Chapter

Luke risked a glance back over his shoulder a second time. Good, he thought, still laughing. Not much talking, but at least he's laughing. Talking will come soon enough. Luke chuckled and thought, yep...talking WILL come and I hope he's calmed down by then cause she won't be able to understand a word he's saying! The drawl will get stronger....the slow speech will get faster, and damn..I hope neither one of them has too much to drink or this could get really interesting.

Luke looked back into his glass and thought about how the night progressed. How nervous, yet how excited Kevin was when he got back to the front stage. When he went to change during "Shining Star", Luke knew he had to find out what was going on, so he ran backstage to find Kevin. And, find him he did!

"Luke....LUKE!! She's here....Kaylee....she's here," Kevin yelled, as he ran across the room.

"Kevin...slow down man....keep changing...but talk to me......SLOWLY!!"

Kevin took a deep breath, and threw his clothes to the floor.

"OK...on the back stage...I saw her. She's sitting in the back....she was crying Luke. I don't know what's going on...but after she saw me...I dunno...I THINK she was glad to see me...I dunno....I just .. dammit Luke! I really want to see her...talk to her...thank her......"

Kevin was trying to get into his pants when he missed the leg opening, and suddenly fell forward. Luke was able to catch him before he hit the ground. He didn't remember ever seeing Kevin this wound up...well, at least not in a long time!

"Shit! Damn jeans! Get so sweaty...and then.... have to try ....shit.. to pull them up.......hell, who's idea was it to make them this tight?"

Luke just stood with his mouth open, hoping Kevin would be able to get the jeans on and zipped without causing a major disaster. He watched as Kevin tucked in only the front of his white tee shirt, and he chuckled. He knew how to work it.....oh yeah, he sure did!

"Kevin......what can I do? What do you want to do now??"

"Luke......I .. I...just don't know. I'd like to meet her...but, how do I do that NOW?? I can't just go out onto the stage...say, 'Kaylee..wanna have a drink with me?' No Luke.....can't do it..........I'll just hope to run into her in the hotel."

He had gone from being thrilled...to being dejected...all in a span of 2 minutes.

The others had come running down the stairs, and that was Kevin's cue to get back up on the stage for the band's introductions. There was plenty of back smacking and even more questions flying about the mystery woman in the crowd. Kevin just shook his head...grabbed his towel.......and ran up the steps.

"Kiss my ass", he yelled back down the steps.

It was then that Luke knew what he had to do.

"KEVIN", he yelled up the steps.

Kevin stopped and looked back down.

"Kevin.........I'll take care of it. Whatever you want....I'll take care of it."

"I want her to meet me Luke! To meet me, Kevin Richardson........to get to know ME! Can ya take care of that?" And he turned back to the top of the stairs.

"Kevin..........Yes.....I can take care of that!"

Kevin swung around, almost falling off the steps while doing so, and said......"then do it".

Three simple words....Luke knew that those three words meant the world to Kevin. And, that he would make sure that he would 'do it'.

Looking back over at them now, he wished he could literally pat himself on the back. They looked good together. And, more importantly, she seemed to be not the least bit concerned with who he was...and what he did for a living. This brought a smile to his face.

To Kaylee, he really was Kevin Richardson. To Kevin, she really would be an answer to a prayer.