Okay, okay, a chapter semi-on time, kind of, haha. If it's any consolation, it's a little bit longer than my usual. And yes, that's right, the main character's name is Natalie, it's not spelled like mine, but I still get to vicariously enjoy whatever my character does. XD Thank you guys SO much for the many comments. Anyway, I hope you like it, and I want to see a ton more comments after:
Chapter 2
It took me several seconds the next morning to realize that the bus wasn’t slowly moving up and down, but that I was using Joe’s stomach for a pillow. His breathing was steady, adding to the peaceful quiet that told me we had parked long ago and the rest of the bus’s occupants had left to find breakfast. I lay there, unwilling to move from sheer comfort, praying that it was still too early to hear from Felicia.
No such luck. Within a few minutes the calm morning silence was interrupted by a cheerful, southern, “Joe, are you on here?”
I shut my eyes, willing myself to fall asleep again. Maybe if she found us asleep she’d reschedule whatever press the Jonas Brothers had.
Another wish unfulfilled. Distant shuffling told me that she was making her way to the back of the bus.
“Joe,” I groaned, hoping that, if not her achingly cheerful call or the footsteps which now echoed closer, than maybe my voice could wake him up.
“Mmm,” came his groggy reply.
“Fee.”
It was all I had to say. Giving me a moment to reposition how I slept, he pulled himself off the couch. I watched with half-open eyes as he quickly attempted to pat down his hair, this didn’t help any. “Hey Fee.” Joe said, his voice suddenly loud and clear, as if he’d been up for hours.
“Mhm...” she began sarcastically, one eyebrow raised, looking from him to me and back again.
Joe’s face turned surprisingly pink as he continued to mess with his hair.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were spending the night with Natalie? I have been looking for you everywhere! Your brothers are eating breakfast already – we’re at a diner by the way – and it looks like you haven’t even showered. Do you have any idea what time it is? You have a shoot with Popstar in less than two hours.”
“Woah, there. Not my mom. Just woke up,” he replied, rubbing his eyes and dropping back down on the couch, obviously giving up on the whole wide-awake charade.
I laughed, shocked at his change in attitude, and sat up. There was no way I was going to get any more sleep today.
“Shower and breakfast,” Felicia added, unfazed, and then suddenly turned to me, “you too.”
“Me?”
“Dan didn’t tell you?” she asked, obviously getting frustrated. Dan was my manager, a man who was well-known for his lack of organizational skills and whose only benefit thus far was getting me on this tour.
I shook my head, clueless.
“Popstar wants you too, sweetie.”
Joe threw me a surprised grin. Popstar wants me? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Why did they care to see me? Nobody really knew who I was, besides maybe the few local fans that had added me as their friend on MySpace; I was just a singer who opened up for an opening band.
“Me?” I repeated the question, stunned.
“Yes, you,” she confirmed, and turned to face the both of us, I could only imagine the bed-headed and bleary sight she was seeing on the couch before her, “that’s why you two need to hurry your butts up!”
With one more astonished smile, Joe got up and followed Felicia off the bus, leaving me to sit alone, still shocked at the news I had just received.
I took a quick shower, blow drying my hair pin straight, and met everyone at the diner. Kevin, Nick, Joe, their backing band, Felicia, a bunch of security and team members, my backing band, plus Rooney had basically taken over the small highway diner we had stopped at. The two waitresses working there looked shaken from this abnormally large, and famous, amount of customers, not to mention a few patrons who were finding their usual breakfast stop to be unusually loud. Joe had saved me a seat at his table, where Nick and Kevin were finishing their eggs and laughing at something Robert Schwartzman had just said. A few other members of Rooney I hadn’t gotten to know very well also sat there.
“Hey,” I greeted everyone.
“How cool is it you’re coming with us?” Nick asked taking a sip of his orange juice.
“I still can’t believe it, and why am I the last to know about this?”
Kevin laughed, “’Cause apparently Dan told Fee and no one else. And Fee let it slip while she was forcing us out of bed.”
“You’re gonna love it!” Joe added, hardly paying attention to the waitress who was trying to make out what he was pointing at on the menu.
The rest of breakfast went by quick, Nick, Joe, and Kevin, as well as Robert taking turns telling me what Popstar would be like. Every so often Felicia, Dan, or a crew member would come by reminding us that we only had 1 hour, half an hour, 15 minutes left.
Finally, to the relief of the diner employees, everyone got onto their respective buses. In no mood to spend an hour long ride with a bunch of ridiculous 20-something year-old guys, I followed the brothers onto theirs.
The stories over breakfast had gotten me excited. I was about to do my first interview, and with none other than Popstar, the magazine that had brought so many artists before me to fame. Maybe this would finally be the end of my days performing at middle schools. My dream was finally becoming reality.
