Chapter 2 That’s A Silly Question

                After breakfast everyone got back on the tour busses and our long journey to our second to last stop on the This Is Us Tour continued. The hours dragged on and boredom and a slight case of homesickness started to set in as we go closer to our destination but whenever I looked down at the beautiful ring Nick gave me I didn’t mind being in a bus for so long.

BACK IN NEW JERSEY

                Just as Heather and Rich were about half way to the airport, traffic slowed down and eventually stopped.

                “Oh I hate traffic!” Rich said through gritted teeth, “I hope we’re not waiting here for hours.”

                “Baby, relax. If we are stuck here for a while it’s just more time for us to spend together just the two of us,” Heather grabbed Rich’s hand and rested her head on his shoulder.

                “You have a good point there babe.” He kissed her forehead sweetly.

                She looked up at him lovingly and said, “I’m so glad you’re back from tour Rich.”

                “Me too Vi,” he looked back at her as she sat up, “Want to play our traffic game?”

                She grinned, “Let’s do it!”

                They French kissed until the traffic in front of them moved and the drivers behind them started honking their horns. The couple stopped kissing and started giggling as Rich let the car roll forward.

                Heather couldn’t stop staring at her amazing boyfriend. She missed waking up to see his face, the way he held her so close to him as they slept, the way he would just stare into her eyes and smile before kissing her affectionately, all in all she missed every inch of Rich and every little thing he did while he was on the This Is Us tour.

                Rich missed Heather too much and he flew back to New Jersey a day early skipping a show just so he could spend some time with Heather before Melina came for a visit. He didn’t tell her he was coming home early so he surprised her by sneaking into her house and slowly entering her bedroom while she was sleeping. His lips delicately touched hers like he was the prince in Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. She woke up rather surprised and flicked on her light and once her eyes adjusted to the bright light she screamed, “Rich!”

(PURPLE WORDS NOT ON THE WEBSITE!)              She vaulted out of bed and jumped into his arms. They kissed passionately and Heather could feel her heart go into over drive.

                “Remember what I promised you when you got home?” she whispered seductively into his ear.

                “Are you sure you want to?” he replied back kissing her neck.

                “Yes baby.”

                From there it became like a love scene in a romantic movie. The only thing the couple needed was romantic music playing in the background as they made sweet love. They didn’t care that it wasn’t the most romantic setting, they just cared that they were together again after months of being apart.

                After they made love they lay in bed and held each other close.

                Heather smiled at her handsome boyfriend and said, “Welcome home baby.”

                Rich grinned back at her and ran his fingers through her hair, “That was the best welcome home present ever.”

                She giggled and rubbed the side of his face with hers lovingly.

                They stared into each other’s eyes until Rich yawned, “Excuse me. You wore me out babe.”

                “I’m pretty tired myself too. Good night sweet heart. I love you Rich.”

                “I love you too Heather, good night.”

                They kissed then snuggled closer as they fell asleep.

                Heather was brought back from her flash back when Rich asked her, “What are you thinking about Violet?”

                She realized she was staring at him when he spoke to her.

                “I was thinking about last night,” the right side of her lips curved into a cute grin. “I was also thinking that we could do it again tonight.”

                He chuckled, “I was thinking the same thing but Melina is coming remember?”

                “Hence why we are driving to the airport.”

                “We can always wait until she goes back home.”

                “Honey, she’s not sleeping in the same room as us.”

                “You have a point but still, you don’t want to leave her alone while we have fun.”

                “That’s true.”  

                Just as Heather finished her flash back they pulled into airport parking lot. Rich found a parking space and then they walked hand in hand to Melina’s terminal. They didn’t wait long for the passengers to depart Melina’s plane and they found each other right away.

                “Heather!” Melina screamed as she ran toward Heather and gave her a huge hug.

                “Melina! How was your flight blood sister?”

                “It was long! But we didn’t hit turbulence or anything.”

                “That’s good. Melina I want you to meet my boyfriend Rich. Rich this is my German blood sister Melina.”

                Rich shook her hand and smiled, “It’s nice to meet you Melina and welcome to America.”

                “It’s nice to meet you too Rich and thank you.”

                They walked over to baggage claim and quickly found Melina’s luggage.

                “Blood sis,” Melina said, “I have one favor to ask you.”  

                “And that favor would be?” Heather asked.

                “Please keep me up until ten tonight so I can get use to the time change,” Melina answered. “Although I am pretty excited to be here I don’t think you’ll have a hard time keeping me awake.”

                Heather smiled, “No problem. We’ll think of something to do.”

                Rich and Heather decided to take Melina to the local mall for a little bit just to keep Melina awake. After killing time in the mall they headed back toward Heather’s house.

                “So how did you two meet?” Melina asked once Rich started to drive home.

                “Rich and I have known each other since kindergarten and we have been best friends ever since,” Heather replied.

                “So when did you start dating?”

                “We actually started dating a year and a half ago,” Heather grabbed Rich’s hand that he wasn’t using to drive. “But we went to senior prom together.”

                “Awe that’s so cute!” Melina smiled.

                “Yeah he is cute ain’t he?” Heather giggled.

                Rich winked at her then changed the subject, “How would you like to go bowling Melina?”

                “Ok as long as you and Heather want to go bowling also.”

                “Bowling is always fun. Let’s go!” Heather exclaimed.

                Heather, Rich and Melina killed a few hours bowling as they had a lot of laughs.

                When all of their frames were finished they headed back to Heather’s house for a dinner of Melina’s first taste of American pizza and the best garlic knots in town. They all stayed up and talked for a few hours longer until they settled on a movie they all wanted to watch. Surprisingly Melina stayed awake for the entire movie although she was dead tired from her long plane ride and a slight case of jet lag started to set in. As soon as the movie was over and Melina settled herself comfortably on the couch, sleep was calling her name loud and clear.

                “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep in one of the guest rooms? There are two of them,” Heather offered.

                “Thank you Heather but I am too tired to move. This couch is really comfortable. Thank you so much for making sure I am comfortable,” Melina answered graciously.

                “Don’t mention it. Get a good night’s sleep so you are nice and rested for a fun day of hanging out with my crazy friends tomorrow. Trust me you’ll need all the energy you can get to keep up with my group of friends.”

                Melina laughed then asked, “Will Kelshie and Jess be there too?”

                “Yup. They will me stopping by here in the morning before we head out to meet the rest of our group for lazer tag.”

                “Oh ok. It sounds like a lot of fun.”

                “Trust me it will be,” Heather smiled. “Good night bloodsis. I’ll see you in the morning.”

                “Good night bloodsis.”

                “Good night Melina,” Rich smiled at her before he started to climb the stairs after Heather.

                “Good night Rich.”

                Heather and Rich climbed the stairs together hand in hand. Once Heather closed the door to her master bedroom Rich stripped down to his boxers then flopped on the bed. Heather changed into her pajamas and Rich grinned as he watched her do so.

                She looked over her shoulder and said, “What are you grinning at?”

                “Just you,” he replied simply. “Have I ever told you that you’re sexy in pjs?”

                “I think you’ve mentioned it a few times,” she winked then crawled onto the bed next to him. They kissed sweetly then Rich started running his fingers through Heather’s long brown hair as she rest her head on his chest.

                They laid in silence for a few seconds until Heather asked, “So babe, what do you think of Melina?”

                “I have a feeling she and I will become good friends by the end of her stay here. She reminds me of you.”

                “How so?”

                “Well she was a little shy when we first met and you tend to be that way around people you first meet too, she’s sweet, and she’s also pretty. But you’re prettier.”

                “Oh stop Sweet Talker.”

                “It’s the truth though,” Rich defended himself.

                Heather looked into his eyes and smiled before they shared another sweet kiss. After their lips parted, Heather yawned.

                “Some one’s a little sleepy huh babe?” Rich caressed Heather’s hair.

                “Just a little bit honey. Keep running your fingers through my hair and I’ll be asleep in no time.”

                Heather snuggled closer to her boyfriend as his slender fingers slid through her long, soft, brown locks.

                “I love you Rich. Good night.”

                “Good night Vi. I love you too.”

                Heather smiled as she fell asleep.

                The next morning after breakfast, Melina, Rich and Heather sat down in the living room and watched TV together.

                “Heather would you mind if I sleep in one of the guest rooms for the rest of my stay. I didn’t like the sound of the cars going by on the street last night,” Melina commented on the busy street Heather lived on.

                “Which ever guest room you want is yours,” Heather replied.

                “So what are we going to do today?” Rich asked.

                “Jess and Kelshie should be here any minute and then we are going lazer tagging with the Group.”

                “What’s lazer tagging?” Melina questioned.

                “Lazer tag is kind of like regular tag but you play it in this dark place and you are given lazer guns and glow in the dark vests and you tag people with the lazer guns. A group of our closest friends from high school have done this every single year ever since freshman year of high school. It’s a tradition for us.”            

                “It sounds like fun.”       

                “Oh it’s tons of fun,” Rich interjected, “Especially with our group of close friends.”

                Heather chuckled, “Yeah we’re a close knit group of ten nut jobs that have been friends since middle school and we’ve stayed close even though we all took different educational and career paths after high school.”

                “That’s awesome!” Melina smiled.

                Then they were interrupted by the ring of the home phone and Heather got up to answer it.

                “Guess who this is,” the two voices on the other line said after Heather answered the phone.

                “It’s the other half of the Backstreet Buds!” Heather exclaimed instantly recognizing the voices of her two best friends, Jess and Kelshie.

                “You got that right!” Kelshie answered. “We just called to let you know that we are about half way to your house. It should take us an hour and a half to get there.”

                “Ok did you guys have breakfast yet?” Heather asked.

                “Since when do we eat breakfast?” Jess answered sarcastically.

                Heather chuckled, “You have a point there.”

                “So what’s the plan for today when we get there?” Kelshie questioned.

                “Well it’s the annual lazer tag game remember?”

                “Oh that’s right!” they both replied.

                “I almost forgot about that,” Kelshie commented.

                Jess asked, “What time are we going?”

                “I don’t know yet,” Heather answered honestly. “John is going to call me and let me know because he’s the one who made the reservation.”

                “Ok we’ll see you soon but I have to go because my phone is dying and Kelshie’s is already dead,” Jess said.

                “Alright I’ll see you guys in a little bit.”

                Just as Heather hung up the phone rang again and she answered it with a laugh.

                “Well hello Ms. Hermie!”

                “John! How are ya?!”

                “I’m good. How are you?” Heather’s long time good friend said happily.

                “Not bad but I’ll be a lot better when I see the Group tonight!”

                “That is the exact reason why I called. I set the reservation for 5 o’clock and we are all going to meet at Space Odyssey at 4:30 because we might be able to get in two rounds because I pulled some strings and called a few people I know who work there.”

                “Awesome! So how many of us are going?”

                “All ten of the original group! And your friend from Germany is coming along too right?”

                “Yes she is and she seems really interested in it. I showed her some videos on youtube and she says it looks like fun.”

                “Oh she hasn’t seen anything until she plays with us!” John laughed.

                “That’s what I told her!” Heather chuckled back. “So are we going out to the diner afterward?”

                “Oh come on Hermie! It wouldn’t be our tradition if we didn’t go to the Chit Chat Diner after Lazer tagging,” John answered sarcastically.

                She shook her head, “I know that was a silly question.”

                “That’s right!” John laughed. “Well I’ll see you at 4:30 Hermie, I have to go pick up Marcy.”

                “Is she coming with us?”

                “Yes she is. She’ll make our 12th player to even out the teams, plus she really wants to go with us this time.”

                “You know any girlfriend of yours is always welcomed to participate in Group activities. Besides she’s fun to hang out with.”

                “Awe thanks Hermie. I’ll see ya at 4:30.”

                “Later!”