Publicity

Chapter 25: Finally

IM BOUT TO CRY GUYS, THIS IS THE FINAL CHAPTER!!!

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Leaving for tour was harder then I had ever imagined. It should have been all smiles. I should have been so excited. Yet, I felt miserable. Don't get me wrong, touring was one of my biggest dreams come true.. but I never imagined for it to happen while all of these other situations were going on. My mom and Claire were coming on tour with me along with a crew and two opening acts.. The bad news is, I won't be touring with anyone my own age. I can already tell I'm going to get home sick. I had to say goodbye to my dad and my siblings. My dad may be a big manly guy but he probably shed the most tears... (next to my grandpa of course). Luckily, he'll be visiting me on tour as much as he can. I had to say goodbye to Bahja... That was way too hard. It's only four months but that might as well be four years in our friendship. She promised to visit me on tour but who knows when that will be considering she goes to public school. I'm gonna miss her like crazy... Then my grandparents. They were emotional wrecks. I didn't feel comfortable leaving my grandpa after finding out he was ill but I had no choice. My grandparents are coming to visit at least twice a month cause God knows I can't live without them. As for Ray, he wasn't allowed to go to the airport and say goodbye. The last time I actually saw him in person was at that meeting. We texted and talked on the phone but it wasn't the same. I wish we could have said bye in person... I would have probably drowned in my own tears. I've become so attached to Ray in the past month that not being allowed to see him anymore breaks my heart. I wish I hadn't developed such strong feelings for him. I never got to tell him how I felt.

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Its been a week since I've left for tour. I've done 5 shows so far and I've been getting great reviews. Everything business wise with the tour is going great. Claire was definitely happy with the way everything turned out. I managed to talk to Ray as much as I could. I never imagined it would be this difficult to talk to him. Originally Claire and Kenneth said we could continue to be friends in secret. I figured they meant secretly as in, the media and fans couldn't know about it... Turns out, a lot of people weren't allowed to know we still talk. Anyone who knew about the stunt could know that we were friends because they obviously knew everything was fake. But any crew members or family that thought the stunt was real weren't allowed to know a thing. That made things difficult whenever I was on the bus and Ray wanted to video chat because there were crew members on board who didn't know about the stunt. It kinda sucked. It made things a lot more difficult for us. I mean, we already had busy schedules that we had to deal with, add this inconvenience and we barely had time to talk. Somehow we made it work though. We talked everyday, even if it was just for 30 seconds. Until recently....

"When was the last time you talked to Ray?" Bahja asked. I adjusted the lap top on my lap and let out a sigh. I was currently on my tour bus. We had just finished a concert in LA and we were now traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina. Since Ray was MIA on me the past two days, I decided to video chat with Bahja. Maybe she could give me some advice.

"I talked to him Wednesday morning. He just called to say good morning." I mumbled. It was now Friday night... it was the longest we'd gone without talking.

"Why don't you try to text him or something?" She suggested.

"I have." I frowned. "I got no response... I don't want to smother him. But I'm afraid he's already forgotten about me."

"He definitely hasn't forgot about you Nique." She waved her hand dismissively. "He's crazy about you."

I rolled my eyes. Bahja has this insane idea that Ray is in love with me... I freaking wish. "I feel like he's ignoring me..." I paused. "It hurts."