West Chester Beauty Queen

Chapter Ten - The Unknown

Luckily that was the first and only night Steven haunted my dreams. But then again I had Johnny laying next to me so he might just be the reason Steven stayed off my mind.
One night, a week and a half after mine and Bam's birthday party, Johnny and I were asleep in my bed when I got a phone call.
It didn't wake up Johnny and when I checked it I saw that it was Josh.
I quietly got up out of bed, grabbed my phone and went out onto my balcony and tap talk on my phone and say putting the phone up to my ear, "Hello?"
"Hey there!" exclaims Josh happily, "How are you?"
I giggle and say, "I'm fine thanks."
"Great! Fantastic!" Josh says
"Josh are you drunk?" I ask with a smile
"Never you mind that," Josh says and then hiccups, "I have some news for you young lady."
"And what's that?" I ask leaning against the railing.
"So I posted a video of your performance at your party on YouTube, and it went viral!" Josh exclaims.
"That's great. But you couldn't wait until morning to tell me this?" I ask
"That's not all," Josh says, "I was contacted by a certain celebrity and they want you to open for them on their tour!"
"What?" I say
"That's right, baby! And can you guess who that celebrity is?" Josh asks
"Who?" I ask
"His name is Thomas. He goes by Luke." Josh says
"No fucking way," I say, "Luke Bryan wants me to go on your with him!"
"That's right! So what do you say? It's your big break!" Josh says
It was my big break. I've been waiting for this moment. It was huge!
But then I noticed something sparkle in the moonlight on my wrist and I saw the bracelet Johnny gave me for my birthday.
I looked back through the windows on the door at a sleeping Johnny.
This could change everything. Change my entire life...maybe even my relationship with Johnny.
"Joey" asks Josh on the phone bringing me back to reality, "Are you still there or did you die of shock?"
"I'm still here." I say, "Can I call you back? Take some time to think about this?"
"Sure." Josh says, "But don't take too long."
"Okay. Thank you Josh." I say and I hang up.
I stand there on my balcony looking in at Johnny. We had just taken a huge step in our relationship and now I could be leaving and god knows how long I'll be gone.
I sigh and run my hand through my hair and I turn around and lean against the railing thinking. Could I just leave Bam and Johnny and all the guys? I've grown so close to all of them.
I didn't realize I had stood out there for over an hour before the sun started to rise.
"Joey?" asks Johnny groggily
I turn and see him standing up from bed and walking over towards me, "What are you doing out here?"
"Nothing. Just thinking." I say
"About?" he asks wrapping me in his arms and I relax.
"About..." I say not entirely sure what to tell him, "How much I've missed this and how much I don't want to leave it."
He chuckles and kisses my head.
"Then don't. Stay here forever with me and the guys. We can be one big happy family." he says and I giggle.
"Sounds like a plan." I say
"Jesus," says Johnny, "It's cold."
I smile and turn around and say, "Then why don't we go back to bed, and climb back under the warm blankets."
He smiles and says, "You must be a mind reader."
I giggle and we lace our hands together and we go back in my room and we climb under the blankets.
He pulls me close to him and we tangle ourselves together.
He kisses my forehead and says, "I love you Joey."
"I love you too Johnny." I say back and snuggle into him more and eventually fall asleep.

****

Later that day, I got up about noon and went downstairs by myself because Johnny was still asleep.
I found Chris and Steve-O sitting on one of the couches watching tv.
They look up at my entrance and say,
"Morning sunshine."
"Morning." I moan and they laugh.
I climb over the couch and grab a pillow and put it on Steve-O's lap and lay my head down on the pillow and he starts playing with my hair.
"What? No love for me?" Chris says and I lay my legs across his lap and he chuckles.
"Somebody still tired?" Steve-O asks
"Mhm." I yawn
"Somebody have a little too much fun with her boyfriend last night?" Chris asks
I kick him gently in the leg and he laughs,
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." he says and then I kick him even harder in his special place as he groans in pain making Steve-O laugh, "No, I'd say that's a 'no'."
After awhile, the pain evidently gone, Chris gets up off the floor and makes his way upstairs and I pull the throw blanket on the couch over me because I was cold and Steve-O and I continue to watch tv.
Johnny comes downstairs soon and groans his response to mine and Steve-O's greetings.
He comes over to me and leans down and kisses my cheek and slips his hands under the blanket to find mine which were by my legs.
Steve-O playfully hits his head and says,
"Keep your hands where I can see 'em Romeo."
We laugh and Johnny goes over and sits in the chair by the couch and watches tv with us.
Soon Bam, Dunn, and Novak join us in the living room.
Bam lays on the other couch, Dunn tries to make it to the other chair but doesn't and lays on the floor, and Novak sits on my legs. It was probably safe to say it was going to be a lazy day.
After awhile, the boys started whining how hungry they were. So I kicked Novak in the leg until he got up off my legs and I got up and made them breakfast, and Johnny helps.
I kind of felt like a mother, as I set the table. Making her kids something to eat and taking care of them. It made me think of what Johnny said this morning.
'We can be a big happy family.'
Which then reminded me of Josh's call last night.
"You okay baby?" Johnny asks
"Yeah." I say, "Just still a little tired."
I put the food- bacon, waffles, fried potatoes, and sausage gravy- on the table and the boys dig in.
As I sat next to Bam and Chris, picking at my waffles I looked around at the guys. I had learned to love this, spending time with the people I care about, how could I just leave it for what some people in the profession say is better? But I've always dreamt about being a musician. I've always wanted to tour the world, and I have the chance. All I have to do is say yes and go. But the guys...Johnny...
"You okay Pebbles?" Bam asks nudging me with his elbow.
Only then did I notice I was staring at my barely touched waffles.
I look up and see that all the guys were looking at me expectantly and worriedly.
"Yeah," I say putting my fork down, "I'm just not that hungry."
I get up and go upstairs and to my room.
My phone rings and I see that it's Josh. I didn't feel like talking to him so I hit ignore and put my phone on silent and then hopped into the shower.
I change into faded black denim skinny jeans, a faded blue shirt t-shirt, a flat billed black hat, and black sneakers and grab my skateboard and go out back to the mini skatepark Bam had.
I just rode around for awhile and then started doing tricks just to blow off steam but it wasn't working too well.
I tried doing a kick flip but couldn't land it so I landed on my butt.
I tried again and again but couldn't do it. Finally I just got pissed I threw my skateboard and walked off into the woods, thinking maybe the old treehouse would help me calm down and think.
I climbed into the tree house and opened up the roof to look up at the sky.
I lit a cigarette and laid down on my back and started thinking.
I loved to sing and be on stage, but I also love Johnny...very much. How would going on this tour affect us?
"Hey there SuperStarr." says Johnny's voice
I look up at him and take the cigarette out of my mouth and say, "Hey."
I sit up and we go over to the railing and we sit next to each other.
"Are...you okay?" he asks
"I'm fine." I say
"Really? Because I'm pretty sure if your skateboard could talk it would say otherwise." Johnny says looking at me.
I shrug, "I just...have a lot of my mind right now." I say
"Mhm." Johnny says, "Does any of it pertain to Josh and the fact that Luke Bryan wants you to go on tour with him?"
I look at him and sigh, "How did you find out?" I ask
"He called me...asking me why you weren't answering your phone. Then proceeded to tell me how proud I must be of you and how lucky I was." Johnny says
I look down at my hands that were in my lap and started absentmindedly fidgeting with my charm bracelet.
"He was surprised to know that I had no idea what he was talking about. So am I." Johnny adds.
I sigh and say, "I'm sorry...I just...didn't know what to do, what I was going to do about it."
"What you should've done is come talk to me. We could've talked it out." Johnny says
"I know," I say, "But I wanted to know what I was going to say."
He sighs and reaches over and grabs my hand and asks, "Why didn't you tell me? Why did I have to hear it from Josh?"
"Because I had a feeling I knew what you would say..." I answer
"I definitely think you should do it. It's the right thing to do. It's your dream." he says and it kind of caught me by surprise because that is not what I thought he'd say.
"I know it's my dream but...I always do what's right..." I say
He gives me a look, "Okay maybe not always but enough times," I say with a small smile but it quickly dies, "Maybe I want to do something crazy again. Maybe I wanna wait awhile before I take that huge step."
"Zak," Johnny says, "This is a once in a lifetime shot. Take it."
"But I love it here," I say, "What about you? What about the guys? What about being one big happy family?"
"First off," Johnny says, "I'm not going anywhere. I don't know about the guys but I'm not going to leave you because you chase your dream. And second," a small smile spreads upon his lips, "I have a feeling you and I will have plenty of time and chances to have a family."
For some reason this makes me fell better because I smile for real and say, "Mm, somebody's looking into the future, huh?"
"Gotta be ahead of the game, baby." Johnny says and I giggle.
"We've been dating a month, how are you so sure you want to look that far into the future?" I ask
"Because," Johnny says and gently puts his hand on my chin, making me look at him and says, "With you...everything just seems so right."
I smile and bite my bottom lip and he adds,
"Here, let me do that for you."
He leans in and we kiss and I giggle as he bites my bottom lip.
We pull away and he cups my face in his hands and says, "No matter where you are, whether you're here or in China...you'll always be mine and I'll love you forever. I'll always be right by your side and there for you."
"I love you." I say
He smiles and says, "I love you too."
We sit there for a little while longer and then we head back to the house.
I was greeted by hugs from all of the others, and one especially long one from Bam.
It only occurred to me as I hugged my brother how much this might affect them...
When Bam finally let me go, I went upstairs and called Josh back and told him I'd take the job.
He filled me in on the necessary details about the tour, when I should leave, what dates and where the concerts were taken place, and how long the tour was.
After a two hour conversation with Josh over the phone I hung up and sighed...now to tell the rest of the guys.