Chapter Ten
Kevin had been talking with the small group of fans that had circled him asking for autographs when he heard Randi yelling. He turned around in time to see her flee out the door of the greenroom. "Shit!" he cursed under his breath. "Excuse me, ladies, but I have to go help a friend" he said as he broke away from the fans. They stood open-mouthed and watched as Kevin left the room running.
"Randi?" he shouted. He skidded to a stop outside the door. He'd seen her disappear either to the left or straight ahead. Hearing footsteps to his left, Kevin started running in that direction. Looking down each hallway as he passed them, Kevin made it all the way down the hall before he spotted Randi slouched against the wall in the last hallway that branched off the main hallway. She had drawn her legs up to her chest and wrapped both arms around them as she bowed her head and cried. Kevin walked slowly towards her, not wanting to startle her. Sitting next to her, he softly called her name.
Through the noise her sobs made, Randi heard Kevin calling her name. Lifting her head, she was surprised to see him sitting next to her. He held his arms out, and still crying, Randi moved into his embrace.
Kevin could feel his heart breaking for this poor girl as he stroked her hair and made soothing sounds. Eventually, Randi was just making the occasional sniffle. Her face was still buried against Kevin's shoulder. "Randi?" he whispered softly.
"Yeah?" she responded, lifting her head to look into Kevin's eyes.
"I promise, the pain will fade. Someday, it will fade. I know you won't believe me now. But trust me. It will" Kevin told her, using his thumb to wipe the trail of Randi's tears away. Randi nestled her face against his neck. "Somewhere in the Bible, there's a passage that goes like this: For everything there is a season. A time to be born-"
"And a time to die" she finished. "I know. But it's so hard to believe that they're gone! That I'll never see them again. That they're dead. I just talked to them last night" she trailed off as tears began rolling down her cheeks.
"Randi. Look at me" Kevin commanded, putting his index finger under her chin and lifting her head. He waited until he had eye contact before continuing. "Mourn your loss. But never for once wish you could have them back. They're in a better place now. You can still talk to them. They can still hear you. Think of them as your guardian angels" he suggested.
"Okay" she sniffled. Randi looked into Kevin's compassionate green eyes. "Kevin, thank you" she whispered.
"You're welcome" Kevin said, touched. He hugged her. "Now you wanna tell me what brought this on?"
Randi grimaced as she pictured the brat. "You remember those girls that were bugging me in the park earlier?" she asked.
"Yeah. What about them?"
"One of them was a total rude little brat to me. And somehow she managed to get a backstage pass. As soon as she saw me, she came to harass me" Randi confessed. Kevin swore. That caused Randi to smile.
"You laughin' at me, woman?" he teasingly growled.
"What if I am?" she asked.
Kevin's arm was still around Randi's waist so she didn't know what was coming until Kevin actually started tickling her. Brian, Nick, Howie, and AJ were relieved to hear the sound of her laughter all the way down the hall.