4. The Tour Bus – twelve days later …
A weighty silence spread throughout the living area. The tension was thick; nobody could tear their eyes away from the scene in front of them. Even Paulo the Spanish coach driver kept splitting his attention between the road ahead and the scene behind (CAREFUL PAULO, YOU'RE ONLY DRIVING JACOB FRICKIN' HUNTER).
Meanwhile, Jacob Frickin' Hunter squinted his eyes meanly at Evie Not-May Burton. Evie smiled benignly back. Alison and Dora shrank further yet behind the sofa cushion they were hiding behind. Evie shook the dice once … twice… and let them fall from her fingers to the table top.
There was the briefest hush before …
"SIXES! FUCKIN' SIXES! Boys, you just got OWNED!" Dora grabbed Evie's hands, all the better to jump around with whilst Alison satisfied herself by pointing and shouting L-L-L-LOSER into each of their opponents' disbelieving faces.
Finally, the three girls fell back onto the sofa, Evie stretching her arms high and rolling her neck to chase out the tension from the last round. She accepted a beer from Jacob's outstretched hand and laughed at his mock-sullen expression.
"Seriously Evie May, how d'you get so good at Sixes?"
"It's just luck Jay, has no one ever explained to you how dice work?" Evie threw him a wide, smug smirk.
"How dice work? How cheatin' works more like, anyway you don't get beer for that, that's just sore winnin'" and he tussled with her over the chilled bottle, causing the frothy liquid to bubble up, threaten to spill.
"You know all this fun calls for a snack, right?" decided Freddy.
Almost as one, the small group rose to their feet, loudly yawning and stretching. Freddy, unperturbed, reached up into one of the cupboards, pulling down a frying pan, a bottle of maple syrup and a pack of ham.
"Ooo yeah, Freddy's making magic tonight. You're with me, right Paulo my friend?" he called out to the driver as the rest of Jacob's entourage slunk away to their bunks and bathrooms; Freddy's cooking skills being second to everyone's, including Dora who had been known to char water.
Evie stood in the small bathroom she shared with Jacob, smoothing night cream onto her face. Cornflower blue eyes kept an eye on the proceedings in the mirror, ensuring she didn't leave any smears. She wasn't the slightest bit tired. They'd flown back into Europe that afternoon after a long weekend at the Vegas Billboard Awards and those 72+ hours had been enough to topple her body clock like a skittles strike. She brushed her teeth and climbed into a vest top and yoga pants, Jacob's tee shirt and joggers long since returned to him (freshly laundered, she might add). Calling out "Bathroom's free!", she climbed past the curtain that shielded her bunk and got comfortable. iPad propped up against her knees, she spent a few minutes watching the scenery fly past from the window that stretched the length of her bunk and then turned her mind to the document that she'd clicked open. Time to add to the growing bank of notes she was making for Jacob's biography. Whilst each of her biographies had been well received, she had an especially warm feeling about this one. Since staying the night on the tour bus nearly two weeks ago, she'd been told in no uncertain terms that it would be best if she stayed. Ron and Reg wouldn't hear of her resuming her original plan of trailing the bus and Jacob had also been keen for her to stay put, pointing out that he might do something interesting at any given moment and it wouldn't do for her – the official biographer - to miss it because she was staying in some cheapo hotel three countries back. So. She'd stayed. And had unparalleled access not only to Jacob but his whole inner circle too. In the short time they'd all spent together, the others had squashed up, making room for her at their table, their in-jokes, their late night conversations about life, love and the universe. When Jacob had picked up each and every award he'd been nominated for that weekend, she'd clapped and screamed, as proud as any of them.
Wrinkling her freckled nose to inch her glasses back up her face, she continued to tap away, remembering snippets of conversation and trying out words, phrases, to describe the whirlwind she was witnessing tear through Europe. Half conscious of a rustling behind her curtain, she turned her head at the whisper that suddenly reached through.
"Shorty? Shorty, you sleepin'?"
"Um" she considered, "no?"
"Great" and with that Jacob pushed past her curtain and climbed into her bed, hip bumping her until she moved up. Once he'd got comfortable, he drew the curtain and lay his head down on her pillow.
Evie blinked in confusion, feeling thoroughly hemmed in by his 6ft2 frame. But he wasn't looking at her. He was looking down at the bucket he'd made out of his tee shirt to carry … Evie craned her neck for a better look, snacks of all different shapes and sizes.
"I am starving. That trip has made me hungry at all the wrong times" he mumbled as he rifled through his scavengings, "but I'm damned if I'm gonna be eatin' Freddy's fried ham. That dude has sick taste … and not in a good way … ha!" and he triumphantly pulled out a packet of strawberry laces. Chewing half a dozen all at once, he offered her the rest. Ignoring the toothpaste that still lingered in her mouth, she accepted and soon they were munching their way through cheesy breakfast crackers, chocolate pretzels and chilli popcorn. As they grazed, they amused themselves with Evie's WiFi – outgrossing each other with RudeTube, playing their favourite songs and picking a handful of Cubs to tweet – and then a few more and then a few more still. Gradually, Jacob's presence at her side started to feel less alien, more comfortable. Her brain stopped freezing every time his warm, bare arm brushed hers and the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra stopped mattering as much too. Well, not that she made any sudden movements for fear of Boob Jiggle, but – y'know.
A particularly sharp bend in the road woke Evie from a deep dreamless sleep. Despite the rude awakening, she was too comfortable to open her eyes, instead relaxing further into the white tee shirt and broad chest that she was snuggled up to. She breathed deeply, enjoying the citrusy aftershave that lingered on its wearer.
White tee shirt … broad chest … aftershave?
Snuggling?!
She jerked upright in confusion, hitting her head on the bunk that lay empty above, "Oof!"
"Whassamatter?" Jacob mumbled sleepily from where he lay, surrounded by empty wrappers
from their midnight feast. His arms were outstretched, one behind his head, the other having made a convenient pillow for Evie. "I was … I was SNUGGLING you!" she blurted out in embarrassment, a warm flush billowing across her cheeks. Jacob laughed sleepily, patting the empty space next to him. "S'ok. Come back to sleep" like Sleep was a place they'd both been hanging out in. She paused, blinking heavily - a snoozy fog of jet lag clouding her brain, making it difficult to form coherent sentences. Jacob, losing interest in the not-even-a-conversation, rolled to his side, snagging Evie from behind, pulling her back and down, fitting himself to her body, right leg flung over her, right arm loosely keeping her close. Deep breathing soon followed and Evie, cocooned in warmth and comfort, was powerless to fight the heaviness that tugged her eyelids closed.
Sometime later, the morning sunshine poked Evie back into wakefulness. She stretched slowly, enjoying the warmth from the rays beaming in through the window. Jacob was still casually wrapped round her, his head lying on her curls, his breath gently tickling the spot behind her ear. He shuffled closer still as she stretched and Evie became aware of something else that was poking her. Her eyes sprung open and the rest of her body froze apart from a horror stricken expression that s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d across her face. Unable to stay still a second longer, an embarrassed laugh forced its way through her lips and, elbowing him in his hard stomach, she hissed "Jacob – Jacob, for fuck's sake – are you trying to get me pregnant?!" He laughed sleepily and rolled away from her, muttering something about being 21 and suffering from perma-horn. Utterly awake now, Evie decided she needed some space. What a strange night – the snuggling, the cuddling – the poking?! Oh God. Lines had been crossed and Evie needed to think.
She clambered over the snoozing pop star's legs, momentarily getting tangled up in the bedding, before exiting decidedly ungracefully from the bunk. She pottered through to the kitchen, pulling open the fridge to find a chilled bottle of water, looking to wash away the residue from the late night snacking. Freddy's voice startled her, she turned to find the tour manager looking fresh and clean, padding away at his iPad, "Is Jay still sleeping?" She'd forgotten about the bus rules, nobody was allowed to venture beyond the curtain that shut off her bunk, the bathroom, his space – if he wasn't in the living area, it was because he wanted privacy and his team respected that.
"Um …" she paused and frowned, still completely perturbed by the events of the evening.
"Ohhh …" Freddy replied, nodding.
"Oh?"
"Did he end up in with you?"
What? Did everyone know? Did everyone think they'd …? Her face fell, she turned away and gulped down the icy water, hoping it would cool the flush that burned in her cheeks.
"Oh Evie, hey – don't think twice about it. Jay … he, he doesn't …" Freddy's eyes darted nervously to the curtain, he got up and walked across to where Evie was still dying with embarrassment.
"Don't let on I said anything, ok? But Jacob doesn't always like to sleep alone. The kid's been living out of hotel rooms and tour buses since he was 14. He gets lonely. Between you and me, the reason Tiffany was kept on the scene for so long was because he didn't want to do this tour on his own. C'mon, he's really connected with you Evie, I'm not surprised he ended up gate crashing your bunk.
You know what he's like, you know how tactile he is …"
Before Evie could reply, the curtain was batted aside and the subject of Freddy's whispered conversation appeared and stretched, yawning loudly before reaching above to the pull up bar that had been especially installed. Without fanfare, he began to hoist himself up and down with an ease Evie and her soft arms were envious of. He spoke as he exercised, biceps flexing "Morning, Freddy. Where the fuck are we and when we stoppin'? The sun is shining and I need to get off of this bus and breathe some fresh air!"
As Freddy launched into a monologue that failed to answer Jacob's question but did give a detailed
discourse on the highlights of the journey they'd all missed due to being asleep, Evie sipped her water. She stared into the distance, planning her day, not entirely aware that her eyes had fixed on the inches of tanned, muscled stomach that was lifting up and down, up and down in front of her. Jacob, watching her watching him, gave a few extra lifts just for her benefit. He liked the feel of her eyes on him and was disappointed when she too-soon turned away from him to look out of the window. He finished off and raided the fridge, shaking his head free of troublesome thoughts that concerned short Shorties with warm curves and curls that smelt of cherries.