Not Just A Fan

Chapter 37

The final items that was slammed down into her suitcase, squeezing everything into each corner Ester can find. The next day will be different, as she will be on a bus making the journey to their first stop of the night, Canada. The journey will be long, but they will get to stop halfway through to stretch their legs. A plane would have been better, but Drew does not want his fans to be suspicious on his whereabouts and thought they might get caught.

She says her final goodbyes with Katie paying her rent up with the money from the EP and her job, the next load of dosh will be from the tour. It finally sunk into her head that she is going to be on tour, the excitements makes it harder to sleep, for a couple of hours she can picture the crowd looking back at her again and how much of a loud noise they will be making. Then, sees the back of Drew singing in the front and wishing he would turn back to glimpse at her, even a smile, but it never came. The dream she once had has now become a nightmare and the hurt from a man who would not let his guard down and learn to trust again. Ester believed she gave him that sense of love and trust he always wanted, but somehow, she never found a way to bypass his anxiety and grief.

From what should have been a sleepless night of excitement, turned out to be a disturbing torture. The consistent yawning and desperation for coffee to the extreme measures she was not what she wants to be dealing with today. Setting to be at studio 8 am sharp to see the sleek black buses ready to carry a cart loud of bodies and luggage. They walk on with a gasp on their faces, the black interior providing comfortable bunk beds on each side with blackout curtains. Down the narrow corridor to a small kitchen with light grey gloss cupboards and seating area with light grey cushions, with a door entering to a bathroom with a little shower. Next to it was another door,

'What's that?' Ester asks, Drew squeezes passed them all to open it up and shuts the door.

'That happens to be his room.' Naomi replies. Ester thinks, "of course it is, he likes his privacy".

Ester makes her area comfortable in her bunk and starts to look at the small storage space to where she can keep her stuff, and the opposite is her brother lounging on his side.

'What do you think sis?'

'This is amazing.' she responds, 'This is a sick ride.' Eric smiles, he gets up and sits next to Ester,

'I'm glad you're feeling better and taking it well.'

'Me too.' In the end, Ester decided not to get Drew back, but just let it be, and if it comes back to it, she will be ready to rein him in just like before. 'So, you and Naomi...?'

His cheeks went bright red, 'Yeah well, she gets me.'

Ester smiles in return, and he tells her how it all happened. He lied about how much he liked to work out to impress her, but Eric never did any extreme exercise a day in her life. Naomi caught on when he got tired within 5 minutes of a light jog and bizarrely found it cute.

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For the long journey ahead, Ester decided to take a nap and felt grateful for doing so. Her mouth felt dry and went into the petite kitchen to top up her water bottle, for a change of scenery she sat on the seating area and looked at the window, watching the world.

She never hears another person come in and sit opposite her and caught them in her eye.

'Hey.' Drew says quietly, and she only smiles back, and see he has a phone in his hands and one headphone in his ear, it also looks like he made an effort of tiding his hair too. 'So, what do you think about the bus then?' Drew tries to make conversation, she shrugs.

'Pretty cool.' she wanted to act like friends for now, just like he wanted. A loud yawn come from behind them,

'Wow, who would have thought sleeping in a bunk could be so comfy.' Eric walks in and nudges Ester to move up and entices her closer to Drew, which she really did not want to. Naomi not long follows behind and perches next to Eric.

'I only get the best for my favourite people.' she gloats, 'Besides, we'll be out tonight celebrating...' And ruffles Eric's hair, '..someone has a birthday tomorrow.' He smiles on how cute Naomi is.

'Don't forget my twin sis too.' Eric looks a her and gives a smile back.

'Of course.' Ester catches Drew glimpsing at her with his mind thinking, and she sees on the table his phone. The light bounces from the screen, exposing that he has been listening to music, her music. The song he paused it on is, "Edge". It catches her breath that he still plays them, and in denial, she wanted him back.

'Guess what I got..' Eric pulls out a pack of cards from his denim jacket pocket, '... let's play our favourite sis.' She smiles. As Eric opens the deck out, Drew gets up and goes back into his room, she couldn't help but look at him. 'Come on, we'll teach you.' He tells Naomi.

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Over the halfway point in Buffalo, Naomi booked a small private place that will be able to eat without any distractions. Ester wears her classic red tartan skirt and a black sleeveless crop top and lets her curls loose from her plaits. She made it enjoyable for herself and kept her distance from Drew as he was doing the same with everyone else. He watches the scene and sees the people he's grown to like be happy and sees the women he once lost. One day, he hopes to have her again, but he's not ready to, not just yet. A lot of people would ask why he's holding back, but it's not because of the guilt from Lucy, but for Ester. She was hurt, and he did nothing but neglected her feelings when she needed him. Drew became selfish and back into his old ways as he couldn't protect her from the media writing those untrue events. With everything else, he doesn't want to repeat history all over again. It wasn't until talking to the therapist and how they made him realise that death would always be feared, but it's how you live the life you have, giving time to heal and ready to take the risk. The last step was almost there; taking the risk.

Without having too much to drink, she lies comfortably back on her bunk and drifts off. She never felt the bus arriving in Toronto.