Win went back to her room, showered and changed. She was no sooner finished brushing her hair when there was a knock on the door.

“Hi Win, how are you?” It was Daemon Lyod, the tour manager.

“Hi Daemon, I’m doing okay,” Win asked putting her hair up in a ponytail.

“I spoke to AJ a little while ago, he said that you didn’t get a crew phone.”

“A crew phone?”

“Yeah, all the crew get a phone, that is if they want one, or don’t already have a phone of their own.”

“When was this supposed to happen?”

“You’re manager was supposed to give it to you, the first day of the tour, didn’t he?”

“No, Red didn’t give me anything, he wouldn’t even give me a schedule for the tour, so I’m clueless as to what we’re doing and when.”

“Really? So that’s why he’s been yelling at you all the time? Look, I’ll speak to him, and here is your phone.” Daemon handed her a little silver flip phone.

“How much a month?”

“Nothing, it’s included in your contract, which Red should have gone over with you, but I’m guessing he didn’t. Look Win, if he gives you anymore trouble, come and speak to me, this is no way to run a tour. By the way, when we get back on the road, you ride on the band bus with Jen, she’s saving you a bunk. The band bus will not leave without you either.”

“Thanks a lot Daemon, I really appreciate it.”

“Hey, I heard what you did for Brianna, that was really cool of you,” Daemon replied.

“No big deal, found in dumpster when I was a baby, so it’s like second nature.”

“What?”

“It’s a long story. Anyway, you don’t mind me being around Brian, or Kevin or the rest of them?”

“What? Of course not! I mean Brian really appreciates what you did for his wife, and the rest of the guys like you. I mean, especially AJ, I’ve noticed. As long as you can do your job and they can do theirs, there is no problem. Besides, we are all adults here.”

“Red threatened to fire me.” The phone rang.

“Uh, Daemon, how do you answer these things?” Daemon took the phone from her, opened it and pressed a button before handing it back to her.

“Hello?” she had no idea who would be calling her already, but no doubt it would be Red, happy to annoy her a new way.

“Hello beautiful, I hear you got your phone.”

“AJ? Oh hi, yeah I just got it.”

“Nice to know you so enthusiastic to hear from me.”

“No, no, I am, it’s just funny because Daemon had literally just handed me the phone, I didn’t even know how to answer it.” Daemon was standing there listening intently to her, a grin on his face.

“Daemon, stop that!”

“Oh I get it, Daemon’s standing there staring at you.”

“Yeah, he is.”

“I’ll just go,” Daemon said with a grin.

“Thanks Dae!” Win called after him. She closed the door and sat down on the bed to talk to AJ.

“He gone?” AJ asked.

“Yeah, he’s gone. So what’s up?”

“I just wanted to call and say hi, and tell you that all I did last night was have wonderful dreams about you.”

“Now aren’t you just the romantic type.”

“I like to think so.”

“I dreamt about you too.”

“I guess you’re the romantic type too. I also wanted to call to say I can’t make lunch today, we got roped into another interview.”

“Oh that’s okay, I’m sure Red has something for me to do.”

“What say we have a midnight rendezvous at the pool. I’m sure I can get away then,” AJ asked.

“Yeah, that sounds okay.”

“I heard you were dumpster diving this morning. Brian is in love with you too. I heard Brianna was driving him nuts over that ring.”

“Well she has her ring and that’s that.”

“Do you think I could kiss you tonight?”

“No way, what kind of girl do you think I am?”

“The kind that is gonna make me work for every kiss for the rest of my life.”

“You got it.”

“Nothing? Not even a just a small kiss?”

“Nope, you can kiss me on the cheek, but that’s it until further notice.”

“You keep making me wait, it better be one good kiss.”

“Oh it will be, I’m worth waiting for, that one kiss will be worth it.”

“Just one?”

“Yeah, just one.”

“I guess you’re giving me something to look forward to.”

“Yes I am.”

“I gotta go, we’re being called to the set. See you at midnight?”

“You bet.”

“Bye beautiful.”

“You’re gonna have to stop calling me that.”

“Okay, goodbye pretty Winnie.”

“Oh my god, bye AJ.”

A few minutes later after she had hung up from AJ her phone rang again.

“Hello?” she said finally after she figured out how to answer the phone.

“Oh good, you finally decided to answer. I need you down to the venue, I need help setting up.” It was Red, and surprisingly in a better mood than usual.

“Okay Red, I’ll be right there.” Win hung up the phone and grabbed her keys and pass before trotting out the door. She took the jewelry she had found in the dumpster along with her and wanted to deposit it at the front desk before leaving. When she arrived it was rather crowded with people, all shouting at the spindly manager that had helped her earlier that day. She listened closely to the rantings and noticed that each person had lost some article of jewelry.

“It’s a solid gold bracelet with seven diamonds! How can you not miss something like that!” one woman shrieked. Win worked her way to the front of the desk and turned around. She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled so loud that everyone stopped screaming.

“Ladies, gentlemen, now I understand that you have lost some kind of jewelry or something to the fact. My friend’s wife lost a ring this morning and it so I went to look through the garbage and finally found it. But along the way I also found a few other articles and I was going to leave them with lost and found. Now if you could each step forward and described what you lost.”

“I lost a gold chain with a garnet and aquamarine star pendant,” one woman said as she approached, “it was my grandmother’s, I can’t believe I lost it.” Win dug into her pockets and pulled out the very necklace. The woman shrieked loudly, clutching the necklace to her chest.

“Oh thank you! How can I ever repay you?” she asked.

“Nothing at all, okay who is next?”

Win succeeded in returning four rings, two wedding bands and two engagement rings, three necklaces, two bracelets, two odd earrings, one pair of earrings, and a set of silver eagle cuff links. The owners of the lost jewelry were so overwhelmed with gratitude when they heard she had swam through the dumpster they all insisted on rewarding her. Win didn’t want anything for just returning some jewelry that she happened to find while she was doing a favor for a friend. But no one listened to her as they pressed large bills into her closed fists.

Win stuffed the money in her pocket as she hurried outside the hotel. There she found Taylor waiting for her with a car.

“Hey Win, I’m here to take you over to the venue,” Taylor said leaning out the window. Win ran around the front of the car and hopped in the other side.

“So, what is going on between you and that AJ character?” Taylor asked as he pulled out of the hotel.

“Nothing really,” Win replied, leaning her elbow on the door.

“Oh no? What was with all the kissy kissy out on the lawn?”

“I was not kissing him! And how did you know we were out on the lawn?”

“Jen told me, she saw you two from your window in your room.” Win tried to conceal a smile.

“She did, did she? But we were not kissing!” Win replied adamantly.

“Smoochey smoochey!” Taylor teased ruffling up her hair.

“Cut that out! You and Jen were doing enough of that last night!”

“Yeah, but we’re engaged, you and AJ, that’s just scandalous!” Win had to laugh. They pulled into the back entrance of the theater and Taylor stopped the car. Win got out and leaned down to say something to Taylor before he pulled out,

“The only thing that is scandalous is how much you enjoy digging into people’s love lives.”

“Love life? Oooh, so that’s what it is! This is better than I thought!”

“Oh go on!” Win said smacking the car as Taylor pulled away.

Win hurried inside and found Red quickly who berated her before sending her to unpack lights that would be strung across the entire stage. She’d been untangling the lights for maybe five minutes when she heard a familiar voice.

“Win, there you are.” Win turned around and saw Brian walking towards her. She stood up to meet him.

“Win, I cannot thank you enough for what you did today,” Brian said emphatically.

“It was nothing, really.”

“Yes it was. No one else would have searched through an entire dumpster for that ring, but you did. I just wanted to show you how much I appreciated it, so I wanted to give you this,” Brian pulled his wallet out of his pocket, but Win pushed it away.

“Nope, I won’t accept money. It was a favor that is all. Friends do that for each other.”

“If there is any way I can repay you, just let me know.”

“Yes there is, you can give me a kiss, right here, lay it on me,” Brian laughed as Win tapped her cheek. He quickly leaned in and pecked her cheek and she smiled.

“There, now we are even. Oh Brianna honey! How are you doing?” Win asked as she saw her shuffling across the stage.

“Okay. I wanted to thank you again for finding my ring, it was so sweet of you to go through all that garbage for me. Brian, did you give her something for her trouble?” Brianna asked touching his arm.

“He already offered and I already turned him down. It was a friendly gesture, that’s all.” Win replied.

“She’s too sweet, isn’t she Brian?” Brianna quailed.

“Yes, sickeningly so,” he replied with a laugh.

“Why thank you,” Win bowed, “but I better get back to work before Red kills me.”

At around ten o’clock Red banished Win from the stage. She had just finished setting up the lights and was glad to go back to the room for a much-needed rest. She was just about to lie down when she realized that AJ would be waiting for her down at the pool within the next hour and a half.

Once she remembered this, she didn’t feel sleepy anymore and her brain shifted pictures of AJ into her thoughts now, and he was all she could think about. Jen came in while she sat on her bed, saw the dreamy expression on her face and asked,

“Now let me only guess what you are thinking about.”

“What? Oh, hi Jen,” Win replied snapping out of it. Jen threw off her baseball cap and pulled out her ponytail, shaking her hair out.

“You are adorable, you really are. Just the look on you’re face, you were thinking about him,” Jen said as she pulled a pair of jeans out of her suitcase and changed into them.

“Yeah, I was,” Win said grinning guiltily.

“You gonna see him tonight?” Jen asked changing her shirt as well.

“Yeah, I’m supposed to meet him down by the pool in an hour.”

“Are you in love with him?” Jen asked seriously.

“I don’t know yet,” Win got up and went to her pack to grab her shoes, she felt like walking.

“Cause if you are, just know this, you are sharing him with all those fans too, they don’t take lightly to any of the guys having girlfriends.”

“Kevin and Brian are married,” Win replied slipping on her shoes.

“Yes they are, but that’s different, AJ is still single in the eyes of the fans, even if you two become an item you’ll be facing a lot of competition.”

“Does AJ cheat on his girlfriends?” Win asked.

“No, but it is really easy to get jealous, when he’s signing autographs, going to interviews, girls asking him for dates and pictures.”

“You act as if you’ve been there before.”

“I have. I was going out with Nick for two years. It was so hard on us. But that wasn’t the reason we broke up. I realized that one day I wanted to be behind the scenes, not in front of it with him. It was a mutual thing, and we’re still friends, he introduced me to Taylor.”

“I don’t get jealous. If I was jealous of every person who had more than I did, I’d have green eyes and have turned into a monster by now.” Jen laughed.

“I just wanted to give you a heads up. If you really care about him, it won’t matter.” Win headed for the door.

“I appreciate that Jen, but I’m not jumping the gun on anything, I’m not sure about anything now. I just like his company, and if I can have that once in a while, I’ll be happy. It’s nice that I can finally have friends, and people to talk to. You going out with Taylor?” Win asked.

“Yeah, we’re going to a late dinner.”

“Have fun, I’ll see you later.” Win closed the door behind her and walked down the hall to the elevator. Once down in the lobby, Win made her way to the pool and sat down in one of the pool side chairs. The pool water was lit up casting an ethereal glow on her face as she sat hunched over, hands sitting on the side of the chair as she pushed her legs out in front of her. She sat like this for a while, the pictures of AJ still floating back to her mind.

Suddenly the pool went dark and a pair of hands was fastened over her eyes.

“Guess who,” a familiar voice whispered. Win smiled and said,

“Oh you.”

“I’ll take that, I’ve missed you,” AJ said sitting behind her on the lounge chair.

“You spoke to me this afternoon, you missed me that much?”

“I haven’t seen you since,”

“Since three AM.” “What you didn’t miss me?” AJ asked with pretend pouting lips.

“Of course I did, how was work today?” she asked laughing, as if they had done this every night their entire lives.

“The usual, interview, rehearsal, blah blah blah. I’m more interested in you. Tell me some more about you.”

“Nope, it’s your turn, I went last night.”

“All right all right. Lets see I’m originally from….”