Lynna's POV
Despite wanting to sleep longer, it was difficult to fall back asleep with the voices in the background. I could hear Josh and Jake talking, listening to them before even attempting to open my eyes.
Josh was gently rubbing his thumb back and forth, his hand resting on my hip. I didn't want to open my eyes, knowing it'd make this moment shorter.
"Hey, you awake?" Josh whispered, moving strands of hair from my face. I smiled, working up to opening my eyes. He continued to play with my hair, patiently waiting for me to look to him. I finally opened my eyes, his eyes meeting mine. There was an adoring look in his eyes, making it hard to look away. I could've looked at him forever, he was so addicting. Everything felt so perfect, I never wanted to be anywhere else ever again.
I did feel bad for making Josh lay there while I slept, knowing I should move off him. I detached myself from him, immediately missing the warmth. I stretched out, slowly sitting up from my position.
"Morning, sunshine." Jake smiled.
"Good morning." I mumbled, too tired to bother with anything else. I looked to the clock, realizing I had slept much longer than intended. "Why didn't you guys wake me up?"
"Josh did want to wake up the sleeping beauty." Jake answered, a teasing tone in his voice. I looked to Josh, he only gave me a sheepish smile in response.
"We haven't even been up very long." Danny said. "I haven't heard anything from Sammy either."
"I forgot about that." I groaned. "Do you think they're going to be normal or be all weird?"
"They'll probably be awkward." Jake said, not questioning it.
"It's their problem." Josh shrugged. "Do you think breakfast is still open?"
"No, it's over at 9:30." Jake said, Josh letting out a disappointed sigh. "Isn't there an ihop like next door?"
"There is." Josh smiled, loving the thought of it. "You guys wanna go?"
"I'm not very hungry." Danny said, Jake nodding in agreement.
"Well, Lynna, would you like to go with me?" Josh asked, attempting his best to sound persuasive.
"I could eat..." I trailed, his face lighting up. He jumped out of the bed, quicker than I was expecting. I crawled out of the bed, nearly passing out due to getting up too quick.
"I don't have shoes." I said, realizing that factor. "Or a bra. They're in my room."
Josh looked down to my chest when I mentioned the 'no bra,' I wanted to say something at the obvious glance, but I felt too flustered to say anything.
"You can wear my birks, they're at the edge of the bed." Jake offered. "For the bra, I don't know, Danny, do you have one?"
"Oh, yeah, of course." Danny nodded, playing along. "It's in my bag along with the panty-hose."
I laughed at the two, going to the edge of the bed to retrieve his sandals. I inspected myself in the mirror, trying to look halfway decent. Josh came behind me, standing there as I fixed my hair.
"What's wrong?" I asked, looking at him through the mirror.
"Just watching." He shrugged, still looking at me through the mirror.
"I look homeless." I sighed, giving up on the pathetic attempting of looking better kept.
"It's fine, I look homeless everyday." He smiled. "Now, c'mon, I'm hungry."
He grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the door. I laughed at his eagerness, struggling to keep up for a moment. He talked for a bit, explaining some odd conversation he had with Jake a little bit ago. We entered the restaurant, not very busy. We quickly found our seats, a booth next to the window.
Josh got coffee, I got water, I was very picky about what coffee I consumed. I wasn't a fan of the whole taste of the coffee beans.
I used the wrapper from my straw, shooting the paper at Josh. It flew, smacking him right in the forehead.
"Lynna!" He laughed, rubbing the spot where it hit. He quickly retaliated, going for a sugar packet. He was fast, it flying towards my face. He shouldn't have had as good of aim as he did.
"That kind of hurt." I said, rubbing the place on my cheek it had hit.
"I apologize." He laughed, very obviously not sorry. "You deserved it though."
"Mhm-hm." I hummed, ignoring his statement. "So, did I talk at any point in my sleep last night?"
"Not that I can recall." He said, thinking about the night. "I slept like a baby to be honest."
"Me too." I agreed. I didn't wake up once in the night, I slept so well.
"I always seem to sleep better with you." He said, before I could respond our waitress arrived to take our orders. I was flustered from his comment, glad he was ordering first. He always seemed to have amazing timing like that, spitting something out without the chance for me to respond. I simply ordered blueberry pancakes, those sounding best right now.
Josh was looking to me with a knowing smile, waiting for me to say something.
"Is your coffee good?" I asked, trying to avoid saying anything that would feed his ego. He only laughed at my choice of words.
"You're adorable, Lynna." He said. "I love when you don't know how to answer."
"I hate when I don't know how to answer." I said, feeling embarrassed again.
"Don't hate it." He said. "I think it fits, I always have something to say, sometimes you get too flustered to say anything."
"It only happens around you." I said, blaming it on him.
"Oh, of course." He nodded. "You basically mean that you're so attracted to me, you can't even think straight."
"I never said anything remotely close to that." I denied, it was too late, he was already smiling stupidly.
"It's okay to admit those things now, Lynna." He smiled. "I am completely truthful with you, and I'm all yours."
"Trust me, I know." I said, laughing a bit. "You don't even hide your looks now."
"What are you talking about?" He asked, trying to figure out what I was referring to.
"Earlier, when I said I didn't have a bra, you didn't refrain from looking." I said, him once again looking down to my chest. "See, you did it again!"
"To be honest with you Lynna, I probably would've glanced even before." He smiled, a hint of blush in his cheeks. "I'll stop, if you'd like."
"Well, I mean..." I trailed, unsure of how to say it without sounding dumb. He seemed to know what I was struggling to say, a smile that reeked of the assurance he had in his hold over me. I wanted to make him feel like I did in these moments, but I wasn't sure how to.
He reached across the table, his hand finding mine. He ran him thumb over the knuckles of my hand, taking his time.
"Lynna, I don't want you to feel embarrassed when I say things." He said carefully, his eyes meeting mine. "I want to know every part of you, I want you to know every part of me. You have so much of me, I'm not even sure how you managed. You will fill me as long as my lungs fill with air. There's nothing I want more than for you to know how much I like you, and that is how I show it. Whether you embrace it or get embarrassed, I'll never stop telling you."
It was especially in moments like these where I truly couldn't find the words to tell him how I feel. I wanted to reach over, show him, but I couldn't at that very moment.
"I always thought of words to be futile until I met you." I smiled, finally speaking. "I wish I could say how I feel the way you do."
"Show me." He said simply. "You said yourself, you would rather show it. I'm not saying right now, or even that you ever have to. I can see it in your eyes, that's enough to show me."
I once again looked at him, unable to respond with words. I looked to him, hoping my eyes could say what I wanted him to hear. His eyes looked back into mine, saying everything he voiced. I found it unfair I could feel and hear how he felt, yet I struggled to tell him the way he made me feel. He made me feel a million ways, every way was wonderful, thrilling, exciting. Simply the way he smiled at me, it made me feel like I was the only person in the world. I felt wrapped up in this feeling every time I looked at him, it providing more comfort than I had ever felt.
I was snapped out of my thinking when the server showed up with our food. The air felt still for a moment, trying to bring myself back to reality. Josh seemed affected, but that didn't stop him from carrying the conversation.
We finished our food, ordering some pancakes to-go incase Sammy and Frankie got hungry. Josh ended up paying, I was without my wallet due to it being locked in the room with Frankie and Sam.
Josh walked beside me back to the hotel, his hand twined with mine. We made it back to their room, I was surprised to find Sammy and Frankie with Jake and Danny. Frankie automatically smiled to me, I hoped that meant whatever was happening between them wouldn't affect the trip. They were close enough to each other, it didn't seem like they were awkward, so I let it roll.
They were hungry, the pancakes only lasted for maybe 10 minutes. We laid around lazily for an hour or so before we decided to get ready for the day. We weren't sure what we were going to do just yet, but we were going to take advantage of the boys days off.
Frankie and I left the boys room, I was finally able to talk with her.
"Okay, fill me in." I said, looking to her.
"Well, you can probably infer what happened last night. We were a lot more conscious this time, by the way." She smirked, making me gag a bit. I didn't like to think of Sammy in that sense. "But, um, we're kind of in an odd, friends-talking-dating type thing."
"How does that work?" I asked confused, not seeing how that was working.
"We're not really ready to date or anything. We also don't see the point of calling it something stupid like 'friends with benefits.' And, I guess that leaves us in a sort of talking, seeing where it takes us thing." She explained, making a bit more sense that time. "I actually like it, I think he likes it too."
"Well, good for you guys getting it figured out." I smiled, glad it didn't turn messy. "As long as you're happy, do whatever you like."
"I will." She nodded. I about settled in to the silence when I remembered exactly what she did.
"I can't believe you fucked in the bed we have to share." I spat, feeling bitter all over again. "You and Sammy have to share that bed, I'm not sleeping in it."
"They change the sheets." She shrugged, knowing that was not going to help my point of view. "You realize how many people have did it in those sheets?"
"Those people are not my bestfriend and Samuel Kiszka." I said. "Seriously, I'm staying with Josh, you guys can have the room."
"Gladly." She smiled. "I'm sure he's fine with it."
"He's gonna have to be." I said. "After stranding me without clothes or any of my items."
"Hey, you got one of Josh's shirts out of it, thank us." She said, bumping into me. "And, the fact that you get to sleep in the same bed as him."
"That is rather nice." I smiled, failing to act like I hated that.
"See, it all worked out." She was very proud of herself in the moment. I was really liking staying here, being with Josh, I didn't want to leave in a few days.
"You guys ready?" Jake asked, looking to us.
"I am." Frankie said, me nodding in agreement. We left the hotel rooms, going towards the parking lot.
"Can we all fit in the van?" Frankie asked.
"I don't think so, we have all the equipment in there." Danny said.
"We could fit in my car." I offered. "Well, we could shove Sammy in the cargo area."
"Why me?" Sammy asked, sounding genuinely hurt.
"Well, you can rock, paper, scissors or something, I was just giving a recommendation." I shrugged, him shooting me a look. "Oh, c'mon, it'll be fun."
"Why would it be fun?" He cried. "I would be rolling around like, I don't know, a fucking marble."
"A marble?" I laughed, not able to believe that analogy. "I'm not even a bad driver, you wouldn't be rolling around."
"Are you sure?" Sammy asked, looking at me trying to figure out if I was lying.
"I can vouch for her, she drives like a grandma." She said, Sammy looking like he actually believed her.
"Thanks, Frankie." I said sarcastically, feeling a bit offended by her comment.
"No problem." She winked, ignoring that I was offended.
"Alright, I'll ride in the back." Sammy sighed, trusting Frankie more than me. I felt once again offended, not believing that he trusted her over me. We got in the car, Frankie and Josh fighting over who got the passenger seat. Frankie kicked him in the shin, letting her have just enough time to get in the seat.
"Why didn't you leave Frankie at home?" Josh groaned, rubbing where she kicked him.
"There's no leaving without her." I answered, her shooting off something in agreement. "You'll be fine in the backseat."
"Shoved back in here like I'm a sardine?" He said, motioning to the other two boys already in there. Josh was obviously upset about it, but got in nonetheless.
We left, I was driving to basically nowhere, we were trying to find something. All of us were indecisive, not leading us to anything in specific we were looking for.
"Are we there yet?" Sammy asked in such an annoying tone from the back of the car.
"Seriously?" I asked, looking at him through the mirror.
"Are we there yet?" He asked again, not skipping a beat. "Are we there yet, Lynna?"
I turned up our music, attempting to ignore him.
"Are we there yet?" Josh asked this time, I immediately shot him a look.
"Are we there yet?" Frankie chirped, looking to me.
"Are we there yet?" Sammy asked once again, when a sudden thought popped in my head. I hit my brakes abruptly, everyone in the car lurching forward, Sammy the most. I went back to gas, making Sam fall backwards before he could recover.
"Ouch, Lynna!" Sammy whined, holding his nose. "That hurt my nose."
"You poor baby." I said in a sarcastic voice. "Ask if we're there yet, one more time, I dare you."
I could see the smirk through the mirror, already preparing to hit the brakes again.
"Don't do it." I warned, locking eyes with him through the mirror. He flipped me off, scooting out of my line of sight.
"Sam, please don't make the person driving us upset." Danny pleaded, looking back to him.
"It's not my fault she has a short temper." Sammy said bitterly, once again earning a brake slam from me. I got to see his face smush into the back of the seats, thoroughly pleased with myself.
"Lynna, for the sake of the rest of us, please don't do that again." Jake said.
"I won't, I don't want to completely ruin my brakes." I said truthfully. I did not have the money to do any part replacing right now.
"Are we there yet?" Sammy repeated.
"I'm about to tape your fucking mouth shut, Samuel." I said, not even joking at this point. It was the voice he was saying it in, I wanted it to stop.
"Sam, shutup." Josh said simply, Sam muttering something bitterly.
"This isn't fair, now that you're dating I can't pester her?" Sam whined, obviously trying to mess with Josh.
"Well, when your actions are getting us all whiplash, I think it's only fair I say something." Josh said. Sammy looked disappointed, finally shutting up. I thought Sammy was very funny usually, but I simply didn't feel like hearing 'are we there yet' 40 times.
We ended up finding a museum to look at, it was actually pretty interesting. To be fair, I wasn't sure if it was actually entertaining, it was just fun to do with Josh. He could make just about anything seem interesting.
Of course, we found a record store. Frankie was more into cd's, and I liked vinyls. We regularly went to our local store, and so did the boys. It only seemed fitting to go this one.
Josh continuously recommended music to me, which I truly loved. I was never opposed to any music, and Josh had great music taste, so it worked out. Sammy and Frankie were cute, picking through the albums together, trying to convert each other to their music taste.
"Simon and Garfunkel or Melanie?" I asked, holding two albums up.
"Mhm..." He trailed, looking between them. "Simon and Garfunkel, I have that Melanie album at the apartment."
"Really?" I asked, surprised.
"Yeah, you can borrow it when you go back." He smiled. I loved that he liked so many of the artist I already did, and now I had free reign to his album collection.
"What do you have?" I asked, trying to see the album he was holding.
"Bob Dylan." He said, showing it to me. "It's rather 'basic,' but I like his music."
"Nothing wrong with basic." I shrugged. I think you could really know a person by taking them to a record store. Josh and I moved towards the cd section, Frankie and Sam in a heated debate. We picked through the cd's, Josh showing me every one that he liked. It was cute, he had a little fact about everyone he showed me.
"Oh, I'm definitely getting this." I said, holding up a Jeff Buckley cd.
"He's pretty good, Sam likes him." Josh nodded. I moved closer to him, choosing to watch him pick before I spent all of my money. I stood on my tiptoes, allowing me to peer over his shoulder.
He quickly turned his head, planting multiple kisses on my cheek, it was almost overwhelming. I laughed at his actions, him finally stopping. He continued to look at me, his eyes were fixed on mine, his look was so sweet.
"Have I told you I'm glad you're here?" He whispered.
"Maybe once or twice." I smiled.
"Well, I just want to be sure you know." He said. "I hope that if I tell you enough times, you might stay longer."
"It might just work." I said, his eyes immediately lighting up.
"Then I will make it my duty to convince you to stay." Josh said. "Because I feel much too good for it to end in a few days."
I looked at him, feeling guilt and longing wash through me. I wanted to stay with him, I really did, but it didn't seem possible. I could stay with them for a bit, but not forever. And, I also didn't want to drag them down. I would just be like a loose thread hanging around.
"And, I know, it's hard for you to just leave. You have all your responsibilities." He said, a softer tone in his voice. "But, we're only going to tour here for a couple months, then we go overseas. That won't be forever, but it'll be enough time away from you that I don't want experience. I don't want to be parted with you for any longer than I have to."
"I don't want to be away from you that long either." I said, feeling the thought of it all looming over. "Hypothetically, if I were to stay with you guys, would it not get stuffy? I mean, it must be hard enough with four of you shoved in hotels and vans, wouldn't adding another person make it more hectic?"
"I don't think so." He said, shaking his head. "All those tight moments don't amount to what we get to experience. It's not like you're some obnoxious person to stay with, if anything you'd make it easier to keep everything under control."
"What do you mean?" I laughed, a bit confused on how I'd aid it in any way.
"Well, I for one would be a bit less irritable with you around. You could bring some insights to our work, we've already had some incidents." He explained. "You could also help us be on time more, we aren't the best at that. And, I know you are all about punctuality."
I laughed, knowing that just me and him had moments where our time suggestions were completely off. His 5:30 meant 6:00, whereas for me 5:30 meant at least 5:20. It was an interesting endeavor to experience.
"You are right about that." I smiled. "You make a very good case, Mr. Kiszka."
"I'll do anything if it means keeping you with me." He shrugged, not even a hint of hesitation. I would never get sick of him saying things like that, it fulfilled a part of me I wasn't even aware of. He was making the prospect of leaving so much harder.
We left the record store, we did little things we found throughout the town. We ended up at a cute little diner for dinner, it was really nice. I enjoyed being there with them, but my mind wandered for most of the time. I was trying to figure out scenarios to where I could stay with him, go see him, anything would work at this point. He continued to say sweet things to me, trying to further my stay. It was working, even if I didn't necessarily want it to.