"Galleria, will you please just stop." I snapped at her, and she shut up for a moment. "It was only a kiss. It isn't like we're dating." I said, before stepping into my hotel room and slamming the door. I sighed as I slumped against it and she shouted at me, something I just completely choose to ignore. It had been positively the most amazing night that I can remember, as far back as her kissing my cheek went. Devan was beautiful, weather she wanted to admit it or not. And to have gotten her to dance with me was amazing. I'd enjoyed it until she kissed me, because that just made it even more amazing then words could possibly describe, and my enjoyment had just went through the roof. I swear that I could still fell her lips against mine. And licking them, I could only just faintly taste her clinging to my strawberry flavoured lip gloss.
Heaving a sigh, I pushed off of the door and locked it before walking towards my big comfy looking hotel bed. Aqua was okay with it, and Chanel was okay with it… They had actually gushed about it as much as I had in the limo ride back. We'd left after my incredibly long dance, and kisses with Devan. But when we were getting out of the limo and we asked Galleria why she was giving us the cold shoulder, and she let loose on me. Exploding at me about how wrong kissing a girl was, and how wrong Devan was for forcing me into it, when she hadn't even. I still don't understand her, Bubbles, how absolutely cruel about this sort of thing she could be, how closed minded she could be. I sighed, slowly pulling the dress off as I kicked off my heels and changed into a simple concert tee for bed. I'd have to talk to Galleria in the morning, when hopefully, she'd be all calmed down and able to talk. Even if it was only going to be for a few minutes, because she could change moods so quickly sometimes.
***
I groaned as I rolled over in bed, brushing my blonde hair back from my eyes. What a thing to wake up too? Constant banging was so very annoying, and it could only be a Cheetah for the hotel not to have done something about it. I rolled out of bed onto the floor, and then slowly got up before walking to the door. I didn't care how I looked; I just pulled open the door. "What!?" I snapped, obviously not in much of a morning mood. I didn't get an answer; I was just pulled back into the room as someone else closed my door. "The tabloids are all over the hotel Dorinda. The media… Everything." It was Chanel, and I calmed slightly as she let go of my arm to go and take a peek out of the curtains. "They found out about you kissing Devan, Do. They have a picture and everything." Aqua added, as I looked at her while running a hand through my hair to keep it out of my face. "How did they get a picture? And what time is it?" I asked as I padded towards the window as Chanel stepped away from it. It looked too bright to be early morning, like I felt that it was. I didn't even make it half way before Aqua grabbed a hold of my arm and stopped me. "Do, going to the window in nothing but a tee and your undies might not be the best idea." Looking down, I nearly screamed. Moving quickly, I headed to the dresser under the TV and pulled open one of the drawer's for a pair of jeans and quickly tugged them on, while Aqua and Chanel laughed at me.
***
"How long do you think they're going to wait out there, taking picture's?" I asked, leaning at the edge of the window and looking down as I held onto the curtain. A few would look up the odd time, snapping picture's of me in the window. "I don't know. How many- Wow!" Chanel said, looking out the window down at the street. "Yea, there are more people down there then when we arrived." Aqua added, going up on her toes as she peered over Chanel's shoulder. "Hey, is that Galleria?" I asked just then, noticing her walking out of the front of the hotel and straight for the anxiously waiting paparazzi. "Oh, Bubbles what are you doing?" Chuchie said, watching out the window for a moment before rushing for the door. Aqua and I watched her go before looking outside and awaiting her appearance and the verbal fight that was to come.
***
"Give me the phone! Come on, give me the phone!" Dorinda shouted, jumping and running around the hotel room to try and get it back from Aqua. After Chanel and Galleria had argued outside, she hadn't come back. But what was more important to me, was getting my cell phone back as it was important I talk to who was on the other line. It was her. Yes, her. It just had to be. "Come on Aqua, give it here!"
"You're going to have to try harder then that Do." she taunted, laughing as she ran across the top of my bed and placed it squarely between us. I jumped one way; she jumped the other and raised the phone to her ear. "Hi, yes I'm sorry that Dorinda can't come to the phone right now, Al. She's in the shower, thinking of you."
"Give it!" I shouted, climbing up onto the bed and jumping down. She didn't make it very far as I managed to grab a hold of her and wrestle with her to the ground where I got my phone back. "Hello?" I asked into it, only to be greeted by the sound of a raspy voice laughing on the other end. "Al?" I asked, only to hear the person on the other end begin to laugh harder, a more musical laugh before I could hear them forcing themselves to stop. "Don't get me wrong, I am glad that you were thinking of me in the shower." She started, and I could tell that she was smiling. "But, what's with the whole Al deal? You telling me that you lied about something?" she asked, and I just knew that it was Devan from the way she sounded so amused. It made my stomach flop and my heart flutter as a blush began to tint my cheeks. "It's for Galleria's sake." I said, quickly moving away from Aqua as she tried to listen in on what was being said. "Devan! It's Devan! Hi Devan!" she shouted, figuring it out in an instant. "Shh!" I told her, putting my finger to my lips and giving her a quick look. On the other end, I could hear her laughing that musical laugh again. "Right well, I take it that she isn't there if my name is being shouted. But it's good to know I'm supposed to try and sound like a guy when I phone you." She said, letting her voice take on the sleepy rasping sort of sound. And for just a moment, I thought that she was a guy.
***
"I can't believe you slept the whole morning away." Devan said, her back to me as she stood facing the door while I changed into the outfit she'd brought. It was a disguise, to get past everyone that was standing and waiting for me outside of the hotel's door. It reminded me a little of what I'd worn to see her at her concert, only different because these pants, shirt and sweater were definitely not something that I would normally wear. She didn't bring me a wig either, just a hat. An older worn one that made me think that it was hers, but I wasn't about to ask. "I mean, I do nearly every day, but with Brittany…" she trailed off, obviously not wanting to talk about her around me. I could only guess why. "How is she?" I asked in a slip of the tongue, wondering if she was still around. Devan snorted, and I wished I knew if it was in amusement, or if it was in something else. She could be difficult to read sometimes. "I wouldn't know. She'd moved out of my trailer-bus before I got back. Nothing of hers was in there when I got back."
"She just left?" I asked, trying to adjust the hat on my head so no one could see my hair. She heaved a sigh, walking over to me slowly and soundlessly. When had she turned around? "Yes, ma'am." she said, smiling a teasing smile at me in the mirror as she took over for my hands. The bill of the knit cap went into her mouth and right between her teeth as she took to finding the right place for the hair on my head. It made it a little difficult to understand her as she spoke. "I don't know what it was, the fact that she could no longer lay a finger on my money, hold this." She said, and I moved my hand up to help her hold part of my hair down. "Or the fact that she kept getting called you last night before I went and said she was my date." She added, her nose crinkling up for a moment as if she was sneering in disgust. But it wasn't but she looked cute. She motioned for my other hand, and I moved it to help without hesitation. "Which, I don't get at all. She may have been my girlfriend, but she was also my date for the night. Move your hands." She said, and I dropped them to see that she'd pinned my hair down and was now carefully adjusting the hat. "There. Perfect as its ever going to be." She said, stepping back from me and admiring her work. She did a really good job too, because you just could not tell that my blonde hair was long. You couldn't even tell that it was there really. "Do you do this a lot?" I asked, turning to look at her as she picked my bags up. She looked up at me with her eyebrows raised "Do what?"
"Make yourself look like a boy." I said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She chuckled, motioning with her head for me to open the door. I moved slowly towards it, wanting to make sure that I got an answer out of her. "I used to do it a lot. When I was on the streets, before I was roped into being a part of Sugar Rush." She chuckled, giving her head a small shake. "And it kept me safe when I was alone." She said, walking out of the door side-ways because she had my bags in each hand. I don't know when I started noticing everything that she did, or how cute she seemed to look doing it. I cleared my throat, stepping out of the room after doing a quick check and letting the door close and lock behind me. "Do you want me to-"
"No! I got it!" she said, jerking away from me, and hurrying along down the hall at a fast waddling pace. Which had me laughing softly as I watched her before I was following after her. I had never expected her to have heard me, but she apparently had. "Hey, no laughing at me when I'm helping you sneak-out of this… What is this, a five-star hotel?" she asked, trying to push the elevator button and keep a firm grip on my luggage. I gently pushed her out of the way to do it for her. "Yea, it's a five-star hotel. And thank you, again… For helping me." I said, looking at her before looking down at my feet. She made me feel way more shy then I had ever felt before.
***
"I don't get how she can sleep." Aqua said, looking Devan over as she slept in the back left seat next to the door of the limo. She'd stretched her legs out after a few minutes, folding her arms across her chest, and just fell asleep without warning. "Maybe she didn't get enough sleep." I said, giving my shoulder's a casual shrug as I forced myself to look away from her. "Or maybe she didn't get any sleep." Chanel added being so silent for so long. It had me and Aqua looking at her, unsure of what to say, if we should even say anything. "What happened with you and Galleria?" It took me a moment to realize that I was the one that had asked, and that I had a reassuring hand placed upon her knee. "I stopped her telling her that friends are supposed to be there for one another no matter what. But then I made the mistake of telling her that I was sure that I'd fallen in love with her." She stopped, letting the information sink in, and I didn't even know my mouth was open before she closed it with a finger and continued. "She launched off on me the way she does on you Do, and then, right there for everyone to see and hear, she slapped me hard as she shouted she was quitting the Cheetah Girls."
"Oh, Chuchie, I'm so sorry." Aqua said, jumping seats so that we were both able to give her a sandwich hug and giving her the comfort that she needed. We didn't know if she was crying all day, or if she had been doing everything to hold it in. We were just being her friends, the one's she needed us to be. Aqua knew as well as I did that she just had to fell horrible, it was like a break-up only way worse. There are no words to properly describe a broken heart. Chanel needed us right then, and even though I was rubbing her back in hopes of making her feel better, I couldn't help but think that maybe, she was holding back on what had happened. That she wasn't telling us something on what Galleria had said. But all of that left my mind as she spoke in a timid, cracked and broken voice that had my own heart feel like it was breaking. "I've lost my Bubbles."