rascalflattsfans101

My POV

“Yeah, I’m like 5 minutes away.” I replied to the tour manager, Steve.
“Okay well, your sound check started 10 minutes ago.” He said impatiently.
“I know, but I got off work at 1pm. How was I supposed to be at the venue at that time?”
”Whatever, just get here.” He said and hung up the phone.

*~*~*~*~*~*

I pulled into the back parking lot at the Sommet Center a few minutes later, put the top back up on my car, hopped out, and ran inside. It was Friday, the day before the Nashville show and someone, *cough* Joe Don *cough* told Steve that I would be able to be at the venue for my sound check at 1pm. Apparently he “forgot” that I get off work at 1pm and that I’m not superwoman and can’t be two places at once.

As I was grabbing my earpiece and mic, Joe Don came up to me.

“Trying to be late like me huh?” he said giving me a kiss.
“Very funny, you’re the one who said I could be here the very minute I got off work.” I replied.
“I thought you got off at noon today.” He said defending himself.
“Alright, I have to go and try not to piss Steve off anymore.” I laughed giving Joe Don another kiss and walked towards the stage.

*~*~*~*~*~*

After I finished with my four songs I had to wait 20 minutes for the guys and the band to stop messing around so we could do a sound check on ‘He Ain’t the Leavin’ Kind’. I insisted that we needed to run through it even though Gary tried to say we didn’t need to.

Once we were done, Aly, Tara, and I decided that we didn’t want to eat the unhealthy food supplied by catering, so we hopped in my car and headed off to the closest Cousins.

*~*~*~*~*~*

“So we hear that you’re moving in with Joe Don.” Tara said taking a bit of her sandwich.
“Who told you that?” I asked, surprised that they knew.
“Jay.” Aly said, “But I don’t think JD knows we know.”
“Wow, you confused me there.” I laughed.
“So are you excited?” Tara asked me.
“Umm, yeah. I am. But kinda scared…”
“Why’s that?” Aly asked.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Joe Don’s POV

“So Alicia has no idea?” I asked Alexa.
“Nope. She doesn’t know about you, and she doesn’t know about the recording contract…” she replied.
“Okay.” I said. Little did she know that Alicia already knew about everything in going on right now in Alexa’s life, thanks to Kati.
“Hey are you ready to leave or are you just gonna stand there and ponder.” Alexa said to me.
“Yeah lets go.” I said taking her hand and walking out the door.

*~*~*~*~*~*

My POV

“So you guys are outside on the terrace?” I asked Kati over the phone.
“Yep. How far away are you two?” she said.
“Umm…like 3 blocks.”
“Okay, see you in like 5 minutes then!” she laughed.
“Alright. Love ya!” I said hanging up the phone.

Just then Joe Don let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me close to him.

“So…you don’t love me huh?” he asked without looking down at me.
“Aww baby, you know I love you…I just love Kati more.” I said.
“Fine then…” he replied and kept walking.
“Baby! Stop it!” I laughed as I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and pulled Joe Don into a hug.
“I love doing that to you…” he said kissing the top of my head.
“What?”
“Making you think I’m mad so you get all lovey dovey. It’s cute.”
“Well I don’t think its cute.” I complained as I grabbed his hand again and continued to walk, “I think it’s mean…” I added.
“Well you’re just going to have to deal with it.” Joe Don said. The only thing I did was give him a look as if to say ‘Take that back…’
“I was just kidding. Chill out babe.” He said kissing my hand and making me smile.

A few minutes later we walked into the restaurant where we were supposed to meet Kati and Alicia for lunch. Oddly enough, we both live here and had never heard of the place. The hostess led us out to the terrace and directed us to our table. Not that we needed it, because Alicia came running, literally crashed into me and gave me a huge hug. But I thought it was kinda weird that her only acknowledgement towards Joe Don was a hi and a smile.

When we finally sat down me being my nosey self, I had to ask why Alicia didn’t freak out when she saw me and Joe Don together.

“So…Alicia what’s with you?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” she said pretending not to know what I was asking.
“Why didn’t you act like your normal self when me and Joe Don walked up?” I said making Joe Don laugh.
“Is there something you guys know that I don’t?” I asked again making all three of them laugh.
“Oh I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Joe Don?” Kati said. All I did was give him a look like ‘You better tell me what’s going on.’
“Kati introduced me and Alicia about two months ago. We just decided not to tell you.” Joe Don laughed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked concerned.
“Alexa, you KNOW I would NEVER do that to you…” he said knowing what I was implying. But for some reason I didn’t believe him.
“You guys are unbelievable.” I said in disgust as I stood up and walked away from the table.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Joe Don’s POV

I looked to Kati and Alicia, but the looks on their faces said they couldn’t believe what just happened as much as I couldn’t.

“Go.” Kati said gesturing towards the direction Alexa had left. I stood up and went to go find her. Which could be a task in and of itself.

I walked through the restaurant and out the entrance and looked off the right, the way that we had come from. Sure enough, I saw Alexa walking briskly down the street. I quickly ran up to her before she got too far.

“Alexa…” I said grabbing her arm and turning her around.
“I have nothing to say to you right now.” She said walking away again.
“Alexa…please.” I pleaded causing her to stop dead in her tracks. I looked at her and realized that she was crying.

I walked up to her and gently pulled her into a hug. I was not going to let her walk away thinking that I cheated on her with one of her best friends. I had to let her know that I would never make that mistake because I know what it would do to her or any woman for that matter. I just knew that I couldn’t lose her. After a minute or two Alexa pulled away and wiped the tears left on her face. She look up at me, shook her head and started to walk away again. I grabbed her hand again and led her to a bench and sat down. I took a deep breath knowing that the thing I was about to say would either make or brake our relationship.

“Listen, I don’t want to say anything until I’m done. Just listen…please.” I started. All she did was look at me and nod.
“You need to know that I would NEVER do anything to hurt you. And knowing what you’ve been through, I would never, ever cheat on with anyone. Alexa, you are my life, I don’t even know what I would do if I ever lost you. So please believe me, nothing happened. It was stupid idea to not tell you that Kati had introduced us. It was dumb, I know that, but please don’t let nothing ruin what we have together.” I finished gently squeezing her hand.
“Joe Don, I don’t know what to say or believe. I want to believe you, but all three of you know exactly what I’ve been through. So to even think that not telling me something like that would be funny, I just don’t understand it.” Alexa replied.
“Baby, I understand what you’re saying but please, just believe me. That’s all I want.” I pleaded one more time.

She took a deep breath and let out a sigh. I didn’t know what it meant until she looked and me and grabbed my hands.

“I believe you…” she said. All I could do was give her a huge hug.
“I love you…” I whispered into her ear.
“I know, I love you too…just don’t ever do that again.” She warned.
“I won’t…I promise.” I replied giving her a kiss making her smile.

We sat there in silence for a bit before I noticed that Alexa was thinking about something. I had a feeling it was about the show tonight.

“Do you not want to perform tonight?” I asked her. It was almost like I could read her mind.
“I don’t know…” she shrugged.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Everyone will understand.” I said trying to reassure her.
“Maybe, but considering I’m actually supposed to do a set tonight, it probably wouldn’t be the best night to take off.” She replied.
“Do what ever you want, but know you don’t have to perform.” I said one more time.
“I know. You just wanna head back home? I’m not in the mood for much right now.”
“Yeah, you want me to go tell Kati and Alicia.” I asked.
“Hmmm…yeah. Tell them I’ll call one of them tonight.” She replied.

I quickly went to go talk Kati and Alicia. They understood the situation and how Alexa was feeling so they weren’t offended that she wanted to leave. They just told me to make sure Alexa called them.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My POV

The walk home was silent. Not awkward, just silent. When we walked into my condo all I wanted to do was just lay down.

“Hunny…I’m gonna go take a shower then lye down for a bit.” I said as I walked into the kitchen.
“Okay. I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.” he said after grabbing a diet coke from the fridge and walked past me, lightly brushing against my shoulder.
“Hey baby…” I said getting Joe Don’s attention.
“Yeah…” he said turning around. I walked up to him and gave him a kiss.
“I love you.” I said smiling.
“I love you too.” He replied.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

After I took my shower I went and laid down in my bed for what seemed like forever. All I could think about was what happened today. I felt horrible for accusing Joe Don of cheating on me. But honestly, after being cheated on twice, that’s the first thing I think of when my boyfriend keeps a secret like that from me. Mainly I was upset with Kati and Alicia for not saying anything about Alicia and Joe Don already knowing each other. Out of anyone, they should know not to keep something like that from me, even if was supposed to be a harmless joke.

My mind started to slip into thinking about tonight. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to perform. I had a feeling that even if I wanted to perform, Joe Don wouldn’t let me. Honestly, if it was an option I would probably just stay home tonight. But being the big Nashville show, I knew I couldn’t.

I turned and looked at the clock. It was only 2:15 in the afternoon and we had only been home for just over an hour. I decided to get up and get some things done before we had to leave at sometime around 4:30 to head back over to the Sommet Center.

I walked into the kitchen, unloaded the dishwasher, and put everything away. Then I went to my tiny little laundry “closet” and began my “I have too many clothes for my own good…” process of folding, switching from the washer to the dryer, and putting another load of dirty clothes into the wash. I went back into the kitchen and opened the pantry and tried to figure out what I wanted to eat. I went over to the fridge to see what was in there. I ended up deciding on my mom’s pasta salad recipe.

I tend to sound like I’m mad when I cook, but that’s only because I’m too lazy to walk my butt over to the sink and set the dirty pots and pans in there. So instead I just chuck them across the kitchen, and somehow, even though I suck at basketball and I have terrible aim, I rarely miss the sink (p.s. I really do that…I’m not even kidding). Joe Don had to have heard me, that or he smelled food, because about 20 minutes after I started boiling the pasta and cutting up the veggies and sausage he came in giving me a weird look.

“What’s going on in hear.” He asked not really wanting to know.
“Cookin…” I replied.
“Oh, smells like it…but it doesn’t sound like it.” He laughed.
“Oh and like you would know. The closest thing you can do to cooking is grilling.” I snapped back smartly.
“Hey now, I can cook!”
”Honey, you can make Ramen noodles and Easy Mac and that only requires you to add water and throw it in the microwave.” I said.
“Well I’m sorry I’m not Italian and it’s required of me to be a good cook like you.” He laughed.
“Then you should be grateful that you’re dating me…and you shouldn’t be insulting the way I cook. Because I just might stop cooking for you. And I can live off the pizza and hamburger helper if needed.”
“I am very grateful for you…” Joe Don whispered into my ear, pulled me into hugged, and started to kiss my neck.
“Baby, stop…not right now.” I said pushing him away. All he did was roll his eyes and walked back into the living room to watch his beloved Sooners try and beat my Spartans.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Another 15 minutes later and I was done with the pasta salad. I dished up two bowls and put the rest in a container and put it in the fridge. I grabbed the two bowls and some forks and walked out into the leaving room. I handed Joe Don his food as I plopped down on the couch next to him.

“Who’s winning?” I asked knowing it was a tight game only because I could hear him screaming at the TV from a mile away.
“Michigan State…” he replied in disgust as he took a bite.
“Haha…and Oklahoma is supposed to be good.” I said.
“Shut up…” he said looking at my MSU football t-shirt I had on and I just rolled my eyes at him.

We sat there and watched the rest of the game before I stood up and went to go put the dishes in the sink. There was no way I was cleaning them now. Instead I went and put one more load of laundry in the wash before I went and literally dragged Joe Don off the couch. He COULD NOT be late tonight, that was for sure. The guys had to do their donation presentation to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital before meet and greets started.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We got to the venue at around 4:45, mostly because of me but Joe Don drove, so we blazed down every street. It was kinda funny because when we walked into the main hallway everyone started to clap only because Joe Don was EARLY.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As I sat down in my dressing room to get my hair done, my stylist Rachel could tell something was wrong.

“What’s wrong…?” she asked trying to drag it out of me.
“Nothing…just a long day.” I replied not wanting to talk about it.
“Well, your team beat you-know-who’s team. You should rubbing it in.” She said referring to the Michigan State-Tennessee football game.
“Yeah, I know. I already did.”
“I’m sure Joe Don loved that…” she laughed.
“Yep. Screaming at TV and all…”
“That’s Joe Don for ya. Hey I have an idea.” She said suddenly
“What now?” I laughed.
“You should wear that shirt tonight for the show…really rub it in.”
“That would so funny, plus my friend Alicia from school is down here until Monday so her and Kati are coming tonight.”
“They going in the pits?”
“I think so. Which one…I don’t know.” I laughed. We both knew which one they would be in…Joe Don’s.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

7:55 p.m.

I was freaking out. But I was in compete focus mode too. Kinda like back when I was a gymnast and I needed a perfect routine to seal my team’s victory. I was down by one of the side entrances to the stage watching the slideshow of Rascal Flatts pictures and waiting for my video from “Stay” to come on. When the lights when completely black, that was my cue to head up onstage. All I wanted was I guess encouragement from Joe Don. I hadn’t really got to see him since 5 o’clock. We had just been running around doing last minute prep and he was at meet and greets right now. But needless to say I was freaking out. Finally my video started on the big screen and tried to calm myself down. I quickly ran through my songs in my head and any ideas of what to say up there. Especially how I was going to introduce the guys, well, kinda introduce them. The video was ending and the lights were starting to go down. I took a deep breath and went up the stairs and walked over to the mic in the middle of the stage and waited for the lights to come back up again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Okay, it’s gonna be a few minutes before our guys come out and sing for you guys. So have fun tonight and don’t get too crazy…especially you Joe Don girls. He’s MINE.” I said making everyone laugh and cheer as I blew a kiss and waved as I walked offstage. I quickly took out my earpiece and grabbed Rachel so we could watch to opening of the show from the wings like we always did.

After the first song I went down into the pits to find Kati and Alicia. And just as I thought they were on Joe Don’s side

“I knew it…” I laughed as I came up to them.
“You know what, you get to see all of Joe Don, so we should get to see some of him.” Kati said.
“No comment…” I said smiling at them. Alicia mouth just dropped.
“No way! We were just kidding. Why didn’t you tell us?” she asked.
“I said no comment.” I laughed.
“You are telling details!” Kati said over the music.
”No I’m not!”
“Fine. But you gotta at least tell us one thing…” Kati began.
“What?” I said rolling my eyes.
“Was he as good as he looked in the ‘I Melt’ video?” she asked. All I did was look from Joe Don to her and smile.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Next Morning… (or should I say afternoon…LOL)

I woke up in my bed with a massive headache. I knew better than to party with the guys and the band after the show. But I did it anyways. Probably only because Kati and Alicia were there and we were home in Nashville. I went and ran a brush through my hair and threw it up into a ponytail and walked out into the living room. It was there that I found Joe Don on the couch half asleep, blinds closed and the volume on the TV turned way down. I knew he was feeling just as bad, if not worse, than I was. I walked into the kitchen and took some Excedrin and got 2 more for Joe Don and a glass of water. I walked back out into the living room and set the medicine and water in front of Joe Don and sat down next to him.

“Thanks babe.” He said softly as he kissed my cheek. He reached over and took the medicine than laid back into the couch.
“I take it you just wanna relax today.” I said leaning my head on his shoulder.
”Yeah, I’m waiting for the medicine to kick in then I’m probably gonna start packing stuff for the next week.
“Look who’s not procrastinating…” I laughed making my head hurt.
“Well, I’m not doing anything else today…”
”You feel that bad?” I asked.
“Yeah. But we’ll see how well this Excedrin works. Did you call Kati or Alicia to make sure they got home okay?”
“Not yet. I just woke up, but I will.” I said.
“Good, because Alicia was just…I don’t know and Kati was just as bad as you were.”
“Hey, but I can hold my own. I had to drove home last night.”
“Yeah all 2 miles…”
“And like you could’ve stayed on the road.”
”Okay, okay, you win.” He laughed and kissed the top of my head.
“Thank you…” I said starting to get up but Joe Don pulled me back.
“You don’t get up until I get up.” He said.
“Fine then…” I replied rolling my eyes and resting my head against his chest.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Three hours later we were at Joe Don’s house and I, yes I, was packing for the promotion tour him and the guys were doing this week. He needed the most random variety of clothes because they were going to New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Austin, and Atlanta all in 5 days.

“So what are you doing for your birthday on Saturday?” Joe Don asked.
“I don’t yet, since someone’s going to be gone…” I said.
“Sorry, I didn’t plan our schedule. I told I HAD to be home for the 2nd but they still schedule for us to come home on the 3rd.” he explained.
“No, I’m not blaming you. It’s just, I don’t know…”
“You gonna miss me?” Joe Don said coming up and wrapping his arms around me.
“Yes.”
“Well, you can watch me on TV on Tuesday. That will make you feel better.” He said sarcastically.
“No it won’t! Way to ruin the moment.” I laughed smacking him playfully.
“I was kidding. But know that you can call me whenever you need to. Whether I answer or not, just leave a message. I WILL call you back.” He said reassuringly.
“Believe me I will be calling you. A lot.” I said kissing him once more and going back over to finish packing. But I made Joe Don help.

When we were done we decided that we wanted to go out and spend the night out on the town. We went to see a movie and then had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (so the best restaurant to if you wanna eat unhealthy…lol). It was very low key and fun, but it was a little bitter sweet because it was our last night together for almost a week.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“You ready to go?” I asked Joe Don as he grabbed the last of his bags and put them in the tiny trunk of my car.
“Yep.” He said as he got in and started the car. We headed towards downtown and Music Row since the guys had to be at Lyric Street then were going to the airport from there. The drive over was rather silent. We got Joe Don’s bags out and brought them inside the lobby. I had to say goodbye quickly because I had to be at work at 5pm.

“Come here…” Joe Don said pulling me towards him and giving me a hug. “You remember what I said yesterday?”
“Yeah…” I replied kinda at a loss for words.
“Hey, don’t miss me too much.” He said making me laugh.
“I’ll try…” I laughed trying not to think about how much I was going to miss him.
“I’ll call when we land. Okay.”
I just nodded.
“I love you baby.” Joe Don said.
“I love you too.” I replied kissing him. When I pulled out I looked him in the eyes one last time, turned around, and walked out to my car before I started to cry.

Piczo