I took the towel off my head and soaked up as much water as I could off my hair. I walked over to the mirror and used the towel to wipe it down. I looked at myself. Well, that’s a lot better. I picked up a brush and brushed my long brown hair. I then hunted around for my pants. I found them and searched the pockets for a hair band to use. I found it and I pulled my hair up into loose ponytail. I looked in a small cabinet to find some deodorant. I found some and applied it. I placed the towels in a neat pile on the counter. I picked up my clothes and folded them neatly and I also placed them on the counter.
I went to the door. I took a deep breath and reached for the handle. I felt really nervous. I took my hand off the handle and stepped away from the door. OK, Erin. Time to calm down. He may have almost kissed you but it didn’t happen. OH, I wanted it to happen though. OK just calm down. I took some deep breaths. My stomach growled. OK, I gotta go outside, I’m hungry. I made my way back over to the door and opened it.
I walked out and looked around to find Josh. I saw him sitting at a table reading the paper. On the table were LOTS of breakfast foods. Fruit, cereal, bacon, eggs, and the list went on. Yummy!!! I saw my sandwiches and my juice and made my way over to the table. Josh looked up from the paper.
“Had a nice...?” he trailed off. He looked at me. After a few seconds I broke the silence.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked, worried. He put his paper down and stood up. I was starting to get a little scared. No need to be afraid of him, Erin. He walked over to me.
“I never thought anyone could look better in those clothes than I do,” he joked. I started to laugh a little, but he got closer to me. So my laughter died down.
“You have such a beautiful smile,” he whispered as he cupped my cheek with his hand. I blushed yet again. Damn. Why does he keep doing that? I closed my eyes. The feeling was back. I had butterflies.
“Wrap your arms around me,” he said softly. I wrapped my arms around him. I opened my eyes to see his closed.
He looks so peaceful. He removed his hand from my cheek and he pulled me closer to him. I felt like I was falling. I closed my eyes again when his head started to inch towards my face again. I felt his forehead on mine. I could feel his warm breath against my lips. My breathing quickened. Just as his lips were about to meet mine, I heard someone calling my name.
"Erin?"
I came back to reality. Josh was sitting at the table, still reading the paper. I looked at him.
"Did you hear what I said?" he asked. I shook my head. "I said I never thought anyone could look better in those clothes than I do."
“Oh,” I sighed as I tried to shake the thoughts of wanting to kiss him out of my mind.
“Are you ok?” he asked as he put down his paper.
“I’m fine,” I replied with a small smile.
“Well, sit down and dig in. I ordered lots,” he said as he went back to reading his paper. I sat down at the table and got my sandwiches and juice and placed them in front of me. I ate my sandwich, then some bacon and eggs with some toast. After that I still felt hungry so I grabbed a banana and an apple. I drank my glasses of juice and sat back against the chair, satisfied. I looked over at Josh to see him looking at me. After about a minute of a staring contest I decided to break the silence.
“Do I have something on my face?”
“No, it’s just... you eat so damn FAST,” he replied with a chuckle. I laughed a little.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, the guys came by while you were in the shower. See, it’s our day off so we were thinking about goin’ out and play some b-ball and having some fun. You in?” he said his eyes glowing with excitement.
“Sounds cool. Of course I’m in,” I said with excitement. YAY!! I love basketball.
“Have you played before?” he asked.
“No, I haven’t,” I lied.
“Ok, well today you're gonna learn,” he suggested.
“Sure,” I replied with a smile. Today is going to be fun.
“Is there an extra toothbrush in the bathroom?” I asked as he got up and walked to the couch and sat down.
“Should be,” he said. I got up and started to walk to the bathroom. I was stopped by his voice.
“Erin?” I turned around.
“Yeah?”
“Do you mind if I read a little more of your writing?” he asked as he held up my notebook.
“Of course not... read away,” I replied with a smile. He smiled back at me. I turned back around and went into the bathroom. I searched around and found a toothbrush. I took it out of the package and found some toothpaste and cleaned my teeth. When I was done I could hear a humming. I slowly made my way out of the bathroom and stopped just behind the couch. Josh is humming! He then started to sing.
Does he know what you feel Are you sure that’s real Does he ease your mind Does he break your stride
“You ready to go Erin?” he asked the second he stopped singing. I jumped.
“Uh... yeah. I’m ready,” I stuttered. He stood up and faced me. He had a big grin on his face.
“Did I scare you, sweetie?” Josh asked as he handed me my book. I smiled.
“A little,” I replied as I took my book. “Do you have a pen or pencil I could borrow? I wanna write some stuff today,” I asked as I looked into his eyes. Damn those are beautiful.
“Yeah, I’ll get one for you... I’ll be right back.” He walked away into the bedroom.
I took a good look around the room. Wow! I’ve never been in such a beautiful place before. I heard a knock at the door. I went over to the door and opened it a little.
“Hey, there Erin.... are ya gonna let me in?” Justin asked. I opened the door the rest of the way to see him wearing a basketball jersey and shorts to match.
“Hey Justin... I see you really like basketball,” I said with a slight smile.
“Yep, yep! Let’s play some basketball, baby,” he replied in a playful tone with a big grin on his face.
“Ok, Erin. This is the only pen I could find and it’s mine so don’t lose it,” Josh said as he walked back into the room and he handed me the pen. I looked at him and smiled.
“Thanks,” I whispered before I kissed him on the cheek. Josh smiled at me, and still didn’t notice Justin at the door.
“Hey man... you guys ready to have some fun?” Justin asked us. Josh turned to the entrance of the door.
“Yeah, man, we’re ready,” Josh answered as he got his wallet and the key to his room.
“Where are my shoes?” I asked Josh. He pointed down to the floor and I looked down.
“Oh,” I said, embarrassed. My shoes were right by my feet. I slipped them on.
“Let’s go,” Justin said as he started to walk down the hallway. Josh let me out of the room first and he closed the door. We walked down stairs in silence. We made it down to the lobby to see the rest of the guys sitting and talking. And Lonnie was with them with another bodyguard.
“Miss Erin! How are you today?” Lonnie asked me, coming over to where Josh and I were standing.
“I’m feeling a lot better today. Thank you,” I replied sweetly.
“Ok, guys, let’s get going,” Lonnie called loudly. We all started to walk out the back entrance.
“Why are we goin’ this way?” I asked.
“There are a lotta fans out there. We could get trampled,” Joey explained. We left the hotel and got into a SUV.
Ten minutes after leaving the hotel, we reached our destination: a big sports arena.
“Wow!” I exclaimed excitedly as I got out of the SUV with Josh's help. I ran to the entrance without the guys and walked in.
“Woah,” I whispered. I looked around. I saw two girls standing in the middle of the arena talking and laughing. The girls noticed me and started to jog to me. The one with straight shoulder length dark brown hair with light brown eyes just couldn’t stop laughing. So the other girl with brown eyes and brown hair spoke up.
“Hi, I’m Camille. You must be Erin? Josh wouldn’t stop talking about you last night. This giggly girl next to me is Karly,” Camille stuck out her hand and I shook it. Karly finally stopped laughing and shook my hand.
“I’m Justin’s girlfriend,” she exclaimed proudly with a BIG smile. Camille giggled a little and jumped up and down.
“And I’m Lance’s.” I smiled at them. I was about to say something but Josh and the guys came running in.
“Ok. Let’s play basketball, people!” Justin shouted.
“Um... hello!” Karly said to Justin.
“Hello, baby,” Justin walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss. She looked like she was gonna say something else but Justin went in and kissed her again. It went on for a little longer until Justin pulled away and took the ball off Joey.
“We’ll... be right... over there,” Karly said, flustered. She grabbed Camille’s arm.
“What about me? Lance?” Camille asked. I stood there giggling at the two as Karly dragged Camille over to the stands.
“Oh, sweetie I would... but I might not be able to stop,” Lance answered, smiling at Camille.
“Damn,” she muttered. They sat down and instantly went back to talking. Just then two strong arms wrapped around me from behind. The scent of Josh's aftershave filled my senses.
“You ready to play?” he whispered into my ear. His hot breath sent chills running down my spine. My legs grew weak.
“I’m ready,” I replied with a sigh. We turned around together to see the guys looking at us with smiles on their faces. Josh let go of me.
“What?” he asked them.
“Nothing,” they replied in unison.
“Let’s get into teams,” Justin said. Josh walked to the guys. I just stood there staring at my shoes. A minute later I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up to see Josh and Joey smiling at me.
“You're on our team, girl,” Joey said as he wrapped his arm around my waist. I smiled.
“Let’s play,” I said. Joey removed his arm and walked to Justin.
“Josh?” I said as I looked at him.
“What’s up? Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to confess something,” I started.
“Confess what?” he asked confused.
“I lied before... when I told you I didn’t know how to play basketball. I can and I’ve been playing ever since I could remember,” I continued. I looked away from him and looked down at my shoes again.
“Hey,” Josh started as he placed a finger under my chin and moved my head up.
“Let’s play. This is gonna be fun,” he said as he smiled. Good, he’s not upset about my lying. I smiled back at him.
About 20 minutes later I shot the ball into the hoop.
“Nothing but net!” I exclaimed happily as I threw my hands up in the air.
“Damn,” Justin said as he wiped his face to rid of some of the sweat with the bottom of his shirt.
“We won! We won!” Joey shouted happily as he danced around.
“You're pretty good, Erin. Why didn’t you tell us?” Justin asked. I dropped my hands and they fell to my side.
“I don’t know. I guess 'cause you didn’t ask,” I replied. Josh came up to me and hugged me.
“Ewww! You're all sweaty!” I said trying to push him away.
“So are you,” he pointed out, smiling brightly.