It was the early hours of Sunday morning, and Michelle and Brian sat in Brian’s tent. Michelle had woken him and Nick up, asking if Nick could go into her tent with Gretchen while she talked to Brian. He hadn’t disagreed in any way.
“I’m sorry I woke you up, but this has been bothering me since Friday, and I wanted to talk to you about it before we leave,” Michelle said quietly.
“I think I know what you want to talk about. It’s about Leighanne, isn’t it?” Brian asked.
“Yeah. You guys only broke up a month ago?” Michelle asked.
“Yes… and I know you’re thinking that I must be completely insensitive to try and hook up with someone right after I just went through a break-up, but it’s not because of that. I just… had a crush on you from seeing your movies and all, and you were really nice, and I don’t know what got into me, but I just felt like I needed to do something that would keep me in contact with you. Believe me, Michelle, the day I met you I was not planning on macking on any girls. It just happened. And no, I’m not completely over Leighanne. She was very important to me… is very important to me, and I haven’t completely let go of that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see you… I do.” He took a breath after saying that mouthful.
“Look, Brian. I don’t want to be the one you’re on the rebound with. If you’re not planning on dating me for a long time, I don’t want any part… of this.”
“I’m very good at commitment, Michelle. I wouldn’t date anyone if I didn’t think I’d be with them for a long time.”
Michelle smiled. “Do you mean that?”
“Yes, I do.”
Gretchen didn’t know what had come over her, but when Nick had come into her tent, she had immediately snuggled up next to him. He had wrapped his arms around her, and fallen back to sleep. She had stayed awake, and watched him while he slept.
She knew that she had liked Nick all along, she had just been in denial. She had been scared to get into a relationship again, but when you have feelings for someone, you can’t deny them for very long.
Two nights ago when he had kissed her, right after she felt a whole jumble of feelings. Fear, surprise, shock, frustration, excitement, and… happiness. She had wanted it since the night she had met him, which she now knew.
He was different from other guys. Whenever she saw him on TV, he acted crazy, and outgoing, and macho, but when he was around just her, his sensitivity and insecurities shown through. He wasn’t worried about all the shallow things in life, and he genuinely cared about his family and friends and how they were feeling. And… he was honest. He always told her exactly how he felt.
That night he had kissed her, he had told her that when they had first met, he had been convinced that she wouldn’t mean that much to him, that she’d be to him like all the other girls. Then, he’d told her that he’d been wrong, because she did mean a lot to him.
Gretchen laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes. If she never had to leave that position for the rest of her life, she’d be just fine with that.
Howie wondered if anyone had noticed that he hadn’t come back to the campsite until 4 AM. Kevin hadn’t woken up when he entered the tent. He stayed at Kara’s for that long, and they had had a long talk about… life. Basically, she told him that she didn’t give him her number because she didn’t want a relationship with someone famous. She had tried it before (and she didn’t say who she had tried it with) and it hadn’t worked out.
He asked her then if she would give him her number so that they could stay in touch as friends, and she had obliged.
Eventually, she had told him about her six brothers, Greg being the 4th oldest, and her ‘N Sync cousin, JC. Howie didn’t think it would go over well if he dated JC’s cousin. The media would love it, though.
Howie didn’t know why he was drawn to a girl who wasn’t interested in him, but for whatever the reason, he could tell that she would be in his life for some time. Whether it was as a friend and then girlfriend, or whatever, he just knew it.
It was kind of hard to be able to tell exactly what was going on in Kara’s mind, but he wanted to figure it out. It would take time, but… it would be worth it.
“I can’t believe it’s already the day we leave!” Claudia whined at breakfast.
“That’s how it goes. In two days we start rehearsals for our next tour,” Brian said.
Michelle frowned. “Y’all will be away a lot then, huh?”
“Yeah, but it’s mainly a U.S. tour. We only leave the country to go to Canada and the U.K.”
Michelle nodded. “I have to do some promotional stuff for my new movie over the next couple of months.”
“Christmas is only two months away!” Claudia said.
“Yep. Right after Christmas is when the tour starts,” Brian replied.
“Work… ugh.”
“Why isn’t anyone else up?” Brian asked. “It’s already 10 AM.”
“Maybe because we all stayed up singing karaoke until 3 AM,” Michelle replied.
Brian grinned cheekily. “Gretchen and Nick still in there together?”
“Yeah…”
Brian ran over to his backpack and pulled out a disposable camera. He motioned to Michelle to come with him.
Brian quietly and slowly opened the tent, and peeked his head in. Gretchen and Nick were in each other’s arms underneath the blanket, both sleeping like logs.
Brian turned on the flash, and clicked on a picture. Nick and Gretchen both jumped.
“What the hell are you doing?” Nick asked in a tired voice.
Brian waved the camera at them.
“That is not cool,” Gretchen said closing her eyes.
“Get out,” Nick mumbled, lying back down.
Michelle and Brian just laughed and left.
“You know who else we should get a pic of?” Michelle asked.
“AJ and Amanda!” Brian answered.
“Uh… maybe we shouldn’t barge in on them. Lord knows whether they even have clothes on or not,” Michelle said.
“You pick up these things real fast, don’t you?”
“You could say that, yeah.”
“By tonight, we’re going to be separated again,” Brian said.
“Yeah, well… that’s the way it goes, I guess.”
“Are you always that matter-of-fact?”
“Maybe…”
“You’re also very mysterious,” Brian said.
“Am I?” Michelle asked, coyly.
“Hell yeah,” Brian replied.
Michelle laughed. “Good. I want it that way.”
“Hmm. I’ll have you figured out soon enough,” Brian replied.
“You sure about that?”
“Positive.”
Michelle knew he would eventually have to find out a few things: her not ever having a serious boyfriend, being a virgin in result, coming from a broken home, growing up not very rich… And if any of that changed his mind about her… she was outta there.
“I don’t want to get up,” Nick whispered.
“Me either,” Gretchen whispered back. “I think we have to, though.”
“Aw, screw ‘em,” Nick replied.
Gretchen giggled. “When are we leaving?”
“In about 2 hours,” Nick replied. “We want to be back home tonight by 10 PM, so…”
“It takes 2 hours to get back to Los Angeles, and then your guys have a 7 hour flight…”
“In 4 hours I’ll be leaving you in California…” Nick said.
“Hmm… I could come down to Florida some weekends…” Gretchen said.
“You’re going to Georgia for Christmas?” Nick asked.
“Yeah.”
“I could fly up there one day during the holidays.”
“You need to be with your family,” Gretchen interjected.
“I know. I wouldn’t come on Christmas Day, just like a few days before that.”
“That would be cool,” Gretchen said. “My mom would love to meet you.”
“I would love to meet her,” Nick replied.
“When do you guys start touring?” Gretchen asked.
“January,” Nick replied.
“Won’t y’all be coming to California at least once?”
“Definitely.”
“So you could visit with me when you do…”
“Seeing each other is going to be tough. We’ll have to take advantage of every opportunity…” Nick said.
“Yep.”
“We’ll make it, though.”
“Sure we will.”
Howie packed up his stuff neatly in his duffel bag. It had been a weirdo weekend. First with Claudia hanging all over him, and then with Kara showing up… Now, Claudia was flirting with Kevin. Kevin was, of course, oblivious.
AJ and Amanda lazed around the campsite. Neither was getting any packing done.
“When are you going to go back home?” AJ asked.
“Probably tomorrow night,” Amanda replied.
“Tomorrow night!!? But I’m going to be home for another week! You could spend it with me.”
“I know, but I just want to go home, babe. I need to get back there.”
“Amanda, you’ve always stayed with me before… what’s up with this?”
“Nothing, AJ. Jeez. Your worrying is really starting to aggravate me.” With that, Amanda stood up and went back into their tent. AJ sighed in exasperation.
Michelle came up from behind him, and noticed the forlorn expression on his face. Should she ask him what was wrong?
She remembered back to the day before, and the mean way he had acted towards her. That was enough. She silently picked up her duffel bag that was seated next to him, and walked away. He didn’t even deserve her pity.
“NICK AND GRETCHEN, GET UP!!!” shouted Kevin.
“God!” they heard Nick yell from inside the tent. He came out, and gave Kevin an irritated look. “You act as if you’ve had to tell us fifty times. Give us a chance, for crying out loud.”
Gretchen followed. “Sorry Kevin,” she said timidly. His expression softened. “It’s OK.”
Everyone started and finished packing. It didn’t take very long, considering it was only a 3-day trip.
“When do y’all want to start heading out?” Kevin asked.
“In about 30 minutes,” Brian said.
‘Yeah, that’ll be fine.”
The tents were taken down and packed up, and the remains in the cooler were thrown out.
“When your tour starts, maybe I can come to a concert,” Claudia said to Howie.
Howie just shrugged. He didn’t want to make her think something of the two of them that just wasn’t going to happen.
“Is that a yes, or…?”
“Whatever. If you buy the ticket, sure you can come.” Just as Howie got the thought that maybe that had been mean, Claudia stormed off. He ran after her.
“Claud, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude…”
“Whatever, Howie. I got your hint,” she said quietly. She walked away from him, leaving him clueless.
“Let’s go,” Kevin said.
AJ, who was annoyed with what had happened with Amanda, said quietly to Howie, “Since when did he become the boss of this whole trip?”
“Since we got here,” Howie whispered back.
Brian looked back at them and glared. “He’s not feeling too great. Leave him alone.”
“Sorry,” Howie said. AJ didn’t reply. He was still mad at Brian for yelling at him over Michelle the day before. So AJ was mad at Amanda for not wanting to be with him, mad at Kevin for acting like the boss, mad at Brian for sticking up for Michelle, didn’t like Michelle for different reasons, and aggravated with Gretchen and Nick because they wouldn’t stop smiling. It had not been a good trip for him.
30 minutes later, they reached their car, and started to drive to California.
“Let’s sing something,” Brian said.
“No!” said Claudia, Howie, AJ, Amanda, and Kevin.
“Jeez,” Brian said. “Sorry I said something.”
The ride to the airport, unlike the ride there, was quiet. Brian went to sleep with his head on Michelle's shoulder, Gretchen and Nick played about 50 games of Tic Tac Toe, AJ listened to his Discman, Amanda read a copy of Cosmopolitan, Howie stared out the window, and Claudia watched Kevin drive.
When they arrived in Los Angeles, Michelle and Gretchen reluctantly said good-bye as the other 7 got on their plane back to Florida.
Nick and Brian both got big hugs from the girls, and were satisfied.
As the plane lifted off, AJ decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with Amanda before she left the next night. They were going to decide if their relationship was worth salvaging, or if they should just throw in the towel.
Howie decided to have a heart-to-heart with Claudia, and tell her exactly where she stood with him.
Brian decided to totally forget about Leighanne, and focus on Michelle from now on.
Nick decided to try and be friends with Mandy so that she wouldn’t screw up his new relationship with Gretchen.
Kevin decided that as soon as he got home, he would try to get in touch with the Tampa Hospital and see how Lynnsey Parker’s dad, the Mayor, was doing.
Arriving in Orlando…
The guys got their baggage, and separated, since they each had come with their own cars. Brian was just making it to his car when he heard a female voice behind him.
“Brian! I’ve been trying to find you!”
He turned around, and faced Leighanne.
“I’ve made a HUGE mistake!” she said.