okay - here's part one of chapter one. i kinda wrote a lot, so i'm gunna make it into seperate parts. and thank you for the enthusiasm! i hope i don't disappoint.
Chapter One
~ Jesse’s POV ~
“Thank you so much, Philadelphia! … And we’ll see you again real soon!”
The band finished playing a few minutes later, but I could still hear hundreds of the screaming fans from my dressing room backstage. Damn, those girls could really scream. At times it seems that they’re louder than I am onstage …
I collapse onto my bed on the tour bus 15 minutes later. We’re already on our way to another state, another crowd, another sold-out concert – only about half-way through this leg of the tour too. I don’t even know which venue’s next … I just know that this bed is the most comfortable thing in my life right now, and I could just about fall asleep any second.
But that theory’s thrown right out my open window as I hear a knock on my door. Groaning, because I really was about 10 seconds away from sleep, I pry one eye open and mumble for whoever it may be to come in. I try to sit up a little as Phil, one of my background singers, enters. Seeing as how it is Phil, I groan some more.
“What, dude? I haven’t slept a solid night since I think we started this tour,” I complain. But it looks like Phil has something serious on his mind, so I lose the inner battle with myself and sit up fully, leaning against the back of a cabinet. “What is it?” I ask a little more gently.
He sighs, then closes the door behind him, and sits on the edge of my bed … then, deciding against that, gets up and paces around the room. Which isn’t exactly a long pace, since all the back room of the tour bus consists of is my bed and separate bathroom. Finally, after watching him walk back and forth for the fifth time, he faces me and asks, “Did you call Kaylie yet?”
“What?” Now this is a question that I didn’t even see coming. “No … why, was I supposed to?” I was genuinely confused.
“Don’t you always call her after you perform?” He asked me this like he expected me to respond with a ‘sure, wouldn’t you assume I would? I mean, she is my girlfriend’. But the truth is, I haven’t talked to her in a couple weeks. After we had this huge fight the last time I called, I just assumed that she needed some space before I called her again. And, I didn’t want to have to go through another fight with her over the phone. The performances alone tired me out … I didn’t need her yelling at me soon after them. That is why I sighed and hung my head after he asked me this question. Kaylie has been the last person on my mind the past couple of days, and as bad as I feel to admit it, that’s the way I preferred it.
“I haven’t been lately … at least for the past couple of shows.”
“Why not?”
Now I look up. Why does he so badly want to know this? Does he know something … did Kaylie tell him something?
“Is there something you want to tell me?” I ask.
“No. I just … I mean, a couple of the guys were … We …”
“What? What have you guys been saying behind my back about this? Because, the last time I checked, me and Kaylie’s relationship was strictly between me and Kaylie. And I think that’s where it should stay.” Now he was starting to piss me off. I didn’t need a talk about this right now. What I needed right now, was sleep. And he was preventing me from getting any.
“It does affect us, Jess,” he looks at me, “when your performance starts to suffer because of it.”
“What are you talking about? The show tonight was hot … and the shows in the past couple of weeks were tight too.”
“Yeah, maybe from where you’re sitting … The rest of us, we can just feel there’s something off with you lately. The singing’s fine, the choreography’s fine, even the middle banter is fine-“
“Then what is wrong with me onstage?” I snap. I did not need this, one bit.
“Your presence. It’s just not there. You may be there, on the stage, but really, we can all see how you’re not. Your mind’s somewhere else, thinking of other things. And we think that the audience is starting to see that.”
I stare at him for a moment. Was he right? Was I really not mentally on stage, was I really thinking of other things …
“And you think this is all because of Kay?” I ask softly.
“Truthfully, man … I do.” He sits on the edge of my bed. “And I really think you need to call her and try to figure things out. If it’s been two weeks since you last spoke, that can’t be healthy.”
I sigh and nod. I know he’s right … Phil’s always right. But that doesn’t mean that I necessarily want to call Kaylie and open up what is sure to become Pandora’s Box – again. Fortunately, Phil can sense my hesitation and offers up something good.
“You don’t want to call her, do you?”
“I just don’t want to end up fighting again. That seems like all we ever do recently … And I’m just tired of it. It’s like, she has her life and I have mine. And combining the two isn’t good for either of us anymore.”
“So, why don’t you invite her into your life, then?”
I look up and can literally see the light bulb going on over Phil’s head. What does he now have up his sleeve?
“What are you thinking about now, Phil?” I ask hesitantly.
“Body Language,” he states confidently.
“My song? What about it?” Alright, now I’m confused again.
“That’s gunna be your new single, right?” he asks with a grin on his face.
“Yeah …”
“So, you’ll need to obviously make a video for it soon, right?” The grin grows bigger.
And now I’m starting to catch on and a small grin starts to form on my face. Great, so now if anyone happens to walk into the room now all they’ll see is me and Phil grinning like idiots at each other. God, I hope that door’s locked …
“I think I know what I have to do,” I state. I just hope that she’ll agree to it too …