Chapter Seven

"Actually, it wasn't that bad," Linda said. She and Kevin were sitting on the couch discussing the girls' flight. "Jen slept part of the way. Tiff, well, she read half of the way and argued with the kid sitting behind her the other half. It was funny."
"How so?" Kevin asked.
"Tiff's kinda outspoken when you make her angry and this kid did a pretty good job of that one. All he kept doing was kicking her seat; you should have seen some of the faces she gave him...hilarious! I'll give her some credit though, she did ignore it for a while until he started continuously kicking her seat. The one time, he kicked her seat that hard that she got up, turned around and yelled at him. Well, not only did she get his attention but half the other people on the plane. Needless to say, the rest of the flight was rather peaceful," she finished with a laugh. "But no, our trip wasn't that bad," Linda finally stopped laughing and continued with the story of rest of their day. "The worst part was after we landed and got our bags. We started looking for the restaurant where we were supposed to meet our ride, but we were going in the wrong direction. It wasn't until we reached the opposite end of the airport and asked someone where it was that we realized we had just walked about ten minutes out of the way. But we finally found it, met up with Mike, and headed out. And then..." she paused for a second and took a deep breath, "we checked in and chilled out for a while."
"So it sounds like you guys had a rather eventful day, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Linda answered with a smile.
"Knock, knock," they heard someone yell and simultaneously knock on their door.
Tiff immediately jumped off the bed that she was lying on and ran to open the door.
"Hey you guys! What took so long?" she asked as she hugged Brian and Howie.
"Sorry, I was on the phone with Leighanne and Howie was waiting for me," Brian apologized.
"That's okay, I was just pickin'! Come on in and make yourselves at home." Tiff shut the door and followed Brian and Howie to join the others. "So, how have you two been?" she asked as she returned to her sandwiched seat on the bed with AJ, Nick, and Jen.
"Not too bad," Brian answered as he followed Howie to the table.
"I see you guys made it in one piece," Howie laughed. "We were worried Tiff and Jen would have run you into the ground."
Brian took a seat at the end of the second empty bed while Howie walked between Linda and Brian to take a seat at the table. Brian waited for Howie to sit before speaking. "So Diane and Vanessa couldn't make it, huh?"
"They just couldn't stand the sight of you," Kevin joked.
Brian sat straight up and opened his eyed wide, "Not stand the sight of me?"
Howie fidgeted with the can of soda on the table, "The possibility of no one liking Brian is hard to imagine," he laughed. "You got any more of these?" He asked holding up the empty can.
"Sure," Linda turned to Kevin and Brian, "You guys want anything?" Linda saw them both nod. She got up from her seat and walked towards the small fridge that the girls had filled earlier. "I hope you guys don't mind Pepsi."
"No, that's fine," she heard them all reply. "And no, Brian, you weren't the reason they stayed home," Linda said closing the door, "they couldn't get away as easily as we could. They are coming though." Linda passed out the sodas and took a seat. "Everyone is meeting in Philly."
Everyone was quiet as the cans were opened and sipping noises were heard.
Kevin took a large sip of his soda, "Now that hit the spot."
Linda looked over at Brian and laughed at Kevin's remark. "That's the first time I've ever heard anyone claim soda could hit the spot.You guys didn't get anything after your show?" she asked.
"We did," Brian spoke, "but a growing man needs his liquid."
"I thought it was food."
"Don't correct me," Brian joked and took a drink.
"So Linda," Howie changed the subject, "you planning a party for yourself? I saw the bottle of rum in the fridge," he added with a smirk.
"Shame on you Linda," Brian smiled, leaning back as he tried to avoid her attempts at hitting him.
"Don't think I plan on getting plastered on my own. That stuff is for our 'before concert tradition'. Plus, it helps to get Tiff asleep. It knocks her right out. Then I don't have to listen to her babble on while I'm trying to sleep." Linda laughed and looked over at Tiff to wait for her reaction. "Looks like I won't need it tonight. She's already out."
The guys all turned to look and found Tiff, AJ, Jen, and Nick all smushed together on one double bed, sleeping.
"I give them an hour before one of them finds the floor," Howie smiled and shook his head.
Brian agreed, "Either that or they'll find themselves in awkward positions."
"Well, I say we crack open that bottle of rum and have a party of our own," Howie looked at the faces around the table hoping for a reply.
"You guys go ahead. I'm not up for any alcohol tonight," Kevin said.
"You sure?" Linda asked.
"Yeah. You guys go ahead. I'm getting kinda tired anyway, so I might soon head back."
"You don't have to go back to your room," Linda started. "Besides, those guys are already asleep. We'll just make it a big ol' sleep over," she finished with a cheesy smile.
"Aww...a sleep over," Brian said.
"Oh shut up and crack open that rum!" Linda said.

Chapter Eight| Main