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Chapter Eleven
The gang finished eating and Nick, Howie, and A.J. had already gotten back on the bus. Kevin and Brian were walking Colleen and Ryan to their Jeep, not wanting the girls to run into any more truckers.
“Hey Colleen,” Ryan said softly, as she walked up to her cousin and stopped walking.
“Waz up?” asked Colleen, turning to face Ryan. Ryan looked over to where Brian was standing with Kevin and then back at her cousin.
“Would you mind if I went on the tour bus with Brian?” Ryan asked hesitantly. She knew Colleen was already a little sad that their girl time had been interrupted by meeting the guys and that she had looked forward to the road trip because it was going to be just the two of them, gossiping and talking together. That’s why Ryan had been riding with Colleen up till now, to regain a little of their girl time. But Ryan also wanted to spend as much time as possible with Brian before they finally had to separate.
Colleen looked at her cousin’s face and smiled. She could see that Ryan was worried about hurting her feelings. She really didn’t mind, she understood where Ryan was coming from. Personally, she wanted to spend more time with Kevin too. She had just been a little disappointed that there had been little time for her and her cousin to just hang out by themselves, but she wouldn’t trade meeting the Backstreet Boys for anything.
“Nope. You go spend some time with your cute little goofball,” Colleen said with a smile. Ryan smiled back.
“Thanks, Pirate. Ya know I love ya, right?” Ryan asked as she looked at her best friend. Colleen nodded and put her sunglasses over her eyes.
“Yeah, I know, retard.” She turned and both of them started to walk over to the guys.
“So Kevin, I’m going to be your best man, right?” asked Brian, slyly as he noticed his cousin staring at Colleen.
“What?” Kevin asked as he turned his attention from the way the sun shone on Colleen’s hair to what his cousin was saying. “What are you babbling about?” he asked.
“You know, making me your best man for your wedding when you marry Colleen,” said Brian with a grin.
“What the heck? Colleen and I are not even going out, we are taking things slow,” replied Kevin. Brian shook his head.
“You should see how you look at her, Boo. You’re head over heels,” said Brian as he turned his attention to where his Ryan was walking towards them.
Kevin stood there shocked. How I look at her? he thought. Colleen and I are taking things slow, we are not even officially a couple. I mean, I’m not sure if I want to be in a serious commitment, they’re too hard with touring and never seeing each other. Colleen is an awesome girl but I don’t know if I want to be in a monogamous relationship, Kevin thought. His thoughts were interrupted by the girls reaching them.
“Hey, hun. I’m going to ride with you on the bus, if that’s okay,” Ryan said as she slipped her arm around Brian’s waist. He groaned.
“Do you have to? I’m going to be forced to ride with you?” he said, moaning. Ryan pretended to get angry.
“Fine, if you don’t want me,” she said as she shrugged off his arm from around her shoulders and turned her back towards him. Brian grinned.
“You know I would love to have you riding with me, babe,” he said as he hugged her. She just rolled her eyes. They both turned around to where Kevin was standing, and waited for him to say that he would ride with Colleen, since she was obviously by herself now. But Kevin just stood there, looking off into space, lost in his thoughts.
“Kev? Hello? Hey cuz,” Brian yelled as he tried to get
Kevin’s attention. Kevin looked up. “Ryan is going to be riding on the bus,” Brian informed his cousin, subtly pointing out that his cousin should ride with Colleen. Kevin nodded.
“Cool. Well, I’ll see you guys on the bus,” he said as he walked towards the bus. “Colleen, drive carefully.” And with that, he climbed the steps of the bus, doors closing behind him.
Colleen just stood there, complete bewilderment on her face.
Ryan had an incredulous look on her face and Brian couldn’t believe his cousin just did what he did. Brian turned to Colleen.
“Colleen, I don’t know what’s up. Maybe he wanted to get some sleep or something,” Brian said, trying to make excuses for Kevin’s behavior. Colleen tried to smile.
“It’s okay, Brian. I better start driving now,” she said as she unlocked the car. Ryan walked over to her.
“You know, I don’t need to go on the bus. I’ll ride with you,” she said as she looked at Brian, speaking to him with her eyes that she couldn’t just leave Colleen by herself. Brian nodded, showing her he completely understood.
Colleen shook her head no. “You go on the bus. Brian, make sure Ryan get’s some air between your make out sessions,” Colleen joked as she climbed into the Jeep and closed the door. Ryan stood back from the SUV and Colleen started the engine and pulled away. Ryan turned to Brian and he put his arm around her shoulder as they walked to the bus.
“I can’t believe Kevin did that,” Ryan said to Brian. Brian nodded.
“That was completely rude,” he said. “He is usually not like that. Something must be up,” he murmured as he tried to think what could be wrong. They reached the bus and Ryan climbed up the steps, Brian behind her. The bus started and pulled out onto the road. Ryan and Brian walked back to the rest area where the rest of the gang was sprawled.
“Hey guys,” Ryan said as she entered the room and sat down on one of the couches.
A.J. looked up. “Hey Rye Bread,” he said as he paused from the game he was playing on his Gameboy. Nick stopped drawing a pencil sketch of the horizon and waved. Howie was sleeping. They both resumed their previous actions when A.J. looked up suddenly.
“Hey, if you are here,” he said, looking around the room and noticing that Kevin was reading in the beanbag. “Who’s with Colleen?” he finished.
Ryan stared at Kevin angrily, while replying. “She’s by herself,” she said, thinking of how rude Kevin had been. Nick looked up.
“What? Colleen’s driving by herself?” he repeated. Ryan nodded. He looked over at Kevin and back at Ryan, silently asking her the question of why Kevin wasn’t with her. Ryan just shrugged her shoulders.
A.J. got up and reached for his cellphone. “Well, we can’t have that. Hey, Rye Bread, what’s Pirate’s cell number,” he asked. She told him and he dialed up Colleen.
Colleen was driving along, listening to Beethoven’s Nocturne in E minor, opus 67 when she heard her Nokia ring. She turned down the music and answered it.
“Hello?” she asked.
“Hey, Colleen. What’s up?” she heard A.J. ask her. She smiled.
“Oh nothing much here. I’m just listening to some Beethoven. How about you?” she asked.
“Well I was going to tell you to pull into the next rest station because I want to get away from the rest of these clowns and thought, hey my bud, Colleen will take pity on me and let me ride with her. But I don’t know if I want to come with you now,” he said.
Colleen laughed. “Oh really, why is that?” she asked.
“Well, you’re listening to classical music,” he said, sounding appalled at the thought. Colleen laughed.
“Oh well, too bad then. I’ll talk to ya later,” she said and then hung up. One, two, three, she silently counted the seconds as she waited for him to call her back. Riiiiiiiiiing!!! She laughed and answered.
“Hewwo, this is Wong’s Chinese westaurant. May I help you?” she asked with a Chinese accent.
“Ha, ha,” said A.J. “How rude to hang up on me. I can’t believe you Americans,” he said in a British accent.
“Who said I was American?” she replied in a British accent also. “Did I ever tell you that Ryan and I have British grandparents, accents and all?” she said in a perfect British accent.
A.J. laughed. “Really? That’s cool. Do they drink tea?” he asked.
Colleen smiled. “Actually, they do. So anyway, do you still want to ride with me?” she asked.
“Yeah, Nick too,” he added as he saw Nick motion that he wanted to ride with Colleen too. “So pull over to the rest stop coming up here, kay?” he said. Colleen said yeah and they both hung up.
The bus slowed down and pulled into the rest stop after A.J. told the driver and Donna that he and Nick were going to ride with Colleen. Kevin looked up as he felt the bus slow.
“Hey, why are we pulling into another rest station? We can’t need more gas in just twenty minutes,” he asked the rest. Nick gave him a nasty look.
“Me and A.J. are going to ride with Colleen, since someone left her by herself,” he said with a disgusted tone as he grabbed his sketchpad, gameboy, and snacks and put them in his backpack.
Kevin looked down at his book, feeling guilty. He hadn’t meant to be mean and leave Colleen by herself but he couldn’t be with her right now. He needed some time alone to figure out how he felt about the relationship between him and one, tall auburn haired girl.
Nick and A.J. climbed down from the bus and walked over to where Colleen had stopped her Jeep. They climbed in and she pulled back out onto the interstate.
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