Thirty Three

~ Philadelphia, PA… Day two, concert #6 ~

"Rise and shine sleepy heads…"

I let out my normal morning moan and cuddled up to the warm body next to me, "Not yet…"

"It’s time to get u,p Kel… come on girlie. Don’t make me jump on this bed and knock you out of it…"

"Don’t you dare, AJ…" Kevin mumbled and wrapped his arms tighter around me while nuzzling his face against my neck.

"Dude, you’re all over my girl! Get up," AJ said as he shook the bed slightly. Neither Kevin nor I budged and I heard AJ sigh. "Kel? Come on baby get up."

"Too comfy with Kev…" I yawned with my eyes still closed.

"Fine… you asked for it," AJ laughed and seconds later he pulled the blankets and sheet from us.

"AJ!" Kevin and I whined together as the cool air of the room hit us.

"Get UP!" Kevin and I finally opened our eyes and looked at AJ where he stood at the foot of the bed. We then looked at each other and went back to cuddling. "Uh, Kev…"

"Whaaaat?"

"Your hand is on my woman’s ass."

I laughed as Kevin lifted his head slightly to look at his hand, smiled, and then lay his head back down, "Sure is…"

"Kevin!" AJ shouted.

"Yeah?"

"She’s mine…" AJ pouted.

I giggled and looked at AJ, "Share me?"

"Nope…"

"Oh come on…" I smiled. "I could enjoy being in the middle of an AJ & Kev sandwich."

"Mmm… a sandwich sounds good," Kevin laughed.

"Doesn’t it? Come on, Age, we need the other half of the bun."

"I think he’d have to be the bottom half. Those are typically the skinny part of the bun."

I giggled again, "True… Come on sexy…" I reached out my hand toward AJ and wiggled my fingers. "Be our bun, baby…"

"Y’all are crazy. I can’t believe that I willingly left you two alone all night."

"You know you love us…" I smiled.

He nodded, "Yeah. But, Kev, you really need to get your hand off of her ass. That’s killing me."

"It’s not killing me though…" Kevin laughed. "How about you, Kel? Is it killing you?"

"Nope. Kinda nice actually," I grinned. "I could use a little nibbling on my neck though…"

"I can handle that…" Kevin smiled.

"Oh no you don’t!" AJ said loudly and crawled onto the bed lying down behind me.

"Hi honey…" I smiled over my shoulder at him.

"Nibbling is MY job…" AJ mumbled as he spooned up to my body. "And you need to move your hand now…"

"Fine…" Kevin sighed and took his hand and moved it to AJ’s ass. "How’s that?" he laughed.

"Better…" AJ giggled and kissed the back of my neck.

I smiled and closed my eyes taking great comfort in being wrapped in the arms of my two best friends and began to giggle. "What?" Kevin asked after laughing at me.

I grinned and shook my head, "I just really love my life…"

*****

"Where the hell is Brian?" AJ groaned as he walked around on stage waiting for rehearsal to begin.

"Probably hitting on some girl backstage," I laughed.

Kevin shook his head, "I swear he’s worse than Howie lately…"

"Nah… I’ve still got him beat," Howie grinned.

I rolled my eyes, "Playa…"

"Basically…" he smiled. "Can’t leave Nicky out of the equation though," Howie smiled. "Talk about a boy who can get the women. You should have seen him last night at the pool hall." I glanced at Nick and he was looking down at the floor pretending to not be listening. We hadn’t spoken to each other since his birthday. Each time I’d forget about that night and got ready to talk to him about something I’d see the bruise I’d left on his cheek and it reminded me of the painful things he’d said. "Nicky turned 21 and the next night turned into a full on pimp. What I want to know though is what you and that blonde did when you disappeared into the bathroom for twenty minutes last night Nick..."

Nick looked at Howie and smiled, "We held hands…"

Howie groaned, "Yeah right…"

"I’ll have you know…" AJ piped in. "That I was a good boy last night and stuck to playing pool while these fools ran around getting sucked off by pool hall sluts."

I smiled weakly and kissed AJ’s lips, "Thank you, baby." I looked at Kevin knowing that he’d been watching me. "Come on, Kev, let’s go find your cuz…" Kevin nodded and walked backstage with me. Once we were away from the rest of the guys he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I smiled and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Thanks…"

He nodded, "Told you I’m going to keep your head from exploding…"

I giggled, "I have the feeling that you’re gunna be pretty busy then…"

Kevin shrugged, "Not a problem."

"He won’t even look at me."

"I noticed that. Give it some time. You both are the type that need a little space to think things through and then you’re okay."

"True," I said as I stopped walking and looked around. "Where IS Brian?"

"We probably don’t want to know," he said and smiled.

"Brian!" I yelled out loudly and laughed. "Briiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaan!" Kevin and I proceeded to walk around calling Brian’s name obnoxiously giggling like fools.

"Are y’all on speed?" Brian asked as he walked up behind us several minutes later grinning.

I rolled my eyes and smacked him in the head, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Well I WAS taking a piss," he laughed. "But then I heard two idiots yelling my name and giggling so I've been following them around for ten minutes watching them.

We all laughed and I jumped on Brian’s back messing up his hair and pretending to choke him. He laughed, "Ride me, baby…"

"Giddyup, Rok…" I giggled and smacked his ass.

He neighed liked a horse as he carried me piggyback toward the stage and Kevin walked along side laughing. When we made it back to the stage AJ looked up at us from where he was sitting on the floor, "Found him huh?"

"Yeah…" I smiled and jumped down to my feet again. "Thanks for the ride," I smiled.

"Anytime…" he grinned wiggling his eyebrows.

I winked at him and laughed, "I swear, I need another girl on this tour with me. I can’t handle all of the sexual advances from y’all…A girl has to get her rest you know?"

"I’m sure you can handle it," Howie smiled.

"Yeah we’ll let you rest occasionally," Kevin laughed.

"Yup, plus if you take on two of us at the same time, you’ll have even more time to rest," Brian added as I smiled at him and shook my head.

"If anyone can handle two of us at once it’s Kel…"Nick said with no sarcasm in his voice at all as he walked toward the back of the stage to get his water.

Everyone but Kevin and I laughed. I forced a smile and kept myself from looking at Nick, "Yeah well that’s true. No one else could tolerate y’all’s shit like I do."

Kevin reached out and put his hand on the back of my neck letting his thumb rub circles between my shoulders, "And that’s one of the many reasons why we love you so much…" He kissed my cheek and I smiled. "Now let’s get this rehearsal done before it gets too late and we’re stuck here with no time to go back to the hotel and rest before the show."

I turned to AJ as all of the guys got ready to rehearse. "I think I’m going to go get some pictures of the venue and maybe find some fans to give M&G passes to. I’m sure I’ve got plenty of rehearsal pictures for now. If I’m not back when you’re done, just call me okay?"

"Sure, baby…" he smiled and wrapped his arms around my waist.  "You okay though?"

I looked into his eyes knowing that I couldn’t lie to him and get away with it. I shrugged my shoulders and hugged him. His hands rubbed my back and I closed my eyes wishing that we could stay like that forever. I knew that we both had to work though and pulled back just as a tear fell from one of my eyes. I smiled but he didn’t, "I’m just emotional today… I’ll be okay…"

AJ sighed and held my face in his hands studying my eyes, "You know what I think we need?" I shook my head no. "AJ and KJ time…" I smiled and nodded. "We really haven’t had much alone time since the tour began. We went from being alone for days at a time back home to hanging out as a group again every night. I think it’s beginning to take its toll."

I nodded, "It’s weird. I’m with you so much, but I miss you." Another tear fell down my cheek and hit AJ’s thumb. He pushed it away gently.

"Same here… So tonight after the concert it’s just you and me. No clubs, no parties, no phones. Just us, room service, pay per view and cuddling while talking about nothing all night long."

"That sounds wonderful," I said as my face lit up with a smile.

"Now that’s the smile I fell in love with," he grinned.

"I love you," I whispered as I tiptoed to kiss him gently.

"Not nearly as much as I love you."

"Okay so let’s both go work so that the day can go by faster and we can have our date…"

"Ooh a date with my girlfriend? What will I wear?"

I grinned and picked up my camera bag, "I’d be happy with just a smile, baby…" I kissed him again and smiled as I walked toward the backstage.

"I think I can handle that, " AJ laughed as I walked away.

"I know you can…" I called out over my shoulder. I walked by Nick on my way out and glanced at him. He was watching me with a cocky look on his face and I stopped for a moment and walked up to him and looked up at him. Speaking quietly yet firmly I addressed him, "Don’t ever pull shit like that with me again. If you have a problem with me, then you deal with it with ME. Don’t drag the rest of them in on it. Trying to humiliate me in front of them will only end up getting you burned in the end because I don’t play that game. You should know that by now… Don’t fuck with me Nick or this is going to be one long and miserable tour for you. I guarantee it."