Time and Consequence

"Promise to not forget who I am when you leave?" Anna asked me as she sat on my bed. I was shoving a pair of jeans into my suitcase.

I looked up at her, and then I quickly jumped across the bed, grabbing her in my arms as I cuddled her next to me tightly. "Oh Anna, I'll never forget you. Never, ever!"

She giggled loudly, squirming in my arms. "Mommy, mommy, stop it! You're tickling me!"

I laughed and let her go, and she rolled off of the bed onto her feet. I sat up, flipping my hair away from my face. "I'm not going to be gone for long, baby. I'll be back before you know it, and when me and Daddy come home, we're moving into our own house with Daddy!"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "So we won't see Gammy and Papa anymore?"

I smiled at her, sliding to the edge of my bed. I couldn't tell that she was worried about me not being with her. "Of course we're going to see them, just not as much."

She gave me a innocent smile and then ran out of my bedroom. My phone started to buzz on my nightstand, so I stood up off of my bed and picked it up. John was calling me.

"Hel-" I started to say, but John cut me off.

"ARE YOU READY?!" he said excitingly, like a child.

"YES!" I shouted back.

He laughed a little. his voice filled with happiness. "We're picking you up in ten minutes, alright?"

"Alright, I just finished packing."

"You ONLY just finished packing?"

I smiled, and then laughed into the phone. "I'll see you in ten minutes!" and then I ended the call.

I made sure I looked okay in the mirror in my bedroom, fixing up my hair as I pondered about the tour. I was excited to finally act like a twenty three year old should. I loved Anna, but I did want to party and just let loose. I haven't been drunk since John and I would drink when we were young and dumb.

I grabbed my two suitcases off my bed and walked upstairs; my parents were sitting in the living room. They still were mad that I was leaving, but I wouldn't be gone for long, so they agreed to watch Anna. John's parents were going to watch her, too.

Anna followed me upstairs, and she ran over to my parents, sitting in the middle of them as I dragged my suitcases to the front door. Anna got back up and walked over to me, wrapping her arms around my hips.

"I'm gonna miss you, mommy," she started to choke up, and then she started bawling. I frowned and reached down, picking her up off the ground.

"Anna, baby. I'm not going to be gone forever. I'm going to call you every night, okay? Don't cry," I said soothingly in her ear as I held her in my arms. I contemplated not going once she started to cry, but it wouldn't be fair to the guys, since I already promised to them I would go.

She looked at me with her glassy eyes. "Pr-promise?" she said, her lips quivering.

"Of course, I promise," I said, giving her a small kiss on the cheek. She started to smile, and then I kissed her again and set her down.

I glanced out of the window, seeing a white van pull into the driveway. The van was completely covered in sharpie. I couldn't read it from where I was, but it looked pretty sweet.

I opened the front door, and the five guys got out from the van, along with two other guys. I met them halfway, and Jared and Pat picked up my suitcases and brought them to the van.

"Anna, come here," I said as I looked back towards the house, my parents standing behind the open door, Anna in the middle of them.

Anna slowly walked down the steps of the porch and then over to me. Once she saw John, she walked over to him and looked up to him. He started to smile and then picked her up, hugging her tightly.

"I'm sorry that I'm stealing your mom away from you for a little bit," he told her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and then he turned to look at the guys. "Hey hunny, these are the guys that I make music with," he said as he started to point to them. "That's Pat, that's Garrett, that's Kennedy, and that's Jared."

She put her head on John's shoulder, and I smiled. "She's really shy," I said gently, lifting her away from John and holding her tightly.

We said our goodbyes, and after twenty minutes of saying goodbye to her and my parents, we were on the road. Pat was driving the van, Jared in the passenger's seat, Garrett and Kennedy were in the second row with a close friend of theirs, Dirk Mai, who would be doing some photography for the tour. John and I sat in the back row with Tim, their manager, and Pat's older brother. I met Tim way back when John and I were together, and I thought he would forget me, but he didn't.

"Okay guys," Tim shouted from the back. John was sitting in the middle of us. "We're taking this van up to north Phoenix. Our bus is waiting for us there. We're driving to San Diego tonight, and doors open at 6 at the venue, got it?"

Everyone agreed to the schedule, but we made a quick stop at a diner for breakfast since we left earlier than we should have. We piled into 2 booths that fit four people. I sat with John, Garrett, and Tim; and in the other booth was Kennedy, Pat, Jared, and Dirk. The waitress came around, took our orders. Most of the guys ordered pancakes, eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, and anything else they thought looked delicious. I stuck to two chocolate chip pancakes. While the waitress came back with coffee, John put his hand on my thigh as Tim started to talk to me.

"It's nice to see you around, Noel. I'm glad you could come on tour with us, it's gonna be a blast," he said as he added sugar to his coffee.

John gave me a reassuring smile. "It sure is."