~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The next morning~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning they got a call from Johnny Wright. He said that he would be at their hotel in half an hour to have a meeting about what was going on. They all got ready and went to the meeting room to wait on him. "So how are all of you doing?" Johnny asked, noticing how worn out they all looked. JC answered for all of them, "As good as can be expected after all that has happened." Everyone just kinda nodded and agreed with his statement. "You all have been through a lot. I know it might be difficult, but there are 3 weeks left in your tour and it would be good if you finished it. There are a lot of charities depending on the profits they make from you all. Are there any objections, because if there is any problem at all, we will end it now." Johnny put it all out on the table. They all looked around at each other. It was in their faces. "I think we should continue," Katy stated. Everyone looked at Cheryl. Looking at her cast then looking up at Johnny, "As long as I don't have to do any back flips or anything... I guess I'm in" She joked. She was starting to be her old crazy self again. "Well then is everyone agreed?" Johnny asked. They all nodded. "Well, then Id like to introduce you to a friend of mine who will be doing the managing of the remainder of the tour. Her name is Lizzy." "Hi! Its really nice to meet all of you. I've admired you work and its a pleasure to be able to work with you all" She said as she shook each of their hands. "So do you have anything different planned for the tour?" JC asked. "Well actually I do. Instead of doing a lot of promos the day you arrive in a city and that night and then more promos the next day and a concert that night as well, you will be visiting the place where the money you will raise goes to. Like if it is a hospital, you'll go visit the children's ward. If its a homeless shelter, you'll go serve lunch, or something like that. Then the small concert that night. The next day you will do some promos, nothing like you've been doing, and the larger concert that night. Afterward you do a quick-leave and start heading for the next city. How does that sound?" "Woh!!" they all exclaimed. "Sounds like you got a plan," Lance announced. "Well, I like to be prepared. So is that ok with you all?" "Yah!! Its fine," they all agreed. "This is they way it should have been from the beginning, really having a chance to help people. Visiting them, not just giving them money." Katy said. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "Well, you all better go and get packed or you won't make the next concert on time. I'll meet you all back on the bus in 1 hour," Lizzy said as she left the room. Everyone followed her out and went to their rooms to pack.
They arrived in Dallas, the next city, late that night and went straight to their rooms. The next morning they went down for their meeting with Lizzy in the conference room.
"Good morning!!" Lizzy happily sang as the all piled into the room.
"Morning," they all replied.
"Your cheerful today," Justin commented.
"Well, I guess I'm just in a good mood, that's all." Lizzy replied.
"So what are we doing today?" Kimber asked.
"You are going to spend some time at St.James Children's Hospital. Then you'll have dinner at the venue and give a concert."
"Sounds good to me!" Joey exclaimed. They all agreed that it was a pretty cool thing. Especially Lance and Katy, they loved kids.
At the children's hospital, all the children that were up to having, and that could have visitors, were sitting in a room waiting for the groups to arrive. When they walked in the room all the kids squealed with excitement. They spent most of the day playing with the kids, singing them songs.
After a few hours, Lance looked around and couldn't find Katy. He excused himself from the puzzle he was helping a boy named Kyle with and went to find her. He asked the nurse in charge of the visit if she had seen where she went off to. The nurse told him that she went to the courtyard to get some air. So he left to go get her.
"Katy! there you are. I've been looking all over for you. Why did you come out here? It looked like you were having fun playing on the piano in the playroom with that one girl," Lance said as he went over to her. It was then that he noticed that she had been crying. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Well, its just that..Oh forget it." She exclaimed and got up and went to stand by the fountain in the center of the yard.
"What is it. You know that you can tell me anything." Lance assured her.
"I know. Its just that..."
"That what?" Lance asked as he took both of her hands in his and faced her.
"That girl I was with, Alisha?"
"Yah, what about her?"
"She has terminal cancer. She was just saying how lucky I was in music, and that I had you for a boyfriend."
"You told her?"
"No. She just noticed. She said that she could just tell and that she'd keep it a secret. Alisha also said that she could tell we'd be together for a long time. That's when I almost started to cry. She is such a sweet person and doesn't deserve the hand that she has been given. Then Alisha started in on how I shouldn't cry. After that she was saying how she loved our music and wanted HH's rendition of I'll be your Angel played at her funeral, and that sh'd felt like she knew me and I was even nicer in person. The she just started to make jokes so I wouldn't cry and stuff. Then the nurse came up to her and said she had to go back to her room. So I hugged her by and she whispered that I should hold on to you, she felt like it was something special, and left." By this time Katy was sobbing and lance had watery eyes.
"Oh my" Was all he could manage to get out as he pulled her closer to him to try and comfort her.
"Lance, what is gonna happen to us when this tour ends?" Katy asked between sobs.
"I'm not sure, but I know I don't want us to end." He answered.
"Me either. So are we gonna try and make it work?"
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Lance then pulled away from Katy enough to be able to look into her blue eyes that were almost white in the sun. He gently wiped her tears away with his thumb. She looked deep into his sea green eyes before he pulled her chin up to his and their lips met. Later that night they had the concert in the small hall. It was a really good concert. All of them seemed a little refreshed from the things that had been going on before. After the show they decided to take a swim in the hotel's pool.
"Uhh, I kinda can't go in with this cast on," Cheryl said.
"That's ok. I'll go with ya to the game room and kick your but in Kung Foo Fighter." Chris challenged.
"Oh no you won't !!" Cheryl yelled as she headed for the door.
"Hey Kimberly, can I talk to you for a minute?" JC asked as the others went for the pool.
"Sure what's up?" She asked.
"Kimber, what are we gonna do when this tour's over? I mean, with this new schedule, we don't have as much time and this might be the last chance we have to talk about this."
"Your right," she agreed.
"So what do you wanna do?"
"Look, JC, I like you a lot, but I just don't see how its gonna work. I mean, it's hard enough to have a relationship with someone who is in the same place, but if we both travel..."Kimber said in a depressed tone.
"I know. I feel the same way. But I would still like to remain friends. We've been through a lot not to keep in touch."
"I agree. So are we just friends now? Kimber asked timidly.
"Yah." They hugged and left for the pool to join the others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The breakup hit the group pretty hard. It was difficult over the next few weeks. But just as everyone was getting over it and things were back to normal......
They had just gotten done serving lunch at a homeless shelter when Brandi ran onto the bus and shut the door to the back. The girls all looked around and Justin wasn't anywhere to be found. So they told the guys to go look for him and went to go see what happened.
"Brandi, open the door, its just us girls," Katy said to the paneling. The door opened to reveal a crying Brandi.
"What happened?" Chels asked as she handed her a Kleenex.
"Me and Justin broke up." She said in between sobbs."We left about 15 min before the rest of you did, and we decided that it would be best if we saw other people."
"If you BOTH decided, why are you crying?" Kimber asked.
"I don't know. I wanted it to be like this too, but it's just hard."
"It'll be ok. We're here for ya," Katy comforted her as she gave her a hug.
"Just remember, if he does anything to ya, I'll just pound his 'little friend' with my cast. That'll teach him!" Cheryl joked. It worked. It got Brandi to laugh. By this time the guys had found out from Justin what had happened. The bus left for the small venue. Once they arrived.....
"Hey guys, do you realize that we only have 1 concert after this one together before you all go back to New York and we go back to Orlando?" Joey said, kinda sad.
"AWWW man, did you have to say that!!" Lance said hitting him on the back of his head.
"Ouch. That hurt." Joey yelped.
"Well, what you said hurt to." Cheryl said grabbing Chris's hand. Each group went to their dressing room. On the way there...
"Hey Joey!" Chels yelled, "Can you come here for a second?"
"What's up?" Joey asked.
"Ok. I think you know the question. We are the only ones who haven't decided what's gonna happen between us after tomorrow," Kimber laid it all out on the table.
"Look, Kimberly, I love with all my heart, and I would never do anything to hurt you. And like I promised I'll always be there, and I want to stay with you, but you and me, we're a lot alike. We can't not flirt. I think it would be best if we just dated. you know stay together, but see other people too," Joey suggested.
"Joey I love you to..and your idea. I was gonna suggest the same thing." Kimber looked deep into his chocolate brown eyes. He pulled her closer to him and pressed his lips against hers.
That night they all gave one of the best performances that they ever had. The next night as well. The sad part was, after their last performance the next night, they had to leave very quickly, they didn't even get to say goodby to each other.
Ok peeps. there was the last of "The Cause...of Love?" In helping the causes of the less fortunate, they all found love. There were a few bumps on the way, but they survived.
But there are some questions: What will happen to the couples? What will happen to the psycho? Will the ones that broke up get back together? Are the problems over?
To answer these questions and more, stay tuned to the sequel of "The Cause...of Love?" called :"Devious Misconceptions"
