Beginnings Aren't So Simple

Roxi woke up, jumping in terror from the dream. She found that her hair was sweaty and her bangs were clinging to her head. She involuntarily groaned and threw the covers off herself.

"Mmm?" She heard Kevin say groggily.

"Sorry if I woke you up, Kev," she amplified her cracked voice while pushing back her privacy curtain and viewing the clock reading 12:23 PM.

"It's okay, I should be getting up," Kevin replied, swinging his legs out of his bunk, Roxi mirroring his actions.

"Sleep well?" Roxi inquired, taking her hairbrush out of her bag and limping over to her crutches.

"I guess so," Kevin said, stretching. "How about you?"

Roxi shuddered mentally. "I had a strange dream. Must have been something I ate."

Kevin laughed, and they both went to join Joe and Nick near the plug-in television.

"Hey, guys," they both greeted, and the two brothers nodded.

Roxi took a breath, breathing in the stuffy air of the R.V.

"Are we in Jersey?" She asked.

"Yeah," Nick grinned. "We got here at seven-ish."

"Okay, well, is it okay if I get outside for awhile? I need some air," Roxi said, pulling on a sweatshirt.

"That's fine," Kevin said. "By the way, your Aunt told me to tell you that she's checking out a local resale-sort of shop to find clothes for you guys."

Roxi's mouth opened. "She went without me? Oh, she'll pay," she muttered, somewhat jokingly stomping out of the R.V., her crutches making a loud noise.

She leaned against the side of it, breathing slowly. She noticed they were stopped near a small town, with trees dotting the scenery and small shops and a 'town square' sort of place in front of them.

She started to get her camera out and turning it on to take a picture for Alexa, who made her promise that "she'd better send good pictures back." She also took out a small wallet-sized picture of Alexa and her and held it up to the scenery in front of her. The picture was when the two of them had taken a picture in a photo booth, and one of them had come out completely classic. After snapping the picture and smiling subconsciously, she looked to her right and saw a small crowd of people about 30 feet away from the bus. About three of them were smiling, whispering, and pointing subtly at her.

She raised an eyebrow, and silently prayed they were pointing at the tour bus, and not her. She started believing herself, until the crowd grew about ten or fifteen more people and they started making their way toward her. She sighed in annoyance.

"Hi, erm," one girl with curly black hair said, "you're Roxi Madison, right?"

"Sure," Roxi replied, not wanting to give them much information.

Once they heard her reply, they started crowding around her and asking bunches of questions.

"What was it like when Joe held you like that?"

"Where were you guys going?"

"Yeah!"

"I hear Kevin likes you too!"

Roxi physically covered her ears. "Stop!"

They all stared at her, and she growled quietly.

"None of that shit is true. None of it, alright?"

She stormed back into the bus, but not before a few fans could snap a few pictures of her, her hand covering her mouth, and her eyes tearing up.

She hadn't had a panic attack in a few years... but she'd never had to live with the stress of knowing the Jonases, either.