On the Road

Kristen found her way to Gabriel's basement, the few trips down there making the way more familiar.

"Hey guys!" Kristen said as she walked down the steps into the basement.

"Hey!" Ryan said in return. Gabriel and Mark were in a heated discussion, and Blake hadn't arrived yet.

Kristen raised an eyebrow. "What are they fighting about?"

Ray laughed. "Something family related,"

"They're brothers?" she asked.

"No, cousins. But they live in the same house,"

"Boys, boys, cut it out and play nicely," Blake said, coming down the stairs. Kristen turned, and her jaw dropped. Hanging off Blake's arm was a blond bombshell; nice body, cute face, and gorgeous blond hair. She walked over to me.

"Hi, I'm Jasmine," she said, coming over to Kristen and smiling a genuine smile, "You must be Kristen."

"Y-yeah," Kristen stuttered. "Nice to meet you,"

Kristen stuck out her hand, but Jasmine pulled her into a hug instead. Kristen stood there limp while Jasmine engulfed her in a bone crushing hug.

"Oh I've heard so much about you," she giggled. "I'm sure we'll become best friends!"

The band was in a middle of a song, when Jasmine got up and started dancing.

"Shake that ass, baby," Blake shouted, interrupting Gabriel's vocals. Kristen rolled her eyes, and continued playing.

"Oh Blake, stop it," Jasmine said in a really high pitched voice.

After the song was over, Gabriel said, "Alright guys, take five."

Kristen grabbed a bottle of water, and sat down.

"Blake, stop!" Jasmine giggled. She was straddling his lap, and he was tickling her. He then resorted to kissing her next, only to earn a few moans from her.

"You know what, guys?" Kristen said suddenly, standing up. "I totally forgot that I had to help out my brother. I've gotta go. Sorry,"

Kristen packed up her guitar, and headed up the stairs.

"Kris, wait!" Gabriel said, stopping her at the front door. "What the hell?"

Kristen was trying to hold back tears. "I've just-- I've gotta go,"

_

Kristen awoke to the sound of her doorbell.

"What the hell?" she said as she opened the door, still in her pajamas, which consisted of short spandex shorts, and a tank top. She tossed her hair in a messy bun on the top of her head.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Gabriel smirked. Mark wolf whistled. Standing behind them were the rest of the band.

"What are you guys doing here? And why so early"

"Seeing as how you left so suddenly yesterday, we decided to come for a visit," Ray said.

"Yeah," Blake piped up. "And hang out as friends and not as a band."

"And by the way, it's 3:30 in the afternoon," Mark said.

"Alright, well, come on in...I guess." Kristen opened the door wider, letting all four men inside. "You guys make yourself comfortable, I'm going to go get changed."

Ten minutes later, after the quickest shower of her life, Kristen headed downstairs.

"Dude, is that Kurt Cobain?" Blake asked, holding up a picture that was on the mantle.

Kristen smiled. "Yeah, my dad interviewed him. He used to work for some rock and roll magazine."

"That's so cool," Gabriel said. The boys were gathered around my living room, looking through DVD's, and pictures, most of them around the room being dad with famous rock stars.

"So, what did you guys want to do?" Kristen asked.

"Hm. Got any movies?" Ryan asked.

"Do I have any movies?" Kristen snorted. "I've got one of the best movie collections ever. Follow me,"

Kristen lead the boys down to the basement, that was complete with a home entertainment system, a pool table, and where her guitars, drum set and keyboard were.

"Dude, you play the drums, too?" Blake asked.

Kristen smiled. "Yeah, but only a little." She went over to the movie shelf. "Alright, so I've got The Godfather parts 1, 2, and 3, Bride of Frankenstein, Dawn of the Dead, Casablanca, and the Star Wars trilogy."

"Dawn of the Dead, definitely," Mark said, the rest of the guys nodding their heads.

"Dawn of the Dead, it is, then." Kristen popped in the movie.

During the movie, Kristen ended up sitting beside Blake on the two-seater couch. They were at a particular scary part in the movie, and Kristen jumped, instinctively grabbing onto Blake's hand, which lay on his thigh. Blake and Kristen looked at their hands. Kristen's heart raced.

She grimaced, letting go of his hand. "Sorry,"

At another scary part, she jumped, spilling her popcorn all over Blake. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Let me clean that up,"

She began picking up the popcorn that was on Blake, and the couch, and she was so embarrassed she didn't realize that she began picking the popcorn that lay in Blake's crotch. Blake cleared his throat, and Kristen jumped.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry." her voice cracked, her hands shaking. "Uhm, you should probably- uh - clean that up, then."

"It's fine," he said chuckling, wiping all the popcorn onto the floor. "We can clean that up later,"

Kristen sat back down beside Blake, her hands still trembling. Blake grabbed onto her hand, giving it a light squeeze. "You alright there, newbie?"

"Yeah, I'm great," Kristen mumbled. And throughout the whole movie, she couldn't concentrate, because Blake had left his hand on hers the whole time.

About an hour later, when the credits rolled across the screen, Kristen got up, and turned on the lights.

"What now?" Kristen asked.

"Well, it's almost 6, so how about some dinner?" Ryan suggested.

"Sure, we can order take out. Pizza, Chinese, or Italian?" Kristen said.

"Italian," Mark and Gabriel said at the same time.

"Pizza," Ryan said.

"Yeah, I could eat a couple slices," Blake said.

"Pizza it is," Kristen said, deciding.

An hour later, once the pizza had arrived and been devoured, Jake walked in. "Hey Kristen," Jake said.

"Oh! Hey!" Kristen said. "Uhm, guys, this is my brother Jake. Jake this is the guys."

"Hey I'm Gabriel,"

"Mark,"

"I'm Ryan,"

"Blake," he said, shaking hands with Jake. Jake looked at Kristen, smirking.

"So, you're Blake," Jake said.

Blake furrowed his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, nothing," Jake laughed, leaving the room.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, "Yeah, anyways. I should be going,"

"Me too," Mark said, standing up.

"Yeah, I've got work in the morning." said Ray.

I looked a Blake, raising my eyebrows expectantly. "I've got nothing to do." he said. Kristen smiled.

Jake then came into the room. "Where did everyone else go?"

"They left," Kristen said.

"Oh. But Blake's still here,"

"Yup," Blake said.

"So," Kristen said, trying to break the awkward silence, glancing toward her brother "We can head upstairs if you need the living room,"

"Uh yeah," Jake said uncertainly, furrowing his brows at Kristen's not -so-subtle glances. "I think that would be best."

"Okay, that's cool," Blake said, standing up.

Kristen and Blake headed upstairs to Kristen's room. Blake entered the room behind Kristen, and was in awe. This was definitely not a girls room. The wall colour was a light blue/grey colour. One whole wall, (the wall with her bed on it) was covered floor to ceiling in posters. Movie posters, band posters, advertisement, you name it. On the wall adjacent to that one, there were framed awards, records, and pictures, her dad's, like the ones in the living room.

"Cool room," Blake said.

"Thanks," Kristen smiled. She sat on the end of her bed, while Blake sat in her desk chair.

"So, what is the mystery that is Kristen James?" Blake smirked.

Kristen laughed. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know. You're funny, smart, not to mention attractive. You dress great, and when I walk in here, it looks exactly like my room would look like. You're the only one who can get Gabriel and Mark to stop fighting, and you have this.. aura about you, that just cheers people up."

A blush took over Kristen's neck and face. "Really?"

Blake laughed nervously, as if he'd said too much. He snatched a magazine off Kristen's desk. "So, Motorcycle Magazine, huh?"

Kristen giggled. "Yeah. As much as I love my mother, growing up I was really influenced by my dad and my brother. Dad was so cool in my eyes; he got to meet at these cool celebrities, not to mention he knew he way around a garage. Him and I spent the summer of '02 rebuilding a '57 Indian."

"You're dad seems like a cool guy" Blake said. "When will I get to meet him?"

Kristen turned quiet and sad all of a sudden. "Uhm, you won't."

Blake was confused. "Why not?"

"My parents..uh..they uh.. my parents died."

"Oh, wow," Blake said. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay. You didn't know." There was a long silence, and Blake came and sat beside me on the bed.

"You okay?" he asked.

Kristen sniffed, and smiled. "Yeah,"

An hour later, Blake and Kristen were going back and forth, asking each other questions, trying to learn more about each other.

"Favourite band?" Kristen asked Blake, bringing her leg underneath her.

"Nirvana, you?"

"Nirvana! Wow," Kristen giggled. "Favourite action hero?"

"It's got to be Spiderman," Blake said.

"Spiderman? Are you kidding?" Kristen ranted. "He's some emo little boy who cries about having powers! Superman is obviously the best superhero!"

"Seriously? He's like a big cheater! Only Kryptonite can kill him!" Blake retorted.

Kristen started giggling. "Whatever, let's just agree to disagree."

"Alright," Blake said, smiling, holding out his hand. "Truce?"

Kristen took his hand. "Truce,"

There was a comfortable silence, and Kristen fell back on her bed, wriggling up to put her head on her pillows. Blake soon joined her. They lay on their sides, facing each other. Blake's hand soon found Kristen's, and they lay there staring into each other's eyes.

"Your eyes," Kristen said, "they're so blue. So beautiful."

"You're so beautiful," Blake said. The two lay there from that point on, in silence, and soon, Kristen's eyes fluttered shut.

Blake lay there, staring at Kristen's sleeping form, and realizing just how beautiful and great she really was. He covered Kristen with the blanket at the foot of her bed, and closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.