“I put in for a vacation at work during my winter break at school” I told Paul on the phone.

            “Great. So you can come and stay with me?”

            “Yeah! I’m so excited.”

            “When are you gonna be here?”

            “Hmm…2 weeks!”

            “Awesome. You can finally meet everyone. Benji, and his girlfriend Emily, and Joel”

            “Haha, yeah, I already know Billy and his girl...”

            “I should hope so” Paul said, “I gotta go, we’re warming up soon. I’ll see you in two weeks”

            “I love you, goodnight” I said.

            “I love you too, Goodnight babe” 

            Ayla walked into our apartment with dinner in a bag.

            “Come and get it while it’s hot!”

            I got up and started to walk into the kitchen. While grabbing a plate I said, “Hey Ayla, I’m going to visit Paul. I’m taking time off from work during my school break.”

            “So I take it everything is going great between you and Paul?”

            “Yeah”

            “That’s great. You seem a lot happier now”

            “Yeah, I guess its because I got everything off of my chest. It’s like, now I can finally think straight. I never realized how much guys affect me.” I laughed to relieve any serious thoughts that might be going through Ayla’s head. I grabbed some Chinese food, walked back into the living room and turned on the TV. Ayla sat down beside me on the couch.

            “I’ve been talking to Billy a lot lately. I really like him”

            “Cool”

            “I was wondering if I could maybe come with you when you go visit Paul so I can see Billy.”

            “Heh, you don’t need my approval”

            “Yeah I know, I was just wondering”

            Within two minutes of my ‘approval’ Ayla was already on the phone with Billy telling him the good news.

 

            Two long weeks passed and it was time for us to pack. I couldn’t believe I was going to see Paul in Portland in a few hours. The flight there was incredibly nerve-wracking. It gave me so much time to think about Paul and what it would be like seeing him. If everything would be good; or if everything would be bad. Or if everything would change after this trip, or would everything be the same?

I glanced over my right shoulder and saw this teenage girl holding the new Good Charlotte CD in her hands. I laughed at this totally ironic situation. The captain’s announcement saying we were going to be landing at 5 o’clock was loud and obnoxious. So for the remainder of the flight, which was 5 minutes, I fixed my hair and makeup so I would look perfect.

Walking out of the gate my heart skipped when I saw Paul standing right in front of me. My jaw dropped, along with the luggage in my hands, and I wrapped my arms around Paul’s neck. He put his arms on my waist, picked me up and twirled me around while giving me a hug. I couldn’t believe how great he smelled, considering he was in the middle of a tour. I saw Ayla and Billy going at it in the distance and laughed. After about 10 seconds Paul finally put me down.

“So Paul, how have you been?”

“Good…but better now”

I blushed a bit, placed my hands on Paul’s cheeks and kissed him. I forgot how much I loved his kisses. After a few seconds Paul pulled away.

“We gotta get going. We’re leaving for Seattle in a couple of hours and I want to show you around and meet everyone.”

We grabbed Ayla and Billy, who seemed inseparable at the time. Billy and Paul had to stop and sign autographs now and then, but it wasn’t too bad.

“Hey Billy”

“Hey Hailey” Billy gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I’m glad everything worked out with you and Paul.”

“Yeah, me too” I said while smiling. I looked at Paul, who was also smiling from my last comment. Paul took my hand and my luggage as we walked to the bus.

 

On the bus, I was standing in something that resembled a tee shirt and an old pizza slice.

“I’m amazed how the 4 of you, plus Benji and Joel’s girlfriends can live on this bus,” I said.

“Hey! You get used to it after...oh…the first few weeks” Joel said.

“Hailey, I’d like you to meet Joel. Joel, Hailey.”

“Hey, so you’re Hailey. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Joel gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah, likewise.”

“Benji is probably floating around somewhere with his girlfriend.” Paul told me.

I laughed.

“It’s not funny, the two of them are always all over each other. PDA is bad enough, let alone when its you’re brother.”

“Aw Joel, so I take you’re single?

“Yeah.” Joel frowned. “It’s not that bad, I get to have more fun the rest of them.” His frown turned into a laugh.

“Yeah I guess you do.”

“Ahem, we haven’t finished out tour yet” Paul interrupted.

“Ok ok, lets go tour guide Paul.”

After Paul showed me the bus, I put my things down in his bunk and we went for a walk around the venue.

“So how’s touring life?”

“It’s great. Better now since you’re here.” He grabbed my hand and started to lead me a bench outside. I sat down beside him, placing my head on his shoulder.

“I missed you a lot”

“I know Paul, I missed you too.” He kissed my forehead. “What was that for?”

“Oh, nothing…Actually, everything. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think we should get back together. My life’s been totally different since I saw you in New York a little while ago, and I think it would be a good idea. Plus--”

“Yes” I interrupted.

“Yes?”

“Yes.” I looked at Paul and he gave me a kiss on the forehead. Somehow, his hand found its way to mine. And sitting there on the bench, we watched the sun set. We had an hour alone until we had to leave for Seattle, so we used it wisely.