AJ awoke to a very loud siren going off. The pain was unbearable! He opened his eyes slowly and saw a hand reach from the floor and hit the alarm clock. Amazingly, the sirens stopped!
"AJ, get up!" Kevin said before he closed the bathroom door.
"Don't yell!" AJ said. His whole body hurt, but he knew if he didn't get up and in the bus, he'd be in a lot more trouble than he was in now. Oh the bus. Stuck in a small, moving space with the woman he loved, but whom hated him! He sighed and slowly got up. He wasn't in that much pain. He decided to stand completely and sat back down quickly for fear of passing out. The blood rush and the pain to his head mad him sick. He rushed to the bathroom as Kevin was coming out. Kev just moved to the side and shut the door as AJ did his business. Kevin was quietly laughing the whole time. He'd warned him to stop the drinking!
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Everyone waited outside the bus, they never boarded the bus until everyone was there and not all were present. Everyone was in their pajamas because they figured they were gonna go back to sleep and spend most of the ride in the bunk, so why change, no one was gonna see them except the others, who cared? The only person who wasn't wearing pj's was Vanessa, and that was only because she'd slept in her clothes from the night before. She was still wearing the same tight, leopard-print pants with a tight black tank-top. Her hair was still in the small braids and she was wearing her leopard-print "Gilligan" (HAHA) hat with dark, black sunglasses. AJ was now experiencing two kinds of pain. The pain of his hang-over and the pain of his heart being ripped out because he'd lost Vanessa and she was doing everything she could to remind him how much he loved and needed her.
To get his mind off of her, he decided to evaluate the other couples. Brian, who was leaned against the bus, was wearing blue track pants and a white shirt with his "KY" hat and silver-rimmed sunglasses. Hey! Those were AJ's!! Dee was leaned up against Brian wearing blue "Old Navy" pj pants with blue bunnies in squares all over them with a big, over sized blue t-shirt and blue sunglasses and her red "NY" hat (Fred Durst again!). She reached up and switched Brian's hat with hers. Normally, Brian would have griped and grabbed it back playfull before letting her have it, but both were too tired to do any more playing than that.
Shelly was wearing her butterfly pj pants with a white tank and Howie was wearing his black wind pants and a red shirt. Both were happily content sitting on the ground playing cute little games with each other.
Nick and Kris, who were standing off saying "mushy" things and kissing, were kinda dressed alike. Both had on black track pants, but Nick had a "Tampa Bucs" shirt on and Kris had on her yellow smiley-face shirt. They looked so cute! (AW!! Go Kris!!)
Dawn and Kevin were laying on the luggage kissing and grinning like duffos (Howie's word! HAHA!! Remember when we first saw that Kris and Lauren? That was too funny! "No, duffo, it goes, "She likes it my way..." Hahahaha) at each other. Kevin had on the black and red pants they wore in last year's tour with a black tank. Dawn was wearing his black track pants with his huge Kentucky Jersey that he stole from Brian-hey, Brian had like 9, he wasn't gonna miss one!
Everyone was so happy!! AJ quickly divereted his attention from the happy couples to who they were waiting on. That was quickly answered when Sandi burst through the hotel door lugging her suitcase behind her.
"She arrives!" Howie joked as everyone stood up and applauded her "punctuality."
"Shut up!" she said groggily, "Help me with my bags!" That's all they needed, now everyone could board the bus and the luggage could be loaded so it all fit right.
"Hey, Sandi, did you have fun last night?" Brian called over his shoulder as they walked up the bus stairs.
"Brian, I have a major hang-over, so, be quiet!" she answered, "For your information, I met an awesome guy, but we'll get into that later cause I just wanna go to sleep!" she said as she entered her bunk. Everyone could tell she didn't feel good. She was wearing a purple tank with "Happy Dog" pants that had happy faces and "Big Dog" heads on them.
"Hey!! Those pants are mine!" Dee said, "So's the tank!"
"Sorry, you'll get them back," Sandi said before getting comfortable in her bunk.
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AJ was sitting at the table staring out the window while everyone but Nick was piled into the bunks. Nick was fixing some sort of burger or something for him and Kris. AJ couldn't think of food- it made him sick. He was totally feeling the effects of his hang-over. His eyes hurt, his head hurt, heck, his whole body hurt! Even his heart, but that was another story.
"Hey, AJ, want some food?" Nick asked as he waved the burger in AJ's face. He laughed at AJ's look of, "I'm gonna puke!"
"Nick, you better be glad I hurt too much to even move, or else you'd be dead right now!" AJ warned. Nick just laughed at he made his was back to his bunk. All the girls were cuddled with thir boys in their bunks. Some were sleeping and some weren't (no harm in that!), such as Nick and Kris.
"I love you, Kris!" Nick said.
"Aw, Nicky! I love you too!" Kris replied as she snuggled next to him and kissed him.
"You're so perfect for me! I never wanna go without you again! Kris, I wanna spend the rest of my whole life with you. If I don't have you, I can't go on living! So, Kristine Marie Lowell, will you become Mrs. Kristine Marie Carter, will you marry me?" Nick asked as he looked at her sincerely.
She was crying when she replied. "Yes!" she said as she choked back a sob. Tears sprang to his eyes as he hugged her and kissed her deeply and passionately. He reached in his pocket for the ring, but couldn't get it cause somehow, his pants had become tangled and were tight around his leg. His hand was stuck (You know how, when you lay down, or sleep in baggy pants, they get twisted around your legs? That's what's happening!) and as he tried to get the ring, the bus hit a bump in the road and he fell out of his bunk. The top bunk! There was a huge THUD (I'm not saying Nick is fat-heck no! Nick's got a great body!! He's just really tall and all) and the bus shook. The bus driver nearly had a heart attack.
"It's okay, Scott, I fell out of the bunk," Nick explained.
"Again!" the driver laughed.
Dee stuck her head out of Brian's curtains, "What are you two doing?" she joked.
"Got it!" Nick yelled, oblivious to everyone's heads sticking out of the bunks. Even AJ was peeking around the corner. He pulled a ring very similar to Dee's out of his pocket and slipped it on Kris's finger. Both were crying as they kissed each other. All their friends were clapping and cheering and shouting congratulaions. AJ and Vanessa "accidentally" looked at eachh other. They both faked a glar and quickly looked away. This was pure torture!!
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"So, Sandi, who's this new guy?" Kris joked. All the girls had locked themselves in the entertainment room and were catching up on "girl talk."
"Well, he's in the music business and he just got out of a serious relationship," she said as the girls looked at her funny, "No, guys, it's not AJ-he's not my type. This guys is so perfect for me! He's great! It's Drew Lachey from "98 degrees"!"
"Wow!" all the girls said.
"Yeah, I know! The great thing is, he'll be back in the US when we are! Hopefully we'll have a break and I can go see him!! He's so sweet!" Sandi gushed.
"Hey!! Let us in!! We wanna see our women!" Howie and Nick yelled through the door.
"Yeah!" Kevin echoed, "W'ere feeling all alone and deprived!"
"No!! It's girl night!" Sandi yelled.
"Hey, Brian's not missing me-take his example and go hang out with him! You could hang out with AJ, but he's asleep still! Go hang with Brian! Wait, hold on, I'm feeling really loved! My fiancee doesn't pound on the door wanting to see me!" Dee said.
"Um, well, he misses you too," Howie said.
"Yeah, well, where is he? Asleep in the bunk? Oh, yeah, he really misses me!" Dee said.
"Well, he does. He's kinda with you right now!" Nick said.
"He's so perfect for me!' 'He's so sweet!' 'My fiancee doesn't pound on the door for me!'" a mocking voice came from behing the sofa.
"Brian!" they all yelled as they looked behind the couch where he was laying on his back.
"What?" he asked sincerely, looking up at them and giving him those puppy eyes. (AWW!! Fainting!!) "I missed you! I had to spy!" he said as Dee pulled him from behind the couch.
"Out!" Vanessa said. Brian bowed his head, kissed Dee and opened the door. The other guys clammered in. "Out boys!" Vanessa ordered again. They whined. "Come on, guys, it's girls night!" she said. They groaned again, but kissed their girl and left them alone.