Cover Story Now in Stores

I was sure this is what I needed to do. Three months ago, I would have said I was crazy. Nearly a year ago, I would have said I was crazy. Man, I've been in and out of this relationship with Pete for almost a year now. Can you believe it? I know I can't.

I stood in the empty parking lot and waited for the bus to pull up. After six months of being a soon-to-be-mom, three months in a hosiptal while I was asleep, and nearly a total of three months to myself, I needed a tour. That's it. And this time, I've got one of my friends from back in Florida and his bands to go on tour with.

His bus pulled into the lot, and Dev, Matty, Autumn, and Sonny stood up and cheerd. Ok, so really only Dev and I knew Travis and the boys from We The Kings, but everyone was excited. By the way, we're also going on tour with The Academy Is.... again.

The WTK bus stopped and another one pulled in behind it. The second one was ours, seeing as TAI bus had already arrived. William and Sisky were standing against the store as Travis ran off the bus and englufed me in a huge hug.

"Oh my god, it's little Paigey Katy!" he screamed. I giggled. "You've gotten.....older, in a good way!" he said. I smiled.

"So have you, Travie!" I said. Just then, Hunter, Drew, and Danny all filed out of the bus and surrounded Dev and I. "My Boys!" I yelled. It was really nice to see a group of kids from home. And I hadn't seen them in.........five, almost six years.

They all started saying how good I looked, considering I had just had a miscarrige. I was talking to Travis while my phone started ringing, 'Life Is Beautiful' by Sixx A.M. being the ring tone of the moment. I looked at the ID. Panda bear.

"Hello?" I asked, bringing the phone to my ear. Travis held my arm, letting me know that he was there for me if something was going to upset me. And, even if he is a few years younger than I am, I always knew he'd be a really good friends, forever and always.

"Hey," Pete whispered. What did he want now, of all times? "What are you doing?" he asked. I sighed. Did he really need a play-by-play? Couldn't I be a big girl just this once?

"Talking to Travis. Is that a problem?" I asked. I couldn't help but have an attitude. He's been like this ever since he insisted I move back in with him. Of course, I had my way too, saying that I must stay in the guest room until I came back from tour. The truth to that was that I wasn't at all ready to fully forgive him for making me wait six, almost seven antagonizingly long months with his kid while he showed off his new toy. I wanted him to suffer.

"No. I just wanted to see what you were up to before Hem and I headed off to bed." he said innocently. It wasn't that cute innocent. It was the 'oh my god, just get over yourself' innocence. The kind that screamed 'you have no reason to be mad at me right now'. And I guess I wasn't really mad. I was just....aggravated.

I sighed. "Ok. Well, good night. Make sure Hem knows not to let those damned bed bugs bite!" I said. I guess me having a negative attitued towards the whole thing won't make things better. He chuckeled on the line.

"Will do. And Paige? I love you." he said. I gulped. I know I said I loved him in the hospital. But was I ready right now? I could feel my heart race once the words flowed through my ear, and I could hear the beat in my ears. But was I ready to tell Pete I still loved him? I'll give it a try.

"I-I love you too, Pete." hey, that wasn't that bad. Actually, it felt....nice. It felt real. It made me feel whole. And I could almost hear him smile through the reciever.

Travis looked at me and smiled. I'm guessing that he was thinking, 'Good, she's alright!'. Pete sighed.

"Good night. Bye." he said and hung up. I guess that's as good as we're going to get right now. Anyway, I turned back to Travis just to have Danny run over and yell in our faces, "BUS TIME! WE GOTTA HEAD OUT!", then run back to his bus.

Travis and I stood up. He hugged me and whispered, "I hope things get better between you and the dude.", then he pulled back a little. I smiled at him.

"Travis, I'll try to make it better, don't worry about me." I told him. Then I looked back at Danny, Drew, and Hunter. "And whatever you do, don't let Danny get ahold of the Rockstar. He's gonna burst at any moment." I told him. He laughed and hugged me again before heading off to his bus, and I walked to mine.

Matty had pulled everyone's luggage onto the bus and put it in the front room. I could see Matty, Dev, and Sonny stuffing their crap into their usual bunks and noticed we were missing someone.

"Where's Autumn?" I asked. Sonny let out a chuckle.

"She went to torture Mike, Chiz, Sisky, and Butcher." Dev answered. Oh. She went to torture them. Riiiiight.

"Ahh." I said, dragging my suit case to my bunk. I opened my little back-pack that was on my, well, back and took out the same picture that I always toured with. My picture of Pete and Hemingway. The picture I held onto dear life with. And I put it in the same place I did every time I toured. In the screen of the little pop-out dvd player that I never watched, but always had hanging down.

I smiled at it. Pete had taken it right after the CD came out, just about the only time since he'd signed us that he wasn't in Wisconsin with me. And it was nice to have something to remind me that, almost a year ago now, I was madly, overly-obsessed with what we had. Well, I guess I'm going to have to build that back up.

I laid in the bunk and looked at the picture. I could remember the first day he actaully made contact with me. The day, almost two and a half years ago now, that Pete called me to tell me he'd be coming home with Andy to listen to us play. I could remember the first time I saw him, standing no more than five feet from me, right out my door.

I remember our first date, at the TAI concert, and me, singing onstage with William and the boys, who were now just a couple buses up from me. I remember Ryland and his little scheme. I remember telling Pete I loved him for the first time. I remember loosing my virginity. I remember going home for the Winter, my birthday, Christmas, Hannukah, and the news that Pete and I were going on Different tours at the same time.

I rememberd moving in with Pete. How much love we shared for each other then. I remembered having my first Sunny winter in almost six years. I remembered spending New Years at the Wentz house in Chicago, metting Pete's family, and most of all, impressing his mom in a few short hours.

I remembered actually having to leave Pete for Tour, meeting Hayley, Jeremy, Josh, Zac, Quinn, Dan, Bert, and Jeph. I remembered getting the article from Vicky T about Gabe and his ass-holeness. I remembered hooking Dev and Jeremy up. I remembered trying to have Pete consult me about his dreams, casing him two very broken legs and me one very bad case of amniseia.

I remembered finally getting my memory back and making sweet love to the man that was taking care of me, and had been for months. I rememberd Cassie, the cancer victim that I made happy. I rememberd getting pregnant, mostly. I remembered Pete throwing me out, taking a cab to the hotel, and living there for five months without contact.

And that's all that's happened in almost two years, up until now.