It was a few hours later when Lonnie and I dragged JC along the hallway to his room.  I don’t know how useful I was because I was shorter than JC, so his arm around my shoulders didn’t help him much.  In fact, he slumped his head over on to me while we got him to his room.  Once Lonnie got his door open, I left them there.

I opened my room and barely noticed that my sweet roommate had packed the remainder of my stuff for me.  My bus had already left, so I’d be travelling on “the boys’” bus in a couple hours.  I fell face-first on my bed.  There was no point in getting changed now. 

I must have slept through a lot because when I woke up, I was tucked up in a bed on the bus which I discovered when I sat up in bed and smacked my head against the upper bunk.  I heard a laugh just outside of the curtain. 

“Be careful, Cicely, you don’t want to have to go back to the hospital, do you?”

“Hey, Chris,” I called sweetly as I opened the curtain.

“Yeah?” he smiled.

I didn’t respond with words, but Chris certainly understood the gesture I made.  “Cicely!  I’m shocked!”

“Sure you are,” I laughed as I crawled out of bed.  “What time is it and where are we?”

Chris looked at his watch.  “Umm, it’s about 11 and I have no idea where we are.”

I nodded as I stretched a bit.  “Anything else I should know?”

He pretended to think about it.  “Let’s see…JC’s still out cold, Lonnie said you should check on him and give him his meds later, Joey’s beating Lance on the PlayStation and Justin is talking to some girl on the phone.  We’re probably stopping in a few minutes for lunch and you’ve got a wicked case of bed head.”

“Thanks, Chris.  You are such a pal.”

“Yeah, well I try,” he smiled as he headed back to the front of the bus to bug Justin.

It took me a couple more minutes to get my bearing; I made a quick trip to the bathroom and tried to tame my hair without much luck.  I’d borrow a hat from one of the freaks later.  When I got back to the bunks, I had to stand on the lower bunk to peek into JC’s bed.  He was still breathing, so I took that as a good sign.  I couldn’t see his stitches from where I was, so I climbed up into the bunk beside him.  My plan was to…I don’t know what my plan was.  I thought it would be easy, get in the bunk, check his wound, and get out of the bunk.  No such luck.  As I leaned over JC, his arm came around me and pulled me down on top of him.  I was stuck.  I had time to notice that he’d changed his shirt and was glad because I didn’t really want to be laying on a bloody day old tee.  The next thing I knew, he was stroking my hair, smoothing it down under his palm in a relaxing manner. 

I tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn’t let me up.  Instead, he held me tighter. 

“Mmmm, go back to sleep, baby,” he murmured.

“JC!  JC!  I’m not your girlfriend,” I tried to shake him a bit.  “Let me take a look at your cut and I’ll get out of your way.”

“Huh?  What?”

“JC, just let me look at your head, will you?”

He sighed loudly, “Fine, but after you’re done, can we go back to sleep?”

“Yes, you can go back to sleep when I’m done.”

“Fine,” he turned his head toward me. 

“I have to turn on the light for a minute, OK?”  I didn’t give him a chance to answer.  I took a look at his cut, touched gently around it to make sure there was no infection, and then turned out the light.  “We’ll worry about the medication later, OK?”  I patted his shoulder and started to slide out of the bunk.

“Where are you going, Angel?”  I was startled by the question, but even more so by JC tightening his arms around me.  Then I looked up and his blue eyed gaze threw me off even more.  “You said we could go back to sleep.”

“Perhaps you’re not fully awake, JC, but I’m Cicely, remember?”

He smirked, “I know who you are, Ciss, I wasn’t hit on the head that hard.”

“Then what’s the deal?  In case you have forgotten, you have a girlfriend and you don’t really like me that much.”

“No I don’t and yes, I do!”

I was about to ask him what the hell he meant when I was yanked out of the bunk and thrown over a shoulder.  I heard maniacal laughing, but couldn’t figure out which of the clowns had grabbed me until he started talking.

“Girl, you can’t go leavin’ your ass hangin’ off the side of the bed on a bus full of guys and not expect to drive us crazy!”

“Joey, you never mind my ass, thankyouverymuch and put me down!” I hollered.

“I don’t know,” he laughed, “I think you’ve got a great ass.   Justin, what do you think?”

“Mmm, girl, the way you fill out a pair of jeans….” Justin giggled as Joey righted me and put me on the couch.

“Seriously, what have you all been smoking today?  First JC tries to snuggle with me, and now you two are pretending to hit on me.  What is going on here?”

“JC tried to snuggle with you?”  Justin and Joey fell over each other laughing.

I shook my head.  There was no way I was going to get a serious answer out of either of them at this point.

Chris tossed a baseball cap at me.  “Here, Ciss, you might want to wear this to cover up that bird’s nest you’re rocking!”  He smirked as he said it, knowing he was headed for trouble.

“Thanks, Chris, but if I wear this, what are you going to wear for your teeny bopper repellent?” I asked sweetly.  He never saw the noogie coming.  What can I say?  An unofficial part of my job is keeping Chris in line.  By the time we finished our impromptu wrestling match, Lance, Joey and Justin were gone.  I peeked in on JC, saw that he was sleeping and decided I’d bring him back some lunch rather than wake him.

Chris and I walked toward the restaurant together, each of us giving the other a shove when we could sneak one in.  There was no room at the main table, so the two of us sat in a booth off to the side “So, what’s this I hear about JC snuggling with you?”

He had to ask me just as I started to drink, didn’t he?  So it’s his own fault that I spit my drink across the table.  “What?”

Chris shrugged, “Nothing, it’s just about damn time he did something about it instead of mooning over you all the time.”

Seriously?  What are these guys on today?  “What??”

“Oh, come on, like you don’t see JC looking at you every chance he gets.”

“Actually, no, I don’t.”  I said a little huffily.  “In case you haven’t noticed, JC hates me.  Today he’s just too looped up on pain killers to remember that.”

Chris shook his head.  “Oh, I notice, all right.  He’s into you.”

I rolled my eyes at him.  “Whatever, Chris.  You can drop the joke now.  JC does not like me.  He’s got a girlfriend, and I really don’t feel like talking about this.”

“Fine,” said Chris, “But no, he doesn’t.”

Oh brother.  Why do these boys insist on not making any sense today?

I took my lunch and JC’s and went back to the bus.  I was still tired and cranky and these boys were really starting to get to me.  I needed to be alone before I put my job in jeopardy by starting a food fight or smacking Chris. 

I didn’t even make it all the way out to the bus before Lance stopped me.  “Hey, Cutie!  How are you doing today?”

“Look, Lance, I’m really not in a good mood right now.  Don’t take it personally, but I really need to be alone.”

I was afraid I had hurt his feelings, but I should have known that out of all of them, Lance was the one guy who would understand.

“Sure, Hun, I can give you some space.  I know all your stuff went on your bus, do you need anything?” 

I smiled, even though I didn’t want to.  “How about a clean T shirt and some Tylenol?” I asked. 

“That I can do,” he smiled and held the bus door open for me.  “Chris give you a headache?”

I laughed.  “No, as much as I’d like to blame him, I had it before.”

Lance shook his head with a smile, “Too bad, it would have been fun to get him in trouble for that.” Lance nodded toward the couch.  “You sit down.   I’ll be right back.”

I sank into the couch, and leaned my head forward to the table.  The knots in my neck were really bothering me, so I tried to rub them out.  I heard Lance talking, so I assumed JC was awake.  I figured I would take him his breakfast after Lance got me something for this headache. 

I sat up as I heard Lance coming back.  Instead of Lance, it was JC who brought me a shirt.  He put it on the table, then got a bottle of water out of the fridge for me.  He twisted off the top, then handed me the bottle while he shook two of the extra strength Tylenol into his hand.  He took my hand and held it while he gently dumped the pills into it.  There was something so nice about being taken care of, something that I hadn’t felt for a long time, but it was weird coming from JC, the guy who up until now I thought didn’t like me at all.

I took the pills and had a long drink of water.  JC sat down beside me and brushed my bangs away from my eyes.  “Headache?” 

I nodded, “Yeah.”

“Can I get you anything?”

I shook my head.  “No thank you.  Besides I’m supposed to be taking care of you!  Did you get your pain killers yet?  Oh, and I brought you breakfast.  I didn’t know what you’d feel like eating, so I got you a bagel and a coffee and if you want anything---“

I stopped talking only when JC put his finger to my mouth.  He laughed.  “Honey, slow down!  A bagel and a coffee sounds great,” he added as he opened the bag and got out his food.  “Thanks so much for bringing it back for me.  And I was just getting up to get my pain killers.”

“Good,” I nodded.  I picked up the t-shirt that Lance had sent up with JC.  I debated for about half a second about getting up to get changed, but it seemed like too much effort to put forth.  Instead, I did the old gym class trick of putting one t-shirt on while taking the other off.  JC sat and looked at me.

“How the heck did you do that?” Clearly I had puzzled him.

“Magic,” I smiled.  “Is your coffee OK?”

He had a long drink.  “It’s perfect.  Look, about my coffee, there’s something you should know.”  He paused as the other guys got on the bus and each checked in to see how JC was doing. 

When they had all gone to the back of the bus, JC reached out and took my hand.  He slowly dragged his thumb over the back of my fingers.  “So, about my coffee preferences, I have a confession to make.  I only gave you a hard time when Sophia was around.  It sounds silly to say it now, but she was really threatened by you.  I thought that if I acted as if I didn’t like you, it would deter her from bothering you or trying to make trouble for you.  I guess I thought you’d see that I was protecting you because I was only that way when she was around.”

I pulled my hand back from him.  “So, you thought by treating me like shit you were protecting me from your girlfriend?  Thanks, JC, thanks a lot.  I’m sorry that your girl is insecure, but that’s no reason to take it out on me and you know, if you’re going to date someone who is afraid of your co-workers, how on earth is she going to deal with your fans? And I’m sorry, but if you have to treat other people badly to make your girlfriend happy, there’s something wrong there. “

“You’re right, Cicely, I was stupid and I’m sorry.  I don’t know if I can ever make it up to you but I’d like to try.  And as for Sophia dealing with my life, well, she isn’t.  I broke up with her.  She wasn’t the girl I thought she was.”

“Well, JC, what do you want, a cookie?  I’m glad you broke up with her if only because she was not good for you.  I barely had any contact with her, but I could see she was treating you badly.”  I moved to get up.

“Where are you going?” he took my hand in his again.

“To lie down,” I nodded toward the bunks.  “I’ve still got this killer headache.”

“Let me try something to help you first.” 

Really?  How hard was it to get rid of this guy?  I sat down and he stood behind me.  He put his hands on my shoulders and gently started to rub the knots out.  If I could have purred like a cat, I would have.  His hands were warm and soft and what surprised me more, gentle. 

“I didn’t get the chance to thank you for being there for me last night.  I was really glad they sent you with me.”

“Even after I yelled at you?” I laughed.

“Yep, even then and especially when you kissed me.”

Oh crap.  He remembered that?  I looked quickly over my shoulder.  JC winked at me and slid into the seat next to me again, one arm around me.  “I was drugged up, Ciss, but kissing you was like a completely different type of trip.  One I’d like to take every day.”

I swallowed hard.  I’m sure my shock was apparent.

“What do you say, Cicely?” he whispered in my ear.  I shivered at the warmth of his breath on my skin.  Was it possible that I was now the one who was drugged?

I slowly turned to meet his gaze and I nearly drowned in his eyes.  I couldn’t form a coherent sentence right now if my life depended on it.

“How about you be my drug, and I’ll be yours,” his lips were now just millimetres from mine. 

I gave a slight nod as I closed my eyes and kissed JC for the first time with neither of us being under the influence of prescribed narcotics.  If it was possible, this kiss was even better from the first.  And they kept getting better—until Chris called out, “I told you he was into you!” and we turned to see all four of the guys standing in the doorway laughing at us. 

JC leaned his forehead into mine.  “I sure am in to you!” he laughed.  He waved the guys away and kissed me again.  And that was how a found out that JC didn't hate me after all.