Easy to Fall in Love

When I woke up the next morning Justin was still sound asleep. His eyelids were fluttering and his tattooed arms were wrapped around me. He looked completely adorable. I smiled to myself and kissed his forehead. I couldn’t help the sappiness I was feeling. I felt like someone else. Gone was the cynic Donia, here to stay was the mushy lovesick version of me. I slowly slipped out of bed and into the shower. I washed away all the dirt and doubt from earlier yesterday, feeling lighter and happier after last night. I stood under the scalding hot water and soaked up all the warmth, smiling at the memories of the things that we did last night. I knew every freckle on his face and could tell you where they were in the dark. I found out every single kind of murmuring noises he made when I kissed his neck and I learned how much he loved it when I stroked the stubble on his cheeks.

After I was cleaned up, out of the shower, and dressed, I poked my head out from behind the door. Justin wasn't in bed asleep anymore, but his jean jacket was still strewn across a chair. I shrugged and figured he was out getting something. I picked up the phone to call room service and ordered us some breakfast. After I hung up, I looked down and saw his scrawl on a piece of hotel stationary sitting beside the phone. I picked it up and tried to decipher his lazy, loopy letters.

"Went to grab some stuff from the van. Be back soon. Love you. P.S. you can expect the boys to bound in any second, I'm afraid they found out where we are." I read his note to myself, smiling wider with every word. I carefully folded it up and put it in the secret pocket of my purse. I went around the room and picked up my clothes from last night, quite thankful I had decided to bring my luggage with me in case I didn't want to drive back to San Clemente last night.

There was a knock at the door soon after I finished cleaning up. Completely forgetting what Justin said in his note about the boys, I told the person to wait a second and wondered how room service could be so quick. I swung the door open and before I could even utter a syllable, guys flooded my hotel room.

"You realize we're probably over capacity limit right now?" There were nine, maybe ten guys lying on my bed, sprawled across my floor, and sitting on my coffee table. They all just ignored me and messed with whatever they could get their hands on. "Where's Justin?" I asked, scanning my eyes over their faces and coming up empty.

"I dunno, talking to Jimmy I think," Pat piped up. He turned on the TV and started mindlessly flipping through the channels.

"Where are Joel, Kennedy, and the Alexs?" I counted the boys and grouped them, figuring out who was present and who was not.

"Finishing packing up the van. It's just about time to go; it's almost eight." John stuck his head in from the balcony, puffs of cigarette smoke wafting into the room with every word. There was another knock on the door reminding me of the food I'd ordered. Austin sprung off the bed and answered the door, taking the guy's tray and walking away. I handed the dude a tip and mouthed sorry. I shut the door and turned around to see Austin and my breakfast being devoured.

"God, I love pancakes," exclaimed Garrett with his mouth full.

"Yeah, me too," I mumbled. I grabbed a cup and poured myself some coffee, seemingly the only thing I'd have to myself. I set down the pot and glared at Halvo when he reached for it.

"So guess what happened last night after you two lovebirds left the party?" Austin asked as he wiped the toast crumbs out of his mustache. He glanced at Halvo and raised his eyebrows. He turned back at me, his eyes filled with absolute glee. Halvo groaned. "Halvo got a girlfriend."

"I did not get a girlfriend, for the last time!" He shouted. All the guys started talk at once at each other, and at me, and Halvo put his head in his hands.

"So after the show this chick came up to him and they started talking,” Nick started. “After a few minutes you could tell he was totally into her. So being curious, I walked over and she was telling him how she'd be at the San Francisco show. Apparently that's where she lives, but she’s from the LA area and came to see the show with a cousin.” Nick explains, his grin growing every second. “You should have seen him, he was practically declaring her his soulmate.’Oh you live in Haight? Haight's my favorite part', ‘you’re a writer and a florist? Omg I love books and flowers too!'" Nick mocked Halvo and threw his arm around his shoulders. He laughed and Halvo pushed him away.

"You guys are assholes." Halvo at least laughed along with them a little, but then Sean said something I couldn't make out and Halvo turned around to throw a pillow at his face.

"The guys haven't stopped giving him shit about it all night. I think he's ready to kill them all." Andrew said to me, the other guys now engaged in who would win the wrestling match between Sean and Halvo. Sean worked his way on top of Halvo, and then pushed him off the bed and onto the floor.

"She seemed to like him back, which is more than I can say for any of you jerk offs," John re-entered the room from the balcony and tucked his lighter into his jeans. “Most the girls who hit on you are like 15, so I’d say he’s the winner in this group.”

The boys continued to talk about last night. More gross and ridiculous stories were divulged and I was almost sorry I missed them. The door opened and Justin walked in, calling my name. He looked at all the guys and quickly grabbed my hand, not saying anything to them. Not that they even noticed him anyway. They were too involved in their own conversations. He pulled me outside and shut the door.

"What's—" I was pushed up against the room door and interrupted by a kiss.

"Good morning." Justin smiled. "Sorry about the guys. They're great, but have very little sense of boundaries.” He apologized. “I suppose you should take it as a compliment though, because if they weren't comfortable with you they wouldn't be invading your personal space."

"I've only known most of them a few hours, so I guess they warm up really fast.” I wasn’t angry at all, I loved the guys. I just kind of wanted to give him a hard time so I could see his cute apologetic face.

"They're good at reading people...kind of like dogs." He shrugged and slipped his arms around my waist. He leaned forward to kiss the tip of my nose. Then he kissed my neck, the sweetness quickly escalating to a less than PG situation. Before we started something right there in the hallway I said,

"Ah, well your pets seemed to have eaten all the breakfast while you were away." I pulled back a little and looked him in the eyes. “I do love those boys, but remind me to never let them near something food-like I’m holding—I might lose a hand.”

"No big deal. We can grab some food on the way up later. I'm not that hungry anyway. I do need a shower before we leave, though. I’d ask you to join, but I’m afraid it would make the present company a little uncomfortable." He looked down and stroked my arm. He smiled absent mindedly and looked back up, his blue eyes clear and bright.

“Or it wouldn’t. And that’s a bigger problem.” He laughed and I was happy it was because of me. If every day was going to be like this—waking up next to each other, hanging out with his friends, and being the reason he smiled so brilliantly—I don’t know how I could be unhappy. Of course it wouldn’t be every day, at least while tour is going on. But once it’s over, we can work everything out and start a life together, wherever and however that will be.

“Yes. So I’ll shower and you corral the boys and we’ll be on the road in 15.” He kissed me one last time, walking back inside. I followed close behind and watched him walking away from me. I grabbed onto his hand and fell into step with him. He greeted the boys and went into the bathroom while I figured out how to get them all out.

***

Once we'd finally vacated the boys from the room and decided who was riding with who, we headed to San Francisco. I drove the first half with Justin in the passenger seat and Austin sprawled in the back.

"Hey this is just like the morning you drove us home after that night at the bar," Austin commented. He tapped his fingers on the windows to a familiar beat. I had one hand on the wheel and one hand on the center console. Justin reached over and intertwined his fingers with mine.

"Except, you were completely hung over. And about to puke in my car." I looked at him through my rearview mirror and smiled.

"Mere details, darlin'." Austin laid on his back and closed his eyes. He was apparently still tired after the last night and needed a nap.

"So what did I miss last night?" Justin asked. Before Austin could answer, I chimed in.

"Halvo and a girl flirted, they gave him crap about it for the entire night; they played corn-hole; Jared tried to out drink Alex—your Alex—and won, though I suppose spending the night vomiting isn't really winning; and Austin was dared to drink a cup of sriracha, honey, milk, and beer. Did I miss anything?" I looked at Austin through the mirror again and he paused for a second, lips pursed.

"Nope, sounds about right." He nodded and started to play on his phone. “Put on some music. I’m feeling the oldies.”

"Okay, so just a regular Friday night." Justin looked at me and shrugged. He searched for a CD in my glove compartment and pulled out Rumours. He popped it in the changer and Secondhand News flowed through the speakers. He started singing and Justin joined in. I smiled and hummed along with them. So far, everything was off to a fantastic start.

We stopped at a gas station in Monterey to fill up my tank and use the restroom. The van’s tanks still had gas, but some of the guys were hungry.

“Want anything?” Justin asked as he stepped out of the car. I thought for a second.

“Some iced tea, and um, chips.” I leaned against the car while I waited for the pump to stop.

“What kind of chips?”

“Like regular ass potato.” He turned away and snickered as he walked inside.

“Hey Donia!” Halvo jogged over. “Can I ride with you guys the rest of the way up? I’m afraid if I spend any more time in the same car with Sean and Nick I’ll kill them, or I’ll kill me.”

“Of course. I mean, as long as you don’t mind Austin sleeping on top of you.” I pulled the pump out and shut the gas door thing.

“Well it wouldn’t be the first time.” He chuckled and got into the car. I sat in the passenger’s seat and Austin jumped on top of Halvo. Justin slid into the driver’s side and handed me a plastic bag.

“Okay, I got sweet tea, regular ass potato chips, water, and redvines.” He started the car and pulled out of the gas station.

“Very nutritional food we have here.” I pulled out my tea and took a sip. I turned around and threw the redvines at Austin, hitting him in the chest.

“So Halvo, tell me about this girl.” Justin asked. I turned my head to look at Eric.

“Yes, do tell.” Austin perked up. I rolled my eyes at him. I was glad Halvo met a girl, because now maybe there would be another girl for me to hang out with.

“Not much to tell. I mean, she was cool.” He acted nonchalant and looked out the window.

“Oh is she cool? Is that code for ‘I love her’?” Austin asked. He had good intentions, but if I was Eric I would probably be pushing him out of the car.

“Okay, when was the last time you met a girl who you didn’t sleep with five minutes after you met her?” Halvo shot back, laughing. “Just because I spend more than fifteen minutes with a girl, doesn’t mean I have a relationship, it just means I have a longer attention span than you.”

“Touché.” Austin bit into a whip of licorice and wagged the rest in Halvo’s face. “Well, we’ll see tonight. Who knows, maybe I’ll find myself a girly friend too.” Austin wiggled his eyebrows at me.

“Yeah, that’s likely,” Justin piped up. “We all know how much you love commitment.”

“Hey, now that’s not fair. I’ve just never found the right girl.” Austin leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest.

“Or maybe you have found the right girl.” I said, flipping through the photos on my camera. “But you never realized after the one drunken night you had.”

“But one day, while we’re in like Iowa, or something else just as random, you’ll see her again.” Halvo added.

“Uh huh. Then you’ll spend the night talking and realize you’re meant to be. But of course because she has to like catch a ridiculously early flight, you have one of those tearful dramatic goodbyes where you think you’re never going to see each other, though you promise to always remember the ‘best night of your life.’” I looked over at Justin’s profile to see him smiling.

“Then when you think you’ve lost her forever, somewhere between three to seven months—“

“I bet on six.” I interrupted.

“In like six months,” Halvo continued, “You run into her at a grocery store in…in…” He paused to think.

“Mmmm. Colorado!” I shouted. Austin just snorted and covered his face with his slouchy gray beanie. Justin was biting back a laugh.

“Yes, Colorado. You’ll reach for the same box of cocoa puffs, knock over a few, as you’re picking up the fallen boxes and both apologizing profusely, your eyes meet. And it’s her, the girl of your dreams! You find out she moved a few months back. After tour you start seeing each other, take trips back and forth between Colorado and Arizona, get all serious and lovey.”

“Eventually you’ll realize you’re in love and you’ll want to get married and she pops out some kiddies. Your kids will play little league and do ballet and you’ll take them to play dates.” I added

“And you live happily ever after as Mr. and Mrs. Austin Chandler Gibbs.” Halvo finished. “By the way, our kids better play together.”

“Okay, okay.” Austin laughed.

“Yeah, and I better be invited to the wedding, by the way. I mean Halvo and I did so brilliantly orchestrate the whole thing.”

“Christ guys, this isn’t a real marriage, you realize that right?” Austin laughed.

“It could be.” I pointed out.

“It could be.” Halvo nodded in agreement.

“Y’all are nuts.” Justin shook his head at us and laughed. I turned around to look at Halvo and grinned. I was happy that I was getting along so well with the guys. I mean I always loved the guys for being “Halvo” and “Joel Kanitz” and “Johno”, but I was kind of afraid when I met them they wouldn’t be the same or it would be super awkward and they wouldn’t like me or be comfortable around me.

My phone started ringing so I turned off the radio and looked down at my caller ID.

“Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.” I whispered to myself. I shut my eyes tightly and prayed this was some kind of mistake. I wondered whether it would be dumber to answer the call, or not answer the call. No no no no, why is this happening here of all places?

“What?” Justin asked worried. He turned to look at me and I bit my lip, refusing to meet his eyes. I let the phone ring until voice mail picked it up.

“Nothing.” I shook my head violently. The car had become eerily silent. I looked out the window and watched trees blur together, my mind running a mile a minute. I cleared my suddenly closed up throat and asked, “Do you think we could stop soon? I, um, really need to pee.” Justin nodded and his face clouded over. I didn’t turn around to look at the boys, but I’d bet my entire collection of vinyl they were vastly uncomfortable.

After ten minutes of brutal silence Justin found a gas station. The second he stopped the car I jumped out and ran to the restroom. I took a very shaky deep breath and slumped against the wall sliding down to the floor. There was a soft knock and Justin’s voice called my name.

“Just a second,” I said back. I flipped through my recent calls and hovered over the last name.

“Donia are you okay?” Justin sounded worried and I don’t really blame him.

“No, not really.” I replied honestly. I unlocked the door and stepped out, closing it softly behind me.

“Who was that? On the phone?” I stared down at the floor and he put his hand under my chin, lifting it so I was looking him in the eye.This shouldn’t bother me. But I thought things were in a standstill and we’d never had to talk again, I guess. So I was shocked. And happy. And sad. And really scared.

“On the phone?” I repeated to myself. “On the phone.” I tried hard to process both of our thoughts at once. My brain was not working correctly. “On the phone I got a call. A call from, um, Adam.” I looked down again. I swallowed hard and bit down on my lip, tasting blood. “I just got a call from Adam.”