Chapter one hundred and seventy six:

Jenna was laying awake in her bunk. The gentle jostling and rocking of the bus usually eventually put her to sleep, but tonight, she couldn’t.

She had gone to bed much earlier than anyone else, and she was still wide awake while everyone else had been asleep for quite some time. She had made the excuse of having a headache, wanting time to think, but instead, she had opened her book.

She sighed heavily and pushed herself out of the bunk. She stretched and quietly placed her feet back on the floor of the bus. She pulled her t-shirt down over her hips and tip-toed into the small kitchenette.

She opened the fridge and removed a bottle of water. They were set to arrive at the next hotel bright and early the next morning, and she knew the best thing to be doing was sleeping, but she couldn’t bring herself to fall into slumber.

The situation with Taylor was beginning to become more complicated. She loved Luke, but they hadn’t spoken in longer than she could remember, and they seemed to be going nowhere quickly.

And she could no longer deny the feelings for Taylor which were already beginning to brew.

She sighed heavily. Taylor was one of her best friends, and if they were to ruin that, she would be loosing out on one of the most important friends in her life.

She glanced down at the bottle of water in her hands, decided she wasn’t thirsty and shoved it back in the fridge and closed the door a little too loudly, before heading back to her bunk.

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As usual, Becky was the first person awake. She pulled a hair brush through her long blonde hair and flipped on the coffee maker. She sat down to wait for the first fresh pot to be ready and idly finished the word search in the magazine Christy had purchased the day before.

“Good morning,” Christy greeted her, stretching stiffly. “Coffee ready?”

“Should be just about ready. You okay?”

Christy stretched, popping the joints of her spine. “I’m just a little stiff.”

“Wild night?” Becky teased.

“Not particularly. I couldn’t sleep so I climbed into Ike’s bunk.”

“You managed to fit in there with him? In one of those little casket shaped bunks?”

“Not well.” Christy laughed. “I slept, but it was quite uncomfortable.  I guess you just get used to sleeping next to someone for so long it gets difficult to sleep without them.”

“I know, I feel the same way. I’ve become accustomed to Zac snoring and kicking in his sleep.”

“Coffee…” Isaac entered the kitchen, reaching two mugs down from the cupboard. “Becky? Coffee?”

“No thank you.” Becky replied.

Christy slid into the booth next to Becky.

“Baby, what time are we scheduled to arrive in LA?”

“Umm… should be a couple of hours. Not long, I don’t think. We’ve got some radio interviews and stuff to do when we get there, so we’ll have to be there early.”

“Oh good. Do you think we can do a bit of shopping?” Christy asked, hopefully.

“I’m not sure. We’ll have to see if the bodyguard-“

“That’s okay, we can go without him.” Christy said quickly.

Isaac chuckled slightly at her eagerness. “We’ll see about that, okay?”

Christy sighed heavily and muttered, “That’s a no.”

Zac came out of the bunks, stretched, belched loudly and scratched himself. When he realized he was standing with three people staring at him, he quickly excused himself.

Becky rolled her eyes. “Well, at least he said ‘excuse me’.”

“Sorry babe.” Zac smiled slightly and leaned over the table to kiss her.

“Aww… aren’t they just adorable?” Christy teased, accepting a mug of coffee from Isaac.

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