Chapter 32

As they stood there stunned, completely in shock of what just happened, Annie’s cell phone beeped. She quickly grabbed it, hoping it was a message from Andrea giving her more insight into what was going on.

“Is that from her?” Nick asked, panic stricken and in disbelief that Andrea just peeled out of the parking lot and out of his life. “What the hell is she doing?”

“Nick, calm down,” said Howie, placing his hand on Nick’s shoulder.

“DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!” he yelled, not so much at his friend who was just trying to help, but more so for himself. He needed to yell, to scream, to punch something. He was confused, hurt, and beside himself. “GOD **** IT! Urgh-AH!” he yelled as loud as he could, kicking the side of the bus in anger. “I don’t believe this!”

“What does it say Annie?” AJ asked, leaning over her shoulder to read the message on the tiny screen of the cell phone.

“First off, I’m sorry for taking off on you. If I had told you what I was planning, you would have tried to come with me. I know you want to stay with Alex, and this way you have no choice about it. I just could not stay a part of Nick’s life after what Alex said. He’s right, and the only way Nick will realize it is if I’m not there to cloud his judgment. Please let him know I am sorry, I never meant to deceive him or hurt him, not that he believed my lies anyway. Call me when you are alone, I really need to talk to you. Love you, Andi.”

Nick’s attention had been focused on Annie reading the text message aloud, but turned it to Alex as Annie finished. “Did you say something to her?” His face was getting a deeper shade of red with every word Annie read, and now as he confronted his best friend, it was almost purple.

“She, well we, heard you two talking in the hallway last night about all the crap you will take from the media, fans, and other celebrities for dating her. She didn’t say anything about it, so I didn’t think it even fazed her,” she interjected before Nick got into it with AJ.

“She heard us? You both heard us? Why didn’t you tell me?” Alex asked her, concern mounting layer by layer onto his beautiful face.

“I didn’t really think about it either. I know you were just playing devil’s advocate and Nick did a really great job of drowning the doubts you were throwing at him. I guess I figured Andrea thought the same way and that’s why she didn’t say anything either.”

“Well, obviously NOT, because she’s GONE NOW!” he yelled again, his voice rising and rising, along with his blood pressure. “Let’s get the buses moving and see if we can catch up to her, or something! WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!”

“Nick, please listen to me. I know you think you know her really well, and for the most part you do, but you have to listen to me when I tell you that is the wrong thing to do,” Annie stated to him matter-of-factly. “She doesn’t want anyone trying to stop her or change her mind. For some reason, she feels that you being with her is inadequate, that she is not what you need.”

“So wouldn’t going after her and showing her she is wrong be the best thing to do?” Nick said, calming down as he began to understand what Annie was saying.

“No man, you have to let her think that what she did wasn’t the right thing to do, she has to realize it on her own,” Kevin said, jumping into the conversation. “You know, Kristin did something similar when we first got together. She was so scared of the flack we would both take for being together, she almost backed out. That’s why we were on again/off again for a little while.”

“I didn’t know that,” Nick sighed, realizing that Kevin may be right. “So what do we do now?”

“We get on the buses and head to Chicago,” said Brian, looking at his watch. “She knows where we are headed to, and if she’s changed her mind already, she’ll know where to find us.” They all nodded their heads and piled back onto the buses. As they pulled back out onto the frontage road heading toward the interstate, Annie excused herself and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Andrea’s number. It rang several times and then went to voicemail. Why aren’t you answering? Annie thought to herself as Andrea’s voicemail recording came on. She left a message telling Andrea to call her as soon as she could.


Andrea had driven about thirty miles when her cell phone started ringing. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was Annie. She was going to grab it when she realized she had only one good arm and she needed that to steer the car. She let it go to voicemail, telling herself she would call her as soon as she stopped to rest. She was still feeling groggy from the pain pills she had taken and was not sure how much farther she’d be able to drive.

If I had to stop every thirty miles to rest, this is going to be a very long trip home, she told herself as she concentrated on the road. I guess I just won’t be able to take my pills for a while. She drove a few more miles before she remembered that Nick still had her pills with him. “Son of a…” she started, unhappy with herself for giving them to him to hold in the first place. “This trip isn’t going to just be long, it’s going to be painful,” she admitted aloud, grimacing as she tried to move her bandaged arm.

Three hours and twenty-seven minutes later, she was approaching the Southern most suburbs of Chicago. How in the hell I made it this far, I’ll never know, she said to herself, as she drove closer and closer to Chicago. The traffic began to pick up the closer she got to city as rush hour was upon her. She decided to stop at a rest area along the interstate and call Annie.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed her cousin’s number. She only heard a half of a ring before Annie picked up.

“Where are you? Are you okay? What were you thinking? You have a broken arm, you’re doped up on pain medication, and you take off by yourself in a car!”

“I’m fine Annie, just a little tired. I am at a rest stop along the interstate, just outside Chicago. The traffic is getting pretty heavy and I’m not sure I can drive anymore. My arm is just killing me and I don’t have my pain pills, Nick still has them.”

“Stay right where you are, I’m coming to get you,” Annie ordered into the phone and then disconnected the call. She set the phone down and walked up to the front of the bus to talk to the driver. “Fall behind Nick’s bus so we are last in line, then pull off the interstate at the rest stop just before Chicago. We are getting Andrea.”

The bus driver nodded and within thirty minutes they were pulling off the interstate and into the rest area, but Andrea and her car were no where to be seen.