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This had not been his day, to put it mildly. First Kevin made him and the others ride a bus through a hellish thunderstorm in the middle of the night. Then he’d needed to pee badly, and because someone managed to clog the only clean toilet on board, he’d had to ask Toby to make a stop at the nearest pumpstation. That had been embarrassing and he’d felt like he was sixteen again, barely able to stand still and practically begging Toby to stop the bus. He’d seen the shameless amusement in the bus driver’s eyes and he’d glared back.

Like he never needed to pee.

As soon as the bus had halted, he’d jumped out, not caring to give the other members of the group heads about what he was going to do. His bladder had been burning way too much for that kind of stuff. He’d all but sprinted like a madman towards the side of the rest stop, ignoring the few surprised stares as he yanked open the door to the closest toilet.

When he was done, a dazed smile of relief covered his face and he decided to wash his hands for good measure. It was then that he remembered that he owed AJ a coke. The smile on his face widened as he carefully sneaked around the small building, cautious to stay out of sight of the large tourbus parked just a couple of feet away. He could see Toby had decided to fill the tank, probably just cause it gave him something useful to do.

Creeping on his toes for no particular reason now that he was in the tiny store, Nick smiled at the few teenagers that were clearly having a vicious debate on whether to take smarties or M&Ms as a snack. He was glad that at least teenagers weren’t his main concern anymore when it came to crazy fans. Because fans could be bad, but their parents were so much worse. And now that most people that came to their concerts didn’t need permission of any kind to do whatever they wanted, Nick had found that the stuffy craziness had actually slowed down a bit. Now it was more of a… controlled craziness.

Nick liked it that way.

Grabbing two cokes out of the fridge, he felt something brush against his arm. He turned, but didn’t see anything.

Shrugging, he marched towards the bored looking cashier, who would probably fall asleep on the spot if that wouldn’t cost him his job. Nick planted the two cans on the counter, not bothering to plaster a fake smile on his face. As it turned out, he was just as exhausted as the cashier before him. Stupid Kevin that made them ride the bus at midnight. They could have gone this morning, but no, mister ControlFreak needed to take care of his bank-account right on that moment, which had eventually taken up most of the day. Nick had made sure to throw him a few exasperated looks during the drive, and as he’d expected, he’d seen Brian do the same.

The cashier was taking his sweet time and just before Nick got really impatient and wanted to say something, the boy finally punched in a few buttons on the register.

“That’ll be three dollars, sir,” he stated in a monotonous voice.

Nick sighed, reaching his hand to the back of his pants to retrieve his wallet. Frowning, he came up with nothing. He hadn’t left it on the bus, had he? That would actually be so typical. But he was almost sure that he’d had the thing with him when he’d gone to the bathroom. Well, like ninety percent sure.

The bathroom!

Grinning awkwardly, Nick took a deep breath, “Er, could you like… maybe… hold on to those cokes for a sec? I think I left my wallet somewhere else.”

Before the kid could answer, Nick turned around instantly and left the shop. It had been a long while since he’d felt so embarrassed. He paid the raging storm above him no mind as he hurried out of the store, seeing the cashier shake his head out of the corner of his eye. Determined, and fairly pissed at himself, he rounded the corner and instantly halted.

The thought of his wallet disappeared suddenly when he looked at the spot where there should be a bus waiting for him.

Should.

He clenched his jaw and stared hard at the empty space that had been occupied by a black tourbus only ten minutes earlier. The rain was coming down on him like a cold shower, but he barely felt it. He did feel the anger and confusion gradually building up.

Did they just… leave?

He felt like yelling, screaming, growling and cursing, but he did neither of those things. A lot had happened on tourbusses over the years. They’d left AJ behind once, but that had been a prank. He hadn’t even told anyone he’d left the bus this night. Toby had just… taken off without him.

He clenched his fists, breathing heavily as he finally broke his glare. He contemplated briefly if he should call anyone. He quickly decided against that. He didn’t need them. He wasn’t a baby anymore, he’d make sure he’d get to Orlando. All by himself, thank you very much. And if anything, maybe he’d even get there faster than they would.