Chapter 4

We decided to take his jeep. It was actually a rental car, but I think Brian was pretending it was his.
“I had a jeep for awhile and I loved it. The rental agency had one and so I jumped at the chance to use it for the next couple days. It’s a lot like my old one.” he explained.
I shook my head and laughed. “You crack me up. You should see how excited you are about this car.”
He glanced at me. “Well, since we spend so much time touring we are always on a bus. We don’t get to drive that much so whenever I get the chance to, I take it. It’s the small things in life I guess.”
I pondered that. “It must be hard. I don’t think people give you all the credit you deserve. I think a lot of people think you just get up on stage and sing and it’s all a piece of cake. I can’t imagine the hours you guys put in and all the hard work. Not to mention always being on the road and practically living out of hotels. And always being recognized wherever you go. It’s gotta be hard.”
“It is,” he agreed, “but we love it. You are right though. Sometimes I wish I could just enjoy normal things like going to a coffee shop without having to hide. Or go to a mall without a bunch of screaming girls run after you.”
“Has that actually happened?” I asked, astonished.
“Yeah, we were thrown out for causing too much of a scene.” he said.
“Wow, that is pretty bad.” I sighed. “Some fans carry it too far, I think. Like the screaming, crying, fainting ones. Or the one’s that try to rip off your clothes or throw their bras at you on stage.”
“Yeah, but we’ve learned to deal with it.” he said.
“By the way, where are we going?” I asked him when I noticed that we were aimlessly driving around.
Brian laughed. “I don’t know. You’re the one that knows this town. Where am I going?”
I looked at my pager. It was just after noon. ‘Dang, we must have been talking forever in Bendago’s.’ I thought. “Well, what do you want to do?” I said aloud to him.
He shrugged. “I have no idea. What kind of stuff do you like to do? Do you like to bowl?”
“Ooh, yeah! I love bowling. It probably won’t be very busy there either since it is so early in the day.” I said.
“Bowling it is.” He agreed.
I gave him directions and within 10 minutes we were walking into the bowling alley. I was right. There were hardly any people there.
Nevertheless when we went up to the counter I asked for a lane over in the corner. We paid for our shoes and headed towards our lane.
“I have to warn you, I haven’t played in awhile so you will probably clean my clock.” said Brian as he inspected different balls, trying to find one he liked.
I groaned. “Riiight. I play all the time and I bet you’ll probably still kill me.” I picked up a dark blue one and walked over to the lane.
“I doubt it.” he finally picked up a bright green one and set it on our ball return. He spun mine around to look at the number and his mouth gaped.
“15lbs?! How can such a little thing as you pick up a heavy ball?” he demanded.
I gave him a dirty look. “I’m stronger than I look. Besides for some odd reason I do better with a heavy ball.” I turned my attention to the small screen in front of me. I put “B-Rok” in for his name.
“Um, do you think that is a good idea?” He asked, frowning.
“There isn’t anyone around us and even so you probably won’t get any strikes so we won’t see your name up there anyway.” I said jokingly.
“Yeah, that’s true.” he said. “Hey! Wait a minute! That was mean!” He exclaimed when what I said sunk in.
I was laughing. “Just kidding. Your name will probably be up there more than mine.”
It turned out I was right. The first game he beat me by 12. Halfway through the second game I was barely beating him. We talked nonstop the whole time. I noticed that he seemed a little tired. I didn’t really think too much of it. He probably just didn’t get enough sleep the night before.
I ended up beating him by 2 on the second game. Our third game was just plain silly.
“Hey, Ellie, betcha can’t knock any pins down doing this.” he challenged.
He turned around so he was facing me and bent over. He threw the ball backwards between his legs. I busted out laughing when it immediately went to the gutter. He tried again and the ball went a little further, but still landed in the gutter.
“Obviously you can’t either!” I snorted.
He laughed. “Well, let’s see you try.” He retorted.
I jumped up and grabbed my ball. “Okay, you’re on!” I turned around just in time to see Brian sort of sway before he all but collapsed into the chair behind him.
“Brian!” I cried. I ran over to him and grabbed his shoulders as he started to slump over. “Brian! Say something! Are you okay?!” I said, my voice shaking.
With great effort he straightened himself up. I didn’t let go of his shoulders for fear he would tip again.
“I’m alright.” He gasped. He looked like he was in pain and he was gasping.
“No you’re not! What’s wrong?” I said. I could hear the fear in my voice.
“I just got a little dizzy is all. I’m fine, really.” he tried to assure me. I reluctantly let go of him. His breathing was returning to normal and he didn’t look like he was going to fall again. As soon as it happened it was all over. “Please don’t worry. I’m okay.” He repeated, trying to smile.
I nodded, but deep inside I knew he wasn’t okay. There was something terribly wrong and I was scared of what that might be.

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