Kaylee looked to the front of the bus where Ashton was sitting quietly. He sat on one of the couches, biting one of his finger nails and zoning out, staring into space.
She nudged Noah, and nodded her head to the front where Ashton sat. "Is he okay? He seemed fine last night."
Noah looked at Ashton. "Yeah, he's okay. I think he was up late last night or something." He went to sit next to Ashton. The two sat with their heads together, in a hushed conversation.
Kaylee shook her head. She just hoped that things between them weren't going to take a step backwards. She had a great time the night before, but the way Ashton was looking, it almost appeared as though he regretted it. She walked forward slowly, and the minute they saw her, they stopped talking.
"Sorry to interrupt," she said, a bit annoyed. "Are you guys ready to go eat?"
Both of them jumped to their feet. "Yeah, let's go. We've got a busy day today." Noah told her, putting his hand on her back and practically pushing her out the door. The rest of the guys followed her, ambushing the buffet as soon as they got into the restaurant.
Kaylee watched Ashton pick at his food, not really eating much. When the rest of the guys went up for a refill, Kaylee stayed behind with Ashton.
"Alright, out with it!" she ordered, and he looked up at her. "What did I do now?"
"What?" he asked, confusion written all over his face.
"We had so much fun last night, and now you're walking around like you don't want to be anywhere near me. You're not eating, you're not joking, you're barely talking. Just tell me what the deal is, and where I screwed up this time," she pleaded with him.
Ashton shook his head. "Trust me, you didn't do anything wrong," he told her. "I'm just having trouble with this song I'm writing, and it's really getting to me. I keep going over the melody and verses in my head, trying to make it work, and it's really distracting me," he tried to reassure her.
"Well, I wish I could help, but you know I'm no good at writing songs." She smiled for the first time that day, feeling that things were still good between them, and that she would be able to get him back, one way or another.
After breakfast, everyone parted ways. Noah and Kaylee decided to go to a movie, and have some sibling time together. Jayden and Colton were going to lounge by the hotel pool, and Ashton was going to try working on the song in his head a little more.
Noah and Kaylee had a great time at the movie. They filled up on popcorn and other movie theater treats, laughing throughout the comedy they had chosen to see. It was nice for them to be able to spend some time together without the rest of the guys around, even if Noah did seem a little distracted on the way to and from the theater.
When they got back from the movie, Kaylee went to her room and took a nap, resting up for the show that night.
All too soon, the group was at the concert venue, warming up, and getting into wardrobe and makeup. Each of them went about their own pre-concert ritual; Colton rubbed his hands, massaging them and stretching them out, Jayden lay on the couch, listening to music through a set of headphones, Noah sat in a chair, going over the songs in his head, Ashton was in the bathroom warming up his voice, and Kaylee was standing on the side of the stage, looking out at the crowd as the opening act played. It always made her nervous to see the people, but at the same time, she needed to prepare herself for the size of the stadium and how many fans were there for the show. If she had seen the audience for the first time when she went on stage, it would have freaked her out.
Soon the guys were standing behind her. They huddled up for a quick pep talk, and then listened as they were being announced. Ashton pulled Kaylee aside and brushed her hair back lightly and rested his hands on her cheeks.
"Just relax out there tonight, and go with the flow. If you need me, just look over and I'll be there," he told her, then slowly bent his head down and touched his lips to hers. Even