Tasting Fame

AILEEN'S P.O.V.

I was woken by the alarm on my phone going off. It was only 9 in the morning. Why the fuck did I set my alarm to go off this early? I thought for a moment, and then remembered that today was Becca's birthday, and everyone was going shopping for her presents this morning. For some reason, I was the one designated to wake everyone up.

I groaned as I rolled over to wake Zacky, who was drooling all over his pillow.

I nudged him, slapped him in the face, and held his nose shut. When none of those things worked, I put my hand down his boxers. He must be in a deep fucking sleep because that didn't wake him up either. And it normally does. The only other option I had was to push him off the bunk. So I did. I put both my hands on his back and shoved him over the edge of the bunk.

I know what you're thinking. But stop thinking it. I mean, come on. I'm not THAT mean. It was only a 5-foot drop.

I heard him land with a thud, and his muffled groans of pain soon followed. I looked over the edge of my bunk and noticed him lying face-down on the floor in the middle of all the bunks.

"That's what you get for not waking your ass up," I said as I climbed out of the bunk. I purposely stepped on Zacky as I made my way to the bathroom. I did my whole morning routine: brushing my teeth, brushing my hair, putting on deodorant, pissing. You know, the good stuff. I walked out of the bathroom when I was finished and noticed that Zacky was still lying face-down on the floor, only he was now sleeping. I kicked him, though it wasn't hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to turn him over. He opened his eyes and stared at me.

"What the fuck was that for?" he asked, getting up off the floor.

"You're ass wouldn't wake up. I shook you, I smacked you in the face, and I held your nose shut. I even stuck my hand down your boxers. But you were just sleeping like a fucking log. I did the only other thing I could, and that was to push you off the bunk. And you still fucking fell asleep after I pushed your ass onto the floor! So I kicked you when I got out of the bathroom. Now go and get changed and whatnot while I go wake everyone up."

"Can I get a kiss first?" he asked, pouting his lips.

"No. Not until after you've brushed your teeth."

He whined, and then walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

I went to each of the bunks and woke everyone up. The hardest one to wake up was Johnny. One, because I needed to wake him up without bothering Becca, and he had his arms wrapped around her. And two, because Becca had stolen their blanket last night, so all I was looking at was Johnny's white ass. It was quite difficult to pull the blanket back over him when my back was turned to his bunk. I was in the middle of trying to cover him up so I could talk to him when he suddenly grabbed my arm.

"What the hell are you doing?" Johnny asked, letting go of my arm and pulling the blanket back over himself.

"Remember what all of us were gonna do today?" I asked, slowly turning around to make sure that Johnny was completely covered.

"Yeah, I remember. But why were you trying to grope me?" he asked with a smirk.

"I wasn't trying to grope you, and you know it. Don't flatter yourself, babe. Now get your ass ready to leave."

Johnny just laughed at my comment as he closed the curtain, and then I climbed into my bunk. I grabbed a clean pair of underwear, a clean bra, pair of jeans, a tank top, and a jacket. Just as I pulled on my clean undergarments, Zacky climbed into the bunk with me, and a mischievous grin spread across his face as he snapped the curtain shut.

"I see you're ready for me," he said as he began taking off his clean shirt.

"Slow down, cowboy. We gotta go to the mall in a bit. We gotta buy presents for Becca. Today's her birthday, remember?"

He slapped his forehead, and I took that as a sign for him not remembering. We finished getting dressed and met everyone else in the front area of the bus. Everyone except Becca, that is. We decided to spend a few extra hours in Indianapolis to go shopping for Becca's birthday, and we would still get to the next venue with plenty of time to spare.

We waited for about 10 more minutes when Johnny finally decided to join us, closing the hallway door behind him.

"You tell her we're leaving, man?" Jimmy asked, pulling on his sunglasses.

"I just left her a note. I didn't want to wake her. She's vicious when someone wakes her up," Johnny said, pulling on his jacket.

"Johnny fucking Christ is becoming a fucking softy!" Jimmy yelled.

"Shut the fuck up, llama boy, or I'll fucking kill you," Johnny said with a smirk as Jimmy gave him the finger for his llama comment.

After everyone made sure that they all had their phones and wallets, we headed off the bus and started the mile-long walk to the mall. When we got there, I was glad to see that hardly anyone was at the mall. I'm sure that the guys didn't feel like getting mauled by fans this early in the morning.

Once inside, everyone decided to stay with me, seeing as how no one, not even Matt, was sure what they were going to get Becca for her birthday.

I spotted the Spencer's store again, and immediately thought of a gag gift that I could get for her. I went into the store and made my way to the back, where I immediately spotted what I was looking for. Zacky grabbed my arm and spun me around when he realized what it was that I had picked up.

"Why are you buying a candy g-string?" he asked.

"It's for Becca. It's just a gag gift. I saw a Guns N Roses throw blanket type thing at a store in this mall yesterday, and I'm gonna get that for her too," I said as I walked up to the counter to pay for my "merchandise".

I think Zacky was disappointed when he realized that the g-string wasn't for me.

We walked back out of Spencer's and continued making our way through the mall with the rest of the guys. Matt and Sarah bought Becca a laptop computer, Zacky and I bought her this Guns N Roses throw blanket, Jimmy and Acey got her a shit-ton of new clothes, mainly band t-shirts, Brian decided that he was going to buy Becca an IPod (she's been wanting one forever), and Kaitlyn decided that she would pay for anything that Becca decided to do tonight. Whether it be drinking, dinner, or whatever. I looked at the gang, and my eyes landed on Johnny. He looked a little nervous, and he hadn't said a word since we got off the bus.

After about 2 hours of shopping, we decided to head to the upper floor to grab an early lunch. After we were finished eating, we decided to go back to the bus. I was walking right behind Zacky down a flight of stairs when Johnny suddenly stopped.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Zacky was right behind Johnny and didn't have time to notice that he had stopped, and ran into Johnny, almost making him fall forwards down the rest of the stairs.

"Sorry. Guys, can you go ahead and head back to the bus? I need to talk to Aileen alone for a bit," Johnny said.

Everyone gave him weird looks, myself included. But they just shrugged it off and everyone said their goodbyes, leaving Johnny and me standing alone in the middle of the staircase. Just as I was about to say something, my phone rang. It was Becca. She couldn't find the note that Johnny had left for her, and I told her that her boyfriend of limited height had taped it to her chest. We said our goodbyes, and then I hung up the phone.

I looked over at Johnny, and he just looked down at the stair and kicked at it.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You've been acting weird ever since we got off the bus this morning. You've hardly said two words to anyone. Now what is up?" I asked, pulling him the rest of the way down the stairs and sitting him on a nearby bench.

"Well.....I ummm....." he started.

"You have no fucking clue what to get Becca, do you?" I asked.

Johnny just looked at the floor as he shook his head.

"I thought so. Did you have anything in mind?"

"I wanted to get her a promise ring, or something along those lines. I'm just not sure what to look for."

I smiled. "I think I can help you there."

We made our way towards the only jewelry store in the mall, Helzburgs. As soon as we walked in, a salesperson came up to us. Last time I was in here, Becca had to practically beg someone to help her.

"Is there anything I can help you with this afternoon?" the saleslady asked. She was way too happy.

"Can you show us something along the lines of a promise ring?" Johnny asked quietly.

"Awww, how sweet. Is there anything in particular that you like, young lady?" the saleslady asked sweetly.

"Oh. It's not for me. It's for his girlfriend. He wanted to surprise her, and that's why she's not with us."

"I see. Let me show a few of our most popular promise rings." The lady ushered us over to a small glass case in the back corner of the store. There were a few that were okay looking, but there was a beautiful one that Becca would love. I'm gonna see if Johnny can do this on his own.

"You're gonna make me choose it on my own, aren't you?" he asked, almost like he could read my mind.

"Damn straight. She's your girlfriend, not mine. Besides, it'll mean more if she knows that you picked it out yourself," I said.

He stared at the glass case for a few moments, blew out a nervous breath, and then picked one out.

"That one. Right there. That's the one," he said, pointing to a ring towards the back of the case.

The ring he chose was a 24 karat white gold ring. It had a real sapphire stone in the middle, and it had a 14 karat diamond on either side of the sapphire. It was exactly the right size, too. Not too big, not too small. It was the exact one that I saw that I knew Becca would like.

"That's exactly the one I was looking at Johnny. Good choice," I said, giving him a pat on the back as he smiled.

"You're girlfriend has very good taste. Is there anything else I can get for you?"

Johnny just shook his head, and the saleslady led us over to the register.

"Alrighty then. Your total comes to $465.97."

"Johnny, are you sure you wanna spend that much on a ring?" I asked, shocked by this ring's price tag, although I was sure that it was way under priced.

He looked over at me. "Why wouldn't I be sure?" he asked.

"Because the most any boyfriend of Becca's has ever spent on her at one time was $30, I think."

"Well, fuck all her past boyfriends. Trust me, Aileen. She's well worth it."

Johnny paid for the ring, and then we left to make our way back to the bus. Becca's gonna shit herself when she sees this ring.

JOHNNY'S P.O.V. - EARLIER THAT MORNING

I woke up as someone was trying to pull the blanket over me. I turned over and noticed that it was Aileen trying to cover me up. I grabbed her arm.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked. I then let go of her arm, and pulled the blanket over my naked body.

"Remember what all of us were gonna do today?" she asked, then slowly turned around.

"Yeah, I remember. But why were you trying to grope me?" I asked with a smirk.

"I wasn't trying to grope you, and you know it. Don't flatter yourself, babe. Now get your ass ready to leave."

I just laughed as Aileen jumped up into her bunk, and I closed the curtain.

"What are you laughing at?" Becca asked, rolling over and barely opening her eyes.

"Well, I left my wallet at the mall yesterday. Aileen was up early, and answered my phone when the security office called. She was coming to tell me about it, but you stole the blanket from me during the night. All she saw when she opened the curtain was my white ass. I was joking around with her, saying that she was trying to grope me, and I found the whole thing very funny," I said, then leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose.

"Oh. How can you get your wallet back, though? I thought we were leaving to get to the next venue early?" she asked, sitting up and fully opening her eyes.

"Well, I can't leave without it, can I?"

"No, I guess you can't. When are you gonna go get it?" she asked.

"I was actually gonna go right away," I said as I slipped on a pair of boxers.

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No. You're gonna sleep as late as you want today. Today is your birthday, and I want you to relax. Now, go back to sleep, and I'll see you when we get back."

I kissed Becca's forehead, then climbed out of the bunk and shut the curtain. I grabbed my duffel from underneath my bunk, and then made my way back to the bathroom. It was kinda crowded in the hallway, as Aileen had already woken everyone up. Luckily, everyone else was already done with the bathroom. I walked into the bathroom, and did my morning routine. After I was finished brushing my teeth and washing my face, I picked out my clothes. I put on a black pair of pinstriped pants, and plain black button-up shirt, and a pair of black shoes. I guess you could say I was wearing some black today. I spiked up my 'hawk, grabbed a jacket, and put on a pair of sunglasses. I put my duffel back under the bunk, and grabbed a notebook and pen so I could write Becca a note, just in case she forgot that I was leaving. I scribbled down the note, and was gonna leave it on the bunk. I opened the curtain to the bunk, and noticed that Becca was already fast asleep, and sprawled out over the bunk. There was no room for me to leave the note on the bed, and she would kick it off if I did. Not thinking clearly for this early in the morning, I decided to tape it to her chest. I closed the bunk and sighed to myself. I felt bad for lying to her about my reason for going to the mall. But I wanted whatever I got her to be a surprise. In all actuality, I had no idea what I was gonna get her. I was thinking along the lines of a promise ring or something, but I had no idea what to look for. I was hoping with everything that I had that Aileen would be able to help me.

I walked out to the front of the bus with my jacket, and closed the hall door behind me.

"You tell her we're leaving, man?" Jimmy asked, pulling on his sunglasses.

"I just left her a note. I didn't want to wake her. She's vicious when someone wakes her up," I said as I pulled on my jacket.

"Johnny fucking Christ is becoming a fucking softy!" Jimmy yelled.

"Shut the fuck up, llama boy, or I'll fucking kill you," I said with a smirk, as Jimmy gave me the finger for my llama comment.

We walked off the bus, and made the mile-long walk to the mall. I hardly noticed the rest of the gang talking around me. My mind was extremely preoccupied with what I was gonna get Becca for her birthday. I was so deep in thought that I almost didn't notice that we had gotten to the mall. We walked in, and began shopping. For one reason or another, Aileen ended up getting Becca a candy g-string. Zacky was kinda upset that Aileen wasn't buying it for herself.

Matt and Sarah bought Becca a laptop computer, Zacky and Aileen bought her this Guns N Roses throw blanket (the candy g-string was a gag gift), Jimmy and Acey got her a shit-ton of new clothes, mainly band t-shirts, Brian decided that he was going to buy Becca an IPod (she's been wanting one forever), and Kaitlyn decided that she would pay for anything that Becca decided to do tonight. Whether it be drinking, dinner, or whatever. We have been at the mall for almost 2 hours, and I still hadn't bought Becca her birthday present. I looked at the gang, and my eyes landed on Aileen. She looked at me funny, and I just looked back in front of myself.

After about 2 hours of shopping, we decided to head to the upper floor to grab an early lunch. After we were finished eating, we decided to go back to the bus. I was walking right in front of Zacky down a flight of stairs when I suddenly stopped.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Zacky was right behind me and didn't notice that I had stopped, and ran into me, almost making me fall forwards down the rest of the stairs.

"Sorry. Guys, can you go ahead and head back to the bus? I need to talk to Aileen alone for a bit," I said.

Everyone gave me weird looks. But they just shrugged it off and everyone said their goodbyes, leaving Aileen and me standing alone in the middle of the staircase. Just as I was about to say something, Aileen's phone rang. It was Becca. She couldn't find the note I left for her, and Aileen told her that I had taped it to her chest. The girls said their goodbyes, and then Aileen hung up her phone.

Aileen looked at me, and I just looked down at the stair and kicked at it.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You've been acting weird ever since we got off the bus this morning. You've hardly said two words to anyone. Now what is up?" she asked, pulling me the rest of the way down the stairs and sitting me on a nearby bench.

"Well.....I ummm....." I started.

"You have no fucking clue what to get Becca, do you?" she asked.

I just looked at the floor and shook my head.

"I thought so. Did you have anything in mind?"

"I wanted to get her a promise ring, or something along those lines. I'm just not sure what to look for."

She smiled. "I think I can help you there."

We made our way towards the only jewelry store in the mall, Helzburgs. As soon as we walked in, a salesperson came up to us.

"Is there anything I can help you with this afternoon?" the saleslady asked. She was way too happy.

"Can you show us something along the lines of a promise ring?" I asked quietly.

"Awww, how sweet. Is there anything in particular that you like, young lady?" the saleslady asked sweetly, looking towards Aileen.

"Oh. It's not for me. It's for his girlfriend. He wanted to surprise her, and that's why she's not with us."

"I see. Let me show a few of our most popular promise rings." The lady ushered us over to a small glass case in the back corner of the store.

Aileen made me pick out the ring on my own. There was one in particular that reminded me of my girlfriend. It was a white gold ring that had a real sapphire stone in the middle, and there was a diamond on either side of the sapphire. I know that this isn't something that guys normally say, but the ring was abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous. Fucking stunning.

"That one. Right there. That's the one," I said, pointing to the ring with the sapphire stone.

The saleslady took the ring out of the case, and I didn't need anything else, so the saleslady led us over to the register.

"Alrighty then. Your total comes to $465.97," the saleslady said as she put the ring into a small black velvet box and set the box on the counter.

"Johnny, are you sure you wanna spend that much on a ring?" Aileen asked.

I looked over at her. "Why wouldn't I be sure?" I asked.

"Because the most any boyfriend of Becca's has ever spent on her at one time was $30, I think."

"Well, fuck all her past boyfriends. Trust me, Aileen. She's well worth it."

I paid for the ring, and then we left to make our way back to the bus. Becca's gonna shit herself when she sees this ring.

BECCA'S P.O.V.

I woke up after tossing and turning for about 2 hours. I rolled over, hoping that I would see Johnny, when all I saw was an empty bed. I was kinda worried because I figured that he'd be back from the mall by now. I put on a tank top and some boxers, and went to check the rest of the bus. I couldn't find anyone anywhere, and I started to panic. I called Aileen, and she answered after the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Where the fuck are you guys?" I screamed into the receiver.

"Johnny and I are still at the mall, and the rest of the gang is headed back to the bus. Why? Didn't you get Johnny's note?"

"There was no note anywhere," I said, starting to calm down a little.

"Johnny, where the fuck did you leave that note?" I heard Aileen say. "Why the fuck did you put it there?"

There was a few seconds of silence, and then Aileen spoke again.

"Your boyfriend of limited height says that he taped it to your chest."

I looked down my shirt and noticed that a note was indeed taped to my chest. I laughed to myself, wondering why I hadn't noticed it there before. I said goodbye to Aileen, and decided to take a shower after hanging up my phone. I grabbed a clean pair of undergarments, some clean shorts, and a clean shirt, then made my way to the bathroom. I had just got out of the shower and put on my clean clothes and started to make my way back to the bunk when I noticed that everyone had come back to the bus.

"Hey guys," I said, taking a seat on Johnny's lap. "When did you guys get back?"

"Well, we all got back about 20 minutes ago, after you had gotten in the shower. Aileen and Johnny got back about 15 minutes after us," Jimmy said, opening a beer and taking a drink.

"Becca, it's your birthday. It's all about you today. What do you want to do?" Acey asked me.

"Well, I know what I want to do later, but it's too early for that. I just wanna chill until then," I said.

"Okay. We're gonna watch some movies then. Break out Jack and pop in "Night Of the Living Dead!" Zacky yelled, running into the back room where all the alcohol and the TV was.

We all laughed at Zacky's stupidity, and followed him into the back room and took our places around the TV. It was 1:30 when we started watching movies, and we just sat around, doing abso-fucking-lutely nothing until 8:30 that night.

"Alright, Becca. It's 8:30, so where the fuck do you wanna go?" Acey asked me, standing up and turning off the television.

"Well, I wanna go to Midnight Rodeo for awhile," I said, a grin making itself known.

"Why the fuck would you wanna go there? It's a fucking strip joint. Are you a lesbian?" Brian asked, a little perplexed.

"I happen to know, for a fact, that she's not a lesbian," Johnny said, giving me a peck on the nose.

"I wanna go there because I feel like it. Yes, it's a strip club, and, no, I'm not a lesbian. I'm comfortable enough with myself that I can watch naked dancers. I just wanna go to a place where there's naked dancers and alcohol," I said, getting off the couch and making my way to the bunk to get ready.

"You have the coolest girlfriend ever, Christ. She'll go to strip clubs with you. That's fucking awesome!" Jimmy said, slapping Johnny on the back and climbing into his own bunk.

After about 45 minutes, we were all ready to go. We were already in the city for the next show, which was Chicago. And we had tonight, plus tomorrow night off. Fucking awesome, if you ask me.

We walked down a nearby street, and we were at the club within 15 minutes. Once we were inside the building, we had to stand in front of the guys and force them to stay inside. See, I forgot to mention the little detail that Midnight Rodeo was a male strip club, and the rest of them, except for the girls, didn't know that.

"There's no fucking way we're staying here," the guys said, and tried to make their way past us and out the door.

"I don't think so. You're staying here with us, and that's final," Acey said, shoving Jimmy back through the door.

The guys reluctantly made their way over to the only available table in the place, right next to the stage. The looks on the guys' faces was fucking priceless. They looked like they were gonna throw up. I wish I had a camera for that.

"You guys so owe us some ass later on," Jimmy said, crouching as low as possible into his chair, as were the rest of the guys.

"True story," the rest of the guys said in unison.

A few minutes later, a waiter came over and took our drink orders. Us girls decided to have some fun with the guys and flirt with our waiter. Aileen was laying it on pretty thick, and Zacky was getting a little jealous, obviously not getting the hint that her flirting was fake.

"You guys fucking suck," Zacky said, sitting up in his chair and wrapping his arm around Aileen's waist as the waiter left our table to get our drinks. "Flirting with the waiter? And how could you make us sit in this place with you? I am uncomfortable as fuck right now, assholes."

We just laughed, and our drinks soon arrived. None of the guys drank a lot, probably to make sure that they didn't get so drunk they ended up making out with a guy. If that happened, I would laugh my ass off, and just let it be.

By the end of the night, each of the girls had gotten about 3 'special dances' from the male strippers, and we even paid 5 of the dancers extra to give the guys lap dances. I have never laughed so fucking hard in my lifetime.

To keep the guys from exploding, we decided to take them to a titty bar, to get them to loosen up, because I thought they were gonna throw up from the previous place we had been to. You better believe that they drank like there was no tomorrow. We were all buzzed, but not drunk, by the time we left the second bar.

After we got back to the bus, everyone decided that they were gonna give me my presents. Acey and Jimmy got me a shitload of new clothes, mainly a bunch of band stuff, Aileen and Zacky got me this Guns N Roses throw blanket, Matt and Sarah got me a laptop computer, and Brian and Kaitlyn paid for all my drinks and stuff tonight, plus they got me an IPod.

"Thank you so much guys. I love it." I got up and went around the room, giving everyone hugs for all their stuff. Acey was the last one that I got to, and she gave me one of her trademark bear hugs.

"Becca, wait. There's one more thing that you haven't been given yet," Aileen said, then made me sit down on the couch. I was confused about what was going on, but everyone else had smiles on their faces, and obviously knew what was going on.

Johnny suddenly appeared out of the bunk area, and he was sweating bullets. He walked over to me, and sat down on my side, looking deep into my eyes.

"Becca, hon. There's something I wanna tell you."

A lump formed in my throat. I stole looks from everyone else in the room, and they all had huge smiles on their faces. What the fuck is going on?

"I know that we haven't been dating for that long, but I love you more than I have ever loved any other woman in my life. I know that it's too early for marriage, but I wanted to give you this."

He pulled a small black velvet box out of his pocket, and opened it. I gasped at what was inside the box. It was a beautiful white gold ring, with a sapphire stone, and diamonds on it. I put my hand over my mouth, and looked back into Johnny's eyes.

"I wanted to give this ring to you, as a symbol of my love. I love you, and nothing will ever change that. I want you to wear this, and promise me that you'll always be mine." Johnny then slipped the ring on my finger. My hand was still over my mouth, and a few tears slid down my cheeks.

I sat in silence for a few minutes looking at the ring. I wanted to be with him forever, but I was just so overwhelmed by what was going on that I couldn't move.

"Dude, I think you fucking broke her!" Jimmy yelled.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little overwhelmed, is all," I said, finally taking my eyes off the ring and looking back at Johnny.

"So, what do you say?" he asked.

"I love you Johnny. Of course I'll be yours forever." I leaned over and kissed him, a huge smile appearing on both our faces.

We stood up and everyone clapped for us. The girls came over to hug me and cry from happiness, and the guys went over to Johnny to congratulate him on finally settling down.

It was midnight, and I was exhausted. Johnny and I decided to go to bed while everyone else stayed up to play cards. I stripped down to my underclothes and climbed into the bunk, Johnny doing the same. I layed down, facing the window, but Johnny flipped me over so that I was facing him before he shut the curtain and placed the blanket over us.

"So, did you like your present that I got you?" he asked as he lightly stroked my face.

"I absolutely loved it," I said with a huge smile.

He smiled himself, and then leaned over to kiss me. This wasn't an ordinary kiss. It was filled with lust and passion. We layed there in a heated make-out session for almost 20 minutes when I noticed Johnny break the kiss to roll over and zip the curtain shut.

"Tonight too?" I asked as he rolled back over.

"Why not?" he asked as he started to nip at my neck.

I thought to myself 'did I even need to ask'? He moved his lips back to mine, as our hormones took control.