Approximately seven and a half hours later I was forced back to reality by the sound of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” blaring in my ears. It was Lex's cell phone. I’m not kidding, my fiancé’s ringtone was “Toxic.” Lex joked about liking the song and even went as far as setting it as his ring tone. “As a joke,” is what he said, butI think he secretly loves the song but jokes about it to cover it up.

“Babe, answer it. I’ll kill you if I have to hear ‘Toxic’ one more time.” I threatened with my eyes still shut. Lex reached over me to pick up his pants that somehow ended up on the floor. He dug around his pockets still half asleep and mumbled, “hey man what’s up?”

I started opening my eyes searching for the clock that was knocked off the table. I couldn’t see the numbers from my spot on the bed, so I shut my eyes and started to fall back asleep.

“Yeah, fuck, we’ll be down in like 15 minutes.”

I groaned as I remembered that we made plans the night before to meet. Lex started moving around on the other side of the bed but I was content blowing them off and sleeping the rest of the day. Lex, however, wasn’t going to let me sleep, and immediately started hassling me to get up. I felt the bed shake under me as he bounced on it forcing me to wake up in a panic.

“Come on, Joves, we’ve got a long day ahead of us and Zac and Kate are on their way over already. Go put some make up on or something.”

“Fuck you,” I replied as I rolled onto my back. I reached for my glasses on the night stand and slid them on. I threw my legs over the edge of the bed only to find Topher still lying on the ground. “Fuck you too, Christopher,” I mumbled trying not to trip over him on my way to the bathroom.

“You know what, Jovie, you’ve got class,” Lex called after me as I disappeared into the bathroom. I silently cursed him again once I was in the bathroom. I looked in the mirror seeing that I still had some black eye shadow on from the night before. I cleaned up the smudges I had acquired while sleeping and decided that it was good enough. I brushed my teeth, put in my contacts and put on deodorant before leaving the bathroom.

I kicked through clothes that were lying on the floor before I found my bag. I unzipped it and pulled out the shirt on top which happened to be a see though black lace baby doll top. I took off the jean jacket I wore the night before and slept in to reveal a red camisole. I pulled the lace top over my head, and then fixed my ponytail. I decided that the jeans I already had on would work then stuffed the jacket into my bag. It was only day two of the tour, but it seems that I have already fallen into “tour mode.”

I stood up when I heard Lex talking. “You know what, Joves? I like me a girl that is ready in 5 minutes. That’s why I keep you around.” He walked over to me and hugged me. He was about a whole foot taller than me so I buried my face in his chest.

“I like me a boy who reeks of B.O. That’s why I keep you around,” I joked back. He smiled and acted as if I had given him a compliment. After kissing my forehead he suggested we head down to the lobby.

Zac and Kate were just walking in when were got off the elevator. We stepped outside of the hotel and immediately noticed it was a beautiful day. I dug around my tote bag looking for my sunglasses, and after a couple seconds I pulled out my large framed glasses and a pack of gum.

“We should walk, it’s so warm out today,” I suggested offering everyone a piece of gum.

“If you want to walk around Chicago in flip flops that’s fine with me,” said Zac looking at my black flip-flops.

“Dude, I wear flip flops everyday of my life. I think I can handle it,” I assured him. “Aren’t you from Ohio?” Kate questioned. “Doesn’t it snow there?”

I nodded and said, “Yeah, but I absolutely hate wearing socks and shoes. If there’s snow I’ll wear real shoes but I love my flip-flops.” I pointed to my flip flops and bragged, “These seriously only cost me 2 dollars.”

“She loves buying shoes, or should I say she loves me buying her shoes, but she never wears anything but those cheap as fuck flip-flops,” Lex added.

I shrugged and nodded in agreement with Lex. Zac shook his head and mumbled something about girls. After a few minutes of discussing we decided to start our day at a diner down a couple blocks away that Lex and I saw the day before. We started walking and instantly the boys had started reminiscing. By the time we had reached the diner we had heard about the time when Lex broke his arm after Taylor got mad at him for jumping on his bed and pushed him off, and how whenever Zac tried to spend the night at Lex's he went home scared in the middle of the night until he was 9 years old.

We reached the diner and were seated in a small booth in the back of the non-smoking area. I decided that even though it was pushing one o’clock in the afternoon that I would have coffee and French toast. Lex ordered a coke, a bacon cheeseburger and onion rings. Zac ordered coke, a bacon cheeseburger and fries and Kate settled for water with lemon and a house salad. Luckily I hadn’t taken my sunglasses off yet because I found myself rolling my eyes while she ordered.

“Hey man, do you remember when Jessie convinced you to let her cut your hair into a mohawk?” Zac asked as we waited for our food.

Lex nearly spit out his coke before replying. “Yeah, I remember that! It was like two days before the Christmas pageant at church. Man, I was in so much trouble,” exclaimed Lex. Both of the boys cracked up. “See, Joves, you can thank Jessica for my Mohawk. She started it and I liked it so that’s why I kept it. Go ahead and thank her.” I rolled my eyes looking at his hair.

It wasn’t a Mohawk when we started dating, but for about the last year he had decided to go back to the mohawk. I honestly wasn’t bothered by it when he actually took the time to put gel in it and make it a Mohawk, but Lex for the most part is too lazy. He lets the hair hang down on one side, kind of like Spinner on Degrassi. Of course whenever I tell him this he gets really mad, and usually storms into the bathroom to gel it.

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll make sure to thank her,” I said through a forced smile.

“Shit, we got in so much trouble,” Lex thought out loud, “hey, remember when we walked in on Taylor making out with that girl when your parents were out of town for the weekend. He fuckin’ flipped out on us! He was so sure your parents were going to kill him. He was such a drama queen.”

Zac, Kate and Lex all started laughing when Lex mentioned Taylor. I hadn’t met Taylor so I guess that’s why I didn’t think it was that funny.

I excused myself to the bathroom and when I returned our food was ready. I slid into the booth next to Lex just in time to hear “Yeah, and remember when your mom sent you to Ohio to live with your dad.” That caught my attention and I joined the conversation.

“You were sent to Ohio? I thought you moved with your dad when his business transferred him,” I said casually then asked “Kate, can you pass the syrup?”

“Yeah right, he didn’t want to move but his mom kicked him out! He kept getting in trouble with this girl, Lydia.” Zac laughed before taking a bite of his burger, “those two were like jack-rabbits.”

I glared at Lex as syrup spilled over my French toast. “Really, babe, Lydia? I’ve never heard you say anything about her.”

Lex passed my cold glare onto Zac who instantly stopped laughing.

“She was just an ex-girlfriend, no big deal,” Lex replied still staring at Zac.

“Then why did you lie about why you moved to Ohio, Lex?” I asked.

“Because, Jovie, I was embarrassed about being kicked out of my fucking house, okay?” He snapped back.

“Whatever, Lex.” I said taking a bite of my French toast, “I don’t care.” I didn’t say a word the rest of the time in the diner, instead I just picked at my food. I wouldn’t have been upset if it weren’t for the sudden shift in moods when Lydia was brought up. As soon as Lex looked at Zac he stopped laughing as if he realized he said something he wasn’t supposed to say. Lex knew all about my ex-boyfriends, so I just can’t understand what the big deal was. Lex had always led me to believe that he never dated much.

When we left the diner Kate linked her arm with mine and let the boys walk ahead of us.

“So, what’s up? You like, said four words during lunch. What’s going on?” she asked.

“The Lydia thing. I get so jealous, like it just makes me mad that he doesn’t, like, want me to know anything about this Lydia girl. What the heck is up with that, you know?” I replied as we walked.

“I know,” she nodded, “I get jealous too. It’s just something you have to deal with.”

I looked at her, and asked “Do you know anything about Lydia?”

She frowned and shook her head, “Sorry, I wasn’t around back then.”

I didn’t reply so after a minute she yelled up to Zac, “Hey Hun, Jovie and I are going to go look around and maybe shop a little. I’ll call you to meet back up in a couple hours okay? Love you!”

We turned down a street lined with stores, but we didn’t go in any. Instead we walked up and down the streets talking.

“You know what bothers me the most?” I thought out loud, “He got all defensive and then didn’t even realize I was mad. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t even notice I didn’t say anything at lunch,” I explained.

“I know,” she nodded, “Boys are just kinda like that though. At least Zac is that dense sometimes too. But I’m sure that the Lydia thing isn’t a big deal,” she paused for a minute before adding “if you want I can ask Zac about it.”

I stopped walking and looked her in the eye as I asked, “Do you think he’d actually tell you?”

“Um, Jovie, the ring on my finger means he’s wrapped around it,” She assured me, smiling as she held her right hand in the air, “Of course he will tell me. I’ll play it cool too and he wont even know I’m gunna tell you. When we meet back up with them just pretend you’re not mad and then they won’t suspect anything when I ask Zac.” She seemed confident in her manipulation abilities, but I wasn’t exactly sure I really wanted to know.

“Yeah, but what if it’s something I don’t really want to know?” I asked, biting my lower lip.

“Jovie, if you are going to marry this guy you’ve got to really know him,” She said as her eyes fell on one of the shop windows, “ It can’t be that bad,” she said, but something over my shoulder caught her attention. “but that purse is really cute, so we’ve gotta go in there,” she exclaimed pulling me into the store.

Finally around five thirty Kate and I found ourselves inside of a coffee shop. I had ordered and paid for my coffee while Kate talked to the man behind the counter. She was talking about some artist that I had no idea about. I took a seat at one of the tabled by the front window to watch the people outside. A few minutes later Kate joined me with a cup of coffee.

“I didn’t know you were that into art,” I said as she sat down.

She smiled and replied, “I’m not that into it, but I am into getting free coffee.”

“You were so flirting with him to get coffee, weren’t you?” I accused her.

“Hey, a little flirting never hurt anyone! You should try it sopmetime,” she whispered after hushing me. We both giggled like little girls and sat enjoying our coffee before Kate remembered we were supposed to call the boys.

“You should call so Lex doesn’t think you’re mad,” She said, then stood up from the table, “I gotta pee. I’ll be right back.”

I reluctantly took out my cell phone and held down the number two until it started ringing.

After a few seconds Lex answered. “Hey, Joves, where you at?”

“I dunno, some coffee shop.”

“Wow, I likes me a girl who’s smart.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, It’s kinda by where the diner was. Just head that way and call me back when you’re close. Kate knows the area a little better so she can tell you where we are. She’s peeing right now though.”

“Okay, we’ll be seeing you soon then. Love you”

“You too,” I replied right before I hung up.

A few minutes later Kate emerged from the bathroom talking on her cell phone, explaining where we were. “Uh-huh, you should actually be able to see it from there…okay, see you in a sec.”

The boys arrived at the coffee shop and Zac was already laughing. As soon as he saw me, he asked “Did you know his ring tone is ‘Toxic’?” I nodded and smiled. “And you still said yes? I mean don’t get me wrong, Lex, I agree she is hot and al-“

“Hey!” Kate and I said in unison.

“What?” he asked defensively look at Lex, then at me “I mean, you’re hott too, Jovie-“ but was cut off.

“Hey!” Kate and Lex said in unison.

“Whatever,” said Zac as he threw his hands up in defeat, “I quit, you know what I meant.”

We sat around the coffee shop for a little while longer until Kate’s cell phone started ringing. It was Natalie inviting us all back to the hotel. They ordered a bunch of pizzas and though it would be a good idea to all hang out and get to know each other.

Lex got up first and extended his hand to me, helping me stand up. We kept our hands together as we walked the streets of Chicago as if nothing was wrong.