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"About time," Kristine looked up from the pot of sauce to where Alana and AJ were coming up the road laughing.

Starr studied them silently. "Oh lord," she said "Take a look at what she talked him into buying."

"He didn’t," Kevin’s eyes darkened.

"You're that against underage drinking?" Jedia asked.

"No. He was supposed to stay away from drinking while we're on this trip. It's one of the reasons we decided to travel around like this instead of how we normally do," Howie gave the vegetables in the bowl a few more tosses. "We all like a few drinks but he's been drinking more and more lately and it's starting to effect us as a band, not to say anything about his mom. He’s been good about staying away from it so far but this might be it."

"Wouldn’t it be okay as long as he didn’t go overboard?" Starr asked.

"Probably not," Jedia set down her spoon and stared off into space. "It’s not just that he was co-dependent on an inanimate object. That alone would bring down his self worth and self esteem. It eventually triggered off a series of events that ended up harming himself and the people he was closest to, causing this overwhelming feeling of guilt that he’ll probably carry with him every time he takes a drink. The few beers he’s probably planning on having won’t effect him much, considering the alcohol content and such, but the memories of guilt and low self esteem can probably still inflict some serious mental and emotional damage."

Howie leaned over, "Does she always go on like that?" He whispered to Starr.

Starr had to force back a laugh. "Psychology major. You get used to it after awhile," She whispered back, "She re-diagnoses me once a week or so. You wouldn’t believe the mental problems I have according to her."

Howie’s eyes crinkled in the corners as Jedia droned on in the background.

"Okay, we get it," Kristine interrupted finally. "Beer is bad for him."

"Exactly!" Jedia exclaimed.

"Good luck telling him that," Kevin shook his head again as AJ and Alana came up, their faces flushed. "Why did you buy that?" He asked AJ.

AJ set it down by the picnic table before answering. "I figured we had something worth celebrating with a few drinks. I don’t plan on getting drunk if you’re worried about that."

"You know that stuff that comes out of the faucet for free?" Starr asked, "Well, it’s just as easy to celebrate with that."

"Don’t even start," AJ held up his hand. Starr clamped her mouth shut and turned away quickly to start slicing the bread.

"Give me a break, Starr," Alana handed Kristine the bag with the pasta. "Just because you don’t want to have fun doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t. He’s not going to be able to drink it all on his own anyways, right Cassy?"

Cassy looked up and was immediately tackled by Nick and Maddy. "Beer!" She cried out, her voice muffled by the dogpile.

"Dude!" Nick hopped to his feet. "You’re seriously gonna party?"

Brian took the football from Maddy, his face holding the same apprehension as Howie and Kevin.

"Do any of you drink?" Kevin asked in a low voice as AJ and Alana went to join the football game.

Starr and Jedia shook their heads. "I can do wine and stuff at weddings and dinners but not beer," Kristine said with a delicate shudder.

"I gave it up in high school," Starr added in quickly.

Howie looked at Jedia. "What about you?"

She shrugged. "I never wanted to try it. Why?"

Kevin dropped his voice to a whisper "I was almost hoping you girls did, even if it would just be to drink it so he couldn’t."

"That’s an interesting form of intervention," Kristine noted.

"It works though. By the time he’s through his second, we normally have the rest gone but then again, we’re normally around girls who are bigger drinkers," Howie explained.

"Why not just keep stealing cans and hiding them?" Jedia suggested.

"He’d probably find them that way," Starr sighed, "Why don’t we just pretend to drink them and pour them out?"

"He’d probably smell it," Kristine put in. "You’d actually have to drink it or dump it down a drain or something."

"Alana’s mother would murder us if we used the RV sinks," Jedia reminded them.

"We’ve got the air freshener to take care of the smell in there," Kristine said. "If we really needed to, we could probably get rid of a few of them that way."

"Thanks," Kevin said, sounding more relieved. "If each of you could get rid of two then Brian, Howie, and I can hide away a few more. Between Nick and your other two friends, we should be able to keep him to three or four."

"Anything to help," Kristine said cheerfully, dumping the noodles into the boiling water.

It really wasn’t much help, Starr realized watching AJ down his eighth beer. For every one they dumped, it seemed like he drank two more. Cassy was too busy talking, she wasn’t drinking nearly as much as the others expected her to. Brian must have warned Nick about drinking too much before he was brought into their plan because Nick was only nursing his third.

Alana and AJ on the other hand, were draining can after can like it was soda. Starr had gone to enough parties with Alana and Cassy to know that Alana was starting to feel it. She was a flirty drunk and was already crawling into AJ’s lap to nuzzle at his neck. Starr wanted nothing more than to shove her off.

AJ’s laughter just got louder after Alana took her seat. So much for taking it easy, Brian noted. Jedia grabbed two more cans from the case and snuck back into the camper to dump them. It’s not like it mattered anymore, the two of them were too drunk to realize their alcohol was disappearing and Cassy was too distracted by her conversation with Nick to care.

Howie took a quick look inside of the case and took out the last two, handing one to Kevin. They quickly drank them down, tossing the empty cans into a nearby trash bag.

Alana started laughing at something AJ said and almost immediately fell to the ground. Her tumble just made her laugh even harder as she reached for another can. "Wha?" She held up the box and peered inside "All gone?"

"Who drank all my...my beer?" AJ demanded, getting shakily to his feet. He pointed a finger at Kevin "Was you...weren’t it?"

"You’re drunk," Kevin said, disgustedly. "I’m sorry but I really don’t want to see any more of this. Why don’t we figure out who’s sleeping where because I’m ready to hit the sack."

"Well, if Kristine squeezes into the table bed with Jedia, then Cassy and I can take the one over the cab," Starr suggested. "That’ll open up one of the beds in the back of the RV. You could probably squeeze two into the tent and then two more in your van."

"I’ll sleep in the van," Kevin said. "We’ve got a few blankets in there."

"I’ll stay with you," Brian offered. "Nick, are you sober enough to deal with AJ?"

"Yeah, I’ll take care of the lush," Nick agreed with a grin.

"You girls sure you don’t mind a guy staying in your camper?" Howie asked.

"Nah," Cassy said. "You’ll be sleeping right across from Alana and none of us want to be the one she pukes on if she wakes up."

"Well, it seemed generous at first," Howie shrugged.

"Found it!" Alana pulled the half empty bottle of rum from a small cooler. "Party on!"

"Fuck yeah!" Cassy pumped her fist in the air.

"I’ll stay out here with them," Nick offered.

"You just want to get your share of the rum," Brian shook his head.

"Aww...Rock, doncha trust me?" Nick playfully punched his shoulder. "I won’t drink too much more."

"Do what you want," Brian shrugged and followed Kevin into the van.

Jedia yawned as she, Starr, Kristine, and Howie made their way into the RV and turned on the light. "Umm, Howie?" Jedia asked sheepishly, "Would you mind locking yourself into the bathroom for a few minutes so we can change?"

"Sure thing," He shut the door behind him only to hear three loud squeals erupt. Oh lord, he thought pressing his hand to his forehead, just when he was beginning to think they were free of screaming girls for awhile. It wasn’t that he and the other guys didn’t appreciate their fans, but the constant screaming did give him a headache after awhile. It was a welcome change to find girls that knew who they were, seemed to be fans and could act completely natural around them.

"You can come out now," Kristine called.

Howie walked back into the main area of the RV to find Kristine and Jedia wearing their long t-shirts brushing their hair on the smaller lower bed. Starr was laying down on the bed over the cab, one ankle hanging over the edge of the bed swinging back and forth. "So why did you wait for me to go away before you started to freak out?" He asked.

Jedia tossed her hair brush back into her bag "We’re still fans and we still needed to get it out," She explained. "Seriously, I think that’s the only time it’s going to happen. It just felt like we were going to explode if we didn’t let it out soon and we would have rather done it when you guys didn’t have to listen to it."

"She’s right," Starr said. "It seems too natural now that you’re all here and it’s harder to act like raving fangirls than it was at your concert."

"What do you mean, natural?" Howie asked.

Starr rolled onto her back and smiled up at the ceiling "You five just fit in too well with us. You can’t tell me you’re not comfortable with us or you never would have wanted to stay the night."

"Night ladies," Howie said, making his way to the back of the RV and flopping into the made up bed. Comfortable with a group of fans? He wasn’t exactly sure what she was talking about. They were always comfortable around their fans, the fans were what kept them going. Sure there were times when they didn’t feel good or when they were tired that they would have preferred to have gone back to their hotel rooms than stand around taking pictures and signing autographs but they were completely comfortable with that spotlight on them, they couldn’t perform otherwise.

No, he realized, he was comfortable with these girls but it was on a different level, a personal level instead of a professional one. It had been an entire day and the girls hadn’t asked for pictures, hugs, autographs or anything. Instead they had given everything they had to make sure that he and the other guys had a hot meal, a mostly enjoyable evening, and a place to sleep. He was sure there were other fans that would do the same, but he wondered how many of them would be able to give up so much without asking for anything in return.

Howie opened his eyes at the sound of a scream and tried to peer through the darkness as the RV door shut. He hit the backlight on his watch and gazed down at it, 3:30. "Fuck!" The figure grunted as it knocked its elbow against the counter. Howie blinked the sleepy haze out of his eyes and focused on the figure stumbling through the RV. "Howie?" The voice whispered

"Back here," He called softly. "Nick, I thought you were sleeping out in the tent with AJ."

Nick fell into the other bed. "I would have except AJ already has another bed buddy and I didn’t need to listen to that shit all night."

"What about Cassy?"

"She’s outside with Brian," Nick rolled over to face the wall.

"I thought Brian went to bed already."

"He did. I’m surprised you managed to sleep through that one. That woman screams like a banshee," Nick sat up and pulled off his shirt. Howie winced when the red spots caught the little bit of light that was filtering into the camper.

"What did you do to her?"

"It’s that easy, isn’t it?" Nick scoffed. "It’s so fucking easy to be on the side of the women. She was hitting on me all damn night, rolling around in the dirt with me and B in her fucking bikini top and then sits there and talks to me all night long like I’m the only one she gives a damn about and then when I try and give her what she’s acting like she wants, she starts punching the shit out of me, screaming and calling me a pervert, and starts howling until Brian comes out of the van to find out what’s wrong. He tells me to go to bed and then takes her off for a walk to try and calm her down."

"Jesus, Nick, are you saying you tried to...?"

"Do I look that fucking stupid? I just started to kiss her neck and when she didn’t seem to have issues with that, I went for her bikini and she smacked me and screamed."

"You’ve both had too much to drink," Howie rolled back over. "Just go to sleep and hopefully she’ll be over it in the morning."

"Whatever," Nick muttered into his pillow.

"Jedia, are you sure you remembered to put water in the pot first?" Kristine teased as she continued buttering the toast.

"Screw you," Jedia laughed, dumping the oatmeal into the boiling water. "Whoa, looks like someone didn’t sleep so well." She noted as Brian stumbled out of the van.

"Coffee?" He pleaded, staring at them with blurry eyes.

Kristine grabbed a thick mug from the stack of dishes and poured him a cup. "Dear God, thank you." Brian gulped at the burning black liquid.

"Someone actually made coffee?" Cassy asked, walking out the door in her pajamas "Awesome!" She took the mug from Kristine and began to pour the cream and sugar in.

"Are you okay?" Brian asked, sitting next to her.

"Yeah, I’m fine now," Cassy looked up at him with a smile. "I’m just surprised I don’t have a hangover after last night."

"It’s not the hangover I was worried about," Brian set his empty mug down. "Just remember what I told you last night, he’s not a bad guy."

Kristine kept an ear towards their conversation as she handed out coffee to Howie and Kevin. She guessed it had something to do with Cassy’s scream last night. She and Jedia had just assumed Cassy and Alana were having another beer-induced screaming contest.

She and Jedia were usually the early risers. In the hours before the others woke up they managed to start breakfast and clean up the mess of bottles and cups from the night before. The last thing they needed was for Alana’s parents to come back and find the evidence of the party.

"Morning!" Starr sang out, coming out of the RV in her jeans and t-shirt.

"What in the world got into her?" Jedia asked Kristine in a whisper.

"Beats me," Kristine replied, putting the plate of toast on the table. "Check the oatmeal, it should be almost done."

"Do you need any help?" Starr asked.

"Umm..." Kristine took a quick look around the campsite. "If you wanted to drag those trash bags over to the dumpster, that should be the last thing we need to do before her parents get back."

"Okay," Starr turned to go pick up the two black trash bags only to be greeted by Alana and AJ climbing out of the tent. From the smug look on Alana’s face and the two red blotches on her neck, everyone was able to guess how they had spent the rest of their night.

Starr’s sunny smile faded quickly as her face paled. "Oh," She said softly, turning to grab the two backs and rushing down the two campsites to the dumpster.

"I’m starving," Alana announced. "You guys made breakfast already? You so rock!"

Kristine forced on a smile, handing her and AJ the last two mugs but her eyes followed Starr. "Well, that explains that much," She mumbled.

"Doesn’t it figure?" Jedia took a bite from her piece of toast. "It was a nice change while it lasted though."

Kristine turned back to the table with a smile but inside she was furious. AJ and Starr had hit it off fairly well the day before. He was the type of guy that Starr had been looking for and Alana went ahead on the spur of the moment without given any thought to anyone else. "You may want to clean up and put on some cover-up before your parents get home," Kristine nodded to Alana’s neck.

Alana’s hand flew up to cover them "Oh shit," She swore. "My father is going to fucking kill me, and probably you too," She glared at AJ.

AJ held up his hands. "Dude, it’s not like I was doing anything you didn’t want me to."

"Cassy, can I borrow your cover-up?" Alana shot him another dirty look before heading into the RV with Cassy.

AJ took out another cigarette and jammed it between his teeth. "Can you...not do that here?" Jedia asked, "The smoke gives me a headache."

"Whatever," AJ lit up, shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked away.

"She better hurry up," Kristine gestured to the road. "Her parents are back."

Starr sat down at the end of one of the benches next to Howie, staring off into space. "Are you okay?" He asked.

She forced a smile, but it didn’t come close to reaching her eyes. "I’ll be fine," She replied. "Don’t worry about it."

"What the fuck is going on here?" Mr. Johns stepped out of the truck. "We leave for two damn days and you have a fucking orgy? Who the hell are these guys and why the fuck are they at my campsite? Where the hell is Alana? Alana! Get your ass out here now!"

Mrs. Johns climbed out behind her husband and began to laugh. "Stupid, you send boys home at dawn."

"Someone better start explaining," Mr. Johns glared at the five guys. "Someone else better find my damn daughter."

"They were just planning on staying here for a few days," Kristine spoke up. "The ranger station was closed yesterday so they couldn’t rent their own campsite and they didn’t have any tents or anything so we said we’d make room for them here for the night. They ended up using the tent, their van, and the two beds."

"Well the station ain’t closed any more. One of them can drive down and get their own damn site," Still fuming but looking less furious, Mr. Johns grabbed a slice of toast from the stack.

"They old," Mrs. Johns looked Kevin up and down. "Too old for girls."

"Hi Dad!" Alana and Cassy came running out of the camper "I didn’t hear you pull in."

"We just heard you screaming after," Cassy sat back down next to Brian.

"What on your neck?" Mrs. Johns squinted.

"Oh, that," Alana shook her head. "That’s what I get for sleeping with someone else’s pillow. Jedia has one of those harder feather pillows and I couldn’t get comfortable on it so I was moving around a lot last night and it must have irritated my neck."

"Yeah, that better be what it is," Mr. Johns began to pull bags of food from the back of the truck and set them on the ground. "You guys need to go get your own site. Gary is down at the station now. Just go back into the town, make a left after the general store and you’ll see it down the road about a mile."

"I’ll go," Kevin grabbed the keys from his jacket pocket and drove off down the road.

"So who are these guys anyway?" Mr. Johns frowned.

"Kevin is the one who just drove off, AJ is over there smoking, and this is Brian, Nick, and Howie," Jedia pointed them out.

"You’re all a bunch of pretty boys, what are you doin’ tryin’ to camp?"

"We wanted to try something new," Brian shrugged.

Mr. Johns gave him a curt nod before going to help Mrs. Johns put the groceries away.

"Oh yeah, Dad?" Alana called. "You need to stop back at the general store. We owe him $50 for groceries."

Cursing came from the camper, making the girls giggle.

"That was really nice of your father to lend us that other tent," Kevin commented to Alana later on in the afternoon.

"It was even nicer of him to help you put it up," She grinned. "He just didn’t think a bunch of pretty boys would be able to pitch their own."

Brian grasped her wet shoulders "What pretty boys?" He asked, pushing her under the water.

Alana came up sputtering "Asshole," She muttered, brushing her hair out of her eyes and glancing at the others around her. Nick and AJ were playing chicken with Kristine and Jedia and until then, Cassy and Brian had been racing each other back and forth, waiting for the other to give in. Howie was floating near Kevin, relaxing but still keeping an eye on everyone else. Starr was sitting at the edge of a flat rock, dangling her legs into the water scribbling into one of her notebooks.

"Aren’t you going to get in?" Kevin asked.

Starr looked up and shook her head. "I just want to finish this chapter."

Howie swam over and hoisted himself next to her. "Short story?"

"Not so short anymore," She smiled. "This one is kinda my baby."

"Kristine...no!" Jedia screamed as Kristine knocked her and Nick backwards into the water.

"You’re vicious at this game," AJ knelt down so Kristine could get off his shoulders.

"I played with Cassy for too long. If you don’t get vicious with her, you lose," Kristine looked over to the rock. "Come on Starr, you can finish that later."

"Just a minute," Starr chewed on the end of her pen. "I’ve lost a word."

"What one this time?" Kristine asked.

"Her skin was..." Starr kicked at the water a little bit. "Not shimmering..."

"Dripping?" AJ suggested.

"Not really. It’s not like she’s swimming or anything."

"Glowing?" Brian splashed Cassy, making her laugh.

Starr thought for a moment. "That’s closer and it would work but it’s not what I’m looking for."

"Shining?" Jedia offered.

"She’s not a lightbulb," Starr laughed. "Although it would add an interesting element to the bedroom scenes."

"Glistening?" Howie read the paragraph from over her shoulder.

"That’s it!" Starr exclaimed happily, jotting it down and shutting her notebook. "Thanks!"

"No problem," Howie grinned and pushed her into the water.

"Out of curiosity," Kristine asked, "How many days did you reserve your site for?"

"Three," Kevin replied, "but if we want to stay longer we can."

"It’s all going to depend on how long it takes the paparazzi to find us," Brian put in. "This is the longest we’ve gone without them in awhile."

"I told you that you’ll probably be safe up here," Alana objected.

"You underestimate what they’re willing to do to get a few photographs," AJ said.

"I bet most of your fans would do exactly the same thing," Starr floated on her back, closing her eyes.

"That’s creepy, but true," Howie helped Jedia on his shoulders while AJ put Kristine back on his. "They mean well enough though. The paparazzi just wants to meet their deadlines and get the best stories and pictures to sell."

"That’s what you get for being successful," Starr pointed out. "You could be a deadbeat like me and then everyone would leave you alone."

"Okay, I’m cold," Cassy climbed out of the water and wrapped herself up in a towel. "What’s for dinner?"

"Dad’s cooking so I’ll give you a guess," Alana said cheerfully, getting out after her.

The other eight members of their group climbed out of the water laughing and talking. Cassy glanced behind her at Brian who was shaking the water out of his hair. God he was cute and athletic and funny and cute and sweet and charming and cute. She smiled back at him, her eyes twinkling. "You look cold," Brian draped his towel over her shoulders and rubbing them softly.

"How can a girl be cold with a hottie like you around?" Cassy nudged him with her shoulder.

"Oh dear me, I do believe you’re coming onto me," Brian feigned a Scarlett O’Hara accent, pressing a hand to his forehead.

"Now is that such a bad thing?" She gave him a playful shove.

"Terrible thing," Brian shook his head sadly and then cracked up laughing. "Nah, just playin’ with you babe."

"Ooo, keep playing baby," Cassy swayed her hips.

"Will you two stop flirting and hurry up?" Alana shouted from down the road.

"They’re fun," Jedia said, sitting on her bed that night, brushing Cassy’s hair.

"Alana, you’re not sneaking over to be with AJ?" Cassy asked.

Alana finished taking off her make-up. "No. It was fun last night, don’t get me wrong but I’m not into him like that. I probably wouldn’t have slept with him if it wasn’t for the beer."

Starr looked up from her notebook, her eyes pained. "Does he know that?" She asked.

"If not, he’ll get the hint pretty damn fast."

"You know, I think I’m really getting sweet on him," Cassy commented.

"It’s only been a day," Kristine laughed.

"Yeah, well, we’ve had a lot of time to talk and he just works with me, ya know?"

"You said that about Matt too and you guys didn’t even last a month," Jedia protested. "You knew him longer too."

"I dunno. Brian is different, more mature I guess," Cassy flopped down on the bed. "Come on, Jedia, be happy for me."

"You know I am," Jedia smiled. "Just take it slow, they might not even been here long enough for you to try and start anything with him."

"Even if we don’t. He’s still fun to flirt with," Cassy stretched and yawned. "I’m going to bed. Night girls!"

"Same here," Alana and Cassy climbed into their beds at the back of the camper.

"You okay, Jedia?" Kristine whispered.

"I dunno. I’m happy for Cassy but..."

"You think she’s rushing?" Starr asked.

"No, it’s just I was hoping he’d see something in me," Jedia dropped her voice so low the two girls had trouble hearing her. "It’s okay though, I’m glad Cassy found someone that makes her happy, even if it’s probably only for a little while."

"I thought you had a thing for Nick though," Starr said.

"I did until I met him. Talk about disillusionment. I just never thought someone that cute could be so..."

"Crude?" Starr offered.

"That’s exactly it. He swears and drinks and stares at Cassy’s boobs and who knows what else. He’s just not the pretty blonde boy I expected," Jedia turned into her pillow. "It’s no big deal. They’re only going to be here for a few days and it was great while they were here."

"Oh Jedia," Starr climbed out of her bed and hugged her friend. "None of us are going to end up dating them, but it was nice to actually meet them and we’ve spent more time with them than most girls ever will."

"Yeah, you’re right. I should just be happy for what we do have. I think I’m just over tired. Night guys."

"Night, Jedia," Starr said. climbing back into her bed. Kristine’s breathing leveled off quickly leaving Starr to pull out her flashlight and small notebook she had been using as a journal.

I should have been happy to find out Alana didn’t want him but for some reason, it made me even more upset. It’s like she took the one thing that meant the most to me, tried it out and threw it away because she didn’t like it instead of just leaving it behind for me. I know I told Jedia that they’re only going to be here a few days and not to get too attached to them but I’m having trouble following my own advice. Something about these five guys feels so right with the five of us, I just wish they’d give up show business and stay with us. I know it’s not going to happen, it’s the kind of stupid fantasy I thought I gave up at thirteen.

I just wish AJ would have noticed me instead of Alana.

Starr closed the notebook and curled up under her blanket, blinking back tears and finally let them fall silently into her pillow.