CHAPTER THREE

~ RUNNING ~

I woke up the next morning, praying that I was home in my own bed.  I opened my eyes, and saw Mandy in her bed across the tiny walkway from me.  "Damn." I whispered.

I jumped out of the bed and quickly grabbed my running clothes which consists of a blue sports bra and Nike swish pants.  I went into the minuscule bathroom, brushed my hair and teeth, changed and pulled my hair into a ponytail.

When I came out of the bathroom, Kevin was standing next to the door, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Running." I replied.

"Can I come?" he inquired.

"Sure, if you want to." I answered nonchalantly.

"Okay, just give me a minute." he said, smiling down at me, as he stepped in the bathroom.

I leaned back against the wall, and looked at my watch.  It said 5:30. I was kind of glad that he was coming. Normally, back at home, I would run by myself every morning, but Kevin seemed sweet -- unlike A.J. I wanted to get to know him.

When he got out of the bathroom, we walked off the bus and as we stretched our legs, Kevin asked ,"Do you run a lot?"

"Every morning around 5:30." I answered.

"Damn! You get up every morning at 5:30... even on weekends?!" Kevin questioned stunned.

"Yeah. It really helps clear your mind." I replied, laughing at Kevin's expression.

"What could be so stressful, that you have to get up at 5:30 in the morning?" joked Kevin.

"Stuff." I muttered, hoping he wouldn't press on.

Thankfully, he didn't.

"Do you run by yourself?" he inquired, as he waited for me to finish stretching.

"I do. It's just easier, you know?  You don't have to wait for anybody when they get tired.  I can easily run, like, 5 miles, without getting tired.  All my friends can't keep up, and get tired within a couple minutes." I explained, as I began to slowly jog, "Ready?"

"Yea, sure." he responded, following me.  We ran about a mile and a half, in silence.  He finally broke it, "So...you have a boyfriend?" he asked.  His face was red.  I couldn't tell if it was out of embarrassment or exertion.

"No." I replied, "You have a girlfriend?"

"Nope." Kevin answered.  We ran about another 2 miles.  I could hear Kevin breathing hard.  I hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Do you want to go back?" I questioned, stopping, but still running in place.

"Only if you want to." Kevin responded, putting on a tough guy routine.

Normally, I hated when guys did that and I would say okay and make them keep running until they begged to go back.  Today, for some odd reason I felt sorry for him.  "Sure, let's go."  I told him, turning around and running again.  I heard him sigh in relief.  I had to bite my lip, to keep from laughing.  We ran the three and a half miles back to the bus in silence.

When we got back, it was about 8:30.  As I began to cool down my muscles, I asked "What time will we be at the hotel?"

Kevin dropped down on the grass next to me.  "4:30, 5:30?" he guessed, "We have rehearsal from about 6:30 to 7. The show starts at 8:30. Are you coming?"  He got up and walked to the bus door, and held it open for me.

"Uhhh... I don't really listen to pop." I confessed, walking through the door, "Thank you." I said to Kevin, smiling at him over my shoulder.

"Where were you?" A.J. asked sitting at the table with Brian, Leighanne, and Howie. I could hear Mandy and Nick talking in the back of the bus.

"We jumped off a cliff." I answered sarcastically.

"Yea, well, I guess the ground saw your face and threw you back up." A.J. retorted, digging into the giant breakfast in front of him. It was pancakes, 3 eggs, a cappuccino, and a huge glass of orange juice.

"Ah ha, ha, no." I responded, totally grossed out, by watching him shovel food in his mouth. "Aren't you going to get sick?"

"He always eats like this on tour." Brian said.  "Why were you up so early, Kev.?"

"I couldn't sleep. I went jogging with Mags." Kevin replied, as I went in the bathroom to wash my face.

Over the running water, I could hear Leighanne ask Kevin, "You like her, don't you?"

I heard Kevin laugh and respond, "How'd you guess?"

"Because you got up at 5:30 in the morning." Howie replied.

"How can you like HER?" asked A.J. in disbelief.

"She has a great smile.  She's got a really good sense of humor.  She's smart.  She's really sweet.  Plus she is a HOTTIE!" Kevin replied, and said something else I couldn't hear.

"Sweet?  Humor?" echoed A.J. in disgust.

"It's your own fault she acts like that toward you.  She's fine with the rest of us." Kevin protested.

"How?  I was just being myself." argued A.J.

"Exactly, sometimes you can be...overbearing.  That's what you were on the plane.  You may have be flirting, but you can be really rude sometimes." Brian agreed, as the bus pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the highway.

"But I...uh..." A.J. realized he had been beat.

"Just apologize. She'll forgive you." Kevin advised.

I turned off the water and snorted at the idea of A.J. sucking up his pride and apologizing.  I snorted louder than I intended to.  Everyone heard me.

"You don't think she heard?" Kevin whispered.

"Naahh," assured Brian, as I walked out of the bathroom.

I went to my bunk, checked to make sure no one was looking. Once I was sure no one was paying attention, I quickly slipped my diary out from under my mattress.  I jumped up on my bed, and began to write.  I had had it since I was 14.  There were things in it no one knew; not even Kylie.

Suddenly, I heard my cell phone ring. I knew it was mine because I had programmed it to play, Amazing Grace, instead of ringing.  I jumped off the bed and grabbed it out of my purse, which was laying on the floor.  "Hello?" I asked pulling myself back onto the bed.

"Hey Magdalena!" yelled Kylie. She was majorly hyper.

"Sup, Corter?" I asked.

"Nothing, girl. My life is dull without cha." chided Kylie, "What about you?"

"You wouldn't believe it, Ky." I replied, leaning my back against the wall, and letting my legs dangle over the edge of the bed.

Kylie sighed.  "What have you done now?"

"I am offended. I didn't do anything." I protested.

"Okay, then what?" asked Kylie.

"I am on tour with the Backstreet Boys." I sighed, knowing Kylie would probably scream, because she was a huge Backstreet Boys fan.

Of course she did scream, "NO WAY!  HOW?  WHY?"

"Kylie!  Breathe!" I commanded.

"Okay, Okay.  I'm sorry, but oh my God the Backstreet Boys...  Hey! Wait a minute!  Why aren't you with your uncle?" Kylie questioned suspiciously.

"Yeah.  He can't watch me.  So I got sent here." I replied.

"How does he know BSB?"

"Told you.  He's Lou Pearlman.  You know, the manager or whatever."

"Oh...ok."

"Yea."

"You are so lucky."

"Think again."

"Why?"

Kevin walked by and motioned to me.  I held up one finger and said to Kylie, "I have to go. I'll call you later."  I said hanging up the phone.  I knew if I hadn't hung up then we'd talk forever. Our longest conversation was seven and a half hours.  If we wanted to we could break it.

I quickly shoved my diary back under the mattress.  I followed Kevin to the back of the bus.  "Yea?" I asked, sitting opposite of him.

"Some of us are going out tonight." Kevin started shyly.

"Uh-huh." I replied.

"I...I wanted to know if you want to go with me...uh us." he finished.  His face was red.  This time I knew that it was out of embarrassment.

I smiled at him, "Sure I'd love to go with you." I replied.