Textbook Romance

"Why're we stopped?" Craig asked as I bounded through the backdoor.

I grinned. "For food. So get your lazy asses up and come eat with Max and I."

It only took one word for the three of them to heave themselves up off of the couch and race out of the room. I laughed and followed behind them, slipping into a pair of shoes that were laying on the floor by the bunks. I didn't know whose they were, but they weren't too much bigger than my own size. I assumed by the smile on Max's lips that the beaten pair belonged to him.

I grinned in reply and took his hand, letting him lead me off of the bus behind the guys. We were parking the back of a parking lot that belonged to a truck stop that had a Hardy's connected to it.

"I'm so hungry," I whined, shaking my head at the smell of food.

Max laughed and held the door open for me. I bounced on the back of my heels as a late night waitress came walking over to us.

"Table for six?" she asked, her eyes raking over our motley group.

I nodded my head eagerly. "Yes, just us."

We followed her down to a large booth. I thanked her and scooted all the way in with Max next to me and Craig to my left. I grabbed a menu that she'd left on the table and looked it over. The bus driver, Tobin, had come in too when I offered and didn't take no for an answer.

Max's arm was slung over my shoulder as we shared a menu, trying to decide what we wanted.

"I thought you weren't hungry?" I asked with a smirk.

Max looked down to me and licked his lips. "That's when I thought we were going to retreat to my bunk," he said, laughing loudly at the end as I smacked his arm.

"Asshole," I replied, shaking my head at him. I then turned my attention back to the menu and picked out exactly what I wanted. I continued to hold the menu up for Max as he looked over his options.

The waitress came back about ten minutes later and plastered a fake smile on her lips. "I'm Rachel, I'll be your server tonight. What can I get you?"

I took the initiative to order first, seeing as this outing had been my idea in the first place. "I want a cheeseburger," I told her, "Medium rare with fries."

She wrote it down and looked at our group, waiting for the next person to order. We went around in a circle, each telling her our meals and asking for her to hurry. I grinned as she walked away, telling us that she'd have our orders out as soon as possible.

"Where are we headed next?" I asked the guys, watching as they all turned to Tobin.

The thirty-something grinned and chuckled. "We're headed to Jersey for one more show before heading back out to Pennsylvania for a couple more shows."

"Philli?" I asked, watching as Tobin nodded his head.

"Yeah, why?"

"That's where my parents live," I told all of them, watching as they nodded their heads.

"Are you going to meet up with them?" Craig questioned, obviously not knowing about the tension that surrounded my family and I.

"No," I told him, "My mom and I haven't talked since before I left for this tour and my Dad and I... well, we've never really been close."

"Why's that?" Craig asked, leaning his elbow on the table as he turned towards me even more.

"When my brother died my dad kind of shut himself off to the world. He doesn't really care about anything or anyone anymore," I told them all, watching as their expressions turned to ones of pity. "It's okay," I added, "After my brother died I stopped caring about my parents too."

Robert gave me a weird look. "Why?" he asked simply, a question nobody had bothered to ask me before.

"I changed a little bit before my brother died. They weren't willing to except that so I started rebelling against them and everything they wanted to for my life."

"What did they want?" Max asked as he played with the ends of my chestnut colored hair.

I laughed at the memory of the day my mother told me her plans for my life. "They wanted me to marry some guy. He was the kid of someone my dad worked with. They told me that he was going to be a lawyer and that we were basically going to live happily ever after." I couldn't help but let out a chortle as I thought about the imaginary happy ending to my life.

"Marry?" Craig repeated with a bewildered look on his face, "They set up a marriage?"

I laughed and shook my head. "It wasn't like that. They just wanted me to get to know the boy, to see if I liked him. I already knew I wouldn't so I didn't even bother. He was some stuck up rich kid," I told them with a laugh, seeing all the shocked expressions on their faces.

"That's fucking psycho," Max murmured in my ear. "To set you up with some little prick."

I chuckled and shrugged. "It wasn't like I didn't have a choice, guys," I tried to explain so they wouldn't think I was stuck in some Elizabethan time period. "If I didn't have any options I wouldn't have ended up here, with five guys, eating food in some run down Denny's in the middle of the night."

The guys laughed and I caught their eyes. When the laughter died down I turned to face Max, who asked, "What would you be doing?"

I grinned at him and shook my head. "Probably planning my wedding or popping out a baby."

Laughter erupted again.

"You could have my babies anytime, Nev."

The guys chuckled as I smacked Max. "No thanks."

"What?" Max asked, "Why not?"

I didn't even bother with a reply and I just shook my head at him. He asked once more why not, but I just moved onto another conversation with the guys, leaving Max feeling left out and confused.

"Nev!" Max shouted a couple minutes later as the waitress came over with another, carrying our plates on large black trays.

"What Max?" I asked with an amused smile on my lips.

He stopped short and looked at me. "Why won't you have my fucking babies?"

The waitresses were looking at us with concealed interest, probably feeling like they walked over at a bad moment. I took the grin off of my face automatically, decided I needed to spice things up a little bit.

"Why won't I?" I asked, making my expression one of seriousness, "I'm already fucking pregnant, Max," I said, folding my arms over my chest, "But you already knew that didn't you. That's why you went out with that other woman and sent me pictures of the two of you together. You knew that I didn't want this, that I didn't want to be tied down to you, and you're trying to show me that I'm stuck with you but you can run out on me, aren't you?"

Max gave me a bewildered look that matched the faces of those around us. I moved my eyes to the waitresses and watched as he caught on quickly. He started shaking his raven head automatically. "Baby, no, that wasn't it at all. She took the pictures, she sent them to you. She knew that we were having a rough time. I told her that I loved you, that I wanted to be with you, but she wouldn't take no for answer."

I shook my head and pushed his arm off of me. "I'm sorry," I said, "But now I'm afraid it's too late."

Max looked confused. "Too late for what?"

I scooted just a little bit closer to Craig as the waitress tried to get our attention. "Too late to take back what I've done, Baby."

"What did you do?"

"I slept with Craig..."

The table was silent as the guys tried to hold back their laughter. Max audibly gasped and scooted as far away from me as the table and the guys would allow. I looked down to my lap as Craig's arms wrapped around my waist, his hand resting on my flat stomach. It was a moment later that I looked up to the waitresses who were now awkwardly setting our plates down in front of who they belonged to.

"Thank you," I told the waitress as she set my big plate down in front of me without making eye-contact.

When the waitresses were done and had walked away, I started laughing quickly and stopped just as fast, knowing they were probably watching from somewhere and talking about what they'd just witnessed. It was like a real-life soap-opera.

I grinned and disentangled myself from Craig. I cut my burger in half and picked it up, grinning at Max as he grinned at me. We talked noisily as we ate, each of us scarfing down the food we'd wanted since before the show. The waitresses only came back when we called for them, but when I had gotten up to use the restroom halfway through my meal I listened in to the girls in the bathroom, rambling on about me.

"Two men?" one said, "That's just disgusting."

"Yeah," replied the other one, "And did you see those guys? They probably don't have a dollar to their name."

"Oh no," the other stated, "They pulled up in a tour bus. They're in a band."

"Do you think they're rich?"

"Probably. What poor band has a huge tour bus?"

"You're right. Maybe I should snag one for myself."

They both laughed and made a few more comments before I flushed the toilet and made myself known. Their eyes were wide as I emerged from the stall, moving between them to wash my hands at the sink.

They were both quiet as I looked at them in the mirror. Then I laughed and shook my head in an eery way. "They're not into girls like you," I told them, glancing over their designer clothes. "They like girls who play rough."

"We're sorry-" one started.

I shrugged. "Don't worry about it. They were just words. I'm the one who gets to tour the country in a bus with five very gorgeous men."

The one who apologized asked, "Are you really pregnant?"

I wavered for a moment, wondering if I should really tell them the truth. Then I shook my head no. "No, I just like messing with one of them," I said, "I didn't really sleep with the other one either, he's just a friend."

"Well you sounded like a flusy," the silent one said, sounding rude and causing me to laugh.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I wouldn't care even if I was one," I said, "I'm just having a little fun with the boys." With that I turned and walked out of the bathroom, wiping my wet hands on my pants as I headed back to the table. For the rest of the dinner I curled up into Max's side, stealing his fries since Craig and I had eaten all of mine.

The nice woman walked over, bringing our check as we finished. She set it on the head of the table but then handed it to me when I held my hand out for it.

Max snorted with laughter. "How are you going to pay for this? We don't pay you damn near enough."

I grinned and kissed his jaw. "Well maybe you should start paying me more."

Max laughed and shook his head. "Or maybe I could just take care of the bill." He reached out and snagged it from my grasp. He glanced at it before shuffling to lift his ass off of the cushioned seat.

"I've got it," I said as I reached into his back pocket and yanked his wallet out, handing it to him.

"Thank you," he said.

"No problem," I beamed.