would be big, puppy dog eyes. "I have to get John his wedding band. Today. We don't have any more days off after this to the end of tour."

"Can't you just wait until we get home?" Kennedy sighed.

"We're practically getting married as soon as we get home."

"Dee, the wedding is three weeks after we get home," he laughed.

"I've already looked all over Arizona for a ring, though." I frowned. "I didn't find any that seemed like John. I have to find him the perfect ring that I can see him wear all the time."

"Well," Kennedy sighed, his hazel eyes softening as I gave him a pleading look. "Fine then, I'll go with you."

I smiled brightly and then held my hand out to him, helping him up from the couch. "Thank you Kennedy."

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, "let me go grab my wallet."

Releasing his hand, I watched as he made his way from the small living room of our suite we had splurged on, and into the room he had claimed as his for the day. Sighing quietly, I made my way to the room John and I shared to grab my purse. When I entered the room I found him sprawled out on top of the bed wearing just a pair of basketball shorts.

With one hand holding onto the remote and the other down his shorts, I raised an eyebrow and then shook my head.

"You're such a boy," I pointed out.

"It's a habit," he said defensively.

I rolled my eyes and then grabbed my purse from the bedside table. "I'm going out with Kennedy." I informed him before kissing his lips quickly.

"Going out with Kennedy?" he repeated slowly with a small frown. "But ... wait ... you're going out with him?"

"Not going out out," I mumbled, "we're going to go look for your ring."

"Oh," he said, his tone lighter as a visible relief swept over him, "I thought you were leaving me for Kennedy." He blushed softly.

"Mhmm," I muttered, suppressing a smile, "I made you think I was leaving you, and you still didn't have the courtesy to stop playing with yourself," I said, pointing to his hand that was still, in fact, inside of his shorts.

"I wasn't doing anything," he mumbled.

I suppressed a smile and leaned over, kissing him once again before straightening myself up. "I don't know when we'll be back."

"Wait, take my credit card," he said, removing his hand from his shorts and nodding to his wallet on the end of the bed.

"I have my own." I replied.

My fiancé assessed me with his green eyes for a few seconds before he stood up and grabbed his wallet. He flipped it open quickly and pulled out his credit card. Without saying anything to me, he slipped it into my purse.

"Buy yourself something nice for dinner tonight," he insisted. "I'm going to take you someplace fancy."

A giddy feeling started to build up in the pit of my stomach and it was all I could do to suppress a smile.

"Alright," I finally agreed. Standing up on the tips of my toes, I kissed my fiancé one last time before I went into the living room where Kennedy was waiting for me.

Before long we were out on the street, making our way through downtown Chicago. The time that passed proved uneventful as every store we entered seemed to be disappointment after disappointment. My optimism which had started out at an all time high this morning was dwindling down, sinking lower and lower by the minute.

I frowned softly at the display in front of me, having not seen anything that had caught my eye, and then turned around, giving Kennedy a sad look. He mirrored my look and then held his hand out to me. Gripping his hand tightly, I sighed heavily while he led me out of the store.

"Don't worry, Dee." He said once we were outside. "You'll find him a ring."

"Not at this rate," I huffed, "this sucks."

"Well," Kennedy paused, licking his lips slightly as he surveyed the city block we were walking along, "how about we grab some lunch at that little diner," he said, nodding toward the end of the block, "and then we continue on?"

Surveying the diner in question, I shrugged my shoulders in a half hearted manner and then reluctantly nodded my head.

"Okay." I mumbled.

Tightening his grip on my hand, Kennedy led me through the crowd and within a matter of seconds, it seemed, we were taking a seat at one of the comfortable booths in the diner. Before long, a waiter came by, handing us our menus, before hurrying off to get our drinks.

"Thank you for coming with me today, Kennedy." I whispered.

"No problem." He said with a soft smile.

This morning he may have wanted to say at the hotel and take care of things of his own, but I could tell that right now he was glad that he had come along with me. I haven't known Kennedy quite as long as I've known some of the other guys, but something told me that out of everyone - excluding John of course - Kennedy had the biggest heart of them all.

"Kennedy, how come you don't have a girlfriend?" I blurted out.

Kennedy blushed softly and then shrugged his shoulders in a shy manner. "I've tried the whole girlfriend while being in a band thing before," he said, "it didn't work out too well while we were on the road." His voice had been reduced to a whisper toward the end of his sentence.

"Oh," I said quietly, not having known that he had been involved with someone before; I assumed that it was when they first started touring, otherwise I'm sure I would have known of him being in a relationship. "Well, I'm sure you'll find someone." I assured him.

Kennedy simply forced a smile in response before turning his hazel eyes back down to his menu. I somehow felt that there was more to the story than Kennedy had admitted aloud, but I knew it was neither my business, nor the appropriate time to press the subject further.

About a half an hour to forty five minutes later, we emerged from the diner, Kennedy with his bright smile back in place, while my optimism had been restored.

"Well, where to?" Kennedy asked.

"There," I said, pointing to a jewelry store a block away and across the street.

The store was obviously not as grand as some of the other stores I had searched through, but then again, appearance isn't everything.

As we entered the store, we were greeted by a friendly elderly man, whose blue eyes shone with a sense of youthfulness, making his overall appearance seem younger than he really was.

"What can I help you two with today?" He asked gently.

"I'm looking for a wedding band for my fiancé." I replied.

The man smiled in response and then led me toward a case that housed their wedding rings. Although the selection was rather small, the pieces it contained were stunning.

The man opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment the door opened once again. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a middle aged woman walk in, their hair and style suggesting that she was from the South.

"I'll be back in a moment." The man told us before making his way through the store.

Turning my attention back to the rings, I smiled softly as I surveyed each one carefully.

"See any with Johno's name on it?" Kennedy asked.

"They all have Johno's name on them." I whispered.

Kennedy laughed quietly at my response and then fell silent as I looked over the collection. In the meantime, the man had returned and asked if I wanted him to open the case to look at any of the rings. I immediately nodded my head, and when he asked which ring I wanted to look at, I hesitated.

"I don't know which one it is," I admitted, "but I know that my fiancé's wedding band is one of these ones."

The man smiled warmly and then reached into the case, pulling out the wedding band closest to him. "Why don't you give this one a try first?" He asked.

Taking the ring from him, I held it closer and looked at it. Granted, it was a beautiful ring, but now that I was actually holding it in my own hands, I knew instantly it wasn't for John. I handed the ring back to the man and shook my head. He replaced the ring and held forth a new one. After examining it, I shook my head again and gave it back.

We repeated this process through half of the collection before he handed me the one.

"Oh," I whispered as I looked at it closely. "Kennedy, give me your hand." I instructed.

Doing as he was told, he held his hand out to me, allowing slide the ring onto his finger. I smiled happily when I found it was a perfect fit, and then looked to the man who was helping us.

"This one." I stated.

"Are you interested in the price?" He asked in a tone that made me comfortable to believe that it wasn't nearly as expensive as some other places.

I shook my head. "This is the one." I said. "Price doesn't matter to me, that's the ring I want my fiancé to wear for the rest of his life."

The man smiled softly and nodded his head.

"Oh, you two are the most beautiful couple I have ever seen." A voice with a southern twang commented.

Somewhat startled, I looked up to find the woman from earlier watching us with a happy smile.

"Congratulations you two," she went on. "Oh goodness, you two will have such beautiful babies."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kennedy begin to blush deeply, while I myself was at a loss for words. Not wanting to correct her, I simply smiled in response and replied with a small 'thank you' which seemed to be enough for her. Leaving us with a couple more generous comments, the woman waved goodbye to us and then made her way from the store.

"Goodness," I said after the door had closed behind her, "wait until John hears about our beautiful kids you and I are going to have together." I told Kennedy.

"Please, don't." Kennedy said, shaking his head, "I'll never hear the end of it."

I suppressed a smile as I slid the ring off of his finger and handed it back to the man. I made my way to the cash register as the man put John's ring into a small box and little bag, and then turned around to observe Kennedy who had moved on to a different display that housed various diamond necklaces.

I'll admit that Kennedy is a good looking boy, but no one compares to my fiancé.