Spinning.

The next few days flew by. We went to the beach, to the zoo, and to a couple concerts, as well as spent a day at Disney Land with Andrew and Kelly. Tuesday morning came like routine-- get up, eat breakfast, get ready for the day. Once again I stared at my closet, trying to decide what to wear. Remembering John would be there, I decided I needed to look especially good, just in case. He was pretty close to my age, if my memory served me right, so I was determined to at least look cute if I was going to be around someone who hadn't really left my mind. After tearing apart the closet, I decided on a flannel shirt over a white dress, with my black boots and a beanie over my wavy hair. I felt really comfortable with my outfit, so I went with it. Walking out into the living room, I went to go get some coffee before going to my meeting.

“Someone's looking HOT!” Ava giggled as she gave me the once-over. “Who's the guy!?”

“There's no guy!” I lied. “It's just a meeting with the label!”

“Are you sure that one of the guys from the label isn't some smoking hot guy that you're going to fall madly in love with?”

I rolled my eyes. “I'm positive, there will be no hunks there that I will fall in love with.” Ava shot a look at me, unconvinced by my response. I raised my eyebrow at her, and she sighed in defeat.

“Well try to enjoy yourself! Your meeting sounds awfully monotonous.”

“It will be,” I laughed. “I'll do my best.”

The drive from my apartment to Warner was alright, but I became nervous at the possibility of seeing John again. I don't even know why I was so nervous, since I wasn't about to get with him or anything, but I was. I greeted the receptionist as I walked in, who directed me on what room to go to. I went into the elevator, up to the conference room, and walked in. Carolyn and Alice were there, as well as Tim and someone else who I didn't recognize. Carolyn ushered for me to sit down next to her, between her and Alice. Tim and the unknown man were fervently discussing sports, while Carolyn and Alice caught up with me on what I had been doing with my family while they were in town. A minute later, the door opened again and the guys from The Maine walked in. I waved to them and smiled.

“Hey guys,”

“Hey Beret,” was the general response from them as they sat down. As soon as they sat down, one of the label executives came in.

“Hello everyone!” He greeted us as he sat down. The next hour was potentially one of the most boring meetings in my life. We did an in-depth go-over of every city we would be stopping in, every venue we would be playing in, and every place we would be hitting up for publicity. I did my best to feign interest, but the longer the meeting went on the more bored I became. Occasionally I would catch myself looking at John, sitting across from me with a slightly wrinkled flannel shirt toothpick dancing between his teeth. He seemed like he was interested, or at least trying to be interested. I zoned back into the conversation, with great timing.

“So after your stop in Wisconsin, then we were thinking that you all could do a full Minnesota run-through, since that's Beret's home state and it would be a good way to rally the fan base there. We were thinking publicity in Mankato on the thirteenth, then a show in Minneapolis on Valentine's day, then a show in Duluth on the fifteenth, and then from there you can head up to Winnipeg. Does that seem like too much Minnesota to you, Beret?”

I shook my head. “That sounds like a good plan. Especially since I grew up so close to Mankato, then I can stop home and see my family and friends before we keep going. A lot of people from the northern half of the state would have to drive four or five hours to see a show if it were only in Minneapolis so including Duluth was a good idea.”

“Perfect. So up into Thunder Bay...” he continued on, but I zoned out again. Essentially, this was going to be an intense tour. Between the United States and Canada we would be stopping in 50 cities. Every week and a half we would get three or four days off of playing shows to hang out and do whatever. There were other breaks where we'd have a day or two off between shows. Overall we'd spend three months on this massive tour, breaks included. Even on some of my days off though, Carolyn informed me, I would be doing interviews and television appearances, so I should be prepared to have my hands very full.

I was excited at the prospect of getting back on the road again-- it's a lot easier to avoid people like the paparazzi when you're waking up in a new city every morning. I was even more excited to be playing shows again-- the thrill of getting up on stage and listening to people sing along the words to your songs, being able to meet the people who are making this all possible by listening, coming out to shows, and spreading the word to others. I was also looking forward to getting to know The Maine more-- with three months on the road I would have plenty of time to become friends with all of them. I was thrilled at that prospect.

“We should have both bands exchange personal contact information before we go, that way if you guys want to get a hold of each other you know where to go.” I snapped back into the conversation as Carolyn spoke.

“Yeah, that's actually a fantastic idea.” Tim agreed with her.

After some debate, we decided the simplest way would be for me to just tell them my phone number, then have them all text me with their names. Not even thirty seconds after I told them, I was being bombarded with text messages from them. I began rapidly programming them into my phone as Alice and Matt (the unknown guy, The Maine's publicist) started talking about publicity appearances.

Finally the meeting finished, and we were allowed to go.

“So what's the plan for your family today?” Carolyn asked me as we walked out the door.

“Just hang out, relax, my mom and Ava and I are going to hit the spa up while the boys go golfing.” I told her.

“Sounds like a relaxing day. You don't get a lot of those.”

“No, no I don't.” I laughed. “It has been so great to have them around, thank you so much for bringing them out here.”

“Not a problem, I figured you would really like a break from all of this.”

As we got down to the car, I got a text message from John.

”We were thinking that we should get to know each other before we head out on the road. Are you busy on Friday?”

My heart was pounding in my chest. I wasted no time texting him back. ”Not in the evening, in the morning my family is flying back home and the afternoon is filled with a magazine interview and photo shoot.”

“Want to get dinner that night? You can pick the place, since you have people following you around.”

“I'm fine with wherever. Or if you'd like you guys can just come to my apartment and I can get the chef to make us dinner.”

“You have a chef?”

“I have access to one, but I've never used it. My building's got a lot of stuff like that.”

“That's awesome. We'll do that then.”

“I'll meet you guys in the lobby at 7? I live in the W Hollywood. It's on the corner of Sunset and Vine, impossible to miss. Just don't go into the hotel.”

“Sounds good. We'll see you then.”

“What are you grinning about?” Carolyn looked at me.

“Nothing, just set up some fun plans for Friday night.” She made a face. “Don't worry, they involve people coming to my apartment.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the guys are going to come over for dinner so we can get to know each other.”

“That'll be good! Since you'll be spending three months on the road together, you may as well know what you're getting yourself into.” She was looking over her notes as we rode back to my apartment, her words almost coming out as an afterthought.

“So you can post about the tour dates being added on Saturday, we just have to call back and confirm with all the venues what our plans are. Maybe do a vlog? Makes it a little more personal. Then you can tweet the link as well.” She informed me, focusing on the business.

“Sounds like a plan.” As we pulled up to my apartment, I was itching to just get to the spa, more importantly Ava and my mom. I was dying for girl time, and the afternoon full of facials, massages, mani/pedi's, and just unwinding in general was what I wanted.



The Friday that I had to say goodbye to my parents and Ava would have sucked a lot more if I wasn't meeting up with The Maine that night. I had finally told Ava about my encounter with John at the Warner party at that point-- she egged me on, saying that unless he told me he had a girlfriend I should totally go for it. Over the last week, I had been to the beach, to the zoo, to the spa, to three concerts, to two film studios, to DisneyLand, and for some reason it was more tiring than my weeks that are spent working.

I had arranged for a housekeeper to come clean when I took my family and Ava to the airport. I wanted the place to look great when they arrived-- we had decided that instead of having the chef make us food we could make it ourselves (Garrett swore he made a mean pizza), then we could spend the evening playing the wii I picked up earlier in the week, or we could go find something to do in the area.

When I got home from the airport, my place was spotless-- all of the dishes were done, floor was swept, the windows were cleaned, everything was dusted, the bed made and the couches cleaned. The table was pre-set, with the place mats under them fresh. The housekeeper had even brought in fresh flowers as a centerpiece for the table. I surveyed the surroundings, pleased with the work she had done. I sent the personal shopper out to get the groceries that Garrett had requested for home made pizza, and the receipt for them was sitting on the counter. Taking off for the photo shoot and interview, I had knots in my stomach for the evening-- I was so nervous and excited to get to know them at the same time, and I couldn't stop thinking about John.

The interview was smooth sailing-- the questions were ones I had answered plenty of times before, and after being hounded with cameras everywhere I went it was pretty easy to adjust to having my picture taken in a controlled setting, especially since I already know what looked good and what didn't. As soon as it was done, I rushed back to my house to get more comfortable before they arrived. After going over my outfit for the 500th time, I went into the studio to kill time until they finally showed up.

At 6:45, I couldn't keep myself occupied in my apartment any longer, so I went down to the lobby to wait for them. Kyle was working again, so I struck up a conversation while we waited.

“Hey Kyle!” I walked up to the desk where he was working.

“Hey Beret, what's up?” He smiled at me.

“Not too much, just waiting for a few friends to come over.”

“Who are the friends?”

“Umm do you know the band The Maine?”

“Yeah, they're on the radio a lot.”

“Well they're coming over and we're going to get to know each other a bit better, since we're going o be working together in a few months.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it should be cool.”

“What are you guys going to do?”

“Well we're making pizza, like from scratch, so we'll see how it goes, but then we're just going to chill. I just got a wii, so that'll be fun I think. I've never really played so if nothing else it'll be funny.”

Right as I finished speaking, I noticed Kennedy come into view from the doors. Moments later, Garrett, John, Jared, and Pat also appeared. They entered quickly, doing their best to avoid the paparazzi patrolling the area.

“Hey guys!” I waved to them.

“Hey Beret!” Garrett was the first to respond. “This is a really nice place.” He took in the lobby, which was lavishly decorated.

“Yeah, it's a pretty fancy.” I chuckled, “Shall we head up?”

The guys agreed, and waving goodbye to Kyle I led them up to where I lived. Walking in, they “oohed” and ”ahhed” at the apartment.

“Sooo... welcome to my place!” I laughed. “We could start making pizza, then eat it outside on the terrace, since it's so nice out. We can really do whatever.” I probably seemed really relaxed on the outside, but I was crazy nervous on the inside. I had so many butterflies and I was so excited about knowing all of them, especially John, who I kept catching staring at me.

“That sounds like a good plan.” Jared shrugged. “It'll all get done sooner or later.”

And with that, we went into the kitchen, where I started pulling out all of the ingredients to make the dough, as well as all of the available toppings to put on them. Garrett began directing us all on what to do, and it wasn't long until we had a ton of pizza dough rising on the counter. While we waited for the dough to rise, we went in and hooked up their wii to the TV to play.

“I've never played wii, so I apologize in advance if I'm horrible.” I joked.

“Well we'll just go easy on you to start.” John replied, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

“Judging by that face, no you won't.” I laughed at him, as he pouted at my comment.

“Damn John, she already doesn't trust you... then again, she's a quick learner.” Kennedy winked at me. They walked me through how to make my mii, then we dove into wii sports, John coaching me on how to play. It didn't take me long to pick up on the different sports, my strength being in wii tennis. Watching the guys play was hilarious-- they would try and sabotage each other's games by grabbing people who were playing so they couldn't move, or by shouting lewd comments to distract each other. It was also a lot of fun to play against them-- between giggling at the comments and my lack of skill, they didn't try and mess me up, and as a result I actually won a couple of the games. I was almost shocked that the neighbors couldn't hear us through the walls-- we were laughing and swearing at each other so loudly that if someone were to hear us they would think we were probably drunk.

We took a break to actually assemble the pizzas, which left my kitchen looking as if a tornado had gone through. We were still making fun of each other, which resulted in people throwing cheese, pepperoni, and in the case of Pat a tomato, at each other. Finally we managed to get the pizzas in the over, and before we went back to competing on the wii, we cleaned up the mess. By now I felt so much more relaxed around them-- they were just so chill and funny. It didn't feel like I was hanging out with rockstars; instead I felt like I was just hanging out with guy friends.

By the time the pizzas were done, I had really gotten the hang of the wii-- to the point where they had started sabotaging me as well. Pat had tackled me to the floor twice, I had tackled Garrett once, and along with John we tag teamed Kennedy. I had a couple floor burns but I didn't really care-- I was having the most fun since I was on tour with Andrew and we were dorking around backstage. We brought the pizzas out to the terrace, and dove in. Besides being incredibly delicious, the pizzas were super filling. As we ate, we started grilling each other to get to know the basics-- obviously we got along, but we thought that the basics would be something worth knowing. We stayed out on the terrace telling stories about our lives and laughing long after we had finished eating-- watching the sun set over Los Angeles, it was one of those moments that I just wanted to hang onto and never let go of.

After we finally went back inside, we kept playing wii and wrestling each other to mess up each others' games. As I was watching Jared, Kennedy, Pat, and Garrett duke it out on wii tennis (playing as doubles), my phone began to ring. Looking at my contacts, it was Ava.

“Hang on, I've gotta take this.” I walked into the studio, closing the door behind me, and answered.

“Hello?”

“Beret?”

“Hey Ava, what's up?”

”I just got home and settled in-- girl I miss you already! How's hanging out with The Maine? Are they still there? And is John as cool as you think he is hot?”

“It's great! They're really chill. They're still over. And yes, but that's besides the point.” I laughed. “Listen, I'd love to talk but I should go. I'll call you tomorrow, kay?”

“Of course! Have a great night! Don't get too handsy with him!” I hung up and smiled to myself. She was dying for me to make a move on him, despite the fact that we'd be touring for like three months together, and if we started off on a bad note it would make for an uncomfortably long tour.

I went back to the main room, where Pat and Garrett were now losing horribly to Jared and Kennedy. I plopped back down on the couch next to John.

“Who was that?” He inquired.

“My friend Ava-- she was here for the week, she flew back to New York this morning.”

“Wow, this morning?” He was taking advantage of the other guys being distracted to strike up a conversation with me.

“Yeah, Ava came out with my family for a surprise visit-- they flew in a week ago from yesterday and flew out this morning. Ava's like a sister-- we did everything together in high school, now she's in New York on Broadway and I'm here making music, which sucks because I don't see her as much but we still talk all the time. If she wasn't so successful in theater I'd get her to come with as like a roadie or something.” I laughed.

“That's cool that you have a friend who you're still so close to.”

“Hey dorks, we lost.” Pat interrupted our conversation. “It's your turn.” He tossed me his controller, which I caught.

“Are we still playing doubles?” I asked.

“Yeah, come here and get ready to get your asses kicked.” John laughed at Jared's smack talk.

“Yeah right, get ready to go crying to mommy.” He took Garrett's controller, and we began to take them on. We won, and after two rematches they finally admitted that we were the champions. John and I high-fived each other, laughing and taunting the others.

“Well, it's pretty late, we should probably go.” Kennedy finally spoke up. Looking at the clock, it was already 1:30 in the morning. “But this has been really fun! I'm even more pumped to be hitting the road now with you.”

“Same to you guys!” I grinned. “Now I can't wait for January to get here! As if I couldn't wait already, but now even more so.”

I went with them down to their car and saw them off, before returning to my apartment. As I got ready for bed, I couldn't think about anything other than the glances where I'd catch John looking at me, the twinkle in his eye when he would tell funny stories, his mischievous grin, how close we were when he was coaching me through my first attempts at playing the wii. Climbing into my bed, I dozed off dreaming of his face. The next few months could fly by and I wouldn't mind one bit.