Clint slid his arms around Olivia’s waist and kissed her bare shoulder. She giggled and drew her hand up to the side of his face.

I looked at Kate. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” I whispered. Kate laughed and looked back down at her eggs.

“I don’t think I can finish these. Want them Sara?” She asked me. I shook my head.

“Oh, you bad boy. Go to my room,” Olivia giggled. Clint grinned and put his chin on her shoulder.

Kate and I looked at each other. She stood up and left the room. God, I hate her, she left me all alone with these two. I don’t think I can take much more of this.

“Clint, Liv, seriously. Get a room or something. We don’t enjoy watching you drool over each other,” Bob said as he sat down next to me and started eating his toast.

“You guys can’t keep you’re hands off each other and it’s only ten in the morning,” I said. Olivia and Clint ignored us and went on doing whatever they were doing.

“Here, baby. Want a grape?” Olivia asked Clint. He opened his mouth and Olivia placed a single grape on his tongue. What the hell is going on here? Since when was Olivia such a sex kitten?

“Mmm, yummy,” Clint said seductively as he chewed the grape slowly. They stared into each others eyes longingly, as if they had their own little telepathic connection.

Natalia came into our room as we were having breakfast. “What’s up with them?” She asked.

“Oh, nothing. They are off in their own little world,” I said, shrugging. Nati nodded and sat down on the bed.

“So what’s going on with Dave and you? What happened after the, well, you know,” Bob said to her.

“Well, he came after me and I was mad at him. But then he gave me a book,” She said, holding back information.

“And what was in the book?” I asked. God, do we have to walk her through this like a toddler?

“His writings. Songs and poems and a few stories,” Nati said, not looking up at us.

“And what were they about?” Bob asked. I could tell he was getting impatient.

“I’d rather not say,” Natalia said, picking at her English muffin.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because I just don’t, ok? It’s something I don’t want to talk about. Can we change the subject?” Natalia said, getting mad.

“Well, we just want to help you. We did so much to try to get you guys to talk again. Just try to be in a good mood, ok?” Bob said.

“Fine, fine. Ok. I have to go. I’ve got some laundry to do,” Nati said. She put her barely eaten dish of food by the TV and left the room. Bob and I sat in silence as Clint and Olivia got up and left also.

“You know what was in those stories and poems, don’t you?” I said with suspicion.

“Well, I know some of them,” Bob said with a smile. “Dave let me read one or two. They are quite good, we could use them in the next album.”

“Well, what are they about?” I said, egging them on.

“They are all about Natalia. The poems describe their time spent together, like going to SoHo and our “last supper”. The songs describe how he misses her and what he feels for her. And the stories are what he wants to happen with them when they get older. I can’t believe he gave it to her. Some of his best work was in there,” Bob said, shaking his head.

“Well, it shows that he really did miss her and thought about her and cared for her while they were apart. Natalia thought otherwise,” I told him.

“And so did he. Dave still doesn’t think she likes him anymore. He still thinks she hates him,” He said.

“Well, she has good reason to hate him, or at least not want to be around him. Some of the stuff he said in the elevator was incredibly mean,” I said. Even though I might have been incoherent and hyperventilating and going mad, I still could hear their fight.

“Yeah, I guess you are right,” Bob said, putting his arm around me.

“I know I am right,” I said, smiling and leaning my head against him.

“Hey, wanna mess around a bit before going out?” He asked, smiling devilishly.

“You know I can’t. We have to go shopping today to pick out outfits for the tour,” I said, sitting straight up.

“Oh, come on. It’ll only take a minute. Just a little?” He begged.

“No,” I said sternly.

“Why not?” He asked, pouting.

“Well for one thing, we don’t have enough time. I don’t want to mess around for five minutes just to go out again. And another thing, I really don’t want to. Now please respect my wishes,” I said, getting up from where we were sitting on the couch.

Bob grabbed my arm. “Please? I need you so badly, it’s been so long. I just need a quick fix,” He said, giving me puppy dog eyes.

“Bob, let go of my arm. What part of no don’t you understand?” I said, trying to loosen myself from his grip. He let me go and sat back in the couch.

“You never want to have any fun,” He said, lips curled out slightly into a pout.

“No, I like to have fun. Just not in my hotel room at ten thirty in the morning when I need to be finding my band mates and doing business,” I said, putting on my jacket.

“I’ll see you later. I love you,” He said, giving me a quick kiss.

“Ok, bye,” I said, and I left the hotel room.

OLIVIA

“Olivia, come on, we need to go. Now. You can see Clint later,” Kate tried to bargain with me. I’m not leaving.

“No. Clint and I want to spend the day together. We have plans,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. They aren’t ruining my day.

“We need to pick out outfits for the tour. We need your input on this decision,” Sara said.

“I don’t care what you need to do. Just pretend you’re me and don’t find anything too slutty,” I said, sitting back down on the bed.

“You sure?” Nati said incriminatingly. I glared at her and tossed my hair.

“You can do without me for a day,” I said.

“Fine, I don’t care if she comes or not. It will actually make things easier. Let’s go,” Nati said, already starting down the hall.

“Are you sure Liv? You are gonna put your trust in us?” Kate asked.

“No, I’m putting my trust in you and Sara. Not Nati,” I said. They smiled and left.

“Ahh. Finally alone with my cute Clint,” I said, walking slowly over to him. He looked up from his magazine and smiled.

“What are you reading?” I asked, sitting down on his lap.

“Nothing anymore,” He said as he tossed it over his shoulder. He took my face in his hands and kissed my lips passionately. I opened my mouth slightly and let my tongue mingle with his. He tasted like fruit juice.

He drew back from our liplock and slowly began to kiss his way down my body...

NATALIA

“How about this one?” Kate said, holding an outfit up to herself.

“Well, that’s ok, I guess,” Sara said, squinting.

“You mean that it looks like shit. That’s ok. I didn’t really like it either, I’m sick of shopping,” Kate said, putting the clothes back on the rack.

“It was ok, really. But we’ve got all day. Let’s go look at some more shops,” I said, picking up my bags and leaving the clothing store. We had been shopping for two hours at six different stores and had only gotten a few outfits.

“Can we go home yet? Why can’t we shop in Paris? Everything’s so much better there,” Kate whined.

“Kate, shut up. We need the outfits for London. And you were so happy to be coming here to shop,” Sara said, rolling her eyes.

“Ok, get it straight. London is shoe central. Paris is for clothing. Not that hard. I’ve got six pairs of shoes now, and I’m gonna have to break them all in…OH NO! I’m gonna have blisters,” Kate said, smacking herself in the forehead.

“Shut up Kate! You’re not helping anything by whining,” I said, handing her some bags to carry.

“Yea, but it makes me feel better. I don’t want to carry those. You carry them,” She said, shaking her head.

“Ok, well, let’s see what we have. Maybe we can get along with what we brought and what we bought,” Sara said, stopping at a café.

“Ok. We have that purple dress thing for Liv. And those jean pedal pushers for you Kate,” I said, sifting through one of the bags.

“Ok. Sara did you decide about that flowery dress yet?” Kate said. Sara nodded her head.

“Yeah, I’ve got it right here with Natalia’s sparkly skirt,” She said, pulling it out of the bags.

“You guys, we’ve got another eight bags worth of stuff and more stuff at the hotel. I think we can go back now,” I said, standing up and gathering a few bags together.

“Since when are you so intent on going back to the hotel? Last night you were complaining about it,” Kate said. “Did something happen with you and...Dave?”

I glared at Kate and started walking back to the hotel. “Come on, tell us,” Kate said, running up beside me.

“No, I just want to get back so I can drop these damn bags off. Ok?” I said, ready to smack her with the bags in my hands.

“Ok,” She said cheerfully. We walked silently back to the hotel.

We walked into the hotel and ran for the closing elevator doors. Sara and I took the stairs two at a time, no more elevators for us. We got to the hotel room and it was already open because of Kate.

“NATALIA! You’ve got a present,” She said, smiling. Oh god, I wonder what the hell it could be.

“If it’s a severed head I’m going to be very upset,” I said as I threw my bags down on a chair and turned around to see the large bouquet of eleven white roses surrounding one red rose.

“What the...”I said as I slowly walked towards the bouquet and picked up the card lying on the table. Oh god, it was Dave’s handwriting.

“What does it say? Tell me what it says!” Kate squealed.

“Hold on, let me fucking read it first,” I said as I opened the envelope slowly. I skimmed over the letter and then looked at the flowers and read the letter again.

“What does it say?” Sara asked.

“Nothing,” I said, putting the letter back in the envelope. I don’t want them to read this.

“Are you kidding? You aren’t gonna let us read it? Please!” Kate said, trying to take the letter out of my hands.

“Kate, come on. I really don’t want you guys to read it. If I want you to read it later then I’ll let you, but not now,” I said, stuffing the letter at the bottom of my drawer.

“Fine,” Kate said, slumping back in her chair. There was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Sara said. Scott came in the room and looked around.

“Um, have you got a key to Clint’s room? I can’t get in, I think Clint locked me out,” He said.

“Why would we have a key to Clint’s room?” I asked.

“Olivia might,” Kate said.

“Wait...Where’s Olivia?” Sara asked, suddenly getting up out of her chair. Her eyes looked like they popped out of her head. Kate burst out laughing.

“Oh, my god...” I said to myself. I looked towards the door and got up to follow Sara down the hall to Olivia and Clint’s room.

“Do you think...?” Kate said, looking at Scott. His mouth was gaping and he just gave her a blank stare.

We listened quietly to the noises coming from inside the door. They weren’t just any noises, like from TV or something. They were real noises, and they sounded like, you know.

“Maybe they are just moving furniture or something,” Kate said, shrugging. Kate, you are so blonde.

I clamped a hand over my mouth as a shrill groan came from inside the door.

“That was Olivia...” Sara said barely above a whisper. I looked at Kate and she put her hands over her face before she could burst out laughing.

Another groan came from the room, slightly deeper than the first one.

“And that...was Clint,” Scott said, speaking for the first time. We looked at him and nodded our heads.

“Ok, well, someone has to, um, Natalia, you knock on the door,” Kate said, pointing at me.

“Me?! Why me?” I said, trying not to raise my voice too loudly.

“Because you have no shame,” Kate answered me.

“It’s not my shame on the line here, it’s theirs. If we interrupt them, from whatever it is they are doing, they’re gonna be so embarrassed. I don’t want Liv to be upset,” I said. Yeah, uh, that’s why I’m not knocking on the door.

“Well someone has to!” Kate said.

“Then you do it!” I said, pushing her towards the door.

“Liv will kill me!” She said, trying to get away.

“Fine, I’ll do it,” Sara said. I’m not stopping her. She went up to the door, just as the loudest groan came from the door. She turned around and looked at us with unbelieving eyes. Kate was shaking with laughter and Scott was holding her up, trying to keep her from falling down. I walked up beside Sara.

“I’ll be here for moral support,” I said as she raised her hand to the door and rapped on it lightly.

“Um, Clint? Hello?” She said, voice wavering.

“Uhhh, hold on a second!” came a voice from inside. There was a shuffling of noises, it sounded like they were trying to clean up or something.

“Dear god, I hope we haven’t spoiled anything,” I said. Sara tried to stop laughing, and she did, just in time for Clint to open his doors in his boxers. Yummy.

“Hi, Clint. Scott needed to get in, he was locked out or something,” I said as I pulled Scott from behind me and pushed him towards the door. “Isn’t that right Scott?”

He nodded and went inside. “Well, we’re gonna be going now. See you later!” Sara said as she pulled me away from where I was peeking inside the room. The bedsheets were all rumpled up and it looked like someone tried as best they could to pick up the strewn clothing. I could see part of a bra sticking out of a cushion in the couch.

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt you two...” I said, absentmindedly. Sara pulled me faster to our room and Kate kicked me in the shins. We ran down the hallway to our room and shut the door just in time before we burst out laughing.

CLINT

“Scott! Great fucking timing, asshole. What the hell was that, huh?” I asked, sitting down in a chair and pouring myself a glass of whiskey.

“I’m sorry man! If I had known you were going to be entertaining, I would have taken longer shopping,” He said, smiling.

“And what was the deal with bringing them? Thanks a lot. Olivia’s gonna kill me,” I said, gulping the drink down.

“Well, someone had to do it. It sounded like you were moving cows in here,” He said with a smile. I’m gonna kick his ass.

“That’s so horrible. It did not sound like moving cows, dipshit. At least I know what its really like,” I said, sitting down on the bed with my head held high. Scott turned towards me with an evil look in his eyes.

“Fuck you Clint. I’m just waiting for the right one ok?” He said, putting some loose change on the dresser.

“Right. Whatever. They’ll never be like Olivia though,” I said, rolling my eyes back in pleasure.

“Oh, really? Well, now you’ve got my attention. Do tell,” Scott said, fixing hair in the mirror.

“Well, being the gentleman I am, I’m not going to go into specifics. All I’m going to say is that she told me she was a virgin, but DAMN, she’s got a mouth like a Hoover,” I said, putting my hands behind my head. Scott turned around with a shocked look on his face.

“Clinton! Are you kidding me?” He said, throwing a shoe at me. What’s his problem?

“No, I’m not. Now I’m not saying another word. It was bliss, but I’m sure you’d never know that feeling,” I said, going into the bathroom.

“Fuck you Clint. I’m going out to look for presents for Kate. See you later. Hey, and if you’re entertaining again, put something on the door ok?” He said. I heard the door slam and I came out of the bathroom. I went over to the door adjoining Dave’s room with ours and looked to see if Liv was still in there.

“Liv? You in here? It’s ok, they’re gone now,” I said, poking my head in. A shoe came flying at me.

“What the fuck was that?” I said, ducking just in time.

“I heard you Clint! I heard what you said to Scott! How dare you! After you pressured me in to having sex! I can’t believe you would tell Scott such a thing!” She came after me, screaming.

“Hey! Watch it! I didn’t pressure you! You wanted to have sex, I just didn’t stop you,” I said, trying to calm her down.

“You scum! You beast! I hate you! I hate what you did to me! Get away from me!” She said, hastily putting her clothing back on and going for the door. I can’t believe she was flipping out on me like this.

“Hey, would you calm down for a second. I didn’t pressure you into anything, it was your choice. And as for Scott, he won’t care in the slightest,” I said.

“Yes, but I care! I didn’t want him to know. Him of all people. Why did you have to say that about me Clint! So what if I do that? Why did he have to know?” She ran in a fury to the door and slammed it after her. Fuck, I really messed up this one.

BOB

I knocked on Sara’s door, ready to take her out to dinner. “Hello? Sara? Can I come in?” I said to her through the door.

“Oh, yeah, it’s open,” She said. I opened the door and greeted her with a kiss.

“Hi Bob,” Nati waved to me.

“Hey Bob-o, what’s up?” Kate said, sitting down on the couch in front of the TV with some oreos. I waved at them and put my arm out for Sara to take.

“Ready to go?” I asked. She nodded and took my arm. We were going to dinner at a little place in the center of town. It was cozy and I had been wanting to show it to her. It was my favorite place, with a little fire in it and everything so perfect. I knew she would love it.

“Ahh, I love you Sara,” I said as our plates were being carried away after dinner.

“Bob, no you don’t,” She said, out of the blue.

“What are you talking about? Of course I do, why wouldn’t I?” I said, confused.

“Bob, we’re too young to love each other. We can’t be in love,” She said, looking at me with her deep eyes.

“What are you talking about? I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. What better reason is that?” I asked.

“How can you love me from that moment? You had never said one word to me before. How did you know I wasn’t going to be incredibly boring or not have a single thing to say about anything,” She asked me, voice getting louder. I don’t know why she was making a big fuss about it.

“But you do! I love that about you. You are so level-headed and laid back and always have that self assurance about you that isn’t too showy. It’s perfect,” I told her all these things.

“But that’s not a reason to love me,” She said.

“Do you love me?” I asked her. She just looked at me.

“Do you love me?” I asked her again, hoping to god she just didn’t hear me the first time.

“I don’t know what I think,” She said, voice barely above a whisper.

“Oh,” I said, looking down at my plate.

“And actually, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for sometime now, about this,” She began to tell me something I didn’t want to hear. I looked at her to continue on.

“I think we should...take a break. For a while. Because things are moving too quickly. I think we just need sometime apart.”

Her words hit me like a pile of bricks. This girl, whom I had loved with all my heart for more than a year, she is telling me that she doesn’t want to be with me, because things are moving too quickly.

“I see...”I said, voice trailing off.

“But I don’t want you to think that I’m doing this because I don’t feel anything for you, because I do. I just don’t know what it is yet, and I need sometime by myself to figure it out. You do understand right?” She put her hand on mine. I pulled it away and smoothed my hair.

“Right. You don't want to be with someone you can't love,” I said. She looked at me with hurt eyes. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Look, let’s just get the check and go home,” I said, trying to keep calm. I paid the check and we left the restaurant and got into the cab. My life was beginning to fall apart.